Vile Rabbit-Chapter 121: the answer is time.

The moment Apexion and Galene walked into the kingdom,

shing!

Their suddenly bodies shrunk once more, becoming six feet tall, and at the same time, one of the male creatures clad in ancient white garments stepped a few meters before them, blocking their path, he gazed at them with a warm smile on his face, and spoke in a welcoming tone,

"Welcome to the Valnal, the kingdom of wisdom and thought. You must be here for the wise one's sermon… You came at the right time; the sermon will begin in a few hours." As the creature spoke, his ears flapped slightly, like a bird's wings.

Apexion's mind flashed with countless scenarios as he thought about the key words, 'wise one's sermon.' A wise one, someone with great wisdom, and a sermon… an instant later, he replied to the creature in an equally friendly tone, also with a warm smile,

"Yes, I am here for the wise one's sermon…fortunately, I made it in time or else I would have traveled all that distance for nothing." After Apexion finished speaking, he frowned, for he tried walking forward, only to discover that he couldn't; it was as if the very concept of walking was nullified and sealed.

He thought of something, then he gave up.

Suddenly, the creature's smile vanished, and then it spoke in a somewhat menacing tone, "Good, good, I am happy that you are here for the sermons and not something else, but..." It paused, then its mouth started to curve upwards in a smile, just like the one from before, only it was sinister, reaching all the way to its ears.

And at that moment, Apexion felt the long-forgotten feeling of all consuming dread. The creature continued,

"Answer me this. I am the beginning and the end. At any given moment, I can will all of existence to instantly age and decay, and at the next moment, I can will it to be renewed just the same. I can be long or short, fast or slow. What am I?!"

After the creature spoke, something unforeseen happened; every single creature in the kingdom snapped their heads towards Apexion, their eyes locked onto him, gazing at him with anticipation and darkness.

his body froze, and the feeling of dread he was feeling earlier morphed into something greater, fear. Yes, fear, true and absolute instinctive fear; his entire existence screamed at him, telling him that he was in the presence of a being so horrifying, a threat so terrifying that not even his main self was safe from it.

His eyes shone as he tried to self-destruct, only to discover that the very concept of self-destruct was gone. After which,

"ANSWER!"

A horrifying voice rang out in his mind, and, crack! The weight of the voice caused small web-like cracks to appear on his body; his glowing crimson blood that could extinguish millions of stars spattered but vanished before it could make contact with the creature or the floor.

'How long has it been since I've been in such a state… It's been so long, since I was a kit, battling the fragment of a damned one… how fascinating. How wonderful,' he thought as the right side of his mouth curved upwards in a slight grin. After which,

"Time. Time is the answer. What you are describing is time," he answered in a calm tone, for only time is the beginning and the end; only it rots the world and renews it. Well, he came up with multiple answers such as life and death, but he chose to go with time because of the theme of this forbidden echo.

The moment they entered, the kingdom was old and broken, then it became fresh and renewed as if they had traveled between two time periods, and he was right.

Almost all of the eyes flashed with satisfaction, then looked away from him and the creatures resumed doing what they were doing as if nothing had just happened.

"Good, good, I would expect no less from a being such as you… You may enter, oh, and the sermon will be taking place at the very center of the kingdom; that is where the wise one dwells," said the creature in a happy tone, its ears blurred as they flapped at extreme speeds.

Apexion's eyes flashed with many thoughts as he felt the concept of walking reappear in his cognition. When suddenly, something happened that caused him to be shocked and somewhat disappointed. Galene, she,

"Splat!"

She suddenly exploded into a mess of blood and organs, which vanished before they made contact with him or the ground .

What caused him to be shocked wasn't her exploding, no. It was the fact that he could sense that she was dead, not the time-out dead, but true death, the one where there was no coming back from.

He could even feel his memories of her becoming dull and blurry; he couldn't remember her name or her face. All he remembered was that he and someone entered the forbidden echo, and that someone was now dead.

He felt disappointment because he was sure that he had already planned out a scheme that involved that someone. 'What was it?' Ah, yes, he wanted to use that someone as a shield inside this forbidden echo, if needed be, and if not, to use that someone as a spy in their organization.

"Go on now, make sure not to be too late; the wise one hates tardiness," urged the creature.

Apexion snapped out of his thoughts and took a deep look at the creature; his starry eyes blazed with abysmal flames. He wanted to see the creature for what it truly was; he wanted to see through the falsehood of this entire echo and gaze upon its truth.

But a second later, his eyes flashed with disappointment; everything in his eyes was just as it appeared to be.

He then walked forward with a calm expression; as he walked his eyes flashed, and his body healed. Although he failed to see this kingdom for what it truly was, he was certain what type of being this echo belonged to, and that was,

'a terror above the 8th tier.'