Chapter 100

Arc 13- Public Enemy No.1 - Part 3

Wednesday, 23rd of June - Earth:

It was a day unlike any other.

"- Nazar Hall… Who is he? It's a question we are all asking. Who is he? -"

On every channel, only one person was the centre of the conversation.

"- Yesterday, we all remembered something bleak. Among us, lives a man-- a monster who we thought was a human. -"

For the first time in a very long time, Earth was at peace. There was no crime happening. No one was committing evil deeds.

"- He lived a normal life among us. But from what we learned recently, he is far from one. A monster who has killed thousands without hesitation. -"

Everyone around the world watched the news on a TV or on their phone or listened to it on the radio.

"- Reports from unknown sources in the government suggests that he could be the most powerful person on this planet. Capable of killing us in an instant. -"

The news reporter spoke in English but everyone on the other end of the line heard it in their preferred language.

"- In fact, we all saw something yesterday. He destroyed the world. We all saw his face and then darkness. It can only mean one thing, does it not?-”

On Bradley Island, Ishaya Bradley smiled thinly.

“And so the hero falls from grace.”

“- There is a new theory that is being discussed in the science community. Experts suggest that he reversed time itself. Or perhaps, even destroyed it. -”

The reporter took a deep breath before continuing.

“- In the old world, at one point, we even looked up to the sky and saw… hope. Some trusted him. Some looked up to him as a hero. We felt safe knowing he was with us. It was the next step in human evolution. -”

He threw away the papers in his hand and removed his headset.

“- But that doesn’t matter. We don’t need him. He is a destroyer. A killer. What if he turns against us once more? So, I want to ask you something... -”

He narrowed his eyes.

“- What do you want to do with him? Can we live on the same planet as this monster? -”

Everyone thought the same thing at once.

“No.”

“- And what about his family? Do they have powers too? -”

In New Orleans, Eddie’s eyes widened in surprise.

“- Are they even human to begin with? -”

In London, Emily looked at the screen in horror.

“Oi, oi… What the fuck is going on? Was it the… Nameless One?! Did he do this? Or that other bitch?"

“- According to some investigations, this person-- Nazar Hall’s parents - Aya and James Hall - were world-renowned biological scientists. They own a small lab of their own - currently under the leadership of his brother - Aeron Hall - which is known for researching other dimensions. -”

In Plymouth, UK, Nazar’s family also watched the news closely.

“- Are these the individuals we can trust? Can we live in the same world as them? These are dangerous individuals. Something must be done against them-- -”

Emma, lying down in her bed, locked her phone.

“What the…?”

With complex feelings, she stared at the ceiling above her.

“What is… happening?”

She took a few deep breaths before standing up.

Looking outside the window, she could see the pool and the lab behind her home.

But in the distance, there were many boats moving around in the blue waters of the ocean - which was not too far from here.

"That looks…"

Her eyes widened.

She ran out of the room.

Hurriedly, running in the corridor she passed through a few doors. Opening the door of the final door in the corridor, she entered Nazar's room.

Looking out of the window, she sucked in a breath.

"The whole house is surrounded by military and police…"

Military tanks were stationed around. Silent helicopters - Bradley Conglomerates newly designed stealth helicopters - were flying above the house.

Emma's throat went dry.

Covering her mouth with her hand, she stared at what was going on outside.

"What's happening…?"

Her body started to shake out of fear.

"Nazar…"

She swallowed her saliva.

"Where are you?"

"Sadly, he is far away. But fear not…"

Emma's shoulders jumped back.

"You are safe."

Looking back, he saw a tall, muscular yet feminine woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hi, Emma."

Emma recognised her. She knew her in the old world.

"You are…"

Seeing the warm smile on her face, Emma's body relaxed.

"I am Aarin."

She came close to Emma and placed her hand on her head.

"Don't worry. He has placed countermeasures in place. The barrier - he told me that he has informed you about it. It should keep you safe from any form of attack."

Emma lowered her gaze.

"And the house… He has placed a barrier around it too. You will all be okay."

Emma looked at Aarin with teary eyes, which cause Aarin to worry.

"Where is Nazar?"

"He is--"

"Is he… Is he okay?"

She smiled softly in return.

"Yes, he will be. He just needs to be alone for a while."

"Where is he?"

Noticing the persistent tone in her voice, Aarin sighed softly.

"I don't know. He left the known parts of the multiverse. I can't find him anywhere."

Emma's heart skipped a beat.

"He will be back soon, though."

She looked down with her trembling shoulders.

"How…?"

Hearing her teeth grinding, Aarin wondered if she should have kept that part a secret.

"How do you know? How do you know he will be back?" Emma spat out loudly, which made Aarin's body to jolt. "How do you know he will be safe?"

Relaxing her shoulders, she placed a warm smile on her face.

"Because it happens often. When things get bad for him, he goes away for a short while. He goes to a place where no one else is around. In that time, he gets himself back together."

She hugged the trembling Emma.

"No one knows where he is. But I know, he will be back soon."

Being hugged by Aarin, Emma calmed down.

Truly, the power of an emotion-based angel.

"I will be here to keep you safe, just in case. So, that he can come back to a happy place."

Not far from, in a small shop, this middle-aged man had his jaw dropped.

"What the flarkin' frack?"

The middle-aged man slammed his fist into the counter before him.

"That stupid boy is a flarkin' supervillain?"

He was inside a small comic book shop.

"Bah! To think we used to talk for hours about these stuff--"

He trailed off as he thought.

"He did have good taste, though. And was pretty knowledgeable."

This is where Nazar used to come every Wednesday to get his comics.

"If he knows and loves comics as much-- Nay, more than me, then he can't be a bad person."

He placed his hand on his chin and nodded.

"Mm-hmm. He can't be a bad person. Something is fishy."

Back on Bradley Island, Laura was talking to Solace - who was hidden from the view of others.

“I have implanted an idea within their minds. They think that none of you knew about Nazar until just yesterday,” Solace said, looking somewhat proud of herself.

“Why doesn’t he just… You know, reverse the… Uh...”

Laura wondered what she could call this psychic wave which unlocked memories of a dead timeline within people.

“Spell?”

Solace laughed lightly.

“It’s not a spell. Magic wasn’t involved.”

“Oh...”

“Nazar won’t remove their memories. I mean, many of us can. But it’s a little too late. And he hates removing people’s memories. He has done it a lot in the past but every time he does it, he feels very guilty about it. Memories are important to humans. It defines their lives.”

“I see."

"But he tried that many times. This is a new reality. The old one was replaced -- died."

Laura's eyes opened wide in horror.

The terms they threw around so casually was scary to a normal human like her.

"As soon as he left, he brought back the old reality. But it was changed again. So, he gave up the annoying fight and accepted this new reality."

She looked down with conflicted feelings.

“But the look in his eyes… I could see the horror and despair in his eyes.”

“Eh, it’s normal for him these days…”

Laura looked at Solace on reflex.

Compared to the carefree Solace, Laura felt very troubled.

Noticing Laura’s gaze on her, Solace let out a small sigh.

“Don’t worry. He will be okay.”

“Are you sure you are not his enemy?”

Seeing the blank look on Laura’s face, Solace rolled her eyes.

“Well, what do you want me to do?”

“.....”

Laura thought about it.

“No idea.”

“Exactly! He has discarded our connection. I can find him. Easily too. But he doesn’t want that. His last command was to leave him be.”

Laura was not sure what she meant by that.

Solace continued to explain once she saw the confused look on her face.

“We have a special connection. We can tell what we are up to, where we are, what’s happening to us, what we are feeling… Et cetera. Et cetera.”

“Uwah, your connection is creepy.”

“How rude.”

Solace puffed her cheeks as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“That hurts, okay?”

Laura looked at her in a confused manner.

“I have a soul and emotions of my own, too.”

“E-eh?” Laura said with her right cheek twitching.

Solace let loose her harms.

“My body is that of an android, but I have a soul now. And emotions too. I don’t just “understand” them anymore but I can actually feel them now.”

Laura sucked in a breath in surprise.

“Happiness, sadness, anger...”

She smiled softly.

“And love.”

Solace smile became thinner and thinner.

With her left arm crossed on her chest, she raised the index finger of her right arm to her lips.

"So, you better keep him close or you will lose your man to me," said Solace as she licked her index finger a little.

“A-anyway,” Laura cleared her throat. “Sorry, I did not know.”

“Of course, you didn’t. Nazar did not tell you, even though he asked you to help build the newer version of me. But then again, it did hurt him a lot. So… I guess it equals out?”

“Wait,” Laura sounded alarmed. “He did it recently?”

Solace nodded with a confused look on her face.

“Why did he not do it earlier?”

“Because I didn’t want it then,” she shrugged. “He asked me a lot but I guess you could say I was not ready.”

“O-oh… That’s good, I guess.”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded in reply.

“Anyway, why did you say he felt pain? I thought he could do anything?”

“Well, at that time, the poison was inside him.”

“Ah. Got it.”

As the focus shifts away from Earth, let’s go to space.

The situation in space is no better. Everyone is thinking of one person.

Nazar. The King of the Chochica Empire. This powerful individual is a threat to everyone.

“”

King Iget narrowed his eyes.

“”

“”

From the thin air, someone appeared. Someone this King could not see.

But knew who it was.

“”

“”

A thin smirk appeared on King Iget’s face.

“”

“”

The man who couldn’t be seen was standing behind him.

King Iget could feel this ominous presence behind him.

“”

“”

“”

A slow laugh that did not belong to the King of Jabalot Empire rang out in this castle

“”

Far away from this empire, the King of Outox Empire narrowed his eyes in a worried manner.

“”

The king of Duluria Empire smiled bitterly.

“”

On a large planet, the King of Vanaha Empire let out a heavy sigh.

“”

And on Chias, Chochica Empire, in the castle of the Monarcity, thousands of Chochica Empire officials had gathered together.

“” Lian said slowly to Baros.

Baros, who was standing next to Lian let out a sigh.

“”

The high ranking generals, sub rulers of the different planets under Nazar’s rule, leaders of the opposition, magical leaders of the empire and more had gathered in one place.

“” Lian muttered under her breath.

Despite the loud chattering, Baros heard her and looked at her in reflex.

“”

Seeing the surprised look on her face, Lian averted his gaze.

“”

“”

She bit her lip.

“"

Baros patted her head.

“”

She inhaled sharply as she looked at Baros.

“”

Smiling, she said, “”

“” he smiled back at her.

But the smile soon vanished when they heard a sonic boom above the planet.

An unknown vibration can be felt across the entire city.

Everyone gasped as they strengthened their postures.

THUD!!!

Hearing a loud sound outside, they all kneeled down on the ground in reflex.

From the large doors of the throne room, a white-haired man with red eyes entered slowly.

He walked among the people who were kneeling down quietly with an ominous presence.

They tried to breathe slowly, but he could still hear it.

As he walked among them, he looked directly at the golden and red throne.

Just from him walking near them, the people kneeling down felt an intense pressure, causing some of them to faint in a kneeling position.

The man walked up to the throne and sat on it.

He placed his elbow on the throne’s arm and rested his face on his hand lazily.

“Speak!”

Hearing his cold voice, everyone gasped for breath.

Even the second most powerful man in this castle, Baros felt his body stiffen.

“How is the situation?"

လလလ

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Darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness.

Every road leads to darkness - Null.

Darkness - the end of everything.

The last thing anyone sees.

But then there are cases where in absolute darkness comes light.

"Rise!"

In the endless darkness, a hand came out and pulled him out.

"Welcome to the World."

The man looked around as he slowly stood up.

In front of him, another man was standing.

"Where…?"

"The World. You are the first in a billion years to reach this state. The omnipotence you always longed for is here."

The man was not sure what the person before him was saying.

He had no memory of anything. His mind was nothing but endless darkness.

"You are the only person to get a greeting. We have a connection. You have a connection to him…"

The scary man before him smiled thinly as his eyes lit up with a red glow.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed how everything around them had darkened.

This man before him had absolute authority on this place.

"I will use that. I will beat him. I will win."

Before he could ask this man before him what he meant, he got his answer.

"His control over his existence is strong. But with your help and the Queen's help, I might be able to change him. I might be able to affect and control him directly with stories."

He reached a hand towards him.

"Will you join me?"

The man thought about the question.

No, he tried to think. But the endless void within him prevented him from getting an answer.

"Let's challenge God. Let's try to push him to his limits. Let's corner him into a place where he will do what we want."

The man had no control over his body.

His hand moved on its own.

"Let's kill God."

And so their palms joined.

He "agreed" with this mysterious being.

"You will be replaced, Nazar!"

The (W)orld around them trembled.

"Let the final war for omnipotence begin!"