Chapter 620: Spirit Empress
"A Dimensional Line.
Space was severed, leaving behind a dimensional line that slices everything that comes into contact with this severed space."
Calmly, she used her magic power to pull her severed hand back, reattaching it before healing the wound with light magic. Her brow furrowed in thought as she flexed her fingers.
"But why?"
The woman could not understand why this had happened, and she turned her gaze in the direction of the Garden of Stars.
That was when she sensed it—the lingering aura within the severed space. Her eyes narrowed as she inspected the energy. Slowly, her expression shifted to one of realization.
"Shit!"
She cursed and turned around, about to run away, however, an irritatingly familiar voice rang out in her ears faster than she could move.
|Too Late|
Her heart sank.
Jamie appeared behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, and in an instant, they vanished. He reappeared in front of Arthur and Evan, holding the Spirit Empress tightly in his grasp.
However, this was a Monarch Realm existence. She was not the kind of person that one could so easily grab and escape scot-free.
On sheer reflex, her right hand lashed out, striking his face with a power that sent a shockwave rippling outward.
The blast obliterated everything behind them, flattening half the massive forest in its path. Arthur and Evan were blown from their seats by the shockwave, despite being opposite it.
As for Jamie whom she had attacked, his head snapped at an unnatural angle, his neck audibly cracking.
His limp body dropped to the ground with a thud, and the Spirit Empress wasted no time, instantly trying to elementalize her body.
But an invisible force constricted the space around her, holding her down and preventing even the smallest iota of energy from escaping her body.
She fought through the constrictive force and turned around, glaring at the suit-wearing man whose hand still clutched her wrist even though his neck had snapped.
*CRACK!
With that sickening crunch, Jamie’s neck snapped back into place and the broken bones healed instantaneously.
He cracked his neck to test his mobility before looking at the woman and speaking.
"You know, even if I can regenerate, it’s still painful to have my neck snapped."
"Let me go, you annoying bastard!"
Jamie only chuckled at her demand, tightening his grip as he encircled her waist once again. He forced her into the chair he had vacated earlier, his cosmic energy intensifying as it locked the space around her, freezing her movements.
"How about...No?"
He replied with a smirk, watching her squirm in frustration.
She clearly did not like the situation, but the smile on Jamie’s face showed he was delighting in her misery.
In situations like this, struggling only amused the other party so although reluctantly, she gave up on resisting to deny Jamie that satisfaction.
"Pfft..."
But Jamie still seemed amused either way. He pulled another chair close and sat beside her, his expression smug as he spoke.
"Long time no see, Kayla. How’ve you been?"
"..."
The Spirit Empress did not answer him. Instead, she looked away, inadvertently looking in Arthur’s direction and her eyes widened in shock.
"...what the hell are you?"
Not who, but what.
Kaylatheurge could not hide the shock that rippled through her upon gazing at Arthur and despite being somewhat surprised by how casually she had snapped the neck of Jamie—a High Tier Deity—and how quickly Jamie had regenerated, Arthur managed to keep some composure.
"...Isn’t ’who’ the word you’re looking for in moments like this?"
She ignored his remark, turning her incredulous gaze back to Jamie.
"And here I thought you were unmatched in being impossible. But it seems there’s someone else who rivals you."
Hearing her, Arthur narrowed his eyes and asked.
"Why do I feel that’s not a compliment?"
"BECAUSE IT ISN’T!"
The Spirit Empress snapped back at him with a loud voice and Jamie laughed at her reaction.
"Your expressions are as entertaining as always, Kayla."
"I’m not your source of entertainment."
Kaylatheurge stomped on his foot in annoyance. Then she realised she could move but before she could even try to run, Jamie grabbed her again.
Clicking her tongue, she sat back down, making an obvious effort to ignore him as she turned to Arthur.
"How do you have three acquired Pseudo-Authorities while not being a Transcendent?"
She could tell that Arthur’s Pseudo-Authorities were not bestowed by some Higher-Existence, but were a result of his comprehension of Universal Laws.
"I’m a Progenitor."
That was all Arthur said in response and hearing him, the woman tilted her head in confusion.
"Progenitor?"
Then, realisation flashed through her eyes.
"You’re the one Uvton was talking about?"
Now, it was Arthur’s turn to be momentarily confused, but a second later, he remembered that Uvton was Artemisia’s father’s name.
"...probably."
Kayla nodded in understanding, and then she finally turned towards Evan who had been silent all this while.
She was about to speak, but she suddenly stopped, as if the words got caught in her tongue.
"What’s wrong, Kayla-Oh."
Jamie, who wanted to inquire for the reason why she suddenly went silent let out a sound as realisation flashed through his eyes.
"Why did you both go-Oh."
Arthur, initially confused, also seemed to come to the same realisation as Jamie and he went silent as well.
This left Evan as the only confused one here.
"Um...is this the part where I’m supposed to start talking then suddenly go silent halfway as well?"
He alternated his gaze between the three of them, still visibly confused and finally, Kaylatheurge spoke.
"How is this possible...?"
"How is what possible?"
Evan asked to get context on the situation and Kaylatheurge’s gaze on him narrowed as she asked back.
"Do we know each other?"
"..."
The Rogue Hero blinked in confusion, answering a beat later.
"I believe this should be the first time we’re meeting, no?"
When he said that, Kaylatheurge moved her gaze down to Evan’s chest, and then across the table and to herself, before looking back at Evan and repeating this action.
It was as if she was tracing something invisible in her line of sight. Something that everyone present except Evan could see.
"Hold on, Kayla. He can’t see it so he doesn’t understand where your question is coming from."
Jamie spoke, then placed his right hand on Evan’s shoulder and infused his power into this body.
"This might conflict a bit as you already possess an optical ability, but bear with it for a few seconds."
The moment Jamie’s words entered Evan’s ears, his vision changed. His eyes widened as the world he saw transformed, and he now saw the worldview of a being who possessed Authority over a Universal Law.
He could see how the various Universal Laws intertwined with one another in the space around him.
Jamie expected the sight to overwhelm Evan, but he seemed fine, only mildly surprised at his worldview changing abruptly.
Evan then looked down at his chest, repeating the same action that Kaylatheurge had taken earlier and his eyes widened when he saw it.
A golden line, a rope woven from strands of law energy, stretched from his chest and extended across the table towards Kaylatheirge’s body.
The end of the golden rope seemed to have been roughly cut off, as its edges were frayed.
That rough edge was now floating up and poking Kaylatheurge’s chest silently, as if trying to connect itself to her.
Just then, Kaylatheurge moved her hand and she grabbed this rope, and the sensation transmitted back to Evan was one he was all too familiar with.
Immediately, he understood what universal law that rope was made of, and exactly what it was.
"Spirit Contract..."
When he muttered those words, Jamie let go of Evan’s shoulder and his vision returned to normal.
"Again, I ask. Do we know each other?"
Kaylatheurge repeated her earlier question, only that this time, it made perfect sense.
The rope that Evan had just seen was a representation of a Spirit Contract link between him and a Contracted Spirit.
The reason why it seemed to have been roughly cut off, was because he had been sent through time, and his contract did not transcend time.
Thus, it was cut off in the future.
But why had it now tried to connect itself to Kaylatheurge? The answer was simple.
It was because, in the future, that line was the contract link between Evan...and the future Kaylatheurge!
The Link had sensed ’Kaylatheurge’ and it had tried to reconnect.
However, the other half of the severed contract link which was supposed to come from her was missing, so it just kept on floating and poking her, trying to search for the other part which did not exist in this time period.
"Well, I certainly didn’t expect this at all."
Evan spoke with a sigh, pressing his hand to his temple for a moment before turning to the Spirit Empress and speaking.
"To put it simply: I’m from the future, and in that future, you’re my contractor. However, due to certain circumstances, I was sent back in time against my will, and all my contracts were severed forcefully."
Those two lines of explanation were all Kaylatheurge needed to understand the situation.
"I was contracted with you in the future you came from..."
She glanced at Jamie and the man nodded to confirm Evan’s words. He then tapped her shoulder and used his telepathy to instantly transmit a load of information directly into her head, updating her on Evan’s situation.
Kaylatheurge took a moment to sort the information out before glancing at Evan and leaning forward.
"I have questions."
◇ ◇ ◇
Kayla’s Q&A session with Evan had started innocently enough but quickly shifted into something else entirely, with a few revelations sparking a deeper conversation.
By the end of it, the Spirit Empress left with more questions than she had when they began. Jamie, ever playful, eventually decided to stop teasing her and let her go.
With their business in the Regal Void Expanse wrapped up and having gained valuable benefits from the Guardian of Stars, they had no more reason to stay.
The Phoenix Revi, the Realm Lord of the Regal Void Expanse, was unavailable, preventing them from following through with Jamie’s original plan. With that in mind, they decided it was time to leave.
Jamie casually suggested staying on Aidos with Artemisia and Beatrix, but Arthur and Evan had no interest in lingering there longer than necessary—for obvious reasons.
So, Jamie returned them to Aramis and informed them that he would be heading to another planet to check on his backup plan since their initial one had fallen through with the Realm Lord’s absence.
In the meantime, Arthur and Evan embarked on a small adventure of their own.
What was meant to be a low-key exploration, however, quickly escalated—thanks, of course, to Arthur being Arthur.
Their simple adventure somehow ended up involving the Aramisians, and, before long, the situation spiralled out of control, culminating in the duo having to obliterate an entire Aramisian military base, erasing the city from the map entirely.
On a side note, Evan’s level finally hit 777, a milestone Evan found amusing for some reason only he knew.
