The endless nightmares melted before him like ice and snow in an instant. The Nightmare Demons had long since ceased to be a match for him as he burned, and in that moment, he charged toward the end of time with almost overwhelming force.
But he lost that battle.
And that was also the first time he truly witnessed just how terrifying the calamity at the end of time was.
Vast, horrifying, indescribable.
Its scale was unimaginably immense, even compared to his own.
Only then did Lynn truly understand the enormous crisis facing his other self at the end of time. Unless he retraced his path and severed time, there was virtually no chance of defeating that pitch-black sky.
And when the black-robed figure summoned boundless power from that calamity, his scale rapidly rising beyond Lynn's, Lynn knew this battle would yield no results.
But Lynn still chose to clash with him.
In that battle, Lynn was defeated and forced to retreat.
Yet it also gave him a concrete understanding of that calamity's power.
In an instant.
Lynn opened his eyes in Dark Night City. His consciousness returned to his body in reality, leaving the battlefield at the end of time.
"Brain, are you all right?!"
Zuo Zuo trembled as she asked.
That battle had long since transcended her understanding. Just as mortals could not comprehend deities, the instant their immense forms collided, she saw her Brain's sky-shrouding blackfire rapidly snuffed out. It was as though no flame, however terrifying, could advance any farther beneath that silent winter.
"He was right. With my current strength, even if I charge into the end of time, I'm no match for that calamity."
Lynn panted.
"But this is a good start, isn't it?"
Because that battle had deepened his understanding of the concept