Alex had played around the void creature enough to know its fundamental build. The void creature was on its last leg.
The void creature panted and writhed in agony, bleeding from all its missing body parts.
The black essence it let out was a final desperate attempt, but in the end, it didn't matter.
It was the end.
'It was a learning experience.' Alex noted, staring at the creature with a profound gaze. 'Your relentless desire to kill me pushed me more than I could have done alone.'
He had learned a lot from the void creature. With his understanding of laws, he knew that there were ways he could be killed if he didn't have some sort of protection.
The fight had given him a lot of inspiration to try many things; both for himself and his loved ones.
With a thought, Alex stretched out his right hand in the direction of the void creature, taking control of the surrounding void energy to unravel the creature.
The black essence offered no resistance to his control of the surrounding energies.
They purposely seemed to target only living organisms, capable of erasing them completely with no evidence of existence left behind.
The creature struggled, cried out and attempted to flee, but there was no escape. It was trapped and held in place by the very laws that made up its existence.
With a last agonizing screech, the void creature dissolved into harmless chaotic essence, resembling decayed material blown away by the winds.
The only thing it left behind was its black core glimmering with its sinister and dangerous dark aura.
'It's over,' Alex sighed as he pulled the core over to him. The black essence slowly dissipated, no longer held together by its power.
'I'll need time to study this thing.' Alex mused as he dispelled his Voidflare state, returning to his base form. 'But I get the feeling this would not be beneficial to me in any way.'
Alex put the core away and took a good look around. The true void was very expansive with nothing in sight. Their battle had taken them across this space for many uncountable distances.
'I'm surprised there are no other void creatures around.' It hadn't crossed his mind at the time. 'Maybe different veil tears have some differences.'
He put the thought aside and turned in the direction of the veil tear. It wasn't in his view, but he knew it was there.
Suddenly his figure disappeared and appeared right in the middle of the tear, his universe before him and the true void behind him.
His mind went back to when he fought the creature in the galaxy. The destruction that rained down in that single instance was enough to bring people to despair.
'A lot of people are already dead.' he felt a pang of guilt within himself. 'And the rest of humanity would live with a constant shadow over their heads, not knowing if their home worlds would be destroyed.'
He closed his eyes to take a moment of peace and despite his own suffering, humanity was having it worse.
There was a good chance people may not smile again, and Alex was afraid to see that. Humanity had come too far to give in, but with the madness going on around them, who wouldn't?
'I'll have to do something,' Alex resolved with a profound gaze and then took a seat in the middle of the veil tear. 'However, it's time for me to heal.'
Finally focusing on himself, Alex paid attention to his surroundings. He noticed something the moment he arrived at the junction.
The universe was a place of organized laws and energies while the true void was a lawless place.
However, energies flowed in and out of the system, being exchanged seamlessly with no conflict.
'Chaotic energies bend to the rules of the universe, instantly being transformed into organized forms before flowing into the universe, and the reverse is true.'
It was a beautiful transformation. One that had to be guided by some core principles. 'Energy is flexible and can be transformed into anything so far as you have an understanding of the laws.
'Most of the laws are simple enough to understand, but there are complex ones too.' Alex dispelled the energy prop he made to replace his cut-off hand. 'There is the law of time, and then there is the foundational blueprint from which we are put together.
'The creature was able to cut through that unique blueprint. And that's why I can't heal.' His eyes shone brightly as the complexities around that particular expanded his knowledge about life and death.
'I need to rebuild the missing blueprint…. I need to repair… My soul….'
He took a deep breath as that word echoed in his being. 'This world is indeed complex.'
Alex switched his focus to his consciousness within his inner realm where the black hole continued to siphon the surrounding energies.
'Still hasn't gotten to the next bottleneck, huh?' Honestly, he didn't know if there would be a next phase for him.
Still, he unleashed the full force of the black hole, instantly creating a swirling sea of energy rushing into his system.
Then he focused on himself, diving deeper to study the foundational blueprint. And like everything else, it was a complex intermixing of energies to an extreme degree.
Slowly, he began to unravel the mysteries of the soul, noting down every nook and cranny of the structure.
Even with his higher self and intelligence, it took some time. Just like that, two weeks passed before Alexander opened his eyes.
'So that's why.' Alex thought with a smile. 'The soul is my actual self. A combination of specific energy states that flow with a unique pattern‒a set of impulses protected by many layers of shields.
'It connects seamlessly with my physical energy state. It's why it can't be destroyed without the proper knowledge or ability.
'It resists changes‒unlike the physical body but grows nonetheless. But resisting doesn't mean impossible.' Alex thought.
Looking at his hand, he now knew where the pain came from. It was a reaction of the soul to being exposed to the surrounding energies.
It wasn't meant to interact with the surrounding energies. Alex looked at the universe, noticing this unique energy state that was mostly dormant.
Without the soul as the blueprint, there was nothing to build a physical body. That was why his hand wasn't regenerating. There was nothing to build on.
'But now…'
Alex smiled as he tapped into the dormant soul energies around him. He guided it towards the stump, and with the right hand as a map, rebuilt the lost foundation.
The spot glowed with an emerald essence, resembling a transparent holographic image.
The emerald essence grew slowly as it reformed the forearm, palms and then the fingers.
Alex groaned in pain, realizing the process was painful. Swiftly, he layered the rebuilt blueprint with its shields.
And as soon as the layout was done, his regeneration kicked in.
'Done' Alex beamed in satisfaction.
However, the surprise did not end there…