The World's most Overpowered Side-Character
Chapter 441 - 441: A Ghost From The Past.

"Sol," Ikaris shifted in her seat between his legs, staring out into the void before them with a confused and convoluted frown. "Something is amiss," She turned to him.

"Giza," He answered solemnly, taking her cheek in his left hand and pointing to the nearest star with his right, guiding her eyes. "I saw it before you sensed it, a shift in the dark matter holding everything together."

"Are you certain it is her?" She asked, watching the light coming from the star momentarily shift and flicker as if a thick invisible wave had crashed into it.

"Giza primarily exists within the fifth dimension between this reality and an inverse plane of pitch black, tampering with dark matter falls right under her list of easily achievable skills." He answered with a small chuckle, even Ikaris was somewhat unfamiliar with such power as skilled as she was.

"Well it is no wonder that I barely noticed, I am confused by that realm, even to this day the fifth dimension is something that gives me the creeps," Ikaris admitted the same as he was thinking. "But I suspect the bigger question is why it happened."

"Yeah," Sol nodded, pushing his seat backwards with a kick to the dashboard and standing with her. "I feel a terrible weight coming from the depths of it as well, something bad must have happened to her."

"Does her state of mind concern you?" Ikaris asked with her hair slowly fanning around her head while she turned in the air before him like a fairy.

"Honestly, I don't know, I declared that I would kill her, and I mean it, but even then aside from the one time she went out of her way to attack me, we have no actual grudge, if she would just min dher own business everything would be naturally resolved." Sol held on to his wife's hand, placing her to stand whilst his man aslowly pulsed around the two of them.

"Except..." Ikaris gave him a knowing nod. "She is darkness itself, determined to destroy all life and return the Grand Collective to its origin where nothing existed.

"Exactly so."

"Master, Milady," Alpha appeared at their sides with a concerned frown. "Makka is gone."

"What do you mean makka is gone?" Sol raised his brow at her.

"Gone, Master, there lie before us only traces of dark mana and a terrible malice, whatever happened in that sector with Umbra has left an uninhabitable void capable of driving a sane mind into insanity."

"So he's gotten stronger again?" Sol asked, staring at the void before them as they stopped where Makka's borders used to be. "Unbelievable."

"This is you we are talking about Darling, no matter how different he is, the two of you share an original soul, the same as you grew abnormally fast, he too will do the same, this is the same reason we are seeking him before he gains the power to challenge you himself."

"Yeah, if Umbra turns to face me of his own accord then that will likely mean he believes he has the power to kill me in a direct fight, while I am not afraid, I do hesitate at the thought."

"That does sounds like fear, Love," Ikaris locked her elbow with his shaking her head.

"I am not afraid, but I do fear what would happen in the case of my failure to beat him, or Giza; my fear lies not in losing, but in the idea of failing you and everyone else." He admitted. "I can't lose, for your sakes."

"Wh-" Ikaris stuttered punching his rib. "I too am strong!" She pouted, it was obviously to lighten the mood, but Sol couldn't help the thoughts running marathons through his head.

"Can you best me in a direct fight?" He asked with a smirk, watching her pout redden and her brows twitch at the question. "Thought so."

"I am still capable of running away at the very least," She buried her face in his shirt while her ears reddened, it was not out of embarrassment or shame as one would have suspecter, but rather the goddess was smitten with pride thinking of how the once weak man had become so reliable that the thought of being under his care could make her feel like a carefree child, she could worry nought as long as Sol stood.

"But I would never live without you either way."

"Shall we proceed through the traces of Umbra's mana, Master?" Alpha broke the moment the two were having leaning around to catch their expressions.

"Yeah, I might learn something, make a direct line through the strongest concentration of his mana, afterwards, full speed ahead."

"Understood," The maid turned and went to the dashboard, holding the steering after it arose from the flat surface and settling on a frown. "We are now entering the Makkan Sector.

***

"You have my attention," Umbra stopped before the woman that had again crashed on her approach to him, her eyes were half-lidded, but she indeed was an exact replica of Jun, it was uncanny. "Buche."

"I can see that I do, I wonder though if this woman has anything to do with it..."

"How do you know about Jun?" Umbra asked, not daring to go any closer than the distance he was keeping from the woman. She died aeons away from here."

"I am omnipresent, and nigh omnipotent Umbra, I see all; know all." The woman spoke again, putting the man on even more of a guard than he already was.

"That's not... no," Umbra took a moment. "No." He shook his head, raising his hand and conjuring a tall blade made of black mana and pointing it at the woman after she slightly smiled. "This isn't possible when Ikaris used that cursed technique she reversed time-"

"Think again," Buche responded. "Aside from the universe of your home-world, time casually continued forward everywhere else, it was for that reaon that Ikaris was powerless for over a year, she manipulated the time and space of a place she had no business being in, reversing time by ten years to give Sol a fresh start from the day she had saved him from damnation, leading to a series of events that altered the fate of an entire collective."

"A series of events that has altered the Grand Collective itself." Buche added.

"But why her?" Umbra asked inching his blade closer to the woman before himself and turning simultaneously to hear Giza's piece, but he found nobody behind him, just barren land. "Where-"

"I figured that this would work, unlike Sol Vestic who has moved on and put the soul of your lost love to rest, you seem to think of her as the only woman you will ever love."

"Because she is!" Umbra snapped, causing Jun's doppelganger to fall flat on her ass with the eruption of his mana. "Except, this is not her, I... Jun is dead, this is just a cheap imitation of a soul that can never be replaced or copied!"

"Then kill me!" Buche used the woman to answer rather than allow his voice to carry through. "If I am not the real Jun then kill me!" She walked towars the blade he had pointed at her ready to be impaled, except the blade shifted at the last second causing her to bump against the flat end.

"...What do you want?" Umbra asked, slowly lowering his hand.

"I want to accompany and see how you will destroy he who is destined to be the crown of the cosmos-"

"Giza." Umbra called for her, rejecting the offer without directly saying no. "Come on, we're leacing this crazy bastard."

He waited, but his call went unanswered.

"Giza," He called again, but again minutes passed without a word from the monach of darkness, not even a whisper of her or her power.

"It seems your woman has abandoned you-"

"She's not the kind, Giza is loyal to me and me alone, she said so..."

"And you believe the words of a being more dark than any devil of any universe?" Jun asked.

"I might just kill you after all." Umbra began seething. "Why don't you get back on your ship and fuck off?"

"This is far too interesting to pass I am afraid, I ask you not perish this specimen, I went through many a trouble to get her before you."

"Shut... ugh," Umbra began walking away, fuming but surprisingly tame as he began channelling his mana outwards, creatinf small fissures in the ground arounf his feet. "Giza, get your ass back here right now!" Umbra called, using his mana to amplify his presence like a beacon, causing emissaries that had come to view in Giza's absence to flee from him into pockets of light and fade away.

"Giza!!"

"My lord," She stepped from his shadow, holding her throat with a distraught expression as she tried masking the new sensation she had suffered. "Are you ready to leave, will you let the imposter live?" She asked.

"Let's just go, don't ask useless questions, I'm not in the mood."

"But-"

"Giza," He turned to her, extending his hand without her invitation this time. "Let's go." It was upon this closer inspection that he realised she was dressed differently as well, revealing herself with tight or short clothing had become something he was accustomed to, but for the first time since meeting her Giza was dressed modestly, her hands clasped before her and her head slightly lowered almost as if seeking forgiveness. "What's gotten into you?"

"I am fine, my lord," She raised her eyes, taking his hand and vanishing with him, leaving the doppelganger standing there silently.

"Jun," She heard a voice in her head.

"Yes, master Buche."

"Return to me and prepare to approach Sol Vestic, Umbra was quite the disappointment, but the Golden Godslayer may provide more entertainment given his status and current lovers."

"Must I?" She asked. "I would rather not-"

"You dare to defy me?"

"I would never, Master." She sighed. "Umbra is a broken copy incapable of true sight, but Sol Vestic will see right through me he will see immediately that I am the real Jun." She tried talking her way out of it. "To be under his and the Goddess' gaze may undo me, I am not prepared to meet him."

"I am counting on it, now get going, Jun."

She took a deep breath once more, balling her fists with an expression of hesitance before turning to her ship that had already been repaired. "Very well."