Ball of Nothing

Chapter 302 Meeting at the House of Great Gods

The Goddesses offered all sorts of treats from tea to biscuit when they saw Zero. Standing beside the teen, Merlin suddenly felt very insignificant. Nobody gave him a glance in his direction and compared to the young doctor who was speaking to them casually, the God of Magic was no fool. He could never hope to achieve that level of intimacy with the Great Gods that Zero enjoyed.

\"It’s good to see you again,\" Gaia smiled. \"Have you been doing well?\"

Freya gave Merlin a side glance and asked if Zero’s training was tough. The Goddess of Beauty and War wasn’t joking about her threat to Merlin. If he tried to do the same thing he did with Truen and overwhelmed Zero, she would smite Arabesque.

Zero laughed and assured them that he was doing very well. He took pity on Merlin who was as pale as a sheet. Once they were settled down, Zero brought the topic for the meeting up so that his teacher could breathe a little.

\"I came here today to ask for permission to access some restricted areas in Heaven.\"

Hades was silent and Freya sighed, Gaia and Isis already had their answers and smiled.

\"I cannot allow you to visit Valhalla yet,\" Freya told Zero. \"The Gorgons aren’t ordinary people. If you don’t have your grimoire yet and charm for protection against their eyes, you will be petrified upon sight. It’s the same as the basilisks’ curse where you get turned to stone.\"

Hades also rejected Zero’s request.

\"Titan Cliff is too dangerous for you to visit. I suggest you have the grimoire ready before you head there.\"

Zero frowned. He could understand Freya’s concerns and agreed that it should wait until he was better prepared to deal with the Gorgons. However, Titan Cliff was one place he had to see. Without knowing the extent of the damage, Zero didn’t dare to proceed with his grimoire. After all, grimoires are bound for life. There is no upgrading of a grimoire once it has been created no matter how powerful Zero becomes in future.

\"I can understand Freya’s concern however, I cannot accept Hades’ terms. The reason why I need to visit Titan Cliff is to access the damage done to the plane and help Merlin create a design to repair the plane. However, there is a more major reason why the visit is important. I need to understand the powers of chaos magic and how they react before I create my grimoire.\"

Hades looked confused and Merlin chose to step in at this moment to help his student sound more convincing.

\"Zero intends to create his grimoire out of the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life to act as not only a weapon but a shield. While it is a weapon that can rival the power of creation, Zero needs a shield against chaos magic in the void. He had a run-in with the fragments of the Great One not too long ago after he gained his Parallel Minds after the Mind’s Eye system’s administrator was changed to him.\"

\"A run-in?\" Isis frowned. \"Tell me in more detail about what happened.\"

Zero took a look at Merlin and hesitated. There were some things he told Buddha but left out for Merlin because he didn’t know if it would be wise to tell Merlin about Solo’s intentions. Freya and Isis noticed the conflicted look and exchanged a glance.

Merlin was soon led away by Freya who demanded to know Zero’s academic progress and if he had been ill-treated in Arabesque. At the same time, Merlin decided to talk about the array to seal the crack at Titan Cliff with Hades. Isis pulled Zero to the side so that they had some privacy to talk.

\"What’s going on?\" she asked.

Zero frowned and told her everything from how he was made Mind’s Eye’s administrator back at Trigression Falls. He told Isis about how he added new assistants to help him out and the Parallel Mind assistant that the system created. Wii’s hostage situation when Solo who was being rejected by Mind’s Eye made Isis’ lips thin. Zero explained how he had an argument of sorts with Solo and how Swift gave him a letter from Shittomi indicating that Solo might still be around.

\"I suspect that there will be a day when Solo and I will meet and have to fight it out. I cannot say what Solo wants to do but from the actions he has been taking against me, I am eighty percent confident that he wants to push me into destroying everything that he has created.\"

Isis didn’t say anything. There was a great storm in her eyes and the Goddess of Time sighed heavily. \"Zero, what will you do if this meeting with Solo happens?\"

The young doctor grinned. \"I will find a way to win him over without harming him. The power of absorption permanently removes something from this cycle and keeps it in the part of the void that I control. I don’t want to do that to Solo. However, Solo will try to seal me away again. The chaos energy is definitely something Solo created to use against me. Steve and Merlin tested it in small amounts the other day as I assisted them. I can be certain that this chaos energy is what kept me sleeping for so many years in the void. If Null did not come along and blast it away from me, I might never have woken up fully. To counter this, I will need a shield. The grimoire I create will be that shield and recreation magic will be used to counter Solo’s power of creation.\"

The Goddess of Time looked troubled at the revelation. As the keeper of the restricted library, she knew some things that not even the other Great Gods were aware of. In another branch of the same timeline, Zero said that he would defeat Solo and assimilate together so that they would be one again. A different Zero said that they would not fight Solo and instead will find a way to return back in time to the point where they could stop Solo from committing those mistakes. There was even a few version of Zero who claimed that they would commit mutual suicide with Solo and end the entire cycle of existence. However, none of those versions of Zero said the thing that Zero was telling her right now.

Could this be the Zero that will succeed instead? All those times when time had to be rewound because of a bad ending made Isis rather jaded. Gaia, Sedna, Zeus and all the Gods fell in those timelines. Isis was always the last one standing with Nel by her side. They would rewind back time over and over again, trying different ways to find a different ending.

It didn’t matter what she did back then. Zero would often go astray and end up developing a dark side that extinguished any hope Nel had. Also, Isis noticed the pattern in Solo’s methods of pushing Zero towards the edge and over it.

The Great One often targeted those Zero had attachments with. One by one, he would get rid of them or get them to turn on him. The constant betrayals will break Zero’s faith in friends and allies. Solo was good at manipulating anyone including Gods by acting as Zero. Eventually, when they met, Zero would be so burdened with grief and hatred that saving Solo was no longer his priority. In some cases, Zero just wished for death and sealed himself back into the void without meeting Solo.

Isis was secretly thrilled. This time, she discussed it with Nel who agreed to change the caregiver Zero had. It was usually Buddha or the Great Gods who taught Zero what he needed to know before he started his journey. When Zero was more familiar with the world after his slumber, he would normally approach a small village to begin his adventure. His first friends would be made in that village or in a town where they would travel together. The Great Gods would usually arrange more powerful individuals to become Zero’s ally as he progressed.

The fact that it was Hua Tuo who first took Zero in and the boy’s first friend was made at the Mega Gourmet Competition deviated greatly from the usual path. Isis felt hopeful for the first time in so many timelines. Half Moon Village and the Onion Union was a very reliable force that could support Zero emotionally in his fight against Solo. It helped that these were powerful individuals who were highly respected with very strong wills. Betrayals in this timeline would be very little.

The association with Demon Lords in the abyss usually didn’t happen so soon. In other timelines, Zero normally got to know them when Heaven and Hell planes were falling apart. The Demons and Angels would fight against each other when it happened and Zero would step in to stop the war, making allies with the Demon Lords and Archangels only then.

Isis looked at Zero who seemed worried at her lack of response.

\"What are you searching for in the Pharaoh’s Crypt?\"

Zero smiled. \"I just want to know if my theory is right. Solo and I might be the same being but for some reason, I feel as if our existences are separate. It sounds crazy but I think both Solo and I actually exist at the same time even if it is technically impossible.\"

Isis smiled. \"No need to search the library, I can answer that for you.\"

Zero was surprised but nodded. If Isis was going to tell him the answer to clarify his doubts, then there really wouldn’t be a need for him to visit the library.

\"Solo and you won’t exist at the same time, it will cause the world to be destroyed if you did. You are the same being and have the same kind of existence to strictly speak. Solo is in a different time flow as we speak but that doesn’t mean he cannot travel over occasionally to the time flow that you are in. He might not be able to be here in person but he can definitely leave messages and fragments to act as a waypoint to be triggered by you so that time freezes momentarily for you and him to meet.\"

Hearing Isis’ answer made Zero’s head spin. \"So the meeting...\"

Isis nodded. \"It was really Solo or a moment. However even if you met him, there was nothing you could have done to him other than talk to him.\"

Dismayed, Zero hunched over. \"How can I stop him if I can’t do anything to him?\"

This is one question Isis had no answer to. If Zero from all those destroyed timelines couldn’t manage it, how could she tell Zero what he should be doing? From history, Zero had never been able to stop Solo from succeeding in the destruction of his creation.

\"That, I do not have the answer to. However, I believe that if there is anyone who could do it, that person would be you.\"

Her sincerity touched Zero who decided that he wouldn’t push any further on the topic. After all, he had the answer that he wanted. Solo did exist and from Isis’ reaction, he was not to be trusted. Zero thought back about the grimoire he wanted to create. If he could create that grimoire to fend against chaos energy, there would be no issues in a direct meetup. However, Isis claimed that it was not possible for a direct meetup. That only made Zero more anxious.

He looked over to where Merlin was with Gaia, Hades and Freya. If he were Solo, he would definitely use these people against him. Whoever Zero had become close to was now a walking target and pawn to be used against him. Learning philosophy and strategy was great. However, it also meant that Zero could no longer enjoy the simpler things of life.

\"Zero!\" Gaia smiled when she saw the teen and waved over to him. Zero replaced the smile on his face and bounced over to them. Merlin looked like he was losing the verbal battle with Hades and Freya. It should be about time he helped his teacher out to convince them to let him visit Titan Cliff.

When he fixed Heaven’s plane, Zero swore to also add some measures of his own in case of Solo’s attack. The Garden of Roth in the abyss was there for a good reason. Half Moon Village’s remodelling and Hua Tuo’s new hut were measures Zero implemented against unknown threats.

Isis watched Zero run over to the noisy group and wondered if she was doing the right thing. Nel did caution her against telling Zero anything that would influence his decision. However, she was also unable to hide anything away from him. After all, the fight between the creator and himself shouldn’t be interfered with. It was only a matter of time before Zero learnt the truth. He had already suspected so much and tasked Shittomi to work on uncovering the truth, Isis felt uneasy.

This timeline’s Zero was certainly different from the rest. Uriel’s prophecy was wrong for the first time in many timelines. Maybe he was who she needed all this time.