Void is the one and only person who can't show emotions no matter what pain he suffers from, no matter who he lost. He will stay unfazed at every sight. It was the case in my novel.
He never cried to someone's backstory nor did he ever try to stop someone from crying. That's the Void I know.
I slowly opened my eyes and was in the dungeon room. I was lying around multiple bodies of Orcs. They were all dead and were massacred. Their skin was scattered on the ground, a pool of blood all around the area, teeth embedded on the walls.
I slowly got up and looked at my hands. There were bloodstains on my hands. There was a sheer silence in the cave. It was too silent until I heard a voice from behind.
[You awake?]
I quickly looked behind.
"Huh?!"
Void was standing alongside the wall of the cave. He was looking at me coldly like always.
...Wait, wasn't Void here just now? Was that a dream?!
[It wasn't.]
I looked at Void who was staring at the ground. If it wasn't a dream, then didn't he leave this place? Wasn't I alone?
[Delusion.]
Only one word spoken by him was enough for me to realise what had actually happened. I stared at him while gathering my thoughts together.
No words were spoken by us. It felt like the conversation had come to an end. I stood silent while gathering my thoughts, meanwhile, Void was just standing blankly.
I bit my lips.
"Y-You used Delusion two times?"
Void looked at me and just didn't give an answer. He stood silent, looking at me. Maybe he was finding the right words or wanted to ignore my question.
[Kang Hong.]
"Yes?"
[Before you woke up in the Delusion, you saw that, right?]
I looked completely clueless about what he was talking about.
"Uh, I don't understand."
Void put his hands on his head. He was frustrated. Not because of me. But because of some other issues.
Did I actually see something before waking up? Uhh, no matter how many times I think about it, I can't remember at all.
I collected all the things which happened with me during the Delusion.
...Wait, a sheer force!
My eyes widened as the realisation hit. I looked directly at Void who was now staring at the ground in an emotionless manner.
"I-I felt like I was going into a new world when I saw some... buildings or anything like that. I don't really remember but I was then dragged back into this world by a sheer force."
Void was now looking at me. His expression still wasn't readable.
"Is this the thing you're talking about?"
[Kind of and kind of not.]
...Can't he just say yes or no? Whatever, why is he acting weird?
Void's body started turning into small particles. He was leaving this place.
[Don't talk to anybody about the thing you saw.]
He released all his aura and an intense pressure was applied on me. My body was trembling with the pain of the pressure. I coughed blood as I fell on my knees.
"Keuk!"
[Otherwise you know what'll happen, right?]
Small rocks burst with the pressure and my bones felt like they would break any second.
"Ghh—!"
Void narrowed his eyes and the pressure vanished. I started gasping for air. It felt like all the air present in the dungeon had also got pressurised by Void.
Such immense power.
Void's lower body had almost turned into small particles while he was looking blankly at the wall.
I need to talk to him about everything which has happened so far. Everything. That's why!
I was standing and was on my knees.
"V-Void!"
He didn't reply nor did he look at me.
"Tsk."
I shouted, "I want to ask you something!"
He looked over to me. He didn't say any word but I understood perfectly that he was asking 'what?'.
I took a moment before answering. I was hesitating. Multiple thoughts gathered over my head.
I looked straight into his eyes. I won't give up.
Gulp
"How about we talk for a bit? Just a casual talk."
Of course, it won't be a casual talk.
I looked stressfully towards him. Will he even accept it? Why would he do that? He won't get any profit from talking to a lower being. Why'd I think that Void would accept my offer to talk to him? It's literally the Void! The strongest.
But... but...
I clenched my fists.
I want to know. I want to know his mind. He's a person who lost everyone and was turned into a weapon. He fought, fought, fought against everyone until he reached the point where he didn't need to fight anymore. I want to know the mind of such a person.
That's why—
I shouted, "We should kno—"
[What's it?]
"Hk—!"
I got startled and took some steps backward. He was suddenly standing literally in front of me looking at me.
[You said you wanted to talk.]
This guy... can he say some more words?
"Just some random stuff. You know, I want to know you, Contractor."
[That's the first time you've called me that.]
I scratched the back of my head while side-eyeing him. "Yeah, I'm pretty random."
Void showed his right hand and the scenery around us changed. We were now in a dimensionless dimension. Random things were floating around the place.
But there was one thing which looked common in the items.
They were all dark in colour. Dark table, chair, cube, sphere, sword, cloak. There was also a dark coat too.
I was looking at that coat with sparkling eyes. Void looked at me and then looked at the coat floating around.
[You want that?]
I closed my eyes and looked down while smiling peacefully. "No."
I gazed at Void who was already looking at me. "I like this cloak more."
[Coat will look good.]
I shook my head and looked at the other things.
"Dark Moon, Dark Sun, Dark Nebula, Dark Galaxy. They are some high-level cores. You've got a good collection."
Void looked over to a picture which was the only thing in the whole floating sky which wasn't dark. It was white.
My gaze shifted to the picture.
[My colleague made this room for me.]
The picture consisted of no one. It was a blank white piece of paper. In the novel, most people were confused upon this scene. They always wondered...
「Why is it blank?」
「Did the painter forget to paint it?」
「Can I use its paper as toilet paper?」
I stood silent while Void was looking at me to hear my thoughts over this painting. I took a deep breath before answering.
"This painting resembles his soul's form which is truly beautiful."
A white soul form is the brightest but the most corrupted. Maybe mine was yellow and Void's was light blue.
Void looked at me with a bit of surprise like he never expected me to know this. I turned towards Void who was also gazing at me.
[It's a beautiful answer.]
I smiled before saying any word. "Void. I'll straight get to the main question."
I wanted to ask this for a while. But now the time has finally come.
[Is this a Q/A?]
I laughed lightly before presenting my question to him.
"So you already knew it."
[Knew what?]
Huh...? Wait, why is he acting so innocent? He found out about me being a writer, didn't he?
"I'm talking about ■■■"
My eyes widened as I heard my own words being filtered.
...Huh?
Filtering is shown by the system when a word which isn't supposed to come out, comes out of the mouth of a person. A person can't hear it as they don't have the qualifications to hear such words. Void wasn't qualified.
Void's expression hardened at the filtering.
[Hoh, so this damn thing still works on me.]
Void had gained qualifications for everything so he hadn't experienced filtering in 1000 years, but this was the first time.
[What can be in this world which you know but I don't?]
It can't be possible. It didn't filter my words when I said I'm a reader, then why now?!
[Answer, Kang Hong.]
A terrifying aura was released by Void. The floating objects had started shaking but none of them were bursting like the stones which burst easily.
Smaller objects didn't shake but the larger objects were shaking. This dimension indeed was strange.
Some sentences from my novel went over my head.
「The one living in a comfort zone doesn't know anything outside of the comfort zone」
It seemed like a normal sentence but it has a greater meaning to it. This sentence can be twisted, and then it can be written as...
「Character of a novel doesn't know anything out of the novel」
「Novel is the whole world for them just like the person in the comfort zone」
I smirked at my stupidity. I gave a small laugh. How could I forget that this Endless Dream is actually a novel? Of course, I can't reveal my reality of being a writer.
Maybe back then, "Void's Heaven" was responsible for not letting the filtering work.
(Void's Heaven - The place where Kang Hong and Void met for the first time.)
I looked straight into Void's eyes who had stopped releasing his aura because of my laugh. He was looking at me strangely, waiting for an answer to come.
"It's nothing, I mistakenly said something related to the future of this Endless Dream."
[I see.]
He was still unreadable. I still couldn't tell if he was satisfied with my answer or not. But whatever — now I know what I need to do in order to guarantee my survival.
I need to become as close as possible to this person standing in front of me. The person who lost everyone. The person who stood on the top of everyone. The strongest being who is my contractor, Void.
"Are you enjoying my story till now?"
The Void in the Delusion said yes, so will he...?
[Didn't you get your answer in the Delusion?]
I knew that he would try to dodge the question. He really is disappointed in my story.
"It was still a Delusion, not the reality."
His expression didn't change at all from my words. He just decided to keep silent and looked at the painting again.
[If we have a black soul form then we'll be able to look at what is actually drawn on that picture.]
He's trying to change the topic... Ahaha, just answer my question already. I looked over at the picture.
"So you're trying to change your soul form to black?"
[That's right.]
Before I could speak, Void opened his mouth and looked at me.
[But I failed to get to the black form.]
That's right, Void was also originally at white form but he decreased his soul form by removing the purity from him. But he was stuck at the light blue form for over a thousand years now.
No matter what he did, everything was in vain. His efforts weren't showing any results and in the end, he just gave up.
He continued while looking at the picture.
[My one and only dream was to see his face in the picture.]
"You've forgotten how he looked like?"
[That's right.]
The Void's clothes suddenly changed to a white coat. He was now wearing a black shirt and pants with a white coat. He looked majestic in the outfit.
[Do something for me, Kang Hong.]
I felt anxious and tried to open my mouth but—
[Reach the Black Soul Form.]