Chapter 736 - 15-16

Chapter 15 Finding the unknown

Hello again fellow readers. This chapter is allot longer and I had allot of fun writing it. Detective work and Politics is what I like to write, that or sex scenes, and while I can guarantee fight scenes I will try to work on how I describe such fights to make them that much more intense. And now onto the messages.

To Uqihana: Yeah there are quite a few side characters that people forget, hell Sara wasn't even in the web novel or manga so I felt they did her a huge disservice when it came to her character and how she affected Rudeus. I will include her in this fanfiction don't you worry.

To SkinnyA: Yeah the OC is going to be the plot change and alter the course of the story after certain events. I will remain vague about this but look forward to this. I've even gone ahead to write this characters backstory and powers so I don't lose continuity, so far I've written about 10 pages worth of information about him.

To Zairyo: HAHAHA yeah that would be awesome, I can see Paul trying to challenge his son to see how much he has grown.

To Shadow Joestar: He will try his best ;-) 

To 321jaz: Glad you like the failsafes, also I will include more of Eris's letters in the future. Looking forward to writing about Rudeus and Sara too. Didn't forget about Derrick either but thanks for reminding me lol. Yeah I did an Ace Attorney move in this chapter which in the real world is illegal as fuck hahaha, where he obtains evidence illegally, thanks for the recommendation. Better call Saul is one of my favorite shows.

To XaiGRS: LMAO I can have him joke like that but that will be later on in the story when he is reminiscing. For now he will be serious. Also Darius won't kill himself, but that would be a good way for him to die in the future.

To icecreampapa: Glad you like the bases, maybe if the teleportation even fails Rudeus will use the base near the Asura kingdom as the new Refugee camp. Or create a new base entirely.

With that being said enjoy the chapter.

"You are certain about this?" Rudeus asked as he tapped the armrest of his chair.

"Yes, I am certain." Philemon said taking another swig of wine.

"...That bastard, he is willing to burn the house down if he so much as gets a small smoldering ember on him."

"It would seem that way, yes." Philemon said, his eyes going down to the floor.

The prime minister of the Asura kingdom was going with the typical dirty political move of going nuclear. He was going around to every noble in his affiliation and threatening to expose them as well with all their dirty deeds if he was to be removed from office. Rudeus saw this as a possibility but wouldn't think Darius would do something so bold. By choosing this option he would essentially be looked at as poison ivy among every noble after this. Anyone who asked for his help in the future would be risking exposing their own dirty little secrets and Darius knew that. After this trial was done he would make little allies and lesser friends but this was his way of retaining power. However he could still use the prince to gain power or have political allies so when it came down to it there would be allot of collateral but he could easily repair the damage by using a third party. The prince would fall into Darius's hands even more.

Philemon had been tipped off by a former friend who he had a disagreement with a long time ago. The lady was the head of the Greydove family. She was in support of Darius and the Prince instead of Ariel but she secretly visited Philemon after Darius had a meeting with her in which he threatened to expose her poison trafficking operations. Some of these poisons could be found at the Adventurer guilds for slaying monsters but other poisons were designed to torture or be resistant to magic which could be sold through the black market. Many of these substances were illegal and if she was exposed then she would go down as well. Numerous stories like this existed among the nobles.

The lord of the Notos branch had managed to contact Rudeus about this recent change in events two days before the trial was to take place. He had been attempting for the past several days to contact the boy but had managed to get Ghislaine's attention when he tried to talk to Philip about Rudeus presuming Philip knew that the boy was still alive. Ghislaine managed to find Rudeus after several hours where from there Rudeus met Philemon back at his manor early in the morning one day before the trial was supposed to take place. And here they were, in a field of political shit.

Rudeus bit his lip. "Fucking hell."

And then Rudeus had a thought.

'Wait. Is Darius no longer Hitogami's apostle?' It became clear that was a likely option.

Darius was making moves that Hitogami would easily be able to criticize. This didn't follow the mannerisms or tactics that Hitogami normally employed. Hitogami would most likely tell Darius to be quite and not be in the spotlight letting things pass over him. If he saw Darius as baggage then he would just up and leave him requiring Darius to fend for himself which is what he was doing currently, fending for himself and trying to preserve his power.

Ghislaine said that Darius looked happy when it was reported that Rudeus was missing. If Rudeus went missing Hitogami would be able to see this as a farce and tell Darius that Rudeus was in fact alive and well. But Darius gave away the fact that he only took things at face value in that instance and was happy that the boy was missing.

The downside if Darius was in fact no longer an Apostle of Hitogami meant that keeping track of other apostles would be harder to come by until Rudeus established contact with Orsted, and the man himself was impossible to find until Rudeus would "accidentally" run into him at the Red Dragons Lower Jaw years from now.

'I could just kill Darius. No, light would immediately be shined on Philip and he would be blamed for the murder. Half of the Asura kingdom would want his head after that point even if he wasn't the murderer. And if I don't kill Darius now or reduce his power then he will continue his assassination attempts on Ariel, he might actually be successful. Shit what do I do?'

Rudeus stood up.

"Where are you going?" Philemon asked.

"A place I can think. I will be back here in the evening, no need to wait for me just be back in this room by nightfall is all I ask." Rudeus said slamming the door behind him.

He flew back to his base underneath the field of wheat. Descending down the hundreds of feet he immediately went and created another room. He pins a drawing of Darius in the center along with the other people who have sworn allegiance to him.

This room would be dedicated for Rudeus to deduce what his next move would be, keeping all of this information in his head he was guaranteed to create mistakes.

'Hitogami can see this if he wants too so I will mark him as a question mark connected to Darius.' Rudeus drew a question mark on a post-it note and tied a blue string directly connected to Darius.

Blue string represented Darius's allies and red string represented his rivals. Throughout the course of the trial Rudeus would be working on changing the blue string to red. So far Darius's biggest supporter was the prince who would be impossible to sway when it came to his allegiances. For right now Rudeus's biggest objective was establishing if Darius was no longer Hitogami's subordinate. Things would be allot easier if this was the case.

Over the course of two hours Rudeus used his notes in contrast with several books on detective work to establish a foundation for his investigation.

'What are some things that most nobles have but Hitogami's subordinates do not have?' Rudeus put his fingers to his chin.

He went down the list of Hitogami's powers in his head. The man gods best resource other than his ability to see into the future by 50 years was his vision to see anywhere in the world, the exception to this rule of course was Orsted and his secret dragon art to alter fate which illuded Hitogami's vision as a result.

Then it clicked to Rudeus.

'Spy networks! That is how I will know if Darius is still in line with Hitogami!' Rudeus thought smiling. The best spy in all of the worlds was Hitogami. Anyone under his influence would have no need for a spy network.

This spy network under Darius's employment would most likely operate under a form of coding system in their exchange of letters and orders to remain undetected by local authorities or other nobles. To find this cipher and coding system the place of interest would be Darius's house or office in the royal palace. If Hitogami was watching Rudeus's movements then this action would not draw suspicion that the boy knew about the man god, it only would be conclusive that Rudeus was attempting to take down Darius by destroying his routes of communication and understanding his other methods of spying by intercepting and decoding letters.

A cipher was needed if this was the case to crack the code into the operations of the letters and what they truly contained.

Darius had no way to establish contact with nobles that were either out of the capital in time for the court case to blackmail them. So he would instruct Philemon to intercept letters addressed to several of the houses outside of the capital and search through the letters to find ones sent by Darius. If Darius lost the case he would most likely use these people as an escape route. By destroying the letters he would cut off any communication Darius had throughout the Asura kingdom and only keep it contained within the capital. Blackmail wouldn't work if there was no mail and he would gain no support from any of the houses outside of the city.

But the first order of business was to go to the royal palace, specifically Darius's office to look for clues. Rudeus went to his summoning chamber and stepped into the center of the room, placing both hands on the pedestal before him. Closing his eyes and picturing the object he wanted and the twelve mechanical arms came to life with the use of his mana as the plates of magical circles rearranged themselves following Rudeus's will. Then the 100 plates of magical circles above pressed down onto the now stacked 200 plates below. A bright light radiated from the center of the room and when Rudeus opened his eyes there lay a detectives briefcase. After a few more minutes Rudeus obtained some more items that would be of use for an evidence investigation. Rudeus exhaled at the task before him. He then drew up four summoning circles where he would have only one time to use the items he had in his search. One time to summon the tools and another to send them back.

He flew out of the cave system and towards the Asura capital of Ars heading straight toward the royal palace. Rudeus had been through it a few times but it was easy to get lost in such a huge complex. He dressed as one of the squires by raiding one of the children's locker rooms until he found the appropriately fitting clothes.

The official name for such a job was a page. The clothes were clean and finely pressed but not decorated with expensive articles like jewelry much like the noble counterpart to a page.

Rudeus wore black buckle leather shoes, on his legs he wore red stockings that went all the way up to his thighs. Over his upper body he wore a tunic that was long enough that it went down to his kneecaps. The sides of the tunic were flared at the arms showing class. The other two articles was a messenger bag for taking and receiving letters to be transported throughout the palace and the capital, the final article was a wool cap that went over Rudeus's head that made him look like a newspaper boy from new York.

"Damn I look pretty cute in this get up." Rudeus said eyeballing himself in the changing room mirror smiling.

He then walked through the halls. He didn't want to make himself look lost which would be a dead giveaway that he was a trespasser so he obtained a goblet of wine and some glasses that he carrier around the palace making it look like he was bringing some refreshments to a lord or lady of the complex, whenever he could he would drop the activity and move to another task such as carrying laundry or letters when he saw an item placed haphazardly to make it look as realistic as possible that he belonged in the palace. He blended in perfectly and no one paid him any mind. Soon after several hours of going around the palace he found the place he was looking for, Darius's office.

He peaked through the keyhole and saw the fat man pacing in his office, going back to a pile of letters, and then going back to pacing. Rudeus hid behind some curtains for the time being as he waited for the fat man to leave his office.

Once Rudeus had confirmed his suspicions that Darius was no longer in contact with Hitogami he would try and determine the reason for it. After that he would manipulate Darius to having him believe that the boy was an Apostle of Hitogami. Once that had been established a layer of trust would be gained. Even if Hitogami tried to come into contact with Rudeus the boy would still be telling the truth that a vague being in a blank world tried to reach out to him. He was of course referring to his dream that he had several nights before.

Words like "Who was that being?" and "why was it overjoyed to see me?" were still plaguing Rudeus's mind. He tried shoving them to the back of his head but they still kept popping up. Whoever this person was it had a huge amount of magical energy behind it and it was possibly as strong as Rudeus if not stronger, and if that was the case he prayed it was friend and not foe.

Rudeus was at a power level right now he felt like he could level a continent with ease if he truly was a immature child. The world could be his if he wanted but he never desired that. Well he used to desire a harem of limitless women to grope and plunder but looking at people like Darius helped remind Rudeus that was a path reserved for the degenerate and scum of the world. All he wanted now when it came to sex was wholesome engagement, well a little bit of perversion was fine if his lover was fine with it.

'Sylphy, Roxy, Eris. I shall give you the world and give all my love to each of you. You are my world and you are what matters to me.' Rudeus said smiling in pleasant thoughts.

A moment later Darius unlocked his door and exited, locking the door once he was on the other side. Rudeus went back to the door once Darius was out of view and checked the door again. Several enchantments were in the door which were all related to Barrier magic, anyone that tried to pick the lock or open it through magical means would make the door send out a torrent of fire. The original key would be required to open it without triggering the traps. Furthermore the door might of looked to be wood but Rudeus could tell that inside the door was a layer of steel.

The walls themselves had barrier magic on them so even if someone tried to use earth magic then the traps would be triggered, either way guards would come running.

Rudeus sighed. It was an unpleasant option to get inside but the only one he new of.

He focused on the atoms in his body as he began to selectively change the properties of his bones as his legs turned into literal jelly.

This wasn't the first time he had attempted this. The reason why he did this is if he was locked up in iron bonds and chains then he could just slip through them without issue. It wasn't a painful feeling but a rather unnerving in sensation.

Gradually Rudeus turned his bones into jelly as he took on the properties of an Octopus. He slipped through the bottom crack of the door as he inched his way further into the room. It looked like a human puddle was leaking into the office if someone was to observe him. He paid close caution to his organs and veins careful not to damage anything on his way through as well. Squishing his brain would yield unpleasant results.

When he was all the way through he reassembled the properties of his bones one by one as he shuddered at the feeling of being some type of weird gel monster for a few moments. Pulling out of his pocket two blue elastic gloves he put them on and then without further delay he got to work looking throughout the office, starting with the papers Darius was going through.

Rudeus kept an inventory of all the papers he disturbed, putting them back in the same place he had taken them from before moving onto the next set of files. If anything looked amiss Darius might get suspicious when he came back. The oddest thing Rudeus found so far was a jar of lemon juice just sitting on the prime ministers desk.

Opening up the drawers he found several documents of Darius's favorite sex slaves, none of which were noble women so the man couldn't be tried for this piece of evidence, however the man was truly a pig. Further looking into more detailed pages he found budget reports, trade operations, political movements and strategies along with several sets of rehearsed speech should he ever be backed into a corner. Rudeus noted that allot of these rehearsed words were responses to questions he would most likely be asked in court. Making copies of these to give to Philip he returned to his search.

'This little piggy certainly is prepared for allot of things.' Rudeus thought.

What interested him more was looking through the report of magical anomaly mainly involving labyrinths but with no real motive behind them. It would seem that Darius was attempting to hire the adventurers guild along with several hundred magicians in order to explore and raid labyrinths throughout the world, offering a substantial payment to anything relating to magic being blocked by a magical artifact similar to disturb magic.

On the surface any person of wealth or power who didn't use magic would see such an item as invaluable from protecting them against magical attacks. But this didn't feel right, Darius probably had another motive behind this. Potentially against someone like Orsted. Pushing those thoughts aside Rudeus went back to looking throughout the office.

'Many people in political power often times hid a secret compartment in their desk or in their office.' Rudeus thought. He pulled out one of the summoning circles in his pocket. Summoning the tools he had previously obtained he closed the curtains and pulled out a forensic laser from the briefcase he had just summoned. He then closed the curtains in the office making the room almost completely dark.

Using this laser Sodium and Glucose among other chemical compounds would be highlighted in the dark much like how a white shirt would glow if a blacklight was shown on it. Darius placed his finger prints mostly on the top of his desk. Rudeus also noted several sets of smaller fingerprints throughout the room, they looked like children's fingerprints. Rudeus had to keep himself from vomiting as he noticed many of the finger prints were dragged either across the desk or the room.

'He rapes children here too! I will rip his world apart!' Rudeus roared inside the contents of his mind. In that moment he could not tolerate talking to Darius, removing the idea of convincing Darius that Rudeus was an apostle of Hitogami. If he did come into contact with the fat bastard he had no doubt that he would kill the man, introducing Darius to a new definition of pain starting with tearing off his most sensitive parts. Rudeus breathed several times, in, and then out, in, and then out to calm himself. Once he was calm he pulled out a blacklight and found particles of blood both on the desk and the floor near the desk or on Darius's chair. It seems he had a taste for virgins in particular.

Rudeus pulled out a scalpel and took several slivers out of the wood and flooring taking small samples of all of the places that had blood on them. He could use this to cross-reference the DNA to find the original owners. If Rudeus could find these women and girls that Darius had abused then he could use it against the man in future cases if they were nobles. However making these women come forward one at a time would be ineffective much like the boy who cried wolf, Darius would brush such an accusation aside as political slander. The young boy used alteration magic hide the damage he had made while collecting the various samples, labeling them all which he then put away in the detective bag, and then he got back to looking for his main objective.

Rudeus then found what he was looking for. A cluster of fingerprints underneath the desk. Rudeus put pressure on where the fingerprints were, feeling the wood form a square hole which was the hidden button he was looking for and he heard the click of a mechanism to his left. He smiled.

It was a small side drawer which was in a vertical line. The sides of Darius's desk had six drawers on each side but they were smaller than the drawers would normally be if not for decoration, six columns made to look like marble pillars of Greek design were placed at each notable corner of the desk. One of these pillars was now sticking out, the one on the left corner to be exact. Rudeus pulled on the column and out slid the secret horizontal drawer. In it were two items, a book and the cipher.

The cryptography cipher was what Rudeus would recognize as a playfair cipher.

'How ironic that a politician would have something called playfair as a method for secret communication.' Rudeus chuckled.

The playfair cipher had a symbol or letter that stood for a word where a 5x5 grid would be needed to decode the message. There were three rules to this encoding system other than the 5x5 rule. J is replaced with the letter I to fit the square, X is used as a substitution if two letters repeat themselves back to back or if it was needed to fill a letter in the diagram. And finally the square is filled row by row starting with a keyword, if someone did not know the keyword which would be in the square then they could not decipher the message. The keyword was Hail God which was written in the playfair square.

Something like, "The death shall be carried out through poison." Would turn into a jumble of letters which would look like.

QLOBDGQLQIIGICOEDWSAOBEQUSYQLQDZEGFBHQBMY.

Then his fingers landed back on the jar of lemon. Rudeus was curious though. He hadn't seen any playfair encryptions written down in the office. He redoubled his efforts looking to see if Darius had written anything down using the encryption method.

'Of course!' Rudeus realized.

He then grabbed the paper of Darius's favorite sex slaves and sniffed the paper as hard as he could.

"The faint acidic smell of lemons." Rudeus whispered.

He then conjured a small flame over his fingertips as the words that were originally invisible became visible. Lemon juice is acidic and weakens the fibers in a paper, when the paper was heated the remaining acid turns the writing brown before discoloring the paper. The brown letters were encoded but now that Rudeus had the keyword he quickly grabbed a notepad from the detective bag along with a pen and began to decipher the jumble of letters. They were the names of noble women and girls!

Rudeus dropped the paper and slouched on the chair taking in a deep breath. He had cracked the code.

The next step was to make a perfect copy of the paper and place it back in it's original spot. Rudeus would turn this paper over to Philip so he could find ways to exploit this against Darius. Making the copy was simple with Alteration magic he just had to copy the chemical makeup the paper had.

The boy smiled quickly making a copy of the cipher and Darius's favorite women and placed it back in their select locations like it had never been touched. Then he moved onto the book, the one that was in the secret compartment, which was titled….

Rudeus paused for a very, very long moment. If he opened this book he was treading on very thin ice if Hitogami was watching him.

The book was titled messages from God.

Rudeus checked the exterior of the book and found no magical circles or enchantments that were either traps or barrier magic. Opening the book he began to read, he was overjoyed to find that they were not encrypted. Most likely Darius presumed that if anyone came across this book they would just conclude that this was what Darius dreamed about which is why he didn't bother encrypting the journal. In fact if he did encrypt it then that would only draw more suspicion.

He skimmed through most of it. The majority was movements had already happened which allowed Darius to gain power but the latest entry was of particular interest.

"God has finally come to me again after four long years. I was concerned he had forgotten about me. He has given me two tasks, double my spy network and search for magical anomalies that disrupt his magic. I will follow suit with both. He told me he can no longer look down on the world, I must be the eyes for my master. Something is blocking his vision and the world looks blurry to him, until it becomes clear I can no longer rely on him to help me. I have the opportunity to prove myself worthy to by the apostle of god, I shall not let him down."

"Hitogami can't see?" Rudeus whispered. Then footsteps could be heard in the hallway coming toward the door.

'Shit I got distracted.' Rudeus cursed himself putting back the book and cipher, closing it, he quickly sent the detectives bag back with his one remaining summoning circle along with the other pieces of paper he had made copies of.

He checked the windows, they had barrier magic infused on the windows but Rudeus could make it out, he just had to be clever. He opened the window just a crack as he used the same method that he used to get himself in the office. He altered the properties of his bones as he slid through the crack in the window, just in time too as the door opened right after Rudeus had escaped. Rudeus controlled his decent as he reassembled the structure of his bones, falling lightly on the ground where no one was watching.

It was the gardens of the palace which had a balcony overlooking the kingdom. Rudeus took in the view for a moment.

"Who are you?"

Rudeus jumped in the air quickly turning and he saw a man he didn't recognize. It was clear the man hadn't seen him a moment ago, otherwise he would be asking him how he flew down, the man probably turned around after Rudeus had landed and saw the boy.

'I was so close to people discovering I could fly, I was so careless.' Rudeus cursed himself but still responded to the mans question.

"Sorry sir you scared me for a second there. I am one of the squires under Philemon Greyrat's employment. Who are you sir?" Rudeus said quickly coming up with an answer he had already rehearsed should anyone in the palace question him.

"I am Derrick Redbat, protector of Ariel Asura."

Rudeus turned pale for a moment. He knew that name but he had never met the person. This was the man Orsted had told Rudeus about, the man who would convince Perugius to lend his support to Ariel. Unfortunately he had died because of the magical teleportation incident. A monster had been displaced to the gardens because of the event along with Sylphy, while Sylphy had saved Ariel from the monster she didn't have enough time to save Derrick who was the first to be attacked by the monster as Derrick tried to defend Ariel.

Derrick had long straight dark hair with an angular face. He was tall and lean much like any other magician. He looked like the type of refined teacher you would see in an anime who was knowledgeable but strict because he wore a pair of small circular reading glasses over his eyes where at one end they were connected by a chain. Rudeus looked behind him, a small girl around Rudeus's age wearing a white dress with blond hair was hiding behind the man, she looked like an angel.

"What types of gloves are those? I have never seen them on a squire before." Derrick asked.

'Shit I forgot to take off the nitrile gloves!' Rudeus quickly took off the elastic materiel that covered his hands but it was too late obviously.

"They are a new type of glove. One that keeps grease stains and fingerprints off of surfaces, good for keeping things tidy." Rudeus quipped but his acting was off, Derrick squinted at him as he walked over to the young boy.

"What is your name?" Derrick barked.

At this point Rudeus had three options, tell the man his name and intention, keep acting and have to run when caught, or just skip option two and run. Option one posed it's own problems mainly Derrick getting involved in affairs that didn't concern him, this was Rudeus's fight. But based off of what Ariel had told Rudeus in his past life Derrick could be trusted with secrets. So Rudeus resorted to go with option one.

"Forgive me for being disrespectful. My name is Rudeus Greyrat, I was attempting to spy on Prime Minister Darius. He created an assassination attempt to kill me and my family several years ago, the members of the squad Death Row who have long since passed are the ones he hired. I have since then wanted to seek justice for my family." Rudeus said bowing on one knee.

"Such an act of spying is treasonous but why not try to go against Darius the traditional way? Through the court system."

Rudeus bit his lip in frustration, this man was a traditional one who wanted to do things the right way which in his mind was following the rules. This man would not be easy to sway, he was a man of honor, the only way to beet this type of stubborn was to expose the honorable person to the truth that they were an idiot.

"I am. Well Philip Greyrat is. Darius attempted to hire the head butler of the Boreas branch to kidnap the young lady of the house, Eris Greyrat. Now we have set up a trial to expose Darius for his misdeeds. My objective was to gain an edge against Darius in court."

"Evidence that has been obtained through illegal means will be dismissed in court, that is the law." Derrick said calmly.

"Yes. Darius however will win the trail in his favor regardless of the evidence presented. He has blackmailed the other nobles threatening to expose their misdeeds and illegal actions should he fall from power. Because of this I am attempting to go beyond that in turning both nobles and the common people against him." Rudeus said pressing his fist to his chest where his heart lay in a sincere oath. "He is also the one behind several assassination attempts on the young lady standing behind you."

Rudeus stepped forward and Derrick extended his magicians staff, ready at a moments notice to utter an incantation to kill the boy in front of him. Rudeus stopped and prostrated himself on the ground with both hands placed on the ground as he bowed as low as he could not saying a word.

Derrick hesitated when he received a light tug on his robe making him look down at the young girl grasping him.

"It's alright sir Derrick, I would like to speak with him." The young Ariel said. Even at such a young age she remained graceful in her words.

"Of course my lady." Derrick responded instantly stepping aside and bowing curtly.

Rudeus heard soft footsteps treading on the grass as the young girl approached him. He felt a pat on his back in reassurance. Lifting his head he was met with the eyes of pure kindness from the girl standing above him.

"My name is Ariel Asura. I'm sorry my friend was rude to you before but he is like that when it comes to strangers, please, let's go take a seat." Ariel said smiling softly at him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Princess Asura." Rudeus said.

She outstretched her hand and he kissed the top of it making her beam at him. Then she gestured at a nearby bench which overlooked the entirety of the gardens.

"You don't want to be queen do you?" Rudeus said sitting down. He knew what she was a feeling at that time, she hadn't made up her mind yet regarding if she would step down and let her brother take power. Derrick would be the one to convince her and she would also be convinced to become queen otherwise all the people that had laid their lives down for her would be in vain, but that reason wasn't good enough, she had to make it a personal reason. So Rudeus would try and nudge her in that direction.

Her eyes widened at that question though. "How do you know that?" Derrick however gave Rudeus a glare like his question was a great insult however Ariel raised her hand at Derrick and he resumed the blank look on his face.

"I can see it in your eyes. You want the burdens to go away, the politics, the people, the assassination attempts, and the scheming." Rudeus said looking into the sky, imagining her as a soring eagle flying away from all her problems.

"Yes. I dream about that often."

"There is a solution in a few years though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it will take a few years though but if you go to the Ranoa Kingdom you can escape allot of that while building up support in the magic university."

"Why would it take a few years?"

"There are some things that need to be done in the meantime but I can try and help, Philemon is already helping you but I also have Philip Boreas Greyrat on your side now. Many people can support you and help. But if you don't want to be a puppet to them you should follow your own heart and wisdom, listening to them is fine but following them blindly is a different story." Rudeus said smiling at her. Then he took notice of the sun setting.

"I have to go, I apologize but I have a meeting with Philemon shortly. One last piece of advice though. Trust Sylphiette, you will know what that means in the future."

She just nodded at him sadly, taking in his words but wishing that he could have chatted with her for a little bit longer.

After a few minutes he exited out of the palace once he had returned his temporary disguise. He then departed to Philemon's office to report his findings.

Rudeus was surprised though to find Philip sitting next to Philemon along with Ghislaine when Rudeus peaked through the office window from outside to see if anyone was home.

'Well a good a time as any.' Rudeus thought summoning his courage.

Rudeus knocked on the door.

"Come in." Philemon said from the other side.

Rudeus took in another breath as he opened up the door, slapping the sides of his face lightly as he prepared for the numerous array of questions Philip would most likely have.

Philip of course got up quickly his eyes full of shock. Ghislaine didn't even bother with a reaction and Philemon tensed his breath. It would seem that he was still afraid of Rudeus.

"Welcome back sir." Philemon said. "I hope your day was a success."

"It was Lord Philemon, thank you." Rudeus said calmly, his voice not changing in fluctuation for a moment. He then looked at Philip. "I think I owe you an explanation Philip. But first Philemon can you please tell me why they are here?"

Philemon coughed into his fist to draw attention as he prepared his next sentence. "By your command I have supported Philip through these several days both feeding intelligence to him through third parties and things around that nature in preparation for the trial. However with it being tomorrow I thought we should meet face to face to discuss how things should proceed and to also inform Philip directly about what Darius plans to do."

Rudeus nodded. "That was a very good idea, thank you. Now then, Philip if you will please be seated I will explain everything."

Philip hesitated for a moment but sat down slowly as Rudeus sat down on the other end of the room facing the mayor of Roa.

"Firstly I want you to know that what I did was a spontaneous idea, in order for me to move freely I needed to not be encumbered by the day to day business of preparing for the trial at hand, and secondly it would make the enemy believe that I am dead, this will essentially make me a trump card in the trial to come. Lastly, thank you Philip for not telling the rest of the family about my supposed demise, I did not look forward to being hit repeatedly by Eris and you have spared me from that."

"No apology? Just an explanation and a thanks?" Philip asked, it was clear the man was angry, he didn't like to be kept in the dark about such things, certainly such things that were critical when it came to importance.

Rudeus nodded. "I will not apologize for my actions, I regret having to do them, but it has allowed me to obtain information I otherwise could not." As he said this he put down the several copies of paper he had obtained earlier.

"Where did you get these?" Philemon asked.

"From Darius's office." Rudeus said plainly.

The room went noticeably more cold from there.

"You intercepted the palace?" Philemon whispered.

"Yes. I posed as a page, or squire, in the palace and worked my way to Darius's office to obtain intel. After he left his office I entered and searched though his documentation after which I returned here. Among these papers is the coding system that Darius uses to write coded messages in plain letters, we can use this information to intercept his letters that he sends to the city of Roa and several other places we have allies. He also uses invisible ink in the form of lemonade to write the encoded messages on plane messages. From here we can discover and disable his spy network through execution or by buying them off to send Darius false intel."

"There is a huge problem with this though." Philip said with his interlacing his hands. "If it is revealed that Darius's network of spies was sabotaged then he will know someone found a way to decipher his messages. He will change his method of encryption at that point. Ultimately down the road his suspicion can lead to him realizing that someone went through his office and if he realizes we were the ones behind it we will be tried for treason and trespassing on palace grounds. I'm sure the judgement of such a misdeed is self explanatory."

"Yes. Heads, spikes, and walls." Rudeus said nodding. "However there is a solution to this. We can use this information to our advantage so long as we do not show a pattern of interception or a 100% failure rate in Darius's spy network. If he only has a 10% rate of failure he is less likely to become suspicious. Moreover we can send messages to both Darius's allies and foes alike so all of a sudden he doesn't know who the original traitor was."

"How do you propose we go about this?" Philemon asked.

"We will immediately send out this template of encoding to all the noble houses that Darius has been in contact with over the past several days. Each time we do this we will go under the guise of a different house with a different seal so that way it will look like an entangled web if anyone tries to track who sent the original cipher to decrypt Darius's letters, we will also hire different people to write for us so they cannot track us through handwriting patterns."

"What about the trial coming up?" Philip asked.

"The person on trial is Narum not Darius, we will merely plant the seeds of suspicion against Darius using Narum. And this." Rudeus said putting down the list of name he had procured earlier.

Both Philemon and Philip looked at the decoded names.

"These goes beyond evil." Philip said as he bit his thumb so hard to try and keep from bursting in outrage that his finger started to bleed. Rudeus healed it quickly and thanked his three Goddesses that Sauros was not the one looking at these names. Sauros would probably attempt to burn the whole of Ars down in fury.

"We will find the women and then put Darius on trial for these actions. Narum will most likely be sentenced to banishment from the asura kingdom and live out his days in the Millis continent. But one thing does perplex me."

"And that would be?" Philemon asked.

"A book in his which was he has an account about messages he received from God."

"So what? Is he a believer in Millis?" Philip scoffed.

Rudeus shook his head.

"No, whoever this so called God is. There were detailed accounts about his actions and what God told him to do, when he carried it out profit or power followed quickly in Darius's favor. Darius is working for someone."

"So the prime minister has a puppet master." Philemon whispered.

"Yes, until we find out who this God is we will leave Darius in power, the current 7 worldly powers do not match the description of this individual but it is clear that this being has the ability of foresight, he is able to see everything and has something called future vision which allows this person to see 50 years into the future. But something is blocking it's abilities for now."

"Believing what you say is true, we should take Darius out now before he makes another move against us or if this so called God regains it's vision."

Rudeus shook his head.

"We have spotted a vulture, if we kill the vulture we will no longer be able to track it and a new vulture will be chosen that will hide in the shadows, our moves must be discrete and while it pains me to say it, we will not kill Darius as of yet. We will only cripple his power for the time being like we originally planned and keep our eyes on him now that we know he has a benefactor watching over him."

Rudeus knew how difficult it would be if Darius was killed. More apostles of Hitogami would be chosen if Darius died and once the man god regained his powers, he would send more people from the shadows to kill Ariel and from there it was likely the odds of her dying would increase. For now this would have to do. And if he stopped the teleportation event altogether none of this would matter, the way Orsted had set things up beforehand it was guaranteed that Ariel would become queen in the future. But still, failsafe's were in place, and Rudeus would keep making them until that fated day after his 10th birthday.

See you guys hopefully by next week or the one after for the trial. I'm researching as many t.v show trials and movie trials as I can for references and how to add drama to this whole story. Until then review and give feedback and I will respond back in the next chapter.

I'm back bitches! (DBZ team four star reference from Vegeta from episode 32)

Thank you all for your patience! This chapter is to continue the story a little bit more and to reveal how powerful Rudeus has become, also a little bit of teaser for the new character. Sorry for the grammar errors if you find them but I wanted to update as soon as I got the time.

As for what kept me I was doing a 10 hour shift for almost three months while doing a 2 hour commute under the management of a boss that was well… a bit too bossy and was insecure about their problems where they proceeded to yell at me if I ever confronted them about my problems with them. Yesterday I had allot of fun receiving an angry phone call from my manager when I wasn't there and said that I quit, boy she was pissed and I hung up while she was trying to talk to me hahaha. Either way I'm sure I will find a better job soon with this economy right now. So try not to worry too much about me.

Without further ado it's mail time…. mail time… mail time….. maaaaiiiillll tiiimmmeee!

Here's the mail it never fails! It makes me want to wag my tail! When it comes I want to wail. MAIL! (…Blues clues reference shut up I can still be a child at heart too)

To Drcaus: I have no problem writing about Rudeus's harem, for the time being he will have some wet dreams until he grows up some more which should be some good lemon as he remembers his times with Sylphy, Roxy, and Eris during his first reincarnation.

To Uqihana: Glad you like it and I'm glad to be back!

To XaiGRS: Syphy will meet Eris before the teleportation even I promise ;) And sorry to keep you waiting for the new chapter.

To 321jaz: So glad you and many others liked the deduction scene, other side isn't going to play fair so why should he, for now though he will let Darius dig his own grave. Ariel will also try to be more involved with Rudeus and less secretive when they are both at the Magic university. Also I'm sorry about the error on Derricks fate. I just corrected it now while going through your comments.

To Guest: Wow! Just wow this is a long comment to unpack and it means allot to give me such feedback. I promise to try and make the dialogue less robotic and I will look at examples to see if I can improve the writing. This is a journey that I present and I'm grateful that you are patient enough to see me improve along the ride. 

As for you comments on Sylphy I'm on the fence if I should let her continue to have green hair or resume having white hair like the first time we learned about her in the magical university. And yeah I have a good explanation on why magic is so constricted in this world and why Rudeus is able to bypass that restriction which will be explained by the new character when they finally meet. Also I'm so glad you liked the description of "Friend" In chapter one. I'd like to fantasize that we as writers create worlds and universes with our own willpower, and that readers through their wills and desires can continue the story, essentially making it never ending. Do I believe this? No. But it is allot of fun to implement as an introduction to a story and that we as the audience are essentially deities.

To the mighty mr-popo98: Sixth rule of your training, don't break your stuff. And I'm glad you liked the chapter, sorry to keep you waiting. 

To XaiGRS: I HAVE MISSED YOU AND ALL YOU READERS SO FREAKING MUCH!

With that out of the way as well as a few tissues containing my tears, enjoy this chapter! More shall follow. And yeah this chapter doesn't have allot of huge twists but I can't put it in every chapter but it means allot to me in continuing with this next update and many more to follow.

"Philip, Philemon, there is something all of us need to talk about." Rudeus said, he was sitting from across a large mahogany table. Both the boy and his two relatives were currently in the court house in a room that was created for conference meetings that would be beyond the public eye. A few hours from now each seat would be taken by a judge who was also a noble. Appointed by the king to cast a verdict to determine guilt or innocence.

Philip sighed. Although the man respected the boys opinion and wishes, to him, he was still just a boy, a prodigy of a child but still just a child.

"What is it Rudeus." He said trying to put on a smile. To be honest though he didn't want to hear much from the seven year old any more because of the constant changes to the plans that were already laid out.

"You won't have to do much on your side. I was just thinking it over and I believe it would be better if I stay missing for the time being, at least on paper anyway." Rudeus said taking note of his uncles annoyance.

"What? Why? We have already laid out so much for it to be this grand reveal in the court room." The man said this as his eyebrow twitched ever so slightly in annoyance. This put a hindrance in his attempt to take down Darius.

"True you have done allot, I greatly respect you for that."

"But?" Philip said raising his eyebrow.

"But, the original wish from you was that I wasn't known as a Greyrat while I was teaching Eris, if this comes out as public it can cause some headaches."

Rudeus's reasoning wasn't without flaw. If they chose to go public then Philip could go forward with his plans to use the child to gain more power in the household. Rudeus knew that this was a likely possibility since this was what Philip tried to do the first time around before the teleportation event happened, he even promised Rudeus Eris and tried to use his own daughters body to keep the young boy an a leash. This was the main reason that Rudeus didn't want to go public, to be used by Philip. And the second reason was that he still wanted to stay out of politics knowing full well that he would have to deal with more schemes and plots similar to what Philip tried to do to him only on a much larger scale with numerous noble households trying to take possession of him.

For now the main objective had been reached that Darius's image would be hindered and he would lose allot of trust within the ranks of his followers, by doing so the Lord of the Fetoa region, Sauros, stood a higher chance of being spared from the executioners block if the teleportation event wasn't prevented. In a way Darius was the main director of this possibility by threatening to blackmail everyone if the court case didn't go his way.

"True, however the largest obstacle that made me ask this secrecy of you has subsided, namely Philemon Greyrat who has now become our ally." Philip reputed, pointing at Philemon who was sitting on the other side of the table, yet it was clear Philip was trying to get Rudeus to go public, this was probably his secret agenda ever since the plan to put Narum in a royal court case started.

"I know, regardless my wish is to stay out of politics which was also your original wish as well, if you insist that I go public I only ask that you stay on hold about it for the time being so that way when the moment is right it can be brought to full effect."

"Which time would that be?" Philip was getting a little short in his temper now, his voice was beginning to wane and break composure.

"When Princess Ariel Asura makes her move to become Queen." Rudeus said without pause.

Both Philemon and Philip looked at each other in moment of surprise and doubt.

"Why would we go about doing this?" Philemon asked hesitantly looking back at the young boy. His opinions on Rudeus were erratically different from Philips so he took Rudeus's word out of fear, knowing a fraction of what the young magician was capable of. Still, he wished to understand the reasoning for such actions so he could better follow the directive that Rudeus laid out.

"Right now our enemies believe both the Boreas and Notos branches are at odds within the Greyrat house. The Notos branch supports Ariel while the Boreas branch at least in the public opinion supports the prince. With Darius's actions coming to light Philip can take on the stance of neutrality, in doing so we can make the other nobles believe both branches are still at odds with each other. In reality we are working together to bring Ariel to the throne.

If you uncle decided to go public in your support allot of nobles will turn against you including several more kidnapping and assassination attempts provided by Darius on you and your family, to avoid this our support will remain secret. Darius will believe he is in the clear, lacking the flexibility he had before but he will be safe or so he thinks.

He won't even notice we are the ones planting the seeds of his destruction when Ariel returns to the Asura kingdom. That will be once she has completed her time in Ranoa's university of magic."

"All this sneaking around, are you sure you don't want to reconsider and delve more into politics? You can gain a vast amount of wealth and power in doing so." Philip questioned him, he still didn't want to lose this momentum.

"Privacy is more important to me, it allows for a comfortable living status and I don't think I would like to be constantly involved in mountains of paperwork. For now the education of Eris will resume while we continue to formulate plans and directives. Moreover this will allow for more flexibility overall for both of us."

Philip let out a deep sigh of annoyance. He wanted to voice his inner frustration of course but he held his tongue and nodded without verbally saying so. Philemon was content with this decision as well, he would deal with the terrifying boy in front of him less and that made him happy too. Not only that he had the next few years planned out in accordance, he would be content staying busy for now.

"Will you stay for the trial, as a secret observer?" Philip asked.

Rudeus shook his head. "We already know how things will play out. Narum will be exiled, Darius will lose some power, and both of your spy networks will have the upper hand in monitoring the prime ministers movements, crippling them in crucial areas."

Both the men nodded at the boy and got up to leave to the courtroom. Rudeus went out the secret back exit which was provided in times of emergency. Philip snuck his hand behind a large painting, a beautiful image of the capital of Ars. With a click Philip lifted the tiny latch that held the painting in place and it swayed open silently revealing a small staircase that would descend into the places between the walls of the courtroom where from there Rudeus would make his way toward the sewage networks.

"I will see you back at the carriage ride home when we depart Philip, and Uncle Philemon…"

His uncle stopped in his tracks and turned nervously to face the boy.

"It was nice meeting you, if you can spare the time it would be nice if you could get together with my father and the two of you have a heart to heart." Rudeus beamed with as much innocence as a boy his age could muster, then he departed.

His uncle just nodded silently, he didn't utter a word.

The three went their separate ways. Philip would go to the courtroom, Philemon would go back to the manor, and Rudeus would stick around some more to depart with Philip once the trial was completed.

Later on in the courtroom everyone had gathered. Papers were shuffled, greetings were had, and seats were given. When everyone had settled in the lead Judge entered the room. Only his footsteps could be heard as they dragged across the wooden floor, echoing throughout the chamber. They weren't footsteps of an intimidating man, no, they were the footsteps of someone who was tired of this calling but carried it out only because of obligation and nothing more. The Lead Judge sat down in his seat of power, the vantage point giving him a view of the entire assembly.

He looked at his papers and coughed several times to clear his throat. Then he spoke.

"Will Narum Pincer, take the stand." The lead judge declared.

Narum was slow to rise and walk toward the stand, many men had walked slower though as they felt the weight of their crimes cripple them, or the fear of punishment. The pedestal was raised by two marble steps, it may have only been two steps but it felt like a mountain to him. He was surrounded on three sides of the room which had enough space to sit a few hundred people. This was a court room specifically for Nobles and cases that involved them, if the public or common civilian for that matter was allowed to enter this room they would quickly learn of how dirty or corrupt nobles were.

The room itself sported mosaics, and statues carved into the walls, or paintings of cases involving justice and law put on each side of room. Above the whole congregation on the ceiling was a grand painting of the Armored Dragon King Perugius standing victorious. There he stood as a representation for justice prevailing against the evil of Laplace and his conquest to destroy the human race.

Narum as he was walking up looked nervously at Philip who was on the prosecution side of the courtroom. Philip smiled briefly but returned to a stoic look, briefly after as to not catch too many eyes. Still, Narum felt comforted from that brief smile. He had committed a horrible crime, he knew that, but by the grace and cunning of the man he had looked at a moment ago he would be spared and be allowed to merely escape with banishment if he kept his word. At least that was his silent prayer.

"Narum Pincer, how do you plead to the noble houses of this courtroom?" The head judge asked wearily. He was an old man who had seen much in his time and was handpicked by the king many years ago to lead events such as this but in terms of power he was merely the announcer in this room and the one to maintain order in the court. If he had more of a presence than he would hold more authority over the people in the court, but the nobles in the room would be the ones to judge via voting process on matters involving punishment and the severity of the punishment. It was a corrupt process regardless, nobles who were detached in care would let their vote sway like the waves of the ocean and it didn't need to be unanimous, it only needed to have a majority vote. In other words a more civilized form of mob rule.

When the votes were gathered anonymously the head judge announcer and a few more that were also selected by the king would retire into the room that Rudeus had just sat in to determine the final casting.

"I plead guilty your honor, but please hear my testimony as it will bring to light more details as to why I committed these actions." Narum said, his resolve was made and his fate would be in the hands of the court from now on.

"And what would that be?" The Judge sighed in an exasperated tone, he really didn't seem to care that much about what the guilty man said. The judge was well past his years of youth as his wrinkles were beyond count, who knew, this might be his last year alive, but still, he would fulfill his duty that was assigned to him by the king.

"The fact that I committed this crime was because I was hired by the Prime Minister Darius to commit such an act. He had his eyes on the young lady Eris and offered me a fortune of 100 gold coins for her to be taken and delivered to him as his concubine. I initially refused, but the lady Eris is abusive and wild in nature…." Narum stopped himself when he saw the glare given to him by Philip, the stare was cold enough to freeze any mans spine. Narum adjusted his tone as to not anger Philip any more than he needed too. "Needless to say I reconsidered the offer and later on took it. The kidnapping went successfully but me and my hired mercenaries were ambushed by a monster, where it killed all my men and saved lady Eris."

"A monster you say? What kind was it? And why would it be so selective in its attack and not just kill you all?" One of the other minor judges spoke up, a middled aged woman with a curiosity about her personality, she was the type that liked to delve deeper into a story to find the truth which benefitted her position as a judge.

"It was unlike any monster in an adventurer guide book. When it attacked it was raining so it was difficult to see. But the voice it took on was that of a little innocent girl, however the being was twice as tall as a normal man and its skin was a sickly pale color as if it was infested with some disease. Its face was covered by rags and a long cloak but it had four boney arms. Two of which were like long, curved knives, protruding from its back."

"How did it kill your men, with its arms?" The female judge ask, she was getting off topic but the audience and other judges didn't interject. To them it was like they were being told a scary ghost story. Narum shook his head to the question but began to recall the memories of how his men died.

"It used magic but didn't speak any words, it stopped all the droplets of rain from falling and held them still in the air… as if time had stopped, it then forced all the water to encase the upper portions of the men I had hired. At first I thought it was going to drown them but no, the monster squeezed the water and made the men burst like grapes, when it released the spell, blood, bones, and organs coated the horses as the animals fled away in panic. It was a terrifying sight to behold." Narum intentionally left out the part about him attempting to kill the carriage driver, he also left out Rudeus as per Philips request. In a way the butler wasn't lying, only leaving out side segments of the whole truth.

The court looked at each other nervously.

"You said you didn't see the creatures face or hair, but out of curiosity, do you think the monster could have been a Superd?" The judge was full of questions, and this particular question would yield far too many superstitions. Philip pinched the bridge of his nose trying to contain his frustration knowing this was the case.

Murmuring ensued which was predictable.

Philip coughed to get the courts attention. "Let's stay on top of the matter at hand. This will only give way to pointless rumor and speculation." He could control the direction of the courts actions for the moment but as soon as the court was adjourned rumor would start to spread that his daughter was saved by a Superd from the clutches of Darius. Such a story would only hinder the intention to sully Darius since the Superd were an evil race of Demons. It was allot like a great evil destroyed a lesser evil or something like that.

"Agreed." The head judge sighed again, he was growing tired of such idle questioning.

"Regardless Prime minister Darius is not the one on trial, we shall hold a private vote to see if we would go about pressing charges or if Mayor Philip wishes to pursue such charges. Until such point the trail of Narum Pincer will continue. Is there anything else that the defendant wishes to state?"

"No my lord." Narum said swiftly.

"Then the sentence shall be death by hanging for your betrayal of the Boreas branch." Their was no pity in the judges eyes, or care for that matter, he had passed so many sentences like this he had lost touch with the importance of justice. Or maybe this was the way nobles conducted their justice on traitors.

"I object." Philip stood up.

The court had all their eyes on him.

"The man kidnapped a noble, he should be made an example of." One man bellowed standing up.

"Do you not want to avenge your daughter?" A noblewoman pleaded.

"How will our servants see such an action when they learn a traitor is allowed any punishment other than death? They will rebel against us should we be so lenient in the face of treachery. This man must be made an example of."

Reasons like this and many others were spoken as the nobles in the room began to raise their voices in anger. The head judge didn't even bother to address the issue and allowed the chaos to continue throughout the court room, he smirked a little bit at the scene. To him it was like he was witnessing a large food fight in a school cafeteria, at least that was how childish he saw it.

"I would like to explain myself!" Philip shouted, his Boreas side showing just a little bit, the court regained it's composure. "If my former servant Narum was unwilling to confess the truth then yes I would have agreed with the death sentence. We shall make an example of him for those willing to confess in honesty. Think about it, if one of your servants betrays you and the punishment either way when it comes to hiding the truth or being honest is death they will lie in desperation for survival. I will reward honesty and truth when faced with the prospect of punishment for such crimes as this. I propose Narum be allowed banishment to the Millis continent to start his life anew, never to be allowed to return to Asura. There he will live out his days in reflection and repentance."

"Why did you not just cast this verdict in the city of Roa?" The female judge asked.

"Because Narum revealed Darius was the one to hire him. I want everyone in this room to know that none of your daughters no matter how young are safe from him, think about that while you tuck your children in at night."

"This will not be political Mayor Philip, and as I have stated we will cast our judgment wither a separate court appearance shall be required of Prime Minister Darius." The head judge objected. This move made it clear that when it came to Darius he would make attempts to retain order, perhaps he was supported by Darius or the head judge was also blackmailed by the prime minister.

"My apologies your honor." Philip said bowing while he put on his coy grin. His eyes were mere slits but if someone looked closely enough they could see that Philip was glaring directly at the head Judge.

"In that case the court shall cast the private vote and return with the verdict. The room is adjourned until the vote is cast." The head judge banged his gavel onto the table and everyone stood up at attention respectfully.

Rudeus sighed.

"You knew what the results would be and yet you still seem disappointed. Why?" Philip said as the carriage departed from the city.

"I know, I was just hopeful that things would turn out better, that Darius could have been dismantled instantly instead of us taking several years in the future to accomplish it." Rudeus said as he leaned against the carriage window. The city gradually fading from view as the afternoon turned into evening. It had been several days since the trail had completed and it went as Rudeus had predicted. Narum had originally been given the death sentence by hanging but Philip acted against it and gave him the sentence of banishment. The court was surprised by this action considering that the servant turned traitor but later conquered that honesty should be rewarded. The vote to call Darius had been a decisive no among the nobles unsurprisingly. The system itself seemed broken and was its own wasteland of snake tongues to conquer. For now though things would be calm and Rudeus could enjoy going back to focusing on the more important tasks.

The next few days followed without incident. The large crater that Rudeus left a few months beforehand came into view of the carriage train from a distance. It looked like all the water from a large lake had dried up instantly and left a perfect half sphere crater in its place.

'Hehe, kind of reminds me of Dragon Ball Z when Trunks caught Frieza's miniature sun. Still though….' Rudeus looked down at his hands and gripped them together tightly and then opened them, he repeated the process several times in a reflection of the amount of power he could output.

"At this point you are strong enough to take on one of the seven great powers." Ghislaine stated, she said it in a tone of admiration but it had a slight hint of concern as well. Who wouldn't be? She probably saw Rudeus as a walking talking nuclear bomb at this point.

"You think so?" Rudeus said. He had a bad habit of overestimating his opponents which lead to overthinking. Still in his previous life he had fought against or alongside all of the world powers excluding Laplace.

The North God and Sword God at close range Rudeus had no doubt could kill him even in his current state of magic prowess. If it was from a distance though the only one Rudeus thought could survive an attack like the crater he had made would be Orsted. He vividly recalled the fight when Hitogami gave Rudeus the ultimatum to kill the Dragon God or see his family parish. Rudeus had dished out huge levels power into that fight that made the landscape into a baron wasteland of cinders but yet he still lost to Orsted. Looking back on it he was happy he lost that fight, he got to have a friendship with one of the loneliest men in the world and they improved and worked with each other as colleagues against the Man God. Overtime Rudeus grew to enjoy the praise he received from Orsted whenever he completed a mission, it would be nice to get to experience that feeling again.

"Does your mana have a limit?" Ghislaine asked which snapped Rudeus out of his feeling of nostalgia.

"Yes it does, I constantly work on it everyday to drain it. The next day it doubles and I repeat the process over and over again." Rudeus said. He didn't want to reveal that for about eight hours of rest he was practically defenseless as his mana recharged and doubled for the next day while he remained unconscious. He trusted Ghislaine with this secret information but he wanted to keep this vital knowledge safe, so for now he wouldn't let that slip.

"What do you spend that level of mana on? I don't see you going around creating huge craters like that out in the country side every day." Ghislaine chuckled.

"To put it into perspective I would probably have to create a few thousand of those craters to drain my mana. If I had to summarize how I practice and grow my mana it's allot like how instead of punching through bricks and slashing down trees you do smaller but equally intense workouts like squeezing all your muscles at once and maintaining that flex until you are exhausted. For me I can alter the smallest things in the universe to form larger objects like a rock or a knife. For a standard magician this would take months to do with their energy but for my mana capacity and how much I've practiced…."

Rudeus outstretched his hand and particles began for grow from a single point in his palm, they circulated around until the shape began to appear from what was now clear to be a knife made of pure steel. It was a small knife but one of excellent craftmanship and it took Rudeus only a few seconds to make.

"I can make things like this with ease." Rudeus finished his sentence handing Ghislaine the knife. She inspected it and found it was without flaw. She then placed the sharp end of the knife against one of the wood frames of the carriage and when she applied the most miniscule amount of pressure the knife cut a large sliver of the wood like butter. Rudeus could also tell that Ghislaine wasn't even using her Touki to amplify the blades sharpness but if she did apply it, then the knife would most likely cut through the whole carriage.

"I have never seen a knife this sharp." Ghislaine said admiring it.

"I made the blade as thin as possible at the edges, it is a few atoms worth of thickness consisting of iron, carbon, manganese, phosphorous, sulfur, and silicon. But since it is so thin it will quickly loose it's sharpness, this was just for demonstration purposes." Rudeus tilted his chin up and huffed with pride, even he had to admit that his knowledge on chemistry was progressing exceptionally well.

"I know what iron is but what about the rest of the words?" The beast woman scratched her head as her brows furrowed together. It was like her brain was crying for the world to become simpler again after what Rudeus had just said.

Rudeus cried on the inside. He would love to share his knowledge and references with someone, anyone, who would understand at an equal or greater level than himself. Talk about chemistry during the day and drinking while talking about anime during the evening, yeah that would be nice.

"Atoms are some of the smallest things in the world, they are the bricks that make everything work and there are laws that determine how they form. I can control those bricks individually to build whatever I want. Atoms form things like water which is just three atoms, two are made from the lightest gas that forms the sun, that element is hydrogen, and the third atom is a little bit heavier which is oxygen, when you force those three atoms to hug each other you make water."

Ghislaine nodded. She understood the brick analogy but not the rest of it. When Rudeus tried to explain some more she raised her hand and told him to stop otherwise her brain might explode so Rudeus restrained himself, pouting a little that he couldn't talk some more about his passions.

Perugius the Armored Dragon King might enjoy the conversation since he saw knowledge as a great treasure, he would like to know about how the world actually worked with it's numerous elements coming together to form the very ground that they stood on but Rudeus didn't want to introduce himself yet. Following the flow of events until Rudeus met Orsted was the best way to insure victory over Hitogami.

'I can understand the frustration that Orsted felt… just waiting a few years in order to make a single move that might make a difference. He did that for more than 20,000 years before me with all his time loops. Hitogami will fall in this time line as well too Orsted, just you wait.' Rudeus smiled softly.

Once again Rudeus stared outside of the carriage windows until the landscape changed day after day, night after night. And then that night it happened again. During his phase of unconscious sleep he saw the stranger in a dark field of fog in his dreams. Unlike before the being was not shoveling around on his knees but was looking directly at Rudeus a good distance away. All Rudeus saw was a glowing grey speck in the fog since he was so far away but Rudeus knew it was the person that had chased after him before.

The being didn't charge at him but appeared to be walking in a calm, unhostile manner towards Rudeus as if to disarm the boys concerns that this man might do something to him when it reached Rudeus. Then Rudeus's vision began to fade. Before he woke up though the stranger cried out, it's voice booming and echoing throughout the landscape.

"I will reach you! No matter how many years it takes!" The feeling it radiated was again one of desperation but a brief amount of hope as well.

Then Rudeus bolted up from his slumber, light from the outside flooding his pupils as they winced at the sudden change in brightness.

'It would seem I have something else to prepare for.' He thought as he got out of his tent, he bit his thumbnail as he went deep into thought. 'Whoever this being is I remember the feeling it gave off, it was like I was connected to it somehow… or rather, it established a connection with me. I felt joy from him when he first saw me, and then he got desperate when he saw me fade away and wake back up. This time he was patient and not hostile but it is clear whoever this is still wants to meet me…. In the worst case scenario of this being attacking me when it reaches me the only thing I can do right now is continue to grow my mana. I have no idea of this person's abilities. He's not Hitogami I'm quite sure of that, this is like a darker version of the void world, or at least it looks a little more vast, and this individual doesn't make me feel…. Insecure. Regardless I don't know enough about this person.'

Rudeus hated not knowing things. It was the key difference for those that were able to survive in this world and those that did not. Technique, strength, mana, swordsmanship all involved rationality and understanding when dividing the difference between the rookies from the masters and right now Rudeus felt out of his depth when it came to this unknown stranger. Even his fight against the Dragon God he had spent months preparing for the fight, if this being became his opponent who knows how things would turn out if he didn't know anything about this person.

He sighed agitated at the feeling of helplessness. All he could do was continue to grow everyday, at least if Rudeus failed in the teleportation incident he would at least have someone to fight against seriously if this being truly was hostile.

Regardless of his feelings of helplessness it wasn't good to worry about the things he couldn't affect for right now. Stretching out all his limbs he shook himself to get ready for the day. Todays agenda was to eliminate more monsters in the area and to work on the project that would stop the teleportation even. It had been the biggest project that consumed his mana on a daily basis.

Before he could fly off a firm hand place itself of Rudeus's shoulder. Looking up he saw two glorious mountainous peaks.

'Damn you Paul you lucky bastard.' Even Rudeus had to admit that Ghislaine was a stunning figure. He had no romantic feelings for her and considered her a good friend but eye candy was eye candy.

"I want to see how you fight with magic." Ghislaine said sternly.

Rudeus was a little bit surprised by that request, Ghislaine was a disciplined sword, sure she was short tempered when someone challenged her intelligence but she didn't make requests like this. Needless to say that there was probably no ulterior motive from the beast woman.

"May I ask why?" The boy asked still looking up at the woman.

"I want to see if you are someone that needs my protection. Or someone that can handle themselves." Ghislaine said.

That much made sense. In Rudeus's previous timeline Ghislaine protected Rudeus from thugs and one of Perugius most elite spirits Almanfi, if it hadn't been for Ghislaines fast reaction time then Rudeus would most likely have died even before the teleportation event. Then it was Eris who placed herself in the role to protect Rudeus when they travelled the world together under the guidance of Orsted to gradually defeat Hitogami.

'I still want her protection, who knows I may have to fight Almanfi in this timeline too while trying to stop the teleportation incident. And having Ghislaine at my side will allow me to focus on stopping the events to come….. hmmm.' Rudeus thought.

"If I ask for your help with your skills, will you? There are plenty of people in this world I have no doubt can defeat me." Rudeus asked.

"Of course, I would never abandon you in the middle of a fight just because I have faith in your abilities even if you are a child, this is to see if I can trust you to handle yourself if we are separated. It will mean I don't have to worry." Ghislaine reasoned in a straightforward attitude.

Rudeus nodded.

"We will use Hollow, I don't want Phillip to think we have left him high and dry without defense. Hollow will meet you about one hour ahead of the road."

"Why do you talk like the creature you made, and you, are different people?" Ghislaine asked, it would seem she had this question on her mind for awhile.

"…." Rudeus paused thinking of an answer. "It just feels right, I'm sorry it's difficult to describe but it's how I feel."

Ghislaine appeared agitated by the response. "It's like calling your arm a different version of you. I will call you Rudeus no matter what form you take."

Rudeus nodded, he didn't want to anger her. The beast woman walked over to Philip and when she explained that she would be going ahead to clear the forest the noble nodded reluctantly, but he trusted the sword kings judgement.

An hour later she met up with Hollow. It was the perfect time too as it was clear to see that monsters resided in this area. Thick stringy webs lined the trees up above.

At night time the webs would be difficult to see for a wagon or carriage only paying attention to the road in front of them by torchlight. At the best case scenario for the monsters in the webs was someone camping and wishing to spend the night sleeping not knowing they were in a dangerous part of the forest.

The monstrous variant of spiders were many times larger than the household pet size. Some were as a small as a cat but extremely agile and fast, delivering a paralyzing poison to it's victim while it proceeded to cover the victim in webs and then later on cover the person in grass and leaves to hide the body from other predators while the spider enjoyed its meal without disruption as it slowly sucked the blood from the victim while they were still alive. If the victim was even more unlucky then they could have eggs laid in them while they were still alive as they were eaten from the inside out. A truly terrible and torturous way to die.

The other variants were determined by the species of the spider before they were mutated by magical pollution. The largest was the Goliath Tarantula, they were the size of a elephant when they mutated and hid in underground burrows while the entrances were concealed by a think blanket of leaves, if anyone stepped onto that pile of leaves they would fall through into the tunnels bellow and be trapped by the numerous webs that lined the walls. The vibrations would signal the large spider and the last thing that a person would see was two giant fangs the size of a persons arm. Luckily that variant was rare while the most common was the jumping spider.

That was not the case here. This was a nest of spiders that had just hatched but hadn't had the opportunity to expand much, they were originally a wolf spider but when they mutated they were around the size of a large dog.

"So what now Rudeus? Do you want to cause a ruckus? They are nocturnal so they won't come out unless they sense danger and if they do they will most likely flee instead of trying to hunt us." Despite her statement Ghislaine still had her sword drawn just in case.

Hollow didn't answer but reached his long bony finger into the air. A thick flaky type of what looked like dirt came out of the ground and began to go beyond the trees forming a dense cloud that was almost pure black. No light penetrated through this cloud and the area that it was above turned almost pitch black.

"I am controlling carbon atoms which when put in the correct form can absorb almost all the sunlight that hits it, this color is otherwise known as vantablack, the darkest black in existence. The spider will believe it's nighttime and then I can begin the demonstration." Hollow said. The cloud then formed a dome around the spiders nest which then landed on top of the trees like a thick cloth. Hollow lit up a bright light in his palm which made the webs shine an eerie sheen. Then a moment after it turned dark hundreds of soulless eyes reflected back at Hollow and Ghislaine. They heard the quick pitter patter of clawed hairy appendages scratch and grab the trees above as hundreds of giant wolf spiders revealed themselves.

Before they even made it halfway down they suddenly lost their grip and fell down to the ground below, some landed on their legs, others managed to fall onto a branch bellow that dampened the fall, but most fell to the earth on their back as their organs smashed the ground and with a crunch their exoskeleton became their tomb while it tore up their insides.

The ones without injury seemed to realize the danger they were in and tried to get up but soon collapsed by some unknown source. There was no damage on them and yet they lay down on their backs as their legs twitched violently as the monsters body begged for survival. Soon the twitching stopped and it was clear to see that over three hundred giant wolf spiders lay dead on the ground. All dead in an instant.

Hollow dispersed his hand and the blanket of vantablack parted revealing the sun once again.

"What did you do to them, some type of plague?" Ghislaine asked. She asked the question in her regular monotone way but it was clear to see that she was shaken by the site.

'This must be the same fear people had when they learned there was a serial killer that could stop peoples hearts just by writing their name.' Hollow thought.

"Close, I poisoned them with a gas. It is odorless, tasteless and doesn't irritate the skin when people walk through it."

"Why weren't we affected?"

"It is slightly less dense than air. The gas is composed of one carbon atom, the same thing that made the blanket I just made, and one oxygen atom. This compound is known as carbon monoxide. Since it is lighter than air it will continue to rise until it hits a ceiling, in this case the blanket that covered the trees. And since the spiders where at a greater height they were the ones who got poisoned first while we remained safe on a ground level. Even a dragon flying in the clouds can fall into unconsciousness if it inhales too much of this gas. But I find it's a good demonstration for how easy it is of me and Rudeus to dispatch an enemy with minimal effort." Hollow said, his voice was the voice of an adult man this time and not a small child so as to be not as offsetting for the sword king. But she still seemed annoyed that Hollow separated itself in identity from Rudeus, at least in how it addressed itself.

"Will it work on anyone that breaths this poison in?" Ghislaine asked but Hollow shook his head.

"Those who possess a touki are protected from it. A battle spirit is one hell of a thing which will filter the poisonous air making it breathable or if a poison is injected into someone that has a strong enough touki then the poison will be excreted from the body rendering the substance useless. The Dragon God Orsted is the best example of this where he has a normal body but a strong Touki." Hollow explained.

"You've talked about the Dragon God a few times. You sure do seem to know allot about him." Ghislaine observed, it was clear she was asking how Hollow knew about Orsted but the creature just shrugged.

"I merely like learning about this world, and the seven powers are at the very height of this world." Hollow said nonchalantly.

"From what I have seen you might challenge that power." Ghislaine chuckled nervously.

"I have no interest in confronting them for a fight, they are not aligned with my objectives."

"Then what are your objectives."

"To grow and protect those that cannot protect themselves." Hollow stated firmly.

Ghislaine smiled softly at that last sentence. It looked like she was being reminded of Paul with those words and they filled her with memories of their party from many years go. Without asking any further questions Hollow flew up into the air and continued to clean up the path ahead for the approaching carriage train that transported both Philip and Rudeus. Ghislaine was left alone to walk back to where she came from.

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