After chewing out Nil, I opened a portal and dumped him back in Tenebrae. Hoggdin was long gone once he realized I had zero intention of explaining what I did while Ipnerslei sheepishly sat waiting for me. I slumped onto my throne as I glared at her. She told Nil about Hugminn. I am not sure that is not direct interference with our wager. Did some harmless storm surfing with Nil knowing Hoggdin would be nearby, and she thought she’d give him that information as an apology. I looked above, seeing the destructive results of my test. Honestly, that’s awesome.

“Why?” I asked Ipnerslei with a bit of a sigh.

“You dragged Nil storm surfing knowing full well Hoggdin would attack you. I just, didn’t realize I’d unintentionally show him how to cast .” Ipnerslei answered, still not meeting my gaze.

“You are supposed to be judging our wager, not interfering.” I pointed out.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, it’s the first time I’ve seen your real smile in centuries.” Ipnerslei sighed, deflating a bit.

“What do you mean?” I inquired, glaring at her a bit more.

“You seem to be actually having fun. You’ve been less grouchy and actually starting to smile again.” Ipnerslei elaborated. I let out another irritated sigh.

“It is my choice. Stop pushing.” I told her. Hugminn, you had to marry the pushiest woman in existence.

“I’m sorry.” Ipnerslei apologized again. I looked at the sky. Hoggdin’s face was priceless.

“Why do you think in all those attempts Nil couldn’t win?” I probed as I mulled over what I just tested.

It ate at me. Nil could erase from time and bring them back as his. He could create a space where he held absolute control, but still couldn’t defeat the Void King. I knew the Void King was monstrously talented, and his was incredibly problematic, but Nil on paper was just as unfair. really is a Realm of its own. Both I had seen were able to make the rest wouldn’t even dream of creating. The only limit they seemed to possess was their creativity. Countless attempts and no one could come up with a winning strategy? It meant either the gap with the Void King couldn’t be closed, or he had some nasty ace up his sleeve. I thought of when I recently visited him. That’s a point I could realistically get Nil to reach. limits were fairly easy to hit; experience, adaptability, and creativity tended to matter more in the long run. That might be the issue, he has way too much experience for most people to overcome. Even then, Nil can get close on the time frame he has only in terms of and training his up. If I provided the needed experience and ability, would that win? Nil at least had the possibility. Imaginary numbers? What an interesting concept. A concept that would likely only exist in a place without because could turn fantasy into reality if you tried hard enough.

“I imagine most would struggle to overcome his experience and ability. You seem to forget we’re part of an older generation that refuses to move on.” Ipnerslei retorted. Because I had one Void King to murder.

“Still don’t get why some move on. Why willingly end your immortality?” I mused. There were only a handful of us that seemed to enjoy living forever.

“We both know we aren’t actually immortal.” Ipnerslei said bitterly.

“I know, it’s technically more un-aging.” I sighed. Unfortunately, time could only be rewound so far.

I began fixing the sky above; it was impressive how destructive that was. That was fun. I combed the compendium as I repaired some more of the damage. Nothing in there remotely resembled what I just did. It might be a competency of some of the other issue. Void King was not an opponent that you could afford to have gaps. Was I getting tempted? Maybe. It took me a while to fix all of the damage. What all weaknesses did Nil currently possess? Fixing or removing them would be important. The biggest one was Luna currently. His family wasn’t far behind. Lux was his . Lux would need some strengthening. Wait. couldn’t get , but that didn’t mean an couldn’t help. Ipnerslei was still sitting nearby waiting for me to finish. You can give a certain some tutoring. She may not have been as strong as me, but she was still quite knowledgeable. If I recalled, Orga was her teacher who helped her get quite strong. Tenebrae is surprisingly competent. Not the best ever, but sufficient.

“What’s that face?” Ipnerslei probed as she sat there.

“You know since you want me to help so much, it occurred to me that you could be helpful as well.” I taunted her.

“Oh really?” Ipnerslei cooed. Don’t read too far into this.

“Lux possesses . Should Nil win, she could use some insight on .” I pointed out.

“I see. I see. Not tempted at all.” Ipnerslei teased. I knew she’d misunderstand.

“Come on, let’s go to Tenebrae. See if you like the feel of the castle.” I suggested. Ipnerslei laughed as she stood up. I opened a portal and we stepped into the courtyard where Nil was attempting to replicate the combination I did.

“Are you a forling idiot?” I snarled at him.

“No.” Nil snapped back at me. He seemed surprised to see Ipnerslei with me.

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“You have nowhere near the control needed to stop it from exploding should you succeed. Stop trying.” I spat at him.

“Why is Ipnerslei here?” Nil deflected, looking displeased to stop practicing.

“Seeing if I like the feel of the castle.” Ipnerslei answered with a soft laugh.

“When are we eating?” I checked as I was feeling a bit hungry.

“Be polite Krahinn.” Ipnerslei lectured me.

“I was polite enough. Plus, best part of being here is the chef is great.” I informed her.

“You have about an hour and a half.” Nil informed us. I let out an annoyed sigh. Ugh. I hate waiting.

“Can I meet Lux?” Ipnerslei requested. I scanned the castle really fast, and summoned Orga and Lux in front of us. Both glared at me for dragging them here.

“Hello. I am Archmagus Orga Fayle. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Orga said politely with a bow.

“Likewise, I am Ipnerslei. I wanted to meet Lux, not rudely interrupt the lessons.” Ipnerslei replied, glaring at me at the end.

Why? Lux asked mentally.

“Because I could help you learn which would let Orga focus on and other things.” Ipnerslei explained. Orga was eyeing the two of us, clearly suspicious.

“What?” I snapped at Orga.

“I’ve heard you are generally quite unpleasant, so you being nice and helpful is out of character. Furthermore, how would this work? How would we coordinate lesson planning? What would the process be? Would the Emperor and Empress approve? Did you even ask Nil or Lux their opinion?” Orga probed. She was awfully wordy; spoke kind of fast too.

“It is a hypothetical for now and details would need to be ironed out. As for Krahinn, he currently is in a good mood, don’t let his grouchy demeanor fool you.” Ipnerslei informed them.

“Uh huh.” I added on, glaring at her.

“So, she’s your wife?” Orga checked. Why did people always seem to think that?

“No. We’re friends.” I snapped at her.

“We are longtime friends.” Ipnerslei stated as well.

“Lux and I were supposed to duel in three days.” Nil interjected. Actually, that gave me an idea.

“How about this, Nil with three days of my lessons versus Lux with three days of Ipnerslei and Orga’s lessons.” I suggested. Nil looked at me, clearly suspicious.

“Why?” Nil inquired, clearly not understanding why.

Why? Lux also asked. Sheesh, such little faith. Ipnerslei gave me a raised eyebrow.

“It’d show Lux and Orga the benefits of Ipnerslei’s help, and I want to test something with Nil.” I explained. I want to gauge how hopeless this is.

I would be okay with trying it. Lux declared, looking at Nil.

“I’m still going to win.” Nil taunted his .

We’ll see. Lux retorted. Orga was looking at Ipnerslei, a bit uneasy.

“I look forward to working with you.” Ipnerslei told Orga.

“I also look forward to working with you.” Orga replied politely.

“Good luck.” I told the three ladies.

“Don’t get too confident Krahinn.” Ipnerslei shot back as the three folded into light.

“Why are you in such a good mood?” Nil checked with narrowed eyes.

“Because I don’t think you understand just how impressive that demonstration in Ygdazi was.” I informed him.

“It was pretty cool.” Nil conceded. It was obvious how badly he wanted to know how it worked.

“First, do not try the time erasing trick I did until I give you the all clear. That is powerful, unstable, destructive, and requires a level of control you simply do not possess.” I lectured Nil.

“Yes sir.” Nil sighed. Getting called sir is weird.

“Don’t call me sir.” I told Nil.

“Fine Krahinn. What are we going to focus on then?” Nil inquired. Luckily, I was confident he’d like the answer.

“Using your to erase ; the first half of what I did. Just under no circumstances are you to try the second half.” I informed him. Nil completely lit up.

“Really?” Nil checked. I could almost imagine a tail wagging behind him, he was so happy.

“Yes. It’s the combination of and . You use to isolate the from the Realm, then use to remove from time.” I explained.

“But only moves things forward in time. It can delete parts of time; how does it remove from time?” Nil probed. Ah. He didn’t realize what he did.

“How did time move in the large you created?” I asked, hoping he’d connect the dots.

“It didn’t. Wait. Because the time isn’t moving, when I go to erase it there’s an instance to erase it gets rid of all of it. Why doesn’t the explode then?” Nil checked. He seemed to be able grasp concepts well enough.

“Earlier, you brought us inside a massive . I brought us before it existed because that needs to be closed or it’s going to have disastrous consequences; nothing you or Lux are doing is going to need a of that size. Also, is getting rid of the closing step, which is why when you bring it back it’s so destructive because it fed the discharging energy of it closing the into the , hence why we are not doing part two.” I explained. It needed some fine tuning, but the combination was quite effective. Nil doesn’t even fully grasp how useful that is against someone like the Void King.

“I think I get it. severs the , gets rid of , the time reversing undoes the , but because the time of doesn’t exist properly, the needs to close rapidly as it is unstable when it exists again, feeding the from it closing into the I have now severed and stolen. Because the is getting forcefully fed more it becomes unstable and needs to be controlled so it doesn’t detonate.” Nil stated, making sure he got it correct.

“Exactly. We’re going to work on the first half because it is frankly much easier and within what you can currently do. It should be useful against a user because it gives you a buffer their needs to go through.” I told him. Nil cocked his head sideways.

“I assume there is theory and tactics against each ?” Nil asked. I laughed at him.

“Obviously.” I confirmed, wondering what he was getting at.

“What’s the Void King’s ?” Nil probed. Ah, what style did he need to learn.

“Unfortunately for you, ; he has no innate . He can use his to mimic any other or , and with his extreme levels of experience he can throw virtually any or to ever exist at you.” I informed Nil, who deflated at the news. It’s why he’s the epitome of Magi.

“How do you beat that?” Nil mumbled. It definitely seemed daunting on the surface.

“Because he can’t mimic your time , you can beat him with specialization. There are also a few other weaknesses he has, but we’ll focus on them if you win our wager. For now, focus on what’s immediately in front of us.” I replied. Nil had a bit of a face going still.

“How is it possible to have no ? What tier would that even be?” Nil inquired. Fair enough question.

“Tier measures the strength of the present as not all is created equal. It is basically measuring the purity and closeness to the true concept in a sense. What it means is he has pure with no to it. It’s quite rare actually, but now it is focusing on improving you, not what you’ll eventually deal with.” I snapped at Nil as we began practicing the combination.