The wave of Uncreation met the river.
For a terrifying moment, nothing happened—then the collision erupted into a storm of conflicting realities.
The river’s waters turned black where they touched the negation, but new silver streams constantly replenished from upstream timelines.
Number Four raised both hands. The Mark of Uncreation on his forehead glowed crimson as he pushed more power into the assault.
Nian Shi stood within the river’s heart, his silver hair flowing as he manipulated the currents with precise gestures.
The command wasn’t aimed at Number Four directly—but at the space around him. The very quantum foam of reality stilled, attempting to freeze the Uncreation energy at its most fundamental level.
Number Four’s form flickered. For a heartbeat, he seemed to struggle against the temporal lockdown—then the Mark on his forehead pulsed, and black cracks spread through the frozen space.
The frozen space didn’t shatter—it simply ceased to have ever existed. The temporal edict was unmade before it could take full effect.
Nian Shi’s expression tightened. He changed tactics, his hands moving in complex patterns as the River of Time swirled around him.
Countless possibilities manifested—alternate versions of Number Four from different timelines where he had made different choices, each momentarily real and each attacking the original from different angles.
Number Four didn’t flinch. His aura flared up.
The alternate versions vanished as if they had never existed, their potential erased from all timelines simultaneously.
The battle reached a new height—no longer physical, but conceptual. They weren’t fighting with energy or weapons, but with the very definitions of existence and non-existence.
Yun Lintian watched, his golden-black eyes recording every exchange.
He saw how Nian Shi’s mastery of time allowed him to constantly adapt, creating new temporal paradoxes to counter the Uncreation. But he also saw how Number Four’s negation grew more precise with each exchange, learning to unmake even the most complex temporal manipulations.
The void around them had become a tapestry of impossible realities—places where time flowed backward, where cause and effect were reversed, where existence flickered in and out of being.
Nian Shi was breathing heavily now—a rare show of exertion for the God of Time. Number Four’s form seemed more solid than ever, the Mark of Uncreation burning like a dark sun.
They were at a stalemate again—but one that was rapidly consuming the stability of multiple timelines with each passing moment.
Yun Lintian’s hand tightened on the God Slaying Sword. He could feel the weapon’s hunger—its desire to devour both of these primordial powers.
The truth was close now. He could feel it.
Number Four wasn’t just some corrupted god.
He was something far more dangerous.
And Nian Shi knew it.
The River of Time churned violently as Nian Shi and Number Four clashed again, their powers creating fractures in reality that spread across countless timelines. Silver temporal energy met absolute negation in a cataclysmic dance that defied all natural laws.
But as the battle raged, a terrifying realization began to dawn on Nian Shi.
This wasn’t just a being wielding Uncreation power.
Number Four was Uncreation.
The difference was subtle but fundamental—like distinguishing between a soldier carrying a weapon and the weapon itself. Number Four didn’t merely use Uncreation; he embodied it, manifested it, existed as its pure expression.
Nian Shi’s face darkened beneath his silver aura. This meant Yin hadn’t just corrupted some Primordial God—he had created a lesser version of himself. A clone of Uncreation.
And if there was one...
How many more were there?
The implications froze even the God of Time’s ancient heart. Multiple Yins. Multiple sources of Uncreation operating outside his perception. While he had been monitoring the sealed "Yin," the true threat had been multiplying in the shadows.
"How?" Nian Shi whispered, barely audible over the clash of collapsing realities. "How did you create them while sealed?"
Number Four offered no answer, only intensifying his assault. The Mark of Uncreation on his forehead glowed brighter, and the void around them began to unravel at an accelerating rate.
Yun Lintian observed from a distance, his golden-black eyes missing nothing. He could see that the God of Time was realizing he had been outplayed on a fundamental level.
Nian Shi’s mind raced through possibilities. If Yin could create these avatars while sealed, then his understanding of Uncreation was fundamentally flawed. The seal might never have contained Yin completely—only his main consciousness while his essence continued to work in the shadows.
Worse yet—these Uncreation avatars operated outside time’s flow. That explained why he couldn’t detect them. They existed in the blind spots between moments, in the cracks of reality where time held no sway.
"Enough!" Nian Shi roared, finally unleashing the full authority of his position.
The River of Time reversed flow, pulling energy not from the past or future, but from the concept of time itself. Silver light became blinding as he prepared a technique that could unmake even primordial concepts.
Number Four responded not by retreating, but by dissolving into pure Uncreation—a formless, expanding nothingness that sought to devour the River itself.
The two forces met in a silent explosion that erased entire branch timelines from existence.
The silent explosion faded, leaving behind a void more empty than any before. Entire timelines had been unmade in that collision, their histories erased from existence.
Nian Shi stood panting within the remnants of his River of Time, silver blood trickling from his nose. Across from him, Number Four’s form slowly reconstituted from the formless Uncreation, the Mark on his forehead burning brighter than ever.
Nian Shi’s silver eyes narrowed to slits. This had gone on long enough.
"Since you are Yin’s dog..." Nian Shi’s voice carried a finality that made the void itself shudder. "Then I will gladly beat his dog."
He raised both hands. The River of Time churned violently, its silver waters converging into a single point before him. The very concept of time seemed to bow to his will as the waters solidified into a blade of impossible length and sharpness—the Blade of Eternity.
The moment the blade fully manifested, reality screamed. Space fractured in all directions, unable to contain its presence.
Distant stars winked out of existence simply from being in its peripheral awareness.
Yun Lintian, watching from afar, was forced to retreat further, his golden-black eyes narrowing against the overwhelming pressure.
Clearly, Nian Shi no longer suppressed his power...