"(Is he immortal? Though I kind of expected him to be this invincible. It's the number one Believer, after all!)"

  Light did the same attack again. He generates a small black hole and punches it away towards the man. Upon reaching the man, Light's small black hole disperses and disappears without exploding.

  Right after Light saw what happened, he immediately pulled Martin into his left palm. Martin floats and his face lands on Light's palm. He smashes Martin towards the asphalt below. The asphalt cracks on impact, and Martin's head also bleeds.

  "Congratulations! You actually immobilize me, the one they called ‘God’. You should be proud of yourself." said Martin as he talked while Light's blackened hand was still over his face.

  "Save me the flattery! I really want to beat the living shit out of you right now!"

  "Aren't you already? How violent can one boy be?"

  Light lifts Martin up. He puts his blackened palm in front of Martin's belly. Light uses his Rejection technique to emit a powerful gravitational push and blows a hole in Martin's belly. His upper body and his lower body are now detached from each other.

  The shockwave from Light's Rejection also destroys a lot of the buildings far away in the background, causing them to fall apart, and creates a small earthquake throughout the entire city.

  ". . ."

  Strangely, Martin didn't even flinch. Light lets go of his face.

  He falls, but Light immediately punches him in the face during the fall. He was sent flying for a few seconds while his lower body just fell near Light.

  Before he even hit the ground, he was pulled back into Light's right hand. He already generates another small black hole on his right palm. Light shoves the black hole into Martin's mouth. He grabs Martin's mouth and holds him in place. The small black hole explodes inside his mouth. It creates another giant black sphere explosion directly in front of him, and he is caught in the explosion, though it does nothing to him as it was his own Faith power. The explosion this time didn't touch the ground at all, and after the explosion, Martin was nowhere to be seen.

  "Are you done?"

  Light heard Martin's voice, even though his presence was completely gone. Martin reforms his body back to normal from nothing.

  *!*

  Light's pure white skin returns to normal, as well as the black swirling on his chest, the giant halo behind with all the cloak, and all of his attire. The time limit of Second State is up and Light returns to normal.

  "(I can't continue on my own now! I need her assistance! It's too dangerous to solo him without Second State. I'll try to buy time until she wakes up.)"

  "One of the first few things I did when I first awakened my Faith power was to turn off my sense of pain. It has been so long ago that I forgot what physical pain feels like. All of those things you did to me, I feel nothing at all. As you can see, I didn't die either. You can't defeat me nor kill me!"

  "Oh, I'll find a way! Because after all, the rules of Faith power still apply to yours. For example, I will plant terror in your head and fill you with fear so that you can't use your Faith power at all."

  "I see, that might work, but do you honestly think there exists something that scares the person who stands at the very top of all living beings?"

  "Oh, don't worry about that; you are still a human being after all! You'll get scared!"

  "It's strange. You are the very first person that my Faith power doesn't work on. I could cancel your black holes, yet I couldn't break free from your "pulls" and shockwave earlier. It seems that those black holes were the by-product of your Faith power, while the latter two were your actual Faith power's abilities. Interesting!"

  "What an honor to be praised by the guy who called himself ‘God’ for whatever reason!"

  "Cheeky brat! My name is Martin Wedhessle. As you already know, I am the strongest being in the world, the number one Believer, God's Word, the man who called himself 'God'. No other human stands above me! I introduce myself; your turn!"

  "Very well, my name is Light Lunehart. I am the Judge of Lust. I am one of the Seven Layers of Judgment. And now I am here to deliver a severe punishment upon your actions towards her!"

  ". . .Judge? What is that supposed to mean?"

  "You don't know? How bizarre that someone who calls himself ‘GOD’ doesn't have the knowledge of all things."

  Martin utters a few words to himself, and the large crater in the city is gone, and it's reverted to its previous state, a normal asphalt road.

  Martin walks towards Light. Light also walks towards him. They met face-to-face yet again in the middle of the city's road. Light transforms and clenches his fist. He emits a gravitational pull and gathers the fabric of space on his fist. The area around his fist looked warped, and he readied his punch.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "I told you, that's not going to work!"

  Light swings his punch and hits Martin in the face.

  .

  .

  .

  Ever since I started understanding words, I was told that I was abandoned by my parents and was given away to this facility. The facility insists that if I could go back in time and find out why my parents abandoned me, I could've prevented them from giving me away in the first place.

  Since then, for every day, I wished and wished to be able to go back in time. I keep having these thoughts in my head. I believe that everything will turn out okay if I can go back in time. I believed, and I believed.

  I keep holding on to that thought every day until that day arrives. At age five, as a very young child, I awakened my Faith power. And the Faith power I awakened was a very exceptional one. I gained the power to manipulate time. At the time, I could only do small stuff like accelerating the speed of a thrown object to two times faster or running twice as fast compared to other kids my age in the facility. The scientists at the facility rejoice and cheer to themselves. One of them was so happy that he lifted me up and promised me that I could become stronger one day.

  During that celebration, I asked him when I will be able to go back in time, hypothetically. The scientist then said that it was all a lie; the story about me having parents was a mere lie to motivate me to awaken any kind of time-based Faith power. They said that they've been doing these for generations and generations, trying to make children awaken a strong Faith Power. They told me that I was their first successful attempt after hundreds of years. I was both disappointed about the story about my parents and happy about the sheer joyful emotions felt by all of the scientists in that place. The scientists also told me about how I was their first successful artificial human.

  At first, I don't know what that means, but they explained that I am a "FAKE" human being. Humans are supposed to be born through a mother's womb. I came from a steel pod they called 'womb'. I feel empty. I don't feel alive. I don't feel like a genuine human being even though everything about me is human in every way possible.

  . . . .

  Why am I in this kind of place?

  What am I doing here?

  Why was I even born here?

  I was born, and I was never given a choice.

  Everything about me was decided.

  Everything I did was supervised.

  I can only walk this straight path in the middle of emptiness.

  I kept walking and walking through this endless path and through endless loneliness.

  Until one day, I see that there's another path that intersects with mine.

  I look to my left and right, and I see someone else who walks a similar path as me.

  Her name was Michelle.

  We met in a very peculiar situation.

  We quickly became friends.

  She told me later that she was brought to this facility by her parents.

  Thinking about it, that was a pretty similar story that the scientists told me.

  But unlike me, she did have parents who took care of her before she was brought here.

  She is a genuine human being, unlike the FAKE I am.

  I told her about how I was born, but she doesn't even seem to care.

  I was her friend nonetheless.

  Where I came from doesn't make me less of a human being, she told me.

  I was happy.

  I can finally smile.

  I wish I could be with her forever.

  But then I see our path branches a little bit.

  I was scared.

  Michelle was about to walk a different path.

  I grab her hand as hard as I can.

  I won't let her go.

  Huh? There is a man who appeared and suddenly stood in my path.

  Who are you?

  He suddenly separates me and Michelle.

  Michelle's path stopped.

  There's only one straight path now.

  Everything around me became complete darkness.

  I walk this straight path alone.

  But every time I look back, I can see Michelle behind me.

  That alone kept me going.

  I kept walking and walking.

  My path has so many obstacles.

  I walked through all of them with sheer willpower alone.

  I will not be defeated.

  I will keep walking until there's light at the end of the path.

  Until. . . there's light at the end. . .

  . . . . .

  Where is it?

  Where is the end?

  I've walked so long.

  My legs are tired; they hurt.

  I kept walking and walking.

  Where is the goal?

  Where am I heading?

  There's nothing around me.

  There's nothing ahead.

  There's nothing to my left and right.

  I look back and see Michelle.

  I can see her, but she didn't say anything to me.

  She's with me on this path, yet I felt so alone.

  No, I can do this.

  As long as Michelle is behind my back, I can keep going.

  I can. . . keep going. . .

  I can. . . reach the end. . .

  I can. . . walk with her again. . . side by side. . .

  I can. . .

  I can. . .

  I can. . .

  I cannot. . .

  I cannot do this. . .

  I'm tired. . .

  I'm exhausted. . .

  I don't want to walk this path anymore.

  I don't want to go this way anymore.

  Someone. . .

  Someone out there. . .

  Please, get me out of here. . .

  Please, save me. . .

  I just want to be free. . .

  . . . .

  I see. . .

  If I just stay here without moving forward, I can just be forgotten under this pitch-black darkness.

  No one will be able to find me. . .

  No one will be able to force me. . .

  No one will be able to save me. . .

  No one will. . .

  No one. . .

  I will be here forever. . .

  All alone with no one to accompany me. . .

  I'll stay here. . .

  I'll curl up here. . .

  I'll. . .

  . . . .

  I want to die. . .

  I want to succumb to this darkness. . .

  I want everything to end. . .

  I want. . .

  . . .

  . . . . .

  *CRACK*

  *!*

  What was that?

  Something is cracking.

  Something is breaking.

  In front of me, something was destroyed.

  The moment it happened, a sharp, intense ray of light blinded my vision.

  What is happening?

  The darkness around me is breaking apart.

  The empty world around me is falling apart.

  Who?

  I see him. . .

  It's him. . .

  "I am a Judge! The Judge of Lust! My name is Light Lunehart!"

  The boy I met right before the day I lost Michelle.

  I saw that in front of the boy, that man stood, facing against him.

  I saw the back of his blackened fist.

  "As a Judge, my duty is to save the bad guy while also saving the victims as well!"

  I saw his back facing me.

  I saw his head slightly angled towards me.

  And then I heard the most wanted sentence I've been waiting for my whole life.

  "I'll save you, Lily-san!"

  Those words. . . give me strength.

  The boy turns my way.

  He walks towards me.

  "Are you ready, Lily-san?"

  He offered me a hand.

  "Let's kick this guy's ass! For her sake!"

  He smiles.

  His words bring tears to my eyes.

  I am ready.

  I take his hand.

  Mi-chan, I will. . .

  No. . .

  We will avenge you!

  We'll make sure that he won't do this ever again to anyone else!

  It’s time to finally make things right!