At 3 AM in the ruins of a destroyed city tens of kilometers from the city of Kessamburg, three people stood on three opposite pillars. The last to be present were Gothar McIntyre, Rikudo Navi, and Yuta Kasiral. They looked at each other for a few seconds before descending from those pillars.
As soon as they descended, Yuta snapped his fingers, and a small dome appeared. It was the size of an adult's palm at first, but after a few seconds, the dome began to expand little by little until it covered an area of three kilometers.
Inside the dome, the destroyed city had transformed into a beautiful garden. Gothar, Yuta, and Rikudo were sitting inside a greenhouse adorned with various excessively golden decorations.
"How are you guys? It seems you did a good job with the energy source," Yuta's tone was nonchalant as he drank a cup of tea, as if killing over 500 experienced fighters was nothing but child's play. However, they were not bothered, knowing that those they fought were nothing compared to the monsters whose fangs had not yet been revealed.
"You're right, I always do my job in the best way possible," Rikudo's tone carried a hint of sarcasm. He then directed his gaze towards the garden, whose beauty was indescribable: trees bearing various fruits, each tastier than the ordinary by tens of times, rivers of water, milk, honey, and non-alcoholic wine. Even the water was tastier and sweeter than honey, quenching thirst, but his interest waned after a few seconds. He turned his gaze back to his companions, whom he had not met for several years.
"What is your plan, or rather, what is your goal in all this?" Gothar's tone was direct, without any beating around the bush. His facial features were cold as frost, showing no emotion as he looked at Yuta like a merciless wolf. Nevertheless, Yuta met him with a nonchalant smile, leaning back in his chair with his violet eyes closed for a few seconds before opening them.
"Everyone has a predetermined path they head towards from the day they are born until the day they die, whether it's happiness or misery, rich or poor, happy or sad, strong or weak, hero or villain, or both. Everyone is a main character in their own life story, and everyone is a supporting character in the stories of other beings. My goal is simple: I want to live as I wish, traversing various paths. Sometimes I will be good, sometimes evil, sometimes both, and sometimes neither."
Rikudo responded to Yuta in a tone filled with respect and a bit of sarcasm, as usual. "Strange, when you were talking, I felt like I was looking at one person, and at the same time, someone else was speaking, but at the same time, the speaker had the same presence as the person I was looking at, as if there were two different people at the same time, yet one person. Isn't that strange, Yuta?"
A faint smile appeared on Yuta's face as he looked at the greenhouse ceiling adorned with various noble-style decorations. "You're right, some things are stranger than the mind can comprehend. Like beginnings are not always beginnings, and endings do not necessarily mean the end. It could be a beginning, or it could be a part of an end, or it might not be at the same time. It could be."
Gothar sighed upon hearing their words, which were philosophical, logical, and illogical at the same time. What had happened in that world still occupied his thoughts. He let out a deep sigh, trying to gather his thoughts about that incident, as he couldn't remember what he had heard from that mysterious entity. He had only heard its voice and felt its power, though he had seen nothing. It was an empty world that could not be called anything, as it was devoid of everything, even nothingness.
Yuta then brought him out of his thoughts in a calm tone, filled with sharpness and great confidence in his words. Yuta was the type of person who would not speak or get involved in anything until he was sure that his words or actions had a 100% success rate or correctness. He was a mind that did not take risks for anything short-term. He always made long-term plans and plans upon plans, meaning he planned for everything that would happen in the coming years, and contingency plans if they failed or if their success rate was close to zero when the time for their occurrence approached or the possibility of their occurrence.
"You are thinking about that entity you met when you were in a state of awakening. Don't worry, you will know everything soon. As for the matter of the ruler's path, that is something you are not ready for yet. Because when other paths intervene, you will find yourselves in a world you never imagined existed."
"How do you know all this?" Gothar's tone was direct, carrying some surprise and confusion, unlike Rikudo, who seemed to be trying to understand something or leave it for a time to be revealed on its own. His facial features were very complex, making it difficult to read them.
After hearing Gothar's statement, which was filled with doubt, Yuta split reality in half and took out a book with a dark black cover that absorbed light. It had golden engravings as if veins carrying blood ran through them. Its title was written in three colors: purple, black, gold, and crimson: [Between Creation and Annihilation]. He opened it, and on the first page were a few lines, only a few, that spoke about the book's owners or something else unknown to the entities of this world or its paths. Yuta read it in a slow, calm voice so that it would quickly imprint itself in their minds.
[A sacred writer, a supreme observer, and a cosmic judge. Each complements the other. The writer writes existence, creates laws, concepts, and narratives. The observer watches the stories written by the sacred writer, writes a detailed report on the events that occur in each story, and gives it to the cosmic judge to study and rule upon with absolute transparency. This is existence: a writer writes, an observer watches, and a judge rules. Who remains and who is erased.]
Yuta closed the book leisurely and then returned it to its safe place within a dimension separate from existence and non-existence itself.
"Where did you find this book?" Rikudo's tone carried some interrogation as he sipped his tea and ate some sweets placed on the table. Yuta replied in a normal tone, as if the matter was not important or was ordinary. "The one who gave me the book was Duralia, the Wing of Truth."
Gothar's facial features turned to surprise upon hearing the term "Wing of Truth" first, then "Ruler's Path." His mind was unable to comprehend the events that were happening because he was still an entity with limited thinking capacity, not an omniscient entity capable of comprehending everything happening around him, especially if those he was talking to were omniscient entities.
"I know you are surprised. Don't worry, you will become a wing soon, and your wing will be called the Wing of Assassination after you control that power, becoming an entity of the rank [Omni-Transcendent Singularity]. When you become capable of using that power fully, that is, 100%, so don't rush. You will understand everything when the time is right."
Gothar sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead, and then turned his gaze towards the garden, trying to change the topic of conversation, as he realized that if they continued like this, he would just be a fool. He would be like an ignorant person who couldn't even write a single letter among a group of scholars who had reached the highest levels in their fields. Therefore, he decided to change the topic.
"Who else among those who were reincarnated, and did they obtain the power of their wings?" A faint smile appeared on both Rikudo and Yuta as they looked at Gothar. This made him somewhat surprised, so Yuta decided to speak after several minutes of exchanging glances. "The number of those reincarnated from our world is nine, including myself. There is one among them who has not yet been born and will be born in several centuries; he is Nour El Din. The rest are Muhammad (Fouad), Osama, Yassin Muhammad, and Issa, and each of them has obtained their own wing."
Among those reincarnated, Gothar and Nour El Din had not yet obtained them, as Gothar had to reach the Boundless rank, which he was currently close to. By refining his soul, his mysterious power, and the blessing of a mysterious entity, he would transform them into one power, and he would then directly become an entity of the Boundless rank.
After some time, Yuta snapped his fingers, and the domain disappeared, returning the wondrous world to the remnants of a dilapidated city worn by time, leaving only rubble. Gothar and Rikudo left the place, leaving Yuta sitting on one of the pillars, looking at the sky with a calm expression devoid of any emotion. His features were like the surface of a lake reflecting the light of the full moon clearly. Thus were his eyes, which actually reflected the full moon. He murmured in a calm voice, "The person who stays on one path under the excuse of a harsh world, or a world that is this or that, will never reach the power of truth. An entity must create their own path or way and traverse it, no matter the difficulties they face. This is my path to power."
Yuta then disappeared immediately, leaving absolute silence in the corridors of the dilapidated city's ruins. The world seemed to be contemplating Yuta's words, trying to understand where he wanted to go with his speech. The silence was terrifying, making the sound of rustling leaves moved by the wind add a touch of beauty to this silence.
Several kilometers outside the city of Kessamburg, at the "Angel's Tears" waterfall dungeon, there was a gate filled with engravings that depicted shapes of dragons and a war that had taken place centuries ago between creation and destruction, between building and demolition. There was a man with long white hair, along with four others: two with white hair, one with violet eyes like his, and another with blue eyes; and two with black hair and dark eyes. There were several people with them: a giant orc, six-winged dragon rulers, and demon kings of all races. There was a young man with black hair with some white streaks and his team. They were against a person in black clothes emanating a powerful aura of destruction, accompanied by twelve creatures of different races spreading dark energy around them. In the middle, a sword of destruction clashed against a sword of creation.
That gate began to crack slowly and stopped after several minutes. This made a woman sitting on an underground throne smile. The features of that woman were not visible due to the darkness that completely covered her face. She spoke in a calm tone filled with the power and wisdom gained from the battles she had fought. "It seems that time will not repeat itself this time. As usual, it seems he has truly done it."