"Well done, Alexander." The Supreme One said, breaking Alex out of his thoughts. "Finish them." He added.
Acknowledging the word, Alex gave a curt nod and focused on the twitching void creatures. He extended a right hand to the closest one and made a grabbing motion — the gesture repeated for the remaining eleven.
In effect, the void creatures squirmed some more as they struggled to resist the force ripping into their chest. Their struggles, however, were in vain.
Alex pulled out the black cores and then utilised his essence to disintegrate the bodies, employing even more energy for the feat.
As the cores flew towards him, they gave off waves of smoky essence that instilled a sense of repulsion in him. 'Still as nasty as ever…' Alex grimaced as he clasped his hand and crushed the cores.
Then, his gaze shifted to the far edges of the Supreme One's created space, quietly observing as the void creatures swarmed the barrier to no end.
'So somewhere beyond this point lies that monstrosity…' Alex didn't think he would be at this point so soon. Who would have thought it would only take a few years to get here? 'Very soon…'
"I have laid eyes on that creature," The Supreme One suddenly said, catching Alex's attention. He swiftly flew back, his height shrinking as he did so.
When he came to stand before the Supreme One, Alex was back to his normal 2 meters height, looking up at the majestic figure of the All Mighty.
The Supreme One appeared to be reminiscing about his past, his gaze distant, and a gentle smile on his face. "Back then, I had gathered my 1,000,000th universe core…"
"!"
Alex's eyes widened in absolute shock, stunned by the value the Supreme One just mentioned. If 1,000,000 universe cores were a past achievement, Alex couldn't imagine how many cores the Supreme One currently had.
"... That threshold had exponentially increased my power, granting me a more qualitative boost than a quantitative one." The Supreme One continued despite Alex's shocked expression. "I had believed myself to be sufficiently powerful…"
"W-What happened?" The question came rather nervously. Alex swallowed hard, finding himself getting curious.
"Hmm…" Instead of replying, the Supreme One released a small sigh as he closed his eyes for a moment. "Nothing actually happened."
"What…?" Alex tilted his head in confusion.
Luckily for him, the Supreme One continued. "The farther you go, the more powerful the creatures are. The ones you defeated just now don't even come close... It really makes one wonder…"
Alex turned to look behind, pondering the Supreme One's words. 'A Veilwalker's strength is equivalent to their home universe… Even so, it isn't nearly enough.' Surely, the multiverse's heart had to know this.
'Then again, we were not chosen because we were special. There should have been no reason for the multiverse to create so many of us when a few extremely powerful ones could do the job.' The more Alex thought about this, the more sense the Supreme One's questions made.
Perhaps the multiverse's heart knew many Veilwalkers would perish along the way, or it could have even considered how the Veilwalkers would realise they could fuse with as many universes' cores as possible.
'We're not enough…' Alex clenched his fists tightly. Turning to look at the Supreme One, Alex asked: "What do you mean by 'nothing actually happened'...?"
"I fought my way through a sea of powerful void creatures, Alexander — the kind that was capable of wiping out multiple high-level universes with but a swipe of their clawed hands." The Supreme One's gaze lowered to Alex.
"There are some void creatures that haven't moved from their territories since the beginning; creatures so powerful and large that I had to actively make movements in order to fight them."
Another gulp sent the lump in Alex's throat to his stomach. Just imagining the Supreme One making moves to fight was inconceivable. His very presence was draining the hell out of Alex's reserves.
Not to mention how the void creatures avoided him like a plague.
"It took me four years…" The Supreme One dropped another bomb casually, shocking Alex out of his wits. "Four years to get close enough to catch a glimpse of that creature."
"F-Four years…?!" Alex recovered enough to exclaim, his eyes wide with disbelief. "This can't be real…"
"..."
The Supreme One merely smiled at Alex's reaction, which was understandable. The journey itself wasn't that daunting. It was the constant fights he had to storm through. He had no choice but to turn around when he realised he wasn't strong enough.
Seeing the despairing look on Alexander's face, the Supreme One said. "Don't let this get to you, Alexander. You're different from the rest of us… What might take us time might only be a second when it comes to you."
Alex took a deep breath as he lifted his head to look at the Supreme One.
"As I mentioned earlier… Time is running out." The Supreme One added. "That barrier won't hold for much longer…" His gaze shifted to the barrier behind and then back to Alex.
"No harm or disturbance will come to your universe. Use the time to grow as strong as you possibly can… It's not easy threading a completely new path, but you have made the impossible possible. You've done it once, you can do it again…"
"Mm." Alex nodded with determination in his eyes. The Supreme One didn't have to tell him twice; he had every intention of levelling up his power.
"Is there a time limit…?" He wanted to know how much time he had. While he had pretty much climbed the ranks of power with ease, he needed a timeframe to work with.
There were also his plans of getting his friends and vassals to the Demi-god level — at the very least. Ross and Julia had expressed their desire to join Alex in his future endeavours outside the universe.
"Do not worry about that." The Supreme One replied. "You wouldn't understand right now, but temporal flow is different in the various regions of the multiverse."
Like he pointed out, Alex was confused by the statement. From what he knew, the true void was only composed of chaotic energies, with void energy being the most abundant.
'No…' Alex remembered he had gaps in his knowledge about the multiverse. 'There's still a lot I don't know…'
"Focus on yourself… You will know when the time is nigh." The Supreme One turned around, facing reality's barrier and watching as his vassals fought the never-ending wave of void creatures.
"This is the beginning of the end, Alexander." The Supreme One said. "This long, chaotic journey will come to an end soon… And it's going to be either us or them…"