Chapter 996: A Meeting in Iklaque [Monthly Bonus 3]
Even though she had just exuviated and felt full of energy, Arthur sent Elaine to rest so her body could properly adapt to the immense changes and the leap in power she had made, going straight to the Intermediate Stage of the Half-Deity level, in no small part thanks to the anti-divinity she had absorbed from Arthur.
Arthur left Nienope and headed to the edges of the Orithyia Galaxy, to the planet where he had found the Draconic godslayers, to check on them and see if Aleksas had sent anyone to supervise them.
After leaving there, Arthur momentarily considered returning to Nienope, but changed his mind and decided to head to Aramis instead.
He scanned the planet upon arrival, but detected no familiar presences, so he immediately made his way to the northern side of the Plomux continent, straight to the Cyesera Region, where the Dimensional Realm known as Iklaque was located.
This isolated Dimensional Realm, which couldn’t even be perceived by the Prime World’s consciousness, was created by his paternal grandfather, the former Olympian god King Kronos, one of the most well-known Candidates of Time, and it was where Kronos had stored the corpse of another Candidate of Time he had killed, the Titan god Novak.
’Come to think of it, I’ve still got the staff I got from that guy.’
Arthur dipped his hand into his subspace at that thought, pulling out something that had been lying dormant there for decades, the Staff of Olympian Authority he had acquired after defeating the strongest Chief Priest of the people who once lived in this realm.
As he descended among the ruins, he held up the long staff of gold that shimmered with a faint glow. It had a rounded top, and Arthur tapped it with his finger in silence before injecting divinity into the weapon, causing the top to open outward like a blooming rose.
From within the rose, three serpents emerged, each writhing with their mouths holding a jewel of a different colour: Sky Blue, Sea Green, and Obsidian Black.
Immediately, the three jewels reacted to his presence, the sky blue one unleashing powerful lightning, while the sea green one engulfed his hand in acid-green water that began to boil.
However, the obsidian black jewel didn’t lash out like the other two, simply glowing as if it were waiting for him to use its power.
"This thing’s really powerful, but the current me can output more power on my own than with this. I thought of using it against Luka after using the Scales of Balance on her, but that didn’t turn out so well, did it?"
He smiled in a faint, self-deprecating way and shook his head, withdrawing the divinity he had poured into the staff and causing the jewels at its top to seal back into the ball.
As for his arm, which had taken the full brunt of the staff’s rejection head-on, not a single scratch could be seen on his skin.
’Last time I used this, just the sky blue jewel alone burned my skin. But now, it can’t even bypass my durability to deal actual damage.’
It was a reminder of how much stronger he had become since the last time he was on this planet, but also a reminder of how much stronger he still needed to grow.
After all, although the power of the Authorities within the staff couldn’t harm him now, he still couldn’t subjugate them and use their power directly.
Clicking his tongue at that thought, Arthur returned the staff to the depths of his subspace, then made his way deeper into the realm, toward the place where Novak’s corpse had once been.
He opened his subspace once more, and this time he brought out the last of Novak’s divine spark fragments, 15 fragments he had planned to absorb to provide himself with the necessary energy to reach the High-Tier Deity level.
Taking a deep breath, he activated his Progenitor Authority, using Divine Spark Absorption on all the fragments, causing them to shatter and release an overwhelming storm of divinity within them that could erase this planet from existence several billion times over and still retain power afterwards.
He absorbed all that energy without flinching, directing it entirely into strengthening his body and energy core so they could close even the slightest gap with his soul, which far exceeded them in strength.
Strengthening his energy core naturally created more space for energy, which he quickly filled by absorbing the ambient cosmic energy in this section of the dimensional realm, and only after he had absorbed enough to lower the concentration of cosmic energy in this place did he finally fill the remaining space.
By that time, the divine spark fragments had all crumbled into dust, and as he brushed his palms off without a word, he sensed a presence appear right inside his spatial perception range.
Arthur immediately turned his head in that direction with narrowed eyes, Lostvayne already summoned in his right hand, but upon sensing the energy signature of the intruder, he withdrew the cosmic energy he had infused into the sword and unsummoned it.
"Weird," a voice said suddenly.
"Alexia told me you were a Mid-Tier Deity. But you don’t look anything like a ’Mid-Tier’ to me, and... you’re a Candidate of Destruction too?"
Arthur raised his gaze, looking up at the cliff beside the entrance of this sealed section of the dimensional realm, his eyes meeting the figure of a woman who hadn’t been there mere seconds ago.
She had dark-brown hair styled into a long, thick braid that reached her knees, with side-swept bangs and two strands that fell to her chest, framing her face, and she wore a loose-fitting tunic gown with brown sandals that reached below her knees.
Unlike Arthur, she hadn’t entered the dimensional realm through the rift that served as its entrance, instead moving through the realm’s spatial barrier as though it wasn’t even there and appearing directly on that cliff.
She raised her hand after speaking, glancing at something in her palm before continuing,
"Even weirder. Your Sigil’s undocumented."
Arthur ignored her comment and teleported behind her, walking toward the barrier separating this section of the dimensional realm from the rest as he said, "Kelliana Weiss, I presume?"
"Kelly," she said immediately, turning to face him with narrowed eyes and repeating, "Just ’Kelly’."
Arthur shrugged, unconcerned with whatever name she preferred, and reached out toward the barrier of energy in front of him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Kelly’s eyes suddenly widened, and she shouted.
"Hold on a goddamn minute! I didn’t notice it before because your power of destruction completely overshadowed it, but you’ve got two Candidate Sigils of different natures!"
Teleporting right in front of Arthur, she demanded, "How did you get two of them?"
"I killed someone who had two, and they chose me after," Arthur replied calmly, walking around her and reaching toward the barrier again, but Kelly grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Dual Candidacy isn’t permitted. Yo—"
"And yet neither Gaia nor Ranus seemed to care much," Arthur said, cutting her off.
His words made her eyes widen slightly, and Arthur, freeing his hand from her grip, touched the barrier and opened a hole through it before continuing, "If you’ve got a problem with me being a Dual Candidate, then go ask Gaia and Ranus why they saw me and said nothing about it."
With that, he stepped out through the barrier, summoning a phone into his hands and marking an item off a list in his notes app.
’This Dimensional Realm’s no good. The Abyss Labyrinth seems like the only option that actually fits. The issue is communicating with the Dark Young, but I guess I can try Plan B.’
He locked his phone and returned it to his subspace, raising the Cosmic Teleporter as he input coordinates while thinking.
’I’d go to Aidos and find Artemisia, then use her to contact this universe’s sentience. Since Artemisia is Valmone’s favourite, there’s a very high chance the universe’s sentience keeps her under constant watch, so I should be able to speak to it through her and see if I can use it to reach the Dark Young.’
Having made his plan, Arthur was about to activate the Cosmic Teleporter when the dimensional realm trembled, and a cosmic gate appeared in front of him.
