(MC POV)
Obviously I would ask the most obvious question.
"Who are you?"
She smiled, "That's a rather difficult question, there are a lot of answers to that one question alone. A better question would be who are you?"
"Answering a question with another question I see."
"Your answer determines my answer, after all."
Diao Chan summoned a whip in her hand and swung it with a resounding crack, "You bitch… Who do you think you are talking to?"
Eris also unclasped her sword, "Master… Couldn't we just chop 'er head off first? Just a lil' bit is fine yeah?"
Woah, woah, woah. Calm down girls, why so angsty? Just look at Cai Hong, she's hugging me with a look of content on her face right now, isn't she just the cutest? Yes you are, you're the cutest!
Oh whoops, shouldn't be distracted now.
"I am a wielder of Origin am I not? Didn't you say so yourself not too long ago?"
"Ara? Whatever do you mean?" She asked with a knowing smile.
I crossed my arms, "Cut the crap, I know the old lady from before was you. Your eyes are a dead giveaway. You also give off the same aura too."
"Fufufu~ I suppose there's no point in hiding it. But yes, it was me."
She transformed herself into the old woman who had helped us fight the tentacled monsters and also brought me to learn about Origin too.
Diao Chan gasped, "You're the old lady that gave us those flowers!"
"Ara? I'm surprised you still remember that, but yes that was me as well. I suppose I might as well just show this too."
Her body shifted and she morphed into something I would never forget.
"The Primordial Divine Dragon that killed me… That was you as well?"
She shifted back to her human form, "Technically, I didn't kill you. I just Ended the timeline's hold on you and brought you back. You were not heading towards my desired outcome in that life, after all."
"Ended the timeline's hold? What do you even mean by that?"
She smiled and stretched out her hands as if in prayer, "I am… The End."
…
All of us just looked at her in confusion.
"Am what? You didn't even say anything before saying that's the end," I pointed out.
"Ara? But that is who I am. I am literally The End. There is Origin who is the beginning of everything. I am The End that brings everything its End."
I raised an eyebrow, "I was under the impression that you were Origin."
She giggled, "Ufufufu~ I am not Origin. No matter how much I wish to be, I am not. I am merely the being that brings everything to an End."
"So you are… The End?"
"The End of all things, yes. The death of a living thing, the End of a star's life, the final moments of a galaxy… And the End of the Universe… That's all me."
I tilted my head at her, "Then where is Origin?"
She smiled at me, "Have you still not figured it out? You aren't just an Origin Wielder. You are Origin."
Cai Hong hugged me even tighter, "Yay~ Papa! Papa!"
…
…
What?
Lian Li raised her hand, "Sorry, but I don't really understand what is going on. What even is 'Origin'?"
The white haired woman clucked her tongue at my disciple, "I don't understand how you ignorant buffoons even managed to get this far without knowing all this… You even dare to call yourself disciples of Origin?"
Tick marks formed on all of my disciples' heads.
Not wanting another fight to break out, I decided to explain a little on what I knew Origin was.
Which if this woman was speaking the truth, it means that I'm explaining to them about myself which seems a little narcissistic if you ask me.
Since this was not the place to give an in depth explanation, I just gave them a brief rundown on it. Everything came from Origin, it's the creator of all things, centre of the universe, blah blah.
Good thing my disciples are such great students since they absorbed everything I told them easily.
"So… Master is God," Kiyomi declared.
I was going to deny that but the white haired woman beat me to it.
"IMBECILE! HOW DARE YOU?!"
Well… I get that it's probably sacrilegious to masquerade yourself as a god especially if they exist, but isn't that too big of a reaction? I know that there are gods who exist in this universe after all and I'm pretty sure Origin isn't regarded as one.
"Gods are beneath Origin! How dare you even suggest that Origin is one of those inferior beings?! If any of those Gods meet Origin, they are the ones who have to bow their heads!"
Eh?
Oh… I forgot… Gods came from Origin too don't they?
So er… I created them? This is getting a little hard to process… Right… I can create gods?
My disciples, instead of being pissed at her like the previous times, just nodded along as though she had shared something profound with them.
This is bad… They won't start worshipping me would they? I'd rather they not…
I coughed to get their attention, "Anyway… I don't even have memories of being Origin in the first place. I think you got the wrong guy."
The woman's attitude did a one eighty and she smiled at me, "You might have lost your memories in that mortal body. But with Origin, you could restore them easily if you wanted to."
"Eh? It can't be that simple can it?"
"You are Origin, the literal thing that makes up everything in existence including memories. Reality is whatever you want it to be."
"Then what was the whole point of manipulating my memory to this extent? I still don't understand your motive nor what you want from me."
"Why don't you release those repressed memories of yours first? I believe everything will be even clearer if you did."
I frowned, "How do I know this isn't an elaborate trick by you? Those voices that I kept hearing inside the fake world, they're all from you aren't they? You basically manipulated my mind to do what you wanted me to do. How do I know you're not brainwashing me now?"
This time it was The End's turn to look confused, "Brainwash? I never did any brainwashing. I merely spoke to you in your own voice and you believed the idea to be your own. I did say I knew more about you than you do right now, didn't I?"
"Oh really? You simply telling me to 'do this' or to 'forget that' isn't brainwashing at all? Pretty sure that counts doesn't it?"
"Ufufufu~ I may or may not have used a little bit of my powers to End your resistance against my words, but you were still free to resist them if you really wanted to. No one in the Universe can control you if you really didn't want them to."
"And how do you know all this?"
"Well, that's because I'm the first thing you've ever created and also your very first student, Master."
…
What?
