Timeless Assassin

Chapter 1054: Timeskip (4)

(Inside The Fourth Dimension, Leo’s POV)

After stepping inside the Fourth Dimension, the first thing that Leo did was to search for the break in the flow of time, as he focused on understanding the final aspect that had continued to elude him despite years of study, while his awareness expanded outward in a thin, careful layer as he tried to sense something that could not be seen, touched, or directly perceived.

’Find the break...’ Leo thought, as his consciousness stretched further into the void, brushing faintly against something intangible, something that did not behave like matter or energy, but rather existed as a presence that surrounded everything while remaining fundamentally untouchable.

Time.

Not as seconds, not as motion, and not as a ticking sequence that moved from one moment to the next, but as a current, a continuous flow that moved without moving, existing everywhere and nowhere at once as it wrapped itself around reality like an unseen thread stitching existence together.

For a long time, Leo had struggled to even perceive it, as to him, time had once been nothing more than a measure, a simple progression that moved forward in a straight line from past to present to future, a concept so basic that it required no deeper thought.

But over the past decade, that illusion had been completely shattered.

’Time is not a line...’ Leo thought, as his brows furrowed slightly while his perception deepened.

’It’s a loop.’

A perfect and endless loop that had no beginning and no end, as what had already happened would happen again, and what would happen had, in some sense, already occurred, making the distinction between past and future nothing more than a construct of perception rather than an absolute truth.

Because time, in its purest form, did not move forward as one might assume, but instead cycled continuously, like a river that returned to its source or a wheel that turned endlessly upon itself without ever stopping.

And yet, even that understanding was incomplete.

Because if time were truly perfect in its structure, then it should have been consistent, unchanging, and uniform in every sense of its existence, but what Leo had discovered through years of observation proved otherwise.

Leo slowly opened his eyes, as his awareness sharpened further.

’There are breaks...’ he realized.

Not within the loop itself, but within the flow of it, as there existed points where the current did not behave as it should, moments that felt misplaced, as though they did not belong within the natural cycle of time, like a ripple forming in perfectly still water or a crack appearing within a flawless circle.

’Anomalies.’

That was the name he had given them, as they were moments that existed between time, neither part of the past, nor the future, nor even the present in the conventional sense, but something entirely separate, something that existed outside the natural continuity of the loop itself.

*Huff—*

Leo exhaled sharply as he focused deeper, his aura stretching thinner, sharper, and more refined as he attempted to detect one of these irregularities, because understanding them was the final step that stood between him and the complete comprehension of the Law of Time.

Over the years, he had come to understand the fundamental aspects that governed time’s behavior, as what once felt like an abstract, untouchable concept had slowly begun to reveal its underlying structure through relentless observation and failed comprehension.

He had first grasped the gradient, the subtle shift between states of time, as he realized that moments did not simply transition from one to another, but rather flowed across an invisible incline that dictated how change was experienced.

Then came the flow, the perceived direction of time’s movement, as he understood that what most beings called "forward" was nothing more than a chosen orientation within a cycle that itself had no true beginning or end.

After that, he uncovered the slope, the acceleration and deceleration within that perceived movement, as he began to see how time could feel fast or slow not because it changed, but because perception itself bent along its curve.

And finally, he came to understand its nature, the most unsettling realization of them all, as he accepted that time was not bound to events, but rather that all events were bound to time, existing only as fragments within its endless and indifferent cycle.

Each of these concepts had taken years to understand, years of failure, years of confusion, and years spent in silent observation, as he had stared into the void of Fourth Dimension countless times, chasing fragments of realization that slipped through his grasp the moment he thought he had understood them.

And yet, this final piece refused to yield.

’The anomaly...’ Leo thought, as his senses sharpened further.

Because unlike every other aspect of time, it could not be reasoned, it could not be mapped, and it could not be predicted, as it simply appeared and disappeared without pattern or warning, as though time itself momentarily forgot its own rules.

Leo clenched his jaw slightly as that thought settled in.

Because without divine essence, he lacked the ability to interact with time in any meaningful way, as he could not slow it, could not stop it, and could not reverse it, leaving him with only one option.

To observe.

To understand.

And to wait.

But that was enough.

Because once he understood time not as a concept, but as a law, then everything would change, as understanding always preceded control, and mastery was impossible without first achieving complete comprehension.

Leo steadied himself as his aura pulsed outward once more, spreading even thinner into the void as he searched, listened, and waited for that one imperfection within perfection, because the moment he found it, the moment he understood it, the Law of Time would finally be his.

And after that, space would follow.

And after space, gravity.

As only by mastering all space, time and gravity could he comprehend the final law, the law of creation and destruction.

’Just a little more.... I just need to come across an anomaly one more time....’

Leo begged, as he prayed to stumble upon it yet again, when suddenly, he sensed something unusual.....