If the reappearance of Talroth, the dragon boy, and the sudden manifestation of the Dharma Lord should have filled Konrad with confusion, it was the jade crown hovering above the three that gripped his attention. Within that crown, a palpable Supreme Will rippled, announcing to the world that this tiny crown was indeed a Supreme Artifact.
But that alone wasn't unacceptable. The truly sordid fact was the power of Samsara rippling from it, a force able to control incarnations and reincarnations swirled around that crown, making even Konrad stand with vigilance. Only True Bridge owners could resist the power of Samsara, for only they crossed the 10,000 Tribulations. All others faced an immediate threat!
At that time, Night and Cloud awoke, and alongside Moon, stared dumbstruck at the Dharma Lord.
"What…is the meaning of this?"
They couldn't help but ask. That the Dharma Lord could escape Regretless' suppression wasn't inconceivable. After all, Regretless had been in torpor for centuries. As a Nothingness Supreme, the escape means at the Dharma Lord's disposal were innumerable.
But why did he stand beside Talroth, and worse, that boy! But as their minds swirled, an outlandish scene occurred. Before the onlookers' gaze, the forms of the Dharma Lord and the Empyrean Dragon boy blurred, becoming immaterial and generating a strange, unnamable force as infinite power surged from Talroth's form.
But this merely was the start. Across various realms and worlds, tens of thousands of light rays emerged, shooting toward the jade crown now firmly standing above Talroth. From the Infinite Void Space where Konrad kept Sakra sealed, his soul emerged in a light ray and rushed toward the crown.
From the miniature world where Talroth kept Asmodeus trapped, she emerged, turned into a bright ray as she shot toward the crown! Somewhere within the Myriad Dreams Valley, Malkam who handled petty chores turned into a bright ray and shot toward the crown.
At Konrad's right, Cacillia's eyes contorted into a frown and as she quivered, she too turned into a white ray, threatening to join the rest in the crown!
At that time, Konrad stretched out his left palm, using the power of negation and his lordship of the Three Realms, to suppress Cacillia's departure. However, even with those forces, the crown's samsara controlling power proved a dreadful challenge. It was as if that force stood beyond the lordship of any realm, unable to be curbed just because of Konrad's realm dominion!
"NEGATION!"
Konrad snarled, pushing the power of his sixty locks to limits, and releasing High Supreme level force for the first time in his life!
Only then did Cacillia's absorption end, and she fell back to his side. However, her eyes now seemed groggy, and her appearance experienced fluctuating changes. Intertwining between her current black hair and icy blue eyes and a pair of silver hair and eyes that Konrad knew all too well.
But as Konrad suppressed Cacillia's change, the others didn't have the same luck and merged with the crown!
However, if that scene should have held them in awe, it was the collapsing form of the Dharma Lord and Empyrean Dragon boy that befuddled Night, Moon and Cloud. But as a flurry of emotions preventing the other two from thinking clearly, Night saw through that force.
"A Time Paradox. No Time Paradoxes."
Night realized, speaking words that unleashed mighty waves in the other two as they too realized the ploy.
Played!
They'd been played from the start!
And as the siblings put two and two together, seeing his worst assumption become reality, Konrad's face contorted into a frown.
"And so the truth is revealed. Their preparations even exceeded all I expected. While all focused on Celestial Slaughter's return, they failed to realize that from the start, the true mastermind still hid in the shadows.
Three existences separated by three timelines, unable to stand beside one another due to Time Paradoxes—for them three…stem from the same root!"
Konrad spat, awakening all on the scene to the ludicrous play unfolding beneath their gazes.
"They are not clones. They're not bound. All are unique individuals. In the days of the Empyrean's hegemony, the Dharma Lord was the past, Celestial Slaughter was the present, and Talroth…the future. But in this timeline, Talroth is the present, the Dharma Lord is the past, and Celestial Slaughter the future.
When the three stand beside one another, Time Paradoxes kick in, making past and future collapse and merge with the present."
The power of Time Paradoxes was something none could fully explain, a force that even Supremes trod carefully with. By having the nerve to base his plan on such a trick, the Dharma Lord showed incomparable boldness. Poor Regretless could never imagine that from beginning to end, he played in the Dharma Lord and Celestial Slaughter's hand.
But as the siblings' eyes widened at the realization, the Time Paradoxes ended, with the past and future uniting in the present, uniting in Talroth.
No. Calling him Talroth was inaccurate. The entity standing before them all was the amalgam of three. Three in one, one with three.
The Supreme Conqueror!
Still, as he gazed at the jade crown, there were many points Konrad couldn't understand.
"Not bad, my crown prince. Not bad at all. If Regretless had half your wit, perhaps this day couldn't have seen fruition. Just perhaps."
Talroth began in a deadening voice that carried power and strength few on the scene could gauge.
"Indeed, the Dharma Lord is the one that set the plan in motion. For the simple reason that the Dharma Lord…is the Supreme Conqueror Sutra. The original manual, that is."
Talroth explained, causing the knowledgeable's eyes to widen in disbelief. To say nothing of the rest, even Konrad had not seen that one coming.
"When only Nothingness covered the world. When Nothingness was the Omniverse, the Nirvana Dust Crown appeared, as the first Supreme artifact. However, when Infiniteness reared its head, emerging to replace Nothingness, in the clash that ensued, a stele rose from Nothingness, bringing alongside it the first cultivation method of the Omniverse, the first Ancient Secret: The Supreme Conqueror Sutra.
As Infiniteness triumphed, the stele developed sentience, and morphed to become the Dharma Lord. He took the Nirvana Dust Crown and hid in the Firmament which appeared alongside Infiniteness.
From Infiniteness, the Primal Laws emerged, opening the road for all the rest. The Laws shaped the Omniverse as you know it, making it a ground for life. Alongside it, the Firmament too changed. And in the coming epochs, guided by the Dharma Lord, eight individuals rose to become Supreme, thereby joining him in the Firmament.
But how could such a life satisfy him? He existed with a singular purpose: To bring back the eternal reign of Nothingness. For that, he used the Nirvana Dust Crown to incarnate himself in the future, creating the former Empyrean Dragon Emperor's second son: Radiant Dragon."
As Talroth's words reached that point, Konrad's eyes narrowed.
"Radiant Dragon and the Dharma Lord could never meet. But they needed not. Radiant Dragon not only possessed the Dharma Lord's knowledge and memories, but he could also channel the Nirvana Dust Crown to incarnate himself in the future, thereby creating Talroth.
Though they never met, the two coordinated to set into motion the creation of the Supreme Conqueror."
At that point, Cloud could no longer restrain himself and he chimed in.
"You mean to say that everything that happened until now, from Regretless' fall to his rise, from the Omniverse's conquest and the destruction of the eight Supremes was always…part of your plan?!"
He snarled. However, before that cry of outrage, Talroth merely nodded.
"Naturally. And you've all played your roles to perfection."
