Supreme Harem God System-Chapter 2007 [Trial Four: The Hourglass of Undoing]

"Alright,

Time for round two."

Nux muttered as he lazily stretched his body.

The standstill had continued for too long. These past few years had been nothing short of traumatic, especially since he knew how low his shameless other self could go to win. Therefore, not only did he have to comprehend causality, he also needed to make sure the other him didn't play any other trick and stay alert.

But now, the long wait was over.

Nux had finally managed to form a Law.

Honestly, he had already comprehended enough causality to gain an upper hand in the battle and end it quite a long time ago. He, however, decided not to act upon it because he believed the Law he had formed was weak compared to the two other Time-related Laws.

He wanted a Law as strong as his other Laws, and only once he was confident enough and his greedy, perfectionist side was satisfied did he finally move and decide to end this, even if that meant giving his other side enough time to comprehend some of the causality himself.

After all, it wouldn't matter if his other self comprehended some of the causality if he comprehended ALL of it, now would it?

With that thought in his mind, Nux smiled as he stared at his other self, who had stood up as well, prepared for the one final battle.

The other self didn't waste time. He rushed towards Nux. The terrain was no longer an issue for him since he had comprehended enough causality as well. He quickly got closer to Nux and punched Nux's face—

Or so he tried to, but Nux had already moved.

No, it was not his body moving on its own once his senses registered the incoming attack. Rather, it was Nux, who had sensed the 'effect' of the 'cause' that hadn't happened.

In simpler words, the moment the thought 'he will attack' occurred in the other Nux's mind—it became a cause—and the effect was Nux already moving to dodge.

An advanced precognition ability, where he didn't deal with mere possibilities, but rather, a certain future where he knew exactly what would happen and moved accordingly to prevent it.

Yes, a broken ability, and no matter how desperately the other Nux tried, there was nothing he could do.

Another blow came, but again, Nux was not just ahead—he was finished moving before the punch even began. His body flowed through the space like he'd already fought this battle a thousand times.

Heck, it even seemed like he allowed the other Nux to attack just to stroke his own ego and rub it in—

Exactly something Nux would do.

"Heh, this is fun."

He laughed shamelessly.

Of course, he could already sense the other Nux's movements slowing down. He had once again shifted his focus to comprehend causality in an attempt to win, but then—

Nux attacked.

It wasn't something grand, just a normal palm to the chest.

Other Nux staggered back—he wasn't hit, the attack hadn't landed yet, but… it had.

Nux manipulated the 'effect' of his strike and triggered it before the cause. From the other Nux's perspective, this was no different than Nux barely moving his hand to prepare for a strike and him being hurt by the said strike.

He didn't even know what hit him.

It was an attack he… couldn't see.

The 'effect' (the pain) was faster than the 'cause' (the punch). There was no way to avoid an attack like that.

And the other Nux, whose body was pushed back by the attack, realized it.

He stared at Nux, somewhat confused. This, however, had only just begun.

Bam Bam Bam Bam

It was another set of attacks, with every single one more brutal than the other. The head, the limbs, the joints—Nux didn't spare anything.

In an instant, the battle had turned around. The other Nux couldn't dodge the brutal attacks. His body was full of pain, and he had no idea how to react. It felt like his opponent was moving in the past and attacking in the future.

He was in an entirely different plane of existence, an existence he could not understand.

The battle was over.

The other Nux had lost, just that…

He wasn't willing to admit it.

He charged at Nux one last time and unleashed a series of attacks at a speed so insane no other person would ever be able to react to it,

But…

It was all useless.

Nux was able to dodge all the attacks before they landed, and it was all unbelievably perfect.

A kick? Dodged before the leg lifted.

A feint? Countered before it even registered as deception.

Even those razor-sharp instincts the two Nuxes shared—became irrelevant.

Because instincts came after cause.

And Nux had left Cause behind.

The garden around them pulsed, distorted with unstable time, but for Nux, it all made sense now. The broken threads of logic were like a web he could now see—and control.

He wasn't moving faster, neither was he stronger.

He was simply… moving before.

And finally, the other Nux fell behind.

It started with a punch that landed before it was thrown.

Then, it was a dodge before there was danger, a counter before the idea of attack had even formed, and slowly but surely—

The gap widened.

One second, two, then three… all the way to ten, twenty, thirty seconds…

Soon, the gap had widened to an entire minute.

Nux had moved too far. Heck, for him, the battle was already over. In his eyes, the other Nux had already fallen.

Every breath the other Nux took was now predicted and followed by pain—all his effects were predicted, all the effects on him were triggered,

And…

Thud

He fell.

He tried to stand, but then—

Step Step

"Leave it."

Nux walked towards him.

"It's over, you know it as well."

"…"

As usual, the other Nux didn't reply, something that this time made Nux chuckle.

"You aren't even real. Why are you making this harder for me?"

At those words, the other Nux raised his head and stared at Nux. He seemed confused.

"What? You didn't think you were real, did you?"

Nux laughed.

"You think someone like me would stay silent for hundreds of years, especially when I have company as charming as myself? You obviously aren't real."

"…"

The other Nux stayed silent, until suddenly—

He launched his body onto Nux, trying to take him down, only to realize that Nux wasn't even there in the first place.

"Tsk, shameless bastard."

He heard a click of tongue, and just as he was about to turn around—

Bam

A knee on his face, and the other Nux finally lost consciousness.

"Haahhh…"

Nux sighed as he saw his other self lying on the ground, then—

Flicker

His other self's body started flickering until it turned into a golden stream of light.

Silence.

The twisted garden shuddered once… and then unraveled. Time twisted back into shape. Flowers bloomed in the correct direction. Rain fell downward. Birds sang after chirping.

The broken threads were reconnected, and a familiar screen appeared in front of Nux.

[Trial Three: Complete]

A light smile appeared on his face.

He stared at this mysterious place one last time before it all returned to normal. Even the unravelling of time made sense to him, something that satisfied him, and then—

Flicker

His body flickered, the soft grass and strange sky of the Garden faded, and the world twisted once more.

Yes, Nux was teleported to yet another strange place.

When he opened his eyes, he stood at the center of what seemed like a desolate battlefield.

The sky above was a deep, burning red, but the shade didn't come from the sun. It came from countless frozen explosions, locked mid-air. Swords floated in the sky, arrows reversed their flight, flying backwards into bows that no longer existed. Smoke curled downward into craters, and broken mountains slowly rose, unbreaking stone by stone.

Nux didn't even need his current understanding of this place to realize what all this meant—the Time Flow here had reversed.

Instead of moving forward, it was unwinding.

The hundreds of thousands of corpses on the ground stood once again, returning to life before they once again shoved themselves into the battle that had already happened.

It was a confusing sight, yes. The more it reversed, the stranger it got, especially seeing how the soldiers battled in reverse, moving away from each other after the sword clashes, all while their injuries healed. However, it was still something Nux could make sense out of.

Nux continued to look around. At the center of this place stood an hourglass much larger than any mountain here, tipped sideways, hovering in the air. Its sand shined like stars, flowing in both directions—up and down—at the same time.

Then suddenly—

Bzzzzzz

It trembled as the Hourglass became brighter.

Then it happened.

The reversed Time Flow returned to normal. The soldiers, who had barely separated from each other, rushed at each other again, cutting each other down before becoming victims to the enemies' weapons.

"Huh…"

Nux muttered, still confused.

And then, he saw the screen.

[Trial Four: The Hourglass of Undoing]