What Happened To The Neutral Existences?

Step, step, step, step…

Liliam and Hexitia walked to the hill below the Mythical Tree of Evolution. Their blood fell on the palace, which was built a few thousand years ago, where Heian Ciemnosc sat on a chair placed at floor-level. There, Heian Ciemnosc sat, with his mouth behind his left hand as he lazily leaned towards the left. The duo walked to him, holding each other's shoulders more warmly as they had difficulty staring at Heian Ciemnosc, looking at the floor instead.

Drip… drip…

Some of their blood, now slightly more darkish, dropped onto the floor, but they hardly noticed. Heian Ciemnosc could see the Godly energy in them changing. They were clearly injured, but they hurried here instead of attending to their wounds. Heian Ciemnosc smoothly swung his right hand from the center to his right and calmly asked, “Why are you here now?”

“Sect…” Liliam struggled to stand 3 meters before Heian Ciemnosc before starting kneeling, but he fell and nearly faced the floor with his stomach. Hexitia finished the sentence for him as she held her solar plexus with her right palm. “… Master.”

Her knees lightly fell on the floor, welcoming a puddle around them as she sat on her bum. Heian Ciemnosc looked at them for a few seconds as they kept their heads low after Liliam struggled to kneel beside Hexitia. Heian Ciemnosc stood up from his seat and walked towards them, stopping half a meter before caressing his wrists.

“Tell me,” Heian Ciemnosc lightly spoke. Hexitia lifted her eyes and weakly nodded before saying as her face showed suffering, not physically, but emotionally. Her voice was a little broken but remained feminine and delicate, “We employed our troops at the Borg Empire’s outskirts, Sect Master. Everything went according to plan, as usual.”

“We decimated a few peak Fourth Step organizations, but when one of their beings appeared… we were… recognized?” Hexitia seemed baffled, showing how confused she must have been when it happened. Heian Ciemnosc nodded, but Liliam continued as Hexitia remained baffled. “We were too baffled to know what was happening. That being actually entrapped us and prepared to kill us with some old Universal God cultivators. We only escaped when we threatened to self-detonate. Something… someone seemed to watch over us.”

“Later on, cough…” Hexitia interjected but coughed blood immediately after. Heian Ciemnosc swung his left wrist upwards before immediately letting it fall down. Hexitia felt her lungs filling in, healing up a little as her Sect Master nudged her to continue. She struggled to stand up but couldn’t. They remained kneeling before him, but it did well with their guilty hearts.

“When we were allowed to flee, we met someone, he…” Hexitia stopped, looking at Liliam with a new, warm light that wasn’t there before. Liliam lifted his head and hesitatingly looked at Heian Ciemnosc, but his words were stable. “He was our father. The… Emperor of the Borg Empire.”

“Sect Master, he offered us refuge. But seeing the way that subordinate of his looked at us… he wanted to silence us, Sect- Father!” Hexitia added, changing her addressing form to the other official one only they had with him. In a moment, she felt more at ease, and even Liliam felt slightly more peaceful.

Looking at them, Heian Ciemnosc’s calm countenance changed into a grinning one as he playfully said, “You’ve done as requested. Although we lost a Grand Fleet and many war instruments, you’ve used the escaping rings well. Even if you suffered to keep your troops alive. But now, you’re feeling guilty because you didn’t immediately refute the idea of joining your father’s proposal?”

“Sect- Father, yes…” Liliam lifted his left knee and looked at his adoptive father, looking strict. Heian Ciemnosc stared at him and grinned. “You’re here, after all. So unless you want to try to assassinate, you’ve clearly decided about that, right?”

“Indeed, Father… We wouldn’t leave you for anything, but that man… Our actual father, he… I don’t know why, but I felt as if I could either threaten to self-detonate or run away from him forever to hurt him. And I really wanted to hurt him, Father.” Hexitia said, tearing up a little as Liliam hung his head, not wanting his tears to be seen.

“It is natural. You still haven’t become, so the memories your mother put on you aren’t unlocked. Hexitia,” Heian Ciemnosc’s words baffled them both. Hexitia looked at Heian Ciemnosc and was about to ask a ton of things, when Heian Ciemnosc began explaining. His voice became calm and soothing, like telling a story to baby children.

“Hexitia, during the 7th century, the Borg Empire suffered sudden internal strife. The parties involved was… everyone. There were some who wanted your mother, the Emperor’s wife, to give up her position and disinherit her children, both of you. Others wanted to protect your stability, while the third, smaller party, wanted cruel tests to be performed to decide the matter.”

“For the latter, the Emperor had to approve of a series of regulations so they wouldn’t be illegal. Stuff that really isn’t necessary. However, the temptation of what is above not only the Sixth Step, but the Lords’ level, is truly tempting to those in power. What do you think he decided in the end?” Heian Ciemnosc asked, tilting his head to the left.

Hexitia was already spilling tears casually, but she couldn’t care right now. She looked up as her lips stammered noiselessly. Her eyes gained clarity, intelligence brewing within them as they relaxed before she dropped them to the sides, resting her wrists and back of her hands on the floor. “He chose to give us to the third party, didn’t he?”

“Your mother didn’t want that, so she refused to comply. This was the perfect chance for those who wanted to take you and your mother out. Even your father was convinced to jail and cripple you three, what more of the other 2 parties who directly sentenced your mother to death?” Heian Ciemnosc said, as Hexitia and Liliam showed despair in their eyes, waiting for his next words. They would never doubt him.

“She was an existence, so no one but your father could catch up to her and stop her. You’d end up in the same situation as before she fled the Empire. Thus, she didn’t. Instead, she used her Essence to create a portal for you and Liliam to leave, making you believe he was dead, when he wasn’t. She also locked your memories so you and Liliam wouldn’t find each other nor remember the Borg Empire.”

“Don’t ask me how you weren't sent any farther than to the other end of the Divine Kingdom. The existences might be the most knowledgeable ones in the world, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t without idiotic tendencies.” Heian Ciemnosc shook his head a little before pausing.

“… But…” Hexitia mulled over his words with her head low before lifting it again, asking him, “Why were they against my mother? How would she make me believe my brother, Liliam, was dead?”

“You’re the older sister here, 2 years older. This happened when you were 2 years old, and your brother was born just a few weeks earlier. The reason is simple,” Heian Ciemnosc crouched and placed his palms atop their heads. “Your mother is a Star Elf, also a derivative from the Borg Empire’s current leading family. However, your father, a distant cousin of your mother, was unknowingly part Human.”

“…” - “…”

Hexitia and Liliam fell silent, rapidly understanding the possibilities. But they didn’t interrupt Heian Ciemnosc, nothing could beat him saying so. Thus, Heian Ciemnosc smoothly revealed the truth, “When you were born, you were only seen as a female Human with Elvish characteristics, but not its lineage. Your mother was accused of cheating. After all, it wasn’t known if existences could fool each other into believing their child was from another man instead.”

“I’ll answer that for you now. No, it isn’t possible to fool each other among existences. It is already difficult to do so when at the Godhood Step, isn’t it?” Heian Ciemnosc looked at them before continuing, “Only after a year and a half, where your parents recognized of maybe having an old, mighty Human ancestor before the last Change, as the Borg Empire wasn’t that old. Even though they are almost as strong as an Existential Sixth Step organization.”

“When your brother was born, he was immediately recognized as a Star Elf, but disaster struck when he was discovered to also have a part of his lineage belonging to the Human Race. That’s when everything happened. Your mother made you see a dead baby brother, but someone without cultivation like you couldn’t have seen the truth behind what lied before your eyes. Could you?”

Heian Ciemnosc’s gentle words alleviated the hatred slowly brewing within them. The siblings fleetingly looked at each other before joining their left and right hands respectively. They stared up at their adoptive father, this time without shame or guilt. Heian Ciemnosc slightly nodded and blinked before standing up. Then, he continued.

“When your mother activated her Essence, burning it until becoming nothingness, nearly extinguishing herself in the process…” Heian Ciemnosc paused as he saw the siblings grip each other’s hands tighter before continuing, “She didn’t know her efforts were only enough to immediately teleport you, without being tracked, a few hundreds of millions of kilometers. Nothing much to achieve her goals.”

“She also sent you through vastly varying paths… but one came from what is now known as the Vrida City’s north and the other from the south. In the end, traveling through my land, you found each other. Thereon, you know the rest.” Heian Ciemnosc placed his hands behind his back.

The siblings looked at each other again, dryly gulped, and helped each other stand up as their tears had gone dry. Hexitia stubbornly locked her eyes on her adoptive father’s face, while Liliam looked at him with earnest. However, their hearts channeled something for the first time, and with such longing. Hexitia was the one to speak, as Liliam always listened to her, doing so now without restraint felt natural.

“Sect Master, we’d like to try becoming. When… can we start?”

“Vengeance isn’t doing something with your own hands only. After you become, you’ll remember what you lost. That is your memories with your mother and the absence of a father, not strength or a purpose. Only yourselves. It will also prove a nefarious, tormenting time as you charge towards becoming an existence. It won’t be enough for you to fight in your mother’s name.”

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“Then-” Liliam interjected, wanting a rather quick answer. His heart beat too fast!

“Just listen to me. You’ve returned, and that is all I was lacking. From now on, wait and see until I’ve broken through. You won’t have to wait after I do, as I’ll bring you when I find your father to settle some scores. Alright?” Heian Ciemnosc shut them up like it was nothing. They became silent and nodded before turning around. It was time to meditate, or they’d go mad with rage. Not even Gods and Goddesses were exempt from such self-brought calamities, or any for that matter.

Hexitia cutely bowed at Heian Ciemnosc before leaving his palace. Heian Ciemnosc watched their backs as they seemed to heal the wound they didn’t know existed deep within them. Sara leaned her head on his right trapezius muscle in his inner universe as he called his wives to his meditation bedroom and notified Todoro and Pretieta.

It was time to become. And it was going to be simple.

… To do so, Heian Ciemnosc didn’t need anything but his will to take that step. He sat cross-legged in his meditation bedroom, meditating, along with his wives, who closed their eyes and sat their bums around him.

Whoosh.

A single trace of wind echoed within the enclosed meditation bedroom. It was dark and seemed tenebrous. As soon as it happened, Heian Ciemnosc opened his darkest eyes. In a mere instant, they went from their usual serenity, lifelessness and ultimate coldness as bottomless pools to lovingly drown oneself in… To wholly darkened eyes.

WhiiiiiiiiiiiiistllllllllLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~!!!

The world suddenly echoed, beginning from the Mask-Mythos Region as the noise of impending doom accompanied everyone everywhere, whatever they were doing, feeling, hearing, watching, or thinking. It seemed to appear through the unthinkable, the unknown.

It extended to the rest of the Authoritarian Summit Divine Kingdom, which had already begun preparations to scout and war against the possible enemy, the Forbloffende Traes Sect. Anyone could figure the heavy pressure the Borg Empire felt. Its vassals were naturally mentally afflicted.

When the sound echoed into their ears and hearts, they felt magnificent before terror struck the very deepest corners of themselves. An instant later, beings and existences were the only ones who could discern ‘it’ approaching. It was like a locust, a swarm, corruption, a virus, death and demise… Darkness.

An instant later, however, that same darkness engulfed them. No matter the ‘safe’ methods they employed within the Kingdom, they could see, feel, or think nothing at all. Their bafflement wasn’t only to them, as the Illimitato Occhio Galaxy was rapidly engulfed in it, and soon, the Unbekannt Ernter Existence followed suit. Before they knew it, half the Neutral Existences were plagued in darkness.

But before the Universal Lands knew what was happening, the darkness spread towards them, leaving no one, not even the most capable, the chance to stop it. Sweet nothingness like the night of love embraced the whole world as one… at last.

“!” In the Est Soul Empire territory, at its very core and capital, a Soulish body sitting on a throne expanded his eyes to impossible levels, as if they were made out of flesh. Shock, bewilderment, thrilling excitement and… fear emanated from them. From all the Universal Land, only he, as an Existential Sixth Step organization’s leader, became aware of a terrifying train of thought.

The darkness spread to the entire world. However, at some point, it seemed to bounce back, emanating ripples from where it collided before receding, remaining stagnant within the world. Strangely enough, it seemed as if this darkness was… trapped.

Heian Ciemnosc flinched and blinked his still darkened eyes as this happened, like walking through near-invisible glass.

Endless images, information, records, and previous thoughts and emotions swarmed into the rest of his body from his dark Soul. His everything was becoming more and more solid, and just as Heian Ciemnosc felt something was missing, a thought of ‘it’ appearing was triggered in his mind. At that very same instant, an utmost-darkness pitch of strange, fluent, ‘breathing’ energy appeared before him.

Calisneia’s shocked eyes opened at this moment. Before she could marvel at the beauty of it, nearly entering into a stupefied trance, Heian Ciemnosc snatched it with his right hand. It immediately wrapped around his body, seemingly joyous to exist and touch Heian Ciemnosc’s body before it dissipated.

Heian Ciemnosc stood up, and as his darkest eyes flickered, his Dark Essence appeared. He had… Become!

The others in the meditation bedroom opened their eyes and blinklessly stared at a strand of Essence coiling around Heian Ciemnosc’s body, exiting from both his palms’ center. They felt divine, as if this was the truest form of Essence, and they weren’t wrong. After countless periods of time, the act of becoming and transcending into existence had long been blasphemed. The only thing remaining untouched were the hidden truths of the world… about to divulge.

“Meet me near the space where our sea territories’ borders meet.”

Just as Heian Ciemnosc marveled at his own Dark Essence, and enjoyed his whole-world long Spirit Sense, he received a message. His unbeatable Spirit Sense detected it was Eirnster Borg, the Titan Elf, Emperor of the Borg Empire. Heian Ciemnosc grinned before sending his positive reply without words. Then, he indulged his wives a little before calling the Borg siblings out.

Heian Ciemnosc brought them tens of millions of kilometers above the sea level, where a person with 3 meters of shoulder width and a couple of dozen meters’ height stood, wearing golden and purple robes. They immediately dispersed and floated behind Heian Ciemnosc, frowning in hatred at their biological father.

“You’ve told them?” Eirnster quietly asked. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t nod his head but calmly answered with a Dark Essence low cape extending from his long dark coat. “It is what a father should do.”

“…” The Borg Emperor seemed tired and exhausted. It seemed that seeing his only offspring treat him like he was their worst enemy had taken a toll on him. He looked at Heian Ciemnosc, no longer daring to stare at those children, and weakly uttered. Not because of a lack of strength, but just in terms of volume and willingness to speak. “Let’s cut this to the trimmest conversation possible. I came here to put it all on either of us.”

“Since times of yore, Fifth and Sixth Step organizations can avoid bloodshed if their leading figures fight. I don’t want a duel, I want a life and death exchange. If you kill me, you’ll receive the Authoritarian Summit Divine Kingdom. I’ll even lower my battle process to the-”

“No need,” Heian Ciemnosc interrupted the Emperor. The Emperor frowned and scarcely narrowed his eyes before they suddenly widened.

The Fifth Step had 3 parts. They are the Regressor, where the being has thousands of thousands of thousands of tons of lifespans. One could practically say they never die of age. They can also infinitely live in space. A Regressor relives their memories through at all times. Their heads and hearts are bombarded as such. One must absorb them into their whole selves to continue their Fifth Step’s path.

A Prosperous is the second, where the being will have their most emotional, ambitious, and determined period of their entire lives. Crossing through this part of their being is instantaneous, without a purpose. But the requirements per se are unknown even now.

An Entity is the last and third part. A being in this last part will undertake a grand formation of the heart, Soul, and mind. Finally, to transcend into an existence, a being must ‘lead’. There are two choices, to transcend as by creation or as a Leader.

The Sixth Step also has 3 parts. The first is Sacred Immortalization, where they have formed their Spirit Aspect into their Phantom Image. And their Divine Dominion, gained at the Fifth Step, turns into their Space. In this part, their lifespan is indeed endless. A Kingdom becomes in their hearts, becoming everlasting, even capable of choosing 2 images they wish to have. They are usually one’s younger self and their current aspect, or and older one.

The second part is the Beginning of Life or Heartwill. Depending on the path taken, the existence will find their own unique and specifics that do them best through life and death. Their Phantom Image improves as the existence does.

The third and last part is Zenith. The existence has now reached the very last step. The existence has a tiny star forming in their hearts, waiting for the existence to either give light to it all, of anything; or to command it to form.

Most, if not nearly 100% straight up, pick the creation path. It was the same case with Eirnster Borg, who noticed Heian Ciemnosc seemed to be… at the peak of the being parts?!

“Do you have anything to say?” Heian Ciemnosc turned his upper body back and asked the siblings. They shook their heads before Hexitia spoke with wide open, tearing up eyes filled with hatred. “Nothing else can be done unless this happens.”

“To change and progress, you must die.” Liliam also gave a piece of himself, looking at their father without an ounce of hesitation. The father in question lifted his head ever so slightly, closing his eyes with what seemed to be pain, before opening them to look at Heian Ciemnosc.

“We shall start.” The Emperor said. Heian Ciemnosc nodded before slightly nodding at the siblings. Then, he flew far into the endless blackness of space, disappearing from their senses and nature reading for hours.

“… Anything you’d like to say?”

“!” - “!” The siblings were startled when they heard Heian Ciemnosc’s voice behind them. They jolted in the air before looking at their adoptive father as relief seemed to flood their bodies like cold water when drowning, starting from their hearts. Without saying anything, the child-like merciless Dictators hugged him strongly, with their faces buried in his dark clothes.

***

8,000 years passed since then.

In the Universal Lands. When the darkness phenomenon happened, they didn’t realize that every spy they sent to gather info at the corner of the Neutral Existences had instantly died. Nor that their Spirit Sense could no longer cross through ghost space despite fully focusing on doing so. They naturally also didn’t realize that the occasional news from the Neutral Existences had gone completely silent. They spent hundreds of years without knowing the ghost space was home of nearly 3 3* Regions’ worth of population across their borders.

Now, after many years passed since then, they decided to congregate in a meeting that will take place in 20 years. Every Universal Land’s Existential Sixth Step organization occasionally met with their highest hierarchies every year to debate how to proceed with that particular meeting. Although things had become peaceful everywhere, that didn’t change their alertness towards the black monster.

The only thing was… why did they feel this was the calm before the storm of all storms? What was this reckoning-like sensation?

At the Heraxle Clan’s capital in the Universitalities of Yore Existence’s core…

…