Inside the dark castle was dark room lit with crimson red light. There was nothing in the room except a sizeable black bed, a cradle near the bed, and a large mirror facing the bed's head.
"Argh," a woman dressed in entirely black armor growled, struggling to reach for the child crying in the cradle.
She held her stomach in one hand and used the other hand to move toward the child.
The baby kept crying for its mother, and only when the woman touched the child it stop crying.
"Co here," gritting her teeth to fight the pain, he gently lifted the baby from the cradle and placed it on her chest,
"Who hurt my butterball?" She kissed the baby,
As though the baby sensed its mother's pain, it tried to reach out for her face with its tiny soft hands,
"My Lady," suddenly, a ghostly figure appeared in the room near the cradle. The ghostly figure resembled a middle aged man in a butler uniform. His glowing ruby eyes were the main attraction to his face other than his raven black hair.
"You're awake,"
"Didn't I tell you stop appearing suddenly? It'd freak him out Azazel,"
Yes, the butler was Azazel, and the woman was none other than Gaya.
After hearing her complaint, Azazel embarrassedly smiled,
"I heard him cry, My Lady"
"How is the funeral?" Gaya's voice was heavy,
The question made the smile on Azazel's face fade away instantly. They had lost a valuable mber two days ago. The entire castle and the army mourned the loss,
"The assassins took it pretty hard, my lady" Azazel said as Gaya sighed,
"I can't bla them. She practically raised them. May her soul rest in peace," Gaya stood up with the child resting on her chest,
"Here," with a flick of her wrist, she took out a silver dallion which had the na 'Aria Atronius' engraved in golden letters,
"Place this on her grave,"
A dim light erged from Azazel's hand, engulfing the dallion. Then, the light disappeared along with the dallion in Gaya's hand,
"My Lady, we cannot stay here for long. Our informants in the Skyhall said they dispatched several demi gods to seige the castle. I don't think we can hold them off,"
Gaya's face turned gloomy as the child began to cry again,
"No butter ball. I'm not going to let anyone in your ho," She lifted the baby gently in the air and smiled at him,
Seeing her smile, the baby stopped crying.
"I can take them down if our defenses failed,"
"No you cannot, my lady. Not with the curse on your body. You need to rest until my lord finds a way to lift the curse," Azazel's voice almost sounded like he was ordering Gaya.
He had seen enough deaths recently and would rather die than see sothing happens to the Dark Queen.
"He should be leading the army against that bitch instead of wasting his ti trying to lift my curse," her voice slightly stuttered,
"Should I inform my lord about Lady Adria's death, my lady?"
"NO" Gaya imdiately raised her voice as the lights began to flicker,
"He still hasn't gotten over Nightmare's death. If you inform him that Aria is dead, he will lose it. We have to give him strength, not weaknesses,"
Her eyes watered up, thinking that Nightmare was no longer with them. Yet, every ti she closed her eyes, she could see her mories of Nightmare flash across her eyes.
It felt like yesterday they won Nightmare in a bet against Jane Totonk. In a blink of an eye, two hundred years passed by. However, when she thought Nightmare died, defending River town by himself made her proud. He defended River town for three days from Skyhall. Even after using almost every resource they had, the Skyhall failed to take over the River Town.
He burned hundreds of half immortals before falling to the Dragon Hunters of the queen. After seeing Nightmare's lifeless body, Gaya went on a killing spree and did not stop until every single dragon hunter lost their head.
She thought killing the dragon hunters would make her feel better. But she didn't. The loss of Nightmare was sothing she could easily handle.
Boom!
All of a sudden, the entire castle trembled violently as Gaya was thrown off balance. Luckily, she quickly grabbed the bed in one hand to steady herself,
Imdiately Azazel disappeared from the room to check what was happening. At that ti, the baby in her hand began to cry, sensing the danger approaching it.
When the tremor stopped, the mirror before the bed flickered, revealing the Dark Lord's face.
"Michael!" Straight away, his face put a smile on her face,
She sighed in relief,
"Papa," the baby tried to reach for him,
"Hey little guy," Michael smiled at the baby. Despite his smile, Gaya could see the pain in his eyes. Being the Dark Lord wasn't his choice. Rather, the skyhall pushed him to be one. They needed a villain so they could be the saviors.
The Michael infornt of her was not the Michael she t. He was funny calm and relaxed person. However, ever since he took the mantle of the Dark Lord, he changed into a whole different person. Of course not by choice but the pressure, danger and the responsibilty of saving the world took its toll on both his mind and body.
"Gaya, you have to use the key now,"
The mont Gaya heard these words, her mind went blank,
"There is no way Gaya. The Queen is more powerful than we thought. I don't think I can hold her off much longer,"
"Don't…don't play with human…"
"My Lady," Azazel appeared yet again in the room, but unlike before, his ghostly figure kept flickering,
"My Lord," when he noticed Michael in the mirror, Azazel weakly bowed,
"The elites are there, aren't they?" Michael asked as Azazel nodded,
"Code Zero is a go Azazel," Gaya saw Azazel's ghostly figure turning red.
"What is Code Zero?" Gaya gawked at Azazel and Michael, having no idea of Code Zero. But seeing the grave look on their faces, she lost all the color on her face.
She held the baby tightly in her arms,
"Its been an honor serving you My Lord," Azazel's voice stuttered,
"I wish I had seen him grow up to be a fine young man" Azazel let out a miserable smile as his face was plastered with grief and sadness. Yet, when Gaya looked into his eyes, she saw nothing but fulfillnt.
"Azazel,"
"Goodbye my lady,"
Boom!
Gaya saw Azazel explode into a puff of smoke. Her jaw dropped while her legs turned jelly. Soon, in front of her eyes, the white smoke ford a portal,
"Use the key on him Gaya,"
She dropped to her knees, tears gushing out of her pale face.
"No, there has to be another way human. You always find a way,"
Michael's eyes watered as his eyes watered,
"This is the only way Gaya. We can stop everything. We can stop the queen before ca into existence,"
"What about ? What about our child? What about our existence?" Gaya's tears rained down on the baby's face. The little one reached out to Gaya's face and wiped off the tears with his little hand,
"If we don't do this, she will use him to open portals to other universes. He will suffer for eternity Gaya,"
"(Cough)" suddenly, Gaya coughed up blood. The excruciating pain caused by the curse returned.
"Trust my Gaya. This is the only way. Use the key and send him to Etheria before they get to him. He will cease to exist if I activate the machine before you send him there,"
(Etheria is the Universe of Anti Hero with a Symbiote System)
"No…No…No…" her voice stuttered. Gaya held the baby as tight as she could. Compared to the pain of leaving her son, the pain caused by the curse was nothing.
His innocent face that stared at her blankly without any idea clenched her heart.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The castle yet again trembled violently,
"If you don't do this, he's good as dead Gaya. USE THAT KEY NOW!" Michael's shout stopped the castle from shaking. His shout just killed hundreds of Half immortals who approached Gaya's room.
If he hadn't used his strength trying to revive the Ancient gods, he could have single-handedly wiped off the queen's army. However, even with the system's help, it was impossible to kill the queen without the Ancient gods and Hunter.
(Hunter is the MC of Dictator with a Badass System)
The Queen was not a being that belonged to a single universe. Instead, according to Ancient God Knight, she split her soul into pieces and sent each piece to a universe. To kill her, one must kill all the soul pieces. Otherwise, she would born again and again until she turns the entire universe into mindless minions whose sole purpose is worshipping her and conquering the worlds.
Michael temporarily sealed his universe using two billion badass points, preventing the Queen from opening portals to the universes she had already conquered. His son held the key to open the universe and the Queen would stop at nothing until she gets to him.
With the system offline and half of his army wiped out, sending his son to Etheria and using the silver hawk was the only way to stop the queen. Silver hawk was his reset button. This ti, Michael would correct the mistakes he made.
Tears kept gushing out of her eyes when she slowly removed the tiny golden key hanging around the baby's neck,
"Your father and I love you so much…no matter what it takes, we will find you," she kissed the baby's forehead softly,
"I am sorry little guy. I wish things have gone different,"
Michael closed his eyes for a mont, letting out the tears he was holding,
"We will fix everything Gaya, I promise you. I will save Nightmare, Cindy, Azazel and everyone,"
Michael's eyes turned blood red and Gaya saw everything turning darker. Removing the key from his neck, Gaya threw it into the portal Azazel created by sacrificing himself. As soon as she threw the key inside, the dark portal turned golden,
"No matter where you are, my love will always protect you butter ball,"
She walked toward the portal carrying her son in her arms. Her body trembled, and it took all her strength even to take a step forward.
Standing only a couple of inches away from the portal, she softly kissed his forehead. Then, they both locked their gazes with the baby,
"Goodbye Draven,"
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