Vahn and Celestine emerged from the chaotic Nexus, not onto some astral plane or forgotten dimension, but onto a rooftop. The shock was immediate and profound: the air was thick with pollution, yet strangely familiar.

​The towering Skyscrapers pierced the neon-streaked skyline. Continuous streams of cars rushed along the asphalt roads below, and planes glided silently through the busy sky.

​Vahn was so shocked that he couldn't even speak coherently. "We are really here... Earth?"

​"Yes, we are," Celestine confirmed, her ethereal grace a stark contrast to the concrete jungle. "I know you have many questions. But I must tell you our objective. See the Orphanage down there?"

​From the top of the three-story building, Vahn's eyes followed hers, landing on a small, unassuming building nestled among the larger structures.

​"Yes, It's the place I grew up in... It looks new. Wait... What year is it?" he asked the most critical question, his mind racing as he tried to reconcile the fate-bending journey with the mundane reality below.

​"The year is 2005," Celestine answered almost immediately, as if she already knew the date before they arrived.

​

​Celestine's expression turned grim, her lavender eyes focusing on the timeline.

"After a while, a couple would bring a newborn child to leave it at the gate of that orphanage. Yes, Vahn, that child is you. We are here to save you."

​Vahn was stunned. They hadn't traveled to the future to fight the enemy; they had traveled into the past of his current life.

​"Save... me?" Vahn stammered. "Why? I survived. I became Vahn Necrotis. What danger could a newborn face here?"

​Celestine stepped forward, the Starlight around her pulsing urgently. "The Void worm is not a monster; it is a parasitic, sentient curse that hunts those with the potential to wield the Void Dao—like you. It attempted to possess Vahn Necrotis in his time but failed. But it tracked your soul in this past timeline."

​"The Scourge knew you would possess the Void Dragon Bloodline and it planned to contaminate you at your weakest point—as an infant. If that baby—your past self—is contaminated, the Scourge will gain access to your current soul and all the power you possess, destroying everything in its path."

​

​Vahn now understood the profound, mind-bending danger. If the Void worm corrupts the infant Vahn, his current self will be destroyed, and the entire timeline will be destabilized, leading to the "doom" Celestine had warned about.

​This was a battle far beyond his understanding, yet he chose to trust the woman before him.

Once again, she felt strangely familiar, the same feeling he had during the Seven Saintesses Competition.

They waited and waited for the child's arrival, but as the sun dipped below the horizon, there was still no sign of them.

"Something's not right... Could it be?" Celestine muttered, her brows furrowing with worry.

"We need to move now, Vahn. They might have been intercepted before reaching us," she said, her voice rising with urgency and rare panic.

"Hey! What are you two doing up there on the rooftop? This is private property! Get down!"

Vahn and Celestine turned abruptly toward the voice. A man in a security uniform stood near the stairwell entrance, holding a flashlight that flickered in the growing dusk.

Celestine's expression darkened. "We don't have time for this," she whispered.

Before the guard could take another step, she raised her hand slightly. A faint shimmer of light brushed past him, and his body froze in place, eyes glazing over as he stood motionless.

"What did you do?" Vahn asked quietly.

"Just a temporary sleep charm," she replied.

"Now follow me."

They leapt from the rooftop, their figures descending with unnatural grace. Celestine landed first, her boots touching the ground soundlessly, while Vahn followed close behind.

They started running across the asphalt road at a blurry speed, stunning the passersby on both sides who felt as though a hurricane just passed by.

​"Fuck! What was that?" a young man muttered while getting inside his Lamborghini.

​"Could it be Flash is real?" his girlfriend muttered, shocked.

​"Oh, come on. How can characters from movies be real?"

Ignoring the mundane reality, Vahn and Celestine followed the faint trail of energy until the sound of sirens and shouting filled the air.

They turned a corner and froze.

Right in the middle of the road, amid honking cars and flashing lights, lay the wreckage of a small black car. Smoke rose from the crushed hood, and glass littered the asphalt. A man stood over two lifeless bodies while blood pooling beneath them and holding a crying infant in one arm and a gun in the other.

The crowd had formed a wide circle around him, fear choking the air. No one dared to move.

​"Murder! Murder! Police!"

​Some still screamed, attempting to call the police patrolling nearby, but they were met with bullet holes in their bodies.

​"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

​The smell of gunpowder hung heavy in the air.

​Vahn's eyes locked onto the dead couple (his supposed father and mother from his past life) and his Infant Self. He didn't know what he should feel toward them.

Should he be angry at their presumed deaths? Or should he hate them for abandoning him at the orphanage?

He had mixed feelings. But one thing was certain: he was extremely angry at the Void Worm, who was in human disguise. By then he knew: it was his mortal enemy.

​Without hesitation, he took out a dagger from his waistband and threw it at the murderer's head with supernatural proficiency.

​Slice!

​The man's head was chopped clean from his neck, and black blood began spraying like a fountain.

​"Ahhh!"

​The ordinary people nearby screamed with terror. Some people's cars were washed with the liquid, which was black in color instead of red blood.

​Celestine immediately took the baby before it could fall. Her expression was one of rare gentleness as she cuddled him to her chest. Vahn found this scene extremely endearing.

​However, just then—

​"Oh My God!"

"Jesus, have mercy!"

​The crowd's screams peaked as the Void Worm in human disguise came back to life.

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