Wu Zhengkang grimaced. His qi leaked out of the scratches on his arms.
His opponent screeched at him, ignoring the blood dripping down her body.
He had panicked when confronted by the alternate of his former Mistress, but then he realized her cultivation was nowhere close to what it should be. And she had abandoned all skill and reason. He was actually more skilled than this version of his Mistress, as the numerous sword wounds on her body indicated.
And yet, still he had no confidence in this fight.
She was ferocious beast, ignoring all injury and pain, throwing everything she had into lethal blows.
And then there was the blade in her hand.
The Black Blade would drain his life and his cultivation with any contact. Even small scratches were serious wounds when it was involved. And it could feed some of that qi back to its host to keep them functional for as long as they were useful. She would heal from all but the most serious blows.
And in this battle, even death was not the end.
So even if they slew her, she would return once her timeline healed the hole left by her death.
She would overcome him in the end.
And then she would rampage through his allies.
He took a deep breath and steadied his breathing.
She pounced at him once more…
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The triple combo of Aurora Legion, the Nova Guardians, and Nemesis had gathered together and now stood at the center of the battlefield. The double Saydaa and double Roxanne combo had created a full on hurricane to pull in their foes to a void disk once more. The others held the line, Chronolock and Kiyosuke stopping any foes with speed, Wonder Knight and the two Arvids taking on the stronger foes, the Nova Guardians, Nana, and Icy Rose laying down covering fire, and Pink Star providing flexible support to handle any unexpected powers.
Just then a huge barrage of spheres made of purple light struck the hurricane and exploded. The purple explosions filling the sky disrupted both magic and psionic power, causing the hurricane to fade. A man wrapped in a purple aura then shot through the dispersing clouds, heading straight for the group.
The Vophae had noticed the situation on the ground.
And had dispatched Captain Sildeth to hold the line while they regained control of their fleet.
The Captain grinned as he rushed straight for the group.
“Now this should be fun. You all seem a bit stronger than the last time. Show me what you can do!”
The covering fire team opened up at the incoming Vophae. Crystal spikes, icicles, shockwaves, chakra blasts and seal darts, gravity bolts, and lightning filled the skies.
Captain Sildeth took evasive action, dodging the majority of the assault and block the rest with a PSI barrier.
The Roxannes and Saydaas both unleashed their psychic power and mind spells, aiming at the Vophae’s mind.
But even their combined might couldn’t make a dent against the massive psionic colony, not in its area of expertise. Their assault did nothing to slow him down.
The original timeline Arvid stepped forward, sword glowing bright. Captain Sildeth grinned and pulled out his own blade.
The two swung their swords.
It was not a clang but a mighty crash. A massive shockwave extended from where the two swords collided, cracking the very ground around them.
Arvid grunted. Captain Sildeth grinned, even as Kiyosuke and Chronolock appeared behind him.
A truly legendary battle began.
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Arachnalich grinned. The battle was going well. She was moderately annoyed by those bots who somehow connected to her implants and who wouldn’t shut up about some sort of Liberator, but she couldn’t deny they were useful. It looks like she was the queen of this battlefield…
Suddenly several members of the Atomic Cult leaped high, diving into the center of the AVS’s formation. They began to glow…
Arachnalich was thrown to the ground as several mushroom cloud explosions tore through the AVS.
As she coughed and rose to her feet, she saw the surviving monsters and villains scattered about, still in a daze.
And several more glowing mutants were rushing towards them.
“Warning: Friendly forces in mortal danger. Moving to assist.”
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NSLICE warbots and cyborgs began to land from the sky by the thousands. Their guns and missiles and lasers and powers cut through the mutants, but their foe no longer feared death.
And atomic explosions began to cut through the metal legions.
Arachnalich grit her teeth and thrust her hands forward, summoning as many undead as she could and launching them forward. Several cyborg necromancers noticed and flew towards her, linking with her cybernetically to expand her ritual.
That would buy some time for the AVS to regroup.
But against nuclear bombs?
No amount of time would be enough.
She grit her teeth as she ordered the retreat…
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The battle hung in an uneasy equilibrium that had started to tip. The original timeline had more fighters to start with, as the super-serum had never been invented in the alternate timeline, so many of the supers and all of the monsters only existed in one of the timelines. And the Day of Sorrow had wiped out many of those who still did.
The Atomic Cult did make up for much of those numbers but many of them were not real fighters, regardless of the powers they possessed. They could not be expected to match the experienced heroes of the ILS or the innately savage monsters of the AVS on a one to one basis.
The original timeline was more organized as well. The vast majority of the heroes followed Director Green’s command, while the monsters and villains largely obeyed Arachnalich. The alternate timeline was significantly more divided.
And a great many people in the new timeline switched sides, preferring the old timeline where the Day of Sorrow never happened. Most of the NSLICE units, Resistance fighters, and a great many others all fought for their alternates, rather than against them. A handful of people from the original timeline either preferred the new timeline or else didn’t particularly care and just did whatever they wanted, but these were a drop in the bucket.
The Vophae could have tipped the scales but they were still occupied in the space battle with their auxiliaries. The pure auxiliary ships far outnumbered the ones led personally by Vophae so it would take some time before the Vophae were ready to intervene in the ground battle. Captain Sildeth was all they could spare for the moment.
But what the new timeline had on their side was the Temporal Arbiter’s support.
The Temporal Arbiter had to devote most of his power and focus to keeping the timelines split and the universe from collapsing, but he did not do so equally. He focused as much of his power as he could into stabilizing his chosen timeline. As a result it could recover from damage significantly faster. So the defenders of the new timeline were fewer in number but they would return much more quickly, preventing their numbers from dropping too drastically. The defenders of the old timeline, on the other hand, couldn’t be sure when or even if they would return.
Slowly, the defenders of the new timeline began to realize their advantage. They became more aggressive, launching increasingly desperate and suicidal attacks targeting the inhabitants of the old timeline. The inhabitants of the new timeline opposing them desperately tried to block them, using themselves as a shield.
But they could not prevent casualties forever. Even a slow rate of casualties would eventually tip the balance in favor of the new timeline.
The Temporal Arbiter nodded.
The battle was going well for him.
And then he frowned as he realized something.
The battle shouldn’t be going this well.
Because the original timeline had that girl who could threaten even him. A being of godlike power who no one in the new timeline could contend with easily. His side still ached from where she had struck him, and he had been brainstorming exactly how to stop her from tearing through his side.
But she was not, in fact, tearing through his side.
In fact, she was nowhere to be seen. Instead it was her alternate who was tearing through the battlefield, pushing the defenders of the old timeline to the limit.
So where was she?
And what was she doing?
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Xiong Huang rushed through the empty space, away from the battle. She flew along the rivers of light, moving in the opposite direction of their flow. She thought of Bob, filled her heart with longing that made her chest constrict and her eyes water. She flew as fast as she could, spreading her qi as far as she could, looking for any sign of Bob.
Elise had flown off in the other direction, replicating Xiong Huang’s cultivation and activating all her sensors to the limit.
Because the pair knew that simply winning the battle was not the path to victory for their side. They had something to do before they could truly stabilize their timeline.
They had to find Bob.
And the Temporal Arbiter had made a mistake by bringing them here.
This was the space between time, outside of the timeline, outside of any timeline, where the regular rules of time did not apply.
So if someone was banished from time, where else would they be held prisoner? What better place to hide them?
The battlefield shrunk and then vanished as Xiong Huang flew. She had no idea how far she had gone and she didn’t care.
She would go however far she needed to.
Do whatever she needed to.
She grit her teeth.
“You promised. You promised! You said you wouldn’t leave me alone anymore, after you wormed your way into my heart! Well where are you, you idiot?! You better not have lied to me, the Great Immortal Mistress of the Eternal Night Sect! A thousand deaths will not be enough for such a betrayal! So hurry up and come back to me!”
And then…
She felt it.
A response.
So faint it may well have been her imagination.
But her heart knew that it was not.
Xiong Huang moved even faster, faster than she ever had before.
And then she saw it.
A tiny speck of light in the distance. One that the dual rivers of light were flowing out from. Where every river of light across this space was flowing from.
Growing larger and larger.
Until it finally came into view.
Countless rivers of light, twisting together like a ball of yarn save for the ones that escaped and flowed outwards.
She came to a stop, crossing her arms. Her cultivation pulsed. Elise’s replicated cultivation reacted. The two cultivations connected and Xiong Huang’s qi pulled.
White cracks of light formed into a vortex and Elise stepped out.
“Dad…we found you…”
“Stupid robot girl, what am I looking at and where do I punch it?”
Elise’s robotic eye flickered. The display from the Chrono-Shifter on her arm wobbled, lines starting to crisscross all over it, growing and growing until the entire screen displayed a solid block of light.
“Analysis: It appears to be timelines. Countless new timelines constantly forming. I detect Commander Bob’s signature but the sheer quantity of changing timelines is preventing a target lock.”
Xiong Huang frowned. Her cultivation warned her against simply trying to destroy the entire thing.
Which meant there was only one choice.
“Stay here. I will find him, and bring him back.”
“Counterpoint: There are a great many possible locations for Commander Bob. Additional scouting units would increase search efficiency.”
“Are you saying I’m not enough?”
“Panicked Disclaimer: T-This unit would never question the Great Mistress’s capabilities.”
Xiong Huang let out a sigh.
“There’s another angle. The exit might be as difficult as the search. Stay here, and keep that insulting excuse of a copy active. And…Bob would be upset if we had to search for you afterwards. I do not wish for him to be distracted upon our reunion.”
“...Acknowledgement: This unit does not enjoy the idea of remaining on standby, but the Great Mistress’s analysis is accurate. This unit will remain here. This unit also thanks the Great Mistress for her concern.”
Xiong Huang’s frown deepened.
“Save your thanks, machine. I just don’t want Bob to be thinking of someone else when I find him.”
“Acknowledged.”
Xiong Huang’s vein bulged. She increased the number of lessons she would teach the machine later on.
But later.
Because right now, she had to go find a single faceless minion in an infinite mess of countless possibilities.
Xiong Huang heaved a sigh and dove straight into the ball of nascent timelines…