Chapter 654 - 654: Further

'I'm known as Zale Azarel. I'm from the nation of Elisium...' These words were enough to shock Lucifer. 

So it wasn't someone who just looked like his father! It was literally him! But he looked different! He looked much different than Lucifer, and the world remembered him as. 

He wasn't wearing his signature locket that he never left home without! It was given to him by Clarisse as a gift. 

Moreover, not only was the locket missing but there was something even more amiss! It was that Zale looked much younger!

He looked like he was barely twenty years old!

"I was right. I am dreaming," Lucifer sighed, sitting near the fire. "My dreams are really getting crazy now."

"Dreaming? I don't understand what you're saying. But are you also here to train yourself?" Zale asked. 

"Train? What do you mean?" Lucifer asked. 

"Of course, training. Why else would I personally come to this freezing hell," Zale replied. "You see, last year, I awakened as a Warlock. But there are so many Warlocks in this world, all stronger than me."

"So I knew I was going to need training. So I came here to train my body and my strength," he further added. "Did you not come here for that?"

"You gained your strength last year? What nonsense. Can't my dream recreate my memories either? It has been over thirty years since you gained your powers," Lucifer replied. 

"Ah, I am not sure what you're saying. Thirty years ago? I awakened? Hah, I wasn't even born thirty years ago."

Lucifer looked weirdly. 

"What year is this?" He asked, just to be sure. 

"Did the cold freeze your head? You even forgot the year?"

"Will you just answer me?"

"It's January of 2025," Zale replied. "Man, you're acting weird."

'2025? That is three years before the Great War. I heard stories that father became a Variant in 2024. And in 2026, he met mother for the first time. Does that mean I'm dreaming about the past?'

Lucifer kept looking at Zale blankly. 

'Or is it because of the powers of Julien? His powers were related to time. Did they send me back in time somehow?'

There were many questions in his head, and none made sense at the moment. 

"Can you tell me what your abilities are?" Lucifer asked. 

"I can do this," Zale replied, raising his finger. 

A tiny spark of lightning flickered around his fingers. "But it's a useless ability. It's too weak, I think. All it can do is electrocute people I touch while using it. Other than that, it's pretty useless."

"And I also have Super Strength. That's my favorite. It's not useless like the lightning. You can say, I can easily break a concrete wall with a punch."

"Lightning, and weak?" Lucifer looked weirdly at Zale. "I guess you still haven't realized the true potential of your lightning. I can't blame you. You only awakened it. With time, you'll learn how strong it can be."

"How do you know how strong my lightning can be? Do you also have something similar?" Zale asked. 

Lucifer smiled. He raised his hand, bringing forth the lightning. A similar lightning flickered around his fingers. 

He tossed out the lightning bolt in the distance. "And that's how you can attack with it. It's much stronger. Then again, who am I even teaching? You're literally the person who made all these skills."

"Amazing. It looks like we have the same ability but using it to attack like that? How can you bring it out of your body? Is that even possible?"

"Hmm?" Just as Lucifer was hearing Zale, he noticed something. 

After a long time, he finally realized that his hands had no gloves. 

"If I don't have them, how was I able to touch things?" With a deep frown, he tried touching a stick. It didn't decay. 

"I don't have my decay? That's odd."

"What happened?" Zale asked. 

"Ah, nothing. Just give me some time. I need to see something."

He closed his eyes and started observing the skill cores inside his body to see if he had the Decay Core. 

'It's still there.' he didn't have to search long before finding out. It was inside his body, but it wasn't where it was supposed to be. However, it was slowly moving towards the place it belonged. 

There was also a strength core, a lightning core, and more. However, the strangest thing was that there were some cores that weren't in place. They were still slowly moving as if his body was still being constructed properly for some reason. 

Something was really wrong, according to him. 

Moreover, he also noticed the Time Core, which was reading near his chest. For some reason, the Time core looked extremely unstable. 

'I have a feeling that it's not really a dream, but the work of time. During absorption, something must have happened to the Time Core that sent my soul in the past. And my Healing formed a temporary body to accommodate myself! Could it really be that?'

'I always wonder what was going to happen if my body was destroyed. Could it be similar to that scenario? My Healing was going to form a new body in case I didn't have one?'

'If that's the case, how can I go back? Will controlling the Time Core help me somehow? How though. This thing... Wait! What if I found Julien again and stole his Time Core again to heal mine?'

Instead of finding answers, he was only able to find more questions, but at least now he had a theory of why he was here and why he was free of Decay. It was because his Healing was still forming his body. After it was complete, his Decay was certainly going to work. 

'But can I really be sure that it's not really a dream?' he thought, opening his eyes. 

Even though he had a theory, he had no proof that his theory was correct other than his assumption. But it could all be a dream as well. 

"Are you alright?" Zale asked. "You look concerned for some reason?"

Lucifer slowly opened his eyes. "You know, your personality in your younger days is really different from what it will be in the future. You seem like you lack the confidence now. But there might come a day when you'll be the king of self confidence."

"Who knows," Zale replied. "All I want is to be worthy for this world... Worthy of this power that I was given." Zale smiled. 

"I don't think there is anyone more worthy than you for your power..." Lucifer replied. 

However, he finished his sentence by adding a small word in the end in his thoughts, 'Father.'