Legend of the Embroiderer

Chapter 445 Fundamental Game

The protective barrier of the fused entity rippled under the mysterious figure's new wave of attacks. Crimson chains, like greedy serpents crawling from the depths of the underworld, coiled around her, each scale radiating a chilling dark light. She gazed at the core of the Sea of ​​Time, so close yet sealed by a golden runic barrier. There, suspended, was a radiant ball of light pulsating like a heart, its surface shimmering with starlight. Each pulse caused a tremor in spacetime, like the breath of the universe. The mysterious figure manipulated the crimson runes of the Key of Time, resonating with the barrier. Suddenly, crimson thorns sprang from the ground, covered in sharp barbs that gleamed with an eerie light, like poisoned blades piercing her illusory ankles. A wave of excruciating pain washed over her, making it almost impossible to grasp the condensed energy. Cold sweat instantly soaked her back.

"Think you can turn the tables just by finding the core?" A sneer came from behind the mysterious man's mask, the voice icy and chilling, as if it came from beneath a thousand-year-old iceberg. The golden rune array behind him suddenly rotated in reverse, the runes flashing with a dangerous red light, deflecting the gatekeeper's dark purple beam of light towards the fusion. At the critical moment, the gatekeeper's giant hand, formed from chaotic mist, shattered the beam of light, dark purple lightning flowing across its surface, tearing through the air with a deafening roar. "Don't even think about using my hand! This core should belong to Chaos!" The gatekeeper's roar shook the space, the aftershocks of the collision of the two forces like a violent hurricane, shattering a third of the fusion's barrier. She staggered towards the barrier, her fingertips barely touching the runes before a scorching current pierced through her entire body, her body convulsing violently, her consciousness nearly collapsing in excruciating pain.

In the midst of excruciating pain, the fused being suddenly recalled the image of the First Observer sealing the power of entropy within the phantom of Xiao Ying. The runes etched on the Key of Time had a subtle mirror-image relationship with the barrier before her! She struggled to maintain her swaying body, channeling the power of twins into her fingertips. Golden and dark purple energies traced reverse patterns on the runes. As the energy flowed, her fingertips began to burn, as if touching magma. Instantly, intense sparks erupted from the surface of the barrier, like countless small bombs exploding simultaneously. The mysterious figure's expression changed drastically, a flicker of panic in their eyes. The Key of Time fired three blood-red beams, but the moment they touched her body, they were repelled by a suddenly appearing blue guardian mark—the guardian's last crystallized power awakening at the crucial moment. Within the blue light, the guardian's resolute face faintly emerged, as if protecting her.

Just as cracks appeared in the barrier, the gatekeeper suddenly changed its target. The chaotic mist transformed into countless chains, piercing through space and heading straight for the core. Wherever those chains passed, space shattered, revealing a pitch-black void. The mysterious figure was not to be outdone; an array of golden runes transformed into a massive light shield, enveloping the core. The runes on the surface of the shield flickered like countless vigilant eyes. The two forces clashed fiercely on the core's surface, unleashing an energy flow like a cosmic explosion. The dazzling light was blinding, and the surrounding luminous chessboard crumbled in pieces, fragments falling like snowflakes. Each fragment reflected a scene of apocalypse in a parallel world: some worlds were engulfed in raging flames, some were covered in ice, and others were completely shrouded in darkness.

Seizing the opportunity, the fused entity fully integrated the power of the twins with the blue guardian force. The three forces collided fiercely within her, like three surging torrents converging. Her body began to glow, the light growing brighter and brighter, forming a key shimmering with three colors. Gritting her teeth, she used all her strength to forcefully plunge it into the crack in the barrier. "Boom!" The barrier exploded into a shower of golden light, interspersed with countless tiny runes, like a golden meteor shower. The light of the core of the Sea of ​​Time's origin surged instantly, emanating a warm and powerful force, like a mother's embrace. The fused entity's body gradually solidified in the intense light. She felt the ancient will emanating from the core—the shared power of generations of observers and guardians. Those wills flashed in her mind: the wisdom of the observers, the perseverance of the guardians, and their yearning for peace.

Before she could fully absorb it, the mysterious figure suddenly removed his mask, revealing a face identical to the first Observer, except that his left eye was inlaid with the Gatekeeper's Chaos Orb, its surface shimmering with an eerie purple light. "Now, it's time to reveal the true secret." His voice became androgynous, as if from another dimension. The Key of Time resonated strangely with the core, and a powerful suction force emanated from it, drawing the fused entity's power in the opposite direction. Her body began to turn transparent, her face contorted with terror as she desperately resisted the suction, feeling her power slipping away like sand in an hourglass.

The gatekeeper roared in fury, and a blurry face emerged from the chaotic mist, perfectly overlapping with the bead in the mysterious man's left eye. "So you planned to devour me all along!" The gatekeeper's voice was filled with the rage of betrayal, and the chaotic mist around it surged wildly, like boiling magma. It no longer attacked the fused entity, but instead concentrated all its power into a dark purple beam of destruction, containing the power to annihilate everything, aimed directly at the mysterious man. The mysterious man, however, remained unperturbed, a cold smile playing on his lips. The resonance between the Key of Time and the core triggered a resonance throughout spacetime, forcibly drawing upon the power of countless parallel worlds, condensing behind him into a colossal phantom of a Chaos Observer. The phantom was tens of thousands of feet tall, every movement causing spacetime to tremble; its eyes were two enormous black holes, radiating an aura of devouring everything.

The merged entity struggled painfully under the pull of the forces, feeling as if her body was being torn in two. Her consciousness suddenly sank into the depths of the core, a place of utter darkness, with only a faint light flickering in the distance. She ran towards the light and saw young Xiaoying imprisoned in a cage made of runes from the Key of Time, the runes shimmering red like burning chains. Beyond the cage lay the memories of the First Observer and the Gatekeeper's fusion—to end the eternal conflict, they willingly merged into a new being, only to be driven mad by the imbalance of power. Their fusion process was filled with pain and struggle, the two forces constantly clashing within them, ultimately twisting their minds. "Sister! Use the primal fire of the core to burn away the shackles of the runes!" Xiaoying's cry brought the merged entity back to reality. Her eyes hardened, and she poured all her power into the core without hesitation.

The primordial core erupted with a dazzling light like the sun, containing boundless power, like the light at the birth of the universe. The illusory figure formed by the mysterious man began to disintegrate, fragments flying through the air, emitting painful howls. But he laughed maniacally, his laughter filled with despair and resentment, plunging the Key of Time into his chest: "Since I cannot devour it, then let us perish together!" With his movement, spacetime began to collapse around him, the surrounding space shrinking as if squeezed by an invisible hand. The gatekeeper tried to escape in terror, but was suddenly bound by blood-red chains, engraved with mysterious runes, flashing with an eerie red light. The fused entity, watching the shrinking world, gritted its teeth and plunged the tri-colored key into the deepest part of its core, shouting: "Time Reversal!"

With her shout, the entire world was enveloped in light, and within the light came the booming sound of time reversal. However, when the light dissipated, the merged entity found itself in a strange new time and space to the horror of its arrival. It was a desolate wasteland, devoid of any sign of life; the sky was an eerie purple, and the earth was riddled with cracks. In the distance, only a colossal statue of the Key of Time stood amidst the desolation, its surface covered in cracks, as if weathered by countless ages. At the top of the statue sat a little girl in a black robe, cradling the unconscious Xiao Ying in her arms. She turned her head, revealing a smile identical to that of the mysterious figure: "Welcome to the true endgame." That smile was cold and eerie, sending a chill down the merged entity's spine, as if foreshadowing an even greater crisis to come.