Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

The description… just wow.

Blood of the Primordial of Time

Description: A single drop of blood from the Primordial of Time, Chronos. Ingesting this will grant the one who ingests it a single Successor Skill from the Primordial of Time already unlocked.

Affects: One Successor Skill.

I glance at Chaos, who is standing next to me. But he just smiles at me, nods his head, and says, "Go ahead. Chronos's skills would be a great benefit to you no matter which one you receive."

My eyes narrow a little bit at him, then at the drop of blood in the vial. Then after a brief pause I shrug and grab the vial before downing the drop of blood.

Deciding to trust Chaos's judgment.

Then pain begins to flare across my body. Only for said pain to immediately stop as everything around me stops as well.

Or rather, everything but Chaos.

Almost like everything but the Primordial is frozen in time.

And just like that, time continues again, and a skill's description in orange colored text appears in my vision.

One that has my eyes widening in pleasant surprise.

{Chrono Lock – Allows the user to force a Chrono Lock on an object or individual. This will lock the object or individual firmly in time, sealing them away unless the user of the skill or the Primordial of Time himself frees them.}

"Oh? You got Chrono Lock from him?" Chaos mutters, sounding both pleased and hesitant. "Not bad."

This skill sounds rather broken.

"Broken? No, it's not as overpowered as you think," Chaos says while waving a hand as if waving away my thoughts. "Chrono Lock has requirements to activate. First the user must move at a capped speed while it is activating. It takes ten entire minutes to fully activate. And even after it is fully activated, it takes another ten seconds to fully cover the individual or object in the Chrono Lock. So it's possible for them to escape before being covered."

Ah. So it's more of a skill to use after you've already won a battle to permanently seal away an individual or object that you don't want to destroy.

"Correct," Chaos confirms with a nod of his head. "And not even your Eyes of Destruction will do anything to something locked in the Chrono Lock."

Wait, really?

That's interesting.

On another note, is it possible…

"To seal away a Primordial with this?" Chaos finishes my unfinished question, surprising me a little. "It is. But only if the Primordial is completely locked down and unable to do anything. But Chronos stays out of most matters and hides himself away, staying shut inside of his Tower of Time where no one can visit him."

I frown as I wonder just how the Primordials figured out it works on them.

"That's an easy one," Chaos says, sounding more than a little amused as he speaks. Which gives me an idea of what happened in and of that alone. "Erebos decided he wanted to break into Chronos' Tower of Time. So Chronos locked him in time for a few hundred years before tossing him out."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

My jaw drops open for a few seconds, only to close again.

"Oh, right. I don't think I've ever told you about our Towers yet," Chaos, completely ignoring my shock, says with a hint of a smile on his face. "Our Towers are similar to us Primordials. They directly represent the concept we are the Primordial of and are entirely under our control. So it is foolhardy to fight a Primordial within their Tower."

Then why did Erebos try it?

"Because he felt like it," Chaos says, once again shocking me.

Except this time it's because of how dumb Erebos sounds.

"He's not that dumb," Chaos comments with a chuckle as he walks back and forth in my room with his hands held behind his back. "Probably." He pauses while obviously fake coughing. "At the time he was overwhelmed by one of his Sins and didn't have control over himself."

I didn't realize he could lose control.

Is it the same way with his Successors? And which Sin had control at the time?

"I believe his Successors are the same," Chaos answers as he stops next to the couch I started sitting on at some point while putting his arms across it and looking down at me. "And he was overwhelmed by the Sin of Pride. Something about not liking the way Chronos always sits in his Tower watching over everyone like some sort of god."

But aren't Primordials pretty much gods already?

Chaos just smiles at me and says, "Yep!" Then pats my head and stands up straight again.

So… Erebos is just dumb.

"Yep!" Chaos exclaims with a laugh this time.

I think back to the look I saw on the face of that Successor of Sin whose name I do not remember before coming to the conclusion that they must inherit stupidity from the Primordial of Sin.

Wait, does that mean I'll be inheriting Chaos's wild and unpredictable nature?!

Chaos just stares at me.

"What?" I ask while still looking over my shoulder at him. But he just walks over behind me, making me flip around on the couch to hang my arms over the side and my chin on top of it as I repeat, "What is it?"

He pats me on the head again while saying, "Sweet innocent child of mine, you don't need to inherit anything to be unpredictable. All you need to do to know that is look at the System Forums and what they're saying about you."

I narrow my eyes at him before pushing away his hand and sitting down again on the couch while crossing my arms.

Rude.

I glance at the cracks that are still appearing inside of this room – a room that has been pretty badly damaged by now since I keep forgetting to close my eyes – before glancing at a mirror that almost instantly is destroyed. But not before I get a look at the rather sinister eyes reflecting back at me.

Innocent?

Hmm… yeah, I'll go with that. Even if my eyes don't really look innocent anymore.

More like terrifying.

"On another note, didn't you think something about a skeletal horse earlier?" Chaos comments, making my mind return to the present. "I'm guessing that means you've heard about a certain skeletal horse going around the betting pools lately?"

I shrug as I answer out loud, "I know enough. Like how you apparently cursed her."

Chaos laughs and suddenly appears sitting next to me on the couch before patting me on the head and then ruffling my hair until I push his hand away again as he says, "Yep! And that was one of the best decisions I've made in a while other than making you my wonderful Successor!"

Uh huh.

I roll my eyes a little at his antics – which feels weird to do with my eyes closed – all while wondering why he keeps patting my head. Because I am not a dog.

After a brief pause, I go ahead and summon a random monster arm in front of me from a storage ring before raising my hand and activating the new Successor Skill as a test on it. And even without opening my eyes, I can feel the time magic immediately filling the room as what look like millions of itty bitty little time mana spell circles form with the single arm at the center of it all.

Then I just wait.

And wait.

And wait some more, with Chaos finally leaving at some point during the middle of it. The Primordial just vanishing out of nowhere without a trace left behind.

Eventually the spell circles – which have all been flashing and spinning and pretty much making a color show – stop moving before expanding once. Then an orange, amber-like substance begins to coat the arm at a relatively slow pace.

I frown at it for a bit, and after ten seconds have passed, I open my eyes to find the arm completely coated in the substance.

And the arm isn't taking any damage at all from my direct line of sight.

Interesting.

I reach out and poke it, but it feels like I'm just poking amber. Amber that won't budge or do anything at all other than move along the table.

Hmm.

I glance at the rest of this particular residence area which is clearly going to need some repairs considering the many glowing crimson cracks filling it to the brim. Then I look back at the amber-coated arm.

Maybe I should use Chrono Lock on my residence areas so I can keep my eyes open?

That could be useful.

Especially since the skill doesn't seem to take any energy to use. From me at least. I can tell the surroundings have less time energy now after all.

Well, anyways, before that I should go ahead and check the city again. And I can look at what the visitors have done since inviting them as well.

So with that plan in mind, I climb to my feet and begin leaving my residential area.