★88
ASTERI'S POV
Type I Time Stop isn't something you encounter often. According to Lady Elara, Time Stops are classified like this.
Type IV is the most familiar. It pauses time within a localised area, a world, or even an entire universe. Time itself remains intact—only its flow is halted. The moment the structure of time is affected, it stops being Type IV.
That's where Type III begins. This doesn't just freeze time; it disables or overrides the concept of time itself. Anything that relies on time—beings, causes, systems—ceases to function. Temporal layers collapse, and even spacetime halts. If 4D = 3D (spatial) + 1D (time). That 4D will also be suspended. Depending on whether the 4D exists in a universe or world.{¹}
Above that is Type II, which doesn't touch time at all. It targets motion. Not movement but motion itself. When the law of motion is nullified, nothing can act, change, or progress, no matter how fast or transcendent it is. Even in timeless states, motion can still exist… unless Type II is invoked.
In lower realities, motion depends on time, but that's a convenience, not a rule. Physics isn't a governing authority—it's a derivative system. Existence was never bound by it.
Type I is where things stop being familiar.
It doesn't freeze time or halt motion. It targets the Fragments of Energy—the fundamental principles that uphold Existence. Not all of them, only the non-essential ones, carefully chosen so the structure of reality doesn't collapse.
Take Neosis for example. When that Fragment is halted, the mind goes dark, no thought, no awareness. Even beings who can walk freely through lesser Time Stops are helpless. The body may persist, but the core consciousness is severed.
There's no resistance. Strength is irrelevant when the attack bypasses you and strikes what makes you you.
Almost no one can use this. Not even Hypergods. Alter of Constellation Pisces—the strongest artificial Hypergod—was pushed to his limit by Lady Elara and the Deity of the Sun, and still couldn't touch it.
Only those personally chosen by the Goddess of Creation can wield Type I. Yes. It's that rare.
Type 0, however, is something else entirely.
Instead of Fragments, it halts the Meta Notions—the primordial abstractions that allow Major Concepts like Time and Motion to exist at all. Meta-Time isn't time; it's the code that permits time across all realities and Planes of Existence.
Only a handful of Omnis have ever reached that level. Among the Stars, only three can be predicted to possess it: the Supreme Star God, the Supreme Star, and possibly Lady Elara or the Deity of the Sun.
And if Type I ever managed to halt Aeolynths, the Fragment of Kinetic Energy, it would instantly become a Type 0.
Because stopping motion at its root is the same as stopping the Meta that governs it.
(Energy Fragment > Meta Notions. Don't worry about the arrangement, it's just how it is.)
Asteri shook his head.
'I need to focus on what's at hand. What we have here is completely irresistible. Your IQ, speed & reaction time aren't sufficient. Even acausality will be insufficient, since Neosis doesn't rely on cause and effect but structure.
Before the Time Stop, everything seems normal. Had it not been for Enta, I wouldn't have made it.
Escape measures won't work unless you don't think or decide, which is already part of Neosis. So that's a no-go.
Secondly, it is to transfer one's thinking outside the system, but it's too late to cry because my head is rolling beneath the guillotine.
My Lady said, 'to fight Neosis is to invoke it, and by then it's already too late. Those who seek to resist thought's death must first think and thus fall into silence.' I can't believe I'll be facing such formidable opponent.'
"Damn it. I'm tired of recalling the past so let's just get this over with. Energy is an Existential force. I doubt my attacker was able to freeze it throughout all realities. If I can escape from their range, my freedom is guaranteed. But the chances are zero because I'm confident that about 90% or more of the Cardinal World is frozen.
With this, I know my opponent isn't someone to be taken lightly. I'll proceed with plan c to escape."
I declared, channelling Enta's void into my system, mostly focusing on my brain. In no time, the organ was flooded with void.
"Something that can kill immortals, yet I'm using it in my brain. How stupid can I get?"
With a certain amount of void channelling into and out of my body and mind, I do something most would never survive.
I duplicate the subconscious region of my mind, forging an echo of the real thing. This echo becomes my new pilot, acting purely through reflex and instinct, immune to the frozen systems of Neosis.
I can't think, I can't reason, but I can move instinctively and I can speak. That's more than enough for now.
Neosis governs thought, not speech. So my voice remains intact—but every word must be spoken without reflection, without inner dialogue. It's all verbalised instinct, and that puts me at a disadvantage.
There's no thinking twice, since there's no "thinking" at all. Everything happens instinctively & instantly without a second recalculation.
Meanwhile, the void inside my brain isn't idle. It's cutting and stitching, the very structure of my neural core, building something new. A system that does not require thought, a mind without consciousness, an Anti-Mind. All of course because I'm immune to Entares's void and I can use it as freely as I'm manipulating my energy.
I don't know what's happening because 'I am' what's happening.
Logical reasoning has vanished, conceptual processing has collapsed, self-reflection is reduced, and emotional awareness is null. Only pure reflex remains, guided by instinct sharpened to its absolute peak.
This is what I'll become, a being shaped by absence, driven solely by reaction. A creature of void-born movement.
However, it doesn't come without a risk. The longer I'm using the echo, the more likelihood Enta will easily take over. I'll try to keep that aside for now since he's put to sleep.
After a few seconds, the transformation was complete. The void leaves my brain, retreating into the new system like blood back into the heart, and now I stand with a physical brain, an Anti-Mind and an Echo moving me by primal instinct. I don't know what I've become. But I can move and for now, that's enough all I need.
"Let's use the echo for starters."
I said, stepping out of my Mind. I found my body on the ground and I stood up, observing my surroundings.
As expected, everyone was frozen, bodies locked, thoughts arrested, souls suspended mid-breath. Only I still moved.
My gaze swept to the VIP section.
"Good—they were safe."
In a single step, I crossed the distance. I reached out, parting the curtain of my own hair, and gently lifted the tiny presence hidden there.
What I held made me pause.
Athena was curled inside a faintly glowing orb, asleep as though the Time Stop meant nothing to her. But the moment my eyes settled fully on her, the light quivered.
She stirred. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
"Go to sleep, my lady. It's not safe for you outside."
Already noticing the dangers beyond her orb, she closed her eyes. A portal opened and inserted the orb.
"In here she'll be safe so I have nothing to worry about. That must be an instinctive defence mechanism. Because I'm sure she was awake when we got attacked. Now then—"
After making sure everyone was safe, I turned without knowing why and approached the portal I had ignored all this time.
'Stay safe, Asteri.'
The moment I was halfway through the portal, that message got to me. Before I could turn, I was already inside the portal and it closed.
"I wonder who that was."
"So the rumours are true. I see."
A voice spoke behind me quiet and direct. Without turning, my body had already shifted to face them.
In front of me stood a figure covered entirely in a white cloak. No face, no features, just long silver hair slipping past the hood, moving gently as if stirred by nothing.
To be continued...