Chapter 198

Arc 17 - Shadowy World - Part 8

Asteria:

“We are all going to die,” from Lucifer’s lips, dreading words about the end of the world came out, making everyone in this room (?) feel tense.

The troubles they were facing were too grave, but none could stand against it.

Their only one chance at surviving the coming doom has died, their monster died leaving them behind and weak.

“Can you feel her... Her growing control over everything there is? The eerie darkness that is losing to her and then… Her faint cold touches reach here, to us, touching us, stealing the light and the dark, the…”

Lucifer cut off his own words as he glanced around the room.

The great Lucifer realised something, unlike him, they are not creature of the Void, so they will not understand. They will not know the feelings he is feeling.

“I see...”

Lucifer sighed deeply.

“I can feel her eerie hands reaching out to me, trying to consume me and everything in me - trying to consume the light and the darkness into an oblivion none of us can understand.”

“Lucifer...” Aiht leaned forward.

Aiht looked Lucifer with an unshakable might, “We need to do something.”

Lucifer leaned his head backwards and looked at the ceiling, then he placed his right palm on top of his eyes, closing off the natural light of this dimension.

“We can’t,” he said after a soft groan.

“Unlike you, unlike all of you, I do not want to die. Not again. I was erased from the very existence once, it was as if I never existed, so no, I can’t go through that. There is much - far too much - I want to live for.”

“I assure you, none of us here wants to die,” Metatron jumped into the conversation between them. “We don’t want to die, we have a duty to countless number of people, countless number of species and worlds.”

“Everything in this universe… it depends on us, unfortunately,” Emily added. “And...”

She sucked in a deep breath.

“...”

Uncomfortably, she glanced around, thinking about how to continue it.

“We need to find a way to weaponize the Erina creature or resurrect him--”

Lucifer laughed.

His laugh was sarcastic and forceful, but everyone’s body flinched once they heard that.

It is rare for Lucifer to laugh.

And from the legends they had heard, Lucifer only laughs before doom falls upon those who hear it.

“I hope you realise what you are saying…” Lucifer lowered his hand and leaned forward abruptly as his laughing face disappeared, replaced by a cold one. “He is dead. Erased from the very existence.”

“Why don’t we give that another try, hm?” despite her fears, Emily spoke with confidence. “As it happens, you cannot understand certain things, but I can. And with the aid of him,” Emily glanced at Aiht, “and the Golden Angel, anything can be possible.”

“...” Lucifer grunted softly. A hint of frustration could be seen in his red eyes. “You don’t understand, Destroyer. You cannot hope to bring him back, none of us can. We are not Gods.”

“But we are. I am a God with a mysterious origin and through whom energies of a higher plane courses. And Emily, here, is the God of Destruction.”

“...”

Lucifer hoped Aiht was joking, he really did. But unfortunately for him, he knew Aiht’s true intentions - Aiht truly believed that.

“...”

Lucifer clicked his tongue.

“Let us try, one last time,” Metatron spoke while looking down. He felt out of place among these Celestials, but his human heart did not want to die, so he wanted to try everything to survive.

“If that is what you want, then so be it. Attempt away, try to bring back the monster you all hated so much.”

“A monster who can prevent the end of all. My…” Emily’s eyes lowered as she tried to fight back the sadness in her heart, “monster.”

She stood up and arched her right hand, facing upwards. No matter how confident she made herself look, Lucifer could see the grief overflowing from her soul.

“And I will do anything to bring him back.”

In her empty palm, a golden energy exploded.

“!!”

Sensing the energy, Lucifer’s eyes widened.

It… can’t be...

In Emily’s palm, golden brains appeared - naked human brains that were sealed off inside an energy prison.

“Behold, the ultimate knowledge in the omniverse.”

The body of a higher dimensional being is precious, even a cell of theirs could bring about the ends or beginnings of cosmos.

And a human was holding the brain of one of the most powerful beings in the omniverse, a sight that was never meant to happen.

“With this, we can bring back the--”

“No,” Lucifer rejected her proposal. “You cannot use that.”

“It is fine, I won’t fall prey to him,” her tone was quiet, but it carried a hint of anger. She did not like being underestimated.

“It is an obvious trap.”

“...” Emily tilted her head slightly as she looked at him.

What is with him… Emily felt a little angry, thinking Lucifer was jealous of her.

“What?”

“It’s the Dragon, to him we are all pawns in this cosmic game, a game which we cannot comprehend. I find it hard to believe he would do anything without a reason.”

“...”

Emily started to doubt what she had planned.

With every passing moment, she realised how right Lucifer was.

“Whatever you did, whatever I did-- I think everything was well within his plan, his calculations. Everything.”

The golden brain started to dim slightly as it vanished into Emily’s palm.

“We disobeyed him, defeated him...”

Lucifer looked at each and every one of them in the eyes.

In a cold tone, he added, “We danced on his palm.”

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

After their short meeting, Lucifer went back to his dimension.

He entered and left this dimension often, but for the first time, he found himself frozen in his own safe haven.

From inside his mansion, he could hear cheerful voices, something which were alien to this dimension since its creation.

The voices of many people sang in these halls. It was faint, but at the same time, it was louder than the thunders in a black sky.

Lucifer took a step forward, and the more he moved closer, the more his mind was drawn to an event that occurred after his death.

လလလ

Some time ago, after that day:

Lucifer opened his beautiful red eyes slowly as a soft groan escaped his lips.

The very first thing he saw was the luxurious roof above him, and then the blue hair and purple eyes of a child.

The child tilted his head as he looked down at Lucifer, “Oh...”

“Oh...” his heart fluttered softly at the sight of seeing this child. In his long life, he could never expect to see a day like this.

The times were dire and dark, but he couldn’t help but feel happy - even if he did not show it on his face.

“Hi, Aza--”

Before Lucifer could utter his name, the child run away while shouting, “HE IS ALIVE!”

“...” Lucifer was confused, but he did not pay much attention to the silly words of his younger brother.

Albeit, he did feel a sense of discomfort in his heart.

Lucifer’s back was pressed against something cold and hard, but he did not question that. Instead, he examined himself and found out the pain was no longer present.

Good. I don’t want to deal with a problem like that now. If we survive, perhaps, but for now…

However, an intruder quickly interrupted his thoughts.

“Oh good, you are finally awake,” Michael said jokingly as he kicked Lucifer in his guts. “Get up sleeping princess.”

Lucifer clicked his tongue as he slowly stood up.

While rising from his sleep, he realized that he hadn’t been moved from the spot where he fell unconscious.

A hint of bitterness flickered in his heart; it seems he was half-expecting someone to place him in a comfortable place - even if he was unconscious for an abbreviated period.

As Lucifer stood tall among his brothers, he immediately asked, “Why are you here, Michael?”

"Oh, I don't know," Michael rolled his eyes as he spoke with obvious sarcasm. "Maybe keeping you in check before you destroyed everything you hold dear."

'...What?"

Michael's lips curled up to a side as he smiled thinly and narrowed one of his eyes, "Oh? You did not even realise?"

Lucifer tried to make sense of Michael's vague statements.

"I don't know what happened, but you were gone for an entire week."

"WHAT?!" Lucifer chuckled nervously. "That… That can't be. I was gone for a few moments and--"

"..." Michael stared at him blankly.

"You can't be…"

"You were gone for an entire week, you vanished and left things unattended. Then you returned, at last, but… You lost consciousness and another week passed since then."

"..." Lucifer could not believe what his brother was saying.

His brother was far from a trustworthy person, so Lucifer checked for himself.

"!"

To the disappointment of Lucifer, Michael was telling the truth.

“I had to come here and keep the cosmos in control before you destroyed it all. Whatever happened to you, it was… It nearly destroyed everything.”

“...” Lucifer bit his lip as a bitter feeling of guilt overwhelmed him.

"Damn it," Lucifer added slowly.

"What were you trying to do?"

"I met him… Met the Dragon and got the answers I needed."

"Anything useful?"

"Unfortunately, none."

"Mm, what a disappointment."

Lucifer shot a cold glance at him from the corner of his eyes.

Michael chuckled in response.

"In any case, why are you wearing human clothing? I was sure you despised them."

"I do," Michael's defensive words were loud. "And these are not human clothing, princess. Humans have invented nothing of their own."

Lucifer shook his head, visibly disappointed.

And Michael clicked his tongue.

"I am telling you--"

"I don't care," Lucifer said flatly.

"Ugh," Michael groaned.

Azazel looked at Michael and then Lucifer and continued the cycle for a long time.

He was confused by the way his brothers acted.

"Anyway, to make matters worse, the Eight Plane of Existence vanished too," Michael added in a dire attempt to change the current unsightly topic.

"I know," Lucifer replied without hesitation. "It was bound to happen. After all, it came into existence with him, and left with him too."

"Hmm."

"Don't worry, I knew something drastic might happen - no matter how unlikely it seemed - so I planted a failsafe. A pseudo Eight Dimensional Plane of Existence has replaced it."

Michael found himself shocked - visibly shocked, he could not believe what he just heard.

His eyes and mouth were wide open.

"No, no, no. I don't believe it. You can't be this smart."

"Your opinion is irrelevant, just like your existence."

"..."

Michael stared at him with a blank look on his face.

He continued to stare at him for a long time without saying anything.

"..." Lucifer began to find his stares frustrating. "What?"

"Was that your attempt at a joke? Oh my, I can’t believe it, you can tell jokes?" Michael laughed. “Oh, this is golden. This is amazing.”

"... No," Lucifer glanced away, averting his gaze.

And as he looked away, his body froze in its place.

His eyes fell upon a new entity in this dimension.

As soon as their eyes met, his heart burned like a sun with various emotions he could not explain.

With a complex look on his face, he looked down and swallowed his saliva.

“How are you feeling?” the entity asked.

“...” Lucifer hesitated to reply, or rather, he was not sure how to answer that person. The question was easy, but the person asking that question made it feel otherwise.

Lucifer thought hard about that question, so hard his struggles could be seen clearly on his face.

He raised his head slightly - still avoiding looking her in the eyes - and answered, “I am doing great, thank you.”

Upon uttering those words, he felt like the weight of heavens had fallen from his shoulders. He felt relieved.

“That’s good,” the tall yet muscular woman who was hugging the door frame nodded as she smiled a faint conflicted smile.

Her hazel eyes darted downwards as she kept nodding, “That’s good.”

A rapture in time and space only meant one thing at the moment; she was leaving.

Oh…

While Michael and Azazel did not care, Lucifer felt the sudden need to do something.

The expressions on his face changed quickly, showing the different emotions he was feeling. Guilt, anger, sadness, and surprise danced on his face.

And among those negative emotions, a hint of happiness could also be seen.

Lucifer is a man who hides his emotions well, he does not want others to think he can display other emotions, but he lost that control now.

“I should leave now,” she smiled softly at Azazel, “I shall see you again soon.”

A portal began to open behind her.

Upon seeing that, Lucifer’s heart skipped a beat.

Conflicting emotions and thoughts spiralled out of control in his heart and mind, and that struggle was very visible to everyone in this room.

With every passing moment, the portal grew bigger and bigger, and the woman started to fade away.

After so long...

He clenched his fist tightly as his teeth grinded loudly.

And after what I did...

“No,” Lucifer spoke in a barely audible voice.

He raised his head fully and looked her in the eyes.

As their eyes met, she froze in her place, shocked by the new development she saw in him.

“No,” Lucifer’s red eyes flared brightly as the rapture in time and space was destroyed. The portal vanished and the shockwave from its destruction propelled her forward into the room.

Normally an attack like that will be of no problem for her, she can recover from it easily, but the shock in her heart prevented her from reacting to Lucifer’s attack.

As she was being thrown forward, Lucifer extended his right hand and caught her hand.

As their hands touched, the world around them froze.

It was as if time itself did not want to continue moving.

“I am sorry, Esme,” Lucifer said without wasting any more time on unnecessary thoughts. “I am truly sorry for what I did.”

“...”

Esme’s hazel eyes widened and widened, so wide it felt like her eyes would fall out of its sockets.

The surprising words that left her brother’s lips caused her mouth to gape widely.

“Huh...”

Esme found herself at a loss for words.

Since the dawn of creation, the four siblings never saw eye-to-eye - they were strangers in the same house.

Lucifer put the cosmos above everything, and Michael put himself above everyone and everything. To Esme, life was everything, and for Azazel, death was everything. So, naturally, their conflicted natures put them at odds with one another.

As time passed, the distance between them widened.

And after so long, an eternity later, the distance between them was cut off, so she did not know how to react to the sudden turn of events.

“Everything that happened, everything since that day… I am sorry. You shouldn’t have died; you shouldn’t have suffered at the hands of the Supreme One. I could have prevented all of that if--”

Lucifer were cut off.

“Mm,” Esme smiled softly at her brother. “I know what you want to say. But...”

Esme looked down.

“You can’t save everyone, that is a lesson we all have to learn one day.”

Lucifer knew that well, he never wanted to save everyone. He knew how unrealistic that was even for an alien entity like him.

But even then, even an alien entity like him can be eaten alive by the guilt.

The guilt of causing the glory of angels to diminish, the guilt of allowing his siblings to suffer, the guilt of letting the Supreme One’s reign continue for so long, the guilt of not being able to destroy the Nameless One once and for all, the guilt of dancing on the palm of the Dragon, the guilt of failing Alice, the guilt of failing his fellow angels, the guilt of Heavenly Wars, the guilt of the hidden universe, and so much more guilt.

He was the Ultraverse and the angels were what gave him form, but he let them all down.

As vivid images of his brooding and bloody past resurfaced in the back of his mind, Lucifer flinched faintly.

"After…"

In the back of his mind, voices from the past began to resurface, voices of his enemies and allies telling him one thing.

Lucifer, for how long must you live a lonely life?

Your path is filled with darkness, friend.

Everyone needs a light, Lucifer, everyone needs a solace outside of death.

Even powerful entities like us need a light in our lives, a light to help us fight through this never-ending darkness.

“After the Supreme One-- Our creator, our father - died, I...” Lucifer hesitated to speak.

He wanted to tell her what was on his mind, what he really wanted to tell her, but he wondered if it's the right thing to say.

He wondered if it would sound so horrible and selfish.

Their days are numbered, they will die soon, so he didn't want to make everything worse than it was.

“I wanted to make a difference. I did not want to end up like him. All alone in the end, without anyone to see him off into death's hand.”

As selfish as it sounded, Esme understood the true words behind his words.

However, Lucifer didn't catch onto that, so he decided to explain himself further, "The four of us have been pushed aside by each other, thrown onto a lonely road, but it doesn't have to be that way. Even if…" Lucifer's saliva got caught in his throat, so his words faded away.

He swallowed his saliva and smiled faintly.

"Even if it's for a short period of time, I want there to be light."

"Mm," Esme nodded with a soft happy smile, "same."

Perhaps for the first time since the dawn of creation, Lucifer's face lightened up - as if the darkness from his eyes and soul had evaporated into nothingness.

"But…" she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. "I don't accept your apology."

Lucifer was taken back slightly by her words.

While he had done terrible things, he thought she might forgive him since the end times are nearing.

It seems I was wrong.

Although he felt frustrated, he could also understand the position Esme was in.

So, he nodded.

"I see."

"Like you, I was also at fault. So was Michael. The distance between us widened because neither of us wanted to fix it - and in the end, Azazel…"

She looked at her younger brother with an immeasurable sadness in her eyes.

"Azazel died."

Her other brothers seemed almost frozen in time, so the child couldn't hear it.

"He suffered far too much and yet neither of us…"

"I won't let that happen again."

No matter how empty it seemed in the face of coming despair, Lucifer truly believed that.

He believed that he could save his brother now that he was given a second chance.

"Good," she nodded with a complex smile. "Good."

She lowered her gaze in regret and guilt.

In a barely audible tone, she added, "I should have done more. I should do more for you, Azazel."

Azazel was death itself, the final doom that will swallow everything into him - the lives of everything, their despair, their guilt and suffering.

He was created to absorb it all from the dead, that was his purpose, his life, and his destiny.

"Azazel, the one right now, is different," Lucifer assured her. "Whatever our creator did, for the first time in his long life, he did something good. Something good for us."

Esme chuckled, "Mmhmm."

And so, a bad day turned unexpectedly good for the great Lucifer, he found a light in a way he never expected.

လလလ

And now, in the present, Lucifer chuckled softly as he entered his mansion.

The mansion radiated happiness he hadn't felt since the dawn of creation, it radiated a light he hadn't seen since he was born.

As he walked into the large room, he saw his sister playing with his younger brother.

She sensed him entering the room, so she looked up and happily said, "Welcome home."

It was a scene he saw often in the last few days, but even then, it was a surprising scene.

"Thanks."

From behind Esme, a small fairy flapped her wings and peeked at Lucifer.

As soon as her eyes fell upon this entity, she shrieked silently and hid on Esme's shoulder.

Esme laughed at her reaction and Lucifer just sighed.

"Don't mind her, she will get used to you one day.”

Lucifer was not sure how to react, so he just ignored Esme’s words.

He walked into the room and sat on a sofa as he let out a soft sigh.

He watched the scene before him play out, a happy moment in his life, but...

Deep down, he wasn’t happy.

Since that day, the doom and dread he was feeling has increased exponentially.

His fear of death and end has spiralled out of control.

For, after all, there is no path that does not lead to doom.

Doom is lurking in the shadows, about to unleash itself on them at any given moment.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

??? - ????:

Space, it is full of wonders and horrors, full of colours and darkness, full of interesting beings.

And among those interesting beings, there is none like Enwulan of this colourful comical cartoony universe.

It was just another day in the galaxy of Duck-33, a peaceful day where the sun rose on this galaxy in the morning, illuminating the space with its golden light.

A planet yawned before laughing cheerfully.

That was Enwulan.

“Good morning, everyone!!” the planet shouted excitedly, waking up every planet in the galaxy.

Some of the planets groaned, while others replied in a similar manner to Enwulan.

A galaxy full of living planets, living their lives cheerfully in this astonishing universe.

In this beautiful and colourful space, the planets roamed around freely, interacting with one another, laughing with each other, playing around.

The infinite space was their playground, and no one could tell them otherwise.

Life was going well for the newly conceived Enwulan, he loves this galaxy. It’s the best!

Everything was perfect.

Until it wasn’t.

It wasn’t an explosion, it wasn’t the darkness that consumed them all, it was…

Enwulan was happily chatting to a friend of his, a funny friend, when the entire galaxy fell silent.

The young planet turned around its giant body to look at what happened.

In the dreading silence, he only found death.

Billions of planets lay lifeless under the golden sun.

“Wh-what… Everyone, what… Hello?”

The young planet trekked between its fellow inhabitants of the galaxy and tried to find someone who wasn’t dead.

But he found nobody.

No one was alive sans him.

In fear and grief, as tears began to fall from its round body, the planet increased its speed, moving forward, moving to find answers.

But it found nothing.

It found nothing but death.

The sun in the sky died, it’s radiance still alive, but the star was dead.

The moon too fell to the unseen death.

“But why...” as the planet moved faster than light, it shut its large eyes to stop the tears from falling down. “But why...”

When the planet was conceived, it was promised the universe, a universe of peace and beauty.

But… how can this universe be beautiful when this tiny planet is all alone, trekking among its dead kind?

Without thinking about the death of its friends, Enwulan moved to another galaxy and all it could find was death.

Silent and unseen death.

However, it did not stop there.

It continued its trek and reached the end of the universe.

After a universe of death, it found a moving planet - or rather a star that lived.

A star unlike anything it had seen.

『Enwulan, welcome.』

The star had planets for its wings, and a large halo that was floating above it.

“...Huh?”

Euwulan was confused, it did not understand the state of this star.

A star was comical, with big smile, but this was without a smile.

It was…

『I loved this universe, it was cute, but then I had a thought, what if...』

The star flapped its wing as colour was stolen from this universe, leaving only a black and white universe.

The stars shone in this black sky, but it lacked beauty.

『I wanted to experiment. What would a true lifeless universe feel like, hm?』

“You...” Euwulan felt anger radiate in its small heart. “YOU MURDERER!”

Unbeknownst to it, it could unleash terrible energies from its eyes.

And so, the small planet projected its anger and grief through this energies, attacking the star with wings.

But…

『I am afraid your vengeful heart will never see satisfaction.』

“What--” the planet swallowed its own words.

『I left you alone for a reason, a simple reason.』

The sun is golden, it has a large happy and cheerful smile, and sometimes even wear sunglasses.

But..

This sun was different.

It smiled, smiled an evil smile.

A smile that radiated death itself.

The sun left, leaving this lifeless universe to Euwulan.

Euwulan grew, it grew in size, heart, and mind, but the universe was never the same.

Even as new forms of species began living on the surface of Euwulan’s dead race, it could not do anything but watch.

Euwulan was not a murderer.

It’s life was long and hard, and the pain inside of it even worse.

Euwulan searched for that evil sun, it had questions but the sun was never found again.

“Why was I left alive…?”

With that question keep repeating itself in the back of its head, Euwulan grew old, and so did the universe. The stars and planets were gone, leaving behind nothing but darkness.

As the final entropy came for this universe, eating it away, Euwulan witnessed a light in this star-less universe.

“...Huh?!”

Without hestating, Euwulan fought against the entropy and trekked to the end of the universe, and there, the evil sun awaited Euwulan.

『At last...』

Before Euwulan could ask the burning questions in its heart, the entropy ate it.

It watched as the sun laughed while it was being eaten.

The sun laughed as Euwulan tried to fight back against entropy but couldn’t. Euwulan’s body was devoured in no time.

လလလ

In the middle of darkness, a darkness darker than the one that swallowed its universe, Euwulan found itself.

『I plucked your soul at the last moment, because...』

The sun smiled once again, an evil smile that sent shivers down Euwulan’s planetary body.

『I wanted to know how despair looks.』

The sun laughed in a sadistic manner, it was satisfied after witnessing the despair of a good child like Euwulan.

“It was all for...”

This sun killed Euwulan’s kind, destroying the colourful universe for something so pathetic and simple?

The anger inside of Euwulan’s heart reached a critical level, it was so angry it could explode at any moment.

But... the sun flapped its wings made of planets.

And then… the next thing Euwulan knew, it was being sucked into the sun.

The despair and pain it felt until this moment was multiplied infinitely at the last moment.

A second felt like an eternity to Euwulan, it just wanted everything to end so it could be free from this pain.

But the sun devoured it ever so slowly, forcing Euwulan to suffer more.

『Mm, despair… GIVE ME MORE!!』 the sun shouted as it devoured this planet. 『MOOOREEEE!』

And so, the sun placed Euwulan in its younger body billions of years ago.

Euwulan tried to prevent it all, but the despair did not change.

While it was back in its younger body, it could not make a difference.

It was as if this tiny planet was reliving its life through a lens, a lens it could not change.

And at the end, at every end, the sun had the last laugh.