Chapter 986: with translation of chapter title

NO. 109: opposite? flow

In life, one will encounter many problems, from others and from oneself.

The more skilled one is at observation, the more one understands thinking, and thus the more one must face all kinds of riddles.

Among these, there is a problem that is not necessarily inevitable, yet it is one that contemporary youth cannot avoid facing.

Can you like yourself?

This is not an orientation test with hidden narcissistic intent; it is simply the literal meaning.

Those who can straightforwardly answer that they cannot are often seen as bearers of an inferiority complex.

But reality is certainly not so simple.

When you understand yourself sufficiently, when you analyze yourself thoroughly enough, the answer to this question becomes merely a feeling.

Unrelated to feelings of inferiority, it is because you see things clearly enough that you cannot bring yourself to like it, and you think that if possible, you hope to become a different self.

But such a change should absolutely not be built by denying the past.

Just as every present moment stems from past accumulation, denying the past is denying the present self.

The youth is quite aware.

Even if he cannot yet be called a complete Aomo Lindun.

Even if he now bears the utmost rationality and also most rejects that emptiness of divinity.

He also clearly understands that his previous anguish was over how absurd a problem.

Absurd, yet impossible to resist.

But at the same time, he can still clearly realize—how that emptiness, sealed by himself deep within the heart and seemingly not outwardly visible, influences and shapes the present self.

Even the present self still has relatives and friends.

There are even people who can tell you they like you.

Now you possess much, earned by your present self, yet you yearn for a future that would make them feel alien, solely to make yourself comfortable, solely for the ideal of 'becoming better,' solely to sever ties with your former self?

The education you have received and the cases you have seen clearly tell you that severance should not be accomplished in this way.

Nowadays, some say that no matter what choice you make, she will support you, because liking is blind.

She can stake everything on your decision, and after her, even others likewise add their endorsement.

They are all here, they are all on the battlefield, they are all waiting for your orders; that trust is likewise blind, blind to such a degree of weight, heavy enough to make you realize——

——only you cannot be blind.

The more such a time, the more you need to see clearly.

You understand the responsibility you bear, you know that night cannot lack light.

A starless night without lamps should still have the moon's presence.

Even if it is not warm, even if it is not strong.

It also casts a pale trace upon the ground, urging you onto the path of hope, so you can use it as a guidepost.

Thus, there is no longer any need for that anguish.

The past cannot be changed, and the future is too illusory.

Even Aomo Lindun can grasp only the present.

There are two steps: first, press the transformation device; second, press the transformation device.

Presumably, if Thus: Lipiya were to know, she would also feel relieved.

The principle has two parts: one, fusion with the Devil God ZERO; two, still fusion with the Devil God ZERO.

If the Hei'an Teregina in the card case had consciousness, it would likely feel somewhat familiar.

But this ultimately is a no‑solution solution.

If it were an ordinary monster, the first procedure alone would already be sufficient.

But unfortunately, Devil God ZERO even possesses a power specifically to counter this.

Seventh Devil God Power: 'Devil God Transformation'

Clearly a super robot, yet it can devour and assimilate the pilot's will, making them become the true 'sacrifice' of its own Devil God Transformation.

The youth had no intention of competing in will with the Jia Jia of years past; after all, the cockpit of Devil God ZERO is not merely testing will—when those cables wrap and bind you, even piercing your body, you should know that physical brainwashing is quite real.

Regardless of one's own strength, directly clashing with the opponent's forte is never wise, so he employed the Beta system's double activation, and the target of that second activation……

It is himself.

As the igniter of the Beta system, the crystal tip of the Beta Magic Blade can serve as a reading device.

This, Aomo has demonstrated countless times.

Each time, the usage that looks like 'card damage' is when he transforms himself into atoms of Sparsium-133, also reading and releasing the information from the monster cards, mixing and re‑arranging to construct those so‑called Devil‑King Fusion Beasts.

And what if the youth himself were treated as a monster card, to be read and released?

A bold attempt, and the result of the attempt was very successful.

He, from an extraterrestrial lifeform of the data world, has upgraded into an energy existence like Ultraman.

Just as Ultraman needs a fusion partner to manifest a physical form, he directly fuses with Devil God ZERO—no longer appearing in the cockpit as a physical entity, but entirely becoming an energy being that fuses with Devil God ZERO, surpassing the Devil God's power that acts upon reality and delving into His heart.

Here, He will not take the form of the terminal Devil God, but will be the original appearance.

He is a mass of black outline.

A pitch‑black humanoid silhouette whose shape completely matches that of Aomo Lindun.

He will not speak, just as Devil God ZERO has always been silent in prior battles; even if he shows a grinning sneer, he remains soundlessly still, only his gaze that destroys everything speaking louder than words.

When Aomo leads the operation of Nigjkalis, the battle between them is also very quiet.

There are no public‑screen shoutings or loud yelling unique to the Super System Radish War.

Not to mention trash talk; even their dialogue never took place, only the harsh sounds of metal tearing, friction and collision continuing unceasingly.

But the battle itself is a conversation.

Just as Aomo first saw the Observer, for the two Aomo Linduns, information exchange need not be in the form of conversation.

Observation is the eternal primary duty; conversation is like an inaudible radio wave, appearing to outsiders merely as a life‑and‑death struggle in the back‑and‑forth, while in fact each clearly knows why the other has come.

Battle is thus, and the present meeting remains thus.

Aligning the focus, deeply synchronizing, as if tracing an emotional line.

Seeing the other's closed universe.

You will disappear, you will die, and all of you will be swallowed by the void.

I don't think so; I have confidence, I carry countless newly born emotions, seeking to touch the edge of the void.

Even so, that pitch‑black outline remains unmoved; that universe is like a starless galaxy, only coldly expressing that you should kill me directly, or let me kill you.

But that ought not be, so the youth reached out his hand toward the other.

Humankind is constantly changing; I hope you can observe our changes in the present.

At this very moment, the youth reached out his hand toward the other.

And the other did not avoid it; he had no reason to avoid it, he would only feel it futile, yet he did not reject letting this emptiness swallow the other entirely.

So, when the other neither dodged nor evaded, he also raised his palm to clasp hands.

Only then did the youth finally speak, uttering the first words exchanged between them in battle so far, leaving the other utterly stunned.

"I, of the present moment, want to find a self worth liking."