Instead of replying, the System Administrator exclaimed in surprise. "This is not your power! But your master in High Command! How is that possible?!"

'Propriety mentally sighs with pity and says we have forgotten too much. Infinity-edgers are called so because that's what they are. They exist at the edge of infinity. Being in two different worlds simultaneously is no issue for them.'

"This is a different universe!" the administrator insisted. "Any half-assed A-rank can exist in two different worlds in the same galaxy, but this breaks the rule of Reality itself!"

'Propriety says this is enough postponing. An S-rank like her, a true one who has elevated her Realization into a set of Laws, would not react that way. He demands an answer. Who told her to give Discontinuity the Title "The End of All Things"?'

Indeed, it seemed like the System Admin had been gaining time. After Propriety's "words," she snickered, and the teleportation was completed, revealing her body.

There were plenty of demi-human races in the Alliance, and she belonged to one of them. She was a feline with beautiful white fur, a biped cat walking on two legs and with humanoid proportions. She was fluffy and, Shen had to admit, cute—in an animal way. Little in her face or body looked human.

Unlike the other beings present, she wasn't affected by any chair enchantment. She was naturally eight feet tall and held herself with grace and poise. High-tech-looking grey and blue metal plates were glued to her front, covering her from the neck to the start of her tail. It looked like a mix of armor and clothing designed to cover her cat-like reproductive organs.

Her eyes were a bright blue that seemed to hold galaxies. It reminded Shen of Purrrkrrrr, the time-bending prisoner he had fought in the tutorial. He Inspected her, wondering if the system's Inspection would even work against the administrator.

| Nebula War Tiger (S)

It partially worked. Only her race and rank were shown. She didn't want anyone in the Alliance to get more intelligence on her than that.

Her eyes became small slits as soon as she materialized, and she looked straight at... Liya?

"I know about the Authority Token, and I know it can release me from this place," she stated without emotion. "Without my help in the rift, your student would've died. If I hadn't hidden his triumph from beings you don't want as enemies, news of his recovery would've reached them. I'll open myself to your Realization so you can see our connection as proof. Release me."

Liya's reaction surprised Shen even more. She frowned, then took an octagonal obsidian badge from her spatial ring. It had a silver symbol in the middle in a strange language, which the system translated as "Discontinuity."

But then, she froze, sighed, and put it away.

"Balancing karma with you would mean accruing negative karma with Discontinuity, who has shown nothing but goodwill towards me," Liya said, shaking her head. "Releasing you means negating myself. I apologize, but I can't repay the debt this way."

The admin bared her teeth. "You can't deny yourself? Big words for a B-rank. What if being true to yourself results in your race ceasing to exist?"

Such a threat from an S-rank wasn't something you could simply ignore, but there was more going on.

Suddenly, Liya's eyes, nose, and ears bled. "What is any life before Karmic Balance?" she answered, her voice clearly unwilling. She seemed to be fighting a compulsion to answer, thus the blood. "If I could exchange every living being in the multiverse for my Realization's ascension, I would do so."

The answer shocked Shen, but the nebula tiger wasn't done. "If you could push a button to exchange their lives for your Realization's ascension, would you do it?"

The drow coughed blood. It ran down her lips to her neck. "Yes."

"If you could push a button to exchange the life of the boy by your side for your Realiation's ascension, would you do it?"

Liya coughed violently this time. The more she tried to resist the compulsion, the more it hurt her. Shen was done watching. The answer didn't matter if giving it would harm Liya.

He tried to stand up, speak, and use his qi, but he was frozen. He could only move his head and eyes.

Liya locked her jaw firmly with enough strength for her teeth to crack. Even more blood poured from her head's apertures. Yet, moments later, she replied.

"Yes."

Shen quickly quelled the emotion that wanted to surface. Now wasn't the time for that.

"What is my Title?" the administrator asked.

"The Allseeing," Liya breathed.

"What is my Realization?"

"Revealing Light," the drow replied as her eyes rolled in her sockets. She wasn't unconscious yet, but she was close.

"There are multiple ways to Realize a Path, child. You developed something you believe the multiverse is lacking. I deemed a set of Laws to be lacking, enhanced it, then forced my changes to affect all universes the Alliance is a part of. In doing so, I became a ruler of Light itself. I am a living Law. Yet, you dare stand in my way. I can stop Light from sharing any Concept with Karmic Balance. I can prevent your Realization from ascending. You claim Karmic Balance is more important than anything. You already betrayed your student, your race, and the entire Alliance with your words. Will you also betray your Realization by cutting off its Path forward? Would you rather be left with nothing than submit to me?"

Liya's body started moving unnaturally like a broken puppet every few seconds. Her arms and legs bent at impossible angles with loud cracks. She opened her mouth wide, and blood poured from the inside, drenching her and Shen. Her eyes were completely white.

"The infinity-edgers will do nothing to protect you," the administrator added. "They helped create the rigid hierarchy you fight against. They believe in the tyranny of ranks that lets me do this to you without consequence. You're resisting for no reason."

Liya's arms, legs, and head bent one hundred eighty degrees backward. The image made Shen feel terrible. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't speak or do anything.

Then, the tiger sighed. "Good. A Realization cannot reach the Heavens if you aren't willing to sacrifice everything for it. You pass."

Suddenly, what had just happened seemed like an illusion. Liya was back in position, fully healed. There was no blood drop anywhere.

However, the drow was suddenly trembling and crying. She hugged herself protectively, lowered her head, and sobbed.

Shen had never seen that. He didn't even know that was possible.

"Now, you," the administrator said while turning to the empty cushion. "I gave Discontinuity that Title because it pleased me. My Revealing Light showed his nature. Infinity-edgers are close to infinity but not quite there yet, are you? The girl is wrong, but I see the truth. You don't barely stop yourselves from breaking Reality apart. Rather, you do everything you can to accomplish it, but even at S-rank, you fail. The freedom you believe you'll get when you break Reality might bring doom to all existence, yet you persist. Even Discontinuity's chosen name is evidence of your end goal. How is The End of All Things not a fitting Title?"

In the ensuing silence, Shen realized he couldn't "hear" Propriety anymore. The S-rank seemed to be preventing that.

"She needed a wake-up call. Despite having a Realization, she is playing babysitter and trying to fix your master's pet project. I won't allow her to waste time like this."

There was a moment of silence, then she snickered and replied to another thing Propriety had said, but Shen hadn't heard.

"The A-ranks here are a waste of my good intentions. The drow Realized her Path at C-rank. No, I'm not lying. Then, she triggered Discontinuity's witch hunt. She's a precious and proven war resource. I just ensured she'll mature faster. And aren't you the one who said a Purge is coming? Are you telling me a B-rank's feelings are more important than the Alliance?"

Whatever answer the admin got, she didn't like it. She frowned. "You're not lying, but neither was Dusk—" Her eyes widened. "Either Discontinuity or Dusk Horizon are Void Prophets. Or both. It should be impossible at S-rank." After another pause, she squinted her eyes one last time. "It has been a long time since I last saw Dusk Horizon's true body. Very well. Tell your master I agree, but he won't like the consequences if I find nothing."

Light moved backward. Shen saw everything that had just happened move in reverse as if the facts were rewinding. It happened quickly until the tiger became teleportation light again.

"You deal with their memories," she declared. "The Void Herald might resist me unless I break his mind." After that, things further rewound until before she had teleported in.

It wasn't Shen's first time being subjected to a nebula war tiger's ability over time. Back in the tutorial, the little cat prisoner had played with him until he noticed something amiss. The only similarity between the cat and the administrator was their eyes, but they were unique enough that Shen was willing to believe they were from the same race.

Back then, he had been an E-rank fighting an E-rank. He resisted the time reversal ability using Boundless Qi. Now, he was a D-rank trying to resist an S-rank. He shouldn't be able to do anything, but the administrator still said he might resist her.

There was an instant between her last words and Propriety taking action, and Shen used it as best as he could. He turned to the empty cushion and mouthed two words, "You should not revert time for Liya."

He did it as fast as he could but feared it would be too slow. It wasn't.

'Propriety wants me to explain myself.'

Shen turned to the crying Liya. He almost hugged her—almost. She was vulnerable, and the last thing she needed now was for him to expose another weakness for her enemies to take advantage of. While their almost-relationship might end as soon as they talked, that she had ever attempted it might be enough to cause her issues.

He could only slightly release the control over his soul ripples, exposing his sympathy for her, and hope she was looking.

"This is the best for her," he said, finding out he could speak now. "This is also what the Allseeing wanted. It'll gain you and me her favor. So, it's the best for everyone."

'Propriety asks how it can be the best for Liya if she can't even speak in this state.'

Indeed, Liya was broken. Unlike everyone else, who seemed frozen in time and potentially unconscious, she could move freely. Yet, she was now hugging her legs and crying like a child.

"If the System Administrator didn't lie, Liya's Realization will benefit from this, which will also hasten her growth. If Liya wasn't forced to lie, she cares about her Realization more than anything. Therefore, she wouldn't want to lose such grand gains, no matter the cost, even if she feels like shit now. I believe she might also be crying without care for the first time in her life. Even emotionally, this is a critical moment for her. She hates it and might hate me for making her remember, but she'd hate having her memory of this reversed even more. Like the Allseeing, she will feel grateful to you for not removing this experience from her. And according to the Allseeing, Liya is awesome. You will do well to gain her favor."

Shen's greatest worry wasn't Liya's hatred. Instead, it was their almost-relationship.

It should be better for his feelings to have both of them forget what had just happened. She might be willing to kill him for her Realization right now, but what if he had the time to grow closer to her? Yet, would he be deserving of her feelings if he was egoistical at such an important time for her?

It was a paradox. With his emotions muted as he was currently making them, only logic remained, and it insisted he acted honorable regardless of his feelings or personal losses and gains.

'Propriety says he doesn't fully understand it but is considering it. He asks if I also want to remember everything.'

Shen was surprised by the offer. "Can I?"

'The infinity-edger confirms it.'

"What will everyone forget, exactly?"

'Everything from the moment before the System Administrator first spoke.'

"Can the others hear us right now?"

'He says no.'

"Then I want to tell Liya something first." He turned to her. "The admin spoke about me perhaps resisting her. In the tutorial, I met a nebula war tiger who could reserve time at E-rank."

That was his roundabout way of saying that either the admin or someone she's connected with had helped stir the Dreamer's pot. That hinted at Allseeing having an agenda. Liya shouldn't trust the tiger's words unconditionally.

In other words, yes, the Allseeing might've acted out of the goodness of her heart in what she did to Liya, but maybe not.

The System Administrator being able to force the truth out of other people didn't mean she couldn't lie. Liya's Path might have eventually led her to a place where she recognized nothing but her Realization mattered, but maybe not. Even the fact that there were two different ways to Realize a Path suggested that there were different ways to make a Realization ascend, too.

Moreover, whatever was happening to Liya wasn't natural. She wouldn't react like that if she had "only" been subjected to torture; Shen was sure of that. So he wanted to point out some things to her, like a potential enemy to take revenge against. Therefore, she shouldn't forget anything. What if she forgot but was still affected by the Allseeing's powers? Liya wouldn't even know who to point her spear against for what had been done to her.

Shen had to say it now because he didn't know when—or if—he could talk to her alone again. Would she even speak to him after she recovered, or would she immediately leave to pursue the advancement of her Realization?

And he had to speak almost in riddles because the system was always listening. What if he was, in fact, foiling one of the admin's schemes? The tiger might kill come for him. Yet, he had to take a risk to talk to Liya.

He couldn't ask for Propriety's help to cut the system off. He didn't know or trust the infinity-edger. It had done nothing as Liya was tortured, after all. Moreover, the admin might suspect something worse than the words he had just spoken.

'Propriety asks me if that's all.'

"Yes."

'Now, he says he'll grant me my wish despite lacking understanding because it's supposedly the best for Liya, who is currently hierarchically above him. If I'm lying, he'll punish me. He'll now wait until Liya comes back to herself. I'm free to pass the time however I want, as long as I don't leave the premises.'

Shen didn't hesitate. Releasing his emotions enough to think about Liya's words would do him no good. It might even cause him to do something stupid. There would be time for that later, ideally after, not during, the Summit.

For now, the best thing he could do was to close his eyes, center himself, and cultivate.

The System Administrator might've been an asshole, but she had a point. Shen didn't want to be a weakling if a Purge was coming.

He had to grow stronger fast.