Chapter 209: The Third Magic , Preperations
In the end, the two barely managed to make up towards the end of the year.
This was a few days before Arthur finally planned to use the law crystal core to cast the ’Third Magic." He had enlisted Larry’s help as a means of transportation to the crystal realm.
Finally, he then made an agreement with Creusery as a backup in the event that Cattleya tried to prevent him from casting the spell. Of course, this was only necessary if she found out about the spell’s drawbacks.
He decided not to make the mistake of leaving Lute and his team behind and even got Hades to inspect the area for any potential problems.
Everything went smoothly, and although Cattleya knew Arthur was planning something, she let him do so without looking into the specifics as she knew Hades was following up on him.
This was part of the reason Arthur let Hades in on his plans, and it was a success. He could not let Cattleya find out about the dangers of the spell at any cost.
◇ ◇ ◇
The long-awaited day came, and Lewis and his group were already in position at the chosen star system near Parmis.
Hades had gone over beforehand to check the area out, and Arthur was preparing to leave for the drifters’ base and meet Larry.
"So you’re telling me that this spell is capable of letting you increase your realm of existence at a faster rate?"
"Not just that, law comprehension speed, my reaction speed, my learning speed, regeneration, energy recovery, pretty much anything about me that can be accelerated.
However, out of the many options, I can only choose five. Any more and it’d be too much of a burden on my soul."
Arthur replied to Layla who asked him about the ’Third Magic’ after being told about Arthur’s plans for that day.
She was dressed in a green knee-length one-piece dress that matched her eyes and had a similarly coloured hat on her hair.
"It’s a bit too convenient isn’t it?"
Esna who was also present in Arthur’s room voiced her concern regarding the existence of the convenient ’Third Magic’.
Esna wore a simple loose shirt with shorts, something she randomly threw on, as she did not have the strength to search her wardrobe for clothes earlier in the morning.
"Sure it is, there are drawbacks to the spell. Just two but they are quite heavy.
Due to one of them, I’m gonna end up losing all the law comprehensions I have currently.
In other words, I’d be back to square one."
Arthur replied as he placed the law crystal of time, the memory crystal containing the information ’Third Magic’ and all the other things that he received from Alexia on his table.
Esna picked up the memory crystal but found that she could not use it and view the information within.
"Only those who have an ’Annihilation’, dormant or not can use that thing. Practically only members of the royal family by birth can use it."
"Convenient, way too convenient.
How can you easily trust this ’Alexia’ woman who came out of nowhere and gave this to you?"
Arthur walked over to his bed and pulled out a box under it as he replied to Layla.
"I don’t trust her completely. She needs my help with something in the future, so she’s helping me now.
Besides, I would not have known I was a progenitor if not for her, and I would not have even begun to comprehend laws at an early stage, if not for her.
Also, the ’Third Magic’, is something my great grandfather created."
"Devil king Lucifer huh?
Also, you aren’t hiding that you are a ’progenitor’ anymore? Whatever that means?"
Layla couldn’t help but address the issue of Arthur not hiding the fact that he was a progenitor, even Esna was surprised as he revealed it so easily.
Arthur, however, just chuckled as he rummaged through the box in his hands before replying.
"I trust you, Layla, more so than I trust Alexia. Besides, there is not much of a reason in hiding it anymore now that a certain ancient son of a bitch made another progenitor figure it out.
Then again, it doesn’t mean I’d go around telling everyone so keep it to yourself."
"Okay, sir."
While Arthur was searching the box for something, Layla asked another question she was curious about.
"This spell, how and where are you gonna cast it?
You said you needed a law crystal the size of a planet’s core. How large is the spell circle gonna be?"
"As large as a small star system."
""Huh?!""
Arthur’s offhanded reply caused Layla and Esna to let out exclamations of shock.
The spell circle for the ’Third Magic’ was one that required Arthur to re-arrange an entire star system and somehow make the planets orbit around the law crystal core of time.
"How in Hell are you gonna do that?"
"Through the power of money and my authority as a prince.
I enlisted some of the Celiosa Duchy’s vassals to help me out and paid them for it.
Lewis and his cousins also helped out too. They are also already over there for maintenance.
If not for them, then the rearranged planets are gonna fly out of orbit and crash into nearby star systems."
Arthur replied to Layla’s question before placing a hand on his chin and continuing.
"With a spell circle that large, I’m gonna have to be in space to be able to cast the spell in the first place.
I really wondered how I was gonna do it before but thanks to Dad, that problem is solved."
"Are you by chance saying you can survive in space?
Without any protective gear?"
"Exactly.
With the help of a certain cheat I’ve had since birth, I should theoretically be able to survive in space for one hour. Any more than that..."
As Arthur trailed off ominously, Layla and Esna couldn’t help but send questioning gazes to him.
"Any more than that...?"
"Nothing much.
Just that the pressure of the ambient energies in space would bear down on my body and soul and crush them to bits faster than I can freeze due to the coldness of space."
"I really don’t think you should go through with this..."
Layla stared at the memory crystal and began contemplating how much energy it would take to destroy said crystal.
’He said he still needs it so if I destroy it, he won’t be able to cast the spell, right?’
Arthur, who was oblivious to Layla’s dangerous yet protective thoughts, found what he was looking for and tossed it to Esna who placed it on the table with his other things
He then went into his dressing room to get changed into a more comfortable outfit.
After a few minutes, he came out wearing a black turtleneck shirt, with similarly coloured trousers and grey sneakers.
"So how do I l-"
He was about to ask for their review of his appearance when he noticed another person in the room. The silver-haired and black-eyed Archdevil of destruction who brought him into this world.
His mother, Cattleya.
’Shit!’
Keeping the crystal on the table just because he was going to use it soon was a mistake.
He had ignored the possibility of his mother randomly coming over to his tower in the castle to check on him.
Instantly activating the power of time to accelerate his movement speed, he dashed for Cattleya’s hand which was slowly reaching towards the memory crystal on the table.
Unlike Esna and Layla, she, a member of the Devilian royal family by birth who possessed an Annihilation, could view the information within.
Arthur could not let her see it; the reason was the second drawback of the ’Third Magic’.
It involved inscribing a five-in-one rune sigil onto the caster’s soul. To do this, the caster’s soul needed to have no barriers protecting it to allow for easy access.
This was the reason for the second key; to not be a deity, as deities had protective layers of energy around their souls.
Removing said layers, was the same as giving themselves soul damage and no sane person would do that.
However, even for those who were not deities, there was a 50% chance of the inscription failing and the caster meeting their death.
This was why Arthur never told Hades the full specifics of the spell and did not want Cattleya to find out about it.
Arthur knew fully well that his mother would never let him do something with such a high chance of death, as such he did not want her to find out about it in the first place.
’If she interrupted me in the middle, I’d be dead 100%.’
Cattleya stopped her movements the moment she sensed the power of time from Arthur’s body.
"Huh?"
She did not understand why he suddenly accelerated his movements and dashed towards the table at full speed.
Although Arthur looked like he was in slow motion to her, she did not have enough time or information, to connect the dots and realize he did not want her to see the information in the memory crystal.
The distance was also not much, just a few meters, so Arthur was able to swipe the crystal in the short moment she stopped her hand.
***WHOOOOSHHHH!!!!!
"Ahh!"
Arthur’s sudden movements were unexpected for Layla and Esna as they stared at him in shock.
Or rather, Esna stared at him in shock while Layla glared at him.
The wind pressure generated by his movements was more than enough to flip Layla’s dress up and she definitely, did not like that.
"What are you doing?!"
"Hmm? Oh sorry about that, couldn’t let mom get this crystal. I have a few embarrassing memories stored there."
Arthur juggled the crystal in his hands as he lied through his teeth. He then placed it in his inter-spatial ring to make sure it was secure.
"Arthur? What was on that crystal?"
Of course, there’s no way Cattleya won’t get suspicious upon seeing his actions, but he played it off with a smile.
"Mother, would you really want your son to watch your first attempts at flying that ended up with you falling disgracefully to the ground?"
"...No."
"And there we have it."
Arthur then placed the rest of the things on his table into his interspatial ring while sighing internally.
’Even though I now have an 80% chance of success as I’m using a high-rank law crystal core, I really don’t think mum will let me go if she found out.’
He looked at his watch and spoke.
"Okay, so I’m going now."
"Hold on Arthur, I’m tagging along."
"Huh?"
