ALL NOVEL B3 | Intermission 5
Dimensional Block #941
Crystal Nightshade, otherwise known as the last living devourer, speeds across the starry skies of the 941st Dimensional Block while flying with the wings of a gryphon, having eaten one many millennia ago. Meanwhile she uses the wind magic she got from it to propel herself forwards faster and faster.
Fast enough to keep herself far away from the Quantum Being chasing after her.
And she knows the Enforcer is chasing her. She just does, even though she can’t directly see him.
Just like with the last time he chased her all those years ago, where he would slip in and out of gaps in time to chase after her.
But she avoided him once before, she can do it again. The only reason she got caught in the first place back then was because he had set a trap years after she’d already escaped him.
I won’t fall for that again though. Not this time. Not when they’re waiting for me. And not now that I’ve made up with him.
Crystal uses every power she’s assimilated from the Class S beings she’s eaten over the years she’s been alive to flee as quickly as possible. Wing magic and wings from the gryphon to speed her through the air. Space magic from the cosmic wyrms to teleport. Lightning magic from the kirin to turn her own body into electricity. Fire magic from the dragons for the use of explosions to propel her.
One power after another from hundreds of different Class S species. Using her natural assimilation powers as a devour and pushing them to their limits.
Unlike the vast majority of the people raised in the Architect’s System, Crystal came from a place without the System. So none of her powers are tied to the System itself.
She simply grows by eating other beings. Assimilating their powers, their magics, and even their body parts into herself.
But if there’s one thing she regrets eating, it’s the thing that led to her current situation.
Her devouring of a quantum being.
How was she supposed to know that it was apparently banned by the universe itself to devour the traits of a quantum being without the chains they are placed under? Not like she was ever told about it after all.
So she just keeps on flying. Keeps soaring.
And just like with the first time she ran from the Enforcer, she manages to lose him after over an entire year of fleeing. With her just instinctively knowing that she’s lost him thanks to the instincts of the two-headed onyx panther she devoured all those years ago.
But this time she doesn’t relax even after that. Instead she begins to search through the Dimensional Blocks for certain specific Class S species to devour.
In order to obscure herself from his sight and powers, she needs a few different natural magics. Magics only belonging to the Class S species.
She already has soul magic, but she needs illusion magic to hide her physical self from him. She needs foresight magic to hide herself from scrying. And most importantly, she needs time magic to be able to stop his traveling through time to find her.
After she gets all three, she should be set to hide both herself and her family from the Enforcer.
Of course, she isn’t worried about the Enforcer trying to use her family against her or to blackmail her through them. Since he would never bring others into their conflict, especially a quantum being. But she isn’t stupid enough to not realize that he’ll camp out near them, just waiting for her to visit so that he can catch her.
Unfortunately for the Enforcer, however, she wasn’t just twiddling her thumbs during the time she was locked in that dungeon.
She spent all of that time practicing her magic while the asshole was sleeping the years away. Training herself to grow stronger and stronger even if she was trapped in a time lock.
And planning for her next run-in with the Enforcer.
Because there is no way she is going to let anyone tear her away from her family. Never again.
She’ll rip the head or heads off of anything that tries.
It already hurts her a little to see how apathetic her daughters have grown over the years, even if she understands it well why they grew that way. And they aren’t the only ones, since Crystal herself has grown a little apathetic towards others after living for so long. Not to mention being trapped in the time lock for decades.
But she is very happy that they still love her. That their apathy doesn’t extend to her.
And she is also happy that her husband still loves her despite what happened. Despite what she did.
A faint smile stretches across her face as she soars across the air, soon shattering straight through the Dimensional Wall of the Dimensional Block. Not even bothering to wait for it to open.
Seconds after she passes through it though, the wall reforms itself without any difference from before she broke it. Meanwhile the people nearby all look shocked at what happened. But she doesn’t waste any time on them and continues soaring through the air while spreading her senses out.
The main issue she is having with this search is the scarcity of these particular Class S species.
A beholder for the foresight magic. A dark witch for the illusion magic.
And most importantly, a chrono for the time magic.
But if she remembers correctly, there are only a few chrono left alive. And that was decades ago. So it’s entirely possible they’ve died off since she was put in the time lock.
She was always searching for them before falling for the Enforcer’s trap, and all of that searching was put to waste after the Reset.
At least now though they will have lost their hiding spot.
And she will be able to find them so long as she keeps looking through the Blocks.
Because she needs that magic if she’s going to have any chance at freeing herself of the Enforcer for good.