Chapter 696: The Son

The Supremos Manus Dei.

"The Supreme Hand of God. Your horrible naming sense transcends the multiverse, Bernard."

[I am not done explaining.]

Supremos Manus Dei—a device that amplifies the intricate invisible waves that Alice produces whenever she actively uses her telekinesis. For a thing that has been addressed as a 'device' ever since Riley had been hearing of it, he was expecting something small; like a futuristic crown that scans his brain, but no.

The device was an entire spherical room, completely filled with some sort of gel that Riley could somehow breathe through. Bernard explained that it wasn't actually gel, but more than a hundred quadrillion translucent nanites that served as some sort of conductor for Alice's telekinetic abilities.

It allows Alice to stretch the range of her powers far and almost infinitely beyond its limits—that was how she was able to interact with Riley when he arrived in this universe even though he was lightyears and lightyears away.

And yes, the device was something solely made for Alice, and as such, only she could actually use it.

"Am I able to use this, then?" Riley 'swam' around the room; his long white hair, almost scattered behind him like wings as he did so, "Is there no need to change anything, Bernard?"

[No,] Bernard's voice traveled through the entire room, almost as if he was just right beside Riley, [Based on your DNA, you and Alice are practically the same exact person.]

"...Hm," Riley turned to look at Bernard, who was on the other side of the spherical room also looking at him. In a way, it almost looked like Bernard was inside an aquarium as they were separated by glass; or in this case, perhaps the opposite was even more true as Riley was swimming around like a fish.

"See, Dee? We're practically the same person," Alice was also on the other side, almost planting her face on the glass as she looked at Riley with her eyes almost glistening, "If he's not my son, then I don't know what we are. And wow... I think this is the first time I'm on this side of the Manus Dei. It feels weird."

"...We need to have guidelines regarding the multiverse soon," Diana, who was also watching Riley swim around, could not help but let out a very long and deep sigh as she stood beside Bernard, "Are you sure about this? You are basically handing a stranger a weapon that could wipe us all out—and what's worse, we know he's not a good person."

"You should relax, Diana. That's not good for your age," Bernard only let out a small scoff before turning around and walking away. And as he did so, the empty silver room they were in completely darkened, before once again being lit up by a hologram of the map of the solar system.

"Relax? The boy is being called the literal devil by his universe's worst people. He is evil, Bernard, and what's even worse is that he was raised by another version of you," Diana reasoned as she followed behind Bernard.

"He was also raised by another version of you," Bernard shrugged, before clicking his tongue and looking at Diana, "You know what, that actually makes it worse."

"Why are you taking this so lightly, Bernard?" Diana slightly raised her voice, "This is a matter that should have been discussed thoroughly—you're basically deciding everything again."

"I told you, relax..." Bernard finally lowered his shoulders as he sighed, "...We have a failsafe. If he does something that we don't like, the Supremos Manus Dei will kill him in less than a millisecond."

"A failsafe?" Diana's expression turned for the worse instead of being relieved as she heard Bernard's words, "Wait... Alice is using that!"

"Yeah," Bernard shrugged.

"And you put something like that in the AI!?" Diana's voice became even louder, "I thought you valued your own kind, Bernard!?"

"We can never be too sure—and Alice already knows."

"...What?" Diana's eyebrows quickly lowered as she looked at Alice, who was completely focused on Riley and even waving at him like a proud mother.

"And Diana," Bernard then whispered, "It is only your own people that could betray you—like how you betrayed the themarians."

"...They betrayed me first," Diana's teeth began to show as she almost snarled at Bernard, "Be careful of your next words, human. I might just pull your throat for it."

"Ooh, scary," Bernard only scoffed before once again turning to face Riley, "Riley, we are going to start now...

...I suggest you stop squirming."

"..." Riley only looked at Bernard and the others, before nodding his head and relaxing his entire body. And as soon as his hair stopped moving around, the trillions of translucent nanites turned black—completely covering Riley in darkness.

He could feel the liquid nanite entering his ears, but he did not move and just allowed them inside him as they all latched onto his brain. And before Riley could even try and detect them inside him, his eyes widened like they have never widened before—partner this with his smile that reached from ear to ear, he looked quite...

"Creepy," Alice breathed out as a smile also formed on her face. And almost like a wave that hit her from nowhere, she felt herself slightly being pushed back as Riley's telekinetic powers started to be amplified.

"I take it it's starting?" Bernard grunted as he saw Alice almost tumble back. He and Diana didn't really feel anything, but seeing Alice flinch was already an indication that Riley's powers were already being amplified.

Riley could feel it—everything. It started with the people that were on one of the satellites; each of their individual veins, Riley could feel the blood flowing. And then, he felt the moon—and there were people there too.

Mars, the Sun. Riley could feel the entire Solar System as if it was in the palm of his hands—and soon, the entire Milky Way reflected inside him... like he could crush it if he wanted to.

"Aerith, Aerith..." Riley started to whisper, "I'm coming to find you."

It felt... liberating.

And all of this, Bernard and the others could see through the hologram of the map of the universe. There was a sort of a red pulse originating from Earth, growing larger and larger to indicate that Riley's reach was now scattering throughout the galaxy. Soon, however, this pulse turned into a straight beam.

"Oh?" Bernard raised an eyebrow, "Alice is without a doubt stronger than this boy... but I could argue that he is more versatile and creative—He is already starting to learn how to minimize the damage in his brain and compressing his... radar into a b—"

And before Bernard could finish his words, the red beam started to separate into tiny little spheres that scattered everywhere.

"...Impressive."

"Of course, he is," Alice only glanced at the hologram before looking inside the Manus Dei even though it was already pitch black, "He's our son."

"He's not our son," Diana quickly groaned and shook her head.

"No, literally—everyone inside this room is his parent," Alice giggled, "And seriously, don't the two of you feel like even a tinge of responsibility for him?"

"No."

"Not at all."

"...Seriously?" Alice scoffed, "You lost a child, Bernard—maybe this is a sign to—"

"I lost a daughter, Alice."

"What's the difference? And speaking of which, you have a daughter in the other world too," Alice nodded to herself, "I wonder what she's like."

"..." Bernard did not really answer Alice, just turning his head down as he suddenly seemed to be lost in thought. But after a few more seconds, he sighed and shook his head, "This will take a while. We should probably clean up the other Travelers since we have all that we need from the boy. I will—"

[There is no need to leave, Bernard.]

"...What?"

And before any of the three could even take a step, Riley's voice filled the entire room they were in.

[Aerith,] he said, [I have her...

...she is in the palm of my hands.]

"Already!?" Bernard then quickly turned to look at the hologram, only to find that all of Riley's powers were centered in a single part of the Universe.

"..." Diana squinted as she too, stared at the hologram, "...Are you sure it's her?"

[Yes...

...the way she begs for the lives of others remains the same.]