Once Human, Now a Parasite

Zodiak and Forne, who recently became companions, traveled around 15% of Castra Obis in around sixty years . They’ve encountered countless people and became much stronger, especially the once-young Forne, who grew up and became a middle-aged man . While Zodiak chose an unorthodox route to strengthen himself, Forne started cultivation right after obtaining Destruction Magic .

In less than a century, he managed to swiftly climb the cultivation ladder, leapfrog dozens of grades and become an Overgod . Despite getting a Celestial Body and even managing to train in one of the King Physiques called the Starlight Physique, which allowed him to control stars, Forne was still incapable of completely overpowering Zodiak due to Dark Magic .

In these sixty years, Zodiak managed to break out of his bubble and became more socially active though his grumpiness never disappeared . Their search for the blue-haired girl bore no fruit, nonetheless, throughout the last several decades, Zodiak discovered much more things about the dreams he had in the past .

Arthur and Lucy, their meeting and their brief struggles . There was an inexplicably urge pushing him to find the little girl, who’s supposed to be the couple’s daughter . However, there was still something left unexplained which is his knowledge of the girl because, as far as Arthur knew, Lucy was merely pregnant and didn’t give birth yet .

What is more confusing is what Claud told him... the blue-haired girl is apparently with Timos, the Black Devil and he definitely saw them somewhere in Castra Obis yet even after sixty years, he found no signs .

Forne never complained and always followed Zodiak, whom he considered as a mentor and a close friend .

"So you’re saying that the Nameless Knight will kill you?"

At some point, Zodiak spoke of his death by the hands of Leiu .

"It’s a long time from now but, from what I saw, there’s little chance to stop him . "

"How can you give up being even trying? Why not try to not go to that place when the time comes? Perhaps the future will change for the better . "

"No, it does not work like that . Some things are set in stone in a way that even Fate cannot interfere . "

"Then why don’t you try fighting him? I’m sure that if the two of us fought, we can win . "

Hearing this, Zodiak chuckled and retorted: "I wish it was that easy . "

He witnessed Leiu’s strength firsthand, it was borderline impossible to contend against him . Even with thousands of years remaining till his death, he won’t be able to reach the desired level of strength to evenly battle The Nameless Knight .

Even at this point in time, Leiu’s title would bring fear to anyone who hears him . In fact, it is said that the strongest power right now does not even dare to provoke the Nameless Knight . The Buria Empire dominated almost all of the Cloud Sea Universe and was extending its reach to the other universes but it suddenly stopped after a confrontation between the emperor and Leiu . This happened seven years ago and ever since then, the Buria Empire laid low and even stopped conquering the rest of Cloud Sea .

Seventy years after the Celestial Tribulation, the two companions were forced to leave Castra Obis due to an ominous thing Forne had sensed . His power allowed him to ’smell’ incoming destruction, for example, before something is destroyed, he can, more or less, predict it .

At first, the ’smell’ was barely noticeable but after two years, Forne could barely move properly . His face was constantly pale and his body shaking from dawn till dusk . The aura of destruction loomed over all of Castra Obis, sealing its fate and forcing the duo to hastily leave .

Zodiak was reluctant to leave before finding the girl, nonetheless, he had to, reassuring himself that Timos won’t let the girl perish in the Omega Universe .

...

Indeed, as predicted by Forne, two months after they left Castra Obis, the whole Omega Universe ceased to exist . Everything and everyone ceased to exist, causing the era known as the Void Era to commence . The destruction of the universe hugely affected its neighbors, the explosion, which was thousands of times stronger than a nova, caused the endlessly stretching Void to devour everything .

Zodiak and Forne were forced into seclusion due to the unfavorable circumstances . Actually, they weren’t the only ones who hid as almost every living being chose to a world or a planet and remained there for a long time, waiting for the storm to pass .

The Void made it impossible for anyone to cultivate and anyone born in that era could, at most, reach the Divine Realm . Many Gods, Sovereigns, and God Monarchs perished and the Overgods were severely weakened due to their inability to absorb any Nether Energy .

When the Void Era ended, Zodiak discovered that the destruction of the Castra Obis wasn’t the only reason for the absurd amount of Void looming over everything . Moreover, there was a single individual who managed to survive that terrifying nova . He was the named the Joker, a mysterious man with a strength that equaled the Nameless Knight but those were mere speculation as the two never really fought or interfered with each other .

Right after ’that’ era, there were several gruesome wars, one was to eliminate the God Race then the remaining races allied to get rid of the Titans . In the end, only the Buria Empire remained standing and, as if it forgot Leiu’s warning, continued to conquer everything again . It was at that point in time that Zodiak and Forne showed themselves, though not very willingly .

The Destruction Magic user actually got an invitation from a secret organization with the name of Black Rose, offering him one of the Nine Seats . While Forne went to meet Black Rose regarding the offer, Zodiak was left alone in the Imperial Capital of the Buria Empire .

It was then, when he was seemingly walking down a road bustling with people that he met him for the second time . The mysterious benefactor who passed him Dark Magic, a man wearing a black robe just like the one he made and emitting a dangerous aura containing Dark Magic that was a bit different than his .

One would think that they would go to a secluded area to talk but no, they entered a famous restaurant and sat opposite of each other . Zodiak stared at the man, who took his hood off and gazed back at him, a smile forming on his stoic face .

"Arthur MoonStar . I knew it was you . "

Zodiak spoke with an toneless voice, his gaze containing neither anger not resentment, just curiosity .

"Of course you knew, after all, aren’t we the same person?"

"No, we are not . I’m your reincarnation but that doesn’t mean we’re the same, even though I’ve regained some of your memories . "

Arthur kept smiling, not disagreeing with any of what Zodiak had said .

"We share the same soul, you have my memories but I don’t have yours . So, tell me, does that make me an incomplete version of you?"

After a brief silence, Zodiak replied:

"Who am I doesn’t matter now, right? I do not think you’ve came all the way from the future to talk about this . "

"Indeed . I’ve come here to reclaim a past favor, which I hope you did not forget . "

"..."

Zodiak gave no answer, he only watched this nonchalant man, who was exactly like the Arthur in his dream . Various thoughts went through his mind, he wondered about Arthur’s intentions... whether they’re harmful to him or not .

"You’re not in the memories of the past or future Arthur, which means you reincarnated again, right?"

Arthur chuckled and truthfully answered: "Of course I did . You died, or rather, you will die, and our soul will go through another reincarnation . The final one, hopefully . "

"So I did die by the Nameless Knight’s hands?"

"Seems like it . "

Time crept by and the two maintained an awkward silence before Zodiak broke it by saying:

"What do you want from me?"

In response, Arthur took out a very detailed picture of a black two-handed sword and showed it to Zodiak .

"I want you to go and retrieve this . "