Restart

Lilith stared into the Eternal Abyss and decided she needed to leave herself a safety measure.

After a moment of thought, she raised her right hand.

Following her encounter with Orosius, she had gradually mastered the advanced methods of Super-tier magic. Although she wasn't very proficient yet, she could just barely manage it.

“Using myself as a marker point, if I die within this period, time will be forced to reverse back to this moment.”

She spoke softly, then cast the Super-tier magic.

This was an advanced application she had realized during her battle with Orosius. Although she had used it then, that was merely a death restart for herself.

Now, she was using herself as an anchor to set a specific time point. If she died at any point after this, time would be forced to revert to this exact moment.

Lilith felt the mana within her body and confirmed the magic was in effect, then looked toward the pitch-black space ahead.

“Time is static here; I wonder if my time magic will actually work.”

She murmured to herself.

“But it doesn't matter.”

Regardless, she had set her insurance. Even if time magic failed, she had other means of staying alive.

Taking a deep breath, she leaped forward and dove into the Eternal Abyss.

...

What followed was a continuous, endless plummet.

Lilith felt as though she had fallen into a bottomless pit. Her body dropped uncontrollably through a stark darkness where nothing could be seen.

She tried to control her movements, only to find it was impossible.

There was no gravity, no direction, and not even a concept of up or down. She was simply falling incessantly.

“What's going on?”

She felt a flicker of confusion.

“Haven't I hit the ground yet?”

Common sense dictated that jumping into an abyss should lead to a bottom sooner or later. Even if it were exceptionally deep, she should have reached the floor after a few minutes of falling.

But she had been falling for at least ten minutes, and the surroundings remained a void of absolute darkness.

“No, that's not right.”

Lilith finally realized the problem.

“This space... has no end.”

She wasn't falling down; she was falling through an infinitely extending space. Since time and space were static here, the very concept of 'falling' was meaningless.

“No wonder the Guardian said that once you step inside, you can never return.”

Lilith felt a slight chill crawl up her spine.

If there truly was no end, wouldn't she be floating here forever?

That would be a miserable fate!

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she suddenly felt a wave of coldness.

“There's a gaze fixed on me.”

Lilith immediately grew alert.

She scanned her surroundings, but in the pitch-black void, she could see nothing.

Yet that sensation of being watched grew stronger, as if something were lurking in the shadows, observing her, evaluating her.

“What a powerful aura.”

Lilith's expression turned icy.

“Could this be the 'thing that shouldn't exist' that the Guardian mentioned?”

She clenched her fists as mana surged through her body, ready to strike at any moment.

At that moment, a powerful pressure filled the air.

The pressure was heavy—so heavy it made breathing difficult. Lilith felt her heart skip a beat, and her blood seemed to turn to ice.

“It's here!”

Alarm bells rang in her mind. She spun around instantly, facing the direction the pressure was coming from.

A black flash of light streaked past, moving too fast to track.

Before Lilith could even react, she felt a cold sensation in her left arm.

Looking down, she saw her left arm had been cleanly severed from the shoulder. The wound was smooth as a mirror, and not a single drop of blood flowed out.

Ignoring her missing limb, she looked toward where the attack had originated.

It was pitch black; nothing was there.

But Lilith could feel it—the attack had come from that direction.

“There are no traces of an attack, and that strike just now ignored my Mana Shield to hit me directly?”

Her Mana Shield was always active. Logically, an ordinary attack shouldn't have been able to pierce it.

But that black streak of light had seemingly passed right through the barrier to sever her arm.

“Looks like a tough customer.”

Lilith let out a cold internal laugh.

She had actually allowed herself to be hit on purpose.

Her goal was to gauge the power and trajectory of the opponent's attack.

Now she knew: the enemy was strong, fast, and capable of ignoring defenses.

But... so what?

Lilith's body flickered, and the severed arm instantly reappeared, the wound vanishing without a trace.

She flexed her newly grown arm, finding it felt exactly like the original.

“Not bad.”

Suddenly, another anomaly occurred.

Countless black flashes struck from all directions at staggering speeds, each one aimed at Lilith's vital points.

Lilith's pupils constricted. She tried to dodge, but it was far too late.

Her body was instantly riddled with holes. Strangely, however, her form began to refresh, restoring itself to perfection with every strike.

“During the fight with Orosius, I found a recovery method even faster than a healing spell.”

She sneered inwardly.

“And that is restarting my own state to the moment before the injury occurred.”

This was a technique she had grasped during her battle with Orosius. Every time she was hurt, she would restart her state to how it was before the damage.

It was the equivalent of having infinite health.

Of course, using Super-tier time magic so frequently would normally consume a massive amount of mana. But since Lilith was restarting her entire state, her mana was naturally restored to full as well.

A cold snort echoed from the darkness.

The sound was faint, but Lilith heard it clearly.

“Finally lost your patience?”

“I thought you were going to stay hidden forever.”

A figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

It was a being entirely shrouded in shadow, its features indiscernible, leaving only a blurry humanoid silhouette. It stood there as if integrated with the darkness itself; without careful observation, one wouldn't even notice it.

But Lilith could sense that the opponent was powerful.

Lilith locked her eyes on it.

A slashing magic spell appeared out of thin air, cutting toward the shadow entity.

The shadow entity seemingly didn't expect Lilith to strike so suddenly. It froze for a split second before the slashing magic severed its arm.

The arm fell to the ground and dissolved into black smoke.

But a second later, a new arm grew from the wound, perfectly intact.

“So it's also a 'high attack, low defense' type.”

Lilith raised an eyebrow.

The shadow entity did not respond. It simply raised its hand, preparing to launch an attack.

“That's enough intelligence gathering for now.”

Lilith raised her own hand. As soon as she spoke, the surrounding space began to warp.

The static time actually began to flow backward, miraculously reversing.

The darkness receded, and the sensation of falling vanished...

With a flash of white light, Lilith returned to the moment before she had jumped into the Eternal Abyss.

She stood at the entrance of the Eternal Abyss, looking down at the bottomless darkness with a smirk playing on her lips.

“Now then, for round two.”

...

Deep within the Eternal Abyss.

The shadow entity stood in place, staring at the direction where Lilith had vanished, remaining silent for a long time.

Then, it spoke slowly, its voice raspy and low:

“Super-tier time magic...”

It raised its hand, looking at the arm Lilith had just severed.

The arm had recovered, but the sensation of being cut lingered.

“How many years has it been...”

It whispered to itself.

“Finally... an interesting fellow has arrived.”

It turned and melted back into the darkness.

“Let me see how far you can go.”

The voice faded, and the Eternal Abyss returned once more to its deathly silence.

It was as if nothing had ever happened.