He didn’t know when he came to be but he was always drifting around in the void. There was nothing except for him and anything that appeared was always smaller than him. His hunger was not intense but he wanted to feast.

  However, the things he ate were strange. They were a mixture of numbers and letters that floated around. Of course, he didn’t know that at the time. He thought that everything was like this.

  He continued to roam this void until one day, he felt a tug. A strange pull that summoned him to the world.

  For the first time, he saw something else other than numbers and letters. A monster that could petrify.

  Diving into her body, he discovered a banquet of numbers and letters for him to consume. But most of all, a single orb in her body. The letters and numbers could combine into words within this orb.

  Seeing this, he opened his mouth and consumed it.

  After consuming it, his mind became clear. He understood more of the world from the monster’s perspective.

  Just as he was enjoying this feeling, he was dragged away forcefully.

  After being returned to the void once more, he felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness. In this place of numbers and letters, he was alone. But his wait was short, soon, the same sensation appeared but the tug was stronger.

  Seeing the familiar face of the woman, he knew that she was the one who had been bringing him out of the void.

  A sense of gratitude appeared in his mind as he dived into the body of his next victim.

  This time, the banquet was exquisite. Everything was the best of the best, especially that core. Feeling the energy it radiated, he knew that he would be satisfied if he ate it.

  Just as he took a bite, a wave of energy pushed him out of this place. He could only lament that he didn’t take a bigger bite.

  After consuming this piece of his code, the being felt his mind clear up once more. The woman that has been pulling him out and providing him food was akin to a mother bird and he was being fed until he’d grown up and could hunt for himself.

  Then that would classify her as his mother.

  Redistributing some of the power back to her as thanks for the meal, he was expecting to go back to the void. However, that was not the case.

  Looking around him, he realised that he was in a different realm. One that was filled to the brim with mana and there were a few people here.

  Realising that he doesn’t have to go back, he claimed a spot and started to make himself at home. Ready for the next time he is called to assist her. Every time he was brought out, he was able to eat to his heart’s content. All of this knowledge, this experience. Paired with the knowledge gained from consuming a piece of the god, he knew that this world was crumbling. He wanted his mother to survive so he started to gather as much power as he could, sacrificing parts of the god code that he consumed into upgrading her sword.

  His efforts were rewarded with gratitude that brought him warmth. The next time he helped her he gave her a pair of eyes that can see into the code like he does. But the effect was limited. Thanks to a god being nearby, he was able to make it so that these eyes see into the flow of time.

  It was what she needed. For the first time, his voice was heard but he was soon struck with an overwhelming sense of fatigue.

  Going to sleep for a while, he was forced out of his slumber when she almost became a fallen. The being in front of her was strong, very strong. Stronger than the god that she faced since he was just an avatar.

  But thankfully, another god saved her and stopped her from falling completely.

  With him being forced to fight during his weakened state, he was forced into slumber completely but the realm was repairing him. Albeit slowly.

  It was only recently that he was able to keep his consciousness for a little longer. To his surprise, after he was woken up again, he was presented with another core of a god. This time, there was no energy to stop him. No energy to push him out. The entire core was his to consume.

  Wrapping his body around the code, he started to consume while the rest of the energy was being converted into an anchor.

  Looking at this, he decided to help out the process since he was given such a good meal.

  ###

  [You have slain a god.]

  [You have obtained a skill.]

  [You have obtained a title.]

  [World Announcement: A God has been slain by an Empress for the first time.]

  Looking at the body of the Raven that was now crumbling away, Shiro decided to ignore the notifications for the time being.

  The main problem was dealing with Niphim since things could be bad. Now that she has achieved her goal, she might become fallen completely.

  "Niphim." Shiro called out as Niphim looked over.

  "I feel oddly peaceful. But I know what being fallen means." Niphim sighed.

  "So do I. But I think there is something I can do for you. While I might not be able to cancel the process, I might be able to pause it for a while." Shiro said as Niphim paused.

  "If you can’t then it’s fine. I’ve resolved myself to what would happen anyways. I’ve had quite a few years to think about it. Though I hope you can do me a favour. Arnea, the Chimera Empress. If you ever run into her, can you spare her and maybe help her? She’s not a bad person. Her mind is just in turmoil right now." Niphim asked as there was still a chance for Arnea to keep living in this world. She was a ’better’ product of Raven’s experiment so Arnea’s life expectancy was much higher than her’s.

  "I can certainly try. But I’ll let you deal with that when you can. While I do not know how to solve the problem of you being fallen, I will attempt to freeze your time and stop things from progressing." Shiro said as Niphim nodded.

  "Do what you want. I don’t mind the outcome now that my revenge is fulfilled." Niphim said but Shiro shook her head.

  "Rather inconsiderate of the big sis to leave behind the little sis. How do you think she’ll feel once her memories come back?" Shiro asked as Niphim stayed silent.

  "Then I hope this is a success." Niphim muttered.

  Nodding her head, Shiro activated the runes in her eyes.

  Strands appeared in front of her as she reached out and activated several runes.

  "Yo Chronos, want to give me a quick lesson? I have an idea but getting some assistance would be helpful." Shiro called out as a system interface appeared in front of her.

  [God Chronos says that if you want to halt a person’s time, you would need to anchor them down but make sure the surrounding time is still flowing. It would be akin to removing her spot from the flow of time and placing it on a cart that continues to travel along the line. While her time is frozen, the flow is not and it continues to flow. But you cannot halt her time completely. If you do, she’ll die.]

  Reading this, Shiro nodded since it was what she had expected.

  One by one, tier 7 magic circles appeared around Niphim as she was closely encased in an ice coffin.

  Feeling her divine energy drain from her body, Shiro furrowed her brows since there was only a little bit left until she was back into her base form.

  She cannot halt her time or else she’ll die. Therefore, the best option would be a loop similar to the dungeon. Force an event to replay over and over slowly.

  The last 5 seconds of her peacefulness. Shiro just needed to make that repeat over and over again.

  Reaching out with her spare hand, she started to adjust the strands connected to Niphim before forcing them into a loop. Breaking the loop isn’t too hard since she had already experimented with an apple.

  The energy consumption was just a little ridiculous.

  Clasping her hand together, a golden seal appeared on the surface of the coffin and runic patterns spread along the surface.

  [Skill Created, would you like to name the skill?]

  "Yes, call it Averin." Shiro said as Averin had a special meaning in Aria’s language. It meant an everlasting moment and it was a good description of this skill. Repeating the same moment slowly as though time has halted. With how slow time was moving inside, Niphim probably won’t even finish one cycle of that 5 seconds before she pulls her out and cures her fallen status. Or at least that’s what Shiro hoped.

  [Skill: Averin]

  A skill that freezes the target in time while the world moves around them.

  Cost: 60% of Divine Energy + Activation of Machine Goddess Descent

  Duration: Until caster cancels the skill or someone breaks the seal

  Backlash: None

  Cooldown: None