Chapter 1140: Secret Behind His Name

"Child." Oth’Zerurun’s voice was calm, quiet. Almost gentle had it not been for its grotesque form.

It was a tone not unlike the one that Allura would use with her yet right now, all it did was amplify the wariness Alice felt towards this Outer.

Someone who’s authority was shrouded in mystery. What could he do? What was his limits?

Therefore, Alice forced herself to calm down.

Reckless actions would not benefit her.

"Young one. Are... children your age not supposed to be sheltered?" Oth’Zeruun questioned. His voice drifting through the winds of this ruined land covered in snow.

"Is this blue star so barbaric that it would send someone like you to fight their battles?" Oth’Zeruun questioned once more.

While Alice was unsure what his true desires were, at least right now she could hear what seems to be genuine confusion in his voice.

"Can’t say I know much about that. I’m a bit of a special case." Alice pursed her lips.

Tilting his head momentarily, the Outer God stood up straight.

"I see that it is in your nature to fight. So perhaps if you feel a sense of progression, you can truly form a discussion with me. In such case, I shall lower myself out of amusement. I will grant you the peace of mind for you to answer my questions." Oth’Zeruun spoke slowly.

However, the words that were spoken only grated Alice’s nerves.

"Are you mocking me?" Alice held back a shout.

"Hardly. You can’t expect an... what do they call it in this world? An Ant right... You can’t expect an Ant to be calm and speak reasonably if they’re suddenly placed far from home can you?"

Lifting his hand, white material branched off from his body and transformed into a lesser form of the Outer God.

The details were simple and its strange aura was more faded compared to the main body.

Alice could tell that it’s roughly the power of a Lord.

*BANG!!!

"!!!"

Instinctively, Alice parried its initial claw strike with her sword.

A scratch appeared on her cheek.

"I believe this would suit you more. Or perhaps do you have any requests?" Oth’Zeruun asked.

Clenching her teeth, Alice was about to say something when bones erupted from the ground.

Her eyes flicked between each spike, Vision working at full power.

Void Flux nodes appeared above each bone, detonating and breaking them apart before she could be attacked.

"I believe that from my experiences from gazing upon a myriad worlds, children are meant to be fed, to be taught. To be held when they are frightened."

While speaking in a calm tone, countless attacks rushed towards Alice.

Stomping down, she summoned Ruby and navigated the forest of spikes while Leon and Helena destroyed any that would try to approach her.

Alice had to admit, it felt more comfortable fighting this fragment of Oth’Zeruun but even so! She was being underestimated right now!

Frustration piled up in Alice’s mind as an angry smile formed on her face.

It wasn’t like the rage from seeing a Zenia member nor was it one of vengeance.

Rather this was an angry smile of her trying to prove herself. To show the other that she shouldn’t be trifled with!

A competitive spirit burned bright in Alice’s heart.

*BANG!!!

Unleashing a sequence of attacks, Alice spotted the fragment lunging at her.

Golden chains snapped into place, Alyss took over.

Destruction Poin-

"!!!"

Alyss’s expression turned sour as she quickly adjusted her attacks.

While there were red trails for her to hit, they kept changing with each second!

"Is the difficulty too intense for you? That you can’t even reply to my earlier statement?" Oth’Zeruun questioned earnestly.

*SNAP!!!

"Ahaha..." Alyss let out a forced laugh.

This one is truly talented at pissing off both sisters!

Alyss glared at the fragment.

In that moment, she lunged forward, parrying the bones that tried to keep her at a distance.

Shifting her footwork, she appeared before the fragment. Her palm slammed into its chest before quickly following up with a fist strike. Elbow to the chin into two rapid kicks.

One against the knee and one to the chest.

Gathering energy into a single orb, she switched back with Alice as a Void Flux was detonated between them.

*BANG!!!

With some distance now created, Alice flicked her finger as Helena split off into tiny copies of herself.

Streaks of energy were fired towards the fragment as Alice finally spoke.

"I was fed well! I was taught well and I was held whenever I got scared! The reason as to why I’m like this today is because of everything I went through before meeting my mom! If you got a problem take it up with the f*cker who tried to summon you with an experiment!"

But the target of her strikes deflected all of the blasts with ease.

Dashing forward, he quickly located the ’core’ of Helena and kicked it back to Alice, forcing the other fragments to disappear.

"How dare you kick my baby!" Alice hissed.

Slamming her palm down, blood chains and metal burst around her while Leon tried to lock onto the target for the guaranteed strike.

Tiamat!

Draconic wings unfurled behind her as Alice replaced her other Sigils for maximum damage!

Inversion! Level up!

Resonance!

Leon’s form quickly changed as it was exaggerated into a long barrelled rifle.

Crackles of energy rippled across its surface as Alice didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

*BANG!!!

In an instant, more than half of her energy was emptied out into the weapon as space distorted from the blast.

If reality was a blanket, Leon’s attack had pulled it apart.

"Hm?" Oth’Zeruun tilted his head in confusion for a moment before that confusion was quickly dispelled.

*KRK!!!

The attack tore through the arm of the fragment and quickly reflected the damage back to the real body!

Looking at the broken arm hanging limply by his side, the Outer God was silent. But in the next moment, it was quickly repaired causing Alice’s smile to twitch.

’F*ck! Is this how people feel fighting me???’

"People have the strangest ways of hurting Outer Gods." Oth’Zeruun mumbled before turning his gaze back to Alice.

"You have been cared for yet still show such hostility. It’s clear that whatever happened before must’ve left a deep scar on your mind child. Younglings like you should recognise home and love before they see hatred and blood. In your case... you felt hared and blood far more intensely than you did with home and love.

"A young soul, one that has barely begun to weather the passage of time. A soul oh so young yet looking mature all the same. I see... I understand it now. You must be an artificial lifeform."

"Tch!" Clicking her tongue, Alice recalled Leon.

If Leon’s attack worked, it meant that this Outer wasn’t unkillable!

Make a god bleed and people will cease to believe in them. The change in the mental barrier was exactly what Alice needed.

As long as she was sure the Outer could be hurt, she’ll figure out other methods of attack!

Velouria’s chains were still damaged but it’s not like she didn’t have her own methods.

Namely...

Reverse engineering!

Revenant Recollection along with other Sigils and her current authority should let her peer into exactly what created the chains and how it should be done!

Once she has that, she’ll be able to infuse her attacks with the authority that harms Outers.

Yet the Outer Oth’Zeruun didn’t let her plans proceed as desired.

"I have lived for a very long time. Long enough that desire has become an inconvenience. I have watched worlds fall and disappear before I could even remember their names. Faces becoming blurred and unrecognised.

"I have entered minds and meddled with their history. I have erased and I have overwritten. I have changed the name of their mothers, their victories, their failures. Their first love, their first hate.

"I have seen history repeat itself time and time again. More than you can ever imagine... Alice."

Hearing the Outer speak her name, Alice felt a chill down her spine.

"In all those histories... I have seen children like you. Some who should be protected, some who should be discarded. I have seen children who remain ignorant to cruelty, children who seem like devil incarnate.

"Some learn to fight before they learn to hug. Some learn to kill at a tender age.

"And every time I encounter one of your kind..." Oth’Zeruun paused.

A question floated in his mind, one that he had always asked whenever he found someone like Alice.

"Who hurt you so?"

". . ."

A silence stretched between them.

It wasn’t a simple answer that Oth’Zeruun wanted and Alice understood that.

What he wanted, what this Outer wanted to know...

Was why she still held such hostility towards the world and what she wanted to do in order to resolve this pain.

So rather than ’who’, it was more of a question on why she was still hurting.

’Why I’m still hurting huh?...’ Alice stood still.

How should she answer this question when she didn’t even know the answer herself? There were a few possible reasons but they are ones where Alice would need to convince herself that they are what she felt.

In essence, they weren’t the true answer towards why she was still hurting. For that, it was something she had to dig deeper. For her to experience the world some more before an answer could truly be formed.

"Would you believe me if I say I don’t know?" Alice smiled helplessly.

"I would. But I must ask the question all the same. For Outer Gods, our names are our nature. Our identity. Something to define the strange entities known as Outer Gods. What do you think the name False Ancestor entail?"

Alice tilted her head.

There was an obvious answer but Alice didn’t feel like it was correct. Either way, she spoke her mind.

"Is it because you create false history?"

Hearing her answer, Oth’Zeruun let out a small laugh.

"Close but not quite. It’s because I ’exist’ close to the Origin. I am very perceptive towards ’Lies’. Had you lied to me..."

As the Outer God stretched out the final word, a sense of existential dread washed over Alice.

She felt like an inanimate object watching as a giant hammer was raised over her head, ready to drop at any moment.

This moment, this feeling.

Alice understood.

It was a close brush with death.

Had she lied to this Outer... not even regeneration would’ve saved her.