Chapter 187: The Gap Between Realms
Chapter 187
The moment his boot touched the ground, Alex could feel every fibre of his being screaming only one thing. Danger!!!
Not once had his instincts ever failed him before. Not when he had faced monsters and Awakeneds with powerful abilities, and most certainly not when his life had been hanging by a thread. Yet this particular feeling felt much more different. More intense.
Even when he fought the Chinese man who had just broken through to Ascendant Realm when he himself was still in C Rank, the feeling he felt back then couldn’t even dream of comparing with what he was feeling now.
The instinct wasn’t merely telling him that the man approaching him was strong. It was telling him that if he made even one wrong move, he could die. Alex’s expression gradually became serious.
The man continued walking toward him, causing Alex’s body to become more tensed by the minute.
He had already figured out that this man was far beyond the Ascendant Realm, but knowing that fact and actually standing before such an existence were two completely different things. It was just like knowing a tiger was capable of killing you, and then seeing a tiger approach you in real life.
One of the craziest things about all these was that there was no anger in his eyes, nor was there any desire to argue. Just pure indifference like those of his daughters. It seemed like being cold and indifferent really does run in the family.
Then all of a sudden, in front of Alex’s baffled gaze her father stopped several meters away and looked directly at him, before saying in a deep icy voice.
"Move."
Alex remained where he was.
His body was tense, and every instinct inside him was telling him that the man standing before him was dangerous beyond anything he had encountered before. Yet that wasn’t the only reason he refused to move.
Something about this entire situation felt wrong.
He didn’t exactly know why, but his gut feeling was telling him not to let Nyx return with them.
He couldn’t exactly explain why.
Maybe it was because of the way her father had appeared out of nowhere and demanded that Nyx return despite having been disowned years ago. Or maybe it was because her grandfather had suddenly lifted the ban without any explanation. No, that didn’t sound right.
Whatever the reason was, he wasn’t willing to take the risk.
Not with Nyx. And most definitely not when she was carrying their child.
Nyx’s father’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"I won’t repeat myself another time, boy. I said move."
Alex’s expression hardened.
"Sorry uncle but I’ve already made my decision."
For several seconds, Nyx’s father simply stared at him. Then he gave him a small nod.
"Then so be it."
Knowing that this was going to be one dangerous heck of a battle where there was bound to be destruction on an insane scale, he quickly turned his head toward Jade and Doris, and hurriedly said.
"Protect Nyx."
Both women immediately understood the seriousness in his voice. Jade’s expression became alert as she stepped closer to her sister, while Doris quietly positioned herself beside Nyx.
Alex barely had enough time to turn his attention back toward Nyx’s father when the next instant, a powerful fist struck him squarely in the stomach.
Alex’s eyes widened in that split micro second the fist made contact with his body. He didn’t even see the punch or hear any kind of sonic boom from the frighteningly fast speed.
The impact first folded his entire body around the man’s fist before an overwhelming force erupted through his abdomen,
Making blood violently spill from his mouth as his body was sent flying backward at an unbelievable speed, that far surpassed what he was capable of running at his full speed, tearing through the air like a missile.
Alex couldn’t even control his body after crossing hundreds of meters in an instant. Then the dreaded part came when he felt his back crash straight through the walls of the mansion.
BOOOOOOM!!! The entire building shook violently from the combined force of impact as his body tore through several rooms as though the walls were made of cardboard before finally coming to a halt just before the last walls of the large mansion.
For a brief moment, Alex lay buried beneath the debris. He was lucky to stop himself in time even when in excruciating pain, if not he would have tore through the entire building and continued flying backward for at least a hundred meters before stopping.
Knowing he couldn’t just stay there on the ground, he forced himself to open his eyes and what he saw made his face turn grave.
The once towering mansion now looked like it was about to collapse any minute from now. He could see several of Nyx’s employees and workers inside the building, already panicking and trying to escape.
Some were already trapped beneath falling debris. Still trying to force themselves out. While others were running toward the exits in panic. But the exit had long since collapsed already, leaving everyone trapped inside like a fish in a can of tuna.
Alex clenched his teeth despite the unbearable pain spreading throughout his body.
No! He couldn’t leave them to die. After all they were someone’s child, someone’s parent, and someone’s sibling. Leaving them to die when they had done nothing wrong didn’t sit right with him.
Activating the ability he knew would be most helpful in this exact situation, Alex’s eyes suddenly changed, and turned a light purple color as the clock-like pattern signifying the Eye of Chronos Ability emerged.
Then he hurriedly slowed down time by his current max level which was forty times.
Everything around him suddenly became almost motionless, as falling debris crawled through the air at near snail pace.
Dust in the air seemed to freeze. And the screams of everyone inside the building all stretched into a kind of distorted, almost inaudible sound.
Ignoring the excruciating pain in his abdomen, Alex activated Void Step and then disappeared.
He reappeared beside the first group of workers and immediately grabbed them before vanishing outside and placing them there.
Once done he went for the next group, and continued repeating the process, even though his body was already screaming from the damage he had suffered, but Alex refused to stop.
There were still people left and he absolutely refused to let any one of them die.
He teleported again and appeared beside a young maid trapped beneath a massive beam.
Alex easily lifted the debris to pull her free and vanished together with her before going back in to save the last person before the eye of Chronos time limit expires.
After bringing the last person out, he teleported not too far from Nyx and deactivated Eye Of Chronos ability, reverting his eyes back to their forest green color.
The moment he appeared, Alex staggered. His face was drenched in sweat, his breathing was heavy, and the bittersweet taste of blood filled his mouth.
But every single person was alive. Not too long the mansion finally collapsed, raising a thick cloud of dirt and dust into the air.
Nyx stared at him with an indescribable emotion in amber eyes as she saw all her employees safe and sound. And it was all thanks to the man standing not too far from her.
"Alex..."
He didn’t answer, because his attention was already back on her father. The man hadn’t moved.
All he did was just to stand where he had been earlier, watching Alex with an unreadable expression.
After several seconds, Nyx’s father spoke.
"Hmm." His gaze briefly moved toward the people Alex had rescued.
"Your durability is not half bad, boy. Another Ascendant Realm Awakened might not have stood back up after that attack to a vital region. And you even managed to save all these people before the building collapsed."
Alex remained silent. But internally, his mind was racing. He was now a hundred percent sure that Nyx’s father was a Master Realm Awakened. If there had been any doubts before, then now, all of it had been cleared up.
That single punch of his had just confirmed it. And the frightening thing wasn’t merely the destructive power behind the attack. It was that there had been almost no shockwave from that attack.
After all, an attack like that was supposed to produce a massive shockwave. But it was like Nyx’s dad had concentrated practically all of the force into Alex’s body instead of allowing the energy to spread outward.
That was what made the attack so terrifying.
And judging from the man’s completely relaxed expression, he hadn’t even been serious. It was like he didn’t even put any kind of effort.
Alex’s fists tightened.
’Fighting him head-on is suicidal.’
His only chance right now was to slow him down long enough to get Nyx, Jade, Doris and everyone else away from here as quickly as possible.
Just as her terrifying father began walking toward him again.
Alex forced himself to once again activate Eye of Chronos and made time become forty times slower.
The world around him became almost completely still. Immediately after doing that, Alex prepared to execute his plan.
He was about to carry Nyx and teleport everyone away before the limit of the Eye of Chronos forced him to stop.
Then he saw something that made him freeze. Nyx’s father’s eyes blinked as if time was not forty times slower. The sight of it made Alex’s heart nearly stop from both fear and shock.
The Master Realm expert’s lips curved upward slightly.
"How cute."
Alex’s expression changed completely. Nyx’s father’s voice sounded strangely calm even through the slowed flow of time.
"So aside from teleportation, you also possess the ability to slow down time. It’s no wonder you were able to save all those people."
His eyes narrowed.
"I must say, that is very impressive. An Awakened with double abilities and already in Ascendant Realm by this age. You really are destined for great things."
Alex stared at him in disbelief.
How?
How in the actual f*ck could this man still move? How could he even speak?
Nyx’s father, ignoring his dumbfounded expression, took another step forward.
"But now you will soon learn why there are fewer than a hundred Master Realms Awakened in the entire world."
Alex’s pupils contracted. In a split second, the man suddenly moved and appeared in front of him, with his fist once again striking the exact same spot on Alex’s abdomen where he had been hit before.
Even with time slowed forty times, Alex couldn’t react.
His body was launched backward.
The world seemed to crawl around him as he flew hundreds of meters through the air with some of his blood frozen in the air.
Alex desperately tried to regain control despite the pain that made him want to faint. Because ahead of him was another enormous mansion belonging to a wealthy family.
’Not again.’
He tried activating Void Step. But before he could teleport, something or should he say, someone appeared beside him. It was Nyx’s father!
Alex’s eyes widened in horror. The man’s speed was far beyond anything he had ever witnessed.
Even with time slowed forty times, he had still crossed the distance between them faster than Alex could comprehend.
Nyx’s father grabbed him by the neck. Then the next second, he slammed him toward the earth.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Alex’s body crashed into the ground with so much tremendous force that the ground shook and a crater nearly one hundred meters wide formed instantly beneath him.
The surrounding ground cracked apart as the impact sent enormous chunks of earth into the air.
Yet because the Eye of Chronos was still active for that split second.
Alex could see the debris rising. He could see the shockwave spreading like a tidal wave in slow mo. He could even see Nyx’s father standing above him with the same stern expression.
Then the Eye of Chronos deactivated and time returned to normal.
BOOOOOOM! The delayed destruction finally erupted across the estate, causing the earth to tremble violently.
The remaining buildings nearby within a couple of meters all collapsed like a pack of dominos.
Then when the violent tremors ended, everyone stared toward the enormous crater that looked like what a gigantic meteorite from space would create upon impact.
Jade’s eyes widened.
Doris’s pupils suddenly changed.
Light purple filled her eyes as a clock-like pattern became far more prominent than the one Alex possessed.
Her Eyes Of Chronos ability also activated. But the second she looked toward her boss father. For the first time in a very long while, Doris felt something that made her body instinctively tremble.
It felt as though she was being stared at by a prehistoric beast.
Something ancient. Something whose power was so unfathomable that her instincts couldn’t properly comprehend it.
Doris immediately stopped using her ability.
Nyx’s father, meanwhile, remained standing at the edge of the enormous crater. His expression remained stern and completely unbothered. He didn’t even bother looking at the destruction surrounding him.
His eyes were fixed only on the massive crater where Alex was...