At the Abode of the Sky, Ankit and his family were resting in one of the floating gardens—soft essence grass underfoot, artificial sunlight warm on their skin, distant waterfalls flowing upward into misty pools. Sanya was sprawled on her back, pointing out made-up constellations in the vyuha-generated sky. Rudra lay beside her, trying to copy her poses. Kamal and Neelam sat quietly on a low bench, enjoying the rare peace.
Ankit suddenly sat up straighter, eyes narrowing slightly as if listening to something far away.
"Huh… it looks like our destination—the last planet of our solar system—has arrived. Let's take the disciples this time too. Let them enjoy."
The moment the words left his mouth, Kamal, Neelam, Sanya, and Rudra sprang into motion like they'd been waiting for this exact sentence their whole lives.
Sanya jumped up with a cheer. "Finally! I was getting bored of Saturn anyway!"
Rudra scrambled to his feet. "Planet! Planet!"
Neelam smiled softly, already smoothing her clothes. Kamal simply stood, stretching once, ready.
Ankit waved his hand once.
Space folded gently around the family. In the next breath they stood outside the fortress, hovering safely in the void, the massive structure gleaming behind them like a floating palace of white marble and gold. But it's concealment vyuhas made it invisible.
With another casual gesture, Ankit reached across the fortress and pulled every disciple from their resting places—training grounds, rooms, gardens—transporting them in a soft shimmer of light to join the family in open space.
The disciples appeared one by one, blinking in confusion, still half-asleep or mid-stretch from their post-training rest.
Then they saw their surroundings.
Gasps rippled through the group.
They floated in the black endlessness of space, Earth a distant blue marble far below, the sun a brilliant distant star. But directly ahead loomed Pluto—small, icy, rugged, its heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio faintly visible even from this distance, craters and plains glowing pale under faint reflected sunlight.
The sheer scale hit them all at once: they were outside the solar system's edge, unprotected by atmosphere, yet breathing perfectly, weightless yet held steady by their Master's power.
But when their eyes landed on Ankit and his family—standing calmly in the void as though it were a garden—they quickly composed themselves, bowing in unison.
"Master."
Ankit gave a small nod. "Enjoy the view. Explore if you wish."
The disciples exchanged excited glances. Some immediately activated their movement techniques, taught to them by puppet instructor, darting toward Pluto's surface in controlled bursts. Others simply floated, staring in open awe at the frozen world below.
Ankit remained outside the fortress, arms folded, watching them with quiet amusement. He had already scanned Pluto thoroughly with his divine sense—nothing surprising here. A normal, barren dwarf planet with some unique geological features: nitrogen ice plains, methane frost mountains, strange heart-shaped basins—but no essence flow, no hidden ruins, no ancient secrets. Just rock, ice, and silence.
Just then, the Third Eye Clone appeared beside him in a flicker of space, expression unusually bright and pleased.
Ankit blinked in surprise. "You're here in person? Why didn't you just speak through our connection?"
The Third Eye Clone smiled wryly. "Because what I'm about to tell you… was worth coming in person."
Before he could respond, Ankit simply reached out with his mind and connected directly—reading the clone's memories in an instant.
The Third Eye Clone's smile turned slightly helpless.
Ankit's expression shifted. A light, satisfied smile curved his lips.
"Good," he said softly. "Now I don't have to travel anymore and pick up other people's garbage."
He turned his gaze to the clone.
"Well? Why are you still standing here? Go—do your work. Find more information like this."
The Third Eye Clone's face twitched slightly.
Who talks to his own clone like that?
Still, he gave a small bow—half respectful, half amused—and folded space again, vanishing back toward Dark Haven Fortress.
Ankit floated alone now, looking out at Pluto and the distant stars beyond.
The icy dwarf planet hung in the black like a cracked pearl, its heart-shaped plain faintly glowing under faint sunlight.
The Third Eye Clone's information had arrived at exactly the right moment.
Ankit had already begun to accept that comprehending the Time element would take years—perhaps decades—of patient, quiet observation: aging himself deliberately, feeling every second stretch and contract, living through countless subjective lifetimes until time element revealed its secrets.
But the clone had brought something better: a shortcut.