HOURGLASS

El'Rion looked back toward Shan'Rae and waved a hand. A palm appeared in the air, formed of Force. It somehow looked as though it was a part of El'Rion's body despite the fact it was clearly entirely separate. Almost like a breath of air, connected and yet not, but as important as life despite the latter feeling.

Shan'Rae frowned, not liking what she was seeing at all. She had originally made the assumption that El'Rion had stepped in to stop this human so that she would leave him alone later after he was dead, but she most definitely didn't expect that he would step up in this way. However, if he thought that he could deal with her as easily as that human, he was sorely mistaken.

Palm and scythe met, the plains of the earth below being completely flattened. The strikes they sent out casually collapsing Leonel's strikes. Shan'Rae's expression changed, and she retreated quickly, managing to remain unscathed.

"Leave." El'Rion said coldly.

"Are you really in the state to talk to me like this?" Shan'Rae asked coldly.

"Do you think that you are your Ancestor?" El'Rion replied, taking a step forward. "Since you won't leave, I'll send you on your way."

El'Rion flipped a palm, and an hourglass appeared. It was simple, small, and unadorned. In fact, it was so uninteresting and ordinary that it was even cracked. However, the moment Shan'Rae saw it, all of the stars across her body lit up at once, her expression, or what seemed to be her expression, changing wildly.

"Are the Plutos crazy?! How could they give you such an item?!" copyrighted © content.

Shan'Rae shook from head to toe. Even if her Ancestor had still been here, he would react like this. This seemingly small and insignificant hourglass was the most fearsome item in all of existence. It was a treasure that even the most senior powerhouses of the Plutos should have never taken out. It didn't make sense for El'Rion to have access to it, especially not for a meaningless mission like this one.

This item was known simply, almost too simply... The Hourglass. It didn't have any fancy prefixes or suffixes. It was that and nothing else. But it was because it could stand out with such a simple name that it was so special.

The Hourglass gave one control over maybe the most mysterious Force in existence, that being Time Force. However, it was on a level that could manipulate Existence itself.

Usually, Time Force manipulators were restricted to small regions, whether that be a limited time or a limited region, usually both. If you could ignore any one of these parameters, you were a genius the likes of which even the Gods would have to respect. However, The Hourglass had no such limitations.

To make a complex matter simple, when The Hourglass turned a second of time back, every world, every planet, every star, every universe, experienced the same reversal. No matter where you were, no matter how powerful you were, no matter how high you had reached or how low you had sunk.

But... this was said to be the simplest ability of The Hourglass.

Fundamentally, it could warp reality. It just so happened that doing so was made simpler and more convenient with Time Force as a base...

That was right. The manipulation of time by The Hourglass was nothing more than an act of convenience that made the rest of its abilities simpler and less complex to execute, eliminating the need to care for Karma and the Laws of Cause and Effect entirely.

The instant it appeared, Shan'Rae no longer hesitated. She didn't even look toward her ship, nor the members of her race that lagged behind. She brought out an item of her own and crushed it, vanishing into a swirling blackhole that blinked out of existence the moment she did.

El'Rion didn't do anything, he just felt that Shan'Rae was foolish. What did an escape mechanism mean in the face of The Hourglass? He could easily reverse time to a point where she right back where she had just escaped from and then killed her. But he didn't say anything. This result was exactly the result he wanted.

He put The Hourglass away without a word, but when he looked back to Leonel, he noticed that the latter was entirely focused on the hand that had just held The Hourglass, even following it to exactly where it had disappeared.

El'Rion didn't think that the look in Leonel's eyes could get any colder. He seemed to have already reached his limits before, but at this moment, even El'Rion felt a chilly wind tingle his smile.

Leonel raised his spear.

El'Rion's gaze narrowed. "It can't do what you think it can."

Leonel didn't say anything, his spear tip growing incomparably steady. A gentle and almost mist-like swirl of Spear Force slowly gathered around him, his Divine Armor growing brighter and brighter.

"That item can kill quite easily, but when it comes to life... It's a completely different matter. The only way toward eternal life is through rebirth. Nothing that can be reclaimed so easily was all that important to begin with."

Leonel's gaze only became sharper. "When did you become so talkative?"

"Take it as pity," El'Rion responded.

"Wrong answer."

Leonel's aura flourished, his blade becoming sharper and sharper. His Spear Force rose, emitting the aura of the Seventh Dimension.

El'Rion closed his eyes. His patience was wearing thin. He was a mighty Pluto, and yet just in the last hour, his body had been taken over by a human, he had been disrespected by the junior of the Void Race, a so-called Ancestor had attacked him for nothing more than words, and now this boy was spitting in the face of his efforts to help him.

Leonel had no idea what kind of consequences he would face for killing Shan'Rae, yet he wanted to do it. And yet, whatever those consequences were, they would pale in comparison to him actually succeeding in taking The Hourglass for himself.

El'Rion took a breath and opened his eyes to find that Leonel's spear had already closed the distance, but in his palm, The Hourglass had already appeared once again.

Leonel froze in place, completely unable to move.