Philip abruptly opened his eyes and his eyebrows struck downwards. He was incredibly confused and anger was trying to break free from his chest. His limbs became cold and his face became pale. The hair on his skin stood up straight and goosebumps crawled around his body
"Resurrection?"
Philip asked with a slight tremble in his voice
「 Yes, you have already died three times 」
"Three--"
Philip widened his eyes in utter shock. His lips quivered and his mind started to get clouded
"How did I die?"
Philip asked in a grave tone
「 The other two was when your heart was destroyed and when True Omega stabbed you on your chest with her unknown sword 」
"What's the other one?"
「 Your first death... The moment you learned the truth behind the reality, the peak of your suffering and depression, and the moment you lost it in despair... You died from your mind and body being unable to handle everything at once 」
"..."
「 Your last moment was you trying to use Fate Control when it never worked previously. The reason you obtained Fate Control and Future Vision is because you sacrificed your very own life and the memory of you making the sacrifice. The Fate Control accepted your sacrifice and took your life away, including your memory of that time 」
"If that's the case... Why am I still here and alive? My life should've been forfeit? It was a contradicting sacrifice considering I'm still here?"
Philip spoke and asked in a passively aggressive manner. He's trying so hard to control his emotions and focus everything on keeping calm
「 There are two reasons to that... First is because fate deemed your death unnecessary. Not to mention, death doesn't even find you! No matter how you seek death, it didn't come for you. With this, fate took your life, but didn't at the same time. Thus, you instantly resurrected the moment you died since it's your first death 」
"Huh?! I don't understand... Why am I still here?"
「 That's where the second part comes in... Fate did take your life, but you resurrected... At that point, you already have finished the cycle of the universe. You did not die and magically revived on the spot 」
"Cycle? What do you mean? Doesn't resurrection work that way?!"
「 No... The moment you died, the universe carried on without you until its inevitable destruction. After the cycle restarted and went through another development in the early stage with the Big Bang, everything was the same until your death. But that moment, you didn't die 」
"Huuuuuhhh??? So, you're saying... When I die, the universe resets entirely until the moment I died but I didn't really die?"
「 Exactly... 」
"..."
Philip was silent
"Why??"
Philip genuinely asked Emily
「 I cannot tell you the answer to that 」
"Hnngg!!!"
*Inhale*
*Exhale*
Philip took a deep breath to contain his anger
'It's not Emily's fault... She's only following the system's protocol...'
Philip furrowed his eyebrows and he became lost. He seemed to be having an existential crisis because he never felt like this way before. He can't be angry nor he can be happy. He's thinking of staying in this black world for a long, long, long time
「 No need to mull over it... Right? 」
"If I can't die at all... What's my purpose in this universe?! I only seek death... The universe is fine without me, right?"
「 That's where you're wrong... 」
"!!!"
「 After your death, the universe enters its destruction sequence... The first stages of the fusion of Big Crunch and Big Rip, the Collapsing Shatter. It didn't take billions or millions of years for the universe to end... 」
"How much did it take?"
「 It took just a few years. It took 15 years on your first death, six years on your second death, another six years on your third death 」
"Then that means..."
「 Yes, everyone you knew and love, suffered from destruction. They couldn't do anything, the gods, higher beings, Ysabelle, Yuze, Lyre, Justine, Tenshi... Everyone. They first suffered being expanded and breaking all their atoms and soul apart and then collapsing into one singularity 」
"..."
That hit a soft spot on Philip. He is thinking that this is his fault. He is selfish of wanting to die so his suffering would end, but it turns out, it also hurt everyone he knew and love, all the good people, and the innocent people
He was torn. He didn't know what to do anymore. He wanted to die, but apparently he can't die and if he died, everyone will suffer, which he didn't want to happen
'Is the only way is me living forever?!'
He couldn't even be mad anymore and he instantly became exhausted and lazy. His spirit went down and his willpower dwindled
"Does this mean I'm immortal?"
「 Not necessarily, you can still die, be erased, deleted, and destroyed by a higher power, further than you can imagine 」
"I see..."
Philip spoke in a sorrowful and melancholic manner
「 What are you thinking right now? 」
"..."
「 Talk to me, I will listen 」
"Then... Can I stay here in this black world?"
「 Are you sure about that? Do you want that? 」
"Perhaps... But how long have I been here anyway?"
「 Approximately 32x10⁶⁸⁸⁵ years... That's a lot 」
"Huh?"
Philip's mind started to become static and hazy
"How's that possible?"
「 You already know the answer to that... In this world, nothing exists, not even time, space, light, energy, atoms, waves, not even the concept of nothingness and nothingness itself. You and I are the only ones who are existing here. The blackness that you see also doesn't exist, your brain only conceives nothing and makes it black in your image. Also, your age wasn't affected and you're still 25 」
"Damn... So the system really did that much damage to the World of Imagination, huh? How do I get out of here?"
「 Uh, no, the system did not damage it. Also, do you want to leave here fast? 」
"Why? I want to see what happened outside... All of the people I know has already perished, didn't they? Maybe except for the gods... But I doubt it since they can die from a higher force or power"
「 Well, besides that... Since I have revealed that you have the Resurrection ability, the Pureblood has recognized three of your lifetimes, meaning, you get three abilities including the Blood Flame. Do you want to know what you got? 」
"Sure... Doesn't matter now anyway..."
「 Of course it does! 」
"Really? How come?"
Philip had a sliver of hope from Emily's words
「 Ever heard of the Parabolic Time Chamber of that one anime in your memories? 」
"Yes? Wait...!"
Philip then realized immediately
「 Exactly! The "time" you've spent into this world is more than the real world. So, in other words, the time you've spent here was barely even a minute in the real world! 」
"..."
His hope was uplifted and a small smile broke on his face. Extreme relief was felt and he became slightly lighter
"Wait a minute... You're telling me I could've trained my body in this world rather than just idling around?!"
「 Yup! You can't get exhausted, die, hungry, thirsty, sleepy, and drowsy here anyways 」
"What?! Uuuggghhh!"
「 No worries... Just by idling here for that long, you have unlocked a secret special condition! 」
"Really? Tell me!"
「 Slow down Philip, we'll talk about the Pureblood abilities first! 」
"Okay... What're the Pureblood abilities?"
「 The 102nd Pureblood ability was derived from your first lifetime... The [Bloodlife Will Perish Under The Absence of Willpower] ability. The 103rd Pureblood ability was derived from your second lifetime... The [Destruction of Heart Shall Shatter All Connections] ability... And the 101st Pureblood ability, which is Blood Flame, was derived on your third lifetime. Therefore, this is your fourth lifetime after True Omega killed you 」
"Yes..."
「 The 102nd ability allows you to instantly kill a being, entity, or existence once any of their wills are absent. You also have the ability to capture their souls and feed it to the Soulblood. The 103rd ability allows you to release massive destructive force when you destroy any kinds of hearts in a being, entity, or existence, as long as they have a heart. In doing so, you will also cause massive damage to anyone or anything that is connected to that being's destroyed heart 」
"Those are... Some scary abilities, huh?"
「 It is... It is derived on how you died anyway 」
"Yeah..."
「 Are you ready for that secret special condition requirement unlock? 」
"Yes!"
「 Well... By idling in this world of absolute nothingness, you have unlocked some kind of movement and a form 」
"What is it?"
「 Under the [Void of Perfection Series], you have obtained the Null of Magnificence, and under the [Body of Godliness Series], you have obtained the Form of Godliness 」
"What are those?!"
Philip asked in genuine curiosity because those names sounded grand that even himself wouldn't be able to think of that
'Also, based on those names... They are concepts that can't be possessed by any other being, unless they are gods or higher beings'
「 This movement and form are not exclusive to gods or any higher beings above them. These concepts choose where they would crystallize and manifest on a being, and it turns out you were the chosen one! 」
"Huh?! Why though? And where did this originate if it's not exclusive to the gods and above them?"
「 That, I cannot answer and you have to discover or figure it out yourself 」
"Then, you know where it came from?"
「 Perhaps... I have the entire knowledge of the system on me 」
"Fine! What does these do?"
「 The [Null of Magnificence] is a state of movement wherein you can move your body in a way that there will be no movements wasted. In other words, moving your body in a certain way doesn't expend too much energy or strain your muscles and bones no matter how absurd the movement is 」
"Is this some sort of an instant instinct where you can react quickly?"
「 It could be, but this series of movement only allows you to move your body in impossible angles and rotations. This also seemed beneficial and fitting to that one ability you have 」
"..."
Philip took a pause and thought about, until he realized
"True Recoiless Technique!"
「 Yes! Well, since you already have mastered that technique where you don't waste any movements and focusing the energy transfer on contact without recoiling away, the Null of Magnificence might make that technique even more powerful 」
"Since the Null of Magnificence doesn't use too much energy and strain on your body... Using True Recoiless Technique with Null of Magnificence would cause so much destruction!"
Philip's eyes went wide and light began to come back in his pupils. Passion for discoveries slowly grew back on him
「 Correct. Because True Recoiless Technique uses a condensed amount of energy to transfer into another object without recoil and cause a contained massive damage, Null of Magnificence removes that condition of energy transfer since your body is not using any energy to move 」
"Then that means--"
「 It means that upon impact of the use of True Recoiless Technique and Null of Magnificence, energy itself breaks and the recoil explodes upon impact. Not only will it generate a near-nuclear explosion and severely warp space, it can tear space itself or affect and bring damage to the past and the future 」
"Then, there is only one way that I can use this..."
「 What is it? 」
"I need to avoid using both at once, unless I need to do so"
「 That's fair enough 」
"What is Form of Godliness?"
「 As the name implies, it allows you to be in a form where you can perfectly display your form 」
"Uhm..."
「 It doesn't sound as good as Body of Godliness where you can perfectly control your body, but... This is also important in terms of techniques and arts 」
"Oh yeah! There thousands of forms and stances out there and if I can perfectly display the forms, then I can perfectly perform the technique"
「 Exactly! Since True Recoiless Technique is a technique without proper form, you can find its perfect form and perform the actual True Recoiless Technique and level it up even further 」
"The Truer Recoiless Technique!"
「 Oookay, that's a little too much... That doesn't make any sense 」
"Truest? Naaah, that's stupid... Is there anymore condition requirement unlocks?"
「 Yes... Regarding your status as the new God of Darkness and the Divine Soul living inside your body... 」