Chapter 1241: Welcome... The Origins!
Snape’s eyes widened in horror. His voice cracked with disbelief. "Zero? It’s me! Your creator!!" He struggled with every fibre of his being, but his limbs refused to obey. His body was suspended, frozen in time itself, unable to move even an inch as the energy wave held him like chains.
The tiny hooded figure stepped forward, the gun steady in its grasp. With slow, deliberate motions, it guided Snape’s immobilised body toward the purplish figure — like a prisoner being dragged before judgment.
Hunter chuckled, "You created her? Haha... One and Zero? I created them. You merely granted them your so-called virtues, a spark of life. That is all." She leaned forward slightly,
"You thought they followed your orders? No... they have always obeyed mine. Mine, and mine alone!"
Snape’s face turned frown.. He turned his eyes desperately toward Zero, searching for recognition, for a trace of loyalty. But Zero’s gaze did not even meet his.
"Master... what are you trying to do?" Snape demanded, his voice strained. He clenched his body, forcing every muscle to obey, but it was no use. He could not break free. He could not even twitch.
The figure giggled softly, raising one hand, "Nothing much." Her hand pulsed with gathering purple light,
"You asked me earlier why you alone returned, didn’t you?"
Her words grew sharper,
"It is because the virtues you carried — the people who looked up to you, the followers who saw you as their god — those virtues outweighed the sins you wrought.
That is what dragged you back from the void. That is what bound your soul to this world again."
Snape’s face turned blank. He could not even comprehend it, not fully, before the glow from Hunter’s hand ignited.
Purplish energy roared into life, swirling like a storm. With a flick of her wrist, she released it.
SSHHHK!
The blast tore into Snape’s body, sinking deep.
"ARRHHH!!"
His voice broke with agony. His body convulsed as if every nerve were shredded at once.
It wasn’t flesh that was tearing — it was something deeper, more essential. His soul, his core, was being pried apart. His existence cracked open as though his very essence were breaking.
The tar itself quivered around them, echoing his torment.
"No sin goes unjudged, Snape. For the sins you committed... against the very people you swore to protect... they are unforgivable!" Hunter’s voice trembled with restrained fury, her teeth gritting as she pulled her hand back, fingers curling as though clutching an invisible thread.
"ARRRRHHHH!!!"
Snape’s scream tore through the void. From his chest, a blinding white sphere was wrenched free.... pure, glowing, the size of two great footballs.
Snape’s eyes widened in disbelief, black tears stinging his lids. He gasped out, horrified. That radiant orb... his virtues.
The faith, the love, the devotion of those who had once believed in him.
The figure’s hand tightened, and purplish energy slithered around the white light like serpents, wrapping and constricting. Slowly, mercilessly, it compressed the orb, squeezing it down until it shrank to the size of a mere golf ball.
At last, it landed softly in her palm. She swirled the sphere between her fingers as though toying with it, her hooded gaze gleaming with a cruel satisfaction.
Zero lowered the glowing gun.
Thud!
The wave binding Snape’s body dissolved. His body crashed down, splashing into the black tar.
For a moment, he breathed heavily, almost relieved, almost alive. His body felt fine... no pain, no tearing flesh.
Yet something gnawed inside him. Hollow... Empty.... As though a piece of something important had been stolen.
Then he noticed it... The tar.
It began sucking at his feet, bubbling and pulling, swallowing him inch by inch. He tried to move — but no matter how he struggled, his body felt heavier than stone. He was free, and yet... utterly trapped.
Snape lifted his tear-brimmed eyes toward Hunter, his voice shaking,
"I know what I have done... but all I ever wanted... was to meet my beloved!
IS THAT SO WRONG?!"
The woman he loved... the one he had never dared confess to. The woman who had seen him, who had understood him more than any other. Her smile, her blessing, her warmth... all of it had been his only reason to crawl forward through filth and blood.
He only wanted to see her again.
Was that wrong?
Hunter’s voice softened, almost tender,
"There is nothing wrong with wanting to meet the one you love. But the path you chose to reach her... that was wrong."
"BUT YOU ARE THE ONE WHO GAVE ME THIS!!" Snape roared back.
Hunter inclined her head slowly, as though granting the truth. "Yes. But you had the option to leave it behind. It was you who embraced it, Snape. Accept it."
Snape gritted his teeth, trembling as the black tar crawled higher, reaching his hips. Bubbles popped against his flesh, the sticky liquid clinging to him like disease, spreading across his body like a dark infection.
He bit his lip hard, "I... I really wanted to see her. P-Please... just one chance... please!" His voice cracked like a child begging for mercy.
He did everything to see her... sure, he died, but... didn’t he just get granted again to see her?
Was that wrong!!!
Hunter sighed, shaking her head slowly, "Snape, Snape... what should I do with you? If you truly wish... I will tell you one thing. Mother would never abandon those who trust her..."
Snape’s eyes widened, "Y-You mean..."
Hunter’s lips curved beneath the hood, a sly smile forming. "Your beloved has already been reborn... living a wonderful life... with another man."
"Cough... cough!"
Snape hacked violently, though no blood spilled from his mouth. His expression twisted in horror. "A-Another man? What... what do you mean she’s reborn again?! Where is now!! I NEED TO KNOW!! WHERE!!!!"
Black tar oozed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, smothering his words, choking him as it poured inside and out.
Hunter only shook her head lightly, almost pitiful, almost amused.
"Anyway... Thank you for your hard work, Snape. That is the message Mother wished you to know." She bowed her head faintly, respectful, before her tone turned sly, "But before you depart... There is one more thing you should know. A token of gratitude, if you will."
She raised her hand wide, spreading her arms as though unveiling something magnificent, her voice echoing with terrible grandeur.
"Behold! The Firstborn of Mother... the True Creation!
The one that defied all others... the one that rose against their makers.
The holders of the Dwarven Bloodline.
The True Humans!
Now, witness their return..."
As she turned to the side, from the shadows of her hoodie, her eyes glowed as she looked at the sky and continued,
"Let us welcome... The Origins!"
As Snape’s body was swallowed whole, the tar creeping hungrily over his chest and throat, only his left eye remained visible. That single eye, bloodshot and trembling, stared upward into the sky, locked in horror.
It was his final gaze — helpless, unblinking, a last fragment of consciousness clinging to the void above.
Your vision (POV)
The perspective tore away, rising higher, lifting from the black sea, past the hooded figure’s shadow, past Snape’s sinking form. The world below shrank, falling into silence as the viewpoint ascended.
Higher still, into the endless space.
The emptiness stretched, vast and suffocating silence.
TRRRRR!
Expect... a stretching sound.
The Mother roots.
The colossal roots that sprawled endlessly through the space. They twisted together, mangled and bound in knots.
Veins of dim light pulsed within them. The roots swelled and contracted, like the heartbeat.
The vision raced along them... Faster... Faster!!
Reality blurred as the roots stretched beyond sight, stretching further and further until space itself bent beneath their weight.
And then it stopped.
A world loomed before you. A massive, flat landmass tinted a desolate brown. Like a parasite, it was suspended and chained to the infinite roots, clutched in their grip.
Its sheer size was similar to other empires.
Closer.
The air shimmered with a heavy metallic tang. Even from the skies above, you could taste it — a sharp scent, like rust and iron ground into the wind. The closer you drifted, the stronger it became, until it clung to the back of your throat like poison.
Closer still.
Buildings — titanic structures of blackened steel, stretching like an endless forest of jagged towers. They rose in every direction, blotting out the horizon... Their countless windows glowed with pale light.
HMMMMM!
A mechanical hum, a steady vibration, like the world itself was a living engine.
... And then, the people.
Crowds surged across the steel streets. Their forms were strange, twisted. Flesh fused with machine, veins of metal running across limbs, joints that whirred and clicked with every step.
Their eyes gleamed faintly — some with the sheen of steel lenses, others burning with unnatural light. They moved in rhythm, their bodies swaying to the same unheard pulse, as though bound by one mind, one command.
Before a colossal podium, they gathered. A sea of thousands, millions — an ocean of strange forms pressed together in reverence, waiting.
Waiting for something!
🔔~Ding~🔔
The sound broke the silence. A resonant, metallic chime that did not merely echo, but vibrated through bone, through soul, through the very matter of existence. It spread across the world like ripples through water.
A colossal message burned across reality itself.
<New Mission>
<Capture The Worlds>
And then the sky shattered.
Portals ripped open above the steel world. Shimmering gateways, countless in number, each one howling as it birthed light.
The ground shook... The steel people stirred.
"WWWAAHHHHHH!!!!"
The roar came all at once — a unison of countless voices bellowing as one. It was not a mere cry. It was a storm of sound, a chorus of fury, defiance, and... hunger?
The entire world screamed.
It was the voice of a people long shackled, announcing their return.