Chapter 177

Arc 16 - The Fastest Man Alive - Part 14

It was an ordinary day until Nazar met Eddie on the planet of pirates.

He found his old friend at an even older tavern, which laid in empty region of this planet. Eddie had drunk an excessive amount of alcohol and started to utter words Nazar never thought he would hear from his friend.

To the disappointment of Nazar, his friend was not mind controlled, so what he said, he truly meant it.

Hearing those hurtful words, his mind entered a state of chaos and he lost himself.

To make matters worse, when Brawn touched him, the Queen used that as a leeway to send new memories into Nazar’s head, causing his mind and power to spiral out of control and hurt everything around him.

“NAZAR!” the beast known as Brawn called out at his friend.

No, no, no, no, no, the Supreme God of everything thought to himself.

Whatever was shot into him caused him to go berserker and lose even more of himself, but at the same time, he gained a greater ability to think, far more than what he could do a few moments ago.

It can’t be… It can’t… How… But...

“Nazar, calm down. You are---”

But Brawn’s word did not reach this monster.

Instead, he screamed even more.

His sound increased exponentially, creating a huge explosion of light to occur.

The light turned everything white in the universe.

But only for an instant.

The explosion swallowed itself instantly and then…

And…

And…

And then… BLINK!

And just like that, everything turned pitch black.

လလလ

Just what did he see?

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

The last timeline, the one no one remembers:

Nazar was “killed” by the white light, and it began to wash away everything in its path, back to the beginning, the origin - May 22nd, 2000.

Nazar’s body was destroyed by the light, revealing his 「Existence」 - core and the centrepiece of who he is.

The remnant energies of God were too vast to be contained in a linear infinite multiverse. If left to unattended, it could destroy an infinite number of universes and even more lives.

“What a pain...”

X began lifting these energies, but he soon found himself worn out.

Why is this so heavy…?

He had no other choice but to push them all and put it inside the body of a child that was just born.

He exists beyond every known concept and level of existence, so this body is nothing but an illusion… And giving life to illusions, is what I excel at.

And so, his problem at the moment was solved, but the universe had not returned to its normal state.

It should stabilize in a few...

In this place which had no space nor time, the Queen walked out of a portal and spoke to X, “I dislike the way you want to achieve your goals.”

“Oh, mi amor, what do you have in mind then?”

“Since the beginning, I have followed every plan of yours as closely as one can, however, it is not yielding fruitful results. At every turn, we are met with an impregnable barrier and cannot pass through, so we are forced to begin anew.”

“No, I cannot allow you to do that, I have planned for every moment and every second, and allowing you to run amok now could lead to my plans being ruined.”

“Oh, the plans that worked so well in the last million timelines or so?”

She did not show it on her face, but he could feel a hint of anger and annoyance in her voice.

“All part of my plan. My calculations are as perfect as it gets. I have planned for every possibility, so I know what I am doing.”

The Queen looked at the Void Blade in his hand and began inspecting it, showing little to zero interest in what he was saying.

“Oh?” she did not try to hide her uninterested tone.

“Listen, I know him better than anyone, better than he even knows himself. I know what will break him and what will grant us "victory".”

“Is that so...”

She raised her head ever so slightly and looked at him with her right eye, while she continued to inspect the blade with her left eye.

“You do not know him as well as you think you do.”

X let her run her mouth disrespectfully without saying anything, but to question his intelligence and plans, it was not something he could slide under the rug.

“Pardon me?” childishly, his irritation flew out of his mouth.

“Hrn,” with her head still low, she smiled a thin smile, absent from the view of this God.

She touched the Void Blade with her slender snow-white fingers, which looked like it could break easier than glass.

She felt the darkness and void running through the blade. She felt the energy of a Creator she had added into it. The mix of these unique energies birthed this powerful sword.

So!

She had a thought.

The Queen of Virrasil had a question.

If it can harm God, what will it do to him…?

She kept her malicious thoughts to herself and continued to touch the sword with delicate fingertips.

“Give me control of this timeline.”

“...”

X laughed forcefully.

And he laughed some more.

But suddenly, his laughter came to a halt, and he said, “No.”

“Hm,” the Queen was expecting this reaction of his, so she was not surprised nor disappointed. “I can enter you into a win-win situation.”

“No, that is not for us. We can never enter a stage that doesn’t lead to failure.”

Every road has led to failure, and so will every other. That is what he knows and what he has predicted.

“Every situation we put him in, it ends up being a win-win situation for him, but for us, it’s not. If he defeats us, he wins. If we kill him, he wins. If we steal his power for us, he wins. Simply put, we cannot win.”*

“You are wrong,” her short words caused him to swallow his words.

She raised her head, showing a victorious smile.

“Sixty-one percent guaranteed success.”

“...”

X did not believe her.

He has carried out calculations for millions of years and continues to improve it, but no matter what method he uses, the rate of success is always in single digits.

It's simply impossible to win against him.

“According to your calculations, the Dragon will most definitely reveal himself in the upcoming timeline, am I right?”

X did not reply, but she took that as a “yes”.

“It is fine. You carry out your plans in such a way that will pull the Dragon to us but let me carry out my plans by myself.”

“...What are your plans?”

“That is a secret - for now, but I will name the main players.”

“Oh?”

“Erina, the Parasite, Rewind, Archangel Michael, Rina, the God Eater and...”

She took a long pause, waiting for X to raise interest in the final individual.

To her surprise, X raised his interest and waited patiently for her to reveal the final player.

Ah, it all makes sense now.

X did as she had expected.

Everything he said, every expression he made, she had expected that.

“Solace.”

“...”

Just as she had expected, he chuckled.

“What use will that toy have for us?”

“Toy...” the Queen shook her head slightly. “Love is so easy to weaponize.”

“Oh,” X caught onto her plan, albeit not entirely. “I understand.”

“Yes, in this new timeline, you and I are not to influence anyone except for Rina. Leave the others in their original state, without a path chosen for them by us.”

“Since in this world, we did the same and it led to that… weird relationship between God and his toy.”

“Replicating that will not be hard, we just have to let them be, let them feel the emotions they want to feel. And then...”

She clenched her fist in front of her.

The victory was in her sight.

She could see it; she could touch it even.

“Earlier you said, we have two options no matter what we do. Lose, and lose. But...”

The Queen slashed her sword in front of her, creating cracks in this white space.

“Let me introduce you to a third option.”

“Oh?”

“We both lose.”

“!!”

X could not believe what he had heard.

“Surely, you jest.”

The Queen continued to smile a thin victorious smile. X began to see hints of excitement in her smile.

“Even if he wins, he will lose. Forever haunted by this failure of his. It will be like a black dot on his white clothes which he can never get rid of.”

“...”

X did not want to accept such an outcome.

But… he questioned himself; But I had already accepted a situation of loss, so… Why do I hate this?

Was it because he could not think of this option? Or was it because he did not see the Queen as someone capable of doing something better than him.

To leave out his feelings of insecurity, he got rid of that ugly emotion and said, “Huh, you are quite smart.”

“How rude,” the Queen folded her arms in front of her chest as she turned ninety degrees clockwise. She added in an annoyed yet condescending tone, “I once ruled over the entire omniverse.”

X did not take her words and tone at face value, he deduced that she was just being sarcastic.

Her reactions at this moment reminded him of someone else, someone whom he hates the most, the toy with red hair and blue eyes.

“99% of the omniverse, m’lady.”

In return, she clicked her tongue.

"But I don't understand, why Rina? That project was a failure."

"Mm-hmm, it was. And it will be a failure in this timeline too. I just need that as a temporary mean of confusing him."

"Hmm."

She then spoke a few words to X, confirming their new plan.

“Hmm, hmm, that is pretty good.”

She unfolded her arms and looked X in the eyes.

“I am surprised you did not think of this.”

“He can turn off his emotions, remember?”

“As I said, love is something that can be weaponized.”

လလလ

In a cheerful voice, the Queen hummed as she walked to the corner of her room.

She decided it was beneath her to worry about the darkness that covered everything. Instead, she wanted to focus on something smaller, more personal.

In her room, she walked to a corner where an odd creature sits.

The Queen crouched before this creature. She tilted her head to the right and smiled a wide bright smile without any malice or evil in it.

I remember everything now.

Her smile was so bright, it was almost blinding in this dimly lit room.

“I was right,” she spoke happily.

The creature in front of her flinched at her unusual expressions.

The creature found her expressions unnatural and more terrifying than her usual ones.

“We are close. Sooo close to achieving our goals,” she held the tips of her thumb and index finger close to one another. “He is going to lose. And it begins now. Just when he thought he had an upper hand.”

She giggled ever so slightly, trying to hide her excitement.

“I told him, love is something that can be weaponized, it can become the most fearsome weapon.”

The creature did not pretend it understood what she said, so as usual, it just whimpered in fear.

“After seeing a few images of his broken toy, he lost himself. He lost himself, nearly damning everything in creation. After all, he seems just like a child.”

The Queen moved her fingers towards the creature.

“After gaining a speck of happiness and control, he lost it all. It’s so easy.”

She touched the creature’s face.

“Erina, you will grant me victory over God himself. Until now, all of us, we failed, but you are my saviour. My greatest masterpiece.”

The Queen strolled her fingers through the face of this creature known as Erina.

“You and the Parasite will bring me that victory. Despite...” her tone turned gloomy a little. “Despite...”

The Queen’s fingers stiffened, stabbing into the skin of the creature, causing it to bleed.

Who made those changes?

She did not want to think about what she recently remembered, but she couldn't stop herself anymore.

It is not him. I know that for a fact.

She was sure it was not X who made her forget.

Then who...?

Now that she remembers, everything was going according to her plan, but a few years into the new timeline, it went through a drastic sudden change.

Now, she can finally see the changes clearly.

Everything is different than it was in the beginning of this new timeline.

It was not Nazar nor Solace who changed everything either, then who…?

Someone wants her to lose, someone wants him to win.

Could it be the Dragon or...?

The train of her thoughts trailed off suddenly when she raised to her feet abruptly. Hastily, she turned around and saw a different kind of monster standing behind him.

!!

The Queen has fought in countless battles across the millennia, so she had honed her senses to perfection, but for some reasons, she could not sense this entity with such a frightening presence.

She could see a clear bloodlust in the crimson eyes of this monster.

...Oh?

She did not want to fight this monster; she could not fight this monster.

Confusion and fear spiraled deep within her, causing her to swallow her saliva.

She thought to herself, what was she meant to do at this moment? And why was this monster here?

If he is here to kill me, then there is...

But in the midst of confusion, she realised something.

This monster was not looking at her.

Following the trail of its eyes, her eyes fell onto this Erina creature.

!!

The bloodlust was directed at this other creature.

NO!

Instead of being relieved, she widened her eyes in a worried manner.

If her masterpiece were to be killed, everything she had done would have been for naught.

No, if he kills her, then its--

She sucked in a breath and opened her mouth, preparing to utter some words that will save her.

However, she questioned if what she was about to do is wise. Fighting against this monster will bring her nothing but pain.

The Queen also wondered if this ability would even work against this monster.

But she had no other option.

So!

“Copy: Absolute Wish,” she activated the most fearsome ability in creation. “Warp away.”

With a flash of blinding light, the Erina creature was teleported elsewhere.

She had left this place faster than the monster could even blink once.

The crimson eyes of the monster moved left and right at a rapid speed, searching for the lost animal.

The Queen breathed a soft and silent sigh of relief, knowing her masterpiece is safe.

Within a brief moment, she regained her composure knowing it worked against this formidable opponent.

“You are hurt, I understand, but you cannot hurt her...”

This monster looked at the Queen for the first time since he came into this room and acknowledged her presence.

“Arosus.”

Arosus, the most powerful and fearsome entity in the omniverse right now, lowered his eyes slightly and clicked his tongue.

“In any case, she has been sent to a place far from the reaches of you and I.”

Absolute Wish is the mightiest ability in creation, so naturally, an inferior version of it will also dwarf every other ability and power.

Knowing that, the Queen could not help but feel superior to everyone around her.

She was invincible with this ability.

“Now then, Arosus,” with her ego once again returned to her, the Queen sat on her bed and crossed her slender and beautiful legs.

The Queen tilted her head ever so slightly and smiled a faint thin smile.

“Let us finally talk about what happened and will happen, now shall we?”

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In another place, also far from here, a man in black robes floated in the middle of nowhere.

Certain words from an android kept repeating itself in the back of his head.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

He did not want to believe what she had told him, but at the same time, he could not stop himself from thinking about it.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

In the back of his head, those words pierced like thing needles.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

He wanted to forget it, but he was curious if she was telling the truth.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

He did not want to believe her.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

He believed in himself.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

He did not believe her.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

He did not want to believe her.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

“Arrghhhh,” in anger he ripped the robes around him and threw them away.

She is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WROOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!

But he could not stop his curiosity.

He could not get rid of her words.

Those words kept repeating itself in his mind like a broken record.

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

Have you ever gazed upon your face in the mirror?

So, he gave into her temptation.

He lost.

He swiped his arm across the nothingness and created a large mirror.

He wanted to prove her wrong and hold victory over her again.

But...

“!!”

And so, for the first time ever, he gazed upon his own face.

“Huh...”

There were no red eyes as he thought he had.

In fact, there were no eyes at all. Or any other features a usual face would have.

He did not have a face.

He did not have a face, nor did he have a colour.

Throughout his body, he saw dots on his body that never changed its position. They were fixed into his frame.

X moved his skin a little, but the dots stayed in the exact same position.

“This… can’t be...”

Upon closer inspection, he had no skin either.

His entire body consisted of black outlines and the black dots.

“What… am I?”

He was not a human, or a God, or a monster.

He was not a living being.

He was just a two-dimensional drawing without colours.

He was a drawing that stole faces when interacting with others.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAT AMMMMMMMMMM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII?!?!?!”

Like a confused beast, “he” screamed atop his non-existent lungs.

“Whose dream am I fighting for? Whose rage am I feeling? What...”

The odd creature fell to “his” knees.

"He" did not understand the physics of how that worked, but he did not question it. It was not the time to question it.

“What am I fighting for?”

“He” held “his” face in the palm of his hands.

“He” questioned “his” motives, “his” dream, “his” rage and “his” very existence.

“Why do I exist?”

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Back in the Ultraverse, Rewind got bored with the lower world, so he asked the sword a simple question.

“The Fourth Dimension… Can you protect me?”

The sword flashed brightly at its current master.

“Good.”

He was bored with the lower worlds and wanted to see what was waiting for him at the top.

So, he held his sword right at the heavens and smiled.

“I want to see what it can offer me.”

The sword flashed like a bright supernova, creating a white light to appear above Rewind, creating a one-way path to a real no man should go.

Rewind jumped through the light without hesitation and reached the Fourth Plane of Existence.

“!!”

However, it was not what he was expecting.

Rewind expected hell, a fiery world with a colossal red demon and black Dullahans.

However, instead, he found nothing but the colour red that spread for infinity.

“What is… this?”

The sword answered him.

“...” Rewind slowly looked down at the sword and blurted out, “Huh?”

The sword flashed dimly.

“No, no, no, no, it can’t be. No, I don’t believe it.”

Whatever the sword had told him, he could not come to agree with it or see it in the same light.

But the sword provided another answer.

“What do you mean…?”

Rewind looked away from the sword and looked at the colour red.

“Is this a lone molecule?”

What he was looking at was a lone molecule.

“Are you...” Rewind swallowed his saliva.

The sword flashed.

“A lone molecule in this plane is bigger than the multiverse down there… We are smaller than ants.”

The sword flashed once again.

“Heh...”

Rewind began to laugh excitedly.

The sword did not ask any question, if it did, it would receive an extremely predictable and stupid answer.

“Leave me be, sword.”

If it had facial features and emotions, it would have heaved a heavy sigh along with a facepalm.

And so, the sword moved away.

It stopped protecting Rewind.

The moment the protection of the sword dropped; Rewind exploded into nothingness.

That was it.

He died.

He ceased existing. He was erased from time, space, reality, and the memories of everyone.

The universe will try to find a way to fill that void with an illusion of sorts, but it takes time for it to realise that empty void within it.

The sword flashed brightly again, almost as if it was showing its displeasure.

“Aarrrgghhhhhhhhhhh!”

Suddenly, in front of the sword, light exploded outwards and started to create a humanoid person.

“Damnit,” for some reasons Rewind felt fatigued, which is something he hadn’t felt in so long.

Considering how fast he moves, perhaps this fatigue will never go away.

“I should have known she would bring me back...”

The sword flashed brightly.

“Ugh, shut up,” Rewind clicked his tongue. “It hurts not to try...”

Rewind took hold of the sword and looked up.

Looking at these molecules which were bigger than the multiverse caused Rewind to swallow his saliva.

All this time, he felt so powerful, but in these worlds above, he is smaller than the smallest living organism.

He is weaker than the smallest living organism.

He is nothing.

It would shake everyone with dread, but Rewind was different.

He felt relieved.

“Let us ascend to the fifth--” but he was forced to cut his words short when everything started to shake suddenly around them. “WHAT--”

Rewind forced his body to run between the molecules and moved to a different place.

He was not sure how many molecules he ran by, he lost count after a few million, but he did not care.

He thought if he moved elsewhere, the vigorous shaking would stop, but it did not.

“What is happening?”

Before the sword could flash to reply to him, everything went dark.

It was nothing but darkness.

Rewind thought there was nothing around him anymore.

He felt as if he was in the Void.

He moved his lips.

“What is...”

To his surprise, there was sound.

He glanced down at the sword, and it flashed brightly, creating light.

There was sound and light, which means it was not the Void.

“What could it be…?”

He was forced to swallow his words as the universe flickered like a light bulb and light returned to him.

All around him, he could see nothing but a red molecule that was bigger than anything.

“Did...”

He looked at the sword for answers.

The sword hesitated to answer, but with a flash of dim light, Rewind knew the answer.

“So, it was him.”

Just the thought of that human pervaded him with anger and anguish.

As the anger spread within him, the sword flashed again, almost as if it was swimming in satisfaction.

"He turned off everything for a fleeting moment…?" he clicked his tongue. "Doesn’t matter, he will die no matter what.”