Daniel's words ringed in the ears of everyone present as a foreshadowing of a dire future.
What shocked the observing cultivators the most, was his ability to directly force the space to right out collapse without the need to shatter first. This concept of space was the missing piece for every cultivator that had decided to study spatial essence, and that had stopped many of them from reaching a perfect comprehension of it. This limitation did not only affect their overall comprehension of space, but the degree to which they could study the essence of spacetime as well.
A similar problem persisted in the relationship between the essences of life and death, two essences widely known and easy to observe. While some could choose to take a life or create one to follow their concepts, no one had ever learned how to fully manipulate these two essences, let alone discover a way to combine them.
The collapse of space, which was part of the comprehension of spatial essence, was a concept contained within the agents of Conclusion. These monsters, known to Daniel and many others as universal destroyers, were entities that, after being nurtured by the natural essence of spacetime that was produced by celestial events of devastating proportion, were able to develop the ability to destroy.
To be able to understand the concept of collapsed space without perishing was a miracle that had only been enjoyed by Daniel, but that did not mean that nobody else had ever been unable to at least witness a similar sight, or learn how to defend from it.
"STOP HIM! HE IS TRYING TO COLLAPSE THE SPACE!" Shouted the bloodied member of the Omnipresent Spirits clan, who had just appeared behind Daniel, aware of what he was doing. But, alas, his warning was only understood by the members of his clan, who after trying to take over the space around them, found themselves unable to act.
"Why aren't you stopping him?" Asked the man with glasses to the cultivator dressed in clean clothes, who was currently looking at the small holes in space created by Daniel with uncertainty.
After a few moments, the cultivator dressed in clean clothes turned to look at the other cultivators present, and ordered, "Ignore him! Spread out and use all of your power to stop these fractures from expanding! DO IT NOW!"
While a fragment of collapsed space was something that he or any other members of his clan could handle, the large number of these fractures were absorbing the spiritual essence present in the surroundings, leaving them unable to use it to stop them from expanding. To prevent that from happening they only had one choice, and that was to have the others focus on containing these holes, while they stopped Daniel from creating more of them.
Once Daniel would be out of the equation, the members of the Omnipotent Spiritual clan would be able to painstakingly repair these holes in the space of the spiritual plain one by one.
The large number of cultivators that had come to witness the spectacle found themselves thrown into a crisis, and while not necessarily allied with the Omnipresent Spirits clan, they did not want to see their spiritual world ruined, so they followed the order that was given to them and immediately split into different teams which focused their attention on locking the space around the holes in space, and stop the cracks that surrounded them from expanding.
The members of the Omnipresent Spirits clan, all capable of controlling the spacetime to some degree, instead of helping them headed in Daniel's direction, but as they came to a few meters of distance from Daniel, they noticed that there was a complacent smile on his face.
In the space above Daniel's head, five smaller holes appeared. These holes were different from the others, and were not surrounded by the concept of shattered space like the others were. Instead, they were extremely stable, and appeared to be locked into orbs of solidified space.
The members of the Omnipotent Spirits looked at these five orbs with alertness, aware that they were there as a threat rather than an attack, which caused them to completely change their attitude, stopping in wait for Daniel to make his demands. Nevertheless, before even bothering to state his conditions, Daniel sent these five orbs shooting in different directions, and out of people's sight.
These small orbs were traveling at lightning speed, covering an incredible distance with every passing moment..
As the cultivators of the Omnipotent Spirits noticed Daniel's actions, the idea of taking the two kidnapped researchers and Alesia's spirit back became something unimportant, as shown by the cultivator dressed in bloodied clothes, who rapidly grabbed his necklace and snapped the cord, which caused it to dissipate in the space and into nothingness. This was a call for reinforcements from his clan, which he hoped would arrive soon enough to help them contain the destruction of the spiritual world.
Once reinforcements were called, the five members present of their clan turned into flashes of light, and shot in the pursuit of the five orbs, leaving the other cultivators to contain the expansion of the other holes in space, and the researcher with glasses to face Daniel.
Daniel had no intention of destroying the Spiritual world. He knew that the spiritual world was as necessary to life as the underworld was, and that without it, humans would be born with no spirits, turning the future generations of cultivators and mortals into a race of sociopaths. What he wanted was to make enough noise to attract the right kind of attention.
"That's enough!" Exclaimed the man with glasses in anger before appearing right next to him. Then, before Daniel could even react, he pierced his throat with fingers, reaching all the way to his spine, and outright breaking his neck, leaving his body to fall on the ground along with Alesia's spirit, and what was left of Yaqi's soul.
Enraged by the damage caused, and yet reassured by Daniel's death, the cultivator with glasses turned to look at the other warriors, who were struggling with keeping the space in their possession from cracking, but right as he was about to join them, the sound of someone clearing his throat resounded behind him, sending a shiver down his spine.
By the time the cultivator with glasses turned around, Daniel was already holding in his hands a clean fracture of space as big as a human's head. If released, not a single one of those present would be able to stop it from bringing destruction to all of the spiritual world.
"Alright, you have done enough." Said a calm and silvery voice that resounded through the whole spiritual world. A disembodied voice that sent trillions of unaware cultivators scouting their surrounding in confusion. The only ones who were not confused, were Daniel and the cultivator with glasses, who had noticed a mature looking woman appear right next to them.
"Lady Spirit." Said the researcher with glasses before prostrating on the ground, hitting the spirit made dirt with his forehead.
"Now it is a party." Said Daniel while smiling, right before allowing the sphere of pure destruction to become twice as big, and an ever bigger threat to the dimension.
The woman that the cultivator with glasses called Lady Spirit ignored Daniel's words, and instead, waved his hand casually, closing every single fracture in space at the same time. Once done, she turned to look at Daniel, and said with an emotionless tone, "Out of respect for Conflict, I will not kill you. You have one chance to state what you want? Ask the wrong thing and neither your minds or spirits will exist long enough to find peace."
Ever since she had appeared, Daniel and the others had recognized this woman as the aspect of the Spirit. She, along with the aspects of Death, Life, and many others, was a minor aspect of existence that had been born the moment life had started. She represented emotions through the whole multiverse, and her domain was the spiritual world, where her champions resided from the moment of their consciousness's death, in order to reincarnate into a new life.
While it is true that Daniel's plan was to make enough noise, the attention he wanted to obtain was not that of the inhabitants of the spiritual world, but instead, of its owner. Luckily for him, instead of outright erasing him from existence, the aspect of the Spirit had simply stopped his reckless destruction, and instead, granted him a request. "You have directly taken action to aid your champions in stopping me from erasing a large part of your world.. I think that letting our three spirits leave is more than a reasonable compensation for your intrusion." Responded Daniel, aware that the fact that Spirit had acted, was already a violation of the rules set by the ruling aspects of existence. Entities like Fate, or its counter Caos.
Spirit let out a faint smile at Daniel's request. A dormant spirit for her had as much importance as a speck of dust had for the rest of the universe, hence why she considered Daniel's request a simpleminded one. However, the smile disappeared as she noticed the opening to Daniel's universe. It was at this point that the sadistic part of her emotive nature emerged.
"How about this.. I will give you the power to close and open the path to your universe and my plain at will.. Not one of my champions will ever dare to set foot in your universe for as long as you wish." She said while showing a benevolent smile.
Daniel was aware that, now that the path between his universe and the spiritual world had been officially opened, even though he possessed the key to this door, the uncountable clans present within the spiritual world would try invade it in an attempt to claim it for themselves, but while the proposition of the aspect of Spirit sounded perfect, he knew better than to think that it was a charitable act. "That sounds nice.. what would you want in return?" he asked with suspicion.
Spirit looked at Daniel as if amused by his suspicion. She then pointed at Alesia, and said, "I will allow you to leave with that stained spirit, but she stays with me. She will be my handmaid for the rest of eternity." From her tone she made it seem that it would be an absolute privilege for Alesia to be granted this title.
After briefly looking at Alesia, Daniel turned to look at Spirit, and while showing an amused smile, he said, "Had I know it was such a shitty deal, I wouldn't have listened to your idiotic words to begin with." The expression of both Spirit and the cultivator with glasses dropped, but Daniel's remained a jovial one, directed at the same aspect of existence he had just heavily insulted.
Despite the man with glasses expecting the aspect of Spirit to react by erasing him, Daniel, and everybody else present out of existence, she didn't. Instead, she simply forced the entrance to Daniel's universe to open, and with more anger than she intended to display, forced them out of her home. She then observed as Daniel's body disappeared into the canal, a sight accompanied by a wisp of sound essence, which reached the back towards the aspect of the Spirit, relying on the message, "Send as many as you want.. But be sure to give them enough money for their funeral."
Spirit spent the following minutes standing in place, seething in anger, thinking about whether it would have been better if she had simply killed Daniel, and then faced the punishment of the higher echelons of her kin. However, for as powerful as she was, she wouldn't dare challenge the hierarchy of the aspects of existence. After all, like many others, she was only allowed to exist.
Once alone with the man with glasses, and the rest of the even more nervous cultivators, she ordered, "I want you all to invade his universe.. Send their spirits back to me." She then disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
