Chapter 23: A True Master Of The Dao Of Time
-----
This man was but a frog in a well, I could tell. He seemed to have done great things. By merely looking at him, time itself showed me what he had done these last few years. He hunts countless monsters, growing stronger, all to save his world. What a pity this is—that he has met me instead. He shall have a premature death; he could reach higher in the tower. But it is not like it truly matters either way. I will destroy the tower, after all.
“Although I have to admit that your magic is powerful, it lacks substance and the true meaning behind comprehending the Dao of Time,” I said. “I would have spared you if there were other circumstances, but you dared to attack not only me but my family and my beloved ones. For that, you deserve death. And death I shall bring to you.”
“B-Bullshit…! This is BULLSHIT!” The young Joseph lost his mind, screaming like a madman after seeing his magic, which he always thought was all-powerful, fail him.
He conjured his magic once more, as I yawned a bit. I still felt slightly sleepy from last night; it was quite an intense night, for sure. Well, this body of mine was still strong, at the very least, even when slightly sleepy.
I looked at my appearance, and by fully assimilating the Rivers of Time and channeling the Primordial Dao of Time, I could become the Embodiment of Time. My body and my robes merged together into a being of endless spiraling and swirling time, resembling gray, silver, and white light. The river's silver color was so strong, and its composition so dense it seemed as if I was covered on an armor made of mercury.
“DIE! DIE AND GIVE ME YOUR CREDITS, YOU BITCH!”
Joseph lost his composure as he unleashed more of his “time magic." Numerous projectiles in the shape of spears and swords were unleashed. I couldn’t believe he called these things time magic; I was going insane by how ridiculous his own concept of time was. He was completely wrong.
“I told you already that these do not affect me. Do you truly believe you are allowed to call these things time magic spells? You simply grab raw Time Essence and mold it into a sword? Seriously?” I sighed as I caught all his projectiles with my bare body, which then absorbed them. “Well, at the very least I can give it back to you! Here.”
I combined all the projectiles and then summoned them out of my body, resembling a giant gray spear, shining with bright, translucent light. Which pierced his barriers and then his chest.
CRASH!
“Ugh…! ARGH!”
He touched the spear with his hands as he absorbed it back into his magic, his wound instantly healing as he accelerated the time of his regeneration skills.
“I haven’t even shown you what I can do yet…!” He gritted his teeth, smiling maliciously as he raised his hands into the skies. The heavens above split open, with endless waves of gray essence flowing. “I was born with the innate ability to manipulate Time Essence. I’ll use all the Time Essence of this world to crush your existence into nothingness."
With a furious roar, the young sorcerer conjured his strongest magic. The Pillars of Time of the World of Eclipse all gathered around me, in the form of two semi-transparent palms! Even I was in awe due to the fancy show—not bad! Now this looks like an Immortal Technique!
“{Divine Chronos Palms}! {Cage of Decaying Time}!”
With a furious command, both palms attempted to crush me. I felt the endless amount of time essence swirling around my body, trapping me inside a small pseudo-dimension where time itself started to decay, which, as a result, could even disintegrate matter.
“Hahahah… That ought to do it!” Joseph smiled viciously.
Yet…
Crack, crack…!
“Huh?”
Crack…!
“No…”
CRASH!
The palms gained countless cracks and then shattered into pieces, disappearing. My body was unbound, unscathed, and boundless. I looked at him, skipped time, and appeared above him in an instant.
“Y-You teleported?!”
He blocked my incoming attack with his staff, an explosion of Time Essence and Primordial Essence clashed against one another, and the entire Tower trembled.
“Teleportation? No, this is simply skipping time. I call it {Time-Skipping Step}” I smiled. “What, you can’t do that?”
“I-I can do that too!” He cried, quickly trying to imitate my movements as we clashed against one another, an explosion that distorted the pillars of time of Eclipse echoing above the skies of Nexus City.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Yet, despite his confidence, he was unable to copy my abilities. He pathetically kept trying, to no avail, though. This is when he finally realized that his powers weren’t as versatile as he imagined.
“So young and foolish, it almost makes me shed a tear due to your ignorance.” I sighed. “Maybe in another time, you could have become my disciple.”
“What are you talking about?! FUCK OFF AND DIE ALREADY!” Joseph kept screaming like a mad beast. All the Time Essence he manipulated encompassed his entire body, as he took the shape of a giant made of crystalized time, resembling a knight clad in steel armor.
Using his relics, he teleported short distances of space towards me, appearing and disappearing. Yet I simply stood there, waiting for the perfect moment. His giant scythe swiftly descended from above, and I swung my closed fist upwards.
BAAAM!
His weapon exploded into pieces, cracks spread through the rest of his armor, and it quickly fell apart once more. His face, full of disbelief, quickly started to be encompassed by fear. Yet he was too prideful to escape; he started using all kinds of relics against me, but none worked.
“Why? Why is nothing working against you?! What are you?! How?! It is time! It’s supposed to affect EVERYONE! Nobody is free from time itself!” He cried.
“That would be the case if I didn’t have my own internal time.” I smiled. “This body of mine assimilated a piece of a Primordial and Immemorial Treasure, it is capable of giving me my own internal time. I am unaffected by the time flow from the rest of the world or outside. Though you can’t even do that yourself, you simply force the Time Essence to take shape; that’s not time manipulation. This is time manipulation! {Time Regression}”
FLASH!
Once more, time was rewinding. Joseph watched in utter disbelief as we moved back to the point where he had just fired me a barrage of sword- and spear-shaped projectiles. He kept his memories because I allowed him to do so.
“W-Wha…?! WHAT?! We’re back?! How can… How can you do something I can’t? You… You’re even stronger at manipulating time than me... You’re…! Are you related to the Grandfather of Time?”
“What? Of course not.” I laughed. "I am simply a visitor. But Joseph, the clock is ticking; your death is coming.”
“My wha-”
He was unable to see it coming because I placed it before he could analyze his surroundings. Regressing Time also allowed me to edit the scenario in which time was moving backward. Therefore, I simply placed my sword above his head. And then his entire body exploded into pieces as the sword descended like a deadly guillotine.
SPLAAAT!
Blood and guts exploded everywhere, raining down over the rooftops of Nexus City. The Chronomancer died as he came, very quickly.
“How boring! I suppose this is the full extent of... Oh?”
Something else happened—something I didn’t expect, something I didn’t see coming! Joseph’s body suddenly went back to where it was before, reassembling him. I noticed several Runes glowing within him. He had fully regenerated from a sure death!
“Hahhh… A-As long as I have my Runes of Anti-Death, I won’t die, no matter what!” He laughed.
“So this was your strongest ability at the end, being a rat that can’t die, huh?” I smiled, licking my lips. “Okay! This might be a bit more fun!”
I Skipped Time once more, appearing in front of him and grabbing his face. He screamed, attempting to hit my arms, but his attacks were so weak they were laughable. He certainly had no physical strength.
“Aarrggh!Let go of me!”
His magic simply dissipated once it touched me; I couldn’t be affected by the External Time Flow, yet he kept trying stupidly. I imbued my hands with Photon Essence and burned his body into ashes.
“AAAGGHH!”
He burned almost to ashes but quickly recovered again.
“Wow, alright.”
Again.
And again.
And again.
He kept coming back. I was trying to decipher how that Skill worked, but then I realized that I didn’t really need to.
“Hahaha! It’s useless; you can’t kill me! I’ll keep coming back for you, Bing Xue! I will surpass you eventually! Now let go of me, and I’ll be on my way! If you can’t kill me, then there’s little point in wasting time with- Huh? My Status?!”
His status forcefully appeared as I summoned it out of his soul by grasping it with my hands. Then, I placed my hands on his status and grabbed all of his stupid skills, crushing them and shattering them into pieces. He did say it was a skill, right?
Crack, crack…!
“N-No, what in the world are you…?!”
CRASH!
“M-My Skills?! NO…! NOOOO!!!”
His skills shattered into pieces, disappearing into nothingness. He suddenly started convulsing, and large chunks of his soul disappeared along with his skills. Interesting! So destroying a skill is like destroying a piece of a soul. For being so powerful, his protection against soul attacks was pitiful.
“I learn something new every day; this Tower is truly full of wonders!” I laughed. “Now, Joseph, let’s see if you can die again!”
“S-Stop! No…! PLEASE STOP!”
I imbued the Essence of Time into his body as I quickly used Time Acceleration on him. His entire body’s lifespan was drained in a second, as his entire body, from his youthful and handsome appearance, aged to an old man, which then resembled a mummy, and lastly, a dried-out corpse.
“N-No… My… youth… My Time…! I need… TIME!”
As he screamed, nothing responded to him anymore. He had grown so used to using skills his own magic was not responding. Indeed, he had become yet another victim to feed the system. He was someone strong in his world, yet now? He was just another meal for the parasites in this Tower.
“Goodbye, Joseph. I will not even spare your soul, just so you know. I will end your entire existence.”
“A-Agh…! Please…! S-Stop… Sto…”
His hands touched my arm before he fell into a pile of dust without being able to ever return to normal. His soul was eaten by my skills too, as I felt a new surge of Divinity and Mana. He was not a bad meal at all, I suppose.
“The strongest Sorcerer of the World of Acacia… You fought well.” I said to myself, slowly descending and joining back with my party. I hadn’t noticed, but half the city was watching the whole fight occur.
“I’m back! Sorry for taking a while; is everyone okay?” I asked with a gentle smile, my body slowly going back to its former appearance. “Really sorry about that, my dears; it won’t happen again.”
“N-No, it’s fine…” Urbosa muttered. “W-We just saw that, and it just happened… I am still thinking about it.”
“It was certainly a ridiculous fight overall. I never thought Players could do… that.” Said Merkite. “Yet, you were even stronger than him! Incredible, I can’t believe I lost my virginity to such a powerful woman.”
“Papa’s super strong!” Hekita celebrated as she came back to my shoulders. “Papa, can you teach me to be strong too?”
“Oh? Sure thing, dear!” I smiled. “Papa will teach you everything! You will become the strongest cultivator!”
“Yaaay! I will become the strongest cultivator… Huh? But I don’t want to cultivate plants!” She pouted.
“She didn’t mean it like that, dear.” My mother laughed a bit. “A-And well, I think I am growing used to seeing Bing Xue destroy a ridiculously powerful Player now.”
“Me too.” Ruby sighed. “Anyways, shall we go? Whoever was that guy, I bet he wasn’t even that big of a deal.”
“Y-Yeah…” I nodded, preferring not to reveal his true identity as the world of Acacia’s last hope.
It was certainly a distinctive contract, from a bloody battle to a peaceful and warm conversation. I think I can get used to this, yeah. It is not a bad feeling at all. At least the battles end quickly and don’t last years like in Murim, so it could be said that my life has become very relaxing in comparison.
“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild! Ah! Bing Xue! Welcome!” Little Peperina greeted me happily. “You came back alive! Amazing!”
Well, it helps that there are a lot of cuties around too.
-----