After that, the spear disappeared.
The massive crimson manifestation vanished alongside it, erased completely along with the collapsing destruction energy surrounding the dimensions.
Then the remaining manifestations also began fading away one after another.
Peace disappeared first.
Then Creation.
Then Domination and the others followed, their enormous cosmic forms dissolving back into distant layers of existence.
Only one remained.
The blue manifestation.
Luke stared at it silently.
Now that everything had calmed down, he finally recognized the voice properly.
He had heard it before.
Back when Corruption nearly killed him.
That same calm voice had pulled him out at the last moment.
And there was something else he suddenly realized.
If this guy was humanity itself, then that meant this bastard was probably responsible for everything that had happened to him.
"So," the blue manifestation said calmly while looking at Luke, "I suppose it's finally time we talk."
Before Luke could reply, the surrounding dimensions distorted.
Then both of them disappeared.
A second later Luke found himself standing inside a room.
A normal room.
Movie posters covered the walls while a gaming setup sat in the corner beside scattered cables and empty snack packets. The familiar desk, shelves, and worn chair immediately made Luke freeze slightly.
Because he recognized this place instantly.
His room.
The room from Earth.
The room he had not seen since his entire life got turned upside down.
"What?" Luke muttered quietly while looking around in disbelief.
"What, surprised to see your own room again?" a voice asked from behind him.
Luke turned immediately.
A middle-aged man stood there calmly, hands in his pockets while looking at him with an almost awkward smile.
He looked completely ordinary.
Which somehow made him feel even stranger after everything Luke had seen today.
Luke stared at him for several seconds.
"I guess you're the one who turned my life into this mess," Luke said.
The man nodded without denying it.
"Yeah," he admitted calmly. "I'm the one who did it."
Luke immediately raised his right hand the moment he heard that.
For half a second he genuinely wanted to punch this bastard in the face.
Humanity noticed it immediately and sighed.
"Well," he said calmly, "I kind of expected that reaction. I did turn your life into a walking disaster."
Then he casually sat down on the bed and motioned for Luke to sit beside him.
After several seconds of hesitation, Luke sat down while keeping his eyes fixed on him cautiously.
Humanity leaned back slightly before speaking again.
"I'm Humanity," he said. "And the reason I changed your life starts a very long time ago."
Luke stayed silent.
At this point he genuinely wanted answers more than anything else.
Humanity continued.
"The omniverse is endless," he explained calmly. "An ever-expanding structure made from countless universes, dimensions, timelines, and realities."
"And naturally," he continued, "when enough universes share the same concepts repeatedly, those concepts eventually develop collective existence."
Luke frowned slightly.
"You mean manifestations."
"Exactly."
Humanity nodded.
"Manifestations are beings born from the collective authority of concepts spread across the omniverse itself. Destruction exists because destruction exists everywhere. Creation exists because creation exists everywhere."
He pointed upward slightly while explaining.
"You can think of manifestations as the living embodiment of universal laws and ideas. And because they represent concepts spread across endless realities…" Humanity paused briefly. "They are among the most powerful entities in existence."
Luke immediately remembered the crimson monster from earlier.
"Take Destruction for example," Humanity continued. "It embodies every destructive force across the omniverse collectively. Wars, death, collapse, extinction, entropy—all of it strengthens that manifestation."
Luke slowly nodded.
"So manifestations are basically cosmic representations of concepts."
"More or less."
Humanity's expression became more serious afterward.
"The problem is that manifestations aren't truly human. Most of them don't think emotionally the way mortals do. Their decisions revolve entirely around preserving and expanding their authority."
Luke already had a bad feeling where this was going.
"And eventually," Humanity continued, "some manifestations started becoming afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
"Losing existence."
Luke frowned.
Humanity continued calmly.
"A manifestation only exists while its authority exists. If another manifestation steals or absorbs enough of that authority, the weaker one eventually disappears completely."
That immediately made Luke understand why the others were hostile toward each other.
"So they started fighting."
"Not directly at first," Humanity replied. "Because a full war between manifestations would destroy enormous sections of the omniverse itself."
Luke remembered the pressure from just one manifestation earlier and immediately understood the problem.
A war between all of them would probably erase realities casually.
"So they created the Avatar System," Humanity explained. "Instead of manifestations fighting personally, they choose mortal avatars to represent them."
Luke stared at him.
"…You're telling me this whole thing is basically a cosmic proxy war?"
Humanity actually looked slightly embarrassed.
"When you simplify it that much," he admitted, "yeah, it sounds incredibly stupid."
Luke rubbed his forehead.
"No, seriously. This sounds insane."
"I know," Humanity sighed. "But compared to direct manifestation warfare, this causes significantly less destruction."
Then his expression became colder.
"Unfortunately, some manifestations became obsessed with consuming the authorities of others completely. They wanted absolute dominance."
Luke immediately thought of Destruction.
"So the avatars kill each other," Luke said slowly.
Humanity nodded.
"The moment an avatar dies or loses completely, their manifestation loses claim to the competition and their authority becomes vulnerable."
"And the final winner?"
Humanity looked directly at him.
"The winning manifestation absorbs the remaining authorities," he said calmly. "And the avatar who survives becomes one of the most powerful beings in existence."
*****
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