Who is she?

Stunned silence.

Then.

Wild cheer! Everyone was going crazy after what they've just seen. What a total turn of events. She'd actually done it, she'd put down the giant, and in such a spectacular manner. Even Dane was impressed. The one he'd considered a pawn turned out to be a queen, an ace in the hole.

No one expect this, much less even understood how she'd done it. Her style was so impressive and awe inspiring that she seemed an angel. The spectacle of the moonlight on her made her even more dazzling.

How did she do it. Hasilo, being of the rock element, naturally had top tier defense against the body, he could simply turn his fur into rock and protect his body. This was one of the skills he'd learned. Unlike Bamboo's, Hasilo training at his defense had been so easy since that was one of the natural traits of the rock element. His problem had been attack since he was mainly suited as a tank, taking a lot of the beating to give the rest of the team room to perform.

As such, Krea shouldn't have broken through so easily. Yet she did.

What he didn't know was that Krea was a practiced healer. Healers by design had a good understanding of the anatomy, even if it was instinctive, as was the case for Krea. In cases where she had to treat wounds, she would overlay the infected or injured area with the water element. Then she'd release her healing spell triggering rapid regeneration of the impacted area.

The skill would draw from her power. While previously, her abilities couldn't do much, with her new found command of the water element, she could even regenerate whole limbs. If she continued to rise, at some point, she would be virtually unkillable, as even if a small part of her remains, she could regenerate from there.

The true meaning of the word immortal was not one who couldn't be killed, but rather one who had an unlimited lifespan. The difference between mortals and immortals was that the life of a mortal had an expiry date, an end point. Even if no one did anything, the mortal would wither away and die. That was not the case with an immortal.

Immortals had unlimited lifespans. They could continue to exist and hence continue to grow in strength, becoming true powerhouses.

Similarly, one had to understand that there was a difference between a mortal death and true death. A mortal death was just the body of the mortal perishing. The soul would remain intact. However, true death meant totally extinguishing the soul.

What happened to a mortal soul once the body died? There were three ways it could end up. One, was get into a cycle of reincarnation. In naturally occurring planets, such as Endar, there was a reincarnation cycle in place, but they were never a sure bet. Souls could get trapped in a void and be lost completely, akin to true death.

The second was known as guided reincarnation. In cases where there were powerful gods ruling, they could set up an elaborate system of reincarnation. Truly powerful beings would set up limbos and paradises for the true believers in according to customs and traditions they had set up.

Dane did not know, or rather, at the time of his leaving, he didn't have the qualifications to know how to even accomplish such a feat, as it was directly linked to the status of godhood, after all, to be a god, you had to answer a mortal the one question that bugged them above all, what happens after death.

The third was also related to godhood. Once a being interfered with natural reincarnation cycle, or if they created said planet and had to put up their own reincarnation, there was no chance for natural reincarnation occurring. Needless to say, reincarnation dealt with the power of life and death. If anyone was barred from entering the reincarnation, they would undergo a fate worse than true death.

The kind of energy released by these reincarnation cycles were so terrifying as they contained the power of death. Souls trapped in such would undergo the pain of death repeatedly in an endless cycle of despair. This was what mortals referred to as hell. It was so severe that even immortal beings, once sucked in there, could be lost forever. Death was not to be played with.

The only exclusions to these rules were if the soul in question was going back to it's original body, for instance, when they, powerful beings, took on mortal bodies. After Death, they would go back to original bodies, and in some cases, it really was just a consciousness going back home.

Only in extremely immersive situations did they need to go in with their full consciousness. To avoid any kind of mental deterioration, they would seal their full consciousness, with set objectives that they would have to meet before they can unlock who they were. This was what Kedan had been.

At birth, they still have the blank mind. However, before birth, if the being in question was powerful enough, he could select the best features among the gene pool available, and even sometimes go to great lengths to match the parents who possessed the kind of genes they desired. With this, they could manipulate and modify the genes at the point of conception, before supplying their own soul as the infant's soul.

The parents would raise their child as their own, without suspecting anything. There was nothing to suspect since this really was their child, and he was using powers and abilities drawn from the parents genetics. This was so as to have true authenticity.

As the child continued to grow, they would begin to unlock and understand more about who they were. Usually, the targets for unlocking consciousness were curricular levels, like if someone awakened an ability, they would know they were incarnations of expert beings.

Usually, this led to them having a desire to go for the child to go for more and more power and increase his overall strength, as it was only by doing so would understand who they were and where they came from.

Due to legacies they had left behind, preparations made, memories about how to use powers unlocked, the child would be miles ahead of all their peers. It was an obvious cheat, but remember, they always went under with a reason, and the mission had to be kept first. They naturally rose to be powerful leaders, where they would exert their authority and accomplish the mission. Rewards were given shortly after coming out.

However, there were cases where the being would choose to live on. As they grew stronger, their lifespans stretched on to eternity, even in their incarnation. This meant that they were trapped in that life unless they found a way to die. Some chose to die, other continued on it the life they had created.

There was no limit to how long one could stay, and if there was nothing to go back to, as it was often the case, there was no rush. This may sound mean but it really was the case. The ones that they had left behind had probably all died, and his name probably forgotten. And even if he was still remembered, what was he to do, go and announce, hey, I am your ancestor! A lot of good that would do.

The administrators were also not in much haste. If there wasn't a dire need, they were happy to let them continue on in their training. Bear in mind, there wasn't a lot of things to occupy the mind of faction protectors, and it wasn't always a good idea having a munch of walking natural calamities running around.

Some lived together in colonies, while others sort to live in their home town planets. There was little need to stay in campus after the initial training was over, as most of the training and activities could be done remotely.

After a successful mission, Kedan was supposed to go to the Faction Headquarters to pick up his rewards. Then he would have some time on his hands where he was allowed to roam as he wanted. After Shanara's visit, he deduced most of Dane's associates were carefully watched, to detect any sign of trouble.

Absolutely no one thought Dane would go down without a struggle. Even Mother Fwetha expected some sort of retaliation. Of course, given her power, she wasn't very petrified, but, it was never a good idea to let your enemies out of your sight. It was already bad enough that the Universe Creator had made her give up pursuit of Dane, but should he try something, she was eagerly waiting. There was little for these powers to amuse themselves with, especially at their level, so some competition and adversity got her quite amused.

On the day of his departure to the Faction HQ, Kedan remembered that message.

It had been like he had entered a brilliantly lit hall in some corner of his mind. As he moved closer, to his shock, it was his Master, or Big Bro, Dane. He sat on a throne made of gold. The entire hall's floor was overlaid with gold, and thick carpet. There were five flights of stairs to get to the throne. A true masterpiece.

Above them, there hall was lit by five elegant chandeliers that were set on the ceiling. Kedan approached carefully, wondering if the person in question was really Dane. Though the one on the throne did indeed have his appearance, but at their level, they couldn't trust appearances at all. It also wasn't lost on him that this message was intended to be for Dane, so how could it be him on the throne.

"So you finally decided to look in?" Dane asked.

"Is it you, really?"

"I cannot answer that question unless you confirm that it IS really you. Someone may have taken the message from my trusted friend." Dane took a moment's pause before continuing, "You know what must be done, this is my way of testing if this is really you. It shall also be your way of testing if I am who I claim to be."

Kedan noted the person in question didn't mention which friend. Yes, that was also a possibility. If Dane had managed to send such a confidential message, one right into his soul, he wouldn't want it falling in the wrong hands. Similarly, he couldn't trust whatever this being said until it had proven it really was Dane.

They both had set up a way to verify that they were who they claimed to be. It was usually done only by those who trusted each other completely. They could be either siblings, lovers or master disciple relationship. This was because it involved a very intricate web of verification that had to exist over generations and endure. Only those really close warranted such effort, and only the really important and confidential messages required such measures.

Kedan boarded his spaceship with 2 destinations in mind. First, he would go the Faction HQ to claim his reward, and get a basic idea of what the mood was after his absence for so long. Then he would go on that errand. If his friend had sent the message, then he knew of where to go to start the verification process. Only then would both confirm whom they were.

***

Krea and Hasilo's had been the final fight of the 3rd night. It had been entertaining, and plenty of excitements on both ends. Yet now, the 4th day was here.

All day long as many engaged in various flurry of activity, there was only one thing that was on their lips. Even this totally eclipsed Krea's performance, or maybe was enhanced by it. All in all, everyone was anticipating the night with excited, and why wouldn't they? For in this night, the fight of the two shining stars:

Krea versus Bamboo.