"They all look like me..." I muttered.
'So these are my clones, and all 999,999 of them?'
A clamor arose, and hundreds of thousands of voices spoke at the same time. And from the words said, it would seem that they were all teleported here suddenly.
There was even one guy that was naked when he teleported here and was making a thrusting motion before he realized himself.
"What the...?!"
He immediately used a technique that made clothes appear on him. After that, he accessed his surrounding vigilantly
"Where is this, how did I get here?"
"Which Universe world is this, and why do you look like me?"
"Hey you, aren't you the blood sword emperor that was a legend in my world? I was said to be your reincarnation, but what is this?" A confused voice said as a man in blue clothes appeared behind Arthur.
His words were directed at the red-haired swordsman. The red-haired swordsman only gave a glance and did not respond.
But he had a frown on his face as he was very confused, too. Even the other me in black was silent too. As experienced cultivators, they could sense that the atmosphere is not right.
'Back then I used the time gem to send them to different timelines, and some of them were even sent to the same world.'
'So they would see each other rise in history as legends, and be assumed to be the reincarnation of the clone that came before them,' I concluded.
But that brings the question, 'Who brought us all here?'
And as if to answer my question, the world trembled again as something appeared in the sky above.
"A palace?" Some said.
'Isn't that?..."
As the palace became clearer, my eyes widen a bit as I recognized that palace. It was an artifact of mine that I lost in the wormhole.
"The Nine Heavens Palace!"
"My god! It really is the Nine Heavens Palace. I thought it was just a myth!"
The cultivators around, or should I say my clones recognized that palace too. And they said it was a myth?
'How long has passed since then,' I wondered.
I too felt confused and bewildered at the current development. With a lot of questions swirling in my head, I almost couldn't take it.
'Damn, I was just a normal guy this morning, and now this?'
'I mean, couldn't I have been reincarnated, or transmigrate into a non-talented youngster with a hidden plot amour like those protagonists in the novels?'
While I was nagging about the situation, the palace suddenly expanded massively so much so that we all found ourselves at its doorstep, that to my shock was big enough to contain everyone here.
"Welcome, everyone!"
A majestic voice spoke and we all looked towards the door which was opening at this point. As the voice that spoke came from within the Nine Heavens Palace.
"You all should come inside, and I will explain all your doubts. And don't bother to try leaving, you won't be able to either," the voice said again.
And indeed, I saw many try to use some kind of technique and reveal surprised expressions when their techniques of whatever ability they tried using did not work.
Eventually, we all entered the palace with me trying to avoid drawing attention by lowering my head and walking as slow and as silent as possible.
With that, we all entered the hall within, and I found myself at the very back.
Within the hall, we found a man dressed in golden armor, seated on a throne. He looked like he was middle-aged.
If I had to describe him, I would say he looks exactly how I would look if I didn't get attacked before entering that wormhole back then, and grew a beard.
His eyes looked like two swirling black holes, that felt like they would devour everything in the world.
I didn't dare continue to look after that first glance and averted my eyes.
'Self note, powerful cultivators are scary!'
"I know you must all have questions. And I assure you that they will be answered by the time I finish my explanation," said the man on the throne.
"Let me start by telling you a story, from eons ago..." And so the man told a tale of a powerful and heaven-defying cultivator from a time so far back that it is considered a myth. As there are doubts as to if such a time existed.
'That's me! He is talking about me!' I thought in surprise as I heard the parts in the tale that I knew of my past.
I listened on with rapt attention as I had too few memories about myself and the total I knew would not even amount to more than a few years of my past life.
"...and so Arthur Nightingale died after he entered the wormhole and no news has been heard about him again."
"As for the clones he made...they are us all," said the man on the throne as he finished the story.
"So what happens now? Why did you summon us here?" One of the clones asked.
'He seems to think that I am dead,' I thought as I tried to guess what this man's plan was until it hit me.
'Wait a sec...don't tell me he plans to?!'
"Well, the answer to that question should be as you might have guessed," The man said with a grin as he stood up from the throne and stepped down.
"I plan to finish what our original started...hahaha!"
There was a crazy glint in his eyes and he said that.
'Typical villainous laugh,' I said mentally as I decided to attempt to leave.
'Shit, can't move!'
"You are all under my control at this point so do not try to resist,"
Many refused to have their souls absorbed by this man and summoned all their strength, which caused the hall we were in to vibrate with great intensity.
The aura of 999,998 very powerful cultivators was nothing to scoff at.
"Such power, as expected of Arthur's clones, that were blessed by the fate gem. If I were alone, I would be killed by you all instead."
"But you should know that this place isn't just any random palace. This is the Nine Heavens Palace!"
*vroom!*
Symbols, appeared all around us covering the entire palace and sealing the powers of everyone.
"Ah!"
I blinked and found myself in another position. It felt like space rearranged itself and we all found ourselves surrounding the man in golden amour.
"Such powerful formation! These rune symbols, I have never seen anything like it," said one of the clones.
He had a long brush for a weapon and was more fascinated than afraid unlike everyone else here.
"I don't mind getting absorbed after witnessing such formation. As I could be said to have seen the peak of all runes!"
'Yeah, it's easy for you to say. You all have lived for thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, and possibly millions. But for me, I'm only 22 years old, damn it!' I thought in indignation.
"Hehehehe...I have waited for so long for this."
The man at the center began to float in the middle of the formation and looked at everyone on the ground and said...
"Your souls are mine!"
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--------End of Chapter-------------
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A/N: Below is an alternate scene...
Man in golden amour: "Your souls are mine!"
Arthur: "Bro, you are in the wrong series...MK is over there!"