Creation Of All Things

Adam raised an eyebrow, his smirk never fading.

"And why's that?"

He wasn't asking because he was going to listen. That much was obvious.

Adam wasn't the type to back down just because someone told him to.

Wraith knew this.

Still, he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before fixing Adam with a sharp look.

"That energy you're talking about... it's called Universal Energy."

Adam's eyes flickered with intrigue, but he didn't say anything, letting Wraith continue.

"It's not like mana, qi, aether, or any of the energies people use to cultivate or wield power. It's raw—too raw. It doesn't belong to mortals, gods, or anything in between. It belongs to the universe itself. And that means it wasn't meant to be controlled."

Wraith floated closer, his voice low but firm.

"You know how many people have tried to harness it?"

Adam tilted his head, waiting.

"Millions."

The weight of that number hung in the void between them.

"You know how many survived?"

Adam's smirk widened slightly.

"I'm guessing not many."

"None." Wraith's tone was absolute. "Not a single one. Every last one of them—geniuses, cultivators, immortals—either crumbled under the pressure or had their very existence erased. Even Monarchs have tried, and all they found was death."

Adam's expression didn't change, but there was something in his gaze now. Not fear—just… interest.

"So what you're saying is…" he mused, tapping his fingers against his knee. "It's impossible?"

Wraith clenched his jaw.

"It's suicide."

Adam exhaled, shaking his head with a chuckle.

"Man… that just makes me want to try it even more."

Wraith cursed under his breath.

Adam really was insane.

Wraith's eye twitched. Of course he'd say that.

"Adam, I'm serious—"

"Yeah, yeah, you said the same thing when I decided to mess with the Abyssborn. Remind me, how did that turn out?" Adam grinned.

Wraith scowled. That was different. But before he could argue, Adam closed his eyes, his body relaxing as he floated in the vast emptiness of space.

Then—

A pulse.

The void around them lurched like something had just woken up. Wraith stiffened as a strange hum filled the air—or, at least, the space where air should've been.

Something was moving.

No—something was reacting.

The surrounding cosmos darkened. Stars flickered, some dimming, some outright vanishing as an invisible force rippled outward from Adam's body. His aura didn't explode like a battle-hungry warrior's. It didn't roar like a beast's. It simply spread, quiet and suffocating.

Wraith clenched his fists.

"Tch… you're really doing this."

Adam's smirk widened slightly. "Obviously."

Then, without warning—

CRACK!

An invisible force slammed into Adam's body.

The space around him shattered like glass, jagged fractures spreading outward in every direction. Wraith was forced back, his instincts screaming as a storm of unseen energy howled through the void.

Adam didn't flinch.

His body trembled, just slightly. His skin cracked, golden light seeping through the fissures like something inside him was struggling to escape. But he didn't stop. His breathing stayed calm, steady, as if he had been expecting this.

Wraith's eyes widened.

"Wait… you knew?"

Adam cracked an eye open.

"Knew what?"

"That Universal Energy would fight back?"

"Well, duh." Adam let out a short chuckle, wincing slightly as another wave of force hammered into his body. The cracks on his skin deepened, but his smirk never wavered. "Didn't you say it wasn't meant to be controlled? Makes sense it'd put up a fight."

Wraith wanted to scream.

"That's not the same as knowing how to handle it, you lunatic!"

Adam tilted his head, seemingly unbothered by the cosmic force trying to tear him apart.

"Yeah, but that's what makes it fun, right?"

Wraith groaned. He didn't know whether to admire Adam's confidence or prepare for his funeral.

Either way, this was about to get messy.

Wraith gritted his teeth as the very fabric of space twisted around Adam. The fractures in the void pulsed, shifting and warping like they were trying to reject his presence. Universal Energy wasn't just resisting—it was rejecting him outright.

And yet, Adam just sat there, legs crossed, floating like he was meditating in some peaceful temple instead of being crushed under the weight of a force that had erased millions before him.

"You're actually insane," Wraith muttered.

"Took you this long to figure that out?" Adam quipped, exhaling slowly.

Then—

BOOM!

A black shockwave erupted from his body, spiraling outward in all directions. Wraith barely managed to steady himself as the sheer pressure of it sent ripples through space. The already fractured void split even further, cracks bleeding into infinity.

And then came the pain.

Adam's entire body convulsed.

Golden cracks tore through his skin like glowing veins, flickering, pulsating, searing. His fingers curled, his breath hitched—but his smirk remained, stubborn and unwavering.

"Hah… so this is what it feels like." His voice was strained, but there was excitement in it.

Wraith's expression darkened.

"Adam, this isn't funny. This energy isn't just attacking your body—it's unraveling you. If you don't stop, you're going to be nothing but a footnote in history."

Adam exhaled sharply.

"And?"

Wraith's eye twitched.

"AND?"

"You said no one's ever controlled this, right?" Adam's grin widened despite the agony lacing his voice.

"No one's survived trying to control it, you moron!"

Adam tilted his head, his crimson eyes glowing unnaturally as the space around him warped even further.

"Exactly."

Before Wraith could even process that stupidity, Adam twisted his fingers.

And the universe screamed.

The black cracks in space rushed toward him, coiling around his body like living shadows. His aura shifted—no, it collapsed inward, as if he was pulling the Universal Energy into himself instead of letting it tear him apart.

A deep, impossible sound rumbled through the void.

Like the universe itself was warning him.

Wraith took a step back.

"Adam—"

And then—

Adam opened his eyes.

Adam had done the impossible.

He had shattered the most fundamental law of the universe.

He had harnessed something that was never meant to be touched—raw, untamed, primordial.

And in the very next moment… the universe fought back.

A deep, unnatural pulse tore through existence. It wasn't sound. It wasn't energy. It was something beyond all that.

Wraith's eyes widened.

"Adam—"

CRACK!

Adam's entire body convulsed.

His smirk vanished. His eyes flickered, confusion flashing across his face for the first time. Then—

It hit him.

An overwhelming force ripped through his very being, deeper than the body, deeper than the soul. His breath hitched, his entire form twitching violently as the golden cracks on his skin widened.

It wasn't just pain.

It was undoing.

Like the universe itself was trying to erase what he had become.

"Tch—!" Adam gritted his teeth, but his limbs buckled. His fingers trembled, his vision blurred, and for the first time in his existence, his body felt wrong.

Wraith moved.

In an instant, he was at Adam's side, grabbing his arm before he could collapse into the nothingness below.

"Damn it, I told you this was a bad idea!" Wraith snarled, holding onto him tightly.

Adam let out a weak chuckle, his voice strained. "Okay… maybe you had a point."

Another pulse surged through him, stronger this time. Adam hissed, his entire body flickering between reality and something else.

Wraith's instincts screamed.

"Screw this—we're leaving."

Without another word, Wraith's grip tightened—

And the two of them vanished.