As Aarav continued drifting through the vast Cosmic Garden, something suddenly caught his attention.
Among the countless magnificent cosmic trees, one tree looked… wrong.
Completely wrong.
The entire tree had turned pitch black.
Its branches were twisted and lifeless, and instead of the calm cosmic energy flowing around the others, a terrifying stream of dark energy swirled violently around it like a storm.
It felt corrupted… diseased.
Aarav frowned as he looked at it.
"What happened to that tree?" he asked, pointing toward it.
The old man—Kaka—followed his gaze.
For a brief moment, the gentle smile on his face faded.
"That," he said slowly, "is a corrupted Cosmic Tree."
He clasped his hands behind his back and continued calmly.
"Normally, universes are born… grow… and eventually die according to their natural lifespan."
"Just like living beings."
"But sometimes…"
"Some universes are destroyed far earlier than they should be."
Aarav narrowed his eyes.
"And the reason?"
Kaka replied,
"The Chosen One of that universe."
"Or, in simpler terms… the protagonist."
Aarav blinked in confusion.
"So… all those worlds… are fiction?"
Kaka chuckled softly.
"For you? Yes."
"But for the people living inside them…"
"They are very real."
He gestured toward the enormous cosmic tree.
"Every universe has a central existence around whom the story revolves."
"The protagonist."
"The chosen one."
"Everything in that world is predestined to revolve around them."
"But occasionally… anomalies appear."
Aarav frowned.
"Anomalies?"
Kaka nodded.
"Yes."
"Beings who gain the power to change their own fate."
"I still don't fully understand why these anomalies appear, but when they do…"
"They disrupt the predetermined story."
"Sometimes they gain future vision, allowing them to see what is supposed to happen."
"Sometimes they regress, returning to the past with knowledge of the future."
"And sometimes…"
"They simply become stronger than the protagonist."
"And when that happens…"
"They eliminate the protagonist."
"The story collapses."
"The universe collapses."
"And the fruit falls from the tree."
Aarav's eyes darkened slightly.
"To stop that from happening," Kaka continued, "I created a solution."
"Transmigrators."
"Individuals sent into those worlds to replace the anomalies… and follow the path that fate originally intended."
Then he looked directly at Aarav.
"And you were one of them."
Aarav's expression hardened.
He clenched his fists slightly as he spoke.
"Then why me?"
His voice carried restrained anger.
"Why did I have to go through all that?"
"Years of suffering… doing things I never wanted to do."
"Don't we have the right to make our own decisions?"
"Don't they?"
Kaka sighed softly.
"Of course they do."
"But only if they stay away from the protagonist's path."
"The people whose bodies you inhabited…"
"They were all destined to oppose the protagonist."
"They were threats to the story."
Aarav fell silent for a moment before asking another question.
"What happened to the souls I replaced?"
Kaka smiled faintly.
"They merged with you."
Aarav's eyes widened.
"…What?"
"You still haven't realized it?"
"They didn't just leave memories behind."
"They became part of you."
Aarav slowly looked at his hands.
"So that means…"
"I'm not just carrying their memories."
"I am them."
Kaka chuckled.
"You're quick to understand."
Then he pointed toward the corrupted cosmic tree.
"You're not the only transmigrator."
"There are others."
"And that tree…"
"It became corrupted because of them."
Kaka looked directly at Aarav.
"You're the first transmigrator who endured so many trials… played the role of villain again and again…"
"And yet never became corrupted."
"Never lost your humanity."
Aarav scoffed and raised his hand, stopping him.
"Enough."
"Stop this nonsense."
His eyes were cold now.
Aarav's eyes burned with anger as he stared at the old man.
"You know what?" he said coldly. "This entire place… this whole operation… is disgusting."
His voice echoed across the silent Cosmic Garden.
"Does no one have the right to decide their own life?"
He pointed toward the endless forest of cosmic trees.
"This garden you've built… what are you trying to prove with it? That everything you did was justified?"
For a moment, the cosmic winds around them seemed to grow still.
Aarav continued, his voice filled with restrained rage.
"When I reincarnated for the first time… I thought I could change my fate."
"I never chose the evil path. I never became the villain everyone expected me to become."
He clenched his fists.
"But what happened in the end?"
"My own love killed me."
His voice lowered.
"Why?"
"Didn't she love me?"
"Was the protagonist halo really so powerful that she pulled the trigger without even thinking?"
The old man listened quietly.
Then he spoke in a calm voice.
"But… you were the one who gave her the gun."
Aarav froze.
The words struck him like lightning.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Kaka continued gently.
"You wanted to know whether she truly loved you or not."
Aarav gritted his teeth.
"But in the end… she betrayed me," he said bitterly. "Because that was what fate demanded."
Kaka shook his head slightly.
"Fate is difficult to change," he said calmly. "And what happens to those who try to change it…"
"You've already seen the consequences."
Aarav slowly raised his head.
His expression had gone completely cold.
"Whatever," he said quietly. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"I've had enough."
"For all this time… I was desperate to find out who kept sending me from world to world."
His eyes sharpened.
"So that when I finally met them…"
"…I could kill them."
Aarav raised his hand.
At that moment—
Brilliant blue chains of light shot out from all four directions of the cosmos.
They wrapped around Kaka's arms and legs instantly.
The chains radiated powerful divine energy.
Aarav smirked.
"Divine Sealing Technique."
The old man looked down at the glowing chains binding him.
Then he smiled.
"Wow," he said casually.
"I didn't expect you to try something like this."
He examined the chains with interest.
"Divine Sealing Technique… indeed."
He chuckled softly.
"This technique could bind even a god."
Aarav's smile widened.
But then—
Kaka's next words froze that smile on his face.
"But in this realm," Kaka said calmly, "binding me is impossible."
The moment he finished speaking—
The chains suddenly loosened.
Then twisted in the air.
And shot back toward Aarav.
Before he could react, the same divine chains wrapped tightly around his body.
Aarav struggled violently.
But the chains didn't move.
His eyes widened.
"Impossible…"
Kaka laughed softly.
"I am the only God here," he said.
"Everything in this place exists because of my will."
He gestured toward the chains.
"And these pathetic chains could never bind me."
Aarav stopped struggling.
He simply stared silently.
Then Kaka suddenly said something unexpected.
"By the way… why do you think Cherry shooting you had anything to do with fate?"
Aarav's head snapped up.
Kaka continued calmly.
"She shot you because she chose to."
"I didn't whisper in her ear and tell her to pull the trigger."
Aarav's frustration exploded.
"Shut up!"
"You think I don't know her?"
"We loved each other!"
"Then that protagonist showed up… and that stupid halo corrupted her!"
Kaka suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
His laughter echoed across the cosmic void.
Seeing Aarav's furious expression, he finally calmed down.
"I thought you would have realized it by now."
"Yes… people are bound by fate."
"But I'm not the one who writes their fate."
"And I certainly don't enjoy their suffering."
He looked directly into Aarav's eyes.
"Tell me something."
"Who do you think writes their fate?"
Aarav remained silent for a moment.
Then he answered quietly.
"…Writers."
Kaka chuckled.
"You still think you're living in a novel, kid?"
"All of this is real."
"All the worlds you visited… they're real."
"Maybe in your world they appear as stories… characters… novels."
"But do you really believe writers can create something like this?"
He spread his arms across the cosmic garden.
"Impossible."
"Writers can only observe… or imagine fragments of these worlds."
Aarav's body trembled slightly.
Kaka ignored it and continued.
"The truth is much simpler."
"Those people wrote their own fate."
As he spoke, he stretched both of his hands toward one of the cosmic trees.
Suddenly—
The tree began expanding.
Or perhaps Aarav and Kaka were shrinking.
In seconds they were standing extremely close to the tree's structure.
It was made of billions of glowing green lines flowing endlessly in one direction.
Aarav stared in shock.
"What is this…?"
Kaka answered calmly.
"This… is a timeline."
"It flows like a river."
"And like a river… it moves in only one direction."
He pointed to different glowing points along the stream.
"At this point… you are a child."
"And at this point… you are already an adult."
He looked at Aarav.
"This adult version knows every choice you will make."
"But can he change it?"
"No."
"Because if the child below makes a different choice… that adult version would never exist."
He traced one of the glowing lines.
"The moment someone makes a different choice… that branch dies."
"And a new branch is created."
He paused.
"But for that to happen…"
"The change must occur naturally."
"And naturally…"
He shook his head slowly.
"It almost never happens."
"Because people rarely choose a path different from the one they believe is their own." 🌌
"And that's why… we use force to stop them."
Aarav's eyes burned with fury.
"You forced them. You forced us. You forced me!"
As the words left his mouth, his pupils began glowing with a deep blue light. His voice changed as well—multiple voices seemed to echo within it, as if countless souls were speaking through him.
Suddenly—
Crack!
The chains binding him shattered into pieces.
Without hesitation, Aarav rushed forward like a storm. In the next moment, he grabbed Kaka by the throat and lifted the old man off the ground.
His eyes blazed with cold fury.
"You think you can brainwash me… so you can use me like a puppet?"
A dangerous smile slowly appeared on Aarav's face.
"But you're forgetting something."
"I'm a villain."
"I have no conscience. No moral boundaries."
His grip tightened around the old man's neck.
"And now I finally understand what you are."
"You're not a god."
"You're not some divine being managing timelines."
Aarav's gaze sharpened.
"And I think I know exactly what you are."
Kaka looked at him calmly, a faint smile still on his lips.
"Oh? And what am I?"
Aarav answered without hesitation.
"You… are me."
The smile on the old man's face suddenly froze.
Aarav continued coldly,
"All of this is just an illusion created by my mind."
Kaka chuckled lightly.
"Oh really? And how did you reach that conclusion?"
Aarav smirked.
"Because I can do this."
He raised his hand.
Instantly, the gigantic cosmic trees around them began shrinking. The sky twisted and changed like a painted canvas being rewritten.
New chains of blue light suddenly appeared and wrapped tightly around the old man.
Aarav stepped closer.
The chains tightened around Kaka's neck.
Aarav slowly clenched his fist.
The chains contracted violently—
CRUSH!
The old man's body shattered into fragments of glowing blue light, dissolving into nothingness.
Silence fell.
Then—
Aarav opened his eyes.
He was sitting cross-legged in Mannikarnika's house, still in a meditation posture.
In front of him floated a glowing blue screen.
---
{Congratulations on getting out of the clutches of Tsukuyomi God.}
{The merging process is successful.}
{Now this world has merged with your world.}
---
Aarav stared at the screen for a moment.
Then he slowly raised his finger toward it.
His eyes were cold.
"Whoever you are… wherever you are…"
"Remember this."
"I'm the one who will find you."
"And kill you."
The moment he finished speaking—
The screen went silent.
---
Somewhere else…
On the other side of that screen, two men were sitting in chairs in front of a monitor and keyboard.
Aarav's face was visible on the monitor.
One of them spoke nervously.
"Team leader was right… we really can't control him like the others."
The other man scoffed arrogantly.
"What do you mean we can't control him? Didn't you see how I forced him to complete the missions?"
The first man replied,
"But he rejected the last mission. Even Tsukuyomi God couldn't trap him."
The second man leaned back confidently.
"He's just a small transmigrator."
"You really think someone like him can reach our system?"
At that moment—
A cold voice echoed from behind them.
"Perhaps you didn't understand my orders."
A man walked into the room.
"When I said that no one should interact with Subject 0009."
The moment they saw him, both men instantly stood up and bowed.
"Team Leader!"
The man ignored them and looked at Aarav's screen.
"Subject 0009 has received a red marking from the system."
He slowly turned his gaze toward the two trembling men.
"That means he's classified as a dangerous being capable of crushing systems."
His voice grew colder.
"Entities like him… have the potential to destroy all of us if they find our existence."
"And both of you… just gave him clues about us."
Both men began trembling.
"We told you," the Team Leader continued coldly, "your only job was to observe him."
One of them stuttered,
"L-Leader… we were only trying to increase his views. His stream numbers were dropping…"
The Team Leader's eyes narrowed.
Suddenly—
Two blue laser beams shot out from his eyes.
Before the man could even react—
His body melted from the inside.
It happened so fast that he didn't even have time to scream.
The room fell silent.
The Team Leader looked around coldly.
"Everything here runs according to my orders."
"I don't care whether someone's stream gains views or not."
He then turned and walked away.
Passing straight through a wall.
On the wall was written:
Universal Stream Network
---
The scene shifted back to Aarav.
The blue screen suddenly vanished.
The world around him began changing again.
Moments later—
He was back in his village.
Jamnipali.
He stood in the garden of his house—the same place where he had fallen into the wormhole earlier.
Nearby, Venkatesh and Rasika were sitting in a circular formation with their eyes closed, surrounded by anxious villagers.
Aarav blinked in confusion.
"Guys… what's going on?"
Everyone immediately turned toward him.
Kirti rushed toward him.
After checking him carefully, she asked anxiously,
"Are you okay? I saw you fall into a portal and then—"
She quickly explained everything that had happened.
Aarav scratched his head awkwardly.
"I don't know… I fell into some portal and ended up in the past."
"Around 1842, I think."
He paused.
"I even saw Dad there."
"And suddenly… I came back here."
Everyone present stared at him in shock.
---
Meanwhile, somewhere above—
Venkatesh was floating in the air, searching around Aarav's room.
"Where is Aarav? I can't find him anywhere!"
Rasika's voice echoed in his mind.
"Aarav has returned to our world. You can come back now."
Venkatesh brightened.
"He's back? But how—"
Before he could finish, Rasika pulled him back.
In the garden—
Both of them suddenly opened their eyes.
Venkatesh looked around in confusion.
"How long have we been sitting here?"
Kirti answered,
"About an hour. Why?"
Venkatesh looked stunned.
"We spent more than a month there… but only one hour passed here."
Rasika calmly said,
"Time flows differently in different dimensions."
The moment Aarav heard the word time, something clicked in his mind.
A bell rang in his thoughts.
Time…
He muttered to himself,
"Time cannot be measured…"
"Instead… everything else is measured through time."
Suddenly, excitement flashed across his face.
An idea had struck him.
---
A short while later—
Aarav sat on the roof of his house, meditating.
Strange lights circled around him.
Gradually, those lights merged together.
Forming a glowing symbol—
Om.
Soon, thousands… then millions of Om symbols began revolving around his body.
Then—
Dark storm clouds suddenly filled the sky.
Thunder roared.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning struck directly toward Aarav.
But he didn't panic.
The lightning landed on him and began circling his body, flowing through the countless Om symbols.
More lightning bolts followed.
One after another.
Yet Aarav calmly absorbed the energy, guiding it through his body like a flowing river.
In the village, people were terrified.
No one dared step outside.
To them, it looked like the manifestation of some dark supernatural force.
Even Venkatesh's family was worried.
Inside the house, everyone had gathered in the living room.
Except Aarav.
Venkatesh suddenly looked around.
"Where's Aarav?"
Sakshi became worried.
Kirti hesitated before saying,
"I think I saw him going toward the roof…"
Sakshi panicked.
"Oh God… lightning has been striking for so long! Why hasn't he come inside? What if something happened to him?"
---
Meanwhile—
Inside Aarav's body…
Near his heart, a golden Chinese character glowed.
It meant:
Seal.
But slowly—
The character began changing.
Until it transformed into the symbol of Om.
At that moment—
Aarav opened his eyes.
Golden light burst from his pupils.
A glowing chakra of golden energy rotated within his body.
On that chakra was engraved a Sanskrit letter:
"Lam."
A massive wave of energy exploded outward.
BOOM!
The storm instantly stopped.
The clouds disappeared.
The sky became completely clear.
---
That wave of energy was so powerful that many ancient beings on Earth sensed it.
Deep in the Himalayan mountains, inside an icy cave, a sage suddenly opened his eyes.
"This… this is Divine Essence."
"A powerful being has taken the first step toward divinity."
A smile appeared on his face.
He folded his hands.
"Om Namah Shivaya."
Across the world, many saints and spiritual beings welcomed the awakening.
But dark forces felt it as well.
Inside a deep cave, a demon laughed.
"No matter what happens… I will rule the Earth."
"And when I break free from this cave…"
"Chaos will descend."
"Then it will be the gods' turn."
His laughter echoed through the darkness.
---
Back in Jamnipali—
Near the temple of the mansion, Rasika was meditating.
Suddenly she opened her eyes.
Shock filled her face.
"This aura…"
"Could it be…?"
"Has Vasukinath returned?"
"Only he could possess such power…"