Philip's vision flashed and he didn't see the usual hyperdrive space when going back to the present. Instead, the Fate Timeline appeared in his vision after the flash faded away
"Hm?"
Philip expected to see a change in the Fate Timeline, but he didn't expect it to be this drastic in change
The whole Fate Timeline was shaking, like an earthquake was occuring. Though, Philip wasn't affected and his headache and muscle contractions has disappeared
The ground was moving side to side andup and down, the sky was also shaking and the black streaks seemed to be agitated and moving slower than before. It was then that the Golden Timeline glowed brightly
From where Philip was standing, a gold circle appeared around his feet that connected the Golden Timeline. A loud sound then began to increase in volume coming from below. The sound was like a coming of a disaster and it gave Philip chills. Accompanying the sound, the glow of the Golden Timeline increased brightly
The Branching Timeline of the Saykrandae and the Monarch Lich has fused together and into the Golden Timeline. Meanwhile, the Branching Timeline of the squadron has completely strayed away from the Golden Timeline, unlike when it was branching off a little close to the Golden Timeline. This time, it's almost becoming its own timeline
Even so, that Doomed Branching Timeline is being blocked by E-1's Doomed Fate and surrounded by the squadron's Doomed Fates except for Tenshi. But, there was one Doomed Fate that it's being peeled off and turning into the Bound Fate
Phili reached to the transforming Fate Sphere but the Fate Timeline suddenly warped. His vision suddenly changed for a brief moment before changing back to the original
The scene that he briefly saw is the old Fate Timeline, the plane of Future Vision, from when he was suffering. Millions and billions of branches of the timelines were scattered in front of him and around him, all coming from him. The representative is not two dimensional, but three dimensional and it gave Philip vertigo
When the new Fate Timeline came back in his vision, the space was bent and the ground from the horizon started be bent and rise up to the sky. The ground around him also bent vertically that it almost pushed him off
Instead of falling off, he floated in the air as the ground started to crumple away. The horizon also disappeared and it was replaced by a giagantic wall of fog, the Fog Horizon
The sky also disappeared along with the black streaks. Instead, he was in the sky and he can float around freely. It was then that the black streaks returned and it was coming from the Fog Horizon. They were like bullet or horizontal droplets
Philip tried to catch the black streaks, when the black streaks made contact with his hand, the black streak broke into dust and went around his hand. The scattered black streaks then continued flying across the space
The Golden Timeline also disappeared. It was replaced by a golden river that flows towards the Fog Horizon. Philip can now pass his hand through the Golden Timeline, unlike when it was on the ground and it was just a thick line
The Doomed Branching Timeline was a black river that flows in another direction. The end was being sucked into E-1's Doomed Fate like a black hole and there are only three Doomed Fates left
Philip tried to find the transformed Fate Sphere and it hovered in front of his face. He saw that this Bound Fate belonged to Celine and he was confused as to why or how he saved and liberated Celine
According to the Fate Sphere, apparently Celine trusted Philip too much that the change of fate was easy. Also, the change of fate doesn't pertain to Celine too much, it was mainly because of the Recoiless Technique
The condition of saving Celine is to learn yhe True Recoiless Technique and earn Celine's trust. The condition was supposed to be hard or impossible because of Celine's behavior and attitude. Philip has no possible way to approach to her or engage in a conversation because of her personality
Earning her trust became easy because Philip's negative emotions got the best of him, which made him wanted to be alone and ended up finding the garden to let out his feelings alone. This garden also happened to be Celine's place of alone time. In addition to the fact that E-1 indirectly revealed that Philip has the power of Fate Control, to which Celine believed to be true even if there's no proof. Celine wanted her fate to be change
So, from the start, the pieces has already been set in stone without Philip knowing it. Then, he just happened to stumble all the way through until he has unlocked Celine's Bound Fate
Celine's Bound Fate then flew towards Golden Timeline, with the other Bound Fates and Unbounded Fates from the mansion
Philip then paused and hovered in place. He held his chin and pondered of something
"I thought that using Origin Seeker on someone or something, allows me to seek their very origin, where they came from and how they were be"
Philip reminisced about the past times when he used Origin Seeker on people
"But why does it seem that the Origin Seeker doesn't actually lead me to their origins? Only a part of their lives? Or even beyond themselves before they were born?"
Philip was confused about the true meaning of origin and Origin Seeker itself. In Philip's own understanding, origin means that the source of the target existence and concept, where it started, the genesis, the beginning, and the alpha
Not some random point in time that has something to do with the target
"Unless..."
Philip had an epiphany. The first time he used Origin Seeker is towards Jude. The vision didn't send him to when he was born, he was sent to when the Sword God bestowed the Reverse Sword condition or curse on Jude. Same with Justine, Mathilda, Natsuki and Natsume, and Celine, probably Tenshi also since Philip technically seen her the moment she was baptized, and the Black Box since Philip kinda saw or glimpsed as to where the Black Box came from
So, Philip made a conclusion. Origin Seeker doesn't let Philip seek where they came from or how they came to be, Origin Seeker is a power that is bound and correlates to fate. It is fate that the ability of Origin Seeker allows Philip to go to a specific point in time on the target
Like how when Philip wanted to know about Jude's Reverse Sword condition, the Origin Seeker sent him to the point that the Sword God gave him that curse. There is also when Philip wanted to know why Natsuki and Natsume's fire abilities are incomplete, Origin Seeker sent him to the point where the Fire God, Fotiá, gave the Natsu Clan founder the Fire Gnosis, to which the clan fought against each other for and made their fire abilities weaker towards the future generations
"So, should I keep the name Origin Seeker or change it to something else?"
The Rule of Conception and Law of Literallity should apply and Philip wanted to follow that. Perhaps changing the name of the ability to an appropriate one might increase its effectivity and power, thus upgrading it or levelling it up
"No... It's not that the name is wrong... Origin Seeker still does its purpose. Although, it seeks what I need and the fate that is required for the Fate Timeline. So, technically, it seeks the origin of my desire and the fate needed to be changed prior"
Philip decided to keep the name of Origin Seeker
"I guess that's it... Now, why did the Fate Timeline change? Is it because of the Recoiless Technique?"
Philip pondered for a moment, until a bright light was illuminating behind him. He noticed the light even though his back is turned because there was a glare across his eyes and parts of his arms were being illuminated brightly
He slowly turned around and a deep chill went across his spine. His eyes widened and the golden glow flickered rapidly. His eyes were blinded, but he strained his eyes to completely see the view
What he saw is the light getting brighter and there were thousands and millions, probably billions of golden lines or rivers swerving and flowing coming from the Fog Horizon on the back. The scene was supposed to be beautiful and magnificent but it gave Philip the sense of dread, fear, anger, and chills that his body felt an extreme backlash
These rivers came from the past and it swerved towards the Golden Timeline until every tip of the rivers converged into one point, directly at the start of the Golden Timeline
This could only mean that everything that happened in the past has been set. One change in the past has created chain of changes in different points in time
The Butterfly Effect
The golden rivers encompasses the entire horizon as far as Philip could see at the back. Golden particles started to swirl around the rivers, like leaves being blown across the air
As the golden particles flew closer to the Golden Timeline, Philip's eyes widened even more after he recognized the golden particles
"No..."
The golden particles were golden butterflies that looked like glass. The trail that was left behind by the butterflies was the space being cracked and shattered, but it doesn't seem to have any effect in the Fate Timeline
"No!"
Philip was overwhelmed with wild emotions and he felt his body being torn apart. Usually, the Pureblood doesn't react too much around Philip unless it's alarming, but this time, even the Pureblood was also overwhelmed
The Pureblood briefly used all 100 Pureblood abilities and overloaded Philip's mind. The space around Philip wobbled because of the sudden burst of Soulblood Energy and Pureblood Energy
This made Philip fall unconscious and he left the Fate Timeline as it was still changing
~~~
Philip abruptly opened his eyes and saw Celine in front of him while she has her eyes closed. He still has his fingers on her head and Celine seems to be waiting in anticipation
Philip let out a deep breath through his nose because of what happened in the Fate Timeline. He felt like he died or his brain exploded, so the pressure was collected in him. Though, this made Celine open her eyes
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Philip's golden eyes and she was immediately mesmerized amd entrance. She lifted her arms and held his head on his cheeks and she leaned forward to look closer
Philip was startled from Celine's sudden movements and his attention was caught by Celine looking straight at his eyes. Philip was distracted and also looked at her eyes. He was also entrance
They looked at each other's eyes while Celine held his cheeks with her hand full of calluses under moonlight and night sky. The gold and maroon contrasted each other but it still complimented each other. Philip then moved his right hand from her forehead and drew his finger down her hair next to her left ear
"Your eyes are pretty"
Celine complimented Philip's eyes without any hidden feelings. She just thought that his golden eyes looked beautiful. Philip knew that because of her body language
"Yours too..."
Philip genuinely thought that Celine's eyes were beautiful that's comparable to Yuze, Lyre, Justine, and Natsume. The maroon and reddish hue of her pupils that makes it seem that Philip was in a bloody swamp, quiet and serene that no sense of horrors were around him
From that compliment coming from Philip, at first Celine didn't mind it, but suddenly, her heart was stirred and she felt warm
"No one has ever said that to me before"
"Well, you heard it first from me and I don't lie..."
"..."
Celine just kept staring at Philip's eyes. She doesn't know what to do at this point as she can't pull her gaze away
It was then that Philip raised his right hand and gave a head pat to Celine. He likes giving head pats every opportunity he gets. So, this is the moment where Celine has to pull away her gaze and look down as she enjoyed the head pat
Philip then pulled his legs out and turned around to face the ocean. Celine lifted her head and watched Philip
"I know what you're thinking..."
Philip knew what Celine was thinking from her body language
"Has it been done"
"..."
Instead of replying, Philip lifted his left hand and showed it to Celine
"You see this hand?"
Philip then snapped his fingers and an audible sound reverberated throughout the garden, followed by the warping of space around his hand and the gust of wind
"Huh?! What the?!"
Philip was startled. He never expected for the same thing in Celine's origin to happen right now
"..."
Celine looked at Philip with furrowed eyebrows in extreme confusion
"How can you perform the Recoiless Technique? That's my master's ultimate technique that was taught to me"
"I also learned it from him"
"What?! When and where?! I haven't seen master in over a decade! I missed him! Is he alright?!"
"..."
Philip looked straight at Celine's eyes
"Celine, that snap of my finger is the Fate Control. I have already changed your fate"
"Ah..."
Celine was overwhelmed, she doesn't know where to start whether she should pursue any information about Young-Jin or the validity of her fate being changed
"As to how I learned the Recoiless Technique..."
Philip paused and thought if he should reveal that he learned the technique from the past, at the same time as Celine. Instead, he decided to lie because Origin Seeker is not yet stable nor complete. Who knows what would happen if Celine knew about it, even Justine doesn't know about it fully even though she has an idea about it
"When you were using the technique in the mock battles, I was watching you. That technique is very powerful and I understood the concept of it"
"And you managed to copy it?!"
"Somehow..."
"..."
Ceine was quiet, she doesn't know what to feel at how another person could perform her master's ultimate technique
"Look, Celine... I am that powerful, okay?"
"Mhm..."
Celine just nodded at Philip's words and accepted that he is a special case in this world, probably more special than anyone she has ever met
"So, about your fate..."
"Yeah? How do I know if it changed?"
"You won't be able to... You'll find out the day after tomorrow"
"Future Vision?"
"You could say that"
"Is something going to happen tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow will be the day that the Earth stood still"
"..."
Celine stared at Philip with worried eyes. She understands what his words means but she doesn't know what will happen. Though, she is somewhat confident because of her martial arts, the squadron, and the existence called the Old Man
"Anyways! I guess it's time we take a rest?"
Philip asked Celine as an ice breaker
"I have already rested with my breathing techniques. You should go back to the Room Quarters and rest yourself"
Celine was supposed to be on patrol because of the disturbance around the military facility and in the sky. His job is done because she found out the source of it
"I think I'll stay here for a little while"
"Alright, I'll stay here as well"
"Suit yourself"
With that, Philip and Celine spent the night awake while watching the sea. They sometimes engage in idle chatter and Celine taught Philip a few pointers about Recoiless Technique since he can do it
At this point, the two of them has built a connection and mutual respect at each other in terms of prowess, skill, and the fact that they suffered from their past
Several hours later, the sun rose into the horizon and Philip's eyes were piercing and extremely serious
===
Time till catastrophe:
>_ 12:00:00
>_ 11:59:59
A countdown timer has appeared in the Fate Timeline, above the Doomed Branching Timeline. All the golden butterflies flew towards E-1's Doomed Fate and disappeared into ashes before the butterflies could do anything