"Let's start from the top, shall we?" Winston said with a small huff. His eyes momentarily glanced at the fish he had pulled out from the void. Unlike a historical void projection which would disappear after a while, this image was different.
It was an ability he had acquired after getting to Sequence 3 - stealing a moment from history. The Sylvain of the past, who had absorbed all of Winston's shinsu abilities was stolen at it's peak; leaving a gap in history soon to be filled by its preceding image.
Alongside the deception of the Error pathway, he could bolster the image that had been filled, making it as if nothing was ever stolen from history.
In such a way, Winston could both keep a historical being alive indefinitely, and also keep his own body from suffering damage through borrowing power from himself from the past.
Winston realized that he was only able to do this because the laws of history in the tower seemed especially weak. As far as he could remember, the Lord of Mysteries wasn't able to change history but merely influence it. It wasn't because he lacked the necessary symbolism or power, but because the world itself resisted any change in the past.
In comparison, the laws of the tower were inherently malleable. Perhaps it was due to shinsu again.
With a flick of wrist, the fool card slipped into his sleeve and a blaze erupted around him.
Phantaminum smiled softly and his eyes were deep as 'He' said, "You shock me yet again, Winston Heath."
The space around 'Him' crumbled. It fell away like pieces of a puzzle and whirled into a singular point - turning into a space time storm!
'He' looked around himself as the void swallowed his figure. For a moment, 'He' felt as if he was standing in nothingness.
Left and right and up and down lost its meaning and it seemed as if multiple instances from the past and present were superimposed upon one another.
Various avatars and marionettes appeared and began to speak. Their ravings rang in Phantaminum's ears but did not end up shaking 'Him' in the slightest.
Each of them tried all their abilities. Spirit body threads, parasitism, physical damage, even air bullets. Nothing seemed to work.
It was as if 'He' did not exist at all, being above the narrative that he considered merely a 'fiction.'
Phantaminum flicked his hand and each of the avatars present was obliterated right then and there.
With a grin, Phantaminum extended his arm and pointed ahead, though 'ahead' had also similarly lost its meaning.
In that singular instance, the world seemed to stand still and the shinsu flow in the entire tower stopped.
"As an Axis" Phantaminum spoke, looking into a certain direction.
'He' took a single step and arrived outside the space time storm. Winston had already disappeared alongside the stone tablet.
Looking around 'himself,' the shinsu that stood at a standstill gradually moved towards 'him' and began to churn. Instantly, 'His' eyes darkened and a vision materialized inside them.
"As an Axis, I hold enough authority over this 'story.' You cannot escape, Winston Heath."
His form blinked through the void and appeared somewhere above the 120th floor.
Looking down, he saw the image of a man standing atop a tall building, clad in black attire and a hat rested atop his head.
The figure smiled at him and bowed its head.
It had not been long since Winston had moved on to Sequence 3. Yet, when Phantaminum told him of his own history, his Scholar of Yore potion digested rapidly, reaching complete assimilation once the question about the tower was answered.
Naturally, it meant that he was now eligible to move to Sequence 2 and step into the domain of angelhood and become a true mythical creature.
With control over the sefirah castle, he could now even summon those potions beforehand.
Although he had no way of hurting 'Him' currently, what could be said about Sequence 2? Sefirah Castle had clearly rendered Him unable to do anything.
But of course, the problem was with the ritual.
'Return a piece of history that has been left behind to the present Era.'
It was a monumental task and not something he could achieve by having Phantaminum constantly on his tail.
But in hindsight, wasn't Phantaminum himself also a part of 'lost history' that could be 'returned to the present Era?'
Winston observed the frozen shinsu all around.
Everything in the tower was subject to shinsu. With it's flow stopped, nothing could move. In essence, 'time' had been frozen.
In the state of frozen time, past, present and future lost its meaning and so, History was no longer a thing.
And so, the 'past' that wasn't there in the first place could not be 'returned' to the 'present' which no longer existed.
It was not something Phantaminum had done because he knew of Winston's ascension ritual, but merely because the entire tower could get caught up in the schuffle between them.
Of course, the greatest reason was because Winston himself was empowered by shinsu. In comparison to stopping or countering his esoteric powers, it was far simpler to just stop the shinsu of the entire tower altogether.
Even the inherent authority of an irregular which was able to control shinsu without permission or limit was not able to overcome this limitation.
Winston himself was only able to move because he also had spirituality. He did not need to breathe or need any sustenance, so the need for shinsu was even less.
Phantaminum began to float down, thinking that Winston had no more tricks up his sleeve. Yet, he remained vigilant all the same.
Sylvain floated silently behind him, it's historical image still holding strong because it had already become a part of the 'present' before time came to a standstill.
But naturally, it was no longer able to exercise its powers related to shinsu.
In short, Winston had once again been cornered.
"You keep surprising me. Got anything else?" Phantaminum spoke, His voice cool and composed.
Winston stood opposing him, serene and not at all panicking like He had hoped he would be.
Phantaminum suddenly felt a premonition stir in his heart but he ignored it. He spoke smugly and mockingly, "Do you? Or should we go back to the domain? One year of your sentence has already passed. All you need to do is spend a few more decades. Perhaps a century."
Feeling smug are we? Winston felt a tinge of annoyance.
That's right. Winston has noticed it too. In the short moment that the last beyonder characteristic returned and Sylvain broke through the barrier, a year had already passed in the tower.
It was something that made Winston deeply regretful but alas, there was little he could do about it. Now, he was even more unwilling to go along with Phantaminum.
Who knew what could happen in that time? He was not about to become a casual spectator. He was not Adam after all, even though one of his avatars was named after him.
Silently, he breathed and spoke in an eloquent manner.
"Say." He began. "You've been observing me constantly right?"
Hearing the question, Phantaminum narrowed his eyes.
"That's right." He replied, feeling a bit wary.
Winston's smiled widened a bit.
Then, he looked to the sky and opened his mouth again.
And the next words that came out of his mouth shook Phantaminum to the core.
"Story Alteration is prohibited here."
Instantly, Phantaminum felt His authority over the shinsu slip away and it again began to flow. Split between the two authorities, it was extremely slow and sluggish.
His eyes widened in confusion.
Suddenly, He realized something and His head snapped to Winston.
Winston only smiled and spread out his hands. Innumerable avatars began to appear in the area and all of them pointed their hands at Phantaminum.
Their images seemed to blend into the background and it seemed as if all of them had donned masks that looked identical to Phantaminum's faces.
Winston had deceived the shinsu on the entire floor, taking the guise of Phantaminum!
Winston's grin could not become more prominent.
Phantaminum tried to reach towards him but suddenly felt as if there was an unreachable distance between them both!
The distance between them distorted, becoming infinitely large!
His shinsu abilities had manifested again. The avatars had not been pointing at him. They were pointing at Sylvain! They had stolen a part of the shinsu powers!
In that instant, Phantaminun felt a profound number of voices filtering into his ears, spreading foul words and corrupting his psyche. His mind felt as if it was spinning around in circles and doing flips.
He felt his thoughts turn violent and desires running rampant. Various rules around his body were magnified and distorted, making it difficult to move.
A thick electric current hung at his skin and he felt hot and cold at the same time. Along with that, darkness seemed to overlap his eyesight and it became difficult to see long distances.
For the first time in his entire run as an Axis, Phantaminum had a peculiar thought.
F*ck! Why does he have so many strange abilities?!
...
...
A/N: Apologies for the late chapter. Was a little busy with personal matters.
Anyways, throw some stones. Get this to 500 chapters for bonus chapter release. Otherwise, the normal chapter will come the day after tomorrow.
If you get it you get it, I'm all for being a salted fish.
Cheers~