Chapter 276

Title: The One Absolute

—

It’s been ages since I took over Plane-3548, aka earth.

That day, when I first met the Apostle of Apolium, the battle ended with the Apostle escaping through a portal. That made it clear, I had raw power that toppled hers by a large margin, but I had no technique, which meant outside this Star System, I was as good as dead against people of her level. 

However, though she escaped, she was forced to sacrifice a few of her subordinates behind, which she did by ordering them to stall for time.

That was acceptable by me. I simply killed them using my new powers, while leaving out two of them alive for interrogation.

From them, I learned how to draw power from ‘The Root’.

A part of me honestly believed I would not be able to use the Root's powers since I am an outer lifeform. But then again, don’t parasites live off by eating off the host? The host has no direct way to stop the Parasite, either. Though comparing the Universe with a human body isn’t exactly smart, it’s the truth that they do share quite some similarities.

Anyway, my next actions were to build a galactic army, while also gathering as much information as possible about the universe.

I had no time to waste. I knew that the Apostle must have reinforcements. I doubt that the 12-Gods only had 12 Apostles. That woman said she was in charge of ‘Galaxy-468’ meaning there were at least 468 more people on the same ranking as her.

I had to be prepared in case she was to attack me again, with the help of people as strong as her. And I had to do that fast.

That woman had referred to me as a “Monarch”. From her two subordinates, I learned that a “Monarch” was simply the strongest person on a Star System. People with a strong enough connection to The Root apparently could read something called “Record” of certain places. 

From what I understand, it’s a ‘Record’ of general information, like how many people are in this place, whose name is what, and some bunch of stuff. One could even see the record of past events and future events. Though the future is very vague and is rarely accurate, unless one had a very deep connection with the root.

That woman had used that technique on this Solar System by utilising her connection with The Root. Which was how the Apostle was able to decipher my name and also the fact that I was the strongest in this Solar System with just a glance.

That was good news. It meant I had no challenge in my Solar System that I should worry about, and so I started to conquer all the 48 planets present in my Star System. Only 16 of those planets were inhabited, though. So it didn’t take much time to take over them all.

It’s clear that I was not in any position of playing around, so when Ussop tried to start a rebel on the earth, I killed him immediately, while also making a good example out of him.

Zoro was dead, too. Raki killed him, which after I gave her his and Mihawk’s [Sword Mastery] via Paw-Paw fruit.

At the same time, since the invisible aura barrier around our solar system was now gone, space pirates from outside started to attack this place, in the hope to loot us. Though that was but a mistake on their part, as they only became training dummies and bags of valuable information.

Some of them were stronger than the Sins, but that’s why I was here.

In the meantime, I spent my time training, trying to connect with The Root. The others could easily do so, Raki, Wyper, and even someone like Aisa. But I was the actual geni-… Wait, is genius the right word?

…Well, I am basically cheating, so maybe not.

Because of the World Core, I could connect and even draw powers from the Root not long after I was shown a demonstration by the Dikasti hostages.

Raki was grumbling back then, though not as much as I was expecting. Perhaps, giving her the Quetzacoatl fruit back made her quite happy. She was happy to exchange her Azure Dragon fruit with me, too.

In truth, I had actually given her false hope the first time I told her I would give her the fruit back. I had no way to extract devil fruit from a person without killing them. But, as I had said, my devil fruit powers felt more real, more a part of me, so they were stronger than ever. I could enhance their powers with my Haki and Root powers. So I was able to give her back the fruit, as promised…

Speaking of which, as I had said… My devil fruit powers were mine now, they had become a part of my existence, just like my Haki. So what I gave Raki was… well, a part of me too. I hate to say it like this, but I can probably kill her with just a thought if the situation comes to it.

Then again… will such a situation even happen ever?

“Sniff…”

As I stood between Raki and Aisa, I realised even if that day was to ever come, it will be a long time until then.

“B-brother…”

Raki cried with her face buried on my chest, Aisa standing under my arms, too. Aisa was silent though, simply staring ahead with dead eyes.

Like that, we three watched the two dead bodies laid in front of us. 

Isa and Bob. Their bodies were filled with wrinkles, and their hair had turned grey. Now, their weak and old bodies were lying on the ground with small smiles on their faces.

If it was anyone else I would have said, ‘Look at the bright side, the lovers died a natural death together.’ But… it wasn’t anyone else.

Truthfully, I myself felt quite sad. Isa took care of me most of my childhood, she gave me her food, her clothes, and her love and care. I still remember the day when she gave me the apples that belonged to her, even though I had already sneakily eaten most of them. 

Most importantly, she saved my life when I was at my weakest.

A deep sigh left me. At least I managed to give her and her husband a painless life. Even in old age, their health was never bad, their bones never hurt, and they never felt like they were old at all. Good medications do help, I suppose.

I looked at the two girls on my sides, they looked the same they did decades ago when I took over the world. Their personalities were also the same. They were stuck at times, while the people around them were withering away.

Then again… did the same not apply to me as well?

—★—

The outside region was ridiculously powerful.

As Amon had thought, there were more than a dozen Apostles. No, that’s an understatement.

There were millions of them. All strong enough to annihilate star systems in a matter of minutes.

They had ranks amongst them, too.

The woman Amon met at first was a mid-ranker. She was decently strong, but there were stronger Apostles. 

Apostles were people who received the blessing of one of the twelve Gods, therefore gaining a few of their powers along the lines.

But even with such great powers, there were people the Dikasti couldn't afford to kill or capture. They were called the "Fiends", basically criminals. Amon was declared a Rank-9 Fiend when he first ate the World Core.

There were 10 ranks amongst the Fiends. With 9 being the lowest, and 0 being the highest. 

When Amon learned about this, he planned to recruit people of the same Rank as him. He didn't need anyone stronger than him on his team, after all.

While he researched around to make that plan a reality, he learned interesting news.

Apparently, there were quite a few groups that were against the Dikasti. That meant if Amon were to make his own faction, he would automatically have them after his neck.

 Amon, however, did not care about that. There were countless treasures in the universe, even treasures that could destroy galaxies with a swing. To compensate for the lack of his faction's power, he just had to hunt some of those treasures.

After all, he was a pirate.

Isa died around 5 decades after Amon decided on this, and since then, it's almost been a century.

Currently, Amon sat in his office that was located in a space station hovering over earth

He was meddling with some paperwork currently. His Clones weren't like Shadow Clones, and all bodies were controlled by his single mind directly, so he couldn't just dip the workload to one of them, since all of them were essentially himself.

'Haah… to think I will miss Robin one day.'

Amon sighed softly as he blitzed his eyes through the lines on the paper before giving a signature at the bottom right corner.

"Why do you look so tired?" A feminine voice spoke from the side, as Amon raised his head to find Raki lying on the couch beside the invisible wall that showed the bright galaxy. "You barely need to spend five minutes on a daily basis after paperwork. That's why you don't have any assistants anymore either since they'd always be slower than you. I should be the one looking tired, y’know."

Amon put the paper down, and picked another, as he spoke. "You won't get it, kid."

"Kid?" She deadpanned. "Dude, we are only 2 years apart in age." She dropped her head on the couch again. "Anyway, what's up? Been a while since we talked like this."

"I would have said the sky is up, but we are not on a planet." Amon laughed to himself. "Jokes aside, I wish I could say I am doing fine, happy that you returned, but you only brought workload for me."

Raki eyed him, as he put down all the papers aside, finished with work. Raki clicked her tongue. "Workload? It took you 3 minutes. Brother, stop complaining all the time. You aren't a child anymore."

Amon shrugged and walked towards her from behind the desk. "I don't want to act like some old grandpa. Maybe after all this ends. Until then, I am still a young man."

Amon went to her couch as she raised her arm like a baby. Amon pulled her by the arms as she wrapped them around his neck before kissing him.

"Mhmm…" When the kiss ended, Raki stared at his face, while licking her lips. "A new girl's scent. I was barely gone for a few months and you already picked up a new chick? Who's she?"

Amon shrugged. "She's the champion of a battle-oriented race. Red-skin and stuff. Challenged me to a duel, and when I won, she challenged me to a more intimate duel. I won again, though. Now she and her planet are under the Einherjars."

Raki giggled. "So you've been having fun whilst I was gone?"

"I guess, you can see it that way. Though it's never really 'fun' for me in our current situation." Amon said. "But what interesting thing did you come across?"

Amon sat down on the couch as Raki sat on his hips sideways.

"Interesting? Nothing of that sort. I did encounter an annoying situation though. There's this guy, one of the Mid-Ranker Apostles, known for his ability to disguise and bewitch people since he's the Apostle of that slutty Goddess of Love. I think she’s called Pandemos?" Amon nodded, interested. "Anyway. So this dude disguises himself as one of my subordinates, and then he tries to seduce me for the whole 4 months I was away. I knew something was up from the start. But when this one day he tried to put some magical aphrodisiac on my drink, I cut his balls and put them in his mouth. Serves him right, tsk."

"Yeah, true." Amon nodded with a laugh. "Guess you had your own share of fun out there."

Raki grunted as Amon thought of something.

…So someone had dared try to touch his Raki.

Amon would see an end to this. All the Apostles of Pandemos must die.

“Anyway,” Amon spoke. “Take some rest, good job on the mission. If things go well, we will achieve our third World Core.”

 “Yeah… but,” Raki nudged her face closer to him, rubbing her face on his neck, and muttered softly, “I don’t want to rest yet. I’ve missed you so much.”

She bit his neck softly as her hand tightened around his back.

She was about to tear off his shirt but before she could do that, knocks fell on the door.

“Ugh… who the hell is disturbing at such an important time.” Raki grunted and glared at the doorway.

Amon laughed it off, spanking her backside softly, and said, “Come in Yamato.”

The door was pushed open as a white-haired woman with red horns walked in battle gear.

She looked at the scene and blinked. “Ah, Raki’s back…”

“Yes.” Raki sighed seeing her. “What’s up, Yamato. We were about to fuck, but you just interrupted us.”

“Uh.” Yamato smiled. “Then I will come back later-”

“It’s fine, leaving now is basically interrupting us for no reason.” Raki waved her hand as a smirk slowly formed on her lips. “Besides, you can join us too…”

Yamato didn’t look embarrassed, unlike how she used to look at first. She’s been in this same situation dozens of times before, after all.

“Well… We can do that later on, but I am here to say something.” Yamato scratched her arm. 

Seeing her suddenly nervous stature, Amon looked at her eyes, but she looked the other way. 

“I…” Yamato sighed and met Amon’s eyes. “I want to quit.”

“...Ah.” Raki gasped. “Ah? Huh? W-wait, what?!”

She jumped off Amon’s lap and ran to Yamato, putting her hand on her shoulders. “Yamato, is there anything wrong? Did someone say anything bad to you? Was it brother? Did he say something?”

She looked genuinely worried as she stared at Yamato’s golden eyes with her own.

Amon only shrugged from the side. “Oh well, so do I drop you in Wano?”

“Hey!” Raki turned to him with a disapproving frown. “Don’t encourage her idea, calm her down or something!”

Yamato lowered her head and shook her head. “It’s fine Raki… and no, Amon. Not to Wano. By ‘quit’ I meant I want to quit the fighting and stuff. I am sure others can handle it themselves… From what I see, meaningless blood is being spilt, and I am taking part in that.”

Meaningless Blood. That’s what it’d seem to anyone higher in the Einherjar rankings. At this point, after more than a century’s battle, Amon’s faction was strong enough to simply stay calm and coexist in this Universe with the other factions, so there was no need for him to keep enlarging his Empire, which needed meaningless blood to be spilt.

At least that’s what it looked like to Yamato.

Amon was just trying to get stronger, the Sins knew that. The Sins were fine with it, but someone like Yamato, whose heart was too pure, wouldn’t be able to keep watching this happen.

She’s in love with the people around her, which was the only reason why she stayed until now. But recently, one of her friends, a nonhuman, had died in a battle. In one of those meaningless battles.

So she finally decided to quit. 

But…

“I-I am not leaving, though.” Yamato said. “I just… Just put me on some other team, okay? Anything works, even the ones doing paperwork or something. I just don’t want to keep fighting like this…”

Raki opened her mouth to say something but she had nothing on that. Yamato was strong, a valuable asset to this faction. If she quit fighting, the Einherjars will lose a powerhouse. But at the same time, what could Raki even tell her? She can’t really force Yamato… unless Amon wanted.

She turned to glance at Amon who shrugged his shoulders again.

“It’s fine, Yamato. I thank you for your service on the battlefield until now.” Amon spoke. “But since you don’t just want to leave us, then become my assistant. I am tired of all this paperwork, anyway.”

Blinking away her surprise, Yamato nodded again, smiling softly. “Thanks for keeping me around. I would have been sad if you were to just drop me on Wano.”

Amon smiled and waved it off. 

‘The blood of warriors runs through your veins. It’d take a while, but you'll return to the battlefield as it is the place you were born for.’ Amon thought.

“Anyway,” he cleared his throat. “Come here, both of you. Let us… reunite.”

—★—

[The World Core] is the unification of the Will of a whole star system.

It takes almost a millennia to form, and only certain planets can form such cores ever in aeons.

When a World Core starts forming, it collects the remnant will of the deceased's and merges them to form a new, bigger will, which becomes the Will of the World.

Since it takes almost a millennia, billions and sometimes trillions of remnant wills are collected on one spot.

[The Root] is called so because it is like the root of a tree, with branches spread to cover the entire Universe, as it is the start of the universe, the initiator of the Big Bang.

To the Root, World Cores are what helps in forming a new branch from another old branch. The Root seals off a small point in one of its old branches and then lets the point collect powers from its inside, instead of using The Root’s own energy. 

Over a millennium, it collects trillions of wills and merges to form a World Core.

When it is fully formed though, The Root’s influence strengths on that area more than the other parts of the universe.

After that, the Root guides the power stored within the World Core to spread like a web and form new branches, which causes the World Core to slowly diminish in the cost of helping the universe to expand. A single World Core can make branches spread for trillions upon trillions of light-years, so only once every few centuries does a World Core pop-up.

Anyone who gets a hold on a World Core, however, is immediately considered a Class-9 Fiend, which is raised upon further observation. People usually use the World Core to make crude weapons, weapons that allow them to use a fraction of the Core’s powers. That’s the normal way that evildoers use World Cores.

But… recently, the twelve Gods of Dikasti were annoyed at the appearance of an anomaly. 

This anomaly had… eaten a World Core. It wasn’t completed, but most World Cores obtained by the Feinds weren’t completed either. The Dikasti couldn’t decide where to put the anomaly in the Fiend rankings. He did have a world core, but he didn’t use it via a weapon, he could channel it with his bare thoughts—or at least that’s what Apolium’s apostle had reported two centuries ago.

By the time that claim was confirmed though, that anomaly was already quite strong. 

Back in the day, when Apolium went there to finish what his Apostle couldn’t, the Gods were shocked to see the anomaly escape to another dimension along with his entire Star System.

Apolium had tried to break into the realm since most of the dimensions opened by weak people were very poorly made where Root could still reach. Apolium was confident since space manipulation was quite normal for the higher ranking Dikasti, let alone Gods, as long as the Root was present there.

But Apolium couldn’t break-in.

That was more concerning than shocking. 

In such a small time frame since the anomaly ‘ate’ the World Core, he already had enough power to resist a God? Or was he using some tricks? Some treasures maybe?

They had no answer to that, even when they looked into the [Record].

A few days after Apolium returned, the Star System returned back to its original spot.

However, whenever Apolium went there to attack again, the anomaly escaped again too.

In the end, enraged, Apolium destroyed most of that galaxy and went back home. Since then, the Gods didn’t try to catch the anomaly any more, knowing he’ll escape like a rat again. They knew, if only two of the Gods worked together, they could break into that dimension, but the Twelve Gods hated each other for more than one reasons that had occured throughout the aeons. So they left the anomaly alone for a while, letting their high rankers take care of it.

By the time they realised, only another century later, at his 3rd century in space, the anomaly had become a Class-0 fiend.

—★—

Raki was worried and concerned because something was wrong with the Sins. 

They all felt… different. Suspicious.

It wasn't just the Sins, all the people she… No, all the people Amon was close to were acting strange.

They felt like robots… spies, backstabbers. And this feeling had come overnight.

Did someone change the Sins with doppelgangers?

Perhaps Amon killed them all and replaced them with clones?

Improbable, but it wasn't impossible. So she went to Amon's office and burst in.

"Brother, have you noticed?!"

"Hm?" Amon, who looked to be deep without contemplation, blinked at her question. "Oh, you mean the irregularities in the people? Don't worry about it."

"What? What do you mean, hey!" Raki went to him and jumped on his lap. "It's creepy, you know. What's up with them?"

“Hm…” 

Amon stared at her eyes for a long time, before saying in a chilly voice. "...You're going to still pretend?"

"What?" Raki grunted. "What the fuck? What the hell does that mean? Oy, explain! You're creeping me out!"

Amon only stared at her face. "...The Root. The Will of the Universe. You are finally taking action against me yourself. You want to eradicate me?"

"Bro, what the hell?"

"Stop pretending to be Raki," Amon spat out the words. "I am surprised how good you're at pretending to be her, while the others are still somewhat discernible."

The sword from his waist, Kiyu, also joined in. `Yeah, stop it!′

Raki's patience finally broke as she turned her head into her Hybrid form and slammed it into Amon's forehead.

Amon hissed but didn't block.

"Bro, stop being a weirdo. Are you doing some kind of roleplay? Why wasn't I informed?!" Raki said. "Don't tell me you forgot?!"

"Oww…" Amon rubbed his head as he looked at her face, this time a bit surprised as he blinked. "Ah...aha, I see."

He nodded. "I get it now."

"...What?"

"You're a part of me."

Raki blinked as her cheeks went slightly pink. "Stupid brother, stop acting like teens. We are too old for this."

"No, I mean literally," Amon said as Raki's blush grew. "I gave you my power ages ago, which is why you're almost like a 'Parasite' too since that power has interpreted too much with your existence."

"Huh?" Raki's blush vanished. "What the hell are you saying?"

Amon sighed. "You have noticed it, haven't you? The people around me have been acting strange…" Raki nodded. "That's because the Will of the Universe sees me as a threat and wants to subtly erase me by using my own people. It's affecting my people's minds directly. They will be trying to kill me soon, very soon, using any way they can."

Raki frowned. "Seriously?"

"But it seems it can't do that to you.” Amon said. “Since I gave you my Quetzacoatl powers."

Raki frowned. That wasn’t his power, he only had the power for around a year! But she got the gist of his words. Amon is some kind of self-accepted ‘Parasite’ and since he gave her ‘his’ power ages ago, it has integrated around her existence to make her kind of like a ‘Parasite’ too. 

Kind of, not entirely. But that much was enough to apparently keep her safe from Root's brainwashing.

"So…" she scratched her chin. "You are under some kind of kill warrant coming directly from the Root, and now I am also a part of it?"

"Aww, yes, indeed. Now that I think about it, isn't that romantic?"

Raki deadpanned. "It's not. We are going to die. It's the Will of the Universe. It will keep hunting us until we're dead."

Amon shrugged. "Meaning we just have to eradicate it before it gets the chance to eradicate us."

Raki sighed. "Eradicating the Root? Did you hurt your head? I am not saying it's impossible, I know you can achieve anything you plan but… Eradicating the Root is the same as sinking the boat we are riding."

Amon nodded. "True. True. You’ve grown smart. But that’s not what I meant. I mean, what if I eat the Root?"

"..." Raki thought of it for a second, before shaking her head. "I don't think it's possible. World Cores are the size of a hand. The biggest one you ate was football-size, to eat it you had to enter your giant form. While you can probably become as big as a galaxy, I am not sure, but the physical manifestation of Root, even at the core, isn't something you can just put in your mouth and swallow. It has its branches all over. It won't go inside your throat."

"Hey, I didn't mean it literally this time." Amon chuckled. "Well, anyway, I am going to escape from here. The people around me are becoming dangerous. I was planning to leave you too, but now that you seem like you are okay, I guess I will take you too. Hope we can make things faster with your help."

Raki nodded and simply put her head on his chest. "Anything for you, my lord."

She giggled.

Indeed, this was annoying. Life-threatening even. But Raki believed her brother could pull anything off.

—★—

It's been…. Well, Amon had stopped counting time. A part of him knew how long it's been, but he just felt old if he thought about it.

It's been a long long time since he and Raki left the Einherjars, and today they have done the impossible.

"Guess they're finally dead." Raki said as she walked through the blue portal followed by Amon, leaving the background where dead bodies of the Twelve Gods lay bloody.

"But..., you sure you want to do this?" Raki asked as the portal closed and she walked at the edge of a ring-shaped platform. "I have an ominous feeling about it."

"That's why I have you here…" Amon chuckled as he started to strip.

On the ring-like platform they were standing on, at the empty area in the middle of the ring, something deep blue existed. It was the size of a small pond, and looked as if it was a huge round ball of something that imitated ‘water’, a huge round ball of something that looked like ‘blue energy’.

That was the physical manifestation of the Will of Universe, a will so vast that it covered the entire universe.

"Argh, looks like it's angry." Raki winced, feeling the intent on her skin. "Brother are you sure? Diving into that ball is basically diving into the core of Root's will. You might have eaten quite a few world cores, but this thing is what makes World Cores. It would devour you."

Amon laughed and explained. "Think of it this way… Some parasites can enter a human brain and eat it up from inside, and even take over the control over the body. A human can squash it between their palms, if they get a hand on it, but as long as they can’t the parasite is invincible. It’s the same for the Root’s core, it can't do anything to the parasite unless it gets a hold of me. I am just that strong, at this point. Which makes the Root, in simpler words, hopeless."

"Stop comparing the Universe with the human body. It will get you killed." Raki said. "The Root might not be able to communicate, but it does have a solid will of its own. It's smarter than any humans, and even monsters like you. You're just getting yourself killed, brother."

Amon chuckled at that, as he took off his underwear. "You say that after you have helped me for so long? Anyway, dear Raki, watch my back. If things go wrong and I die, guess I will meet you in the afterlife."

"There's no afterlife for us, though." Raki said with a sigh, but Amon simply jumped at the core.

"Watch over for any irregularities!"

Yelling that, his body sunk inside the pool as if it really was water.

"Sigh…" Raki rubbed her temple and stared at the pool with concern.

Not long after that, the space shook around the area as blue energy curved into projections of monsters, people, and the Gods she and Amon had just killed.

They were the irregularities, who will try to stop Amon by pulling him out of the pool.

"...Ugh. How am I supposed to handle them all?"

It seemed the beings made of universal will wanted to rush inside the core and bring Amon out. Meaning he was alive, at least.

Raki sighed and unsheathed her blue and golden sword. They shone brightly in this place as she clashed with the projection of a God she just killed moments ago. 

The God of Cosmic Thunder, Jove.

Their clash caused the stars in the far to shake and burst out, but that wasn't enough of course. There were dozens of more projections.

Raki's body multiplied, as she utilised one of her many abilities gained from the DNA of different kinds of aliens. Her physical clones, all of them, went towards the enemies, stopping them from reaching the Core.

Raki had little hope Amon would come out unscratched, but she had absolute hope that he would come out. So she was going to give her all.

That's what she thought at first…. But something changed.

The blue ball and the blue threads of the root spread all around, changed in colour.

It became red, crimson and bloody red, as the energy that was as tranquil as the dead sea before raged out like an eruption of a volcano.

The eruption released a burst of red energy which eradicated all the blue projections, while Raki stood unscratched.

'Did he do it?!'

Raki asked in her mind as her eyes glittered.

She looked at the red ball of will, as she tried to sense Amon inside it.

But she couldn’t sense him at all. The will of the root was too thick to do so.

She dropped to her knees to lean over but the red pool that looked like boiling lava started to calm down.

Raki got scared. Did the Universe overpower him?

But then… something truly unexpected happened.

[I…]

Words started to appear in the space, floating all over, and at the same time, she started to hear sounds too.

[Iamtheone]

A single line written in the language that Raki remembered from the earth, found itself at the centre of the universe before it slowly dissipated and the red ball of energy returned to blue.

Raki's heart dropped.

"Brother?! Are you dead??!!"

She yelled at the pool but nothing happened.

"Uh… Wait, I am coming!"

She stood up and jumped inside- but something caught her mid-air. 

An invisible force.

[Stop, stop.]

A voice, Amon's voice, talked from all over the directions. 

[I am not sure how to talk in this… 'form', yet. I am still learning. Don't be hasty, just wait calmly… Ugh, the words of my mind barrier were revealed too. Tsk.]

Raki's body slowly dropped back on the platform, as she blinked and waited.

"B-brother?"

[It's me.]

"Where are you…?"

[...Omnipresent? I think that's the right word.]

‘Omnipresent? What the fuck?’ Raki gaped.

Something that could hardly be called a chuckle, flowed around from everywhere. But it stopped abruptly.

[...Erm, it seems like everyone in the universe can hear me. Whoa, some dudes are dropping dead at my voice…. Shit, wait, let me try something…. Tch, why is this so hard.]

Raki saw the incomprehensible movements of great power before blue energy started to gather in front of her.

"Ugh… another projection?"

Raki grabbed her sword again, but as the body formed… she stopped.

"Oh, look, it worked." Amon, looking the same as always, spoke. "Hm, but I am naked. Can I form clothes too?"

Cloths formed around his body. 

"Oh… wow."

"Brother!" Raki cried as she jumped at him. She tried to grab him on a hug, but she simply phased through him. "What the-?!" And fell on her face.

Amon held in his laughter. "My bad, my bad. I need to enable mass too… Hm." He nodded. "It should be fine now."

Raki stood up while rubbing her forehead as she watched Amon inspect his body, and then look around like a blind person seeing the world for the first time.

"Brother." Raki stood up. "You're brother, right? You're not some doppelganger with brother's memories, right?"

Amon turned to her and hummed. "Perhaps.”

“...”

“Okay, how do I explain this? …Well, basically, I changed bodies. My previous body was destroyed inside the Root, and now I am the Root, and the whole universe is me. As long as I exist, the universe would exist, as long as the universe would exist, I would exist. In simpler words," Amon smiled. "I am something like a true immortal now. Oh, also Omnipresent… Omnipotent, too. I am not sure about the Omniscient part. I think I will have to activate something for that… it's like messing with some settings in a software… yeah, wait a minute let me try…"

"Hey, shut up!" Raki jumped and wrapped hands around his neck. "You got it!" She smiled broadly. "You're Absolute, or whatever you wished to be. Stop muttering to yourself and think."

Amon blinked. "Hm… am I absolute though?" He asked himself. "Hm. I am the strongest. I am unkillable. I am Omnipotent… There is no other person more powerful than me. Some this and that. Uh, everything checks out." Amon chuckled. "Heh."

Absoluteness…?

He needs to savour this feeling properly.

Raki's body shivered. "Yes! How long has it been? Since we conquered earth? You got it! You got it!" She hopped on her legs with a broad smile.

While she did so, Amon thought of her question.

“...It’s been around a millennia. I know the exact number too if you want to know."

"No, it's fine."

Raki released a breath as she cancelled the hug and looked at him. "So, um… What now?"

Amon stared at her for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are we going to do now?

Amon smiled and was about to reply something… but, his expression froze.

"I… have somewhere I need to go."

"Oh? Where?"

Amon smiled. "I will tell you more later. Just wait here… I will be back, I promise."

"Huh, what?"

Amon took in a deep breath… as his body disappeared.

"What the?"

Raki blinked.

—★—

Amon travelled far, far from where Root’s branches ended. He could coexist anywhere now, even with the lack of Root, since he was Root, and he was also Amon. It was like using a laptop in battery charge, instead of using it directly from plugging it in with power.

Amon stood on a blank spot outside the universe, within the void itself. 

Using his powers, both his individual one and the ones he owned as ‘Root’, he spoke to the void, releasing his authority and claiming it as his domain temporarily.

"Show me all other versions of myself."

Nothing happened.

Something was supposed to happen, since Void is the emptiness connected to all universes, meaning even Amon’s home universe.

"...Show me all alternate versions of myself."

Nothing happened again.

Amon started to get worried

"...January 2nd, 2021, earth, morning," He spoke. "Show me ■■■■ city."

This time, his command did work. 

A huge screen formed on the void where a modern city was being displayed.

Amon controlled the coordination with his mind as he stopped at the place where he had died, being run over by a school bus driven by a drunk driver.

Amon waited for the video to reach that part where he would be crushed by the bus.

He waited.

But nothing happened.

A school bus did pass by the road that he had taken millennia ago. And the driver was indeed drunk. But… he hadn't walked by.

Amon replayed the scene and replayed it again. Nothing changed.

He then fast-forwarded. Maybe another bus was the one to hit him?

But nothing appeared.

The day cleared up, the sun rose, and everything went peacefully.

"What?"

Amon had a large frown on his face as he tried to decipher what had happened, exactly.

A few moments later, he started to look for his old broken house. It was there but,

No family was inhabiting it.

"Did I put the dates wrong?"

The dates were right.

"Then what the hell?"

Then Amon searched for his family members by their personal details, and he found them. 

It was a… strange feeling seeing them like this. He almost didn't… recognise them. They looked so distant, so… unknown to the current him.

But they weren’t living in any shabby rundown house. They were living in a mansion. The same mansion Amon used to live in before his father died. Which had happened around 5 years ago from the year the video was showing.

But…

His father was right there, eating breakfast with his mother and older brother.

He, however, was missing.

Amon spoke after a long silence. "In how many worlds, universes, or timelines, do "I" exist?"

The answer came to him by itself.

[One.]

"...Which one?"

[This one.]

"What the fuck?" Amon chuckled. "What am I then? The formation of some fragmented memories? Is this a dream?"

[Neither.]

"Then?"

[You're from a world… where you have ceased to exist.]

"Why?"

[Omnipotent means "Oneness". You can only exist on a single timeline, on a single world, since you are now an Omnipotent being. To put it simply, your death was premature. You died, in all timelines and dimensions at the same time, because you have become Omnipotent, and you have become omnipotent because you have died.]

"..."

After a long silence, Amon sighed which became a chuckle.

What's the meaning of all this then?

He started his journey because he wanted to become Absolute. True. But he always had the second goal where he wanted to put his enemies from last life to their places.

What is this now?

Was all his life a lie?

"...Guess Omnipotent beings can also experience existential crises, eh."

He would probably be able to make a timeline where he does exist, and everything that he went through will be continued. But… he could tell that'd start another Paradox.

The bigger reason being… Well, his family was fine, happy without him. From the looks of it, now that he didn't exist, his father didn't die. Meaning, in a sense, his presence had killed his father in his first life.

"Feels bad man."

"Should I turn off my bad emotions entirely?"

He didn't get any answer from his Omniscience. Guess it didn't decide things for him.

"No."

Amon sighed.

"Whatever."

He snapped his finger, opening a portal back to… his home, to Raki.

—★—

It's been a while since Amon was gone.

Like 5 minutes!

Raki was getting anxious. He was acting differently than usual. Was it a side-effect of merging or whatever he did with the Root?

How did he do that, exactly?

"Ugh, where did that bastard fly off to…"

Just as Raki was getting impatient enough to go berserk and burst some galaxies, a portal opened in front of her and Amon slowly walked out.

‘Then again, I could have just materialised in front of her than using a portal… I am omnipresent.’ Amon muttered to himself as he walked.

"Ugh, it’d take a while to get used to all this."

He could just wish to be able to control and get used to all this, and it would happen. He knew that. But that wasn't fun, was it?

"Brother!"

Raki ran to him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she stared up at him.

"Bastard brother. Where did you go? I couldn't sense you anywhere… I thought you left me."

Amon stared at her face for a long moment. "I don't really have anywhere to go if I were to leave you."

"..."

"Hm, maybe I am wrong." Amon made a contemplating expression. "The others should be back to normal now that I have taken over the Root."

Raki blinked. "Oh yeah! But first, what did you do exactly? What are you now, anyway?"

"The Root is a gathering of Wills, it Has its own intelligence too. But it lacked a real personality. I just did this and that and inserted my consciousness into the thing. It was dangerous, honestly. But it accepted me… more like I forced it to accept me."

It wouldn't have worked if someone from this universe had tried it. Since Amon was like an invading virus, he was able to do so since it was naturally weaker against him without the ‘antibodies’ there to stop him. That’s also the reason, his Omniscient told him, that he was able to eat World Cores while nobody else could.

There was of course more than that into this subject, and without Amon harvesting power and knowledge for centuries, this would have been a failure, but there was no need for him to go into detail. Not like Raki cared anyway.

"I see…" Raki shrugged. "Well, that's good. I don't really care as long as it's still you. But…" she looked at his expression. "You have just achieved your dream, but you don't look so happy. Why is that?"

Amon stared at her face for a long time, expressionless, before he slowly scratched his chin. "Weeell, I am happy, more than ever actually. But two things made me feel down…" he sighed. "One part of that… I will tell you someday, it’s kind of a big story. But another part would be a realisation."

Amon spoke again. "Absoluteness is subjective. I might be absolute in this Universe, but what about outside? You know, there should be multiple Omnipotent beings in other universes, multiverses, or omniverses."

If One Piece world was real, why could DC and Marvel not be? Meaning, beings like One Above All and The Presence should all be real… 

"In their own respective universes, they should all be Omnipotent. In that case answer me this," Amon spoke slowly. "If two Omnipotent beings were to fight, in a place where both their Omnipotence worked, who would come out winning?"

Raki thought for a moment before shrugging. "I don't know. Isn't that a paradoxical question?"

"Exactly." Amon nodded. "But… What is a mere Paradox to an Omnipotent being?” His death was a paradox too, but he perfectly understood it in a way normal beings wouldn’t even be able to think. “I might be absolute here, but against another Omnipotent being, I am not. So, even if I have indeed fulfilled my goal… There’s still much to gain.."

Raki sighed and rubbed her temple. "So, what are you going to do now?"

Amon pointed a finger upwards, beaming.

"I plan to go beyond, what else? I plan to go beyond the barriers of omnipotence."

Raki deadpanned. Could anything even be beyond Omnipotence? Sounded like bullshit, to her.

Either way, Raki took his arm. "...Well, guess we're gonna waste a few more millennia like this. Heh. Whatever~ as long as I am with you."

Amon ruffled her hair. 

"For starters, let us make this little universe into an Omniverse. From there, we will keep moving forward."

Moving forward in an endless journey.

An endless journey towards power.

That was a goal... that Amon liked a lot.

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〚 The End — Reborn as a Skypiean〛

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『 Written by Master4thWall 』

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『 Edited by Shortmotor 』

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Author’s Note: I was awake for 22h when I finished this chapter, the result is the longest chapter of this Novel.

7551 words.

I just wanna thank everyone who has reached this chapter, and everyone who’s been sticking with me for the last 13 months. Especially my bro @Shortmotor, he was away for a while because of life, but he’s been with me for practically forever. Love you, but no homo.

About this ending, it’s not flawless by any means, but to me it was perfect. I liked it a lot.

It’s been a journey of 13 months, but at last, Amon’s journey has come to it’s peak, reaching its end–at least for us. He will keep going, walking towards a never ending goal. 

Maybe, we might even see him in the future again? Who knows really.

Speaking of which, I have another ongoing project named “The Cursed Gamer”. It’s not exactly like this one, and it’s heavy harem focused, which I don’t think most readers of this story would like. But, give it a try, maybe something special will happen?

Anyway, that’s all for today and probably forever on this story, until we meet again in my other stories!

–Master4thWall, signing out.