As things in Nevermore were still fully ongoing, even after the initial batch of geniuses were done, the rest of the multiverse had fallen into a bit of a lull. Even if plans were still in motion, many factions focused on the mega-dungeon first and foremost, as there wasn’t much else to deal with. Yet, shortly after having barely gotten over the appearance of an extinct True Royal, the return of the Malefic Viper, and the Chosen of the newly returned Primordial becoming the new top record holder on the Nevermore Leaderboards, another event shook the many intelligence agencies of the multiverse. The culprit, this time around, was another known figure, but what he had done, few had seen coming:

A clash with another Primordial… the Starseizing Titan.

The echoing sounds of the Cosmic Forge, the exclusive forge of the Starseizing Titan, ceaselessly sent waves of energy through the multiverse, yet that day, it had stilled. The many factions housed nearby instantly noticed, as whenever the Titan stopped working, it was due to some disturbance from an outside factor. Yet none dared even suggest who would be brave enough to interrupt the Primordial like this. The level of disrespect was nearly unimaginable unless it was another Primordial or being of equal standing.

Yet, the one who had done it made no attempts to hide as the aura of Yip of Yore spread throughout the cosmos for all of the nearby gods stationed there by their respective factions to feel. The Starseizing Titan was not one for secrecy either, as his voice boomed through space as the two gods had a very public confrontation.

“What have you come here for, young god?” the Titan asked - his question very much an insult by calling Yip nothing more than a young god. What’s more, his aura increased, pushing back Yip of Yore’s, even slightly overpowering it.

“I merely came to see the creator of the relics of old,” Yip of Yore answered, amplifying his voice to match that of the Primordial as he strengthened his own aura. “And to see if you could do me a minor favor and take a look at a little weapon of mine. I heard you know your stuff, even if your knowledge may be a bit outdated.”

“Impudent,” the dismissive voice of the Starseizing Titan said. “Leave me be, young one. You have no quarrel with me and do not wish for me to quarrel with you.”

“I just asked for a quick evaluation…” Yip answered, not heeding the words of the Titan at all.

All the gods observing with long-range scouting skills had them fully activated as they watched this scene take place. Yip floated in front of the far more massive Starseizing Titan. He was so small, like a single atom before a massive boulder, yet the aura he gave off made his presence unquestionable.

What was also unquestionable was the weapon he held in his hand. It was a simple-looking steel sword, yet it gave off an odd feeling to all who saw it. As if there was far more to the weapon than met the eye… like it had a long history of accomplishments behind it.

“This sword,” Yip spoke loudly as he held it up, “is known as the Hero’s Sword. Not because it was crafted by some mythical being or because it’s made of the greatest materials in the multiverse… but because of what it has done. What’s it’s been through. Rather than being forged in fire, it has been forged in the Records of my Path.”

He said these words, as if announcing them to the multiverse and not just to say them to the Primordial. No, it was a message to all of them, including the other eleven Primordials.

“I do not find myself impressed that you have a sword with a storied history. All with a long Path has such weapons,” the Titan once more dismissed the younger god.

“Yet none has a story greater than mine,” Yip smiled. “Now, please. Evaluate my weapon.”

“No. Leave my sight.”

There was no room for argument. All observed curiously to see Yip’s reaction, as he just smiled. Almost as if this was exactly what he had wanted to happen.

“Then allow me to take the initiative… and, in my own impudence, test my little sword on what most call the most durable thing in the multiverse,” Yip of Yore said as he lowered the sword and pointed it at the Starseizing Titan.

“You.”

Without any further warning, reality shattered as the sword was swung. Space bent as a crescent wave of force powerful enough to tear Godkings and Godqueen apart with ease fell upon the shoulder of the massive body of the Starseizing Titan.

A loud scraping sound was heard as the sword seemingly failed to land a single mark, and the Titan retaliated with a simple punch. Yip of Yore was pushed away as if the universe itself commanded it, sending him flying backward as he quickly stabilized with a smile on his face.

“What a waste of effort,” the Titan spoke. “Stop wasting my time with your antics.”

“Wasted… antics… I don’t think so,” Yip of Yore said as he lifted his sword and pointed at the Starseizing Titan again. “The sword of a hero… can cut anything and anyone he is determined to fight.”

A crackling sound was heard as everything went silent. On the shoulder of a Starseizing Titan, a long cut had formed, as his almost crystalline body had cracked all along it, and mana poured out of his body like a torrent, shocking everyone who observed.

“YOU!” the Starseizing Titan yelled as he swung his right hand holding the hammer. Space imploded as a shockwave was sent out that washed over the already retreating Yip of Yore. The wound on the Titan had already mended itself by the time the swing was over, but the mere fact his natural defenses had been breached…

Yip grinned as he defended himself as best he could while flying backward, a bit of blood on his lips from the shockwave that he had luckily managed to avoid for the most part. “Not gonna push my luck further than this… and thank you for your high evaluation.”

With that, Yip of Yore disappeared, having made history once more.

The word of what had happened spread like wildfire as the legend of the weapon was further empowered. A sword capable of cutting and injuring the Starseizing Titan, the most durable of all Primordials…

Was one capable of killing any of the Primordial.

And whoever was wielding it had the potential to be the very first Primordial Slayer in the multiverse.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

As the multiverse was getting shaken up a bit, Jake was entirely too busy flying through space, pulling a large net of mana strings with quite the catch on the other end.

“Forward, my steed! To Earth!” Sandy yelled as Jake flew as fast as he could while the worm clearly enjoyed themself. Jake, not so much, as dragging along a giant worm that liked to wriggle from time to time wasn’t the easiest job in the world.

“You know, I have a great idea. What if I just shoot exploding arrows at you to propel you toward Earth?” Jake offered. “That would be a lot more fun. Probably faster, too.”

“… you would really do that to a poor worm that got injured to this extent trying to help you? Well… I guess if that’s what you want, I can give up my health and dignity to-“

“Just… fine,” Jake sighed as they kept flying.

“Good steed.”

“You can’t whisper under your breath with telepathic messages,” Jake muttered.

“You totally can…”

“No, you can’t.”

“Where there is a will, there is a way.”

The very intelligent conversation between two Chosen of ancient gods continued with Jake having his first real flight through space. While most of his mental energy was spent talking to Sandy, a lot also went into subtly trying to take in the environment and trying to figure out how to fly faster.

Needless to say, One Step was not a possibility, so Jake had to rely solely on his wings for this flight. With constant acceleration space gone, Jake couldn’t just burn energy to attain near-infinite speed, but he could still fly a lot faster in space than on Earth. His top speed was especially outstanding, and he believed he would be able to make it back to Earth in only a bit over two weeks if he kept up his current pace. That was roughly five days to fly approximately ten times the diameter of Earth, which was pretty good in Jake’s book. Compared to Sandy, it was on the slower side, but considering Jake wasn’t a giant cosmic worm and instead had to drag a cosmic worm along with him, he was more than satisfied.

Not that Jake expected to make the full trip. Sandy was recovering quickly, and one of the first things to usually be replenished was the most important powers – such as movement skills. Sandy would be weakened, sure, but even a Sandy at ten percent speed was faster than Jake in space.

“By the way, where do you wanna go when you get back to Earth?” Sandy asked after a bit. “Sorry to say, but I don’t think I’ll be a fun adventuring companion for a while.”

“It’s fine, you just rest… and I’m not sure yet,” Jake answered honestly. “But I do plan on staying on Earth for the most part, only popping back to the Order if I need anything there. Besides doing alchemy, I have no other plans before the Prima Guardian arrives, outside of waiting for Miranda and the others to get back.”

“Yeah… I think I’ll go back to the Order for a while to heal. Big Boss Hydra already told me he got stuff ready to help me,” the worm said. “Tasty stuff too…”

“I see, I see,” Jake nodded as he hid his worry while he kept flying. The worrying feeling wasn’t just from this one comment but from Jake thinking more about a prior conversation he had with the Malefic Viper. So, he reached out to the god to share his concerns, even if it probably wasn’t his place to do so.

“Hey, Villy, you got a second?” Jake asked the snake god.

“I have a lot more than a second. Infinite time, in fact. A perk of being a god, you should try it sometime,” the snake god answered cheekily.

“Very funny. My worry is about Sandy and-“

“Don’t be,” the Viper cut him off. “First of all, very heretical of you to doubt the Lord Protector of the Order of the Malefic Viper’s abilities to nurture his own Chosen. Secondly, you are correct that the methods Snappy is using with the cosmic worm wouldn’t work with you.”

“It’s just that… won’t Sandy’s Records be hurt by this? Getting things handed to you like that is generally bad, right? You also say that too much help kills Records, and from the sounds of it, Snappy is helping Sandy a whole lot,” Jake voiced his concerns. “Especially with that resurrection skill. Won’t it hurt Sandy a whole lot that the worm is very rarely, if ever, in true danger of dying? I know it may affect Sandy less than it would me, but if I had that kind of skill… yeah, I wouldn’t want it at all.”

“You two are not the same. You are a hunter who needs to find his own prey and needs to do his own thing. Danger is a part of the thrill of the hunt and whatnot. But haven’t you considered how much help you’ve gotten with alchemy? How you’ve been handed expensive materials, books, teachers, everything you could want is available to you, and you use it freely. Yet it does not hurt your Records… why is that?” the Viper did that annoying teaching thing where he made Jake realize things on his own.

“Because… it doesn’t matter as much where I get the materials from, but what I make from them… and with books and all that, I still study it myself and reach my own conclusions. Not that I really learn much outside of doing, so… oh. I really only earn Records by doing, huh?” Jake realized, a bit annoyingly so, as he realized this had been what the Viper was fishing for.

“Bingo. Now consider Sandy. What do you think is core to that worm’s Path?”

“Eating?” Jake said, not really that sure.

“Pretty much so. Eating and exploration to get things to eat. However, the most important is to just get whatever food Sandy wants. That’s where the real Records come from. It’s true that self-found objects have a unique flavor of Records that gifted items won’t, but Sandy can eat so much gifted food compared to what the worm needs to find alone that the proportions aren’t even funny. Sandy would, without a doubt, be capable of reaching A-grade without ever leaving the confines of the Order unless exploring with a god as backup and just sleeping and eating in complete safety. Maybe even S-grade. Because the source of food is such a minor factor for Sandy’s Path. Of course, such an S-grade would be pretty weak, even if Sandy is a strong variant. The end result would be a cosmic worm with subpar skills and all that. Sure, it won’t be as bad as the forcibly raised angels of the Holy Church, but it is definitely better for the cosmic worm to also explore by themselves and strive for some level of self-improvement,” the Viper said, going on a bit of a tangent toward the end.

Jake just nodded telepathically, ignoring the part about angels entirely. “Thanks for putting my mind at ease. Anyway… moon’s haunted, eh?”

“Indeed, it seems so. Not to worry, it happens,” the Viper shrugged on the other end. “Speaking of things that may come to haunt you… kind of a big story in the multiverse these days, and it’s probably best you hear it from me so you don’t get surprised. It’s about how Yip of Yore…”

The Viper proceeded to tell Jake about the god’s recent exploits regarding his “fight” with the Starseizing Titan. This was not something Jake had expected to hear today, and definitely not in the category of good news.

“Does he really call his sword the Hero’s Sword?” Jake questioned after Villy was done.

“Weird thing to focus on, but yes, he does. Because he is the legendary hero of his own story,” the Viper answered.

“Also, isn’t the timing a bit… you know,” Jake continued.

“He is reclaiming some momentum. Showing that even if his Chosen has faltered against you, it’s inconsequential to his goals. It’s to prove he is still more than powerful enough to not only fight but potentially kill a Primordial. The more people believe he can do that, the more powerful he will become when actually facing a Primordial in a true battle to the death. When he faces me in a battle to the death,” Villy explained calmly.

Calmly enough for Jake to not yet feel overly worried, even if the news were worrying.

“I’ll trust you got things handled,” Jake just said.

“A wise choice.”

The connection slowly faded after a bit more small talk as Jake just kept flying, occasionally talking to Sandy on the way. After about a week, Sandy was back in good enough condition to eat Jake and handle the rest of the trip. The worm had even made a new, more private stomach for Jake to be in. No alchemy lab, though.

Jake did say that he could just go where the dietitian and other people were, but Sandy rejected that entirely.

“I don’t want Tom to interact with bad influences,” Sandy said very firmly.

“Did you just call me a bad influence?”Jake asked in disbelief.

“You drag people into doing dumb things all the time,” Sandy argued.

“Are you really going to-“

“Such as convincing them to go to haunted moons.”

“I had no idea the moon was haunted,” Jake muttered.

“Perhaps it always has been… food for thought.”

“I am beginning to believe you are the bad influence on Tom,” Jake said sternly.

“It’s the other way around. Tom is a good influence on everyone else. That’s why he’s Tom.”

“… and who did you say Tom was again? And don’t just say Tom is-“

“Tom. Glad you understand.”