Chapter 110

Arc 13- Public Enemy No.1 - Part 12

In the universe, there exists a cosmic phenomenon known as Earth.

Although Earth is not aware of it, this planet is very well known across the cosmos.

Some call it a cosmic phenomenon while others call it a cosmic abomination.

But to people like Nazar, it's a very special place. He was born here.

This wasteland of a planet was turned into a beautiful blue planet that shone brighter in the dark cosmos by Lucifer.

A long time ago, someone asked Nazar; why do you care about Earth?

He smiled and replied with the most moronic answer possible; I like the food. And the world looks better from space.

And now, he floated above the shining blue planet.

He held his palm towards it, which covered the planet.

"So small… So tiny…" he said slowly.

He remembered the countless universes and timelines in which this blue planet was destroyed, sometimes by him and other times by others.

He wondered, will the same happen here again?

He never cared for the planet but after regaining his memory from countless dead timelines, he has started to appreciate it a little more.

Although he refuses to accept that. He keeps that hidden and thinks nothing has changed.

Ever since he regained his memories, he spends many nights thinking about the relationships he built, the friends he had, the sons and daughters that he has brought to this world, and more.

And every time, he wonders… Can he save this world? Can he prevent the dark future that awaits this world?

Maybe he can survive the destruction of everything, but his family won't. His friends won't. They are lower forms of life.

So, he clenched his hand.

"I will keep you safe."

Not for himself or the food.

"But for them."

If he had said that line a long time ago, he would have cringed or laughed.

But now, they are the only thing he wants to protect.

And to protect them, he will save everything.

“Them...”

Feeling guilty about what happened recently, he lowered his gaze.

“How am I...”

Meanwhile on the surface of the planet, his sister - Emma - made herself breakfast and started to eat it.

She sat alone in the dining room and picked up her phone.

For a short while, she scrolled through her social media feed and found nothing but pictures or posts about Nazar, which caused her to drown.

At the bottom of the screen, she could see a high number on the notifications and messages icon but didn't dare to open it.

"Ugh, give me a break…"

In the sea of countless posts on her Twitter feed, she didn't come across anything else that wasn't related to Nazar. From conspiracy theories to government officials showing their concern towards Nazar, from businessmen to civilians fearing the awesome and ugly power of this human.

Closing the app, she opened the phone app and called Nazar.

"Laura did say that he just vanished… Wonder if he will answer."

Emma held the phone to her as she waited for his response.

She slowly tapped her fingers on the table while waiting.

“Pick up, you st-- !! Ah, hi. Where are you?”

“- Um, what is-- -”

“Where are you?”

“- I am… uh… There... -”

Hearing him trying to come up with an answer nervously, she frowned.

“I swear to God -- {or you for that matter} -- if you are thinking something along the lines of “Oh, but how am I going to face them after the recent shenanigans”,” she tried her best to imitate his voice, “I will fucking punch you in the face. Hear that?”

“- ...I was not… -”

“Anyway, come here, will you?”

“- Yes ma’am. -”

And just like that, from the thin air, he appeared.

“Where were you?”

He sat near her.

“...Around.”

She stared at him blankly before letting out a heavy sigh.

“So, what happened yesterday?”

“Oh...”

Nazar leaned back in the chair and stared at the wall.

“I don’t know, for a moment I lost control and said all those--”

She shook her head.

“I mean, what happened yesterday? You… You have been asleep for over 16 hours. And then apparently rushed off to some unknown places as soon as you woke up.”

“I...”

He recalled what happened between him and Aarin.

“...Nothing.”

He slumped on the table and let out a heavy sigh.

“Anything happened since yesterday?”

Seeing how he didn’t want to talk about it, Emma left the previous subject behind and focused on the new question.

“Well… you are public enemy number one at the moment.”

Nazar glanced at her.

"....That's new."

She nodded with a slight delay.

"Yeepppp. You are the world's greatest enemy."

"How does that work?"

She shrugged before picking up her cup of coffee.

"No idea, but you are to be avoided at all cost."

"I see… Anything else?"

She leaned back in her chair and smiled.

"Apparently we are all aliens."

"Huh………………. Man, humans are stupid. I should go back in time and stop Lucifer from making them."

Emma let out a short burst of laughter.

"You know, it was quite similar in the old world too. You being a public enemy and us…… History repeats itself, it seems."

"Perhaps so," he said with a stern look on his face, "but I won't let it get as dark as the old world. I will remove their memories if I have to."

Nazar hates the idea of removing people's memories. It reminded him of himself when he didn't have memories.

"Memories are important… but I am not the most ethical person around, am I? I will do whatever it takes to get rid of this. Just…"

He paused for a moment as he clenched his teeth.

He is the supreme God of everything. With but a thought he could destroy countless universes.

But right now, against her, he is powerless.

"Just bear with me for a short while," he forced out those words with a voice full of regret, anger and guilt, "please?"

She nodded by blinking her eyes.

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks," he said slowly. "And so--"

"Shut up!"

He raised his head a little and looked at her in a confused manner.

"You really should stop doing that. Instead of it actually doing something, it bothers us."

"What do you mean?"

She leaned forward in her chair and took a deep breath before staring him in the eyes seriously.

"You should have dropped it off at "thank you". Every time you apologize, it neither makes you feel any better nor us. Apologizing is good. No really, it is good. However, too much is anything but."

"I-I see…"

"Plus when you apologize for everything, it just loses its meaning."

“So-- Okay, I understand. I will keep that in mind.”

He rested his head on the table once more while Emma breathed a heavy sigh.

"I am not sure how you really see things, but from what I understand you seem to ignore the smaller picture and look at the bigger picture only. Think and see small sometimes."

“Hm, did we...”

She raised her index finger, causing him to stop.

“I am saying that you can see things from such a high level, you leave out the basics. How smart are you?”

Nazar thought about the odd question.

“...Very.”

Ignoring his disappointing and vague answer, she said, “You are very smart and powerful, so you have ignored the basics in life. And the small things in life which make us more… humane, I guess.”

“You are correct. For most of my life, I tried. I tried to understand the small things but I was… I was surrounded by people of similar manner. And most of my life, I was looking for this ancient Dragon who...”

He rested the back of his hand on the table.

Emma, confused, looked at his palm.

In it, a small energy ball appeared.

“&S£@? is coming. She is the greatest enemy you will face yet. You must prepare yourself for her,” said a voice that came out of the energy ball.

“This is the last thing the Dragon said to me,” Nazar added in a lazy tone. “Took me a while to decipher it, although not completely. I did not understand until I met her.”

Emma rubbed her jaw as she thought.

“!!!!”

Nazar sat up frantically, which caused Emma’s body to jerk.

“I knew that… In the second timeline, I deciphered it. But… In the new ones… Ah, interesting. So, someone else is blocking it. No wonder. Why did it take me so long to...”

He let out a heavy sigh.

“Damn it!”

He slammed his head into the table slowly.

“Ugh, who is this bitch?”

Seeing the depressed look on Nazar’s face, Emma didn’t try to do anything funny but instead ask a question.

“So, what do you know about her?”

Nazar looked at her as he thought.

“She is the queen of a place called Virrasil. She is extremely powerful. Archangel Michael is working for her. {And she was the one who destroyed time many times over.}”

Nazar said the last part very slowly.

“So, go to Vir… Virus…” frustrated, she shook her head and slammed her hands on the table, “that place.”

“Virrasil.”

“Yes, that place.”

“Say it after me.”

“Ugh,” she frowned, “fine.”

Subconsciously, he smiled.

“Virra...”

“Vaira...”

“Sil.”

“Cell.”

Nazar smiled dryly and slammed his head slowly on the table.

“Worry not, sis.”

Emma laughed.

“Anyway, why not go to that place?”

“I don’t know where it is.”

“Have you looked for it?”

He shook his head.

“No, but from the way she spoke… Maybe it doesn’t exist anymore? Or perhaps, she is no longer the queen. I am leaning more towards the former, though.”

“Hmmm...”

She took a sip from her cup.

“I have to say, she is a sneaky one.”

“She is at least killable.”

She rolled her eyes.

Nazar let out a heavy sigh as he slumped over the table once more.

“I wonder where Solace is...”

“No idea, she vanished--”

She trailed off as she remembered something.

“Ah, speaking of,” Emma said energetically.

Emma took a sip of her cup and straightened her posture.

“I have been meaning to talk to you about that.”

“If you are going to tell me that she is my sex robot or anything like that, I will just go to another universe.”

“Ew, gross,” she made disgusted expression. “And who told you that?”

“...Mom.”

She let out a short burst of laughter.

Taking a few short breaths, she plastered a serious look on her face.

Nazar glanced at her and sat up straight.

“What’s up?”

“In the old world, you were always alone. You stayed away from everyone but after regaining your powers and emotions, you started to let others into your life. Me, Aarin, Laura, that blonde idiot friend of yours--”

“Eddie,” Nazar added slowly.

“Our foster parents, {who turned out to be secret agents for the government}, but even then, once you let them all in, you changed.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, you have become lazy,” she said bluntly.

Blank stares then a tilting head in a confused manner is what followed.

“...Come again?”

"You have been too reliant on others. Solace, Aarin, and others. It's good to rely on others but…"

Emma narrowed her eyes.

"You do it too much. You expect everyone else to do… To help you. You say you don't want them to help, but deep down, you expect them, don't you?"

He couldn't deny that. That’s what his life has led up until now. All his life, he has been surrounded by people who help him out and would expect nothing in return.

So, he has become lazy and too reliant on other people.

Even yesterday, he was expecting Aarin to clean up his mess, but unfortunately for him, it turned out differently.

"I get that you mess up a lot without help, but one day, they won't be able to help you. What will you do then?"

"What will I do then…?"

Nazar lowered his gaze as he started to think about what she said.

"And on top of that, you harm yourself regularly. Beating yourself up emotionally or physically is not going to fix this. You really need to start taking better care of yourself. This lifestyle your leading isn't fit for a shared life."

He inhaled sharply.

"You are close to us now. You have a girlfriend now, who loves you dearly. So, this lifestyle of self-loathing and self beating and trying to suffer as much as possible… It is not fitting."

Nazar recalled every memory of his life.

"I am not saying you shouldn't live your life the way you want… I am just saying, the life you are living right now… It's far from good for you. It's making it worse. So, maybe, it's time to question it."

He recalled many forms of memories. But most of them were…

There was nothing but pain and suffering. Pain and suffering he caused to himself.

“I might put on a carefree smile on my face and pretend everything is okay, but I worry about you a lot. Every time you go away, I feel like it will be the last. And when you are in front of us, I feel like it’s still Solace.”

“Sor--”

Nazar was about to apologise again but remembered what Emma said a few moments ago, so he trailed off.

“So, please take a moment to think about what I said,” she smiled a sad smile.

Seeing that, his heart ached.

"Sure."

She stood up and tapped him on the shoulder.

“You can do it,” she said sincerely as she smiled.

Nazar couldn’t help himself but laugh.

“Man, you are so unreliable as a brother,” Emma sat down again. “You are probably the worst older brother.”

“At least I am number one in something,” Nazar laughed bitterly.

“Also power.”

Usually, it would have stabbed into his very being but he brushed it off this time and continued to laugh bitterly.

“Must suck.”

He looked at her with glittering eyes.

“Someone finally understands!!!”

But those glittering eyes would soon be replaced with gloomy eyes.

“I wouldn’t know,” she averted her gaze with a mischievous smile.

Nazar stared at the wall with blank eyes.

“Immortality is that bad?”

He nodded.

“I see,” she took a sip from the cup, feeling a lot of guilty. She thought she shouldn’t have joked about that.

“I could give you immortality if you want to know how it feels.”

“No thanks… Huh, you can give other people powers?”

Nazar slowly turned around and stared at her blankly.

“Oh right,” she remembered that Nazar had given humans powers. “I forgot.”

Nazar shook his head slightly as he smiled.

“So, can you take away their powers?”

“Of course. I can give and take powers of anyone.”

“Even if you haven’t given them their powers?”

He nodded his head.

“Can someone take away your power?”

He shook his head in a depressed manner.

“Before reaching this state, the Nameless One could… But not anymore.”

“What if there is a greater “God” than you? Someone above you?”

“I wish,” he said in a heavy tone.

“I mean… Can you be very sure about this? You might not know, but there could be someone in a position above you.”

“Hmm. My body can absorb information from everywhere without my knowledge. I have to shun that away to keep my mind at ease, but Arosus doesn’t. And he has all the memories of my omnipotent self. There is no such being, unfortunately.”

She thought about what he said and lifted the cup.

However, the cup was empty so she sighed.

Nazar noticed that, so his finger twitched and the cup was full once more.

Emma, although impressed, still rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Leaving that aside, she asked another question, “Can’t you get rid of your immortality? I mean you can do anything, right?”

He shook his head.

“I have tried. Tried again and again and again but I failed. I can’t get rid of it. I am the pinnacle of everything, the concept of death and end is just… too low for me,” most would have boasted about it, but he said it in a heavy tone.

She nodded her head slowly with complex feelings.

“I have tried to make myself inanimate, abstract, and many other things, but all failed.”

Sensing overwhelming guilt from her, he smiled widely at her.

“Please, don’t feel bad about it. It’s something I have to come into terms with eventually.”

She was not sure how to react to that forced a wide smile, so she just nodded.

“Promise me one thing, will you?”

Hearing her stern tone, he got rid of that forced smile.

“Please don’t die again. Or go away for a long time. Just stay close, will you?”

Nazar was not sure how to reply, so he just looked at her.

“Dad died. We will never see him again.”

In guilt, he gulped.

For a long time, he thought his father was still alive, so he subconsciously created a pseudo version of him whenever he was around his family.

Although he was not aware of what he did, he still feels guilty about it.

“So, please…” she said with a trembling voice. “Just don’t die. Or go away. I don’t want to lose you too. So, please!”

“Yes,” he clenched his fist under the table and spoke in a determined tone. “I won’t. I won’t die or go away for a long time. If something came up and I couldn’t be here, I will let you guys know.”

“Thanks.”

Emma slowly wiped her wet eyes.

Nazar looked down.

(Death, huh?) Nazar thought. (I guess I don’t need to create myself a new soul then. Just to make sure I don’t die again. And I have to go to a dead timeline to see if I can learn her name. But before that...)

Nazar’s eyes lit up with white energy.

(My connection with Solace is dead. Aarin… Where is she even? I can’t find her anywhere. And then there is...)

He glanced at Emma.

“What has happened since yesterday?”

“Hm?”

She leaned back in her chair as she thought.

“You are public enemy number one.”

“Besides that.”

“Oh… Well, all those people surrounding us? They are gone.”

“Ah, good,” Nazar let out a sigh of relief.

“But where is Aarin?”

Nazar shook his head.

“I don’t know… But I hope she is okay.”

“Are you going to look for her? And Solace?”

He nodded.

“Of course. I need to know what happened to them and if they are okay.”

Emma chuckled.

“What?”

“Noting, just remembered how you were in the old world. An edgy lone wolf. And now...”

Nazar slumped over the table and groaned.

“...I try not to remember those days.”

Emma laughed.