Chapter 162: You Can’t Escape from Me
"Nine pillars of Annihilation... the beginning of Genesis Calamity."
The words came from her lips, but they didn’t sound like her. They sounded heavy.
I shook my head and took her hand. She turned and looked into my eyes. I saw many emotions in those red eyes. Sadness. Regret.
"Let’s get out of here," I said.
"It’s dangerous if the mountain collapses."
I tried to move, but I couldn’t. The reason was simple... I couldn’t move her hand at all.
It was like trying to pull a wall made of solid metal. My feet stayed planted. My body refused to follow my command.
My grip loosened on her hand. I turned back and looked at her.
"W-what are you doing? Let’s go."
She smiled softly. But her eyes still carried that deep sadness. A sadness that made my chest ache.
"I am sorry, Nicolas."
-BANG.
The black pillar buzzed again. A low, deep hum traveled through the ground, through the air, through my bones. It vibrated in my chest like a second heartbeat.
Then, from the top to the bottom of the black pillar, white lights began to bud.
They looked like flowers waiting to bloom on a dark plant. Hundreds of them. They covered the black pillar like blossoms on a tree.
Slowly, the white light buds started to disperse. And in their place, figures began to rise.
They had white skin. White hair. White eyes. And they all had white wings.
There were hundreds of them. They floated in the air, silent and still, like statues made of light.
The pillar started to shrink after they appeared. It had been massive before. Now it was only one-tenth of its original size. But still, its top touched the clouds.
Then the hundreds of beings raised their hands toward the pillar. Hundreds of golden beams shot into it. The pillar shrank even more. And a new white bud began to form on top.
It was hundreds of times larger than the small ones.
-WHOOSH.
I saw a fighter jet in the distance. A missile launched from it, heading straight for the large white bud.
But the missile dissolved into powder before it reached its target. It just crumbled, like dust in the wind. The white bud didn’t even flinch.
One of the beings turned his head toward the jet. He waved his hand. With a bang, the jet exploded into a ball of fire. Pieces of metal rained down from the sky.
Then, the black pillar fully disappeared. The grand white light bud slowly faded away. And from the shards of light, a figure walked out.
He had white hair. White eyes. Two white wings, just like the others. But he wore a golden crown on his head. It gleamed in the golden light, casting shadows across his face.
All hundreds of beings bowed down and said,
"Welcome, Archangel."
The Archangel nodded. His voice echoed across the mountain like thunder.
"Let the Genesis Calamity commence."
...
I turned my eyes back to Lunara, my voice cracking.
"Please, let’s go. It’s not safe here."
But she shook her head and said,
"Nine hundred angels and nine Archangels have been deployed to erase all life on Earth. Which place is even safe?"
She sighed and continued,
"But don’t worry, nothing will happen to you."
Her words felt strange. She spoke with certainty, as if she already knew everything that was going to happen.
But recalling how I couldn’t call her name, a dark thought crept into my mind. A thought I didn’t want to believe.
"How did you know about it? The Calamity? The angels? Just who are you?"
-WHOOSH.
Nine beams of golden light arrived on the mountain. They turned into nine archangels. Each one wore a crown on their head.
Seeing them, my ominous feeling only grew.
All nine of them knelt down.
"Greetings, Sovereign. We await your command."
My mind went blank.
’Sovereign?’
Lunara’s voice turned cold. It was a voice I had never heard from her before.
"There is no need to ask me. Erase the life."
One of the Archangels looked at me and raised his hand. But Lunara stopped him.
"Leave him be."
The Archangel insisted,
"But Sovereign, you summoned us, and with us present in the boundary formation, you cannot use your powers. I am afraid that this human—"
Before he could finish, Lunara cut him off.
"Do you think he can harm me? How foolish. You can leave now."
All nine of them bowed slightly.
"As you command."
Then they turned into golden beams of light and vanished.
I stood there, frozen. My mind struggled to keep up. The world around me felt unreal. Like a dream I couldn’t wake up from.
"Y-you want to erase all life... why?"
She didn’t answer. Her silence was louder than any words.
My knees buckled. I fell to the ground. I didn’t know what I was feeling anymore. Fear. Anger. Confusion. Betrayal. It all blurred together.
One question still burned in my mind.
"What do you want from me?"
She turned her head and pointed her finger at me.
"You... I want you."
Her white hair fluttered in the wind. Her red eyes looked at me with a different emotion. It was no longer sadness. It was possessiveness. Her cheeks turned slightly red as she continued.
"I want you. I want your love. I want to be your everything."
I shuddered at her strange behavior.
What happened? Why was she acting like this? This wasn’t the woman I had spent three years with.
"Do you even know what you are saying?"
I gritted my teeth and stood back up. My legs were shaking, but I forced myself to stand. I didn’t know what was happening. But I knew I had to do something.
Based on the conversation earlier, Lunara had summoned them. And she couldn’t use her powers. So what if I killed her? Would the summoning be undone?
With that thought, I wanted to punch her.
But when I saw her face, her smile from the past three years, I paused.
A tear rolled down my cheek.
My love. The person I had loved after pushing people away for so many years. She was now killing all life on Earth.
"Why are you doing this?"
She took one step toward me.
"For you."
’For me?’
Is this how heroes felt when they had to kill the person they loved for the sake of the world? That thought passed through my mind. I chuckled at the situation.
The irony was too much.
But I was no hero.
If all life on Earth were killed, what would I do? What did she want from me? It was all uncertainty.
Based on the fact alone, I understood that she was a godlike being. And I was just a mortal. In her long life, I might be nothing but a puppet for a passing moment.
Whatever the reason... I had to take action.
I dashed forward and punched her in the face.
She didn’t dodge. She didn’t even try.
My fist landed on her face. A bone-breaking sound followed. It was my fingers that broke.
I clutched my hand and took a few steps back. Pain shot through my arm. She stood unharmed, not a scratch on her skin.
I didn’t give up. I found a stick, picked it up, and dashed forward again. I swung it at her with all my strength.
But she caught it with two fingers and twisted. The stick broke into two pieces.
I was helpless. Even without her powers, she was too strong.
I gritted my teeth and said,
"You said you want me, right? Fine. You can have me. But leave the life on Earth alone. If not, you can’t have me."
Lunara shook her head.
"That’s not possible."
I looked into her eyes and said,
"Then... this is goodbye."
I turned the sharp tip of the stick toward my heart.
Her eyes widened. She moved toward me. But I didn’t want to give her the chance. I pulled the stick toward my heart.
But she caught the other end of the stick. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pull it.
"If the stick won’t move, I move myself."
Without hesitation, I lifted the sharp tip from my heart to my neck and dashed into it.
-PSHHH.
Blood gushed from my throat.
"NOOO!"
Lunara pulled the stick and threw it away. I fell forward, but she caught me.
She started crying. Her hands pressed against my neck, trying to stop the bleeding. But it was too late. The damage was already done.
"No, no, this can’t be happening. Why, why are you doing this again to me?"
My vision blurred. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. My vocal cords were damaged.
Strangely, I didn’t hate her. My love for her hadn’t vanished at all. Under her watchful eyes, my lips and tongue moved. No voice came out. But she understood the words.
"I love you, Lunara."
My eyes grew heavy. I closed them. But I could still hear her voice.
"You can’t leave me. You can’t. Be it a thousand years or a million years, I will wait for you to reincarnate again."
"Do you hear me? I will find you no matter what, no matter where you hide... You can’t escape from me, Alvin."

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