“REACH, the Celestials. They are the same. All you are doing here is fighting a battle that has been laid out for you for a long time. If you save your planet then that’s good for you and if you don’t then it’s bad for you. But it doesn’t matter to them in the least! Their true goal is to build a proper fighter to put in the Temple of Celestials. The Temple is like a path between this mortal plane and the celestial plane. A bridge, if you will. In other words, they just want you to come to them. The Celestials are going to put you in a battle with many more ‘chosen’ from other worlds. All of you will have to fight against whatever they place you against and if you win at the end of it all, you gain entrance into the world of the Celestials”

The man also told Han that the chosen were put up against each other in that place and they were all after the primary goal of gaining entrance into the celestial plane itself.

Han’s hand tightened into fists.

“Were they ever going to tell me all this? That all I’ve been doing was just a waste of time!?”

“Of course, they were. Why would they hide it from you? After all, you’re going to want to go all on your own. Their offer is usually so enticing that you have no choice but to go on your own”

Han wondered what kind of offer they could possibly give that would make him want to leave his world and go to some faraway temple. It sounded like something straight out of a manga. A messed up one. But what the Binary said about the method of entering the world of Celestials still didn’t seat well with Han. Did that mean that after all the fighting, only one person can enter the celestial plane?

“So only one person gets to go in?”

The binary rose a brow at Han’s question. When did he ever say that?

“No, as many as they want can enter. As long as you pass all the tests, you can enter”

Han asked him why people would even want to fight for something like that and the answer he got back was so straightforward that he couldn’t even deny it.

Power.

“Of course!”

....

“What’s in it for me?”

The Binary suddenly looked down at Han with shock before it changed to a cold look as his voice took on a more serious tone.

“So, knowing that you are killing someone that played with you is not enough for you. You still want more?”

Han stared right back with the same intensity! Plus ultra!

“No, it sure as hell isn’t enough!”

The Binary scoffed before he began to laugh loudly. Yes! This man was perfect! Never let an opportunity go! He already planned not to give these gifts to Han if he didn’t show his backbone. But he was glad that Han was not going to just follow blindly. That was the sort of person he wanted to trust his gifts too!

“I will give you the skills that made me the most feared Binary in my time. Remember that these skills are not known by the Celestials, so you better keep it a secret. In that plane, you are only as strong as the Binary that your system was created from. And so (By extensions) you have no excuses to be weak since I am the strongest there is”

The Binary tossed something at Han and Han caught it. It was a brown seed that resembled the first one he ate to get his powers. Was this a repeat?

“I’m sure you remember what that seed looks like. I was so stubborn about not combining with anybody else back then that even the scientist became angry that his strongest system wanted to only combine with a human. I locked these skills away because I didn’t want you to become too strong too quickly. If you grew too fast, then the celestial would not let you rest. They would keep watching you, and you wouldn’t have the freedom to do what I need you to. But now I’m sure you will be able to handle it properly.”

Han brought the seed up and eyed it suspiciously. He didn’t think it was a good thing to just eat whatever he was given. He still didn’t have the poison immunity skill, you know.

“You don’t have to take it here. Don’t worry. I just want to tell you that what I’m giving you is my essence. My full power. You can do whatever you want with it, but there are conditions. The first is that you must go to the temple of Celestials. There is no other way to reach the creator. The second thing is that you must never tell anyone you met me. Especially not that scientist that creates these things”

Han rose a brow. Was this Binary talking about that man he met in the void? The irritating white highlight of a man. Han would understand if that man was evil. He seemed like someone who would kill people just to see how quickly they could bleed out and then later claim it was just curiosity. A crazy person!

“Oh, it seems you know him. I would advise you to be careful around him. He might label himself as a scientist, but he is surely far more than that. If you aren’t careful, you’ll be dancing in his palms before you know it.”

Han nodded and then squeezed the seed in his hand tightly.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Is there anything else?”

The Binary smiled nostalgically. He was a little skittish about dying.. This was the last fragment of his soul and he didn’t know how it would feel to finally disappear.