A rip in space appeared in the Paradox Planes. From the rip in space, Adrian and the sphinx came out. Adrian immediately headed to Ascalor's abode as he knew that time is of the essence. They reached the room where Ascalor is being treated and Adrian is shocked with what he saw.
Ascalor's body is already half covered in this poison like substance. Elder Danaya did not look any better as she looked dried up and about to die from malnutrition. Adrian is shocked upon seeing this but Koronn who was there explained the situation.
The elder dryad told Koronn to give Adrian a month to get the relic but that was a lie as they knew how difficult it is to get a relic. The best-case scenario would be for Adrian to get the relic in five days and at most ten days. Elder Danaya is hell bent on curing Ascalor that she would give her life force just to heal him.
"Now that you got the relic, we can finally save him." Koronn stated as he put his hand out in order to gesture to Adrian to give the relic.
"We actually have a problem. I do have the relic, but it is not enough to cure Ascalor." Adrian stated with a slightly disappointed tone.
"What do you mean the relic cannot heal him!?" Koronn stated angrily and Elder Danaya suddenly looked as if a piece of her soul is chipped away.
"I brought the guardian with me so let it explain." Adrian stated as he pointed to the winged cat beside him.
Koronn just thought that the cat is just one of the new soulbounds of the young lad, but he was mistaken. He would have no problem if Koronn is not tired, but he is. Once Koronn no longer felt the resistance when he cast temporal magic, he immediately rushed to Ascalor's room and cast it on the unconscious individual.
He tried again and again but the mysterious poison on Ascalor's body kept his magic from affecting the Arch Demon. He cast multiple temporal spells that tried to reverse Ascalor's time, but it did not take effect. It only led to him becoming unable to use legendary tier magic and above for the succeeding days as his mana circuits became overloaded.
"It looks much worse than what your memories have projected. The only way to save would be the Sun Dias." The sphinx stated as it looked at Ascalor's condition.
"You are lying guardian. The Sands of Time is akin to someone casting Divine tier magic." Koronn stated with a frustrated tone.
"At my current strength, I can only cast Mythical Tier spells. Divine tier magic…do not make me laugh. The reversal of time is godlike magic to ordinary men but to demons it is a mere snap of their fingers." The sphinx stated as it moved towards Adrian.
"The best that I can do right now with my power is to freeze him in time for about ten days." The sphinx told Adrian.
"Then that means that we only have ten days to get the Sun Dias from Cristobal." Adrian stated as he messaged all his friends that could help him.
He even messaged the members of the Evergreen Guild because he is that desperate. Ascalaor is more than a bundle of code to him because the time they spent together could be called a bonding experience. This is actually true because cases of people taking their own life has been reduced and it started when Pandemonium became a famous game.
"Where is this Cristobal guy! I will help you deal with that soon to be dead guy." Koronn stated but a greater demon suddenly rushed inside the room.
"Elder Koronn! We have urgent news! The capital of the Empire is on flames! Come and look!" the greater demon stated but Koronn did not want to leave.
"Go and monitor the situation. I will observe how the relic will affect Ascalor and report it you." Adrian stated as Koronn nodded.
Stuff like these situations are usually handed by Ascalor but he could not so the responsibility is given to Koronn. The situation seemed grave as the imperial capital is said to be on fire. A few seconds later a world message suddenly arrived for all players. It even arrived to all those that are not in the main world.
[The Dark God of a Thousand Faces has descended unto the world. Beware of looking to its hideous form as it will lead you into insanity.]
[The gods did their best and locked the dark god's activity to be centered on the imperial capital.]
"What the actual fudge!" Adrian stated in absolute shock because of the announcement.
A wave of malevolent energy then reached the Paradox Planes. When Adrian felt that energy, he immediately felt like he would vomit because it was not something that was natural from the universe. This energy even made Elder Danaya faint as he was already weakened from healing Ascalor.
"A dark god has awakened. We must hurry and help that old demon. From my understanding, it is him that maintains the space or dimension. He should help in sending that dark god to its dimension." The sphinx stated as it jumped in the air and transformed into an hourglass.
The hourglass had no decoration whatsoever and just looked like a generic hourglass. If it was placed beside a normal hourglass, then no one would suspect that it is a relic. The sphinx already taught Adrian the way to use the relic.
Adrian held out the hourglass on top of Ascalor's body and flipped it over until all the sand on the upper glass fell on the bottom glass. The sound of a glass shattering and then being formed is heard. The sphinx told Adrian that this was a normal scenario as they bended the rule of time.
A pale blue aura then covered Ascalor's body and he became frozen in time like what the sphinx has stated. The poison like substance stopped spreading into his body and even Elder Danaya's healing skill stopped working as well.
"He will remain in suspended animation for ten days. After that time period, time will once again flow for him." The sphinx stated as it reverted back to its small, winged cat form.