Chapter 375: The Fluttering
Chapter 375: The Fluttering
Time.
One of the supreme Laws that humans could never grasp or master. As lower dimensional creatures that had never seen before a higher dimension, they had no way to comprehend it.
That was why Andrew's family could only use the method of capturing the Clockwheel Worm. Using these transcendent creatures that lived in the timeline and maintained its flow, that family had indirectly obtained the power to grasp the rules of time.
However, Haniel, who arrived in this world as an evolved form of the Clockwheel Worm, the Chronos Butterfly, had the authority to control time and simply didn't need to comprehend anything about time itself.
Just jumping between dimensions was as instinctive to her as walking.
With such a unique ability, she could look down on even those of the same level and view others as insignificant. Even after joining the Path of the Flaming Sword, even Michael wouldn't give her direct orders.
Despite this, in essence, she was just but a tiny bug of a higher-dimensional world. Yet, to humans, she was the master of time.
It ought to have been like this...
However, this all changed in that brief encounter with that scary black-haired young man.
She never imagined she would ever find herself in such a sorry state. Her actual body had been caught, and she hadn't been able to resist in any way. Moreover, she had nearly been entirely devoured, managing to escape with a part of her body thanks to her instincts.
"Power… Give me back my power…"
She wailed in extreme pain and jumped across different timelines at rapid speed. Following her instincts, she searched for the culprit behind it all with the single-minded thought of asking the other party to return her strength.
Haniel had used up her entire life's strength just for escaping. Losing her body and power had caused her to fall into a semi-degenerate state, and currently she seemed to have returned to being an ignorant bug, just blindly following her instincts.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up. A suddenly flash of inspiration, like a thread formed by a weak light, was guiding her—
There!
Besides sensing the culprit that had devoured most of her power, there was also the obvious aura of her fellow species that she had wanted to save from the beginning!
Yes, that's right!
Hadn't she come to save her fellow kin?
Haniel, who wasn't much different from a regular insect now, had completely lost the ability to think rationally and was now charging straight to the tempting glow like a moth to fire.
"My power!" Haniel was overjoyed. With her tattered body, she leaped into the timeline.
——
In the side hall, the Ji father and daughter pair, as well as Greg, were all staring wide eyed at the clock Lin Jie held, whose second hand had been rotated backward by a significant amount.
Ji Zhixiu had a blank look on her face, the shock of this scene leaving her dumbfounded. She remembered that this device’s capacity to rewind time... completely overlapped with the scale on the clock?
The anxious words that Greg wanted to say were stuck in his throat. He was shocked to recognize that this ornate trinket was the secret treasure of the Andrew family that could manipulate time.
Don't tell me...
Before his thoughts even took shape, the torrent of time being reversed swept over in the next moment.
——
Haniel was midway through her jump, about to extricate her body from the crack of time and reach out to touch her imprisoned kind.
However, she sensed the flow of time had started to reverse!
With the accidental brush of Lin Jie's finger causing the second hand to move, the normal flow of time had come to an abrupt halt as if it had been cut off—
Then, the flow of time around Haniel's body crushed toward her like a closing wall trap.
Haniel had no time to think. She couldn't escape this time.
The Chronos Butterfly that had crossed several space-time axes was swept by the immense power of time as if she had been thrown into a washing machine and was tumbling nonstop.
Her body, which was made of countless rays of light, was pulled in all directions, instantly exploding in countless worms that splattered all over. In pain and full of unwillingness, Haniel relied on her strong willpower to gather her body together.
"No—!"
Haniel roared and struggled frantically amidst the continuous shattering and reconstructing.
Intersecting timelines were like a meat grinder, tearing her apart and mixing it all up. Akin to a ball of yarn being played with by a cat, Haniel crossed several timelines and was at many different time points all at once.
"Save me... Save me... Anyone... I don't want to die—"
Fear of death gripped Haniel as she desperately grabbed at every crack in the surging dimensional turbulence, trying to find an anchor point. At this moment, she was like a drowning person who had fallen into the ocean and was trying to clutch at anything that could offer her a respite.
However, the immense power of time being reversed was unstoppable. It was like the flow of water, from the most completed time to the shattered one.
Space-time was like a rolled-up towel of reality and dream folded together, forming a peripheral area riddled with holes that had fused with a man-made space that already existed.
At the same time, the gap between space and time completely closed. The two distorted walls crushed everything within to powder.
Like a water balloon that had been squeezed by extreme pressure, Haniel exploded, causing the power of Law to come gushing out and flowing into the surrounding dimensional rift at the death of this Supreme-rank!
——
As if having just experienced a long and mystical journey, Melissa opened her green eyes wide and watched the rapidly retreating world before her.
On the battlefield in the distance, a massive embodiment of evil was wreaking havoc, and facing it was a burly knight wrapped in a small white flame.
"What's going on…" muttered Melissa, but her thoughts were quickly set aside because of the intense pain she felt throughout her body.
Right, she had... she had wanted to pass her understanding of Law to her father...
Melissa saw the flames burning all over her body and immediately returned to her senses. However, she vaguely felt that something was amiss. Shouldn't she have reached her father already?
Was it all an illusion caused by my obsession... No. Now isn't the time to think about all that. All I need right now is to advance!
Melissa abandoned her thoughts and continued onward, revealing a relieved smile on her face.
But at the same time, she could also feel that her body could no longer hold on and death was approaching her soon.
In the distance, Joseph got to his feet once more after being knocked down. His face was blank, but his expression abruptly changed when he saw the familiar figure of the girl wrapped in crimson flames.
At this moment, even if he didn't understand what was happening, his paternal instincts made him run toward Melissa without a moment's hesitation.
"Melissa... Melissa!!!"
Joseph cried out and ran toward his daughter with all his might.
Wilde's eyes widened in anger as he immediately felt the unstable dimensional turbulence around him—Why?!!
The massive body let out an inhuman roar, tentacles waving as it directed the destructive darkness to attack the two knights again.
It doesn't matter, Wilde thought. My victory is already set in stone. I won't be affected even if time is rewound. This victory has already been destined! No one can change it!
Melissa's red hair danced with the flames, fusing together with the burning blazes. Standing within the darkness that represented Eventuality, she was like a blooming red lotus of hellfire.
"It's too late!" Wilde sneered, directing the dark tide to surge toward Melissa. "Your end has already been decided right from the start, and nothing will change this time!"
That's right, Melissa didn't hesitate at all. Once more, she burned her own life force to make the darkness around her retreat. As long as she moved forward, she was destined to die before arriving.
But to Melissa, choosing death was never something to be afraid of. Nothing was scary as long as she could save her father.
The choice she made previously wouldn't change even if she was given the chance of a do-over.
Joseph roared, even more furiously than the last. Using all his strength, he split open the darkness obstructing him and rushed toward his daughter.
No—
Not like this—
Don't let Melissa die in front of me again!
Don't—
Joseph was getting closer to Melissa, but he was getting increasingly desperate as the power of Law started to get restored. The red-haired girl smiled at him, but the insurmountable distance of a few meters was like an unconquerable chasm.
His open arms would never be able to embrace his daughter.
"Bahahaha…! Useless, useless, useless! It's useless, Joseph. Even if we start over, the outcome will still be the same!" Wilde cackled with laughter, mocking their useless efforts.
Suddenly—
A massive power gushed out from the many tiny dream fissures all around. It was Haniel being pulled out by the torrent of time.
BOOM—
A Supreme-rank transcendent existence that could control time was squashed and exploded in an instant. Power of unquantifiable Law surged all around like a flood, causing the fragile barrier enchantment between dream and reality of the Dream Creators to thoroughly collapse. The largest dream fissure within the area caused the entire dimension to distort.
At the same time, Norzin that had been ravaged multiple times by the two Supreme-rank transcendent beings was already on the verge of being destroyed. At this moment, the steel frame supporting the entire city was impacted once more.
Kraackk... Screech...
The metal frame was rapidly rusted by the domain of Eventuality, instantly becoming unable to support itself and snapped right in the middle.
The underground frame that supported the man-made city collapsed instantly, causing the entire subterranean layer to shift several hundred meters forward and collide.
Rumble...
The ground shook and tilted, and a huge invisible force suddenly pushed Melissa forward.
The girl's eyes widened in surprise. In the next second—
She fell into a warm, familiar, reassuring embrace.
Law formed and the burning stopped.
The powerful old knight's face was covered in tears. He revealed a blank expression as he hugged his child in disbelief.
"Melissa, Melissa… is that you?" The father's hands trembled as he hugged Melissa tightly, so worked up he couldn't speak properly, as if he was holding his own child for the first time. "Great, this is just great..."
"Dad… What do you mean is it me? Of course it's me! Your best daughter has come to save you!" Melissa stuck out her tongue, revealing an adorable smile as she raised her arms and hugged Joseph back.