Everything came to deep silence. The whole rumbling, clashing of rocks, explosions, splashing of magma and whatnot. Dark reigner, godmother and lord of afterlife were lying down on a rock due to their powers being completely sucked out dry. They were breathing heavily. The female entity began to talk, "Pant, pant, that bottle sucked out all our powers. Pant, pant, we were using them by paying the price with our authorities. Pant, in a way, doesn't that mean we don't have a single authority left with us? Pant, pant, pant!"

[If you are that tired, why can't you talk after some time?]

Dark reigner responded, "Pant, how long can that bottle keep the ugly mug sealed for?!"

Lord of afterlife answered, "Forever, I guess!"

Dark reigner corrected him, "Fool, there is no such thing as infinite power in this entirety of existence. Being an origin entity, you should understand that more than anyone!"

"Sigh... Maximum fifty trillion years?!", said lord of afterlife. The other two let a huge breath out of their mouths in relief.

---flick---

Everything changed back to normal. I was sitting in the same black room with the ceiling at an endless height. I let out a huge sigh, relaxed my mind for a minute and asked dark reigner, "What happened after that great catastrophe?!"

"Well, Kriassilis restored the neutral dimension to its former condition. The black bottle was hidden in the core of the planet, in the neutral dimension since magma does not affect it. The lord of existence was sealed and stuck in that spot for almost fifty trillion years!", he said with a relaxed face.

"!!!!", I got chills all of a sudden. The last part of the info caught me completely off-guard. I asked while shivering, "Wai-wait... Di-did you say that the lord of existence got stuck and sealed for almost fifty trillion years? Do-does that it's about to break its seal?!"

He said whilst chuckling, "Yes!!"

[How can he say such a thing with calm mind?]

He then responded, "I am not going to fight the lord of existence this time!"

[Is that how you cheer for your successors?]

I brought myself together. Looked at the dark reigner and then asked him, "What about the authorities that the three of you lost?"

He replied, "Kriassilis wasn't wrong. It took us nearly ten million years to regain our authorities and bring back everything to the way it was. It was all thanks to our sovereignties that things became fast and easy!"

[That's that, huh? Until now, whatever he said was common knowledge that I need to know since I am a Grand law. Previously, the grand laws were a group of entities that became successors.

Later, the word 'grand law' got a new meaning. It indicated people with qualifications to succeed the origin entities' sovereignties and authorities.

But that doesn't explain the part of the godmother and lord of afterlife not wanting me to rise through the ranks as a grand law. Did the origin entities have inner turmoil again?

I need to know this. Why would I be targeted by the other origin entities?]

I opened my mouth with uncertainty, "Umm... Dark rei- I mean, Mr Madrona? Why was I scammed all these years?!"

"...!", he opened his mouth but said nothing.

[Again with the pause.]

"We chose to follow a certain method to choose our successors!", he revealed.

I got anxious with the reply and asked, "Certain method? So, me dying and then reincarnating was all a process of that certain method?!"

He exclaimed, "You are as sharp as always!", and smiled widely. I got pissed by that smile.

[Does that mean I was a guinea pig in this freaky experiment?]

"Wait!!", I got an unknown hunch all of a sudden and spouted, "Wait, you said I was tested whether I was fit for being your successor. That means it was the godmother and lord of afterlife who threw me through different kinds of hurdles, right?!"

He said, "Yes since I was the strongest origin entity, they wanted to make sure that you can handle all kinds of situations. At first, they didn't like my choice because you were just an old scientist. So I too thought to leave you. But when you died, your soul got stuck in the absolute abyss. It was an 'Imbalance phenomenon'!"

I got puzzled, "Imbalance phenomena? What is that?!"

Dark reigner continued, "For instance, if a planet was fated to be formed in a certain galaxy and got crumbled in between the process, we can call it an imbalance phenomenon. It's a phenomenon where the flow of existence gets twisted for a second. You were fated to reach the afterlife of your world which we have no right to interfere in. But due to the imbalance phenomena, your fate got twisted and you ended up in my realm. I took that chance to prove that my decision was right and sent you to a living world.

In your second life, you lived as an alchemist on an ancient earth of another universe and reigned as the supreme ruler. But, you ended up being backstabbed by your own peers.

In your third life, you lived as a dictator and killed everyone who got in your way.

And in your fourth life, you lived as a Demon god for more than two hundred thousand years and became a deity who lived the longest!"

I got sleepy from his long-term explanations once again, "Yawn, why are you telling me something I already know?!"

He responded, "In your first life, you rose through the ranks despite being a slum. In your second life, you soared higher until you became a supreme ruler despite being unable to fight. In your third life, you persuaded people and killed those who tried to mutiny against you. And in your fourth life, you became a deity who lived the longest. Your power surpassed that of a hundred mutant asymmetrons together.

The origin of light and origin of aftermath still wanted to confirm it and sent you back to your homeland at the same time as the death of your first life... In every life, the most common thing was you were an orphan and you never took the hand of anyone except those who approached you first!"

I asked, "What is the main point that you are trying to indicate here?!"

He responded again, "In your second life, you proved that not everything can be achieved by sheer power. In your third life, you proved that it is possible to achieve the impossible as long as there is a way. And in your fourth life, you proved that there is always a room for improvement by reaching new heights. You even struck fear into the hearts of all the gods!"

The last part of the elaboration reminded me.

[True, in my fourth life, I reached the top level that every god in the higher sub-realms would reach. But, I reached a new level even after that. And gave a name to it that would suit demons. I reached four new levels after that and gave them a name with a demonic indication. The divine gods stopped making their moves due to the difference in levels. I surpassed my limits five times consecutively and struck fear in the heart of every god. It took them a hundred millennia to reach my level. If it wasn't for me lazing around, I would have reached four new levels.]

"You displayed all the qualities of a grand law that is needed!", said the dark reigner.

I interrupted, "Do godmother and lord of afterlife still not like me reigning as a grand law?!"

"Well yeah, whenever we made choices about our succession, we always had an inner turmoil. While you were going through their life experiments, I was also throwing their chosen ones through the same kind of hurdles. But, when the lord of afterlife exposed himself to you by using his sovereignty, you became obsessed with origin entities and began to laze around. So, I took revenge on Kriassilis by sending his chosen one to eight consecutive reincarnations. I also did the same to Martha since she enjoyed everything from the sideline!", said the dark reigner with a smirk at the end.

I interpreted, "Wait, are you telling me that the other two grand laws were also going through the same ordeal?!"

Dark reigner replied, "Yes... And you were the one with the least reincarnations whereas the other two grand laws had undergone twelve reincarnations. Hahahahaha... !"

[That laughter is reminding me of how the lord of existence laughed in the mind illusion.]

He became silent all of a sudden and asked, "Since the doubts of your misfortune have been cleared, are you ready to take on the role of a successor? By now, I guess the other grand laws also found the answers for their misfortune from the origin entities!"

I asked, "Are you telling me that I have a competition?!"

He said with a tiny stretch of smile, "Yes!"

I got curious all of a sudden, "Why did you tell me everything? The last part was the only thing that I wanted to know!"

Dark reigner looked at me with pity, "This is not some kind of bedtime tale, young lad. If you went out there without even basic knowledge of the power you are wielding or a perfect objective to long for at least fifty to hundred trillion years, you will end up like our previous successors, your late seniors. Do you wish to die again and reincarnate?!"

I immediately replied, "No, thanks!"

[I would never reach the afterlife since I have become affiliated with the absolute abyss, the afterlife can only be reached if I died in the absolute abyss again. But I can't do that after getting to know everything.

Phew...

This is a new beginning. The other side might have already made the same decision as me. Now, I must come up with a new resolve. A resolve to move forward in this unfathomable journey. I don't know what kind of surprises and what kind of hurdles it has in store for me. But, I never backed down in any of my journeys. I died like a sovereign. Might as well accept this challenge.]

---step---

By taking a step forward, I exclaimed, "I am in for the succession, master!"

It was my first time addressing someone as a master.