thefictionvixens Page 384
Page 384
Shiraishikawa murmured to himself, yet his voice carried clearly throughout the entire city.
With a gentle flick of his finger, a golden ray of light extended from his fingertip, shattering the sky into countless fragments.
Aozaki Aoko's eyes burned with the flames of anger.
"Shiraishi Chuan! Have you gone mad, Yang?"
Aozaki Aoko's voice pierced through the distorted spatial barrier.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
Shiraishikawa slowly turned around, his golden pupils reflecting the image of the entire city.
"I'm saving the world, though in a way that might not be... traditional."
The city began to act strangely. Pedestrians on the streets suddenly stopped, then moved at ten times the normal speed.
Vehicles leave afterimages on the road, and the exterior walls of buildings are weathering and peeling away at a visible rate.
"Is this what you call salvation?"
Aozaki Aoko leaped into the air, magical energy forming steps beneath her feet, allowing her to approach the suspended Shiraishi River.
Chapter 486 is the entire universe.
You are accelerating the flow of time throughout the entire city!
Shiraishikawa smiled slightly, a smile that sent a chill down Aozaki Aoko's spine.
"Not just cities, but the entire universe."
He spread his arms.
“Look, life is like a debt, accumulating until it crushes the world. I will send them to a new world so that the universe can be reborn.”
Aozaki Aoko hovered in the air ten meters away from Shiraishikawa, a distance that seemed incredibly far in the distorted time field.
"You're insane! This kind of acceleration will only hasten destruction! Even if you create a new world, it will ultimately lead to the same end!"
For the first time, Shiraishi's expression changed, and his brows furrowed slightly.
“You’ve misunderstood, Aozaki Aoko. 740 is not destruction, but balance. All history and destiny will be fixed, forming a perfect cycle. There will be no pain, no accidents, only eternal order.”
"What's the difference between that and death?"
Aozaki Aoko roared, and magic began to gather in her right hand, with blue light shining in her palm.
"Without change, without freedom, what kind of life is that!"
Shiraishikawa sighed, his voice carrying a hint of pity.
“You’re still too young, Aozaki Aoko. Do you really think free will exists? Look at those people below; their so-called choices are nothing more than the result of a pre-programmed sequence.”
Time is flowing faster and faster in the city; buildings begin to collapse, only to be restored to their original state in the next second, as if a reset button has been pressed.
Aozaki Aoko felt dizzy and had to concentrate all her energy to keep her time flow normal.
"Please, stop!"
Aozaki Aoko's voice was filled with an unprecedented plea.
"I'm willing to pay any price, even my life!"
Shiraishikawa shook his head.
"Even if I stop, fate won't change. I'm just putting a lock on this world to prevent it from being used by other, worse forces."
His eyes sharpened.
"What I want is victory and control; the process and methods are irrelevant."
Aozaki Aoko felt a wave of despair wash over her, stronger than any magical attack.
She gritted her teeth and swung her right hand out suddenly.
"Then don't blame me! Magic Bullet—Fire!"
The blue light bullet tore through space, but disappeared the moment it approached Shiraishi River, as if it had been sucked into an invisible black hole.
"It's no use, Aozaki Aoko."
Shiraishikawa's voice came from all directions.
"I have transcended the limitations of time and space. What you attacked was merely a fleeting afterimage of me from a fraction of a second ago."
The sun moves wildly across the sky, and day and night alternate at a dizzying pace.
Aozaki Aoko felt her consciousness beginning to blur, and the disorder of time was eroding her senses.
"No...this can't be..."
Aozaki Aoko forced herself to concentrate and adjusted her own time flow in an attempt to get closer to Shiraishikawa.
No matter how hard she tried, that silver-haired figure remained like a flower in a mirror or the moon's reflection in water, unattainable.
Shiraishikawa's figure began to blur, as if composed of countless overlapping images.
"Time will continue to accelerate, Aozaki Aoko. This is an unchangeable fate."
Aozaki Aoko launched another attack, a series of magic bullets tearing through the distorted space, but none of them hit their mark.
Her breathing became rapid, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
This was the first time she had felt so powerless since becoming a magician.
"Why...why do this?"
"I can't breathe," Aozaki Aoko asked, her voice filled with exhaustion.
Shiraishikawa's figure had become completely blurred, leaving only a glowing outline.
"Because it's the only way out. All possibilities lead to the same destination, and I just chose the most efficient one."
Suddenly, the whole world was plunged into darkness.
Aozaki Aoko felt herself falling, but she couldn't see anything, and she couldn't even feel her own body.
Fear surged forth; it was a void more terrifying than death itself.
"Where...is this?"
Aozaki Aoko's voice echoed in the void, but received no response.
I don't know how much time has passed—in this place where time has no end.
The concept of "how long" is meaningless in itself—Shiraishi's voice rang out again.
"Welcome to the end of the universe, Aozaki Aoko. Here, even the timeline has never been created; it is true nothingness."
Chapter 487 Twisting and Collapse
Aozaki Aoko tried to sense her own body, but was surprised to find herself naked, without even the most basic clothing.
Even more terrifying, she couldn't sense any flow of magic.
"Magic cannot work here either."
Shiraishi's voice seemed to come from within her consciousness.
"Because there is no object to be consumed, there is no basis for the existence of the mystical."
Aozaki Aoko wanted to respond, but found that she couldn't even make a sound.
This absolute sense of powerlessness nearly drove her to the brink of collapse.
Suddenly, a glimmer of light appeared in the void.
The light gradually expanded, forming the outline of Shiraishi River.
He emanated a faint silver light, the only source of light in this endless darkness.
On the other side, the cold wind was like a knife, cutting through every inch of exposed skin.
When Aozaki Touko's consciousness rose from the chaos, the first thing she felt was an icy chill—a chill with the corrosive properties unique to magic, which even corroded her specially made protective suit, creating honeycomb-like holes.
"Cough... cough cough!"
She suddenly arched her back and spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with ice shards.
A tearing pain shot through his left eye, and the afterimage of Aozaki Aoko's last rainbow-colored magic cannon remained on his retina.
He instinctively reached for the puppet controller at his waist with his right hand, only to find that the metal casing had cracked from the cold.
"You think you can kill me with this much?"
Aozaki Touko grinned, her blood-stained lips parted, and her spine made a clicking sound like gears meshing.
As a Grand Puppet Master, she had already modified her body to be more sophisticated than any other puppet.
The nerve signals forced their way past the damaged area, and she used her willpower to pry open her right eyelid.
The field of vision is spinning. No, the entire space is twisting and collapsing.
In the distance, the collapsed clock tower ruins resembled a twisted rope wrung by an invisible hand, while she herself was eerily suspended in the eye of the storm, like a specimen forgotten by the world.
"It's so ugly."
A clear, cool female voice pierced through the howling wind.
"Like a fish washed ashore."
Aozaki Touko turned her stiff neck.
Kuonji Yuju stood three meters away, her black umbrella motionless in the gale, the icicles clinging to its edge refracting a rainbow of light.
Half of a stained-glass window lay at her feet, the face of the Virgin Mary directly facing Aozaki Touko's shattered left eye.
"Didn't you finish off Aozaki Aoko?"
Aozaki Touko laughed hoarsely, her broken ribs piercing her lungs with each laugh.
"It seems you're not so obedient after all, Your Highness."
Kuonji Yuzu tilted her umbrella slightly, revealing half of her pale face.
"I had torn apart the stomachs of thirteen Night Gluttons to get here."
She raised her right hand, which was covered by a white glove, revealing a deep, bone-revealing burn mark on her palm.