Chapter 852: Starlight Serendipity
Unnamed City
Araulus Continent
Apex World Chazat
9th of Fourth
9439th Draconic Year
"See those long ears over there making the wind swirl? Those are elves."
"mhmm."
"The shorties over there with big hammers are Dwarves. Their tallest don’t even reach my shoulder!"
"Mhmm."
"And those normal-looking guys over there are humans. So you see, there are different people from different races with different kinds of powers.
All different.
We godslayers are the sa—Oh, look over there, dragons in the sky. Cool, right?"
"Uh, it’s...cool, but...um...Arthur?"
"Yes, Elaine?"
"...can you...please put me down? ...people are staring..."
Elaine’s words finally made Arthur give a thought to the people on the street around them, and indeed, quite a few were staring.
Naturally, it was because Arthur had Elaine perched on his shoulder while pointing at things as they walked.
For reference, Arthur was 6ft tall and Elaine was 5’2", so having her sitting on his shoulder like a small child drew a lot of attention.
"Please...I’m not a little kid..."
Hearing her quiet mutter, Arthur chuckled and obliged, setting her down as he said,
"Well, you’re a kid from my perspective. I’m like five times your age, after all."
"...eh?"
Elaine froze, her eyes widening as she looked Arthur up and down several times, then held up her fingers to do the math before scanning his appearance again.
Her actions made Arthur laugh out loud, and Elaine figured he was teasing her, but just as she pouted and was about to speak, Arthur cut in.
"I’m not joking, though."
"But yo—!"
Elaine’s words stopped as she realised the sounds of the other streetwalkers had vanished, and she looked around to see everyone frozen in place, a sight she remembered from her hometown.
Turning back to Arthur, she saw him twirling a blue ring of light on his fingers.
"I can control Time. It’s one of my powers."
He resumed the flow of the world around them, and as the people continued moving without knowing they’d just been frozen, he explained.
"I froze my appearance when I turned 18, so I look like this even though I’m much older."
Taking a step forward and gesturing for Elaine to follow, he continued.
"Besides that, I wouldn’t be looking old or grey ever. And neither would you."
"Me...too?"
Arthur nodded at her question, leaning in close and whispering as he pointed at a passing elf.
"That guy is actually 980 years old."
"980!?"
Elaine couldn’t help exclaiming in shock, her eyes widening as she looked at the man who appeared to be in his 30s, then back at Arthur, who was laughing at her surprise.
"The stronger you are, the slower you age. Once you become a mature adult, your ageing stops, so you stay looking like that forever."
"Wooah..."
The idea of having Eternal Youth seemed to captivate her, and just as Arthur felt pleased seeing her so expressive, a loud voice rang out across the street.
"Stop that kid! Hold her down!!"
"!!"
Elaine flinched at the shout, her fascinated expression instantly turning to fear as she began trembling, and Arthur’s face darkened, his eyes shooting a glare at the shopkeeper who was chasing a pickpocket.
Arthur’s annoyed glare made the man’s soul practically leave him, and he collapsed unconscious from fear. Clicking his tongue in irritation, Arthur grabbed Elaine and teleported to a different location.
Appearing suddenly at the top of a hill overlooking the city seemed to snap Elaine out of her fearful daze, and before she could even look around, Arthur lifted her onto his shoulder again.
"Wha!? Again!?"
Her arms still trembled slightly, but for now, the embarrassment of being treated like a little child seemed to get the better of her.
Arthur couldn’t hold back laughter at the expression on Elaine’s face as she flailed her arms and blushed, and before she could even retort, he teleported again.
A gust of cool air suddenly swept over Elaine as everything went dark, and she blinked, looking up to meet the sight of an amusement park bathed in radiant colours, its massive attractions rising high into the dark sky of this continent, facing away from Chazat’s host star.
Neon trails shimmered across colossal Ferris wheels and hovering rides, painting the air in dazzling streaks. Elaine’s eyes widened in awe as she slowly turned, following the glow of gigantic roller coasters twisting like luminous serpents through the night.
"What... what are those?" she asked softly, wonder taking over her voice.
Her trembling had stopped by now, so Arthur put his hands in his pockets and smiled.
"Park attractions for kids," he said casually.
Elaine froze, her face heating up as she registered his words.
"K–Kids!?" she stammered, spinning to face him with wide eyes, her earlier embarrassment rushing back even stronger.
Arthur laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender.
"Alright, alright. Then let’s go in, grown-up," he said, setting her down and ruffling her hair before taking her hand and leading her through the bright gates.
The rest of the night was filled with laughter as they moved through the park like excited kids, hopping from one attraction to another.
For Elaine, it felt like stepping into a dream, every sight and experience presenting new marvels she’d never imagined on her home planet.
On a side note, she still hadn’t realised this wasn’t her home planet, since the idea of interplanetary travel was something she, who had only ever known her town, couldn’t even conceive.
By the midnight hour, they found themselves in a quieter part of the park where soft lights hung from crystal trees, their glow reflecting in the still waters of a nearby pond.
Sitting on a bench beneath the lights, Elaine leaned sleepily against Arthur, her head resting on his shoulder as her breathing slowed.
As Arthur glanced down at her with a faint smile, watching her drift into slumber, Berlal silently appeared at his other side.
"You seem to have taken a liking to this one."
At her sudden words, Arthur placed a hand on his chin, rubbing it as he spoke.
"I guess. Granted, the circumstances I found her in were most irritating, and there are some other factors in play."
Like the fact that she was very likely the incarnation of someone close to him from the Previous Era.
’Well, just a fragment, I suppose. The SOS did mention a ’Fragment’. The real one’s still out there, somewhere...’
"Other factors, huh?" Berlal echoed, her eyebrows raised curiously, but Arthur didn’t elaborate.
"There’s also the fact that she’s the first Ancient-Breed I’ve found, you know?"
Berlal could clearly tell that Arthur was avoiding the question, but she didn’t think too much, only glancing at Elaine in silence.
"Can you get Gervod to help out with her? Well, I’m sure you alone can handle it, but it’s best to leave things like this to the experts, right?"
Arthur asked, and Berlal, understanding he meant he wanted Gervod to assist in developing Elaine’s minor life affinity, nodded casually.
"I could ask, but that depends on whether he’s interested."
"That’s enough. He seems plenty interested already."
Leaning back and gazing up at the night sky filled with constellations he’d grown familiar with over the past few decades, Arthur asked,
"Is there any nearby universe with a Devour Class System?"
"You won’t find anything like that in any universe ruled by dragons, and this region of the multiverse is filled with them," Berlal replied. "Aleksas isn’t fond of those auxiliaries the Eternals use to speed up Existence Realm Progression."
Aleksas’ disdain for ’Systems’ was widely known across the Cosmic Stage, and he’d once even declared publicly that they were just tools the Eternals used to spy on other Races’ territories and identify talents to poach, since the Systems recorded the Existential Data of everyone integrated with them.
Hearing this, Arthur couldn’t help but agree with the man to some extent, but even with all the red flags, he still needed their assistance to climb the ranks of power more quickly.
"Guess I’ll take Elaine with me to Valmone, then. I’d like her to train under you to make the best use of her Death affinity, but at her current level, I doubt she could even handle the simplest drills."
"So you plan to boost her Existence Realm with one of those things?"
At Berlal’s question, Arthur nodded. "Exactly. If I can power-level her to the Sovereign Realm, that should be enough, right?"
Berlal took a moment to think, but eventually shook her head.
"Don’t do that yet. Let her learn power control from the very roots.
If you want her to stand beside you for years to come, experiencing the climb through the first few Realms by herself will be invaluable."
"What for?" Arthur asked curiously, and Berlal shared a piece of information that made him wonder if asking had been a good idea.
"It’s useful for when you return to the basics at the Ultimate Realm."
"..."
Arthur went silent, pressing his lips together for a moment before shaking his head and deciding not to ask any further.
"Oh well. You’re the expert, so we’ll go with your call. As long as the end result is her learning to control her powers and being able to defend herself, I’m fine with it.
Just don’t treat her like you treat me. She’s been through a lot."
"What do you take me for, Arthur? I adjust the intensity of my coaching based on who the subject is."
"Really?" Arthur turned to her with a doubtful look. "Sure you do?"
"I know your limits better than you do, so yes, I’m sure I do."
There wasn’t a trace of doubt in Berlal’s tone, only complete confidence, and Arthur couldn’t help but sigh.
Just then, a portal opened behind them, and Wyndella stepped out, her brows lifting slightly as she walked over.
"What are you two up to?"
Her eyes moved to Elaine on Arthur’s shoulder, and after blinking once, she asked.
"This one’s awake, isn’t she?"
At her words, Elaine flinched, and both Arthur and Berlal reacted almost in sync—Arthur facepalming while Berlal shook her head and spoke with a sigh.
"You weren’t supposed to point that out."
Clearly, both of them had already realised Elaine had been quietly listening and had simply chosen to ignore it, but since Wyndella hadn’t known the context of their talk, she ended up exposing her.
Now that the jig was up, Arthur ruffled the girl’s hair lightly and addressed her.
"Berlal here’s a much better choice to help you learn to control your power than I am, so she’ll be handling that, alright?"
Arthur had only comprehended the Laws of Life and Death because of the boost in vitality and resilience they provided, but since his affinity with them was only average compared to his main affinities, he hadn’t invested much effort in them, so they’d only reached the Basic Rank.
As Elaine nodded quietly, Arthur lifted his gaze and noticed Wyndella, who had walked past them earlier to buy cotton candy from a nearby stall, returning with the cloudy sweets in hand as she spoke to Berlal.
"Aleksas said we should start paying more attention to that Rishia kid," Wyndella said, taking a bite of her cotton candy.
"Apparently, he wants more competents around to handle things in case we disappear again like before."
Berlal rolled her eyes silently at those words, which made Wyndella chuckle before continuing, "Oh well, we’re almost done with Arthur anyway.
After mine and Gervod’s trials, I guess we can start putting more attention on her. I’m curious about how good this accumulated potential really is."
Wyndella’s remark reflected the only reason Berlal, despite her current annoyance with Aleksas, was even considering training Rishia—curiosity. She wanted to see just how far that girl’s potential could actually go.
As for Arthur, he simply looked up at the stars, thinking that he had come here because of Celestia’s fragment, and he fully intended to return to Hell after securing the second fragment, wherever it was hidden within the Alpha Sirus Cluster.
But now, it seemed he would have to remain longer since he needed the Levites, or more precisely Berlal, to train Elaine.
