On the other side of the forest, within the compound of the hatch, Samuel frozen by Rahemo's Law, was planning his escape.
'Eril, analysis and—'
Before he could finish the command in his mind, Rahemo appeared right in front of him.
Her index finger moved left to right.
"No, no, no, Sammy. The Third to Fourth Era has long passed. Statuses and systems are outdated." She clamped a hand around his face. "The Twelfth Era has no need for them."
Her grip tightened.
"If you had listened to my advice and made it—and its power—completely yours, you could've analyzed this place, broken free, and even made off with a copy of a Law. Inferior to the original, yes. But still yours."
She slammed his head into the ground.
The impact formed a small crater.
When she released him, Samuel's body reset to the state it had been in the moment she had Ordered him to halt. Despite the violence, he was completely unharmed.
"You tell me to do that," he muttered, "but you know I'm not good with math."
Rahemo froze.
"Wha—what?" she said, utterly exasperated. "You were taught by some of the greatest scholars to ever walk the Nine Planes. Even Ceres was once your tutor. And you still go around saying, 'I'm not good at math'?"
Her fist flew into his face.
"Get your lazy ass off the couch and get to work."
He hit the ground again, deepening the crater.
When he reset this time, however, he was grinning.
A wide, satisfied grin.
Rahemo narrowed her eyes. "What's that look for?"
"You know one thing I love about the Twelfth Era?" His grin widened. "Word violation by a higher being."
"And which word was I not supposed to mention, Mr Enlightened?" she asked mockingly.
"Couch. That's a word from the late Fifth Era to the early Eighth Era. As you are now a higher being, you should face punishment."
"Is that so?" She raised her hand dramatically. "Then let me increase it."
She began counting on her fingers.
"Couch. Phone. TV. Soda. Chipbag." She flashed him an evil smile. "I think I've mentioned quite a lot. So… where's my punishment?"
Samuel's grin faltered.
"What did you do now?" he asked carefully.
"New Gods Class 101," she said proudly. "A new god is exempt from the rules for a certain period of time."
She pointed at herself with flair.
"And guess who just became a new god? Me."
Before he could respond, her fist connected with his face again.
"Got anything new?"
This time, when Samuel reset, he didn't fully reset.
He reappeared with blood running from his nose.
Broken.
"Since when does the rest leave damage?"
Rahemo didn't answer, only responding with another punch to the face. This time, when he rested, part of his face had turned purple. A dizzy pain spread across Samuel's face for a split second.
"I hate inflicting punishment, with no results. Laws are always absolute if not given any consideration." Rahemo raised her fist again, "Having you receive the discipline of your elder without anything to show for it breaks my heart." She hit again, the crater deepening and widening.
Samuel reset with one eye now swollen, "I have no choice but to reduce its effect."
This line of reasoning pissed Samuel off, "You stupid old hag, this is not love."
Rahemo's fury reignited.
"Stupid old hag, you say.
I had considered forgetting. But it seems you never learn."
She readied another fist, but Samuel was already ready for it. He's already been receiving the same thing. But the moment the fist connected to his chest, Samuel realised he'd gone beyond the limit. Air escaped his lungs, as he almost lost consciousness.
Putting more force in her strike, Rahemo set Samuel flying. His body reaching inches close to the gate then a pull back. But before he could reset into place, Rahemo's fist was already waiting.
BAM.
His body slammed into her unmoving arm at full force, sending him hurtling away again. The Law dragged him back each time to the same fixed position between her and the gate, turning him into a pendulum forced to crash repeatedly into her stationary fist.
Samuel grit his teeth as he was pulled back once more. For a brief instant, power gathered around his arm — a desperate attempt to twist against the Law's hold.
Nothing happened.
His body snapped back into place.
Another impact.
Another forced return.
Rahemo watched, unimpressed.
"Yawn, this is getting boring. Let's see how the trial is going so far."
With one arm still held out to receive Samuel, her other hand pulled a black square thingy from nowhere.
Placing a finger on one side, the black square lit up. On it was a portrait of Rahemo and Samuel in his human form cooking while covered in flour, alongside the time and date.
"Kids grow real quick nowadays."
She brought the black square closer to her face. The portrait vanished, replaced by small square stickers with words underneath. Beneath them appeared a display of racks filled with weapons and artifacts.
"Hey Sammy, do you remember the phone you got me?"
Rahemo waited for an answer but there was none.
"Hey, why aren't you answering me?"
She turned her head toward her arm just as Samuel flew back into her waiting fist.
"Seriously, you still haven't broken free. Dude, you're making me ashamed."
Turning her attention back to the black square, she moved her thumb across the surface. The stickers moved as others replaced them. "Now, where is the life feed app?"
She kept moving her thumb until she found what she was looking for.
One of the stickers had displayed a grey square pool touching the edges of the sticker with a blue background. In the centre was a ring of a bluish green light glowing faintly. Underneath were texts in the ancient language.
"Found it. But why haven't your name changed to the current one? Hmm… forget it. I was never interested in the technical know-how of a phone."
Tapping on the sticker, the surface of the black square, she calls 'phone' turned bright white, then something almost magical was displayed. On the surface of the phone appeared the image of Andrew battling the deer appeared. This type of observation, even if done with a terminal, would require a magic stone, and here there were none.
"So this is my Apostle. He looks more handsome than I thought. And the forest difficulty has been changed to match his overall stats. Nice thinking, Pixie." She looked at the surface phone really closely. "But why is there a limiter on him?"
She then raised the phone to her lips and spoke to it, "Tennos."
Greetings Delafies," the phone immediately responded. "How may I be of assistance.
"Call Pixie."
"Very well, calling Pixie."
Suddenly, the phone went dark, as it began to make a noise distinct to a terminal when there's a call. It was ringing. Rahemo just slid her thumb across the surface, returning the scene back to Andrew.
A few seconds later, a click sound was heard, and Pixie's voice came through.
"My lady, how may your loyal servant assist you?"
"Pixie, were you the one who placed the limiters on my Apostle?"
"No, my lady, he had them on before he arrived. I've even warned him to take them."
"Forget I said anything, and continue your observation."
Watching the scene on the phone, Andrew's shoulder was dislocated, and it seemed he was in pain. After popping his shoulder back into the socket, he made a declaration to the deer.
"Nice," Rahemo watched as Andrew released more of his limiters. But then she became disappointed, "Why isn't he removing it all. You might be stronger than that rabbit at your current realised stats, but that's just a baby rabbit born prematurely and lives on the outskirts of the forest."
Then Andrew went in for an attack, but the result wasn't what he'd expected. "What did I say? His far too weak to the extent that the system had merged all three strikes into one just to guarantee a sure hit effect. I don't like systems, but if I hadn't given him one, that fight would have been long drawn."
Rahemo's attention had been completely absorbed by Andrew, giving Samuel the perfect window.
'Eril, report.'
'Analysis complete host.' A feminine voice chimed in a secluded area in his Mind Place. 'This law of Order. Breakthrough and copy are a possibility. Would you like to proceed, host.'
'What's the cost?' His body was moving at high speed, right into Rahemo's fist, then back.
'300,000 points.'
'How much do I have?'
'400,000'
'Forget the copying, I'll do that myself.' His body reached the gates, stopping for a moment then flew back.
'It shall be 250,000.'
'Proceed.' A faint sound of ropes snapping was heard, which would have alerted Rahemo under normal circumstances. But right now she is absorbed in what is currently happening to Andrew, for he was now surrounded by three deers.
Samuel shifted his body mid-flight, sending his leg forward. 'New Law: Within the duration of this fight, any attack of Samuel Bein carries an additional mass, density, and power of three stars.'
Rahemo didn't see this coming.
Using, the momentum pull that Law had held and his own increase in flight speed, Samuel landed a solid kick to Rahemo's face. Sending her flying and crushing into the steps of the hatch.