Chapter 102: Evolution Cycle

"Was that... all a vision?" he whispered, his voice still carrying a trace of disbelief.

In front of him was the sight of his planet, still untouched. The familiar kingdoms were flourishing before him, their cities standing tall and their people moving through their daily lives as if the destruction he had witnessed had never happened.

He couldn’t help but shed a tear. Seeing the familiar chaos, the happiness, and all the creations he had watched grow over countless years without blood covering the streets made something inside him loosen.

"My people..."

"Every--"

His voice suddenly cut short.

It was as if everything around him had faded into darkness, the hope he had just experienced being violently turned upside down. The familiar world disappeared, leaving nothing behind but an endless void.

Liam opened his eyes and found himself inside a familiar white room, similar to the place where he had once met Trias. However, this time, there was no familiar pantheon waiting for him.

Instead, an unknown individual stood before him.

The entity’s very existence seemed to ripple through reality. Liam approached it out of curiosity, and with every step he took, the sound of his footsteps traveled through the endless white room before returning to him like an echo.

"Liam Silvadia."

"...How do you know my name?" Liam asked casually, though his expression slowly changed. He paused before continuing, "I had never mentioned my name since I got reincarnated... Who are you?"

"Still naive as ever..."

The entity remained motionless for a moment before answering.

"Of course I know."

"We are you."

"What do you mean, we are you? And you are me? How does that even make sense?"

The individual in front of him didn’t respond immediately. Instead, it slowly raised its arms and began moving them through the air, causing the endless white space around them to accelerate.

Then, a scene appeared before them, resembling a gigantic cinema screen suspended within the void.

"You were killed by the forces of X_X and Qwerty from the Aldica Alliance. You were betrayed by member of the chatroom, and you were naive enough to never notice it."

Liam’s eyes widened.

"I even provided a little assistance by destroying two planets that would eventually betray the chatroom as well."

Liam’s expression slowly turned pale.

"Aldica Alliance...?"

He stared at the entity in disbelief before his voice became more serious.

"And you were the one who killed the other chatroom members? Those ruins... were they caused by you? Just who exactly are you to possess that kind of power?"

The entity looked directly at him.

"I am Liam Silvadia, the Fourth Evolution."

"You are me? Fourth Evolution? What is happening?"

"Liam Silvadia, the First Evolution, died while fighting against the Retri Alliance. Before his death, a malfunction occurred that allowed him to travel back in time without the universe or the system knowing."

The scene before them changed, revealing fragments of another timeline.

"In that evolution, he became incredibly powerful and eventually conquered the galaxy. But the war against another galaxy ultimately wiped him out."

Liam remained silent as the images continued.

"Before officially dying, his consciousness managed to slip into the infinite possibilities. That was where the Second Evolution of us was born."

"The consciousness of us became the system itself, guiding us toward another path. But before that path could fully unfold, the universe noticed what had happened and eradicated both of them during the twelfth planetary selection."

Liam’s eyes remained fixed on the scenes unfolding before him.

"The Third Evolution happened normally. He managed to defeat an Unorthodox Player, discovered the betrayal, and became a tremendous force without relying on any anomalies."

"In that evolution, we secured the three-hundredth position in the planetary selection. But he became obsessed with power and eventually challenged the gods themselves, ultimately dying through divine intervention."

The images faded, leaving only the entity standing before him.

"And now I am the Fourth Evolution."

The entity’s voice remained calm.

"The one who managed the impossible. They call me the Anomaly of the Universe."

"I carried on the Third Evolution’s will... to destroy this endless cycle of torment."

Liam listened carefully, completely dumbfounded by the amount of information being thrown at him. Everything he thought he knew about his existence, his reincarnation, and even the system itself had suddenly become insignificant.

"Then... what evolution am I?"

The entity stared at him. "You are the next of mine."

A brief silence followed.

"The Fifth Evolution."

Liam’s mind filled with questions. "Did we become a god? What exactly are we fighting? Why does this cycle exist? And what happened to the other evolutions?"

The entity slowly shook its head. "I cannot answer those questions."

It raised one hand. "You may find them yourself."

The entity suddenly extended its palm horizontally and pushed forward.

Liam’s body was instantly thrown backward.

He shot through the endless white space at an impossible speed, passing through layers of reality that he couldn’t even comprehend. Worlds, stars, timelines, and countless unfamiliar scenes flashed past him before his body finally crashed through reality itself.

Just before his consciousness slipped away once again, he heard the entity’s final words.

"Become the impossible."

--

As Liam’s consciousness faded, memories from his childhood began flashing through his mind. He saw himself as an innocent boy, playing in the grounds of the orphanage with a smile he knew he would never have again.

After his reincarnation, hundreds of years had passed from his perspective, and those memories had slowly begun to disappear. The face of the child he once was was becoming nothing more than a distant fragment buried deep within his consciousness.

But as the final words echoed through his mind, something finally became clear. "Become the impossible..."

He remembered everything he had lost, from his childhood and the life he once had to the people, pantheons, and civilizations he had watched grow. He had spent so long believing that becoming stronger meant being able to control everything, yet when the moment came, he still couldn’t protect what mattered to him.

His consciousness slowly faded into darkness, but one thought remained buried within it. Protect what you have, or one day, you will lose it.