Chapter 394: Escape

A ripple undulated through space, as everything came to a pause for a second.

The atmosphere embraced the presence of something foreign, something dark and vile.

Tendrils of essence carrying an intensity that didn’t seem to be inferior to the abyssal essence dominating the atmosphere.

Elaine’s frame rose into the air, levitating inches from the ground, as a stream of grey poured from her body.

Her pupils’ shade going darker, her hair dyeing black as the presence of death wafted off her being, growing thicker.

Her gaze swept the scene around her faster than the world itself reacted to her presence.

Her gaze locked onto a frame in the dark, a half-dead body hanging from the charmed serpent’s maws.

"This presence... Yes, it’s him... interesting..." Elaine’s eyes glowed with eerie spectral lights as she observed Uriel.

A being that had the capability of reversing the grand flow of the river of time.

Overturning cause and effect, manipulating reality on a level that even a great demon from the frozen abyss couldn’t resist.

This evolver piqued its curiosity, so it couldn’t let him just die like that, now could it?

The world’s flow finally caught up to his mind, as the wind burst back into motion, howling past him, as the shadows surrounding him darkened.

Surrounded like prey, with attacks looming from all fronts, Elaine lifted her hands leisurely and waved.

And nothing happened for a second, until it happened, a concentrated storm of ice and death erupted from her body.

Congealing into numerous black obsidian shards, forming a close array net, before bursting into motion, skewering all in their way and turning their victims into obsidian sculptures.

Before the charmed beasts even knew what was happening, they were reduced into crumbling obsidian mounds.

Elaine’s hands retracted, clenching into a fist, a burst of cold essence surging from her body, tethering itself onto the black ice shards.

The lethal projectiles were reined into control, the black streaks zipping through the wind in zigzag motions.

Whistling through the gales and converging right onto the charmed serpent, skewering it and injecting the dangerous flow of dark ice essence.

Around the injury, all the charmed beast’s cells began to crystallize, the cold deathly force sinking into the beast’s core until the entire form crusted into a sculpture of black obsidian.

Cracks spread through its frame, so fast it crumbled into fragments in a matter of seconds.

"..."

For a second the battle field seemed to freeze, as the corrupted all felt the presence of something dangerous.

Their reaction was instant and palpable, even the humans engaging the monsters left confused.

Some quick witted soldiers didn’t miss the chance and broke into a desperate sprint towards the Dune Rift.

They didn’t care what had caught the attention of their foes, all they knew was what they wanted and that was to get the fuck out of this place.

Elaine paid no heed to the fact that the commotion she had caused had drawn such intense attention.

Her fists parted, as she made a pulling gesture, and the disfigured body of Uriel was dragged right into her grasp.

She looked down on his unconscious half mangled body with a twisted smile, her eyes glowing with intrigue.

The more the absurd scene of all the corrupted beasts standing frozen and staring intensely at Elaine continued to play out, the more the human soldiers took the chance to flee.

Even those who were right at the jaws of death used every last bit of their might to drag their bodies right into the Dune Rift.

The energy the sand gate was giving off was beginning to wane, and that meant the connection across space was fading.

And if that happened while they were still stuck on the wrong end of reality, they would be as good as dead.

The air still desperate, only now tinged with a hint of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel.

The humans bolted right through the fading Dune Rift, as the corrupted stood frozen.

The closing spatial gate never escaped Elaine’s notice, or at least the notice of the being possessing her body.

She tucked Uriel’s half-dead body under her arm, as a voice came from the side directed at her.

"Elaine! Are we moving or what?" Lucas asked, frowning at how his foes seemed to have lost all interest in him.

Though he didn’t think much of it, he just concluded that Elaine must have activated a traction-type ability.

Or something of sorts...

He raised his weary body, struggling to keep a straight focus on Elaine’s frame, with his blurring vision coated red from blood.

Elaine turned his way, her gaze meeting his, and his spine went cold, his heart skipping a beat.

Even with his declining vision Lukas was still sensitive enough to understand that something was wrong.

But before he could even react to his own thoughts, Elaine’s hand flicked.

His body abruptly rose into the air and instantly receded through the wind, almost as though an irresistible force of attraction was acting on it.

And pulling him right through the Dune Rift...

Like that, aside from Elaine and Uriel, everyone alive had safely evacuated...

"Hmm... not quite complete..." the being remarked, squinting at Uriel, observing through Elaine’s eyes.

Something wasn’t complete here, it was sure, Uriel’s presence remained the core of the time reversal feat.

But it could have sworn it had sensed something more, something pure, a force acting like fuel for the time reversal process.

The entity blinked, and sighed, it didn’t have much time left, this body, though uniquely suited to host its presence, wouldn’t hold for long.

And if it wanted to play a long game it had to keep Elaine alive, that way she could grow into a stronger vessel, and it would still have easy access to Uriel through her.

After all, from what it could observe, both creatures seemed quite close...

Making this conclusion it turned its gaze towards the horizon specifically looking directly towards the core.

Its gaze pierced through the fabric of space and distance, onto the spectral, writhing entity situated at the core.

The zone boss went stiff on feeling this primal gaze focusing its way.

"Would have made for a great snack..." the entity muttered, its voice deep and overlapping.

The boss seemed to shiver in reaction, sensing the hunger from this primordial entity.

Sighing, Elaine’s body drifted through the air, flying straight through the flickering Dune Rift, carrying Uriel along.

The moment their frames sank into the space gate, the energy spiral dissipated and the gate faded into literal dust.

The corrupted remained still for a few more seconds, till the lingering presence of the demon faded, before finally regaining movement.

Free of the zone boss’s control, they naturally retreated from the essence-thin area...

And just like that the deadly island sank back into silence, the corruption of the abyss constantly spreading.

Waiting for its next victim...