Chapter 496: Future and Present

The Destruction Sphere was a powerful spell that combined countless forms of dissociation magic, combining offensive and control effects. It created a black sphere made of nothingness to attack targets through remote contact, while also exerting a strong gravitational pull to drag the targets into its range, subjecting them repeatedly to the attacks of dissociation magic.
Although dissociation magic was hardly effective against true gods, and even demi-gods could ignore multiple instances of it, this spell could still restrict the freedom of true gods who had no defenses, making it difficult for them to move freely.
The battlefield was full of rapid changes, and in battles of this scale, even a moment of carelessness could lead to defeat.
As soon as Donald made his move, the God of Turbulent Winds noticed something different about this true god opponent—first, he no longer held that divine spear, and second, there was not a trace of combat on his body!
This meant they were completely different individuals.
But what puzzled the God of Turbulent Winds was that this new enemy not only looked identical to the previous one but also had an exactly similar aura.
Strictly speaking, this should have been impossible!
Every true god was unique. Others might imitate their divine powers or domains, but they could never replicate a true god’s divine authority. Even if two individuals emerged from the same true god, the laws and powers they controlled could only be extremely similar, not exactly the same.
It was like dividing a cake into two pieces—no matter how you cut it, you couldn’t get two identical pieces!
So not only was the God of Turbulent Winds shocked, but everyone else present was also stunned.
Even powerful figures like Carlisle could tell that this new Donald was not an illusion created by magic. Even the legendary spell True Mirror Magic could only separate a small part of the soul’s essence to create a replica of the caster. The strength of such a replica could never surpass that of the original, which was a clear difference from the true form.
Yet this new Donald was identical to the original in every way. It couldn’t be an incarnation either, as even ordinary strongmen could tell the difference between an incarnation and the true form at a glance!
“It’s time replication magic!”
A voice suddenly exclaimed excitedly.

“Time Replication?” Those outside were both curious and puzzled.
Chicofield explained excitedly, “It’s a rare legendary spell. I’ve existed for nearly two thousand years, and this is only the second time I’ve seen it…”
Among everyone present, only Chicofield—now back in his human form and a newly risen legendary archmage—could immediately figure out why a second Donald appeared, thanks to his extensive experience and knowledge of magical schools.
The legendary spell of Time Replication is one of the most advanced and difficult to master. Just by considering it among spells like Mountain of Procrustes, Lich Rebirth, and Aelorn’s Immortality, one can grasp its complexity and power. Even most true gods have failed to master it.
The effect of this spell is that the caster can extract a version of themselves from a future timeline and use a single action to place that future self in a nearby location.
Theoretically, the future self summoned by Donald is merely a possible version of oneself. After all, the flow of time is a vortex of infinite possibilities, and no prophet can predict future events with absolute accuracy—only perceive a likelihood among many.
Moreover, the future can be changed. If a prophet reveals future events to the involved party, and that party decides to alter the likely outcome, the future may change accordingly.
However, Donald’s method of extracting a future self eliminates all possibilities and turns potential futures into definite ones.
Both the caster and their future self can act normally in the present timeline. For example, if the caster has used up all their magic and no longer has enough to cast a powerful spell, their copy still has all the resources the caster had when casting Time Replication.
This is like having an extra, fully capable version of oneself join the battle—especially for a true god, such a spell can yield even greater effects. It’s not simply a case of one plus one equaling two.
Of course, this spell relies on complex time laws that not every legendary mage can master. By reversing the flow of time, it naturally incurs penalties from the rules of time.

Since the caster’s future self is still part of the flow of time, it comes to the present. To share a period of time with the caster, it means he will miss out on a portion of his own future. As the caster’s future copy is also himself, he too will miss out on the subsequent period of time.

Managing the flow of time is a daunting task even for true gods, leading to the following three scenarios: In the first stage, the caster uses time replication magic on himself; his future self arrives from the future to the present, and both can act normally during this time period.

In the second stage, the future self that has just returned from the future passes through that time period. For it, the present is no longer the past but the current moment. Thus, during this period, the caster has returned to the past and therefore does not exist—or rather, he disappears back to the past at the beginning of this period, along with his present self. This creates a gap in time during which the caster is absent from every corner of the universe.

In the third stage, the caster returns to the normal flow of time. He reappears at the location where his previous future self disappeared at the end of the past, in the same state as before. All resources consumed by his self in the second stage, including spell slots, damage dealt, and items used, become reality now.

In short, in the first stage, there are two versions of you; the damage and resources consumed by your copy are not recorded. In the second stage, both you and your copy disappear. In the third stage, there is only one you, and it is then that time begins to record all the damage and resources your copy suffered.

Moreover, using this magic to capture a future self to extend time and possibilities has severe limitations; a more powerful version of time replication magic cannot be created. No one can determine whether their future self will become as powerful as an upper god or fail in their pursuit of eternity!

Therefore, even if Donald possesses a powerful high-tier artifact like the Truth, he cannot bring more future selves to assist him at once, as he cannot retrieve a self from an even more distant future.

High-tier artifacts, which are even more unique than true gods, cannot exist in the same time period in duplicate—not even upper gods can override this rule.

This time, the time replication technique used by Donald only brought back his version from ten minutes ago. In other words, this future Donald existed for only ten minutes. Yet, ten minutes was more than enough for this battle! While the future Donald kept the God of Chaotic Winds under control, the present Donald and Charlie, along with the other two true gods, recovered from the power of the secondary artifact explosion and prepared to surround the God of Chaotic Winds. At that moment, powerful warriors from other directions had already dealt with their targets and rushed over at full speed after sensing the explosion’s force. “Time is running out!” Seeing his future self release a destructive spell ball to restrain the God of Chaotic Winds, Donald immediately cast his own powerful offensive spell. A three-foot-long black blade-shaped dimensional rift appeared, slicing through space at a speed beyond even the true gods’ reaction time, inflicting severe piercing damage on the God of Chaotic Winds’ giant body, which was dozens of feet tall. This was the level-9 spell Disaster Black Blade. It created a dimensional rift that served as the caster’s weapon, allowing multiple close-range attacks based on the caster’s control ability until the rift dissipated. Everything cut by the rift was consumed by spatial forces and vanished—whether matter or energy—its effect similar to dissociation magic, but countless times more powerful! Even true gods would not dare to withstand such an attack head-on without protection, unless their mastery of spatial mechanics surpassed the limits of this spell, allowing them to ignore its spatial damage. Disaster Black Blade was one of the few level-9 spells that could bypass a true god’s immunity and directly harm their divine body. If the God of Chaotic Winds could use a divine artifact for defense or divine spells to counter or deflect the spell’s effects, avoiding its trajectory in advance, this level-9 spell might not be able to harm him, given his power on par with that of a mid-tier god. But now, under the influence of the destructive spell ball’s field, the God of Chaotic Winds suffered a severe wound. To mortals, such an injury would be fatal. Yet for an immortal true god, even being decapitated or cut in half wouldn’t matter as long as their divine essence remained intact—they could recover quickly through their divine power. As a true god warrior, he was initially stunned by the sudden appearance of a second identical enemy, but the God of Chaotic Winds quickly regained his composure. What time was it? For him, this was a life-or-death moment. There was no time left for him to waste.

The opportunity created by the self-destructing divine artifact was interrupted by an unexpected opponent, forcing the God of Chaotic Winds to find another way!
If not for the appearance of Donald from the future, with the God of Chaotic Winds’ strength and a willingness to risk everything to escape, the three of them would surely not be able to stop him—unless someone was willing to suffer severe injuries or sacrifice their divine artifact.
But with Donald from the future taking the initiative to intervene, the four True Gods were able to form a siege, plunging the God of Chaotic Winds into an unprecedented crisis.
Thus, this powerful lower-tier god who had dominated the Totem Continent for thousands of years had no choice but to shout toward the east: “Graysen, won’t you help me?”