Chapter 548 - 492: Phaethon

Chapter 548: Chapter 492: Phaethon

"That is..."

Drawing on the essence of a [Time Traveler] and an affinity for Space-Time far beyond that of an ordinary person—granted by the [Time Trace Weaver’s Engraving Blade]—Roland drained nearly the last shred of Power from his soul. In this absolute silence where all things were frozen, he arduously, inch by inch, lifted his neck, which felt as if it were filled with tons of lead.

He tilted his head back, his gilded, dragon-like vertical pupils staring intently at the massive, pale blue-white vertical pupil that had replaced the entire sky.

A familiar feeling, a mixture of cold majesty and absolute Order, pierced through his memory like a bone-chilling Ice Cone.

’The one that appeared over Golden Ears City...’

His thoughts had yet to fully cohere.

He recalled the brutal battle with the Abyssal Demons and Nine Prisons Demon Fiends outside Golden Ears City. Back then, as his consciousness teetered on the verge of shattering, he had heard fragmented, cold whispers. Now, those same whispers echoed with utter clarity in the deepest recesses of his mind.

And this time, they were no longer fragmented, no longer vague.

Every syllable was cold, precise, and devoid of emotion, yet carried an absolute Authority that transcended all things.

"Abnormal ’Fabricated Edict’ aggregation detected outside the world’s fundamental Laws. Identified as: Silver Radiance City, Space-Time loop maintenance hub, artificial Divine Attribute vessel..." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"Existence determined to be in violation of the ’Natural Derivation and Conceptual Resonance’ principle of the Original Covenant. Confirmed as a source of ’Lawful Transgression’ and ’Order Contamination’..."

"Infestation level: deep distortion of local Space-Time structure, exceeding temporary tolerance threshold. Therefore, initiating..."

"Clearance."

The word "Clearance" echoed coldly through the frozen Space-Time, like a death knell.

「The next moment...」

"No!"

A shriek so shrill it defied mortal comprehension erupted from Yemiga’s enormous, rigid, dark-silver serpent body.

This was no longer the roar of shock and anger from when it was injured, but a cry mixed with the deepest Fear and unwillingness.

Before the shriek could even fade, the clearance had already begun.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no Annihilation from colliding Energy.

It was a more direct, more...

..."fundamental" disintegration.

The massive, pale blue-white vertical pupil simply ’watched’ in silence.

And under its gaze, the body of the "World Serpent" coiling in the firmament—as majestic as a metallic mountain range—began to "collapse."

Starting from the most minuscule "basic units" that constituted its being, it irreversibly lost the basis and definition of its "existence."

First, the silver-glowing patterns on its Scale Armor dimmed and extinguished rapidly, as if wiped away by an invisible eraser.

Then, the dark-silver scales, each as large as a Shield, began to blur at the edges, as if weathered over hundreds of millions of years.

They silently turned into fine, grayish-white dust that drifted down, only to further decompose and dissipate during their descent, returning to the Void.

Beneath the Scale Armor, the dark-silver flesh and fascia melted into pools of viscous, shimmering silver fluid, which in turn lost all luster and form in the blink of an eye, vanishing as if evaporated.

And its innermost, ghastly white skeletal frame fractured and collapsed, section by section, like a toppled tower of blocks.

The speed of disintegration was astonishing, yet bizarrely clear to the eye.

The massive serpent’s body, like a sand sculpture eroded by time accelerated a millionfold, began to crumble from the head backward, its form rapidly spreading into scattering dust and empty Void.

At the same time Yemiga’s "World Serpent" form began to collapse, the Splendid City below also began to endure an unimaginable "torrent of time."

It was as if an invisible giant hand had compressed thousands of years, or even more, of wear and erosion into a single moment and unleashed it upon the city.

The Magic Power glowing on the Crystal buildings’ surfaces instantly died out. The smooth facades became dim and coarse, covered in etchings as if scoured by sand-laden winds.

The magnificent structures groaned as they sank, tilted, and collapsed.

High Towers snapped, domes shattered, and walls peeled away, turning into mountain-like piles of murky Crystal shards and stone rubble.

The stone slabs of streets and squares cracked open, ghostly gray-black vines sprouting forth, and thick layers of decaying dust accumulated.

The fountains ran dry, leaving only rusted frameworks and cracked basins.

The figures of the city’s "residents" froze in place, then began to "fade."

Their vibrant colors rapidly dimmed, whitened, and broke apart.

Their skin lost its luster, turning shriveled and ashen, covered in countless wrinkles and cracks.

Their bodies, like rapidly dehydrated and carbonized specimens, stooped and shriveled, finally turning into desiccated remains coated in thick dust.

Then, under the concentrated power of time, they weathered further. Most turned to dust, while the few remaining withered bones became brittle and gray.

In the blink of an eye.

The coiling serpent turned to dust.

The splendid city became a silent, ancient ruin, as if it had been buried for millennia.

Crumbled walls and broken ramparts lay covered in dust.

Only the wind, whimpering as it passed through the hollows of the ruins, spoke of a false splendor that had once been and the desolation finally revealed by time.

Roland, who had witnessed this entire unbelievable cataclysm unfold beneath the sky, felt a storm of emotions.

’The World Serpent disintegrated like a sandcastle thrown into the Void...’

’The magnificent Silver Radiance City had traversed thousands of years in an instant, becoming a silent, ancient ruin...’

’And the countless "living" beings in the city had turned to dust in the torrent of time...’

Everything happened too quickly, too completely.

This was far beyond the reach of any mortal Power, even surpassing the Authority of Space-Time that Yemiga had previously displayed.

Shock, like a cold tide, washed over the fiery fervor from the battle, leaving behind an almost blank, trembling void.

In the face of such a level of might, any anger, unwillingness, or even the resolve for a desperate final struggle seemed so petty and powerless.

Just as his mind was reeling from the shock...

The force binding him vanished without warning.

His body, already pushed far beyond its limits and utterly spent, instantly lost all support.

His boiling Blood Qi cooled abruptly. The Burning Flame of his [Mad Soul] was extinguished as if doused with ice water. The features of his Dragonification receded like a tide, and the surge of Power and the majestic aura surrounding him vanished in an instant.

The violent backlash and the exhaustion from overexertion struck his soul and body like two sledgehammers.

"Ugh!"

Roland grunted. No longer able to stay afloat, he plummeted from the sky like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Roland!"

Below, a few shouts laced with alarm and concern rang out.

Avril struggled to her feet, Duraga tried to move his leaden legs, and Galvis reached out with a trembling hand.

THUD!

He crashed heavily onto a clear patch of ground amidst the ruins, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Every part of his body ached, his bones felt like they’d fallen apart, and every cell screamed with exhaustion.

He struggled, and as his companions staggered toward him, he managed to raise a trembling arm, giving a weak but firm wave.

"...Don’t move."

His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, but his gaze was fixed intently on the sky.

「In the heavens.」

The enormous eye that had replaced the firmament and had just "cleared" Yemiga and Silver Radiance City...

...still hung there.

It had not vanished along with its target’s disintegration.

And the moment Roland’s gaze met it...

As if on cue, the "whispers" that had just been seared into the depths of his consciousness rang out in his mind once more with absolute clarity.

But unlike the cold declaration from before, which had sounded like a recitation of legal articles, the whispers echoing directly in Roland’s consciousness this time seemed to be...

...laced with a hint of indescribable "emotion."

Its "tone" held an extremely subtle, almost "musing" inflection, as well as a deeper, more inscrutable meaning.

"This is... the second time."

The whisper began slowly, as if stating an established fact, yet also as if making some kind of confirmation.

"Golden Ears City. The infiltration from the Abyss and the Nine Prisons... according to the established ’record,’ it should have occurred on a night of a frosty moon eight years from now."

"Silver Radiance City. This cage built of vain ambition... its ’core hub’ was projected to fully manifest only after the river of time here had flowed for another two hundred and eighty years."

"Only when its accumulated Power was sufficient to attempt to ’weave’ its own network of Laws would it truly manifest in the world and cross the warning threshold."

The whisper paused briefly, as if "gazing" at the tiny yet exceptionally resilient figure in the ruins.

"But because of you... Roland?"

"As expected of an existence... that cannot be anchored by the weft and warp of fate."

For the first time, the voice spoke his name accurately, the final syllable rising with a playful, almost amused lilt.

Although the pale blue-white vertical pupil in the sky made no movement or change, Roland could "feel" with absolute clarity that the unimaginable being behind the whisper was seemingly...

...shaking its head slightly.

But Roland was in no state to dwell on the change in its tone.

’The invasion of Golden Ears City... happened eight years early? The divine manifestation in Silver Radiance City... almost three hundred years early?’

Lying weakly on the ground, Roland’s mind plunged into endless contemplation over this simple information.

Many of the doubts and anomalies from his past experiences were now being connected by an invisible thread.

’Is it because... of my appearance? Did I disturb these ’predestined’ paths of fate?’

The whisper did not cease despite the tempest raging in Roland’s heart.

"My name... is Phaethon. I am responsible for monitoring, correcting, and maintaining the relative Purity of the ’record’ and the ’trajectory’."

After a brief pause, Phaethon spoke again, its voice having returned to its former coldness.

"The world on this temporal latitude is already on the verge of collapse. It can no longer withstand any more disturbances from external forces. So..."

"Leave this place."