Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
"Your time domain has plenty of flaws, but it does have its unique aspects. I didn't expect the Nathen Guards to possess such a strange technique."
In a daze, George realized he was no longer beside the Divine Tree. Instead, he found himself on a never-ending path.
This path seemed suspended within the infinite cosmos, surrounded in every direction by boundless void.
Not far ahead, an old woman, Erica, sat cross-legged. Behind her loomed what appeared to be an exit shaped like a massive door.
Behind George, however, the path stretched endlessly into the void, with no end in sight.
"This is Heaven. I am its ruler. You will be trapped here for eternity."
Erica gazed at George with a godlike expression, her tone lofty and absolute.
George nearly laughed aloud at her words.
"Heaven? Quite the story you've spun. So your trick is to scare me, hoping that while endlessly searching for a way out, my will collapses, isn't it?"
As a mage deeply versed in the study of time magic, just a brief observation allowed him to grasp the laws of time within this so-called Heaven.
"In here, no ordinary person can approach you or harm you. But the same applies to you—you cannot harm them either.
The only way this works is through attrition, waiting until the opponent's mind collapses under the endless strain. If the one trapped here can endure longer than you, then it will be your spirit that breaks first."
"Even if you understand that, you still can't break free. No one can outlast me here."
Erica raised her head to look at George, her tone utterly firm.
Although he had immediately seen through the weakness of Heaven, simply knowing the flaw didn't mean one could overcome it.
Her limit allowed her to remain within Heaven for up to seven hundred years. And of all the enemies she had ever imprisoned here, the longest anyone lasted was seventy years before breaking down.
"Endure? I have no patience to waste time here with you."
With a sweep of his hand, George invoked:
"Super Magic—Fairy Sphere!"
A radiant sphere formed from the power of time enveloped his body. Then, striding boldly, he walked toward Erica.
Ordinary opponents trapped in Heaven could never reach her because the flow of time was infinite. Whether they moved forward or back, time would reset them to their starting point.
It was like setting out from point A at nine o'clock and arriving at point B at ten, only for the local time to reset from ten back to nine—placing you once again at your starting position.
Even if you walked for ten thousand years, as long as the time around you kept resetting, you would always return to the origin.
And you would never feel hunger, because your body remained frozen in the state it had at nine o'clock.
The only thing unaffected was the mind. Your spirit truly endured those ten thousand years, staring into endless futility. Inevitably, despair followed.
But George, by using Fairy Sphere, a temporal protection spell, shielded himself from Heaven's time manipulation. Naturally, he was no longer bound by its rules.
"This is impossible!"
As she watched George approach step by step, her face twisted in shock. No matter how she unleashed her power, the laws of Heaven no longer bound him.
Never before had anyone broken her ability in such a way. Since its creation, the only time Heaven had been undone was when its caster succumbed to the loneliness of endless time and dispelled it themselves.
Back when she first practiced with her master, she had often been forced to end Heaven early because she could not endure as long as he could.
If she had been able to withstand that loneliness, even her master—who also knew the technique—would have been powerless against it.
"Flawed, yes—but still impressive."
George reached Erica, placed his hand upon her head, and before leaving, rifled through her memories, extracting the knowledge of how to cast Heaven.
Though imperfect, he could refine it—perfect it—and then rename it Heaven's Salvation: a spell to trap enemies forever in an endless domain of time.
Truthfully, if not for his mastery of temporal magic, he might indeed have been forced to play her slow game.
But this trick was only effective against those who trained their bodies yet neglected their minds. If used against Daoist cultivators from his homeland, who emphasized spiritual fortitude, it might not hold at all.
"Spirit Binding Technique!"
Stepping out of Erica's Heaven, George used the art of Spirit Binding while subduing the Divine Tree's will. Its resistance immediately weakened by more than half.
The will of the Divine Tree was essentially the collective spirit of all past Nathen Kings—a spiritual amalgamation.
In his homeland, it was not unlike the great deities of the northeast, empowered by the collective faith of the people.
Thus, the Spirit Binding Technique was particularly effective in suppressing the combined will of the Nathen Guards.
"It's done!"
Breaking through layer after layer, George subdued every will within the Divine Tree. His magic coursed through its roots and swiftly spread across the entire island.
In an instant, all the secrets of the Divine Tree—its origins and magical principles—flooded into his mind. He had become the new king of Nathen Island.
"Pay respect to the King!"
The Nathen Guards, who had moments before still been preparing to attack him, suddenly froze. Then, in unison, they dropped to their knees before George.
Their hearts had already received confirmation from the Divine Tree of the new king—or rather, George had commanded the Tree to transmit his will as king to them all.
"He actually succeeded!"
The former Nathen King, a girl not yet eighteen, felt the divine authority bestowed upon her vanish. She stared at George with a complicated expression.
She had never imagined that George could, by sheer force alone, take control of both the Divine Tree and the Kingdom of the Gods.
This meant George could dispose of Nathen Island and the Tree as he pleased. Unlike her, he was unaffected by the wills of past kings.
At the same time, it proved that his power truly was strong enough. With him as Nathen's king, it was entirely possible the island could repel any external invaders.
"Rise, all of you."
George withdrew his hand from the Divine Tree and looked at the former king with a smile.
"Don't worry. Since I am now the king of Nathen Island, I will not allow outside forces to invade it."
Though free from the influence of past kings, he had become the new ruler and inherited the legacy of the ancient wizard who had birthed the Tree. Protecting the island was no great burden.
Conveniently, he needed a secluded place to retreat and study magic, and Nathen Island was an excellent choice.
As for the so-called Behemoth Corporation, it might appear a mighty global power to other superhumans, but to him it was nothing more than an ant he could crush at will.
"Elijah—the one who broke the Golden Branch. Can you tell me why?"
Having reassured the young girl, he turned toward the Nathen Guard standing with a gun in hand but who had refrained from attacking him—Elijah Jones.
Now that he had become Nathen Island's king and mastered the Divine Tree, he possessed its memories. He knew it had been Elijah, one of the Guards, who had broken the Golden Branch and triggered the succession ritual.
And of the nine Nathen Guards, only seven had attacked him. Elijah and Elena had not joined the fight.
(End of Chapter)