Chapter 206

Arc 17 - Shadowy World - Part 16

A mad God’s rampage was threatening the very universe itself, and a hero tried to stop him. But he was not doing such a good job.

To aid the hero, the God of this universe, Omegan, continuously reverted causality to enhance his chances.

However, the constant reversion of casualty sent ripples across the ten-thousand phases of this plane.

“Won't causal reversion have dire consequences?” Soar asked Omegan as he was forced to return from the battlefield.

“No. At least it should not. Albeit my understanding of the new causality system of our multiverse is limited, so I can only hope the effects of it will be minimal.”

“I see…”

“And you--”

“I am close, Lord Omegan, very close,” and so, the pale hero shot himself towards the distant stars.

Omegan’s ego was slightly hurt by the actions of this hero.

However, his thoughts fell astray when someone stabbed through space-time, creating a large hole in reality.

“Omegan,” an alien who sounded almost mechanical spoke in a serious tone. “Your actions are sending ripples across the multiverse.”

“...”

Omegan looked at these white glowing aliens, whose real faces could not be seen by normal eyes. However, Omegan was not normal.

He could see their true forms.

They were armoured individuals, or rather something that resembled humanoid robots.

“The Alvexians, Protectors of the Multiverse. I did not expect your kind to get involved in Universe-Prime.”

“Once, that was a law in our empire, however, after the demise of Nazar, we are free to enter this universe. In addition, Daya has granted us the utmost authority in the matters of lower planes.”

“But you must understand, Nil-1, I do not abide by the laws of Vilramore, nor do I abide by the laws of Daya.”

“Yes, you are outside the regular universe, but in any case, that is irrelevant, is it not?”

“Hmm.”

“You might transcend this system of causality, however, you manipulating the system in any way, causes the universe to change.”

“Mm, I understand. I might be above it, but my effects on this universe aren’t. I understand, mm.”

Omegan nodded, he understood.

However, he narrowed his eyes slyly.

“I forgot the part where I care about your laws.”

The peacekeepers and soldiers from the ascended world of Levorix did not like his comment.

“I do not recognise your authority, Nil-1. Never have, and never will. The Omega People recognises the authority of the Supreme One and the angels. Well, only a handful of angels..”

Omega snapped his fingers as causality was reversed once more.

“The laws of causality are mine, and so are the laws of nature.”

In front of these entities who were not affected by this reversal, Soar appeared.

“One more, and it will be done.”

Without paying the Alvexians any attention, Soar flew towards the stars.

“Soar…” Nil-1 watched the hero leave. “I assume that’s your doing too, Omegan?”

“No, I don’t like him much.”

“Then…”

Omegan nodded.

“By the way, did you know what Nazar truly was?”

Nil-1 shook his head.

“I did not know he was, but I did know he was from the Eight Plane of Existence.”

“Right… Leaving that aside, unless you want to save this universe, I recommend you leave this dimension. This has, unfortunately, become my problem and I would like to deal with it by myself.”

One of the soldiers said something to Nil-1 in their native tongue, Alesic.

Omegan could already tell what they were talking about, even if he did not understand their language.

"The destruction of this universe is irrelevant, as long as the chain reaction can be contained. However, changing the laws of causality as you wish is not something we can allow. Under the Alvexian laws, time, reality, and causality bending abilities are restricted. Lower life forms can do as they will, but higher life forms, such as you, are still prohibited from doing so. You could weaken the universal walls."

"Except such restrictions were lifted by Nazar. In the past, these abilities slowly brought about the end, but he changed that. He has healed the cosmos, and so has the Supreme One."

Omegan narrowed his eyes.

"Except both are dead."

"..."

Omegan did not expect a lower life form like Nil-1 to know about the death of the Supreme One.

"The politics of higher planes are beyond our understanding, but in this plane, you must abide by the laws of the Alvexians."

"Hah."

"Omegan, no matter under whose supervision you operate, following the laws of the universe is a must. Even Nazar, an Eight-Dimensional being understood that."

"The only reason he abided by your laws was that he likes to be weak. Me, however, not so much."

Omegan's eyes exploded with white energies.

"I am Omegan, and this universe is my playground."

He snapped his fingers once again, reverting causality.

Soar nodded to him and flew away a mere second away.

"I hold enough power to fold this entire universe like a paper, I hold enough power to break the space-time continuum like a twig," Omegan's body glowed with white energies. "I--"

However, he gulped and swallowed his words as a cold chill ran through his body.

He felt an evil presence like no other.

Like a snake, an arm began to crawl on Omegan's chest.

One hand held his chest tightly, and the other crawled up on his face horizontally.

Omegan's body stiffened as his eyes stuck out.

He tried to glance back, but couldn't.

The grip of the person behind him was too strong.

From his left side, the face of an angel crept out.

The angel's hand moved up from Omegan's chest and held his chin in one place.

"By the authority of Heaven, Omegan, descend this universe into the nonexistent void."

MICHAEL?!

The Archangel held the God in his hands tightly and whispered in his ear like a snake.

"Burn this world to cinders," Michael added with a thin smile.

Omegan, with the might of every God flowing through him at this instance, tried to break free from the grip of this depowered angel, but to his surprise, he couldn't.

The grip of this angel was so powerful, it could hold dimensions together.

“I am a fifth-dimensional being, even at my weakest, I will be a far greater threat than what you can handle. Back when demons existed, you wouldn’t have been able to overpower their weakest ranks, let alone a mighty angle like me.”

“I have killed a demon before,” Nil-1 spoke in an emotionless voice.

“Ah, yes, NQU-Iuh-Xrx, right? The demon who increases his power with each death?”

“...”

“Everyone has killed him.”

“What do you want, Michael?” Omegan spoke in a struggling manner.

“That’s ‘Lord Michael, the Greatest’ to you.”

Michael flicked Omegan and threw him towards the Alvexian.

“By the way, I do not like that hero, so I want you to kill him. And now.”

While Michael’s tone felt sarcastic, he was very serious.

“He will become a nuisance if left unchecked.”

“Does the mighty angel fear a lowly God?”

“No,” Michael scoffed. “But I do have problems with Omegan’s causality reversal.”

“...” Omegan was shocked to hear that.

“The laws of causality do not apply to you.”

“But of course, no laws of lower planes applies to higher planes, but that’s beside the point. There is a universe that should-- MUST not get affected, and your constant reversal of causality is playing havoc with its outer walls. I have fixed it for the time being, however. It is not a world I wish any of you to witness.”

Omegan and Nil-1 exchanged glances.

“As for that idiotic God… He relates to that world, so, get him out of here.”

“That… That might not be needed.”

Nil-1 one noticed the rising respect in Omegan’s tone.

Omegan is the creation of the angels and the Supreme One, especially Michael. And no matter what the circumstances be, no matter what his true feelings are, he cannot disobey his superiors any longer.

“Soar will take care of that.”

“Doesn’t matter who will, as long as he dies today.”

And just like that, Michael slipped into the air and returned to a higher dimension.

Nil-1 could feel the anger radiating from Omegan, but he did not say anything.

To him, this was rather inconsequential. Omegan was neither an enemy nor an ally, so he did not care about how he spoke to certain people or who he felt anger towards.

လလလ

“I am Norse God, the subconscious wish of a weak, broken man. I am the will of a man who ascended to godhood. I am… that man’s deepest desire to live. And I will not let him down, as did others in his life.”

Galaxies away, Soar readied for his final battle against Norse God.

“I must live, even if it costs this universe everything.”

“I will not allow you to do that.”

Soar clenched his fist tightly.

“Then you too must die.”

Norse God moved towards this hero.

He moved so fast, Soar struggled to block his attack in time.

“I must live, live, live.”

Norse God attacked Soar with his fists and legs, attacking him from every direction, and the best Soar could do at the moment was to raise his arms and try and defend himself from its attacks.

“He needs to know… I didn’t mean what I said.”

“I, too, have people I want to pour my heart to, to tell them how much I am sorry, to tell them how much I have wronged them, but… Life and death are beyond beings like us. The death will find their solace, and we ours. That is the way of life.”

Soar analysed the movement of this mad God, a God who had access to the combat techniques of countless species from across time and space.

The body is moving on its own, with no connection to the brain. However…

The moves seemed too alien to this hero, but he welcomed the alien and the unknown.

With every hit he received on his nigh-invulnerable body, Soar used it as an opportunity to study his opponent.

“I do not him as well as you, which is only natural, but I am sure he was a good man, a good man who would understand you. I am sure he already does. I am sure he has already forgiven you.”

“He has… and THAT’S A PROBLEM!”

The battle prowess of this godling suddenly increased tenfold.

His speed and strength were far higher than before.

Damn it!

Norse God kicked Soar, throwing him through the core of a star.

Before Soar could recover, the godling jumped forward and landed on the chest of this hero, forcing him to travel to spaces far from here.

!!

The inhumane senses of Soar picked up an energy spike nearby, which was unlike anything he could sense earlier.

A neutron star?!

Soar tried to break free from Norse God’s force, or at least force it to change their trajectory, but it proved useless.

And…

He was too late.

His back was pulled by the dense gravity of this neutron star, increasing their speed.

Nooo-

With the speeds that surpassed light, Soar’s back was slammed into the densest star in the galaxy.

It should have shattered every bone in his body, it should have killed him, but instead, he merely grunted.

The shockwave from their fall travelled far and fast and destroyed a nearby spaceship.

Oh…

Soar found himself surprised.

He thought he would die, but he did not.

He survived.

“...How?” Norse God seemed surprised.

Earlier it survived a crash against the star because it lacks a body, but Soar was different. He should have died.

“Beats me,” Soar used that opportunity and forcefully propelled away this mad god with an invisible force.

Norse God, however, began punching the air in front of him, which destroyed the invisible force.

He is smart, Soar narrowed his eyes as he shot himself towards Norse God like a rocket.

Norse God sensed him coming, so it began to fly towards Soar.

And so, the two clashed once again.

They traded blows while crossing interstellar distances.

On some worlds, they looked like stars, and on others, they looked like a crashing ship, and on others, they looked like fireflies.

“You must die or else my mission will be incomplete.”

He moved his eyes left and right, looking at every blow, every movement of the body and bones.

He tried to block as many as he could, but he also let some of them reach him.

The right hand is stronger than the left, from what I understand of their species, they only have one dominant hand. The difference between his blows is at least fifteen times. The speed is also rather low in comparison. The leg, however, does not follow the same logic.

Norse God threw another punch and Soar moved his head a little, dodging his blow.

After each blow, he takes a brief moment of rest and changes the style of combat. I don't understand the name of these moves, but the hand movement is in a certain way quite similar to one another… Hm, no. The movement of… Muscles - for the lack of a better term - is different inside his body. That explains the difference in power between his blows.

Soar narrowed his eyes.

But I understand now.

The various martial arts Norse God were using were rendered useless in the next instant.

Soar studied the movement of energy, the concentration of power, and countered it perfectly.

In fact, better than the Norse God himself.

He was able to counter every blow and attack Norse God, attacking him in vital parts of its body with its own moves.

The blows would come out at normal speed and strength as Norse God, but suddenly, it would get boosted, doing more damage than it was meant to.

Time, space, and reality… I can bend them to my will. I can steal strength from my former selves in the past when they did not need it and add it to my own in the present.

Soar smiled.

Remembering his past glories made him happy, but only for an instant. The darkness from back then ate away the happiness within him instantly.

Let's finish this.

The two traded blows at inhumane speeds, faster than light could even move. They were so fast, they crossed interstellar distances without even realising.

“You are done for, mad God!”

And so, Soar clenched his fist and swung it faster than Eddie could react.

And then…

As the fist landed on the chest of this God, its new physical outer shell was blown to smithereens.

"Gah--"

For the first time since their combat began, their speed decreased instead of increasing.

"I must live…" Norse God spoke slowly. "I must. He must know… I didn't mean to say those things. He must know."

"Nazar would have not wanted this!" Soar said out loudly. "He wouldn't have wanted you to kill everyone for it, he wouldn't have wanted you to kill his sister or his mother."

"..."

“You might not care, you might want his loved ones dead, but he won’t. Are you going to betray your closest friend like that? What kind of hero are you?!” Soar shouted on top of his lungs, pouring all of his emotions into it. “Is this the kind of person you wanted to become when you saved the first life? Is this the legacy you want to leave behind?!”

Soar left two legacies behind, one the universe knows, and the other the pain he left within the hearts of those whom he cared about. And he hated both of them. He didn't deserve the praise of the universe, and his family did not deserve the darkness they faced because of him.

I cannot change my past, but... I sure as hell can change your future!

“Is this how you want the universe to remember you? To thank you? Is this what you want to leave behind for your sister? For your parents?”

He walked (?) closer to the godling.

“What kind of man did they raise? A man who is willing to sacrifice a universe for a selfish desire? A desire he knows very well won’t ever be quenched. What will they think when they remember your name? Hm? Do you want them to remember a murderer when they think about the man they lived with and loved?”

Norse God did not speak, it did not know how to answer that question.

“You were a hero, a man who saved many worlds, yet look at you now…” Soar scoffed in a mocking manner. “What kind of man would readily sacrifice his own family? Oh, other than a madman, of course.”

“...”

“Edward Hunt, you betrayed everyone, you betrayed everyone who put their trust in you. You are a…” Soar paused for a split second before continuing. “Failure.”

Inside the mind of this godling, something broke.

“A villain.”

The human part of this God was gone, reduced to nonexistence. The tiny bit that had stayed back was killed by Soar just now. The guilt spiralled the remaining humanity of this entity out of existence.

And now, without any shred of humanity or mind, the godling was empty.

His conviction was empty.

His will was empty.

"I must tell him," slow and empty words left the mouth of this energy being.

I have to destroy the reason within him.

Soar was a hero, the greatest the universe had ever seen.

His smile brought hope to countless civilisations, his might saved the universe many times over.

He had shown kindness to the worst people, and he never took life.

He always found a better way.

But today, he was in a different situation.

Perhaps living in the Void changed him, or perhaps the weight of an entire universe is greater now than it was back then, so he ground his teeth.

I must do what I have to. There is no other way.

Soar swung a fist full of countless forms of energies; time, space, reality, causality, life, emotions, and more. He poured everything he had into one punch.

The fist moved faster than Norse God could even react, and before it knew, it had already been hit.

Norse God's new physical form was no more, he was just energy, but even then, when Soar's punch hit him, it was disintegrated into nothingness.

It evaporated like steam.

The godling was no more.

And Soar stood victorious.

The universe was saved.

The mad god’s rampage was no more, the lives of countless worlds were saved.

Soar saved the universe again.

He was victorious against evil like he always has been.

However, deep down, he felt more defeated than ever.

He is a being of energy, so he can always reform himself, but… With his mind gone forever, can he do that?

“...”

Soar looked to the stars above and heaved a heavy sigh.

Killing the last piece of his humanity destroyed his will, his conviction to do what he wanted. Without humanity, there are no emotions, and without emotions… He was weak.

“You deserved better…” he said slowly.

လလလ

“Wake up…”

In another space, a man opened his eyes and found himself in the white void of nonexistence.

“Edward Hunt.”

Eddie raised from the floor (?) and tried to follow the disembodied voice he heard moments ago, however, he could see nothing but the colour white.

Is this… purgatory?

However, his thoughts materialised in form of text.

“Woah…”

Letters of the English alphabet left his mouth.

He could see his words.

“Can I touch it?”

He could see his words again.

“Heh.”

And again.

“This is fun.”

He raised his hand hesitantly, trying to touch it. But before he could, he heard a voice from behind him, a normal voice.

“Welcome to my domain, Edward.”

Eddie turned around and saw that the white void had changed.

As if he were standing on a chessboard, he could only see white and black squares.

His surprised state skyrocketed once he noticed the man sitting on top of a black cube.

“You…!”

The man nodded.

“Yes, me.”

“But… You… I mean…” Eddie’s mind was full of many things yet he could say none of that.

The man sighed exasperatedly.

“Honestly, I can see why you and my brother were such good friends. You are both stupid.”

Aeron, with his newfound cosmic powers, had trapped Eddie inside of his realm; the Dream Space.

“This is not purgatory, it’s my domain.”

“Wh-wha-- But--- How?!”

“That is rather irrelevant.”

The white void changed fundamentally. It now resembled a park.

Aeron was sitting on a bench and Eddie was standing in front of him.

“Sit down, let us talk about your crimes, shall we?" the calm green scenery with beautiful sounds of birds chirping did not fit well with the words that left this cosmic being's mouth. "The crimes of how you took a life today.”

Eddie’s mind went blank, unsure of what Aeron was talking about.

While he tried to digest what he just heard, Aeron forced the godling to take a seat on the bench next to him.

“What…”

A feeling of dread could be sensed in the air, so powerful and corruptive, it could turn this white void into a black void.

“Eddie, how many lives do you think you stole today?”

Aeron turned his head around and looked at him, but Eddie’s head lowered and lowered.

He found it hard to digest what he was hearing.

“Take a minute and think, I have all the time in the world.”

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

??? - ????:

*ROAAARR!*

In an ancient green jungle, a man ran from a monstrous green animal with a long tail. He did not know how he got here or why, but he just wants to survive before he can die by the claws of this awful creature.

The green creature chased him across the vast jungles, trying to eat him, but he managed to outrun it at every turn. Perhaps it was due to his intelligence or he was just lucky.

But whatever the case may be, he survived falling prey to the dinosaur.

But… Nature was too powerful for him to overcome.

Almost an instant later, a meteor crashed, incinerating everyone and everything for countless miles, including this man.

*Kssh*

And then, he found himself in space.

“Huh…?”

An astronaut was drifting through the dark space with no destination in his path.

The suit’s systems had failed long ago, and there was no oxygen left.

What is happening…

The man gasped for air, but it was futile.

No matter how much he gasped, he did not find oxygen to help him survive.

The few moments felt longer than an eternity, but at last, he was dead. The suffering he was facing was no longer present. He was saved.

Or was he?

*Kssh*

As soon as he heard the voice, he opened his eyes.

What now…?

Right now, in the middle of the night, he was standing in a dark alley with a gun to his forehead.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed a woman in her thirties and a child under ten. However, he paid them no attention.

“Wh-what--”

Before he could do anything, the gunman pulled the trigger. As the bullet moved faster than the speed of sound, it tore the flesh and bones of this man like butter and passed through it to the other side.

The bullet left a small hole in the back of his head, from which pink organs and red liquid escaped.

And so, his body fell down to the ground, but he would not know that.

*Kssh*

As the scene before his eyes changed, he was forced into a different situation.

This time, he wasn’t facing a dinosaur or a gun or floating aimlessly in the midst of dark and cold space. In fact, he wasn’t facing anything.

He was simply burning in the red flames of hell.

*Kssh*

The scene changed and this time, he was fighting in a war from the ages lost to time.

The rifle in his hand was long and powerful, and he, however, was anything but powerful.

It took him less than a second to die to a bullet shot by an enemy soldier.

*Kssh*

The scene continued to change, and no matter how far he went, there was nothing but death - his own death.

And above him, the golden angel of death always floated. The invisible angel did nothing but laugh as he made sure this man live a miserable life.