At the end of time

Razim’s water avatar turned into energy and drifted along Seth toward the depths of space.

“It would seem my mistress was right. You’ve fused with the destruction will.” The avatar’s soft voice drifted through energy, reaching Seth’s soul.

“Not exactly. I have replaced the destruction will completely,” replied Seth.

The water avatar heaved a forlorn sigh and didn’t comment further, guiding Seth toward Razim’s location in silence.

The two drifted through space, using black holes to break the flow of time until they reached a gigantic ice sphere floating aimlessly. The water avatar rematerialized itself next to Seth.

“This is time-zero,” exclaimed the avatar, “We’ve arrived.”

Seth nodded while staring at the planet-sized ice prison Razim had created. “Thank you for guiding me here. Return to Razim and tell her to break the barrier. I’ll take over from here.”

“Seat of Destruction, may I have a word before that?” asked the avatar reluctantly.

“What is it?” asked Seth indifferently.

“Do you plan on killing me and my other brothers and sisters as well?” asked the avatar, its head lowered.

“Water,” said Seth with a sigh. “I don’t even know if replacing a will is possible without the tower’s help, and even if I could, I don’t have anything against you. As for the others, the same thing applies except for Time. That bastard already has it coming.”

The avatar thanked Seth for answering her question and let herself get absorbed inside the ice prison.

Cracks started expanding onto the surface of the ice prison until it finally shattered, revealing a dark vortex floating through space. Razim also materialized out of the prison’s shards, standing by Seth’s side.

“He’s inside, and, just as you said, he’s injured. I have no qualms with you doing whatever you want, but it is time for you to fulfill your part of the deal. I want to know everything you do about the Tower.”

Seth nodded and told her everything he had learned about the Tower from their first interaction. He told her about the simulation, what little bit he knew about the outside world, and finally, the enigmatic World Sovereign, who he had learned was their creator and master puppeteer.

“Do with that what you will, but if you plan on leaving with the other me as he breaks out of this world, find him after time resets back to normal. Make sure to shield yourself from the time reversal. Since it doesn’t come from the Tower’s complete authority, you should have no problem doing so.”

Razim nodded absentmindedly, her thoughts still on everything Seth had told her. Everything that she had learned was too much for even her to process immediately.

Seth ignored her absentmindedness; whatever Razim decided was not for him to intervene. While Razim was deep in thought, Seth entered the dark vortex.

Time-zero - one of the divine abilities of the time energy. Creating a point outside the influence of time, existing through the past, present, and future simultaneously.

Once Seth’s energy body got close, the world around him stopped moving, and he was completely absorbed inside.

He arrived at the familiar place where he had the misfortune of witnessing Aleena’s torture. It was also not the first time he was there personally, having challenged Kronos before, far off into the future of his past timeline.

Kronos was sitting on his throne, watching Seth’s approach with a frustrated look.

“The others told me I was like a cockroach, impossible to kill no matter how many times they’ve tried and always coming back until I got what I wanted, but after seeing you detonate your divinity and return with a new one….”

Seth stopped at the same spot where he remembered time had tortured Aleena, looking down towards the floor with a frown while seemingly ignoring Kronos’ words.

“I wonder, Kronos, what was in your head when you accepted that deal with the Tower? What made you torture an innocent little girl who had nothing to do with your hatred for me?” Seth’s tone was indifferent, but his eyes were already turning red at the edges.

Kronos snorted and quickly said: “And whose fault is that? If you did not hide like a rat, I would have never had to resort to that. Also, what’s a small ants fate between gods like us? What do you want, Seat of Destruction? Are you going to fight me for a mortal?”

“Ant, huh?” asked Seth, looking back at the annoyed Kronos. “I guess that’s how I used to look upon them too… I have one question for you, Kronos. Did you erase or seal her?”

Kronos didn’t get the chance to answer as his avatar shortly materialized next to him, its eyes looking straight into Seth’s.

“Destruction, what must we do for you to look the other way? You can’t tell me you care about a mortal ant. Keep your host in check.”

The corner of Seth’s lips twitched, unable to keep his calm anymore at the sight of Time, and his entire physical manifestation began trembling out of his control. Destruction energy started leaking through his pupils as his eyes fixed on Time. He still remembered clearly how that thing tortured Aleena.

“ANT AGAIN?” He asked in a thundering voice, the space around him breaking into nothingness, destruction energy seeping through the cracks and flooding the time-zero dimension.

“That’s my wife!” roared Seth, his energy wiping the time avatar entirely as his hand turned into a destruction claw that pierced straight through Kronos’s body, grabbing tightly onto his divinity.

“I’ll ask again. Did you erase or seal her?”

Kronos looked down, his eyes widening in horror when he noticed that any attempt at using his energy was futile. He could feel the destruction energy seeing through his divine soul, sinking deep inside his soul sea as cracks started extending over his already injured source, divinity, and soul.

Outside the time-zero dimension, Razim was forced to move away as well.

All the destruction energy inside the simulation started to assemble toward the time-zero dimension, forming a massive dark red sun at least twice the size of her world.

“Wait! She exists still. Stop, or she’ll be destroyed as well.” Kronos quickly spoke, afraid Seth would indeed destroy his soul.

Seth’s claw retreated shortly after as the destruction energy all around seemed to pause.

“Bring her out. Don’t try anything funny.”

Kronos gulped once, and the vortex of his source began spinning in reverse, his time energy quickly extending right in front of him, forming Aleena’s body in the same space she had disappeared from.

Seth continued watching the time reversal process, but after it was complete and Aleena was out of prison, he was heartbroken to see her condition.

None of the joy she usually emanated remained. She appeared utterly broken and lay on the floor with a lost look in her glazed eyes.

Ignoring Kronos, Seth quickly moved in front of Aleena, grabbing her hand and looking into her blank eyes.

“Hey, it’s me. Can you hear me?”

Unfortunately, Aleena acted like she couldn’t hear or see him, continuing to stare blankly forward.

Closing his eyes, Seth pulled her into his arms and bit his lower lip, his energy starting to tremble with his rage. When he opened his eyes again, they were fixed on the panicking Kronos, a deep hatred rooted deep inside them.

“Stop. If you kill me, the others are also going to die.” Kronos has now moved away from his throne, trying to stay as far as possible from Seth. He had also attempted to drift through time, but he couldn’t do anything at all due to Seth’s energy sealing the time dimension.

Even with Kronos’s threat, Seth’s expression didn’t change as he said: “Release them, and I’ll give you a quick death.”

“I’ll release them if you vow to let me live,” said Kronos right away, starting to regain some of his confidence once he saw that Seth was afraid to act

“You had your chance,” said Seth, his eyes flashing a deep red as Kronos’s body got destroyed entirely, and only his divine source remained.

Dragging the source at him, Seth looked at it and said: “Time, I know you can hear me. As you probably know, I already have a time source of my own. If you free my people and give me Kronos, I’ll agree to let you reside inside my soul as my divinity.”

“I accept. Open a way out.” the divine source agreed shortly after Seth’s words, three of its spikes breaking instantly as a massive amount of time energy made its way out of the vortex.

Seth quickly created a path through the destruction prison that had formed outside the time zero dimension, allowing the energy to travel freely toward his world.

With only three spikes left, the divine crown started separating itself from the vortex of Kronos’s source, forming a small gray pocket of energy that floated before Seth.

“I’ve returned them to their time,” Time’s voice resounded shortly after as the divinity abandoned Kronos and started moving toward Seth’s body.

Seth snorted, waving his hand and sealing the time divinity completely.

“If you think I’ll ever let a bastard like you inside my soul, you can never be more wrong. Not after what you did to her,” muttered Seth, turning his eyes to Kronos’s body that was beginning to materialize from the remaining ninth shell source.

Waving his hand again, Kronos’s energy was removed before it could form a body, and he was also sealed.

With Kronos’s source and divinity separated, both sealed inside two orbs of destruction, Seth broke the time-zero dimension and floated towards the people awaiting nearby while carrying Aleena in his arms.

Two men were sitting on Razim’s left and right, watching Seth intently as he exited the crumbling time dimension.

“Destruction.” They both said simultaneously with a nod, intrigued looks in their eyes.

“Dukbium, Vayu, I have no time for the two of you,” said Seth before turning towards Razim.

“Can you please carry my wife for me, Razim? There’s one more thing I need to do.”

Razim nodded, approaching Seth to pick up Aleena.

Seth kissed Aleena’s forehead once before handing her to Razim and stepping back.

“I have nothing to speak to any of you, and don’t worry; I won’t be keeping this divinity and won’t infringe on your domains,” said Seth toward the two other gods there. “Go away now. I need to shatter my divinity to fix the timeline.”

Dukbium and Vayu shared a look before allowing their avatars to dissipate without another word, leaving only Razim, Seth, and Aleena.

“Are you going to kill yourself?” asked Razim with a conflicted expression.

“I have to. If I still existed in this world when the timeline started recovering, all of this would have been for nothing. The time distortion should begin any moment now, so be sure to protect yourself. As for Aleena, the time mend to take her. I can only hope she will forget everything.”

Razim nodded silently and started drifting away. After a few steps, she stopped and looked back. “You have earned my respect, Seth. I’ve never seen another god that would care for simple mortals.”

“They are not simple mortals but my wives. Go easy on the other me when you two meet,” said Seth with a slight chuckle, watching as Razim and Aleena disappeared into the distance.

Once alone, Seth’s divinity began spinning again, the spikes on its crown disappearing one after another. When ten spikes had already disappeared, the space around him was entirely broken, replaced by a silvery void.

At the center of that void, an energy spring kept revolving, feeding more destruction energy to Seth.

A tear flew down Seth’s cheek as he slowly made his way forward, allowing his body to turn into pure energy and get sucked into the energy spring along with Kronos’s source and the time divinity.

“I’ll miss you all.” Seth’s words drifted out of the spring as the broken space quickly mended.