Power of Runes Chapter 536: Temporal Anchor

[4.5 Days After the Resonance of Fate Started]

Ash’s consciousness shifted, and he found himself within the familiar White Space, a place seemingly devoid of everything, yet somehow carrying the strange feeling that it contained everything at the same time.

"Well, well, well, look who is here. The one and only Ash Burn. You certainly took your sweet time, considering you had no idea how close to death you actually were," the Rune of Time spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Look at that bastard. He isn’t even speaking now. Just because we can read your thoughts here doesn’t mean you should start talking only inside your head. Do you want to die?"

The cold voice, filled with a deathly aura, echoed through the White Void and instantly covered the entire space with a dark atmosphere.

Silence filled the White Space.

Ash waited for a moment before abandoning the topic.

"We can reveal a little bit to you. It is better for you to learn just enough to understand your current situation rather than being given everything at once."

The Rune of Knowledge took the lead, its voice carrying such profound wisdom that Ash couldn’t help but feel as though he were speaking to some ancient sage.

Of course, he had never actually met an ancient sage before, so he wasn’t exactly sure whether that comparison was accurate.

"The things I am about to tell you are going to turn the world upside down for you, Ash, because many of the things you believed to be true were never true to begin with."

The Rune of Knowledge paused briefly before continuing.

"In reality, we were never truly yours to begin with."

A brief awkward silence filled the surroundings.

"...That somehow sounded worse."

"You really need to think before you speak."

"You were not clarifying anything."

There was a brief silence after Ash’s reply.

Although he neither heard nor saw anything, he could swear that he could somehow feel the Runes boiling with anger while desperately trying not to show it to him.

"The nerve of you to say that to our faces is actually quite commendable," the Rune of Time said, its voice carrying a faint trace of amusement, "but let me enlighten you."

"We were never even truly present here."

The Rune of Time’s voice became plain and straightforward as it continued.

"Not within your Soul, not within your world, and not even within your Timeline."

The words hung in the White Space for a moment before the Rune of Knowledge continued.

"All 25 of us exist outside the River of Time. We were never part of your Timeline, neither its Past, Present, nor Future."

"Our existence itself carries enough weight to destroy this small Timeline within the Fake Dimension, and even the Timeline of the entire Infinite Dimensions would not be able to bear the combined weight of all twenty-five of us."

Ash remained silent, listening carefully.

"While it is true that we are all sealed, it is not that we are sealed inside your Soul or bound by some kind of restriction placed upon us here. Rather, it is our true forms, the forms that exist outside of Time itself, that are sealed, and because of that, we are unable to exert our actual powers."

"The things you absorbed, or rather, the things everyone has been absorbing while believing them to be the Runes, were nothing more than objects that contained traces of our powers, through which a connection with us could be established."

"Because our true forms are sealed, we cannot establish that connection by ourselves, which means a medium is required to bridge the gap between our existence and the one trying to reach us."

"The things you have collected throughout all this time were needed to create that connection.....to create a connection with us."

The voice of the Rune of Knowledge slowly became quieter as the final explanation settled into the White Space.

"Without a medium, you cannot make that connection."

...

Silence once again filled the White Space.

But contrary to what the Wills of the Runes had expected, Ash did not immediately react with shock.

At least, he did not show it.

For a moment, he simply remained there, his consciousness unnaturally still as he processed everything they had just told him, yet beneath that stillness, his thoughts were anything but calm.

In fact, Ash was forcing himself to remain composed through nothing but his inhuman will.

Because right now, he had come to one very simple realization.....that he was inside a very, very deep shit.

But, he did not show his nervousness.

Ash’s thoughts continued as he connected the information together, and although he was trying his best to remain rational, another question naturally emerged from what he had just learned.

"In a sense, yes," the Will of Knowledge replied. "Though, if you’re already thinking about whether that means we will eventually take over your body, then don’t worry. We have no intention of doing that."

Ash paused for a moment.

The Will of Balance suddenly snickered.

"It’s a rather obvious guess, considering that you constantly think about the worst possible things that could happen to you so that you can prepare some kind of countermeasure for them."

Ash’s patience was beginning to wear thin.

He was doing an increasingly terrible job of pretending that all of this information was not shaking him to his core, and the more the Wills revealed, the harder it became to maintain that calm facade.

So he simply decided to stop pretending.

"Continue. I want to hear what you were saying before I say anything."

Hearing Ash’s words, the Wills fell silent for a brief moment before the Will of Time continued.

"Sure. Then let me tell you what comes next."

"Currently, the person who is after you is the same person who sealed our true forms."

The Will of Time paused slightly before correcting itself.

"No, that doesn’t sound entirely right. It would be more accurate to say that he used us as a medium to seal ourselves. It’s rather complicated, and honestly, there is no point in getting into that part right now."

The Will of Time continued without giving Ash much time to interrupt.

"Regardless of how it happened, he is after you, and you are currently not powerful enough to confront him, nor are you capable of hiding from him."

"That is why, now that you have reached 10% comprehension of the Rune of Time, I can finally exert enough power to destroy your Temporal Anchor."

Ash’s expression became slightly more serious as he listened.

"Every existence is bound to their present Timeline through something called a Temporal Anchor. Everyone possesses one, although the weight of that Anchor differs from one existence to another. Some possess an extremely heavy Temporal Anchor, while others possess one that is comparatively light."

"For an ordinary human, even 0.001% of my power would be more than enough to destroy their Temporal Anchor, but your existence carries far more weight. You are an Anomaly, and you have already changed the Fate of countless beings, so the power required to destroy your Anchor is naturally much greater."

"And now that you have reached 10% comprehension of the Rune of Time, I can finally exert enough power to do it."

The Will of Time continued, its voice becoming increasingly serious.

"The moment your Temporal Anchor is destroyed, you will begin to fall through the River of Time."

"You may appear in the Past or in the Future. I cannot determine where you will end up or how far will you end up, because I cannot exert enough power to control your destination after destroying the Anchor....yet."

"You will simply keep falling through the River of Time, moving farther and farther away from your current Timeline."

"And that is the only way you can escape from Arthur."

"The one who is coming after you to take the Runes back."

"Wait!!"

Ash immediately raised his hands, because right now, he was very, very confused.

"You just said... you guys exist outside of Time, and I don’t actually possess you in reality. Then why is he coming after me... rather than going after you?"

"Let me tell him!!! I will tell him!!"

The Rune of Gravity suddenly chimed in, its voice filled with excitement.

A moment later, the sounds of several other Runes groaning echoed through the White Void.

"Not you."

"Stay silent. You behave like a kid most of the time."

"Shut up, all of you! I have the right to speak, so let me explain it this time!"

The voice of the Rune of Gravity was filled with pleading as it tried to defend itself.

Seeing this drama unfold, a thought slipped through Ash’s mind.

And then, as if the Runes had somehow heard that thought personally, the abuse began, delivered by none other than the ancient and powerful Runes that he had somehow managed to piss off all at once.

"Circus? Circus your ass."

The Rune of Life scoffed.

"Look who’s talking, Suicidal Fucking Genius."

"Supreme Dumbfuck."

"Sentient Brick."

"Certified Plot Armor Abuser."

"Masochist!!"

"Emotional Support Corpse."

"STOP! STOP! STOP WITH THE CURSES! Fine, my bad! I’m sorry, okay?!"

Ash was practically crying internally as he wondered, somewhere in the back of his mind, what kind of idiots he was actually talking to.

"Just tell me the reason behind it. You guys can’t even maintain a serious atmosphere for a few minutes."

Silence filled the White Void once again, and after a brief moment, the excited voice of the Rune of Gravity finally chimed in again.

"The reason he is coming after you is because two possessors of the same Rune cannot exist together at the same time. Let me rephrase that, there cannot be two separate connections to the same Rune at a single point in Time or History, because if there were, the Timeline itself would be thrown into chaos, and every existence within it would eventually be affected."

"And in your case, that danger is even greater because this Timeline is extremely small. It isn’t some vast independent Timeline spanning an entire set of Dimensions; it is only the Timeline of this small Fake Dimension, which means there is far less room for such a contradiction to exist without destabilizing everything."

"That is why, if he kills you, he can directly take all of your connections to the Runes for himself through the power of the Rune of Fate that he possesses, and considering how high his comprehension of that Rune is, he has no reason to hesitate once he finds you."

Ash fell silent for a moment.

**