OP Sister Chapter 535: The Future Left Behind

Listen While Reading Recommendation: Labyrinth of Suffering: Heart of Suffering & Limen: Tears of the World

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Although Anna had read numerous descriptions of the Great Beyond and imagined it countless times, she remained utterly astounded by the immensely vast and breathtaking vista before her.

Fragments of lost worlds drifted amidst an endless starry sky, accompanied by waterfalls of liquid starlight, forests of crystallized memories and shattered stories, rivers of wailing souls that transcended dimensional boundaries, ruins of vast kingdoms spanning thousands of kilometers, and hundreds of planets in the distance.

Despite everything Anna knew, the Great Beyond far surpassed her wildest imagination. Yet, this was merely a shadow of a once radiant realm that spanned universes, worlds, and dimensions.

The many “suns” that once illuminated its colossal, nearly boundless expanse had long been extinguished, plunging the world into an eternal starry night. According to the novel, the days in the Great Beyond were described as “magical.”

Each day, the world would shift and transform. The nearest stars, termed “suns” to distinguish them from those farther away, radiated their brilliance, altering the land’s appearance. New resources would emerge, prompting nebulas to engage in relentless battles for supremacy.

Anna made no attempt to resist when Ares enveloped her in his cosmic aura and carried her along, lacking the power to oppose him anyway.

“The Great Beyond… The Void King… The Spawns…”

These three phrases echoed incessantly in Anna’s mind as Ares’ voice reverberated within her head, triggering a mild headache.

While rubbing her forehead, Anna gazed at the boundless expanse below and the starry sky above, dotted with floating islands, world fragments, and the few planets yet to be destroyed.

“This is… not the Great Beyond from the reality I came from… this must be the ‘future’ after the novel’s original ending.”

As she observed rivers of nether and miasma flowing across thousands of kilometers while ascending with Ares, Anna noticed the little Fenrir in her jacket had fallen asleep.

“The ‘Void King’ he refers to must be the one who killed most of the Void Rulers and devoured their power, becoming an absolute entity of the void… Jack, my brother.”

Realizing that her brother, the same one she had embraced and wept with after saving Bestia, had caused this destruction and despair, Anna felt profoundly conflicted.

The pain was so intense that her Seven Cursed Seals struggled to contain her anguish. She never expected him, who had seemingly traveled to the “past” to aid her, to be what Ares described.

“And he left… spawns?”

She felt repulsed. The monstrous, wolf-like entity she had initially thought was a fragment of Fenrir’s Story or his true Cosmic Soul was something far more horrific.

“What does this mean? My brother… he was left to die at that gate by the hunters, then met Fenrir and merged with him… but does that mean Fenrir came from the gate leading to the future? And… This doesn’t make sense.”

Cradling the pup in her arms, Anna began to suspect a terrifying truth…

This pup was also a spawn of the Seamless Abyss, the Void King of the Ruined Future, her brother who had gone mad and meddled with the timeline Anna had been reborn into, infecting her Jack with a fragment of himself.

“What happened to the original Fenrir? Has he not been found? Was he consumed by the Seamless Abyss?”

Setting that aside…

“Why did he attack me?”

After all their conversations, it felt entirely out of character. Jack would never harm his sister, except perhaps in sparring.

So why had he glared into her soul so fiercely, leaving a void within her and rendering her unable to resist?

“Did he incapacitate me to prevent interference with his plans? Were his words, his love… all lies? Why? He was broken, but he still loved me, he missed me! Why would he harm me?! Why would he leave this void in my soul?! Why would he try to kill us?!”

Anna was in constant turmoil, her mind and soul in disarray. She squirmed in pain, crying, feeling utterly betrayed and shattered.

“You’ve endured much, as have we all here. The Great Beyond was once a glorious realm, the highest dimension where we vied for supremacy, territory, and resources, striving to ascend beyond the fourth dimension.”

Anna ceased crying, captivated by Ares’ words, now imbued with profound wisdom.

“The Boundaries Beyond the Fourth Dimension?”

“It is said that the greatest and most enigmatic Void Ruler, the Oldest Dream, resides in this unique dimension. He is among the few the Void King could not slay, his power surpassing what the Void King could achieve… yet, the Oldest Dream is not a fighter, nor does he care about the universe’s destruction. He only dreams.”

“The Oldest Dream…!”

The most mysterious Void Ruler, governing the Plane of Dreams, a separate dimension from the Multiverse with its own rules, visited only briefly in the novel.

It was strongly implied that the Oldest Dream manipulated her brother’s fate. Yet, when the novel ended abruptly with Jack on the Throne of the Multiverse, feeling empty and purposeless, the Oldest Dream was never mentioned again.

“Ugh… Excuse me, great Constellation, what did you place on my forehead?” Anna asked, trying to be respectful.

“I placed a Star Seal to shield you from the madness induced by gazing upon a True Constellation’s Form,” Ares explained. “I’ve used it only a few times, if at all. It’s typically reserved for those so talented we bring them to the Great Beyond immediately… or, well, that was the practice. It’s been… thousands of years since it all fell to ruin.”

“I…!”

Anna began to speak, but Ares silenced her with a wave of his hand, sealing her mouth.

“Hm?!”

“Quiet.”

“…?”

Anna’s eyes widened as Ares halted, hiding behind a vast world fragment resembling an azure ocean with white trees stretching skyward.

There, amidst waterfalls of liquid starlight, an aberration crawled through empty space, leaving cracks in its wake.

It was a massive monstrosity, a conglomerate of millions of corpses, with long arms and legs crafted from bones and wailing souls.

It scanned its surroundings with giant red eyes, silent.

“What the hell is that thing?!”

Anna felt overwhelming dread in her soul and existence from its mere presence. The monstrosity glanced their way as they hid behind a giant white tree.

“…A Scavenger, a new type of Fallen Constellation born in this Era of Ruin.”

Ares’ voice whispered in Anna’s mind, explaining the entity’s nature.

The Scavenger radiated cosmic energy and the essence of stories, but it was fractured and discordant.

It crawled toward a nearby floating island, discovering the massive corpse of a Cosmic Beast the size of a small meteor. It tore off its bones, flesh, and decayed teeth, incorporating them into its form.

It survived by collecting decaying fragments of destroyed stories and corrupted cosmic energy, amalgamating them to grow larger, though it appeared devoid of consciousness.

“Grrrrr…”

It roared, detecting a thread of life. Its head, formed of countless skulls, turned downward, its giant red eyes glowing brightly.

“It found us!”

Ares swiftly ascended into the starry skies, realizing hiding until it passed was futile.

“He’s not going to fight that thing?!”

Anna was astonished that Ares, rather than confronting it, fled immediately. The creature roared, crawling through empty space in pursuit.

“GRYAAARRR!”

Its monstrous jaws opened, revealing a purgatory dimension within its endlessly boiling soul stomach, where thousands of souls screamed in agony.

“What the hell?!”

Terrified, Anna realized this was no mere undead monster—it was a walking dimension, an underworld or netherworld of souls with its own autonomy.

“Some believe these were created by the Void King, but their true origin is the Netherworld’s Emperor…! That wretched fiend exploits this ruined world to grow stronger…!”

As Ares spoke, he deftly dodged beams of nether energy that exploded, shattering space and creating gates to its stomach.

“Ugh, this damn thing!”

Furious, Ares gripped his axe tightly and swung it downward with all his might.

“{Divine War Song}: {Soul Cleaving Will}!”

Though simply named, the technique’s power was undeniable. Anna glimpsed Ares’ entire story within the attack—a war song spanning thousands of years of history and mythology.

His potent Radiance surged like a colossal wave of pure strength, striking the Scavenger and splitting it apart!

BOOOM!

The monstrosity screamed in agony, plummeting from the starry skies to the vast, seemingly endless surface of the Great Beyond.

“Why didn’t you just kill that thing instead of running?” Anna asked.

“What? Kill it? I only slowed it down! Scavengers are among the hardest things to kill! It’s pointless to waste time and energy trying!” Ares replied.

“GRYYAAAAH?!”

“GRAAAAHH!”

Two more Scavengers emerged from cracks in space, lunging toward Ares. Their skeletal claws reached for his Radiance Aura, attempting to infect his soul with their nether cosmic energy.

“God damn it! When you find one, more always appear!”

“I have to do something!”

Despite her weakness, Anna pointed at the creatures and…

“{Anubis’ Judgement}!”

TRUUUM!

A powerful cosmic wave of darkness surged downward, striking one of the Scavengers…

Anna expected a balance to appear, yet…

“GRYAAARGH?”

The creatures seemed confused but didn’t budge, charging forward.

“It didn’t work!”

Anna had feared the worst, but seeing it firsthand, she realized her skills had little effect on such immensely powerful beings.

Yet, her attack had a slight effect, briefly disorienting them for a second or two.

Enough for Ares to gain the advantage and ascend higher!

“I don’t know what you did, but you slowed them down. Well done! Let’s go! Once we breach the Cosmic Dominion of that planet, it’ll be hard for them to follow!”

He swung his axe, piercing an invisible wall of cosmic energy. He and Anna passed through, while the Scavengers, denied access, screamed angrily, pounding the barrier.

“Haaa… We should be relatively safe from those things here,” Ares sighed, gazing at the planet below.

It was a red planet with an endless crimson desert surface, dotted with towering mountains, a few oases, and numerous ruins.

It vaguely resembled Mars to Anna.

Feeling her mouth finally unsealed, Anna decided to speak.

“May I humbly ask the name of this planet, great Constellation?”

“This is the last planet of my family’s once-great Cosmic Dominion, Martis.”

“So it was Mars?!”

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