The evaluation chamber was not a chamber at all in any conventional sense.
In fact, it was simply vastness given boundaries, a seemingly endless white space stretching in every direction. It was a perfect, featureless expanse that defied measurement.
Such was the evaluation chamber.
The moment the oval door spiraled shut behind Cream, it vanished entirely, leaving no seam, no trace, or any hint that an exit had ever existed at all.
Sound, vibration, light flares, kinetic shock, none of it could pierce the invisible membrane that separated this space from the waiting area that lay beyond it.
Inside, the test was absolute while outside, nothing stirred.
Cubix floated at the exact center, his six faces calm and unreadable, each reflecting the soft ambient glow that seemed to emanate from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"Now then," he said, voice steady and inviting, "tell me about yourself. Your object. Your abilities. How it all came to be. Feel free to speak freely and comfortably. After all, a story flows more truly when the teller is at ease."
"Yes, Your Eminence." Cream replied. Her pale, creamy light pulsed once in acknowledgment, then steadied as she began.
"When we were first tasked with creating our own objects, my instinct was simple. All that I needed to do was to make a copy of myself. It felt safe, and efficient. I could understand every curve, every modulation of light, and every nuance of my own form. But just as I began to shape the energy, something inside me… resisted. It wasn't fear, exactly. It was a deeper refusal, as though my core rejected the idea of making a simple copy of myself."
She paused, the memory rippling faintly across her surface.
I tried to do that anyway, not making a copy of myself.
I even went as far as forcing it.
Regardless of that, of how much effort I used, the copy still formed anyway. It was perfect on the outside, as well as identical in every measurable way.
But the moment it was complete, disgust surged through me. No, perhaps it was disappointment. In myself, in my lack of effort, as well as lack of imagination.
In the end, I ended up destroying the object.
After that, I tried again, and just like the first one, I failed to not make it a copy of myself.
I kept on trying again and again, each failure feeding the next.
I grew angrier with myself, and more disappointed at my constant failures, until finally, a different thought surfaced.
What if... I stopped trying to recreate what doesn't exist? What if I use what already exists, to make something new?
Cubix pulsed, brief and barely noticeable, after hearing her thought process. Then he calmed himself and continued listening to Cream once more.
Rather than making one perfect copy, I instead chose to make many of them at once.
I shaped them, judged them lacking, and then shattered them afterwards.
After that, I gathered the fragments, the broken shells, the scattered motes of light, as well as the deformed remnants, and fused them all together into one single form.
What emerged was nothing like the original objects.
It was solid, yes, but it was different somehow. It was softer, and more malleable than anything that I had made prior. It could dissolve and be compressed completely, yet still reform back to its shape without any trouble.
After that, I named it [Burst].
A quiet pride warmed Cream's glow.
"Soon after naming it, the abilities followed. It allowed me to absorb ambient energy of any kind, in almost any quantity, and store it within myself. Then, I can release that energy as either a wide-area pulse, as focused bursts, or as controlled waves. After practicing with myself for some time, I eventually crossed paths with Prism. She saw potential where I had only seen repeated failure. She took me in, trained me, and most of all, she gave me a purpose."
Cubix listened without interruption, his facets subtly shifting to catch every fluctuation in her light.
"I understand." he said at last. "Would you please demonstrate your abilities to me." he requested, his lights pulsing with a subtle expectation.
"Yes, Your Eminence." she complied, steadying herself.
While Cream was speaking, Cubix had been quietly saturating the space around them with dense, pressurized energy.
The field was immense, invisible yet crushing, as even the slightest movement required deliberate effort.
Cream's glow dimmed briefly under the strain, then flared as she opened herself to it. She drank the pressure in, drawing it into her core like breath.
A heartbeat later she released it, the energy, in a single, clean detonation. The shockwave rolled outward, bright and controlled, dissipating harmlessly at the chamber's unseen edges.
"I see." Cubix murmured, regarding the energy pulse.
Cream's light flickered with self-doubt. The display had felt… adequate. In fact, she herself thought that her presentation woulbe be best described as Not bad.
It was good, but not exceptional.
She knew that she could do more. No, she knew that she had to do more.
Prism had trained her relentlessly, every one of them had begged for those grueling sessions.
To falter now, to appear underwhelming before Cubix, would disgrace her mentor. Indeed, it would stain all the effort that Prism had used on them, her subordinates.
Needless to say, that was something that Cream, as one of Prism's subordinates, would accept. She would not allow herself, her actions, to waste all of Prism's efforts.
Cubix, sensing the shift in her resolve, continued on without pause. "Photon Bullets."
Tiny spheres of concentrated light materialized around him, each one a needle of pure velocity. They launched simultaneously, streaking towards Cream in a perfectly straight line at blinding speed.
Sensing them coming her way, Cream's instincts took over almost immediately.
"Energy Wall!"
She swept a line of force perpendicular to her facing plane, and a shimmering barrier snapped into existence along that line. The bullets struck it and vanished. They were absorbed, neutralized, and dissipated shortly after making contact with the barrier.
Not bad. Cubix thought. Then, how about this?
He fired again, this time varying trajectories. Some were high, some were low, and some were arcing in from oblique angles.
Cream tracked every single one of them, raising new walls with precise timing. In between blocks, she searched for openings, probing for any weakness that she could possibly exploit.
Abruptly, Cubix ceased firing.
He had not paused to think or recover. Rather, he had paused because he had recognized that Cream needed the invitation. He was simply curious to see just how Cream, with her uniquely balanced abilities, would choose to attack.
The instant the barrage stopped, Cream didn't hesitate. She seized the opening immediately.
There it is. "Burst Mines."
She pulled in a massive surge of ambient energy, compressing it into dozens of small, volatile packets. She scattered them in a loose sphere all around Cubix.
The mines detonated in chain sequence, overlapping shockwaves bloomed outward, multiplying the effective radius tenfold. The space grew hazy and distorted with thick residual light.
Using the veil, Cream pressed her advantage even further.
"AoE Dominion."
Her awareness expanded to encompass the entirety of the distorted zone. Within it, she could sense, create, suppress, and even redirect any flow of energy at will.
She clamped down on Cubix's output while simultaneously amplifying her own control. His movements slowed fractionally, and his countermeasures grew labored.
Cubix responded by triggering every remaining mine at once, not caring for the damage that they could cause to him.
The combined detonation washed over him like multiple flash grenades going off in succession. When the glare finally cleared, hairline fractures traced across his translucent Photon Shield.
Looks like she managed to damage it. he noted with genuine surprise. Given her low attack power, this is really impressive.
It's working, good. Cream thought, delighted that things were going well for her. If I jeep this up, then my chances of winning will increase.
Cream saw the cracks on the shield and redoubled her assault. Explosive pulses hammered the shield relentlessly.
Cubix did not evade, he simply stood there motionless, trusting the barrier to absorb every impact.
The blasts were fierce, but ultimately too diffuse, too shallow to shatter his defense. Cream's output lacked the kind of firepower it would take to finally destroy the shield.
It was because of this fact, that Cubix could afford to just float in one place and tank Cream's attacks.
Realizing this, Cubix made his next move. "Photon Beam."
Light coalesced around him in a searing line. And then, a single, brilliant laser lanced toward Cream.
"Energy Wa–"
"That will not this time." Cubix interrupted calmly.
Just before contact, the beam curved sharply, bending around the half-formed wall and grazing Cream's flank. She twisted aside on pure reflex, but the edge still scored her surface.
"Damn." she hissed involuntarily.
More beams followed soon after. They were faster, and more unpredictable. She raised wall after wall while also dodging, but the curving trajectories found gaps within her defense and exploited them.
At some point, grazes had started to accumulate on Cream's surface.
She was covered in small burns, with flickering patches of dimmed light. Yet she still endured.
This was because within her dominion she could use the surrounding energy to repair herself almost as quickly as the damage arrived.
As for Cubix, who was conserving his strength, as well as the fact that he was within Cream's dominion, gradually weakened.
How do I break through his defence? she thought desperately. I've thrown everything I have at him and it's still not enough.
And then, clarity.
Wait, the answer is simple.
Cream finally stopped evading and held her position.
"Have you given up?" Cubix asked, his tone both curious and surprised.
"Not at all, Your Eminence. In fact… It is the opposite of that. I have finally found a way to overcome my lack of firepower."
Her tone carried new certainty that was both respectful, and unshakable.
"Is that so." he mused, pulsing once in excitement. "Then, let me see that resolve. Photon Beams."
Twin lasers fired in parallel. They were much faster, brighter, and deadlier than the ones from before.
Cream did not flinch, nor did she try to raise a wall. She just simply watched, and waited for their arrival.
Time seemed to stretch, and the beams closed the distance.
Closer.
And closer.
And then...
"Auto Deflection." she whispered at the final instant.
Both beams bent violently away, streaking harmlessly into the void.
"Indeed, it seems as though you have finally figured it out." Cubix murmured to himself, amusement threading through his voice.
Indeed she had.
All Cream needed to do was simply avoid the incoming attacks.
With Cubix's reserves depleating rapidly, while her reserves were only gradually depleting, Cream only needed to out last Cubix, and the battle would be decided.
This was something that she only now just realized.
Since she lacked the firepower to destroy Cubix's shield, she ended up deciding to fight in a battle of attrition instead.
Her only problem until now, was making sure that she didn't receive too much damage in the meantime. That way, she could continue fighting long enough to implement an all or nothing gamble in the last moment.
This was a problem that she had finally solved.
If blocking or dodging the incoming attacks was impossible, then the only option left was to make sure that she wasn't a target of the attacks in the first place.
And deflecting the attacks before they reached her would accomplish that.
It was a feat possible all thanks to Cream's AoE Domination. By redirecting the incoming energy to somewhere else entirely, Cream would receive no damage at all.
Cubix unleashed a rapid barrage of beam attacks. They shot straight at her, curved from impossible angles, or both at the same time.
That said, each beam curved at the last possible moment, deflected away from Cream cleanly. The display continued on until Cubix's reserves were visibly thinned.
It seems as though I am almost out of energy. That said, I still have enough for one final move. Cubix thought to himself, his cubic faces pulsing slightly with excitement.
Then he decided on one final gambit.
I wonder how she'll react to this. "Photon Tri-Beam."
Three streams converged mid-flight into a single, colossal lance that was brighter, faster, and stronger than anything Cubix had displayed so far.
Once again, Cream did not move. Rather, she couldn't move even if she wanted to. The beam was so fast that she herself couldn't react to it in time.
However, for whatever reason, Cream pulsed with both relief and excitement. In fact, if she had a mouth, the Creator would surely be grinning right now.
And so, the beam struck her dead-center.
And vanished inside her.
I see, so this was her plan all along. Cubix realized.Truly impressive.
A heartbeat later, the beam erupted from her opposite side. The beam was redirected, amplified, and was screaming back toward Cubix.
He had no energy left to counter, nor did he have enough time to evade a tracking beam. His only defense was the fractured shield that he couldn't restore since he was conserving his energy.
As for why he hasn't restored it before?
Cubix was gradually having his energy drained from him by Cream's AoE Domination. As such, Cubix needed to plan carefully about when and where to use his remaining energy efficiently.
Since Cream couldn't fully break through it all by herself, and her defenses were being exploited by him, Cubix felt that it was better to quickly eliminate her by injuring her badly enough that the evaluation would stop.
That meant he wouldn't need to focus on his defense, but on his offense instead.
Still, Cubix hadn't expected Cream to be as tenacious as she was. By the time he realized that she was opting for a battle of attrition, Cubix no longer had the choice of restoring his barrier.
Even if he had chosen to use the little energy he had left to restore the barrier, at best, it would have only slightly restored the barrier. The difference would be something like going from a 5 to going to a 6 or 7.
With that in mind, Cubix felt it was best to gamble on one last attack.
It would be an attack so fast that Cream wouldn't be able to react to it, much less deflect it. Little did he know that she had not only expected such an outcome, but had prepared to counter it as well.
All she needed to do was treat the beam like any other ambient energy and absorb it within herself. Once that was done, she could simply shoot it back at Cubix.
Furthermore, because the beam had come from Cubix himself, when Cream shot it back at him, it carried the same amount of energy, speed, and strength. This guaranteed that Cubix's barrier would be destroyed no matter what.
In short, Cubix had lost the moment he chose not to repair his barrier when he had the chance.
The returned strike hammered home, causing a massive explosion to erupt then and there.
When the glare faded, Cubix's shield had been reduced to nothing more than particles of light.
That said, there is a reason as to why Cream could fight on par with Cubix in the first place.
Cubix had deliberately limited himself from the very beginning, scaling his power to roughly match each of Prism's subordinates' ceiling.
Without that restraint, then no a single Entity, not even all of Prism's subordinates combined, could even hope to scratch him.
Such was the overwhelming difference in ability between Cubix and every other Entity. It was summit so high, that one couldn't even perceive its peak, much less hope to reach it.
This is sufficient. "Let us end here." he announced.
"Yes, Your Eminence."
The test had never been about victory. In fact, it was more about revelation, about measuring potential, creativity, as well as adaptability.
And Cream had shown all three.
"Impressive indeed." Cubix said sincerely. "You may leave now. Call the next one in."
"Thank you, Your Eminence."
A new door spiraled open in the emptiness, bright white at its birth, darkening to absolute black as it sealed. Cream drifted through, her glow brighter than when she had entered.
Alone for a moment, Cubix turned his attention outward, toward nothing in particular.
I hope you enjoyed the performance, Milady.
Elsewhere in the castle, in a private viewing chamber, two presences watched the entire exchange unfold on a vast, floating pane of light.
She held her own remarkably well. Prism thought, pride warming her triangular facets.
"That was a very good introduction." Milady mused, her multicolored surface shimmering with quiet satisfaction.
"I'm glad you think so as well, Milady." Prism replied with deep sincerity.
"Indeed, I can't wait to see more."
—Back in the evaluation room—
The door warped open once more, blinding white, then deepest black, as another sphere drifted through.
Cubix regarded the newcomer calmly.
"Greetings," he said. "Step forward and we will begin."