Super God Academy: Kabuto

Lin Yu, dressed in black, moved silently, like ink stains on water, once again spreading across the courtyard of the Winter Cherry Blossom World. His gaze calmly fell upon the silver-haired figure below—He Xi was looking up at the falling cherry blossoms, her hand unconsciously protecting her lower abdomen.

"He Xi." A voice rang out, deeper than Lin Yu's usual voice, carrying an indescribable sense of vicissitude and weight, as if it had traversed endless time.

He Xi turned her head at the sound, and her pupils contracted slightly the moment her gaze fell on Lin Yu in black. The "Lin Yu" before her had a familiar yet distant aura that made her heart tremble. The deep emotion in his eyes sent a strange sting through her. "You...he..." Her words were hesitant. As intelligent as she was, she had already sensed an extraordinary connection and difference.

"His understanding and application of his own power is still at a very superficial level." Lin Yu, dressed in black, spoke calmly, as if stating an objective fact. "The storms outside are for 'me' to deal with. Until he is truly capable of shouldering everything."

He Xi didn't respond immediately, but slowly walked over and stopped a step away from him. She looked up, her clear silver eyes gazing deeply into his eyes, eyes that seemed to hold the birth and death of countless worlds, and asked a question that had been buried deep in her heart for a long time: "I actually...wanted to ask this a long time ago. Why do you......" She carefully chose her words, "give off such a similar feeling, yet it's as if separated by...endless years?"

Lin Yu, dressed in black, remained silent for a moment, his gaze seemingly piercing through He Xi, directed towards a distant and hazy beginning. His voice softened, carrying a sense of distant reminiscence:

"When I first woke up, I found myself in a desolate mountain range. There was nothing else around me except a flower, quietly keeping me company." He paused, as if he could still feel the biting mountain wind and the flower's loneliness. "It was special, containing a power that I couldn't fully comprehend. Later, I left the mountains and was adopted by Qilin's father. I grew up with Qilin, spending ordinary yet precious time together."

His narration was straightforward, yet it made He Xi hold her breath.

"Until the Taotie descended, and war engulfed the city. I had no choice but to rely on the power of that flower to become stronger and protect everything I wanted to protect. After that, I met you all..." His gaze lingered on He Xi's face for a moment, a faint tenderness seeming to flash across his deep eyes, before being covered by an even deeper silence. "We met, got to know each other, and stood side by side... until the great tide of the void swept everything away."

He Xi's fingers tightened slightly.

"After that..." Lin Yu's voice suddenly lowered, each word seemingly soaked in congealed blood and tears, "it was your deaths."

Those few simple words struck He Xi's heart like a heavy hammer. Although it might have been a tragedy in "another" timeline, the unforgettable pain seemed to be directly conveyed through the tone of the man in front of her.

"I used all the power of the 'End's Bud'—the flower that has always been with me—to forcibly reverse time." His tone remained calm, yet it carried a suffocating resolve. "I went back to the past, paused the flow of time at that point, and then... with the last rays of the 'End's Bud', began my wandering between different universes."

He seemed to be telling someone else's story, but He Xi could sense the turbulent undercurrent beneath the calm surface.

"I've wandered through countless worlds, witnessing all sorts of civilizations and life forms, and making many acquaintances—some friends, some just passersby. In an extremely special universe, I encountered an accident, merging with the most primal power of that universe's rules." He raised his hand, palm up, as if grasping something. "From that moment on, my perception and manipulation of 'time' underwent a fundamental change. I no longer merely 'borrow' the power of the End's Core; I myself became part of the rules of time. I began to try, using this power, to return to an earlier past, to investigate, to stop the calamity that caused your deaths..."

He shook his head, a faint, almost self-deprecating smile curving his lips: "Perhaps, back then, I was still too weak. I saw the clues, touched the edge, but I could never shake the predetermined core of the tragedy, as if there was always an invisible barrier blocking it. One attempt after another, one failure after another."

He Xi's heart clenched. She could almost see that lonely figure running and crashing in vain through the endless corridor of time, covered in wounds.

"Finally," Lin Yu's voice, now calm, carried a sacrificial weight, "I made my choice. I stripped away half of my origin and most of my power, combining it with the last remaining, core 'possibility' and 'protection' laws of the 'End's Core,' and separated 'him' from 'me'."

His gaze returned to He Xi: "He is special. He inherited my initial, relatively complete life form, emotional memories, and... that deepest bond with the 'End's Bud,' but he did not bear the vicissitudes, weariness, and those overly heavy 'rules' burdens' that I accumulated in countless cycles of time. He is more like the original 'Lin Yu,' possessing pure growth potential and infinite possibilities. And I, in different ways, have always guided him from the shadows, watching him step by step to where he is today."

With a flash of dark red light, the Kabuto insect instrument appeared out of thin air above Lin Yu's palm in black. It hovered quietly, its single horn pointing at He Xi as if in silent greeting, before disappearing again.

"I came here to tell you in person," Lin Yu, dressed in black, looked at He Xi, and a clear, visible tenderness and apology, unique to her, finally appeared deep within his ancient, icy eyes. "'He' is alright. He is in a safe place, undergoing a crucial transformation. As for all the crises and challenges outside, I will handle them until he is able to face and resolve them."

He Xi listened quietly, tears already blurring her vision. She didn't speak, but simply reached out and gently, firmly, grasped Lin Yu's slightly cold hand.

Lin Yu, dressed in black, was visibly taken aback, seemingly not expecting this move. He looked down at their clasped hands, then looked up at He Xi's tearful yet smiling face. On that face, weathered by countless ages, a warm and relieved smile finally blossomed slowly and genuinely. In that smile, there was weariness, relief, deep love, and a hint of ease as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

"Take care of yourself," he said, gently squeezing He Xi's hand in return, his grip light yet filled with reluctance. "And...our child."

As his words fell, his figure faded and dissolved like ink receding into water, starting from the edge. There was no sound, no ripple, only the cherry blossoms in the courtyard, seemingly falling silently and gently like a soft snowflake the instant he completely vanished.

He Xi stood there, the warmth in her palm fading rapidly, resonating with the steady beating of the new life within her. She gazed at the void where he had disappeared, and after a long while, the hand resting on her lower abdomen tightened slightly.

The wind blew by, lifting her silver hair and taking away the last trace of warmth that belonged to an era that was heavy and no longer belonged to this time.