novelraw Chapter 279 279: Oblivion
Chapter 279 279: Oblivion
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"Please stop. I do not want to fight you anymore. I have grown so tired of doing that."
As Louis's claws descended with raging draconic fury, Oblivion raised his palm and, in a second, Louis lost all his power.
All the Fantasium he had accumulated through his entire journey was drained away, and his power was sealed in an instant.
"Ugh?!"
Louis's body was forced into his human form. He fell into the dunes made of white ashes, rolling down and landing close to Oblivion.
"Haaa… Haaa… What… What?!"
Louis looked at his body, his eyes widened in disbelief. His spear was gone, his powers were gone, and his dragon form was completely sealed.
Everything about him… everything he had developed and grown, his power, those twenty years of training with his grandfather and his family.
All gone.
"It is gone… everything?"
He was reduced to his original human form. His physical abilities were the same as when he started his journey.
He looked at the floor, realizing everyone was gone too.
"Unexpected? Well, coming all the way here on your own, that is commendable. Using the Venerable too, that is some quick thinking at play. Well done."
"…"
Louis stood up, brushing the ashes from his clothes and staring back at Oblivion with hatred.
"Why are you looking at me with so much hatred? I have done nothing to you."
"You are the source of all my misfortune… Oblivion, just… why?"
"…"
"Why do you keep insisting on trying to kill me and everyone around me?"
"Have I?"
Louis walked toward him with anger and frustration, grabbing him by his suit and lifting him. Oblivion was surprisingly light.
"Do not act like you do not know what you have done! Manipulating fate, cursing me! You did all of that because you wanted it, did you not?! Because you wanted the Heart of Time!"
"…Please let go of me. Let us have a civilized talk."
"…"
Louis narrowed his eyes, then let go of Oblivion. He realized that whatever trick this was, it could be some kind of domain where Oblivion had placed certain non-aggression conditions.
And maybe… Oblivion suppressed his power because he was secretly afraid of him.
No, that could be the only option, really.
But Louis decided to humor him.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"…"
Oblivion shook his head, walking toward the dragon skull and looking up at it with his shining golden eyes.
"Do you know why I called you my Eternal Adversary?"
Louis remained silent, listening to him.
"It is because you truly are," Oblivion laughed, sitting over the skull. "Since the moment I was born into this world… I had the power to do whatever I wanted."
"…?"
"I was reborn with the Primordial Concept of Oblivion, Heaven, Creation itself," Oblivion said, opening his hands and revealing white light from them. "I used this power to help the Ancient Gods all I could. I used to be a really good boy, you see. Nah, I still am. But… after some time, I realized they were not really good people. So I decided to leave."
"You did not provoke the war then?"
"No, I did not. I promise I was not involved. It was Loki. He went insane, becoming an Apostle of a Species of Beings that protect Precursors."
"What?"
"The moment Fantasy was born in this world, it became a cancer, and it quite literally started killing the Precursor that was devouring our Reality slowly."
"…!!!"
"The reason why Loki wanted to stop it was because this cancer would eventually kill the Precursor, thus all the Reality it is devouring would also be destroyed in the process of its death."
"But when Precursors die, new Realities are also born, right? So, at the end, haha… His entire fight was pointless. What a guy. To think you would be his reincarnation."
"…?"
Louis fell silent as he heard that revelation, swallowing hard.
Wasn't Loki, or rather, Oberon, some kind of Soul Parasite?
Someone trying to take his soul?
Or…
"Didn't you know? I see… so Drake kept that a secret from you, huh? Maybe he thought it might affect you negatively," laughed Oblivion. "Man, he is way too soft."
"…What?"
"Louis, you are the Reincarnation of Loki," said Oblivion. "When he was defeated by Drake, the souls of his siblings that decided to die with him granted him one last wish. Thus, they reincarnated a tiny fragment of his soul behind Drake's back… or maybe he knew and just let them do it. He is a very soft man after all."
"…"
Louis fell silent, falling to his knees and looking at his own hands. He felt his heartbeat accelerating and his entire body suddenly shuddered with cold sweat.
"I… I am him?"
"Not anymore. The leftover consciousness carrying his personality is now dead, so you are the bare soul that reincarnated… Or hahaha, well, it is not completely true, right… William?"
Louis stared into his golden eyes with resentment.
"So you know… you know everything, do you not?!"
Oblivion walked toward him with a gentle smile.
"I do. I know all about who you really are… About Sinners Academy, about everything, really."
"W-What? What… What am I?! How do you know that?!"
Oblivion fell quiet for a moment, looking at the skull once more.
"I did not do any of that either though. It was him…" he patted the skull. "It was his last attempt at trying to defeat me."
"…?"
"Louis, I do not want to fight you," Oblivion said, smiling at him. "I have finally refined the Heart of this Precursor and gained its powers, and I have begun to evolve it into a Fantasy Precursor. Using it, I will devour all of Existence and rebirth it as a Fantasy Cosmos."
"…So that is your incredible plan?" asked Louis. "I knew it was boring, but this is incredibly basic."
"Heh," Oblivion laughed. "There is so much more beyond this Cosmos… we are all in a prison, you see. The Precursors are Their experiments, and I will use this Cancer created by Humanity to fight back and free us from Their control. We will never be below the power of Fate anymore."
"They?" Louis asked.
Oblivion shook his head. "There is no point in explaining who 'They' are to you. Like your grandfather, it will likely enter through one ear and leave through the other."
"You are boring me with your words. It seems you are trying to buy time. Why?" Louis asked.
"…"
Oblivion's eyebrows twitched for a moment.
This was Louis's cue.
He kicked the ground and rushed at him despite everything.
Oblivion laughed as he let him hit his face with his fist.
CRACK!
"Ngh?!"
And Louis's fist was crushed, his fingers shattering as if he had punched solid concrete.
"What are you trying to do? I told you that you should not try to fight me."
Oblivion placed his hand over Louis's shoulder.
"Now listen carefully to what I am going to tell you… About your past self, and more."
"…"
Oblivion created a white chair, table, and tea, forcing Louis to sit down and enjoy teatime with him.
"Now, where should I start? Ah, right, your hand…"
He quickly healed Louis's hand and nodded.
"First Timeline ever, when Drake rejected my offer and fought back, and when I had to retreat after he killed my Venerables…
Back then I had no idea what to do. I was full of despair. That is until I learned about the Precursor, found it, began to refine its heart, and so on.
Boom, the Dimensional Labyrinth is born after I allowed the Precursor to digest and refine Fantasium. Entities, Grievances, and the like are born.
Dimensional Rifts begin to open across the Fantasy Worlds and… Earth, I guess.
My goal was to quickly let the Precursor digest them first. Eating those Fantasy Worlds would help it acclimate to the energy, becoming stronger, evolving.
It went well for the vast majority! I was winning. People could not really do much. And by doing this, I was able to refine the Fantasium Dimension greatly, growing more powerful.
But then, there was… a problem."
Louis remained in silence, looking at his own reflection on the teacup.
"You."
He lifted his gaze, looking at Louis while narrowing his eyes.
"Me?"
"Yes! You, Louis.
You see, it all started because of you. At the time, I was unable to comprehend what They had made against me.
The Cosmic Fate was in motion, a fate that one could not easily run away from, which I have been trying my entire life as a being destined for so much more.
So they made what I call a Counter Force, an Eternal Adversary. Someone that must defeat me, no matter what.
Thus, Louis Drakeheart was born, son of the daughter of Drake and a powerful Human Esper. A recipe for a genius child… and you were."
"…?"
"The original Louis was not like you.
He was indeed incredibly talented, the most talented ever born. He was able to unleash his full divine dragon form when he was one year old like his mother.
He became the strongest Esper in Earth at birth as well, becoming capable of Manipulating Space and the Void with it.
You were the most talented being in the universe. Your power only rose with each day, every week, month, and year."
"I… was not born crippled?"
"Oh no. All the power you worked so hard to get? He had it at birth! Actually, that has always been your birthright, Louis! You were destined to be born with all that power; I just took it away from you."
"…"
Louis's eyes grew redder as he bit his lips, drawing blood in anger.
"Bastard…"
Oblivion laughed.
"Hahah! C-Calm down, okay? Come on, let me finish what I am saying here. Okay? Okay. So…
Your original self, the Louis from the first timeline… well, you were the strongest. You were also a hard worker, continuously growing massively in power.
At ten years of age you matched your mother in power level. At eighteen, you were almost at the level of your grandfather…
Grievances and Entities were easily slain by you. You became a Hero, Louis. That was your destiny, to be a hero."
"A… a hero?"
Louis's eyes widened as he suddenly saw countless visions through his eyes, of a different life, of a prideful, cheerful, and ever-smiling Louis.
Tall, muscular, strong, and rather carefree in nature, always playing, fighting recklessly, and being the friend of literally everyone.
He traveled to Earth and the Fantasy Worlds recruiting friends and allies, vanquishing evil, and saving so many people.
He became not just the hero of Earth, but of Yggdrasil, Zipangu, Spiritias, and even the Universe outside of them.
Where there was evil, he would come to vanquish it.
With long white hair, sharp golden eyes, paladin armor, and holding a long golden spear, his mother's treasure she gifted to him on his eighteenth birthday because she was so proud of him…
This was his true fate, what was denied by him.
By the person he was talking to right now.
"Yes, you could say that was Karma as well, the Cosmic Karma of our universe. A soul that constantly did evil deeds in his past life reincarnated to become a hero of the people, always going out of his way to save them no matter what. That is what you were…
But not everything was easy. He had a destiny, to defeat me. Like you, he learned about me, about what I was doing, and he wanted to stop me from devouring the fantasy worlds and the universe. He never saw the bigger picture, nor why I was doing something so important. He could have joined me… but he chose to oppose me.
It was a hard battle. He managed to even bring along the Dragon King somehow. All of them came after me, and fought me, and…"
Oblivion smiled, suddenly showing a huge scar across his face all the way down his chest.
"You almost got me."
Louis's eyebrows twitched.
"But I had already obtained it, the Treasure that lay deep within the Dimension of Time. The Heart of Time was mine, and with it, as the last ingredient to finally take over the Universe and Reality, I would have… won. He was strong though, very strong… so much stronger than you. He was… perfect, really. The perfect hero."
"…"
"But he died."
"…?!"
"That Cosmic Fate could not go against my power. I killed his entire family, his beloved wife, his child. I killed everyone and everything. I stopped them from interfering but… that man, that incredible man…
He stole the Heart of Time from me, and refined it, and even though he was about to die, he had enough power to place a fragment of his soul there, linking the Heart of Time with him. So even when he died, he returned to the past. Timelines… began to be born.
First it was one, then two, three, four… every time he went through a timeline, he forgot who he was more and more. He always failed to defeat me and then returned once more to the beginning, for yet another try.
Eventually, after five thousand tries, he completely lost all his original memories and the powers he carried along, based on his memories, disappeared alongside them.
After that, I constantly tried to get my Heart of Time back. I crippled you. I cursed your destiny and saw you suffer across many timelines. I even took one of those strange variants of you that ended up being a woman for some reason. She was really insane, hahaha! Lisette was her name or something?
At that point the Timelines were so fractured there were thousands of you that did not even have the Heart of Time, and as the relic sank deeper and deeper into the Dimension of Time, more and more branches appeared, constantly interfering… but I cut them, one by one. I ate them.
My endeavors of obtaining the heart back continued becoming fruitless though. No matter how cursed your destiny was, the Heart always slipped away… but I was really close, the last time, before you, William, took over."
"…"
"The bastard… he left something, somewhere… and this is how You were born, a new Louis, one with a different mind than the previous one. One… that was quite unique! Hahaha… And one that could once more accumulate memories through regressions. You, my new Eternal Adversary."
"I see."
Louis nodded, sighing as he finally learned the truth, looking at the tea and then facing him.
"So?"
"I have realized brute force will not do. Louis, let us work together. I will spare everyone you love. They can live here with you. Just let me use the Heart of Time, okay?"
"No."
"Hahaha, I knew you would say that. So, I prepared something."
"Are you going to torture my family? Or something wicked like that?"
"Hm? Nah, nah, I do not think that is worth any effort. I have prepared something perfect already."
White light encompassed Louis.
"So take care! It will make you experience billions of lives! Once you are finally tired of living, you will just give me back my Heart of Time willingly, haha. I can wait all I want."
"What?!"
Louis sank into the white light and disappeared.
"Let us see… one million years have already passed."
It was only a moment, as Oblivion gazed into Louis's endless loops where he faced despair after despair.
Never able to win, never able to reach too far, always seeing everyone he loved dying and falling apart.
His mind constantly deteriorated. All his memories before this were gone already.
"Two million years."
Oblivion drank tea while looking at an endless white vortex, where Louis experienced millions of years of regressions.
His mind deteriorated, his memories were eaten away, his sense of purpose disappeared.
At the same time, everyone else here he had captured were going through the same.
From Mirai to Zorba, Benladra, Gustaf, Belladaan, Miranda, Timothy, Yuki, Yudra, Anastasia, Agustina, Melisa, Selene, everyone.
Before Oblivion's absolute power, there was nothing they could do other than perish.
"Three million years… haha, your entire struggle was pointless. It always is. No matter how hard They attempt to fix this, They cannot. I am the 'Virus' of this Reality that will devour it all. Your Vaccines could not stop me; let alone this Antibody you have designed."
Oblivion patiently awaited as he tortured everyone's minds. After having killed them tens of thousands of times through many regressions, he realized it was all pointless.
The best way was to break their minds and spirits until they were left with nothing.
And…
"Ten billion years! Phew, that was a nice tea," he patted the skull of the dragon's skeleton before him, the corpse of the original Louis. "Alright, I think we are done here. Shall we see?"
Oblivion laughed, snapping his fingers as the dimensional vortex of white light before him rose into the air and from there, a ruined, worn-down and weakened, bleeding Louis appeared.
His eyes were completely empty, his body damaged, his soul torn apart, his mind… completely blank, devoid of emotions, of purpose, of meaning.
"Hello Louis, how do you feel today?"
"Ah… Ahh…"
"Hm? I cannot hear you?"
Oblivion walked toward Louis and his voice was dry, emotionless, and lacking any meaning. After a few minutes, Oblivion laughed. He realized Louis was completely broken.
"How easy it is to break you, Louis. All that bravado from earlier, all that strength, gone. This is how all of you are, frail, weak, pathetic… This is why I must be the one to protect you, to make sure They do not control us. Do you understand now, hm?"
Oblivion raised Louis's chin and looked into his eyes.
"I can relieve you of all that pain, my dear friend. Would you give it to me? The Heart of Time… the origin of all your pain and suffering?"
"A-Ah…"
Louis looked down, and a shining white and gray glow manifested from his chest. A beautiful, gray crystal emerged, shaped like a heart, with a sand clock inside, emitting potent Interdimensional Energies, warping reality.
"You are offering it to me willingly, really?"
"Ah…"
"Well, thank you."
Oblivion smiled pleasantly, holding the Heart of Time and feeling its immense power course through his veins.
"Yes, this is it… Amazing!"
He felt the Time Essence course through his body, his soul, his everything.
The Fantasy-Devouring Precursor roared, intimidated by such a potent Treasure that Oblivion had found after traveling for eons within the Dimension of Time.
"It is finally mine again, hahaha! Thank you Louis! For this, I will let you witness how everyone you love dies! Is that not the most fitting end?!"
Oblivion laughed, as every person that entered the Precursor's Heart emerged before Louis. His empty eyes gleamed silently, gazing at everything.
"But first, let me refine this. Now, with this unlimited power… Hahaha— Eh?"
CRASH!
Out of nowhere, to the disbelief of Oblivion, even though Louis was truly broken and unable to do anything and so everyone else.
The Heart of Time.
To his utter and complete shock, rejected him willingly.
"What…?"
His eyes widened as he saw a giant sharp crystal grow from the Heart of Time, piercing his chest, then hundreds more crystals pierced all of his body at once.
"W-Wha…?! Aaaaaagghh!"
He screamed in agony, even though this was merely a vessel for his true form. As his body was torn to shreds and revealed countless feathered wings and golden eyes, they too were damaged, bleeding liquid golden starlight energy everywhere.
"G-GUUUGGH?! W-WHAT THE…?! IT HURTS?! HOW…! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!"
Oblivion instinctively moved away from the floating Heart of Time, which was now covered by his torn flesh and blood, which it absorbed, powering up even further.
"This… does not make any sense!"
Oblivion's true form began to be unraveled. In his panic, he lost control of everyone's grip, making them drop into the desert of white ashes as Louis convulsed, vomiting blood and then…
Exploding.
BOOOM!
"Louis died?! What…! What is going on?!"
The Heart of Time then suddenly grew a pair of golden, fiery eyes, staring at Oblivion with a defiance that he could only recognize from two people he hated the most.
"That… cannot be… the Heart of Time is merely an inanimate treasure! It has no soul, and no intelligence either! How can it fight back against me?!"
"That is because…"
"Ah!"
Oblivion heard a voice coming from the Heart of Time, a voice he instantly recognized.
The detestable voice of someone he had invested so much in, which rejected him!
The voice of the one that would have made his dream come true if he had helped him!
"You…! How…! HOW THE HELL ARE YOU IN THERE, DRAGON KING DRAKE?!"
RUMBLE!
Oblivion completely began losing his mind. The sharp crystals piercing his true cosmic body bled all over, making him agonize even more.
It was unbelievable how much it hurt him!
And it was right in the sharp wounds and scars left behind by the first Louis too.
"That is because my grandson went with his insane plan and allowed me to turn his Heart of Time into the vessel of all my power, Oblivion."
"W-What?!"
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, the Heart of Time began to tremble, transforming into a gigantic crystal dragon, the same appearance as Drake himself, but enormous.
Drake's draconic face emerged, as the Heart of Time fully transformed into a giant Heart of Time Dragon King!
Drake's new Vessel, a second body which had 99% of his power transferred to it.
It risked Yggdrasil, but enough so it would not be destroyed yet.
Back then, Drake had been doubtful if such a strategy would work, but now that he could move freely beneath Oblivion's Authority, it seemed possible.
The only thing completely immune to Oblivion was a treasure that even he saw as something incredible.
An Interdimensional Treasure forged since the Dimension of Time was first created within Reality, quintillions of eons ago!
The Heart of Time that the original Louis stole, and that it had been so hard for Oblivion to retrieve ever since then.
"The wills of those that have died before you, of all my past selves, they have come back to me! Did you know that, you filthy son of a bitch?!"
"NNNGUGGHHH?!"
Oblivion was unable to defend in time as Louis manipulated time and skipped it, punching Oblivion and sending him flying away, crashing into a giant mountain of salt and ashes.
BOOOMMM!!!
Oblivion vomited blood through his many mouths. His eyes exploded and bled all over. Dozens of his hundreds of wings were broken.
"A-Ahhh…! Impossible! This is impossible! I am actually being hurt?! How…! HOW DID YOU EVEN ACCOMPLISH SUCH AN INSANE FEAT?!"
Oblivion went mad. His aura surged and fired trillions of beams everywhere, which then all redirected to Drake.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM…
Thousands of galaxy-destroying explosions covered Drake completely, and yet…
He emerged amidst the smoke, unscathed.
"Ah, that tickles a little! Hey, I like this new body… I truly feel… the time, you know?"
"…!!!"
TRUUUM!
Oblivion's giant golden eyes widened as he witnessed time being manipulated to an Interdimensional Level. The power warped even the Heart of the Fantasy-Devouring Precursor completely.
From there, Time flowed, and the Soul of someone that had also merged his soul with the Heart of Time manifested, covering the gigantic skeleton of the Original Louis.
"NO… THIS CANNOT BE!"
RUMBLE!
To Oblivion's immense shock, the skeleton began to move, lifting up to reveal a giant dragon overflowing with immense power.
"Louis Drakeheart…! Why…! WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"
A glowing pair of stars emerged within the empty skull eyes of the dragon, as he gazed at Oblivion with confidence.
And at that moment, the skeleton did not remain just a skeleton. The power of Time reversed the corpse, as its rightful owner, the original Soul Fragment that had left with the Heart of Time all that time ago.
Finally returned to his rightful, original body!
Flesh, muscles, veins, blood, organs, skin, scales, horns, fangs, and glowing eyes grew across the skeleton, as Oblivion screamed in disbelief, warping reality and attempting to stop it.
But he could not, as the giant white dragon held reality with his hands and shattered his cursed spell upon creation.
Crack, crack…!
CRASH!
"Oblivion… I am finally back, and this time, I will crush you once and for all!!!"
In that moment, Oblivion realized that he had underestimated Louis and Drake's determination.
♢♢♢♢
As he underwent training under his grandfather, Louis learned the true absolute power of Oblivion and how no matter how much power he forged or cultivated… that it would all be pointless before his incredible Authority.
"The only reason I was able to win is because he sent his Venerables instead of coming himself," said Drake. "After killing his Venerables, he grew weakened… but that did not last long."
"So there is nothing we can do to stop him?" Louis asked.
"We will not fight him… we cannot," said Drake. "We will drive away all threats, then forcefully push the Precursor away using my vessel. I will sacrifice it but that will buy us a few hundred thousand years."
"…"
Louis remained in silence after hearing his grandfather's optimistic plan. Apparently, there was simply no way to defeat Oblivion. Killing him was never an option, and they were just preparing to stop the Dimensional Labyrinth from expanding, delaying the inevitable.
But at the end, he would always return anyway, and perhaps once he finally returns, he will have full control over the Dimensional Labyrinth, and once that happens, nobody will be able to do anything against such a being.
But then he remembered something, the treasure that Oblivion wanted more than anything, the very reason this entire battle across timelines began.
"No, there is something we can do. There is a way we can kill him."
"…"
Drake kind of knew what he meant but decided to let Louis elaborate further.
"The Heart of Time. If we can use it to somehow damage him… it is an Interdimensional Treasure, right? Oblivion is stronger than all of us, sure. But is he stronger than the Dimension of Time itself?"
"…No, he cannot be. After all, he still moves along with the Flow of Time, like all of us. His power is absolute, but Time is stronger… the thing is, your Heart of Time is not equipped to fight, Louis. It cannot defeat him like a weapon can."
"…Then we will make it do that. Old man, I think you have begun to lose your imagination. You were making a vessel right? You have got it right here!"
FLASH!
Louis's chest glowed with bright white and silver light. The Heart of Time emerged, floating majestically before Drake as he awed at its splendor and Dimensional Energies.
"You think I can do such a thing?!"
"If there is someone that can do it, it is you, old man. I will let you refine it. I will transfer ownership to you."
"But why? Why go so far for something that could fail, Louis? We should prioritize the safest choice…"
"If we keep doing the safe thing, we will never solve the problem from its roots. If we can somehow use this treasure as our vessel… then Oblivion will be unable to use his Absolute Authority Over All Creation to stop us!"
"…"
Drake, over the years, had become indeed less enthusiastic, grumpier, and also lacked that spark he once had as a young dragon. He had little imagination now and was always tired. And perhaps that is what he needed.
Someone new, young, with fresh ideas to ignite that spark he once had, that reckless spark that allowed him to do the impossible back then and save Yggdrasil.
He realized that Louis was much more important than he ever thought.
"So that is your plan… Very well, Louis. Perhaps I have indeed grown rusty in some things. Why not? Let us try… even if it means that we might lose everything. It is… a gamble worth trying. One to finally put a stop to it all."
Thus, after a long time of excruciatingly attempting to take such a Heart of Time as a vessel, and many times failing, as its potency was so strong Drake's soul simply exploded…
Now, right in front of Oblivion, they did it.
"How is this possible…?! HOW?! The Heart of Time is…! It is powerful enough that your soul should be dead right now! It would have turned to dust!"
Oblivion was completely flabbergasted. And he was not wrong. Such a thing should never work. It did not make any sense for it to work at all.
And yet it did, because only Drake could actually do it.
"Heh, I wonder why it works only with me?"
Even though Oblivion's words were true, it worked anyway because Drake possessed [Immortal Body], an Absolute Unique Skill capable of defying all logic.
By using the Immortal Soul and Body Fusion Technique and transforming it into a permanent Cultivation Method with Louis's help, integrating it completely into his Soul…
Drake did the impossible, turning his soul into an endless surviving soul.
Every second that passed his Soul was being destroyed but instantly regenerated, creating a perfect balance.
The more his soul died and revived, the less pain he felt until at this point, he had grown used to it.
"Every time my soul dies and revives… I get what I call an 'Immortal Soul Boost!'" Drake roared, his Aura surging as he grew stronger each passing second. "More and more of the Essence of Time becomes part of me, and the more I can control it and grow stronger with it!"
"But you risk tearing your mind apart! Are you stupid?! You cannot keep it up forever, you will die!" Oblivion roared, attacking Drake with thousands of weapons of golden light that descended over Drake, but ended up bouncing off his silver crystal body.
"Hah, maybe, or maybe not? It is not like I have any obligation to tell you a thing," Drake smiled defiantly as the skeleton beside him rose, growing flesh, blood vessels, muscles, cartilage, skin, scales, and more. "Now come back, Louis! My grandson!"
RUMBLE!
To Oblivion's disbelief, the skeleton he had preserved of the original Louis suddenly roared, beginning to stand up, regenerating completely as the original soul of Louis entered his body. The only way for this to be completed was by rejecting his original body and destroying it completely.
And of course, by using the Tier 0 Ability he had awakened just now as his soul drifted into an endless white sea where he met the last fragment of consciousness of his past self, of his original self before his soul drifted across tens of thousands of timelines.
♢♢♢♢
"Ah! Where am I?"
After Drake had turned his Soul into a Time Spirit inside of the Heart of Time and transferred it to the skeleton, Louis gasped, finding himself in this completely white space.
The white void before him changed, turning into an endless grassland, a setting sun on the horizon, and far away snow-capped mountains.
A tall, powerful figure stood there in front of him, gazing into the horizon with meaningful eyes. His long blonde-white hair waved in the wind.
He wore heavy golden and white armor, resembling a paladin of justice, wearing a golden crown over his head.
"Who… who are you?"
The figure gazed back at Louis, smiling with eyes filled with a heroic determination Louis never had. And yet, by gazing into the eyes of this man, Louis immediately knew who he was.
"You are…?"
"Hello, Louis. I am glad I can see you in the end."
Louis was shaken, taking a step back as he gazed at this tall man. If someone saw the two, they would believe this mountain of a man was his older brother.
But the truth was so much more different…
"You are me?"
"You could say that! Hahaha! I am your… well, no. It is wrong to say that. I am just a former version of who you once were, my friend."
"…You look so strong, so charismatic. I… what do I even have in comparison?"
Louis fell to his knees, feeling hopeless. He could not win against Oblivion, and by some miracle, some of his sanity was restored thanks to his plan.
But why was he here now? He had no idea. It seemed that his grandfather had actually improvised when he threw him into the corpse of that giant dragon.
"You are inside my true body," explained the heroic-looking man. "You have reached your true body, the one that you—no, we once had in the first timeline, the original universe."
"…!"
"Stand up, my friend. There is nothing to feel bad about!" the heroic man smiled brightly, giving Louis his hand and helping him stand up. "See? Much better now, hm? Hahaha! You are… well, you should exercise more, have a better diet! Why are you so skinny! Do not tell me you just eat Fantasium crystals, do you?"
"E-Eh? Ah…" Louis looked elsewhere, avoiding his intense gaze.
"I knew it! Hey that is not right! You have to eat proper food too!" laughed his past self, patting his shoulders with his enormous hands. "Now… Louis, please, look at me in the eyes when I am talking to you! Why avoid my gaze?"
"You shine too brightly," Louis sighed. "The more I look at you, the more ashamed I feel of who I am…"
"…"
Louis's eyes widened as he suddenly heard someone crying.
He looked up, seeing his past self crying, his lips trembling.
"Uuuooh! Poor kid! You have gone through a lot, have you not?! Come here for a big hug!"
"Aack! D-Don't touch me— Ugh!"
Louis groaned as his past self cried manly tears like Drake does, hugging him and giving him the comfort of a big brother he never had.
"You do not have to feel ashamed of who you are, Louis! You are amazing just the way you are already!" his past self smiled at him, patting his head. "You are brilliant, and you have got friends and a family that loves you, right? What else could someone ever ask for than great friends and a family? Hahaha… as someone that has even explored the universe beyond the horizon… I can tell, for sure, that family is the greatest treasure in the universe."
"…"
Louis's eyes began to regain their color as he realized that his past self was not wrong at all. But at the same time, as someone that had always seen himself negatively, he could not stop comparing himself to him.
"And I am already dead anyway, hahaha! You are alive so you are instantly better than me," the Past Louis said with a smile.
"…Why me?" asked Louis. "You know that I am actually not you right? At the end… I am William. Or well, a part of me is! Why? Why was I chosen to become you? Who made the Sinners Academy game?"
"I did!" Past Louis said. "Hahah, I made that game so I could find someone special, someone that had played that game enough and knew the most how to help me out. Even though not everything went the way it did, that gamer spirit really helped my little soul do it all. Without all your knowledge, it would have been lost again and would have probably ended returning once more to the beginning after trying pointlessly, for thousands of more times."
"W-What? You made that game…? H-How?!" asked William. "The Earth I came from was completely different than—"
"It was the past," said the Past Louis. "I sent that information toward the past. To a game developer. The game developer thought it was a revelation by god and made the game just as my small fragment told him. Afterward, thousands played it, until I finally found the perfect one for the job."
"But I created a terrible ending, and Mirai… she… she ate me," said Louis.
"Ah that? Oh well, the game had to be like an Entity, but it would only trigger after reaching a certain ending, that one," said the Past Louis. "And the one that ate you was indeed my wife, Mirai. She brought you here… sacrificing her last power."
"…!"
The Past Louis showed a bitter smile filled with pain as he gazed at Louis, but then smiled brightly again, shedding tears. "Louis… she is there as well, right? Please… make sure to protect her, will you? She is the key too. To defeat Oblivion… you need her."
"Is it because of her origins?" Louis asked.
"Exactly," said the Past Louis. "And your Spiral? I also made it for you. When the conditions were fulfilled, the Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm manifested, one that can only be born through Endless Regressions. It was a way to finally let you grow strong, to defy the Fate Oblivion had placed on us."
"I see… I had my guesses," Louis nodded. "But what is that serpent inside of it?"
"I laid the work for his defeat but… it had to come with our sacrifice… Now, the future can take care of the rest. Thus… I am lending you my body," the Past Louis said. "Oh, and the serpent? That is the body you are going to possess."
"…Your body?"
"You are inside of it right now after all!" laughed the Past Louis. "Now, we are running out of time. Take this. This is all the knowledge I have gathered."
The Past Louis touched Louis's forehead, infusing his Soul with fountains of knowledge, allowing him to learn and finally process everything he needed to process.
"Amazing… I finally know how to do things I had no idea of?" Louis was shaken.
"That will do," the Past Louis began to fade away into white particles of light. "Take care, friend. We are leaving the future to you… If everything goes well, you will get the Happy Ending you deserve."
"Thank you…" Louis nodded, gripping his fists tightly. "I will not disappoint you."
"Hm…" the Past Louis looked into the skies, looking back at him for one last warning. "But remember… nothing can be truly accomplished without sacrificing something else… Be prepared. Not everything… can always go the way we want… but that does not mean… we cannot try our best to accomplish something close to it…"
FLASH!
White light consumed Louis completely, and then, he opened his golden eyes once more, gasping for air as he felt immense power coursing through his veins and throughout his new body.
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