The sky inside the chamber twisted like a whirlpool of stars. The God of Clocks hovered above, wings of countless clock-hands spinning so fast they blurred into a halo. Every tick echoed like thunder, every tock like the toll of a funeral bell.
Elara clutched Aelric's arm. Her body trembled, but her eyes never left him.
"Aelric… you can't fight that. It's… it's a god."
Aelric's gaze stayed fixed on the figure above. His chest burned, his veins screamed, but his voice was calm.
"God or not, it's just another jailer. And I don't bow to jailers."
---
The god's voice boomed through the chamber.
"Mortal with the broken timer… your defiance ends here. You have tasted fragments of power, but you know not the weight of eternity."
Its wings spun faster, and suddenly time itself fractured.
The world froze. Elara's breath halted in her throat, her tears hanging midair like glass beads. The stars above stopped swirling, the gears stopped grinding. Only Aelric and the god moved.
> [Judgment Field activated.]
All mortals lose time. Only chosen ones move.
Aelric's wrist burned as the infinity mark flared. The System's voice followed:
> [Exception detected: Chrono Anomaly immune to time stop.]
The god tilted its masked face. "You are indeed a glitch. But even glitches can be erased."
---
The god raised its hand, and clock-hands detached from its wings, turning into spears of glowing steel. They rained down like divine punishment.
Aelric narrowed his eyes. He didn't run blindly.
Each spear fell in rhythm — tick, tock, tick, tock. Predictable.
He counted under his breath.
"Four-second interval… three from the left, two from above…"
He stepped between them, weaving through impossible barrages as if dancing on threads. Sparks flew as spears struck the ground where he had just stood.
His mind sharpened. Patterns. Even a god follows patterns.
---
But his body screamed. Each dodge tore at his muscles. Every time he slowed time, black veins crawled further up his arm, his vision blurring.
The corruption was spreading.
The System whispered in warning:
> [Corruption: 17%]
[Warning: Mental instability may occur.]
His lips curled faintly. "Seventeen percent, huh? Still breathing. That's enough."
---
Elara's voice finally broke through the frozen silence. Somehow, she moved again — perhaps because her timer was tethered to his.
"Aelric! You can't keep doing this — your body—"
"Doesn't matter," he cut her off, eyes sharp. "Every second I stop is another second for you. That's the only calculation I care about."
Her eyes shone with tears. She wanted to scream at him, but the words wouldn't come. She could only watch, helpless, as he stood against eternity itself.
---
The god's voice thundered.
"You see patterns, mortal. You predict. But prediction is still bound to rules. What will you do… when there are no rules?"
Suddenly, the rhythm broke. The spears no longer followed ticks and tocks. They fell randomly, chaotically, with no pattern at all.
Aelric's eyes widened. His calculations faltered.
No rhythm. No sequence. Impossible to predict.
For the first time, doubt pierced his chest.
A spear grazed his shoulder, slicing through flesh. Blood sprayed. He staggered, biting back a cry.
Elara screamed. "Aelric!"
---
But then… he smiled.
The god tilted its head. "Why do you laugh, mortal?"
Aelric wiped blood from his lips. "Because you've made a mistake."
The god's voice rumbled. "Explain."
Aelric raised his burning wrist, infinity glowing.
"Patterns exist because time exists. If you break the rhythm, you admit time is flawed. And if time is flawed—"
He stepped forward, dodging another chaotic spear by a hair's breadth.
"—then I'm not the glitch. You are."
---
His infinity mark flared, brighter than ever. The world fractured, shattering like glass. For a brief instant, he saw through the chaos — every random spear, every possible outcome branching into infinite lines.
His mind screamed. His vision blurred. His corruption surged.
> [Corruption: 31%]
[Warning: Instability increasing.]
But he didn't stop. He chose a single line. A single possibility.
And he moved.
The next spear came down, but he was already past it. The next, and the next. Each one missed by inches, as if the chaos itself bent around him.
The god roared. "This… is not possible!"
Aelric's voice was hoarse but steady.
"Possibility is just another chain. I'm breaking yours."
---
He leapt, pipe raised, and struck the god's mask.
Cracks spread across it, light spilling through. The god staggered back, its wings faltering for the first time.
Elara gasped, covering her mouth. "He… he hurt it…"
But Aelric didn't feel triumph. His body collapsed to one knee, coughing blood. His arm burned black, veins pulsing violently.
The System's voice rang in his head:
> [Critical Corruption: 40%]
[Symptoms: Hallucinations, emotional instability.]
Voices whispered at the edge of his mind. Shadows crawled in his vision. For a brief second, he saw Elara — not alive, but dead, lying in blood. His heart froze.
"No…" He shook his head violently. "Not real. Focus."
---
The god steadied itself, its voice colder than ever.
"You have power, mortal. But every step forward costs you your soul. Save the girl, and you will be hollow. Save yourself, and she dies. This is eternity's balance."
Elara cried out. "Don't listen to it! Aelric, you're still you! Please… don't let it take you away from me!"
Her words cut deeper than any blade. Aelric's chest clenched, his blood burning.
He raised his head slowly, meeting the god's gaze through its cracked mask.
"If eternity demands a price… then I'll rewrite the balance sheet."
His wrist flared once more. The infinity mark pulsed like a heartbeat.
---
The god spread its wings, preparing its final strike. The stars spiraled violently, collapsing into a storm of blades and shattered time.
Aelric forced himself to stand, pipe gripped tight. His vision blurred, his veins screamed, but his mind sharpened.
He whispered under his breath.
"Three outcomes. One death. One despair. One victory. Then I'll choose the fourth."
Elara's timer flickered again.
[29 Days : 5 Hours : 02 Minutes]
She cried his name. "AELRIC!"
And he charged — straight into the storm of eternity.