In a world where science itself was already defied, to say "this isn't scientific" was enough to show that Carl was truly out of options this time.
As the energy shooting out from the teleportation device grew stronger and stronger, even someone as powerful as Carl began to show signs of strain.
He let out a helpless sigh, lowering his head to look at Lily in his arms.
"Lily, looks like you'll have to come with me on a trip."
Surprisingly, Lily was unusually calm.
She looked up at Carl's golden eyes and nodded slightly.
"Alright. I wanted to go out and explore anyway."
Carl gave a faint smile and withdrew all his defenses. Since resisting this space journey was no longer possible, it was better to conserve as much strength as he could in case they ran into danger on the other side.
Having reigned invincible on the Moon for so long, he didn't dare to take anything lightly anymore. If they ended up falling into a trap in some unknown place, that would be the end.
Lily wrapped her arms tightly around Carl, and he held her close in return.
With their defenses gone, the multicolored light washed over their bodies again and again, until they turned into two golden spheres of light, vanishing together along with the rainbow beam from the surface of the Moon.
After Carl and Lily disappeared, the teleportation device floating in the air reverted to two ordinary-looking pillars.
They crashed down, then sank into the ground once more, leaving the Moon's surface as silent and lifeless as before.
...
In the vast, multicolored void, the two golden spheres carrying Carl and Lily shot forward at incredible speed until a blinding white portal appeared ahead.
The moment the portal appeared, the two golden spheres seemed to be drawn by an invisible force and were instantly pulled toward it.
On the other side of the portal, in a dim gray space, sat an elderly man with pale gray skin, clad in a long white robe.
His eyes had been closed, as if in deep meditation, but at that moment, they snapped open.
They were violet eyes, each with concentric black ripple patterns.
As his eyes opened, an overwhelming aura surged out from his frail-looking body like a boundless ocean.
Even more terrifying, on his forehead a third, circular crimson eye opened as well. It bore the same ripple patterns, but the power radiating from it was even stronger.
The old man narrowed his eyes.
From his vision, he could see the two golden spheres streaking across the dark void, passing by a blue planet along the way.
"This power… could it be the clan Mother once mentioned? Where are they headed?"
The next second, his eyes widened.
He saw the larger sphere tremble slightly, as if sensing something.
It wrapped halfway around the smaller sphere, then suddenly turned back toward the blue planet they had just passed.
Seeing this, ripples spread across the black patterns in the old man's eyes like waves across water.
He didn't have time to confirm the identity of the two mysterious light spheres. Only one thought filled his mind:
"This is bad! They've discovered the Ninja World!"
With a single gesture, a pitch-black staff appeared in his hand.
He slammed it heavily into the ground, sending transparent ripples spreading outward.
At the same time, the two spheres plummeting toward the blue planet like shooting stars suddenly froze in midair, as though seized by an invisible hand.
...
Inside the sphere, Carl retained a sliver of consciousness.
He sensed someone trying desperately to stop their descent.
Wisps of black energy seeped from his sphere.
The old man in the other space frowned, muttering to himself,
"This dark power… it doesn't feel like Yin Release. And there's no chakra fluctuation at all… No! Even if it costs me my very soul, I must prevent this unknown power from descending upon the Ninja World!"
His hands clapped together with a sharp sound.
The staff before him rose upright as his violet eyes blazed with eerie light, while the crimson eye on his forehead snapped wide open.
Beneath him, eight pitch-black orbs floated into view, spinning rapidly around him.
...
Carl felt the restraining power around him intensify.
A familiar sensation crept over him.
"This… is gravity?!"
Under its pull, the spheres containing Carl and Lily were dragged upward, toward a small, moonlike planet.
Carl unleashed his dark power with everything he had, trying to slow their ascent.
He had a terrible premonition—reaching that planet would not be good for them.
But he had already exhausted much of his strength resisting the teleportation device earlier.
Now, in this strange light-sphere form, his power was greatly weakened, making resistance even harder.
Just as Carl was about to lose the fight, the smaller sphere he was protecting suddenly shook violently.
Lily had clearly sensed his desperate situation.
Carl had been dividing his strength to shield her this whole time—if this continued, both of them would be doomed.
Suddenly, Carl felt the pressure around him ease.
He saw Lily break free from his protection.
Her light-sphere form sprouted a spiral-shaped black pattern, from which a dark arrow shot forth, slamming into Carl's sphere and propelling him downward, while she herself was yanked violently toward the small moon.
"Lily!!"
Carl wanted to roar, but in his current state, no sound came out.
He could only watch as Lily's sphere turned into a tiny point of light, vanishing onto the moon's surface.
Her faint voice echoed in his mind:
"I refuse… to be your burden…"
Her tone was still tinged with that familiar pride, but Carl had no time to dwell on it.
She had taken the brunt of the restraining force and even used her power to push him free.
Carl couldn't waste the chance she'd given him.
Pouring out every last ounce of his dark power, he streaked down like a black meteor, crashing toward the blue planet below.
...
In the other space, the old man refused to give up.
His hands pressed together again, his wide sleeves billowing as the eight black orbs beneath him vanished, only to reappear around Carl's descending sphere.
The orbs formed a black ring, contracting tightly around Carl's light-sphere form.
Together, they plummeted into a small village below.
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+110 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg