Waiting under a gazebo, seated, were Laurel and Luminous, who casually drank tea, savoring it.
Both continued like that, like old people, before Aisrehdar came back with an object in hand.
"Here."
She came beside Laurel, handing over a crimson object with a yellow-like cog in it. Luminous had reached out first and held it in hand.
"I see, it's an element, huh?"
Luminous said that cryptically, tossing it to Laurel, who caught it. Having caught it, he looked at the small orb but still quite didn't understand what she meant.
Seeing as he looked at her, she ignored him with a smirk on her face, leaving him with a wry smile tugging on the corners of his lips.
"Ahem, anyway, I have received it. Time to fulfil the first half of our end of the bargain."
As he said that, he rose up, an ice-blue sword in its sheath appearing from thin air. Laurel reached his hand and grabbed the sword.
"Maintain your distance there, Ais."
Laurel glanced back, saying that, as the woman sighed. He'd completely caught on, hadn't he?
Now, he's treating her, who was centuries older, like this? Well, strength isn't determined according to age.
So, she could only nod in response, moving a few steps backwards.
"What's he… doing?..."
"What else? Like he said, fulfilling part of our end of the deal."
Yes, she quite heard that, but the question was, how? Their deal was about the elimination of the Horologues.
Sure, they were powerful, but even Chronos couldn't end them himself. So what made both of them think they could eliminate the Horologues just like that…?
"You belittle us, don't you?"
Luminous suddenly said that, stunning Aisrehdar in place. She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.
"Well, just watch. You will come to be interested in him after this."
It was with a sly smile Luminous suggested that. Though it was a cryptic sentence, it made her want to watch him closer. And she did.
Aisrehdar saw as Laurel slowly unsheathed the icy-blue sword, and the moment he did—chills. A cold breeze blew past her, then came the words:
"Forth, oh transformed Dragon that gnaws at the roots of the unbreakable frost. Nidhogg."
Bright blue light shone across the entire surroundings, even outside. Then, all of a sudden, the bright blue light vanished.
"Where…?"
"Well. Just watch."
Aisrehdar blinked as she left, and by the time Luminous had said that, she was receiving some other images in her head.
It was from Luminous, who was using magic sense to share it.
Laurel,
When he reappeared, it was outside the underground Headquarters of the Chronos Ruler. It was time to fulfill his end of the deal.
"[Time Covenant] Activate."
He held the crimson object before leaving it to levitate. As it did, from him being the point of origin, a dark blanket spread out.
"Gensoku."
It covered the entire country. It could have been extended to the world; however, for now, this was enough.
He still needed to keep Aisrehdar at his fingertips.
"So, this is the element Luminous was talking about. I see. So it's a crystallized form of an authority…"
"No wonder."
It didn't even take him using [All of Creation] to deduce that.
Though he sort of knew beforehand about the Chronos Ruler and all. The [Time Covenant] had been a mystery to him until now.
But now, it didn't matter.
"Nidhogg. Show me your power."
The transformed red machine dragon was now icy blue, constantly releasing frost-white mists from its body.
Blue wings condensed behind it as shimmers of ice crystals poured out from it. It seemed to have completely adapted to the changes.
Now, it could no longer be called Nidhogg alone.
"I'll get you another name later. But first things first."
Saying that, the machine shone white as though to respond. And then, in front of the machine, appeared the words—
❆『SPEED UP』❆
❆『00:00:00』❆
The already icy-blue machine was further wrapped in prismatic light.
"That's not all."
"Luminous. I'll be borrowing your ability."
Laurel said that, and he felt he could hear a response from the vampire along the lines 'very well.'
She lent him a part of her [Arbiter] skill, which was one that allowed him to affect dimensions. The moment he borrowed it, he could almost see its effect.
His machine, voluntarily on its own, stretched out its own arms, grabbing space like a blanket.
"Now then, time to farm some Horologues."
Saying that, the space—the blanket—was torn. This time, however, there was no dramatic effect from the spatial tear except that the entire world around that area seemed to go dark.
He had forcibly overlapped that dimension into this place. Looking up at the dark sky—it couldn't be called a sky; it was the numerous horologues that covered it.
"Let's go! Tsuranuke: Al'heri!"
TSUN–!
A sharp sound was made, and what happened next was a trail of light blazing to the dark sky. Then, slowly, the light went around.
Laurel didn't need to fight them. He had powers which were on autopilot. The moment they moved close, they would freeze.
Now that he had the power to affect time—though he couldn't use GENSOKU and KASOKU simultaneously—he used it in a way that favored him.
Additionally, he had another power: any ill intent directed at him would cause calamity on the bearer of such will.
Even demons of time were not spared from this.
Most of their deaths resulted from the influence of [Harbinger], as their attacks targeted themselves, not Laurel.
"This…"
At some point, Luminous had transferred herself and Aisrehdar outside the HQ, above ground. They watched this from below.
"How…"
What Aisrehdar could see was the trail of light and the clearing of the dark sky.
It was no doubt that they numbered tens to hundreds of thousands—perhaps even up to a million.
Were she not witnessing it, she would claim it to be a lie. But it was not. Certainly, these people were far beyond them.
And as she marveled, the sun pierced through the dark clouds with the elimination of all Horologues there.
"It's over," Luminous said, treating all of this as normal.
Well, it actually is normal. Even she could wipe out a horde like that on her own.
However, the fact that Laurel was able to overlap this entire forest with another dimension impressed her.
"Haaa~ that was a nice warmup!"
Laurel appeared in a flash, walking towards them and stretching his hands as if he had just had a nice warmup.
He didn't even show signs of exhaustion.
"Oh, by the way, I saw some humanoid-looking people among them. But I eliminated them too."
He said casually.
Way too casually.
Those people were the future antagonists of this world. He knew, so he'd eliminated them. Saved him the trouble of looking for them in the future.
"Has every Horologue been destroyed?"
Aisrehdar asked. However—
"No way. There are uncountable of those things alive, if anything, I only eliminated about close to one 1% of them. Unless we kill off every human alive, then they would keep on multiplying."
Yes. It was thanks to the fact that someone needed a strong wish for a Horologue to appear; that is why this world is still intact.
Normally, they cannot cross into this world on their own. Thus, they need humans to deeply wish for them.
If that were not the case, then…
"If we isolate this world from that dimension, then would that solve it?"
"Rather, we might have to completely seal up that dimension."
Both spoke in strange languages she couldn't understand, despite the fact she actually understood what they were saying.
Such a thing was possible?
Aisrehdar thought.
She also looked at Luminous, who was actually more of a big deal than she thought. At this point, to hell with being Chronos' descendant.
They had been fighting Horologues for centuries.
However, they hadn't made this much progress in centuries. It wasn't until their arrival that they now really stood a chance.
While they knew about the natures of Horologue, they still had limited knowledge about them and their numbers.
Certainly, they were far from eliminating all Horologues.
Thinking of this, Aisrehdar came to a conclusion, then, with determination.
"Please, my Lord, save this world from its plagues. And I shall dedicate my entire existence to you."
She knelt down towards Laurel, who was completely taken aback—not to mention, a certain vampire was staring daggers at him.
"What suddenly brought this up?"
"You fool, you really are inconsiderate. I pity Mei. You of all people should know how tough it had been. Then you came with a solution. It's only natural, don't you think?"
It wasn't that Laurel didn't know.
He was willfully doing this to satisfy his desire by fulfilling his own part and running off to Cardinal World to see what something like the [Time Covenant] would evolve to.
And other than also allying with this world, he saw no extra swearing of allegiance. Now that it was in front of him…
"Uhm… this, I'll let Luminous decide."
He was in a very delicate position—stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hence, he left the decision to her.
"You—! Haah. Irritating. However, I cannot deny that fool has had it tough. Perhaps, it'll be better to have someone attend to him."
She then moved closer near Aisrehdar, whispering those words to her ears.
"However, hands off him. He belongs to another."
Naturally, Luminous wouldn't admit it. But Laurel too was beginning to grow on her. But she wouldn't admit it still.
"Y-yes."
Aisrehdar, on the other hand, felt a chill. She was well aware. Her gut told her that Luminous also meant herself by extension, but she wouldn't point it out.
Instead, she hid her knowing expression.
On the other hand, Laurel blinked at Luminous, who also blinked back at him, then she suddenly got irritated by his face.
"!!!... Get out!!!"
[Mission: Baby Steps.]
○ [Conquer a low-leveled world] [1/1]
○ [Conquer several low-leveled world] [2/10]
○ [Conquer a mid-leveled world] [0/1]