Chapter 229 - XXI Time Shadow

It took three days for Elijah and Yalli to return to Aeros, in this period of time Elijah had Yalli call him Ryn as they walked on the streets. From time to time Elijah could feel the constant eyes of the little girl over him followed by a her voice when they passed by a large building.

"Its here. I told you about a better way to reach Eternia, we just need to rent a vehicle to pass through the North Arch Route. However we should stop by the Aeros Pillar to get a IA for you."

"IA?" Elijah felt confused. He knew from his previous conversation that IA was a sort of identification every citizen or visitor had when staying on any of the five cities or Eternia. However he didn't ask much and followed from behind, Yalli may have been from another city, yet the way she moved from one place to the other made Elijah feel she was familiar to the place, and soon he saw himself, a few hundred children, a few a.d.u.l.ts that came from one of the small towns and visitors from outside the territory. 

Seeing his expression, Yalli closed their distance and transmitted her voice to his mind: "Only those with a IA can actually leave the city to explore the celestial world or work in other cities and towns, so most of those children are fifty years old that came to get their IA. As for the others, mostly are townsmen that want a better life in the city or travellers from other territories."

The number of people by the pillar decreased in a matter of minutes and soon Elijah heard the city's voice in his head. [Do you wish to issue for a identity ark? Yes/No]

"Yes."

The moment he thought of the word 'yes', a huge screen made of light only him could see appeared right in front of him. [Good, now fill in your informations and wait for a moment.]

Two minutes later, Elijah left the pillar with a small black sphere hanging on his neck. He just needed to touch it and a light screen would form in front of him.

[Name: Ryn] [IA type: Special] [Affiliation: Eternal Time (98% Purity.]

"I should have know brother-in-law would get a special-type AI. Now we should get a transport and get on the road. We will get to the north gate by the morning if we leave now."

In the vehicle renting company, Elijah got a superfast Airship with the shape of flying broom for twelve hundred Euva and the two of them rushed towards the north exit. The north Arch Route was an extensive road that if taken to earth it would be like a perfect circle around the planet five times. 

Being a open ship without any windows and something that would certainly kill him if he had the body of a mortal, the wind blew so fast against him on the way that he felt his motion sickness kicking in.

"Why didn't you tell me this type of thing could move so fast!?"

"I forgot this little wind pressure would have a effect on you. But isn't your body holding very well?"

They travelled for three weeks, having to stop from time to time for Elijah to not throw up while in high speed. It was when they could finally see the stunning figure of Eternia from afar. The dazzling reddish grassland surround the magnificent and colossal city from afar, below a gigantic dome of transparent material the city radiated with a heavenly radiance that could blind the eyes of any saint. As the sun set down, the huge pastures of red grass would slowly turn into a greyish-blue making the landscape look almost ethereal despite its small size compared to all other cities.

They were not far away from the gates when Elijah suddenly stopped. 'So they want it like this, one, two, three, fifty half-step celestials.'

Leaving the vehicle, he stood in front of Yalli. The latter noticed his change and also prepared to leave when Elijah shot a glance to her and she understood he wanted her to stay back. There was no need to see those men to know there where from the same group that attacked Yalli before. From what he heard, the new city lord wanted to capture her to use as a hostage and make sure her father wouldn't take the position of the city lord of Gram when he completes his transformation. As for those people, they were mercenary organization from the devil territory. However this time they sent twice more people with fifty being Demi-Devils. 

"I gave all of you a chance, so I there is no need for me to feel guilty for what I'm going to do." He knew the city guards are watching all of this at the moment, and he knew it was a good way to establish his dominance.

Without waiting for those people to speak, he gave a single step forward and a silver-white gate manifested in front of him. It was similar to how spirit cultivators summoned their spiritual beasts, but it was something different that walked from the gate.

A single man with a long brown hair that fell like a waterfall on his knees. His beard had since long grown dense and covered the lower half of his face perfectly. He had a rune on one hand and a black spear on the other and a ancient gate materialized behind him.

It was easy for them to see this man wasn't the real deal, but a shadow of the man. However this didn't change the fact they felt a power countless dimensions above them.

"I may have lost my cultivation, but you shouldn't underestimate the power of time." Elijah laughed from behind while holding his nose that started bleeding. Using his innate power to control the flow of time, he summoned a shadow of the old Elijah from his timeline. Being a shadow of the real man, he only had about 1% of its true power but for a Unity Sovereign that could fight the cosmic heart and the prime king head on, this amount of power was more than enough.

The ancient origin gate open up, releasing countless spectral beings. The one hundred and fifty mercenaries could not hold the enemy assault for a second before they were decimated by old Elijah's shadows. 

'Like I thought, his origin gate is different from mine. I didn't have any of the origin race's people waiting within it. I will need to name this technique if I want to continue using it, I will go with Time Shadow.'

When they bodies feel, Elijah just waved his hand to collect their belongings. When he turned around, old Elijah's shadow had dissipated already without leaving any traces.