chapter 42--The Guardian of the Past
In a place filled with randomness, cracks, and countless other strange phenomena...
There stood a man who resembled Unknown. His face was marked by a look of annoyance — though it was only superficial.
With a sigh, the man said,
"Now I have to protect my own past... how boring."
But deep down, he took this task very seriously.
He began observing everything from the beginning — from the moment Unknown appeared on the surface of that planet, up until he reached the majestic man who began teaching him about support techniques.
The man who resembled Unknown started to frown.
He watched the scene over and over again, especially the part from the race between Unknown and the majestic man, all the way to the moment Unknown began using the support technique shown to him.
His frown deepened with every glance.
He muttered to himself,
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong...
But then, why do I feel this strange contradiction?"
He fell into deep thought...
And then, he made a decision.
He closed his eyes — and arrived at a place filled with countless, infinite lines.
In that place, there was a vast, slumbering consciousness.
As soon as the man — who resembled Unknown and whom we'll now refer to as X — reached that place, the consciousness awoke.
It took the shape of X's own face.
The immense consciousness spoke:
"What do you want?"
X didn't reply with words. Instead, he transferred the information directly.
Upon receiving it, the expression on the consciousness's face shifted to surprise.
Then... everything calmed.
Time itself seemed to pause as the consciousness turned to gaze at the two eyes that had appeared at some undefined point in this strange realm.
It seemed the consciousness and the eyes entered into a silent conversation...
X couldn't hear any of it — much to his annoyance — but he decided to wait.
After an unknown span of time, the eyes vanished, leaving the consciousness alone once more.
X asked,
"What's the current situation? What just happened?"
The vast being replied,
"Don't worry. What happened is actually quite beneficial."
He then turned his gaze to a faraway place — watching events unfold — before smiling and adding:
"Entertaining. No danger to us. So don't concern yourself.
Now, return to your duty."
And with that, X was transported back to where he had been moments ago.
He immediately began cursing and scolding the consciousness:
"There was no need for all that mystery!
And for the record, I can teleport myself — you didn't need to throw me like that!"
---
Back to Unknown and the majestic man...
Unknown asked,
"Could you wait a bit while I practice this support technique some more? Then you can teach me the others."
The majestic man smiled cheerfully and replied,
"Of course. It truly is fun to experiment with something like this.
Actually, thinking about it now, it's probably better for you to master each technique individually before we move on to the rest.
You may train now — I won't interrupt."
Then...
Unknown was transported to a vast, open plain.
The voice of the majestic man echoed:
"When night falls, lie down on the ground here.
Tomorrow morning, I'll test your mastery of the technique.
Now... farewell."
Unknown remained alone in that wide field...
Unaware of the battle that had taken place between Teams 1 and 2,
Unaware that he had forgotten the incident with the clone in the abandoned city,
Unaware of the exchange between the eyes and the consciousness,
And even unaware of X, the one who protected his past.
He understood none of it.
And he wouldn't understand it anytime soon.
But in truth… it didn't matter to the Unknown of now.
---
Back to Unknown's perspective...
He began to imagine his body as if it were made of leaves.
Then, he visualized the wind pushing those leaves.
But this time, he tried to control the flow of air — and the leaves (his body).
He directed the airflow, using it to propel the "leaves" as far and for as long as possible.
His body started to fade...
And reappeared a hundred meters away from where he had been.
He frowned.
He wasn't sure where he was or how far he had actually gone.
An idea struck him.
He knelt down and drew a square on the ground, then placed a triangle above it.
He stood up, positioning himself so the triangle was directly in front of him.
Then he tried again — this time aiming for what looked like a ten-meter distance.
He closed his eyes.
After a short while...
He opened them, a smile on his lips...
But the smile slowly faded,
Until his face turned cold and expressionless.
He was just two meters away from the square.
The triangle? Still directly in front of him.
With a sigh, Unknown said aloud,
"Looks like I've got a long day of training ahead of me..."