Prologue End

In a reality with a city of espers that surely had interesting stories. It was another day, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, on days like this...

*SHATTER sfx* The entire universe was destroyed by a gray haired father crashing through it.

Hessian had continued crashing through multiple realities and multiverses such as a world in the age of pirates, a world with a time stopping protagonist with no eyes, a world where they needed to summon heroes to stop a calamity and many more.

Did Hessian care that he had ended up destroying that many realities? Not really, the amount of people he's killed in his past life exceeded the amount he just killed by over a thousand times.

Finally stopping himself, his thoughts were focused on only one thing. Wave.

With a single thought, he returned to the RiftMaster's location.

His clothes were a bit scuffled, he patted some dust off his shoulder as if he wasn't just punted through multiple dimensions.

"Really if you had just waited a few more years, I wouldn't have minded giving him more time." RiftMaster Aversis shook his head at the man. "But it's too late for regrets." Hessian stared at the shimmering molten eyes of his son.

"Regrets?" Hessian chuckled despite the situation. "I have many regrets, but what is there to regret when the consequences come from my own decisions? You said I overestimated myself, but are you sure you aren't underestimating me?"

"So you knew this would happen. Hehahahaahaha!" RiftMaster Aversis laughed out loud as if he had heard an incredible joke. He smirked "Then try and struggle all you like. Use your true form, reveal your Grand Dao and try to cut me down. I will record your efforts until I take back what's mine." he said as the Aversis will in Hessian's body began to pulse.

*HONK* the sound of a blaring horn sounded out as a white truck appeared from the side.

Without batting an eye, the RiftMaster smirked and didn't move.

As expected, the Isekai Truck made contact however it didn't send it's target away. Instead, like a regular truck, the bumper began to bend and break. The Isekai Truck flipped over through the air and crashed on the ground.

"MY TRUCK!" A blonde man cried out as he jumped out of his damaged truck. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that repaired!?" the man shouted with irritation.

"Gold. What did I tell you not to do before this!?" Hessian asked with some irritation to the Blonde man now known as Gold Aversis. He honestly felt the urge to facepalm, but he was trying to keep his calm.

"I dunno but obviously I didn't listen to you." Gold shrugged his shoulders as more figures appeared in the surroundings. "Oh yeah, I also told more people because we needed more help." around 30 people showed themselves surrounding the RiftMaster. Each of them stood with no visible aura or overwhelming power which made them not stand out. However each of them were capable of erasing realities from their presence alone if they wanted to.

Hessian actually narrowed his eyes at the sight of these people, he knew them as they were all Aversis. Including him, there were 280 Aversis in the omniverse and he dreaded letting more than 4, let along 30 people know about this. To say he was pissed at Gold right now would be an understatement. Ideas and schemes raced through his mind before he decided to step back and wait.

The RiftMaster looked around unconcerned "Over 30 of you coming here for me. How spineless."

"This is a matter of our continued existence, you'll have to pardon us for our rudeness." Someone in the crowd said with a bit of a wry laugh.

"Oh you misunderstand, that's not what I meant. "The RiftMaster continued to smile. "I mean that coming here to die is the coward's way out." he clarified which caused some of the Aversis in the crowd to frown.

"We are more than enough to deal with the current you." Another Aversis rebuked.

In response, the RiftMaster just laughed. "You do have a point, currently I am obviously not at my peak." he admits continuing his carefree demeanor. "But just because I'm weaker, doesn't make you stronger."

"Power and strength for beings like us are meaningless."

"True, which leaves our impressions of existence. But none of you really believe that any of your existences run deeper mine, do you?" The group remained silent at that.

Noting their silence, he continuied on "You are all thinking about this all wrong. I am not your enemy." He spread his arms out with a smile.

"Each and every one of you have faced The Final Calamity. The End of All Things. You have each journeyed through your own path, came to your own answers and ultimately failed." Some began to grip their weapons tighter.

"In your omniverse, you were the equivalent of our R.O.Bs." It was a fact as only once you had become a R.O.B. could you feel The End's existence. "As the one in charge of watching over the Divide, I have witnessed and recorded each and every one of your final moments."

"Your struggles, your sins, your ambitions, and your regrets. In the end it all disappeared into nothing in face of The End. Since you came here, you have been lost and your respective paths had cut themselves off abruptly. You split your souls into two, and receded control in hopes that the new you could find the way forward." He stated the truth as most would think that they split themselves into new personalities in an attempt to stay separate from the Aversis Will.

"Well fear not. I have waited for a long time and perhaps I will have to wait even longer. I have spread myself among each and every one of you. You who were the true Overlords of your reality, even if one of you had failed, I shall learn from all 280 of you and find the answer you sought. Know that despite your ultimate failures, despite how utterly hopeless you believe your situation is. Know that I give my word that I will use your experiences to defeat The Final Calamity." His voice brimmed with true sincerity not seen in the average R.O.B.

"All I ask is that you join me and allow me to use you to continue my own path." He reached out with the meteoric arm, waiting for their response.

The group was silent at that. Every word he had said was true, they were lost and had nothing in a place that was not theirs. Despite their attempts of searching for a new way forward, their emotions no longer truly stirred as they once had in the past. They were empty.

"I refuse." However a single sentiment was still present.

Everyone turned to the voice to see Gold standing straight, his expression no longer lackadaisical. His form slowly shifted, his hair grew longer into a paler blonde, his eyes from gray to gold, his clothes from casual to tattered robes.

"I was once the Golden Eminence, and I admit my path forward had been broken. I can see no way forward, your words ring true." He solemnly stated in an aged voice. In the next moment his eyes sharpened with a hint of intensity behind them.

"You are correct, we were once the true Overlords hidden and forgotten with the passing epochs. Even with nothing left, we still have our own dignity." Golden light began to invade the world in a pulse. "If you wish to use us for your own path, then you must trample on this dignity!" he nearly shouted as the rest of the group silently agreed with his sentiments.

With a pulse of gold, the Golden Eminence appeared in front of the RiftMaster. His hands reached out in a motion that was simple, slow, yet unavoidable. His palms were placed on the sides of Wave's face, the RiftMaster's molten eyes widened slightly.

"All things return to gold."

∞

The world was gone, the sky was empty, the scenery was gone, all that was left was the Golden Bridge. The RiftMaster took a slow appreciative look at the world, despite there being nothing but the path of gold. He noted that there was gold dust scattering down to the bridge from his body. He looked incredibly interested, despite his body continuing to crumble and flake into gold, he still smiled all the same.

"I see, if I don't walk forward on this path, this body will continue to crumble until it joins the corpses that forged this bridge." He analyzed as his molten eyes continued to look through it's mysteries and profundities. Normally he would be completely indifferent to any kind of power, whether it be from some anime world or cultivation world. Technology or magic didn't matter to him, as he knew all there was to know.

However, this was something created from another Omniverse, he could not simply will himself to know everything about it. Which is why it piqued his interest.

If the same technique or ability were created in two different omniverses, they would be different on a fundamental level, despite being exactly the same. Only R.O.B.s or people close to that stage could realize the difference. If the two same techniques were to clash, the results would not be decided on a power scaling, it would be their impressions on the omniverse.

It was why the Aversis were generally avoided by super powerful gods and dimensional travelers who could change the laws of reality with a snap of a finger or create completely new multiverses. They wouldn't be affected by the power scaling, and since the Aversis were the equivalent of R.O.B.s in the past, they were unaffected by those incredibly powerful people.

The only thing that could take on a full powered Aversis would be a R.O.B. as their impression on the omniverse ran deeper than the Aversis who were outsiders. Of course they still couldn't permanently kill them as they all had a piece of the RiftMaster with them.

"HeHAHAHAHAHAHAA!" RiftMaster Aversis laughed gleefully and maniacally as his body continued to scatter to gold. Despite knowing that the only way to stop the breakdown of his body was to move forward, he still chose to stand still. "This is fine! If you believe this immaculate bridge of yours can support the weight of my existence, then I invite you to try!" he declared as the breakdown of his body seemed to increase in speed.

At the end of the never-ending golden path, the Golden Eminence sat still with his eyes closed. His demeanor was different, he was more serene, aged and tired. Like a statue he continued to remain still, waiting at the end of the broken bridge.

*RUMBLE sfx* However in that moment, the grand path build upon the corpses of countless worlds and realities began to shake.

His eyes snapped open and widened imperceptibly. Cracks began to spread and arc out throughout the bridge.

*COUGH* he coughed out blood as the bridge shattered to nothingness.

∞

On the outside, a single moment had not passed. Yet after the Golden Eminence had invoked the power of his Grand Dao, he flew back with blood streaking his tattered robes. The world became darker as the golden hue disappeared and receded.

'What!?' was most of the group's thoughts at the moment. They knew that he wouldn't be able to win, but they didn't think that his defeat would be so instantaneous.

*HONK sfx* The Isekai truck flipped upright on it's own and intercepted the falling body. The driver's door opened automatically, catching Gold as his form shifted back to his normal appearance. The next moment the Isekai truck blinked out of existence, off to some other reality.

"KehahahAHAHAHAHA! Truly I haven't had that much fun in quite some time." The group turned back to the RiftMaster as he laughed joyfully. He didn't care that Gold had ran away, he would find him sooner or later. "To trample over your dignity, is that it? That's fine with me, the results will be the same regardless of the process." He stated with a menacing grin.

"Does anyone else hear boss music?" Someone from the group asked out loud as they really did seem to hear boss music coming from the RiftMaster.

Before anyone else made their move, RiftMaster Aversis raised his arm to the sky and pointed upwards. His ever-present grin displayed the fun he seemed to be having as a multi-colored disco ball shined into existence.

From the rays of light, reality began to break apart into fragments as millions of multiverses were created and smashed together in that single instance.

The remaining Aversis became trapped in between as the weight of millions of multiverses weighed down on their bodies. However that wasn't enough to phase them, they each began to invoke their Grand Daos. Their respective forms began to shift... until it halted. This complete shut down of their ability to resist made each of them feel startled.

In the next moments, the RiftMaster's voice drifted to each of their dimensions. "As much fun as it would be to allow you to try your techniques on me, I have a lot to do so I'm just going to end this." he stated with a chuckle. "Did you believe that just because you split your souls that my Will wouldn't be capable of affecting you? Foolish, my will had merged with you the moment you accepted it for your own survival. Now it's time for me to collect rent."

Across the omniverse, the remaining Aversis felt a pull on their existence as they felt his unstoppable will flare up. It was as if he was announcing his imminent arrival. There was no way for them to fight back, they had already lost since the beginning. There was no path to survival left. Realizing this, they had given up.

"Cleave." A voice sounded out as a resplendent blade cut straight through thousands of multiverses.

A man stepped from the tear leaving behind the destroyed realities in his wake. His hair was a long silky white, he wore a black dragon robe with white tuffs of fur on his shoulders. Resplendent blades of light grew from his back in a wing-like formation emitting unimaginable power. His baggy white pants shook from the pressure.

The RiftMaster's molten eyes narrowed "You... how can you still resist?" he questioned as his eyes focused on Hessian's true form. "I don't feel you... you discarded it. You actually discarded my will! How!? Why!?" it didn't make any sense to him.

"As the Nameless Immortal Xu Jin I never had any talent for martial arts, nor for the sword. The only thing I could do was refine." The Nameless Immortal who was Hessian's true form responded calmly as he felt his existence slowly disappear from his grasp each moment.

"Why would you make this decision!? You could have lived through me! You would have had meaning to your existence! Your existence will only disappear into nothingness now!" The RiftMaster shouted, actually angered by his choice.

"I have someone that I must save." He stated.

"This is unlike you, immortal. To save your own kin? Don't give me that nonsense, you are one who had sacrificed all those closest to him in order to face the end! Nothing but the delusions of a loser!" With a roar, the sky shattered as another multiverse collided into the one that they stood on.

'Wave' Hessian thought to himself, staring at the newly created multiverse that was about to crash into him. 'When you wake up, perhaps you'll find that life will have lost it's luster.' With a swing of his resplendent blade, the incoming reality shattered to pieces revealing the RiftMaster on the other side.

"DIE ALREADY YOU DAMN FAILURE!" A massive staff with a crystal orb appeared within his grasp as he slammed the bottom of it beneath him. Reality shifted and was overwritten. The sky turned to a dim blue, hexagonal panels of light made up the ground and meteors that held countless worlds within them rained from the skies towards the Nameless Immortal.

'But don't let it bother you. It's just another part of the wondrous thing known as life.' Unperturbed by the fact that he no longer had anything to stand on, he continued to slash towards the incoming multiversal meteors.

Growling with irritation, the RiftMaster raised his staff again. In the next moment, the meteors condensed into steel-like pillars with odd chains coiling around them. Nailing themselves into the space around his enemy, the Nameless Immortal's body widened his eyes slightly as chains began to burst out from his body in an eruption of blood.

Chains continued to erupt from his body, coiling around him and connecting to the surrounding pillars. In the distance, the RiftMaster smirked as he believed it was over.

*BOOM sfx* in an explosion of shattered steel, The Nameless Immortal emerged from the chains and flew towards the RiftMaster.

'There are many regrets that I have piled on in this life, but if there was one thing I regret the most.' His sword wings shined even brighter at that moment as his eyes erupted into resplendent light.

'It was that I could not witness your story for myself.' In that moment, images of those he had cared for passed through his mind. His family and friends in his past life, His current wife Ereshkigal, his daughter Amber.

In the last moment, a recent memory of Wave appeared in his thoughts. 'I want to live my own story... is that so wrong?' he remembered his son's sincere words.

"DAMN IT!" The RiftMaster cursed as the Nameless Immortal was upon him.

'It isn't wrong. Which is why even if I cannot see your story for myself, I will at least make sure that it begins!' Ignoring his fading existence, he swung his resplendent blade down with all his strength.

*SHATTER sfx*

In the next moment, the Nameless Immortal stood infront of the RiftMaster with his arms down. His hands empty, his blade of light had shattered. RiftMaster Aversis continued to stare deeply into the Nameless Immortal's resplendent eyes that were slowly dimming.

"I told you immortal. You overestimate yourself." He repeated what he had said at the beginning.

Noting his silence he continued. "You believed that you could refine me into your son's existence, grinding it down with your own. But we both know that your existence does not run deeper than my own." he stated the fact. After a moment, the Nameless Immortal's form reverted back into Hessian.

Hessian's eyes had lost their light, however he still opened his mouth to speak. "...In the past, I had refined countless worlds and existences into a single blade. And in the final slash against the end, that blade had broke."

"What is the point of telling me this immortal?"

"In the end, that broken blade that touched The End still exists. Would you like to know where it is?"

The RiftMaster shuddered a little at the information. Something that hadn't disappeared after being touched by The End? Something like that is inconceivable. However before he could voice out a response, Hessian continued.

"You said that I overestimated myself. I never did, I simply decided to believe in my son." He stated with a tired smile.

"Wha-*STAB sfx*" The RiftMaster's molten eyes shimmered as his stare descended down to his abdomen. There was a red crucible blade of light sticking out of it.

∞

I don't feel so good.

I feel like I'm disappearing.

I can't see, I can't hear, I can't feel, I can't smell, I can't even breathe.

Wait, I never needed to breathe, so that doesn't actually bother me much.

I don't know where I am, but I feel like moving even an inch is a struggle.

I don't like this feeling.

I want to go home.

Home...

'To my beloved Wave, may you never lose your key home.' I remembered mom's words.

Right... my key.

I grasped my hand as if the key was already there, and I opened the door.

∞

"Wha-..." RiftMaster Aversis struggled to voice out.

The surroundings had changed, what was once a battlefield of shattered reality had become an abyss of anguished souls.

"They are searching for their king." Hessian stated as the wailing sea of souls began to shift and torrent into Wave's body like a whirlpool.

"T-This... YOU THINK SOME DAMNED SOULS CAN STOP ME?!" RiftMaster Aversis roared. The answer was obvious, they couldn't.

"You would think that I would have lost count of how many beings I had refined into that blade, but I never lost count. 54,040,010,900,030,472,139,560,810,052 souls" He had refined over fifty-four octillion souls into that one blade. "And they all still exist inside that broken blade." He explained as the RiftMaster began to feel uneasy.

"You could never figure out the origin of this abyss. All that you know is that it was created to be an abyss of souls. Well, you're about to find out." Hessian chuckled as the torrent of souls was finally absorbed into Wave's body.

The world opened up as the sun rays was finally able to reach the ground, the towering mountain peaks that extended beyond the clouds, the ocean that contained countless memories beneath.

"Welcome to my inner world brought to reality, my Ocean of Memories" Hessian said as he revealed the origin of the abyss.

Situated on top of the highest peak. The RiftMaster's flickering molten eyes moved towards the single broken blade stabbed onto the stone platform.

The blade had turned gray from it's former splendor. It's wooden handle was broken and splintered, it's handguard was broken off, a shell of it's former self. Yet the RiftMaster couldn't help but tremble slightly as he stared at it. He could not see through it, he could not see through the broken blade that had been touched by the end.

The broken blade began to shudder as it unsheathed itself from the stone, it pointed itself straight towards the RiftMaster.

"After it had been touched by The End, I could no longer hold my own sword. However, like the anguished souls, it will seek out it's king."

"Keh...HEHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!" Instead of fearing for his life, RiftMaster Aversis merely laughed maniacally as he was suppressed. "Incredible! Perhaps you aren't a complete failure after all!" he declared as the broken blade flew towards Wave's body and embedded itself into his chest.

Hessian's body continued to break down with his world as his entire existence began to refine the RiftMaster into his son's. The Molten eyes began to dim down and lose their light.

"Well played immortal. I did not think I would fall to your schemes, but know this. I have not given up my journey to find the answer..." RiftMaster Aversis muttered lowly as the molten light faded from Wave's eyes.

Clarity returning, Wave looked at his father as he faded away in front of him. "Dad..."

"Welcome back. That's right... I still needed to give you your present." Hessian smiled, ignoring the breakdown of his existence. Raising his hand, he pushed the ball of myriad light into Wave's chest.

[CUSTOM GAMER SYSTEM INSERTED. INTEGRATION INITIATED] Onyx's voice sounded out in Wave's mind.

Deep within the recesses of Wave's soul. The RiftMaster stirred. 'No... I will not allow this!'

[Gamer's body installation FAILED, Gamer's mind installation FAILED, integration into the omniverse FAILED]

[STATUS PAGE AVAILABLE.] Wave heard a few other things, but Hessian knew that the RiftMaster had stopped his son from being merged with the omniverse. He let out a wry chuckle, finding it funny that even in the end he was still a failure.

"Dad... your body. Where's mom!? We need to get you some help!"

"Wave..." Hessian struggled to say as his body began to completely disappear. "It doesn't matter what choices you make, what good or incredibly evil things you decide to do. You do not need a reason as it is your path to take. Know that I will always love you. I am sure that the story that you live through will be something amazing. Just... don't rush to the end..."

"Dad... stop... don't go!" Wave hugged his father tight, afraid to let go as his body continued to flake off into his own. Hessian took a moment to look up into the sky at the last moment.

"...For normal people, they say that death is what gives life meaning. A prospect foreign to beings like myself." Wave lost his grip on his body as it faded away. "Perhaps it is The End that gives someone like myself meaning. A last respite..." In his last moments, Hessian Aversis von Schweinorg was smiling.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" and the cry of a boy was the only sound that followed his departure.

PROLOGUE END