"You failed me...again."
A quiet voice echoed through the pitch darkness.
The words were neither loud nor forceful, but even spoken so softly, they rolled endlessly through the abyss like an eternal echo, bouncing from wall to wall until every corner of the darkness seemed to whisper the same sentence back.
...failure.
...condemnation.
...disappointment.
Each repetition carried a crushing weight that no physical force could ever hope to imitate.
There at the bottom of the abyss...
The fractured stone beneath him continued to groan under the immense force that had driven his body into it, as he lay in a massive spiderweb crater, with dust slowly drifting through the still air.
Blood slowly seeped through the countless cracks covering his ruined body, mixing with ash and shattered stone until it became impossible to distinguish flesh from rubble.
This was none other than Emissary Exorus, who slowly forced open his remaining eye to see it.
Every movement felt agonizing, even opening that single eye demanded what little strength remained within him.
His breathing had become shallow, each inhale scraping through his lungs like shards of broken glass.
It was just as he remembered.
Nothing had changed, not after centuries, nor after all the destruction that had unfolded across existence.
That gaping maw remained exactly as it had always been, its size defying all measurement.
It possessed neither beginning nor end, existing only as an impossible opening suspended within darkness itself, as though reality had been torn apart to reveal something that had never been meant to exist.
There was no light, no stars, no movement, only an endless void that seemed to consume even the concept of existence itself.
Looking into it felt less like staring into darkness and more like gazing into the complete absence of reality, where even time itself appeared unwilling to move.
Its aura was as horrifying as ever, but maybe because of his battered state and diminished strength...
It didn’t make him quiver anymore.
"Now... it’s clear to us both..."
It continued.
Its voice carried no anger, only the unwavering certainty of a being that had already judged the outcome long before the conversation had ever begun.
"That it’s always been your plan to fail me."
"What has really become of you?"
"Empathy toward these lower creatures?"
"Why would you fight to delay their destruction?"
"Or do you fight to prevent it?"
Each question struck harder than the last, not because they were accusations...
But because they demanded an answer.
An answer Exorus himself had spent ages refining.
It was something the maw couldn’t understand as it remained gazing down upon Exorus, who also remained on the ground, unable to muster much strength.
His fingers twitched weakly against the shattered earth, but his body refused to obey him.
His heart had long since been torn away, and only sheer will continued forcing life through a body that should have already perished.
But really...
What was there to say?
Some truths could never be explained, only witnessed.
As the Concept of Darkness, it was safe to say that he had indeed orchestrated it all, but in a way different from what the Concept had stood for.
The Concept before him desired annihilation. An ending without purpose beyond the ending itself.
Exorus had once believed in that vision as well, and perhaps he still did...Just not in the same manner.
He had been instructed to help the Supernaturals break free from their passivity and completely destroy Humanity, only to then be destroyed themselves.
But he had deviated from that path.
Indeed, he had helped the Supernaturals break free from their passivity, but he had also convinced them not to destroy the Humans, instead allowing them to exist as a lower hierarchical race.
A world divided, where one race reigned above another, power remained firmly in the hands of those born superior, and hope lingered only within those born beneath them.
But why would he do so? Was it empathy for the Humans?
No.
Never.
To assume compassion had guided his hand would have been the greatest misunderstanding imaginable.
As an Omnir, and the last one in existence, there had never been empathy within his soul.
What there was...Was a belief.
"Order..."
He forced out, and a deep growl thundered from the maw.
"Order? You seek Order as an Emissary of Death and Destruction!?"
"Order..."
Exorus repeated.
Blood escaped the corner of his lips, yet his remaining eye never left the endless maw.
"...is the best recipe for destruction."
He pronounced.
It was a realization born from the extinction of his own race.
One purchased with countless lives, entire civilizations, and a history forever buried beneath the ashes of those who had believed peace alone guaranteed survival, one he had sought to prove not through theories or speeches, but through the history of an entire world.
"Tell me..."
The maw called out.
Its voice became quieter, yet somehow even heavier, the softness of its tone carrying far greater weight than any roar ever could.
"As you lie there in that crater, with your heart missing and the last vestige of life draining from you..."
"Do you still think Order is the best recipe for destruction?"
Silence followed, leaving only the faint sound of Exorus’ breathing, weak, uneven, and barely audible.
"Your race, the Omnir Race, was a peaceful race that faced extinction from a violent revolt by what should have been an inferior species."
"And you tried to recreate that upon Earth."
"To have the Supernaturals as the upper race, Humans as the lower race, then watch and wait as a violent revolt eventually occurred and wiped them all out."
The corner of Exorus’ lips tilted upward into a tired smile, one born not from joy, but from satisfaction.
As expected.
Its intelligence was every bit as horrifying as its aura, leaving nothing beyond its perception and nothing hidden forever.
"Your goal was indeed destruction... but not the kind I desired."
It said, its disappointment lingering longer than its words, as though even it found the conclusion regrettable.
For the first time, the Concept of Darkness acknowledged that Exorus had never betrayed destruction itself, only the method through which he sought to achieve it.
"I will not bring you back to life... not this time."
The words that followed came as an impossibly deep, heavy growl that shook Exorus, sending fresh fractures racing through the abyss while waves of darkness rippled outward until reality itself appeared to liquefy.
"...What?"
"You have failed me enough times to earn any mercy from me, and it is clear our views on destruction do not align, so I have no need for you anymore."
Its voice was absolute, leaving no room for negotiation, reconsideration, or anything beyond judgment.
Yet Exorus sneered.
Even standing at death’s doorstep, his pride remained.
"You can’t abandon me."
His voice was weak, but unwavering.
"You possess only so much essence with which to create an Emissary, and if you lose me, then you lose the essence used to create me as well, increasing your own chances of destruction."
He claimed.
For a brief moment, neither of them spoke, and even the abyss itself seemed to hold its breath.
Then the shadows surrounding the maw slowly began to fade away, not violently or suddenly, but simply dissolving into nothingness like the conclusion of a decision that had already been made long ago.
"I’ve summoned Mundus to this world..."
The words froze the abyss itself.
Exorus’ remaining eye bulged in shock until it looked ready to burst from its socket as his breathing stopped, his thoughts froze, and even the unbearable pain consuming what remained of his body became meaningless before those four words.
Mundus.
A name that should never have reached this reality, and one that even Exorus had hoped would forever remain beyond this world.
"My essence won’t be wasted... because Mundus himself will devour you upon his arrival."
"Now... your Omnir Race will truly go extinct... as it deserves!"
Those were its final words before it faded away completely, its presence vanishing alongside the overwhelming pressure that had dominated the abyss for so long, leaving behind an emptiness that somehow felt even more suffocating than its existence ever had.
Exorus remained there in horror, his remaining eye searching desperately through the darkness as he waited, expected, and hoped.
But... the maw’s shadow did not return to him as it always had.
Every previous failure, every previous death, and every punishment had ended the same way, with the shadow returning, life returning, and the cycle continuing.
Instead, it disappeared completely.
No darkness entered his body, no warmth spread through him, no restoration came.
Nothing.
And without it within him, he finally understood,
"It’s... it’s over."