Those time travelers that year

555. Raistlin and the Whispers 6

"Get out of my way!" Raistlin hissed. "If you're not willing to help me, then get out of my way!"

“No!” Karamon said firmly.

"You'll die, brother!"

"Yes, the same goes for this time!"

The surroundings darkened, the shadows gradually expanding, and the air grew cold. Tiamat was approaching, arriving with fury. She had seen what was happening here, seen someone blocking Raistlin's way, and she had a chance to intercept him before he returned to Klein.

“Little Raist, Raistlin… give up!” Caramon said with a sorrowful and pitying tone. “I see the future, I see the final outcome.”

“Oh! It seems I have succeeded!” Raistlin removed his black hood, allowing Caramon to see his own doom in his golden eyes: “—I have become a star in the sky, an immortal god.”

“Yes, you succeeded…” Caramon said sadly, “but you also failed. You achieved final victory, you defeated darkness and even other gods, and your constellation shines supremely in the night sky—”

"—But you ruled a world utterly destroyed, a desolate world covered in ashes, littered with ruins and corpses. You tried to create a new world, but you had no power to create it, so you drained the life force of the stars until they too turned to dust. Nothing was left around you, absolutely nothing!"

"...Heh, is that so?!" Raistlin chuckled softly. He looked up and saw the shadows gradually approaching; the Dragon Queen was about to arrive, her hand already outstretched. Beside her, the white-robed priestess Krisanna lay there, her life slowly ebbing away, though she wouldn't die anytime soon.

Raistlin could also feel something he had once abandoned impacting him. What was it? Kindness? Ridiculous…

So how should he choose?

As originally planned, they would directly use the time-space portal to trick the Dragon Queen into entering it together, seize the opportunity to kill the god in one fell swoop, and then go to a tragic future.

Or should he heed the voice from his heart, sacrifice himself, let Karamon take Krisanna back to Klein through the time portal, and then stay behind to await his fate?

Screw it...

"Hahahahahahahaha!" Raistlin laughed maniacally. He seemed to understand something, especially the kind thoughts within him, which confirmed certain things for him. His mad laughter, so frenzied, left Caramon completely baffled as to why he was doing this.

But Raistlin knew this, and it proved one thing: the gods are selfish; they would not allow a mortal to be equal to them. If he was not mistaken, Karamon was the final obstacle to stop him.

Using weapons called kinship and kindness, they killed his evil side, and made his good side willingly sacrifice itself... Perhaps, in the future, when the time is right, he might still be useful, but—

Has anyone asked him what he thinks?

“Interesting, interesting… Is this your choice?” Raistlin shouted, no longer needing the cover of the whisper, he knew that once he uttered those names, they would surely hear what he was saying. “Paladin! No—” Raistlin revealed a mocking expression, “or rather, I should call you the Platinum Dragon, Lord of the North Wind, Bahamut!”

Boom!!!

A thunderous roar resounded—the Dragon Queen's furious cry. Raistlin heard hesitation and fear in her voice; the Queen of Darkness was afraid! She couldn't understand why this black-robed mage, from the world of Klein, from that closed world, would know the name Bahamut.

However, Raistlin ignored the Dragon Queen's doubts. He smiled, completely disregarding the surprised and flustered look on his brother Karamon's face. He knew that his simple-minded, foolish brother was utterly incomprehensible about what he was doing. Of course, Raistlin didn't care; his greatest enemy wasn't Karamon, or even Bahamut or Tiamat.

His greatest enemy was himself, and now, his greatest enemy had finally met him in the gods' scheme. Logically, he should have made the choice the gods desired... but, to hell with the choice.

"Taksis, no, Tiamat!" Raistlin shouted wildly, "The rainbow dragon, the evil dragon goddess, Tiamat... I know you can hear me. Aren't you wondering why a country bumpkin like me from Klein would know so much!?"

"Hahaha, I know more than you can imagine. I know this is not the Endless Abyss... This is still Bartholomew, the Nine Hells, Aphrodite."

“I also learned that the so-called leader of the benevolent gods, Paladin, and the queen of darkness, Taxis…” A smug smile appeared on Raistlin’s face. “You… are merely two dragon gods, two weak gods, that’s right, just two lowly weak gods.”

'mortal!'

The dragon queen's roar suddenly rang out, the sky darkened, and shadows surged, transforming into the dragon queen's phantom image. Red, blue, green, black, and white, five dragon heads and ten pairs of eyes, filled with rage, looked down from the sky at Raistlin and Karamon.

Tiamat's wrath was unleashed.

What does it feel like to face a deity directly?

Standing on the ground and looking up at the stars gives you that feeling—something you can only admire from afar, yet never reach.

Faced with the Dragon Queen's majesty, his mind went blank, his soul trembling with fear and howling madly. Karamon stared blankly at the phantom of the five-colored dragon, his face pale and his body drenched in sweat. But Raistlin smiled, a smile of boundless joy.

“Tiamat, do you see that? That spacetime portal in the distance, the spacetime portal leading to the world of Klein…” Raistlin said, “That’s a portal that could truly allow you to descend, but do you think I’ll let you have your way? And you—”

"—Bahamut!"

The phantom of the five-colored dragon trembled and roared. Tiamat sensed something was very wrong. She roared, and although she had not yet fully arrived, with the help of the projection of divine power, the phantom of the five-colored dragon began to open its head, and a tidal wave of power spewed out from its mouth.

Freezing, acid, corrosion, lightning, and fire—five different types of dragon breath were unleashed by Tiamat, sweeping towards Raistlin. This was a power he could neither resist nor dodge, but that didn't matter.

“Charles Gretel…” he whispered the name, “In exchange, everything I have!”

Contract complete!

That's what the whispered voice said.

Just as the dragon's breath came down, the world distorted. In front of Raistlin, space was wantonly twisted and distorted by an invisible hand—and then shattered, broken into pieces like a mirror.

Tiamat's dragon breath struck the shattered space and was instantly swallowed up, leaving no trace.

"Who are you?" The illusory image of the five-colored dragon was also distorted and quickly vanished like a phantom, leaving behind Tiamat's terrified voice. "Why..."

556. A Boiling World

Tiamat's phantom shattered, leaving only her terrified voice. However, what could possibly frighten a true god? Anyone could hear the extreme panic in her voice, as if she had seen something terrifying.

In fact, Tiamat didn't see anything terrifying. On the contrary, it was precisely because she saw nothing that she panicked. Her phantom was shattered, and her attack, launched through the power of projection, was blocked by a sudden spatial rupture... no, it should be said that it was devoured; her attack was completely swallowed up by something.

This gave Tiamat a bad feeling. It was simply impossible for a god's power to be devoured. Even other gods could only use their own power to counteract divine power, not devour it like it was being eaten. Of course, it wasn't absolute. In the astral plane, there was no shortage of monsters capable of devouring divine power—those abominations.

However, the entity that devoured Tiamat's attack did not possess the aura of a divine abomination. On the contrary, just now, Tiamat sensed chaos, utter chaos, like a pitch-black abyss. Indeed, in that instant, Tiamat had seen an endless abyss for herself.

In fact, at this moment, all the powerful beings in the multiverse were startled.

Because, at the moment Tiamat was stopped, or rather, at the moment that shattered space appeared—the chaotic Force surged.

Dazed, elated, frenzied... The Chaos Sea, this chaotic and disordered land, this place filled with violent energy, this messy place where powerful undead creatures often appear and disappear unpredictably—exploded. Of course, this is just a metaphor. Every moment, various chaotic elements in the Chaos Sea create terrifying disasters, but this disaster is even more terrifying.

The once chaotic and disordered sea of ​​chaos was now riddled with countless spatial rifts, leading to various planes—upper and lower planes, even the prime material world. The Slafrogs living in the chaotic sea could travel through these rifts to different planes, and some had already passed through directly. While this was manageable in other planes, for those prime material planes, these monsters were utter disaster.

Of course, the Endless Abyss is the craziest...

In that instant of chaotic primal energy boiling, countless demons throughout the endless abyss advanced and evolved. Especially in the Blood Battle, where demons were fighting chaotically and haphazardly, hacking at their own kind while charging into the demon formation, suddenly... one after another, advancements occurred. With the abyss generously providing power, most demons began a leapfrog evolution.

Suddenly, dozens of fire demons and Balor fire demons appeared on the entire battlefield of the bloodbath. Then, these chaotic fools were unable to control the abyssal power that was suddenly poured into their bodies, and their brains were completely turned into mush by the abyssal power at this moment.

And so, to the astonishment of the demons' blood-soaked army, brilliant flames began to emerge from the demons' side.

Unable to control their power, those demons who had been generously granted ascension by the Abyss and transformed into Balrogs exploded with a deafening roar. The incineration explosion instantly created dozens of small mushroom clouds, and due to the chaotic nature of demons, it even swept up their brethren in the blast—and if there happened to be a Balrog who had ascended at that moment nearby, it would result in a chain reaction of explosions.

Suddenly, the demons became incredibly powerful. They successfully last-hit their own teammates. Although they usually did this, it was never as clean, efficient, and effective as this time.

It seems... the devils have won another victory, though this victory came so suddenly.

The demons' self-destructions unfolded one after another. The more powerful the demon, the faster and more powerful its self-destruction. Immediately, a series of explosions echoed across the battlefield, and the demons had won the battle. The devils themselves hadn't defeated them; they had defeated themselves.

What a sad story...

Soon, the demons were in trouble—well, only the higher-ranking demons were in trouble. Logically speaking… even though the demons had brought about their own demise, wasn't that a 'victory'?

Victory is a victory, so someone should be promoted. However, not many demons died this time, and the number of high-level demons killed was less than ten. If positions don't become vacant, how can those below be promoted? This became a major headache for Lord Avernas.

However, at this moment, a gaze was cast from the very bottom of the Nine Hells. That gaze did not pay attention to Aphrodite above, but instead traversed the entire Nine Hells, looking directly at the chaotic, endless abyss.

Not only here, but also in other planes, those beings with powerful divine power or comparable strength have all turned their attention to the Endless Abyss, which is now boiling with chaotic primal forces and is beginning to act strangely.

The Four Elemental Worlds, the Temple of Nature, the Wasteland of Destruction and Despair, the High Throne, the Heart of Spells, the Temple of Knowledge, the Realm of Clear Waters, the Sleep of Warriors, the Heart of Fury, the Temple of the Three Gods, the Wilderness...

In this multiverse, the most powerful deities, those most deeply intertwined with the Force of the World, peered out from their divine realms and cast their gazes into the endless abyss.

The boiling of the Sea of ​​Force finally made these powerful beings who looked down upon all things feel a little uneasy. However, on the other side of the endless abyss, the chaotic Force obscured the vision of all the powerful beings.

The demons of the abyss, their age of madness has arrived.

More demons were born, more demons began to advance, and explosions continued to occur in the abyss, unfolding at every level. Many demons, under the sudden influx of abyssal power, experienced a surge in power, causing them to lose control and commit Ahura Abak. However, even more demons completed their ascension at this moment, and the number of high-level demons in the entire abyss exploded.

Similarly, the demon lords also gained new powers.

The great distribution of the power of the abyss naturally included the core members of the abyss. Most of the demon lords were empowered and became even stronger... Except for the three demon princes, the other demons received the immense power bestowed by the abyss and advanced in rank. However, the three demon princes were nowhere to be seen, and the abyss did not grant them any more power.

Orcus, the king of the undead, frowned in his vast palace of bones, leaning on a sinister skull wand, wondering if it was part of a conspiracy by his two rivals.

Lord of Darkness - Grazt stood outside his palace in Azgrath, gazing at the changes in the entire Abyss, then fell silent in thought. Like Orcus, he also wondered whether the changes in the entire Abyss and the Chaotic Force were the work of the other two.

Meanwhile, in the saltwater swamp, the two-headed baboon Demogorgon roared as he charged out of his palace and fortress, unleashing a frenzied rampage that indiscriminately tore apart any demon he could reach.

557. Raistlin: My Foolish Brother

The anomalies within the Endless Abyss, amidst the changes in the Sea of ​​Force, especially the boiling of chaotic Force obscuring the vision of the gods, meant that no powerful deity could perceive them. Therefore, the gods merely raised their guard and became slightly wary of the changes occurring in the Abyss.

No god pays extra attention to the Endless Abyss. Back then, your demon army in the Endless Abyss was defeated by the first generation of the God of Order, and the entire Abyss was crippled. It even suffered a campaign against the Aiss Angels.

The endless abyss has never won in its battles against the gods. This has been true in the past, and it will be true in the future. This is the view of the gods; those who truly determine the fate of this world are the temporarily ruling deities, not those lowly demons.

Especially in the Wildlands, the Elven god Corellon Larethan and his queen Angris, having seen the Endless Abyss obscured by the chaotic Force, ceased to pay attention and withdrew their gaze.

Compared to the traitorous elf residing in the deep abyss within the web of magic, the threat posed by the orc god was a greater concern for this powerful divine couple.

However, neither Corellon Laresian nor Angrass, these two powerful gods, knew that just when they thought they didn't need to pay special attention, something beyond their power was happening in the deep pit magic net on the 66th level of the Endless Abyss.

A colossal spider emerged from the deepest part of the Pit Web. Her upper body was that of a drow woman, Lolth, the Spider Queen, the Queen of the Pit Web… This demon, who was once Corellon Larethian’s first wife, Erosine, bathed in the chaotic tides of the Force and let out a maniacal laugh.

She was once a powerful and lofty deity, the weaver of fate. But times have changed, and now she is merely a monster, abandoned and betrayed, constantly plotting revenge. For countless years, she has been forced to hide in the deep pit of the demonic web, trying to avoid being hunted down by Corellon.

And now, the days of hibernation are coming to an end.

Amidst this chaotic tide of primal forces, this demon with divine status, this goddess who possesses both divine status and has accepted the virtual divine status of the abyss, is frantically devouring the chaotic primal forces.

Then, in a burst of dark light, Rose, in her half-spider form, transformed into an elf draped in a purple-black robe. At that moment, throughout the deep pit of the 66th level of the Endless Abyss, demons, drow, wax molten monsters, and those servants loyal to Rose, as well as her offspring and the divine gates, all bowed their heads respectfully to Rose.

This is to celebrate the birth of a powerful deity, or rather, to celebrate the day when Rose has returned to her powerful divine status, countless years after abandoning the name Eroshine.

If things had followed the original trajectory, Rose would have needed to wait until later, perhaps through a conspiracy she orchestrated, to regain her status as a powerful deity.

Unfortunately, due to the interference of a certain individual, the timeline has drastically changed. The Abyss's rampage has been incredibly beneficial, even allowing Rose to advance directly through the process.

Because this was a benefit of the Abyss, Rose was still only considered to have moderate divine power in the eyes of outsiders. But she wasn't in a hurry. After her maniacal laughter, Rose began to conceal her power and sealed off the Abyss's magical net.

From the immense benefits of the Endless Abyss and the chaotic surge of Force, Rose sensed an opportunity, a chance for her to exact her revenge... Until that opportunity materialized, all she needed to do was wait, patiently wait.

——————————Divider Line——————————

The erratic behavior of the Endless Abyss only attracted the attention of those powerful gods; the other gods didn't care much about it. This wasn't the first time the Endless Abyss had acted erratically, and the demon lords' covetousness of the gods' glory was nothing new.

But the gods remain high above, as they have always been, and as they will always be.

Meanwhile, on Aphrodite, the first level of the Bato Hell adjacent to the endless abyss, Tiamat, who possessed only the power of a weak deity, also sensed the anomaly in the Sea of ​​Force at this moment, but she had no time to pay attention to these external matters.

Her troubles are not over yet.