Caelus slowly opened his eyes.

He was back in the same space he had been in before he entered the battlefield an hour ago.

The same man stood in front of him.

"Who are you?" Caelus asked, uncertain.

"You don’t know me?" The man smiled. "I’m the reason you got your powers as an Ender."

"What?" Caelus was taken aback.

"Are you the Ender of Origin?" he asked. "No. That can’t be."

"I’m not the Ender of Origin you think I am." The man smiled. "But I’m sure you already know about our first counterpart. The one that leapt through time."

"To put it simply, I was the previous generation’s Ender." he said. "The Ender that didn’t make it out of the abyss, to be precise."

"Didn’t make it out?" Caelus furrowed his brows. "Did you die?"

Was he seeing a ghost right now?

"You can consider me a ghost." the man said, reading Caelus’s thoughts.

Caelus didn’t comment. For now, he couldn’t tell if he was hallucinating or if this was real.

Either way, he had to see it through to the end.

"You must be doubtful, but I’ll tell you everything." he said. "Before that, I’ll introduce myself."

"I’m Frieza, from Azure Origin Planet. I was once known as Player 555."

"..." Caelus stared at him, a pissed look on his face.

"You think I’ll believe that?" he said with a sigh. "I knew it. I’ve finally gone crazy. Now I’m hallucinating things about the Azure Origin Planet."

"You’re not." Frieza said with a hard sigh. "I really am from the Azure Origin Planet. But from a time when the abyss had not yet reset."

"I know you’re still confused. But hear me out." he said. "You know what the abyss is, right?"

Caelus nodded.

"The Enders and the Axiom Origin clashed here. After the clash, they were sent back here, and the Axiom Origin used the last of its power to create a rule."

"The rule of reset. It resets the abyss whenever an Ender reaches the Crown rank. The countdown only lasts a few days before everything gets swallowed whole, and the Enders die along with it."

"The northern Gate, The southern gate, The western gate, The eastern gate." he said. "Those gates open only once. I don’t know who opened them, but right now, that’s the only way to leave this place."

"How did you reach your current situation?" Caelus asked.

"I went mad after I failed to leap through." Frieza said bitterly. "I blamed myself for the end of the world."

"But in the end, just before the abyss reset and killed me, I found the rule of the abyss hidden deep inside it."

"The Axiom Origin was all powerful, yes. But the might of an Ender is of the same proximity. When it used its power to make this rule, it left loopholes it couldn’t fix."

"I found one of those loopholes... and merged with the abyss." he smiled. "Now I am part of the abyss."

"With my power and memories, I recreated the Azure Origin Planet. I tapped into the previous world once more." he smiled. "That’s how the Azure Origin Planet still exists. I remade it."

"But once I did, I used up all my power and fell into slumber. I only woke when your higher dimensional soul crossed into this world."

"I watched you for a while. The day you first entered the Origin Network, I noticed your SSS-Rank Talent, Extraction. My Ender powers told me you were the destined one for the powers of the Ender of Origin."

"I used that time to set up a system. The treasure key you got, that was my doing. The claw you received was part of my own Chaos Dragon Body." he said. "That’s how you got your race from your talent, as well as the title of Ender."

"I fell asleep again after that. I only woke recently, when you were undergoing your Crown ascension."

"You mean..." Caelus’s lips quivered.

"Yes. I was the Hollow King who spoke to you about the southern gate. That place was forged by me."

"I have partial control over this world. Or rather, the southern region of the abyss. But the Watcher of the Abyss, a construct left by the Axiom Origin, made it impossible for me to take full control of the entire abyss."

"Its job is to erase you and the other Enders. You must have already heard its voice once you were in the wormhole."

Caelus nodded. That was correct.

"So, whenever it went to check on the other Enders, I used that time to take control and make changes to the system here."

"The Origin Network did not have much say here, hence, making changes was easy."

"We don’t have much time, Caelus Kross." Frieza said.

"You’re an entity that transmigrated into the abyss. I don’t know how or why you arrived here. But the Origin, our predecessor chose you as this generation’s Ender."

"Do you still have his powers?" Caelus asked, curious.

"I do." Frieza said. "I gave you my powers yet I still have it. I don’t know why."

"The Ender of Origin. We are special, Caelus. I don’t know what our purpose in this world is. But one thing is certain. The reason I can still use the powers of the Ender of Origin is because of our predecessor. The first Origin’s time powers."

"And that time power... only you have managed to awaken it." he said with a smile. "Be glad. Among all the generations, you are the only one with the time powers."

"But that’s for another day."

"Time is running out." he said, frowning. "The abyss will reset soon. I can’t stop it with the Watcher present."

He snapped his fingers, and a bubble appeared.

"Do you see this bubble? It contains the lower expanse, the middle expanse, and the upper expanse of your world."

"I’ll keep it safe. From now on it’ll be a battle between me and the Watcher. But don’t worry, I won’t let go that easily." he said. "During this time, I want you to go to the real world, Caelus Kross. Get stronger. Find answers about our origin, and what our predecessor saw after he leapt through time."

"Once you’ve completed those missions, come back to the abyss."

"This place holds the answer to the beginning and the end of the universe, and of the Origin Network."

"But once you leave, you can only come back when you become the strongest."

Hearing this, Caelus raised a question. "The Origin Network... Do you know why everything is the way it is? Why we were forced to take updates and climb expanses?"

"I’m not too sure." He shook his head. "But since ancient times in my timeline, it was believed this was a mechanism created by the Axiom Origin, or rather the Origin Network, to give others a fair chance at leaving this world."

"Group ascension is possible." he said. "If you reach the upper expanse, merge the entire world together, and become a strong Crown III, you can leave through Origin Merit into the real world."

"But, with you being an ender, it’ll be an impossible feat."

"But right now, the gates opened from the outside are a far easier path."

"This became a thing after I went into the slumber. So, I don’t know how exactly this came to be. But I do have my theories. I believe its related to the real world."

"The real world. What is it like?" Caelus asked.

"I wouldn’t know." he said with a sad smile. "I wish I did."

"But reaching Crown III was all for this purpose."

"The vitality stone you got from Allstar serves an important purpose too." he said. "As well as the divine halos."

"As for the divine halo. I am led to believe it was left behind by the Divine God of Boundless Light, and I also believe the vitality fusion stones are connected to him."

"The way to leave this world is by fusing the vitality fusion stone with your Crown rank."

"An entity of this world can’t survive the real world. That’s why you need the power of Crown, the vitality of the stone, and several other powers to form a vitality that lets us live there."

"The more props you have, the higher the success rate."

"it’s a cheap imitation of Origin Merit, but it worked."

"On that note, the evolutions of the dragon body..." Frieza smiled. "They’re fake."

"What?" Caelus’s eyes widened in shock.

"I made them myself." Frieza sighed. "Only the Chaos Dragon Body is real. The rest is fake."

"The same goes for your girlfriend and Seraphin Lin and anyone else who has a different race and can perform racial awakening."

"I found all the potential god candidates and structured their evolutions around that too."

"Normally you shouldn’t even be able to evolve here, or awaken your racial powers."

"I made it so others could do the same, so the Watcher wouldn’t get suspicious. I altered everything."

"Speaking of which, Seraphin Lin follows an Ender with close ties to our predecessor. This Ender used to like the previous predecessor. That’s also why I also helped her."

"Recently, that Ender has been trying to call out to her, only for the Watcher to cut off the crucial details. That’s why she fell into a coma."

"But yes. Your Ender powers, Origin Sever and Temporal Regression, shouldn’t have awakened at all. You would have awakened them in the real world."

"On that note, The Chaos Dragon Body is still real." he said with a smile.

He waved his hand, and a notification appeared in Caelus’s eyes.

[Ding! Your Chaos Dragon Body’s cooldown and usage limit have been removed.]

[You’ve unlocked Half-Chaos Dragon Transformation!]

"Use it well. It’ll be useful in the real world." he said. "I already sent off the angel, your girlfriend, and Seraphin Lin with the last of my power. They should reach there safely"

"But I can’t help you leave this world like them. You only have yourself to rely on."

"Others can escape this place easily. But an Ender can only rely on himself."

"Use those chaos rings. They were designed for you specifically, so you can reach the real world." he said. "They have everything you need."

"The southern gate will close." he said. "I’ll send you out when you’re ready."

"Yes." Caelus nodded, taking it all in.

The real world.

The world before him was changing so fast. A few hours ago he was in the domain with the others. Now he was about to leap into the real world.

To summarize everything, the man before him was the previous Ender, the one who never got the chance to leave and was swept away in the reset. He went mad, found the rule of reset, and merged with it, taking partial control of the southern part of the world.

He recreated the Azure Origin Planet, fell into slumber, then woke to find Caelus’s transmigrated soul. He felt a connection to him. When he saw Caelus awaken his SSS-Rank Talent, he set up a path for him to become an Ender and gain the dragon race.

He also manipulated the Origin Network so Caelus would awaken the powers he needed to reach the real world, all while keeping the Watcher from noticing.

Now Caelus had to use that power to get to the other side.

There were still questions left unanswered.

For example, the real identity of allstar and his disciple.

When he asked Frieza, he had no answer to it either.

But one thing was certain, all will be revealed once he reached the other side.

He knew Allstar had connection to the vitality fusion stone.