Silence returned to the core space once more, allowing the two males to sigh in relief.
"That boy was something else…" The short male muttered, his voice slightly shaky. "To think we could have evolved to this level on our own. I can't imagine how powerful he would have been." A shudder ran through his body.
"I still think we should have kept him alive." The woman said. "We could have learned a thing or two from him."
"I understand what you're saying, Maeralith. But you should have felt the same alarming feeling." The short male sighed. "That boy had no intention of yielding. Do you really think he would let us go if we had allowed him to succeed?"
The woman identified as Maeralith lowered her head under her cloak, clenching her fists slightly. She knew her companions were right, but there was this feeling that they may have lost something very precious.
"None of that matters any more." Alex's killer said. "What's done is done. Once this universe is refined, we can leave." He turned to look at the refiners still on their feet, refining the core under heavy strain.
'But I also understand her feelings.' The man clenched his fist silently. 'For a moment, there was this strange feeling. A feeling of losing something precious.'
He wasn't a stranger to this feeling, and as a Veilwalker, he had learned to listen to his instincts and they had never led him astray.
However, because that feeling was mixed in with the alarm he was feeling, and the pressure from his companion, he went through with it.
'Was that really the right call…?' He asked himself.
"Help!"
A sudden cry for help came from the refiners, snapping the Veilwalkers out of their thoughts. The three promptly appeared by the refiners.
"What is it?" Maeralith asked, her gaze locked on the core.
The mental fluctuations they got from the refiners told them the core was behaving differently, appearing more calm and collected.
That normally meant the core was giving up. The universe's chosen was dead. The core should be aware of it as it happened right in its domain.
"The progress has stopped and is now reversing!" The lead refiner exclaimed, panic evident in her tone.
"What?!" The three walkers expressed their shock, unable to comprehend how that was possible. Maeralith instantly appeared right before the final barrier around the core, staring directly at the now calm core.
"How is this possible?" She turned to her companions. "There should be no way for the core to resist the will of the Supreme One."
"..."
The two had no reply.
"Ugh!" The refiners groaned as their bodies shuddered. The will-imbued energy waves got aggressive, taking over the refiners as it forced more energy out of them.
"The Will has noticed the anomaly." The short male commented. "Something is very wrong." He could feel it. Unfortunately, there was nothing he nor his companions could do.
Living energy signatures could not break that barrier unless the core allowed it. They weren't sure how the core--a lower universe core at that-- was resisting the refinement.
Even as the energy waves intensified, creating a massive storm around it, the core continued to remain still. The glimmering lights it gave off began to die down, all the while reversing the refined progress.
'Everything was going fine until we killed him.' The tall walker noted, looking at the spot where he killed Alexander. 'There are no traces of him, so why…?' He appeared at the spot, taking a careful look around.
"There's nothing." The man narrowed his eyes. His thoughts spun quickly to come up with an explanation.
'Even as god-level beings rivalling a universe, we can still be killed by another Veilwalker at the same level.' The man pondered, turning to look at the escalating crisis. 'Understanding our reality is returning to nothing. But it isn't so simple.'
There was something at the tip of his tongue, and a little bit of contemplating should do it. At the same time, the feeling was eluding him.
Even as gods, they were not perfect. After all, the universe was but a small part of a larger something, even with all the knowledge they had.
'The core allowed us to glimpse this truth, pushing our ascension to godhood…' The man furrowed his brows, his heart racing. He was unto something. 'But that boy realised the truth on his own…'
Recalling the process of his godhood ascension, he had to die to be reborn. When a being died--whether by natural death or by oblivion--they returned to their former state of existence.
Whatever identity they took before death disappeared, becoming nothing. As creations of the universe, they were--in the broadest sense of the word--the universe.
But the Veilwalker of each universe took this concept further. They embodied the will of their universe to survive their destruction. That meant they carried with them a piece of the universe's heart.
Should a Veilwalker die, they returned this heart--their core. And if they failed to grasp their existence before dying, then that was the end.
However…
"Shit…" The man cursed, having realized their mistake. "We literally paved the way to the core for him!" He rushed back to the barrier.
"Aurion, what do you mean?" The short male questioned, watching as Aurion banged on the barrier.
"We made a mistake!" A powerful shockwave erupted from the barrier, yet not even a ripple was seen. "The boy has already bonded with the core. That's why the progress is reversing!"
"What?!"
The other two couldn't believe his words, staring at his pointless actions. But it should still be impossible. No one was stronger than the Supreme one, especially in the area of wills.
"Fuck!" Aurion cursed, bringing his strikes to an end. "We failed."
"Explain, Aurion. What do you mean?" Maeralith asked, her heart racing in trepidation. "How is he beating the Supreme One?"
"From nothing came everything." Aurion sighed. "During our ascension, we experienced true death to become one with the universe. But we didn't initiate that process."
"The core did…" Nulrex, the short male completed the statement. "But the boy did this himself."
"Yes…" Aurion nodded. "He willingly let go. And in that moment, he became one with the universe."
"That's why his presence disappeared then." Maeralith realized with wide eyes. "All we did was complete the final step."