In the Sea of Quanta, where the light of the Cocoon of Finality had wrought destruction, a new light of life was born.
Seated within the core of the Imaginary Tree, having taken its place as the tree's "nexus," Honkai God · Ryn opened his left eye.
His gaze passed through the barriers of the Imaginary Tree, attraversed the cosmos, pierced the boundaries of thousands of worlds, and landed on a certain spot in the Sea of Quanta.
There, swept by the light of Finality, an already chaotic region of the Sea of Quanta had become even more disordered.
Creatures from the Imaginary side began to be born and grow alongside monsters from the Quantum side, thanks to the aftereffects left by the Cocoon of Finality.
Honkai God · Ryn reached out and gently nudged that region. It was as if a fast-forward button had been pressed; the flow of time began to change.
Because they were all born using the energy of the Sea of Quanta, and because they had been together since birth,
a strange situation arose in that region where Imaginary and Quantum creatures coexisted in harmony and prosperity.
There was even a Honkai Beast and a Quantum Shadow that got together… and under the amused blessing of Honkai God · Ryn, they lived out their lives happily.
After that, time accelerated again—a thousandfold, ten thousandfold, a millionfold…
Until a shining star, a sun, appeared.
And so, the first sun, the creator god of duality, Ometeotl, was reborn.
True gods find it difficult to die. For they are the rules themselves. As long as the concept of duality exists in the world, Ometeotl cannot die. It is merely a matter of how long it takes to revive.
Honkai God · Ryn could erase the concept of duality, but to destroy the world again just to kill Ometeotl would be more trouble than it's worth.
That's why he hated gods whose incarnate rules were so abstract. Because if you accidentally crush their origin, obliterate their soul, and destroy the law they represent, the world's order would undergo a major reshuffling, or even collapse entirely, if a new god didn't immediately take up the fallen god's mantle.
The revived Ometeotl assessed its newborn state and reconnected with the laws of the Sea of Quanta. Then its face turned green.
The Sea of Quanta had not explicitly punished it, but that giant, abyss-like blood-red eye in the sky…
Ometeotl was now like the Monkey King trapped in the Buddha's palm, held within the world in the palm of Honkai God · Ryn.
"Who are you! Such an existence should not be among the gods beneath the Tree and the Sea!! We are all gods, the gap cannot be this large!!!"
Ometeotl shouted in disbelief. Before this unknown god it had never even heard of, it felt as weak as a small boat in a boundless ocean, just like when it faced the Great Will of the Sea of Quanta.
"You dare to shout at me without even knowing who I am. Ometeotl, you are not the only creator god or divine being in existence, but you are the greediest and most impulsive among them."
Ryn kneaded his fingers, squishing Ometeotl like a piece of soft clay.
"Hmm…? Did I just compliment you?"
"Enough! State your terms and get it over with! There is no need for such humiliation!" Ometeotl shouted, a hint of anger in its voice.
Gods are not to be insulted. Ryn's actions were completely trampling on Ometeotl's dignity as a god.
"Come, let's make a deal! As long as it does not involve my origin, I am willing to cede a large portion of my laws to you!"
"Sorry, I'm not impressed by you, so I'm even less impressed by your laws."
Ryn pulled back his hand in disgust, then tore off the arm he had just used to touch Ometeotl and casually threw it to a nearby Guixu Divine Turtle that was larger than a star.
The Guixu Divine Turtle took a bite of Ryn's arm, then exploded from Ryn's power, scattering as pure energy into the Imaginary Space, becoming nourishment for the Imaginary Tree.
"I have no interest in destroying your laws, nor do I need a divine contract to make a deal. I only need you to do one thing, a very simple thing."
"Speak."
"Stay where you belong, don't wander around, and obediently wait for Kiana and Ryn to come and kill you."
Ometeotl's mass of light and dark gas formed a human-like expression of fury. "Are you still insulting me? Kiana has not even touched the fringes of godhood, on what grounds can she kill me! And who is Ryn?!"
The corners of Honkai God · Ryn's mouth curled up slightly as he looked at Ometeotl with a smile. "Are you really that stupid, or are you pretending? Can't you look at the timeline yourself? Do I need to teach you?"
"Damn it, all I can see is that the girl named Kiana will become a god in the future… Gods cannot see other gods, the future after godhood is impossible to fathom or observe. How am I supposed to know when Kiana will come to fight me…
Besides, there's no one named Ryn in the timeline, how would I know who Ryn is…"
Ometeotl's face was contorted with anger, not just from Ryn's actions, but from his words. They were both gods, so why did he act so high and mighty, as if he were a god above gods.
"Is that all? Ometeotl, it seems I overestimated you. What a waste of time, how unlucky."
Honkai God · Ryn clenched his fist, annihilating the Ometeotl in his palm-world once again, sending it back to its rebirth and recovery.
Then, sitting on his throne, Honkai God · Ryn withdrew his gaze from Ometeotl and closed his eyes again.
Ryn's little trip was just to intimidate Ometeotl, just as his past self had done to him…
Time is a closed loop. It has a beginning and an end, yet it is endlessly perplexing.
Counting the time, what should his current self be doing now?
He should have already arrived in that world, right?
Then… this cycle named cause and effect will officially begin at this moment.
The future self plants a cause in the past, and the fruit that grows from the past is harvested in the future.
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"I hate time, because it has no feelings…
It knows no mercy, but it also feels no hatred…
I hate time, because the timeline is supreme and cannot be changed.
Even if the beings within the line know everything, they can only follow the script like puppets.
Breaking through fate, rewriting the ending. All that one thinks they have changed, the stories they have written with their own hands, are ultimately just different ways to reach the end of time.
I hate time… because over its long course, it will completely change a person…
I hate time, because it is a constantly repeating cycle with a beginning and an end…"
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