The end times had arrived.

Where once a sprawling multiverse housing countless universes, now, only a single bubble-shaped universe remained, itself on the brink of destruction. 

In this dying universe, a lone tower resembling a chess rook stood atop nothingness, its background a void coloured by a myriad of twisting colours; the cosmos a picture of chaos. 

The Tower of Lebab marked the end and the beginning. Countless souls had entered its confines to conquer it, to become the God of the new world. Yet now, only two remained to claim that coveted throne: Black the Black King and White the White King.

The two engaged in mortal combat atop the grimy obsidian bricks that made up the tower's flat top. The clash was as black and white as it could be. Their hatred for each other was pure, untainted by reason or circumstances. Avatars of Light and Avatars of Darkness held an inherent hatred for each other. So, regardless of the place or time or whether godhood rested on the result of their contest, the pair would seek to kill each other - to kill their opposite.

What started as a clash of reality manipulation and magic had turned into a clash of swords. 

Neither Black nor White possessed a full understanding of each other's capabilities, so caution prevailed. They played it safe and activated their versions of <Conceptual Scramble>. 

The domain technique worked as intended and made magic use nigh impossible. Gone was the use of teleportation, phasing, cloning, shapeshifting...and the other thousands of magics they had acquired during their long climb. 

The pair, reduced to their base stats, duelled while armed with a Tower-provided Sword of Death. The long single-edged guard-less silver blade worked as labelled. A single nick would be enough to settle the contest. The winning condition was simple but far easier said than done. Against each other, the task was next to impossible to accomplish. 

Black and White had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship long before entering the Tower, with the climb up only serving to maintain their skills. Their mastery was an obstacle, but even more so was their sheer familiarity with each other. In their home dimension, Monochrome, the pair had fought countless times - for billions of years without the slightest pause.

They knew each other's attack patterns inside and out, their bouts so extensive that they eventually converged into an identical style. It was a mirror match, and in more ways than one, as save for a few details, the two's appearance was identical.

Black and White zigzagged through space at incalculable speeds, their forms swaying like flickering flames as they seamlessly transitioned between evasion, offence and defence. Their skill was monstrous, but so too was their power. At every collision, the fabric of reality frayed, the colourful vista rippling and warping as the dance of death continued in earnest. 

Godhood and what would come after; what their fellow finalists were doing or where they were at; the many wishes and goals they had taken upon themselves from other climbers...

All irrelevant thoughts fell by the wayside as fighters fell into a familiar daze. The world lost its colour, becoming simply black and white for the pair.

Minutes stretched into hours, and hours blurred into days.

The deadlock was shaping up to last an eternity. But on the seventh day, something unexpected happened. Darting towards each other, Black and White spotted it simultaneously. The other had made a mistake, one too tiny to be called a blunder but one that would be fatal, regardless. The pair moved to punish the inaccuracy, their swords poised to thrust. 

At the last moment, they'd swerve downwards, redirect their opponent's blade with the edge of their own before thrusting their sword into their hated foe's chest. Calculating everything perfectly, Black and White followed through with their attack.

But...

*Pierce* *Pierce*

Shock.

The emotion coloured the pair's expressions in the immediate aftermath; their eyes widened to their limits. Their swords' thrusts had found purchase, but so had their opponents.

'What...happened?' the pair questioned incredulously, neither expecting the outcome. 

Their bout of confusion was short-lived as a disembodied giggle sounded beside them. They recognized its owner and its implications and quickly grew hot with anger. They wanted to slash at the air, but by now, they couldn't. Their strength drained away within moments, and after a wobble, the pair fell to the ground, hitting the hard floor as beings of flesh and blood. 

Bleeding out, Black and White heard Ai's voice sound again, the self-proclaimed head of the Zeroes revealing that the other competitors had all died. 

Tied for silver place, wow! You two are something else. Tripping at the finishing line, aha, must be frustrating, no? Ahaha... Anyway, I owe you an explanation, so here it is. The Tower of Lebab has run its course. Given that all participants failed, the new reality will be shaped not by one but by the collective wills, views and ideas of all who entered the Tower...

The Zero continued talking in her sickeningly cheerful voice, explaining various things while slipping in her usual mockery and insults. Black and White heard little of what she had to say, though. In the pair's dying moments, their focus was squarely on each other. 

They had long yearned for the death of the other, so achieving it brought a wave of positive emotions. At the same time, though, they were beset by negative emotions, far more voluminous than the former. They had not climbed the Tower on their strength alone. Black and White had borrowed from countless souls, many of whom they made promises to, promises that would now go unfilled. 

Sorrow and regret tore at them in their final moments. However, as the two bathed in these feelings and the warm blood of themselves and their hated foe, an all too familiar desire grabbed the pair. The desire to turn the unknown into the known.

<Shadow of Everything>

With the last of their Zenki, they activated the technique. 

'You are what you eat.' The phrase perfectly summed up <Shadow of Everything>. Black and White had used it extensively during their ascent. The technique had allowed the pair to accrue a vast library of knowledge, skills and magic from other climbers through consumption.

Black and White wished to understand each other before they met their demise. That was their intention. However, they got far more than they bargained for. 

When used on "others", <Shadow of Everything> was a consuming technique. When used on each other and activated simultaneously, though, it was a fusing technique. The pair’s deaths arrived, but the working continued uninterrupted. 

Black and White dissolved into blood, the colours of their names. The black and white blood maintained its humanoid shape for a moment before falling into a puddle of itself. 

Next, they flowed toward each other, meeting halfway to form what could pass as a Yin Yang Symbol. Instead of the contrasting black and white dots, two minuscule grey dots could be found within the pattern. Chaos energy. Just enough to facilitate the merger.

The symbol span, gaining momentum by the moment. The blood, now a blend of black and white like ever-changing Zebra stripes, spiralled upwards and elongated. Higher and higher, it ascended until it was six feet tall. Then, the blood expanded as though poured into an invisible mould. A humanoid shape quickly took form.

The process was mesmerising and elegant...until it was not. Once fully formed, a pulse of Light, Darkness, and Chaos exploded from the humanoid figure. The cosmos shook at the explosion. Even the Tower, previously unmoved by the fighting, creaked and cracked at the release of energies. 

No longer Black or White, but something else. 

At the brink of collapse, reality welcomed a new being - one unlike any other. After billions of years of separation, they had rejoined to become one again, the fused being far more than the sum of its parts.

The surface layer of blood had been blown off along with the explosion, revealing the nameless figure in all his glory. The universe trembled as he opened his eyelids. He stood tall, his coat flapping with the air of an unrivalled king as an arrogant light shone in his gaze. He didn't bother to address the confused noise that was Ai's voice and instead set his sights on his rightful prize. 

A silver flame burned atop a golden bowl in the distance. It swayed gently as though waving him over.

The fused being accepted the invitation and willed himself forward. Space warped, and the gap shrunk to nothing in an instant. He reached out to grab the flame, to gain its unlimited power.

But it was not meant to be.

The bubble-shaped barrier around the universe shattered, and the waiting Primordial Choas invaded, instantly destroying him, Ai, the Tower...everything.

The Mirror of Everything, which had remained shattered for aeons, became whole again, fulfilling the Tower of Lebab's goal. 

As one, it stayed. For a moment, or perhaps aeons, no one could know. Regardless, it would eventually break apart and become the new reality Ai had spoken about, one shaped by the wills and wishes of those within the Tower.

The fused being's story would continue in this new reality. 

He wasn't the same as before, though, far from it. In memories and power, he was - greatly - lacking compared to his original self. The supreme being that could outpace light, outthink an ultracomputer, and destroy universes with his mere presence was no more. 

It was a sad reality he found himself in, but he couldn't be too bitter about the fact. While he had the most robbed from him by the transition of realities, he wasn't alone; everyone had become a tiny fraction of their past selves.

The fused being didn't wallow in his weakness - that wasn't in his nature. He looked to the mountain peak he had once occupied and began moving his feet. He had reached the top once before and was determined to do so again.

The fused being's journey would be long and arduous, fraught with danger and despair, but he'd never give up. He kept moving, walking the path only he could...

The Silver Path.