In front of a massive machine, everyone stood in silence.

  While Reon and Stella pulled cables in and out of its innards, trying to adjust the machine that served to bring Orion back to their time, only the often heard sound of welded metal could be heard.

  As time passed, a heavy mood settled down as they wondered what would happen if this failed.

  "Now..."

  Stella took a step back from the machine and pulled the void crystal her father gave her earlier.

  Watching from the side, Reon stared at her. After both nodded at each other, Stella approached the machine.

  All the crystals that were embedded into it before were exhausted, wearing cracks all over. From one touch, their brittle bodies would wither away.

  But it didn't matter.

  Seeing Stella put the void crystal in a new slot at the base of the machine, Orion's face dropped slightly as he gazed at the machine.

  'Nothing is as simple as it appears to be.'

  Slowly, the machine powered up as doubt arose in his heart.

  A growing rumbling escaped the machine's mechanism as void energy traveled through its parts.

  The noise stabilized, and the device began to glow lightly around the top part, which was made in the shape of a circle.

  A rift appeared to form in the very center, but it failed to actually open, only crackling with energy indefinitely.

  "As expected..."

  Letting out a heavy sigh, Orion smiled with a defeated expression.

  ...

  After standing for a few hours in front of the device, he had seen enough.

  "It won't work."

  Prepared to do the heavy lifting himself, he turned around.

  "Wait!"

  Stella hurriedly ran toward him and stood in his path.

  "Don't do it yet! It will work, I promise!"

  "Stella."

  Orion smiled dryly and placed a hand on top of her head.

  "There's no time. If it's in my power to do so, I will do it. That is, even it will cause me some problems."

  Everyone looked to the side, feeling powerless to help him while he prepared to sacrifice his energy for an incredibly long time.

  "I'll do it."

  Suddenly, a determined voice broke through the tense silence.

  A staff in her right hand, Tetra glanced toward Orion over her shoulder.

  She stared at the rift, trying its best to open.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  After aiming at the rift with her weapon, she whispered some words and opened her eyes wide.

  The Remnant sigil of 'Time' and 'Space' shone brightly in her eyes as the heavy energy of her source manifested.

  Hearing footsteps behind her, she expected Orion to stop her.

  But the one who appeared wasn't her husband, but someone entirely different. Someone she had trouble befriending.

  "Let me help you."

  Amelia, a tense expression on her face, barely glanced in her direction as she stopped next to the pink-haired woman.

  A blast of energy exploded from Amelia as her power grew exponentially.

  "Astra."

  Appearing out of thin air, Amelia's void revolver appeared in her right hand, joining Tetra's staff in an attempt to power up the rift.

  Slowly, Orianne walked behind Reon and pulled him out of the way.

  "What is it?"

  "Don't stay here."

  "..."

  "Oh."

  Noticing that he was in imminent danger, Reon nodded and followed his wife out of danger.

  "All we have to do is stop time outside Horizon."

  Tetra glared forward as she focused. Being the only one with the power to control 'Time', the pressure on her shoulders was absurd.

  "I will handle the spatial arrangement."

  No one apart from Amelia was capable of locating every corner of the outside world. With the help of 'Calm Analysis', which she had perfected to its highest point, she needed to appropriately enclose the world into a seal.

  They nodded at each other before taking a deep breath each.

  "Longinus!"

  Hurling the name of her mother's legacy, the jewel at the tip of the staff brightly glowed, releasing a space-bending beam that met with the rift at the center of the device.

  Amelia fired her revolver when she confirmed that the rift reacted to Tetra's energy.

  Both energies met at the same point, creating a devastating blast that threatened to explode out of the machine.

  Slowly, the rift grew into a sphere-like object.

  At the same time, both women were being pushed back by the tremendous power fighting back.

  "Freezing... time..."

  "Isn't exactly... easy!"

  Tetra's feet scrapped the ground, while Amelia tried to resist it.

  "Concentrate!"

  Screaming that to herself, Amelia endured with such tenacity that it let her feel the entire world for a brief instant.

  Her eyes opened wide as she felt the weight of the world and the entire system that made it work.

  For the first time, she felt what 'Nature' was. The warmth of life, the gentle feelings toward it, and the caress of the elements.

  Every corner of the planet was under her scrutiny.

  And slowly, so slowly it couldn't be felt by anyone, parts of the planet began to enter into stasis.

  With her careful and watchful eyes, she isolated every continent, every sea, every pole, each tree, and each life entirely.

  "You're sinking too far into it."

  Suddenly, she felt a palm touch her back.

  More than half of the weight she was feeling instantly vanished, redirected somewhere else.

  Tetra was also pushed back to her original position, supported by the man most important to her.

  While Orion diverted some of Amelia's problems to himself, he also transferred energy to Tetra so she wouldn't exhaust herself while sealing the entire world in a timeless era.

  "What would I do without you two?"

  With a warm smile, he looked at Tetra, who was the only one conscious to answer.

  "Haha~"

  Laughing, Tetra answered his smile with one of her own. Then she turned back to the matter needing to be resolved.

  Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed everyone taking place around him.

  Karteira and Olivia aimed their palms at the device before firing light and dark energy at it.

  Then, following them, May, Deveralna, Mia, Nia, and Senia all sent their magic into the mix.

  Stella, who stood behind, joined Karteira and Olivia by sending both lost elements alongside them.

  But then everyone joined in.

  Elliott, Layla, Nylon, Orianne, Reon, Henrietta, and Titania.

  Marie and the other maids. Procyon, and Sirius.

  Even Monolavir, Ruminona, and their children.

  Intense energies mixed, creating a deluge of elements.

  Discharging its energy in every direction, the rift turned from a sphere into an eye-shaped object. A white, eight-armed star appeared into the pitched black object.

  While it flashed for only a brief instant, a white light engulfed everyone.

  The blinding light then subsided, giving back the sight it had stolen to everyone.

  Both Amelia and Tetra's attacks were gone, and, at the top of the machine, a figure with no visible forms stared at Orion.

  "You have one year. No more. You hear me?"

  The greenish figure smiled as it pointed to him.

  "That voice..."

  Both Henrietta and Tetra blinked as they heard the voice of a being they hadn't heard in a long time.

  The rift, which had turned into an eye that observed the area carefully, appeared to be focusing more on Orion than anyone else.

  "Since you've been breaking rules again and again, I've decided to stop meddling."

  "But I still want to see your story unfold. I hope you won't mind if I stay here instead of staying in a lifeless world."

  There was no mistake. This greenish figure with no apparent features was none other than 'Nature', the system that created the world.

  "If you don't mind answering some of my questions later, I have no complaints toward it."

  "Of course. I was willing to talk anyway."

  The eye observed the various characters surrounding Orion.

  "Thanks to that tremendous synthesis of energies, it helped in creating this bridge into this realm."

  "While temporary, you have my thanks. It is a rare opportunity for me to observe the world. Well, in the limits of what my eye can see."

  The eye gave various expressions as it moved around. Looking downward, everyone could tell that being just an eye wasn't exactly perfect for this 'Ancestral Entity'.

  But the figure that couldn't move atop the device still appeared to be free of movement.

  Sitting on the circle's top part, it crossed its legs and appeared to hold its head in its opened hands.

  "For now, as I've said, you have a year of freedom."

  "I helped a little, as I also desire to see these invaders taste their own medicine."

  "But..."

  She pointed at Orion with her free hand.

  "My portals are all inoperable. I know. The instant I felt it, we were locked up."

  "Indeed."

  Everyone's eyes opened wide, especially Tetra and Amelia's.

  "We... did it?"

  Staring at each other, they smiled.

  "Yes. We certainly did."

  Tetra couldn't hold back her feelings. She jumped at Amelia and hugged her tightly, not caring at all for the others' gazes.

  "Thank you! Without you, I wouldn't have made it!"

  "Wai- Stop! Let go of me!"

  Struggling, Amelia barely made the effort to get out of her embrace. In fact, she felt the same joy as her friend did.

  Orion had a relieved smile on his face, hiding the troubling feelings deep in his heart.

  "It's fine."

  May walked behind him and lightly rubbed his back. Mia and Nia each grabbed his hands and held them tight.

  "You can rest easy for a while."

  "We'll always be there to support you. Never forget those words."

  Watching Olivia and Karteira high-five each other and Deveralna and Senia talk with a relieved expression, Orion felt a weight disappear now that 'Nature' confirmed that the plan was a success.

  "I never forget. How could I?"

  With a lighthearted smile, he closed his eyes and nodded.