CHAPTER 180: WORLD STOPS

Hermes and Raphael pushed.

It was not effortless, though it should have been impossible. The Soyuz spacecraft weighed thousands of metric tons, a steel leviathan built for orbit, not for the gentle hands of two living beings to guide.

And yet, as their bodies shone with the blinding fire of Paragon energy, they moved it. It was like swimming against an ocean current while pushing a dinghy in front of them. Muscles strained, the vacuum pressed against their bodies....

But they kept pushing for hours.

Hermes focused on every micro-adjustment. If they angled too far to the left, the spacecraft could re-enter the atmosphere wrong and burn up. Too far right, and it would spiral endlessly into the void. He adjusted the angle with delicate flicks of his wrist, his six radiant wings spreading wide to brace against the stars.

Raphael’s expression remained calm, though Hermes could see the quiet tension in the alien’s jaw. His hands pressed against the Soyuz hull, golden veins glowing across his arms as the ship gradually shifted into position.

"Keep it steady." Hermes muttered.

"I know, my Lord." Raphael replied, his voice low and reverent.

The descent began. The Soyuz dipped into Earth’s atmosphere, streaking fire against the horizon, and Hermes felt his chest tighten.

He and Raphael guided it downward, each push and pull a battle between gravity and willpower. The flames licked across the hull, a bright orange trail marking their path across the sky.

Below them, the world watched.

On city streets, men and women pointed upward. Children gasped. Farmers looked up from their fields, eyes wide at the sight of the vessel descending like a burning star. News cameras caught it, and within seconds, every television and phone screen blared with the footage.

And among the watchers were the others.

Ymir tilted his head back, sighing in relief. Magni leaned over his shoulder, muttering something under his breath. Somner exhaled slowly, steadying himself. Aphrodite, quiet and meek as always, pressed a hand over his chest, whispering a soft prayer that no one heard.

"They did it," Ymir murmured.

"For now." Aphrodite said.

Because all of them knew. This was not the end.

The moment that Raphael and Hermes completed their descent, time would shift, and the Earth would freeze.

And the only one left to move through it would be Dante Quasar, who had already placed one of his wormholes in position. He was waiting.

Inside the Soyuz, the astronauts trembled. The children remained unconscious, their small bodies strapped safely in place after the storm of power that had nearly consumed them. The injured Russian soldiers clung to their seats, their eyes darting toward Hermes and Raphael with terror.

None of them moved. None dared to speak.

And then, as the fire around the ship dimmed and the ground loomed close, Raphael turned to Hermes.

His golden eyes glowed with something both fierce and soft, and Hermes understood without a word. He nodded.

It began.

Hermes’ form erupted in brilliance. His Paragon beast form, an angel with six wings, six halos, and six eyes, spread across the sky.

But this time, it was not only Paragon.

The alien and the divine warped together, melding with Rewind until his human features melted into something beyond humanity. His skin turned pure white, elongated and alien, a body that carried no imperfections. His face became featureless except for the six glowing eyes that burned with celestial fire.

The golden clock that usually hovered behind him split, multiplied, and transformed into six wheels of time, each interlocking, each orbiting in endless motion.

The wheels spun around him.... Luminous, terrifying, and unstoppable.

Raphael, who had faced death and risen from it, who had walked through the fire of a thousand battles, could barely stand in his presence. His gaze trembled as he looked at Hermes, who no longer looked like a boy, no longer looked like a human, but something vaster.

Something infinite.

"My Lord," Raphael whispered, his voice cracking, "what have you become...?"

Hermes did not answer. He only rose higher, his six eyes glowing so bright they eclipsed the stars.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

His cry split across the heavens, a sound that was both angelic and monstrous, and Raphael could not help himself.

He reached forward, embracing this divine being, pressing his chest to Hermes as if grounding himself against the brilliance.

Their lights merged. Golden and white, fire and time, Paragon and Rewind. The power exploded outward, crashing across the blue planet below.

And then, silence.

The world froze.

Literally.

Hermes opened his eyes again, his features shifting back. His face returned to its familiar form, though his body remained white, alien, unblemished. The six wheels of time spun relentlessly in his torso, circling, grinding, ensuring that Earth itself remained still.

Every second was locked in place.

He and Raphael floated above the planet, and Hermes exhaled, steadying himself. They descended together, testing it.

The cars on the streets were statues. People were mid-stride, their expressions frozen mid-laugh or mid-cry. A fountain gushed upward, water hanging like crystal shards in the air. A flock of birds floated in place, their wings caught mid-beat.

The Earth was their diorama. A perfect model of life, robbed of time.

Raphael drifted to a small plaza where an ice cream vendor had been handing cones to two children. He reached out, gently taking the cones from the man’s still hands. He placed money on the counter with care, as though respect mattered even now.

Then he floated back, handing one cone to Hermes.

"Victory deserves celebration. Chocolate or strawberry?" Raphael said, smiling.

Hermes stared at the ice cream. For a moment, he hesitated, before cautiously taking a bite of the chocolate one. The sweetness melted across his tongue, startling him.

"I was hoping you’d choose chocolate. Strawberry is my favorite." Raphael said.

Hermes let out a faint laugh at that. It felt ironic, given that this being was not human but spoke about his favorite ice cream flavor.

"We should hurry." Hermes said, voice quiet but firm. "I do not know how long this will hold. We need to search for your home planet."

Raphael nodded, but his smile did not fade. He licked his cone slowly, savoring it.

"I agree. But look around, my Lord. Look at this world. No chaos. No noise. Just beauty. For once, we can appreciate it in silence."

Hermes turned, and his six eyes caught the frozen panorama. The world was still, the sunlight glistening across the rivers, the mountains, the endless fields of green. There was peace here, for the first time since he had taken up this burden.

For the first time, they were alone.

Hermes exhaled, and a quiet smile touched his lips. "...You’re right. It is beautiful."

They sat together on a rooftop, overlooking a city frozen mid-motion. Hermes licked his ice cream again, then lowered it, thoughtful.

"There is something I must tell you," Hermes said softly.

Raphael tilted his head. "What is it, my Lord?"

"When you embraced me. When you held me in your arms as I... changed. I felt something."

Hermes looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers as if the memory lingered in his skin. "It felt transcendent. Like two puzzle pieces finally locking together. Like the sun and moon forming an eclipse. It was more than just... comfort."

Raphael froze, his golden eyes steady on him. "...I felt it too. I do not know what it was. But when I held you, my Lord, it felt right. As if I had been waiting for that moment all my life."

Hermes’ throat tightened. He looked back at Raphael, his six eyes gleaming softly. "It was not just Paragon. Or Rewind. I transformed into something else too."

Raphael leaned forward slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Mindbloom." Hermes said. His voice carried weight. "The third beast. It manifested too. You could not see it, because it is of the mind. But it was there."

Raphael’s eyes widened.

Hermes inhaled slowly, his chest rising and falling. "I became something small. So small I could slip inside you. Into your mind. And you did not reject me. Your body did not burn me. I passed through like bubbles on water."

Raphael’s lips parted. "You... entered me?"

"Yes." Hermes’ voice trembled, not from fear, but from awe. "I sank into you. And I saw something...."

Raphael’s expression was unreadable, but his cerulean eyes with gold flecks shook a little.

"A memory."