It was related to the Pillar Timeline.
Black could feel the words ring in his Source.
Somehow — he didn't know how exactly — it was related to Dumbledore devouring a Pillar Dumbledore's soul with the help of a Half-Deep One, officially becoming Lord Black Phoenix.
Retribution had been coming ever since then.
There was no way a Pillar timeline without one of its Major Characters could hope to contend against an about-to-be Pillar timeline that was out for blood. It was especially so when this Major Character was none other than Dumbledore himself.
Even now, Darcie's timeline was only a hair-width away from becoming a Pillar.
The moment She felt like She could break through the cocoon restricting Her from stretching Her wings, She would ask Nyarlathotep to do His job, bringing forth Karmic Dissolution.
And once Karmic Dissolution started, nothing could stop it.
Nothing could stop the Mirror Timeline from becoming a Pillar one, corrupting the entire Harry Potter Bubble, then.
At that moment, the Bubble would have no choice but to kick down one of the Pillar timelines to the status of Mirror.
Turned out, the Bubble, which had no sentience, worked on a simple metric to choose which Pillar timeline to keep and which to kick down.
Completion.
The more complete a Pillar timeline, the more stable it would be.
And no timeline could ever be more complete than a Mirror timeline that had just experienced its Karmic Dissolution, becoming a Pillar.
No one.
Much less needed to be said about a Pillar timeline lacking Albus fucking Dumbledore.
So, a War had always been coming, Black knew.
It was just that all the variables indicated that the War would happen right after the Karmic Dissolution, during the brief period of transition when the Timeline would be at its weakest.
Kai was aiming for that exact time to rip off the timeline and fuse it with his Verse Fusion.
It would have been quite a ridiculous affair to see Pillars, backed by the Order of the Immortal Lotus, waging War on an entire world and finding the world itself missing.
Of course, Kai had other motives, a touch more sinister, when it came to that.
But to imagine that the Six of the Order would be so scared of what lay in the future that they would incite the Pillars to attack prematurely?
[It's because of the Inquisitors…] Death hissed.
Black had to nod begrudgingly.
The Order of the Immortal Lotus had tried its best to dig a grave for Kai by complaining like little bitches to the Primordial Tower's Empires.
But he needed to give credit where it was due as well.
Kai had truly been caught off guard by the sudden matter of the Inquisition.
If it hadn't been for his being truly innocent, he would have all but succumbed to the scheme.
Because, like it or not, when it came to the Inquisitors, he had been at the mercy of Aizen, Vader, and Dracula, all three of them vastly more powerful than him.
That doom wasn't averted yet, only delayed… for an unforeseeable amount of time.
Now, just as Kai had been at the mercy of the Inquisitors, they would be at the mercy of Zelretch.
However, their sudden departure seemed to have scared the shit out of the Six Imperishable Fools, Black realized.
Otherwise, perhaps, they wouldn't have abandoned Darcie's timeline.
Also, Kai had already found out using the Faceless Men of Byagoona that there was no Darcie among the seven Harry Potter Pillar timelines. That meant the Order of the Immortal Lotus must have made a deal with the Dumbledore-less Pillar timeline regarding her and would be coming for her soon, too.
So, if the distraction was indeed about the Pillars striking the Mirror timeline preemptively, then that meant… the Order had already made its move.
But how?
Where?
The Timeline's presence overwhelmed Black as he kept vanishing and reappearing using Shadows all across the world.
[Nothing…] She admitted. [I could not sense a single Pillar existence.]
"Death?" Black asked. "Can't you visit the Pillar timeline…?"
[She blocked my gaze a long time ago,] Death replied. [The Order must have sown doubts related to my relationship with this Timeline.]
Black narrowed his eyes.
A Timeline could do that? Block a Deep One's gaze?
But if Death didn't explain thoroughly, it surely meant something related to a Deep One and a Timeline's symbiotic relationship.
Black stopped.
No more running around the world.
If the War between timelines was knocking on his door, then he must know how much time he had.
Because, surely, Lord Black Phoenix and Voldemort of this timeline weren't prepared for it.
The entire timeline would be butchered if the Pillars attacked, ending Kai's years-long preparations.
"Timeline…" Black said, the Ad Infinitum giving him the most viable solution. "Send me the location of every single person on this planet."
Knowing what kind of Mystery Nyarlathotep held for a mind, the Timeline didn't even express shock and began pouring the data — one person at a time.
Hundreds…
Thousands…
Hundreds of thousands…
Before the data could hit the million mark, something happened.
"Hmm?" Black, with yellow stars dancing in his eyes, suddenly raised his brows.
With a blur, he disappeared and reappeared outside Number 12, Grimmauld Place, and looked at the front door in the darkness.
Sirius Black was standing outside the door… glitching.
And the moment Black's gaze fell upon him, the entire man became a mass of green-colored, slithering smoke.
[[HERPO THE FOUL!!!]]
Death and the Timeline hissed in absolute rage, both vanishing together, instantly searching for the real Sirius.
Black… kept standing in his place, his eyes gaining a hard look.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and became Calm.
Sirius was compromised.
That was a fact he couldn't do anything about now.
If even Death hadn't noticed it, then it was easy to imagine that neither He nor the Timeline would be able to prevent the Pillars from invading either.
Which meant…
Black opened his eyes, his black pupils as still as a frozen lake.
Then, giving one last look to the snake-like trails of that green smoke, he disappeared.
The next time he appeared, he was donning a yellow robe…
… looking right into the Lord Black Phoenix's eyes.
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