"The seal is starting to buckle under Heather's power. Her defiance truly us the nemesis of absolute authority. I reckon that we will be able to deploy our forces in less than a year. Call in the troops and have them ready to invade. We can't allow them any additional time to build their forces."
Lord Alexander was standing on the bridge of the space ship calmly issuing orders. Micheal wasn't by his side but he didn't seem to be bothered by that. He was preoccupied with his mission. Facing all six monsters feared across the cosmos was quite a stressful affair.
The bridge was filled with chaos as the people in charge of communications hurried to relay Alexander's words to the relevant stations.
After receiving confirmation that his orders were received, Alexander sighed and retreated to his personal quarters.
Not long after Alexander had left Michael appeared on the bridge. He was releasing more of his aura than usual and the people on the bridge were feeling the pressure. Michael was blatantly going against the light alliance's policy of restraint and sainthood. He had started on a dangerous path.
"What were my master's orders?"
The bridge's staff was greatly intimidated by their young vice commander's powerful aura but they hesitated to tell him. The way he worded it made them think that he was up to no good.
Michael smiled cruelly. He had never been met with much resistance from his own forces. As one of the light alliance's rising stars, he had always been met with reference and obedience.
"Silence? Are you all traitors?!!"
Michael swiftly released his light domain. Before the staff could properly react half of them were vaporized under a strong purifying light. Fear took hold of their hearts and they relayed Alexander's orders to Micheal. They hoped for their lives to be spared now that they had obeyed but they had been too naive.
As soon as the words had left their mouths the holy light grew stronger and they too were vaporized. Once their screams had died down and not a single living being beside himself was left on the bridge Micheal exited the ship.
Heather didn't seem very astonished as he suddenly appeared next to her.
"Killing all those people wasn't necessary, was it? Your teacher will be greatly enraged."
"Do not tell me what is necessary and what not, slave. How's the situation?"
"Alexander has already noticed the disturbance you caused and is making his way to the bridge. Once he sees what happened he will be here in a matter of seconds."
"I don't care about that pushover of a teacher. How long until you can open a passage for me to go through?"
"I can do so now but Alexander..."
"Do you want to die? If not you will open a path for me this very instant!"
"I understand, Lord Michael. I will obey."
Heather turned her back to Michael and with a devilish grin on her face, she began to gather her power. A large quantity of formless energy began to swirl around her and formed a drill. With a loud shout, Heather made the drill spin and launched it at the barrier.
Simultaneously she sent a current of her power to wrap around Micheal to form a protective barrier.
"Once my drill touches the barrier you have to head there as fast as possible. Whatever you do, do not slow down. If my small barrier gives out before you make it through you will suffer greatly."
"I understand."
The moment the drill hit the barrier an oppressive feeling of outrage permeated through space. The barrier had been breached in one small place. The barrier had been created based on absolute authority. Being broken for even a moment was an insult and the barrier's anger seemed boundless.
Michael immediately shot forward and entered the breach. He quickly discovered a tunnel that was rapidly shrinking before him. The barrier had actually managed to somehow restore some of its strength due to being breached too early. And now it was quickly mending itself.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING MICHAEL?!!!!!"
Alexander did not sound pleased. First he had found the entire bridge staff murdered in cold blood and now his idiot student was crossing the barrier early.
Michael simply ignored his teacher. He remembered Heather's words and knew himself that if the tunnel closed around him he would be in a very bad spot. For the moment he still had the little barrier protecting him but he could hear it crack under the pressure of absolute authority.
Michael gritted his teeth and accelerated again. He turned into a beam of light and shot out of the tunnel just as the small barrier protecting him broke and the tunnel behind him closed.
Michael heaved a sigh of relief. He had been forced to strain himself to make it through in time and now he would need to rest and recover for a few days. After resting, he would find those six so-called monsters and defeat them. No one would doubt him anymore if he did that. A cloud formed around Micheal as he sat down and began to recover his strength.
The situation outside the barrier wasn't as tranquil as the one inside. The moment the barrier had mended itself and it was clear that Micheal wouldn't be returning Heather dropped to the floor helplessly clutching the collar around her neck. Alexander was really contemplating if he should end her.
"You wretch, how dare you make me lose my student!"
Seeing that Heather was truly about to die he made the collar give her a little bit of room. Heather greedily drank in the sensation of being able to breathe again. Not that she needed to breathe but the collar's restriction on her soul made her suffocate.
"He forced me to open a path for him. He threatened to kill me!"
As soon as she had recovered some of her strength she immediately pleaded her case. It was true that Michael had threatened her and Alexander knew that Michael was capable of making use of her collar.
"How bad is it?"
Alexander almost shuddered as he asked. Now that the barrier had recovered some of its strength their progress would be pushed back.
"Bad. I will need at least half a year more than anticipated."
"Damn that student of mine. Return to the ship and rest, I will have some elixirs delivered to you."
Alexander knew that Heather was exhausted after forcefully breaching the barrier. He would have to let her rest which would make them lose even more time.