Three years passed in a flash, and there was still no trace of Athena. No news from Kamar-Taj either.
lin was frustrated, but he knew he couldn't allow himself to fall into despair. Athena would return to the Sanctuary one day. To present her with a better Sanctuary when that ti ca, he had to keep moving forward. There was also a sense of atonent in this—after all, he had been present at the ti and yet failed to protect her.
"My lord, here is today's report." Shion handed a file to lin.
lin didn't open it right away and instead asked, "Still no news about Athena?"
"Y-Yes…" Shion replied hesitantly, not out of fear, but guilt.
When Athena was attacked during her reincarnation, it wasn't just lin who felt guilty—Shion, Alex, Dohko, and all the Saints shared the bla.
Athena was their goddess. Their very existence was ant to protect both the Earth's love and hope—and her. Yet they had failed.
So over these three years, if lin hadn't strictly forbidden anyone from delaying Sanctuary's developnt, Shion would've deployed every bit of his strength to search for her.
"Forget it, maybe the ti just hasn't co yet," lin sighed.
…
During these three years, he'd also pondered—behind Hades, Zeus, and Shakyamuni, what kind of hidden hand had been at work?
Although the three had launched a joint assault, Zeus and Hades had suffered severe injuries and fled. As the one who had wounded them back then, lin was confident they couldn't return to full strength faster than he could. anwhile, Shakyamuni had withdrawn into seclusion with the Buddhist sect and had little influence on the outside world. Even if the three had tead up, there's no way they could have shattered Athena's reincarnating body—especially under the combined protection of lin and the Saints.
Moreover, with the full power unleashed by lin and the Saints, no residual energy from their attack should have remained.
To add to this, Asura was out searching for the hidden location of the Buddhist sect, yet despite having clues, he was making little progress.
All these unnatural factors pointed to one conclusion—soone else had intervened, helping their enemies at a critical mont.
"But who? Soone who could evade my perception… The Eastern deities? Uranus? Or… the One Above All (OAA)?"
The first two seed plausible. The last one, even lin found hard to believe. The OAA was the embodint of the multiverse's collective will. If it truly existed, it wouldn't bother with the petty wars of lower beings.
If it had cared enough to interfere, why not act tens of thousands of years ago? Why help Zeus and the others?
If the OAA were truly the enemy, why not destroy Sanctuary and Athena completely while lin was in slumber? That would've been the weakest point in their history.
Thus, lin imdiately ruled out the OAA.
But the other two guesses left him uncertain. Their existence was pure speculation—maybe they had already perished long ago.
"Looks like this great universe still hides powerful foes… it's getting tense," lin thought.
If this universe was really just one of many in the multiverse, then his peak strength from before wouldn't be enough. In the vastness of the cosmos, countless powerful beings existed. In the multiverse, single-universe-level beings were a di a dozen, and multiverse-level ones were everywhere.
Thinking of this, lin stopped speculating. No point in thinking too far ahead. If these beings didn't show up, then they didn't matter. If they did, Sanctuary in its current state couldn't resist anyway. Better to focus on the present—grow stronger, and earn a place in the universe.
Opening the first page of the file, lin paused.
"Huh? Has it already co to this?"
The first page read: Strange Incident in Cairo, Egypt — Several Found Dead
Attached were a dozen photos of the victims. All were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents—one embedded in a wall with only a face showing, another reduced to a white skeleton with lted flesh…
This was clearly the work of a superpowered criminal, sothing the Spear Bureau or X-n should handle. But then a report from Charles was attached, and that changed everything.
"Moria collected intelligence on the first mutant in the world. His na: En Sabah Nur."
"Hah… joined the Sanctuary and still didn't have her mories wiped by Charles… and ended up reviving Apocalypse by accident, huh?" lin chuckled.
But this also reassured him slightly. The question that had been bothering him now had a clue. So far, history was mostly following the path of the movies he'd watched in his previous life. Even with his butterfly effect, the general trajectory hadn't changed much. Minor events could change, but grand fates were harder to alter.
"I just wonder who the new Four Horsen of Apocalypse will be. Warren the Angel, Elizabeth the Psylocke, and Erik the Magneto all joined the Sanctuary early. Ororo the Storm is still Charles's student, a reserve X-n. The original four have all been intercepted… Who will be the new ones? Kinda looking forward to it."
lin's curiosity made sense. As a fan of the movies in his previous life, he was genuinely interested in how things would play out—so long as Sanctuary wasn't threatened.
There were still a few nad powerful mutants left—he could rember Logan the Wolverine, Victor the Sabretooth, and Remy the Gambit.
Oh, and Emma the White Queen.
She had originally been allied with Sebastian Shaw, but in reality, soone else had taken that place. So where had Emma gone?
"Wait… if I'm rembering right…" lin suddenly grinned. "Heh… things are about to get interesting."
…
Cairo, Egypt. Apocalypse, freshly awakened, wandered the streets aimlessly. As he looked at the bustling crowds, a surge of anger filled his heart.
"Why? These are mortals! Slaves! Why are they allowed to walk freely? Where are their masters? Where are my people? Why is not even one to be found!?"
Just then, a loud explosion occurred nearby. Apocalypse extended his senses and finally smiled—only to frown again monts later. He had seen it: a muscular man engulfed in flas was being held at gunpoint by suited mortals, ordered to surrender.
This was rebellion. In his era, mortals would never dare resist the people of the gods.
He imdiately decided to punish these mortals and claim the man who fit his ideals.
But before he could act, the flaming man ca running from an alley with a large bag of jewels and cash, being chased by the suited n.
Eventually, the man was cornered, and with a reluctant expression, dropped the loot and raised his hands in surrender.
Apocalypse couldn't stand it anymore. He teleported behind the agents and with a wave, slaughtered all of them in various grueso ways.
The flaming man froze in shock, then cheered, "Hey buddy! Looks like we're on the sa team! Thanks for the save—I'll repay you soday!"
Then he tried to run, but Apocalypse froze him in place.
"You… Fine. I get it. Everything's yours. Just let go." The man thought he'd run into a worse criminal—robbed by a fellow outlaw. All that effort for nothing.
But Apocalypse didn't touch the loot or let him go. He asked, "Why?"
"…Why what?" the man replied, confused.
"Why run? Why not just kill the slaves?"
"Dude, what cave did you crawl out of? This is modern society! There are no slaves!" The man thought, If this guy lets go, I swear I'll laugh myself silly. I thought I was getting robbed, but I ran into a caveman instead.
"Modern society? Child, tell more. Oh, I forgot to ask your na."
"Co on man, if you don't want the loot, just let go. We'll pretend this never happened."
"I asked—your na!" Apocalypse was getting annoyed. He had tolerated this man only because he was the first person of godly blood he'd t since awakening. But this man dared speak to him as an equal? Outrageous!
Under Apocalypse's ntal control, the man's eyes went lifeless as he responded flatly,
"Torras. Torras Rishi Deriqil."
"Torras, tell why you ran. And what is this 'modern society'?"
"Because I'm a robber. They were chasing . 'Modern society' just ans the current age. It doesn't an anything special." A simple answer, but not the one Apocalypse wanted.
A robber? But the possessions of slaves should belong to their masters…
"So the key lies in this so-called 'modern society'… Just how long have I been asleep? I need to find out how the world has changed." Apocalypse thought, releasing his control over Torras.
"You… what did you do to !?" Torras stared in terror, rembering what had just happened but unable to move during it.
"Child, you have potential. You'll follow for now."
And without waiting for Torras to agree, Apocalypse teleported away, taking him along.
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