Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Sector twenty one, Seven

My eyes slowly fell on the somewhat familiar ceiling. The room was shrouded in a weak light and a weird smell wafted in the air.

This wasn't my room.

"Mm…"

The feint breathing sound reaching my ears brought to my attention the weak pain I felt on my c.h.e.s.t. Raising my head to investigate it's cause I saw a ball of messy hair with what looked like horns coming out of each side. One of them was pressed against me, that was the source of the pain.

"How can she even breathe like this?"

Lilia was fast asleep. Seeing her like this makes me wonder if my c.h.e.s.t was that good of a pillow. I moved aside the strands that covered her face, slowly striking her hair. As I ran my fingers into it enjoying how silky it felt I breathed in relief and couldn't help but smile.

Underneath the thin blanket heat transmitted our n.a.k.e.d bodies.

That moment of peace, however, was ruined by a clapping sound. I look up to the edge of the bed to find a certain ghost floating at out feet.

"Congratulations" she said, still clapping with her usual smug grin on "you finally lost your cherries"

'Well, thank you'

I carefully placed Lilia's head on the pillow then pulled the blanket and covered her before leaving the bed.

"H-hey…" when I reached to grab my u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r I heard Iris ask an unexpected question "why are you still… n.a.k.e.d?"

'hm? What are you talking about?'

"I-idiot! don't turn this way!!"

'…. What are you being so bashful about?' the way she reacted was more of a complete change in character rather than a change of expression. The smugness disappeared as her face was pained red, and even though I wasn't fully facing her way she was already showing her back to me.

This might have been a cute scene if it was in some game or anime, but it only felt weird because of one simple reason

'You watched the whole thing right? Is there a need for you to act like this?'

'Huh!!? W-what kind of pervert do you think I'm!!? There is no way-' in her anger she turned to yell at me, but when she saw me standing tall with my meat hanging out, shock froze her face. A second later she completely snapped

"IF YOU ARE DONE WITH YOUR BUSINESSTHEN MAKE SURE TO PUT SOMETHING ON!!!"

'okay okay, I get it already, calm down' letting out a long sigh I started wearing my clothes one after the other.

Sitting on the bedside I watched Lilia's sleeping face fore sometime. To my surprise Iris never commented on how creepy that was, she left me to it until a few minutes passed then broke the silence when I involuntarily sighed again

"You don't seem too happy, for someone who just lost his v.i.r.g.i.n.i.t.y"

'Of course I'm'

"Then what's with the face?"

'what face?'

"… sigh… well, whatever"

Shrugging her shoulders Iris pretended to lay on her back, although nothing was beneath it both thin air. She silently stared at the ceiling for a while as she randomly floated around the room before stopping right above Lilia. Flipping over on her stomach she looked down at her friend, lost in the dream world, then perfectly guessing what I wanted to hear she spoke a few words

"I think she's happy"

'I hope'

It was our first night together, I would never forget it until the day I die. I was worried that I've been too forceful with Lilia. Unloading inside her twice, losing control over myself and not considering how she felt even though it was her first time. But to my surprise Lilia said she didn't mind. It was really cute how she refused to say how it felt when I asked her, but after a bit of teasing she finally admitted the truth. Lilia recovered at an incredible rate, in just a few minutes she was back to how she was before we started.

I on the other hand ended up hard again after the short break we took, and in the same way as before I went back to m.a.k.i.n.g. .l.o.v.e without waiting to know what Lilia wanted. We ended up doing it six times, not counting the first two. Lilia never refused my approach and I assumed that if I was feeling that good then she must be feeling the same. After ejaculating for the eighth time I was enveloped with a sense of satisfaction, what happened after that was a mystery.

I could make a guess that I blacked out due to exhaustion, and Lilia was the one to cover us before falling asleep in my arms.

"You have changed, Seven"

'You calling me by name is creepy so stop'

Not giving my comment any mind she added "it's not much, but you seem a bit different"

"Well, I did climb the ladder" I couldn't help but smile. what's more humiliating? To die a v.i.r.g.i.n or to be the very last human to ever reach the goal.

"You were jumping with my the last time you kissed her, but you don't plan on certain now?"

"I… don't know why but… ever since I fought Hir…" was it the near death experience? No, if that was the case then fighting Verta would have had a bigger effect "… I thought I needed to change…"

That's right, I couldn't stay the same old pathetic shut-in forever. That's what I decided on after I was targeted for the first time that's why I planned to propose to Lilia.

'I think it's for the better… whoever I was before waking up that day doesn't really matter…." I'm Seven now. Becoming a different person isn't an easy thing to do, but I'm going to play the character. Then as time goes on, even if I regain all my memories, I would surely become the man I want to be.

"Well, I hope the day you wouldn't need me yelling at you to act would arrive soon"

'don't worry' standing up, I looked over at Lilia one more time 'that day won't be that far'

…..

I went to take a shower and after I got out I ran into Logan. He was surprised to see me, thinking I won't be up for another few hours.

He was holding Blue in his arms. Apparently she was playing with the other kids and fell asleep at some point so he came to.

"this kid…"

'A third candidate, huh…'

Iris didn't seem to like Blue a lot. From how Lilia described my little floating friend I can see the similarities. And now that Iris has cat ears and tail instead of the Zesionien horns, Blue certainly looks like a miniature version of her.

Blue told Lilia that she saw a ghost following me around. That shocked both of us, but Iris felt frustrated that she never noticed she was being watched, and by a kid nonetheless. Blue was rather talented at hiding her presence, that allowed her to steal my book right before our eyes and even helped her escape

Lilia told me a few things about her dead friend, but although she knew a lot about me -since she can read my mind and all- I barely know anything about her or the way she thinks so I don't exactly understand what she was angry about.

Either way, Blue could see Iris, which means she is a candidate to inherit Verta's powers. We now have three people who meet the conditions and the mythical beast herself in one place. It could be pure coincidence, but I watched enough anime to say otherwise.

I left Logan to do what he came for and went to the cafeteria To get something for my dry throat. That's where I met someone who's been missing for days now

"mister Seven, good morning"

"…"

Aley was sitting at one of the tables, smiling at me with that annoying handsome face of his as usual.

Ignoring him I went behind the counter and got a water bottle and one cup. After refreshing I sat facing the synthetic being and silently stared at him for sometime.

"So? Care to explain where you were this whole time?"

"now now, it's not like I ever left the ship, you know?"

"cut the shit" I sighed, irritated "I'm in a good mood right now so don't ruin it"

"Right, I hear you finally got to mating with the miss"

"you better choose the next few words wisely" I brought the water filled cup to my mouth and took a sip then breathed in to cool my mind. This man, robot alien thing was suspicious ever since he approached us on Rooster, me letting him on the ship was careless of me especially since I didn't trust him. Well, from the few words he told us that time I had a good guess about what he was hiding "what does the union wants?"

On my question Aley's expression changed drastically

"Oh! You already figured me out, as expected from the man who subjugated the entire Verta clan"

"Like I said, cut the crap and answer" was he playing on my nerves? I'm starting to feel a headache. The synth stared at me for sometime, the smile never left his face. I want to punch him right now, but I got a bad feeling about this. It was just a guess, but he confirmed it right away. This guy works for the intergalactic union, the largest organization in the known universe comprising most sentient species from open and closed plants -according to Iris-

It regulates the economical and political relationsh.i.p.s between the members and works on keeping peace and enforcing its law through the cast void.

In other words, it's a gathering of suspicious idealists who are most likely closet space pedos.

"mister Seven, are you familiar with the concept of space gates?"

"obviously…" those are the constructions that produce and contain wormholes used to travel between sectors. The main component in creating them is Glassume, a mineral I just happen to own a whole planet full of.

"Accessing the gates required you to have one thing, a key issues by the union itself" he said, taking out a small rectangular shaped device. My eyes went wide, it was my book, the smartphone like device I bought a while ago "you have to be really careful where you leave it" he said, putting the device on the table and sliding it my way.

"when you register a new ship you are given a key that allows you to travel through the gates, your key is stored on this device make sure you never lose or damage it from now on"

"It also contains the keys to Gorgola, isn't your job to retrieve it?" what else would the union send him here for?

"You aren't wrong, mister Seven, but you there is more to it"

Aley explained his orders to me in details. Basically he had two missions. the first was to secure me and the keys I have in case our encounter with the clan went wrong. Once we defeated the crew that attacked us on Rooster they detected movements in the clan's fleet so they updated his orders. Assuming the Hir wanted to deal with me himself they told him to stick close to us and sneak his way into the clan's mothership, where he would proceed to fulfill his second mission

"Beside securing Gorgola's keys I was tasked with destroying every gate key they currently the clan had"

"Aren't keys issued by the union? Can't they just block them?" They are just a bunch of passwords, right?

"Sadly, they are random generated by the gate systems, identifying each one is hard on its own, and even if you did you would then have to manually erase it from every gate"

"and that would be pointless since they can just get new ones from some illegal markets" Iris added a comment to what Aley just said. She was quite knowledgeable on the subject, probably because she did her research before leaving her home.

Apparently all space gates are self operated and don't require a lot of maintenance. At first they were created that way to prevent criminals and pirate groups from activating them on their own, but just as I expected there is a lot of corruption going on in the union and in the end a few keys always find their way to those willing to pay the right price.

"So… you were planting bombs…"

"Yes, I was planting bombs" the bright smile he answered me with told us he felt no remorse for murdering thousand of innocents to get his job done. Then again he was a synth and lacked emotions to begin with. I'm starting to regret ever referring to it as a person.

"So? Am I right to say you changed your mind?" we wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case.

"There is no need to go forward with the plan" he explained "now that the clan is under your control we can negotiate, I'm sure a peaceful solution would benefit us all"

"… I'm listening"

"first of all I suggest you become a part of the union, I'm willing to offer my connections to help in that regard"

"… and?"

"second, you must turn in all clan members who currently have criminal records"

"you asking I betray them one day after I promised them a bright future?"

"I'm sure they all were expecting it to happen sooner or later. The only reason they can settle under your rule is because the union punishes individuals, not the whole organization. they were prepared to leave their families in your care but didn't expect the same fate for themselves"

Basically they have to have evidence that you committed the crime yourself or aided in it, otherwise you wont be persecuted.

I was oblivious to all of this until now. Aley's proposal had more to it than just what it sounded. Even if they won't arrest those with clean records, the union already has proof that I made a deal with the clan. They can just spin it the way they want and paint me as an accomplice in whatever the clan did the take everything I own. In other words I can't let any of them escape.

"You have more than enough money to buy their freedom, there is nothing to worry about"

In the end we would probably go with Iris's proposal. If I join the union I would have the authority to do what we did with Logan, so it kinda means I'm going to take all of them in just like I initially wanted.

"Alright, I will join the union. I will also turn in all the individuals you list" I said while leaning back on my chair "so, is there anything else you want?"

"There is one thing left" I felt like this thing Was manipulating me the whole time. I've already agreed to everything he said, but now he got more. Maybe I was rushing it a little, I still don't know enough about how intergalactic politics work, and there was a limit to what Iris could help with. Maybe I should consult with Lilia's brother first, or maybe ask old man Blitz for advice. I don't think I made the wrong decisions until this point, but who knows what traps I could be pleading all of us in.

"Like I said, I'm willing to offer my help and connections to get you join the union, but I have to ask for something in return"

"… okay, state your price" nothing comes for free, that I understand.

"I'm not asking for money, remember what I told you my job was?"

"You said you make books right? Something about tourist guides…" suddenly, I got a really bad feeling. A chill ran down my spine, I didn't know what he was about to say, but I had this premonition that it was nothing good.

"That's right. I make research on planets I visit, gather any information I could get my hands on and if he union is okay with it, I can publish them to get some pocket money. It kind of a side job I do for fun" He smiled wryly, then went on "there are a few questions I'm positive you are the only one who could answer"

"… if I could, yes…"

"Alright" for some reason, I braced myself for what he had to say. The bad feeling I had only intensified, and understandably so.

It's a topic I had avoided thinking about for a while now. Mainly because I didn't care much, but with how I'm reacting to it, I could tell I was just afraid to ask.

"Mister Seven, do you know about the planet called earth?"

"… yes" as I thought, it had to do with that "the homeworld of the human race, right?"

When I added that last bit, Aley's eyes went wide and his smile disappeared. His tone changed, becoming more serious. He leaned forward and stared at me for a solid minute or so, the without adding much to his first question he asked me another one

"I'm sure you already heard others mention space sectors many times before, right? How much do you understand about them?"

Space sectors huh. Certainly I heard the words before but I never really bothered asking about them. I simply thought they meant something like…

"I know that they are what the known universe is divided into, that's all" that sounded like something you would read in a sci-fi novel, but it can't be that fat from the truth. Both Gorgola and Rooster was located on the twenty first sector, we faced the clan in the nineteenth. Considering it took us three days to travel between them even though we used space gates only serves to indicate how massive each sector was.

"hmm…" it seems my answer was lacking. Aley was staring at me again. After a few seconds he reached to his wizard staff and taped the floor with it twice.

a hologram appeared above the table. It looked like a spiral decided to thirty five blocks -yes, I had to count- at the center was a huge dark sphere. Starting from that sphere the blocks grew in size the further away from it. Of course none of this made any sense so I had to wait for the robot facing me to grace me with some knowledge, and thankfully I didn't have to wait for too long

"Mister Seven, am I right to assume you are a human Male, right?"

"Yes, is there a problem with that?"

"You might be already aware of this, but currently there are no living human males to be found anywhere in the known universe"

"I've been told we went extinct at some point"

The way he continues to stare at me for a few seconds before saying anything makes me anxious. His next question, too, didn't seem to be related to the previous ones, but it brought me back to when Lilia and I were searching the laboratory before Verta -Iris's body to be exact- destroyed a while ago

"Have you heard of the Aljus empire?"

"Hmm… only once, I think"

According to what Lilia told me that time the Aljus empire is something like the big baddies in this universe. They had advanced technology and conquered thousands of planets and everyone feared them, at least until they went extinct. Oh, and what's most notable is that they are the giant humanoid lizards who invaded earth that day….

"they were defeated during the great liberation war about two thousand years ago… that's what Lilia said…"

"And went extinct shortly after"

"… that doesn't make sense…" I asked Lilia about the state earth was in, that's how I learned I was more than a hundred years old.

A hundred years old… the Aljus went extinct shortly after the liberation war…. Three thousand years ago….

"Mister Seven…" interrupting my train of thoughts Aley asked another weird question "this is just a guess of mine, but could it be you are wondering how your homeworld was attacked by a race that didn't exist for three thousand years?"

"…."

Aley looked at the strange hologram he manifested earlier

"This is a rough map of the known universe, it is also a record of the road the Aljus empire took in its conquest" he pointed at the dark sphere at the center and continued "this is their domain, their starting point. From there they began looking for populated planets" pointing at the first block he said "the first planet to fall in their hands is nameless, no trace of it or its sentient race was ever found. This is what is known by the first sector" he continued, pointing at the second block "the second sector is the same, no trace of any sentient life could be found. It's widely accepted that the civilizations that once lived there did not have the technology to resist or flee the Aljus invasion"

When he pointed at the third block, it all started coming together. The questions he asked, the strange way he looked at me, the bad feeling I had. It l made sense

"The third sector. Were the sentient race widely known as the human race originated from. Their homeworld, planet earth, is said to be the battle ground were the Aljus empire first faced what could be considered as resistance. The planet fell to ruins and became unsuitable for life roughly twelve thousand six hundred twenty three years ago"

"Wait… say that again…" I think I heard him wrong, that's all"

"I understand it's hard to believe, please take your time to-"

"Shut the f.u.c.k up and do what I said"

"… the planet fell to" ruins and became unsuitable for life roughly twelve thousand six hundred twenty years ago. Aley explained that the time measurement system used in outer space originates from earth, so when he's talking about a year he's in fact referring to the time the planet known as earth used to make cycle around it's sun.

Human males went extinct alongside the Aljus. No matter how much their numbers dwindled they continued to fight on the frontlines until they union won the war.

Aley's specie was modeled after those soldiers who fought bravely no matter what the odds.

"when we first met I thought you were one of the survivors I heard legends about in my travels. But from your answers just now I don't think you are-"

"Human? You think I never doubted that part?" I shoot lasers, I dismember humanoid alien tigers with ease and can change my hair color at will. Does any of that sound human?

"No, I did a quick analysis during the time we were together, the results prove the theory I have"

"That I'm more than a twelve thousand years old?"

"That's right" Aley stood up, took his staff and tapped the floor with it twice, replacing the known universe map with the hologram of one dark gloomy sphere, a planet "when I asked you about earth you referred to it as the human race's homeworld. But none of the three planets populated by humans is called by that name. What's more, you remember the day of the first attack!"

Aley was smiling, but not the printed smile I grew accustomed to seeing on his face. For lifeless machine, this alien robot showed an expression of incredible excitement and hype he spread his arms wide and boldly declared without a hint of doubt

"You are one of the oldest beings in the universe, mister Seven! You are-"

At the time, I had no idea how this would effect my life going forward or how important what he said actually is. I was trying to find a way to wake up, the dream was getting ridiculously out of hand. First I learned that I was the last man alive, now I hear that earth doesn't exist anymore. And as if that wasn't enough now I'm being told I'm well into my twelve thousands.

The dream refused to end and I was left there watching as Aley, unable to contain his excitement, declared in at the top of his lungs

"YOU ARE ONE OF THE OLDEST BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE! A LIVING RELIC!"