Edward did not waste time; he activated his device and disappeared from the research room. He found himself floating in emptiness. Looking down, he saw the Ninja Planet separated by a gray protective shield made of Void Energy.
"Is this what a stolen timeline looks like?" he muttered as he looked at the protected Shinobi Planet. He knew although it only looked like the Naruto World was the only place the Lord God stole, that was not the truth: it stole the entire universe.
"Morgana, I remember asking somebody to study the technology to steal a timeline. How is it going?" Luna and Rowena found stolen timelines back home, so Edward tasked some people to study the method used by Lord God; he wanted to reproduce the latter's technology.
"They determined it was too high of a task to steal an entire timeline: such a technology is not something we can currently create," replied the little elf.
"So, they just gave up?" asked Edward with a frown as he thought some people were lazy and using his funding for private purposes.
"No, they focused on the technology to isolate the Empire's timeline and prevent outside forces from coming in."
"That's good. I remember Rowena was the supervisor of this project. How is it going?"
"She is too busy with her own research, but she did provide them with enough data to have some accomplishments. Let me send you the result."
Edward closed his eyes to review the research. Meanwhile, his sphere artifact floated above the gray shield around the Ninja Planet and analyzed it. After about an hour, the sphere floated back to Edward.
"Fail?" he thought; the artifact concluded it was incapable of breaking through the Void Energy, meaning it was most likely the work of a powerful Lord God.
"Let's proceed to the next one," he ordered, and the artifact opened a portal to the following stolen timeline. They proceed as such for an entire week, searching timeline after timeline.
"Found it," muttered Edward with excitement. According to the artifact's analysis, the intensity of the Void Shield around this timeline was nothing compared to the others. More importantly, he could break through.
"Excellent," muttered Edward, who did not immediately enter. Instead, he returned to his timeline and prepared. He filled his interdimensional ring with more Golems and numerous legions from the conquered Automatons' Civilization.
His ring already had many weapons, so he ensured they were readied for battle or to respond to any unexpected situation. Finally, he even placed a few planets and stars inside to use as a bomb in case of an emergency.
Finally, he returned to that stolen timeline.
Edward took out a small metal sphere that contained Void Energy. Then, numerous tattoos appeared on his face as he entered Mana Sage Mode. Under this boosted state, he calmly removed the Void Energy inside.
"Truly a unique power," he commented. After years of studying, countless research and experiments, and with his elevated sensitivity of the Sage Mode, he finally found the core characteristics or power of Void Energy: Space-Time, Creation, and Destruction.
Rowena had long discovered the power of Space-Time. Then, they theorized the possibility of Destruction, given the terrifying ability to annihilate everything that Void Energy had. However, another theory was that the destructive capabilities resulted from chaotic space-time characteristics.
Finally, he discovered the Creation Characteristics after coming to this world.
'I wonder whether Void Energy is a naturally occurring energy or something someone created.' If it were the latter, it would be scary.
Removing these thoughts from his mind, he focused on the task at hand. He activated the Space-Time Characteristic of Void Energy to create a shield around him. Then, he forced his way into the stolen timeline.
Previously, Luna and Rowena had to force themselves in, encountering countless dangers in the process. Learning from their experiences, Edward created a safer way to enter.
As the two shields clashed, he suppressed the enemy's Destruction and Creation Characteristics with his own while combining the Space-Time Characteristics to teleport himself in.
This was more challenging to accomplish than it sounds. He only recently touched the level of Destruction Rules or Authority, so he could barely control the ones in his Void Energy to confront the Lord God. He knew little to nothing regarding the power of creation, so he had to use brute force and his Willpower to achieve it.
Finally, he was a master of Space-Time, so he had no trouble taking over the enemy Space-Time Characteristics and combined with his.
Boom!
Edward forcibly entered the stolen timeline with only a few injuries. However, these were nothing to the current him. He removed the Void Energy in his body, and his body naturally regenerated. Then, he used a spell to hide his breath and entered the Ninja World.
Ninja World, Fourth Shinobi World:
Two people were in the midst of an intense battle. However, these people were extremely odd.
A man with dark skin, and dreads, looked at a woman who seemed half European and Eastern Asian.
"Michelle, today, I will defeat you and deal a major blow to the Shinobi Alliance's side."
"Tobias, you've said this every time we fight," replied Michelle, moving her long black hair.
"It's different today."
"We will see," she said as three people manifested behind her: one wearing blue clothes, another red, and the other white.
Tobias frowned briefly before returning to normal," It seems your Innate Curse Technique has evolved."
"Isn't it normal?" replied Michelle, already on guard. Since the enemy was so confident, she needed to be ten times more careful; that was the only way to survive the Samsara Hall.
Tobias no longer talked and rushed toward his enemy. The blue-clothes person behind Michelle rushed to stop him. However, Tobias' arm suddenly was all black, like armor, and he punched the latter.
Bang!
The blue puppet created an Ice Shield, but Tobias' attack quickly broke the ice. The force from his attack pushed the puppet backward. However, he suddenly sensed something from behind and moved the size.
A fireball appeared in the position he was standing. Tobias suddenly jumped a few meters, and his foot stepped in the air, using it as a stepping tool to accelerate beyond his normal speed.
Tobias rushed to a place 5 meters from Michelle and punched the empty air. But suddenly, the white cloth puppet suddenly appeared with blood all over its body and many broken bones.
"Your Observation Haki," asked Michelle. "You can see in the future?"
"You're very sharp."
"Danm it," cursed Michelle, knowing the situation had changed. With Tobias's new strength, the balance of this war might shift to the Akatsuki's side. And if their sides lose this war, the Shinobi Alliance members will either die in battle or be forced to pay a lot of Samsara Points to the Lord God.
"Enough playing around," said Tobias.
Soru!
He rushed toward his opponent with great speed. Michelle reacted as she summoned her white puppet to stop the opponent. However, she knew it was useless and only wanted to sacrifice it to buy enough time.
As expected, Tobias destroyed the white puppet with one punch before continuing his path. Michelle used this opportunity to summon her blue and red puppet to use the Yin-Yang Blast.
However, a chill ran down her spine as she saw the smile on Tobias; it was as if the latter expected the situation. Tobias suddenly appeared behind the two puppets and attacked.
Rankyaku
He whipped his leg to create a sword slash that cut off the two puppets' heads. Then, he instantly appeared before Michelle and punched her. This attack should have killed her, but she condensed her Curse Energy to condense a shield before her.
"Not dead? Oh, you've mastered the Reverse Curse Technique."
Curse Energy originated from negative human emotions, making it impossible to be used to heal. However, extremely talented Jujutsu Sorcerers can reverse it into positive energy to heal.
