Chapter 436
Yet in the midst of all those strange phenomena, in the midst of all the countless wonders, Xavier remained focused on a single point.
A single point in the distance that slowly grew larger, slowly became clearer, slowly became more real.
A planet.
Not an ordinary planet, not one with an absurd shape like the ones he had just passed, but a planet with a strangely familiar prototype.
Its surface was reddish like Mars, with deep valleys and towering mountains stretching toward the sky.
Yet its atmosphere was thick and cloudy like Venus, with yellow-green clouds swirling at tremendous speed, creating colossal storms that never ceased.
The planet lay between two worlds, between two realities, between two different dimensions.
It was a crossroads, a resting place, a transit point before one truly stepped into a place deeper, more dangerous, and more mysterious.
And when Xavier finally pierced through that dense atmosphere, when he descended through layers of poisonous clouds that greeted him with flashes of bluish-green lightning, when his feet finally touched the warm and dusty solid ground, he paused for a moment.
Xavier stood upon the alien planet, gazing around him with his glowing golden-yellow eyes.
In the distance, crimson mountains rose with peaks capped in carbon dioxide ice.
Nearby, rivers of lava flowed slowly, casting an orange glow that illuminated the dark valleys.
The wind blew fiercely, carrying volcanic dust that felt rough against the skin.
He inhaled air that ordinary humans could never breathe—poisonous air that should have killed him within seconds—yet the Authority of Perception Alteration flowing through his blood allowed him to endure anywhere, under any condition, within even the most terrible situations.
He raised his head, staring at the sky covered in thick clouds, watching faint points of light that barely pierced through the gaps in the raging storms.
And with a quiet voice, a voice only he himself could hear, a voice no more than a murmur carried by the wind, he uttered something.
That this planet, this strange world between Venus and Mars, was not his final destination.
That this planet was merely a temporary stop, a place to gather strength, a place to prepare himself, a place to plan his next step.
That after this—once he was ready, once the time arrived—he would continue his journey to the place that truly mattered.
To the Land of the Gods.
"This is the first dwelling place of the master."
Xavier stepped forward two meters, and the world around him changed.
Not a physical change, not a shift of dimension, but a transformation far deeper, far more personal, far more overwhelming.
From within him, from the center where the Authority of Perception Alteration and the five elements revolved in an eternal circulation, something began to flow.
Something that had long remained hidden, something that had long been waiting, something that none of his predecessors had ever been able to access.
A flood of memories, an ocean of recollections, a sea of experiences that were not his own suddenly poured into his consciousness with a force that nearly brought him to his knees.
He saw, felt, and lived the life of another.
The life of a man he had never met, who had died thousands of years before he was born, whose name he had only learned moments ago.
Adrien Valtheris.
The master of Alaric Syah.
The original owner of the Authority of Perception Alteration and the five elements.
The source of all the power that now flowed within his blood.
Xavier stood frozen in the silence of the barren planet, his eyes closed while his mind flew thousands of years into the past.
He saw a young boy born in this world, on this planet of floating pyramids and dense gray stones.
He saw the boy grow within an advanced civilization—a civilization that had mastered the secrets of antigravity and cosmic energy, a civilization that built colossal pyramids floating gracefully in the sky as symbols of their glory.
He saw the boy study, train, and demonstrate extraordinary intelligence and analytical ability, talents that would later become the foundation for the artificial intelligence within his brain.
But then the memories changed.
Xavier felt darkness creeping in, felt warmth turning into cold, felt peace transforming into terror.
He witnessed the tragic event that befell that civilization, an event never recorded in any history, an event that destroyed everything in a short span of time.
Xavier slowly opened his eyes, tears flowing down his cheeks without him realizing it.
He had just experienced the entire life of Adrien Valtheris within mere minutes.
He had just felt joys and sorrows he had never imagined before.
He had just witnessed the tragedy that annihilated an entire civilization in the blink of an eye.
And within his heart, a strange feeling began to grow.
Not merely empathy.
Not merely sympathy.
Not merely pity.
But something deeper, more personal, more binding.
He felt as though Adrien Valtheris was a part of himself.
As though Adrien's memories were his own memories.
As though Adrien's sorrow was his own sorrow.
Because in a certain sense, that was indeed the truth.
The Authority of Perception Alteration and the five elements flowing within his blood did not only carry power—they also carried the traces of their original owner.
Traces of life, traces of experience, traces of emotion that could never be erased by time.
And for the first time after such a long journey, after searching for so long, Xavier felt that he had finally found something precious.
Not the answer— not yet.
Not the greatest secret— still far away.
But a connection.
A connection with someone who had lived thousands of years before he was born, someone who had endured a tragedy even more horrifying than his own, someone who had given him an inheritance beyond measure.
"Two souls that had once stained the world with massacre."
Xavier stood silently upon the desolate planet, the memories of Adrien Valtheris still rushing through his mind, yet now something felt different.
He began to compare what he had just seen from the master's life with what he already knew about Alaric Syah.
And in that process of comparison, in his effort to connect the scattered points between two lives separated by thousands of years, a terrifying fact slowly began to reveal itself.
A similarity he had never expected before.
A parallel that sent a cold shiver through his blood even though his body did not move.
That both Adrien Valtheris and Alaric Syah—the master and the disciple he knew through memories and stories—shared one dark similarity.
They had both once committed massacres against all life, unintentionally.
Not out of malice.
Not out of hatred.
Not out of vengeance.
But because of accidents, because of unintended consequences, because of the unforeseen results of actions that had actually been meant for good.
Within Adrien's memories, Xavier witnessed how the master—after losing everything in the tragedy of the black light that destroyed his civilization—spent years in loneliness and despair.
He searched, he struggled, he hoped to find a way to reverse what had happened.
But nothing succeeded.
And when he finally discovered the monster that had caused all the destruction, when he faced the creature that had taken away everyone he loved, Adrien did not hesitate for even a second.
To be continued…