Baryon looked toward Arius and said, "Hey, you! What's wrong with you? Why aren't you answering me? What is happening? I can't even read his thoughts because his mind is closed. What is going on here?" Baryon attacked, but Arius avoided it. Baryon attacked again and again, but all Arius did was dodge. Baryon said, "Boy, are you mocking me? Why don't you stop that ball that will destroy your sister's world?" Baryon threw the sphere, but Arius did not even move, and the sphere almost collided with the world. Baryon stopped it and said, "What? Do you no longer care about your sister or her world?" But Arius gave no reaction. Baryon said, "Fine, so you prefer playing the silent game." He threw the sphere toward Arius, who dodged it, then Baryon launched more and more of them, and Arius avoided them with ease.
"What is happening? Come on, attack, boy. What's wrong with you?" But as usual, there were no reactions, no movements, nothing except dodging and defending.
Baryon said, "Fine, enough is enough."
Then suddenly, Arius opened his eyes, and Baryon felt that something bad was about to happen.
Arius said coldly, with a slightly quieter voice, "The game is over. I am the winner, and you are the loser here."
Suddenly, the entire world froze, and Baryon also froze in place. Arius opened his eyes, and their color changed to silver. His hair turned white and began to float in the air. His body's features changed, becoming cold and indifferent. A silver aura mixed with focused lavender and white lights began to emanate from him, calm and steady.
Suddenly, the freezing effect that had stopped the entire world was broken. Baryon looked around and was shocked by what he saw. Suddenly, Arius appeared in front of him and transported both of them into a vast white void.
Arius said, "This is where your end will be. Come on, show me the power you were boasting about a moment ago."
Baryon said, "Fine, but don't try to act pitiful later."
Then Arius threw a bottle at Baryon and said, "Drink it. You will recover all the power you lost against me during these past days."
Baryon looked at the bottle and said, "You were carrying something like this the whole time and never used it against me?"
Baryon grabbed the bottle, smashed it, and said, "What do you take me for, boy? I am not a coward who would stoop this low. Fight with everything you have, otherwise you are not a man. In every war, both sides fight with everything they possess. And if one side receives reinforcements, the battle becomes meaningless because it has been completely ruined. Just like our situation. We have been hurting each other for days, and yet neither of us became cowardly enough to use cheap tricks. So I swear on my life that I am not one of those men who betray their opponents. And I will not betray you either. That attack I sent toward your world was a dirty trick on my part. So come on, do the same to me now and take your revenge. Throw an attack that causes me the same damage as the one that hit you."
Arius stood there and said, "I don't need something like that. Instead, I will keep this wound on my back forever so I can remember you. Since I discovered that you are not a bastard despite your ruthlessness, I have realized that I am no different from you. I am a ruthless person too, so we are even. But as for the battle, I fear that this will be our end."
Each of them would launch one attack of their choice at the other. Whoever survived the other's attack would live, while the other would perish, since the matter had now become a duel of honor.
Baryon said, "I have no objection. But what is this aura? I cannot feel your energy. I cannot feel your presence. Who are you, behind those dead eyes?"
Arius said, "That doesn't matter. Come on. Try it first. Hit me however you want."
Baryon thought to himself, "I will put 100% of my power into a single attack. That means 100 decillion. It will be the strongest attack I have ever used in my life. I may have committed crimes throughout my life, but this person is definitely worse than me. So if I succeed, at least I will rid the world of him. But if I fail, this will be my end. My body has reached its limits. I never thought I would say this one day, but this boy has exhausted me. Fine. This attack can erase everything I could possibly have known in my entire life. I mean, even if there were countless worlds, it could erase them all with ease. I don't even know if he can withstand its pressure."
As he gathered his power, Baryon felt pain in his hand because of the immense pressure. He struck toward Arius's chest.
In an instant, the sound of bones breaking was heard.
But upon closer inspection, it was Baryon's hand that had broken.
Arius said coldly, "Unfortunately, the durability of my body cannot be measured and has no fixed limit. So no matter how many times you punch me, and no matter how powerful your punch is, I will overcome it within seconds."
Baryon bent down onto the ground, feeling the pain from what had happened.
Arius said, "And now it is my turn."
He said it with complete coldness and a strange calmness.
Then he said, "I will now show you something you call 1% of the power of a certain thing."
A bomb of light began to appear. It grew and grew and grew and grew and grew, expanding until it covered the empty space. Its size was potentially large enough to cover the ten worlds and beyond them dozens of times over.
Arius said, "This is 1% of my current power. Isn't it shocking to you? But later, even this will become nothing."
Baryon felt terrified by what he was seeing.
"Who is he?"
Arius could barely open his eyes before launching the attack toward him.
Baryon said, "What the hell? This bastard had all this power the entire time and was playing around with me? You piece of trash!"
Baryon's body began to tear apart into pieces. Then the bomb exploded, turning everything into blue particles that fell like rain through the white void.
Arius looked around him.
Then he began laughing.
He laughed and laughed. The color of his eyes changed from silver to lavender, and he continued laughing hysterically.
"Finally. I finally got my revenge. The feeling of revenge is truly delicious."
He kept laughing and laughing.
His soldiers' commanders came out and stood there, watching him laugh uncontrollably. His laughter began to sound like the laughter of a madman from how intense it had become.
Then he suddenly stopped laughing and said with complete coldness, "And now… what next? What am I going to do now?"
He looked around and shouted at his soldiers, "What now?"
They answered him, "Your orders, sir."
Arius said, "Orders? My orders? Disappear."
They all disappeared.
Then Arius removed his transformation and said, "I avenged you two, but I didn't feel anything. Hahahahaha! Is this really what revenge is? I see no difference between it and a battle to determine who is stronger between us. Hahahaha!"
Suddenly, a system window appeared before him, and he stopped laughing as he looked at it.
"Level 80 reached. Congratulations, user. You have unlocked the incomplete Memories section."
Arius said, "Memories? What is that?"
A message appeared on the screen:
"Memories are being processed. This may take a very long time. Side and main quests have been suspended."
Arius said, "System, why don't you explain things whenever I want to understand what is happening?"
Another option appeared.
"Unlimited Usage Ability acquired. Any ability you possess can now be used by the user without limits, as long as it is a technique belonging to the system and not something from outside it."
Another message appeared:
"The restriction on the Multiple option has also been removed."
Arius said, "Multiple option? What is that?"
He tried to open it, but it would not open.
Then another option appeared:
"Honor Bar activated."
Arius was confused and said, "What is this?"
The bar appeared in the main status menu.
"Honor Attribute: Responsible for measuring the user's actions, whether they are good or evil. Based on this measurement, the user's fate at the end will be determined."
Arius said, "What kind of nonsense is this?"
Arius saw that the honor arrow was positioned in the middle, toward the low-honor side, meaning the percentage was 50% toward low honor.
Arius said, "Wow. I really am a bad person. Hahahahaha. Anyway, I'm leaving. I feel strangely relieved now that I finally eliminated that bastard. But where will I go?"
Arius left the white room and looked around.
"The world is empty. Where is everyone?"
Then the system appeared and displayed:
"Put on the Black Eye Mask now."
Arius was surprised by the request, but he put it on.
Suddenly, he felt a strange energy approaching him.
"A great power… What is happening?"
Suddenly, Clarisse and the other Arius flew at high speed toward the Black Eye.
She said, "Look! The Black Eye! He's there! Come on, attack him while he's exhausted."
Clarisse said, "Okay."
She rushed toward him at incredible speed.
The Black Eye, or Arius, kicked her in the face, sending her flying away. She fell and said, "You bastard! Just let me kill you and get this over with!"
The Black Eye said to her, "Who are you?" even though he already knew who she fundamentally was.
Clarisse said, "I'm a lady who came here to end your life."
The Black Eye laughed and said, "What kind of nonsense is this? Do you really think some failure like you can hurt me? Just go away, little girl. I don't have time to play around with you."
The Black Eye began walking away.
Clarisse suddenly attacked him and punched him. His mask cracked, and he threw her away before trying to escape.
But the injury on his back put immense pressure on him, causing him to collapse where he stood.
Clarisse approached him and kicked him, sending him flying away. She then jumped over him while holding a knife made from her energy.
Before killing him, she said, "Let me see the bastard's face hiding behind this mask."
She tore the mask off.
She froze in place from the shock of her life.
The knife fell from her hand.
Arius kicked her and threw her away.
He felt pain because of the injury in his back. He breathed with difficulty and said, "I wish I hadn't removed that transformation. This pain is killing my back. Damn it."
Clarisse stood up and said, "Arius? Is that really you?"
He looked at her and said, "You whore."
Clarisse looked around, but she could not find the other Arius who had been with her.
She became confused.
Arius began coughing because the wound in his back had reopened. He became unable to move.
Clarisse moved toward him and saw his condition. She became frightened for him and said, "Arius, you're bleeding heavily. Let me help you."
Arius thought to himself that he was unable to move, but staying with this whore would cause problems, so he immediately refused.
She became angry and created energy ropes, binding him with them as she said, "I don't care what you say, as long as you come with me."
She then carried him and flew away from the place toward the First World.
Arius shouted, "You crazy woman! Of all the worlds, you couldn't find anywhere except that hell?"
Clarisse flew at an extremely high speed, to the point that Arius vomited again.
He said, "Damn it. How many times is this going to happen to me?"
After some time, Clarisse reached the boundary of the world. A soldier let her in and told her the location of Miss Nahira's new residence.
She headed there.
Several hours later, she arrived.
Outside, Nahira came out after hearing that Clarisse had returned.
She said to Izola, "I'll be back soon, sweetheart. I just need to see my sister who has returned from the battlefield."
Then she left the place.
Outside, when Nahira came out, she opened her eyes as wide as possible from shock.
She saw Clarisse from across the area.
Clarisse said in a loud, childish voice, "Sister! I'm home, and I brought my dear Arius with me, just as I promised you!"
Nahira froze in place after seeing Arius in that condition.
"Does this mean Baryon is dead?"
She gritted her teeth and hurried down toward her sister.
As for Arius, he had lost consciousness because of his injuries and the massive amount of blood he had lost.
Nahira said, "Why did you bring this thing here? He is a wanted criminal."
Clarisse said, "No, he's Arius. As for the whole thing about him being a criminal, you people made that up just to keep him away from me. Let's go inside. I hope you prepared a room for me. Otherwise, I'll destroy this place just like the last one."
She said it with an obvious threatening tone.
Nahira said with a fake smile, "Yes, yes. Go ahead. I prepared an entire wing for you, dear sister. Go."
Clarisse said, "Good. I hope Arius likes it too. And I don't want anyone to ever approach that wing. Otherwise, I'll kill everyone. I'll take care of Arius myself from now on. Do you understand?"
Nahira said, "Yes. Do whatever you want, sister."
Clarisse entered the palace while humming beautifully, as if she were happy with what had happened.
As for poor Arius, he had been completely drained by everything that had happened. He had fought for four continuous days without stopping against a stubborn opponent under the most extreme circumstances imaginable.
Meanwhile, in the special dimension of the Passage, a battle had already been going on for a long time.
An epic battle between the two armies had continued for hours.
Celes was facing the Master, and they were somewhat evenly matched until Celes revealed her true power and managed to overpower him.
Karma was standing there and had not intervened at all since the battle began, unlike Dazai, who was trying to reach him but could not.
Raymus and the remaining rulers were fighting the remaining commanders of the enemy army, and the battle remained evenly matched.
Mythos was standing far away, watching someone.
It was the Blue Eye.
He was secretly observing his movements, as if he had been waiting for something from him.
In Nahira's palace, Arius woke up to the sight of a stone ceiling encrusted with luxurious jewels.
He looked around and found himself lying on a bed in a large room with no windows.
There was only one wooden door in front of him.
When he tried to get up, he found himself restrained by energy chains that restricted his freedom.
Arius said, "What the hell?"
Suddenly, Clarisse entered the room, saying, "You finally woke up, my sleepy darling. Did you sleep well? You've been asleep for a very long time while I was taking care of you and your wounds."
Arius said to her, "Remove my restraints immediately. Also, how long have I been here, and why did you bring me here out of all the places in the world?"
Clarisse said, "Don't worry. We haven't been here for very long because I decided to take you to my own palace. As for how long you've been asleep, you've been sleeping, my dear, for two entire days."
Arius thought to himself, "Damn it. Did I really spend all this time sleeping? Damn it."
Clarisse continued, "As for the restraints, they are mandatory during this period, until you stop thinking about escaping and getting away from me like you did before."
Arius said, "I didn't deceive you. I was simply busy, and circumstances took me away."
Clarisse stopped smiling and said, "Circumstances? And what were these circumstances of yours? Tell me."
She said it with a suspicious look.
Arius said, "I was fighting, and people were trying to kill me. Isn't that obvious? Besides, I'm a dangerous criminal. You should stay away from me so you don't get assassinated or something."
Clarisse said, "And who is the bastard who would dare come near you or me in the first place? That is why I decided to hide you from the outside world, so you can be mine alone and no one will ever bother us again."
Arius became afraid of her behavior and said, "Listen, how about we make a deal? You remove my restraints, and I leave this place. We pretend none of this ever happened and forget about it."
Clarisse frowned and said, "Do you think I'm stupid enough to listen to that?"
"You're right. Fine. How about you release me in exchange for giving you one entire day where we can go out together, just the two of us?"
Clarisse said, "Good idea. But I will not remove your restraints, and you will not leave this place until I decide otherwise."
Arius smiled and said, "You really are a whore."
She said to him, "All of this is for your own good. You disappointed me and destroyed my trust in you, Arius. And you also annoyed me when all you cared about was saving other people and not caring about me."
Arius opened his mouth and said, "What? Me? What are you talking about? Justice? What people? What nonsense is this?"
She said, "Don't pretend to be stupid now. You never cared about me at all. You were always busy talking about justice, healing people, and taking care of them."
Arius opened his mouth again and said, "What? Me? Justice? What? People? What is this nonsense?"
She said, "What are you talking about? You came to me and told me to kill the Black Eye, and that you would have a relationship with me if I killed the Black Eye, and that he was pure evil and had to be eliminated. We agreed on that, and in the end, you deceived me and turned out to be him, my dear."
Arius felt completely unable to understand what she was saying.
He secretly questioned the system, but the system displayed a question mark.
Arius said, "Were you dreaming or something? Listen, I haven't seen you for three years, and I never agreed to anything with you. I swear."
Clarisse became confused and said, "That's true. You were with me when I came to you. But how did you move so quickly?"
Clarisse realized that something was wrong with her memories.
She said, "What is happening? Am I confused, darling? Is something wrong with me?"
Arius sat up slightly and said, "I don't know. You seem fine, more or less. But was there someone who looked like me? Because from what you're saying, it sounds like he was turning you against me."
She said, "He looked exactly like you, but his clothes were much brighter. Ever since I knew you, you have always worn dark navy or black clothes. But he wore brighter colors, like green and white. Yet he really was you—your appearance, your voice, everything."
"When we traveled to Baryon's worlds, we followed you everywhere. He would advise me about evil and villains, and he would tell me many strange things that I didn't understand, but I agreed with everything he said because I thought he was you."
"He also did strange things. The first time I saw him, he saved me from my sister and took me to an isolated cave, where he treated my wounds. He also saved many people during your conflict with Baryon and did everything he could to protect them."
"He also seemed to have hatred in his eyes toward you and Baryon because of what the two of you were doing. He would mutter strange things while I was beside him, like, 'May my curse fall upon you both. May the curse of Himera fall upon you both. May the curse of the spirits fall upon you. I will make you both pay one day. I… I… I…' And many other things."
"He seemed strange, to the point that I started becoming a little afraid of him. As I spent more time with him, I even started trying not to make him think that I suspected him. But he disappeared when I found you, and I don't know where he went. Believe me, I'm telling the truth."
Arius sat there thinking about what he had heard.
He began analyzing every word.
"Strange. I don't say things like that. I'll think about it. I need some time alone, please."
Clarisse left the room.
Arius placed his head on the pillow and said, "Someone wants to kill me. Loves justice? What kind of justice? 'May my curse fall upon you both.' 'May the curse of Himera fall upon you.' What are these things? Helping others? What is this? Is this some kind version of me or something?"
He said it jokingly, but then secretly asked the system:
"System, what is this? Do you know anything?"
The system answered:
"There is absolutely nothing like this."
Arius stood up and said, "Are you messing with me, System? I noticed that you treat this like a video game, giving me mysteries and analyses whenever you feel like it. Tell me what you know about this matter."
The system displayed:
"Return soon."
Arius became annoyed by what was happening.
"I feel suffocated here. I need to leave. What is everyone doing right now? Izola… Is she angry with me because of what I did? Dazai must be angry because of what I did. I destroyed half of the world, even if it was unintentional, and caused disasters. Will he forgive me? I don't think so."
"But at least poor Izola… I need to talk to her and apologize to her, at least. Then I need to leave her life so she can remain safe, because it seems that there is someone hunting me for some unknown reason, even though I don't remember doing anything bad to anyone."
"Damn my stupid luck."
Raynos appeared and removed Arius's restraints.