Cipher floated down slightly.
"My name is of no significance," he said, keeping his voice calm and measured. "I was merely enforcing..."
He paused, searching for the right words.
"Enforcing?" they asked, looking up with curious expressions.
"Umm, well..." He cleared his throat. "The Evil God was against heaven. Yes. I was enforcing the will of heaven by destroying him and saving the world."
He nodded to himself. That sounded reasonable enough.
"Enforcing the will of heaven?" they repeated, exchanging glances with one another.
Cipher watched their faces carefully, wondering if they’d buy it.
Suddenly, they all trembled.
Then they smashed their foreheads against the ground, bowing even deeper than before.
"We greet the Heavenly Dao!" they said in unison.
"Heavenly what now?" Cipher wondered internally.
He kept his expression neutral, not letting his confusion show.
It seemed they had mistaken him for someone else.
Well, he’d play along for now.
He cleared his throat again. "Ahem, I have other duties to attend to. Clean up everything here. I’ll take my leave for now."
With that, he turned and flew away, his teammates following close behind.
The sect masters remained kneeling until the figures disappeared into the distance.
Slowly, they rose to their feet.
Zhao Long’s eyes were wet. "The heavens really hadn’t abandoned us."
"We won’t loop endlessly to our deaths anymore," Chen Feng added, his voice shaking.
"What are you being so sensitive for?" Wen Rouyan asked, "Who wants to see a bunch of old men cry?"
"Let us have it," Li Baiyuan said gently. "We’ve all had a rough time."
The Moonlight Maiden stood apart from the others, staring at a crystal resting in her palm. It glowed faintly with silver light.
"Moon Goddess..." she whispered.
...
Cipher stood in space, still holding Lyra in his arms.
He let out a sigh of relief.
He had succeeded in stopping the world destruction. As for his teammates, he would bring them out after he reached the Association.
At that moment, Lyra’s eyes fluttered open.
He looked down at her.
"You’re awake," he smiled. "How are you feeling?"
She looked at him. Then around her.
The Earth was visible below them, vast and blue.
"What do you think?" he asked. "You showed me your world from space back then. Now I’m showing you mine."
She scoffed. "With my divine sense, I can easily see through the whole planet from the ground."
He chuckled. "I guess that’s true."
"Still," she said, her gaze lingering on the view, "it’s not that bad."
He smiled and began losing altitude, descending back toward the planet.
"Are you going to keep carrying me?" she asked.
"Well, you’re hurt," he said.
"Just give me some qi."
"Oh, I almost forgot about that."
He instantly transferred a million qi to her.
"Is that enough?" he asked.
"This should do."
She floated from his arms and clasped her hands together. Her qi intensified, swirling around her body. She began regenerating quickly - wounds sealing, energy stabilizing - until she was back to her peak condition.
"Thanks," she muttered.
Then she instantly disappeared into his spiritual sea.
...
Cipher descended from the sky and landed at the Association entrance.
A guard noticed him immediately and approached, his expression stern. "Don’t you know that flying in this area is..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
His eyes went wide.
"C-C-Chief Enforcer?"
He spun around toward the other guards.
"The Chief Enforcer is back!"
Others heard him and came rushing over, all of them greeting Cipher with varying degrees of excitement and relief.
"Chief Enforcer, welcome back!"
"We were worried about you!"
"It’s good to see you safe!"
Cipher raised his hands. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I really need to speak to the Chairman."
"Of course!" they said in unison, splitting apart and forming a path for him.
He walked through into the main building and made his way to the Chairman’s office. He knocked once, then walked in.
The Chairman stood by the window, gazing out at the city below. He turned when Cipher entered.
"You’re back," he said.
"Yes." Cipher’s expression was serious. "How’s the situation?"
The Chairman sighed heavily. "It seems you experienced it as well."
"That’s right," Cipher confirmed.
When he had entered the Cultivation Gate, there was no safe zone. Something was wrong with the apocalypse system. Because of his abilities, he and his teammates had been able to come out unscathed. But if this was happening all over the world, then...
"It started three days ago," the Chairman began. "Shortly after you left."
He moved to his desk, resting his hands on its surface.
"One of our elite teams entered a gate and was almost completely wiped out. Only a few managed to run back through the portal in time." He shook his head. "They weren’t weak. Just caught off guard by the lack of a safe zone. They paid dearly for it."
He paused.
"At first, we thought it was a special occasion. An anomaly. But then we started receiving reports from all over the world." His voice grew heavy. "The safe zone is really gone."
Cipher’s jaw tightened.
"We were actually quite worried about you," the Chairman continued. "But we relaxed after realizing we still couldn’t go through the portal ourselves. That meant you guys were still alive in there."
He looked at Cipher.
"This also cleared up another worry we had. After all, if there wasn’t a safe zone anymore, what was stopping outsiders from just coming through the portal into our world?"
He allowed a thin smile.
"Well, we’re safe on that aspect. For now, that is."
"You mean..." Cipher began.
"That’s right," the Chairman confirmed. "The safe zone we believed in so much is gone. Do you really believe that’s a coincidence? Or is it the first domino falling?"
He walked back toward the window.
"I’ve always been wary of this one-sided apocalypse. We raid other worlds for resources and hide back in our turtle shell. It never sat well with me."
He turned to face Cipher.
"I believe big changes are coming to this world. And we need to be ready for it."
Cipher nodded slowly.
The Chairman’s reasoning made sense.
If the Time God’s powers were weakening to the point that the safe space had collapsed, then the gates themselves might not have long either.
What if people from those worlds came pouring into this one?
Then they might be dead before the final apocalypse even arrived.
Although it seemed unlikely since it didn’t happen in the future he had seen, he wasn’t so sure anymore.
Earlier, he had theorized that the Time God wasn’t affected by time like regular people. His deteriorating state in the future was the same as now. To him, it was all continuous.
Meaning if he was already that out of shape in the future, he might actually collapse before the final apocalypse this time.
The safe zone was just the first domino falling.
Things were about to spiral like never before.
In that case, they needed to prepare.
"I need to go talk to Elaine," Cipher said, his expression serious.
He waved his hand.
Selene, Dante, Ryker, and Li Chen suddenly appeared in the Chairman’s office, falling onto the floor in a heap.
"Ow..."
"What the..."
"Where are we?"
The Chairman’s eyes widened slightly. He had felt extremely advanced spatial magic in that gesture.
As expected of the strongest human, he thought.
Cipher was already moving toward the door.
"Have these four give you the report on what happened," he said without looking back. "I’ll go first."
He rushed out of the room before anyone could respond.
...
Cipher rushed through the building.
He moved past offices, down corridors, ignoring the greetings of staff members who recognized him. There was no time for pleasantries.
He finally reached Iris’s door and swung it open without knocking.
Iris’s lab was as messy as always - tools scattered everywhere, half-finished projects lining the shelves, papers covering every available surface. She was hunched over a table, working on some humanoid robot, a welding torch in hand.
She looked up from her position, removing her protective glasses.
"Cipher?" she asked in surprise. "I didn’t know you were back."
"We’ll talk later," he said. "Where is Elaine?"
"Elaine?" She paused.
Then she let out a sigh.
"Well, you’ll see for yourself." She pointed toward a door at the back of the lab.
"Thanks," he said, already moving past her.
Iris watched him go. She wondered if something had happened. It wasn’t like Cipher to have such an expression.
...
Cipher walked through the door.
He heard someone crying.
He noticed Elaine at the front of the room, kneeling on the ground. Her body was shaking, her hands clasped together.
He walked toward her.
As he got closer, he could hear it more clearly.
She seemed to be... praying?
He tapped her shoulder gently.
She paused mid-sob.
Then she looked back.
Her eyes widened as she recognized him.
"Cipher..."
She jumped into his arms, holding him tightly as if she was afraid he would disappear the next second. Her fingers dug into his back.
"Cipher. Please help me. Please help my sister." The words tumbled out in rapid succession, all between tears. "Just like you did before...you can do it again, right? Please help her. I’ll do anything. Anything at all. Just please..."
"Calm down," he said softly, holding her steady. "One thing at a time. I’ll definitely help you and your sister."
She finally let go of him, stepping back slightly.
"Really?" she asked.
"Of course," he answered.
She wiped her eyes and stepped to the side.
Cipher finally saw Elara.
She... had turned to stone again?
...
A/N: Another 1 today. Travel stuff. Sorry.