The Empire currently has three floating cities. One was destroyed, while the remaining two were in different places on the border, serving as a deterrent for the war.
However, Edward's Tier 10 Floating City was never revealed to be this powerful as they wanted to use it as a final trump card against Guzznad. As such, even if it appeared, it always masquerades as a Tier 9 Weapon.
Now that he had to conquer a Tier 9 Plane, he needed to use the Tier 10 Floating City to ensure things proceeded as smoothly and swiftly as possible. So, he replaced it with the time clone he created using his Time Staff.
Then, he boarded the city with the destroyed one inside, heading toward the coordinate.
"Oh, baby, how I missed you," said Edward, caressing one of the walls of the city; he was not even embarrassed despite the strange looks Tsunade was giving him.
"Don't you have any shame?" she asked.
"This thing is indeed my baby," replied Edward. "I spent hundreds of years creating and enchanting it. The resources used in this thing are enough to buy at least hundreds of timelines from your universe.
"Furthermore, this thing is the crystallization of all my knowledge and ability as an Artificer."
He then sneered while showing a proud look, "In this entire universe, the number of people that can understand the complexity of this invention and are able to create one with the blueprint is probably no more than a few dozen.
"But, the number of people that can create it from scratch, well, I won't be arrogant and say there is none. But…"
"What does that have to do with how you were acting?" asked Tsunade in bewilderment.
"Nothing. I just wanted to brag and show you how awesome I am."
She was speechless.
"I knew you were a narcissist, but I didn't know it was to this level."
"It's not narcissism when you have the capital to brag," replied Edward, and Tsuande just shook her head.
"Master, we've arrived," suddenly said Morgana, who suddenly appeared.
"Is that so? Show me a visual?"
A screen manifested before him, showing something similar to a large egg. As he looked at this plane, he knew the terrible fate that was about to befall it.
"Master, what's the attack plan? Do you want to just blast its protective wall?"
"We still need to be cautious." Although this place's power ceiling was only Tier 9 and could not survive one attack from the city's canon, Edward always did things with caution in mind.
"Activate the Stealth System and infiltrate this place. Let's see if the Universe Will can detect us."
Morgana executed the order as the city turned invisible before bypassing the plane's protective measure. The screen before Edward became all black before changing to a vast sky. In the corner of his eyes, he saw a city full of lives.
"How is it?" he asked.
"The operation was partially successful," replied the little elf.
"Oh, what happened?"
"The Universe Will did detect our arrival but did not find our exact location. According to my detection, many [Authorities] are being used to find our location."
"Can you calculate how long we can remain hiding?"
"3 hours, 34 minutes, and 12 seconds."
"Such a short time?" Technically speaking, the city was of much higher energy level than this plane and the Universe Will. So, it should not be a problem to hide from it.
"The Universe Will has control of all [Authority] of this plane. And it's using them to find our location. In this brief conversation, I've detected more than 300 methods of Divination."
"Interesting," muttered Edward. "Three hours is more than enough to accomplish our tasks. However, this is a great opportunity to gather as much data on the Universe Will as possible."
"Sir, what is the plan of action?" asked Morgana. "Do you want to fight [Authority] with [Authority]?"
"Yes. Coat the city in a bubble made of Space-Time and Curse Rules. Let's see how long it will take for it to find us."
"Sir, I'm unable to execute the order."
"Huh? What is the issue?"
"The Time Staff can be used as a medium for the Space-Time Bubble. But, we have nothing for the Curse Rules."
"Oh, how could I forget that."
The Time Staff was made using the Space-Time Rules of the Full Metal Alchemist Universe, allowing Edward to use them everywhere and anytime. However, his Curse Rules have to rely on the environment.
To use it, he has to use his Willpower to overwhelm this plane's Universe Will and control the Curse Authority. However, in the current situation where he is trying to hide from the Universe Will, his intervention in this plane's Authority will only alert others of his whereabouts.
'Legendary Arcanists are not limited by any universe and can control [Authority] in any Universe. However, they are powerless in places with no Authority, like the Void. Or when in a situation like this one.
'So, I guess the path of higher tiers is for the body to generate its own [Authority]. Arcanists have to become the source of their [Authority] instead of relying on any Universe or foreign aid.'
"We didn't bring the Death Staff, right?"
"No, her Highness Bellatrix still has it."
"I see. Alright, only use the Space-Time Bubble. Furthermore, take this opportunity to record all the data possible on the Universe Will use [Authority]."
"As you wish. But how long is the observation? Don't forget, we are on a tight schedule."
"24 Hours. We can still waste one day with no issue. In the meanwhile, scan this plane and gather as much information as possible.
"In the meantime, I will prepare to fix City 3."
"What about me? What am I supposed to do?" asked Tsunade. Ever since she came here, she felt restrained for some reason. Although she knew it was because she needed to adapt, it was still uncomfortable.
"You can come with me or rest."
"I'll take a break." Tsunade felt she needed some time alone.
"That's good," nodded Edward. "You can take your time and slowly adapt to this new life. Although things are a little hectic, you do not need to worry."
"I will."
Edward teleported to the location of the destroyed city. Morgana had already run many diagnostics on the damage, so he accessed the data to choose the best method to fix this thing.
"Huh?" suddenly muttered Edward as he noticed something that caught his attention from the data.
[Time Reversal]
A green magical magic circle enveloped the entire floating city, summoning the power of time and reversing the floating city to a state before it was destroyed.
However, nothing happened; it was as if the spell had failed or had no effect.
'Could it be that the passage of time in the Void was drastically different from the Naruto Universe?' thought Edward. If that were true, he might need to rewind time hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years backward before returning it to its former state.
'No, something is odd.' Edward has high achievement in the Time Magic, and his senses are sharper, so he notices something odd. To test his doubt, he cast a few more Time Spells, and the effect was the same.
'What is going on?'
One of the plans he had to fix the city was to use World Source to power a Time Spell and return this artifact to the state before its destruction. However, this method has proven to be futile.
Edward would normally not care since he had other methods. However, he also wanted to know the reason for this odd phenomenon. And his mind won't rest until he at least has a decent working theory.
'Could it be the result of residual Void Energy?'
Edward frowned before doing a few more tests on this basis. Unfortunately, the result was the same.
So, his brain began to work on overdrive, thinking of a solution. After a few hours, his eyes lit up.
'Could it be…'
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