Aether watched intently as the Master took the boy somewhere else again, a place Aether couldn’t identify since the Master used that peculiar picture door to travel between locations.
‘So much for hoping to get some details about him…’ Aether thought, his face tinged with slight disappointment. But then, something unexpected happened—he finally saw the Master’s face.
A pale… it was paler than anything Aether had ever seen before. It was almost gray—no, not quite gray. His bald face bore a large, ‘X’-shaped scar that slashed across it. But what truly caught Aether’s attention were the Master’s eyes. There were no pupils, just pure, unblemished white, giving him an unearthly appearance, almost as if—
“He looks like he crawled straight out of a graveyard,” Aether mumbled in a slightly amused tone…. As he shifted his gaze to surroundings.
“A woman?” Aether frowned, his brow furrowing as he noticed photographs of a woman plastered across the walls. Apart from the display of pictures, the room was empty, except mirror and chair!
“Wait… was he actually living here?” Aether murmured aloud, glancing around in curiosity. It didn’t seem like the Master was aware of his presence—unlike that white-haired man Aether had encountered during one of those time-slips through Ether’s past.
Aether’s frown deepened as his gaze returned to the photographs…. The woman in the pictures radiated an aura of nobility, elegance, and modesty. She wore what looked like a nun’s habit, her lips curved into a smile that was the very definition of naivety.
Yet, there was something undeniably wrong with the photos. It wasn’t the woman herself, her clothes, or even her naïve expression. No, it was the pictures…
‘Yep, these were definitely taken in secret,’ Aether concluded, his sharp eyes analyzing the angles and perspectives.
These photos were taken stealthily, like something out of a stalker’s twisted collection.
Suddenly—
“Ha-ha… Ha…”
Aether snapped back to attention… He watched as the Master laid the unconscious boy onto the chair. Then, to Aether’s growing disgust, the Master leaned in close and began sniffing the boy’s body.
But then,
Aether’s frown deepened, his expression a mix of revulsion and intrigue. It wasn’t just the Master’s disturbing behavior that unsettled him—though that was certainly part of it.
No, what truly caught his attention was the way the Master inhaled the boy’s bloody scent. For just a fraction of a second, the Master’s lifeless, eerie nose transformed into something… normal.
A living nose.
But before Aether could process it further, it reverted back to its unearthly, lifeless state.
Aether blinked in surprise, ‘What the hell was that? Does my blood… does it reverse time for others too?’ The idea was absurd, yet he couldn’t ignore the evidence before him.
Memories of an old man flashed through his mind—a man he’d given more than just a drop of blood to.
‘Don’t tell me… my blood actually has the power to turn back time?’ Aether’s eyes widened in shock. When Selene had told him about the old man’s transformation, he had assumed his mutated blood had simply enhanced the man’s abilities, making him younger through sheer power. But now, seeing this… no, witnessing this, he realized his blood was far more potent than he had ever imagined.
The Master suddenly chuckled, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “To think… one of the primordial bloodlines is still alive in these worlds. What a twist of fate!” His lips curled into a wicked grin. “This changes everything. I don’t even need to execute all my plans anymore. All I have to do now is travel back in time and… save her.” His gaze lingered on the woman in the photographs.
For a fleeting moment, his expression softened into one of pure longing. But then, just as quickly, it twisted into something darker—a possessive, obsessive smile that sent a shiver down Aether’s spine.
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‘Oh, great. He’s a yandere,’ Aether thought, rolling his eyes internally.
He crossed his arms, ‘Why is it always the crazies? Is there seriously no one normal? I mean, come on! Can’t there be a villain who just wants to destroy the world for fun? At least that’d be straightforward. This guy, though? This messed-up sociopath would stop at nothing to get what he wants.’
“So that’s it,” Aether muttered under his breath, piecing it together. “He wants to save this woman, and that’s why he’s doing all of this…”
But it was terrifying!!
A typical villain, one who sought destruction for the sake of chaos, would have been easier to deal with. They lacked the unrelenting will of someone like this. These kinds of people… they were dangerous.
They’d do anything to achieve their goals… The same way the Master had coldly watched Dora kill Alaric without a moment’s hesitation.
Why Aether felt that?
Because he too do that!!
Aether sighed heavily as he glanced at the boy, he knew what was about to happen.
The boy was going to be tortured again, subjected to yet another horrific experiment…. And, just as Aether feared, the Master wasted no time.
Tick!
Suddenly, the vision shifted, skipping ahead as if critical moments had been clipped out?
Aether frowned…. The scene before him was harrowing. The boy was barely alive, his body a gruesome sight. Organs were exposed, blood gushing freely, and his heart was visible, grotesquely beating in the open air.
It was too much—for the boy, and for anyone to witness. Aether felt a wave of disgust wash over him. The boy had been reduced to nothing more than a lab rat.
Aether bit his lips even though it was him but he felt anger for…. another child not his past!!
His eyes shifted to the Master, who stood triumphantly, holding a small, transparent test tube…. Inside was a pure, pitch-black liquid, its surface swirling with a mist that seemed alive.
The mist was eerily familiar—it was the same substance he’d seen leaking from Iteration No. 27.
“Hah… hahahaha… I made it! Hahahah… I finally made it!!” The Master shouted with pure, unrestrained joy, his voice echoing in the empty room. His eyes seemed to tremble with overwhelming emotion, though no tears of happiness fell.
Instead, he clutched the photograph of the woman tightly to his chest, hugging it as if it were the woman herself. With a fevered intensity, he kissed the picture, whispering softly, “M-My dear… I… I’m finally going to meet you. Finally, we’ll be together… forever,” his voice dripping with longing and desperation.
Before Aether could fully process the bizarre display, the Master tilted his head back and drank the pitch-black liquid in one swift motion.
Aether’s gaze remained fixed on the Master, who stood there trembling, his body convulsing as though something unnatural was crawling beneath his skin. The Master groaned in agony, his movements becoming erratic as he collapsed to the ground, clutching himself.
“Cough! Cough!” He hacked violently, blood splattering from his lips. His expression twisted between shock and ecstasy… seeing the blood for the first time!
“F-Finally—ARRRGHHH!!” His words were cut off by a bloodcurdling scream as his entire body spasmed in grotesque contortions.
This torment lasted for two agonizing days…. The Master’s screams pierced the silence, each one filled with unrelenting pain.
Then, suddenly—
“Haa…” A deep, shaky exhale escaped from the figure now lying still on the ground. Slowly, the Master rose, his movements deliberate and measured. His hand reached up to pull back the hood, revealing a transformation that left Aether momentarily stunned.
The Master’s once pallid, corpse-like complexion now radiated vitality. His formerly bald head was crowned with shimmering golden hair, glowing like threads of sunlight. The disfiguring scar that had marred his face was gone, replaced by flawless skin. His features were sharp, refined—chiseled perfection. He looked like a man in his prime, perhaps in his thirties, exuding a presence so magnetic that one might almost call him… hot!
Aether’s lip curled in disgust. ‘Ugh… girls would probably call him “daddy” or something,’ he thought with a grimace, feeling an inexplicable urge to retch.
“Hmm…” The Master flexed his hands experimentally, his lips curling into a self-satisfied smirk. “Now… it’s time to show the world who they forgot for their convenience….!”
But before he could bask in his newfound glory, he abruptly froze, his gaze snapping to the spot where Aether stood.
Aether flinched involuntarily. ‘Shit, can he see me?’ he wondered, his frown deepening as he held his breath.
The Master narrowed his eyes, “I can feel… something. There’s definitely something here, but…” His voice trailed off as his eyes scanned the seemingly empty space before him. “I can’t sense anything concrete. Hmm…”
The Master stepped closer—so close that the air seemed to thicken between them. Aether remained motionless, his tension palpable. The Master stood there, staring at the empty space for what felt like an eternity before finally shrugging.
“Maybe it’s the blood making me feel… strange,” the Master murmured to himself before turning his attention to the boy who lay crumpled nearby, barely clinging to life.
“Let’s test on him!”
Raising his hand, the Master released tendrils of black mist from his fingertips. The mist snaked toward the boy, encasing his mangled body. Slowly, impossibly, the boy’s broken form began to mend itself, his shattered bones realigning and wounds reversing as though time itself were being rewound.
Aether’s brows furrowed in surprise, ‘So… the Master can use this power’ he thought, watching silently.
The Master let out a triumphant laugh, his voice ringing with exhilaration that bordered on madness. “Hahaha! I can do it! I can finally—”
PUFFFFF!!!
Before he could finish his sentence, the Master’s body erupted into a cloud of bloody mist, disintegrating instantaneously and leaving no trace behind, as though he had never existed at all.
Aether blinked, momentarily stunned by the abruptness of it all, ‘So that’s what happened to that old man, too…’ he realized.
His gaze shifted to the boy, who lay half-healed amidst the remnants of the chaos. They were in an unknown, desolate location, with no one around to help or save him. Aether’s expression hardened as he watched the boy’s fragile life slip further away, second by agonizing second.
And then, five days later—
!~Ding~!
[Initiating Iteration No. 18…]