The villainess shall be mine

Derige was only taken aback for a few seconds, then he regained his cool and decided that it was too dangerous to underestimate Adam.

His most powerful attack may cause a lot of damage to the city, but for some reason, he didn't even think about such things at that moment. His body began to heat and glow a dazzling orange light as if he was gathering a massive amount of energy inside of his chest.

The other guardians understood what was happening they saw Derige and prepared to leave the area to avoid being caught in the explosion that will certainly pulverize the whole area into atoms.

However, at moment, Adam raised his head slightly and turned his line of sight, which was previously focused on his hand, in Derige's direction.

Derige managed to take a look at Adam's face. It was devoid of emotion, and almost as if his vitality was drained out. Dark eyes, almost as if they didn't reflect eyes. His face was pale and his cheeks had somehow withered, almost lifeless.

He didn't resemble the young man shown in the wanted poster to the least and that made Derige feel pity for him. The first thought that came into Derige's mind was that Adam was trying to use some kind of desperate method to get out of the situation.

'How did the young man in front of him end up like this…' Or so Derige thought as he was about to eliminate Adam. As the protector of the Empire, he would not give Adam the time to do more harm.

Derige also thought that the Empire was corrupt, but he believed that someone like Adam was not better because he knew that everyone was ready to do anything for the sake of their satisfaction.

People may say that they prefer peace and dislike violence, but that was only because it satisfied their desire. And when they were faced with a challenge that threaten their ideal way of life, they used this as a reason to fight, because they believe that it was their right.

In that case, they were not different from those who liked violence and inflicting pain on their peers. These people also feel satisfied with their way of life, they were addicted to it. Same with those who like to manipulate others, they also believed that they were superior and it was their right to do so.

Therefore, Derige never questioned if what he did was bad or good, as long as he was alive to see his daughter growing up. That was the thought of the man who was called the strongest.

In front of this man, Adam didn't flinch. Adam was about to learn a vital truth that was only revealed to those who were worthy so to him, Derige and the other guardians mattered not. He had already wagered everything on the future him, and his present self as well as what he considered as his life in this present time was about to be sacrificed.

Hence, as if it was the crystallization of his thoughts, as if he was saying 'don't get in my way', a single black circle appeared next to Derige. No matter from which angle this pitch-black circle was observed, it could be only seen as a flat circle. However, despite the dazzling light emanating from Derige, the black circle remained pitch black.

Derige didn't even notice it, and it was too late when he did. The space around the black circle was distorted unnaturally as if forming a spiral with the circle at the center.

Adam was mistaken about one thing. The antimatter was not the final form of the Authority called Destruction. The antimatter couldn't completely destroy the fabric of reality and all of its dimensions. However, the authority of Destruction could.

Adam also used this ability to insert his hand inside the space in front of him.

And to be able to do all of this, Adam first needed to grasp the concept behind 'Nothingness'.

Everything in its immediate surrounding spiraled inside the black circle as it got bigger.

Derige only noticed what was happening when almost half of his body disappeared. The energy inside of him exploded abruptly, causing his own death.

However, the explosion was big enough to destroy the whole Colosseum. Boom. It was then followed by a shockwave and the ground trembled violently.

Adam was caught in the explosion, but the other guardians used their power to contain the explosion. Even Nuiia who seemed in a daze most of the time looked extremely serious.

"Father!" Farah cried, and the other guardians narrowed their eyes as if they were trying to figure out what exactly was happening. It all happened so fast.

When the smoke and the mass of dust in the air dissipated, the silhouette of a person could be seen.

It was Adam who was caught in the explosion. His clothes were almost destroyed and his body was covered with wounds. However, a wrecked back cape hung on his back preventing him from falling.

The explosion was contained but all of its power was directed to the ground, creating a huge hole in the floating island.

The other guardians began to observe Adam with caution, but they had almost the same thoughts. 'He killed Derige!'

Adam saw the explosion coming, but he couldn't move for a very particular reason. His left was completely gone, but as a result, he was sure that his reasoning wasn't wrong.

In front of him was the crystallization of what he called 'nothingness', something he dragged into this dimension at the cost of his arm and almost all his internal organs.

To explain the nature of nothingness, one needed to understand from the nothing.

When one says, 'there's nothing' they often referred to the thing that they could see and couldn't see most of the time. It was different from what 'exists' and what 'does not exists'

The universe exists, and a lot of things exist within it. As such, someone who existed inside of this universe would never understand what 'Does not exist' meant. When they came into existence, they were already inside of an existing universe, and when they disappear they would still remain inside of this universe. Even if they evolve into a higher dimensional being, and go to the afterlife, if a higher gave them this privilege, the Being itself would still be inside of this universe. Because, even if they were to return to nothing, the universe still existed. Even higher dimensional beings could only interfere with something that exists.

Thus, no one could observe what 'Does not exist' looked like. Unless they reached the Second Primordial Dimension. This dimension was an endless 'Nothingness' the crystallization of 'Does not exist.

Adam concluded that manipulation of 'Nothingness' is the ultimate power of the 'Creation' authority, and returning what was created into 'Nothingness' was the power of the 'Destruction' authority.

The conclusion didn't sound that impressive but it was also the origin of all things. Beyond that, like how the 'Nothingness' was created and who created it was something unanswerable. The ultimate truth that the God of Void wanted to uncover.

The 'nothingness' was not some kind of matter or any kind of substance. It couldn't be associated to the term existence. It was just 'Nothingness', and the word to describe it perfectly didn't even exist because no one even what it was.

When everything disappeared, only nothingness remains, but nothingness can't destroy nothingness. Therefore, the story about the God of Void and the God of Creation didn't make sense.

As such, no one could explain what they saw. After all, apart from the space that was distorted, they couldn't see anything. It was beyond their ability to perceive nothingness.

This was Adam's limit. He still couldn't manipulate nothingness. But the answer was there, a way to create the perfect world.

From the point of view of an entity that could manipulate nothingness and nothingness itself, the whole existence of the multiverse and everything was just a grain of sand. However, it was also a lonely place. A place, a situation that a human who had a human mindset would never achieve or comprehend.

God surely has emotions, it was just that no one can understand what they feel. The one who is truly omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent was an entity that couldn't be described.

As for Adam, he aimed to find a way to maintain his humanity while possessing the power of this ultimate being. A truly arrogant thought.

The tree fragments just looked like a tree, but after his realization, Adam realized that they were part of an entity that could be considered a God.

'I am insane… This is insane…' Adam thought. How did he end up thinking about such a thing?

The knowledge that he acquired was heavy, so heavy that he felt like he just stopped thinking.

He didn't know what would have happened if he just forgot about the face of those he loved, even for a second…