Neo stared at her, unable to believe her words.
“The reason you can’t control Time is because you haven’t manifested it.”
“…?”
A thin stream of water materialized around Elizabeth.
It circled her in a loop.
“Death manifests as Red lightning. What do you think Time manifests as?”
“River.”
Neo answered while staring at the water stream.
“Time flows, just like water.”
“That’s how most people imagine Time. It’s not what I want to know.
“I’m asking what image according to you suits Time.”
“…?”
Neo did not understand what Elizabeth was trying to say.
“Unlike most elements, Time has no fixed shape.
“There are some Time Wielders who manifest Time as sand, and some as lightning.
“It’s their image of Time.”
Neo understood her a little bit after the explanation.
He recalled that, before his first regression, Professor Daniel asked him if he had water element.
‘Did he ask that question because he wanted to know if I could associate Time with the image of water?’
Neo felt his guess was correct.
“Professor Daniel didn’t teach you about this because he was probably unaware of the concept of ‘Manifestation’.
“It’s a relatively new theory of elemental awakening.”
Elizabeth explained.
After elemental awakening came elemental manifestation.
Most elements had fixed forms.
Fire as flames.
Water as water.
Time was different.
It had no fixed shape.
People needed to give a shape to it.
Most Time wielders followed the teachings of Kronos, and manifested Time as a River.
After the explanation Elizabeth stared at Neo.
“What do you think of Time as?”
It was a etherical question.
Elizabeth didn’t believe Neo could answer her question now.
Associating Time with an image could take months or years.
Neo was too inexperienced —
…!?
Elizabeth frowned.
The Time elementals present in the air churned.
They gathered around Neo as if he was the eye of a storm and entered his body.
‘He is manifesting already…?’
She couldn’t believe her eyes.
…
Neo sensed the Time elementals entering his core.
Since his core was emptied by Elizabeth, he had easier time absorbing Time-infused Divine Energy.
“What is Time for me?”
Neo thought about Elizabeth’s words.
He closed his eyes and recalled the years he spent while regressing.
It was a long time.
However, the meaning of Time didn’t come from those years for him.
They were long but, compared to the eons he spent in the fourth vision of the Sphinx, they were short.
“Time is an unending eternity.”
In the fourth vision, he was forced to live for billions of years while he trapped in a body he couldn’t control.
“Time is…”
He had wanted to kill himself.
He had raged, cried, begged to the Gods, to the Akashic Records, to save him, to let him die, but nothing gave him the salvation he wanted.
He had lived, for eons, against his wish.
He continued to float in that void where countless bugs tried to eat him.
It was hell.
It was….
“Despair.”
The storm of Time elementals rushing into Neo’s body shook the mansion.
Neo was the center of the storm.
The elementals caused the floor to age at an accelerated pace.
The training room was decaying.
‘How is he fine after absorbing so much Time?’
Elizabeth never saw anything similar before.
‘It’s like he… he is devouring Time.’
The thick amount of Time elemetals entering Neo’s started to make him age.
He grew older.
And older.
His body reached the physical age he was before he was Eroded by the regressions.
Just when Elizabeth thought he would continue to grow older, his body stopped maturing.
Time couldn’t accelerate his age anymore.
‘Agelessness? Is that one of his bloodline skill?’
She watched in amazement as every last bit of Time elemental entered Neo’s body.
He opened his eyes.
His gaze carried a profound aura.
“Have you manifested Time?” She asked caustiosly.
Neo smiled.
He opened his palm and showed her the caterpillar in his hand.
“What is that? A worm?”
“It’s my manefistation of Time.”
Time was the synonym of Despair for Neo.
It was a unreckonable force.
When he thought of an image to associate time with, the maggots came into his mind.
They were his only companion in the unending eternity.
He despised them.
He was thankful to them.
“That’s a… unique form.”
Elizabeth knew Neo would manifest a unique form of Time.
But a caterpillar?
It was a first in history.
“What can it do?” Elizabeth questioned.
“…?”
“Different manefistation of Time have different abilities and weakness.
“The River manifestation makes it easier to regress.
“But the Time wielder becomes prone to Time Slipping.
“The Sand manifestation can stop Time more easily than River manifestation.
“However, it doesn’t work if their opponent has same or higher elemental mastery — in any element — as they have in Time element.”
Elizabeth pointed at the caterpillar.
“What can your Time do?”
Neo tried to wake up the caterpillar.
The green thing opened one of its eye, stared at him, scoffed, and returned to sleep.
‘Did it just insult me?’
Neo’s eyebrow twitched.
“I can’t control it.”
‘For now.’
“Seems like it has its own ego,” Elizabeth spoke.
She became more confused when she saw Neo’s manifestation of Time act on its own.
Neo tried to make it do something — anything — but the lazy worm refused to move.
“It’s quite whimsical.”
He smiled.
“Congratulations, you’ve completed your awakening.”
“Thank you.”
Silence.
The two stared at each other.
Elizabeth spoke first,
“What will you do now?
“Will you regress again? Or will you keep living here?”
Neo pursed his lips.
He was fine without regressing.
Although he never complained, he hated regressions.
They erased the relationships he had with people.
It was why he stopped meeting his friends and entered Labyrinth as soon as he regressed.
“I—”
He would return to the past despite his qualms about regression.
He had left too many things unattended.
Elizabeth spoke before he could answer her.
“It’s the right decision. Don’t blame yourself too much for it.”
“….”
Neo bit his lips.
He could nod and move forward.
But he forced the words out of his mouth.
“Why are you so calm? You’ll forget everything that happened. Even this moment.
“Once I regress all the choices you’ve made in the past month will become meaningless—”
“Neo.”
Her voice cut through his rambling. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
“Why weren’t you sad when you were about to die in the Labyrinth?”
Neo didn’t understand the intent behind her question.
He answered nonetheless.
“Because Death isn’t something to be afraid of. I’ve accepted it when I decided to master the element of Death.
“If I die, I die. That’s all,” he said.
“The same if true for Time. If you want to master it, you have to accept it.”
Elizabeth added.
“You can’t keep dwelling on small matters, wondering if others will be negatively affected when you regress.
“There is nothing wrong with using yours powers — the powers you’ve worked hard to gain— for your choices.”
Neo clenched his fist.
Elizabeth could tell Neo had a hard time accepting her answer.
She stepped closer to him and hugged him awkwardly.
The tip of her ears turned red.
Making sure Neo couldn’t see her face, she spoke,
“You don’t need to worry about me.
“As long as you are happy, that’s enough for me.”
She smiled.
“You are just as important as Amelia to me.
“I’d rather see you use your abilities for yourself than waste them because of me.
“Now go. I’m sure you have things left to do in the past.”
Elizabeth let go of him and stepped back.
Right on cue, a silvery portal appeared inside the mansion.
The principal and her two puppet maids stood beyond the portal.
“There was a large shift in Time elementals around the mansion. What happened?” Charlotte questioned.
“Neo manifested Time.”
“Already?”
Elizabeth nodded.
Charlotte stared at him with a deep gaze.
She beckoned him over.
“If you’ve awakened, go meet Professor Daniel. He doesn’t have much time left.
“He’ll soon Time Slip again and I doubt he can control it anymore.”
Neo nodded.
One of the puppet dolls entered the training chamber and created another portal.
“Goodbye,” Neo said without looking back and stepped into the portal.
He appeared in the corridor outside of Professor Daniel’s office.
The portal closed behind him.
A voice came from the other side of the door.
“Come inside.”
Neo opened the door.
He met Professor Daniel’s gaze.
The man looked as young as ever.
But, after manifesting Time, he could sense the unstable Time elementals around Professor Daniel.
“You’ve awakened Time.”
Professor Daniel didn’t praise him.
He just acknowledged his achievement.
“Sit.”
Neo followed his words.
The two stared at each other.
Neo broke the silence.
“So the reason you gave me a deadline was because you couldn’t keep up anymore?”
“Yes.”
Neo pursed his lips.
“Have you been purposely sending me back to only D-180 ~ D-120 days?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“If I send you further back, it would’ve put heavy strain on me.
“Not doing that was why I could send you back so many times.
“It was either sending you far back inito the past only a few times, or sending you to a near date multiple times.”
Before Neo could question him again, Professor Daniel spoke,
“Don’t worry. I’ll send you back to your original time after this.”
“What about you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Professor Daniel shook his head.
“It does matter to me.”
“Emotional attachments? You should stop putting importance to them.
“It’s shameful for a wielder of Darkness.”
Professor Daniel berated him.
“That wasn’t the question I asked.” Neo leaned over. “What will happen to you after you send me back to the past?”
Professor Daniel sighed.
He massaged his brows.
“I’ll Time Slip. Probably wake up a few hundred years later.”
Neo had no words.
He couldn’t even imagine how Professor Daniel was calm after knowing what was going to happen to him.