CHAPTER 69: | INNER WORLD

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  "..."

  A silence so absolute it felt like a physical weight settled in the darkness.

  The void stretched out everywhere.

  There was no sky, only the pitch-black abyss and a mass of floating islands slowly orbiting this place like a shattered planet.

  The air was frigid, tasting of dust and eternity.

  A familiar place that I hadn't entered for billions of cycles.

  The time for me to begin the second act, to fool the supreme heavenly dao, had begun.

  My supreme heavenly dao, the very being who have observed me for epoch, was now blocked by an unknown force.

  For the first time in a while, I could finally speak what was truly on my mind.

  "Finally, the time has come, my dear sister. It is now time for me to stabilize my essence so that I won't disintegrate into nothingness."

  I breathed in the fresh air of my inner world, the vast expanse before me was nothing but a fragment of what it once was.

  Sitting on the hollowed ground that was once a wonderful world I had crafted, now reduced to this wasteland, I couldn't help but feel the stinging pain of having my creation turned into nothing but a piece of... trash.

  Flicking my fingers, a strand of my intent appeared, as thin as a spider silk.

  I couldn't help but sigh at how brittle it had become after undergoing a brutal stripdown from the visage of time unused.

  Calming myself until all I could hear was the frantic beating of my heart.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  I then began to shape my intent into a meter thick rope, as I muttered with a hint of amusement in my tone.

  "This is the perfect time for me to restabilize it. The supreme heavenly dao wouldn't suspect me to enter my inner world at this point in time."

  Now I could rest easy in this world for a few years, as I had diluted time here by 1/1000 using my authority [Windom] and Elara's supreme edict [Mother of Time] to change and recreate the law of time in this space.

  It was a success, but looking at what a mess it was now, I couldn't help but shake my head.

  The passing of time here was only 1/400 of what it once was, a shame, but it was enough for me right now.

  I couldn't help but smile.

  This was a perfect ploy for me to recover my essence.

  Once I ascend to emperorhood, gaining strength wouldn't be a problem.

  "Since when one is evolving, one's consciousness would be transferred to a different place called the waiting, which you have no influence in."

  Yes, it was like that.

  When you evolve, your consciousness will be pulled to a place called the waiting room by the dimensional record.

  This is so the dimensional record can nourish the soul of the evolving being, allowing it to gain the potential of its respective evolution and fit its new body.

  It was more like a place to reshape the soul to suit the body.

  Quite the interesting place, right?

  It was indeed interesting, but also dangerous at the same time.

  And it wouldn't do me any good to reveal more than this, since the constraints of the four cosmic laws would interfere with anything further.

  I smiled as I couldn't help but moan at the pleasure hitting my body.

  I could feel my vessel outside my inner world getting stronger with every passing second.

  While moaning from the pleasure, I couldn't help but mutter.

  "Ahhh, finally, after billions of cycles, the fated time has come for us, brother and sister, to achieve our own respective goals. For me, to achieve Ascendance. You haven't let me down with your impeccable timing, so rest easy, for the second act has begun."

  Calming myself from the excitement, I then focused on the formation of my intent ropes.

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  I sat on the ground for months without moving.

  After finally forming the billionth intent rope, only then did I stop, as it was enough to pull all of the floating islands that symbolized my essence.

  A smirk tugged on my lips as I muttered.

  "It was my skills, my affinity, my authority, my stats, my titles, my name, my memories, and pieces of my false soul floating in the shattered reality."

  I opened my eyes slowly, my long eyelashes brushing against my skin.

  My red eyes glowed with cold, calculating wisdom.

  Then I pointed my finger at the floating islands as I muttered coldly.

  "Go."

  The intent ropes exploded, then latched onto the floating islands, some as massive as a thousand meters, while others a few hundreds.

  I then began to pull all of them using my willpower, as a smirk formed on my face.

  The sound of a billion grinding anchors echoed in the silent abyss.

  "..."

  Blood gushed from my nose.

  I touched it, then licked my bloodied finger, savoring the coppery tang.

  I couldn't help but exclaim.

  "Such a pity that my body won't be able to handle such a load..."

  But I only smiled as I licked my fingers again.

  I pushed my mind to its limits, simultaneously pulling billions of floating islands in the sky to assimilate into my broken inner world without any concern for my body.

  "..."

  Silence echoed as blood gushed from my eyes.

  But this time I ignored it as I pulled harder.

  Pain struck my nerves as my seven orifices bled uncontrollably, but I didn't stop or scream in pain.

  I only smirked in response.

  "Since when did I chicken out from a challenge?!"

  My smile widened as one of the floating islands was now anchored into the world, and it was time to begin the assimilation of my essence.

  While pulling billions of floating islands hovering in the void using my mind, I then split my mind to multitask.

  One part was ordered to pull the floating islands closer to my inner world, while the other was tasked to assimilate the ones anchored in my inner world.

  It was a hell of pain.

  My mind burned as hot as the sun, as my body was hot as molten lava, but I didn't stop or rest since time was of the essence right here.

  Darkness clouded my mind.

  My vision grew hazy as blood spurted from across my body.

  My face was pale, and my mind was breaking.

  But in this immense pain, I didn't stop, as I felt no pain, except for my imminent death coming faster and faster like a virus sweeping the cells in my body.

  My mind was losing its stability.

  I felt like a hundred years had passed in this world, while only a year had passed in the outside world.

  But my mind resisted the dissolving of my essence.

  I pulled harder and harder.

  As I had already assimilated a million floating islands, and with it, my assimilation speed became faster.

  I was now able to assimilate a thousand floating islands in a day, and it was still increasing by ten every day, as my will became stronger and my intent became firmer, harder, and stronger.

  This wasn't just a way for me to stabilize my essence.

  It was a way for me to train my intent and will so that I wouldn't break down from a mere pressure, so that I would become stronger.

  My mind, which was on the brink of collapse, was now stronger than ever.

  My vision cleared.

  The fog clouding my head disappeared and was replaced by the scent of citrus and magnolia.

  It was the scent of my two wives, Elara and Samantha.

  Elara, imbued with the scent of citrus throughout all of my lifetimes, and Samantha having the scent of magnolia that signified it was her.

  I couldn't help but be confused as I muttered, a foolish smile tugging at my lips.

  "Have I truly developed a feeling for them? Have I finally come to accept them? To love them?"

  I couldn't help but smile foolishly, imagining what our life would be like in this lifetime.

  Would I marry Elara or Samantha, or maybe both of them?

  Would they fight each other and kill each other like in the past?

  "I wouldn't want that since I... I don't want to see any of them hurt."

  It was a foolish smile.

  A foolish emotion.

  But it had already bloomed from the time I spent with them, not knowing that I had already fallen in love with them in the first cycle.

  Have I truly, foolishly, loved them since the first cycle?

  Is that why knowing that they've betrayed me hurts, even knowing that they're doing it for me?

  How foolish of me to have thought of them as nothing but mere tools for my path, when I've been smitten by the two of them.

  Their laughter, their innocence, it was what I've been longing for.

  "Ahhh, truly."

  I smirked as I reminisced on the time we've spent, and I muttered with affection.

  "What I've been longing for was their love."

  Now I knew what I'd been longing for.

  It was ascendance, then power, then the two of them being the third on my priority, my possessions, my lovely beauties that would follow me to hell.

  "Ahhh, what a lovely discovery."

  I smiled softly as I couldn't help but chuckle loudly.

  "Now, let this incompetent husband of yours love you in this lifetime, my beautiful wives!!"

  I know that I was insane, a hypocrite, a scum worse than an insect.

  But I couldn't help it.

  Even if I've done you wrong, couldn't I make up for it by pampering you two with my love?

  It was twisted.

  My view of love was twisted, and I know that.

  I couldn't change that since that's how I was born, a being so twisted that none wanted.

  But you know, Elara and Samantha, that even with how twisted I am, they still fell for me.

  And that was their curse, since now that I know of my love for them, now they won't be able to escape.

  And they know that.

  "I don't care if they have someone they love or someone they want to follow as their husband in this new life. But mark my words that they... will kill him by their own hands."

  My smile was dangerous and depraved as I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of it.

  Of them killing their loved one by their own hand.

  Just how satisfying would it be to witness it?

  To witness something that you loved killed by your own hand.

  It was twisted and perverted, but it was how I am and how I will be in the future.

  So forgive me...

  Time passed, a hundred years blurring into a single, agonizing moment.

  A hundred million of the floating islands had been assimilated into my broken world, which had now regained 1/10 of its original glory.

  I couldn't help but think, maybe I should complete this in a hundred years.

  Then, I'd reform and rearrange this world into something more beautiful and efficient, maybe even decorate it.

  Another hundred years passed as it was completed, then another as I reshaped and rearranged it like a puzzle, then another passed as I made it more beautiful.

  This utopia was a reflection of my perfect control, a beautiful cage.

  It was a utopia, with floating islands held fast by massive chains of my intent.

  Verdant trees and life thrived in this world, with no demonic beasts, just as I had ordered.

  Lakes from legends, seas of beauty, forests of mystery, and deserts of intricacies were all reenacted.

  Above, a hundred floating islands could be seen, with a palace constructed on the largest island.

  I smirked, then sat on my throne, as it was finally time for me to return to where I belong, and where I will act with no memories of what happened here.

  "Without knowing of my twisted love for them."

  Maybe give it a try? ??