’What should I do now?’
Ian couldn’t help but sigh, feeling helpless. It was the first time he had felt this powerless. He had encountered a phenomenon that simply couldn’t be solved with strength. Or maybe it’s right to say he wasn’t strong enough to resist the time vortex.
Even with his True Paths, he couldn’t even last for a few seconds or push away the vortex. One had to know that he had reached the strength of the weakest Devil, according to Adam’s evaluation of the previous Nine Paths Elder God. But now, he had fused all his transformations, becoming the True Paths. His strength grew leaps and bounds, miles incomparable from before.
He looked at Adam beside him with a wary smile and shook his head. Adam, on the other hand, gave Ian a puzzled look.
Ian checked his status to comfort himself.
Race: Nine Paths Vampire God
Increased Bone Density. Solar Laser Eyes. Mind’s Eye. Trupeyo Parabus Enhancement 2x. Super Asura Physique. Nine Paths’ Bloodline. Sensory Web V2. Tri-Vision Eye.
Platinum Tiered Claws + Vibranium Metals. Kagune. Exoskeletal Armor (Steel+Tungsten).
True Paths God (Base Form)
Biomass Remaining: 16,000,000
’Fortunately, although my age returned, my stats remained. Just who the fuck is targeting me?’
’I really need to do something. I thought that if I caused the butterfly effect and changed everything to the point that the future becomes unrecognizable. I would be able to escape. I even refused the Grand Devil’s task just to not go to the tenth Universe... Yet the fucking vortex went straight to me.’
Ian began to think of suspicious points. First of all, the time vortex appeared at a fixed time. At least, in this way, he could expect the time it would appear. Secondly, the war in the Tenth Universe prompted the Grand Devil to give him the task. He feels that there’s something more about this. Lastly, the memories of the conversation he had with Adam kept disappearing multiple times.
Although he didn’t know the origin of the time vortex. He could at least narrow it down. He was certain it had something to do with the so-called Lost History. If there’s nothing suspicious about these three points. He won’t believe it.
’Who is pulling the strings? Who is targeting me?’
He could be certain that aside from the Grand Devil, Main God Seulo, and the Devils, no one was stronger than him in the Eighteen Universes.
Of course, he hasn’t roamed the entirety of Eighteen Universes. He understood that the pinnacle of power might tbe the Devils but there might be exception, just like him, who had attained power that reach the Domain of Devils, perhaps, this entity had become interested to him becayse they’re the same?
As for the possibility that the time vortex was just a natural phenomenon? What a fart! He won’t believe him even if his future self came back to timeline and slaps him on the face.
At the age of 1,352 (for the third time), Ian stopped moving for ten days. He stared at the stars, thinking. He knew the loop was not random. Something or someone was pulling the strings. He had become a toy in a game he could not see.
At the age of 1,353, Ian began to write everything he could remember from both timelines. He stored the words in a place no god could see, in a hidden corner of the dead sky. He called it the "Safe Wall."
At the age of 1,354, he tested the Safe Wall. He sent small thoughts through it from the past to the now. It worked. He smiled, but only for a second. Then, the stars in the Safe Wall began to vanish, one by one, without sound. Something had been noticed.
At the age of 1,355, Ian met Adam again. He said nothing about the loops. He only asked strange things, trying to test if Adam was the same. Adam answered each time, but Ian noticed a delay in his words, like someone was watching Adam, too.
At the age of 1,356, Ian began planting seeds across time. He gave knowledge to people who never had it. He whispered ideas to the gods before they rose. He gave weapons to those who would never touch them in the old timeline.
At the age of 1,357, one of the seeds grew too fast. A man named Calter became a god within a year. That man then vanished. Ian knew the name Calter had not existed before. He feared he had made something worse than Zero.
At the age of 1,358, Ian searched for Calter but found nothing. No trace. Not even a soul mark. That was not normal. Every being had a soul mark. If someone had no mark, then they did not come from time.
At the age of 1,359, Ian went silent again. He stopped changing things. He tried to live the same way as the first loop, but nothing matched. The events came faster or slower. Some did not happen at all. Time was sick.
At the age of 1,360, Ian found a star that whispered back. It said one word, "Stop." Ian froze. Stars should not talk. Not even in dreams.
At the age of 1,361, he returned to the Grand Devil. She said nothing new, but her eyes looked weaker. Like, even she was being drained by something behind the walls of time.
At the age of 1,362, Ian built a box from his own bones and sealed a part of his mind in it. He buried it in the Dead Layer of the First Universe. He hoped that if he looped again, that box might survive.
At the age of 1,363, Ian spoke one line to the wind: "I will break this." He did not know how, but he knew he would try until there was nothing left to lose.