Chapter 997: A Guide of Possibilities
Stepping out of the suddenly appearing gate was Alexia, who glanced at Arthur before immediately turning her gaze behind him.
"There you are. Why did you run off the moment we got here?" she asked, looking directly at Kelly behind Arthur.
"You didn’t mention that he’s a Dual Candidate," Kelly shot back.
Hearing this, Alexia blinked and then shook her head.
"I don’t care. What matters is that he can help me," she replied calmly. "Besides, some Eternals tacitly accept his Dual Candidacy, and trying anything with him will put you on a one-track road to meeting the Levites, since all six of them are rather fond of him, enough to make him one of their students."
The mention of the Levites made Kelly frown, but Alexia didn’t react to it and instead looked toward Arthur before speaking.
"I’ve seen that Abyss Labyrinth place you mentioned. It’s fine for staying hidden, and the only variable is that Cosmic Horror."
"I was just about to try something about that," Arthur replied, his hand still resting on the Cosmic Teleporter. "But my solution might take a while, so I might as well ask. Do you have any way to communicate with that thing and get it to not interfere?"
Alexia nodded without speaking, then looked straight at Kelly, who clicked her tongue and sighed heavily.
"Fine, I’ll take you there," she said, her voice barely above a grumble.
Hearing this, Arthur moved his hand away from the Cosmic Teleporter and raised it slightly.
"Wait a second. Before you two go do that, there are some things I need to confirm so I can make preparations on my end as well."
"What do you need?" Alexia asked.
"First of all, I want to know the odds of Roseborn using Candidates to attack. Candidates of Destruction may not be able to directly attack you, but your subordinates are a different story."
"It’s almost certain that he would," Alexia responded immediately. "He has several who work under him, and he’s bound to bring some here. However, he can’t bring too many, since the Candidates he’s subordinated are integral parts of his forces."
"Integral pieces?"
"They’re deterrents. His empire is surrounded by other Multi-Universal Empires, and most of them are hostile, so those Candidates he has working under him serve as deterrents to prevent attacks. If he removes too many of them, it creates a gap in his defences that can be exploited."
Hearing Alexia’s explanation, Arthur nodded in understanding. Thinking about it, it made sense, considering Roseborn would have made many enemies over his long life and various incarnations.
He then turned toward Kelly and asked, "Can you tell how many Candidates are in this universe?"
"Hm? Yeah, I can. Besides you and Alexia, there aren’t any others," she replied.
"Just us two? Then it’s safe to assume Roseborn is here if that number increases even by one."
After saying that, Arthur turned his attention back to Alexia and continued his questions.
"Roseborn knows you’re gathering godslayers, right?"
Alexia nodded once in confirmation, and Arthur continued.
"If he comes here, he’d likely scout the universe before taking action, yes?"
"Definitely," Alexia confirmed.
"Then it’s certain he’d find out about my existence. Due to the actions of the Drifters some years back, it’s now public knowledge that I’m the Progenitor of godslayers. If Roseborn learns I’m here at the same time as you, who’s gathering godslayers, there’s a non-zero chance he’d assume we’re allies and take action against me.
A man of his calibre would understand it’s more efficient to use those who already hold a vendetta against me—the gods, led by this universe’s Master, Craig.
Because of this, I’m sure both Craig and his apparent best friend, Elven Emperor Falael, would take action, and they’d mobilise the High-Tier Deities under them.
For their subordinates, I’d have some Race Kings I’m acquainted with hold them down. But while I can handle the god Emperor, the Elven Emperor would be a problem since I don’t have racial advantages against him. For that, I intend to use the Demon race’s Monarch Realm Existences."
Arthur looked at Kelly once more with another question.
"Can you scan the universe for any Monarch Realm demons?"
"...do you think I’m some kind of search tool or something?" Kelly asked with furrowed brows.
"Would you rather one of Alexia’s protection detail be sent to fight the elf instead?" Arthur shot back without hesitation.
Kelly didn’t respond, simply staring at him with narrowed eyes, until Alexia looked toward her and spoke.
"Please, can you?"
"Tsk..."
Kelly clicked her tongue at Alexia’s request, then closed her eyes and released a pulse of cosmic energy from where she stood.
"It would take a while. When the results come in, I’ll inform you."
"Thanks."
Alexia offered her gratitude, then turned back toward Arthur.
"Anything else you wanna know?"
"For now, no," Arthur replied, activating the Cosmic Teleporter and forming a gate. "I checked the Parallel Paths to get a feel for how things might go, so I’m off to get some insurance."
Alexia frowned at Arthur’s mention of the Parallel Paths, closing the distance and grabbing him before he could step into the cosmic gate.
"Don’t rely 100% on the Parallel Paths. In the end, they’re just possibilities that might not come to pass since the future is always changing."
"I understand that much. But they can at least serve as a guide like they did for you, can’t they?" Arthur replied calmly.
"You guys go handle the Dark Young. I need to go prepare my backup."
With those words, Arthur stepped into the gate, and several dozen minutes later, he was stepping out of a cosmic gate in the middle of a dark, empty space.
This was one region within the vast space between stars of the galaxy, with the nearest star so distant it appeared only the size of a basketball in his field of vision.
’I just used my Spatial, Temporal and Gravitational Authorities to lock onto the coordinates I saw in the Parallel Paths vision, but I was this far off...’
Arthur’s true destination naturally wasn’t this empty stretch of space, but one of the planets orbiting that nearest star.
He dominated the ambient cosmic energy and used it to sense the space occupied by his target planet, the fifth from its host star, then created a cosmic gate and teleported just beneath its atmosphere.
After that, he scanned the planet for the specific person he was searching for, a small smile forming on his face once he confirmed they were indeed there.
He teleported again without hesitation, appearing within a rainforest a few metres behind a young woman crouched in front of a giant anaconda, pulling the dead snake’s fangs free.
The instant Arthur appeared behind her, she spun around and threw the fang in her hand straight toward him, and by the time he raised his hand to catch it, a pair of twin blades had already formed in her grip, golden lightning crackling along their length as they swung toward his neck.
Mere milliseconds before they made impact, the blades turned monochrome, along with the arms that swung them, instantly frozen in time.
Arthur, wearing a light smile, simply waved at the woman he had startled with his sudden teleportation.
"Hey there! Long time no see, Artemisia."
"...Arthur?"
Artemisia blinked, her golden eyes holding faint traces of surprise and confusion, though her expression was as blank as ever.
Arthur deactivated his Temporal Authority, the time stop applied to Artemisia’s swords and her hands fading away and allowing her to pull her blades back.
"Why are you here? How are you here?" she asked, taking a few steps back and studying Arthur from head to toe, as if trying to confirm whether this was truly the Arthur she knew.
"You’ve changed quite a bit."
Hearing her mutter, Arthur smiled wryly and replied, "True, I have changed. A lot has happened in the decades since we last saw each other for me to still be that same teenager you met all those years ago on Aramis."
There was a mix of sadness and nostalgia in his voice as he spoke, but when he closed his eyes, opened them again, and continued, his tone returned to its neutral state.
"But that’s beside the point. Here, your fang," he said, tossing the snake fang back to her.
She caught it, placing it into the sling bag hanging over her shoulder, then returned to the anaconda to remove its second fang as she asked, "When did you come, and how did you find me here?"
