29 A Deal with the Devil

In a place where time and space are broken, a figure floated while embracing another figure.

In one were to describe their appearance, they can only say two words.

A Demon and an Angel.

A female of ethereal beauty clad in a white dress with pale blue light constructs as her crown, the hems of her dress, and her wings. Her orange eyes were unblinking and unfocused, as if there was no light of life within them.

Embracing this Angel was the Demon.

A man with a lithe figure. His silver hair, bordering on purple, was reaching at his ankles. His skin was unnaturally pale face was flaking on some areas. Tears were steaming down his eyes with black sclera and radiating with purple light. He was clad in black clothing that was breaking off, leaving only pure formless energy in their wake.

Eve, the Queen of Radiant Light. She who shed away her remaining emotions for power.

Add, the demon of paradox, who was forever stuck in an endless contradictions of space and time.

The two, so different, yet so similar.

And in this space were nothing and everything exist, they forever float, waiting for their nonexistent end.

Eve, whose sole wish was the survival of her race.

Add, who only wished to return to the past.

There shouldn't have been any reason for the two of them to meet, yet here they were, embracing each other till the end of time.

Add, who embodied Space and Time, was again and again met with failure as he try to go back to his mother.

Eve, who was the Embodiment of the Perfection of the Nasods, an ancient technological race, failed time and time again whenever she tries to restore her people.

Two unfortunate souls, forever stopped by the will of this world.

Add and Eve will never attain their goal, the world has made sure of it.

For it was required for this world to survive.

Add, if he ever succeeded, will stop the creation of the Tracer.

Eve, if she ever succeed, will inevitably start the war which led to the downfall of the Nasods once more.

And the El Lady, the will of this world will never allow that.

But I don't care. With my new powers, I can rebuff any attempts done by the El at stopping them.

With the wave of my hand, a portal opened a few meters away from the two.

Either Add didn't notice, or didn't care enough as he showed no outward reaction.

"Greetings Edward Grenore, Eve Nasod," at my words, Add's head turned so fast.

"You... Why do you know that name?" Add paused, "What are you? A demon? No no no... There's no trace of Dark El energy within you... Interesting..."

With those words, Add floated towards me while still embracing the lifeless body of Eve in one hand.

"Tell me... Why are you here?" Add asked.

"Hmmm... You could say that I'm offering a deal."

"And what is this... deal?"

"Oh? The realization of your dreams of course!"

With my words, Add's face become more somber.

"Dreams huh..." With those words, he turned and floated away slowly. "I once dreamt of returning to my mother in the past. But now, my only wish is to spend eternity with Eve..."

"What if I tell you that I can grant you your previous wish?" He stopped floating away.

A smile formed on my lips. The Hook has been cast.

"And what if I tell you that I can restore Eve?"

The Mad Paradox turned and looked at me, his face devoid of any emotions.

"I have no desire to play your games, woman."

"Hmmm... Aha! I'll just give you a freebie!" I opened a portal and beckoned Add to come with me.

With trepidation on his eyes, he slowly followed me into the portal.

And what greeted our eyes was the sight of Grace Grenore, Add's mother, running away, carrying a small Add.

Add's eyes widened in shock. Judging by his reaction, he must have surmised that this is the right timeline.

The sound of shouting and more footsteps echoed down the halls. Add was about to jump into action when I put a hand to stop him.

"What?!" Fury was burning in his eyes.

I shook my head. "The reason why you always fail is because you try to stop things from happening. The will of the world, the universe itself, is stopping you from accomplishing your goals."

"And why is this relevant?"

"You have chased your goals to the point that you have become narrow-minded. Even though you are now the personification of Space and Time, the primal force of existence itself is the one stopping you."

"Get to the point woman, lest I lose my patience!" Add roared.

I sighed.

"For your goal to accomplish, Edward Grenore must be sent 300 years into the future. And Grace Grenore must disappear."

Spatial fluctuations began to surround Add as dimensional energies gathered in his hand.

"You..." Add growled out. "Are you mocking me?!"

I smiled.

"As I've said before, Grace Grenore must disappear. It doesn't matter how. For you to succeed, you must create a stable temporal loop."

Slowly, comprehension dawned on Add's face. The dimensional energies dispersed and he huffed as he turned his head.

Adjusting Eve in his arms, he floated upwards, then moved towards where Grace was running.

The mana shifted as a portal swallowed underneath me.

I then appeared in the console room, where Grace was just finished sending Add and the entire Library towards the future.

"Stay safe, Edward." Grace muttered as tears ran down her face.

Banging can be heard on the door. Soon, the door fell revealing Add's father alongside many soldiers.

"You! Where is he?!" Add's father roared.

"He's already gone Asker! He far away from your madness!"

"You b*tch! Shoot her!" The soldiers behind Asker open fired.

Grace just shut her eyes, a smile was on her face.

Just as the bullets were about to hit Grace, a shimmering barrier appeared and stopped the bullets.

"Kukukukuku!" Ominous laughter rang out as a rift in space-time opened.

First, a hand gripped the edges of the rift, which soon pulled the entire body, revealing Add in his true form.

"You know... I've been waiting for this day!"

"Y-you! Who are you?!" Asker spat out.

"Oho? Does dear father does not recognize his own son? Kukukuku!"

With a wave of his hand, reality fractured, sending waves upon waves of dimensional energies, crushing Asker and his soldiers.

Meanwhile, Grace was still dumbfounded.

"E-Edward? Edward, is that you?"

Add slowly floated towards me and handed Eve to me. With a nod, I held the Nasod in my hands.

A flash of light and Add's figure was nowhere to be found. Instead, a small child, about sixteen years of age with white hair and magenta eyes was standing there. He was clad in black clothing accented by deep purple color. Above his clothing was a long black and violet coat with a hood with cat ears.

Slowly, Add walker towards his mother.

Grace, having broken out of her stupor, rushed and hugged Add.

"Edward... My dear Edward... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Grace began to mumble in between her sobs.

Tears began to stream down Add's face as he hugged his mother tightly.

I watched on as the mother and child reunited with one another. However, it was not the time to be complacent.

"I hate to interrupt but we are not done here yet." I said as I approach the two. "Add, we still have to destroy the facility. We can send your mother away first."

Add, reluctantly, extracted himself from his mother's embrace.

He looked at me, and with a nod, I opened a portal.

"Mother, I need you to trust me." Add said as he guided his mother towards the portal.

"I don't know what's going on, but I'll see you again soon, right?" Grace asked as she was about to step into the portal.

Add nodded. Upon seeing this, Grace walked into the portal, which I then collapsed.

"Now then, was that satisfactory?" I smiled as I looked at Add into the eye.

"You seems to be telling the truth." He said, slowly. "Restore Eve and you shall have whatever you want. My life, my power, anything."

I smiled.

"No. I want nothing like that." I ran my hand down his face. "What I want is your loyalty."

"Whatever."

With that, I took out a bishop piece and a mutated pawn piece.

Without any fanfare, I pushed these pieces into Eve and Add respectively.

Then, a rush of memories entered my brain.

Add, too became disoriented as he received my memories.

"Kuh!" Add's shoulder began to move up and down. "Kuahahahahaha! So it was like that!!"

Add faced me once more, and then knelt on one knee.

"I swear, upon my true name of Edward Grenore, as D, Demon of Space and Time, and as Add, the Mad Paradox, I shall forever follow you, my KING!"

A large smile formed from my lips.

"Now that's dealt with, let us finish this act."

"Yes my King!"

And so, gratuitous violence was released upon the institute.

Add manipulated the Dimensions, destroying anything within the building.

I manipulated the elements, wrecking havoc like a disaster.

Anyone who was caught up died, anything we stumbled upon was destroyed.

And soon, Eve began to stir up from my hands.

In a flash, Add was by my side, looking over Eve with clear excitement and joy on his face.

Not too long after, Eve's eyes fluttered open.

Confusion can be seen on her Orange eyes however, as soon as her gaze landed to me and Add, a flash of recognition appeared on her face.

"Add? Chris? What happened?" Eve asked.