The Advent Of A God

"Yes, well done! Brave! Marvellous! You guessed it correctly! It is Time that is master of all things—and since I control it, I am the Overlord of everything that has existed, does exist, and will exist!"

Lylias praised with a manic grin, sheathing his sword back into his dimensional storage. He then spread his arms wide, striking a dramatic pose, a wild gleam flashing in his eyes.

He was about to perform a little roleplay—indulging in theatrics to stall for time. It was the only way to buy the precious seconds needed for what was coming next.

The Chronomancer, as the name suggested, was a class centered around the manipulation of time. It was one of the many advanced classes a player could choose after starting with Magician as the base. With it, one could slow, suspend, freeze, stop, accelerate, or even rewind time—granting immense control over both the battlefield and the flow of combat. Against other players during guild raids, or in PvP wars between guilds, it offered unmatched crowd control and utility.

However, such power came with limits. The class had many restrictions, cooldowns, and layered conditions—on what could be cast, when, and how. It wasn't a class that allowed you to spam everything freely. If it did, it would've been far too broken and unbalanced—something no developer would tolerate in any MMORPG.

The Chronomancer class in his build was already its second, heavily nerfed iteration. The original version had been absurdly overpowered, even including spatial spells. But in later updates, those spatial abilities were separated out and became the domain of a different advanced class—Sage.

He then activated the Elementalist class's passive ability—"Weather Control."

Soon, ominous winds began to howl. Dark clouds amassed quickly, cloaking the sky in deep gray as Lylias's mana diffused into the lower atmosphere. It subtly altered pressure systems and thermal gradients, drawing in moist air from surrounding regions. Water vapor condensed rapidly into dense storm clouds, while the rising turbulence built up electrical charge differentials. The air ionized as static surged through the sky—until violent bolts of lightning cracked down with deafening roars, splitting the heavens like divine judgment.

"What happened? No words left to say?" Lylias asked, voice cool and taunting. "Please don't tell me you've already given up. Though I wouldn't blame you—there aren't many who can speak or act when standing before absolute decimation…"

A laugh echoed through the air—it came from Bíezí.

"Absolutely not," she said sharply. "While the power of time might be impressive, you should already know how futile it is against Nascent Realm cultivators and beyond. We exist outside the flow of time and its laws. For us, there is no past or future. You made me worry for nothing. I thought for a moment you had grasped the Dao itself. But then again, if you had, my fate abilities wouldn't have worked on your attacks to begin with."

As her voice rang out, her aura flared. A brilliant pink radiance burst from her body, shooting into the sky and dyeing the heavens and earth in soft rose hues. The ground quaked beneath her feet, and the very air shimmered under the pressure of her presence.

A flashy display of power…

Lylias stood, unshaken.

If I had to guess, I'd place her around level 90—easily the strongest opponent I've encountered so far. And it's only my second day in this world!

He raised his thumb and pointed behind him—toward her brother, still motionless.

"Huh? If what you say is true, then why is your brother still frozen by my temporal spell? He should've been immune."

Fengshí remained completely suspended in place—immobilized by the full-strength cast of [Slow]. But that wasn't all. He was also afflicted by the status effect [Stop], which nullified the very concept of motion itself. The effect only triggered when someone engaged Lylias in close-quarters combat—exactly what Fengshí had done.

"My brother was always the weaker one between us," Bíezí admitted. "He focused too much on will, control, and vigor—while neglecting the other aspects. He lacked the proper resistance to withstand the laws of time when invoked by someone of superior level. But I am not so vulnerable."

"Still," Lylias said, his tone sharp, "that doesn't change the fact that you couldn't undo what I did to him."

"Unfortunately, my ability is not as evolved when I attempt to alter the fate of others," she said, her eyes narrowing. "But when I use it upon myself…"

She clasped her hands together.

"…It is at its peak."

"Seal of Heaven and Earth!"

In an instant, a vast, radiant barrier erupted into being—glowing with ethereal pink light. It spread outward in all directions, stretching across a thousand kilometers in the blink of an eye.

"With this technique," she declared, her voice now resonating with divine command, "within this domain, my Qi and abilities are doubled. Not only that—my existence has now ascended to that of the Soul Transformation Realm."

Hearing that, Lylias almost felt his soul leave his body.

Are you kidding me?! Did she just raise her level to 180?!

He somehow kept a calm expression, barely masking the growing dread.

"Now…" she continued, eyes narrowing into slits, "let us see—will your time overwrite the fate I've chosen for you? Or will my fate overwrite your time?"

"I'm also ready to test that," Lylias said coolly—he had finally bought the time he needed.

But he knew—this wasn't going to be an easy battle.

If her level actually increased to twice her base, then I'm dead meat. But… if it simply means her abilities are twice as effective, then maybe… just maybe… I still have a chance.

Bíezí raised both hands, and in an instant, dozens of spears formed from pure Qi manifested around her—each glowing with a brilliant pink hue. With a deafening roar, she launched them at Lylias. In a single volley, they shot forth at two percent the speed of light—far, far faster than any reaction he could muster.

He didn't even have time to blink.

There was no way to move. No way to defend. It wasn't that he hesitated—he simply couldn't respond. His body stood frozen in place as the storm of spears struck him, each one piercing through flesh and bone.

He gasped, blood bursting from his mouth. His legs gave out.

And then—

He fell.

Still.

He was dead.

"That's it?" Bíezí said, disappointed. "I thought you'd be more than that. Then again, not many can dodge my spears—each one guided by fate. They cannot be avoided, they cannot be blocked. They carry the concept of Death itself. You see now, brother? You were worried for nothing."

She paused, suddenly remembering.

"Silly me. Let me release you."

With a snap of her fingers, Fengshí was freed from the time lock. He collapsed onto the ground with a gasp, air flooding back into his lungs. Slowly, he pushed himself up.

Bíezí said, then leapt beside him.

"Took you long enough..." Fengshí said with a huff.

"He was stronger than both of us expected. If not for the trump card that temporarily doubled my power, I'd have been the one lying dead. We were lucky."

"We're very fortu—" Fengshí began to say, but his words caught. A sudden, sharp pain shot through his chest. He staggered.

"What's wrong? Brother? Why are you clutching your body like that?" Bíezí asked, alarmed by his sudden change.

But Fengshí couldn't answer.

It felt as though countless invisible spears were stabbing into him—all at once, from every direction. Agony overtook him. Blood spurted violently from his mouth, from his eyes, from every pore. He screamed, trembling, as his skin split open, and blood sprayed across Bíezí's robes and face.

Then, with a final, ragged breath—

He collapsed.

Dead.

His body was riddled with holes. The once-frozen ground beneath him turned red, soaked in blood.

Bíezí collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face as she clutched her brother's lifeless body, holding it tightly in her trembling arms.

"How… how did this happen?…" Her voice grew heavier, trembling with grief. "Who did this… who… who… who?!"

"Geez, no need to get so melodramatic," came a voice from behind her—calm, almost bored. "I thought your little fate attack was supposed to stop things like this. Seems like you're all bark after all."

Her eyes widened.

She knew that voice.

Snapping her head around, she saw him—Lylias—waving casually at her, alive and perfectly unharmed.

"Impossible…!"

She stared at him in disbelief. That man was supposed to be dead—utterly destroyed by the combined power of her Fate Spears and the Concept of Death. No one below Dao Integration should have survived that, let alone walked away as if nothing happened.

But Dao Integration experts… they didn't exist in this realm. They couldn't. The higher realms forbade their descent. Not to mention, cultivators at that level radiated a distinct type of Qi—refined, transcendent.

Yet this man... had no such aura.

He wasn't hiding it either.

His strength didn't even feel like Soul Ascension. No… at best, it was somewhere around Soul Transformation.

None.... of this made any sense.