Mikhail gave a long, drawn out sigh at Alex''s question. He knew Alex would have such a depressing reaction after being ryed such information.

    He couldn''t me the kid.

    His frail body seemed to sink deeper into his memories. For a moment, the silence that was left between them was all epassing, filled only by the sounds of Alex breathing.

    Then, he spoke.

    "You''re wrong. Alex. I did fight back. I fought with everything I had. With all the knowledge, all the strength, all the time I could scrape together. I tried to deliver a crushing blow to the System, and yet I failed."

    Alex didn''t respond immediately due to how confused he was.

    First Mikhail spoke about how Alex was wrong to think such depressing thoughts, and then he goes on to describe how he, a Universal God, failed to fight back against the System. Wasn''t that whole thing just contradictory?

    Besides, he wasn''t even sure how to respond even if he did. What could he say to a man who had stood at the peak of existence and still been brought to his knees?

    Mikhail continued though, with his tone nowced with an edge of killing intent beneath his aged weariness.

    "But that doesn''t mean you will fail."

    Alex looked up, confused.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I wasn''t chosen, Alex. I rose up through sheer force and will. Through talent, through obsession. I stumbled upon the truth and bore it alone, without any outside help. But you… you were chosen."

    He paused.

    "By me."

    This time Alex was just lost for words.

    What did the old fart even mean by saying that he chose him?

    How exactly did he choose him? When??

    "It wasn''t random either. You were the perfect person from the moment you awakened your talent. Don''t mistake my words for saying that all of your strength, all of your achievements over your time of being an awakened were not a result of your own efforts, but a result of the hidden guidance I had given you. All of those achievements are your own, and you should be proud of them. Nobody can take them away from you."

    Mikhail took a long breath in as speaking for so long seemed to be quite draining on his body.

    "I don''t have much long left…" He mumbled quietly.

    "Ahem! Anyway. Back to my original point – you were quite literally the perfect person to be chosen by me, almost like fate had a hand in it itself. Your talent, Soulforge, is the only thing in this entire universe that can give us a chance to break free of the System''s influence."

    Mikhail''s expression grew distant, as if he were trying to find a a way to break something fragile to Alex.

    "Virtue''s Edge was never meant to be a weapon to end the System," he spoke finally. "Not at first, at least.

    Alex furrowed his brow. He remembered how awed he had been when he first obtained Virtue''s Edge. It was the first, and still the only, growth type weapon he had ever seen, so it was natural to be so awed by it.

    And even more so when he found out it was supposed to be Mikhai''s greatest creation, though unfinished.

    But now the cracks were starting to show in that story.

    "I don''t understand," Alex said. "You made the sword, but it wasn''t enough. So what, you were hoping someone else could finish the job?"

    Mikhail nodded faintly.

    "Not just someone, but you."

    Alex''s heart skipped a beat.

    "While I forged Virtue''s Edge as the ultimate weapon, it still wasn''t enough in the end. All because of one thing."

    He sighed, looking fondly at the sword in his hands.

    "The System''s chains."

    A grimace crossed his face when he said so.

    No matter what, he still had the System''s interface before his inevitable fight with it and sealing himself away.

    Which also allowed the System to influence Virtue''s Edge, limiting it to only a certain level of power, leaving Mikhail powerless to do anything about it.

    "In the end, it alles down to the nigh omnipotent control the System has over everything and everyone in the universe."

    Mikhail spoke while continuing to eye up the sword.

    "Which is why you are so important, Alex. You can finally break those chains controlling you, setting yourself free of all the System''s limits."

    He didn''t give Alex the chance to gather any of his thoughts and speak.

    "When you finallyplete thisst creation of mine, you will have the power to break the System''s chains."

    ''How the fuck am I supposed to do that though if not even someone as powerful as you could finish creating the sword!?'' Alex questioned internally, bing more and more frustrated by the heavy weight of responsibility Mikhail was cing on his shoulders.

    Like he could read Alex''s mind, Mikhail answered his concerns.

    "There is only one thing powerful enough to do so." Mikhail spoke.

    "The soul of a Universal God."

    Mikhail limped over to the anvil and sat down, holding Virtue''s Edge with a fond look in his eyes.

    He ced it down, now resting it in the grass. He knelt before it, and painfully,id his wrinklednd along the t side of the de.

    "I knew I wouldn''t win," Mikhail revealed.

    "When I reached Universal Godhood, the truth was already too clear. The System lies in a level even above that, a rank I''ve coined Cosmic God. I could fight it, yes. But win?" He shook his head slowly.

    "No. Not with the System blocking any and every chance at ever doing so."

    He looked over at Alex, with his gaze bing sharper than ever before.

    "You are young. Clean. Your soul is your own. And your Soulforge… your soulforge makes it possible."

    Alex took an unconscious step back, as he knew what Mikhail was getting at without him having to spell it out for him.

    There was no possible way for Alex to obtain the soul of a Universal God when the System had either killed them all, or had the rest under its control.

    …Except for the one nowying on the grass, right in front of him.

    "No… But how…? Soulforge doesn''t even work that way? I mean…"

    He stuttered and stammered as a single tear unconsciously found its way falling down his face.

    "Yes, it doesn''t work that way in any normal situation. But that''s because the System has limited it severely."

    Mikhail coughed, looking up at the pale sky.

    "But there''s no System in this space to limit you anymore."

    He looked over to Alex.

    "It''s time."