Endless Void

The whole bar was silent as Gen was thrown, and then they stared in the direction of where he had fallen.

One person then asked, "What happened? Why did Karin throw that guy?"

"I'm not sure, but Gerald had just confessed to her. I don't know if it has anything to do with it."

"Shouldn't someone go see if he's okay? Karin threw him, and it didn't look like she was holding back. He could very well be unconscious and have some broken bones."

"Be my guest, that is, if you don't mind being the next one thrown at a table by Karin."

"... I Better let it go. He should be fine."

The table had broken into several pieces of wood, which were covering Gen. A few moments passed, and Gen got up from the floor, pushing the pieces of the table aside, and upon appearing, he looked fine, too fine.

His clothes were not dirty or messy, and he didn't seem to have injured any part of his body.

Gen then said, "Hahaha. Now I know why you like her so much, Gerald. I, too, love wild women like her, but this little throw of yours has disappointed me. I know someone who would do much better, but enough talk, let's get the fun started."

Gen then began to use his essence, and suddenly, the bar started to expand and continued to a point where none of the walls could be seen. Everyone was startled to see this, and some people said, "What's going on?!"

"It looks like it's the thrown guy who's doing this. He's an awakened one!"

"This time, Karin has played with her luck too much. I hope nothing happens."

"I think we're past that point. I hope Karin will be okay."

Watching the bar expand, Karin thought, 'That's right, he's an awakened ... now what do I do?'

Gen then said, "Let's go play a little Karin.", and suddenly appeared in front of her and then said, "Now, you come here, Gerald.", and Gerald then appeared next to Karin.

Gen then said, "Well, you clearly need to resolve this situation between you. So until you two work it out, I'm going to ground you in the Void."

Gen then took a candle that was on one of the walls and pushed away all the other light sources and other people from around them until it got to the point where the only light present was from the candle in his hand, and the only people there were the three of them.

Gerald then asked, "Gen, where did you bring us?"

"I told you I'll leave you in the void for a while so you can talk."

"What do you mean in the void, Gen?"

"Don't worry, there's no danger."

Karin then said, "Gen, please stop. There's no need for you to get involved. Gerald and I will work it out later."

"If you were going to work it out, you would have done it already in the past two years. You clearly need help."

Gen then began to walk clockwise around Gerald and Karin with the candle in his left hand so that much of the light was being blocked by his body. Gen then kept walking to a point where Karin said, "What's going on? What is this wall?"

On the path Gen had passed, an utterly dark wall had formed.

Gen then said, "It's not a wall. It's more like a curtain, but as I said, no need to worry. I just want to give you guys some space to talk."

Gen then continued walking around them, and as he walked, a black wall formed around them. And after walking a complete circle around them, it closed into a black dome.

Gerald then said, "Gen, I know you're trying to help us, and I appreciate that, but you don't need to. Get us out of here."

And Gen said, "Gerald, now that I've started, I won't stop.", and then he made a circle with his hands, putting his thumbs and forefingers together.

He then closed his eyes and, after a few seconds in silence, opened them and looked toward the black dome he had made. He then took a deep breath and said, "Endless detention!"

As he said this, a circular air current formed inside the circle he made with his hands. It was tiny compared to it, almost like a dot. 

At the same moment that this air current formed in his hand, another current formed at the base of the dome.

Gen then looked at the air current in his hand and said, "Expand!", the current then began to widen, getting larger with each passing second, until it reached the size of the circle Gen had made with his fingers.

Gen then lowered his hands, and the air current around the dome disappeared, but the current in his hand kept floating as if nothing had happened.

Gen then heard Dehji speaking, 'Gen, how did you do that?'

"That? I just-"

'Gen, you're speaking out loud.'

'Ah! That's right.', Gen said and then continued, 'Well, like I was saying, it was pretty simple. I just made it so that my shadow never ends, and using it, I shaped this dome around them, then I made the space inside the dome widen so there's no way for them to get out of there. I mean, at least for now. The dome isn't really endless, it just-'

'Gen! I know what you did. Have you forgotten that you're using my essence?'

'Oh, that's true, but what did you think of the name? Endless detention is nice, isn't it?'

'Well, it's not bad, but I think it could have a better name.'

Gen then turned the bar back to its normal size, walked over to his table, sat down, and said to the waiter, "Buddy, get me another one of those drinks, please."

"Right away."

Everyone then saw the black dome in the middle of the bar and then looked in Gen's direction, but after a while, they turned away, thinking, 'Better not mess with an awakened one.'

Gen then said, 'What do you think would be a better name?'

'Endless punishment would be more impactful, don't you think?'

'Well, that's true, but I'm not punishing them or anything. I'm just giving them a space to talk, but I get your point. Hmm, what do you think of endless imprisonment?'

'Hmm, it's not like they're actually imprisoned because, like you said, the dome has an end.'

'That's right ... hmmm, how do you feel about final isolation?'

'How old are you? Twelve? What's that name? Just hearing it makes me ashamed.'

'... Now that you've said it, just the thought of saying it out loud makes me ashamed, too.'

Gen was silent for a while until he said, 'Well, I'm out of ideas.'

'Didn't you say you were going to put them in the Void?'

'Yes.'

'Why don't you call it that then?'

'It's just that I didn't think it would have much impact to say Void. I can see myself saying it and someone asking what's void.'

'That's right ... maybe adding something will make it better.'

'Hmm, what about Big Void.'

'No.'

'True Void.'

'It's not that bad, but you're not making a real void. It's contradictory.'

'Hmmm ... how about Endless Void.'

'Endless Void ... I like it!'

'Me too, it's a good name, isn't it?'

'It really is. Try to talk in an impactful way.'

'Endless Void!', 'That's the one! It sounds so good.'

'That's right, I'm glad we could work it out.'

'Yeah ... hang on!'

The waiter then came over with Gen's drink, and he said, "Thanks, buddy."

Dehji then said, 'Gen, that's not what I wanted to talk about.'

"It's not? what-, oops.", 'What did you want to talk about?'

'How did you manage to make this dome?'

'Dehji, I was explaining to you just now, but you interrupted me saying you already knew.'

'No, Gen. My essence is on the External level, right?'

'Yeah.'

'So how did you affect the whole bar with it?'

'What do you mean, Dehji? I just used the essence normally. It's not like I'm on the body level. What's the problem with me being able to affect the whole bar on the external level?'

'What's the problem? It's pretty simple: how are you using the essence outside your core?'

Gen then said, 'Who says I'm using the essence outside my core?'

'No one, but you're not going to tell me that your core is the size of this bar, right?'

'It's not.'

'That's what I thought, so how-'

'It's not the size of this bar. It's bigger.'

'What?! What do you mean bigger?! The core of an awakened on the outer level is around two meters in radius. How can you have a core bigger than this bar?'

'Ah, now I see what the problem is. It's simple: you are defining the size of my core based on the level of your essence. However, you forgot that I have two other essences outside of yours.'

'That's true!'