"You would not know me, Borgain. But I am Creation. You are dead, but I do have a question for you."

  Borgain stared at the formless Creation, then looked around, picking out a few familiar figures. Laughter whom he growled at, earning a faint laugh at his expense, then… the strange figure beside Laughter. Who looked like the Sage of Fluff and Celia both. Then toward the nearby Affection who was in the prison of energy.

  "What is it then?"

  His response to Creation didn't even get an angry response. Creation just asked, "We know you have been abusing souls to achieve your crazed goals. How is it, after all you have abused souls… your soul hasn't been tainted? Almost every other soul in this world is in some way tainted. You cannot see the souls though, your vision isn't good enough."

  This actually caused the gelatinous cretin of a fox to laugh aloud. "Me, the great Borgain sil Krum, harmed by his own handiwork? No no no no no. I would never allow that. I may not be able to see souls, but I can very well sense them thanks to my class. I realized at my Ceremony that some souls around me seemed wrong. Tainted. I was able to just absorb the aether and power from them just enough and discard the rest."

  "So that was why you were so wasteful and enchanted random objects around you with souls? Because they were useless to you because they were tainted?"

  "Oho, you're quite observant. Indeed."

  Creation paid attention between the two before promptly knocking the soul back out of Borgain to shut him up. "Repugnant bastard." he huffed, clearly not enjoying the man anymore than anyone else did.

  "But as I stated…" Creation announced to everyone present. "I have been to every world in this side of existence. Every world was tainted with these parasites. These parasites are offspring of the predator. Why is it that they would be so pervasive, but leave those like Rou unharmed? Unless he was either immune to them, or somehow… leading them?"

  Laughter went to protect Rou but was unable to as Rou was thrown around by Creation again, yelling in pain as his soul was ripped out of his body once more - the body going limp and the Soul pulsing in pain. "Let us see then." Creation postulated as the other high-dimensional beings watched in horror.

  Creation pulled out a single parasite and dragged over Rou's soul. But for some reason… the parasite couldn't actually burrow in. "Well, fancy that. He is indeed immune. His soul is a bit too thick to let it pass through the walls. And as you can see, he attracts pure, untouched souls likewise, like… ooh, Celia's soul, I forgot in the rush. …that proves it even more. You, or something above you, has been playing the long game. And you led them right to us. Exposed every world in existence to the predator that was still alive.”

  Some of the high-dimensional beings present even began to side with Creation, at least a little. It wasn't a strange leap of logic. If anything, it made sense. But to have it be Rou? He couldn't have known. Was he an unwitting pawn?

  "Stop." the one who spoke was Laughter, walking inbetween Creation and Rou, disobeying Creation actively.

  His voice soft, no hint of mirth or anything but disappointment. "He wouldn't. Even if he somehow exposed us, it wasn't something he knew, or did by choice." With Laughter's voice as destructive as it was, he was clearly using high-dimensional energy to suppress such while speaking.

  "Even so." Creation said, "He is guilty. And I will find out. We have known each other for a long while. Let us continue to know each other."

  The threat was very much clear. Submit, or perish. Laughter stood there before finally relenting and going to pick up Rou's body, hugging it and keeping him safe.

  –

  How much time had passed was hard to say, though in the world below, W'elma and Ellie had been looking for Rou for quite a while. It was only when Laughter tipped them off to stop trying that they reluctantly went back to the capital.

  Years passed in the capital. Life continued.

  But in the high-dimensional realm?

  Rou and Celia's souls screamed in pure pain as their souls were tortured continuously. The high-dimensional beings could not stand it but knew that even if they were altogether to oppose Creation, they couldn't stop him. They could only watch. Watch as the poor, clearly innocent Rou and Celia were put through something so awful neither of them should have ever suffered.

  And Creation did not care, nor would he stop, because he was convinced somewhere in their memories they knew something. Rou had to know something. His memories of his past life, all of his past lives on Earth through the cycles of reincarnation were laid bare. Every scent, every touch and taste, everything he ever saw or experienced, was exposed and inspected by Creation. All the way back to the very origin of his souls heritage.

  But nothing. He could not find anything. Where was he wrong? Where had he gone wrong.

  "Creation, enough. This is a fools errand. Please… you have found nothing even after all this." The one who spoke was Aether.

  Affection, who had almost gone insane from the misery of being trapped all this time unable to help as she watched her beloved tortured like this, looked at Aether like a small prayer had come.

  But Creation by this point really had gone insane in his efforts. Aether shivered as she realized his attention was on her but stood firm. "Please." she said, before he ignored her and went back to torturing Rou and Celia.

  –

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  After another age, or what felt like it for Rou and Celia, a few more gods joined Aether to ask him to stop. Soil. Curiosity, hanging onto Aether gently. Laughter. Several other that Rou had never seen. But again, Creation didn't stop.

  –

  Time went on, and on, and eventually high-dimensional being after high-dimensional being opposed Creation. He never retaliated as he agreed with Affection so long ago that he would just be making it pointless if they perished. But he stopped as all of the high-dimensional beings finally opposed him.

  "All of you. Not a single one thinks we need to know the truth?"

  Creation realized he was outnumbered, but he could still erase them all easily. They knew this too. It was a silent protest in the hopes he might consider otherwise.

  "In that case, I will have to raise the stakes."

  –

  No one knew what he meant until suddenly Millet appeared in their dimension. Everyone was confused, Rou and Celia screaming from their souls impotently, unable to even make noise. But before anyone could react, Millet exploded violently, her soul being grasped by Creation and wagged in front of Rou and Celia.

  The two souls began to vibrate, Rou screaming and crying in his mind, trying desperately to do anything, to get to Millet, but the horror set in as Creation stated calmly. "This is your fault. I have searched your memories to no avail. Now I will have to search theirs."

  –

  In her prison of energy, Affection went insane at this point. Screaming, frothing insane. The energy prison even began to rock slightly as she started to expend her own being to try and break out, but Creation calmly reinforced it, leaving her to realize she had no more chance.

  But how did Creation plan to inspect her memories? Well, the first thing he did was dangle Millet's soul in front of them all, showing the faint hint of 'corruption', that there was at least a parasite inside. Perhaps more than one. And then the small explosion of aether as Millet's soul was ripped in two and Creation threw the parasites within into a nearby energy prison he was using for just that.

  –

  Of course, as Creation read her memories all the way back he found nothing. "Nothing at all? No matter. Next."

  –

  One by one, Creation terminated those closest to Rou, until the high-dimensional beings couldn't stand it anymore. W’elma, Ellie, and even Vitor as Laughter let out a soft whine. They were all shaking in utter disgust and horror at what was happening. And finally, Aether was the one who couldn't take it anymore. "Enough. No more." She stood in the way of Rou and physically protected his souls, not that they were in any danger. "This is madness. You will have to kill us all to continue, and you will not as it would make it pointless." The other high-dimensional beings joined Aether, as Laughter gave Rou his body back, leaving the mind and heart-broken red panda to scream in agony the moment he regained his body, his voice.

  Pure, soul-level despair, sobbing and choking, lunging at Creation and trying to kill the elder high-dimensional being with his bare hands and teeth. Even Celia felt the same, the two souls joined in purpose and madness. Especially as she had to watch her parents get torn to pieces in front of them as instead of Rou, Creation tried to use her against him.

  "None of you combined can stop me. What do you plan to do if I ignore you?" Creation half chortled in their general direction. "I will find out what's going on and I will save us all, or at least myself. I hope you are smart enough to let me save you all as well. But… it is clear to me that this world is done. I have been studying the cycle of reincarnation while this has been going on. …almost every soul in this world is tainted. The only ones that weren't? Borgain, Celia and Rou here."

  Rou and Celia still trying to kill him harmlessly, ignoring them like they were but a bit of a breeze on a nice, pleasant day.

  "So unfortunately… I am done with this."

  –

  Before the others present could react, Creation let an echo of high-dimensional energy and everything that everyone ever knew, every spec of matter, of air and water, of aether and life, every being in the world, much like Earth and all the other worlds Creation visited, exploded into their base particles. Every living being killed at once, their souls floating in a vacuum of nothing as the insane Creation began to cycle through them one by one, ripping them in half, gathering the parasites, and discarding the remnants. One by one, then by two and four and eight and soon he got into a rhythm while everyone present stared in horror.

  –

  "Mom… dad…" Rou knelt and just sat in broken silence. Silence, then a pained laughter and a wail of despair as he tried to voice what he felt unsuccessfully.

  –

  "What reprehensible behavior. Why would he do this though?" As before, someone was watching the scene of Creation and Rou and the other high-dimensional beings. Trying to understand what was going on before interfering. Surely the one known as Creation wouldn't do this without a reason. Wouldn't destroy all his past effort and start over without a reason? This was tantamount to self termination!

  –

  "I suppose I shall never know how exactly you were achieving what you have achieved." Creation said softly towards Rou, stepping into the old mouse body he used from time to time and sat down in front of the broken Rou. By this point he had ripped every soul in existence in two outside of theirs.

  "Why did it have to come to this? This is your fault you know."

  While he was focusing on Rou, Aether looked towards Affection, seeing Affection just as broken as Rou, feeling her very soul hurt. She adored Affection so much. In her own way she loved her. Aether looked through the other high-dimensional beings one by one and shared a thought towards each. They all looked at her and confirmed that thought back, Creation not noticing.

  "I never did a thing… to have you destroy everything. As miserable as I was, I had everything I could have ever wanted."

  Creation blinked. "Miserable? Boy, you had everything, how could you be miserable?"

  Rou spat in his direction before Celia spoke, "Because of me you bastard! With our souls together, I got everything I ever wanted, and for some reason, the happier I am, the more miserable poor Rou is. All of this… if anything it was my fault. I was too happy, and Rou… Rou suffered. Everyone suffered."

  Guilt washed over Celia's soul as she spoke through Rou's mouth. Even now, Rou offered comfort elsewhere, not knowing what else to do. "It's not… not your fault, it's him."

  Creation, though, seemed uncertain. "You… two are connected, you say?" Realization hit him and suddenly Creation seemed lost in thought. "It couldn't be…"

  Every being there looked towards Creation as he realized something.

  –

  The elder high-dimensional being thought back to when Rou was but a child. When he had impressed him and gained a favor for being lenient towards Affection and being willing to pardon her. Of the perk he had given Rou.

  [One-time Luck]

  Of when Rou eventually used that passive when he was at the crystalized dragons heart. Of how he used it. Of how Creation decided to allocate the luck.

  –

  "It's impossible, this is.. My fault?"

  Aether had walked over to Creation as Creation finally realized the truth of the matter. The old mouse leaned back on one hand, eyes unfocused. He had taken the luck from Celia. She was the being with the greatest luck in the world, but because contractually Borgain had sealed her fate, to Creation, she was a lost cause. There was nothing he could do. But he used her luck to instead benefit Rou.

  "I used Celia's luck… for you, and then… forgot to remove her title. No, no, I couldn't remove her title, because she was subject to Borgain's soul contract. We couldn't interfere. So her title, the whole time… was trying to rebalance things with the borrowed luck?"

  Horror set in with Creation. It wasn't a coincidence at all. It was the [One-time Luck] perk he had given Rou and how it was used.

  Rou and Celia stared at him in sallow disgust, and all of the high-dimensional beings realized the truth, as did the extra-dimensional observer.

  "So now you know, Creation. You got your answer, you bastard. After all those poor, innocent souls you destroyed, the worlds you destroyed, the lives, the memories, the hopes you destroyed, torturing even Rou here… it was all for nothing." Aether was shaking with rage. Unadulterated rage. "But, we have agreed. Your time is over."

  Creation looked up at her confused. "You cannot hurt me if you tried, what are you–"

  "You're right, we could not. Together, we're still not strong enough. But that's only because we all agreed to never take in more energy."

  "You… wouldn't!" Before Creation could respond further, Aether cracked the high-dimensional barrier that separated them from the cosmos, that Creation had pierced going and coming back, absorbing every bit of energy from the barrier itself as the other high-dimensional beings sent her the majority of their reserves as well.

  And in a single motion, she grabbed Creation's mouse body and the elder high-dimensional being let out a confused noise as he felt himself being absorbed.