Chapter 195

Arc 17 - Shadowy World - Part 5

London, UK:

King Arthur returned from his trip to Russia - above of which the monster resided.

She flew over his city and landed in front of his old yet luxurious castle.

As usual, he was greeted by a few people, one of whom was his advisor in the modern era - someone who helped him with the new jargon, words, cultures and more.

"Your majesty," his advisor bowed slightly to welcome the ruler of this empire. "How was your trip? Yield anything fruitful?"

"..."

Arthur did not say anything, and simply walked past him.

His advisor understood what that meant, so he did not ask any more questions.

"Get me the UN."

"!"

The advisor froze in his place once he heard those words.

He could not comprehend what Arthur wanted to do with them.

"But…"

"This world is run by a shadow society, the rulers have connections to one another, playing with one another… The UN, an organisation which was meant to exist as a bond between them, for the betterment of all, is nothing but a ruse."

After all, Arthur knows it is the creation of that demon. So, he can never trust it.

"I want a meeting with the real one, and I want it today. Otherwise, this world will end sooner than we can expect it."

"But--"

"NOW!" Arthur replied angrily without stopping or looking back at him.

He entered his castle furiously.

"I will not repeat myself."

At that moment, a few words of the Celestial Judge echoed in the back of his head.

Norse God could not overcome his grief, he tried his best, but he fell to the darkness. Grief drove him to madness. We do not want the same to happen to you, Arthur.

Of course, I will not. I cannot.

So do all think as such… In any case, I can already see the effects of this murky world on you. The frustration is driving you--

Hrn, I think you misunderstand; I am not falling to the darkness.

Perhaps, perhaps not. But heed my warning Arthur of Britannia… Know this... All roads lead to darkness.

"..."

Arthur's face twisted in anger as he clicked his tongue.

"I will prove you wrong," Arthur muttered under his breath. "I will prove you wrong no matter what it takes."

He did not want to die, he did not want to fall to the eternal darkness like Eddie did, so, he clenched his fist tightly.

He tightly clenched his fist and swore.

He swore that he will rise above this challenge, this darkness, and prove himself to them.

He wanted them to think he wanted what's best for humanity, which he does, but he wants them to see it.

And…

Aarin, I will not let you down. Ever.

Aarin was his saviour, the one who gave him everything - or at least he believes so.

She was his light in this shadowy world.

I will change this world, I will change humanity, I will save it. I will. Just watch from the heavens and bless my sword with your power.

Arthur walked into the castle and went to his room, a room too large and luxurious to be even considered a room. To Arthur, it was a mansion inside a mansion.

He glanced around the room, and his thoughts drifted to the far past. His childhood where he was all alone and hungry.

In the rainy muds of old Wales, in a small but outside of the small town, this child looked at the sky, cursing God and his creation.

To the surprise of this child, an angel descended from the heavens.

She was as dazzling as the sun, as beautiful as the stars in the sky.

She extended her right hand.

"Your majesty," a faint voice reached his ears, so his trip down the memory began to crumble away, replaced by the reality in which he lived now.

He turned around and looked at a familiar face.

It was not of an angel or his advisor, but the face of the Knight Captain of the Royal Knights of Britannia - Patrick Lionel.

“Oh. Hello,” Arthur regained his posture and greeted the Knight Captain. “What brings you here?”

“There is… There is something you must know.”

Seeing the fearful look on the Knight Captain’s face, Arthur’s curiosity piqued.

What could scare him so much? What has happened?

“About the “shadow society”...” Patrick spoke slowly. “You mustn’t summon them. Or meet them.”

“Hm?”

“The Phantoms… You do not know them, and--”

Frustrated with what he was hearing, Arthur cut off the Knight Captain’s words, “They are the rulers of their countries, public leaders.”

“I...”

Patrick lowered his head apologetically.

“You were lied to.”

“...What?” Arthur stood in front of him like an otherworldly titan.

He did not try to hide monstrous aura, which caused the Knight Captain to swallow his saliva in fear.

“There… There--”

“Speak freely,” his words were soft and calm, but Patrick could feel the anger in his master’s voice.

He could not help but force himself to speak clearly.

“There are three layers to the world government, the first, which is known to public as the United Nations - a peacekeeping organisation that is binding the world. The second layer is the World Government - rulers like you who have formed one group to come together for the betterment of the world - or otherwise.”

Arthur clicked his tongue silently, regretting his actions from the past. He was asked to join their meeting, but he declined.

He did not like the idea of a single group of people controlling the fate of an entire planet, of billions of souls.

“The final layer, the Phantoms...”

Arthur stopped thinking, he cleared his mind and paid his full attention to the Knight Captain.

“They control the other two layers, the control every aspect of this planet.”

“...”

“Corporations.”

Arthur was taken back slightly for a moment; he did not believe what he was hearing.

In fact, he thought it was quite laughable, so he scoffed.

Patrick understood what that meant, so he continued to explain.

“Oil, technology, weapons, banks, insurance.... Since the fifties, these people have been running this world. They were and are still in charge of this world. Wars, poverty, diseases… Everything happens because they will it.”

“Hm.”

Arthur was not sure how accurate his information was, so he asked directly, “And how do you know this?”

Patrick raised his head, the fear gone from his eyes and face.

A thin smile spread thinly across his beautiful face.

The knight spread his arm widely as he announced who he was, “Because I am the heir to the Revelation empire. The largest corporation in Britannia and… its rightful ruler.”

The skies trembled with great fury as black clouds covered the city.

The thunders screamed down at this castle and began to attack it in every way.

“In this world, to achieve your goals...”

Thunders struck every inch of this castle, triggering a bomb which was planted beneath this castle.

“Accidents happen.”

The countdown of this bomb reached zero and then...

BOOM!

It exploded in every direction, destroying every atom it came across.

It deconstructed everyone and everything in its path on an atomic level.

Negative matter and positive matter cannot coexist, so the bomb which was not made from positive matter destroyed everything in its path.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

Plymouth, UK:

In a house so large, it could be mistaken for a castle, everything felt so small, including the people.

Atop a green hill near the blue sea, the house stood grey and sad.

Inside this large luxurious house, a man in his twenties heaved a loud and heavy sigh.

He leaned back into his soft armchair and placed his right elbow on the arm of the armchair. On the back of his palm, he rested his head.

“Stop sighing so early in the morning,” his wife shouted to him from the bed.

“It’s nearly noon.”

“In an hour or so,” his wife - Angela - was reading a book while lying face down on the bed. “By the way...”

From the corner of her eyes, Angela looked at Aeron and asked, “So, what are you going to do with...”

“...” Aeron blew a raspberry as he glanced out of the window in front of him. “I don’t know… It is a pain in the ass if I am being honest.”

“The world forgot him, did they not? Maybe...”

“They did, but… I don’t know, not sure… Mom’s still not feeling any good, she is always lost in her thoughts, and Emma is...”

“Tt,” she shook her head, “I think you misunderstood what I was saying.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t mean when we will start working again on the projects, we left unfinished...” she scoffed. “I mean, I don’t even miss it. It’s fun, but… tiring. Anyway, I meant about... Well, the other thing.”

"Ah…"

Aeron stood up from his chair slowly.

"Null and void. It did not work. It should have… Or we were too naive to believe it would."

"Hm. That's unfortunate, eh?"

"..."

Aeron did not say anything, he just sighed.

He did not want to answer her question.

He did not know if that's an answer anyone should know.

He got off the chair and started to walk out.

"I need to check up on mom."

He walked out of the room and Angela simply blew a raspberry and continued reading her book.

Aeron walked out of his room and entered another room nearby in the hallway. He found his mother staring at the window, not saying anything, or even blinking regularly.

"Hey, mom," Aeron spoke after a moment of hesitation. “How are you feeling?”

However, there was no response from his Aya. She looked so lifeless, as if she were already dead. A dead woman with eyes that moved ever so slightly.

Aeron walked closer to her and stood next to her sofa.

He placed his palm on her forehead to see if her temperature was all right.

Aeron knew she was breathing, so he did not try to check her heart rate. No matter what, he could never bring himself to do something like that.

“You haven’t eaten anything in days, mom. It’s not good.”

She blinked slowly and he felt relieved.

He didn't want to think about it, but he was relieved to know she was alive.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He crouched in front of her and held her hand in his palms.

“I...”

He looked down and heaved a heavy sigh.

“Mom, please… Can you say something? Anything?”

Aya, of course, did not say anything, nor did she react in any way.

She could be as good as dead, and Aeron hated the thought that kept surfacing in the back of his mind.

“You can’t keep going like this… You need to eat, drink... You, Emma… You--”

Aeron sucked in a deep breath and swallowed his words.

There was a lot on his mind, and he was not sure if he could stop himself from saying what he wanted to say.

"Dad is gone, he is gone, I don't want anything to happen to the two of you. Aside from Angela, you are the only ones I have in their entire world, so please…"

His eyes welled up slightly.

"Please say something, please eat, please…"

He waited for her to react, to say anything, but there was nothing.

Nothing but slow and empty blinks.

He waited and there was nothing.

He gritted his teeth as he slapped the wall nearby.

“PLEASE! Just...”

He moved his hand away and clenched it slowly yet forcefully. His fingers came close as it formed a fist.

“Why...”

There was a lot he wanted to say, there was a lot on his mind, but he bit his lip and stopped himself from saying the things he wanted to say.

Perhaps they were too horrible for anyone to hear, perhaps there was something else, but he did not want to say those words.

Aeron sat down and pressed his back against the wall.

He held his head in his palms.

Damn it.

With every passing second, his lips moved by itself.

He thought he could stop himself, but he couldn't.

He was wrong.

“All this time, he was not even here. He was always away. He was… He avoided us, avoided you, dad… He did not even attend the funeral. Or my wedding. He did not even… Then he came out of nowhere, returned to this home, pretending everything was perfect, and you all... now...”

He was not sure if he could stop himself anymore from uttering the words that were echoing in the back of his mind.

He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help it.

He had no choice but to say it.

“Now he is dead, and you all… The two of you…”

Aeron sucked in a long and deep breath through his nose.

“Do all of you want to follow after him? Huh? Do you want to? Do all of you want to fucking die?! And leave me---"

He realised what he said, he realised he said something terrible, something horrible and unforgivable. So, he swallowed his words abruptly.

With his teeth cluttering, Aeron stood up abruptly and said out loudly, “Fine. Fine, then. Fine! Do as you will. I don’t fucking care anymore!”

He left the room angrily and shut the door behind him loudly.

Aeron walked down the stairs fast and left the house from the front door.

Standing in front of his house, he looked at the blazing sun angrily - anger that was directed at himself and no one else.

For nearly a month, neither his mother nor his sister ate anything or said anything, he had fed them through a nanite sticker which was developed by his brother for a military contract.

Why couldn't this all be...

He wished things could be better, simpler.

He preferred the world where he wasn’t in it, where he didn’t know this God.

The brother he knew was distant, avoiding those he loved.

God help me because I prefer that. The one without you.

However, the world without him is no better for him.

He wished it was, but it wasn’t.

“GOD DAMN YOU, NAZAR!”

While he was screaming at the sun, he saw something he shouldn't have seen. It caused his voice to lower and pay attention to something.

Someone was punched out of this planet, and he could feel its impact even here.

It was insignificant, but still noticeable by someone like him.

"Ouch, that ought to hurt?"

Before he felt two slender arms on his chest, he heard a thin voice from behind him. Two slithering arms came fast from his back and moved around on his chest, scaring him.

However, he could not jump forward or backwards.

The grip of this person was too strong on Aeron.

"But maybe not as much as you are hurting," the voice whispered in his ear, causing his soul to freeze in one place.

A cold blow of air entered his ear and spread to every corner of his body, of his soul, of his entire existence.

!!!!

"N-no."

"Teehee," the hands vanished with a giggle.

Aeron wondered what happened, but before he could think too hard, he realised the person was standing before him.

"What are you--"

"Shh, shh," she raised her index finger and stopped him from speaking. "It is my time to speak."

She smiled a soft smile full of evil.

Aeron swallowed his saliva.

He knew what she will say.

"Today is the day, my friend."

"..."

"You had… Hm, thirty days to repay me or I shall take back what belonged to me once. By force. You took two of my favourite possessions from my personal collection and yet to return them to me."

"It…" Aeron thought before he continued his answer. "It hasn't been thirty days, yet. A few days remains."

"..."

She clearly did not like that.

Her face twisted up in anger as the veins in her body popped up.

"You see, my friend, you went to a bank. You took out a loan and it is time to pay back. With interest that is."

"... You can take half of your payment now, but the other…"

Aeron narrowed his eyes as he walked closer to this creature.

"The other one does not belong to you; she does not belong to anyone!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

The skies turned pitch black and so did the sun, a blazing black sun that scorched a nearby planet in an instant.

Aeron, however, was not scared.

The black sky and her power did not scare him.

"Your brother destroyed civilisations simply because he did not like them, he destroyed universes, he…" the anger in her calm tone could be felt by anyone nearby. She was holding back the fury and rage of an exploding sun. "He took away my prized possession too, but at the very least, he always held up his end of the bargain."

Yet, Aeron did not budge.

"So, what will you do?" she asked slowly.

"You will get half of your possession, simply because I have no need for it anymore. The other… she doesn't belong to you. Or anyone else for that matter."

"Mmm," she nodded her head as the skies returned to normal and the black sun vanished. "You have a week - human calendar - to return my possessions to me or else…" a thin smile spread thing over her face. "I will take you."

Aeron did not react the way she expected him. She wanted him to feel scared, but he didn't.

He looked fearlessly into her eyes.

"Hrn," she snorted in displeasure.

"You could have taken them by force, yet you didn't… which means…"

The corner of Aeron's mouth curled up to form a faint smile.

"You can't."

"I can, very much. But… I noticed someone else on this planet, a special someone. So, I am not here to focus on these small fries for the time being," she winked.

“?”

She licked her lips like a hungry snake.

"Oh, she is special. Incredibly special. And she will be mine."

And just like that, she vanished into thin air, leaving Aeron behind.

Alone under the sun, he clicked his tongue unpleasantly.

He had no time to think about the replacement that will be stolen from Earth.

Simply put, he didn't care.

But whoever it was, it granted him a few days.

And he couldn't be more thankful for that.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

In a spaceship somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, that entity who appeared in front of Aeron moments ago huffed and puffed loudly now.

She was sweating buckets and could barely make up a single word.

She was tired, exhausted. So exhausted, she fell onto her knees. She needed her hands to stop herself from falling further.

"H-how…?"

She had a lot of questions yet there were no answers.

Inside this enormous spaceship, she glanced around at her underlings - members of the diverse civilisations of this universe.

Innocent people she had forced to work for her.

Oh...

The next instant, she cursed herself.

They had never seen her this weak.

And to make it worse, she was about to ask for their help.

It will never come to that!

She gritted her teeth in anger, it cluttered loudly.

But...

A thought echoed in the back of her mind.

What just happened?

She found someone special, so she tried to steal that person, but she couldn't.

No matter how much she tried, she could never get close.

It was as if the universe...

"!"

As a sudden breeze pushed her minions away, she gasped.

In front of her, from the cold breeze, Vilramore itself materialised.

"!!!"

She swallowed her thick saliva in fear.

Wh-wh-wh-wh-what is he doing--

"!!"

Before she could think, she sensed another entity entering her spaceship.

As soon as she laid her eyes on this odd-looking entity, her eyes widened.

Huh...

She had never met it, but she knew who it was.

So, her heart stopped beating for a few moments.

No matter how powerful she was, she felt an intense fear from these entities.

That's… Daya...

Her mind went blank in a state of confusion and fear.

She wondered, why would the multiverse come here?

Before she could recover from that shock, golden and orange energy - no different than fire - began to erupt from the shiny floor of this spaceship.

In front of Daya and Vilramore, the fire burnt the very fabric of space inside this ship.

Wha...

From the swirling fire, two red eyes flared brightly.

Lucifer too?!?!

She could not understand why the three of them were here, but it didn't look too good for her.

No matter what, she would never be able to survive an interaction with them. If they are here, then her death must be close.

And just as she was envisioning her death, a new entity appeared behind Lucifer.

It had a humanoid shape, but it was made of nothing but darkness. Darkness and nothingness.

Huh. Who…?

In awe and fear, she could not do anything but stare at these four otherworldly entities, beings who were so far above her in the hierarchy, in scope of power and position.

『You have broken the unwritten law of the omniverse, child. Committed a grave crime, a heresy.』

Null's words stabbed into her very heart. She felt physical pain from its words.

"But…" she fought back against the pain. "I haven't done anything."

『And for that, you should thank us.』

What… I don’t understand… But… At the same time… It all makes sense...

"Earth is off-limits."

With Lucifer's words, she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Perhaps the fear and confusion sent her mind into a state of chaos, and she could no longer handle that. Or perhaps she could no longer fight against the pressure these entities were giving off by merely standing in front of her.

On that day, she did not die, but she wished she did.

Their images were engraved in her mind, stabbing her in the back of her head every day, every minute and every second of her immortal life.

An eternal death wish is what she stole today, and not a human.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

??? - ????

It was a black ant in a forest of green grass.

As usual, it was trekking alongside its large tribe in a single line.

The animals on this planet had no mind of their own - at least not comparable to humans or similar entities - so the only thing they ever cared for was their survival.

And today was no different.

The tribe had come out to hunt for food - anything to eat, to survive.

As they trekked from dawn to dusk, they found nothing.

And that’s when things got bad for them, terribly bad.

Discord between the tribe of ants caused them to separate into small groups. Every group of them went their separate ways, looking for sustenance together.

With every passing minute, the distance between the groups increased and increased, so far, that they could not recognise their former tribe even if they were to meet again.

They trekked for a few more hours until they found some sustenance.

Happy, the ants began to consume it quickly.

However, one of them noticed that one ant was missing.

The group, frantically, looked around, only to see one laying far away.

They rushed to its side, only to find out it was too tired to move anymore.

They fed it water and food, and the ant recovered quickly.

The ant was expecting its new group to leave him for the dead, but they couldn’t be more wrong.

The group stayed together in one place and consumed whatever it needed for survival.

Everyone was full, everyone was happy.

Things were going as well as it could be.

To this small black ant, this was the best day of his life.

It was the perfect day.

*SPLRT*

While laughing happily, a humanoid creature stepped on this group, murdering them all.

Their small bodies were crushed under the weight of a being hundred times larger and heavier than them.

Their guts and blood had fallen around.

The black ant was still alive, it did not die immediately.

Its squirming voice did not reach anyone. After all, every comrade of this ant was killed instantly.

The ant tried to fix itself, sew itself back together, put its guts where it belongs, but it couldn’t.

All it could was stare at the starry sky from beyond the tall forest of grass.

The light shone on it, but it did not heal it.

*SPLRT*

And so, another mountain of a foot was dropped on this ant, killing it forever.

It tried to move, it tried to scream, but nothing could hear this poor creature.

And so, it’s life was taken the apex creatures of this planet.

Its life was taken on its happiest day.

လလလ

As its soul left its weak body, an ant-like angel came to this poor soul.

It extended their hand and took ahold of this ant’s soul, taking it away to after life.

The ants did not exchange words, but they both understood one another.

It tried to fight - or at least thought of - but it knew how fruitless it would be, so it gave into the death.