System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!-Chapter 495 - The Story [ll]

As the night deepened, most of the guests had already returned to their kingdoms and resting places.

What remained were the closest ones, those bound to Taufik not by duty or politics, but by life itself.

Taufik sat in the master seat of the long table.

In front of him gathered the men he trusted most.

Behind him, quietly watching with soft smiles, were his wives.

Taufik glanced at them all, dragons, warriors, kings, magicians, exorcists, and comrades who had stood beside him from the beginning of his journey.

"I never felt like this," he began, voice steady but softer than usual. "...Felt like I was truly home"

Dagraha, the former King of the Green Dragons, was the first to speak. "My friend... I regret that I wasn’t there when it happened. But I am very curious. What truly happened after you closed the gate in the sky back then?"

Reza leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I’m curious too, Fik. All of us are"

Arman, the current Green Dragon King, nodded. "As my father said, Brother... we’ve only heard the pieces. We want to hear the truth from you"

Akh’sha, the King of the Blue Dragons, exhaled deeply. "It happened so fast. We didn’t have time to process it. Only later after your son told us, you vanished because you closed the Gate"

Daniel, the Exorcist, spoke next, his tone uncharacteristically direct. "...I felt an alarming energy from one of them. Rotten. Corrupted. The other was divine, far too divine. The Pope told me some things... but if possible, I want to hear it from your mouth"

Taufik looked around.

Rijal of the Dai’Yak Tribe.

Asahi of the Tokugawa.

Queen Heiseratu of the Vampires.

Magicians.

Warriors.

Friends.

Every one of them stared at him with the same expression, curiosity, but also deep trust.

"...I see," Taufik murmured after a long silence. "So all of you really want to know, huh?"

They all nodded.

Taufik leaned back, eyes drifting upward, remembering.

"Then I’ll begin with the simplest part," he said quietly. "What those Gates actually were"

He let the weight of the moment settle.

"The first Gate that appeared... the one I entered, was the Hell Gate. And like its name, it is connected to the true Hell. Not the mythical one. Not the symbolic one. The real place where Demons are born and forged"

Gasps rose, soft but sharp.

Taufik continued.

"As for the second Gate... it only appeared because Hell opened first. You all have the image in your minds already"

A long, breathless pause.

"Yes," he finally said. "The other Gate... was the Heaven Gate. Directly connected to Heaven. The home of Angels"

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Natural enemies of Demons. Opposites of Hell. And at that time... both sides were fully awake"

Silence fell.

Heavy.

Unfiltered.

Electric.

"Hell and Heaven Gates..." Caldwell Alexandria D’Archy murmured, almost breathless.

"...After that?" Rijal asked quietly.

Taufik looked at him, the man who was once an enemy, now a friend who would bleed for him, and smiled faintly.

"After that," he said, leaning back in the master seat, "it was an endless battle. Truly endless. An army of demons, hundreds... no, thousands. Why endless?" His eyes drifted upward again, as if remembering something far older than memory itself. "Because in Hell, there is no concept of time. I don’t know how long I was there. Days? Years? Centuries? I fought until I couldn’t keep count. And that was only the first layer"

A faint shift of movement.

Taufik’s children had quietly joined the table.

His wives too.

And behind them, the younger generation of his friends, apprentices, heirs, all drawn in by the gravity of his voice.

He continued.

"I, Lembu, Basukhi, and Kl’lara... the four of us fought side by side. My Shadow Army, Kl’lara’s Skeleton Army, thousands against thousands. Every battle felt like the world collapsing again and again," His knuckles tightened. "It ended only when I killed one of the highest-ranking demons. That was the moment the First Layer fell... then the Second came... then the Third... until every layer was conquered"

He exhaled.

A name echoed through the gathering like a warning: "The Seven Deadly Sins"

"When Lembu, Basukhi, and Kl’lara were injured, they couldn’t continue. I sent them to the Void. After that, I fought alone. The Seven Deadly Sins unleashed their armies, and my Shadow Army tore through them until Hell itself reached its limit"

His gaze sharpened.

"Hell was not conquered," he said quietly. "It was destroyed"

A faint tremor passed through the listeners.

Then he continued, softly at first, then with a weight that pulled everyone deeper: "After Hell collapsed, I was dragged into another universe. Stranded. Alone"

He told them about the first world he entered, the journey Aksara and Marzuki had heard before, but now the others listened in stunned disbelief.

Then came the next universe.

And the next.

And the next.

A world of superheroes, where mortals carried godlike powers.

A primitive world where iron was rare.

A world drowned in eternal war.

A peaceful world with no magic, no monsters... just people.

A world where gods walked freely.

A world where magic was common.

A world without a single spark of the supernatural.

Each universe different.

Each journey longer than the last.

Each battle carving him deeper.

Taufik spoke for a long time, but no one interrupted.

Not even once.

They sat there, men, women, children, kings, warriors, exorcists, dragons, vampires... all bound by a single truth:

They finally realized something.

They didn’t truly know the man sitting before them.

Not fully.

Not even close.

And still... they wanted to keep listening.

As if hearing the story of a man who walked across Hell and countless worlds... was the only thing that mattered in this moment.

Taufik kept speaking, guiding them through universes of wonders and nightmares, through gods and monsters, through victories that felt hollow and losses that never healed, until finally, he reached the end.

"...and when I arrived in the last universe," Taufik said softly, "the world of Yggdrasil... I thought it was just another stop. Another universe I’d wander through before being pulled again to the next." His eyes softened. "But instead... that was where the journey ended. And now here I am, sitting among all of you"

He opened his hands, as if offering the conclusion to them, or perhaps showing them the simple, fragile truth of his presence.

"That’s everything," he said, voice steady but gentle. "My entire journey. Hell, the Multiverse... all of it. And somehow, after all of that... I’m here. With all of you. Something I once thought was impossible"

Then... Silence.

Not an awkward one.

But something deep.

Something heavy.

A silence that felt sacred.

They didn’t speak.

They couldn’t.

It wasn’t just the story of battles.

Or universes.

Or gods.

It was the realization that the man they laughed with, fought beside, trusted, and loved had walked through a reality none of them could even begin to comprehend.

The air felt different.

As if the time itself was holding its breath.

And then.

A faint glow.

The first ray of sunlight broke past the horizon, a whispered reminder that the world was still turning.

Only then did they realize how long they had been listening.

Hours.

An entire night.

Without moving.

Without speaking.

Yet even with dawn arriving, not a single voice rose.

Because every person in that garden, human, dragon, exorcist, vampire, or otherwise, felt the same overwhelming truth:

Their understanding of reality had changed.

And with it,

their understanding of Taufik.

The man before them was no longer just a friend.

Or a husband.

Or a father.

He was something far beyond their imagination, yet still the same person who smiled at them now.

That contradiction alone was enough to leave them breathless.

--------

After Taufik’s story ended, the party dispersed quietly.

The Dragons stepped through the Gate, returning to their world.

The Dai’Yak Tribe marched back toward their sacred homeland.

The Vampires vanished into the shadows on their way back to their kingdom.

The Magicians teleported to their mansion, their minds heavy with new truths.

The Humans returned to their homes, carrying awe and disbelief in equal measure.

By the time the sun had replaced the moon, only the D’Archy family remained in the castle.

And the echo of Taufik’s tale lingered, in their eyes, in their minds, in the space between every breath.

Even his children could not escape it.

Now they sat atop the massive back of Nāgāntaka, soaring through the open sky.

The Garuda’s wings sliced through the clouds.

No one spoke.

Not because they were tired, but because the weight of their father’s journey pulled their thoughts inward.

Until...

"...It’s amazing but horrifying at the same time," Askara finally murmured, breaking the silence.

"What? Father’s story?" Kiara asked.

Askara nodded.

"From what he described... I can imagine how strong the beings he fought were. Those gods, demons, monsters... and Father just defeated them. Again and again"

"Then what part horrified you?" Litani asked.

Askara looked down at his hands.

"What horrifies me," he said slowly, "is the way gods in other universes treat mortals. As toys. As insects. If Father wasn’t here... if he hadn’t been the one to handle everything, what would have happened to Earth? When gods started appearing, the same thing could’ve happened to us" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The others fell silent.

"...It is possible," Anindha said. "From what I know, when the gods first descended, they did treat humans however they wanted. That only changed after Father confronted them and gave his warning. Without Father... Earth wouldn’t be like this"

"Well," Anggana added, stretching his legs, "even the System everyone gets at age eighteen, the Infinite Tower, the way mana flows across the world, those are all Father’s doing. And Mother Gaia is Earth herself. Of course Father wouldn’t let anything harm Earth or its people. It makes sense"

Askara inhaled deeply.

Then, quietly: "...Do you think we can ever become as strong as Father?"

No one answered.

Not because they didn’t want to, but because the thought was overwhelming.

They were Taufik’s children, yes. But reaching his heights felt like reaching past the sky itself.

"...All of you can"

Their heads snapped toward the voice.

It was Nāgāntaka.

He didn’t turn around, didn’t slow down; he simply kept gliding through the morning clouds, voice calm and absolute.

"Believe it," he said. "You are Master’s descendants. If Master could do it... then so can all of you"

Askara’s eyes widened with hope. "Really, Nāgāntaka?"

"Yes," the Garuda replied. "Master was not always powerful. Once, he was merely a weak human. But all of you possess something he didn’t at the beginning, his bloodline, and the gifts of your extraordinary mothers." His wings stretched wider, catching the wind. "Believe in yourselves. And keep moving forward"

None of the siblings responded.

They didn’t need to.

Nāgāntaka wasn’t asking for an answer, he was planting a seed.

"...I see," Askara finally said, voice steadying. "Thank you, Nāgāntaka"

Nāgāntaka didn’t speak again.

But a small smile, barely visible on his face, curved across his features as he soared onward through the clouds.

....

...

..

.