Awakening: Reincarnating With the SSS-Level Extraction Talent-Chapter 506: The Truth About it All (1/2)

Floating in the middle of an endless void, surrounded by stars and galaxies that shimmered like distant embers, Alex found himself suspended in complete silence.

The emptiness around him stretched in every direction, vast and infinite.

Yet despite the overwhelming scale of the space he floated in, he slowly began to notice something strange.

He could move.

With a slight thought, his body glided forward.

He didn't understand how, but the moment he focused, he could direct himself, propelling through the stillness like a drifting comet.

A few seconds later, a presence appeared beside him.

"Hey there," came a voice, light, casual, and oddly familiar.

Turning to his right, Alex saw a figure, tall, slender, and dressed in dark robes that blended with the space around him.

His eyes gleamed with darkness, his smile wide and unreadable.

It was Vexum.

He was floating effortlessly, his arms crossed, posture relaxed.

"We figured it'd be better if we explained everything one step at a time," he said, voice calm but filled with a strange excitement, "You've been through a lot already, no point in overwhelming you all at once."

"Fine by me," Alex said, giving a small nod.

He wasn't exactly calm, but he was trying.

"Perfect," Vexum's grin widened, and with a sharp snap of his fingers, several glowing panels appeared around them, floating images, videos, and symbols, each glowing with cosmic light.

The two of them began drifting forward through space again, with the panels following alongside them like silent companions.

"Let's start from the beginning," Vexum said, gesturing toward one of the first panels.

It showed five figures standing in a pitch-black void.

Their silhouettes were vaguely familiar, like distorted reflections of what they would later become.

Vexum pointed at the image.

"We, the Creators, we don't know how we came to be."

"One moment there was nothing. The next, there we were."

The next panel shifted to show the five experimenting with their powers, powers forming in their hands, energies crackling, galaxies folding into their palms.

"At first, we were confused. We didn't understand anything. But after hundreds of years, we figured something out."

"We had power, a lot of it. Enough to change entire realities."

Alex said nothing, simply watching as more scenes passed, planets being created and destroyed, stars collapsing, oceans boiling beneath alien skies.

"But even power becomes boring after a while," Vexum said, his tone turning wistful, "No matter how much you create or destroy, it eventually starts to feel the same."

"So we decided to leave that place, to wander the universe in search of something... interesting."

"And Earth?" Alex asked, narrowing his eyes, "The 24 other worlds?"

"Not our creations," Vexum replied, his tone almost amused, "We call ourselves the Creators, but the only big thing we truly made was Universal Descent. The planets you saw us destroy were empty."

"Everything else, Earth included, was already there."

"We just... borrowed it."

Alex frowned.

"What about the gods?"

"They were taken from other planets," Vexum said without hesitation, "We gave them a choice, gain power, or stay ordinary."

"Every single one of them chose power."

"That's how they earned their titles, their abilities."

"But make no mistake, they were never meant to be gods."

"That was something they chose to embrace."

The panels now showed the gods rising, each unique in form and nature, kneeling before Vexum and the others, before rising anew, empowered and reborn.

"At first, it was just an experiment. But the more we watched the people on these worlds, the more curious we became," Vexum continued, waving his hand toward a panel that displayed the 25 planets, each orbiting a glowing core.

"And so, we created Universal Descent, a way to bring all the pieces together. We placed the gods within it. The mortals. The systems. Everything."

[This was how Universal Descent was created and how we came to be.]

Those words floated across a golden panel as Vexum leaned back with a satisfied sigh.

"That's all from me, human. The others will take over from here."

Before Alex could respond, he clenched his fist and swung at Vexum's head, but his hand passed through him like smoke.

"Sorry, sorry," Vexum laughed, fading into a swirl of black mist, "Projection only. The real me's somewhere else. Good luck!"

The moment he vanished, another figure took his place, this one larger, more imposing, with red skin and four powerful arms.

His eyes blazed with energy, and his presence radiated heat and strength.

"I'm the second," he boomed, slamming his chest with his fists.

The sound echoed through the void like a thunderclap.

Crimson panels emerged from the space around them, displaying images, text, and recordings, much like before.

"Vexum told you how we made Universal Descent. But you want to know what happened after, don't you?"

Alex nodded slowly, taking everything in.

"We placed the gods into the system," Maleth began, folding his arms, "But we didn't interfere, not at first. We just watched. Observed. The worlds went on, unaware of what was coming."

He pointed to a panel showing the first planet chosen for descent, a vibrant world filled with forests, oceans, and civilizations.

"Eventually, we began the process," Maleth said, "You know it already, one by one, we chose planets, and allowed their people to enter Universal Descent, to grow stronger, to prepare."

"But when the one year ended... the descent would begin."

"You chose the planets?" Alex cut in, his tone darkening, "How? Random chance?"

"Of course not," Maleth said, shaking his head, "We studied thousands of planets, watched civilizations rise and fall."

"These 25 had the most potential. The most will. The greatest chance to... entertain us."

Alex looked away, his thoughts spiraling.

"But they didn't survive."

"No," Maleth admitted, his tone quieting, "None of them did."

Another panel showed cities being torn apart, gods descending in a blaze of power, people screaming as everything they knew crumbled.

"Why?" Alex asked, locking eyes with him, "Why destroy everything?"

"We didn't," Maleth said, his voice firm, "We gave the gods freedom. It was they who chose to conquer. To kill. We told them they could descend and interact, but we never ordered them to destroy."

Alex's eyes glowed for a brief second, his skill activating instinctively.

[Truth!]

Maleth was telling the truth.

Yet... it didn't erase the satisfaction these beings clearly felt as they watched the destruction unfold.

"One by one," Maleth gestured to the burning worlds in the panels, "they all fell. The mortals weren't strong enough. Not fast enough. The gods wiped them out."

Alex's jaw tightened.

"My world would've fallen too. If I hadn't gone back… if I hadn't changed things…"

"You're right," Maleth said, grinning, "But that's not my story to tell. The next one will explain."

He let out a deep laugh as fire erupted from his mouth, and he vanished in a flash of crimson light.

Moments later, a third figure appeared, graceful and serene, her dress flowing like liquid silver.

Her presence felt calming, gentle, yet powerful in a way that was hard to describe: Sylvaine.

As she arrived, white panels began forming around Alex, softly glowing, almost soothing in contrast to the prior intensity.

The first thing she said, however, caught Alex completely off guard.

"Did you really think you were the only one?" she asked softly, her eyes watching him with a knowing smile.

Alex blinked, "What?"

"You believed you were the only one who went back in time, who got a second chance, who tried to save your world."

"I—" He stopped mid-sentence, understanding dawning in his mind.

She pointed at a panel.

It shimmered with colors too vibrant to name, a swirling image of energy and light.

"After the first planet fell, we realized it wasn't fair," Sylvaine said, "So we changed the rules. After each descent, we selected the strongest, most determined survivor left alive. We gave them the opportunity to go back, before the descent started. With their memories intact."

Alex stared at her in shock.

"That means… every world had someone like me?"

She nodded.

"Yes. Every world had one person given the chance to change everything."

"Then why did they all fail?" he asked, more calmly now.

Sylvaine looked away.

"Some died trying. Some were killed by gods before they could get strong enough. And some…"

She looked back at Alex.

"Some chose to join the gods."

"The Chosen Ones…" he muttered.

"Yes," she confirmed, "Some were like you, but chose destruction. Power. Control."

Alex felt a cold weight in his chest.

"In the end," Sylvaine continued, "we began to think it was all pointless. No matter what we did, every world failed. Until finally… Earth was chosen."

"And I won," Alex said, voice low.

"You did," Sylvaine smiled, "You're the only one who made it. The only one who changed the outcome."

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Then, Sylvaine began to glow softly.

Her body turned to particles of light, and she slowly faded away.

Two figures remained.

Alex could feel it, the explanations were nearing their end.

But he was more alert now than ever.

Because if there was one thing he had learned above all else... it was that there was always more.