The cloud drifted slowly through the star-filled expanse of Elias's Spirit Domain.
Below, the still water reflected the infinite sky, creating the illusion of floating between two universes. The Torii gate stood in the distance, red and patient. The palace of golden cherry blossoms rose behind it, its towers catching the light of nebulae that swirled in colors Elias had no names for.
Tamamo sat cross-legged on the cloud, her kiseru in one hand, her four tails waving lazily behind her. In her diminished form, she looked almost—almost—like a normal child.
Except for the eyes.
Those ancient, golden, knowing eyes.
Unable to resist, Elias now lay on his side, head propped on his hand.
"You said you would explain the workings of the world."
"Did I?" Tamamo asked, taking a long puff.
"You did."
"Hmm."
"Yeah, but you've been smoking for five minutes."
"I'm building atmosphere."
"Hmmm, so should I leave or?"
She sighed.
"Ugh, fine. Impatient child."
She tapped her kiseru against the cloud. Ash drifted downward, dissolving into nothing before it touched the water.
"Let's start simple," she said.
"Concepts."
The word echoed.
Not loudly—but with weight.
Elias frowned slightly.
"Concepts?"
Tamamo nodded.
"Everything you interact with—everything you perceive, understand, manipulate,manipulates you—exists as a concept."
She waved her hand.
The space between them rippled.
A shape formed from the cloud.
A knife.
Simple. Metallic. Sharp.
It floated between them, rotating slowly.
"This," she said, gesturing to it, "is not just an object."
Elias watched it.
"It's… a knife."
"Yes," she said. "But more importantly—it is the concept of a knife."
Elias's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I don't understand."
Tamamo smiled faintly.
"This object exists with characteristics that are used to define and classify it as information to be understood. You understand that it cuts. You understand how it can be used to cook. You understand its made of metal. Or cloud in this case."
The knife flickered—then shattered into fragments of light.
"Now tell me Elias, what is a knife."
Elias opened his mouth then froze. His brow furrowed as he thought long and hard. Finally—
"Knife?...I-I don't know."
Tamamo's smile widened.
"Good. Because I destroyed the concept of a knife in this space."
Elias loked at her incredulously.
"It still exists but not in the form where you can define or categorize it as understandable information."
The knife reformed and suddenly Elias knew what it was again.
"Now you get it? That understanding—shared, recognized, reinforced—that is the concept."
Elias was quiet.
Processing.
"…okay," he said slowly. "So concepts are… meanings?"
"Manifested meanings," she corrected.
"Stable enough to be interacted with. Weak enough to be altered."
Elias nodded faintly.
"That's what Acolytes and Votaries deal with," Tamamo continued.
"Your level."
He glanced at his hands briefly.
"…so when I use Flow—"
"You're not just affecting objects," she said. "You're touching the concept behind them."
She snapped her fingers.
The knife turned to mist changed into a sword.
Then—
A battlefield materialized from the cloud around them. Elias was mildly suprised at how lifelike these projections were.
Smoke. Fire. Figures clashing in silence.
"War," she said simply.
Elias watched the transformation.
"That escalated."
Tamamo chuckled softly.
"Because concepts don't exist in isolation."
She leaned back slightly.
"They are the end result, the manifestation we can visibly see. Like skin on a body, it is only te outer layer but within that body are organs. Bones. Blood."
Her eyes sharpened.
"So, above the Concepts—are Notions."
The battlefield froze.
Then—
It unraveled.
Revealing something deeper.
Simpler.
A hand gripping a knife. Another person in front of it. The motion of a stab.
The result.
Stillness.
Tamamo's voice softened slightly.
"The notion," she said, "that a knife can kill."
Elias's gaze sharpened.
"That's more… fundamental."
"Yes."
She nodded.
"Notions are truths. Not opinions. Not interpretations. Truths. They are the underlying realities that give birth to concepts."
She pointed.
"If the notion exists—that a blade can take life—then concepts like war, violence, murder… all emerge naturally. Like how skin grows to cover muscles."
"Whats with you and this skin analogy?"
"Its the simplest way I can describe it."
Elias leaned back slightly.
Thinking.
"So even if you removed the concept of war…"
"The notion remains," she finished.
"And so… war would return."
"So that the equation would balance itself."
Elias exhaled slowly.
"…I see."
amamo's smile widened.
"Do you?"
She raised a finger.
"Because above that—are Ideas."
The scene shifted again.
The knife disappeared.
The act disappeared.
What remained—
Was possibility.
A hand holding nothing.
Yet—
The implication lingered.
"The idea," Tamamo said, "that something can be used, whether for war or peace."
Elias blinked.
"That's even more abstract."
"We haven't even gotten to Abstracts yet."
She tapped her temple lightly.
"Ideas define what can exist. They are frameworks."
"If the idea exists that that a knife can be a weapon in the first place. That tools can be used for harm or good. That intention can be channeled through objects—then countless Notions that preceed countless Ideas then Concepts can form from it."
Elias sat quietly.
"So…"
He spoke slowly.
"Concepts are… surface-level meanings. Notions are the truths behind them.Ideas are… the possibilities that allow them to exist. Like Skin, Muscles, Bone?"
Tamamo's eyes gleamed.
"Correct."
She leaned forward slightly.
"Now."
A pause.
Her voice lowered.
"Above all of that—are Abstracts."
The word felt—
Different.
Heavier.
The space around them trembled slightly—not violently, but subtly, like something shifting just beyond perception.
Elias frowned.
"What are Abstracts?"
Tamamo didn't answer immediately.
Instead—
She reached out.
And erased everything.
The knife.
The battlefield.
The hand.
Gone.
Only the endless sky remained.
Then—
She spoke.
"Abstracts are not things you understand."
"They are things that allow understanding to exist."
Elias tilted his head.
"Eh?"
She smiled faintly.
"Think of it this way."
She gestured upward.
"You can see stars."
"That is a Concept."
"You know that they exist in space."
"That is a Notion."
"You understand that something like a 'star' can exist at all."
"That is an Idea."
She lowered her hand.
"But the abstract…"
Her gaze met his.
"…is existence itself."
Silence.
Elias didn't speak.
Didn't move.
"…existence…" he repeated quietly.
Tamamo nodded.
"Abstracts are the absolute foundations. The pillars of all of creation."
She gestured with her kiseru.
"The abstract of Senseless Violence. The abstract of Unrequitted Love. The abstract of Total Separation. The abstract of Inevitable Ending."
"You cannot touch an abstract. You cannot see it. You cannot name it properly—your language is not equipped to contain their meaning. But it is there. Beneath everything. The root from which all other branches grow. They simply are."
She leaned back slightly.
"And the deities…"
A pause.
Her smile turned sharper.
"Are the pillars. They are abstracts."
Elias's expression shifted.
"…so the path of ascension…"
"Is a climb," she said.
"Through these layers."
She counted them off.
"Acolyte. Votary—Concept."
"Saint. Praetorian—Notion."
"Paragon. Archon—Idea."
"And the gods…"
Her eyes gleamed.
"Abstract."
Elias let out a slow breath.
"…so each stage—"
"Is not just power," she said.
"It is influence."
She pointed at him.
"As an Acolyte, you're not just manipulating things. You're beginning to affect the concept you embody. Crudely. Inelegantly. But yes. The wind you command is not merely air. It is the concept of motion, of pressure, of resistance. You are learning to write your code on the fabric of reality itself. Become Votary—you master it."
Elias leaned back slightly on the cloud.
"…that's insane. Wait, how do you know all this?"
Tamamo grinned.
"Because I was there when the current batch of 'gods' came up with it. Before that things were different."
"How so?''
She waved her hand dismissively.
"You don't need to know. Just know that it was the natural way through which a being, human or beast, could become stronger."
"Huh....So, how does this link to my earlier qiestion, how do you know they are manipulating events."
"Oh Elias, I thought you were smart enough to have figured it out by now."
"Huh?"
She ignored him and waved her hand.
The cloud beneath them shifted—flattening, reshaping.
Becoming—
A chessboard.
Black and white squares stretching between them.
Pieces formed.
Pawns.
Knights.
Kings.
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"Chess?"
"I saw it in your memories," she said casually.
"Interesting game."
She picked up a pawn and continued.
"Imagine that you and I are playing..."
She moved it two squares.
"…we control the board. Directing events. Choosing which pieces move and when."
She moved another pawn. Black advanced one square.
"We are not on the board. We are above it."
She took a puff.
The board shimmered again.
The pieces transformed.
They were no longer shapes. They were figurines—small, humanoid, each one distinct. They moved on their own now, interacting, shifting, playing out their own small dramas. A white pawn encountered a black pawn. Words were exchanged—silent, invisible, but clearly happening.
"Now," Tamamo said, "the pieces cannot see us. They do not know we are here. To them, the board is the world. Their movements are their own choices."
The white pawn advanced and killed the black one.
The board reverted to its normal state.
"They cannot see that they are being manipulated."
Tamamo picked up the captured pawn and set it aside.
"The higher you are…the more you see and the more you can change."
Elias's eyes looked at her.
"So you can see it."
"Yes."
Elias frowned.
Then:
"This entire thing. The attack on Blackhaven. My father's accusation. It's all because of some god's will."
Tamamo shook her head.
"Some god's authority."
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"No."
She pointed her kiseru at him.
"Assume there is a person. Let us call him... the Sovereign. He lurks in the shadows like a cockroach. He has authority over death. Does that mean he can will time to stop?"
Elias opened his mouth.
"No," Tamamo said. "You cannot simply will things to happen. Having authority over death does not grant you dominion over time. You act through your authority. You affect the world by affecting death. You do not wish it into being—you shape it."
"Those seem like weirdly specific descriptions."
Tamamo's expression flickered.
"I once observed a certain individual from another world. He was playing a giant-sized board game. Chess, but... different. Strange pieces and a moth for some reason."
"You're making zero sense right now."
"Don't worry about it." She said waving dissmisively and taking another puff.
Silence settled between them.
Elias leaned back, staring up at the endless sky.
His thoughts moved slowly.
Carefully.
Deus.
The bastard had not spoken since declaring Elias his pawn. Since setting him on this path.
Elias had wondered why. Why the silence? Why the absence?
Now he understood.
Deus was not absent.
Deus was already moving.
'That fucker...'
"Which deity is responsible for the attack on Blackhaven?" Elias asked. "Is it the same one who caused us to come to Aethelberg?"
Tamamo took a long puff.
"I don't know."
Elias's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
She looked at him. Her golden eyes were ancient, tired, amused.
"I am still a Divine Beast. Even if, for the time being, I have become your... servant."
Elias's lip twitched.
"Even so, I am missing my tails. I am not at full power. I can see the pieces being played—the pawns, the knights, the rooks—but I cannot see the hands that move them."
She smirked.
"But."
She tapped her nose.
"I have a very good nose. And if I were to guess..."
Her eyes gleamed.
"This is a move that ###### would make."
Elias blinked.
"Huh…what?"
The word—
Didn't register.
Like it had been erased before he could hear it.
"Say that again."
Tamamo sighed.
"There's no point. I guess even here in your Domain I can't reveal certain things."
"Try again."
"No."
"Tamamo—"
"You'll find out eventually."
"Tch. Annoying...."
She leaned back and took a puff.
"Oh—and speaking of annoying…"
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
"Deus will contact you soon."
Elias's expression didn't change.
"Great."
"And not just him."
She tilted her head.
"You'll meet other pawns."
"Other players."
Her eyes locked onto his.
"So."
A pause.
"Now that you understand the basics…"
"What's your plan?"
The cloud projections around them faded and the infinite stretched once more.
Elias was quiet.
For a moment.
Then—
He opened his mouth to speak.