# 1858
Chapter 1858: The End of the Future
Lina gripped the Sword in the Stone, her身形 flashing to Lin Qiye's side, enduring the shockwaves from the two clashing powers as she pushed upward.
"Are you insane? Go, I'll hold them off here!" Lin Qiye called out as Lina actually charged forward,抵御着笑脸Vishnu的攻击 simultaneously.
Lin Qiye was at least Chief God level, but Lina was merely a proxy—Vishnu could crush an unascended human without breaking a sweat.
Lina gritted her teeth, ignoring Lin Qiye's words entirely. She gripped the Sword in the Stone with both hands, and a blinding light erupted from her heart!
The next moment, an ancient silhouette rapidly materialized around her!
It was a towering figure clad in armor. The moment he appeared, an ancient and powerful aura descended upon the world, even more formidable than the Vishnu before them!
His figure merged with Lina's, raising the Sword in the Stone high above his head. Ribbons of time破开剑柄处的碎石, as if two palms had跨越时间的交叠 across time. A sacred pillar of divine power shot into the clouds!
The pillar transformed into a blade, and together with Lin Qiye's Ame-no-Murakumo, it struck the Vajra. Three distinctly different divine powers shattered this fragment of time with a thunderous roar!
"What kind of joke is this... Is this the Trickster God?!"
Number 22 crossed the temporal barrier and chased into this fragment, his eyes widening with disbelief at the blinding divine fluctuations in the sky.
Which Trickster God has such overwhelming frontal combat power?!
As the three waves of divine power rippled outward, the world-destroying Vajra was blasted back into the sky. The two Vishnus merged back into one, steadying the Vajra as their expression turned grim.
As the divine powers dissipated into nothing, those two figures had already vanished without a trace.
"Let's see where you can run to?" Twice he had failed to capture Lin Qiye—Vishnu, this "Supreme Sovereign," was losing face. His身形 flashed as he pursued toward the temporal barrier ahead.
...
Lin Qiye carried the unconscious Lina in one hand, his wings flapping continuously as he pierced through two temporal barriers, his speed reaching its极限.
He flew along the marks he had left behind, all the while glancing at Lina with a complicated expression.
He had seen many god proxies, but the most they possessed was a fraction of God's Ruins abilities. Yet Lina could directly summon King Arthur's shadow from the past... the former was like an employee working hard on a salary, while the latter could make a phone call and summon the company CEO to their side. They weren't even on the same level!
So this is what an heir can do...
Looking at her current state, summoning the CEO—no, summoning King Arthur—was extremely draining. He wondered if there would be any side effects.
Lin Qiye passed through two time fragments, but that sensation of being locked onto never faded. When he arrived at the third time fragment, Vishnu's form materialized once more from behind, as if he would catch up any moment.
If this continued, they wouldn't make it... he had to find a way to shake him off.
Lin Qiye's gaze swept across the distant ice field. Several sword marks entered his vision. Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed, and he chose a direction to fly toward.
"-102.5"
"-83"
"-58.25"
"..."
As Lin Qiye constantly changed direction, he drew closer to the entrance of the Temporal Maze. The surrounding time fragments visibly shrunk, from hundreds of meters wide to dozens, then to just over ten meters...
Vishnu following behind him could only continuously shrink his massive form, eventually becoming roughly the same size as Lin Qiye, darting frantically through the densely packed time fragments.
As the numerical imprint beneath Lin Qiye's feet returned to "-10," everything returned to the stage of one step per time. Across the boundless ice field, Lin Qiye carried Lina through the shattered time, crossing seven or eight different moments in just one second.
In such densely fragmented time, even Vishnu couldn't keep up with Lin Qiye's speed. The instant he blinked, Lin Qiye would have already vanished into some unknown time.
Vishnu came to a halt on an ice surface.
He frowned as he scanned his surroundings, his expression quite grim... He knew Lin Qiye was no more than a few hundred meters away, yet they existed in different moments in time.
It had been manageable when they were deep in the maze, where the time fragments were relatively intact—only a few temporal pockets to hide in. But now, trying to locate Lin Qiye among this vast ocean of time fragments was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
"So he's using these marks to pinpoint his location..." Vishnu also noticed the sword marks etched into the ice beneath his feet and coldly snorted.
He stepped down, and the ice layer shattered into pieces, but that sword mark remained clearly etched into the void, immovable no matter how the terrain was destroyed.
Not only could he not capture Lin Qiye, he couldn't even erase a single sword mark. Vishnu's chest heaved剧烈起伏, his eyes filled with fury.
He stood there for a long moment before finally turning back toward the depths of the maze.
"Father, did you kill him?"
When Number 22 saw Vishnu return, he eagerly asked.
"No. He's figured out the maze's patterns and escaped quickly." Vishnu said沉声.
A barely perceptible flash of disdain flickered in Number 22's eyes before he respectfully said, "Father need not be upset. That Lin Qiye has always been cunning—it won't be easy to kill him."
"Just a mole relying on the terrain to侥幸脱身." Vishnu淡淡道, "As long as we control the time fragments near the Gate of Truth, we've effectively sealed the exit of this maze... Unless he's willing to be trapped here forever, he'll inevitably show himself."
...
On the ice surface bearing the "0" sword mark, Lin Qiye gently laid the unconscious Lina down flat.
As he had expected, even Vishnu couldn't locate him within such densely packed time fragments. They were safe for now.
"The chase failed, so Number 22 won't take it lying down... He'll definitely be waiting at the maze's exit." Lin Qiye rubbed his chin with one hand, deep in thought. "This can't continue."
Lin Qiye's gaze swept across the surrounding ice. Among the numerous "-" marks, something occurred to him, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Currently, Lin Qiye had established the entire time axis using the ice beneath his feet as the reference point. All positive numbers represented moments after this ice fragment—essentially the "future" direction... But after surveying the nearby area, the largest number he had marked was "3." He wasn't certain whether there were numbers larger than "3" in the distant areas.
In that instant, a thought flashed through Lin Qiye's mind.
If the deepest point of the "past" is the Gate of Truth... then what lies at the end of the "future"?