Chapter One Hundred and Ten
The skies began to distort as the Eclipse Dragon descended toward a massive island cloaked in a veil of silver mist. The air shimmered with primordial energy. Before them stood the ruins of an ancient temple, broken and warped by time itself — the First Shard of Origin was buried somewhere within.
Crow leapt from the dragon's back, landing silently atop cracked marble. Liana followed with a soft hum, drifting behind him, her presence warm and persistent.
"This place reeks of forgotten power," Crow muttered, scanning the area with Eye of Insight. Faint glimmers of spatial fractures and time echoes pulsed in the ruins.
"Mmm… so mysterious," Liana teased, twirling a strand of her shimmering hair. "But I like when you're serious. Makes me want to distract you even more."
Crow ignored her and raised his hand, summoning a wave of his undead — 1,000 goblin mages, elite spectral knights, and his elite divine units soon appeared, materializing like shadows in fog.
"Clear the perimeter. I want no surprises," he ordered coldly.
Suddenly, the ruins began to shift — a trial mechanism awakened. Reality bent, warping the temple into a shifting maze. Cracks of light twisted in mid-air, each step altering the flow of time.
Liana stepped beside him, her tone suddenly serious.
"This is no simple relic, Crow. Even gods would struggle here."
"I'm not just a god," Crow said calmly. "I'm me."
They advanced into the maze, undead swarming ahead, dismantling traps and illusions. At the center, suspended in a stasis field of temporal light, hovered the Shard of Origin—a crystalline piece of raw reality, vibrating with infinite power.
As Crow stepped forward, the room shook. A Shard Guardian emerged—a construct of pure time energy, shaped like a serpent with wings made of fractured moments.
Liana smirked, eyes glowing.
"Want me to handle this?"
"No," Crow replied. "I'll do it."
He activated Plunder, Thunder Manipulation, and Time Lock, chaining abilities with inhuman precision. In a flash of cascading lightning and fractured time, the guardian shattered, absorbed into his pocket dimension.
The shard hovered before him now, no resistance left.
Crow reached out, touching it—and felt the world breathe.
A wave of origin power surged through him. His undead trembled, and all his divine units in his pocket dimension responded with a shiver of awe.
Liana stepped close, placing her hand on his chest.
"You really are terrifying, you know that?"
He said nothing, placing the shard safely in his pocket dimension.
Behind them, the ruins began to collapse.
"One shard down," Crow said, turning toward the next sky.
"And more time with you," Liana whispered, brushing a kiss against his cheek before vanishing into light.
The hunt for the remaining shards had begun.