(Eris POV)
"Wait, did you say another Universe?!" I asked.
All of them turned to me at once and nodded, "That's right!"
"There's… There's other Universes?"
Another me who was wrapped up in golden robes with her hair tied up in a ponytail stepped beside me, "Indeed. Master seems to have opened the way for parallel Universes to appear somehow."
"Whaddaya mean 'somehow'?! Isn't dis' a big deal?! An' who are ya'?!" Bait roared.
She nodded at her, "I'm from a Universe where I was Master's only disciple. I do not know the details, but from what I figured out, it seems like the divergence happened when Master was playing hide and seek or something with a loli dragon in your Universe."
What? You mean the time Master was playing with Cai Hong? What did Master do to even result in the creation of parallel Universes?!
Then again… After what Brendan told us about what Master was capable of… I don't think it's that far-fetched to think Master wouldn't have just inadvertently created another Universe while playing hide and seek… Did He think Cai Hong was hiding in another Universe?
Also…
I turned to glare at her, "Do you mean there are multiple Masters right now?"
"Yes and no… It's a rather complicated story but let's talk after we deal with that parasite first, shall we?"
I turned back to see the parasite slashing a hole in the space again, this time summoning even more meteors to shoot towards us.
But unlike just now, there were more than a hundred versions of me who easily went up and cut the giant rocks apart without breaking a sweat.
Why is it when you meet an alternate version of yourself, they just seem to always be cooler or better than you somehow?
The parasite let out a feral roar and tried to use the same trick again, only for the one who claimed to be Master's only disciple to disappear from my side and reappear behind her.
The only thing I managed to catch was her sheathing her blade back in the scabbard on her waist.
In the next second, the parasite had her head separated from her body before bursting into flames, her flesh completely incinerated into ashes by the fire.
We watched as the ashes flaked away before disappearing without a trace, the holes she had cut open to summon the meteors quickly closed up as though they were never there.
"Jus' like dat' huh?" Bait scoffed, releasing her elemental form to return back to her original body.
The rest of us followed suit and the multiple other Erises who claim to be from alternate Universes gathered in front of us.
Bait pointed a finger at them, "Ok, start talkin'. Wat' in the world is goin' on 'ere?!"
The first one who appeared before us placed her hands on her hips while flashing a blindingly bright smile at us, "We told you! We are you from other Universes!"
"That is precisely the thing we don't get," I stepped in. "I think I remember Master mentioning that there was only one Universe?"
She nodded, "That is correct. As much as we hate to admit it, your Universe is the main one, but it seems like things have happened that created multiple branching Universes."
Laverna stepped beside me, "Explain…"
The one who claimed to come from a Universe where Master stopped taking in more disciples held up her hand, "Hold on a moment, I just have one question. Do you… Actually have multiple personalities?"
The four of us looked at each other before nodding.
"Don't any of you?" I asked, a little perplexed. "I would assume you did with how you were all aware of that parasite."
All of them shook their heads.
"We thought she was just another alternate version of us that went crazy in another Universe and came here," The swordswoman version of me explained.
I raised my hands, "Ok, ok… Let's just get over the fact that there are multiple Universes now. The question is how?"
The me who came from a Universe where Master left with that stalker bitch huffed, "We don't know the specifics exactly, but a number of us came to realise the existence of parallel Universes when our Master started acting weirdly. Then we discovered how to break ourselves into a pseudo mirror World that linked all of us together."
The one in golden robes nodded, "It was there that we found out that all of our Universe was linked with yours at the very centre. We figured that it was something that happened in your Universe that triggered this."
"How many Universes are there?" Denna asked.
"Parallel Universes, not Universes," Another one corrected. "Those two are quite different. There is still just one Universe but there's theoretically an infinite number of parallel Universes."
I wanted to ask why these two are different but I decided it didn't really matter to the situation at hand right now.
Instead, I asked, "And how did you know it was something to do with Master playing hide and seek with Cai Hong?"
"For our Universe, we know that we have existed from the very beginning since a number of us are able to look into the past. But for your Universe, we can only see up till the moment your Master started playing hide and seek with Cai Hong."
"Ooooook… So wat' da hell do ya want from us? Ya' said your Masters were acting weird, if ya' hoping for any 'elp from us then tough luck! Ours is also acting all weird because of dat' stalker biatch!"
Another me came forward, this one looking the weirdest considering she was dressed in a long white robe while wearing thick glasses on her face, "Yes. We know that. And we believe it is here that we can fix everything too."
She snapped her fingers and a wall appeared with some kind of white coloured board on it. A thick line was drawn from the left most side of the board to the right most side of the board with small paths branching out from it.
"We believe that just like how you have been fragmented in your mind to have those split personalities of yours, Master is also experiencing the same thing except His mind has been fractured and spread out across parallel Universes instead. This is all due to Him absorbing those Origin fragments."
I frowned, "But how could that be possible? Master had mentioned that he felt more complete and whole after absorbing more of them?"
She gave me a sad smile, "What happens when you fill a cup that was already full of water with more water?"
"Don't tell me… Master was never missing anything from the start?"
"Yes and no… Those Origin fragments did not contain the same Origin that Master had lost but more of it…"
Denna furrowed her brows, "This one does not understand… How do you even have more Origin? This one does not believe anyone can just get more Origin?"
"No one said those Origin fragments were filled with nothing but Origin."
All of us then instantly knew what she meant.
That stalker bitch!!!!
