Chapter 746: Frustratingly Philosophical

[Context for the readers!! The context of this scene is simple! It follows the real Pandora before she became an Omnipotent! Not one of her avatars!! So we'll get to see a small part of Pandora's journey toward becoming omnipotent.

Here she's around 1.5 million years old!! Which already makes her quite old. The crossover still isn't over and will continue moving forward, but for now I'll be returning to chapters from other side stories!! Like this one!!]

"..." I look around. I've been living in this place for two years, and only now has the core been revealed. The location is a rather "pretty" city with a style I recognize well, even if I weren't factoring in the two years I've spent living here.

"You took too long. I had to start killing everyone just to get you to show up." I speak to the [Trace]. I discovered that Oriane left behind a trace of her power — maybe on purpose, maybe by accident, the reason doesn't matter.

I've spent the last millions of years searching for these traces to absorb them. Each trace is always inside a star, scattered between universes and the limbo. These stars are born because of her power.

But most of these "traces" inside the stars have consciousness and tests. Not because she put them there, but because her power generated intelligent life that tests those who get too close.

"Why did you start killing everyone?" A sphere of white light speaks to me. The test scenario this time used my memories. It's the city where I was born as a human. My mother is here, even though she's just an illusion, and there are also several other things meant to try and make me live peacefully here — trying to make me live a lie.

"Does that matter? I came to devour you, and I already realized the test is designed to keep me trapped here in this sweet lie, so I started killing everything." I look down at the ground where I crushed my mother's head. It's not pleasant having done that, but it wasn't really her, so it hardly matters.

"Only cowards feel powerful stepping on ants." When the "Trace" says that, I laugh at him.

"Hahaha, really? Hahahahahaha so I'm a coward for killing people inferior to me? How comical!! Where did you get that stupid viewpoint? 'Only cowards feel powerful stepping on ants' — was I supposed to feel something different because of that line?"

"It makes absolutely no sense. If I have power, I'll crush whoever I want with it, regardless of whether they're weaker or stronger. Cowards are those who have no power and crush those beneath them just to feel better about themselves. Not those who are powerful and can crush everyone equally."

"Hypocrisy is choosing who deserves to die. I don't choose. If someone is in my way, they die. Strong or weak, saint or demon, everyone in my path will die and be crushed without distinction. Because to me, everyone's existence is the same as nothing when placed before my desire."

"So you admit that you only offer contempt and hatred without reason?"

"Yes, yes, but let's be honest, do you think I care whether or not I'm a coward? All that matters is me surviving and getting what I want, little trace, so how about you save me some time and let me eat you?" I move closer to the trace, who backs away, creating more illusions.

"Don't you have a heart? How can you crush your loved ones without mercy?" The trace speaks as several copies of Zephyra, Delphina, and Mikael come toward me. I just look at them, and their bodies turn to ash.

"I'm far too strong for your pathetic powers to do anything to me, and far too merciless to feel hesitation over illusions." I grab the trace before it can flee.

"...Why pursue omnipotence? I don't understand. Your malice has no reason or purpose... why?" I give him a scornful look as he says this while trying to escape my grip.

"Why does everyone try to figure that out? Why does everyone try to philosophize with me? Seriously? This is getting fucking annoying already. You think I need a reason, Trace?" I squeeze him in my hands.

"Understand this, you miserable thing, the more you all ask me such idiotic questions, the more irritating and dangerous I become." Why does everyone try to question me about what I feel, or what I think, or my integrity and evil?

"Is it so hard to understand that I'm evil and that's it?" My nails pierce the sphere, injecting a dangerous poison inside. The sphere contracts, feeling for the first time in its miserable existence what pain is.

"I hate these idiotic questions. There is no reason for me to want to be omnipotent. I want everything my eyes see. If omnipotence is something I cannot touch and something I should not have, then I want it, and what I want, I get." The Trace begins to deform as the star I'm in the center of starts taking on a completely black hue.

"Omnipotence... won't make you happy..."

"I don't care." I start to leave this collapsing star, absorbing this sphere. It'll take some time because it's still a lot of the primordial goddess's power.

"Y-You'll become empty..."

"Fuck off."

"A-Are you really going to abandon everything? Y-You have a family, a universe of your own, people who love you. Why pursue the impossible?"

"Are you deaf? Stop fucking talking." I really feel nothing about this. It's just annoying that every fragment tries to get philosophical with me. Does no one understand that you don't need reasons to be evil?

I don't need to be evil anymore, but I still am just for personal satisfaction. That's all it is. It's not complicated. Even a child would understand it by watching the way I live.

"You will regret these choices..." The voice becomes heavily distorted because it's dying.

"I never regret what I choose." I see some of the limbo monsters approaching, wanting to steal the Trace that was protected by such an intense star.

With a single snap of my fingers, I generate a beam of Mana that obliterates all the creatures and nearby universes.

"There was life in those universes... w-why devastate them?"

"...Because they were in my way, and anything that stands in front of one of my attacks will be destroyed. I'm not going to hold back for unknown lives." I look at the sphere, which is getting smaller and smaller.

"I understand... I think I understand. I spent years protecting this power... I saw many try to steal it... you were the only one who succeeded... because you don't care about abandoning even what you've conquered for a fraction of a chance to obtain more..."

"Greed is a path of endless ruin—"

"I don't know if it's because you're stupid, but do you know what 'Fuck off' means? When I said that, I meant that nothing you say matters. Got it? Is it really that hard to understand that I don't want to talk?"

'Just die already.' It's frustrating how long this is taking for me to absorb him completely.

"...Could you... at least tell me one last quote? Since I'm about to die..."

"Once, a Mad King one million years ago said to all the beings of his universe: 'Everything my eyes can see is mine, and everything my hands can touch, I can change.'"

"I think I liked that line. It applies well to me. If something enters my field of vision and I desire it, then I will have it. It doesn't matter if it's a person, a goal, an object, a scenario — whether material or immaterial, if I want it, I will have it."

"And if I will have it regardless, then my hands can touch it. And if my hands can touch it, I choose whether to break it or preserve it. Does that quote serve you?" I say this just so the fragment will shut up.

"...I will grant you the silence you desire. I see that solitude means nothing to you... farewell, insatiable monster that seeks to consume everything. I hope your vision never clouds and that your hands may always touch the truth."

"...If my eyes go dark, I'll make new ones. And if I need hands, I'll replace the ones I have. Nothing will obscure what I have defined as mine." I say with a sadistic smile on my face, obtaining the location of the next fragment.