Chapter 345 -: 344 Destiny.

Chapter 345: Chapter: 344 Destiny.

"Would you look at that... the ancestor of those brutes."

Julius chuckled as he looked at the man before him, his eyes slowly travelling over the injured spell caster from head to toe.

The resemblance wasn’t particularly obvious at first glance, mostly because the man before him wasn’t nearly as large or physically imposing as his descendants.

He wasn’t some towering giant with a body built like a mountain, nor did he possess the ridiculous physique that Julius had become accustomed to seeing among those so-called descendants.

Still, there were certain features that couldn’t be mistaken, especially the structure of his face and the faintly intimidating presence that remained around him despite the fact that he was barely capable of moving.

"Well, I suppose it’s obvious which qualities those mindless brutes inherited."

Julius couldn’t help but laugh under his breath.

In front of him, the legendary spell caster was sitting against the corpse of an enormous creature.

The corpse was so massive that the injured man looked almost like a pebble resting against a mountain.

His head was lowered slightly, his breathing weak and irregular, while his entire body was covered in wounds.

Blood and divine ichor had soaked through his clothes, staining his long black hair until it was almost impossible to tell where his own blood ended and the blood of the gods began.

One of his arms hung uselessly at his side, and even maintaining an upright position seemed to require the last remnants of his strength.

Yet his eyes were still open.

Julius stared into them.

They were black.

Not simply dark, but deep enough that Julius felt as though he was looking into an abyss hidden behind the man’s pupils. There was an exhaustion within them that couldn’t be described as ordinary fatigue.

It was the weariness of someone who had spent decades fighting against something that should never have been possible to oppose, yet somehow there was still something alive inside those eyes.

A stubborn flame.

And strangely enough, Julius found those eyes beautiful.

"So this is the ancestor."

Julius folded his arms and looked at him with undisguised curiosity.

"Your son really was something."

The more Julius thought about it, the more absurd the entire situation became. This was the man who had supposedly killed gods, fought Heaven, and survived a battle capable of reshaping the entire world.

And somehow, this same man had eventually fathered the ancestor of an entire race.

A race that Julius had personally encountered and, in many cases, found almost painfully difficult to tolerate.

"Damn."

Julius shook his head.

"I always criticized that bastard Crypain for having a harem, but your son was something else entirely."

There was genuine admiration in his voice now.

"Though, to be fair, I suppose I can’t call him a hypocrite."

From everything Julius had learned about the ancestor, the man had apparently loved only his first wife. The rest of his relationships had never been about romance.

He had simply created children for the purpose of building an entirely new race, essentially treating reproduction as another part of his grand ambition.

Julius couldn’t decide whether that was admirable or completely insane.

"Still, creating an entire race from nothing..."

He whistled softly.

"That’s one hell of a legacy."

Curiosity eventually got the better of him.

Julius stepped closer to the wounded spell caster and crouched down beside him. For a moment, he simply stared at the man’s face, wondering what kind of expression such a legendary figure would have if he could see the world thousands of years after his death.

Then Julius reached out.

His finger gently tapped against the man’s forehead.

His hand passed straight through.

"Huh."

Julius raised an eyebrow.

As expected, the man didn’t react.

That made sense.

This was merely a vision of the past, wasn’t it?

Whatever technique had brought Julius here had probably recreated an ancient scene so that he could observe it.

The man in front of him had died countless years ago, and there was no reason for him to perceive someone who shouldn’t even exist within this moment.

Julius relaxed.

At least he didn’t have to worry about being noticed. Then the man’s black eyes suddenly moved.

They locked directly onto Julius.

Julius froze.

His entire illusory body stiffened as a chill crawled through what remained of his consciousness.

The man slowly raised his head.

"So he sent you?"

Julius’s eyes widened.

The spell caster’s voice was weak, almost hoarse, but every word carried an inexplicable weight.

"I suppose it’s time."

For several seconds, Julius couldn’t move.

His mind went completely blank before countless possibilities exploded inside it.

This wasn’t a simulation.

It couldn’t be.

If this man could see him, then whatever had brought Julius here wasn’t simply showing him an image of the past.

His soul was actually here.

In the past.

And if that was true, then the situation was much more dangerous than he had initially thought.

Julius’s illusory face slowly paled.

If his soul had genuinely crossed through time, then being discovered by someone of this man’s level was terrifying enough. Even in his current condition, the man had killed gods. Julius had no idea what would happen if the spell caster decided that he was an enemy.

His soul could be destroyed, his consciousness could be erased. Perhaps he could even alter the timeline without meaning to.

For the first time since arriving, genuine fear appeared in Julius’s heart.

Still, he forced himself to smile.

"Ah... Ancestor."

His voice came out slightly awkward.

"It’s just..."

He scratched the back of his head despite having no physical body.

"Well, my dad is your..."

Julius paused.

"Ah, yeah. I’m your descendant."

It was the best excuse he could come up with.

The spell caster continued staring at him.

Julius desperately searched his mind for something else to say.

Then a sweet voice came from behind him.

"It’s as you say."

Julius’s body froze.

"He sent me. Although, I think it was rather excessive to send me. I was doing some business, you know?"

Julius’s heart nearly stopped.

He turned around and the moment he did, his entire body froze.

Something that wasn’t fear, but something far deeper than fear had seized control of him.

An overwhelming urge to lower his head appeared within his soul, accompanied by an instinctive desire to kneel and show respect toward whatever being had appeared behind him.

Julius had never experienced anything like it.

He forced himself to remain standing, his gaze slowly rose toward the sky.

A woman was descending from the heavens.

She looked almost like a fairy descending from the clouds, her long pink hair flowing gently around her body despite the absence of wind.

Her skin was a warm brown that contrasted beautifully with the soft pink of her hair, and her features were so impossibly beautiful that Julius felt his thoughts momentarily stop.

For someone who had spent his entire life barely sparing another woman a second glance unless she was Rosalina, Julius found himself genuinely captivated.

But it wasn’t her beauty that frightened him.

It was her eyes.

Julius’s gaze slowly travelled upward.

One eye was golden, the other was crimson.

His pupils contracted.

"All-Seeing...and..Rose Petal..." The realization struck him immediately.

There was no mistaking those eyes.

Julius instinctively bit down on his illusory lips, trying to force himself out of whatever influence was affecting his mind.

But he couldn’t feel pain.

He couldn’t even properly feel his own body.

The woman continued descending, and every movement she made seemed strangely natural despite the overwhelming pressure radiating from her.

Julius slapped himself across the face.

"Damn it."

He gritted his teeth, he needed something familiar, something strong enough to anchor his mind.

Rosalina.

He immediately thought of her.

The way she looked at him. The memories gradually pushed away the strange influence clouding his mind.

Julius took a deep breath.

When he looked at the woman again, he was finally able to think clearly. She was still terrifyingly beautiful.

But now he could actually observe her.

And that was when Julius noticed something utterly ridiculous. She was holding a piece of candy.

The goddess who had descended from the heavens in the middle of a battlefield filled with dead gods and destroyed civilizations was casually chewing on candy as though she had simply gone outside for a walk.

Julius stared.

"...Seriously?"

The woman seemed completely unconcerned.

She glanced around at the ruined battlefield, chewing thoughtfully before speaking.

"You know, mortals really are interesting."

Her golden and crimson eyes wandered across the battlefield.

"Even when they know they are going to die, they still insist on making choices."

Her tone wasn’t judgmental. If anything, she sounded genuinely curious.

As though humanity was some fascinating experiment she had spent eternity observing.

Then her gaze shifted....It moved toward Julius, he immediately felt his heart sink.

Her eyes met his.

For a single instant, he felt as though every secret within his soul had been exposed.

Julius instinctively stepped backward.

The woman tilted her head, then Julius suddenly realized something.

She wasn’t looking at him.

Her gaze passed directly beyond his body and settled somewhere behind him. Julius released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

The goddess smiled faintly.

"Some are even frightening."

Julius slowly turned around. The wounded spell caster had closed his eyes. For a moment, he appeared to have fallen unconscious.

Then his eyelids lifted once more.

Those abyssal black eyes looked directly toward the woman descending from heaven. His expression remained strangely calm despite the state of his body.

"Are you here to kill me..."

His voice was weak, but his gaze remained unwavering.

"Destiny?"