"Father.." muttered Romah after finding out that Iewah, his unfathomable father, was only standing a few centimeters behind him.
"You are Iewah? What is the meaning of this? What the hell is going on?" Asked the commander with exasperation. She knew the old man only by name, and had never met him in the flesh before.
Despite the looks of shock of those who considered themselves as his children, or descendent, the old man did not react, and instead looked at the two entities which had called themselves as Ingenuity and Conclusion, with an expression that was devoid of fear.
"You.." Muttered Conclusion, clearly surprised by the old man's appearance. His surprise did not last long, and was soon replaced by an unfriendly expression right before he added, "A stupid choice to show up here, odd one. Now that this dimension has seen a glimpse of the end of times, your powers will dwindle."
The old man smiled in response, humored by what Conclusion had said. He then glanced at Daniel for a few moments, and responded by saying, "Isn't the blink of an eye but a glimpse of darkness? Save your speeches for when the lights will be out for good."
Along with Evolution, Iewah formed the direct of position of Ingenuity and Conclusion, and yet, no one bothered to even utter his name.
Seeing the reaction of the couple, the expression on the face of Evolution became complacent, as opposed to that on the face of Ingenuity, which looked at the former with irritation, and said, "This plane belongs to us. Its future was decided ever since our champions discovered the residue of origin. Only he and I are suitable to contend for this dimension."
"How ridiculous. Cultivation is the predominant force in this dimension, and without your intervention, this plane would belong to me." Responded Evolution in disagreement. As he finished speaking, his expression turned significantly more malicious, and his body started to emit a power that forced all of those present on the brink of desperation. "If not for the rules, I would have already taken you out myself." he then added with a menacing tone.
It was clear to all those present that Evolution's power was amongst the strongest of the four, a power that was matched only by Iewah, who appeared to be unaffected by the pressure emanated by his companion.
Evolution favored the cultivators, whom had found a way to gain power through the concept he represented and with whom he shared individual power, and therefore, he considered his subjects. Unfortunately, strength was not the only useful power, as to match Evolution's strength, was Ingenuity's intelligence.
"Always ready to throw hands. So unsophisticated.. Our words have already tainted this universe's free will. How about we restart this plane, and see how it plays out the next time?" Said Ingenuity, who had already predicted that the knowledge of collapsed space would ultimately force the side he favored into abandoning technology, and moving on Evolution's side. In order to avoid losing the plane, he had intervened only so that he could justify what he had just proposed. That, was the cunning of Ingenuity.
Daniel and the others listened to the words of these four beings with horror. To them, it seemed that their existence, as well as the existence of every member of their family, friends, and comrades, was nothing but a piece of meat coveted by four hungry wolves.
The possibility that their civilization could be wiped out just to save the time of a discussion was disgusting to Daniel, and in his heart, he started to despise them, just like the others did. In their mind thousands of different words formed thousands of different phrases. Complaints and arguments about why they deserve to live, questions about things that were beyond their comprehension and much more, but before they could turn these words into sounds, their voices died in their throats.
Ingenuity's proposition, while unfair, seemed to be the best solution for Evolution who, unwilling to concede, would rather try his luck with the next attempt. Iewah and Conclusion did not appear to be bothered by the decision, as they were only there to make sure that none of the other two would claim the universe through unfair methods.
Evolution looked at the cultivators with what felt like the displeasure of losing a good hand of cards, then turned to look at Ingenuity, and said, "Very well. Restart it."
Extremely satisfied by Evolution's agreement, Ingenuity raised his left arm, and reached for the empty part of space that was right in front of him. As his arm was extended to its limit, the entire universe seemed to be pulled in between Ingenuity's two fingers, compressed into a sphere that included everything that existed had ever existed.
With his comprehension of spacetime, Daniel was able to feel the catastrophic effect that whatever Ingenuity was doing would have, but unfortunately, he was powerless to stop him.
The feeling of pressure became more and more intense, when suddenly, "Do I have a say in this?" Asked a fifth disembodied voice, forcing the pressure to disappeared.
Behind Daniel, appeared a fifth entity.
The reaction of Evolution, Ingenuity, and Conclusion was to immediately take a step back, right as their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably. "Y-You are h-here.." said Evolution with a tone filled with fear, and what felt like respect.
Iewah was the only one who stood his ground, but on his face, it was clear that he was wary of the newcomer. "Of course you have a say in this.. Conflict.." Said Ingenuity, hiding his displeasure as deep as he could, so that it could not be perceived.
The moment the word 'conflict' was spoken, Daniel turned to look at the entity that had appeared behind him, and immediately felt some sort of familiarity with him. Not only had he seen the man's middle aged appearance before, he could also recognized the immense power that his body was emanating.
"Interference is usually prohibited, but since all contenders have shown themselves, this universe will proceed in awareness, and the competition will continue." Said the newly arrived entity with a dead tone. In the minds of the aliens and cultivators present became clear that he was not giving a suggestion, but dictating what would happen, regardless of the other's opinions. "Do you have any objections?.. Because if you do, I am more than happy to settle it in the pantheon."
Evolution, Ingenuity and Conclusion looked at one another with defeated expressions. They then politely agreed to Conflict's proposition, and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.
Iewah was the only one left, and was currently looking at Conflict with the intention of asking for something. From his unstable gaze, it was clear that he wanted to be allowed to talk to Daniel, but before he could even express this request through words, it was denied by Conflict, who said, "Leave me to my champion. The two of us have much to talk about."
With no other choice, Iewah looked at Daniel one more time, and left while ignoring the presence of the Romah and Sewah. Once alone, Conflict the other's actions, and disappeared while leaving a few words behind, "Conclude your business here. I will wait for you on your planet."
The desire to obtain immediate answers was extremely enticing to Daniel, but he had other matters to attend. In front of him the two factions that before only saw him as a mediator, now, based on the actions of the five mysterious figures, considered him as a person of a ranking higher than their own. A person with an unfathomable backing.
Unwilling to stay much longer, Daniel proposed that the intergalactic coalition would abandon their use of grey matter, and in exchange, they would be allowed to study the most common ways of cultivation. As an additional part of the armistice, the universal government would be prohibited from attacking or entering the alien territory for the following fifty thousand years, time in which the members of Daniel's group would be allowed to monitor the abandonment of the technology that was dependent on the grey matter.
Once the agreement was reached, the three factions separated, and went their separate ways.
—–
After the conclusion of the meeting, Daniel teleported directly to one of the most desolate parts of his planet, where a small flame of alien power was signaling its present to him like a lighthouse through the night.
When Daniel appeared, this little flame turned into the figure of Conflict, whose first action was to pick a rock from the ground, and look at it with interest. "So, this is also part of your body.. Interesting." he muttered before letting go of the rock, and turning to look at Daniel.
For a few seconds he waited for Daniel to start asking questions, but even for someone like Daniel, becoming used to beings such as him was not something that could happen in a matter of minutes, so he decided to start things off by saying, "I am Conflict. It is not my name, it is just what I am. To people like humans, I can be considered a sort of.. Deity."
"The four that you have met, like me, are the embodiment of one aspect of existence. Evolution, born from the everchanging adaptation of life, Ingenuity, born from the intelligence and cunning of sentient beings, and Conclusion, created by the end of any form of process. Finally, there is the one that made you into what you are.." Explained the middle aged man, in the hope that a bit of clarity would allow Daniel to gain enough confidence to speak.
"I.. Did you save our universe from being erased?" Asked Daniel with an unsteady tone, still not sure in what capacity he had understood the situation he was in just a few minutes earlier.
"I am a multidimensional being, your universe is as important as one of your precious essence gems is to you." Responded the middle aged man with a flat tone.
From Conflict's reaction to his question, Daniel was able to confirm what he had suspected. His universe was of no interest to someone like him. However, what he truly meant to ask was whether the three that were so casually deciding the fate of an uncountable number of lives were enemies, or not. Unfortunately, he could not ask that, so instead, he settled for something simpler. "Why would you do that? What makes me your champion? Have we met before?" He asked.
"We did meet once, when two brats of the spiritual faction brought you to the planet I was taking a look at. That was when I have noticed your gift.. Karma." Responded Conflict with a matter-of-fact tone, leaving Daniel speechless. "You are definitely a special one, but to answer your question.. You are not my champion. You are merely bringing him along." He then added before pointing his finger at Daniel, and dragging the demonic wolf cub out of his shadow.
Finally Daniel understood. Conflict was the being to which Hell belonged to, and therefore, the king of hell was his only true champion.
"Why were the others so respectful to you?" Asked Daniel, seemingly unbothered with the sudden revelation.
Conflict grabbed the wolf cub by the scruff and took a closer look at it. "Because they have a lower standing than mine. Their aspect of existence is.. Circumstantial. It takes a beginning to reach an end, and you need a life to have evolution and intelligence. My aspect is of a broader spectrum. I am the opposition between any form of forces." Responded Conflict with a matter-of-fact tone, and a subtle pride.
"What about Iewah? Is he different?" Asked Daniel, curious about one of the biggest mysteries of his life.
"Iewah? What is that?" Responded the middle aged man, slightly distracted by the cubs silly attempts at biting him.
"The one who made me.. The old man that gave me my gift." Said Daniel, clarifying the deity's confusion.
At the mention of Iewah, Conflict put down the wolf cub, and said, "Oh, right. That one.. He is Destiny."
