Chapter 634 – Time Skip
Of course, many fellows had wanted to stop this vile beast from his evil acts since day 1, but who had ever succeeded? Definitely not Qiong Qi and Clarent, as they were made to suffer his abuse freely.
"HOWL! FREE ME, PLEASE!" Qiong Qi screeched like a banshee as he was enveloped in a time sphere.
He knew Draco was about to do something to him, and so tried to break free for naught. Draco raised a hand and twisted it clockwise.
Immediately, Qiong Qi went from a strapping young adult lion to an aged and decrepit old fart. His lush red mane had turned white and grown long enough to drab behind his feet and his muscular body had turned skinny and bony.
His bright eyes became a dull grey and he held a rickety piece of wood as a walking stick, one hand folded behind his back.
The fellow body trembled from the weight of carrying himself as he raised his walking stick and pointed at Draco, speaking in a weakened and aged voice.
"Y-Young whelp Draco, you darn whippersnapper! Q-Quickly revert me back to m-my youthful prime!"
Draco and Clarent shared a look of confusion before they both fell to the floor, roaring with laughter.
"BWAHAHAHA, HE'S SO FUCKING OLD!"
"AYOOO, GRAMPS QIONG, DO YOU NEED A CHANGE OF DIAPERS? HAHAHAHA!"
The two of them were practically choking with laughter as they rolled around, making Old Fart Qiong shake with anger as his pale face slowly became red. He weakly pointed his walking stick at them and cried out.
"Y-You younglings better not…!! Urgh!!!"
Old Fart Qiong suddenly became wide-eyed as he clutched his chest, gripping his heart with both hands as he fell to the floor.
Draco and Clarent instantly cut their laughter as they jumped to their feet, watching Qiong Qi in shock.
"Holy shit!"
"Holy shit!"
The fellow was about to enter cardiac arrest! His old heart couldn't take the abuse of such juniors and planned to commit ritual suicide without the permission of the body power to cleanse itself of this humiliation.
Tsk, tsk, we all know that Qiong Qi, this scaredy-cat, would never give his life up for anything. What do you even call a person whose body parts had more dignity than the person they were on?
Draco quickly turned his hand counterclockwise after connecting to the time sphere around Qiong Qi. The fellow then de-aged rapidly, reaching his former self, yet still going further back.
Soon, Draco and Clarent leaned over a mewling cub that had bright eyes and could barely walk properly. It showed curiosity towards the world and pawed at the air while meowing cutely.
Draco and Clarent wept. How could something so cute exist in this filthy world? How could that bastard Qiong Qi ever been so adorable and innocent? Most importantly, what exactly had gone wrong to turn him into that shameless lion they all knew him as?
Clarent picked up the cub and held him in his arms cuddling the child.
"Sigh, let's not turn him back. From henceforth, I will raise the fellow as my son and teach him the ways of the world." Clarent laughed with an evil expression.
All he could think about was making this bastard call him 'father' with a respectful expression. Kwan kwan kwan, wouldn't the old Qiong Qi commit suicide out of despair?
Draco was smiling evilly as well until he saw something that shook his soul. He screamed like a little girl and teleported away immediately, leaving a confused Clarent behind.
"Mhm? What's wrong?" Clarent asked the air.
"Hehehe, you bastard actually had such evil thoughts. Well, then don't blame me for being cruel. DIE FOR ME!!!" A high-pitched voice sounded out from in front of Clarent.
The fellow was horrified as he turned to see the cute cub giving him a Megumin overhead smirk. It was at that moment that Clarent knew, he had fucked up brutally.
The cub released a thick black cloud of toxic gas with a loud thwump, causing the space around the duo to warp due to the sheer power of the smell.
Clarent dropped the cub that was evilly laughing, placing a hand to his nose as his face went from green, to purple, to red, to blue, to black, and then to yellow.
"Caf, caf, caf caf caf…" Clarent began coughing, every single release removing some black gas from his lungs.
He began to wobble left and right, raising his hand to try and steady himself as he continued coughing deeply.
Eventually, the fellow fell to the side, his eyes opening wide and bloodshot while his blackened tongue rolled out. Qiong Qi as a kitten walked over to Clarent's dead body and flapped his tongue, smiling with satisfaction.
"Shi shi shi, look at him. Dead as a dog! Hahaha, that's what you get for scheming against Father Qiong!"
Draco reappeared nearby with a solemn expression. "Well, that should be a good enough test…"
He then turned Qiong Qi back to normal and revived Clarent by turning back time for him as well. However, despite turning back time, Clarent returned with the memories of his death and quickly entered a brawl with Qiong Qi.
The two rolled over in the area, causing heaps of dirt clouds. Draco ignored them and left them in this random corner of the now continent-sized plane, teleporting back to where his family was.
By the time those two idiots stopped fighting, they would realize that they were utterly lost, forced to spend weeks finding their way back home.
…………
Draco reappeared in the Heavenly Palace, where Eva was patiently seated on her throne while waiting for him. Draco noticed that Eva had a grim expression and felt that she might have sensed his evil intent.
As such. He quickly hid those thoughts and walked up to Eva with his arms wide open.
"Hahaha, Eva my love, you are looking beautiful today!"
Eva gazed at Draco suspiciously, but still embraced him. While in his arms, she questioned him. "I'm just looking beautiful today? So was I looking ugly yesterday?"
Draco snickered. "How can that be? The day you are anything less than beautiful, this world will lose all its color and all others shall descend into mediocrity."
Eva knew she was being bootlicked, but by God was Draco good at it. She couldn't help but blush and forget about her earlier worries. "Hmph, glib tongue!"
"Anyway, I came here to let you know that the upgrades are done. We can now enter a makeshift time chamber and practice what we want faster than usual." Draco explained as he let go of her.
"I suspect there's a catch to it, right?" Eva wisely pointed out as she folded her arms.
Draco sighed. "That's right. I can only increase it to 1:100 and for a total of 1 in-game day at most every month."
Eva frowned. "Not enough. There are so many things we need to do and practice that 100 extra days every month won't add much. Just getting Control's Void of Perfection to Tier 5 will take at least 15 days of nonstop work, and as for the Body of Godliness, both of us know it will take a year at least."
Draco nodded. "I know, but it's better than nothing. I plan to focus on Refinement and my Serpent God Inheritance. I want to be able to access the power of the Serpent Gods in the Minor Array. They all have extremely useful powers that would be good for us going forward."
Eva nodded. "That sounds good. I intend to focus more on my Heavenly Eye Inheritance, as I haven't yet gotten the hang of controlling the Angels and their powers yet. I also have to readjust myself with the Celestial Maiden Inheritance as well."
Seeing that they had both decided, they sat down in the throne room as Draco created a time sphere that covered the entire building. After readying their minds, Draco activated the max dilation and entered seclusion with Eva.
24 hours passed just like that.
The time sphere collapsed and revealed two fellows inside who were still seated in a meditative position. Nothing looked different about the two as in-game characters wouldn't age, but a lot of time had passed for them.
Soon, the duo opened their eyes at the same time. Intense energy shot out from their eyes as they looked around, their minds coming to terms with the correct flow of time.
Both released a wisp of black air that removed all impurities from their bodies as they rose to their feet, feeling refreshed.
"So, how was it?" Draco asked Eva with a smile.
Eva sighed. "Time dilation… it's great for certain things but also terrible for others."
Draco nodded, because he too had not understood its pros and cons properly before starting, but now he did.
"I basically had to stop practicing Refinement the first few hours because it was pointless. Due to the sped-up time around us, Worldly Energy and the like were too erratic, and could not be controlled with my current proficiency. Without energy, Refinement can't happen. As such, I spent the entire time training my Serpent God Inheritance." Draco revealed with a sigh.
"Now, I can use the Basic Manifestation Technique and Basic Transformation Technique for any one of the following God Serpents; Leviathan, Ouroboros, Jormungandr, Nuwa, Quetzalcoatl, Nidhogg and Orochi."
"That is, the Ouroboros' Eternity, Jormungandr's Apocalypse, Nuwa's Creation, Quetzalcoatl's Lightning, Nidhogg's Devouring, Orochi's Poison, and Leviathan's Hydroaffinity."
"To expand further, I can now revive from the brink of death with Ouroboros' Eternity. With a bit of Bloodline Energy, I can restore myself from any injury above death like that cockroach LL, though not as frequently. Seems like nobody can topple the King of all Cockroaches."
"I can create a fake apocalypse in an area with Jormungandr's Ragnarok power. With enough Bloodline Energy, I can directly destroy an area without moving an inch."
"I can create anything on this earth as long as I have the right materials and enough knowledge with Nuwa's ability of Creation! It is essentially Refinement, but I can only pay using Bloodline Energy, so it is not nearly as efficient or usable."
"However, the good news is that it will passively benefit from my usage of Refinement. When we break our shackles and achieve true 100% after reaching Rank 4, I would have the ability to start using it in the real world with enough Bloodline Energy."
"Anyway, I can also summon the storms and call down the strongest bolts of electricity with Quetzalcoatl's Lightning. It is a bit similar to Baraqiel's ability, as Quetzalcoatl's lightning was of a heavenly nature."
"I can now drain the life energy – or any other form of energy – from any entity with Nidhogg's Devouring. This was a serpent that was believed to be able to sap the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil, of its fundamental essence in the myths."
"Also, it was this God Serpent that helped me devour Norma since I couldn't exactly chew her to bits when we confronted each other, as my Ultima Sunt nature wanted me to do."
"I can also control the seas and live freely underwater thanks to Leviathan's Hydroaffinity. Technically, I should be able to control sea monsters and transform into a behemoth, but either of these cost as much, if not more, energy as trying to make the Black Dragon real."
"Finally, with Orochi's powers, I can sue the most potent Poison. You've seen me use this before though, against the Sanguigno Brothers and some others back then."
Draco shrugged. "That's about it. My in-game combat power hasn't increased by much, but in terms of our power in reality, I have become far, far stronger."
Eva nodded. "That's pretty good. I was also mostly focusing on my bloodline, so I didn't face as many problems. However, there were some hiccups, but I'll share those later."
Eva's golden eyes flashed. "Now, I have full control over my Seven Heavens and have integrated them with myself. When I take my Heavenly Goddess True Body, I can be like you, able to switch off the energy drain towards my heaven just as you can to your hell."
"I have also re-arranged some Angels and spawned some new ones using Bloodline Energy. Most of them are normal angels of the 9th power, but they are necessary for increasing my battle force. Besides, any power they gain is theirs permanently, so they could climb the ranks in time."
"Another beneficial discovery is the fact that I can now summon normal angels permanently within the game. They will absorb ambient energy to keep themselves active, and they only take a tiny bit when not in battle mode."
Eva sighed. "That's it for my Heavenly Eye Inheritance. As for my Celestial Maiden Inheritance, I made some progress, but not on the psychic side as that was not the point of my focus."
"My Goddess/Divinity aspect had shifted from the Celestial Maiden Inheritance to the Heavenly Eye Inheritance, so what did that leave for the theme of its nature?"
"After spending many days working on it and pondering, I finally managed to reassemble its properly to glean its true nature. It has essentially become a perfect counterpart to your Dark Angel Inheritance."
"The Celestial Maiden Inheritance… although I feel like calling it the Light Angel Inheritance would be a far more fitting name. It is the source of my beauty, as I am a Seraph Rank Light Angel. This is why my beauty can shatter the mind and destroy souls when turned to the max."
Draco nodded with profundity. It totally made sense and also highlighted the perfect synergy between Amaterasu and Lucifer, as well as Draco and Eva.
With the Goddess of Light Inheritance, Eva was able to control all light in the world as well as everything within the spectrum of light. With the Serpent God Inheritances, Draco was able to control Darkness and all forms of negative energies – not counting the other God Serpents – as the Dark Demonic Dragon, which was the final form of the Black Dragon.
With the Heavenly Eye Inheritance, Eva was no different from the 'god' that most religions spoke of. She was in charge of the paradisaical side of the afterlife and control an army of Angels from her throne. She could bless mortals and create heavenly decrees that would after reality itself from her throne, but she could never get directly involved.
With the Horned Demon Inheritance, Draco was literally the 'devil' that most religions spoke of. He was the source of all the world's evil and the negative emotions that defiled sapient beings. He embodied the Seven Deadly Sins and always tempted mortals to go down the wrong path. He was in charge of the punitive side of the afterlife and controlled an army of demons from his throne. However, because he could not create or affect the rules of reality, he was allowed to get involved with most matters directly.
With the Celestial-… Light Angel Inheritance, Eva was the fount of beauty for all feminine species. She represented holiness, righteous and the will to propagate mortals onto the right path. She had superior mental faculties and could commune with minds, spirits, and the world to cleanse it of evil and guide it to perfection.
With the Dark Angel Inheritance, Draco was the fount of handsomeness for all-male species. He represented sin, corruption, and the will to push all mortals onto the path of debauchery. He had superior mental faculties and could use them to control objects, see the emotions of others and sense the world around him in order to force it to obey his will.
This contrast was why Draco and Eva were practically soulbound to each other. They were literally the two sides of the same coin, and one could not function without the other.
In the eyes of the universe, Draco and Eva were not two separate units joined as one, but one unit working with two different aspects. This was why Amaterasu had convinced Riveting Night to create Evaterasu, otherwise, their bond would have eventually weakened and shattered in time.
After sharing their changes, the White-Haired Duo went to check up on everyone else. Draco could have put his kids under the time dilation to let them grow up faster, but it was not like he was in a rush to see them grow.
Besides, there was something inherently wrong with that which Draco wasn't willing to partake in.
After spending time with his family, Draco was ready to tackle the next ten floors which were something that he and Eva were seriously preparing for. He left the Inner Universe and appeared in the castle he was staying in.
Since only a day had passed, there were still some fellows, lingering outside that wanted to make private deals with him as they had recognized the folly of their actions.
The White-Haired Duo ignored them and entered the portal for the next floor.
When they appeared, they were in a large chamber with black walls made of an identifiable metal on all sides. Draco noticed that he and Eva were separated immediately, a barrier covering each of them.
Draco frowned but sighed as he had expected this. Helia had already given him the info of the first 70 floors, so he generally knew what to expect from them.
The reason why he and Eva had taken time to go and unlock time dilation so they could practice more was because floor 21-30 were known as the Reflective Floors.
They were purely combat-oriented floors with no other goal than to succeed against your given foe.
Just that there was one problem…
Opposite Draco and Eva, two forms manifested from nothingness, two mannequin-like beings that had the same body outline and general features as Draco and Eva on either side.
The Draco mannequin grinned widely and manifested two dull blades while the Eva mannequin remained stoic and pointed her finger towards Eva imperiously.
… the only enemy on these 10 floors would be oneself!