"Your genes, your power, your memories, all will be mine!"
Genesis's proclamation echoed in Asahi's mind, which was already near the brink of collapse.
To be honest, he knew that his eventual defeat was highly probable.
After all, he did not arrive in this world in his peak state, but in exactly the same condition as now, with his spirit close to the boundary of shattering.
That he was able to hold on until this point could be attributed mainly to his willpower, a will strong enough to twist miracles.
And Genesis, it wants to take his memories?
Then come and take them.
...
Genesis's Biological Network was striving to absorb and digest Asahi's memories. But then suddenly, it felt as if it was pulled into a strange place.
A realm of endless, deep void.
It didn't understand why, but that didn't prevent it from recognizing where this was.
It was the Sea of Unconsciousness, a deeply mysterious domain even for an entity like Genesis. It had been speculated that it was due to the existence of the Sea of Unconsciousness that memories could be stored outside the brain. However, this theory had always remained unproven.
Suddenly, Genesis saw bubbles floating in the Sea of Unconsciousness.
Each bubble did not just reflect one image or one aspect. It contained countless such images. Every bubble was a different person, a different event, a different period of time. It stored every emotion, every despair, and... every hope.
Empathy.
"Empathy" is the understanding of the emotions and thoughts of an object other than oneself. An empathetic person is one who can resonate with the joys and sorrows of others, putting themselves in the shoes of others to understand and sympathize with them.
But Asahi had elevated empathy to another level. Every emotion, every despair, every hope, he knew, he understood, he felt.
Asahi had once proclaimed that only one who endures the most extreme despair is qualified to grasp the brightest hope. He had done it, literally.
This made Genesis terrified, even horrified.
It must be known that through its storage of information and memories, Genesis was aware that cases of this excessive empathy had existed before.
For example, in the past, there was an investigator who could use his empathy ability to solve crimes. He empathized with the killer to the extent that he nearly experienced the same moments as the killer, as if he had transformed into another person. The fate of that person... goes without saying.
And here, Genesis saw this on a scale that was difficult to imagine. The number of bubbles floating in the Sea of Unconsciousness must be in the tens of billions, meaning Asahi had "excessively empathized" with at least tens of billions of lives!
This was very different from storing memories in Genesis's Biological Network, because the two remained separate. But empathy was different. Empathy was no different from accepting it to become a part of oneself.
Genesis could not understand how Asahi's mind was constructed. Because according to analysis, any subject that encountered this situation would face problems. Going insane would be light; they might even suffer consciousness death directly, or, more terrifyingly, their mind would be twisted into something indescribable.
If a twenty-year-old person had the memory of a billion years, the memories of a billion different personalities stuffed into their head, making their twenty years of life before that no different from a drop of water in the ocean compared to that pile of memories. Would that person still be themselves?
If so, why did Asahi still have no problem?
Just then, a deep voice resonated in the unconsciousness, spreading to every corner of the void. Directly into Genesis's consciousness.
"I have marked the end of Origin, the gods who forged galaxies and stars..."
"I have witnessed the end of time, every moment, one moment after another until all of reality shattered..."
"I have walked in the void where nothing remained but myself, igniting the birth of the universe and accelerating infinite creation..."
"I have been immersed in a universe where all laws were constructed by chaos and order, where the vast world was no different from a toy in the hands of omniscient and omnipotent beings..."
"I have seen things you cannot believe, knowledge you cannot understand, secrets you cannot know, illusions you cannot dream."
"I am the Savior."
"I am the Destroyer."
"I am the Creator."
"And I am... Asahi."
"These memories... do you dare to take them?"
As the voice ended, an overwhelming entity appeared before Genesis's eyes.
It was a humanoid figure, but greater than a universe, like the origin of all life, all existence, all creation and destruction, all time and space... everything.
Asahi had once witnessed and borrowed the strength of many powerful and magnificent entities. Even he himself had once become one of them.
Now, though returned to mortality, he had lost those powers, but those memories were not lost. They quietly lay in the Sea of Unconsciousness, waiting for a day to return. Waiting to be awakened once more!
Genesis, fundamentally unable to comprehend, was instantly obliterated from Asahi's mind.
It couldn't even see that even that magnificent entity lay beneath one thing: a pair of eyes.
A pair of eyes filled with infinite hope, and infinite love.
...
The entire Biological Network suffered a severe, almost collapse-inducing blow. Even the black flood, formed by the dissolution of all Genesis bodies, was vibrating violently. Suddenly, a light flashed from within.
Boom!
The entire black flood was split into two halves. From the central position, Asahi flew into the air; however, his form had changed.
The entire armor plating had become more angular, with the dragon scales extending, forming sharp details like sword tips. However, the overall look did not become bulky, but leaned towards being more aesthetically pleasing, resembling the true image of a "dragon" more than just a mechanical armor suit.
The most distinct change was that the silver aura was no longer hidden behind the dragon scales, but was completely exposed, enveloping the entire body of the Dragon Form. Making Asahi look more powerful than ever at this moment.
When all seven properties of the Dragon Form were released and harmonized together, Asahi had achieved a new form.
He called this form... Perfect Dragon Form!
Genesis had now regained its senses. Seeing Asahi, all that occupied its mind was the most primal fear. It didn't want anything else; it only wanted to escape from him as far as possible.
Immediately, Genesis separated into countless bodies, each running in a different direction. It intended to use this tactic to distract Asahi. Unfortunately, in the Perfect Dragon Form, all of Genesis's calculations were futile.
Asahi seemed to transform into a silver lightning bolt, continuously streaking past at a terrifying speed, creating overlapping lines in the air like a light show—a deadly light show.
The Perfect Dragon Form no longer needed to change properties, because this form was inherently the synthesis of all seven properties. They could even continuously stack and complement each other, making Asahi's power grow wildly.
Perfect Dragon Form, absolute destruction.
He rapidly reduced the number of Genesis bodies to an alarming degree. Until only one remained.
"Please don't..."
Genesis begged for mercy. But all it received was an arm gently piercing its body, pulling out something that resembled half a spherical core.
It was hard to believe that this small thing was exactly half of Genesis's Biological Network, something equivalent to its genes and its heart.
The reason there was only half, of course, was because the other half had been hidden by it.
"You really are careful."
Asahi smiled bitterly, regretting that he had missed the best opportunity to completely destroy Genesis. The silver aura on his body receded, and the modified parts of the armor retracted. Asahi had no time to say or do anything else, because he collapsed, losing consciousness.