Ch 73 – Different Choices, Different Stories
Currently, within a green forest of trees, a group of six could be seen standing over a gruesome field of blood with trembling bodies.
And their appearance was indeed a big surprise, for Leo, Alex, Chloe, Christine, and Eileen, the five-member group that is a part of the Multiversal God Space, could be seen accompanying a certain young boy with neck long black hair, black eyes, pale white skin and wearing the Konoha ninja outfit.
"Whew! I almost lost my staff back there," Eileen, the blue-haired mage said wearing her mage clothes from before while a wooden staff floats beside her.
"Huff, that Naruto kid was so fucking strong, even my full-powered smash couldn't kill him in one hit. Tsk, it seems like the side objective of becoming a ten-tailed Jinchuriki is impossible now considering we killed the Kyuubi," Leo mutters, his appearance remaining the same but much bigger and muscular, even resembling All Might in a lot of ways.
"Sigh, do we really have to kill them?" Christine muttered, glancing at the pool of blood around them with dispirited eyes.
"It's literally the task given to us, Christine," Chloe said, her body dripped in blood while a pair of red gauntlets covers her two arms.
"Hey now, we don't need to be so mean Chloe. But she's right, Christine. We're part of the Multiversal God Space for more than a year already, we should be accustomed to killing people, even if it means they are children. And you know, the general "adult" of this world and that village is pretty young so no need to be so guilty," Alex said, the suit covering his body dematerializing into motes of light that got reabsorbed back into his body.
"What about you, kiddo? You lost both of your arms back there doing a stupid kamikaze move," Alex said, their gaze turning towards the black-haired kid whose two arms were gone, but his gaze remained calm.
"I'm fine, besides, I can just heal them with a pop," the kid said, and as everyone magically watches his body return to peak condition within a split second, the majority of them clicked their tongue in envy.
"Sigh, what even is that power of yours? Nobody in Sector 3798 or any other Sector has that broken ability, is it even an ability?" Chloe groaned, walking up to the boy who grabbed her back and her body returned to peak condition, even the blood covering her body was now gone.
"Wait… Zen, can you rewind time with your Save and Load?" Alex said, his body flickering behind the boy now known as Zen and hanging his arms over Zen's shoulder.
"I don't know, I only had this power since joining the Multiversal God Space, and this is my first world. So I don't have that much experience with it-" As he was talking, Zen accidentally tripped on a blood-ridden pebble below him and slipped to the side at a rapid pace.
(BRRTTTTTT!)
But out of nowhere, something unexpected occurred.
Six pillars of white light suddenly appeared in Zen's vision, covering his five teammates and the place he was previously standing, just barely dodging the pillar of white light by a few centimeters.
'W-what?' Zen thought, his body tumbling forwards and he instinctually rolled forwards to make distance between him and the pillar of light that was supposed to cover him.
"How… curious." A voice suddenly appeared from nowhere behind Zen which made him look in that direction to see a sight that made his heart skip a beat.
A fairy of divine beauty appeared, their eyes scarlet like blood, their hair long and flowing that reaches below his waist, having pale white skin similar to porcelain, wearing a pure white robe that made contact with the bloody puddle below them.
"Who… are you?" Zen asked, his body suddenly electrified by the beauty and paralyzed from sheer shock and chaotic emotions that welled up within him.
"You can say that I am your… Older brother, in a sense," the fairy said, waving their right arm in an arc as a strange, colorless field surrounds the whole area around them while the five other members of his team suddenly disappear in an explosion of white light.
"What did you do to them!" Zen said, regaining his clarity and hastily jumping back, crouching down and his hands were near each other to weave through hand seals if necessary.
"I just sent them back to Sector 3798, you don't need to worry about their safety," the fairy said, their eyes flashing a scarlet red light as Zen suddenly felt his control over his body slipping away at a rapid pace.
'LOAD!' Zen shouts in his mind but mysteriously, it didn't seem to work as he watches his body float towards the fairy.
"That won't work, Zen. Any of your tricks won't work with certainty, because I decided so. Within my domain, I am the God," the fairy said, Zen's body stopping right in front of the fairy on his two feet.
"What do you want from me?" Zen said, his voice flowing smoothly, surprising him as he expected it to be restricted.
"I just want something that was originally mine," the fairy said, walking forwards and putting his arm on Zen's chest.
"What do you mean? I never stole my whole life," Zen said with gritted teeth.
"Oh, you didn't intentionally steal it, Zen. It's just that you have something that could potentially threaten my very existence, and you know it quite clearly, it is something that has allowed you to reach this level quite easily," the fairy said, a feeling then suddenly explodes from something deep within him that caused his eyes to widen in fear.
"Save and Load?!" Zen shouted, shocked and unable to believe the sudden news.
"You guessed right. Oh, it's indeed a bit sad that your fate has led to this just because you accidentally have my life threatened, but alas, that is life," Braun said, his fingers fluttering in the air and Zen felt something being ripped out of his soul.
"AAHHH!" Zen screams in pain, the pain erupting from his very soul made him almost want to just die there and then.
"Shush, shush, I'm going to give you a painless death," Braun said, a rainbow of light covered Zen's body and his screams disappeared.
"You know, Zen. Being a cheater truly is miraculous. One would be a singularity, be resistant to most forms of mind alterations, have absurd luck, forced to face circumstances for the cheater's growth and an assortment of other properties," Braun said, his body walking around Zen's body and listing out his observations throughout the past thousand years.
"And to think cheats have a sense of sentience. Willingly manipulating the reality around them to help their owners, how mysterious indeed. My cheat originally left me when it was on the brink of destruction, but still stayed loyal till the end and help me gain a new, more powerful cheat. But to think it would have left a mark on my soul, intertwining my existence with the cheat like a defect," Braun said, his body behind Zen's body and taking him into a hug, but in actuality, he was hugging the cheat that resides within Zen's body.
"With the fate-defying luck given by your cheat, I wouldn't have noticed your existence in the first place. But now, you are tormented to this fate without your consent," Braun said, closing his eyes and looking at the ball of golden light residing within Zen's body and pulsating in a rhythmic pattern like it was calling out to him.
As Braun plunges his hand through Zen's chest, he felt his right arm making contact with the golden ball of light and plucking it out without a second thought and watches Zen's body disintegrate into countless motes of light and his very existence throughout the multiverse now erase, for being a singularity has instead become a curse for Zen.
"So… you're Save and Load?" Braun said, his eyes cold and apathetic. In response, the ball of light fluctuated rapidly, it was as if it was joyful that it returned to its original owner.
"Was I even your first owner? Have you been moving between countless hosts for your personal growth? Hmm, how strange indeed," Braun said, his body flickering away as he appeared right inside a white void room that seems endless.
Appearing within the white void room, he plunges his left arm towards his chest and rips out the larger golden ball within his chest, the originally white room now illuminated by golden light.
A sense of wanting to return with the two cheats seemingly burned within his very origin, like he was addicted to being with the two and not letting them go, like the two were his own heart or his oxygen.
"Both Save and Load, was it a coincidence? Something like bloodline but for cheats? So many speculations, so many theories, so many hypotheses. But I can't extract any info from you two, my current knowledge is lacking, and there's no need for extracting from you two when I have an infinite multiverse for me to grab from," Braun said, the reality around him seemingly breaking from the raw power those two spheres hold.
To make a being hold infinite potential, have absurd luck, wield reality-warping abilities, transform infinity into a singularity, so many god-like feats condense into an orb of golden light.
One can only wonder if the creator or the source of these cheats is an omnipotent God, the creator of the entire infinite multiverse itself, or was the creator just another big fish in this infinite sea.
'From the very start, I could have only reached this level of strength due to having the Save and Load to save me from the very start, but was that really real?' Braun thought, his gaze wavering while reality around him continues to break, the two orbs of golden light pleading for him to let them back inside his body.
'If I didn't become a cheater, I could have probably reached this level of power in an abysmal percentage, but with infinity, as long as it's not zero, it would become a certainty.' Brun thought, his eyes flickering with golden light.
'But can I say that for certainty? No. The multiverse is vast and wide, there's a whole ocean of knowledge I still don't know and understand. That now only leaves me two choices to pick from, deciding the rest of my fate in this infinite multiverse.' Braun thought, the two orbs being grabbed by both arms.
'To keep, or to destroy.' Braun thought, his eyes looking at the two, trying to analyze their secrets but to no avail.
As if time went to a standstill, Braun and the two golden orbs look at each other. Braun looks at them with apathetic eyes while the two orbs fluctuated in luminosity, from brighter to darker.
But as time continued on, the reality around them continues to warp and fractured helplessly, the infinite power the trio held made everything chaotic.
"Destroy," Braun finally decided as the two golden spheres erupt into golden light, his two arms bashing the two spheres against one another at faster than light speeds that made more fissures in reality to appear.
As the two orbs of golden light desperately tried to resist destruction, their lights went to fluctuate wildly, like a wild beast's last attempt at survival.
And as if the reality around them reached a breaking point, everything seemingly shattered into two as Braun looks at the two orbs of golden light shatter into motes of light with cold, apathetic eyes, not even a hint of emotion played in his mind.
"Only a fool would rely on an external power."
But, unexpectedly, something beyond Braun's understanding and expectation could have happened.
As if reality has warped to another scene, Braun looks at the two orbs fused into a singular sphere of golden light that shone brighter than before, a small grin appearing on his face.
"Only a fool wouldn't rely on an external power, besides, this power is already mine!"
As if reality has shattered into two, two scenes played side to side.
On the left, Braun stood alone in the white void with shattered golden lights swirling around him. On the right stood Braun holding a golden sphere glowing with a brilliant golden light.
Two distinct scenes made from opposite choices, the concept of singularity seemingly broken at the final moment, but mysteriously, no more realities appeared except for the two.
"But in the end, no choices are right or wrong, for everything is equal, whether it be life or death, a mortal or a god, or heaven and earth. For in the infinite multiverse, only strength is what defines one's own fate. If I had chosen a different choice, it doesn't change the end result for my grand ambition, for a cheat is just another means to an end."
As the two's voices resonated, their eyes gained a sense of enlightenment, as if they have learned a profound secret upon this turning point in the two's lives.
"It's finally time," both Braun said, their eyes closing shut as the start of a multiversal difference shall now begin from an unexpected twist.
"Hello there, Rick Sanchez," the Braun who destroyed his cheat said, for our story shall now begin on a new path, following the journey of Freidrich Braun, the being who has defied the concept of singularity, following two different paths that leads to two different journeys that will put the entire multiverse in a chaotic storm. And for the rest of this grand story, we shall follow the journey of the Freidrich Braun who has destroyed their cheat.
Will the two Freidrich Braun meet one another in the future? Shall the two team up or will become arch enemies? Buckle up, for two sociopathic beings have entered the grand fray of the infinite multiverse! Both beings willing to use any means necessary to reach the peak of the entire infinite realities that the two reside in.
AN: This is 2363 words, you're welcome.
Yeah, I could technically write a new novel called Grand Cheater and start from here, but eh, one of them is definitely going to dissappear later so it's pretty counterproductive, and it's definitely not what you think it is. And next volume is going to be closely intertwined with "Cheats" and is an interlude to the greater plot.
Though maybe I'll just do it later if I want to, the story of Freidrich Braun the grand cheater.
(June 29, 2022 – 217th day of writing)