Chapter 357 - What Man Has Made of Man

One moment she was about to be vaporized in an explosion of Zeel's creation, and the next moment, Alice found herself just outside a white room.

Behind her was darkness, not the abyssal darkness she was used to, but a familiar darkness nonetheless.

In front of her was a door into the white room, but it had no doorknob or panel she could access to get inside.

Clearly, she wasn't meant to enter but that would never discourage someone who spent countless years with Zeel.

Throughout the years with Zeel, Alice had learned one thing – nothing is impossible.

Meet a wall? Talk it down…

Meet a Dragon? Convince it that it's a Dog…

Meet a girl you like? Fuck her and then kill her…

Alice had Zeel's habits memorized…

Including…

Alice stared at the door for a while and then turned around, walking the opposite direction and into the darkness…

After a couple seconds of walking, Alice found herself in the white room.

She felt a bit of pride at having guessed the way everything worked – you see a door? Never open the door, just walk away because Zeel was uncaring in that way.

The moment Alice found herself inside the white room, she was bombarded with a deeper level of connection with Zeel than she had ever felt before.

The connection felt so sacred, so infallible, that she had the urge to run out of the room…

However, along with that sense of connection came an innate understanding of the Inbetween Zone – a zone that, she perceives, could have saved Elizabeth's life if Zeel was willing.

'Zeel didn't want to save Elizabeth?' Alice thought, a sinking feeling in her chest squashed the righteous indignation she should have felt at that realization.

"We need to talk, Zeel…" Alice mentioned, walking forward to greet the embracing Zeel and Aurolana as if everything was completely normal.

Aurolana and Zeel were stunned because this was a location for soulmates, how could Alice possible be here?

Zeel felt Alice's pain suffocating the room as tears of blood dripped from her eyes.

At this point, it was clear that he had done something wrong, but there was a long list so Zeel couldn't determine exactly which thing it was.

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The moment Zeel arrived in Aurolana's body, he felt the feathers of Aurora breaking skin…

A long time in the Inbetween Zone was picoseconds in reality, but Aurora had somehow still managed to pierce Aurolana's neck even just a bit.

However, the moment Zeel's presence was felt in Aurolana's body, Aurora frozen, and Gabriella almost dropped the bomb floating around her hands.

It had been hundreds, possibly thousands of years, since Aurora or Gabriella had last felt Zeel's presence.

After all, Zeel was elusive even before Universe Zero was destroyed, but now that he was wanted by many Being in the Multiverse, it was almost impossible to find him.

Feelings long-forgotten started flooding Aurora's heart once more, and she instinctually leaned forward to receive a kiss, like she would all those years ago before Pandora.

---CHING---

Aurora barely managed to keep her neck by jumping backward, but a long laceration remained on her neck, signifying just how close she had come to death…

And this blow was not struck by Aurolana or Gabriella or her parents, but by Zeel Crawford – the man she once loved more than life itself.

Zeel lamented that he would miss such a clear opportunity to nip a threat in the bud, but he was not used to Aurolana's wings so he could not use it as a weapon efficiently.

Aurora fell to her knees in tears, she could not breathe or see… her eyes were blurred with tears and her chest was too heavy to even take a breath…

Her skin turned even paler and she held her head, digging her nails into her skull like a madwoman.

Aurora opened her mouth to scream with all her might but all she could hear was silence.

Her world had been shattered by a single strike from Zeel – a strike with the intent to kill…

"W-w-wh-why?" She pleaded with the last of her remaining sanity, tears streaming down her face "D-don't y-yo-you feel a-anything f-f-for me?"

Zeel slowly walked towards Aurora, and knelt next to her side when he got there…

"Listen…" He whispered, raising Aurora's head to meet his eyes "You are a pathetic excuse for an Apollonian… the mere fact that you need my love so much makes you uselessly weak in my eyes…"

Zeel then used Aurolana's wings to pierce Aurora through the heart with no remorse…

Aurora was too unstable to respond, not that she would if she could because Zeel once meant everything to her, and she longed to see even a bit of hesitation in his eyes when committing the act.

Sadly, there was no hesitation to be found on Zeel's/Aurolana's face.

"What about our child? Did you kill her too?" Aurora inquired, clutching her chest to stop the bleeding.

That was the one question he had always thought about… Did Zeel kill her child?

Zeel got up and walked away, leaving behind a lingering question "What child?"

Suddenly, Gabriella flashed forward, pulling Zeel away just as Aurora's sharp feathers were about to pierce Aurolana's heart.

"Many lives…" Gabriella whispered, creating some distance between them and Aurora.

Aurora was truly pierced and in some ways, she had truly died as well, just not the current version of her but some other random Aurora in the Multiverse.

"Tch!" Aurora clicked her tongue, cursing the obsessed Gabriella for saving the hedonistic Homo-Superior.

Zeel was preparing to retaliate but found the nanites in his body had been halved…

The nanites were linked to his consciousness so they came with him into Aurolana's body.

Aurora raised her hand to show a silvery substance curling within… she had a smug look on her face, but Zeel noticed what Aurora held was not the nanites he had lost.

Sadly, he didn't know that Lorien had crafted a Short Sword from his nanites just before her battle with the Egyptian Pantheon.

Still, Zeel's nanites were self-replicating so the nanites would populate his bloodstream soon enough, but little nanites meant a slower upload to the Information Dimension.

Aurora was quick to splash the nanites onto her wings, disconnecting them from Zeel's control…

Actually, Aurora was not aiming for Zeel's nanites when she stealthy attacked earlier, but she wanted to take something from him and that was the only thing she could take without being noticed.

Zeel frowned, unfurling Aurolana's wings for a drawn-out battle but his mind turned hazy and he could feel his consciousness seeking to drift back into his body.

It was probably the same with Aurolana as well, her consciousness was departing his body…

Zeel knew he could not leave this battle to Aurolana since she would most likely die against Aurora so he used a trump card as soon as he felt a certain object in his detection range…

"Help…" Zeel whispered into the void, and then his consciousness departed, replaced by the original owner's – Aurolana.

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Aurolana also did her best while in Zeel's body…

The moment she arrived amidst the explosion, the first thing she did was to activate her 'Nothingness' to create a new barrier around everyone.

Just as she was about to make the barrier permanent, Aurolana felt a finger pressed against her forehead courtesy of Lorien.

"Not… Pretty Boy?" Lorien inquired, ready to kill the consciousness that had occupied Zeel's body abruptly.

Aurolana was a bit distressed but since she and Zeel shared thoughts, memories, and more, she was not surprised by Lorien's actions.

"Aurolana…" Aurolana replied, removing Lorien's finger with a slap, then she concentrated on creating a thicker barrier of nothingness.

A few seconds later, Aurolana felt her consciousness wane…

Knowing she was about to depart soon, she decided to offer Alice a bit of advice, which was also one of her responsibilities as an Angel of Heaven – advising humans.

"We Apollonians looked down on the Mortal World from The Highest Dimension… We often said…

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

So Fear not God, or snakes that toil,

The End comes knocking before the rivers boil,

Because the enemy of Man is always Man!"

Finished with her advice, Aurolana was pulled from Zeel's body and tossed into her own.

She had suspicions that the Mind Flower was still active and it was Lorien who tossed her back, but vague guesses would not help her situation at the moment.

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Zeel's consciousness returned to his body, and he was relieved to find that everyone was accounted for…

Most importantly, Alice was unharmed.

The Barrier of Nothingness broke down after a couple of seconds, and everyone was greeted to the sight of a desert filled with black sand – signifying the fall of an entire Pantheon.

Still, a few golden lights flashed into existence – The Gods who had withdrawn from the fight earlier.

Zeel crumbled to his knees, nearly losing consciousness.

It was not easy to house the consciousness of an Apollonian, and Aurolana probably had it harder since a Homo-Superior's consciousness was nigh impossible to hold.

Aurolana's body could only manage Zeel's consciousness because they were soulmates, and hence, virtually indistinguishable from each other.

"Any plans?" Zeel asked Lorien, but the latter responded with a yawn.

Before anyone could say anything else, Lorien's body became a white liquid that disappeared into Zeel's body, curling around his dark soul for a long slumber.

Zeel would have cursed the cute Cosmic Force had her presence wrapped around his soul not lessened the Death and Darkness energy that was threatening to run rampant.

"Fuck! Why can't we get a break to mourn or something?" Alice cursed, covering her mouth immediately when she noticed Ella and Alle looking at her with curious eyes.

At least, she no longer blamed Zeel for being solely responsible for corrupting their children.