Infinity Maze.
After briefly teasing Katherine, Kiba entered what appeared to be an abandoned laboratory.
The equipment were mostly broken and withered, and as he stepped forward, the broken pieces underneath his feet made crunching sounds and turned into dust.
"Nothing remains here," mused Kiba with a complicated expression. "But then again, that’s what time does... it destroys everything, life or not."
Waving his hand, he emitted streams of power Cosmic that wrapped the entire lab.
"Time Reversal."
Swoosh~!
The dust particles on the floor gathered together and turned into broken equipment. The cracks on them started filling up, bringing them back to their original state. The process continued with the equipment returning to their real positions in the lab.
Simultaneously, the withering on the walls vanished as time seemed to flow back, almost like a movie being rewinded.
Kiba’s attention was neither on the equipment nor on the walls. Instead, it was on the real purpose of using this new ability.
The phantoms of the past!
With everything moving back in time, Kiba saw the beings that have long ceased to exist. They were illusory phantoms working together in the lab, speaking in an alien language Kiba knew far too well.
"Eternal Darkness is the true enemy of us all living..." whispered a humanoid octopus who seemed to be a researcher.
"The only enemy!" corrected a fellow researcher. "Others are just tools of Eternal Darkness...even Genesis!"
The humanoid octopus seemed to agree as it fell into silence.
"We can’t win against it!" the researcher from before added. "But we can delay the inevitable!"
"We have to!" The humanoid octopus’ expression flashed with determination. "Lord Xeced sacrificed everything for that! We can’t afford to fail, not now!"
RUMBLE~
Just then, loud rumbling sounds quaked the lab, stopping the conversation between the researchers. They quickly opened up a holographic projection to check the reason.
It was a tentacle that shrouded planets with its seer size.
Presently, the lab and everything else was in a World Fragment – a meteorite flying through space.
As the researchers saw the tentacle in the space, their expressions turned ugly. Before they could react, the tentacle burst into the World Fragment, killing countless living beings and wiping out rich resources.
The shredded corpses and resources turned into motes of lights and sipped into the tentacle.
"Damnit! It’s a Star Devourer!" cursed the humanoid octopus. "Activate Lord Xeced’s mechanism!"
The fellow researchers followed instructions, and the crushed World Fragment erupted with an unrecognizable power. It was terrifying for sure as the tentacle rapidly retreated in fear. Still, before it could entirely disappear, the power turned into a beam and hit it.
A shower of gore followed as the tentacle exploded.
Kiba witnessed this shocking scene but without any interest.
"Eternal Darkness... that’s the only important information..." Kiba streamed out more energy to continue Time Reversal. "But what I need to know about is the mechanism Lord Xeced left behind to delay the so-called inevitable."
He has no interest in the treasures Infinity Maze has to offer. The only reason he appeared here was to pay back at least one of the favors he owed to Princess Scarlet Leila De Rose.
"Hopefully, I will succeed."
✻✻✻
At the same time, in another area of Infinity Maze.
Ice Queen was startled by the resonance she felt from the strand of Cosmic Spark. While surprised, her beautiful face remained indifferent.
"Cosmic Spark is the most supreme treasure the world has known... yet none knows it is also the worst for it strokes greed and fans genocidal thoughts..."
Letting out a gentle breath of air, she lifted her right hand and observed the strand that gave her mighty powers.
She ran a finger over it, feeling the golden lightning and the gray particles pulsate from her touch.
She ignored them and concentrated on the darkness that stored them.
"Eternal Darkness... the source of all sins."
✻✻✻
Meanwhile, on Earth.
It barely took Lord Harley a few minutes to gather information on Kiba after the awe-inspiring display of powers.
"Despite his ability to kill an Alpha in seconds, he seems to have a strong weakness!"
Remarked Lord Harley as he checked the virtual screen full of gorgeous women.
"Femme fatale! How surprising!"
Grinning, Lord Harley tapped in the air and another screen popped up.
"Pass my instructions to the most stunning femme fatale we have," commanded Lord Harley to a servant of his. "Read this doctor’s profile in detail and use it to systemically seduce him."
The servant nodded, and the screen vanished.
"This step was for the future," thought Lord Harley as he summoned another screen. "Now, time for the present."
On the screen appeared a man with strange tattoos. This man was someone Zed would never forget.
Because he was the one who destroyed Dream Rise House a year and a half ago!
Dracon Moonfall.
"It has been a while," said Dracon Moonfall.
Lord Harley nodded before sharing Kiba’s profile and the task he wanted.
"The doctor is in Infinity Maze for the next eight hours," said Lord Harley as he shared Kiba’s profile. "This means his residence is unguarded."
Dracon’s eyes glinted with a sharp light. In the profile, there was information on the greatest weakness of that doctor... his daughter!
"Don’t worry," replied Dracon. "Everything will be a child’s play!"
"Fufu, good!" smirked Lord Harley. "Complete the task, and you will be aptly rewarded."
Dracon nodded, and the screen vanished.
"Hehe, for an Alpha, Dracon is too stupid!" mused Lord Harley while shutting his eyes. "It’s good for me, though; otherwise, the real task will be incomplete!"
✻✻✻
The city of Arcadia.
Using a teleportation formation secretly provided by the House of Hestia, Dracon appeared in the city’s skies. He was the master of wind, and in the blink of an eye, the wind carried him above a fifty-storied glass building.
"That doctor sure has a taste for purchasing such a beautiful building!" thought Dracon as he aimed his hand at the building. "But no more!"
The skin on his palm started swirling, and a vortex flashed out.
Its sudden appearance terrified everyone as they felt a presence far dangerous than even the most potent weather storms.
The buildings in the vicinity were rooted out just by the presence alone.
"It is the attack of an Alpha!" cried the citizens who fell to their knees.
Amidst their cries, the vortex slammed into the targetted building.
But to Dracon’s surprise, the building didn’t even shake, much less burst apart.
Before he could think of the reason, his back turned cold, and his eyes squinted. In front of him, out of the blue, two spectacular women in bikinis had appeared.
The women were twins, their bodies drool-worthy. Even seeing one of them would make a man thank the Creator. But this was only true for men who don’t know what type of women they were!
"Crazy twins?!" exclaimed Dracon in utter shock.
"Evil Uncle, you appeared yet again to destroy our daddy’s home!" started Madison.
"Again?!"
Dracon was dumbstruck.
Years ago, after he destroyed Dream Rise House in Delta City, the twins had confronted him. They claimed they were sad as he has destroyed their daddy’s house.
Back then, he thought they were speaking the nonsense as they were insane. But now, he was doubtful.
"It is good, though!" chimed Lillian. "Last time we wanted to gift your corpse to daddy! But you ran off after giving us your chopped hand! Thankfully we made up for daddy by gifting him new mommies!"
"He loved them, especially their big titties!" declared Madison proudly.
"But I’m sure he would love to see the one destroying his home dead!"
The twins released their auras, but Dracon didn’t fall back.
"You two overestimate yourselves!"
Dracon roared as the air around him imploded with airwaves.
Madison and Lillian raised their hands to block the explosive airwaves. In that time, Dracon used an ability he created explicitly to escape if he met these unpredictable psychos again.
"Body Dispersal."
He fused with the wind and turned intangible.
In this form, he has no blood, so he couldn’t be affected by Madison’s powers, nor was he made of free energy and hence free from Lillian’s abilities.
"I will murder them!"
Dracon could perceive the twins in this form but couldn’t attack. Still, he didn’t mind as his primary focus was something else. He appeared inside the building and saw his target, barely two years old, playing with tiger cubs.
They didn’t notice him, but a woman who was reading a book did. She placed the book on her lap and gazed in his direction.
"Ashlyn... the kid’s mother!" thought Dracon as he noticed her gaze.
Ashlyn’s primary ability was related to space, so she quickly detected Dracon. Yet after gazing at his intangible form, she picked the book and resumed reading again.
It was like she didn’t care about the invader or what he might do to her daughter.
Dracon was confused. Why was the mother behaving like that?! Did she not care for her daughter?!"
Still, now was not the time to waste on thinking. Rapidly, in the wind form, he flew towards Hope to grab her and leave this building.
Swish~!
Just as he was about to grab her, the sound of air sliced apart echoed in the floor, and something hit him.
"!!"
Dracon was shocked as with the injury, he reverted to his original form, with blood leaking out of his face.
"I was hit?!"
Terrified, he looked up and saw a red whip dancing in the air. The whip was red because it was made of rose petals.
Dracon ignored the strange whip and looked further up to see the one wielding it. And when he saw it, he got the biggest shock of his life.
It was a beautiful female dressed in gothic clothing.
Her eyes were round, beaming with innocence as her rose-colored hair flew wildly.
Dracon was more than shocked by her appearance. Not because she was beautiful or that she looked innocent.
But because of her age.
From her appearance alone, she didn’t’ even seem to be an adult. She was a teenager!
No, even that was a wrong description.
The only appropriate word to describe her was...loli!
A loli could hit an Alpha and even make him bleed?! Just what sort of absurd reality was this?!
"Who the hell is this loli?!"
✰✰✰✰
A/N:
Sorry for the long delay. My elder brother passed away on 18th Nov due to post-Covid complications. He was only 32...
I always knew life was unpredictable, but never imagined to such an extent. I wish I never found out.
In the last month, many of you have prayed for him, and for that, I’m eternally grateful. Thank you.
Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.
~True_Seeker.