Earth paused.

Everything looked as if one mighty being had pressed a pause button on it, causing the wind, the molecules, the atoms, the water bodies, the earth itself, and all beings within it… to stop.

All over the world, you could see beings in a statuesque stance of every form and shape…some in the midst of important tasks, others already asleep.

But there were three beings who didn't stop alongside the others, excluding Noah.

And they all raised their heads to the sky at the same time, their minds immediately thinking of the culprit behind this situation. There was no mistake, only he could make this world stop.

"And he was the one who dared to tell us not to cause trouble," Aurelia muttered as she sat amidst books and novels of every kind and color in the British Library, situated in London, with a couple of pastries beside her.

She was enjoying her life. She had never seen such a wild diversity of books.

She was holding one called Golden Son. And goodness… Aurelia would do anything to witness an iron rain.

And the best thing was that…

She slowly turned her head to see Morning Star, Dark Age, and the rest. Also, beside them, there was one with the cover Demon in White.

She closed her eyes briefly to contain her excitement and focused back on her reading, not caring in the least about what the youngest was doing.

She sipped her tea, bit into a pastry glazed with honey, and continued reading calmly, her gold-rimmed glasses resting elegantly on her face.

She was weirdly sexy.

In another place, amidst a sea of green trees threatening to reach the sky, Asaemon also looked toward the heavens. He was wearing traditional African red garments that exposed his muscled, chiseled body. Around him were other dark-skinned men and women, all of them speaking with great enthusiasm.

Had the world not paused, the cries challenging Asaemon to wrestling matches would have echoed through the forests of Congo, frightening even the most terrible beasts.

That was what he was doing here, wrestling with both humans and beasts alike, quickly becoming popular among these simpletons.

His face split into a huge grin. "The youngest always seems to do something interesting," he said. "I wonder what it is this time."

He chuckled before cackling like a madman, crouching down to grab a handful of the muddy ground beneath him, smearing it over his hands, and painting the faces of the ones he now called his friends.

"Heheheh, what would they say? They certainly wouldn't blame me."

"They'll be so surprised once the youngest finishes his thing." He laughed mischievously.

He, too, was a simpleton.

In another place — more precisely, in a well-known pastry shop in Milan called Pasticceria Marchesi — a woman with plain black hair and eyes was sitting before a mountain of pastries.

She was drooling, eager to eat all of them, only to be interrupted by the sudden stillness of Earth. She merely clicked her tongue and dove into her food again, her mind whispering her buried thoughts:

'Why can't this man just stay still?' she grumbled internally while eating.

But these three were not the only ones who noticed the world's strange state. Outside of it, in the ever-expanding universe, Evadam suddenly paused and looked toward Earth.

Not only Earth, he also turned his gaze to the sun and the moon and saw that all of them were frozen in place. They were no longer moving as they usually did.

He sighed tiredly, tempted to see what that third abomination was doing inside Earth, but he stopped himself. He had promised not to look. And he knew Noah was not foolish enough to endanger a world he had painstakingly succeeded in acquiring from him.

Still, keeping his word…

"What is that goddamn abomination doing again?" Evadam spat.

…didn't stop him from wondering or from cursing Noah.

…

How could he do that? How would he be able to do his duty as a son?

It was a question worth pondering, but Noah didn't linger on it for long. He had always believed that the best way to make your mother — or even your father — proud was to show them that you were able to take care of yourself.

To show them that you had become someone worthy of the effort and sacrifices they made to bring you into this world and raise you.

But there was also that feeling inside parents — that quiet voice whispering to their hearts — the desire for their child to take care of them once they grew old. Yes, they might say it directly or indirectly, but no parent would ever deny the comfort and joy of being cared for by their own child at the dusk of their life.

It was not merely a matter of money. It was a matter of feeling… of emotion and connection. It was definitely not easy, because the older people grow, the grumpier they often become, burdened by aches and complaints.

But weren't you the same when you were a child? Always crying, always causing trouble, always keeping your parents awake?

Same thing. Different timelines.

For Noah, the way to fulfill his duty was simple. He only wanted his mother, Halima, to live a peaceful life, free of pain or hardship.

She had spent the majority of her life in agony, stress, and hidden suffering unseen by all and ignored by the world.

And for that to happen…

'I have to give you back your life,' Noah decided, his hand glowing with intense silver light upon the tombstone.

He had thought it would be easy.

But there was something Noah hadn't accounted for…the fact that his mother had been dead for a long time. And when people die, anyone in this universe, their soul is transferred to another plane of existence.

One more commonly known as the Soul Realm.

It was something Noah had always succeeded in bypassing because the restrictions didn't apply within Laeh — his own world, inside himself. And when he was outside, he would always snatch their souls before they crossed to the other side.

The process differed depending on the person and the weight of their soul.

For mortals, it was much easier. But for divines, the process took time — sometimes ages — depending on their power and uniqueness.

A soul like Noah's, for example, might take years, and that's if he didn't resist. But no one would kill a divine without destroying the soul at the same time.

A foolish mistake to make.

Halima, though, had died long ago and she had died as a mortal.

Noah frowned. "I… I cannot take back her soul?" he muttered, feeling the enormous resistance pressing against him.

He was attempting to breach a domain he did not control, and the resistance was immense. It wasn't something that should have posed a problem to him, he could force his way through, but that would mean using his full strength, and Earth would be completely destroyed before he could even save his mother.

He clicked his tongue in deep frustration. "Soul Realm…" he whispered.

He already knew of this realm. Justicia had spoken to him once about it, saying there were beings no one wished to cross. Not because they were particularly powerful, but because they were unique. Their power was the dominion over souls.

And there was nothing in existence that didn't have a soul.

Even the Progenitor had one.

That made them terrifying, especially the rulers of the Soul Realm, whom the inhabitants themselves called the Spirit World.

He sighed, feeling an incoming headache. Clearly, if he wanted to retrieve his mother's soul, he first needed to make Earth his Heart.

That thought dampened his mood a little, as he was impatient to see her again. And somehow, for some reason, he was eager to introduce her to Selene.

He wondered, what would she say? Would she still see him as her son? Or as something else?

What would Selene say? And what would he tell his wives if they asked about Halima?

Would he lie?

No.

He didn't like the sound of it.

Noah had always liked to keep his own secrets — his system, for example, was one — but his reincarnation?

Maybe… just maybe, he would have to confess to his wives.

And the best way to do that would be…

"I guess," Noah smiled faintly, "it's time to reunite with my wives."

Instantly, blinding light burst around him as…

"NOAHHH!"

The wives had come.

And Noah's clouded face brightened like starlight, like the now-moving moon above.

Gods…

…how badly he missed them.

—End of Chapter 368—

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