Chapter 968: Nash’s Scheme
Nash fell silent after Quinn’s immediate rebuttal.
Aleksas wore an expression that seemed to question whether Nash actually believed he and Quinn would be fooled by the flimsy excuse he had just offered.
They had known the man for billions of years, understood his personality, and knew how he operated.
Nash enjoyed stirring up trouble, but he didn’t do it purely for amusement. There was almost always a reason behind it, at least 90% of the time.
Throwing around the names of 2 major Progenitors like this made Aleksas and Quinn suspect that something was happening behind the scenes.
But Nash continued to remain quiet, and Quinn’s patience was beginning to wear thin.
"Nash, you should know by now that I don’t like beating around the bush."
With those words, Quinn extended her right hand and said, "Get over here, Starbreaker."
A burst of cosmic energy erupted from her palm, space ruptured, and a long war hammer with a handle about a meter long appeared in her hand.
The moment she took hold of it, the hammer’s head dropped to the ground, hitting the earth and sinking into it as Quinn spoke again. "Talk. Now."
Arthur took a small step back as the tension increased.
’This is bad...’
Just as it looked like Quinn was about to throw hands, Nash finally spoke with a sigh.
"Lycan ordered a cover-up."
Hearing this, Aleksas confirmed his earlier suspicion that Nash had deliberately blown Arthur and Vlad’s situation out of proportion for a reason and that it was meant to hide something else.
Information Manipulation 101.
Arthur, the only person present who didn’t know who Lycan was, asked, "And who’s Lycan, if I may ask?"
Quinn answered, "Progenitor of Werewolves."
While Quinn responded to Arthur, Aleksas asked, "A cover-up for what?"
Nash replied, "His son may have messed up a little. With how things were progressing, Dhiyi was going to find him.
Needed to give the multiverse something else to think about.
News about a new Progenitor, his encounter with Vlad, and him already crossing paths with a major figure like Aleksas was a far juicier story than whatever the 700th or 800th child of the Progenitor of Werewolves was doing.
That way, Dhiyi wouldn’t have been able to source the information from their minds when she arrived."
He’d made Arthur’s encounter with Vlad into a multiversal spectacle for this reason.
"Who’s Dhiyi?" Arthur asked, his expression turning apprehensive at the thought of this person who could apparently extract information from minds on a multiversal scale.
"The ’All-Knowing Aggressor’. Akasha’s counterpart," Quinn answered, unsummoning Starbreaker.
’Dhiyi’ was the name of the woman who governed ’Ordered Knowledge’, the Aggressor of Wisdom and Knowledge.
Seeing Arthur’s expression, Nash chuckled dryly and said, "The concept of Knowledge is far more dangerous than embodying what it means to know things, especially when it’s in the hands of a being whose existence is defined by at least 8 spatial dimensions.
A single glance at you, and she can literally see your thoughts."
That last bit sounded like a line that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror movie, especially with Nash’s delivery.
Quinn began clapping her hands suddenly, and when Nash looked at her with confusion, she spoke, "Congratulations, Nash. Thanks to you, Luka is now one step closer to eliminating the last of the Primordial Progenitors."
Nash’s expression changed immediately at Quinn’s words, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he asked, "What the hell do you mean by that?"
"What she means is that I’m the last of these ’Primordials’ you guys have been looking for, and no thanks to you, Luka’s Imperium dogs might find out, and I’d have her knocking on my door soon enough."
For a moment after Arthur spoke, Nash was silent.
The man knew about Arthur’s activities in Valmone, which were the main reason Arthur couldn’t leave the Second Multiverse anytime soon.
He immediately raised his hand and pressed his fingers to the left side of his head, his lips parting as he issued orders to every Ancient-Breed Drifter across the entire multiverse.
"Call it off. Everything about Vlad, Aleksas and the new kid. Recall everyone and redirect our forces. Highest Priority.
Lycan has had enough cover-up to finish his business."
Arthur was surprised by how easily and quickly Nash directed his drifters, and he couldn’t stop himself from muttering, "It seems getting the Primordials together is very important to you lot."
Nash heard Arthur, turned toward him, and then spoke.
"The...fate of the Cosmos is unknowable. Not sure fate is the right word given how little its influence is when you reach Ultimate, but I digress.
As long as the Cosmos’ fate remains unknowable, then the Cosmos would exist infinitely. The Calculations of the End is something that Primordial Progenitors can use to examine and confirm that the fate of the Cosmos is unknowable.
But the moment the unknowable becomes knowable, we’re destined for certain doom.
I don’t want to face the abrupt end that those of the Previous Era experienced, so it’s only natural that I’d want to find a means to calculate the location and trajectory of things or existences that may change that fate, so I can nip them in the bud before they bloom."
The instants within the Cosmos’ progression that could trigger the beginning of the end. That was the true purpose of the ’Calculations of the End’, and the reason these Primordials were searching for the last of their kind.
"I guess we’re done here," Aleksas said, turning around before vanishing and returning his clone to its standby location.
"Make sure to clean everything up," Quinn said, creating a gate leading from Valmone to Draco Sirus, and Nash responded with a dismissive wave of his hand.
She motioned for Arthur to follow her into the gate, and after one jump through space, the two of them arrived back on Chazat, where Lostvayne was waiting after returning from her ’discussion’ with Starbreaker.
"That ended rather quickly," Arthur said, still somewhat surprised by how easily everything had been resolved.
Quinn nodded without a word, but just before she could respond, she noticed something that made her chuckle. Patting Arthur on the back, she said, "But it looks like your troubles aren’t over, kiddo."
"Huh?"
Arthur felt confused by her words, but the moment he took another step forward, he entered someone’s perception range and immediately felt it.
[...Master, who did you offend this time?]
’I did nothing of the sort, Celestia.’
He definitely hadn’t offended anyone in recent memory, and certainly not an existence whose mere presence made his body scream ’RUN’.
However, that was a pointless action since he had already stepped into that person’s perception range, which meant they had already sensed him as well.
And his presence wasn’t the only thing about him that they had sensed.
’My Aspect of Time... I can barely feel its power anymore. It’s completely overwhelmed by theirs.’
The doors to the building he called his residence within Barda’s training pocket universe opened, and the figure who stepped out was someone Arthur least expected to see here.
"Great, you’re finally bac—oh. Sorry about that."
They seemed to realise that their own power was interfering with Arthur’s Temporal abilities and preventing them from functioning properly.
If Arthur had been in the Valmone universe, he would have seen a notification similar to the one that had appeared when he fought Bewússtsein, something along the lines of |You are in the presence of a superior Aspect of the Concept of Time. Your Authority and Aspect of Time have temporarily been neutralised.|
"Still, I’m surprised," the woman said. "To think you’ve become a Candidate of Time as well."
Arthur remained where he stood, a multitude of questions running through his mind at once.
"...why are you here?" he finally managed to ask.
Hearing him, the woman tilted her head, her long hair falling slightly to the side as she replied, "Why? Well, I was wondering what the hell was going through your head when I heard the news about your encounter with Vlad.
Then I got closer and heard you were with Aleksas, and I started wondering whether you didn’t know you’re supposed to be keeping a low profile since members of the Imperium are searching for you as if their lives depend on it."
"Oh...that," Arthur muttered. "Those two situations being blown out of proportion happened because of Nash. I just settled that with Quinn and...?"
Arthur blinked in confusion as he turned to the side and noticed that Quinn had vanished from beside him.
He also realised that Lostvayne’s presence, which he had been sensing from the building in front of him, was now distant, and he understood that while he had been stunned by the sight of this woman standing here, Quinn had whisked Lostvayne away.
He hadn’t noticed it immediately, and honestly, he couldn’t be blamed for that.
After all, the person standing before Arthur was one of the first beings from the cosmic stage he had ever met.
She was the one who had informed the 10-year-old Arthur that he was a Progenitor and that he could comprehend universal laws before Transcendence. She was also the one who had given him his first law crystal and taught him how to comprehend universal laws.
She was a woman with light blue hair tied in a messy ponytail that reached her waist, dressed in a loose black T-shirt that made the colour of her hair stand out even more, paired with a simple set of black jeans and combat boots.
Her monolid blue eyes, swirling with temporal cosmic energy, fit perfectly on her beautiful face, which looked no different from how Arthur remembered it.
She was the 179th Princess of the Third Multiverse’s Vladi Universal Supercluster, the one who held the title of ’Most Dangerous Candidate of Time’.
Alexia Vladi.
