Alex let out a sigh and got to his feet, his hands moving behind him. He perfectly understood what the catwoman was going through, and even expected this reaction.
However, knowing and doing were not the same. To unlearn everything and forego your very identity isn't something you could do just because you know.
"Cassandra…" Alex called, his tone gentle. "The multiverse made the path of the veilwalker extremely easy. A little bit of effort is all it takes to achieve absolute strength… The core reveals the truth to you, but it also serves as a roadblock — at least in my opinion."
He understood this because when he fused with his universe core, the urge to connect with additional cores felt profoundly unnatural to him. It was as if he were being guided by the nose in an unfamiliar direction.
"To become an independent entity, on the other hand, isn't so simple." He continued. "But I will tell you this, Cassandra. Should you succeed in ascending to godhood all by yourself, your path will be unlike any other."
"..."
The cat closed her eyes, her head lowered. She was still processing the words Alex spoke. And hearing what awaited her should she succeed, that was very enticing.
'But dying…?' Cassandra questioned. 'I'm not sure anyone can do that.'
Alexander was telling her to let go of who she was, what she'd learned and die without a hint of doubt in her being. Being at death's door didn't count either — it had to come from her truest self.
This was asking for the impossible.
Lifting her head, she looked at Alex's expression and asked, "How did you know this was what the ascension for veilwalkers was about? I doubt you had anyone around to tell you this."
"Well… Not exactly." Alex turned around, facing the direction of his universe core. "When I came here to ascend at the time, I had company."
He went ahead and explained to Cassandra what transpired here and how he figured out the truth; the truth about nothingness. Nothing was everywhere, nothing was everything, nothing was the greatest truth of reality.
"From nothing…"
"Comes everything…" Cassandra completed the phrase, staring at her right hand. She clenched and unclenched her fist, lost in thought. "Energy is the expression of will, and will is the expression of energy. It all came from nothing."
"Exactly." Alex nodded. "This is the truth all veilwalkers after ascension know… But no one said you can't become nothing yourself. Becoming nothing is becoming everything."
"Hah…" The catwoman sighed and shook her head. "This isn't something I can just do on command, you know?"
"There's no rush, Cassandra. Only you can make that decision. It could be tomorrow, it could be weeks after, or it could take years to accept that truth."
Cassandra nodded in understanding, going over the other things she heard from Alex. "You mentioned being different from others because of your ascension. How different are you talking about?"
Alex smiled briefly and turned to face the woman. He raised his right hand, condensing a sphere of white essence the size of a baseball.
The catwoman squinted her eyes at the demonstration, not sure what Alex was doing. If this was a display of his abilities, she could do something similar, so she wasn't clear on what it was.
"What is that?" She asked curiously.
"Here,"
Instead of responding, Alex flicked the sphere towards her. She attempted to catch the sphere, however, the unexpected happened.
The sphere phased through her hand and body like she wasn't there. The catwoman turned around to face the sphere that came to a stop a few meters behind her.
She moved in close and made another attempt to interact with the sphere, but the results were still the same. She was evidently confused, as this did not make sense.
"Is this because of our power difference?" She turned to Alex for answers.
"From nothing came everything…" Alex stated as he walked closer to Cassandra. "Becoming a god as a veilwalker means becoming a universe, right?" The catwoman nodded.
"Good." He came to stop next to Cassandra, staring at the sphere spinning on its axis. "In other words, it means becoming a system. The multiverse can be considered a system, though I'm not sure if it's an open or closed one."
The last part was still a mystery to him. Cassandra narrowed her eyes at Alex, not quite clear where he was heading. Still, she paid attention.
"Bonding with a universe core means becoming a part of that system, agree?" He looked over, and Cassandra nodded. "Then, what happens when you become a universe without being part of the defined system?"
"!"
The catwoman's core pulsed in shock. The realisation didn't immediately hit her. But when it finally did, her eyes widened like saucers.
"Y-you mean…"
"Exactly," Alex replied with a knowing smile.
"But aren't you bonded with your universe core?" She asked skeptically. If she remembered correctly, bonding with the core made one the ultimate master of their universe.
She looked Alex in the eyes, and seeing that knowing smirk, she knew she had misunderstood! Alex wasn't bonded with his universe core.
"You're your own system!"
She exclaimed in avid horror, unable to help herself take several steps back from Alex. She looked at him like he was some kind of monster. Her mind spun rapidly as she processed what that meant.
Snapping her head back to the sphere, the truth of why she couldn't touch the sphere or interact with it in any form dawned on her.
"I-I can't interact with a system that is not part of the existing one…" Her core pulsed chaotically, her breathing mirroring her raging emotions. "H-how can you still interact with reality…?"
If what Alex was telling her made sense, then it should go both ways, right? Unfortunately for her, Alex didn't make a lot of sense.
"While I am my own system, my energy source is still void energy that I convert into my own essence. I can use this energy to interact with this reality. At the same time, I can decide if anything part of this reality can interact with me.
"Basically, I can be whatever I want." A hand gesture moved the sphere towards Cassandra, landing perfectly in her hand. "I can allow you to see it, sense or interact with my essence, and I can also make it completely invisible to you."
Cassandra looked at Alex like with trembling eyes, the hand holding the sphere trembling accordingly. She couldn't believe how such a thing was possible. He was basically saying he was a one-way street.
"Is-Isn't this cheating?!"