Chapter 745: A Round of Farewells
The others instinctively took a step back, their eyes widening in surprise at the sheer intensity of the energy radiating from the suddenly-appearing portal.
"Is that...?"
Evan muttered quietly, a hint of recognition flashing in his eyes at the sight of the portal.
Arthur glanced at him before turning his attention back to the growing portal and responded.
"Yes. A Cosmic Gate to another Universe."
As always, his voice remained calm, even when speaking about things most people would consider crazy.
"It’s not fully formed yet, since leaving a Universe is far more complicated than most would expect. Right now, the gate is attempting to connect with the space-time continuum of the destination Universe, and that process is going to take a while."
That was why he had started the gate generation now. By the time they were done with farewells, it should have been ready.
Beatrix gazed at the swirling mass of colours, her expression thoughtful as she observed the shifting patterns of energy within the Cosmic Gate.
Arthur, noticing her curiosity, smirked slightly before gesturing toward it.
"You can get closer if you want. It’s not going to pull you in or anything—unless you actually touch it, of course. Don’t do that. I have no idea what would happen if you did."
Beatrix gave him a deadpan look before crossing her arms. "Yeah, Arthur, I don’t think I’m going to risk my arm touching something that can transport someone to an entirely different universe. No, thank you very much."
Arthur let out a light chuckle and shrugged, but before he could say anything else, Evan spoke up.
"So, though I can’t see it, I know that thing is gathering an absurd amount of cosmic energy."
Arthur turned to Evan, his initial expression—one that practically said It’s called a Cosmic Gate, of course, it is—shifting into one of realization.
Noting this change, Evan let out a laugh and continued.
"Arthur, I think you just helped the universe do its job of gathering way more than necessary. In fact..."
He trailed off as he slowly looked down at himself.
The others followed his gaze and immediately noticed the faint, nearly imperceptible layer of blue light beginning to shimmer around his body—a blend of temporal and spatial law energies, the exact combination needed to send him back to the future.
Jamie silently turned his gaze in a specific direction with narrowed eyes, a movement that Artemisia noticed and shook her head in response to.
Before she could say anything about the ’entity’ he had just noticed, the space behind her trembled, and another portal swirled into existence.
From within it, a figure stepped out. It was a woman radiating enough divinity to make her identity unmistakable. She was dressed in a black outfit that, while clearly crafted from high-quality materials, was essentially a maid uniform.
The moment she emerged, her eyes widened in surprise But, it wasn’t the presence of ’Demon King’ Jamie that had caught her off guard.
Instead, her gaze was immediately drawn to the Cosmic Gate behind Arthur, its sheer magnitude and power, unlike anything she had ever encountered.
As a High-Tier Deity Realm existence, she could instantly sense the immense flow of law energy being funnelled into the gate, the Authority imbued within it surpassing anything she had ever perceived or even thought possible.
Arthur, watching her reaction with mild amusement, spoke up casually.
"Don’t think too much about it. It’s just a Cosmic Gate leading to another universe."
His words pulled the goddess out of her thoughts, and she turned her attention to him with an incredulous expression. Clearly, she was struggling to reconcile the absurdity of the situation—specifically, the fact that Arthur had been the one to create such a thing.
Beatrix, catching this, immediately burst into laughter.
"Hah! Arthur, you’re the first person besides Mom and Uncle Jamie to actually make Aunt Mei’s expression change this much in a short time!"
The goddess whom Beatrix had called ’Aunt Mei’, slowly blinked before sighing, finally shifting her focus to Jamie.
With practised grace, she bowed slightly in respect before turning toward Artemisia and Beatrix.
"Young ladies, it’s time."
Artemisia sighed softly and nodded in acknowledgement, while Beatrix’s expression immediately fell, her usual enthusiasm replaced with reluctance.
Without hesitation, she turned toward Alvey and dashed toward him, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace.
And Alvey, despite having the ability to stop her, didn’t. He simply stood there and allowed her to hug him as tightly as she wanted, remaining still as she clung to him without restraint.
But the moment was short-lived. Artemisia, ever composed, reached forward and grabbed Beatrix by the collar before effortlessly pulling her away.
Looking at the rest of them, she offered a small nod. "See you guys later."
With that, she pulled Beatrix toward the spatial gate, though Beatrix still managed to wave enthusiastically as she called out, "Bye!"
And just like that, the two of them disappeared beyond the portal together with Mei, leaving only Arthur, Alvey, McEnda, Jamie, and Evan standing there in the wake of their departure.
◇ ◇ ◇
The group of seven had been reduced to five, and it seemed Jamie was very likely to be the next to leave.
His body, composed of cosmic energy, slowly began to dissolve, turning translucent. The man smiled wryly as he said noticed this, then looked at Alvey McEnda and spoke.
"The others already know about my departure. My ’Demon King’ Authority would be active for a few years; tell them it’s a little parting gift."
McEnda couldn’t conceal his surprise when he heard this. If Jamie’s Authority remained active even after he left, then the other Race Rulers in the universe wouldn’t know he was gone for quite some time.
That would give Gozon far more time to reallocate the resources and territories that were under his control and enable them to properly deal with the reactions of the other Intergalactic Hegemons when his absence is eventually revealed.
"I’ve made plans for special support arrangements for you, Alvey. I believe in your potential, and I’ve ensured you’ll receive the help you need to realize it."
Alvey’s eyes widened slightly in surprise before he bowed.
"Thank you, Your Excellency."
Jamie let out a light laugh.
"Don’t worry about it. Old folks like us need to support kids like you to grow up."
As he spoke, his body continued to fade. His right arm dissolved first, vanishing into wisps of cosmic energy.
At the same time, behind Evan, space itself tore open, forming a jagged rift in reality. Chains of sky-blue temporal energy shot out, wrapping tightly around him.
Evan glanced down at the glowing chains and sighed.
"I didn’t miss this."
Arthur laughed at the universe’s forceful method of dragging Evan back to the future, while Jamie grinned and spoke.
"Next time, come of your own volition. That way, you can choose how you leave."
Evan simply rolled his eyes as he responded.
"Yeah, even if I could travel on my own, I don’t think I’d willingly go back 10,000 years in time. Unless, of course, someone’s trying to kill past me or something."
Arthur and Jamie exchanged glances at his words.
"You know..." Arthur mused.
"He actually has a point," Jamie nodded.
As their conversation wrapped up, another Cosmic Gate formed behind Jamie. Unlike the colossal portal Arthur had created earlier with Cosmic Teleporter, this one was smaller but radiated the same powerful energy—an exit from this Universe, this Multiverse, into another.
Unlike Arthur’s Cosmic Teleporter, which needed to establish a connection to its destination, Jamie’s gate was instantaneous.
This was simply a fragment of his soul returning to its origin, a journey already set in motion the moment he arrived. The link between his soul fragment and his true self had always been there, waiting to pull him back when needed.
"Wow, you guys get Cosmic Gates, while I get a rift in space. This is like the third one already. and I know there’s a fourth waiting for me back home."
Evan grumbled under his breath, but his words didn’t escape Arthur’s ears, prompting the godslayer to shoot him an incredulous look.
"Dude, did you just spoil the last arc of your current Volume?"
"Not really. The Volume has ’Rifts in Space’ in the name so they already know this isn’t the last one." Evan responded with a shrug.
"Fair point."
Arthur nodded in agreement, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I’m kinda torn on the name for my next PART. This one’s Exodus, so I really want the next to have something to do with ’Levites’ or something..."
His muttering caught Jamie’s attention, and he turned to Arthur with a knowing look.
"I see what you did there. Genesis, Exodus, ’Levites’..."
Arthur chuckled in response, and at that moment, the final chain of time wrapped itself around Evan’s torso.
Jamie, whose body had nearly faded away entirely, raised his left hand. With his last two fingers, he flashed a peace sign and spoke.
"See you around."
""Yeah. See you around."" Arthur and Evan replied.
The moment those words left their lips, everything happened at once.
Jamie’s body fully disintegrated, collapsing into a swirling mass of cosmic energy before being sucked into his cosmic gate.
Simultaneously, the chains of time yanked Evan backwards, dragging him into the spatial rift.
Arthur hopped backwards into the Cosmic Gate behind him, mirroring Jamie’s gesture with a peace sign as he disappeared into the portal.
Left behind were McEnda and Alvey, watching as the last remnants of their departing figures faded into the vastness of space.
◇ ◇ ◇
And then they were two.
Alvey sighed softly, crossing his arms. "Well... it’s back to just us."
McEnda let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, just us."
As they stood amidst the lingering wisps of spatiotemporal energy, McEnda spoke again.
"You know, Alvey... I’m going to push for us not to go along with the final plan for this planet."
"...what?"
Alvey’s eyes widened in shock. Of all people, he never expected to hear that from McEnda.
And judging by the slight smirk on his best friend’s face, the Archdemon knew exactly how surprised he was.
"It’s a Prime World, you know? A few more centuries and it would be of help to Gozon."
Alvey reminded McEnda of Aramis’ value, but that didn’t change the Archdemon’s decision.
"I know. But my decision stands. Let’s leave it as a World of Memories."
"World of Memories, huh? Has a nice ring to it."
Alvey nodded, watching as the dense cosmic energy in the air gradually dispersed. Then, with a pat on McEnda’s back, he spoke.
"If that’s your decision, then we’d better start laying the groundwork now."
McEnda exhaled, shaking his head with a grin. "Back to work for us, huh?"
"Back to work."
With that, the two demons turned and walked away, their decision here one that had forever altered Aramis’ fate.
