Chapter 200

Arc 17 - Shadowy World - Part 10

Present - New Orleans:

Following the death of Nazar, Violet found herself in a confused and sad state of life.

At first, she could not believe that a god-like being like him was killed, it felt impossible and unreal. But the more time passed, the more she realised she had to face reality.

Violet was rather close to Nazar, so she found it hard to deal with his death.

However, before she overcome the death of one, her blood brother, Eddie too died.

Battling against an enemy he could not defeat; Eddie was forced to make a choice, a choice he did not live long enough to regret.

Why…

Since then, she has locked herself in her room, hugging her knees.

Why...

Alone in this room, she kept questioning why her brother had to die, why Nazar had to die. But she could not find any answers.

But today, after so long, Violet suddenly widened her eyes open as horror danced on her face.

While breathing heavily, she run out of her room, nearly falling down, but managed to save herself from kissing the ground and continued to run.

Violet ran down the stairs and violently opened the front door.

But once she opened the main door, she came to a sudden stop.

She looked outside with horror in her eyes as she breathed loudly.

“Why...”

In front of her normal house, something abnormal was happening.

A helicopter slowly descended from the high heavens.

How could they have found out?

Eddie had a secret identity, no one should know who he was, so how did these people know?

What will happen... Tch.

From the helicopter, a blonde man walked out.

A man everyone in this world knew well.

“Ishaya… Bradley?”

The richest man in the world, the shadow ruler of this planet, walked towards her.

Violet was not sure how to react, was she to close the door or find out what this man is up to?

“Miss Hunt, it is nice to finally meet you.”

From behind Ishaya, a new man walked out of the helicopter.

“!!” Violet gasped loudly at the sight of that man. “Is...”

King Arthur, the emperor of Britannia Empire.

What the…

“Please don’t be alarmed, Miss Hunt.”

“Um...”

Violet looked left and right as she thought about her situation.

The distress in her eyes and mind screamed to the heavens.

“Please, don’t be alarme--” Arthur’s words cut off as someone came down like a rocket and stood between them and Violet.

“!!” Violet fell into an even deeper state of confusion.

In front of her, someone wearing a skin-tight black armour was standing.

“...” Violet sucked in a deep breath. “Ion?!”

Ion, an identity previously used by Nazar, but no one knew it was him under the mask.

However, Nazar is dead.

So.

Who is this person?

“Stay away from the child,” Ion spoke in a forceful tone to these two powerful men. “She is under my protection.”

Just what the...

Violet’s thoughts spiralled out of control as she fell to her knees.

Why was the King of Britannia here? What did Ishaya Bradley want? And why is Ion protecting her? And how did Ion know to come here at such a perfect time?

“HELL IS GOING ON?!” her eyes lit up with purple energies as her thoughts and emotions spiralled out of control.

“...” Ion immediately jumped back and covered Violet inside a warm golden bubble. “It should help you calm down.”

Violet, however, was also scared of Ion.

“Miss Hunt, we are here for a simple reason...”

“You sound evil,” Arthur said to him slowly as he walked past Ishaya and towards Violet.

"What?!" Ishaya muttered slowly.

Arthur stood in front of the distressed Violet and extend his hand.

“Violet Hunt, please don’t be alarmed.”

His voice was calm and friendly, in fact too calming. Violet felt as if she was forced to not be distressed.

“Oh, that’s better.”

King Arthur’s innocent smile assured Violet that her emotions weren’t forced to change, but she couldn’t shake the bad feelings off.

“It’s about your brother, I...” he sat next to her on the doorsteps. “I can sit here, right?”

Ion was alarmed, but Violet nodded.

“Thank you,” he showed his gratitude with a wide smile.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s...” Arthur’s smile faded away slowly. “It’s about your brother. We want to know something, and I hope we do not overstep our boundaries.”

Ishaya rolled his eyes slightly.

“(Now you are just wasting time,)” he muttered under his breath.

“You see, your brother - Norse God - was a well-known hero in the universe, and within a short period of time, he managed to do the same on earth. Everyone’s focus was on Nazar, but in their hearts, Eddie was a light they could not ignore.”

Violet bit her lip as she lowered her head.

“In the end, your brother… In grief, he fell into the darkness. A darkness that led him astray from his path, his light. I want to know… Why?”

“...”

Violet raised her teary eyes and said, “Why does it matter anymore? He is gone.”

“It’s…”

“This world will not survive,” Ishaya spoke hastily. “Your brother, the light he radiated could have united humanity, but without him, it will be hard.”

“...” Violet growled angrily. “And?”

“I… I just want to know why it happened, why he lost his light,” Arthur explained as he lowered his gaze. “I did not wish to intrude, my apologies. I will leave--”

“No,” Violet said slowly as she hugged her knees. “It’s fine.”

“Very well, then, please tell us everything you know.”

Violet nodded.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

And so, we take a step back to a time before now, to a time where this world had a hero.

Nazar is dead… Eddie thought. But how could that have happened?

A whole week had passed since his death, yet Eddie could not bring himself to accept the truth.

In the last week since his death, he had been sitting in one place, never moving.

The moon was one place where Nazar would often go when feeling distressed or lost, and now, it has become Eddie’s safe haven.

He came here, to sit and think, and digest what has happened over the course of last few days - even if nothing made sense to the human mind of his.

He was meant to live forever, that was his whole deal.

“He is alive...” Eddie said slowly. “He is alive.”

Eddie suddenly rose to his feet and shouted, “HE IS ALIVE!”

However, no one could possibly hear him - after all, sound does not exist in space.

Yes… Yes, he is alive.

Eddie wanted to believe in him, so he thought of the one thing which could possibly take away the suffering in his heart.

The last time Eddie saw Nazar, he said something terrible, and he was not able to rectify that.

The words he uttered to his friend all those days ago kept repeating in the back of his head and began eating him away.

Eddie did not mean to say all those words, but no matter what, those words were said, and his friend was hurt.

One of the last things that man heard were the hurtful words of Eddie.

Damn it!

Eddie kicked the moon and shot himself forward like a rocket.

And so, he flew towards the Celestial Judge.

In rage, Eddie punched the Judge in the head, hoping to defeat him.

However, the Celestial Judge was unfazed by the attack from Eddie.

Eddie in rage, however, did not stop.

He continued to pour down punches on this Celestial Judge and tried to harm it. However, no matter how hard he tried, the judge was unfazed.

It did not even register Eddie’s attacks.

“Edward Hunt… Please.”

Eddie, however, did not stop.

His eyes exploded with bluish white energies as his power and speed increased exponentially.

Eddie flew around the solar system and clenched his fist.

Focusing every joule of energy Eddie had into his right fist, he hurled it toward the Celestial.

With the power equivalent to that of a supernova, Eddie slammed his fist full of electricity and power into the head of the Celestial.

Upon impact, a powerful light of bluish white radiated the entire space ways.

The electric sparks travelled across the surface of the planet, nearly stopping everything electrical on the surface of the planet.

And in addition to that, a shockwave like no other was created which nearly ripped the moon and the planet in half.

The Celestial, however, was unfazed.

“Edward Hunt, please calm your mind and body. I have kept this planet safe for the time being, but anymore, and you could bring about the end of your species.”

“GET OFF MY PLANET!” Eddie screamed at this monstrous entity.

“I am afraid that is not possible, humanity must pay for its crimes against God.”

“WHAT CRIMES?!”

Before the Celestial could list them, Eddie continued angrily, “In the first place, Nazar wouldn’t have wanted this. He wouldn’t have cared enough.”

“I understand, but sometimes the wishes of a victim are not to be considered for swifter judgment.”

“In the whale wide universe, isn’t there a bigger crime being committed? Bigger crime than someone’s feeling being hurt?”

“... Your view of this situation is awfully… small and misguided. But to answer your sincere question, no, there is no bigger crime than this in the cosmos.”

“Grr,” Eddie gritted his teeth.

“You are right, Eddie,” the Celestial hesitated to speak their mind for a while. “This universe is full of crimes, terrific crimes. And the omniverse is even worse. However, this matter is far more important, even if God did not wish for it.”

“But why?”

“It is simple, he was the Supreme God of All, an entity that stood atop the creation. In his last days, humanity was the cause of great stress for him.”

“He doesn’t feel stress,” Eddie added in a barely audible tone.

“They treated him harshly, alienated him, accused him of crimes he did not commit… Among other heresies. Humanity should have been erased from existence instantly, but God cared about far too many people here.”

“But you are gonna kill them at the end anyway?”

“...”

The Celestial seemed as if it lowered its head ever so slightly.

“The omniverse will fall, it will end now that God is not there to protect it. This world will fall as well. We are here to--”

The Celestial ate its own words.

“Oh...” Eddie understood something, something the Celestial did not try to hide from everyone. "In any case, what the hell is an omniverse? And ending?"

"Yes, Edward. This universe is vast, far bigger than you might have thought it was. The darkness you see, it stretches for an infinity. But even infinity has an end. And that end is encased within a cosmic wall. That cosmic wall is then covered by a bigger wall, a wall that encompasses this universe and its divergent timelines, which also stretches for an infinity, yet it still grows. Your multiverse contains an infinite number of your universe and even more of its divergent timelines. The Third Plane of Existence contains countless of such multiverses. Every phase becomes bigger and bigger, and the planes even bigger. Bigger is a silly word, don't you think?"

Eddie did not say anything.

"But then again, I believe that is the simplest way to explain the difference between phases which surpasses infinity."

"..."

"The Ultraverse contains an infinite number of higher dimensions and eight higher planes of existence. Your extended Ultraverse contains even more planes and phases. But in the end, no matter how large, a cosmic wall always encompasses it. Beyond that wall, exists a greater wall that contains your Ultraverse alongside others. And beyond that wall, after ascending a great number of planes, you reach another wall. A wall which encompasses all the lights - Ultraverses and Megaverses."

"Now it's just gibberish..." Eddie muttered under his breath.

"Once you ascend beyond that wall, everything beneath you ceases to exist- in a normal fashion, that is. You could choose to see it as an atom, or a firefly, or a star, or a page out of a book. Or something else. It is up to you, and your will. Human, you must realise, each layer above, each layer which you ascend beyond, makes the lower ones seem insignificant in every form and shape. The ladder grows for something which far exceeds the concept of numbers, far above the concept which you know as "infinite". And each layer..."

"It's bigger than the previous," Eddie added with a half-surprised and half-confused look.

"Precisely, Eddie. And then finally, we reach the World. A plane of the omniverse, which is far different from anything you might have seen. But the ladder does not stop there, it continues forth, becoming bigger and bigger."

"...Fuck," from Eddie's mouth, a soft sound escaped. "So, when he said he destroyed everything…"

"It wasn't just this tiny universe or multiverse… It was everything, from Dimension Zero to the World and above."

"Shit. I can't believe this…"

"And someone else plans to end it all. And she will, for there is no future."

"The future was destroyed a long time ago," Eddie scoffed.

"You are so naive, it's almost laughable."

Eddie clicked his tongue as his short prideful smile vanished.

"The Ultra-time is ending; the future no longer exists in any form or shape. Everything will end with her as she brings about the final Void."

Eddie's cheek twitched as he tried to digest everything he heard.

However, the Celestial suddenly changed the topic, so Eddie would focus on something else - something his mortal brains can understand.

“You are losing your light, Edward. You are losing yourself.”

Eddie glanced down at himself and realised more of his body was eaten away by the energy which allowed him to perform inhumane feats.

“Your end approaches.”

“Heh,” Eddie laughed a self-pitying laughter. “Was Yggdrasil even real?”

“I don’t understand, Edward, what do you mean?”

“I used Yggdrasil’s infinite supply of life force to become immortal, to heal from any wound, but… Does Yggdrasil even exist?”

“Finding an answer to such question is a mission you shall complete by yourself. I am afraid, I cannot help you in such a manner.”

“I know,” Eddie scoffed softly. “I wasn’t asking.”

Eddie sighed deeply as he sat on the shoulder of this titan.

“What is your name?”

“Libra Iolos.”

“No,” Eddie shook his head with a soft smile. “What is your name?”

“I am afraid I don’t… Ah. I do not have an individual name. We are not born in the same manner as you, we don’t have the same restrictions and freedom as mortals. Everything for us has been predetermined.”

“I see...” Eddie was not sure how to feel about that, but at the same time, it was unacceptable. He could not accept something as evil as this.

How can you people live like this?

Was Nazar an anomaly since he was able to have an individual self? To have a free will?

As he was thinking about those questions, Eddie widened his eyes as he gasped softly.

He finally understood the meaning of a phrase he heard often.

“Power is suffering, death is solace.”

Everyone wanted power, everyone wanted to be the strongest.

However, those who had attained that power, they hated it. They hated life.

They would feel empty, feel broken, and feel lost.

The only way to fight that feeling, to become something better, is to end their life - once and for all. The only way to save themselves was to be erased from existence.

But…

Some became too powerful for even that and...

Eddie covered his mouth with his hand, as if what he learned was so terrible, he was trying to stop himself from vomiting.

“To live a life like that...”

All this time, he thought he understood those words, but he didn’t.

He never fully comprehended what those words meant until today.

“How can you do it? How?”

“You would not understand, Edward. But perhaps, if you give in to the power, if you ascend to a higher plane, perhaps then you might. However, as per wishes of God, I would recommend against it.”

He wasn’t overshadowing me...

“He was saving me...”

Eddie’s eyes welled up as sour feelings overwhelmed his tiny heart.

He thought he understood the reasoning behind Nazar’s actions long ago, but it seems his heart did not accept it until now.

It didn’t accept the truth until it was too late.

"Even the most omnipotent of gods sometimes misunderstand the simplest of words and meanings, Edward, so you shouldn't… How do you humans say it? Ah, don't beat yourself over it."

"..."

"Plus, you might not have been wrong. He could save everything if..."

Eddie, however, did not pay attention to the words of this alien.

Instead, he jumped down from its shoulder and flew away.

This world is a mess. A mess that will surely end one day and no one can stop it.

Eddie’s understanding of the incoming entropy was limited, but even then, he understood how impossible it would be to fight against it.

As he was flying towards his home, he heard the sound of a small explosion from a nearby plane.

“!!”

Without further hesitation, Eddie took a sharp right turn and flew towards the plane.

The plane, which was coming down at an exponential rate, lost one of its wings.

Eddie was sure he can save it, after all, he has saved many planes and spaceships in his short career.

Something as small as this should have been no problem.

Moving faster than the speed of sound, Eddie easily caught up to the falling plane.

He lifted the plane from the undercarriage. However, before he could stabilise the plane, the other wing began to fall off, causing Eddie to grunt softly.

To make matters worse, he realised his right hand had lost its bones and muscles. It has become pure energy.

“WHAT?!”

Damn it, this wouldn’t have happened before.

The loss of his physical hand made it extremely hard for him to now stabilise the plane.

At this rate, the plane will fall down and dozens upon dozens of people will die.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I cannot… With one hand, I suppose it’s not impossible but...

Eddie sucked in a deep breath.

He put all of his strength into his left hand and tried to lift the plane with one hand.

While it was not impossible for someone of his strength to lift a plane with one hand, it was almost impossible to balance it out with just one hand.

It’s already hard enough to balance this shit out with two hands…

Eddie clicked his tongue.

Maybe instead of trying to land the plane, I could take each and every one out of the plane… Hm, but if I am too slow, they might get killed - which I cannot allow. And if I move too fast, their bodies won’t be able to handle it…

The friction from faster speeds would destroy the human body without protection.

If only I learned how to protect others within an electromagnetic aura….

“Huh?”

Eddie’s eyes suddenly widened as he noticed a yellow glow around the plane.

Oh… What could this be… But it feels somewhat…

Eddie threw away his thoughts as he realised this is not the time to be thinking about that.

I have to save everyone in this plane.

He had to save everyone in this plane, no matter what.

It wasn’t the weak ideals of a rookie hero, no, it was the conviction of a hero, a hero with power.

I won’t let anyone die, not anymore. Never again.

He synchronised his energy hand with the yellow glow, and it felt like he was able to touch the plane once again.

Now that he could touch the plane as well as he could before, he narrowed his blue eyes.

Eddie took advantage of his godly senses and analysed his surrounding environment.

Found it.

The plains beneath him were green and empty, the perfect place for landing a plane in this situation.

It is someone’s crops; I cannot hurt the farmers like that… But at the same time, I have no other choice. If I don’t land… Ah!

In the empty and green plains, he noticed a small patch where he could land the plane without hurting the farmer too much.

That part has been cut off, or whatever, I don’t know how this works. But it’s empty, so that’s good. Thank god.

Eddie let out a sigh of relief.

He quickly landed the plane in an empty field and forcefully opened its doors.

Good. It’s landed, perfect. Now, all I have to do is get them all out before anything bad happens.

Eddie sucked in another deep breath and moved faster than before, much faster.

He moved at superhuman speeds and personally evacuated each person and placed them far away in a safe location.

As he was carrying the civilians away at high speeds, from the corner of Eddie’s eyes, he noticed the person who was helping him.

A man in a skin-tight black armour, an armour much similar to the one worn by his close friend - a dead friend.

“...What?”

Eddie increased his speed - but not enough to hurt the civilians - and quickly removed everyone from harm’s way.

Once he saved every civilian, he moved on to save their belongings.

When the plane emptied, he picked it up thanks to the yellow glow and threw it to the sun from earth. The plane was thrown at such speeds, it could not survive the friction for long. Before long, it was atomised.

Who… Who could it be? How…?! Is Nazar… No!

Eddie shook his head.

He is dead. So, whoever this imposter is...

Eddie gritted hie teeth.

I need to know who it is!

Eddie accelerated into light speed instantly as he flew up towards the figure, who was now moving away from this scene.

However, to Eddie, it was not problem.

He was faster than the imposter, he was the fastest on the planet at the moment, after all.

Moving fast through the clouds, he changed the weather to further slow the imposter down.

“GAH?!” as the imposter was hit by a thunder, they screamed.

As they screamed, from the corner of their eyes, they noticed a figure coming towards them.

And immediately after, a loud gasp escaped their lips.

“Wait---”

With the rage and fury of a mad God, Eddie swung their left hand and held the imposter by their neck.

His hand moved faster than the speed of light, so fast the imposter could not react in time.

As his hand caught up onto their neck, they felt like their neck would snap like a twig at any given second.

“Puh-ple--” the person in Ion’s armour spoke in a struggling manner.

However, his world destroying grip was far too strong for the imposter to utter out the words they wanted to say.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” Eddie asked angrily.

“I...” they struggled to let out a single word.

“WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT ARMOUR? WHO ARE YOU?!”

“I...”

The imposter could not make out a single word, after all, they were about to die at any given second.

However, they still had control over their thoughts, so they did something smarter than speaking.

“I have never killed anyone, ever,” Eddie spoke like an angry mindless beast. “But if you do not have a good reason, I am willing--- I swear to God - I am willing to do something so bad, so fucking evil, I will regret for the rest of my life. I am willing to haunt my future, so… speak.”

He brought his head closer to the imposter’s and shouted angrily, “SPEAK OR DIE!”

The imposter’s body jerked in fear.

However, they fought against the rage of a God and talked to the armour, thus removing the mask.

The nanites crawled away, revealing the face of the imposter.

“!!”

Eddie’s eyes widened as he gasped.

“You… !”

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

??? - ????:

On the Ghin planet of the blue humanoid aliens, a man stood atop a large building, ready to throw away his life.

“At last, I can see an end...”

The man spread his arms widely as he jumped from this tall building.

Ahhhh...

At the end of his life, as the cold breeze kissed his face, he smiled.

Most people would panic at this moment, hoping it was all a bad dream, but this man knew better.

This is the only ending for him; only death will give him the solace he seeks.

『Stop this madness at once!』

As he was falling down, an angel flew next to him and began speaking to him.

『I can watch no more, end this.』

“Who… are you?”

『Who I am is irrelevant, but you… I have watched you suffer for so long, so I am here… I am here to offer you solace, a chance for a better ending.』

“...”

The man snorted.

Then he laughed.

And laughed.

The angel was baffled.

“I have lived a long life, a long life full of suffering and loneliness. I worked so hard, so damn hard, and yet…”

He heaved a heavy sigh.

“The world tells you… They tell you to work hard. They tell you if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything… But! I worked so damn hard from the first day of my life, worked harder than the combined might of a civilization, yet… I did not achieve anything.”

『That’s why I am here, I am here to save you.』

“Hah!”

『You have lived but a fraction of your true life, the tinniest fraction. If…』

The angel swallowed his words and thought.

『I will give you an option - an option no one has been given before in the universe - an option to show you your future and save you today.』

“Hm?”

『I will save you today, and you will forget this attempt… And weeks later, you will meet your soulmate. After a year, you two will make love for the first time. Three years later you will be married. Ten years later, you will have a child - a beautiful child who will turn your life upside down - for good, of course. And you will live a wonderful life - a long, wonderful, and happy life.』

“...”

The man considered everything the angel told him, even if it was impossible to believe.

『You will be the happiest man in the cosmos, a bright shining star that will lit up the heavens.』

“No.”

『...』

The nigh-omnipotent angel of death found himself at a loss for words; he found himself confused.

『What?』

The man was given a choice every mortal ever wanted, but he rejected it.

It was beyond the comprehension of this angel.

“I am done working hard. Life is nothing but working hard and at the end… There is not fruition, no fruit to reap and eat.”

『Your pessimistic view on existence will not only doom your future, but the future of the woma--』

“I couldn’t care less!” the man sounded angry. “Plus why should I believe you?! Huh? Anyone can fly these days, anyone can call themselves an omnipotent being, but… In any case, what you have shown me is a mere possibility, a quantum possibility - meaning the chances of it being reality is less than zero.”

『Is… that so?』

The angel was quite disappointed in this man.

Behind his disappointment, a hint of sadness danced.

“Yes, I am done working hard. So, no thank you, I will not accept your offer. I don’t want to be working hard and hard for sake of nothing. Even if that possibility does come true, I will have to work hard, no? Work hard for my so-called family’s sake. Work hard to for the sake of my own happiness. And that’s… a lot of work.”

『Then so be it. However, solace is not something which is found in death, it’s a misunderstanding spread across the dark plains of reality. Of the omniverse. If you think you will find solace in--』

“And I couldn’t care less.”

The man laughed.

『...』

The angel was once again at a loss for words, at a loss for understanding.

He had watched over mortals since the dawn of time and has taken many lives, yet for the first time in his long life, he found himself overwhelmed by a mere mortal.

In front of him stood a man, a man who lost everything, yet when given the chance, he rejected it.

The angel simply did not understand.

『I see. Then I shall take you to the afterlife, where you will suffer greatly.』

The man nodded.

『There is no heaven waiting for you. A solace - a heaven - can only exist if you make it. And you have not made one for yourself.』

“I know.”

He was not sad, nor was he disappointed.

He was just… empty.

『Very well then.』

And so, the angel stole the soul of this man and passed him onto the next life.

While his soul suffered in a life after, his body fell to the ground, broken to pieces.

The angel watched over the body and the soul, and he could not feel anything but sadness.

He gave a choice, the impossible choice, to a mortal, and this was the outcome.

He could not comprehend the events that transpired before his eyes.

And he might never forget what happened today in his long immortal life.