Chapter 57 - Challenge – Part 8

The Void:

In this pitch-black place, Nazar found a Dullahan but they soon discovered Wrath of the Seven Deadly Sins.

(“What do you want, Wrath… Hey, what are you doing? You know you can’t crush my head in here, right? Most attacks are simply nullified.”)

(“Yes, I know.”)

Wrath sighed.

(“I wish I could kill you but the Goddess doesn’t want that.”)

Nazar’s eyes widened.

(“Tell that bitch that I will fucking kill her.”)

(“You should have killed her when you slept with her.”)

Nazar’s heart skipped a beat.

He knew that the Goddess and that woman was the same, but Wrath proved that again. So, he is not sure how to really take this.

But that was not what surprised him the most.

How did Wrath know about that?

Nazar tried to tell many people and it didn’t work, but Wrath knows.

(Could it be… Why...)

He thought to himself.

(She told him?!? But why? And why can’t I tell anyone else? The fuck?)

Being angry, he tried to remove Wrath’s hand off his head.

However.

(“Don’t struggle.”)

(This fucker… I am going to kill him.)

(“Ah. I am done.”)

Wrath let go of Nazar and vanished into thin air.

Nazar, being freed and left alone with Dullahan, screamed in confusion.

However, no words will come out.

That is the rule of this place.

(“God, what is happening?”)

The emotionless and expressionless Dullahan spoke in Nazar’s mind.

(“Not sure… I am leaving. Bye.”)

(“Wait!”)

(“Hm?”)

(“The Demon King… He needs your help. Plea--”)

(Resurrect!)

A light appeared and swallowed Nazar.

The Dullahan went back to Hell.

The Demon King still had spikes in his body and the chains were burning hotter than ever.

She kneeled before the Demon King.

“I am sorry, my lord. But God--”

“Shut up! I already… ngh… Expected… ARGHGHG!!!”

The Demon King cried in pain and agony once more.

လလလ

Now, Nazar was sitting in his living room and was staring at the wall.

He was shaking with fear.

(Shit! How...?)

Laura had taken the food from him and was in the kitchen.

“Hi, Nazar?”

He gulped once he heard her voice.

He thought she had noticed that he was shaking with fear.

“What is it?”

“Why is there blood on the tissue?”

(Wait, no...)

Nazar looked at his hand and noticed that blood was falling from it.

Seeing that, he frowned.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I… I cut my hand with a knife.”

“Is that so?”

Nazar knew that Laura didn’t believe him.

So, he tried to change the subject.

“Hey, why is that you call me by name sometimes and other times as ‘sweetie’? It gets confusing, you know?”

“Oh that… I don’t know, it depends. I call you whatever I feel like it. Whether its Nazar, sweetie or dude or bitch. Or whatever else comes to mind.”

She laughed.

“Cool.”

Laura came into the room and sat on her knees before him.

Nazar looked at her with a confused look on his face.

She touched his hand.

“What are you…?”

Once Nazar noticed what she was doing, he tried to remove her hand but Laura had already noticed.

He might have placed an illusion around himself but at the end of the day, it was just an illusion. If someone were to touch Nazar, the remains of his blood will stay on them.

So, once she removed her hand, she saw the blood on her hand.

With her other hand, she touched his face.

Removing her other hand, it also had blood on it.

“Ah. That’s… As I said, its… a cut.”

“A cut? Then why are you shaking so much? Why is there blood on your face too?”

“Well...”

(Why is not dried up?)

Nazar averted his gaze.

“I noticed it earlier. The plastic bag was shaking and when I touched your hand slightly, I noticed how much you were shaking it. Your voice is off too. When you feel scared, it gets a little squeaky. Your throat gets dry too, so it's noticeable when you are speaking.”

Nazar himself never noticed that his voice gets a little squeaky.

“And you placed an illusion around yourself. So, I don’t notice, right?”

Nazar found himself surprised.

"Is it because I asked you that I want to be happy? Is that it?"

“What? No. It’s not...”

“Remove that illusion, will you?”

Nazar removed the illusion around him.

Laura saw the remains of blood all over his face and arms. However, she was unfazed by that.

In the original time - which Laura remembers - she saw Nazar die many times before her eyes. So, it did not bother her as much as it should have.

“What happened?”

“I had to use too much power and… well… The veins in my body just popped.”

She was unfazed by it earlier, but she cringed now.

"But then someone healed me. So, it's alright now."

“But why are you scared?”

“I am...”

Nazar looked down.

“Remember someone who was messing with me?”

Laura nodded.

“Michael had mentioned someone and then there was… someone else. I had a feeling both of them were one person but now someone confirmed it.”

“Oh?”

“As for the fear… I can’t explain it myself. Ever since I came back from the Void, I have been constantly shaking because of fear. And… I am feeling very cold for some reason.”

(What is this unexplainable fear? I have felt it many times before but... but why?)

“Well, whatever the case, go and take a shower. You look horrible.”

Nazar stood up and went into the bathroom.

He slowly took off his clothes due to pain.

Eddie had healed Nazar’s exterior wounds but most of his interior wounds had not been healed. He had multiple broken bones in his hand. He broke his hand when he punched Chris Fisher.

“I will need to go to Chias and heal myself there.”

Chias has better medical technology than Earth. And of course, there were also magicians like Lian and Baros who could heal Nazar very quickly.

He took off his clothes and started washing his body slowly.

Since he was feeling a lot of pain. He found it hard to do so.

So, he filled the tub with hot water and lay down in it.

“Ngh. This should help a little.”’

He noticed his shaking body and let out a sigh.

“I wish I could have gone through this without letting her know...”

Nazar closed his eyes as he lay down in the tub.

But suddenly, he opened his eyes once he heard the door opening.

From the corner of his eye, he a figure.

Looking at it, he saw Laura.

“I am glad to see you naked but--”

“Shut up! Let me help you.”

Nazar tried to play off as everything is fine but Laura seemed serious.

“Oh no, it’s fine. I can--”

“Do it with a broken hand?”

Nazar's eyes widened.

“I am amazed at how… At how you noticed all... of these things so quickly.”

Nazar tried to hide away the pain but Laura noticed and rolled her eyes.

Laura crouched next to the tab.

“Just stay still. I will wash you off.”

“I appreciate the help but it’s okay. I can do it myself. You have already helped me enough.”

“I said, shut up!”

Laura sighed.

“Would you not do the same for me?”

“Well...”

“If I had broken bones? And insides that were hurting me? Would you let me do everything myself and not help?”

“I could use my powers and...”

“Let’s pretend: you don’t have your powers and I had an accident.”

“...”

“So, when I was coming home, I was in a car accident. And there are no hospitals or doctors. The only thing you can do is wait for me to help. Will you not do the same for me?”

Nazar looked down.

As he looked down, he noticed something.

His eyes widened.

“Hey, Laura?”

“Yes?”

“Can you increase the distance between us?”

“Huh?”

“Slowly walk away from me. I want to test something.”

Laura chuckled in a confused manner and said, “What?”

“Please?”

She did as Nazar asked.

Nazar watched his body closely. He also kept a close eye on his heartbeat.

He was not shaking as much as he was earlier.

Laura stood up and walked away.

Nazar’s eyes widened.

“It can’t be...”

Nazar’s body started to shake heavily.

“What is it?”

Nazar looked at Laura.

“Can you come here again? Please?”

She sighed and did as Nazar asked.

Nazar’s shaking slowed down slightly the closer Laura came in.

“Can you walk back? I know I am being stupid but...”

“Sure.”

Laura walked away slowly.

“Ah.”

“Hm?”

“The radius is 1 meter. Interesting.”

“What is happening?”

“I think I figure it out.”

“Figured out what?”

“Remember how the Nameless One placed that energy within you?”

She nodded.

“It was used to keep my emotions in check. When I was scared or when angry, you being around me, calmed me down.”

“I remember that. So?”

“There are remains of it left within you. Even now.”

Her eyes widened.

“I need to get rid of it.”

Nazar looked a little happy for some reasons but also kind of sad.

“And you are going to get rid of the only thing that’s helping you calm down?”

Nazar nodded.

Laura frowned and said, “Are you stupid?”

“I don’t want it to hurt--”

“Why don’t you do something? Turn it into something… I don’t know… something good?”

Nazar looked at her with a confused expression.

“Change it…”

Laura folded her arms and leaned against the wall as she thought.

“Hmm...”

(Accessing Nazar 1.0.)

Nazar forms changed.

Suddenly, he felt extreme mental and physical pain.

“I will… get rid… ngh… of it.”

“Don’t!”

“Wh-what?”

“You can do anything right?”

Nazar nodded with pain.

“Change it. Use the remains of it, get rid of anything bad it has and turn it into something that helps you calm down. Not emotional manipulation like last time but something that calms you down. At least temporarily. For now.”

“Oh. But are you--”

She nodded.

Nazar looked at Laura as his eyes turned into blue energy.

“Got it!”

Laura crouched next to him.

Touching the centre of her chest, she felt a little change within her.

It did not hurt in any way but she felt something change. Something she couldn’t notice even if she tried.

Nazar felt like passing out due to the pain, so...

(Accessing Nazar 3.1.)

Changing his form helped him stay conscious.

However, he started to breathe very heavily.

“You okay?”

Nazar nodded.

“I should be fine in a few seconds.”

“Just stay still and I will help you clean up.”

“Thanks...”

She helped him clean up.

“You have normal clothes, right?”

Nazar nodded.

“I will get them for you.”

“No… Okay, thanks.”

Nazar did not want to let her do everything but he knew that rebutting will not work.

လလလ

After a while, Nazar and Laura were sitting down at the dining table and eating.

“Your eyes look like shit. You need to sleep.”

“I… I can’t.”

“When was the last time you slept?”

“Weeks ago.”

“And you can’t sleep because?”

“Even if I were to explain it, you won’t hear anything. Simply put, it's fear.”

Laura noticed something.

“But you slept the other day.”

“That’s shutting off my brain to kill time, honestly. It used to help but it stopped being useful years ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“It used to help me relax my body and mind but it doesn’t work like that anymore. When I use it now, it just kills time. It doesn’t help me relax at all. In fact, it usually has the opposite effect. Just like it has in the last few days.”

“That sucks.”

“It does. But I can go without sleep for a few weeks in this form.”

“Look yourself in the mirror once.”

“If I hadn’t used everything, I could have done it.”

“Well, you can’t now, can you?” Laura said as she shrugged.

Nazar sighed.

“What if I sleep with you tonight? Would that work?”

Nazar thought about it.

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t we try it?”

“I don’t want to make--”

“Oh for the love of…”

Laura frowned.

“Just for tonight, don’t worry about me, got it?”

Nazar looked down.

He was feeling guilty for being a nuisance.

He always wanted something fun to happen in his life and the last few weeks has been full of a lot of interesting things. But at the same time, it was full of bad things too.

So, he hates being powerless at this time.

What if something happens? Can he protect the ones close to him?

လလလ

After eating, Nazar lied down on the bed.

Laura lied down next to him and said, “Let’s see if this works. If it doesn’t work… Oh, well, at least we tried.”

“Thanks.”

He forced his eyes shut and immediately fell asleep.

He was expecting that woman to taunt him in his dreams again. But nothing like that happened.

He was sleeping without being awakened by an ugly nightmare - which is always the silhouette of that woman and her taunting words.

A brief smile appeared on his sleeping face.

Seeing that, Laura smiled.

“Huh, who knew. It worked.”

Suddenly, she let out a heavy sigh.

“I forgot to bring in water.”

She stood and left the room.

As soon as she left, Nazar sat up, breathing heavily.

He placed his hand on face.

“I knew it! I knew it will not work...”

Nazar stood up and opened the drawer.

He started looking for something.

After a short while, Laura entered and asked, “What are you doing? I thought you were asleep?”

“It’s, uh… I don’t know.”

“What are you looking for?”

“A teleporter. I had one in here.”

“Why do you need that?”

“I need to go to Chias to heal myself. They also have medicine which allows you to stay awake for a very long time, without needing to rest.”

Laura let out a heavy sigh.

“You are so stupid.”

Nazar continued to look for the teleporter but he had a hard time finding it.

“Why don’t you call one of them here? You know, to bring the things you need?”

“Ah...”

Nazar pulled a phone out of his pocket.

“Why did I not think of that?”

She let out another sigh.

“Oh, and don’t ask for that medicine. Just someone or something to heal you.”

“Huh?”

“Who uses it? The medicine, I mean.”

“The military and explorers.”

“And when do they take it?”

“It depends but usually right before they leave for their, uh, shift.”

“So, right after they have rested, right?”

Nazar nodded his head.

“So, it won’t work for you. If you rest tonight and take it tomorrow, it might work. But for now, it won’t do you much. Especially mentally.”

“Oh...”

Using the communicator in his phone, Nazar messaged Baros and called him here.