Published at 15th of September 2024 8:36 am

Chapter 1077: Chapter 1077: Not Me

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"What... happened here?"

It was a familiar sight for most of them. A burning city, filled with only destruction and death -no. There was no death here, none at all...

...all there is is nothing.

The others have already seen the damage from Riley's building, but seeing it up close was completely different; not because it made them feel even more dreadful, but because it made them confused. Because nothing was not semantics or a metaphor at all, nothing is nothing.

All the people were gone.

"Are we... are we too late?" Karina's eyes started to tremble as she saw all the empty cars; the burning buildings that did not have any chance of being extinguished at all, "Did... did they already disappear...? But Death said it wasn't time yet... she only said it was happening..."

"Why... why are you crying?" Enel quickly approached his big sister and started tugging on her shirt, "Where... where are big brother and big sister?"

"..." Karina did not really say anything, just glancing at Enel before quickly hugging him, "We -wait... I sense someone."

And as Karina finally calmed down while embracing Enel, she finally realized that she could actually sense people all around them. It wasn't only her, the themarians, Riley, and Miss Pepondosovich had actually already known that there were people around them since earlier; all of them, just hiding anywhere they could hide.

"Did... a villain do all of this while we were gone?" Miss Pepondosvich squinted her eyes as she looked at the destruction around them. They've been gone for quite a while, but she did not really expect that something like this would be happening, "But the brats were here, not to mention Esme. How could something like this actually happen? Did the gods attack?"

"It shouldn't..." Karina then let out a small breath as her mind cleared, "Sorry, I panicked earlier. Arthas was also here, and if anything, he shared his mother's sense of justice... he would have never let something like this happen."

"...Something's not right." And as soon as Hera 1 said something, everyone turned their attention toward her, only to see her 3 versions all carrying a complicated expression on their faces, "I don't think we're safe here... my body is telling us to leave."

"Riley," Hannah stood close to Riley and held his arm, "What the fuck is going on with your world...? I take it that this isn't normal?"

"It is normal," Riley shrugged, "But it should not happen here - this is the safest place in the entire universe with Lucifer and Karina here, Sister 2."

"...I sense something in that direction." Although Aerith 2 was completely aloof about everything, she still joined the others and pointed in a certain direction. Diana 2 had also been looking at it for quite a while now and she also glanced at Riley.

"We should check it out," Diana 2 nodded, and since no one really knew what happened, the only thing they could really do was follow trails. And soon, they reached a part of the city that was completely cleared off of everything - no buildings, no roads, not even a single sign of life. There was only a big crater...

...as well as several stakes with people hanging from them.

"Fucking hell..." Hannah 2 quickly rushed to Enel to cover his eyes, only to find out Miss Pepondosovich already did it, "...Just what the fuck is going on here? Who are these people?"

"...The gods," Karina whispered out as she stared at all the stakes as she looked at Diana 2, "Are... they still alive since you detected them?"

"No," Diana 2 stood in front of one of the corpses, "The last of their energy is just leaking, that's what her Highness and I are feeling."

"Please... don't address me like that," Aerith 2 could not help but just let out a sigh as she heard Diana's words, "And for these people to still have this much energy... they're strong, very strong."

"False gods..." Miss Pepondosovich then read one of the large signs that were attached on the bottom of the stakes, "...I knew some of these gods, there's really only a handful of people in this universe I could think of that could kill them."

"Aunt Diana, Auntie Aerith, Aunt Esme... the other Aunt Esme..." Karina squinted her eyes, "Arthas doesn't kill... Lucy and Renna?"

"Whatever the case is, we need to find the others first," Miss Pepondosovich breathed out as she made sure to still cover Enel's eyes.

"And we need to make sure the people are safe," Aerith 2 closed her eyes as she focused on locating any survivors, "There's still a lot of them, and they're afraid. Let's meet back here to

"There is no need for that, Aerith 2," Riley raised his palm before Aerith could fly away, "And as he did so, the ground started to quake.

"What... are you doing?" Aerith 2 lowered her eyebrows as she glared at Riley.

"As you wanted," Riley just shrugged, "Making sure the people are safe."

And as soon as he said that, people started flying toward their location; hundreds, and soon thousands, and soon hundreds of thousands of them landed on the crater. They were afraid, very much so, and even embraced each other as they whispered.

Soon, however, those who landed near Riley's group finally turned their attention toward them. And as soon as they caught a glimpse of Riley, they all quickly opened their mouths and breathed in a gasp of relief.

"Paragon...!? Is that you, Paragon!?"

Everyone then quickly started rushing toward Riley, some of them tripping as they lacked the

strength to run.

Hannah, Aerith 2, and Bernard all quickly rushed to help those who tripped.

"M...Megawoman? You're... you're also here?" And the one who Aerith 2 helped quickly

hugged her while bawling their eyes out, "I thought... I thought we were gone."

"Megawoman..." Aerith 2 squinted her eyes as she did not expect someone to call her like that.

"They're referring to someone else," Miss Pepondosovich also helped the people and approached Aerith 2.

"...Right," Aerith 2 only nodded before just focusing on the person hugging her, "It's okay now. What... what happened here?"

"We... we don't know! Just... something just happened. We heard the sirens go off and the fighting happened. My dad... my dad, he's old and-oh god, they're all dead."

"The gods also descended when it happened and...we don't know. They were fighting something... there's... there were a lot of them. There were people protecting us... we don't know... it all happened so fast."

"When did it happen?" Aerith 2 calmly asked.

"A week... 2 weeks ago, I don't know... I don't remember."

The people were all saying the same thing - it all happened so fast that none of them really had any chance to figure out what went on. Some said that the gods just waged war against each other again, but some said it started right here, in the city where they are right now.

But if there was one thing constant within their stories, it was that before it started...

...people just started disappearing.

"This..." And the first one to react to that was Karina, "...Dad."

"Hm?"

"What your daughter from the future told me about one of your children being Nothing,"

Karina whispered.

"...But wasn't she just Machina?" Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow as she heard

Karina's words, "Pretending to be someone from the future?"

"I don't know..." Karina shook her head, "Fuck... just what is going on here? Is it possible that

Lucy did this?"

"That truly hurts my feelings, my dear big sister."

"!!!" Karina quickly put up her guard as Lucy just emerged from her shadow, holding a

bouquet of roses. And without even thinking about anyone else, he quickly approached Diana

2 and gave her the bouquet.

"I do not know what is happening here since I just saw my beautiful grandmother an hour ago, but this is for you, other grandmother," Lucy bowed and smiled while handing the

bouquet to Diana 2, "I am your favorite grandchildren."

"... You are?" Diana squinted her eyes.

"Ye-Ugh"

"Oi!" And before Lucy could finish his words, Miss Pepondosovich suddenly leaped toward

him and hit him on the back of the head, "What's going on here, squirt!?"

"A...aunt Miss Pepondosovich!" Lucy quickly ducked down and covered his head, "I... I didn't

do any of this! It's...

...It's Rennalyn! She... she went crazy!"

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