The question floated in the air as the atmosphere grew more tense. The inhabitants of the great ship moved away from Cronos and that entity with a human appearance who was clearly annoyed.
Cronos had a smile on his face.
"Who else? Is there any other imbecile besides me?" he asked, causing the winged figure to fall silent, confused for a moment, before sighing.
"Insolent brat," the figure finally said as it landed on the deck without being invited. Its dark wings disappeared into darkness.
Cronos, with that same smile, said calmly:
"Cronos of Fallen Grace greets the son of Weaver."
---
Uriel would be lying if he said he wasn't both impressed and disconcerted in equal measure.
He had never expected to encounter Cronos. Well, he knew who Cronos was—but that was the illusion created by the nightmare spell, not the real Cronos from Ariel's Tomb.
He wasn't foolish. He knew there were still people in Ariel's Tomb. Nevertheless, he had never expected to find them so quickly.
They had been traveling from the farthest reaches of the future toward the past, searching for more living beings. But never, not even in his wildest dreams, had he expected to find a ship full of humans in this place. He had found them.
Or rather, they had found him. The probability of that happening was almost zero—but it had happened.
Uriel looked away from Cronos and gazed at all the inhabitants of the great ship, their faces tense and somewhat frightened. Then he looked at the intricate engravings—a level of Sorcery so terrifying that he barely understood a little of it.
Uriel looked at Cronos's youthful appearance and had an idea of what the sorcery placed on the ship was doing: creating a zone where the flow of time did not pass—or rather, passed at a normal speed for those inside the ship, without dying from traveling toward the future.
Uriel returned his gaze to Cronos, who wore that same smile.
"I don't like you," he finally said, causing the brat's expression to dim for a moment.
Cronos sighed.
"Ah. Right—you're always so strange as always, Master Uriel."
Uriel froze, staring at Cronos.
"Master? As far as I remember, I never accepted a disciple. Well, only one—but it's clearly not you."
"That wounds me deeply, Master. We spent so much time training." Cronos seemed disappointed. "Even when I spent years preparing for this moment—sailing for months toward the future with my brave pirate crew to find you—for you not to recognize me wounds me deeply."
Uriel blinked—not at what Cronos said, but at one part: pirate crew.
A term that only he and the manga he had copied and recreated knew.
"How do you know about the pirate crew?"
"Naturally, because you told me, Master."
Uriel frowned.
"Am I in that endless loop nonsense?" he murmured to himself. He remembered how he had entered Ariel's Tomb, but he hadn't died at any point.
Though the nature of loops made one forget everything and start from zero. Was this not the first time he had entered?
No, that would be impossible. He should be aware of temporal loops—after all, he had been trapped in one he created himself for thousands of years, so he would remember.
The only option was that...
Cronos smiled.
"I see you've realized it, Master. It's my Aspect—I can glimpse the future, the present, and the past," Cronos said, looking at Uriel, whose face was thoughtful.
"Come, Master. Let's talk inside. I'm sure you have many questions."
Uriel nodded, following Cronos into the interior of the great ship—into a large hall where there was a wooden table with well-crafted wooden chairs.
Uriel sat in a chair, his expression still stunned. Around him, the darkness rippled, taking the form of another version of himself—the only difference being that his eyes were a crimson red, like blood, and unsettling.
A stunned expression was on his face before he placed a shameless, arrogant smile on it—a smile identical to Cronos's.
"Ah, Master Shade—good of you to join the conversation," Cronos said as he took out two cups and filled them with hot tea.
Shade sat in the empty chair.
Placing the cups on the wooden table, Uriel finally spoke.
"This is ridiculous," he said, shaking his head.
"Ridiculous or not, it's the truth, Master," Cronos replied.
Uriel felt a headache beginning to form.
"Start from the beginning—about this business of me being your master from the future."
"Well, as I said before, my Aspect is special. It allows me to glimpse the great river of time. Thanks to that, I know many things—about the present, the past, and even the future," he explained, taking a sip of his tea.
"Because of that, I knew of your arrival at Ariel's Tomb many years ago—when the last Sibyl was defiled by corruption."
"Wait. Are you saying you knew we were coming to Ariel's Tomb when your Ruler was corrupted?"
"Oh, gods no. I was just a brat who could barely feel his soul essence. It wasn't until I became an Awakened that I could obtain my Aspect and learn of your arrival," Cronos explained.
"I see. Though that doesn't explain why you call me master."
"Well, that's because you are. It's like you said—loops are truly strange, and understanding them is like understanding where infinity begins and ends."
"Yes, that sounds like something Uriel would say," Shade said, amused.
"Hey, you're not helping."
"Anyway, Cronos—am I in a loop?"
"Nope."
"He's not in a loop, Master. He simply traveled to the past."
"Excuse me—to the past? Isn't this the first time we're having this conversation?"
"No, this is like the third or fourth time we've had this conversation. Well, the first for you—I think the third for me. I don't remember many things, since I haven't become a Supreme yet."
Uriel nodded. This at least confirmed one of his theories.
He had traveled to Ariel's Tomb and done the same as in his second nightmare—used an as-yet-unknown means to travel through time, erasing his memories in the process. However, he wondered when his journey had begun.
Uriel looked at Shade. He remembered taking control after Shade lost consciousness.
"Well, I suppose that's when it began," he murmured to himself.
"So, I really am your master—give me a demonstration of what I taught you."
Cronos smiled, his eyes shining.
"Alright... hmm... well, I'll tell you these words of wisdom you imparted to me long ago." Cronos's voice turned serious.
"The best girls are blondes in gothic clothes—they're always the best."
Uriel felt his heart sink as a wave of great shame washed over him.
Meanwhile, Shade was on the floor, dying of laughter, slapping the floor with the palm of his hand.
"Also this other one: 'The best way to eat instant ramen is to wait exactly three minutes.'"
"Also this—the most important one: 'When in doubt, the more—'"
"Yes, I understand the point. And I'm sure that one is from Shade," Uriel said.
"They are truly fragments of ancestral wisdom, Master. You are a genius. Also, Master Shade—truly, his advice helped me win over my wife." Cronos sighed.
"Seriously, how I love her." His voice became melancholic for a moment.
"Oh, he also taught me his dark sorcery," Cronos said, grabbing a cup as threads of blue essence emerged from his fingers, connecting to the cup and a fragment of an Awakened soul.
Uriel watched as, with quick and precise movements, the cup disappeared, transforming into a memory.
With this, there was no doubt.
Truly, Cronos was his student—from the future? The past? At this point, he was truly lost in understanding time.