Chapter Ten: Leap of Time
“Do you regret it?” Eli folded his arms, his gaze like cold moonlight on the Abyss sealed within the Primordial Continent.
The Abyss sat cross-legged. Endless chains coiled like iron rivers around him, pinning him to the ground, motionless.
“You couldn’t bring yourself to strike her,” Eli said, a reckless smile blooming again. “So even with countless trump cards, you kept your power intact. Yet you’re still trapped, and all you did was shave away her divinity.”
What the Abyss had done planted a strange courage in him, like dawn thawing winter, letting him face the future without flinching.
“You’ve been at my side for a thousand years. You still don’t know me?” The Abyss smiled and shook his head. “Besides, I didn’t lose. This is a delaying move. I’ll find a way. I will rewrite this, someday. For now, I’ll use my power to erode her divinity, and protect the girl she hid in her heart—the girl I love.”
“Do you know what that makes you to her right now?” Eli’s smile carried a barb. “Across tens of millions, hundreds of millions of years, how deep will that hatred grow?”
“What else can I do?” The Abyss laughed, a weary warmth in it. “I’ve paid too much already. My empire has fallen. What’s a little more? And after my Fiends slaughtered her high-ranking Celestial Gods, she’ll hate me anyway. I’ve made my peace.”
“As for you, Observer,” the Abyss said, smiling faintly, “your road is long. Stop acting like you see through everything. You’re not there yet.”
“And the future holds invaders from other universes. They’re waiting for us to stand against them.”
“Heh. Thank you, Abyss.” Eli’s mouth split into a grin, the gloom in him easing like mist.
“In the future or the past, you’re the one who helped me walk out of shadow.” He straightened and bowed. “I’ll always be grateful.”
“You’re finally saying it? You’re from the future?” The Abyss frowned at him.
“Mm.” Eli’s smile was quiet. “It’s complicated. I shouldn’t tell you too much ahead of time. But I can say this—everything that’s happening is inside your plan. This situation before us? You arranged it.”
“So I’ll be busy for a while.” The Abyss chuckled.
“Right.” Eli nodded and set the butterfly mask back on his face.
“In that case, let me show you this.” The Abyss drew upon the shadows. His spirit power eased out a massive, gray cocoon.
Something inside it was hatching, like a heartbeat wrapped in night.
Eli froze. His hands trembled without his say.
That familiar ripple—of course it was his Demonic Lord.
Only… it was a boy’s body, for now.
Eli’s mouth twitched. He shook his head, helpless. Fine. A boy is a boy. Sooner or later, he’d become the small girl Eli calls his own.
“This is a special life I compounded from a bud of the Tree of Life, my energy, and my factors,” said the Abyss. “I want him to take my place as the leader of darkness.”
Seeing Eli stunned, he nodded slightly and continued, “Observer, I’ll tell you the rest. I will suppress my emotions for a time and mirror her state. During that span, I’ll gain power far beyond what I have now—enough to tear this seal and do certain things. After that, I’ll need your help.”
“Also, there’s something you should see. It might grant you a lifespan far beyond what you have.”
“What?”
“The Origin Tree.” The Abyss closed his eyes. A pale orb of light drifted from his mind, like a dandelion seed afloat.
“These are my memories of finding the Origin Tree with Yulia, and my temporary arrangements ahead. I hope you’ll oversee it. In the future, let’s stand together against every threat.”
Eli nodded and turned to leave.
Behind him, the Abyss’s eyes were slowly smothered in darkness, like stars drowned by ink.
Soon, he would become the Celestial God’s complete opposite, and carry out the Abyss’s design.
Eli left the Primordial Continent.
As he flew away, a vast wheel of light bloomed in the sky and pressed hard down toward the distant lands.
The barren expanse stirred. Life pricked up like green shoots after rain.
Above, Angels worked strange weapons and dragged a blazing star into place, a sun chained with radiance.
The Celestial God watched, exhausted yet steady, and nodded only when order returned. She gathered her remaining Angels and withdrew to her Celestial Realm.
Eli watched in silence. When primitive life finally surfaced like breath on glass, he left the planet and flew farther into the dark.
After Edward and Yulia found the Origin Tree, they took two things.
Eli drifted toward the place in the Abyss’s memory, reading the records like ripples unfolding.
Edward took the life-bearing bud. Yulia took a withered branch.
That bud was his Demonic Lord. And the branch Yulia carried—surely it was his old companion, the Holy Sword Tias.
Eli reached the spot and searched for a long time. He couldn’t find the Origin Tree. He shrugged, helpless.
So be it. Such meetings happen when they will.
Last time he found the Origin Tree, it was in the deep sea. Who can say?
The Abyss had told him to seek the Origin Tree and ask about extending life.
But right now, time was the one thing he didn’t lack.
When he drifted back to that continent, thousands of years had already passed.
He stood before the primal species and sighed, a wind over stone.
Civilization would take a long, long time yet to bloom.
His road stretched on. He would walk it alone for a while longer.
Fiends lay dormant. Angels healed. When civilization rekindled, disaster like doomsday would return to the world.
…
“It’s about time.” The Abyss patted Eli’s shoulder, a weight like thunder ending its roll.
Eli said nothing. He raised a hand and shaved off his long beard, shedding years like fallen frost.
He lifted his head at that familiar, unfamiliar face.
“To prevent accidents, you can’t show too much power yet,” the Abyss said, calm as night water.
Eli nodded. “Of course.”
“Otherwise, if that one learns too early, it’ll harm the plan.” The Abyss glanced at his even look, then continued, “I’ll seal your memories from our last talk to now. Until you see Zero again.”
“Mm. I understand.” Eli bowed his head slightly.
The Abyss reached out toward his head, his hand slow as a tide.
Tears slid from Eli’s eyes, silent as dew.
Across hundreds of millions of years, his still soul finally trembled again.
A flash. Eli’s vision reeled. He frowned up at the Abyss. “Why are you here?”
“It’s nothing. I brought you from the past to now.” The Abyss smiled, easy as a lantern in fog.
Walking alone for hundreds of millions of years without going mad—poor man, the Abyss thought with a quiet sigh.
“Ah… So I can see Edlyn?” Eli clenched his fists. Excitement broke through like spring light.
“Mm. Of course. But you’ll have to find her yourself.” The Abyss’s tone held meaning under still water.
“Huh? Did you do something to her?” Eli arched a brow, temper flaring like a spark.
He paused, sensing something. He touched his face.
“Wait… did I… cry?” Eli rolled his eyes, half-laughing, half-dazed.
“Hahaha. You’ll know when it’s time. Don’t dwell on it now. It’s not good for you.” The Abyss laughed, soft and distant.
“Oh, I get it. You’re hiding something. I didn’t arrive at this time point by chance.” Eli eyed him, sharp as frost.
“All right, think whatever you want. Now compress that chill around you. No one wants to see that stormy face.” The Abyss grimaced, almost teasing.
Eli fell silent, troubled. “To see Edlyn, I’ll rein it in. But it’s hard. My soul seems to resist.”
Another silent sigh from the Abyss.
Hundreds of millions of years—your soul has settled like old stone. It won’t change with a snap.
“Do as you see fit. Edlyn is somewhere on this timeline. Find her yourself. I can’t stay long.” The Abyss shrugged, already fading like a shadow at dusk.
Eli frowned at him, a knot in his chest.
The Abyss was hiding a lot. He’d never felt that before. Why now?
Forget it. Finding Edlyn matters more.
Watching Eli turn away, the Abyss slowly raised his head, eyes calm as a deep lake.
Now he almost believed it: Eli might truly surpass Zero one day.
That will—enduring solitude across hundreds of millions of years—was something the Abyss never possessed.
