Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

Another 12-winged Nicola suddenly appeared in front of Michelle, casually blocking her deadly strike with bare hands.

"Hi there... Isn't this the 'Goddess of Fire'? Long time no see..."

The new 12-winged Nicola smiled and waved at Michelle, then flicked her forehead, sending her flying back dozens of meters.

"You're still so edgy. I think you need some discipline."

Shaking her head with a sigh, she glanced at Michelle struggling to get up in the distance, then turned and waved at my companions.

"Hello Selene! Haven't seen you for years. You look so young now..."

"Huh... are you talking to me?"

Selene raised her hand dumbly and pointed at herself, mouth still wide open in shock. She was totally baffled by the bizarre events unfolding before her eyes.

"Eleanora! Hayden! I miss you all!"

The 12-winged Nicola ignored Selene's confusion and greeted our two other conscious companions further away. Finally she turned to me with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I'm just here to watch the show... I'll be going soon."

She nodded at the first 12-winged Nicola that appeared.

"I'll leave the rest to you."

"I know you just wanted to show off..."

The first 12-winged Nicola smiled wryly and nodded in agreement.

"No problem!"

The next instant, the so-called "watching show" Nicola disappeared from our sight.

"What... what was that?"

Everyone present, including the 6-winged Nicola, stared in shock, not knowing what to say.

"Ahem..."

The remaining 12-winged Nicola coughed deliberately to get our attention. She helplessly explained:

"I don't know when that other Nicola time traveled back either. Maybe long after me...

"But I didn't arrange for her to come back!" The six-winged Nicola couldn't believe it and interrupted. "Michelle moved so fast, I didn't even have time to react!"

She was slightly panicked upon realizing she had lost control over this new world of time so quickly after unlocking it.

"Calm down, calm down..."

The twelve-winged Nicola smiled reassuringly at her past self, having fully anticipated her reaction and thoughts.

"Everything happening now is predestined good fortune, since the Observer is not yet awake to observe or interfere..."

"As for that other Nicola earlier, someday we'll completely understand what transpired."

"Who's this 'Observer' you mentioned?"

I couldn't help asking, noticing she seemed to be hiding something deliberately.

"It's... a secret!"

The 12-winged Nicola smiled mysteriously.

"For now, let me get rid of that troublemaker over there for you all..."

She turned to face Michelle, who had struggled back to her feet.

"Liana... You bastard!"

Clutching her head, Michelle staggered out from the pile of rubble, glaring at us.

Although the "watching show" Nicola had only flicked her forehead, the impact was massive, smashing another crater in the ground.

"What did you do to me?! I'll make you pay!"

Clearly she had no idea what just happened in that split second.

One moment she was swinging her sword at the 6-winged Nicola, the next she was sent flying.

"Are you talking to me? Sorry, my name's Nicola and I didn't do anything. You've got the wrong person."

The 12-winged Nicola shrugged and mocked her.

"Who else could it be?! That 6-winged behind you?"

Michelle raised her sword and pointed at 12-winged Nicola through gritted teeth.

"I know you! Meddling as always, even after all these years. I admit you're stronger now, but so am I!"

As she spoke, flames erupted around her body, instantly heating up the air.

"Ahhh!"

Selene suddenly screamed in pain, the skin on her body bubbling from the intense heat.

"Nicola, do something!" I shouted urgently towards the 12-winged one.

Although Michelle was dozens of meters away, the temperature had already become unbearable in seconds. Nicola and I were fine, but not ordinary humans like Selene. She would be burnt to death at this rate, and our other friends even further away too.

"Don't worry, help has arrived."

The 12-winged Nicola smiled reassuringly at me. As she spoke, the searing air was replaced by a blast of cool wind. The temperature plunged in an instant.

Then a fine, misty rain began to fall. But this was no ordinary rain. Wherever the drops touched Selene's burns, her blisters immediately faded away, healing all her injuries.

"Water element..."

I instantly grasped the mystery as even Eleanora stopped healing and stood up curiously, catching raindrops in her outstretched palms.

"Who's that...?"

I looked up at the sky. Sure enough, a figure was floating high above us. I could vaguely make out wisps of watery blue wings on their back, but they were too far to see clearly.

Of course the others noticed too.

"I brought her along."

The 12-winged Nicola waved at the figure and explained to me.

But Michelle stared up in disbelief:

"Gisphrael... It's Gisphrael! How... How is that possible?!"

"What have you done to Gisphrael?!"

She lashed out furiously at us, sending a barrage of flames and shockwaves from her sword. But the 12-winged Nicola's Condensation Sword suddenly flew from her hand and hovered vertically before her like the hand of a clock. It spun counter-clockwise several steps...

And Michelle's fiery blast simply winked out of existence.

"Time control..." Michelle muttered darkly.

"Same useless tricks again!"

Still, she kept swinging her Sword of Hephaestus madly at us, each blow instantly nullified the moment it was unleashed. But she refused to stop.

"I know you can't move while manipulating time! You must have shifted my attacks to some point in the near future, 10 minutes at most!"

Clearly she was very familiar with the 12-winged Nicola's abilities, bluntly pointing out exactly what was done and even how to counter it.

"So you know, as long as I keep attacking nonstop, not giving you a chance to move, your tricks will fail soon enough! Nothing can withstand my Improved Hellfire Slash, not even angels!"

"Of course I know, have you forgotten I've been through this already?"

The 12-winged Nicola inspected her nails leisurely, fully expecting such a reaction.

"Unfortunately you've overlooked two key points!"

She held up two fingers and shook her head.

"Firstly, I can shift attacks not just to the future, but also the past. Secondly, since I'm already here from the future, logically that means your defeat is inevitable. Can't you figure that out?"

"Do I look stupid to you? You claim to have sent attacks into the past, yet I've never seen any Hellfire Slashes appear here before. Even someone as powerful as you can't shift attacks more than 10 minutes back. I don't believe your nonsense one bit!"

Michelle was completely unfazed, continuing her relentless assault.

"Plus I'm not some time-meddling maniac like you. I know before absolute power, all schemes and tricks are useless!"

A very familiar saying about power indeed. Hearing this in another world, something stirred within me. So this principle was prevalent here too?

"But you're not strong enough..."

The 12-winged Nicola glanced pityingly at her and spread her hands.

"True, your Hellfire Slash is formidable, and I really can't rewind time too far. But who said I sent your attack into the past?"

"Then you sent..." My eyes widened in realization, but before I could speak, Michelle screamed as a bloody sword tip suddenly pierced out from her chest, then was quickly withdrawn. Yet no one was visible behind her.

"You're not stupid per se, just reluctant to use your brain. After reading all those books back then, didn't you learn that villains die from talking too much...? No improvement whatsoever in all these years..."

Seeing Michelle collapse in agony, the 12-winged Nicola sighed and conjured up several more Condensation Swords that hung suspended, revolving slowly.

"Allow me to show you the way out."

Once the swords reached a certain angle, she gestured with her own sword at Michelle. Our foe vanished instantly without a trace.

What an "exciting" battle...

As the fight concluded abruptly, I honestly didn't know what to make of it. I'd expected a thrilling clash, but instead everything happened so mundanely, somewhat disappointing.

"You didn't erase her from the timeline, did you?"

6-winged Nicola still wasn't sure what happened.

"Of course not, just sent her to another time."

The 12-winged Nicola looked falsely accused.

"Michelle has a special status. Even banishing her took several swords. She can't die. You'll meet her again, and have to rely on yourselves then."

"Rely on ourselves? Why can't we just use the same method against her in future?"

It seemed six-winged Nicola rather enjoyed this cheat of prearranging help from her future self. Faced with trouble again, she was already thinking of solving problems this way.

"Very dangerous thinking..."

The 12-winged Nicola patted her past self's shoulder and cautioned:

"Always getting your future self to solve problems for you? Aren't you worried she might strangle you one day?"

"This was a special case due to the absent Observer. Our destiny was fixed. Technically you weren't gambling at all, since I would definitely appear now to save you, no matter the history. It was impossible for you to just be killed by Michelle with no help coming. Nobody could change this, even intentionally trying to change it might instead facilitate the whole event inadvertently."

"Ah, that's right..."

The 12-winged Nicola pondered a while before finding the right term.

"The Earth concept is 'world lines convergence'."

"What does the Observer mean though? Who are they?" six-winged Nicola still looked thoroughly confused, though she grasped world lines convergence somewhat. She didn't expect so many bizarre theories about this magical realm, almost like Stone Gate.

"That's still secret. You'll know in time."

The 12-winged Nicola glanced meaningfully at me. I'd asked the same thing earlier.

"So we shouldn't tap the future like this anymore because of some future Observer?"

Since she evaded my key question about the Observer's identity, I could only compromise and ask something else instead.

"That's right. Once the Observer appears, our destinies become uncertain. Different choices lead to alternate timelines. Any time travel then risks messing up or proliferating lines, causing complications."

As she explained this, the 12-winged Nicola rubbed her temples, seeming vexed by the complexities of timelines. She could only offer a simple illustrative example:

"Like, if you gamble like this again in future, there would be two possibilities: either you die instantly with no help coming, then the future you no longer exists on that timeline; or someone saves you like now. Of course, my current self came from the second possibility where you survived."

"So just two possibilities with even odds, 50% each right?" To me, this immediately evoked quantum uncertainty, double-slit experiments, Schrodinger's cat and all that...

"In theory, yes... But in reality your survival chance is less than 1%!"

She just wryly dismissed my viewpoint however.

"The key takeaway is it's extremely unlikely to work out. So never try this again, regardless of reasons!"