CHRONOS RULER HQ
Unreachable by normal means. Its gateway is locked under the effect of time and can only be unlocked by those with the
People like Laurel and Luminous, though, could possibly break it. However, since the gate was "locked" by slowing down time to the extreme—
"We're here."
The person leading them said that not long after walking them across 30 km through a forest path from the main city.
In the first place, the land where Chronos HQ was located is isolated from other countries, being a land—rather, an island—far east of Russia.
"Now then, step onto the gate."
The gate was simply a boulder, suspended midair with hollows around it. The hole was wider, and the boulder only covered about 70%.
As for whoever tries to step anywhere other than that… it will be an endless fall till death.
In the first place, the moment anyone comes within the vicinity of this place, the HQ will be alerted beforehand.
"[Time Covenant]: [Gensoku]."
Crouching down, he placed his hand on the boulder. It slightly shook at first, but expecting it beforehand, Laurel drew Luminous close to him, and—
GUU!
DAAAAAAA—!
The boulder suddenly descended down the hole at incredible speed across several feet underground.
'I estimate about forty feet below or more.'
After a few more seconds, THUD—!
The boulder crash-landed, but oddly it was intact. Releasing Luminous from his embrace, she got down the boulder and stared at it.
"Interesting. So this boulder is also under the effect of 'time'. Now, I'm interested, Laurel."
Laurel returned the smile.
He knew she would be.
"Then, how about you take us there."
In the far end, surrounded by trees—rather, a forest—they could see a massive structure that towered high with outstretched peaks.
Luminous' expression, on the other hand, soured.
"You… you're going to make us walk for long again…?"
"Since we want something from them, why don't we play by their rules."
"Fine."
The man couldn't help but sweat. He wanted out of here already. It was a good thing they would take over after delivering them.
Like that, they continued the walk for about twenty minutes through the forest, until they came across the building.
There was another hole below, and even the giant structure was suspended on top of a floating rock, much like the gateway.
'For evacuation measures, huh? They did think that far.'
Leading over to the castle-like building was a long bridge. And there, a man was already waiting.
"Welcome, welcome to Chronos HQ."
A bespectacled man who looked to be a scientist, wearing a long white coat and a slightly blue shirt underneath.
However, when looking down, they saw the man was in shorts that were a complete mismatch from his clothes.
"Is that Dora the Explorer…?"
"Close. It's Nora the Navigator."
Laurel's lips twitched. Not only was he wearing shorts that had the bootlegged version of Dora on them, but he was shameless enough to even correct him.
"Miyamoto-kun, thank you for delivering them here."
"No, don't worry. It's nothing."
Luminous nodded, though they weren't talking to her. She had seen quite the exquisite stuff today.
Open-air baths, hot tubs, televisions, airplanes—though she saw some of the advanced techs, she didn't dwell on it.
Now that she was in tune today, she quite was in love with these modern things.
Later, she would send a list to Laurel to get her some of them. And as for the others like an open-air bath…
She would ask Laurel to draw her a blueprint and have her artisans build it.
Others like mobile devices too. She also quite liked the feel of it.
"Now then, please come in."
The executive's voice brought her back too. She looked at Laurel, but the male hadn't made a move yet.
"I'm sure you already know what we're here for? Let us get to that. I want to see Chronos Scion. The head of the Chronos Ruler."
"....."
He didn't say a word. Though his back was turned, they could quite feel it.
"I see, so it has come to that."
SNAP!
A snap of his finger, and suddenly, clothes from nowhere appeared and bound both of them in place.
The effect of Slow Down was applied on the clothes.
Well, they weren't ordinary clothes—rather, female school uniforms. Laurel's expression immediately changed.
However, Luminous expressed interest in it.
All the more, they were now surrounded. Soldiers wearing full metal armor with weapons—not ordinary, but mass-produced guns that can shoot out Slow Down-infused bullets.
The weapons were still in the testing phase, and now they had a chance to test them.
"From what I've heard… being capable of isolating space, and being able to manipulate ice…"
"Though there are no records, to think Scions of other Deities are alive too. Well, it doesn't matter. Amongst them, Time is the most supreme."
With a hand on his glasses, shifting it up a little, he proclaimed that.
"Laurel, I feel dresses like this will suit Mei very much. How about this—you convince Mei to put it on, and I'll put it on with her. How about it..?"
"Ohohoho. Now that has certainly caught my interest, I won't lie. But it's not enough."
"HAH!? What else do you want?"
"Stockings," Laurel said sagely. "School girl uniform with stockings. That I wouldn't budge on!"
Luminous, hearing that, blinked.
She knew he had a thing for her, but to think he was that passionate. But him aside, she imagined Mei in the same outfit…
"Naturally. If you can convince Mei."
"Heh. Easy."
"Fine then. We have a deal."
Laurel let out a low, dark chuckle. He had just the perfect plan in mind.
To this, the rest blinked at their interactions. These people… they weren't taking them seriously, were they?
"Y-you….!?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry. It's not that we're not taking you seriously, but it's just that there are many ways for us to incapacitate you without moving."
"Laurel, it seems even this power is not almighty."
"The ones they have, yes. But for the person up there, looking at us even at this moment—that one is different."
"I see. Then, let me handle it."
[S-type]: [Arbiter]
Since Luminous quite liked the outfit, she didn't destroy it. All she did was bend space around her and moved the clothes around her away.
She left Laurel alone, flying up.
He could handle himself. She would never worry about him. Besides, they were too weak to do anything to him.
Thinking that, she directly broke into the upper quarters of the castle.
BAM–!
Luminous crashed into the place.
It looked like stepping into another surrounding itself, having a house and some red fences around.
The grounds were green, with some ponds stretching across the ground.
Waiting there for her was her—
Aisrehdar.
A beautiful, tall, elegant, and voluptuous woman with deep crimson hair that cascaded down her back, accented by a delicate white lily-like ornament tucked into her hair.
Piercing red eyes framed by dark lashes, wearing an icy-blue and violet outfit with fur-trimmed sleeves and a plunging neckline.
Looking at her, Luminous frowned a little.
"So you're the one Laurel spoke about. I see, you are indeed different."
"Scion of other gods… I never thought. All of them should have died back then… but no matter. I have come to now know of your intentions."
The regal woman said that, then she outstretched her hands towards Luminous for a moment.
From there, there was a pause. Now she frowned.
"It didn't work…?"
"You tried to stop time, didn't you? Don't worry, it won't work."
Aisrehdar frowned.
This confirmed it for her. Well, time stop might not work on her, but she wasn't out of options.
Boosting her speed with [Kasoku], she appeared in front of Luminous. However, her palm strike was blocked by a golden, impenetrable barrier.
Lazily, Luminous stretched a finger towards her. Something golden, spiraling—seven light—began to condense.
It was the light from that weapon and it's effect called, [Dead End Rainbow]. However, Luminous thought better of it.
"Down."
Luminous muttered as she shot a lesser version of that technique at her. But Aisrehdar had still sensed the danger, something close to death.
She knew that move was dangerous, so she moved away in time, appearing meters away from Luminous.
"What happened to all that vigor from before?"
Despite how she looked, Luminous was still a Goddess and a Demon Lord.
"If you're not ready then…"
Luminous disappeared.
"Hm?"
Aisrehdar blinked, looking around in a rush, and then she picked it up.
Luminous was behind her. But Aisrehdar still managed to counter Luminous, who was preparing another [Lesser End Rainbow].
But this time, something interesting happened.
The beam was stopped in the air.
"Ho? So it can also be used like that too. Interesting. Truly interesting."
Aisrehdar too hadn't been going all out for the most part, so after stopping that attack—
"My apologies. For going easy on you before."
Luminous' frown deepened when she heard that but she didn't retort.
And in that split moment Aisrehdar had said that multiple objects clashed against Luminous's barrier.
"This is…"
Aisrehdar was gravitating objects toward Luminous, and to some extent, she could be considered omnipotent.
However, the thing was that Luminous was still far stronger.
Not to mention, Luminous had a really unfair skill that allowed her to do essentially anything she wanted as long as her believers still had faith in her.
Everything thrown at her was just like pebbles against a sturdy wall.
Seeing the Time's Scion doing her best, she too wanted to do her best. But if she did, not only Aisrehdar, but the entire HQ, along with the underground space, would be wiped out.
Her current best, by that, meant conjuring up a light ball with each ray of light coming out from it being a [Lesser End Rainbow], which can weaken the soul.
"Dodge this if you can."
"!!!!"
GENSOKU.
The rays of light all stopped, making Luminous pause for a moment, before on her face, a very beautiful smile.
She had now gotten an idea of how it worked.
"I see. So that is what it is. Let's see what you'll do against an attack that doesn't exist in this dimension."
"Hah!?"
Aisrehdar was completely taken aback. But Luminous did seem like she was about to do it.
That is, an attack that isn't in this dimension, but in one which can be physically seen but can't be reached.
One that overlaps against this one.
In short, it was an attack from another dimension.
"Wait! I give up!"
Aisrehdar said that, with both hands slightly up. What did Luminous mean by an attack that doesn't exist?
She didn't want to think of it.
Then, it was at that time—
"Oh, you're both done. That's good, let's discuss."
He was sitting atop one of the fences, hands on chin as he watched them.
Aisrehdar didn't even notice when he got there. Additionally, everything in her told her not to fight him.
She is a Scion of a God; she bears god's blood in her. Even though she might be weaker than them, she still had some dignity.
And now, that thing told her—
Don't fight him. That thing is a Calamity in itself. It's either she befriends him or else…
"And you, Luminous, despite knowing, why did you still engage her?"
"What, Laurel? Since when did I have to follow everything you say?"
Laurel blinked, but then jumped down. "Well, you know that wasn't what I meant."
"Hmph."
Luminous flicked her hair to the side, harrumphing, but still kept an eye on Laurel. Which is because of…
Aisrehdar.
Feeling the intense stare of love, to which he had simply conditioned his brain to think of the stare of, he shook his head.
"Still. That was rather a harsh greeting there."
"To test the validity of your words. We had no choice. Now we have confirmed your identities."
Aisrehdar said with a sigh before placing her hands on her skirt, raising it slightly, lowering her body slightly.
Aisrehdar did looked to be scared. This made Lumino"Welcome to Chronos. Otherworlders."
Normally, she wouldn't exercise this level of respect to anyone for that matter, but Laurel was really scaring her with his presence.
While he had no Haki to speak of yet, rather, it was Aisrehdar's senses.
"Then I believe you know what we're here for?"
"Yes. The [Time Covenant]. However, with people of your status…"
A mere ability to slow down and speed up time was rather primitive, she thought.
Luminous and Laurel looked at her, eyes slightly raised. She thought of them highly, no doubt about that.
Well, for Laurel, it was in a way true. His ice could already slow down molecules. By the time he'd gain an Ultimate Skill, he'll be able to freeze time.
"Well. It's simple, what we want the [Time Covenant] for is none of your business. If you supply us with what we want, the All-World Alliance will help you."
Luminous nodded along with Laurel's words. However, Aisrehdar heaved a sigh.
"If you want the new ones… they're still under development. So, you may have to make do with the old ones for now."
"What's the difference?" Luminous asked that.
"As you know, we Chronos Ruler need a medium to exert our influence of time. We can't stop time nor reverse it. We can only slow it down."
Others need a medium, while people like Aisrehdar don't need a particular medium.
However, that doesn't mean she can slow down the time of the world. The best is to put up a domain of effect.
And against Laurel and Luminous, it wouldn't even work. As Luminous would isolate herself into another dimension that overlaps into this world.
Unless she was Milim or Guy or any other top tier of Luminous's world, then Aisrehdar would never hope to win.
Laurel was simply different.
It just wouldn't work. Additionally, due to [Harbinger] on auto, she may even die the moment she thinks ill of him.
Maybe that's why she didn't want to raise a hand against him…
Back to the important part.
Time Oath has two effects.
One was a slow down that affects an entire area when a Horologue is near.
However, the second is then the Slow down and Speed up. The old ones which are mostly used can only use them both at different intervals.
But, this wasn't what they wanted.
Aisrehdar's previous [Time Covenant] was called UNIQUE, and it had the effect of slowing and speeding up at the same time.
"As such, the new ones are still in development, so it's only the old ones we can distribute."
Luminous blinked, looking at Aisrehdar's overly subservient posture while addressing Laurel.
'This… is she scared?'
Upon closer look, Aisrehdar did look to be scared. This made Luminous stare back at Laurel.
She said nothing more.