“What does it mean to kill a god?”

The Void screeched while unleashing its infinite power. As a being that has had control of a god core for countless years, it was fully aware of the fullest extents of its power.

Dream could see darkness swallow the space around him, the power of endless nothing, like a black hole, pulling at his existence.

It was absolute, overwhelming. Anybody else would be completely annihilated.

But, for Dream, there was a small bubble around him that protected his being.

He aimed his pistol as seemingly nothing while responding to the Void.

“Well, I suppose its not death in a conventionial sense. For others, death is the inability to think as a result of the structure of their consciousness breaking down. For you, it would mean the end of your existence, the cluster of information that comprises you being scattered and reduced to zero.”

“But that which exists in the minds of the universe cannot be killed except through the death of those minds.”

The Void retorted while his power continued to grow and thrash at the barrier around Dream. And it did begin to break, Dream’s infinite power unable to match the Void’s.

But he was calm, waiting for that one shot.

“Are you talking about the life of ideas? Like Greek gods, they exist because of someone’s idea, or a civilization’s religion. Concepts that arise from belief. They gain their power through their followers, and likewise die with them. That notion proves that the denizens of the universe both inhabit an indifferent home as well as create the indifferent home that is the universe.”

“Correct. However, unlike those gods that spawn from the thoughts of the weak, there are those who embody a function of the universe. But, those functions can be… idolized. Like fear of the darkness. The idea that resides in enough minds can become personified. A force given Ego.”

The Void launched an attack as Dream’s defenses wore down. That attack broke forth and pierced into his body, beginning a frightfully quick process of entropy and obliteration.

But at the same instant, Dream spotted the mass of darkness. He fired the pistol.

*Bang!*

The gun flashed, and the tiny neutron star pierced through the darkness at speeds beyond light, arriving instantly before the Void.

Then, after colliding, the star collapsed in on itself, warping both space and time before exploding in a blinding fashion.

The Void was baffled, but Dream could feel its curiosity.

“Amazing!”

**BOOOM**

Dream watched as the darkness turned to light. After backing away a few million miles, he was able to watch the amazing supernova that erupted from the Void’s body.

And, in the center of that supernova, he could briefly sense the manifestation of something conceptual.

The god core of the Void.

Dream responded.

“A force given Ego… So, you’re the Void, the embodiment of everyone’s fear’s and beliefs about the darkness.”

“And what… lies within. You are correct.”

The Void quickly reformed over its god core, though it was obviously injured.

It’s being that was attached to the god core was no longer as energetic.

Still, it laughed.

“Haha, to think, that so many people desired to become darkness incarnate. So many trillions over time. Entire civilizations have destroyed themselves over darkness. They tried so hard… and yet, all their powerful thoughts created that which would snatch away their dreams. I am the product of their desires, and am also the target of their hatred. But everything, both hatred and worship, give me the power to control what they couldn’t.”

The Void rose, meeting Dream face to face. It took on a form comprised of not information, but the lack of it. Dream could see a hole in the universe. That was it.

“I am Darkness. I am the Void. I reside across the entire universe, there when light isn’t. I am no different than Death itself. And not the fake death that so many demons think they understand, but true Death. And, I saw you, for but an instant, when you crossed over that threshold and gave yourself to what should have been my dominion. Nothing. But… something, took you away. I was quite angry, not that I could do anything.”

“Well you see, when you do cross into Nothing, your existence relies on the past to exist. Your mark on the universe is all that’s left. So much as kicking a pebble on a road will cause the universe to contain a record of your existence. So, you could say that the universe itself retained my life.”

“The only reason I can’t believe that is because Order should have wiped you out. So how?”

The Void asked. In response, Dream raised his pistol again.

“How? Well, I didn’t do it. You can thank Sophia for that. After she managed to reverse engineer a single snapshot of the entire universe, it was forced to rercognize me and maintain my existence. Only, here’s the kicker.”

Dream smiled.

“She hasn’t actually finished yet.”

“Hasn’t finished…”

The Void was confused.

But then, Dream fired.

“Tsk.”

**BOOOMM**

Another supernova lit up the universe in a cataclysmic flash of light.

Dream saw the god core be exposed, and the next instant he was right before it.

His hand grabbed the little golden ball that didn’t actually exist within the 3rd dimension.

When he did grab it, he could actually see the conceptual world of the Concept of the Void. He entered it.

And he appeared in total darkness. The only other one there was the Ego of the Void.

The Void seemed to be excited though.

“Are you telling me what I think you are? She hasn’t finished reverse engineering a snapshot of the universe. The universe has yet to acknowledge your existence. So why are you here? Or, are you?”

“Hehe.”

Dream chuckled triumphantly.

“Who knows? Maybe you’ve just been defeated by a man who doesn’t yet exist. Or maybe I do in fact exist, but only because of an event that occurred in the future. Perhaps my power has pierced through Time itself. After all, what is time to someone who knows everything that is to happen and has happened? What kind of god would that make you?”

“What kind… So, you have succeeded, just in the future. You can only bypass Order because you don’t technically exist yet. But, when do you exist then?”

“That depends on my wives, contrary to what they believe.”

Dream shrugged while spinning the god core on his finger.

“Anyway, It’s about time you go now. Become the eternal darkness thaht you love so much.”

“It’s about damn time.”

The Void snickered, and then, his figure began to fade away.

Once he had disappeared completely, Dream knew that he had been cast away into the sands of Time. And with that, he exited the conceptual world.

Then, he pressed the god core in his hand to his chest. Reality frarctured around it before it disappeared.

Within him, Dream could see the god core appear inside the world of Khroia. Then, the rest of the chaotic space began to settle and take on proper form.

The Void had become a part of Dream’s own world.

“Good. One item down. That was the hardest one. Now I just need a few others…”

Dream recounted his list.

The Concept of the Void.

The Concept of Force.

The Concept of Physical Reality.

The Concept of Space.

The Concept of the Singularity.

Dream wanted these five concepts, and with them he would forge Aegis to become his strongest armor.

So, with a step, he traversed the universe in search of the next item on his list.

………

……

It only took what amounted to 2 days for Dream to grab the items he wanted.

And the only reason it took so long was because he was engaged in discussion with the gods he eventually killed.

“Hm, very nice talks. Good people too. Except for that singularity guy. He was rather… heh, one dimensional.”

Dream chuckled at his joke before stepping onto the machine world.

By now, the machine world had gone far beyond what it was before. It’s monumental power couldn’t be compared to any other single celestial entity in the universe.

But, even it wasn’t finished.

Dream focused on his task.

“Aegis.”

“My Lord.”

Aegis appeared beside him, bowing as he always did.

Dream conjured a workbench before him.

“Time to work on your upgrades. Sorry for the intrusion.”

“My Lord’s will be done.”

Aegis stood tall, and then, Dream’ reached out toward him.

He grabbed, and in his hand appeared a cluster of Dust and Ash, the materials and data that comprised Aegis’ existence.

“Rather amazing. His sudden development of true life wasn’t so random. When orderly forces come together, Dust naturally appears as well. It gave Aegis the power of a soul when I had provided merely the foundation. Anyway.”

Moving the soul, Dream set it down on the workbench.

Then, he took out five god cores, setting each of them down on the same bench.

“Alright… Now, we begin.”

He smiled. Then, his hands opened.

“First, the Void.”

The god core floated above Aegis’ soul, and the soul itself began to wrap around it. But merely attaching Aegis’ soul to the core wasn’t enough.

“Aegis is to become the Void.”

As if his words were law, the god core suddenly began to break down.

And then, the particles that composed that concept mixed into the soul.

It became a dark mixture, like a liquid formed of pure darkness.

“Now, the Singularity.”

The second god core came.

The Singularity was something one dimensional, the furthest reduction of Reality that could exist. Of course, Reality only referred to everything that existed, so it was not the furthest reduction of the Totality, which was everything and everynothing.

When Dream decomposed the Singularity, it sank into the dark mixture.

And then, the entire thing shrunk into oblivion. Something one dimensional was technically something that couldn’t be interacted with. It was itself and nothing else, having no connection or relation to the rest of the universe.

But Dream had a counteragent against this little dot that would allow it to freely transition between both states.

“Space.”

He called, and the god core, moved to where the singularity was. However, Dream needed something to connect with that singularity in order to bring it back to the 3rd dimension.

Truthfully, there was one thing that could connect with a singularity.

“Black Hole.”

At the tip of his fingers, Dream conjured a small black hole.

The core of a black hole was a singularity. And in this case, the core of this black hole was Aegis’ singularity.

Dream crushed the god core of Space and tossed its particles into the black hole.

Like that, the two merged, and Aegis reappeared in the universe. He was now a translucent and chaotic mass of fluctuating material.

That amount of chaos couldn’t allow anything to be done with it. So, Dream got yet another counteragent.

“Force.”

The god core moved and was broken down, infusing into that violent mass. After that, it actually disappeared.

With all these intangible concepts, Aegis was no longer something that could be interacted with. His body was now comprised of countless singularities like atoms, a mass of darkness that was naturally unseen, space that was the fabric of reality, and forces that, like darkness, were unseen.

However, Dream wanted a tangible butler, one that could interact with the known universe. So, he gave him his final ingredient.

“Physical Reality.”

The final god core, and it was crushed like rocks. Dream didn’t actually have to fight annyonne for this god core, since nott unlike when he left it, it didn’t have a god.

So he simply snatched it.

And now, it formed the material body of his butler.

Black shoes, black slacks, a tailcoat suit, and a nice tophat. Aegis formed into his body nicely.

This time, he didn’t even have a head. There was just an empty gap between the collar of the suit and the tophat.

Still, with his white gloves, Aegis grabbed his tophat and lowered it, bowing.

“My Lord, I thank you for your hard work.”

“Hehe, lookin good Aegis. However, I’m not quite done yet.”

Suddenly, Dream fliicked Aegis’ nonexistent head.

Then, a grey drop infused itself into his body and soul, overtaking it all, mixing the Dust and Ash.

It was his own Khroia.

“My Lord…”

“Congratulations. You are now both a part of my existence and your own independent being. Along with the cumulative conceptual powers of every concept I gave you, you also have the immunity of Khroia, an energy that allows you to exist beyond Order and Chaos. Of course, that Khroia is still mine, but you hold dominion over that portion.”

“...Thank you, my Lord.”

“Of course! My butler should not only be able to serve me, but be able to vanquish half the universe with a wave of the hand. You are now one of the most powerful beings to exist.”

Dream pat Aegis’ top hat with a wide smile. Then, he looked back toward the workbench.

He went silent, causing Aegis to straighten up and await his words.

“...In about three months, Luna and Iris’ armies will be decimated. They will close in on the final world, and that will cause my wives to finally accept the final inheritance of Saboth, the Archon or Order, and Pronoia, the Archon of Chaos. Only when they do that will I be able to step in the middle.”

“Until then, what will you do, my Lord?”

“I suppose I’ll need to manufacture an army. After all, I was the defense contractor for the entire Asura faction. I can’t have my clients go extinct. That’s just bad business.”

Saying that, Dream turned to the machine world below him.

“Well then, time to work.”