Chapter 163

Arc 15 - Dead Men Rising - Part 16

Planet Hura:

Someone flew through the dark space at an unnatural speed, crossing galaxies and worlds in an instant.

That person reached the edge of this planet and he saw the hero.

He - the hero Soar - was about to fall into the darkness once more.

However, the person reached out his hand to him and caught him.

With a mere touch, the storm of death passed, and the man was unaffected.

He was alive again.

He would not die today.

The hero looked at the face of his saviour and said, "You are…"

"Nazar."

He had seen the same face before, but the last time they met, his hair and eyes were different, so he was confused for a fleeting second.

"In the old world, in one of Lucifer's plot's, the barriers of the universe had weakened. You, along with a few creatures of the Void, made your way into our universe. Back then, it was I who sent you back…"

"But now you saved me," the hero Soar chuckled. "Thank you. I am forever in your debt."

"Don't mention it," Nazar smiled in a manner as he was going to pull a very dumb yet cruel prank on someone. "It will piss of Cosmos a little more, heh."

Nazar breathed out in a relieved manner.

"Phew. This was a long day…"

"So, it seems."

"I am a bit tired today, so can we talk about something tomorrow or the day after? It's a little urgent."

The hero was overwhelmed and confused with the request of this man.

He was not sure what to expect, but he gradually became worried.

"I have a friend, he is a hero like you, but lately…" Nazar's expression turned sour as he recalled what happened with Eddie today, so he paused for a moment. "I was wondering if you could help him."

"..."

He was back from the dead.

He did not know what he wanted to do.

Did he want to become a hero again? Explore the unknown?

He did not have an answer to that question.

Nazar's request caused complex emotions to soar within the hero.

But even then, he nodded his head with pursed lips.

"Yes, I will help him in the best way possible."

"Thanks," Nazar smiled happily. "Consider our debt nulled."

Without saying anything else, the white haired and red eyed God vanished into thin air.

The hero watched him go, but the complex emotions within him did not waver.

Should he have rejected Nazar's request? Or was this the right thing to do?

To begin with, what does this man really expect from him?

From his outlook, he seems like a powerful individual, so why not solve it himself?

As he was thinking about Nazar's request, above the atmosphere he felt intense movement. The kinetic energy exhibited from this movement caused him great alarm.

He was expecting something bad coming at him, but before he could react and prepare to dodge, it was too late.

"Hak?!"

Someone, moving faster than the speed of light, bumped into him.

However, he was not thrown away.

But the clash between them caused a great shockwave that deteriorated the clouds above the planet.

"!!"

Soar finally realising what had happened moved his head.

He felt two arms wrapped around him.

Was someone restraining him?

He could not tell, so he looked down before retaliating.

Once he looked down, he saw blonde hair.

"..."

"Uncle!"

The two of them slowed themselves down so sound finally travelled.

"Ah…"

The person raised their head and smiled a happy smile with teary eyes.

"Venus."

The person who hugged the hero at an unnatural speed was Venus, Phantom Star.

"I am so glad you are back!"

When he lost his family, he stayed away from his planet as much as possible.

But along the way, he met a crook politician with great power.

He defeated him and saved him.

With a little help, the politician became a hero worthy to be his friend and respected by the universe.

The politician had a daughter whom this hero saw as his own family.

Phantom Star, her father and a few other friends of the hero were the few small lights floating in the dark cave he was residing in.

"I missed you so much," warm tears streamed down her face. She was so happy; she could not contain it within herself.

So, seeing her again, Soar smiled softly.

"Me too," he said slowly as he caressed her head.

The little girl he had once saved had grown into a wonderful woman.

He could feel the greatness from her aura.

He could feel the good in her heart.

"The… the…" her voice slowly turned gloomy and depressed. "The dead are leaving. Are you…"

He could not see her face, just her hair, but he could tell what kind of face she was making.

It was a sad and broken face with tears streaming down her face. She was biting hard on her lips to not burst out crying.

"I won't," his short words filled her with warm feelings. "Someone… saved me."

Venus raised her head and looked at him in the eyes.

"Was it… Nazar?"

"..."

The confused hero wondered how she knew. How would she know who saved him?

Is that man a well-known hero?

"That is... true."

"I knew it," she seemed proud. He could not tell what she was so proud of; her guessing the name of his saviour or Nazar saving him.

He had a lot of questions and he was confused, so he decided to ask ahead.

"Do you know him?"

"Mm-hmm," her face lit up brightly as her face went a little red. With her lips still tightly closed, she smiled and nodded. "He is my prince charming."

"..."

Seeing the shy look on her face, his mind blew up.

"It can't be…"

The princess he knew was an arrogant princess who looked down on everyone.

He helped her change, but before he could make more progress, he fell in battle against Reaper.

But seeing how much she had changed since then; he could not help but shed a tear.

What started as a tear of happiness slowly took a grim turn.

I left them too...

He lost his family, but then he met them.

In them, he found a new family.

In her, he found a new child.

However, he left them all behind. Again.

"I am sorry," he hugged her tightly and apologized. "I am sorry."

Venus kept quiet and listened to his apologies for a while.

She did not want to say "it's okay, you don't need to apologise" until he was ready to forgive himself.

While it seemed cruel on the surface, she had the best of intentions.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

On the other sides of the universe, the zombies went back to the underworld.

In Vanaha space, King Iket smiled thinly as the head of his son dematerialised into nothing and took his place in the afterlife.

In the west quadrant of the universe, Orion looked at the body of Lord Cosmos and checked for injuries. He seemed fine, just unconscious, so he teleported him to his home world.

On earth, the magicians who raised fought hard against death, but they fell into their graves once again in failure.

On the same planet, the angels regained consciousness and flew back to Heaven, defeated in shame. However, they did not hold anything against Nazar. They knew they were wrong.

Still on Earth, the prophets looked up to the blue sky. Their bodies turned into energy and flew up. They regained their place on Omega as the third dimensional Gods.

လလလ

In the Outflow, a layer above the Void which connects all the universes in the multiverse. Within this odd colourful layer of existence, there was a location which looked like a house.

The house was surrounded in a bubble of green energy, perhaps it was to keep interlopers out of this house.

Inside the house, the physical manifestation of universes had gathered. Vilramores.

The house which contained them all in one place seemed so small from the outside but was vast from the inside.

『Lord Daya, I have a request from Master,』 the Vilramore of Universe-Prime spoke.

『Cite the will of Supremer.』

Daya, the physical manifestation of the multiverse, a being who had the outline of a humanoid creature but was made from countless universes, spoke in a time that could only be considered annoyed.

Simply put, he did not like Nazar.

『He wants to make sure nobody in the past remembers those event.』

Any normal person would have said, "Tell him to do it himself."

But Daya nodded his large head.

『Very well.』

『And...』

Vilramore of Universe-Prime could feel the annoyance from the other universes.

Just how many requests does this monster have?!

『The Golden Angel requested if the worlds can be returned to their original state, without any damage. And the dead to return to their graves. 』

『Denied,』 Days replied quickly.

Vilramore was expecting that answer.

『...She is his sister.』

『...Fine. We will do as such.』

The change in his decision was not surprising.

A commoner would respect the sibling and children of the king, they had no other choice.

This situation was no different.

And so, the universes returned to what they were before with the smallest possible changes.

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Far above the universe, the hells and the heavens, a portal opened and spat out a Goddess and a fairy.

In Esme's world which held nothing at the moment, she and the fairy Mira fell down.

They fell on the ground.

However, they did not feel anything.

It was because both were frozen. Their minds and bodies were frozen.

After a short while, the two of them unfroze and gasped.

"What… happened?" the fairy asked.

"I… I don't know. We have been here alone all this time…"

Esme looked for answers and it came to her instantly.

"Oh," she let out a sigh of relief. "Azazel is back and the dead has returned to where they belong. The balance has been restored."

Her energy condensed into pure white light.

The fairy had to close her eyes because it was too bright.

"I made you different, so it seems you are feeling the effects of it now."

"So, that's why we were knocked out just now..." the fairy heaved a long sigh of relief.

"Mm."

The light seemed as if it would explode as it brightened.

But it didn't.

Instead, as the light dimmed, Esme's shell had returned.

The naked goddess stood before the fairy and smiled happily.

"I am just glad everything worked out well."

Around her slender body, a white dress wove itself.

The white dimension of energy slowly started to change.

"I am just glad you are okay," the fairy said cheerfully.

A sky appeared above them.

Then stars.

Then a sun.

Then a planet.

On this planet, golden fields appeared.

In the middle of it, a small house stood.

The two of them stared at with a nostalgic and sad smile.

"If only Arias was here," the fairy said slowly.

"Mm," the Goddess nodded. "Maybe he did return… But part of me is happy I did not learn about his return."

"What…" the fairy placed her hand on her fast-beating heart and spoke in a heavy voice. "What do you think happened to him?"

"I… I am not sure, but I know one thing…" Esme sucked in a long breath and relaxed her shoulders.

She started to walk through the golden fields.

"I am sure he is happy."

"..."

The fairy looked after her friend.

She did not have the same optimism as her, but she could see where Esme was drawing her answer from.

Arias always smiled, no matter how terrible things got. He always found happiness even in the darkness.

So, the fairy nodded.

Her heartbeat returned to normal.

She relaxed her body.

Flapping her colourful wings, she flew after the Goddess.

"Mm," the fairy smiled brightly with closed eyes. "I agree."

And so, the two of them went to the small house and began their new life.

They might be missing an important person, but it does not mean they cannot live without him.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

?????

In a place, far away from this light, a broken android’s body flickered with white-blue lights.

“Haa,” the robot breathed out loudly through her mouth which was half broken and its innards could be seen.

The robot, who was standing one one leg - since their left leg has been cut off - tried to move but electric static caused its body to freeze momentarily. Before it could recover from that, its body stumbled forward and started to fall.

“No...”

The black nanite-based body armour had been ripped into pieces and the robot’s human-like skin was showing. Its left chest had burnt in fire, so one could see it’s heart - core - which was flickering.

The flickering core lit up a few times with no change.

“No...”

However, the robot shut its eyes and the core flicked brightly for a moment.

But there was no change in it.

As the robot grew frustrated, the core exploded with white light which washed this dark dimension white.

“!!”

From across the darkness, someone - a man with red eyes who wore dark robes as if he stepped out of a fantasy game - noticed the power surge and flew in.

X landed with force in this dimension, however, he found something unexpected.

He was expecting a half-dead robot with odd monsters standing around it, but instead it was the opposite.

The monsters had been killed and above them stood a tall and beautiful woman with red hair and blue eyes, wearing a skintight nanite-based black armour.

On her white skin, those sweet red lips spread thinly, and formed a victorious smile.

“Where did this power come from, Solace?”

Solace, Nazar’s lifelong companion, an artificial intelligence with human-like features, spoke in a condescending tone, “I don’t quite understand… Why are you asking me?”

“I...” X tried to avoid the question, but obviously, Solace wouldn’t let him.

“Aha! Could it be, I, the “toy” be outside the scope of your understanding?”

“You think too highly of yourself, toy,” X’s red eyes flared brightly as the dimension lost its physical form. “I will break you apart in ways you cannot understand or even comprehend yet. I will make you regret messing with his mind. I will make you regret every opposing me… Yes, when I am done with you, you will be nothing but broken pieces of junk that can be thrown into the trash.”

“By him you mean… Nazar, right?” the curious robot asked.

“Yes, it’s because of you--”

“Because of me?”

A chair - or rather a soft red and golden throne appeared in the room - and Solace sat on it. She placed her elbow on the arm of the throne and rested her chin in her hand.

She crossed her luscious legs and the smile on her face spread thinner.

“Oh-oh, you mean how I made sure he won’t think about me? To not waste time looking for me? Is that what you meant?”

She knew the answer, but even then, she questioned. It was as if she was mocking him.

“Precisely. You ruined my plans.”

“Well, obviously,” she shrugged and spoke in a tone as she was saying something obvious. “In this game of chess, I know all the pawns and the knights, the bishops and the rooks, the kings and the queens. But...”

With her chin still resting on her palm, she leaned her head forward slightly and blew raspberry with an annoyed and sulky look on her face.

“Why was I not on anyone’s team?” she continued to blow raspberry and sulked. “This is so frustrating. Am I that worthless?”

“Precisely,” X said with an evil smile on his face.

She did not like his answer, so her face turned serious.

“Oi, you piece of shit, show some respect.”

“What can I say, you are not even worth mentioning let alone be part of the game.”

Before Solace could say anything, X added, “Sure, I considered you for a brief period - as a spy - but when I look deeply into it, you never belonged on the chessboard.”

“Aww...”

However, her sulky and annoyed face was replaced by a victorious one.

Seeing that out of place smile, X became confused.

“To simplify this, you wanted to use me to hurt him, right?”

“Yes, hurt him using you. And! Hurting you seems to hurt him too. So, I will break you and ship you to him in pieces. To break him spiritually and mentally. You are his light, if I take that away...” X arched his palm and created an orb of light. “I just hate seeing him happy. Why does he get to be happy and not me? Why does he get to have a happy ending but not me? So!”

X closed his fist and crushed the orb of light with the strength of his fingers.

“I will defeat him using you.”

“Eh, that does not matter. You will lose anyway,” Solace said with an exasperated sigh.

“We will see,” X replied angrily. “Once I am through with you--”

“For starters, it will not even get to that point.”

“?”

“Okay, let me tell you a few things,” Solace leaned forward and held her hands together. “First thing first, you cannot win from my master.”

“My chances of victory were low from the beginning.”

“And it got even lower.”

“And why is that?”

“When you pulled your shenanigans and brought out this new personality… He found you boring,” Solace’s cold words sent a chill through his spine. He found himself surprised at the thought of being scared. “He is not at his strongest when he is angry or excited, but that’s when he is at his weakest…”

X rubbed his chin and thought about her answer.

“If you want this to continue, you ought to keep him angry or excited. Maybe you didn't realise, but the moment you unleashed that personality, it found you and your game boring. So, you better do something quick.”

Her snarky and condescending words caused X to angrily click his tongue.

“I am not sure if you noticed this, but the only reason you can continue this game is because he hasn't gotten bored. The moment he gets bored, his powers will increase a million-fold and thus…”

Solace slowed down the speed of her speech.

She leaned back in her throne and relaxed her shoulders.

She arched her right hand forward and created a sword of energy that cut a construct of a stickman in half.

“You are all dead.”

X’s heart started to beat faster and faster.

His heart welled up.

"He is at his strongest when he is bored."

“Yes!” brimming with excitement, unknown energies shot out of his body. “Yes, yes! That’s right. I did not know, but now I do. I know what must be done now.”

Solace stared at him with thin eyes.

“It is interesting that a being such as I, an apex of the creation, did not calculate something this important.”

Solace’s lips spread thinly across her beautiful skin.

“Heh.”

She found it laughable.

His reaction was just as she expected.

She did not lie to him, in fact she gave him valuable information.

“You don't know him as well as you think you do. Nobody knows him as well as I do.”

“Ah...” X realised that there was a price for her information. What would she want from him? What could she ask from him? Or perhaps...

“Unmask yourself.”

“...”

A question that was well within the realms of his calculations.

Never have I come across a question so obvious...

“Heh,” X scoffed. “But… that does not matter.”

X raised his hand and held the tips of the hood.

“The game is coming to an end quickly. In the end, I will win, and he will lose. That is my prophecy.”

He brought down the hood and showed Solace his naked face.

Solace examined the face and found no faults in it. It was not an illusion or a mask, but the real face of this being.

Solace let out a small sigh.

“As expected.”

“As expected?!” X blurted out angrily.

“Let’s not kid ourselves. Even a child could figure it out. It’s my master’s least favourite plot, which means it's everyone’s least favourite plot.”

The angry X clenched his fist tightly.

With anger erupting out of his body, he was about to attack Solace.

However, Solace changed the topic and continued, “And lastly, since you rudely interrupted me earlier, here is what I wanted to tell you.”

X rolled his red eyes in anger and annoyance.

The nerve of this toy...

“In your grand game of chess, there are a few wild cards that are slowly ruining your game and lowering the possibilities of your success.”

“Oh?”

“I used to think Emily was a wild card, but after thinking about it, she was a pawn in this sad game too.”

“Get to the point.”

“Lucifer.”

“He is unimportant.”

“Me,” she pointed to herself with her thumb.

“Haha,” X laughed. “What a joke.”

“The third one is a secret which will be revealed to you one day.”

“That’s it?”

“Nuh-huh, there are three more. more. One who is a complete mystery to everyone. He has been manipulating the events from shadows in ways none of us could predict, including you.”

“Oh?” the interested X narrowed his eyes.

“If you find out something, let me know.”

“Hm.”

“Erina.”

“!” X found it surprising she knew about that entity.

“I admit, I do not know much about that entity, but I do know… She is outside of your control, no? I am certain, she will be the downfall of your plan.”

“Unimportant. Whatever path she takes, it is well within my calculations. Any path she takes, it will lead to my victory.”

X was so very sure of himself, so Solace began to question her entry in this list.

She rolled her as she let out a soft grunt. She brushed aside her doubt and continued.

“And the last...”

Solace narrowed her eyes and X swallowed his saliva in anticipation.

“Aizen.”

“Aizen? Who is that?”

Solace scoffed mockingly.

“So much for being the apex...”

Every second, he came to hate Solace more and more. Unlike Nazar, her arrogance was off the charts.

“An unknown player that’s leaving his mark,” she added with an all-knowing smile.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

????

In a dimension far away, inside a room which had a large bed in it, someone gasped loudly.

The naked woman whose body regenerated from an atom breated heavily.

"Haha..." she laughed with complicated emotions.

She was confused but also impressed.

"But how?"

She massaged her temples slowly, trying to keep the pain in her head down. This new sensation caused her confusion, but also found it interesting.

"Oh, it seems I have regained an old ability of mine."

Her delighted tone immediately replaced by a painful one.

"Ugh, why is self-resurrection so painful," she spoke in an exasperated tone.

"You... You are back."

From the corner of the room, a creature spoke with fear.

"Hehe," seeing the fear on this creature, she laughed evilly. "Oh good, you did not even dare running away. Good job."

The silver haired and purple eyed woman stood up.

The scared creature gulped instantly.

This creature was happy she was gone, but she returned too quickly, which means her suffering will return.

"Since you have been such a good girl, I should reward you."

Dreaded with horror, the creature shrunk in its place.

"But before that, tell me, did he succeed?"

The creature looked down as it recalled events from a few days ago. It did not reply but just looked down in fear.

"I asked you," the woman walked briskly towards this creature. With anger in her ugly voice, she shouted, "DID HE SUCCEED?"

"Yeep!" the creature yelped.

It could not sit there in fear and shake, so it had to be brave and answer.

"I... I don't know," it replied in a shaking voice.

"Hmm," the woman looked away from the creature with a thoughtful look. "I will ask him myself."

The fear within this creature skyrocketed.

On that day, it disobeyed X, so if this woman finds out, only pain will await this creature.

"I..." the creature's lips fluttered.

Its mind went completely blank because of the fear. And before it knew, the nauseous creature had fallen unconsciously to the ground.

"You better..." the woman turned around and looked at the creature who had fallen unconsciously.

Seeing that, she grunted heavily.

"What am I going to do with, Erina?" she spoke slowly. "Killing you will be the best option, no?"

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

Far away from all of them, the Supreme God of everything teleported to his home and laid down on his bed.

“Now then… It is time to eradicate my demons.”

He closed his eyes and fell into a long slumber.