Ball of Nothing

Water. Boiling water.

Zero felt very uncomfortable when Venn's energy joined his dormant pool in the void. It was as if someone poured spicy wine into his jar of honey. Thankfully, like his stomach, it didn't take long for Venn's energy to be neutralised and converted into something more tolerable.

Zero heaved slightly at the effort it took to keep Venn's temperament under control. He could feel it affecting his judgement already. The brunet closed his eyes and tried to dismiss the unusual annoyance he felt for the two green mist clouds. It was difficult to hear himself think with the two noisy divine fragments circling him and whispering into his ears.

Duu 2.0 watched on emotionlessly. If Zero lost this battle, the future would look very bleak. For five whole hours, he waited patiently for any sign of Zero losing control. According to Baal's knowledge, Buddha was still trying to hold on and had started to call on the help of his disciples. The pagoda was activated. The monks were in their positions chanting and maintaining the formation. Hua Tuo was on standby but Hades was driven out of Nirvana on doctor's orders.

Still, Zero remained motionless. The waves of energy fluctuated wildly and Duu 2.0 was afraid that the brunet might lose. At times, Venn 2.0 had gotten very close to devouring Zero's mind. However, the brunet was more stubborn than anyone gave him credit for. He continuously pushed Venn 2.0 back into a corner, exposing him to the frightening amount of willpower. Eventually, Venn 2.0 submitted although he didn't do so without leaving traces of himself behind with Zero.

The brunet took longer to completely infuse the divine entity's energy into his reserves. Jevy 2.0 and Gugu 2.0 knew a losing battle when they saw one. Initially, they were optimistic that they could forge a bond the same way Venn 2.0 did. Sadly, Zero proved to be even stronger willed than before when he finally opened his eyes. There was no sign of insanity or rage in them and Duu 2.0 relaxed a little. The flicker of annoyance that flashed briefly didn't go unnoticed by the blue mist cloud. However, all is well and good for now.

"That was tough," Zero smiled at the two green mist clouds. It wasn't a bright smile from the bottom of his heart and Duu 2.0 silently wondered if this change was for the better. The brunet usually wore his heart on his sleeves but after inheriting Venn's memories and emotions, he mastered the art of donning a poker face to conceal his emotions. It wasn't perfect, but it was darn near it.

"I guess that's one down and three more to go," Zero commented airily and Jevy 2.0 froze. Zero's personality underwent a huge transformation after Venn 2.0 was absorbed. Before this, Zero was as tough as a rubber knife. Now, Zero felt like a plastic knife. While he wasn't sharp enough to do any serious harm, he could certainly cut through certain things if he wanted to.

Gugu 2.0 noticed the change as well. Instead of drawing back like his twin sister, the green mist cloud bowled forward.

"I see that you've grown. Let's see if you can handle me!"

Zero smiled with his eyes making an inverted U-shape. "I'll be in your care!"

Duu 2.0 and Jevy 2.0 shared a look. They weren't quite sure if such a change in personality was a good thing.

Without holding back, Gugu delved straight into Zero's mind and brought forth his most powerful memories. Zero watched in silence as Gugu dragged him further into the recess of Gugu's memories.

***

The Divine Entity of Greed didn't know what to do or where to start after he was given a name. Solo left him to wander in the vast world and Gugu settled on the sparkliest planet he could see. He didn't exactly know where his siblings were but it didn't matter. Nobody wanted to associate with a brainless narcissist or a psychopathic large cat.

Having said that, the Divine Entity of Greed was completely lost. He didn't have needs to attend to. In fact, all Solo entrusted him to watch over were the emotions of excessive desires for materialistic objects. The need to possess everything was something hard to describe. Gugu wasn't a hoarder by nature. Where would he store everything that he took? The void was out of the question. Nobody can use it without Solo's permission. Planets weren't trustworthy storage spaces with Solo changing his mind about how the world should look like every hour or so. There wasn't much for him to do.

For the next few years, Gugu hoped from planet to planet. There were many unusual rocks and trees. Sometimes there were rare animals and plants but that was it. The terrains and structures were predictable and Gugu had grown bored of seeing the world. He didn't know where else to go. Sometimes he'd hear things about his siblings. There were a total of twelve Divine Entities but Gugu hasn't met anyone yet. It might be a good thing seeing how destruction always follows Divine Entities who meet up, especially a certain large feline with anger management issues.

"Since I don't have anything to do, I might as well look for a place isolated from everyone else."

With that decision made, Gugu travelled far and wide only to note that there were a particular species who behaved awfully no matter what kind of evolution they went through. They were tenacious and very annoying with the intelligence to accomplish almost about anything. In fact, Gugu felt fear for the first time when he heard stories about how Gods were being hunted by them. The species was known as human. It didn't matter what they evolved into. Werebeasts, undead, elves or wizards... they were still scary to Gugu.

However, there was one thing that humans did that Gugu was impressed by. They made beautiful territories. From crystal clear glasses that made a high pitched melodious ring when gently tapped to the malleable shiny yellow band of metal decorated with shiny rocks... Gugu loved them all. He even loved the wonderful smelling sandwiches that some humans made. Most brilliantly, it didn't matter which planet Gugu went to. There was always something called currency or money. It usually differed from place to place but the concept was the same. Collect enough of that, you can exchange it for anything you desire.

That was the first time Gugu discovered the joy of collecting things. He didn't like humans but he loved the things they crafted. A few centuries passed by and he discovered that his twin sister had been going around doing similar things. The only thing different was how she was after the perfect body while he was after the most beautiful creations in the world. They made a pact to help each other out when they had a common interest.

"We should make a base like the humans. Somewhere easy to access yet secure enough that nobody else knows about. We don't want Venn the idiot to blow up the planet we set up operations on."

Gugu agreed with the idea. However, he didn't know what kind of planet that was.

"How about making one? We might not have powers like Solo to create a planet with everything from nothing but I'm sure if we took a little of everything, it's possible to create one."

The Divine Entity of Greed was ecstatic. With some string pulling, the twins worked together and found a way to create a pocket dimension space using magic. The only problem was collecting the mana required to support the magic.

"Stones? The sparklier and harder they are the better? I know where a lot of those are! However, we have other problems. The humans guard those very safely. Not to mention, stones of that quality are very rare. Only a few thousand per planet..."

"Don't worry! With my looks and your brains, there isn't anything we can't do," Jevy smiled. At that point in time, Jevy had colourful feathered hair. Gugu didn't know if humans favoured that trendy look but he agreed to work together.

Zero watched as the twins travelled from planet to planet. He didn't get to view their whole adventure but it was quite the eye-opener to see lions walking on two legs and snakes swimming in the ocean without the need for air. He watched how the twins stole, lied and cheated people for their stones, that they would then charge with magic from other wizards, by tricking them into thinking it was the philosopher's stone.

"I can't say I approve of what you did," Zero told Gugu 2.0 flatly who hummed in response.

"I guess not. However, this is only the beginning. I'm the embodiment of Greed. You've seen nothing yet."

Not wanting to argue, Zero watched on in silence. This time, they were in a very fancy looking building. There was a large circle on the floor was an intricately drawn pattern. Zero noticed how there was a massive pile of shiny rocks in the middle of it.

"This is it," Gugu from the memory told Jevy. The Divine Entity of Jealousy smiled.

"Yes, this is it. Let's begin."

It was at this point that something went astray. Gugu and Jevy watched as the beautiful stones they collected get shattered and turned to nothingness with the activated spell. Something in Gugu stirred. Zero became overwhelmed by the power and sheer volume of memories that came flooding back to the Divine Entity of Greed.

He watched how Gugu felt about every single piece of rock that was sacrificed for an empty space. He treasured the memory of their time hunting for those gems more than the actual reason for using them. Gugu wanted to stop the spell but it was much too late. As the last of the gems disintegrated, the Divine Entity of Greed felt as if the pocket dimension had opened up a new hole in his heart. He felt completely empty and continued to gaze at the now empty room. Not a single trace of their adventures remained.

"Gugu?"

Looking at his ever-changing twin sister, the imp made a vow. He would collect things that would never disappear, not even after time has ended. He wanted everything he could have. He would never lose anything precious again.

Zero watched the memories fade to black silently without any signs of emotion betraying his expression. Gugu 2.0 was nervous. Did he manage to move Zero? For someone who came with nothing from the void, surely Zero must have felt the same sense of loss not knowing where he belonged or what he owned.

Before the divine fragment could speak, he felt the tug towards his soul. It started off gentle but became violent in less than a minute. Unable to resist, Gugu gave in. Zero silently evaluated Gugu's energy. It tasted bitter and Zero frowned. He didn't like the taste at all.

Luckily, the brunet wasn't too surprised at the terrible taste. He accepted it well and this time, it took him less than twenty minutes to fully absorb the one rampant energy. Duu 2.0 and Jevy were both surprised at how quick the process was. Could it be that Zero had some sort of desire that Gugu was able to form a bond with?

While they were pondering over the matter, Zero felt his soul getting heavier. Gugu's memory reminded of something he wanted to forget. The feeling of insecurity was buried beneath all the love his friends had shown him. Not knowing who he was, where he belonged and where to go was something Zero didn't want to go through again. It might be because of this thought haunting him subconsciously that Zero chose to go on an adventure instead of settling down in a village.

"Perhaps what I really want is to collect a lot of friends on the way so that I won't feel lonely anymore..." Zero thought to himself. From within, he felt Gugu 2.0's energy resonated with the thought.

Unlike Venn's energy, Zero felt a lot more comfortable with Gugu. In fact, he felt comforted that there was someone else who understood him so well.

Duu 2.0 observed Zero for any change in the mana and personality but found none. If anything, Zero looked more relieved after forming a bond with Gugu.

"Really... what was it that Zero wanted so much in this world? Doesn't he already own everything there is to own?" Duu 2.0 wondered silently and waited for Jevy 2.0 to make her move.