Chapter Fifteen: Patching the Rift

Eli smiled. White light flashed off him, and corpses and blood dissolved like fog under sunrise.

He looked at the man now standing before the spatial rift. His voice was cool water over stone. “Still not satisfied?”

“Guardian, as that man said earlier. I didn’t come to fight; I came to talk.” The man spoke calmly, his words flowing in Chinese like wind through bamboo.

Doubt tightened first; Eli’s brow followed. “You’re from that world too? Did my original world vanish? Or did your people devour it?”

“Relax. It’s a first-tier universe, with power on par with ours. I learned my Chinese from the man you just killed.” The man in purple spoke like a cold bell.

“So you’ve given up on invading?” Eli nodded as if weighing a blade, then asked again.

“…It depends on our deal. But first.” The purple-robed man bowed, the gesture smooth as a falling leaf.

“I owe the honored Guardian my apologies for my subordinate.” He smiled like a sheathed knife. “He’s paid with his life. I trust the honored Guardian won’t hold it against me.”

“…Naturally.” Eli folded his arms and watched him, flat as still water over depth.

The feeling hit first—weight meeting weight. This man stood at Eli’s tier. A stage wedged between the world’s rim and the gods’ ceiling.

Edlyn drifted out of a pocket of space, a shadow becoming silk. She held a severed head, eyes still glassy with terror.

Eli’s mouth tightened; white light flared again, and the remains faded like chalk in rain. “Don’t touch things like that again.”

“Hey. It was for research.” Edlyn put hands on hips, storm-cloud pout brewing. “You’ll spoil me like this.”

“What’s wrong with that? I’m strong enough. You just stay behind me.” Eli tapped her brow, a quiet sun in winter.

The man in purple cleared his throat, a dry cough on stone. “Ahem. You two. I’m still here.”

“I don’t care. You can’t turn me, a Demon King, into a vase on a shelf!” Edlyn flared like a lantern. “I can fight. Back then you couldn’t even beat me!”

“That was back then.” Eli sighed, exasperation first, head-shake after. “Just listen. From now on I handle everything. You can be my pampered wife.”

“I—no!” Edlyn stood akimbo, cheeks puffed like a sulking fox.

“Be good. It’s for your own sake.” Eli’s tone was steady as bedrock.

Frustration burned, then fear cooled it; Edlyn bit her lip. She knew what “for your sake” meant. Her sandglass ran low. One wound now could be a cliff, not a stumble.

“I… I…” Her voice thinned like a candle wick.

Eli only smiled and pulled her close, his arms a shield against winter.

The man in purple wore helplessness like an ill-fitting cloak. “You two. This is important. Could you not ignore me to my face?”

“Ahem. Sorry, habit. It really gets under a single dog’s skin.” Eli scratched his head, sheepish as a boy caught stealing plums.

It was a habit, through and through.

Edlyn nodded beside him, complicit and bright-eyed.

The purple-robed man sighed, wind through a hollow reed. He suddenly felt this trip would end with empty hands.

“Then let’s talk.” Eli snapped his fingers. The scene shivered; a low table and sofas bloomed into being like furniture sprouting from earth.

Overhead, the massive rift still yawned like a wound in the sky.

He’d only moved the room into the storm.

“Sit.” Eli gestured, palm open like a host parting curtains.

The purple-robed man sat, lifted the cup, and sipped. Steam rose like a crane. “Good tea. Very good.”

“Sounds like a big deal.” Eli smiled, then tucked a still-pouting Edlyn into his arms, his gaze steady on her as if she were a hearth-fire.

“Naturally.” The man set the cup down. “Allow me to introduce myself. Greetings, Guardian. I’m Freydes, from the Radiant Universe—one of the current top universes.”

“Universes have ranks?” Eli’s smile cut corners like a blade of grass.

“They don’t. Civilizations do. My civilization currently holds seven universes. That’s why I phrase it that way.” Freydes’s voice was even as a level.

“You think a civilization can control a universe?” Eli’s eyes narrowed, curiosity flicking like a fox tail. He smelled a teenage delusion.

“If the gods and other life go extinct, then of course my civilization can take the universe’s reins.” Freydes spoke like iron being measured.

“So you’ve set your sights on ours?”

“Yes. You’re the strongest Guardian I’ve met. I’m curious—why are you only a Guardian with that power? After investigating, I found you don’t belong to this world.” Freydes smiled, lantern-light over ice. “Your soul isn’t of this world.”

“No! It is!” The protest jumped from Edlyn first; then her voice followed.

“Oh? Miss?” Freydes tilted his head, puzzled.

“He belongs to me. That’s what matters.” Edlyn crossed her arms and tried to look regal—though she was perched on Eli’s lap like a spoiled cat.

“My mistake.” Freydes shook his head, amused despite himself.

“Excuse us.” Eli smiled. “We’ve had tea and chatted enough. What did you want to discuss?”

“Then I’ll get to it.” Freydes sat up straight, spine like a spear. “Guardian, I want your help to wipe out the incoming forces.”

“The incoming forces?” Eli’s eyes cooled. “You mean… yours?”

“Yes.” Freydes nodded, the motion crisp as a blade. “I want you to destroy them all.”

“I was going to anyway. You know that. Why come in person?” Eli’s voice rang low, like thunder over hills.

He searched for a flicker in Freydes’s eyes, a ripple under calm water. He found only a mirror-surface.

“I won’t hide it. We’re in a feudal partition of power. The Supreme Lord hasn’t long. The next ruler will be chosen soon. I need that unit shattered here. I mean utterly shattered.” Freydes’s gaze locked, a hawk on prey. “No survivors.”

“…”

“I don’t want a single one walking away. Do you understand? The high command is very interested in your world. My greatest rival will send his elite here. Each soldier will be just a hair beneath you and me. If they fall here, I practically seize the reins.” Freydes watched Eli with a tempered hope, like a gambler palming one last chip.

“And the payment?” Eli tilted his head. His fingers combed through Edlyn’s white-silk hair while he breathed in her blossom-sweet scent.

“I assume you won’t try to buy my power with some worthless promise.”

“Of course not.” Freydes smiled. “First, yes, is the promise you called useless. Even if I swear not to attack your universe, it only buys time. Hotheads from my race will still attack. I can only guarantee a millennium of safety.”

“Ha. You make it sound so hard.” Edlyn’s laugh was a shard of ice. Eli rubbed her head, thawing the edge.

“Some things aren’t up to one person,” Freydes said with a small, helpless shrug.

Eli nodded. “I get it. What else?”

“Do you want the Heart of the Universe, and to become the world’s true sovereign?” Freydes’s voice turned honey-dark, a siren on black water.

“…No interest.” Eli waved it away, as if brushing ash from his sleeve. “And you’d really trust me with that? You call us ‘low-tier’ because no one here can turn everything into a power that’s theirs in truth.”

“Doesn’t Zero count?” Edlyn looked up at Eli, eyes like clear lakewater.

Eli shook his head. “He’s the Founder, not the Sustainer.”

“Oh…” Edlyn nodded, halfway understanding, like a cat listening to poetry.

“You’re offering something that would lift our universe a tier. Why would I ever believe you?”

“No, Guardian, you’re too quick to dismiss. I need allies—desperately. My empire’s vast as winter plains. I can’t hold it perfectly alone. In the dark, countless factions stand like knives in velvet, waiting to topple me and take the throne.”

“I need a trustworthy ally to help me cement my empire,” Freydes said.

“Sounds nice. I’ll think on it. What else?” Eli yawned, a lion in afternoon sun.

“Hmm… How about a method to cross universes with ease?” Freydes frowned in thought, then offered it like a key on a silk pillow.

“…Now we’re talking.” Eli smiled and measured him anew.

“Heh. Then we have something to discuss?” Relief lit Freydes’s face like dawn breaking cloud.

“But I need to know one thing. How did you find Zero—the creator god of this world?”

“What!”

…

“You just let him go?” Edlyn’s voice bristled, thorns under silk. “He had a lot more secrets. The two of us could’ve taken him alive. The Demon Race’s interrogation arts would make him sing. He’d talk.”

“Alright. We’ll deal with that later.” Eli laughed softly and rubbed her head again. He kept pouring blazing white light, stitching the rift like a needle mending skycloth.

Edlyn watched that strange energy with a small frown, rain in her eyes. “Fine, you’re stronger now. So my feelings don’t matter?”

“Oh, my little ancestor, how could I ever think that?” Eli’s chuckle was warm as a brazier in snow.

“Letting him go is one thing. But you have to tell me what tricks you’ve got now! I need to know how ridiculously OP you are.” Edlyn pouted, rose on tiptoe, and hugged him tight, rubbing her cheek against his chest like a cat claiming a sunspot.

“Well…”

“Please? Pretty please~”

“Then… when that invading army shows up, I’ll tell you.” Eli scratched his head, the picture of surrender.

“You said it!” Edlyn beamed and held out her palm. “A gentleman’s word!”

“And a promise as good as done.” Eli sighed and slapped her a high-five.