Chapter 203: Peculiar Happenings

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That near-instantaneous transfer of information and reaction proved to be utterly useless against the cylinder because... because it surpassed the speed of light by far.

So many questions and doubts spurted in Yasuo's mind as time started rewinding itself back until he appeared floating in the middle of the air.

The scene changed with the vision construct still floating above him before those now chilling words were even uttered and that strange force was released.

'The cylinder of rising force, what a strange name.' Thought Yasuo as he entered a state of deep contemplation.

He completely ignored the statues that are still attacking him though they didn't feel the need to use their greatest move yet, the last measure executed solely in desperate and hopeless circumstances.

They were only forced to use it after sensing the danger of his power and the four heaven erasing forces he manifested previously.

In contrast, now he just summoned his vision construct looking harmless, and considering the price for manifesting the cylinder, they'd prefer not o use it.

'The cylinder the statue summoned is quite small, not much bigger than my size,'

After questions and doubts come conclusions, answers, and theories. So numerous possibilities and conclusions started surfacing in his mind.

'The possibility of this power being related to the cylinder-like crater I found back then is quite high, in fact, I'm pretty sure Don is responsible for it.'

Memories of the time he explored the cylinder-like crater started coming back to him as dived deeply into them.

He was remembering the great abyss that's the massive crater, so deep it seemed to be infinite, seemingly leading to the depths of unknown darkness.

It took him time to traverse the entire cylinder crater even with his domain and space control.

The cylinder abyss was just that tremendous, hundreds of thousands of miles deep and continent size wide.

It's truly horrifying to even imagine something capable of creating such a spectacle.

'The cylinder of rising force seemed almost completely holy while the crater rekt of vileness and ominousness. So the thing responsible for that sinister aura was his opponent.'

Yasuo wasn't surprised by Don being responsible for the cylinder abyss in the least nor was he surprised by him having the power to create such a spectacle.

Yasuo might need a bit of time but he can do the same without much trouble except for the horrifying consumption.

What fascinated him is the cylinder's power and infinite possibility. What truly astonished him is the possibilities opened by the simple existence of that ability.

The unimaginable but possible interpretations of the past were truly fascinating.

The curtain of the hidden past and ancient glorious history is starting to unveil itself before his eyes. Yasuo's judgment in such things is incredibly precise and indisputable, so when he judged that the cylinder actually moves at a speed surpassing light's by far, he barely doubted his judgment.

His sense in that moment of life and death was magnified to a degree beyond anything he had ever experienced, so as he sensed with his domain, there was no movement in space.

The cylinder was simply ignoring the laws of physic and surpassed the speed of light by what he judged to be a significant amount.

The cylinder went against anything thought to be possible in the world of science.

Moving at the speed of light is already judged to be impossible no matter what. As for surpassing it? Well, is there anything beyond the impossible?

Surpassing that speed means the possibility of traveling through time to the past is a possibility.

Nearing the speed of light or moving at its exact speed permits time travel, but just to the future.

Traveling to the future is not hard as people are experiencing it all the time.

Everything that's moving is also subsequently moving through time but it's to a negligible amount.

We at least have airplanes and satellites as an example as we know the clocks within move differently to our planet.

Yet, here is an ability able to break that rule. There are just too many restrictions on moving above the speed of light yet none of them seem to be an obstacle for the cylinder.

It seemed as if it didn't exist as the air particles didn't move due to its movement.

It was as if the cylinder doesn't exist or has no effect on the world, except for when it obliterated Yasuo and the vision construct protecting him.

It also strangely didn't seem to move through time. When anything moves at that speed, that thing won't have a choice but bow down to the rules and go back in time.

However, the cylinder seemed to have Yasuo as its destination, no matter the time or space limitations.

'Cylinder of rising force, what does this name tell me,' Thought Yasuo as he raised his hands ready to start experimenting with caution apparent in his eyes.

A cloud of darkness started forming in his hands, continuously in the process of compressing into a small ball.

That dark fog seemed to alert the statues of its utter unimaginable danger as they again sought to manifest the cylinder.

Yasuo didn't seem to want to give them any time, perhaps knowing of his fate upon the manifestation of the cylinder.

So he directly released the dark fog sphere into the statues.

This time, instead of surrounding the statues with his power and teleporting the fog a bit away from them, he controlled the fog to split into three parts before teleporting them directly inside of the statues.

The dark fog was once able to completely melt a significant portion of his body and even melt his exoskeleton, a testament to its utter horrifying power.

In his hand, that power became much more horrific, bringing despair to anyone experiencing it if they have time to even comprehend what's happening.

It was as if time stopped as the dark fog appeared directly in their core, unable to hide from Yasuo's unstoppable domain.

The dark substance was like an extremely contagious virus spreading throughout the statues, and leaving nothing behind.

The statues simply evaporated from the face of the planet leaving not even a single particle behind.

However, they did leave behind a gift for Yasuo. They left three faint cylinders floating within the darkness as if they don't even exist. The dark fog capable of erasing or at least corroding even the most unbreakable of things didn't seem to be able to even touch the cylinders, seemingly intangible.

Strangely, Yasuo wasn't fazed one bit, instead, he retracted his vision construct with a dark purple crow appearing on his shoulders.

He even manipulated his Nen back, providing little to no protection to his body as he just waited for the cylinders to act.

He didn't have to wait at all as he was instantly erased by one of the three cylinders.

Time started getting distorted again as he appeared in the same location with the vision construct still up and the statues still completely intact.

Yet, he didn't get to rejoice his vibrant life for even a moment for he was erased from existence... again.

The same scene happened again as time reminded itself until he again appeared intact, and again, the same thing repeated itself as he was deleted from reality.

'I'm glad... I'm extremely pleased with myself for creating such an ability, else, everything would be much harder, and performing my current research and experiments would be a bit too annoying.'

Thought Yasuo as he opened his eyes, finding himself gazing at the view of the statues just standing up,

He found himself floating in the air just as the statues exited their kneeling position and stood up ready to handle the unwanted visitor.

'I see, the cylinder needs a target and they will reach that target as long as their power allows them to.

They can ignore reality and move through time with the exact speed needed to reach me.

I who was experiencing a future that didn't actually happen suffered repercussions from that future, I didn't escape from the cylinder's field of play.'

Yasuo ignored everything else as he dived into his own thoughts with his scarlet eyes shining more than ever, a faint smile of marvel slowly surfaced on his pale face... Something is going to be dissected.

'Well, my vision ability is not absolute. I already knew that as this is the second case of my ability not working properly.

The god of choice was after all able to talk to me even though I was only looking into the past and don't actually exist in that past.'

The first cylinder that erased him is of course the same one he was looking at, one of the three cylinders.

The second was the same, it was one of the remaining two and the same for the last.

They traveled through time and realities to reach him and delete his very existence.

So, in that negligible amount of time it took them to erase him, there existed another cylinder in that current timeline aside from the three within the intact statues.

With the same disturbing smile still hanging on his face, Yasuo lifted his hand on which a sphere of holy light appeared.

'It took me a long time to create you and no matter how much I see what you can do, it never ceases to amaze me. Your very existence and how you work makes little to no sense.'

The disturbing smile was more than enough to signify what's to come as he released the harmless sphere of light into the air.

It was but an instant before it appeared next to the statues, looking just as harmless, pure even.

Its radiance shone upon the land especially focused on the statues. The holy light sought to bring even more life and security to the bloody expanse.

Everything and everyone bathing in its warm glow would never wish to leave, converting into a slave of that sinless light.

However, what that sacred radiance caused is nothing if not pure darkness.

"Yeah, no matter how much I see such similar scenes, you never make much sense... Unless a variable exists."