To use an analogy, if Freya used her Future Simulation on November 5th, a brand-new, parallel timeline would appear directly above the normal timeline. Currently, Freya was acting within this false future.
Normally, any time before November 5th did not exist in this timeline. However, because Luna had used his Dive into the Past ability within this false timeline to drag everyone back to October 5th, his ability caused the time before November 5th to manifest.
In a sense, this false timeline, which originally only contained the 'future', had been completed under the influence of Luna's power, becoming a fully realized timeline that ran parallel to and did not interfere with the normal timeline.
However, if Luna could identify the specific node of November 5th—the exact moment Freya activated her Future Simulation—he would find the only intersection between this false timeline and the real one. Diving down at this node would allow him to enter the real world.
Freya did not know this at the moment, but judging by Luna's reaction, it was easy to guess that the man had actually deduced this was not the normal timeline. He had even called it the power of the "Future."
Before this, Freya had always believed her cheat—the power of Future Simulation—was entirely unique. But now, it seemed that wasn't the case.
Such an ability might be rare, but it wasn't one-of-a-kind. When she thought about it, it made sense. If Luna before her possessed the ability to go into the past, then it shouldn't be surprising if some extraordinaries possessed the ability to go into the future.
Upon realizing this, a sudden sense of crisis welled up inside Freya. Precisely because she used this power so frequently, she knew exactly how absurdly powerful the 【Future Simulation】 was. What if someone else possessed a similar ability and used it against her?
Even putting the 'future' aside, Luna, who currently wielded the power of the 'past', was already an exceptionally troublesome enemy.
Freya couldn't help but hesitate. Should she continue the simulation to try and squeeze out more information about the 'past', or should she immediately exit the simulation, wait for the cooldown to reset, and try again more carefully?
But Luna did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately activated his Dive into the Past ability. The clouds in the sky, which had been completely still, began to drift rapidly, and the sun suspended in midair began to descend at high speed.
In the blink of an eye, night fell. After another brief blur, the sun rose once more. If one observed closely, they would notice the sun was not rising in the east and setting in the west, but rather the exact opposite. This meant time was not flowing forward, but was instead constantly reversing.
Furthermore, the speed of this temporal reversal grew faster and faster. Day, night, day, night... Finally, upon reaching a certain temporal node, as if a gear had jammed, the passage of time abruptly ground to a halt.
Luna couldn't help but show an excited expression. “I found it! The temporal node!”
Relying on his own ability, Luna could sense that the current time was 【July 20, Epoch 1151】. But what he didn't know was that this was the exact day Freya had transmigrated into this world.
Luna began to push his ability even harder, trying to pry open this temporal node to return to 'reality'. But at that very moment, everyone present seemed to hear a crisp click in their ears.
In the next second, the time here seemed to lose control. If Luna's temporal reversal speed earlier was one day per second, it had now become a hundred days per second. The sun moved so quickly it left afterimages in the sky, and the entire heavens flickered rapidly like a dilapidated, failing lightbulb.
Luna wore a look of utter shock. “This... how is this possible?!”
This bizarre situation quickly came to an end. When Freya regained her senses, she discovered that the Heart Perception ability she had been using all this time had actually stopped working. Of course, the ability itself was still there, but it felt suppressed by something, rendering it temporarily unusable.
And it wasn't just her; everyone's extraordinary abilities were currently disabled.
Freya slowly opened her eyes. Her green eyes, marked with cute cat paw prints, looked around through her hollowed-out eyepatch. The first thing she saw was the 'real Luna', looking completely dazed and utterly bewildered. As for the fake Luna, he had already vanished, seemingly failing to follow them into this deeper past.
Next, Freya surveyed her surroundings. She was currently standing at a crossroads, surrounded by very new, highly orderly three-to-four-story buildings. Pedestrians walked past them one after another.
Without a doubt, they had traveled directly from a desolate, remote warehouse straight into the city center.
But Euphemia suddenly spoke up. “This is... the capital of the Kingdom of Tarapaca? How did we end up here?”
Victor was also taken aback. “What do you mean? How did we suddenly return to our country?”
Immediately after, Luna, who had been dazed the entire time, felt his legs go weak and slumped directly onto the ground. His lips trembled slightly, and he spoke in a tone bordering on despair. “How is this possible... The current time is 【July 20, Epoch 1161】...”
Precisely because he was the user of the ability, he was so profoundly shocked. Who could have imagined that taking a step forward from Epoch 1151 would lead to Epoch 1161?!
“It's over. We're all doomed...”
It was clear that Luna was on the verge of a breakdown, completely devoid of any will to fight. Victor nudged Freya and Euphemia, gesturing a throat-slitting motion with his remaining left hand as he whispered, “Should we... just go over right now and...”
But perhaps because Victor's voice was too loud, rendering his conspiracy highly audible, Luna glanced up at him and said, “My ability has completely failed now. I am not the one maintaining the existence of this timeline. Even if you kill me, you won't be able to leave.”
Well, that was because the one maintaining this timeline seemed to be her. Freya glanced at her system and found that she could terminate the simulation at any moment. Instead of doing so, however, she abandoned the idea of ending it now and asked Luna, “What did you mean by the power of the future earlier?”
Luna did not suspect Freya of being the culprit at all. After all, anyone capable of using the power of the 【Future】 would undoubtedly be a Prophet of the Destiny Pathway, whereas the current Life Freya was clearly of the Earth Pathway.
Thus, he said, “None of us actually exist. We are merely collateral derivatives created by a high-ranking Prophet Pathway extraordinary when they established a false timeline. We are all fakes! So there is absolutely no point in us fighting to the death here!”
“I don't know what His purpose is. Maybe He was just bored and looking for entertainment, reading the future ahead of time like a storybook? For all we know, He might be hiding somewhere, secretly eating snacks while watching us.”
“Or perhaps... His target isn't even us. He created this timeline to achieve something else entirely, and He doesn't care what we do. Once this timeline ends in a moment, we will all vanish anyway.”
If Luna had possessed a shred of resistance in the beginning, wanting to find the culprit or the temporal node connecting them to reality, the moment he activated his ability and ended up ten years in the past, all his will to resist evaporated.
Because... he simply could not comprehend the current situation.
Hearing this, Victor also looked dumbfounded. “What the hell? Is the Prophet class advancement really that overpowered?!”
When advancing from Rank Three to Rank Four, Victor actually had a choice. Both the Gambler potion and the Prophet potion had been laid out before him. In the end, he had chosen Gambler, but now he felt a slight pang of regret.
Luna rolled his eyes at Victor. “Of course. In the extraordinary world, there is a saying: the Memory Thief of the Mind Pathway represents the 【Past】, the Navigator of the Ocean Pathway represents the 【Present】, and the Prophet of the Destiny Pathway represents the 【Future】. These three pathways are also known as the 【Three Temporal Pathways】.”
“And to create a false timeline of this scale, the caster must be at least a demigod—a Rank Seven Prophet, if not stronger!”
Victor then said, “So... we're not fighting anymore? In that case, I feel like I should probably head to a hospital...”
After all, his right hand was still bleeding continuously from the earlier pistol explosion.
Hearing this, the corner of Luna's mouth twitched slightly. “Are you stupid? Did you not understand a single word I just said? All of us are fake, none of this matters! Why bother finding a hospital? Just let it bleed out and die. The outcome is going to be the same anyway.”
But Victor replied with a deadpan expression, “No, that's completely different. According to you, if that big shot ends the ability and the timeline vanishes, I'll disappear without even knowing it, so there won't be any pain. But if I bleed to death right now, that's real pain I'll have to suffer through. That would suck so bad!”
Victor added, “So, can anyone tell me where the nearest hospital is?”
Euphemia pointed to the left. “If you go straight and turn right after two intersections, there should be one.”
Victor said, “Got it!”
With that, he set off immediately, leaving Luna, Freya, and Euphy standing where they were. Freya was lost in thought. Although she didn't understand why taking a step forward from 1151 would result in 1161, judging by the date of July 20th, she suspected it might have something to do with her.
After all, the timing was too coincidental. July 20th was the exact day she had transmigrated and landed in this world.
Being able to reach this point in time was entirely due to Luna's ability. In other words, although this timeline was created by Freya, she wouldn't have been able to reach this 'place' on her own. In a sense, this was an unrepeatable accident.
Freya said to Euphemia, “Let's go. Let's walk around and investigate what exactly is going on here.”
Freya felt that she might be able to uncover some secrets about herself in this place—secrets like Countless Blessings, Countless Resentments, her constant luck, or perhaps... the system.
Now, Freya was even starting to have doubts. Was her system... really a system?
When she had confessed to Euphemia previously, she had explained the system's functions as an extraordinary ability, since there didn't seem to be any fundamental difference between the two. Was it possible... that there really was no difference at all?
Euphemia thought about it and said, “Let's go. Let's visit the 【Holmes】 family first. If we want to gather information, directly asking my family members in this era would definitely be the most convenient option.”
With that, the two walked away side by side, leaving only Luna behind.
It was admittedly rather absurd. Just a moment ago, everyone had been fighting to the death, yet in the next, they had immediately called a truce, disbanded, and gone about their own business.
Not long after, Luna suddenly heard a set of footsteps approaching from behind. Perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate, considering he was currently slumped at the corner of a busy crossroads surrounded by crowds and countless footsteps.
To be more precise, from a certain moment, the footsteps of all the pedestrians around him seemed to vanish, leaving behind only one distinct sound.
Luna slowly turned his head and saw a tall girl, about 1.7 meters tall, wearing a black suit and trousers, standing not far from him.
This woman had short white hair and red eyes. She held a bottle of alcohol, taking small sips, her face slightly flushed as if she were a bit tipsy.
A cross-dressing girl and a cross-dressing boy locked eyes. The white-haired girl tilted her head slightly, a surprised expression on her face. “Hmm? What is someone from the Society of Truth doing here?”
Luna swallowed hard in nervousness. When ordinary extraordinaries did not use their abilities, they looked no different from normal people. Unless they belonged to a pathway like the Earth Pathway that possessed specialized sensory abilities, it was virtually impossible to identify them.
Upon advancing to Rank Four, some extraordinaries would undergo physical changes, such as their hair turning white or red. This served as a slight identifier, though it wasn't foolproof, as some people in this world were naturally born with white or red hair.
Finally, during the transformation from 'extraordinary creature' to 'demigod' between Rank Six and Rank Seven, extraordinaries would develop a quality known as divinity, which could be sensed by others.
At this very moment, Luna sensed divinity radiating from this white-haired girl—an indescribably immense pressure!
This person... was without a doubt a demigod!
The white-haired girl tilted her head, seemingly figuring something out. She loosened her grip on her right hand, letting the half-empty bottle drop to the ground. However, it didn't shatter; instead, it wobbled a few times before landing steadily, without spilling a single drop.
She lightly tapped her right fist against her left palm and said, “Oh! I get it now!”
...
Rate on N.U.
