"I see…"
Alex muttered with a thoughtful expression, his brows furrowed. He looked at the abomination for a god and posed his follow-up question.
"I doubt you came up with this yourself. Who taught you this method?"
"I have no reason to tell you." Trohan shrugged. "The only thing you have to concern yourself with is that you will not be leaving here alive."
"Do you not see the state of your universe? Your people?" Alex ignored that statement, choosing to see if the hulmite could be saved. "Even your own created paradise is gone! Do you not care?!"
His question got the hulmite's attention. Trohan looked around the blank space with an expressionless face. There was no trace of emotions or anything that would depict concern.
"Hmph!" The hulmite snickered. "They were nothing more than a nuisance. With what I've become, their place is meaningless--they're useless to me."
'He's too far gone.' Alex realised grimly. 'Exactly what you'd expect from someone who devoured four universe cores. This is nothing like what the Supreme One is doing or is it?.'
"What about the Supreme One?" Alex wanted to see if there was a connection. "Has no one ever appeared before you, claiming to be part of a grand ambition to save the multiverse?"
"Supreme One?" Trohan raised his nonexistent brow.
This was a first for him. He'd visited many low-level universes ever since he became a demi-god, and that was more than a decade ago.
Not once had he heard of that title. But from what Alexander was saying, this being sounded very important, and no one puts that kind of title on their heads for no reason.
'Heh~ Looks like we have a challenger.' Trohan believed this Supreme One was likely someone following a similar path. 'And saving the multiverse?' The hulmite sneered at such ludicrous words.
"So this is all your doing and whoever discovered this heinous method."
"Does it matter?" Trohan laughed. "In any case, you've gotten what you wanted…"
Indeed, Alex got the answers he wanted. But he couldn't fathom how a living entity would want to do something so disturbing to their existence simply for the sake of power.
'But to what end?' Alex was still unclear about the whole power dynamic. 'I have power just like every other living veilwalker, so why am I not feeling that urgent desire for absolute power?'
Maybe it was the way he was raised or even his environment, but the only thing that concerned him was the safety of his loved ones and the universe.
Anything else was merely extra, and if he desired so much power that he would do anything to acquire it, then that was the day he truly lost himself.
His only desire was to protect.
'I would do anything for their sake…' Alex realised he was no different. 'But would I go this far?' Looking at the abomination before him, he knew what choice he would make.
'But I will find another way… There has to be…'
If there was such an abominable method, then there had to be other ways. He didn't have to follow the path already laid out. He was determined to find his own way--just like his ascension.
'The only thing left now is to find a way out of this domain. The suppression is getting worse.'
Alex stood with his back straight, but only he knew the pressure he was bearing. If he was still a flesh and blood entity, his bones would have been creaking right about now.
The hulmite grinned when he noticed Alex's eyes roaming around.
"Like I said before… There's no hope for you." Trohan felt absolute glee in seeing the pompous veilwalker realize he was trapped. "You came in here thinking you were all powerful and could do whatever you wished.
"Not that I would be any different in your place, but you should have minded your business and left when I offered you the chance!" Trohan's expression morphed into something unrecognizable. "Now… you die." The hulmite took a step forward and space nearly collapsed.
BOOM…!
Alex groaned and almost came to his knees when the weight he bore suddenly doubled in intensity. His expression grew unsightly as he struggled to stand up straight. But it was proving to be a difficult task.
'I can't use my laws…!'
With the space out of his control, Alex knew shifting would be impossible. He couldn't lock space, he couldn't stretch it, and neither could he break through it--he was stuck. His authority in this place was rendered useless!
BOOM…!!
The hulmite took another step and the pressure increased yet again.
"Mm!"
Alex groaned as he was finally forced to take a right knee in the void, his right hand planted in the void for support. His body shook continuously under the tyrannical pressure.
Raising his head through sheer effort and gritted teeth, he noticed Trohan had covered more than half the distance. It was only a matter of time.
"Your core will become my core…" The hulmite took another step, instantly arriving before Alexander. "For that, you have my gratitude. You brought it straight to me." He looked down on Alex with his dark abyss-like eyes.
'I'm a dead man either way!'
Universe core or not, Alex would be dead if the hulmite got a hold of his core.
'Come on, think!'
His mind ran millions of simulations on how to come out alive. And none of them were looking too good. He would have broken a sweat if it were possible.
"!"
A sudden shudder ran through his body as the dark, misty cloud the hulmite exuded washed over him. His very existence rejected the essence, as it even brought back memories of his vision on the day of his awakening.
'This thing is no god…!' Alex's aversion for the hulmite only intensified. 'This is nothing more than an imitation of that monstrosity!'
Badump!
From this extreme aversion for the hulmite, Alex felt his core thump like a heartbeat, sending a refreshing wave through his existence.
Badump!
Alex sent a sliver of his senses inside his inner realm without hesitation. He may not have control over the space outside, but within his inner realm, he had all the time in existence.
Realization dawned on him the moment his physical manifestation laid eyes on the core.