The Discovery (NEW)

"... and that's the end of the report."

Demigod Lute, the leader of Arthur's guard detail, finished reporting on Arthur and Alexia's meeting to Diablo and Cattleya.

"Why the hell is an old hag hanging around my son? Imma go have a word with her."

Cattleya stood up with a frown as she spoke and was about to leave but Diablo's words stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't go pick a fight with her, she is most likely more powerful than you are."

Cattleya turned to her father and asked him with a skeptical tone.

"Do you perhaps know who she is?"

"Yes, she's been in Hell for a while now, I let her be because she wasn't hostile, didn't expect her to approach Arthur when I was not looking."

After replying to Cattleya, he turned to Lute and continued speaking.

"You are misunderstanding something. When she said she was familiar with the previous king she did not mean the traitor, she meant my father."

Diablo's words shocked both Cattleya and Lute. This was expected as anyone who knew Diablo was aware he disliked talking about his father.

Among the previous kings of the Hell universe, Diablo's father, Lucifer was undeniably the most powerful. However, due to strange circumstances that Diablo refused to disclose information on, he met an untimely death.

At the time, Diablo was not strong enough to lead the Hell universe and was hunted down by the previous holder of greed, a half-step Monarch realm Archdevil. The throne of King and master of Hell was stolen from him.

He went into hiding for almost a thousand years, increasing his strength to the inferior stage of the monarch realm before returning far more powerful than he was before.

After killing the previous holder of greed and executing his entire family, he retook the throne of King and appointed a new family to the position of the holder of greed.

His return to power was smooth as not many acknowledged the previous holder of greed as king before, it's just that they were fearful of the power possessed by the one with the Authority of the Master.

Nevertheless, even after nearly a dozen millennia had passed, many still referred to him as the 'previous king', which was the reason for the misunderstanding.

"That man never associated himself with anyone weak, besides, there were records of a light blue-haired woman with power over time in his journals, her name matched the one you gave. If she really is the same person, then she is not a force to be trifled with."

"Power of time huh? Tsk...It's quite annoying."

Cattleya clicked her tongue in annoyance before telling Lute to recall the pursuers he sent after Alexia. She and Lute teleported out of the room, leaving Diablo behind.

The Silver-haired devil king then brought out a book from his subspace and flipped through it. Stopping on a certain page, he muttered three words to himself.

"Candidate for Time."

◇ ◇ ◇

As soon as Alexia discovered her tail was gone, she looked towards the imposing castle in the distance, thinking about the boy whom she just met not long ago.

"Good luck Arthur."

She then revealed her six pairs of glistening white wings before teleporting out of the Hell Universe, into unknown territory.

◇ ◇ ◇

Getting back home, Arthur kept the time law crystal aside and looked at the memory crystal in the bag. It was a dark red crystal that gave off an eerie feeling.

Unfortunately, using the crystal at the moment was impossible for the ten-year-old as he could not manipulate his magic power to activate it.

He went on with his normal weapon and martial arts training with Creusery without slacking off.

This normal lifestyle continued until his eleventh birthday, when he informed his family of his willingness to attend the academy.

Naturally, they questioned the reason for his change of heart and Arthur didn't bother lying and told them that he wanted to go to the Varona realm.

When asked why, he only replied that someone he met suggested it and said nothing more about the subject.

Cattleya and Diablo who knew of his meeting with Alexia suspected she might be this 'someone he met' but they didn't pursue the matter any further.

During one of his explorations with Creusery, the eleven-year-old discovered a few potential subordinates and enlisted Creusery's help in recruiting him to the force he was building with Lewis.

Neither Arthur nor Creusery told the others about Lewis so they were not aware of him being bound by a soul contract to Arthur, and neither were they aware of the force the boy was building.

Arthur also wanted to keep it that way so he made no effort to inform them about it.

◇ ◇ ◇

Planet Lonope

Dorcaster Star System

1st May

Year 712 of the 50th General Calendar

**SWISH!! SLASH!!

Arthur swung his sword twice, cutting off the arms of the lizard man that charged at him with a spear. He back-stepped as it charged at him, its feet trampling on the tall grasses, despite just having its arms cut off.

"GROAARRRR!!!"

The monster roared in pain as its eyes became bloodshot. It spun around in an attempt to use its tail to sweep Arthur off his feet, However;

**FLAP!!

Two jet-black bat-like wings spread out from the eleven-year-old's back and he flapped them with force, lifting his body off the ground and into the air.

Arthur had been training on how to fly with his wings and he was happy to see that his training was a resounding success.

His flight skills were now a far cry from what they were during the first few months that he had his wings. He could also utilize his wings during fights and was even learning to fight while airborne.

Flicking his fingers, he pulled out an orb of concentrated magic power from the interspatial ring on his finger and tossed it into the mouth of the roaring Lizardman.

"Boom!"

**BOOOOMMM!!!!

After his words, came the actual 'Boom'. The lizard man's head exploded and blood splattered everywhere as its enormous body dropped to the ground. Arthur was spared from this as he was in the air, but he didn't even have time to think about it as the lizard man was not his only opponent.

"CAWWW!!!!"

A bald eagle let out a loud cry as it blitzed towards Arthur with outstretched claws, however, Arthur dodged the eagle's charge with exceptional flight skill.

He then swung his sword in the direction of the eagle as fast as he could, nevertheless, the eagle showed the reason it was the king of the skies in this area and dodged his swing before responding with magic.

"Tsk..."

Arthur clicked his tongue as he retracted his wings and let gravity bring him back to the ground. Doing this allowed him to dodge the wind blades the eagle sent out faster than he could if he tried to maneuver in the air with his wings.

"Can't really fight an eagle who's been flying its whole life in the air after having wings for barely a year and a half."

Today made it exactly one year and four months since Arthur gained his wings, nevertheless, he could not dare to compete with the superior stage master realm bald eagle who had been flying since it was just a chick.

The monster let out another caw as it charged towards him once again, however, Arthur was prepared for its charge.

He pulled out a mirage artifact and was about to use it to create a mirror image of himself to fool the eagle when something unexpected happened.

**HISSSSS!!!

The sudden hissing sound he heard from behind shocked Arthur, as he didn't sense anything behind him until he heard the sound.

He had let his guard down thinking that no other monster dared to interrupt when two of the forest's strongest monsters were battling an opponent.

Turning around abruptly, he was met with the sight of a large green feathered serpent. Its green skin allowed it to blend into the tall grasses with ease and it had a stealth skill that prevented Arthur from sensing it.

*DOKUN

Arthur made a split-second decision, he spread out his wings behind his back and resolved himself for the damage he was going to take as he intended to use his wings to block the eagle's charge.

*DOKUN!

Nevertheless, in the corner of his mind, he couldn't help but think that if he had his energy, then he would use a burst of pure magic power or aura to push the two monsters backwards and give himself space to leave their range.

*DOKUN!!

He swung his artifact-generated ice sword at the feathered serpent's head, intending to cut it off when his wings suddenly felt hot.

*DOKUN!!!

He heard his heart beat loudly as his stagnant energy flow abruptly resumed. His energy circuits came alive as the energy flowed through his body before executing the command he had unconsciously given.

**BOOOOM!!!!

A large amount of magic power burst out of his body, slamming into the flying eagle and the feathered serpent and sending them flying.

Arthur stood in the middle of the two fallen monsters with a dumbfounded expression on his face, however, hearing the eagle groan as it tried to stand up, he came back to his senses and moved to end it before it could.

He rose his right hand and imagined his magic reserves as a flowing river of magic, he then used a bucket to fetch a bit of that flowing magic power.

Opening his eyes, he channelled that magic power he fetched through his outstretched hand, and a giant spear of flames manifested itself before his eyes.

"...It worked."

Arthur grinned as he launched the spear of flames into the eagle's head, ending its life instantly. He then faced the other direction and poured his aura into the sword in his hand, extending its reach by a few meters and swinging the extended blade at the dizzy serpent's defenceless neck.

**SWISH!

The serpent's head dropped to the floor as it met its end. Arthur let out a small chuckle before pointing his sword in a random direction and calling out in a loud voice.

"Sword of Victory!!"

Channelling more aura into his blade, he swung it and a silver pillar of light surged from his sword. A torrent of energy was released into the surroundings, destroying everything in its path

**BOOOMMMMMM!!!!

Arthur channelled wind magic and waved his hand, clearing the dust cloud with a gust of wind. The result of his aura-based technique was then revealed as a part of the earth in front of Arthur was gouged out completely.

"Approximately, 50-60 meters. That's a lot weaker than uncle Creusery's demonstration but good enough for my first time using it."

Arthur spoke with a sigh as he began racking his brain for the reason as to why his energy flow resumed suddenly.

Retracting his wings, he turned and was about to pick up the mirage artifact he dropped, only to realize that his energy flow began slowing again.

Within a minute, it had stagnated once more, leaving Arthur gobsmacked.

"Why did it stop?"

Arthur paced around as he tried to figure out the reason for his energy flow stagnating again. He heard the sounds of monsters fighting in the distance and flew up into the air, intending on checking if they were close.

*DOKUN!!

His heart began beating loudly as his wings grew hotter. His energy flow resumed and magic power poured into his body to passively strengthen it. Arthur stared at his wings and back at his hands before dropping to the ground.

**BAMMM!!

He punched the ground as hard as he could, shattering the earth and creating a small crater due to the strength behind his punch.

Retracting his wings his energy flow began stagnating once more and Arthur heaved a sigh of exasperation.

"At this point, I don't need to be a genius to figure out why."