Varian's body sank like a boulder in the ocean. There's nobody to help and nothing to hold onto.
Flaying his hands around in a desperate attempt, he tried to make sense of the situation he was in.
A dark world spanned endlessly around him, pulling him deeper and faster with every passing second, like ultra quicksand.
And it was trying to pull something from him. Something he shouldn't lose.
There was an instinctive struggle going on, one he wasn't able to feel but was subtly aware of.
'I…Zahara…fuck!'
Varian's consciousness rose back to the shore and his eyes snapped open.
His hand, out of pure instinct, was grabbing grabbing Zahara's claw which dug into his chest and clenched his heart.
But that's all.
Due to the tremendous power of time pouring from her into his body with every passing moment, a sort of 'time bomb' was being planted.
Once it exploded, his heart would be skipping not just a few seconds but possibly a minute or more into the future.
And when that happened, it would also take away a big chunk of his vitality with it.
For those sixty seconds, Varian would be extremely deprived of aura and low on vitality.
Despite regenerative capabilities strong enough to regenerate from a drop of blood at normal times, in that weakened state, he'd be no better than an old tree waiting to be cut.
Even if he could survive decapitation once or twice, he wouldn't survive his body being sliced to pieces.
And Zahara would be willing to do more than just that.
But Varian didn't know he was misunderstading something.
"You woke up already? For an ant, you are intruiging." Zahara's echo didn't have the usual radiance.
Her golden skin had gone so pale that it appeared sickly white, the lively long hair was extremely dim, appearing like long dead vines stuck to her scalp.
"Ant?" Varian gritted his teeth and pushed her hand out.
Zahara's echo staggered back before stabilizing quickly.
"You are in such a bad state that you can't even kill me." He laughed.
"Kill you?"
It was Zahara's turn to laugh. And she let out a very mocking and harsh chuckle.
"I was trying to drain your vitality to the brink and capture you. Or you'd have died a hundred times already."
Varian's expression darkened and he grasped his surroundings.
They were now even out of Pala kingdom and maybe even in the edge of the Genesis Empire.
This particular region seemed to be a desolate one, given how there were a couple of blackholes nearby.
"Can we have a nice talk like civilized people? Yeah?" Varian tilted his head and gave off a diplomatic smile. "Why does the Princess wish to capture me? I don't remember making any move against her."
Zahara's echo clutched her stomach and let out a loud laugh. But instead of an organic one, it seemed like a deliberate response to his words.
"Against her? You? Even non-sentient beasts have self-awareness of their hierarchy. Why are you this ignorant? Even if you want to go against Her Highness, what can you do? Go join the kingdom's army?"
Maybe it was because she got very damaged that even the Echo's ego was affected or perhaps for some other reason, Zahara was willing to talk more than usual.
"Don't presume you can talk your way out of this. The princess named you a prisoner and a prisoner you would be. No questions asked, no objections allowed. It's your destiny. Since you can't avoid it, embrace it. Maybe what awaits is a pleasant death instead of an endless hell."
Zahara's words maybe harsh but her tone was sincere. It seemed that she believed everything she said.
"Really now…" Varian rubbed the back of his head and cracked his neck. "Why do I get all the crazies? A stupid bitch that sends another stupid bitch to capture me."
Zahara's carefree expression vanished and her eyes burned with fury. "Blasphemy!"
With a flick of her wrist, a powerful wave of time power dashed to Varian.
Extremely weakened she was, the fractional strength she had left was still enough to crush any rank 7.
With strength came confidence and Zahara had long considered this mission to be a success.
She didn't know, Varian too was confident, for the same reason.
[Rank 7
Paragon Body : 9,999/10,000 (+1499)
Death Giant : 9,999/10,000 (+1499)
Ignis: 9,999/10,000(+1999)
<What better way to learn than by doing it yourself?
Even though the domains of Life, Death and Soul aren't deeply touched in the creation of your special world, the exposure was enough to give you a leap.
You're on the verge of a breakthrough.>
Order: 9,999/10,000. (+1499)
Chaos: 9,999/10,000. (+1499)
<If not for being in such a hurry, you could've advanced to the next rank already. Truly a pity.>
Space: 9,999/10,000.(+5,999)
Time:9,999/10,000 (+5,999)
<What's the biggest challenge in creating a world?
Life? They can be taken in after the world is built.
Balance? It can be adjusted later on.
The most fundamental aspect of the world, the basis upon which everything rests is the boundary of the world, the space-
time domain that makes it unique from the rest of the universe.
It's an incredibly difficult job to pull it off.
But if it succeeds, as it did with you, there will be tremendous benefits.
You've gleaned into how the space-time domain works for a world independent from the universe.
Make no mistake, this isn't an average lesson. You have grasped, if only a tiny, tiny chunk, of what it means to have a universe.
Would it help you in making expanding that world into a universe one day? Highly doubtful.
But is it beneficial to study? Absolutely!>]
He did it.
With a single event, he took a significant leap in all the paths and hit the very peak of rank 7. Even though he wasn't sure of breaking through right away, he's dangerously close.
What's more, once he reached rank 8, he would be accessing the strength of the kingdom's strongest.
The jump would be insane.
After all, even with the strength of a peak rank 8, he wasn't even able to react to the fight between Miss Calamity and Zahara Onyx.
'Not for long.'
Buzzz!
The time wave reached him in a blink, wriggling with aura dense enough to choke a rank 6 celestial.
"Tsk."
With a wave of his hand, the space-time in front of him distorted like ripple on a still lake. The incoming time wave was blocked for a moment before it broke through.
Varian showed no anxiety.
As the time power struck him, his body exploded into a puff of smoke and he appeared in the far distance.
"You…"
Zahara's eyebrows jumped in surprise.
Even though it was a deliberately weakened attack to not kill him, it wasn't something he should be able to evade.
And what's with those space-time powers from him?
How did he use them? They didn't feel like products of a treasure.
'No, it can't be…' As Zahara's echo entered a dangerous line of thought, a snap pulled her back to reality.
A bright dome of white and black power enveloped them.
"This power…"
She had noticed only it now but her contact with the main body was cut off.
"You aren't the hunter." Varian smiled.
A red sword materialized in his hand, a purple gem shone from his heart and the ring on his finger began to buzz.
"I am."
