Chapter 744: Capturing Memories and the Promise of Reunion
"WE’RE TAKING PICTURES!!!"
Without a second thought, Beatrix grabbed Alvey, who barely had time to react, then Artemisia, and practically dragged them out of the room.
Seeing her leave, Arthur blinked in confusion and asked.
"Can’t we just take the pictures here?"
Beatrix stopped at the doorway, turned back with half-lidded eyes, and deadpanned.
"Seriously, Arthur? This is the most horrible background for a picture that’s supposed to be a keepsake."
Then, without another word, she turned back around and continued dragging Alvey and Artemisia outside.
◇ ◇ ◇
And so, they made their way to the courtyard of Alvey’s mansion, where their commemorative photoshoot began, with Sigesi taking on the role of camerawoman.
Arthur had barely started explaining the basics of operating the foreign universal instant camera before she quickly grasped it and then proceeded to capture some truly great shots.
They took all kinds of photos—group shots with everyone, smaller groupings, and, unsurprisingly, plenty of Beatrix-and-Alvey-specific ones.
Arthur, Evan and Jamie naturally had some protagonist trio shots, complete with over a dozen sets of increasingly ridiculous ideas. Artemisia joined in for a few with Arthur and Evan, as did Beatrix—though two of those mostly involved her jumping on top of Artemisia mid-shot.
After the smaller groupings, they took some more full-group photos, but in nearly everyone, Beatrix was too focused on Alvey to actually look at the camera.
They had to remind her—repeatedly—to face forward.
Just as they finished one of these attempts, McEnda walked in to see them waiting for the camera to print out the photo.
"Huh? You guys were taking photos? Why wasn’t I invited?!"
He naturally hadn’t known about the impromptu photoshoot beforehand, but the moment he saw them taking pictures without him, he decided to jump in, mostly because he wanted personal shots with Sigesi.
And with that, the commemorative photoshoot expanded, leading to even more captured memories.
The camera printed out so many pictures that Arthur half-wondered if it would run out of film. When they were done, they sifted through the prints, laughing and picking out their favourites.
It was a fun time, but like Arthur had said earlier, all things must come to an end.
Soon, the cosmic energy gathering around Evan became too intense for Arthur and Jamie to ignore anymore. At the same time, Artemisia and Beatrix’s wristwatches beeped in unison.
The moment Beatrix heard the sound, her expression fell.
That sound meant their pickup would be arriving in a few minutes to take them back to Aidos.
When Artemisia explained this as the reason for Beatrix’s sudden sadness, Evan recalled the reason they were leaving and asked.
"Come to think of it, you guys finally figured out the Regal Void Expanse had an entrance in your backyard, right?"
At those words, Beatrix immediately whipped around to glare at him.
"That was not fair, Evan. You knew and didn’t tell us?"
Evan just shrugged. "What? You were gonna find out eventually."
Beatrix clicked her tongue in annoyance, still struggling to believe that the legendary Regal Void Expanse—a place she had heard about for years—had an entrance on her home planet, on her home continent, and she had never known.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
After the catastrophic events of Cruotis Prime’s Apocalypse and the encounter with Bewússtsein, Beatrix and Artemisia’s parents reversed their decision to keep their daughters away from the Regal Void Expanse until they reached the Transcendent Realm.
Instead, they decided to send them in earlier, allowing them to train, grow stronger, and take full advantage of its benefits.
The trade-off was that they would be gone for a long time since Artemisia’s father had managed to strike some sort of deal with the Realm Lord that would get them more resources, which needed a long time to consume.
And that was exactly why Beatrix had wanted them all to have fun one last time. Why she had latched onto the idea of taking commemorative photos the second Arthur brought out the camera.
When Artemisia explained this for everyone in place of the saddened Beatrix who was clinging to Alvey for consolation, Arthur clapped his hands together to draw everyone’s attention, then spoke.
"I mentioned this to Jamie and Evan earlier, but we should really plan a reunion."
His gaze swept across the group as he added. "When I return to this universe, of course."
Gesturing to Jamie, Arthur continued.
"Jamie over here already said he’s good for a reunion anytime, so I guess it’s up to the rest of us—mostly Evan, but the rest of us."
Evan snapped his head toward Arthur, eyes narrowing. "Oi, I said don’t dump all the responsibility on me."
Arthur, pretending not to hear Evan’s protest, continued as if nothing had been said.
"We should plan for it to happen whenever at least three of us end up in the same place again, whether it’s by coincidence or not.
Once that happens, we can call up the others and actually make it happen. I have Jamie’s universe coordinates, so getting to him won’t be an issue.
The only real problem is figuring out when and where we all meet up again in the first place, but I guess that’s a matter for our future selves."
When Arthur said this, Jamie turned to him with a raised brow.
"Arthur, do you have any idea how far Zanerth is from here?"
Arthur shrugged without a care.
"Not in the slightest, but I trust in you, or more accurately, I trust in the power your real body possesses that can bring you back in record time."
Jamie rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed by the reasoning, but before he could argue, Arthur thrust his fist outward, his expression expectant.
"A reunion it is. What do you guys think?"
Beatrix immediately perked up, practically bouncing on her feet as she eagerly reached forward.
"Oh, me, me, me, me! I’m in!" She grinned as she bumped her fist against Arthur’s.
The rest of them hesitated for only a moment before eventually following suit, stacking their fists together in agreement.
Arthur smirked at the sight. "Well, I guess that’s the plan. Let’s go fight another planet next time."
"Oi! Don’t jinx it!" Evan retorted back immediately, prompting laughter from everyone.
But just as he spoke, a strange pulse of cosmic energy ripped through the area, coiling around each of their outstretched hands and ’binding’ them.
Jamie’s eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion, and he didn’t hesitate to reach out telepathically to the only person he could think of who might be responsible.
[What the hell are you doing, Ranus?]
The response came almost instantly, the amused and slightly condescending tone of the Eternal Reality filtering into Jamie’s mind as though he had been waiting for the question.
[You and your little group... the combination of all of you from different universes and different times... somehow managed to create one of the most entertaining things I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing in quite a while.
So, I simply made it a little easier for your reunion to become a reality.
After all, the boy’s words might as well have been a binding vow, and with all of you agreeing to it so readily, you’ve essentially sealed the deal.
If the conditions are ever met, you will reunite, whether you want to or not.]
Once he’d said his piece, Ranus severed the telepathic connection, leaving Jamie scowling to himself in annoyance.
Arthur, who’d also noticed the strange cosmic energy flow turned towards Jamie and asked.
"What was that?"
Jamie sighed softly before shaking his head, forcing away the lingering annoyance.
"No, nothing, just Ranus being an idiot, as usual."
Arthur’s expression remained questioning. "Ranus?"
Jamie waved him off dismissively to end the matter.
"It’s nothing important, don’t worry about it."
Arthur, however, wasn’t having that. He wanted to press the issue, but Lostvayne suddenly spoke to him.
[Worry not, Master. He didn’t do anything harmful.]
’You sure?’
[Affirmative.]
The godslayer went silent for a moment, before ultimately deciding not to push the matter further.
Instead, he raised his right hand and began pressing a series of buttons on his Cosmic Teleporter.
The spatial law energy gathering around his arm when he inputted his commands wasn’t missed by those present.
Upon noticing the source, Artemisia tilted her head slightly in curiosity as she asked.
"What are you doing?"
Before Arthur could respond, the space behind him suddenly twisted and distorted, cracks rapidly spiderwebbing outward as a massive swirling portal of energy began to take form, pulsating with overwhelming cosmic energy.
