Fuck.
Elric couldn't help but curse inwardly, his frustration mounting with each passing second.
What the actual fuck just happened?
He'd just been trying to blast that ice sculpture like a responsible cosmic citizen dealing with a threat, and the next second he was transported... somewhere else entirely.
"Hey, ALINE, are you there?" he called out, trying to contact his AI assistant.
No answer.
"Hey! ALINE, respond!"
Still nothing but silence.
Elric glanced down at his watch, the screen showed absolutely no signal. No connection to any satellite network. No data stream.
It seems I'm not on Earth currently, he analyzed grimly. Or at least, not in any place where conventional signals can reach. Maybe a different space altogether.
While he was examining his watch more carefully, it suddenly went blank. The screen flickered once, twice, then died completely.
And that's when he finally noticed something alarming—the metal casing of the watch had started to melt in certain places. Small droplets of liquefied steel were forming at the edges.
He really hadn't noticed it at first, but after carefully feeling his surroundings now...
Yeah, it's somewhat warm here. Melting-steel kind of warm.
With his chakra naturally circulating around his body in a defensive layer, it registered as just a warm sensation—uncomfortable but manageable.
So he did not noticed it at first.
He could probably sustain this for... maybe one or two years if I had to, he calculated, considering his chakra reserves and regeneration rate. But it's not like he was planning to stay here that long anyway.
He looked around, trying to get his bearings.
It was dark. Incredibly, oppressively dark.
There wasn't a single trace of light anywhere—no stars, no distant glow, no ambient illumination of any kind. Just absolute, consuming blackness.
Even after summoning a fireball in his palm to serve as illumination, the light barely penetrated the darkness. He could see perhaps twenty meters in any direction, and beyond that was just more darkness stretching as far as his enhanced eyes could perceive—which was actually quite far.
The darkness seemed to actively absorb light rather than merely being the absence of it.
This is definitely not normal space, Elric concluded.
He decided to travel in a straight line at first, picking a random direction and moving at full speed to test the boundaries of wherever he'd been trapped.
It didn't take long.
Just after one minute of full-speed flight—which would have covered several kilometers in normal space—he crashed directly into something.
BOOM!
He punched forward with significant force.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Nothing. He didn't even feel like he was punching something solid. There was no impact, no resistance, no feedback whatsoever. It was like striking at empty air, yet he knew instinctively he couldn't pass through.
After channeling his chakra to sense the obstruction more carefully, the truth became clear.
A space barrier. Of course.
After thoroughly observing this strange space and combining it with what he'd learned about dimensional from Ishiki's memory, a hypothesis began forming in Elric's mind. The more he analyzed, the more solid his theory became.
This was some kind of small dimensional space—similar in concept to the Dark Dimension or the various Hell dimensions. Certainly not as massive as those legendary realms, some of which were supposedly as large as entire universes or even encompassed whole multiverses in extreme cases.
No, this particular dimension was incredibly small by comparison. Perhaps roughly the size of a large country if you tried to measure it by conventional spatial metrics.
But a dimension was still a dimension, regardless of size.
And now that he was paying proper attention, he realized something crucial: this space was absolutely filled with incredibly potent energy. It saturated every cubic meter of the dimension.
With its fiery attributes constantly burning, it seems perfectly suitable as a prison for a Frost giant. The intense heat would weaken a Frost Giant while the spatial barriers would prevent escape.
The altar back in the temple must have served as the gateway to this place. And when he'd attempted to smash that altar with his chakra sphere, at the exact same moment Borgir had opened the connection from this side, trying to force his way out.
The result? Elric had fallen through like a dumb fucker, switching places.
But looking around at the dimension's intensely concentrated energy, something occurred to him.
This might not actually be such a bad thing.
Those ancient runes he'd seen in the temple—they were clearly placed to reinforce and maintain the space barrier from the outside. Without that external support structure, he could feel that the barrier itself wouldn't be very difficult to smash through with concentrated force.
Of course, smashing the barrier would have consequences. This dimension would naturally collapse and be destroyed, and all this concentrated energy would just scatter chaotically into the main reality. That could cause all sorts of problems—spatial tears, energy storms, maybe even attracting the attention of beings he'd rather not deal with.
But he had a much better idea for utilizing this space.
I'm getting super lucky lately, he mused to himself with growing excitement.
He reached into his personal dimensional storage—a small pocket space he'd created to carry important items—and withdrew something that looked incredibly ordinary at first glance.
A tiny branch. Maybe twenty centimeters long, gnarled and twisted like it had been broken off some ancient tree.
Looking at it objectively, it appeared completely mundane. The kind of stick you could find on any roadside, perhaps good for kindling at best.
But this was actually the most precious material Elric currently possessed in his entire arsenal.
It was a branch from the Shinju—the Ten-Tails tree.
He'd obtained this fragment from the Naruto version of himself.
The Shinju was more than just a tree—it was a cosmic entity that absorbed planetary energy and converted it into chakra fruits. Anyone who consumed one of those fruits would gain godlike power, which was how the Otsutsuki clan had become so terrifyingly powerful across multiple dimensions.
Elric had originally planned to use this branch on Earth eventually. More specifically, he'd intended to use it on the Celestial that was currently sleeping beneath the planet's surface.
He had to solve that problem anyway—the Emergence event would eventually occur if left unchecked. So why not become stronger while dealing with it? The Celestial contained enormous amounts of cosmic energy. If he could somehow use the Shinju branch to absorb and convert that energy into a chakra fruit...
The power gain would be astronomical.
But he'd decided to wait on that plan. If he tried something like absorbing a Celestial's energy right now, at his current power level, he'd probably get slapped to death by the Celestial consciousness itself, or worse, attract the attention of Arishem the Judge.
The Celestials didn't take kindly to interference with their grand design.
So his plan had been to wait until he was at least stronger than a normal Celestial. And after absorbing the Earth Celestial's energy, he calculated he should have no problem fighting beings on Arishem's level.
It was a long-term plan.
But he hadn't expected this opportunity to present itself so soon.
I can completely use this dimension's energy to grow a chakra fruit, he realized with growing excitement. This space is already isolated from the main reality. The energy is concentrated and potent. And most importantly, nobody will notice what I'm doing here.
The ancient saying echoed in his mind: You shouldn't wait around while doing a good deed.
He knelt down and planted the branch directly into the space barrier itself—the boundary between this dimension and the outside reality. The barrier was made of solidified dimensional energy, which should serve as excellent nourishment.
Immediately, he began channeling his chakra into the branch, feeding it his own energy to jumpstart the growth process.
And the Shinju branch did not disappoint.
It began to grow at an incredible speed.
The branch pulsed with life, drinking in Elric's chakra like a starving organism finally receiving sustenance.
Within seconds, roots began sprouting from the bottom of the branch, spreading through the dimensional barrier like invasive vines. They burrowed deep into the fabric of the space itself, tapping into the enormous reservoir of energy that saturated this dimension.
The branch began to thicken, growing from the width of a finger to the width of an arm in mere moments. Bark formed and hardened. New shoots emerged, reaching upward and outward with alien purpose.
This is faster than I expected, Elric thought, carefully monitoring the growth rate. The energy concentration here is even more potent than I calculated.
The Shinju tree was designed to absorb planetary energy over centuries, slowly draining a world to produce a single chakra fruit. But this dimension was different—it was a concentrated pocket of refined energy, already processed and purified, purest form.
It was like offering concentrated fertilizer to a plant instead of raw soil.
The tree continued to grow rapidly. Within minutes, it had expanded to the size of a small sapling. Then a young tree. Then something that could genuinely be called a tree, reaching ten meters tall and still growing.
The roots spread further through the dimensional barrier, and Elric could feel the space beginning to drain. The ambient energy that had been making his watch melt was being absorbed, converted, channeled into the growing tree.
Perfect, he thought with satisfaction. At this rate, the fruit should mature in... maybe a few hours?
That was incredibly fast compared to the normal centuries-long process. But this was also a much smaller dimension with far less total energy than an entire planet.
As the tree continued its rapid growth, Elric's thoughts turned to the situation he'd left behind in the temple.
As for what that ice sculpture Borgir is doing in the outside world... will he kill Thor and Loki?
He considered the possibilities.
Thor was currently powerless, stripped of his divine might and separated from Mjolnir. Borgir would crush him like an insect.
Loki was tricky and had powerful magic, but he'd never been a match for ancient Frost Giant.
Together, they might be able to survive for a while through clever tactics and Loki's illusions. But eventually, Borgir would wear them down and kill them both.
However...
Elric smiled slightly.
Odin will probably keep an eye on them.
The All-Father might have banished Thor, might have stripped him of his power and cast him to Midgard as punishment. But Odin wouldn't actually let his son die. That had never been the point of the lesson.
Odin was watching.
The moment things got truly dire, Odin would intervene. Perhaps he'd send the Warriors Three and Sif. Perhaps he'd empower Thor temporarily. Perhaps he'd even come himself.
But Thor would survive. Loki would survive.
It should be fine, Elric concluded, returning his attention to the growing tree.
The sapling had now become a genuine tree, perhaps fifteen meters tall with thick roots spreading through the dimensional fabric like a vast network. The bark had taken on an otherworldly appearance—pale white with faint blue luminescence, as if ice and fire had somehow merged into wood.
The temperature in the dimension was dropping noticeably as the ambient heat energy was absorbed. Elric's watch—what remained of it—had stopped melting. In fact, it was starting to cool down.
Good. This means the absorption process is working efficiently.
He settled into a meditative position, preparing for the long wait ahead. The tree would need time to fully mature and produce its fruit. During that time, he'd focus on refining his chakra control and perhaps experimenting with some techniques he'd been theorizing about.
Being trapped in an isolated dimensional was actually a pretty good opportunity for training without interruption.
Every cloud has a silver lining, he thought wryly.
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