Chapter 851: Unspoken Truths
|Third Step: Rend the Sky.|
A silver light fell with his blade, slicing through everything from the top of his vision down to the ground in an instant, so fast that the fabric of space remained whole, as if reality hadn’t registered the cut.
To Altrishia, it was only a momentary flash, a glimpse of light before the primal fear of death gripped her.
As the slash descended, a deafening shockwave erupted outward, tearing the air apart as the land on both sides split open, everything around the strike’s path obliterated by the sheer force of its passage.
A towering cloud of dust and smoke billowed into the sky from the shockwave, spreading outward in heavy waves that swallowed the landscape.
As the haze spread and the air began to clear, Altrishia’s eyes finally registered the red-haired man standing before her, his left hand extended toward the descending silver line of cosmic energy.
From her perspective, it looked as if he had stopped the slash with a single finger, but from the side, it was clear the strike had halted just an inch short of actually touching him.
The light trembled, then shattered into countless fragments that scattered through the air before dissolving into nothing, breaking down until even Arthur’s sword crumbled to dust.
As the wind carried the fading remnants away, Arthur clenched his trembling fists and took a deep breath, lifting his gaze to Aleksas, who had stepped in to halt the attack.
"Relax. I wasn’t gonna kill her."
Turning and shaking his head, he added, "I’m not dumb enough to make an enemy out of you."
Altrishia was clearly Aleksas’ favourite descendant at the moment. Killing her would have been a sure ticket to existence erasure, and Arthur wasn’t suicidal, so he stopped his attack just short of making contact.
Besides...
’I wouldn’t have been able to complete the slash anyway.’
Putting his trembling arms aside, his weapon had broken before he could finish the slashing motion.
As he took another deep breath, Barda teleported beside him and grabbed his shoulder as he shouted,
"So?! What do you guys think? I’m obviously the winner, aren’t I?"
He grinned broadly at his siblings, who all shot him disgusted looks, even the usually taciturn Gervod.
"Cheater," Gindry spat, huffing and turning away, much to Barda’s surprise.
"C-cheat!? I didn’t cheat! I just taught him a technique! That’s not cheating!"
As a reminder, the Levites had made a bet on Arthur’s training, with the winner being determined by whose preferred weapon he had the highest proficiency with at the end.
Barda had taught him Breaking the Sky to improve his chances of winning that bet, and the others clearly weren’t happy about it.
Arthur didn’t know why, but he guessed they might have set some limitations he wasn’t aware of, and Barda teaching him the technique was probably skirting the edge of breaking them.
That wasn’t his concern now. He simply extended his hand and summoned Lostvayne, then calmly swung at Barda without a hint of hesitation, and of course, his attack just phased right through the dragon.
"I’m shelving your technique," he said, acting like he hadn’t just tried to hit the older dragon. "That thing nearly crippled my arms."
He unsummoned Lostvayne and opened a Cosmic Gate to walk away, clicking his tongue as he felt his fractures still refusing to heal despite absorbing ambient cosmic energy.
Of course, he returned to his house, where Elaine was sleeping, with every intention of changing his clothes while the Levites handled the aftermath of his fight with Altrishia.
Celestia appeared in her humanoid shape and fell into step beside him, and thinking back on the battle, Arthur muttered,
"700 generations of accumulated potential, huh?"
[!]
Celestia’s eyes widened at his mutter, and noticing it, Arthur sighed, stopped, and turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
"You seem to be slipping up on controlling yourself today, Celestia."
[...]
Celestia couldn’t come up with a response immediately, and as she stayed silent, Arthur took a step forward, making her reflexively step back.
He stepped forward again, and Celestia stepped back once more, her back ending against the corridor wall.
"Did Elaine’s existence affect you that much?"
Arthur’s question made Celestia bite her lips silently, and as if he didn’t notice her reaction, Arthur continued muttering.
"Come to think of it, both of you were always arguing..."
[wha!? Master, you...!?] Celestia started to speak, but immediately stopped when she saw the glint in Arthur’s eyes, a sudden realisation dawning over her.
’He played me!’
Arthur chuckled when he noticed this, shaking his head as he turned and walked away.
"I’m very curious what it is you think I’m remembering."
With that, he headed to his room, leaving Celestia behind, who sank to the floor silently, cradling her head in her hands.
’He said ’700 generations’ of accumulated potential, not just ’generations of accumulated potential’.
Of course, he was talking about the dragon he just fought, not that Failed Experiment! How could I slip up like that?!’
As she groaned in shame, the thought of Elaine crossed her mind, and she frowned lightly.
’To think I was shaken like this just from meeting her... Why? She’s always tried to monopolise Master despite being a failure, but is that all?’
Celestia racked her memories for any extra details, but came up empty.
’It’s no use. I only remember my early years and the END...’
Just as she had that thought, she sensed Arthur’s presence drawing near, so she quickly got up and controlled her expression just in time for him to step out of his room.
[Master, about t-Elaine, do you intend to have the Levites train her as well?]
"Not all of them," Arthur replied, acting like the last few minutes hadn’t happened as he headed back out.
"Just Berlal. Maybe Gervod, too, since he’s the best when it comes to Life Manipulation."
He shrugged as he spoke, heading outside toward the others, and just as he came within earshot, Aleksas, who was speaking to Barda and Wyndella, both wearing grave expressions, turned to him.
"I don’t know whether to consider you lucky or unlucky, to be born shouldering the fate of an entire race in such turbulent times."
Arthur froze at being suddenly addressed by the Progenitor Dragon, his expression changing as he replied.
"Um...Mr. Aleksas? Can you NOT drop ominous statements like that without context?"
Before Aleksas could explain, Barda spoke up.
"It’s the Eternals. There was a big issue recently, and some of them have started clamouring to move up Phase 2 of the Candidate Selection."
"A big issue? What happened?" Arthur asked, raising his eyebrows, and Barda’s response made all the Levites sigh in exasperation.
"Azi Dhaka and Dulio fought a little bit..."
"..."
Arthur looked down and paused to search through his memory for those names, and after confirming he hadn’t heard wrong, he turned to the Levites and Aleksas.
"Azi Dhaka’s a dragon too, isn’t he?"
"Unfortunately," Wyndella replied with another weary sigh, making it clear she wasn’t pleased with Azi Dhaka’s actions.
"The warring age is over, and yet fools like him still want to instigate Cosmic War and drag the Cosmos back into chaos.
The Eternals clamouring to rush the Candidate Selection means they want a replacement quickly, which means some of them are already considering war.
Dhaka knew this would happen, so why did he go meddling in Dulio’s territory? Has he forgotten the cosmic disaster that followed the last time an Eternal and an Aggressor died?!"
Wyndella was practically shouting towards the end, but she then demonstrated a level of emotional control that stunned Arthur, calming instantly as her anger dissolved like smoke before his eyes.
Turning to Aleksas, she asked, "What did Hyperion say?"
"He said he’d ’rein him in’. Just like he always does.
I do have a feeling something isn’t right, though. Hyperion dodged all my questions about the Wheel of Fate."
"It must have started spinning again, then," Gervod’s voice cut in, and Arthur turned to see him appear with Altrishia trailing a few feet behind.
When she felt Arthur’s gaze, she turned to him, and, meeting her eyes, Arthur spoke.
"Sup, Miss Pedigree. Cool your head yet?"
Arthur’s little nickname clearly irritated her, but though she had a lot to say about it, she pushed those thoughts aside and spoke first.
"I once again apologise for my earlier remarks and misassumptions."
"..."
Arthur blinked at that, and after a few seconds, he silently turned to Aleksas, his gaze practically asking if he’d put her up to this.
Altrishia also seemed to notice this, and she frowned, speaking up.
"I was not told to apologise by anyone. I do it of my own volition because I recognise I was wrong."
Hearing her words, Arthur glanced back at her and said,
"I see...you’re the serious, straight-laced type, huh?"
Thinking about Aleksas’ attitude and manner of speech, Arthur nodded to himself and muttered,
"The apple really never goes far from the tree."
Without elaborating on what he meant, he refocused on Altrishia and added, "Apology accepted. Granted, I couldn’t care less either way."
Just as he said that, Celestia’s voice echoed in his head.
[Master, she’s awake.]
Arthur immediately turned his gaze toward the door of his residence, just in time to see it creak open slightly and Elaine peek out fearfully.
Waking up in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar house, must have been terrifying for her, especially after everything she’d gone through in the past month, so Arthur had to give her credit for finding the courage to even think about going down the stairs and looking outside.
"!"
Her eyes lit up the moment she spotted him, but the unfamiliar faces around her made her shrink back in fear.
Arthur was about to say something, but before he could, Elaine suddenly dashed out of the building and straight towards him, hiding behind him.
The sight made Arthur think of her like a small animal, though he quickly coughed to shake off the thought, and at the same time, Elaine tugged on his shirt and muttered.
"...name..."
"Hmm?"
"...your...name..."
"Ah," Arthur suddenly realised he hadn’t given her his name, so with a small smile, he said,
"Arthur."
After telling Elaine his name, he turned toward the other Levites, who were speaking with Aleksas about something else, and spoke.
"Mind if I ask, but besides these six, how long did it take for you to get other natural Ancient Breed occurrences? Or did you have to inflate their numbers using Race Creation?"
The question was clearly directed at Aleksas, and after a quick glance at Elaine, instantly identifying her as an Ancient Breed, he spoke.
"My experience cannot serve as a reference for you. Increase your influence across a myriad of universes, as that raises the probability of natural births, which in turn raises the chance of Superior Breeds."
Arthur sighed at the Progenitor Dragon’s response, shaking his head as he muttered,
"Yeah, that’s gonna take a while. With the hits I probably have on me, I need to be much stronger before I even think about actively doing that. Experience has taught me that much at least."
Turning back to Elaine, who looked clearly confused by the context, he added,
"I guess I might end up using Race Creation to crank out Superior Breeds."
"Hmm?"
His words confused someone besides Elaine—Altrishia.
"Use Race Creation, you say? But that’s something only Progenitors are capable o...f..."
She trailed off, her eyes widening as the realisation dawned, and seeing this, Arthur glanced at the Levites and asked, "Wait, you guys didn’t tell her?"
All of them turned to Barda, who silently looked away, whistling, and Arthur shook his head before returning his gaze to Altrishia.
"You’ve probably figured it out already, but I’ll say it anyway since a certain dragon forgot to tell you."
Stepping forward while holding Elaine’s hand, he said,
"Name’s Arthur Vaughn. Progenitor godslayer."
Then he abruptly lifted Elaine, conjured a Cosmic Gate, the sound of space tearing covering her shocked yelp, and as he turned to the gate, he waved dismissively.
"See you around, Miss Pedigree."
"My name is Altrishia Weiss. Not whatever you’ve been calling me," Altrishia immediately shot back, correcting him.
Arthur paused, turned to her, and then nodded. "Is that so? Okay, then, Miss Pedigree."
"!"
Before Altrishia could even respond, he leapt into the gate, disappearing from the training universe and returning to Chazat.
