Creators

Third Person POV:

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Alice locked space around them, making teleportation impossible. A cultivator had to channel his or her Qi into the world around them, to freeze matter. As long as this state was active, other cultivators couldn’t become one with the Universe and teleport. The skulls above their heads were the materialized forms of Soul Eater.

It took a few months of experimentation, but they managed to form a physical form of Soul Eater by using Universe Energy. It was a mass of energy, filled with Soul Force inside. Since these attacks contained their own Qi, anyone else touching them would be hurt. Even if they lost their bodies only for a moment, their opponents’ souls could be heavily damaged in the blink of an eye.

Facing a brown and a red haired guy, Hiro was the first to unleash his attack. Feeling sure of themselves, his opponents took on his Qi attack. It crushed the brown haired guy’s arms, but they regrew in a moment. In that split of a second, Hiro jumped forward and punched towards his opponent’s face. Seeing that he was in danger, the red haired guy tried to block him but was surprised to see another Hiro appearing in front of him.

Blocking his attack took their attention from another clone, which attacked from behind. As Hiro destroyed their bodies, he used Soul Eater to weaken them. Feeling their souls running out of energy, they quickly recreated their bodies, only to see his incoming attack, containing his curse. Although they tried to resist it, another wave of soul attack killed both of them. Their bodies faded into nothingness, along with their souls. As he turned around in the green light of his attack, covering a huge area, he saw Alice finishing her side a moment later.

“Now it’s two versus two. Shall we dance?” Alice asked, showing her white teeth, her energy flaring up. Without saying anything, the remaining two people teamed up to attack them, resulting in their demise.

---

The first part of the selection continued in such a manner. Many True Divine Beasts and talented cultivators were killed. Once someone learned the right way of cultivation, they too became targets of other groups. It turned into an endless slaughter. Although Hiro and Alice went through a few close calls, the number of Soul Restoration Pills and their quick regeneration speed helped them out a lot.

The world was merciless and cruel. There could be only one survivor at this place. They were counted as one entity, thanks to their bond. If they wanted to live and see the truth behind their daughter’s mission, they had to win.

After killing four hundred people, they went around and killed everyone they found. It wasn’t something weak willed people could do, but such people never reached the tenth level. Even if they were killed, defeated people held no grudge. They were weaker and died as a result. They knew that death and life walked hand in hand.

It took a week to kill most of the people, leaving only ten. Hiro and Alice were surprised to see that most of the people remaining were humans and other such races, instead of True Divine Beasts. There were only two of them left. A Phoenix and an Ape God.

[So this is why our ancestors died. This is why there are always True Divine Beasts growing up. Not even they can handle groups of cultivators ganging up on them. The Ape God and the Phoenix ganged up and stayed alive, while the others didn’t even have a chance.] Alice thought, clenching her fists.

Holding her hand, Hiro said, [Calm down. I know that it’s exciting to be so close to winning, but this last round of the fight is the most dangerous. If one of us dies, both of us will go. I wouldn’t want it otherwise, but I don’t wish to die after such a short life with my dearest wife. We also used up most of our the treasures. Let’s be careful. I want to see our daughter, Kane, and our friends.]

[You are right, honey.] Alice replied, placing her hand on his face, showing a smile.

[Your smile is scary in your battle form. Those long teeth and demonic eyes and your scale covered head…] Hiro remarked, a grin forming on his face.

----

Eleven people stood in a circle, checking out each other. They had serious faces on, their bodies stiff and ready to fight at any given moment. All of them were waiting for the other to make a move.

“Who wants to die?” A burly, bald man asked with a chuckle.

“You should stay true to your character and jump in like a muscle-headed idiot. Why do you even have such a big body? At this level, you won’t be stronger because of that. You must be a real idiot,” a beautiful woman with wavy, long, pink hair remarked, sticking out her large chest.

“Haha, you are one to talk with those melons. They are even larger than that pretty Dragon's breasts,” he replied, pointing at Alice.

[Behaving like kids, insulting each other just to make one another make the first move. But it won’t work on us.] Alice thought with a chuckle, ignoring the guy’s remark. The first person to attack would be killed in the next second. Cosmological Constant wasn’t a secret for people at this level. After the battle started, everyone hid their presences.

Nobody knew what kind of abilities other people had. They found each other by seeing the lights of battles…

“Hey, all of you are ugly monkeys. I have no idea why would you debate here,” another person joined the fray, insulting everyone.

Sighing loudly, Hiro said, “Why are we wasting our times with this? Everyone is old enough to ignore such petty remarks and insults. It’s obvious that nobody would be stupid enough to make a move. I think that we should pick an opponent and form some kind of championship.”

Nobody was stupid enough to leave a pair of True Divine Beasts alone, but they still agreed with him, thinking that they would sneak attack him. Both Hiro and Alice were clear of this.

“You are right. We should just pick an opponent,” the woman with pink hair agreed, showing her white teeth.

“Then you will be my opponent, cutey~” the burly guy said, appearing behind the woman, holding her waist.

“Is that so?” she asked, turning around with a smile on her face.

“Damn it, your body is really good. We should have met before coming here, haha!” the burly guy laughed loudly, gripping her side. But before he could do anything, he found her standing a few meters away.

“How cruel. Why won’t you die for me?” he asked, observing the others present.

“We will fight against the other two True Divine Beasts,” Alice offered, looking at the Phoenix and the Ape God. Both of them were using their monster forms.

“Good! The pairs are solved that way,” a lean guy clapped, visibly happy upon hearing the news. In the next second, the remaining people pointed one another, picking an opponent. Hiro thought that it was a stupid way to deal with their stalemate, but it worked.

As soon as the pairs were selected, everyone jumped at each other, using their full strengths. It was stupid to underestimate anyone among the remaining people. Thanks to their perfect teamwork, Hiro and Alice had the upper hand. But they didn’t use Soul Eater. They planned to have it as their trump card.

In their merged form, Hiro and Alice released their Martial Art with eighteen stacks, going way above the norm. The Ape God was obliterated on the spot, while the Phoenix came back to life miraculously. It decided to flee. They were about to chase after him when they sensed two attacks coming from behind.

Reacting quickly, they defended against the surprise attack. It was the burly guy who unleashed it, along with the pink haired woman. But they were surprised to see another pair attacking them at the same moment.

“You idiot, you will die this way!” they shouted before the attack struck their bodies. Hiro and Alice attacked their souls, killing both of them. Not stopping even for a moment, they charged towards the rest of the people, killing them one by one. The last three people grouped up, but thanks to Soul Eater, all of them met a bad end.

“Now it’s only us and that Phoenix. But how are we supposed to find herr? She hid her aura completely… I don’t want to start flying around in this huge space, looking for her. What if it takes years to find her?” Hiro complained, pulling the sides of his mouth, showing his unhappiness.

“Hey, Plum. Fight now or I’ll kill you personally. A coward can’t become a creator. I counted your fleeing as a tactic to come back at the right time for a sneak attack. It would have shown your cleverness. But you just hid away. You have one hour to come to this location,” the Abyss spoke, sending Hiro’s and Alice’s location to him.

At another part of the Abyss, Plum was sitting on the ground, her legs crossed. She was meditating and trying to regain her strength. One of her racial abilities was that she had a second chance at life. After dying, she would regain her life and gain great speed to flee.

But it would leave her in a temporarily weakened state. When it came to fleeing, Phoenixes were number one. At the tenth level, she was able to regain her strength quite quickly. The Abyss said one hour, knowing that it would be enough for her.

[We aren’t idiots. We know a Phoenix’s abilities. She needs about an hour to regain her strength. We aren’t going to wait for her,] Alice thought, shaking her head upon hearing the Abyss. Closing their eyes, they focused. They felt the Universe Energy flowing through the last floor, filling up every stone and matter.

It was a huge amount of data their brain had to process, but with sixteen minds, working at full speed, they had no problems with doing such a thing. [Can you feel it? There are a hundred tiny spots where space feels a bit different. Let’s check them out.] Hiro said, opening his eyes.

But even after teleporting to each place, they found nobody. [I’m not happy to say this, but let’s split up for a moment. I think that she keeps teleporting when we do since we can’t sense space at the same time. She must be switching places among those locations…] Hiro advised.

“Alright,” Alice replied, nodding her head. Not saying anything, she teleported to another location, while Hiro focused on space.

When there were only three locations left, Hiro felt another change in Space. Both of them appeared there like lightning and locked space instantly. Plum was standing there in her human form, her face pale white.

“Please let me have a fair fight against you,” she asked with glimmering eyes.

“I’m sorry, but this is the end for you. You will start a new round soon enough,” Hiro replied, attacking her at the same time.

“But I won’t be me if I reincarnate! I don’t want to die here!” she shouted, deflecting Hiro’s Qi. Feeling a little sorry for him, Alice followed up. After taking a few attacks, she saw the last attack coming towards her body. A few tears left her eyes, which had so much hope in them for the future. Her body set on fire and burned away. In the next moment, Alice used Soul Eater to devour her, winning the contest.

“You have to kill each other too,” the Abyss said with a serious voice, its voice cracking.

“You are so funny,” Alice remarked, shaking her head.

“You are no fun. I wanted to see your panicked faces,” it replied, appearing in front of them. Hiro and Alice continued to look at it with unmoving faces, waiting for it to speak. “We are all ears,” after a few minutes, Hiro couldn’t help but say.

“You were cuter when you were younger. Okay, let’s get to the point. As you know, there are many universes, each having a different size and age. Once you become a creator, you can make it grow only through collecting points. I’ll talk about this in a moment but before that. When I make you into a creator, your world will be connected to the Anchor.”

“You will also have the ability to create life. There will be a Soul Storage in your universe where dead people go. You will have one month to make them reincarnate if you wish so. But most creators don’t touch such matters. Don’t look at me like that. It was always possible. Phoenix Medals only automatized this option with some side effect. It’s up to the creators what they do with this ability.”

“You could also create a virtual reality type of universe, but it could very well screw up people if they leave your universe because they will have to realize that death is final. I’d advise against it. If one month is up, they will leave your universe and will be sent to me. That’s how it usually goes.”

“So again. You can create life. But the default type is human. If you want other kinds, you will have to earn points and buy each race. Once you have it, you can create them. I always laugh when I hear the thoughts of weak people. They always imagine families bearing so many children. When everyone is a cultivator, there are no mortal families. They are just the creations of creators to make a person’s existence logical.”

“I know that you are surprised by all this stuff, but you have to grow up and find out the truth. Hehe. Even Rose’s family. They were ‘untalented’ and weak cultivators. Obviously, there are no people with so terrible talent. They were just made for the purpose to give birth to a cultivator.”

“Then how come that those ‘parents’ don’t think about their parents? What about their past? This makes no sense,” Hiro interrupted the Abyss with his complaining.

“Flesh and blood, combined with memories. That’s what makes you into a person. They too had memories. It’s just that they never knew that it was all integrated. Like a code. They were just false memories. Of course, as a creator, you have the choice to create only real cultivators without any family. But that tends to turn into animalistic humanoids… Really, I’ve seen it happen. Humans are the same as animals without any parentage.”

“Anyway. I talked about life and death. Okay. Time and Space. You can’t increase or decrease the speed of your universe from now on. That’s a taboo, which comes with a death penalty. The size of your universe will increase if you buy it from points. You’ll see the creator’s Trading Room soon enough.”

“Your life from now on. You can live in your own world and visit other universes too if other creators let you in. It’s up to you. You can also live in the Creator’s Realm, which is a separate space in the Abyss. I’m sure that you can sense it by now since I gave you access to it. You can’t take your family there. Only the two of you can enter.”

“Haah- Now I can finally relax. All this time, we felt afraid of losing the chance to see our family and friends again,” Alice said, breathing out long.

“Haha, I know. You won’t have to worry about it anymore. You can also kill other people randomly, just like before. The only restriction I put on you is that you can’t play the king. You can’t suppress everyone and make them serve you. You can’t command everyone to serve you like slaves. It’s the same with women… but it’s not like either of you is interested in other people.

“The strange things. The size of your universe should be the same as every cultivator at the tenth level. But you not only have a much bigger universe, you also have billions of people in it… You also have another race, other than humans, thanks to your little experiments with souls, not to mention that Wyvern that drank your blood long ago… Dre’Khans are a completely new race, but since it was your creation, you can have them exclusively.”

“I might add them as a new and powerful True Divine Beast in the future. But I’d have to modify their looks a little. They look like you two in your merged monster forms. Or I could… ah, sorry. I almost got lost in my thoughts, haha.”

“I talked about the laws, the rules, the only thing left are the points! You get points when people originating from your universe invent new things, create new races, improve on something, and such. You also get one point after each day, so you can add new races if you just wait too. It’s pretty much what you have done, meaning Sawolond, finding halves of people, creating a new race. You gave lots of points to the creators of your original universe, haha.”

“You can reward those people too, but as I said before, most creators don’t even care to do such things. They are just so lazy… I hope that you will be more productive than the rest. You can kill other creators too, but the more people live in your universe, the stronger you will become. It’s the reason why you should care about making it into a good place to live at.”

“But there is one regulation. You can’t enter the top five floors of the Anchor as a creator. So I’ll relocate Sawolond to your Universe unless you wish to leave it to your daughter. After all, she too has your ability. As Creators, you can create any matter and treasure. I loaded everything there is into your minds as you have noticed. It was clever of you to increase the speed of time in your universe… You lived for ten years in Sawolond and increased it by millions of times…”

“Now there are many people at the eighth level and even a few of them at the later stages of the ninth level. I should have taken out those people from your world, but well… they came as a part of your luck so it is fine. I’ll leave now. Do what you want. You can’t enter the Anchor, but you can communicate through it from now on. Your Mind Power will be able to access it. Placing Abyss Gates will be your choice too.”

“You can also disable the possibility of teleporting into the Abyss like in Elena’s world. They had to use the gate to access it. But if you do it, you will have to create at least one, well-known gate. People should have the possibility to come and go freely. Also, you too can continue making couples, but you will have to stay in your world in that case and go straight to other universes.”

“Oh, right. Since you can recreate the treasures of the Abyss, I have a regulation on that too. You can’t spam them and give them away unless it was created without using your brand new Creator power. If it was hand made, then it could be anything. That’s everything I had to tell you. I’m sure that we will meet again in the future kiddos. It was nice to see you two growing, haha. But your roads haven’t come to an end yet. You still have many things to improve!” its last words resounded as it faded into nothingness.

Both Hiro and Alice were left in a state of surprise. [Where should we go now?] Hiro asked, feeling curious about the Creators’ Realm and the Creators’ Trading Room, but wishing to meet their loved ones at the same time.

[We are going home at first. I don’t want to make them worry for too long if unnecessary. We can always go there later. Aurora seemed to be pretty worried if you ask me.] Alice replied, shaking her head.

[You are right.] he said, teleporting to Sawolond, which was placed at their private planet.

---

They teleported straight to Sawolond. Everyone knew where they went, and they also knew that they had only one possibility to live and that was to win. Seeing them, everyone understood that they became the next creators.

“Look, they are back. Can we still talk with them like before? I wonder,” such whisperings surrounded them and their lack of reaction only made people feel tenser in their presence.

Reaching Aurora’s and Kane’s house, they knocked on the door, hiding their presences all this time. They heard footsteps nearing, along with their daughter’s mumbling, “Who could it be? How come I can’t sense any presence?” Smiles formed on their faces as they have seen the door opening and Aurora appear in front of them.

“Who are you-” she started, but her words were choked upon the sight of her parents. Placing her hand over her chest, she breathed out long, her body and mind relaxing.

“We are back, dear,” Alice said, placing her hand on their daughter’s face, showing her white teeth.

“Finally! It’s been more than a week! I thought that something terrible happened with your strength…” she jumped at them and coiled her arms around their necks. Hiro and Alice reciprocated her feelings and caressed her back. Feeling her arms tighten around their necks, they felt happy to see their daughter’s caring.

“We are sorry for the wait, but there were too many people. We have been fighting ever since we left, but your parents are the strongest!” Alice whispered into Aurora’s ears with a chuckle. Kane was standing right beside them. After seeing them through his bond with Aurora, he too came to greet. Seeing him standing in one place, visibly lost over what to do, Alice and Aurora pulled him into the group hug.

“Alright, enough of this,” Aurora said a few seconds later, feeling that it was enough.

“So? How did it go? What can you do now?” she bombarded them with questions, her eyes glimmering.

“Haha, let’s go in first,” Alice said with a chuckle, while Hiro announced, “We are the next creators as most of you have noticed… We plan to be more active than the others, so you can behave in the same manner around us as before. The world didn’t stop moving just because we have more abilities now.”

They were able to take anyone’s life with just a thought. Even if that person was at the tenth level. They had ridiculous abilities now that they have become creators. Sitting down on a sofa, they told everything they’ve heard from the Abyss, satisfying their daughter’s and son in law’s curiosity.

After spending a few weeks with their family and friends, nor Hiro neither Alice had the patience to keep delaying their travel to the Creators’ Trading Room and Realm. They still continued finding people’s halves when they came to their Universe. Saying their goodbyes, they left towards the sixth level of the Abyss.

“It’s time to find out everything!” Hiro said with a smile on his face, his eyes glistening in his excitement.