The entire scenery around Xavier changed. What replaced the house was pure and absolute darkness. He was not on his mother's lap anymore. He found himself standing in the darkness. He got his original body back, but could not even confirm it with his eyes.
"Tsk. Tsk. You are as boring as ever." A voice that seemed to be a culmination of a hundred echoes whispered. It was both ghastly and soothing, bewitching and detestable; it sounded like the devil's whisper, and yet- an angel's decree. Nevertheless, the voice was clear.
Xavier didn't bother to use his powers to look for who was speaking. It would be futile anyway. He had already tried once- a century ago.
"You ended the show very early," the voice continued, "there were three wars left, including your first ever battle. Not to mention, your friends' deaths. And since the last time we met a century ago, the list of your dead friends only got longer. Who knew that immortality- something desired by all- would only bring more pain?"
Xavier stood still, only hearing what the voice had to say.
"I am confused," the voice took a puzzled tone, "should I call you capable for breaking the illusion, or a coward for running away from your memories?"
Xavier finally opened his mouth. "At least I have memories of my own."
Silence ensued.
A whole minute later, the voice sounded again. "Still as sharp as ever I see. Nevertheless, you passed the test. But you will have to wait before you get the item. After all, you are not the only one taking the tests this time around."
Xavier raised a brow. "Who is it? How are they faring?"
The voice giggled. "All I can say is that she is not as boring as you."
******
Evening. The Sun was diving into the Eastern horizon, filling the world with orange light. The light seeped through the windows and fell on Eulene's hut. The light entered through its only door.
Inside, Eulene sat opposite her aunt- her eyes bloodshot. Visible steam almost erupted from her head.
She had been inside the damned series of illusion for days. She relived through the darkest and saddest periods of her life. Her Dao heart was as strong as a diamond, if not stronger. She took the illusion as challenge and breezed through all of her previous tests.
Her first kill, her first battle, first massacre, the times she lost her comrades, the times she was shunned by her own people, the loneliness she had to go through for being unparalleled, losing her home and washing ashore on a foreign world- everything- she relived every single moments without breaking a sweat.
But at the final moment, she kicked an unassailable wall. A heart demon birthed in her. A crack appeared in her Dao heart.
Aunt Maisel had a stern look on her face. She was fiddling with a ruler in her hand. "It has been so long. You still can't think of an answer?"
Eulene bit her lips. She forced all of her Qi into her brain, trying to come up with an answer, but it was beyond her capabilities.
"I will ask the question once again," Aunt Maisel said, "What is the minimum force you apply on an object of mass one kg to send it outside the gravitational influence of a perfect sphere of mass 1 million kg and radius 5000 kilometres provided you are standing on the surface?"
Fuck! Eulene cursed in her mind. Why did it have to be physics of all things? She could not hate anything in this world more than this cursed subject.
Why was physics even a subject of learning? What's the use? Who cared if water was formed from particle 1s and 8s? Just drink it! Who cared if fires separated particles through heat? Just know that it burns for fuck's sake! Just jump into it and die! And gravity? It's the most absurd of all. Isn't it common sense an apple will fall down instead of going up? Why the fuck is it even a thing?!
Couldn't she just come up with something like 'you will go forward if you walk forward' and obvious conditions like 'the floor must not be wet and you must not be trying to walk up a fucking wall' and call herself a physicist? The holy founder of walkity?
And what angered her the most was that this scene was not even a part of her memories. If anything, this was a nightmare she once faced after reading that godforsaken physics book. Was the motherfucking yin spirit playing a prank on her?
After dawdling for another few minutes, she sighed in defeat. "I don't know the answer."
A disappointed look appeared on the matron's face. But before Eulene could apologise, darkness replaced everything.
"You were a lot more fun than I previously thought." An eerie feminine voice whispered in her ears. It had a satisfied tone. "You exceeded my expectations."
Eulene's eyes became bloodshot again, her mind fuming with rage.
"Anyways, you passed the test. That last round was a… bonus."
"You!" Eulene could not take it anymore and punched the darkness with full force, but nothing happened.
"Bring forth your hand. Take the reward."
Eulene's wrath disappeared without a trace. A smile appeared on her face as she put forth her arm. A cold crystal touched her palm, along with… something warm?
******
The darkness disappeared, so did the gigantic black sphere from the face of the world. Both Xavier and Eulene found themselves in the 50 meters wide hollow at the centre of the large crater, holding each other's hand, as if they were shaking them. The yin crystal which was at the centre sucked everything like a vacuum, gluing their hands together. The smiles on their faces disappeared.
Both of them gave each other a terrible foreboding, as if they were the worst of nemesis. Both of them were confident in themselves, at their mights; but the presence of the other threatened their sovereignty.
This world- it was not big enough for the both of them.
The two detached their hands and flashed away to opposing edges of the crater, creating a distance of 150 meters between.
The black crystal fell to the ground, ignored. To them, it was now the least of their concerns.
A strong wind blew the hat near the centre to Xavier. He caught it and donned it on.
The greenish ring on Eulene's finger glinted. A silver dress, patterned with phoenix and flowers and made of silk, instantly replaced her cotton clothes. Moonlight shone glamorously on the fluttering outfit, adding to her already otherworldly charms.
If she fought with her previous dress, she would be naked in seconds.
The spatial ring gleamed again. A beautiful sword appeared out of nowhere in her hold. It was straight and thin- so thin that one could see through it. But it was as solid as a diamond.
Nevertheless, it was not sharper than her eyes, whose gaze pierced through space and struck his silver ones.
But Xavier remained nonchalant, his stare fighting back equally.
The space between them seemed to condense, adjusting to withstand their glares.
Ding!
Both of them disappeared from their spots.