The familiar sensation of reconstruction lasted only a fraction of a second before solid ground returned beneath my feet.
I found myself standing atop the endless sea of white clouds where Gerald and I had met before. The peaceful landscape stretched as far as the eye could see, untouched by the outside world.
A dull ache spread through my body almost immediately.
Although the backlash was noticeably lighter than before, my body still needed a moment to adjust. A thin stream of blood trickled from my nose, but it stopped almost as quickly as it had appeared. My regeneration had apparently already begun adapting to the strain of Echo Reversion.
"I figured as much," I muttered while wiping away the blood.
Before I could take another step, space in front of me rippled.
Gerald appeared.
The old man looked at me for a brief moment before his brows slowly knitted together.
"What kind of sick joke is this..."
Unlike everyone else, he didn’t immediately question me. Instead, his eyes narrowed as his senses swept across my body and then expanded throughout the entire pocket realm.
He remained completely silent.
I could almost feel his perception examining every corner of the surrounding space.
Finally, he spoke.
"Interesting..."
His gaze returned to me.
"Very interesting."
I simply smiled.
"You aren’t even going to ask how I got in?"
"What would be the point?" Gerald replied calmly. "If you’re standing here, then you’ve already proven you can do it."
He closed his eyes for another brief moment.
"There are traces of spatial fluctuation..." he murmured. "No... not quite."
A moment later, he shook his head.
"Space alone couldn’t achieve this."
His eyes opened again.
"There are temporal disturbances as well."
He paused once more.
"And..." his gaze settled directly on me, "...the strongest residue is your soul."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"So that’s it."
I raised an eyebrow.
"You figured it out already?"
"I figured out the principle."
Gerald slowly stroked his beard while continuing to study me.
"You didn’t teleport here."
I remained silent.
"You reconnected your soul to a location where it had already left an imprint, allowing reality to rebuild your body at the destination." He let out a quiet chuckle. "Space determined where to return, time identified the correct imprint, and the soul served as the bridge between the two."
He nodded to himself.
"Simple."
Then he smiled.
"And absolutely brilliant."
I couldn’t help but be impressed.
"I’ve seen techniques that combine two of those concepts," Gerald continued. "Space and time. Time and soul. Even space and soul. But weaving all three together into a single movement technique..." He slowly shook his head.
"I’ve never seen anyone accomplish it on this scale."
"What can I say?" I replied with a grin as I walked toward him.
"I got lucky."
Gerald gave me a long look before letting out an amused snort.
"Lucky?"
He stroked his beard again.
"I have lived for longer than most civilizations have existed, Billion."
His smile grew slightly wider.
"I’ve learned that whenever someone as young as you suddenly acquires an impossible ability..." He paused just long enough for the words to settle.
"...it usually has something to do with the sudden death of an Eternal Saint."
He held my gaze.
"Lacome, perhaps?"
A smile crept onto my face.
"Guilty as charged."
For a brief moment, Gerald simply looked at me.
Then he burst into hearty laughter, the sound echoing across the endless sea of clouds.
"I thought as much." He shook his head, still smiling. "To think that old fox finally met his end."
His laughter gradually subsided before his expression became thoughtful.
"It’s good to finally confirm that you were the one who killed him. I won’t pretend I’m unhappy about it either. Lacome has caused more trouble than most realize."
He sighed softly.
"Unfortunately, his death changes less than you’d expect."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"The Eternals don’t care about individuals." Gerald looked out toward the endless clouds. "To them, Saints are nothing more than pieces on a board. Remove one, and another simply takes its place."
He gave a faint shrug.
"I’ve personally killed four of their Eternal Saints over the years."
I blinked.
"Four?"
He nodded.
"Four."
"And yet here they still are."
"There has always been another Saint waiting to replace the fallen one. They’ve built their organization around that very idea. Losing a few powerful members is painful, but never enough to cripple them."
I folded my arms.
"Which is exactly why I don’t intend to kill them one at a time."
Gerald glanced toward me.
"When I move against them, I want it to be a single decisive strike." My eyes narrowed slightly. "One battle. One victory. No chance to regroup. No opportunity to send replacements."
For a moment, Gerald remained silent. Then a smile slowly appeared beneath his beard.
"I like that plan."
He paused.
"Whether you can actually accomplish it is another matter."
"I’ve already looked into their strength. The Eternal Saints stationed throughout the Null Realm are mostly beginners or mid-level Saints. None of them have crossed Level 600."
Gerald nodded slowly.
"That matches my own information."
"Which means they’re not the problem. Our real obstacle is Verilux. That’s why I came here. I need your help dealing with him."
For the first time since our conversation began, Gerald looked genuinely amused.
"So..."
He folded his arms.
"You’ve finally reached the part where you ask the old man for help."
"I have."
"And I assume you’re here because you believe I’ve finished preparing."
"I was hoping that’s the case."
Gerald stared at me for several long seconds before a mysterious smile slowly formed on his face.
"Oh..."
He turned around and began walking deeper into the clouds.
"I’ve prepared far more than you imagine."
Without another word, he gestured for me to follow.
I followed a few steps behind, curious to see what exactly he had spent all this time preparing. If someone like Gerald claimed he had found a way to deal with Verilux, then it wasn’t something I could afford to underestimate.
Gerald suddenly came to a stop. There was nothing around us. Only endless white clouds stretching in every direction.
He slowly raised his right hand. The clouds themselves began to move.
The dense mist before us started swirling into a massive spiral, rotating faster and faster until the center darkened into a circular opening. Layers of cloud folded into one another, forming what looked less like a portal and more like a tunnel carved directly through the sky.
A powerful wave of energy leaked from within.
Gerald nodded in satisfaction.
"Come."
Without another explanation, he stepped into the swirling clouds and disappeared.
I didn’t hesitate.
Stepping forward, I entered the portal behind him.
The sensation lasted only a moment. The cool mist surrounding my body vanished, replaced by still, dry air.
When my vision cleared, I found myself standing inside an enormous chamber.
The room was unlike anything I had expected.
The floor beneath my feet was made entirely of smooth white tiles polished so perfectly that they reflected everything above them like a mirror. The walls shared the same pristine color, stretching upward until they disappeared into a ceiling illuminated by hundreds of softly glowing formations.
The entire laboratory felt impossibly clean. Not a single tool had been left lying around. Every object occupied its exact place with almost obsessive precision.
Then my eyes were drawn toward the center of the chamber.
Eleven black rods floated silently in the air.
Each stood nearly two meters tall and was as thick as a man’s arm. Their surfaces were pitch black, absorbing the surrounding light instead of reflecting it, while countless crimson runes covered every inch of their bodies.
The symbols shifted continuously, flowing across the metal like living creatures before disappearing beneath the surface and emerging somewhere else.
Even from several meters away, I could feel the terrifying amount of energy sealed inside them.
The eleven rods rotated slowly around a single invisible point, maintaining perfect distance from one another as if connected by an unseen force.
I narrowed my eyes.
Finally, he turned toward me.
A slow smile spread beneath his beard as he gestured toward the eleven floating rods.
"Billion..."
His voice carried a confidence I hadn’t heard before.
"Meet..."
He paused just long enough for the words to settle.
"...the Verilux Slayer Rods."