Author's note: By release order, this chapter is supposed to be after chapter 14 'The Last Fragment', but chronologically it happened first. As such, it is your choice when exactly do you want to read this. This gives the backstory of Rimuru and how the current events came about. I hope you like it.
After all the wars are over, Rimuru finally ascended to godhood and became the supreme deity. Now the only thing left for him to do was restore the world and manage his nation.
50 Years later-
"Rimuru sama have you finished all the paperwork I gave you last time?" asked Shuna with a smile on her face.
"Yes mam! almost done!" Replied Rimuru hurriedly.
And so the days went by and day by day Rimuru was tortured to work like a slave.
"Noooooo! no more! I want a break otherwise my remaining 2 brain cells are going to explode too" cried Rimuru.
/Lady Shuna is already angry due to your delayed work last time. If you don't complete your work this time master, you may not be able to see the sun rise next time/
"I know I know. But seriously this time if i don't get a break I will not be able to go on"
Seeing the terrible misery Rimuru was in, Ciel suggested a new form of entertainment for Rimuru, that is, creating other universes and exploring them for fun.
"Lets begin with one piece!"
/Yes master i have already done all the preparations. When we return we will come back to this exact point in time so that even if you spend years in that universe, when you come back you will be right here, in front of that huge pile of paperwork/
And thus began the journey of Rimuru exploring various worlds, starting here with the one piece world one by one for entertainment. Every 50-100 years or so Rimuru would choose a new universe to create and explore, sometimes not interfering directly and just watching from the sidelines, other times changing even the basic storyline and creating chaos etc.
Rimuru had already given up his omnipotence and omniscience to Ciel, who kept it permanently sealed away except for when creating a new universe.
This new form of entertainment Rimuru discovered was very amusing, but even so it had to come to an end.
A few thousand years later-
"What should I do now Ciel? I have already explored a lot of universes and have kinda gotten bored of it" said Rimuru in a bored voice.
/You have already added so many universes to your personal collection. Why not just check on their progress then?/
"I want to do something better. Lets do a new experiment" said Rimuru.
/A new experiment as in?/
"Lets create a new dimension! A completely different dimension from the ones we have. It will give birth to a lot of new concepts and will thus increase the modes of entertainment we have" said Rimuru excitedly.
/Yes that is possible, but wouldn't it get completely normal again since you will be residing over all the dimensions in the end anyway?/ asked Ciel.
"Nah. This time I will not be residing in that dimension. We will be creating a higher dimension in a completely different plane than everything we have right now, and then create a mediator and overseer which will manage it and overlap it with our current dimensions" explained Rimuru.
/I see. So you want to give control of that dimension to a different being so that it adds an element of surprise in your daily life. I understand. We can do it, but it is going to be very very difficult/ said Ciel.
"It doesn't matter. We already have a huge ton of turn null and stardust energy collected over these few thousand years that I don't even know what to do about. As for time we can just manipulate it" said Rimuru.
/Alright master. First we will need an entity with a capable will to undertake this kind of project, and then make it create a new plane. Then over time, we will teach it to communicate and overlap with the existing dimensions/
"Yes understood. And what do you suggest we should do to create such a will?"
/We will have to use your soul as a base and hope that it develops further. That is going to be a pure chance happening and we will just have to wait/
"Alright. I understand. You are free to do it" said Rimuru.
Rimuru then separated his soul into two halves, and gave up one half of it to Ciel. Ciel then divided the half of Rimuru's soul into a trillion pieces, and spread it across the dimensions. Then Ciel used the energy Rimuru had collected to create a trillion universes, each having its origin point as one of Rimuru's soul's fragments.
*boom*
In an instant, a trillion big bangs happened and a trillion universes came into being.
Now the only thing left to do was wait and see if any of the fragments end up developing into a being of a new dimension, while providing them with some stimulus from time to time.
"Lets make this process a little quick"
/Yes master/
With that, Ciel accelerated the time dimension of the trillion universes to the factor of 10 raised to the power 16 times. That is approximately equal to a million years passing every 3 seconds.
"Good. Now we only need to wait"
With that, the long wait began. Rimuru and Ciel observed the various processes happening in all the universes patiently. How the various life forms develop. How they interact given the multitude of different stimulations and conditions of every universe. How the fragments of Rimuru's souls are developing.
Ciel had created each universe under different conditions, and it could be safely said the the universes were so unique that not a single thing or event could be said to be common in any of the two universes. That's how much variation in stimulus and creation was created.
Finally, after a long wait of an year, that is, a hundred trillion years in the timeline of the universes, a miracle happened. (If you want more details, ask Ciel sensei ~ Author)
"There is it! Our long wait is finally over!" said Rimuru excitedly.
/Yes master! Now we can begin the next step/ said Ciel as she picked up the fragment of soul and converged half of the remaining fragments into it, giving it a stable form.
"So this 'will' contains a quarter of my soul huh"
/Yes master. But I am afraid the next step is going to be even more difficult/ said Ciel
"Yeah I can guess. How do you communicate with something that doesn't exist in your dimension again?"
/We can't master. This creature doesn't exist in space, time or any of our other dimensions. It solely exists in its own unique dimension but since that dimension doesn't overlap with any other dimension, we can't communicate with it unless it learn to overlap its dimension itself/ explained Ciel.
"Then how are we supposed to complete the step two then?" asked Rimuru.
/There is one way master. You are still connected to this being through your soul. In other words you can transfer your skills to it via that connection/
"I see where you are getting at"
/Yes master. We can use Void God Azathoth as a medium bridge for our communication. But the only downside is we won't be able to access it, or turn null, until the dimensions overlap successfully, and simply making copies of it won't work/ said Ciel and explained all the complicated details related to it.
"Alright. Lets do this" agreed Rimuru.
With that, the step two began successfully.
/Now we have to wait again. The 'will' will slowly learn things on its own, and will eventually interact with Void God Azathoth when it is mature enough. Then we will be able to communicate with it/
"Alright"
"Kufufufu I see you are in a good mood today Rimuru sama. I take it you managed to progress on your project?"
"Yeah. It is going fantastic actually. The will is slowly starting to react somewhat. I don't think it will be long before it finishes"
"Hey Rimuru, show us that new 'will' you created as well" said Guy.
"I would love to Guy, but the problem is it doesn't actually exist yet, so you won't be able to feel its presence at all. In other words, it will be useless"
"I see. That's quite an amusing project you are working on. I look forward to see what it beings to us when it is completed" said Luminous.
5 Years later-
"Hey Rimuru, that's no reason to skip the walpurgis you know?" said Guy.
"I know Guy but you see, the will is going through a critical stage right now. I want to personally watch over its progress so let me off the hook this once" said Rimuru
"Ugh. Alright. Not like I can convince you anyway" said Guy and cut the phone.
"Yosh. Now lets see how far you have developed"
10 years later-
"So what is he up to now Shion?" asked Benimaru.
"He is looking after the will as always"
"I see. I will come back later then" said Benimaru as he was about to leave, but saw a trickle of tear slide from Shion's eye.
"You know, recently its been as if he has become very distant" said Shion quietly.
"It seems so. Let's talk to him about this when he next comes out. Maybe he just doesn't realize what he is doing" said Benimaru in an attempt to console Shion. Hearing that Shion cheered up.
"Hai!"
"So what is it you all wanted to talk to me about?" said Rimuru, sipping his tea. On the table were sitting his patrons and other close people.
"Rimuru sama, its about your recent change in behaviour" started Benimaru, breaking the silence.
"Hmmm?"
...
...
.
"I see. I am sorry everyone I didn't realize you all felt that way. I accept it is my fault for neglecting you too much for my personal reasons" said Rimuru.
"I-its alright Rimuru sama. Its just that we wish you would spend a little more time with us if your work allows it" said Benimaru.
"Alright. Lets hold a huge banquet, which will last an entire week! Its been quite a while since we did something like that" said Rimuru.
"Hai!"
"Alright little guy, I have to go out for some time now, but I am leaving my parallel existence here with you. Be sure to behave okay?" said Rimuru as he was about to leave.
/You are acting like a mother Rimuru sama/ teased Ciel.
"Hai hai. So how long do you think it will take before it finally completes?"
/At this rate it is still going to take many years master. We still can't communicate effectively with it so its difficult to tell what it is thinking or how developed it exactly is/ said Ciel.
"Alright. Lets see what happens"
With that, Rimuru left to attend the week long banquet, leaving behind his parallel existence to look after the will. Unknown to his knowledge this was going to be his greatest mistake.
The will had already developed far more than he thought. It was already long since it had began feeling some form of emotion and connection to the other dimensions via Azathoth, but had been avoiding to show it in front of Rimuru. The feeling which was starting to develop was love, or better to say extreme obsession. The will was far too obsessed with Rimuru and was happy that Rimuru had been paying all the attention to it. Soon it had realized that Rimuru wanted to see it grow, and that once it is grown fully Rimuru won't be paying as much attention to it anymore, so it had subconsciously developed the desire to delay its growth as much as possible.
Even so, it had grown to the point where it had partially realized what happened. At this instant, a new feeling developed in it. The feeling of jealousy. The fact that Rimuru had prioritized someone else rather than staying with it, such a feeling gave it pain. For the first time since its creation it felt hurt. This feeling, once born, was bound to slowly develop greater and greater.
Eventually, the will gave up the true purpose it was created for. Instead of overlapping its dimension with the existing ones, it now desired to destroy them all. Its wish was there to only exist one dimension, that is its own, with only 2 entities residing in it. It wished to forever exist with Rimuru alone. Aiming for such a goal, it desired to achieve maturity as fast as possible. As soon as it would gain full consciousness and control of the skills and powers Rimuru gave it, it would bare its fangs and destroy all the dimensions.
10 years later-
/Its too late now master. The will clearly shows hostility towards the world. It seeks to destroy all the dimensions/
"That's too bad. I didn't want it to end like this"
/Destroy it as soon as possible/
"Right. But it has gained partial control over Void God Azathoth. It is going to be difficult to deal with it"
/It is still possible master. The will is still not mature enough to use Azathoth effectively. We were able to recognize its malice in time. We should be able to destroy it with the turn null energy we already have in store/
"Alright. I hate doing this but you have left me no choice" said Rimuru and unleashed all of his stored energy at once. It resulted in the will splitting into 9 fragments.
"Looks like it wasn't enough to destroy it. Can't you just use the omnipotence you sealed away to alter this?" asked Rimuru.
/No master. The omnipotence and omniscience I had sealed away no longer exists. The existence of the new dimension has negated those concepts and I can't use it to alter the current situation, but there is something else I can do/
Ciel then concentrated all the emotions and negative energy into the nineth fragment and separated the rest.
"I see. So you separated all of its negative emotions in one fragment and everything else in the rest"
/Yes master. The will is no longer conscious now. The eight fragments are neutral fragments which will now enter the cardinal world freely and enter the cycle of birth and death if they manage to stabilize. We only need to deal with this nineth fragment now/
"I see. Good work Ciel"
Everything seemed to be in control, but it was not actually going to be that easy. Because at that moment, the voice of the world rang out, giving a critical announcement.
/Notice: The last fragment has transformed. It has now turned into a bomb. The bomb entity zero-nine is born/
Author's note: Did you like the origin story?
As always, share your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading.