Evan groaned in pain as his body was flung through the unstable spatial tunnel, like being launched headfirst into a pressurized waterslide with his limbs bent at unnatural angles.
His back collided with the fractured tunnel wall, and the fragile structure shattered instantly from the force. He was ejected from the tunnel, sent spiralling into a roaring spatial storm.
Violent torrents of spatial law energy crashed into his body, trying to pierce his skin and rip him to shreds.
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The system message warped and glitched, its text flickering like broken code skittering across his vision.
Pain wracked his body as parts of his skin dissolved under the overwhelming spatial pressure, outpacing the speed of Adaptive Evolution's resistance-building.
He needed to shield his body somehow, but couldn't even access his Inventory to retrieve any of the protective items that came to mind.
Left with no other choice, he hastily constructed a spell formula in his mind, manipulating the little remaining magic power in the blood spilling from his injuries to inscribe it directly onto his chest.
'Pseudo-World Magic: Spell Number Four: Absolute Defence!'
The distorted ambient magic in the dimensional gap rapidly gathered around him, condensing into a crimson-gold spherical barrier that shimmered unstably.
Within seconds, hairline fractures crept across its surface, each jolt of spatial distortion depleting its defensive power.
Evan's body slammed back into the fractured spatial tunnel, ricocheting violently through it as invisible cosmic energy licked at the barrier surrounding him, carving micro-fissures into the sphere with every contact.
Then, without warning, he collided with what felt like an invisible 'wall', where a tempest of every imaginable law energy tore through his shield, breaking both the Absolute Defence and the Elemental Shield beneath it like glass shattering against diamond.
The blast hurled him out of the collapsing tunnel, his body launched like a meteor toward the world below.
The wind howled around him as he plummeted, crashing through treetops that burst into splinters on impact. He slammed back-first into the base of a mountain at the forest's edge with a thunderous crash that shook the land.
A massive shockwave rippled through the terrain, splitting boulders apart as half the mountain gave away, crumbling in an avalanche of stone within seconds.
Dust and debris billowed outward, swallowing the battered body of the teen Rogue Hero as silence fell over the wreckage.
Lying broken on the ground, his consciousness barely held by his Tenacity Skill, Evan groaned, coughing up blood that clogged his throat before drawing in ragged, wheezing breaths.
[Level Up]
The Universe's system, indifferent to his plight, displayed the notification in his field of vision, a reward for crashing through a forest, wiping out over half its lifeforms, and triggering a mountain collapse that buried thousands more in a torrent of stone.
Still, the Level Up restored a small portion of his magic power, and Evan didn't hesitate to use it in activating Mesarthim's GREEN flames of life.
He also activated his Inventory, using its Apport feature to instantly summon a six-pack of magic potions into his hands. With all the strength he could muster, he lifted them over his body and crushed the paper packs.
They burst with loud pops, their contents spilling onto his wounds and making him hiss in pain, like someone had poured salt directly into the wounds.
He tilted his head back and opened his mouth to let some of the liquid flow inside, then dropped his arm and used the small burst of recovered strength to summon another pack. He crushed it again, letting its contents soak into him.
'…thankfully, I quite literally bought out an entire company's worth of potions and stuffed them in my Inventory…'
It was the only reason Evan hadn't run out of vitality or magic potions since he'd been blasted into the past and cut off from his usual supplier.
Now, he crushed pack after pack of vitality potions, letting them pour over him without caring how much was wasted, while he sipped from a magic potion to replenish his lost magic power and keep Mesarthim's GREEN active.
He repeated the process three times, going through 18 packs and pouring 9 litres of vitality potion over himself to mend his external wounds.
That was enough for him to finally muster the strength to pull himself out of the debris, staggering upright and surveying the devastation his crash had caused.
There were no signs of life around—he'd killed everything when he crash-landed—so Evan exhaled a relieved sigh before trudging out of the rock pile in search of stable ground.
It seemed he had landed at the edge of a mountain range, and to his left, he spotted five more jagged peaks rising in the distance.
'I should probably find a cave or something to rest and properly recover.'
Leaving a faint trail of blood behind, Evan dragged his battered body toward the next mountain, his Detection Field fully extended to catch even the faintest presence.
He found nothing as he continued his slow walk, eventually reaching the mountain's base where a series of cave mouths lay scattered.
'I need one that's not too deep…'
With that in mind, he tested each cave by tossing stones inside to gauge their depth with the echo, eventually choosing one with paw prints leading out.
Whatever creature had owned this cave must've fled when Evan's crash collapsed half the mountain earlier.
Evan decided to take over the now-abandoned cave, releasing a small surge of flames to burn away everything inside, followed by a spray of water to flood the place, a makeshift cleansing before he set down a chair from his Inventory and collapsed into it.
Now seated, he looked down at his torn clothes, his gaze drifting past the bloody magic circle drawn on his chest as he visually assessed how far along his healing had progressed.
"That potion dump was enough?"
His tone carried a hint of surprise as he noticed he didn't need much more healing, which was odd given the spatial storm he had just endured.
"Or is it? Just goes to show how strong Spell Number Four was, even if cast hastily."
That was true. Considering the scale of the spatial storm and that bizarre 'wall' he'd smashed into, he came out with far less damage than expected, largely thanks to the hastily deployed Pseudo-World Magic.
'But the others don't have that, do they?'
He couldn't be sure. Evan had no idea what kind of trump cards the others carried.
Crim and Hibiki seemed quite valued by their sects, so they probably had a few auto-trigger life-saving items tucked away.
As for Artemisia and Beatrix, despite being daughters of god Rulers who surely had a few powerful artifacts lying around, he did worry for them, but not because he thought they might've been injured during the disrupted teleportation.
'Beatrix was under serious strain teleporting us. And the teleportation still got disrupted. She must've taken heavy backlash damage…'
As for Arthur…
'He's DEFINITELY the most injured. Those Devils focused the brunt of their attacks on him, which makes sense, considering he was the strongest.
But a smart move from our enemies is a terrible one for us.'
Evan silently activated Track Down in an attempt to locate the others, only to blink in surprise at the responses that came in.
'He's so far out, I wouldn't be surprised if he's on another continent. And this interference I'm picking up… it's the same with Crim and Hibiki's signals.
As for Artemisia and Beatrix… they're much closer but still distant enough that heading to them in my current state would be suicide.'
Deactivating the skill, Evan exhaled and leaned back, his eyes slowly closing as his exhaustion finally won out.
This time, not even Tenacity kept him conscious.
◇ ◇ ◇
Tír Síorghlas
Iohodis Continent
Apex World Taemia
Infernal Dimension
September 6th
Year 1054
Tír Síorghlas—The Evergreen Land.
It was the domain of one of the dominant races on the continent, at least on its eastern half.
Deep within the grand structure at the centre of the region, where the ruling council gathered, its members sat around a circular table, wearing a variety of expressions on their faces.
"Such a frightening spatial surge…" one of them murmured.
"True, but it's still nothing compared to the one from two days ago. The one that brought those Outsiders."
"Of course not. That thing brought people in from outside this dimension, you know?" said another, sighing heavily.
They went silent for a moment before continuing.
"Everything is happening as the Prophetess foretold. The second surge and the breach in the Chasm's Wall means that the boy with distorted time has arrived."
At that, the others seated at the table nodded solemnly. Then one of them placed a hand on the table and spoke.
"We should dispatch an Elite Squad, and approach carefully, just as the Prophetess warned, lest we turn him into an enemy."
"An enemy? He doesn't have much of a choice but to side with us," one of them replied with a scoff. "What, you think he'll run to the same Devils who tried to kill him?"
At those words, the woman seated opposite him clicked her tongue and replied,
"Are you alright in the head? Have you forgotten that we're the ones asking for help? Without his Destruction powers, Triffid's destruction is an impossibility!
Every moment Triffid continues to exist raises the chances of the Infernal Devils' plan succeeding.
And yes, the boy does have a choice. He can stay out of our business and pursue revenge against the Devils who tried to kill him on his own terms… or maybe not pursue revenge at all!
They are Transcendents, after all. He might decide it's not worth the risk.
And what about the Prophetess' warning? If the boy with distorted time refuses to help us, then we can forget about the Destruction Singularity on the other side of the Chasm lending a hand either.
Lose both of them, and we lose our only shot. No Destruction Energy, no way to permanently end the threat Triffid poses."
The man across from her opened his mouth, ready to argue, but before he could speak, the council leader slammed his hand on the table.
"This isn't the time for arguments."
He turned to the woman, then looked back at the man.
"But she's right. Choice or not, we're the ones in need. His refusal would mark the beginning of our end."
And besides…" He paused, his voice lowering slightly, "...let me tell you something the Prophetess revealed to me after her last divination…yesterday."
At that, all eyes widened in surprise. Clearly, none of them was aware of this new divination.
"She tried to divine more now that they've landed on this planet. And do you know what she found?"
He leaned forward.
"She discovered not only that the Destruction Singularity across the Chasm can leave this dimension at will, but that the boy with distorted time isn't far much different in that regard."
A collective gasp swept the room.
"If what she calls him is any indication, then he's not from this timeline. When she tried to probe further, vanished from her range, beyond what she could divine.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he must've returned to his original time… through methods even the Prophetess couldn't understand. So yes, he does have a choice. He can walk away. He can go back to wherever he came from."
Just then, there was a knock at the chamber doors.
"Squad Seven is here," an attendant announced.
"Let them in," the leader replied.
Moments later, eight uniformed figures stepped into the room, dropping to one knee before the council's round table.
"You've been briefed already, but let me remind you," the leader began.
"Your target is the boy with distorted time… and his two goddess companions.
As the Prophetess said: Do not make contact until the beam of multi-coloured Destruction pierces the clouds. Until then, remain within the instructed radius, lest you are detected by an Infernal Devil Vice Commander."
At the mention of the Vice Commander, the kneeling figures flinched, eyes wide with alarm. They hadn't been told that part before.
"Are my instructions clear?" the leader asked.
"Yes, sir!" they responded in unison.
"Good. Now go."