"Let's start by examining your power, Sophia."

  Thomas disappeared in the blink of an eye, then suddenly reappeared in front of her, yet did nothing. Sophia, who was surprised—even for her, this was incredibly fast— she couldn’t use her special abilities, so she tried to flee quickly.

  Sophia glared at him angrily: "You didn’t attack me? Are you trying to play with me"

  "Look, it seems the God of the End gave you your power, and he also sent you. It’s a bit funny; it’s really stupid of him to do this. Either he hoped I wouldn’t notice your arrival, or he sent you on a suicide mission"

  "What? From what I remember, he was the one who effortlessly slaughtered all of you."

  "Ah, so you have knowledge of the past. Too bad it won’t help you in battle."

  Thomas knew she would try to attack him while he was speaking, so when she lunged at him, he appeared behind her, grabbed her arms, and broke them.

  Sophia screamed in pain, muttering words: "You... you somehow blocked my powers. If I had them, you’d be dead by now!"

  "You’re right, you’re right. I just want the fight to last a little longer."

  Sophia’s arms returned to their place.

  "You’re much weaker than I thought. Emily was really afraid to use more power against you, wasn’t she? Because I’m pretty sure she can defeat you."

  "Do I look like a joke to you?!"

  " Well, now the games are over. I want to see your combat skills."

  Sophia noticed something within her had been released, and she could use her powers again.

  "You fool, now I’m going to kill you!"

  Sophia opened gates, and two Sophias emerged—one in front of Thomas and one behind him. Thomas smiled and dodged all their punches, teleporting from place to place while Sophia chased him.

  Max watched Thomas, the God of Space and Time, and thought to himself: "Is this a dream?"

  --Meeting one Guardian of Creation is considered a once-in-a-lifetime event, but meeting both in a single day—that’s something only a few ever witness in their lives!

  They moved so fast that Max couldn’t even discern them—the only thing he saw were shockwaves flying from random areas.

  "Fast. He’s very fast."

  Thomas didn’t try to hit Sophia; he simply evaded all her attacks.

  Max walked toward the Goddess of Life, who looked hurt and worn out.

  "No way, did she really kill her"

  He was stunned to see her "dead"

  Thomas noticed Max, opened his eyes, and suddenly a massive shockwave sent Sophia flying. Then, Thomas appeared behind Max.

  "Don’t worry, it’s not that easy to kill us. Emily will be fine—trust me, she’s been in much worse situatios."

  Sophia appeared behind Thomas and shouted: "Hey, we’re in the middle of a fight! Don’t you dare underestimate me!"

  "I have many questions for you, Jahweh. Stay here while I deal with this."

  "Alright, you’re starting to annoy me. Looks like we’ll have to move to the questioning phase."

  Sophia kept trying to hit him with punches as their speed increased.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  "So, how did you find out where we are?"

  "Why should I answer your questions?"

  "I was hoping you’d say that."

  Thomas gazed at her with an infinite look, and then a massive shockwave struck her, sending her out of the forest toward the lake.

  Sophia completely lost it. In response to what Thomas had done, she opened hundreds of gates, trying to pull Thomas into her world.

  "What is she trying to do?"

  Thomas reached out toward Sophia and touched her.

  Sophia smiled

  " It’s enough for me to touch someone, and I can take them into my domain."

  The world froze, and everything turned black and white.

  "Now that you’re in my domain, I’m going to make you pay for mocking me."

  "You’re really stupid, huh?"

  "What?"

  "Honestly, I wanted to enter your domain on purpose; but I didn’t know you could send people into your domain just by touching them. That’s pretty impressive, I’ll admit. If I weren’t the God of Space and Time, I’d be scared right now."

  "I’m still trying to understand how you being the God of Space and Time means I can't kill you. Care to explain, or should I just figure it out myself?"

  "Are you serious? You know nothing? Did the God of the End share half a brain with you or something?"

  "Hey, watch who you’re talking to. You’re in no position to taunt me. You’re in my domain—I can do anything here".

  Sophia created a hole in the ground, thousands of kilometers deep with poisonous spikes at the bottom, beneath Thomas

  "Now die."

  She closed the ground, making it seem as if there had never been a hole.

  Thomas suddenly appeared behind Sophia and said: "You know, for someone so strong, you’re clueless."

  "How does that make sense? I killed you! You should be dead! How did you escape? What exactly are you???"

  "You're forcing me to explain what should be obvious—I am the God of Space and Time; those you fought earlier were Jahweh and the Goddess of Life.; and your boss is the God of the End. Not only that, the power you’re using is almost pure space-time energy, which came into this world through me "So I can control what level of space-time energy you use, and I can block your power almost completely."

  He stepped toward Sophia and summoned his sword—the Space-Time Blade—and threatened her with it.

  "Do you understand, Sophia? We still don’t fully control our powers, so we use objects to help us wield them. This is the Space-Time Blade,—. And one more thing—your domain is relatively weak. I had to multiply its durability by 1,000 just to summon this sword without the domain collapsing."

  Sophia fell to the ground, pleading:

  "I’ll answer any question you ask! I was deceived! The God of the End promised me power beyond imagination in exchange for killing you! I regret everything—now I have no idea how he actually found you."

  "Ah, I understand now. At first, it seemed like you were the one who found us, but don’t worry—I’m not the one you should fear. It seems you’ll be returning to the God of the End, and trouble awaits you."

  Thomas swung his sword at Sophia.

  "This is going to hurt a little."

  "Wait! Wait! Wait!"

  Thomas slashed Sophia, but no blood came out. Her body split like paper, and she began to be cut into tiny pieces, scattering toward the sky.

  Thomas thought to himself

  "It seems she wasn’t that strong... but stronger people will come. One thing’s for sure—I’m not the only one who sensed Yahweh’s reawakening".

  The world around Thomas shattered like broken glass, and he watched as Max tried to help the Goddess of Life.

  "Don’t worry, Jahweh, she’ll be fine."

  "I know, but I’m still not used to all these supernatural powers. Also, my name is Max."

  "Oh, I’m sorry, Max."

  "So, what now? What’s going to happen to me?"

  "We need to take you to the New Palace of the Gods."

  "I have no idea what that place is."

  "Don’t worry, we’ll explain everything. But most importantly—how do you feel? Because the first time we use our powers, our bodies don’t react well".

  "I think I’m fine—even great. The injuries I got from Sophia are completely gone."

  Max began to feel headaches and dizziness.

  "Seems like someone’s looking for you, Max. I’ll meet you later."

  "What? What are you talking about? I feel like I haven’t slept in years."

  Max collapsed to the ground, closed his eyes, and lost consciousness.

  " Where am I"

  Max found himself in a hospital, lying on a patient’s bed.

  "Mom? Dad? Is that you?"

  Max’s mother hugged him tightly, and his father began to speak: "

  You disappeared during the earthquake. Shizue found you passed out in the forest."

  His mother slapped him:

  "Why would you do that?"

  You tried to skip school. Do you have any idea what would’ve happened if she hadn’t found me? What were you even doing there"

  "You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m sorry."

  Max remembered what had happened earlier and began to wonder if it was real.

  --I met the Guardians of Creation... Was it a dream or real? I can’t even tell anymore.

  A doctor entered Max’s room.

  "Hi, Max. I’m Doctor Noctis; I’ll be your doctor today."

  The doctor reviewed Max’s chart:

  "You’re lucky, Max. You probably fainted from fear during the earthquake. We can discharge you today".

  "Thank you, I can't imagine what my mom would do if I got injured."

  The doctor smiled

  "Don't worry, even if you got injured, I would find a way to heal you. Let's just say I'm not your typical doctor"

  Max returned home, feeling extremely tired.

  "I’m going to sleep."

  His mother said to him

  "Oh, yeah, Max, the school called—there’s no class tomorrow."

  , "Finally, I can rest. Maybe tomorrow

  --maybe even I’ll ask Tekumi if his dad will let us go to the hot springs

  After all the chaos I’ve been through, I just want to get into the hot springs.

  Max got into bed and began to fall asleep.

  He heard a knocking sound from the window.

  "What the hell?"

  "Are you Max??"

  He opened the curtain and saw someone wearing a mask.

  --Am I dreaming?

  "Do you... need something?"

  "Do you have any idea how long it took us to find your address? Couldn’t you live somewhere easier to locate"

  "Who... who are you exactly?"

  "We don’t have time. We told Neo we’d be there in one god-hour—that’s five human hours".

  "I have no idea what you’re talking about."

  "We’ll explain everything on the way."

  The strange woman grabbed Max’s hand and flew away with him.

  "Let go of me, you weird old lady!"

  The woman, Fracture, got angry at what Max said.

  "Huh? Who are you calling weird? I’m doing you a favor!"

  The strange woman took Max high into space.

  "?! I’ll die in space! What are you doing"

  As they passed through the atmosphere, she began accelerating at an insane speed. Max somehow survived the harsh conditions of space.

  They entered a floating structure outside Earth.

  --I survived? How is this possible?

  The strange woman turned to Max angrily.

  "Hey, kid, I haven’t forgotten you called me a weird old lady. I won’t let you get away with that".

  She punched him hard.

  Max writhed on the floor.

  "Ugh... who even are you? What do you want from me?"

  She removed her mask, revealing a beautiful woman with mesmerizing features and short brown hair.

  "You... you’re the Goddess of Fate?"

  "Tell me about it."

  A door opened, and standing there was the God of Space and Time, Thomas.

  "Hey Max, looks like it’s time. Don’t worry, we’ll explain everything soon"