Chapter 1419: What the River Preserved

Noxhart’s smugness slowly gave way to panic. At this rate, it would disappear once its Soulforce ran out, even if no one attacked.

Its only option now was to bluff.

If that energy sphere frightened them enough to hold back, it might buy itself a little more time.

"Are you afraid?"

Noxhart raised its antlers, drawing more attention to the sphere as it continued absorbing energy.

"If you are, then—"

Ethan didn’t bother listening to the rest.

Elowen had already told everyone what she’d seen. Noxhart was using the distorted spacetime to maintain an intimidating front, but the Soulforce inside it was nearly exhausted.

Even if they did nothing, it wouldn’t last much longer.

But Ethan had no intention of standing around and waiting.

If he could finish Noxhart now, there was no reason to give it another chance to change the situation.

He formed a sphere of time energy above his left palm and hurled it straight at the distorted region. Meanwhile, the white lightning in his right hand compressed further and further until it formed a second sphere of pure white energy.

White wings unfolded behind him.

They swept backward, compressing the air into an explosive ring. Using the force to propel himself upward, Ethan shot into the sky and circled around behind Noxhart.

The sphere of time energy arrived first.

The chaotic spacetime was immediately drawn to its immense power. The distortions scattered around Noxhart began converging at the front, frantically breaking down the incoming sphere.

Spacetime sought out stronger energy.

And that was exactly what Ethan wanted.

As the distortions gathered at the front, the spacetime barrier behind Noxhart thinned visibly. The scenery no longer shifted as wildly, and even the spatial fractures grew fewer.

The sky darkened.

Storm clouds gathered above Ethan, white electricity flashing within them. Noxhart had originally learned this ability while controlling lightning.

Now Ethan was using it against Noxhart itself.

The first bolt of white lightning fell from the clouds.

It tore across the sky and struck the back of the distorted spacetime. The weakened area shook violently, and countless fine cracks spread across its surface.

A second bolt followed, then a third.

Every strike hit the exact same spot.

Noxhart whipped its head around and finally realized Ethan had gotten behind it.

But it was too late to redirect the spacetime turbulence.

The pure-white energy sphere had already left Ethan’s palm. It followed the path blasted open by the lightning and entered the weakened area. The spatial distortions competing for the time sphere at the front failed to return in time, allowing the white energy to close in on Noxhart.

The others remained vigilant below.

They guarded every direction, ready to intercept Noxhart the moment it tried escaping through space.

Trapped at the center of the warped spacetime, Noxhart began to panic.

Spatial movement could get it out, but the exit would inevitably appear somewhere the others were watching. Without the distorted spacetime to protect it, their attacks would tear it apart.

Noxhart raised a hind hoof and stomped down.

Strange ripples spread from beneath it.

Dark green smoke poured out of the void, threading through the weakened spacetime turbulence toward Ethan.

The moment Ethan caught its familiar scent, he finally understood where that earlier crisis had come from.

"So it was you."

His gaze turned cold as the green smoke rushed toward him.

"No wonder that power felt so familiar."

The smoke that had nearly swallowed all of them had also come from Noxhart.

"You almost trapped every last one of us in there. You’re done."

A white shield expanded around Ethan.

The dark green smoke struck the barrier but failed to seep through. The expanding white energy forced it outward, splitting the smoke around both sides of the shield and keeping it away from Ethan’s body.

He formed another energy sphere and sent it down the passage his shield had cleared.

At the same time, the sphere of pure white lightning had broken into the distorted region.

The surrounding spacetime did nothing to break it down.

Every distortion had been drawn toward the time energy at the front. The white sphere passed through the barrier from behind without resistance and plunged directly into Noxhart’s body.

White lightning erupted inside the deer.

Noxhart’s limbs locked up, and its Soulforce convulsed beneath the electrical assault.

The time sphere came in from the front right behind it. The two different forces interfered with each other inside the chaotic region, completely destabilizing the already fragile spacetime.

Spatial fractures split open one after another.

Time sped up and slowed down without warning, forcing Noxhart’s body forward one moment and dragging it back the next. The energy sphere between its antlers also slipped out of control, the surrounding turbulence stripping away the power it had just absorbed.

The spacetime surrounding it was both a shield and a prison.

Once Ethan was certain Noxhart couldn’t easily escape, he stopped advancing. He folded his wings and flew back to the others.

"Let’s go."

He glanced back at the increasingly unstable region.

"That should take care of it."

A spatial gate appeared before them on its own.

No dangerous energy came from the other side. The spatial power Ethan had obtained earlier was clearly responding to his will.

No one entered right away.

After one last look at Noxhart, they created an energy sphere together. Several different powers were compressed inside it before it flew toward the spacetime prison and stopped beside Noxhart.

Only then did they pass through the gate one by one.

The exit closed.

Noxhart was left alone within the distorted space.

It could feel its Soulforce fading bit by bit. Vesperhart’s corpse could no longer support it, and every attempt to move its limbs only hastened the body’s collapse.

It had spent its entire life in this dark place.

If it could no longer leave, then it would leave something behind.

At least a little light.

Noxhart stopped trying to escape.

Energy churned violently between its antlers. Drawn by that power, the spacetime turbulence rushed madly toward it.

It released every last trace of spatial power within itself.

With nothing left to sustain it, Vesperhart’s body finally collapsed. Through that borrowed shell, Noxhart looked around one last time. Its voice held a trace of exhaustion, along with its usual mockery.

"Vesperhart. Noxhart..."

"Who came up with those names?"

It paused.

"Don’t let them name anything next time."

Blinding white light erupted between its antlers.

The light first illuminated Noxhart’s fallen body, then passed through the fractured spacetime and flooded this place that had known nothing but darkness for so long.

The energy sphere the others had left behind exploded at the same moment.

Powers of different colors poured into the white light, making the final blast even brighter. The spatial barrier buckled under the impact as vast cracks spread outward with the radiance.

Just before the space shattered completely, the river of time preserved one final image.

A vast grassland unfolded within the white light.

Small animals chased and played among the grass, Vesperhart and Noxhart among them. The two deer ran and leaped alongside the others while brightly colored clouds floated in from the distance, shifting into different shapes around the animals.

The scene froze there.

No conflict.

No loneliness.

And the flow of spacetime came to a stop.