Chapter 167

Arc 16 - The Fastest Man Alive - Part 4

??????:

A man with no emotions flared his red eyes brightly and said something, "Hm, interesting."

"What is it?" Nazar of Universe-11 asked as he swept the sweat away from his face.

They were inside a dimension of lava and building something.

"Rewind…"

This Nazar who did not have the Death 100 in his universe, had never heard of Rewind or met him.

"He has taken control of the Hyperspace."

"...Hyper…!!!"

It took this Nazar a moment to realise how grave this new development was.

"Yes, to him, this Ultraverse is nothing more than an ordinary ball of light which he can crush between the weight of his fingers."

"Then…" Nazar threw away his dazed, confused look, and narrowed his eyes in a serious manner. "What will happen to my family? My universe?"

"Rewind took control over Hyperspace two seconds ago. For someone who exists just a level beneath 「the Omni-Sphere」, he should have destroyed it all one and a half seconds ago. However, he didn't. Which led me to believe he is not allowed to do so by his masters."

"The Omni-Sphere?"

"In the Sham Dynasty, it was a word used to group certain beings or their powers."

Seeing how Nazar was still confused, this man decided to explain himself further.

"There are those who possess powers that allow them to be everywhere and nowhere at once, there are those who know everything. And so on. However, the people who possess those qualities at its absolute are rare."

"So, Prime?"

"Yes, him. Everyone else besides him possesses the omni-powers in a state beneath it."

"Ah, I remember when I met an angel, he told me that some of them possess nigh-omnipresence."

"Indeed. Those angels would fall in the Omni-Sphere. Rewind, however, is different."

"Is… he a human?"

The emotionless man shook his head.

"Originally, he was from species that was no different than humans. But one day, he came across cosmic energies and it gave him speed. Since then, he has grown to become the fastest man. Simply put, his speed is limitless and immeasurable."

"...!"

To this Nazar, that term was not new.

He had heard tales of beings who can cross universes in a brief moment, and they considered themselves the fastest being alive. They claimed to have limitless speed.

However, their words were exaggerated and misunderstood, nothing more.

This man before him, however, stands at a level of his own, a being who exists in a different category. His words hold a lot more weight.

Exaggeration is a form of communication which is used to give certain emotions or words more weight.

Afterall, would an emotionless being exaggerate something?

"You…" Nazar chuckled. "You can't be serious."

"I am."

The red eyed man looked up at the dark ceiling of the fiery dimension.

"He is the fastest man alive."

"..." Nazar stared at him in disbelief.

"When battling him, you must either exist in the Omni-Sphere or you are dead. There is no in-between when that man is serious."

Nazar gulped.

"Blink and you are dead."

Cold sweats streamed down his face.

He felt a cold chill in his spine, despite being inside a hellish dimension.

"But that does not matter, after all, I am in the Omni-Sphere, so I will protect you and the ones you love."

The red eyed man looked down at Nazar with a thin smile.

"Now then, let us return to work, my blacksmith."

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In another place, Nazar and Lucifer were tied together with golden chains.

Smile now, the stars will bless you. Cry now, the stars will curse you."

"...?" Nazar wondered what nonsense Lucifer was spouting.

"Create a sanctuary so strong that will protect you from the barrage of the enemy. But no matter how strong, it must be protected. For it shall not wither away under any circumstances."

Lucifer was watching his reincarnated brother giggle on the other side of the garden, so he smiled softly.

"At last, I have found that sanctuary."

Nazar frowned after he tried his hardest to understand Lucifer's words.

"Is that so…? Good for you," he said slowly in a sarcastic tone.

"I had lost all hope for finding my sanctuary, I considered myself too strong… But seeing you and them, it made me happy. I was not at the top of the ladder; I was small and easy to miss. Like a fleeting candle, slowly being blown away. It's… wonderful."

Nazar bitterly bit his tongue.

Within his heart, the great flame of jealousy was lit.

How he wished to have an ending like his.

Sadly, there is none.

"You might be too far gone to smile at the stars and receive their blessing, but it's not too late to build a sanctuary. You are close, after all."

“...”

The confused Nazar began to think harder about what Lucifer was talking about, but he did not find an answer to his questions.

They sat in silence for a short while before Nazar broke the silence and said, “I am sorry.”

“I hope you explain yourself further, I am not sure exactly what you are apologizing for.”

“I put my problems on the table and let others solve them for me. But no more. I am going to solve this mess myself before the damage increases. So, that’s why I have an offer for you, Lucifer.”

“Oh?”

“I gave you powers without your permission, so let me take them away.”

“...”

Lucifer averted his eyes away from Azazel and looked at the sky.

“I will think about it after we defeat the Queen.”

“B--”

“I know what you said, but it stopped being your problem when they did so much damage to me. It became our problem a long time ago.”

Nazar clicked his tongue.

The golden chains around them started to fade away.

“I hope you don’t regret this, Lucifer.”

“And I hope you don’t fail. Your wishes are no longer important, but the wishes of the universe are. So, you no longer have a choice in this.”

Nazar snorted bitterly.

“I never did.”

Nazar stood up and stretched his arms.

“Leaving aside the gloomy and doomy stuff, can I ask for a favour?”

Lucifer stood up and tried to analyse the remnants of the golden chains.

“No.”

“I need Nilluferite.”

“No.”

“It’s important.”

“No, means no.”

“And I need a lot of it.”

“What part of ‘no’ do you not understand?” Lucifer grew frustrated with him rather quickly.

“I need it soon. Preferably before tomorrow.”

Lucifer’s cheeks bloated and produced a ripping sound as his cheeks returned to normal.

Nazar looked at him with a corner of his lips curled into a faint smile.

“So?”

“No.”

Nazar frowned, “Come on now...”

Lucifer walked away from him, leaving him alone.

Nazar shook his head, “I suppose I could make it myself… What a pain.”

Nazar watched as Lucifer reached his younger brother.

A few days ago, the child was scared of him, but it seemed the relationship had gotten slightly better.

“Make what?”

Aarin who walked up to him asked.

“Build something important.”

Aarin shook her head.

“Don’t you have enough weapons?”

“No,” Nazar shook his head with a faint smile. “It’s for something else. Plus, you cannot use Nilluferite in weapons. I mean it might be possible, I have never tried it, but ultimately, it won’t create a unique weapon like some other forms of minerals.”

Aarin, who ignored his last few sentences, narrowed her eyes, and smiled a curious smile.

“Oh?”

“You will...” Nazar swallowed his words and grunted softly. “Fine. I will tell you what I need it for.”

There was a long silence as Nazar looked left and right as he tried to come up with a way to tell her his grand plan.

“So? Any minute now.”

“I...” Nazar shut his lips for a moment before smiling faintly. “I am thinking of doing something terrible.”

“...”

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Earth:

Later that night, Nazar, Laura and their friends - Harry, Chris and Ashley - met outside a club.

"Yo, if it isn't the grandad of the universe," Harry snickered.

"Should we bow down?" Chris rubbed his chin.

"Yes," Nazar's red eyes flared brightly as he smiled evilly. "Kneel down and perhaps I might consider forgiving your transgression."

"Chūnibyō."

"Chūnibyō."

Both Chris and Harry said unison as they nodded.

"Oi, shut it before I send you to the netherworld," he snapped at them.

"No, but seriously, you need to leave your "eight grade syndrome" behind you."

"Yeah, totally, uncool, bro."

Nazar frowned.

"No-- Ah."

An idea flashed through Nazar's mind, so he smiled thinly once again.

"Could it be you are feeling inferior because I can read more than in a minute than you can in a lifetime?" He said with a cruel condescending smile. "Tsk, tsk, jealousy is not a good thing."

"The nerve of this old man…".

"Fine, you can think whatever you want," Chris spoke as if trying to sound superior. "But you gotta know…"

However, his words slowly vanished.

He glanced at his friend for help to continue but Harry never noticed him.

"Wait, you bastard, help me out here," Chris gave Harry a small slap on the back.

"With what, Christophe Colombus?"

"Ugh, fuck you, discount Harry Potter."

Ashley - Chris' significant other - rolled her eyes and looked at Laura who was standing next to her. The two of them watched the three of them talk amongst themselves with complicated feelings.

"... There is something wrong with these guys, don't you think?"

Laura nodded with a look of pity on her face, "Unfortunately, we chose wrong."

"It's not too late, right?"

"Good idea."

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Shortly after, inside the club, Chris and Ashley were dancing while Nazar and Harry watched from a corner.

"I miss Rebecca."

"You know, if you called her, I am sure her mother would teleport her right here."

Harry turned his head towards Nazar with a disgusted look on his face.

"No way. I don't want to see that demon."

Nazar shot an icy glare towards his friend.

"Oi, watch your language. That's my mother."

Harry looked at Nazar's side profile for a short while with a blank look on his face.

Then he heaved a heavy sigh and said, "Your family tree seems more confusing than the Summers family."

"What? No way in hell," Nazar shook his head. "That's possibly the worst family tree in comics besides the Richards family. And even worse when you consider the ties between those two families. I wish mine was even half as bad or confusing as either of them."

“Why would you even want that?!”

“...” Nazar shrugged. “Because it's cool.”

Harry shook his head.

“Anyway, if you want, I can send you to meet her instead. You seem kind of lonely here without anyone paying you any attention.”

“Which part of me looks lonely?

“Every part. I feel sad for you.”

Nazar pursed his lips as he tried to stop himself from laughing.

“You look down upon me, but you are also standing in a corner, sad and alone.”

“Who said anything about being alone?”

“?”

Laura, who was standing next to Nazar - but couldn’t be seen by Harry because of Nazar’s bulky frame - popped out her head and waved her hand, “Ciao.”

“See?”

Harry let out a faint unpleasant rumbling sound.

“No really, if you are worried, I can send you there.”

“Nah, I am good, I don’t want--”

Harry swallowed his words before he called Alice a demon again.

“Erm, anyway--”

However, Nazar knew what he was going to say and so, he flicked his fingers, teleporting Harry away to another city.

“Too much, don’t you think?” Laura leaned back against the wall and asked.

“Maybe, but it is kind of funny.”

She shook her head with a soft grunt.

“One day your humour will fit your age.”

“Ouch.”

“Yo, where did Harry go?” Chris walked up to the two of them and asked.

“I sent him to meet Alice. I thought it would be funny.”

“Ah damn it,” Chris cursed at himself. “I wish I was here earlier.”

“Next time, I suppose.”

“Oh well, I guess it was finally time for him to meet them. Sheesh, I am glad mine was less complicated compared to the two of you.”

“Eh, mine is simple too, I just don’t have to meet them,” Nazar shrugged.

“Good for you,” Chris nodded. “Ash kept bugging me about it."

“I suppose I am lucky in that regard,” he said with a relaxed smile. “I am going to avoid that awkward conversation.”

“Ahem,” Laura cleared her throat.

With a sweet smile - but her serious eyes told a different story - she added, “That’s not going to cut it.”

“...” Nazar glanced down at her with a stiff smile. “You don’t mean...”

“Yes. I will need to make sure you meet them. That should be funny,” she snickered.

“And she says I have a bad sense of humour,” Nazar groaned softly.

“But that might not end well considering...” Chris tilted his head to the right side as if gesturing towards something. “You know?”

Nazar followed the trail of his gesture and glanced at the people around and opened his mouth. His mouth stayed open as he thought.

“Ah, that...”

Nazar arched his right hand and looked down at it.

Been a while since I did this. I wonder if it will work...

In his palm, he produced a purple orb of energy.

Then he placed his left palm on it.

While holding on to the orb with his right hand, he tried to pull it apart using his left hand and it created electricity-like static and white-purple sparks flew out of it.

As he ripped through the orb, the world vibrated for a brief moment.

“Wh-what are you doing?” the panicked Chris whimpered.

“Oh, nothing, just ridding the person Nazar from the memories of the world.”

The sparks between his palms increased drastically and so did the static noise.

After a short while, the noise and sparks spiked and blew up, creating an explosion between the palms of his hand.

Chris’ shoulders jerked for a brief moment.

“Tch, didn’t work,” Nazar said in a muffled unpleasant voice. “As soon as it goes away, they remember instantly.”

Nazar loosened his arms and looked at Laura besides him.

"I suppose that won't be possible any time soon."

"Oh well… one day," Laura sighed in a disappointed manner.

"Wait a minute," Chris blurted out in a confused manner. "How EXACTLY does your power work?"

"It's simple, I can wish for anything and it… well, it just happens. With no restrictions or drawback," he spoke in a somewhat gloomy tone as he faced his old friend.

"So, it's basically reality warping?"

Nazar shook his head.

"I can manipulate reality with it, but it's different. My power is something that exists above everything, be it reality warping or matter manipulation or even divine powers."

Chris' eyes were wide open in surprise.

"I see."

"Sort of like Shenron from Dragon Ball."

"Ohh. Alright. So, what? You can do anything?"

Nazar nodded.

"I even became 「Omnipotent」 with this ability," Nazar's chilling words caused Chris to gulp. "I can see snippets of myself from that time in my dreams sometimes. The omniverse was nothing more than a bulb of light in the palm of my hand."

"..."

Chris, who was at a loss for words or expressions, stared at Nazar.

Nazar patted him on the shoulder and smiled, as if trying to get rid of the awkward atmosphere.

"Leaving that aside, I wanted to ask, when the zombies came out, where were you?"

"...N-nothing, just preparing for the job," Chris cleared his throat and spoke. However, his voice was still a little squeaky, as if he was scared. "So, I pretty much missed it," he chuckled sadly.

Nazar looked at Laura with an expression of confusion and disbelief pasted on his face, who shrugged at him in return.

Looking back at Chris, he spoke slowly in an exasperated tone, "Unbelievable."

"Why?"

"I don't get it. Both you and Emma found it excited and were disappointed you missed it. Do you guys not realise how dangerous that thing was?"

"..." Chris darted his eyes left and right with pursed lips. Then he shook his head and said, "No?"

Nazar heaved a long sigh.

"One day, I will throw you into a planet of zombies. Now that will teach you," Nazar joked with a faint laughter.

"I mean… do I get any weapons?"

"No," he replied without any hesitation.

"Then no, thank you."

Nazar shook his head, "Disappointing."

“What is disappointing?” Ashley, who walked next to them, asked.

“This…” Nazar pointed at Chris with a disgusted expression - albeit sarcastically, “thing.”

“Oh wow, you don’t even consider him a human?”

“I would if he wasn’t such a disappointment.”

“That’s racist, mate,” Chris said jokingly.

“My “racism” and “xenophobia” is well known,” Nazar raised his eyebrows repeatedly with a curled smile. He seemed quite proud of the fact that he destroyed entire civilisations just for fun. “Well, at least among those who know me.”

Chirs shook his head with a soft grunt.

"You are the worst."

"Took you long enough to realise," Nazar's red eyes flared for a brief moment.

"That's kind of cool," a look of awe crept on Ashley's face as she saw his eyes.

"I know, right?" Laura added excitedly.

No one besides Nazar understood why she was this excited, but they did not question it.

"So, is that like Superman? You know when it comes out of his eyes and whatnot?" the curious Ashley asked.

"No, it's more like Cyclops' optic blasts. This one just channel energy from within me, but Superman's heat vision is different," Nazar's eyes slowly changed. It went from red to slightly lighter red and orange.

As the colour changed, small cracks appeared in his eyeball and on his skin.

"With heat vision, I can channel solar energies or the heat within me to use it as a concentrated blast of fire. Although, I much prefer to the optic blast - (for the lack of a better term) - since it looks cooler, and it also doesn't make me go blind for a moment."

Ashley nodded with pursed lips and said, "Well, that's quite complicated."

"Which part?"

"Where do you channel the solar energies from? Through a portal?"

Nazar shook his head.

"I can generate solar energies myself. But I usually tend to use the sun rays around us. And if that doesn't exist, then I just create a sun."

With a complicated smile on her face, she nodded.

"I still can't believe you are the same Nazar," Ashley chuckled. "I guess the white hair and red eyes should have been a dead giveaway, eh?"

"Can't believe I had to spell it out for you guys, I am disgusted."

"Eh, nobody cares about your opinion anyway," Chris added with a snicker.

In return, Nazar frowned.

"One day, you will respect me."

"I would… but having known you for over ten years and knowing how much of a filthy degenerate you are… I honestly don't see myself doing that."

"Filthy degenerate?" Laura narrowed her eyes as she looked at Nazar. She was curious to know what he might be hiding from her.

Nazar looked in the opposite direction with a stiff smile.

"Oh-oh," Chris smiled thinly. "It seems someone has stepped on a landmine. Should I tell her, or do you want me to do the job?'

"Tell me what?" she looked at Chris then at Nazar.

Chris sighed with a victorious smile.

"If you ever go back to his apartment, check his books. There you will find questionable stuff. That's all I am going to tell you," Chris raised his hands as if giving up. "The rest… oh man, I wish I can see that."

"Come on, just say it."

"I will just say this, he called it "art". If you ever watched the Office, you would probably realise by now what I am referring to."

Laura, who had seen the show, did not arrive at an answer. She could not remember the reference Chris just made.

"Let me know when you find out."

Nazar snapped his fingers and a white-blue energy shot out of it his fingers, crossing the borders of the room and flew to a certain place in London.

He relaxed his shoulders and looked at Chris in the eyes.

"Bitch," Nazar said in a muffled voice that carried great grudge.

"What did you just do?"

"Now then, where is your evidence for the outrageous claim you made?"

Seeing the undefeated smile on Nazar's face, Chris frowned.

"Oh, for the love of… You didn't just get rid of your whole collection now, did you?"

"I lost my collection a while ago, but…" he answered his question by closing his eyes once.

"Ugh, this is why you suck."

Nazar laughed.

The other two, however, glanced at each other with looks of pity on their faces.

"Still not too late," Ashley said slowly.

To which Laura just nodded, "Yeah."

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Edinburgh, Scotland, UK:

Inside a small apartment above a shop, out of a light blue portal, Harry popped out. He fell on his head and rolled in the small room.

"Gah?!"

He sat up on his butt and massaged the back of his head.

"That fucking idiot--"

However, a flaming sword was extended right at his throat, so he swallowed his words with a gulp.

A woman with long white hair and red eyes asked in a cold tone, "Who are you?"

"I-- uh, um… I…"

Alice narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on the sword.

"I said, WHO ARE YOU?!" her loud question caused Harry's body to jerk in fear and let out a loud yelp.

It also caused a certain someone in the house to hear it, so she came running.

Opening the door, she asked in a worried tone, "Mom, what's wrong--"

Her eyes slowly fell upon her boyfriend, which caused her expression to turn confused.

"What are…?"

"You know him?" Alice asked her daughter as she glanced at her from a corner of her eyes.

"Yeah, she does," from behind Alice, Harry was able to see two sinister red eyes, so his feats skyrocketed.

"Hrm," the unpleasant Alice moved the sword away from Harry's throat and took a step back. "I see."

The two sinister eyes came close to Harry with great speed and crouched before him.

"Boo."

As the small voice escaped his lips, Harry yelped louder than before and fell unconscious.

"Nazar!" Rebecca called out to him, slightly frustrated and worried about her significant other. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Nazar - or at least an avatar of him - stood up with a shrug. "He was asking for it."

“Is he going to be okay?” she asked in a panicked voice.

“Of course, just let him rest for five minutes and he should be back.”

“Oh.”

“Avatar...” Alice widened her eyes a little as she looked at Nazar.

She could see that this was merely an avatar.

“Nazar...” Alice spoke in a slow and firm tone.

Nazar turned around and looked at the suspicious red eyes of Alice.

“Tch, he is fine.”

“No, I meant are you really him.”

“Oh…” Nazar hesitated to answer for a moment. He felt complicated about the situation. He wanted to meet Alice and have a long talk with her about what happened, but at the same time, he had other matters to attend to. So, he felt a little bad for sending just an avatar. “Sorry about that, I-- the real thing had to do something important really.”

“No, that’s not it,” Alice shook her head. “I meant him, Aros… That person. (I cannot say his name well.)”

“Oh, Arosus,” Nazar smiled in a relaxed manner. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Is he an avatar as well?”

“It’s actually a little more complicated, but in a way, I suppose yes.”

Nazar narrowed his eyes.

“But why do you want to know?”

“I met him...”

“!!” Nazar’s eyes widened. “When?”

“In my dreams.”

“...Huh?”

Alice glanced at her daughter.

“Becky, can you leave us for a moment?”

“Uh, sure?”

Harry’s body floated and was moved out of the room too.

Rebecca’s expression turned bitter at this odd sight, but neither Nazar nor Alice noticed it.

“What happened? When? Why? And what did he say?” Nazar asked her in a serious and unshakeable tone.

“I… Can’t remember.”

Nazar understood what she meant.

He arrived at two conclusions. One; her memories were removed. And two; like most humans, she too, cannot remember her dreams.

“But I do know that he used to appear in my dreams, for a long time. Always there, playing around inside a small place like a child.”

“What the…?”

When I created Arosus, that me back then, he was close to four people only. Solace, Emma, Aarin and Alice… but… does that mean…?

Nazar hurriedly took out a phone from his pocket and dialled a number.

He waited impatiently as the phone rang slowly. The few seconds felt like an eternity to him.

After a short while, the phone stopped ringing, and someone spoke through it.

“- Sup? -”

“Hey, Emma, can I ask a weird question?”

“- .... -”

“It’s important.”

“- Sigh. Go ahead, then. -”

“Do you ever see me - or someone like me - in your dreams?”

“- Uh… No? I mean, maybe? But I do not remember anything, so can’t be too sure. -”

“I see...”

He cursed himself deep down because he was expecting this answer. There was no other answer she could give him.

“- Why? -”

“It’s… nothing. Don’t worry. Sorry about that. Bye.”

Without waiting any longer, he cut off the phone.

He then created a golden orb in his hand and created a link between him and Aarin.

“Hey, Aarin, can I ask a weird question?”

“Oh? What is it, Nazar?” Aarin’s voice was clearly very confused, and it carried hints of worry.

“Do you ever see me in my dreams? Or someone like me?”

“No? I don’t dream.”

“Right,” he bit his lip in anger. Once again, he could have arrived at this answer without bothering her.

“But why?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry, it’s nothing. Sorry about that.”

“Huh, is that so? But are you sure?”

“Mm-hmm, I will talk to you later. Bye.”

“Bye.”

The golden orb vanished.

And Solace doesn’t dream either...

Nazar sucked in a breath as he sat down on the sofa nearby.

He rested his elbow on the sofa’s arm and started biting as thumb as he thought with heavy breathing.

The confused Alice watched him for a few minutes, but nothing changed about him.

“Is… something wrong?”

Nazar shook his head.

His lips slowly loosened and smiled thinly.

“But this... This is interesting.”

The dumbfounded Alice tilted her head slightly to the right.

“It all makes sense now.”

“What makes sense?”

Nazar stood up.

“Alice...”

He formed a finger gun with his index finger and held it at Alice.

“Will you die for me?”

“...”

Her body tensed up in fear and took a step back.

“Huh?”

“Bang,” as those words escaped his lips, a beam of energy shot out from his finger and hit Alice in the heart.

The beam of energy flew out of her back as her dead body slowly plumped down to the ground.

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In another place, a red eyed and white-haired monster screamed in pain and agony as white energies flew out of his body, destroying everything around him.