Philip turned around without batting an eye to the defeated Elaine, Justine couldn't care any less also. Mark had some regrets in his heart, Celine was very disappointed, and Tenshi expected it since she already knew Elaine's true personality with the Revelation prayer
Philip extended his hand to try to touch the wall of True Mana. As the tip of his fingers touched the particles, the wall suddenly opened in front of them and the space behind it was distorted. Philip's golden eyes brighten a little bit
"Is it safe, Philip?"
Mark asked
"I don't know..."
Philip was confused. He couldn't see through the distortion of space even with Clairvoyance, Eye Vision, Night Vision, and Future Vision. So, he is very uncertain
"I'll go first"
Philip noticed everyone's worry and he bravely volunteered to enter the distortion first
"Philip wait! What if something happens on the other side and we can't help you?"
Justine said with worry
"Don't worry... I'll do my best to be safe"
Without wasting anymore time, he just jumped into the distortion and he passed on the other side
~~~
Philip crossed the wall of True Mana and entered a dark place. He landed on a sloped ground that is tinted with dark blue color. The moment he entered the place, his hearing turned down a few pitches and all he could hear is deep loud rumbling noise, like a fire blazing or a metal warping, that's ringing and deafening
His body felt extremely heavy and he couldn't stand up straight. He lifted his head up and saw the surrounding place
It was a forest, more dense that the magical forest outside of the wall. The trees were dark blue and even the air is blue. Particles of True Mana floats in the air
In the distance, there are glowing spikes and crystals that is a contrast to the dark blue environment. It almost hurts to look at these glowing spikes and crystals
Moments later, changes started to happen around Philip. He became alarmed and his golden eyes glowed brighter. His black hair also turned black-gold
The True Mana particles started to gather around him and swirl around his body. The particles brushed across his skin, to which his body unexpectedly and severely reacted to it
His body began to tremble and shake violently as his body is undergoing another reformation. His skin partially tore apart and his bones cackled inside his muscles, which caused gave him a tickle yet pain at the same time. The Spirit Fibers across his skeletal system is being renewed and newer Spirit Fibers are being generated and produced
The Pureblood became excited as his bloodstream is flowing faster than ever that it made his body hot. Even if this reformation is beneficial to Philip's body, it's still giving him unbearable pain that he had to scream at the top of his lungs. The ground slightly shook and the True Mana present in the air was agitated. In Philip's eyes, he is once again suffering but his body considers it as beneficial
Even though his second reformation of his body is a good thing, inside his head is tragic. His consciousness was forcefully pulled into the Fate Timeline. Once Philip entered the Fate Timeline, fear filled his mind after seeing yet another drastic change
~~~
The golden butterflies has disappeared but the countless Branching Timelines converging into the Golden Timeline from behind him. He followed the flow of the Golden Timeline with his eyesight and he became stunlocked
The Golden Timeline was being skewed to the left and being pushed by the Doomed Branching Timeline. It looked like the Doomed Branching Timeline is taling over the Golden Timeline and forcing the course of the future to go towards path of doom than the golden path
At the end of the Doomed Timeline, E-1's Doomed Fate is looming over the Fog Horizon. Around the Doomed Fate are the orbiting Doomed Fates of Mark, Sheena, and Elaine, with the addition of a golden ring that orbits the opposite way from the Fate Spheres. It was like the Doomed Fate is a black hole that is sucking the golden light into the event horizon
But that's the least of his worries because a series of numbers are displayed on the sky, even though there's no sky in the current Fate Timeline. He saw the countdown and a loud thump was heard in his chest
===
Time till catastrophe:
>_ 5:45:51
===
Philip gritted his teeth and he furrowed his eyebrows. He became slighty angry because he became very confused with the countdown. It sent chills through his spine and his mind is being overwhelmed with emotions
"What does this mean?!!"
Philip shouted with panic and passion. His mind started to break down and his vision started to go blurry while the Golden Timeline is being bent to the wrong way and the Doomed Branching Timeline is taking over
As Philip is blankly staring at the timer, the countdown suddenly sped up and gave a new timer. As the numbers went down, Philip's eyes widened by the second
===
Time till catastrophe:
>_ 5:14:34
>_ 4:56:13
> _ #:##:##
>_ #:##:##
>_ 1:25:48
>_ 0:59:59
===
Golden light then suddenly filled the Fate Timeline and blinded Philip. He was then forcefully pushed out of the Fate Timeline and his consciousness came back to reality
~~~
Philip's body continued to be reformed. His was already kneeling to the ground and the blue True Mana particles are emerging from his back in arcs like blue flames and plasma. His skin was expanded and torn apart, but the white lines were quickly repairing it. His bones grew stronger and longer that it made his height higher
He gripped the ground and his finger burrowed onto the earth, cracks formed on the ground around his hand. His black-gold hair became smoother and shinier and his skin became clearer. His golden eyes became brighter and a red mist started to form around him
It was then that the whole True Mana space rumbled and the True Mana particles converged towards Philip's body, as if his body is sucking the True Mana particles. The blue air, the blue atmosphere, and the blue coloring of this place is being pulled towards him
His body started to glow in a blue hue and it looks purple because of the red mist around him. The skin on the center of his forehead then opened and the Blood Horn grew out of it. Like usual, the Blood Horn cracked and the cracks began to glow with crimson color. A small energetic blood orb appeared at the tip of the Blood Horn
Energy condensed around his body and the air trembled violently. After a few seconds, the energy and True Mana collected around his body exploded and bursted through the surroundings. The trees swayed and the atmosphere trembled. The blue coloring of the place disappeared and went towards Philip as it turned to gray
The space distortion around the place has also disappeared. Justine and the rest were surprised by the sudden change in surroundings. The wall of True Mana slowly dissipated starting from the top, going to the bottom. Justine and the squadron took a step back from confusion
They then felt a surge of strange energy that boggled their minds. They had to lift their arms and cover their fronts as wind blew strongly through them. Sheena and Elaine were also surprised as the magcial forest became noisy
After the wall of True Mana completely dissipated through, Justine and the squadron can see the large crater from when the temporary military base was built
There were twisted trees cluttered inside the crater and they were pulled back into the ground. The debris from the ruined military base was revealed, including the destruction of vehicles and machines used to excavate around the unstable Mana Hotspot. There are even remains of dead from when the soldiers, workers, and researchers were caught by the anomaly of the Mana Hotspot
Glowing blue stones and crystals then protruded from the ground like spikes and at the middle of the crater is a mountain of glowing blue rocks, like an ant hill. The mouth of the unstable Mana Hotspot is at the tip of the mountain and surrounded by blue crystals. The diameter of the hole is at least 50 meters wide just by looking at it
The sky is still the same with the giant looming dark cyclonic storm with lightning and thunder occuring frequently. Wind is also blowing strongly around the area
Everyone was distracted by the sudden changes and appearance of the surroundings that they momentarily forgot about Philip and became concerned about the change. It was then that something was caught at the corner of their eyes
They becane slightly alarmed because the thing that caught their attention was out of the ordinary. There was a man standing a few distance away from them with black-gold hair and an ominous red horn on his forehead. His entire body is also emitting a blue hue, like an aura. They prepared to attack whenever the person moves with hostility. But they paused when Justine spoke
"Philip?! What happened? You look different?"
Mark and the others then widened their eyes. Philip's appearance changed drastically, not just his height, but his overall appearance
"..."
Philip didn't respond for a second because he is glaring at the unsuspecting E-1. She was in a daze while innocently looking at the sky
"It's still me... Though, this is only temporary because I borrowed the True Mana present around here. True Mana cannot be replenished unlike Pure Mana and it will be depleted soon"
"Wait, borrowed? What do you mean?"
Mark became confused
"It means what it means. I can harness Mana better than anyone and use it as my own power. I don't know how, but it's that I can do it"
"What?! What about that horn? It seems familiar"
"..."
Philip stared at Mark's eyes with empty eyes
"I would like for you refrain asking a lot of questions... We are in a time constraint and we must hurry... We have roughly an hour left"
"... I understand"
Mark stopped and understood the meaning behind Philip's words
"What do we have to do?"
Mark asked to which Philip pointed at the glowing mountain in the middle of the crater
"Hurry! We have to be in our best state going there"
"Understood"
"..."
Tenshi answered and the rest nodded
Tenshi transformed into her Holy Angel form and the Halo with he Eight Heavenly Discs appeared on her back. Tiny chibi-like wings then appeared next to her back. The wings weren't attached and only floating next to her back, but with that, she will be capable of flight. Her blue eyes athen glowed
Celine performed several conditioning martial arts that will amplify her vitality, endurance, strength, and speed. She also somewhat became heavy as she slightly caved into the ground with a few inch deep crater
Justine partially went to her Swirlonic State as her blue eyes became red and the tips of her blonde hair faded into red. Small red marks also appeared on her arms and legs
Mark, on the other hand, didn't do anything as of the moment and only wielded his four transmutated swords
"Sheena..."
Before they went, Philip called out to Sheena
"Y-yes?"
"I have a favor to ask..."
"What is that?"
"But first, can you contact the military facility from here?"
"No, there's interference in the air that disrupts radio waves. Probably because of the abundance of Mana or this magical forest"
"Do you think other squadrons around the world are busy right now?"
"I'm not sure--"
"What are you thinking?! Why are you asking that question?! Are you trying to tell the other squadrons around the world about this secret mission and jeopardize us? Sheena, if he's going to tell you to contact them, don't---"
*Shing*
The air and space between Sheena and Elaine suddenly blurred which startled the both of them. The ground if front of them was suddenly split apart and the trees in the magical forest were either cut horizontally or obliterated in a straight line
"Keep talking and I won't miss. You have no idea what is going on and if you ever did, you could have wished that you should have died way earlier... So, again, don't be self-centered and never push your opinions to others, okay?"
Philip told Elaine with a smile. Even if he was giving a warm smile, his aura was violently burning and it gave everyone present a chill in their spine
White lines immediately crawled around his right arm after using a sword technique imbued with Sword Concept to repair it. White light then covered his arm and glowed brightly. The True Mana aura around him focused on his arm
"Sheena... I want you to construct a relay radar and communications, then upgrade it, to contact the military base. If the military base is not responding, call for Anonymous, he will pick up your signal. Then tell him to contact the squadrons around the world and go to this coordinates as soon as possible"
"..."
"Understand?"
"Yes!"
"Unfortunately, Elaine will be crucial for the relay radar to work... I will give you a chance, work with Sheena and grant my wish. If not, then it's regretful. You can persuade her if you want, Sheena, but if she really doesn't want to do it... I trust you and your ability. I believe you can do it"
"I... Thank you. I'll try my best!"
"Hey! What do you mean regretful?! What will happen to me?"
"Keep asking questions and don't follow my instructions, that will lead you to somewhere. Maybe, you will also find the answers there"
Philip said sarcastically and turned back around. He leaped forward and left. Justine and Tenshi followed behind him, Mark and Celine looked at Elaine with worry and regret before following along the others. They both ran across the crater and past the scraps and debris. Surprisingly, Mark is catching up with Celine's speed and they are not falling behind from Philip, Justine, and Tenshi
"Are you going to follow Philip?"
Sheena asked Elaine after the others left
"Absolutely not! I'll go exploring and data gathering. You do what you want, I don't want any part of it!"
Elaine stormed out, grabbed a few equipments, and left towards the magical forest to gather data
Sheena looked around in sadness that Elaine is unwilling to cooperate with her. She didn't expect that Elaine had this hidden side on her and it did surprise her. She then saw E-1 staring at the sky and she looked at her with confused eyes
She then left E-1 and started to construct the relay radar with multiple upgraded magnets hovering around her. She floated in the air as the upgraded magnets helped amplify the magnetic field around her. The scraps and debris from the ruined military base was uprooted and began to orbit around her in the sky. She decided to take the time and construct the relay radar perfectly
===
Time till catastrophe:
>_ 0:54:35
===