Gem's Divine Sense spread once again and sent his memories of the past direct into everyone's minds.
Back then, the moment he embraced the Control Orb, several black and white threads emerged, enveloping Soul Gem in a cocoon. Gem's body and the Divine Origin Energy in his Datian were quickly consumed by the orb. As for his soul, it was pulled into the orb, merging with it.
Outside, Tuana's forces tried to attack the Control Orb. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't as if all of Soul Gem's forces had been defeated. To be more specific, the battle hasn't even started yet. Things only changed when Fila stabbed Gem from behind. If you don't take those who were operating the gigantic formation, all the other members with free hands were completely fine.
Naturally, they wouldn't let Tuana and her forces simply attack Soul Gem and do nothing. Not to mention that the formation holding Tuana's forces outside hasn't completely disappeared yet. The only risk was Fila, but how could she attempt to do anything else with so many members of the vruve organization around her? Through Gem's orders, they were able to quickly immobilize the girl.
*Boom, boom, boom...*
Attacks rained on the Space-Time formation while the cocoon pulsed near the Severing Formations Array. No one could tell what was happening. However, Rean and Roan's group were seeing Soul Gem's memories, so they obviously knew what was occurring inside the cocoon.
It turns out that Gem had never told anyone what the Control Orb was. Everyone knew that it was the core of the Severing Formations Array, but Gem had never told anyone where he got it.
The Extinction Sphere was a Universe Destruction Calamity that appeared every time a Universe got way too old. But it wasn't all. Once the Extinction Sphere swallowed everything, it would use the energy to give birth to another Universe anew. Everything would start from zero once again. In other words, it was a renewing process. It was neither good nor evil.
It turns out that everything in the Universe has its opposite. Naturally, the Extinction Sphere was no different. If there was an Extinction Sphere, there had to be something that could counter it. You could also call it the Universe's one contingency plan. It's one chance to avoid destruction. That contingency plan was none other than the Control Orb, and only Soul Gem knew about it.
While receiving Soul Gem's memories, Rean couldn't help but ask. "Wait, then where did the Control Orb come from? Also, how did you know about it?"
Soul Gem smiled, already expecting that question. "That's because the Universe itself told it to me."
"What?!" Everyone in the room was taken aback. "The Universe has sentience?"
"Is that really hard to believe?" Gem answered with another question. "You have seen other things with sentience in the past, like the artifact spirit. They were born from heaven and earth into objects that shouldn't be able to. Naturally, the Universe is capable of the same thing. First of all, the Universe itself is the sole oldest thing in the Universe. After so long, it would be weird if it still hadn't acquired sentience by then."
Gem then winked at everyone. "Of course, only I knew about it. Now, I hope you all won't tell others about it. Most of the time, the Universe's sentience is in deep slumber. You can't blame it for that. After all, it has experienced the passage of time to a ridiculous degree. It has seen the rise and fall of countless powers. Nothing can really raise its interest anymore."
Roan pondered a bit before asking. "The way you say it, it seems like the Universe itself doesn't really care whether it is destroyed or not."
This time, Gem was surprised. "Smart! You were right. The Universe's sentience didn't really care whether it was destroyed or not. It was already in a dull state, seeing everything as nothing more than normal. That included its own calamity. If anything, the Universe welcomed it. Its destruction could be said to be its chance of getting free of the burden of existence."
Gem didn't let Roan ask his next question, as he knew what it would be. "You want to know what the Control Orb is and why the Universe gave it to me, right? After all, if it didn't care about what was happening, there was no need for it to help me top the Extinction Sphere."
Roan and the others nodded.
"To put it simply, the Universe was bored," Soul Gem gave a rather unexpected answer.
"Bo...red?"
Gem smiled. "Don't look at me. I'm not the Universe's conscience. Back then, when we found the Extinction Sphere, my Vruve Organization obviously moved out to try to stop it. In the Universe's eyes, that was a meaningless act. Nothing should be able to stop it other than itself. But in the end, through countless tries and errors, my Vruve Organization was able to create a formation that was capable of stopping the Sphere's expansion."
"The Unvierse's sentience was truly amazed by that... or so it told me. We have accomplished something that he deemed impossible. That's why its interest was picked for the first time in eons. That day, when the formation activated and stopped the Extinction Sphere's expansion, I was pulled into a separate space by the Universe's sentience. Can you imagine just how scared I got? I mean, I already had the highest possible cultivation in our Universe. How could someone be able to take me away without me noticing."
"However, when I felt the power of the presence in front of me, I understood that I was nothing but an ant in its eyes. Divinity Realm? Ha, not worth mentioning at all. I even wondered if the being in front of my eyes was what one would find if they were able to surpass the Divinity Realm. Of course, I discovered that that being was the Universe itself," Gem sighed as his eyes shined with admiration and reminiscence.
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