By the time Saphielle returned to the table, the hovering tome trailing after her settled with a heavy thud against the polished surface. Glowing particles swirled in slow motion around it, suspended in the ambient currents of Temporal Energy that filled the chamber like soft static. Kai had remained in his seat. He'd used the break to steady himself, he now sat upright, his expression sharpened, eyes already locked onto the next scripture. There was weariness in the corners of his gaze, but also a quiet flicker of readiness. Saphielle rested her palm atop the new tome.
The cover was marked with a jagged sigil: a crude emblem carved in haste or pain. Unlike the prior tomes, this one pulsed faintly with a residual heat, like something inside still remembered screaming. "The next type of Leviathans," she said, her voice lower now, "are referred to as Temporal Reapers." The name alone made something behind Kai's eyes twitch.....recognition. She didn't comment. Let the lesson draw it out of him. "Their threat level is C-rank," she continued, opening the tome. The pages flipped swiftly on their own, as though eager to reach the part that mattered. "And the first Leviathan classification capable of breaching into our reality without external support."
She let that statement linger. Kai's throat moved slightly as he swallowed. "The first one I fought... that was one of these, wasn't it?" Saphielle nodded. "Correct. And had you not been rescued by Selara, you would be dead." The air grew still between them. The glow of the hovering lanterns seemed to dim slightly as the Reaper's depiction came into view. The sketch was jagged, frantic: as if the artist had drawn it mid-encounter, unsure whether they'd survive to finish the page. The creature had a spined, semi-humanoid torso, with arms that fractured off into multiple jointed limbs. Its lower body was smoke and slivers, always shifting, never solid.
"Their bodies are unstable, but that instability grants them a unique advantage," Saphielle said. "They aren't bound to a single physical shape. Some phase through matter. Others sprout blades of temporal decay from their limbs. Some scream, and the scream itself disrupts the flow of time in the surrounding area." Kai stared at the image. "And people survive this.....?" She gave a humorless chuckle. "Some people. Time-Keepers, when paired or prepared well. Which is why the standard protocol recommends at least one experienced warrior be on field when confronting a Reaper-class Leviathan."
With a flick of her wrist, the next page turned. This one was darker, blackened around the edges, with red lines tracing what appeared to be temporal fractures caused by a Reaper's attack. "Unlike the Milites," she went on, "these beings possess powerful energy-based attacks, but lack the refined intelligence of their predecessors. They operate on instinct, not tactics. Hunger. Rage. Desperation." She tapped the illustration of the fractured timeline. "Do not misinterpret this as a weakness. A lack of thought does not mean a lack of danger. They don't hesitate. And unlike Milites, they don't retreat. Once they've chosen a target, they pursue it until they are destroyed.... or it is."
Kai frowned. "But why exactly do they breach into our reality? What do they want?" Saphielle's eyes narrowed slightly, her wings drawing inward as if shielding a deeper thought. "Want?" she echoed. "They are the echoes of collapsed moments, Kai. Living contradictions. They don't want in the way we understand it. They solely exist as paradoxes. A fracture in time. A wound in reality. They find those weak points and bleed through. Drawn to chaos. To energy. To us." She let that sink in. "And yet," she added softly, "some show fragments of individuality. Cruelty. Malice. Perhaps even..... memories. We don't fully understand why. Only that their existence threatens the temporal structure we are sworn to preserve."
Kai sat back, shoulders tense. "So they're more than just monsters." Saphielle nodded slowly. "Yes. They are manifestations. Of collapse. Of consequence. And if not stopped, they multiply. They spread around, destroying and devouring to their heart's content." For a moment, the two of them sat in silence.....tome open between them like a wound. Then she reached forward, tracing the scarred page with one fingertip glowing faintly with light. "This section," she said quietly, "includes the report from your first encounter. You'll study it. Learn from it. Not to relive it.....but to refine from it."
He gave a short nod. "Understood....is it okay if I borrow this book for a while?." Saphielle allowed herself the briefest exhale "Yes Kai, you may." The boy was growing. Slowly but surely, his mind was sharpening. And he'd need to. Because what came next would make even Reapers look like harbingers of mercy. Saphielle didn't need to say anything to regain Kai's focus this time. The silence between them had weight now, earned through clarity and threat. When she lifted her hand again and summoned the next tome, Kai's gaze followed the arc of her movement without drifting.
This new scripture landed between them with a muted thrum, like a heartbeat through thick stone. Its cover was bound in a deep bronze hue, etched with swirling, radiant markings that pulsed faintly: alive with dormant power. It radiated heat. Not warmth...but quiet intensity. "This," Saphielle said, her voice returning to that smooth but sharpened edge, "is where the real stuff begins." She opened the tome slowly, as if it were a gate rather than a book.
"Temporal Paladins, that is the term we use to define these creatures. They are classified as B-rank threats. And make no mistake, Kai..." Her eyes lifted to meet his. "Even if you managed to survive your last encounter, these are not enemies you learn to handle by yourself. These are enemies you survive against with the help of your comrades." The first page displayed a sprawling depiction: a towering beast clad in obsidian plates, burning with threads of blue fire. In the next panel, a lithe, humanoid figure, with tendrils of temporal current flowing like a cloak around their body, was etched mid-motion: one hand extended as a beam of light reduced a mountainside to ash.
"There is no fixed appearance for a Paladin-class Leviathan," Saphielle continued. "No consistent form. No universal tactic. Some resemble armored titans. Others take forms eerily close to human-like species. But what unites them is simple: power." Kai leaned closer, eyes flickering with both fear and fascination. "That's..... not like the ones before. All the others followed certain patterns. Categories." "Yes," Saphielle replied, turning the page with an elegant flick of her wrist. "And Paladins break those patterns. Their physical capabilities rival.....sometimes exceed, those of some of our finest combatants. Their temporal reserves are immense. They can unleash devastating energy attacks across wide areas, tear through Chrono-barriers, and-" she tapped the margin, where the text shimmered in warning hues "-perform breaches repeatedly within relatively short intervals. Their command over dimensional rifts is dangerously refined."
Kai's brow furrowed. "So they're... like warlords." Saphielle nodded "In a sense." Saphielle allowed herself the comparison. "But warlords still obey logic. These creatures..... are more like avatars of entropy wearing borrowed masks." The next few pages contained sketches pulled from field reports. One showed a Paladin Leviathan with wings made of translucent glass-like blades, another had limbs made from woven strings of Temporal Energy: each finger a thread pulled from different realities. Another was a mass of armor and flame, with no discernible head, just a core that pulsed like an artificial sun.
"Their intelligence varies," she said, turning the pages slowly. "Some attack on primal instinct. Others display strategy, even guile. A few have even managed to outsmart us. Fought with precision. Predicted Time-Keeper responses." Kai's eyes darkened. "You're saying some of them are..... thinking." "Yes," she confirmed, folding her hands before her. "And a thinking Paladin is almost as dangerous as a low A-rank Leviathan. It is mandatory to dispatch at least two or three experienced Time-Keepers in the event of a confirmed breach. No exceptions. If you ever encounter one without backup-" her voice lowered, more grave than he had ever heard it "-it is recommended that you do not engage. You run."
Kai didn't respond immediately. He simply stared at the shifting diagrams, watching as one Paladin erupted with temporal energy, a ripple of destruction flowing through a large radius before a pair of Time-Keepers finally managed to contain it. Another image showed a Time-Keeper's blade shattering against a Leviathan's armor, its wielder thrown across the page in a line of blood. ".....How many of us have fallen to these?" he asked quietly. Saphielle's silence was her answer. Then, softly, she replied, "Too many." A flick of her finger turned to the final section of the entry. Protocol glyphs glowed faintly across the parchment.
"Study this. Learn the signs. Know how they sound when they breach, how the air bends when they arrive. Because one day, Kai...." Her wings unfurled slightly, casting a pale light around them. ".....you may be the one standing between a Paladin and the unraveling of a city." Kai's voice was quiet now, almost steady. "And what then?" She studied him for a heartbeat. "Then," she said, "you buy time. You stall. You survive.....until we arrive." The lanterns above hummed faintly, and the scent of old paper and crackling energy filled the air between them. Saphielle gently closed the tome. "Take a breath," she said. "The next classification is something you should pray to never face."
Saphielle didn't speak immediately this time. Her gaze rested on the tome that had silently appeared before them, no summoning gesture, no flourish. It simply was there, as if the very notion of discussing what lay ahead demanded a different kind of reverence. The cover was darker than the others: void-black, like ink suspended in the absence of light—etched with crimson lines that pulsed slowly, ominously, like the beat of a distant war drum. She touched it only once. The tome opened itself. The glow from the lanterns above seemed to dim, shadows stretching subtly across the length of the massive table. Even the ever-present hum of the Apeiro Vivliothiki grew quieter, like the ancient library itself held its breath.
Kai felt it too. His shoulders tensed, the flicker of curiosity in his eyes now tempered with unease. Saphielle's voice returned at last...softer now, but colder. Heavier. "The final type of Leviathans.....are what we call Temporal Sovereigns. These beings are A-rank threats. Rarer than myths. More real than nightmares." The first image flickered outwards, forming a hologram that was almost too large for the page, requiring the viewer to step back just to grasp it fully. A colossal silhouette, more presence than form, loomed over a shattered landscape. Its limbs were fluid, shifting through multiple states of matter. Its eyes....if they were eyes, burned like twin suns wrapped in lightning.
"They exist within the inner layers of the world-between," Saphielle said, folding her arms as she studied the page. "Places we cannot map. Places time itself barely touches. It is said that most Time-Keepers will live for entire centuries and never once encounter one. And that is... fortunate." She turned another page. "Because these are not just Leviathans. They are forces of chaos. Cataclysms that move with thought. With intention. They possess vast oceans of Temporal Energy, which is more than the combined output of multiple experienced Time-Keepers. Their attacks are not simply powerful...they are absolute."
Kai's throat moved in a dry swallow. "That one looks..... five hundred feet tall," he said quietly, staring at the etched rendering. Saphielle nodded once. "That is not an exaggeration. That is a warning." The next page shifted between illustrations: techniques documented from the rare few who'd survived such encounters. One Sovereign had channeled storms of time-displacing energy, erasing moments from reality itself. Another bent space like paper, folding away distance to strike enemies before they could even register a threat. "They never fight alone," she said, tracing a finger along the pattern of auxiliary Leviathans spiraling around a central Sovereign. "They command hordes.....entire classifications of Drifters, Hounds, even Paladins, fused to their will. Some obey from fear. Others from awe."
She turned another page. An ancient record etched in a language older than any spoken tongue glimmered across the surface. At the bottom, scrawled in flickering ink that pulsed with warning, was a phrase translated by a long-dead Time-Keeper: Do not face the Sovereigns. Witness them....survive them or run. "They can use multiple techniques in unison," Saphielle continued. "And when they use their powers without restraint, battlefields fall silent within minutes. Their intelligence is nothing short of exceptional. Tacticians. Strategists. Some even philosophers, in their own grotesque way. They know what we are. What we fear. And they use it.....for their own twisted sense of entertainment" She paused, letting that sink in. Kai was staring hard now, jaw set, fists clenched in his lap. He was learning what mattered most: not how to fight. But what not to fight.
"They are not just monsters," Saphielle said softly, her wings slowly folding in behind her. "They are disasters given shape. Some among us call them anomalies. Others.....gods of entropy." Kai didn't speak for a long time. When he did, his voice was barely above a whisper. "Has anyone.....ever killed one?" Her eyes met his. There was no hesitation. No embellishment. "Yes, multiple times" she said. "But never without a cost." The next page showed a battlefield scarred beyond recognition. Bodies of fallen Time-Keepers lay scattered in the wake of a Sovereign's collapse. In the center, a blade buried in the leviathan's core, surrounded by the last standing team: two warriors, barely upright. "One Sovereign slain. Nine Time-Keepers lost."
Kai leaned back slowly, exhaling. "And what happens if more than one ever shows up at the same time?" Saphielle didn't answer. Not right away. When she finally did, it was with a tone that was colder than silence. "Then....time ends, and so does it's protectors."