Turia and Theodore heard a large crashing noise as they both disappeared from the pavilion.
A strong crushing force clamped down on both of them. This feeling of being crushed prevented them from even opening their eyes, but it did not harm them.
What Turia and Theodore felt was Theodore's [Time] protecting them, while Turia's mana fueled it.
[Time] had forcefully compressed Turia's awareness into the body sitting behind Theodore.
Ever higher quantities of mana were consumed at a rapid pace and Turia was only a single step away from total mental exhaustion.
Before she almost lost her consciousness though, both of them suddenly arrived at the moment, the wall across from Theodore exploded.
As planned, Theodore quickly used the still active [Time] to freeze the scene.
Now the world became frozen here as well. Turia now stood still behind the frozen figure of the escaping Theodore, who now had a new problem to solve.
He had to speed up [Time] slightly, or they could not make a move at all.
At the same time should he release his grip on [Time] too much, he could allow whatever was breaking the wall across the street to make its way across.
The creatures moved simply too fast. He could not allow it to approach Turia before she found what she was looking for!
A tinge of golden light covered Turia and Theodore like an aura. This was [Time], allowing both of them to move about in the frozen gray of the world.
With its help, Turia was finally free to make a move and she used her mind to reach out to her "Future" self hidden in the mana of the world.
To her artificial eyes, even the mana that carried information through the internet was frozen in gray. Turia saw large strands of mana, invisible to normal eyes, floating in the sky overhead.
She accessed this sea of information and her mind left golden tracks, as it traveled the grayed out net.
Very quickly, her awareness left the surface of the planet behind and approached a relay satellite in orbit. It was there that she finally found traces of her future self and began merging with them.
This process would take some time though and they couldn't risk running out of mana. Just as planned, Theodore would unfreeze [Time] completely to help them save their mana for the return trip.
Theodore received the signal from Turia and took off running, carrying Turia in a princess carry.
A slight blush was present on both their faces but both were forced to ignore it when the noises started.
"Boom!"
Rubble exploded out and showered the street!
While their plan would allow Turia to merge with herself it would also allow the creature to continue its assault on Theodore.
He never ran this fast before in his entire life!
His improved body cultivation now played a crucial part in his escape.
Running through the rubble in a zig-zag fashion, Theodore barely managed to avoid the pursuit by a hair.
"Screech!"
An angry scream sounded off behind the running Theodore who got goosebumps hearing it. He had anticipated a risky escape but the creature did something completely unexpected next!
"Growl!"
With a thundering growl that echoed in the rubble, it summoned reinforcements!
"Screech!" "Screech!" "Screech!"
Theodore could hear several other creatures answer the roll call in the distance as he ran.
Large crashing noises approached his position and would soon catch up to them. He hoped that Turia was close to finding what she needed so that they could get the hell out of here!
While Theodore was slowly surrounded, Turia had discovered an even bigger problem.
Whatever information she hoped to learn was simply inaccessible. The place at the center of the planet should have contained her massive artificial mind.
Her current avatar should have been easily able to access it. The problem was not with her avatar, it was her "Future" self that was missing entirely!
Evidently, [Time] had switched out her "Future" self with her self from the past just like Theodore.
Turia decided to change her approach to the problem. Since she had no one to ask what the hell was going on, she would go and see for herself.
Quickly leaving the empty depths of the planet, her awareness took to the skies and reached orbit.
There her mind took on the golden figure of a girl, blazing with mana amidst the stars.
She waved her hand and connected her mind to all of the unoccupied machinery that made up her "future" self.
It was then that she could finally see it.
At last, the crisis became fully apparent to Turia and golden tears of light dripped down her face.
This disaster didn't just affect this planet but occurred all over the galaxy!
She saw the same creatures suddenly appearing on many of the worlds and fierce battles raged there. Entire fleets of battleships fought with large masses of giant creatures out in space and lost.
From somewhere far outside the galaxy, invaders had arrived!
'Shit! This is horrible! Why is this happening? WHY?!'
In tears, she saw the galaxy being devoured by the flames of war. All over the place, men and machines alike were dying in great numbers.
The sheer amount of invaders completely overwhelmed any resistance. She realized with despair, that this could not be won.
'I have to tell Theo! We have to get the hell out of here now!'
Just as the golden figure of light closed her eyes, Turia opened hers in tears.
Theodore was in bad shape.
Trying to outrun his pursuers had taken its toll on him and he was wounded a few times.
Large bleeding gashes had formed on his back but Theodore had not allowed even a single scratch to land on Turia's body!
With his life on the line, he had shielded her avatar and paid a heavy price for it.
Even though Theodore was still running while carrying her, this could not continue for long. They were running out of time.
"It's much worse than we thought, Theo!"
Only when he heard her voice again did his attention switch back to the girl in his arms.
"*pant*, Worse?! *wheeze*,HOW?"
"The whole galaxy is done for Theo! Its all over!"
Theodore almost stopped in his tracks when he heard her say that. He caught himself and sped up once more, still trying to escape the creatures not far behind.
He had to save his breath but the look he gave Turia said it all.
'What do we do now?' was written all over the look on his face.
They had to leave this place no matter what. They had to escape this hell.
As Theodore approached an upcoming intersection, he ground to a halt. With wide eyes, he realized that an entire swarm of creatures had surrounded them.
There was no other way out of this one.
In the middle of the intersection stood Theodore, holding Turia in his arms as they were surrounded by the swarm of enemy creatures.
Theodore quickly froze [Time] again, leaving a thin golden aura surrounding him and Turia.
Both of them connected their minds, as they had done before, and entered Theodore's white VR lobby.
In this place, both of them could speak while the outside world slowed to a crawl.
This time it was Theadore's turn to be shown someone else's memories and his face twisted in hatred when he saw what was happening all over the galaxy.
When he had seen all that Turia discovered, Theodore waved his hand and the scenery changed.
Both of them now saw the slowed down outside world instead of the previous lobby they were in.
A giant mass of claws and fangs slowly closed in on both of them.
The frustrated Theodore embraced Turia as she began crying loudly in his embrace.
It would now only be a matter of time before they would be killed.
There was not enough mana for a return trip now that he had frozen [Time] again.
The desperate cries suddenly stopped when Turia came up with an idea;
"That's it, Theo!"
"What? What is it? Did you have an idea that can help us get out of here?"
"No, not me! Him!"
Turia waved her hand and the little lord appeared next to them! He had his body stored by Turia before the trip and was now released again!
"Holy shit! What the hell is going on here?! Humph!"
"As you can see little one, we are in quite a pinch here." Turia's voice was solemn.
This was the only card she had left to play. If even the little lord could not come up with an idea, they would all die here.
"No kidding, you incompetent fools! This lord should have never been persuaded to come along!"
Turia gave a knowing look to Theodore, who swallowed hard. Ignoring his strong dislike for the little dictator, Theodore ended up asking the little lord for his help:
"Can you think of a way to escape from here?"
"Escape? Allow us a moment to analyze the situation!"
The little lord observed the mass of enemies closing in on them with a frown. His frown deepened when he saw how little mana remained in both of them.
This was gonna be tricky.
"Humph. The solution to your problem is only a simple matter of time!"
Theodore's face began twitching.
"Are you shitting me right now?"
"Of course not, fool! We traveled here using [Time] so naturally, we leave the same way we came."
"How?! Neither one of us has enough mana left for the trip back!"
"True but also false. Yes, you have little mana remaining lad. She, on the other hand, is different!"
"What is that supposed to mean? My avatar is almost drained of any mana! How am I supposed to power Theo's ability without it?"
"Your avatar may be almost out of mana but what about the rest of your body? Humph! Foolish mother of machines, your whole body includes the very heart of the planet itself! Overload the reactors and you will have all the mana that you need!"
"Are you nuts? That will blow this world to pieces!"
"That is all this one can suggest. You fools put yourself in this position and you will have to get yourself out of it as well. Do not blame this little lord for your mistakes!"
She sighed, her little lord trump card had shown its usefulness alright. Detonating her body would cripple her. She would end up losing everything except her avatar.
She looked at Theodore. He had risked so much already and thanks to her, was facing certain death.
Turia would be happy if he could somehow at least survive and regretted dragging them here.
With no other choices left, she sighed as she made up her mind:
"Alright, we'll do it this way. Theodore, just focus on fully using [Time]. Hopefully, we can make it."
"Are you sure Turia? Once you do that there will be no turning back."
"I know. Just look outside. There is no other way left."
Turia realized that it was the only way that they had left, and Theodore knew it too.
Turia stored the little lord away again and held Theodore's hand tight.
"Listen, Theodore. For all it is worth, I am so sorry. Sorry for dragging you into this mess, I …"
Her apology was cut short however by Theodore, who drew her in for a close hug.
"Stop. Don't, Turia. It was a promise between us. A promise I intend to keep. Just don't die on me and leave me by myself later!"
Turia had tears streaming down her face again. She felt so safe in his hug as if the terror in the world outside was a total lie.
Gratitude overwhelmed her and she cried her heart out. Theodore did not stop her and allowed her to vent.
It took a moment but she felt much better about what she was about to do.
"Thank you, Theo. Are you ready?"
"Ready when you are."
Turia initialized the planet's core generator and disabled the emergency shutdown and cooling systems.
Within moments she was once again brimming with mana but this came at a terrible cost. Highly delicate components began overloading and burning out at an ever-increasing scale.
The crushing sensation of Theodore's [Time] appeared again but Turia was unaware of it.
She focused her mind on supplying Theodore with the energy he needed to get them out of there.
The soul-crushing pain of her destruction overwhelmed her but still, she gave all she could to Theodore.
The planet's core was approaching detonation and earthquakes shook the world even in its slowed down state!
Persevering through the agony, she continued onward until, at last, they both appeared on a grassy plain!
Exhausted both sat back to back, breathing heavy. Their bodies gave off steam as they sat there.
They were both tired enough to fall asleep on the spot but forced themselves to stay awake.
"Looks like we somehow made it, huh…"
"*Sniffle*, we did, Theo. "
Theodore's voice was a hoarse mess, while she began to softly cry.
"*Sniffle* You want the good news or the bad news first, Theo?"
"Give me the good news…"
"I know where we are. We are on, what used to be, the southern continent on planet Turia."
"The bad news?"
"I don't recognize these stars, Theo!"