Arc 23 - ‘Pain feels good’

Aria AKA 010’s body was now lying lifeless in a world without time. She nearly caused the end of the very reality. She caused Nazar great emotional and psychological pain. He would never see those around him in the same way.

However, in return, he made her the happiest person who has ever lived. He knew what she was doing worse than wrong, but at the end of the day, she was just a child with the power of a god.

“Resume,” Nazar said. This time he did not shout but said it in a soft voice.

He stood up and found out that he had shed a tear.

(Wh…?) And then he noticed something that made him smile. (So, you did win after all.)

He was not supposed to feel any emotions, but for some reason, he was affected by this. Due to his immunity to reality warping, this should not have been possible, but he did not understand it.

He moved closer and picked up her fragile body.

The reality was returned back to the way it was, but it was not perfect. Something was definitely wrong.

“” As the general of Vanaha Empire, Jenuil, said, he saw Nazar standing while holding a lifeless body of a little girl.

They were confused as to why he had such a bitter and sad smile on his face.

“Before I became immune to reality warping, you made me feel emotions and made sure it stuck around even if the reality goes back to normal...“ Nazar muttered.

“” Jenuil said. “”

The general of the Chochica Empire on Earth right now was a being who they referred as the High Priestess.

“”

They combined their magick and technology to create a technomagic that could help them solve the problem, however, they have never used it before. It was the first time the reality was attacked in 30,000 years and this weapon was only created a thousand years ago.

Without saying a word, Nazar vanished into thin air.

“” The general of the Duluria Empire said.

While the aliens prepared their technology and magick to fix the problem, which was created by humans, the humans left them where they were.

In Venice, Nazar appeared in a house that he was unfamiliar with.

He appeared in the living room. He appeared before two people he knew. His aunt and her husband. His aunt was a short woman with brown hair and brown eyes. Her husband was taller than her but was shorter than Nazar and he had black hair and brown eyes.

Nazar appeared before them with the lifeless body of their only child.

They were angry and sad. Angry that this brat has appeared before them, but sad because their daughter is dead.

He placed the lifeless girl on the sofa. He did not say a single word.

“Aria...” his aunt and her husband said slowly as they walked towards her. They were trembling and crying.

“You go missing… and now… this?” His aunt said.

Nazar stood there as he watched over his family members cry over a person they have just lost.

It is true, that Aria had returned the emotions to him in that reality, but there were still some after effects. He had kept the emotions, but he is not worried about that, because he has a plan to fix this whole thing once and for all.

The reality had cracks in it and he will fix it. Once the cracks are healed, he will lose this side effect of reality warping.

He did not say a word and was about to leave when his aunt’s husband spoke.

He spoke in an angry tone. “You… what have you done to her?” He walked fast towards Nazar and as he reached him, he held Nazar by his collar.

What he held was not Nazar’s collar, but he instead held millions of nanites that covered Nazar.

“I killed her...” Nazar said without hesitation. He told the truth.

“You… you bastard...” His aunt’s husband shouted as he threw a punch. His punch reached Nazar and it hit him in the face.

Just a second before the punch reached its destination, Nazar had turned off all his powers. He was just a mere human standing before the parents of the little girl he had killed.

“How can you show your face here?” His aunt shouted while crying.

Nazar did not say anything and turned his powers on again. As soon as he did that, he teleported out to Australia where the aliens were.

“” The High Priestess said in a worried tone.

Nazar appeared before them a second ago and no one noticed him until now.

“” Nazar said that in Xian, the official language of Vanaha Empire and then everyone went silent.

They were looking at him like he was some ant who just said that he can defeat an elephant.

“Summoning,” Nazar muttered. “Aarin.”

And just like that, the entire place was filled with bright white light. They covered their eyes and after a few seconds when they looked, they saw a being in front of them.

A being who was too bright to even look at. A tall woman with blue eyes and blonde hair. A woman with wings. An angel.

“Wh...?” Aarin did not know what had happened but as she looked around, she saw Nazar, who in front of her and was facing the aliens. Not the same Nazar as she has seen before. This one looked, rather sad. “Nazar? What the hell? Since when can you summon a middle-class angel?”

As she said that, everyone went into shock. They saw the human boy in front of them mutter a few words and he was able to summon a middle-class angel.

“”

“”

“”

There was a chatter between the aliens in their own tongues. But Nazar knew that they understood because of their translators.

“Shut up,” Nazar said. “You said you owed me, right?”

“Y-yes,” Aarin replied slowly.

Nazar finally looked at her. “Then fix this.”

“What do you…?”

Before she could finish her sentence, Nazar said, “You are a universal level reality warper, right? Then you can restore it too, right?”

Aarin thought for a second and then said, “Yes, in theory.”

“Then fix this,” Nazar said without hesitation. “The whole reality is messed up because a weaker version of reality warping was used. If she was just a little more powerful, things would have been not this bad.”

As Aarin saw Nazar talk in trembling lips. With watery eyes. She said,“Okay, I will do it.”

She closed her eyes and after she opened it, it was replaced by white energy.

She let out her hands in the air and the next second, she restored the entire reality.

“” Nazar asked the Vanaha Empire’s general on Earth.

“”

Everyone was surprised at what just happened. First, he summoned an angel. Then she fixed everything that like it was nothing.

“” Nazar raised his voice. “”

And just like that, all of them left without saying another word. They all vanished into thin air.

“Nazar...” Aarin wanted to say something, but Nazar also vanished into thin air. But she knew where he is going. So, she followed.

Nazar appeared in his base on the moon. He appeared in the control room of the base.

As soon as he appeared, he blocked teleportation within the facility. He has a higher degree of manipulation, which allows him to manipulate many things around him and interdimensional travel is one them.

Nazar took a few steps and he found himself in one place where he wants to be. To enter the digital world again. Once the straps into his control room, he transfers his consciousness into the computers. It is here where his true base is. It is here where everything is fun and games. It is here where he does not need to pretend that he feels emotions.

He sat on a big black chair. As he did, the electrodes moved on its own. They attached itself onto Nazar’s head. Some of the electrodes attached themselves onto his forehead. And some onto the back of his head.

As he did that, his eyes closed down and then it did not open again.

As soon as the electrodes were attached to him, he entered the digital world again. From here, he can see and hear anything that is remotely related to technology.

This is the first time he is trying this. He has never done this before. In the past, when he attached the electrodes, he would have been conscious and his body could move, but this time he wanted to prove a theory that he came up with a few days ago. He theorised how he can place his consciousness inside a computer. How he can live there forever if he wanted to.

The only way out of that place is for the electrodes to be detached or if Nazar wants to go back.

It took a few seconds to secure the connection, but he found himself inside a completely new world. A world in which we, humans have created.

Nazar floats in nowhere and surrounding him are billions of digital data. Pictures you have taken. Texts you sent. Videos you have watched. Games you played. Calls you have made. Your personal drawings. He was in this new world, and nothing was hidden from him. Right now, even if IO was using ANT, it will not cause Nazar any problems.

He was not doing this to prey on others, but to learn if anyone remembered the alternative reality. He checked everyone’s technology to see if there were any deaths because of the other reality.

He checked every news source. Every video feed. Every picture was taken today. Every text sent today. However, in the last few hours or so, the entire world of technology was gone silent.

Therefore, Nazar theorised that because they were in a different reality, their tech was left behind. And whatever tech they have used in the other reality, it got destroyed with that pathetic reality.

Just as he was about to check some other stuff out, the whole place became nothing but darkness. Then a few seconds later, he found himself in his own body again.

He opened his eyes and saw a beautiful woman in a white dress in front of him. The woman was pretty tall. She had blonde hair with big blue eyes. Her blonde hair reached her waist. It was Aarin.

As Nazar saw her, he just got up and held Aarin up by her throat.

“How did you get in?”

“You blocked teleportation into this place,” Aarin said as she showed no struggle. “But I know where this place is. So, I used the front door.”

Nazar had moved his base from the surface of the moon and into its core. There was no way she could have gotten here. However, he forgot that she has her powers now.

As he realised that Aarin had made a hole and came through it, he put her down.

“Why are you here?” Nazar said as he sat back in the chair. “You no longer owe me. And I no longer owe you. So, why are you still here?”

“I have my reasons,” Aarin replied immediately.

There was silence. The electrodes tried to attack itself to Nazar again, but Aarin ripped them apart with her telekinesis.

And this seemed to have made Nazar angry.

“Turn off your powers,” Aarin said. “Let’s talk like normal people.”

This seemed to have made Nazar laugh out loud. He laughed and laughed.

“Normal people?” Nazar said as he still laughed. “Which part of us is normal? You are an angel and I am just one word away from becoming the supreme being of the multiverse.”

“Talk to me,” Aarin said in a soft tone.

“Talk about what?”

“About what happened today.”

Nazar told her everything that happened. From how the whole reality was in danger to how he healed the son of a person he had killed. From the weird things he encountered in the other world and to the things that made him smile. He said everything. He did not leave anything behind.

“So, you had to kill her?” She asked slowly but as she saw Nazar’s nod, she snapped. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?”

Nazar was surprised to see this side of her. He has not really seen her snap like this. When she snapped, she destroyed many of the computers next around her. And more than that, she punched Nazar in the face which threw Nazar away for a few meters.

(Huh? So, this what it feels like to get hit by an angel?) Nazar though. (But she is holding back too much.)

It is true, Nazar is powerful, but at this moment, Aarin is a universal level angel.

“YOU IDIOT,” Aarin shouted as he clenched her fists and as she gritted her teeth. “HOW PATHETIC CAN YOU GET?”

She got closer to Nazar and punched him again. This time she increased her strength level to a point where she can easily damage an entire planet.

Nazar was thrown through the moon and onto the nothingness of the space.

Nazar regained his senses a few seconds later and as soon as he did, Aarin had arrived and had punched him again.

(She sure packs a punch...)

She punched him so hard that he landed in the middle of London. In the middle of the city where everyone was thinking about what the hell had happened. They did not remember the last few hours of their lives.

He crashed in the middle of the city within a large number of confused people. The good thing was that they were not fighting each other.

(Pain… The pain feels good.)

Nazar regained his senses a few seconds later. He found himself to be in the middle of the River Thames. As he had touched the surface of the Earth, he had created a massive crater in it.

He was now in the middle of the dirty water that ran through London. He was dumbfounded now. What did he do?

Moments later, Aarin arrived too. She was floating with the help of her wings. People were confused as they looked at her. She was a little hard to look at, due to radiating a bright light.

She waved her hands and the water stopped moving. The river went dry.

She used her telekinesis to lift up Nazar and hold him captive.

As Nazar looked at her, he only saw bloodlust in her eyes. Nothing more. Her eyes seemed a little teary, but at the same time, her eyes went a little red.

And all Nazar did was nothing. Not even make an expression.

“DON’T YOU KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO?” Aarin shouted in the middle of the city.

Nazar was being held by her telekinesis and then started to crush him, but he didn't even think about struggling. It did not affect him much.

When Nazar looked around, he saw people recording this. They were recording this instead of running away and saving themselves.

“What are you talking about?” Nazar asked in a calm tone.

This seemed to have angered Aarin. She got angry and threw him across the city by punching him in the face again.

Nazar flew threw a few buildings, but as the buildings were being destroyed, they were being recreated too. Nazar was using matter manipulation to restore everything the way it was. Sure, there might have been a few changes like changing an old TV and then replacing it with a modern TV or using the atoms of a broken bed and recreating it in perfect shape.

Nazar landed about a few miles away but was teleported back in front of Aarin.

If he wanted to fight back, it is possible that he can take her down, but he wants to play this along.

On the face, he is not showing any expressions or emotions, but on the inside, he is getting excited.

Inside, he was laughing as he saw blood coming out of his nose. He was laughing when he felt pain.

“Aarin, talk to me,” Nazar said in a calm tone.

Aarin took a few seconds to think about what she did. She calmed down a little.

“She… she did not have to die...” Aarin said in a sad tone.

“She wanted to die,” Nazar replied in a calm tone. Seeing that, it made Aarin even angrier but she kept her cool. “That was what she wanted.”

“And… and you killed her?” Aarin said slowly. “She was just… a child. Who would kill a child?”

“You would be surpris...”

Before Nazar could finish his sentence, he was slammed into the ground. Aarin had used her telekinesis to slam him into the ground and place a pressure on him.

Nazar did not put up a struggle. He showed no emotion. He showed no expression. He just watched.

“You should have been her salvation,” Aarin said slowly.

Without putting up a struggle, Nazar said, “Sometimes death is the only salvation.”

“No, it is not.” Aarin sounded angry. “Everything she went through was because of you. She lost 10 years of her life. She lost friends. Family. And you killed her.”

As she was saying that, she brought Nazar close to her, but placed a telekinetic force on him.

“You should have saved her.” Aarin continued. “You should have shown her a better way. You should have saved yourself.”

“I don’t need saving,” Nazar said. “If I wanted to, I am sure I could kill you here right now.”

Aarin was not surprised to hear that. However, as a true immortal, she would be back into the land of living within a few days.

“I want to die, too.” Nazar continued. “But not everyone is as lucky as her. She had her desires fulfilled. Even the one about to die. But, what about me? I want to die too, and it is my salvation. But too bad for me, I will never be able to leave this pathetic existence behind.”

As he said that, Aarin slapped him on the face.

“Do you know how many children that are looking at you want to have this power?” Aarin said angrily. “Do you know how many of these people who are looking at you want your power to help the world? Do you know what you could with this power of yours? DO YOU?”

“YES, I DO,” Nazar shouted. “I KNOW WHAT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WANTS. I KNOW WHY EVERYONE WANTS POWER. IT IS TO HELP THEMSELVES OR THE WORLD. BUT WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW IS THAT POWER IS NOTHING BUT A CURSE.”

Nazar at that moment broke free of Aarin’s telekinetic barrier very easily. This surprised Aarin.

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE THE POWER TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT?” Nazar continued to shout. His shouts echoed through the city. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HEAR WHAT EVERYONE SAYS? DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS LIKE TO HEAR WHAT EVERYONE CONSTANTLY THINKS? DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HEAR EVERYONE’S MISERY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HEAR THEIR LAUGHTER ON THE OUTSIDE AND THEIR CRY ON THE INSIDE?” Nazar paused. “I AM NOT A GOD. SOMEONE PLAYED A GOD TODAY AND NEARLY ENDED ALL THE REALITY.”

Nazar shouted on top of his lungs. People could hear him for hundreds of meters. And he sounded angry.

“I have to live with this.” Nazar voiced lowered down. “I have lived with it for a year. And it is too much. I am done with it. So, can you save me? When the only thing that can save me is death? When the only thing that will every make me happy is death?”

Aarin was thrown back by that. She had no idea what to say.

“Answer me, o great creation of the supreme one,” Nazar said. “Can you make me happy when you have to make yourself sad? Because I just did that for a little girl I barely know. I killed her and made her happy. She lived a full life in the world of illusions. She died with a smile on her face while I cried over her death. Can you do it? Can you bring happiness to my sad world, too?”

Even though Nazar was not shouting people around them could hear him. Nazar looked as he usually did. No expression. No emotions. And the blood was gone now too.

“You don’t know what it takes to bring happiness to other people.” Nazar continued. “Some time, their happiness lies in death. Sometimes their happiness means our sadness.”

Aarin did not know what to say. The people around them were still recording, but they were more focused on the conversation between the two beings who could kill them all with the wave of their fingers.

“You are a universal level reality warper,” Nazar said. “If you change reality, it will not cause any damage to it. You can make everyone happy here. You can make them live their life to the fullest. You can make them feel like they are the happiest people ever. You could make life easy for them. So, why don’t you?”

“I… it is wrong.” Aarin finally spoke. “The fake world of illusions is not happiness. Do you really think that Aria was happy when she died? Do you really think that she was happy with the life you gave her?”

“Yes...”

“NO,” Aarin shouted. “NO, SHE WASN’T.” She paused and calmed down a little. “I am sure that she wanted you to save her. To show her that life is good. To show help her achieve her dreams. Not in a world of illusions, but in the real world.”

“She is dead now, so it's useless to continue talking about her.”

As Nazar said, Aarin got angry. Her eyes became bloodlust again. She started to grit her teeth. She clenched her fist.

She tried to punch Nazar again, but he dodged it.

She punched the air and it threw her off balance.

Nazar appeared behind her and placed his arm around her neck. He held her in a headlock. It was so tight that it would have killed a normal human in mere seconds.

“If you have a death wish, you know where to find me,” Nazar whispered into her ear. He said this in a mocking tone. It was followed by a slow laugh.

“Why are you like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have all your memories. You are...”

Before Aarin could finish her sentence, Nazar laughed.

“You have my memories?” Nazar continued to laugh, but a second later he stopped laughing immediately. “You have been playing my game. Not the other way around.”

“Wh-what…?”

Nazar let her out of the headlock and said, “Did you really think that I was playing your game?” Nazar smiled. “No. No, I was not. Since the day we met, I have known who you were. The memories I gave you were the modified ones. I made changes to it. You only saw the good and the bad. I kept the ugly to myself. No one else can see it, except a certain somebody who died today. Did you really think you stole my memories? I allowed you to do it.”

Nazar had shown her just part of his memories. Not everything, like Aarin, thought.

Nazar held his hands out horizontally as he continued to smile.

“You know the whole idea of you giving your memories to me?” Nazar continued. “That was my suggestion. I wanted to know some stuff, which even you won’t tell me. So, I suggested you take my memories and give yours to me in return. It is true that you wanted to keep some behind, but when I gave you my memories, I sent a parasite with it too. A parasite that made sure you give everything to me. I could have done it myself, but your defences were good.“ Nazar paused. ”After I got your memories I played by the rules. I wanted you to think that I still did not know everything. It was pretty fun. But you have been playing my game since the beginning. Do you want to know the reason?”

“...” Aarin did not say anything.

“You should have left me to die. You should have left me alone. You ruined the lives of hundreds just to keep me safe. For selfish reasons.” Nazar paused. “You are the worst of the worst. You wanted your power back and ruined the lives of hundreds for it.”

Aarin was still not talking.

“Why did you return my powers to me?” Nazar asked the question. A question that she knew the answer to but wanted to forget it forever.

“Wh-what are…?”

“Don’t deny it,” said Nazar while not smiling. “You returned my powers because you wanted me on your side. You made a deal with Zerathos to stay away from me so I can develop my powers better. I don’t know why he accepted it, but I am very disappointed in him.”

Aarin just stood there not talking. Nazar noticed the variety of emotions that was coming off from her. She an angel of an emotion, so they are rich in emotions.

A grin appeared on Nazar’s face again. “Regret. Shame. Embarrassment. Anger. How does it feel, angel-sama? How does it feel to know your secrets are no longer secrets?”

Nazar was proud of himself.

“What else did you lie to me about?” Aarin asked after a long time.

“The whole thing where I get my emotions back,” Nazar said. “That was a lie. The whole thing about my personality changing, that was also a lie. The whole forgotten memory part. I never forgot a single moment in my life. I remembered every single moment since two atoms merged together and I was created.” Nazar paused. “Also, did you really think that a personality of a person can change that quickly?”

Aarin was surprised to hear that.

“The whole thing about my friends and family losing their memories?” Nazar continued with a smile on his face. “I removed their memories when I got powers. It is true that Alice removed my memories and for one whole year, I did not remember the lab and other stuff. But after about a year, I remembered everything and that is why I changed instantly. Putting up an act for years worked out.”

“You...”

“All this time, I shoved my head into book, comics, manga, anime and other fictions to learn about powerful and rare powers. Then I learned the science behind it. Once I got my powers, I trained until I figured out that I can use any power at any level and can use it perfectly if I will it.” Nazar added.

Aarin wanted to say something, but what was she going to say? She was totally speechless.

There was a long silence. Aarin was thinking about what happened, but Nazar was just floating before her with a smile on his face.

“I did not put those people in danger because I wanted you to stay safe so I can get my powers back,” Aarin finally spoke. “I did not return your powers because I wanted my powers back.” She raised her voice. “I wanted to help you because you are the closest thing I have to a son.”

“Tch. I don’t need another mother or a motherly figure.”

“I saw you grow up. I saw your rise and fall. I saw you wasting your life. I saw you pushing everyone away.” She paused. “I just wanted to help. I...”

“Hey, I don’t care about that.” Nazar cut her sentence short. “I more interested in what meant by me being like your son.”

“Well… I don’t really know, but I always thought of you as a son.”

“That… that does not make sense,” Nazar said. “How can you just consider someone your own son? It’s stupid beyond belief.”

Aarin did not say anything.

“Anyway, useless angel, you can go back to your dimension, now.”

As Nazar said that, he waved his hand and the angel disappeared.

“Alone. At last.” Nazar said this he released a sigh of relief.

He was still floating. He closed his eyes and smiled.

(Well, it looks like I am no longer friends with Emily. No more Aarin, either.) Nazar thought. (This is going to be perfect.)

He just floated there with his eyes closed and smiling.