'The Supreme One…'
Alexander felt his core throb the moment he laid eyes on him. The Supreme One appeared right inside Alex's domain, yet his Nexis Radiant couldn't affect him — almost like he didn't exist.
"Relax, would you?" The Supreme One spoke in a dismissive tone. "If I wanted you gone, you'd be gone already, haha…"
Gulp
While those words sounded cocky and carefree, Alex was certain the Supreme One could do that with ease. 'I can't affect him at all!' He took a deep look at the Almighty entity sitting opposite him.
The Supreme One was completely different from what he imagined he would look like, or at least the appearance he would go with. As a primordial creature who rose to such heights, Alex was kind of expecting a very serious-looking being with an overwhelming presence.
This was still the case, but not quite what he expected. Instead of a draconic humanoid entity like the chief, the Supreme One took the appearance of an average-looking man in his 20s and under 6 feet (175 cm).
He was dressed in casual azure cultivation robes with white detailing, long raven black and white hair tied at the back, golden eyes that emitted a gentle light and instilled awe and admiration.
'If this is his attempt to look like a normal person, then I'm afraid it's not working…' Alex thought with a stiff smile, unable to bring himself to laugh at that joke. 'No wonder he's called Supreme…'
"Tea?"
Alex snapped out of his observations and thoughts when the Supreme One gestured towards the tea set. He didn't bother going down the rabbit hole, wondering if the tea was spiked with something or had some hidden agenda to it.
Moreover, he could see that the tea leaves were harvested and not created out of thin air. And even if that was the case, the components were transparent for his perusal — nothing was hidden.
'If I wanted you gone, you'd be gone already…' The words echoed in his head once more.
"Mm."
A moment of silence passed as the Supreme One placed one of the cups before Alex and one before himself. With the grace of a seasoned tea ceremony expert, the Supreme One served Alex first and then himself.
"The tea is one of my favourites, actually." The Supreme One commented as he placed the teapot to the side. "Picked from my personal garden… Please, try it." He gestured for Alex to do the honours.
"Thank you."
Alex muttered with a gentle nod, grabbing his cup for a sip. The sweet and foreign aroma of the brew wafted through the space, instilling a calming effect on his senses.
Alex took his first sip and couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly. "This is…"
"Really good?" The Supreme One answered with a bright smile. "You'd be surprised what can happen when you cater for such plants with lots of care."
The words and mannerisms of the Being weren't making a lot of sense to Alex. He stared directly into the eyes of the Supreme One and could only see the eyes of someone with an avid hobby.
"If I may…" Alex began, placing the cup down. The Supreme One nodded for Alex to go ahead while he picked up his cup for a sip. "You're not at all what I expected…"
Based on the mannerism of the Supreme One, Alex figured he wanted to go for a more casual and comfortable air instead of a tense one riddled with subtle attempts to outdo the other.
"Yes and No." The reply came unexpectedly as the Supreme One set his cup down. "In a way, you could say I am everything you've ever imagined and everything you haven't."
Alex furrowed his brows as he mulled over the words. He had an inkling of what the Supreme One meant. Still, he waited for him to continue.
"Being what we are, we can be whatever we want once we reach a certain level… In my case, however, long before the disaster of the veils, my ascension to become the first god marked a milestone in the multiverse, spreading my essence to every existing universe out there.
"But with this diffusion came interpretations I had no control over… In your home universe, you called me the Almighty, creator of all things under the heavens. In another universe, I am a ruthless and unforgiving god."
Alex could already tell where this was leading. "All those personalities became a part of you… You became, or should I say, their belief and faith birthed what people imagined — good or bad."
"More or less." The Supreme One nodded. It was the gist of his reality, but that was exactly what happened. "Becoming a veilwalker and fusing with my universe core revealed the truth of reality. We become nothing to be everything…"
Hearing all this made Alex question a lot of his guesses about what the Supreme One was after. In a way, his story sounded like someone struggling with an identity crisis.
'The power of belief is dangerous…' It was a conclusion Alex couldn't help but reach. There was more to the story, but Alex didn't need to hear it. What he heard was more than enough.
'He didn't just become the Lord of Universe Prime… He became the Lord of the entire multiverse, bound by identities he didn't choose and had no control over…'
"Is this why you're interested in knowing how I ascended?" Alex asked after several seconds of mulling, which the Supreme One didn't mind.
"Haha…" The Supreme One chuckled for a moment. "Not exactly, Alexander. I already know how you did it. I was there, remember…?"
"You were?" Alex muttered as his mind went back to what happened that day. "Ah… When I clashed with your will…"
"Exactly…" The Supreme One affirmed with a soft smile. "Only veilwalkers know this truth once they fuse with a universe core. I'm different because I was a god before becoming a fully realised veilwalker."
"I don't understand." Alex chipped in, his expression marred with confusion. "If you knew all this, then why? I thought this entire thing was wholly about my ascension and refusal to give my universe to you?"
The Supreme One didn't immediately reply to this, choosing to take another sip of his tea. Once done, he looked directly into Alexander's eyes and said.
"My interest in you originates from what you learned after fusing with your universe."