Capítulo 55: Chapter Fifty-five
The blue demonesse conjures a similar dark cloud she did before and disappears in it.
As her portal fades alongside her influence on the place you feel a sudden, rising surge coming from the still remaining door which begins to pull on you relentlessly. Before you even have time to scream in confusion your eyes open as they are assaulted by light.
"AAAAAAaaah... what?"
You look around and see a vast, green field housing a small dome like structure on one side and a massive tree, around which a keep like structure was built, on the other.
Hearing the serene sound of water moving about you turn around and realize you awakened next to a small pond. Looking up you see a strange, bird cage like structure, beyond which instead of a blue sky you see green space and vast planets orbiting you.
It's all very serene.
"Where am I?"
"Hellooo!" A high pitched voice calls out to you from behind. But when you turn around you see nobody. "HEY! DOWN HERE!"
"Wha-" Looking down you spot a little girl who reaches... about up to your waist.
"Hello hello! I'm sorry about that. I tried calling out to you but it looks like Towa had the same idea. Luckily it seems she got bored and gave up." She then extends your hand to you.
"Nice to meet you! I'm the Supreme Kai of Time. But just call me Chronoa!"
"Erm... hi. I'm Eric-"
"I know." She lets go and crossing her arms behind her back she starts dragging her feet along the ground in embarrassment. "I'm sorry about... all of that by the way. I didn't mean for things to get... this messy. Oh by the way... this is Gose! You two have already met!"
From behind the girl an even smaller alien pops out, the same guy who was on Kanassa trying to stop you... or more accurately stop Towa and her shenanigans. "H-Hi..."
He seems to be none the less ashamed than the Supreme Kai but there is something... else mixed in there. You try to prod him, his mental barriers seemingly down and feel... anxiety?
"I wish I could say it was nice to meet you guys, but... I'm honestly still kinda miffed about the whole thing. Plus, now you guys are invading my dreams too? C'mon, at least Towa had the (in)decency to look the part!"
You respond, giving voice to your irritation.
The little guy next tot the Kai recoils and promptly hides behind his boss(?).
Meanwhie the little girl in a rather jarring manner goes from cute and bubbly to proper and formal. She nods with her eyes closed and assumes a much more somber tone.
"I understand your frustration. Truly I do.
And I meant it when I said I'm sorry. But you did the right thing. Gods know the damage could've been irreversible. A person merely existing when they shouldn't could create vast changes due to a butterfly effect. Who knows what would've happened if things didn't transpire as they should've."
"So... what? From now on I get to enjoy you talking in my head, invading my dreams so I don't step off the "proper path"? No thanks. I'd rather not have my free will be given the finger!"
"Don't think of it like that. This isn't much of a matter of "fate" or "destiny". It's not the job of the Time Patrol or mine to enforce some grand design of the gods. What we are safekeeping, what the "proper path" is one dictated specifically by you and everyone else, even the gods."
You raise an eyebrow at that. "Come again?"
"We are more the guardians of your free will than anything else. I may be the Supreme Kai of Time but that doesn't make me its architect, only its protector. What course the world takes is determined by you."
"Like traveling to the past?"
"How do yo-"
"Like I said before... Towa. She didn't just leave. She showed up in my dream personally!
She told me you let someone alter time once but when she attempts it, it's suddenly a nono."
"I see... She really got desperate. Or smarter.
Yes it's true. I've allowed a change in the timeline. Several in fact because Grand Zeno deemed the new timeline preferable. Plus... the two events aren't comparable."
"How so?"
"Usually when a mortal travels back in time, usually with a time machine, they end up creating a splinter in the timeline. Their future remains unchanged while they create an entirely new timeline. Thus paradoxes are avoided. However... What Towa carefully omitted was her nature. She's not only a demon... but a Time Breaker."
"That's a dumb name."
"Using her demon sciene and magic she severed herself from the time stream.
Unfortunately this means I can't foresee her actions AND that if she alters the past... it WON'T create a new timeline. Luckily in turn these changes are very easy to spot and fix. But as you can see it for yourself changing the past is not her goal... rather a means to an end. She ALWAYS has an ulterior motive."
"And while I understand your frustration with the situation... about what you had to do it had to be done. Sure you may think leaving or killing Rime would've been preferable... however the long term ramifications could've been disastrous. So please... don't be angry!
I swear to you I'll make it up to you somehow!"
You scratch your head awkwardly. "Does this... usually happen?"
"More than I'd like. Less than you think.
Usually she just changes things around, we keep fixing her work until we can track her down and put an end to her plan. But it seems now that you "exist" the way you are you'll be in her crosshairs, make no mistake."
"Grrreat.... why couldn't she fuck with Hit instead? If we are BOTH these "linchpins" that she called me."
"Because Hit's too dangerous for her liking."
That makes sense. You wouldn't fuck with Hit either. Even if you have a foolproof plan, one screw up and Hit won't hesitate to take you down. "So... how do I get out of this situation? Or is that not why you brought me here?"
"It is. This was the only safe way for me to interact with you. And don't worry. Once you get strong enough Towa shouldn't be bothering you... directly anyway. But after that we'll be able to handle things." She then taps her subordinate on the shoulder and motions for you to follow her.
"Now come. We got much more to discuss and I'm sure you'd like to sit down." She smiles. "I'll even treat you for a meal while we're discussing business!"
As she leads you to the small dome shaped house you see the little guy sweating nervously.
You look at the little guy and continue to stare at him for a while. Then you turn back to the smol kai and discreetly ask her. "What's wrong with him? He seems to be nervous."
"Oh don't mind him. He's just anxious that he could meet you. Give him a minute to adjust."
"Meet... me?"
She nods with a little hum. "It's not often that I have more time patrollers available. When I told them there was a mission involving you a fight almost broke out because they couldn't decide who should go." You stare at her blankly. "You see I usually send people from their own universe on missions because they are familiar with their history and should know how past events transpire. Buuuut unfortunately this backfired now. He was so worked up about Towa messing with his childhood hero that he lost his cool during the mission."
"W-What?"
"Oh... Shoot."
"D-Do I become a hero or something? Or a legendary martial artist? Oh god do I become a hero of justice?! DO THEY ERECT A STATUE IN MY HONOR?!" You start pestering her to divulge some information with stars in your eyes.
"N-no... Y-You see many people here... mostly the guys revere you for one teensy weensy reason... Because they grew up watching your cartoon. The one that lord Fuwa made."
"..." You fall silent. "D-Do they make action figures out of me or something?"
"Yes. A toy company bought the license to makes cheap plastic toys based on the show. Honestly it's pretty dumb. But they do sell them and many people do collect them. Of course both them and the TV show are heavily censored."
"That... is... SOOOOO COOL!"
Going in the Supreme Kai makes the two of you sit down while she gets busy... Gose meanwhile fidgets around nervously.
"I-I'm... sorry. About that whole Towa business."
You wave him off. "As far as I'm concerned you're just a cog in the machine. Where I come from soldiers are not responsible for what they do in the line of duty. The ones that give them orders are." You look in the kitchen and then back at him. "So yeah. You don't owe me anything." But just as you finish you hear Chronoa going.
"I'm baaaack!" That was fast. She then gives you a plate each and looks at you expectantly.
"I hope it's to your liking. Dig in!"
The food is... Well it looks fine if a bit odd due to the alien ingredients used to make it.
"Thanks for the food."
You dig in and your eyelids immediately shoot up and feel like they got superglued to the top of your eyesockets. It's... It's indescribable. If there's anything you could liken it to it's the inevitable end of all things that exist, entropy itself. This horrid... concoction, because you can NOT call it a meal in any way, somehow feels like it encompasses everything WRONG you could imagine.
It's burnt yet raw, its insides are both gooey and slimy while jaw breakingly tough.
The flavors inside are... indiscernable, the only thing you're certain about is that they are ALL awful and somehow they each clash with each other to the point that your mouth feels like a battlefield during WW2 where mustard gas or other chemical weapons were deployed and an uncountable number of lives were lost in agonizing pain. This eldritch abomination is not only an insult to the art of cooking but ALL creations of the gods at the same time. Now you are certain that objective, pure evil IS REAL rendering millenias of philosophical debate moot and pointless.
And with that... revelation... that otherworldly feeling you sit still while Chronoa asks you.
"Well? How is it?"
Not saying a word you slowly and without flinching you continue eating until the whole thing goes down and your plate becomes clean. While Gose, the time patrollers remains purely intact. He knew... He fucking knew.
You sit there calmly, your fists clenched.
"It's... it's not good."
"Awww you mean it? I knew my cooking was good but not that it's grea-"
You interrupt her and continue in a calm tone.
"This is the worst plate of dogshit I have ever tasted. No, I would have preferred dogshit over this. It's ironic that this food was prepared by a god because if you feed this to someone in a restaurant they would be thoroughly convinced that god isn't real. Never in my wildest dreams could I ever even intentionally try to make a meal this bad.
In fact right now I'm contemplating mass homicide as I desire nothing more than to brutally bludgeon you all to death and burn this place to the ground."
She stares at you blankly and in confusion.
"W-Wha-"
Standing up you've pretty much reached boiling point and your calm fury has transcended into a burning RAGE. "I'M SAYING: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!
YOU CALL THAT FUCKING DISGRACE TO FOOD COOKING?! I WOULDN'T FEED IT TO A STARVING HOLOCAUST VICTIM! THIS PILE OF VOMIT BREAKS THE FUCKING GENEVA CONCENTION! AND I'M SURE EVERY FUCKER IN THE MULTIVERSE WOULD CHOOSE TORTURE OVER EATING THIS!" Grabbing her by the top of her tiny head you lift her up until she's at the same level as you and shout in her face. "YOU! ME! KITCHEN! NOOOOOOOOOW!" And proceed to carry her in there.
As you put her down on her two feet she begins to shake in fear like a small and yappy dog that shat on the carpet but knows it's about to get its ass beat. Handing her some tools you choose to let her do her own thing and correct her whenever she fucks up. Which she does constantly.
"RIGHT!" Taking a slice of meat out you slap it on the counter. "GRILLED MEAT! NOW!"
"Y-Yes!" She begins but immediately you stop her.
"NO! FIRST YOU TENDERIZE IT! BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T THE FUCKING MIDDLE WILL BE RAW!" Shaking and on the verge of tears she follows your instructions and when done looks up at you. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?! DO IT! WHAT'S NEXT?!"
"I-I-I..."
"WHAT.... IS.... NEXT?!"
"I p-put it on the-"
"WROOOONG! YOU SEASON IT! WITH WHAT?!" She starts reaching for SEVERAL containers as well as other unrelated ingredients. "NO! SALT! PEPPER! DONE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE?!" You grab the containers and toss them the straight out the fucking window in your divine fury.
The whole cooking process goes on like this where she constantly screws up and does entirely unnecessary things while leaving out key components. Even though grilling chicken should not take longer than a couple minutes TOPS you stay in there for two hours.
By the end you are drained physically and emotionally while also suffering from a bleeding throat. The same could be said about the supreme kai.
When you're done she's crying without restraint as she presents the single piece of grilled meat she managed to NOT obliterate or defile with her shenanigans. Taking a bite out of it you nod. "Okay... Not good... but acceptable." Then you push the plate back to her. "Now you try."
She tries it and finds it painfully average.
Then... you present her with the plate Gose left and demand her to eat a single bite out of it. With some... context she realizes what she has done before. "Oh... my... gods... Is this how my cooking tastes?"
"Wait... You mean you NEVER tasted your cooking before????!!!!!"
"N-No! Please don't shout!" She raises the plate in front of her in defense.
"No... I won't. Otherwise my vocal cords would snap... For now this is good. Remember these two things:
1.) Always, always. ALWAYS! Taste your cooking throughout the whole process...
2.) Stick to simple things! If I see you doing science experiments with food again I'll break your knees! Am I understood?"
"Y-Yessir!"
"Good." Walking out of the kitchen you sit down, tired as all hell. Taking a glass of tap water you quench your thirst and moisten your crying throat a bit. "Ah... finally..."
The little guy looks at you equally terrified and grateful. "Thank you." He whispers. "We've been suffering from her cooking forever!"
You wave him off as it's nothing while Chronoa also shambles out drained in spirit and body. "I dumped the thing into the trash..."
Rubbing her eyes she sits down "So... about those favors... I guess I owe you two now..."
"Hmmm... you're welcome."
"Then please... ask away. If it's within my power I'll grant it to you. Then... I don't know. I guess we can discuss what happens now..."
You scratch your chin for a while. That is a very... interesting and tempting offer.
And from experience you know exactly how valuable the favor of a god is.
"Okay... I think I got a few so do the one that's less... controversial."
"Name it and if it's within my power then so be it."
"Since you mentioned how this "Isn't over" and how Towa will continue to be a problem...
I think it stands to reason that I can come and go as I please." You entwine your fingers.
"I don't exactly appreciate being dragged around. So if you want me to come over here call me and I'll come on my own volition."
She ponders on the matter for a second.
"Very well... But unfortunately I have a few... restrictions. The city itself houses many people... most of whom you are not meant to meet... or haven't met yet."
"Wait you mean-"
"They are... very accurate facsimiles I made.
You could call them temporal clones. They move around, fight, think. But not truly alive."
Gose then stands up shocked. "So you mean our mentors aren't... real?!"
"What did you think? That I drag people out of time so they can educate you? Of course not!"
Then she returns to you. "So... yeah. While you can go around I must restrict who you can talk to. Is this acceptable for you?"
"Just one quick question... Am I one of those trainers?"
Chronoa pauses. "Not yet."
You nod. "Very well... I'm fine with that.
Can I feed people?"
"If you so choose. I might even set up a food stall if you wish."
"Tempting... And my second one is this: I want to further my time abilities. I assume as the guardian of time you can... help me with that."
Once again she closes her eyes and thinks about the matter long and hard. "I have another stipulation for that... I won't teach you how to go back in time. As that is forbidden."
"Going forward isn't?"
"No because you don't create time splits.
So instead I'll give you something you'll unlock soon enough. A time-stop."
... "Or would you rather practice magic?"
Chronoa leads you out of the building and under the nearby tree, not the big imposing one but the regular kind just outside. She taps the soft grass and prompts you to sit down and she does the same, kneeling down in front of you.
"Okay-" She begins her explanation.
"This will be rather difficult to do so don't worry if you don't succeed at first.
Contrary to what you might think the leap from time-skip to time-stop is a big one."
"How so?"
"Hits entire fighting style revolves around the internal application of time manipulation.
You remove yourself from time, you accelerate your attacks through time, so on and so forth. Time stop on the other hand is a literal other dimension, the manipulation of all time, not just yourself."
You nod, thinking you get it. "Okay. Then how do I begin?"
"First I need you to close your eyes. Focus your mind through meditation, try to feel the fourth dimension around you."
You try doing it just like she said at first, emptying your mind, trying to get a sense of "time" as it were. But... something rudely interrupts you.
*pomf* "Toooooo-" Something hits your head and lingers there. "KIIIIIIIIII!" And screeches, prompting you to open your eyes.
"TOKI TOKI!" Chronoa shouts. "Shoo! Shoo! Get off of him! It's rude!"
"TOOOOOO!"
The Supreme Kai of Time then continues to try and swat away the owl which apparently perched on top of your noggin but instead she continuously slaps you as the bird doges around. "Nonononono! Away! Away!"
The bird eventually retreats and lands on top of the tree. "KIIIIII!"
"I'm sorry. He can be a handful at times."
"No worries." You close your eyes again only to hear this.
"TOOOOOOOO!" And it goes like this for hours on end.
*sigh* Finally you open your eyes. "This is pointless."
"Okay... how about you don't close your eyes?
Maybe... try emptying your mind like that?"
"I'll try..."
You stare at her since there is nothing there to capture your attention so naturally your eyes are drawn to her.
*stare*
*stare*
*stare*
You see a twitch.
Chronoa promptly covers her ears. "I know what you're thinking about! No touch!"
You reach forward but she roars at you.
"NO TOUCH!"
*touch*
"AAAAARGH!"
You continue to try and make ANY headway with the training but... you just can't. With the constant pestering of that damn bird and the all the other "distractions" you fail to focus properly. Even when you somehow manage to persevere and push through all the stimuli you can not for the life of you get to that whole "Stopping time" part as you simply do a time-skip whenever you try.
"DAMN IT!" You cry out, smashing your hand into the soft ground. "Why is this so DAMN difficult?!"
Chronoa sighs. "Sadly it seems today is not our day. Unless..." She stares blankly in front of her. "No no, not that... That wouldn't work either... And I can't do that..." Defeated she gives up and lets out another weary sigh.
"Looks like I'm all out of options. Okay, here goes-"
She reaches for the robe above the skin tight spandex and... slowly starts removing it.
"Eh?"
Slowly she starts blushing as she sensually removes her robe, leaving only the black rubber like bodysuit underneath. "Say Eric... Why don't we... skip this for now? I've been here all alone for so long and you... Well... the girls will never know-"
"N-No!" She starts reaching for the part of the suit above her shoulder and gently lifts it with one finger. In that moment out of sheer dread you shout. "STOP!"
The world goes white around you. Everything goes still, even the air you breathe and the gentle wind halt in their motion. All except three things: You, Chronoa and the bird.
Looking around in confusion you aren't able to fully comprehend your situation before things revert to how they were before.
Letting out a relieved sigh Chronoa falls on her back. "Oh thank Zeno that worked."
"H-Huh?"
"You do your best work under pressure.
I just had to get you worked up enough."
"P-Please... don't do that ever again!"
"I promise I won't." She speaks as she puts her formal attire back on. "It looks like it's only for an instant and it clearly taxed you heavily. But now you get the gist of it. So... I think you got it from here. If it's okay with you I'll send you back now. You'll awaken in your bed well rested. Unless... you want to stay a while and take a look at the city?"
"S-Sure... I need something to take my mind off of THAT."
She shrugs. "Hey Gose! We're going on a walk! Are you coming?"
The time patroller runs out of the building and joins up as the Supreme Kai leads you out of the place she calls the Time Nest and into an entire damn city. Slackjawed you ask her this.
"What the fuck?!"
She grins. "We've got everything needed to sustain the Time Patrol! Living districts where our patrollers can rest, every amenity imaginable and fully equipped schools and training areas where they can hone their skills in addition to shops of all kind! Pretty amazing isn't it?"
You point up. "And that fuck off dragon? What purpose does it have?"
"It's meant to wipe out our previous HQ hence why the Supreme Kai had to build this place..."
Gose responds.
"HUSH! Aaaanyway down there is the plaza, around which are the previously mentioned shops. Left to it are the time machines where our patrollers do their work. And over there beyond the main square is the city. Don't let its appearance fool you though! Each building is four dimensional! Meaning they are much bigger on the inside. You can visit any of these whenever you feel like it."
"And to the right? Seems like a pretty big area to leave out..."
"That's not important. There's nothing there but the various trainers I "gathered". You're free to go there but there are only time patrollers and the aforementioned trainers, which you can't interact with."
You nod. "Got it. Still... it looks quiet enough. Maybe I'll relax there a bit."
"Trust me, we use it mostly for that as well."
The little alien then nervously drags his feet on the ground. "Erm... Mr Slayer..."
"Hmmm?"
"C-Could I bother you for a second?"
"Sure..."
"C-Could you... sign my armor please?"
He hands you a sharpie. Your mouth curls into a childish little smile and you laugh dumbly.
The only thing that looked even goofier was the grin the little alien had as you signed his equipment.
When you finish Chronoa turns to you.
"By the way..." She says with her eyebrows raised in confusion when she spots you marking Gose's armor. "Aaaanyway... I was about to say I got something else for you."
"Really?"
Chronoa smiled. "I'll tell you the secret how you can appease Caulifla and Kale!"
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