novelraw Chapter 1695 - 1694 - Fracture
Chapter 1695 - 1694 - Fracture
Time lost all meaning to Lind's senses. There was no day nor night yet he periodically checked the trial interface. There was no new progress but he had confirmed even his senses were being distorted.
He flew for days that felt like minutes and then hours that were actually only a day.
His speed was little better than a car going 30 to 40 mph but he was also slowing down at times as sounds reached him from the surface.
The thralls could sense him but not find him. Their strength was nothing yet he could not explain the strangeness of their existence.
Thralls were usually just living beings tied to a Fiend and could be taken over remotely. They were not amorphous blobs at all!
He suspected something in the fog itself was interacting with the technique but he could not determine what.
It took a solid 2 weeks before he finally felt an increase in density. He had been going up and down while moving east. He was trying to find that center he had seen from far above.
Several times, his body reacted as his harmony flared to show he was still being monitored or maybe attacked. He never felt anything until it was all over.
The distinct lack of Fiend Qi also disturbed him. Only at the last moments of death were the thralls revealed by their nature of their final moments.
The more he saw the more mystifying the situation became.
If a Fiend was invading or trying to refine the Earth, why were they taking so long and why such a roundabout method?
He estimated it all happened not long after he died, by just a few months yet an old memory contradicted it.
It was the first question he had asked the 2 women! Had the woman he saved cherished her new life! He had seen her old and surrounded by children!
Why lie to him about that? Admittedly, checking in on his old home had been on his agenda if he ever killed the Bastard but the strangeness of things made him reconsider if it was a lie at all.
What if, like his changed futures, the Earth he stood on was but a possibility? Or, perhaps, at the time he asked the question, nothing like he was experiencing was supposed to happen?!
His vast experience told him that the trial might also have chosen the planet Earth for that very reason. The Twins seemed very powerful when they made their final Inheritance together.
They were aware of the changes in time recursions as well. They were only Divine Wills, so why were they immune when no other cultivator Karu had met showed any sign of it at all?
Could they be under some kind of restrictions as cultivators while Divine Wills were locked to their Inheritances and unable to change the outside world?
He headed towards the denser sensation but then nearly tumbled out of the sky as a very familiar feeling washed over him. He landed and cast Origin Flame in all directions.
The smoldering black walls appeared as the fog was burned away. It was much smaller than the last ones he had seen but he knew what it was!
A Void of Heaven! It was a thrice damned tactic to hide from Heaven and Earth to invade places a powerful cultivator would be normally stopped dead or, especially in the case of Fiends, due to their nature.
He also noticed no thralls were nearby as none left screaming. The contrast finally gave him pause too.
Despite knowing that it was the source, the fog was not made by it! The fog broiled around it and did not do anything so far as he could tell.
"The fog is containing it?" Lind spoke aloud before he realized and jumped when he got a response.
[Always the bright little dragon. So much less than when you and I danced before but still bright.] That voice! Lind knew that voice!
"YOU BASTARD!" He charged ahead and his emerald flames distorted the Fiend Qi in the Void of Heaven but it was just barely! It was the first time Fiend Qi withstood his harmony so well!
The scene inside was not what he expected.
It was a crater! In fact, it looked exactly like the impact a meteorite would make slamming into the ground but he was far from the ocean!
There was no rock at the epicenter, however, but a shimmering dark crack in the air. The very air had been shattered open into the Void!
Lind slowed and looked around but there was no one else there.
[I am not there. I am still under restrictions, even now. It has been so long since we talked, come, tell me of your path here.] Lind tilted his head. It was the same vile voice but it was not cold nor full of murderous intent.
A chuckle seemed to resonate inside his skull.
[Ah, I suppose for you, I am your most hated enemy. I guess, for me, you are that but things change, Lind Frey]
The crack shimmered a bit before a familiar pair of white eyes looked out but one glance was enough to cause Lind to burst blood and fall to his knees. Full throated laughter came before the figure vanished.
[Any other Divine Ant would have blown apart but all you did was bleed and get weak?! Truly, you are the best!] Lind was confused but his body regeneration took over.
He was able to speed it along with a few healing Arts too as he realized he could almost exert his full power inside the Void of Heaven.
"Who–who are you?" The voice and figure might be the same but the attitude was entirely different.
[Hmmm, difficult to answer you that one. I am me, always me. I suppose that little fox brat told you though, right? Even if you defeat that pale imitation, I still await you.] Lind's blood froze.
The next realm! Karu had warned him that killing the Master Tier Bastard would not resolve the issue. The original still existed beyond the rules of Heaven and Earth!
"Why–why are you killing the Earth?" He had seen no prompt from the trial but it may not work inside the Void of Heaven.
[Killing the Earth? Why would I ever care about killing that little marble–?!] The voice stopped before it finished the question before a giggle began to escape. [Wait, you think that I, in all my glory after finally achieving my goal, would be that petty?! You think I did this?]
The crack shook as did Lind's bones with the laughter. He felt like he was paper thin in front of just the laugh. Why was the Bastard so strong? A Divine Realm being should not die so easily!
"Your thralls are out there in the distorted space and time. The entire world has been reduced to almost nothing livable. Crops barely live and only lies survive out there! Why did you only erase the memories of the other True Lords if not to buy time to grow in strength?" Lind sent barrage after barrage but the Bastard only seemed to become more amused.
[This is too good! Oh, to think I would live to see a day like this! I thought the end of our little dance across time coming to end would be satisfying but this is far better!]
Lind was confused. While he could not claim to be an expert on the Bastard he could tell he was genuinely thrilled and amused. Why? What was going on?
It took considerable time before the Bastard calmed down.
[I must say, I have not laughed like that in a very long time. It was likely long before I was reborn as a Celestial all those epochs ago.] The casual confirmation was not necessary but Lind filed it away.
A sudden object appeared in the crack and fell on the shattered soil. Lind was confused as it was clearly a broken artifact but he carefully examined it with his aura before his hair stood on end.
He knew who made that artifact very well! It was himself!
"Wha–?" Before he could delve into it further, the artifact fell apart and turned into potent Qi.
It then changed again and became an all too familiar black fog!
Lind stumbled as the laughter returned.
[I did not make the fog nor did I damage the Earth. You did!] He could almost picture the Bastard holding his sides in mirth. [Did you think such drastic changes to your timeline and fate were without cost? You certainly had to brave harsh tribulations I am sure but did it never occur to you what would happen to your origin?]
A tremor went through Lind. Had he done this? Had he devastated the world?
[Progress: 53%}
As if to mock him, the trial update came! It told him the Bastard was not entirely lying. He was responsible for part of the danger to the Earth!
[Meddling in Time is very dangerous. That little fox brat could not do it forever either but the price was built into her blood. No issues starting over so long as she paid it. You borrowing it must have known yet assumed it would all fall on you! Honestly, this is the best day!] Despite how light and airy the voice had become, the vile nature was finally confirmed.
"Why don't you kill me?" Lind felt hollow. He was at the complete mercy of his enemy but the voice finally changed.
[While it is tempting, it would come with too many demerits. Chief among them being I would trigger the failsafe currently in your body. Those Twin bastards are completely going to be killed by me once I am free.] Lind suddenly snapped up.
"Free?" Silence now greeted him as he slowly stood up. "You are not free to act, are you? You are here to fish in troubled waters but that is it? That is all you can do?"
The fog was like an isolation barrier to stop the Bastard from spreading. Where was the source? He glanced at where the artifact had been and recalled it was dead. The instant it was exposed to open air, it had changed!
Now, Lind began to laugh as a glimmer of an idea filled his head. If had truly prepared to go down with his enemy but was unsure of victory, there was something he would absolutely do. He would make his enemy suffer!
[I have been alone too long. I was too happy to have someone to talk to. It does not matter, you will have to let me out to kill me. Also, I am not killing Earth, I found this tear in the foundation and many others. It is likely the whole galaxy should be filing complaints with you.] Lind ignored the jab.
Some pieces fell in place but not about the trial.
"You can rot in here. I have things to do and will come to kill you after I kill the other one!" Silence greeted his words before one more thing came to him. "I will defend not only the Earth but everything from you. Heaven and Earth were broken but nurtured us all! You should have been more grateful for a second chance!"
He spoke the words but then froze. He felt it. Mystery energy! The words left him before he could stop them.
"Earth is the home of our souls"