'I can't feel the connection with my celestial body.' Alex noticed with a deep frown. 'Everything went dark once that aura covered the entire universe.'
Alexander was looking at the cosmos through a glass view on a spaceship. Over the past few weeks, he and his friends had been part of a team of explorers travelling the universe.
While he could take them anywhere in the universe, he wanted to enjoy the experience with them. Naturally, Ross and Julia felt the same, desiring to explore the universe at their own pace.
It was during this journey that Alex planned to help Ross and Julia transition from Class A awakened to Class S awakened, and through a baptism of combat with Class S void creatures.
Who would have thought something like this would happen to his main body? It made him extremely worried as this body and the one at the academy could disappear suddenly in the event of the unexpected.
'The main body should be doing fine since I'm still here…' It was the only consolation he could give himself. 'And it's not so easy to kill a fully realised god.'
"Alex…?" A soft and sweet voice snapped Alex out of his thoughts. "What's on your mind?" Julia got up from their shared bed and approached Alex.
The Knight princess had been resting with a satisfied smile after she and Alex shared a deep and passionate embrace. She expected to wake up in his embrace like she usually did.
But that was not the case today when she found Alex staring into space. It had been a while since she saw Alex look so serious and contemplative.
Instead of replying, Alex turned to face his woman with his signature smile.
"It's nothing important, babe." He assured her before drawing the girl into an embrace. "I was just wondering how to go about helping you and Ross in your transition."
Julia closed her eyes and enjoyed the contact. However, she was not convinced. She raised her head a second later, staring straight into Alexander's eyes.
"You will tell me when something is wrong, right?" Julia asked.
"Definitely." He nodded and lowered Julia's head, embracing her once more. "You should know I am no ordinary entity…"
"Yeah, yeah. You're no ordinary god, I got that already." Julia smiled with a deep inhale and exhale, appreciating the scent of her man. "Let's remain like this for a while, okay…?"
"Sure…"
Alex agreed, but his gaze was still distant. Fortunately for him, Julia had her head buried in his chest.
'No ordinary god, huh.'
...
BOOM…!!!
The surrounding space rippled violently, sending gravitational and magical waves through the blank universe. It was a marvel the spacetime fabric remained intact.
The black cocoon finally exploded to reveal the hulmite Alex had been expecting. However, the hulmite was not the same being Alex saw a little over a week ago.
"HAHAHA…."
He heard the sinister and chill-inducing laughter of the hulmite resonate throughout the universe. It caused space to ripple in sync with the laugh, and the waves of energy only intensified as the laugh dragged on.
"FINALLY… I HAVE ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE!!"
'What an abomination…' Alex couldn't help but shudder in disgust. 'It reminds me of that monstrosity… Just much weaker.'
He wondered if what he was looking at could still be considered a veilwalker and a god. The hulmite reappeared with a cosmic-sized body--still humanoid, but nastier and revolting like void creatures.
Trohan's grey skin was replaced with a black and silvery goo-like skin. It pulsed and oozed a dark misty substance that gave Alex an unsettling feeling in his gut. On the hulmite's head were two boldly curved horns that gave off the same misty aura.
The missing arm was back. However, it wasn't like the Hulmite's right hand and the rest of his body. In place of the left stump was a tentacle-like projection that looked like it could be moulded into any desired shape.
The hulmite's eyes turned a complete and absolute black; like an abyss that drew anyone in if they looked too deeply. This was an entity not meant for the eyes of mortals.
After what felt like an eternity but was less than a second, the hulmite came out of his egocentrism and quickly found Alex.
"THERE YOU ARE…"
Trohan's voice was too loud, kind courtesy of his cosmic size.
"HOW DO YOU FIND ME NOW? IMPRESSED?"
The hulmite released a wave of pressure that slammed into Alexander without mercy.
"H-Hardly." Alex groaned with a somewhat straight back, trying to shrug off the tyrannical pressure. "You just got uglier—more disturbing to look at is all." He said through gritted teeth.
"HAHAHA… STILL TRYING TO APPEAR FEARLESS. I LIKE THAT."
The hulmite's size began decreasing until he returned to his normal height. But the presence he exuded did not diminish at all. He took a single step forward and came to stand a few thousand lightyears from Alex.
"What the hell are you?" Alex asked. "You feel like a more disturbing void creature than a veilwalker. You-you used the anomaly to turn into this… this thing, didn't you?"
"You're right." Trohan nodded with a wide grin. "There's no point hiding anything now. And that bet was just a way to get inside without you killing me. And it worked wonderfully."
Alex could no longer read any of Trohan's surface thoughts. Whatever he had become was no longer accessible to him.
"You see, simply fusing with your universe core to become a god won't make you the strongest." Trohan began his explanation. "There are higher-level universes out there, and to have a chance to stand against their veilwalkers, you'll need a core that is superior."
"So all this is so you can become stronger than other veilwalkers?"
"Exactly." Trohan nodded. "And as you can tell, I'm now more powerful than you are. There's no hope for you…" His aura intensified once more, pressing harder on Alexander.
"..."
Alex remained silent, choosing to say nothing about his godhood. Though the pressure was heavy, it was still bearable.
The hulmite knew Alex was still interested in knowing how he achieved this state of existence, so he continued his explanation, finding nothing wrong with sharing before ending Alex's existence.
"You know of the black cores from high-tier void creatures, correct?"