"Thank you for heeding my call, I am here to discuss one of our biggest problems in recent history, true dragons."
Everybody had a dumbstruck visage on their face.
"What do you mean with 'our' problem?" Guy asked.
"I must agree partly with Valentine, while two of the three true dragons can be ignored the youngest of them is the real problem," Dagruel said, he fought the storm dragon multiple times already and sees him as an honorable fighter even though he should tune done with his battle frenzy, in Dragruel's opinion.
"I guess that is true but what are you planning exactly, killing him will yield no results, and teaching him a lesson is also not an option it is in his nature to destroy," Guy said, he knew bits of pieces of information about true dragons from his companion Velzard, the oldest of the still-living true dragons, and so he, of course, knew of their true nature.
"Well I have a plan but I'd want a favor from you, Valentine," Ray said eyeing Luminous' subordinate with his clock eyes that could give you the creeps.
"And what would that favor be?" Luminous' subordinate asked.
"It's pretty simple actually, I want to meet a dear friend of yours, what was her name again? Ah! now I remember, she was called Chloe Aubert."
Luminous' body shook, nobody knows of her relationship with Chloe, and to top it off Ray didn't use her alias Chronoa but her real name.
She instantly told her subordinate to agree per Telepath, just to ascertain how he got to know her real name.
"Sure, follow me after the meeting is over and we'll discuss the detail after that."
Luminous didn't actually plan to do anything to Veldora, Chloe already told her that she would personally deal with him if he endangers civilians again but she added that this situation would only occur in about 1700 years.
Luminous was just here to rant about Veldora and or possibly turn some demon lords hostile towards him.
"With that cleared let's go on to the next point of discussion, just now one of us died so we need to change our name accordingly," Guy said like he was the chairman of the council, well he technically is but that's beside the point.
It was Ray's time to shake in horror, he still has nightmares from his first naming session.
"How 'bout we take the name we decided on last time." Dino finally said something worthwhile and Ray developed a liking for the lazy angel immediatly.
"I agree."
"I agree"
"I agree"
...
And like that the Walpurgis ended as quickly as it started, Ray returned to Luminous' kingdom with Cynus in tow.
"Ahhh when Guy started talking about naming stuff my back got all messed up," Ray said as he dropped himself into one of the silvern couches in the reception hall that was enormous.
"Anyways you want answers right?" Ray said staring at the real Luminous ignoring the body double.
After a quick moment of shook Luminous' gaze got firm and she answered, "Yes I would appreciate how you know her, and how you know about my identity"
"I'll tell you but before that, you need to arrange a meeting between her and me, till then my mouth will be sealed tightly."
"Fine, but if you if dare to touch even a single strain of her hair you, should be prepared to face eternal suffering worse than any hell, and if it's the last thing I do."
A few minutes passed as Ray was escorted to a guest room and served red fruit tea. While there he used [Temporal Awareness] and after a rough view of the whole castle, he must give Luminous props.
Her whole country was destroyed just recently but her subordinates were able to construct such a castle in such a short time frame, truly admirable.
*Sluuuurp*
Ray drank the tea that was served to him, it had a slight iron taste inside of it but all in all it was delicious and nutritious.
Suddenly the door to the guest room opened and Luminous accompanied by a certain black-haired woman entered.
The black-haired woman was about twenty years of age had a white combat dress tailored specifically for herself and carries a thin sword on her waist. She had a delicate face and onyx black eyes.
"Greetings~" Ray stood up and stretched his hand in front of Chloe while closing his eyes and showing a big smile on his face.
The black-haired woman glanced at Luminous to ask for confirmation, after receiving it she touches Ray's hand and shakes it.
"Hel-"
"That's it neither!" Ray screamed out in a rather annoyed tone as he slumped back into the cushioned couch made out of silver and fancy silk.
Ray rudely interrupted Chloe just now because he was frustrated beyond belief. More than fifty years passed and his strength levels didn't fluctuate in the slightest, he learned most useful combat-related spells that don't need a special bloodline, like Blanc's spells do, already, and his magicule reserves didn't grow either.
He even tried to forcefully increase them by carefully absorbing strong spells or implanting demons but those methods just gave temporary boosts, enough to evolve if you're on a tipping point in regards to evolution but not helpful in the long run.
So Ray did what any other sane person in his position would do and look out for a way to grow his seed of an anomaly.
Ray created a checklist with things on it that could potentially evolve his seed of an anomaly, among other things, traveling to another timeline with another Ray in it, reassembling his timeclock and searching for changes, learning most time-related skills like <Temporal barrier>.
Or one of the last things on his list, meeting the only person that is wholeheartedly themed around time.
Sadly all of that didn't work and now Ray lies on Luminous' couch grumbling about his failures, his eyes fully revealed.
"Soo... you still wanna get rid of Veldora or should I just explain how I know about Chloe here and you."
"Veldora isn't the problem here, it is your true identity. Who are you?" The time traveler said, she could only remember some things but somebody with the ability to know her true name should be fairly important and as such should be remembered by her.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
Ray cracked his neck and stood up all the while wondering where the anti magic mask is, it was of course also on his list but Chloe seems to not wear it in Luminous' presence.
"Is it really that hard to believe that you're not the only one with the ability to travel back in time?"
Veldora was ignored entirely at this point, the dragon had a thick head and even somebody like Ray could trap the dragon with simple smooth talk while evading his attacks with [Timeline manipulation].
In the end, Chloe herself could've dealt with the Tempest dragon but she was unwilling because it would change the future too much, probably.
"That doesn't make sense, Ultimate skills are unique and no two Ultimate skills can have the same abilities."
"Says the literal time paradox but whatever. My ability just lets me switch timelines, not go back to the past.
Anyways would you mind handing that anti magic mask to me for a second?"
Chloe's face stiffened "No! It was a deceased friend's last gift to me, I won't give it away any time soon."
Ray knew that she fell in love with Rimuru and that the anti magic mask holds enormous value to her and he made up a small plan if you can even call it that to get it anyways.
"I can show you a way to save Rimuru." Say if you had the chance to save either a loved one's possession or the loved one themselves what would you choose?
Silence befell the room once again, Chloe tried to find out if Ray spoke the truth, Envy brewed in Luminous, the Chloe she so much loved, clearly loves another one that's not her, and Ray took another sip out of his teacup.
"I accept but you need to promise me to give it back soon after."
"Fine by me."
As those words escaped Ray's mouth Chloe pulled out a white mask with a small red stone embedded into its middle, black scribbles outlining its sides.
With reluctant hands, Chloe gave to mask to Ray the latter's instincts telling him to touch it immediately.
Upon contact Ray's world turned upside down, he could barely understand what was happening at this point.
{[Final requirement for the evolution of the seed of an anomaly met: Come into contact with an object isolated from time that is even beyond normal paradox level.]}
Ray's eyes flickered with and they returned to normal human eyes filled with sleepiness.
Ray's hearing was influenced badly and he couldn't use magicules for any of his sensing skills, he was just this doozy
{[Individual Ray will be put into an unconscious state while evolving]}
Ray was able to feel Cynus' fur brushing against his skin and said "Bring... home..." before looking at the place where Chloe previously was not noticing her stepping forward "Visit... R'lyeh... later"
{[Individual Ray needs to stop resiting in order for the process to start.]}
With that everything turned black in front of Ray, he still had a worried look on his face, the Voice of the world was glitched out and sounded foreign alien even, something was wrong.
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Waking up with a strong headache Ray looked around the room he was in, it was a big space, big enough to fit about 100 people in it.
On the side of the room was a window, clock hand, and the necessary symbols on the outside to form a functioning clock.
Then it clicked he was in R'yleh on the highest floor of the town hall clocktower.
Just as he thought to be in safety he glanced beyond the clock hand at saw reflections of the clock tower in the far distance.
Just like multiple mirrors standing against each other and reflecting a picture, thousands of clocktowers stood beside each other.
Not a single one of them housed another Ray though, and then it dawned on Ray, how could he even see?
He didn't feel any magicules and he didn't activate [Temporal Awareness] or [Magic sense], but he was still capable of scouting out dozens of clocktowers in the vicinity.
He rushed in front of the glass, hearing the familiar sounds of the clockwork shifting and turning to keep the big clock working.
Ray looked at his reflection on the glass panel, the light coming from a dark sun akin to a solar eclipse.
Ray looked like a person pieced together by his former old self and his new body, both sides connected by black and white strings.
He wore his previous' worlds military uniform but at some point, it mixed with the eastern empire's military uniform creating a blurry area where those two pieces of the clothing met.
Stranger even were his hands filled with blood continuously flowing without an end in sight.
"_That _Is _How _Your _Soul _Sees _Itself." A voice came from behind, it had an ancient feel like it like it belongs to an ancient and mighty behemoth that raised from its eternal sleep to judge humanity for one last time.
Ray turned around when he heard the voice but just as he took a precise glance at the creature his eyes automatically closed themselves.
The creature was a mesh of machinery composed of gears, bolts, screws, and metal. Black veins flowed through that machinery pulsating with vigor and energy.
The monster took on the form of a giant bent over human like a serpent, with mechanical features. Its back was bent, with four dozens of arms each operating on its own.
The creature wore a torn cloak covering small parts of its body and it had a human head with a giant black and white clock plastered on it illuminating the that which it looked at.
On its machine back four huge wings were stationed almost like they were screwed on there. The first wing was composed out of black and white strings, the second one was made out of unmoving gray feathers suspended in time seemingly standing still till even the time death may die.
The third wing was a frame, translucent from the outside but whenever somebody would look at it they could see past present, and future, the last wing was everchanging constantly altering its appearance and location on the back of the creature, at one point the wing would be metallic and at another, it would be made out of flesh.
"_Don't_Be_Afraid." The abomination said as Ray opened his eyes once again avoiding looking directly at 'it'.
'Mr. This is the scariest moment of both my lives!'
"_I _Am _An _Angel _Created _By _A _Most _Benevolent _God _It _Is _My _Duty _To _Help _His _Kin"
The angel stretches one of its mechanical hands out, white veins pulsating inside of it, pointing at Ray.
"To_ Be_ Specific_ I_ Am_ The_ Angel_ ^%$hr¥●_
And_ My_ Master_ Is_ The_ God_ Of_ Time."
The next chapter will be released tomorrow instead of today because I had way too many problems with writing it.
Which character would you like to see the mc interact with next and in which way?