Ch 74 – The Start of a New Saga

Inside Braun's mental landscape, two beings could be seen standing on top of a cylindrical shaped library that pierces the clouds and stood over the clouds, all around the area around them, contraptions could be seen, technologies that hold god-like power and could alter reality itself on a whim, all lying within Braun's mind as unfinished products that he made as testing dummies.

"Hello there, Rick Sanchez," Braun said, his charisma not even making Rick's eyes budge.

"Hello… Freidrich Braun," Rick said, his white robe fluttering with the wind incessantly as two god-like entities stared at each other in the eye.

"Who would have thought, that you would implant a copy of yourself in your memories, and you also willingly used it on your own precious Morty. How… hypocritical, don't you think," Braun said, the device where he gained Rick's memories and named the Memory Spindle materializing within the grasp of his right hand.

"Just cut to the chase already, I don't want to go to this bullshit arguing back and forth trope in shows kind of crap." Rick rolled his eyes; a white plastic chair materializes below him and he sat on top of it without a care in the world.

"Hmm, as expected for a mad scientist like yourself. Creating the Central Finite Curve, how stunning," Braun said, materializing his own white plastic chair and sitting on top of it with a nonchalant stare.

"So… You want to gain my genius mind, don't you?" Rick said, a gun then appears in his outstretched right arm that resembles a certain portal gun with yellow liquid flowing within it.

"Indeed," Braun said, his arms waving and the portal gun Rick made appeared within his grasp.

"A portal gun that also works within this mental landscape of mine? How intriguing, your genius really knows no bounds, Rick," Braun said, admiring the creation Rick made on the spot, shooting a portal in front of him, he makes an apple appear right in front of him and throws it through the golden portal.

Then as he senses the real world around him, he found a golden portal appears in front of his body standing in the white void and a luscious red apple flies through, landing right in front of the soles of his feet.

"And there's more of that genius in here motherfucker. You know it's futile, my intelligence just far out surpasses yours. For any of your measures, I have a countermeasure. For any of your plans, I already have a plan made to counter them. I outsmarted a motherfucking Artificial Superintelligence multiple times while drunk! Now, what about when I'm a body that has no restrictions due to getting away from my mortal coil!" Rick said, his eyes glaring at Braun as he only chuckles in response.

"But I'm also smart too, Rick. And with both of us being smart, we both know the final end result of this futile argument. I just simply grow faster than you, at an incredibly alarming rate than what you can achieve. I'm already a decent challenge against you without even trying these past thousand years while I went on to try and gain enlightenment. Now, what would you think would happen if I put all of my efforts into trying to develop a genius intellect far higher than yours? I have infinite potential Rick. If we just put two and two together, the answer is already there." Braun shrugs his shoulders, shaking his head as the two knew that Braun was going to win.

"…" Rick stayed silent, unable to come up with a response as he wasn't drunk and had a fully logical mind at the moment.

"Is that a yes? Or are you going to let me take just a single second where I accelerate time by a few trillion so I can speedrun my training arc to gain your intellect, then ultimately destroy you from my mind now that I have no need for you?" Braun said, standing up and walking right in front of Rick who only stared at him with nonchalant eyes.

"Come on, we can join forces," Braun said, stretching an arm out.

"Fuck off, I don't want to hear that villain line from you," Rick said, slapping Braun's arm away and shaking his head.

"But you know it right. You want to experience the greatness the multiverse has to offer. For your whole life stuck inside that Central Finite Curve, you cursed your ability to travel the vast multiverse like it was a curse, a cage. But as you watched my journey unfold this past thousand years, you have come to realize that the multiverse was far from a cage, it was the open sea where you can explore fully," Braun said, his eyes interlocking with Rick as the two converse with one another by only using their eyes.

"You can help me, Rick. If you fuse with me, you'll get the chance to witness the journey of a lifetime. Freidrich Braun and Rick Sanchez turned into one big smoothy of big brains, genius far out surpassing the greatest of gods out there!" Braun said, flaring his arms out while the sun in his mental landscape shone behind him.

"Fuck you," Rick said, standing up and materializing a gun out of nowhere, a simple, normal gun that shoots out metallic bullets using gun powder.

"Fight it is!" Braun said, a pair of crimson gauntlets appearing over his two arms and both went into an intense fight.

Braun turns both of his arms to his back, shooting out powerful explosions and propelling himself forwards at rapid speeds.

In response, Rick calmly swayed his body to the left and shot a rapid onslaught of bullets at Braun who passed by him.

But Braun wasn't slacking off, his body flipped forward and he points his gun vertically towards the ground, shooting himself upwards while Rick made his gun split into two and glowed a chaotic rainbow of lights.

As Braun and Rick continued to fight against one another, their tech became more complex and of higher quality as time went on. From gun gauntlets to neuro-linked chains, then Pattern Cube that brings a multitude of effects depending on what pattern you formed, and even mechas that made the two clash against one another at speeds blindingly fast.

But unfortunately, Braun simply has more combat experience against Rick.

"DIE!" Braun shouts, wielding a metallic black cube in his right arm that elongated into a spiked mace and slammed it to Rick who could only respond with wide eyes, his head splattering like a watermelon being crushed by a hammer.

As he watches Rick's head explode like a watermelon, Braun waves his hand and the spiked mace dematerializes into nothingness.

"So, you want to accept it yet?" Braun said, he then turns his head backward and sees Rick floating behind him, staring at his eyes nonchalantly.

"Sigh," Rick only sighed in response, the whole area around them returns back to normal and the two could be seen standing on top of the fixed library rooftop, the near-endless white plane they stood on shows how vast Rick's knowledge was.

As both looked at each other with blank stares, Braun walks up to Rick and put his right arm on Rick's chest. With a twist, Rick's body then transformed into a white sphere containing his most valuable data.

"Oh Rick, you finally realized the futileness of the situation and decided to join me on my grand adventure. But as you are now, combining your personality with mine is only counterproductive, so we can only change you into your ideal version." Braun waves his arm, changing the white sphere of light into something he could deem ideal so that it would not only allow Braun to become smarter, but also develop in other areas.

As time went on, the drunkard, family-loving, irrational, shallow Rick got modified by Braun to his deepest core, altering him into something akin to Braun but more fearsome with his current intellect.

"That's the most that I can alter you, but my own mind would have a 100% chance to overpower yours if push comes to shove," Braun said, the orb of white light then entered his chest as Braun's mental landscape shattered upon the sudden change.

The memories, the experience, the genius intellect surpassing gods, Rick's and Braun's minds fused into one version, the outcome creating a monster that could only be one of the worst possible creations by the multiverse.

A sociopathic monster coupled with Rick's intelligence, a perfect being who is willing to do anything to reach the peak… has been born.

'So this is what it's like… to be one of the smartest beings alive.' Braun opened his eyes, the white void around him seemingly transforming into raw data like an open book, countless memories played in his mind like a video showing the deepest secrets the multiverse holds.

As Braun took the flood of information in like an endless ocean, he felt his intellect growing at a monstrous rate, but intellect and mind are two different things.

'Even with my current intelligence… I still haven't attained enlightenment.' Braun said, his eyes opening to show a certain radiance with it.

'As the saying goes, not all things would go a person's way. But most things would considering the massive amount of karma I gained by creating a Type 3 Civilization and bringing prosperity to an entire galaxy.' Braun thought, feeling the swirls of karma around him like an endless ocean. Karma was an interesting thing to have for Braun as he would surely do harsh acts in the future and his great karma could counteract the grasps of fate over him for a good while until he finds a way to permanently deal with concepts like karma and luck.

'This should empower my luck enough that I can have a chance at killing a cheater, now that I don't have the opposing luck against cheaters, the majority of them would perhaps slip through my grasp like snakes.' Braun thought, walking forwards towards the open door of his white cube and preparing his final farewell to Zurik, a great pawn that he has developed for one of his countless backup plans.

"Zurik," Braun said, standing in front of Zurik in the void of space.

"My Lord." Zurik kneeled, bowing his head towards Braun.

"You have done well this past thousand years, striving from an underdeveloped world to the emperor of a Type 3 Civilization, are you proud of yourself?" Braun said, waving his index finger up and Zurik stood up without controlling his body.

"Yes, my Lord. I am proud of my achievements and the abilities I have gained," Zurik said, not denying his pride.

"Good, only a man who has pride can grow further, but too much will hurt the holder. Balance is the key to all things within this universe," Braun said, patting Zurik on the shoulder as the two looked at each other in the eyes.

"Are you finally taking your leave, my Lord?" Zurik asked, knowing the answer already deep within his heart.

"You already know the answer, Zurik," Braun said, their bodies suddenly appearing within the Multiversal Void which shocked Zurik, the scene that he saw was far beyond anything he could ever imagine.

"Find me, find me in the vast infinite multiverse to have a chance at meeting me once more. As of now, you're just a useless pawn with zero uses, but I believe in your potential, strive not to just be stronger, but to be one of the strongest within the multiverse. Even if it takes you an eternity, do it, do it using any means necessary," Braun said, the Multiversal Void enchanting Zurik's mind as a new hunger welled up within his very soul, to reach the multiverse.

"For now, I shall say my leave and let you Demilaxians grow without my guidance. But I have my final gift for your empire," Braun said, their bodies reappearing within the void of space as Braun's body erupts into an iridescent explosion of light.

Right around them, tens of thousands of angels appeared within Zurik's view as he felt the gigantic pool of energy stored within their figures of light, seemingly holding enough power that can kill him which shocked him to his core.

"My final blessing is the full control over my angel army. They hold deep secrets within them, study them well and your empire would grow at a rate faster than before," Braun said as Zurik nods his head with a serious gaze.

With that, Zurik watches Braun's body slowly disappear into motes of light and knew that this would be the last time Zurik would see Braun, for a very long time at least if he becomes successful in the future.

But back to Braun, as he felt his consciousness returning back to his real body that resides within the Multiversal Void within his Multiversal Class ship, he thought within his mind of the next steps he could take.

'Enlightenment… That concept is still far away at my current stage, so perhaps magic. Rick did have a prejudice against magic and has little to no understanding of how magic works, such a fickle mindset. While scientists are researchers of the known, magicians are instead the researchers of the unknown… hmm.' As Braun contemplated the passing statement he just uttered within his mind, two words keep replaying in his mind.

'Known, unknown. To know, or to remain ignorant.' Braun thought, his consciousness that was moving at rapid speeds glistening for a slight moment, that was until an unexpected surprise hit Braun's consciousness.

(BANG!)

As Braun suddenly felt his soul crashing against something he couldn't see, the whole area around him suddenly turned into pure darkness while the connection he has with his two bodies, the one which remained in the Multiversal Void and the body he was using mere moments ago and was recently stored within a secret place in the Multiversal Void, was suddenly gone.

A process of pure destruction on his two bodies has suddenly occurred without anything to indicate why, nor how.

'What?!' that was Braun's last thought as he was truly surprised at that last moment, the moment just before his soul got flung towards a nearby universe colored a golden radiance and spherical in shape. What would his new adventures now entail, losing not only his previous body but his original body that holds his true mind, the mind that has grown since the past?

Will Braun successfully thrive in the new universe he was thrown to? What fate would he encounter now that he has no body to return to? Or does his backup plans and Paranoia EX save him from any dire fate, that is probably the most likely for a being such as Freidrich Braun, a being who has fused with a man who has conquered a large Multiversal Cluster, one of the smartest beings in the multiverse, infused with a sociopathic nature and hunger for growth.

Would he rise, or would he fall? Only the next volume could tell his tale, for Freidrich Braun's story was far from over.

AN: This is 2541 words, you're welcome.

Writing is hard, so send me some powerstones.

(June 29, 2022 – 217th day of writing)