"Wait," Luke said while frowning deeply. "I'm confused."
"If these manifestations are all power-hungry enough to start this entire mess," he continued, "then why would they even agree to a system like this?"
A disturbing thought slowly formed in his head.
"Because from the start," Luke said carefully, "the whole point was stealing the power of other manifestations, right?"
Humanity stayed silent.
Luke's expression slowly changed.
"But if the avatar wins…" he continued, "…then technically the avatar becomes the one who gains all that power. Not the manifestation."
The room became quiet for several seconds.
Then Humanity sighed.
"You're exactly right," he admitted.
Luke immediately felt uncomfortable hearing that answer.
"An avatar," Humanity explained calmly, "is ultimately nothing more than a vessel created to gather power for its manifestation."
Luke's eyes narrowed sharply.
"And once the competition ends," Humanity continued, "the winning manifestation absorbs the avatar together with all the accumulated authority and power they obtained."
Luke instantly stood up from the bed.
That reaction happened purely on instinct.
Because if Humanity was saying this so casually—
Then that meant Humanity planned the same thing eventually.
Humanity noticed the look on Luke's face immediately and sighed again.
"Wow," he said dryly. "Your complete lack of trust actually hurts a little after everything I've done for you."
Luke stared at him like he had completely lost his mind.
"Forgive me," Luke replied flatly, "for not immediately trusting the guy who just explained that I'm basically future cosmic food."
Humanity rubbed his forehead tiredly.
"When you phrase it like that, it sounds much worse."
"It already sounds horrifying," Luke shot back immediately.
"You dragged me out of my normal life, threw me into a multiversal death game, and now you're telling me the reward for winning is getting eaten by your own manifestation? Which is you?"
"You're still missing part of the story," Humanity replied calmly.
Luke crossed his arms while staring at him cautiously.
"Not every manifestation joined because they were obsessed with power," Humanity continued. "A lot of them agreed because the alternative was worse. If manifestations started directly fighting each other, entire sections of the omniverse would collapse."
He leaned back slightly before continuing.
"So the Avatar System became a compromise. A controlled conflict with rules instead of unrestricted cosmic war."
Luke still looked unconvinced.
"But the important part," Humanity said, "is that the competition technically only ends when every participating manifestation loses its avatar except one."
Luke frowned slightly.
"Okay… and?"
Humanity smiled faintly.
"Some manifestations never selected avatars."
The room became quiet.
"They kept delaying the process," Humanity explained. "Some claimed they hadn't found suitable candidates yet."
Luke slowly realized the problem.
"And because there was never any rule forcing them to choose within a deadline…"
"The competition kept extending," Humanity finished. "Again and again."
Luke rubbed his forehead slowly.
"You're telling me this entire cosmic tournament got trapped by a loophole?"
"Pretty much."
Humanity shrugged casually.
"No one bothered fixing it because the loophole benefited everyone who feared a final winner appearing."
Luke looked at him again.
"How long has this been going on?"
Humanity answered immediately.
"One billion years."
Luke froze for a second.
"…A billion?"
Humanity nodded.
"And during that entire period, Destruction kept exploiting the system."
Luke already understood where this was going.
"Every time one of his avatars defeated another avatar," Humanity explained, "Destruction absorbed portions of the defeated manifestation's authority afterward."
"And once an avatar outlived their usefulness," Humanity added calmly, "Destruction devoured them too."
Luke slowly exhaled.
"So that bastard kept growing stronger for a billion years."
"Exactly," Humanity replied. "That's why the others feared him so much."
He leaned back slightly before continuing.
"And with you, he made a dumb that sealed his fate"
Luke frowned.
"Destruction stopped thinking rationally after you defeated his avatar," Humanity explained. "You irritated him enough that he became obsessed with eliminating you personally."
Humanity shook his head slightly.
"He thought that after accumulating authority for over a billion years, nothing could threaten him anymore."
Then he laughed softly.
"But Tier-0 Judgment doesn't care how much power you stored. The moment the conditions activated, all that accumulated authority stopped mattering."
Luke remembered the spear piercing straight through the manifestation.
Even now the thought felt insane.
"So…" Luke said carefully, "you're seriously not planning to eat me afterward?"
Humanity looked genuinely offended.
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"I'm the manifestation of humanity," he continued. "That includes human emotions too."
Then a grin appeared on his face.
"And honestly? Watching your life has been entertaining."
Luke stared at him flatly.
"…Entertaining."
"Come on," Humanity replied casually. "You think I wouldn't get attached after following your entire journey?"
He pointed toward Luke.
"You're basically my favorite protagonist at this point."
Luke blinked slowly.
"What."
Humanity shrugged.
"I'm literally the collective manifestation of humanity. Do you know how many stories, games, novels, comics, movies, and fictional worlds humans created across the omniverse?"
Luke suddenly had a horrible realization.
"…You watched my life like fiction."
"Pretty much."
Humanity smiled shamelessly.
"So yeah, instead of thinking of me as some cosmic horror, think of me more like a fellow fan following the main character."
Luke stared at him for several seconds in complete silence.
Then he let out a long sigh while rubbing his forehead.
"This is somehow the dumbest thing you've said so far."
"Thanks."
"And you seriously aren't going to consume me?"
"Nope."
Luke relaxed slightly after hearing that.
Then Humanity suddenly reached beside him and pulled out a thick book from nowhere.
"By the way," he said casually while handing it over, "could you sign this for me?"
Luke looked down at the cover.
The Adventures of Luke
On the front was an illustrated image of him standing dramatically while Selene, Wanda, Natasha, Jill, Esdeath, Jean, and the others appeared behind him like some ridiculous promotional poster.
Luke slowly looked back up at Humanity.
"…You really turned my life into a novel?"
*****
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