Life crystal saw something... it couldn't even believe its own eyes.
"T...T...Time essence? Fate crystal predicted this scenario and prepared time essence!"
A blue light flashed over the entire abyss, completely stunning the dead; everybody turned motionless.
A dazzling blue light flickered as a small figure flew towards Life crystal. It smirked as it poured a drop over Life crystal.
Then it entered the depths of the abyss, splitting the entire abyss in half, and during all this time, nothing moved.
The entire solar system was completely frozen.
Rocks crumbled underground; the blue light saw a few dead figures. "Fate! Hehe, looks like my mission is now over!"
It saw Death crystal, Lord, Kaol Noah, Fate guy, and a few others.
It flickered its blue lights as they shone as bright as stars in the dark sky.
The time essence dripped from its body, falling over all four of them. The blue light spoke, "Alright, I have revived all the pawns! Hehe! Time for me to leave."
It instantly zapped through space, cutting through the vacuum like it was paper as the entire surroundings stretched and bent.
In an instant, the blue light completely vanished. There was no trace of its existence, as if it had never been there.
Life crystal regained its full vitality as it felt its supreme peak again, its sharp gaze shifting past the dead.
Now all of them started to shrivel in fear.
"Life crystal! Please forgive me! I was just drunk!"
"LIFE CRYSTAL! I WAS TOO NAIVE! PLEASE DON'T TORTURE ME—"
"Hush! Imbecile pests! You think I am a fool? Hahaha! Nobody is escaping from me right now!"
Its tone shifted to a serious expression. "Time to show you all my true side."
Its white light flashed for a single instant as it sensed Death crystal. The ground trembled as a black crystal flew up.
It was Death crystal!
Death crystal, Lord, Kaol Noah, and Fate guy were fully revived, but each got teleported back to the location where they had died.
It saw Life crystal to its left, and the dead to its right.
The dead begged, "Death! Please save us. You hate killing, right? Please destroy this ugly Life crystal and fat—"
Death crystal killed the dead person, who was already dead.
It sighed, "I may hate killing! But if it's for these two, I would even make it my hobby!"
Life crystal laughed mockingly, "So... you killed the dead? Amazing! Yet I couldn't revive any living creature."
Death crystal replied, "Killed? No, that's impossible! Killing a dead person is not possible; I just erased him from existence!
Remember, Life? Our true powers? And the nicknames we got from the past?"
Life crystal replied, "Hehe! How could I forget? Our true powers are... creation and destruction! Our nicknames are..."
Suddenly, both of them felt a strange, sharp pain at their core as they both crashed down to the ground.
After they rose back up, they forgot about the incident with the strange blue light.
Not just them! Everyone who had seen it literally had that portion of their memories altered.
On the planet where Lord and King had fought...
Lord opened his eyes as he smirked. He immediately took out a small, purple-colored core.
He had a few drops of time essence! He poured one over the core as Pride crystal—that is to say, Lord crystal—was revived.
It saw the blue drops on Lord's hands as it gasped, "T...time essence? Lord! So, we succeeded!"
Lord laughed loudly, "I killed myself to steal this time essence! As soon as I heard about time essence, I wanted to make it my own.
You had rejected my plan, saying the chances were too low, but I, Lord, succeeded! What does that mean? Even chances have to ask me before deciding!
Hahaha!"
Lord crystal was astonished. "Lord... you didn't just satisfy my expectations; you exceeded them! Lord! Hahaha!"
Lord gave another drop to Lord crystal. "That's your share! Take it as my gift! You wanted it anyway, right?
Oh! And regarding your name, just be called Pride crystal!"
Pride crystal was confused. "Time essence! Nice... but why are you changing my name again?"
Lord laughed, "Because even you are below me! If you had my name, it would be a disgrace to me myself!"
Pride crystal felt power surging through it and sighed, "If only you had always been this prideful! I would have reached a level on par with Fate crystal already."
Lord replied, "That's my plan! But I am not doing this for you; it's for me. I lost a few times and was prideless for part of my life.
Hence, guess what I am going to do?"
Pride crystal thought about Lord as it asked, "Don't tell me... you are literally going to—"
Lord grinned, "Exactly! I am changing the timeline to erase my prideless life! Only pride is my life! Hahaha, all my disgraces will now be gone!"
Pride crystal thought, *Fate crystal wouldn't allow this to happen, right? Even Time crystal won't be this careless...
Then... Lord has truly surpassed everything... with only pride! Amazing! Life crystal, I owe you everything for creating this guy!
Lord! You are truly the one above all! No, even beyond it! Hahaha, this taste! The taste of pride!
I love it, hehe! Fate! Even you lost to Lord's pride? Then he is literally the supreme being!*
Lord grabbed Pride crystal as he laughed, "Hehe, good! That's how you must boast about me! This feeling... of being the greatest, ah! I cannot describe it!
Hahaha!"
Lord and Pride crystal felt their lives reaching their peak form.
Meanwhile, King hadn't noticed Lord and Pride crystal's reappearance.
In reality, he was trapped inside countless illusions—the ones that had been used to trap Lord and Lucan.
King hadn't realized it because Lord's version was multiple times better; in fact, it was immeasurable!
Lord laughed at the trapped King. Pride crystal asked, "Why are you trapping him, Lord?"
Lord chuckled, "No! While I met him inside, I came to know that the space station has many powerful beings like him!
I will face them all together. If I let him out, he will get killed. Only by trapping him can I save his life to end it in the future by myself."
Lord flew away. Pride crystal looked at Lord with a trace of hope and admiration.
It recalled its past, back when only crystals were vaguely visible.
Each crystal had chosen a certain aspect given by Fate crystal, and everybody chose something powerful.
It narrated, *When it was my turn, I chose pride. After a moment of silence, laughter flooded over me.
I was mocked by the other crystals! Even Fate crystal was expressionless; it asked if I was sure about this decision since it was irreversible!
I agreed, and I waited for years, centuries, millenniums! All that time, not even a single prideful person was found by me.
But I was firm in my decision! Pride! The greatest virtue ever! I was damn sure the day would come when I met that person.
Now! Lord! You have fulfilled it! My whole life has gained its purpose; even if I die now, I have no regrets.
Because Lord... I know that pride, the greatest virtue, will never fade away from this world...
AS LONG AS YOU LIVE!*
Pride crystal felt overwhelmed as it flew beside Lord.
It asked, "Lord! You are a true person, just like me! Hehe!"
Lord was confused, "Ah! What the heck do you mean by that? I am not at your stinky level; I am beyond comparison!"
Pride crystal laughed, "Yes indeed! Haha!"
Lord was annoyed, "I think you hit your head somewhere? You have become dumb! Sigh."
Pride crystal asked, "You feel pity for me? Wait... is that true?"
Lord smacked Pride crystal, "Of course, yes!
Because... if you aren't there, how can I measure my pride? You are my pride calculator! Hahaha!"