Chapter 117

Arc 14 - Absolute Wish - Part 1

Plymouth, UK - Earth:

“So, we finally meet,” said a white energy being that radiated nothing but holiness. “God.”

Nazar, who sat opposite the holy being in the living room of his house, leaned back in his chair and clicked his tongue.

“Cut to the chase, Supreme One.”

The one sitting opposite him, the Supreme One, crossed his legs on the sofa.

“We have met before under… substandard circumstances,” the Supreme One’s artificial sound carried a hint of regret. “So, at last, it’s time for us to talk.”

The Supreme One and Nazar have met a few times before. Either through avatars or when Supreme One appeared before Nazar when he was still inside Aya’s womb, which Nazar remembers.

“Yes,” Nazar spread his arms wide on the cushion of the sofa, “‘Substandard circumstances’ which were rather ‘standard circumstances’ for you.” A thin smile, which hid his annoyance spread across his face. “Am I wrong?”

“No, not at all, God.”

“Nazar,” he spoke sternly.

The Supreme One nodded.

“I apologise.”

Nazar furrowed his twitching brows.

“Anyway, why are you here?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“I have learned something which I want to share with you.”

Nazar held out his hand, stopping the Supreme One.

“By any chance, you want to commit suicide and here to atone for your crimes? Sins?”

He leaned forward on the sofa.

“If you want someone to judge you, then Lucifer is your man.”

“No,” the Supreme One shook his head. "I am not as silly as--"

He cut off his sentence before he spelt any beans about the current state of the Nameless One, Nazar's creator.

The Supreme One doesn't want Nazar to know about it yet.

Perhaps Nazar already does and is pretending to not, but either way, this was no time to discuss the Nameless One.

“I have vital information about...”

လလလ

Tuesday, 29th of June:

“- Neighbouring countries are wary of Afghanistan for harbouring a “superhuman” weapon that could attack them at any moment. -”

“- Tension rises between the U.S. and China as the American government accused China of experimenting on humans after the appearance of a Chinese superhuman. Could these tensions lead to something greater? Something… terrible. Like World War III? -”

“- Nine new superhumans have appeared. While some try to stay low, others try to do the opposite and help people. But the question remains; how did these superhumans appear? Was it due to experimentation? Or are they aliens? And where is Ion, the first superhuman? Is he related to the surge in the superhuman population? -”

“- Online rumours suggest Ion might be Nazar in disguise. But why would the villain of our world pretend to be a hero? Was it to lower our guard? -”

“- Nazar has surfaced, superhumans have appeared around the planet, Ion is missing, and it is hard to get a hold of Norse God. We want to know what his true intentions are. He has been helping people in need around the whole world, which sets him apart from some of the other superhumans, who either hide or cannot do anything. But can we really trust him? -”

However, no one at Nazar’s home was paying to the news that was being thrown around.

Nazar’s mother, Aya, was sitting at his desk and Nazar sat on the floor, crossing his legs.

“Mom, can I ask for a favour?”

Aya pushed aside her worries and nodded.

“S-sure.”

“There is someone I want you to meet and...”

Nazar trailed off and thought about it again. Should he really go along with this? Is this the right thing to do?

“It’s okay, Nazar,” she smiled widely. “What is it?”

“Are you aware of my… I have multiple personalities.”

Aya was taken back slightly.

“Every major event in my life spawns a new personality within me. And naturally, there is one...”

Nazar was not sure how to word it, so Aya finished his sentence.

“The one whom we experimented on in the old world.”

He nodded.

With complicated feelings, she smiled stiffly and nodded, “Sure. I… I think it’s time we spoke about that properly.”

Nazar bit his lip as he smiled.

Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes.

“Come out.”

His physique changed; his height increased by 50 centimetres and his muscles were bigger than usual.

A scratch appeared on his right eye.

A thin emotionless smile appeared on Nazar(#2)’s face, ripping his face in half.

“Hello, there,” he spoke in an emotionless tone.

Aya sucked in a breath as she looked at her son who was devoid of any emotions or humanity.

“Can’t live with yourself, it seems.”

His words stabbed into her very being.

However, she saw young Nazar’s face flash before her eyes, so she clenched her fist and got rid of her fear.

“If you had scalpels and scissors in your hands, you would stab me right--”

“I wouldn’t!”

Her angry words cause his smile to become thinner.

“But mother, you enjoyed hurting me then, did you not? It’s funny--”

“I DID NOT!” she shouted angrily. “I would never hurt you or any of your siblings. Or another human being. It wasn’t… It wasn’t...”

Her angry words slowly faded as she looked down.

“I wasn’t in control of my action.”

“Hahahaha,” he forced out a burst of empty and emotionless laughter. “I will go kill a few billion people and make a lame excuse like that.”

She could not refute. To this Nazar, she is nothing but a monster who tried to hurt him at every turn.

The most efficacious his parents ever were to him in those 5 years they were experimenting on him, was a slap to the face and “I love you, my lab rat”.

“I am sorry,” were the only words she could mutter out under her breath at this moment.

Nazar heard her nonetheless, so he narrowed his eyes.

“Hehehe… Hehehehe… Hahahahaha!”

With a fearful look in her face, she gulped.

“Don’t give me that look, damn it!”

He was angry, or rather, pretending to be angry.

“You are sorry?? Sorry for what? Sorry for ruining my entire existence? Sorry for not being there for me when I needed you the most? Sorry for hurting me? Sorry for killing me? Sorry for using me as a weapon? Sorry for trying to take away everything? SORRY FOR WHAT?”

Aya’s body jerked.

“Please tell me, what are you sorry for? And where is that worthless father of mine?”

He chuckled while Aya gritted her teeth in anger.

“Oh right, he is dead. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have been the one to take his life.”

“NAZAR!”

Her shout was louder than she had anticipated.

“Not Nazar. Not the son you have right now. I am nameless… I am nothing! I have nothing!”

“...”

Nazar looked down at the floor in silence.

“All my life, I have been looking for something from you. Anything! A kind word, a smile, or a hug. Anything. I just needed something as simple as that. But all you did in my early life was hurt me. It shaped my life in ways I didn’t want or needed. Or would have wished on my worst enemy.”

He ground his teeth.

"The more you shunned me away, the further I fell into darkness. Strangers threw their faked kind smiles at me. I had to do the same. Force the muscles in my face to force my smile and pretended---"

He sucked in a breath.

“No, that’s not your fault. That is my own. I had superpowers. The first damned human with superpowers. Everyone wanted a piece of me. I wanted a mother and Alice reached her hand, only to use me for her own ends. The foster parents who raised me, they were no different. They smiled innocently and kindly and were loving…”

Emma, who was in the room next door, rushed in.

“But it was all an act.”

Aya reached her hand and placed it on his cheek.

“I am sorry. For everything. For hurting you. For not fighting back harder against the control of that… that monster. For not-- I am sorry for everything.”

He raised his head to see a kind wide smile blossomed on her face with teary eyes.

This Nazar had no emotions. The concept of it was alien to him.

But right now, the pain in his heart was unbearable.

Nazar… He thought to himself. What have you done to me?!?!

“Nazar? Mom?” Emma spoke quietly. “What’s… wrong?”

“I am sorry for everything, Nazar. And I am also on behalf of your father. I...”

Nazar’s body started to shake a little.

“You do have a name. And you are not nothing. Your name is Nazar. You are my son. You are the king of an alien empire. And you--”

“IT’S NOT MINE!”

His shout caused his mother’s body to jerk in fear and remove her hand away from his face.

Leaning back in her chair, she gulped.

“It was. I was the original. I had everything. I had the power and the intelligence and the influence… For so many years, I was the main one. I was everything. But now… Now I have nothing. I have no power or influence or or or or or or or-- Or anything!”

Aya swallowed her saliva to wet her dry throat.

“I don’t even have emotions to express these feelings. I have to channel this hate and anger through the other one. I--”

Nazar breathed out before biting his lips as he thought.

“I know most of these problems occurred in my life because of my powers. These filthy powers have been nothing but a curse.”

Rubbing his forehead in annoyance, he continued with a hint of sadness.

“I know, I am wrong in this situation, but think about this; you are a young kid who needs some love from your parents but all they do is hurt you. Everyone else in your life is nothing but an actor placed by an entity. An angel, a demon, higher dimensional Gods or the government.”

“But if only I was there for you when you needed me the most,” with all her might, Aya forced out those words.

He looked down.

“I know, this face ruined your life. It has haunted you for all of your life. I can understand why you stayed away for so long in this world too. I don’t blame you. I have… I can’t do anything but apologise. I am sorry for all that happened to you because of me and your dad.”

“I...”

He has heard a lot of apologies, and he knows that his mother can’t do anything but apologise, but there is still this emptiness within him.

"I was always the one in control. I always had the upper hand. I planned and schemed years ahead. Everything was under my very own control. But then... but then I got emotions. I got stuck in this body which I couldn't control anymore. I got stuck in a body that won't even give me breathing room. I watched as the copies of mine reached new heights. I watched as they fought, lost and won. I watched as they celebrated. I watched as they enjoyed life... But I couldn't. I couldn’t do any of that. I couldn’t enjoy life. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t lose. I couldn’t win. I am stuck in the past. I can’t move on from it."

Emma and Aya listened in silence.

“You are wrong...”

He couldn’t say ‘mother’.

“But as I said earlier, I have nothing. No name, power, influence, or… Or anybody. Family, friends, or allies. Or even enemies.”

Emma hugged him tightly from the back.

“You are wrong.”

“Am I, sister?”

“Yes. You probably think you are a nobody, but you are something. You are my brother and you always have been. You talk about not having anyone in your life, but you were the one who threw me aside and decided to be alone.”

“I know that. And I apologise for that. It was… I didn’t know you were my sister. I didn’t know the foster parents that raised us were government agents. I was...”

“Scared. I know. I can understand that. Mom did you horribly, but some fault lies within you too. I have told you this before. Perhaps the exact same thing. But I have always loved you. Even before knowing we were blood-related, I always considered you a brother of mine.”

“...” he looked down as he remembered the old world.

They lived in the same house and had the same foster parents, but Nazar was too focused on finding ways to defeat the demon and get his revenge when his powers returned.

For two reasons he didn’t want to get involved with Emma and their foster parents. He didn’t want to be betrayed but at the same time, he did not want to become too attached with those close to him. He was going to die because that was his plan after revenge. Once he is satisfied, he will have achieved everything he wanted in life and would commit suicide.

That’s why he pushed them all away.

“I wanted to play with you, go to the park, read, eat with you, and whatnot. But all you did was throw me away. Maybe you had a rough beginning, but what had I done? Couldn’t you be… I don’t know, a little nicer to me?”

Guilt overwhelmed Nazar and he bit his lip, which caused it to bleed.

“I… I am sorry.”

She smiled.

“I wish it was better… But you have to know, I have always loved you. No matter what.”

With a witty smile, she whispered.

“Don’t tell the other one, but you are cooler than him.”

He chuckled.

“Mom has been going through enough, so maybe accept her apology and let's move on. Being stuck in the past for too long, it will devour you. So, for the good of everyone, just...”

“Yes, you are right...” he spoke slowly, cutting off Emma.

Nazar took a deep breath and smiled widely.

“I am sorry too, mom. For all the troubles I have caused to you, my father and my other self.”

Aya wanted to hug him tightly but instead, she widened her eyes.

“Oi, what is…?” Emma, too, widened her eyes in surprise and horror.

“Mom… Emma...”

For the first time, his eyes teared up.

“I am sorry for everything.”

To his apology, they could not do anything but stare with wide eyes.

“What are those… things?”

Nazar’s form was becoming undone.

Like fireflies, it flew off Nazar’s body, causing him to become nothing.

“What’s happening to you?”

With a sad smile, he turned back to Emma.

“You see, the sole reason I haven’t vanished yet is because… Do you know why some ghosts don’t achieve nirvana?”

Emma stood up and took a step back.

“Wait, don’t tell me...”

“Yes, I could not exist without holding on to this grudge. The moment this grudge is gone, so am I.”

Nazar, too, stood up.

Hugging Emma tightly, he spoke in a tone that carried happiness despite his face showing sadness.

The cold tone from earlier was gone.

“I love you too, Emma. And just so you know, I never disliked you. I have always loved you, sister.”

Tears started streaming down her face.

“Make sure to trouble my other self as much as possible,” he spoke slowly to her with a sad smile on his face. “Be demanding with him, dump your work on him, take his money or something, have fun with him, or be happy. We might be different, but at the end of the day, he is just an evolved version of me. A dumber and evolved version of me.”

He chuckled.

Emma wanted to do the same but she couldn’t.

“...”

She was waiting for him to continue speaking. She wanted him to talk more. To stay for longer.

But clock ticks and time moves on, it’s not possible to come back to a moment earlier.

So, she looked up and saw the usual Nazar, whose height was only a few centimetres taller than him.

He could not do anything but smile widely at her.

Pressing her lips hard against one another to stop herself from crying, she hugged Nazar tightly.

Outside of their home, Emily was floating, hidden from the view of everyone. Her hands were lit with energy.

“So long, old friend...” her voice carried a lot of sadness and regret. “It had to be done.”

She was not friends with the man Nazar is now. No, she was friends with the emotionless Nazar who was stuck in the past.

Only around her could he be honest, but even then, he hid many secrets from her.

But even then, this Nazar was the closest to and fell in love with.

“I will miss you,” her head tilted slightly to the right as a wide smile blossomed over her sad face.

Although the circumstances of her falling in love were not of her choosing, she still harboured those feelings and cherished them.

လလလ

“- Move in. -”

“Yes, sir,” spoke a man in military gear inside a military plane codenamed; 「Skyowl」. “We will drop 10 minutes.”

Skyowl is a series of military planes that were introduced in 2020. These planes are very similar to Airbus A400M Atlas in terms of design. However, the plane is 2 times larger than the regular ones and moves faster than Mach 10.

“- As advised, you will land north of the island. The small forest should provide you with cover. -”

The man in the military gear nodded his head at the floating holographic screen before him.

“- Leaving that aside, how are the new recruits doing, Alek? -”

Alek, the big muscular man in U.S. military gear glanced around the cargo floor.

“They are...”

He gulped as he saw the new recruits in gear he had never seen before.

The new recruits were wearing black and white armours that covered their entire body, including the head. The armours were made from nanotechnology that stuck to their bodies for maximum agility and movement.

In their shiny black helmet, they had a screen which showed them a clear version of their environment, especially at night. Furthermore, it showed them the energy signatures of people so they can track any superhumans or magicians.

“The 「Godslayers」 are ready.”

The new recruits are part of a program called the Godslayers. They are made specifically to battle against superhumans.

“I am impressed you managed to cook this up in just a matter of a few weeks.”

“- No big deal. It’s usual for us. -”

“They are ready but,” he voiced his doubt once more as he looked around, “are the armours ready? Can they really do--”

“- Of course. Don’t worry about it. It will be able to carry out its original mission. However, if they malfunction... -”

“I understand,” he nodded. Alek understood what was asked of him.

“- Keep me updated at all times. -”

Alek nodded at him.

“Will do, sir.”

And the screen vanished into thin air.

“Get ready, we will be jumping off soon. I don’t have time to sugarcoat this for you bunch of pussies, so listen up!”

He glanced at each person in the armour.

“Anyone with an armour? Jump off right now. Test 1 begins now.”

Although he couldn’t see their faces, he could tell that they were surprised and terrified.

“...Do you want me to hold your hand and sing you a lullaby?”

His calm voice carried a lot of anger, which caused the bodies of the people in the armour shake in fear.

“GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND JUMP OFF RIGHT NOW, BITCHES!”

Their bodies jerked and stood up on reflex.

“S-sorry!”

The cockpit of the plane opened.

“Don’t be sorry, morons. JUST JUMP!!”

“Y-yes sirrrrr…”

Their enthusiasm faded very quickly.

He waited for them to jump off but sensing hesitation, Alek let out a sigh.

“Shoot them.”

In the cargo, there were other soldiers too. They did not have armours, so they aimed their guns at the people in armours.

“Jump off right now!”

With complicated feelings, the armoured ones jumped down.

A screen appeared in front of Alek once more.

It showed the image of the falling Godslayers.

“Their heart rate…”

He clenched his teeth angrily.

“What kind of morons are these?”

Their heart rate was very high, which showed that they were scared.

“You guys can’t even handle 10KM fall?!”

The other soldiers smiled wryly.

Seriously, not even an insane person would voluntarily make a fall from this height! All of them thought at once.

“Alright, we will settle in on the island tonight. Early in the morning, we slowly start to take over it. UNDERSTOOD?”

“YES, SIR!” they shouted out energetically.

“Good, dumbasses,” he waved his hand and the screen vanished. “Now be on your guard just in case that motherfucker is on this island.”

လလလ

Soon:

Nazar was talking with his brother Aeron at the back of their house, near the pool when suddenly he sensed a rift being opened in the time-space continuum.

"Oh?"

In front of them, a few dozen soldiers from Chochica Empire, who were led by Baros appeared.

Unlike before, Baros looked at Nazar with different eyes.

There was no respect in his cold eyes.

"Under the authority given to me by the crown of Chochica Empire," he spoke to Nazar in a very serious tone, "I am hereby arresting you for your crimes against the universe and the Chochican people..."

Nazar did not react in any way to what Baros said.

"Former King of Chochica Empire, Nazar."

Aeron glanced at Nazar with a confused look on his face.

"Nazar...?"

"King Baros of Chochica Empire, do you really think you can take me in?"

"..."

"Please try your best," Nazar smiled evilly. "I look forward to our game of tag."