Chapter 76 A New World

What was the world like in the beginning? We don't really know. Maybe it started from a single point that contained everything. Maybe it was formed by a powerful force, or maybe it came from someone's dream.

But what if it started with a tree?

This tree is so big that it's beyond what any living thing can imagine. To them, the world looks like a giant "tree," but really, the tree *is* the world.

At the base of the tree, there's nothing but an endless, empty sea. The tree holds up everything that exists, while the sea is where everything eventually ends up.

The tree has countless branches, and each branch is like a "multiverse," full of complex worlds. Each leaf on the tree represents one world.

When a leaf falls into the sea, it sinks and eventually turns into a small bubble. This bubble is called a "World Bubble."

These were the only words Orion could use to describe what he was seeing.

"..."

Orion was speechless. He felt like he was being tossed around in a giant washing machine, with his senses scrambled in every direction.

Orion felt like he was inside some kind of creature, like a tiny organism moving through an intestine. The colorful crystals around him seemed alive, and a flood of information rushed into his brain through his eyes. He quickly shut his eyes.

"Don't look, don't look," Orion told himself. With his limited understanding, he guessed he might be wandering on the branches of the tree of imaginary numbers. The overwhelming information he saw might be just a tiny "impurity" leaking from the world's intersection.

To the world, these things might be insignificant bubbles, but if they entered the material world, who knows how much mass and information they'd carry?

So, all Orion could do was avoid looking, avoid listening, clear his mind, and trust that the power of the "door" would keep him safe.

Traveling through worlds seemed to drain the "door's" energy. Orion's mental strength was fading fast, like water gushing out of a dam. In his mental space, memories were dimming before his eyes.

"I can't keep going like this."

That thought crossed his mind, but Orion kept pushing himself. The light cones in his mind seemed to sense his struggle and broke down into tiny light particles, helping him along.

Just like a person running out of air, Orion used the last bit of his mental strength. Before it ran out completely, the "door" shone brightly and sent him to a "branch" in the "tree of imaginary numbers."

Darkness. Nothingness. The void Orion found himself in felt similar to when he first arrived at Herta Space Station.

Slowly, his senses returned, and Orion thought he could hear a lot of noise around him.

"What... what's happening?"

His body hadn't fully recovered. Orion tried to move his fingers, but they didn't respond the way he wanted.

With great effort, he opened his eyes and saw a concrete floor stretching out before him, as far as he could see, like a freshly wiped blackboard.

Gunfire and the sound of bullets filled his ears, so loud that he could barely hear anything else.

"Cough... cough..."

Rubbing his dry lips, Orion felt like he was in someone else's body.

Above him, several armed helicopters hovered, their six-barreled machine guns still glowing red from recent use.

"The target is down, requesting further instructions."

"Keep firing; there's no way that thing is still alive!"

"Roger that."

The rocket launchers beneath the helicopters opened, revealing warheads. These were "white phosphorus bombs," often called "death fireworks" in modern warfare.

Once these bombs make contact with anything, they burn through everything in their path until nothing is left. The helicopters launched them without hesitation, aiming directly at Orion.

"Am I being punished by the Aeons?"

Suddenly, Orion felt a surge of anger. The strong will to survive seemed to awaken his senses. The scene in front of him became blurry and distorted, and his body was suddenly covered in glowing purple-red lines.

"Boom!"

Smoke and dust filled the air. Orion seemed to be in a deserted city. The streets were empty, and the once-tall buildings were now in ruins.

Flames spread across the streets, releasing a terrible smell. These flames could burn through anything, even human flesh.

But the soldiers in the helicopters weren't celebrating because they saw a figure standing in the fire.

A man?

A loud roar echoed through the sky, causing the helicopters to wobble as if something was affecting them.

"Reporting to command, the target is showing unexpected levels of vitality; it's still—"

Before the soldier could finish, a deep crack appeared in the bulletproof glass of the helicopter. A claw mark.

"Ahhh!!!"

A burst of sparks lit up the sky, marking the end of another life.

The helicopters scattered, firing wildly, but they couldn't find their target.

Of course, they couldn't. The ghostly figure was moving from helicopter to helicopter, using them as stepping stones in the sky.

"..."

"Where am I, and what am I doing?"

Orion's vision blurred. The world around him was twisted. Huge pillars made of flesh and blood surrounded him. Large, dirty birds flew overhead, shooting something at him that was mixed with fire.

An uncontrollable desire to destroy took hold of Orion. From the earlier attack, he felt a massive threat, and his will to survive took over. His light body seemed to be telling him:

"Kill! Destroy anything that threatens you!"

His eyes turned red, and his abilities activated on their own. Several machine guns appeared around him, firing at the targets in the air.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The sound of heartbeats echoed unnaturally across the city, like a warning to the soldiers.

They could only see a black shadow with purple-red trails darting through the air. Each time it appeared, explosions followed.

In less than a minute, all the armed helicopters were destroyed, and in the distance, armed tanks rolled onto the streets.

Their barrels were huge, and the shells inside could pierce any fortress in modern warfare.

The rumbling noise spread from the center of the city, as if two armies were fighting.

"Die, monster!"

In their combat armor, the red-eyed soldiers desperately shot at Orion. They believed that no creature on earth could survive such firepower.

Except for the one standing in front of them.

This monster had caused massive destruction in several cities. Orders had come from above: it had to be stopped, no matter what, and they had to end it here, in this city.

This monster was known as a "Herrscher."