Chapter 2008 The Eternal Warden. [Trial Four: The Hourglass of Undoing] Nux saw the screen in front of him. However, before he could even read the content, "DIE!!" One of the soldiers rushed toward him. He glanced at the man and suddenly, BOOM The soldier's body burst into pieces. "Huh…?" Nux frowned. And only now did he finally notice something. His body, He was back in his own body. What happened just now was him using his monstrous strength that had long started affecting reality around itself. The soldiers here were all no stronger than Phase One cultivators. Nux could crush these beings with his gaze alone. "DIE!! YOU MONSTER!!!" Of course, scrubs usually never understood that till it was too late. Even when they saw one of their allies turning into a splattered mess with just a mere gaze, five more soldiers rushed toward Nux, and of course, BOOM BOOM BOOM All five of them met the same end. Nux glanced at the other 30 or so soldiers staring at him. They all seemed frozen in fear; the thoughts of attacking him didn't even come to their minds. Satisfied, Nux just shrugged. There was no need to spill blood needlessly, especially when he had no clue what was happening. He had gotten his powers back, so the first thing he did was try and contact his wives. They were now connected by the very Universe, so not many things should be able to block their connection—heck, till now, nothing had managed to do that. Yes, till now. The Temple had managed to pull it off. Even with his powers back, he couldn't connect to his wives, neither was he able to return to his Universe. 'Hmmm.' Nux started thinking, but then, Bzzzzzz Once again, the giant Hourglass hovering in the air shimmered brightly. Time reversed, the soldiers separated from each other, the dead soldiers rose up again, even the ones Nux had turned into a splattered mess were put back. Nux observed everything with keen interest. What was he supposed to do here? He questioned himself as he burned the sight in front of him into his memory. Whatever the Temple showed him had a meaning. It helped him clear the Trial one way or another, so Nux was being careful from the very beginning. At the same time, he also patiently waited for the Temple to tell him what to do, and the Temple didn't disappoint. [Defeat the Eternity Warden] The 'mission' was given, and Nux was impressed. 'That's a badass name, not gonna lie.' He nodded to himself as he started looking around, "So where's the cool name guy?" He questioned out loud. The time around him was still reversing, but suddenly, something happened. The smoke around the area, that was returning to the crater, suddenly trembled and came together, forming a… being? "So that's… the Eternity Warden?" Nux tilted his head. The cool name guy was made of thick, black smoke that never stopped moving. His body twisted and flowed like a storm caught in slow motion. Shapes formed within him—limbs, faces, bones—but they vanished before they became real. He had no true face, only a swirling fog where eyes flickered like dying stars. His steps left no sound. The soldiers around didn't seem to notice him; they simply passed through him as if he didn't exist. "So I am supposed to fight this?" Nux questioned, and just as he did, Bzzzz The Hourglass shimmered, Time Flow changed again, returning to normal, and, "SCREEEEEEEECH!" The Warden of Eternity screeched as he launched himself at Nux. Nux didn't move and allowed him to do whatever he wanted. With his body and abilities now back, he seemed much more confident than before. Also, his instincts didn't really warn him. The Warden—despite the cool name he had—was… weak. As the distance between them reduced, the smoke that created the Warden's body surrounded Nux. He allowed that to happen, and soon, he sensed his body changing. Something he was familiar with… Regressing. Yes, his body was regressing. "Interesting…" Nux muttered. All of this would have posed a bit of a problem if he was still trapped inside that mannequin, but he wasn't. This was a simple problem to deal with. Flicker Nux's body flickered out of the smoke and teleported to an area where the smoke didn't reach, and just like that, the regression stopped. Not only that, since Nux had ALL of his powers, he fastened the Flow of Time around his body and reversed the effects of regression. The problem was solved just like that. [Defeat the Eternity Warden.] Nux saw the message again. The space around him trembled as suddenly, a black sword with blood-red veins on its blade appeared in his hand. Yes, it was Bloodedge. Bzzz Bloodedge trembled, greeting Nux. Even when he went for the Transcendent Hunt and got a few Transcendent Level Subordinates, he didn't get to use her, because, well… that would kill or gravely injure a potential subordinate. So technically, this would be the first time he would be using his still new sword. Clearly, she was excited, and Nux was the same. All this while, he had only used Bloodedge as a test run. Even when he went for the Transcendent Hunt and got a few Transcendent Level Subordinates, he didn't get to use her, because, well… that would kill or gravely injure a potential subordinate. So technically, this would be the first time he would be using his still new sword. Bzzzz Bloodedge trembled again as Nux held her. Then, He slashed, and the sword released an absurd amount of energy toward the Eternal Warden, splitting him in half. Then, Nux waited. Honestly, with how easy it felt, he was half expecting the thing to regenerate, which usually shouldn't be possible because Bloodedge's energy would prevent that, but this was the Temple of Time—nothing made sense here. Nux, however, was wrong. Two halves of the Eternal Warden's body crumbled and turned into smoke, and the said smoke dissipated in the air. Nux could no longer sense his presence. "It is over…? Just like that?" Nux questioned, still confused. He expanded his sense, wanting to see if part of the smoke somehow escaped, but no. The Eternal Warden was indeed gone. "That cool name was wasted on that thing." Nux commented. Bzzz Bloodedge buzzed, as if nodding to Nux's words. And then it happened, Bzzzzzz The huge Hourglass hanging in the air glowed, once again reversing the Flow of Time. The soldiers who were killing each other started moving in reverse, dead bodies stood up and returned to their positions. "Wait… If the dead bodies…" Just as that thought appeared in Nux's head, the smoke that had disappeared just now started reappearing. Within seconds, more and more smoke gathered, forming two halves of the Eternal Warden's body before the two halves reconnected, forming a complete Eternal Warden. Bzzzzzz The Hourglass glowed, reversing the Time Flow to normal again and, "SCREEEEEEEECH!" The Eternal Warden screeched again, his glowing eyes staring at Nux, prepared to tear him apart—or, well… turn him into a child before disintegrating him out of existence. The smoke moved, trying to surround Nux again. Wanting to confirm that the smoke only had the power to reverse time and nothing else, Nux allowed the smoke to surround him, and once again, his body started regressing. Nux was now sure. Flicker He disappeared once again and, Slash He attacked, splitting the Warden into two. Once again, the Warden 'died' only for the Hourglass to reverse the Flow of Time and revive him again. "SCREEEEEEEECH!" "Huh…" Nux noticed something. The soldiers… something was different. The soldiers weren't in the position they were in the first time the Eternal Warden was formed. Something had changed, and very quickly, Nux realized what it was. The first time the Eternal Warden was formed, Nux took nine seconds to kill it before he was curious about what it could do. The second time, he took 8 seconds, and that difference in the second made the difference in the soldiers' positions. A difference that disappeared in a second. But… Slash Nux killed the Eternal Warden again, this time in 3 seconds, and once it reformed, the difference became larger, and Nux finally understood what was happening. The Eternal Warden needs about 10 seconds of time reversal to come back to life. So if Nux kills him in 3 seconds, time, as usual, would reverse to 10 seconds to revive him, which would push back the timeline by 7 seconds. And if… Slash Slash Slash Slash As Nux continued to kill the Warden again and again, this time in less than a second, time continued to push back. "Wait… So the way to completely kill this guy is to continue till the smoke it is created from disappears?" Nux wonders out loud. He looked around and saw a few places that were burned to the ground and constantly releasing the smoke. "So I need to get rid of them." He realized. First, he tried to devour those places and then kill the Eternal Warden, but that only brought them back after the Eternal Warden was revived. He even tried devouring the places, waiting for 10 seconds, and then killing the Eternal Warden to avoid reversing that much time, but this time, time was reversed to the point where those burnt places existed. There was indeed no way out. Nux had to continue pushing the time back till the source of this smoke disappeared on its own.