A rush of energy flooded Zatiel's body and soul as he devoured the particles left by the Flame Imperator. While useful, he was truly after the memories engraved in those particles, and he soon found them.
Memories that span over entire Epochs flooded Zatiel's mind. Even for a Rank 10 life form, it was not easy to go through them since they expanded for trillions of years.
Zatiel focused on the memories that contained battle skills and knowledge regarding the Fourth Realm, engraving them in his soul before concentrating on the two topics that mattered to him.
The first thing was what happened to the Incarnation of Death and Destruction's Ego Core that came to the Alpha Universe. Luckily, those memories involved this Epoch, so Zatiel was able to find them very quickly.
The Flame Imperator did not lie about the Incarnation of Death and Destruction's will splitting into two Ego Cores, one forming Zatiel and the other going to the Alpha Universe.
The Ego Core in the Alpha Universe took the name of Flame Imperator, and his soul force already put him at the Peak Rank 9. He fought against Endless Darkness' Will Core of Existence and devoured it.
Unfortunately for the Flame Imperator, consuming Endless Darkness' will was a mistake. Endless Darkness' Will Core of Existence used the Eternal Flame of Deception to trick the Flame Imperator, attaching to this one like a virus.
The Flame Imperator had no idea what was happening and carried on with his plan to unify the Alpha Universe and become its leader. However, Endless Darkness' will slowly corrupted his mind, guiding his hand.
Finally, when the Flame Imperator sought to become the Alpha Universe's Spiritual Leader and use that soul force to heal his wounds, Endless Darkness' ego siphoned that power, growing strong enough to take control.
"I see. What a shame."
In essence, Zatiel and the Flame Imperator had the same starting point. However, one of them rose above everything while the other was corrupted until nothing of his original self was left.
Zatiel did not waste too much thought on what could have been and focused on the second piece of information he wanted. He soon saw the Endless Darkness' memories of the Emptiness. Surprise and a sense of adventure appeared in his eyes.
The Emptiness did not honor its name, as it was full of all sorts of wonders. There were places with such majestic beauty and mortal dangers that made Zatiel's blood burn for the excitement.
Suddenly, Zatiel's eyes glowed as he found a memory that answered the question of what could harm Endless Darkness so much before he arrived at the Prima Universe.
The Prima Universe was not the first super universe that Endless Darkness found on his path across the Emptiness. Early in his journey, he found a universe similar to the Prima Universe and attempted to control it.
That universe's name was Zero Universe, and it had a single race, the Zero Race. They were humanoids without ears, eyes, noses, or mouths. While their appearance was ghastly, they were a peaceful race that achieved harmony among themselves and the universe around them.
The Zero Race had multiple Rank 9 life forms, but there was no way they could defeat a full-power Endless Darkness. Luckily they were not alone.
Endless Darkness thought he would face a weak race without a single Extreme Rank 9 life form, but the universe had a protector. A massive creature that resembled a winged golden lion bathed in dark fire fought against Endless Darkness.
According to the information that Endless Darkness gathered, that golden lion was an Emptiness Creature that once fell into the Zero Universe after being badly wounded and comatose. The Zero Race did not let their greed overcome their reason, and instead of harvesting the creature's body and soul, they helped it heal and began to revere it as the Sacred Beast of their universe.
After a few billion years, the golden lion woke up. Usually, an Emptiness Creature in its situation would have wreaked havoc. Nevertheless, the reverence of the Zero Race affected the creature's soul, granting it wisdom, and it began to see those humanoids as its children.
The golden lion fought ferociously, and with the help of the Zero Race and the Universe Will, they forced Endless Darkness to run away after badly wounding him.
At full power, Endless Darkness' aura was enough to scare most dangers away. Yet, his wounds made things a lot different.
One after another, all sorts of life forms emerged from the Emptiness and attacked Endless Darkness. For them, devouring a wounded True Rank 10 life form was a lucky chance they could not miss.
Endless Darkness was still powerful enough to kill or at least escape from all those monsters, but things worsened as time passed.
Endless Darkness was on his dying breath when he finally found the Prima Universe. As for what happened later, it was something Zatiel already knew.
'An explorer. That was Endless Darkness' job. His sole goal was to find a new universe for his master.' Other than images, Zatiel also got access to Endless Darkness' thoughts during that time, which is how he learned that.
The distance between universes was so immense that despite spending more than ten Epochs of time in the Emptiness, Endless Darkness only found the Zero Universe and Prima Universe. If someone wanted to invade universes, it made sense that such an entity would send their pawns to search for them.
'True Rank 10 life forms as pawns. Just who are you?' A somber expression appeared on Zatiel's face as he looked into the oldest memories of Endless Darkness.
It took Zatiel a few hours, but he finally found what he was looking for. The moment he saw Endless Darkness' Master, his eyes widened.
Even with all his power, a flash of dread appeared in the Neo-Demon Ancestor's eyes.
Zatiel clenched his fists as he thought of that entity. There was one word that came to his mind that perfectly defined it.
Cancer.
