Chapter 1535 Landing On A Familiar Planet

Chapter 1535 Landing On A Familiar Planet

Author's Note: Unedited Chapter

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A lot of these planets were either shells of their former selves or their surfaces destroyed and marked with dark scorches.

"This place," Gustav muttered, "it's like a graveyard of worlds. What happened here?"

He floated amidst the celestial ruins, his golden body glowing faintly in the oppressive darkness.

The planets, though numerous, all seemed lifeless. Some were mere husks, their surfaces cracked and barren. Others bore the scars of unimaginable battles, their landscapes torn apart by forces beyond comprehension.

"There is no doubt about it... This is the Stagnant Siterus Void," Gustav voiced, "a void in time and space where the echoes of destruction linger."

He could feel the void drawing every essence of happiness within him, like there was an invisible force around. It was as if the very fabric of this place fed on despair, amplifying the emptiness and sorrow of its surroundings.

"l'll have to be careful even here," Gustav realized. "If I lose myself here, I'll never find what I'm looking for."

He glanced around, taking in the sight of thousands of abandoned and majorly destroyed planets. Gustav knew he had to find out which one was planet Humbad.

"Miss Aimee said this wouldn't be easy," he recalled. "She must have known about the mental and emotional toll this place would take. Quite terrifying."

He floated towards one of the closer planets, examining its surface. The planet was covered in deep fissures, with molten lava seeping from its core. The air was thick with ash, and the landscape was littered with the remnants of a once-thriving civilization.

"This isn't it," Gustav thought. "Planet Humbad... How do I tell which one it is when most of them look the same?"

He moved on to the next planet, a desolate wasteland with no signs of life. The ground was covered in a thick layer of dust, and the sky was a perpetually dark, stormy gray. Lightning crackled in the distance, illuminating the barren terrain.

"Another dead world," he muttered. "How many more of these are there?"

He continued his search, moving from one planet to the next. Each one told a story of devastation, of once-great civilizations reduced to ruins. The further he went, the heavier the weight of the void pressed upon him.

"This void... Depsite my powerful mental fortitude... It's starting to make me feel despaired," Gustav realized.

This wasn't a new feeling to him but he hadn't felt such since over four years ago before he got the system.

The Golden body was dimming and once it got completely deactivated he wouldn't be able to reactivate it any time soon so he had to prepare to tackle the oppressiveness of the siterus void without it's help.

His mind raced with thoughts and memories, trying to piece together any clues that might lead him to his destination.

"Humbad," he thought. "Did miss Aimee leave any hints as to how I'll locate it amidst all of these?"

"There has to be a way to identify it," he reasoned.

Finding planet Humbad was going to be a herculean task. There were moons, dead stars, and many orbital bodies around as well. It looked like every essence of life was being absorbed by the Stagnant Siterus Void.

The familiarity...

His void stepping boots had been a blessing and a curse. The ability to traverse hundreds of light years in a single step was extraordinary, but it also made it easy to overshoot his destinations.

Learning to control them was difficult but he had become more adept with each use.

Gustav took another cautious step forward, his eyes scanning the ruined landscape. The remnants of buildings, some still towering despite the destruction, loomed over him.

He walked through what seemed to have been a city square, now a barren wasteland with only the skeletal remains of structures hinting at its former glory.

"This place... it feels like I've been here before," he thought.

He continued to walk, the crunch of debris under his boots the only sound in the eerie silence.

As he moved deeper into the ruined city, he noticed that the destruction here seemed more concentrated, more deliberate. It wasn't just the random chaos of a natural disaster; it was the calculated devastation of a war zone.

"What could have happened?" his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the damage.

He came across a particularly deep hole, its edges charred and jagged. Peering into its depths, he saw a red glow emanating from below.

---ss

Gustav explored the surroundings more and made a few discoveries.

He saw a massive circular structure, cracked and nearly completely crumbled at a particular area that looked like it used to be a road.

Gustav inspected it, causing his suspicion to grow the more he looked around.

Soon, he recognized the planet to be Earth and couldn't hide his shock. He stood on what used to be Plankton City, now buried under ash and darkness.

"Does this mean...?" Gustav knew Earth was still okay back where he was coming from, so what exactly did this mean?

As he continued exploring, a dark, large shadowy hand phased out of the ground and headed for him.

[ Atomic Manipulation Has Been Activated ]

A burst of milky colored light surrounded him as Gustav immediately used atomic disintegration to rip through the shadowy hand.

"What was that?" Gustav wondered but didn't get more time to contemplate as dark mist suddenly phased out of the ground.

The hand reformed and went after Gustav again. The moment contact was made, part of Gustav's flesh turned dark.

Gustav hadn't seen this coming and his perception was slower than usual due to the void.

He gritted his teeth against the pain while jumping backwards multiple times to leave a wide distance between himself and the arm.

However, another shadowy arm suddenly phased out from the ground right behind him.