Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 1
Kazuki and his surroundings were forcefully dragged into the depths of Chaotic space. Viz and the others had no choice but to watch this in absolute shock. There was nothing they could do but retreat away from the tear in horror. Just as he came into their lives, just as things seemed to have been completely resolved, the last and final Adigus appeared from out of nowhere and struck.
Lestirius managed to finish the weakened Adigus but his attempt to save Kazuki as well was lost.
The moment he disappeared into the void, Kazuki felt his entire body explode into fragmented particles. The excruciating pain that came with this was quickly overwhelmed by the pain upon his soul.
As Chaotic space twisted, tore, repaired itself, spun, folded itself over, and unfolded constantly, the same thing was happening to Kazuki’s soul. He could no longer focus no matter how hard he tried.
(KAZUKI HOLD ON!!!)
Even Arc’s words could no longer reach him as he was actively being ripped apart. The power of Chaotic space was something even Gods could easily lose themselves to. Kazuki who had just barely become a Demigod had absolutely no way to resist this cosmic terror.
His aura was splitting like tiny threads being pulled from cloth. He was unraveling and was on the verge of losing everything that was him. Before he could think clearly, everything went black.
…
(Is this…death?)
There was no sense of light nor darkness, there was no feeling of touch, no sights nor sound nor taste. No feeling of warmth nor was he cold. He felt…nothing. There was no left or right. No up or down. No pain, no feeling whatsoever. Every sense he had, was now…no more. All he had were his thoughts.
(It’s as if all of my senses have been sealed shut and my aura, it is…gone!)
Kazuki was beyond confused. Without his aura, it meant there was something wrong with his soul. Out of everything it was the last line of defense. Without it, he was fragile to every danger of the world and universe. Like a small flame burning on a candle stuck in the middle of a storm. Yet that would be somehow preferable over this nothingness.
(Did I…Did I really die? After getting drawn into that tear, everything went insane for a brief moment, and then…nothing.)
Even these thoughts he so desperately tried to force to the surface to let him know he was still here, wherever here was. Even these thoughts were fuzzy and took extreme effort to form and maintain. He felt if he stopped thinking for even a moment, whatever this state he was in, even it would fade into nothingness.
Fear crept in as he realized he really was dead. This then brought sadness as he knew he would never see Mei or Kosaru ever again. His uncle Lin and his aunt Alutra. He had truly lost everything.
He felt stupid. He had let his guard down and assumed the fight was finished and done. He had been cunning and diabolical in his way of thinking and planning. He believed that after suffering such a sickening defeat Adigus would have fled and never returned. The man had more than 2/3rds of his soul completely obliterated and no longer had the strength of a God. Kazuki believed this was more than an adequate defeat to send Adigus to a place of no return but he had miscalculated somewhere.
Adigus held so much rage for the terrible twist in fate and he placed the heavy blame mostly on Kazuki’s shoulders.
(The bastard knew he would die if he returned to the battlefield. If he just stayed gone, he could have recovered and strived to regain everything he lost in time but he was so overwhelmed but revenge, consumed by his hatred for me that he lost sight of his goal and came back just to take my head. He threw everything away just to end me a Demigod. DAMN, HOW BLIND OF ME!)
Kazuki did not know how much longer he would be in this lifeless state and just thinking was becoming harder and harder but in the end, he couldn’t help but compare his own obsession with Adigus’s. He burned for vengeance and it too had blinded him in his own way.
(Why did I even come to the Higher Realms? To kill Sephra.)
After all of this time, after everything he had lost, he was still angry and this anger of his had brought Mei and Kosaru into things. Now he did not even know if they were alive or dead. All Kazuki wanted to do right now was to make sure they were ok. To hold them and laugh with them again.
(Did I do things too hasty? I even brought danger to the kids and risked everything in this small backwater world and now I have nothing…I am nothing.)
Kazuki wondered if time was even passing where he was or if it had stopped.
(What has happened to Arc? Was it destroyed like me? My promise. Sor
The strain on his thoughts grew more and more and they become slower and slower. More drawn out and delayed. Soon, his thoughts were no longer comprehensible to even himself and he could no longer even think. There was still something there, something left but what it was, even he did not know.
(Kazuki! ANSWER ME!)
A shout echoed out in this supposed nothingness.
(DAMN YOU KAZUKI! You’d better be grateful. My magnanimous self is sharing a piece of this almighty one! Now…ANSWER ME!)
Kazuki felt something…odd. His mind felt as if it had been slammed by a hammer granted by the Gods. Wait, he could actually feel this sensation. Not just that…a sense of some sort had returned to him.
His thoughts began to reform and he began to think once again. The more he thought the clearer they became. He tried to feel and sense but there was still something wrong. His actual body was still gone.
(SHITTY BRAT ANSWER ME ALREADY!)
Arc’s voice was loud and clear like two mighty mountains colliding with one another. This voice was so powerful yet so close as if there was no way to block it, keep it away.
(DAMN! I hear you so stop screaming!)
Arc heard Kazuki’s response and laughed.
(HAHA YOU DUMB FOOL. IF YOU COULD HEAR ME YOU SHOULD HAVE RESPONDED EARLIER.)
Again, Arc’s voice was dialed up to a billion and Kazuki wondered if his existence would shatter under the unrestrained pressure of it all. on reflex, he tried to punch Arc’s invading voice. He still had no body but the moment he punched, he felt a sensation crawl across his mind and there was a weird feedback as he felt a power shot forth.
*BANG!*
Kazuki heard an explosion ring out somewhere but he still could not see. Nor could he actually hear yet he heard it. Again, confusion rocked his mind as Arc’s voice suddenly quieted down.
(Alright alright, I was just making sure things were working properly. No need to waste our energy like this. As a matter of fact, I’ll be controlling that for now so you don’t use up what’s left of our reserves.)
Kazuki felt something was wrong with Arc’s words and tried to clarify.
(Waste our energy…Use up our reserves? What are you saying?)
Once more there was a strange feeling of power but a fraction of a second later, the power stopped instantly.
(Nope, not gonna let you waste anything else. There are a few things you should be aware of but for now, let’s have a look outside ok.)
Kazuki felt this strange power once more. Except for this time, it felt more invasive. Kazuki no longer had eyes but this energy felt as if it had entered where his eyes used to be. The moment this happened, light returned to him and Kazuki could now see. What he saw shocked him.
It was as if there was a thin red-colored film covering his eyes. Everywhere he looked the surroundings came out in different shades of red. Waves of energy came crashing all around from every direction. Bolts of power cracked and exploded and everything moved around them at blinding speed. It was hard to focus at first and see where he was but the longer he took in this strange environment, the more he got used to these so-called eyes.
Space folded all around him and golden lights in the distance exploded and reformed instantly before they seemed to teleport here and there. Rocks the size of realms flew around with unmatched speed before slamming into one another causing them to rain debris as they shattered and just like the golden lights they too reformed.
Kazuki was so taken aback he had forgotten his original question until a tidal wave of debris came flying directly at him. if he didn’t move it would strike him and something moving at this speed was death. Just as he tried to move out of the way, again he noticed he had no body. The debris slammed into something though and Kazuki felt Arc’s energy scatter momentarily before returning.
Only now did Kazuki try and look down at his body and again he was lost.
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