Chapter 497: The Realm Beyond the Rift
"Hmm?"
The eyes of a sleeping young woman suddenly shot open, her obsidian pupils darting in a seemingly random direction.
"Again?"
She heaved an exasperated sigh, running her hands through her hair before sighing again.
Her body, which was floating upside down in the air, flipped around and her feet touched down on the stone-cold floor.
Infusing her voice with magic, she spoke out.
[Suspected Intruders in the East Forest, go and scout the area.]
"..."
Her words were met with silence and she frowned, clicking her tongue in irritation as she spoke once more.
[You can ignore me all you want, but I wonder how you’d ignore punishment if it gets out that you’re the reason a Commandment was broken.]
"SHUT UP!"
An angry voice screamed back at her, but she didn’t flinch, continuing her words.
[The intruders seem to be heading down the forest towards the Ritual Site though?]
"?!"
Hearing her words, the people on the other end of the wall seemed to react with shock. Less than a minute later, their presences all disappeared and sensing this, the woman clicked her tongue once more.
"Fools..."
She looked down at her palm, at the imperceptible threads of power that bound her to his land and internally cursed the one who was responsible.
◇ ◇ ◇
Unnamed Forest
(Iklaque) Dimensional Realm
Plomux-North
May 17th
531st Divine Year
"Oh wow, this place looks pretty."
Arthur spoke as he emerged from the Dimensional Rift, into a breath-taking forest scene. It was vibrant and lush, with towering trees that reached up towards a clear azure sky.
The leaves were a brilliant emerald green, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of blooming flowers and the sound of birds singing melodiously.
Sunlight streamed through the canopy, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow on the forest floor.
The ground was covered in soft, mossy undergrowth, and here and there, vibrant wildflowers added splashes of colour. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves, creating a soothing symphony of nature.
"I agree, 100%."
Artemisia voiced out her honest thoughts, her usual stoic expression softening at the sight before her.
"It’s so beautiful!"
Beatrix twirled around as she exclaimed, her white hair catching the sunlight and shimmering like silver, and her eyes wide with delight.
Artemisia momentarily glanced at her friend before looking at the ground. She knelt down to examine a patch of delicate blue flowers, her fingers brushing lightly over the petals.
"There’s magic power in the flowers."
Just as she made this observation, Evan who had been silent since he stepped in finally spoke up.
"This place reminds me of the Garden of the Stars."
"?!!"
"Wait, what?!"
Artemisia and Beatrix snapped their heads in his direction upon hearing his words. Beatrix even jumped over to him and grabbed his shirt as she asked with a fanatic light in her eyes.
"You’ve been to the Garden of the Stars before?! The one in the Regal Void Expanse?!"
"..."
Evan was taken aback by her sudden intensity, looking to Artemisia for help but once he saw the burning intrigue in her golden eyes, he realised he wasn’t gonna get any.
’That just slipped out unconsciously...’
"...yeah, I have. Is there anything bad about being there?"
"Bad?! Evan, that’s somewhere that even indigenes of the Regal Void Expanse can’t even get into! It’s like a myth!
However, some people have gone there and acquired new powers which they used to dominate their peers on the interstellar stage!
Some even gained ’Ultimate Skills’! They’re living evidence of the existence of the ’Garden of the Stars’."
Beatrix spoke about this place with fervour and Arthur’s eyes gleamed with interest. He was especially interested in these ’Ultimate Skills’ Beatrix spoke of.
"Evan, mind telling us how you got there?"
Artemisia calmly posed this question, but Evan’s reply was one she never expected.
"You of all people, Artemisia, should NOT be asking me that question."
With that, he pulled Beatrix off him and teleported away using Blink, leaving the dumbfounded goddess behind.
"Huh? What does he mean b-OH!"
It took her a second to understand exactly what Evan meant.
Considering he was acquainted with her 10,000 years in the future, then from his words, she was most likely the one who told him how to get to the Garden of the Stars.
As she pondered on the nature of her future self’s connection with Evan, the boy and his fellow protagonist had headed deeper into the forest, heading for the stream they sensed in the distance.
Upon getting closer, they were greeted by the sight of a broad, crystal-clear stream winding its way through the forest. The water shimmered in the sunlight, revealing smooth pebbles at the bottom.
Schools of magical fish swam energetically in the stream. Their scales sparkled with iridescent hues, shifting from shades of blue and green to gold and silver as they darted about.
Some of the fish had delicate fins that trailed behind them like wisps of silk, while others emitted a soft, bioluminescent glow that added a mystical quality to the stream.
"They’re so pretty!!"
Beatrix exclaimed, her loud voice scaring off a few fish who were closer to the banks of the stream. She cared not for this as she got on her knees and peered into the water, while Arthur and Evan spread out their auras to scan the area, taking notice of the absence of any life sources besides a few magic animals.
"Arty! Let’s play in the water."
"Are you looking at what I’m wearing?"
Artemisia gestured to her clothes that were in no way suited for playing in the water. She wore khaki trousers, a tucked-in light brown shirt, and sturdy boots. Her long hair was tied up in a single, efficient ponytail, giving her a no-nonsense, practical appearance perfect for exploration.
She usually favoured clothes that looked formal, so this was expected of her.
In contrast, Beatrix was dressed in a manner entirely opposite to Artemisia’s style. She wore a flowing white sundress adorned with delicate floral patterns, and her feet were clad in simple sandals.
Her white hair cascaded freely around her shoulders, giving her an ethereal, carefree look that seemed more suited for a leisurely day by the stream than a trek through ruins and forests.
"Well, you could have joined her if you were wearing shorts. But you’re on trousers so that’s a no."
Evan commented on her leg wear and Artemisia pointed at the grasses around them as she replied.
"Strange insects may crawl up my body and I don’t want anything directly touching my le-?!"
Artemisia could not complete her statement as a force abruptly pulled her body to the side, flinging her directly into the stream.
**SPLASH!!
"Don’t worry, you have a change of clothes. Just let loose for a little."
"BEATRIX KIRONE XAGNA!!!"
A voice filled with pure rage boomed out, and at that moment, Beatrix—who had used her spatial magic to pull Artemisia into the stream—turned pale.
Evan and Arthur, witnessing this, were taken aback, having never heard such fury in Artemisia’s voice before.
The teenage goddess emerged from the water, her eyes glowing with intense light as she fixed her glare on the culprit for her current drenched state.
Beatrix turned and tried to run, but she wasn’t fast enough.
**BZZZTT!!!
Golden lightning snaked across the stream, travelling above the water and zapping Beatrix with a thousand volts of power!
Bright light filled the area, and Evan could swear he saw the outline of Beatrix’s skeleton for an instant. If it wasn’t for Artemisia’s power control, then all the fish in the stream would have met instant death, but thankfully, they were spared that fate since Artemisia focused all the lightning on Beatrix.
While Beatrix was having her shit literally shocked out of her, Arthur turned to Evan and casually asked.
"Bro, you wanna go fishing?"
Arthur produced a fishing rod from his subspace, and Evan, following suit, retrieved his own rod from his inventory.
"Let’s go."
Artemisia, who had just torched the life out of Beatrix, turned to them with an incredulous look in her eyes as she asked.
"Why do you both carry fishing rods around?"
""Because of the possibility of finding rivers or streams like this and wanting to fish?""
Silenced by their simultaneous reply, the goddess watched as they retrieved two buckets filled with worms for bait.
"We’ll be a hundred meters out since your lightning killed everything within 50 meters of your position."
Artemisia glanced at the water around her feet upon hearing Arthur’s words and saw the floating corpses of dead fish.
"You guys can play all you want, but keep an eye out. We don’t know what could be in here."
As Arthur gave this warning, he glanced in a particular direction, and both Evan and Artemisia narrowed their eyes at his action.
’Did he notice something?’
Evan questioned this internally, but he knew better than to ask out loud and let whatever Arthur was wary about discover they had been noticed.
Artemisia was of the same mind, and she instead gave a reply to the earlier part of Arthur’s statement.
"I have no desire to play in the wateeeRRR!!"
"Got you!"
Beatrix emerged from the water behind Artemisia, wrapped her arms around the black-haired teen, and pulled her back into the water.
"YOU!...Damn!"
"hahahahaha!!!"
Evan and Arthur shook their heads with wry smiles, marvelling at Beatrix’s tenacity to not only get back up after being roasted with lightning but to once again find Artemisia’s trouble.
As the two boys walked away while lightning flashed behind them, Evan spoke.
"Beatrix’s attachment to Artemisia is wild..."
"Tell me about it."
They moved far from the two girls and sat on perfectly positioned rocks, hooking their baits and beginning their fishing session as they chatted about random things.
Arthur had a catch, but the fish he brought out was on Evan glanced at and exclaimed.
"Dude, that thing is poisonous."
He felt his poison resistance increasing in real-time, but Arthur was nonchalant about holding the source of such powerful poison.
"Doesn’t matter, it wouldn’t affect me anyway."
Upon hearing Arthur’s statement, Evan narrowed his eyes and noticed that when the faint mist the fish emitted got close to Arthur, it abruptly disappeared.
"Oh...Destruction law energy sounds nice..."
"I’m more curious about that Destruction Essence of yours.
Where I come from, there’s nothing like this Essence Theory that allows you to use bootleg versions of law energy."
At least, as far as Arthur knew, such a thing didn’t exist in Hell
"Bootleg?"
