The Regressed SSS-Rank Water Mage Wants To Live a Calm Life-Chapter 4: The Rule of Time Manipulation [Final]

Maxwell, standing beside Malin, stared at the entrance to what seemed like a cave formed from black, polished stones that had runic symbols engraved on them.

The entrance to the cave stood in the middle of two large, pure golden trees.

"Within the cave lies the Titan King’s most valuable treasure," Malin uttered, his voice a bit low.

Maxwell, the god of water, blinked.

"What exactly is this treasure capable of bending time?"

Malin wore a somber smile.

"The name is... 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍."

Maxwell nodded; he liked that name for some reason. It reminded him of the games he used to play in his mortal days, when he’d fall from the back of a rogue wyvern while trying to hunt it.

Those times when he fell, with the winds whipping against his skin, he was the most free.

Although it wasn’t always a joy when he eventually landed.

"Free fall," Maxwell smiled. "Let’s go then."

Malin didn’t move; he just stared at Maxwell.

Maxwell, already walking into the cave, halted, looking back at the god of darkness.

"Malin?"

On the god of darkness’s pale face, a certain type of expression lingered. Maxwell recognized it. No, he recognized half of it.

Longing, yearning and sadness. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Malin gritted his teeth, closing his eyes as he lowered his head.

Maxwell narrowed his eyes. No, he frowned, stepping back.

"Malin? Wh–"

"Listen to me, brother."

Maxwell’s eyes widened.

The god of darkness began to speak words that Maxwell couldn’t properly grasp.

’What? What is... what does all this mean?’

Maxwell’s heart began to drum, thrumming wildly against his chest. A feeling took hold of him. A scary feeling that he’d never experienced in his life.

His pupils blurred as he stared at Malin.

Oh, he did experience this feeling once...

Maxwell raised his hand.

"I thought we were going back together?"

...The day he lost Rita.

Malin replied with an unusually warm smile.

"You’ve always been a bit stupid, old friend. I told you back in the halls, didn’t I? That you deserve this more than I do. Besides, with what I’ve told you, I believe you can correct everything."

Maxwell inched backwards.

"But– I thought..."

Malin shook his head.

"One of us has to bear the responsibilities of breaking the rule. I was prepared for this. My time was already coming to an end after all."

Suddenly, the once stale winds in the null realm of Kronos began to move; they swayed, they danced, they cascaded.

They howled.

Hearing this familiar howl, Maxwell gulped. And Malin scoffed, chuckling.

"I’ll face the consequences of breaking the rule. My soul will be severed from fate, and I will not be able to enter the mother tree’s embrace."

"That’s... torture, Malin."

"Torture?" Malin laughed. "It is not. With you returning to the past, a better Malin will grow."

"But–"

"Go, Maxwell! They’re here!"

Maxwell tried to speak again, but his lips froze. Instead, he turned.

After glancing at Maxwell’s retreating figure one last time, Malin turned too.

The signature divinities of the other eight guardians began to waft through the air.

They had found them.

"Farewell, friend," Malin whispered, entering an engaged stance as he wrapped his entire body with dark divinity. "I will fight for your sake until the fragile flames of my life have been extinguished."

Maxwell, walking into the dark cave, gave Malin one last pitiful look.

"Goodbye, Malin. And thank you," He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists.

"Come at me, you dogs of the Celestial King!!" Malin’s voice echoed in the distance as both the wind of eternity and the guardians speedily approached him.

Maxwell, resolving himself, looked forward.

’I will not waste your sacrifice.’

The god of eternal water quickened his pace, running into the dark cave.

For what felt like five minutes, he ran, ignoring the sound of battle outside the cave, until he reached a pillar in the cave where a bright cerulean light shone.

Maxwell slowed his pace, approaching the light with caution.

’This is it.’ Maxwell thought, remembering Malin’s words about Free fall and how to use it.

As Maxwell reached the divine treasure, he stared with widened eyes, dumbfounded.

"This is it?"

Beside the large pillar that stretched toward the rocky roofs of the cave, a well lay.

This well was crafted from a special blue rock that had unique engravings on it.

Maxwell studied it for a second, hesitatingly stretching a hand, rubbing the surface of the well.

Within the well, a cerulean light glowed.

And as Maxwell looked into the well, he saw... time.

Time flashed before his eyes.

Smiling while running through an open field with a fair lady whose radiant smile evoked a beautiful, swelling feeling in Maxwell’s chest.

The faces of his allies with whom he’d walked life and death as mortals.

His father’s disappointed gaze.

The world he was thrown into, where he fought to become a transcendent.

A water dragon.

A fire dragon.

Two children with blue hair. A boy and a girl.

Maxwell blinked, raising his head as he snapped out of that trance.

He breathed hard, chest rising and falling.

’This is it, huh?’ He thought, smiling. ’Free fall.’

While mesmerized by the well and the mysteries of the time it showed him, Maxwell failed to realize the loud voice of his friend, who’d been engaged in battle with those godly beings outside the cave, had become silent.

Until...

Skrrrr––!

A loud, scraping sound echoed through the cave.

Maxwell, with widened eyes, looked back.

[Maxwell, guardian of the water of eternity, by the decree of the High Celestial Elders–]

’How did they get here? What happened to Malin?’

Maxwell immediately zeroed every thought from his mind, raising a hand filled with water.

By thinking about it, the water in his hand changed shape, turning into a grotesque liquid weapon.

This weapon, however, resembled a spear.

Maxwell threw it at the being.

[Oh?] The voice of an amused guardian echoed as the water dissolved immediately.

Finally, the approaching guardian came into view.

"I’ve always hated your face, Delogn. You ugly thing."

Delogn stood tall, like a bulky hulk made completely of white, heavenly feathers. His face, ironically, was his only defining feature. It looked humanlike, carrying two red crystals in its eyes.

A horrifically disgusting being. But a guardian nevertheless.

[We have something in common then,] Delogn smirked. [I hate my face too.]

Suddenly, the guardian raised a hand. And he conjured an array of blinding light.

Maxwell, recognizing that destructive ability, gazed at the well immediately.

’There’s no way I can take that head on.’

A guardian behind Delogn yelled:

[Why are you wasting our time, Delogn??! He’s an old thing. A dulled relic. He threw a spear—

Maxwell immediately turned toward the well.

—Throw yours!!]

The yelling guardian threw his spear, shaking Delogn off.

Woosh––!

Maxwell jumped into the well.

But before he could jump into the bottomless Cerulean light of time, the spear pierced Maxwell’s back, penetrating him.

Maxwell smiled a warm smile.

’I’m already gone.’

[Stop him!!!!!!]

The eternal god of water’s figure blurred into mists as he fell into the stream of time.