Chapter 546: Games, Wine, Introductions
[This concludes Day One of the Summit.]
"Finally!!"
The exclamation that came barely a second after the Summit’s end was declared came from the mouths of one of the 72 throned Deities.
McEnda II looked at the man beside him, before sighing and shaking his head in silence.
As for Jamie, he ignored the man’s sigh and teleported right in front of Arthur and Evan, placing his hands on their shoulders as he spoke.
"Let’s head over to my place."
Focusing on Arthur, he continued.
"We’d tackle your dormant Pseudo-Origin core issue as well."
"Oh? The help would be appreciated..."
Arthur glanced at the Demon Queen of Gravitas whom he originally wanted to ask for help, but the woman just waved him off, knowing fully well that Jamie could handle the issue.
Just before Jamie teleported them off to his place, he turned to McEnda II and tossed what Arthur could only see as a ’ball of cosmic energy’.
"Here, the vault key."
"Wha?! We split the key in two for a reason! Why are you giving this to me?!"
"So, you can handle the rewards for today."
McEnda II didn’t even get a chance to talk when Jamie’s cosmic energy burst out and enveloped the two boys.
In a flash, Jamie, Arthur and Evan had vanished from the Hall of Stars.
◇ ◇ ◇
They reappeared a few hundred thousand kilometres away, still within Imperium Astra, but quite far from the Interstellar Citadel.
Arthur spread out his spatial power to map the place and discovered they were in the penthouse of a tall cloud-piercing tower.
The interior of the penthouse was opulent, the floor was polished to a mirror-like shine, reflecting the soft, ambient lighting that filled the space.
The walls were adorned with intricate patterns and fine art, showcasing a blend of modern and classical aesthetics.
Scattered across the plush carpet were various games—board games, strategy games, and even a few arcade consoles that seemed out of place in such an elegant setting, yet somehow fit perfectly into the overall ambience.
The most striking feature was the ceiling, which was a massive, curved aquarium.
It was filled with exotic fish from various worlds, their vibrant colours shimmering as they swam through the crystal-clear water.
"You have one hell of a place."
"Haha, I just stuffed a lot of things into it."
Jamie replied to Arthur as he strolled over to the kitchen counter, casually nudging aside a clutter of items to clear some space.
He pushed a few things closer to the edge, and suddenly, one object tipped over and tumbled to the floor with a loud clatter. As it hit the ground, the device popped open, emitting a series of frantic beeps.
Jamie’s eyes widened in shock as he recognized it.
"Uh-oh."
"What’s wrong?"
Jamie snatched the device off the floor, his gaze snapping toward the distant Citadel as he replied to Arthur’s question.
"I think a very pissed McEnda is gonna be coming over here in a minute, so we gotta dip."
Without waiting for a response, Jamie activated his Authority of Space, ripping open a Dimensional Rift right there in the room. The rift led to a location both Arthur and Evan were all too familiar with.
"Quick, let’s go."
Jamie urged before diving into the rift, leaving behind the two boys who exchanged glances, and then looked at the rift.
Evan was the first to break the silence, pointing at the Arcade Consoles nearby.
"I’m gonna grab a few Arcades."
With a quick swipe of his hands, he snagged some of Jamie’s Arcade Consoles into his Inventory. Meanwhile, Arthur made his way to the mini-bar and grabbed a couple of bottles of wine.
With their loot secured, they both jumped into the rift, which sealed shut just as McEnda II appeared in the room.
His eyes immediately landed on the counter, where he spotted the item Jamie had noticed. Picking it up, his brows furrowed in frustration.
"Fucking hell, it was with Jamie all along?! And I’ve spent an entire year looking for it since he said it wasn’t with him!!"
He glanced around, his aura spreading out in search of Jamie, but it was too late—the other Demon King had already left the planet.
Furious, McEnda clenched the device in his hand, his eyes blazing with anger.
"That bastard’s gonna pay for wasting my time!"
◇ ◇ ◇
The Dimensional Rift Jamie had created led to a familiar location in the form of Alvey’s house in Militopolis, Southern Gledea on Planet Aramis.
Jamie had been here before so he knew the spatial coordinates and with his High-Rank Authority of Space, creating a tunnel there was not an issue.
As for the ’Aramis’, Jamie was very capable of making himself indetectable by the Planet’s Consciousness so he wasn’t worried it was gonna find out he was around.
It didn’t even know Arthur and Evan—the two whom it had created a barrier to keep out—had re-entered the planet. Jamie’s Rift easily bypassed its barrier.
Jamie sighed as he looked around the random break room he had entered, which was on the fifth floor of the mansion and headed to the trio of circular couches in the centre of the room they were in and plopped down on it.
"What was all that about?"
Arthur asked this, and Jamie just laughed before replying.
"I kinda made him waste a year searching for something that was with me. I forgot I was with it, and I told him I wasn’t with it, but it had been on my counter all this while."
That particular penthouse was one Jamie barely used, so he hadn’t discovered that the item McEnda II was after was inside there until today.
"He’s gonna be so pissed..."
Despite saying this, the man still laughed and the two boys just shrugged before setting down their loot.
Evan brought out the Arcade Consoles while Arthur placed the wine bottles on the table in the centre of the three couches.
"Come, sit. Let’s begin. We can play the games later."
Arthur called out to Evan and the boy nodded before sitting himself on one of the other two couches. With each person seated on a couch, Jamie began.
"I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting you both to be Grade 7 Singularities too."
"How about we start by properly explaining this Grade stuff? I didn’t even know there were grades until ’Gozon’ said it when we first got here."
Evan nodded in affirmation with Arthur’s words, as he also wanted to know more about the Grade Stuff.
"I knew there were levels to it, but I didn’t know any of the specifics."
Jamie raised an eyebrow at the boys’ words before responding.
"The grading system is straightforward. Grades 1 to 3 are considered Lower Grades, 4 to 6 are Middle Grades, and Grade 7 is the Top Grade.
We can manipulate causality on a grand scale without facing consequences because the law basically takes one look at us and says, ’No chance I’m messing with them.’"
"Well, that’s one way to put it..."
Arthur silently agreed with Evan’s little comment and Jamie continued explaining.
"Most of the time, the law doesn’t even know we exist. In its perspective, this room is empty. It purposely ignores us since trying to compute our existences would cause errors.
And if it tried to eliminate the ’cause’ of those errors—us—it would only make the ’effect’ worse by creating even more issues.
So, as long as we stay within our limits, we’re fine."
"And how do we know when we’re reaching that limit?"
In response to Arthur’s question, Jamie replied in a not-very-helpful way.
"When you feel like causality wants to murder you and your next 10 generations...that’s your limit."
Jamie laughed at their expressions when he said this, but he quickly reminded them that he was 100% serious before they assumed he was laughing because he was joking.
After a brief pause, his expression softened as he shifted the conversation.
"But enough about that. We haven’t properly introduced ourselves, have we?"
He gestured towards Evan who took that as a cue to start.
"Evan Eris, Rogue Hero originating from Earth V. Some pretty messed-up things went down, and a god decided to yeet me through a Spatiotemporal magic portal. Next thing I know, I’m crashlanding smack in the middle of the Demons’ side of Aramis."
Arthur chuckled at Evan’s wild tale, and couldn’t resist adding a little quip.
"Sounds like the synopsis of a light novel. I can already see the title: ’That Time I Got Sent Through a Portal and Fell onto a World Being Invaded by Demons.’
It’s definitely gonna be a bestseller."
Jamie, picking up on the banter, grinned and asked.
"You forgot to add the part where you’re from the future. Isn’t that why you’re masking yourself like a certain copy ninja?"
"Wait, you’ve watched that anime?"
Evan’s eyes widened when he heard the latter half of Jamie’s words, and Arthur leaned back on his couch and asked back.
"Who hasn’t?"
Jamie chuckled at their reactions, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"It’s hard to miss out on the classics, you know?"
Evan was more concerned about them having seen the same show despite being from different Universes and time periods, but the other two didn’t seem to pay any mind to that and just carried on.
Next up on the introductions was Jamie.
"I’m Jamie Westley, Zanerth Universe’s resident Alpha hybrid. I got bored a couple thousand years ago and went to sleep for a few millennia, but even while sleeping, I got bored of dreaming so I sent out a part of my consciousness and power out into a Universe I’d been to sometime in the past.
A little tweaking with cosmic energy and I gave that part an Astral body, and created a physical body for it and that now sits before you.
I played around for a bit and a couple thousand years later, I somehow ended up as a Demon King."
Jamie gave that little bio about himself with a shrug, and Evan didn’t even know where to start being shocked or surprised.
"You ’somehow ended up as a Demon King’?"
Evan asked with a raised brow and Jamie nodded and said it was a bit ’complicated’. As for Arthur, his focus was on the part where what was sitting before them was only a part of Jamie’s consciousness and power.
