More than a week had passed in Thyrandel since Arthur came here from his home universe, though to Arthur it felt like only a few long days. Time flowed differently between these two universes, and that nagging awareness kept tapping at the back of his mind. So Arthur felt he should return to his universe and see if there's any new development there as a few hours must have passed there.

  After spending the morning reinforcing Avalon’s new landmasses and having breakfast with Selene, Arthur finally stood before an oval of rippling blue energy in the center of his room.

  Selene, who leaned against the doorframe, watched him with crossed arms.

  “Only a few hours have passed there, right?” she asked.

  Arthur nodded. “Yes, half a day at most.”

  Selene stepped closer, reached out, and lightly straightened the collar of his shirt. “Come back before dinner,” she said.

  Arthur nodded and said teasingly. “It's not like I will get kidnapped by an interdimensional cosmic entity.”

  Selene rolled her eyes. “You really need to improve your sense of humor."

  He just smiled awkwardly, then gave her a small kiss, turned toward the portal, and stepped through.

  …

  A wave of disorienting pressure washed over him as he transitioned between universes. And Arthur stepped out into his private room aboard the massive orbital station floating near the reclaimed battlefield.

  Bright white lights were lit up overhead, and he felt a faint vibration traveled through the floor, the familiar thrum of machines working in unison. He stretched once, shook off his dizziness, and walked toward the door.

  When it slid open, two guards standing outside straightened immediately.

  “Commander.”

  Arthur nodded once and made his way down the central hallway toward the command deck. Familiar and unfamiliar faces greeted him along the way, crew members, engineers, tactical officers, and other staff, each offering quick nods or respectful bows as he passed.

  The doors to the bridge opened, revealing Admiral Kane standing over the central holo-table. Blue tactical projections floated in front of him, mapping out the three former Chimerian fronts, now painted in green to signify successful reclamation.

  The Admiral looked up and let out a mild sigh of relief. “You’re finally back. I was wondering if another year would pass.”

  Arthur shrugged lightly. “Only a week for me.”

  Kane muttered, “One week…?” He was confused as only a few hours had gone by since Arthur was last spotted, but shook his head thinking of asking about it on a later date, before returning to business.

  He motioned for Arthur to stand beside him, then expanded the tactical display. Red dots blinked across a wide region.

  “We’ve recovered control of the three fronts,” Kane said. “Main outposts have been purged. But… These red markers are predicted locations of hidden depots built by the Chimerians.”

  Arthur crossed his arms. “How many are there?”

  “Officially, there are seventy-three.” Kane tapped the map. “But I believe there are more hidden.”

  Arthur leaned closer to the projection as the hologram zoomed in, revealing multiple asteroid bases, some built on moons, and abandoned orbital relay nodes.

  Kane continued, “Within the six months of occupation, the Chimerians heavily fortified these locations. Some are deep underground, others concealed with cloaking techs. We need to confirm what they were storing.”

  “Mhm,” Arthur muttered, eyes narrowing. “From what we have seen so far, some of those depots might contain dangerous objects.”

  Kane’s expression tightened. “That’s what we fear.”

  After a few more minutes of discussion, Arthur nodded once. “Send me the coordinates. I’ll handle it.”

  Kane arched a brow. “Don’t you want any support?”

  Arthur smiled faintly. “I have my ways.”

  He then left the command deck and walked down the corridor, then teleported directly outside the station. The vacuum of space enveloped him soundlessly, but Arthur floated comfortably, his aura forming a thin layer of energy around him that distorted starlight.

  “Guardian,” Arthur called through their telepathic link. “Whats the status on the probes I sent earlier?”

  [Negative, Commander.] The guardian AI’s voice was crisp and emotionless. [I lost contact with all deployed probes upon reaching their respective zones. No useful data was acquired.]

  Arthur frowned, that shouldn’t have happened unless something abnormal was occupying the region. That narrowed the possibilities down to only one thing; the Entity. He didn't like the idea of it wandering through the cosmos unchecked.

  Arthur asked. “How were they destroyed?”

  [From the gathered data, it was mostly unknown cosmic interference. High likelihood of spatial instability, as some readings indicated brief energy turbulence before I lost contact with the probes.]

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  He sighed slowly and from his storage space, hundreds of metallic spheres materialized behind him, each no bigger than his palm. Runes were etched on their surfaces, mostly for concealment, stealthy movement, and spatial stabilization.

  “Let’s see how these ones perform.”

  A short gesture sent them scattering in all directions, streaks of silver disappearing against the stars.

  It would take too much time to personally inspect hundreds of locations; he needed the probes to do the groundwork. Because once he found the Entity… he wasn’t going to waste a second.

  …

  Over the next week, Arthur worked tirelessly as he traveled between sectors, destroying abandoned Chimerian labs, empty outposts, and hidden vaults filled with dangerous materials. The probes continued to send fragmented updates, most were destroyed by cosmic phenomena, but a few survived long enough to send partial readings.

  Nothing pointed directly to the Entity’s location, but there were clues. Trails of planets which appeared to be sucked out of life, the surfaces of these planets looked dry, and there were multiple planets which appeared to be in the same condition which pointed towards something unnatural.

  By the seventh day, Arthur hovered outside the space station one last time and watched the final batch of probes vanish toward a different galaxy; he had even been inscribing defense runes on them so that they wouldn't get damaged so easily.

  These probes were made out of Alloy X, so they were extremely tuff but the cosmic phenomena were like EMP which were making these probes useless chunks of metal floating in space.

  “Keep monitoring,” he told the guardian. “If anything surfaces, notify me immediately.”

  [Affirmative.]

  And with that, Arthur opened a portal and stepped back into the swirling energy.

  …

  He emerged inside Avalon once more, and the smell of fresh ocean breeze washed over him.

  After a short visit with Selene, Arthur felt a familiar itch of wanting to fight a strong opponent, so he decided on another spar with Steve. Their last fight had opened several paths forward for him; now he needed more pressure.

  So he teleported directly toward Steve’s mansion.

  The instant he materialized outside, he saw a formation of armored knights standing like sentries near the entrance. And he felt they all had a draconic aura around them.

  Arthur raised a brow. ‘Are they Eldraheim knights?’

  That was his first thought but he brushed it aside. Whatever they were doing here, it wasn’t his concern. He started walking toward the main gate as he ignored the knights.

  Just as he was about to reach it, one knight stepped forward and blocked his path.

  “Halt! Who are you?! You are not permitted to enter!”

  Arthur stopped, narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked calmly, “And why exactly am I not allowed inside?”

  The knight lifted his chin proudly. “A very important meeting is ongoing between our great King and Lord Augustus. You are not to interrupt.”

  Arthur shrugged, if it was truly that important he would wait, as it would be impolite to crash a meeting without an invitation.

  He walked towards his left, intending to sit on the patio, when a maid, who recognized him immediately hurried out.

  “Sir Arthur, please wait. Lord Augustus will be free in a moment.”

  Arthur nodded and took a seat.

  But the knights who overheard the maid froze as soon as they heard his name. Then, in perfect synchronization, they unsheathed their swords with metallic shrieks.

  The maid gasped in shock and got behind Arthur. Arthur tilted his head slightly, as he was a bit confused as to why they were acting like that and was going to question them when he heard one of the Knights shout.

  “You!” one knight roared, pointing his sword at him. “You murdered our prince!”

  Then realization hit him instantly. ‘Ah… They are not Eldraheim knights, they are Ashenfang knights.’

  Before Arthur could speak, the knight lunged at him with a roar, his blade cutting through the air toward Arthur’s neck.

  Arthur simply lifted his hand as two of his fingers caught the blade effortlessly, without even standing up. The knight’s eyes widened as he desperately tried to pull it free, but the sword didn’t budge an inch.

  Arthur flicked his wrist, and the knight flew backward, smashing into the mansion wall hard enough to smash through it. These knights were only as strong as Archmages or Grandmasters, so it was extremely easy for him to take care of.

  Arthur sighed and stood up just as shouting erupted from inside the building.

  “What is all the commotion all about?!”

  Several figures rushed out, the speaker was a middle aged man with a few white streaks of hair on his head and beard. Behind them there were five more people, four who he didn't recognize but the last person was Steve. Steve was just looking at the knight who was getting up from the rubble and Arthur, he looked like he was enjoying the show and was only missing a cup of tea.

  One of the Ashenfang knights pointed at Arthur immediately. “Elder Edmund! He is the one we were searching for!”

  Finally, all eyes turned toward Arthur.

  And from behind the group walked a regal man whose presence was the strongest among the strangers. His golden eyes burned with fury the moment they landed on Arthur.

  He shot Steve a mocking glare. “Now you cannot protect him.”

  And before anyone could react, he vanished, streaking toward Arthur with extreme speed.

  The maid tensed, assuming Arthur would get killed and she would be just collateral damage.

  But Arthur just stepped forward and punched Vaelrond squarely on his chin.

  A dull crack echoed in the air, and Vaelrond was launched backward faster than he was moving towards him. He shot into the sky like a fired arrow and disappeared among the clouds.

  The courtyard fell into stunned silence, and everyone except Steve stood frozen, with their eyes wide and their jaws slack, it had to be noted that King Vaelrond was as expert at the Transcended realm as to send someone like that flying with a punch was unthinkable. And Steve just sipped his tea with a satisfied hum, which he got from god knows where.

  Some knights and elders recovered first and shot after their king.

  “Your Highness!”

  And some of the Elders and Knights surrounded Arthur while looking at him cautiously, perfectly knowing they couldn't do anything to him.

  …

  Far away, Vaelrond lay staring blankly at the sky from the center of a smoking crater caused by his fall. As dust drifted down like snow.

  He wasn’t injured, the punch wasn’t intended to kill him in the first place but the sheer speed behind it felt unreal. He hadn’t even seen the attack before he was sent flying.

  If Arthur had wanted to kill him… Vaelrond clenched his fists. ‘He could have done it before I could react.’

  He slowly rose just as the elders and knights landed around him.

  “Your Highness… are you…”

  “I’m fine,” Vaelrond snapped, though the stiffness in his voice betrayed his disbelief. They looked at him awkwardly not knowing what to say.

  Vaelrond gritted his teeth and vanished from the crater and returned to the mansion courtyard in an instant.

  ***