Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

Everything hurt. It was hurting so much I didn't even manage to hear what the God of Time had said to me before sending me to another loop, and even then I couldn't move much. The moment I was back running, my muscles froze up and I fell face first on the ground. I tried to trigger [Genetic Dysphoria] but the pain stopped me halfway through.

Considering the pain persisted through the loops meant that I had probably hurt my soul in that storm of temporal energy. I don't know who was that figure that spoke to me, but it was right. Everything was hurting too much for me to do anything.

I was transformed as a Lunaspectra Wolf, like I always start the loop, and that meant I had the racial skill [Moonlight Absorber] active, transforming the moonlight hitting my fur to transform into magicules, and even that process increased the pain I was currently feeling.

I don't know exactly how long I stayed there, unmoving but eventually I heard steps getting close to me. Oh great, the butler and knight had found me. They probably heard me falling to the ground and came to investigate, something that was confirmed when the knight with the butler started speaking.

"Looks like we found the missing wolf. I don't know how it fell and why it isn't attacking. But by the looks of it, it's in pain" The knight said.

"Is it hurt?" The butler said, annoyed.

"Let me check" The knight said, pulling a dagger for protection and approached me, checking me for any reaction and looking for anything that might indicate to him if I was hurt or not.

I just watched him while panting with the pain assaulting me did not relent a single moment. Would I end up using this entire loop in agony? I honestly hope not, I just wanted this pain to end.

"There doesn't seem to be any signs of wounds, and it also doesn't look poisoned, but it's clearly in a lot of pain. I can see it watching me with his eyes, but it makes no attempt to attack or defend itself" The knight said.

"Could be an illusion. The other one was covering itself with them to make it look like our attacks weren't damaging it" The butler said, explaining why the wolf I had attacked and consumed to be able to transform was looking normal and as soon as he died he was covered in wounds.

The knight shook his head. "Its aura is too erratic to be able to create an illusion. My guess is that something attacked him with a mental attack and left it here to suffer, the reason only the System knows why" He said.

"Could it be a trap?" The butler asked.

"Perhaps, but if it is strong enough for it to leave a wolf this paralyzed and not leaving any mark of its presence it would be strong enough to just stroll through the encampment unimpeded"

After a brief pause, the butler sighed. "Bring it to the camp. Put it in a cage and make the healer took a look at it"

The knight took a few pieces of rope and bounded my legs and mouth so that I couldn't bite or slice him with my claws and then put me over his shoulder like prey he had just killed. It was a little humiliating, but at least I wouldn't be stuck on the ground waiting for the loop to end. Another thing I was thankful for was that it wasn't my actual body that was hurting, or the movements from being carried would be too much.

Don't get me wrong. I felt like I was being cut over and over again with a red hot knife. I couldn't even muster enough strength to talk, or make any kind of sound. I was lucky breathing was something done automatically by the brain, else I wouldn't be able to do it either. Even thinking was hard and using skills was out of the question.

They brought me to the camp and as I carried across the anti-monster field, the pain increased twofold and I almost blacked out, but as soon as I was out of the effect field, the pain returned to normal immediately.

They placed me inside one of the cages and the moment it was closed and the anti-magic field was active, it felt like I was being pierced my a thousand hot needles in my skin, and only in my skin thankfully, although because of that I couldn't even open my eyes because they hurt so much.

I felt as they moved me around the camp, but I couldn't see exactly they were bringing me and after a few minutes I was placed somewhere and heard voices around me, but I couldn't understand them, not because it was in another language, but because I couldn't focus on them, The only thing I was feeling was my fur and skin on fire because of the anti-magic field and the pain I was already in.

Anything I tried to do only resulted in more pain. Any skill I tried to activate brought a sharp pain deep in my soul and even trying to bring out my status screen brought me pain. I was hoping that this loop would end soon enough for me to get out of this cage, as I wouldn't be able to escape on my own. Unfortunately I knew the explosion was still at least twelve hours away, meaning I would have to endure this, basically self-inflicted, torture.

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The pain caused by the anti-magic field vanished and then I felt something touching my back. I couldn't yet open my eyes, but if I were to guess it was the healer that the butler said. I just hoped he could do something about this pain.

Suddenly I felt a wave of searing hot pain shot from the hand of the healer. It was so intense everything else lost meaning and my eyes rolled upwards and I passed out from the pain.

Even while unconscious the pain did not recede. I had no thoughts and the only thing I could feel was pain. I don't know how long I stayed in this state. Could be seconds, minutes or even centuries. Time had lost all meaning and only pain existed.

Eventually a calming feeling started pouring in from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. I didn't know what it was, only that it managed to push the pain away enough for my thoughts to return.

I was floating somewhere. There was a soft golden energy all around me, and beyond it a storm of green I recognized as temporal energy. It wasn't as strong as when the cave exploded, but it was enough to hurt me. Looking around I saw bright spheres floating around, one of them was bigger than the others and looked like it was filled almost to the brim with pure white energy. There was also an empty void next to me, it was so big that it encompassed almost the entire place.

When I reflexively tried to use [Knowledge Library] to know where I was, I saw one of the spheres glowing brighter for a few moments before releasing a stream of energy that rushed to me and entered my body.

[Darnas Forest]

…I see. This place wasn't a physical place. I was seeing the inside of my soul. Meaning those bright spheres were my skills and the one holding energy must be the [Passive Growth], the one that released a stream of energy is [Knowledge Library] and the others were the rest of my skills.

I looked at the empty void next to me. I felt like there was supposed to be something there, but it was missing. I couldn't fathom what it was, honestly.

I looked over at the golden energy again. It was making what looked like a barrier on the edge of my soul, keeping the out of control temporal energy at bay, for the time being. I saw that the energy was eroding the golden barrier, but I didn't know how long it would last.

I saw [Knowledge Library] pulsate, like a notification on a phone. I activated the skill and it released another stream of energy that entered me.

[A new message from Zwriniz has been made available]

A new message from who? Luckily I didn't have to wait more to know what message it was and from who it was.

The figure of a black lion with a mane of neon green materialized in front of me and started talking.

"I must congratulate you on your survival. You were extremely lucky to leave that temporal distortion alive. Your soul was exposed to the entirety of the flow of time for less than a microsecond, and it was enough to almost break it" The lion said, with a voice that made the entirety of my soul resonate. Even the temporal storm beyond the golden barrier slowed down so as to not interfere with the God of Time itself. "Unfortunately it also means that your affinity with time has been wiped again so you will need to absorb more time energy before being able to use any temporal magic again and even your little skill cannot help you with this. And two final things. You have almost all of the pieces of the puzzle, you still need to find the last one and put them together. And the last thing, I'll be personally interfering with your temporal jumps. As you are now, your soul would not survive another loop. I'll make so each end of the loop make you immediately return to the start of the next one" The lion figure in front of me started to fade away. "Goodbye for now. We will not encounter each other until you close the loop. I'll be waiting for you"

And with those partying words, he vanished and with it the temporal storm resumed relentlessly attacking the golden barrier, but I saw it wasn't as ferocious as it was before. It was losing energy as time went on… he, nice pun.

It was a lot to unpack from that message. I really almost died, for real, then. What a nice reality check, huh? I thought that as long as the loops continued I was basically immortal, but the words of the God of Time made me realise that it wasn't the case. I could still die for real if my soul was damaged enough.

I looked around, concentrating on my soul itself, and saw various signs of damage. twisted pieces of space where it should be none. I looked at the empty void in my soul, but concluded it wasn't caused by the storm. It seemed older than that, and there was no actual damage to it, it was just as if the piece that used to exist there suddenly vanished. My mind went back to the moment I died… Probably around that time, I guess.

Next it is the question about affinity with time. I didn't know what he meant exactly by that but I had guesses. It probably meant I wouldn't be able to use any spells made with [Magical Programming Language] that had the element of time with it, and probably meant that I wouldn't be able to use [Elemental Breath] as it was a skill that caused a localized temporal storm that shot out of my mouth with its use.

Now. I almost have all the pieces of the puzzle? What does that mean?... I have absolutely no idea what he talked about, and it will probably take more loops to discover what he means by that. And speaking about loops, he said he would interfere so that the end of a loop I would be transported directly to the beginning of the next one, which raises the questions. If he said he was going to interfere with that, does that mean that room I've been transported to and from at the end of each loop wasn't his? What the hell was that, then? Who did it belong to and why did they put me inside of a loop in the first place?

So many questions… I had no idea where to start.

I looked around again…

"I do know where to start. I need to start by leaving my own soul and returning to my body" I said out loud. The moment where I recognized that fact, I knew how to go back towards my own body like it was a knowledge I always had.

The world around me disappeared and I felt as if I was traversing space and entering another place. My senses returned one by one and then I opened my eyes