Mr. Door still didn't answer.
Just when Edward thought He had completely severed the connection, Mr. Door's sigh floated into his ears:
"It seems you know far more than I expected."
"You should already know—after ascending to 'Door', one completely grasps the power of all conceptual Doors, thus theoretically gaining a certain degree of ability to open a Door in the barrier around the Western Continent."
"Of course, I am not 'Door' yet. But my deep fusion with the Uniqueness has barely allowed me to brush against the Authority of Space. By incarnating the Uniqueness into an actual Door, then leveraging the convergence effect between the Mother Goddess and the Brood Hive…I could attempt this."
Edward was slightly shocked—He was actually answering?
Wait. Mr. Door meant: that rotting wooden door back then was the Door's Uniqueness?
That thing—after fusion—could still be taken out and used?
"What a pity—it failed."
Mr. Door chuckled. "Even if you hadn't destroyed that Door, it would still have failed. After all, the one who sealed the Western Continent back then was a fully complete Pillar. That attempt was doomed from the start."
"But—your appearance revealed to me a very interesting secret."
The hint of laughter in Mr. Door's voice grew clearer:
"At the instant you pushed that Door open—I actually caught a glimpse…of the power of Time."
"Tell me—why would that be?"
Edward's heart trembled. He didn't expect Mr. Door to have noticed that too.
"What power of Time? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I can't describe it concretely either. After all—that realm is utterly foreign to me. No—more precisely—among all currently known Authorities, none can truly grasp the Authority of Time."
"But back when I roamed the starry sky, I once discovered something interesting: when I reached an extremely high speed, the 'time' around me would distort. The faster I moved, the slower time became. So I realised then—Space and Time must be connected."
"Unfortunately, decades of subsequent research yielded no further results. So the matter was put aside and eventually forgotten—until…the day you pushed open that 'Door'."
…Holy shit.
Mr. Door's explanation made Edward feel like his "mysticism perspective" had just been violently critiqued by "scientific perspective"—why did Mr. Door suddenly turn into "Door Einstein"?
Previously, Edward had guessed that the reason why pushing open that rotting wooden Door in the City of Calamity led to the future was because of his own transmigration into the past.
But according to Mr. Door's explanation—could it be that…the contact between two "Door" Uniquenesses caused a special reaction in Space and Time?
One "Door" belonged to the past.
One "Door" belonged to the future.
But in essence, they were the same Uniqueness.
Thus past and future collided, and under the power of Space, opened a "Door" leading to the future, linking past and future.
If that were true…then if he once again came into contact with another "Door" Uniqueness—wouldn't that mean he could reopen a passage to the future?
…Suddenly thinking about it: in the world of LoTM, to achieve time travel, the prerequisite is to have already traversed time—causing two Doors of the same Uniqueness to exist simultaneously, an "impossible paradox." But in the Harry Potter world, you only need a tiny Time-Turner.
Crucially—its effects worked in the LoTM world too—although greatly weakened.
But still—that was bizarre.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, his Deconstruction Scholar potion digested further again, leaping from three-quarters…to the final tiny stretch—just one last bit to complete.
This confirmed Edward's conjecture.
But Edward did not feel happy—because he was thinking about something else:
Why was Mr. Door being so cooperative in explaining all this to him?
This felt like—he threw a basic right-click auto-attack—and the opponent immediately used both their ultimate skills and summoning spells.
As if He was going out of His way to assist him. Wasn't this too generous?
There was no such thing as a free lunch.
No way!
Retreat—NOW!
——
In the Intis-Loen Midseashire County, a thousand miles away from the tiny island in the Berserk Sea—
The newly settled hidden refuge of the Abraham family.
Another full moon arrived, and every family member once again suffered unbearable torment from the whispers—each of them teetering on the brink of losing control and going mad.
This monthly cycle of suffering—lasting at least once every month for thousands of years—had spared no Abraham descendant.
Except for…
Inside a room in the corner of the mansion, a tall, slender girl with chestnut-brown, flowing long hair and a heroic aura was grumbling in obvious impatience:
"Alright, alright, stop rushing me! I'm going, I'm going right now!"
"I know that guy is important to you—more important than the Brood Hive—but you should at least give me some time to prepare, right? That's a Sequence 3 we're talking about. If I don't prepare properly and he escapes, what then?"
Christine dragged her feet as she muttered internally, "Hurry up and run—if I can't hold on any longer, the main body will forcibly descend Her consciousness, and that will be bad for both of us."
Just as the thought crossed her mind, all the tiny hairs on her body suddenly stood on end. Her heart skipped in terror. She quickly blurted out, "Hey—you went through great trouble to sneak me down here! If your consciousness descends, you'll get detected instantly by those bastards in the astral world, you know that? You don't think I can fight against those guys with my current level, right?"
Soon, the fear subsided, but the voice in her mind became even sharper—frantically urging her to hurry.
"Tch, fine, I'm going."
She sighed. Her pale, delicate fingers gently flicked—and despite being only a Sequence 9 Apprentice—she directly opened a Traveler's Door leading a thousand miles away.
Christine took one step forward, a strange smile curling on her lips:
"I'm coming~"
———
On the deserted island within the Berserk Sea.
Edward decided to get out immediately. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your explanations tonight, Mr. Door. I still have things to do, so I'll take my leave. See you."
He swiftly gathered the gems around the altar and prepared to exit.
But Mr. Door's soft chuckle drifted over:
"It seems you already obtained the Planeswalker's' Beyonder characteristic through other means, hmm?"
"Then what will you do after you ascend to Sequence 2? Are you really willing to remain at Sequence 2 forever?"
Edward froze. "Otherwise what? All three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics are in your hands. Are you saying you're willing to give me one?"
"Why would I be unwilling?"
Mr. Door said calmly, "To me, what difference does it make whether I have one extra or one less 'Key of Stars' characteristic?"
Edward narrowed his eyes. Whether Mr. Door could see it or not, he raised his hand, "Alright then. Give it to me."
"My condition remains unchanged—let me go back."
"You know that's impossible. And even if I agreed—the Seven Gods would never allow it!"
Mr. Door said, "The Seven Gods don't want me to return because as soon as I go back, I will ascend to Sequence 0. But if I hand over a 'Key of Stars' characteristic in advance, the thing They fear won't happen. No—They would even welcome this outcome."
"I can sign a contract with you. I give you a Key of Stars characteristic first, and then you let me return. You can even consult the Seven Gods first before deciding whether to accept this deal."
Mr. Door's words spun Edward's mind in circles—and he found it strangely…reasonable?
Damm! Did I just get hit by some kind of intelligence-debuff aura??
Yet, He even specifically reminded me to check with the Seven Gods first.
Edward was frowning hard—when he suddenly felt a cold, sinister aura invading him. His spirit jolted—the surrounding crimson moonlight had unknowingly turned blood-red.
And the full moon hanging in the sky—was already red as blood.
"Shit—as expected!"
He immediately terminated the summoning, attempting to forcibly return to the Sefirah Castle.
Three seconds later—
Edward was still standing right where he was.
That blood-soaked moonlight poured onto him—like a living thing—trying to force itself into his skin.
The forced return which had always worked flawlessly—failed for the first time. He suddenly realised he seemed to have been cut off from the Sefirah Castle—exactly like Klein had been in the black town.
Of course—what the Goddess could do—the Mother Goddess of Depravity could also do.
He quickly used [Hearth]—but nothing happened either.
[Hearth]—failed too?
Impossible!
That was his first instinct. That ability should belong to the "rules" system. It should work no matter what!
But…maybe not.
Back when his [Delusion] failed during his promotion, and even earlier—in the Hall of Truth, facing the pollution of the Chaos Sea—his body had shown signs of reacting. These all proved that even these abilities might have limits.
Even if [Hearth] was a rule-type ability, the Mother Goddess of Depravity was one of the Three Pillars. The Authorities She held were also "rules." Why would the "rules" of a Pillar be weaker than those of a mere Sequence 3?
As for why his normal ability [Wandering] still worked—at the moment he was about to use it—an immense sense of danger hit him—
Once he used Wandering—he would be forcibly dragged straight to the moon!
Damn.
The Fallen Mother Goddess was targeting my wandering from the beginning!
"Deconstruct!"
He glared at the blood moonlight and activated [Deconstruction]—his sight pierced through the moonlight, seeing its essence.
Sure enough—that blood moonlight was mixed with Authority.
The moon—was one of the Authorities the Mother Goddess of Depravity wielded—seemingly related to Space (Vampires could obtain blink-like teleportation within moonlight's range).
However, compared to the Evernight Goddess or the Mirror World's barrier, this moonlight Authority was far weaker—likely severely weakened when passing through the world barrier into Earth.
"There's room to work with!"
Edward's eyes brightened. He immediately accelerated his spiritual injection.
But suddenly—his spirituality trembled violently.
A few seconds later, a tear ripped open in the air not far away.
Then, a long leg stepped out of it—accompanied by an exasperated sigh:
"Ugh. It's been so long already—why are you still here instead of running?"
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.