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Chapter 184: You Aren't. You Weren't. You Will Never Be III

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This was the core of Ian's issues, fear. He wasn't physically exhausted, but mentally so from thinking about the emotions of fear. Why is his fear so strong? More questions rather than answers as usual.

That had taken a toll on his mind, making him cautious and even fearful, something he thought he had lost since finding out about his Death immunity.

Most important of all, Ian found himself afraid of finding the very answers he seeks because his future just became many times more unpredictable.

But he still didn't give up on figuring out what he is because he knows he is something, or he was something.

So Ian took a vacation, a different kind of vacation. He wanted to relax, and also improve at the same time starting with completing another Death Rose.

At the moment, he has two Dead Rose tattoos on his back with another on the verge of completion, and that will allow him to be able to use three Death Roses at the same time.

Even more important were the Father and Mother boxes he acquired. Those miraculous artifacts are sentient, and it's usually nigh impossible to change their alliance.

But Ian can, all he needs is enough time. It's as simple as giving the boxes his Death force, and they'll naturally become his. How could they not after seeing his kindness?

Then there is the Forever force, a force that's capable of manipulating time, and Ian happened to have control over it, so he constructed a small domain where time moves differently.

Within that domain, he spent most of his time feeding the boxes his Death Force. He also constructed similar domains around Ivy and Raven so that they can wake up sooner.

The world was certainly not peaceful while Ian was relaxing. In fact, darkness and chaos were only growing stronger as usual. 

Villains emerge much more than they fall, and those who fall can most often than not stand up again because very few heroes kill.

So Earth continued to be more chaotic, well, most of Earth. Gotham remained completely peaceful. It even rose to become an industrial giant.

While many things were rising, the Roses were settling down, retreating into the dark under Layla's orders.

Most of Ian's team seemed to have vanished with Layla and Ralph being the only ones available for contact, but the two weren't that much of a help when it came to contacting Ian.

The Justice League tried and tried, but they were never able to reach Ian. The Flash especially wanted to reach Ian so dearly, but he was simply out of reach, residing in the House of Mystery.

Someone was able to reach him, however, mostly because he allowed it. It was none other than Cyborg, and he didn't come on behalf of the Justice League.

He came on behalf of the world's governments, the alliance of many governments for the sake of defending Earth against outside influences.

They chose to call themselves Earth Alliance, and they naturally know about Ian, or well, they know enough.

"Where is this place?" Cyborg wondered, a bit stunned. He was in Gotham, then suddenly he appeared here, in a chaotic dimension.

Someone forcefully teleported him out of Gotham into a rainbow-like dimension. He could see numerous odd things floating around, from a simple pen to fucking place.

And everything within the realm was colored oddly, nothing like he was used to. The most interesting thing however was a massive elegant house, and in front of the house was Ian, chilling on a sun lounger. 

"My house. Beautiful isn't it?" Ian answered after taking a sip of fresh orange juice.

"It's... Amazing." Cyborg nodded, seeming amazed. He got his composure back and dived straight into business, "It's ready in the warehouse."

"I know. I already got it." Ian smiled as he answered much to Cyborg's dismay.

"You do?" He could swear he didn't tell him about the warehouse. Where it is, city, alley. He told him nothing, yet he already knows, and he even got it? Cyborg was understandably confused.

"Yeah, but don't worry. I will hold up my part of the deal. You know, business and the such." Ian said casually and added, "The Spaceships will find themselves to you an hour from now. So just stand where you want them to appear, and voila."

Cyborg didn't question Ian much. He knows how business works. If one doesn't hold up their part of the deal, then why would someone risk making a deal with them? It's business 101 to keep a clean track record in that regard.

"What about the information?" There was however a question that needed to be asked.

"In the biggest spaceship of them all. Everything you all might need." Ian answered and lifted his hand, waiting for Cyborg to hand him something, a hard drive.

"..." There was a bit of silence after that before Cyborg asked, "Can you send me back?"

"Oh... I know. I didn't forget." Ian calmly responded before waving Cyborg to Gotham.

The next instant, a coffin appeared next to him. The coffin and the hard drive were what he wanted, and the World Alliance gladly gave them to him for the price of elevating Earth's space defense.

So he gave them a few spaceships he accidentally acquired while touring around the universe, and some of the information that was within them.

The information they gave him in return wasn't that important for Ian. What he valued the most was the coffin because within were the remains of someone very important, Billion Dollar Bates.

He's a rich Earthling and allegedly the only person to have control over the Anti-Life Equation, since his birth. Furthermore, he was the leader of a secret sect. 

The World Alliance knew something about that, mainly that he had powers, so his coffin was kept hidden, but very few beings in the entire universe know about the Anti-life equation, let alone people of Earth.

Bates was the anomaly, born with control over it, and Ian wanted that. The problem is that Bates is dead, and he's nothing but broken bones at the moment, bones on the brink of turning to dust.

That's not too much of a problem for Ian because he knows that soon, the solution will appear to him by itself.

The solution is none other than the white light of life, and Ian has two ways to acquire it. One will require time and the effort of combining all the emotional spectrum energies while the other consists of simply devouring the entity of life.

Ian even theorized that he just needs a single speck of energy for his emotional spectrum to evolve into perfection.

There was a third way using the force of evolution, but Ian deemed it would take way too long. Unless... the Forever force.

This is why Ian's plans were in constant change and need for adaptation because he's in constant change.

But nothing matters to Ian more than increasing his Death force output. That's the core of his Death Roses which brings us to increase the Roses on his back.

Ian had no interest in almost anything but these things. He felt himself becoming distant from humanity because he remembers many times when he felt very human, but that doesn't feel like the norm anymore.

He really just wanted to chill with the girls and have a good time. Sometimes, he feels like giving up, and his willpower doesn't feel like it's strong enough to fight his hidden fears.

But his fear is also exactly why he wants dearly to get stronger, as strong as possible before he finds answers.

Unfortunately, things didn't go his way as not long after, he was teleported away forcefully as if it was a punishment for doing it without consent before.

"I Am. I Was. I Will Always Be... You Aren't. You Weren't. You Will Never Be."