Chapter 207: Desperation
Evan had several possible answers in mind, but the one he got was the least likely of them all.
It wanted to survive?
That was a normal thing for any living being to want, but he hadn’t expected the Earth’s core, of all things, a vessel of the void, to want something like that, especially knowing it shouldn’t have been possible under the laws of the universe.
And yet, there it was. From what he could see, Bruce was fully intent on making it happen.
That inevitably led him to ask how it planned to do so, and the answer caught him off guard once again.
"The Abyss is a defense mechanism against anomalies. It’s born and it dies for that single purpose. And its current purpose, the reason it was born this time, is exclusively to eliminate me and every trace of mana in this world," it said, something Evan more or less already suspected.
"But you see, to do that, the void never acts directly. Just as I was created to regulate the laws that govern the planet and sustain life, the void also creates a means through which it eliminates things, rather than acting directly itself. So there’s no risk of having to face the laws that govern the universe itself, only the Abyss," Bruce said, which left Evan confused for a moment.
"Isn’t that the same thing? Even a being at the level of divinity like me can’t hope to do much against it. What makes this approach any different from what’s already happening?" Evan asked, the obvious question.
Evan couldn’t help but think about everything he had experienced so far. He had fought creatures of the Abyss, watched them grow stronger overtime, and he himself even reached a level where ordinary beings could no longer pose any threat to him.
None of it had been enough.
The Abyss had continued to attack, again and again, regardless of how much strength he gained. It changed nothing.
He wasn’t fighting the laws of the universe itself, sure, but what difference did that make? The Abyss alone was already more than enough to deal with, something that had been made abundantly clear over the past while.
So what difference did it make whether he fought the abyss or the thing behind it?
’Unless...’ Evan suddenly remembered what Seraphine and the future Bruce had told him, that it was possible to fight the Abyss directly, and he recalled one specific detail.
"The Supreme of the Abyss," Evan murmured, remembering what Bruce had told him in that other dimension.
He’d said the Supreme had been weakened, which was what allowed them to limit the Abyss’s influence over the world and keep it from being destroyed.
Bruce had also told him that the Abyss needed a Supreme in order to function. So if it was now telling him it was possible to fight the Abyss, then it had to be talking about how to face that Supreme.
"Hm? Seems like you know more than I gave you credit for," Bruce said, sounding a little surprised by what Evan had just said.
"But that’s fine, it makes this easier. Yes, I was talking about it specifically. We can’t go directly against the laws of the universe, but we can go against the Abyss itself. It isn’t the void itself, only a means to an end, just like me. And its strength is capped at the rank of Supreme. It’s far easier to face that than the universe itself," Bruce said, confirming what Evan had already suspected.
But one thing hadn’t changed through all of it.
"Even if we eliminate that Supreme and suppress the Abyss, what does that actually change? Wouldn’t you still be an anomaly in the universe? Why wouldn’t it just try to eliminate you again?" Evan asked.
If the Abyss had been created specifically to eliminate it, why couldn’t it simply be created again? What would actually change by killing this one Supreme? Wasn’t there a real chance that something else, maybe even worse than this one, would eventually rise in its place?
Bruce said nothing for a while at Evan’s question, staying silent before finally speaking again.
"I don’t know," it said simply, which left Evan speechless.
"You don’t know? Seriously? You went through this whole explanation about how to fight the Abyss, and you don’t know how to actually fix the real problem?" Evan said, a little frustrated, something he hadn’t felt in quite some time.
"My knowledge of the universe is limited. It revolves around the purpose I was created for. Dealing with the Abyss is the most immediate solution. As for what happens after that, I honestly don’t know. Maybe something even more powerful will be sent against us. Maybe not. The only thing I know is that dealing with the Abyss is the most immediate solution to our current problem. Everything that comes after is something we can only think about once we actually get the chance to, and that chance only comes after we’ve settled things with the Abyss," Bruce said, the certainty in its voice catching even Evan off guard.
It didn’t take him long to understand what was really going on here.
’He is desperate,’ he thought, without saying it out loud.
He realized Bruce was desperate, trying to find a way to survive, and right now, this was the only solution it had managed to come up with.
This was what he was clinging to for the time being.
Evan sighed at the realization.
’Guess it doesn’t matter if you’re human or not. Some things just don’t change,’ he thought.
He’d been in similar situations before, so he understood him, at least a little.
He said nothing, staying suspended there in that position for a while, then opened his eyes, the intensity in them seeming to sharpen slightly, subtle, almost hidden, barely noticeable, but there.
"I might have a proposal, one that could help both of us. Want to hear it?"