Dream and Melody sat in silence for a while. She looked at him with an odd gaze. It was crazy to think that her brother was responsible for such an extreme act.
But it didn't make her fearful. If anything, it made her realize the level her brother was at. She already had a certain level of awe for him, and this increased it further. Plus, as Dream said, she wasn't a child. She could face harsh realities.
"...You don't seem fazed after talking about all that. Do you regret it?"
Melody broke the silence, causing her brother to shake his head.
"Of course I don't regret it. There's nothing to regret. While I could have done things a bit better, I still made the right choices. As for killing nearly a billion innocent people, I've made my peace with that. I've owned up to what I did and moved on. It was an unfortunate circumstance, and I did my best. At least the survivors are safe on Earth, prospering like never before."
"Right... So, you've decided to conquer the Blue Blood clan?"
After nodding, Melody changed the subject. Dream sighed.
"Yea. They pissed me off."
"By hurting me."
"Well, you are my little sister. It may be distressing, but you'll have to deal with my protection until you can handle things yourself. I'm sorry I'm such a good brother."
"Bah, I never needed your help. In fact, it was your armor that got me into trouble. No offense Aegis."
"None taken, my lady."
Aegis waved politely as Melody smiled at him. Dream just rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. Anyway, I need to recover for a while. I also need to build some more equipment."
"Sure. By the way, when do you plan on doing your advancement? I'm pretty sure you should already be a class 6, let alone a class 5."
"I have my own plans. My advancements aren't as simple as yours. I don't just get stuff handed to me and I have to make preparations."
"And what kind of preparations could you possibly need?"
Melody crossed her arms with a bit of skepticism. Dream could build unimaginably powerful devices and understood far more than what she could ever hope to conceive in her entire life. What could he possibly need that he didn't already have?
He tapped his cheek as he pondered for a second.
"I've already done a bit of studying on class 5 souls. The general workings behind it are pretty simple. Now I'm looking to attain the soul of a class 6. If I can build something with it or study it before my advancement, then I have a feeling it'll help greatly."
"A class 6 soul? How the hell..."
Melody was dumbstruck. This was just a class 5 advancement, and Dream wanted to utilize class 6 souls for some work beforehand. If he hadn't already shocked her with insane things before, she would think he was crazy.
As for how he would do it, didn't he just send a class 6 running not that long ago? With a bit of preparation, she didn't doubt that he could kill one. But stealing their intact soul on top of that seemed a bit much. She wasn't sure what he had that could enable him to do such a thing. Then again, she didn't understand his skills anyway.
She sighed.
"Whatever. You do what you need to. Just recover before you do anything insane, please."
"I can't do insane things without recovering, so I shall. As for you, don't bother trying to find a battlefield. The Blue Blood clan is pulling back its armies to defend its main cities. The next battle that will be fought will be a siege. Go and study under your teacher, because you may not have much longer to do so. After this war, you're going to be fighting to get inside the Blood Drop clan. Prepare yourself."
"Mm. Alright."
Melody nodded, a bit of fighting spirit welling up inside of her. Dream just closed his eyes as she turned and walked off elsewhere, his awareness retracting into his mind space and focusing on his soul. With his gradually recovering power, he conducted repairs.
............
.......
Across the next few days, two major events happened.
The first concerned the two warring clans. After getting reports from spies inside the Blue Blood clan, the patriarch and several other leaders of the Red Eye clan were able to confirm the details of what had transpired in regards to Dream and his fight with the Blue Blood patriarchs.
The information brought back had shocked the highest echelons of the Red Eye clan to silence. They didn't think Dream was so powerful so as to be able to nearly kill a class 6. To think such a character had randomly joined their clan and assisted them. What was more shocking though was the information from Vela about he was only a class 4 and planning to conduct his class 5 advancement soon.
However, other than Vela and Durack, nobody believed that Dream was actually a class 4. Like the old man that Dream had nearly killed, they came to the conclusion that he was the incarnation of some higher being, a demigod or something of the like. When considering his relationship with Melody, this was all the more plausible. Perhaps it was a demigod who wanted his sister to gain more real world experience, traveling across the cosmos and building skill. The incarnation was there as a guardian.
Regardless of the truth, the Red Eye clan immediately reevaluated Dream. He alone could bring ruin to both clans, let alone the Blue blood clan. Thus, when Patriarch Thousand Sword recalled what Dream had offered him, he no longer hesitated.
At the same time, the second patriarch of the clan, Patriarch Star, returned under his call. Not only that, but some other class 6's of the clan were mobilized. The patriarchs were merely the leaders of the clan, not the exclusive class 6's. In total, there were 8 of them, and all of them were called out.
Orders were given to gather armies and prepare war weapons. Everything that Dream had built the clan over the months was utilized, and the stockpiles of resources that had accumulated for hundreds and thousands of years was brought out. It was a full scale campaign. Not just Patriarch Thousand Sword, but even Patriarch Star and the other class 6's weren't willing to give up this chance. Besides, in the end, they were an asura clan. Asuras didn't shy away from fights or wars.
Like this, both clans prepared for total war, their everything on the line. It was the biggest event in either clan's long history of thousands of years.
Meanwhile, the man who started all this was out in space, not sparing a single ounce of attention to what was happening on that rock.
Not long after Dream had first arrived at the asura world, he had gone out to space and discovered Tersa along with several other planets. There were four barren planets in the solar system, and Dream had dropped his nanite clusters on them, kickstarting a world-ending plague and consuming the material on all the planets.
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That was a couple months ago. By now, the planets had been consumed, leaving nothing but nanites and the Terra Cores within. Now, Dream wanted to merge the planets with Tersa.
Of the four consumed planets, there were two that were larger than Tersa's planet. The first was about 60 thousand miles in diameter, and the other was 70 thousand miles in diameter. These made them around the size of Saturn. The other two were both about the size of Tersa's planet at 50 thousand miles in diameter.
These were all massive planets, much larger than the planets in Earth's star system where only Jupiter could compete. And after calculating it out with data received from his nanites, Dream found out that the four planets he consumed were equivalent to 800 Earths worth of mass.
And he was going to add all of this to Tersa's planet. In the end, she would be much larger than the current largest planet which was the asura planet.
With this in mind, Dream teleported to one of the nearest planets. After a few days, he had fully recovered, and now he was keeping true to his promises. Tersa was beside him, and she looked at the barren planet they appeared by.
"Master, how will you move this across such a vast distance? The power required for such a thing is incalculable."
"Well, I thought about shifting its orbit and having it intercept with your planet. But not only would that take a long time, it would cause an uncontrollable explosion, likely annihilating you both and throwing material everywhere. So instead I plan to move it myself. It'll take some effort and time, but I'll get it done."
"Yourself? Are you even capable of moving such a large body of mass?"
Tersa looked at Dream doubtfully. She knew that he was extraordinarily skilled, powerful, and smart, but this required sheer, absolute power. It was moving an entire planet!
Dream smiled.
"Yes, I can actually move this. I usually handle small things, so a lot of power is required for not a lot of results. But big things? Well, this will be my first time handling a planet, but I have confidence that I can put on a little show. Just watch."
Patting Tersa's head, Dream drifted toward the planet in front of him. The thing filled his view. It was the largest of the four planets, one that was 70 thousand miles in diameter. Dream wasn't intimidated by the sheer scale though. After all, he had a neutron star in his inventory.
Suddenly, Dream's cosmic form was released. At that moment, all the raging mana that existed within space stopped. The area about 3 miles around Dream became quiet.
Dream raised his hand, reaching out toward the planet. When he did so, all the mana around him exploded out, expanding rapidly as it shot toward the massive rock. Dream's influence controlled and programmed the mana as he created a hand that grew to untold proportions.
This hand of mana went from only a few miles wide to a hundred miles wide. Then, as this hand collided with all the limitless amounts of mana in space around it, it multiplied in size until it became 10 thousand miles wide. When this hand crashed into the planet, it was nearly 30 thousand miles wide.
*BOOOM*
When the hand of mana hit the planet, the entire celestial body shook. The next moment, the mana seeped into the planet before shoving it forward. Tersa was shocked as she saw the entire planet deviate from its orbit, being pushed by the massive body of mana summoned by Dream.
He had actually grabbed the planet. It was a display that not even Dream knew he could perform.
That wasn't all though. After pushing a bit, Dream mobilized more of his energy pool. Then, he shoved forth once more. Tersa had a blank face as the planet was thrown forward, shooting through space as if it were a baseball.
Dream smiled at this as he took a breath. That had cost him around 60% of his energy. Tersa looked at him after watching the planet sail into the distance.
"...You just threw a planet."
"I did."
"Couldn't you do something like that to kill everyone on the asura planet?"
"Probably not. A powerful class 6 could also do this should they know how to use their energy properly. Plus, that planet supposedly has a class 7 or a demigod on it. I doubt they would have trouble batting the planet away. They could probably annihilate the planet pretty easily in fact."
"Right... but who would be capable of mobilizing mana on such a large scale?"
Tersa spoke with doubt. Sure a class 6 might have the sheer power to perform what Dream did, but he used more than just sheer power. To control mana across such vast distances and use it systematically outside of one's range of Will required one to either program it with directions in advance or extend one's awareness across the mana, controlling it all directly. Dream opted for the former approach, programming the mana with what could only be described as an AI. This AI controlled the entire hand of mana, and Dream only needed to supply it with energy.
This was more advantageous than the latter approach since giving directions to mana also took energy. With Dream's magical AI, he didn't have to focus on controlling everything himself, just letting the intelligence replicate across the mana and control everything like a network of nanites.
However, it wasn't easy to do what he did. To program mana required one to have a deep understanding of magic. How many people were like Dream and had already touched the concept of magic itself? If put in the same position, a class 6 might just blow a hole through the planet instead of actually moving it.
"Anyway, that's one planet down. Let's go to the others and throw them too. When the planets arrive, I'll try and catch them for you."
"Try?"
"After that, you can merge them over time. By then the war between those two clans should start kicking off. I'll have to take time to build my weapons when that comes. Then I need to kill those patriarchs and harvest their souls. Once I do that, I can get on with my advancement. I have a feeling... this one will be big."
Dream rubbed his chin. Deep inside his gut he knew that this advancement would be huge. His intuition also told him that those class 6 souls would be essential. This was due to the fact that when one became a class 6, they gained awareness of concepts and became able to comprehend and touch them. Well, Dream had already touched two concepts, but he couldn't draw upon their power. He hoped to use class 6 souls as a way to reconcile that, however that might be done.
But he had to kill a class 6 first. And not just kill, but overpower and steal their intact soul. Such a thing wouldn't be easy, but if Dream utilized his full power to do so, he believed he could overwhelm them and succeed. It would just take a bit of preparation.
That was for later though. For now, Dream wanted to focus on getting the planets merged.
.........
Over the next two weeks, Dream did exactly as he said he would do and threw every planet. Since he wasn't injured while expending energy he could recover enough to throw each planet every day.
But with the planets at the distance they were, it would take years for them to collide with Tersa's planet. This was something Dream didn't initially think about as he was too impressed with himself being able to throw planets. Sophia also didn't say anything because she wanted him to have his moment of awesomeness. Either way, Dream had to resort to using a bit of spatial magic to move these celestial bodies.
With a dab of aether and a flick of his finger that tore open the chaotic void, Dream was able to shoot each planet right next to Tersa's planet. Of course, Dream had to consume his stockpiles of aether several times over, but given another 10 days, he was able to get the last planet over.
Now, there were four massive planets right next to Tersa's. Each one had its own material body and Terra Core. Now, all Tersa had to do was absorb them.
The material was easy. The nanites of each planet could simply stream from one to the other, piling on top of each other. But the Terra Cores were the hard part. Tersa had to absorb and assimilate their power. It was unknown if she even could, but Dream didn't have many doubts.
With Tersa next to him, Dream gazed at the five planets floating around right next to each other. It was a miraculous sight, with Tersa's planet in the center and the four other planets above below, to the left and right. They formed a diamond together, as per Dream's design.
"...Honestly, it's a shame that we can't keep things like this. Imagine if we could create a network between these planets, endless prosperity across each one. I could turn them into a single celestial structure bonded together by my nanites. It would be the largest single construct I've ever created..."
Dream spoke with a bit of wonder, imagining the scene in his head. A megastructure comprised of five planets. How crazy was that?
Meanwhile, Tersa could sense his wonder. She hesitantly spoke after a second.
"Master, do you want to keep it like this?"
"For your sake, no. You're more important than some cosmic wonders. Now that I think about it, let me show Melody this before we start."
Saying that, Dream suddenly disappeared, teleporting to the asura world. After snatching Melody, he instantly reappeared back next to Tersa.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! I was about to head out to a... battle..."
Melody yelled as she realized what happened. However, when she caught sight of the five planets before her, she was stunned silent.
"...Did you move five planets right next to each other?"
"Yes."
"...I'm not even going to ask how."
Melody mumbled as she stared at the planetary formation. It was unlike any other sight she had ever even imagined. Not even the space elevators Dream constructed could match the scale of this celestial sight. She had believed he couldn't do anything more to shock her. Turns out that was a false assumption.
"So do you want to go back to that battle or do you want to watch me merge these planets together?"
"Merge planets... Screw the damn battle, I'm watching this. You should invite the patriarchs of the clan to see this too."
"I'll have to pass. I don't need word of this spreading, at least until I'm prepared to defend this. Now, just sit back and relax."
With those words, Dream created a chair for Melody to sit in. As she got comfortable, Dream and Tersa began the planetary merger.
And thus commenced the birth of one of the most powerful celestial bodies in all the universe.