Galaxy's First Ruler

"The… The White-Haired Assassin?!"

Fear had such a grip on Tomislav's heart and mind that he could neither blink nor breathe. 

In front of the hovering being, Tomislav felt like an ant. His existence inessential, his thoughts inconsequential, and his life meaningless. For the second time in his life, Tomislav experienced the vastness of the Galaxy and horrors within it. The only thing to lament was that one of those horrors had somehow ended up near him.

"Berb… Christin… Hahhhh!"

Cough!

As Tomislav muttered the name of his teammates, his lungs got devoid of the pitiful amount of air within them. The sudden feeling of suffocation made him take a deep breath and cough, taking him out of his petrified state. He looked around and found Berb and Christin sprawled on the ground. Berb was making twists and turns while grunting in pain and seemed to be unaware of the surrounding happenings. The purple on Christin had receded, but she was still out cold.

Tomislav saw Trifon approaching the terrifying being as if he didn't fear death. The hovering being landed on the muddy earth, bare-footed, and the red-haired Count kneeled in front of him.

"I, Count Trifon Goranov, Heir of the House Venomous Rose, welcome the God of White and Black into the material world. Congratulations on your successful resurrection."

RAWRRRRR!!!

The sudden beast-like roar made everyone turn their head towards its source. Tomislav couldn't help but take a step back as he saw the Devil, the Elite Crawler that had cost them the life of two Viscounts. He couldn't comprehend how a Crawler could have come out of the Dungeon, especially when they had already hunted it. The only way for any Crawler to leave the Dungeon was after making an initial summoning pact with the Dreamer.

The Devil dashed towards the nearest living thing, the resurrected Doom and the kneeled Count. Tomislav saw Count Trifon standing up and placing himself between the black-veil cladded 'God' and the Devil.

"Let me take care of this slight nuisance."

Thousands of rose petals materialized around Trifon. But Tomislav's eyes were concentrated on the shocked expression on the face of the being behind Trifon.

"Oh! How come you are here? What's this?"

Tomislav heard a strange language coming out of the Boss Crawler's mouth, and even Trifon turned around in astonishment to hear more of that voice. The Devil, not caring about the strange and captivating voice, lunged at the Count. But the next scene made the two exceptional Dreamers' mouths wide open.

The resurrected Boss vanished and appeared in front of the Devil, even before its shadowy feet could leave the muddy ground. Tomislav, in awe, saw the Boss put his hand on the breast of that Devil and say something again in a strange language. His words, which seemed powerless, jolted the Devil from her head to toes. And a black gas, emanating a foul stench, got blasted out of the Devil.

'What the hell is that?'

Tomislav thought, disgusted by the steamy gas as it churned like hundreds of beasts howling within it. A bluish glow came out of the right hand of the being and the entire gas gathered in his hand before turning into a black pea-sized bead.

With a jerk of the white-haired being's hand, the bead vanished, and he reached out to touch the face of the Devil. The Devil, like a docile being, didn't even flinch and let him touch it as if whatever he was doing was happening as it was supposed to. As the hand and Devil's face came in contact, the entire body of the Devil squirmed and twisted within itself before turning into a mask.

Tomislav could barely perceive the reality of what had just happened. The Devil that had extracted such a heavy price out of them got defeated by a single touch of the White-haired Assassin.

*

Aldrich held the Shadow Homunculus in its mask form.

As soon as his eyes landed on it, he had recognized it from the shared bond they had. The more shocking was the heavy Devilish aura that had taken over the strange form of the Shadow Homunculus. Even in hundreds of thousands of years that he had spent in the Darkness last time, after his suicide, he couldn't understand the essence of a Devil. But his insights were still more than enough to Banish a bit of the Devil's aura.

"It must be because of the Oldest Change Item… tsk!"

Aldrich put the mask on his face and felt the already pumping strength coursing through his body, getting a sudden boost.

"Daddy… me… hungry!"

A feeble and childlike voice echoed in Aldrich's ears, making him look around, but there was no little girl anywhere to be seen.

"Shadow Homunculus… is it you?"

"… Yes… Daddy."

'Fuckkkkkk!'

Aldrich cursed out in his mind, and his face became ugly under the mask. The last thing he wanted to do was have a lovechild.

'Oh! Mom, so gonna kill me if she ever finds out.'

Aldrich imagined his mother with a slipper in her hand when the Shadow Homunculus spoke again.

"Da… Daddy?"

"Yeah! I am here… Sigh! What happened to you?"

"Daddy… See."

Aldrich wondered what the talking Item meant by 'See', but the flooding scenes in his mind cleared his doubts. He saw from the eyes of Shadow Homunculus devouring the mask and his lifeless body. He saw her dragging him towards the house at the snowy mountain's top. And he saw her getting thrown out by the suddenly appeared Mana-film.

He experienced the feeling of loneliness that kept eating her, as she tried to break the Mana-film. The attempts did little to let her emotions out and instead sped up the possession of Oldest Change. And then came the Dreamers that kept blasting her with Items and Skills.

The hunger and pain finally overcame her senses as she devoured them. And along with them, their memories. Aldrich saw the life of Shadow Homunculus in the last six months and the lives of the Dreamers, including that of a Viscount, that she had devoured, too. Aldrich clenched his fist, with his heart thumping with incredible sorrow, and turned towards the blue-haired man.

"You are from a Barren Earth, right? Have you heard of Bellerophon?"

His fluent use of Galaxy's standard language didn't go unnoticed as the adventurer lowered his head and replied.

"All Barren Earths have almost the same history. Bellerophon, she…"

But two unseen tears had already trickled down from the corners of Aldrich's eyes.