Vile Rabbit

"Yes and no," answered Gideon. "The reason being, the thing you call Ascension Particles is said to have existed before Father, but it didn't have the evolution property. It simply existed, akin to mist, and most creatures didn't notice it and those who did, ignored it.

And Yes, because Father was the one who made it into what it is now. He gave it meaning, the concept of evolution. So, in a sense, he is the source."

As he spoke, he opened his palm, and the surrounding Ascension Particles crystallized, liquefied, and particulized then vanished.

Blaze!

As soon as he finished, Apexion's entire existence began shimmering with conceptual black flames that slowly cleansed all traces of Ascension Particles from his existence, which would be extremely difficult to complete, considering it was a fundamental aspect of his path… If he wanted to get rid of it completely, he would have to sever it on a conceptual level, akin to Fate Severance.

But there was one problem and that was he would need to replace it with something else. His thoughts spun at insane speeds. An instant later, his mind clicked with an idea,

'Why don't I create my own Ascension Particles? One based upon my apex law. One that can even affect beings of law.'

He then told Gideon to continue.

"I see. You can continue."

Gideon ignored the fire blazing around him. He knew what Apexion was doing, and he didn't really have many thoughts about it for it made perfect sense for a being wanting to rid itself of the pollution of another. His mind drifted back to his memories:

"After learning of the miraculous feats of Father, I soon came across legends of other miraculous beings. Let's start with the legend of the one known as The Willful One.

This is also one of the Five Entities. This one was a short but miracle-worthy tale of a boy whose will was nigh indescribable and most importantly, a boy who refused to join a path.

A boy who was like a pathfinder but not a Pathfinder.

A boy was born to a Tier 6 civilization under Father's path. He was born with extremely high talent. His civilization cheered his birth, with the thought that he would push them to the ranks of the Divine.

But soon, they would become extremely angry and disappointed after the realization that no matter what, this boy refused to form his Divine Compass and step onto the path of transcendence.

'That is not my path!'

stated the boy under their endless persuasion. They even tried to control the boy mentally, but that was futile, for they couldn't penetrate his mental defenses.

It was at that moment they truly realized the boy's specialness and decided it was best to leave him to his own devices.

The boy moved to the weakest part of his civilization, where only 3rd-tier creatures resided. He wandered around as a nomad for thousands of years. He crossed thousands of mountains and oceans, traveled to many cities and empires. This chapter was made possible by the MV_LEMPYR community.

In the first half of those thousands of years of travel, he forgo his innate desires/emotions, such as lust, anger, greed, envy, gluttony, and pride.

In the second half, he indulged in those very desires he had once forsgo. He mated with thousands of females of many different species, he started fights and ended some, he sought the best chefs, he stole from others, and he bragged about these things daily.

The last part of the boy travels was also the last part of his lifespan. But right when everyone thought he was dead, he did something unexpected he shed his body entirely and morphed into a purely will-based creature. Not a spiritual one, but one of pure mental energy and thought.

This surprised the boy's civilization, for they had no record of his form. It was a completely different species from them.

Driven by curiosity and greed, they kidnapped the boy and conducted countless mind-rending experiments on him.

The boy did not cry or resist during these experiments. He remained calm with a firm expression on his face.

This torture lasted for tens of thousands of years and ended only because the boy's civilization was attacked and destroyed by another. The boy was captured and experimented on again by this second civilization.

This torment also lasted for tens of thousands of years before the boy suddenly exploded with the strength of a Tier 6 creature one who was unrivaled. He was like a nightmare to his captors. With a single attack, he shattered their spirits.

The boy then began traveling the universe. It stated that shortly after, he was somehow swallowed by a Divine Being and miraculously did not die.

He stayed in this Divine Being's gut for over a million years, enduring untold suffering and Law Corrosion, before he attained Divine-level strength, shattered the Divine Being's will, and escaped.

The moment he escaped, he was attacked by the ancestors of that divine being clan who were at the pinnacle of the Ultimate Divine Rank, Tier 7.

They was too much for the boy. He was greatly outnumbered six to one. Left with no choice, he was forced to escape into a danger zone of flames hot enough to incinerate beings below Tier 8.

The boy hid in this raging zone for millions of years before he calmly walked out, with the strength of a pinnacle Tier 7 being.

He effortlessly killed the enemies that had still been waiting for him, even though millions of years had passed.

The boy continued traveling the universe. He ventured to many different civilizations, where he would leave his teachings and philosophy, which put extreme emphasis on the state of mind.

He became a famous wise man.

On one of his travels, the boy was noticed by a passing Cosmic Rank Divine (Tier 8), who was perplexed about his existence, about his form and most importantly, that he did not walk a path but continued to ascend.

The Cosmic Divine captured the boy. He tried to resist but failed the gap was simply too large.

The Cosmic Divine dissected the boy's existence, after which he came to understand what the boy was but he still couldn't understand how he came to be such.

And he felt threatened by the boy's potential, so he decided to destroy him.

Which he did.

Pash!

He shattered the boy. But for some reason, the boy reformed. He shattered the boy again. And again. And again, with all his strength and abilities. But for some reason, the boy's will always reformed back with the same firm and unbreakable look on his face.

The Cosmic felt an even greater threat and decided he must kill the boy no matter what. He created a huge cosmic furnace and placed the boy inside, hoping to grind him down little by little, then burn him out of existence.

He burned the boy for millions of years.

But Even after so much time, the boy still did not die.

The Cosmic Being tried another approach that is, to seal the boy in the depths of an extremely strong world.

Many years passed, and the area above where the boy was sealed turned into a giant mountain.

One day, the boy somehow broke free from his seal. He then walked to the summit of the mountain. With each step he took, his figure became progressively incomprehensible. When he reached the top of the hill, he transcended fate—then vanished, leaving only:

"Endure all things. A will eternal."

…

"That's where the legend ends," said Gideon as the palace reformed around them.

Apexion's mind flashed with many ideas. He was truly impressed a creature evolving on its own without a path, and not being a pathfinder. He was also fairly certain that the boy mentioned in this legend was The Wise One.

"Continue," he said calmly.

"Ah, yes. There exist legends about two other entities known as The Slumbering Beginning and The One Sitting at the End.

The legends say there exist two entities. One represents the beginning of existence. This entity is in a perpetual state of slumber and will only wake when all of existence is threatened.

The other represents the end who is in a perpetual state of sitting and will only stand when all of existence is threatened," stated Gideon. "That's all of the legends. You should decide if they are real or not."

"Fast forward to the moments approaching the War of the End, Mother vanished, time itself became inaccessible, and the fate strings of all things began crying out screaming, warning of the incoming destruction of all things. They also faintly conveyed what was the source of this destruction.

And it pointed to Father.

I was shocked and fell into denial. I refused to believe it.

in order to escape from reality, I hid away on the very world you see around you. This world is a minor world of the Innate.

I blocked out the screams of fate and stayed on this world for a long time. I had planned to stay on this world until the end until my brother came and convinced me otherwise. That was the memory you just saw.

I led my kind into war. This wars destructiveness and brutality were of the highest degree. Tens of thousands of Tier 8 entities warring the universe trembled from our clashes.

As for the battle of the Tier 9s, I cannot tell for they are beyond my perception. The only thing I knew was that sometime during the war, everything went white, and the next thing I knew, the universe was in shambles, akin to shattered glass.

The next moment, I heard an unwilling roar from Mother that echoed across time.

After that, I felt an indescribable terror wash over me. Existence and my thought froze. I was sure, absolutely sure that everything was about to end.

And then…

I don't remember.

One moment, everything was ending. The next, I was sealed inside this prison.