"How did it feel to you then dear brother?"
"It felt more like...the power of a law."
Creusery's words stunned both Inglis and Aurora who were about to admonish the brother-sister duo. That was expected, they just said Arthur was using the power of a law.
Although normal people couldn't comprehend a law without being transcendents, this did not mean they could not tap into its power. However, only those at the peak of the Epic realm and Sovereigns were able to do so.
Yet Arthur, who had just reached the peak of the Master realm, was able to do so. And unconsciously at that.
The reason for this was simple. Albeit meager, Arthur already held some degree of comprehension in the basic rank law of time.
This had improved his ability to use the law's power. His already high affinity played a part in this too. If his energy flow was not stagnated, he would have been able to use the law's power more proficiently.
He could have also broken through to the grandmaster realm just now.
As he heard the words uttered by Cattleya and Creuserey, Diablo remembered that over a year ago, Arthur had met a certain light blue-haired woman. One he presumed was a being called a 'Candidate for Time'.
'Alexia Vladi, just what did you do to Arthur.'
◇ ◇ ◇
Unknown Planet
Nameless Star System
Cao 9 Galaxy
Coincidentally, the certain blue-haired woman Diablo was thinking about, suddenly sneezed loudly. Looking around her, one could see over a hundred beings armed to the teeth.
She was frowning as she stared at these beings who were all showing obvious hostility towards her, however, the reason for her displeased expression was something else.
"That bastard should know I have a bottom line. This, is crossing it."
The beings around her were not attacking her of their own free will. They were all mindless puppets whose minds had been broken and their bodies were being controlled via black magic.
"Don't worry, I'd free you from your misery soon."
|Chrono Controller|
The watch disappeared from her palm and reappeared behind her, its size far larger than before. The hands of the clock then vibrated before coming off the giant watch.
The detached hands glowed with blue light while floating around her, when the light died down, they had transformed into weapons while still retaining some of their original shapes.
The hour hand had become a short sword, the minute hand, a long sword, and the second hand, a spear.
She grabbed the long and short swords in her hands and dashed towards the assailants around her. Although they were all wearing armor, her swords easily cut through them like butter.
While blitzing past them, she gently sliced their napes and wrists with the two swords. Without stopping for a moment, at a speed faster than neither they nor the ones controlling them could comprehend, she ran through the first group of assailants.
After she passed through them, their bodies started bursting out blood like a water fountain. She had aimed for the opponents' soft arteries, easily piercing through their neck guards.
A blood flower bloomed showily each time, and it had the effect of amplifying the enemy's unrest.
She held the heads of one of them and gazed into their eyes, however, she was not looking at that person, but at the one who was controlling them from another location.
**WHOOOSHHHH!!!!
The sudden sound turned her attention to the flames and arrows that were raining down on her position.
As one would expect, it was impossible for her to dodge these flames and arrows that were so widespread. However, she never needed to dodge in the first place.
|Stop.|
She spoke one word, and the essence of the law of time moved to fulfill that command.
The rain of flames and arrows stopped immediately, remaining in their positions without moving.
"This is actually more tiring than I thought."
|Second Hand|
She dropped the short sword just in time for the floating spear to fly into her hands. She then took a throwing stance and threw the spear like a javelin towards the assailants.
|Stellar Count Zero|
The moment the spear left her hand, purple-colored space attributed law energy wrapped around her body and carried her, alongside the giant clock behind her, out of the planet's atmosphere.
***KKKAAAAAAABBBBBBOOMMMMMMM!!!!
The next second, there was a bright explosion with the force of a star behind it, alongside a deafening roar.
It engulfed the entire planet in seconds, then spread to the nearby planet, consigning it to oblivion too. It then went on, becoming a chain reaction until all the planets in the star system had met their end.
The star that acted as the principal focal point for all the planets in the star system was also destroyed, leaving behind a small pinkie-sized hole that was slowly pulling in the debris from the destroyed planets.
"Why didn't I do this earlier? Oh well, at least I got to test out that fencing technique."
"You don't normally cause such destruction, what's the occasion? Do you perhaps want to change sides?"
Alexia heard a voice and turned around to see a black-haired woman floating behind her, clicking her tongue she replied.
"As if! I only joined this so I could become stronger without actually increasing my realm of existence."
Stretching out her hand in the direction of where the planet she was just on was, her two weapons flew into her hands, unscathed.
She then put them back in their place on the giant clock before miniaturizing it once more and hanging it on her neck,
"Oh!! Alexia, what about that kid you were stalking? Lucifer's descendant."
"I wasn't stalking him, okay!!
And I left his universe a year ago, or was it two? The time flow difference messes with my mind sometimes.
Anyway, I left because if I were to stay there any longer, that bastard might have found him."
"That 'bastard' you speak of is your father though?"
"Doesn't change the fact that he's a bastard.
It's a good thing the 'second phase' won't begin for the next few thousand years. By then, he should be strong enough to help me out of this ridiculous situation I'm in."
"Ridiculous situation, huh? That's true; your father ganging up with your stalker to chase you across universes is quite the ridiculous situation."
"Tell me about it."
Alexia heaved a sigh of exasperation as she waved her hand in the direction of the small hole that was beginning to pull in the debris of a second planet.
|Rewind|
After doing so, she turned to the black-haired woman who was staring at her with a raised eyebrow and spoke.
"Let's go you jobless Supreme."
"I'm not jobless! And was that okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a star."
Ambient multicoloured energy wrapped around her body right after she replied. The next moment, she disappeared from that location, leaving the black-haired woman behind.
Left behind, the black-haired woman let out a small laugh as she stared at the space where the star system once was before disappearing from there too.
In the dark and cold space, the debris of the destroyed planets was suddenly ejected from the small hole that was pulling them in at a speed that would make light seem slow.
Within the next second, the entire star reappeared as its destruction was undone.
◇ ◇ ◇
Back on Kreiz, the academy exams continued for the next two weeks as planned. Layla also had her match against an intermediate-stage grandmaster but unlike Arthur, she did not embarrass him, even though she could.
A week after the conclusion of the exams, the results were published and as expected, Layla was the top-scoring student.
She had a score of 185 marks out of 200.
As the difficulty of the exams was raised this year, her score was above what the teachers who set the questions expected.
Her written test score was 85/100, her magic test was 50/50 and her combat test was 50/50.
Much to the surprise of what most expected, following in second place was Arthur, with a score of 174. He held the highest written test score with 99/100.
His magic test was naturally 0/50, however, he scored 75/50 for his feat of defeating the combat instructor.
Many questions were raised on this but the academy published its rulebook where it was stated that in the event an examinee defeated an instructor, they were to gain an extra 25 marks.
Coming in third was a member of the Hollis Dukedom, one of the great-grandsons of the current Duke, Jenson.
He scored 170 marks in total, two marks above the fourth position, Layla's female best friend and daughter of a count, Nicole.
Fifth place was a lesser prince from an intergalactic empire west of the burning realms supercluster, and the rest of the students had scores below that.
Eventually, the chapter of the examinations came to an end, and the students were expected to report to school within a week.
◇ ◇ ◇
One of the 'big ten', the ten highest-ranked directors of the academy, was the one who presided over the entrance ceremony.
There was also a small speech from the freshman representative, Layla, after which, the students were shown their dormitories and given a small orientation about the facilities provided for them by the academy.
The dorms were split between male and female students, however, there were no strict rules prohibiting students from going over to each other's dorms.
Many just didn't for fear of the rumours that would arise if they were to be seen.
Each student was assigned a single room to them in the dormitories for their year of study. There were some private estates close by for students who did not wish to stay in the dorms.
The dormitories for each class, were within the large state-sized area that was allocated to each year. Arthur's dorm was the one that was the closest to his class block, however, the distance was one that would take him an hour to walk over.
Arthur's room was arguably the most luxurious in the entire dorm. That was natural, it was a room specially reserved for royal family members.
Such a room existed in each of the dormitories for each year.
Arthur arranged some of his things and left the rest to the servants who came over to help him settle in, before going over to Layla's assigned room in the female dorm.
He squeezed his way through the crowd of fans that somehow found out the location of her room. Upon entering, he heaved a sigh that showed his mental exhaustion from squeezing through the dozens of girls in the hallway.
"How on Kreiz did they find out your room number?"
"Someone who was there when I received my card key saw it and spread the news. I'm going to have it changed, I can't deal with this."
"Oh. You can use the room for the royal family members upstairs, it's free now."
"Arthur, it's a room meant for the 'Royal family members', you know?"
"Yeah. And I, a royal family member, am telling you that you can use it. Just don't tell anyone who might spread that information."
"Appreciate the offer, I'd start moving now."
"You might wanna wait till that crowd outside dies down. Or just call the dorm mother over."
And that she did. The dorm mothers/supervisors for the royal academy's dormitories, were all at least in the deity realm.
Driving away a bunch of twelve-year-olds in the inferior stage master realm and below was a literal walk in the park.
Although she was slightly surprised to see Arthur in Layla's room, she paid it no mind and listened to Layla's request before approving it and processing the room change immediately.
Like so, Layla's room was moved and she had significantly fewer visitors coming over. She only informed her closest friends of the situation, and naturally, she ended up getting teased about being engaged to Arthur.
Without any other unnecessary complications, their school life began the next day.