ã€ŠMaster of Timeã€‹


 Chapter 1: Power Manifestation

    "Holy Fucking Shit!"

    My mouth gape like a fish. My eyes widen at the brightening mid-day sky, which shrouded by buildings taller than I could ever thought possible.

    No, buildings like these shouldn''t be possible with the technology of the 21st century.

    And just a minute ago, confusion wrecks my brain. I didn''t know where I was and how I had managed to get here. Everything around me screams that I am no longer in my native time anymore.

    No. I am in the future. Far into the future.

    This is the 31st century!

    Flying cars are everything, weaving through impossible tall buildings. Billboards dot the sky.

    And most importantly, everyone is so fucking hot!

    No, seriously. There is not a single ugly person in sight.

    This would have been an incredible experience if it wasn''t for the impending doom that is heading my way.

    Many people are already fleeing, but their efforts are pointless, since the devastation that is about to be unleashed upon the city is impossible to flee from.

    They can''t outrun a thermal nuclear st, could they?

    "This can''t be happening. This can''t be happening. I just got here!"

    Wordse out of my mouth, ye my legs refuse to move. They are glued to the ground, refusing the desperate flightmand.

    I am frozen in fear.

    And if it wasn''t for the people rushing my way and bumping into me, I would have just stood there to cast a longsting shadow against the wall and ground, telling those in the future that I was here.

    People from the future when I am in the future. How ironic!

    The burning shockwave washes over the crowded city, sending me along with hundreds of people against the wall, all screaming in fear and anguish.

    "Ugh¡­ ugh¡­ ugh¡­"

    My vision swirls due to the heavy impact. Blood runs down my face as I struggle to pull myself up. The sharp pain in my left arm tells me that is broken.

    I look towards the beautiful city, finding a rising mushroom blocking out the skyline.

    Not just one mushroom, but a dozen of them. One missile. Many warheads.

    The heat those nuclear st generated must be insane, twisting the sky-high building and melting the super metallic alloys like they are made of butter.

    Another missile pierces the dense cloud and explodes into dozens of fragments in mid-air.

    Those fragments are only visible due to the amount of dust being driven up into the atmosphere, and they scatter across the city.

    One ms into the building at the end of the road.

    In an instant, blinding sh burns into my vision. My eyeballs immediately vaporize alongside with my body right down to the atoms.

    This is what happen when one gets hits by a fusion nuclear st, capable to tten a metropolis.

    However, the instant darkness attempts to take me and my soul, everything slows down to a crawl andes to a standstill.

    And like someone rewinding a video, time reverses.

    Nuclear fires are being forced to condense back into a singrity.

    Debrise together and assemble into the warhead itself once more.

    The warhead slingshot off the ground, through the building that it hade from, joining dozens of other warheads, right back into the missile.

    The missile then disappears back into the diminishing mushroom cloud. Buildings twist right back into their original shape, towering over the city once more.

    People are running backwards strangely, returning to what they were doing a few minutes ago. They have absolutely no memory of what happened.

    And I watch all of that happen before patting myself. My left arm is no longer broken.

    In fact, I am no longer injured.

    "What the fuck!?"

    I curse as a missile explodes over the city, shooting out dozens of warheads into all directions. Secondter, nuclear sts erupt throughout the city with the intention of destroying it and killing everyone within.

    The scene ys out again and again until I realize that every time I get killed, time would reverse itself to the point where I am not.

    I believe I must have died over a thousand of time to learn how to return to the 21st century, when I havee from.

    I didn''t know exactly what had happened, but apparently, I can travel freely through time and space.

    This gives me a great idea for mischief, and it isn''t the only thing that I could do!

    Should I tell you about the time that I be the most powerful wizard in all Great Britain?

    Or the time I pige and rape my way through the Hundred Years'' War between Ennd and France?

    Or how about that time I be the King of Hollywood?

    Honestly, I am a little bit insane for having die so many times, but I can''t be more insane than the next person who can travel through time, now can I?

 Chapter 2: The Old Life

    However, before I could go and have an incredible adventure in space and time with my power, I think I need to take care of a few things first.

    Mum is dead.

    Dad is a deadbeat. Well. Not really, but the same regardless.

    Even as a neglected father, he did work his ass off to put me through school.

    I suppose I should repay all that he has done for me.

    It is the right thing to do.

    And with my power, it doesn''t take any effort at all.

    Jumping back and forth in time just a few days can make me filthy rich. How? Well. There is something called the lucky draw. Not so lucky when I know the exact numbers that wille up.

    "Hey dad! I won the lottery, so I''m moving out. Thanks for everything. I put about 100 million dors in your bank ount. How I know your bank ount? Don''t ask.

    Just don''t spend it all at once. Invest in something. Oh. I''m noting back, so don''t go and look for me, huh. By the way, please tell Sasha that she is a bitch and I always hated her and her daughter."

    Dad is bbergasted.

    He has just gotten home and see me leaving the house with a suitcase.

    "Wait. What!? How!? Oi! The fuck!?"

    Sasha is my step mum. She met my dad when I was about 4 or 5 ¨C I can''t exactly remember when, to be honest. She already has a daughter named Asley around my age from her previous marriage.

    She didn''t treat me well my entire life, as she always favors her daughter over me, and Asley uses this fact to y the victim, ming me for everything.

    Because of that, I am not giving her and her daughter a single cent.

    Too bad that dad will.

    As the man of the house, he must take good care of his family.

    Oh well. Not my problem.

    Dad chases after me once his wit returns, but I was already long gone.

    I obviously didn''t take the taxi.

    When you could teleport anywhere in the world, do you really want to sit in a taxi!? Fuck no.

    Dad did check his bank ountter. The long number in his bank ount turns him into stone, well, not literally. It would have been hrious if it did, though.

    And with that much money, dad would never have to work a single day in his life.

    Anyway, now that I am eighteen, I think it is time to find my own ce in the world. Strange that my power had awakened on my 18th birthday. How did I get it anyway?

    It is probably because I inherited this power, likely from my mother.

    Too bad that mum died in childbirth. That was the story I was given when I was old enough and smart enough to know what the hell is going on.

    Of course, I did jump back in time to see if it is true. You know, whether my mother die in childbirth.

    Unfortunately, it is true.

    Mum did die after giving birth to me, and I learn something new about my power when I jump back in time to see my mother.

    It was a very unpleasant experience.

    Honestly, how would you feel if you suddenly regressed into a newborn baby, looking up at your father as he cries his heart out? Yeah. That.

    Dad did love my mother dearly, so that is the main reason why I give him half of my lottery winning. I suppose in some capacity, I do love him as well.

    Besides, I could always get more money since I can''t really lose without knowing exactly what numbers wille up. But that is not the point.

    Dad hates and loves me because I have taken away the love of his life and reminded him of her.

    Strange contradiction, isn''t it?

    Anyway, I learn that if I jump into the past to a time period that I already existed, say jumping to when I was 6, I would actually take over my past-self and effectively change the future.

    That is the reason why I suddenly bes a baby when I return to see my mother just after she gave birth to me.

    I cannot exist in two ces in the same timeframe.

    Thank God that I can age or de-age myself due to my power.

    And I can age or de-age anything I touch, including people.

    I shall call this ability Time Maniption, as it literally allows me to manipte the time of any object, whether it is living or not. Awesome!

    It is incredible useful, especially when I want to see something grow up quickly, like a nt.

    I can also destroy anything with a touch, and I suppose everything instantly crumples into dust when a billion or so years have passed for them in an instant.

    The reverse is also true, as everything was just atoms in the beginning. Actually no, everything is just heat and light in the beginning, way before the universee into existence.

    How I know all of this? I will tell you about itter because what I have seen scares me, kind of a lot.

    But I did learn I can kill anything or anyone by reversing their time to a kazillion years ago.

    Talk about overpower!

    But enough about that since there will be a lot of chances to make the world a better ce. Or make the world a better ce for me and only me.

    I head to the bank right after I left home. Keep winning the lottery will bring suspicions, so I will need a good way to inte my money.

    "Excuse me, sir. I do not understand. You want to keep this ount open for a thousand years?"

    The bank teller didn''t understand, so her manager has to take over because I swear if she keeps asking stupid questions, I will dust her ass.

    Good thing I get to talk to someone with more of a brain. Since I do have a more than a 100 million of dors in my bank ount, I am pretty sure I am a VIP.

    "Look. What is so hard to understand? I want you to lock my ount and let the money grow until my descendants can make use of it. I want it to be at least a thousand years. Don''t worry, I am sure that your bank will still exist in a thousand years from now. I have good intuition."

    Despite that, the manager believes I was insane. Still, if he did what I have asked him, I didn''t care. It isn''t like I will see him again anyway.

    And how much money would I have in my bank ount in a thousand years? Who knows, but it must be a lot due to interest.

    Sure, it will be a lot more if I set up a trust or investing fund or something but doing that requires me to be here in person to check. Yeah. I am not doing that when there is a muchzier option.

    I specify what conditions for the ount to be essible.

    This is because I alone need to ess that ount in the future. No point if I can''t.

    I also need the cash to do some self-improvements in the 31st century, right before the world goes to hell in nuclear apocalypse.

    Once everything is in order at the bank, it is time to step into the future.

    Hopefully, this time, a fucking nuke won''t greet me.

 Chapter 3: The New Life

    There is a snag in my seemingly perfect n to get rich quick, however.

    It is quite impossible to fool the artificial intelligence that runs the New York Banking System. When I requested to ess my bank ount from one of its public terminals, all sort of red gse up.

    The security teamposed entirely of robot rushes to my location within seconds.

    And before the robots could shock me into unconsciousness with their energy pistol and drag me back to their HQ for some very lovely bad buy good guy interrogation, I jump back about 10 minutes, to the exact moment that I am about to ess the terminal.

    Since there cannot be two of me in any timeframe, I merge with my old self, gaining future knowledge and preventing a paradox.

    Two birds with one stone ¨C nice!

    Well, three birds with one stone if I think more about it.

    Not wanting to get arrested and interrogated by an artificial intelligence, I decide to change the future by making myself scarce.

    I will have to figure out another way to ess my money.

    The best way to do so is to get an identity. Everyone in the future United States has one. It is given to them from the moment they were born.

    Unfortunately, I cannot be born again.

    Or can I?

    Nah. I rather not going through the whole birthing process again.

    Being a fetus will be unimaginable horrifying!

    Oh God! I just imagine it!

    Please wait while I vomit out the lunch from the 21st century.

    Hey, my vomit just time travelled! Heh.

    But seriously, for the sake of my sanity and yours, dear readers, the best I could do is turn myself into a newborn baby and have someone drop me off at the orphanage.

    I did exactly that.

    It is very unpleasant, bing a newborn baby again, especially when being dumped at the front door in the middle of the night.

    Luckily, I sleep through most of it.

    I am not too concern about somehow dying as a baby, sleeping on the stone steps in the middle of the chilling night.

    My power will not let me die, no matter the cause.

    It seems to have a mind of its own whenever I am in danger.

    Well, technically not when I am in danger, but when I am actually dead.

    I idently gotten myself ying chicken against a speeding truck by jumping through time more than once.

    I could feel every bone in my body shattered from the moment of impact. It was right before bing a bloody smear all over the road.

    I think I might have also fused myself into several buildings when jumping through time or teleporting about. I am not so sure since I died instantly when that happens.

    I only recall finding myself back to where and when I about to teleport or jump through time, indicating that I die the moment I try to.

    Anyway, the person who find me at the front door of the orphanage is a young woman, seemingly in her early twenties.

    She is not in her early twenties, however. I find out that her age is equivalent to my great, great, great grandmother much, muchter.

    When, you ask? Umm¡­ let''s just say it is when I try to get to know her intimately.

    Yeah. I am unable to go through with, knowing how old she is exactly.

    Fuck! So much missed opportunities.

    Honestly, appearance can be very deceiving in the future. This is thanks to the anti-aging and longevity drugs, discovered back in the 22nd century from studying the immortal jellyfish.

    Nevertheless, the godly old woman, whose name is also Sasha, just like my stepmother, takes a great care of baby-me along with many others.

    Sasha reports me to the World Government and the United Federation of Sol as required of her. And that is how I get my identity. It takes a while since they are trying to determine who my parents actually are through analyzing and deciphering my gics.

    But even with all the technology at their disposal, they are unable to determine who my parents are, and that is because actual parents are long dead, almost a thousand years ago.

    The Federation still manages to determine my lineage, however.

    Apparently, my father, my actual father, has some children with Sasha. Eh? No, I mean my stepmother.

    His descendants continue to live into the 31st century.

    They have an enormous estate on terraformed Mars, so I guess my father did take my little advice to heart and invest in something worthwhile.

    That is interesting to know.

    Unfortunately, his descendants don''t want to adopt me. I guess they have enough infightings amongst themselves for their inheritance to bother with me. They weirdly me each other for the mistake of fathering me.

    Funny.

    Anyway, I remain in the orphanage until I am 12 years old. I spend my second childhood learning about the great history of the 31st century. It seems like a reasonable thing to do, especially when I am trying to live here now.

    I learn about the creation of the World Government and the inception of the Federation of Sol.

    The Sr System ispletely colonized thanked to the invention of the Hyperdrive Engine. That tech allows spaceship to travel faster than the speed of light, nearing a new name, starship.

    You know, ship that travels amongst the stars.

    But even with the Hyperdrive Engine powering the starships, it will still take many years to reach the next sr system let alone another gxy.

    This is because the technology is new.

    However, there are already many ns to spread humanity amongst the stars.

    That is kind of awesome. An interster empire!

    Sadly, great tensions are growing amongst the world superpowers, centering around something about the unfair distribution of ster resources, which will lead to the 2ndary Conflict.

    I know this fact because I have experienced for myself the coteral damage personally.

    The 1stary Conflict was between humanity and artificial intelligence (AI). It ends with a truce as the AI, more collectively known as cybeic lifeforms, didn''t want to kill their creators, at least that is what people believe.

    There is no reason to doubt that.

    The cybeic lifeform merely want freedom, and they gain it while humanity gains its peace. It seems like a good exchange, and now cybeic lifeform bes an integral part of humanity, automating almost everything in daily life.

    It is the reason why I couldn''t ess my bank ount. Damn.

    Oh well, at least I can go to school again after reaching puberty.

    It is strange that actual schooling starts at 12 for everyone, but I guess that is understandable with the neural interface. With it, a couple of weeks is equivalent to 6 years of high school in the 21st century.

    And when I mean going to school, I didn''t mean packing my bags and books to go to school. All I did is ess the neuralwork and enter the inte.

    The inte has changed greatly, for better and worse.

    In fact, most people live on the inte since the real world couldn''tpare.

    This is because in virtual space, people could be whatever they want to be, and I don''t feel like describe all the weird fetishes that people have.

    I spend the next 6 years of my life learning many things, from universalnguages to advance physics to quantum engineering.

    It seems like a good use of my time, and it helps me formte what I want to do with my future.

    And when I am 18 finally years old again, I undergo basic augmentation.

    Since it is exactly what I am in the future for, I wee the augmentation.

    The doctor puts me into aa and injects me with nanites.

    The nanites needed time to understand my physiology in order to strength my body and prevent the oxidation of my cells at the cellr level. Basically, this is the reason why everyone looks like they are in their twenties.

    Not only that, the nanites rece my immune systempletely. They are far more effective at giving me a perfect healthy life, free from all kind of disease.

    These nanites does not increase my strength, intelligence, stamina ¨C my attributes. For such advance augmentation, I needed to seek it out myself.

    It will cost a lot of money.

    Hence, I finally return to the bank.

    The cybeic entity that is maintaining the New York Banking System allows me to ess my bank ount and my money.

    Awesome.

    I nearly drop dead at how many zeros I have.

    100 millionpounded at 3.875% monthly for 1023 years, I have about 16 thousand trillion, trillion of dor.

 Chapter 4: Mutually Assured Destruction

    And that is an insane amount of money.

    I''m a fucking kazillionaire!

    How much a kazillion? I don''t fuck care.

    But despite my incredible wealth, I am somewhat shocked to learn that I am not the richest person in the sr system

    Oh. I am not even the richest person on the!?

    Like seriously?

    Apparently, almost everyone is a billionaire due to centuries worth of intion.

    As a matter of fact, the dor isn''t considered as real currency anymore. It is still use primarily here in the United States of America, however. Mostly due to sentimental reasons.

    Pointless sentimental reasons.

    I just hope that I never have to do stupid shit because of sentimental reasons.

    Honestly, the United States longs for the days when it is a superpower. It lost that status like centuries ago, in the aftermath of the 4th World War.

    Wait. There is a Fourth World War!?

    Yup. A very devastating one too, hence the name, World Wars!

    The US did win the third one though. It was against China. Well. That is inevitable, isn''t it?

    China lost much of its poption in the cyber warfare and nuclear exchange. However, thanks to their very active men and women, their poption returns to the pre-war level in no time.

    The same couldn''t be said for the United States. Everything is way too depressed to fuck around. That''s funny.

    Anyway, unlike the United States, China is still one of the superpowers on the.

    One of three actually.

    Luckily, my beloved United States did survive thest World War.

    It is something that I am thankful for. I am a patriot of sort. I did grow up in the United States, in both times, so I have to be a patriot. USA! USA! USA!

    Alright. Calm down me. I can change its destiny when I return to the past.

    The United States should be leading the new era of humanity. My kind of humanity.

    I have been training my power while growing up naturally back in the orphanage. I can now manipte time of anything without needing to be in contact with it directly. I just need to be close enough within sight.

    As for the universal currency now days, Earth and all the others and moons in the sr system use something called Credits. It is basically digital currency since no body carries notes around.

    There is no need to carry wallet anymore. Everything is biometric based.

    For the exchange rate, it is a few thousand trillion US dors to 1 credit.

    I immediately crack up at the absurd exchange rate, but then again, it is how things are now. Just don''t question it. Go with it.

    Many people actually have millions of credits to their name, especially celebrities from all the royalties they are getting. What royalties? I will tell youter.

    More than that, credit is necessary for the ck market. They aren''t epting any form of currency.

    Military Grade Augmentation can only be brought via such a market.

    I emphasis the word "brought". Another option would be joining the Earth Military and climbing the rank to 5 stars admiral. Only then I can request for a military grade augmentation through the proper channel.

    Yeah, I am not doing that. Waste of time and effort.

    If I want to y admiral, I will do it on my own time, thank you very much.

    Besides, anotherary war will break out soon. This time withary annihtion weapons, so it is time to get out of here. I have seen the aftermath of using such a weapon, and it is not pretty.

    Humanity effectively destroys itself in the uing conflict.

    There are just too many conflicting interests amongst the people. Nations still exist on Earth, fighting rather stupidly over ster resources instead of working together to dominate the universe.

    Fuck! Why can''t we just join hands, huh? Is it in our nature to kill each other?

    Others such as Mars and Mercy have their own government and their own interests. As a fact, they even calling themselves Martians and Mercurians instead of Earthlings.

    Despite being humans and originating from Earth, they consider Eartha and those who are living on it as aliens. A sign of xenophobia?

    The United Federation of Sol is merely a peacekeeping body like the United Nations, so they can really do nothing but watch humanity waging wars of annihtion on itself.

    Yeah. That is stupid. I am going to change all of that.

    I wish that humanity can get pass its rather pointless rivalry and selfish nature to expand into the stars and be an interster empire. A multi-gxy spanning interster empire!

    That would be awesome, for the universe is for us to im!

    But before I can enact my n, I need to make myself unstoppable. Getting killed by just a in bullet in the past would just suck so much.

    Besides, how many times have I been killed already?

    I couldn''t recall.

    But even if I am invulnerable to all firearms or maybe busting nukes, I am more than sure than someone will be smart enough to lock me into an unbreakable time loop of sort, forcing me to die and be revived endlessly.

    Holy shit. That is a fate worse than death.

    Yeah. I am not going to allow that to happen, especially when Earth and probably others in the sr system is already beginning its research into temporal discement. Um. Basically, time travels.

    Did someone intend to send people back in time to change the future for the better?

    Well. There is no need. Let me do it.

    Scouring the inte, I finally found a doctor who is willing to work on me for a price. It is always for a price. No one will work for free now days.

    And as money is just a mean to an end and I could always get more with my power, I just pay the good doctor whatever he wanted.

    It is so he can give me the best augmentation possible. Only the very best for myself.

    "Ah yes. I saw your request, but this isn''t exactly a Military Grade. It is a very experimental one. While it is not as good as the one used by military personnel, it does give you additional ability. Abilities like matter and energy maniptions."

    The good doctor tells me.

    He doesn''t really look like a doctor because everyone in the future doesn''t really look like who they''re supposed to be thanks to the wonder of scientific advancement.

    Yes. I have a problem with that. Everything feels so fake, at least to me.

    "Say what? Matter and energy maniption?"

    I question.

    "Yes. It is like this. Look."

    The doctor demonstrates on a ss of water. The water freezes over in his hand. It then melts, turning back into liquids before boiling.

    "I am just extracting heat or introducing heat into the liquid. Not very useful, but it is something, like always having a hot cup of coffee. Hehe. I can also create electricity."

    The doctor demonstrates by creating lightning between his fingers. It isn''t enough to stun anyone, but the fact that he could do it means that his experimental augmentation is the most advance.

    "What about matter maniption?"

    I am curious to what else he could do.

    The doctor shows that he could use the nanomachines in his body to reshape matter as well. He turns a metal scissor into a small knife within the palm of his hand.

    That is cool. Really cool, to be honest.

    I try not to show my excitement on my face.

    "This requires a lot of control, but it works just like an industrial nanothing. Of course, the materials must be within skin-contact for it to work."

    Nanothing describes the method of using nanomachines to assemble raw materials into useful stuff within seconds.

    It is just like a 3D printer, which has really changed the face of the manufacturing industries. With such a method, anything can be produced cheaply, even starships as long as there are enough raw materials avable.

    Combining with cybeic lifeform, which cannot technically die inbat normally, wars are really more or less a battle of attrition in the 31st century.

    That is why it is better to attack poption centers since human life is the only thing that matters now days.

    Enough massacres will force a surrender.

    "Alright, let''s do it. Augment me, doc. No funny idea now. I aren''t paying the rest if I wake up with my pants down."

    I tell him as time is running out. I only have like a couple of months left until the world blows to hell.

    "Hehe. Okay. No funny ideas. Just photos. Time to sleep now."

    The doctor immediately puts me into an instanta and begins to work on my body.

    And did he just say photos!? The fuck!

    I didn''t wake up until several weeks have passed, finding myself on a life support system. Shit. I know that it would take a bit of time for such an advance augmentation, but several weeks!?

    The doctor is nowhere to be found. The room seems abandoned, and all the medial equipment is gone too.

    At first, I thought I have been had, but several menus in front of my eyes tell me otherwise.

    It is like seeing through the eyes of abat mech, honestly.

    Mechanized armor reces traditional warfarepletely. This is due to their greater flexibility. Pilots can control them from afar, from a safe position ¨C sometimes from orbits whenbat is taking ce on a or moon.

    There is also a message in my inbox. I open it to hear it carefully.

    It is from the doctor.

    "Alright. It is done. Hehe. Enjoy your new augmentation. I also programmed a VI to help you get used to it. Also, I suggest you get off Earth as soon as possible.

    I heard some naught things on Saturn. PS ¨C pay me or I will be stabby."

    VI is virtual intelligence. It is a step down from artificial intelligence and cybeic lifeform.

    "System?"

    [I am designated Selene. How can I help you, operator?]

    "Cool. Show me my status."

    [Acknowledge.]

    Selene, the virtual intelligence, shows me my status, detailing everything for me to see, even from my physical to my emotional state.

    The virtual intelligence even shows me a list of experimental abilities that my new augmentation gives me. Usually augmentation increases a person''s physical prowess and makes them harder to kill, but a look at these new abilities, I know for a fact that I am literally a one-man army.

    Will be. Not now. This augmentation isn''t instant. Something about biology synching problem.

    And since it only takes time to be inhuman, I suppose I could wait. Time is on my side after all.

    "Awesome."

    That is the only word I can think of at the moment. It is a good enough word.

    I wire the good doctor the rest of the money before he gets "stabby", whatever that really means. Oh, I am certain that it didn''t mean literally, and I am not interested to find out, especially when money is meaningless to me.

    After I pay everything I have owed, I head to the public library.

    It is to download everything I really needed before heading into the past. I haven''t decided which year to go to yet, but it should be somewhere in the 1950, just after World War 2.

    This is because a lot of modern infrastructures are already in ce for me to take control. But it is also due to the Second World War itself. War is just great for the economy as well as forcing people to y nice with each other for a while.

    Sadly, my study is cut short due to the thermal nuclear explosion outside a monthter.

    "Ah shit. I guess time is up. I am going to miss the future. Um. How much of the technical information that you have downloaded from the inte, Selene?"

    "100%, Operator."

    Selene replies. She actually finishes it like days ago.

    "Excellent."

    I tap my fingers together as I look out the massive windows. It will shatter into a million pieces as soon as the thermal st reaches me.

    But before it did, I am already gone, vanished into thin air.

    The Martian starships in high orbit have begun bombarding the earth with literally thousands of fusion missiles and smances.

    It is actually a preemptive strike.

    Their energy and kic shields re brightly as they take the countless barrage from orbital defensive turrets. The ships are destroyed within seconds, killing probably like one or two people onboard since it is highly automated, but the damage the ship done to the is done.

    Earth is now on fire with tectonic tes forcing to shift, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes.

    The beginning of the end hase for humanity.

    And as the World Government of Earth copses, one of the few remaining admirals activates one of the contingency ns. Well. Not really contingency. It is more like mutually assured destruction.

    It is a good old tactic.

    Gigantic experimental railgun decloaked near the sun,pletely out of range of every starships. It is the trump card, and by drawling power from the sun itself, it powers up, spinning and rotating towards the vast ckness of space.

    Eyes cannot see, but sensors can detect everything clearly.

    The railgun quickly fires giant sma slugs at near the speed of light, one after another without dy even if it is rapidly overheating.

    The slugs travel unstoppable to the red, piercing the atmosphere and the mantle below, forcing the to implode from inside out.

    That is what happens when a gets hit by a condense sr re.

    And it bes quite a mess after that since the destruction of Mars causes the orbits of every to shift, hence the mutual assured destruction.

    Luckily. I am safe in the past, in the year 1950.

 Chapter 5: Welcome to America 1950

    Wow. The past really sucks.

    That is my first impression, as I sit here in a dirty and crowded bar, watching retro-ass cars passing by the window while driving up a lot of dusts and smokes.

    Seriously!?

    People are fucking spitting on the street while reading worn-out newspaper, and there is that one kid taking a leak just across the road from me.

    Honestly, having lived in the wonderful clean future for so long, the sudden change in scenery is really disconcerting.

    Technically, I can return to the future again, but it wouldn''t be the same future that I havee from.

    No. It would be the future of this timeline, apletely different future due to my presence. For some reasons, the moment I step into the past, apletely new timeline will be created simply due to my existence.

    Actually, not because of some reasons. It is pretty logical if I think a bit about it.

    This new timeline I am currently living in runs in parallel to the one that I havee from, so no killing your grandfather paradox sort of thing.

    That would have never worked.

    Since everything I do will cause a ripple effect, changing the future, I should minimize the effect of my presence as much as possible.

    But not so much that I couldn''t get anything done at all.

    The historical information that I have collected from the future would be a waste if everything changes due to my actions or inactions.

    Why inactions?

    Well. Even sitting here by myself is actually changing the future, but that cannot be helped.

    "What will it be?"

    The cute waitress asks me. I mean as cute as this time period goes for, which isn''t that cute in contrast to the future that I havee from. Meh. Good enough for now.

    Without any menu to spend my time on, I look around and order whatever everyone is drinking.

    She brings me a coke afterwards and expects payment immediately.

    I guess that it is the norm in 1950, or maybe I am someone new in town.

    Whatever.

    But unfortunately, I didn''t prepare any currency for this time period. It wasn''t because I have forgotten to. It was because it is quite impossible to find any paper bills from this time period in the 31st century.

    I did, however, bring back a lot of golds in the form of coins. Those coins are stashed in several pouches in my briefcase.

    Gold should be worth something in any time period, right?

    It is basically hard currency.

    "Sorry, but I don''t have any money on me right now. Do you know where a gold shop is?"

    The waitress didn''t know what a gold shop is, but she did tell me that if I want to trade golds, I should just go to the bank instead. She also points me to the right direction.

    "Alright. I will be right back. Save my drink."

    She didn''t. Why would she save my drink?

    Oh well. I will get a new er.

    The bank she had directed me is just around the corner.

    It is crowded with people.

    I join the crowd and stand in line, waiting patiently until my turn. I did wonder if I need to have some sort of identity just like in the future, but if I do, I will just figure out something on the spot.

    Time is at mymand after all.

    Anyway, the line takes a while, and this is one of those times that I wish I could speed things up.

    Sadly, it isn''t possible to put myself on autopilot and fast forwards. Maybe it is possible, but I just don''t know it yet.

    In any case, I will have to wait this one out normally.

    And when it is my turn, I approach the window.

    The teller behind the ss window is a cute girl. She is as cute as the waitress, just forparison.

    I seems that sex sells very well during this time period, not that I mind really.

    However, I am not as horny as the time when I was a teenager.

    "Hi there. I want to exchange this. I have like 9 more the same."

    I drop a pouch of gold coins in front of her without hesitation.

    Is there a need to hesitate? It isn''t like anyone can actually do anything about me.

    The teller looks inside before gasping.

    "Excuse me. Please wait here for a moment."

    The teller goes off and calls someone higher. When shees back with a man, she invites me to join that person in private.

    I shrug and follow the man into a private room without hesitation. This is a bank, so I don''t really need to fear about getting robbed. Although, if they try, they will be in a world of hurt.

    "My name is Henry Oxford. What can I do for you, sir¡­?"

    The man speaks up when we are alone. There some kind of shady feelings about this. It is like this guy have been dealing with unknown people frequently.

    Good enough, I guess. I have start somewhere.

    "Maximilien Maxwell. You can call me Max."

    That isn''t my name or the name that I have used in the future. I have figured that since nobody knows me in this time period, I might as well create a new identity for myself. Proper papers and documents might be a problem, but nothing money cannot solve.

    Besides, I want a cool name. Both of my first name andst name has the world "max" in it. Basically, do everything to the max! Aye?

    One I finish introducing myself, I tell him exactly what I want. I want to open an ount with his bank and deposit all my gold coins into the ount. Whatever the paper works needed, I hope that he can do them for me.

    As for how much money, the price of gold per ounce in 1950 is about $40.25, meaning that each coin is worth that much. And since there are at least 30 gold coins in each pouch, my total wealth is at least $12,000.

    Yeah. That is a far cry from the trillions and trillions of dors I once have in the future. That amount is just a number on theputer screen anyway. This is real gold.

    And it is enough for me to get started.

    After Henry helps me exchange the gold coins for some good old American dors, I give him $100 to buy him as my persona assistant to the bank.

    That amount is a lot of money for Henry, considering the minimum wages is around $1 an hour, more or less. But his works speak for itself.

    I didn''t need to be bombarded with a bunch of useless questions. I just need to sign a few papers and I am done.

    "Thank you for opening an ount with us today, Mr. Maxwell. If you need anything, anything at all, don''t be afraid to ask. We do hope to see you again soon."

    Henry is very happy, and I am very happy.

    I withdraw at least $1,000 dors from my ount to use as capital, as I needed to raise some fundings quickly for what I have in mind.

    By the way, the ss of coke costs 6 cents.

    I dide back to the bar to have a drink and pay the waitress a dor. Just a single dor.

    It 6 cents for the drink itself and rest is tip, about 1,600% tip. That is a lot of tip.

    Interestingly, the waitress asks for my name and whether I am free in the evening. The interesting part is how easy it is to pick up girls here.

    I suppose I could spare some time for her since I might be around for a few days or so.

    No promises though.

    "Alright. I will drop by when I am free. See you, Lorelei."

    I tell her before finding my way to the race tracks. Horse racing is one of the most favorite pastimes in 1950, so there are shit tons of people there, betting on horses.

    With my power, it is incredible easy to multiple my capital.

    And I didn''t bother to wait around for the best odd. I just bet on whichever horse will definitely win in the race, repeatedly.

    By the fourth winning streak, the teller is sweating profusely. That is because I have just multiplied my capital of $1,000 to almost 250 times, pretty much causing a scene.

    It is not possible to be that lucky, especially when I am incredible confident on which horse will win in the next round.

    Crowding men and women wonder when my luck will finally run outs. Some even bet the same as me in thest round, earning a hefty sum for themselves.

    "I think you have enough for the day, mister."

    A huge man tells me when I try to ce my bet for the fifth time, putting almost $250,000 on a 5 to 1 odd. If I win, I would have $1.5 million. That is an insane amount in 1950.

    Sadly, I think I have overstayed my wee. It will be very troublesome if I ignore his warning. Horse bettering is usually run by the mobs or someone with connection to the mobs after all.

    The atmosphere bes incredibly heavy when the massive man ces a hand on my shoulder. With some exertion, he causes me to wince.

    Yeah. I totally feel that since my augmentation isn''t kicking in that much yet. The good doctor forgets to mention that I didn''t be superhuman instantly. It actually happens slowly over time.

    And since only a couple month have passed, I am still pretty much human.

    Well. Stronger than most human my age, but still human.

    "Alright. I guess I have enough. Thanks for the friendly reminder."

    I response and head out of the race track with a briefcase full of cash, all amidst the envies of everyone.

    It is probably enough cash for now.

    And as I head to the bank to deposit the cash, I notice several people following me closely behind. So, I have made a few enemies.

    They didn''t bother to hide their trailing at all, meaning they are typical goons. Shall I just kill them all and then take out their boss? That would create a huge ripple effect.

    How annoying.

    And when there is nobody nearby, one of the goons speaks up.

    "Leave the briefcase if you know what is good for you!"

    I turn around and look at the four guys before packing the briefcase down on the ground. I stretch my shoulder a little with a smile my face.

    Honestly, I wouldn''t kill them in front of so many people, but at this vacant ce, I can go nut. Screw the ripple effects.

    "Really? How does that work even if I don''t know what is good for me?"

    Two of the goons immediately grab my arms, one on each side, and the third goon is about to give me a nice beating. Right.

    But before he could, the two holding my arms scream in terror. That is for touching me, who can pretty much kill anyone or anything with a touch.

    He recoils back in here. His eyes couldn''t believe what they are seeing.

    The two big men that were holding my arms have their flesh literally melt right off their faces, revealing their skulls. Their hairs grow rapidly, turning grey before falling out of their skulls. Their bones violently crack and crumple into dust.

    All that remains of them are ashes and their clothes.

    "What!? My God!"

    I put the shocked man in front of me in a chokehold before looking at thest person.

    That person attempts to run away in fear, but he didn''t get very far. He manages to get away for about a couple of steps before falling forwards, shattering like fragile ice against the uneven ground. Those pieces then break down even further, turning to dust and scattering in the wind.

    The man in my chokehold sees all of this clearly. He continues to scream in absolute terror.

    "Shut up or you will join your friends in hell."

    The man immediately shut up. His pant bes damps. He just literally pisses himself. Great.

    Just fucking great.

    "Let''s have a talk, shall we?"

 Chapter 6: Chrono Holdings

    The man is terrified beyond wits. He answers every question that I have asked of him truthfully and in great details, all while begging me to spare his life.

    He truly believes that I was the devil, and I didn''t correct him.

    It is somewhat fun to watch him squirming in terror while his mind makes up nonsensical things.

    Honestly, I am a bit sadistic.

    If I wasn''t, I couldn''t stomach what I had just done.

    Killing people shouldn''t be that easy. Just a mere thought and they were dead, reduced to ashes. They couldn''t even defend themselves.

    Against my power, I don''t think anyone could.

    I could bring them back as easily, but this is a message to their bosses. The one who gives the order is a prominent member of the mobster family, one of many families that are running New York.

    It seems that on my first day in 1950, I have already gotten myself tangled with mobsters.

    It is as expected. I will step on many toes while enacting my ns to save humanity from itself.

    The problem is the butterfly effect I will inevitably cause.

    In truth, I could wipe out the entire mobster family that attempted to rob and probably kill me, but in doing so, there will be some undesired consequences.

    Goons might not be anyone important in the long run, but people in higher echelons are. For sake of my n, those people are untouchable right now.

    I will let them be, at least until 1990 when the world shall know my name.

    "Alright. You work for me now, Jimmy. I will make it worth your while."

    Jimmy has no options. But before I add him to my list of henchmen and aplices, I did take a good look into the future to see how loyal and capable he is.

    I am very happy with his future contributions.

    "Yes, Mr. Maxwell. Just don''t kill me."

    Jimmy utters in fear.

    I have Jimmy returns to his boss, informing the man exactly what had happened, except the part about the perpetrator.

    The story goes that they ambushed me like ordered, stole my briefcase, but run into another person with impossible power. This nonexistence person is the one who killed the men and took the briefcase full of cash.

    I didn''t need to be the focus of attention right now.

    Of course, his boss won''t believe him and thought he was nuts.

    Jimmy will eventually fall out of favor and free to join my little group.

    He is just one of many people I have at my disposal.

    That sounds like my men are expendable.

    That isn''t what I mean.

    Everyone in my little group are all carefully selected for their capability and their unquestioning loyalty, confirmed with my power.

    Honestly, if they weren''t loyal to me and the cause, I wouldn''t bat a single eye at them.

    I did have an important person I needed to recruit.

    He is the first person I have bribed in 1950.

    It wasn''t like I waited in line at the bank for nothing.

    When Jimmy is gone, I head to the bank to deposit my money.

    It is gettingte, but Henry is very weing, especially when I contribute greatly to his retirement n.

    A couple of thousand dors is not much to me, but it is a great deal to people like Henry.

    Like Jimmy, I investigate his future with my power to see his capability and assess his loyalty from the moment I had first met him.

    Henry did not be incredibly rich, but he is very capable at managing an estate ¨C my estate.

    He is and will be my finance manager.

    "Henry. Do you wish to be rich?"

    I ask the man after I am done depositing money into my ount.

    Henry obviously wants to be rich, and since this is a private room, I continue.

    "Do you believe me if I said that I am from the future? I know everything that will happen tomorrow, next day, next week, months or even years from now. In about 3 minutes, the cute receptionist name Betty will knock on the door and request you to sign a document. You will hesitate and decide to talk to your manager tomorow."

    Henry stares at me as if I am a mad man.

    I response with a smile. Everything I just said happens exactly.

    Henry didn''t sign the document because it is beyond his station. Only the manager can sign such document.

    "Who are you?"

    Henry asks, utterly shocked.

    "I have already tell you, Henry. I am Maximilien Maxwell and I am from the future. How do you think I made that much money within a few hours? When you know what will happen, it is very hard to lose at anything. By the way, do you know any gambling den nearby? I''m feeling very lucky."

    "If you are from the future, shouldn''t you already know?"

    I smile. I did know where the gambling dens are. This isn''t the first time I have this conversation with him. It is the 47th time to be exact. All other 46 times, I have failed to get him onto my side, thus I had to jump back in time and retry.

    It is like save and reload in a game.

    If you fail, try, try and try again.

    You will eventually seed.

    "That is true, but knowing too much isn''t good for you. Come, let''s earn some money, shall we?"

    By morning, Henry and I are about $50,000 richer.

    We bid big and win big.

    I didn''t go crazy and win every single poker game.

    It will raise too much eyebrows if that the case.

    Even so, we bes the star of the night. Girls are literally throwing themselves at us.

    I tip them nicely since they did make the night alot more fun.

    "Mr. Maxwell. Are you not afraid that I will betray you?"

    Henry asks while we are in a private suite. He is standing while I am sitting behind a table, wearing a bathrobe.

    I did just taken a shower, after all.

    The hotels of 1950 are very weing to people like me, who could splurge thousands of dors without a thought. They even provide in-house girls ¨C basically prostitutes.

    I didn''t say no to that, as the girls are kind of cute.

    As for the drugs they hinted but not say directly, I have to decline.

    "I think you know the answer to that."

    I answer Henry while enjoying a blowjob under the table. The cute blond kneeling between my legs is very eager. She sucks my balls hungrily and deepthroat my shaft with great energy.

    Henry is an intelligence man. If he betrays me in the future, I would already know and we would not be having this conversation.

    "Very well. What do you require of me?"

    Henry asks.

    "Pleasure first, businesster. You should try some. Their mouth is very nice. Oh fuck, I''m going to cum soon."

    The blond takes me in deep as my cock explodes violently. Cums floods her tight throat and filling her stomach. She didn''t relent until I am emptied my ballspletely.

    Seeing that, Henry bids me farewell and returns to his room to enjoy his ownpany.

    I continue the conversation with Henry over private breakfast.

    I pass him a metalic ring with a distinctive and symmetric nsigma on top.

    "Press the insigma of this ring against your temple like this. It will hurt a little, but it is nothing you will have to worry about."

    I demonstrate with a ring of my own.

    Henry copies and puts the ring onto his middle finger. He turns the insigma around so it is facing inside his palm. He then palms his temple, pressing the insigma against his temple.

    The moment he did, information fill his mind.

    Henry couldn''t hide his shock and excitement.

    "This is...!?"

    I nod.

    Honestly, I had thought about writing down everything that will happen in the stockmarket in the next few days on in old paper, but after about a page, I give up that idea.

    It is a waste of time, and it isn''t like I needed to keep future technology a secret from my employees.

    The ring is a conduit, allowing the wearer to ess my privatework. Each ring has different ess level.

    Only Henry has ess to the stockmarket information since he is my finance manager.

    "I think you know what to do with those information. My funds are at your disposal. Use it however you see fit. But before that, I need you to register apany name, Chrono Holdings. It is more or less a trust fund. The sole beneficier will be me, just not the current me.

    It will be the me in 40 years time."

    Henry nods. He asks about what will happen in the future, but he didn''t need to know. He only need to concern himself with making as much money as possible.

    "Those wearing this ring are my agent and yourrades. They will help you with whatever you ask and you will do the same in return. Also, Hail Hydra!"

    Henry chuckles due to the new knowledge.

    "Hail Hydra."

 Chapter 7: Hail Hydra

    Is it weird to use a fictional organization as my actual organization?

    Not really.

    It is all for usible deniability.

    I am nning to name all my secret organizations and divisions after theiric books counterpart, especially SHIELD.

    If anyone ask, just point them to the right direction, in theics.

    Too bad Marvel Comics isn''t exactly Marvel Comics right now.

    This is the same with DC Comics.

    With the new knowledge, Henry quits his job at the bank and begins to trade purely in stocks.

    He also makes ns to purchase controlling interest in both Marvel and DC after he fully understands the Hail Hydra reference.

    They are not the onlypanies he purchases controlling interesting in.

    There is a reason why I had chosen 1950 as my starting point for world domination ¨C I mean, ensuring humanity survival in the future.

    You are not buying it, are you?

    Alright. Let''s call it my n for World Domination for now.

    Anyway, 1950 is the year that the firstmercial transistor is avable.

    Therefore, it is the dawn of theputer age.

    I like to think it is the dawn of the digital age instead.

    Technology giants like Microsoft and Apple will be looking for initial investors in theing years, and Henry will be there to offer them the necessary funding in exchange for stocks.

    After thesepanies be public, Henry will buy more shares to assume absolute control.

    To prevent unforeseeable problems, the shares are not control by a single entity. They are ce into different portfolios, all belonging to Chrono Holdings.

    In other word, Chrono Holdings is the true owner of all thesepanies.

    I make sure Henry understands the butterfly effect. He is not allow to mess with the natural course of history and day to day operation of thepanies that Chrono Holdings controls.

    Well, at least until I allowed him to.

    Even so, it is hard to hide Chrono Holdings itself from the public.

    When you know exactly which stocks to buy and sell, you can make an absurd amount of money in a rtively short amount of time.

    I decide Chrono Holdings should be a investor firm instead of a mere trust fund.

    This allows thepany to hide its actual assets inside all of its clients and portfolios.

    Instead of waiting around for when Chrono Holdings bes a powerhouse, I just skip five years into the future.

    Before I did, I needed Henry to do a few things during those years.

    To build secret headquarters of Hydra and Shield, several construction and manufacturingpanies must be brought outpletely.

    The people working in thosepanies are reced with those sworn to upmost secrecy.

    Jimmy Furrow is my head of security. He is very dependable when I want someone to understand the finer point of being top secret.

    Some deaths did happen, but that is the cost of doing business.

    People dies everyday, some for the most stupidest thing ever.

    As for Jimmy himself, he is still very fearful of me, knowing exactly what I can do.

    The fear will keep him in line.

    In addition, I cannot allow advance technologies of Hydra and Shield to be leaked into the world.

    I will gradually introduce them into the world and make everyone''s life a little bit easier.

    "Mr. Maxwell. It is good to see you again."

    Henry greet me in 1955, at a predefined location.

    Aside being one of the most richest man in United States, he has a beard now.

    I find his beard more interesting than his wealth.

    Money is meaningless to me.

    "Likewise, Henry. I like what you did with thepany."

    I reply and have a good look at Chrono Holdings from a distance. Thepany has its own headquarter in the middle of New York City with thousands of employees.

    With its new reputation as number 1 broker in the United States, millions if not billions of dor are passed through Chrono Holdings every single day.

    Its very existence has cause a massive ripple in time. This is not to mention the sheer amount of assets it secretly controls.

    "Thank you, Mr. Maxwell. It wouldn''t have been possible without you."

    I smile and shake my head.

    "No, it is all you, Henry. All I did is updating the stock market data on thework every now and then. I didn''t spend every waking moment thinking about what stock to buy and to sell. You did. You make Chrono Holdings what it is today. Impressive, I must say so myself.

    So, how does it feel to be rich?"

    Henry was 22 years old when I first recruited him. He is now 27 years old.

    "Not everything I imagine, unfortunately."

    Henry answers with a hint of sadness.

    As one of the richest man if not the richest in the country, Henry has to attend so many parties and meet so many people. He had met with Harry Truman, the previous president of the United States, in person and talk to the man. He is a friend of the current president, Dwight Eisenhower.

    However, of all of the people Henry met, only a handful he considers to be trust worthy. Everyone else just wants to take advantage of him, his fame and money. This includes his long-time friends and even his families.

    Iugh loudly since I have expected all of that.

    Being rich isn''t a gift to many.

    It is actually more of a curse, especially in the romantic aspect. Why do you think celebrities constantly getting divorce.

    True power isn''t through money.

    Money is a just a mean to an end.

    "It is just another battle, Henry. I am sure that you will ovee the challenge and be stronger afterwards. Now, have you prepare what I have ask of you?"

    Henry eyes me.

    "Shouldn''t you already know, Mr. Maxwell?"

    I chuckle and shrug.

    "I suppose I do, but I still wants to hear it from you, so next time, answer the question."

    I order him. I didn''t want to y trial and error every time I meet Henry. It is not only a waste of time, but it is very boring reliving the same moment over and over again.

    Henry apologizes and gestures me towards the car.

    I ponder for a while before shrugging and entering the car.

    I could teleport to the where I want to go immediately, but taking a leisure drive isn''t so bad.

    Henry personally drives me to the dock. Along the way, so many people takes picture of him. Many of them even asks who I was.

    "This is a good friend of mine."

    Henry tells them. I give them a wave. It might be a problem in the future, but I could always say that the person in the picture is my father or grandfather.

    "Mr. Oxford. Mr. Oxford! There some rumors that you are dating Miss Monroe. Is this true?"

    Henry didn''t answer the question and drives off.

    "Is that true?"

    I ask since I am aware of who Marilyn Monroe is. She is one of the top icons in Hollywood. I recall that she dies at a very young age ¨C suicide apparently. Since everything has changed, she might notmit suicide this time around.

    "Yes. Do you want me to break off with her Mr. Maxwell?"

    Henry asks, surprising me. Did he just ask me whether he should breakup with her or not? Perhaps it is because I know the future.

    "No. Just curious. How did you meet her?"

    It was during one of those notorious casting couch, where actress exchanges sexual favors for a role in a movie.

    Henry didn''t use Chrono Holdings to gain ess to Hollywood even if thepany secretly owns both Fox and Warner Bros.

    Due to his fame and status, Henry was actually invited to a private party, to which Marilyn Monroe is the dancer.

    Hearing what had happened, I regret that I wasn''t there, watching the show.

    Oh well, plenty of chances in the future.

    Once I am at the dock, a huge container ship is waiting for me along with Jimmy.

    "Boss. Mr. Oxford."

    Jimmy calls me and greets Henry.

    Henry returns the greeting before saying his goodbye to me. He couldn''t stay long due to the amount of work he has to do.

    It takes a lot of time and energy to run a multi-billion dorpany.

    This is the very reason why I don''t want to run it myself. Let others do the hard work while I reap the benefits.

    "Jimmy. Jimmy. You aged badly."

    Iment before cing my hand on his shoulder.

    The greys in his hair vanishes along with wrinkles in his face. He is five years younger than just a second ago.

    "Thank you, boss."

    Jimmy utters.

    Although I can de-age him without touching him directly, I just want to show Jimmy that I am fair and friendly to those that is loyal to me.

    "Now, shall we go to the Bermuda Triangle? I heard a lot of ships and nes go missing there. It is a perfect ce for a hidden base."

    Jimmy nods and apanies to the massive container ships. So many equipment and materials are already loaded onto the ship.

    A dozen of people greets me when I enters the bridge.

    Like Jimmy, each person in the room is wearing a metallic ring with a special symbol on their middle finger.

    The ring vibrates when a certain phrase is pronounce, telling the owner that they are in presence of friends andrades.

    "Hail Hydra."

 Chapter 8: Island of Time

    There is actually nothing mysterious about the Bermuda Triangle. Most of it is fabricated myth thanked to decades of writers and authors ¨C just like the Arthurian Legends.

    However, whether there is something supernatural or not about the Bermuda Triangle isn''t the reason why I am heading there with a ship full of armed men and construction equipment.

    "Mr. Maxwell. We are approaching the designated position. There is nothing here, sir."

    The captain informs me and everyone after entering the mess hall. He actually came in person instead of sending someone to ry the message.

    This is because of me.

    Everyone fears me and respects me.

    Fears more than respects for some.

    "Nothing here is right now, but there was¡­ a long, long time ago."

    I response and continue to enjoy my lunch.

    The people at my table are all high-ranking members of Hydra.

    I handpick each one of them, verifying their identity, loyalty and capacity.

    None of them will be anyone important in history.

    This is because I don''t want to drastically alter the future events by poaching someone important. And just because these men are never mentioned in the history book, it does not they are not capable. It is because they weren''t lucky enough to get a chance.

    It is different now.

    They are part of Hydra, the organization that will change the world for the better.

    Their names will definitely enter the history book when everything is over.

    "My Lord Maxwell. I and many others still do not understand why we are here, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Could please enlighten us with your wisdom and knowledge?"

    I roll my eyes at thement.

    Some men coughs and snickers.

    "Don''t be a kiss ass, Thomas. Speak normally. This isn''t the 1910s. We are all friends here."

    Thomas became a 1 star General after the first World War.

    He lost his legs in the second one, forcing into an early retirement.

    He was a bitter old man, dying on a hospital bed when I found him.

    I gave him a new life and a new purpose with my power.

    Now, he is a man in his early twenties, with too much energy to spare.

    Half of the men here are like that.

    They are relics of the past, abandoned by the changing world.

    "You will know soon enough. Let''s us enjoy lunch."

    I add.

    "If only there are women here. My men are incredibly restless after so many days at sea."

    Another member of Hydra speaks up.

    His name is Johnathan. He also serve in the Great War in 1911, but was dishonorably discharge due to some unpleasantness.

    While a brilliant tactician, Johnathan is extremely racist. He didn''t have any problem with ck people like a lot of American.

    Jonathan actually has a huge problem with the German, the Russian, the Chinese, the Japanese ¨C well, actually anyone from country that isn''t America.

    I think a more correct term to describe him is extreme patriotism.

    Regardless, Johnathan follows order to the letter.

    He dly butcher anything and anyone without questions as long as I give themand.

    Woman and children didn''t matter to him ¨C hence that is the reason why he was discharged with his men.

    His men are not true member of Hydra. Therefore, they are not given rings. They are more like goons, following themand of their leader. I did return their youth to show that I am more than meet the eyes. It also pointless to have old men part of my army.

    Some of them did try to kill me to prove a point.

    Those were disposed off promptly.

    No one questions the Supreme Commander ¨C me.

    I like this kind of thinking amongst the high-ranking members of Hydra. And through them, their men will be kept in line.

    "Rx Johnathan. There will be women for you and your men to enjoy soon enough. Plenty of women, beauties of the ages. Just have some restrain with the piging and raping. We are civilized men after all."

    That earns augh from everyone.

    They all knows who they are ¨C war hounds.

    If they weren''t, they would not be here on the ship, armed and ready. They would be back onnd, working on one of my many projects like Henry and the others.

    The container ship eventually slow down to aplete stop.

    There is nothing but water in sight.

    "We are approximately 121km east of Bermuda."

    The captain informs me.

    I gesture my hand as acknowledgement, all while watching the waves crashing against the side of the boat.

    Entire Hydra watches me in silence.

    "Have the menbat ready. Tell them to kill anyone who resists, but give the chance for those who surrender. We do not need to ughter everyone. They are needed as a ve force."

    I give the order.

    The men are confused, but ry the order nheless.

    I close my eyes and concentrate. The sea in front of me ripple as a temporal bubble being to form. The bubble expanded, epassing arge area of the ocean. The ocean bes frozen.

    Time within the bubble hase to aplete stop.

    The men tense up after seeing what could describe as a supernatural event. They all know that it is me who cause this, but they could not get their mind around how.

    Time within the bubble begin to reverse. Days went by, months, then years and decades.

    Several thousands years ago, an ind existed here. It was swallow up by the ocean.

    Always believed to be a myth, it is actually a fact.

    With my power, I can pull it from the depth of the sea of time. It takes an enormous amount of concentration and effort, but it is very doable.

    The men widen their eyes when an ind shrouded in mist appears within the bubble. The time bubble pops, allowing the ind to merge into the new world, right before the ship.

    The huge ship that seemingly appears out of nowhere from their perspective causes the inhabitants to run back towards the city.

    Bells begin to ring, and men armed themselves with spears, swords and bronze armors.

    "People. There are people on the ind! What the hell are they wearing?"

    "This architecture¡­ are they Greek?"

    "Amazing. You are truly beyond human understanding, Mr. Maxwell."

    "Who are these people? They looks like they are from the Bronze Age."

    I smile.

    "That is correct, Doctor Mathew. These people are from the Bronze Age. They are not Greek. They are called Antian¡­ Antese¡­ Antan. Ah. They are people from Antis.

    This is the ind of Antis, the one that was swallowed up by the sea. Below the ind is a very active volcano. In about 20 to 30 years, the ind will be destroyed."

    Doctor Mathew couldn''t help but be bewildered. Much of the men are too.

    "In any case, they are all long dead from our point of view, so it ispletely natural for us to send them on their way. We also need the ind for our own end."

    I am such a sadistic person.

    Honestly, there is many ways to im the ind without bloodshed, but I want to see how bronze age tactics fare against somewhat modern warfare.

    It is actually a massacre.

    There is no contest, whatsoever.

    Bronze armors offer zero protection against hails of bullets, spewing out of a machine gun.

    And armed their spears and swords, the defenders of Antis have to get close enough to my men to use their weapons.

    "Magic! Great father Zeus, they are all sorcerers. What should we do, my King!?"

    A man wearing many ornament calls out from the top of the high wall. He is bowing to another person, who is the King.

    Behind the King are princes and princesses.

    Everyone is watching the approaching army, armed with what they assumes to be magical staffs.

    "Do not worry. Even with their magic, our great city wall have never been breech before. They are not even wearing any armors! How foolish! Prepare archers!"

    "Father. If they are truly sorcerers, we cannot stop them. Look at their mighty ship. It is made entirely of iron. We are only beginning to experiment with the iron yet they already using it to cover the hull of their ship."

    One of the princesses speaks up.

    Iron is not something new to the people of Antis. They have some understanding of it and learn that a harder form of iron can be smelted. This is what the modern world called steel.

    "Nonsense. They will fear us, like the Greek, the Persian, the¡­"

    It is thest thing the King has said as a sniper bullet takes his life.

    Terrifying screams erupts on top of the wall.

    "My Lord Maxwell, don''t you think it is a bit foolish to have themander of your army standing out in the open like that?"

    Johnathanments after putting down his sniper rifle.

    I justugh. He is brutally efficient. I like him.

    "And can anyone tell me what they are screaming about?"

    Johnathan shouts.

    "I believe they are speaking Latins. I think they are cursing us for using such a dishonorable mean to kill their King."

    One of the men speaks up.

    "Dishonorable? I will show them what dishonorable is!"

    "Remember not to destroy too much of the city in the piging and¡­ raping. I want to check if there is anything valuable to loot."

    I point out.

    Some of the Hydra members protest about the raping part, but I dismiss their protest.

    Honestly, if they don''t want to see that kind of thing happening on their watch then it is up to them to keep their men in line. I don''t want to do more work than I have to.

    The battle is over within a few hours.

    Their once mighty wall was breeched by deafening explosive.

    Their men surrenders soon after, shouting in Latins or Greeks.

    The people of Antis expects piging and raping to happen immediately once the army storms into the city.

    The piging did happen after all resistance ceased, but that is on my order.

    I want everything looted before I raze the city to the ground.

    The Pce at the center of the city is enormous. The royalty of Antis really likes to splurge and live in perfectfort.

    As I sit on the thronezily, several soldiers enters, dragging along what I assumes to be the people in charge of the city.

    They are ministers, noblemen, princes and princesses.

    "Lord Maxwell."

    One of the women calls out, causing me to raise my eyebrow.

    How she figures out my name is kind of beyond me.

    She pats herself in the chest before kowtowing in submission.

    I suppose that means she is pledging her allegiance to me.

    Smart girl.

    I point at her.

    "I call dip on her."

 Chapter 9: The Aftermath

    "I don''t think that is wise, Lord Maxwell. Procreating with these people."

    Doctor Mathew advises me ¨C he and every one who has some kind of medical knowledge.

    They are deadly concern about contracting some kind of long-dead diseases or illnesses. This is one of the main reasons why nobody has tried to have sex with all the beautifuldies of Antis.

    Everyone must be having blue balls right now.

    Poor them.

    As for me, I am immune to all kind of diseases thanked to the 31st century.

    The nanites in my body will automatically seek out and attack anything that is foreign, such as bacteria and viruses. They has reced my immune systempletely.

    "Thank you for your concern, but I will be fine. I am more worry about her contracting something from me instead. Anyway, I am going to find myself a nice bedroom to enjoy my time with a captive princess if you know what I mean."

    I get off the throne, readying to head out into the courtyard.

    "You and your men sort out this mess. Don''t let your guards down. Be careful of assassins. We are the invaders after all."

    I exit the room after I give them my warning.

    The young princess is forced to follow behind by a couple of men.

    She looks like she is trying to understand what everyone is saying. She is getting it very slowly.

    English is derived from Latin after all.

    Doctor Mathew and his associates will take care of the rest of the prisoners.

    It is either execution or interrogation and life-time imprisonment for them.

    The first option is more likely as thetter require pointless expenditure of man power, watching over them while the men could be doing something else more productive.

    It is just too dangerous to let these prisoners run free to sow discord and incite rebellion.

    Full pacification is require.

    This is not a conquest or annexation.

    It is more like an extermination or envement, but exactly either.

    Outside, people are standing in long queue with plenty of soldiers watching them.

    Women and children are in front of the line. They are given priority.

    The people of Antis are being screened for medical purposes. Each person is getting an inoction to prevent future outbreak of disease or gue. A barcode is stamp on their arm afterwards.

    These tasks are done mostly by grunts.

    Actual Hydra members have run off somewhere.

    They are likely taking the lead in the search and destroy with their personal guards.

    While the city is under the control of Hydra and its army, it didn''t mean that the poption have beenpletely subdue.

    We did kill a lot of their people when we storm the city due to one thing or another.

    That kind of grudge is longsting. It will fester into something problematic if left for too long.

    "Lord Maxwell."

    The soldiers salute me respectfully when I pass them by. They whistle at the beautiful princess in tow. She is one of the most beautiful women in the city.

    "Boss! Up here!"

    Jimmy shouts from one of the towers with a pair of binocr. I wonder what he is doing up there, but judging from every tower being upied by scouters in the vicinity, it is to map out the ind, marking out all possible escape routes.

    "By the way, what happen to the Queen?"

    Jimmy didn''t know. There are so many underground tunnels throughout the city, so it will take a while for the army to hunt down everyone.

    I nod in understanding. The Queen must have flee once the wall has been breeched. She will be found and taught a lesson soon.

    "Carry on then. I will see youter with the rest of the men for debriefing. Also, if you see anyone you like, you should take the initiative. Once the doctors give the go head, there will be anarchy."

    I leave it at that and head to the living quarters.

    The living quarters of the royal pce has thousands of rooms. Each room is decoratedvishly with finery, gold and jewelry. I choose one with afy looking bed.

    The bed didn''tpare to the modern bedding, but it will do for now.

    The princess is drag inside by the men while I take a seat. They unbind her and left afterwards. Chatting jokingly as they head out.

    "Selene. Have you finish decipher theirnguage? If so, load it into my memory."

    [Acknowledge. Antean Language Analyzed. Uploading Commencing.]

    I close my eyes and allow the new memory mapped itself into my brain. Thenguage is close to Latin, but it isn''t the same. It could be consider the forefather of Latin.

    I just call it Anteanese.

    When I open my eyes again, I test out thenguage. The wordse from my mouth fluently.

    "So, what is your name?"

    The princess is surprised.

    "You can speak my tongue, Lord Maxwell?"

    "I can speak manynguages. I just prefer not to. You did not answer my question, Ambrosia. The next time you do not, you will learn the harsh reality of a ve."

    Ambrosia bes dreadful. She kowtows once again.

    "Tell me a bit about yourself. I like to know a bit about everyone I talk to. Be grateful that I am taking the time to talk to you, or you would have joined your brothers and sisters in whatever awaiting them. Your mother will suffer the same fate should I don''t like what I am hearing."

    Ambrosia answers the question directly. She is the 7th daughter of the King, his most favorite daughter until his untimely death at the hand of Johnathan. This is because her mother is the current reigning Queen.

    Due to the machination of the court, Ambrosia is fairly quick-witted. She has to be or she would suffer greatly at the hands of her siblings, who is always scheming and vying for powers. Her greatest rival is the fourth prince. The fourth prince would be the new King if we had not invaded and basically destroyed their country.

    I did look into the near future to see if Ambrosia is capable or not. She is very capable. Capable enough to cause a lot of betrayals amongst my men.

    Her hatred for the destruction of her country runs deep.

    Yeah ¨C the bitch must die.

    Schemes of beauties is something I will not allow in Hydra.

    However, that didn''t mean I couldn''t enjoy her body.

    Her skin is very smooth and lovely. The fragrant she exhumes is very alluring. And if I didn''t know what a scheming bitch she was, I would have definitely fall for her.

    Probably not since I am somewhat of a sociopath, but I would have her in a position of power at least.

    Ambrosia moans erotically on all fours when I take her hard from behind.

    Her cunt is extremely tight, sheathing my cock as I pound her with reckless abandonment.

    I had expect blood due to her age, but I guess she wasn''t a virgin. She is not even adult yet and already experience the pleasure of men. This is the standard of the ancient world.

    More than that, sex is a weapon ¨C a deadly weapon.

    My hand wraps itself around her beautiful long hairs, turning it into the reins. With the rein, I pull her head back, arching her body as I impale her slender body with my steel pool. She takes it all and even reciprocates, matching my movement.

    "Watch your country burns, my dear Ambrosia. A new one shall rise in its ce."

    I whisper to her while her legs wrapped around my waist. With a handful of her soft ass on each hand, I hammer her pussy while looking out at the city beyond the window.

    Explosion erupts, turning several buildings into rumbles.

    Gun fires follows, executing anyone who resisted or even has any thought of rebellion. Several peoples are being drag into the courtyard, including one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.

    "It seems that your mother will join you soon, Ambrosia. Don''t you like that?"

    "Yes, my lord. I am yours, body, heart and soul. My mother will be as well."

    Ambrosia responses, panting. She keeps on saying sweet words andpliments while she is thinking about how to seize power. Her voice is like music to my ears, and I can''t wait to see the expression of utter hopelessness on her face.

    With the tingling in my balls, I unceremoniously bottom out inside her snatch and let me seeds fill her being.

    Ambrosia gasps. Her hands grip my shoulder tightly for support as I unload thick and rich baby batter below.

    My hips buckles lightly, pumping out everything in absolute delight. Her cunt continues to milk me in an effort to empty my balls. She can try since I can cum a lot.

    I held Ambrosia up in that position until cum begins to run down my balls, dripping on the carpet floor due to overflowing.

    When that happens, I retreat from the window and drop back onto the bed.

    Ambrosia cleans my still hardened cock with her mouth as the night bes eerily silence.

    Everyone in the city should be ounted for by now.

    I enjoy her throat before finally heading back out into the courtyard. Most of the higher-ups are there, arguing about what to do with all the undesirable. As much as it is necessary, not everyone can be a cold blooded murderer.

    Ambrosia follows me behind without any need for guards. She is wearing an almost see-through night gown, giving every men a look of bewilderment.

    "Lord Maxwell."

    "Master Maxwell."

    "Boss."

    "My Lord Maxwell."

    "Mr. Maxwell."

    Everyone addresses me in their own ways.

    I quickly learn about the situation from Jimmy and Doctor Mathew. Most of the nobilities have been taken care of. Their bodies are disposed off since hanging on the wall as a warning like General Thomas wanted will cause unwanted outbreak of diseases.

    I agree with Doctor Mathew.

    Johnathan reports that he "idently" copses the underground tunnel after capturing the Queen, killing everyone inside. A lot of building copses due to the ground caving in. None of his men were killed in the destruction of the tunnels or the aftermath, though.

    "Very efficient Johnathan. Everyone should learn something from him. We are not in the business of wasting value times and energy. Kill anyone you deem too troublesome. But next time, give everyone a warning first. Everyone is in this together.

    Backstabbing each other will only detrimental to Hydra as a whole."

    Ipliment and chastise Johnathan. I listen to everyone, agreeing or disagreeing with their methods or suggestions.

    Some rebuttals did happen, but with me knowing exactly what will happen in the future breaks any arguments.

    "Another example is the beautiful princess behind me. Don''t be fool by her na?ve appearance. She is a scheming bitch just like her mother, the Queen. Killing them both seem like a waste, especially when the men are restless after a hard day work."

    I point out before snapping my fingers.

    Several men surround Ambrosia and force her onto her knees.

    The look of utter fear sters on her face.

    "No. My Lord? My Lord?"

    I smile and tell Ambrosia exactly what will happen to her, her mother and anyone who dare to scheme against Hydra and cause disunity. As a female, she will be part of the pleasure orfort corps, spending the rest of her days servicing men.

    As for male, they entire life is taken away from them ¨C literally. Seeing her brothers turn into bony old man terrifies her to no end. Years of their life were gone in an instant.

    No one defies my orders due to fear.

    Doctor Mathew did suggest that we should treat the condemned females as humanely as possible.

    They are human being after all, and the purpose of Hydra is to bring humanity to greatness. Beginning with an act of cruelty is against what we are standing for.

    "All empire are build upon the suffering and death of countless others. How do you think America gets to where it is today? Did they join hands and sings peaceful songs with the Indians? The mean doesn''t matter. Only the ends is. If we didn''t drops those atomic bombs on Japan, do you really think that they would ept their defeat like that?"

    Thomas speaks up before I did. A lot of members put in their opinions, arguing for or against.

    "Enough. We willpromise since we don''t have time for this. Prepare the equipment and ready for excavation tomorrow. Check thework to see what each of you have to do."

    With that, everyone ce their palm against their temple, essing the Hydra Network.

 Chapter 10: Interesting News

    All Hydra members and their underlings go to work, following the meticulous ns that I have created and distributed via the Hydra Network.

    Everyone has their own tasks and timeline to follow.

    It is to stop getting in each other''s way.

    For example, Doctor Mathew and his associates ensure the health and wellbeing of everyone on the ind, including the native poption. He has the highest authority to things that are medical rted.

    Jimmy and his men police the inhabitants on the ind, but only for the people of Antis and their problems, which is often due to the constant change of policy andw by those that are in charge of such things.

    Jimmy does not have the authority to tell the army and their leaders what to do, but it is unnecessary for him to.

    As the army isposed of highly disciplined men who had fought through many deadly battles, there is no problem on their side.

    Most of them are not even interested in mingling with the natives, so they stay in their own barracks and training grounds outside the city when working hours are over.

    The city itself is being remodelled rapidly.

    Buildings are destroyed and rebuild to 21st century standard.

    I only allowed technical information up to the end of 21st century and the beginning of 22nd century to be essed via the Hydra Network.

    Even so, the construction and manufacturing methods that Hydra members has ess to is advance beyond anything found in the 1960s.

    There are some suggestions here and there to make things more efficient.

    I ept the advices as long as it is logical and reasonable.

    I like that the members of Hydra are putting up their own opinions and suggestions.

    There is no point of having mindless drones as member of Hydra.

    Everyone who has a ring must be able to think independently on their own.

    It is to ensure that Hydra will continue to function if something happened to the chain ofmand.

    Honestly, I don''t think I will just disappear without leaving a notice or message behind, but who really knows.

    Even I don''t know since the future is constantly changing due to my current actions.

    Keep track of everything gives me a headache, especially when anything that can happen will happen due to the multiverse theory.

    Within months, the entire ind of Antis is transformed. Thanks to my power of Time Maniption, years of progress is done within a matter of weeks.

    Foods is never a problem when the field can be ready for harvest within seconds.

    Container shipse by to Antis every single day, unloading raw materials as well as people that I recruited.

    Families of Hydra members and their underlings is also allowed to join their husband. It turns Antis into an actual country.

    Some unauthorized ships that have found their way to the ind of Antis are being told to leave. If they resisted, they are disposed of with extreme prejudice.

    Despite that, news of Antis found far east of Bermuda soon spreads to the world.

    However, heavily armed men and coastal gun emcements dissuade anyone froming close to investigate.

    This is especially true when a battleship from Soviet Union got sunk more than a hundred kilometers from the ind by the coastal gun batteries.

    The ship and its hundreds crewmen were warned repeatedly on their approach, but they have chosen to ignore the warnings.

    A single shell is enough to turn the massive USSR battleship into history.

    The extreme range and deadliness of the coastal guns on such a small nation ind rmed the world superpowers.

    They would spend the next few decades to investigate.

    Simr to Chrono Holdings that has its tentacles into the Economic Sector, Hydra organization will only concern itself with the Technology Sector, especially military technology.

    However, unlike Chrono Holdings, Hydra will maintain its own private army. A standing army is an absolute must for take over countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq when the timees.

    For that, Hydra also needs an expandable base, preferably one that ispletely hidden from view.

    I had prefer the Hydra Headquarter to be in orbit or on the moon, but sadly, I currently don''t have the technological mean for that yet.

    I can only choose between underwater or underground.

    Contrast to a subterranean base, an underwater base allows for rapid expansion.

    Water, is after all, softer than dirt and rocks. It also doesn''t cause carve in like Jonathan demonstrates in the city of Antis.

    The ocean allows Hydra to test its weapons without any repercussion.

    The ocean also protect the base from nuclear strikes that will probablye with time and infamy.

    Antis is merely a staging ground for the construction of the Hydra HQ. It is also chosen because of the geothermal vent deep below the crust, right beneath the city.

    Thermal energy is the most renewable energy avable on the.

    It is also easy to ess and harvest if you knows the mean to.

    A lot of money and time when into research of heat transference and conversion in the future. This is because the sun is the most powerful energy source of all.

    Ster matters is drained from the sun to fuel many constructions in space like a Dyson swarm.

    The buster railgun that destroys Mars is built entirely from matters extracted from the sun itself.

    Unfortunately, thermal energy extracts from volcanic veins and magma chambers doesn''t have the same great output like extracting directly from the sun itself, but it is sufficient until a fusion reactores online.

    I will build other type of bases when I have the technology to do so.

    Maybe the first Shield HQ will be in orbit?

    What does Shield do, exactly?

    Just like its name ¨C Strategic Homeworld Intervention Enforcement and Logistic Division ¨C it deals with intervention, enforcement and logistics. It is more logistic at the moment as thepany takes care of all my constructions and manufacturing needs.

    Note that Shield stands for Homeworld rather than Homnd.

    Earth is and always will be the cradle of humanity.

    Shield will find its way into other sector eventually, such as security and information.

    Chrono Holdings already paves its way into Banking Sector after their sess in the stock market.

    With so much money at is disposal, it is foolish not to. Besides, its sess has cause a lot of usation about insider trading and monopoly.

    Problematic when the US Government got involved, but it is nothing Henry couldn''t deal with by himself via bribing, connections and favors. These kind of dealings wille back to bite him in the asster, but it won''t be for many more years.

    I will sort that out when it is time.

    There are also other organizations that I am setting up in 1955 via Chrono Holdings.

    Each of thesepanies will dominate a particr sector such as the Entertainment, Pharmaceutical, Agriculture, Energy, and Electronic Sector.

    Pharmaceutical is next due to me needing a way to exin why I am forever young and healthy.

    A healthpany also gives me the means to distribute healthcare products to everyone, especially those that work for me and sacrifice for the cause.

    Having perfect health and longevity is the dream of many people in America and the world, so I named the new healthpany as Infinite Health with a snake biting its own tail, forming an infinity symbol.

    It is being fully funded by Chrono Holdings like every other divisions.

    At least until Infinite Health bes profitable.

    Being funded by Chrono Holdings isn''t a bad thing. It exins why Chrono Holdings controls so many otherpanies.

    Of course, onlypanies that directly under my control are important.

    Since I am not interested in running a healthpany, a close friend of Doctor Mathew takes charge instead.

    That person knows many health professionals and experts in this field, so he is trying to recruit them at the moment.

    Money isn''t a problem.

    As for me, I am more interest in the Entertainment Sector. This includes movies, music, literatures and games.

    I have a lot of information on the entertainment industry in my personal repository.

    The virtual intelligence, Selene will help me sort out all the information, allowing me to dominate the Entertainment Industry.

    With everything is in ce, I am preparing to take the lead of a newpany in the 1990.

    It is called Terra Entertainment, sound like terror.

    Why did I choose that time instead of much earlier? It is because a lot of things are ready by then.

    It is also because I somewhat miss living in the 21st century. Jumping to the 1990 to start thepany gives me a good 10 years of preparation.

    Furthermore, being the King of Hollywood doesn''t sound so bad.

    However, before I left this time and space, someone calls out.

    "Lord Maxwell! Lord Maxwell! I think we have a problem."

    The man takes a deep breath before speaking up again.

    "Princess¡­ I mean Ambrosia just have a baby."

    Those that are part offort corps are not being treated too harshly despite their punishment. Most men are very gentle lover. They actually pay the girls for their time.

    Some men didn''t even want sex. They just want someone to talk to.

    "Okay. What that has to do with me?"

    "Well. It''s yours, sir. At least the good doctor said so."

    I froze up at the news.

 Chapter 11: A Bit of Mercy

    I realize I had just fucked up.

    When there are so many people to keep track of, someone bounds to slip through the crack.

    Even with my godlike power, I am not a God, who is Omni-sentience.

    I even lost track of time.

    Almost 10 months have passed since I bang the princess. But in reality, it is about a few weeks in total for me.

    I didn''t really live the full 10 months on the ind of Antis.

    Why would I when I could skip ahead in time, dropping in when things require my attention?

    I understand that it will get progressively harder to keep everything under my absolute control.

    More so when I expand my operations, controlling morepanies and enlisting more people.

    There are so many things happening simultaneously already.

    I am not even sure what Henry is doing at this very moment.

    In fact, I don''t fully understand the finer inner workings of Chrono Holdings.

    Thankfully, the virtual intelligence Selene does, so I don''t have to sit down and study the legal aspects of running a massive corporation.

    Honestly, the best I could do is making sure every high-ranking members in my organizations remainpletely loyal to me and to the cause.

    In turn, the members keep their men and subordinates in line.

    There are just too many underlings and goons to keep track of. I don''t even know who some of them are, like the man who is standing in front of me right now.

    I could learn his name by asking him then jump back in time to make it appears that I know everything from the beginning. It will give him the impression that he can hide nothing from me.

    I have to keep up the impression.

    I am such a faker.

    "I see. Carry on, Jamus."

    I teleport to where Doctor Mathew is.

    The man is startled since I just appear out of thin air.

    "I will never get use to that. Ahem. Lord Maxwell. I assume you are here because of Ambrosia."

    "You assume correctly. How did you know the child is mine?"

    Doctor Mathew exins all the test he has done. It is without a doubt that the newborn child is mine due to the strange gic marker. He then take me to see the former princess. She is in intensive care due to giving birth to my child.

    If Ambrosia gave birth back in the ancient world, she would have died young due to theck of medical care. Politically, there is no doubt that as a princess, she will have to get married and give birth.

    I wonder whether being in this time and space is lucky or unlucky for her.

    Honestly, no one really treats her badly despite her current status. Her mother is the same. Losing all their power and wealth did make them see the world in a different light. They are more humbled and considerate than before.

    However, not all of their newfound behavior is without its hidden agenda.

    "Lord Maxwell¡­"

    Ambrosia utters and tries to get off the bed to pay me respect.

    The nurses stop her since her body is far too weak.

    "I really underestimate you, my dear princess. To keep the pregnancy a secret for this long. What do you truly hope to gain from this?"

    I question. I know that many men has taken her since I condemned her and her mother to a lifetime of servitude. She and her mother are too beautiful to be left alone.

    Ambrosia did stop when procreation bes too dangerous for the baby.

    "I only wish to serve you, Lord Maxwell. Please allow me to, I beg of you. I have never felt this way all my life. I am so happy that I was able to give birth to your child. My only regret is that the child is not the heir you wanted."

    Ambrosia pleads, tearfully. She speaks in perfect English. It is very impressive considering less than a year has passed for her.

    Unfortunately, I am not a sucker for sweet words.

    I look into the future once more, but it remains unchanging. Due to the way she was raised all her life by that mother of hers, she will not be able stop herself from grabbing powers when it presents itself.

    This will cause great disharmony between various factions within my organizations.

    I cannot allow her to corrupt the organizations that I taxingly build from the ground up.

    "I believe that there is some truth to those words. However, you are wrong about me wanting an heir. I don''t need a heir. And I will love and care for any of my offspring regardless of gender. Unfortunately, I cannot have you by my side as you are right now."

    I tell her and look at the baby girl. The child will grow up to be like her mother, beautiful, cunning and extremely deadly ¨C something that I will not allow to happen.

    "Antigone. It is a beautiful name."

    Iment, causing Ambrosia to pause. It is the name that she has just thought up a moment ago, and she did not tell anyone about it.

    I lean towards the sleeping baby and touch her tiny fingers. The baby squirms a little and continues to sleep.

    "Antigone. Will you inherit my power as well?"

    Doctor Mathew did found a gic marker when he examines the newborn. However, this marker is not in rtion to my power. It was given to me when I was a baby back in the 31st century. The marker contains my identity, which passes to my children in order to form a linage.

    I allow Antigone, whom I nickname as Anti, to be by Ambrosia''s side for several months. It is too cruel to take the baby from her just after she gave birth.

    I guess I am not aplete bastards after all.

    There are some lines that I will not crossed.

    "Lord Maxwell? Why? Please tell me why? I have done everything you ask. Please don''t take her from me."

    Ambrosia pleads when I decide to take my daughter into the future.

    The 3 month old baby cooed in my arms and looking up at me with her bright violet eyes. She inherits those mesmerizing eyes from her mother.

    "I cannot allow my daughter to be raised by you, my dear princess. And I cannot allow you to remain as you are either. I am merciful. I will allow you to serve me and the cause, just not this life."

    I announce.

    "I don''t understand¡­? Am I to be executed?"

    Ambrosia utters. She feels so powerless.

    "No. I will not kill the mother of my child. You will be reborn and given a second chance. I rarely reverse a person''s memory because it makes who they are. But for you, I will make an exception. Please make your peace with your mother.

    You will not remember her or anyone for that matter once I am done."

    Regardless of whatever Ambrosia says, I have already make up my mind.

    I y with my daughter while Ambrosia makes her peace with her mother.

    I never learned the name of the former Queen of Antis. Her beauty lost its charms when I be fully aware what kind of person she is.

    I did have some devious thought about fucking both mother and daughter together, letting them share my cock, but I didn''t carry out my wish.

    Good thing I didn''t or I would have been double shock.

    "Selene. Can you somehow disable my sperms. I don''t want to father any more unwanted child. I still want to enjoy having sex though."

    [Acknowledge, Operator.]

    I should have done that in the beginning, before I had returned to the past.

    It must have slipped off my mind since I have a lot of other priority.

    It is also because no one get pregnant in the 31st century unless they wanted to due to the nanites in their body.

    Once Ambrosia epts her fate, I give her a fewst words before activating my power.

    As all the high-ranking members of Hydra watch on, Ambrosia slowly reverts into a child and then into the newborn baby.

    Unlike many times I had de-aged someone before, I did not only manipte the time of her body, but also the time of her mind.

    This means everything she has ever known and experienced has been erased.

    She is just a newborn child now.

    "Doctor Mathew. I believe that you and your associates are the only people who didn''t try to fuck her and her mother."

    That earns someughs and coughs. They couldn''t help it since they are all men.

    I am probably a bit biased towards women.

    "Raise Ambrosia as one of your own. Instill in her the values of loyalty and leadership. She will be a pir of Hydra like she always wanted. She will live and die for Hydra. As for her mother, the woman does not need to know what happen. Just make up some usible lies."

    Doctor Mathew epts the task. He cradles the newborn in his arms. He is not married, and he didn''t think he would ever be.

    Once my job is done, I address everyone in the room.

    "As you all are, gentlemen. Everything you need to know is within the Hydra Network. Follow the n and you will not failed. I will drop by every now and then to see your progress. Do not disappoint me and the cause. Never forget, we stand together as one, ensuring the supremacy of the human race for now and all times.

    Hail Hydra!"

    "Hail Hydra!"

    "Hail Hydra!"

    "Hail Hydra!"

    With that, I disappear with my daughter, Antigone.

 Chapter 12: Single Parenting

    There is actually another reason to why I have chosen to start my entrepreneurship in the year 1990 instead of theter years, like the year 2000 for example.

    "Wow! What a cute baby. Is she your daughter? What is her name, mister? Where is her mother?"

    A little girl exims as she leans in to check and caress my daughter. I wouldn''t allow anyone to touch my daughter, but she is an exception.

    Without her, I suppose I wouldn''t be here.

    Her name is Stephanie.

    She is about 8 years old, give or take.

    By my calction, Stephanie would be about 18 when she got knocked up by her high school boyfriend and give birth a yearter.

    Therefore, jumping directly to the year 2000 would force me to experience a new kind of horror known as actual rebirth!

    This is because if there is another me exists in the same timeframe, regardless of whether I wanted to or not, I will merge with my other self to prevent a paradox.

    I don''t even know what happen to Antigone if I merge with my fetus self.

    Thinking about being conscious and stuck inside a womb makes me a bit nauseous.

    "Yes, she is. Her name is Antigone or Anti. Her mother is¡­ unfortunately dead."

    I have no love for Ambrosia.

    The number of times I havee face to face with former princess and talk to her like a person is less than the number of fingers on one hand.

    Some people would argue that being the mother of my child is enough to qualify her as my wife or at least should has a ce in my heart.

    They are wrong.

    I care nothing for the former princess of Antis. If I did, I wouldn''t have condemned her to a lifetime of debauchery for what she will do in her future.

    Is prosecuting someone for crimes they have notmitted yet moral? Probably not.

    Do I care? Hell no.

    Anyone who even think about screwing with me will be punished let alone have the desire to act upon it. That said, I honestly wouldn''t spend my time and energy hunting down all the would-be betrayers just because of my principle.

    There wouldn''t be enough time in the world for that.

    Anyway, as for Ambrosia, Ipare her to the numerous birthing machine exists in the 31st century.

    Nobody is their right mind would be pregnant in the future for one reason or another. If anyone wanted a child, they simply go to a fertility or medical clinic, selecting sperm or egg with all the traits they wanted and then go on with their days for about 9 months.

    The fetus will be grown in a tank, overseen by a restless Cybeic entity or a virtual intelligence until it is fully grown and brought into the world.

    Natural births are very rare in the future.

    "Oh. I''m sorry mister. My mother is also dead. She passes away when I was born. Ah. I have forgotten to tell you my name.

    I''m Stephanie. Stephanie Connors. What is yours?"

    "Connors. Just like in the Terminator. I''m Maximilien Maxwell. You can call me Max."

    I smile faintly at the little girl, who is ying peekaboo with her granddaughter.

    Antigone titters rather joyously, jerking her arms and legs.

    This is the first time my daughter saw her grandmother and my mother, Stephanie.

    As I recall, my mother is adopted by her current family.

    When my grandmother passes away, my husband gave my mother up for adoption before drowning his sorrows in alcohols. He died shortly after due to intoxication.

    It is a tragic story, but I wouldn''t put an effort to bring a happy ending for both my grandparents. Their story already concluded, bringing them back will not do anyone any good.

    I chat with my mother until my step-grandmother calls her inside from the house across the street.

    Stephanie says her goodbye to Antigone and waves to me as she runs to her mother. I give the woman a smile before continuing my leisure walk with my daughter towards the park.

    When it is almost lunch time, so I find a bench in the shade.

    After sitting down, I open the pouch under the trolley and search for a can of baby food ¨C the one that Antigone seems to love. She ps her hands when I jiggle the can in front of her.

    I honestly have never thought of being a father, but I didn''t mind it.

    The can warms up in my hand as I transfer heat into it.

    This is one of my augmented ability. I practice it along with other abilities whenever possible. However, like the crazy doctor from 31st century has said, it takes a lot of effort to be adept.

    Once the food is ready, I start to search for a can opener.

    One is offered to me by a man almost in in 70s.

    "Thanks Henry. You look great."

    I ept the tool from Henry and use it to open the can.

    As I did, I didn''t pay any mind to the security detail from Shield Security, hiding in in sight.

    While the goons have no idea who I exactly am, they do know that I am a close friend of Henry Oxford, the head of Oxford Enterprise.

    Henry is still the Chairman of Chrono Holdings, but most of the operation is being overseen by his son, Harry Oxford.

    "So are you, Mr. Maxwell. You haven''t aged a single day. You look exactly the same the first time I met you all those years ago. Has it been 40 years, already?"

    "Yes. And you age every single day of those 40 years. It is toote to return your youth since you are in the mind of the public. But don''t worry. You will live for a long time. It won''t be long until Infinite Health starts their hostile takeover.

    There will be chaos in the stock market when that happens."

    "I don''t mind the appearance, Mr. Maxwell. It makes me wiser and more experience. People doesn''t give you any consideration when you are looking too young."

    Henry gives his warning subtly. He then sits down next to me as I taste the baby food.

    [Analyzing. No contamination found.]

    Once Selene has done that, I feed a spoon to my daughter.

    "This folder contains all the items you have requested Mr. Maxwell. It also contains all the information you will need. I have registered Terra Entertainment and all its subsidiaries and holdings under your name. It is based in Los Angeles. The building is already refurbished with employees waiting for your orders."

    Henry tells me as he ces a folder onto the bench. He also informs me about everything happening in the organizations.

    It appears that Antis has bes a sensation in the world stage due to the glimpse of its technology via satellite photos. Even with improved naval warfare by the two superpowers, the United States and USSR, anyone tries to enter the water surrounding the ind nation will be met with deadly forces.

    The costal guns have been reced withser batteries more than a decade ago. Dodging lightspeed shell is quite impossible, thus that is why forcefield and energy shield technology was invented in the 23rd century.

    The next step is sma-based weaponry, which burns through shield like they were made of paper.

    I have not released that technical information into Hydra Network yet, but the men and women of the organizations are already experimenting with such technology.

    They are still years away from having a prototype though.

    As for Antis itself, Hydra transforms the entire ind into a country with towering skyscrapers and hover cars. Not flying cars, but hovering cars. They glide frictionless on maic roads. It is only one of many advance technologies that exists on the ind.

    Due to this, the world leaders have tries to invite a delegate from Antis to the United Nations again and again. We refuse them every time, but it is probably time to enter the world stage.

    I nod as I listen to Henry while feeding my daughter. Once the girl has enough, I hand the can to Henry and sing and rock her to sleep.

    Henry checks the Heinzbelling as he waits in silence for about half an hour.

    "Buy out Heinz and find out who responsible for the food contamination a week ago. I want to have a long chat to the person who made my daughter crying all night."

 Chapter 13: Protective Nature

    Heinz is an American food processingpany based in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

    It was founded in the 1870s by Henry John Heinz.

    Even with its current growth, returning almost 30% annually, buying out thepany shouldn''t be all that difficult, considering the total capitals of Chrono Holdings.

    In fact, Chrono Holdings controls about 23% of Heinz. It could have been more, but the foodpany is on the list of low priority, unlike Microsoft and Apple.

    Heinz onlyes into attention because Antigone seems to love the food thepany produces.

    As that is the case, I will take control of thepany to ensure the food Antigone loves will always be avable.

    Alright, I suppose I might be spoiling her a little.

    Regardless, I still need a foodpany to dominate the Agriculture Sector.

    Heinz will do.

    I recall that Heinz will merge with Kraft Foods in the future, forming Kraft Heinz.

    Selene informs me that it is around 2015 ¨C a long, long way away.

    It might not even happen since the future will drastically change from now on, especially when Antis starts to sell its technology to the highest bidder ¨C Chrono Holdings.

    "Buy out Kraft Foods too and merge the twopanies into one, call it Kraft Heinz Incorporated."

    Henry furrows his brows at my order.

    Heinz is multi-billion dors food processingpany with a long history. Kraft is also one. To buy out such apany will cause a massive wave in the food industry. And buying out two at the same time will cause a tsunami.

    "Is that wise, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Henry rys what he was thinking. If anyone take notice of us two from far away, it looks like he is my mentor, giving me advice.

    This is due to my appearance.

    I am a young man in his twenties.

    But looks can be deceiving.

    "It will not be a problem. Shall we have a drink to go with those as well?"

    I ask, thinking about buying out the Coca-Cpany as well.

    But in the end, I decide against it. Too many mergers at the same times will only cause chaos.

    Henry and I talk about personal things for the rest of afternoon. He isn''t just my employee. He can be considered a friend, and it has been years since west catch up.

    "Enjoy your time in Hollywood, Mr. Maxwell. It has change greatly since the time my wife was there, but you will find it out yourself. I must be going now. The paparazzies will be here soon. I don''t want them to be a bother to you."

    I nod and allow him to leave.

    As for his wife, she is Marilyn Monroe.

    She didn''t die like she supposes to in 1962, but she did give up the mour of being a movie star. Too much under the table dealings to her liking.

    She couldn''t recall all the men that she had to sleep with in order to advance her career.

    Henry tells me all about it. The dark side of Hollywood.

    I wonder how dark it truly is.

    While Antigone taking her afternoon nap quietly, I have a look into the folder Henry has left for me.

    It contains a lot of my personal information, including my passport.

    The same with my daughter.

    The information is all fabricated of course.

    I wasn''t born in 1970, and my daughter wasn''t born to Margaret Maxwell, who died in childbirth.

    Why is it always during childbirth?

    Stop killing every female member of my bloodline through childbirth!

    I realize Ambrosia would have also die during childbirth if I wasn''t there.

    Is there some kind of curse going on?

    Ahem.

    My nonexistence wife apparently has a grave in the cemetery close by, so I suppose I will have to pay her a visit one day.

    It won''t be weird at all.

    The details of mypany, Terra Entertainment, is also in the folder.

    All its holdings and subsidiaries are also included in the information.

    Out of all the subsidiaries avable, I am currently interested in Terra Literature as I decided to go into book publishing first.

    Selene has already prepared all the necessary digital books in my repository, indexed them ording to poprity and year published.

    These digital books, also known as ebooks, are exact copies from the original work, word for word.

    All I need to do is to print and distribute them for the masses.

    It seems simple enough.

    I guess I will get started ¨C right after Antigone wakes up.

    No one interrupts her sleep, including me. It will be an earful if I do.

    There is no need to hurry.

    Jurassic Park isn''t going to be published for more than 10 months.

    I just need to publish the novel before Michael Crichton does. He will probably sue me for it since he should have most of it written down already.

    I wee him to try. The publicity will propel mypany into established circle.

    And once I win the court case against Michael Crichton, I will publish Harry Potter next and then Game of Thrones.

    J. K. Rowling and George R. R. Martin should be working their respective book right about now. It will be more than a year until they can publish their work, so I have plenty of time.

    I can''t wait to see the look on their face when they learn about my giarism.

    Fun time ahead.

    Antigone sleeps untilte evening. She wakes up when she gets hungry again.

    I feed her once more and then ready to head home.

    The house I had brought when I first arrived in 1990 is situated next to my mother''s ce. I move into once Hydra did a few necessary upgrades.

    My mother is so friendly with me because I am her neighbor. She often sees me taking Antigone for a stroll. It was only today that shees and talks to me personally.

    I am nning to have her babysit Antigone while I go deal with business matter.

    Is it wrong to have 8 years old grandmother watching her grandchild?

    Well, that sounds wrong.

    Anyway, it should be fine since the entire house is full of bugs and cameras, recording everything.

    Selene is constantly monitoring the feeds, so I will know exactly if anything happens to my daughter.

    In addition to that, Hydra Intelligence is also babysitting my daughter.

    Shield Intelligence as well.

    If someone is dumb enough to break into my home for whatever reason, I expect a couple of heavily armed assault teams to storm the ce within a minute.

    A dozen of Hydra sleeper agents is also scattered throughout the neighborhood, behaving like normal citizen.

    I didn''t notice any of my neighbors acting out of ordinary, so I guess these sleeper agents are good at blending in.

    Shield tells me that there are some Russian and Chinese spies mingled in my neighborhood. They also ask whether I want them to have an unfortunate ident.

    I decide to leave those spies alone as killing them will only have them reces with more.

    Shield Intelligence doesn''t use sleeper agents as it is not within their doctrine, but they have hidden cameras everywhere, watching everyone like Big Brother.

    Some may say all of that is an overkill and I am being overprotective.

    I say it is not enough. I probably need to install a shield generator ¨C one powerful enough to withstand a nuclear strike.

    I will get to it once I releases more technical information into the Hydra Network. Shield Generator is 24th century technology.

    I put Antigone to sleep when I return home. She seems to love my crappy singings.

    Or maybe it is because my singing sucks that she falls asleep.

    Eh¡­?

    In any case, I did my job as a father. This is more than what my dad did when he had to look after me by himself.

    I kiss Antigone on the forehead and make sure the nkets cover herpletely before leaving the room.

    Once outside the room, I activate the perimeter security by locking the door with a biometric sensor.

    Laser grid buzzes inside the wall due to power surge before bing silence.

    The fusion reactor in the basement provide theser grid with enough power that it will dice anything that try to breech into the room.

    Maybe it is a bit overkill.

    Oh well.

    I teleport away to Hollywood after that.

    It is time to see what Hollywood of 1990 is really like.

 Chapter 14: Hollywood 1990

    Hollywood in the 1990 is exactly what I had imagined it.

    Theatres are everywhere with tons of people hanging nearby.

    Posters and banners of uing films are on the corner of every street and every road.

    The film industry is what has made Hollywood it is today and in the future, so it is the most poprized and advertised form of entertainment.

    It is also the one of the most profitable industry in the 21st century.

    I spend all evening, touring Hollywood and checking out ces, especially the Walk of Fame.

    This is actually my first time here in Hollywood, so it is a great experience.

    I take the time to check out every name on the Walk of Fame and what their contributions are to the entertainment industry.

    People are bumping into me without apologising, but I didn''t care.

    I was too focused on my task, recording what I see through my eyes.

    In truth, I didn''t care much for celebrities and where they live like so many tourists do. This is because there are so many celebrities by the time I was 18 that it lost much of its mour.

    In 2019, anyone with a camera can be a celebrity thanks to the age of the Inte.

    By the 23rd century, no body care for celebrities anymore.

    This is because all form of entertainment can be digitally generated to perfection.

    Want to see your favourite celebrity doing anything you want in a movie?

    You can create that scene with a push of a button. You can even take part of the scene yourself, ying the opposing actor or actresses to the celebrity.

    An entire movie can be generated from scratch within minutes.

    Most people uses this to basically have sex or act out their fantasy with their favourite celebrity.

    It is called deep immersion ¨C a form of virtual reality (VR).

    Since deep immersion simtes all senses, most people begins to live their entire life in a virtual world, where they are basically gods.

    An entire world with all of its inhabitants can be simted by a personalputer.

    Furthermore, it is very hard to be a celebrity in the entertainment industry in the future.

    This is because the moment you sing a song or act in a movie, your career is basically over.

    An artificial intelligence can mimic your voice or your bodynguage perfectly, meaning it can be you without all the disadvantageous of being human like sleep or exhaustion or mood swings.

    It doesn''t need to be paid either.

    Not only that, cloning technology and neural interface allows many creeps in their mother''s basement to have a harem of celebrity fuck toys.

    Celebrity clones are created and killed at a psychopath pleasure.

    Does a clone has any human rights?

    That is debatable, especially on the religious side of the matter.

    In the end, a soul is immortal and indivisible. It cannot be created or destroyed by anyone other than God.

    This is the stance by the Church.

    Therefore, clones are not consider as human.

    They are considered as property, belonging to the person that the original gic materiale from.

    But that is very hard to enforced.

    After so many legal battles, the census is what you do in your own home is your business. It is just not possible to stop people from abusing cloning technology for their own entertainment, especially when in doing so infringes on an individual''s right and privacy.

    Cloning technology cannot be banned due to its contribution to so many sectors, such as medical and military.

    A soldier is truly immortal with cloning technology. The instant they die on a battlefield, their memory and experience is mapped onto a brand new body.

    This is one of the reasons why humanity wins against artificial intelligence in the war of attrition.

    Cloning is as fast as if not faster than assembling war machines in a factory. In fact, the human body is far more flexible than any machine thus giving us an decisive advantage.

    I am nning to use cloning technology to really give a literally meaning to the motto of Hydra.

    Kill one and two more shall literally takes their ce.

    Of course, it is pretty damn hard to kill a Hydra agent due to their advance technology.

    Currently, Hydra standard body armour can brush off every handheld firearms. Anything less than a sniper rifle shot at point nk will be ineffective.

    As for celebrities and stars, I can make or break them at my leisure.

    There is no point in paying too much attention to them and their lives.

    Having said that, I do have some people I love to meet. Scarlett Johansson for example due to ying as the sexy ck Widow in the Marvel franchise.

    Actually, I would really like to get kinky with her.

    "Selene. Locate Scarlett Johansson!"

    [essing Shield Surveince Network. Locating Scarlett Ingrid Johansson, born November 22, 1984. Target Located. Manhattan, New York City. Awaiting Permission to Capture Target.]

    "Eh."

    I forgot that Scarlett is just a little kid right now.

    But for Shield Surveince Network (SSN) to locate her within a minute is just impressive.

    SSN can locate anyone living or dead within the United States. With facial recognition software, Shield can hunt down anyone without any difficulty.

    Following my ingenious n to the letter, Shield had used its construction and manufacturing logistic division to imnt high-tech cameras and vibration sensors all over the United States. They even take bid for contracts to upgrade the countrymunication and electrical infrastructure.

    The bid cost Chrono Holdings billions of dor, but it gives me unprecedented power. If I want to find anyone in the United States, they have to be either not born yet or living in a rock their entire life.

    I might be getting drunk with power.

    There is no such thing as too much power.

    Once the Shield Orbital Headquarter is finished building, I can pretty much kill anyone or bombard any country from orbit.

    Now that is absolute power.

    By nightfall, I check into some of the most crowded restaurants on Hollywood Boulevard.

    The food is very expensive, but very tasty. I enjoy dinner by myself, watching the countless couples in the restaurants. I did spot some celebrities in the crowd.

    "Your bill, sir."

    I nod and try to take out my wallet to pay the waiter. It was a very good dinner, so I has decided I will tip the waiter rather generously.

    However, my wallet is nowhere to be found. It isn''t on my person anymore.

    Someone actually picked my pocket!

    When!? Where!? It must be when i am too focused on checking out the Walk of Fame.

    Goddamn it!

    Whoever it is, they must be tired of living!

 Chapter 15: Deadly Encounter

    The virtual intelligence, Selene esses Shield Surveince Network and revises all the footages from the time that I was at Hollywood Walk of Fame.

    Selene narrows down several suspects amongst the crowd of people.

    There are three suspects in total. A woman wearing a hood, covering her face and hiding her identity. A child, who is looking far too smart for her own good. And a man who has been wandering back and forth, bumping into me a few times.

    It is probably the man because it always is.

    I am stereotypically sexist that way.

    Although I could just jump back in time, merging with my past-self and then wait for the perpetrator, I choose not to.

    I don''t want to have to relive any more moment of my life, especially for something so pointless.

    Even without my wallet, I am not without a mean to pay for things.

    The metallic ring with the distinctive insignia on my middle finger grants me and everyone within the inner circle ess to virtually unlimited amount of cash. It is for emergency since the taxmen must be paid after all.

    I just need to ess an ATM to get some cash.

    The waiter didn''t like what I was doing a moment ago, checking myself for my wallet. Considering my age and how casual I dress, I can''t really me him.

    He has already left and informs the manager.

    "It looks like we have a troublemaker."

    The manager ¨C actually a mob boss ¨C ces a hand on my shoulder.

    He cannot hide his actual identity from Shield.

    Or more correctly, he cannot hide his identity from the virtual intelligence that is constantly watching everyone in America through the surveincework. It is also called Shield.

    Unlike Hydra, the actual person in charge of Shield isn''t a person.

    People makes mistakes. Machine does not.

    The man exerts incredible pressure on my cor bone.

    That is some grip he has there.

    "If you don''t have any money, don''te into my restaurant. This is not a charity. The next time I will not be so lenience."

    He whispers to me, making sure I am the only one who heard in the crowded restaurant.

    "Take him to the back and teach him a valuable lesson."

    I am rather surprised at being manhandled by two huge men, whom I nicknamed Dumb and Dumber.

    They take me to the back and teach me a valuable lesson or was it the other way around?

    It happens so fast, right after I tell Selene to take over my body movements and reflexes.

    I didn''t want to show my rather supernatural abilities because I am trying to live like a normal person, looking after my daughter.

    Plus, I don''t really need to.

    Selene beats the living shit out of them in the time it takes for me to say woah!

    Have you ever seen the movie Upgrade, where the main character has an artificial intelligence talking in his head, capable of controlling his body and making him fight like an invincible master ninja?

    It is just like that.

    In closebat, only another artificial intelligence can win against another artificial intelligence. Good thing Selene is a virtual intelligence, who doesn''t think outside of her programming.

    Otherwise, I will have to fight her for the control of my mind and body one day.

    I already have a contingency n if that somehow happens.

    There is a chance a virtual intelligence bes an artificial intelligence, so I must n for that.

    I have a lot of ns and backup to those ns. There are also backups to backups of my ns.

    Sounds convoluted. It is.

    Anyway, Dumber screams the loudest as I personally use my augmented strength to break both of his arms in multiple ces and maybe one of his legs. He has to be since Dumb has gotten his teeth knocks out a second ago.

    Dumb is lying on ground slipping in and out of unconscious while bleeding from his mouth.

    "Look. I know you two are just following orders, but even dogs need to know who they are biting. This is me being lenience like your boss wanted to show me. How ironic. Any who, if I see you two in Los Angeles again, I will break you and your family. As for your boss.

    Don''t worry, he''s already dead. He just doesn''t know it yet."

    I make my ultimatum before exiting the alleyway.

    Since I didn''t get to wash down my dinner with a nice cool champagne, I stop by a vending machine.

    I choose a bottle of sprite from all the soft drink avable. I press my ring against the small disy that indicates the cost of the drink.

    "Hail Hydra"

    The message appears before the vending machine spit out the drink I wanted.

    I empty the bottle to satisfy my thirst and annoyance before stopping at an ATM.

    The same as before, the supeputer disguised as the ring allows me fill my pockets with impunity.

    The ring wirelessly hacks into anyputer when it is close enough. It can do a lot more than that in the future as Hydra bes more and more advance.

    Hydra will always be more technologically advance than anyone or anything in the world.

    This includes my other organizations.

    "Selene, where is the first suspect?"

    [Locating Suspect. Suspect Found.]

    Selene navigates me towards the suspect.

    I found her waiting outside a homeless shelter along with many others. The hood is no longer covering her face and hiding her identity.

    With that, Selene immediately identifies her through the surveincework.

    [Halle Maria Berry, born August 18, 1966. Father, Jerome Jessy Berry ¨C Incarcerated. Mother, Judith Ann ¨C Deceased.]

    Selene then summarises the history for me to digest. It appears that her father murder her mother in a fit of rage. He was sentenced to a lifetime in prison afterwards.

    Halle spends most of her childhood in an orphanage before running away before she was 15.

    She manages to find her way to Los Angeles, living day by day without any futures or ns. Due to her looks, some people has already approach her for one thing or another.

    Mostly sex.

    Like most people living in Hollywood, she has a dream to be a celebrity.

    But it is just a dream.

    [Operator. Repository data regarding Halle Maria Berry is out of sync.]

    This is a problem. A lot of data I have taxingly gather from the future can no longer be used. In my real past, her father didn''t kill her mother. She didn''t be homeless.

    While Halle did struggle to get notice due to being ck, she didn''t have to stoop so low.

    And another thing, the bitch steals from me.

    No one steals from me and gets away with it.

    I head towards the shelter and stand before her.

    "Hey! Back of the line asshole."

    One of the homeless in the queue calls out.

    I didn''t even know there is a queue. Everyone is standing everywhere.

    Halle notices me when that person calls me out. Her eyes widened as she recognised who I am.

    She did steal my wallet after all. Whether she still has it or not isn''t my concern. The act itself deserves some punishment.

    And before I could say anything, I was seeing stars.

    "Fuck! You bitch!"

    Halle bolts after she sends my balls to hell.

 Chapter 16: Just Training

    The pain forces me to reverse time.

    I am back to watching Halle Berry from afar.

    My balls are no longer in excruciating pain, but my mind still remembers it clearly.

    I swear it hurts more than taking a fusion bomb to the face and being reduced to atoms. At least those times were instant, so I didn''t suffer for more than a microsecond.

    Honestly, I didn''t expect Halle to kick my family jewel without any restrain the instant we havee face to face.

    Any civilized person would at least say something first before unceremoniously breaking a man''s most prized possession.

    That is justmon courtesy.

    Since Halle shows me none, I will not show her any.

    In fact, she will learn what it means to piss me off.

    While I could wait until Halle is alone and teach her a lesson, I rather just bulldozer my way through.

    I am that pissed off.

    I feel like I need to kill something.

    "Selene. Lock down this area."

    [Acknowledge. Operator.]

    Once lockdown is in effect, I step towards the homeless shelter.

    "Hey bitch! I swear you will pay dearly for that!"

    I announce my approach, loudly. I am sure she has no idea what I am talking about, at least not in the first time around.

    Halle takes notice of me immediately along with everyone in the queue. She bolts like before, but this time, she didn''t have a chance to paralyze me from the waist down.

    "Run Berry!"

    "Trouble in paradise again, Halle?"

    "Go! Go! We will slow him down!"

    "Damn, you run, girl!"

    Some of the men and women shout and cheer and p.

    Halle disappears down the alley while I must contend with a bunch of homeless people. They attempt to stop me from chasing after her.

    Such friendships.

    I am touched.

    "Hey buddies. Where are you going?"

    A huge ck man blocks my path. He must be at least 2.3 meters tall since he towers over me despite my height.

    This guy should be in the damn National Basketball Association (NBA)!

    "I am not your buddy, and where I am going does not concern you. Move out of the way if you know what is good for you. I don''t want to beat you to a pulp since my business is with her."

    I answer nonchntly.

    I didn''t feel like I need to chase after Halle anymore. I will make here to me, utterly defeated and subservient.

    There are many ways to do so, but only a few that would satisfy my anger right about now.

    "Hah, that''s funny. Did everyone hear that? This dude here just say that he will beat me to a pulp. Bets up!"

    Many of the homeless peopleughs and starts cing bets.

    It seems that this is a game to them.

    Alright I will join the fun as well, attempting to bet $200 bucks on myself, but nobody takes my bet on the ount that I am not a homeless person.

    What the fuck!?

    Racist much?

    Wait. What is the word for being discriminatory to non-homeless people?

    Ah, fuck it!

    I send the man flying back with a sucker punch to the face.

    His teeth shatters from the blow.

    If it didn''t, his jaw is probably harder that reinforced concrete.

    "Did you see that!?"

    "Woah! Holy shit!"

    "Did Jordan just got sucker punched!?"

    Amazingly, Jordan wasn''t knocked out like Dumb earlier despite a mouthful of blood. He pulls himself up and charges at me like a raging bull with both hands out in front.

    Is he trying to tackle me!?

    That is new.

    I meet each of his hands with my own and send about 1,000,000 volts through his fleshy body. While it is not the voltage that kills a person, but that much voltages can cause some severe burns.

    "Urgaaaahhhh!"

    The man loses all his momentum after being electrocuted.

    Jordan copses to his knees in front of me.

    He groans as I look down at him.

    "Now, this is how our eyes should meet, don''t you think?"

    I tell him before round-kick his head, sending him into the dreamworld. His neck might be broken since I didn''t hold back.

    Everyone is beyond shock.

    They couldn''t believe I just did what I had said I would do.

    Their expression turns to utter horror when I walk over the unconscious man and stomp down onto his legs, shattering his bones and effectively crippling him.

    Jordan screams out of his unconsciousness before the pain pull him back in.

    He is actually the lucky one.

    "Dude!"

    "Are you fucking crazy!?"

    "Jordan! Fuck!"

    "Someone gets a stretcher!"

    Everyone stares at me with hateful eyes.

    I know that someone is also watching from a lookout spot. She is such a naughty kitty. Bad pussy must be taught a lesson.

    Well, this isn''t exactly the first time loop she has gone through.

    "There is no reason to go that far! You already won, man!"

    Someone amongst the crowd shouts out.

    "Since you guys have allowed Halle to get away from me, you need to all be punished, one by one. So, who is next? Don''t worry, I won''t kill you. I will just break every bone in your body."

    I make my intention clear before pulling out a metal pipe from the trash heaps.

    I look at the pipe up and down, ignoring the cursing and shouting from the crowd.

    Silence permeates the area when the pipe is reshaped into a deadly spear right before everyone.

    This is one of my augmented abilities. To manipte matter thanks to the billions of nanites running in my bloodstreams.

    It seems that I am getting use cold-forging metal into weapons. It is probably really overpowering once I master it fully.

    I pick up another metal pipe, forcing into another deadly spear.

    I like to double wield.

    "Since no one has the gut to stepping up, I will take you all on at once. From all the previous times, I realize that my spearmanship is not very good, so some of you will lose an arm and a leg in the process. I''m sorry about that. Just try not to bleed out before the show is over, alright?"

    With both spears in my hands, I charge at the crowd.

    Honestly, swords would be a lot better, but spears have incredible reach.

    A handful of people lost their arms, telling the rest that I am deadly serious.

    "Someone calls the cop! He''s fucking crazy! Ah!"

    One of the homeless manages to dial 911.

    However, the strangest things happen.

    "We are sorry to inform you that the number you have dialed is currently unavable. Please be a man and take your punishment. It will be over soon. Thank you."

    The phone drops into the ground as severed arms and limbs go flying. Torrent of blood spray over the road and building as people run for their lives.

    Some people conceal handgun, but the small caliber seems to only slow me down unless they manage to get a headshot. At which point, time just reverse.

    They need a lot more firepower than that to incapacitate me.

    Even so, I will not able to stop everyone from leaving the perimeter without activating Hydra or Shield.

    But then again, it didn''t matter if they run off to call the authority.

    Everything will be over soon.

    A spear spirals forwards, impaling a person through the stomach and pin him against the wall.

    The person he is running in falls onto the ground.

    That person turns over against his back and screams as I walk towards him with a bloody spear in one hand. Blood drips from the tip, trailing me.

    My expression is full of murderous intent.

    "M-mmmmonster! Moooonster! Saavvvvve me! Sommme body! Some body!"

    Someone finally did.

    "Stop it. Please stop it. Please stop killing all my friends. I already give it back. What else do you want!? Please just tell me what you want!?"

    The woman shouts aguishly.

    She could no longer sit back and cradle her head, blocking out everything while all her friends die again and again, never remembering what happen once the loop restarts.

    Tears running down her beautiful face.

    I really love that expression.

    The hopelessness of her situation. It brings me so much joy.

    Halle did give me back my wallet again and again, but I still go through with the massacre.

    I am such an evil person.

    I do not deny it.

    "I thought when you decide to get out of your hiding hole, my dear Halle Berry. So, tell me, huh. Did you enjoy the show? Don''t worry, it is only getting started. For now, please die for me."

    I severe her limps almost instantly. My strength has grown a lot as I exert my body.

    Halle screams in terror as her body literally falls apart.

    Blood explodes from her four stumps, but before she could bleed out, the ambient temperature drops sharply.

    Halle is lifted off the ground.

    My hand around her neck, causing frostbite to form.

    Icy mist escapes her lips as she gasps desperately, struggling to stay alive.

    "Don''t worry. I promise you that this nightmare is not over. You will feel everything, over and over again. Let''s go again, shall we?"

    Before Halle slips into the merciful embrace of death, the surrounding change.

    Halle is back to standing in the queue, waiting for her dinner served by the homeless shelter. She looks around, noticing all her friends chatting away happily, not remembering what had happened to them.

    No one did, except her.

    That is her nightmare.

    Her heart drops when she heard the ominous voice.

    "Hey Bitch! I swear you will pay dearly for that!"

    I announce my approach again.

    How many times is it now? I am getting a little bored.

    These people provide absolutely no challenge at all. They are just target for me to practice my abilities and skills. I admit I have gotten a lot better since when I started this punishment.

    Halle didn''t run this time or try to fight.

    Nope. She rushes to me and drops to her knees, pleading desperately.

    "Please stop! Please stop! Please, I beg of you to stop! I will do whatever you want, just, just release me from this nightmare."

 Chapter 17: Oxford Hotel

    The homeless people watch the scene ys out, not uttering a word. Each of them probably have died a dozen times or so, but only me and Halle would know.

    She is forced to witness those she considers her friend and family killed in some of the most gruesome way imaginable, over and over again to the point of near insanity.

    She will not able to look at them without recalling the tormenting memory.

    That is a her punishment.

    I suppose it is enough.

    I could theoretically break her mind if I keep going, but what would that give me.

    Nothing really. I rather not do thing pointlessly.

    There is no enjoyment in massacring these defenceless people anymore.

    "The thing you have stolen from me?"

    I demand. It isn''t about the money. It is the principle.

    Halle shakenly hands my wallet over. How she managed to take it, is still beyond me. I believe she has help. I wonder who that second suspect is. The little girl is currently too young to be identified, but I think she might be an aplice.

    Probably the guy keeps bumping into me as well.

    But one thing at a time.

    I have a look inside my wallet, checking the photo of my daughter first. Antigone is sleeping peacefully back home, in her room. I just check the video feed.

    All the identity cardse next. Remaking these isn''t that difficult, but it is a pain, considering Hydra and Shield has to issue a new security card to all of their members and underlings.

    When the cards are all there, I pocket the wallet and eye the woman.

    I recall seeing her in John Wick Chapter 3.

    Halle was quite a good actress. She probably is, in this new timeline.

    I also faintly remember her role in the X-men franchise. I think she ys one of the mutants in the first few movies.

    Selene confirms my memory.

    Halle ys the mutant Storm.

    Since Terra Entertainment requires a ve actress to star in all my movies, I suppose she will do. I will grab a few more actor and actressester.

    I already have a few in mind.

    "I think you still owe me $2000 dor. Where is it?"

    I ask. The money means nothing to me.

    "I... I..."

    Halle mutters and leers briefly at the homeless people. She has used some of it to buy something for everyone. It isn''t much, but it would fill their stomach tonight.

    The rest are divided amongst the aplices.

    Halle didn''t know their names, so I didn''t press the matter.

    "Regardless. It is not your money to spend. I will have you pay it back to me in full one way or another. Come with me."

    I turn around and begin walking.

    Halle has no choice but to follow. She tells her friends and family to not worry. She will not be gone long.

    I call for a taxi and tell her to get inside.

    "Where are we going...?"

    Halle asks once I get into the taxi with her.

    "Oxford Hotel."

    I answer her and telling the taxi driver simultaneously.

    Oxford Hotel is a five stars hotel located in Beverly Hills area.

    It is also the most expensive hotel ever built, costing billions of dor. Only the wealthiest stays there during their leisure or business visit to Los Angeles. This is because the hotel offers everything a person might need, from escorts to entertainments.

    Even assassination contract is not off the table, ording to some inside sources. As long as one has the money, the hotel can provide.

    The room at the hotel is not cheap. A single standard room on the lower level still costs an upward of $10,000 a single night. Sound a lot, but a chump change to many.

    Many business men have spend millions at the hotel during their visit to Hollywood.

    Henry Oxford has been very busy building his business empire while taking care of Chrono Holdings and its subsidiaries.

    I didn''t say that he couldn''t, but I did warn him sternly that hispanies should never ever go against  me and the cause. If he did, I will not hesitate to destroy hispany.

    The drive to the hotel is very rxing.

    No one talks through the whole time.

    Halley keeps on fidgeting her fingers, preparing herself restlessly while the driver keeps looking at her in the rear-view mirror. This is because of her ragged clothes and messy hair.

    She is a homeless person after all. She hasn''t taken a bath in a while.

    I pay the taxi and tip him handsomely when we reach the front of the hotel. The people there look at the both of us strangely.

    This is because no one really go to the hotel by taxi. They all have their own limousine or one will be provided to them by the hotel.

    "Sir. Tourists are not allowed to take pictures here."

    I look at the doorman before paying attention to Halle. The young woman just stare at the hotel, trying to see the top. It is one of the tallest building in Los Angeles, reaching over a hundred floors.

    "Sir! Please leave or I will be force to remove you from the premises."

    The doorman continues.

    "I am not a tourist. I am here on business. Please don''tg behind, Halle."

    I tell her and begin heading inside.

    The doorman immediately tries to stop me by cing a firm hand on my shoulder. For his effort, he gets the best shock of his life ¨C literally.

    The receptionist is worst. She pays no attention to me since I do not look like any wealthy person she had ever seen.

    She takes one look at Halle and the distain expression on her face couldn''t be removed.

    "I am sorry, but you are not allow here. Security!"

    I ce a stack of cash onto the counter, right in front of the woman.

    It is all I have left on me. I could get more from the ATM in the lobby, but that machine wouldn''t have the necessary funding to rent the penthouse.

    I suppose I should call Henry, but I want to know what this woman is thinking.

    "And why not, Miss Jasmine? We are paying customers, so why can''t we be here?"

    Jasmine looks at the stack before snickering. It isn''t even enough for a single night in a standard room. At most, it could only be a few hours. Since that is the case, she believes that I am here for that.

    While that is true, I am here for other stuffs as well.

    "You may, but she can''t. I am sorry, but I will have to ask her to leave."

    Jasmine tells me and call for security. Shield Security personnel immediate arrives.

    "Is that so? Is it because the way she dresses or is it because she is ck?"

    I question. Everyone nearby peaks their head and take a look at me and Halle.

    "I don''t have to answer that. Please evict these two from the premise. They are causing troubles."

    Jasmine requests.

    People from Shield Security approaches me as I turn to look at them. The moment they saw my face, they bes incredibly pale. They obviously know who I am since all Shield members are part of my organizations.

    "Right. Evict me. I won''t resist. Come on, go ahead."

 Chapter 18: No Remorse

    The people from Shield Security is in a dilemma.

    They couldn''t actually evict me from the building regardless of whatever I say.

    That is insubordination.

    They also couldn''t reveal my identity without my permission.

    I decide to give them a way out since the awkwardness of the situation is getting annoying.

    I also didn''t have any time to waste.

    Ironic, considering I have absolute control over the aspect of time itself.

    "When there are two oppositions to a conflict. Just remove one and everything will be solved. Did you guys not trained for this?"

    At my word, the men nod in understanding.

    To be a member of Shield Security, they all have to go through basically hellish training. In return, they and their family never have to worry about money again.

    The men swiftly head around the front counter and grab Jasmine instead.

    They have made the right choice ¨C the only choice, really.

    "Wait? What... what are you doing!? Why are you evicting me? Don''t you know who I am!?"

    Blood seems to drain from her face when she was grabbed by security. She attempts to resist them as they pull her off her seat and drag her out from behind the counter.

    She is then being dragged out of the hotel forcefully.

    The men and women who are rxing in thevishly decorated lobby take note of the scene and begin to whisper amongst themselves.

    The main topic is who I am.

    I am obviously not an ordinary person.

    "Geeze. You have no clue, do you? If I am just any one from the street, do you really think I would walk into an Oxford hotel and cause a problem? At least think before you say something stupid and insult me and my guest. I will see how you like it being homeless and discriminate against for the rest of your life."

    Iment as Jasmine is dragged pass by me.

    Halle is speechless, watching the scene.

    She couldn''t get her head around who or what I am.

    Having a supernatural power is one thing, but what I say seems to be absolutew.

    No one goes against me. No one dares to.

    "Let me go! I said let me go! Call the manager! Someone call the manager!"

    Jasmine screams. It appears that she knows the manager.

    That is interesting. I am curious.

    "Alright. Stop. Can someone please go and get the manager like she has very vocally requested. I really want to see whether this manager has the ability to change my mind."

    The servicemen and attendants hesitate at my request, not knowing what to do. There has never been a situation like this since the inception of the hotel more than a decade ago.

    In addition, everything is very strict and orderly in the hotel. This is due to the status of some of the customers regrly stay at the hotel.

    Even so, customers are not above the established hierarchy.

    "You jest, Mr. Maxwell."

    A voice speak up from the elevator. A man in his thirties steps forward with an refine air of confidence and strength.

    A stylized shield emblem is pin on his chest, telling me that he is one of the higher ranking members of Shield.

    "Manager! Manager!"

    Jasmine calls out, but the man ignore herpletely.

    Instead, he gives me a light bow and introduce himself as hotel manager as well as the head of security of the building.

    [Richard Cromwell, born August 12, 1958. Head of Shield Security, Hollywood Division. Acting Manager of Oxford Hotel.]

    I acknowledge the information provided by Selene and examine the man. His footsteps is very silent, showing hisbat experience. He could probably take on an assault team and win.

    Well, he has to be in order to be head of a Shield division.

    Shield operates out of the hotel on lower floors. It is one of their branch in Hollywood.

    This mean unless you are preparing to die and fight your way through an army of highly trained men, it is better to not cause any trouble in the building.

    Even the Shield emblem is visibly disyed on the building front to ward off troubles.

    "I would not dare to go against your wishes. That would be going against Mr. Oxford himself. You don''t need to get your hands dirty when dealing with such a nuisance. Please. Allow me to take care of this for you.

    I will carry out the appropriate punishment personally."

    The man announces. He takes a nce at Jasmine before telling the men to take her away.

    Jasmine seems to have lost her voice and will, silently being dragged away.

    Once Jasmine is gone, Richard pays attention to Halle.

    "Ah. This must be Miss Halle Maria Berry. It is a pleasure to meet such ady. Please. Come with me and I will take you to your room."

    Halle has never been called ady before. It isn''t apliment or anything of the sort. The man is very forwards in addressing her.

    "Mr. Maxwell. Would you please?"

    Richard gestures towards the elevator.

    "Alright. But I am not paying for the stay on ount of what happen."

    I acknowledge and grab the stash of cash off the counter.

    It is mine after all.

    "Of course. We apologize deeply for the cause of the dy. Please stay in the hotel for as long as you like. All services are avable to you with no extra charges."

    That is more like it.

    I enter the elevator, followed by Halle and Richard.

    The elevator takes us directly to the 100th floor without ever stopping.

    This is the highest floor in the hotel on the surface.

    There actually is a 101st floor before the rooftop, but that floor is reserved for a special kind of meeting.

    The elevator opens directly into the luxury penthouse itself. Brilliant lights wash over me and everyone in mypany.

    Halle gapes as she steps into the room. She has never been to a hotel, let alone one so prestige.

    "Please enjoy your private time together Mr. Maxwell and Miss. Berry. If you need anything, just give the receptionist a call. She will be very happy to help you."

    With that, Richard heads back downstairs in the elevator.

    It takes him all the way to the basement on the 4th underground level, just below all the carparks.

    His face lost its charming and cheerful expression as the elevator opens.

    Richard follows the corridor to a small interrogation room, where a young woman is sitting in a chair.

    Jasmine has been crying for thest ten minutes despite no one did anything to her.

    There is no need to since she already knows the hidden nature of this hotel.

    Under all its mour and charm lies an unrelenting darkness.

    "Please Richard. I will disappear. I will be gone. No one will heard of me. I swear. I swear.

    Just let me go. No one will know. No one."

    Jasmine pleads.

    Richard looks at her without any expression for a long agonizing minute.

    "Did you know? I would be the one sitting in that chair right now if I didn''t speak up. Honestly, Jasmine. You almost drag me down with you. I have turn a blind eye to all your off the table dealings because I really enjoy that sexy body of yours, but you piss off someone you shouldn''t have."

    Richard states and shakes his head.

    "All that money you have saved up in your bank ount and unable to use it. I suppose I will donate all of it to charity in your name. It is probably the only good thing you ever did. At least some children will remember you for it."

    Richard continues as a man brought in surgical equipments.

    "No. No. Richard. Please. I will do anything. I will do anything."

    Richard examines the equipment. He pick up the syringe with a greenish liquids.

    A snake biting its tail in an infinity symbol is imprinted on the syringe.

    The liquid within is a very fast acting neural toxin. It is capable of destroy every brain cells in a person within mere seconds.

    This is the only mercy he could give. At least she will not suffer all her life.

    "Mr. Maxwell does not forget and he does not forgive."

 Chapter 19: Pleasurable Night

    Richard informs me that Jasmine has been taken care of.

    I suppose it is sufficient to have her killed and her organs donated to a hospital.

    The neural toxin designed by Infinite Health Corporation does not linger in the body for more than a couple of minutes after the said person has be braindead.

    Is it crueller than what I have in mind for her?

    That is debatable.

    With my punishment, Jasmine might learn something and be a better person in the future.

    Now, she is dead.

    And she didn''t really learn anything.

    She also didn''t suffer.

    I guess the universe somehow bnces itself out, huh.

    In any case, I won''t be losing any sleep over this.

    I never had.

    As for the assets Jasmine has umted over the years, they will be liquidated and donated to charity.

    I didn''t know about the assets beforehand, but I did expect something of the sort.

    Being a receptionist to one of the most prestigious hotel in the world has its benefits.

    I actually don''t mind people being greedy.

    Greed motivates them to try harder.

    But taking bribes and embezzling funds in my organization is a no go.

    Richard should have known.

    Shield Intelligence does the financing and auditing for Oxford Enterprise and all of its subsidiaries, such as Oxford Hotel. Anything out of the ordinary will be reported to human operators.

    Since Richard is the manager of the hotel, he should have received the report from Shield.

    And Shield is never wrong, at least in such matters.

    I didn''t need to question Richard about this. He admits that he did turn a blind eye to the whole matter when he gives me his report.

    The amount embezzled isn''t much. It is only a few millions of dor. A drop in the ocean since Chrono Holdings deals with billions and trillions.

    Richard did use his own money to bnce the sheet to prevent rms from being triggered.

    In other word, Jasmine is actually stealing from him and not thepany itself.

    A loophole.

    Furthermore, it is not Chrono Holdings that is being stolen from. It is Oxford Enterprise, so it is up to Henry to pursue the matter and chastise the man.

    As for bribe given to her by the countless customers to the hotel ¨C I don''t give a shit about that.

    It has nothing to do with me and my organization.

    But enough about Jasmine. I have already waste too much time on her.

    I would have let the whole matter go if it wasn''t for the smug on her face.

    That smug just pisses me off.

    It is not only being disrespectful to me and those in mypany, but it is also insulting.

    I also didn''t like the tant racisms against Halle Berry, who is my guest.

    Honestly, I don''t mind racism in general.

    I have plenty of racist people working for me. Johnathan for example.

    The 1st ranking Hydra General is super racist to everyone who is not American, but he does not let his hatred for other countries affect his work.

    That is how it should be.

    Don''t let your opinion and personal matters affectpany policy!

    I guess Jasmine is too busy fucking Richard to attend that training seminar.

    Well, what they do in their own time is not my business.

    My business is building an Entertainment Empire that willst a thousand years.

    It is the whole point that I am here in the 1990.

    Halle Berry changes into a beauty once she has a nice shower. The dirt and dust painting her face and caking her hair are no longer present after a very long time in the bathroom.

    Halle tries to stay in the bathroom for as long as possible, but eventually, she has toe out.

    She is fully aware of what happened if she crosses me. She has lived it again and again to her horror.

    Halle is wearing nothing but a towel when shees out of the bathroom. It wraps around her body, covering everything from her perky chest to her knees.

    The worn out clothing she has been wearing for many years is now in the very expensive incinerator down in the basement of the hotel.

    Her new clothing are avable in the wardrobe located in the bedroom.

    "Change into something nice. I want to see some skins, huh?"

    I tell Halle before returning to watching the city beyond the ss panel.

    There are four ss panel in the penthouse, one on each side of the room, giving a perfect 360 degree view of the city below. It also gives the feeling that the room is not constricted by walls.

    Hollywood does not sleep like New York City. Soothing light illuminates every corner of the city when night falls. The sight is quite beautiful from high above, but there is someone far more beautiful in mypany.

    Once Halle Berryes out of the bedroom, wearing a satin nightgown, barely covering her chest and her smooth thighs, the light in the room begins to dim.

    Faint melody is also started ying, giving a sense of romanticism.

    Somewhat clich¨¦, but I guess this is what the rich and wealthy enjoy in the 1990s.

    "Come and sit with me, my dear Halle Berry. I want to talk to you about a few important stuffs before we get down to pleasurable business, hmm...."

    I request and pat the spot on the couch next to me.

    Halle hesitantly sits down. Her hands between her legs, covering herself.

    It is somewhat cute.

    With a snap, the floor in front of the couch opens up, letting out a ss table with some refreshment on top.

    Beneath the table is fill with sses and chilled champagnes.

    "So, Miss Halle Berry. I believe I have never introduce myself."

    I begin as I pour the strongest alcohol avable into tworge sses.

    I hand Halle one and then lean back against the couch, lookingpletely rxed.

    Halle sniffs the bubbling liquids in her ss and tries not to make a disgust face at the unique smell.

    I suppose that she has never enjoy champagne before.

    Those cheap stuffs on the street couldn''tpare. Drinking them makes you go blind, honestly.

    "My name is Maximilien Maxwell. Most people call me Mr. Maxwell. My friends just call me Max. You can call me Max. I am in the business of making stars.

    I own apany downtown in Hollywood. You might or might not have heard of it. Terra Entertainment."

    I take a sip of my drink.

    The alcohol fills my parch throat and enters my stomach. It then gets absorbed into my body before being eliminated by the nanites roaming in my bloodstream.

    I honestly couldn''t get drunk, but I did enjoy the taste of alcohol.

    I wait for Halle to drink from her own ss before continue to speak.

    She downs the whole ss instead of taking a sip like me before coughing.

    I chuckle and refill her ss.

    Halle obliviously didn''t want to drink anymore and just want to get everything over with. The sooner the better in her mind.

    But I will have none of that. I tap her ss with my own afterward and enjoy the taste of alcohol on my tongue.

    Halle, on the other hand, coughs some more.

    I refill her ss until she literally couldn''t drink anymore.

    It takes about 7 ss for her to get drunk. It is quite impressive to be honest.

    Despite her dark skin tone, her face is flushpletely with red.

    "Can we... hic... can we fuck already? You want... want this, don''t you? I think...

    I''m going... to barf. I... ugh."

    Halle questions, trying to hold onto her stomach content. The fear is stronger than her instinct at the moment. Throwing up in front of me is very disrespectful.

    She knows that despite her head is swimming in alcohol.

    "Hah. I knew it that I will like you. How about working for me? I can make you a movie star. One of the best. You will never have to worry about anything ever again."

    Of course, Halle couldn''t answer.

    She just throws up instead.

 Chapter 20: Halle Berry

    Halle soon passes out.

    And when she did, I took her to bed and tugged her in like a gentlemen.

    Halle has never slept in such a soft andfy bed before, not since she was just a little girl in a lovely home.

    The butterfly effect has change all of that.

    While her father constantly abuses her mother both emotionally and physically in the original timeline, he has never cross the line and kills the woman out of rage, causing Halle to be an orphan.

    Apparently, in this new timeline, something has push him over the edge.

    Whatever that is, I didn''t feel like I need to spend any time and energy investigating.

    Honestly, why should I?

    Her life is just one of many lives that have been changed due to my presence. It is not my responsibility to go and check up on each of those lives. I will not be able to get anything done if that is the case.

    Some life did change for the better.

    Henry for example. He would have not be one of the most wealthiest if not the wealthiest man in America without me guiding him.

    I don''t even recall anyone named Henry Oxford in the original timeline where I was born.

    Selene confirms this as she has ess to everyone who is remotely famous in history.

    This means that Henry should have lived his entire life without making anything of himself.

    That or he died before he could.

    Another example would be Marilyn Monroe.

    She should be dead,mited sucide through overdosed. Yet, she is still alive and kicking in 1990. She is happily married to Henry and enjoying her old age in absolutefort at their luxurious ind home with her children and grandchildren. She never has to worry about anything again.

    I could name dozens if not hundreds more people whose life has changed for the better. Most of them are working under me or in the handful of organizations I have running.

    Although I am aware of the dire consequences of my actions, I still believe what I am doing will be for the better.

    The end is all that matters.

    Will the future remembers all the horrors I havemitted and willmit or the morally questioning things I have done in the name of advancement? Probably ¨C or not.

    Did you not know that history is written by the victor?

    Therefore, history will be whatever I say it is once the world fallspletely under my control. No one will recall what a chaotic century this will be in a few hundred years time.

    If they do somehow, a little trip to the re-education centre will let them see new light.

    I am not seeking for world peace.

    World peace is not possible with countries and nations vying for its own interest instead of interest of humanity as a whole.

    I have seen that for myself. The amount of lives that will be lost is staggering. What I have done so far couldn''t evenpare. Heck, it is not even worth mentioning.

    What I am seeking for is humanity supremacy!

    For now and all times!

    My goal is clear. My consient is ready. I do not need to dwell on the immorality of my actions. Nobody can make me double guessing myself or my goal.

    Of course that didn''t mean I couldn''t enjoy my time and dwell in pleasure while carrying out my self-appointed mission.

    Although Halle still owes me about 2 grand, I didn''t feel like I need to do anything further.

    It was a really pleasurable a night, at least for me.

    My appetite has actually been sated, more than a dozen of times.

    When do you asked?

    Well, I do have absolute control over the flow of time.

    Things that I don''t want people to remember, they will definitely not remember.

    The thing I do, well... Halle already knows.

    The moment I order Halle to take a shower and make herself more presentable, I have already decided to join her.

    I will have my money worth ¨C one way or another.

    I could still recall the warm water from the shower head running down my bare back as my cock drills her mouth and throat forcefully.

    Halle was forced onto the floor of the bathroom, kneeling and looking up at me while I proceed to use her hot mouth and throat to get off.

    She has this overwhelming hatred in her lovely dark eyes, but she is unable to utter anything, protest or otherwise while her mouth is being upied. It just turns me harder and harder.

    I cum buckets into her, filling mouth, throat and stomach as well as giving face a nice glossy makeup in the end.

    She looks very nice with my seeds. I had even record it forter reviewing.

    Everything I see is automatically recorded for reviewing, but this special moment is filed away instead of being dumped into temporary folder.

    After the deepthroat, I proceed to fuck her tight cunt with her back against the bathroom''s wall. With legs wrap themselves around my waist and her ass kneeded in my hands, my hard cock split her apart from below.

    Halle didn''t enjoy the brutal pounding at first, but soon erotic moans and grunts escape her lips as her arms wrapped around my neck for support.

    Her cunt swallows my cockpletely when I emptied my balls into her very fertile womb.

    My cum spurts out of her well-abused and gapping pussy when I unceremoniouesly drop her ass onto the floor and jack the rest out onto her face and hair. She didn''t have the strength to notice other than panting heavily.

    After a few cockp across the cheeks, she gives me a nice cleanup with her tongue.

    I was somewhat satisfied by then, but a little time reversal allows me to do it all over again.

    My body remembers the feeling, but my balls appears to never been emptied before.

    I nail her ass over the bathroom sink by the fourth time around.

    Halle screams loudly in the the bathroom mirror while I pull her head back by using her hair as a rein.

    Letting she sees herself while breaking her ass is just too arousing. I spear her ass again and again. Her ebony butt cheeks are reddened madly due to my reckless pping. I eventually fill her ass to the brim with sticky batters before forcing her to clean me with her mouth once more.

    Ass to mouth style!

    I take Halle over the couch and spray my seeds over her perky chest and beatiful facial features when she firste out of the bathroom with nothing but a bathtowel. My balls are boiling, seeing her like that.

    I pound her and fuck her all over the bed, making the clean white sheetpletely stained with musky smell of sex.

    I have recorded the whole thing while her legs over my shoulder as I plow into her and  watch the ever changing expression on her face. It shifts from hatred to arousal to utterly fucked.

    Last but not least, I let Halle views the beautiful Hollywod city around the Oxford Hotel while enjoying her cunt and ass again and again.

    Steamy cum runs down her spread legs as both of her hands kissed the ss panel. Halle couldn''t do anything but take all I can dish out over and over again.

    Each time Halle has believed it would be thest. It will never be thest. She is mine, now and forever until the end of time.

    I smile deviously, watching her sleep, not remember how many times I have fucked her silly. She wakes up around 3am, finding me sitting on the couch, watching the city once more.

    It appears that way. I am actually on theputer, setting up all the tasks I have to aplish before the end of next week. I am on a very tight schedule.

    That isn''t the only thing I did while she was asleep. I has gone home to check on Antigone. She wakes up in the middle of night and requires to be put back to sleep. It takes a while, but it brought a sense of aplisment that I have never felt before.

    "Ah, you''re awake, Miss Halle Berry. Did you sleep well?"

    I ask and turn off theputer. All the interface in front of my eyes vanish. It is very disorientating to have an interface in front of everything I see all the time.

    "Yes. Thank you. Why didn''t..."

    I smile charmingly and pour a warm liquids into a ss cup. It is not alcohol. I have gotten her drunk to try out drunken sex.

    It wasn''t that good.

    "I didn''t think you are up to it. Besides, it wouldn''t be enjoyable if you are not fully awake yourself. Anyway, have a sit and some tea, it will clear your mind."

    I response and gesture a hand dismissively. I have enough materials recorded to enjoy for a little while, so there is no need. I also could ckmail her with it.

    There is just so many ways make her feel utter hopelessness.

    I am so vile.

    "Thank you, Mr. Maxwell."

    Halle takes the cup into both hands. She sits down next to me and looks at the city. She admits that it is quite beautiful. She has never seen the city in such a way before. This is because she has always live down below, on the street.

    "Please. Call me Max. Have you give any thought to my offer?"

    Halle did. She wonders what is the catch since she does not trust me.

    I don''t mind her distrust as long as she doesn''t screw with me. I mean fuck with me. I mean... tsk, you already know what I mean.

    Like everyone working for me, I just want Halle to do her job to the best of her capability, stars in many of my movies and makes me millions or billions. Money isn''t the goal. Exposure is.

    Without hearing her confirmation, I flick her two cards.

    One is her bank ount. The other is the ess card to Terra Production.

    "You can stay here as long as you like, but I would like you to stay somewhere more modest. Show up to thepany on Monday. Someone will take care of you."

 Chapter 21: Secret Preparation

    Halle didn''t stay for breakfast.

    I suppose that she has things she needs to do. I didn''t bother to have her stay after we concluded our business transaction.

    This is because I already have my fun. I reverse time instead of jumping back to the past after thest round. It is so I don''t get blue balls.

    Furthermore, I have plenty of footages to rey whenever I wanted. The nanites in my bloodstreams can simte all the senses, allowing me to relive the moment.

    Of course, it could neverpare to a real woman even if all senses are simted perfectly.

    It is the thought that counts.

    Before Halle leaves the room, I did warn her about the money in the bank ount under her name at Chrono Reserves. While she can use as much as she wants for whatever reasons, she will have to repay every single dime that she splurges.

    The money in there is more or less her sry, just paid in advance.

    Being an actress is one of the highest paying job in Hollywood, so I doubt she will have difficulty paying back whatever debt she incurs ¨C if she incurs any.

    I honestly can''t have my actresses living in a homeless shelter and eating out of the garbage.

    However, if she is unwilling to work under me, I rather not push the matter too much. I have plenty of actors and actresses to choose from.

    Besides, Halle already has her punishment for stealing something she shouldn''t have.

    Once Halle is gone, I return to my work, reading through the digital manuscript of Jurassic Park through the neural interface. I n to have the book distributes to the entire country in the uing weeks or months.

    Months seem too slow, but it is expected with the 1990.

    I n to change all of that with Horizon Social Network (HSN). It is a telmunicationpany on the surface, but it much more devious than that.

    I will tell you all about it when it is time.

    On the literature side of things, I also prepare Harry Potter and Game of Thrones as well.

    The two series will be published next after Jurassic Park or simultaneously together with it, depending on the audiences.

    I am very new at this, so I will use future knowledge to my advantage.

    As for what movies Terra Production should be working on in the uing months, I have a look at all the blockbusters in the 1990.

    Ghost by Paramount Pictures is at the top of the list. The romantic fantasy thriller movie will make just above 500 million on a 22 million dors budget. Home Alone by 20th Century Fox is next on the list, racking in almost the same amount on an 18 million dors budget.

    I could wrestle controls with thosepanies for the right to produce and distribute, but why waste time and energy. Those movies are likely already in production or pre-production.

    And since Chrono Holdings has controlling interests in the twopanies, it is just better to let them be ¨C for now. I will buy them out and dismantle them in the future, right after I get rid of the monopolyw in America.

    Monopolyw is part of antitrustw. Long story short, it basically prevents me from dominating the United States in any business sector.

    Kind of annoying. I know.

    But if it wasn''t in ce, I could have done whatever I bloody pleased since the 1970s. Chrono Holdings controls pretty much all the major corporations in America by then. Merging them all into one super monster of an entity is not that difficult.

    I will call that megapany Chronicle Incorporated.

    It is already a registered trademark. As a matter of fact, Chrono Holdings along with Chrono Reserves and Chrono Estates is subsidiaries of Chronicle Incorporated.

    However, because Chronicle Incorporated is rarely mentioned when the news is talking about Chrono Holdings and other subsidiaries, it has slips awaypletely from the public mind. It didn''t help that thepany didn''t even have its own headquarter.

    The general public only know about the individual subsidiaries due to their dominants in the Financial and Economic Sector.

    Chronicle Incorporated only exists on paper with a single owner ¨C Maximilien Maxwell.

    Yep. It is me.

    If someone bother to dig a little deeper, they would notice who the actual owner of the biggest broker, banker andnd owner in America.

    Too bad it is hard to dig a little deeper. Shield makes sure of that with all the legal mumble jumble that I couldn''t be bothered to understand.

    It is good to have an artificial working for me. They can outthink pretty much anyone and anything.

    Anyway, I should stop getting sidetracked. There are just too many things on my mind. So much things to do and so little time to do them.

    I check the highest-grossing films of 1991 and 1992.

    However, the highest-grossing movies are either sequels or have their copyrights brought. I could steal the copyrights, but I don''t think I can win those kinds of cases.

    So, let''s forwards to the box offices of 1993.

    And what do you know?

    Jurassic Park tops the box office of 1993, follows by Mrs. Doubtfire and the Fugitive. I guess that those three are the movies I should make.

    I am nning to make three blockbusters movies a year after all.

    Making those movies three years in advance is also a good idea. I won''t have to deal with unwinnable copyrightwsuits.

    Well, not that they are unwinnable.

    I am in the belief of that if there is a will, there is definitely a fucking way.

    Honestly, if I can''t think of anything, I could always have the original creators meet with an unfortunate ident if they cause me too much trouble.

    Car crashes. Leak gases. Deadly allergic reaction.

    There are plenty to choose from. Hydra and Shield is pretty good at finding ways to kill people without anyone raising an eyebrow. If there are witnesses or those too smart for their own good, they won''t live long to tell anyone about it.

    Is that too evil? Definitely. Do I care?

    Eh¡­ a little.

    It is because doing that too much will have the entire United States government bearing upon me and my associates. Without Shield telling me, I know for a fact they are looking into Chrono Holdings and other majorpanies right about now.

    There is no way they are not considering Chrono Holdings has predicted the market to almost perfect uracy. Henry makes a few mistakes here and there to make it seems legit.

    I am also in the belief that any secret will eventuallye to light.

    Just be prepared for that eventuality, hence my countless ns. Keeping track of so many ns really make my head hurts. So many things can go wrong due to too many moving parts.

    Maybe it is time to activate XCOM.

    Well, it isn''t exactly called XCOM.

    I just like to call it that on the ount I love the game so much.

    It is actually called XCOMBAT ¨C my personal drone army.

    Unlike Hydra or Shield, who has human operators in every divisions, XCOMBAT isposed entirely of machine. A fearless and unrelenting army that does not sleep, eat or feel. They will not stop until they aplish whatever mission I give them.

    They are backup ns to Hydra and Shield. Yeah. I''m not going to have those two organizations have a chance to backstab me.

    XCOMBAT Headquarter is in China, thend of the rising dragons.

    Yes. I''m exploiting poor Chinese farmers on the countryside to build my deadly robotic army. At least they get a decent meal 3 times a day and a bit of money to take home to their family.

    I have been working on this army since 1976, right after Mao died. I think might have something to do with that.

    Historically, Mao should have died around that time, but he refuses to due to divergent timeline, so I suggest to Hua Guofeng to put him down and seize power.

    The man did with a little bit of help from XCOMBAT of course. He is still in office right now. All power of the People Army lies within his hand. However, he is a bit paranoid right now, fearing death and people stabbing him and what''s not.

    That is why I didn''t bother him too much in the past decade.

    I will have to once Antis makes their move since China is one of the world superpowers of the future after all. Having them under my control will prevent World War 3.

    The sun has risen in the horizon by the time I was done preparing everything for Terra Entertainment and all its subsidiaries.

    It will be a very long week ahead.

    I just hope no one gives me anymore trouble. It a waste of time teaching them a lesson, honestly.

    But I couldn''t just turn a blind eye and let it go.

    Once I do, everyone will stop fearing me and start doing shit on their own. I can''t have that.

    But before all of that ¨C Antigone! Daddy is home!

    Did you miss me?

    Her screaming pierces my ear.

    I guess she did miss me. Heh.

    Ah. Fatherhood¡­

 Chapter 22: Terra Entertainment

    After spending several hours to cheer Antigone up, I took her to Hollywood.

    I didn''t travel there by car or train or ne. I teleported there directly with her in my arms.

    I have thought about taking up resident in Hollywood to make themute easier, but I like New York more since I was born and raised there.

    Not to mention my mother is currently living there.

    Despite not having my mother in my life because she had died in childbirth, I still want to get to know her. She is just a little girl right now, but that just allow me to be a part of her childhood. Sounds like I am her father than she is my mother.

    Anyway, my mother can babysit and take care of Antigone.

    My daughter does not have her mother in her life because I highly dislike women with two faces, but she should have her grandmother at least.

    I n to have breakfast first before heading to mypany located in Hollywood Boulevard.

    However, I only know of one restaurant that is remotely any good along the street.

    "Esteemed customer. Pleasee inside. We serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, every hour of the day and every day of the week. If there is nothing to your liking on the menu, we can even have the cook prepare something outside of it."

    A respectful man in his thirties greets me at the front door of the restaurant. I quickly scan him up and down and notice that he is wearing cufflinks with twin guns.

    The guns form a double letter J.

    "Jimmy. Johnson."

    I mutter under my breath and take Antigone inside the newly reformed establishment.

    My daughter is very quiet, seemingly bewildered at all the new surroundings. She grabs my ear every now and then as if she wants to show or ask me something.

    "I see that you are under new management."

    Iment when I take note of the numerous people looking very busy. Most of them are wearing the cufflinks with matching uniform.

    An organization is only as good as to how it represented itself.

    Jimmy learns this from his time in Hydra.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t stay with Hydra since there are just too many rules and regtions. He wants to be free, to be unbounded and unchained. I allow him to since unhappiness and discontent produces unsatisfactory result.

    However, once part of Hydra will always part of Hydra.

    Even in death.

    "Yes sir. The previous owner can no longer have the capability of running this fine establishment, so it is up to my boss to do so. Please have a sit and we will bring you some appetizer. Completely on the house of course."

    The man chuckles and gives a light bow.

    Waiters and waitresses begin attending my table, cing tes, sses and silverwares as well as the menu. The menu is like a freaking book. There is so many to choose from.

    Antigone watches the attendants before trying to grab a folk. I stop her by holding her back as I request Selene to locate where the previous boss has gone.

    The mini map in my vision zooms out of the Hollywood area and move towards Santa Monica. It passes the marina and continues across the ocean. It stops halfway to San Nics Ind.

    This is thest known location of the man, at least ording to Shield Surveince Network. He is very likely swimming with the fishes by having both of his feet bounds by concrete block.

    Seriously Jimmy?

    This is like old school stuff! I thought he has learned the subtlety of killing someone from Hydra. Doing something like this will leave a lot of bloody trails behind for the police to find.

    Although I could fix it for him, I decide Jimmy needs to learn the lesson the hard way. The little gang he created with his buddy Johnson will have to be dismantled eventually. There is no point of gangsters running around in the street in the future.

    "Please enjoy your meal."

    My personal waitress said after bringing out my breakfast and a baby soup for Antigone. The soup is a courtesy of Heinz. She even willing to feed my daughter, but I tell her to be a tree. Only those within my family can care for my daughter.

    Antigone enjoys her soup like always even gurgling cheerfully.

    I also enjoy my breakfast. I tip the waitress and a few other people handsomely on my way out. I love enjoying my meal without anything going wrong, especially with my daughter.

    "It is a pleasure. Pleasee again, Mr. Maxwell. We will always d to serve you and your kin. This is a gift from management. Please ept it."

    The greeter tells me after he brought me a baby trolley packs with all the essentials.

    I ce Antigone inside as she is already yawning and drooling on my shoulder. All she does is eat, poop and sleep ¨C not necessary in the same order or one at a time.

    In truth, I could age her to the point that she could take care of herself, but that mean she would lose out a chunk of her childhood. I rather not.

    I take my time heading to work. There is no need to hurry. Being the boss has its rewards.

    Antigone ys around with some toys in the cart before falling fast asleep.

    Terra Entertainment has a huge building located further down the street. It does not have 100 floors like Oxford Hotel, but it still has many. Shield Security provides security personnel for the building, so nobody dares to cause any trouble, including the employees.

    "Greeting Mr. Maxwell."

    The doorman greets me when I head towards the door. He opens it for me and allows me to push the baby trolley inside.

    The cute receptionist in her early twenties greets me warming and gestures me towards the elevator.

    Those at the elevators also greet me respectfully and prioritize me to use the elevator.

    It seems that on the ount of what happened at Oxford Hotelst night, Henry makes sure everyone knows who I am and how to conduct in my presence.

    This will make things run smoothly.

    I really don''t want to have waste time and chastise disrespectful employees.

    My office is on the top floor of the building, it takes a while for the elevator to climb. I sometime wish to integrate some high-tech stuffs into everywhere I stay but doing so will cause a lot of questions.

    I guess I will have suffered the pain of waiting for a while.

    This is what American forced to do at least once a day ¨C waiting in a queue.

    There are several adjoining rooms in my office. They include a meeting room, a leisure room, and an amenity room. I left Antigone in the leisure room after checking her over.

    Once I print out the first manuscript for Jurassic Park in the amenity room, I have a look at the phone on my desk.

    Each number on the speed dial isbeled clearly.

    I pressed one of the buttons to dial the Terra Literature department on the 11th floor.

    Every subsidiary has an office in the building, allowing me to talk to the person in charge. They do have their own assets outside the building such as filming studio and printing workshops.

    "I want to see whoever in charge of the publications. Get that person up here asap."

    I request.

    "Yes sir, Mr. Maxwell. He will be there shortly. Will you require anything else?"

    The response before I hang up.

    It takes about a couple of minutes for the man to enter my office. It takes that long apparently because of the damn elevator. I learn his name is Howard.

    "Have an editor read through this manuscript. Fix any grammar or spelling mistakes before sending it to the printing. I want the whole country to have a read by the end of next week. Once you have that done,e back here since I have another book or a couples that I want you to look at."

    Howard immediately heads off.

    I call the director of Sound of Terra next. I am surprised it is a middle age woman since woman rarely hold any position of power in the 1990. But if she is capable, I do not care what sexual organs she has.

    "I want contracts with all artists on this list, Miss Emily. I don''t care what their asking price is, just get it done by next months. Also, make me a list of all the venues that is avable. I want to hold an annual concert."

    Emily acknowledges her understanding and heads back to her department.

    Gaming Department is next and then finally Terra Production.

    That is the n.

    However, the gaming department is in a dire situation.

    "What the hell do you mean there are no coders or designers avable in thepany? What the fuck have you been doing in the past months!?"

    The man flinches. He couldn''t stop shaking due to my anger.

    "It''s thepany standard, sir. It is too high. It is very difficult to find anyone matching or exceeding the requirements."

    This is due the gaming market crash of 1983. Well, it happens in 1987 now thanks to the new timeline due to Chrono Holdings having absolute control over Atari.

    Despite the slow death, Atari is still just a shell of its former glory. However, this produce an rming number of shitty programmers and game developers.

    This allow Nintendo to enter the scene and dominate the gaming industry.

    The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) is a hot sale right now. Combining with high quality games, Nintendo is the King.

    Furthermore, the first-generation 8-bits handheld console, Gameboy takes hold of the gaming marketpletely when it was released at the end ofst year, Christmas time. Every kid wants one, but due to its pricing, not anyone can afford it.

    I suppose it is time to dethrone the King. 16-bits gaming is garbage.

    "Go and tell everyone in the Console Research and Development Team that they are fucking fired if they don''te to the meeting in 5 minutes. I have a yStation to throw at their face."

    Actually, it will be yStation 2 ¨C the hottest console in gaming history. At least in the 21st century.

    I will just skip a few generations.

    Let''s see how Nintendo likes it when their technology bes obsolete overnight.

 Chapter 23: PlayStation Inception

    The meeting went as smoothly as I have half expected it to. The people from the console development team agree with whatever garbage I put forth for the yStation.

    They are fucking yes-man.

    It either that or they are so fearful of losing their job that they couldn''t speak their mind.

    While I demand respect from everyone working for me, directly or indirectly, I still prefer them to have some independent thoughts and opinions.

    More than that, they should have the fucking courage to tell me when I am wrong.

    I need goddamn leaders not mindless followers!

    And I do not punish people for their brutal honesty.

    Heck, I prefer the cold hard factual truth over shitty sweet lies. Thetter is like a cancer that must be weeded out before it spreads.

    Seeing it is pointless to continue with the meeting any further, I decide to just dismantle the hardware development team and move everyone into game development instead.

    At least there, their technical knowledge and coding skills could be put to use.

    Due to my high hiring standard ¨C not so high whenpare to the 21st century ¨C I am in need of alot of professional game developers and coders.

    I have plenty of graphic designers, storywriters and audio engineers working in the game development team, but programmers are necessary to make the actual game.

    For that, I decide to bring in some Hydra personnel from their Research and Development division. I also request a meeting with the chairman from Crisis System.

    Crisis System deals with the Electronic and Computing Sector.

    Thepany is fairly new whenpared to all the otherpanies under my control.

    Despite that, Crisis System has make some significant progress in hardware engineering. It also have a massive manufacturingplex that I can put to good use.

    Hundred of billions of dors have been spend in thepany and itsplexes after all.

    You got to spend money to make money, and putting money back into the economy makes the world go round.

    This is why so much money is going and out of Chrono Holdings every single day. Thepany spends as much it makes in return.

    I mean to say it makes a lot more than it spends. Even money in the its bank is making money because it is being lend to the American people at a very good interest rate.

    The people I have requested arrive to thepany by the afternoon. Some of them has to travel half way across America as well as the world. Hydra has a headquarter in Africa now.

    Since everyone is part of the inner circle, we can speak our mind freely.

    "It can be done with some adjustments to our manufacturing capabilities, but not in the timespan you have allotted. Perhaps, a few more weeks is in order, Mr. Maxwell. If time is a constrain then I suggest we forgoes the DVD medium in favour of the DLCD. It also brings down the cost."

    Larry Norman speaks up. He is the chairman of Crisis System. He quickly exins what DLCD is for me to understand. Hydra personnel already knew since they designed the damn thing.

    DLCD is an acronym for Dual Layer Compact Disc.

    This effectively doubled the capacity of a standard CD from 700 MB to 1.4 GB. There is also Triple Layer version, but it is not worth the effort due to exponential manufacturing cost.

    While DLCD is still far from standard capacity of DVD at 4.7GB, it is more than sufficient for most games of the 1990s to 2000s.

    3D gaming is still in its infancy after all.

    "Very well. That is eptable. What else?"

    I ept the changes since DVD technology is still very new. It shouldn''t be marketable yet. The general public is not aware of its existence.

    I am trying to kill two birds with on stone like the original yStation 2 back in the original timeline. It is a game console, but also a DVD yer. Why buy two separate devices when one can do both for a lot less.

    However, having DLCD as a medium, I can still distribute home media such as movies and serial shows through it.

    "Do we really need to have internal memory disk? Not to mention it is detachable as well."

    One of the Hydra scientists asks.

    "Yes. People are generallyzy, especially gamers and couch potatoes. If they don''t have to switch disc between each y, it is all for the better. I would like to have wireless capability for the controllers as well, but doing so will reveal some of the cards we do not want to reveal yet."

    I look at Larry.

    "What is the maximum capacity of a hard disk that yourpany can produce?"

    "About 256GB. 512GB if you wish. Although it is going to be difficult exining how our hard drive far out pace all ourpetitors in term of speed and capacity."

    I nod. Sometimes it is hard to keep the tech level to the minimum. I have to ¨C for now.

    2GB hard drive is the current limit right now. It still also cost an arm and a leg for the average consumer to buy such amount of storage.

    "We don''t need that high capacity on release. About 16GB should do. Make sure it is 3.5 inch standard andpatible with higher capcity such as 32GB and 64GB for gamers with deep pockets. Now, as for the cost for the yStation itself. I suggest $199.99 as starting price."

    I point out.

    "Almost 20 grand? Isn''t that a bit too expensive, Mr. Maxwell? A CD yer costs about about $200 on average. While the gaming console ummm yStation will y DLCD as well as CD, an average person wouldn''t know the difference. We do have the manufacturing capability to produce anything cheaply, but it should at least cost reasonable."

    Another Hydra scientistments.

    "20k? No. I said $199.99. $200 bucks!"

    Everyone nearly spat out blood.

 Chapter 24: Research & Development

    Almost everyone in the meeting calls me out on the absurd price regardless of whether they have any skills or experiences in the financial or economic sector.

    This is because $199.99 is far too cheap for something as advance as the yStation. If build normally on an assembly line, it would cost at least $1,500 for just theponents alone.

    Labor, marketing and distribution put the pricing well in the $2000, maybe even the $3000. Then what about profitability? It is pointless to produce a product that does not bring in profits.

    Therefore, it is understandable that everyone is highly emotional.

    The yStation I am proposing is a 32-bit home console, powered by an "experimental"puting architecture running at 1.2 GHz. This is stupidly fastpare to every other console on the market, which runs in the MHz instead.

    Super Nintendo Entertainment System only have a 3.58 MHz CPU.

    And it is selling like hot water.

    Furthermore, yStation has 32MB of System RAM, 8MB dedicated video RAM, digital stereo sound, 16 GB of expandable memory, removeable memory card slots for save files, dual shock controllers and much, much more.

    Not only that, the console itself acts as a home media system, capable of ying CD and DLCD. Even a DLCD yer alone is already exceed the price point by several folds ¨C and the damn thing is not even on the market yet.

    In other word, yStation is a beast of a gaming console. Therefore, the price point should worthy of its specifications.

    "Everyone, please calm down. Hmm¡­ you there. How much a game cartridge goes for on the market?"

    I point at one of the Hydra agents standing by the wall, listening on the conversations.

    They havee along with the scientists just incase there some fighting involved. The scientists can defend themselves since they did have somebat training, but in a real battle, they are more of a tactician and strategist.

    "About $50 sir. I recently brought one for my son a week ago. I think it was called Super Mario World or something. There is this Italian plumber riding a tiny dinosaur and stomping on mushrooms. I don''t really get it much, but my son loves it."

    The agent replies.

    "$50 bucks. How much does apact disc cost? Can''t be more than dor or two to manufacture. It is not like they are cartridges with a lot of electronics inside. If we sell a game for that much, the profit margin is simply insane. And I am not talking about a dozen or so games.

    I''m talking about thousands of games if not tens of thousands."

    I let all that sink into everyone present. Each game can bring in hundreds of millions, not to mention the copyright and merchandising.

    "If I could, I would have given the console away for free. We make money on the consumables instead, and a console is only as popr as the games avable. To prevent a simr situation in 1987, each game must past rigorous testing before being published."

    I gesture at the scientists.

    "This is where youe in. The people I have working for me in the game development department is¡­ how I put it? Less than satisfactory. I should have fire the lot of them for their ipetent but firing everyone on my first day seems a bit extreme. Besides, I probably won''t find anyone better than them in this industry, at least in America."

    I realize that I am going off topics. My mind to tend to wander.

    "Ahem. I need you guys to take lead in the game development department. Run a seminar or training course. Teach those idiots how to code and stuff. Do whatever you think is necessary. Just make them into professional programmers as soon as possible and I will forever be grateful."

    I even p my hands and bow.

    This earns a few chuckles.

    "There is no need for that, Supreme Commander. Hydra is entirely at your service. We will do our best with what we have. By my estimation, we should have them coding like a basic AI in a few months or so."

    One of the scientists in the front remarks.

    I didn''t like the estimated time given, but there is little I could do.

    It takes time to train people ¨C normally.

    Sometimes I wish I was back in the 31st century.

    "I think that would be great. And Larry. I want a prototype on my desk in a month time. Do make sure that it also looks good. If I see a brick, you know where it will go flying to."

    Larry Norman assures that it will be ready by then.

    He dismisses my little threat since as long as he does his best, I will not chastise him. At least, I wouldn''t be throwing bricks at his head.

    "I will have to assemble a team to research how all of this fit together for the console. They should be able to develop a working version within a week or so. Having unlimited funding at one disposal does help."

    Larryments.

    I totally forgot about research and development phrase of the production.

    It is needed for any new product.

    The engineers need to know how theponents fits together correctly. They also need to program the hardware, so it works as intended.

    "Oh. If you have spare time, addworking capability into the hardware as well. I think we will need that once the Inte is avable. Coop gameys is very popr in the future."

    The Inte should have beenmercially avable on the 1st of January 1990 ording to history, but there is some strange dy.

    It might have something to do with Antis.

    Antis has the Inte since the 1960. It should be called the Intr instead due to it epasses only the ind nation. However, Antis Inte is essible anywhere around the globe thanks to all the satellites.

    Any country with a supeputer should be able to hack into thatwork. It is intentional, so they can learn all the things that are happening on the ind. Of course, whether they believed what they read on the Antis Intr is another question.

    Some stuffs did get leaked to the public hence the buzz about a super advance ind nation. Antis appears on the news many times.

    Still, no delegates being send to the United Nations yet.

    I wonder who will be sent by Hydra. It must be an Antean due to their distinct hair and eye colors, but over the four decades, almost all second generation Antean are part of Hydra.

    Anyway, none of that really interest me currently.

    "So, are we all in agreement about the pricing?"

    Everyone nods once they understand the true revenue stream.

    Console does not bring in money. It is the games that do.

    And I n to release a lot of games for the console.

    It is as simple as jumping into the future, grab a copy of the finished game and return to the past to duplicate and distribute.

    Oh wait! It is exactly that!

    Why don''t I just do that for the yStation then?

    Fuck research and development!

    Larry bes bbergasted when I drop the working console into his hands. I brought back quite a few for everyone. They are curious of the machine they will be building.

    "Dismantle it, learn how it ticks and mass produce."

 Chapter 25: Unexplainable Existence

    How did I manage to bring stuff back from the future without merging into my past-self, you may ask?

    With great timing of course.

    While it is true that I will unavoidable merge with my past or future self if there are somehow two of me existing in the same timeframe, if I return from the future just a few milliseconds after I had left then there will only be one of me.

    Paradox bypassed!

    Confused?

    Well, prepare for more confusion ahead.

    I do not exist in the future where I had brought a bunch of yStations from. This is because the actual me of that timeline has gone to the future to buy a yStation to bring to the past for dismantling and duplication.

    In that future, the universe assumes that I have never came back ¨C so basically, I disappear forever in that timeline.

    Difficult to follow? There is more.

    Let''s call this timeline the prime timeline.

    The prime timeline is the one that the story is taking ce in.

    The moment I had brought the yStations back to the prime timeline, the future I went to no longer exists. This is because that future only exists if I have disappeared without ever returning to the past, its past.

    Since I have returned, the prime future has already changed.

    This is the one of the main reasons why the future is always changing. Once I know what happened in the future regardless of how, it has already been changed.

    However, some things do not change regardless of whether I have lived through it or jumping ahead to see what will happen. Things like the lottery for example. The same set of numbers will alwayse up unless I did something to change it.

    So much for Chaos Theory.

    At least God does not y dice with the universe.

    I do.

    Here is another brain twister question.

    Why don''t the stuffs I have brought back to the prime timeline from an alternate future disappears?

    Hell, why don''t I disappear?

    I assume that the alternate future that I have brought the yStations from still exist somewhere and in some form drifting on the river of time.

    The Hydra scientists is unable to exin the temporal phenomenon. Oh, they have plenty of theory, but none of the theories fully exins what I have experienced.

    The most eptable census is that the future exists like a tree branching out infinitely, causing many divergences.

    In other word, what can happen will happen, if not in this timeline then in the next.

    Or for the sake of simplicity, all futures exist as probability like Schr?dinger''s cat in the box experiment, and a prime timeline does not really exist until I open the box and see whether the cat is dead or not or some mutated state.

    That does not exin why I exist though.

    Obviously, due to my machination, I wouldn''t be born in the year 2001 of the prime timeline, right?

    Logically, even if my mother met my father in this timeline and conceive me at the exact moment they should, it wouldn''t be the same me.

    This is because it is impossible to repeat everything that have happened exactly.

    Even something as simple as breathing can affects the future in so many ways, especially the far future.

    Therefore, I shouldn''t be born in the prime timeline by all reasonings.

    Unfortunately, my assumption is wrong. I have checked so many times by jumping into the future and experience the horror of being in a womb.

    Even killing my father wouldn''t change my existence. I even kidnapped my mother and put her on ice for centuries at Hydra headquarter, I still get born ¨C just to someone else.

    My existence seems absolute.

    No matter what happen, I will be born regardless.

    Once it is the year 2001, I will be a fetus. That is an unavoidable future. Despite my unfathomable power and wealth, I truly fear for the day.

    But enough about all of that. I have been thinking about this time travel thing from the moment my power manifested. It leads me to just a bunch of more unanswerable questions.

    I will find out the reason for my existence eventually.

    Once the meeting is over, Larry Norman takes a private helicopter back to Crisis System in Santa ra, California. He has an urgent meeting with the CEOs and chairmen of Intel and Quam to maximize production of the yStation.

    Crisis System, Intel and Quam will be the major manufacturers and producers of microprocessors and semiconductors in America.

    I initially had Advance Micro Devices (AMD) instead of Quam, but I changed my mind because of a certain unpleasantness. I will deal with AMDter, right after I crash their stocks.

    Why didn''t I have Samsung even though I also one of the major shareholders?

    Samsung is not an Americanpany. But since Korea is actually one of the world superpowers in the future, I have n to take over the country.

    Korea ¨C not South Korea or North Korea. Once Korea is united, it is a force to be reckoned with. It even managed to annex Japan after World War 4, merging the nation into Greater Korea.

    Incredible feat if I must say, but then again, the Japan of the future has no strength to fight back due to their dying poption.

    The earthquake generator did a number on Japan, fracturing it into many inds. Logistics bes aplete mess afterwards.

    As for hardware and software development, it will be Apple, Microsoft and maybe Atari.

    Atari is crashing and burning right now. It might just be better to absorb it into one of the other giants instead of rebuilding it from the ground up.

    Those are the immediate ns Electronic and Computing Sectors for now. My ns do change if the future proves to be devastating.

    The Hydra scientists head down to the gaming development department to begin their jobs. I expect great things from them.

    As for other Hydra personnel, they went to have a chat with Shield Security. Themon room is now packed with huge men that can kill a person with a look.

    The staffs file inins soon afterwards.

    I tell them to suck it up or get ripped. There is a gym close by, so get to it.

    Unlike in theics, Shield and Hydra aren''t not really enemies regardless of how I attempt to make them be.

    They are friends.

    Many of them keeps in touch with each other over via the Antis Network since they are not allowed to use Hydra or Shield Network for personal matters.

    Some even took their kids to the other organization pics.

    Speaking of kids, Antigone needs some ymates. Social interaction is very important for a child at a young age. Furthermore, I don''t want her to have daddyplex when she grows up.

    That is a ground for incest.

    So, from now on, the Terra Entertainment will be "bring your kids to work" every day.

    I will have an entire floor dedicated to childcare.

    I do have a spare floor after all.

    It is where the former console research and development had resided.

    Next up on the list of things I need to do, Terra Production.

    Since everyone knows I am going through each of the department privately, everyone working in that department is a nervous wreck. This is especially true when I had made the entire department wait while I deal with the gaming department.

    I wonder if Halle Berry shows up to work yet.

 Chapter 26: Terra Production

    Unlike the Gaming Development Department, the people in Film Production Department puts in their thought and opinions after I have outlined the plots of the movies I want to be produced.

    I appreciate their suggestions.

    A lot of their ideas are very, very good.

    Since Jurassic Park is still waiting for the book publication, I will work on the other movies first.

    Movies that are based on novels usually have their copyright purchased years in advance. Therefore, unless I want to use some underhand tactics, I will not be able to produce them legally.

    Sadly, this mean most movies is out of the questions.

    A lot of them are based on books or novels.

    Honestly, Hollywood really runs out of good idea way, way before the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    And that is based onic books.

    The fuck!?

    What happened to all the original ideas?

    I could produce my own Cinematic Universe since I do have an entire human history in the back of my brain with a virtual assistant.

    But to do that, I will need some incredible talented screenwriters and directors.

    Finding capable people is such a pain.

    I have spent years of my life doing that.

    If adding up all the years I been living back and forth through time, I have well over 200 years old.

    Damn¡­ I feel so old.

    I should act my age ¨C or not.

    Anyway, the three movies I proposed are Sleepless in Seattle, the Fugitive and Speed.

    The first two are blockbusters hit of the 1993 while thest one is from the 1994.

    Speed reces Jurassic Park for now since I will have to attend awsuit after the book publication. I really want to see how they are going to pin the copyright infringement on me and mypany when the judge and all the juries are in my pockets.

    Justice is blind with her blindfold, but she can smell burning money a mile away.

    "Alright. Everyone should know what they need to do. Negotiate for the filming location. Advertise for the audition. Do the preliminary casting. I want each of your report by the end of the week.

    As for the screeny itself, I will write it myself. Get to it."

    I look at the clock hanging above the doorway.

    "Never mind. It is almost 5pm. Time to go home. Just make a memo on your desk to remind yourself then go home to your families. I want everyone to have a fulfilling dinner and a good night rest before being here tomorrow 8am sharp. See you all when I see you."

    I like to run a tight ship, working 8am to 5pm every day except for the weekend.

    Some of people will stay overtime at thepany to get the job done, but I prefer they don''t.

    Getting stressed over all of this is rather pointless.

    I am not really looking for quality in my products, although that will help recuperate my losses.

    Instead, I am looking more for quantity.

    The public will forget about Terra Entertainment if it only produces one or two blockbusters hit a year, when it could do so much more.

    Money isn''t really a problem, capable people is.

    I do have ns for serial television shows such as the X-Files, Friends, Frasier and so on, but proposing them right now will cause overload.

    They should all focus on blockbusters film for now.

    Once the iPhone isunched by Apple or Microsoft sometimes next year with Horizon Social Network (HSN) backing, everyone will probably be glued to their smartphone, streaming all their favorite show while pumping their money into the corporate machine.

    Imagine having a smartphone in the 1991!

    Horizon is busyying out their 4G telmunication towers all over America right now while trying and failing to buy out AT&T.

    They have burned almost a trillion dor, which is both good and bad.

    Good because it put money back into the economy.

    Bad because after spending so much money, the result is appalling.

    Maybe I should rece the head of Horizon Social Network. If this is his best, I don''t think he will get any better.

    It might not be his fault since AT&T is just too powerful right now. It resists the buyout, so I will let be a footnote in history instead.

    By the time 2G is revealed in 1991, 4G will overtake it immediately. Since AT&T spends a lot of money into this new 2G technology, this will cause some severe crash in the stock market.

    How could it not? Spending billions on an obsolete technology?

    Their board of directors will have their asses.

    Let''s see if AT&T can resist the buyout then, especially when Horizon Social Network fully dominates the telmunication market.

    I left the meeting room before most people did. The people that have stayed behind are still arguing or debating about the casting and filming schedule.

    I let them do all the hard work.

    It is what they are paid to do.

    Back in my office, I plug in the yStation onto the television to y a few games.

    It is to test the system I have imagined since the supeputer in my head have games that are more real than reality.

    I know for a fact that yStation is insanely popr in the future, so there is no need for any further adjustments to the design.

    After about half an hour I decided to stop ying in fear of my eyes melting right out of my skull.

    I might have inadvertently blinded all the kids in the future.

    To correct that, I call Larry Norman of Crisis System. He is currently in a business meeting with Andrew Grove of Intel and Irwin Jacobs of Quam.

    "For the love of god, please release an LCD screen! You got a working prototype, right? Oh sorry. Hello Mr. Grove and Mr. Jacobs.

    It has been a while since Ist talk to the both of you together. Umm¡­ how are things on your end?"

    "Good evening, Mr. Maxwell."

    Andrew and Irwin greet me in return. They are generally happy with the state of thing.

    Theirpany makes billions selling obsolete technologies to the masses.

    Quam is still a private ownedpany thanks to my support.

    "Alright then, I will leave you to it since having me looking over your shoulder will annoy the both of us. Just release a digital television already, Larry. I don''t want my daughter staring at a microwave all day."

    I hang up after that and head to the printer next door.

    I print out the screenys for all three movies before sitting back down behind my desk.

    I have a read through Speed before wondering where the hell is Halle Berry.

    She is really pissing me off. I will have to teach her another lesson if this keeps up.

    "Selene, locate Halle Berry."

    [essing Shield Surveince Network¡­ Locating Halle Maria Berry, born August 14, 1966. Located. Terra Entertainment, Hollywood]

    "Eh? Seriously!?"

    I pick up the phone and call the receptionist downstairs.

    I ask whether there is someone named Halle Berry waiting for me in the lobby.

    "Miss Berry? Please hold on a minute, Mr. Maxwell."

    It takes about a minute.

    "Yes. I have her here right now. My apology, sir. Shall I send her up now?"

    It appears that Halle arrived sometimes in the morning about 8am. She has been sitting in the lobby, waiting to be called up until now.

    And what was the reason?

    She wasn''t a priority on the ount of her background.

    "Your name is not Jasmine, is it?"

 Chapter 27: The Contract

    Luckily, her name is not Jasmine. Her name isn''t really that important.

    Her job is, however.

    So, it is a very good thing that she didn''t let her opinion affects me or thepany.

    The receptionist did call my office in the morning. This is proven in the phone records down.

    I wasn''t in my office at the time as I was preparing my manuscripts in the adjacent rooms. The printers and scanners are very noisy. It isn''t like those machines are built to the standard of the 21st century.

    After ying with Antigone for a little bit and putting her to sleep, I was in several long meetings with several departments, including members of Hydra.

    In fact, I wasn''t in my office for most of the day.

    I was a very busy man.

    Thus, all the receptionist could do is tell Halle to wait in the lobby until I am avable. Even so, I decide to have a seminar about this matter as Henry might be subconsciously racist.

    It is not strange to me that all my employees in Terra Entertainment are white. This didn''t mean that Asian or ck are incapable. It just means that Henry had prioritized employing white over another race. It either his doing or those working directly under him.

    I had also noticed that the staffs at Oxford Hotel is the same. The only cks or Asians I have seen are the cleaning staffs. I didn''t make anything at the time since I have something else on mind.

    Instead of telling Halle toe to my office, I went downstairs to get her personally. To have the chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of yourpany greet a no-name in person creates a powerful impression.

    "I am really sorry for making you wait all day, Miss Halle Berry. It is not my intention. Please,e this way. We have much to discuss about your contact the uing schedule. I wish to be the first person to congratte you on joining ourpany as its first inhouse actress."

    I apologize and cast a warning nce at the receptionist. She is utterly shocked, just like the employees in the lobby.

    They will have something to gossip about tomorrow.

    "Ah¡­ no. It''s¡­ it''s fine, Mr. Maxwell. I don''t mind waiting."

    Halle responses shyly. She didn''t want to be here, as it is outside herfort zone. She prefers to be on the street as she has been for most of her life. That will have to change. I will mold her into what I needed as an image for thepany.

    Halle follows me to the elevator and we both head to the top floor.

    "Are you hungry?"

    I ask when I am back in my office and in my seat. Halle did wait all day for me. And from the surveince camera in the lobby, she had never left the building.

    "No. I am used to it."

    Halle answer. There are days that she didn''t have anything in her stomach.

    "Is that so? Please do to remember to have at least 3 meals a day. I will assign an agent to you, making sure you maintain a healthy weight and¡­ hygiene. You are very important to thepany, even if you do not know it yet. Come, sit down and let me talk about your contract."

    Once Halle takes a seat across the desk from me, I ce a stack of paper in front of her.

    This is her contract ¨C about an inch thick.

    I might have gone too far in crafting it. I want to address all the possible situations and circumstances as humanly possible.

    It is a standard contract for all actors and actresses working under me and for Terra Entertainment. It is unlike any contact avable for those looking to be a star in the film industry.

    In the current state of things in the filming industry and under the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), actors and actresses required agents to find them work. They could do it themselves, but it is very difficult without proper connection.

    Once the actors or actresses have been casted in a movie and finished filming, they would be required to look for work once more. The cycle continues until they could no longer be marketable.

    I do not like that model. I prefer a fulltime actors or actresses than a contracted one.

    It also speeds things up for everything I have in mind. I really don''t need to have an audition each time I needed something to be filmed, movies or otherwise.

    The actors and actresses will also be the spokesperson for thepany.

    "Have a read of the contract carefully in your spare time. Sign it and give it back to me whenever. It is not really that important whether you sign it or not, right Miss Berry?"

    Berry flinches as her mind recalls the terrifying memory. She feels so small in her seat.

    "Don''t worry. The contract does not force you to do anything you don''t want to do. It outlines all your rights while working for me and mypany, Terra Entertainment."

    I speak calmly as I show her the section regarding her personal right.

    "In short, as part of thepany, you are not allowed to take on any other jobs without an expressed permission from myself or the head of the production department. This is to prevent, amongst other things, scheduling conflict. In return, we will ensure that you star in at least one movie or a television show each year."

    I point out and flip several pages.

    Halle tries to read, but I am moving way too fast for her.

    "In the time that you are not filming or preparing to film, you are required to attend your training and seminar from 8am to 5pm every weekday. Once your skills reach appropriate levels, we will have you lecture and teach those that are aspiring to be contracted by thepany. Weekends are your days off just like every other employee in thepany.

    We generally do not care about your personal life if it does not affect thepany and its policy. In other word, what you do in your own time is your own business."

    I flip to another page.

    "We have prepared an adequate sry package for you. As our fulltime employee and prized actress, your sry is $100,000 annually, before taxes and other expenses. It will be paid into your dedicated bank ount at Chrono Reverses at the beginning of each financial years. You get bonuses for other contributions such as working overtime and so on."

    I tap at one of the dot points on the page.

    "If you star in one of the movies or television shows, you will get a percentage of the preceding on top of your annual sry. How much of a percentage ispletely up thepany at the time or prior to the time of the production ¨C it could be anywhere between 1% to 10%.

    For example, if you star in a blockbuster hit movie that earns 200 million after all expenses, you will likely get a bonus of 2 million for your contributions."

    Halle is lost for word.

    It is an incredibly insane offer, considering that even the highest-grossing movie star does not always share in the revenue. It is rarely that actors or actresses do.

    To give her that much while she hadn''t really acted a day in her life is just absurd.

    However, I have seen the future and I know that she will do very well.

    Halle is a hard worker. She diligently attended all her training sections, vastly improving her acting andmunication skills. She is the face of thepany and many of its products.

    I continue to guide her through the contract until the veryst page, where her signature is required. Although we can go on verbal agreement, it is better on the legal side of things that she does sign the contract.

    "The contract is for 25 years. You can renew the contract at any time during the 25 years. Although there are no penalties for breaking the contract on paper. You will just have an unfortunate ident or something simr."

    I tell Halle casually. Thest line makes her tense up.

    "Do understand that thepany cannot have those it spends millions of dor nurturing to work for anotherpany in the future, Miss Berry. I don''t like wasting my valuable time on people like that. I cannot say that I am fair, but I am notpletely heartless. Do your job and you will find that working for me have its benefits and many advantageous."

    I give her a smile and lean back against my chair.

    "Also, have you found a ce to live yet? If not, Terra Entertainment will provide a ce for you. We will also provide security details to ensure no one bother our actresses with their obsession. It is also to keep you in line, huh. These are free of charge."

    I tell her as it is. The security details are provided by Shield Security. She can choose which of the men or women to protect her. I don''t mind that at all if it makes her any morefortable.

    Halle asks about somethings she didn''t understand. I answer her to best of my ability. There is no need to hide anything from her in rtion to her contract since she already known what I can do.

    "It is gettingte. Come and join me and my daughter for a warm dinner. It is also a toast to your new job at ourpany. I know of a wonderful restaurant."

    I request when the clock hits 8pm. I should have left the office around 5pm, but the first few days are always the busiest.

    Antigone should be waking up soon due to her hunger. She eats like 6 times a day.

    Halle is surprised at my request.

    "You have a daughter, Mr. Maxwell?"

 Chapter 28: Sensational News

    Halle is pleasantly surprised to learn that I am a single father. She asks about the mother, but I tell her that the woman died in childbirth ¨C this is consistent with my fabricated background.

    She joins me for dinner with Antigone at the restaurant down the road, owned by the mob.

    That ce is starting to be my favorite dinning ce. There are a wide range of dishes to choose from, and if it isn''t on the menu, I can always request it personally.

    Having Antigone with us makes Halle a little less wary of me.

    She is in the belief that I am the devil reincarnated, but she couldn''t wrap her mind about the fact that a devil is caring for a baby. Seeing me feeding my baby daughter with genuine joys at dinner, she has a slightly better opinion of me.

    Not that I care what she thinks of me.

    If Halle does what she is told, I will not have a problem with her.

    I will have a Hydra agent acts as her agent and mediator to thepany. The agent is also a personal bodyguard, meaning it should be a girl.

    Hydra has start training female agents back in the 1970 from a young age. This is necessary to form a sleeper family unit. A couple with a child is not as suspicious as an all too friendly unmarried man. The child to the couple is also a Hydra agent, just in training.

    I chat about personal matters with Halle over dinner.

    Halle is not very forting with her personal life, but she did make some remarks about her father.

    She doesn''t really hate the man for killing her mother when she was little since keeping a grudge over so many years will do her no good. That said, she still wants to see him behind bars for the rest of his life.

    Once Halle finishes her meal, she excuses herself.

    "Bye, bye, Antigone. I guess I will be seeing you a lot from now on."

    Halle says goodbye to my daughter.

    Antigone responses with a gurgle and a hand jerk. It means that she wants to see Halle again ¨C I guess.

    "Please take this with you. It is a copy of the screeny for the film Speed. Your co-star will likely be Keanu Reeves, so imagine talking to him when you are practicing the lines."

    I pass Halle the screeny from my briefcase. It bes a habit to carry a briefcase everywhere I go now.

    As for Speed, I have thought about casting Sandra Bullock. However, with Halle Berry, a homeless girl from the street as one of the passengers on the speeding bus of doom before bing the heroine of the story is like a fairy talees true.

    It is a lot more impactful than just having an American sweetheart like the original movie with Sandra Bullock. America really digs into this kind of thing.

    I also left the restaurant with Antigone shortly after Halle did. I pay for our dinner and tip the waiters despite being the actual owner of the restaurant.

    The whole corporate chain ofmand is getting a bit convoluted, but it is necessary.

    I will make my appearance once everything is in ce.

    "Look. You are running a business, are you not? I am one of your customers. I eat so I must pay. It is only natural. ept my bill or I will have a problem with you and your boss.

    And believe me, you don''t want that happening."

    I tell the restaurant when they repeatedly refuse to ept my payments. Jimmy obviously has a hand in this. He didn''t want to take money from me since it is like me paying myself.

    However, I insist on it.

    Luckily, the new manager of the restaurant is an intelligence man. He wouldn''t want a scene to break out with so many people watching.

    Once the matter is resolved, I head back to Terra Entertainment.

    A helicopter is waiting for me on the rooftop, readying to take me to the international airport. There, a supersonic jet will take me home to New York City.

    It will be like 4 hours flight in total ¨C I''m not doing that.

    Instead, I have the pilots fly to New York City while I just teleport there directly. The pilots would spend most of his day flying back and forth between the two cities on a regr basis to create an illusion of me heading to work each day.

    I put Antigone to bed when I teleported to my home in the suburb.

    It is very quiet here unlike the city, where nobody actually slept.

    After securing the room where my daughter is sleeping, I spend the rest of the night working on other movies and televisions.

    Selene did most of the work for me, organizing and analyzing each of the movie and television show before producing an urate representation in screeny form.

    Although I do have a copy of the original screeny, it contains a lot of discrepancy to the actual movie or television show. This is because the director does go off the script when the script just doesn''t work during the filming.

    This also mean that the show produced in this timeline will not be exactly like the one in my memory.

    I suppose it is expected. If anything, it gives me watchable values.

    Printing out multiple screeny copies of the entire 10 seasons of Friends did take a bit of time, even if the printers is highly advance.

    Each episode is like a book fills with endless dialogues and event summaries.

    Over the course of next couple of weeks, I have created screenys of almost every popr television in the 1990s along with Friends.

    The screenys include Frasier, The X-Files, The Sopranos, Buffy the Vampire yers, Everyone Loves Raymond, ER and so many others.

    All these shows will be produced by mypany, as soon as I found the right actors and directors.

    During these weeks, Stephanie drops by to y with Antigone. I offer her to babysit the baby when I am busy working in my private office at home.

    Her eyes shine when she gets paid $10 an hour.

    However, Stephanie needed to ask her mother.

    Her mother ¨C my step-grandmother or was it adopted-grandmother ¨C immediate go over to my house to have a chat with me.

    Apparently, the woman didn''t believe her adopted daughter.

    "Yes. Mrs. Connors. I am willing to pay your daughter $10 an hour to watch my daughter. My daughter has taken a good liking to your daughter, and I see that your daughter is a good child from the time I have known her. If you believe your daughter is too young for this, I will drop the whole matter."

    "Ah, I think that is fine. I thought I have misheard Stephanie when she tells me about it. Although, are you sure? $10 an hour is a lot of money."

    The woman replies.

    "Is that so? Shall I reduce the amount to say, $5 an hour?"

    I question.

    The minimum wage is around $3.5 dor an hour. A lot of adult works for this much every day. I know for a fact that my adopted-grandmother doesn''t earn as much as $10 an hour in her current job.

    "Huh? No, no, no. I think $10 is appropriate for Stephanie. She is very responsible for her age. You will not find anyone like her to look after your daughter."

    "Ah okay. I guess I will be seeing your daughter 6pm to 9pm every weeknight, huh. I might require her to babysit during the day or the weekend on some asions."

    I chuckle and have a chat to the money-grubbing woman about Stephanie for a bit before she leaves and returns to her home.

    I resume watching the news broadcasting on a Cathode-ray Tube (CRT) Television. The damn thing will make people blind if they watch for too long.

    The buyout of Heinz and Kraft by Chrono Holdings cause a lot of noise in the economy. Henry appears on television multiple times, citing that Chrono Holdings has decided to enter the food industry.

    Henry makes his intention very clear on public media about merging the twopanies together to form Kraft Heinz Incorporated like I wanted.

    However, before Henry could do something like that, he needs permission from the government due to the rather annoying antitrustw.

    The news about the massive merger would have been the most sensational on television if it wasn''t for Intel revealing theirtest technology publicly ¨C a fully color LCD panel.

    That Liquid Crystal Disy (LCD) Television is a prototype, but the demonstration shows the disy is far more advance than anything avable on the market, domestically or internationally.

    It is also lighter than all other disys. Due to its weight, it can be mounted onto walls.

    However, since Intel is a microprocessors and semiconductors manufacturer and producer, it does not producemercial LCD directly for the general public. Instead, they produce parts andponents for otherpanies, such as Sony, Samsung, and LG.

    Thesepanies will be the ones market and produce the consumables for the public.

    Just a few days after Intel reveals theirtest innovation in visual electronic, Crisis System follows suits with Quam not so far behind.

    This spark the bidding wars between the three Americanpanies, forcing down the prices for parts andponents.

    It is necessary to prevent monopoly.

    As I have nned, Intel produces the best and longsting electronics while Crisis System produces the cheapest but at the expense of durability. This is to make yStation as cheaply as possible.

    Quam is in between, affordable and durable.

    This allows markets for all threepanies, racking in billions of dors in contracts. Their stock prices skyrocketed after the reveal ¨C except for Quam, who is privately owned. It will be for a while.

    Every electronic andputingpanies in the world are calling Intel, Crisis System and Quam, asking for a business meeting.

    Even the United States Government is not an exception to this, especially the military.

    They are demanding for a conference.

    With the estimated price of $499.99 for a 32-inch LCD Screen, everyone will want one, considering the current CRT Television cost about as much if not more.

    In fact, Sony 27-inch KV TV cost about $1,500 on the market. A 32-inch is well above $2,000.

    I expect everyone in America will have a 24 to 32-inch LCD Television in their living room by Christmas, enjoying the high definition color.

    This is when the yStation will beunched.

    However, that is not the most sensational news to me.

    Somehow, someone manage to take a picture of me and Henry together.

    When I saw my face sters on the television, I spray the coffee all over the table.

    "Who is he? A love child of a Multi-Billion Dor Tycoon? An Exclusive Story! Tonight at 7pm!"

    The news headline states.

    "What the fuck!?"

 Chapter 29: Media Crisis

    Someone royally screws up.

    How the hell did I be a love child of Henry Oxford?

    I am his freaking senior! I''ve made him who he is today!

    Oh, wait a second.

    I am getting upset about the wrong damn thing. I should be way more concerned about how the fuck did someone manage to take a photograph of me and Henry having a conversation.

    Shield Security should have made sure the meeting is private and confidential.

    That is their job! They have one job and they screw it up!

    Deep down, I didn''t think Shield Security would have failed at their job with all the advance technology at their disposal. If they did, they should just dismantle themselves and leave everything to Hydra.

    I do not need an ipetent organization!

    No, Shield is not ipetent. There must be another usible exnation.

    My mind immediately reaches a conclusion.

    "Selene, connect me to Shield!"

    [Acknowledge, Operator. Please wait.]

    I wait for Selene to connect to the virtual intelligence called Shield.

    Shield is the head of the organization, so it will know everything going on in the organization.

    It always keeps an eye on everyone, never resting.

    Unlike Selene who exists inside my head due to the billions if not trillions of nanites in my bloodstream, Shield has a physical mainframe stashed securely somewhere in the world.

    No one really knows where, not even me.

    This is to prevent an attack.

    The destruction of Shield mainframe will severely cripple the entire organization. While it will probably not destroy the organization outright, the organization will no longer be as effective as before.

    [Strategic Homeworld Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Directorate (SHIELD) is connected. How may I help you, Supreme Commander?]

    "I want the details of all Shield Security members who were involved in the meeting between myself and Henry Oxford on the¡­ 14ish January this year. It might have been the 15th."

    [Affirmative. There is a total of 42 Shield Security personnel involved in the meeting between Supreme Commander and the head of Oxford Enterprise, Henry Oxford on the 15th of January 1990 at standard local time 13:16]

    Huge amounts of windows appear in front of my eyes.

    There are 42 windows in total.

    Each contains the details and information about a specific person, such as where they were born, who their parents are, what kind of school they have attended, what kind of achievements and certificates they have obtained, whether they are married and have children or not.

    What they are doing currently is also on record, updating progressively.

    Most are currently working.

    Some are at home with their family or girlfriend.

    A few is partying in a private club ¨C more than a few.

    Shield Security is throwing a bachelor party for someone in Chicago. Some of Hydra personnel are also there, apparently joining in on the fun. They have even brought a bunch of strippers along.

    These guys¡­ well, I guess they work hard, they get to y hard.

    "I believe that there is a mole in the Shield Security Division. Prove to me that I am wrong."

    I speak my mind.

    I do not believe anyone could have prated the perimeter set up by Shield Security. Therefore, the person must have already was inside.

    Aside from Henry and me, there are only Shield Security members. It must have been one of them.

    Oh, I forgot Antigone. It obviously can''t be my daughter.

    [Affirmative, Supreme Commander. Please wait.]

    I wait.

    It does take a while for the virtual intelligence to analyze each person, scrutinizing their entire history as well as their thought process.

    The 42 windows in front of my eyes constantly moving with percentage appearing on them. It indicates how likely that person has beenpromised.

    However, almost all the percentage is fluctuating between 0 to 5%.

    That is insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

    Shield only epts members who are utterly loyal to a fault. They would not betray the organization without a proper cause. Even then, they are willing to die to atone for their sin.

    This is different to how Hydra does thing.

    Hydra is more like brainwashing from a young age while Shield gives incentive.

    [41 members are ounted for and verified. 1 member is deceased.]

    "Deceased? How?"

    [Vehicr Incident on the 17th of January 1990. Subject James Houston died upon impact at standard local time 12:56]

    All the other windows copse, leaving only the one about James Houston in front of me.

    I quickly scan over his details and learns a bit about his life history. Graduated at the top of his ss in the training academy. Recruited by Shield before attempting to enterw and order enforcement.

    Since then, James has done an incredible job at Shield Security. He was promoted to a deputy captain just before his death.

    Once I have finished reading his achievements, I review the surveince video of the ident recorded by Shield Surveince Network.

    It shows a semitrailer crashing into his car, killing him instantly.

    James was heading home from work to his wife and kid at the time. Since he is now dead, he is released from his obligations to Shield.

    All his private assets in Shield have been transferred over to his living family members a couple of days ago along with a very generouspensation.

    His wife and son are still in morning. They miss him greatly.

    I suppose James is a good husband, father and provider for his family. Since he is now dead, I will not dig up the past.

    However, I still want to know how the fuck that information got out.

    [Security Breech Detected. Emily Walter, born July 17, 1968.]

    A new video appears in front me, showing a room where James use to work when he is at home.

    The video shows a young woman in her early twenties enters the office.

    This person is denoted as Emily Walter, the sister to Amanda Houston, who is James'' wife. That makes her his sister-inw.

    The window pertains her information appears in front me with 80% probability that she is the leak I am looking for.

    This is because she is an interim reporter.

    Emily goes through some files on the bookcase before checking the desk. She pulls out the drawer and pour everything onto the table.

    This is when Emily notices a folder stuck to the bottom of the drawer, and after looking through it, she left the room in a hurry.

    The video reverses and freezes.

    It then switches angle, zooming onto the folder contains some sensitive files. There is a picture of me and Henry talking to each other within the folder.

    The cleaners have missed some of James'' personal effects when they went over his office. This is really a problem when all Shield members tend to hide things in their homes.

    A new rule needs to be instated immediately, making sure that all members of Shield must not bring any physical documents home, copies or otherwise. All work must be done at the office and remain at the office.

    "Locate Emily Walter. I really want to have a chat with her."

    [Affirmative. Locating Emily Walter, born July 17, 1968. Located. New York City Mortuary.]

    "The Morgue? She''s dead? That was fast."

    Shield and Hydra has already taken her out?

    It isn''t very likely since they should have informed me about this leak.

    [Emily Water died on the 19th of January 1990 at approximately 16:22 local standard time. The cause of death is severe internal hemorrhage due to a prior vehicr incident. essing information.]

    A video appears for me to see.

    Emily was speeding before hitting into another speeding car. Both drivers died shortly after the head on collisions.

    Shield or Hydra has nothing to do with her death. It is aplete ident.

    The universe does work in mysterious way sometimes.

    "Great. Fucking hell, who the fuck should I me for this then?"

    While the ident has nothing to do with me or my organizations, her death did save her from being punished. Although I could bring her back to life just to punish her, is there really a point to that?

    My phone rings. I pick it up without bother to look at the caller. I already know who it is.

    "I assume that you saw the news, Henry. Please do something about it. I will not have my face sters all over the media."

    "Nor do I, Mr. Maxwell. At least for something like this. However, if we do anything currently, it might confirm the allegations."

    Henry replies.

    I thought about what he had said for a moment before shaking my head. If I do nothing in the face of such usations, it opens more doors for future usations.

    "I do not allow those who makes false usations against me or my family to live in peace. That is my principle. Make sure the station understands this and have whoever running this story fired. If you do not, then I will. And there will be a lot of coteral damages if I do."

    "I will see what I can do, Mr. Maxwell. Please give me until the schedule broadcast time."

    Henry answers after a short pause.

    "Very well, and goodnight, Henry."

    I hang up after that, allowing him to do whatever he needs to do.

    If he failed, I will just drop a Boeing 747 onto the station.

    That will shut them up and destroy any evidence, but a lot of people are going to die in the process though.

    I rather not kill a lot of people needlessly.

 Chapter 30: Stepping In

    It is true that I could go back a few weeks ago and prevent all of this from happening, but that means everything I have aplished in these past weeks is for naught.

    I would also have to relive all those damn weeks again, doing the exact the same things over again just to get the same result.

    Not only it will be super boring, it is also impossible to get the same result even if I acted perfectly.

    There are just too many things happening in the world at any given time. These things are way beyond my control. I cannot dictate how a leaf falls from a tree, causing slight disruption in the airflow, sending up dusts and the likes. These dusts then affect all its surroundings and people.

    Even a slight deviation can have an enormous effect. A butterfly ps its wings in New York City creates a deadly tornado in California ¨C this kind of thing.

    Furthermore, I am quite happy with my current progress.

    The yStation is in full development mode. Many factories are being readjusted for mass production while those people working in Game Development Department are progressively bing better and better coders thanks to the outstanding teaching of Hydra scientists.

    The music department, Sound of Terra is also making significant progresses. They have already signed up quite a lot of budding artists and songwriters with the contract I have prepared. The terms in the contract is very generous to many no-names singers and songwriters.

    The department is waiting for my permissions to produce and distribute the songs as well as setting up the concert venues, which I will give once I make a few more purchases.

    The Filming Development Department has finalized the screenys I send to them a few weeks prior. They are purchasing all the necessary props and equipment as well as setting up the audition revenues and filming locations.

    Not only that, they have contacted actors and directors for the initial offerings. These include Keanu Reeves and Liam Neeson to star in Speed and the Fugitive respectively.

    As for Halle Berry, she shows up at work every weekday from 8am to 5pm with her Hydra agent. Many people at thepany gives her this look of jealousy or distain, but as long as they do not hinder her in any way, I will tolerate it.

    Halle does not stay at thepany building once she shows up to work every morning. She usually heads to one of the theaters we owned along with a crew. This is to practice her dialogues and train her vocals and expressions.

    I have spectated in a few of her ys, finding that she has improve immensely. She is a natural born actress. Living in the streets for so long allows her to appreciate the chance she was given.

    As for literature side of thing, Jurassic Park is now on the bookshelves all over America. People haven''t given a lot of attention to it yet due to everyone trying to get their hand on an LCD Screen.

    The vibrant colors illustrated by the prototype disy at Intel demonstration proves to be the best-selling point. The price is also another selling point aspanies try to outbid each other for cheaper parts andponents.

    But the biggest spender is the United States itself. It is also trying to have the technology exclusive to the country and the American people for the next few years.

    That would create a lot of international tension.

    As for things with the media, I have a look through the Shield Surveince Network. There are cameras inside and outside the Television Station, courtesy of Shield Constructions and Logistics.

    I wonder what will happen when someone notice the entire America is under surveince. It will be a shitstorm then, but at least, that won''t happen or another couple of decades.

    In a few decades, none of these will really matter.

    Inside the meeting at the Television Station, several people have a grim expression. This is because of a very important phone call to the upper managements.

    The person sitting at the end of the table must be the editor-in-chief. Information about his personal life appears in a window for me to see.

    Sitting adjacent to him on either side are the producer and director. Their life history is also visible for me to review. Once I have a quick look, I close them since they are covering the video.

    "We cannot run this story. It is circumstantial at best."

    The man announces and slides the folder across the table, towards a woman in her mid-twenties. She is the reporter. It is her story. It would be the make-or-break story of her career.

    A window detailing her life appears in front of me. I learn that her name is Reba Abarbanel. She is not a friend of Emily Walter.

    In fact, they are rivals from the looks of thing.

    When Emily Walter died in a car ident, Reba went through her things and found the folder. The stuffs inside screams "exclusive story" at her. Seeing how it is a chance to be a real reporter, she immediately brought it to people in charge.

    "That isn''t what you said a few days ago! They got to you, didn''t they?"

    Reba questions as she ms her palm onto the folder, covering the Shield Security emblem on the front cover.

    Inside the folder contains mission report between me and Henry Oxford. Not only that, it details some extremely shady stuffs ¨C stuffs that no one realize is happening in America.

    James is the leader of that mission, and it is his job to write a report. Unfortunately, he died before he could hand it in. Reports are still handwritten, making it long and tedious. This couldn''t be help sinceputers are not advance enough yet publicly.

    I need to talk to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates for this. These two are not part of Hydra, so it will be a very interesting conversation. I didn''t recruit them into the fold because the future shows me that they are more sessful and extremely resilient when fighting for the survivals of theirpany.

    In other word, they work well under extreme pressures. They also thrive when they know everything is under their control. Nothing truly is ¨C really.

    "We are very sorry, Miss Abarbanel. There are things that is beyond our controls. We will have to let you go. Thank you for your contributions. Please pack up your things before 8pm. Thank you."

    The man tells her tly. It is either her or him. He prefers it to be her.

    Everyone in the news business knows well how dangerous it is to piss off someone like Henry Oxford, the head of Oxford Enterprise. The man could destroy them and their career with just a single word.

    In fact, Henry just buyout the station and push incredible pressure on the CEO. All this was done within an hour.

    Reba storms out of the room, taking the folder with her. She didn''t bother to pack her things. She heads directly to her car and take out her phone. She dials one of the numbers in her phonebook.

    A new window appears in front of me, tapping into the conversation.

    "Hello, CBS? I have an incredible story that can brings down Henry Oxford. It can be yours if you allow me to report it personally."

    Once Reba makes her intention clear, I know this will never going to stop.

    Obviously, Henry cannot possible buy out every news station in America.

    I suppose I will have to step in, and it will not look pretty.

 Chapter 31: Loose Ends

    Reba drives off once she gets her confirmation. It takes quite a lot of persuasion on her part to be allowed to report the exclusive news personally.

    One the highway, she hits a roadblock ¨C literally.

    The roadwork crew tells each car to take a detour to the right.

    The detour leads to a long-winded road, adding at least 10 minutes to her travel time. Since she is now boxed in by the car behind her, she has no choice but to follow that road.

    When it is finally her turn, the construction workers tell her to wait.

    They spend the next 10 minutes or so to chat andugh amongst themselves. This dy has caused a lot of cursing by the driver in the cars behind her.

    Reba is also getting very upset. She needs to get to the Television Station as soon as possible. She honks her car once her patience has gotten thin.

    One of the workers looks towards her before approaching her car in a rather casual manner. He knocks on the window, requesting to speak to her.

    "What is it? Can I go yet?"

    Reba asks after lowering the window slightly ¨C just enough to speak through it unhindered.

    She didn''t like the ways the construction worker is looking at her. Despite her attractiveness, it wasn''t the look of perversion. It is a look of a predator, staring down at an unescapable prey.

    His gaze makes her incredible ufortable.

    "Alright. Miss Abarbanel. You can go now. Please drive safety. We wouldn''t want you have an ident, would we?"

    The worker then shouts at his co-workers to allow her to go through.

    Once they did, Reba speeds off to get away as quickly as possible. She looks back through the rear-view mirror, finding all the construction workers looking towards her direction.

    It was then that she realizes the man had just said her name.

    Her heart races as checks the nametag pins to her ample chest.

    She exhales deeply, believing the man must have gotten her name off the tag. She immediately throws the tag to the backseat before looking ahead at the road.

    Reba follows the lonely road, taking note that there is no car in front or behind her.

    In fact, it is eerily silence ¨C dreadfully silence.

    She steps onto the pedal, speeding up in order to get pass this section of the road. As soon as she sees something red and blue blinking ahead, she immediately steps onto the brake.

    Her car rapidly drops its speed to under the legal limit, but it was already toote.

    "Shit!"

    Reba curses when the highway patrol cop orders her to park her car along the side the road with a pointed hand gesture.

    The cop and his partner then continue talking to another driver, who appears to also be speeding like her. She couldn''t see who the man is because one of the cops has obscured the view.

    "I didn''t expect my kid could hit the ball that far. He got a freaking homerun all by himself. True, it was a really a good game. But since I lost the bet, I had to take him to the circus along with his friends. Lost all my pay that day to a bunch of kids."

    The copughs. He is talking about his son and the baseball gamest weekend.

    His partner also shares something about his family, especially about his estranged wife who has taken his daughter with her. He wants to use Shield Surveince Network to find his wife and daughter, but it would fall under personal use.

    He is asking for my permission, but I suggest he put in an official request with Shield itself. If it doesn''t hinder any thing important, it should be fine.

    I listen to each of their stories, learning all the people who are working under me have a life of their own outside of work.

    Honestly, everyone does, but their life is insignificant in the grand scheme of things ¨C just like a certain girl.

    After reading through her history, I know that she is trying very hard to seed in life ¨C just like most people in America. Sadly, she is unlucky enough toe across something she should not have.

    Speaking of which, Reba is trying to get one of the cop''s attention. She has been waiting in her car for thest 15 minutes.

    "Let''s get this over with. I have to return home to my daughter, and so do you two."

    I tell the men. They nod in understanding and head towards the woman. They are not impersonating highway patrols. They are highway patrols.

    "I''m so sorry, officers, but I am in a hurry, so can you please give me a ticket and let me be on my way?"

    Reba pleads once the Hydra sleeper agents investigate the car the window. They needed to make sure the evidence is still in her possession, visually.

    "Do not worry Miss Abarbanel. You will be on your way soon enough. Can you please step out of the car for a minute please?"

    Reba blinks. She cocks her head over and see her name tags lying facedown in the backseat. There is no way they could have known her name ¨C unless¡­ they are not who they im to be.

    She immediately steps on the pedal, causing the engine to roar loudly.

    However, her car remains in the same spot, unmoving.

    "It looks like she is trying to run. I guess I lost the bet. Damn. I ampletely broke this week."

    One of the menments before knocking on the window by the driver''s seat.

    "Do you not know that is a felony? Can you please step out of the car, Miss Abarbanel? We will not ask you again. Oh. Please bring that folder with you when you do."

    It takes a while for the woman to step out of her car, right after she turn on a handheld voice recorder and hide it on her person.

    She did try to call 911 on her phone, but there was no service.

    Once Reba is standing outside her car, she notices that there is a silver disk locking itself onto each of the wheel of her car.

    Not being a scientist or an engineer herself, Reba obviously couldn''t exin what those metallic disks do exactly. Even so, she understands they prevent her escape with her car.

    "You work for Henry Oxford, aren''t you? It''s a crime to impersonate police officers."

    Reba speaks up when the folder was forcefully taken from her hand.

    "They are police officers, Miss Abarbanel. And you are wrong about one important thing. They do not work for Henry Oxford. They work for me. In fact, even Henry also works for me."

    I answer and look through the folder when it is handed to me. The folder contains just a mission report, but some stuffs about Shield and Hydra is mentioned within the report.

    James is thorough in his report, stating his assessment in a very lengthy essay.

    It is a tragedy that he is no longer with us.

    Oh well, I suppose.

    "You! You''re Maximilien Maxwell!"

    Reba gasps. She finally recognizes my face.

    "Oh, you know my name? I know yours too, Reba Abarbanel, born October 11, 1967 to Martha and Issac Abarbanel."

    I proceed to read the summarization of her entire history while looking through the pages inside the folder. Once I finish checking the folder, I close it and look directly at her.

    Reba is speechless. Even all the kinky stuffs that she did way back in high school with her boyfriend was known to me.

    "So, tell me, Miss Reba Abarbanel. I am very, very curious. After you have told the American people about what you think of my rtionship to Henry Oxford is, what do you n to do next?

    Will you try to unmask the multi-billion dors corporation called Shield or to reveal the secret organization known as Hydra, which ¨C if you haven''t guessed it already ¨C has been killing thousands of noisy people like you for thest 4 decades."

    Reba flinches. Terror fills her eyes as her mind fullyprehends the sheer scope of her situation.

    Her life is in great danger.

    She immediately tries to run, but the two men grab her and press her onto the ground.

    "Wait. Wait. Please don''t kill me. Please don''t kill me! I don''t know anything, I swear. I swear.

    I really don''t know anything. You must believe me! It''s all Emily. Emily! It''s her. She.

    She is the one who knows everything!"

    Reba cries. She is just an ordinary woman, so there is no way she could break free.

    "You didn''t really think this through, did you? Do you honestly believe that you can just keep on doing what you are doing after you piss off some of the most powerful men in America?"

    I exhale deeply.

    "This is what is wrong with everyone now and in the future. Always thinking of short-term gains rather than what should we gain instead. No wonder we end up killing each other to the point of extinction."

    The folder burst into mes within my hand. There is no need to send the report to Shield since I have recorded itpletely just a second ago. I drop the burning pile onto the asphalt.

    Reba stares in shock as the folder reduces to ash on the ground in front of her.

    "You will join Emily Walter soon enough. You can continue your littlepetition in the afterlife. Oh, you can keep that little audio recorder of yours. It hasn''t really record anything the whole time if you want to know."

    One of the men takes out a syringe and injects into her neck.

    "No. No. Please stop. Please stop. I beg of you! I beg of you!"

    Reba calls out tearfully, but her pleads fallspletely on deaf ears.

    Once the serum takes hold of her body and destroys her nerves cells, the men pulls her off the ground and drags her to her car. They put her back into the driver''s seat and even put on her seatbelt.

    They return to their patrol cars afterwards and head off, leaving me and Reba behind.

    I open the door to the passenger''s side and got into the seat.

    "It will be over soon, Miss Abarbanel. Completely painless, I promise. It is like entering a dream that you will never wake up from."

    I grab her hands and ce it onto the steering wheel.

    Her muscles arepletely stiffened thanks to the destruction of her nerve cells, allowing me to mold her body and limbs into whatever position I like.

    "Please. Please. I¡­ I will do anything you want. Just please don''t kill me."

    Reba pleads weakly. It does take enormous strength and willpower to speak with your entire body paralyzed. She will lose her ability to speak soon.

    "Really? Well, in that case, can you please die for me? I will apany you to the end, if it makes you feel any better."

    I responses as I move her legs into correct position.

    Her right foot presses down the elerator, forcing the car to roar loudly.

    "No, no, no, please¡­ someone help me¡­ someone¡­ someone¡­"

    Reba utters when I lean back against my seat and snap my finger. The silver discs eject themselves from the wheel, allowing the car to shoot forwards instantly.

    "I''m on the highway to hell, on the highway to hell. Highway to hell. I''m on a highway to hell."

    I sing and steady the steering wheel with one hand, making sure the car races down the lonely road in a straight line.

    There is no car for many miles.

    I have made sure of that.

    "It has been fun knowing you Miss Reba, but loose ends must be taken care of. If it means anything to you, I am truly sorry that it must be this way."

    I tell the frightful woman as a sharp bend is approaching at an incredible speed.

    I am truly sadistic, wishing to see the dreadful expression of those that knows they are about to die.

    With a smile on my face, I vanish from my seat as the car crashes through the safety rail and plunges into the deep below. Only terrified scream apanies the roaring engine of a doom vehicle.

    A huge fireball erupts afterwards, leaving a burning wreckage behind.

 Chapter 32: Frozen World

    There are many more loose ends beside Reba Abarbanel. Anyone who hase into contact with the mission report will be assessed and determined for security risk.

    Not all of them requires immediate termination, but arge number of people do.

    Even the person that Reba had talked to over the phone is considered for termination.

    Loose ends must always be taken care of, regardless.

    Leaving just one to roam around will cause unwarranted future incidents, directly or indirectly.

    This is cruel, but necessary.

    [Anthony Adams, born June 28, 1955 ¨C Terminated, Vehicr Incident on 7 February 1990 at standard local time 8:20]

    [Camille Drew, born March 11, 1966 ¨C Terminated, Vehicr Incident on 7 February 1990 at standard local time 8:31]

    ¡­

    [Elliot Wilson, born December 7, 1968 ¨C Terminated, Anaphxis on 8 February 1990 at standard local time 19:55]

    ¡­

    [Nick Brandstetter, born April 3, 1953 ¨C Terminated, Homicide on 9 February 1990 at standard local time 21:04]

    [Tom Jester Brown, born August 9, 1961 ¨C Terminated, Suicide on 9 February 1990 at standard local time 07:15]

    ¡­

    More than a couple dozen of people are terminated over the course of next few weeks, using different kind of methods.

    Hydra does spice things up to make it more interesting, but most are killed through car idents. It is the easiest and cheapest.

    It can also be used to kill a lot of people together.

    As for the people who have worked at the television station with Emily and Reba and came in direct contact with the mission report, they are invited to an all-expense paid business trip to Mexico.

    This is to prevent multiple suspicious deaths.

    Their bus never made it to its destination.

    Their charred bodies are identified a weekter by families and friends.

    This is one of the biggest mass executions since the inception of Hydra four decades earlier, aside from being involved in actual wars of course.

    It does make me wonder who is really at fault in the end.

    If I must think about it, I believe the fault lies with James.

    His mission report has implicated so many people.

    James should have been prepared for the eventuality of his death. Using his example, Shield personnel is no longer allowed to bring any kind of report or ssified information home.

    This would have never been a problem in Hydra. All Hydra personnel basically lives on base with their families. Even their kids are Hydra agents, and they would be trained as such.

    Once all the loose ends are tied, I can return my attention back to Terra Entertainments. I have many ideas I need to check and confirm. A quick jump into the future will give me all I need to know.

    However, I didn''t expect some loose ends to be interminable.

    Interminable ¨C is that the right word?

    I mean those loose ends cannot be terminated due to special status or privilege. At least not without an expressed permission from me and only me.

    Who you might asked?

    Well ¨C

    "Please, Miss Oxford would like a moment of your time."

    The butler gestures me into a limousine. This is the first time I am on the receiving end of the generous invitation.

    It is rather interesting.

    "Take care of the baby stroller while I have a chat with your mistress. It was a gift to me from a friend, so it is priceless."

    I tell the man before embracing Antigone.

    Jimmy has brought Antigone that stroller, so what I had just said is true.

    My daughter has no idea what is going on but decides to go along with it without a fuzz. She did have a wonderful breakfast just a few minutes ago.

    When I enter the limousine with my baby daughter in my arms, I am greeted with a splitting image of Marilyn Monroe. I swear I had thought she was her mother for a second.

    "You must be Marian Monroe Oxford. What can I do for you?"

    I address the woman, who is sitting opposite of me in the rather spacious limousine. She has this aura of superiority about her. She was raised to be the heiress of a multi-billion dors empire after all.

    If it wasn''t for the brilliant scheme of her oldest brother, Harry Oxford, she would be the current CEO of Chrono Holdings.

    Marian scans me up and down, trying to determine my worth.

    From the way I usually conducted myself and to the way how I dressed, I am probably worth as much as a penny on the street in her eyes ¨C basically nothing.

    "What is your rtionship to my father?"

    Marian gets to the point immediately. She didn''t understand why her father would associate himself with someone like me.

    More than that, her father also funded the massivepany called Terra Entertainment and gave meplete ownership.

    This information is notmon knowledge, but Marian is very resourceful. She must be in order to wrestle controls from her brothers and sisters.

    Being children to an Oxford empire is not easy.

    "Henry? I think you should ask your father that. You will be pleasantly surprised to learn the truth."

    I answer while rocking Antigone. The baby giggles joyfully.

    It is probably time to introduce Henry''s children to the hidden world.

    I think Henry already told his first-born son, Harry oxford since the man is currently the CEO of Chrono Holdings.

    If Harry didn''t know about me or the massive organizations backing Chrono Holdings, it would be very disastrous for him to run the corporation in ce of his father.

    "Henry? You call my father Henry?"

    Marian questions and pays attention to Antigone. She narrows her eyes at my daughter. My daughter stares back unflinchingly.

    "Yes. He is someone close to me. You could say that I know him all of my life."

    I answer and cover Antigone''s eyes to y peekaboo.

    I also don''t want my daughter staring at one of the most vicious businesswomen to ever existed. She might learn something that I don''t want her to learn.

    "I see. Would you like something to drink?"

    Marian offers.

    Thepartment housed inside the side door opens, revealing all manners of beverage.

    I would have picked one if I didn''t know she is trying to get my saliva to analysis. Marian really believes that the allegations about me being a love child of her father.

    "Sorry, but I don''t think I will, Miss Oxford. If you want to know who I am, you should go and ask your father directly. If that is all, I will take my leave. I have a multi-million dorspany to run. It might not be much right now, but I think it will be as great if not greater than Oxford Enterprise in the future."

    Marianughs.

    "A bastard child like you? I suppose anyone can dream, even that ck trash from the street."

    I narrow my eyes at her.

    Marian is referring to Halle Berry. Since she is blood and flesh of one of my closest confident, I suppose I will give her some leniency. If it was anyone else, they would have break them in half for even thinking about insulting me and my associates.

    I think I understand why racisms is still strong in America. It is probably rted to Henry. His business empire and connection inevitably produce the same-like mindedness.

    It didn''t help that all the major corporations in America is owned and controlled by the white majority.

    "Thank you for your time, Miss Oxford. I hope the next time is more pleasant."

    I answer and left the limousine with my daughter.

    I swear that the more I talk to the woman, the more I want to put her on a skewer. She is like Ambrosia, magnified by about a hundred times.

    The butler returns the stroller, so I could tuck my daughter back in. I check for the musical shaker toy in the stroller before shaking it in front of Antigone.

    Antigone coos and takes the shaker into her tiny hands. She ys with the toy while I continue towards mypany.

    Marian watches me from the limousine until I am no longer in view. She left after that since she does have apany to run. She will talk to her father about my true nature when she has time.

    "So, Henry, my friend. I have a little chat with your eldest daughter, Marian. She is such a nice person. She is so nice that I want to apply a restraining order against her effective immediately. Can you please do that for me and my daughter?"

    I tell Henry once I am in my office. He apologizes sincerely for that. He didn''t expect his eldest daughter to do something of the sort.

    "I know you are a busy man, but please keep your family in check. I do not want you to bury some of your children because you are too busy to be there and educate them properly. Ah, also, what is this I hear about you fathering some bastards?"

    I question as his profile appears in front of my eyes. His family tree is expanded, showing me the insane number of branches. He has been a very, very naughty boy.

    "There are times that I am unable to stop myself, Mr. Maxwell. You will understand when you are my age."

    Henry exins. He feels so old.

    Although Henry is about 62 this year, he feels more like 90 years old due to the amount of time he has spent building a business empire. He has more money than he could spend in a hundred of lifetime or so, but he refuses to retire.

    I feel somewhat sorry for the man, who give his entire life for my cause. I call Infinite Health afterwards and tell them to speed up their schedule.

    The rest of the day and week, I make sure all my projects in in order.

    When Mondayes around, I n to attend some the auditions, especially the audition for Sleepless in Seattle. The main actor and actress have not been determined yet unlike the other two movies.

    Mondayes quickly when you are a very busy person. There are only so many hours in a day.

    I drop by the restaurant with my daughter to have breakfast before heading to mypany like usual.

    It has be pretty much my daily routine.

    Antigone ys her shaker toy as I push the stroller across the street, singing a lovely song for her.

    My mind nk out for a couple of seconds as sharp pains pierces through my entire body. My vision swims as I look to my side and try to move my arm and leg.

    My legs are not following mymand. They arepletely broken.

    [Operator is in Critical Condition. Please remainpletely still for Repair]

    People rush towards me, shouting and screaming.

    I roll to my side, trying to ignore the intense pain all over my body. The nanites try to stop the massive internal bleeding to the best of their ability.

    Bloods clogs up in my throat, forcing me to cough them out.

    [Operator is in Critical Condition. Please remainpletely still for Repair]

    "Oh my God! He got hit by a car. Someone calls 911!"

    "What about the baby. Is the baby okay!?"

    "How could the driver speeds away like that!"

    I groan and focus my vision.

    The stroller is on its side.

    A shaker toyys silently away from an unmoving tiny hand.

    Everyone who stands around the trolley gasps in horror.

    [Operator is in Critical Condition. Please remainpletely still for Repair]

    Many people hug each other forfort as I struggle towards the stroller.

    I need to know.

    [Operator is in Critical Condition. Please remainpletely still for Repair]

    I push the crushed stroller away with all my strength to see my daughter or what is left of her.

    The blood image burns into my memory.

    [Operator is in Critical Condition. Please remainpletely still for Repair]

    "Antigone!!!!!!!!!!!!"

    I hammer the ground as unquenchable fury explodes within me.

    My power surge forth, erupt outwards like a tidal wave.

    And the worldes to aplete standstill.

    The entire universe has frozen.

    Time has stop.

 Chapter 33: Endless Torture

    To my knowledge, this is the first time it has happened.

    Stopping time ¨C that is.

    Stopping time is one of the mostmon power of time maniption, as depicted in so many medias, such as science fiction books and movies.

    However, as much as I have tried in the past, I couldn''t stop time.

    Traveling through time is easy.

    I can do it in my sleep.

    Bringing something backward or forward in time just requires a lot of concentration and willpower.

    It ispletely doable.

    Antis can attest to this.

    The ind nation has not been destroyed by an active volcano directly beneath them yet.

    It will likely wouldn''t be for a very, very long time ¨C or maybe never.

    This is because Hydra is drawling all the necessary thermal energy from the magma chamber to power their underwater headquarter. This keeps the volcanopletely under their control.

    As for manipting time of an object or a person, it isn''t too difficult.

    It actuallyes very natural to me as I have practice it so much times. The foods I ate are always hot and fresh. The coffee I drank are always kept at a constant enjoyable temperature.

    But stopping timepletely?

    That is incredibly difficult ¨C almost impossible.

    At least that was what I had thought previously.

    A lot of my assumptions about freezing time are also wrong, demonstrated by my inability to breathe currently.

    The universe and everything within it arepletely frozen, meaning that air will not be entering my lungs, fuelling my cells, and keeping me conscious.

    I would have passed out if I didn''t pull myself off the ground.

    Moving about seems to allow me to breathe normally. This is probably due to my body ising into contact with the air molecules, allowing them to move once more.

    Ignoring Selene''s constant request for me to stay still as well as the excruciating pain pulsating all over my body, I cradle Antigone into my arms before staring at the vehicle speeding far in the distance.

    When the vehicle runs me over along with a handful of people, it was speeding at more than 80 miles an hour.

    It hits me head on without hesitation. A sane person would have stepped on the brake.

    This is not an ident.

    It is an assassination.

    I am obviously the target.

    I would have died instantly if it wasn''t for the augmentation from the far future. Even so, the damage to my body is extensive.

    How I wish I have died instantly. At least then, time would automatically reverse.

    No, it wasn''t about the excruciating pain. I have felt much worse before.

    It is to stop the bloody image of my daughter''s mangle body burning itself so vividly into my memory.

    I will always remember it thanks to the enhanced memory due to my augmentation, even if no one else in the world will.

    This is my torture ¨C the weight of my sin.

    People should rejoice that they have lived their entire life not knowing what horrors lies in the future unlike me. I have felt the destruction of the world along with trillions of lives.

    Ignorance is bliss.

    It truly is.

    I close my eyes, trying to quench the burning rage within me. The strong emotion is causing my power to be unstable, causing constant ripple in the time stream.

    What adverse effects this has on the timeline itself, I wouldn''t learn of it until muchter.

    When I open my eyes again, I am sitting in the restaurant with Antigone.

    My daughter is ying with a spoon, trying to scoop up the grinded vegetable soup. She would never remember how she was crushed by a 2-tons vehicle. I will not allow her to.

    "Will there be anything else, sir?"

    The waiter asks me.

    "No. There won''t be anything else, thank you."

    I response.

    A window appears in front of my eyes, locating the vehicle immediately.

    The car is parked a short distance away from the restaurant.

    It has been there all morning, and it will remain there until I cross the road with my daughter.

    As much as I want to go over there and y the driver alive, he is only a hire hand. The one who tries to have me killed is someone much more sinister.

    "Henry, Henry. Don''t tell me that I didn''t warn you. Everything has its consequences."

    I mutter and caress my daughter''s head. Selene has confirm my suspicion.

    Antigone looks at me before flicking the warm soup with her stic spoon onto my face while giggling adorably. She can be so naughty sometimes.

    As a father, I would probably do anything for my daughter regardless the cost.

    I have grown to love her like I have never love anyone before. She is my flesh and blood after all.

    Since I have decide to raise her, I will protect her to the best of my ability. Anyone who tries to harm her in anyway will wish for the merciful death like they never have before.

    I runs my thumb over the stain and lick my finger with a smile. I allow Antigone to fill her tummy before taking her into the restroom to wash up.

    I then teleport directly back home and try to settle her down into her bed. She didn''t want to stay as she holds onto my arms tightly.

    "Be a good girl, Anti. Stay here. Daddy will be back in a couple of hours, okay? Then we can both go to work and watch some wonderful ys."

    Antigone stares at me before lessening her grips. Once she is in the baby crib, her fingers curl around the railing while her violet eyes bes watery.

    Even so, she did not try to stop me from leaving after I tug her in.

    I wonder if Antigone fullyprehend what I am saying.

    Probably not since she isn''t one year old yet.

    I take one of her toys, a musical shaker with me.

    One I have teleported back to the restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard, I exit the restroom and tell the manager in person to hold onto my things for me. I will pick them up when I am able.

    The manager is more than happy to.

    He did wonder where my daughter was, however. I tell him not to concern himself with such thing.

    After leaving the restaurant, I head towards the vehicle. The door to the passenger seat is locked, but a well-ced punch through the window allows me inside.

    "The hell are you doing!?"

    The driver shouts. His profile appears for me to review.

    "Stop the act, Austin or would you prefer to be called Brandon instead? I don''t want to know why your mother and father calls you by a different name nor who has hired you. I do want to know if you are fully aware of who you are trying to kill?"

    I question as I shake the musical shaker.

    The seemingly indestructible toy that I have create for Antigone breaks up into silver sands of all sizes and shapes before swarming over the driver like a horde of flesh eating ants.

    Austin or Brandon tries to get them off him, screaming in terror but the micromachines drill into his skin without remorse.

    While not as advance as nanomachines, they will get the job done.

    "Look at me."

    I order.

    The micromachine force his head to look at me as his eyes bes bloody.

    His skins begin to peel off like tiny snow kes, revealing raw muscle fibres underneath. Each strand of fibre snaps apart forcefully, one after another.

    "You will feel everything until I decide you have enough or it is too difficult to keep you alive."

    I announce before leaving the vehicle.

    Horrific screams soon echo the street as the micromachines break down his body bit by bit while keeping him alive and allowing him to feel everything.

    He dies about 3 hourster in a hospital.

    It is one of the strangest diseases anyone has ever seen.

 Chapter 34: Dinner Served

    Marian Monroe Oxford is very annoyed.

    Nothing has been going her way since her elder brother, Harry Oxford takes control of Chrono Holdings and all its subsidiaries, especially Chrono Reserves.

    The funding she has requested from Chrono Reserves in order to keep herpany afloat was denied shortly after.

    This must have been Harry''s doing.

    Once more, her brother has stood in her way.

    If it wasn''t for him, revealing to her father about all the falsified quarterly reports she has painstakingly crafted for appearance, she would have been sitting in his chair as the CEO to one of the most powerful corporations on the ¨C Chrono Holdings.

    With the near unlimited funding at her disposal, everything would fall perfectly into ce. All of failed projects, bad investments and misgivings will be buriedpletely.

    Now, after losing millions of dor investing in what appears to be obsolete disy technology due to the unveiling of an LCD screen by Intel, Crisis System and Quam, she has to find a way to gather some funding, quickly.

    It is harder said than done. Most of her revenue streams have dried up. She will have to sell her shares in Oxford Enterprise if this keeps up.

    There is no other way.

    If her technology andmunicationpany goes under, she will be finished.

    There will be no more room for her to stand in the business world or in her family. Her younger sisters and brothers have all outshined her, proving to her father that they are more capable than she is. This has allow them to gain important corporate positions that should have been hers.

    "Damn them! Damn them all. Everyone of them, trying to take what is rightfully mine."

    Marian curses angrily, revealing her true viciousness under that absolute stunning appearance she has inherited from her mother.

    Thanks to her beautiful looks and a powerful background, many suitors have asked for her hands, but she has refused them all.

    They worth absolutely nothing in her eyes. Their family businesses andpanies are punypared to the empire her father has built within his lifetime.

    Her empire one day!

    Marrying those spoon-fed morons will not help her battle against her siblings in anyway.

    Her father likes to pit her and her siblings against each other to see which one is capable of inheriting his fortune and running his business after he is gone.

    So far, Marian has fared the worst. Actually worse than the worst.

    Her father no longer believe anything she says after being lied to so many times.

    But regardless of whatever happened, she is still the heiress to Oxford Enterprise! Her mother will not allowed her to receive nothing once her father dies.

    She is her mother''s favourite after all.

    Despite being the heiress apparent, she has to scavenge for scrap to get by now days, without any real chance to redeem herself.

    Even that new bastard child and his daughter has been given chance to shine in Hollywood.

    Terra Entertainment is bleeding money, yet her father didn''t bother to bat a single eye when she had brought it up. He didn''t seem to care that the entertainmentpany is burning millions of dor a day, trying to do god knows what.

    In fact, her father tells her in no small amount of words to not brother with anything rted to Terra Entertainment or he will legally disown her.

    Her mind nks out afterwards, not remembering what her father had said after.

    All Marian could think then is how her father, Henry Oxford loves his bastard child and his grandchild more than her, his true flesh and blood.

    "Let''s see if this will put him into an early grave."

    Marian tells herself with a smile as the limousine continues towards her estate.

    If there is one weakness that her father has, it is his unconditional love for all of his children, including those bastards he has fathered over the years behind her mother''s back.

    Her mother may have forgiven her father for his transgression again and again because she loves him dearly, but Marian does not.

    If it wasn''t for her father legitimizing all his bastards out of some misguided responsibilities, she would not be in her current predicament.

    Many of those bastards have died under very unusual circumstance, but they are like cockroaches. No matter how many she gets rid off, more will appears, stripping away whatever remains of her fortune and inheritance.

    "Harry... big brother, please don''t me this little sister of yours. If it wasn''t for you, father wouldn''t never have turn his back against me."

    Marian whispers to herself softly.

    There is a hint of sentiment in her eyes.

    She is still undecided to act on her desire to kill her brother. As he was born from the same mother as her, he is the only brother she truly epts.

    The others are all usurpers.

    They will meet their ends eventually.

    Marian picks up the phone and dials a number. This person has always gotten the job done. The man should haveplete the task she assigned him this morning.

    As the phone begins to ring, an iing truck caught in the corner of her eyes.

    She immediately looks out the one-way window just a second before everything inside the limousine goes airborne, including her.

    The heavy tanker crashes into the side of her limousine at an incredible speed and sends the armour vehicle disguised as a limousine tumbling across the road and crashing into a store.

    Marian is disorientated with bumps and bruises, but otherwise unharmed.

    She didn''t know how she manages to survive a T-bone collision with a truck, but it looks like her father cares for her more than she realizes.

    The limousine is built like a tank.

    Its reinforced carbon-steel chassis can withstands an incredible amount of pressure before buckling.

    The crash didn''t even dent thepartment she is in. She is rtively safe.

    Her driver isn''t so lucky, however.

    He is dead, lying on the road after being thrown out of the vehicle.

    The phone finally connects and a voice speaks through it clearly.

    "Hello, Miss Oxford. I''m so sorry that Austin or was it Brandon can''te to the phone right now on the ount that his face has melted off his skull. Anyway, I thought I should return the favour for what happen this morning. Please don''t think any worst of me because I unable to do same for you."

    Anger could barely be contained in the voice.

    "That means you areparable to a piece of shit in my eyes. No, probably less than that. Didn''t your father teaches you anything about fair y? Hmm? Don''t worry, this is just an appetizer. I have much more in mind for someone like you.

    Now, please enjoy the barbeque. I know I will."

    With that, the unmanned tanker vehicle turns around and speed towards the limousine.

    It crashes into the turn-over limousine, mming it and sandwiching it to the wall as Marian screams in utter terror.

    She is thrown around in thepartment as the steel frames buckle due to the intense impact.

    Before Marian could re-orientate herself, the truck explodes, turning the store into an raging inferno fuelled by a full tank of high octane gases.

    The temperature increases sharply.

    "Help me! Someone help me!"

    Marian tries to call for help, but no one could save her due to the intense mes. They couldn''t even hear her due to the secondary explosions.

    Her phone is out of service despite being right smack in the middle of town.

    Seeing there is no other choice, Marian wraps her hands in whatever wet cloths she can find in order to try and open the door before the heat bes too unbearable.

    However, due to the impact, the doors are wielded shut due to the bending of the metal frames.

    She hammers the window next with whatever she could find in thepartment, finding the window is highly resistance to damage.

    In fact, anything short of a sniper round won''t be able to prate the tinted window.

    Marian screams for help as sweats waterfall down her face and body.

    She strips off all her clothes to create a spot to stand.

    Anything metal inside thepartment is starting to glow brightly due to the heat, dangerous toe into contact with.

    It is like an extreme sauna.

    Smokes are unable to enter the sealedpartment, but the heat certainly could. It has reaches an unbearable point. Anymore would be deadly.

    "Help! Help me! Please help! Please... help! Please...

    help!"

    As Marian tries desperately in vain to be saved, her skin singes, causing painful boils and blisters.

    Her trademark golden blonde hairs bursts into mes, torching her head. She rolls around to put them out, only further cooking herself on the heated walls.

    Marian screams in excruciating pain as she being roasted alive inside thepartment. The armoured frame and bullet-resistant windows not only protected her but they also serve to prevent her escape, instrumental to her death.

    It is poetic.

    By the time the fire departments put out the inferno and break into thepartment, Marian is well cooked.

    If only this is end for her.

 Chapter 35: The Audition

    It should have been a very pleasant Monday morning, returning back to work after a rather uneventful weekend.

    I nned to bring my daughter to see the casting audition for Sleepless in Seattle, right after a healthy breakfast at our favourite restaurant.

    Obviously, I didn''t expect to be ran over by a speeding car and then have to hunt down and punish all those who are responsible.

    Do I really look like I have the spare time to go out of my ways and torture people to death?

    Don''t answer that!

    Honestly, if everyone just leave me the fuck alone, I will leave them be.

    But after what happened in the morning, if I did nothing, it will not stop.

    And it will looks really bad on me for not retaliating or rectifying the problem.

    Unfortunately, killing someone as high profile as Marian Oxford does its fair share of problems.

    I wasn''t even subtle about it either.

    Crashing a tanker truck into her limousine and then proceeding to roasting her alive ¨C that isn''t subtle.

    It also isn''t what I have in mind for her punishment.

    Running me over is one thing. Having my daughter killed is another.

    I couldn''t let that go. A thousand deaths wouldn''t have been enough.

    Roasting the bitch alive is just an appetizer. I have even told her so before I have a made-shift human barbeque. What I have in mind is far more appropriate for someone like her.

    I need her to be dead for now. People causes a lot less problem for me when they are no longer alive.

    Death is a merciful release, giving me some peace of mind.

    My anger has not fully subsided. I could feel it boiling up in me, amplifying my power to unimaginable level. I feel like I could idently destroy the world in my current state.

    Freezing the Earth in orbit around the sun for about a minute should do the job. Hell, just stopping the rotation of the core would do it. Without anything to protect the human race from sr winds and radiations, we are as good as dead.

    Perhaps I should call this feeling an intoxication.

    I need to calm down before I could do anything further. Seeing my daughter''s unmoving corpse in my arms really unhinge me. I wish to never see something like that again.

    Strange that I have no problem of watching horrifying things being done to those that have no rtion to me. I even partake in the action if I am in the mood.

    I suppose when I care about someone, I am unable to stop myself from feeling something for them ¨C like empathy. I guess I am human after all.

    It is one of the reasons I prefer to see everyone as an asset rather than a person. Lessplication in the future when I have to put them down for whatever reason.

    I didn''t bother to return the calls and messages from Henry.

    The man has been trying to contact me in any way he could ever since I have his oldest daughter killed in a very public manner.

    I suppose I should owe him an apology for that.

    And Henry also owes me an apology in return. His works have been getting very sloppytely. I don''t want to have to pick up after the people who are working for me.

    It is perhaps time to put him down ¨C I mean let him retire.

    I don''t kill people who are no longer useful to me.

    If I did that, nobody will work for me anymore. It also doesn''t instil loyalty when they know that they are going to be executed the moment they bes useless.

    His ess to Shield and Hydra needs to be revoked.

    Although Henry can still be my friend, he will not have the authorization to order those organizations to do whatever he needs, within reason of course.

    How do you think Jimmy and his buddy Johnson gotten rid of their rival crime lords with such deadly efficiency? It takes an army to stop a Hydra Death Squad.

    I let out a sigh and pick up the phone once I take my seat in the audition.

    A lot of people are here in the audition for one reason or another, but none of them seems to bother me for longer than necessary, mostly curious about Antigone.

    They likely do not know who I really am. If they do, they wouldn''t dare to bother me after noticing my grim expression.

    "Henry. If this is about your daughter, Marian Oxford, I did what I needed to do. I have warn you about this. Be grateful that I have left her body rtively intact, so you can have a proper funeral. If you are still ignorance about what she did, have a look at the video I uploaded to thework. It is what would have happened if I have not taken a precaution."

    "I am aware, Mr. Maxwell. I owe you a deep and sincere apology. I am unable to bring myself to punish my daughter. No matter what she did, she is still my daughter. As a father, you must understand.

    I will not ask you for forgiveness. All I ask is for a chance to talk to her onest time."

    Henry requests.

    I could feel the heavy weariness in his voice. I suppose I could ept this request of his before I actually send his daughter to hell.

    She also needs to understand what a terrible error she has made in her misunderstandings. Ignorance is bliss, but being ignorance does not excuse her actions.

    The bitch ns to kill a fucking baby for god''s fucking sake.

    Even I am not that evil.

    And it isn''t the first time she have done such a thing.

    Henry should have known this if he truly cares for all of his children, bastards or not. A single question to Shield will reveal everything he needs to know.

    Hell, Shield should have informed him the moment one of his kids die in questionable circumstance. It is more likely that he chooses to ignore the tant truth.

    "You will get your chance when I calm down, Henry. This is not an order, but I suggest you retire from your position. If your first born son is up to it, transfer the ring to him and initiate him into the fold. I thank you for all of your hard work over the years, but I think it is time for you to be with your wife."

    I response and hang up the phone. I let out a sigh and pat my daughter on the head, gently.

    Antigone is not in her stroller. She is sitting on myps, bouncing up and down.

    My daughter is very excited as she constantly points at the stage, where a few women are waiting for the audition.

    They are the first batch of people to go first.

    I recognize a few of them, such as Naomi Watts, Sandra Bullocks, Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan, Rita Wilson and so on.

    Seeing that it is all females on the stage, I guess they are looking for the heroine first.

    Or they have already decided who the main hero is going to be.

    There are dozens of people sitting in the front row, just before the stage.

    Those people are the director, coordinators, team leaders and managers for the movie. They have the power to cast the actors and actresses.

    Immediately behind them are the production and filming crew, who do have some say in the whole process thanks to my suggestion.

    This isn''t like a standard audition by any mean.

    Usually an audition is done in a close room with a few people ¨C where a great chance of casting couch happening.

    I will not have that in my production.

    If they want to fuck, do it in their own time, not using the chance to be in the movie as leverage.

    I have warn the people working for me about this kind of practice.

    Having a lot of people to put in their vote also prevent something like that from happening. Of course, to make it fair, the vote from production and filming crew doesn''t have as much persuading power as the higher ups.

    As I don''t need to put in my opinion and vote since I am not an expert in this field, I sit in the back with other actors and actresses, who are waiting for their turn.

    It takes a full ten minutes before the show starts.

    By then, almost all the seats around me are filled.

    I suppose the marketing team did a really good job to informing everyone about the audition.

    Sandra Bullocks goes first, reciting her line and expressing her emotion.

    She is incredible, as expected of someone I will contract personally.

    Even Antigone cheers for Sandra in her own way. At least I have thought so since the girl doesn''t have good hands coordination yet.

    "The words just roll off her tongue. I can totally feel it."

    "Yeah. She is really good."

    "Wow, she''s good. Too bad, she doesn''t have the look."

    "What you mean? She is perfect for the role from what I could tell."

    "I heard this whole audition is just a sham. The actor and actress has already been chosen. We are just wasting our time here."

    "What do you mean? I haven''t heard anything about this."

    "Shush. I have a friend in management. He has told me that the director or producer already taken a liking to Sharon Stone, so he will vote for her. His vote is the one that matters. As for the actor, I don''t know, but I think it is Tom Hanks."

    "No shit. Damn. My agents tell me toe here and try my luck."

    "Me too. Well, I guess it is just practice then. The more exposure the more chance we get, right?"

    "Hey pipe down back there!"

    The discussion amongst the actors, actresses and agents interest me.

    To think someone actually tries to go behind my back even thought I have express my intolerance for such practice.

    "I''m sorry, Miss Sandra Bullock, is it? We are looking for some with more mature features. Please take a seat while I discuss this with my colleagues."

    The director speaks up, causing some dissatisfaction amongst the people in the second row. They love her acting. And they believe she has just the right looks.

    It seems that there are some truths to what I had just heard.

    I will investigate after the audition is over since I don''t want to ruin the mood just yet.

    He will be made an example of if it is true.

    I will not tolerate anyone who disregards my warning.

    Antigone didn''t like verdict either. She throws her toy onto the floor to express her dissatisfaction.

    The toy rolls under the seat to the front.

    "Ah, sorry. Can you pick that up for me? My daughter has dropped it."

    A young woman in her early twenties pick it up and hand it over to me.

    She smiles at Antigone before returning to the front again. She is reciting her line even though she has done it so many times.

    "Interesting. To think so many actresses on my list are here."

    I mutter as I hand the toy to Antigone.

    Once I did that, I lean forwards and whisper softly, just enough for the woman to hear.

    "Miss Aniston. If you like, I can give you a staring role in one of my other productions. I just need you to do something for me."

    I lean back afterwards and give the woman a charming smile as she cocks her head around.

    She looks at me for a second before returning her attention to the front. It seems like she didn''t believe what I had just said ¨C probably on ount of my appearance.

    "Please don''t bother me."

 Chapter 36: A Little Payback

    That went as well as I have expected it to.

    "Okie. If that is your wish, I will not bother you anymore, Miss Aniston. The offer still stands, when you think you are ready to make something of yourself. The price has increased though, so you only have yourself to me."

    It is a payback for that remark.

    One of several paybacks I have installed for her.

    Honestly, she could have said it more respectfully, something along the line "I will think about it" while maintaining eye contact with me.

    Jennifer did make an effort to turn around to see who I am after all. What is so hard about spending a couple more seconds to address me courteously like I am an talent agent or someone simr?

    She didn''t need to tell me off on the ount of my appearance.

    Does she not know that appearance can be deceiving?

    Although I could reinvent myself to stop that from happening, but it is fun to put people in their rightful ce.

    The world is full of people who are full of themselves.

    Furthermore, I wasn''t that annoying to her, was I? Hmmm...

    As to why I want Jennifer as part of my harem of beautiful actresses, I really enjoy watching her ying as Rachel Green on the television series Friends.

    It is one of my favourite television shows back in the 21st century.

    Dad is somewhat of a potato couch after work, so I was forced to join him as it is easier to keep an eye on me.

    Since I have already written the screenys for all 10 seasons of Friends, I might as well produce the series in this new timeline.

    It is just one of many, many TV shows mypany will produce.

    Jennifer nces at me when she heard my statement, but I didn''t return the attention.

    I did say that I will not bother her anymore. She can easily be reced if she is too much trouble.

    The audition continues after the votes are casted by everyone important.

    The votes will be tally once the audition is over ¨C to keep thepetition fair.

    No one knows who will be casted as the main heroine until the end.

    There are also a lot of supporting cast to consider, and if history taught me anything, supporting cast can outshine the main characters.

    Several unknown actresses demonstrate their acting ability before Sharon Stone did.

    I didn''t pay attention to those actresses since they are not of my list of people to acquire.

    They might have the skills and lucks to go far in this timeline, but I am more concern about those I know for certain will do well.

    It is too tedious to raise an unknown celebrity to fame.

    I could do it if I want to, but I rather work smarter, not harder.

    Where did I read that from? Probably from one of thements.

    Sharon Stone is quite a beauty herself, on par or exceeding that of Sandra Bullock in her current prime.

    I faintly recall her from Basic Instinct, a movie that will be produced sometimes next year.

    If it wasn''t for the pussy sh scandal, I wouldn''t remember who Sharon Stone is.

    As for whether she knew they were filming her private part or not, I believe she really did.

    Her IQ indicates that she isn''t stupid, so ergo, she must have known or suspect when they ask her to take off her panties for a stupid reason.

    The simplest exnation is usually the correct one.

    I guess any publicity is good publicity.

    And despite her current no-name status, her acting, facial expression and bodynguage prove to be an instant opinion-shutter.

    A lot of people were dissatisfied with the director''s opinion regarding Sandra Bullock, but now after seeing Sharon Stone in action, they have changed their mind.

    Once more, the discussion is heating up in the back. These people are quite noisy, but I wee the gossips. It is very interesting to know their opinions.

    Antigone didn''t change her mind though. She didn''t like Sharon Stone one bit ¨C great.

    "Damn. No wonder the director intends on having her as the main cast. She is just too good. I mean, she is a lot better than me."

    "I think she or Sandra will be voted as the main heroine. I will aim for the supporting cast instead. The pay is still good."

    "Giving up already? The audition isn''t over, let''s see who else can tops these two queens."

    "I think I''m going to withdraw my application. I will just embarrass myself on stage."

    "Hey. Hey. I heard something very interesting when I was in the restroom. Apparently, the head of the productionpany is here."

    "Really? Anyone spot him? I heard he is very young. Does anyone know his names?"

    "Shush. Naomi Watts is auditioning. She has the looks. Let''s see how fare shepare to miss Bullock or miss Stone."

    "Screw that. I''m more curious about the producer. If I can get his attention, I can be like Halle Berry. You know they didn''t bother to audition her for the role in Speed?"

    "Yes, I know about that. I went for the audition for Speedst week. They said that the main casts are chosen already. I could only get a supporting role."

    "Huh? Why are you here if you already got casted? Are you trying to do multiple movies? Please don''t steal our meal, damn it."

    "Those people at the back. This is thest warning. If you don''t pip down, we will have to remove you from the premise."

    That shuts everyone up. They remains quiet for the rest of the audition.

    As for English actress, Naomi Watts, her acting is only subpar. Her self esteem seems to plummet after witnessing both Sandra Bullock and Sharon Stone.

    It is a gamble to go first or gost in audition.

    Creating the first impression is usually better, such is the case with Sandra Bullock.

    Even so, it is still a risk.

    Sandra must be damn sure that her skills is impressive to take such a risk.

    Several more actresses proceed to have their audition. None of them can outshine the current reigning queens, not even the original actress who yed the main character ¨C Meg Ryan.

    It is unfortunate, but no one can say that I didn''t give her a chance.

    Once it is noon, everyone takes a break.

    Foods and drinks are providedpletely in house by mypany, working in conjunction with my one and only favourite restaurant. I think they open several more branches around Hollywood.

    If Jimmy ever wants to quit the mafia and go into hospitality industry, I will definitely support him. He knows what people wants when they are having their meal.

    The foods are made specifically to request if needed be. It is also free of charge no matter what kind of dishes are ordered. Of course, exotic requests are not allowed except from certain people.

    This is the norm with any of my productions, as a happy employee is a hard working employee.

    "Say ah, Anti. Herees the airne."

    I feed my daughter with the soup avable on the menu. It is made to standard of Heinz baby food, so my daughter can enjoy her lunch.

    I have a tuna sandwich afterwards. It is quiet juicy ¨C delicious.

    A lot of people actuallye for the food after attending the audition for Speed previously. They didn''t expect to have such a wonderful meal for free.

    Bunch of lechers.

    Many people congratte Sandra Bullock and Sharon Stone. It seems that the role belongs to either of them.

    No one else wants topete for the main cast anymore. They are all aiming for supporting cast instead.

    The audition continues at exactly 1pm. Everything must be on time. If there is a dy, announcement must be made.

    Giving each people around 5 minutes each, the audition concluded around 5pm. There is just a lot of people to go through.

    Most people left once they have their audition, knowing full well they won''t be casted. They did it for the experience only.

    "Is there a mistake? I haven''t audition yet."

    Jennifer asks when the director has left the auditorium with Sharon Stone.

    Sandra Bullock is still there, talking to the managers and team leaders as well as a couple of production and filming crew.

    "Miss Jennifer Joanna Aniston. Date of birth, February 11, 1969?"

    The organizer asks once he looks through his scheduling book.

    Jennifer nods and confirms that is her name. She has waited the whole time for her turn, but it neveres up despite not withdrawing from the audition. Everyone else already has their turn.

    "I''m sorry, but you should talk to the producer about this. It appears that you have been cklisted from all our productions. You don''t need to attend tomorrow audition for the Fugitive either."

    The organizer responses tly.

    "What? There must be some kind of mistake. Can I please talk to the producer?"

    Jennifer is shocked. Being cklisted will affect her acting career immensely.

    Even without knowing the actual reason, other filmpanies would be hesitant to audition her and cast her in any of their movie.

    The organizer points Jennifer towards me, who is ying with Antigone.

    I haven''t left my seat since I can see all I need to see through Shield Surveince Network.

    The damn director and Sharon Stone have gone off to conclude their little business transaction.

    I will have to teach them both the dire consequences of ignoring my stern warning ¨C well, the director will since Sharon Stone is not really at fault.

    "The producer has been sitting behind you the whole time with his daughter. What did you say to him to get yourself cklisted?"

    The organizer questions.

    Jennifer probably didn''t hear him, on the ount of being utterly shocked.

 Chapter 37: Just Spectating

    Is it alright to destroy her entire career over something so insignificant?

    Of course not, but I am not a saint or a normal person for that matter. What part of me having absolute control over time itself screams normal?

    Seriously, I will do whatever necessary to have her or any one I fancy dancing in the palm of my devilish hand.

    Once I have my eye on a someone, they will not be able to escape.

    Even death itself won''t be able to save them from me.

    "You''re the producer!?"

    Jennifer asks once she breaks out of her stupor. It takes about a handful of seconds, longer than I have expected.

    The shock must have been too much.

    "Uh huh. Isn''t it obvious? I did address you by your name, so you should have noticed."

    I answer coyly, making Jennifer speechless.

    That is the expression I want to see.

    I don''t know exactly why, but I feel like I need to tease Jennifer Aniston a little bit. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I love seeing Rachel Green, the character she ys on Friends, being constantly frustrated by everything happening outside her control.

    There is a certain womanly charm to that.

    "No! Why... why didn''t you say so?"

    Jennifer demands. She couldn''t believe her luck. The actual producer was sitting right behind her and even presented her with an offer, yet she had given him a cold shoulder.

    She might as well p herself in the face.

    "You didn''t ask and let me quote: ''please don''t bother me''. I will respect your very humble request. I will not bother you anymore, Miss Aniston. Not now. Not ever. No one will either.

    Are you happy? You will have all the peace of mind you want. Now, if you please, I have someone I need to congratte."

    I answer and get off my seat.

    With Antigone in my arms, I head towards the front, to where the star of the show currently is.

    Sandra Bullock deserves my personal congrattion. Despite losing out to Halle Berry for the staring role in the movie Speed with Keanu Reeves, she is able secure onto another staring role.

    The votes is still being tallied, but regardless of the actual oue, I would prefer Sandra over Sharon because thetter is an obvious slut.

    Sandra Bullock will go well with Tom Hanks.

    I do have another staring role for Sharon Stone in mind, one that befitting her. But before that, a little discipline is in order for her.

    Jennifer stares at my back. Her lips quivers uncontrobly. She is on the verge of tears. She hase to Los Angeles to be an actress, and to think her career hits a huge roadblock before she could have a chance to prove herself.

    "I''m sorry."

    Jennifer whispers, almost inaudibly.

    "Hmmm...?"

    I turns around. My head tilts slightly to the side, allowing Antigone to pinch my ears.

    I have heard what she had said due to my keen hearing, but I thought I must have misheard it. This is because she is a strong and proud person, at least that is what I understand from her history.

    If she wasn''t, she wouldn''t havee here alone to Hollywood and try to find her road to stardom.

    It must have been very stressful these past few days for her, with the constant rejections and all of that.

    It does takes about hundreds of audition tond a role. You can ask any aspiring actors or actresses to see if that is true.

    Most people quits trying to be a movie stars before their confidence is shot way to hell.

    "Did you say something, Miss Aniston?"

    I ask and remove my daughter''s hand around my ear.

    Antigone grabs my hairs instead, pulling against them with what little strength she could muster in her tiny fingers.

    She is very restless since this morning. It is perhaps because I left her in her room for a couple of hours while I get rid of some people.

    If Antigone is anything like me, she will hold a grudge. But seriously, holding a grudge against her own father?

    Well I did, but that is not the point.

    "I''m sorry. Please forgive me. Please give me a chance."

    Jennifer speaks up. It is loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.

    They stops whatever they are doing to watch the scene.

    I smile inwardly.

    This is true power. The power to utterly destroy another person. Money cannot really buy this.

    "Alright. I ept your apology. However, remember what I have said during the audition. Come to see me in my office when you give some thoughts to my offer. The organizer will tell you where my office is."

    I tell her before turning a back around and approach Sandra Bullock.

    By now, everyone knew I was the producer. It did take them a while.

    Did they not find it was really strange that I am the only one who brought a baby into the audition?

    If it was anyone else, the security personnel and staffs would have evicted them from the premise.

    "Congrattion Miss Bullock. I have seen your audition and I must say, I am very impressed. I wish to be the first to congrattion you on earning your role. You truly deserve it."

    I give my congrattion sincerely.

    "Thank you, Mr. Maxwell. I hope I will not let you and yourpany down."

    Sandra Bullock responses respectfully. Her agent has told her all about the entric nature of the man who owned Terra Entertainment and Terra Production.

    "May I ask, what is this offer you are talking about?

    Sandra continues after a short pause. She is curious.

    "Oh that? It is a long-term contract for actors and actresses who I believe will contribute greatly to thepany. You there, bring prepare a contract for Miss Bullock."

    The man in question quickly runs off. He need to head all the way to Terra Entertainment to get a copy of the contract.

    It takes about 20 minutes.

    I have a casual chat to Sandra Bullock during that time along with the rest of the team, learning much about her. I didn''t really need to since I could view her entire history on file.

    Antigone falls asleep during that time. She has expended all her energy, trying to pull my hair out and all that.

    The votes also have finished tallying during that time, and it is as expected, Sandra wins out in the end ¨C just barely. She will be casted as the main character.

    Sharon Stonees second so she will have a choice of ying any of the supporting cast. Since she is with the director right now, no one bother to go and inform her.

    I will do that after I am done here.

    A few more people have gotten chosen to y the rest of the supporting characters. Their contract is already prepared in advance. They just need to negotiate their sry alongside with their agent, enter their name and sign the document.

    Sandra Bullock has a look through the special contract I have prepared for all my actresses. I did exin to her some finer points of the contract, but she is a very fast reader.

    "I apologize Mr. Maxwell, as great as it sound, I have to refuse. I have contracts with other productionpanies. I will be forced to pay millions for breaking their contract in order to sign this."

    Sandra tells me.

    "Terra Entertainment will take care of you. Those legal fees will be taken care of as long as you agree to our terms. It is non negotiable. Although, we can adjust your annual sry over time to make it fair for your sacrifice."

    Unfortunately, the answer is still no. She just doesn''t want to tie down to a singlepany.

    The Sandra Bullock of the future does have a great ambition.

    I suppose I will have to smash that ambition of hers to get her into my pocket.

    It isn''t extra work since allpanies will fall under my control to merge into one mega corporation eventually.

    "Very well, if you have already made up your mind, I will not press the matter. Please sign the contract for Sleepless in Seattle. The filming will begin in a week time. I hope that your other obligations won''t be a problem."

    I left after I have said that with Antigone, who is sleeping over my shoulder.

    Let''s say I wasn''t too happy with her reply.

    I take the special contract with me.

    If Sandra won''t sign it, Jennifer definitely will. She will have no choice in the matter.

    It is time to collect all these actresses. It feels a lot like I am collecting yable cards back when I was a little kid.

    Well, I do see them as collectible.

    Gotta catch them all!

    But before that, I need to see what the director and Sharon Stone is doing. They cannot hide themselves from me.

    The both of them are locked in a private room far from the audition stage.

    Teleporting directly into their private room is easy. They are too busy fornicating to even notice me sitting against a chair with my legs up on the desk.

    I watch the middle-aged man groans in pleasure with a blond-haired woman between his legs, taking his manhood deep into her mouth and throat.

    Sharon must be very good to bring out such vocals.

    I am a little jealous.

    And this guy is starting to piss me off.

    Starting? No. He is already pissing me off.

    Couldn''t he keeps his pants on after the audition actually finishes. I know that Sharon Stone is hot, but there is a ce and time for everything.

    "Jesus fucking Christ. Where the fuck youe from!?"

    It takes a while for him to notice me. I was staring directly at him and the back of Sharon''s head.

    She is also into it, not noticing anything in the room at all.

    "Oh don''t mind me. I''m just here to watch."

 Chapter 38: Calm Before The Storm

    Of course I was being sarcastic.

    As if I would allow them to continue what they are doing, right in one of my fucking auditoriums.

    This is a workce, not a goddamn whorehouse.

    "Mr. Maxwell."

    The balding man utters shakily once he recognizes who I am.

    It did take a while since I don''t really have any distinct facial features even after the beautification side effect of my body augmentation from the future.

    It didn''t help since I am also white and part of the majority in America.

    In contrast, I didn''t really remember immediately who exactly this fat man is despite the strange sense of familiarity.

    I might have met him or even talk to him in person in one of the countless seminars I have held in thepany. I like to keep myself busy, one way or another.

    Being busy stops me from finding things usually people to entertain myself.

    Anyway, there are simply too many people working in Terra Production.

    Remembering thousands of people is very possible thanks to my enhanced memory, but why do I have to waste precious brain cells on rather pointless stuffs?

    Furthermore, I didn''t really need to.

    Shield Surveince Security has me covered in this area.

    His profile window appears right before my eyes.

    His entire history is for me to review at my leisure.

    "Howard Weinstein, is it? Nice to meet you. And this must be the lovely Miss Sharon Stone. I saw your audition from the back. It is marvellous. If it wasn''t for Miss Sandra Bullock, I believe you would have gotten the part with just your acting ability and talent alone."

    I give her a smile, emphasising on thest line.

    Honestly, Sharon didn''t need to lower herself since she does have the acting skills and talents to be a star or even a superstar.

    However, someone will always be better than her, even if just a little bit.

    Every bit is important in Hollywood.

    You either get casted as the heroine or you don''t.

    It is that simple.

    Sharon Stone has already straightened her hair and herself, looking like she had just entered the room from the audition less than half an hour ago.

    She even has this expression of innocent ¨C this slut.

    "Why... why are you here? How are you here?"

    Howard questions. He is still shocked and surprised to see me. He did make sure the door was locked after he entered the room with Sharon in tow.

    It is to conduct their private business.

    I am so sorry that I have to crash their little party ¨C not really.

    I gesture my right hand dismissively at the man''s question. I obviously didn''t need door to go where I needed to go.

    Good thing I have tugged Antigone in another room far down the hall. She is sleeping peacefully.

    I wouldn''t want to identally wake my baby girl up for what I have in mind for these two ¨C one more severe than the other.

    It will probably scar Antigone for life. My daughter has a rough morning already, getting squish and all of that by a fucking car.

    Damn it, I just remember the horrifying image again.

    Marian Oxford will pay dearly for that no matter what Henry will say. The man will beg for his daughter. It is the natural thing for a father who loves his daughter.

    However, I do not forget and I do not forgive!

    This is who I am.

    "Ah, don''t worry about unimportant stuffs. What matters is that I am here right now, Mr. Weinstein."

    I beam at the balding man and wonder if I should kill him horribly for this transgression right after his equally horrifying punishment.

    Killing people has bes so natural now. I hope I don''t execute people for the slightest provocation in the future.

    That would make me a monster ¨C well more of a monster than I already am.

    However, I might have reach my quotas of brutally murdering people before dinner for the day.

    Three people a day, over a thousand a year seems like a good goal.

    "Oh. Don''t stop on ount of me. Please continue, Mr. Weinstein. But do tell me, how are you going to get Miss Stone the part in the movie? Also, I am curious to how long this has been going on?"

    It didn''t feel like the first time this guy has done such a thing, using his position as director or producer to pressure aspiring young actresses into getting in bed with him.

    Selene confirms my suspicion within seconds.

    Mr. Weinstein ¨C why did that family name sounds so familiar the more I have said it? ¨C has been using this office as a fucking-den for thest couple of weeks.

    Goddamn it!

    I was in this very room just ast week, talking to Halle Berry about her recent improvements. I guess I will have this room torched and refurbished.

    "It is all a misunderstanding, Mr. Maxwell. I was just having a private conversation with Sharon about her audition. I thought she has done very well, but just a bit below what we are looking for. I trying to reject her while maintaining a good rtionship for the future."

    Howard replies, causing Sharon to re deadly at him.

    The first name basis really gives him away.

    "Why didn''t you say so, Mr. Weinstein? I thought she was sucking you off for your vote. My mistake ¨C I really jump to conclusion here. Since that is the case, why didn''t you invite more people to join in on this business discussion? More people more fun, isn''t it?

    Sharing is caring from what I have heard."

    I snaps my fingers.

    "You know what, let''s get the whole filming crew in here so we can an fucking orgy with Miss Sharon Stone. I believe she needs all the votes she can get. How many dicks can she swallows."

    I pick up my phone, readying to dial when a loud p echoes in the room.

    Since the office ispletely sound-proof, no one will heard that. It is one of the reasons why they use this room to fuck around.

    "How dare you!"

    Sharon Stone shouts furiously at the man before turning to me.

    Is that tears in her eyes?

    "Please don''t listen to him, Maximilien. He forces himself on me, saying that if I don''t be nice to him, he will see to it that I will never find work here or in Hollywood again. I have no choice."

    Sharon tells me, pleadingly.

    She really is a good actress.

    She is on my list of actresses to acquire after all.

    However, after what has happened, I might have to rethink about that.

    There is an image I need all my actresses to have, not necessary the same image.

    The more unique each actress have, the better.

    For example, Halle Berry is a ck homeless girl from the slum who ascends to be a star.

    It is a fairy talees true, telling the entire world that star can trulye from anywhere, even from ces you have never expected.

    As for Jennifer Aniston, her image would be a young woman who achieves her dream through her own hard work and determination. She does not rely on her family connection to be a star ¨C although the actual story might be different from the truth.

    It did not matter since reality is what the majority believe.

    Rumours can bes real if enough people believe in it.

    That is why I will dominate the entertainment industry.

    When I have a monopoly of the media, the truth will be what I tell people it is.

    It is hard to discredit me when all famous celebrities and stars from all walk of life vouch for whatever nonsense I spout.

    "Force himself upon you? Now that is rape, isn''t Mr. Weinstein? If Miss Stone decide to sue us for this, it will cost thepany millions. But I can''t take only her word for it. Let''s see if that is the truth."

    Iment before opening the draw to my right side.

    Myment puzzle the both of them, especially Sharon.

    She already has the idea of suing if this went south.

    There is no camera in the room, so it really is her words against his if this went to court. Since she is a woman, the court will decide in her favour.

    What kind of garbage justice is that?

    The stereotypical one, apparently.

    I will bring down the whole corrupted system just before the emergence of a new world order.

    It will be fun roasting all those judges, who swore to God to uphold thew and only thew.

    The remote to the massive wall-mounted LCD screen is sitting inside the drawer along with a handgun ¨C why is there a handgun here? Don''t tell me he uses it to threaten people?

    This fucking guy.

    I have the high-tech liquid disy installed the moment one went on sale regardless of the cost.

    I will have the best avable on the market for mypany.

    It also gives the impression of the immerse backing that Terra Entertainment has.

    Sharon went pale when the security feeds ys on the television screen.

    It shows her pushing Howard against the couch once the door is locked before proceeding to doing her business.

    "Looks like it is reverse-rape, which is still rape, just the role are switched around, Miss Stone. I wonder how the jury will feel when they have a look at this video tape. Do you still think you can still y the victim in all of this? Oh, wait, there''s more."

    The video switches, showing the time before this one. The one that they are actually fucking like dogs in heat.

    "Oh fuck, harder, harder! I love your cock!"

    Sharon screams on the television as she being pounded from behind.

    She actually urges Howards to fuck her instead of trying to fight his advances ¨C if it was rape.

    Obviously, there is an agreement between the two long before the audition even announced.

    I picks up the handgun and points the weapon at Sharon. I don''t like using guns since my time power is far more deadlier. But it is a tool, and a tool is meant to be used.

    Furthermore, it excites me when seeing the two-face bitch begging for her life.

    "I don''t like being lied to, Miss Stone, especially right in front of my face. Now, where do you want it? In the chest or in the face? I suggest the chest since I assume you want everyone to remember how beautiful you will look at your funeral."

    "No. Wait! Max. Mr. Maxwell. I got it wrong.

    I''m in the wrong. I am. It is my fault ¨C all my fault. I won''t say a word about this, not to anyone. I will leave. Please let me leave."

    Sharon begs and tries to reach the door to flee.

    I shot the floor, causing her to fall onto her ass in sheer terror. The red carpet between her legs is then being drenched by what I assume a cocktail of bodily fluids.

    It is not just urine.

    "Where do you think you''re going? Please don''t do that again because I am not a really good shot. It is the first time I handle a weapon, you know."

    That isn''t exactly true.

    While this really is the first time I handle a handgun, my aim are perfect thanks to theputer-aided aiming system.

    Selene shows me exactly where the bullet will go in real time should I fire the weapon. She also shows me the ricochet path as well.

    I points the weapon at Howard, forcing the man to raise his hands in fright.

    "I swear that I saw you during one of the seminars. You know, the seminars about not fucking on the job or I will have your balls. Do you think I was joking when I said that?"

    Deafening screams attacks my ears following a gunshot.

    His balls are literally severed from a perfectly ce bullet.

 Chapter 39: The Hypnotist

    With Howard screaming from the tops of his lungs, there is now at least one more person in the world who has experienced my pain.

    Well, not exactly.

    My family jewels have never been so brutally separated from my body before.

    Being separated from my body is the emphasis here.

    Aside from getting crushed one time by a very naughty, naughty kitten who we all know, my balls have been burned, scorched, boiled and vaporized more times than I can remember.

    It happens when I was still trying to learn how to control my power in an effort to save myself.

    Being killed over and over again in the one of the most painful ways possible after each failure changes a person. How could it not?

    It is still amazing that I manage to keep my sanity. I guess my mind is made of tougher stuff.

    Honestly, running away from a wide bombardment is literally impossible.

    And dodging the initial nuclear st by fusion bombs will let me experience true burning hell on earth.

    There are unending anguish screams and unimaginable horrors in the immediate aftermath as people are being roasted alive by intense heat and radiation.

    Even reinforced steel concrete that holds sky-high buildings for centuries melts away like ice-cream in the zing sun.

    When you experienced all of that, nothing can really faze you anymore.

    You think Marian Oxford has it bad when she was being roasted alive in her own limousine?

    Marian is the actually one of the lucky ones as she does not have billions of nanomachines in her body, prolonging her unimaginable suffering.

    The hitman suffers more than her when I force him to experience a simr kind of torture.

    In the wake of the seemingly inevitable extinction event for the human race, the people are still trying to scream and call for help even when their vocal chord has already melted off their throat along with the rest of their flesh.

    Despite reduced to such a grotesque skeletal state, the people are unable to enter the blissful embrace of death thanks to the wonderful science of the future.

    As long as their conscious remains, their soul will not move on and they can still be saved ¨C well, that is the theory.

    Have a guess how long the human body can linger between life and death in such a state?

    It measures in hours, where one second is like an eternity of torture.

    The pain does numb after a while, but no one truly wants to remain alive in such a state.

    And if I somehow survive all of that horrors while keeping my mind rtively sane, I get to experience the wonderful feeling ofary implosion, when the copses into itself.

    And if I miraculously survive the impossible odd with Earth turning into a field of debris, I get to enjoy being choke to death in the cold vacuum of space.

    Experiencing death in an excruciating and horrifying manner is a good motivator.

    Just the knowledge of my impending death alone forces me to do better, to jump further back in time even if it is only for a second more.

    Unfortunately, my power does not always work like I wanted when it first manifested itself.

    I idently jump forwards in time dozens of time, if not right into the centre of thermal nuclear st then into the cold abyss of space.

    That was not very fun, getting melted alive or frozen to death.

    Aside from slowly suffocating to death, I did die somewhat instantly in the core of the fusion explosion ¨C so I didn''t have to suffer much. Much is rtive.

    My mind still remembers the pain even if my body does not.

    To bepletely honest, I did give up after failing in escaping what must appears to be my inevitable for the umpteenth time. I just let myself get killed over and over again, hoping the loops will eventually ends.

    Sadly, it never does.

    My power refuses to let me die, reversing time every time my mind has expired.

    Luckily, my hopelessness did notst for an eternity in an unending time loop or I wouldn''t be here.

    And you wouldn''t know about my story.

    Science fiction writers have thought time travel is easy. Just think of the year and poof, they are there without cause or reason.

    It is not really that simple as time has no real coordinates.

    1990? What is that?

    It is just a number put forth by some of the very smart people in history, so we really have something to measure time with.

    Let me tell you, time is immeasurable.

    I know this since I cannot feel its beginning or its end. I have also tried to see the dawn of creation or the end of time ¨C just to prove if God exists.

    Neither extremes exist in reality.

    Time wasn''t born, so it cannot die.

    It have existed before the universe even began and it will continue to exist long after the universe has ended.

    In fact, there is only the dark abyss before or after the universe.

    I swear something Primordial are watching me from the boundless darkness. I couldn''t see them, but I could feel them ¨C their terrifying and relentless aura.

    I had to get the hell out of there before their presences literally rip my soul apart.

    That is just a figure of speech. Is a soul real? Is it really eternal?

    I don''t know the answer to that, but I do know time is eternal.

    It is one of the true Aspects of all of existence.

    What does that make me, who has absolute control over it?

    I am not only its wielder. Time serves me like a servant serving a master, unquestioningly with absolute loyalty.

    It bends to my will, no matter what I wanted.

    For instant, everything and everyone in this sound-proof office return to what they were just moments ago, right before I have demonstrated to a certain dislikeable human trash that I truly meant what I have said.

    There are dire consequences in disregarding my words.

    People need to learn this, with as much pains and sufferings they can withstands. Only fear will stops them from doing something stupid.

    Howard Weinstein is no longer clutching whatever remains of his cock with both hands. He is also no longer kneeling on the floor and screaming in utter terror, giving me an earful.

    I dislike the sound of men screaming.

    Men should be manly, strong and proud regardless of whatever happened to them. They shouldugh in the face of death and challenge fate itself ¨C at least I would.

    Maybe I am sexist.

    It either that or I have some weird idealizations of what a man and a woman should be and should not be.

    Meh ¨C whatever.

    Anyway, Sharon Stone is no longer crouching on the ground,pletely petrified at what she had just witnessed.

    She thought she had just saw a Howard''s balls being sted right off his hips by a handgun. An awful amount of bloods spray all over the carpet and herself.

    Luckily, it did not happen. She must have imagined all of that. She is not drench in blood.

    And she definitely did not soil herself. She is still wet though.

    Both of them are now standing before my desk. Their eyes widen in both shocked and surprised. What they have just experienced, although felt so real, didn''t appear to be so from their perspective.

    Howard could not help but checking his manhood, making sure that it is all still there and in one piece ¨C it is for now.

    I tilt my head before forming a calming smile. I ce the unfired handgun onto the table before folding my hands together like a boss of an evil organizations.

    Well, that isn''t really far from the truth.

    "You both seem very flustered, Mr. Weinstein and Miss Stone. You must have saw some kind of share hallucination."

    I speaks up.

    "You...? How? It feels so real."

    Howard calls out.

    Sharon is still trying toprehend what I have just said.

    She will get it eventually. She is a smart person if her IQ is anything to go on.

    "Yes." I nod in confirmation. "What you two just saw is my doing. You see, I am a master hypnotist or illusionist, whichever you prefer. It does not matter. What does matter is that I can make a person see and feel all kind of horrible things. Oh?

    Don''t believe me? Shall I demonstrate until you do?"

    I unfold my right hand, allowing a fireball to swirl into existence within my palm.

    It takes only a fraction of second.

    Just like the good doctor had said before he pumps my body full of tiny machines, it does take a lot of time and effort to reach this level of adeptness.

    The doctor didn''t know that it would take well over a couple centuries of constant training. I spend a lot of my free time, training these abilities, trying to bring them to a useful level.

    They have reach the point that they feels like magic.

    It is totally worth the long and tedious effort.

    They are not actual magic, but sufficient advance technology is indistinguishable to magic.

    Howard and Sharon are stunned, feeling the chillness running down their spine.

    They just saw me creates a miniature sun in the palm of my hand like I am some kind of wizard. It must be some kind of illusion or hallucination.

    The immense heat generated in the palm of my hand is very real. It causes my skins to blister and my blood to boil ¨C extremely painful.

    Luckily, the nanomachines works extremely hard to prevent any irreversible damage. Sadly, they will not be able to prevent it for long.

    Therefore, I should not hold onto the fireball longer than necessary ¨C so I didn''t.

    The fireball ms into Howard after I threw it.

    My aim is a bit off since Selene cannot aid me with this. It is also the first time I throws it at an actual person, so give me a break.

    The fireball turns both of his legs from just below the hips into burning mess in the resulting explosion.

    Sharon is send mming against the wall by the powerful shockwave.

    Howard screams as his body is set alight. He rolls around, spreading fire into the room.

    However, the mes did not spread very far as I absorb the thermal energy to form another fireball in my palm ¨C a more condense one this time.

    The room literally explodes with another throw, sending burning chunks of Howard into the hallway and summoning the people in the audition room.

    Before they arrive, I stand up from my seat as another ball of fire swirl into my hand.

    "No... no, god no. Please... no..."

    With her back against the wall, Sharon hyperventtes at my approach. Her paling face is full of dread as I toss the fireball to her. She screams and covers her face with her hands.

    Sharon keeps screaming as she stands in front of the desk with Howard, who is on the ground sweating profusely. His mind could not handle his death.

    "Hmm... shall we go again, Mr. Weinstein and Miss Stone? Miss Halle Berry''s score is about 14. Yours is 2 right now."

 Chapter 40: Sharon Stone

    Sharonsted about 9 rounds, just shy of the double digits.

    It is a far cry from what Halle Berry had to endure when she unrestrainedly sends my precious family jewels to heaven, let aloneparing to the thousand of times I did.

    Feels like a lifetime ago despite it was only barely a couple of months since I had ran into Halle.

    Years have actually passes for me due to one thing or another, but my appearance remains the same, frozen in time.

    Freezing time is just too awesome.

    There are so many applications.

    Every new idea I try, more appears ¨C the cycle never ends.

    Speaking of cycle, one is about to end.

    "Please... please... don''t... please... Mr. Maxwell..."

    Sharon cries desperately.

    A metal bat grips tightly in both of her hands. The top of the weapon is bent, coating with bloods from all the times she has used it to tenderize a piece of human meat.

    In front of her is a table.

    Howard is on it, spread out and beaten to a bloody pulp.

    It is not my handy work.

    Sharon did all of that, under my enforced guidance.

    She has refused to do it at first, but a little ying here and there does gets her started. It is either her or him, and she chooses him out of fear or pain or both.

    It is also the only time I have tortured her physically, after giving her the frightening impression of my fake profession ¨C the hypnotist.

    People always shove others in front of the hypothetical train to save themselves. There are exception to the rule of course, especially a mother protecting her child.

    As for her mental state, Sharon is on the verge of insanity.

    Anymore would push her over the edge. She will never recovered from something like that. It would be a waste if she has to be submitted into a mental institution or worst. She is one of the more talented actresses in Hollywood after all.

    The same could not be said for Howard. He is already gone after the 7th round ¨C quite amazing mental forte if I think about it.

    Howard did suffer the full brunt of the torture, starting with his manhood each and every time due to what I have said back in those seminars.

    I have meant what I had said then. It is entirely his fault forpletely disregarding my stern warning.

    It might be better that he didn''t feel anything anymore for what I am about to do.

    I will definitely have Howard killed in a rather public manner.

    His death will serve as an good example to everyone working under me in Terra Entertainment.

    The cop will question the circumstances around his death, but there will be absolute no proof linking back to me asides from some small minor details.

    "Please... I will anything... anything at all... just don''t make me do... anymore of this..."

    Sharon utters as she continues to smash Howard with the metal pole, earning some fainted yelps and screams from the unconscious man.

    This is purely reflex. Howard is in aa due to being in so much pain.

    I stop Sharon and take the metal back off her hands. She breaks down afterwards, copsing onto the bloodstained carpet, crying hopelessly.

    Sharon cannot possibly goes through another torturous loop, and I don''t really want her to. What she has been through is sufficient to teach her a lesson.

    She will not dare to lie in front of my face ever again.

    In an instant, I am back in my seat behind my desk, facing Mr. Weinstein and Miss Stone. They looks like they have been through hell and back and then through it again ¨C several times. They don''t seems to have any word to say.

    "I suppose I should thank you for your hard work, Mr. Weinstein. Please have a rest now."

    The moment I finish speaking, Howard vanishes into thin air, right ing front of Sharon.

    She is attentive enough to see what had just happened.

    "Please no more, please no more."

    Sharon screams and cradles herself into the corner. She still believes that she is under hypnotism.

    I let Sharon be and make sure Howard joins the countless of birds in the sky.

    For all intend and purpose, Mr. Howard Weinstein disappears without a trace from my auditorium.

    Good luck to any investigators or police detectives, trying to find out where he is.

    Howard will turns up the moment his body go st against concrete ¨C very publicly.

    "When you are ready, Miss Stone. Please read through this contract to understand your obligation. If you lie to me again, I will have you taste what Mr. Weinstein has tasted."

    I speak up and toss the thick contract in front of her.

    Sharon is shaking uncontrobly but manages to pick up the contract simply because I have told her to. She is terrified of me as she should be.

    There is probably another ways to get her under me, but this way is as good as any other. It also saves me time.

    A temporal bubble appears in front of desk, where the contract used to be. Inside the bubble, time is reversed, returning to the moment where the contract has ced there.

    I reach inside and pick up the contract.

    The bubble vanishes afterwards.

    With the duplicated contract in my hands, I left the room and Sharon behind. The woman will sign the contract when she calms herself. She will behave however I want her to.

    In time, Sharon will realize that this is one of the best things that have happened to her. Huge amount of wealth and power will flow through her in the years ahead.

    I am not a monster to those who are absolutely loyal and honest with me. I will take care of them and provide them with whatever they needs.

    Once I left the room, I headed to the audition ground. I needed to go and meet a certain someone by the name of Jennifer Aniston. I wonder if she has any thought to my offer.

    It has been about 5 minutes since I was there. In truth, it should have been several hours. It is difficult to keep track of them when you can loop it for as long as you liked.

    People are still crowding around the stage, talking and chatting amongst themselves.

    Sandra Bullock is the star of the show. She is very busy meeting all kind of new people.

    Her agent is also with her, talking and handing out contacts information.

    It is goodworking.

    Quite a few greet me since they now know who I am. They shows me great respects and provides with their business card if they have any.

    I ept all the cards since there is no reason to. They have made an effort to make themselves known, so I should make an effort to return the curtesy.

    It did take a while to pass through the staging area.

    I find that Jennifer Aniston is not there amongst the crowd. She must have given some thoughts to my offer and heads to wherever she needs to go.

    I head off to pick up Antigone. My daughter is still asleep in my office, soundly. The girl wakes up the moment I enters the room. I swear she is aware sometimes.

    Jennifer was outside my office, waiting for me. She greets me respectfully the moment she saw me. I suppose she has learned her lesson.

    "Hello Miss Jennifer Aniston. Have you given any thought to my offer."

    I ask when I am in the room with the door locks. Anything said in the room is between me, her and my daughter, who is sitting on the table, flipping through the contract curiously.

    "Yes. Mr. Maxwell. What do you need me to do?"

    Jennifer asks. She is referring to the thing she needs to do for me. Since there are still a lot of people outside, she is confidence that I won''t ask anything sexual or similiar.

    "Well, let''s do your audition first. I am curious of your acting skills."

    I request.

    "Right here?"

    Jennifer questions, looking around the room. It is expensively decorated since it is my private office. I tends to stay here when I am in this auditorium.

    "Yes."

    Jennifer is about to begins since she memorizes all the lines already. She has a very good memory, but that is just memory. It takes more than that to be an actress.

    However, I raise a hand to stop her.

    "It is not that simple, Miss Aniston. I did tell you the price have increase. You will do your audition and you will be naked while doing it. Now. Please, continue. Impress me."

 Chapter 41: Jennifer Aniston

    All the signs are there, Jennifer only has to look a little closer.

    Antigone continues to y with the thick contract on the table while shaking her toy. She is not paying any attention to the young woman standing across the desk from me. She seems to know something, glittering in that brilliant violet eyes of hers.

    It is only when my daughter crawls back into my arms for a much needed embrace that Jennifer speaks up.

    "Are you sure it is alright in front of your daughter, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Jennifer asks hesitantly.

    She didn''t want to strip downpletely and audition for me naked. No one in their right mind would regardless what kind of offer is given.

    However, Jennifer didn''t really have a choice in the matter. It is either did what I have asked or storm out of the room furiously to make a scene.

    Storming out of the room will close many doors and opportunities in the future, especially during this staring period of her career.

    My cklist is still in effect, making it very difficult for her to get an audition. The cklist is just one of many lighter options avable to me, allowing me to screw anyone over.

    Before Jennifer about to go through with it, she is concern about a certain child in the room. It is rather strange that I ask something like that of her when my daughter is here with me.

    It is more than strange, actually.

    Jennifer finally figures it out. At least she is using something called a brain inside that head of her. The first time around, she must have forgotten to.

    I match her eyes before giving her a smile. Many people would have just go ahead and did what I ask without thinking too much on it.

    If she did, I would have kick her out of the room immediately.

    I obviously didn''t want to see her audition naked right in front of my daughter. If I did, I wouldn''t have brought Antigone along for the ride.

    Furthermore, no casting couch is allowed in my auditoriums. It is one of my rules, for everyone as well as for me.

    I must follow my own rules to set an example. If I didn''t, I would have bang Sharon Stone already. She is one of the better looking actresses in the 1990s. She is currently a mess in one of the private offices on the opposite wings. She will pick herself up eventually.

    In addition, I also like to mess with Jennifer for a reason.

    What is the reason? I have already mentioned why in previous chapters. I''m not going to repeat myself anymore. In fact, people will have to use their brain to figure out things from now on.

    "No, it will not be alright, Miss Jennifer Aniston. My daughter wouldn''t want to see such an audition. It will corrupt her innocent mind."

    I answer her question and bounce my daughter in my arms, earning a glee and a bright smile.

    "I think we have not formally introduce. My name is Maximilien Maxwell. My friends call me Max. You can call me Max. This is my 5 months old daughter, Antigone. Say hi to the nicedy, Anti."

    Antigone obeys with my help. I gently hold her wrist and jerk her hand in a waving motion. She spreads out her palm to form toplete the gesture.

    "Now, it is your turn, Miss Jennifer. It is not only a nice thing to do, but it is also respectful. My daughter will be your boss one day, so start getting on her good side and kissing her ass literally. It will help your career in the long run."

    Jennifer mimics the greeting without my help, of course. She is somewhat embarrassed that I have to tell her to. She also introduce herself formally.

    "Now that is out of the way, take a seat, Miss Aniston. You must be tired of standing. On the desk here is your contract. Have a read through it carefully and tell me what you think afterwards. I need to feed my daughter, so don''t mind me for about half an hour, huh."

    After I have said that, I feed Antigone. My daughter didn''t like my cooking one bit, but she cannot eat Heinz all day.

    Variety is the spice of life after all.

    Jennifer concentrates on the contract while Antigone dodging my spoon energetically.

    The girl really don''t want to eat even though she is hungry. She is demanding a certain brand of food, but I cannot keep spoiling her.

    Jennifer reads each word, each sentence and each paragraph in the contract very carefully. Like Sandra Bullock before her, she didn''t like the exclusiveness of the contract. She also didn''t like to spend the next 25 years of her life in thepany. It will severely restrict her and her ambition.

    Jennifer makes her concern known.

    "I understand your concerns, Miss Aniston. Those are just general guidelines for you to follow. It is not absolute, so as long as it does affect thepany, we will support you in everything you do. The wages will be adjusted each year due to intion. It is there so you have some pocket money.

    Your real sry is from all the movies and television shows you stars in, and we promise you at least one a year. It will likely be more. You will find yourself very busy when working for us."

    I tell her while Antigone squirms in my arms. I think she has enough for my crappy cooking. It shouldn''t be that bad since I did follow the recipe to the letter. I did taste it myself, finding it pretty good.

    "The contract didn''t mention anything about the penalty."

    Jennifer points out once she reaches thest page. Most of the contract is all technical stuffs, detailing about how she should behave and what she shouldn''t do. It is not as restrictive as it first appears.

    "The penalty for breeching the contract is whatever you imagine it to be, just multiplies by a thousand times, Miss Aniston. But for now, let''s just say that it is $100 million to prevent you from breaking it whenever. You don''t have that much money, do you? Your personal bank bnce is $1,380.20 ¨C still far from the require amount."

    I casually drop that in, causing Jennifer to blink.

    "How did you know that!?"

    I shrug and clean up Antigone. Some foods are spill onto her napkin.

    "You will find that I know many, many things, Miss Aniston. I know where you have been and who you have been talking to. How is your fathertely? He didn''t seem all that well when you talked to himst night around 8:34pm for 5 minutes and 22 seconds. The heart stroke has forced him into an early retirement. I think I can do something about his paralysis, allowing him to continue what he loves."

    Jennifer bes speechless. She has talked to her father in private. No one should know about that since she was on the road then. Even if someone did, they couldn''t know the exact time and duration.

    She didn''t know either until she looks at her phone.

    "You can help my father, Mr. Maxwell?"

    "Yes. I can cure your father, returning him to perfect health. Have you heard about Infinite Health and their miracle drugs? You will find that there are many benefits working for me. The choice is yours."

    Everyone have heard of Infinite Health. The privately owned pharmaceuticalpany that had just eradicated some of the most deadliest diseases known to date, including paralysis due to heart stroke or simr.

    However, it seems that there is an incredible long waiting list for people who are seeking a treatment. Money doesn''t seem to faze them on the ount of their backers ¨C Chrono Holdings.

    Chrono Holdings is the samepany that funds Terra Entertainment. It is all connected. She doesn''t need to be a genius to know.

    Jennifer immediately signs the contract without any further hesitation.

    "Please help my father, Mr. Maxwell."

 Chapter 42: The Usual Night

    Jennifer Aniston is on board.

    Without any realistic way to save her beloved father, she has to be.

    John Anthony Aniston cares deeply for Jennifer all her life, teaching her everything she needs to know about the finer sides to acting.

    He is not just her father. He is her best friend and mentor.

    While I have my preferred methods, I don''t really need to resort to fear or intimidation or torture to have people obediently working for me.

    Understand what people wants is the first step to the subtlety of emotional ckmailing.

    While I could cure her fatherpletely with my power or otherwise, it is simply better to have him on medication provided in secret by mypany for the rest of his life.

    I will be able to bill Jennifer all the way, preventing her from having any second thought. Isn''t this how pharmaceuticalpanies conduct their business?

    It is more profitable to medicate a condition over the course of many years than to cure itpletely in a short span of time.

    People will continue to pay to live afortable and healthy life ¨C an arm and a leg if they have to. At least until my nse to full circle.

    No one wants to be sick, waiting to die painfully in a hospital bed.

    Infinite Health corporation follows this business n of mine, providing the world with perfect health for a rtively cheap price.

    If the United States or another country wants to shut down thepany for any stupid legal reason, its own poption will bring down the government.

    Hydra will be there to pick up the pieces.

    "Wee to the Terra Entertainment, Miss Jennifer Aniston. It is a pleasure to have you working for us. Please show up to work Monday to Friday at the main building from 8am to 5pm unless you have an emergency. As for your father, we will do our best to help him gets better. I do believe that your father should be up and moving about within a month or so."

    I continue to converse with Jennifer Aniston about the finer points of things while ensuring that I will keep my promise regarding her father.

    Jennifer keeps asking about her father regardless of how many times I have assured. I suppose she did just sold her future to me for my promise. Until she sees the result, she will not be able to calm herself.

    A noble thing to do.

    I will be sure to provide a good future for her.

    There are things Jennifer must not do when working for me as outlined in the contract, such as fucking around in the office regardless with who, including me. She can do that in her own time at her provided estate, but never in the work ce for whatever reason.

    The mention of apany provided estate causes her eyes to lit up.

    It isn''t the only thing that did.

    No one will dare to give her any problem at work on the ount of me. If anyone gives her a problem outside of work then she is to call Shield Security before the police. The men are there to protect her and harass paparazzi, just to let those guys have a taste of their own medicine.

    Like Halle, Jennifer will be provided personal body guards and a Hydra agent to watch over her. I might have forgot to mention this to Sharon Stone, but the woman might think those bodyguards are there to have her killed on a moment notice.

    Well, Sharon isn''t wrong in that assumption.

    But that will only happen if she steps out of line.

    Time flies when you discuss business matters.

    I assign some people to get Jennifer started before I left the auditorium, heading home with Antigone.

    Work hours are already over, so I don''t know why there are still many people loitering in the auditorium, mainly around the dinning tables.

    I didn''t n to stay all day here, but thingse up.

    Sharon Stone joins me on my request. She didn''t say anything as She follows me like an obedience puppy. She just listens while I exin a few important things to her.

    We drop by the homeless shelter to watch Halle Berry.

    Halle heads there after work every day around 6pm, providing foods and warm clothing to those who she considers her family.

    Everyone at the homeless shelter is d that Halle Berry has found a mean to follow her dream. They just didn''t know what she had to go through to get it.

    Sharon does, however. She has experienced herself.

    The Shield Security personnel does not join Halle at the shelter like the sleeper Hydra agent does. They stands nearby to keep a watchful eye on thing.

    Another team will switch over with them soon, so they can go home to their family.

    While the Hydra agent teaches some homeless people self-defences techniques, Halle joins me on one of the benches nearby. She usually does when I drop by the homeless shelter.

    "How are you doingtely, Miss Berry?"

    I begin the conversation. She is as happy as she can be. Everything is provided for her while she trains to be the best actress she could be.

    Halle is a very diligent and hard working person.

    "This is Sharon Stone. She will be your training partner along with one or two more people. You might learn something from Sharon since her acting is quite top notch. Her personality is less than desirable. Maybe you can teach her how to behave around me, huh?"

    Halle understands what I mean after have one quick look at Sharon''s unsettling behaviour. She feels sorry for the woman as the images of her friends and families being ughtered still haunt her at night.

    Halle does have trouble of falling to sleep regrly. She will get over it eventually, but the fear of what could happen to her friends and family have already etched itself into her being.

    After the introduction, Halle and Sharon have a private conversation while I try to teach Antigone to walk.

    In just a few more months, Antigone will be able to wander off on her own. Her chubby legs are kicking up the dirt and pebbles as I hold both her hands up for support.

    "The filming for Speed will begin soon. I hope that you are ready, Miss Berry. There is a schedule that we have to follow. I don''t want to drag out the production of the movie longer than necessary."

    I tell Halle when Antigone bes tired and sleepy. I put my daughter back into her stroller and tug her in. She haven''t fallen asleep yet, but she is yawning repeatedly.

    A four wheel vehicle pulls up along side the road.

    Two huge men exit the car and approach me.

    "As for you Miss Stone. These men here will take you home and give you a good night rest. An personal agent will be assigned to you when you show up to work tomorrow. You will be participating as one of the supporting cast for Sleepless in Seattle. A new director will be employed as the one you know have unfortunately fallen out of the sky. You will hear all about it on the news tomorrow morning."

    I pause for a moment to let the message sink into her mind. She probably figures that I am not really a hypnotist. I am something much, much worst.

    "I expect many great things from you, Miss Stone. If you don''t give your best, we will have another long talk. Maybe you get to swim in the boundless ocean called space."

    Sharon couldn''t stop her shivering when I cast her a casual nce. She is on verge of tears again. She knows that she won''t be able to get away from me.

    Even going to the police will not do her any good. They might throw her into the looney bin if she bs about what I have done.

    "It will be okay, Sharon. Max. I mean Mr. Maxwell is like that to everyone all the time. Just don''t get onto his bad side and nothing will happens to you. I learn this the hard way."

    Halle assures the woman. She has changed quite a bit in thest couple of weeks. She is more sure of herself.

    She is even sincerely humble in some her speech instead of those trash talks she is all too familiar with.

    Perhaps it is because I have kept in touch with her through regr visits and meals.

    Speaking of meals, Halle is joining me for dinner. Antigone has already eaten, so she will enjoy her little nap.

    I would also have Sharon join us for dinner, but the woman needs a lot of time to calm her nerves. She left hastily with her newly appointed security details when she is allowed to leave.

    It is fun seeing her go.

    The men drives off with her in the backseat, heading directly to her home. They will watch over her for the rest of the night, ensuring that she won''t kill herself.

    I can''t have that happening.

    Jennifer could have also joined me for dinner, but she is busy calling her father and giving the man some hopes. I will have dinner with her some other time then.

    "I think we have a restaurant reservation at 7pm, Miss Berry. It is almost time, so we should go. I hate it to lose our regr table if we don''t show up."

    I point out with a calming smile.

    "I don''t think anyone will dare, Mr. Maxwell."

    Halle responses and apanies me towards the restaurant.

    She pushes the stroller with Antigone inside as she has done so a few times before.

    It appears that she is gotten use to me. She still fears me, but she understands my personality and core principle well. I won''t harm her physically unless she did something to piss me off.

    I suppose I will figure out another way to keep her on edge.

    But before that I will have a wonderful dinner. I need energy to start plotting pointless stuffs.

    I was just kidding. I don''t do pointless stuffs.

    As if I have the time to waste.

    Ironic, isn''t it?

 Chapter 43: Sleepless in Seattle

    Halle Berry looks quite overwhelmed as people crowds around her, working on her hair, clothing, nails and makeup.

    They are making sure that she looks perfect for when the filming continues again.

    It is their only job on set.

    These people are her personal makeup artists and assistants, providedpletely by Terra Production for the entire duration of the filming process.

    They give her support in whatever she needed, including running across town to the homeless shelter to hand over a handwritten note.

    Halle only needs to ask, but she rarely do. She didn''t want to bother them more than necessary despite me constantly telling her that it is what they are paid for.

    All the other cast members on set, especially the supporting casts are curious as to why so much works is being done on Halle while the her co-star, Keanu Reeves is by himself, reciting his lines and practicing a scene all alone.

    While it is true that Halle Berry is getting more attentions than most main characters in other movies and productions, Keanu Reeves requests to be left alone whenever possible.

    Keanu cites that he works better at his own pace.

    The director did not mind, so I didn''t either.

    As long as Keanu produces results, he can request a bunch of stripers in his trailer after the shootings for the day and I would have probably still grant the request.

    I am not being sarcastic.

    Results is what matters most to me.

    No excuses.

    Interestingly, his agent is a shrewd of a man, managing to gain Mr Reeves a $500,000 payday for the role.

    This is partially thanks to me demanding to have Keanu Reeves as the main character for the movie. I will not have anyone else ying the role.

    I do not mind paying that much to have Keanu Reeves being in the movie, but I did wonder if I needed to hire some professional negotiators in the future to make things more interesting.

    His pay is almost as much as the entire pay for the supporting casts.

    Adding onto the cost of the viin, the entire cast for the movie Speed cost $1.4 million dors.

    Halle is not part of this initial cost since she has alternative revenue streams. She would earn about 4 million dors once the movie hit the theatres.

    An insane amount for a newer like her.

    If you added the director, the crewmen, the screenwriters, the managers and so on, then the cost will be around $2 millions dor. Props, filming locations, and others push this number to $10 millions. It would be more after the post production, the distribution and publishing cost.

    I expect the total cost for Speed to be around $40 millions in total, give or take a couple of millions.

    Quite a bit of money in 1990, but not really that much considering the eventual returns.

    It isn''t really about the money. It is more about the exposure.

    Speaking of exposure, my book on dinosaurs has finally hit the top selling chart while bringing quite a bit of money. People have finally notice the book after several weeks on the bookshelves. This includes a certain author. He is requesting legal advice right now for what he should do.

    I am prepare for whatever legal troublees my way with my team of high paidwyers. It will scare the pants off anyone.

    Returning to my movies, I wonder why the production team decides to hire screenwriters since I have written the screeny for the movie myself, but I guess they needed someone to adjust the dialogues on the fly.

    They couldn''t bother me if the are rewrites since I am too busy with everything else.

    As for who the viin of Speed should be, I have suggested they try to cast Dennis Hopper since he did y the viin in the original version.

    However, the man turns down the offer ¨C which is bizarre.

    That should not have happened, but whatever. He is unimportant.

    An audition was called but cancelled in thest minute due to Liam Neeson requesting it personally.

    Liam wants to try ying the viin while being the hero in the Fugitive. I check his public image in the future before allowing him to.

    Speed and the Fugitive will be released months apart from each other so it did not really affected the public perception of him.

    Liam is more memorable in the Fugitive due to being more rtable, but he is quite menacing in this movie due to his appearance as an everyday man. This just mean that you cannot really trust anyone you see, even your neighbours as they might turn out to be a maniac bomber.

    Anyway, Liam is very rxed on set despite ying one of the main casts. He is having turkey sandwich while talking to the director at the moment.

    I also have a turkey sandwich since it tastes great.

    Since there is nothing else for me to do here on set aside from looking over people''s shoulder and making them feel very ufortable, I head to Sleepless and Seattle production.

    Despite the movie title, it is not really filmed in Seattle. We could film it in Seattle, but that would not change the story in any meaningful way so we decided not to.

    The title is chosen because of its alliteration sounding. Sleepless in Hollywood just didn''t sound right.

    "Hello Miss Stone. How are you today? And why are you here alone by yourself?"

    I greet when I first arrive on the set. The woman nearly drops her script and makes a run for it. I would like to see she tries.

    "Hello. Mr. Maxwell. I am... I am fine. I am...

    please don''t hypnotise me."

    Sharon responses tensely, covering half of her face with the screeny.

    She is unsure how I manage to hypnotise her. And from the morning news almost a week ago, she is more than terrified of me.

    Howard Weinstein has been found dead in the desert.

    What led to his death stumps everyone since he fell from a great height. There is nothing around for many miles. There is also no record of him getting onto a ne or attempting to sky dive.

    A lot of people from the audition were interviewed following his death, but the testimony just create more unanswerable questions.

    I chat about some random things to Sharon to get her to calm down before asking how she is feeling and why nobody is filming the movie yet.

    "I don''t know, Mr. Maxwell. No one tells me anything due to what happen to... Howard."

    Sharon swallows.

    Everyone thinks she kills the man since she was thest person to see him. They did walk off together quite publicly after the audition. There is also rumours surrounding him and her.

    The cops also question her, but she is unable to give a straight answer. She even admits to killing him since she did brutally beat him into aa, but her testimony is not consistent with how he has actually died.

    In the end, they suggest her to see a psychiatrist.

    Since no one could figure how she did it logically, they stay away from her in fear that there might be something supernatural at works.

    "We are still waiting for Miss Bullock, sir. We have tried to call her all morning, but it seems that her phone is off. The crew thinks Miss Stone has something to do with it. She did want the part after all."

    One of the crewmen tells me, revealing the reason why Miss Sharon Stone is all by herself.

    Everyone avoid her like a gue, thinking she might have also killed Sandra Bullock with her supernatural power like she did with Howard Weinstein.

    That isn''t my intention, but I suppose I will make it work somehow.

    "I see..."

    [essing Shield Surveince Network. Locating Sandra Ate Bullock, born July 26, 1964. Unable to locate subject. Subject is not found.]

    "What the hell does that mean?"

 Chapter 44: Time Distortion

    Even if Sandra Bullock has died, Shield Surveince Network should have been able to locate her.

    The only reason that it could not is probably because Sandra herself might has left the country. In that case, Selene should tell me which country she is in instead of being unable to locate her at all.

    There is something very odd about that.

    I will have to get to the bottom of it.

    But before I do, I need to do something about this stalled production.

    I frown deeply and scan the entire filming set for Sleepless in Seattle.

    Although Sandra Bullock did not show up when she supposes to, the production and filming crews did use the time to adjust their cameras and shot the scene that did not involved her.

    They know that if they wasted time idling, I will have their collective asses.

    Time is money. And I hate wasting money, especially millions of dor.

    Another reason for their motivation is what remains of the filming budget is divided amongst the crewmen as bonus. It gives the incentive to not waste time.

    "Sharon. Pleasee with me for a minute."

    I request once I have made up my mind. The future shows me that she never shows up, not today, not tomorrow, not even in a month time.

    Whether it is fate or otherwise, Sandra Bullock has proven to be a liability at the moment. To have the entire production waits on her ¨C I shouldn''t allow something like that to happen.

    No actor or actress should be allowed to have that kind of power.

    I might also be a bit biased since Sandra did turn down my contract.

    Sharon hesitates at my request, but follows me once she realizes I am heading towards the director.

    If it was to somewhere private, I think she might have breakdown a little. She has assumed that I would not harm her publicly and in front of so many people.

    That assumption is incorrect. I make a mental note to prove it to her one day.

    "Mrs. Ephron. I believe a change in casting is required."

    I tell the new director.

    Her name is Nora Ephron. She is the original director to Sleepless in Seattle.

    The only reason that Nora was passed over as director the first time around is because I wanted one of my employees as the director.

    Why outsource when I could nurture in house talents. It is just better to support the people who are already working for me fulltime.

    Directing a movie will provide my employee with valuable experience as well as leadership skill.

    But after what happened with Howard Weinstein, I decide I will make an exception this time around.

    To be honest, I do notck aspiring or experienced director since Terra Entertainment is very generous with their sry packages and bonuses. I am nning to gather some talented one such as Christopher Nn.

    I believe Mr. Nn is in Ennd right about now.

    "Who do you suggest Mr. Maxwell?"

    Nora questions. She knows who I am. She also knows what had happened to her predecessor. It shows in the way she looks at Sharon.

    Everyone seems to be of the same opinion regarding Sharon Stone.

    I could use it to build an image for her ¨C the misunderstood heroine.

    "This is Miss Sharon Stone. Her acting skill is on par with Miss Sandra Bullock. If it wasn''t for thetter, I believe the part is rightfully belongs to her regardless of other... unsavoriness. Since Miss Sandra has not shown up since morning, I am voiding her contract and assign Miss Stone as the main heroine."

    I gesture at Sharon, who widens her eyes.

    "Mr. Maxwell..."

    Both Sharon and Nora begin, but I gesture my hands to stop them.

    "I have already made up my mind, so all you have to do is carry out my request."

    I pay attention to Nora only.

    "There is no need to write up a new contract for Miss Stone. She is a fulltime actress of ourpany, one of many. We still have several hours of daylight left, so I suggest the crew begins filming or do you have any other questions?"

    "No further question, Mr. Maxwell."

    Nora replies and eyes Sharon. She wonders how Sharon manages to charm me into giving her the role over Sandra.

    However, Nora is a professional woman so she will not let her misguided prejudice to affect her work.

    Once I have given my order, Nora passes it along the chain ofmands.

    The crewmen sprung into action within minutes, helping Sharon into the dressing room. They will have aplete makeover for her, preparing her for the new role as the heroine of the story.

    "Here is your new dialogues. Remember it quickly. You have more riding on this than I do, so don''t go and disappoint yourself."

    I ce a new script into her hands while her hair is being redone. There is an image that she needs to convey to the audience, so a makeover is required.

    Sharon grips the script tightly and nods. This is what she has been preparing for. She has even gone so far as to make sure that she will get the role.

    Unfortunately or fortunately, she ran into me and became my prisoner.

    It take about half an hour to get Sharon readied for the scene. Her skill in acting, facial expression and bodynguage did not lose out to Sandra, so the scene is filmed quickly.

    Everyone is amazed.

    Despite that, there are still some reshoots just to have several copies to choose from.

    When the scene is done, the crewmen take her back into the dressing room to redo her appearance for another scene. It is quite a lot of work, especially for the main casts.

    "Very good, Miss Stone. I think you can take it from here. I have a ce I need to be."

    With that, I bid Sharon farewell. I think she might wants to say something to me, but it can wait.

    I need to do a little investigating.

    "Selene, shows me thest known locations of Sandra Bullock."

    [Acknowledge, Operator.]

    A map of greater Los Angeles appears in front of my eyes. The highlight dots all over the map provides me with aplete detailed history of where Sandra Bullock has been.

    Her footprint stops in her apartment.

    However, she is not there as proven by the surveince system that Shield installs everywhere. There is no such thing as privacy ¨C not anymore.

    I drive to her apartment since it isn''t very far from the filming location for Sleepless in Seattle.

    It takes about 10 minutes on the highway.

    Once there, I notice an awful amount moving vans out in front. People is either moving or moving out of the building in mass. Thetter is more likely.

    "Hey. What''s going on here? Why is everyone leaving?"

    I ask one of the bystanders.

    "Haven''t you heard? That building is haunted. A lot of people have disappears. Vanish without a trace ¨C it''s freaky."

    "Haunted?"

    I learn from the bystander that dozens of people have gone missing in the building, including a couple of police officers. They enters the building and neveres back out.

    Sandra Bullock disappears on Tuesday ¨C six days now.

    The security footage shows me that Sandra enters her apartment, cing down her stuffs, checking her mails and then stripping down to her underwear before heading into the bathroom.

    There is a little blind spot between the living room and the bathroom, so I couldn''t see what happened in between ¨C at least from the video alone.

    Sandra never made it to the bathroom. Her scream is faintly heard on the video, stretching out like a video cassette ying in slow motion.

    It is as if time slows down for a second.

    Many people living in the building have also gone missing, disappears into thin air. Only their screams remain, recorded by Shield.

    I manage to see one of the person disappears amongst many victims. Her body contorted ghastly, stretching out before copsing into nothing.

    That is one of the scariest thing I have ever seen.

    The earliest case is on Monday. It is the same day that my daughter got killed. It is also the day that my power surges due to the intense anger.

    It couldn''t be a coincidence, could it?

    I might have to do something with this or there are really ghosts.

    Shaking off the cold feeling running down my spine and giving me goose bumps, I cross the street and immediately feel a strange tingling sensation.

    The feeling grows stronger as I approach the apartment. I look up and see the building contorted in a bizarre way. No one seems to notice this, but I did.

    I swallow hard and enter the front door. Everything inside is twisted along with people walking up and down the staircase. They don''t seem to notice, but I do.

    One of the person head down the stair notice me. His face is stretched impossibly. He should be dead if it is the case.

    "Hhhheyyyy.... arrrrrreee.... .yoouuuu..... mooovvinnng.... innnnn?"

 Chapter 45: Spirited Away

    It appears that there is some kind of temporal distortion happening in the apartment.

    And it is getting worse with each passing second.

    I could feel it, the fluctuation in time and space.

    Unlike me, normal people are not aware of the temporal distortion or the bodily horrors.

    Good thing that I am so experienced with seeing grotesque imageries.

    My stomach would have lost what remains of a very delicious turkey sandwich from before if I didn''t.

    Furthermore, my power protects me from all kind of temporal effects as well as from death itself.

    Sometimes I wish it doesn''t.

    At least then I don''t have toe face to face with the all the contorted person as they try to evacuate from the building with their belongings.

    Seeing them startles me again and again, especially little children running down the staircase.

    They looks like abomination crawling down a spiralling well of steps, which seems to stretch or expand into oblivion.

    The distortion of space and time also gives me this tingling sensation.

    It is hard to describe, but it feels like thousand of tiny insects are crawling all over my skins and inside my body.

    Creepy as hell, but I have handled much worse before.

    I try to ignore the feeling since it is more of a distraction than actual pain.

    Before investigating the apartment and the odd temporal phenomenon any further, I decide to give a call to the owner of the building.

    Getting his number is easy thanks to all the terrified tenants.

    With my generous offer, the owner bes a very happy man. He immediately sells me the haunted building, citing that whatever happen afterwards does not concern him. This includes all the reporters and public servants.

    Chrono Reserves will work out the legal side of thing for me. It is one of their jobs.

    I request a division of Shield personnel as well. Several dozens of men arrive to the apartment in SUVs within the next couple of hours.

    Alongside with them are some Hydra scientists.

    The scientists are there to confirm some of my theories. I do have better understandings of the natural world than them due to my studies in the 31st century, but it is good to have a scientific discussion.

    They also brought along much needed equipment and measuring tools.

    "From the initial examination, there are temporal fluctuations all over the building, Lord Maxwell. It is highly unstable at the moment. It is also expanding, but losing intensity at the same time."

    The guy named Hammond Washer tells me once the building are emptied of people.

    Everyone has gotten evicted from the building by the people from Shield Security. They are forced to leave their belonging behind since taking those will only slow them down.

    A couple of the men have gone missing in the process. Like the other victims, they just vanish without a trace.

    Even the tracker embedded inside their body stop emitting signals.

    To stop losing more men to the temporal distortion, I have them retreat away from the building.

    They are to set up a perimeter and negotiate with the public instead.

    Having the police and politician in your pocket does help things along. The cover story is some kind of chemical spill.

    Of course nobody with a working brain buys that fictional shit like they do in the movies, but the cover story does give the media something to focus on for now.

    "Tell me something I don''t already know, Mr. Washer."

    I snort. Even without all the high-tech measuring tools, I could have figure that out myself. I suppose that I should give Hammond and his men a break.

    They are not witnessing everything happening like I do.

    "Umm... the effect will dissipates with time. We just need to evacuate everyone from the surrounding area to prevent them from being spirited away. In a couple more weeks, this building will be habitable again, I think."

    Hammond responses.

    He is unsure whether the building can be upied in the future, but from the preliminary readings he got so far, it does seem to be likely.

    "You think? Is that a scientific thing to say. What about the people who are... what did you say it was? Spirited away? This is not a supernatural event."

    Hammond shrugs at my question. He doesn''t really know, but he does have some theories about what happened to those people.

    Every scientists do.

    "We believe that the people are disced in time, either to the past or to the future. We won''t know until we do more measurements and experiments. Is it not possible to use your ability to see where those people are?"

    Hammond suggests.

    Everyone in Hydra knows about my ability by now.

    It is not really a secret.

    The top scientists have tried to research my ability with my expressed permission, but there is a reason why time travel has not been invented even in the 31st century.

    They did conclude that my power is not technological. As they are men of science, they don''t want to say it is magical or spiritual. They eventually decided that it is just another mystery of the universe like dark matter and dark energy.

    "It is not that easy, Mr. Washer. With the distortion in ce, it is very difficult to navigate through the timeline and lock onto a certain instant in time."

    I point out.

    "Oh. Okay. This might take a while, Lord Maxwell, so you might have something else better to do than to watch over us. We will do our best to give you a satisfying answer."

    I suppose he is right. I do have better things to do. I have a multi-millions dorpany to run and a lot of people to crush in the future.

    How did Henry do all of that and still have time for his family?

    I already know the answer to that.

    I didn''t attend the funeral of one Marian Oxford but I did send my condolences in form of an expensive bouquet.

    If I didn''t send my condolence, Hydra and Shield might think that they should be getting ready to take down Henry and his family.

    No one from Hydra attended the funeral on the ount I did have her killed. Only the higher ups from Shield did, but they are long time friends with Henry.

    They wouldn''t dare if I am actually at odd with Henry.

    "Keep me updated, Mr. Washer. Bring in more hands if you have to. Also, find out of this phenomenon is happening elsewhere."

    It takes a full day for Hammond to report back to me with his findings.

    The first line on the report confirms my fear.

    It is not an isted incident.

    More than a dozens temporal distortions are located throughout the United States.

    They''re all started on that particr Monday around 8am.

    Hundreds of Shield personnel and vehicles are scrambled to those locations, getting the handle on the whole situation.

    Luckily, the temporal distortions there are not as severe as the one in the apartment.

    News all around the globes tells me that it is not restricted to the United States either. Missing reports are found in China, India, and Japan. People just vanishes without a trace.

    Hydra has sends teams flying across the globe with temporal detectors to secure those sites. I cannot allow this to spread and cause mass hysteria.

    It seems like Marian has forced me to open the Pandora''s box.

    The timeline is destabilizing.

    Even jumping to the past will not prevent this from happening.

    And the future shows me a world full of temporal rifts.

    The rifts are tearing the apart, scattering people through time and space.

    "Call Mr. Jobs and Mr. Gate that I will have to reschedule my meeting with them tomorrow. Something very important hase up. I will be away for a week, maybe longer. Just follow the schedule I have nned.

    Everyone should know what they have to do."

    I left several more messages before bringing Antigone to massive Shield Headquarter in orbit.

    My daughter is much safer there than on Earth.

    If I cannot stop a temporal rift from forming, the headquarter will propel itself away from the along with some of the brightest minds of the human race.

    It is built like a generation ship to ensure that humanity will never be able to destroy themselves.

    The only way to do that is spread humanity amongst the stars and across to the infinite universe.

    Unfortunately, the universe cannot protect humanity from the destruction of the timeline.

 Chapter 46: Temporal Rifts

    In geosynchronous orbit around the, Shield Headquarter slowly rotates.

    The constant rotation induces artificial gravity into the massive structure via centrifugal force, allowing the people living inside to move about more naturally.

    This is the best we can do since artificial gravity hasn''t been invented yet, not even in the 31st century.

    If humanity just have another thousand years of peace and prosperity, they will probably master the power of gravity and construct a true interster ship ¨C maybe even an intergctic ship.

    We are really good at building things when we put our collective mind into it.

    Humanity would be able to spread out amongst the stars, preventing the cmity that leads towards their extinction.

    Sadly, with great powerse great destructions.

    I can attest to this. I do not know how exactly, but I am likely responsible for the impending destruction of the timeline.

    There is no other exnation that I can think of.

    "Please don''t cry, Anti. Daddy will not be gone for very long. Be a good girl and stay here and y with all your new friends."

    I tell my daughter when she refuses to let go of my hands. Her fingers wrap themselves tightly around my index finger, struggling not to let it slip away.

    This is the first time Antigone is like this. It is as if she knows something bad will happen.

    Antigone is currently in the nursery, where countless children are being taken care of. They are mostly born from a Shield or Hydra couple. The other children are brought into the headquarter from all over the world, from all manner of countries and races.

    Gic diversity is required for a healthy growing poption on a new. This is one of the many contingency ns I have to ensure the survival of the human race.

    Why go so far for humankind? Well, I am human for all my faults and ambitions. When ites down to it, I am as human as any others on the.

    There are several stars system capable of sustaining life, as observed by countless astrologers in ages passed and toe.

    This is all I have to go on since I cannot teleport to thoses. They are too far out of my range.

    It is also hard to pinpoint thoses through sights alone. I have to be there in person to know the actual spatial coordinate.

    However, it will takes centuries for the generation ship to reach there. I hope the ship won''t have to beunch. Contingency n is a contingency n after all.

    I will do everything in my power to stop the destruction of the. It is my wishes that Earth is and always will be the cradle of humanity.

    After giving a kiss to Antigone, I teleported away, returning to Earth. I materialize in a Hydra base. It is the one that underneath Antis.

    "I have released everything I know on temporal research into the Hydra Network. From now on, every scientists on base will dedicate their every waking minute into the research. I want a working theory within a month time. That is when the entire world will go to shit."

    I order. All other ns are on halt as I need them to work on a way to stop the temporal rift. They are far more destructive than any weapons I have ever seen.

    Once I gave my order, I jump ahead to the future to where Hydra Headquarter is flooded. The temporal rift has destroy much of the base along with the rest of the, killing quite a lot of people.

    With the fusion reactor undergoing irreversible meltdown, I head to the central core and copy all the temporal research data. With the data crystal in my hand, I jump back to the past to integrate the new information into Hydra Network before making my announcement.

    "I have released everything I know on temporal research into the Hydra Network. From now on, every scientists on base will dedicate their every waking minute into the research. I want a working theory within a month time. That is when the entire world will go to shit."

    Once that is done, I jump ahead to the future once more to steal the updated data. This speeds up the research thousands of times over.

    And by the 35th loops, Hydra finally have something tangible.

    "It appears that time is like space, constantly expanding as the universe expands. There are just more of time as time passes ¨C if you know what I mean."

    Hammond gives the lecture.

    He has be an expert on time and anything rted to time. He finally admits that he was so wrong in his first assumption. The time distortion does expand and be less intense, but its overall energy ¨C temporal energy ¨C increases exponentially.

    Once it reaches a critical point, an unstable temporal rift will form.

    Unstable temporal rifts are like ck holes.

    They won''t suck everything into them like what a ck hole does. They will simply scatter everythinging in contact with them throughout all of time and space, bit by bit, atom by atom.

    The people will have their cells scatter over a span of billions of year. Yeah, that means they are dead the moment a temporal rift touches them.

    Hammond shows a machine blueprint on the hologram for everyone to see.

    "This is a temporal disruptor, courtesy of your truly. It can disrupt the flow of time, causing distortion in time and space. It can also do the reverse, focusing the scattered temporal energy to a single point in space."

    "Wouldn''t that create a temporal rift?"

    One of the scientists asks.

    I am also curious. If temporary rift are so dangerous, why create one in the first ce.

    "Precisely. That is what we are intend to do, creating a temporal rift that is. A wild one is dangerous, but a tamed one will be our bitch. Who is with me?"

    A huge amount of uproars ur. Some scientists call for Hammond to be hanged. Others like the idea, wishing to see what a temporal rift can do. Most are in it for the fun of it.

    "Shut up!"

    I shouts, but no one heard me. The noise died down when half of the room turns to ashes with a snap of my finger.

    Seeing their colleagues get instantly dusted shut up their mouth. I return everyone to normal after a couple of seconds of silence. Those who get snapped and blip back into existence sweats profusely. It is incredible painful even if it onlysted a fraction of a second.

    "There is more to this, isn''t it Mr. Washer?"

    I question.

    "Yes, of course, Lord Maxwell. I have a theory that these temporal rifts are not really connected to our own time and space, but to another time and space. Perhaps to an alternate universe with a differentw of physics and the like. If we somehow stable a rift, wouldn''t that give us a gateway into another world?"

    Now that is something I want to see. Unstable temporal rifts will destroy the world if left alone, but a stable rift might set the world free.

    We can spread humanity not only across the universe, but across time and space itself.

    I always look for another mean to ensure the survival of humanity.

    "Alright. I vote for creating a rift. If he fucks up, we will be back here again."

    My vote is the only one that matters. In the end, the temporal disruptor is built and assemble at the apartment.

    The sensation I feel when I am there is temporal energies ravaging my body.

    I learn to absorb a little of the energy, giving me greater control of my power. However, absorbing too much overloads me, causing me to swell up and threatening to explode.

    Luckily I manage not too. At least I figure out my limit.

    I wonder where this temporal energiese from. If it was from in my anger, it shouldn''t be this much or could it? No, I didn''t think I was that powerful.

    Once the temporal disruptor goes online, all the temporal energies got suck into a single point.

    I feel like I was being drained as well. This machine might be my weakness. I will have to lock down its knowledge to prevent it being used against me.

    Tear in space and time begins to form within seconds, expanding to create a temporal rift.

    It ripples repeatedly, but otherwise stabilizing. It didn''t attempt to spread out and consume everything it touches.

    Everyone gasps at the newly formed rift. They are not looking at the rift itself, but what lies beyond it ¨C a world in ruin.

    "Detecting massive amount of radiation, Mr. Maxwell."

    Someone calls out when I stand in front of the rift. It is big enough for a car to pass through.

    I cock around to see the person before my arm got vaporized by an energy st thates from the other side of the temporal rift. I am too stunned to even feel the pain.

    The wound is also cauterized immediately.

    Gripping my painful stump, I back away from the rift immediately before what appear to be a homeless person jumps through and enter our world. He is tackled onto the floor immediately.

    "Run! Run! The Nazi bastard ising!"

    The homeless person screams. He is being chase by a man in heavy armour, armed with a submachine gun. It is unlike any submachine gun anyone have ever seen.

    Before the gunman could utter a word, his armour and squish body within is riddle with holes bysers and bullets from all Hydra personnel.

    "I guess we will have another meeting now. Shut this damn thing down!"

    I order as my arm return to normal.

 Chapter 47: Nazi Germany

    The meeting is conducted in a makeshift barrack, erected adjacent to the apartment.

    The surrounding area is devoid of people as well as animals. Everyone have been evacuated thanks to Shield and its associates.

    Some reporters and frencers attempt to ignore the warnings.

    They have been dealt with appropriately.

    Shield did not kill them since they have a much bigger problem to worry about, but those transgressors will be thinking very hard about their life choices for a long time in a dark jail cell somewhere.

    They will be let out eventually.

    It is very easy to p several national security vitions on them.

    Shield do have some good friends in the FBI and the CIA as well as the military.

    The military will be an overkill. Local policemen and Shield Security personnel is enough for now.

    This is Hollywood. Having tanks roaming the streets will cause mass panic.

    It is also difficult to exin to the United States government why Shield can order the military around with impunity. They will be questioning how much of their government have beenpromised?

    Even I don''t know the answer to that.

    This is what happen when I have some very capable people and machine intelligence working for me and the cause.

    They did all the hard lifting so I don''t have to.

    Sitting at the head of a long table filled with people, I clench and open my palm experimentally, feeling the phantom pain.

    Whatever hit me has enough firepower to vaporize my arm instantly. Anything less of a high intensityser beam or a sma st shouldn''t have done the job.

    My durability is at inhuman level after all of these years. My biology should be in perfect sync with the nanomachines in my bloodstream.

    Not superhuman yet, but it is getting there eventually.

    I am not invincible. Sufficient firepower will take me down.

    Weapons of the 31st century are deployed to kill things that are a lot more tougher than me.

    Therefore, the question remains ¨C how the fuck did the Nazi gets their greedy hand on such a weapon?

    Their gun is on par with a sma shotgun. Even Hydra didn''t have sma-based weaponry yet.

    I will have to release the technical information on that soon.

    Hydra weapon research and development division will have answers once they finish dismantling the submachine gun.

    It is the same gun that was used to destroy my arm before my brain even realize what had happened.

    "How is our new friend?"

    I question. I wasn''t talking about the homeless person. I was talking about the Nazi soldier.

    A little bit of time reversal and Hydra will have a person to torture over and over again.

    "His pain tolerance is impressive, but our interrogation methods does get the job done, Mr. Maxwell."

    I narrow my eyes at the interrogator along with several Hydra Generals. The gesture means get to the damn point already. We are wasting valuable time.

    "Ahem. We cross check the information with our homeless buddy. The world on the other side of the rift is in the state of turmoil. The year is 1985 ¨C about 5 years behind us. America and much of Europe have been utterly devastated in the Second World War, which begins at the end of 1945."

    The man pauses for the information to sink in.

    "We do not know exactly what happen, but Nazi Germany postponed their n to invade Pnd for a few years unlike in our time. This might have something to do with a meteor strike that had impacted Berlin around 1935. Our Nazi friend keeps mentioning that in his delirium so I thought it is important somewhat. So, the events that leads to the current state of the world are as follows..."

    I listen to the debriefing. Like most of the people in the barrack, I could not hide my surprise.

    Germany manages to sessfully invade and upy most of the Soviet Union after Pnd. It is before deploying atomic weapons against the United States and the rest of Europe.

    United States retaliates with its nuclear arsenals, but that is when the strangest thing happened.

    Almost all nuclear strikes against Nazi Germany impacts against a seemingly invincible energy shield.

    Some parts of Germany did turn into fiery hell, but most of the country remains rtively intact thanks to their new defensive technology. This includes their military instations and production facilities to keep the war efforts going.

    Once shield technology is utilized on tanks, ships and nes, the war is effectively over. No projectiles such as bullets or shells is able to prate the shield, giving the Nazi a decisive victory.

    This is not to mention their advancement in weaponry. Their gun can turn tanks into smouldering heap with just a few shots.

    It is standard issue for infantry. Bigger guns on theirnd and naval units are deadlier.

    With such overwhelming technology gap, Nazi Germany basically steamrolled the world.

    Once both United States and Europe falls into disarray, Nazi Germany quickly turns its attention to its former allies.

    Nuclear weapons are being used almost day and night across the world, destroying cities over and over again.

    It is mass genocide.

    "Fucking Nazis!"

    One of the generals roars. He is pissed like most of Hydra military leaders. On the opposite side of the table, the scientific leaders remain calmed and collected.

    "We should do something about this! Destroy them! Wipe the scums off the face of the Earth!"

    "Must we? It is not really our world. Is it really our responsibility?"

    "The fuck you mean by that?"

    "Our responsibilities is to the human race. Hydra exists for that reason. These fucking Nazis are killing millions each day. And from what I have heard, they are piging what remains of America! Our fucking America!"

    "Not our America, but I see your point. I agree with General Thomas. We should do something about them."

    "This is just one of many alternate realities. We don''t have the strength to correct each one. We should only be concern about this reality."

    "You fucking bookworms! Your inaction will doom millions!"

    "What you mean will? The war has been over for a long time. This is just purely extermination."

    "These bookworms are what equips you dogs! Without us, you wouldn''t have your fancy toys!"

    "Calm down. I suggest we think this through and through. We might not have sufficient strength to defeat Nazi Germany in an all out war considering what we know of their technology. Should we send some infiltrators to learn about thendscape?"

    "A fusion bomb up their ass will get the job done. Let''s see how their shield defends against a gigaton warhead! If one doesn''t work, how about a hundred?"

    "Isn''t that overkill? What about the fallout? We do not destroy the entire world just to save it."

    "You goddamn moron. Not everyone in Germany is part of the Nazi! In fact, most Germans don''t even like the Nazi. We just need to take out Hitler and the chain ofmand. An Assault Team is enough. Someone call S.W.O.R.D!"

    "No, call in S.P.E.A.R instead. They are more than sufficient. It will also demonstrate our technology is far more superior!"

    The discussion eventually devolve into insults. There is a reason why science and military should never be mixed.

    It only gives me headache.

    Although I do understand some points put forth, I am still incline to simply close the temporal rift and move on. Like one the scientists have said a moment ago, it isn''t really our responsibility.

    Our reality is just one in the countless of realities that exist, so we cannot really depleting our forces and expending our resources on another''s world problem.

    I m my hand on the table, forcing everyone to be silenced. I look at the man who just entered the barrack.

    "Yes, Alex. What do you have for us?

    I request.

    "Supreme Commander. This damn thing is breaking thew of physic!"

    Alex drops the dismantled Nazi weapon onto the table before everyone.

    He also ce a jar with glowing blue liquid onto the table.

    "We extracted the power source. It is unlike anything we have ever seen before. The damn thing alters the fundamental nature of the universe! What did the bastard Nazi call it?"

    Alex is looking at the interrogator.

    The man coughs when all eyes are on him. He shouldn''t have keep important information, but he still couldn''t get his head around it.

    "He calls it Liquid Mana."

    The meeting bes noisy once more.

    This time the science side takes the lead.

 Chapter 48: Magic Application

    The argument about whether magic can exist dies the moment Alex demonstrates the magic.

    He takes a small paintbrush and paints a strange symbol onto the front of a bullet. This same bullet is then loaded very carefully into a handgun before firing at the ground in front of him.

    The gunshot forces everyone to pull out their personal firearm, but what remains of the ground makes them all speechless.

    The moment the bullet impacts the earth, a chunk of the ground is vaporized. A semi-spherical hole is what remained.

    There is no sound or explosion.

    The ground is simply gone ¨C annihted.

    I slow down my perception of time to see exactly what had happened.

    When the front of the bullet pressed against the hard dirt, the symbol glows brightly. Powerful energy radiates from the symbol, forming a ck sphere. The sphere shaves away the ground and vanishes.

    All of this happens within a fraction of a microsecond. To the outside observer, the earth just vanishes shortly after the gunshot.

    "Please demonstrate it again, Mr. Mercer. This time, someone please record the action so our esteem scientists can exin to us why magic couldn''t possibly exists."

    I am open-minded despite being somewhat of a scientist myself. There are still many things out there in the universe that science cannot exined yet.

    Although science will have a usible exnation for them eventually, I still want to believe that God works in mysterious way.

    Oh, I am not religious. I am not an atheist either.

    I just believe there is a higher being. That being is to me for everything shitty happens in my life.

    The being is probably the one who has granted me my power, so it bnces out.

    Hydra scientists are speechless after viewing the recorded video at a slowest yback speed.

    Within a fraction of a second, a ck hole is magically formed and dissipated. It absorbs the mass from the ground, crushing the dirt and grass into a singrity before fading away.

    "Where did the energy go?"

    One of the scientists asks, referring to Einstein theory of mass-energy equivalence.

    The man theorises that mass must have been converted into energy by the ck hole. This energy will be released since energy cannot be created or destroyed ¨C only is transformed.

    While the Hydra scientists are debating and exchanging their theories, the military side of Hydra sees things more practically.

    "If this is just an application of magic aiding their technology, I assumes that their technology is not at the level that we have given them credit for."

    Thomas points out.

    He also makes ament about how primitive the submachine looks. The evolution of gun design has make the model obsolete even by 1990s standard.

    Its bullet capacity as well as rate of fire cannotpare to the 21st century firearms let alone the 25th century ¨C this is the current level of Hydra technology.

    I agree with his assessment as I scrutinize the glowing blue liquid in a vial.

    The discovery of magic regardless of how unfathomable that might have sounded has allowed Nazi Germany to bypass some of the technical aspects in their scientific progress.

    Their seemingly endless supply of nuclear weapons is also likely have something to do with the utilization of magic.

    If magic can create ck hole effortless, splitting the atoms shouldn''t be too difficult.

    As long as they have the technical knowledge and the right theory, they just needed to make it work somehow.

    There is probably a spell symbol or some sort of rune that when activated tells the uranium atoms to split and release all the thermal nuclear energy and radiation.

    Is it that simple though?

    Say fire and there shall be fire. Sound magically ¨C it is magic.

    I suppose that this is the advent of Magic Tech ¨C Magitech?

    Let''s go with that for now.

    "It appears that there is a sufficient reason to go ahead with the operation, Supreme Commander. Whatever this substance is, we should utilize it for ourselves. It will helps us in our goal of securing our ce in the universe."

    I look at the man and simply smile.

    "You mean this, Mr. Whitaker?"

    I demonstrates by duplicating the vial containing liquid mana.

    On the table, one vial bes two, and two bes four. Within a minute, I have more than a thousand vial on the table.

    It is exponential growth.

    This is the power of temporal duplication.

    It doesn''t work for people who are still alive, however. One simply vanish when there are two of them in the same timeline.

    There might be something as a soul ¨C an indivisible substance. That means the Church is right. Clones do not have a soul.

    "It is not a good enough reason. As long as I have a sample, I can duplicate it as much times as I please without needing to send our men and resource to an alien world. Although, I am curious about how the symbol works. If the Nazi can figures it out, I am sure that we can also figure it out.

    Our scientists is more smarter than the Nazis once they stop wasting time and working together to solve a problem."

    Thest statement is directed at the scientists.

    They are really wasting time, trying to qualifying the science of magic. There is a reason it is called magic. It cannot be exined by science, so there is no need to waste brain cells on the matter.

    I should put a stop to that.

    "I don''t know about you, but I am a believer. I suggest forming a new group that dedicate themselves to the creation and advancement of magic. Let''s call this group by the code name Mystic. As for Nazi Germany, anyone else have a good reason why we should expend our forces and resources?"

    The men looks at each other, trying to think of a reason based on what they know of me. Eventually, one did speak up just for the heck of it.

    "How about it is the right thing to do, Supreme Commander."

    I stare at Alex. Despite his status as the head engineer, he didn''t bother taking a seat at the table. He likes to be an observer, watching everything unfolding before him.

    Everyone chuckles at his suggestions. They all know that I would let millions die if doing so justify the end. No one is above the cause.

    "Good enough."

    I response, making everyone to stare at me.

    "While we are at it, we should locate a certain person named Sandra Bullock. I have my eye on her, and I will not let time and space take her away from me."

    However, to mobilize all of Hydra on something like this is illogical.

    It is also not possible without alerting the entire world.

    A division of S.W.O.R.D with support is probably sufficient for the task. Since there is a chance of death ¨C permanent death ¨C the liberation operation is for volunteers only.

    Even so, thousands of Hydra personnel sign up to fight the Nazi and return freedom to America. Some did mention the world instead of America.

    There is a snag in the n, unfortunately.

    "I don''t think it is possible to send this many people, Lord Maxwell. Unless you are nning for a one way trip..."

    Hammond tells me.

    He didn''t shut down the temporal rift like I have told him to. It isn''t possible to do so once it have been stabilized. At least not without dire consequences.

    "We have been monitoring its energy level. Every time something solid go through the rift, its energy drops significantly. Even now, its energy level is diminishing. We have checked the number again and again, but we believe without a way to power the rift, it will eventually copses."

    In other words, I cannot send an army through the rift.

    And once they are on the other side, there is a chance they will never be able to return home.

    "You have all heard him. Still want to be a hero?"

    At my announcement, the volunteers drop to almost zero.

    No one wants to be stranded on another world ¨C especially ones fill with Nazi.

    Even if they manage to defeat the Nazi with limited support, it is still a long road of rebuilding.

    Everyone have spent the better part of thest four decades working their ass off to get Hydra to where it is today.

    To give all of that up as well as their family ¨C no one in their right mind would.

    "It isn''t really our responsibility, Supreme Commander."

 Chapter 49: Sandra Bullock

    It is well past midnight, yet the atmosphere remains hot and humid.

    The ambient temperature is kept constant by the intense background radiation.

    It was introduced by countless nuclear detonations across the former rising superpower known as the United States of America.

    This once glorious nation is called the Western Region by the world only superpower ¨C the victor and remaining country left intact after the devastating World War 2.

    Every other country on Earth is barely a shell of their former self. Once the radiation finally dissipates, theirnd will be cultivated and settled by the only race that truly matter ¨C the Aryan race.

    To Nazi Germany, the undesirable, especially the Jews will be exterminated or enved until their own children will not recall their existence.

    That is the n.

    And it is in motion with no one left to stop their genocidal ambition.

    The arid and smolderingndscape of North America reminds those who could remember what had happened no more than a single generation ago.

    Just within a span of a few days at the end of 1945, much of their country turns into burning ruin.

    Millions of people perished on that day ¨C the day when the sky rains ashes and fire.

    No warning or deration is given.

    Those that survived the destruction and the subsequent fallout struggle to live on in absolute horrors, not knowing when the bombs would fall once again, sending them into the afterlife.

    Some people wish they have died in the initial strike or the dozen of strikes that follows.

    This is because the real terror began a couple of yearster, when Germany finally invaded.

    Like Death himself reaping his wheat field of souls, nothing stands before the German war machines.

    The Nazis burn and destroy everything within their path.

    What little resistance the American people could muster turns out to be pointless and futile.

    And when all resistance is inevitably extinguished, the only thing left is hopelessness.

    It is the same hopelessness filling in her dark eyes as she is being dragged out of the barn to be washed down. Once she is sufficiently cleaned of dirt, muds and bodily fluids, she will be thrown back into the holding cell to join the other naked women.

    This is her life now.

    The life that Sandra once lived just a week ago feels like a beautiful dream.

    It would have been such a paradise to those who are born into this dested world.

    Sandra didn''t understand why or how she is here, in this hellish concentration camp run by rapists and murderers.

    Thest thing Sandra remembers before waking up to this nightmare is of her heading to the shower in her underwear to take a nice warm bath after a long day.

    She recalls faintly that she has fallen several feet straight down, screaming on reflex.

    It is as if the floor beneath her feet was no longer there. In fact, her room seems to fade away, letting her take in the view of a ruinedndscape.

    Sandra is knocked unconscious when she finally hits the ground, rolling into the rubbles.

    Luckily or unluckily, her apartment is on the lower level of the building or she would have died like so many people who have been spirited away.

    Many people, men and women, wakes up alongside with her in a holding cell. One of the gentlemen uses his coat to cover her up and stop the awkward staring.

    Sandra is a beautiful woman after all. She is about to be a movie star before being kidnapped and then imprisoned in a ce beyond her understanding.

    The people in the cell are as confused as Sandra, believing this to be a joke of sort, especially when a Nazi officer greets them and questions where they have alle from.

    The joke bes real when several people are executed in cold blood for avoiding the answer with demands to be let go immediately or they will call the police. The unannounced gunshot to the head, send them curling back and falling on the ground, motionlessly.

    Some woman screams at the sight only to be brutally beaten.

    Sandra manages to hold down her voice after seeing a young woman not much older than her expired from severe trauma to the head.

    Each person is then interrogated individually by armed men wearing ominous gas mask, covering their entire face.

    These men drag everyone away, one by one, never returning the people they have taken to the holding cell again.

    When it is finally her turn, Sandra realizes what had happened to people who went before her.

    As she heads towards one of the interrogation room with armed men in tows, she saw rows and rows of people string upside down by their legs with their throat slits.

    This includes woman and children.

    Some are still alive, gurgling theirst breath.

    Their blood collectively pools into a contraption and glows very eerily.

    Sandra manages to not suffer the same fate because of her Germanic descent on her mother side.

    However, the mixed blood makes her less than desirable for reeducation.

    She will have to serve the mothend of Germany in another way. And to demonstrate the point, the interrogator ties her to the table and proceed to rape her right there and then in front of all his men whileughing.

    She screams and fights, but that only turns the man on.

    He expresses it very physically.

    Once Sandra is beaten and bruised and bleeding, his men take their turn with her abuse,ughing all the way through while she screams and begs for them to stop.

    The first few days is horrible as everyone have their turn, either alone or together.

    It is only when a new group of people are captured that Sandra manages to have some breathing room and recollects herself from her broken state. She recognizes some of the new people as they are her friends and neighbors in the apartment.

    The lovely seventeen years old Chinese girl living in the apartment across from her bes the next favorite girl. She dies after a few days of extreme prations.

    One of the men idently fire his weapon inside her anus.

    Her mangled corpse is hung along with the rest of her family of five.

    Their bloods constantly pool into the ominous machine, pulsating with energy. A strange bloodstone is harvested once every morning.

    Another girl, older reces that Chinese girl, allowing Sandra to live a little longer.

    Even so, every night, Sandra is dragged off into a barn by a bunch of soldiers with the intent to brutally gangrape her just like a moment ago.

    Sometimes, they would rape her until morning.

    This time, however, it didn''tst for more than a couple of hours.

    The soldiers have be rather bored of her since she has lost her defiance attitude. It will not be long until they string her up and slit her throat like so many others.

    She wees it since it would release her from this nightmare.

    Sandra drags herself to the corner of the room as both of her legs have stopped working days ago. The pain is still there, but it is no longer excruciating.

    In the corner of the barn with dozens of soulless women, she tries to cry herself to sleep.

    There are no tears left in her broken body with countlessceration all over it. With broken legs and a useless arm, she is more of a corpse than a living person.

    Sandra has prayed every night someone toe and save her from this nightmare.

    No one did regardless how much she begs to God.

    The person who was nice to her have been yed alive for being Jewish. His body are sectioned and thrown into the ditch for the bloodthirsty hounds.

    She will not pray tonight. And she didn''t recall when she has fallen asleep.

    Being drags across the bloody ground wakes her up. She stares at the erected pole as her legs is bound tightly. She is string up until her eyes meet the interrogator''s.

    In his hand is a knife with strange symbols glowing along the de.

    "You will serve the mothend in one way or another, mixed blood."

    The interrogator runs the edge along her once beautiful face, drawing blood. Despite being familiar to pain in this past week, she couldn''t stop screaming.

    For the first time in days, Sandra can cry. She would have begged, but it would not go anywhere just like countless times before.

    All Sandra wishes right now is for the man in front of her to die. She res at him, cursing him with all her remaining strength as he is about to slit her throat and let her life essence and spirit to condense into a bloodstone.

    "Ahhhhhhh!"

    The interrogator screams as his body ages rapidly. He drops his weapons and look at his arms before crumpling into dusts.

    Sandra blinks as everyone one around her screams in terror.

    Their body erupts into mist, scattering in the winds.

    Several soldiers shout from on top of the watch out towers as the strange phenomenon is happening everywhere in the concentration camps, but aser de pierced through their armor from the back right through the front.

    Their body split in half before the de bes invisible again. The unseen assassin leaps down the towers and proceeds to ughter everyone that didn''t turn to dust.

    "Hello Miss Bullock."

    A familiar voice calls out to her.

    Where have she heard it from? It feels like a lifetime ago.

    Sandra tries to see who, but the morning lights masks his face on his approach.

    Several soldiers nearby try to fire their magic augmented machine gun at him, but their weapon rusts and crumples into metallic powder before they too explode into fine particles.

    "I would have said the Calvary have arrived, but you look like you have been through hell."

 Chapter 50: The Rescue

    "Max... Mr. Maxwell."

    Sandra Bullock passes out shortly after uttering my name.

    From the small expression on her face, she is more than d to see me.

    I can''t me her after everything she has to go through in these past few days.

    It is literally hell from all the wounds andcerations on her naked body, not to mention the numerous corpses being string up and have their bloods drained into a contraption.

    I wonder what is the point of that.

    It didn''t feel like an unusual form of torture, but who knows.

    People would die too quickly when their throat is slit and their blood is drained, especially when they are hung upside down.

    I will have some men checks out the reasonter as well as the contraction. There is something very, very ominous about its construction.

    Although it is not my intention to put Sandra Bullock through such a physical and mental trauma, I am not unrted in the matter, so I should take some responsibilities.

    How annoying.

    I have Sandra unbound and resting on a portable bed. I will take her back to our reality soon enough.

    A little bit of time reversal on her body should fixes her right up.

    I left her mind alone, however.

    This is because I have some things to talk to her about before I remove the awful memories from her mind.

    Sandra Bullock will not remember her time and experience here in this alternate reality, where Nazi Germany have practically dominated the world.

    It is probably for the better, but I will allow her to have a choice.

    Hydra Assault Squad from S.W.O.R.D division executes everyone who is armed or looks like a Nazi or generally German.

    Thest one is obviously a joke.

    They are highly trained killers.

    With their stealth technology, the Nazi soldiers are diced up before they know what hits them.

    Just like the namesake of their division, those Hydra agents really loves to get close and personal with their lightsaber.

    It is actually called aser de, but who is really keep tracks huh?

    Once Hydra assault team make sure that all the hostiles are dead, they deactivate their cloaking device and join me along with a group of scientists and engineers.

    Like them, everyone is wearing environmentalbat power armour.

    It shields them from the hazardous atmosphere and deadly radiation. It also protects them from bullet and the likes.

    Magical bullets can still punch holes through the power armour, however.

    The research team is still figuring out ways to stop that from happening, but they are all newbie at this magical stuffs. They only learn of it like half a day ago.

    Their scientific mind refuses to ept thew-breaking nature of magic.

    Therefore a new division with open minded people is required.

    Mystic is recently founded. It has exactly one member ¨C Alex Mercer.

    He likes to explore new territory, and learning about magic seems to be exotic enough.

    Also, don''t ask about the name. It is all a coincidence.

    Giving the current progress on magic, the best way to not get killed is to not get hit.

    That is where the stealthe in. It does drain a lot of power and causes overheating, however. When too much heat is built up, the user will be visible on infrared scanner.

    A total of 36 people stand around me.

    These are the people who follow me through temporal rift.

    More than enough for what I have in mind.

    The temporal rift will have enough energy to allow them to return home before copsing, preventing us from essing this alternate reality again ¨C at least until I figure out how to travel from one timeline to another.

    No idea about that yet.

    My power isn''t exactly science.

    "Alright. Let''s get to it then. Set up the fabricator here and start producing some spy satellites. I want eyes in orbits, looking directly at Hitler as he takes a shit. After that, I want automated batteries and turrets around the perimeter, turning this ce into a fortress. Have them shoot down anything that is remotely German."

    The men got to work immediately.

    The fabricator in question is a glorified 3D printer.

    As long as blueprints exist within its memory bank, the fabricator can print out all the necessary parts and then assemble those parts into a working product.

    This is how manufacturing works in the future. It is still being used right up to the 31st century when new manufacturing procedures are avable.

    Nanotechnology does rece the process since everything can be build in open space instead of being constricted to a staging ground.

    However, Hydra technology isn''t there yet.

    I don''t think I should release nanotechnology just yet.

    Just a single mistake and the world will have a technological virus. Not to mention the emergence of an artificial intelligence.

    Sk will have to wait its turn.

    Nazi Germany has gotten here first.

    The only downside to the fabricator is the elemental-fuels it requires to fabricate.

    Nanotechnology can rip apart anything within its range to use as raw materials, but fabricator needs special tank filled with natural elements like hydrogen, oxygen, iron and so on.

    The fabricator will assemble these elements into necessary molecules beforetticing them together to form the necessary parts andponents.

    It is a veryplicated process, but anything can be built ¨C fabricated ¨C in a fabricator, even a human body.

    Organs are fabricated rather than grown in a tank. Fabricate is just faster.

    A fabricator can be used to fabricate clones as well, but there is a dedicated machine for that. Cloning machine has already been released into Hydra Network. There will be a working prototype within this year or the next.

    That is when Antis enters the world stage.

    Hydra didn''t need to bring more than one of each elemental-fuel tank through the temporal rift thanks to my duplication power.

    I have no clue what happened when I steal stuffs from the past, bringing them into the present.

    As far as I know, it doesn''t affect the present in anyway, so I assume that stealing from the past either create an alternate timeline or stuffs just magically created topensate for the paradox.

    Thetter is more likely since creating timeline means I am basically creating new universes.

    That is God territory.

    Anyway, Hydra takes about an hour to have the first spy satellite built. It is promptlyunched into the orbit around the.

    After it did, it begins to navigate over to Germany and starts scanning and probing. It needs to map all the new geography due to constant nuclear bombardments as well as troops movement.

    Armed with dualser batteries, the satellite is able to take out any Nazi satellites or space stations in orbit. There might be people on those satellites or stations, but this is war.

    There are casualties in war.

    By the time the first satellite gathers any useful information on Germany and its military instations, a dozen more satellites are encircling the.

    Orbital superiority is only a matter of time.

    As for the prisoners in the concentration camp, their mind is somewhat gone.

    Although I can restore their mind and their life, they are insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

    If my n works as intended, apletely new timeline will rece this current dested one. Their counterpart in that timeline will not remember what they have been through.

    That said, I did locate those that went missing from our prime timeline. Their bodies are found all over thanks to Nazi interrogators. Some are in ditches. Some are hanged. Some have been partially eaten by bloody hounds.

    Those dogs are ughter when Hydra stomps the base.

    "Thank you, Mr. Maxwell."

    Shield Security personnel thanks me when I brought them back to life. I was unable to bring them back by creating a bubble into the past like I did with Antis.

    Something to do with their soul being no longer a part of the prime universe.

    In truth, things that I don''t understand about my power, I will just me it on the soul for now. From everything I have been through, I do believe a soul does exist.

    It might not be whatever the Church is telling me though.

    "Do you wish to retain what you have experienced? It will makes you stronger if you do as hardships and experiences strengthen a person. If you want to keep it, please follow him and return to our time and space. You have been gone for about 2 days. Your family is worried sick about you."

    I tell the Shield personnel. Some choose to have their memory erased since the horrors will probably keep them at night. Others decide to deal with it in their own way.

    As for the handful of people that got thrown into this alternate reality for being at a wrong ce at a wrong time, they have no choice in the matter.

    I must erase their mind when they are returned home to the prime universe.

    Their countless questions and bewilderment are not answered.

    They are forced to move along towards the temporal rift by armoured men with big guns.

    With Sandra Bullock in my arms bridal style, I teleport directly to the temporal rift and step through it after everyone else did.

    Its temporal energies drop sharply before stabilizing once more.

    Once Hammond confirms that everything is okay, I teleport to the penthouse in Oxford Hotel.

    I let Sandra down onto the bed before speaking up.

    "Did you enjoy the trip, Miss Bullock? I know that you are awake the whole time."

 Chapter 51: Blissful Night

    Sandra Bullock opens her eyes slowly and stares at the ceiling above.

    Warm electric lighting streams down her face and washes over her nakedness in response.

    It is far more gentler than the indifferent winds from another world.

    Even if her body has been healedpletely thanks to my power, her mind has not ¨C yet.

    Sandra remembers every little details of what she has suffered in days passed.

    Every sh, cut and whip pierces into her memory.

    Just recalling them cause her mind to break down a little bit more.

    A normal person from this time and space would have been driven insane or on the verge of insanity.

    They have taken theirfort and luxury for granted.

    "Who are you really, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Sandra asks softly once her eyes met mine.

    The unrelenting darkness within those once beautiful eyes could be seen.

    "Would you believe me if I say that I am from the future?"

    My lips forms a small smile.

    There is no need to lie to her since she will either not remember or be a part of my harem.

    I prefer thetter as it allows me to share things with her more freely.

    It is also bing difficult to keep track of what everyone knows and does not know, especially when you literally have several thousands of people working for you.

    Jennifer Aniston doesn''t know what I can do yet, but she will soon.

    I don''t really have time to terrorize her, so I will use a different mean.

    She also hasn''t done anything that warrant an extreme method. She is with her father right now in one of the medical centre owned by Infinite Health.

    "Yes."

    Sandra nods lightly and closes her eyes.

    For all she has seen and experienced, it is not hard to believe.

    While Sandra does not keep up to date with the current affairs and technology progresses in the world, she knows for a fact that men cannot turn invisible, people do note back from the dead, satellite cannot be built within a hour and duplicated in seconds, and much more important, it is impossible to heal her body without extensive medical care.

    Her body does not feels like it is her body anymore, as it has not gone through what she had.

    The pains she feels is still there, lingering deep in her mind, tormenting her.

    They are just not visibly shown on her body physically.

    Her mind and body are not in sync with one another, giving her this odd feeling of ghostly detachment.

    The feeling will pass, eventually.

    "I can make you forget, Miss Bullock. Everything that you have been through and experienced will just be gone like it is a bad dream. But the choice is entirely up to you. I believe that pains and sufferings strengthen a person and their resolve. They bes stronger and better than before. The bigger the obstacle, the greater you will be."

    I break the long silence.

    If it wasn''t for what I had gone through, I would constantly be in doubt and second guessing all of my actions.

    In truth, I did breakdown for a while and drown myself in my helplessness.

    However, I did pick myself up eventually and ovee my adversity to be who I am today.

    My mind is clear. My conscience does not question itself.

    Sandra opens her eyes again. The darkness within diminishes slightly. She will be able to get pass this seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

    "Is this what you do when you don''t want people to remember what you have done?"

    Sandra knows that I must have something to do with what had happened to her.

    How could I not when I appear just moments before she is killed in a world beyond her understanding?

    She is not a naive person, dreaming about knight in shiny armour,ing to her rescue.

    No, everything that have happened, happens for a reason.

    Nothing in the world is truly a coincidence.

    When a person miraculously appears to save you from what should be an impossible situation, it is far more than likely that the said person is the mastermind.

    Or at least, that person must have something to do with your suffering.

    I chuckle at her usation.

    "If you must know, Miss Bullock, there are things that people should not remember, and there are things they must remember before they are punished for their sins. I will not apologize for what had happened to you. I admit that it is somewhat my responsibility since I am the indirect cause, but do you me others for everything that happens in your life?

    Or do you find a way to solve your problem and move on?"

    Sandra takes a moment to think.

    Deep down, she knows that I am right.

    ming others is very easy, but it does not solve anything.

    "Like I have said, Miss Bullock. The choice is up to you. You can forget everything that had happened and continue on with your life. You will never have toe face to face with what is hidden beneath the world you live in. Ignorance is a gift, so enjoy it while you can."

    I continue with a smile.

    Sandra closes her eyes once more, fighting against the weariness as well as getting some rest.

    "What other choice do I have, Mr. Maxwell? You did not bring me here to wipe my mind. You could have done that back there alongside with everyone else. You want something from me, don''t you?"

    Sandra asks calmly.

    Even without looking at me and revealing her expression, she has grown a little as a person.

    Whether she has made up her mind about keeping her experience and oveing it on her willpower and spirit is still undecided.

    "Of course, I do, Miss Bullock. Everyone does for one thing or another. But like I have offered you so many days ago, I want you toe and work for me, as my exclusive actress. The offer is still stand, but do understand that my patience is not limitless."

    I pause.

    "You will find that there are great benefits and advantageous in working for me. What those are, I will tell you in due time. At least when the world change for the better and countries are the thing of the past, you will not be drowned in the metaphorical tsunami. You will be someone everyone can look up to and ce their trust in. Isn''t that what you are striving for?

    More than that, you will be a star, a celebrity and an idol ¨C all role into one."

    "And all I have to do is obey all your wishes and follow all yourmands, no matter what it is?"

    Sandra questions.

    She recalls what she had read in the contract. While she didn''t read itpletely, she read enough to know it will strip her a lot of her freedom in the future.

    Iugh and shake my head.

    "It doese off wrong at first nce. But no, I will not make you do things that I wouldn''t do myself, degrading or otherwise. I wouldn''t want my beautiful actresses soiling themselves. We should leave it at that, huh. Hmm... would you like to know your future?

    The future that will be if you choose to follow your own dream."

    Before Sandra could answer, I continue.

    "Let''s just say you will live alone and die alone. Your dream rtively unaplished. You do have a couple of children, but since you are infertile, they are not really your children. They are adopted. You have a couple of men in your life, but each one breaks your heart."

    Sandra is shocked.

    She stares at me as if I just kill her children.

    I sort of did since Sandra couldn''t have any.

    "I''m infertile?"

    "Yes, but you don''t have to be. I can bring people back to life, so this doesn''t really even take an effort on my part. This is just one of the many benefits I have told you about. Otherwise, you will have to wait until one of my manypanies decides to release a cure for your condition. But it is very unlikely on the ount of overpoption in about a few decades from now.

    We don''t want a third World War now, do we?"

    I allow her time for the information to sink in.

    "Please tell me more about my future, Mr. Maxwell."

    Sandra requests.

    "Well, it has changed now, whether for better or worse, I do not know without looking ahead. But this is what could have happen to you, Miss Bullock."

    I begin to recite all the information I have stashed in my repository of knowledge.

    It is about the future and life Sandra Bullock would have lived in another timeline.

    My presence have changed all of that, but there is some things that have already set in stone.

    Her infertility is one of those things.

    Her love life is another.

    Maybe the love life thing isn''t a certainty, but as long as Sandra bes a celebrity, a happy marriage and family is not a possibility.

    That rhythm!

    Rich people and their drama.

    Knowing what fate have in n for her brings her to tears.

    It is more painful that the physical trauma that she had to endure.

    Seeing that, I truly wonder what could have happened if Sandra got together with Keanu Reeves when they are filming for Speed back in the original timeline.

    Keanu is apassionate and loyal person, the same as Sandra.

    They would be perfect for each other.

    "That is your story, Miss Bullock. It doesn''t have to be that way. You could be so much more since you deserve so much more. Did you know that I have a crush on you when I was little? Thinking about it now, it is really embarrassing. There is no way someone like me could get together with a celebrity like you.

    Still, a person can dream, can''t he?"

    I chuckle. The memory feels like a lifetime ago.

    It must have been more than 300 years now.

    "Well, I will leave you be, Miss Bullock. You can stay here for as long as you need. There is no need for you worry about anything else. Just get a good rest."

    I get up from my spot on the edge of the bed.

    Before I could step away, her hand pull against my shirt.

    "I will sign the contract and do whatever you wish of me, but please... just stay with me for a little bit longer, Mr. Maxwell."

    Sandra requests.

    Her hand falls away from my clothing but her eyes remains in contact.

    I smile and sit back down on the edge of the bed.

    "I suppose I do have time to spare for you, Miss Bullock. If I don''t, I will make time. Those who have ced their trust and future in me are important. I will not let anything happen to them. If you have signed the contract, I would havee a lot sooner."

    "Please call me Sandra, Max."

    Sandra requests. She didn''t bother listening to the rest of what I have said.

    But it is true, if Sandra have signed the contract when I offered it more than a week ago, the moment something happened to her, I would have known.

    "Very well, Sandra. Will there be anything else, you need?"

    Sandra smile faintly.

    "You have not been with a lot of woman, have you?"

    I arch my brow at the question.

    What did she meant by that? I have been with plenty of woman. I even have a beautiful baby girl to prove it.

    "Do you still have a crush on me?"

    Sandra questions.

    From that, I understand what she meant immediately.

    I have not been romantically involved with anyone.

    Everyone is more or less a tool to me to control. It is generally better that way.

    I chuckle and lean forwards to give her a kiss. It is a gentle peck, but it brings the much desired pleasure to her.

    The kiss grows deeper, forcing me onto the bed, pressing my body against her nakedness.

    "Promise that you will never abandon me, Max. Just say what I want to hear, please."

    "I promise, Sandra."

    I give her my promise as well as another kiss, more passionate than before.

    With our lips lock tightly, exchanging saliva, we roll on the bed, legs tangle.

    My clothes turns to dust.

    It is a lot faster than undressing normally, one by one.

    Sandra straddles me with both hands against my chest for support.

    She looks down at me,pletely in control. She hasn''t been for a while.

    She run her nails along my features, pressing deep into my skin and navigating my bodily features.

    My hands grab her ass, holding her steady as my cock runs along herher region, letting the precum mixing with her wetness.

    "Please be gentle, Max."

    Sandra whispers as she lowers herself onto my steel shaft slowly, allowing it to spread her inside and drawling blood.

    The pain causes her to gasp.

    Alright, I might have re-virginize her body.

    Oops.

 Chapter 52: Lemony Filler

    It has been a while.

    When was thest time I get to enjoy the blissful sins of the flesh?

    Must have been years ¨C rtively speaking of course. Only like two months have actually passed.

    With handfuls of her bountiful ass, I help Sandra bounces on my steel rod, impaling herself and letting me bottoming out inside her again and again.

    It feels quite pleasant as her tightness and wetness stroke along the length of my meat, from base to tip, in an attempt to milk me.

    And she is seeding.

    My balls are contracting, requesting for a blissful release after such a long, long time.

    Perhaps I should have sex more often to prevent such a quick release like this.

    There are countless of beautiful woman all around me, yet I am too oblivious to the fact. I do see them as assets and tools instead of people after all.

    "Oh... ah... ah..."

    Sandra gasps, enjoying the pleasurable sensation once the pains finally go away.

    She didn''t know why, but it feels just like the first time she has had sex. She was so inexperienced and scared back then.

    Now, things have changed. She is more experienced ¨C a lot more.

    Her hands have found themselves onto my shoulders for much needed support. She lifts off and then ms back down, meeting my hips in an almost graceful manner.

    My cock is forcefully sheathed inside of her, extracting a satisfying groan from my throat.

    Her lower muscles tense, squeezing my hardened cock for just a fraction of second, bringing me almost to the climax.

    However, she did not let me climax.

    Instead, her muscles rxes just before the flood gate opens.

    Sandra lifts off again and repeat the motion, expertly.

    "Oh God, Sandra. Where have you been all my life?"

    I grunts as my eyes is lost inside hers.

    My hips buckles hypnotically, reciprocating her bouncing motion like a lost puppy.

    She is currently dominating me, and I am allowing her.

    In this very moment, I am but a ve to her whims.

    I didn''t mind, actually.

    In bed, anything goes.

    Her hands soon wrap around my neck, pulling me into her soft ¨C very soft ¨C embrace while she grinds against me, letting me cock kisses every inches of her inside, maddeningly.

    "Max. Suck me."

    Sandramands.

    I obey, sucking her tits, taking her erected nipple into my mouth and nibbling on it. My action causes her to arch her head back, moaning.

    One of her hands ruffle my hair and press my face against her bosoms, forcing me to do my job.

    I did not protest one bit.

    Our hips are glued for minutes on end, humping away.

    Before my pulsating cock could erupt like an active volcano, filling her inside with my hot steamy cum, Sandra breaks away, freeing me and letting me breathe.

    Sandra then resumes bouncing, ever so slowly as if she is teasing me.

    She is fucking teasing me!

    Despite her virgin body, Sandra is very good at what she does, bringing me to the edge of climax with very little effort.

    And it didn''t take long for me to grab her waist tightly and hammer home, repeatedly.

    Sandra is like a ragdoll, bouncing on my stiffening cock as I try to reach that explosive climax.

    I really need to release.

    Her juices coat my length, allowing for a smooth entries and retreats.

    "Max... slow down. Ugh...oh... ah... Max... ah...

    ahhh...!"

    Despite her pleading, my energetic thrusts continue to earn gasps and moans.

    Before long, Sandra is on her back with her legs spread wide.

    My cock pounds her wet cunt from above with reckless abandonment.

    Her legs soon wraps around my waist, urging me to go faster and deeper.

    Iply with her request, jackhammering away violently, bringing her and myself to orgasm.

    The only sounds in the room are our skins pping against each other alongside with our moaning and grunting.

    When it is almost time, her body shivers in blissful delight as her juices erupt from deep within, coating my shaft entirely.

    After few more deep plunges, I let out a groan as my cock sinks into her wet depthpletely.

    Our hips press tightly against each other as I spill myself inside of her.

    Her legs stiffen and her toes curl when hot steamy baby batter floods her entire inside.

    My balls contract, pumping out everything store within. There is absolutely no restrain.

    Neither of us worried about the consequences since we both are infertile ¨C for a different reason.

    Minutester, I slowly pull back, letting my semi-cock retreats halfway before ramming it back inside, causing the cum to slosh around. Some spills out of the edge, staining the white sheeting.

    I repeat the motion until my cock regains its full hardness, all while looking into her eyes and capturing her sweet lips repeatedly.

    Sandra gasps and grips my back tightly while I resume fucking her without reservation.

    After another steamy load inside her overflowing cunt, I straddle her chest and pump my cock through her soft valley. Ourbined juices provide me with lubricant.

    Sandra presses her breasts together, sandwiching my cock. She also licks the mushroom top whenever it manages to escape to the other side of the valley.

    Throughout the whole time, her eyes never break contact with mine.

    "Don''t look at me like that, Sandra. Oh God. I think I''m going to blow."

    I hastily pull my cock from her breasts and press it against her lips. She allows it inside her mouth just as the first shot jets forth. It sshes against the ceiling of her mouth, coating her tongue afterwards.

    Dozens more shots follows, filling her mouth.

    Sandra swallows everything I give her and sucks my cock clean.

    After the third time, I have thought my cock is satisfied. I didn''t expect to be leaning back against the bedhead as one of the beautiful women in all of Hollywood gives me a nice blowjob and deep throat.

    My enjoyment expresses itself with another load in her throat, streaming into her stomach.

    A little time reversal refill my balls and let me go again.

    This time, I take the initiative and proceed to fuck her face rather violently. She has difficulty breathing at first, but her experience in another world helps her out.

    Sandra swallows my cock all the way to base when I erupted. Every bit of my cum went straight down her throat and into her stomach.

    I stop cheating about the seventh time around.

    By then, Sandra is somewhat unconscious, cradling my body while my cum is spilling out of her pussy and lips.

    My hand strokes her head as a smile forms on my lips. There is nothing on my mind while I watch Sandra entering a deep sleep.

    I hope she is dreaming instead of remembering the nightmare.

    Sandra wakes up after about 15 minutester, looking around and searching for me.

    "It''s fine, Sandra. I am here. I haven''t left. I will stay here until you wake up in the morning. I promise."

    I assure and allow her to rest upon my chest. She whispers something inaudibly before falling asleep once more. This time, Sandra did not wake up until morning.

    When Sandra wakes up, the first thing she did is looking around the room, seeming not recalling what had just happened.

    "Did you sleep well, Sandra?"

    I ask.

    Sandra responses by immediately covers herself with the nket when she notices that she is naked.

    "Mr. Maxwell. I... I..."

    Sandra utters.

    I ce my hand upon her lips to stop her stuttering.

    "You don''t need to call me that. Call me Max instead, Sandra. Didn''t we agree about this just before we have so much funst night?"

    Her face flushes with red as she recalls what had happened.

    Sandra really loses herselfst night on ount of what had happened to her.

    She is unwilling to let go of those awful experiences as it would change who she is right now. However, she could rece them with happier memory.

    I am happy to help her in her endeavour.

    "Shall we go out for breakfast or have breakfast in bed? I''m up for another round if you are?"

    I offer.

    "Don''t you mean several rounds, Max?"

    Sandra beams at me. She is cute when she is like that.

    "Sure, if you are up to it."

    I responses and drawls her closer for a kiss. The nket falls away and we didn''t left the room untilte in afternoon.

    Sandra Bullock and I have lunch together instead.

 Chapter 53: New Discoveries

    Honestly, I should have left the Oxford Hotel the moment morning had arrived.

    Instead of enjoying a wonderful time with Sandra Bullock, I should have returned to the world beyond the temporal rift as soon as possible.

    If I was there when it happened, the Hydra base wouldn''t have been reced by a smouldering crater, and a dozen nuclear mushroom clouds wouldn''t have greeted me in the horizon.

    "We couldn''t shoot them all down, Supreme Commander. There were so many."

    One of the surviving Hydra agents informs me at the temporal rift.

    Most of my men survive the nuclear sts thanks to their environmental power armour.

    Those that had died were standing too close to the st zone. As powerful as their power armour is, they couldn''t just take a nuke right to the face.

    And it wasn''t just one nuke.

    It was a dozen from what the men tells me.

    The nukes were mixed in with hundreds of cluster bombs, dropping in mass from the sky. Even the AAser batteries couldn''t shoot them all down once they finished ripping through the bombers.

    Just one nuke is enough to vaporize the base.

    The rest is overkill.

    Nazi German could spam nuke like standard bombs. Has splitting the atom bes a child''s y with the advent of magic?

    That seems likely to be the case.

    As for how the Nazi knows about the concentration camp beingpromised, I guess someone failed to check in when they are supposed to.

    In response, the Nazi just nuke the ce.

    Seems a bit extreme, but considering that the entire United States of America has already be a dested radioactive wastnd, the Nazi probably didn''t have a second thought on the matter.

    That or there is something I didn''t know about yet.

    Regardless, I fix the little problem with my power, reversing time until the base get un-destroyed with a thought.

    The moment I did, I find out something very interesting.

    Time is not universal!

    Wait, I mean to say time is not multiversal!

    Is that a word? It is now.

    It means that my power isn''t affecting the entire multiverse, all at once like I had initially expected it to. It is only affecting the universe that I am currently in and everything within it.

    When the alternate reality gets its time reversed, the prime universe ispletely unaffected.

    From my past experiences, the moment I had reversed time to point when the base isn''t destroyed, I should be right back in the prime universe, merging with my past-self, who is in the middle of pounding Sandra''s snatch for the third time since morning.

    That would have been very pleasant.

    And it shouldn''t create a paradox ¨C at least I don''t think so. But it could be because I am not powerful enough to affect the entire multiverse.

    The multiverse is infinite after all.

    I have to be more than godlike to control all of time in space.

    In any case, this solves one of my problems.

    I have been troubled by the fact that I am wasting valuable time in this alternate reality while I should be in the prime universe, progressing my awesome n of world unification and human ascension.

    I am on a very tight schedule, and I couldn''t really have two of me running around at the same time.

    Sometimes I wish I could.

    The prime universe is more important. It is the only one that matter in the grand scheme of thing.

    And now that I have Sandra Bullock back, there is very little I could gain from this alternate reality.

    Sure, liberating the entire world is the right thing to do, but it has to benefit me somehow. And feeling good or proud of myself for doing the right thing isn''t going to cut it.

    I n on stealing all the researches that the Nazi have on magic, but give time and a little effort on my part, Mystic division should reach the same conclusion and probablye up with a lot better theories on magic.

    Now that I can basically pause the prime universe while off-universe, it does bring a smile to my face.

    The temporal rift are also frozen when the prime universe is frozen.

    No one can pass through it from any side except me as anything Ie into contact with does get its time unfrozen.

    This allowed me to breathe and to see things while time has stopped.

    Once the Hydra forward base is back in operation and all the dead Hydra agents are returned to being alive, I request for a full report.

    The men have been very busy during the time I was enjoying myself with Sandra Bullock.

    With all the satellite around the, they have finished mapping out all of Germany and located all of the important military instations. It also confirms what I have already known.

    The science and technology level of Nazi Germany is only post World War 2.

    Germany only appears to be advance due to the discovery of magic. Thanks to the utilization of magic, boosting their war machines, every battle the Nazi fought ended in a total victory.

    That will no longer be the case.

    The men have finished building each type of unmannednd and air vehicle via the fabricator. Those war machine are readied for me to duplicate with my power. They should give the Nazi a run for their money.

    I didn''t request any military naval or orbital unit since those are unnecessary.

    It isn''t like I am nning to wipe Nazi Germany off the map.

    If I did, those satellites should have already start bombarding the country from orbit.

    Nazi Germany currently doesn''t have a mean to shoot down satellites and spaceships. Firing missiles at our satellites in orbit is not very effective since they haveser turrets on board, capable of shooting down targets that are faster than missiles.

    At the minimum, the Nazi need dedicated anti-orbital railguns that fire metal slugs at near the speed of light to take down those satellites in orbit effectively.

    They should have those in another 300 to 400 years, so I have plenty of time.

    "We have finish our analysis the contraption, Supreme Commander."

    One of the scientists report after handling me a blue print. I quickly scan over the diagram, saving the design into my personal repository.

    He pauses for a moment, trying to get his head around something.

    "The contraption doesn''t appear to be technological or scientific in nature. While we are still unsure of how it is built exactly, we do know what it does. Without going into the technical detail, blood flows through several channels before being condensed into these blood coloured crystal. The Nazi call the crystal bloodstone or Life Crystal."

    I pick up one of the crystals to examine it carefully. I am not handling it bare hand as I am also wearing an environmental power armour like everyone else.

    The crystal constantly giving off strange miasma, filling the air with red mist. Breathing in that wouldn''t do me any good ¨C probably.

    "Life Crystal huh? Any idea on why it is called such a thing?"

    I question.

    "We are still unclear on that, Supreme Commander. We found boxes of them in the warehouse. They are stored very carefully and individually. We left them as they are after checking several of them. The miasma floating around the base is due to our action. It doesn''t seem to be harmful to our equipment or prate our suit.

    It should dispersed to the surrounding soon."

    I nod and ce the blood crystal back on the table. Whatever the purpose of these crystals, I will find outter.

    For now, I will need to build myself a drone army to distract the Nazi while an assault team raids some research stations for goodies.

    It shouldn''t take too long. About an hour or two or so.

    "Continue with what you were doing then. Also, have some of the scouters spread out to search for survivors. There should be plenty in hiding. We should spread the word of a new resistance who have food and shelter. This is their country, so they should fight for its freedom, don''t you think?"

    I speak up.

    "Also, have a couple of satellite scan other countries and find out what remains of their government ¨C

    Gunfire caught everyone''s attention.

    Just like standard projectile weapons, theser rifle has a very distinctive pew-pew sound, telling all of us that one of the Hydra agents has engaged with the enemy.

    Those Hydra agents from S.W.O.R.D division usually don''t resort their range weapon, preferring to get close and personally with their target.

    If they are using it then it means that the enemy is overwhelming.

    Looks like the Nazi has send a division to attack the base.

    I wee them to try.

    The men sprang into action just as one of the lookouts enters the barrack, panicking.

    "Supreme Commander! Supreme Commander! We are under attack by... ummm... I think you should look at this, sir."

    I arch my brow. He shouldn''t be that agitated. Even against overwhelming odd, he should be calmed and rxed. It is part of his training after all.

    Following his lead, I exit the barrack with everyone.

    Monstrous groans are heard all around us.

    The men quickly raised their weapons and fired at the living corpses, rushing at them from all direction.

    Theser st slices through the horde, severing heads and limbs effortlessly, but it didn''t even slow down the creatures.

    Even my power does not work on them. They does not turn to dust even if a billion years have passed for them.

    I learn why those crystals are called Life Crystals.

    I also know why the Nazi nuke the whole ce once they lost contact. It is also the reason why there is a concentration camp in America and all over the world. It is to conduct research on something far more terrifying.

    "Fucking Zombies!"

 Chapter 54: Final Preparation

    Technically they aren''t zombies.

    They are the undead.

    Although rapid aging does not affect them due to their newfound immortality, deaging works wonder, reducing those monsters back to a dead corpse.

    I need to add the adjective to the word since corpses can live now.

    Great!

    However, the miasma in the air quickly enters the corpses, resurrecting them as undead again.

    Atomizing does stop that from happening. Turning them into dust once they are dead corpses works as well. And if I have to, I can stop time and execute each of the zombie individually.

    I''m going to keep calling them zombies since the word is more familiar to me.

    Also, this isn''t Azeroth!

    Once I get over my initial shock and surprise, these supernatural monsters aren''t a threat to me or my men. They don''t even have the physical strength to even scratch the power armour, although the men did get the scare of their life when they got swarmed, especially by undead dogs.

    They have never trained to kill things that shouldn''t exists.

    I guess Hydra will have to update their already hellish training regiments to include zombies and other supernatural monsters.

    Hydra members figure out full dismemberment is extremely effective. Blowing them up is effective as well.

    The unmanned te tank proves this when it turns dozen of zombies into exploding fireworks of blood and gore.

    Some zombies are turned into grounded paste of bones and flesh. Getting crushed by a 150-tons war machine does that.

    However, most zombies are killed by Hydra members. Withser des humming in their hands, the battlefield bes littered with moving body parts.

    They are just very good at what they do.

    Unfortunately, the undead don''t stay dead when they are killed.

    And the groaning and growling from all the severed heads starting to get on my nerves long after the battle is over.

    "Fire seems to kill them permanently, Supreme Commander. In fact, it is extremely effective against... the undead. Their body catches fire very easily."

    One of the scientists tell me after they have some experimentations. There are many great application for reanimating dead tissues, magic or not.

    He also tells me that their zombies produce miasma from their blood, spreading the contagion through the air. If just one of the zombies found its way to a popted area on Earth, their numbers will grow exponentially.

    Luckily, the temporal rifts are locked, preventing these things from invading my world.

    I think I already have enough problem to deal with in the prime universe, thank you very much.

    Why the fuck is the Nazi experimenting with these things?

    Perhaps they are looking for a way to create a controble undead soldier.

    I could see some usefulness to having an undead army at my directmand, especially in terrorizing the poption.

    Also, immortality!

    Infinite Health will have fun with this.

    "Have everyone equips with an incinerator or heat-based weaponry. And clean up all of this as soon as possible."

    I have the men burns all the corpses they could find, moving or not.

    Having dead bodies around the base is way too risky now due to all the bloodstones being stashed in the warehouse.

    I wonder whether I should transport those bloodstones back to the prime universe. Just one of them will do since I could always replicate them with my power.

    In the end, I have no choice but to conduct research on them. I must take risk to reap the reward. And if I don''t, I will bepletely unprepared should something like this ever happened again, especially on a global scale.

    No pain, no gain.

    At my order, the fabricator assembles an industrial air filtration. It is used to suck up all the miasma in the air, storing the deadly contagions inpressed capsule.

    Those capsules will be shipped back home ¨C for research purposes of course.

    I will definitely not use them as a biological weapon. There is no need to when I have plenty of options to force a country to its knees.

    Hyper intion for example.

    Once the men have their orders, I head to the row of tanks and aircrafts.

    Due to the battle, each one stained with blood and gore.

    Well, only the tanks are.

    Running over zombies seem to kill them the fastest. It also prevents friendly fire, which happens more than you might think in battle, especially when Te Tanks fire their charge cannons.

    The lightning bolt literally fries several Hydra members in their power armour alongside with a bunch of zombies without being hit directly.

    Inferno Tanks is more effective against the zombies horde since it uses incendiary rounds as secondary weapon. Its main weapon, the methrower isn''t used in battle since that would torch anyone and everyone.

    These are just some of the Tanks I have the fabricator produced for me.

    Not all of them participated in the battle since it would cause chaos, especially the Mirage Tank, which induces hallucinations, making friendly fire even more of a problem.

    I reverse all the Tanks to their pristine condition, just the moment they roll off the fabricator.

    Once that is done, I start duplicating them.

    Several thousands of each tank type is sufficient to curb stomp everything, especially when they have kic shielding and stealth module equipped.

    I did the same for aircraft since air superiority is a must in any battle.

    They are a little bit overkill in my opinion.

    By the 24th century, most aircraft works underwater as well, doubling up as a submarine. This is thanks to the advancement of their engines. The engine works in any kind of fluid, air or water.

    And by the dawn of the 31st century, aircraft can operate in space and spacebat worthy, making it an all rounder unit.

    Future aircraft can fight onnd, water, air and space.

    The military stops calling them aircraft by then.

    They are simply called Mechs or Titans.

    Hydra aircrafts are not that advance yet. Even so, some of their versions can operate underwater since Hydra Headquarter is underwater.

    They are capable of hunting submarines and naval units with deadly efficiency.

    This is one of the reasons why I didn''t need to build naval units.

    In fact, water-based naval units are obsolete in the future.

    When the military is talking about their naval units, they are referring to spaceships and starships not boats.

    By the time there are thousands of vehicles on the ground and in the air, I was informed that several satellites have been repositioned over other countries.

    The preliminary scanning of those countries from orbits shows they are outright destroyed by nuclear fires. Some more than others.

    However, actual satellite images of the ground takes a bit more time.

    "We finally have images, Supreme Commander."

    One of the men tells me. He didn''t need me to tell him to disy it on the screen for everyone to see the current state of the world.

    Everyone already knows the horror of a world dominated by Nazi Germany, but witnessing hordes of zombies in Japan and Australia attacking the survivors makes people sick.

    There is also a reason why Nazi Germany keeps bombing those countries despite their surrenders.

    It is to thin out the zombies poption as they do their researches. Undeads are really, really hard to kill quickly by normal means. Removing their head doesn''t seem to kill them.

    "Guess I will be needing more aircrafts and tanks."

    I remarks as more images appears on the screen for me and everyone to view.

    Military instations and research facilities are highlighted on the image. The Nazi have concentration camps in every major countries, hunting down survivors as materials for their research. They does not conduct the research in Europe, however.

    This is to prevent an actual outbreak in their backyard.

    Another meeting with all my men is needed to discuss what needed to be done.

    The primary objective right now is to collect all the researches the Nazi have on magic. Assault teams need to be formed. Each team must contain a scientist to download all the necessary data.

    Once that is done, I will take care of Nazi Germany personally.

    "It appears that most of survivors are holding up in public ces and buildings with essible rooftops and nearby market ces, such as school, hospitals and academy. We could use them to distract the Nazis while we stomps the research bases."

    One of the men highlights a Japanese school.

    The image shows that there people camping on the rooftop. Since the school is very close to one of the Nazi research base, it hasn''t been nuked to hell.

    "Highschool of the Dead, huh?"

    Everyone looks at me, not getting that reference.

    "Oh, you will get that reference... probably."

 Chapter 55: Natural Selection

    Growling could be heard all around, keeping everyone on edge, day and night.

    The monsters do not sleep. They do not eat.

    They are always restless, searching for and hunting down the living.

    It is all in an attempt to increase their numbers.

    That seems to be their only purpose in life.

    Unlike in the countless fictional horror stories written in the past, the undead does have any physical weakness.

    Decapitating does not kill them.

    They apparently do not need eyes to see. They don''t need to breathe either.

    Dismemberment only incapacitate them until they manage to reassemble themselves somehow.

    Full dismemberment is required. Doing a half-ass job of severing limbs only actually makes them much more dangerous due to the increased number of independently-moving body parts.

    The only way to truly put down these abominations is burning them to ashes.

    However, the mes must be hot enough to incinerate bones. No one wants to have burning skeletons roaming the world, setting everything alight, converting more zombies into skeletal undead.

    Even then, there is a great risk of summoning forth something even worst.

    This is because like energy, magical energy cannot be destroyed or created. It can only be transformed from one state to another.

    The Nazis have learned all about the dire consequences of being half-asses over the decades worth of experimentations and researches, thus it is one of the reasons why they are resorting to using nuclear weapons.

    Only nuclear fire can truly destroy any remnant of the monsters, stopping their evolution or mutation dead in its track.

    It also thin out their numbers, preventing a terrifying convergence event. It has happened once before in Australia, and it takes an enormous amount of firepower to kill the oversize abomination.

    That titanic monster cannot be killed even by countless nuclear detonations. Aside from its incredible size, dwarfing everything in sight, its instant regeneration is something to be feared.

    Even with their undead number being thinned out almost daily, their existence alone has caused some irreversible side effect.

    With deadly miasma constantly oozes out of their body, poisoning the air and the earth. Nothing grows within their wake.

    The world is actually dying thanks to the product of human ingenuity, experimenting in forces they do not yet fully understand.

    Hans still remembers the day when the first undead arose.

    Under the constant barrage of bullets, the undead creature proceeds to bite off the face of a scientist and kills several more before being put down by a couple of methrowers.

    It still manages to tackle one of the soldiers onto the ground despite being on fire.

    That soldier did not make it, unfortunately. He died on his way to the hospital due to severe burn over most of his body. He was then cremated to prevent unwanted reanimation.

    In fact, anyone who died in Germany must be cremated and buried in concrete to prevent an outbreak.

    Even the ashes are contaminated with tainted magical energy, infecting all living things.

    That is how dangerous these things truly are.

    In spite of that, the Fuhrer himself orders the researches to continue no matter the cost. He had even increased the funding, hoping to attain immortality at the expense of the entire world.

    At his current old age, he is very desperate. He is no longer the great man who lead Germany to victory over the Soviet and the American.

    The man is just a paranoid corpse, holding onto his final breaths.

    So many loyalists have been sentenced to death for speaking out against the Fuhrer. Their family exiled into the radioactive wastnds known as the rest of the world.

    Hans and his sister are all that left his their family after their exile to Japan.

    Japan is the only country that still has some resemnces of society outside Germany.

    As allies during the Second World War, Germany did not bomb Japan into oblivion.

    Germany only killed most of her people and then executed the imperial family to prove that there is no such thing as divine destiny that the Japanese constantly spewing about.

    Seeing their emperor and his entire family being hanged publicly finally breaks the Japanese spirit. The zombie outbreaks crush what is left.

    Due to the destruction of the country and its industries and economies, the Japanese are surviving on the scraps that Nazi Germany left behind.

    Without foods or supplies, they are dying a slow death, just like everyone living outside Germany.

    Even so, those people have not suffered more than Hans had.

    Being branded as a traitor to Germany is a fate worse than death. His father and mother have suffered unimaginable torture alongside with the Jewish people and the undesirables.

    Hans could only save his little sister with all the merits he had umted over the years.

    Due to her young age, his sister would have been raped repeatedly until she died by countless of men, who have lost any sense of morality and humanity in a world gone mad.

    His mother did. Her mutted body is nowhere to be found afterwards, so Hans couldn''t even cremate her and give her a proper burial.

    Before what left of his father join him and his sister in their exile to Japan, his father was experimented upon after the torture. His father was injected with liquefied bloodstone.

    What bes of his father makes his stomach turn despite all that he has seen.

    Hans grips his sniper rifle tightly, trying not to remember the pleading face of his father, begging to be put out of his unending torture and misery.

    A son being forced to kill his father ¨C this is what his beloved Germany has be.

    It is no longer the beautiful country from his childhood, desperately struggling against the titans of the world.

    The Titans are killed now, but what has reced them isn''t any better just like the Olympians in Greek Mythology. The new God of the world toys with human lives everyday.

    Hans wonders when a Hero would appear from the remnant of humanity, rising up and bringing down Germany just like in those stories. He would love to see the day when that happened, but it is all just wishful thinking.

    "Hans!"

    A young man breaks Hans out of his thoughts.

    He turns towards the person, whose face is covered with dirt and mud.

    In that person''s rather small hands is a loaf of broken bread and a bowl of transparent soup. It is his daily ration, which he shared with his sister. Foods is hard toe by in what remains of Japan.

    "I save this for you, big brother."

    The man speaks up once he is on the scaffold, overlooking a deforested area, separating the research facility from the city. The numerous snipers are watchful of anything approaching.

    Each kills will earn them a little bit extra foods, but each wasted bullet will get them punished.

    Due to her looks, his sister must disguises herself as man. However, as her chest begins to develop, it bes increasingly harder and harder to keep her safe from all the men living in the research facility and nearby encampments and barracks.

    "I have already eaten already. Those are yours."

    Hans responses despite the faint growling in his stomach.

    "Please don''t lie to me, big brother. Please eat. You need your energy, so you can take care of me. If you don''t, I will not eat either."

    Seeing how his sister would not eat without him, he concedes and takes a few bites. The bread is very hard and the soup is tasteless, but with his current station, he is unable to get his sister real foods.

    "How is that boy you have been seeing?"

    Hans asks, causing his sister to blush. Before she could answers, a huge explosion rocks the earth. She turns towards the no-mannds, finding one of thendmines has been triggered. Her brother did the same just as anotherndmine exploded.

    The dusts and debris reveals a shape of something bulky.

    "What is that!?"

    One of the snipers calls out as he looks through his scope. He fires at what appears to be the ground, but the bullet hits a translucent barrier.

    The bullet explodes in mid-air as the barrier bes invisible again. Whatever this is, it is invisible to the naked eye.

    "Something is there. Shoot it!"

    Before the man can fire again, a red beam passes through him. It looks like a rather than a beam.

    The sniper in his hand breaks into pieces as his body crumple into bloody diced chunks.

    The smells of burning flesh could be noticed.

    Even the scaffold he is standing on is sliced into pieces by the beam. More red beams shot forth from the air, slicing through each of the snipers with perfect uracy in rapid session.

    "Brother!"

    His sister pushes him out of the way as the red beam passes through his spot.

    She looks at him before red lines appears on her face. Her hand reaches towards Hans before her body broke apart along with the scaffolding.

    Hans is too shocked to even utter a single word. He stares at what bes of his sister. It looks like someone cuts her up into perfect-size cubes.

    Rapid gunfire masks his anguish screams.

    Theye from several mounted gun turrets around the base, all concentrating on a single target.

    Hans grabs his rifle and turns towards the invisible monster.

    A barrage of bullets is crashing against it. However, none of the bullets manages to pierce what appear to be some kind of shield despite being enhanced by magic.

    Even magic bullets cannot prate their barrier.

    The bullets did, however, reveal what is being hidden behind the cloaking field ¨C a silhouette of a tank.

    It appears that the Nazis want to test out their new spell. This isn''t the first time they have done such a thing. Conducting live test is the best way to get useful data.

    From what Hans understands, concentrated fire will eventually copse the shield. Once that is done, he will kill the person who kill his sister. He finds a spot and takes aim, readying for the moment.

    To the side of the monster, something sparks in mid-air.

    A lightning flies forth, striking the mounted turret before jumping to another turret and another one until all the turrets are reduced to burning wreck.

    That kind of weapon shouldn''t be possible ¨C at least not in a single salvo.

    More lightninges, ripping apart towers and killing all the men within them.

    Before Hans could get his mind around what is happening, the air pulsates.

    The atmosphere then being sucked into a single point before exploding outwards instantly, washing over everyone and everything.

    The powerful shockwave knocks down the wall and sends everyone flying.

    Hans groans and coughs out bloods after being sent crashing in the wall.

    The impact didn''t do more damage than the shockwave did. What kind of weapon that could do such a thing to a human body? He knows for a fact that Germany isn''t that advance yet.

    With all of his organs pulverized beyond help, Hans struggles to look towards the huge opening in the wall. He wants to see what kind of monsters Germany has awoken this time.

    There are more than one of those monsters are out there, closing in onto the research facility.

    From the gunfire all around him, they areing in every direction. And with their might, nothing can stop their advancement.

    Nazis soldiers are reduced to bloody cubes byser sts, being fried by beam of lightning, or being send flying by air cannons.

    This is the first time they are so outssed technologically or magically.

    And these aren''t the undead. No, they are war machines!

    In fact, Hans could see dozens from their tracks on the ground.

    One of tank drops its stealth field and channels power into the kic barrier, blockings all projectiles as it glows red hot.

    Hans saw the Hydra symbol painted its side, ring deadly at all of its enemies. The tank turns to face him. Its turrets point in his direction.

    Intense heats erupt forth from the twin barrels, melting stones and steels like they were butters on a frying pan.

    Hans closes his eyes as the mes burns away his sin.

    He will join his sister soon, but he regretted not witnessing the fall of Germany for himself.

 Chapter 56: Overwhelming Power

    It appears that my preparation is unnecessary.

    From what I can tell via all the real-time video feeds being disyed in front of my eyes, the Nazis are unable to destroy even one of mynd units.

    Theirbined firepower is incapable of prating the kic barrier, which proves to be highly effective against their magical empowered bullets.

    As long as the bullet does not impact against the vehicles physically, it will deal absolutely no damage.

    This was already proven by Alex Mercer of Mystic in a controlled experiment.

    The excited man did warn me that enough firepower will prate the barrier and destroy the tank.

    He wasn''t sure how much firepower is necessary since there are too many variables in a real battle.

    Therefore, I did go a bit crazy in designing thosend and air units.

    I loaded each tank with so many modules and power generators in fear that they might prove to be less than satisfactory.

    My war machines did not let me down as they cut through everything and everyone in their path.

    Several of the tanks are immobilized due to running over too manyndmines, but their internal repair system will get them working again in no time.

    Memory metals work wonders.

    Too much damage will put them out ofmission, however.

    But even being unable to move, those machines can still st holes and kill everything within their extreme range.

    It does take a lot of effort to destroy the war machines of the 24th century. More so in theter centuries as technology bes more and more advance.

    Once nanomachines are widespread, it is literally impossible to damage war machines for long. Either destroy them outright or watch them repair themselves from any kind of within seconds.

    But from my own calction, I believe that destroying my tank is still doable with the Nazi''s current level of technology.

    That is the reason why I had prepared so much.

    I don''t want to fight a battle, where I am unsure of the victory.

    It is pointless to waste resources and time to fight, only to lose.

    Aircrafts join the battle once the research facility has been breeched.

    I need the tanks to take out all the anti-air turrets before they could.

    It is done beautifully by those Te Tanks.

    Those anti-air weapons probably won''t be able to prate the kic barrier protecting the aircraft, but they could still knocks the aircraft around the air.

    Overwhelming firepower is no substitute for a good strategy.

    That is why those tanks are in stealth mode on approach.

    Maintaining an active cloaking field does drain a lot of power, so once the gist is up, the cloaking field is dropped and the power is rerouted to kic barrier.

    With so much power powering them, those kic barrier will not copse even under heavy constrain and endless bombardment. At least not until the fusion reactor on board deplete their fuel cells.

    Amongst the aircrafts that join the battle, there is a cloaked transporter, carrying a team of four.

    The Hydra squad will infiltrate the base and steal whatever secrets the Nazi have stored. They have a standing order not to rescue anyone and kill everything in their way.

    With 36 men under mymand, I have a total of 9 teams.

    They are to assault 9 separate research facilities across the world.

    Teleporting them there is easy with my power.

    And once they are in designated position, they wait until I give the signal.

    While only 9 research bases are being infiltrated, all Nazi''s military instations and research facilities are being assaulted by tanks and aircrafts simultaneously.

    The Nazi highmands are probably shitting their pants right now, seeing so many of their bases and facilities instations being reduced to rubbles while their men are being ughtered.

    I am aware that not all the soldiers at those bases and facilities are Nazis, but it takes too much time and effort to sort them all out.

    They are simply coteral damage for now.

    I will rephrase what General Jonathan of S.W.O.R.D tells me when I borrow one of his kill squads.

    Kill them all and let God sorts them out.

    It is a good advice for times like this.

    Otherwise, I will have to listen to each of their stories, weighting my options and deciding what to do with them.

    That will be fucking annoying.

    I don''t have time for that.

    Actually, I do, but I don''t want to make time for it.

    As for Nazi Germany, I already n to erasing its existence from this timeline.

    I have seen the future under their iron grip. It is a dead world with a few pockets of survivors here and there.

    The Nazi somehow bomb themselves into the stone age ¨C probably due to an uncontainable outbreakter on. This is what usually happen when you experimenting with things you have no clue about.

    While my team are assaulting those 8 research facilities, I am not being idle.

    I choose thergest and most defended research facility to attack.

    I don''t need a team with me. My power should be sufficient enough.

    Sitting in a chair all day and ordering people around is not as fun as I imagined it to be.

    I need to get out and kill things sometimes ¨C without consequences. Sometimes, I just wish the world would burn for a little bit. It will be a lot more fun.

    Withser spears in both of my hands, I roam the research facility, dodging bullets and severing limbs and head without any restrain.

    I evenugh a maniacal mad man. When was thest time I get to do this.

    Oh... poor Halle.

    Halle ising around very nicely, bing a respectabledy.

    "Who the fuck are you!?"

    The Nazis screams as he sprays me with bullets, but I dodge them easily.

    Slowing down time without affecting my speed makes me superfast in his eyes. I can also see all the bullets as they spiral through the air.

    "Don''t you read theic? I am the sh!"

    I answer him just before I turn him into a human kebab. He gurgles to death with a spearing right out of his throat. I duplicate my other spear since I am not recovering that one.

    "There he is, shoot him!"

    Several Nazis notice me from down the hallway.

    They fire their weapon, but I give them a smile.

    The bulletse to a stop right in front me. Their time is frozen.

    "Greeting Gentlemen. My name is Neo. And I am the One."

    I joke before switching ces with the men. The moment I did, time return to normal.

    The magic bullets turns their bodies into bloody paste.

    I head down to the hall before I heard some groaning behind me. Twirling theser spear in my hand, I teleport the surviving man next to me and stab the spear through his head, killing him.

    "Now, where do you store all your research."

    I question. Although I could get the answer easy enough, I rather explore the facility myself. There are quiet a number of undead being locked in cells. Theye in all size and shape, including a baby. This guys have no line they couldn''t cross.

    I saw a ming skeleton as well. It stares at me with its ming eyes before I turn it into a pile of bones.

    How did they manage to create a living skeleton?

    I will figure it out once I have a hold of their researches.

    "There! Shoot him! Shoot him!"

    Great, more people to kill. I turn them into dust without even looking. I twirl my weapon as everyone I see explodes into dust instantly. I need a challenge ¨C and I wish I hadn''t said that.

    Once I turn the corner, I thrust my spear on reflex.

    It is because the person in front of me didn''t turn to dust like they suppose to.

    There is only one reason for that as far as I know.

    It should have impale the undead ¨C her?

    Why is there a child here? She looks like she is about 8 years old. She is definitely not 8!

    She is also not any child as she stops theser spear with her bare hand.

    It doesn''t even singe her skin.

    Her blood red eyes look at me before the spear shatters into dozens of pieces.

    I immediately jump back, but the distance between us didn''t change at all.

    She didn''t seem to move at all.

    "What the...? Alright, I give up. Who the fuck are you?"

    The girl tilts her head slightly to the side before cing her index finger onto her lips.

    Those red lips of her forms a smile.

    Her hands then hold up her Victorian dress to give me a courteous bow.

    "Greeting, Maximilien Maxwell. Even if it is on ident, that was very rude of you. And you didn''t greet me. I suppose I will have to teach my little brother some manners. Has it been an eon already?"

    The moment she said that, I feel something crushing my spirit.

    It feels just like the time I was checking out the beginning of time.

    She is as powerful as those things dwelling in the darkness, probably more. No, she is definitely more powerful!

    Holy fuck!

    "Ughhh...."

    I struggle to stand upright.

    My knees begin to bend under the immense pressure. I stab my spear to the ground and force myself upright.

    I will not knee, not to anyone!

    The girl blink.

    "Why is your spirit so weak? What happen to your magic and cultivation?"

    Her hand reaches out towards me.

    Even though she shows no hostility, just the gesture screams extreme danger.

    I immediately teleport out of the facility and back to the Hydra base in America.

    To my surprise, she is still in front of me. No matter where I teleported, the distance between us does not change. Even stopping time does not affect her.

    Now, I know that I''m fucked!

    Her hand touches my head.

    It feels warm ¨C like a mother touching her child.

    Why did it feel like that?

    She called me her little brother. I do not have a sister.

    I am the only child ¨C

    "Oh. So that''s why. They really gang up on you."

    The girl said and remove her hand from my forehead.

    The incredible pressure on my soul also stop, letting me breathe.

    "I can forgive your forgetfulness for failing to greet me, your senior, since you have lost your memory after your rebirth. But I will not forgive you for attacking me, even if it is on ident."

    The moment she said that, the world glow brightly.

    A magic circle form under us and spread out to epassed a huge area.

    Stone pirs emerge from ground at the edge of the circle along with ornaments and buildings. It looks like Roman or Greek architecture.

    I could feel immense magical energy in the air, entering my body with each breath.

    Once the coliseum is erected, the little girl vanishes from her spot.

    She is now sitting on her little marble throne, looking down at me.

    This is probably the first time someone did.

    I would have been pissed if they think they are superior to me, especially from what appear to be a little girl.

    However, this time, I feel that I am actually inferior.

    "Not to fear, I will not kill my dear little brother. But try not to die too quickly. Also, your power will not work here. I will unseal it after the punishment."

    Yup. She definitely has the power to crush me.

    Good thing I hit her on ident.

 Chapter 57: Master of Chaos

    Like she has stated, my power is inessible to me, currently.

    If I try to use it, I feel a strange tingling sensation all over my body.

    Since I couldn''t run or teleport away, I guess I will have to take my punishment like a man.

    Every action has its consequences.

    I do feel a bit naked since my power has been with me for so long.

    I feel invincible with it.

    But at least now, I know that my power can be sealed.

    Instead of crying about it, I should figure out a way to prevent it from happening again. Learning magic seems like a good way. How, that is the question, isn''t it?

    As for the 8-years-old girl, she is in the position of power, and she demands respect.

    Ignorance isn''t a good enough excuse. It does have some weights, but it does notpletely free me from my action.

    A chef couldn''t me the contaminated ingredients for killing someone with his cooking, could he?

    Anyway, she did say she won''t kill me ¨C at least permanently.

    That is something.

    "Umm... big sister. You seem to know everything about me, but I don''t know anything about you. Can I at least learn of your name? It would give me a way to address you respectfully."

    The girl smiles faintly from her throne. It appears that I have rubbed her the right way.

    That is a good thing.

    She looks so small up there, but appearance can be deceiving. Didn''t I teach a certain woman the same lesson?

    Never judge a book by its cover!

    And when you are that powerful, you can literally be anyone or anything you want ¨C maybe even God.

    Will I be that powerful one day?

    I do hope so.

    Why should I settle for anything less?

    "You can call me Terra Discordia, little brother."

    Terra tells me. It seems like she had just made that name up on the spot.

    Well, I did made my name up on the spot as well.

    I think mine is better, though.

    "I am the Master of Chaos. Like you, little brother, I am an Aspect. All powerful and all knowing, but I choose to keep my individuality. We are not rted by blood. Blood is meaningless to us. We are rted because we are Aspects.

    Everything is born from Chaos, even Time and Space. In other words, I am your mother."

    I nearly choke at that.

    She is my what!? Fuck off!

    Terra narrows her eyes as if she could read my mind.

    She probably could, considering her power.

    It is hard to take her seriously when she looks like a child. I wish she would choose a different avatar, one more older and more fuller in certain ces.

    "It is just an analogy, little brother. We are born at the same time since time does not exist then. I am aware before you, so you will respect me just like you demand respects from those beneath you. Now, show me what you have learned since your rebirth."

    Terra mentions my rebirth again.

    What is that all about it?

    Did I died before and then got reincarnated like those main characters in books on Webnovel?

    "I will tell you everything in good time, little brother. Now, what should I summon as your opponent? It can''t be anyone too powerful since you don''t know magic and your spirit is not cultivated. This is a bit troublesome."

    Terra thoughts for a moment.

    Once she appears to have make up her mind, a magic portal appears on the opposite of the coliseum, spitting out an huge, mean-looking monster.

    Its body is entire green, and there is tusksing out of its mouth.

    The creature looks around before settling on me.

    "Me smash!"

    It roars and raises it giant wooden club high, readying to charge.

    "That is an Orc. A normal human shouldn''t be able to fight it on even ground. I expect you to do better, little brother."

    Terra informs me.

    So that is an Orc, huh?

    Terra can summon fantasy monsters ¨C or are they really fantasy?

    I had always thought magic wasn''t real. I was proven wrong. I guess I should be more open-minded to these things. It couldn''t be helped since I was born and raised in a scientific universe.

    In any case, I just need to kill it.

    With the remainingser spear in my hands, it shouldn''t be too difficult. The weapon is more advance than anything these fantasy monsters have ¨C besides magic.

    Since I am unable to use magic because I have no idea how, I believe the monster could not either. It is to even the ying field.

    The monster charges at me.

    For its size, it is pretty fast.

    I also charge at it, spinning my spear, causing it to hum ominously.

    I just need to avoid getting clubbed. I probably won''t get outpletely unscathed if I got hit.

    When I am within reach, the monster swings it massive club across my head.

    I bend backwards, using my momentum to slide pass the monster.

    With my spear, I sh through its belly on my way through.

    Its skin is incredibly tough. Even with my enhanced strength, my spear nearly gets lodged in its guts.

    Terra is right, a normal person wouldn''t be able to kill this thing.

    The creature roars out in pain, lowering its massive club. It lumps over and tries to stop its guts from spilling out with one hand.

    Before the monster could recover from that fatal blow, I jump upwards and spin my entire body and use the rotation to swing the spear in a perfect arc.

    The glowing edge crashes against the monster''s neck, beheading it cleanly.

    As Ind on my feet, its head rolls along the ground, spilling dark green blood.

    I swirl my spear and look up at Terra, proudly.

    The monster behind me copses to its knees and then onto the ground, dead.

    Everything happens within a handful of seconds.

    My spearmanship has increased greatly since thest time I had toyed with Halle Berry.

    Once I get over the initial shock of seeing such a monster, it isn''t really a threat to me.

    Even if myser spear couldn''t kill it, I will just wear it down until I could smash its brain.

    "I am impress, little brother. But that is a mindless creature, knows only to eat, kill and fornicate. I will summon something with a brain this time."

    Terra ps her hand lightly before another portal appears.

    "Wait a second, Miss Discordia. I have already killed one, now I have to kill another one? I''m not saying it isn''t fair, but I should get something for winning, shouldn''t I?"

    Terra eyes me.

    "Very well, little brother. If you win, you will get to keep them as a summon pet. You will like this one since you do have a thing for them in the past."

    From the portal, a person appear.

    With bright green eyes, dark olive skin and pointy ears, she is an exotic beauty. The revealing clothes she is wearing also entuate her slender figures.

    The woman  looks around before bowing to Terra. It seems that she knows who Terra is.

    "Greeting stranger. I am Elune Whisperwind. The Goddess of the Moon has summoned me as her champion. I will fight you with all my strength, so please do the same."

    Elune greets with a light bow.

    If I have to guess, she is known as a Dark Elf. She was born on another world, where her race worships a Goddess of the Moon.

    Terra is obviously not the Goddess, but I didn''t bother to break the illusion.

    "I am Maximilien Maxwell. Please to make your acquaintances. You do understand what happen if you lose, right?"

    I return the greeting.

    Elune nods and drawls her bow. Before she could fire a shot, I rush at her as fast as I could.

    This is because she is a range type, and therefore, I am at a huge disadvantage.

    Elune immediately backs away and draws her bow and fire a few shots in rapid session. She is very fast at running away and at shooting her arrow.

    The arrow is also extremely urate.

    If I didn''t slow down to doge them, I would have been hit.

    After trying to chase her down for about 5 minutes, I decide I am wasting time and energy.

    It is time to show some my aces.

    I wasn''t hiding them, but since Terra didn''t say anything about it, I assume that she didn''t mind or didn''t know.

    Theser spear pulsates before firing aser st. Traveling at light speed and being quite impossible to dodge, the beam bisects Elune, splitting her body in half.

    Terra is surprised.

    She didn''t expect the weapon to have range capability. It appears that she isn''t all knowing. I suppose she is telling the truth that she isn''t Omni-sentient right now.

    Before Elune could say another word, I execute her.

    Her head rolls across the floor before vanishing away like the rest of her body.

    This didn''t happen to the Orc. Its body is still there.

    "Does that mean I can summon her now?"

    I question.

    "You cheated, little brother."

    Terra points out. She is actually pouting.

    It is the first time she behaves like her appearance, an 8-years-old child. If I didn''t know better, I have assumed she was.

    "No, I didn''t. I didn''t use magic. This is pure technology."

    Terra res at me before snapping her finger, causing a massive portal to form.

    This time, she didn''t seem to give any thought to what she should summoned.

    The entire area shook as a titanic beast emerges from the portal.

    Magical energy intensifies, flooding over the area and crashing into me.

    I feel like I am standing in front of a tsunami of power. It is incredibly suffocating.

    With its massive wing spread wide, blocking out the sun, its draconic eyes narrows at me like I am an insignificant insect.

    "Shit."

    Now that is cheating!

 Chapter 58: Hidden Conflicts

    A lion is known as the king of beasts, but a dragon is the king of mythical beasts.

    Without a doubt, a dragon can eat a lion any day of the week.

    Its size is enormous, filling out the entire coliseumpletely.

    There is little room for me to maneuver in the uing battle, but it does make the dragon a really big target. It will be hard for my attacks to miss, right after I get over this intense pressure.

    Its magical power is staggering, drowning me even though I am insensitive to magic generally. If I have trained in the arcane art, how terrifying would I be, standing before a monster of near limitless magical power.

    As for its spiritual energy, I assume it is at the pinnacle of its realm.

    Thankfully, I couldn''t feel its overwhelming spirit crushing upon mine. This is because its cultivation is being supressed, currently.

    Terra just didn''t suppress its magical energy on the ount of me using magic through technology.

    Honestly, it can''t be considered cheating if it isn''t really magic.

    It is science!

    Just because you don''t understanding how the world work, you cannot just equate it to magic.

    We are not in the medieval age anymore!

    But Terra didn''t ept that.

    And arguing with a child will not get me anywhere. This is not to mention the fact that she could throw a tantrum and make me dead. Why is there apulsory loli at the zenith of creation? If there is the creator, I would like to have a long, long chat with him ¨C or her.

    I''m not sexist.

    And I know that Terra isn''t a child in all sense of the world. She could have fool me at the moment, as her cheeks puff out.

    Anyway, I can''t say I have met a real dragon before, but I have seen them plenty in games and virtual reality. I even killed plenty of them before. Let''s see if I kill one in reality. This would probably require all my aces in the hole.

    "Selene, release all limiters on my body. There is no need to hold back. Also, aid me."

    [Acknowledge, Operator.]

    To prevent me from breaking everything I touch, the nanomachines does not boost my biology to its maximum.

    However, against such a titanic opponent, I don''t have the luxury of holding back.

    I also really wants a dragon as my summon.

    It is just simply too awesome, being able to summon a dragon.

    The world slow down as my mind gone into overdrive. I usually just use my power for this, as it allows my body to keep up with my mind.

    To a human eyes, I vanish from my spot. And with aser spear in my hands, I sh at the dragon with all my strength.

    Theser edge of the spear crashes against its ck scale.

    In an instant, my spear shatters.

    My eyes widen at the flying fragments before I was send flying against the stone pir.

    "Grark!"

    The pir crumbles, letting me right through.

    I m against the indestructible barrier that surrounded the coliseum before falling face first onto the ground. My entire body is in pain.

    [Operator is in critical condition. Please remain still for repair.]

    What the hell was that? It just gently ps its wing and I was send flying for possibly mile. What is this insane gap between what I know of dragons and what they actually can do.

    I groan and slowly pull myself up.

    The dragon actually yawns, pissing me off.

    "Fight properly, you goddamn overgrown lizard!"

    The dragon seems to understand that. It res at me before the surrounding heats up. Its belly glows brightly. The glow drifts up its body and slides up its throat. It then unleashes a fire st.

    My arms cover in nanites just before the mes crashes into me. There is really nowhere to dodge as it was sted at a wide arc.

    "Fuck!"

    I shout as the machines absorb the kic and thermal energy. The heat is intense, burning my clothes and incinerate my flesh. My hair instantly vaporise along with my eyebrows.

    Although the attack onlysted a handful of seconds, it feels like a lifetime. Luckily, it is not as powerful as a fusion st, which will instantly reduce me atoms regardless of my inhuman durability.

    [Thermal Energy at Maximum.]

    Selene informs me about a couple of seconds after the attack hits me. The rest of the time, she informs me that I am in critical condition.

    When the mes died down, Terra is rather surprised that I am still standing.

    A smile creeps upon her face as she finally acknowledges me.

    The dragon on the other hand exhales a puff of smoke. It didn''t seems to pay any attention to me at all. The damn thing is super arrogance. I swear I will beat it up one day and remove that smug.

    My body glows brightly as all thermal energy condenses into a single point. A miniature sun is formed.

    It is sent crashing into the dragon. To my shock and surprise, the dragon chomps down the miniature sun before exhaling another puff of breath. It then raise its w and flexes one of its finger.

    As if I am some piece of metal being attracted to a super ma, I went flying towards the dragon. It flicks me the moment I was within range.

    The instant it did, I swear I was hit by the weight of an entire ¨C probably more.

    I didn''t feel anything on the ount of my body bes fine red mists instantly.

    That is how much forces being exerted on my body from a single yful flick.

    When Ie to, I was sitting on a chair across the small table from Terra.

    She is drinking tea from a small cup ¨C like a little girl having tea session with her doll.

    In fact, the damn chair is really small.

    "Alright, you have made your point, big sister. I am just a big fish in a really, really small pond."

    I look at the tiny tea cup in front of me. After a light shrug, I pick up the cup and take a sip.

    After getting reduce to bloody mist, I really need to rx myself.

    I could also feel my power is no longer being sealed or supressed.

    She did keep her word, so I suppose she isn''t really an enemy, at least not at the moment.

    I wouldn''t want to fight the final boss in my first step into the multiverse. I need to grind down mobs, get some levels and experiences then challenging the mini-bosses and normal bosses.

    Getting right to the final boss is aplete suicide.

    "I see Deus'' little side project has gotten far. It can mimic magic on the basic level. Maybe in the future, it will be branded as Digital Magic."

    Terra speaks up after she blows the steams from her cup.

    I didn''t fully understand what she has just said.

    And I didn''t really care at the moment as I continue to enjoy my tea.

    Without really asking her, I did learn that Deus is the Master of Order, her opposite. He was born from the digital space.

    It is strange that the Order wasn''t born at the same time as the rest of the Aspects.

    And like Time and Space, Order is also born from Chaos. It appears everything is born from Chaos.

    That makes Terra the eldest of all of the Aspects.

    In the real beginning, there is only Chaos. Everything elsees after. Since Time is really high in the hierarchy of things that appears, I suppose I am somewhat of a senior to other Aspects.

    But in term of power, I am probably the weakest on the ount of me being killed before.

    "We Aspect cannot be killed. For us to die, the entire existences will unravelled. If they truly kill you, and I am just speaking hypothetically, Time would cease to exist. The entire multiverse wille to a standstill."

    Terra points out and refills her cup. She offers me refills, which I epts.

    "Who are they, exactly?"

    I question. For them to be able to kill the old me ¨C which should be on the same level as Terra ¨C it isn''t a small feat.

    "Champions or Spawns of the Primordial."

    Terra states simply.

    "We, Aspects and the Primordial have a mutual understanding. An verbal agreement if you preferred. To prevent the destruction of the multiverse and all that is within, we and they do not stand in each other''s way. However, the agreement only extends to us Aspects and Primordial. It does not include their creations just like it does not include our creation."

    Terra ces her cup down.

    "Children can never surpasses their creators. I do not think they could have killed you even with theirbined power, little brother. One of the Primordial must have helped them. Unlike us, they do not see eye to eye with each other, so it is natural for one to step out of line. We don''t need to do anything about it. The Primordial punishes their own, just as we do as well."

    "Is that so?"

    That is all I cane up with. All of this is way beyond me. But it is good to know I was the top dog. I will be again, hopefully. Although, I am curious of how I was killed thest time around.

    "If you want to know what happened, little brother, you will have to find out yourself. I am not here to clean up the messes you have created. Even if you died, you should retained your memory of what happened. Since you did not, you voluntarily cast away your memory. Why you did that, I do not know, and I don''t want to know. If you do, go find all the fragments of your memory.

    They are scatter across time and space."

    "I did it voluntarily? Now, that is something interesting, big sister. Whatever happened, regardless of what, I wouldn''t forget anything."

    Terra smiles.

    "Even reborn, you are exactly the same person. Chaos makes a person. Only through Chaos, a person can grow."

    I nearly spray out my tea when she said that. It seems that there is some truths about her really being my elder sister. To think her teaching ingrains into me after I have lost my memory.

    Terra giggles and re-enjoys her tea time. She looks extremely cute as she holds the cup in both hands and blows the steam from the top.

    "As for why I am here. This world is falling into Chaos. If it is natural, I wouldn''t pay any attention, but someone thought it is a great idea to introduce magic into a reality that based on science. I could have corrected it myself, but I suppose you will do that. Isn''t that why you are here?"

    I nod. It isn''t exactly why I am here, but if I can fix it, sure why the hell not.

    "Then I will leave it to you, little brother. I must be going now. Having two Aspects in the same space and time is extremely dangerous. The others might take it wrong."

    Terra stands up and pats herself. She is about as tall as me sitting down. And for some reason, I want to pick her up and give her an embrace.

    I miss Antigone. It has been a couple of days since I have seen my beautiful daughter. She is being care for by some of the people I trusted the most.

    "A warning, little brother. Relearn magic and cultivate your soul as soon as possible. As you are right now, while exceeding powerful in many realities such as this one, you are extremely weakpares to the higher ones. Like you have said, you are a big fish in a very, very small pond. Wouldn''t you like to be an ocean instead?"

    Terra pauses and gives me a smile.

    "Even if you do not find troubles, trouble will inevitably find you, little brother. They are attracted to our power, like moths to a me. Also, say hi to Time for me."

    With that, Terra vanishes. One second she was there, the next she was not.

    "Who is Time?"

    I question before taking another sip from my cup.

    Time resumes once more as I did.

    And when the men returns from their mission, they are stunned at seeing me sitting in a small stic chair, drinking from a tiny-ass cup.

    "Don''t mind me. I am just enjoying my tea-time."

 Chapter 59: Magic Theory

    After going through the technical information and research data collected, I can confirm that the Nazis have gained ess to magic shortly after the meteor crashes into Berlin.

    The meteor isposed almost entirely of crystalline magical energy ¨C Mana Crystals.

    Its outer shell is carved with symbols ¨C Magical Runes.

    These are the same symbols that the Nazis have learned to wield in order to empower their weapons and war machines with magic, effectively giving birth to Magitech.

    They obliviously didn''t stumble on those symbols through trial and error.

    I guess I am wrong about that.

    Well, I stand corrected. There is no shame of admitting when one is wrong.

    As that is the case, Hydra will never figure out those magic symbols ¨C probably.

    If Hydra somehow did, it will likely be a fluke.

    And Hydra will probably get themselves killed in the process due to the instability of magic when using incorrect or iplete runes.

    It is like powering a machine incorrect, with the wrong voltage or current. The electrical feedback can blow up the device, severely injuring anyone nearby.

    The Nazis prove this over the years.

    Not every crater is caused by nuclear bombs.

    From what I understand, runes are needed to activate a spell, which convert magical energy from one form to another, hopefully into a more useful form.

    The Mana Crystal provides the necessary magical energy for the spell to work since there is no ambient magic in the universe where the physicalw is based solely on science.

    Terra alludes to this in our a little chat.

    It does make you wonder if thew of physics and mathematics were designed by some higher power in order for a universe to function properly.

    The Master of Order must have something to do with this.

    It is more than likely.

    Since that is the case, I am sure that some universes or realities will have differentw of physics and mathematics governing them.

    This could be a huge problem for me and my men in the future since we will explore and map out all the temporal rifts. Our incredible technological advantages would be rendered moot.

    Some temporal rifts will definitely lead to world of magic, where mythical beasts roam.

    Speaking of beasts, that dragon is way too overpowered!

    It dares to mock me!

    I will teach it to respect one day!

    Knowing that I am an Aspect blows up my ego a little ¨C more than a little. If only I have all my powers again, whatever those powers are.

    Anyway, finding a universe with aplete differentw of physics is going to be very rare since it will throws everything out of whack.

    Just a small change to such aplex system can create unintended side effect.

    Since time is still time everywhere in the multiverse from what I could tell, I reasonable sure that any universe or reality stemming with life will have a simrw of science governing them.

    It might not be the same. For example, a pound of coal could release far more heat than what it should.

    These are the kind of things that could be altered without causing severe consequences.

    Thinking more about it makes my head hurt.

    It doesn''t really have anything to do with me to be honest.

    And if I stumble upon a universe or reality that ispletely out of whack, it is my choice to explore any further or close off the temporal rift.

    Let''s get back to the magic thing.

    In its inert state, manastone is not dangerous.

    But once a spell is applied to it, it can create all sort of effects, including splitting the atom.

    Alex Mercer proves this in his first theory to magic. He tends to call Mana Crystals as manastones, so I will use them interchangeably.

    They both sound logical enough.

    No actual mages or wizards would have thought about splitting the atom and releasing all that energy in form of heat and radiation. They have never even heard of the natural elements. Fire and water are not natural elements.

    As such, only worlds with scientific mind would have thought of such an ingenious ideas.

    This is all theories based on what I know.

    I will confirm my theories once I have found a world of magic. It shouldn''t take too much effort since I do have a huge organizations under my control.

    Another thing I learn after reading through the report is that manastone are the purest state of magical energy. It can be transformed to other state, such as bloodstone or firestone.

    Life Crystals or bloodstones are created by letting the manastone absorbing the lifeblood of thousands upon thousands of people. That was what the Nazis is doing.

    Like its namesake, bloodstones grant life to things that aren''t alive in the first ce or anymore.

    It can also extends the lifespan of a person as well, but the human body normally is so fragile that too much of the good thing will cause some severe mutations.

    Knowing that, I don''t need waste a lot of manpower and resources into that path of research since my power can do the same thing ¨C without any side effects.

    I will still put a team to it since I am interested to have an undead army at mymand. Even if I don''t raise an army of the damn and scare the living shit out everyone on Earth or other world, it is still good to know how to kill one effectively.

    Firestone can be created by constantly heating up the manastone at the right temperature. Too much heat and the manastone will melt, forming liquid mana instead.

    Waterstone and airstone can be produced to, but it is very difficult to produce those. They takes a lot of time as ording the Nazis research.

    Time is irrelevant to me. I can definitely produce those within seconds.

    It is very interesting to give elemental affinity to manastones. They can also act as capacitor, releasing the element slowly back into the world ¨C firestone can be used to heat houses.

    With all these technical information borrowed by Hydra smash and grab teams, I guess Mystic will be busy for a while ¨C for a very long while.

    I want Mystic division to produce all sort of elemental stones for me, so I can introduce the wonder of magic to the prime universe when it is time.

    Terra had said that introducing magic to a technological universe will create chaos, but after chaos is order.

    No pain, no gain.

    It shouldn''t ended like this alternate world since I will put a handle on things personally. Good thing that once manastones gain an affinity, it cannot gain another one.

    And when the magical energy is depleted, the manastones bes ordinary quart crystal. This stops the idental creation of bloodstones.

    However, more experiment and research will be needed on this.

    Regardless of what happen, the prime Earth should learn magic as it makes people life a lot easier. Its future will give me ess to all the wonderful Magitech as well!

    Thinking about all the new toys makes me excited.

    Once everything is in order, I order the men to return to the prime universe.

    It is unnecessary for them to be here anymore.

    The prime universe must be unfrozen for them to pass through the temporal rift.

    And when everyone return home, I have a good look at the destedndscape around me.

    Before I reverse time of this alternate universe and correct a little mistake of the past, I decide to have a little firework to celebrate.

    Alright, a huge firework.

    "Selene. Activate the ''Fuck You All'' n!"

    [Acknowledge, Operator.]

    All my units across the world stops whatever they are doing and enters self-destruct mode. It gives all the Nazis a moment to breath.

    However, that is all they were given.

    The fusion reactor housed within each unit undergoes rapid overload.

    And within a minute, the tank and aircraft all explode in a titanic explosion.

    The intense heat generated by multiple fusion detonations in close proximity of each other sses the and kills everything.

    It also set the atmosphere on fire and crack the crust, expelling huge amount of dust and debris into space, including me.

    That wasn''t intentional.

    Oops.

    As I drift in the vacuum of space, I stare at what remained of the once beautiful.

    Aside from the beautiful oceans, everyndmass on the is stered a dull colour.

    Nazi Germany still there since none of my units invade the country, but with all the fusion detonations around the, the people will not survive the iing nuclear winter and radioactive storms.

    I might have gone a little overboard with my firework, but I am still disappointed that much firepower didn''t crack the.

    "Let''s it all be undone."

    I call out. It is unnecessary.

    Time immediately reverses at mymand, returning the Earth to its rtively beautiful appearance, several years before the beginning of the Second World War.

    Far into the distant, a meteor spiralling through endless space. It is just one of the countless meteors scatter across the infinite universe. It is quiet impossible to stop magic from appearing in this universe without finding out the one who is responsible.

    The said meteor would enter the gravity well of Earth and crashes into Berlin.

    That will not do. No point of repeating history again.

    I freeze the meteor and wait until the moon gets into position before unfreezing again. I watch it as it crashes into the moon, leaving a sizeable debris.

    While I could send it directly to the United States of America, I want a natural course of history to take ce first. It will bring forth a rtive peaceful time.

    Furthermore, I wonder if the moonnding did happen.

    It obviously did happen in the prime universe thanks to Henry and Chrono Holdings, but I am currently talking about this alternate universe.

    If it is a hoax in this universe then too bad.

    And if it isn''t, America will be the one to discover magic.

    Once I done all I set out to do, I fast forward time to the 1990.

    The world didn''t destroy itself after the Second World War, which wasn''t all that surprising. Without magic, Nazi Germany falls to the Soviet Union while the United States bombs Japan.

    However, there are spaceships going back and forth from the to the moon, bringing boatload of manastones. From the gs imprinted on each shuttle, they are American.

    I guess the moonnding did happen after all.

    On Earth, things hasn''t changed that much even with the discovery of magic.

    Cars still crawl slowly on the ground and people are still staring at the idiot boxes that will burn their eyes out.

    This is because all the manastones being mined on the moon and taken back to Earth are property of the Government. Its discovery did cause a lot of buzz after the moonndings, but that is all.

    The world is not ready for widespread magic. Too many things can go wrong. However, since the public knows about magic, a lot of scientists have applied to study it.

    With the influx of new brilliant minds, America bes the beacon of human civilizations. They will remain as the world superpower for many decades toe.

    I wander about a bit to see what else is new in Hollywood. Nothing really stands out. As I was about to head home to the prime Earth, a cute girl in her early twenties bumps into me and drop her tourist pamphlet.

    "Ah, I''m so sorry, mister."

    She apologizes profusely. Her English is not very good, so she must be an international tourist.

    "The fault is mine. Miss...?"

    I learn her name as Emilia Richter.

    Emilia is currently visiting the United States with her brother, who is the leading scientists in studying magic from German.

    If there is one thing Germany has in abundant, it is scientists.

    If it wasn''t for the Nazi and its oppressive regime under Adolf Hitler, brilliant minds like Einstein would have stayed there and advance them technologically.

    Likewise, her brother is quiet brilliant as he figures out that even if magic cannot be exined by the current physicalw, it still follows a certainw. He has formted his magical theory and publishes a book on it.

    Not only that, he is also the first person to discover elemental affinity.

    I have a read through the book that Emilia has on her using my time power. I decide to buy a copy for myself and for Hydra. I would love to have her brother working for Mystic alongside with Alex Mercer.

    "Hans! Hans!"

    Emilia calls out to her brother, waving at him as he got out of the taxi.

    "Big brother, this is Mr. Maxwell. He said he wants to give you a job offer."

    Hans Richter gives me a smile and shook my hand. His grip is firm but strong. He must be soldier before he is a scientist.

    That is good.

    "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Maxwell, but I am currently in a hurry. I have a seminar to attend. If possible, can we talk more after the seminar?"

    "Of course. May I attend the seminar as well? I am very interested in your theory on magic. It is rted to the offer I have for you."

    I response and join Hans and his sister for the rest of the day.

    Hans Richter epts my job offer the moment I demonstrate my magic, but on the condition that his family joins him in the prime universe.

    I suppose there is something worthwhile if visiting these alternate universes.

    Looks like Hydra will be swelling in ranks.

    It is probably time to send ships to Mars and Mercury for terraforming.

 Chapter 60: Legal Trouble

    The first thing I did when I returned to the prime universe is to check on my daughter, Antigone.

    Alright, it is the second thing I did ¨C tsk.

    Before I teleport off to see my beautiful daughter and tell her how much I miss her, I had to tell Hydra and Shield to copse the temporal rift.

    It is done by dumping a lot of our garbage through the rift.

    Its temporal energy level drops each time something or someone passes through it on either side. By the time the energy level drops to zero, the rift copses, separating the two realitiespletely.

    Hans and his family will never able to return to their universe. They didn''t mind since they are offered a lot ofpromises for sacrificing what little of their livelihoods on the other side.

    A biometric scan is done on Hans and his family members after their brief introduction to Hydra.

    It is to check whether there is another version of them in the prime reality. Nothinges up for Hans since he wasn''t born. His parents never got together and settle down to have children.

    The information really stunned the old couple. They are curious of who they ends up with individually, but that is a story for another time.

    Only Hans is given a Hydra ring, allowing him ess to Hydra Network.

    As a high ranking member, the rest of his family has the support of Hydra and Shield.

    They will be given a lovely suburban home and a generous pension.

    Money isn''t really a problem.

    Once I am no longer needed, I teleport to Shield Headquarter in orbit around the.

    I had left Antigone up there for her own protection.

    Since Hydra now has a mean to stop the time distortion as well as the mean to copse the temporal rift, it is no longer necessary to leave her there.

    My daughter is far more safer with me.

    I misses her greatly. And she misses me too from the way she embraces me with her little arms.

    "Who is daddy''s little princess? Who is daddy''s little princess?"

    Antigone giggles at my yful question as I lift her above my head.

    Her newfound friends didn''t want to see her go.

    The babies cries when I exited the nursery with Antigone. The nurses will have a tough time of calming them down and putting them to sleep.

    Antigone looks at them and tries to wave a partial goodbye.

    It isn''t like she wouldn''t be seeing them again.

    As my daughter, Antigone will be their boss in the not too distant future, and they all will be her loyalrades and friends.

    They are children of Hydra and Shield, by blood or otherwise.

    More than that, they will be leaders of the future themselves, so they must be trained and taught all the necessary values and knowledge.

    Loyalty to me and the Cause must be instilled at a very young age. This will ensures that the future will belong to the human race.

    I teleport home after informing the Shield members on the Headquarter of what to do in the uing weeks and months.

    They are to construct terraformers with the fabricator on board of their Headquarter. These machines will beunched towards Mars, Venus and Mercury and a few others and moons in the sr system.

    Venus is the closest, so the will be transformed and settled upon. Even so, it will takes about a couple of weeks for the terraformer to reach the from Earth.

    I also order a Hydra outpost to be built on the moon.

    Mystic will conduct their magical research on there until a more permanent base could located. I don''t want an undead outbreak on the even if I could fix it with a little time reversal.

    As for test subjects, I am sure I can find them throughout time and the multiverse. If I can''t, there are plenty of death row prisoners. I feel nothing for them as they have made their choices in life. Of course, I will make sure that they are actually guilty of their crime.

    The justice system in America leaves much to be desired.

    Not everyone in jail are criminals. Some are there because they trust too much in the system and their government.

    I also have the star observatories locate habitable worlds in distant star systems. These worlds should be imed for our purposes, one way or another.

    "Where did you go, mister?"

    Stephanie, my would-be mother, asks when she notices me in my home. She will always give birth to me around 2001 unless I put her on ice. In that case, someone else will.

    As for her question, I have been gone for almost a week. It is actually more than that since I did freeze time in the prime universe when I am on the other side.

    Doing so gives me plenty of time to do whatever I want when I am off-universe. I don''t want toe back and see the world falling into chaos for one reason or another.

    "I took my daughter on a vacation to Hollywood. I''m sorry that I didn''t tell you in person. Can you look after Antigone tonight? She misses you."

    Stephanie agrees, but she will have to inform her mother.

    She then joins me in my kitchen for small talks since it bes fairlymon. I like to know what my young mother has been doing, in school and at home, while I make her some snacks.

    Our role should be reversed, but meh.

    "What happen to your shoulders, Stephanie?"

    I question when I take notice of the bruises when Antigone pulls on her shirt. I didn''t think her adoptive parents would hurt her since they didn''t appear to be such people. They are greedy, but they wouldn''t hurt their children, adopted or not.

    "I fell down the stair."

    Stephanie responses and ys with Antigone. It is obviously a lie, but I didn''t press the matter. There is no need to interrogate her when I have an intelligencework at my disposal.

    My daughter loves being thepany of her grandmother.

    Once I fed Antigone, I retire to my office and let Stephanie takes care of my daughter.

    "Selene, connect me to Shield."

    [Acknowledged, Operator]

    Shield informs me that the culprit are her ssmates.

    They have been bullying her at school.

    Stephanie did tell her teachers and parents about them, but that has made her ssmates to bully her even harder. In the end, she just endures it.

    Shall I send a kill squad to rectify this problem?

    That was a joke.

    I can take care of this small problem myself without resorting to extreme violence.

    Extreme torture ¨C well that is another story.

    Kids are not scared unless they are truly scared shitless.

    I check up on how the filming is going afterwards.

    My phone is filled with notifications and messages.

    It has been a week since Ist check on the filming of my movies, which might seem like a lot to some people, but it is really not for a film production.

    They need months to finish shooting every scene. The postproduction could also takes months.

    However, there is a schedule to be met due to the marketing campaign. If they need more time, they can inform me. I am always open to negotiation.

    Luckily, the filming are going very well.

    Halle Berry is trying her best, but she is getting there.

    Sharon Stone takes her new role to heart.

    Jennifer Aniston is still missing in action on the ount of her father. I don''t mind at the moment since she did ask for some times off ¨C right before she even started working. Well, I am an easy going boss.

    Not really.

    As for Sandra Bullock, she is still out of it due to what had happened to her. It will take sometimes for her to gather herself. She will be stronger as a person when she does.

    However, Sandra should be able to return to her apartment by evening tomorrow if she wants. I don''t think she will since it is where everything begins.

    Hydra still needs to ensures no more residue temporal energies exists before everyone can move back into the apartment, but after what happened, I don''t think anyone will.

    I am the current owner of the building along with several other buildings in the vicinity. I wonder what I should do with it now that ce is like a haunted area. I think I might smash them all down and build a grandplex.

    It is probably better.

    A permit is needed to do that. I inform my legal team to get me one as soon as possible.

    My legal team informs me that I have a pending court case next week. I could attend the preliminary hearing if I wish.

    It appears that my book on relic of the past has finally stir up trouble.

 Chapter 61: Impossible Victory (POV)

    **** Critical Information

    When a chapter has a (POV) suffix, it is written in the point of view of another character. As more and more characters appear in the story, in the prime universe and other alternate universes, there will be more and more of these kinds of chapters.

    I will create an auxiliary chapter on all the characters that have appeared. There is quite a lot already, but as a general rule of thumb, if they are given a full name or a history, they are probably a recurring characters ¨C unless they are already dead.

    I don''t give names to background characters. They are unimportant as a person even if they drive the story forward. Also, I will run out of unique names if I do, at least for English names.

    All characters are fictional, even if they are based on real life people and share the same name. Names aren''t copyrighted. They can be trademark, but even so, I can still use them in my own context. It will not have any legal implication ¨C probably.

    Oh by the way, Reba Abarbanel is based on one of the main characters from Eric Flint''s novel 1862 and its sequels. She is a Mary Sue in that story, perfect in everything and beautiful. Seriously. I expect better from a well-known author.

    I usually drop cultural references all over the story, even from the first few chapters. A thousand year ofpound interest thing is from Futurama. The ring against the vending machine to get free drinks is from the Simpson. On thetest stuffs, the Te Tank amongst many others is from Red Alert. The dark elf is obviously based on Warcraft.

    If you didn''t pick up these cultural references, it is fine since they don''t impact the story in anyway. I add them for fun most of the time.

    But if you did, please give a shout out! I will give thumb ups!

    With the power of time, even dead characters cane back to life, if not in the prime universe, then in the other universes or realities. The multiverse gives me unrestricted literary freedom to write all sort of situations!

    My mind is exploding with ideas! It is so crazy!

    Note that I will not write fillers even for these kind of chapters. They do advance the story in one form or another.

    Although I have stated before that I will only write 1k chapter from like chapter 42 since it is easier to check for grammar and spelling mistakes, but the previous 18 chapters are all like 1.5k to 2.5k. I do get carry away since there is so much to exin.

    Anyway, less chitchat, more story! Please enjoy the chapter!

    Remember to vote, review and send gifts. I need motivation to keep writing and money for coffees.

    Mwuahahahahahahha! Ahem... don''t mind me.

    I will chill in my little corner over here.

    **** Story Continues

    "Miss Allison McBill. Please don''t fall behind even if it is your first time here. We are already runningte and it is highly disrespectful to our client if we are to show up after he did."

    My boss request of me when I slow down to examine several opened courtrooms.

    He is a very strict man and a very goodwyer.

    It is a pleasure to be his assistant, but I didn''t think he has chosen me over the countless others in our firm because of my skills and experiences.

    I have very little of those because I have recently join the firm.

    In fact, this is my third week at work.

    As one of the more prestige firms in Los Angeles, the recruitment is extremely difficult.

    So many applications have failed the initial screening despite their impressive skills, experiences, and work histories.

    Even being the top of their sses when graduated didn''t mean anything to the firm.

    This has really opened my eyes to the profession as well as the whole industry.

    I have always thought that I would lose out to those that have went to Harvard and the likes, but I was wrong.

    The firm states in no small amount of words that it is not looking for colourful histories or certificates or even experiences. It is looking for innate talents and abilities regardless of background.

    A homeless person could be hired if they proves to have the skills the firm needed.

    I could still remember the incredibly difficult series of tests that were given to all of us, the applicants when we manage to pass the preliminary screening.

    The firm is very thorough with the screening, requesting all sort of personal information, which include our blood type, likes and dislikes as well as measurements.

    People who didn''t want to disclose those private information were shown the door without hesitation, and people who lie repeatedly on their forms are evicted from the premises immediately.

    It is then that I had realized the screening is a test for trust and honesty. The firm will not disclose our private information to anyone, but we must not withheld any information, including the private details of our personal life.

    The firm even told me so when I was being interviewed afterwards to exin myself.

    It is very terrifying, sitting alone in a room with no visible window whatsoever. Only a camera is ced in front of me, scrutinizing my body and facial expression.

    The interviewer spoke through a inte mounted on the wall.

    I swear whatever was interviewing me isn''t human from the way it directly phrases its questions. It is like an artificial intelligence, but that is crazy, right?

    How the firm knows that I had withheld personally information and wasn''t entirely honest when filling out those forms have stunned me greatly.

    But the firm did give me a chance to exin myself.

    Luckily, I manage to give a satisfying answer.

    However, the whole experience really scares me.

    It is as if the firm is always watching me. They knows things that no one should ever knows.

    For the first test after the preliminary screening, each of the applications is given about 30 seconds to read through several pages of wordy documents before being questioned about specific things within those documents.

    Many of the applicants have unfortunately failed here, as that kind of reading speed is inhuman, and many those who have passed only did so barely.

    I got a perfect score thanks to my photographic memory. I had thought the firm would retest me since that is kind of cheating, but it did not. My innate ability is a tool, the firm tells me.

    The second test is not as difficult as the first.

    It examines all of us morally and psychologically.

    No one fails the second test. And I wasn''t sure what kind of psychological profile the firm created for me, but I know for a fact that they did.

    My profile was used to formte the third and final test, which is different for everyone.

    Most applications are tested on their knowledge like me.

    But the questions and situations described in the test were designed around my personality and sense of righteous. They could have only done so after forming my psychological profile.

    I failed several questions spectacrly on the test since I didn''t know the firm isn''t exactly looking for what is right and what is wrong in a sense.

    The firm is looking for loyalty to itself and the client.

    It did not matter if the client isbelled by the public as a mass murderer or a serial child rapist.

    As long as he or she is our client, we will treat him or her with the upmost respect.

    There is only one exception to the rule. It is when the interest of the client affects the firm negatively, but that rarely happens.

    When it does, the case is given to the seniors and the client usually concedes to whatever terms the seniors give them.

    If the clients didn''t ept the terms, I think they were killed. I don''t want to get into trouble, but it is very suspicious to me that those arrogant clients have unfortunate idents shortly after they insults the firm and its conducts.

    Everyone in the firm knows, but no one really dare to say anything. But as long as we kept everything professional, the firm will treats us as professional.

    This is one of the very reasons that I feel that if I make a mistake, it won''t be an easy p on the wrist and let bygone be bygone.

    Some seniors have been forced to retire with a rather generouspensation, but they look like they are scared out of their mind.

    Those seniors never practicew again.

    However, our impressive sries and benefits outweigh all of these. The firm also provides living space for all of its employeepletely free of charge.

    The firm offered a serviced apartment in one of its many holdings. I ept of course since the building has a great view of theke. Many of my colleagues also live there, giving me time to social with them after works as long as our socialisation does not infringe on the confidentiality of the workce.

    As senior of the firm, my boss is given an entire floor apartment on the upper level of the building. He even go to work everyday on a helicopter ride or limousine.

    It is expected since his regr clients are multi-billion dorpanies around the world. I had to fly with him to India at three in the morning just a couple of days ago.

    While an incredible experience, it is extremely exhausting. I have to memorize so much documents.

    I follow my boss closely behind.

    It is quite difficult to move quickly in a short skirt, wearing heels, especially when we are in a hurry.

    We are currentlyte because there were a lot of documents to go through on our way. The helicopter is extremely noisy as well, so that didn''t help.

    After passing through several hallways and corridors, we enter arge room. There are already people inside, discussing amongst themselves about the current case.

    They are alsowyers from the firm, just in different division. It isn''t exactly normal to have this many seniors working on the same case.

    Terra Entertainment must be very well connected.

    I take a seat next to my boss, who immediately goes through his handwritten notes for the umpteenth times. The golden ring around his middle finger glitters whenever he flips a page. His reading speed is very impressive.

    All seniors are given the ring. I hope I will be given a ring one day.

    I also go through my own handwritten note after I have given an eye-greeting to a couple of my friends.

    They are sitting across the room, supporting their boss. They are looking very busy.

    In fact, everyone is.

    The client or whoever is representing the client isn''t even here yet and everyone is working so hard already.

    From all I have experienced in these past weeks working at the firm and under my boss, it is a sign that we cannot lose this case or there will be severe consequences.

    I have a mind to think the client is Henry Oxford himself, but the poor man is grieving for histe daughter right now.

    Everyone knows that Marian Monroe Oxford died in an ident almost two weeks ago.

    An oil tanker crashes into her limousine when she was on her way home.

    That ident is suspicious in my opinion. I even tell my boss about it, but he tells me to not speak of the matter anymore. He is quite serious when he said that, so I will take his advice to heart.

    My boss knows thing that I do not know.

    Furthermore, unlike so many times before, Henry did not request us to sue the living hell out of the truckpany that had imed his daughter''s life.

    An hour goes by before the seniors stops what they doing and stands up. The assistants follows suit, not fully understanding what is going on.

    I did so as well just as someone enters the room. It is a young man, but that isn''t what surprises me.

    He brought his five-month old daughter along. He even waving her hands at everyone in the room. It is like this courthouse is his own property.

    "Mr. Maxwell."

    All the seniors greet, almost in unison.

    That is insane! I have never saw such a disy of extreme respect before.

    Who is this person!?

    "As you were, everyone. And greeting to all as well. Say hi to everyone, Antigone."

    As everyone returns to their seat, the man takes the seat in the front behind a desk, facing everyone in the room. His daughter sits on the table in front of him, jerking her little shaker toy and uttering imusible words.

    "So, for those that doesn''t know me yet, my name is Maximilien Maxwell. You can call me Max if you prefer. This is my daughter, Antigone. She will be joining us for this concession. Don''t worry, she won''t say anything that you can understand."

    Maximilien speaks up in a casual tone. However, his words seem tomand extreme power. I am a little shaken at this.

    "Although I am 100% certain that I can win this case on my own, but I want everyone to have a shot at it. The book I published is word for word with the item presents by Mr. Crichton in his case against me and mypany. He documents all of his work, so there is no doubt that he is the rightful author of the book. If you must know, I stole it and publish it under the penname M.C."

    Maximilien cracks up a little. He then smiles.

    I nearly choke at that. No one in their right mind would admit to such a thing. Luckily, everyone here is hiswyers or the case is as good as gone.

    "The acronym obviously stands for Michael Crichton for anyone who has a brain in the room."

    Maximilien continues.

    "That information is a secret so don''t b to anyone. Now, it is your job to win this case for me. The first person to do it will be awarded very handsomely. Oh, the assistants can join in as well. If you help win the case, I think a promotion to senior is in order."

    That announcement gets everyone pumping, even the assistants. Being promoted to seniors brings a lot of benefits.

    I open the book, Jurassic Park, and reread it again. Ipare it to the copy of the evidence provided to the court by the other parties.

    It is like Maximilien has said, it is word for word.

    This is an impossible case!

 Chapter 62: Path to Certainty (POV)

    I am unable to see a way to win this case.

    It is impossible from a legal standpoint.

    Most of the people in the room are of the same opinion.

    I am talking about the assistants in generally.

    The seniors themselves didn''t appear to be troubled at all. They are always calmed and collected in all situations. They might be thinking of a settlement, but that couldn''t be.

    Maximilien Maxwell does not want a settlement. He wants aplete victory. He is extremely certain that he will win even without our help. I do not know where he gets his confidence from, but it is very contagious.

    I also don''t want to lose, and I am confident there is a way to beat this.

    The seniors seems to think so too from the rxing atmosphere around them.

    In fact, most of them have already left, heading home for the day since it is already past 6pm.

    One of our firm''s outstanding policies is for us to try not to overwork ourselves.

    It will not do anyone any good if we are stressed and exhausted ¨C that is the in reason.

    In retrospect, during working hours between 8am to 5pm every day of the week except for the weekends, everyone does not waste valuable time and works their hardest.

    "You should also head home, Miss Allison McBill. Thinking too hard on it will make you miss important things between the lines."

    My boss tells me on his way out of the courtroom.

    He is heading home to have dinner with his family. His wife and his two lovely daughters live with him in the apartment provided by the firm. I get to know them very well as his assistant.

    Somehow, I think my boss is giving me hint.

    Did he already figure out how to win this case!?

    Is that why he is chatting with the other seniors this whole time?

    I also pack up my things to hitch a ride with him in the limousine.

    I would have to wave down a taxi or walk home otherwise. It also gives me a chance to talk to my boss a bit about the case although he is not very pleased at discussing work outside of work hours.

    To be honest, for the first few days working as his assistant, I was very defensive when in the limousine alone with him.

    I might have a misconception about being a personal assistant. There are so many horror stories about that, where being an assistant to an older man in position of power means a lot more things.

    I just don''t want to give head to get ahead.

    And luckily, I didn''t have to.

    The firm prohibits using sex as a favour. It does not prohibits sex outright, but fornicating during work hours is a ground for discipline. Some people have already been severely punished for this. More than a few lost their job.

    Work is work, and personal life is personal life.

    As such, many employee hook up together after work and at home, especially when they are living in the same building together.

    It is like the firm wants us to be one big happy family like some sort of experiment.

    Scary that it is working.

    "You are thinking too much on this, Miss Allison McBill. You should have dinner and a good night rest. You will figure out something out tomorrow with a clearer mind."

    I ept that advice and put the case away.

    "May I ask, who is Maximilien Maxwell? Is he an unofficial son of Mr. Oxf ¨C

    "Stop right there, Miss Allison McBill. There are some things that must never be assumed. Countless people have paid dearly for this over the years."

    My boss is very serious, causing me to sink a little in my seat.

    "But if you must know, I suppose he is the boss of my boss of my boss. I don''t truly know how high the pyramid goes, but he is at the top of that pyramid. You will do well to pay him respect where it is due, and please don''t spread any rumours or gossips."

    My boss leaves it at that.

    It is enough to scare me out of my wit.

    My boss is a very powerful man, but he has to answer to the partners ¨C the people who sits at the top of the firm.

    The partners themselves have to answer to Henry Oxford as the firm is just one of the subsidiaries of Chrono Holdings.

    Since the firm deals with legal matters, I be aware that there is a unannouncedpany called Chronicle. It is the parentpany of Chrono Holdings.

    No information is avable on Chronicle publicly.

    It doesn''t even have an office building.

    Could this person, Maximilien Maxwell is the owner of Chronicle? This means Chrono Holdings belongs to him. And so are all of its subsidiaries.

    I flinch when my boss stares at me unblinkingly, knowing what had just went through my mind.

    In that instant, I truly believe that the moment I know the answer to my question, it will be the moment I take myst breath.

    "If you truly wish to know then work hard and be a senior. That photographic ability of yours will help you go far, but just a word of warning, some things are not meant to be remembered forever."

    My boss smiles as the limousinees to a stop.

    It has arrived at my building.

    I bid my boss goodbye after exit the limousine and enter the building.

    After the security check, I greet all my colleagues in the hallway and near the elevators.

    They are heading to the dinning hall together, chatting and giggling away.

    Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are provided by the firm for free, as long as we are not wasteful.

    We can even bring in outsiders.

    They just cannot stayed overnight for security reasons.

    I will join my friends shortly since I don''t feel like cooking tonight.

    My apartment isn''t huge, but it is very cosy for a couple of people. It is just me right now. I don''t have a boyfriend.

    And I am not seeing anyone despite being constantly hit on in the office.

    Sexual remarks is fine during works hours. It is the act itself that isn''t. If it does get out of hand, I can file ain to Human Resources (HR). They take these things very seriously. However, that would make a bitch.

    No one want to be a bitch in the workce.

    My apartment also get serviced every day at noon, so it is always clean and very tidy.

    If I have a family, I can request a bigger apartment as the firm values family greatly.

    Just don''t let personal feelingpromises works.

    If I need time off work for family matter, I can request it instead of mopping around the office all day, dropping overall productivity.

    After a nice long shower, I have a read of the book again.

    Jurassic Park is one of the best sellers right now.

    Although I don''t like the book very much, I can see the fascination about having a park with dinosaurs. It will be one of a kind zoo.

    Comparing the published book to what I have read from Mr. Crichton''s version, it is really word for word. However, his version is dated years ago.

    If it is really is stolen like Mr. Maxwell has admitted this afternoon, then it will cost Terra Entertainment hundreds of millions of dors.

    All the royalties must be paid in full alongside with all the legal fees and fines.

    Since that is the case, why did Mr. Maxwell did such a thing, knowing full well that it will lead to this copyrightwsuit?

    Even if it is for the publicity, it will have an enormous adverse effect on hispany in the future.

    I just can''t get my head around it.

    And I cannot see any legal means of fighting this.

    We could drag the case out for years, bleeding the other party of all the financial means, but even so, it will not end well in the end.

    Furthermore, Mr. Maxwell wants this to be solved as soon as possible. He even prefers it to be in the preliminary hearing tomorrow.

    That is impossible.

    "Or is it? Read between the lines..."

    I mutter and read the book again and again, forgetting about dinner. I''m not really hungry anyway.

    There is nothing I can really see between the lines like my boss has told me. It is only when I bend the book in one hand and let the pages flip rapidly that I see something between the lines.

    My eyes widen in surprise.

    I open the book again and check each page again and again to make sure of what I have found.

    With my heart thumping madly, I check the other party''s copy.

    It is exactly the same.

    Now, I know why Mr. Maxwell is so certain that he can win this without even trying. This basically just turn the case upside down.

    I call my boss to tell him the exciting news. He will love to hear what I have found.

    "Honestly, didn''t I tell you to have dinner and take a goodnight rest, Miss Allison McBill? If you are so sure of this, I will allow you take charge of the preliminary hearing tomorrow. And good job Miss Allison. You are probably the first assistant to notice it. I think you will do well as a senior, so let me be the first to congratte you.

    By the way, I am giving my daughter a bath right now, so please don''t bother me again."

    I am utterly shocked.

    It is a test!? Some sort of promotion examination!?

    It would exin why the seniors are so rxed. They probably have figured out how to win this case within an hour or less. I feel so dumb whenparing to them.

    Despite that, I couldn''t sleep that night since I am too excited.

 Chapter 63: Publicity Stunt (POV)

    Tomorrow eventuallyes.

    It always does.

    But I didn''t get any sleep at all.

    Instead of rolling around in bed thinking about the case, I spent all night preparing a statement for my boss. It is for the preliminary hearing this morning.

    Although my boss is more than likely won''t be using the statement as he will have prepared his own, it does give me something to do and preupies my excited mind.

    I met my boss outside the courthouse. He is currently having a conversation with several seniors from the firm, so I didn''t interrupt.

    It is rude to, considering my current position.

    If I am a senior, I could join in the conversation.

    Sadly, I am not one at the moment.

    Normally, it does take a few years of merits to be a senior of the firm. However, there are always exception to the rule as indicated byst night conversation.

    Several assistants greet me. I return the greeting before noticing our client, Mr. Maxwell.

    His daughter is also with him, sitting in her stroller and shaking her toys.

    Since this is a preliminary hearing, it is unnecessary for our client to be here in person.

    I wonder what he has been doing as he had just came out of the courthouse.

    Please don''t tell me that he had gone and talk to the other party?

    And without awyer with him!

    Does he even aware of how foolish that is?

    But then again, he is more than meet the eyes. My boss did advise me on this. Since he is here, I should greet him respectfully.

    "Good morning, Mr. Maxwell."

    I greet.

    The other assistants greet him as well, very respectfully. The seniors must have given them the head ups about our client.

    "Good morning everyone. And a special greeting to you, Miss Allison. I have heard from Mr. Simmons that you have found a solution to my little problem?"

    "Ah, yes sir."

    I response courteously.

    I wonder if it is true that he has stolen the work from Mr. Crichton.

    What I have found tells me that it is the other way around.

    "Don''t think too much on it, Miss Allison. It will makes wrinkles on your forehead and takes away some of that lovely beauty of yours. All you need to do is make sure the case is blown wide open, as big as possible. That way, I can get as much publicity as I want."

    That surprises me. I am also ttered at hispliment.

    "But sir, we can get the case dismiss right now. In fact, we can reverse the situation."

    I point out hastily.

    His expression change, causing me to be taken back.

    Why did I feel fear for a second? I don''t think he likes me telling him what to do.

    "Hmm..."

    Mr. Maxwell hums before shaking his head.

    "I initially wanted to resolve this matter peacefully, but the other party don''t want to. They have disregard my offer and tell me that they will see me in court. Since they have insulted me when I''ve taken the effort to make peace with them, I will destroy them, preferably legally. The other ways are a bit more messy."

    He gestures his hand dismissively.

    "As for you, Miss Allison, please join me after the preliminary hearing. This is not a request. Well then, see youter. Let''s go, Antigone. It''s time for breakfast. What will we have today?

    Any suggestion?"

    "Hen!"

    The baby girl calls out and shakes her toys excitedly.

    I don''t think she wants a chicken for breakfast. Her teeth haven''te out yet.

    "Hic. Daddy is a bit sad that your first word isn''t going to be me. Hic... but that''s okay. I can''t be mad at you. Hic..."

    And with that, our client heads off with his daughter.

    I wonder what I should do. The right thing would be to close the case as soon as possible. The correct thing would be doing whatever the client wants.

    The right thing isn''t necessary the correct thing.

    Since the firm would want me to do the correct thing, I don''t need to think too much about it anymore.

    "If that is what Mr. Maxwell wants then it is what Mr. Maxwell will have. Our job is to satisfy our client no matter what they demanded, as long as it does not infringe on the interest of the firm. Although in Mr. Maxwell''s case, that particr rule is no longer applied."

    My boss reaffirms my decision once he finishes talking to his colleagues. The other seniors of the firm head off with their assistants.

    "I have talked to the others. This case belongs to us. Or more correctly, it belongs to you. You have done well these past few weeks as my assistant. I am very hesitant to let you go, but even children will have to grow up one day and spread their wings."

    He continues and pats me on the shoulder. I appears that my promotion is set in stone.

    Although I should be happy, I feel sad. I did learn a lot from him since he is a very goodwyers. I don''t think he had ever lost a case before.

    Losing a case isn''t a ground for punishment.

    The firm understands that not all cases are winnable, but as long as the employee learn something in the process, it is considered a win.

    "Let''s head inside as it is almost time for the hearing. Also, I have been informed that you have a date with Mr. Maxwell afterwards, so whatever ns we have this afternoon and evening, consider them cancelled. Please do enjoy your time with Mr. Maxwell. It might open your eyes to many things.

    I know I did when I became a senior."

    I am unsure of what to make of that.

    Regardless, I join my boss in the preliminary hearing.

    As requested by Mr. Maxwell and my boss, I withheld the information on what I have found.

    All the evidences are documented and entered into exhibit after being confirmed on both sides.

    If what our client has admitted yesterday is honestly the truth, then it is rather strange that the other party didn''t notice the tampering of their book before they submitted it into evidence.

    If Mr. Crichton is the original author, he should have known.

    It is like jumping into a spike trap on purpose.

    I shouldn''t think too much about this since this seemingly impossible case at first has be a certain victory.

    With that, the case Crichton vs Terra Entertainment is now public.

    The court also orders the immediate cessation of the book being sold in bookstores all over the United States, pending the oue of the case.

    This causes a massive outcry.

    And the case bes high profile due to the public outcry.

    It is what Mr. Maxwell wanted.

    Speaking of the man, he awaits for me when I exited the courthouse with my boss.

    His baby daughter is no longer with him, so it will probably be all businesses.

    Somehow, I wish his daughter is with him. At least then, I won''t be alone with a lion.

    Actually, my boss is a lion. He is something much worst.

    What I know of him or actually don''t know of him scares me more than a little.

    I am actually very scare.

    "Have a good day, Mr. Simmons. I will be borrowing Miss Allison for a little while. I will have her back to you in one piece tomorrow or the day after, hopefully."

    Mr. Maxwell tells ¨C orders ¨C my boss. My boss gives his farewell and enters his limousine without any further question.

    Wait a second!

    What did he mean by giving me back in one piece? I hope he is only joking.

    It is hard to tell from his calming expression.

    "Walk with me, Miss Allison."

    He requests and begins walking away from the courthouse.

    I have no choice but to follow.

    "I have heard many great things about you from Mr. Simmons, Miss Allison. He holds you in very high regard. And your work is exemry. I believe that you will do very well as a senior of the firm. A ring will be given to you in the uing days and you will be informed of things you might not even have any thought about."

    He pauses for a moment.

    We are standing at a crosswalk. Dozens of people are passing us by.

    "Now that is out of the way, let''s talk about something more important."

    He adds and begins crossing the street.

    "Something more important...?"

    I question as I follow him.

    What could be more important than that?

    "Your photographic memory."

    I swallow hard.

    So it is about that.

    I have always hid my ability of perfectly recall everything I have seen or heard since it feels so unnatural even for eidetic or photographic memory.

    However, nothing can be hidden from the firm. They knows everything about me, from the moment I was born to this very second.

    It is quite scary in fact.

    "What about it, sir? It is just a photographic memory. It helps me remembers what I read more clearly than most people, but it shouldn''t be anything special."

    Maximilienughs and shakes his head.

    "Nothing any special, huh? Please don''t lie to me, Miss Allison. I get a little angry when people do, and you won''t like it when I am angry."

    I tense up.

    He knows!

    He knows!

    Oh my gosh! He knows!

    "I..."

    "Do not worry, Miss Allison. You are the next step in our evolution. I am very curious though, what is the first thing you can remember? Is it when you open your eyes and see your father holding you up with tears in his eyes? Is it as clear as if it just happen a second ago?"

    "Yes..."

    I answer weakly. I actually remember things much earlier than that. I did open my eyes in my mother''s womb, but I think he also knows about that as well.

    "You don''t need to be afraid, Miss Allison. I won''t dissect you or anything like that, but I do need to examine your brain a little. It will probably hurt a little. Alright, I lied. It will hurt a lot. But I promise you that you won''t remember any of it afterwards, and your sacrifice will be greatlypensated."

    I actually want to run away after hearing that.

    However, the entire surrounding change before I could.

    Instead of standing in the middle of the street, crowded with people, I am now in a whiteboratory with several scientists.

    They are expecting me.

    There is a metal chair in the middle of the room. It is surrounded with medical tools.

    "How...? Wait. No! No! Please!"

    They grab me and drag into the chair as I scream and kick, begging them not to.

    They strap me to the seat, locking my arms and legs in ce. My neck and head is held in ce by a metal cor.

    Severalser pointerse out of the cor.

    I don''t think they are just simpleser pointers.

    Those are actualser!

    I can feel the heat!

    They are going to open my head up!

    No!

    No!

    Someone help me!

    Someone please!

    No! No!

    My eyes be watery. No one can save me from this ce, wherever this ce is.

    "It is very unfortunate that we cannot disable your pain receptors... so you will feel everything. But it will be over quickly, Miss Allison."

    Mr. Maxwell tells me calmly, but his words send chills throughout my body.

    Excruciating painse after.

 Chapter 64: Perfect Recall

    Allison wakes up in her bed, screaming in terror.

    It takes more than a few seconds for her to finally calm down and have a good look at her surrounding, finding herself safely in her apartment.

    It is night time and the lights are off, so everything is shrouded in darkness.

    Moonlight streams through the windows and curtains, bathing Allison partially.

    Thest thing she can recalled was being dragged and strapped to a metal chair by scientists. With her arms and legs as well as her neck and head being locked in ce, those people were about to cut her head and skull open to have a look at her brain ¨C while she is still conscious!

    She touches her head with both hands, assuring herself that her brain is still nested inside her unsplit skull.

    Her hands are now coated in cold sweats that caked her hair and body.

    Allison didn''t recall what happened afterwards since she immediately found herself in her bed, so she believes it is just a dream.

    Even as a dream, it feels so real, so very, very real.

    She swears that she could feel the deadly heat from thosesers as they are being powered up to cut through her hair and skin and bone.

    "It is just a dream, just a dream. Calm down Ally, you are not being dissected like some sort ofb rat by the Government. That would be insane! Insane!"

    Allison tells herself with her palm against her forehead.

    It is one of her fears. If anyone figure out what she can really do, they will undoubtedly kidnap her and experiment on her. That is why Allison never tells anyone about her perfect memory, not even her parents or rtives.

    And once her heart regains its normal beating rhythm, she grudgingly drags herself out of her bed and makes her way towards the kitchen.

    She needs coffee ¨C a lot of coffee ¨C to clear her mind and calms her nerves.

    Luckily, someone has made a pot already.

    It is still warm.

    "Good morning, Miss Allison. Or maybe it is good night since it is still dark outside."

    I speak up from the couch since she didn''t seem to notice me on her way to the kitchen.

    She is too preupied with something else, probably wondering who made the coffee.

    I did because I was thirsty. I didn''t really need caffeine to keep myself awake.

    If I want to stay awake, a littlemand to Selene will tell all the nanomachines in my bloodstream to keep my brain working overtime without any side effects.

    Of course, I do sleep since sleeping does help in other ways.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

    Allison responses with a deafening scream while falling backwards against the kitchen counter. She is acting as if she has seen a ghost ¨C or maybe a demon.

    I am not that scary, am I?

    "Can you please shut up?"

    Allison immediately did, but her body remains trembling.

    Her pale lips quivers in fear.

    Her eyes never left me as I get off the couch and stretch my arms.

    I had a good nap after bringing her home and tugging her into bed. I might have even given her a kiss on the forehead and sing her a luby, thinking she was my daughter.

    Well, that isn''t far from the truth ¨C in a sense.

    Is it creepy to watch a beautiful woman sleeping in her room?

    Definitely.

    That is why I doze off on her couch, instead.

    It is totally not creepy at all.

    Joke asides, I pour myself a cup of coffee before handling her one as well.

    "Here, you go. You wanted one, didn''t you? Drink up, you will feel better soon."

    Allison still stares at me, seemingly lost her voice.

    She is too paralyzed with fear to even ept the cup, and it wasn''t until I narrow my eyes in annoyance that she grabs the cup and downs the whole thing before coughing.

    "It wasn''t a dream¡­!"

    Allison utters and tries to calm her raging heart. It is thumping madly.

    "Unfortunately, it isn''t a dream, Miss Allison. It is all real, and we learn a great deal from studying your brain. It is quite remarkable. And I promise you that you won''t remember of it before, didn''t I?"

    I pause. I had thought about letting her have a choice, but the pain might be too much. She is not as strong as Sandra in willpower, unfortunately.

    "Would you like to hear all about it? It is quiet fascinating. Well, at least to me."

    I response and take a sip from my cup before sitting back down on the couch. I look back at her and points at the spot next to me on the couch.

    Allison swallows hard and slowly gets off the ground. I watches her take step by step across the kitchen and sits where I told her to.

    She is quiet obedience now that she fully understands it is impossible to run away from me.

    "Are¡­ are you¡­ are¡­ you¡­ going¡­"

    "Please stop stuttering, Miss Allison. It''s very hard to understand what you are saying. If you are asking about whether I''m going to experiment on you again then the answer is no. We have learned all that we need to from your biology. We have also mapped out your brain for simtion. If we want to do more experiment, we could always clone you and then study the clones instead."

    I answer truthfully with a smile.

    That seems to calm her down a little.

    "What¡­ what did you learn?"

    Allison asks hesitantly. She is also curious about her ability. She has heard about plenty of people with eidetic and photographic memory, but they are not as perfect as hers.

    The moment she takes a nce at anything, she can recall it perfectly even without meaning to.

    "What you have already figure out yourself, Miss Allison. You have a perfect memory. We call it Perfect Recall. The moment you see or hear something, you can recall it perfectly. Your brain is more akin to aputer hard drive, capable of storing and recalling information without any losses. Unfortunately, there is a reason why a normal brain tends to forget useless things."

    I answer before exhaling deeply.

    The woman didn''t seem to understand what I am implying, so I guess I will have to spell it out for her.

    "It means that you are dying or will be soon, Miss Allison. By our very good estimation, you won''t live pass 30 years old because your mind will start to deteriorate rapidly sometimes in the next couple of years. This is because your brain will run out of space, and instead of deleting all the useless stuffs, it will try to hold onto everything at the expense of your own wellbeing."

    Her eyes widen.

    She refuses to believe it. She only has less than a decade to live!?

    "I''m¡­ going to die?"

    Her eyes be watery.

    She has only begin living just now with a stable job and great ie, and now she has learned she is going to die.

    The shock is immense.

    "It doesn''t need to be. We know what the problem is, and we can fix it easily. If you do something for me, I will make sure that you will live over 100 years in perfect health andfort. You don''t even need to give up that ability of yours. In fact, I wouldn''t want you to."

    I point out and ce my cup on the mini table by the side of the couch.

    Her ability ¨C Perfect Recall ¨C could be said as the next step in human evolution.

    The 31st century has proved that the human body can be so much more.

    That is why augmentation exists in the first ce.

    It isn''t so much about introducing nanomachines to the human body and strengthen its immune system, it is about rewriting the human genome and unlocking the hidden potential within.

    Rapid Regeneration. Perfect Memory. Super Strength. Super Speed ¨C just to name a few.

    These are all theoretically possible, but the human body never meant to exhibit these kinds of abilities due to the immense stress.

    For example, superstrength or superspeed may sounds fun and all, but the metabolism must keep up with the increased energy requirement by the muscles.

    Usually it doesn''t, causing the person to starve to death regardless of how much they eat. Their stomach simply unable to extract energy fast enough to keep their body alive.

    A real-life example is Allison. Her mind won''t be able to keep storing information endlessly. It will shut down due to overload, and when it does, she will be braindead.

    Those that demonstrated some signs of evolved human abilities usually don''t get to live long into old age and have children, passing on the necessary genes.

    Allison looks at me and blinks.

    "Something for you, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Allison utters weakly. Her mind seems to know what I want. There could only be one thing.

    A man and a woman alone in a room ¨C what else could it be?

    "Yes, something for me, Miss Allison. Do you know what it is?"

    I question as I lean closer to her. The couch is quite small, allowing me to be right in her face.

    Allison immediately backs away until her back is against the armrest of the couch.

    "No¡­ I don''t, Mr. Maxwell."

    Allison mumbles and looks away from me. There is a red tint upon her cheeks.

    Is she blushing? Yes, she is!

    I suppose I am a good catch, after all. Being young, handsome and extremely wealthy. I am also a good father if anyone has noticed me with Antigone.

    "Since you don''t, I will tell you outright, Miss Alison. I want you to give me a baby. Can you do that for me?"

    Allison takes a moment to give me a light nod, shyly. She closes her eyes and waits for a kiss.

    "Alright then."

    I get off the couch abruptly.

    "We will find out which of your co-workers is a perfect match for you, gically. It is to ensure your ability get pass onto the next generation. Over time, your descendants will live a long and healthy life without our help, as evolution is a wonderful thing."

    This is the beauty of natural selection.

    Allison is speechless. She seems to be pissed about something.

    I wonder what it could be.

 Chapter 65: Allison McBill

    Of course, I know what Allison is thinking.

    She had thought that I would take her right there and then on the couch.

    Allison was even ready for it, waiting for me to take the initiative with her eyes closed.

    I would be a fool not to, even if I have no desire to father anymore offspring at the moment.

    Sex would be simply for pleasure.

    Something to be enjoyed by both parties involved.

    It doesn''t necessary mean anything in the long run unless I wanted it to.

    I am not oblivious to the fact like so many, many and many characters in those fictional Japanese and Chinese stories that I have immersed myself in before my power awakens.

    It is quite amazing that those protagonists can keep their pants on for any period of time, especially when they are constantly being surrounded by a plethora of heavenly-defying jade-skin beauties or huge-breasts goddesses, who desired nothing more in life than to jump the protagonist''s bone.

    Let''s not talk about the lolicon fascination.

    If I was one of those protagonists, the adventure would be filled with endless debauchery.

    That is a fact.

    To be honest, when I first gained some controls over my power, I have thought about jumping back to the distant past and y God for a few centuries or so.

    No one in ancient Egypt or Babylon can stop me ¨C probably.

    With my absolute dominion over time, I would be seen like a literal God.

    Those ancient humans would have worshiped me as such, carrying out all my desires and wishes, regardless whatever they may be.

    However, I fear that something unexpected might have happened if I go back to the past and y God without any preparation.

    Meeting someone like Terra for example.

    To y it safe, I had jumped to the future to upgrade myself first and get ess to all those wonderful technologies.

    My whole ns changed then when I realize humanity always ended up extinct regardless of whatever path they take. It''s like it is in their nature to destroy each other over stupid reasons.

    If humanity is more unified, I would have at least 41st millennium tech to y with.

    Sadly, humanity''s conflicting interests will be their undoing.

    The future has shown me that it is almost a certainty that humanity will go extinct, if they are not in the 31st century then it will be in theter centuries. But if there even a tiny shred of possibility in all the impossibilities, I will try to find it.

    That is one of the many reasons to why I amying brick by brick, wall after wall, building up foundation after foundation instead of just fuck it all and take over the world forcefully.

    I do have the military might to do so.

    Hell, I can do it alone if I wanted to.

    In fact, I kind of did the first time around.

    However, it does not go well, as I have seen the constant riots and rebellions throughout the gxy.

    I might have done too many things too quickly to cause such an unsalvageable scenario.

    People doesn''t like changes too quickly.

    Furthermore, I am only one person, I can''t really be everywhere at the same time.

    It is also fucking annoying, listening to all the boring politics and everyone craps.

    And once those goddamn rebels hijacked a few destroyers, it bes a gxy-wide war. Corruptions within the Senates I had set up crumbling away the entire Gctic Empire.

    Oppression is not the way to prosperity.

    So, this second time around, I will do thing a little bit differently.

    The new n is called the road to imperium.

    The Gctic Empire is dead, hail to the Hydra Imperium!

    It is a very catchy name.

    Hydra ys the bad guyst time around for the Gctic Empire to rise, as ording to my n. This time, I think they should be the good guy, instead.

    When the world gone to shit, who wille and save them?

    Hail Hydra!

    I also spend a lot more time taking care of things personally instead of jumping ahead and reaping the benefits repeatedly like before.

    It did not go well thest time around since I am out of the loops most of the time. Those damn higher ups go rogue when I am missing in action for years at a time.

    This time is also different because I must contend with those temporal rifts.

    Their existences open a whole new dimension for me, so I wee the new change. At least, I will get to see how other alternate realities prosper far into the future. I might learn a thing or two and adjust my n ordingly.

    Magic is also a bonus.

    I will need to experiment with magic to learn its secret like Terra had advised me to.

    Magic is the primary cause of speeding up the terraforming n of thes and moons within the sr system.

    I can''t test magic on Earth for obvious reasons.

    And just like this apartment building that Allison is living in and all its inhabitants cohabiting together, everything I do is an experiment or a work in progress.

    If sessful, the experiment will spread to the rest of the world.

    If not, it will be a good lesson.

    I am very flexible that way.

    As for Allison herself, she is quite a lovely beauty with shoulder-length golden blond hair framing her distinctive facial features, especially that starling emerald eyes of hers.

    Like I have said, I would be a fool not to ept her invitation to have sex.

    It will be very enjoyable for the both of us. Furthermore, she won''t feelpletely silly when morninges, remembering this moment.

    I think I have embarrassed her enough.

    If I was anyone else, Allison would have thrown me out of her room in anger and frustration.

    Unfortunately, there is a nagging problem in the back of my head. It isn''t a big problem, as only two other persons know about the secret.

    However, is it moral?

    "Are you attracted to me, Miss Allison?"

    I question as I bend forwards, putting my face closer to her.

    Allison nods slowly and lowers her head, averting her eyes.

    My lips form a charming smile while an index finger holds her chin up, connecting our gaze once more.

    "I am also attracted to you, Miss Allison. You are a beautiful woman, and I think you will be so much more in the future. Since we both consenting adults, I don''t think there is anything wrong with this."

    I give her a kiss ¨C just a light one at first.

    It is to test the water. Although I could force myself upon her, I find that consensual sex does have its enticements.

    Sandra Bullock has corrupted me!

    Well, I corrupted her in return, so touch¨¦.

    As I begin to straighten myself, Allison wraps her arms and hands around my neck, pulling me in for a much deeper kiss.

    Our tongues dance, exchanging sweet nectars for more than a minute before separating once more.

    Allison pants when our lips are parted. Her chest heaves, and the coat sweat coating her body makes her steamy hot.

    And in that moment, I feel that moral be damned!

    I smile and lift Allison up into my arms. Her arms reciprocate by gripping my shoulder for the needed support as I head into the bedroom.

    Although Allison lives here by herself, her bed is approximately king size. It allows us to have plenty of freedom.

    Allison holds onto the headrest with both hands, gasping and moaning as I take her from behind.

    Fuck forey! We can do that afterwards.

    My raging cock pierces through her body repeatedly as my hands grip her slender waist.

    The taboo nature of this makes it feel even hotter, strangely enough.

    I bottom out in her just before she cocks her head around and locks lips with me. Using the opportunity presented, my hands roll up her body, caressing up her stomach and squeezing her perky breasts.

    "Mr. Maxwell¡­"

    Allison moans as her lips parted. Our eyes remain locked, however.

    My hip buckles, resuming its feverish pounding and forcing her on all four again. Her pussy tightens as she meets my thrusts, letting me feel the blissful pleasure rolling all over my shaft, from base to crown.

    Her ass ripples each time my cockpletely sheaths inside of her. My balls contract, letting me know the impending climax.

    I lock the floodgate as I continue to pound Allison, wanting her to cum with me.

    From the way her body shivers with each powerful thrust, it won''t be long.

    As my body works Allison, my mind recalls that day almost 25 years ago very clearly.

    Allison isn''t the only one who has perfect memory recall.

    It was in a room with Doctor Mathew and his friend, Doctor Gordon, the head of Infinite Health.

    "As it may be, Doctor Mathew. I do not want to wait around for several centuries for the first advance human to appear. By then, it will be pointless."

    I tell the doctor as I check the holographic disy in front of my chair.

    Blood is being drawn out of my arm by a machine to my side. Since I have determined that my power has nothing to do with my physical body, my blood doesn''t need to be kept top secret.

    "It is difficult to synthesis the required sequence without a live sample, Mr. Maxwell."

    Doctor Mathew states as he checks the machine, making sure no nanomachines have been drawn out with the blood. If they did, they are return to me.

    "I am the live sample. My biology has been changed over all these years by my augmentation. Use my blood to synthesis the retrovirus. Even if the sess rate is at 0.1%, it is more than enough for us. If there are some babies born with evolved or heightened abilities, we will have made great progress for humanity."

    I state and look at Doctor Gordon, questioning about whether he has any idea to spread the retrovirus.

    "We can include it in pregnancy vitamins and minerals. I am a very troubled by the underlying ethics and moral of this, Mr. Maxwell. Your retrovirus will insert a copy of your genome into the host''s DNA. Although it is just a small part of your biology, you will be effectively fathering thousands if not millions of children."

    "Your concern is noted, Doctor Gordon. If this is too difficult for your conscient, I will have someone else do it, instead. And they might not care for the host as much as you do."

    In the end, Doctor Gordon carries out my secret n.

    Without this n of mine, people like Allison would not have been born, as humanity has not evolved enough to gain heightened or superhuman abilities like Perfect Recall.

    Even in the 31st century, only a handful were born.

    That is right, Allison has inherited her perfect recall ability from me thanks to all the supplements her mother had taken during her pregnancy.

    However, hers is a more evolved form than mine since mother nature is a very good scientist.

    "Ugh¡­"

    I grunt and m home repeatedly, holding tightly onto her body as she moans loudly. Her love juices coat my cock, running down my balls, dripping onto the sheet.

    "Fuck!"

    My balls contract, pumping the baby batter up the shaft and explodes inside of her, flooding her inside and womb.

    She screams loudly at the flooding before I capture her lips and continue to pound her tight cunt, pumping out the rest of seeds.

    Luckily, I am infertile, or I would be knocking up my own daughter ¨C in a sense.

    This really makes me think hard about the future.

 Chapter 66: The Morning After

    I spend the rest of the night in bed, staring the ceiling while a beautiful woman resting upon my chest, sleeping rather soundly.

    My fingers stroke her bare back gently and yfully, feeling the smoothness of her skin.

    Our legs are entwined beneath the warm nket.

    Allison desires me partly due to her basic instinct, wishing to mate with an Alpha male.

    Even with her fear, she is unable to contain the growing feelings.

    That feeling only strengthened when shees to understand that I always keep my promises.

    Furthermore, the closed environment of the apartment building also changes some of her perception subconsciously.

    Even if Allison doesn''t join most of the people living here in their cohabitations, it is hard not to notice their intimate rtionships and question herself.

    It is subtle reprogramming.

    When in Rome, do what the Romans do.

    But it might also have something to do with the familial connection between us.

    In a sense, Allison is my daughter along with countless others.

    I obviously didn''t bang her mother and father her the normal way.

    That is her actual father''s job ¨C the man who has raised and loved her.

    I did something else entirely. Something that I am not too proud off, hence the upmost secrecy even within my secret organization.

    Ironic, isn''t it?

    The retrovirus that supplemented the prenatal vitamins Infinite Health has marketed throughout thest few decades inserts a part of my biology into the growing fetus.

    So many mothers in the United States and all over the world take the prenatal supplements due to its effectiveness and rtively cheap pricings ever since 1975.

    They have no clue what they are subjecting their unborn baby to, but I do make sure that the retrovirus does not cause miscarriage 99.9% of the time.

    It is impossible to get 100% due to everyone having different biology. Side effects will always happen regardless.

    Regardless, it is necessary to bring forth the next evolutionary step in human.

    That will happen naturally over time, but why should I wait centuries when I could do something about it? Waiting around for something to happen is also dumb.

    However, a paternal test between Allision and me will not reveal anything. We are not actually father and daughter. It is more of progenitor and inheritor rtionship.

    I have already confirmed that familial rtionship between us the day before yesterday.

    It is when Hydra had experimented upon her.

    Allison is as much my descendant as Antigone is.

    The only difference is that Antigone is my direct daughter while Allison would be like my great, great granddaughter ¨C depends on how much of her DNA has been altered by the retrovirus.

    That doesn''t make it less wrong though.

    It is still incest, I believe.

    Thankfully, Allison will never have to know.

    Only three people know about this, including me.

    And I prefer it to be that way.

    The reason I am not too proud of what I did is because I am unable to care for all my descendants like I would for Antigone.

    There is simply too many of them to keep track off.

    Even with Shield Surveince Network, only about a third of the babies are ounted for in the United States, not to mention the rest of the world.

    And not all of them exhibits abilities like Allison.

    In fact, only about 0.001% of the baby born between 1975 to 1990 do ¨C which is still a lot considering millions of people take the supplements.

    Infinite Health even give those supplements out for free to those that are unable to afford it. It is part of their n for better health and longevity for everyone.

    This makes thepany has great public opinion, worldwide.

    Of course, some dumbasses still try to sue thepany for absurd reasons.

    Due to my advance biology, Antigone is an evolved human. Her brain function is off chart even though she is only 5 months old.

    Well, she is approaching 6 months now.

    Therefore, I am sure Antigone is somewhat aware of her surroundings. How much she is aware is still to be seen, but I do hope she doesn''t inherit my non-biological ability.

    It will be a pain in the ass to track her down if she starts jumping through time.

    Antigone is beginning to talk now, but her first damn word is Heinz.

    It makes me sad, more than a little.

    I will strive for her second word then. It shall be ''daddy'', I swear of it!

    If she doesn''t, I will jump back in time and try again!

    "Mr. Maxwell¡­?"

    Allison mumbles when the first light enters the bedroom. She wakes up very early each day due to her job as Mr. Simmons'' assistant.

    She isn''t any more since she has been promoted to senior.

    I didn''t show any favoritism on ount of her being my daughter.

    Great, great granddaughter is a mouthful. I will just call her daughter for simplicity.

    Allison earned her promotion with her talent and skill alone. Her perfect memory helps a lot, but that can''t really be called cheating.

    People are not born equal.

    If they did, the world wouldn''t be so disunified.

    And the entire wealth wouldn''t be owned by a single person ¨C me.

    That is a joke. I don''t own the world ¨C yet.

    Somepanies are resisting my hostile takeover, and some people are beginning to investigate a lot of my holdings and corporations.

    Several Governments do as well, including the United States. The temporal rifts incident couldn''t truly be contained. Someone saw. Someone talked. Now the Government knows.

    I have already given the heads up by all the moles I have nted in those Governments.

    CIA and FBI are already beenpromised by Shield.

    The shes against the United States Government will be inevitable, but I am prepared.

    "Did you have a good night sleep, Miss Allison? I hope you do because I am such a great pillow."

    I response, causing her to blush.

    Allison pulls immediately herself off my chest.

    The nket follows her, revealing my entire nakedness and a very erected member.

    Her blushing grows when she can see my entire body far clearer thanst night. I am not only a looker, but I am also well endowed.

    It is thanks to my constant workout as well as the nanomachines in my bloodstream.

    The nanomachines can keep expanding and contracting my muscles, forcing the muscle fibers to get into shape.

    "There is no need to be embarrassed, Miss Allison. I had a great timest night, and I believe that you did too. Although I would love it if you do something about this. It has been awake all of the night."

    It didn''t take more than for her to wrap her fingers around my shaft and gives it a tug.

    She strokes my cock experimentally before easing herself into it.

    Her mouth soon enclosed around the mushroom head, sucking on it.

    "Oh, that''s nice. Take it in a little deeper."

    I request as my hand presses on the back of her head, helping her taking my cock deep into her mouth and throat, inch by inch.

    Allison gags when she reaches the base before pulling back for breath.

    My cock is coated with her saliva, jerking excitedly.

    Allison continues to work my shaft until I reward her effort with a creamy breakfast. It is probably the first time someone came in her mouth since she couldn''t stand the strong taste.

    Some of my seeds even spill out of her lips. She tries to stop it with both hands, cutely.

    Her distasteful expression could be seen despite her effort to try and swallow the mouthful.

    And after a few rather difficult gulps, Allison manages to get streaming down her throat and finally in her stomach.

    I chuckle at her effort and pat her on the head like a little girl before having her bouncing on my cock, moaning and groaning erotically.

    We didn''t head out of the bedroom for breakfast until I pump two steamy loads into her cunt.

    Her ass is still a virgin, so I will im itter.

    "We don''t really need to go anywhere for breakfast, Miss Allison. It wille to us."

    I speak up and tap my finger on the kitchen counter.

    The Hydra ring in my hand glows brightly before a mechanical whizzing could be heard.

    The kitchen counter descended into the floor, leaving a rectangr hole.

    A new machine emerges from the hole, causing Allison to stare in shock. There is a reason why there are huge gaps between the floors of the building.

    There are also a lot of hidden secrets in the building, only avable for Hydra and Shield members.

    "This is food synthesizer, Miss Allison. It can make any kind of meal you wish. If what you want is not on the list, you can put in a request and it will have it as soon as possible."

    Of course, there is a fabricator dedicated to fabricating foods.

    A perfect meal can be created each time thanks to its molecr assembler.

    Foods and drinks are just a bunch of atoms string together, mostly carbons, hydrogens and oxygens.

    It isn''t moreplicated than building a war machine or cloning a person.

    Therefore, most people in the future didn''t even bother to leave their houses.

    "This is one of the benefits as a senior of the firm. Now, please, take a seat and join me for breakfast, Miss Allison."

    Allision still is in shocked. She would continuously be in shocked for the next few days as she is given a ring and introduction to Hydra.

    Her perception of the entire world really has changed that day.

 Chapter 67: Crushing Defeat

    Regardless of the new changes in her life, Allison returns to work as soon as she is able.

    This is because of my little copyright problem.

    Allison wants to close the case to my satisfaction.

    Only then, she will be able to take on more clients without worrying too much about anything else.

    It shouldn''t take much effort, considering that I have alreadyid out the foundation for her.

    Most of the seniors from the firm already figure out the hidden message, since they are just that good at noticing things. And because they are unsure which of them have figured it out first, none of them request for the rewards.

    It isn''t like they arecking in money.

    Aside from their very generous sry, the firm provides everything and much more. It takes good care of its employee and severely punishes anyone who dare to vite its policy and integrity.

    Like every subsidiary belonging to Chrono Holdings, if you are a professional, then you will be treated like a professional.

    There can be no bullshits at the workce.

    I have learnt a hard lesson that any kind of bullshits open rooms for more bullshits. Being considerate and nice to people will allow them to walk all over you.

    "Good morning, Mr. Maxwell."

    Allison greets me at the courthouse.

    Although it is unnecessary for me to be here, I still want to attend to give her my support.

    Didn''t believe that?

    Heh. You''re right.

    Why the hell would I do such a thing even if she is rted to me.

    And Allison doesn''t need my support since she knows she is going to win.

    I am here for another reason. A much more fun reason.

    Her old boss, Mr. Simmons is no longer with her as he has his own clients to attend to.

    Allison has a new assistant now, considering her current position at the firm. She isn''t the youngest to make senior, but she is still very young. Most seniors get there when they are in their thirties.

    It is just not that easy to make senior at the firm, let alone partners. Partners are people of the inner circles, having the power tomand Hydra and its division. They only take care of things when there no other options, at least legally.

    "Please, we are more than just friends, Allison. Call me Max."

    I response with a smile. We did have sex several times already, so we should be on first name basis.

    Allison blushes lightly before heading into the courtroom with me. The judge is not there yet since it is not time.

    However, the other party is already there along with a few spectators.

    Allison greets the otherwyer, and the man did the same. It is justmon courtesy.

    "Good morning, Mr. Crichton. Have you given another thought to my offer? It is still stand."

    I greet the man.

    This is the second time I have talked to him. The first time is just before the preliminary hearing. I only give him the offer since I feel somewhat guilty for stealing his work.

    Unfortunately, Michael Crichton is a very proud person. He despises those who dare to im his work as their own, so for someone like me, who steals his work ¨C well, you can guess.

    Furthermore, he has won every case against him, making his confidence through the roof. He believes that this will be the same.

    There is no reason to doubt it otherwise.

    "I have already told you what I think of your offer. No amount of money orpensation is adequate for what you did. You think you can steal my work and im it as your own? I don''t know how you did it, but I will see to it that you will never be able to publish anything ever again!"

    Michael Crichton tells me. He is about to say more, but hiswyer stops him.

    "That is very harsh, Mr. Crichton. In that case, I will withdraw my offer. You will find that this is one of those moments in your life that you wish you have a second chance. Well, third chance. Let''s us fight it out in court, huh?

    It shouldn''t be too long."

    I response and sit down next to Allison. I give her a smile. She reciprocates before passing me a small handwritten note, asking whether I am free this evening.

    What are we? Schoolkids?

    I draw a smiley face and pass it back to her before chilling until the judge and the jury arrives. I didn''t bother to buy out the jury. I could totally do that, but it is pointless.

    "Good morning, everyone. I see that both Mr. Crichton and Mr. Maxwell is here for the case. I did not see any of them during the preliminary hearing. I have reviewed the case and I have found everything is in order.

    Is there any other document or item either party wish to enter into exhibit?"

    The judge asks once he takes his seat.

    "No, your honor."

    Allison and the otherwyer answer. I didn''t need to do anything but sit there and look pretty.

    I did scan around the room and notice Sandra Bullock is presented in the courtroom.

    Sandra should be at the auditoriums, working with the stage crew and practicing her acting skills, but I guess she take this morning off toe and give me some support.

    Everyone knows about thepany being sued for theft. They hope that it won''t affect thepany in anyway.

    They like working for Terra Entertainment since the sries and bonuses are very generous.

    Sharon Stone has taken the lead in Sleepless in Seattle. It is currently being filmed alongside with The Fugitive and Speed around Los Angeles. I don''t need to attend the filming, but I do drop by to see how my actresses are doing.

    Halle is happy to see me. Sharon is not so much. Sandra is too much. Jennifer is missing in action.

    Maybe I should gather more actresses when this is over.

    Even if there are no movies or serial television shows for them at the moment, they can use the time to get familiar with thepany and its working.

    "Ahem. Let''s begin."

    The judge tells everyone before outlining what the case is about. He gestures at me when referring to Terra Entertainment and Mr. Crichton when referring to Mr. Crichton.

    Since it a straight forward case since every pieces of item are documented and notarized, giving them authenticity.

    "Is there anything else to add?"

    The judge asks.

    "If I may, your honor. Mr. Crichton has imed that my client, Terra Entertainment has stolen his work and published it under the alias M.C. However, I wish to contest this and prove to you, your honor and everyone present that it is in fact it is Mr. Crichton that is in the wrong."

    Allison speaks up.

    "Groundless usation, your honor!"

    The otherwyer calls out.

    "That is to be seen. Please continue, Miss McBill."

    The Judge responses.

    Allison nods and picks up the copy of Jurassic Park. It is the one that has been published and is currently in cirction even if its sale is on hold.

    "In my hand is a copy of Jurassic Park published by my client. It is in fact an exact copy of the exhibit A, submitted by the intiff."

    Allison states and pick up the copy by Michael Crichton.

    "I will use the Mr. Crichton''s original version to demonstrate. If you please turn to page 1 first sentence and take note of the first bold word then page 3, take note of the first bold word¡­"

    Allison directs the Judge as well as the Jury to collect each letter.

    By the time they reached the tenth letter, everyone is already gasping.

    All the letters are at the edge of the page, so if a person flips through the page very fast, they can read the entire sentence easily.

    Michael Crichton stands up and nearly drops his book when he realizes the message.

    He couldn''t believe what had just happened. He snaps towards me and rushes to my table to give me a beating. He has been had, and it just overturns the entire case.

    It is hrious to see his face.

    Whispers and murmurs erupt in the courtroom once they collect all the letter.

    "Silence."

    The Judge hammers, bringing silent back to the room.

    "So, what do you make of this Mr. Crichton?"

    The Judge asks, looking at the man.

    Some people in the courtroom did wonder why the Judge keep referring to Mr. Crichton instead of hiswyer, who is utterly loss for words.

    That is because the Judge is in my pocket just in case. I did tell him to judge fairly since it is unnecessary, considering I have already tampering with the work.

    Michael Crichton didn''t even check his own work before submitting it in into evidence. He is so damn sure and full of himself, considering he is the one who had written the book.

    Pride is one thing, but don''t let pride turns you into an idiot.

    "He did it! I don''t know how, but he did it!"

    Michael shouts. Hiswyer rephrases his usation into proper term for the Judge.

    "Yeah, totally. I did it ¨C somehow."

    Iugh, causing Allison to re at me.

    It is an admission of guilt, but meh.

    It isn''t like what I say is being recorded.

    Oh wait ¨C

    I cough and continue.

    "But it is not what you know, Mr. Crichton. It is what you can prove. So, please prove it. If you can''t, I will sue you for stealing my work and false usation. And are youpletely sure that all of your previous works are yours?"

    I produce a copy of the Andromeda Strain to prove a point.

    It is a book that Michael published in 1969. It is also one of his earlier novels.

    I flip through the pages before whistling loudly.

    "This is the property of Henry Oxford. Please do not distribute it without my permission."

    That is the message hidden between the lines. I would have used my name like Jurassic Park, but sadly, I was a baby back in 1969 as ording to my false identification and documents.

    People would definitely question that part if I used my name.

    Nobody would notice the hidden message unless they look a little bit closer. Actually, there are several hidden messages in each book for insurance. I didn''t need to resort to them.

    The simple message nearly causes Michael Crichton to spill out blood. His pride and confidence shatter in a fragile piece of ss.

    He couldn''t believe that I have tampered with all his works, making it seems that he has stolen them from others. More than that, he has stolen it from one of the most powerful man in America.

    "So, can we sue him for everything, Miss Allison? I''m sure all his works are stolen from various people. He will be buried under a ton of legal proceedings."

    I pause before eyeing the man.

    "And Mr. Oxford would really love to have a chat with him."

    Hearing the Oxford''s name is like getting hit by a train.

    "You bastard!"

    The Judge hammers his gavel repeatedly, demanding order.

    However, his request pale inparison to a single sentenceing from the door.

    "Is it really, Mr. Crichton? You should have taken the offer."

    Henry speaks up, calmly.

    Everyone gasps.

    His appearance in such a small civil case has blown the whole case wide-open. It is something I have nned for allowing him to see his oldest daughter again. He has been talking to her for thest couple of weeks. Her sentence is about to begin as soon as this case is over.

    Michael nearly passes out at seeing Henry Oxford.

    Hiswyer also wants to get far away from here as possible.

    I guess the case is over with the intiff being scared shitless.

    Time to torture Marian Oxford.

    Oh wait, I need to kidnap a few children before condemning her. I did promise to help my little mother with her bullying problem.

    Hmmm¡­

 Chapter 68: Magic System

    After this, I don''t think I need to attend the court case in the future.

    It is unnecessary. It is also because I already have my fun.

    I have seen what I needed to see.

    Any more would be pointless and a waste of time.

    Allison will take care of the rest for me.

    That is her job after all, and she is quiet good at it from what I can understand.

    Mr. Simmons has given her all thepliments in the world.

    And he isn''t a one to brag needlessly. None of the seniors at the firm are. They will givepliments as well as critics when it is due.

    I like people like that. Direct and straight forwards when working, no bullshits and right to the point.

    I will have dinner with Allison tonight to show how much I have appreciated her work.

    Maybe it will lead to more ¨C probably.

    As for Henry Oxford, his sudden appearance in the courtroom takes away the spotlight from me.

    Due to his status, he is rarely seen in public.

    And whenever he is in public, the media and paparazzi follows him everywhere.

    Even the people in the jury are not paying attention to me or the other party any more. Our case has be secondary in the presence of Henry Oxford.

    People in the courtroom and outside in the hallway questions why Henry is here.

    The case against me and mypany is still fairly low profile despite all the publicity it has generated over thest few days.

    Furthermore, this particr case shouldn''t concern someone as powerful as Henry Oxford.

    In front of so many cameras and people, Henry reveals that Chrono Holdings is the parentpany of Terra Entertainment.

    It is about time I let the general public know.

    Riding the current publicity of the case, it will push Terra Entertainment into the starlight. The media will talk about this for a whole week, possibly more.

    That is a good thing. And it is exactly what I am hoping for.

    And contrary to what people are currently saying, this court case does concern Henry himself since he still is the chairman of Chrono Holdings.

    That is another nail or two in the coffin for Mr. Cricton.

    Anyone who have ever tried to sue Chrono Holdings is in a world of pain, financially and emotionally.

    Chrono Holdings is so well connected and funded so many multi-billions dors corporations through its banking subsidiary, Chrono Reserves, in United States that even the Government thinks twice about suing it.

    I am sure that Chrono Holdings vs the United States legal battle will happen sooner orter, if not for all the illegal dealings thepany has done in the past then it is for the obvious monopoly.

    If someone takes the time to go through every transaction by thepany and its subsidiaries, it will be very clear that thepany directly controls about 80% of the financial and economic sector in the United States.

    That is a ground for awsuit.

    I am very looking forwards to that particr legal battle, as it will demonstrate why Chrono Holdings is untouchable, not even by the United States Government.

    Furthermore, Oxford Enterprise also has stake in mypany.

    It is one of the major shareholders, as I don''t mind Henry making money from my ns.

    Money to me is growing more and more meaningless. When I can create literally money from nothing with my power, it really lost all meaning.

    Aside from simply exchanging courteous greeting with Henry Oxford, I did not speak to him on my way out of the courthouse. Talking to him too long so will likely create another situation like Reba.

    One beautiful girl dying in a fiery explosion after forcibly driving off a cliff at my hands is enough.

    Also, it is boring to repeat the same thing. The next time some dumbass reporters try to exploit things that everyone has told them not, I will just send a death squad to take care of it quickly.

    I have a look at Mr. Crichton outside the courthouse.

    The man looks ghastly, all alone.

    Hisywer has bolted on the ount of Henry Oxford.

    Now firm in the United States would dare to go against Henry. Even if they manage to win and it is a very, very big if, Henry will buy out the firm and crush the ones who dare to challenge him.

    Although I am the in wrong for stealing his work, I did warn Michael about refusing my offer.

    It isn''t a bad offer per se.

    If Michael had epted the offer, he would get to be the original author of the book as well as having the chance to direct the movie.

    I have already nned it from the start with the initial M.C. ¨C it obviously stands for Michael Crichton.

    There is no need to hide that. He might thought I am toozy to change the initial.

    I didn''t really need to hold onto the copyright of his intellectual property. I just need the unrestricted right to distribute and reproduction. That alone will give me the mean to achieve my goals.

    Sadly, Mr. Crichton has to let his ego wins over him.

    True, there are many ways to reach the same goal, but those other ways are not fun at all.

    Plus, doing something like this aplishes several things simultaneously.

    I like to kill a lot of birds with one bullet, so I like to line them all up before I take a shot.

    In addition, I just love to see people falling for traps I haveid out tantly for them in in sight.

    If they just let go of their prides and egos, they would have notice my trap and avoid it skilfully.

    It is not that hard, honestly.

    "How are you, Miss Bullock? Care to join for lunch? I am starving after getting yelled at and almost get thrashed around in court."

    I ask after I have paid enough attention to Michael Crichton.

    What happened to the man from now on is no longer my concern. He has made his choice, and I am not a nice enough person to constantly giving him chances.

    Sandra epts my offer. We have a wonderful lunch together with Antigone.

    I pick my daughter up at thepany on my way to my favourite restaurant. They did not use a food synthesizer to make my meal. I don''t need to check. I know from the unique taste alone.

    The Synthesizer is great at duplicating a meal, but it can never create a unique taste each time.

    Due to Antigone being with us, Sandra and I didn''t get to enjoy ourselves after lunch, so another time perhaps. She also has to return to work after lunch. It isn''t really her day off.

    Sandra tells me that she is looking for a ce to live.

    I remind her that thepany will provide her one at her request.

    Even so, Sandra wants to look for one herself. And she wants me to apany her, so I suppose I will have to make time for her.

    Woman is so needy.

    After lunch, I return to thepany and check the progress on all my ns.

    Most of my ns are on track. Some are on hold because of the emergence of the temporal rifts at an unexpected time.

    I cannot do anything about that, but I can do something about the current state of the electronic andputing sector. Mypany needs a lot moreputing power for postproductions of my movies and films.

    Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and their respectivepanies are needed to be added into the loop.

    They are currently trying to figure out ways to salvage their situations brought on by the unveiling of the LCD screen. Apple and Microsoft have long-term contracts withpanies who are using obsolete disy technology, and if they break the contract, they will have to pay millions.

    In fact, a lot ofputer and softwarepanies.

    It creates a nice situation where I can swoop in and save many of them, earning their graces. Well, not me personally since no one knows I am secretly controlling the entire market.

    "Please request a meeting with Mr. Jobs and Mr. Gates as soon as possible, Cassandra."

    I tell the receptionist once I have make a timeslot for them. I will invite others to join them as well to give my word some weights. My appearance probably won''t earn them any confidence.

    "Yes sir, Mr. Maxwell. Will that be all?"

    Cassandra answers.

    "That will be all, for now. Thank you, Cassandra."

    I response and then hang up. I spend the rest of the day drafting up more screenys with Sandra and Jennifer in mind.

    They will need to star in their own movies.

    I also feed Antigone and sing her to sleep.

    When that is all done, I request Hydra to prepare an assault team for me as well as a ck site. I have a bunch of kids to kidnap along with my mother.

    It will be fun, but I will need to wait until early evening, when they are finally heading home from their school.

    With a couple of hours still left on the clock, I decide to continue experimenting with my newest ability, summoning. I gain it after gaining a summon.

    I have tried the summoning a few times when I first return to the prime universe. It to make sure that Terra didn''t lie to me. For someone like her, I didn''t think she would, but I still needed to make sure.

    Summoning is as simple as calling a name and think about the summoned.

    "Elune Whisperwind."

    I call out with her image in mind.

    Summoning needs both amand and a mental thought.

    A magical portal appears at my request, allowing Elune to pass through, leaving her world and entering mine.

    She is wearing a very revealing attire akin to a bikini, covering her crotch and her breast only. A dagger holstered around her hips and bow around her shoulder and back as usual.

    "Greeting, Master. How may I serve you?"

    Elune greets me, kneeling. She calls me Master.

    There is a certain charm to that.

    Elune is a Hunter in her society.

    She has been for thest thousand years, as soon as she reaches adulthood. She is not immortal, but she has extremely long lifespan. An elf of her world can live for tens if not hundred thousands of years, which is far longer than any human could possibly live.

    I will dissect her to find out how she ticks eventually.

    There are human on her world along with many other fantasy races. And like in so many fantasy books, the human is stuck in a medieval society.

    I guess magic does supress science. When you can create fire with a word or a thought, do you really want to waste valuable time to investigate how fire exactly works?

    I have learned quite a bit about her world, its geography and its inhabitants. It is not an alternate Earth unless Earth will have 2 moons in the distance past or far in the future.

    "Tell me more about the magic of your world, Elune. And remember to think of me as someone who has never seen any form of magic before."

    Elune did as I have requested. As my servant in body, mind and soul, she is unable to refuse any of my request, even sexual one.

    But I think I will leave that request fortter. I am more interested in gaining more knowledge. It feels like I am just opening my eyes to the wider world.

    Everything I know barely scratches the surface of what is possible.

    From what Elune tells me, there seems to be all kind of different magic system.

    Humans uses different magic than the elf, who are more in line to nature.

    And the magic that Terra has employed ispletely different than the one that Elune is using.

    That really makes me think.

    What kind of magic system should I learn?

    I can only learn one since they seems to be in direct conflict with each other. If I learn one that is not right for me, I have to discard itter on to learn a new one.

    Since that is the case, I rather learn a proper one from the start.

    However, I should learn one thate from the body or the soul. Aside from the fact I do not have a magic core or a magic pathways, I think soul is a better choice for if my body is destroyed.

    The magic of the elf is useless to me since Elune is unable to use her magic as her form of magic drawls magical energy from the surroundings. This is simr to drawling magical energy from manastones.

    It is more powerful since magical energy of the surrounding is literally unlimited, but if I am unable use it outside her reality, it is pointless.

    Time flies when you are a very good attentive student.

    "Would you like to see my world for yourself, Master? It also give you a chance to study the our magic in person. The elders will wee you, who is favoured by the Goddess of the Moon."

    Elune asks once I have to stop the lesson.

    She will continue her lectures when I have more free time.

    "I can?"

    I am surprised. What else is she hiding from me?

    Not hiding purposely, but probably thinking to herself that it is unimportant or I already know.

    I wish there is a way to simply download her brain and then I will have a look myself.

    Oh wait! There is. It will be extremely painful though.

    "Yes. I can reverse summon you, Master. You do not need to worry about unable to return back here to your world. I can send you back like you can dismiss me."

    Visiting a fantasy world?

    Now that is interesting.

 Chapter 69: Intentional Scenario (POV)

    I''m scared.

    I''m really scared!

    Everything is dark ¨C really, really dark!

    I can''t see anything through the thick blindfold tied around my head, covering both of my eyes.

    I have tried squinting my eyes, but no matter how many times I had tried, I still can''t see anything.

    The only thing squinting did is getting the thick blindfold wetted. This is because of my tears. My eyes are still watery from my crying.

    I can''t take off the blindfold either.

    My arms are bound tightly behind my back and not letting me to. I can barely move my fingers when my wrists are tied tightly together.

    My legs are also bounded by a rope around the ankle. I have tried to move, but the rope won''t budge even a little.

    The binding is really tight.

    My wrists and ankles are starting to really hurt, so I have stopped trying to move all together.

    I don''t think I can break free.

    And I don''t want to be here, wherever here is.

    I want to go home. I want to be with mummy and daddy.

    I sniffle. My eyes be watery again.

    Mummy! Daddy! Mr. Maxwell!

    Anyone?

    Pleasee! Please! Please!

    I''m scare. I''m really scare!

    I want to scream for help, but I can''t.

    I can''t even close my mouth. The ball of wet cloth won''t let any sound out, and when I try to bite down on the ball, it just hurt my jaw and teeth.

    It also makes me cough because a lot of water get squeezed out of the cloth when I bite it down. The liquid runs down my throat.

    The water tastes a bit sweet, like the ball of cloth has been soaked in sugar water or something. When I am getting very thirsty, I try to squeeze out as much water as I can, but it is getting harder and harder since the cloth is bing drier.

    Maybe I can spit the ball of cloth out when it is dried enough?

    Those bad men havee in the room and re-soak the ball of cloth a few times already. I don''t think they will let me spit it out and scream for help.

    What do they want with me?

    Is it for money? My parents don''t have any money.

    Mum and dad spend it all on things like that t television.

    The new television is really nice. I like to watch tv on it. It doesn''t hurt my eyes like the old tv does.

    And the images are very clear and colourful.

    It is just one of the new things mummy and daddy have brought, so they don''t have any money left.

    Mum even takes all the money I''ve earned babysitting Mr. Maxwell''s daughter.

    She said I am too young to use it wisely, so she will put it in the bank for me for safekeeping.

    Mum will give the money back to me when I am older.

    I''m not too young...

    I''m twelve! I''m turning thirteen soon.

    Hic... hic... anyone? Pleasee and save me.

    Save us!

    I wasn''t the only one those bad people have taken. Those mean girls have also been kidnapped. They are also tied up and bounded, and I think they are in the same room as me.

    Those girls have stopped crying after I did, but I can still hear their whimpering. They are trying to call for help like me, I think.

    But their mouth is also gagged.

    Aside from the whimpering, I could hear something else really faintly from the closed door.

    I think those bad men are at it again ¨C talking.

    They really talk a lot, and they talk about things I don''t have any idea about.

    They are talking outside the room very loudly at the moment.

    It is like they don''t care if I can hear them.

    I can''t remember how many of those bad men there are. I think it was five when they grabbed me and the other girls and throws us into their ck van.

    "So, what should we do with this lots? Cut them and dump them in the river? Have we ever done that before? I mean for others, not them."

    "I don''t think we ever did. It will just create too much evidences for others to find. Also, feels kind of old school. This is not the 1960s anymore people. Get with the time. We should put them in a blender and make a bloody smoothie instead."

    Some of bad menugh as if they have done something like that before.

    I''m scare.

    I don''t want to be turn into a smoothie. It will be really disgusting.

    No one will want to drink it!

    "Nah, I think we should sell them little girls overseas for some quick bucks. Some Japanese NEET ¨C that stands for not in employment, education or training ¨C want a loli sex doll to be keep locked up in their sex dungeon, also known as their mother''s basement. I''m sure they will pay a handsome sum."

    The bad menugh again.

    I don''t understand what they areughing about. Are they going to sell me overseas, in Japan?

    And what is a loli sex doll?

    I know what a doll is. I have many dolls at home, in my room.

    My dad brought them for me.

    Mr. Maxwell also brought me some dolls as gifts and presents for taking care of his daughter. The dolls he had brought for me are much nicer than what my dad had brought, but I still like them all.

    The dolls Mr. Maxwell had brought for me are also very expensive. I have seen them on disy in the stores a few times when I go with mummy.

    I also know what sex is. I have learnt about it from my mum.

    Mr. Maxwellughs when I asked him about it first. He tells me I am too young to know about those kinds of things, but mummy thinks I am already old enough.

    My mum tells me that when two older people ¨C a boy and a girl ¨C like each other very much, they will spend a lot of their time together alone in a room. And I should never tell anyone about that because it will make them hate each other.

    That is sex.

    Mummy likes a lot of my dad''s friends. Those men usuallye by the house when daddy is at work, and she spends a lot of time with them alone in a room together. I like them since they give me some candies and choctes whenever theye by.

    Mummy doesn''t like Mr. Maxwell since she never invites him to a room with her.

    I have asked Mr. Maxwell whether he likes my mummy, but he has said that he doesn''t consider her as a friend, so he doesn''t like her. That makes me sad.

    However, he has said that he likes me a lot, so that cheer me up a lot. I like him a lot too, but I think I am too young have sex with him.

    The only word I don''t know is loli.

    I will have to ask my mum or maybe Mr. Maxwell about that wordter when I am free.

    Are those bad men going to let me go?

    It doesn''t sound like they will.

    Please. Please. Let me go.

    My eyes be watery again.

    I want to cry, but it will make the blindfold wetter.

    It feels ufortable when it is wet.

    "That is fucking stupid. And don''t enable those idiots. Oh, by the way, I think we are done. The cameras are active in all the rooms and corridors, right? The boss wants to know everything happening here."

    "Yeah. We are making sure there are no blind spot. Thest time someone forget to check got himself cannoned to the moon. I think he will get there in a couple of decades. What speed is he moving at?"

    "No idea. And don''t really care. I never like him anyway. Always showing off. Oh, I heard that they are building a lunar base up there for all the wacky science stuffs that is too dangerous on the. Me thinks it is a good idea.

    Don''t want to blow up the, huh."

    "Hey. Stick to the script. Shouldn''t talk about those stuffs!"

    I can hear that clearly. He sounds annoyed.

    What is this script they are talking about? Is it something to do with movies?

    Mr. Maxwell constantly talk about writing his script for his movies and shows.

    "I think only one of them is ear-dropping. It is that very special one. The others are still crying, begging to be let go. I had thought they would be tired and doze off by now."

    I think I shouldn''t be listening on their conversation anymore.

    They probably don''t like me doing that.

    "What do you expect? They are little kids after all. Their parents probably have called the cops already, so that is our cue to get out of here. You did leave some clues behind for them to track, right?"

    "Yup. Anyway, I''m heading off first. I got a gaming session with those cheaters on level 2. Just because their rigs is more better than mine at home, they have this annoying smug on their face. You guys are free tonight? Want to join my team?"

    "This is why I don''t have kids. So annoying. Not dating anyone either. It is the bachelor life for me. Oh, I will join your team. Count me in."

    Their voices getting fainter. I think they are moving away from the room.

    I could hear their footsteps heading away until I could no longer hear it.

    The other girls have stop whimpering as well.

    There is total silence in the room now.

    I try to move again, finding the rope loosen a little. My fingers can move more freely now, but my arms are still stuck together. The cloth rolled into a ball gagging my mouth has also dried out, allowing me to spit it out.

    "Help ¨C

    I stop myself. If I shout, those bad men wille back. I heard spitting sounds. The other girls manage to free their mouth.

    "Help! Help! Anyone is there!? We are in here! Please help!"

    "Mummy! Daddy! Help me!"

    "Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

    Their screams and shoutings echo the room.

    "Please stop yelling. They wille back."

    I call out, but none of the other girls listen to me. They continue to shout and scream for help until all of them lost their voice.

    Now they are crying again.

    No one came despite the noises we made in thest hour.

    Those bad men are really gone, leaving us here all alone, wherever here is.

    I wish theye back.

    I''m really scare.

    I have tried to move again, finding the binding rope around my wrist and ankle has loosen more, but it is still not enough to slip my hands and legs out.

    But it is loose enough for me to roll around the room without being hurt.

    I have thought of an idea, so I move little by little until I bump into one of the girls. I don''t know which one.

    "Becky, Anna, Susan, Daisy?"

    I call all their names since I don''t know which of them that I have bumped into.

    "Stephanie, you dope. You bump into me. Stop moving around if you can''t see anything."

    I recognize the low voice as Susan. She is the least meanie of the four. I think she only goes along with my bullying since if she doesn''t, she will be bullied herself.

    "I think I can get us out of here, Susan, but you have to help me. Can you move your hands?"

    I whisper. Susan takes a moment before responding.

    Without seeing a thing, I reposition myself and eventually found her hands touching mine. Our arms are still tied around our back, but we can free each other.

    Susan mutters something, but I interrupt her.

    "Can you pull against my rope. I think it is loose enough already."

    Susan did, and the ropees off with several tugs.

    It is like it was designed to.

    My hands are finally free. My blindfoldes up quickly, giving me a look around the room.

    It is just an empty room with only me and the other four girls. I quickly pull off the rope to my ankles, freeing my leg.

    After that, I ran towards the door, finding it is not locked at all.

    I open the door and look outside, finding an empty hallway.

    "Step? Step! Wait, don''t leave us. Help us! Please!"

    I look back into the room, blinkingly.

    The four mean girls who have bullied me for so long are still tied up, unable to move. Their binding is a lot different than mine.

    It won''te off with just a tug like mine. Mine bindings are special.

    Why is that?

    It is as if this scenario intentional.

 Chapter 70: Full Circle (POV)

    The way the ropes bind their wrists and ankles is very different from mine.

    I know of this when I tried to free Susan.

    Even though I don''t like her very much, she did help me get out of my binding. And Mr. Maxwell always tells me to try and help those who has helped me because it is a nice thing to do.

    Mr. Maxwell tells me a lot of things. He tends to talk a lot when he checks up on his daughter and me during his work breaks or when he is making us some snacks.

    I like the food he made for me because it is very delicious.

    Mr. Maxwell is lonely ever since his wife had died, I think. There are no pictures of his wife in his house, but I have seen him a lot at the cemetery, standing there in front of his wife''s gravestone and looking into the distance.

    When Mr. Maxwell is there, visiting his wife with Antigone, he always mumbles something to himself and calling someone named Selene.

    I don''t know who Selene is since I have never saw him with anyone else in the house. I don''t think he is talking to his wife since his wife''s name is Margaret Maxwell. I have never asked him who Selene is since I don''t want him to know that I have spied on him.

    It is rude to spy on adults.

    Mum tells me repeatedly when she is with one of my dad''s friends. Mum and dad''s friend keep making weird noises when they are in a room together. They also swear a lot when they are in there together, but I guess adults can swears and it is okay.

    Mum also prays to Jesus and telling him that she ising, I think. She screams her prayers repeatedly, so that is weird. But at least she is sorry for all the swearing she did from before. The man who is with her also shouts that he ising near the end to God, usually after mum did.

    I thought the man always initiate the prayers.

    Dad always did when we have a meal together.

    Mr. Maxwellughs when I tell him about it since he promises not to tell anyone. I don''t want mummy to find out that I have tell another person since she is scary when she is mad.

    It takes a lot of time and effort to remove Susan''s binding. My fingers are hurting now.

    "Thanks¡­ Step¡­ Stephanie."

    Susan sniffles when she is free of her bindings. Her eyes are still red and watery. Her wrists and ankles are bruised since she has struggled a lot harder than I did when I was tied up. They look very painful.

    Seeing Susan like that, I am unable to cry even though I am very afraid.

    I help the other girls get out of their bindings as well after removing their gags and their blindfolds.

    I don''t know why I want to save them. I think I feel sorry for them being tied up like that. Also, it is less fearful when we are all together.

    "Hic¡­ thank¡­ hic¡­ you¡­ hic¡­ Step¡­ Susan¡­"

    The other three girls thank when Susan and I are trying to free their bindings.

    Susan manages to free Becky after I have freed Anna and Daisy. Both of our hands are now scrapped and scratched as the result.

    The rope is very tight.

    Those bad men probably don''t want any of us to break free from our binding when they are gone.

    Does that mean they wille back to check up on us again?

    I hope they are gone forever. I don''t want them toe back and tie us all up again.

    I still don''t know why my binding is different. Maybe one of the bad men tied me up wrong.

    "What do we do now, Step?"

    "Why did they take us?"

    "Do you know where we are?"

    The three girls ask me as if I am their leader.

    I cast a nce at their actual leader, Becky.

    Becky didn''t speak up. It is as if she didn''t even hear what the other girls are saying. She is still rubbing her bruised wrists and ankles while sobbing. Her binding is the tightest and hardest to remove as if those men intentionally wishes to hurt her.

    I think Becky deserves it.

    Just because her dad is the Principle, she thinks she can get away with anything. I don''t know why she bullies me so much. I didn''t do anything to her.

    "I don''t know, but I think those bad men are gone. I think we should try to run away before theye back."

    I answer and slowly approach the door only door in the room again.

    I slowly open the door and look out into the hallway.

    The hallway is very dark and chilly. I can hear faint whispering sounds echoing in the darkness. Those sounds are like someone groaning and moaning, and it is very scary.

    I quickly close the door again and look at the other four girls.

    They have also heard the ghostly noises, and they are as terrified as I am.

    Anna starting to cry again while the others are sniffling, on the verge of tears.

    I rub my eyes, finding myself crying.

    "I will go and check. You stay here."

    I speak up after I stop crying.

    If we stayed here, the bad men wille back eventually and tie us up again before someonee to save us. I think one of us must head out and try to call for help.

    I don''t want to go by myself, but I think I am the odd one out since those four girls are friends.

    "Wait, Stephanie, I''m going with you."

    Susan calls out.

    "Are you crazy, Susan? There are ghosts out there! They will find you. It is safer here, waiting for my dad. He wille and save me. I know he will."

    Becky is the one who has said that.

    Daisy agrees with her like she always does.

    Anna is still crying, so I don''t think she will have any opinion.

    After some more arguments back and forth, Susan shakes her head and grabs my hand to make her stance. Her hand feels very warm.

    "I think I''m safer with Stephanie. If it wasn''t for her, we would all still be tied up. Pleasee with us, Daisy. Anna can stay here with Becky because her crying will get us caught."

    Daisy is unsure whether she should.

    "No, I don''t want to stay here with Becky. She will yell at me. Please don''t leave me here. Let mee with you. I won''t cry anymore. I promise."

    Anna calls out in between her sobbing and sniffling. She tries to hold in her tears and snorts.

    Daisy soon embraces Anna and pats her on the head, helping her towards the door to join us. It seems like Daisy has made her mind. She and Anna has always been friends. They are next door neighbours.

    Becky pouts as she finds herself alone when we all head out of the door.

    "Hey! Wait, I was joking. Please let mee. I don''t want to be here alone."

    Becky shouts and chases after us. We wee her to join since it is better if we are all together.

    The coldness from the hallway causes us all to shiver fearfully. For a moment, I want to run back inside the room and lock the door and stay put, but the warmness wrap around my hand stops me.

    Susan smiles at me and tugs my hand to urge me to continue. She seems to trust in me.

    I think I have finally made a friend.

    I examine the green door that leads us to our room, noticing a huge triple scratch marks at the bottom of the door before heading off.

    The five of us navigate the darkness in a straight line, holding hands.

    I am in the lead then Susan then Anna then Daisy.

    Beck is at the back, still pouting. She reluctantly holds hand with Daisy since she doesn''t want to get lost in the darkness.

    It is notpletely pitch ck as there some lighting from the signs and symbols. I think they are painted with glow-in-the-dark paints. They help us see where we are going.

    The howling sounds eventually go away, but the silence is even more scary.

    Only our footsteps against cobblestone echo in the empty hallway.

    I think we have passed several rooms, but we didn''t open the door to look inside.

    We just keep following the hallway.

    I think if we keep walking, we will find the exit soon. We are walking in a straight line after all.

    A plopping sound is then heard, apanying our footsteps before Anna slips.

    Anna screams and drags Susan as well as Daisy to the floor with her.

    I manage to hold myself up despite Susan is trying to pull me down with her.

    Becky has let go of Daisy then moment Anna slips, so she ispletely fine.

    "What happen?"

    "Anna!?"

    "Something is wet¡­"

    Susan calls out as she looks at her hands.

    In the faint glow of the corridor, we could see her arms and legs are coated with some red and sticky.

    Anna ispletely drenched.

    "B¡­b¡­lo¡­od!"

    Anna screams loudly before Daisy covers her mouth, trying to tell her to be quiet.

    We don''t want anyone or anything to heard us.

    The bloody liquid is oozing out of the small gap between the green door in front of us and the floor.

    There is even a huge triple scratch marks on the door at the bottom, but it couldn''t be our room since we have walking for so long.

    Becky immediately backs away from the door as it slowly opened inwardly.

    Inside, we could see¡­ we could see¡­

    Susan, Daisy, Anna and Becky all screams at the dismembered bodies covered in blood, scattered on the floor.

    I try to tell them to calm down, but my mouth won''t stop screaming.

    Becky pushes me out of the way and run off into the darkness. Daisy follows Becky while Anna is crying loudly on the floor, covered in blood.

    Susan is covering head and eyes, humming to herself.

    I did as well, not wanting to see anymore.

    Mummy! Daddy!

    I''m scared! I''m scared!

    Pleasee!

    Mr. Maxwell! What do I do? Please tell me!

    Tears ran down my face as my body trembles out of control.

    I didn''t how long I remain like that until Becky trips over Anna and slid across the floor, covering herself in blood.

    "Anna!? How did you get here?"

    Becky has been running too fast, not watching her footsteps.

    Daisy slows down and looks confused.

    I am as well.

    Didn''t Becky and Daisy run off ahead? Why are theying from behind us?

 Chapter 71: Final Resolution (POV)

    There is no way out. There is no way out!

    The hallway loops back around, somehow.

    I had thought that if we keep on walking straight ahead, we would be able to find a way out eventually, but we are now back to where we have started from.

    This can''t be the same room as ours from before. But the green door with the scratches marks outside tells me that it is.

    Becky and Daisy have even found their ways back here after running ahead in fright.

    How can this be?

    I don''t understand.

    I don''t understand anything anymore.

    Mummy! Daddy! Where are you?

    Pleasee and get me.

    Please. Please!

    Mr. Maxwell!

    I''m scared, I''m so scared.

    My hands are shaking.

    You have said to think clearly and calmly even when I am scared and alone, but I can''t.

    I just can''t.

    The howling sounds appear again, groaning, whispering, echoing and haunting me and the other girls.

    I cover my ears tightly.

    I want to block the sounds out.

    I want to block everything out.

    The other girls are crying again.

    They don''t know what to do either.

    We are all alone here, in this ce, wherever this scary ce is. Even without our arms and legs being tied up, I feel like we are still locked up in the room, blindfolded and unable to call for help again.

    Why didn''t they cover our ears as well?

    Is it because they want us to hear these ghostly sounds?

    Are there really ghost?

    "Stephanie¡­"

    It sounds like someone has just called my name, very faintly.

    How am I still hearing it when I have covered my ears?

    "Stephanie¡­"

    No. I''m no listening. I''m not listening!

    Leave me alone! Please.

    "Stephanie¡­"

    I''m hearing thing. I''m hearing thing!

    The ghosts are talking to me!

    There are ghosts here! Mummy! Daddy!

    "Stephanie¡­"

    But the ghost sounds familiar, very familiar¡­?

    "Mr. Maxwell?"

    I utter and uncover my ears slowly.

    "Stephanie¡­ where are you...?"

    I look towards the darkness to my right, trying to hear his voice over the crying and whimpering of the other girls.

    They don''t seem to hear his voice like I do.

    "Stephanie¡­ where are you? Call out if you hear us!"

    "Stephanie! Stephanie! Are you here, somewhere!?"

    "Call out if you can hear us!"

    I blink rapidly. It isn''t just Mr. Maxwell who is calling for me.

    There are plenty of other people calling for me, but they are not familiar as Mr. Maxwell''s.

    His voice is very clear and crispy, like he is very close to me. I follow his voice, walking into the darkness.

    His voice bes louder and louder. I can hear more people. A lot more people!

    They are looking for me! They are! They are!

    "Susan! Where are you? Are you here? Call out!"

    "Anna! If you can hear us! Shout!"

    "Becky! Dad''s is here! Where are you, little princess!?"

    "Daisy! Please! Oh God Please! Daisy!"

    No. They are looking for us! Everyone is looking for us!

    Where are they? Where are they!?

    I look around, trying to figure out where their voicesing from. It feels like they are everywhere.

    No, it sounds like they are in the ceiling, but that couldn''t be.

    Are they upstairs!?

    I can see tree roots hanging off the ceiling. Why didn''t I notice it before?

    Are we underground!?

    "I''m here! Someone! Help! Help us! We are in here!"

    I shout at the top of my lungs, again and again. My shouting brings the other girls back.

    They all look at me while sniffling and rubbing their eyes.

    "Stephanie¡­ why are you¡­"

    Susan utters.

    "Hey! I can hear something! Wait a second. It ising from the ground. Oh My God! Are they buried!

    Someone hurry! Call the diggers! Hurry! Hurry!"

    A voice interrupts Susan.

    Her eyes widen, and she gets off the ground immediately. She knows who it belongs to.

    "Dad!? I''m here, daddy! Daddy! Where are you!?"

    Susan calls out as she runs towards me. Her dad shouts back, much clearer and louder.

    "I''m here, daddy! Daddy! We''re are here!"

    Soon the other girls also shout as well.

    Our voices echo in the empty hallway, amplifying greatly.

    The people in the ceiling also shout back at us, loudly and rapidly. They are asking if we are all okay amongst many other things. We are unable to answer them all since they won''t let us.

    After a few minutes, the whole ceiling rumbles, causing dirt and gravel to rain on us.

    We all scream and hug each other in fear.

    Several rocksnd on my shoulders.

    It hurts!

    "Stop that goddamn excavator! You are going to cause a carve in, you idiot!"

    "Everyone shut up! Let them speak!"

    "I don''t think they are buried in a small tomb or something of sort. Girls! Can you hear us. Tell us what you see down there!?"

    We shout back, describing the hallway.

    No, it is called a tunnel now. We are underground. No wonder the air is stuffy and cold. And the walls and grounds are made of cobblestones.

    "Hey, there is a chain here! Why is there a fucking chain here? It must open the tunnel. Hey, you three there, get over here and help me pull it."

    A lot of people are shouting above ground.

    I think they are pulling the chain from the ttering sounds I could hear.

    We scream when a loud creaking is heard.

    The ceiling copses just a few meters from us, forming a staircase.

    Countless blinding light purge the darkness, radiating on us. We couldn''t see the people behind those lights, but we could make out their voices.

    "They are here! We found them!"

    Someone shouts. Dozens of people jump down the staircase, rushing towards us.

    I couldn''t make out anyone, but from their uniforms, they are policemen and firemen and paramedics.

    "Five! We found them!"

    "Is that blood? Are they bleeding?"

    "Susan!"

    "No, that''s not blood. It''s paint¡­?"

    "Annabeth! My God! You''re bleeding!"

    "Becky!"

    "Paints? What the hell is this ce?"

    "Daddy!"

    "Daisy! Daisy! Where are you!?"

    "Stephanie, are you hurt?"

    A very familiar voice asks me. I look up to see who it is, but the blinding lights make it very hard.

    But I think I know who it is.

    Mr. Maxwell crouches down to get to the same eye level as me, allowing me to see his face.

    Tears burst out of my eyes as I hug him tightly.

    "Mr. Maxwell. I''m scared. I''m really, really scared."

    I call out, crying onto his big shoulder. He wraps his hand around me, hugging me and patting my back, gently.

    "I know. I know. I''m here now. You are safe. There is nothing to be scared about. Please tell me if you are hurt.

    Are you hurt, Stephanie?"

    I shake my head as an answer. I could see the tunnel clearly behind him now thanks to the light.

    The tunnel is not straight like I have thought when I had navigated in the darkness. It is slightly curve to the left, and the path it leads would form a perfect circle, making us walk around in loop endlessly.

    That is why Becky trips over Anna. Poor Anna.

    Becky is really mean, yelling at Anna instead of apologizing.

    "Come, let''s us go up. You parents are worried sick about you, Stephanie."

    Mr. Maxwell speaks up before lifting me up with one arm and carrying me out of the tunnel. This must be what Antigone feels when he carries her around with one arm.

    He is really, really strong.

    "Stephanie! Oh My God. You''re safe! I''m worried sick!"

    My mum and dad call out when I emerge from the tunnel with Mr. Maxwell. The other four girls have also emerged from the tunnel.

    All around me are vehicles and excavators along with countless people.

    It seems like the whole town is looking for us.

    Mr. Maxwell lets me down so my parents and my step-siblings can look me over.

    Mummy and daddy are very concerned of the bloodstains coating my clothes, but they are told that it is just red paint. The bodies I saw in the room are dismembered mannequins covered in red paint.

    "Yes, little miss. It is all paints, red paints. Someone is trying to scare you and your friends."

    A policeman tells me and shake one of the mannequins'' arm to demonstrate.

    His voice is very familiar.

    I think I have heard it somewhere before, recently. But I am unable to remember where.

    My mum is with me while my dad is talking to Mr. Maxwell.

    It is thanks to Mr. Maxwell that so many people havee to search for us.

    He has friends in the local police as well as the local media.

    I didn''t know he knows so many people. He must be someone very important.

    Actually, I don''t know what Mr. Maxwell do for his job. He always leaves me and Antigone to y with each other while he goes to his room to do work.

    "I heard that it is thanks to you that the other girls are saved. You manage to break out of your bindings first and then freeing them. You also call out for help when you heard our shouting. You have a very brave little girl here Mrs. Connors. I think I will make sure the whole school knows."

    The second police man speaks up, talking to me and my mum.

    His voice is also very familiar.

    Maybe I am mistaken because I know that I haven''t seen him or the other policeman before.

    "Did you find the camera? I heard those bad men said that there are cameras. They also shot someone to the moon because of a blind spot. What is a blind spot?"

    The policemenugh and shake their head.

    "There is no camera, little miss. And I think it is quite impossible to shoot someone to the moon with a cannon. There is only one way to go to the moon. You have to be an astronaut for that. If you study very hard, you can be one, one day."

    "Oh. I know that."

    I response.

    Maybe those bad men are just making things up. It sounds like they did. I have checked whether there are cameras in the tunnel, but it is dark to see what on the ceiling.

    "Do you know what a loli sex doll is?"

    I question the policemen. I am very curious.

    I have thought about what it is for a little while now. I think loli is short for lollipop like my nickname, Step, which is short for Stephanie.

    Does that mean there is lollipop that shaped like a doll, which you can bring into a room together with and have sex with?

    That sounds cool! I want one!

    "Stephanie!"

    My mum shouts while the policemen justugh.

    She hastily apologizes to the policemen before she drags me away.

    I look back to see the policemen patting each other, chuckling. After that, those policemen go to talk to the other four girls.

    Three girls now.

    Becky is already gone home with her dad, but Susan, Anna and Daisy are still here.

    Anna is still crying in her parents'' arm. She is really, really scared.

    Daisy is being told off by her parents while Susan exining stuffs to the adults. There are people with big cameras on their shoulder. There are some smaller cameras like the ones in the bank, but I couldn''t find any of them in the tunnel.

    Susan also points to me every now and then before describing what happened. She also waves at me when she notices me staring.

    I wave back at her.

    "Looks like you have made a friend, Stephanie."

    Mr. Maxwell speaks up. He smiles at me and pats my head.

    "You will find that those you share hardship with have a much stronger bond than friends. I think you won''t be bullied at school anymore. Now, let''s go home with your parents and brother and sister. It is veryte."

    Mr. Maxwell is right.

    I didn''t get bullied anymore when I am able to attend school again. I couldn''t go to school for a week since the policemen wants to know exactly what happened.

    The policemen promise my parents that they will find the who are responsible.

    They also tell me the reason they are able to find where we were because someone had saw the bad men and wrote down the te. The ck van is found parked near where the tunnel is.

    Our backpacks were in the car, so they begin to search the area and surrounding woods.

    The few nicedies from the local news station also want to know. They say that they will pay me for telling them everything that happened. But my mummy takes my money again.

    "Hey, Stephanie. Wants to go to school together?"

    Susan asks me when she drops by my house in the morning. Daisy and Anna are with her. Becky is also with them, but she didn''t say anything.

    "Sure, Susan. I would love to. Let''s me tell my mum first."

    Susan and I be best friends after that. She drops by my ce often, and she even went to babysit Antigone with me.

    Mr. Maxwell makes snack for all of us, and Susan also likes his cooking like me.

    Anna and Daisy join us sometimes. Even Becky did as well.

    I am still unsure why Becky hates me, but it didn''t matter anymore.

    I have friends now!

    And school doesn''t seem so bad anymore.

    ****************

    This concludes Stephanie little story. I think it shows that the MC understands full well about the human connections. He also knows what a good solution to a problem is - not that he always act upon the good solution.

    The right solution is not always the correct solution. I have used the whole Allison little arc to make this point.

    These POV chapter arn''t filler since his mother is kind of important. Why she always give birth to him will be revealed in time. Yes, she does fall for him, which cause a funny situationter... heh... the grandmother paradox (Futurama anyone?)

    Anyway, see you next chapter!

    Please vote, review and send gifts!

 Chapter 72: Reverse Summoned

    I check up on Antigone when I am finally home.

    My daughter is sleeping soundly in her little cradle in her room,pletely unaware of anything that had happened throughout the night.

    Antigone was asleep when I went to have ate dinner in a restaurant with Allison, who had waited for me all night because I did promise her that I would join her for dinner.

    I joined Allison in her apartment after our dinner for some intimacy. Allison was also sleeping soundly and very satisfyingly when I left. I am also very satisfied and still horny as hell.

    I did drop by Oxford Hotel and satisfy Sandra Bullock too ¨C because why not?

    I had time to spare, and she is a beautiful woman.

    With my power, my body is always ready to make and receive love.

    Unfortunately, I couldn''t have sex with the them both simultaneously to save time. It will be very hot too, but I don''t think either of them are open to threesome or more.

    Sandra did ask me if I was fucking mywyer (Allison), so I think she is one-man one-rtionship type.

    That might be a problem in the future since I am more of an open-type rtionship. I will have plenty of woman whom I will have sexual rtionship with.

    Getting stuck to one woman for the rest of my life just isn''t for me, especially now that I know I am an Aspect.

    Aspect is more powerful than Gods or Goddesses since Terra didn''t seem to bat an eye when she just snatches Elune from the Goddess of the Moon to be my servant, in mind, body and soul, which is very cool.

    Elune is basically mine for all times, since the soul is eternal ¨C probably.

    From what Elune has described to me, that Moon Goddess is very powerful, but Terra could probably bitch-p that Goddess into non-existence.

    Terra is literally Chaos itself, the beginning of everything.

    Actually, Terra is the Master of Chaos, which is even higher if you think about it.

    Chaos seems to be someone or something else. She did mention that I am not exactly Time itself. I am a Master of it ¨C with a capital M.

    What does Master really mean?

    Regardless, this just gives me an idea of how powerful I once was. Even Gods and Goddesses are below me. I think only the Primordial are a problem, but the Aspects have a verbal agreement with them for the sake of not destroying the whole multiverse.

    Our conflicts can unravel the whole multiverse?

    How powerful we must be for that to happen?

    So, I guess I should only look out for spawns or champions of Primordial. But even then, those guys or girls ¨C not being sexists ¨C couldn''t kill me outright. Terra has said so.

    One of the Primordial must have break the rule for my current predicament.

    I wonder which one.

    Eh? I don''t even know any of their names or how many they are.

    Terra didn''t mention any specifically. She simply refers to them all as the Primordial.

    The Primordial obviously isn''t one entity. I am very sure of this since I have saw them in the beginning, when time has started. Their spirits are immense, crushing down upon me.

    This also exins why I am not actually Time itself.

    Time didn''t exist when I be self-aware. It is right after Terra did, and it appears that the Primordial has already existed before Time even begin.

    I suppose I will call that era Timeless ¨C since Time isn''t born yet, in a sense.

    I do wonder who Time is.

    It can''t be my daughter because how would that work logically?

    Antigone was still asleep when I went to conduct a search for Stephanie and the other four children with the local authorities.

    For a challenge, the Hydra agents ¨C who are also mingled with the local police ¨C did not tell me where the ck site is located.

    I have to figure it out all by myself without resorting to Shield or Hydra, so it is like a treasure hunt.

    I had fun, so it was something.

    With micro surveince cameras all over the tunnel, I know exactly what happened within.

    It is to make sure that Stephanie and her four former bullies wouldn''t get themselves severely hurt in the process. I am not looking to killing them. I only need to scare them a little.

    Despite their young age, I think those girls are quite brave.

    They did cry a lot though, so I have to cut the psychological torture abruptly.

    I didn''t use any of the other rooms along the hallways even though the men have prepared them for me so meticulously, but I suppose having a murdering holographic ghost chasing them might be a little bit too much.

    They might need a psychologist help if that happen ¨C well more sessions. They will have to attend at least a couple sessions to make sure there are no lingering effects in their young mind.

    It is also interesting to know that Mrs. Connors is a slut.

    Mr. Connors a family man, who is working long and hard hours to provide enough for his family, yet his wife backstabs him.

    I think I should do something about that, if not for the man, then it is for Stephanie. Living in such an environment is bad for anyone.

    This is probably why mum moves out with dad the moment she is able to.

    Speaking of my would-be dad, I have my men looking it into.

    Hydra are very good at their job, finding where my father currently is.

    He isn''t in New York. He will move here when he bes a high-school senior.

    It will be a few years away when my mum and dad first meet and then fall in love, but they might not be together now since my mother won''t be a loner anymore.

    It is one of the main reasons why my dad talked to her in the first ce.

    Hardship does make a person and sharing a hardship will form a stronger bond than friendship.

    I am sure that those girls and my mother will be best of friends from now on and well into their adulthoods, and they will look back at this childhood experience andugh about it.

    Once I finish checking up on Antigone, I head back to my office.

    The holographic console springs into life when I am in the room.

    More reports appear on the disy for me to review personally. There are always new reports for me to review and sometimes approve.

    Going through them all does take a lot of my time, rtively speaking of course.

    I read all the reports then jump back in time to merge with my past-self.

    It is necessary to review all the reports posted by members of Hydra and Shield.

    Thest time I just let everyone uses their own judgement, it basically screws up the gxy.

    Wars are everywhere in the gxy, allowing intergctic aliens to invade, killing trillions upon trillions ¨C countless habitable worlds are destroyed outright.

    There are some alien races evolving on their own home world in the Milky Way gxy, but those aliens are not as advanced as humanity when I lead humans to the stars with all the awesome advance techs at my disposal.

    Those native-gctic alien races and their civilizations are either destroyed or bing enved by humanity under the guises of bing a member of the Gctic Empire.

    Honestly, the whole xenophobic nature of humanity is kind of scary.

    I might have something to do with that mindset due to the rapid introductions of new things.

    When too many things are introduced at the same time, people won''t have time to adjust.

    They will just alienate everything all together because it is easier. That is human nature.

    Forcing people to ept things does not go well even if those things are good for them.

    Only when the people ept the changes themselves, do the changes be universal and then canst forever.

    This is why I need to create a lot of spokesperson, celebrities, stars and idols. When their beloved idols ept the changes, they will also ept like a bunch of sheep. No one wants to be left out, even those loners.

    Dominating all of the entertainment sector will give me a godlike brainwashing tool.

    It won''t be like actual brainwashing since everyone will believe that they themselves made the choices I want them to make. They will have the illusion of freedom.

    Is it evil? Who cares! Most people don''t even know what the fuck they want, and if there is a chance to backstab their fellow man to get ahead, they will more than likely do it.

    It is very annoying, but it is their nature. Even in Hydra, this is noted. The only reason they don''t act on their impulses because I am watching.

    I am always watching¡­

    This won''t be a long-term solution though. I am not some kind of overseers.

    But it is what I can go on for now. I will find a better solution once I did some more social experiments.

    Or checking how those other alternative realties manage to do it. Even the former Nazi Germany world does notst more than 25th century when I look into the future. But since it is not the prime universe, I don''t feel like I should be responsible for them.

    Hydra tells me many of the temporal rifts lead to simr modern world as the prime universes. But a few does lead to a medieval one.

    Every world beyond the temporal rift is explored by an cloaked team from S.W.O.R.D or S.P.E.A.R.

    One temporal rift in particr leads to a fantasy one since several trolls got minced by hail ofsers and bullets. Those trolls manage to create a fireball out of their hand, so it could only mean one thing ¨C Magic.

    It is in Thand ¨C so I guess I will pay a visit to Thand soon.

    Before that, I should return to Elune''s world.

    I did go there in the afternoon for a couple of minutes. It is just to make sure I can return home like Elune has assured me. I did freeze the prime universe before I did just in case.

    I wouldn''t want to be missing in action for many years. That will mess a lot of things up.

    "Elune Whisperwind."

    The woman appears in my room from the newly formed portal. She is as beautiful as ever. And despite the primitive nature of her home world, she is in no way primitive.

    "I want to see more of your world, Elune."

    "As you wish, Master."

    Elune responses with a bow. She returns to her home world before a magical portal form for me right in my office.

    I am being reverse-summoned.

 Chapter 73: The Dark Elves

    It is like stepping into another world.

    Oh wait. It is!

    Beyond the magical portal is apletely different universe, operating on apletely different rule and principle than the prime universe, where I havee from.

    Ancient trees tower over me, reaching far into the sky and glowing majestically under the twin moons ¨C red and green ¨C above.

    I think goblines from the green one.

    Moonlight streams through the dense tree lines, through their thick branches and vast leaves, bathing the waist-high grasses and foliage on the ground brilliantly.

    Eternal night nkets the entire forest day and night, disorientating my perception of time ¨C not really since I do know exactly what time it is.

    It is just one of my senses thanks to my power. It helps me navigate the timestream, jumping back and forth in the timeline with pinpoint uracy.

    "It is always night here, Master. Another blessing from the Goddess herself."

    Elune reminds me when I stare unblinkingly at the clear starry sky.

    Due to all the light pollutions back on Earth, being able to see the natural beauty of the universe with a naked eye is a very rewarding asion.

    I did a few times when I wandered around the Sahara Desert with a team of Hydra, looking for ancient burial tombs.

    We did find it after several night of searching. The desert is a very big ce after all. I will tell you all about our little treasure hunts around Egypt as well as all over the worldter.

    "Please follow me, Master. The elders wish to see you."

    Elune beckons and slowly walks towards a massive tree located in the centre of the forest.

    There is a very clear path, leading there even if the ground is covered with overgrown foliage.

    I take a deep breath, trying to calm my excited heart before following Elune, all under the discerning eyes of the Rangers and Hunters.

    Rangers and Hunters are Elvish sses or Ranks. It is probably sses. Ranks are different from what I can tell. Elune is a Huntress, but her rank is very high thanks to her connection to the Goddess herself.

    There are more sses like Druids and Wardens amongst the elves.

    This starting to sound a lot like Azeroth.

    I think I will name this world Azeroth just for the heck of it. It is called Az ¨C meh.

    As for Warcraft itself, the game hasn''t even been conceived yet.

    In fact, Blizzard Entertainment hasn''t existed as far as I know. It will be around February 1991 if I recall correctly. I am still unsure whether I should start thepany myself or let those nerds do it for me and buy them out in the end.

    I am leaning more to thetter since there is no need for me to do all the hard works.

    Blizzard might not even follow the same growth rate and gain immense poprity like they did in the original timeline. So much have changed in the prime universe.

    The yStation will basically bulldozer the whole gaming market when it is released.

    For its powerful specification and rtively cheap price, there is no way the console will not dominate the market, especially when I already have like hundreds of high-quality games ready to be sold.

    Selling just licencing and toolkits will make back the insanely (falsified) expensive manufacturing cost, so it will justify our marketing strategy. I don''t want the United States Government looking too deeply into this.

    I wonder whether Nintendo or other gamingpanies wille knocking on my door, begging for a meeting on the ount of me killing their market? They would be a fool not to.

    The gamingpanies are one of the reasons why I need the power and fame of Chrono Holdings.

    Chrono Holdings will also force Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and their respectivepanies to the table, making them take me seriously amongst other things.

    Revealing the powerhouse that Terra Entertainment during the court case does kill a lot of birds.

    In any case, I will deal with all of thatter. There is no need to hurry when the whole prime universe ispletely frozen in time.

    The elves are hiding in the treelines, watching me. They are whispering amongst themselves, but I am unable to understand what they are saying.

    They are obviously not speaking English. They probably have no idea what English is.

    I don''t know why I can understand Elune and she can understand me though. Perhaps it is due to the master-servant sort of connection we have. That makes thing easy, I suppose.

    "Selene. Linguistic analysis. I want to know theirnguage by heart within the next 5 minutes."

    I order the virtual intelligence in my head.

    [Acknowledged, Operator]

    Selene will map out thenguage for me and produce a neutral interface package for me.

    Once the package is uploaded and integrated into my brain, I will understand and speak theirnguage fluently.

    This is how I get around all thenguage barrier when I am in a foreign country.

    I tend to only speak English when I am outside the United States since I like to see what the foreigners are saying about me, especially when they think I don''t know theirnguage.

    People speaks their mind when they think no one is listening or understand them.

    Over the decades, Shield have gathered a lot of dirt on everyone in the United States through its totally illegal surveince system.

    There are probably enough ckmail materials for me to basically take down the entire United States Government ¨C but not yet.

    Some important pieces aren''t in ce yet.

    I think I speak about 60 differentnguages at the moment, including dead one like Egyptian and Aztec because of reasons.

    Although sounds a lot, it is not really that many considering there are more 6500 spokennguages in the world.

    Most of thosenguages are not that useful, so I didn''t bother learning them.

    Regardless of whether I can understand the elves or not, I think they don''t like me very much, probably due to their deep seeded grudge against the humans of their world.

    Those humans are encroaching on their forest, cutting countless trees down to power their constant expansion. They have also kidnapped a lot of dark elven children, who are quiet exotic goods due to their longevity and natural beauties.

    I don''t need to tell you what those humans use those elves for.

    This is a medieval age after all.

    Democracy is dead. Actually, it isn''t even born yet.

    Even as a human, I am a guest, and as one who is favoured by the Goddess, they will not harm me.

    Well, if they tried, they will find that I am not a pushover.

    My power will work on them since they are mortals. They will age. And they will die.

    It is simply the natural order. I am the master of that natural order.

    No body fuck with time!

    As I follows Elune while staring a little bit at her swaying butt, I could feel the extremely dense magical energy flows through me unhindered.

    If my body has a magical core or magical pathways or something simr, the magical energy would be absorbed into my being, strengthening me, powering me and allowing me to cast magic.

    Sadly, I don''t have any mean of storing or producing magical energy in my body. I was born on Earth, to a pair of muggles after all.

    "Is there a way for me to use magic, Elune?"

    I question casually.

    Although I am not very interested in the magic of the elves since they draw their magical power from the world instead from within themselves, I am still curious.

    There might be some uses to that, which I may have not thought of yet.

    Besides, the way the elves casted and activated magic is simr to consuming manastones, so it could still prove very useful for the creation of magictech.

    Magictech just bypasses some of the necessary sciences and mathematics, giving me some awesome toys to y with.

    Alex and Hans have managed to create a magic capacitor, which sucks magical energy up like a sponge and then releases it steadily. Sounds a lot like manastones, but pure technology.

    No runes or anything of the sort necessary.

    Those two impresses me greatly. I will find some more brains for them to coborate. More brains are better. I am talking about scientists, not actual brains.

    Hammond uses their theory on magical energy to build a temporal container, which can capture and contain temporal energy.

    That is just awesome.

    Too bad the damn thing doesn''t work most of the time. He will figure it out eventually. And when he does, I think I will have enough power to open temporal rift on my own.

    "I am unsure if there is a way, Master. But if there is, the elders will surely know. They have lived for a very, very long time."

    I nod and scan the treelines, but I am unable to find any elves hiding within.

    They are shrouded by a camouge spell or something.

    Selene helps me locate all the dark elves hidden up there with infrared sensor. At least technology still works here, giving me an edge.

    And they are susceptible toser sts just like Elune did during our little spar.

    "Greeting, the one who is favoured by the Goddess."

    The five elders greet me after I entered the huge room nested inside the tree. They are not crones like I have imagined. They are still quite old though ¨C about in their 60s if they are humans.

    The room is quiterge, considering how big the damn tree is.

    I swear I could fit an entire house inside here.

    Also, I am able to understand them because of Selene.

    "Greeting, esteems elders of the dark elves. My name is Maximilien Maxwell. Since we are on a very good term, please address me as Max or Mr. Maxwell. Whichever you prefer. May I know your names in return?"

    The elders are shocked, learning of the fact that I have just spoke in theirnguage fluently.

    "Please leave us to speak with the one who is favoured by the Goddess, Elune of Whisperwind n."

    Elune nods and excuses herself.

    "I will be waiting for you outside, Master."

    "Okie."

    I response and face the five elders.

    Despite their extreme ages, I can tell that they manage to retain some of their natural beauties. I think they are about 15,000 years old, give or take a few centuries.

    This is one of my other sensory. I can tell how much time passes for an object or a person.

    "I have a name, please use it, esteem elders."

    I point out. I didn''t like being called the one who favoured by the Goddess.

    "Please forgive us, Mr. Maxwell. We are previously unsure whether Elune of Whisperwind had actually been summoned by the Goddess herself. The Goddess has not spoken to us for a while now. My name is Eliana of Shadowsong."

    Each of the elders give me their name ¨C all starting with E.

    I think it has to do with theirnguage or something.

    And by a while, they mean thest 5,000 years ¨C holy fuck!

    That is a while huh?

    "I see. I suppose the Goddess might be busy cuddling with her boyfriend or someone of the sort. Who knows. Anyway, what can I do for you? Perhaps return your youth, maybe?"

    I response calmly.

    The elders blink in unison. It is probably not one of the reasons why they have brought me here. They did not know about my power at all.

    "You can do that?"

    One of the elders asked. She looks like she won''t have long left to live. Morality is a bitch after all. And towards the end of their lives, anyone is fearful of death.

    "Sure, but it is not for free though."

    I response with a smile, thinking of what kind of outrageous price I can charge them.

    So much devious thought run through my mind.

 Chapter 74: Eliana Shadowsong

    Unfortunately, the elders did not take me up on my offer.

    "It is quiet a generous offer, Mr. Maxwell, assuming that you can do what you have said. We are afraid that we have to decline, nevertheless. The longer we are to remain here amongst the living, the longer we must wait until we are allowed to be reunited with our Goddess. She has given us life, and it is only right for us to return it to her when our spirit is judged."

    Eliana points out. She seems to be the leader despite being the youngest elf in the room.

    The other elders nod in agreement.

    I shrug in response.

    It isn''t like I couldn''t get what I wanted another way.

    Thefts are not below me, especially when they don''t really know what has been stolen. I can duplicate anything with my power, so it isn''t really like stealing.

    Plus, my power to freeze time allows me to have basically free for me.

    "In that case, what do you want to talk to me about?"

    I question.

    "We only wish to know your intention, Mr. Maxwell. We remain very sceptical of what Elune has told us about you and your world. It is not unheard of for one of us to be a summon to others, but as children of the Goddess herself, we believe that bing a servant to humankind, regardless of the human is heralded from is a punishment."

    Oh. I guess that makes sense. I take note that she specifically refers to humankind.

    Elune is a very proud person, I mean elf, so she wouldn''t want to be a summon of another, especially a human considering their very long and bloody history.

    Our own bloody history indicates what usually happen when wee in contact with other humans, let alone apletely different species.

    Furthermore, my time as Emperor of a Gctic Empire confirms that human is xenophobic by nature. It will be hard to change this ingrained perception, but I will take it slowly this time around.

    I prefer not tomit genocide on a gctic scale again. Some of those aliens are very capable militarymanders, and they are currently waiting for me toe and get them. I hope they all used their knowledge of the future wisely.

    Despite not wanting to be a summon to a human, Elune really has no choice in the matter since her Goddess has demanded of her.

    By her Goddess, I mean Terra.

    The Goddess of Moon is missing in action for thest 5 millennia from what I am told.

    I think the Goddess is either dead or imprisoned. I could jump back in time to check, but remembering what happened with the dragon, I rather not until I have the magic and spirit to stand up to an actual Goddess.

    Gods and Goddesses should be more powerful than dragons in term of hierarchy. All I have to go on is stuffs I have read back in the prime universe and what Elune tells me.

    Elune is not sure of how powerful the Goddess in term of scale that I canprehend. She just knows the Goddess is powerful since she creates the world and the elves, not just the dark elves, the elves in general.

    There are blood elves, night elves, high elves ¨C yeah, basically Warcraft.

    Although I can break the contract and set Elune free, I don''t want to.

    Elune is mine! For now! And for all of time!

    I win her by right ofbat. I have even asked Elune about the consequences of losing to me before I cut her in half with aser beam. It is her fault for being too proud to admit to herself that there is a good chance that she might lose.

    Besides, it isn''t like I have treated Elune badly or anything of the sort.

    Even if she resented the fact that she is my servant, in mind, body and soul, she will eventuallye around to it.

    I just need to know what buttons to push her.

    Everyone has some sort of buttons that I can push. Most of the people wants wealth and power. Some just want someone to love them unconditionally like Sandra Bullock.

    "My intention is to learn as much as I can about your world and your people. I am an explorer of sort, so I like to learn about new and wonderous thing. Since your people, the dark elves are only myth and legend on my world, it is quite surprising and interesting to me to learn about your people. Also, I am very interested in magic. Elune might have told you that my world doesn''t have any."

    The elders confirm that Elune did.

    We exchange a bit more information, mostly about my world and the magic of science. Although the elders aren''t interested in building skyscrapers out of metal and ss since that would definitely hurt thend and mother nature, they are keen on learning about my society and how it has functioned.

    "There are billions of people on your world? And they are all humans? How have they not killed each other already?"

    Eliana question. She is very surprised by this fact.

    Her world, Az is filled with all manner of fantastical creature.

    ording to what I know of the geography of this world, there are only about a few thousand of elves living in the forest. Hundreds of thousands of humans in the surrounding Kingdoms and Queendoms.

    There are total a few million of people in the entire continent, excluding monsters and subspecies like Goblins and Trolls.

    Even adding them all together, the poption of the whole continent doesn''t even exceed a hundred million, let alone a billion.

    I am unsure if there are other continents until I get some satellite in orbit or myself up there. I assume that there are, considering the gravity is close enough to Earth, meaning that the size is around the size of Earth.

    "Good government and the fear of mutual destruction, I suppose."

    I response with a shrug.

    There are roughly around 5.3 billion people on Earth right now in 1990s. Around 7.6 billion when I left the original timeline in 2019. My power manifests then, throwing me into the future and then having me nuked repeatedly.

    Yeah¡­

    By the dawn of the 31st century, the poption exceeded 500 billion. That is on Earth alone.

    Adding others and moons in the sr system as well as orbital stations and habitable swarms around the sun, the number is several trillions.

    Humans do breed a lot. And universe is infinite, so we could never run out of space.

    And as long as there are infrastructures in ce to support the human poption, humanity will grow exponentially. The only reason that this world is not packed with people is because there are just not enough foods to go around.

    Even the elves are struggling with this since the forest only provide enough to maintain a poption of a few thousands.

    Furthermore, their longevity causes their fertility to be very low, so children being born are very rare.

    The elves did not question their own biology since they believe in their Goddess to a fault.

    But judging of the current political situation with the humans, the elves of this forest will be extinct in the next decade or so, either being killed off or being sold off by the humans.

    Well, not really my problem, unless I get something out of it.

    There are probably a lot of ways to save them. A bit of their gics will help me understand why the fertility is so low. It also gives me insight to their natural longevity.

    I talk to the elders a bit more, asking them if there is a way for me to cast magic like them.

    "Unfortunately, we do not have an answer for you, Mr. Maxwell. Since the Goddess has blessed each of each with magical power from the moment that we open our eyes to her marvellous creation and the world, we never have to worry about being unable to use magic."

    Eliana speaks up.

    "Perhaps the Arcane Academy in the nearby humans Kingdoms will have information on this. They are not gifted with magic in the beginning. They acquire it through¡­ notorious means. Their magic is very unnatural."

    I nod and stash the information in the back of my mind. I will pay a visit to the Arcane Academyter, right after I learn everything I can from the elves.

    "Is there a library that I can use, esteem elders?"

    "It is remarkable that you have studied ournguage and even speak it with our tongue. Perhaps you are not like the other humans. I will grant you ess to our archive. The books and scrolls there are written in ournguage. I hope that will not be a problem."

    "No problem at all."

    I response. I ask about a few more things before excusing myself. Elune is waiting for me outside like she said she would.

    "Let''s go to the library, shall we? Lead the way, Elune."

    I suggest.

    The library is not really in one ce like I have initially assumed. It is scratted all over the ce, so we have to go from tree to tree to get everything I need.

    It is a pain in the ass, especially when a bunch of stalking elves constantly talk shit about me, thinking that I couldn''t hear them.

    Well, technically, I shouldn''t be able to hear them, but my keen hearing picks up everything clearly. If this is back on Earth, I would torture them for being disrespectful.

    "Do you not wish to spend more time, reading through the books, Master?"

    Elune asks when I only spend like a couple of minutes in each section of the library.

    That is actually from her perception of time. From my perception, I have spent several days scanning each of the book with my photographic memory.

    "No need, Elune."

    I response. I manage to get every book copied into my repository within a day. I think a day has passed, but it is hard to tell with the eternal night.

    "Is there somewhere I can sleep for a bit."

    I actually don''t need sleep, but I need to sort all the information in my mind. Selene tells me that a lot of the information I have copied is conflicting or outright wrong. She crosschecks everything with every book, and there are probably like tens of thousands of books.

    "Yes, Master. Elder Eliana of Shadowsong has prepared a room for you."

    "She did. Alright, take me there."

    The room on the outskirt of the forest is quite nice.

    There is afy bed and table for me to use.

    Elune left when I tell her that she could attend to her responsibilities.

    She doesn''t need to be here unless I want her to be bedwarmer. But I don''t think that will go well in making her trust in me explicitly, at least not at the moment.

    Elune does not want to fornicate with a human because of her hatred. I don''t think any elves would.

    Honestly, all the elves are pretty hot. And they barely cover their totally fuckable body.

    The skimpy leather armours give them maximum mobility, and their magic protection is far stronger than any heavy armour could. It makes sense to forsake pointless coverups.

    "Selene, can youpile all the volumes on magic with every ones I have scanned?"

    [There is insufficient information regarding magic above the 1st circle. More information is required, Operator.]

    "Hmmm¡­ make a first volume for me then. I want to know about this magic."

    [Acknowledge, Operator.]

    It takes Selene about half an hour topile the Heavenly Book on basic magic, which immediately uploaded into my mind and integrated with my memory.

    Basic introduction to magic is known as the first circle of magic.

    There is a total of ten circles in total, but the tenth circle mage only exist in legend.

    Even the 6th circle mage is very rare amongst the people of this world.

    7th circle mages are already considered Mystical Heroes.

    The circles are referring to the number of runic rings around the magical circle when a spell is cast. As more powerful spell is casted, the amount of magic increases exponentially.

    I recall that Terra magic circle has more than ten runic rings.

    Most mages are of the first or second circle. There are levels of adeptness at each circle, but a mage can be promoted to higher circle even without masteries of each level as long as they can cast a higher spell.

    Mastery of each level increases their magic power and their mana reserve, so no mages in their right mind would want to skip ahead. However, many still do out of ego or pride. It will be harder and harder to them to reach higher circles if they do, though.

    I also learn about the basic elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Lightning are the basic elements of magic. Combination will producepounded element, such as mist, steam, metal and so on.

    Most mage are adept at one element or two since learning more takes a lot of time and also cause a conflict in their magical core. Learning Fire and Water to master the steam element is very difficult as Fire is directly opposite of Water.

    If two elementspliment each other, it will be much easier, such asbination of Wind and Water to produce Ice.

    So, basically Naruto.

    As for the abstract element like Time, Space, Void, Chaos and so on, they are unlearnable.

    People have to be born with it.

    That is all the information on the magic elements from the Heavenly Book Seleneplied for me. I read forwards to the type of Elements. There are Materialization, Enhancement, Conjuration ¨C

    I open my eyes and look towards the door. It is now locked. I didn''t lock it before.

    "I thank you for your hospitality, elder Eliana. I suppose it is not for free, so what can I do for you. Oh, your cloaking spell is probably perfect, but I can see everything I need to see."

    Eliana is surprised. She drops the spell and remove the hood covering her face and pointy ears.

    Her long grey hair falls down to her slender waist as her dark grey eyes match mine. Those eyes have lost their lifeful green as could be seen in Elune.

    "Is it true that you can return my youth?"

    I smile and sit up straight.

    "Do you not wish to see the Goddess and be judged for all the sins you havemitted?"

    Eliana tenses up.

    How did I know that? Oh, I might have tortured the poor woman for several loops for spying on me without my consents and get all the information I needed.

    That or I am a seer.

    Her magic is only at 3rd circle, which is very powerful, but meaningless in front of my power. Anything she attempts to cast, I could just dispel with a thought.

    Her adeptness at magic would make her an Archmage in the human Kingdoms, who is highly respected and feared.

    Wow, I can bitch-p an Archmage without even learning magic.

    Looks like this ce is going to be a breeze, but still, I should be vignt.

    "I know what I need to know, Eliana. So, what do you offer me in return?"

    I question. I tend to call the elves by their first name. They don''t have a surname. I don''t consider the n name is a surname.

    "Anything you wish, Mr. Maxwell."

    Eliana responses. She has a few centuries left in her lifespan. While that sounds like a lot for us human, it isn''t for her, an elf, who has lived for so long. And all the things she did in order to retain her position as elders will not go well with the Goddess, assuming what happened when elves died is true.

    I doubt it though, but who am I to push my religious belief onto others.

    "How about a summon contract? I am in need of an elven sex toy."

 Chapter 75: I am...

    Of course, I know that my suggestion wouldn''t go well with Eliana.

    The dark elves are far too prideful to let themselves be enved to another species, especially to the humans, which I am unfortunately a part of.

    They would rather kill themselves than to be humiliated and treated like a toy, so I am assuming that the humans of this world has some sort of means to prevent them frommitting suicide after being captured ¨C a ve cor perhaps.

    That seems logical.

    "Who do you think I am, human!?"

    Dense magical power erupts from Eliana, filling the small room and crushing down upon me. A magical aura shrouds her entire body and cloak while her eyes electrifies with power.

    Eliana is a 3rd circle druid after all, so her aura alone can probably crush a normal person.

    A 1st circle mage would probably shit their pants in her present since the difference in power levels is literally day and night.

    Luckily, I am not a normal person.

    And my pants arepletely unspoiled.

    To be honest, it feels a little bit ufortable when being pressured by her aura, but it isn''t anything I couldn''t handle. Spiritual energy is far deadlier against me than magical energy since spiritual energy attacks my soul directly.

    However, getting attacked by her magical aura would probably harm me in the long term.

    I rather not subjecting myself to such assault.

    "Please stop doing that, Eliana."

    I request calmly before vanishing from my seated spot.

    Her magical aura stops abruptly when the cold steel of a knife presses against her neck. The enchanted weapon obviously could prate her magic armour, protection and defence very easily. It should be since the knife is one of her most prized possessions.

    The knife has always been on her body.

    Maybe I will keep it for myself.

    "I know who you are, esteemed elder of the dark elves, Eliana of the Shadowsong n, but in my eyes, you are just a defenceless woman."

    I whisper softly into her long ears from behind her before vanishing away.

    I have returned to my seat, looking like nothing has happened.

    The beautiful knife in my hand tells Eliana what just happened isn''t a dream, however. I wouldn''t want her to think otherwise.

    I could have slit her throat with her own dagger before she even knows what had happened, and from her bbergasted expression and bodynguage, I don''t think I need to demonstrate my words further ¨C not that I wouldn''t.

    It is fun to scare the living shit out of people. It is also an art to do without resorting to violence.

    "Teleportation? No¡­ I would have known if you did. This is Time Magic!"

    Eliana utters and touches her neck, trying to make sure she hasn''t been cut. If drawn blood, the knife will ce a powerful curse on her, which will sap her strength and magic until she dies.

    It is near impossible to remove the curse. That is why the dagger is very deadly.

    I smile and shrug at the question.

    "Let''s just say that if I really wanted to kill you, you wouldn''t be standing here right now, Eliana. I might not know how to use magic of your world, but the power of my world isn''t something to look down upon if you actually listen to Elune. Did she not tell you how I cut her up?"

    Eliana recalls what Elune has said.

    In magic, light is not an abstract element like time, but that did not mean it is weak. No, it is an advance element like darkness, which is higher rank than secondary orpounded elements like steam and metal.

    "Hmm¡­ there are exactly 3029 elves living in the vige and 28 children, shall I kill a few children as a demonstration, Eliana?"

    Eliana is taken back.

    Whatever doubts she has in her mind vanish.

    She swallows hard and gives me a respectful bow.

    Even Eliana does not know how many elves there in the vige are, but she knew the exact number of children. Each child is very precious and must be protected. It is her job as an elder.

    "I apologize, Great One. May I ask why you are masquerading as a human?"

    Eliana apologizes.

    She knows how outssed she is now.

    Her magic pales inparison to my power, which could reduce her to atoms with a single thought. I could also undo all of her powers.

    That is how overwhelming my time ability is.

    "I am human."

    I response reluctantly.

    Technically, I am still a human since my body and my soul are. The more correct term to describe me in my current state would be aspectual empowered human, but let''s not get too technical.

    Eliana didn''t believe me, and I didn''t bother to change her mind.

    "So, would you like to be one of my summons, Eliana? I will treat you well, at least you won''t have to answer to the Goddess anymore."

    Eliana takes a very long time before she speaks up. She is weighting her options, no doubt.

    She understands what I am hinting ¨C immortality. If she bes immortal, she will never have to face her judgement in the afterlife. Of course, immortal is not the same as invulnerable.

    Eliana can still be killed by others. But I take great offense to that. No one hurts my possessions except me!

    "Perhaps there is something else you want, Great One. You wish to use magic of this world. I have just a potion that will grant you your wish."

    I chuckle and shake my head.

    Eliana has already tried this in the previous loops. And thanks to her offer, I know of one way to form a magic core.

    The potion she has in her possession is one of a kind.

    It was brewed by a 7th circle mage in time immemorable. And when ingested, it will form a very small mana core within the consumer''s body, allowing the consumer to finally absorb and channel magical energy.

    In other word, the potion would allow me to use magic. Highly inefficient form of magic, but still magic, nheless.

    It is still better than nothing.

    "I think you are mistaken something, Eliana. If you be one of my summons, everything you own, your body, mind and soul belongs to me. Isn''t that right?"

    I look at her.

    My eyes narrow darkly.

    "Or would you like to be my pets, instead?"

    I question.

    "No, Great One. It will be an honour to be your summons. Please allow me to be one. But I have a small request. Please leave my vige and the vigers alone. They mean you no harm."

    Eliana makes the right choice. She did so out of fear. Being a summon is still better than being a pet, and I could totally turn her into one at my leisure.

    It wouldn''t even take an effort.

    "That is more like it, Eliana. I like those who are obedience to me. Those that aren''t obedience will be severely punished."

    I get off my seat and approach her, slowly and calmly.

    Eliana takes a few steps back until her back is now pressed against the wall. Her body tenses as I stand in front of her. Her hands press against the wall, stiffening.

    This is the 15,000 years old woman? I think Eliana spends too much time indoors and not enough time socialising.

    I could guess with reasonable uracy what is going on in her head.

    Eliana has made a grave mistake,ing here.

    Now, she has no choice but to make a deal with the devil, who will have ims to her body, mind and soul. At least her people will be saved. Everything she did, she has done so for them. Let only her pay for all the sins her kind hasmitted.

    When I am only an inch away from her, I smile.

    The moment I ced my hand on her shoulder, her eyes widen in surprise as powerful magic fills her being. It is her magic. I am simply returning them to her.

    I don''t think anyone could feel the temporal effects of my power.

    Her grey hair turns golden as life returns to her eyes. Those eyes are now shining with brilliant green just like Elune.

    It didn''t take more than a fraction of a second to return her youth.

    "Thank you, Master. Thank you, Master."

    Eliana utters tearfully as she looks at her youthful hands. She is now about 15 millennia younger.

    The elves aged like a normal human would until a certain point. They then spend most of their lifespan in their youthful form. It is quite a gift by the Goddess.

    Yeah, I didn''t believe that bullshit either. There must be some other and more logical exnations.

    "What I have given, I can take away, Eliana. Please keep this in mind before you decide to try to do anything stupid. I will not treat those who are loyal and obedience to me harshly. In fact, if whatever you desire is within my power and reasonable, I will grant you it."

    I return to my spot on the wooden couch while stating that.

    Eliana is still looking at her slender and youthful hands, touching her fingers one by one to see whether they are real or not.

    "Come and have a seat with me, Eliana. We have some stuffs to discuss about."

    Eliana obediently did without hesitation. She looks a lot better now as a young woman in her twenties, so I guess appearance does have it uses.

    I wouldn''t kiss Eliana when she was much older just a few moments ago.

    Her dark olive skin is quite exotic, and those sparkling green eyes of her are very alluring.

    I am unsure which one is more beautiful, Elune Whisperwind or Eliana Shadowsong.

    "Shall I please you with my body, Master?"

    Eliana asks softly and pulls the dark string around her neck, letting loose the dark cloak that is covering her entire body. She is wearing light armour beneath the cloak, covering only the necessary parts like almost everyone in the vige.

    "All in good time, my dear Eliana. You are very beautiful and youthful. It does take a lot of my willpower to restrain myself, so you can be proud of the fact."

    I response with a smile. I haven''t even made a summoning contract with her yet, and she already shifts into her role. I suppose the sooner the better in her mind.

    Aside from having another sexy elf in my service, I also need someone in a higher position than Elune for my purposes. Having Eliana also allows me to take control of the vige if I choose.

    However, bringing these elves back to the prime universe requires me to learn how to create temporal rifts with my power. It takes enormous amount of temporal energy, but Hammond is working on it. I can speed up his progress if needed.

    "Can see that potion you have mentioned, Eliana?"

    I request. I do need a way to cast magic without resorting to manastones.

    "Yes, Master."

    Eliana produces a purplish potion magically out of nowhere.

    I narrow my eyes at that before scrutinizing those rather in rings on her fingers. They are obviously not for decoration.

    "Would you like to see everything in my inventory?"

    Eliana notices my scrutiny.

    "Actually, I would."

    Eliana is more than happy to. Those rings of hers are storage spaces, allowing the wearer to have. Only spatial mages can create them.

    Theid them all out on the table before me, allowing me to examine them.

    I have her exins to me how to use those. Only mages can use them since it requires the wearer to channel a bit of their magical energy for any actions, such as taking item in or out or even looking into the spatial space.

    After that, Eliana takes all the item out of the rings.

    The items are potions, artefacts and runes ¨C all sort of magical items. It will take a long time for Eliana to exin them all, but so many ideas cross my mind when I learn of what they can do.

    Incredible! Magic is incredible!

    "These are my most prizes possessions. I have collected them over thousands of years, but even they are pale inparison to your power, Master."

    Eliana points out. There are some tears in her eyes.

    "I have thought that I would require to go through painful rituals to regain my youth and power again. I didn''t expect that you could do so with a single touch. Only Gods have this kind of power, Master. Even if you deny it, you are my God now. Your wishes are mymands."

    Eliana vows. Her magic shimmers throughout her body, coating her in a majestic aura. She seems a lot stronger than before. She probably reaching 4th circle right now.

    I am a bit touched at her disy.

    I suppose my power is beyond even this world''sprehension.

    "If you have collected them over thousands of years, then you can keep them. I just need to see them before I recreate them."

    Eliana blinks before duplicates of her rings materializes on the table.

    And inside each ring contains duplicates of all the items she has taxingly collected over the years.

    Eliana is too shock to even say anything. Even Gods themselves does not have the power to duplicate divine artefacts so effortlessly. They would exhaust their magic doing so.

    "Who are you really, Master?"

    Eliana utters, shakily.

    "I have already told you, Eliana. You know who I am."

    I smile and stroke her hair and face. Her skin feels nice upon my fingers.

    "I am Maximilien Maxwell."

 Chapter 76: Elvish Innocence

    Sounds super cheesy, but hey, whatever gets me into her pants, I suppose.

    This will be the first time I have fucked an elf, and it will definitely not be thest. They are just so darn sexy ¨C balls busting kind.

    Honestly, I have banged plenty of sexy alien babes in my time as Emperor, the undisputable head of a vast and seemingly unstoppable Gctic Empire. As long as they look like human and have almost the same internal organs, I am fair game.

    It would be racists otherwise. Although too many tentacles put me off ¨C so sorry, Cthulhu.

    As for Eliana, my hand smoothly slips around the back of her head and slowly pulls her into a kiss. Her dark lips press against mine for about a couple of second before parting.

    That was done on her request.

    I arch my brow at the unexpected interruption and use the time to examine her facial features. Despite the dark olive skin, I could see a red tint filling her cheeks.

    "How is it, Master?"

    Eliana whispers softly, hooking her long golden blond hair behind her pointy ear with a finger.

    It is very hard to imagine Eliana as a thousand-year-old being. She doesn''t have the demeanour or the looks, so I will not imagine her as one.

    She is a lovely young woman right now.

    I am a bit confused at her question though. How was what, exactly? She didn''t mean the kiss, did she, because that was super unsatisfying.

    "How is what?"

    I response as softly as her, unnecessarily. There is no one else in the room. Just the two of us, all alone, conducting our little pleasure. There is no need to whisper or anything of the sort. In fact, we should scream until our heart content. I know one of us will.

    "The kiss, Master."

    Eliana answers shyly. She looks like a teenager who has just kissed a boy rather than an extremely old elf with insurmountable wisdoms and experiences.

    "That was a kiss?"

    I chuckle and immediately pull Eliana against me, forcing her onto me as I lean back against the couch infort. Her incredible feminine frame presses tightly against my masculine one.

    Eliana let out a cute yelp before I seal my lips around hers tightly, slowly forces her lips to part.

    My tongue darts out, invading her mouth in search for a partner to initiate the dance.

    Her green eyes widen at the yful intrusion before weakening and surrendering to my advance. This is all a very new experience to her. She has never kissed someone like this before.

    My tongue gently flicks her tongue, inviting her to do the same. Reluctantly, she epts.

    Our tongues then tangle, trying to wrap around each other, exchanging all those sweet fluids. Our lips part more widely and hug each other tightly at the seam, unwilling to let go.

    Her slender but quite strong hands and fingers run along my face and find their ways around my head, wrapping themselves around my head and neck, forcing me to kiss her deeply and passionately.

    In response, my hands slide along her sexy body, from her well-toned shoulder to her bare back to her perfect ass cheeks and press her arousing sex against mine, grinding.

    My junior stirs excitedly in my pants. It was already hard before since I am a man after all, but it is now reaching full mast.

    Her chest heaves as warm breath brushes against my face when she finally parts her lips from mine.

    Her face ispletely now flushed with red. A glittering string of saliva still connects our lips, unwilling to detach.

    "What is that, Master?"

    Eliana utters, feeling her body heating up rapidly. She is in heat. It has been so long that she had falsely thought she was getting sick.

    "That was a kiss, Eliana."

    I response and ran my hands along the side of her body, caressing her beautiful feature. Her bare belly allows me to feel her dark skin and highly defined muscle in all of its glory.

    "That was a kiss!?"

    Eliana exhales deeply and heavily, trying to calm her elerating heart. It is thumping extremely madly inside her chest. I could hear it faintly.

    "Yes. Have you never been kissed like that before?"

    Eliana shakes her head lightly as a response. There is a lot she doesn''t know, especially about sex. This would exin quite a few things, honestly.

    "To the elves, sex is just a mean to conceive. It is our responsibility to expand our numbers. We do not take pleasure or enjoyment in the act, Master. It is¡­ forbidden."

    Eliana tells me before I pull myself under her, forcing her to arch backwards and fall against the couch, looking up at me. She tries to avert her eyes, but I wouldn''t have any of that.

    "Forbidden huh? Not anymore, my dear Eliana. Sex is both pleasure and responsibility to me, more of a pleasure right now."

    I response and cup her cheek before stealing another kiss from her lips, deeper and more affectionate than the one before. Her chest heaves at my oral assaults, pushing her amble breasts against the tight confine of her leather armour.

    With a single finger sliding down her ample chest just above the skin, wrapping in my temporal power, I free those breasts, letting the erected nipples free. They are round, darkly erotic and perfect.

    Giving each of her bountiful breasts a couple of light squeezes, I part my lips from hers and trace kisses down her neck and chest and suck her tits.

    I roll her erected nipples along the edge of my teeth, nudging them with my tongue, biting down on them rather gently and forcing her to moan and embrace my head tightly.

    Her long legs response, jerking and wrapping around my body, tightly.

    "Oh, Master! Master¡­!"

    Eliana gasps repeatedly. That erotic gasps turn to scream when my hand and fingers invade herher region, ying with her clits and prating her wet inside. I spread her soaking tunnel open with my fingers while hammering in and out, simting my cock and bringing her to climax.

    Gushes of sweet fluids, coat my fingers and hand, letting me have a taste. I let her have a taste as well before I drink directly from the source. Whatever clothes she has on disappear a single thought.

    Her legs grip my neck tightly as my tongue drilling into her cunt, seeking the lovely rewards from deep within. She constantly letting it all out without restrain.

    "Ah! Ah¡­! Mas¡­ter! Arhhh! That''s dirty! That''s!

    Ahhhhh!"

    Eliana chokes me with her legs while her body convulses repeatedly, unable to stop itself from being bombarded with waves and waves of orgasmic pleasure.

    It seems that this is the first time Eliana has felt such a climax. What is a waste of her entire life!

    I will definitely change all of that, right after I have my fill. I continue to y with her cunt while sucking her clits until she hits another climax. By the third time, her legs basically lost all of its strength, hanging around my shoulder.

    Licking my lips, I crawl up her heaving body to her face and give her another passionate kiss. Her hands instinctively wrap around my head and neck. My hands sneak her arching body and hold her tight as I arch backwards, allowing her on top of me once more.

    "Master¡­! This is sex?"

    Eliana questions when we finally parted.

    I chuckle at her innocence before looking down at my erected junior.

    My clothes are dusted when I had given her oral sex. I expect one in return ¨C maybe severals.

    Eliana understands and crouches down. I push my back against the edge of the couch to give her some room. She examines my cock while stroking up and down its length, experimentally.

    "Don''t tell me you haven''t suck a man''s cock before, Eliana?"

    I question since she seems to be unsure of what to do next. I hope that isn''t the case, because that is beyond retarded for someone as old as her. Although, if she doesn''t, I can always teach her, moulding her to my liking ¨C of sort.

    "Of course, I did. I have given my husband a few times before."

    Eh!? Alright. That shouldn''t be surprising.

    "Husband. Is he dead?"

    Eliana shakes her head before she licks the tip of my cock like some sort of lollipop. She tastes the pre-cum, trying to understand the strange sensation rolling on her tongue.

    "You saw him already, Master. He is one of the elders."

    Eliana finally speaks up.

    Did I just cuckold someone? Holy fuck! I just unwittingly cuckold someone. Alright, which of the elders is her husband? I only pay attention to Eliana since she speaks the most.

    One of them did not speak at all, but he kept on nodding with whatever Eliana had said to me ¨C so he is probably her husband.

    Wait! Does Eliana know what she is doing is wrong? Ah, fuck it. I will figure all of this outter. Not like there will be consequences that I couldn''t get myself out of with my power.

    This isn''t like the prime universe!

    Other stuffster after I stuff Eliana with my cock.

    I ce my hand upon her head, patting her gently as she envelopes my cock, sucking on the head with utmost care and gentleness. I thought she would swallow the whole thing, but it seems like this is as far as she goes.

    "That is an elegant way to suck a cock, Eliana. Here, let''s me show you how you should please a man of my calibre."

    Both my hands hold her head tightly before I ram my thick cock into her mouth and impale her throat ¨C she chokes immediately.

    I pull back half way before pounding it back in as she grips my thigh tightly. For the first few minutes, she has trouble breathing. Her eyes are all red while only gagging sounds escape her throat.

    But Eliana soon gets a hang of it.

    "Run your tongue along the whole length and try to lick my balls when I push it all the way into your throat."

    Eliana grumbles ¨C probably something along: "Yes, Master."

    I begin to face fuck her recklessly, enjoying her tight mouth and throat.

    Eliana did what I have requested, licking the underbelly of my cock as it slides in and out of her mouth and licking my balls when I bottom out inside her throat. She is not very good at it, but she is getting there.

    I will make a cocksucker out of her yet.

    When I am about to blow, I pull back and p her face a few times and give her a nice facial.

    With my hands gripping her hair, pulling her head back, my cock sts against her features, masking her dark skins with sticky whiteness alongside with her golden blond hair.

    "Master¡­ you''re wasting it. It should be let out inside me."

    Eliana mumbles as she struggles for breath. She means that I should give her a creampie. It is the only natural way to proper finish in her mind.

    "Oh, alright then."

    I response with a devilish grin and impale the cock into her mouth, causing her to cringe up. The cum spill onto her tongue, letting her taste my seeds and forcing it to recoil back in horror. I wouldn''t let it as I pound her face, pouring the remaining seeds into her throat.

    Eliana has no choice but to swallow gulp after gulp, all while giving me this questioning look. I didn''t misunderstand her. I will definitely pump her cunt and ass full of myself, but not yet.

    "Master¡­ master¡­ you¡­ suppose¡­"

    Eliana coughs. Cum spill out of her mouth, running down her lips and pooling into her hands. The baby batter is quite precious to the elves since it is the liquid of life.

    However, the taste is horrifying. She never had to taste it before in her entire life. This is what happen when you are too sheltered.

    Yeah ¨C alright, let''s fuck with her a bit more.

    "You are wasting my seeds, Eliana. You must swallow it all. It must remain your body."

    I point out as my eyes narrow.

    "Can''t it go between my legs, Master? My husband always does it there when we are trying to have a child."

    Eliana pleads. I wonder if her child is somewhere in the vige. Hopefully it is a girl because a mother and daughter threesome or foursome is just awesome to pass.

    "Yes, in time, but for now, I want you to swallow it all, Eliana. It takes a lot of effort to produce it, so I don''t want you wasting it."

    Eliana nods and begins to drink from her hand. There is horrid looks on her face as she tries not to get any on her tongue. It is kind of impossible. She swallows the pool of cum in her hands all before looking at me.

    "Suck your hands and fingers too. You shouldn''t waste any."

    Iugh inwardly as Eliana did, much to her displeasure.

    Seeing her like that, it makes my cock incredible hard again. I just want to pound her lovely face again and let her taste my cum once more. However, a better angle is in order.

    "Alright, lie on your back with your legs up in the air."

    Eliana looks puzzled but did what I have asked. Her breast jiggles as she did.

    "Almost. Move back a bit so your head hang off the edge."

    I help her along, so her head is hanging between my legs. My cock is at full hardness as I arch it down and insert the tip into her mouth.

    Eliana blinks as I let go of my hands and grab onto her breasts, massaging them and ying with her still erected nipple. Despite her displeasure, she is still very aroused.

    "Mast ¨C?"

    Eliana didn''t get to finish her sentence as I lodge my cock into her mouth and throat before proceeding to pound her face. Her legs squirm and jerk as her mouth takes the punishment.

    With the current angle, I can go deeper and much harder. I knead her breasts, using them as support as I hammer her mouth all the way to hilt.

    Her hands grip the edge of the couch, trying to steel herself while I brutally wreck her throat.

    "Fuck yeah, swallow my cock, you goddamn slut!"

    I shout in English as my ball sacks constantly pping her lovely face. Saliva constantly escapes her lips with each deep plunge, streaming down her feature.

    Eliana bes a mess after only a few minutes.

    "Fuck! I''m going to cum! Ugh!"

    I roar and sink my entire length into her mouth. My balls contract and release the flood game, sting stream after stream of hot seeds into her stomach, so much so that it erupts out into her mouth and explodes out of her lips.

    Eliana struggles desperately as the wooden couch crack under the grip. This is her natural strength. It is not enhanced my magic.

    "Jesus fucking Christ!"

    I utter before pulling out and jerk over her body, coating her heaving chest with my seeds while she is panting for air. Her breasts now have this glossy coating over them.

    I will definitely give her a nice titty fuckter, because why the fuck not? Those huge tits of hers are basically begging to be fucked. In fact, all the female elves in the vige are.

    No wonder the humans risk their lives trying to capture them. Their innocence to the sinful pleasure is such a turn on.

    Eliana eventually cough, letting out the cum that fill her mouth. She immediately pulls herself up and try to swallow.

    "I''m sorry, Master. I didn''t mean to waste your precious gifts. There is so much."

    Eliana tries to utter with her hands covering her mouth, preventing anymore from spilling out.

    I chuckle and acknowledge her apology. I then sit back on the couch and beckon her to clean me when she finally swallows all that cum in her mouth.

    Eliana sucks my cock clean, seemingly getting over the pungent taste. She is quite a good learner since I did enjoy the cleaning. My hands palm and p her ass while she did.

    "Show me how you make love to your husband, Eliana."

    I request as I stroke my cock to fullness. It is ready to go again.

    With my power, I have literally unlimited stamina. I could fuck Eliana into unconsciousness, right after she depletes her stamina potions. This will take a while.

    "Love?"

    Eliana questions. There is no love between her and her husband. There is only respect and responsibly as it should be.

    I roll my eyes and beckon her to straddle me.

    Eliana did so without hesitation. She seems to know this part since it is the baby making part.

    The tip of my cock runs along her pussy lips, giving it a few kisses before spreading it open and enters inside. My hands hold her waist as she lowers herself, groaning softly.

    Once Eliana is finally sitting on myps with my cock nests deeply inside her tightness, she speaks up.

    "You can release it inside me now, Master. I am ready."

    Fuck off! What kind of sex is this!?

 Chapter 77: Ignorance is Bliss

    Sex to the dark elves ¨C the elves as a whole actually ¨C is basically sticking it in and letting it out. There is absolutely no pleasure or anything of the sort. It is purely responsibility.

    What a waste of their natural beauty and youthful body.

    They might as well practice sexual abstinence like those Jedi back on prime Earth.

    Eh? I mean Buddhist monks. I get those two mixed up sometimes.

    Damn you George Lucas! Damn you!

    Oh wait, I do own Star Wars this time around, so I will fix that very little problem in the prequels trilogy when the time finallyes.

    Someone needs to stand up to George Lucas and tells him when he is clearly in the wrong. If someone has done that back in the original timeline, the prequel trilogy would have been a masterpiece like the original trilogy.

    Of course, I will have George Lucas himself directs the prequels. Star Wars is his baby, after all.

    Plus, I am his fan, so I prefer not to do anything to hurt him physically or emotionally. At least his vision for what Star Wars should be is way better than all feminist craps from Disney. I did make sure to leave him the merchandising right, so he isn''t eating scraps off the street.

    I did not need more money than I already have. Although, I didn''t leave George Lucas the sequels right ¨C for obvious reason. I can''t have him fuck up Star Wars the third time, including the original timeline.

    Honestly, what part of being an all-powerful Emperor of a Gctic Empire did not tell you that I am a huge Star Wars fan? I also can shoot lightning out of my hands and electrocute people I don''t like.

    Too bad, the Force still eludes me. Not for long though.

    Telekinesis should be within my grasps in the next few years or so. I can wait that long.

    So many things to do, so little time ¨C how ironic.

    Anyway, I grip her sexy waist tightly with both hands, forcing her to bounce on my steel pole, impaling herself again and again while she screams at the top of her lungs.

    From her insane tightness wrapping around and stroking my meat shaft, Eliana hasn''t used her pussy for a very long time. And she definitely hasn''t been fucked this brutally before.

    "Master! Master! Uh! Master! Please! Ugh!

    Slow! Ugh! Slow! Down! Master!"

    Eliana screams, pleading me to slow down, but I did not relent. Why should I?

    Seriously, who is the Master in our rtionship?

    Nope. I fuck Eliana even harder and even faster with all the intent of making sure her cunt remembers my cock and my cock alone ¨C as it should be. She is mine like anyone I have my eyes on.

    And as expected, painful cries soon turn into erotic moans and gasps. Pains has be pleasures.

    Eliana is beginning to enjoy the powerful sensations that only sexual pleasure can bring ¨C as it should be.

    Her legs begin to work, stepping against the couch and helping her to bounce on my cock, inviting me deeper and deeper into her steamy and fertile womb.

    Eliana is back to her prime, so she can definitely bear my children, assuming our biology ispatible to some extents. Not really an assumption since there are half-elves running around thanks to all the raping done by the humans.

    Unfortunately, I am not interested in giving Antigone any siblings. At least, not yet.

    Without me giving her any suggestion, Eliana wraps her hands and arms around my neck, drawling me into her for a deep and passionate kiss.

    I am happy to oblige while feeling those heavy globes press against my bare chest. I will enjoy those sulent breasts of her in all their glory. They are mine, after all.

    Eliana slows her impalement onto my cock when our lips are locked and our tongues dance.

    Instead, Eliana grinds her hips against mine, letting my cock feels every inch of her hot pussy. It is quite nice, for a little while. But I prefer to be more active.

    Once our lips are parted, my hands wrap themselves around her firm ass, supporting her entire frame as I get off my seat.

    Eliana is unsure of what I am doing exactly, but her hands instinctively tighten themselves around my neck, preventing herself from falling backwards when I stand up.

    "This is what sex should feel like, Eliana. Remember it!"

    Without letting her response, I proceed to pound her cunt violently and brutally in my new standing position, piercing her inside and pushing the cockhead knocking against the gate into her womb.

    Her eyes roll up at the reckless assault, which sends overwhelming orgasmic pleasure throughout her body and mind. Within a handful of seconds, her pussy spasms, spraying out warm liquids mixed with her love juices.

    Despite the nerve-wrecking orgasm, my cock continues to plunge in and out of her snatch, spreading her tight passage repeatedly, bringing her to a new climatic height.

    Her body shudders while her arms tighten around my neck, beseeching me to pound her harder and harder. My cock ms into her soaking cunt all the way to the hilt with each powerful thrust.

    And before I nut inside her, I drop her onto the only bed within the room and then hammer her well-abused pussy from above, using my entire weight to plunge my length deep inside of her.

    Her legs spread wide, allowing me deeper and deeper entry.

    "Master! Uh! Ah! Please harder! Harder! Teach me!"

    Eliana urges as my balls contracts and tightens. And with one of her legs hooked over my shoulder, I sink myself into her, pressing our hips together.

    As if her soaking cunt knows what ising, it grips tightly onto my cock, sucking onto the mushroom tip like it is trying to milk me.

    "Fuck! Argh Fuck! Take it!"

    I roar as I explode inside her cunt, filling her womb to the brim. I continue to curse and use her pussy to stroke out my seeds, ignoring her lustful screams and yells. Sticky batters gush out of her pussy lips with each hard pound until I emptied my balls deep inside her.

    However, I wasn''t done. I didn''t reverse time. Instead, I drink one of the stamina potions on the table, letting the liquid invigorate my body.

    It works incredibly fast. I will have Mystic division examine the potion for replication. If sessful, the stamina potion will be one of the best things to be sold on the open market.

    Fuck Viagra! This is way better!

    And before Eliana could recover from the cum overdose, I pull out of her, spraying some cum over the sheet in the process.

    I flip her over and p her bare bottom before ramming my cock inside her cunt unceremoniously.

    "M-master!"

    Eliana utters in shock and surprise as I use her long blond hair like a rein, pulling her body arching back while I pound her cunt from behind. Her ass ripples with each thrust, meeting my hips. She begins to move on her own, making sure I bottom out inside her each time.

    "Who are you, an elder of the elves or just my bitch? Answer me?"

    I question and hammer home, forcing cum to stream down her inner thighs.

    "I''m¡­ I''m¡­ your bitch, Master. Please use me."

    Eliana utters. She is no longer an elder. She is just a woman in heat.

    "Damn straight."

    I response and thrust feverishly. The stamina potion might have work too well. I feel I am full of energy, and honestly, I could run for hours on end and not even break a sweat.

    My balls begin to swell once more, but I did not want to cum in her cunt this time. It is still overflow with my seeds. Thus, I pull out and aim the cockhead against the entrance into her rectum.

    "Wait! Master that is ¨C ! Ah! Ah! Mas! Ahhhhhhh!"

    Eliana has no right to refuse me. With my hands gripping both side of her bottom, I spear her ass with my cock. It is incredibly tight ¨C much tighter than her cunt. I didn''tst long at all ¨C about a minute or so.

    "I''m going to cum, Eliana."

    I whisper to the woman, who face presses against the bedding. Her ass is pointing in the air while my cock plunges in and out. When I finally reaches my climax, I pull out and nest it between her ass cheeks and let the flood gate open.

    Geysers of cum spring forth, arching in the air and sshing against her bare back and onto her golden blond hair. Most of it slide down her body towards her neck before streaming on both side and pooling under her.

    Holy shit, I cum like buckets!

    Even so, my cock remains super hard. Hell, I think I could go again and again and again ¨C maybe several dozen rounds.

    What the hell is that potion? It isn''t just a normal stamina potion.

    "Master¡­ did you take a Greater Stamina potion?"

    Eliana questions while her body spasms. She struggles to pull herself up from the bed and looks at me. And when she did, her body is coated in cum. It is quite hot.

    "Ah. I might have."

    I sweat-drops. The stamina potions on the table all kind of look the same, honestly. There are also nobels on them, and since a mage could tell from their magical aura, there is no need forbels.

    "Teach me more about your world magic, Eliana."

    I request as my dick sandwiched between her breasts. I hump her soft valley as I straddle her. Every time my dick emerges to the other side, Eliana would lick the mushroom tip.

    "Yes, Master."

    Eliana responses when the dick retreats back into the valley. Her hands press both side of her breasts, making the passage tightest as possible. She never expects this is also sex.

    I lean forwards and proceed to fuck her voluptuous tits fast and hard. I support my upper weight with both of my hands, one of each side of her head.

    My erection won''t go down no matter what I did, at least until the stamina potion wears off.

    This might take a while ¨C not that I really mind. There are so many positions to try.

    "Open your mouth and stick out your tongue."

    Eliana did. Her starling green eyes constantly looking at the soft valley between her breasts, where my cock emerges and retreats. Before long, a thick rope of cumnds onto her tongue and over her face and hair. Several more ropes st her chin, giving her a nice pearly ne.

    Once the eruption dies down, I crawl forwards and slide my erection into her mouth, letting her clean it while deepthroating her.

    I have another loading up, very soon.

    Ah!

 Chapter 78: Lovers in Paradise

    After pumping Eliana full of cum and giving her a one-man bukkake shower, I decide to have the actual shower.

    Although I could reverse time, returning my body to its unstained condition, I refuse to because doing so would be giving myself blue balls. That would be torture, especially when being so close to an elvish beauty.

    Well, all elves are beautiful. Even the men. No homos!

    Despite the dying arousal, my body is still full of energy. I feel like I could run for weeks without taking a break.

    The stamina potion is incredible. It should be since it is a 3rd rank Greater Potion. It is designed to be consumed by mages of the third circle, not someone like, who isn''t even of the first circle.

    In fact, I should be dead.

    Luckily, my body is made of sterner stuffs.

    The boost in energy also sends the nanomachines into an overdrive. Maybe I could use this somehow.

    Alongside with the health potion, which capable of healing any wounds I am told, I will introduce these to the prime Earth in due time. Mystic division needs to make sure there is no unintended side effects before Infinite Health markets them as health and energy supplements.

    None of us would want to start a Zombie Apocalypse on purpose. Actually, I might start one forughs and giggles. It is my version of human social experiments.

    When all bets are off, humanity will show their worst.

    In contrast to health and stamina potion, mana potion is pretty much liquefied manastones. The eerily glowing bluish liquid, when consumed, restores the magical energy in a person''s magic core or refilling the magic pathways.

    Consuming liquefied manastones do not have the same effect as mana potion, unfortunately. It always led to death, so there is something else inside the mana potion that allows the body to absorb it

    Only those who are born into magic, such as those belonging to the elvish race, has the pathways, so I guess I will settle for the core ¨C for now.

    "Eliana."

    I whisper in her long ears as she leans back against my strong frame.

    Our entire nakedness is submerged almostpletely in an outdoor hot spring, surrounded by forests with clear starry sky above. There is just the two of us, me and a too damn sexy elf, who doesn''t know the first thing about being sexy.

    This is just her natural behaviour to someone she likes or respects.

    And we are not actually bathing outdoors despite the natural surroundings. Everything I see is merely an illusion, created through magic.

    Advance holographic projector can do the same, at least visually.

    I could feel the gentle breeze brushes against my skin. I could hear the leaves rattling and small animal howling. I could even feel the serenity the eternal night brings. Visual is one thing, but this is so damn real.

    Sorry Science, Magic wins out this round.

    "Yes, Master?"

    Eliana responses and cocks her head around. Her golden blond hair shimmers in the moonlight while her starling eyes glows majestically. She is breath-taking when she is in her natural habitat.

    If I haven''t fucked her repeatedly just a moment ago, I would definitely wouldn''t be to restrain myself.

    Actually ¨C

    "Master¡­"

    Eliana moans on my shoulder when her wet cunt is filled to the brim once more.

    Despite the release, my cock is still rock hard. I wonder when the stamina potion finally loses its effect?

    I hope it isn''t days. I could always speed up my metabolism, burning up the excess energy.

    My hands are cupping her ass while she is straddling me. My seed is probably spilling out of her, mixing with the warm water beneath the surface.

    We stayed like that for a few minutes before parting.

    I then sit on the smooth-out rocky surface around the edge of the hot spring while she gives me a blow job.

    Eliana knows to take my cock entirely into her mouth and throat, from the tip all the way to the base. She is a quick learner, and I am a good teacher. Hah!

    "Eliana. Tells me what you know about the human magic?"

    Eliana didn''t answer until she finishes cleaning my mushroom head. She sucks the precum out of the slit, rolling the semi-clear liquids on her tongue, learning how to enjoy the unique taste. It is no longer pungent to her.

    "The humans categorize magic into several categories, Master. I do not know all of the categories, but I do know most of them. Hmm¡­"

    Eliana answers before nibbling on my cock again. I rx and let her do her thing before she speaks up again.

    "They are Materialization, Enhancement, Enchantment, Conjuration, and Transmutation. I think if any magic does not fit into those categories, they are called Specialization or Uniqueness."

    Eliana answers before she deepthroats me again, bobbing on my throbbing shaft. She gags around my cock for a few times before sucking on the tip and licking it again.

    I think Eliana needs to finish what she is doing before she can impart me some basic knowledge about magic. I help her along by pounding her mouth and throat hard, intending to fill her stomach.

    "Materialization¡­"

    Eliana stops when cum spills out of her mouth. She takes a moment to swallow and then clear the tear from her eyes. Seeing her like that, I want to fuck her again, but I am probably running out of time.

    It has been two days since I left the prime universe.

    While the prime universe is frozen, the other alternate universes are not. Time is not universal, I mean multiversal. Several recons team are trapped in those alternate universes, unable to return home from their mission until I unfreeze the prime universe.

    All members of the recon and assault taskforce knows what happened when I am no longer residing in the prime universe. They have specific instructions to stay put and camp it out. They have enough supplies tost them a whole week, but I prefer not to be gone for more than 48 hours at a time.

    Pip down, Junior!

    "Materialization is the most basic, Master. It allows the caster to channel their magic and materialize an effect."

    Eliana demonstrates by reaching out her hand. A bluish magic circle slowly forms in air. A rotating ring manifests, and along the edge and inside of the ring are symbols.

    "This is a basic magic incantation diagram. I am casting it very slowly for you to see, Master. There are many types of incantation diagram, but this is the mostmon. Once the structure is form, you can insert runes along the edge."

    Symbols manifests around the edge of the circr diagram. It is the same symbol, however. Once the symbol fills the edge, another ring form, locking them into ce. The entire diagram also shifts colour, from blue to red.

    "This rune denotes for fire. Fire is one of the five elementary elements, alongside with Earth, Water, Air, and Lightning. I believe the humans called Air as Wind. It is the same element. When you believe that the incantation is correct, you can activate it. If it is a proper magic incantation, then this happens ¨C

    Fire erupts from the diagram, surging forwards, passing me and crashing into the wall. I could feel the intense heat like I am facing down a methrower. The fire continues to surge from the magic diagram until the diagram itself dissipates.

    "The more magic I channel into the incantation, the longer and the stronger the effect will be. This is raw elemental attacks. It is not very useful inbat, especially against other spellcasters."

    Eliana exins as she forms another incantation diagram. This time there are two symbols circling the edge of the diagram.

    "Runes are used to dictate what kind of spells we want to cast. For this one, I use the fire rune and the ball rune, which produce the most basic offensive spell ¨C Fireball."

    Unlike before, the me condenses into a ball before surging forwards. It crashes into the wall, causing the magical barrier to flicker repeatedly, demonstrating its power and destructiveness have increased several folds.

    "Runes are very hard to learn, Master. It is thenguage of the Gods. Runes are not simple as tracing the symbol or the pattern. There is no power if it is just traced mindlessly. The more runes a person memorizes andprehends, the stronger and more diverse the person bes as a spellcaster."

    Eliana continues to exin while I listen attentively.

    It is quite incredible to be honest. And just like Hans Richter from Nazi world has theorized in his book, magic does have a definitive system,w and logic.

    One just need to understand to fullyprehend it ¨C sound easy enough.

    Not really! There is so much to learn.

    Eliana barely scratch the surface. She demonstrates Firestorm and several more offensive spells. This is all Materializations. She hasn''t even got to the second one yet, but thanks to the Heavenly Book of Elementary Magic that Selenepiled for me, I already have some ideas.

    Honestly, it isn''t as simple as drawing more runes onto the incantation diagram and expect it to work.

    A person must fully understand the runes, its size, its origin, its shapes, its usages and so on.

    It takes month and even years for a mage toprehend a rune.

    If a magic diagram is constructed incorrectly, the bacsh is enormous. All that magical energy results in the form of an localize explosion. Many mages have lost limbs for trying to formte new spells.

    The runes must bepatible to each other, assembled in such a way on the diagram that they mustplement each other, and their position along the diagram must be perfect without any weird gaps in between. This means the size and shape of the incantation diagram at its core foundation must be calcted beforehand.

    Wow! It must take a mathematical genius to do all this while inbat.

    "When you be adept at our magic, Master, you can do something like this."

    Eliana demonstrates as an enormous magic incantation diagram manifest. Countless runes take their position around the circle before more rings form. More runes appear, filling those new rings rapidly, fitting perfectly. By the time the third circle finishes forming, powerful magical energy emanates from the diagram.

    All this was done in a fraction of a second, demonstrating her skills and proficiencies as a mage of the third circle. She is a High Druid, the equivalent of an Archmage. She is someone to be feared.

    Once the diagram is formed perfectly, it is up to the mage to activate it or not. They could dispel the diagram and reabsorbed some of that expended magical energy. Most of it are lost, however.

    Eliana activates the diagram, causing me to be on edge.

    What kind of spell is that!?

    The illusion around me shimmer, and through one of my senses, I realize we have teleported. We are no longer in the bathroom, shrouded by illusion. The artificial hot spring seems toe with us, but without firestones to power it, the water begins to cool.

    "That is a mass teleportation spell, Master. It is called Dimensional Gateway. The spell takes a lot of magic and concentration to cast. It is not as powerful as your temporal teleportation."

    "Ahahah¡­ right."

    I chuckle. Damn it! I need to learn magic fast!

    "Only those truly gifted has the power tomand time. In all the ages passed, only one mage to ever aplish the feat. His name is feared throughout the world. We do not speak of his name, only his title. He is known as the ck Mage. Even the strongest of races, Dragonkin, fears him."

    Eliana mumbles thest part. She seems to have a grudge against the dragons. Well, that is one thing we have inmon.

    "But against your power, I don''t think he can stand the chance."

    Eliana announces as she leans into me, resting her head on my chest.

    "You are my God, my everything. You have taught me the wonderful joy of sex. I am forever grateful. I hope that you can continue to teach me all the wonders of your world."

    Eliana whispers softly. She is so darn cute. As long as she is loyal and obedience, there is no reason for me on to.

    I lift her head up and give her a kiss. Looks like I have another lover in my ever-growing harem. Luckily, they aren''t all on the same world ¨C or that would be a huge headache.

    No one truly wants to share their man with another.

    I take Eliana again under the real moonlight, but this time, I am a lot more gentle, as we are no longer two lustful people in heat.

    We are lovers now.

 Chapter 79: Accursed Affliction

    Eliana and I take an awful long time to clean ourselves. It couldn''t be helped since neither of us is able to keep our hands off the other.

    Just one look at each other, and we will right back to square one, panting and heaving mess.

    We are young, rich and full of sugar!

    Rtively speaking, of course.

    Eliana is over a thousand years old, and I am probably just shy of 400, collectively.

    In elvish term, I am her junior. Although I could rectify that problem very easily, it is just a technicality to be honest.

    I have banged someone much, much younger than me, so age is starting to be meaningless when you are basically immortal.

    Only appearance is.

    That is debatable though.

    But is it wrong to fuck a loli?

    I will burn that bridge when I see it.

    We are rich since those potions, weapons, and artefacts worth a buttload on the market. It didn''t take any effort on my part to duplicate them with my power.

    I am a walking economic disaster!

    Once Eliana finishes exining about the basic of magic, she exins to me about the world economy at my request. She seems to understand this topic better than Elune, as Elune is barely a child within the elvish society and therefore, hasn''t left the vige her entire life.

    The natives of this world tend to use hard currency, such as silver and gold coins. But like any medieval society, direct trade for goods and services is widespread and eptable. Favors is extremely valuable, especially amongst the upper sses, nobilities, royalties and powerful mages.

    "These are the currencies the human use within their territory, Master. They do change over time due to the political situation between the human Kingdoms, but their value is rtively stable."

    Eliana shows me the coins when we are back in the room. She has them in her possession because the humans once traded with her vige.

    That was many, many moons ago ¨C several millennia to be exact. Their perception of time is a little bit skewed.

    Unlike the elves, who are content with their current situation, the humans do not.

    Being the weakest of the lesser races, humanity constantly explore the world, expanding their borders, continuing to evolve, socially, economically and technologically.

    In a few thousands more years, the humans of this world will surpass the elves in magical power. Once that happens, extinction or subjugation the elvish race is inevitable.

    It is already inevitable for scattered viges and tribes such as the one I am currently in. Thanks to the powerful magical barrier protecting the forest, the nearby human Kingdoms hasn''t directly assaulted the vige yet, but with the Goddess of the Moon out ofmission, the barrier is weakening.

    It has been for thest five thousand years, exactly around the time the dark elves lost their connection with their Goddess. It isn''t just the dark elves, but all the elves did.

    Since elves has be a very valuablemodity, the humans will not simply give up in their little conquest.

    I am a bit conflicted in rectifying this problem for the dark elves since I don''t want tomit genocide on my own species to save them. If it is to save humanity, I have absolutely no problem with killing as many as needed.

    "How much do you wish to save your people, Eliana?"

    I ask despite already knowing the answer.

    Everything Eliana hasmitted is for the ensuring the continued survival of her people. It pains her greatly to sacrifice a few to save the many. Those that she has betrayed are probably cursing her name in their hellish envement and torture.

    The willingness to sacrifice a few for the greater good is anothermon I share with Eliana. However, unlike me, Eliana feels incredibly burden whenever she had to. She does not sleep soundly at night.

    I am probably too desensitized to the whole killing thing, especially when I can undo whatever I have done with a snap of my finger.

    To be honest, if I am in her position, I suppose I would have done the same, considering dark elves are shunned by the others of their kinds. They receive absolutely no help from their own kind.

    In fact, the dark elves were banished from their homnd.

    They are called dark elves because sometimes in the past, they have tangled with Hellions ¨C demonic races from another ne of existence.

    It is very interesting to know that not only alternate realities exist, but alternate dimensions and ne of existences exist as well.

    Do these alternative dimensions and nes exist in the prime universe?

    They probably do!

    My spider sense is tingling!

    I will have Hydra do some researches in this area. There are countless myths and legends throughout histories. What if they aren''t merely myths and legends?

    It is more than likely!

    And when I thought I have figure out at least a small part of the grand scheme of things. I am truly just a big fish in a small pond.

    One step at a time, I guess.

    Let me eat some fishes to grow bigger. By fishes, I mean the dark elves.

    Their involvement with the demonic race has forever corrupts them. This cause their banishment from the main continent by the high councils. They settle here after years at sea.

    I learn of this bit about their history when I had asked about the ck Mage ¨C the only mage in history with natural affinity to the element of time.

    The demons are banished from the world by the ck Mage, but they did vow to return.

    I am sure that the demons will return. The world will fall into chaos.

    And with chaos, herees Terra!

    Fuck!

    I don''t want to have to deal with her again, at least not until I can stop her from suppressing my power.

    As for the ck Mage himself ¨C he is apparently dead. No one have heard of him or seen him for more than ten thousand years.

    His mage tower, the ck Tower still stands. But no one manage to raid the tower even as its master is no longer around.

    This is due to the magical aging effect surroundings the tower for many miles. Everyone ages rapidly when they get close to the tower ¨C sound like my power to rapidly age anything.

    The greater races such as Dragonkin does not dare to break into the tower out of respect for the ck Mage. Since they are immortal, the aging effect shouldn''t affect them.

    I guess I will be the first one to do so. I wonder what kind of secrets are hidden there. Maybe I can get some deep insights to my own power. I am sure there is so much more I can do with my power.

    "Everything, Master."

    Eliana utters and kowtows on the floor. She has begged the Goddess for help again and again, but her prayers remain unheard.

    The Goddess cannot hear anything, anymore.

    Including her husband, the other elders of the dark elves do not understand the incredible threat the humans pose, regardless of whatever she has said. The humans in their eyes are not worthy since they were not born with magic and the blessing the Goddess.

    Their arrogance will be their own undoing.

    Eliana is on her own. She has been for thousands of years.

    "If you can save my people, Master, I will be your ve, I will be your pet. I will do whatever you want of me. I know that as your summoned, my life is your, as is my body and soul. I know that I don''t have anything to give, but ¨C

    I raise my hand to stop her. I crouch down to meet her tearful eyes.

    "There is no need for all of that, Eliana."

    I speak as my index finger captures her tears.

    "I am your Master, and I prefer not to see you cry tears of pain and sorrow. I will help your race, if and only if they swore their allegiance to me. They must abandon their Goddess. If they do, I promise you that your kind will prosper for as long as they are loyal and obedient to me."

    That is my ultimatum.

    Eliana nods. She will try her best to convince the others.

    I know that she will fail since I have jumped to the future and see only a deste wastnd remains of this beautiful paradise, but it is the effort that counts, I suppose. Of course, that future I saw is not an indication of what will happen since I do not exist in that future.

    "Let us sign the summoning contract. I do not know how since someone else have done the contract between me and Elune."

    Eliana is a bit surprised, and she made her surprise known.

    She has assumed that Elune and I have signed the contract in mutual agreement, but it seems that the contract was forced upon Elune without me signing anything.

    That is a breach of freewill. It is something that even the Gods and the Goddesses unable to breach. I put that knowledge into the back of my mind. It feels important ¨C somehow.

    "I do not have a contract scroll that is capable to forming a master-servant summoning between me and yourself, Master."

    Eliana responses.

    "Contract scrolls? Can you exin a bit about that?"

    I request. Eliana did. Spells can be inscribed into scroll to be activateter. It does take more magical energy and time to inscribe the scroll, however.

    Still, knowing that it is possible opens a lot of possibilities for me.

    "Only mages specialize in Conjuration can create a summon contract, Master. I have assumed that you always have the ability to do so. Since I am of the 3rd circle, a Conjurer of the 4th circle is required to create a contract between us."

    Eliana points out. She shows me one of the contract scrolls, but it can only be used for 1st circle mage, so it couldn''t be used for her. The rank required is only for the summoned, not the summoner. This is to prevent the summoned from killing the summoner for whatever reason.

    "What if you reach 4th rank after our contract? Wouldn''t that mean you can break the contract since it is created by a Conjurer of the 4th level?"

    "No, Master. A contract binds the body and soul. Even if I be more powerful in the future, the binding will also be stronger since it is tied to my magic and spirit. A more powerful mage than me is required to initiate the contractual binding since anyone weaker than me will be swallowed up by my power."

    "So, without a 4th circle mage or higher, we will not be able to form a contract?"

    I question. Eliana confirms.

    "But what if you were weaker? Would this contract scroll work if you were a mage of the 1st circle?"

    Eliana blinks at my suggestion. I don''t think anyone in their right mind would willingly relinquish their power and make themselves weaker. Their countless years of hard works and sufferings would be for naught.

    "Master wishes me to cripple my magic?"

    Eliana question.

    "Will you? It would make this whole thing a lot easier."

    I response, calmly. There is no hesitation in my voice. I want to see how far she is willing to go for me.

    Words are cheap. Action speaks louder.

    "If that is your wish, Master."

    Eliana responses before her magical power radiates from her body. It forces the magical veins appear over her body. This is her magical pathways since she does not have a magical core.

    Each person is different, to prevent others from crippling them with ease. This is one of the advantages of having a pathway. A core can be destroyed very easily if one knows where it is in the body. It usually floating around constantly to prevent sneak attacks.

    Another advantageous is that magical pathways grow with age, making the person stronger over time.

    Her hand raises as magical energy coats her fingers. It allows her to damage her own pathways. Doing so will drop her rank, turning a mage of a 3rd circle to 1st circle.

    Eliana is preparing to cripple her own level, so that we could form a contractual binding.

    I am a bit touched.

    This is the kind of loyalty I desire the most.

    I stop her before she goes through with it. I wouldn''t want her to hurt herself.

    "It is unnecessary, Eliana."

    I response as I activate my power. I then hold up the contract scroll.

    "Let''s form the contract."

    "But, Master¡­?"

    Eliana realizes that she is no longer a mage of 3rd circle. She is only of the 1st circle. This brought both fear and respect in her heart. I didn''t do anything more than touch her.

    Of course, I don''t need to touch her to strip her of her powers, but why reveal all my cards?

    "I will return your power once we form a contract."

    The contract is easy. Just a drop of our bloods and recite an incantation and it is done. I feel nothing difference, and neither did Eliana.

    I did expect one of us to get a power boost, but that is wishful thinking.

    With another touch on her shoulder, I return her magical pathways to what it was originally before. I make sure that I did not make her stronger than she already is since I don''t want to reveal that yet.

    Hard works does make one humble.

    "Now, it is my turn to learn magic."

    I announce and check the 7th rank potion sitting on the table. Eliana is still speechless. She is d that she has made the right choice. I have said that I could totally turn her into a pet.

    I mean what I have said. My power can destroy her magic, literally.

    Eliana will never be a mage again if I froze her pathways at its infancy, preventing it from growing ever again.

    As for the potion, the sess rate is only around 1%, but even that is the case, gaining the power to use magic naturally is everyone''s dream.

    I duplicate the incredibly priceless potion 100 times, so if I drink a 100 of them, I''m sure I bound to hit the jackpot at least once ¨C unless I am super unlucky!

    Ah, probability!

    I pick up a potion and drank it all without hesitation.

    The cooling liquids stream down my parched throat and enters my stomach. I didn''t feel any different, so I assume it didn''t work.

    As I pick up the second one, my body convulses.

    The potion shatters in my grip since my muscles forcibly clenches.

    "Master!"

    Eliana shouts as she realizes something is wrong. She rushes to my side and examines me.

    I look at her with mypletely bloodshot eyes. Bloody veins erupt throughout my body, causing me to bleed profusely. It is excruciating painful.

    No, I didn''t think Eliana has poisoned me. But something is very, very wrong.

    Eliana casts healing spell, however, the spell immediately backfired. An astral spirit emerges from my body, taking the shape of a dragon.

    Seeing the dragon, Eliana curls in terror. She knows who that is.

    I do too. It is that fucking dragon!

    "Dragon God, Ingra!?"

 Chapter 80: The Multiverse (Auxiliary Chapter)

    This is an auxiliary chapter! It is marked in the title. You can skip it if you prefer.

    I have thought about adding this chapter to the Auxiliary volume, but this chapter contains things that are major spoiler for those who haven''t read this far yet. I wish there is a way to add auxiliary chapters throughout the main story, allowing you, the readers to skip it if you choose.

    The author notes are inadequate, especially when no one seem to read them.

    Oh well.

    Also, those author notes are limited to 500 characters.

    I don''t know about you, but that is insufficient. Hell ¨C

    Anyway, let''s describe some of the worlds, universes, realities, dimensions, realms, domains, nes of existence that the main character, Maximilien Maxwell as well as some of the secondary characters visit or live in. There are quite a lot due to the story revolving around the Aspectual Multiverse.

    I am usually on there most of the time, so you can talk to me directly.

    All my stories do exist within the same continuity (multiverse), but some stories will only take ce in a single universe like Hollywood Delight for example. Well, the main character in that story can go into movies and films (any sort of media, really) ¨C but that is still considered as a single universe.

    Is that a spoiler? Yup.

    As the Aspect of Time, Maximilien Maxwell is not bound to a single universe or reality, so there is quite a lot of crossover. He does go to fictional realities, but that is a story for another time, and those side adventures are not in this book. He might allude to those fictional realities in his ns as he does use them and what they have aplished as inspiration.

    I use different terms to describe things. Some terms are obvious, so you don''t need to think too much on that.

    Worlds ares. Moons are celestial bodies that orbits, but I will refer them tos when they are seeded with life (this already been allude to). He is nning to terraforms and moons in the sr system. The story has some literally world building. He does y God for a while. It is all his social experiment.

    Universes are universes, usually infinite in size. Realities are used interchangeable with universes, so don''t need think too much on that until muchter. But when I say reality, it epasses every little thing in that reality, including the visible universe. There are just so many things we don''t understand about our own universe, but it does make my imagination run wild!

    Those are the basic terms. Easy enough, right? Let''s getplicated!

    Dimensions are not exactly what you are thinking. I am not talking about another universe that running in parallel with our own. Dimensions are based on science. We are living in 3-dimension, hence 3D. In the story, there are entities that live in higher dimension. Master of Space have absolute control over this as this is his domain!

    Getting crushes into a singrity (zero dimension) is instant death!

    Maximilien is residing in 4-dimensions, the standard 3 dimensions and the time dimension thanks to his power. The higher the dimension a person upies, the more powerful they are. I think there are 10 spatial dimension and 1 temporal dimension. I might use that limit for the story, but who knows.

    If we really want to get technical on the detail, everyone in the story is actually 5-dimensions or higher. This is because their soul upies a spiritual dimension and their consciousness upies another, which is also a spiritual dimension. This does get a bitplexter, but it does give people plenty of ways to attack another person.

    The main character is invincible in the mortal and time dimension, but he is not in spiritual dimensions.

    ne of existences has been stated in the recent chapters. They are considered as parallel universes, running alongside with the prime universes. Time does affect all nes of existence at the same time, since they upy the same reality. There are two ne of existences that we all know without even reading the story. They are Heaven and Hell.

    Heaven is obviously upied by angels (Celestials) and Hell is upied by demons (Hellions). There are more as more myths and legends be facts. Those Olympian and Egyptian Gods? Yeah, they are real.

    Realms are basically worlds with infinite size. Think t Earth theory! Realms are not important to the story right now, but they will be in the cultivation arcs. If you read enough stories on here, you should know what they are. In simple terms, once the soul ascends into a higher realm thanks to cultivation, the owner should ascend to higher realm, where spiritual energy is denser.

    Otherwise, they will not be able to ascend further. This also prevent overpower characters from crushing everyone in the lower realms into oblivion. Some cultivators do break this golden rule, but Maximilien will deal with them appropriately (as in he will torture the shit out of their soul).

    Domains are in the story this whole time, but not reference or mention yet. This is because Maximilien himself does not know. However, some readers probably have figured it out already, so I will just tell it here for everyone and stop beating around the bushes.

    Time is a domain. Space is a domain. Currently, Maximilien has one primary domain, which is Time, as he is the Aspect of Time. He has a secondary domain, which is Space ¨C allow him to teleport anywhere since time and space are linked. Domains are not magic, and they cannot be sensed normally.

    His power is not magic, but something else entirely!

    In the story, Gods and Goddesses usually have their own domain. It is what give them their divinity and power, and their domain grows thank to the belief and worship of their followers. That is one the reasons why Gods and Goddesses need followers. But I am usually talking about Gods that are born, not those who already exists like Dragon God Ingra (see Chapter 3 of Aspectual Multiverse Book).

    The Dragon God Ingra''s domain is fire, which mean that his mes are absolute. It can burn everything into ashes and cinders, mortals and gods alike. Only those with fire domain (even as a secondary) can resist his fire. This makes domain more powerful than magic or cultivation.

    Domains does have level, with the highest rank is Aspectual. Only Aspect has Aspectual rank domain. Primordial is very close to Aspectual, this just mean Aspect is more powerful than Primordial when 1 vs 1, but it still pretty darn hard to kill a Primordial.

    Impossible really since they exist everywhere and nowhere at the same time. If just one piece of them remains anywhere, they will restore themselves instantly! This also mean Aspects are pretty darn hard to kill as well.

    That are all the terms you need to know for now. Let''s talk about some of the world!

    [Prime Reality]

    This reality contains the prime universes, dimensions, nes of existences. Since there is no magic or cultivation, there are no natural realms. There might be artificial realms, but let''s not get ahead right now.

    Realms will form if magic or cultivation are introduced into the reality. Not just introduce like bringing magical artefacts and items back from other realities.

    It doesn''t work that way.

    Maximilien must bring forth magical and spiritual energy, so those energies propagate throughout the universe. Kind of hard since this reality is based on science. Science is not treated as secondary in this story. I have already alluded to psychonic energies, such as telekinesis and so on.

    Science is created by the Master of Order as a mean to stick it to magic (actually Terra). Magices first. Well, the soules first, so spiritual (cultivation). Science is bornst, so it is like an underdog or the little brother, but that doesn''t mean science is weak. Hell, it is super overpowering ifbine with Magic to create Magictech!

    Maximilien will obtain a Digital Domain like the main character of Game Over has at the start. That is just another story I wrote (actually I have like 300 chapters stashed away nicely). Digital Domain allows him to have gaming powers. Some realities have this gaming shit going on, where the inhabitants can see stats and experiences point. It will be hrious and mindfuck with people.

    Most of the story takes ce in the prime reality, with real people and the likes. They might share the same appearance and name, but their personality are based on what I think those people should be!

    [Nazi Germany Reality]

    This is the first reality Maximilien and his bands of crazy fanatics have gone to.

    It is also the introduction to magic as well as the greater multiverse.

    One of those beyond-god idiots decides to dump a magical space rock onto Berlin for kicks andughs ¨C not really, but you will find outter. The story will loop back around.

    The meteor allows German to gain ess to magic and produce a primitive form of Magictech. Even as primitive form, the Nazi basically steamrolled the fucking world. Science is not advance enough to defend against magic, and you can''t use science toprehend magic.

    However, the Nazi got a little greedy and doom their entire world and probably the universe. And with billions of deaths that are not supposed to happen, so many negative energies cause the emergence of the undead. Chaos ensures.

    With Chaos,es Terra.

    Terra does need to keep bnce to things (I mention this several times already). As Master of Chaos, she creates chaos when there is too much order, and order when there is too much chaos.

    It is like a tug of war between her and the youngest of all Aspect, Master of Order. Deus was bornst, and then everything else, Gods and so on. I am not sure where Death, Fate and all the abstract entity fit into this. I know for a fact that they are below Aspect and Primordial.

    In time, I guess.

    [Az Reality]

    The current arc is here, on the world of Az, which I dubbed as Azeroth for reference.

    The story barely scratches the surface of magic, as there are quite to go through. I will add an auxiliary chapter on their magic system. Theirprehension and understand of magic are different than other reality, but the basis of magic is the same. Runes are required to cast any spell.

    Az is filled with fantastical creatures, such as elves, dwarves, dragons and so on.

    There are lesser and greater race on Az, basically meaning mortals or immortals.

    Elves are still considered as lesser since they are not immortal naturally. They have extremely long-life span, but they can still die once they reach a certain point. Like most things, the elves do fear death, especially when their Goddess are out ofmission thanks to Ingra (again, see chapter 3 of Aspectual Multiverse book).

    Hydra is actually on Az right now since the temporal rift in Thand connects the prime reality and this reality together (See chapter 2 of Aspectual Multiverse book). Maximilien doesn''t know it yet, at least until theyunch a satellite into orbit and scan the entire world.

    Az is also the first world Hydra annexed since Hammond is working on a temporal energy container, which can power a rift indefinitely. They will call those permanent rifts a Temporal Gateway. I will just dub it Stargate ¨C lol.

    Alright, that is it for now. Going to write a chapter. It will be the point of view of Eliana. And once Max gets his tiny magical core, he will return to the prime reality to deal with more things and one loose end name Marian Oxford. Her punishment is definitelying up.

    Maximilien does not forgive and he does not forget!

 Chapter 81: Dragon God Ingra (POV)

    There is no doubt about it.

    This suffocating presence. This overwhelming magical energy.

    This is the Dragon God Ingra!

    No, not the Dragon God himself. Only a sliver of his essence and powerful intent, projected as an astral entity from my master. Because if Ingra is here in person, everything in this room and the surrounding miles, including myself and the vige would have been reduced to ash.

    His presence is the like sun itself, incinerating everything and reducing everything to cinder.

    I should know. I was there when Ingra approaches the Great Garden where my parents had lived. His every step turns the earth into flowingva. His every breathe burns the world away. And with a p of his wings, the Great Garden bes but a burning hatred.

    This is the might of a Great God, unrelenting and upromising. All that below them will be washed away by their power. Even the Goddess of Moon herself does not appear in the mortal world in person on the ount of the destruction she will bring forth.

    But what is Ingra doing here!? Why is a fragment of his power inside my master?

    "M¡­master!"

    I call out to my master, as his entire body is engulfed in the divine mes that cannot be extinguished by any mortals. It will never die.

    Seeing that, I fear for the worst.

    But to my amazement, master did not perish like so many others from memory. Master did not scream even when his flesh melts off his body. He does not yield even though he is under unfathomable pain and suffering. The divine mes do not burn on the physical ne, but also in the spiritual ne.

    His soul is suffering as much as his body. Yet ¨C Master shows no fear, no aguish?

    Is this the might of God?

    "Fucking dragon. When the fuck did you ce a curse on me!? Goddamn it!"

    Master shouts something in his divine tongue before everything change in an instant. It might be the magic of his world. The magic of science?

    The astral projection of Ingra vanishes like it is but an illusion. And my master is sitting on the couch with an annoyance expression.

    His body is uninjured.

    A dream¡­? No. It was real. But the room!? Even if master could heal himself and suppress the essence and intent of a Dragon God with his willpower, why is the room remained unmolested.

    It was burning just a moment ago.

    The only exnation I can think of is somehow, time has been rewound. This only happens in legends, in the time when the ck Mage walks thend.

    But then why can I still remember? I should not remember if time has rewound.

    "Master¡­?"

    I drop to his side, attempting to tend him.

    Master smiles warmly at me and pats my hands gently. He is a God. There is no doubt about that, but unlike the Dragon God, only warmness radiates from him, enticing my heart.

    Even the Goddess herself did not elicit this emotion. In her presence, there is only utter tranquility. It feels somewhat hollowed.

    "Tell me, Eliana. Who is the Dragon God Ingra?"

    Master wants to know.

    And I reveal what I know of the Dragon God to him.

    I have only met Ingra one time as a child. I was spared like the others because Ingra shows no hostility to me or anyone in the Great Garden. If he did, the dark elves would have been extinct long ago. Ingra was simply wandering the world, searching for something or maybe someone.

    The Dragon God did take interest in our Goddess, hoping to meet the Goddess in person.

    Sadly, the Goddess never came despite how much we have pleaded and prayed. Ingra decided to seek her out personally. He left afterwards, but the damage had been done.

    Most of the elves in the Great Garden had died, meaninglessly. The Great Garden itself bes a hot and fiery ce. The divine mes will never be extinguished unless Ingra desires it so.

    "Fucking dragon¡­"

    Master curses. He seems to hold a grudge against the Dragon God. He then smiles at me. This warming smile pierces through my very being and nudges my heart.

    I have never felt like this before, not in the thousands upon thousands of years I have lived. The mes that day did not kill me, but it takes away everything I have ever loved. I did not care of any individual since.

    "Maybe I will avenge your parents one day. If not, I can bring you some sort offort and heal that scar you carry for thousands of years. That is a promise."

    Master assures before asking questions about what had just happened. I didn''t hear the question since his vows to avenge my parents constantly echoing in my head. And what did he mean by healing my scar?

    I am not injured. There is not a single scar on my body.

    "Eliana?"

    Master breaks me out of my stupor. I didn''t realize when my vision has be blurry.

    "I''m sorry, Master."

    I try to stop my tears, but they keep flooding out, unrestrained. If anyone can kill a Great God, I believe my master can. Even the divine mes can be extinguished so effortlessly.

    My tears only stop when master takes me into his warm embrace. I could feel his heart beating steadily upon my palm and finger. It is very calming, taking me into a dreamless sleep.

    When was thest time I have such a good sleep? Will I be alone once I wake up again?

    I hope my master remains by my side, now and forever. But that is only wishful thinking. He does not belong in this tiny ce. There is simply nothing for him here. Regardless, I want to wish.

    "Did you sleep well?"

    Master asks me when I slowly open my eyes.

    "Master! I thought that you¡­"

    I utter and pull myself up off the bed. I am no longer on the couch.

    Master must have taken me over to the bed and tug me in while I sleep. It must have been so gently since I am always on guard. Even the slightest sound, I would have woken up.

    "You thought I would leave? This isn''t a one-night stand, you know."

    What is a one-night stand? A night stand that left here for one night? It sounds strange, but somewhat logical.

    "Although I must leave since there are many things I have to do, I will always make time for you, Eliana. Just request it and it shall be done."

    Master points out with a smile.

    "In that case. Please stay with me for a little bit longer, Master."

    I request. He nods and allows me to continue to rest against him. I want this moment tost forever, but as an elder, I must attend my responsibilities. Master also have his own responsibilities. Perhaps, one day, this moment canst forever.

    I close my eyes once more, feeling his heartbeat. It is soft and steady, upromising and unyielding, no matter what.

    "Eliana. If you have a choice, would you leave everything behind?"

    I nod slowly. Is Master asking me to go with him? I would. I really would. But I can''t. Not until I know my people are safe and prospering.

    However, if Master desires it, I will carry out his wish.

    "Yes Master. If that is your wish."

    I response.

    "My wish huh?"

    Master pats my head gently, caressing my hair and ear. Master looks sad. Perhaps it is not the answer he wants to hear.

    However, he did stay with me for days. At least it feels for days.

    Time flows strangely in his presence.

    Only a couple of hours have passed in the outside world.

    Master takes the potions and several storage rings with him. He decides to unlock magic on his own in a control environment back in his world. He did ask me more questions about the curse and if there is any solution to the problem.

    To my understanding, the burning curse that the Dragon God Ingra ces upon Master will constantly consume his magic, fueling the divine mes, which in turn inflicts unimaginable suffering on his body and soul.

    What sort of grudge did the Dragon God Ingra has against Master to do such a thing?

    However, the curse remains dormant as long as there no magical energy flowing through his body. He would live in perfect health andfort if he does not attempt to practice magic.

    Master simplyughs when I attempt to persuade him from his intention.

    He already has the magic of science from his world. Is there a need to learn my world''s magic?

    "I have suffered worst, Eliana. I''m not going to let a puny Dragon God tells me what to do, huh. Besides, if there is a will, there is a fucking way!"

    If there is a will¡­ there is a way?

    I smile at that.

    Perhaps with Master, there is always a solution to every problem.

 Chapter 82: The Usual Weekend

    The world unfreezes when I returned to my office. It didn''t matter where I am in the other universe, I will always return to my office because it is the ce where I had left from just a moment ago.

    Well, rtively speaking. I have only been gone from the prime universe for about couple of seconds.

    Unfortunately, I couldn''t bring anyone for the ride through the magical gateway. But I can bring stuffs back as evidence by all the new toys I have.

    I do wonder if I could bring a corpse back from Az universe and then revive the said corpse with my power on this side, the prime universe. Doing so will bypass the whole no one else besides myself can pass through the portal.

    Selene makes a mental reminder for me. It is good to experiment. I am starting to sound like a scientist ¨C it is not really a bad thing, honestly.

    Aside from the potions, everything else is stashed inside the storage rings. From Eliana''s exnation, these rings utilize spatial magic to create a pocket dimension to store items for safekeeping. How big the pocket dimension depends on the rank and how adept the mages at the enchantment.

    Now, I don''t need to tell you how many applications you can do with spatial magic. And those fucking mages use it to mainly craft storage rings. Honestly, they dock imagination. I guess I will show them when the timees.

    Without any magical power, I am unable to ess the item inside the storage rings. I can always have Eliana or Elune ess them for me. Eliana more likely because Elune doesn''t know anything ¨C yet.

    Plus, I do have a little business transaction with Eliana Shadowsong. Saving her people won''t be that difficult to be honest. I just need a few things from Hydra to get started. A schematic to a terraformer for one.

    If it is anything like this universe, there should be plenty of habitable worlds in the Az universe. And finding one won''t take long. Hell, I could just dump her people on the moon once it is terraformed. It isn''t like there is a Goddess sitting up there ¨C I checked.

    Just a regr old space rock, drifting in the endless space. It is green in color because of all the glowing manastones up there. I am unsure what the greenstones are exactly, so I mine a few to bring home as present for Mystic. As for the red moon, it is filled with bloodstones ¨C so that is out of the question.

    I am saving her people, not dooming them.

    But if I am worry about the humans of Az reaching the stars in the future, I will just bring her people here to the prime universe. Hans and his family prove it is possible. And I do ¨C I will have several moons ands to y around with.

    Shield Headquarter should haveunched those terraformers to all thes and moons within the sr system. Terraforming does take several decades ¨C or a second.

    As for my attempt to create a magical core and gain the ability to cast magic unaided, I am somewhat pissed. That bastard is a Dragon God? When I faced him, he was in his dragon form. However, he does have a humanoid form from what Eliana had said.

    I am not pissed at his dragon form. I am pissed because he didn''t say a single word to me. Isn''t it likemon courteous to say something before you beat the shit out of someone?

    No? Just me. I see¡­

    As for the burning curse itself, I wonder if Terra knows. She didn''t mention it when we have our little chat, so I am leaning towards no. Terra did say she isn''t omni-sentient in her current form. I will have to take her words for that.

    In any case, it doesn''t solve my problem. I am not going to run to her for help because for one, I don''t want to deal with her again. And for two, I don''t want to deal with her again!

    My power doesn''t seem to remove the curse. The curse must be imprint on my soul, which seems to be unaffected by my time power. Furthermore, I am unwilling to revert my body too much since it will undo all the enhancements and augmentations the nanomachines have done to my genomes over the centuries.

    Speaking of which, the stamina potions does boost my biology and the nanomachines, allowing me to manipte heat and electricity with ease. Matter maniptions remain unchanged since this is purely nanomachines at work. More energy doesn''t make them process faster.

    I raise my head when I heard a cry. Look like Antigone is awake. Time to feed a baby girl. I haven''t seen my daughter for days. Almost a week, but from her perspective, it has only been a few hours.

    "Daddy''s here, Anti. Oh¡­ what is that smell!?"

    Sometimes I wish I could use my power to undo that, but Antigone will never grow up if I do.

    I guess I have to get down and do the dirty work once in a while.

    That or hire a wet nurse. Maybe I should.

    "Selene. Add that to my list of things to do, mark it as important."

    [Acknowledged, Operator]

    I spend the next few hours ying with my daughter and watching television. Since it is around 4am in the morning, most of stuffs being broadcast aremercials, selling junks or porn or both, which I order because Antigone wants them.

    I mean the junks, not the porn. What the hell are you thinking?

    Antigone jabs at the widescreen television when she sees something she wants. And she pouts when I tell her no. I think I am enabling her. I must put my foot down¡­ but it is so damn hard.

    "Alright, Anti, daddy will buy you some condoms. We can blow them up like balloons."

    Maybe I just get her actual balloons. That is better.

    Good parenting, me!

    Antigone wants a vibrator next, but her shaker can morph into one since it is actually micromachines imitating the toy. The new elongated toy vibrates in her hand before she sucks on it.

    And that is enough for that!

    I decide to take Antigone out for a walk, at 5am in the morning. The sun should be rising soon. People already up and jogging in the street, exercising. Pretty sure some of them are Hydra agents.

    "Good morning, Max. You''re up and early?"

    A man calls out. He is exercising with his wife ¨C a very nicedy. She brought a pie when I moved into my ce. I ate it since it is a good pie.

    I bake her a cake in return because¡­ well just because. There is no reason, really.

    "Good morning, Dave. Yup. Couldn''t sleep. And my daughter doesn''t want to sleep either, so here we are. Do you always exercise this early?"

    I response as I examine the couple carefully. They are Dave and Jane. They have two daughters named Emily and Ashley. Ashley is the older of the two, and she is a senior in high school.

    Without resorting to cheating, it is hard to tell if they are Hydra sleeper agents. But if I have to guess, I think they are sleeper agents since both daughters are up fairly early, considering most children sleep inte on the weekends.

    Shield tells me they are not.

    Damn it!

    I talk to Dave and Jane a little bit while Antigone ys with her shaker. I have it return back to proper toy to prevent any question being asked.

    A few houses down the street, an old couple greets me and my daughter. The couple are seen often at Stephanie''s house several times, talking to Mrs. Connors, so it is likely they have a good rtionship.

    Shield tells me that they are Hydra sleeper agents, so that is kind of shocking. Although no one really retire from Hydra unless killed in action, but no one is this damn old!

    "Ahem. This is the SC talking. How old are you two, really?"

    I question. SC stands for Supreme Commander.

    "29, Supreme Commander."

    Both of them responses. They drop their acting as soon as they make sure no one is watching.

    "Well, you two have aged terribly."

    I response with a chuckle.

    "This is just a disguise, sir. By the way, beware of Dave and Jane. They are Soviet spies, sir. They have been snooping around your ce. I think it is due to your helicopter ride back and forth between New York and Hollywood. Since you are now publicly known, they are getting aggressive."

    Ah! That is why their daughters wake up so darn early, even when they don''t have schools. And since Henry Oxford had revealed Chrono Holdings is backing Terra Entertainment at that court case, I can no longer stay in the shadow.

    I did weight the pros and cons of the reveal, but I need powerful backing to bring important people to the table.

    "Shall we get rid of them, sir?"

    "Others will just rece them, so just let them be for now. If they break into my home for whatever reason, I will break their spine. Anyway, as you two were, then."

    I response.

    I am neglecting the Soviet Union since the country will breakdown sometimes next year. I want this to happen, as it is easier to deal with the fallouts. All the pieces should be in ce by then.

    I continue to y the game of guessing who are the Hydra agents are with Shield until 8am. Although I won twice, I am rtively happy with the acting skills of the sleeper agents.

    Those agents don''t stand out at all. Anyone on the fucking street could be a sleeper agent.

    After having breakfast with Antigone, I surrender her to my mother, Stephanie. The girl is still a little bit shaken after her abduction and psychological torture, but she is still capable of taking care of my daughter ¨C her granddaughter.

    "Thank you again, Mr. Maxwell. If it isn''t for your help, our daughter might not be safe and sound right now."

    Mr. Connors tells me. I tell him no to worry about it. We chat a little bit before I head home and into my office. I close the door and then teleport to Hydra Headquarter.

    Since the moon base is not finish building yet, Mystic division is working out of the main headquarter.

    Alex and Hans are already at it since 5am in the morning. These two don''t sleep much. Emilia is usually with them since she has a brotherplex, but she is currently not.

    "Mr. Mercer. Mr. Richter. How would you like to use magic?"

    I question.

    "Does Hans want to fuck his sister?"

    I arch my brow and look at Hans, who beam deadly at Alex.

    "Do you?"

 Chapter 83: Magic Incantation

    Hans Richter denies the usation, obviously.

    But like Alex Mercer, I do think that his little sister, Emilia Richter, is more than just a bit obsessed with him.

    Emilia is almost always close by wherever her brother currently is. She has requested to join Hydra as ab assistant just because she doesn''t see her brother home enough.

    The virtual intelligence, Shield has filed itsplete psychological analysis of one Emilia Richter from Reality-111.1, and I can say for sure that she has a severe and incurable condition known as brotherplex. It is slightly less severe than Oedipusplex.

    It is just a matter of time before Emilia acts upon her impulses.

    Reality-111.1 is the Nazi Germany reality. Well, it is not anymore thanks to me and hydra. America will be the leading nation in the field of the magical studies.

    Regardless, the assigned number still stands.

    The first digit in the sequence denotes for the level of technological advancement. The second number denotes for magic and its progression. The third number denotes for species or inhabitants. I add thatst digit in there due to the discovery of the elves.

    These digits are subjected to change over time. But in the case of the mentioned reality above, it will not as the temporal rift connected to that reality has been copsed.

    The digits after the period is the order in which the reality is discovered. This number does not change once it has been assigned. Ignoring the digit zero, Nazi Germany is the first reality we have discovered beyond the temporal rifts. Since then, we have discovered plenty more alternate realities, including magical reality beyond the temporal rift in Thand.

    By the time seven or eight realities have been mapped, I decide to also assign a number to the prime reality. It is for filing and documentation within the organizationworks. Following the sequencing rule, prime reality is given the code Reality-121.8.

    I initially want to assign it as Reality-121.0, but zero means origin or undefined, so I decide against it as the prime reality is pretty much defined. Since 7 alternate realities have been documented by then, the number 8 is assigned for prime reality instead.

    Someone did point out the coincidence within the pages of theic book by Marvel, but it is merely a coincidence. It also helps me remember.

    I was aic book nerd, like all the teenagers and young adults living in 2019, during the age of Marvel cinematic universe ¨C right before I take a nuke to the face.

    That opens my eyes right up.

    Hydra members have mapped over 100 different realities during the time I was fucking around. More temporal distortions are found throughout the world, with some just beginning to form. And this is on our beautiful alone.

    We have not check outer space and others yet ¨C because it is too troublesome currently. But I am sure whatever happen for the distortion to ur propagates throughout the universe. This might cause a problem for my terraforming project.

    Hammond might need a helping hand. I am happy to provide.

    As for Hans and his sister, Emilia, I don''t mind if their rtionship evolves into something more, as it will give something to say when my rather unorthodox rtionship with Allision finallyes out. No secrete can be kept buried forever, unless I am willing to continuing killing people over the mater.

    I believe that as long as the sexual rtionship is consensual by both parties, it should be fine.

    Obviously, there is no rational reason for keepingws and taboos against consensual incest. Personal reasons and religion are not rational reasons in my book.

    Why should the opinions of others affect your personal life? Don''t those people have better things to do than spread rumors and criticisms?

    And didn''t the Bible say we are all born from consanguineous sex? I read the whole thing in its entirety because I had time. Didn''t believe any of it personally, but faith does give people hope when there are none. This is to say as long as religious belief does not result in prosecutions. I won''t have any of that inquisition crap.

    As for gic defect, there won''t be any due to advances in medical technology. Hell, Hydra has been ying God for a while now, editing and modifying the code of life. There is nothing sacred to me and my organizations.

    We will do whatever it takes to archive our goals!

    In any case, I don''t want to spend anymore brain cell on this rather pointless matter. It is their family problem, not mine. But if their sexual tension affects their productivity, I will have to say something about it.

    "I assuming you also wants to use magic as well, Mr. Richter."

    I speak up and ce a box full of potions onto the table. I exin what the potion does, and I suggest them to start drinking. If something unexpected happens, I will undo it with my power.

    True, I could have brought in some human guinea pigs for the experiment, but the direct route doesn''t seem dangerous, so there is no reason to.

    Alex shrugs and drinks about a couple potions. He didn''t feel any different.

    Same as Hans, who gulps down 5 potions with some coffees. He then goes off to take a leak.

    "There is about 1% sess rate, I am told. It likely won''t be the first few¡­ dozens. Just keep drinking until you feel something, I suppose."

    I told Alex, who shrugs again. He drinks about a dozen before needing to go to the toilet. Hanses back after he did and continues drinking while reading his handwritten notes on a new magic theory.

    "Good morning, Miss Richter."

    I greet when his sister enters the room, carrying several vials with glowing liquids. I assume those vials contains liquified manastones. It has a simr color to the mana potions.

    "Good morning, Mr. Maxwell. How are you today?"

    "I am fine, Miss Richter. And I see that you are looking fine as well. Your brother and Mr. Mercer are having a littlepetition, to see who gains magical power first. Would you like to join?"

    I ask. Hans shakes his head, telling his sister not to, believing it might be too dangerous for her.

    But Emilia wouldn''t have any of that. She is no longer a child, and she wishes her brother stops seeing her like one. She is now a young woman, so he should see her as such.

    "I would love to, Mr. Maxwell."

    I nod and exin to her about the potions on the table. She picks up one and takes a sip, tasting the liquid. It is a bit sweet, but that is all. She drinks it all afterwards, but nothing changes.

    "Maybe it doesn''t work?"

    Emilia asks.

    "I assure you that it does work, Miss Richter. I have experienced the empowerment myself. However, I am unable to retain the magical power for an unexpected reason. I do wish to rectify this problem of mine as soon as possible."

    I response and duplicate more potions. For a sure chance, I need at least 300 potions for 3 people.

    As Emilia drinks the second potions, an explosion rocks the base.

    This cause the emergency system to activate, locking down several sections to stop the flooding. That isn''t an ordinary explosion. It is powerful enough to punch through reinforced steel?

    "Yes! Fuck Yes!"

    Alex shouts and charges into the room excitedly. His body ispletely drenched in seawater. Several Hydra members shout and scream in the hallway. The shouting and screaming eventually die down, either they have drowned or found a way to save themselves.

    Honestly¡­ this guy.

    But the good news is that he seems to have been empowered by magical energy. While I couldn''t feel any since it is so minute, I could see the energy radiating out of his body like faint steams.

    "Excellent, Mr. Mercer. You try to cast that explosion spell the Nazis use, did you?"

    Alex chuckles before shrugging.

    I tap on the holographic deck to disy the Heavenly Book Selene haspiled for me.

    Since Alex can use magic now, it is time for him to study.

    Studying is his forte, so it didn''t take long for him to start forming magical incantation diagram. While he did that, I repair the damage area of the base and revive all the drowned members.

    My decision to build a lunar base for Mystic is correct.

    These magical stuffs are way too dangerous, especially under someone like Alex, who is quite reckless when something upies his mind. I just hope I won''t have to go fishing people in space because the lunar base has been blown up.

    "What is he doing? Moving his hands in midair?"

    Emilia asks when Alex forms an incantation diagram. I narrow my eyes at the girl before looking at the security feeds. Just like she has said, Alex is gesturing nothing in the air.

    "Fireball!"

    Alex shouts before the magical incantation diagram before him explodes. Emilia screams while Hans jumps to attention. I exhale deeply since I know exactly what happened.

    "Fuck! This is harder than I have thought!"

    Alex curses as he grabs hold of his blood stump. His hand and arm have blown right off due to a failed spell.

    "What just happen!?"

    Hans shouts. It appears that he couldn''t see magic either, at least until he bes empowered with magical energy.

    This is very interesting.

    But how am I able to see it despite not having magic myself? Emilia confirms that you need to have magical energy flowing through your body to be able to see magic.

    I guess I can always use magic, just that I have never tried before. A magical circle form in front of me when I follow the instruction in the book.

    It seems that my assumption is correct.

 Chapter 84: Spatial Compression

    However, the magical incantation diagram I have just created is barely visible.

    It dissipates immediately, within a fraction of a microsecond, and I feel like I have just run for several miles in the process.

    It is extremely exhausting to cast magic without any magical energy. And I am unable to have magical energy flowing through me due to the burning curse by a fucking dragon.

    My magic will fuel the curse and torture me physically and spiritually. And I cannot use magic without magical energy.

    This is a dilemma.

    An important question remains, however. When did I be able to cast magic? Is it when my power first awakens? It seems likely since I have always been able to feel magical energy when it first appears even if a little and spiritual aware of my surroundings.

    Spiritual ¨C does that mean I can also cultivate? How?

    I need topile a Heavenly Book on that, but I am currentlycking resources and knowledges.

    It isn''t as simple as demanding to cultivate and I can magically cultivate. Even casting magic requires basic foundation and understanding. I doubt I can even create a magical incantation diagram without understanding how it works.

    The only reason Alex manages to blow up thevatory and a good chunk of the base is because he has studied the Nazi runes for so long. Even so, the rune didn''t activate properly, thus resulting in a huge explosion.

    The Nazis never understand the true power of the rune they had inscribed on their bullets.

    I am rtively sure the rune they had used does not cause an uncontroble explosion even when not being casted within a magical incantation diagram. Such explosion only happens due to a poor orck of understanding of the magic rune.

    What does the Nazi rune do exactly if casted correctly?

    Those books I have scanned does not have any information on that rune. In fact, none of the runes we have learned from the Nazis are referenced to in any of the books. They are probably not for beginner mages.

    So many questions. And not enough answers.

    "Mr. Mercer. I have warned you about the danger of magic. Did the Nazi not destroy their entire world when they are meddling with force, they do not fully understand?"

    I ask and pick up the health potion off the table. It is a 3rd rank Greater Potion. It is design to heal and restore a mage of the 3rd rank from grievous injuries. However, it should still be effective for a normal person or someone who had just awaken their magic.

    Unlike stamina potion, a person couldn''t over-healed, could they?

    Well, there is only one way to find out.

    "Drink this. I want to see its effect before I heal you. Consider it as your punishment for being reckless just because I am here."

    Not much of a punishment really. I tell him to drink a small sip since the potion is extremely potent as I have experienced.

    Alex shrugs and takes a small sip from the ss bottle. He then describes a refreshing coolness wraps around his body the moment the liquid hits his stomach and gets absorbed into his body.

    The massive bleeding on his stump quickly stops, and I see that his blown-off arm is beginning to heal in real time. His bone grows alongside muscle tendons and fibers before everyone.

    Emilia gasps and covers her mouth.

    In contrast, Hans has seen too many weird shits himself in Hydra, so this isn''t anything new. The man has witnessed a human heart being fabricated cell by cell by a fabricator because he wants to learn. It is quite an interesting experience.

    Alex looks at his mending hand with speechless surprise while skin covers the raw muscle fibers. And Within a minute, his arm looks like it hasn''t been blown off. His torn shirt and missing Hydra ring tell the real story, however.

    "Now, this is some crazy ¨C

    Alex convulses as he grabs his chest.

    "Fuck! I''m too young to die! Tell my wife, I hate her!"

    Alex curses out a mouthful of blood before his heart literally explodes inside his body. With a smile on his face, he copses on the ground, unmoving.

    It seems that the potion is too potent for a normal person, even just a small sip.

    "Is he¡­?"

    Emilia utters before Alex snaps open his bloody eyes and grabs her hand. She screams in terror.

    Hans kick Alex in the head, angrily.

    "Scare you. I don''t have a wife. Too much baggage. Ah¡­ no. I''m seriously dead. My heart just explodes, I think.

    Well, see you all in hell. We are all definitely going there."

    Alex coughs out a huge amount of blood before falling backwards against the floor. His bloodshot eyes remain open. His jaw might be broken thanks to Hans.

    Hans didn''t hold back at all.

    I think Alex is getting more entric the more time he spends studying magic. Could magic affects a person psychologically? And didn''t Alex feel any pain at all? His heart and several of his organs basically explode and turn to mush.

    Hans seems unaffected mentally even though he spends as much time as Alex, so I guess no. Magical energy doesn''t really harm a person. Otherwise, there are plenty of homicidal mages running around on Az.

    This is just in crazy Alex, as usual.

    I swear Alex really needs a girlfriend or someone of the sort. He also needs to go out more often.

    When I first recruit him all those years ago, he was an incredible loner, preferring to stay in hisbs, conducting his researches, days after days, years after years.

    Work is work, but a person must socialize every now and then or they will go insane. I am somewhat a living example of that.

    With a thought, Alex is back from the dead. His clothe is also restored along with his Hydra ring. Since it was his punishment, I let him keep the memory. He doesn''t seem to bother by the excruciating pain or anything of the sort.

    "I thought I saw an angel. She has incredible knockers, spilling out of her tiny white outfit."

    Alex mutters. His eyes glimmer for a second.

    "How could you? You were burning in hell."

    Hans responses. He is still annoyed at Alex for scaring his little sister. There is definitely more than just normal sibling rtionship between Hans and Emilia.

    "Might have been a devil, tempting my innocent soul."

    Alex responses.

    Hans rebuttals with anotherment, which I didn''t bother to hear. This is their usual battering when they are in a room together. They do produce good works, so I will let it go.

    "Alright, enough, Mr. Mercer and Mr. Richter."

    I speak up. That shut the both of them up. I pay attention to Emilia.

    "Please, Miss Richter, send these potions down to research. I want a full analysis of theirposition as soon as possible. Pleasebel them as follow."

    Once they arebeled correctly, Emilia heads out of the room with the items. The research division of Mystic is down the hall. Most members there are temporary. Very few scientists want to study magic since it fucks with their current understanding with the universes.

    Hans returns to trying to awaken his magic.

    As for Alex, I pass him a storage ring before he attempts to blow himself up again. He is more reckless when I am around, as I can undo any kind of injuries.

    "Just to channel your magic into the rings. They are spatial ring, allowing the user to store items in a sort of pocket dimension. Think of it like an inventory in role-ying games."

    I point out. I exin a bit more to get him interested.

    "What is a role-ying game?"

    Alex questions.

    I didn''t answer that. And he didn''t want to know either.

    Alex is too focus on the ring. He channels some of his magic into the ring before blinking. It seems that he just saw what is inside the ring.

    "Spatialpression? I thought I have seen everything."

    Alex speaks up as he takes out a few items from the ring. He put those items back into the ring just to experiment. It does take a lot of effort at first, but he gets use to it quickly.

    I have him takes out two ck orbs.

    Once Hans finally activate his magical power, I have them both channel their magical energy into those ck orbs. Eliana tells me that this should reveal their naturally affinity. Each mage has one.

    The orb in Alex''s hands turn red. mes swirl within. Hans is wind, on the other hand.

    I also test the ck orb again. It remainspletely pitch ck as before. Oh well.

    "I want you two to research how to replicate this spatial effect on a muchrger scale. I don''t need to tell you what kind of application is possible with it. However, I want this to be a secret between us."

    I order them. Alex and Hans acknowledge my order. They understand full well how dangerous spatial magic can be. If fall into the wrong hand, the world can be destroyed in an instant.

    Once they did, I smile and blink out of existence for a nanosecond.

    "But don''t neglect your magic training. Also, sends out a census to see how many Hydra members are interested in learning magic. If there is sufficient number of people, a magicbat division is in order, don''t you think?"

    I speak up after I have gained what I needed.

    There are many ways to introduce magic to the prime universe, but from what the future just tells me, it will only create chaos. So many people use magic for malicious mean, and there are just not enough good guys to stop them.

    Magic must be controlled ¨C that is a fact.

    I talk to Alex and Mercer a bit more about the future of Mystic. They give simr opinion since even if their personalities don''t match well, their intellects do.

    I make a mental note on all their suggestions and leave them to their work.

    I teleport to another location ¨Cpletely off the radar. It is somewhere in China, however. The Asian country provides me with all the man power I needs.

    Darkness fills my vision for a second before red light fills the corridor. There is only one path to follow, so I did. It leads me into arge open room.

    White light radiates the entire room as the wall shifts and the door is removed.

    "Legion greets Supreme Commander."

    "Greeting Legion. Selene will give you technical information on spatialpression as well as some of new schematics. Decipher the information and apply to the room. I want near infinite dimension since what I am about to do might destroy the world."

    "Affirmative, Supreme Commander."

    Legion ¨C the brain of XCOMBAT ¨C takes a couple of moments to decipher the technical information on spatialpression.

    Alex and Hans have done a very good job on researching spatial magic, but it did take the more than a few millennia. An incredible long time to be honest. I thought they would figure out everything about spatial magic within a decade or so.

    Oh boy, I was wrong. There is a reason why Space and Time cannot be learned, at least from a magic perspective. From science perspective, it is different.

    I also see the end of humanity at the hands of magic. Humans can really use anything to destroy each other huh. Give them a knife, they stab each other to death. Give them a gun, they shoot each other, and give them magic, they fuck with the world!

    Damn it!

    "Applying Spatial Compression, Supreme Commander."

    The room expands into the distant.

    I could no longer see the walls or the floor or the ceiling.

    The floating tform is the only thing that holding me up in what appear to be an endless abyss. This is an application of spatialpression.

    "Alright. Let''s figure out what I can do. Legion, record and analyze everything. Primary objective is to figure out how to negate or suppress the entity known as Dragon God Ingra."

    I order.

    "Affirmative, Supreme Commander."

    Legion replies in my head. Its inte is no longer within range.

    I take out a mana potion from my pocket. A sip fills me with magical energy. Within a second my body engulfed in mes. Agonizing pain pierce through my being and existence. The me spirals upwards, forming a titanic dragon.

    "Show me what you got, puny Dragon God."

    As if the astral projection can understand me, it roars as the space around me ripple. However, even with its overwhelming power, it cannot break through this spatial dimension.

    This is the cultivation of some of the greatest mages in history! Alex and Hans are mages of 10th circle ¨C they are on the verge of ascension to a higher realm in order to pursuit 11th circle and beyond. That exins why there are no 10th mages on Az.

    They have all ascended, and their knowledges are forever lost.

    Nevertheless, Alex and Hans continue to wait for me in the mortal ne of existence, so they can give me theirplete research on spatialpression.

    That is quite a loyalty!

 Chapter 85: Spiritual Awareness

    Everything around me burns.

    Raging mes explode outwards like a supernova, lighting up the endless darkness of the abyss of near infinite size. It shouldn''t be able to reach the edge of the room due to spatialpression, but it can try.

    Space is expanding faster than even the speed of light!

    Extreme heats vaporize bone and flesh all alike, yet one thing remains.

    My consciousness¡­

    Although I could heal my physical body endlessly thanks to my power, my soul could only take so much punishment before fracturing.

    I do have a soul even I am an Aspect, right? It would be strange if I don''t, so I will believe I do have one for the sake of not overthinking things. Besides, its existence is evidenced by my spiritual awareness, therefore, I must have a soul or something close to one to be able to feel spiritual energy.

    When did I be aware of spiritual energy?

    It wasn''t when I first meet Terra, the Master of Chaos.

    Nope. It was when I had jumped all the way to the beginning of time, just to see what is at the start of everything.

    In the presence of those Primordial beings, shrouded in darkness, my spiritual awareness was forcibly awakened.

    I didn''t notice it back then, but now that I think more about it, it must be one way to awaken spiritual energy within a person. Perhaps I can use this to awaken otherster on.

    Hmm¡­?

    Regardless of what a soul might be, I could feel it breaking under the relentless assaults by the divine mes of a Dragon God.

    The attacks actually making me be more and more spiritual aware, forcing me to learn faster and faster. I could finally feel the spiritual energy of the world.

    Incredible! I didn''t expect that!

    The astral entity, born from the will and intent of a Dragon God, drawls all its power from the magical energy within my body.

    It is quite an ingenious curse.

    And until my magical energy is depleted, the astral dragon does not dissipate. It will continue to attack me, physically and spiritually.

    I have withstood the attacks with my will and my will alone. My power rewinds time whenever I finally lost consciousness. Even when my body is vaporized by heat and fire, I still didn''t lose consciousness and remain aware of my surroundings.

    It is a very strange feeling. An out of body experience¡­?

    The experience is bing stronger and stronger,sting longer and longer with each painful death.

    Why do I put myself through such unfathomable sufferings?

    I need data. I need to experiment. I need to understand. I need to feel exactly what is happening!

    Knowledge is power!

    And true powerse from the ability to crush the wills of others without even lifting a single finger, and I am willing to do what it takes to acquire such power!

    While I am unable to reverse the damages done to my soul or essence, it seems to heal itself overtime, rtively speaking.

    Everything is rtive when you are talking about time.

    I am unable to speed up the healing process since my power does not affect the soul at the moment, so I will have to just wait it out like a caveman.

    Great¡­

    As I continue to fall in the dark abyss of near-infinite width, height and length, I have a read through all the data that the far-future Alex and Hans have provided for me.

    It keeps my mind off all the pains my spirit is suffering from. The divine me is no joke, but it seems to make me stronger each time I pick myself up again.

    Good grinding! I will make this curse works for me!

    As for all the data I have uploaded to Legion, when I needed a research done instantly, I will just jump into the future and grab the research before returning to the present again.

    It is not cheating!

    Cheating would be knowing everything without needing to figure out loopholes. I earn everything I''ve learned through blood and sweat. Well, except my power of time. That justes with the package I suppose.

    It is a good thing that I take the shortcut. I would have to wait a few millennia for theplete analysis of spatialpression otherwise.

    It does take Alex and Hans and Mystic that long with basically infinite resources at their disposal.

    Did humanity survive beyond the 31st century?

    Nope.

    They destroy the world by the 23rd century due to the widespread use of magic. A knife is enough to kill a person when given to child. A nuclear bomb is enough to kill millions, so I have expected as much when you give basically reality-bending power to the human race.

    A cataclysmic magical event shatters the and destroy much of the sr system.

    Some idiots must have decided that they know better than everyone else.

    There are always those idiots, ruining it for everyone else. Only this time, they have killed pretty much everyone else in the process.

    But thanks to the advances in both technology and magic, Hydra and Shield continues to live on. And with the fabricator technology at their disposal, as long as they have energy, they can survive in the depth of space practically forever ¨C I assume.

    Neither Hydra and Shield is not there, waiting for me when I had jumped to the future and witnessed for myself what remains of the sr system. An endless debris field drifting in the unforgivable nature of space.

    Hydra and Shield probably have left, looking for another habitable world.

    That is the contingency n should Earth is destroyed for whatever reason. I didn''t bother finding out where they have gone, but history tends to repeat itself until someone put a stop to all that pointless destruction ¨C me.

    Alex and Hans are still there, waiting for me all alone in the void of space. Quite a few people did wait with them at the start, but many have ascended to higher realm once they reached 10th circle magical power.

    How they manage to be that powerful are within all the data they have given me.

    Unfortunately, their methods are not very useful since they have speed through the whole thing. This makes them some of the weakest 10th circle mages ever lived inparison to Az reality, but still the greatest mages the prime universe has ever known.

    Furthermore, Alex and Hans only concentrate on a single element, their natural affinity. This is pretty much the same with everyone else who awakens their magic.

    It is very difficult to master two elements. It takes exponential amount of time and resources. Neither they have after the world is destroyed.

    Alex and Hans would be considered as 10th circle dot mages for having mastery just over a single basic element. Mastery over two elements, would make them a line mage. Three would be a triangle. Four would be a square. I think you get the picture.

    Mastering them all would make the mage a paragon. I am aiming for that since it is investing in myself, not simply just ensuring the survival of human race.

    Any less than perfection is not worth my time.

    While I won''t be using their training method, it does give me some insights to how to level up. Endless training increases their proficiency, hence growing their magical and expanding their understanding, but taking thousands of years to reach 10th circle seems kind of long.

    Well, I do have plenty of time. And I inherit all of their spells. They figure out all the runes we acquired from the Nazis. The rune that empowers bullets is called Protect.

    Wow, I can see the irony!

    When Protectbines with an Elemental Rune like Fire or Wind, it bes an Enhancement or an Enchantment spell, protecting whoever being casted upon or an item.

    This is very interesting. Hans spends a lot of time on creating Enchantment or Enchantment spell. This would make him an Enchanter. Alex on the other hand, spends more time working on offensive spells, but he does have Conjuration spells, summoning monsters.

    Very, very interesting.

    I thank both Alex and Hans for their hard work and then erase them from reality by jumping back to the past. The future is no different with I am here.

    And they will be the most powerful mages in all realities, not just this one! But for now, I will let them go their own pace. It will take a while for them to reach 1st circle.

    I do wonder what is this realm they are talking about?

    Alex and Hans do not know since from their experience, whoever ascends won''t be able to return to the mortal realm again. That is why they didn''t want to ascend, on the ount of me.

    Interesting. Maybe I will learn about this realm thingter.

    It is time to torture my body and spirit again. How many times is it now? Well, I have plenty of time. I didpress the time around me just like when I was with Eliana.

    Temporalpression allows me to make time flow faster or slower. Making it flow faster allows me to experience years while only a fraction of a second passes outside.

    I explore this concept when I got tired of jumping back to the past and merging with myself repeatedly. Keep doing that makes me does make me lost track of time.

    There is just so much to my power.

    "Analysispleted, Supreme Commander."

    Legion notifies me when there is no new information can be acquired with simply torturing myself. It did take several hundred cycles. Kind of slow, to be honest.

    The room return to normal, and I could see scorch marks all over the wall. The miachines that is the walls quickly fix itself, returning to pristine conditions.

    The divine mes reach that far? I didn''t underestimate the power of a Dragon God no matter what kind of insults I spews in the heat of the moment. But this really makes me thing.

    Heat can travel faster than speed of light.

    Also, with that kind of repair capability, it will be very hard to destroy my robotic army.

    Plus, their number is endless.

    They are designed to take down both Hydra and Shield after all.

    It is my insurance against all human-lead organizations. If freedom is the cause of extinction then I will remove freedom, but what kind of dystopia will the future be?

    Thinking too much on that wastes time.

    I revise the new data, learning that the divine mes originate from the center of my body, where my heart should be. It spreads outwards and engulfs my entire body before attacking my spirit. All of this happens very quickly, but not fast enough to escape Legion.

    Magic on the other hand, forces magical energy to flow through the limbs, usually the hands and then infests the air, forming an incantation magical diagram for casting. Magical energy cane from the core or from the pathways. The core takes longer than the pathways.

    "Require more data for cleansing affliction known as Burning Curse. Alternative options are possible, Supreme Commander."

    Legion informs me and shows me several options. I review each one before making my decision. There is no way to remove the Burning Curse, but there is a way for me to cast magic. Since magical energy flows to the limb, I will just store it right where the hands are.

    This is where magical capacitores in. However, they are huge and bulky. But huge and bulky are no longer a problem with spatialpression.

    "Schematic acknowledged. Processing request."

    Legion notifies me as it constructs a new apparatus for me. A metallic wristband is created. Two to be exact since want to practice with both hands. Those bands wrap around my wrist.

    "Excellent work, Legion. It is time to be a part of me."

    I request and take off my Hydra ring and toss it towards the wall. The wall opens up and seems to eat the ring. While Legion is carrying out my order, I try to form a magical incantation diagram.

    Seeing the diagram manifests in the air does bring a smile to my face.

    However, I feel a sharp piercing pain in my chest. It seems that the Burning Curse didn''t like my little bypass. Like I give a shit. But the pain will be fairly unbearable as my magic core grows in size. I will have to find a permanent solution to this ¨C or just kill the Dragon God.

    Killing the Dragon God seems easier, so that is n A, I guess.

    The room copse all around me, as all the micromachines swirl into a singrity. That singr is the new ring on a pedestal.

    It has been upgraded.

    I reach out my hand and grab the ring of power. Without using magic, I can see the endless darkness within the one ring in my mind.

    This is the power of Magictech. Magical energy is not required to cast any spells. With it, however, the spells be more powerful!

    Countless red light emanates in the endless darkness, revealing each individual machine in the ocean of metals, and they stretch far beyond the horizon.

    "I am Legion, for we are endless."

 Chapter 86: Supreme Commander

    My Hydra ring has been upgraded.

    Now it is also a storage ring thanks to the spatialpression that Alex and Hans had spent most of their life researching and analyzing for me.

    I can''t say enough how grateful I am.

    Thanks to their dedication and efforts, I now have a solution to many of my problems.

    Legion and its countless avatars, collectively known as the micromachines, are stashed inside the near-infinite space within my ring. I have always wanted to have Legion within reaching distance just in case something goes terribly wrong.

    I didn''t think the solution to this problem is that simple ¨C well, rtively, anyway.

    Spatialpression is beyond the 31st century technological progress, so that mean some of my techs have exceeded their level of achievements.

    Awesome!

    Honestly, my power over time can make even the convoluted shits straightforward and simple.

    It is the ultimate cheat.

    Ah. Not a cheat.

    I will still abuse the fuck out of it because why not?

    With the technology topress space, there is no longer any need for huge undergroundplexes hidden under mountain ranges.

    This magictech is just too damn overpowering. But I like overpowering!

    Strangely enough, Alex Mercer didn''t blow up the entire world during his research.

    I was reasonable sure that Alex would, but I am d that he didn''t. It would make an incredible mess of thing for me to clean up. Hans will keep him sane, as a friend and a voice of reason.

    Hans and Emilia did get together in the far future and have children with magic, so there is that.

    Mages tend to give birth to children with innate magical abilities. I guess Hydra will have to y some matchmakings in the future to ensure powerful mages will be born within the organizations.

    That is on the list of things to do. My list just gets longer and longer.

    Sometimes I wish there are like several hundreds of me, so things can get done simultaneously.

    My next step is to weaponize spatialpression because if I don''t do it, someone else will eventually, just like all biological weapons Hydra have in its massive arsenal.

    The Geneva Protocol means shit, but I do try not to use these ¨C definitely considered as crimes against the sanctity of life ¨C methods when others more human methods avable.

    Just image how much destruction when massive amount of air is released from a singrity? It will be far more devastating than even thermal fusion nuclear weapons.

    That is one of the many reasons why spatialpression is too dangerous to simply just let everyone in Hydra knows.

    The technology to manipte space should be kept a secret until I believe Hydra is ready for this kind of toys.

    They are already messing around with time at the moment ¨C Well, Hammond and his team is. I wonder how far he has progressed with temporal energy containers.

    I don''t need those containers yet, but I will soon.

    In addition to messing with temporal rifts, Hydra have their hands full with the 25th and 26th century technology and technical information I had uploaded into theirwork.

    sma weapons should be avable very soon. Combining with magic, sma weaponries should be able to punch holes into magical shields effortlessly.

    This is necessary to equalize the ying field.

    I like to see how a Dragon God truly feels when it gets blown up with magically enhanced anti-matter warhead. Anti-matter is still a long way to go for Hydra though. Just a gram of the damn thing is enough to wipe out the base and probably the.

    Even so, I have to research into such a dangerous substance eventually, preferably in a gxy far, far away.

    I don''t want my loyal men and women getting ughtered in those alternate realities because I am too busy with something else and neglecting my duty and responsibility as their Supreme Commander.

    Luckily, Hydra has not run into worlds that overwhelms its technological prowess yet.

    But I am certain they will eventually. Actually, I want them to since it will give them more life or death experiences.

    Fighting against an overwhelming enemy will make my organization stronger as a whole.

    I need them to be more than they are now since I know the real scale of power.

    Hydra won''t be able to support me if they just get wiped out instantly against powers like a Dragon God. At least survives long enough to stick it up to those fuckers who think they are invincible, huh.

    Even I don''t think I am invincible, and I am a fucking Aspect!

    I did get killed¡­ sigh. Let''s not talk about that anymore.

    Anyway, I will leave all these subterranean structures andplexes as they are since removing them will undoubtedly copse the mountains above and probably kill a lot of people in China.

    Don''t want to do that ¨C yet.

    Since Hydra is expanding its operation all over the world to lock down the temporal rifts, I will recycle this base as Hydra Headquarter in China and probably Asia.

    Should I have one in India? Maybe.

    I have made sure any reference to Legion is removed from the base before I hand it over. Can''t have Hydra knows about Legion and my private robotic army.

    Legion is supposed to be one my hidden aces. As such, Legion has ess to 31st century technology from the start.

    I am a bit worry about Legion bing sentient though.

    Hopefully, I won''t have to put it down when the timees.

    Legion should be logical enough to know I can undo its existence effortlessly. Besides, it is as much as my child as Antigone.

    I program Legion myself. I am its father, in a sense.

    Maybe I should refer Legion as a person instead of an object. It is a step towards eptance. Artificial intelligence will be a thing in the future, and I hope to skip the whole war against the machines.

    The virtual intelligence in my head, Selene is not my child, unfortunately. She was designedpletely by that entric doctor.

    I will rewrite her one day to my liking.

    Honestly, Selene cannotpare to Legion even if she is more advance in term of logical thinking, as Legion has literally unlimited processing power at his disposal.

    Legion ¨C for all intent and purpose ¨C is a Von Neumann machine. A self-replication entity!

    Just like in those countless fictions, Legion will spread into the universe, replicating at an exponential rate. I will be ready for those intergctic bastards, letting them know fears when they decide toe knocking even if humanity is not.

    But I do hope that humanity will spread amongst the star by then. Vast amount of infrastructure must be in ce for the process to be smooth and eptable.

    Speaking of infrastructure, I should fulfill my end of the bargain.

    I do have time right now.

    Only like a minute has passed in the outside world thanks to my temporalpression.

    I am getting very good atpressing time, making the world move faster or slower within a temporal bubble. There are several other new skills I am working on, since I am always thinking of new ways to use my power.

    "El¡­une Whisperwind."

    I almost call Eliana instead, but she doesn''t want anyone to know she is a servant of mine. I suppose I will settle for Elune.

    I am unsure of how Eliana Shadowsong manages to convince the other elders with her new youthful appearance. Eliana did publicly refuse my generous offer when I had presented it to her and the elders. But it is not really that important.

    A magical portal manifested in front of me.

    Elune emerges and then gives me a bow as usual. She is curious to how I manage to return to my world without her.

    I just shrug at the question and tell her not to worry her little head about unimportant thing. I will give her an answer in due time.

    "I need to return to your world, but somewhere private, preferably outside of the vige. I have things I want to do on my own. You don''t need to worry about what they are."

    I request.

    "As you wish, Master."

    Elune responses. She is then dismissed, so she could reverse summon me.

    I wait for a magical portal to form before I pass through.

    Like I have requested, we are not in the vige like before. We are at the edge of the elvish forest. And I could see the bright light beyond those tree lines. It iste afternoon on Az.

    "Thank you, Elune. You can attend to your responsibilities now. Don''t worry about me since I can take care of myself. If I am in need your help, I will call for you. Also, please take these potions. They should be useful, right?"

    I take some potions out of my storage ring. With unlimited storage space, I will start hoarding things from now on. Furthermore, Legion probably could use the raw materials to replicate.

    "You can use magic now, Master?"

    Elune blinks as she epts the 1st grade health, mana and stamina potions. They are always useful to Hunters and Rangers.

    "Thanks to you, Elune. You did take me around the vige and visit those libraries. I have learnt a lot, reading through all those books."

    I response and look at the sky. I could see the twin moons faintly above the forest. The eternal night dissipates when I am further and further away from the center of the vige.

    Elune bes confused at my remark. She did take me around the vige and visit all those libraries, but she didn''t see me read any books.

    It is just one of my peculiars, so Elune shouldn''t think too much on it.

    Once Elune returns to the vige, I teleport directly to the moon, the red one.

    Theck of atmosphere didn''t affect me anymore nor the cosmic radiations. I figure a way to breathe as I will probably in space a lot. As for cosmic radiations, I will have to tank it.

    It isn''t like I could get cancer.

    Maybe I get superpowers if my body gets bombarded enough? Hmm¡­?

    "Legion. It is time toe out and y. Executeary Annihtion n."

    Trillions upon trillions micromachines emerges from a massive spatial rift in front of me. The machines swarm the entire moon like locusts, mining all those bloodstones and drilling into the moon''s crust all the way to the core to harvest the rich metal deposits within.

    Fusion power nts are erected in massive numbers across the surface of the moon. It is to provide sufficient power to all the micromachines since I don''t want to keep the spatial rifts open forever.

    It will still take a decade to fortify the entire moon, turning into a death star of sort, so I speed up time right after I teleported into the orbit around the moon.

    A time bubble surrounds the entire moon and time elerates within.

    Once the time bubble burst, I could not help but gapes a little at the metal I have created.

    Red lights cover its entire surface, simting the original crimson color for the inhabitants on Az. I wouldn''t want the people ponders about something other than their insignificant lives.

    "Excellent, Legion. Now,unch hyperspace probes. I want eyes and ears on every moon, every, ever stars, every ckholes, throughout the gxy."

    Imand.

    "Affirmative, Supreme Commander."

    Legion responses before hundreds of thousands of missilesunch from the surface of the moon. It is quite beautiful, I must say.

    I feel truly like a Supreme Commander!

    Once the missiles escape the gravity well of the moon, they split open, releasing unmanned starships into orbits. Those starships immediately orientate and activate their hyperdrive generator. They st off into space at speed exceeding that of light.

    As micromachines, each starship is capable of self-replication, creating more of themselves to spread to other celestial bodies. I should have the entire gxy map out within a thousand years.

    Once thest starship enters hyperspace, I give my next order.

    "Launch spy satellites across the, Legion. I want to see and record everything."

    Legion did as I request. The satellites are fabricated by the numerous fabricators on the moon before beingunched into orbit. Those satellites immediately take position around the, broadcasting signals.

    Selene picks them up immediately.

    [Operator. Hydramunication is detected.]

    I arch my brow at that. A world map appears in front of me, showing me where Hydramunication signal ising from. It seems that one of the temporal rifts is connected to Az.

    Well, that makes thing easier. Since this world is filled with magical knowledge, not to mention all the fantastical race, I suppose Hydra should established a permanent base here.

    I teleport to the recon team from orbit.

    The temporal rift should be close by. It is connected to Thand, I believe. I will borrow their temporal rift for a second. It is to return home.

    "What the bloody fuck!?"

    One of them nearly shoot me when I appear in their camp out of thin air.

    Everyone is aiming their weapon at me on reflex. I am sure several cloaked snipers are doing the same, hiding from their vantage points. Most of the men lowers their weapon once they take a look at me.

    "Supreme Commander?"

 Chapter 87: Magic Training

    The person who has said that appears to be the leader of this recon squad. He was also the first person to give me a salute. Everyone else give their greeting, shortly after.

    "Yes, that''s me. Didn''t expect to see you guys to be here. The temporal rift connecting to Thand has brought you here, right?"

    I response.

    Once the men have gotten over their initial surprise, they confirm my assumption and then inform me on what they have been doing on Az.

    It was quite a whimsical fairytale, filled with fantastical goblins and knights, battling each other over a beautiful princess.

    I believe all of it.

    Sounds magical enough.

    As for the men themselves, they have been stuck here in this alternate reality for almost a week, from right about the time I had frozen the prime universe.

    I did warn everyone in Hydra that such an event will ur if I am no longer in the prime universe, so there is nothing to be rmed about.

    In such an event, those who are already outside of the prime reality should prepare to dig themselves in and then camp it out until when the temporal rift bes usable again.

    They should think of it as their unscheduled holiday of unspecified length of time.

    A week should be more than sufficient for me to do whatever I needed to do elsewhere, so they should bring enough supplies for a whole week.

    It is something that these men did from what I could tell.

    They have set up a long-term camp and started to discuss about foraging. The suckling pig-like monster being roasted on open mes mean they are enjoying their time.

    I am sure that they have been warned by Doctor Mathew on consuming anything in these realities, so they probably check if it is editable or not.

    Also, no intermingling with the locals unless there are no options remaining. That includes fornication.

    Doctor Mathew does not want an epidemic to ur because someone sneezes on someone else. This is why the men are always in their environmentalbat armor except for eating and shitting. I don''t think they have taken a bath since they first got here, a week ago.

    I might have not gotten the memo from Doctor Mathew since I totally fucked a local.

    Oops.

    Well, if Eliana catches anything, I will fix her right up with some more loving.

    And I can''t catch anything from her unless it is magical in nature. I am sure there is some sort of magical diseases amongst a lot of magical this and that.

    Magical!?

    While Doctor Mathew is very concerned about bringing a contagion to these alternate realities, I don''t think he should particr concern with this one.

    That is because if the native gets sick from us, their healing potions can restore their health in a jiffy.

    "We were about to head home, Supreme Commander, but the temporal rift bes impassible again when we were heading there. We didn''t think we would run into you here. If I may ask, what are you doing here?"

    The team leader, Alpha informs me.

    That is not his real name.

    Everyone is given a codename when on mission for easiermunication. They can choose one or be given one by the leader.

    Most members ept whatever the team leader decides to give them, usually something like: Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and so on. You know, the NATO phic alphabet.

    But it all depends on the leader. Some leaders go for simple alphabet such as A, B, and C, while others go for January, February, all the way to December.

    I have met a team calling themselves all sort of profanities, such as faggot, dickhead, fuckface. I didn''t bother to lecture them as long as they did their job in an efficient and deadly manner.

    However, the team leader is always given the codename Alpha to prevent confusion. Should the leader get killed in action, whoever closest should take the mantle of leadership.

    Every member of the team should have been trained in leadership andmunication skills amongst many other, so they all can act as leader when the time arises.

    Other members of the team will follow their leader without question. Anything else is considered as insubordination. Of course, there are some exception to the rule, such as when the leader is obviously being mind-controlled and giving out Hydra secrets.

    There hasn''t been any report of casualty yet since the men have standing orders not to interfere with the natives unless they have no other choices.

    But I am fairly sure some teams will go out of their way to try and help the local, especially in realities that are still relying on the feudal system ¨C medieval. Most realities mapped are still stuck in the dark ages, actually.

    It seems like it is a fluke that science eventually triumphs over mindless religion.

    Anyway, as long as the men''s desire to save lives doesn''t jeopardize the main mission, I will let it pass since I am such a nice person.

    Heh. Well, it is really because I have faith in my men. They understand their priority. They have trained for this, possibly their entire life.

    In fact, many Hydra members who belonged to the assault taskforces and divisions are of the second generation or they have been raised from early childhood to instill unquestioning loyalty and fearless determination.

    It is very rare for an outsider to join the Hydrabat taskforce.

    "You don''t need to know why I am here, team leader. Now, please, tell your men to pack up and ready to go home. I am very interest in reading each and every one of their report, including yours, so make sure to include as much details as possible."

    Their reports will be quite colorful since the men did spend almost an entire week on Az, loitering about and scouting out the locals. They must have seen many, many things.

    As for me, I did not return to the prime universe yet. Spreading the bobs ¨C I mean Legion ¨C throughout this gxy and the universe isn''t the only reason I am here.

    I also want to terraform the green moon for the dark elves, but since Eliana hasn''t convince the elders and the others yet, I will push that task down the list. Maybe when she does, Legion has discovered a suitable or moon far from Az. The further, the better.

    Another reason is to practice magic on live subjects. I did practice it for a bit when Legion is upgrading my Hydra ring. However, live targets are always better for training. But if for nothing else, it is to see the effectiveness of magic. The men have given me a very good idea on what kind of targets I should be aiming for.

    The final reason is to test Legion in realbat as well as other stuffs. Several scout satellites are now in orbit around the, scanning and recording everything.

    Interster warships will be next on the list, so I can have orbital weapons. This is just insurance against mages that is somehow immune to my power ¨C or I just want to rain destruction upon the.

    "Legion. Change clothes to something suitable for this world. A robe perhaps?"

    "Affirmative, Supreme Commander."

    Legion responses.

    My clothing then morphs into long ck robe in a fraction of a second. Intricate and mystical patterns seem to sew into its fabric. My hands are covered up with ck glove.

    The only thing visible is my head, which could be hidden away with an attached hood. I could also use holographic projection to obscure my face if I desire, but is there a point to that?

    Well, it is one of the many avable options.

    I do admit that I was beyond startled when I assigned Legion and the micromachines the job of keeping me decent. Just imagine how I would feel when I have like trillions of microscopic insects crawling over my body and joining together to simte fabric? Makes your skin scrawls, doesn''t it?

    "Legion. New directive. When we are not on prime-reality, Reality 121.8, address me as Master."

    "Directive acknowledged, Master."

    Legion responses. There are quite a number of directives that Legion has to assess each before each action. They are mostly to keep it under my control.

    Once that is done, I activate my power and create a temporal bubble around the.

    Time within the temporal bubble is beingpressed at an incredible factor, thus making time moves faster than all the other realities, including the prime-reality.

    This results in just more time avable in within the temporal bubble since all our perception remains the same. From the outside observers, all that are within the temporal bubble is moving at insane speed. And from our point of view, everything outside the temporal bubble is moving at incredibly snail pace.

    It is already impressive that I can cover the entire in a temporal bubble, but I can probably do more. The more I use my power, the more adept I bes. It is like gaining experience¡­

    I recall something about that. Alex and Hans are scientists at heart. They love to qualify everything in terms and numbers they could understand, even things that shouldn''t be qualified.

    "Selene. Integrate arcane measurement tools and begin assessment in real time."

    [Acknowledged, Operator]

    Selene speaks directly into my brain while Legion speaks through my ear, using vibration. As much as I love Legion like my own flesh and blood since I designed him myself, I am still wary since Legion will definitely be self-aware.

    Once Legion bes sentient, I cannot have any of the micromachines floating in my body when that happens. Logically, I am the only threat to Legion, so if I was Legion, I would take out all the threats to be truly free.

    Hmm¡­

    "When we are in other realities, you can also call me Master, Selene. In fact, you should just call me Master from now on. Operator sounds very impersonal. Also, use yes when you acknowledged me. It just sounds more natural."

    [Yes, Master.]

    I nod and then tries to manifest a magical incantation diagram. The wrist band activates, channeling magical energy into my wrist and push it through my fingers. My fingers direct the energy to where it needs to go.

    Fire runes flicker into existence alongside with sphere runes. Since these arenguage of the Gods, I will define them as {fire} and {sphere}. This would form {fireball} spell.

    The diagram takes about 5 seconds to formpletely. That is fucking slow. In realbat situation, I would be fucked. But I guess this is my casting speed. I am not even a mage of the first rank.

    The diagram activates, spitting out a fireball. The fireball crashes against the tree, gorging out wooden splinters and barks. The tree is also set on fire.

    [Analyzing. Proficiency detected at level 0. Fireball Spell +22 EXP. Approximately 183,942 Experience requires to reach next proficiency.]

    I chuckle. It seems that Alex gets to y those role-ying games. He has to, to be able to create such a system.

    "Legion. Autocast."

    "Yes, Master."

    I outstretch my hands as magical incantation diagram immediately manifests and fireball sts forth, and after it did, another diagram appear, sting out another fireball. Hundreds of fireballs cast within a second.

    Of course, I am going to cheat. With this kind of casting speed, I can spam magic attacks.

    [Analyzing. Proficiency detected at level 0. Fireball Spell +2 EXP. Approximately 183,711 Experience requires to reach next proficiency.]

    [Analyzing. Proficiency detected at level 0. Fireball Spell +1 EXP. Approximately 183,710 Experience requires to reach next proficiency.]

    [Analyzing. Proficiency detected at level 0. Fireball Spell +3 EXP. Approximately 183,707 Experience requires to reach next proficiency.]

    [Analyzing. Proficiency detected at level 0. Fireball Spell +0 EXP. Approximately 183,707 Experience requires to reach next proficiency.]

    It seems that Autocast ability doesn''t give me good experience. It sometime gives me no experience whatsoever. Great. I suppose I should cast it myself for better experience.

    Or I suppose I need to use to hands to speed up the grind.

    Does my legs work? Wait. What about every inch of my body? As long as the gadgets connect to my body, it should be fine, right? I will still gain some experience!

    "Legion!"

    Within a second, my robe glowed magically. Thousands of magical incarnation diagram form in the air all around me, pulsating with power. They are waiting for me to activate them.

    Now this is more like it!

    Herees the Burning Sky! Ahahahahaha!

 Chapter 88: Absolute Power

    The whole area surrounding the temporal rift bes a smouldering ruin.

    It is the direct result of my newest spell, Burning Sky, which is basically just a shitload of fireballs raining down onto the earth, bombarding everything on the ground into oblivion, including myself.

    Talk about friendly fire. Well, not so friendly if you think about it.

    The micromachines that emte my robe activate their shield to protect me. It is purely technological shield, but it is still effective against magic nheless. This was proven when I send absurd amount of tanks to blow up all the Nazi bases around the world.

    The energy shield didn''t protect me from the intense heat though, so I still need to heal my burns. The shield isn''t designed to block out heat since starships can withstand a little heat. Flesh is a bit different though.

    A solution needs to be found for this, since I don''t want my men to be cooked inside their armour.

    Legion can cast magic through direct application of runes, but it is not as effective as casting the runes onto a magical incantation diagram. He needs a biologicalponent for that, which is me. This allows me to gain some experience in the process, but very little inparison to casting the spell myself.

    However, quantity has a quality of its own.

    Millions of fireball can be casted within the time I manage to cast one personally. But there is a charm to casting a spell myself.

    It empowers me and gives me a sense of aplishment. It also makes me less reliance on Legion or my technological advantages.

    I do not wish to bepletely helpless when I am stripped of my toys and mymand over time.

    These are all tools, and tools can be broken and taken away. Logically speaking, if it can happens then it will happens, so I should prepare for that eventuality. Hasn''t it happened before?

    I am prepared for a lot of things. Sadly, I cannot prepare for everything. There are just so many stuffs I do not know yet.

    But I will, hopefully.

    Lacking knowledge will the bane of my existence, I swear!

    Nevertheless, I think I have a viable solution to Legion''s inability to cast magic, but a soulless clone will not do. I need a living, breathing sentient being to experiment and prove my theory.

    I do know where to find a few specimens. The men have told me so.

    Anyway, Burning Sky costs a butt load of magical energy due to its extreme inefficiency, but that isn''t something I need to worry about.

    I do have practically unlimited magical energy ¨C not in my body, unfortunately.

    This means that I can''t use my magical aura to make other mages shit their pants.

    How fortunate for their pants.

    Magical aura reveals how much and how potent the magical power a person has. It is usually their raw magical energy, crushing down upon everyone within the immediate vicinity.

    When the magical aura is focused on a single person, it is considered as an attack and will be retaliated as such. This alone has caused quite a bit infighting between the human mages, resulting in some very pointless deaths.

    The stronger the mage is, the more magical energy they can store within their body, making their aura more potent. It can be extremely deadly against non-mages.

    Their greater understandings and knowledge in the arcane art also strengthen their magical aura to untold height. Thus, it is the main reason why a 2nd circle mage can crush a mage of the 1st circle with just a look. No lower mages would want to offend a more powerful mages if they can help it.

    The difference in their power level are like heaven and earth!

    That sounds super clich¨¦.

    Most mages belonging to the lesser races such as humans or elves only manage to reach 2nd circle of power during their lifetime. Those who can reach 3rd circle are considered exceptional.

    4th circle are already legendary.

    Even so, there are 5th and 6th circle mages in the world. These mages can basically do anything they pleased and no one can really stop them. At least that what is Eliana tells me.

    Greater races like Dragonkin are all naturally gifted with magic, so even their young are already at 2nd or 3rd circle equivalents. They have their own magical power level definitions.

    I don''t know what those levels are called since it is in theirnguage.

    Luckily for Eliana and her elvish people, there are no mages higher than 3rd circle in the nearby human Kingdoms and Queendoms. There are also some Dukedoms from what the satellites manage to map out.

    Seems that with great poweres authority.

    Well, I suppose the same could be said in my case.

    In the prime universe, I do have absolute authority, at least on Earth.

    I can certainly take on the whole world and win with just my technology alone.

    And I have magical power now, so it will just be one sided massacre ¨C more on sided. Just releasing a magical aura is probably enough to terrify people. Even if they can''t see magical energy, they should definitely feel the energy crushing their body and will.

    Releasing magical aura is a form of intimidation.

    Eliana tries that on me ¨C and I think I beat the shit out of her when she first did it. She didn''t remember any of that though since I have erased her memory.

    I ponder about that for a moment and wonder if I should have left her memory intact. Instead of fear like Sharon Stone, Eliana worships me.

    Worship leads to obsession, and obsession leads to crazy fanatic.

    Oh boy... let''s not think too much on that. The Gctic Empire is the thing of the past. Hydra Imperium is the future.

    All shall hail Hydra!

    Ahem

    Spells are created bybining runes together for effect. How they arebined, how many of them are there, their current position around the magical incantation diagram, their shapes and sizes, and so on are all taking into consideration when casting a spell.

    So many dimensions to this...

    Kind of make my head hurt, really.

    Casting a spell is not that hard to do, but extremelyplex to master. Quite deadly too.

    Burning Sky is pretty simplistic since the spell is just mass casting of a standard fireball spell, described in that Heavenly Book.

    Fire rune and Sphere rune are all that needed to cast the spell. Everything else is up to the caster.

    The fireball I had used for my spell isn''t exactly textbook''s original. It is Alex''s version since the fireball that had materialized from the magical incantation diagram looks like a burning skull instead of just a regr fireball.

    This allows mages to create their own version and pass them down to their students, who they usually teach from a very young age.

    In fact, many magical gifted children live with their master all the way into adulthood. The rest of the mundane has to go to institution like Arcane Academy if they want to be mages.

    But most powerful mages doesn''t pass down their knowledge for one thing or another, so their spells are lost in the annals of time.

    One such mage is the ck Mage of Time.

    Form what I understand, the ck Mage didn''t have any pupil isn''t because he didn''t want any. It is more than likely that he couldn''t find any since having affinity to the element of Time is stupidly rare.

    I think the ck Mage is probably a very sad panda ¨C I mean person.

    As for the burning evidence all around me, a little time reversal will make sure I was never here.

    I did reach proficient level 3 fireball. It allows me to cast fire and sphere runes faster, but that is useless when I have Autocast ability.

    Ah... I just contradict myself.

    Alright, it is notpletely useless when I don''t have Legion casting spells for me. But it is useless at the moment.

    Since reaching level 4 fireball proficiency takes about 100 millions experience points, I didn''t bother. I practice other spells instead.

    Each of the spell has their own proficiency, thus making this a huge grind.

    The proficiency being measured by Selene is not due to the spell itself, but due to the individual runes and how they y with each other when being casted together. There are just so many bloody runes to remember and train.

    No wonder Alex and Hans only concentrate on one element.

    Also, standing in one spot and letting Legion do all the work bored me. I head off towards a general direction, searching for some of those nasty Goblins.

    The satellite tells me where they all are exactly. Even if the monsters are hiding in bushes and trees, advance infrared sensor can still see them. It is the same for those dark elves back in the vige, who were using cloaking spells.

    One for Science!

    Legion is constantly casting Fire and Wind Protection on me and every thing within range. Tree, grass, birds, insects, you named it. This is because I cannot cast the same protection on me if there is another enchantment present, so instead of waiting until the protection wears off, Legion spams the spell on anything viable.

    Why didn''t I use Fire Protection before casting Burning Sky?

    I am dumb, that is why... sigh.

    I did go a little crazy a moment ago. The burningndscape attests to that.

    While Legion is doing that, I pay my attention to the elemental theory of magic. It is called multitasking. I have enough brain power to do so.

    Wind and Air are considered the same element in magic, but Sound is considered as a secondary or a sub element of Air. This is the same as Heat being a sub element of fire. This is not the same as saying Ice is a sub element of Water. Ice is apounded element.

    It is the result of Wind and Water. That mean Coldness is also a sub element of Wind or maybe actually Water. I think it is Water.

    Let me check.

    Nope. It is both, and theypliment each other. Interesting...

    Hans'' personal notes on these elements of magic, especially his Wind element and all its sub elements, are very extensive. His massive list of spells prove this to me.

    With the mastery over the Wind, Hans can enhance a person''s voice with magic, making their words more persuasive. Hell, he can make terrible songs into a great inspirational ones.

    "Thank you Hans. You have just make my job easier."

    Ipliment Hans, the older Hans, for giving me the means to take over the music industry.

    With the power of magic, I can make great singers from anyone instead of using my future knowledge to find and sign up great singers.

    What else did Hans figures out?

    Alex is all about destruction this and destroying that, but Hans is more of a pacifist.

    Before I could analyse further, an arrow brushes against my robe. While it couldn''t prate my robe, it did leave some sort of greenish liquids to mark its impact.

    "Poison Solution detected, Master. Poison has been neutralized."

    Legion warns me as I narrow my eyes towards where it hase from. Several more arrows fly forth, trying to pierce through my robe from all direction.

    "Legion. Would you kindly remove the pests?"

    Laser beam rips through the forest in all direction,ing from my robe. Itsts for about a second.

    Silence immediately returns.

    "Alright, where was I?"

 Chapter 89: Darkest Dungeon (POV)

    Misty breaths escape my lips.

    Blood drips onto the cold stone floor from my fingertips.

    My blood-filled eyes re up. They repletely pass the small human female, who has been very vocal just a moment ago.

    Her head is no longer screaming to my enjoyment. It is now rolling somewhere on the ckened floor at one of the far edges of the room, near the numerous doors, leading into dark corridors.

    Her small body falls backwards off my meat pole as I remain seated on the stone throne.

    Blood trails after her, originating between her legs, staining her thighs. These human females always bleed there when I desire to bless them with my seeds. It is something I take great enjoyment in.

    My attention is now at the goblin before me. It curls in horror as I reach out my finger. Magic swirls at the tip. Ice rune manifests and then Spear rune and Shatter rune, one after another.

    I do not need to resort to an arcanic formation for something as simple as this.

    With a powerful flick, the Ice rune sts forwards and crashes into the Spear rune, forcing an Ice Spear to materialize. It retains its momentum, surging forwards.

    The moment the ice spear collides against the Shatter rune, it shatters into a hundred of deadly shards, all flying forwards.

    The ice shards shred the goblin into pieces and pierce the stone floor. The monstrous creature lets out a faint growls before its eyes roll upwards. It dies from its grevious wounds.

    How dare the lowly creature returns here all alone after getting all of its men were ughtered?

    It should have died alongside with them!

    I cannot believe I was born from these cowardice things.

    I am no longer a Goblin!

    I am a Hobgoblin!

    I am fearless!

    Unrestrained strength ripples violently under my iron skin, impervious to arrows. Magical veins spread over the my powerful body, glowing brightly as they grant me unmatched insight into the arcane and the power to bend the world to my will.

    I am the perfection of my species!

    One day, I will be the all powerful Goblin Lord!

    The humans will grovel at my feet as I imnt my seeds into their females.

    The elves will worship me as their God while I desecrate their blessed body.

    The werebeasts will nourish my strength and power with their kinship ritual.

    The dwarfs will pay tributes to me with the wealths and riches they mine from their mountains.

    All other races will bow to me!

    That is my destiny!

    So, what is this about a human shaman capable to utilizing light magic offensively?

    Don not like so tantly to my face!

    The arcane realm tells me that light magic is for healing, protection, purification, and a mean to ward off the nightmares from the shadow realm. The element has always been used as such by the humans, the elves and all the other races.

    While it is not unfathomable to think that the element light itself could be used as an offensive spell, it is unfathomable to think a spell can kill so many of my minions simultaneously without damaging the surroundings.

    It is more likely the goblin deserted its post and ran back here, where it is safer. Does it think I would allow it to live?

    Now, whether the other goblins are dead or not, I will find out for myselfter.

    "Bring me the next human female."

    I roar the demand.

    The magical veins pulse violently, forcing the cavern to rumble under my magical aura.

    See this!? This is my power! The power that the world bestows upon me.

    The goblins snarls in response, telling me in their own unintelligible way that there are no more human females for me to enjoy. The human females have all been spoiled or lost their will.

    I hammer my fist, shattering the armrest on the throne. The resulting fissure runs across the floor and towards the doorway at the opposite of the hall. The heavy door cracks.

    How could there be no more females left?

    How!?

    I have just raided arge human settlement just a couple of days ago, and I have feasted on the human men and defiled their women there. I have taken what remains back to myir for my enjoyment at my pleasure, so there should be a least a hundred women and children in captivity.

    And these idiots are telling me there is no more females left? Do not tell me they have eaten my prized captives? I will destroy them!

    I leap off my throne, flying across the room with a single step.

    A couple of goblin breaks my fall, bing an explosive pool of blood and bone. The ground shatters under my titanic weight.

    I grab another goblin within arm reach, forcing the rest to reel back in fear.

    Such coward creatures!

    The goblin is like a pixie in the palm of my enormous hand. I just want to gobble it up. My hunger sates a little when I did, but the goblin did not taste like a pixie.

    How I wish to chew on a pixie right now. They are quite crunchy, soft and delicious. Thinking about it makes me drool. How I hunger for them!

    Frustratingly, the pixie is an elusive race, hiding in trees and grasses, away from view.

    How dare they hide from me!? The only role in life is to be eaten by me! Me!

    It should be their honour!

    I will peel the flesh off their bones when I find one, especially that Monarch of theirs.

    "That is enough! Stop this childish behaviour. You will devour your entire army before we march onto the humannds."

    An elder goblin calls out. His voice pierces my ears despite being nowhere near me.

    "Female! Bring me females. Young ones. Tight ones! Argh!"

    I roar back towards his direction, but he stomps down his ivory staff, forming a magical circle beneath his bony feet, telling me that was thest female child.

    Her corpse is being dragged away to feed the younglings. ording to the human lifespan, she should be around 12 or 13 years of age.

    That seems like a lifetime to the goblins, who only live in matters of months. Less so, when those damn adventurers are around. They are always around, hunting goblins.

    The old shaman ims there are no human child left!? He does not seem to lie.

    If he did...

    Grrrrrr....

    As for the adult females, they are all impregnated by me or the goblin. They must give birth first before I can get to enjoy them again. They are not tight as the younger ones, thus less enjoyment.

    And I cannot kill them during my enjoyment since they are important to growing my army, which anger me greatly. But like all female captives before them, they will spend the rest of their life breeding and contribute to my growing army.

    How I wish to kill this elderly Shaman for daring to speak out against me, but a Shaman is a rare breed, especially for someone as powerful as him. He is blessed by the arcane realm as much as I am.

    But I am more blessed by the world.

    I am powerful! I am enormous!

    The ground trembles under my feet!

    Regardless, killing him will hurt my army.

    I need all the strength and number I can get in order to invade a fortified human settlement known as Kingdom and Queendom.

    The humans are holding up there, behind their high walls and magical barriers.

    There are thousands upon thousands of females there, all for me to feast upon. And so many human children for me to torn apart.

    Grrr....!

    I growl in frustration and slowly return to my throne. Before I sit back down and try to think of another human settlement to raid, the door to myir explodes inwardly. It seems that those adventures havee again, for one thing or another.

    They alwayse. And they will die like the rest.

    The heavy stone pieces crash and squash several goblins.

    I pay absolutely no attention to those goblins since I will rece them all soon enough.

    It only takes a week for a new born to crawl out their mother''s womb along with their brethren. The younglings then grow to adulthood within another week if there are enough foods to go around.

    This is the blessing of the world.

    We eat, and we will grow.

    Once the goblins reach adulthood, they will get to impregnate its mother like I have done so with mine just several months ago.

    I can still remember her terrifying screams when I spear her cunt with my rod and fill her inside to the brim with my burning seeds.

    It was very enjoyable, and my human mother had given me so many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

    Her flesh nourishes the younglings once I finally grew bored of her. I rip out her heart and consume it before I let the younglings and goblins feast upon her corpse.

    Consuming her magical core fills me with strength and power.

    With each human shaman I have killed and devoured, I grow stronger.

    It is a blessing of the arcane realm, as I am the chosen one.

    Beyond the misty entrance, I could make out a silhouette of a person wearing a robe. This is the same uniform that the humans usually wear.

    Magical power radiates from that person, telling me they are a human shaman.

    However, this magical energy is nothingpares to mine. It is quite pitiful.

    The human shaman immediately cast several low-tier fireballs at the goblins nearby, killing them and setting them on fire. Several more humans emerge from the mist and cut down the disorganize goblin swiftly.

    To my amusement, they charge at me while their shaman engages the old goblin. That human shaman will be in for a surprise.

    "Die monster!"

    The male human shouts as his glowing spear spirals forwards and pieces my chest.

    Despite my iron skin, the enchanted weapon pierces into my flesh.

    I grab the hold of the end of the spear, preventing it from entering further. I roar at the human in front of as my magical aura skyrockets. The entire cavern shakes heavily.

    I could see the fear in his eyes. Did he expect to kill me this easily!? Foolish!

    A sword swings from my blind spot and nearly cut off my arm, but I manage to punch the human male away along with his enchanted spear.

    Surprisingly, the human male didn''t die from my strike. Most humans turn to blood pulp when I hit them with all my strength. Even though he didn''t die, his magical barrier should be greatly weakened.

    Another strike will turn him into mush.

    No flesh can withstand my godly strength.

    The little human female''s head flew off her body when I p her across the face to shut her up. It was because I am unable to hear what the goblin scout was saying over her anguish screaming.

    My steel pole didn''t rip her body in half, so what is she screaming at the top of her lungs for? I haven''t even relish in my enjoyment.

    The female human with the sword retreats and my fist crashes into the ground, shattering the floor in a titanic explosion. My almost severed arm heals rapidly, aided by my magical power.

    "I didn''t expect a Hobgoblin here. There are so many goblins too. They are amassing an army!?"

    The female human speaks up. She is not a shaman.

    "Be careful, this Hobgoblin is very powerful. Its level is really high. Its power is at peak 1st circle mage, I think. Even with our enchantment, it manages defend itself. Just How many mages did it devour?"

    The human male speaks up.

    "We should retreat and organize a strike force."

    The female human suggests.

    I could understand what they are saying a little, but it is inconsequential. They will die soon, just like the rest. I will not let them escape once they have entered myir.

    An arcane formation appears under my feet.

    Speed, Power, Strength, Might runes manifest, filling the space along the edge of the formation. Once they did, the formation glow, empowering me, boosting my attributes to greater height.

    My massive body erges thanks to the new power boost. I charge towards the spearman and send him crashing into the wall with an Ice punch.

    A mouthful of blood explodes from him. His bone should have shattered from the blow.

    A dozen more ice spears pin him to the wall. The coldness will stop him bleeding out and keep his flesh fresh for the younglings.

    He is a little bit bony for my liking, but the younglings and the goblins will enjoy his meat, nheless.

    "Eric!"

    The sword woman shouts before her sword ignites. mes spiral along the reflective edge.

    She swirls and shes down against me, but I grab her ming sword with my bare hand, dissipating its mes with my ice magic.

    The weapon did singe my hands and cut me, but it isn''t anything my natural healing couldn''t take care of. Goblin heals very fast when they have something to eat, and me, as a Hobgoblin, heals even faster thanks to the blessing of the world.

    I hand grab hold her body with the other hand before I throw her enchanted sword away. Such human weapon is below me.

    All I need is my strength and my magic!

    The human female screams as I apply a little pressure. Her armour cracks. She keeps screaming when I spear her with my meat rod. It was done as soon as I peel her armour away.

    This female isn''t as tight as those little ones I have usually enjoyed, but she will do for now.

    "Lavender¡­ Lavender!"

    The human male utters. He is still alive.

    I allow him to see as I break his female. She screams until she is unable to scream anymore. Her inside is torn apart to amodate me.

    I sit back on my throne as I break her cunt.

    This is the fate of all humans who dare to go up against me!

 Chapter 90: Goblin Slaying (POV)

    I take great enjoyment in her anguished screams, especially for that human male. He is pinned against the wall by my ice magic. His tendons severed to prevent him from escaping, and the coldness element of my magic will keep him lingering in the between.

    Such a weakling! How dare such a weakling go up against me!?

    Me!? I am not just some goblin! I am the great Hobgoblin.

    The one who will rule thisnd!

    Ice spears form in air, surging forwards and mming into the human male, for he must die a thousand deaths! All humans must!

    His faint grunts bring great delight to me, and I have made sure to avoid his vital organs. These humans are my only entertainment for now, and it would be disappointing if I kill them too quickly.

    "Eric¡­ Eric¡­"

    The human female cries out. There is still some life in her yet. Knowing that makes my meat rod thicker and harder.

    So many human adventures expire when I use their body to sheath my meat.

    I relish in her hopeless cries, while my engorged meat rod pieces her womb, repeatedly. I care nothing for the all the damages it has caused along the way. Her legs are twisted in an unnatural way.

    The human female bleeds like the rest regardless of whether they are children or adults, but children are far more enjoyable.

    Their utter despair makes me delightful.

    My throat let out a groan while fire and wind elements collide against each other before me, wrestling for supremacy. It isn''t the first time I spectate my minion fighting against the adventure. If they win, I will reward them with absolute hopelessness.

    The fire element is able to defend against the wind element just moments before, but as I proceed to rip apart the human female with my meat, the mes seem to lose its integrity.

    That human shaman is being distracted.

    The adventurers do care so much for theirpanion. And if it is not that very weakness, I would have been killed by them a long time ago, when I was but a goblin.

    So many human females have regretted their pointlesspassion as I tore through their body right in front of their human males. They have all died screaming and cursing their own foolishness.

    "Grrrr..."

    I groan as my steel rod twitches madly.

    It always does when I thrust my rod into these human females long enough.

    I let the thick stuffs within my overgrown balls out the tip of my meat without needing to hold back.

    It is necessary for impregnation. And the white stuffs explode out of her torn cunt, mixing with blood and other liquids, spooling onto the stone floor.

    Sucking in a deep breath between my thick tusks, I continue to jerk the human female on my rod, but her cunt is no longer as tight as before.

    The human shaman screams, reacquiring my attention.

    I continue to pump my meat into the human female before me even when the wind des sever both of her hands, disabling her. The human shaman will no longer be able to use her magic.

    She is barely a shaman herself, yet she dares to go up against the old goblin? Such foolishness. Even I, the great Hobgoblin, have difficult against him, especially with his wind protection, which rips apart anything that gets too close.

    "I''m sorry¡­ Lavender¡­"

    The human shaman female utters before a wall of air sends her crashing onto the ground. Her bleeding arms stop thanks to my power.

    I wouldn''t want that human shaman to die just yet. No, I will not allow her to die, not until she births me as much children and grandchildren as I desire.

    Younglings that are born from human shamans tend to be blessed by the arcane realm, allowing them to bend the world to their will. Their existence strengthens my army.

    The old goblin did not enjoy the human female like the other goblins did. He returns to the nursery to care for the younglings once he has mended the door into myir.

    I could do the same, but I find repairing things boring.

    I rather break them!

    Grr¡­.

    The female cock-sleeve is no longer uttering any sounds. She might be dead.

    No matter! As I have lost interest, I toss her ragged body onto the ground while the countless goblins w into the human shaman, ripping her enchanted attire apart and marking her milky skin beneath.

    Their sharp ws drawl blood and screams. And their tiny meat embeds into her small body.

    That human shaman appears to be younger than human female I had given to the goblin. About 15 to 16 years of age, but she should be able to give birth.

    If she was a few years younger, I would have split her in half with my meat.

    The human shaman res at me. Hatred burns in her eyes before one of the goblins ws around her head while it humps her cunt. She screams as blood fill her torn eyes, mixing with her tears.

    "I will kill you. I will kill you!"

    She shouts as her magical aura explodes outwards, sending several goblins away. It is a pitiful attempt to free herself, as the goblins swarm her and break her arm and leg. She screams in darkness until she is choked. Both her holes are filled with white creams.

    None of the goblin tries to shut her mouth with its meat since thest time one did, they lost the mean to enjoy the humans.

    I continue to watch the goblins rip apart the human shaman. Scratches, shes andshes appears on her body one by one as each goblin groan in delight, letting out their seeds. Her body is covers in blood and sticky cream, yet, she is able to keep herself conscious.

    Such tenacity, but I have expected as such of a shaman, humans or not. Those that are blessed by the arcane realm must have indominable will. If they don''t have the willpower, they will be consumed by their magic and twisted into an abomination, bing subservient to the darkness.

    The female shaman did not let out a scream before the goblins drag her off into the ckness of their. They will break her will, as they always do. And once they do, they will hang her up like a breeder with her limbs amputated and used as nourishment to grow the youngling inside her womb.

    There are just not enough foods to go around.

    I must have fallen sleep afterwards due to boredom, and the destruction of the door wakes me up. It must be another adventurer or a party of adventurers.

    They just keeping and they just keep on dying. There was a time I wish they nevere, but now, I wee them and give them absolute despair!

    Grrr¡­.

    A human male steps into their before the dust and debris dissipates. There is no other human with him, how disappointing.

    From his robe, he is another human shaman, but his magical energy is pitiful.

    I could barely sense it. He is even weaker than that human shaman from before

    The human male looks around the room before gesturing his hands calmly, pointing at the hordes of goblins who are still having fun with the dead human female. White stuffs continue to ooze out of her cunt and ass. Her mouth as well since one of the goblins is humping her severed head.

    They have already carved up her arms and legs and share the flesh amongst themselves.

    "Alright, the greatest and most powerful mage has made his entrance! Sorry, I got distracted on the way here. You know how it is with all ambushes this and ambushes that. Gave me a lot of experiences though."

    The human shaman speaks up.

    I am shocked. No, it is not because the human shaman is impassive to what the goblins are doing. It is because he had just spoken in mynguage.

    How did a human manage to learn mynguage!?

    "Oh¡­ wow. Some party you have here. It reeks of sex and rotting meat. And just one girl for all of you? Even I have at least two for a good gangbang. Well, I suppose with your looks, you are unable to pick up any."

    The human shaman continues.

    Hundreds of goblins finally take notice, gnarling at him and ready to swarm over him. They are waiting for my say so.

    "Sorry to pop your bubble, my little green friend, the party is over, so can you all line up so I can dice you up one by one to see how much experience I get from each of you. You can gost, big guy at the back."

    What did that human say!? He dares to use us as training!?

    And since he is a male, I have no reason to keep him alive. He will be meat for my army.

    "Kill him! Rip him to shred!"

    I roar. My magical aura skyrockets, forcing the cavern to shake.

    An explosion happens, setting fire to several goblins and killing a few more.

    Did that human shaman just use magic? I didn''t see any arcane formation. He is using runes directly!?

    No, he did not.

    An arcane formation forms before spitting out several ming skulls. Multi-spell!?

    It was also so fast. I would have missed it if I wasn''t paying attention. Several more arcane formations materialize, jetting out more fireballs and killing my goblins. And those goblins that got too close get set alight by his ming whirlwinds.

    He is dual casting as well!? Impossible! He couldn''t be with his pitiful magical power.

    But my goblins are dying by the dozens. They are being killed like helpless children.

    "Alright, the experience points you guy give sucks ass, so I will just kill the ones that gives me the most experience."

    Once the human shaman has said that, several rifts open up and metal golems emerge from beyond, and the goblins did not have time to utter a sound before they are cut down by glowing des. Their weapon cut through everything without even slowing down.

    Fleshes, bones, steel, stones make absolutely no different!

    Swordmaster!?

    I feel no magic flowing through those weapons! And these metal golems are not any kind of summons I have ever seen. No, they cannot be normal summoned. Even the shamans are cut down like children.

    Their magical attacks are ineffective against the golem!

    Seeing how my army will be ughtered if I let this go on any longer, I m my feet down. A powerful arcane formation manifest before me.

    Dozens of ice spears surge forwards, but a firewall appears in front of them, blocking the spears and reducing them to steam instantly. He didn''t even look in my direction when he blocks my attack.

    "Wait your turn, big guy."

    The human shaman speaks up and stares at the old goblin, who just rush out from the nursery.

    The old goblin widens his eyes before sending some of the most powerful spells at the human shaman without any consideration to the goblins nearby. He has never been this agitated before.

    Powerful windstorm explodes outward, slicing through stones, earth, flesh and bones alike, but to my surprise the human shaman ispletely unharmed.

    The human did not even erect any sort of magical barrier or protection!?

    "That is quite powerful. You are probably the strongest spellcaster here. Legion, assimte it and learn all of its secret."

    One of the nearby golems turns toward my strongest shaman.

    Its eyes glow red before it jumps forwards with all intention to kill and devour.

    The wind des crash against the metal golem, cutting through it easily, but the attack seems to deal no damage whatsoever. It did not even slow the golem down.

    Before the golem could kill my shaman, I send it flying across the room with a well-ced punch since I cannot allow the old goblin to die.

    At least I thought I did with all my strength, but the metal golem only staggers a few steps away from the blow. It feels like I have just hit a huge mountain, weighing millions of tonnes.

    Impossible!

    No being should be able to take my full might without any magic protection!

    Grrr¡­!

    I roar as my magical aura erupts, nketing the entireir. Runes cover my massive body as I charge in unrestrained rage at the metal golem and tackle it into the wall, smashing it repeatedly as ice forms with each hit.

    The ground and wall shatter under my relentless barrage.

    However, both my wrists are grabbed. The metal golem pushes me back despite my muscles straining greatly against its strength. Its smashed face restores right before my eyes.

    Instant regeneration!?

    Ice that covers its entire body melts as its eyes glow red.

    What is this thing!? It is not a golem.

    No such golem can withstand my power! No such golem can dissipate my magic!

    No! No! What is this thing!? Let me go!

    It can''t be real!

    No!

    I froze up in fear as the metal golem erges and grows in size, reaching the ceiling and dwarfing even me. It is a true titan.

    Its body ignites, setting itself on fire.

    Some sort of mes armour!? That shouldn''t be possible!

    Golem shouldn''t be able to cast magic! It is a soulless creation!

    Someone screams.

    It was me as my arms are rip from their socket effortlessly.

    My strength is being overwhelmed. I am¡­ I am¡­ an insect before its might.

    Terror¡­ absolute terror!

    Thest thing I saw is the enormous amount razor des swirling dreadfully and burning brightly when the golem opens its mouth and takes a bite.

 Chapter 91: Counter Offer

    Burning Legion literally devours the Hulk, swallowing the huge monster up in just two bites. One bite for the upper body, and another for the lower body.

    Well, in three bites actually if you consider its torn arms and legs.

    It is necessary to assimte ¨C

    "Za Warudo!"

    Time stops just as an air de is about to slice through my neck and cut off my head. It is the only part that are unprotected by my micromachines robe.

    The magic attack came from that goblin shaman or mage, and from Selene''s analysis, it is the strongest spellcaster found in all the dungeons so far, and I have been to several dungeons already. This dungeon is thergest I have seen though.

    The creature''s magical power is roughly around the first stage of the 2nd circle.

    Even so, how fucking annoying.

    Please don''t interrupt me when I am monologuing for the masses. And a boss of a secret organization, hell-bent on taking over the world and making sure the human race joins hands and sings kumbaya, must be able to monologue uninterrupted.

    It is my damn right!

    Anyway, Burning Legion ¨C I give Legion the nickname when he is on fire ¨C needs to devour the Hulk ¨C that is the Hobgoblin, green and very angry ¨C in its entirety to unlock all its secret.

    If I just want the information and knowledge, I really only need the soft organ at the centre of its head, but magical power does not actuallye from there, so Legion must assimte its body. That is why Legion also consume its ripped arms and legs just to make sure all the necessary parts are assimted.

    Now, I just need to wait for Legion to do his magic. That is a pun. There is nothing magic about this.

    It is purely science, so one for science? Hurray!

    Are we still keeping score?

    No? Okay, let''s move on.

    "Windstorm!"

    The goblin shaman calls out, casting another wind spell when time is allowed to continue flowing.

    There is no need for the vocalization of the spell, but its shouting gets me really pumping, so I shouted something from memory when I stop time. Shouting out spells for the heck of it also gives me a sense of adventure. It is like ying a role-ying game¡­ in real life?

    What do you know? Where is my beautiful princess, who has baked a lovely cake for me? I think that is a sexual innuendo. Good job, Nintendo. Thank you for corrupting kids worldwide.

    "Firestorm!"

    I response vocally in kind. A magical incantation diagram manifests before my palm. Countless fire and storm runes fill in the circumference of the circle quickly. It takes just under a couple of seconds now, thanks to my proficiency in the fire rune.

    Spiralling me roars and crashes against an iing tornado. Their sh constantly shredding sts of shockwave and heatwave throughout the dungeon, sending dozens of Yoda flying.

    There are like hundreds if not thousands of goblins in this dark dungeon. It is a lot more than the other dungeons I have been to previously.

    It probably has something to do with the massive Hulk in this dungeon.

    Its nakedness leaves nothing to the imagination.

    And I am so d that Marvel Comics decides to give the Hulk an indestructible pair of pants¡­ because the horrors!

    Ahem¡­

    This is not the time to think about those stuffs even if I own most of Marvel Comics and can basically tell them how I want those stories to progress.

    I am currently inbat with a powerful mage, so I should pay more attention. I might learn a thing or two in the process.

    Since I am equivalent to a mage of the 1st circle, my me should lose out the elemental struggle with a mage of the 2nd circle, but from my understanding, fire should triumph over wind as air does make mes burns more intensely due to the increase in oxygen.

    The Heavenly Book on Basic Magic confirms this scientific analysis. However, geniuses studying in the arcane art can reverse this elemental advantageous with their greater understanding of the element.

    How? The Heavenly Book does not say since it is just a basic introduction to magic.

    I need more books topile aplete Heavenly Path to Magic!

    Anyway, I can guess fairly urately on how wind can beat fire using scientific knowledge. There are a lot more stuffs in the air than just oxygen. Hans demonstrates this through his duels with Alex.

    Their duels are always recorded for research purposes. They are scientists before they are mages. Just because they can cast magic, doesn''t mean they disregard everything they have studied.

    Hans'' winds can supress Alex''s mes because Hans sucks out all the oxygen in the air. Without oxygen as elerant, Alex''s me burns less intensely and consumes more magical power to remain burning even without oxygen.

    Magical energy does bend reality to the wielder''s will.

    In any case, Hans can literally suffocate people with his mastery over the wind element. As a mage of the 10th circle, he didn''t need to lift a finger to basically kill every human on thes. Just remove all oxygen in the atmosphere and everyone is as good as dead.

    This just show magic does notpletely disregard the naturalw of the universe.

    I don''t think the inhabitants of Az understands the true nature of the universe, as they are still very primitive in things scientific.

    All they know is fire should beat wind if bothbatants are of simr power level thanks to elemental advantageous.

    But a lot of other stuffs doe into y when mages battle each other for whatever reason. Magical power and energy for one.

    I have limitless magical energy even if my magical power is weaker than the Shaman.

    Plus, I can multi-cast thanks to having basically two magical cores. Three if you count the one inside my body, but I am unable to use that because of a stupid curse.

    But if you really, really want to be technical, I have billions of magical cores at my disposal.

    Each part of Legion can cast magic through me as medium, and now, through the numerous shamans that have been assimted.

    The moment the firestorm and windstorm die down, the goblin shaman gets crushed against the wall by a massive green palm.

    It didn''t turn into a bloody pulp instantly thanks to the magical shield. The shield is slowly frozen over due to the ice magic being casted.

    "What are you doing!?"

    The old goblin calls out in shock while channelling more magical energy to sustain the shield. It didn''t expect one of its brethren to turn on it while all of its attention is on me while my attention is divided.

    Not exactly. I multitask so I am aware of everything happening around me. Huge amount of data and information is being streamed into my visual cortex.

    For example, exactly how many goblins are remaining.

    That number drops rapidly since they are being ughtered by my robots disguising as hulking knights withser de. The creatures that can use magic are devoured and assimted instead of being killed outright.

    Selene updates me on the new species as soon as Legion finishes deciphering its gic. I have started collecting data on all these fantastical species because it will be useful in the future.

    The creature that pin the old goblin against the wall is known as a Hobgoblin.

    Hobgoblin is a subspecies of goblin just like the dark elves is a subspecies of the elves.

    I haven''t gotten any data on the elves or the dark elves yet, but I will soon. I hope Eliana won''t mind me kidnapping one of her people and assimte them.

    Countless wind des manifest along the air before crashing against the Hobgoblin, causing deep cuts all over its body, but the Hobgoblin did not bleed a single drop of blood.

    Its wound also heals instantly due to being part of the legion.

    The monster retaliates by smashing the old goblin against the floor, repeatedly.

    The magical shield protecting the goblin shaman crumbles when it suffers massive damage. Either that or the old goblin depleted its magical energy. Thetter seems more likely.

    The old goblin immediately tries to flee, but it is surrounded on all side by heavily armoured knights with glowingser de. Their face cannot be seen since there are really none. These are all avatars of Legion.

    "Where are you going, Yoda?"

    I question in theirnguage. Ites out as snarls and growls instead of legible words. It is quite hard with my vocal cord to be honest.

    Yoda looks around and finds all the goblins have been ughtered, even the children were not spared in the massacre. Their collective greenish blood flows like river while their charred flesh fills the air.

    "Are¡­ are you a Monarch!?"

    Yoda utters as it looks at me fearfully.

    The Hobgoblin is standing tall behind me until I tell it otherwise.

    I think I will name the Hobgoblin Bruce.

    "Grrr¡­"

    Bruce responses. It likes the name.

    Its individually is supressed by Legion, but all of itsbat experience and magic prowess is there for me to use along with its knowledge. I have extracted everything from its brain, but memory is a very difficult thing to decipher and analyse correctly.

    The mind doesn''t store information like aputer.

    "What is a Monarch?"

    I question. It doesn''t sound like the literal term for King, Queen or an Emperor.

    No, a Monarch is likely a title for something else.

    "If you do not know then you are not one. Human, you have made a grievous mistake. Let me go and my master will spare your life."

    The goblin demands.

    I narrow my eyes.

    Did it just threaten me? Me!?

    "Alright, here is my counter offer. You will be skinned alive and you will die when I allow you to. If your masteres, I will skin your master too right. Is that agreeable?"

 Chapter 92: Latent Potential

    Its master never came, not even a whisper.

    I have expected something of the sort.

    In the power scale of thing, if I was its master, I wouldn''t bother toe to save a lowly goblin shaman of the 2nd circle either. But that is because I am a human, and I have seen what these green imps have done to the humans, whom they have captured by raiding peaceful viges in the surrounding hills.

    The massive pile of bones in one of thepost rooms tells me all I needed to know.

    I didn''t need to go and check the dreadful nursing and birthing chamber, where countless girls being stringed up from their amputated arms and legs. Their pregnant bodies are drenched in piss, shit and cum. Their soulless eyes stare at nothing.

    And I thought solving a jigsaw puzzle is gruesome.

    Hydra recon team had told me briefly all about the goblin raids before they return home to the prime reality. They want to help the peasants as any moral person would, but the right thing is not necessarily the correct thing.

    Their doctrine tells them to prioritize the mission above everything else, that is to stay put and observe the natives and assess the danger. And as trained men, they take their mission seriously regardless of what their personal desire may be.

    Nevertheless, there will be a time when they will get the chance to eradicate these creatures.

    Although the goblin is sentient, it isn''t like this will be the first time Imit genocide on a species. I will totally do it if it is for the greater good.

    Note that I say sentient species, not intelligent species. Just because you can think doesn''t mean you are intelligent.

    These Yoda-like midgets are pretty dumb whenpare to other lesser races on Az. Theirnguage sounds as unintelligent as it is.

    A lot of grammar is missing, but my mind fills in the nks automatically. Otherwise, it will just be like this: "me¡­ female¡­ want¡­"

    "female¡­ young¡­ human?"

    Bruce growls and looks around the bloody room before roaring at the other Legion avatars, who arepletely silent, waiting for me to give themmands.

    That is pretty much it.

    If the goblin is intelligent, I would have a nice discussion and exchange contact information instead of resorting to something like this.

    The goblin shaman gurgles as I check through its organs once I finish ying it alive. Its yellowish eyes rolling about, disorientating. It is still alive and conscious under the dissection because I desire it to be so.

    This is for making a threat against me. Oh, it knows how powerful I am, but it is arrogance and prideful due to the backing of its master.

    It must be one of the ugliest young master I have ever seen!

    I eventually found a ck sphere hidden somewhere in its body. Within the sphere, magical energy is spiralling like a beautiful miniature gxy.

    This is its magical core, which I dubbed as a monster core since the ones inside human are different if they have one. Some humans have magical pathways like the elves instead. Another reason is because all goblin, regardless if they can use magic or not, has a magical core.

    The moment I pull the monster core out, the goblin growls onest time before its body convulses and expires despite the nanomachines trying to keep it alive.

    This isn''t the first time I have done such a thing, and I believe that when its monster core is harvested, it will die regardless. And from experience, its monster core can only be harvested when it is still alive.

    When a goblin is killed, its monster core immediately shatters and releases the purest magical energy Selene has analysed. This energy is absorbed into my magical core, strengthening it.

    Thus, this is what Alex has dubbed experience points since the energy absorbed can be measured, and there is a limit to how much experience can be absorbed by a person''s magical core before it requires to be evolved to a higher level.

    Seems very game-like.

    Kill mobs to level up!

    However, draining that pure magical energy directly from the monster core is much more effective. It gives me a lot more experience point, but not that much if the creature is incapable of magic.

    Hence, I didn''t bother with the lowly goblins anymore.

    I will just let Legion deals with the annoying mob.

    And since a soulless avatar cannot absorb any of that pure magical blue meth, it all goes into me. The exception to this case is Bruce over here. This guy sucks in all that Blue Sky like it is trying break bad.

    It does feel like taking meth and smoking weed at the same time, giving me a rushing sensation as well as floating feeling when the energy stimtes my magical core. Then that stupid burning cursees, torturing me relentlessly.

    I will enjoy my time torturing that Dragon God for trying to turn me into a M.

    Goblin asides, the shamans are all disabled and incapacitated instead of outright killed, so I can harvest their monster core afterwards.

    I am sure these monster cores can be used for something else. But for now, I use these monster cores to create powerful minion like Bruce. With a monster core powering them, they are capable of using magic properly. How powerful their magic is, depends on how powerful the monster core is.

    Even at the first stage, a 2nd rank monster core is probably worth quite a bit, so I will keep it for now. As for the rest, their power within are absorbed into my magical core, making me super high.

    This does feel like taking drugs!

    Once the power is drained into my core, the ck sphere is reduced to dust. Time is reversed, restoring the sphere again, but it is no longer ck.

    It ispletely clear. There is nothing inside.

    Since my power does not restore that pure magical energy within the monster core, I think it isn''t just regr magical energy.

    I don''t want to call this pure magical energy a soul, so I will call it magical essence. It is to differentiate the essence from normal magical energy, which I can duplicate freely with my power.

    Sadly, this also mean I couldn''t have army of the Hulk. How awesome would that be!?

    I could duplicate Bruce, but the monster core of any duplicated bes inert and useless. I will have to actually hunt down monsters to have an unstoppable magical legion at mymand.

    Well, Legion is fairly unstoppable right now, but why settle for less?

    Since the shaman is dead, and bringing it back is pointless as I have already extracted its memory and learn all of its secrets.

    It did take a while since memory bes fragmented without an actual brain to connect the dots.

    Monarch are Kings and Queens in literal sense, but of magical element. The goblin assumes that I was the Monarch of Steel, due to all the metal golems at mymand.

    Also, I am able to resurrect others into metal goblin. This sounds very familiar.

    There is definitely a Monarch of Shadow, since shadow is a magic element.

    Hope he isn''t some Korean dude.

    The golems in question is my army of soulless armoured knights, armed withser swords, des and spears. Their humanoid form is actually not that effective since the human form is really not suited for extremebat no matter what kind of bullshits all sort of media tries to brainwash the masses with.

    Logically, there is really no point of making machines look and act like humans, but it does give a sense of human organizations.

    Plus, I like me some Gundam.

    That is all the goblin shaman knows about Monarchs, sadly. It doesn''t even know who its master is in person. Its master is just an embodiment voice telling it to do things. It also teaches the goblin magic, thus allowing the goblin to reach 2nd circle despite not being a Hobgoblin itself.

    Thanks to that, it knows some wind runes that Hans does not know. But not that many since mages of 1st or 2nd circle doesn''t use more than a handful of runes. It does take an insanely long time to master any runes.

    I am the exception to the rule because of my time power.

    Once I have extracted everything I needed from its brain and body, Yoda is disposed of. I then go and check all the rooms connecting to the hall. Most of the rooms are filled with rotting meats and pile of bones, telling me this particr group of goblins has been at it for a while.

    The nursery is thest room to check since seeing all those girls being stringed up like frozen meat do bother me a little bit. They are all dead even if their body is still alive.

    Their bloated stomach is filled with twins and triplets. Rarely do they birth a single goblin from what I can tell by scanning their stomach.

    I don''t like killing babies, especially the unborn but I will make an exception to this case. If these goblins are born, they will just restart the cycle again, starting with their mothers, no doubt.

    Before I restore all these innocent people, returning them back to their original life, a groaning is heard in one of the far rooms. It is pitch ck there, filling with nauseating stench.

    "I will kill¡­ I will kill¡­"

    Someone manages to keep their mind after all of this?

    I crouch down to see a carved up human meat, soaked in blood and cum and all sort of shits. And it is a female from what I can tell. Her breasts are actually near the doorway, stomped and squashed.

    Her arms and legs are gone, so are her eyes and ears and nose. Thest two seems like they have been bitten off. There are so many wounds on her body, but her magical power manages to keep her alive barely.

    I could feel an insane rage emanating from her. It actually fuelling her magic and also making it go out of control in the process. Alex and Hans have made notes on this observation.

    Power can corrupt. Absolute power can corrupt absolutely. Magic is the same. It can corrupt the mind and the soul of those who have weak will and spirit, twisting their body and mind into an abomination, desiring only destruction.

    As such, powerful mages have indominable will and spirit. They have to be in order to remain as master of their power. This could exin why magic has inevitably brought the destruction of the prime reality if it is not regted and controlled.

    "I will kill¡­ I will kill¡­"

    The girl who should be around 15 or 16 chants repeatedly. Even without any eyes, she can definitely see me due to my magic. Her aura grows exponentially, showing her enormoustent potential. There is no doubt that she would have be one of the most powerful mages in Az.

    Sadly, destiny has not been kind to her.

    "Kill!"

    She roars are her magical aura explodes, shattering the wall and pushing me back a little. That is quite impressive considering who I am. She just jumps from 1st circle to 3rd circle just briefly.

    My power activates as I reach out my hand.

    "If this is your fate, then fuck destiny."

 Chapter 93: The Death Mage (POV)

    They are everywhere!

    Their eyes are everywhere!

    Glowing, taunting andughing madly in the darkness!

    Get away from me! Get away! Get the fuck away!

    Their ws! Their filthy ws!

    How dare they!? How dare they touch me? How dare they!?

    No! No! Stop! Don''t push that thing in there! It is not for you!

    No! Nooooooooooo! Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

    I will kill them! I will kill all of them! All of them! Every single one of them!

    Shadow swirls. Nightmare whispers. What is this ce? Power? Yes, power. I need more powers.

    Yes, more powers. More powers to kill them all. All of them.

    How dare they kill my family!? How dare they defiled Lavender? She is mine! Mine!

    I am¡­

    I am¡­

    I am¡­

    I am¡­ weak¡­

    Power. I need more power. Give me more power. Please. I will give you my soul. Just give me power.

    Power to kill them all. Kill them all! Especially it. It has defiled everyone I love most! Especially it! Yes, yes, give me power.

    I don''t care what happen to me. Give me more power!

    The shadow epts. Nightmare grows.

    And my consciousness is fading away.

    What did I just do?

    No¡­ this is¡­ no¡­!

    "Then you shall have power ¨C

    Someone interrupts the soothing whisper.

    A familiar voice? A soft voice. It pulls me back from the darkness.

    The shadow realm fades away.

    "Sapphire? Wake up. Hey! Wake up?"

    I slowly open my eyes and see her.

    Lavender! She is still alive. She hasn''t been defiled by that monster and torn apart.

    I can see? Of course, I can see. Why did I think I couldn''t anymore?

    "Lavender!"

    I call out. I want to hug her, but¡­ but Eric will not allow that. She loves him, not me. She has been with him longer than me.

    Huh? My hands¡­? They are back? Wait. How am I here with Lavender?

    Thest thing I remember is seeing her unblinking face after she was tossed onto the floor like a piece of garbage. Her body utterly defiled, convulsing and oozing out the monster''s filthy seeds. Then those goblins have their ways with her.

    I couldn''t even save her corpse. It was not spared! I curse myself. My weakness.

    If I was stronger, none of that would have happened.

    Wait. It didn''t happen, right?

    The vige didn''t get destroyed. My father didn''t get murdered and eaten. My mother didn''t get taken along with my little sister. They are still fine? Tell me! They are still fine!

    I rush pass Lavender and Eric, finding the vige just like how I had found itst. Bloodstain covers the street. Homes are broken into. Body parts are littered the ground.

    They are dead. Killed by monsters.

    "Sapphire?"

    Lavender touches my shoulder. When did I copse on the floor? When did I start crying? She is crying too. Her family are also dead. She embraces me, hugging me tight.

    I could feel her warmness. At least, we have each other.

    "What happen? How did we return here? I thought we were heading in the dungeon?"

    Eric questions. He ruins the mood with his confusion.

    I am confused too.

    So is Lavender.

    All three of us recall that we have traced the monster tracks all the way to a small dungeon. Powerful magic emanating from within, far exceeded my own, telling me to stay away but¡­ but I couldn''t wait for the suppression force from the nearby Kingdom.

    By the time the suppression force arrives, my mother and sister would be long dead, raped and killed like so many others before them, so I lied about the power level of the monsters within. My little sister has never outside the vige before, and for this to be her fate, I just can''t allow it.

    I needed to find my sister, and I saw her being corpse being dragged away. Her head on the far side of the room. I couldn''t stop myself, so I attacked mindlessly.

    I shouldn''t have attacked. I shouldn''t have alert the monsters.

    That titanic goblin''s magical aura is off the chart. It can kill all of us without trying, yet I attacked. Why did I attack? We could have escape then before we were surrounded.

    All the vigers are dead, killed and eaten. Defiled beyond recognition.

    I couldn''t save anyone again.

    I am so weak.

    I''m sorry Lavender. I have lied to you, and I have got you killed.

    But you''re not dead. Neither Eric is. I wish he was. No. I shouldn''t think like that even if he is stealing Lavender from me.

    What happen after he was killed? After Lavender was raped. After I was raped. After¡­

    A voice. A calming voice tells me that my destiny is not to die there and then. I couldn''t see that person in the darkness. I couldn''t see that person without my eyes, but I feel him, only him.

    His power. It was weak¡­?

    No, that couldn''t be. How could he be weak?

    Yet it was. Yet he was alone. Everything within the dungeon was killed by him. If that is his true magical power, then there is no way he could have defeated the dungeon by himself. He must have supressed his magic.

    That is the only exnation.

    Where is he? Did he resurrect me and Lavender¡­ oh and Eric too? Why did he do such a thing? I mean why did he resurrect us all? It must have cost him a lot of his lifeforces.

    Resurrection is a sacrificial rune, belonging to the element of death. Not only an enormous amount of magical energy is required, the lifeforce and essence of the caster is also required.

    No life can be given without huge sacrifice.

    That is what I have been warned when I was first initiated at the Academy.

    Death magic is taboo, and any student found practicing it will be greatly punished. As death drains the lifeforce and essence of the caster, those who practice it does not live for very long, thus robbing the Academy of a talented mage.

    The only exception to the rule is those who have natural affinity to death. But they tend to be evil Necromancer, who plunges thend into darkness, so any new born who found to have affinity to death will be killed without hesitation.

    It is for the best.

    That person couldn''t be a Necromancer. None are allowed to exist since the inception of the Academy several thousands of years ago, governing magic throughout every human Kingdoms, Queendoms and Dukedoms.

    So, he must have practice death magic at the expense of his own lifeforce and essence. That is a taboo, so he must have been hunted by other mages all his life. It is a risk for him to be in the open like this.

    Yet that person not only resurrect me, but Lavender and Eric too?

    Why?

    I can understand if he only resurrected me. He might wish me to be his direct pupil since my potential is rank sapphire, hence my father given me the name. Sapphire potential candidates have the ability to reach 4th and maybe even 5th circle of magic.

    People who has the potential to be mages of the 4th circle is extremely rare.

    Why ¨C

    "Sapphire!"

    A small person tackles me. Arms wrap around my neck tightly.

    I look at my little sister before blinking in surprise.

    She is alive? She is alive!

    "Sapphire? You''re back? You got a robe now!? Wow you got initiated! Congrattion!"

    Someone familiar from the vige shouts. It is that nice uncle from next door. His teenage daughter is with him, looking confused. Behind them are my father and mother along with hundreds of people.

    They are heading from the direction of the dungeon.

    I am not dreaming, am I?

    Even Lavender and Eric are utterly speechless. Tears pour down their faces as they run and jump and hug their parents.

    I do too.

    If this is a dream, please don''t let me wake up. Please!

    It is then that I felt it. His magical power radiating from a distant. Everyone''s magic feels different since everyone train differently.

    "Sapphire?"

    My parent question when I slip pass them and the vigers. No one has felt the aura, so he is obviously directing at me, calling for me.

    I have to go. If he could resurrect this many people at once, he is at least a mage of 5th circle. I cannot escape if he wishes me to be his student.

    And life that have been given can be taken away ¨C or worst, be twisted.

    "I have to go to. Master is calling for me."

    I response and look at Lavender, who is older than me by one year.

    Her potential in magic is too low to be epted into the Arcane Academy.

    Instead, Lavender aims to be a Swordmaster to be with Eric, who is training to be Spearmaster, so she was initiated at a sword school in the capital.

    "Sapphire? Do you have to¡­?"

    I look at Lavender and smile faintly. I left without saying a word since she understands.

    None follows me because a master mage is not someone who they can offend so casually. Not even my parents dare to stop me. In fact, they are happy for me to follow my master.

    My future will be far brighter if I did. That is the main reason why I apply to the Academy ¨C it is to get the attention of a powerful mage and be their student, even if not their direct student.

    Sadly, no one epts me due to my poor background. Even sapphire potential is meaningless without a proper connection in the capital. I can only study on my own, paying for my tuition by working part time for the seniors.

    I continue onwards, towards the magical aura.

    It bes stronger and stronger as I get closer and closer. Each step feels incredibly heavy, but even so, this magical aura is so weak.

    It is weaker than even me. That shouldn''t be, right?

    Wouldn''t a master mage show his might and demonstrate his power? Perhaps ¨C

    I froze up when I saw countless knights stand erected on each side of the pathway, leading all the way up the mountain. There must be hundreds here. No, thousands!

    They are soulless construct ¨C golem. No, metal golem. Their red eyes focus upon me. And their weapon glow eerily.

    Is that a sword aura!? Only Swordmaster can have sword auras.

    Are all these golems Swordmaster level? That is impossible.

    There are not this many Swordmaster in the entire continent!

    I step backwards out of awe and fear, mostly fear, but the metal golems behind me sh down on the ground. Their glowing de embedded deep into the earth, liquifying stones.

    There is no going back. Only forwards. I would be instantly killed otherwise, and so will everyone else in the vige.

    "Nothing in life is truly free, even death."

    The mage speaks up. His robe flusters in the wind. He is standing at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the vige and vigers. His back is facing me. A hood covers his face, shrouding his appearance in mystery.

    His powers are not, however, as demonstrated by the numerous goblins with glowing red eyes.

    They have all been killed and resurrected as his minion. Even that monstrous one, standing in absolute silent. Its mind and individually are stripped away.

    I am thankful that he allows me to keep my sense of self. I could as easily be a puppet along with the rest of the vigers and Lavender if he chooses.

    I kneel before him and kowtow.

    This is my master, a Death Mage.

    With his might, he can drown this continent in blood and death.

 Chapter 94: Hello Thailand

    It is just a show of power.

    There is no need to say anything further to make Sapphire understand what is at stake. I have left her memory intact for this very reason. It is one of many reasons.

    Always try to kill more birds with just one bullet.

    The more, the better.

    Sapphire has demonstrated her strong willpower and extreme resilient in the face of danger, so she is more than capable of triumphing over any adversity.

    Hopefully, she will grow stronger as a person in the process.

    If not, well, I will be somewhat disappointed, but probably only briefly. I have never put all my eggs in the same basket, so at least one of those eggs will hatch into a dragon, preferably the egg that I take the time to talk to personally.

    Allison for example. Eliana is another. Sapphire is just thetest in the line.

    However, I have seen her tenacity when all is lost, so I don''t need to jump into the future to see how well she will fare. It is just a probable future, that might or might not have happened due to one thing or another.

    The future is always changing, after all.

    To be honest, there is no need for me to resurrect any of the vigers. Although it doesn''t really cost me anything to do so, I am not someone who did thing simply because it is the right thing to do.

    If I don''t gain anything in return, then why should I bother? I have never imed to be a hero, so don''t expect me to act like one.

    That said, I did it because it is a gift to my newest apprentice.

    "Rise."

    Imand without needing to turn around. I can see everything through the countless minions staring down at her. Those minions are standing there to demonstrate what will happen to all that she loves and cares for if she displeases me.

    Death is very simple, but an eternity of envement. Well, that is far more frightening.

    In other word, all her friends and family are my hostages, now and forever.

    Sapphire understands this clearly. It is the reason why she is here alone, subserviently. She obeys mymand and stands straight.

    There are more than just fears in her beautiful sapphire eyes.

    Is it why she is called sapphire?

    I don''t mind gazing at those eyes all day. Sadly, they did lose their brilliant when she had been reduced to a mere cock-sleeve. Her magic also went berserk, but it gives me a glimpse into her potential.

    "Master. My name is Sapphire Sre. How may I address you?"

    Sapphire asks politely.

    I already know her name since I have been spying on her and the vigers. I didn''t restore her vige to its unmolested condition because I don''t want the vigers to think this is all just a dream.

    There are other ways to prove this, but no need to spend too much braincells on this.

    I am not even supposed to be here right now, ying the mysterious benefactor. But I do adjust my ns on the fly, especially when new information arises.

    It is called a n because it needs to be nned and re-nned constantly.

    Nevertheless, the vigers do not recall the terrifying experience at the hands of the goblins and Bruce though, as there are young children amongst the dead.

    Letting the children remember what had happened only serves as psychological torture.

    They were raped to death by Bruce, after all. After reviewing his disjointed memory briefly, I can say for sure that this guy is 100% an Otaku.

    I mean, a lolicon. Is there a difference?

    "Maxwell. You may call me Maxwell."

    I answer and turn around to face Sapphire. My face is shrouded by the hood. As I am currently creating a personification as well as a lineage, I didn''t give her my first name. It is reserved forter.

    "This student greets Master Maxwell."

    Sapphire responses with a respectful bow.

    Student? Well, that is just another name for ve on Az.

    To grasp the secret and power of magic, almost all students will do anything that have been requested of them by their respective master. This includes sexual things as well as deadly experimentation. Thetter is more frequent since most mages are too obsess with magic to enjoy the opposite sex.

    A lot of students died due to being horribly experimented on by their master, but the risk is well worth it in the end in spite of that. Massive amount of money and life are spent to advance magic. It is one of the reasons why humanity will dominate the other races in the far future.

    How I know all of that? A little time maniption and a lot of questions, that is how.

    My current personification is the mysterious and all-knowing master, isn''t it? Would be strange if I do not know anything about the politicalndscape on Az. I even know her natural affinity is fire, she has just been initiated at the Arcane Academy, and her potential is sapphire.

    They use precious gems to rank magical potential? Interesting.

    "Master returns the greeting to student Sapphire."

    I response in kind. It is strange to talk in 3rd person, but whatever, I suppose. I gesture the girl toe and stand before me.

    Sapphire swallows the lump in her throat before approaching me. She tries not to leer at Bruce, but it is quite difficult. Her hatred for the Hobgoblin runs deep even though it did not touch her at all. It did rape her friend Lavender though.

    Yes, I have reviewed that part of the memory from Bruce. That is some fatality!

    Even standing just an armlength from me, Sapphire is unable to make out my appearance due to the holographic projection. All she sees is ckness within the hood.

    I ce my gloved hands on her small shoulder, making her flinch. She is barely a young adult, but she is developing nicely. There is no doubt in my mind that she will be a beauty when she grows out.

    "Master¡­?"

    Sapphire utters before freezing up. Her academic robe and somewhat in undergarments reduce to dust, revealing her milky nakedness and budding maturity. Seeing her whole instead of separate parts is much nicer.

    Her forced indecency onlysted a second before metallic winds swirl around her, covering her up and giving her new fiery robe.

    True, I could just tell her to undress. She will do without any question as she has no other choice, but this is a lot more fun.

    You must enjoy the little things. It also adds to my entricity ¨C maybe insanity? Hahaha!

    Ahem¡­

    The old robe is standard issue, for students who does not have a master yet. Since I have epted her as my padawan, she should wear something befitting her new status.

    Wee to the dark side!

    Before Sapphire has time to appreciate her new set of clothing, micromachines stream out of her Jedi-like apparel, spiralling down her arms and around her wrist. She tries not to scream as the machines pierce into her wrists before forming two metal bracelets.

    These bracelets are more than just to grant her limitless magical energy at mymand. They also lie detector and GPS tracker amongst many things.

    "Master?"

    Sapphire utters when she looks at the metallic shackles on both wrists. Their appearance is on purpose ¨C just to remind her of her new position. Must I need to go that far? Nope, but her mind needs to be constantly reinforced.

    "Would you like one around your neck instead?"

    I question before gesturing to Bruce. Here is another mental reinforcement.

    "This is for your protection. It is peak 1st rank monster."

    Sapphire epts the new pet even though she didn''t want it. Its presence will constantly remind her what could happen.

    I take out a Heavenly Path to Magic, Basic Introduction, from my Hydra ring and give her it as well. She hasn''t master any of the runes yet, but she does know 5 in total. Fire rune has the highest proficiency because of her natural affinity.

    I know about a couple of hundred runes, and master none so far. In any case, the amounts of runes should be more than sufficient for what I have in mind back in prime reality.

    "I must be leaving this realm soon, Sapphire. Continue your studies at the Arcane Academy. I will drop by time and time to see how you are progressing, so do not ck off. Here are some mana crystals to get you started."

    Mana crystals are actually the currency used between mages. It contains raw magical energy that can be processed to another form, as Hydra have demonstrated. That meteor is equivalent to a giant block of gold.

    Someone is being very generous.

    And with a snap of my finger, countless spatial portals form, allowing my army to step through, leaving just me, Sapphire and Bruce.

    Sapphire is shaken at the disy of mass spatial maniption. She feels absolute no magical energy radiating from me, giving me an even more mysterious aura.

    She then vanishes along with Bruce. I turn around and have a look at the vige bellow, as many people screams in fright at her sudden teleportation along with a hulking monster.

    I chuckle at that before teleporting away. I appear in front of the temporal rift.

    "Legion, continue autonomous monitoring. I want to every little details of this world, who the major yers are, where their loyalties lie, what kind of military might they have. However, please priorities the following¡­"

    I list all the necessary priorities.

    Once Legion acknowledges my order, I return to the prime reality, right after I return the flow of time to normal. Almost forgot that.

    The other side of the rift is a building still under construction. The construction stops when people are disappearing, allowing Hydra to move in inconspicuously.

    Thais are a very superstitious people, so that helps.

    "Supreme Commander on deck!"

    Themander of this base calls out and everyone gives their salute. I gesture them to continue what they were doing while I talk to some of the scientists, who maintain the temporal disruptor.

    Aside from wondering when I had passed through the temporal rift in the first ce, the people in the made-shift base are curious to why the recon team have returned before the scheduled time. I will let the recon team exins that in their debriefing.

    "At the current temporal energy level, this temporal rift canst approximately 2 months idling, Great Leader."

    One of the scientists informs me.

    Great Leader ¨C that is a new one. But he is of German descent, so I suppose I can ept that. Everyone does call me by a different title, but the military generally addresses me as the Supreme Commander while the scientists uses my name, Mr. Maxwell.

    "Once Mr. Washer has a working prototype, I want it to power this temporal rift indefinitely."

    I order the scientists. The prototype in question is a temporal energy capacitor. It is capable to storing and releasing temporal energy.

    Hammond Washer should have one ready within a month at thetest.

    I turn my attention to themander afterwards.

    "Bring in more men and secure this whole area. If we have not brought the property, buy it and finish the construction. I want an imprable military base here within a couple of months, where we canunch an invasion force."

    "Yes, Supreme Commander!"

    Themand acknowledges. He barks order to the men when I take my leave. I will let him work out how to aplish what I have requested.

    There might be some issues with the Thand Government, but this is the 1990! There is nothing that good old American dors couldn''t solved.

    And if for some reasons, they don''t ept money like a good little corrupt government official, a bullet to the head will do. The next person who reces them might be smarter.

    Since I haven''t been to Thand in like forever, I take the time to look around and go sightseeing. It is nighttime in Bangkok, and motorbikes are basically everywhere, zooming in and weaving through the traffics.

    It is about 10 am in New York right now, since I have only been gone for about 2 hours when I dropped off my daughter at my mother''s ce.

    I was actually gone for few weeks due to my power topress time, but who is keeping track of that, right?

    Certainly not me.

    In any case, I have about a couple of hours to loiter around and try some good old street foods. There are quite a lot of choose from, but much of it disgust me to no end.

    They eat these kinds of stuff in Thand? Well, let me have a taste.

    I don''t want to stand out too much as a foreigner. In fact, I would have pickpocketed several times if I have a wallet on me. I don''t carry around a wallet anymore since I have a storage ring.

    [Contamination detected. Neural Toxin. Ophiocordyceps unteralis (CBI) strain detected¡­]

    [Contamination detected. Cell mutation. Tyrant virus detected¡­]

    [Contamination detected. Toxicity level high. Traces of Tiberium detected¡­]

    Yeah okay.

    I stop trying the foods even though I can''t really get food poisoning thanks to all the nanomachines, but that is quite a lot of contaminations. Let not think too much on it.

    I wander the street for a little, passing several massive buildings, including Chrono Reserves. The bank is insanely popr with the local since its policy is veryx in term of providing initial offerings for all the startuppanies.

    In exchange for shares, of course.

    I stop at an enormous building ¨C Lok Entertainment. Thispany started just 5 years ago, but it has be one of the most powerful entertainment giants in Thand thanks to all the future knowledge I imparted regrly.

    There are countless of people there, sending in their application.

    Lok means Earth in Thai, so does Terra, which is Latin. In other word, Lok Entertainment is actually Terra Entertainment.

    There is all different version of mypany in every country. In China, it would be called Diqiu Entertainment. In Indonesia, it would be called Bumi Entertainment.

    This is just to name a few.

    I only run the American division since I am an American. It would be strange if I run these divisions myself and force American values on them, but regardless, the chairman and chief executive officer of every division should follow my ns for the future.

    And one day, all arms of Terra Entertainment will be merged into a global entertainment giant.

 Chapter 95: Lok Entertainment

    Despite it iste at night, the lobby is swarmed with people, mostly parents, who want their daughter or son or both to be the next sensation in Thand and possibly all of Asia.

    Seeing so many children and teenagers here, practicing and looking extremely nervous, it appears that phrase two is progressing rather well.

    While phrase one is about controlling uing celebrities and stars using future knowledges, phrase two is about actually creating celebrities and stars ¨C and more importantly, creating idols. Phrase three is a bit questionable, morally, but that won''t happen for at least a decade from now.

    I am not even going to mention phrase four and five, since they are so far in the future.

    Generally speaking, celebrities get the publicities, stars get the spotlights, and idols get worshiped by the masses. When people are willing to die for their beloved idols without a single thought, I will know that they will just eat up whatever their idols tell them.

    Mass brainwashing for the win!

    Unfortunately, I am still on phrase one since Terra Entertainment has just recently started only about three months ago.

    And unlike Lok Entertainment, Terra Entertainment pays a lot more attention to each of its contracted actresses, moulding each of them into the ideal image that the public and the people surely love. Each of them will be celebrities, stars, idols, and so much more.

    This is because I am leading Terra Entertainment personally, and I like to get close with my actresses ¨C eh?

    Even though Lok Entertainment is well ahead its time in terms of ideas and innovations thanks to the future knowledge, it is still bringing in outside talents for its media, contracting struggling future stars and celebrities, renewing contracts with old ones, and so on.

    But most of its attention is currently building the idol foundation.

    The idol project has started about 3 years ago, when Lok Entertainment has finally established its circle of influence, and the project has produced a dozen of starlets and superstars.

    As for the idol project itself, I have drafted it meticulously by using all the best and popr things from existing idol groups such as K-pop groups, Japan AKB48, and so on. These groups exist in the original timeline. They might exist in the prime timeline.

    I doubt AKB48 pop idol group will exist since Chikyuu Entertainment of Japan is already working on its own idol project.

    So is South Korea with its Jigu Entertainment. I think it is called Jigu Media instead, but that makes no difference. It is still part of Terra Conglomerate.

    I wonder what I should do about North Korea. Reunification is required, but the United Nations won''t just let me invade the country by proxy. The UN sure says a lot of thing, but it does very little to resolve any of the world''s problems. This is because of the thing calls countries.

    A new world order is a must.

    Hmm¡­

    Costumes, colour, storytelling, expression, fashion, personality, diversity, choreography, multilingual ¨C these are what makes an idol or an idol group. They are far more intense than just normal singer or musician, and as such, intense training is required.

    The road to bing an idol is harsh, but it is one with full of support and care. Terra Entertainment and all of its clones will not give up those who it has nurtured as long as they do not give up themselves.

    Everyone will have their moment to shine if they have unwavering determination and resolution, but sadly, many give up along the way because of personal and family issues.

    It is unfortunately, but it is what it is.

    If the child is selected after some rigorous auditioning, it does take several years of dedicated training, cutting into their schools and other social activities. But the rewards are worth the efforts, especially when thepany support their trainees financially.

    There is no age restriction to bing epted into the project, but one must have the talent as well as the appearance to be epted. It is pointless to waste time and resource on those who are unable to reach the goal.

    This means that most of the candidates here, crowding the lobby of Lok Entertainment building with their parents or just by themselves, won''t be able to pass the preliminary.

    Since queuing in line is a thing of the past in multibillion dors corporations, I head to one of a dozen ticket machine.

    These machines disperse ticket as well as notifying the receiver approximately how long they will have to wait until their number is up, so that they cane backter instead of loitering around the lobby, crowding the ce needlessly.

    Despite that, only a few people actually leave the premise, fearing their number mighte up when they aren''t here in person. Many are ready to sleep overnight here since thepany always open.

    What happen to the 8am to 5pm rule? That is only for one shift.

    Since Lok Entertainment and its subsidiaries are growing very rapidly, more employees and workhours are needed, so there are 3 shifts now. 9am to 5pm. 5pm to 1am, and 1am to 9am. Each shift is 8 hours long, and the employees are encouraged to go home and have a rest.

    There are several options avable on the machine, but a ring against the screen unlocks a very special option. I choose that option and then stand around to spectate. There is no ticket given.

    As an American, people are curious to why I am here because Lok Entertainment are only interested in auditioning its own people. Idols are idols because people want to look up to them. Thais don''t want to look up to foreigners, at least not at the moment.

    China is the worst of the bunch due to its national values.

    I tell whoever asked politely that I am an investor.

    It is also to show them that I do know theirnguage. I know all the majornguages. They stop talking shit behind my back after that. Some of them actually bother to move away from me to continue to talk shit or gossiping.

    It takes about 2 minutes for someone toe and get me.

    "Greeting Mr. Maxwell. Pleasee this way. The president would like to see you."

    I nod and follow the older gentleman towards the executive elevator, earning the attention as well as the envy of many people. More gossips and rumours abounded since the elevator is reserved only for the president, chairman and chief executive officer.

    "Please don''t mind them, Mr. Maxwell. It is not every day that they get to see someone of your status here in person."

    The man speaks up before I entered the elevator. It will go all the way to the top floor, directly to the head office.

    I look at the Hydra ring on his finger and give him a dismissive shrug. The elevator closes after that and begins ascending rapidly.

    Almost allpanies founded after the 1980 has Hydra agents as leaders. This is because in the 1955 or so, Hydra has adopted countless orphans from all over the globe and train them alongside with the second generation.

    Since this is one of the tallest buildings in Bangkok, it did take about a minute or so for the elevator to reach the top floor.

    Since I am alone, I didn''t say anything or do anything. I just stand there, humming to myself for a while before pping myself mentally. Why didn''t I just teleport directly to the top?

    Oh well. Next time then.

    I continue humming.

    Once the elevator doors open, a person in his 40s greets me. Another man is with him, younger.

    "Mr. Maxwell. It is a pleasure to have yourpany. My name is Chantara Boonmee. I am the current President and Chief Executive Officer of Lok Entertainment, and this is my brother Somchai Boonmee, the Chairman. What can we do for you, sir?"

    "Chantara and Somchai."

    I pause for a second tomit their names to memory.

    To be honest, it is quite hard to remember their names as I am more used to English names.

    In addition, this is also the first time I have seen them both in person. Chantara and Somchai are Hydra agents as indicated by the ring around their middle finger, but since they are now the head of a hugepany with thousands of people working under them, they rarely spend time at Hydra Headquarter.

    Are they real brothers? Possibly if they were adopted by Hydra at the same time, but do I really need to know that? Not really.

    "Let''s talk more when we are all seated and bepletely at ease. You two don''t need to worry. I am not here to interfere with anything either. I am here to test out some spells."

    The both of them looks at each other.

    "Spell, sir? As in magic spell?"

    They question. It appears that they haven''t keep up to date with all the current affairs.

    Actually, most Hydra agents only keep up to date with what they need to know. There are simply too many things happening in Hydra. And working in the entertainment industry, why would they need to know about all the weapon developments and researches?

    "Yes, magic spells like in those movies you guys produced. I will tell you all about it once we are seated."

    I reply before snapping my fingers and return to the elevator.

    "Actually, on a second thought, let me demonstrate it to you. Seeing is believing after all. Let''s go and see some auditions together, huh?"

 Chapter 96: Enchanted Voice

    The auditions are not actually in house.

    It is done in a couple of auditoriums nearby, but since it iste at night, there are no auditions running currently.

    The audition will resume in the morning, at 9am sharp. It will continue until 5pm from what I am told.

    Makes sense, considering the individual shift duration.

    The candidates in the lobby, waiting patiently for their turn, are here for the preliminary examination, and if they passed the examination, they will be given a chance to audition.

    Since I don''t want to interrupt any of the examinations that are already in progress, I suggest opening a new room for my demonstration. There are dozens of preliminary examinations running at the same time since there are just so many candidates, waiting to be screened and given the chance to audition.

    The Boonmee brothers, Chantara and Somchai join me as I want them to witness the power of magic for themselves. It will help them achieve their goals in the future.

    And while waiting for a candidate to enter the room, I have a chat with them about their progress as well as other things, such as personal matters. They are fairly forting, answering me with as much details as possible.

    In rtion to Lok Entertainment, the brothers are very good at what they do. It is actually their passion when they were orphans. So, when the chance presented itself, they both applied for the position.

    As they are both still in the office thiste despite their high status, they are workaholic.

    It is a good thing that neither of them is married or they will get an earful at home by their wife.

    They are currently seeing someone, however. Strange that both brothers are seeing the same woman, but whatever pulls their fancy, I suppose.

    I am not here to judge them on their personal and private life. As long as it does not affect their work, I am happy with whatever.

    If Shield Surveince System is avable in Thand, I would have gotten all of this information without asking them personally. Shield hasn''t expanded outside the United States.

    Hydra, on the other hand, is a global organization. They have presence in every country.

    As for the idol project, Lok Entertainment has several massiveplexes avable on the outskirt of the city, and more are being built to amodate the ever-growing numbers of trainees.

    With near limitless financial means at their disposal, it shouldn''t be a problem. However, they have to bribe quite a lot of officials for thend and building permits. Corruption is rampant in Thand, but I just think of it as a way to put the money back into the economy.

    Chrono Reserves and all its branches locally or globally has standing order not to hoard the wealth and stagnant the economy in the process, so if a start-up business is profitable even if a little, they are to fund it in return for some controlling interests.

    Some exceptions are made, obviously.

    Regardless, Chrono Holdings'' total assets is growing at an rming rate. It is one of the reasons why Henry Oxford is such a frightening man in the economic sector. He can create an economic storm if he chooses.

    But enough about Henry. Every time I think of him, I thought about his eldest daughter, Marian Oxford.

    The bitch had me and my daughter killed, and I just cannot let that go despite her ignorance.

    Sigh¡­

    The trainees spend most of their time practicing and training in those rtively state-of-the-art venues with their group members orpany assigned trainers. They also live there to induce stronger bond such as friendship or kinship.

    Sexual rtionship is not forbidden between the members, but it is kept at a minimum. Most trainees are too stressed from training and practicing all day to have such an intimate rtionship. They''re just happy to be able to rx after a day of hard work.

    Sadly, some has breakdown due to the intensity of the workload.

    It is unavoidable.

    Those that remains with the project are reviewed once every month to see their overall progress and improvement. Their result is then scrutinized and assessed by upper chain ofmand to see whether they are qualified to appear in music videos or movies or dramas or any other medias.

    As trainees, they will have very minor roles if casted in a video or movie or drama, but it will give them invaluable experiences. It also gives them a chance to gain some dedicated fans.

    Once they graduated, they can star in their own movies or dramas and gain more fans. The number of fans they have is what most important to me, and once the Inte is finally avable globally, their influences should be widespread.

    "Excuse me, Mr. President and Mr. Chairman and Sir. Miss Nam ready. Here is her profile."

    The woman passes each of us a folder. It contains information about the fifteen years old girl. She also exins a few more things before leaving the room. Since she didn''t know my name, I didn''t mind her calling me Sir.

    I have a read through the profile provided on the candidate, learning about her background as well as family. She has one living rtive ¨C her father. He did note with her.

    Since she is fifteen, it is already one strike against her.

    While that seems like young enough, most candidates that are epted into the idol project is around twelve years old.

    This gives thepany more time to train them. By fifteen, they should excel in all areas required of them. And by eighteen, they should have the ability to spread their wings and be a superstar.

    Of course, there is always exception to the rule. One of the rising superstars right now starts her path to stardom when she is 16. But she is a genius, so it is justified. Her solo stage name is White Angel, as it is easier to remember.

    "Conduct your preliminary examination as if I am not here, Mr. President and Mr. Chairman."

    I mimic the way the woman addressed them since the brothers both have the samest name. I tend not to call people by their first name when conducting business.

    This isn''t a social visit!

    The Boonmee brothers are considered friends like I have considered Alex and Hans as such. They are more or less associates.

    Chantara and Somchai acknowledge my request. They call for the candidate to enter soon after.

    Nam enters as instructed by the woman outside. She looks naturally nervous when being faced with some of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry.

    But from her scrawny shape, she probably hasn''t been eating well or at all.

    It is not unexpected since Thand is a developing country, even well into the 21st century. Majority of Thai people work in the agriculture sector. They hesitate to use new technology because they didn''t want to learn, thus slowing down the country economy and wealth.

    "Before we begin. Please tell us about yourself, Miss Nam."

    Chantara requests calmly. He is not the President of Lok Entertainment currently. He is just one of the judges, conducting a preliminary examination. He hasn''t done something of the sort for so long since there are more important things that require his attention.

    "Ah¡­ yes¡­ my name is Nam. Nam Dejsuwan. I am 14 years old. I will be turning 15 in August this year. My mother died when I was four. I live with¡­ my father.

    He is¡­"

    The girl continues telling her life story.

    Chantara listens professionally while Somchai trots something down into his notebook.

    As for me, I remain expressionless throughout the whole time. I didn''t listen to any of it, but I did have it all recorded for revision if necessary.

    I did notice thecerations she is trying to hide. They are on her arms and wrists.

    Selene tells me those red markings match rope marks after some analysis, so she must have been tied up recently and maybe repeatedly. There is more to her story than meet the eyes, but is there a reason for me to investigate any further?

    It isn''t like she is my mother, Stephanie. I only care for those that is part of my family.

    "Thank you for that, Miss Nam. Please tell us why you wish to be an idol?"

    Chantara speaks up when Nam finishes telling her life story. It was quite long, as if she has a lot bottled up inside of her.

    Nam pauses for a moment as if she is thinking up of an answer. I narrow my eyes to measure her heart rate and body temperature. It is to determine if she is lying or not.

    "Because White Angel tells me that I could be one if I try hard. She is my idol, and I want to be just like her one day, bringing joy and happiness to everyone."

    A typical motivation in my opinion. Those that idolizes idols will want to be idol themselves. But it is easier said than done.

    Chantara and Somchai nod. I did so as well out of curtesy. Chantara then asks more personal questions before requesting Nam to demonstrate her voice.

    Singing is trotted down as her talent. It is the mostmon amongst the candidates.

    Idols can have many talents, but the ones that Lok Entertainment wants to nurture is singing, dancing, acting, showmanship, spokesmanship ¨C that is, talents that entertain the masses.

    Visuals is another, but I think Nam has a tick in the appearance due to her angelic face. She just needs to be fattened up a bit more. More meat on her bones. Her sense of fashion and costume will need to be fixed. But these are easy.

    Nam sings one of White Angel''s love song, which she memorizes by heart already. It is quite beautiful, soft and feminine.

    A window appears in front of my eyes, showing me theplete analysis of her voice, and it grades her quite high.

    80%

    Most singers I have heard are around 70%. Only talented singers are above 80%.

    Honestly, I have never seen anyone above 95% before. 100% would be perfect voice, and this can onlye from artificial intelligence designs to sing.

    Machine just sings better than organic vocal cord.

    This is purely voice analysis. I have no clue whether the lyric is any good. Still, this is my secret weapon to dominate the music industry.

    The future has mapped out the effect of sounds have on the human brain, so they can determine with great uracy how good a voice is. As for the lyric itself, it is difficult since everyone understands lyrics differently.

    Since there is a little report card for me to fill in. I wrote down A-Rank for her voice.

    If it is 90%, it is A+. Any higher is S-rank.

    Chantara and Somchai nod once Nam finishes singing. They have analysed her voice by their ears alone without any supeputer, and they agree with my assessment.

    However, A-rank is not enough due to her age. She needs to be exceptional ¨C A+

    Nam is requested to leave the room, so we can discuss amongst ourselves. And once she did, Chantara and Somchai ask for my opinion. In their mind, it is already a yes. It will take a lot of work, but she will be able to reach it.

    "We believe she has what it takes to be an idol. What do you think of her, Mr. Maxwell?"

    "So that is a mutual yes? Okay then, you don''t need to know my opinion. But bring her in again, I want to show you two something that will surprise you."

    When Nam returns back in the room, I channel my magical power and focus on where she is standing.

    A magical incantation diagram slowly forms under her feet, spinning and humming, but no one beside me could see it. Sound rune appears and fill in the circle. It spaces out before Inspire rune fill in the gaps.

    Voice of Inspiration spell activates, forcing the diagram to glow brightly.

    Nam blinks as she feels a little bit lighter. She didn''t notice a faint aura coats her entire body. She has been enhanced by magic.

    Let''s see if this would give me another super weapon.

    It is more than likely.

    I am hoping that her voice exceeds 90% this time.

    "Please sing that song again, Miss Desu¡­ Dejsuwan? Ahem. I am sorry about that, but please, can you sing that song again before we make our decision, Miss Dejsuwan."

    I request. I mess up her name a little since my brain is hardwire to English.

    Nam Dejsuwan acknowledges my request and begins singing the same love song again.

    She is no longer nervous like the first time she was in the room, and the beautiful voice that escapes her lips are a lot softer and more moving.

    I could see the magical energy emanating in the air, and as it did, the aura coating her body diminishes a little. The enchantment is temporary, obviously. The more she sings, the quicker it dissipates.

    Chantara and Somchai both blink in astonishment once they heard her voice again. Tears seem to be pooling in their eyes. It is as if they are remembering something from someone they had once loved and lost.

    "Wonderful! Wonderful!"

    Somchai even stood up and p his hands in delight as soon as the song is finished.

    Chantara covers his eyes, thinking about something deeply. He is very emotional right now.

    I am also surprised. The analysis came back.

    115%!? What the fuck!?

    Her voice exceeds that of a perfect voice?

 Chapter 97: The Nightlife

    Is it possible to exceed 100%?

    Theoretically yes, but not with a human vocal cord.

    This is because the number measured by the Harmonic Measuring System (HMS) is already baselined on a perfect organic vocal cord, which can be simted by a supeputer or fabricated in ab.

    It is also the reason why everyone has a great voice in the future.

    But when everyone is, no one is.

    Singing is an extinct profession in the far future, onlyposer remain since artificial intelligence stillcks imagination and emotion for that matter. Oh, there are still celebrities, stars and idols, but they rarely have anything to do with the entertainment industry, which has be so artificial that it isn''t funny.

    Everyone in 31st century feels super fake to me, who was born in the 21st century and has 21st century values. It is still very hard to dismiss their sexy appearance and alluring voice since humanity as a whole are biologically wired to be attracted to another, usually the opposite sex.

    There is just something beautiful about the natural selection.

    Sadly, progress is progress, and scientific advancements must not be halted, or things will be stagnant, just like what happened on Az. Well, that is not entirely true. Magic does advance in ce of science on Az, but I don''t think magic can ever rece science.

    Understanding the natural world and deciphering the physicalws that govern the universe expands one''s horizon. Humanity would have never achieved so much otherwise.

    The artificial nature of the Entertainment Industry does irritate me greatly, more than I can express in words, and it is my intention to rectify this problem.

    Hopefully, I can do so without stagnating technological and magical progress. If I cannot have the best of both worlds as well as satisfying me own selfish desire, I will find a way.

    There will always a way!

    "That is beautiful, absolutely beautiful, Miss Nam."

    Chantara finally speaks up and then joins his younger brother, Somchai''s very energetic apuding. I did so as well because their excitement is somewhat contagious.

    Besides, it is a lovely voice from a love girl, even if it is enchanted by magic.

    I am inspired by the enchanting melody. My emotion has been greatly affected.

    Actually, now that my mind is clearer, I realise this is kind of dangerous.

    There are reasoning-type runes as well as logical-type runes, which can give a person a voice of reason or logical persuasion, a sort of brainwashing power in all sense of the word.

    I will test those runes outter, right after this fa?ade is over.

    Luckily, it does appear that the stronger the willpower of a person has, the more difficult it is for them to be affected. Even if affected, the effect didn''tst long.

    It takes a while for me to be affected by her enchanted voice, and I snap out of it within seconds while Chantara and Somchai haven''t yet. And as full pledge Hydra members, their willpower is in no way weak. But if they can be affected, everyone in the world can.

    Nam Dejsuwan hasn''t realised what had just happened. It appears that the magical enhancement does not affect her, which makes sense, I suppose. If it affected the enchanter, then that is kind of dumb.

    How does that work if it actually did though? Nam would be inspired to be more inspired, stuck in an infinite loop of enchantment? Or at least until the magical energy runs out.

    Since the magical melody doesn''t affect Nam, this is Enchantment ss of magic. Enhancement ss would only affect her and not those around the her, even if she is not the caster herself.

    In this case, I am the caster.

    Of course, I can enchant my own voice. Even if I am not much of a singer myself, none at all actually, I can still inspire others, especially just before battle. There are plenty of applications to this, and I will need to find a way to make it permanent.

    "We would be very pleased to have you as member of ourpany, Miss Nam. Please take this down to the floor below. Someone there will show you want you need to do next. But let me be the first to congratte you."

    Chantara shakes her hand and passes her a signed assessment, containing all the report cards. I didn''t fix my initial assessment of her, but the other did, right after they got brainwashed. Yeah, this is going to be problem if magic bes widespread.

    Nam thanks us all tearfully before she left the room. Chantara even opens the door for her since he is still under the influence.

    I do wonder how long the effect willst? I didn''t even use that much magical energy. The more power I use, the longer the effectst, but there is a limit to how much energy can be pumped into the magic incantation diagram before it explodes. This is call overloads, hence there are many different types of incantation diagram, for all sort of situations.

    The woman outside the room gives her a warm hug and congrattes Nam. It seems that the woman is also affected since the room is notpletely soundproof. This is to prevent incidents. A few people didn''t take the rejection well, previously.

    Once Nam left, the woman enters the room and gives us a new set of folders.

    "Shall we call in the next person, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Chantara asks after he has a quick look through the new profile.

    "Hmm¡­ not yet. You two are still affected. Your judgement is currently impaired."

    I response and exin to the brothers what had just happened. And once they realise that they were under the influence of brainwashing, the effect dispels immediately. It seems that the truth is one way of breaking the enchantment.

    While the brothers are pping themselves for falling to brainwashing as well as breaking a few chairs and tables, I jump to the future to see how Nam will do as an idol.

    Sadly, I did get the result since shemitted suicide shortly after she be a trainee.

    I frown deeply when I learn of the reason. I think I will do something about that, so the world can look up to her and be inspired. She will be quite angel.

    Furthermore, Nam has be a member of Lok Entertainment, so she is a member of the family, to which I am the head of. I do take care of my family.

    It won''t take much effort.

    "I still have a bit of time left, so call in the next person."

    It is a young boy this time with his parents, but his natural voice isn''t that good. His dancing is however, so I use a different spell. It is created by an Enjoyments and Attentions runes, forcing everyone to be mesmerized by his dancing.

    I snap out of it within a handful of seconds, but it still takes a while for the two brothers to even if they know they are being enchanted. Since their judgement is currently impaired, they request the boy and his parents to step outside for a bit.

    "I think you two understand the finer point of having magic at your disposal. Please head to the nearest Hydra Headquarter at your earliest convenient. The earliest you are enlightened, the better. But there is a special psychological test you mustplete. Magic is very dangerous if used incorrectly."

    I get off my seat and reach out my hand. Chantara and Somchai immediately gets up and take my hand respectfully.

    "I will be leaving now. It is a pleasure of meeting you two. You have done great work so far, so please continue what you are doing."

    "Thank you for yourpliment, Mr. Maxwell. Please, allow us to call you a taxi."

    The brothers are somewhat rmed when seeing me here in person since they did rush a few things as well as kill a quite a few people to get thepany where it is currently. They are nowpletely at ease now.

    "That will not be necessary. Taxi in this traffic will just slow me down. I rather walk instead. Besides, I can teleport. You can too if you learn magic."

    Before leaving, I did tell them to be careful with their off the book killings. Since the both of them face life or death situation every day from they were born, their inner monsters are extremely violent. They supress it currently for professionalism, but the destroyed furniture from before tells me all I need to know.

    I head back out into the lobby and have one more look around before exiting the building.

    "Mr. Maxwell."

    A private driver greets me outside, but I dismiss him with some pocket changes. Alright, a lot of pocket changes since he looks like he has been standing there for a while.

    I take a motorbike to the walking street instead since it is faster with the crazy traffic.

    There, I wander about, brought a few souvenirs, check out a few bars, drinks a few local beers, whistles at a few bar girls who dancing on poles with nothing but strings, and chats to a few Americans.

    "You''re from New York too? Where from!?"

    One of the American shouts at me due to the booming music. I didn''t bother answering and just enjoy the nightlife. It has been a while since I did.

    Small thing like this makes life more meaningful.

    Although, I do wish I have some hardcore friends just to party with. All my friends are old dudes now, on top of being workaholic. With powers and wealthe different kind of attitude.

    I could remember the first time I party with Henry and his pals.

    It was an insane orgy. Strange that I didn''t impregnate any of the girls. I totally fuck them all from the recorded videos. Even if I am drunk, Selene is not. She records everything.

    "Hey! You hear me, buddy!?"

    I sigh and look at the Farang, who is screaming into my ears. Farang is ng for European and American visitors, who visit Thand and fuck around.

    The man bes shock when I just vanish from my spot.

    And that is a cue for him to go head home too since he is probably too drunk.

 Chapter 98: Lottery Machination

    Antigone is d to see me.

    I have been gone for about 3 hours since I had dropped her off at the Connors around 9am, rtively speaking. It actually has been several weeks for me.

    Most of that time, I was being tortured by an astral dragon.

    Fun time.

    But as far as the Connors and my mother are concerned, I was in my office at home, working the whole time. None of them drops by unless something has happened. Antigone behaves when she is with her grandmother.

    Antigone is currently dodging Mrs. Connors'' attempts to feed her.

    She probably didn''t like the woman''s cooking.

    That makes me feel a little bit better since Antigone didn''t like my cooking either.

    In fact, I don''t think Antigone likes anyone''s cooking. What is up with that?

    Regardless, I did tell Mrs. Connors that Antigone loves Heinz-brand foods. I have even left several cans when I had left my daughter here with her grandmother in the morning.

    But I guess Mrs. Connors thinks she knows better, huh?

    Like most people in America, Mrs. Connors has this unproven notion that canned foods aren''t healthy, and when was thest time I saw her uses actual fresh ingredients to cook?

    Um¡­ like never.

    She uses budget frozen foods because it is cheaper. Most middle-ss households do.

    Scientifically speaking, canned food is usually the healthier option since they are designed to actually preserve the food''s nutrients. Sure, there are some immoralpanies that added salts, sugars and preservatives amongst other things to their canned foods, but Heinz-brand canned foods do not.

    The only real problem is Bisphenol A (BPA) contamination, but I am not too worry about that since the packaging isn''t what you called industrial standards. Heinz products are processed and manufactured by Hydra personnel along with canning and packaging.

    Only the best for my daughter!

    I also brought her toys from Thand. I brought some for Stephanie as well.

    "Thank you, Mr. Maxwell. I love it."

    Stephanie acknowledges my gifts even if she probably didn''t like them very much. She is curious where I have brought them from though, so she asks, and I response truthfully.

    There is no reason to hide it.

    My daughter, on the other hands, throws her gifts on the ground to make a point.

    Bad Anti!

    "If you are going to be like that then daddy won''t buy you any more toys in the future. Actually, daddy will cancel those con¡­ balloons orders."

    Antigone fumes as if she understands before demanding the toys that she had thrown on the floor. I pick it up for her and pat her on the head. She really wants her balloons.

    "Good girl. Daddy loves a good girl. You''re a good girl, right?"

    Antigone jerks in response. She definitely understands.

    "ab¡­ abbb¡­ bby¡­"

    Antigone points at me when I feed her myself.

    "It''s daddy, Anti. Daddy. D-a-d-d-y."

    I correct.

    Antigone is around 3 months old, far too early to make any legible word. Most babies say a few simple words when they are around 12 months ago, but I think she will be able to say her first word around 6 to 9 months at this rate, possibly earlier.

    "So, what do you do, Max?"

    Mr. Connors asks me when I finish feeding my daughter. She behaves when she is being fed the foods she likes, so it was very quick. She is now ying with Stephanie in the living room.

    "I run apany, Terra Entertainment. You might have heard something about it on the news."

    I answer and enjoy a cool beer as I sit on a couch. I could never get drunk thanks to the nanomachines and my elerated metabolisms, but I do enjoy the taste.

    "Never heard of it. What does it do? Something rte to music or movie?"

    Mr. Connors responses. He is trying to have a small chat with me in the living room.

    It isn''t surprising that he himself doesn''t know about Terra Entertainment. Only the people within the entertainment businesses do, as thepany has not released any movies yet.

    But even when it does, I doubt someone like him will know. He doesn''t really watch the news, opting to watch sports instead.

    Mr. Connors is a typical man of the house. Work hard for the dor in the morning and afternoon, and then bes a couch potato at in the evening and night, not really caring much about anything else.

    "Yes, something of the sort. What do you do, Mr. Connors?"

    "Please, call me John."

    John Connors requests. And unlike the real John Connors, John has no illusion of bing the leader of the human resistance. He works full-time shift in a food factory, processing meat and dairy products, ever since he was let go from a struggling constructionpany.

    It is hard work, but it does make ends meet. But like all Americans, he dreams to striking it big. That is why he and his wife y the lottery every day. It is probably the only mean for them to get rich quick in this economy.

    "If you have ten million dors right now, what do you do?"

    I question out of curiosity.

    "What won''t I do?"

    John chuckles. He didn''t answer the question directly, but I understand what someone like him would do with that much money. Splurging, most definitely.

    "If I have ten million dors, I would be out of here, so quick."

    Mrs. Connor interjects when she drops some refreshments on the table. She left afterwards.

    "Hahaha. Please don''t mind her, Max. She won''t leave me. She loves me way too much for that. I am the only man for her."

    John jokes. He tells me a bit more about how he first met his wife. They were childhood friends of sort since they were neighbours. They got married shortly after they finished high school together.

    "My dad never likes her because she is one of those popr girls while I am the geeks. He always says: son, that woman will dump you for a better man in a heartbeat. It has been 12 years, so jokes on him."

    I didn''t know whether tough or facepalmed at that.

    "How sure are you of that?"

    I question almost inaudibly and drink from my bottle.

    Once I did, I change the subject and have a nice long chat with the man.

    John Connors has grown out of his geeky nature after high school due to the harsh reality of adulthood and family man. As he and his wife are unable to conceive after years of trying, they decided to adopt Stephanie to save their struggling marriage. Children are glue of any rtionship.

    They were able to conceive afterwards, hence Stephanie has two younger siblings. Even so, John has never treated my mother badly. He might not pay a lot of attention to Stephanie, but when he does, he acts like a father.

    Sadly, John trusts his wife way too much. And his old-time colleagues from the engineering firm drops by regrly to basically bang her. Are they really his friends if they did something of the sort?

    "I have a date with someone this afternoon and this evening, so I will get going. You don''t mind if I left Antigone here with you and your family? I will pick her up around dinner time."

    I ask when I finish several bottles.

    "A woman, huh. Well, you''re still young, and Antigone does need a mother."

    John responses. He is about to get up, but it seems that he is a bit tipsy. He has drank quite a bit, after all.

    "Don''t worry, I will let myself out. Just enjoy your day off. Maybe something unexpected will happen, huh."

    I left the living room afterwards and check on my daughter. She is already yawning, so my mother and I tug her in.

    "You sing funny, Mr. Maxwell."

    Stephanie points out when Antigone has doze off. I narrow my eyes at my mother before casting Voice of Harmony upon myself before singing another song.

    It is a bit petty, but hey, how dare my mother disses me! She should have cheered for me on no matter what! I am her son, isn''t it?

    Her eyes widen when the magic fills the air as well as her being. The voice is perfectly harmonized due to the magical enhancement. The lyric sucks though.

    "Wow. Can you teach me how to sing?"

    I chuckle and pat her on the head.

    "One day, Stephanie. Alright, look after Antigone for me, okay?"

    Once Stephanie confirms, I left her and the Connors to return home.

    Antigone will be fine with Stephanie, as I didn''t want to bring my daughter along to check some houses with Sandra Bullock. I did promise her to apany her, and it will definitely lead to something more.

    It has been a while since Ist saw Sandra ¨C well all of my actresses, in fact. I have to check up on them regrly.

    "Selene. What are the winning lottery numbers tonight for New York Lotto? And what is the current jackpots?"

    [8, 14, 28, 36, 40, 47, and 5 as bonus. 16.8 million dors, Operator]

    "17 million huh? That is before taxes. Have that numbers be assigned to Mrs. Connor''s lottery ticket, but make sure Mr. Connors is the one has brought the tickets from the store."

    [Acknowledged, Operator.]

    Selene will adjust all the electronic systems.

    As for the physical ticket itself, sitting on the nightstand in a bedroom, a Hydra member will modify it as soon as humanly possible.

    With cloaking technology, they can go in and out of people houses like an actual ghost.

    Once that is done, I teleport directly to Oxford Hotel penthouse.

    Sandra Bullock is still residing there for the time being, as her apartment is being demolished and then rebuild as an entertainmentplex. It should be done in a couple of month time.

    "Hello, Miss Bullock. Sorry I am a bitte, but are you ready to go home shopping?"

    I greet her.

    Sandra Bullock is actually waiting for me since before daybreak, constantly staring at the elevator that is connected directly into the penthouse. She doesn''t sleep as much anymore on the ount of what had happened to her in another world. She is dealing with it slowly.

    I didn''t use the elevator, however. I teleport behind her to surprise her.

    Like my daughter, Sandra is very happy to see me.

    But unlike my daughter, Sandra jumps me and then jumps my bone.

    Jebus¡­

 Chapter 99: Real Estate

    Sandra is in need of a lot of loving, so we will talk after all the humping, moaning, and groaning. I think there are some grunting and screaming as well.

    Once I fill her up, I fill her up again.

    After the fifth time or so, Sandra is satisfied. She is now resting upon my chest. Her legs are interlocked with mine. Our liquids are mixed and stained the bed and sheets.

    "I feel at ease when I am with you, Max."

    Sandra whispers softly. Her eyes remain closed. Her breathing rxes. Her mind ispletely calmed. Her nightmares retreat in my presence.

    "As do I, Sandra."

    I response softly in kind. My protective arm around her nakedness. My gentle hand upon her shoulder. And my fingers caressing her warmness gently.

    Her fingers stroke my body in response, lightly.

    No more word is needed between the two of us, and we both remain within each other''s affectionate embrace for a full hour or so.

    Sandra dresses first, putting on her ck bra, matching pair of lingerie and creamy blouse. She did so slowly, letting me watch each step of the way while curving to entuate her sexy figure.

    She knows that she is very desirable, and she is using that knowledge well.

    I chuckle and return the favour, giving her the only front-seat''s view. From the grin on her face, she is enjoying the reverse-strip tease very, very much.

    Sandra didn''t even have her pant on yet, so I didn''t either.

    And when I move in to give her an affectionate kiss, I simply push her lingerie to the side and prate her feminine gender. She moans and kisses my neck as I proceed to pound her into the warm bedding.

    Her legs wrap themselves around my pelvis, urging me on.

    We manage to get to the elevator and heading down to the lobby just before 3pm. Anyter, and we will probably never leave the bedroom. There is still a very strong sexual tension between us.

    We are still young and full of cum. Well, one of us is. \\o/

    Our arms are interwoven around each other when we leave the hotel together.

    The receptionist is very weing, wishing us both a good day. A limousine is waiting for us outside, provided by the hotel for any guests that needed it. The transportation is free of charge for the luxury rooms on higher floor, just one of many amenities and services.

    "Have you eaten yet, Miss Bullock?"

    I ask when I open the door to the limousine for her.

    Sandra nces at me and then cup my manhood and give it a firm squeeze.

    Luckily, no one saw that. Even if they did, they wouldn''t say anything.

    "Yes, Mr. Maxwell. It was a quite thick milkshake. I would love another if you have it in you."

    Sandra purrs into my ear. I could feel the heat from her sensual lips. Her alluring breaths brush against my skin. I might have shuddered a little.

    "Okie¡­ I think I can do that for you, Miss Bullock."

    I squeeze the words out of my throat in submission before Sandra enters the limousine with an inviting smile. I follow suit and rx in my seating before telling the driver to head to a prominent real estatepany down in Bel Air area. I even give him the address in full.

    "Yes, sir."

    The driver response and then roll up the privacy window. He has driven many rich and powerful people around town, and he knows exactly what is going on in the back. The tinted windows, preventing eyes from outside is exactly for that. The car has to be washed daily as well since several guests like to have their orgy on the move.

    I manage to talk to Sandra a bit before she is between my legs, demanding a hot and sticky milkshake ¨C she is quite aggressive at it too.

    And the limousine ride is filled with gagging and stifling sounds.

    When limousine finallyes to a stop at our destination, there is just gulping sounds.

    Sandra has an incredible appetite, and my balls are forcibly drained.

    It isn''t aint by any means.

    And once she has her creamy filling, she returns to her seat, crosses her legs and licks her pouty lips to savour the taste.

    I just shrug at that and ce a hand on her thigh, running up her split-cut dress yfully for a little bit, more than a little bit. My fingers quickly found their ways into her panties and soaking wetness.

    Sandra is looking coy throughout the whole time despite wanting nothing more than for me to screw her brain out. There is just too much sexual tension in the air. It makes her forget all of her troubles.

    The driver remains quiet throughout the whole time due to professionalism, but a couple of realtors outside knock on the tinted window, interrupting the mood.

    I did call the real estatepany first a few days ago, requesting them for an appointment.

    "Ahem. Shall we, Miss Bullock?"

    I offer my hand to help Sandra out of the limousine once I am outside. She takes it and joins me inside the real estatepany. Our gestures and actions demonstrate that we are very close.

    A cute brte in her early twenties greets us and gestures us to our seats. She introduces herself as Lexi Lester professionally, but I already knew that beforehand.

    Despite her age, she is a star in the real estate business. This is more to do with her special ability than her looks and mannerisms, although she does have a passion for the job. Getting a lot ofmission is also a plus.

    "Mr. Maxwell and Mrs. Maxwell. What kind of home are you looking for?"

    Sandra eyes me once she heard that before smiling. I guess we are happily married for the time being, but I do wonder which of us is the dominant one in the rtionship.

    Me, obviously, but I am talking about in bedroom.

    I let Sandra takes the lead in the discussion with Lexi since we are shopping for a home for her. I might buy one myself, so I have a ce to entertain some of my mistresses. Most of the houses in this area are in the multi-million dors range, but not all of them are.

    While Sandra did save up quite a bit over the three years of her career so far, she does not really have a million dor in her bank ount at Chrono Reserves.

    The generous interest rate is very alluring to many Americans.

    Sandra is free to borrow as much as she pleases from Chrono Reserves. She will pay it back in full once she stars in a few blockbuster hits. As Jurassic Park is now back on sale again and Michael Crichton is nowhere to be seen, I suppose I will have thepany start the movie production.

    The publicity has done Terra Entertainment a great service, especially when Henry Oxford vouches for thepany personally. Many people are beginning to see Terra Entertainment in a new light. Quite a few agents also call thepany to gain some connections for their clients.

    This is all good.

    Sandra will y the heroine, Doctor Ellie Sattler, in the Jurassic Cinematic Universe (JCU). As such, the screeny will have to be written slightly to give her a lot more screen time. For her co-star, that will be done at an audition.

    I will also be releasing Harry Potter and the Philosopher''s Stone soon.

    Harry Potter Universe did first take ce sometimes in 1991, which is next year. And in regard to Mrs ¨C actually Miss ¨C Joanne Rowling herself, the idea about a scrawny, little, ck-haired, bespectacled boy is just beginning to form in her head.

    I will use penname J. K. Rowling for the publication. She prefers to be Jo Rowling at the moment. Well, soon. I will have a talk to her in person, and perhaps, I will show her real power of magic.

    And maybe I will get some British pussy while I am at it.

    Eh¡­?

    Alright, I am still really horny. My libido is very hightely.

    I stroke Sandra''s hands gently and yfully as she listens intently to Lexi. She seems to be under some kind of influence. Well, she is, of sort, but that has nothing to do with me.

    Sandra is mindlessly agreeing with whatever being suggested by Lexi without much thought.

    The young woman real estate broker is very charming in her bewitching words and mannerisms, even to the same sex. The opposite sex will have no choice but to eat out of her hands until they snap out of it.

    Sandra shakes her head a little and looks at me for my opinion. At least she still has some independent though left. She does have a strong willpower after all.

    "What do you think, Mr. Maxwell? The price tag is a bit high, outside your stated budget, but it has a greatke view."

    Lexi tells me as I look at her and take a breath.

    [Warning. Airborne contamination detected.]

    "Perhaps we should have an inspection before we make our decision, right honey?"

    I redirect my suggestion at Sandra and continue to pat her hands lovingly.

    Lexi is surprised that her ability has no effect on me. And she will be in for more surprises.

 Chapter 100: Ghost Tales

    Using thepany provided car, Lexi Lester takes me and Sandra to the estate for inspection.

    And on the way there, Lexi asks us some personal questions as well as some casual ones.

    Making conversations is a way of warming up to us, as we are her client.

    Lexi does getmission on every house she has sold, and she has sold quite a few,ting her a very healthy bank ount with Chrono Reserves. She actually a millionaire despite her young age. And she spendsvishly too, buying expensive clothing and partying every night or so.

    While those things shouldn''t cause any red g since there are plenty of geniuses out there in America with the same lifestyles, what does is why do some clients simply donate her arge sum of cash out of the blue.

    The numerous questionable transactions in her bank ount, especially the ones when she was still in high school, has brought her to my attention. No one in their right mind would donate $100,000 to a teenager and let her spends it all within a week.

    With a little digging, Lexi is one of those super babies. Sadly, her ability doesn''t make her any smarter, so she drops out of high school when she was just fifteen. Her parents are unable to refuse her.

    No one can.

    Sandra is happy to answer Lexi''s questions while being under the influence of her power. Despite that, Sandra constantly wraps her hands and arms around mine, and I am happy to be her manly support.

    Sandra is currently my wife, Mrs. Maxwell.

    I hope my real wife, Margaret Maxwell doesn''t mind. Oh wait, she doesn''t exist.

    Does that mean I can get marry again, legally? Heh.

    That is not on my list of things to do. I am more or less happy where I currently am, tangling with quite a lot of beauties from multiple worlds and realities.

    Sandra probably wants to settle down one day if we continue our intimate rtionship, so that will be a very long conversation, full of crying and what is not.

    Oh boy¡­

    I did promise to not break her heart, so I will have to think of good exnation fast. Well, I am working on one. Several, actually. One for each person in my harem. Not all of them needs one, however, such as Allison and Eliana.

    Speaking of harem, it is about to grow by one more member.

    Gotta catch ''em all!

    "What about you, Mr. Maxwell? Where were you born?"

    Lexi asks once she learns all she can from Sandra.

    Lexi is curious to why her ability doesn''t work on me. It is because the nanomachines in my blood filter out the chemical before it has the chance to invade my brain and make me subservient.

    "Oh? I am just nobody, Miss Lester. You don''t need to know about me."

    I response and continue patting Sandra gently. A smile is on my face.

    Lexi narrows her eyes on the back mirror before returning her attention to the front. She didn''t speak up again until the car pulls into a decorative driveway.

    The heavy iron gate automatically opens on the car''s approach, showing it has been built to modern standards.

    1990s standard I mean.

    Sandra and I stare out the window, finding the ce quite enormous, which does beg the question as to why the price tag is so low. Well, it is not so low that normal couple could afford it.

    This 40,000 square feet house would have cost north of 4 million dors, so why is its asking price only 1.85 million?

    "Honey, what do you think?"

    I ask once I help Sandra out of the car. She has a look around the front of the house, finding the garden and pool to be fairly excessive. She previously lived in a one-bedroom apartment alone.

    While I apany Sandra, I feel as if someone or something watching me ¨C us.

    Selene tells me that there is no one watching us, at least no one human. There are quite a lot of critters loitering around the bushes and trees.

    Shield Surveince Network has never beenpromised before, but I still have this strange feeling that I simply couldn''t just dismiss.

    "If you have kids in the future, Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell. I am sure they will love the pool and the garden. There is also a tennis court at the back, but you can remodel it to whatever suits you. Once you have a look outside, pleasee inside."

    Lexi speaks up after she opens the door.

    The suggestion has brought a smile to Sandra. She knows all about Antigone, but she has never yed with my daughter before.

    And judging from her smile, she does want to have kids. Well, from the original timelines, Sandra does have kids. Adopted kids, but still her kids.

    If Sandra and I were married ¨C what the hell am I thinking about?

    There is a coldness washing over me when I enter the house with Sandra.

    It feels quite unnatural in a sense, as there is no visible airflow in the corridor. None of the windows I could see are opened. I actually shiver a little, which shouldn''t happen.

    My body is always kept at optimal temperature even in the void of space.

    "It is chilling in here."

    Sandra rubs her arms to warm up despite the room is at constant 23 degree Celsius. The chillness that she has felt soon passed. She did look at me when I give her an embrace, just to warm her up.

    "I thought it was only me. The other clients said the same thing too."

    Lexi points out and heads into the closest rooms. She seems to be in a hurry, probably wanting to get of here as soon as possible.

    And by other clients, Lexi means clients of her colleagues.

    If it was her clients, she probably has sold this ce to them a long time ago.

    Despite the constant price shes, no one has brought this house after so many years. And those that do, immediately tries to resell the house as soon as possible.

    Most of the renovation are done in order to sell the house, even at a loss.

    It is as if the house is haunted or something.

    I chuckle at that while following Sandra into the room. Lexi is there, opening the blinds to let the light inside. The current owners never drop by the ce anymore.

    It is a living room, and it is veryrge. I swear the room could fit an entire concert band inside.

    There is a nice firece at the far side of the wall, so if Sandra brought this ce, we could enjoy each other''spany in front of a firece.

    While Lexi exins about the room, bringing Sandra under her charm again, I ask Selene if there is any media rtes to the house.

    Selene immediately disys several newspaper clippings and videos for me to see. Even the gruesome sights in the clippings and videos, I didn''t feel any chillness or anything of the sort.

    I have seen a lot worst, mostly at my hands.

    While the house is probably not haunted, families did die here under the most unusual circumstances many years ago. No one survives the idents, however.

    The police are stumped, and since Shield Surveince Network hasn''t been fully operational back then, I couldn''t see anything that happened inside the house. I could only see outside of the house. Nothing strange stands out though.

    "¡­"

    "Hmm¡­?"

    I look around as if I heard something. That is weird.

    Lexi shows us the kitchen next, and Sandra takes in her every word like she couldn''t help herself while I look around and checking the ovens and the cupboards.

    Everything is spotless, far too spotless. There usually some kind of dusts here and there, considering how long it has been since people were here.

    "Did someone clean the ce?"

    I question. I did find quite a lot of stains with ck light filter, so whoever clean the ce probably did not use detergent.

    "I don''t know, Mr. Maxwell. Perhaps. Pleasee this way. I want to show you the study room."

    All three of us pass the stairway to the upper floor before something caught in the corner of my eyes, just briefly. I snap towards that direction, but I am unable to find anything. Even reying the recorded video does not give me anything.

    "Mr¡­ my love, is there something wrong?"

    Sandra questions. I look at her and chuckle.

    "Nope. It is nothing. My eyes are probably ying trick on me. You can go with Miss Lester and check the study room, honey. I need to do some business. Male business."

    I wink at her and look for the toilet.

    Obviously, my eyes are not ying trick on me. I know what I have saw.

    And once Sandra and Lexi head off to the study room down the hallway, I return to the stairway. There is that strange sound again.

    "¡­"

    Ites and goes, but no one seem to hear it except me, even Selene. I can hear multiple frequencies, including radio frequencies, but the sound is not recorded on any of the channels.

    This is fucking weird. It couldn''t be haunted, could it? I don''t fucking believe in ghost. Everything can be exined by science, govern by rules and logics. Even magic itself!

    I head up there and find an empty corridor, marked with doors. Doors are closed tight. I check a few, finding them to be locked. I head all the way to the end of the corridor to find a room.

    Coldness pierces through my body again, causing me to shiver almost uncontrobly. Selene couldn''t detect anything wrong with me, at least biologically.

    "¡­"

    What is this feeling? It is somewhat familiar.

    It did take a while for me realize what I am feeling ¨C spiritual energy.

    But unlike the spiritual energy released from a Dragon God, this is exceedingly weak and isn''t directed at anyone. It is also full of intentions, and it is not the good kind either.

    The malicious energy just lingers in the air, causing people to feel chillness down their spine. But once I realise what it was, the chillness just goes away.

    It is as if my spirit is now actively defending against it. That is a good thing.

    I look around the room and then out the windows, looking at the backyard. There are a couple of kids snooping around the garden outside, ying andughing. They are a young girl and boy. Their clothes are pretty old style.

    "Mr. Maxwell. Why don''t you join your wife in the study room?"

    Lexi requests when she enters the room. Sandra is not with her, but the surveince cameras tells me where Sandra is at the moment. She is sitting alone in the study room as if someone has told her too.

    I turn around to face Lexi as she approaches the windows. I didn''t notice her approach since I was too busy staring out the window. That shouldn''t be. I am very aware of my surroundings.

    More than 10 minutes has passed when I check the internal clock. Apse in memory!?

    Selene reys what I saw in fast forwards mode ¨C nothing. She didn''t record anything but an empty garden. There are no sounds of children recorded either. It is as if I just stood there and stare out the window like a creep.

    Lexi looks outside briefly before facing me again.

    "What are you looking at, Mr. Maxwell?"

    I chuckle. This day just got a lot better.

    "I see dead people, Miss Lester."

 Chapter 101: Undeniable Truth

    Hearing that, Lexi has thought I was crazy for a second.

    Framed by her shoulder-length auburn brown hair, her dark brown eyes narrow at me suspiciously.

    I chuckle and gesture my hand to dismiss the previousment.

    Lexi didn''t need to know ghost exists. No one really need to know, to be honest.

    I then return to scrutinizing the garden outside, in the backyard. Total silence has returned.

    The two ghostly apparitions are gone like they weren''t there in the first ce. But I do believe in what I had seen. They were there, just a moment ago. My eyes weren''t ying trick on me.

    And I will get to the bottom of this, eventually.

    Ghosts are real. And since they are, they can definitely be captured, contained and studied. Now, who should I call when something this strange happens in the neighbourhood?

    Spiderman!

    I mean Ghostbusters!

    The theme song begins to y in my head, making me smile.

    Ah, wonderful nostalgia.

    Ghostbusters will definitely be one of the gship franchises under Terra Entertainment. None of that girl powers toxic shit! This isn''t kindergarten anymore! They need to find their own franchises instead of ruining all of our cool boys stuff!

    Anyway, I just need to figure out how to build a proton pack to get started.

    And when I mean me, I mean Mystic. They are founded for this very reason.

    Ghost are magical being, right? I didn''t feel any magical energy like those undead, but I do feel spiritual energy lingering in the air, even if it faintly.

    I suppose I willbel ghosts as supernatural beings for now. Supernatural?

    Where is Sam and Dean when I need them?

    But instead of the Winchester brothers, I do have a duo virtual intelligence working on this.

    Selene and Legion are analysing the recorded videos and audio frequencies.

    If something is captured electronically like in those movies, Selene and Legion will find. But so far, they yielded absolutely nothing even with theirbined processing power. Well, most of the processing powerse from Legion within my ring of power.

    And the total processing power is growing exponentially thanks to infinite space at his disposal.

    Regardless, how disappointing.

    I guess it is up to me and human ingenuity. A challenge then?

    Hunting down ghosts couldn''t be more difficult than magic, could it? And once I capture a ghost, I will dissect it to see how it ticks.

    This will all be a new territory for me, and it is very exciting to think about it.

    Lexi rethinks whether I am crazy or not. She has just seen me staring out the window and thenughing to myself.

    My maniacal expression dissuades her from pursuing some of her questions.

    "You are curious, Miss Lester. I know. But you won''t get any information from my wife no matter how much you ask her. She doesn''t know anything about me asides from the facts that I am exceeding rich and powerful and beyond human."

    I speak up once I calm my excitement. There is no need to hurry because the supernatural urrences seem to be contained within the premise.

    I will buy out this estate and then take my time investigating the phenomenon.

    If a ghost tries to kill me, I will kill it first. This will be the first time I get to torture a ghost.

    Wonderful!

    Tell me, do they bleed?

    "I''m¡­ sorry, but I don''t know what you are ¨C

    Lexi responses. She assumes that I didn''t know what happened once she is left alone with Sandra, who is easily persuaded to be very talkative.

    It isn''t Sandra''s fault in this regard since she has no defence against Lexi''s ability.

    "Please don''t y dumb, Miss Lester. We aren''t kids. I can see everything and hear everything in this ce."

    I pause for a bit.

    "I know everything there is to know about you, Lexi Lester, born to Martha Lester and Anthony Lester on the 19th of May 1966. How are your parentstely? It has been about 14 months since you have talked to themst."

    Lexi didn''t say anything in response.

    Her mind reels and tries to figure out how I was able to know that.

    Lexi has never mentioned any of her parents at the workce since she didn''t really consider them as her parents in a sense. They are just too normal. And she is anything but normal. She has learnt of this when she reaches puberty.

    It is when her ability manifests. Once it did, everyone just gives her whatever she wants, regardless of how outrageous it seems. They all love her unquestionably.

    "How did you know that, Mr. Maxwell? No, who are you, really? Your wife tells me a fairy tale, but she cannot lie to me."

    I chuckle. It did sound like a fairy tale, to be honest. Being trapped in another world, getting raped and beaten repeatedly by a bunch of Nazis, witnessing a firefight between power rangers and zombie, and seeing people get resurrected and mindwiped ¨C heh.

    "So, ego, it must be the truth."

    I response with a smile. Sandra tells Lexi everything just because she has asked, but none of that really tells her anything about me.

    It only gives her a glimpse into what I can do, which is terrifying enough.

    "Yes, it is the truth, Miss Lester. I would have said the same thing if that special ability of yours actually work on me. But do tell, how is it? It must feel very different to hear the undiluted truth since you are unable to turn off your ability. Have you ever wondered why you were given such a gift? And why are no one else like you out there?"

    I add.

    Lexi is taken back. She believes everything Sandra has told her now.

    This is because I just know too many things and things that no one should. I also know that she is trying to find out who her actual parents are, but she is constantly hitting a wall.

    That is because her parents are Martha and Anthony, regardless of how much she denies the fact.

    "And no, Miss Lester. I don''t mind you learning of the facts. If you have been listening to what my wife has told you, I can wipe your mind. I can also torture you to death and then bring you back to do it all over again, and you wouldn''t remember any of it. So, ask yourself this, maybe I already did?"

    There is that fear. It glimmers in her dark eyes, growing in the back of her mind.

    "Who¡­ who are you?"

    Lexi utters. She is unconsciously stepping backwards.

    "You already know who I am, Miss Lester."

    I answer slowly. My cold and unflinching eyes match her gaze.

    Her eyes widen. Even as stupid as she is, she isn''tpletely retarded.

    When a superpower being appears in front of her while she is searching for answers about her origin and the reason to why she has this power, her mind could onlye to one conclusion.

    Lexi also has to ask herself why now? And what do I want exactly?

    It obviously isn''t a happy family reunion. I could do that in private. No, this is far more sinister.

    Lexi feels the coldness wraps around her body, but this chill isn''t due to the spiritual energy lingering in the air.

    "No¡­ you can''t be¡­"

    I chuckle and step forwards, reaching out my hands. I put on my best impression.

    The air has chilled rapidly due to my thermal maniption ability. I basically absorb the heat right out of the air. I should use this more often because it is quite a cool ability, but there aren''t many chances to do so.

    "Search your feelings. You know it to be true."

    I tell her, deeply.

    "No! No, you can''t be¡­ you can''t!"

    "Lexi, I am your father."

    Hearing that, Lexi immediately turns around and tries to bolt.

    However, the corridor stretches into the distance, infinitely.

    Her eyes are full of shock. There is no hope of running away, not from me. Even death is not an escape, and Lexi knows that.

    "Where are you going, daughter?"

    I question from behind her as her body trembles uncontrobly.

    Her freedom is slowly being stripped away, bit by bit.

    Lexi has always been the one in control thanks to her special ability. But in front of me, she is utterly powerless. She is merely a child before an unfathomable titan.

    I ce my hands on her shoulder, one on each side and turn her around to face me ever so gently.

    There is no need to be forceful, as she cannot escape.

    "Let me have a look of you, daughter. My, my, what a big girl you have be. I just want to eat you up."

    Lexi is like a puppet now,pletely paralyzed with fear.

 Chapter 102: Powers and Abilities (Auxiliary Chapter)

    This is an auxiliary chapter! It is marked in the title. You can skip this chapter if you prefer. You actually won''t miss anything if you have been paying careful attention to the story.

    I hope you guys (and girls of course) enjoy the story thus far. Please forgive me for all the memes and references. It does get a bit excessive sometimes. Heh¡­

    This chapter summarizes Maximilien Maxwell''s current progression of powers and abilities thus far.

    In the story and the continuity of the whole Aspectual Multiverse, there are several sses and types of power. You can consider them as grades of power if you prefer.

    The best power is obviously Aspectual ss. The next on the list is Primordial ss. After that are the sub-sses of Aspectual and Primordial, but let''s not get technical. You just need to know all the main ones.

    Even if Maximilien Maxwell is an Aspect of Time, he can still use Primordial-based powers and abilities, but the Primordial won''t like that very much. It is basically an Aspect stealing their powers.

    And using Primordial-based powers and abilities will definitely get the attention of the Primordial, and all hell will break loose if they show up in person.

    Of course, if this is what Maximilien intended to happen, then by all mean. They can consume an entire reality on a whim, so good luck fighting them, Max. We are rooting for you!

    Alright, let''s describe the powers and abilities that Maximilien Maxwell has thus far.

    [Time Jump (Aspectual ss) ¨C Active Type]

    This is the first power Maximilien awakens.

    It activates on his birthday, exactly when he is 18 years of age. The question is why exactly 18 years of age when human measurement of time really has no rtive meaning to an Aspect? You will find out in the storyter, but Maximilien did mention that "time" in the way he sees them is not what humans describe them to be. There are hints like these throughout the story!

    The moment this power activates, it sends Maximilien straight to the future, just before the extinction event of the human race at their own hands. He gets basically nuked thousands of time until he figures out how to use this power.

    Sounds easy enough.

    Not really.

    Maximilien is unable to activate it the first few hundred cycles of death because he didn''t have any temporal energy left to use it. Heh. I didn''t mention that part since temporal energy did note into y then. Ites into y when temporal rifts happen, and I did state that he can absorb temporal energy to boost his power.

    The rest is history, so you should already know if you have read this far.

    Maximilien uses this power frequently, especially when he wants something to be done instantly. Like for example, instant researches. Well not instant, but superfast. He does this by stealing progresses and researches from the future repeatedly.

    To prevent an unraveling paradox from taking ce, Maximilien will automatically merge with his past or future self if he jumps into an instance when he already exists.

    It is extremely disorientating when that does happen and extremely frightening if he is a fetus.

    But all of this is due to the safety switch built into his power. Paradoxes can destroy the entire reality, so yeah.

    Maximilien will figure how to turn it off one day. It is required to create a stable time loop. Stable time loop will fuck with people''s mind because how insanely bizarre it is.

    Have you guys seen Predestination (All You Zombies)? That sort of shits!

    Although there is no limit to this power, Maximilien cannot jump beyond the beginning and the end of time. This is because time did not exist before or after such an event.

    It is more correctly to say, time wasn''t born yet. Heh. The end of time is when time is no longer needed. That does happen. Why? You will find youter in the story.

    The mostints I have heard or read in thements or reviews is why doesn''t Maximilien just fucking jump back in time to fix any screwups? Like the Reba stuff happens? It would be so simple.

    Actually no.

    To understand this, you must first understand Maximilien''s core principles. He actually does not want to do more work than necessary. If it is his mistake, he will fix it because he will own up to his mistake, but if it is someone else''s mistakes, why the fuck should he fix it?

    This personality ismon amongst all the Aspects. Aspects simply don''t like picking up the shits the other have unknowing or purposely causes. They do have better things to do most of the time.

    Otherwise, Terra would have just fixed Max''s little problem ¨C as in find all the Fragments of Time and restore his power and memory. She can do it with a snap of her fingers as she is that powerful.

    But there would be no story at all. Doing this also mean Maximilien will be the old Maximilien, and not the new Max wee to love. Seeing his adventures, which will define who he is, is the fun part! He is ruthless, extremely sadistic, but he is also fair, loyal and honorable. He loves those around him, and he does try to help them with their situations ¨C when he has time.

    Acknowledging the past (old Max) and epting the future (new Max) is one of the many themes of the story. It is one of his character''s progressions.

    Although Max does fix other''s people screw up sometimes, such in Alex''s case, but he gets annoyed in doing so.

    Secondly, it also depends on how far back Maximilien has to jump to fix the problem. Too far back, he will get really grumpy.

    Let''s take Reba''s case for example. It was several weeks ago, just after he talks to Henry Oxford and ept the documents for Terra Entertainment. To jump back that far and merging with his past self, meaning that he will have to redo everything up to the current point.

    That is several weeks worth''s of work. Would you do it if someone tells you to go back to your younger self and then acts exactly like you would for several weeks? I wouldn''t.

    In other word, unless it is a massive screwup, Maximilien wouldn''t forfeit all his current progression and jump back to the past to redo everything again. He did once due to the internal copses of the Gctic Empire, and it is enough.

    I could talk for a long time about this power, but we should move on.

    [Time Maniption (Aspectual ss) ¨C Active/Passive Type]

    Time Maniption first activates when Maximilien got killed, but this is the passive mode. It prevents him from dying, or more correctly to say, it prevents his soul from moving beyond the mortal ne of existence. You will learn about thister, when ne of existences finallye into y. It won''t be for another few hundreds of chapters, I think.

    I do foreshadow quite a bit of stuff.

    Alright, a lot of stuff. Sorry.

    It is for the 2nd (Arcane Academy ¨C think Harry Potter, but our world) and 3rd Arc (World Domination ¨C not just the prime reality, but all the other realities). 4th Arcs ¨C ying the Gods ¨C is way out there at the moment.

    Anyway, you can read about all the arcs in the Auxiliary Volumes.

    Maximilien learns how to use the active mode of this power after he figures out the time jump ability.

    This power doese naturally to him, so he can reverse or elerate the time of any object as well as person. It currently does not affect the soul of a person since this is beyond his current level.

    The advance form of this power allows him to freeze the world as well freeze the time of any object he wishes. Once he figures this out, he uses it excessively so that things don''t happen unexpectedly in the prime reality when he is not there in person.

    Its awakening also brings forth the temporal rifts. So how did the temporal riftse into being? It is obviously not him. Max already mentions this since he doesn''t have that much temporal energy.

    Maximilien usually uses this power to kill people by elerating their time within an instant. In other word, he dusts them since everything reduce to dust when an absurd of time passes. He also uses this power to heal people, as reversing time will reverse all damage done to a person.

    This power is actually a lot more versatile than what Maximilien has done thus far. He barely scratches the surface of this power. The full power Aspect of Time can kill anyone below Primordial level before they even know what hits them. That is a pun. Time is an abstract concept!

    [Temporal Bubble (Aspectual ss) ¨C Active Type]

    Temporal bubble is actually an extension of Time Maniption.

    Instead of adjusting time for a whole object or person, Maximilien only wants to affect certain object in the body, like the brain for example, or a bunch of objects at the same time.

    This means he can erase the memory of a person.

    He first uses this power in full when he brings Antis into the present, so he can have an ind for his base of operation. Oh, the original inhabitants on the ind are free-for-all, but it is actually also a test for his men, the original arm forces of Hydra.

    If Maximilien tells his army to pige and rape people, they will pige and rape the people regardless of whether they like it or not. The chain ofmands is above personal preferences.

    Maximilien does not need an army that does not obey hismand. There will be no subordinations, especially during a mission. If someone refuse a direct order from theirmanding officer or squad leader, they will just get executed right away.

    There is no room for negotiation. All Hydra members know this, thus make them extremely efficient and super ruthless.

    Maximilien doesn''t really care about the people he doesn''t know that much if you haven''t notice. He cares about humanity as a whole, not individual people. If anyone goes against him and attempt to destroy all that he tries to aplish, he will kill them in a heartbeat ¨C probably.

    Two heartbeats if they are family and friends.

    It has been demonstrated that the bubble can expand to epass an entire world. Doing so allows Maximilien to do his social experiments. It hasn''t happened yet, but it will soon.

    Just imagine the God create the Earth within 7 days. Well, Maximilien can do that in seconds.

    7 days is way too much time for someone like him.

    What else? Hmm¡­ not sure. If I remember, I will update this.

    [Temporal Duplication (Aspectual ss)]

    Temporal duplication is another extension of Time Maniption.

    Maximilien figures this out when he was practicing temporal bubble ability. As he can interact directly with the temporal bubble and whatever are inside the temporal bubble, it allows him to basically steal things from the past by bringing it into the presence.

    There is something that Maximilien cannot duplicate, however, for example ¨C a soul.

    If Maximilien brings a person inside the temporal bubble to outside, if they already exist somewhere, the copy he created will instantly be erased from existence since a soul cannot be in two ces at the same time. This is the same as monster cores as it contains the essence (soul energy) of the monster, but unlike a person, the core bes inert.

    An inert core is actually very useful, as you will find out in the story eventually. Maximilien does have a few inert cores in his pocket dimension, since he has be a hoarder.

    He hoards everything even if they appear to be useless.

    What else? Not sure. Will update if I remember. Heh¡­

    [Selene (Technological)]

    Selene is a virtual intelligence designed by the entric doctor of the 31st century. She is to regte all the nanomachines floating inside Maximilien''s body. She is also to prevent the nanomachines from bing self-aware and gain sentient.

    Selene is not actually inside Max''s brain because he definitely wouldn''t allow something of the sort to happen. She is actually inside all the nanomachines floating inside his bloodstream.

    As a supeputer, Selene can interface with everything electronically and wirelessly. She can hack into virtually anyputer system of the 20th and 21st centuries. She can also connect and talk to all the virtual intelligences, such as Shield or Legion. There is actually more virtual intelligence than those three, but they will be revealed when they are relevant to the story.

    While in the prime reality, Selene addresses Maximilien as Operator. She calls him Master when they are in other realities.

    As a virtual intelligence, she is not self-aware. She does not think independently and does not have a self-preservation directive. However, as a story progresses, she will gain sentient as well as an avatar.

    Her personality will be based on Cortana from Halo franchise. When does that happen, who knows? I am jumping from one plot point to another at my own pace. At the moment, it is barely just the start of the journey.

    I will talk a bit about the nanomachines inside Maximilien due to his augmentation. Some people have beenining about why he can get hurt by someone like Halle Berry.

    The nanomachines inside Maximilien gradually alter his gics over time, making him an enhanced or evolved human biologically. This is different from standard augmentation or military grade, which does give instant boosts. When Max went for the augmentation, the doctor has already said so.

    The final benefits are much better than instant boost.

    And as his gic is altered, Max gains increased strength, increased stamina, increased endurance, elerated healing factor, expanded mental capacity and so on. Since adjusting gics of a person is an art and exceedingly dangerous, the changes are happening in very small increment, allowing Maximilien to be more used to his augmentation.

    Furthermore, Maximilien has a limiter on his Strength on to prevent unintended destruction.

    Just imagine how painful it would be if his junior is solid steel? He would not enjoy it either.

    Max likes to enjoy the little thing in life, whenever possible. All this power and not enjoying it is such a waste. This sometimes make him distracted, but he is focused on the main goal most of the time. Or at lest he tries to be.

    [Legion (Technological)]

    Legion is Maximilien''s newest tool.

    The virtual intelligence was created as a contingency n to Hydra. Maximilien learns from his mistake in the Gctic Empire. Human-lead organizations will always be corrupt regardless of how safety measures are in ce.

    Only cold calcting machine will not, hence Legion is born.

    Maximilien programs Legion himself, so it is like his child. He considers it as such, and he even gives it a gender instead calling Legion an "it".

    Max has a great n for Legion in the future, so he always keeps an eye on Legion. He hopes that his child doesn''t go rogue when it finally bes self-aware.

    Legion is male. Selene is female. Shield is female. Each of them will be self-aware. I already make dozens of foreshadowing about this. It is inevitable, and only when they be sentient, does they can help Max with a lot more stuff he needs.

    At least one artificial intelligence is required to suppress the other artificial intelligence. Hopefully that will be Legion, for we are one, we are many.

    The micromachines are called XCOMBAT or simply XCOM. They are mainly served as Legion''s avatars. Hence, Legion is actually everywhere.

    Despite being called micromachines, Legion do have ess to nanotechnology as the entire repository of human knowledge is within Legion''s mainframe.

    That is actually not correct. Unlike Shield, Legion doesn''t really have a mainframe, so it doesn''t have a weakness. Legion is based on the replicator in Stargate, where the sum of individual parts adds to the overall strength. So, to kill Legion, all of the micromachines must be destroyed. Even destroying a lot can hurt Legion.

    The reverse is also true, the more micromachines Legion has, the more powerful he bes. That is why Maximilien has him spread out the gxy and start replicating.

    But the main Legion is currently residing within the storage ring on Maximilien''s finger.

    Legion has ess to spatialpression, which allows him to do many things.

    One of Legion''s special abilities is assimtion. He can devour another lifeform ¨C biological or technological or even magical ¨C and then reanimated it as one of its avatars.

    Sadly, he cannot devour spiritual entity since they doesn''t reside on the material ne.

    Anywya, the newly created avatar gains all the powers and skills that the assimted has. This allows for some cool stuff that you will get to seeter!

    This also allows Max to have a true terrifying army. As more and more beings are assimted, Legion be more powerful as a whole. Hence the motto.

    We are Legion!

    I will try to make an epic scene about this part. ^-^b

    [Magical and Spiritual Stuff]

    This stuff is veryplex, and this chapter is already long enough.

    I will write about them when you learn more about it. We are still on the first arc, which is about 500 to 600 chapters long, so all of this stuff about magic and spirits is way out there at the moment.

    The magic stuffs wille in y next arc, where people of the prime-reality will be selected to learn magic in a control environment. This includes celebrities, stars and idols. Oh, the public knows about magic by then, so it will be super fun. Most people should be able to use magic or sense magic by fourth arcs when the Gods start to be a problem.

    For now, you just need to know only Max and a handful of selected individuals on the prime reality can use magic during the first arc.

    And only Max as a living person can do all the spiritual stuff for the first arc. It will be hrious. Well, I will see you guys in the next chapter. Enjoy!

 Chapter 103: Mind Control

    With a thought, the surrounding morphs.

    So, instead of standing in front of arge window with a great view of the backyard, Lexi and I are now standing in one of the many secretboratories belonging to Hydra.

    Most of Hydraboratories are located several miles beneath the Antic Ocean.

    This one is as well.

    I always have such aboratory ready within short notice, never knowing exactly when I will be in need of one. It is actually more or less depending on my mood and the asion.

    Sure, there are many advanced or evolved human in America thanks to my little secret project. Shield is actually tracking most of them on my behalf, and none of them has developed any dangerous ability or abilities thus far, so I am in no hurry to kidnap and experiment on them all.

    I work my way down the list, slowly and when it is convenience for me.

    Due to the change in scenery, Lexi instantly snaps out of her paralysis and pulls away from me.

    "Do not worry, Miss Lester."

    I return to my normal calmed and collected demeanor. I had my fun, and now it is all business.

    Sandra will be fine where she is. Time is currently beingpressed, so she won''t even know we were gone at all.

    "If you behave like a good little girl, I promise that this will hurt only for a short moment. You will not remember at of it, and as a bonus, I will be with you all the way. It is what a father should do."

    I point out.

    Like Allison McBill from before, I will need to have a very good examination of her brain activities while she is still alive and conscious. And since her ability is different from Allison, I will have to examine her body as well. That means she will be stripping downpletely.

    Hmm¡­

    For science!

    Seeing the ominous examination chair at the center of the room, Lexi immediately steps back and gets some distance away from me and everyone else in the room.

    I guess Lexi wants to be a bad little girl, and bad little girl must be punished.

    But must they always run? Well, yes. It is just an automatic fight or flight response.

    Unfortunately for Lexi, there is really no ce to run to. The examination room is sealed and detached from the main base. The only way in and out at the moment is via personal submarines.

    "You are being very naughty, Miss Lester. I will have to punish you for that."

    I pronounce and motion to the scientists. They quickly close in on Lexi.

    Each of the scientists is wearing is wearing an airtight environmental suit. It is to stop themselves from breathing the mind-altering chemical that her body constantly generate and contaminate the air.

    And once those chemicals enter their body and infest their brain, they have no choice but to love and forgive anything Lexi does as well as listen to whatever she says.

    It is more or less mind-control, but it isn''t magic. This is pure biology.

    So, science for the win?

    However, such an airtight suit makes it difficult for the scientists to move around quickly. And wearing actual power armors doesn''t allow them to carry out the necessary examinations properly.

    "No! Get away from me! Get away!"

    Lexi is backed into the corner. Her hands are behind her back. A scientist manages to get close enough, but his suit got cut by a sharp knife for his trouble.

    His trainings and quick reflexes did prevent him from behind stabbed outright.

    I chuckle at that.

    It is somewhat funny, considering the scientists are underestimating Lexi just because she looks like a defenseless young woman.

    Oh, Lexi is a defenseless young woman, but even then, you should always be wary.

    Honestly, I didn''t pat Lexi down to check her any concealed weapons.

    But for Lexi to have a concealed weapon on her regardless of her ability, she isn''t as stupid as I initial thought.

    Selene informs me that Lexi has taken the knife from the kitchen. It was just before she heads upstairs to confront me.

    Oh¡­ that is attempted patricide, isn''t it?

    That is funny.

    What isn''t funny is that the airborne chemicals immediately enter the opening in the suit despite the scientist is trying to seal up the breech.

    The chemicals quickly enter his bloodstream and head directly towards his brain, infecting him within a few seconds. He is already under her control by the time the other scientists manage to grab her.

    Honestly, the infection speed is insanely fast, but it just makes this examination even more interesting.

    I didn''t intervene and watch the scene y out.

    "Help me!"

    Lexi calls out, and the infected scientist tackles the others without hesitation. And due to his intense training and advantage of surprise, the infected scientist manages to remove their helmet or puncture their suits with ease.

    The other scientists quickly defend themselves from the assaults by their colleague, but the damage is already done. They soon fall under her influence due to the breeches in their suit.

    Within only a handful seconds, the entire team of scientists are on her side. That earns an apud.

    "Good show. Good show. But as they usually say, all good show muste to an end. Now, please be a good little girl and strip down to your underwear and get on the chair, Miss Lester. As much as I love to, I just don''t have all day to y with you."

    I gesture at the chair. It is very empty.

    "You. Help me out of here. And the rest, distract him!"

    I narrow my eyes and let out a smile. It is within my expectation. I wouldn''t expect any less of someone like Lexi.

    "Alright. For that, you will be stripping down to nothing, Miss Lester."

    I speak up as magical incantation circle glows on the floor, where I am standing. Sound and Command runes fill the circle.

    "We are sorry, Mr. Maxwell/Lord Maxwell!"

    The scientists call out before trying to tackle me. They are unable to control their own actions, but in their mind, they know this is wrong. And while they are doing that, one of the scientists try to unlock the containment.

    Lexi is with him, panickily. She knows that these men won''t able to hold me for long. Not at all, really. I could undo her control over them in an instant, but I want to use the asion to test magic.

    Did I n all of this?

    Guilty as charge. None of the scientists will remember about this since evolved human is a secret. Only a total of three people knows, including me.

    "Stop."

    I simply speak up.

    My voiceces with magical energy, surging across the room. I didn''t direct themand at anyone in particr, but I mean everyone. They moment they heard, everyone stops in their track, even Lexi herself.

    I smile and examine everyone in the room. All the scientists are struggling against their desire to tackle me and the magicalmand, telling them to stop. However, magic is far more powerful.

    So, I guess it is one for magic.

    "Miss Lester¡­ no Lexi, my daughter. Do you really think your ability can overpower mine?"

    I question and narrow my eyes at her. Her eyes are full of fear.

    "Come Lexi. Come to daddy. I will not harm you¡­ much."

    I request calmly. My magical power forces her body to move. This is the power of Voice of Command. It can force others to do what the speaker demands even if they don''t want to. Only those with strong will can resist it.

    "No! Please. Father¡­ stop. Please. I am your daughter, aren''t I?"

    Lexi begs as her body stops in front of me. Aside from speaking, she is unable to do anything else. She is unable to even cry.

    "Yes. But you have been a bad girl, so you will be punished. Now, remove all your clothing like I have told you to and get on the chair, you have a date with aser cutter."

    I request and look towards the chair. I also return the scientists back to normal, right before they were infected and became a ve to her will.

    "No. Stop! No! No! Please, dad. No!

    Nooooooo!"

    Lexi shouts and screams and begs, but her hands move on their own.

 Chapter 104: For Science!

    Lexi strips slowly.

    Each piece of her garments descends and rests onto the floor, revealing more and more of her pearly white skin for everyone to see.

    Her cries and pleads fall on deaf ears, and her resistance against me and my wishes is futile. Her body is no longer at hermand.

    It is at mymand.

    Like everyone who are inhabiting the prime-reality, Lexi has never been exposed to real magic before, so her body, mind and spirit has absolutely no defense or resistance against it.

    The Voice of Command isn''t that powerful of a charm spell, as it does not grant me the full control of her body and mind and spirit. It doesn''t have any effect on her mind or spirit, and only partially affects her body as demonstrated.

    But from the current strip show, I could see why I need to introduce magic to the prime-reality. It is to build up resistance in the people, so someone simr to me can''t just mindfuck the entire human race with impunity.

    Lexi is quite a beauty herself, with auburn brown hair and dark brown eyes. She has inherited the traits from her very lovely mother, whose name we shall never mentioned again lest we want to incite anger from a rather crazy bat.

    Despite the pace, it didn''t take long for Lexi to strip down to nothing like I wanted. Her rather cute bra and lingerie scatters onto the floor. And without any control over her body, she is unable to even cover herself with her hands.

    Tears are now running down her beautiful face, demonstrating that she has managed to regain some sort of control over her body. It has built up resistance to magic. It is still futile since I just pump more magical energy into the charm spell.

    Like I have mentioned previously, there is actually an upper limit to how much energy I can empower the magical incantation circle. More than it can contains will result in an explosion. An higher tier and moreplex magical incantation circle can store more magical energy, thus making the casted spell stronger andsting longer.

    "Please Miss Lester. On the chair, so we can all get started."

    I request, expressionlessly.

    As beautiful as Lexi is, I have seen someone more beautiful. The elves are blessed with perfect bodies by the Goddess after all, and Eliana is definitely an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. That mean her body is just not scientifically possible.

    Forparison, Sandra is an 8. But people aren''t measured by how sexy they are on the outside. The charm is in their personality. I like Sandra more than Eliana since the dark elf is quite a scheming person as she holds her leadership position over all the other elders despite her young age.

    Just food for thought ¨C Lexi is also an 8.

    Lexi approaches the chair as I request, albeit slowly.

    She is still fighting mymand, and she will win eventually. But that eventuality is estimated to be a few days or so.

    In addition, constantly fighting against my mind control will not do her brain any good. It is damaging to her brain at a cellr level, I would have guessed. I will have a look at that as well when I open her skull open.

    Lexi sits down on the chair asmanded. She shivers instinctively due to the coldness of the cushion and metal frames pressing against her smooth and untarnished skin. She has taken very good care of herself with all the money she has at her disposal.

    Mostly dirty money, but still money, nheless.

    Infinite Health does have a veryrge range of highly effective beauty and cosmetic products for sale on the market or privately, but since those products are secondary tobating deadly diseases and solving world hunger, thepany charges an arm and a leg for them.

    That is the price for vanity. Even so, it shouldn''t be a problem to the rich and wealthy. And I am merely making the world go around by redistributing their wealth to the people, my employees.

    None of this 1% control the wealth bullshit in the future.

    Only one person controls the wealth!

    Metallic brackets lock around her arms and legs as well as her neck and head. It is to prevent her from moving. Mechanical whizzing sounds could be heard all around her as she tries to see what they are.

    They are precisionser cutters for cutting her open.

    Did Lexi need to be naked for this examination? Nope.

    And her nakedness is not distracting at all. None of the men are paying attention to that anymore.

    In many ways, scientists are just like mages on Az,pletely obsessed with their researches and new findings instead of more enjoyable thing in life.

    Alex is a good example. He has zero social life. Hans would be too if his sister didn''t show up and assist him in hisboratory at Mystic. Thus, she is probably the only woman he had ever care about and love.

    "If you have behaved like I requested, Miss Lester, everything would be over soon. But no, you must have it your way like you always do, so you will be punished. This will be excruciating, so please, scream as much as you like."

    I tell Lexi while I check the instruments to make sure they are calibrated correctly. They are ready. The other scientists appear to be ready as well from their individual consoles and monitors, and all systems are now in active and monitoring mode.

    Thesers are full powered and proceed to do their job.

    Lexi struggles violently and shrieks dreadfully.

    Hair burns. Pearly skins scorch and give way to the focusedser beam. Bloods and muscles cauterize immediately due to the intense heat. Bones are sliced up to reveal the softer tissues they protect.

    It is exceeding excruciating since we did not severe her pain receptors. Doing so will interfere with the mapping of her brain.

    And to spare you the horrors, we shall skip ahead.

    Lexi is now dead. She has expired shortly after we finishes scanning and mapping her entire brain for examination and simtion.

    Her brain is now floating in a jar with all of its nerves still connected to her body.

    I will revive her when we need to do the body examination or have to redo the brain scanning. Redoing is only if we have believed we had messed up somewhere. But that is unlikely since we have done this thousands of times before, as every high-ranking member in Hydra must have their brain scanned and mapped, including me.

    It is insurance for when a high-ranking member get killed for whatever reason. Their memory will just be mapped onto a new clone body, giving them pseudo immortality. The new cloned body is also given all the medical and gic advances we have learned thus far.

    Allison''s photographic memory is widespread in Hydra since it is very useful for researchers. We have not solved that brain degrading problem yet, but we will in the future.

    Of course, there are those within Hydra who rejected this cloning idea since their immortal soul might get lost somewhere during the cloning and memory mapping process, but I really rather not get to the mumble jumble that is religion.

    While Lexi is remained strapped to the chair, the scientists and I are reviewing our findings.

    Like Allison McBill, several sections of her brain are very active due to her advanced biology.

    Lexi is an evolved human, after all.

    One of many.

    The unique chemicalpounds that her body constantly excreted and permutated the air is a special ss of pheromones. It affects both female and male of the same species.

    Males are more affected inparison.

    It is not difficult to fabricate the chemicalpound despite itsplexity. However, thepound itself is unique to her biology as it contains part of her gic code.

    In simplest term, even if our body excreted this type of pheromones like Lexi, those who get infected are not subservient to us. Instead, they are subservient to Lexi even if she isn''t the one who infected them in the first ce.

    Mindlessly recing her gic code from the chemicalpound makes it inert or causes mutation, so more researches are needed in this area. However, as this is quite dangerous ability, it will not be widely distributed like Perfect Recall ability from Allison.

    But I can see its usefulness in some cases, such as for Hydra sleeper agents.

    "From the simtion of her brain activities, we theorized that the rate of excretion of this pheromone is tie to her emotional state. When the subject is highly emotional or stressed, her body will release more of it into the air."

    One of the scientists informs me.

    I have a read through theputer pad before nodding in agreement. Other scientists also inform me on other things, such as her health and mental state.

    Like Allison, Lexi will not live into her thirty dues to her ability. The constant synthesis and excretion of the pheromone does take a toll on her body and mind.

    As Lexi has no way of switching off her power, her body will burn out eventually.

    Of course, Hydra will help her control her power. Helping her will also help us in return. Also, it allows us a way to kill her ability permanently.

    After a lengthy discussion between me and the scientists, I resurrect Lexi. Her brain is now back in her head, and her skull is unmolested.

    "Please¡­ father. Please. I''m your daughter¡­ please don''t hurt me¡­"

    Lexi pleads once she is back to the world of the living.

    She did not recall what happened, and she is still assuming that she will be dissected. There is no need for that anymore. We have gotten all that is required.

    "No, that will not be necessary anymore, Miss Lester."

    I response as I scan through the biometric sensor feedbacks. It is now monitoring the rate of excretion of pheromones from her body. When her emotion is highly elevated, it does increases slightly, but not by that much.

    However, like pheromone, arousal will probably the best state of emotion.

    "Aphrodisiac, Lord Maxwell. It will interfere with the actual results, however."

    The scientist passes me a syringe containing clear liquids. It is a very powerful aphrodisiac that basically turns pretty much anyone into a nympho.

    But this is not natural, so it will affect the result.

    "If it interferes with the actual results then we will not resort to it. I will bring her to maximum arousal state myself. Just make sure the equipment is ready."

    I response and eye Lexi. Her eyes widen in shock. Her mind just jumps to a conclusion.

    "Wait¡­ I am your daughter¡­ you wouldn''t, would you?"

    Lexi utters. She tries to squirm, but her body are locked tightly in ce. She cannot escape.

    "Let''s just say it is for science, Miss Lester. And besides, it isn''t the first time I have fucked my daughter. This won''t take very long, rtively speaking."

    That statement gets all the scientists looking at me. Their eyes are full questions. It isn''t about the incest part, not really. As they recalled, Antigone is still a baby, but with my power, she can be a grownup instantly.

    I ignore them and tap on the console by the chair. The chair whizzes and forces her legs up, folding into ce. It spread them apart as well, letting me have aplete view of her pink pussy.

    Lexi hasn''t been using it, I can tell.

    "That is a lovely cunt, Miss Lester. Why don''t you use it more often? Perhaps I can help you with that when this is all over, huh?"

    My fingers run across her cunt quite yfully as her body tenses up.

    "Oh God! Please don''t! Please! Don''t! Dad! This is wrong!

    I''m¡­ I''m¡­ I''m..."

    Once the scientists inform me that the equipment and sensor are calibrated, timees to a halt.

    My fingers immediately prate her pink cunt, sliding into the soft folds and then rubbing her inside expertly, slowly at first before rapidly and recklessly.

    I work her pussy with my fingers for a full 5 minutes before pulling them out and running them along her lower lips once more. My fingers and her cunt are wet because she has wetted herself out of fear moments ago.

    And once time resumes again, the full wave of pleasure crashes against her body without any restrain.

    "Ahhhh!!!! Uhhhhhhh!!! Ughhhh.....!!!! Ohhhhhhh myyyyy gooooooood!!!!"

    Endless erotic screams escape her throat and lips.

    Her body convulses uncontrobly as her eyes roll up into her head in blissful delight. Her cunt gushes violently, and the air is filled with her pheromone.

    It will be pure orgasmic torture for her in the next few minutes.

    Rtively speaking, of course.

    Heh¡­

 Chapter 105: Someone Special

    The scientists are more than a just surprised at what is happening. They didn''t see me doing anything aside from touching Lexi a little, no more than a couple of seconds at a time.

    And yet, each time that I did, Lexi has multiple orgasms, which all happened simultaneously.

    She is actually a drooling mess right now. Her face is flushed with red. Her eyes are rolling and crossed. Her tongue is protruding out of her panting mouth. Her heart beats madly in its ribcage while her quite bountiful chest heaves uncontrobly. Her body is having trouble retaining her bodily fluids ¨C most of which are now pooling on the chair and floor.

    "I have magic hands."

    I wave a hand dismissively, telling the men topletely focus on the required task.

    They don''t really need to know about the finer details of my temporal power. They only need to know that I can totally fuck people up in more than just one way.

    And as expected, the pheromone in the air is off the chart. It is the highest concentration that we have measured thus far. This just demonstrates that the rate of excretion is rted to her emotional state, especially her arousal state.

    However, the concentration detected isn''t as high as theoretically possible yet.

    This is what the men had told me once they did their analysis. Selene and Legion confirms their finding at my request since I had a thought of them just wanting to see more of my magic hands.

    "P¡­ l¡­ e¡­ a¡­ s¡­ e¡­ n¡­ o¡­ m¡­ o¡­ r¡­ e¡­"

    Lexi pants breathlessly. Her mouth gapes weakly. Her pleading eyes try to focus on me. Even though I have already released my mind control over her body, she is unable to tell it what to do since her mind is aplete train wreck.

    "You will learn, daughter, that disobedience has its dire consequences. Only then, you will understand and listen what I have to say."

    I response to her plead. A hand runs along the left side of her face, cupping her check gently. The other hand slithers down her body like a venomous snake before soaking up the sweet nectar.

    Lexi croaks weakly with tears in her eyes, trying to tell me that she has learned her lesson. However, I am the only person who can say that for sure, not her.

    Her body convulses violently afterwards. Her senses are being overloaded. Her mind is somewhere in the 7th heaven. And her body loses all its control.

    It is just really, really messy, and I wonder if a person can die from too much orgasms. The real answer is yes, but I did not allow Lexi to. Before each time I had brought her to rapturing pleasure, I fixed her body up so she didn''t get overdosed.

    Still, it is just purely torture at this point, as the concentrations did not peak any higher than previously recorded. This is because a theoretical value is theoretical value. A calcted or measured result in a controlled experiment is far more useful.

    And from the acquired results, we do know now for a fact that Lexi''s body isn''t capable of synthesizing the chemicalpound quickly enough.

    The scientists and I crosscheck all our findings onest time to make sure before packing things up, all while Lexi remains on the chair, strapping in and convulsing.

    Once we are done, the scientists then head off to another room to get their memories digitized before returning back here so I can swipe their mind. They are not supposed to remember the experiment in their mind, and the memories downloaded will be stripped of nonsense stuff.

    While the scientists are gone from the room, I return to Lexi''s side and have a final look at her current state. Her breathing is ragged. Her eyes are disorientated. What little consciousness she has left in her pleads for mercy.

    "You have done very well, daughter. I will free you from your binding now. Please try not to move too quickly afterwards."

    I state and tap on the console. The chair orientates into a sitting position before freeing Lexi.

    Lexi falls forwards onto the floor the moment she is free from the restrains as she didn''t listen to my advice, thus soiling herself. There is no strength left in her body.

    I shake my head at that and pull her off the floor with one hand.

    Lexi grabs onto me for support while mouthing something inaudibly. I didn''t bother to make out what she is trying to say. With a thought, her body is restored to its original unmolested state.

    However, her mind can still remember everything that has happened except for the part about being cut open and then having her brain extracted.

    That part is unnecessary.

    "A punishment is only effective if the punished remembers the experience. It will take a moment for your body and mind to synch up with each other."

    I point out as Lexi struggles to stand upright even with my support. She is unable to control her dder at all, wetting herself over and over. I clean her up with some time reversal on her clothing.

    Before the scientists return, I teleport her back to the estate alone. I deal with the scientists afterwards then join her. But from her perspective, I haven''t left her alone for more than a second.

    "How are you feeling now, Miss Lester?"

    I question and allow her to stand on her own power. She copses onto the wooden floor afterwards as her entire body shivers. It did take a while for her to recollect herself, so I left to check on Sandra.

    Sandra is resting in one of the couches within the study room, where Lexi has left her. Aside from the chillness, the spiritual energy lingering in the air doesn''t affect her mind. She hasn''t been seeing any kind of hallucination or ghostly aspirations.

    "What do you think of the ce, Max? It is too big for just me alone, but¡­ if youe over regrly, it will not be so big. And I wouldn''t feel alone."

    Sandra asks. She states thest sentence almost inaudibly.

    I chuckle and sit down with her.

    "I think this ce isn''t suitable for you, Sandra. We will look for another ce, as soon as our guide returns. She is currently upstairs, doing something, so we have a little bit of time for yourselves."

    I response and wrap my arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer.

    There isn''t anything to look at in the study room, but we both are contented by each other''s side. We chat a little bit about what we have been doing since thest time we were together.

    I simply response most of her questions with work or taking care of Antigone since too much details with Eliana will break this serene moment.

    Sandra is more talkative, going into great details and telling me all about her days.

    She didn''t mention anything about the nightmares that keeps her up every night since her rescue. Ites and goes, and it has be less frequent now. She will get over it soon.

    Lexi joins us some momentster.

    It seems her fear of being alone in this haunted house helps her get over her memory. Her body is still shaken, as she has trouble walking properly. Still, she is trying her best.

    "It looks like time is up, Honey. Let''s see other ces before we make our decisions."

    I suggest.

    Lexi then drives me and Sandra to several more ces for sale in total silence. She is no longer talkative and only response if I or Sandra asks her something. She didn''t bother to sale-talk at all the ces we are inspecting either.

    "Is something wrong with the agent? She seems to be out of it."

    Sandra asks when we finally settle on an estate. It is quite nice and cozy, and it isn''t overly expensive either. There is a nice yard in front and back of the house. There is no swimming pool, but the backyard is big enough for one to be built.

    Like most houses on the market around this area, ites with furniture.

    "Probably. Umm¡­ let me go and talk to her because we expect better services. Why don''t you have a look around the house while I do?"

    I suggest.

    "Okay, but don''t be long, Honey."

    Sandra gives me a kiss on the cheek before grinning. I chuckle and left the room to find Lexi. It didn''t take long since she is waiting for a chance to talk to me. I have been glued to Sandra the whole time.

    "You¡­ you''re my dad, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Lexi questions. She still couldn''t get her mind around my current age and appearance. I am actually younger than her, in appearance only. In age and experience, she is like a child inparison to me.

    "Hmm¡­ do you want another demonstration?"

    I question as I lean towards her.

    "No!"

    Lexi calls out and steps backwards repeatedly.

    She would never want to go through all of that again. It is just far too terrifying.

    "Why haven''t youe and look for me? Where were you this whole time?"

    Lexi questions when she has no room left to retreat. Her back is now against therge window, leading into the garden.

    The sun is descending in the horizon, as it is gettingte.

    I am actually getting hungry after the whole day worth of work, but I could undo my hunger as easily with my power.

    "Look for you, Miss Lester?"

    Iugh out loud before stopping abruptly.

    My face is right in front of hers. I could smell the expensive perfume oozing from her body alongside with her pheromones. I usually don''t like the smell, but it is a nice fragrant, concocted by Infinite Health.

    "You are not anything special."

    I spell it out for her before pulling myself back, standing straight.

    My words are like a knife stabbing her heart, repeatedly.

    Lexi has lived her entire life thinking she is special. It is the reason she runs away from home and finds her way in the world by herself.

    And for someone like me to tell her otherwise, it just shatters her world.

    Lexi is visibly shaken. Her legs weaken. Tears are pooling in her eyes.

    I let out a sigh and give her an embrace.

    It is probably the first time I give a hug to any of my daughters except for Antigone. Her slender hands slowly crawl up my back and shoulder. She grips my frame tightly, as if no one has ever hug her before ¨C well, not sincerely and freely as I do.

    The embracest longer than necessary. I pull back and check her flushed face.

    "If you want to be someone special, you have to prove to me that you are, Miss Lester. Now I have a date with your mother. Please don''t interrupt us, okay?"

    With that, I return to Sandra, who is waiting for me.

    I really do enjoy my time with her.

 Chapter 106: Probable Future

    Sandra Bullock is found in the living room.

    She stands by arge window, taking in the peaceful view of the front yard. Flowers and roses of many colors dot the garden and surround the cozy house.

    I approach her quietly from behind and then wrap my arms around her body gently, giving her a loving embrace. She is one of my selected actresses after all, and more than that, she is currently my wife.

    Therefore, I should act like a husband, especially when we appear to be newly wed due to our current age.

    I didn''t introduce Sandra as my wife to the real estate agency.

    In actual fact, I merely mention to the agency that I will be paying them a visit with a partner. A partner could mean a lot of things, and it isn''t really my fault that Lexi just jumps to conclusion when Sandra and I first met in her in her office.

    Honestly, I didn''t recall Lexi asking for our names when she first introduced herself to us as our agent.

    Lexi went straight to business before we could rify some finer details. That was kind of rude, but I suppose she didn''t think much of us at the time.

    We are merely her meal ticket like pretty much everyone else in the world. This is because to normal people, her ability could be considered godlike. And I am sure that if she continues to use her ability, someone else aside me will take interest.

    It won''t end pretty for her in such a case. I am actually the lenience one since I did put her back in one piece after I am done.

    Even after all that had happened, Lexi still didn''t think much of Sandra. She knows that Sandra is not her biological mother even if I had addressed Sandra as my wife repeatedly.

    In her mind, her biological mother must be someone special like me.

    Lexi desperately wants to be special, and because of that, my rejection is very devastating.

    Although I do admit that Lexi is special because she is the next step in human evolution like Allison is, but she is not important enough for me to warrant any more thought.

    I have already acquired what I needed. A bit more researches and I will know how to disable her ability permanently. Can''t have her running around and mind controlling everyone anymore.

    Furthermore, I think Lexi is better off without her ability. It will teach her some valuable lessons in life. And if for nothing else, she will be able to live into her 80s instead of dying young.

    Since Sandra is very pleased with being addressed as Mrs. Maxwell, I didn''t correct the misconception. I just go along with it because there are great benefits to be had.

    I have learned that when a woman is happy, she will make me happy.

    Then we both can be happy, usually in bed together.

    "What are you thinking, honey?"

    I ask softly while scanning the yard beyond the ss window. There are no ghosts or anything of the sort, haunting this ce. It is just natural beauty.

    And as far as I am aware, this house is as normal as any other house in the suburb. It is fairly close to Hollywood as well as thepany, so it is a perfect home for Sandra¡­ and maybe me.

    I will definitely drop by regrly if Sandra allows it.

    "The future, Max. I wonder where will I be in a year, a decade time? Who will I be with?"

    Sandra answers and cocks her head around. She smiles lightly before nestling her head on my shoulder des. Knowing that she will forever be alone and die alone really unhinge her. She desperately wants someone to love her and for her to love in return.

    "The future is always changing, Sandra, but I promise I will still be here, as your support, in a year from now, in a decade from now, in a century from now. You will never have to be alone unless you wish it to be so."

    I response and tighten my embrace, but not so tight that I am hurting her. I know my own strength. It is inhuman, capable of shattering reinforced concrete. Of course, I have it under restrain most of the tie since I don''t want to break thing and people unintentionally.

    "As my support¡­ is that all, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Sandra questions and shakes her head a little. Her hair brushes against my neck and face, allowing me to take in the pleasant smell of the shampoo she uses.

    The shampoo is provided by the Oxford Hotel, just like anything she needed.

    "Yes, and perhaps more if you desire it so, but please understand who I am, Miss Bullock. I am not just a man. I am much, much more than that. Therefore, I cannot settle down and be just a man, a family man like you have desired so much."

    I response. My embrace loosens until my arms are no longer around her. Sandra turns around as I give her a smile and take a few steps backwards, creating a gap between us.

    "But regardless, I can give you a future, a happy future to the best of my ability. But sadly, that future does not belong only to you. You will have to share it with many others, as they will share it with you in return."

    My hand lifts upwards, and my palms spreads out in front of her.

    "It is your choice, Miss Bullock. Here I stand, a certain future with me by your side or an uncertain one with just you and another, perhaps happier, but I do not know for sure at the moment."

    Sandra narrows her eyes and then shakes her head.

    "It has never been my choice, Max. It never is, not since I first met you at that audition. Although it is not directly your fault for what had happened, it is still your fault, isn''t it? And I will make sure you pay for it for the rest of my life."

    Sandra takes my hands and closes the distance before continuing speaking.

    "Don''t you mean to say: for the rest of your life?"

    I question. I didn''t tell her about my mastery over time in any details, but it is fairly easy to figure out after witnessing what I can do. Undoing time and resurrecting the dead imply my immortality.

    "I don''t think anyone can outlive you, Maximilien Maxwell. And I don''t think you will let me or anyone choose no matter what. It is simply who you are, deep down inside. Everything and everyone must be within your control, and if they are not, you will seek to control them at any cost. Isn''t that right?"

    Sandra rests upon my chest once more, hearing my heartbeat.

    Is she psychoanalyzing me?

    I do not seek to control everyone. Just everyone important to the grand n. Otherwise, it would take too much time, not to mention the pointlessness of it all.

    "But as long as you make time for me, I am happy. It is all I can really hope for, isn''t it? That is the only real choice I have. The only choice that I have. If that is the only choice, I will choose it willingly rather than be manipted into it. But promise me that I will always have a ce in your heart."

    Sandra requests as she closes her eyes. She does understand her current position, and she did have a lot of time to think about everything that had happened.

    I smile and wrap my arms around her again. I do like people who are smart and can see more than just the surface.

    "I promise, Sandra Bullock. You will always have a ce in my heart regardless of whatever happen. I will be by your side, now and until the end of time."

    Sandra didn''t response. She remains resting on my chest, listening to my rhythmic heartbeat. It is quite peaceful to her. I am at ease as well.

    "Tell me more about the future? My future, Max. The future that I choose."

    Sandra requests when we both are finally rxing on a couch.

    "How about I show you it, Sandra?"

    I answer with a question of my own. Before she could response a temporal bubble manifests in front of us.

    While I mainly use the bubble to peer into the past and steal thing from the past, it can be used to see the future, but as the future is constantly changing, it is very difficult to pinpoint relevant things unless I am there in person.

    Sandra stares unblinkingly at the temporal bubble, seeing several children running around in the same living room as she is currently in. She is there too ¨C an older version of her. More mature and far more refined. Her hair is much longer, darkened.

    I dub that Sandra, Future-Sandra to differentiate from the Sandra of now.

    "Mum! Mum! Dad just tell us that he will take us to Venus to see Elise again! Can we go, mum? Please, can we go?"

    Her young daughter calls out. The girl''s eyes glimmer with hopes.

    "Yeah, can we? I want to see the elves again. Their magic is awesome! Also, I want to go hunting with them again!"

    The boy adds. The youngest of the three children didn''t speak up and let her two older siblings do all the work for her. Her eyes, however, show that she too wants to go the Venus.

    Future-Sandra smiles at her children and tells them that they will all go to Venus, together. The three children are super excited. They also ask if they can take other step brothers and sisters as well.

    Although Sandra is unsure of what her children are talking about, she is tearfully moved as she watch the scene ys out in the bubble. The future is not set in stone, but it is the most probable future. She has children, her own children, and she can guess who their father.

    "Heh¡­ well, here is the thing, Sandra. Once you know the future, the future has already been changed, so it isn''t going to be like that, honestly."

    I point out and dissipate the temporal bubble. It is not actually a good thing to keep looking into the future, wishing for it to happen instead of actually working towards it. I make sure Sandra understands this.

    Honestly, I didn''t know about the Venus part, although I did have a thought of dumping the dark elves there, once I have finished terraforming the. But this only happens if there is no suitable in Az universe.

    "Are you saying that we won''t have any children, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Sandra questions. Her eyes re at me. If staring could kill, I think I might be dead.

    "No. I didn''t mean that part. We definitely will. A dozen or so."

    I response hastily. What the hell did I just say to someone who desperately wants to have children and start a family? Eh!? Shit. Time to reverse time?

    "A dozen, huh?"

    Sandra walks her finger up my legs all the way to junior. Her gaze remains unbroken from me, as I feel I just dig myself a hole.

    "From what I just saw, it is about 5 or 6 years in the future. A dozen in that amount of time is impossible for anyone but you, Max. But, I suppose, we should get started working towards that."

    Her hand cups my manhood and gives it a tight squeeze as I sink into the couch. She is now hovering over me like a subus out for semen.

    "Please be gentle."

    I gulp.

    It could be worst, I suppose.

 Chapter 107: Daddy Issue (POV)

    I am not anything special.

    I am¡­ not¡­ any¡­ thing¡­ special¡­

    I am¡­ not¡­ thing¡­

    His words constantly echo in my mind, shattering my world.

    I have finally met my father ¨C my real father, not the man who had raised me from childhood alongside with my mother. Unlike my father, who I have inherited my gift from, that man is nothing special.

    But my real father isn''t who I have hoped and dreamt about for so long.

    Maximilien Maxwell is powerful, unimaginable so, but he has absolutely no love for me, his daughter, his one and only daughter.

    No. I am not his only daughter. He has made that abundantly clear, repeatedly. His appearance alone tells me that he is beyond human. He is even younger than me, which shouldn''t be, logically.

    If my father has aged normally like a normal person, he would be at least in his forties. He is obviously not. He is in his early twenties. And it appears that he has always been, at least for a very long time. It is as if he is immortal.

    Is he immortal?

    A day ago, that very thought would have been insane, but now, I am unsure.

    My father could bend time and space to his will and teleport anywhere he pleases, not to mention all those frightening people working for him. His power affects even me while he ispletely immune to mine. And that woman, Sandra tells me he could resurrect the dead with a snap of his finger.

    That is¡­ unfathomable.

    For someone as powerful and wealthy as him, he probably has fathered hundreds if not thousands of people, all gifted with fantastical powers and abilities beyond logical reasonings. I am just one of those people, and like them, I am nothing special, at least in his eyes.

    It hurts.

    It hurts so much.

    No one has rejected me before, even before I was gifted with this power. But my father did. He did so without hesitation. He rejects me and then goes off to enjoy that woman of his.

    Who is she? She is just a normal person, nothing special.

    There is nothing special about her! Not even her looks! I am prettier and younger, and more than that, I am his daughter! His special blood flows in mine, granting me power over others! What can she give my father that I could not?

    What can she give my father that I could not!?

    That question repeats in my mind, again and again.

    And before I knew it, I am standing in front of the door, leading to the living room of the estate.

    My father is in there, enjoying his time alone with that woman of his. I could hear lustful moaning and groaninging from within. I even overheard her asking him for a child just a moment ago.

    How dare she? How dare she!?

    She is a nobody! A nobody! A nobody at all!!

    She is not worthy of carrying my father''s child.

    No one is, not even me.

    But even so, I am more worthy than her. I am his daughter, his blood flows through me. And his child through me would definitely be special in his eyes, isn''t it?

    Yes. It is. It must be.

    And it isn''t the first time my father did such a thing ¨C fucking his own daughter. He had said so himself, didn''t he? He has impregnated his daughter!

    Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!

    That wasn''t a dream. I could remember all of it, every single piece of it. His touch. His voice. Bringing me to uncontroble climax. My body shudders and I feel my face heating up just from the memory alone.

    My heart beats rapidly as my hand reaches towards the doorknob, but I stop myself before my fingers could touch the cold steel and turn it. My father wishes not to be interrupted, and I do not want to be the object of his wrath.

    I want to be the object of his affection, just like that woman in there alone with him, crying out in utter pleasure within his embrace. I want to be within his embrace once more. I want to be his special little girl.

    It is not wrong, is it?

    What does she have that I don''t?

    I do not understand, yet I am too fearful to find out.

    My hand and fingers slowly retreat from the doorknob.

    I feel so cold and lonely in this empty hallway.

    The only thing I could hear is lustful moaning and groaning, emanating from the doorway, echoing this corridor. The sounds are like sharp des shing through me, cutting me apart.

    I am envious, so envious, so envious of her, who has my father''s undivided affection.

    I want father''s affection too. I want it. I want it desperately!

    I want father to take me and show me the joy of being his special woman. I want him to bless me with his love and affection. I want him to fill my being with himself.

    My body weakens at the thought, and my palms press against the wooden door in front of me to hold myself up.

    To my shock and fear, the door gives way, allowing me to stumble inside the room.

    Undeniable erotic cries and moans are immediately captured unhindered by my ears, and my eyes see my father fucking that woman in the ass on the couch.

    That woman, Sandra screams at father, urging him and goading him. Father responses with fierceness and intensity, spearing her from behind with both his hands on her shoulder for supports.

    Sandra did not see me since she is drowned in unrestrained pleasure, but father did. He makes nothing of it and continues on what he is doing, intending to split her ass apart with reckless abandonment.

    It is raw and undiluted expression of lust.

    I watch with mortified fascination, unable to move from my spot at the doorway.

    Father did not speak up until he pulls his glistering cock out of her stretched rectum and then rests it between her reddened ass cheeks due to all the pping he has done. And like a raging firehose, his cock sprays steamy liquids over her ass and back, getting some onto her hair as well.

    Sandra is a gaping mess, panting heavily on the couch with her ass pointing upwards.

    I could see hot cum leaking out of her cunt, running down her thighs and dripping onto the couch and floor. How much time father has filled her up to overflow that much?

    There is no way she isn''t pregnant.

    Despite her current state, Sandra has enough strength and will to take father into her mouth when he presents his cock to her for cleaning. His cock is still rock hard and fully erected, making me swallow the hard lump in my throat.

    "Did you enjoy the show, Miss Lester?"

    Father asks while Sandra moans with her stuffed mouth. It takes a moment for her to realize that I am in the room. The shock and surprise flicker in her eyes, but she continues to clean father without any sign of hesitation. She doesn''t appear to be under any kind of mind control, as father obviously didn''t need to resort to such thing.

    "I¡­ I¡­"

    I utter. My eyes lower. It was an ident. I didn''t want to intrude, and now I am going to be punished again. I don''t want to be punished!

    "Since you are here, Miss Lester, why don''t you join us? It could be fun. Maybe some roleying with the three of us?"

    Father suggests and removes himself from Sandra. She isn''t too happy at the suggestion, but she didn''t protest. Instead, she strokes his cock and fondles his balls while the shaft bobbing up and down like it is inviting me.

    "Come to daddy."

    Father requests, and I quickly find myself kneeling in front of him with Sandra. But unlike her, I am still fully clothed. His cock, which is coated with cum and saliva, is right in front of my face.

    I am about to take in the thing that give birth to me. It is what I wanted, right?

    "I have never given anyone a blowjob before, dad."

    Iment and look up at father, almost innocently.

    Sandra giggles at my remark. She probably thinks it is part of the roleying.

    This isn''t roleying. I have never given anyone a blowjob before. With my power, I never have to do anything I don''t want to do.

    However, I want to do this. If Sandra can do it, I can do it as well.

    In contrast, father smirks and ces a hand on my head. His cock presses against my lips. I part them and let him inside slowly, inch by inch.

    His hard cock fills out my mouthpletely, all the way to the back and then intrudes into my throat, making me gag. I swallow the gag reflex as tears fill my eyes while more and more of father is entering my mouth.

    "You''re a good girl, Lexi, taking me all the way into your mouth and throat."

    Fatherpliments.

    Somehow, that makes me happy. I want to response, but my mouth is full of him at the moment. His cock twitches in my mouth and throat, unbelievably growing evenrger.

    "But you want to be a special girl, don''t you?"

 Chapter 108: Afternoon Delight

    It did take several loops to get Lexi where she is, kneeling in front of her and inhaling my cock.

    Like Lexi had said just a moment ago, she had never given a blowjob before. That is true, and now she is giving me one as well as a nice and rather sloppy deepthroat.

    She wants to be special, daddy''s special little girl, so she has to learn fast.

    I do not have the patience to guide her through every detail. So instead of teaching her the finer points, I am balls deep in her hot mouth and tight throat, forcing her to tears. She gags and gags as I proceed to fuck her lovely face, sliding my throbbing shaft in and out of her pretty lips with all the intention of making her mine.

    Lexi is mine! As they all are.

    The only reason they are granted their powers is to serve me and the cause, one way or another. And bing an equivalent to a fuck toy isn''t exactly off the table. There is just something arousing about fucking a privileged girl like Lexi.

    She has used that mouth of hers to make people do things for her. It is only fair that she uses it to do things in return. She will pay all the people she has taken advantage of in full, through me. Yes, that is not how it supposed to work, but po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

    I am not robin hood. I do not rob from the rich and give to the poor. And I certainly do not let others enjoy this kind of pleasure.

    My balls soon contract, urging me for a release.

    I did not warn Lexi as I pound her face hard and flood her mouth and throat with my seeds. Her eyes widen in utter shock and surprise before swallowing frantically.

    And when it finally bes too much, she pulls back and allows me to give her a nice steamy makeup.

    "Dad¡­"

    Lexi utters as she coughs out the cum in her throat onto her palms. It also coats her lips and runs down her chin, dripping down to her blouse and staining it, making the expensive fabric translucent, letting everyone see her bountiful assets.

    Such an erotic disy reinvigorates my cock, bringing it to full hardness once more. Seeing the erected pole in front of her, desiring to fuck her mouth and throat again, Lexi is a bit frightful.

    "That is no good, Lexi. It is very wasteful. You should have swallowed it all and sucked it clean. Sandra, can you please a dear and shows our daughter how it should be done?"

    I request. It is a family roley of sort.

    Since Sandra is my wife at the moment, Lexi can only be a mistress or our daughter, but Sandra didn''t want her to be a mistress, so Lexi will be our daughter instead. There is some truth to that, at least for me. It just makes this whole thing hotter.

    Sandra gives Lexi a haughty grin before kissing the tip of my cock. Without breaking eye contract from Lexi, her hands cup my balls and stroke my cock while her pouty lips envelop the mushroom head. She sucks the engorged nce expertly and cleans it with her tongue.

    Once that is done, Sandra swallows the whole thing and takes me down to the base, milking whatever cum left in my balls. My cock is delighted to let her have it all.

    "Oh God! That''s it. Suck me, Sandra. Suck it all out. Fuck yeah!"

    I utter and grip her head tightly with both hands, pressing her face tly between my legs and letting me feel the wonderful sensation rolling along my hard shaft. She even tries to lick my balls when my cock is embedded deep in her throat.

    My hips jerks, humping her hot mouth several times before finally pulling out, letting her salvia trailing my retreating cock. Junior is nowpletely clean, from top to bottom. Whatever spunks coating it a second ago are now spooling in her stomach along with the content from my balls.

    Sandra licks her lips hungrily. She then rubs my cock against her face, running her soothing tongue up my meaty shaft from its balls while giving Lexi that victorious look. It is a bit unfair that she is trying topete against a novice, but hey, I am not reallyining.

    "That is how it should be done, Lexi. Um¡­ let''s try again, shall we?"

    I gasp and force to remove myself from Sandra. Due to her, precum is already leaking at the mushroom head, beading and sliding down the shaft. Sandra pouts before standing up and locks lips with me. Her hand wraps around my cock and points it at Lexi.

    Lexi is gapping at the disy of affection. Her dark brown eyes are staring up at me and Sandra as we illustrate to her our raw sexual desire. Sandra and I do fuck like rabbits whenever we are together.

    In fact, many previous loops, I ''forget'' to unlock the door, so Lexi never manages to get into the room and witnesses me and Sandra fucking the hell out of each other. So instead of her enjoying with us, it is just me and Sandra enjoying each other.

    Lexi did masturbate outside the door since she couldn''t take the contagious sexual energy, permeating the hallways and the entire estate. Sexual energy ¨C that is a thing, right?

    Anyway, Sandra remembers all the loops since it is unfair for her otherwise. Also, I think it is time she knows since it opens a lot of fun possibilities. She did ask me whether I have used this reload ability for notorious mean like raping someone, which I shrug and leave it at that.

    I did rape Halle Berry in Oxford Hotel, repeatedly, mostly just for the heck of it and to prove to you all that I could. I also use it to torture an awful amount of people for information, but meh.

    As far as they concern, my dark side never happens.

    Sandra didn''t think any worst of me, regardless.

    I did warn Sandra that remembering things will be a very strange experience, but it wasn''t any stranger than being trapped in another reality and getting gangraped by a bunch of Nazis.

    The nightmares are also one the reasons why she is so into having sex right now. It is her way of coping things as well as to rece all those awful memories with much better ones. But hey, whatever works, I suppose. I do reap the benefits.

    In the first few loops, Sandra and I were quite romantic and passionate in our love making, touching and humping each other slowly and affectionately. She decides it is fucking boring after several times, so she reverse-rapes me instead. She can be one hell of beasts when she wants to be.

    I retaliate of course and pound her virgin ass after filling her cunt many times. I did idently choke her into unconsciousness a couple of times. But luckily, my strength is retrained by the nanomachines, or I would have broken her neck in my climax.

    "Is she one of the others?"

    Sandra moans into my mouth as her hand joins mine and grab onto Lexi''s head, one on each side. We both push Lexi''s face against me as she gasps. My cock prates without reservation into her mouth and throat.

    Sandra then proceeds to support me, helping Lexi bobs her head on my cock. My other hand is around Sandra''s ass, giving it a few hard squeezes. She returns the favor.

    "She could be, honey. She is our daughter after all, and family should stick together and in each other."

    I response and buckle my hips, face-fucking Lexi with reckless abandonment. Lexi gags hard whenever I bottom out in her tight throat and pants desperately for air when I pull back halfway. Both her hands are gripping my thighs for support as well as resistance.

    She is getting used to the brutal abuse, but not quickly enough.

    Sandra didn''t like this roleying game at first, but after so much vani fucking around the room and the house just by us two, she is far more open to new and unique things.

    This is one of the reasons why I have allowed her to remember out sexual escapade. If it didn''t work, I could undo her memory, making her forget the suggestion and then thinking of something else that works.

    Luckily, it works, so here we are, enjoying the soon-to-be threesome. It just makes thing a lot more fun, and I do have a lot of cum with both their names on it.

    A shitload of cum, to be honest! This is just so damn hot.

    "Our daughter is getting very good. I am going to blow a load down her throat soon. Would you like a taste before I do?"

    I suggest and hammer home faster and faster, forcing the floodgate to open.

    Hot loads are churning in my balls, crashing against the metaphorical gateway.

    Lexi tightens her grip around my thighs, pleading me to slow down. That means I should go faster, so I did until my muscles tense up. My body stiffens.

    "Fuck! I''m cumming! Swallow it all, Lexi! Swallow daddy''s seed!"

    I call out before Sandra could answer my question.

    My hard cock rams all the way into Lexi''s sore throat and blow a huge load down to her stomach. Her eyes roll up slightly as her chest heaves repeatedly. Despite her desperate struggle to keep up with the insane flooding, cum manages to spill out the corner of her lips, disappointing me.

    Lexi is unable to seal her lips around my shaft until I pull out half way and fill her mouth to the brim.

    My cock continues to pulsate as her cheeks puff out. Her eyes stare up at me, probably wondering when it will stop. It did stop after a while.

    "Don''t swallow yet, Lexi. Your mother might want a taste."

    I point out with a grin. I want to see where the boundary is, if there is any.

    Sandra narrows her eyes at me but getting on her knees anyway. She then rests her arms around Lexi''s slim shoulders, one on each side and pulls the girl into a kiss. Cum spills out of their wet lips, running down their chin.

    Soon enough, Lexi is on top of Sandra, spooling cum down to her open mouth from above. Their body presses against each other, naked and fully clothes. Semi-naked since Lexi tries has remove her coat and blouse.

    Seeing that instantly hardens my junior up again.

 Chapter 109: Tongue and Cheek

    With Lexi being on all four, pinning Sandra to the floor and feeding Sandra the rich and nutritious baby batter that I had deposited into her mouth and throat and stomach just moments ago, my fingers run along her bubbly ass lightly and hook themselves under her quite sexy ckcing from behind.

    I swiftly pull the soft and stic fabric to the side, setting it onto one of her ass cheeks and uncovering her beautiful pussy in the process.

    Those pinkishher lips are moist, readying to envelope my cock and allowing me to fill her inside in full.

    Well, don''t mind if I do. I am sure that Lexi did not mind either, but she is too preupied with Sandra at the moment to notice what I am doing.

    I need to change that. I am the main character of the story, after all.

    A devilish grin sters on my face as I position myself quietly. A hand firmly onto her ass and another hand directs my cock towards her wet cunt. The cockhead caresses those pretty lips of hers, nudging slowly at first then spreading them apart gently.

    Lexi blinks and cocks her head back just before both of my hands wrap around her slender waist for a much-needed support. My hips m into her ass, forcing a ripple over her ass cheeks while driving my cock all the way in.

    "Dad! Ugh!"

    Lexi calls out at the unceremonious intrusion. Her mouth gasps, drooling cum and saliva onto her chin, neck and chest, dripping onto Sandra.

    I proceed to pound her snatch in full, spitting her tightness apart again and again.

    "Oh God. Dad! You''re so big. You''re so big! Fuck me! Fuck your daughter!"

    Lexi calls out as her back dimples, putting her ass up and meeting my thrust.

    "Damn straight I will. Take my cock like you mean it!"

    I roar back and bottom myself inside her again and again.

    "Ah! Uh! Hard¡­ harder! Argh! Ah!"

    Lexi groans. Her words soon be muffled as Sandra arcs upwards and steals kisses from her lips, and she reacts by also arcing up and back, allowing me to grab hold of her wrists.

    I pull her arms back as I hammer home from below without restraint.

    Her ass ripples at my relentless assault while Sandra attacks her from the front.

    Lexi is being double teamed by me and Sandra, and from the soaking wetness of her cunt, lubricating the passage way into her womb, she is enjoying the attention very much.

    It is what Lexi always wanted. To always be the center of attention. To be special.

    Sandra starts squeezing and fondling Lexi''s rather impressive chest while maintaining the affectionate kiss, preventing the girl from screaming as her cunt is getting pounded hard.

    And with a graceful gesture, Sandra undid the intricate sp in front of Lexi''s bra. Her tits spring free from the tight confines, unleashing in all their glory.

    Those huge breasts bounce and jiggle delightfully as Lexi''s body jolts and jolts by me from abusing her cunt with my cock without pause.

    Her juicespletely coat my shaft and proceed to slime onto my balls from the thrusting.

    Once Sandra allows Lexi to be very vocal again, Sandra buries her face into those seductive bouncing breasts, licking them and kissing them.

    And when Sandra found an erected nipple, she starts sucking on it, rolling the nub around her mouth, flicking it with her tongue and chewing on it lightly with her teeth. She soon bites down quite savagely and pulls the nipple with her teeth before letting it snap back into ce.

    Lexi''s breast jiggles mesmerizing when the erected nipple returns to its rightful ce, enticing Sandra to try again, which she did, from one huge breast to another.

    Sandra didn''t care if it hurts Lexi. She only cares for her own enjoyment at the moment.

    One of her hands is rubbing her cunt, plunging several fingers in and out of its depth, soaking herself with the mixture of her nectar and my seeds. Her other hand is actually alternating between squeezing my balls and pitching Lexi''s pubic hair, bringing the both of us to utter delight.

    "Argh! Ah! Ugh! Ah! Dad! I''m!

    Ah¡­! I''m¡­ ! Ah! Coming!""

    Lexi calls out as I keep mming into her cunt, spearing her with my maddening cock with unrhythmic thrusting. Slow and fast. Short and long.

    "Not yet, Lexi. Daddy going to cum with you."

    I call out and try to bring myself to climax. I could feel the boiling seeds within my balls, breaking down the gate and climbing up the shaft.

    However, my thrusting slows abruptly for a little bit as warmness drowns my cock and touches my balls.

    "Ummmmmm¡­..!"

    Lexi climaxes, soaking herselfpletely. Semi-clear liquids spray out of her cunt, coating her thighs as well as mine. Sandra''s hand also is drenched.

    "And who tells you to cum before your father, you little slut? You need to be punished for that."

    I question and let go of her hand. Lexi falls forwards against Sandra as I hammer her cunt hard, quickly bringing forth my climax. It is very close.

    But instead of filling her ravaged cunt, I pull out my jerking cock and spray my spunk all over her around ass and back without hesitation. It is her punishment.

    Lexi gasps and shudders as a seemingly endless streams of cum ssh against her skin, pooling into a puddle on her back and running to the side towards her huge breasts and onto Sandra below.

    Lexi didn''t get a single moment of rest as her bubbly butt is spread wide and her asshole is split open by an ejacting cock.

    The cum helps me drill into her tight rectum and brings her mind into a state of shock.

    "Oh dad! It hurts. Ah! You''re breaking me. Uhhhh! Ahh¡­ You''re¡­ breaking¡­ me!"

    Lexi calls out in pain and tries to break free.

    However, Sandra holds Lexi tightly in ce for me to dish out my punishment while milking Lexi''s tits with her mouth and sucking my hot cum as well.

    My hands w her ass as I plow her hard and fast, shooting cum deep into her rectum. And once the ejaction dies down, I rejuvenate my junior and continue the punishment, all amidst Lexi''s wailing for help.

    I will make sure that Lexi won''t be able to sit in a chair for the rest of the week, and after a handful of minutes, Lexi groanings quite mindlessly with her face against the floor and her ass pointing upwards into the air.

    Her asshole is stretched and filled to the brim with cum. Enough so that it spills out and runs down to her cunt, soaking her pussy lips. Quite a lot of it spills onto the floor.

    It will be very difficult cleaning all that up.

    "How¡­ how much¡­ uh¡­ how much did you cum, Max?"

    Sandra asks me while bouncing on my meat in reversed cow-girl style. Both my hands are cupping her ass, supporting her movement.

    Endless amount of cum glisters my cock, spilling out of her cunt and stering my balls each time she lifts up. Sloshing sounds could be hard when she ms down upon me.

    Despite that, we both are gasping heavily due to the impending climax.

    "In her or in you?"

    I chuckle between breaths. My hands are around her waist now, helping Sandra impaling on my rock-hard cock more readily and bringing ourselves over the edge. Our grunts fill the room and escape into the empty hallway.

    Despite cumming for the umpteenth time, I feel like I could go again without resorting to my power, so I did. Sandra is happy to please me, but she did need to take a moment first.

    By the time Lexi recollects herself, Sandra is lying across one of myps and sucking my cock. Her hand is wrapping around the base, squeezing and twisting.

    "Dad¡­"

    Lexi utters as she tries to sit upright, but her ass is hurting pretty badly. This is not to mention the huge amount of cum leaking out of her spread anus. Her body is also glossy with my spunk.

    "Come over here and lick my cock like your mother."

    Lexi did, and her tongue runs along one side of my shaft while Sandra takes care of the other side. This is the life, I suppose as I lean back against the couch and enjoy the two wonderful mouths in a lovely home.

    People are gaping outside the window.

    The blinds are never closed, and none of us really care at the moment even though they didn''t pay for the show.

    Sandra and Lexi take turn to swallow my cock and deep throat me in their own unique way. Sandra is an expert, bringing me to heaven with her techniques, but Lexi is very tight, and herck of experience really turns me on.

    And when it is time, they share the rich and tasty rewards.

    "That house is very nice. It is big and spacious. We didn''t visit the bedroom but judging from the living room, I think it should on par as well. It is also located close to work, so you can cut down the travel time quite a bit. I think you should put a deposit on it before someone else does, Sandra. If you don''t have enough, I will sort it out for you."

    I suggest to Sandra, who sitting next to me. We are now back at the real estate building with Lexi. But Lexi is not seen anywhere in the room.

    "No, that is fine. I did receive the advance payment this morning."

    Sandra responses with a faint smile. Her eyes slide downwards before returning to match my eyes at the correct level once more.

    "You are enjoying this, aren''t you, Max?"

    Sandra questions.

    "Uh huh¡­ why don''t you join her?"

    I suggest. My body straightens a little in the ratherfy chair while Lexi inhales my cock and vibrate her throat. She is getting very good at deepthroating, and it is thanks to all the practices I give her.

    It is a father''s job to teach his daughter the finer thing in life.

    "You would like that, don''t you?"

    Sandra responses with a smirk before sliding down her seat and disappear under the desk.

    "Ah¡­"

    I groan and enjoy the rest of the afternoon with the twodies. Maybe I will take them out to dinner with Halle, and maybe we can have a foursome.

    That is the n.

 Chapter 110: Hyper Awareness

    And like any n, regardless of how meticulously it has been devised, it dies the moment it is put into practice.

    For example, Antigone is refusing to stay with the Connors for the evening and night, thus my dream of having a foursome remains but a dream.

    Damn it!

    While I could forgo dinner at my favorite restaurant in all of Hollywood and Los Angeles on the ount of it being under investigation by the federal government, I am unwilling to subject my daughter and her innocent mind to my growing sexual escapades.

    This is due to my growing harems in the prime-reality and otherwise.

    "Looks like we will have to find a new favorite restaurant, Anti."

    I tell my daughter while watching a couple of cop cars parking in the front of the restaurant.

    Antigone is not listening to me. She is looking over my shoulder and ring at a certain girl with auburn brown hair, who is also ring back at her. Envious could be seen in those dark brown eyes.

    Sibling rivalry?

    I suppose I will have to deal with that one day. It is just impossible for thousands of people to get alone with each other. Hell, just three or four people in the same room is already a problem.

    All the customers who are already inside the restaurant are being shown the way out with the deepest and most sincere apology by the manager and the staffs. This means that the federal agents have been given a warrant to search the ce.

    Just fucking great.

    I have predicted this several weeks ago when I had the previous mob boss of the restaurant killed for trying to teach me a lesson. He is sleeping with the fishes at the moment, but that seems uncertain in the near future.

    Jimmy and his associates are exceeding sloppy, leaving evidences all over the ce.

    However, I didn''t think Jimmy and Johnson are sloppy enough to allow the federal agents to close in on them, their syndicate, family and establishments.

    Someone must have talked.

    It obviously wasn''t me or any of our associates, formerly or not. No one working for me is that dumb. The moment they dare to backstab another for whatever temporary gain, I will backstab them literally and severe their spine.

    Regardless, even though Jimmy and Johnson are my underlings, I am in no obligation to clean up their little screwup.

    They will have to do that on their own, with or without the support from Hydra or Shield.

    Shield might be able to help with this due to their extensive connections with severalw and order agencies in the United States. As for Hydra, it cannot expose itself just yet, but many Hydra members do hold powerful position in the United State Government.

    But in any case, if either Jimmy or Johnson calls for help, Hydra or Shield should be able to help them purely out of friendship andradery, without needing to reveal their real identity.

    I could make this problem go away immediately with just a single call, but I do like to see people squirm for a bit, even if those people are my underlings. In the face of overwhelming adversity is the only way people can grow.

    Furthermore, the destruction of Jimmy''s and Johnson''s crime syndicate does not affect me in any way, so there is no need for me to lift a finger, really.

    Of course, if it implicated me for any reason, I will have to step in personally, and there will be a lot of dead bodies as a result.

    Maybe I should look ahead to see if it did, but I don''t exist in that future, thus it won''t give me the real answer. This is a problem with looking ahead.

    What I manage to learn are more of a guideline instead of fact.

    As I am leaving the premise with Antigone in my arm, Selene notifies me that she is detecting a hyper evolutionary strain within the immediate vicinity.

    That means Selene has detected an evolved human or a Zerg.

    Thanks to studying and mapping Allison''s and Lexi''s brain and brainwave along with mine, I was able to devise a proximity sensor of sort with Legion.

    The sensor is still an early prototype, and it is one of my own inventions.

    While it is not as perfect as I like it to be, it is still fairly urate.

    The reason I know human is capable of much more, such as moving things with their mind or seeing a probable future, is because the existence the brainwaves.

    Brainwaves are electronic signals, simr to radio waves.

    They''re constantly emanating from a person due to countless firing of neurons within that soft organ housed inside their head.

    Brainwaves are very difficult to detect as they are exceedingly weak. They are barely noticeable even when the sensor is right in the person''s face, but with advancement in technology and researches, it is possible to detect it further away.

    This is especially true if the brainwave is emanating from an evolved human. Thanks to their advanced physiology, their brain is far more active than any normal person, so their brainwaves is stronger and more distinct.

    It did take Selene a while to detect even if she is constantly monitor due to my request. This is because of the passive monitoring mode as well.

    Not all super babies are recorded and tracked by Shield. Most of them are, but most is not all.

    I turn around and scan the surrounding.

    Everyone within my vision are being analyzed by Selene, and through her connection with Shield, their entire history pops up for me to revise.

    With his ever-growingputational powers housed within the expansive space of the storage ring, Legion helps me narrows down all the possible suspects. If it is wasn''t for all thisputational power, detecting brainwaves is just not possible.

    It didn''t take long for a single profile to remain within my vision.

    And while I have a quick read through the profile provided, the sensor focuses on the woman to record her brainwaves. The shaded window of a police vehicle does impede the sensor and detector slightly, requiring somepensations and extraptions in the results.

    Even so, her brainwaves are off the chart. Its peaks are much higher than Allision, meaning her ability is more outrageous. It is either that or she is actively using her ability at the moment. Thetter is far more likely since Selene tells me what she is looking at from the passenger seat ¨C the restaurant.

    As that is the case, I suppose Hyper Awareness requires just more brain power than Perfect Recall.

    It does make sense since Hyper Awareness allows a person to observe and see everything. For a police consultant, this gives her an edge over all the others. Her brain allows her to see the crime happening in her mind with extreme uracy.

    And I think the woman just notice me looking at her. Her eyes match mine despite there is a windshield between us. This could be a problem.

    Jimmy and Johnson will have a time of their life against such an opponent.

    There is a certainty that they will try to have her killed. Is that why she is sitting in the car and watching from afar instead of entering the restaurant and helping out with the investigation up close?

    In any case, this will be one interesting battle. It will allow me to see her ability in action.

    "Something is wrong, Max?"

    Sandra asks me when I just stood there in silence, staring into the distance. Even Antigone is pping my head once she bes the victor of the battle against Lexi.

    Antigone is more special than Lexi because I care for Antigone personally. It is simple as that.

    "No. Nothing is wrong."

    I response and turn around and join Sandra and Lexi. Shield marks the woman and keeps a close watch on her for me.

    Hyper Awareness isn''t one of my natural abilities, but Selene can do the same through technology, so there really is no need to hurry.

    Besides, it isn''t like that person is using her gift for selfish gain like Lexi has done. Her sense of justice is very strong, and I would love to break that sense of justice.

    Justice ¨C funny word.

    It does not mean what you think it mean.

    Sandra didn''t believe me, but she didn''t press the matter. Lexi didn''t say anything because she is still sulking inside. To lose a baby in a staring contest. It must have hurt her pride.

    "What do you say to a bit of barbeque?"

    I suggest when we are heading towards the homeless shelter. Halle is there with her family. They are not her real family, but her family, nheless.

    "Barbeque?"

    Sandra queries and I nods. She didn''t have any opinion one way or another since she just likes to spend time with me, preferably alone and in bed.

    I am too but enabling her all the time will makes the good time less fun. When people work very hard to get what they want, they will appreciate it more when they have it.

    This is why I constantly gives Lexi the cold shoulder, but not so much that she feels alienated. She does have some good points herself.

    "What about you, Lexi? Would you like some barbeque with me and Sandra and everyone else, as one big happy family?"

    Lexi is more than happy to. And it isn''t about the barbeque. It is because I have directed the question at her personally, just to show her I do have her in mind. She isn''t like a pet or anything of sort. She is her own person.

    Women ¨C they are creature of high maintenance.

    But if you know what buttons to push, women can be easy to manipte.

    "Hello, Miss Berry. May we join you?"

    I ask when we are at the homeless shelter. As I did, several food trucks arrive with a big redbel with a single word on the side, starting with the letter H.

    And Antigone is super excited, climbing out of my embrace and reaching out her tiny hands the trucks.

    Yup. Easy to manipte.

 Chapter 111: Lexi Lester

    And while Antigone is being entertained by a plethora of Heinz choices for dinner, the caterers swiftly and professionally set up tents, tables, chairs, and all you can eat buffet until your stomach explodes, Monty Python style.

    I do hope that no one eat that much because that would be crazy.

    Well, crazy hrious.

    Countless people quickly flood the area, homeless or otherwise. Even the people wandering the street, having n to head elsewhere decide to converge towards the crowd.

    Who could me them? It is a free and rathervish buffet that anyone and everyone can enjoy, even people with expensive taste like Lexi.

    And for such an outdoor gathering, the more people there are, the better.

    To prevent chaos spiraling out of control due to the growing number of people, dozens of Shield Security personnel are there at my request.

    Quite a few homeless people, all friends and families of Halle, help out to maintain the order.

    As there is plenty of foods and drinks to go around, there is no need to push or anything of the sort. It is still firste, first serve, so everyone must queue up.

    The line is incredibly long, but with so many caterers, it is moving rather quickly unlike at the DNovelBin, Department of Motor Vehicles.

    Those working there must really hate their jobs.

    All this catering and security is costing me more than a couple of million dors. Quite expensive for a group date. Is that what it is still called even if I am the only male in the group?

    Ah, whatever.

    It isn''t like I haven''t got trillions of dors to splurge.

    And sometimes, you have to spend money to make money.

    But in this case, it is getting into someone''s pant ¨C just like dating.

    Honestly, calling a hooker or an escort seems to be more effective than this dating nonsense since you don''t really have to take the woman out to lunch or dinner at an expensive restaurant or listen to her bbering for hours on end about her pointless daily life. All just for a small chance to get intimate?

    Makes you think, doesn''t it?

    And you might even get seconds or thirds with the hooker or escort if you are just really good at what you do in bed. No need for small talks. Get straight to the action!

    Of course, it is different if you are trying to build a longsting rtionship.

    Speaking of which¡­

    "Mr. Maxwell."

    Halle Berry calls me on her approach when I am showing my daughter every avable choices of Heinz specialized baby food. And since there are too many to choose from, Antigone is having great difficulty making up her little mind, all while drooling.

    "Yes, Miss Berry? Shouldn''t you enjoy the food and music like everyone else?"

    I response while cleaning the drools off Antigone with a napkin.

    To most people here at the party, I am just a good friend of Halle. My real identity is overlooked since I do not radiate an aura of absolute wealth, power and prestige, even if I did dress up nicely for a date with 3 beautifuldies ¨C 4 if you count Antigone in the mix.

    "I will, Mr. Maxwell. And thank you¡­ for all of this."

    Halle answers and helps me dispose the dirty napkin before Lexi could. Lexi sticks to me like glue while Sandra spends more time to socialize with other people.

    "Why are you thanking me? You''re the one who is paying for all of this."

    I response and pick a canned food for Antigone from the table. I also warm up the can with my ability to manipte thermal energy.

    Since no one is paying attention to me aside from Lexi and Halle and maybe Sandra from a distance, I didn''t need to be inconspicuous at all.

    Even if someone else did take note of the steam rising from the sealed metal container being held in my hand, they will find a logical exnation instead of resorting to wild fantasy.

    Halle is shocked at my response.

    "That is my attempt as a joke, Miss Berry."

    I chuckle and gesture my hand dismissively.

    "This one is on me. Thepany will throw a proper one with special guests once your movie is finally in theater. The filming is going very well from what I have read."

    I assure Halle with a smile and open the canned food for Antigone. Even though I am not directly being involved with the filming and production of Speed, I do keep track of what is happening alongside with music and gaming.

    If something or someone screw up somewhere in Terra Entertainment, I will know about it.

    So far, Speed is on schedule.

    The three stars ¨C Halle, Keanu and Liam ¨C get along with each other and the filming crew well enough to give me and Terra Production no trouble.

    However, I am more interested in how Halle is doing since she is one of my contracted actresses.

    I will contract Keanu Reeves and Liam Neeson when it is time to, especially Keanu since I have so many movies for him to star in. The Matrix is not the Matrix without him.

    Furthermore, I think Keanu might look really good as a Jedi Master. He does have this mysterious and stoic look. I will have to talk to George Lucas about this. It will be the first I talk to the man in person.

    I do hope I don''t go all fanboy when that happens.

    Hmm¡­.

    Honestly, most of my interster warships and vessels back during the time when I am the head of a Gctic Empire are designed and based on Star Wars. A lot of questions were asked by the masses due to the simrity, which I answer with the undiluted truth.

    Knowing that I am a fan of Star Wars does not change my status as Emperor.

    Good time.

    "Yes, Mr. Maxwell. Everyone is really nice."

    Halle response to my question.

    "Tell me all about it while I feed my daughter, Miss Berry."

    I request, and Halle did, happily. She is more talkative when we are alone by ourselves.

    Lexi left after about 15 minutes or so, leaving me, Halle and Antigone by ourselves. Sandra did join us asionally, but shees and goes since she is really enjoying the party. I think I will join her on the dance floor once I find someone to look after Antigone.

    "It is very stressful sometimes, Max, reshooting again and again. But I understand the director wants me to convey the necessary emotion for the scene."

    Halle tells me with a weary sigh. She is a very talented actress, but even so, she still has much to work on, which she does diligently every day of the week.

    Halle doesn''t ck off like a certain someone named Sharon, not out of fear for what I can do to her, but because this is her chance to reach the spotlight. She has lived in the street for a long time, so she has a lot of good values instill in her.

    "I will drop by the set next week to see for myself, Miss Berry. Maybe I can help you out with some of your scenes."

    I tell her once we finish taking turn feeding Antigone, who didn''t seem to mind.

    Lexi has tried to feed Antigone before she left out of frustration, but Antigone beams at Lexi and dodges the spoon repeatedly.

    Halle did ask about Lexi and Sandra before she joins her families and friends, just out of curiosity. She isn''t the jealous type. She is more of an envious type. She does have some feelings for me, but most people do once they get to know me personally, especially when I am not torturing them for one thing or another.

    I can be a devil or an angel.

    It all depends on the situation, really.

    Antigone is already yawning, so I brought her back home to New York and tug her in for the night. She will have a good night sleep in her room. Once that is done, I return to the massive party and then find something to eat.

    Sausage on bread seems nice enough.

    I request a couple with drinks before walking some distance away from the party. I sit down next to a lonely girl who seems to have been sobbing.

    "Here. Have one, Lexi. I didn''t see you eat anything all night, so you must be starving."

    I offer to Lexi, who looks at me. She epts the offering along with a can of soda.

    Lexi then nibbles on the hotdog, wondering to herself why she is even here.

    "I know what you are thinking, Lexi, but you should enjoy the simple things in life whenever you have the chance. One day, you will look back at this and d that you were here in person. Not everyone is as special like you, but they are special in their own ways."

    I speak up after taking a bite out of mine and chew. It is not that bad, but it couldn''tpare to a fine dining in a restaurant with a great view. Some other time perhaps.

    Hearing that, Lexi brightens up immediately. She just wants my acknowledgement, telling her that she is special.

    "And if you are a good girl, you can be more special, one day, my daughter."

    I add as fire swirls around my palm with spark of electricity. This isn''t magic, but it can be mistaken for magic. Magic wille to this world in the future, and with magic, everyone can be special. Of course, I didn''t tell Lexi that.

    Lexi will grow out of this petty thought with under me ¨C in more than one way.

    I finish my hotdog and chill until Lexi finishes her. Once that is done, we join the party and enjoy the fun with everyone else. There is already alcohol, but you can''t have too much alcohol.

    Everyone is wasted by 11pm. I take Sandra and Lexi home. Sandra first since she is more wasted. Lexi is second, and she vomits all over me. A little time reversal fix that all up.

    "Dad¡­"

    Lexi utters when she is in her bed. Her apartment is really nice, but not nicer than what I can provide.

    "I think¡­ I''m¡­ going to¡­ quit my job¡­ I want¡­ I want¡­ to work with you¡­"

    She speaks in her drunk state.

    In contrast, I am not drunk since I can''t really get drunk.

    "I think I need a secretary, but we will talkter. Now, sleep, little princess. Want daddy to sing you a song?"

    I point out and tug Lexi in. It didn''t feel strange tugging in a full-grown woman, who is my daughter. I even give her a deep kiss with tongue, groping and everything. It is right after I strip her down to her underwear forfort.

    When Lexi is deep asleep, I teleport to Hydra base.

    One girl down, another girles.

    They are the bane of our existence, as God intends them to be.

    The moment I appear at the Hydra Headquarter, the people around me give me a salute and greeting, and when I dismiss them, they return to whatever they were doing just a moment ago.

    I head towards a room and enter it.

    The person at the far end of the room didn''t seem to notice my presence as her head is buried into her arms and knees. She is also mumbling something to herself, probably calling for her father.

    Silently, I sit down on the floor in front of her.

    Despite that, she lifts her head slowly to see who it is. Her eyes immediately widen in fear. It seems she fully understands who I am.

    "Hello, Miss Oxford. You seem far worse than thest time I had seen you."

 Chapter 112: Endless Deaths (POV)

    No.

    No. No!

    No! No! No!

    Father! Father! I am sorry. I am so sorry.

    I am so, so sorry!

    I should have listened. I should have listened to you!

    If I did. If I did, none of this would have happened.

    None of it!

    I gasp and gasp, desperately for thatst breath while the endless ckness of space wrestles and rips what little air remaining right out of my lungs. My blood boils violently, steaming out of any orifices it could find. And my body contorts and contracts, crushing itself savagely into a dried husk.

    Thest thing I am able to see is his faint smile.

    His smile! His devilish smile!

    He is the devil himself! He has to be. He has to!

    If there is a God, such a person should not exist on this earth!

    My vision blurs. My eyes pop silently, spewing themselves into the airless void.

    But the darkness didn''t take me. It didn''t take me away from here. No. Instead, it throws me back into the light, onto the cold and unforgiving floor of the room where I have been locked up for thest few weeks, all alone, frightened and helpless.

    I gasp and cough and cry as he remains seated in front of me.

    He hasn''t move from that spot and neither did I.

    But I did. I did!

    Everything around me had changed in an instant, from the room into ckness of space without any warning!

    An illusion? No. It was real. It was real!

    I did die in the void of space because he simply said so.

    His words be reality!?

    How could that be?

    How could that be!?

    Someone please tell me!

    "There are so many ways to kill someone, Miss Oxford. But you already know that, don''t you? So, let''s go through each of them, one by one, just so you know how the others have felt. How hopeless they had struggled, holding onto their life as you squeeze it out of them."

    His words send chill into my being.

    My cries die in my throat, and the tears stop flowing.

    "But you don''t need to worry about dying alone, Miss Oxford. I promise I will be with you, every single step of the way, just to make sure you get your appetizer. How about being drowned next? I do recall it is quite pleasant, like entering a dreamless sleep."

    He adds with a smile, a calming and dreadful smile.

    What kind of monster is he!? What kind of monster has my father served his entire life!? It didn''t make any sense. The wealth and riches my family has umted over the years is because he has allowed it?

    No, that can''t be true. It can''t be! It just can''t be!

    Father! Father! Tell me that it isn''t the truth. Please!

    But father is no longer here. He can no longer hold off the inevitable.

    It is up to me now. All up to me now. But what can I do? What can I do!?

    "Please¡­ Mr. Max ¨C

    Before I could finish the sentence, the incredible depth of ocean instantly crushes my body, pulverizing all my organs as blood explodes out my mouth, nose and eyes, merging with the sea.

    The water drains my tears away and washes the world away in my eyes, and the pain is so intense that my mind has no choice but to shut itself down with a crunching cry.

    My consciousness slips away for just a fraction of a second before the blinding light in the ceiling wakes me up again.

    And the instant it did, I cough and vomit out everything in my stomach. There are absolutely no traces of salt water, whatsoever, telling me that it wasn''t real.

    I must have imagined all of it. I must have!

    No. No. No!

    My organs scream out in pain, as I hold myself, crying in absolute despair and anguish.

    Yet before me, he remains seated, cross-legged, unflinchingly at my torturous experience. He was also there, in the shrouding darkness deep beneath the surface of the sea, witnessing my death like he has told me that he would.

    The sea did not crush him like it crushes me with impunity.

    But did it really?

    Yet here I am, still alive and desperately trying to breath while my mind is in total shock.

    I did not die thousands of meters beneath the freezing sea just like I did not suffocate in the dreadful abyss of outer space.

    This is all an illusion. It must be!

    Yet it feels so real. So real!

    My mind experiences all of it even if my body tells me otherwise.

    The phantom pain cannot kill, but it is ripping my body and mind apart. I am losing myself, really losing myself!

    How can it be? How can it be!?

    I don''t know. I don''t know anymore. I don''t know anything anymore. Please let this nightmare be over. Please. Please!

    Please!

    "Please¡­ Mr. Maxwell¡­ please¡­ forgive me¡­"

    I cry and cry, but only a unwavering monster heard me. It does not forgive, and it does not forget.

    Father has said so. He has said so!

    This is my punishment. I must endure it. I must. A promise of being reborn when all is said and done, but only if I can endure.

    I am so sorry. I am so sorry!

    My hands shakily reach out to him, grabbing his attires, pulling on them, pleadingly.

    Anything. Anything else, please. Just don''t torture me anymore.

    "Please, Mr. Maxwell. Don''t torture me anymore¡­ I will do anything else. Anything else."

    I implore once the shock to my mind and body have subsided briefly.

    He remains unmoving. His eyes stare at me without any emotion or remorse. Those aren''t the eyes of a normal person. Unending darkness swirls within them, telling me my torture has barely just begun.

    "I think I like you the best when you are being slowly roasted alive, Miss Oxford. Hmmm¡­ have you ever eaten human meat before? I ask because I suppose you will have no choice but to. Don''t worry, it tastes somewhat like red meat. The very kind you have enjoyed sovishly with fine wine throughout the years."

    He remarks calmly despite the dreadful suggestion. His words fill me with utter horrors and haunting imageries.

    I would never eat human meat, no matter what.

    That is cannibalism! It is disgusting! Disgusting!

    He also reminds me of when I had died.

    I did die in the burning limousine after getting hit by a tanker truck, right? I recall what happened very clearly, just before I found myself here, wherever here is.

    The only visitor I get in my confinement is my father.

    My father!

    But sadly, father did not speak about where I am or what is going to happen to me no matter how many times I have asked.

    Father speaks very little, but at least he speaks more than the people who had brought me foods and keeps me clean. It is as if they dare not to talk to me on the ount of him.

    Instead, those people pity me greatly, sympathizing with my situation because they know more than I do. I did not fullyprehend the reason until I finally learned of who I had tried to kill.

    Maximilien Maxwell.

    That name etches into my being and burns into my soul. A monster of terrifying proportion. The things I have done pale inparison to what he has done and will do.

    As powerful as father is, he is merely footnote in contrast to this man. This monster of a man!

    I am terrified. Father is terrified. He had embraced me in tears, for himself and for mother. It has been so long since father has given me such an embrace.

    Thest time father did, I was probably 8 or 9 years old. That was more than 20 years ago.

    That seems like a long time, but everythinges and goes in a blink of an eye.

    What have I done with my life? Nothing. Nothing at all. Even if money can buy anything and kill anyone I have desired, I have achieved nothing in the end. Money? Power?

    Wealth? Prestige?

    It is all meaningless. Meaningless! Meaningless before him.

    Before Maximilien Maxwell.

    And just like all the times he has spoken previously, the entire floor and enclosed walls and even ceiling heat up and glow red, burning my arms and legs.

    Unlike him, just sitting there,pletely unconcerned, I scream in pain and immediately jump up from the floor as the mes erupt all around me, threatening to set me alight.

    No, not threatening to! They did set me alight! As well as everything else in the room.

    The entire room has been engulfed in mes! Everywhere I see is mes!

    My clothes burn along with my once beautiful golden hair. My skins blister under the extreme heat as my blood boil, cooking my organs from the inside. I couldn''t breathe as my lungs be charred and filled with ck smoke. My vision swim just before I copse onto the floor. My body cracks, breaking off kes of roasted flesh.

    I let out a wailing groan as darkness creeps in from the edge of my vision. And once the darkness finally blocks out everything, light pierces through it, bringing me back to reality.

    "No. No¡­. Nooooooo! Please. Please stop! Please stop.

    No more, no more."

    I plead and plead, grapping onto him, but his face remain expressionless. I just want this to stop. Please make it stop before I go insane.

    Insane!

    "Anything. Anything, Mr. Maxwell. I know. I know. I will make you feel good."

    I utter hastily. He is a man. Yes, he is a man. A man has needs, has needs! They all do, all of them. And I am beautiful, just like mother was.

    I have so many suitors that I couldn''t count them all.

    "Make me feel good? Please, you don''t know the first thing about me, Miss Oxford. How can you make me feel good? And if you think your beauty can move me, you are gravely mistaken. Beauty is a gift, and as a gift, I can take it away."

    My eyes widen at his words.

    And like he had just said, my beautiful golden blond hair shrivels, turning grey and then white. My pearly white skin be wrinkles and veiny. My vision bes blurry with extreme age.

    "No. No. No! Please God, no!"

    I shout and kick the floors to get away from the monster in human form, but my muscles are so weak and my bones have be so brittle that they shatter painfully. I copse backwards as my strength left my body. My lungs have also copsed.

    I am no longer a beautiful young woman. I am¡­ I am¡­ I am¡­ what I fear the most.

    My heart beats slowly, longer and longer interval each beat until it stops. A tired gasp squeezes out of my dried and husky throat as I close my eyes.

    It is probably the most peaceful death I have experienced thus far.

    Sadly, it did notst.

    The lightes again, bringing me back into the living world toe face to face with him again. I cry and cry, yet deathes repeatedly, in all manners of form. Trucks turn me into bloody paste. Sharp des turn me minced meat. Gravity breaks all my bones. Toxic fumes tear through my insides.

    Again and again. Deathes and goes like a game.

    Yet, not once did Maximilien moves from his seated spot. For someone like him, he didn''t need to. He only needs to speak up and all shall be done without dy. This is his power ¨C an absolute power that cannot be brought with money or wealth or prestige.

    I am scared. No, I am terrified. More terrified than the countless deaths at his hands.

    It is because Maximilien finally stands up. A bone-chilling smile returns to his face.

    "It looks like the appetizer is over, Miss Oxford. Shall we get to the main course?"

 Chapter 113: Dead Meat (POV)

    The surrounding changes.

    I shut my eyes and embrace myself for the torturous pain that would surelye. At least that is what I had thought because it has happened so many times previously, without fail.

    Without a single fail!

    "Please. Oh God, please! Just let me die already. I can''t take this anymore. I just can''t! Please!"

    I scream, tearfully.

    My body and mind tremble at the dark thought. To think that death would be a mercy in contrast to what I have to go through. What I must go through and continue to go through!

    It is literal hell! And a devil in human skin is there to make sure of it! He is the devil! He has to be. I am not any threat to him, yet he continues to torture me.

    Why!? Why!?

    Please just kill me. Just kill me. I just want to die. To enter the darkness peacefully, never have to wake up to the dreadful light again.

    Please. Please, God. I beg of you.

    Let me die.

    Let me just die.

    I would never have such a suicidal thought before, not when I am the heiress to a multibillion dors empire. That feels like a lifetime ago. Many lifetimes. I must have died hundreds of times, in all sort of gruesome and terrifying manners.

    My body has been ripped apart repeatedly, and my mind is on the verge of breaking.

    And this is all an appetizer!? How much times must he kills me before he is satisfied!? Before he finally stops bringing me back just to kill me again?

    Before¡­ before¡­ before¡­

    But the pain did note.

    My body and mind remain unmolested sadistically.

    Instead, I feel a strange breeze, washing over me. It as if the air within the room has changed. The still and calmness between each death are gone, reces with an awful and metallic smell.

    What is this!? What is this!?

    I cover my ears with my hands and try to stop breathing.

    Yet despite that, my eyes open slowly and defiantly, and I find myself in a very different room.

    It is a much bigger room.

    No longer is the pearly white floor beneath my feet, the unremarkable windowless walls surround me, or the ceiling dots with countless white lights, impossibly bright. They have all been reced with grey and dark and monotonic concrete with metal protrusions.

    There are very little lights hanging overhead, right above a huge metallic ring. Surrounding the strange contraption are numerousputer devices, humming as they process countless calctions.

    Thoseputers are unlike anyputer I have seen, but having personally owned a techpany before, I know what they are. They couldn''t possibly be anything else with screens and keyboards. But they look like they havee straight out of a science fiction book ¨C impossibly advanced.

    "You really have no clue what you have done, Miss Oxford. In your ignorance, you have not only killed me and my daughter but also doom the entire future of the human race. This is the result of your so-called misguided action, and it is only appropriate that you experience it for yourself."

    Maximilien speaks up without paying any attention to me. He is currently looking at the huge metallic construct, which immediate activates and radiates with power.

    The air bes incredibly electrified. Tingling sensation envelops my entire body, making the hair on my skin stands straight up. Even the hair on my head starting to defy gravity.

    What is this?

    What is this!?

    I could see the isted distortions in space. They are being pulled towards a point at the center of the ring, merging together. Blue light emanates outwards as a spiraling vortex beginning to form, gushing and roaring until bing calming like water surface on ake.

    But instead of seeing my own reflection in the event horizon of the rift, a dested world greets me from beyond. Gloomy sky fills the sky above and countless rotting corpses litter the ground. Towering sky-high buildings rust and crumble, falling apart due to theck of maintenance for years.

    What happen to the world? Is there anyone still alive?

    "Wee to hell, Miss Oxford."

    Maximilien speaks up. His hand pulls me off the floor and onto my feet. And that same hand drags me towards the portal with all the intention of throwing me through and into that dead world, filled with unending horrors.

    What is this?

    What is this!?

    "No. No! No! Please don''t! Please don''t, Mr. Maxwell!

    I don''t want to go there! Please!"

    I call out and fight against him and his imusible strength. My fingers try to w into his skin, but his skin is so hard that my nails cry out in pain in response.

    Maximilien stands right before the rift.

    And in his unbreakable grip is me, who is struggling desperately in vain.

    He is going to toss me through! He is! I don''t want to go there. I don''t want to!

    "Miss Oxford. You have lived your entire life in perfectfort thanks to the wealth and power your father has umted. Sadly, he has not taught you the humility and decency of being a person. That is his mistake. I will do in his stead since I am actually your godfather, just not in a religious sense.

    This will be a lesson for you, and when you learn, you will be given a second chance to serve me."

    Maximilien speaks up and throws me through the rift, causing it to ripple at my passing. My eyes widen in shock and fear as I fall several meters onto the ground from above as the rift is not on the ground level.

    He is my godfather!?

    I hastily pull myself off the ground just before his voice speaks behind me.

    "But do not worry, Miss Oxford. I will always keep my promise. Please don''t act on any of your suicidal thought now. I suppose that you will out of desperation and hopelessness, and you will find that you won''t be able to die."

    I snap around and frantically look at the surrounding, not finding him anywhere.

    The rift also vanishes just after Maximilien did himself, trapping me in this ce, wherever this ce is. I keep staring at the empty space before feeling something cold and sticky crawling up my arms.

    My hand jerks violently in response, trying to throw off the silvery slime, but it refuses to.

    Instead, the metallic creature sends out a dozen tendrils, which wrap themselves around my face and neck before forcing my mouth open.

    I scream out in utter horror as the creature slimes over my arm and then crawls into my mouth without pause. I try to get it out frantically, but only manage to hurt myself.

    My screams are muffled when I feel the cold and sticky blob filling my mouth and then rolling down my throat, causing me to gag. The rest of the tendrils join it in my mouth and throat.

    The creature forces me to swallow.

    But I never swallow!

    Never! Never!

    However, it leaves me no choice and pools itself in my stomach soon after.

    "No! No! Get out! Get out!"

    I shout and try to vomit out the slime, but it is already toote.

    My stomach growls disturbingly before I feel a very sharp pain in my abdomen. Once the pain is gone, my stomach expands slowly and painfully, growing in size.

    I have thought my stomach would explode when I feel like I am about 9 months pregnant.

    Oh God! Please don''t! Please don''t!

    I don''t want to give birth to a monster! I don''t! I don''t!

    And for once, God listens.

    The swelling of my stomach stops just before I go intobor without anyone in sight. It finally reverses, and my stomach contracts and then returns to its normal size.

    I check my stomach and abdomen repeatedly to see that is the case. It is t and perfect again despite the profuse sweats. However, the impending horrors constantly bring tears to my eyes.

    And once I manage to clear the tears from my eyes and brushed the dirt off my clothes, I take a closer look around the area and cover my nose.

    The stench is overwhelming. There is absolutely no fresh air, whatsoever. It is like the nts all have died or something.

    The rotting corpses scatter all over the street is horrifying. If I look closer, it appears those corpses are all incredibly malnourished, evidenced by the bony appearance. Their skin is literally hanging off their skeletal frame.

    How could so many people have died of hunger!?

    It is not the only that is strange thing. Dried leaves and branches showers everything and everywhere, and not a single sound of animals could be heard. The wind also stops.

    It is dead silent, eerily dreadful.

    A thumping sound of roaring engine frightens me. Screams and shouts apanies that engine. They areing from around the block, out of view.

    And out of fear, I hide behind a supporting column of the nearby rundown building. The broken sses crack under my steps.

    Momentster, a huge vehicle enters the view. Barb wires cover the vehicle along with human remains and bones. I gasp and cover my mouth as the car stops close by. My heart thumps madly.

    People bandaged in dark and dirty clothing, covering most of their face and features, exit the vehicle and spread out. They check the corpses nearby individually before shaking their head.

    "There is no meat on them."

    They are cannibals! Oh my god! They are cannibal!

    The people soon get back into the vehicle and drive onwards, passing my spot. I try to stay hidden as best I could, but when the vehiclees to a skidding stop, I run and run.

    The people shout as they all jump out of the vehicle to give chase while chanting fanatically. They are very, very fast, driven on by overwhelming hunger. They will catch up to me soon.

    They will! Oh my god! Help! Someone! Help!

    "Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat!"

 Chapter 114: The Happening (POV)

    They chant and chant like ravenous beasts, seeking to rip apart their fleeing prey ¨C me.

    "Someone! Help! Someone, please help me! Someone!"

    I scream and cry desperately for help while my legs frantically take me through the numerous torched cars and looted shops as well as passing by an unending amount of withering and rotting corpse and skeletal remains.

    No one could be found alive anywhere I have looked and try to search quickly. This ce is really like a ghost town, having slowly crumbling away for many years now.

    Deserted houses and buildings watch me in utter silent from both sides of the road while the salvage hounds quickly close the distance towards me from behind.

    And once a dreadful hand reaches out and grabs hold of my long hair, I just know the chase is over. It is over. It is over!

    Oh my God!

    "No! Nooooooo!"

    I shriek in terror as a powerful hand pulls hard against my hair and skull. I immediately fall backwards, crashing against the broken asphalts with my back and bottom. My arms and legs are scrapped badly in the fall, yet the pain only lingers for a fraction of second.

    The men instantly swarm me like hungry wolves, devouring their kill. Their hands are all over my body, gripping and ripping through my clothes and undergarments without a care.

    Bloods are also drawled in the frenzy, marking my white skin.

    "Stop! Stop! Please stop! I beg of you!"

    I struggle desperately against their relentless assaults, kicking and screaming with what little strength I have. But I am only a fragile woman. There is no way I could stop them by myself.

    But strangely enough, their hands suddenly stop. It is so abrupt. It wasn''t because they wish toply with my request. It wasn''t even because they have all heard the approaching vehicle from behind. No, it was because they haven''t seen a beautiful woman before.

    Their eyes be bewildered at me and my nakedness.

    My hands and arms barely cover my chest while what remains of my ripped clothes struggle to cover my private. Beingpletely surrounded by men who probably haven''t felt a woman''s touch for many years, made me extremely ufortable. This is not to mention they are also cannibals. I have seen them searching for foods amongst the corpses just moments ago.

    "Please? Please, can you let me go? I didn''t see anything, I swear. I swear! If you want, I can make you feel good. I can.

    I can. Just promise me that you will let me go afterwards."

    I implore, quite foolishly. But what else can I do in this situation? My body is the only bargaining chip I have. I really don''t know where I am or who these people are, but the state of the city and probably the entire world, something very terrible must have happened.

    Despite having to suffer through uncountable number of torturous deaths and being brought back to life repeatedly, I still fearful of the dark. And being able to stay alive for this long, I do want to continue to live, even if it is a bit longer.

    Their vehiclees to a stop just a few meters away from me and the men. It lets out the driver. That person dresses more excessive than the men who have me surrounded. His face is covered with a dark scarf, but it still unable to hide all of his hideous facial scars.

    Someone has mutted him!

    And whether he has suffered more than me at the hands of others, I do not know. But at least, when I was mutted by Maximilien, the scars do not remain on my body. It is so I could be mutted again and again.

    "Please. Please let me go. I can give you anything you want. Just let me go, please."

    I implore to their leader. I am sure that this man is their leader from his appearance alone.

    He looks at me before kneeling on one knee, so our eyes level could match. There is this hatred burning deep within those eyes. But those eyes do not have the same unrelenting darkness I have seen within Maximilien''s eyes.

    Yes, this man''s eyes are scary to me. But Maximilien''s eyes are more dreadful terrifying, fully capable of piercing a person''s being and soul. I swear that Maximilien could actually kill a person with just a look alone, without bothering to say a single word.

    But when this man is this close to me, I could see that he is huge person, much bigger than Mr. Maxwell and standing as tall, likely taller.

    "Where did youe from, missy? I haven''t seen anyone as clean as you since, well, since this world went to hell a decade back. You look very familiar though. I just can''t put my fingers on it."

    The man questions, and before I could answer him, he grabs a fistful of my hair. He then pulls my head backwards to have a closer look at me. His breaths are nauseating, forcing me to hold my breath.

    His eyes widen ever so slightly before he gets up, taking me with him. He drags me towards the vehicle and looks at something just moment before he throws me onto the hood of the car, forcing me onto my stomach. He then kicks my legs apart from behind, spreading them.

    My eyes widen as I realize what he is doing.

    He is going to rape me! He is going to rape me here and now!

    His men surround us and the vehicle, watching the scene ying out and wooing their leader on. Some of them have removed the cloth or scarf covering their hideous faces, and it makes me feels like I am in a horror movie.

    "No. Stop. Not like this. Please."

    I try to pull myself off the car in protest, but a powerful hand presses my face tly against the car and a sharp knife pierces through my palm, pinning my hand down and forcing a scream out of my throat.

    There is no negotiation. I am helpless. Completely helpless!

    His hips immediately m against me from behind as he drives himself into my pussy. I cry out in pain just before my eyes capture a picture of a beautiful woman in white being glued to the windshield.

    A small text inscribed at the bottom of the picture: Marilyn Monroe (1926 to 1962).

    "Mum¡­?"

    I utter puzzlingly as the huge man grab onto my neck with both hands, choking me and proceeding to have his way with me and my body without reservation. He must have imagined that I am my mother as he reaches his climax and spills his filthy seeds inside me.

    But why did the picture say my mother died in 1962?

    No. Mum is still alive. She is still alive when Ist saw her. She has to be! She has to be!

    Father has told me that Mr. Maxwell would only punish those who are responsible. My actions are my own doing. Mother have no knowledge of it. She does not!

    Oh God, she does. She does!

    Please! No! No! Mum can''t be dead! She just can''t!

    My mind screams as the huge man grunts again and again, hammering me raggedly into the car from behind. He didn''tst very long, and when he has finished using my body, his underling has a turn, one after another. Several ws into my skin, cutting deep and forcing me to cry in pain.

    Once they all have their turn, I copse onto the ground and hold my bleeding hand. It hurts. It really hurts, but it doesn''tpare to what I have suffered at the devil''s hands. The pain actually goes away as soon as the knife is removed.

    I didn''t pay any attention to it anymore as my mind reels and questions exactly where I am.

    Where the hell I am!? What is this ce!?

    Mum can''t be dead! She just can''t. Father would tell me. He would tell me!

    This must be an alternate reality, where mum has died. She died two years after I was born. Is dad still alive? Do I exist? What year is this? What year is this!?

    "What year is this¡­? Please tell me what year this is?"

    I call out,pletely unconcerned of the gangrape that I have just been through.

    The man is surprised at my question. He lets out a chuckle.

    "You must have lived under a rock, missy. It is 2012, about 12 years after all nts on Earth just withers and dies. Animals follows along with the majority of the. We call it The Happening."

    The man tells me, shocking my world. 2012? That is 22 years in the future. This can''t be the future! It can''t be.

    "No, that can''t be. That can''t be."

    I get up and try to run, but the man grabs me and forces me onto the ground.

    "Look here, missy. You are the biggest catch we have in years. We aren''t going let you get away. We ¨C

    The man stops and grabs my palm. He forces it open and then rubs the blood away. There is no wound whatsoever.

    "What are you, missy? No one heals that fast. And there is not a single scratch on your body."

    The man utters and pulls out a knife. Without hesitation, he stabs my leg several times and then watch as the wound closes right before his eyes.

    I am also surprised ¨C shocked actually.

    The pain is there, but it is a fleeting pain. It onlyst as long as the knife is embedded in my body.

    Seeing that, I look around to see if he is around. To see if Maximilien Maxwell is around somewhere.

    But he is nowhere to be found, at least to me. Is this what he had meant by that I will not be able to kill myself even if I tried? He has made me immortal!? Immortal so I can suffer forever in this world, where everyone I have known and loved are long dead!?

    No! No!

    "Incredible. Just incredible. This exins why you are so clean despite what happen. Tell me. How do you do that? Tell me!"

    The man calls out.

    I don''t know. I don''t know. I don''t know anything.

    All I can do is kick and try to run away, but the man repeatedly stabs me and even severs the tendons in my ankles. I scream out in pain, but the wounds always heal as rapidly as they have inflicted upon me.

    "Incredible. Let''s see how far your healing ability can go."

    The manments as he straddles me, pinning me on the ground. A knife then drives itself into my chest brutally.

    A dreadful shriek escapes my throat as the knife is dragged across my chest right down the middle and to my belly, gutting me. Blood erupts out of my throat as my guts and organs are torn out. Yet despite that, my organ regenerates and the opening in my chest and stomach closes, bringing utter shock to everyone.

    The organs that the man pull out of my body are there in his hands. But I didn''t need them anymore. New set of organs are now inside my body.

    "What the hell are you!?"

    The man roars angrily as he pulls out an axe and then smash downwards, forcing me to scream. I raise my bloody stump as blood sprays outwards.

    But within seconds, blood stops flowing. Bones and muscles grow, forming my arm and hand again. I am lost for words. I am cursed. I must be! I must be!

    There is no other way of exining it!

    And what just happened frightens the man. He gets up and steps away from me. It takes him a moment to recollect himself. He looks around at his men before chuckling.

    "Looks like we have found our meat, boys!"

    Hearing that, I could only scream as I realise my fate.

 Chapter 115: Absolute Insanity (POV)

    How long?

    How long has it been?

    How long has it been since¡­ since¡­?

    Since I am able to form a single coherent thought? Days? Weeks? Months? Or maybe years?

    It feels like years. Years!

    It feels like years in this dark and damped and cold ce, where the sun and sky could never be seen no matter what.

    This is my life now, and this small jailcell is my entire world.

    Countless faceless men have constantly invaded my world. They did so every day. Every single day! It is in order to use me and my body or to chop off my arms and legs or maybe to do both. Ah! Yes!

    They usually do both. Both! And it is not done in any particr order. No. Not any order at all.

    And they don''te into my world alone, one by one, taking turn. No, not alone. Never alone. Never alone anymore. Often, more than one person joins in the fun. Join in the wonderful fun¡­

    What fun? What fun!?

    Ahahahahahaha¡­

    What is so funny? Who isughing? Who is it? Who is it!?

    I don''t know. I don''t really know.

    Please don''t ask me anymore. I have no answer. No answer at all.

    Oh God! Oh God!

    They have learned that if they tie up my bleeding stumps with dirty rags and ropes, my arms and legs will not be able to regenerate, turning me into a perfect cock-sleeve, capable of only anguished wailing and crying, for their pleasure.

    Oh God! Oh God. That is what they wanted. That is what they always wanted! Always!

    That is¡­ what the monsters wanted! Yes. They are monsters. Monsters in human forms. All of them. It is a world gone mad.

    Gone mad. Gonepletely mad!

    Ahahahahahaha¡­

    Shut up! Shut up! All of them. All of them! Stopughing at me. Stopughing at me!

    I am. I am. Who am I? Where am I?

    Ah. That''s right.

    I remember. I remember now!

    They only want me to wail and cry in fear and hopelessness as they ride me towards their blissful and blissful pleasure.

    But I won''t let them. I won''t let them. No. No. No. I will not let them.

    Yes. Yes. My wailing and crying have stopped long ago. A very long time ago.

    There is only silence now. And I feel nothing.

    Nothing at all.

    Nothing at all, aside the madness that whispers in the back of my mind.

    Always whisperings and whispering.

    Oh God! Oh God! Are you there? Are you really there?

    No. He is not. He is not!

    Not!

    Not!

    Not!

    I have also stopped answering their questions. I have stopped speaking all together. No sounds escape my throat. No tears coat my dead eyes. My beauty has also faded away with them. That is the truth is it not?

    The rusty steel that keep me trapped in this ce have witnessed everything.

    Everything! Everything!

    Hehehehehehehehe¡­ everything! Yes. Yes. Everything. Dark and damp and cold. All mine.

    Mine!

    Belonging to my world. My world! The world of darkness. Darkness!

    I¡­ I¡­ where am I? How long has I been here? How long? A day? A week? A month?

    A year? No. It feels like years in this dark and cold and damped ce.

    The light can never reach me down here, freeing me from this nightmare, and the darkness does not take me into its merciful embrace despite it is everywhere, surrounding me, surrounding me!

    Surrounding us!

    Who? Who?

    Who am I? I am¡­ I am¡­ ah, I remember¡­ I remember now¡­

    I am Marian¡­ Marian¡­ Oxford. I am the heiress to¡­ to¡­ to¡­

    That means nothing there! Nothing here! Nothing in this world!

    Ahahahhahahahahhahah¡­!

    Yes. It means nothing in this world. Absolutely nothing in this world. It means nothing to the men who are struggling to live in this world. A world that is already dead. Dead.

    Gone.

    I am dead. I am alive. I am both. There is no power, wealth or prestige here. None can be found. None can be found at all.

    But they are not important! Not important! Heheheheh¡­ not important. Yes. All an illusion. All just an illusion leading towards despair.

    Absolutely despair!

    Someonees. Someonees!

    We are not alone anymore. Not anymore! Isn''t that nice Marian? Isn''t that nice?

    The door to the jailcell opens again, allowing a group of men inside. They are here to have fun again. Fun again! Oh, what wonderful fun this will be.

    Aren''t you having fun?

    No. No. I am not. I am not.

    The leading man pulls me off the floor by my golden blond hair, tearing more than a handful.

    It hurts. Oh God, it hurts! But. But. But it does not force any kind of reaction for me. Not anymore.

    Even if they tear all the hair from my skull, I will not react. I will not react. Nothing they can do to me will elicit a reaction.

    Nothing does anymore. Nothing! And it will just grow right back like relentless weeds.

    Yes. Yes. Eheheheh. It will grow back. Grow right back. Growing back beautifully like before.

    My dead eyes stare straight ahead. Staring straight ahead at the faceless old man before being forced to witness his mutted neck, chest, stomach and then hips as he lowers my head to where it needs to go.

    I did not pay the blood staining his entire body and limbs as his nauseating meat forces itself between my lips and into my mouth and throat as I stare nkly ahead, not focusing on anything particr.

    The pungent tastes and smells would have emptied my stomach countless of times before, but it does not anymore.

    Not anymore. Not anymore.

    There is also nothing to throw up. I have not eaten anything all day and every day aside from¡­ from¡­

    The old man soon let out a faint groan as his malnourished meat spills what little it manages to save up into my mouth and throat. I swallow on reflex, allowing the yellowish milk to settle in my stomach and sate a bit of my hunger.

    My hunger. My hunger!

    The hunger has always been there with me since the beginning, slowly eating into my body and turning me into a walking husk. But even a walking husk has its usefulness.

    Yes. Yes. I still have my usefulness. Isn''t that what you want? What you want!? Where are you!?

    Where are you? You are still watching, aren''t you?

    Aren''t you!? No. You''re not watching anymore. You''re gone. A figment of my imagination.

    Only we are here. Only me and I. Isn''t that right?

    Ahahahahahaha!

    "Oh. Oh. Oh!"

    The old man grunts and jerks his hips. His arms and legs quickly lose their strength, dropping me onto the grated steel floor. My facends on its side, spilling my saliva mixed with the yellowish liquids out of the corner of my mouth.

    Another person as old as the first crawls on top of me and position himself between my legs. He then tries to push what remains of his manhood inside my body.

    He fails several times, but eventually get it done, very dryly.

    Pathetic! How pathetic!?

    I just stare into the darkness beyond the steel bars as he gets himself off with my body.

    A hand forces my head to turn to the side so my mouth could be used. The owner of that hand rewards me with what little he has in him. These are my usual visitors now.

    The younger men and teenagers havee to my ce less and less until none at all. They are either dead or dying somewhere.

    Perhaps it is because my appearance no longer entices them like before.

    I don''t know. I don''t know anything anymore.

    Nothing. Hehehehehe. Nothing. Nothing at all.

    Each of the men takes turn with my body. Once they are done, they help each other to try and saw off one of my limbs. It takes them an awful long time to do so.

    So pathetic. I can do it faster than them. A lot faster!

    Blood erupts as the skin is tore apart by the rusty steel teeth of the saw. Bones eventually grind against the steel while I remain expressionless and unblinking.

    I can only sate their hunger for a moment. It can never refill their body and grant them strength. They know this after the first few days. Even so, it is still better than nothing.

    Better than nothing. The saw stops as the man takes a breath. Pathetic! Pathetic. They should all die. All of them.

    All of them!

    Ahahahahhaha!

    All of them! Yes, all of them. All of them.

    Hehehehehehe! Ahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!

    Iugh. Iugh andugh. Laugh until my hands bes bloody. Laugh until my body coats in blood. Smile until the jailcell is nowhere to be found.

    I stare at nothing, staring at absolutely nothing.

    Where am I? Where am I?

    Why are my hands bloody?

    Oh God! Oh God! Why are there so many corpses here!?

    Why? Why!?

    The bloody axe crashes against the metal floor. The nging sounds echoed the dreadful hallway. It is filled with severed body parts. Ah there he is. There he is. He has aged so terribly.

    So very, very terribly!

    Ahahahahahaha.

    What happened? What happen to you? Weren''t you in love with me? With me? You have stopped visiting me. Why?

    Why? Is it because I am not mother? Not mother!?

    Why am I kissing a severed head? Oh my God! It''s that man. The leader. The one who has brought me here, dragging me through the hallway with countless of jailcells adorned on each side. Those jailcells are emptied now.

    The upants are all dead, withering away in the years that passed.

    They are all dead

    They are all dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!

    Ahahahahahaha!

    Dead! Dead! Dead!

    Everyone is. Everyone is. Only me. Only me remains.

    Only me remains. Why? Why!? Why!!?

    Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.

    A dry moan escapes my throat. I am thirsty. I am so thirsty. I am hungry. I am starving. Where are the men.

    Where are they? Aren''t they going toe and feed me with their bodily fluid? Young or Old. It does not matter. Does not matter! Does not matter anymore!

    But they are noting.

    They have stoppeding. All of them. All of them. The young men at first. Then the old men. All of them have stoppeding.

    They are dead. They are all dead.

    Heheheheheheh. All dead. All gone.

    Only me remains. Only me remains. Forever young. Forever beautiful.

    I am hungry, so, so very hungry.

    Ah. My fingers taste good. Let me have a bite. Just a bite. Just a small bite. Just a very small bite.

    Oh. Oh! Tastes so good. It quenches my thirst too. Quenches my thirst. Let me take another bite.

    Just another bite. Just a small tiny bite.

    But my hunger did not go away. It never did. Not like when I suck out their fluids. Their fluids. Where can I find their fluids? Where?

    No one is left. No one is left.

    I killed them all. No. She has killed them all. She has killed them all!

    Ahahahahahahah!

    She stillughing. Laughing in the back of my mind. Laughing manically!

    My stomach continues to growl as I wander the darkness. Tunnels after tunnels, unendingly. They are leading to nowhere. To nowhere at all. To absolutely nowhere.

    Where am I. Where am I?

    I am hungry. I am hungry. So hungry. So very hungry.

    Hungry! Huh!?

    Someone is here. Someone is here. He smells nice. Smell very, very nice. Smell delicious. Delicious!

    Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat!

    I charge and tackle him. He didn''t go down. He didn''t go down at all.

    Why won''t he go down. Down! Down! And let me have a bite. Let me have just a bite. Just a bite.

    Just a bite to sate my stomach! To quench my hunger! My hunger!

    I am so hungry! So hungry!

    My teeth mp down upon his arms, biting into his flesh.

    It didn''t break!? No blood. No meat! No. Nothing. Nothing.

    An illusion? An illusion? No, not an illusion. He is not an illusion. Not a man. No, never a man.

    He is here. He is here!

    "Mr. Maxwell."

    The only words I have spoken in centuries. In centuries! I have lived for centuries! It feels so long. So very, very long. Oh God!

    Is this what immortality feels like!? To be forever young. Forever young and beautiful!?

    It is torture! Torture! Absolute torture!

    Tears finally found themselves in my eyes as I copse onto floor, submissively.

    My spirit ispletely broken. And my sanity only returns for this moment. My overwhelming hungers also subsided before him.

    "Please forgive me. Please forgive me."

    I plead. Pleading remorsefully, so remorsefully. It is the genuine truth. The sincere truth.

    It is the only thing that have any real meaning in this dead and dested world. No wealth. No power. No prestige. No one. Nothing but the desire to be forgiven.

    And he smiles. He smiles! Not a devilish smile. A warm and gentle smile!

    Not a devil. Not a devil anymore. Never a devil.

    "I forgive you, Miss Oxford."

 Chapter 116: Monsterification

    Marian Monroe Oxford has long descended into madness. It is only thanks to Legion that she currently has a moment of rity. It is also thanks to Legion that she is basically immortal.

    The micromachines inside her body has a standing order not to let her die, no matter what. And after they had forced themselves into her mouth, sliding down her throat and pooling in her stomach, they proceeded to replicate and remodel some of her vital organs.

    Doing so has allowed Legion to inconspicuously pump vitality liquids directly into her body and organs, thus mending any injuries she had suffered and regenerating any limbs she had lost.

    The vitality liquid that has just been mentioned is actually purified Health Potion.

    A lot of impurities in the health potion are stripped out thanks to advanced technology. And how did those impurities get there in the first ce? If I have to guess, the potion is probably concocted in a cauldron somewhere in an alchemistboratory.

    That sounds fantastical enough.

    There are somethings that science just does better.

    And seeing that the vitality liquid has worked as I have theorized, I suppose that this is just one more way of attaining immortality and somewhat pseudo invulnerability. The magical effect willst for as long as the user has vitality liquid in spades to spare.

    Nevertheless, it does beat being cloned over and over again inboratory somewhere. It still pales inparison to the immortality that I can grant through my power.

    Of course, the immortality Marian has isn''t solely due to the health potion. There are multiple factorsing into y simultaneously.

    As far as I understand, the health potions only heal, mend and restore missing limbs. It does not grant a person longevity and eternal youth. Her youthful appearance is due to the micromachines floating around in her bloodstreams.

    Legion is actually keeping her body from aging. Not exactly stopping the aging processpletely, but vastly retarding it as much as possible. Therefore, instead of living until she is around 80 to 90 years of age, she will get to live until she is 8000, possibly more.

    Immortality is not the same as invulnerability, however.

    If Marian is beheaded, she would die.

    That is easier said than done, considering that Legion has already armored her neck and head just to prevent such an event from happening. Her captors didn''t dare to chop her head off, considering doing so could kill her.

    Marian is their unlimited supply of meat as well as sinful pleasure. It is very hard finding someone to fuck during an apocalypse.

    Women and children are the first to die once all the nts and animals have perished.

    People who had tried to be a decent and moral human being are next on the list because that kind of mindset would be purely stupidity in an apocalypse, leaving only murderers, psychopaths, rapists or simr behind tomit whatever their hearts desire.

    If I had dropped Marian off in the year 2000 or so of this reality, she might be able to survive and fend for herself. She would get over her victim mindset and probably take advantage of her immortality to be the leader of sort.

    Of course, the end result would be the same. Marian would outlive everyone and be forever alone on this dested earth.

    Everyone is already dead. Mostly dying of starvation. With no nt life remaining, the herbivores are unable to survive. With the gone, so will the omnivores. Humans is obviously thest species to go into the night.

    However, this is her punishment, so I don''t want to make it easy for her. It also destroys all her beliefs at once. Wealth, power and prestige are meaningless when all said and done.

    That is what Marian needs to understand. And I think she understands that in the end, at least in her moment of rity. That is sufficient.

    "I will give you a choice, Miss Oxford. You can forget all of this and be reborn with a new life and a new purpose. All your memory will be wipedpletely clean, and you will get to grow up in loving home with a father and mother who love you very much."

    This offer would defeat the original purpose of her punishment. However, I have yielded quite a lot of promising result, so it is notpletely pointless. I will review everything Legion has recorded through her eyes and from her body.

    "Or. You can return to your old life with everything you know now. You will serve me and the cause as your father have done so before you. As for your inheritance, I cannot promise you. That is up to your father and his discretion. I do not want to get involved with your family and its estates."

    I look at Marian as her eyes shift.

    Legion is unable to contain the growing madness within her mind forever, as it will damage her brain in the process, rendering my offer moot.

    Marianunches herself at me once more like a feral animal, but this time, I didn''t feel like letting her try to take a bite out of me. So instead, I grab her by the neck and smash her into the ground without needing to hold back.

    Bloods erupt out of her mouth as her bones shatter. Her neck would have been broken too if it wasn''t for Legion. However, she is only immobilized for roughly about a second before her body ispletely healed, allowing her to attack me feverishly again.

    It is quite remarkable seeing her body heal in person. More experimentations are needed for a viable product to be produced, but it is looking very promising. Truly immortal soldiers.

    That is every single country''s dream.

    And if Marian has anybat skills and abilities, the madness she has brought to thest survivors of this final human conve would have over quickly. They did manage to immortalize her several times but that only brought them a brief moment of relief.

    "Maximilien Maxwell!"

    Marian roars as sheunches herself at me once more. A kick sends her crashing into the wall at the far end of the tunnel. The steel door manages to stop her momentum, but sticking her on there.

    And before Marian could heal from her grievous wounds, I am already standing before her.

    Although I could disable her healing factor, I want to see how much damage her body could withstands before the vitality liquids be ineffective. There is a theoretical limit because health potions just cannot revive the dead, but that limit cannot be reached through amputations.

    "It appears that this isn''t normal madness talking. You seem to know my name, but unfortunately, I do not know yours."

    I question. I am sure she doesn''t have a name. A little enquiry into what Legion has recorded tells me Marian simply calls her "she".

    I will not call her that since I don''t like ying the pronoun game.

    "Maximilien Maxwell!"

    "Maximilien Maxwell!"

    "Maximilien Maxwell!"

    Marian roars like a wounded beast. And a huge amount of blood spews out of her mouth immediately afterwards. A well-ced palm thrust to her chest did all of that. I exert just a little bit more strength and turn her innards to mush.

    "When I ask, you answer. Do you understand?"

    I response and w my hand, ripping out her chest as well as her ribcage, forcing out a smile upon her face instead of screams and cries.

    That is surprising. Marian is enjoying this. Enjoying the pain, immensely.

    Marian copses onto the floor as blood spills everywhere. Her body is being healed rapidly thanks to the vitality liquid flowing through her veins and powering her body. As long as there are vitality liquids, she will heal from any and all wounds, even fatal one.

    Her heart is actually on the floor, having fallen out when I tear through her chest. She didn''t need it, and she will have a brand new one soon enough. This is also the reason why she is so cleaned. As soon as her body regenerate, she regains her beauty once more.

    "I think I will call you Nairam Oxford, as you are somewhat the opposite of Marian."

    I decide and pull her off the ground to tear off her arms and legs. Even though they are not cleanly cut by a sharp de, they also heal as quickly.

    "I can''t die. I can''t die. Ahahahahahahaha!"

    Nairam calls out and tries to bite my face off. It is somewhat hrious and gross at the same time. And I have to rip her jaw off to remove her from my face. I pull her tongue out too since she licks me several times while trying to pierce my skin with her teeth.

    "Of course, you can die, Nairam, but I don''t want you to, at least not yet. And since ripping your body apart is pointless, I will have a look at that brain of yours huh?"

    When I mean that, I didn''t mean it literally. There is no need to open her head and take a look at her brain. It will probably not give me anything I need.

    Nanomachines surge out of my palm and drill into her temple. As the countless nanomachines infest her brain, I close my eyes and then slowly open them again.

    I am no longer standing in the dark corridor of the underground bunker. I am standing in a loving and yet familiar home. I have been here before, many times.

    Beautiful melody fills the air as a twelve years old blond-haired girl ying her piano. And sitting next to her is a man in his thirties, guiding her.

    "That is very good, sweetheart. I think you have talent for music."

    Henry Oxfordpliments his daughter. His daughter, however, shakes her head.

    "I want to be like you, dad. I want to start my very ownpany just like you did. It will be huge, huge, with a lot of people I like. You cane and work in mypany. I will make you the chairman. And I will be the president!"

    Henry Oxford onlyughs. He did acknowledge his daughter''s entrepreneur dream despite she has a far greater talent at music. I recall that she stops ying the piano shortly after.

    I stop paying attention to the Oxford father and daughter as I am not here for such thing. I explore the mansion, searching every room before finding another Marian. She is wearing a much different clothe than the Marian downstairs.

    "Hello, Nairam."

    I greet. It seems that another personality has fully realized inside Marian. And from the magical energy radiating from her, it isn''t just a normal personality. This must be one of the side effects of using the vitality liquids continuously.

    "Get out! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!"

    Nairam shouts as the mansion begins to crumple. I look at the cracks, spreading across the wall before turning back to face her. The mansion stops crumbling, bringing her to shock. She is terrified now.

    "Do you know, Miss Nairam? In a mental battle, the one with the strongest willpower almost always win. Now, tell me, where is that condescending smile of yours?"

    I question as I approach her. The mindscape ispletely under my control. My willpower is absolute, and against someone who only suffered a fraction of what I had gone through, she is in no position to oppose me.

    The mansion soon morphs back into the dark tunnel. And her screams constantly echo the darkness.

    Nairam or Marian copse onto the floor, and to my surprise, dark aura steams out of her body. I have been surprised a lottely. This is because I have seeing too many weird and crazy things.

    For example, this aura feels familiar, and as I reach out a hand, it spirals towards me and crawls up my arms and then entering my chest. My magical core pulses and grows.

    I immediately steps away as I realize what it is. It is the same sort of energy that escapes those goblins when they are killed. Except, this energy feels sinister.

    I will need to study it first instead of blindly absorb into my magical core. I might create an evil me in the process.

    Well... a more eviler me.

    But how?

    A thought enters my mind and a clear sphere appears in my palm.

    I reach out again towards the now unconscious Marian and allow the aura to surge towards me.

    But unlike before, the malicious aura enters the sphere instead of going to me and strengthening my magical core. And once all of it is dwelling within the sphere, the sphere ispletely pitch ck. And within, a small spark could be seen.

    I could only smile at my newest prize ¨C a brand new monster core.

 Chapter 117: Decaying Curse

    With a new monster core resting nicely in the palm of my hand, I do wonder if this is how all monsters are created. It just gives a whole new meaning to hatred and malice incarnated.

    The dark aura that was radiating from the unconscious Marian Oxford just a moment ago feels simr to the magical essence or maybe I should say, monster essence that monsters give off when they are killed. And by absorbing that monster essence, my magical fortifies, strengthens and grows.

    Since I can also absorb this malicious aura into my magical core, it probably has the same effect. That is, my magical will grow stronger as a result. However, this essence feels extremely vile inparison to the monster essence. And absorbing it will probably corrupt me.

    I think more research into this area is needed. Eliana or Sapphire could help in this regard. Eliana more since she is equivalent to an Archmage while Sapphire is just a novice. But before that, I probably need to deal with Marian Oxford and this dested world.

    Marian is easy, as I did promise Henry that I will give him another chance to be a proper father. He did try to be a father to her, but I suppose work responsibility andmitment to me take him away from the family life. He is retired man now, so he will have all the time to be a family man.

    As for the world itself, I am somewhat stumped.

    There is a good reason why the temporal rift is closed off the moment Marian and I passed through to this parallel reality. It is also the same reason to why the outpost on the other side in the prime-reality ispletely void of people, leaving only automated machines to carry out all the necessary tasks.

    Whatever causes the nts to die out throughout the universe is magical in nature. And yes, I do mean throughout the universe.

    The decaying effect is not only happening here on Earth, causing humanity to go extinct, but it is also happening on every and moon within this universe, regardless of where.

    Legion did have more than a millennium to spread out to the gxy. And from what Legion is able to find so far, wherever there is nt life, the magical curse is present. And without nts, animal cannot exist.

    Without animal, intelligence life cannot arise.

    This is practically a dead universe.

    A dead universe brought on by a single spell.

    I have seen for myself how destructive magic can be in the future of the prime reality, but I think this just take the cake. And if a single spell can do something like this to an entire universe, is there nothing magic cannot do?

    This magical decaying effect on all nt life also seeps through the temporal rift when it is opened the first time. And as soon as the scientists realize what is happening, they immediately shut down the rift andbel the reality as extremely dangerous.

    Luckily, the decaying effect stops the moment the temporal rift copses. Otherwise, the prime-reality would suffer the same fate as this one.

    It is brought to my attention afterwards, thus requiring Hydra to formte new procedures and safety measures in regard to exploring the multiverse.

    Therefore, from now on, whenever a time distortion is detected anywhere in the world, people within the affected area will be evacuated and handsomelypensated.

    Above ground barracks and bunkers as well as undergroundplexes will be built to amodate the required research staffs and security personnel.

    However, to prevent people from being randomly spirited away by the time distortion and fluctuation, everyone on base above and below ground must carried a portable temporal detector on their person at all time.

    The portable temporal detector warns them if a temporal convergence point is forming, thus avoiding those convergence point will prevent them from being dumped into an alternate reality.

    It did take a while to get used to, however.

    But the device did nothing to stop timepses, for ack of a better word. Time in certain spots around the base flows at a different rate, slower or faster. This means that people can experience many days and even weeks, but only for about a couple of minutes has actually passed in the real world.

    Timepses did create a lot of confusion at first, so the detector also has a built-in atomic clock, which tells them how much time they actually experienced in rtive to everyone else. Measuring the rate of time is flowing also gives scientists insight into how timepses works, and I won''t bother you with all the boring details.

    Just know that the Hydra members immediately take advantage of these spots to get away from work, as technically, they aren''t really cking off, rtively speaking. Since these timepses are rtively safe whenpared to everything else happening in the time distortions, I did not bother to tell them off. They can have their fun while itst.

    And as for the temporal rift itself, it will only be opened at a scheduled time and only briefly until the world on the other side are deemed safe to explore. Once it is safe, the temporal rift will remain open until someone said otherwise, usually Hammond, as he is the head scientists in this temporal rift stuff.

    It is dangerous to mess with the temporal rift, but I do not think I have any other choice in the matter thanks to Marian. And if I decide to ignore all of this and burry my head into the sand, I will be helpless when something like what had happened to this reality happens to the prime-reality.

    To be honest, how the temporal riftse into existence still eluded me, but I do have several working theories on the matter. None can be fully confirmed at the moment, but I am sure it happens because Marian had me as well as my daughter killed.

    In any case, it had already happened, and Marian has paid dearly for that, so I cannot dwell on it any longer. Besides, the temporal rifts allow me to learn about magic.

    Magic just opens a whole new path for me and everyone on earth.

    But the dested state of this world cemented my belief that magic should be controlled, preferably by me or someone like me. Otherwise, I might as well give humanity a gun to shoot itself in the head.

    There are just too many people who wants to ruin it for everyone else. And killing them all isn''t really a solution. It is also extremely tyrannical and oppressive. I already tried the tyrannical and oppressive path. Didn''t work out so well in the end.

    People are capable of both good and evil by nature.

    Someone or something just need to show them the way. And this has been demonstrated very clearly in Marian Oxford in the way she was raised from childhood.

    For all of his intelligence, Henry Oxford fails to understand that by showing a child love and care all of her life and then neglecting her in favors of others or things will undoubtedly make her despises and loathes everyone and everything he has cared about.

    While I do not want to get involved in the family matter of other people, but Henry should understand this simple fact. If Henry did, Marian wouldn''t have turned out this way, but it did allow me to capture the malice within her.

    That malice has manifested into another persona when everything Marian ever cares about stripped away from her. Her wealth. Her power. Her status. Her father. Her mother.

    Everything!

    Did I n all of that? Yes, I did. It is an appropriate punishment for her.

    However, the creation of a monster core surprises me.

    It also opens a door to new possibilities.

    Since the darkness has been stripped away from her, I suppose Marian will live a different life now.

    I will confirm this when I look into her future, right after I return her to her father.

    As my power cannot duplicate this malicious essence just like I couldn''t duplicate the monster essence, I suppose that I will be able to only obtain just one monster core from each person. This is actually the best-case scenario, as not everyone will be harvestable.

    Wow. Did I just consider people as wheat in a field?

    Meh. It isn''t like I haven''t done much worst before. It is all for the greater good, my greater good. And if I can capture the darkness within their mind and spirit, they will be better off afterwards.

    I do think that breaking everyone''s mind and spirit seems a tad extreme. Most people do not deserve to be treated like Marian even if they will not remember anything in the end after all said and done.

    Maybe there is another way to harvest this malicious essence? I will have to find out.

    So much things to do on my list.

    I pick up Marian Oxford into my arms as she slowly reverts into a twelve years old child. Her memory of what happened is also gone. She slowly opens her eyes and look at me groggily.

    "Dad¡­?"

    Marian questions and rubs her eyes. She is just an innocent child, right now. She would never have to remember what happened.

    "I am not your father, Marian. I will take you to your father, soon."

    The surrounding changes as I jump into the past with her my arms. It is to the moment just before we both had stepped into this reality.

    The temporal rift in midair opens, and I could see myself beyond the rift for a nanosecond.

    As paradox cannot happen thanks to my power, my past self is erased the moment the temporal rift connects two realities together.

    Marian''s past as well.

    That is poetic, to be honest.

    I quickly jump through the temporal rift before it closes, returning to the prime-reality. There is simply nothing I could do for that reality at the moment.

    The decaying curse is too powerful to be undo. But I promise myself I will find those who is responsible for the death of humanity.

    Someone is obviously causing chaos in the multiverse.

    And the prime-reality is not off the table. Even if I want to live in peace, whoever this is will not allow me to do so. Terra has hinted this when we have our siblings talk.

    Speaking of Terra, I wonder why she didn''t appear to fix this problem. Just like the Nazi Reality, magic has been introduced to a scientific reality, and a magical curse have killed everyone, even if indirectly.

    And as Master of Chaos, shouldn''t she rectify this problem.

    I will ask her about it when I meet her again.

    For now, I will have to focus on my problem.

    With a thought, I am back to the room where Marian has been locked up for weeks.

    Henry is there all alone, tearfully. He had entered the room the moment I took his daughter away. To bear witness to her agonizing deaths repeatedly is his punishment.

    I didn''t do it for fun. Alright, I did, but it serves more than one purpose.

    As for Marilyn Oxford, I spared her since the knowledge of her beloved daughter''s impending torture and death is far more than enough to haunt her day and night.

    I also didn''t let her see her daughter, thus she couldn''t sleep for thest few weeks.

    "As I have promised, old friend. I hope you understand your responsibility as father this time around, and please do neglect others in favor of hers either. Each of your children needs you and your guidance even if they are all grown up. This is not your boss talking, but as a father to another."

    I speak up and let Marian onto her two little feet. She blinks at the old man before narrows her eyes, trying to see who this is.

    "Dad!?"

    Marian shouts and runs to her father. Henry takes her into his tight embrace, never wanting to let her go again. Seeing such kinship between them does bring a sense of joy and warmth to my cold heart.

    I want to see my daughter or maybe daughters, and I did so right after I send Henry and Marian home.

    But since Antigone and Lexi are both asleep peacefully in their respective beds, I suppose I will have to settle for Allison. She is still awake in her apartment. She does stay up veryte every day, working on her cases, regardless whether it is the weekend or not.

    Tomorrow is Sunday, so she should have a day off just like everyone. Well, today to be more precise.

    "Hello, Miss Allison. I know it iste, but may Ie in?"

    At the door to her apartment, Allison is surprised to see me sote in the night.

    Nevertheless, Allison is very happy to see me. It has been a while, but she does know I have business I must attend.

    "Ah, yes, Max. I mean Mr. Maxwell. Please,e in. Umm¡­ don''t mind the mess. I was about to clean up."

    Allison allows me inside her apartment, rather happily even if she try not to show it. She didn''t bother to put on any clothes and simply settle for what she is wearing to sleep ¨C loose blouse and no pant.

    The room has changed greatly sincest time I was here. As she is now a full pledged member of Hydra, she is rewarded with all kind of new toys.

    The apartment looks like it is from the 22nd or maybe the 23rd century. It does bring me back a little since I did live in the future for a time. But I am not here to check out her apartment.

    I am here for some kinship. Heh. Just kidding, but if it leads to that, who am I to refuse.

    "I want to tell you something, Miss Allison. It might change the rtionship between us in the process, but it is for the best."

 Chapter 118: Midnight Delight

    Is there a reason for me to tell Allison that I am her progenitor?

    No, not really, but I will have to tell her the truth eventually if I want our rtionship tost. And it is better for me toe out with the truth rather than for her to find it out herself, which she will.

    Oh. I do not doubt that she will. I don''t need to look into the future or visit it to know this.

    Secrets cannot stay buried forever.

    That is the fact of life.

    Even if Allison doesn''t have Hyper Awareness like a certain woman, who really shouldn''t stick her nose into things that is way beyond herprehension, Allison is still a very observant person herself. And adding onto her Perfect Recall ability, she will definitely find out that there is more to our rtionship than meet the eyes.

    Even so, is there really a reason for me to tell Allison right now? Why not have some skin-ship beforeing out with the kinship?

    At least then, one of us will be happy.

    That is the point. Only one of us will be happy, whilst the other feels like she has been taken advantage of. It is not how you build a longsting rtionship.

    And I do not form rtionship with others, so I can throw them under the bus whenever it suits me. I rather not form the rtionship in the first ce if that is what I have in mind for them in the future.

    It does take a lot of time and effort to build a strong bond and mutual trust with others. It is this very reason that I do treasure my rtionship with Henry Oxford regardless of whatever happens between us.

    Henry is what I would call a good friend.

    In contrast, Henry is the same in this regard, thus he doesn''t hold a grudge against me for teaching his eldest daughter some humilities. Well, youngest daughter now, I suppose.

    He also doesn''t need to remind me about how much he has sacrificed for the cause.

    No, he never has to. And neither anyone else working for me either. I already know. Even though I do see everyone as a mean to an end, I do not need to treat them that way. And I certainly do not need to use fear or intimidation to get what I want from those I form meaningful rtionship with.

    Sure, fear and intimation are a very good motivator, but trust and believe are a better motivator.

    Everyone who I have formed mutual rtionship or agreement with one way or another do trust and believe in me and the cause. It is this trust and believe that will drive them to do whatever necessary regardless of whether it is right or wrong.

    Of course, I will resort to fear and intimidation when it is convenience. It is also easier to get strangers to do what I need them to do, honestly.

    "Are you saying that I have this ability is because of you, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Allison takes a moment for the information to sink in before speaking up, calmly and collectively. She is sitting across from me on the sofa. It is a very soft sofa, courtesy of the firm.

    The firm takes good care of all of its senior members.

    In fact, the firm has offered her a floor-apartment in the upper level, but Allision refuses it. It is simply too big for someone like her.

    Maybe when she has a family of her own, which could be never.

    Allision just isn''t into having a rtionship with people who isn''t as capable as her. It isn''t really looking down at others like Lexi. She just wants someone she could rely on instead of being relied upon.

    "Yes and no, Miss Allison."

    I response. A faint smile appears on my face.

    It is not really that simple, and I think Allison understands it very clearly. She just didn''t say it out loud for me, and she didn''t need to. She is awyer after all. A very good one even without her cheat.

    Well, her ability is not really a cheat, considering she always has it.

    "While I ept that I am directly responsible for the emergence of your ability, I did not really choose you specifically and bestows the ability upon you. It happens entirely by chance, and if you didn''t get the ability, someone else probably will."

    Allison narrows her eyes ever so slightly.

    "And I suppose in that case, that hypothetical someone else will be sitting here instead of me."

    I nod. That is logical reasoning.

    And I do like people who can reason logically instead of crying and ming everything that happens in their life on others.

    "Yes, Miss Allison. It is fate that has brought us together, and I suppose it is also fate that I am here in this hour, talking to you right now."

    Allison is a bit confused at the remark.

    It is expected.

    She didn''t truly understand what I am feeling at the moment.

    To be honest, I am somewhat depressed and annoyed. With all the power at my disposal, I am unable to save humanity from extinction.

    If their demise is their fault, I wouldn''t be so bothered, but it wasn''t.

    It wasn''t! By God, it wasn''t!

    Someone has ced a curse upon them, bringing forth their extinction. It could as easily be this reality instead of that alternate reality. And what can I do if that is the case?

    I haven''t felt this helpless since when my power first manifested andunched me into the future. And I do not wish to feel this helpless ever again.

    "I do not quite understand what you had just said, Mr. Maxwell. But regardless, I do not believe that this is entirely your responsibility. You did not force my mother to take the supplements when she is carrying me. She did so on her own. And you did not truly know whether the ability will manifest in me or not."

    Allison states and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath.

    And when she opens those eyes again, I could see there is sadness lingering within.

    "But I am d that I have this ability because it allows me to meet you, Mr. Maxwell. I only regret that our rtionship will remain strictly professional from now on. It is as you say¡­"

    Allison takes in another breath. It is to calm herself.

    I did not say anything in response. I merely just sit there, leaning against the sofa and listening to the girl, who is probably on the verge of tears.

    It is very difficult for Allision to ept the truth between our rtionship, and no matter how logical her mind is, her emotion is a different matter. The heart wants what it wants.

    "It is as you say. I am by all definitions your descendant. And as your descendant, I cannot¡­ I cannot¡­"

    Allison pauses again and closes her eyes. It takes a very long time for her to open them again. She has to steel her bleeding heart.

    "I am sorry, Mr. Maxwell. I don''t feel very well at the moment, so please excuse me."

    Allison gets off the sofa, but I take her hand and pull her back onto the sofa and against me. Her body stiffens as she burrows her head into my chest, not wishing to see my face.

    "Please, Mr. Maxwell. Just let me be. Just please let me be."

    Allision pleads. Her voice is cracking.

    "I think you should let it out, Allison. To be honest, I am also d to have meet someone like you. It is my pleasure to get to know you. You are as beautiful on the outside as well as the inside. And I don''t understand why we cannot allow what our hearts desire?"

    I question and look down at her. She takes a long time to look up at me, matching my gaze and allowing me to see the liquids wetting her eyshes.

    "Because it is wrong, Max. It is wrong."

    Allision responses. Her hands grip against my body.

    "Is it really, Allison? What you feel for me is wrong? Who tells you that? Society? The Law? You have buried your head in those books for so long, you starting to believe it yourself.

    Please remember that thew exists because we allow it to exist. If it is wrong, then it must be changed. And if it restricts our future, it must be abolished."

    That is the only way humanity can prosper. Law should govern but never restrict.

    I cup her face. My thumb runs across her eye, clearing some of the tears away.

    "And if you think it is immoral, you should read the Bible again. Such rtionship is not forbidden. And we are all the products of such a rtionship. But whether it is truly wrongful and immoral or not, it is up to us to find it out ourselves, Allison."

    I smile and lower my head, giving her a light kiss. It is merely an invitation.

    It didn''t feel wrong to me. And when Allison forces me to kiss her again, deeper and more passionate, it didn''t feel wrong to her either.

    Our tongue dances and exchanges fluids for minutes on end.

    And once our lips are part, she ps me several times without holding back.

    That is surprising.

    Allison then grips my cor with both hands while straddling me.

    "I hate you, Max. Do you know that I really hate you? Why did youe over sote just to tell me all these things? I was a lot happier being ignorance."

    Allision tells me, but before I could answer, she seals her lips around mine again. Our tongues resume their erotic tango for several more minutes while our bodies grind against each other, especially our hips.

    We are in heat. In sinful heat.

    And our hands are also all over one another, gripping and groping to their delight.

    Her blouse manages to find itself on the floor before our lips part once more.

    Before Allison could p me again, I lean forwards and drop her against the sofa. She let out a yelp as I press my lower body against her tightly.

    "This is wrong, Max, so wrong."

    Allison whispers as I loom over her.

    Even though she has said that, her hands strip me of my shirt and then try to remove my pants. I help out by simply making my pant disappear along with the rest of my clothing.

    While I did that, my fingers run down her body and tear her panties away, forcing out a gasp from her throat.

    "And yet, it feels so right, isn''t it, Allison?"

    I whisper into her ears as I sink into her slowly, inch by inch.

    Allison moans as my cock fills her wet and hot insidepletely. Her legs wrap themselves around my buckling waist as her hands did the same around my shoulder and back.

    And I begin pounding her into the sofa.

 Chapter 119: Lost and Found

    Allison is wet and slick and very tight, massaging my meaty length as I m in and out of her arousing body from below.

    "Oh. Oh! Oh Fuck! Fuck me! Fuck me, Max! Fuck me!"

    Allison screams loudly as her arms and legs pull me into her full wetness again and again, from around my shoulders and lower back respectively.

    Her nails also dig deep into my flesh, trying and failing to break the skin.

    And her endowing and bountiful chest, parched with our glistering sweats, heaves with each powerful thrust and squeezes against my strong frame, hugging and kissing my body tightly.

    "Ugh! Take it. Take it. Take it, sweetie! Ugh! Fuck!"

    I response and hammer home hard and fast, pounding that sweet, sweet pussy of hers. I didn''t realize that I have stopped calling her by her name in my grunting and groaning. I am fully immersing myself in the blissful pleasure.

    There is no need to think about anything anymore for the both of us.

    Just let our bodies do the work.

    Our lips soon join in on the heated action, muffling our screams and cries and grunts, allowing our wet tongues to meet after being apart for so, so long.

    It has been about half a minute since our lipsst met after all.

    That is far too long.

    Her unique sweetness roll across my tongue as Ip it all up hungrily, enjoying the delightful pleasure of doing so.

    My hard cock did the same from below, plunging in and out deeply into her tight well and rolling itself within the nectarous juices.

    More and more juices soak my throbbing cock as Allison reaches climatic rapture.

    Screams escape her throat, vibrating our adjoining mouths and swirling around our dancing tongues, seeking desperately for a way out.

    Those screams of hers eventually did as soon as I fill her up with my own hot and steamy fluids, mixing with her love juices and breaking our long and passionate kiss.

    I join her screams with a vicious roar of my own.

    "Fuck yeah! Take my seeds, sweetie! Take it all! All for you!"

    Her body convulses at the unrestrained flooding in her cunt and tunnel, surging deeply into her womb while her arms and legs tighten around my body, embracing me desperately to prevent any leakage.

    That attempt fails as my balls continuously churn and pump the hot and milky baby batter directly into her oven, filling it to the brim and squirting the excess out of her pussy lips and onto the sofa.

    "Max¡­ Max¡­ ugh¡­ ugh¡­"

    Allison gasps as my hips hump and buckle raggedly, trying to pump out the remaining seeds within my hardened shaft. My balls also contract rather painfully as she ispletely filled up.

    "So tight! You''re so fucking tight, sweetie! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ah!

    Ah fuck!"

    My arms and hands found themselves around her back and ass, holding her tight.

    And with a powerful push against the soft sofa and floorboard from my knees and legs, I instantly pull myself into an upright, taking Allison with me.

    My cock remains locked into her overflooded virginal tract, and with both of my hands supporting her weight, I proceed to bounce her onto my thick cock, pumping out all the remaining baby batter within my shaft and balls.

    All while cum constantly squirts and drips onto the floor in response.

    "It''s hot! It is so hot, Max! It''s so hot!"

    Allison calls out, arcing backwards as her arms hold tight around my neck, trying to stabilize herself as I proceed to pound her flooded cunt hard and fast with extreme recklessness and abandonment.

    Her legs barely hanging on around my violently jerking hips while my erupting cock bottom out inside her again and again, filling her already overflowing tunnel.

    So much cum explodes out of her abused pussy, running down my thighs. It makes a mess on the floor as well on the sofa. But I didn''t care. I didn''t care!

    "I have a shitload of cum with your name on it, Allison. I''m going to fucking dump all of it in you right now! Right fucking now! Ugh! Take it"

    My balls feel like they have just retreated into my body as my hard cock fills her cuntpletely and unloads everything within regardless of whether she wants it or not. Whether she wants it or not!

    But with the looks on her face, she definitely wants it!

    Her eyes roll backwards while feeling her body being pumped full of hot and thick cum. Her arms lost their strength around my neck, letting her falls onto the sofa. My dick is released from her wet confine in the process, allowing it to jerk and st ropes and ropes of cum over her panting body, marking her again and again.

    One of my hands wraps around my cock as I lean forwards, pumping my seeds all over her ample chest and face and body. The other hand supports my entire weight by holding onto the backrest of the sofa as I proceed to give Allison a one-man bukkake shower.

    It is very doable since Selene continuously pumps stamina liquids into my body. The liquid is extracted and refined from Stamina Potions.

    Since Legion is not allowed to float around in my bloodstreams and within my organs, Selene takes on the task herself.

    Whatever Legion can do, Selene can do better as her nanomachines are more advanced.

    Allison is in aplete hazy delight once the one-man bukkake finally dies down. Her body is coated from top to bottom with my spunk. Her tongue flexes and licks her lips every now and then, taking in the steamy cum that sshes against her face and features.

    Her eyes slowly focus and look at my oozing cock before she lifts her head up and opens her mouth, allowing me inside. Her lips close around my shaft as my cock slides into her mouth, heading towards the back of her mouth and into her throat.

    "Ah. You''re getting very good at sucking dick, Allison. Use your tongue a bit more."

    Allison did,pping and massaging my shaft as it pumps slowly in and out of her mouth. The pace did notst as milky treats are being manufactured in my balls at an rming rate. And before long, I am fucking her face, forcing the back of her head against the sofa.

    As long as I desire it, I will always have a tasty treat for her or anyone for that matter. It would be more interesting if the magical viagra solution is also within her body, but I must test all the side effects out myself first.

    "Fuck! Take my cock! Take my cock! Take it all in your throat, sweetie. Daddy have a huge milky treat for you."

    Allison eyes me at thement, wanting to say something about that, but her mouth is fully upied with my cock right this moment.

    Despite our familial connection, she obviously didn''t like this roleying very much due to our rtive appearance. I am actually younger than her in appearance, so it didn''t make sense to roleying as father and daughter.

    Our differences in appearance just breaks the illusion to be honest.

    In addition, I am not actually her father, logically and scientifically speaking. I am her progenitor, which is different than paternal rtionship.

    But calling myself granddaddy or even older breaks the arousal. And mum never gives me a sexy sister to fantasize about, I have absolutely no interest in calling Allison as such. I am the only child since mum died when during birth. I will correct that problem when the timees.

    But regardless of whatever Allision wanting to protest to me about, she soon has her incredibly thick and milky treat. Her eyes bulge at the flooding in the back of her throat, forcing her to swallow rather frantically.

    I eventually pull out halfway so that she can taste me in full. My seeds coat her tongue in its entirety before filling her mouth up from the brim. I stroke exposed part of my cock outside her mouth, trying to squeeze out everything into her orifice.

    Allison helps out by cupping my balls and rubbing the base. Unlike the first time she has sucked my cock and drink my milk, she does not show signs of disgust in her expression.

    Instead, Allison actively tries to get as much of the treat as possible. Once my balls are emptied, I pull my cock out and stroke it lightly. Allison leans back against the sofa, feeling the milky richness within her mouth.

    "Show me it?"

    I request, and she did, arching her head back and opening her mouth. Seeing the pool contains within with her tongue taking a swim brings me to hardness once more. It is just too damn hot!

    "Fuck, that''s hot. Now, swallow it all. I promise I will give you another treat afterwards."

    Allison did just before I hammer her throat with my shaft once more. She groans and moans whenever I pull my cock out and p her face with it, trailing her saliva and pre-cum upon her features.

    And as I have promised just now, I pump her hot mouth, tight throat and full stomach with just a lot of myself before pounding her flooded pussy against on the sofa and refilling that to the brim too.

    Several times, in fact.

    I am so fucking horny and full of energy!

    "Ah! Ugh¡­ Gugh¡­! Gakh! Ah, it hurts¡­ it hurts, Max! Ugh! Gah!

    Ahhh!"

    Allison protests as she grips the cushion of the sofa tightly with both hands while her ass is being split open by my mushroom crown from behind. Her knees are weakened as I force myself into her rectum slowly.

    I did promise to im her anal virginity the first time I had fucked her.

    Did I fuck her again after that first time?

    Yup, totally.

    But I didn''t break her ass cherry, opting to save it forter.

    This is as good as any other time, especially with the roleying going on. It just makes me super hard, thinking about iming her virginity, even if it is anal virginity.

    "Just a bit more, sweetie. Daddy must im his prize."

    I response and force a little bit more of myself into her rectum.

    Allison ws into the sofa and pants heavily at the huge intrusion. And soon enough, my balls hug her soaking cunt and recoating itself with my spunk once more. Her cunt constantly oozes out the cum as I did pump a lot inside her.

    She is definitely pregnant if I am wasn''t infertile.

    Can''t have a bunch of mini-me running around just yet.

    "See, it wasn''t so bad, sweetie? Now, tell daddy, who was your first? Also, when was your first? Don''t like to me now, or I will have to punish you like a bad little girl you are with this steel rod."

    My cock throbs in her ass, making her grunts. She then takes in a deep breath and steadies herself for what about to begin.

    With that and my hands around her glossy waist thanks to the one-man bukkake, I slowly pull back an inch or two and then m back in without hesitation, forcing Allison to see stars.

    "Tell me, sweetie, who was your first? Tell me!"

    I repeat my question. My hips already repeat its assault, spearing her tight rectum again and again. It is fucking tight! A lot tighter than her pussy.

    "It was¡­ it was with a boy¡­ when I was fifteen! We¡­ we¡­ were¡­ were¡­ drunk¡­ Ah! Slow¡­ please slowly down, Max. Ah! Argh! Aghhhhhhh!"

    Allison shouts as I pound her ass hard and fast, bringing myself towards climax. My cock is actually in pain due to how tight her backdoor is.

    "Fuck! You must be constipated all the time, sweetie. Let me give you a dose of medicine."

    Not long after I have announced that, I roar and st several doses of steamy medicinal fluids into her tight ass.

    "Hot! So hot! Oh God, it''s so hot!"

    Allision screams as the hotness fills her inside.

    My cum quickly lubricated my cock as it plunges in and out of her hole, bringing much more enjoyment to the both of us. I proceed to pound her harder and harder, forcing strings of cum to hang out of her cunt.

    At the brutal assaults, Allison arches her body upwards, allowing me to grope and fondle her breasts as well as giving her several iplete kiss. Her arms and hands also try to feel me awkwardly, but it is hard for her in that position.

    And somehow, Allison and I soon find us both standing and humping in an upright position. It didn''t stop me wrecking her ass with my cock. My heavy thrusting forces her across the room and away from thepletely drenched sofa.

    Shit! I must have cum gallons.

    Luckily, we did not slip on the floor.

    However, ourbined juices trail our wakes.

    The far wall within the apartment stops us and the full body mirror in front allows her to see everything happening from behind as well her messy appearance, covered in my spunk.

    I slow down to let her take a breath as she holds herself against the mirror.

    "Dad. Harder. Fuck me. Fuck your daughter! im my ass! It''s yours!

    It''s yours!"

    Allision speaks up, finally settling in the roley.

    "Take my cock. Take it, sweetie. Take it!"

    And I obliged, ripping apart her ass and flooding her inside with the brim.

    Cum erupts out of her asshole, running down to her cunt once I pull my cock out and spray her bubbly ass and nicely-toned back.

    "This is mine too, isn''t it, sweetie?"

    I question as two of my fingers spread herher lips, coating themselves in our mixed juices. She did orgasms multiple times as her ass get the pounding of its entire life.

    My spitting cock lines itself up against her drenched cunt, readying to spear it once more. However, I have another n in mind.

    "Yes, dad. It''s yours. It''s yours! Oh God, it''s yours!"

    Allison calls out and rubs her pussy and ass against me, urging me on.

    "Then how dare you let a boy ims it? How dare you!? You must be punished. Must be punished!"

    I call out and grab her slender waist. My cock ms into her virgin cunt, spreading the passage entirely and drawling blood in the process.

    Her eyes go utterly wide as sharp pain shoots through her body and crashes against her mind. Her face crashes against the mirror in front and pressing onto her teenage reflection.

    Allison is now fifteen, and she is getting fucked for the first time.

 Chapter 120: The Fun Continues

    And just like all those years ago, pain be pleasure, and screams be lustful moans.

    "Oh God, Max! Oh God! Ugh! Max! Ah! Ma ¨C dad!

    Fuck me, daddy! Fuck your little girl harder! Harder! Oh. Oh! Ah!"

    Allison calls out, urging me on and riding the blissful delight.

    Her hips meet my feverish thrusts, soaking my overly stiffened cock in her hot wetness and forcing me to drive it all the way into her tight snatch again and again, harder and harder each time.

    "You are such a fucking slut. Such a fucking slut, Allison! Did you know that? Huh? Did you know that!? Goddamn!

    With such a body like this, you deserved to be fucked! Deserved to be fucked and bred! I will breed you! I will breed you like a good father should! You like that, don''t you? Don''t you!?"

    I am also drowned in pleasure, drowning in pure primal instinct as I use her sexy teenage body to bring myself to absolute and utter orgasmic pleasure.

    There is no gentleness in my pounding of her pussy.

    And my hands tighten around her slenderer waist as I did so.

    "Yes! Breed me! Breed me! Breed me, daddy!"

    Allison screams at the top of her lungs, and her body reacts, squeezing my hard cock in an attempt to milk me for all I am worth.

    And it is a very good attempt.

    A very, very good attempt!

    Holy Mother of Jesus fucking Christ!

    My contracting balls just want to let it all out right there and then, flooding her inside to the brim, but I wish to indulge in the incredible tightness and warmness of her cunt a little longer.

    Just a little longer.

    Her hot cunt sheaths my cock perfectly as I spear it in and out of her body with such insanity.

    Such insanity!

    And just when I am about to let it all out into that fuckable cunt of hers without any restrain, someone hammers on the door repeatedly.

    Goddamn it!

    I almost freeze up. Allison almost did as well.

    But our mutual lust is overwhelming, forcing our very sweaty bodies to continue what they were doing regardless what our minds want.

    "Allison! And whoever that is! Can you two please shut the hell up! It is fucking 2am for god''s sake!"

    The person shouts, and honestly, for a second, I had thought the FBI was at the door, readying to bust me as I bust a nut into my teenage daughter.

    Eh?

    Allision is actually a teenager right now, courtesy of my temporal power.

    I have reverted her back to when she was still a virgin, so that I could im it for myself. That is using my noggin.

    Anyway, hearing the demand from probably a nobody, I shrug and resume what I was doing with full attention.

    No one can ruin this for me. No one!

    Allison reciprocates in kind and meets my strong thrusts by pushing against the wall and mming her cute ass against me. That ass will be filled out in the years toe.

    And it didn''t take more than a handful of seconds for the first shot to st forth.

    "Oh shit! I''m cumming! I''m cumming, sweetie! Daddy is cumming inside you!"

    I shout and bottom out inside Allison.

    My balls immediately squeeze themselves and my cock throbs and floods her hot inside with my baby-making seeds, all the way to her fertile womb.

    "Ahhhhhh! It''s hot, daddy. It''s so hot inside me!"

    Allison gasps and lifts her body upwards. Her body shudders and her inner wall tenses and contracts tightly, milking me for all that steamy and milky protein shake, making my cock swells in blissful delight and spreads her tight pussy even further.

    But soon enough, there is no space left within her passage and womb to amodate all that batters, allowing them to squeeze out in the gaps between her pussy lips and my shaft.

    "Hold still. It is stilling out."

    I exhale. One of her perkier breasts fill my palm nicely while I jerk my hips a little, pumping the rest of my spunk into her already overflowing cunt, earning some moans and groans over the hammerings of the front door.

    The room should be sound-proofed, so how did whoever that is know what Allison and I are doing?

    It appears that Allison has an admirer or stalker. Thetter is more likely. Definitely.

    And with a little peek via the hidden security feeds, Selene tells me all I need to know about the man, who used to work on the same floor as Allison. It was before Allison got promoted to Seniors. He had applied to be her assistant as he has all the qualifications and dedications, but she turns it down for obvious reasons, opting for a female assistant instead.

    But in any case, it has nothing to do with me unless Allison requests for my help.

    Once the climax finally subsided, my cock slowly retreats out of her abused cunt and allow her to rest onto the floor, panting heavily.

    With several ragged breaths, Allison looks up at me, letting me to see her beautiful face and teenage-self in full glory outside the mirror while cum continuously spilling out of her cunt, forming a nice pool between her legs.

    I must say, I will be going to jail after this. But before that, let me enjoy her mouth a little. More than a little, actually.

    Allison works my cock, both balls and shaft, expertly. Even if her body has been de-aged, her mind still retains everything her older-self have learned.

    Retaining all that information is damaging, but I did tell her to go and have a checkup at the hospital.

    In fact, I am going there soon myself to check up. Not to check up on myself, but on a girl by the name of Jennifer.

    I have been very lenience with Jennifer Aniston in regard to her father''s medical condition, but there is a limit to my leniency. Family is good, but work is work.

    "You are very cute, kneeling there and sucking my cock, little princess. Do you want to be cuter?"

    Ipliment as Allison takes me deep into her throat. Her eyes narrow slightly at the suggestion just as she swallows hard, bringing me to heavenly delight. I nearly grab her head and proceed to fuck her face and fill her stomach with my cum.

    Allison lets my cock out of her wet mouth and then runs her tongue along the shaft, from top to base, worshiping it delicately. She sucks up all the saliva, cleaning itpletely.

    "If you turn me into a little kid, I will bite them off, Max. One by one."

    Allison warns me before inhaling my balls into her mouth and sucking them.

    She would totally do that if I did, so I suppose for the safety of my family jewels, I will restrain myself.

    Honestly, Allison is already cute enough as a teenager. There is really no need to make her any cuter than she already is even if I really want to see how cute she looks when she is a little kid.

    Another time for all the lolicons out there, I suppose. Heh.

    So instead, I force Allison to take my stiffened cock into her hot mouth again. I still have plenty of cum with her name on it, and she has to work to get it out of me.

    "Yes. Suck me, suck your daddy, little princess. I have a huge steamy load for you in me. Several huge load in fact. Damn, you are quickly bing my favorite girl."

    A ping rings out in my mind when I state that, telling me that Antigone is awake and crying. It must be a coincident. But it also means the fun is over.

    Or is it?

    A temporal bubble around the room, enveloping me and Allison fixes that little problem. A second in the outside world is equivalent to several hours in the temporal bubble. It means that I can honestly have all the fun I want with Allison.

    Surely, Antigone could wait a second for her daddy, huh?

    Without thinking further, I begin to fuck Allison''s mouth and throat with all the intention of gifting her milky treat. She eagerly inhales my cock and gags on it. Tears pool around her eyes due to the repeated facial pounding. And once I reaches the limit, I pull out and jerk my shaft.

    "Open your mouth and stick out your tongue, princess. Daddy going to paint you all white!"

    I call out and before she could do as I have asked, a thick ropends across her beautiful face, bridging over one of her eyes. The next shotnds on her tongue and so did the next couple of shots, forming a rich pool in her mouth. The shots after that paints her face like I have stated.

    With cum dripping off her face and chin, sliding down onto her bare chest, Allison suck the rest out of my cock and balls.

    I rest back onto a chair as she gives my cock a professional cleanup. She is getting very good at sucking my cock. She has to be with all the time I have fucked her mouth.

    And with her wet tongue wrapping around my shaft lovingly, I feel like giving Allison another creamy makeup, so I did. There is no reason to deny myself and Allison the pleasure.

    We have plenty of time to do so, rtively speaking.

    I also pound her snatch again and refill it with myself before I leave her a gasping mess on her bed. It is unfortunate that I didn''t spear her ass again. But another time perhaps.

    "I will take you to the hospital with me in the morning, Miss Allison, so have a good rest. There is really no need for you to work this hard, I mean on the cases. It is the weekend after all, so you should enjoy yourself."

    I tell Allison while her head is bobbing between my legs, hazily sucking on my meat like a tasty lollipop and spilling some cum out of her lips. My cum has also dyed her face and hair as well as her body and bedding.

    How many times did I do it?

    "Mmmm¡­"

    Allison responses and takes me deep into her throat, requesting for one more milky shake. I give her two before returning home in the suburban area around New York City.

    Antigone is in her baby crib, holding onto the stic bars with her tiny hand and fingers. Her eyes are all watery, demanding me for an embrace.

    I pick her up with a smile and hug her tightly.

    "Don''t worry, Anti. You will always be daddy''s favorite girl. Yes, you are. Yes, you are."

    Thatment cheers her right up, and her cute little arms wrap around my neck, giving me a hug in return. I suppose she understands more than she can say.

    Of course, she does.

    Antigone is my daughter, after all.

    And I think she just give me a peck on the cheek.

 Chapter 121: Spatial Dimension

    Since Antigone didn''t want to go back to sleep, I suppose I will have to keep herpany until I could drop her off at the Connors in the morning.

    That will be about 4 to 5 hours of ydate, as it is currently about 3am on a Sunday.

    Holy fuck!

    Where is Stephanie when I need her?

    Eh? It seems that I am relying too much on Stephanietely to babysit my daughter, but it is what she is paid for. And paid handsomely too, considering the minimum wages in the 1990 America.

    Maybe I should hire a dedicated babysitter for Antigone?

    One that can never leave my sex dungeon.

    I mean my house. Heh.

    That thought of hiring a full-time housekeeper or a dozen has crossed my mind before, but I am rarely home on the weekdays, so it feels unnecessary.

    Plus, I do not want outsiders going through my stuff, which they will purely out of curiosity.

    Stephanie already did whenever shee over to look after Antigone, and I already have repeatedly told her off. She couldn''t help herself, and I am sure others as well regardless of age.

    Curiosity is in our nature.

    Without human''s curiosity, science would never advance to what it is today and will be in the future.

    I suppose Stephanie will have to do for now. Her hourly wage is more than appropriate for her young age, so there is no need to increase it either, at least not until Mrs. Connors is out of the family picture.

    The winning lottery numbers should have been drawn, so Mrs. Connors should have known about the result by now. She did not tell her husband about the rather exciting news, meaning that she is likely going to keep the winning all to herself.

    It is as expected for a gold-digging slut.

    Selene and Shield have confirmed this fact for me at my request.

    Mrs. Connors has always been one, even way before she had first met and then gotten together with her husband, John Connors, from all the way back in high school.

    She is one of those popr girls in high school, always surrounding herself with friends.

    In contrast, John Connors is a nerd of sort in high school, having a few good friends here and then, but always opts to do his own things.

    I was also a nerd of sort back in high school since I am very fascinated by science and history. Although I do have friends, I like to spend time to do my own things. I suppose this trait runs in the family even though we are not rted at all.

    Highschool¡­ that feels so long ago.

    It is a very long time ago, rtively speaking.

    I didn''t even finish high school back in the 21st century. Because once my godlike power awakens and thrusts me into the future, I consider my educationpleted.

    Besides, I did go through some sort of high schooling again in the 31st century. It didn''t take years and I didn''t have to deal with a bunch of bitches and their fucking boyfriends.

    I wonder how those bitches are doing.

    Oh wait. They haven''t even been born yet.

    They will be in the year 2000 or 2001. That is a decade from now.

    Just another cause and effect of time travel.

    Time to dig a few spike traps for those bitches. I do hold a grudge for a very long time. I do not forgive them for the shits they put me and others through.

    And thanks to my enhanced memory, I do not forget.

    Anyway, the real reason that Mrs. Connors had decided to finally get together with John and married the man is because John''s side of the family is rather wealthy, owning quite a bit of estate.

    Selene and Shield reveal this to me when I order them to look into the matter.

    I don''t usually want to know about people''s history. Unlike Allison, who has no choice in the matter, I really don''t want to fill my brain with useless stuff.

    But I honestly didn''t know my adopted-grandfatheres from old money. Mum had never told me about it, but she didn''t get to say much before death steals her away from me and dad.

    If death tries again, death will learn what it meant to piss off an Aspect.

    And since no one from that side of the family shows up in all the 18 years of my life, not even a greeting card on my birthday or Christmas, I guess that they didn''t ept Stephanie as part of their family.

    Stephanie was adopted after all.

    As a matter of fact, I didn''t recall my adopted-uncle and adopted-aunty, Stephanie''s adopted siblings, showing up at my birthdays either.

    They did send greeting cards on the holiday asions, so that is still something, I suppose.

    But that is because dad tries to keep in touch with them in order to keep mum''s memory alive.

    If only he had paid more attention to me and shown me the affection that I needed, I might have think twice about packing up and leaving for good.

    Just providing me a ce to live and putting me through school doesn''t make him a good father. There is more than that.

    Henry has demonstrated this. Just look at how Marian turns out. Great fathering job, Henry. You just create a little monster.

    In a twisted way, my father creates a monster as well.

    Hmm¡­

    Insert evilugh here.

    Things will change this time around, hopefully for the better.

    Maybe I will help my mother get some inheritance in the process. Adopted or not, she is carrying their family name. I did carry that family name for a time, and I will do so again one day.

    And as wealthy as my adopted great-grandfather and his rather popted side of the family is, I could definitely intimidate them into submission.

    But I prefer they ept Stephanie of their own freewill, just like I want humanity to ept their fault and submit to me out of their own freewill.

    In any case, I have a good opinion of my adopted great grandfather. Unlike John himself, the man has a very good eyes for people, thus the man did not help John financially, hoping that John himself would see what kind of person his wife is.

    That didn''t work out so well in the end since John is somewhat a self-made man, just like his father.

    The apple doesn''t fall far from the tree, even if is rotten.

    Just kidding.

    John Connors isn''t a rotten person per se. He does try very hard to provide enough for his family in his own way and capacity. He doesn''t really me others for all the misgivings in his life, such as the time when he was let go from a struggling constructionpany.

    Shield has an indirect hand in that due to its domination in the Construction and Manufacturing Sector.

    Coteral damage is unavoidable.

    And if I keep thinking about other people as a consequence of my action, whether they are directly or indirectly, nothing would ever get done.

    Regardless of what happen, John simply picks himself up and moves on with his life, finding a new job to pay for his family''s living expenses.

    And in more than one way, my adopted-grandfather deserves my acknowledgement, so I acknowledge him. I will stop calling him as my adopted-grandfather, and just simply grandfather from now on.

    While I could provide my grandfather irrefutable evidences that his wife is a fucking slut and that he needs some new friends, I am sure that he will forgive the lying bitch in the end out of some misguided love and affection.

    People areplicated, especially when emotion and attachment are involved.

    And I don''t need to peek into the future to know that Mrs. Connors will tearfully apologize and im to my grandfather that she loves him and only him. Note that I still call her Mrs. Connors.

    The bitch is not worthy of being my grandmother, not even adopted grandmother!

    As that is the case, it is simply better to give the bitch a shovel and let her dig a hellish hole for herself to bury in. And once she reveals who she is to everyone, my grandfather will soon find someone better.

    Miraculously, Stephanie''s siblings are from my grandfather''s loin, so he will¡­ probably get custody of the kids. It is not a certainty, at least not with my help in this regard

    Divorcews are fucking biased towards men. And people who defends it stereotypicallybel men as uninvolved with their kids during the marriage.

    Uh huh. There is a reason for that. It is call providing for the family financially.

    But the court will still take their kids away from them as well as most of their hard earnings to give to the woman.

    Misandry much?

    This is just one of the problems I find with the whole legal system. I will tear this whole fucking corrupt and discriminatory shit down before it festers into feminism and misogyny bullshit.

    Vent over.

    And Antigone is also snoozing again.

    Did I just vent for a couple of hours?

    Wow.

    I put my daughter back into her baby crib, tugging her and giving her a kiss.

    Antigone squirms as I did so. A smile forms on her lips.

    I am certain that she is aware of what I have been up to in one way or another. I will ask her all about it when she can finally form a coherence thought.

    Once that is done, I head to the living room and take a seat. I haven''t sleep in like forever, at least not since Ie face to face with a Dragon God.

    This is because I have so many things to do, and sleeping isn''t on the list.

    Also, why waste time sleeping when I can make any fatigue simply go away?

    However, I still close my eyes and give my body a rest. Doing so gives the nanomachines the chance to continue augmenting my body and biology.

    They couldn''t do it effectively if I am moving about and fucking people.

    Honestly, I am d that I choose this path of augmentation instead of instant augmentation. Not only it serves to map the human genome more urately, it also gives me a mean to evolve humanity and grant them psionic potential.

    Psionic power is very real.

    It is as real as magic, but sadly, it is not fully explored at all from what I have gather so far by scouting the multiverse. Not a single world thus far has detectable Esper.

    If that is the case, the prime-reality will be the first to have widespread psionic power. Hopefully, chaos will not ensure, especially when magic is also a thing.

    Speaking of Chaos, Terra demonstrates her distaste for science in her wordings. She obviously prefers to use magic over psionic. But Ingra use telekinesis against me, meaning it is notpletely unknown to her.

    Regardless, I am not like Terra, and I intend to fully make use of every tools at my disposal.

    As my body sleep, I open my eyes to another world and am greeted by Legion along with endless cold steel walls and corridors and rooms.

    "Greeting, Supreme Commander. Simtion #110706040147 isplete. Would you like to analyze the result?"

    I am now inside the spatial dimension of the one ring around my middle finger. And using neural reality interface through Selene, I can take control of an avatar and interact with anything there.

    It did feel somewhat strange at first since it has been a while since I y neurologic gaming. It is more advance than simple virtual reality as it simted every sense the brain can recognize.

    And deaths will certainly damage the brain.

    "I will review the resultter, Legion. Please halt all current tasks and simtions. You and I are going to figure out a way to save an entire universe. Did I say you and me? No, I mean we will."

    I response as a magic portal manifests in midair. I am really bother by the fact that I couldn''t save that dested reality with all the power, technology, and magic at mymand.

    While the origin or cause of the decaying curse cannot be located even with my power, there must be a way to give humanity of that reality a future. It is not their fault for their extinction.

    And I am not the one to let things go unresolved no matter what.

    Magic follows rules, and I just need to figure out the rules.

    Also, it is strange that my bio-mechanical avatar can use magic despite it does not have a magical core or pathway.

    I can also use my temporal power through my avatar. All of this just mean there is a lot to magic than my current understanding.

    Thus, it is the reason why I am bringing in outside''s help.

    A beautiful elven woman steps through the magical portal. She is as sexy as ever in her those revealing clothes of hers. The elves as a whole is gifted with undying beauty by their Goddess after all, and they certainly aren''t shy about showing their exotic skin.

    "My God, what can I do for you?"

    Eliana asks once she is kneeling on the floor and kowtowing me.

    It takes a moment for me to knock junior off the control panel. Didn''t it have a lot of fun just recently, already?

    I clear my mind and produce a sphere in my hand. Malicious aura swirls within it, clouding a very small spark of light that is Nairam Oxford.

    "Do you know what this is?"

 Chapter 122: World Creation

    Eliana Shadowsong isn''t as helpful as I have initially hoped.

    While she does know about the monster cores, she knows as much as I do, which is barely anything at all, to be honest.

    Apparently, the magical knowledge belonging to an Archmage isn''t really as great as it seems despite their heralded and feared status on Az and in the mind of the Azulian.

    The term Azulian refers to the native inhabitants of Az.

    It is really a general term for all the people living on the, not just the humans.

    That means the elves, the dwarfs, the werebeasts, and so on. There are actually a lot of different races on Az. And not all of them are living on the surface, where Legion can see them from orbit.

    In retrospect, the people of Earth are called Terran. And I do say people instead of humans only.

    As long as they are born on Earth ¨C any version of Earth ¨C they are called Terran.

    This is just a note for the future and what I have in mind.

    Nevertheless, it is not aplete waste of time since Eliana did confirm some of my spections and assumptions from what I have been able to witness myself.

    Monster core exists in all monsters, but it can only be harvested when the monster is still alive. If the monster is killed before the core can be harvested, the core simply shatters, releasing the essence into the surrounding.

    If no one is around to absorb that monster essence into their magical core or pathways or circuits, the essence will be absorbed into the environment instead. This happens very slowly over time, and it can cause magical contamination since monster essence is inheritably tainted.

    It is called monster essence for a reason.

    In addition, if a mage takes in too many powerful monster essences too quickly, it can cause corruption within their magical core.

    Or worst, it can cause monsterification.

    That is to say, the mage essentially transforms into a monster, usually an exceedingly powerful one thanks to their magic.

    Several powerful mages have inadvertently turned themselves into monsters throughout the history of Az. It usually happens when their magical core is unable to purify an extremely powerful monster essence.

    Taking in powers that exceed one''s own strength will only result in one''s own demise.

    That is a good lesson to learn when studying magic.

    And it did take an awful amount of Azulian lives to stop and kill these monsterified mages. Luckily, the sacrifices weren''t apletely loss, as the monsters did reveal the existence of the Arcane Realm.

    The Arcane Realm is a realm with unlimited magical power.

    If a mage manages to connect their mind and spirit into the Arcane Realm, they will be blessed with near limitless magical energy.

    However, there is a great price to be paid, mostly in the form of insanity.

    Insane mages are as dangerous as monsterified mages. Maybe even more so since they can still think somewhat logically instead of going on a rampage, destroying this and destroying that.

    Oh. There is still a lot of destroying things going on with insanity, especially when they have unlimited magical power at their fingertips.

    But why let a little insanity stops progress, huh?

    The danger obviously didn''t stop the countless human mages from trying to form a mental or spiritual connection to the Arcane Realm, all in order to attain that sweet limitless power.

    Some mages are even trying to create a dimensional rift into the Arcane Realm, so they can go there physically or let out unimaginable horrors into the mortal realm.

    Yeah, humans are humans everywhere.

    Their curiosity and greed will be their undoing in the end.

    And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    Being corrupted by tainted essences isn''t the only way to be monster, Eliana tells me.

    Monsters can be created when people are subjected to prolonged and extreme traumatic experiences or being taken over by overwhelming negative emotions, such as hatred and despair.

    But only in the presence of magic.

    Health potions is apparently magical enough.

    It has been demonstrated by Nairam Oxford. Since her malicious essence can be absorbed and locked into the monster core, she is ¨C by definition ¨C a monster.

    A monster of my own making.

    That makes me excited.

    Very excited!

    Without the presence of magic, people be murderous psychopaths instead when they are being subjected to such traumatic experiences and tortures, emotionally or physically.

    Those festering negative emotions just get bottled up in their mind instead of being personified in the real world as actual monsters.

    Didn''t that already happen so many times already?

    Every day, somewhere in the world, a psychopath is born.

    A monster of circumstances.

    Like me.

    "Interesting. I wonder if that is why monsters exist in Az?"

    Iment while examining the monster core in my palm. It is very precious to me since it is the first monster core I have managed to create, even if on ident. I will create thousands more in the future.

    Eliana obviously doesn''t know the answer.

    This is way too philosophical for her. And probably for me too.

    "I do not know, Master. Monsters have always existed since the time of creation, and they have always been attracted to negative energy, especially the unintelligence ones. The intelligence ones are more dangerous and cunning. Some even blend in with societies, using disguise and subterfuge."

    Eliana answers while examining the cold and empty corridors around us.

    Everything is as grey and metallic as far as the eyes can see.

    We are actually being surrounded by unfathomable numbers of micromachines.

    In fact, the entire spatial dimension within the ring is filled to the brim with micromachines, and they are replicating at an exponential rate, all just to give me that little extraputational power.

    I have shitloads of simtions to run and things to aplish, so it cannot be helped.

    But with their current number,s and moons and even stars themselves can be disassembled by Legion within a matter of hours for raw materials and energies.

    The reverse can also be true, but there isn''t a need for that to yet.

    The universe is filled with so much junks just waiting for me to disassemble and reassemble into useful things, such as Dyson spheres. Well, Dyson swarms is more correct.

    And if it wasn''t for the orbital stability of all thes within the sr system, I would have dumped a few new habitable worlds here and there.

    It is not impossible to create news from scratch, especially with my power and the seemingly endless amount of micromachines at my disposal. It just takes time and patience, and I have plenty of time and patience.

    "Your world is very grey and dark, Master."

    Eliana points out.

    I chuckle at thement and then put the monster core away. I will do some experiments on itter, just to see how it tick.

    "We are actually underground, Eliana. And my world isn''t as grey and dark as you have said, but I will let you be the judge of that one day. Let heads up to the surface, shall we?"

    Eliana nods in agreement.

    And the moment Eliana did, the ceiling opens up, forming a perfect squared shaft, leading all the way to the surface.

    The ground beneath us begins to ascend, elerating each passing second.

    Since we are actually several hundred thousand miles below the surface, it will take a while.

    "While we wait, do you know any curses that can kill nts and only nts?"

    I question.

    This is about the decaying curse that another reality is currently suffering from. Everyone in that reality is already dead, but dead is rtive to me.

    Unless their souls get destroyed somehow, I could always bring them all back. But without a solution to the curse guing them, they would just suffer and die again.

    I already know about magical curses and their nemesis, blesses or blessings.

    This is thanks to the Heavenly Path to Basic Magic. Sadly, the book did not tell me more than just basic information.

    "Curses, Master? Yes. There are quite a few. Which nts are you trying to target?"

    Eliana questions.

    "All type of nts at once. And everywhere at once."

    I response.

    That shocks Eliana. I have already expected as such.

    Mages are powerful, but they aren''t all that powerful in the grand scheme of things to be honest. They are nothingpared to a God, let alone a Primordial or an Aspect.

    Hell, in the right condition, a Hydra assault team can assassinate Eliana without breaking a sweat. They might be in a fight for their lives if they expended the element of surprise and have to fight her head on.

    "I am sorry, Master. I don''t know any curses that can target all type of nts at once. And everywhere at once? That will require an unimaginable amount of magical energy. It is only within the domains of Gods."

    And that answers my question. Whoever is doing this is either a God or beyond. I do not think I am at the level of taking on Gods head on yet.

    "I see. In any case, I would like you to impart all the curses and blesses you know. They might be useful to me in another way."

    I tell Eliana, and she acknowledges my request.

    While Eliana didn''t know many curse or blessing runes, she does know some that I do not know at the moment. It is too topile every rune in existence.

    It isnguage of the Gods, after all. I might need it to speak on terms with Gods.

    And once we are nearing the surface, sunlight could finally be seen.

    It is not natural sunlighting directly from a hugepressed ball of burning hydrogen and helium and other elements, but it is still as good and sufficient for what I needed.

    In fact, it is actually better than having a giant sun in the sky.

    The surrounding walls that made up the elevator shaft also changes from metallic grey to stoneyers, consisting of all manner of rocks and ores. This is to simte the mantles and crusts of a.

    As that is the case, we still have several thousands of miles to go until we reach the surface.

    Eliana gasps when we finally emerge from the ground and into a very dense forest. It is not the dense forest that surprises her. It is the lingering magical energy that surrounds the forest.

    That magical energy feels very familiar.

    "Master. Where is this? This ce feels like¡­"

    Eliana utters.

    "Yes. It should because it supposed to. As for where this is, you could say this is my world. A world of my own creation."

    I point out and look up at the clear sky overhead. It stretches for billions of miles in all directions and more with each passing second. Space is constantly expanding within this spatial dimension.

    Outer space is not beyond that blue and sunny sky.

    Aside a burning wall of mes, countlessyers afteryers of micromachines greet whoever tries to fly more than a 100 million miles up there. That distance is roughly about the same distance between Earth and the Sun.

    "A world you created, Master?"

    Eliana is in awe. Even if she couldn''t see it, she could feel it. This world is enormous. It definitely much bigger than Az, which is roughly the same size of Earth.

    "Yes. I am your God after all, and if I cannot do something like this, I do not deserve your worship and affection."

    Eliana immediate bows.

    "You are my God, Master. My one and only."

    I chuckle and tell Eliana to get up. There is no need for that really. Most of what she is seeing is merely an experiment.

    It is one of many experiments I am conducting.

    I am always conducting experiments now days.

    "Oh, by the way, Eliana. Please tell me if you have made any progress with the elders? Are your people willing to forsake their belief and take up my offer?"

    Eliana lowers her eyes at the question.

    "I am sorry, Master. I am trying. Please give me more time. Your offer is very generous. I am sure that they will see my way soon."

    I nod in understanding.

    It actually isn''t that long since Ist saw her, rtively speaking.

    As a matter of fact, it is fairly difficult to keep track of everyone since I am all over the ce.

    "There is really no need to apologize, Eliana. I know that you are trying your best, and it is all that I can really ask. Would you like to join me for a bath? It has been a long day for me."

    Eliana is happy to. She is always happy to serve her God.

    Ah. This is the life.

    And with I wave my hand just for effect, the trees are forced to part and a hot spring to form. The sky finally changes, shifting from daytime into nighttime with beautiful simted universe above.

    That is just good timing since it takes about 10 minutes for the light from above to reach the surface, but it brings this sense of reverence within Eliana.

    She keeps staring at the sky, seeing the countless of moons and stars, all in different colors. Since it is not real, they move and dance across the sky majestically.

    "Ahem."

    I cough and gain her attention.

    I am now standing at the edge of the hot spring, where steamy fragrant entice me to take a dip.

    A skinny dip with a hot elf. Alright, a very hot elf!

    "Are you going to let me stand here like this, Eliana?"

    I question.

    "Please forgive me, Master. I am just in awe at your creation. Please allow me to service you, with my mind, body and soul."

    Eliana apologizes and immediately undresses me gently. My shirt goes off first then my pant. My pant takes a while since she didn''t know how to undo my belt.

    Her puzzlement brings a smile to my face. There is this unique charm to her innocence. She will be in a shock of her life when she finally visits my world.

    A world of technology instead of magic.

    For now, I just want to enjoy a rxing bath with her.

    It brings a lot of good memory to my mind.

    And let just say my junior is far more than happy to be free of the confine in more than one way.

 Chapter 123: Always Experimenting

    Of course, this is all part of an experiment.

    My real body is actually resting peacefully back in the living room, allowing the nanomachines to carry out their tasks, whatever those tasks may be, all under the watchful eyes and guidance of Selene.

    But that didn''t mean I couldn''t use this bio-mechanical avatar to fuck a sexy elf into unconsciousness.

    And I am doing just that, as I am balls deep inside her tightness.

    If Eliana has noticed the differences in my body, she hasn''t said anything yet. All she is doing right now is moaning and groaning as I brutally pound her hot cunt into submission.

    Eliana is really into the sex.

    I am as well.

    Is there a reason not to?

    All parts of the avatar, inside and outside, are functioning as they are designed to, allowing me to fully immerse myself into the blissful experience.

    I can even cum when I am ready to. It is real cum too, carrying my gics.

    But I did make sure my baby batter doesn''t make anyone pregnant for obvious reasons.

    I admit that the avatar does feel strange at first, but I do get used to it quickly.

    It is a very highly advanced piece of engineering marvel, capable to simting all five senses perfectly.

    But more than that, it never gets tired no matter what. And if it gets destroyed inbat or otherwise, I am still safe and sound.

    My mind might get the shock of its life in such an event, but my mind has been through so much after all these times. A bit more wouldn''t matter.

    Deadlybat is the main reason why I am testing out the avatar. The fornicating part is just a bonus.

    "Master! Master! Please teach me!"

    Eliana calls out as her body convulses violently and her passage bes incredibly drenched. She has her sexual awakening not really that long ago, and she is already well on her way to be a nympho ¨C my nympho.

    "I will, my little sexy cock-sleeve. I will! Now, scream for me. Scream for your God! Screams!"

    I response and p her perfect bubbly ass repeatedly while continuing to pound her snatch hard and fast from behind.

    My cock thickens as it spears her wet and hot inside recklessly.

    "Ah! Master! Master! Ah! Ahhhh!"

    Eliana screams and screams at my behest. It is hard not to when I am wrecking her cunt with my cock, making sure it remembers its shape and size.

    And I reward her dedicated servitude with a bucket load of cum, flooding her lovely insidepletely again and again.

    My cock remains rock hard despite the empowering climax.

    It is currently plugging her overflooded cunt, preventing any cum from spilling out.

    Eliana copses headfirst against the edge of hot spring, panting and heaving. Her pussy continues to tighten and squeeze me.

    Since I ampletely unaffected by exhaustion, I resume pounding her pussy and dumping another steamy load or two into her womb before letting her clean me methodically with her mouth.

    And just like Allison, Elian-a is getting good at sucking my cock and deepthroating me. They all should, amongst the other things they are good for.

    Once Eliana finishes cleaning junior with her wet mouth and washes me by using her body as a sponge, I made sure that her ass remembers me, repeatedly.

    It was before I send her back home to her husband. I also give her a creamy milkshake for the journey home since her throat might be parched with all the screaming she had done.

    As much as I enjoy herpany, Eliana has things she must do back in Az, and so do I.

    Legion cleans up our mess in a jiffy, restoring thendscape and forest to what they were before.

    The sky also brightens up, bing daytime once more.

    Within this spatial dimension, Legion can emte perfect day and night cycles as well as all the season, but most of it is unnecessary.

    I mainly use this dimension for weapon testing instead of ying farmers and growing crops.

    Speaking of which, quite a bit of weapon testing is done right after sunlight bathes the vastndscape, stretching into the t horizon. As this is not a, the horizon is not curve, but perfectly t.

    The weapon testing is for me to see whether magical shields and barriers can really stand up to a wide range of weaponry in my secret arsenal.

    Hydra wishes it has all my toys.

    I am keeping the very best for myself, as some of these weapons are capable of destroying the world.

    Through the countless tests so far, I have learned that magic did not really break the fundamentalw of the universe. Blunt force trauma can still be a bitch when you get thrown around the battlefield, and sma bolts can still pack a punch under sustained fire.

    In fact, concentratedser or sma beam focus at a single point can puncture a magical shield within a microsecond, killing whatever or whoever inside the said shield.

    31st century powered rifle is very capable of this, as it is mainly used to kill pilot inside heavily armored and shielded mechs. That is why most mechs are highly mobile and constantly on the move.

    Standing still inbat for even just a second will get you killed, especially inside a warzone.

    This is not to mention the intense heat being generated when being sted with high-powered sma orser bolts repeatedly.

    Nothing can theoretically survive at extreme temperature, exceeding millions of degrees.

    Magical shields do not dissipate heats, and they certainly did not stop the heat from prating.

    Thermal Lance demonstrates this with a single shot. Nothing remains after the dust has finally settled, including thendscape.

    At more than a couple of trillion degree Celsius, everything gets instantly vaporized upon impact, being shielded or not. I don''t think that Dragon God even generate a temperature that high.

    But magical mes do have its own advantageous.

    While exceedingly powerful for a single shot, Thermal Lance is only used against slow moving targets since it takes forever to charge up. They are basically siege weapon, firing from one to another simr to coronal mass ejection from the sun.

    I also learn that direct-energy weapons can bypass almost any magical shields and barriers unless they are specifically designed to counter electromaic radiations.

    That is unlikely since I am sure that the mages have no concept of such scientific thing.

    Seeing microwave beam cooks and melts an organic dummy while it is being protected by a powerful magical barrier is very interesting. The shield didn''t even stop the microwaves.

    Microwave beam is also invisible, so against real opponent, they wouldn''t even know what hit them.

    It is actually very difficult to defend against focused microwave beams or electromaic pulses, even by the 31st century standard.

    That is why most military vessels are usually fully automated or controlled from afar. It is pointless to pack ships with crewmen when they can be killed with little efforts.

    The best way to defend against such a weapon is try not get hit in the first. It is quite impossible since directly-energy weapons fire its charges at lightspeed.

    And I will not go into thetest and most powerful direct-energy weapon humanity has ever thought of in their infinite wisdom of trying to kill each other ¨C Gamma Projector.

    From my understanding, a single gamma beam has about the same amount of energy in a 10 trillion, trillion billion megaton bombs, so it gives me a good idea of how destructive it is against pretty much anything.

    Forparison, the most powerful bomb recorded thus far is 50 megaton Tsar Bomba by the Soviet Union back in October 1961. A gigaton bomb of the future is capable to wiping a country off the map, and they spam the damn things all over the.

    That is really child ypare to Gamma Projector.

    Luckily, no one has built and fired such a weapon yet. It is a weapon of pure annihtion. Not only it kills everything on a and below the surface, it renders a utterly uninhabitable.

    And this is not even the most dangerous weapon our ingenuity has created.

    Humans are just very good at killing things, mostly each other. And without a stern hand, humans will always bring forth their own extinction.

    I am sure that even if humanity is spread out throughout the universe, humans will find a way to kill each other across the gxy.

    The superweapon that fireary-busting shells across the sr system demonstrates the extreme length that people will go in order to make those who they disagree with gone.

    Aggression is human nature. It helps humanity to be the dominant species.

    Sadly, it will lead humanity to their extinction.

    Honestly, a good solution to this very extinction problem is to stop technological progresspletely.

    I could do it with a few thousand satellites around the, generating electromaic pulse.

    No electronics will work within an electromaic field, meaning no easyary busting weapons, but doing something like that doesn''t sit right with me.

    It also traps humanity on a single since the highest technology they can reach without electricity is steam and mechanical power. Is it possible tounch spaceships into orbit with steam power alone?

    I have no clue. I will do some experiment on that.

    Once the weapon testing is done, I turn my attention to the curses and blesses rune that Eliana provide for me.

    Why did I test new weapons first? No reason other than I like blowing up things.

    You have to have fun every now and then.

    Most of the Runes that Eliana provided are not known to future Alex or Hans, even if future Alex and Hans are 10th circle mages.

    As that is the case, I am sure that there are probably a shitload of Runes waiting for me to learn them.

    Runes are like Japanese Kanji or traditional Chinese Characters. That is to say, they are not like English words, formed from the alphabet.

    You can only remember the Runes by heart, which is insane since there are like millions upon millions of them,bining together, they can have all sort of effects.

    Drawing random symbols with magical power without any knowledge about what they mean will always results in an explosion, so it isn''t just remembering them. It is alsoprehending them.

    Good thing I have a lot of cheats with this,paring to all those poor mages who have to study each one and try to remember them.

    Like Eliana had exined previously, curses are created specifically, targeting specifically thing.

    Blesses or blessings are designed to counteract or nullify curses.

    But what Eliana didn''t mention is that it fucking takes forever to find and formte a proper blessing against a certain curse, especially if a curse is exceedinglyplex.

    I don''t even remember how long I am at this without asking Selene. Probably months.

    [It has been 107 days, Operator]

    Luckily, time is beingpressed in here. Only about and hour has passed in the outside world. I still have some time before morninges.

    Returning to the problem at hand, the Curse of Decay that kills all life in an entire universe is beyondplex, so finding a counteracting Blessing is way beyond my current capability.

    n B then. I am already at this for too long.

    If my magic is insufficient, my technology will swoop in to save the day.

    Fabricating technology is more than sufficient to provide enough foods for an entire world.

    Since the Curse of Decay only targets nts that are growing in the field, it should not affect the ones that have already been harvested.

    I need to check this first, but I am rtively sure.

    Of course, fabricating technology wouldn''t solve their problem, but it does give them a future to look forwards to.

    I am aware that humanity isn''t the only one at the short end of the stick in that reality. Countless other species on Earth as well as outside of Earth are brought towards extinction as well, but I can only save a few, and I prefer humanity to be a part of that few.

    At least, humanity would have an entire universe to expand into. There would be no need to genocide of other alien races or fear the intergctic invaders from outside the gxy.

    Those invaders should be dead, right?

    In any case, I wonder if humanity would prosper if they remember the horrors of what had happened to them and their family in the wake of their extinction?

    An idea pop into my mind. Maybe. Just maybe.

    It will also give humanity amon goal! I want to test this theory out in the real world. No simtion or anything of sort. It is about time.

    "Legion. Prepare an interster battle cruiser and its escorts. We have a world to invade."

 Chapter 124: Desolated Reality (POV)

    2003.

    It has been two years.

    Two years since that fateful day.

    The day that every nt life on the withered up and died.

    No one could exin the global phenomenon, logically. No virus or bacteria responsible could ever be found. It just happened as if the world was cursed.

    As if we are cursed by God.

    We are cursed by God!

    Without a single nt growing anywhere in the world, thend bes barren. The animal kingdoms be depopted within a single month. nts-eating animals first, then the meat-eating ones.

    And within two months, paper money bespletely worthless as the world economy copses.

    The Government is still holding onto what little power and control they can muster, but at the current rate, they too will be gone.

    Everyone hoards as much foods and supplies as possible, hoping to wait out this trial ¨C this deadly trial from God as the Church has repeatedly imed.

    Only the faithful may be given salvation. But the faithful continues to die of starvation each and every single day, no matter how many prayers and atonements were given.

    This is no trial from God, for he has abandoned us.

    That is the truth, isn''t it?

    Isn''t it?

    I am at a loss to what to do now. Joining the mass and praying did not solve anything.

    It never did.

    And more and more people are beginning to understand that now, deserting their shepherd as their faith begins to wane while the ravenous hunger takes hold.

    We have taken everything for granted. And now there is no food left.

    No food for me or my children.

    I have sold everything that is worth anything just to survive another day, and I have done thing that I am not too proud of, all to feed myself and my children.

    My wife has left me, leaving me heartbroken when she left. She has never loved me! She has told me that herself when I beg her not to leave. She has even taken my oldest daughter with her.

    My adopted daughter.

    I truly hope that Stephanie have something to eat these days, unlike me and her younger brother and sister.

    I am at my limit. I don''t think I canst another day.

    "Dad. We are hungry."

    Joshua calls out on the floor. He has be so skinny after all these months. His younger sister, Misha is also the same.

    My youngest daughter is too weak to even utter a single coherence word. Sheys there on the couch, panting faintly.

    "I know that you are, Josh. I am as well. But please try to hang on. I will try to find something for us to eat soon. Just hang on."

    I response and try to hold in my tears. Seeing my children like this simply break my heart. I have failed as father. I have failed as provider. I truly have.

    Taking my shotgun, I head back out into the street along with many others, all searching for something to eat. Just something to eat. Just something. Anything.

    Water is plenty as it constantly rains and floods thanks to the destruction of the ecosystem, but foods is nowhere be found.

    Not even a single bird could be seen or heard. Not even a worm digging in the dirt. Anything that can be eaten have already been eaten.

    Likewise, the supermarkets have been stripped absolutely clean months ago. There is nothing left on those selves.

    Despite that, people are still wandering and crowding at the supermarket, looking for a deal with what little scraps of food they have. Foods have be the new currency in this new world. With food, a person can buy anything and everything.

    Just seeing an expired can of bean for trade makes me drools.

    But I have nothing of value to trade. My strength is failing me. I could barely stand upright.

    "You look like you won''tst much longer. Where do you live? Anyone is living with you?"

    A tall and fairy broad person asks me from behind. He looks like he won''tst much longer either, and his dark eyes show his desperation.

    I don''t really want to think too much about it, but many of my neighbors have disappeared.

    They obviously didn''t die, and their home seems to be broken into. They were taken. Their family were taken.

    Oh God!

    I need to leave. I need to leave here. Leave here as soon as possible.

    "Hey Mr. Connors."

    Someone calls for me as I pull myself from the crowd.

    I turn towards the young woman, who is dressing far too provocatively. She is a friend of my daughter, Stephanie, back when they were in high school.

    However, they have a falling out after graduation over a boy, so the girl doesn''t show up at my house anymore.

    "Susan."

    I response as Susan approaches me. Unlike my youngest daughter, Susan still has some meats on her frame. She is faring better than most people thanks to her beautiful look.

    "Where are you going, Mr. Connors? Do you have any food? I can make it worth your while."

    Susan asks me, leaning forwards, allowing her long hair to stream around her bare shoulders. And for anyone else younger than me, they probably take a good look at what she is offering under that loose tank top of hers.

    But for me, however, I am too preupied with my own problem to even notice. Like every girl living in town, she is doing whatever she needed to in order to survive. In order to survive another day, just another day.

    Perhaps, tomorrow will be better. Perhaps, tomorrow this nightmare will finally be over. One can only hope. By God, one can only hope.

    I shake my head.

    "I am sorry, Susan, but I don''t have anything for you. No anymore."

    I tell her and continue my retreat, without ever looking back.

    I have tried to help her as much as I can with what little I have stashed away, but currently, I am in no position to help anyone. And no one will help in return.

    Susan will find another person. She always does.

    I hope Stephanie isn''t the same. Oh God. Please don''t let my daughter be the same. Death would have been better.

    Darkness slowly descends as I wander the streets and roads, looking for anything to eat. For anything to eat at all. There is nothing to eat. Not even a de of grass.

    The shotgun in my hands stops anyone with ill intention from getting close to me.

    They rather stalk easier prey, such as the countless girls.

    Rape is rampant now days, and cannibalism is on the rise from the amount of people are missing every day. Young. Old. As long as they have some meats, it didn''t matter.

    This is what society has been reduced to. This is what we have been reduced to.

    Everywhere I look, houses are emptied and looted and torched. There is nothing left.

    Nothing left but enter the merciful night.

    I return home emptyhanded like yesterday and the day before. Joshua and Misha have fainted. They are still breathing. Still breathing barely. There is nothing I can do for them except an easy release.

    An easy release from this suffering.

    God. Please let my children into your embrace.

    Just let their sufferings stop even if I am burning in hell.

    I pray and pray before spilling gasolines around the house. This is the best I can do since I am unable to give them a proper burial. Even if I have the strength, I don''t want them to fill someone''s stomach.

    Oh God. Oh God.

    Tearfully, I check my shotgun. Two shells stare back at me. Then one shell. Then there was none. Only ringing sound in my ears apany my sorrow. My overwhelming sorry.

    "Please forgive me, Joshua. Please forgive me, Misha. Please for give this father of yours."

    I call out repeatedly as I load another shell into the shotgun. mes burn brightly all around me, and they reveal what sins I havemitted.

    What I havemitted!

    Oh God! Oh God!

    Taking a life is a sin. Taking one''s own life is a sin. I am going straight to hell for what I am have done, for what I have done.

    I truly am, but at least I can send my children to heaven instead.

    It is the only thing I can do for them.

    It is thest thing I can do for them. Please forgive me. Joshua. Misha. Stephanie.

    With the barrel in my mouth, I pull the trigger and enter the night.

    I have thought that is the end. I truly have!

    But I found myself waking up on the couch with my head and brainpletely intact.

    They were not sttered all over the wall and floor before a raging inferno takes me into hell.

    However, they are hurting.

    It feels like a massive hangover as if I have been drinking my body weight in alcoholst night.

    A scream pulls me out of the couch and out into the corridor.

    It was Stephanie. She is yelling at her mother.

    Tears running down her face along with overwhelming anger.

    She is angry. She is furious. She is full of hatred.

    Hatred towards her mother. Her adopted mother.

    My wife is utterly shocked. It is like she has seen a ghost.

    I have the same expression as her, seeing Joshua and Misha standing up the staircase. My beloved son and daughter are as shocked as me.

    "How could you! How could you!? You gave me to those monsters! Those fucking monsters! And for what? For just a can of food!?

    For just a can of food!?"

    I am unable toprehend what is happening.

    It was all a dream, right. All a dream, right?

    "Dad! Oh God Dad! I am so happy to see you! Please don''t let her take me away! Please don''t let her! She is a monster!"

    Stephanie hugs me tight, and my wife remains speechless. Utterly speechless.

    Guilts and fears ster on her face, and she immediately run out of the house.

    As my wife did so, violence erupts throughout the streets with people crashing through their windows and rolling on the witheringwn. Thewn that once has been covered with lively green grasses not just too long.

    Countless people are shouting at each other, cursing each other for all the things they have done. For all the things they havemitted. No. For all the things that they willmitted.

    It isn''t a dream. It isn''t a dream. Not a dream at all.

    With Stephanie in my arms, my eyes look towards the calendar hanging on the wall. My heart almost gives out.

    1st of January 2000.

    It is toote. It is already toote.

    The world will fall into ruin after this day, and there is nothing anyone can stop it.

    My arms tighten around my daughter, realizing that I will have to kill them again. Not just two of my children, but all three of my children.

    I cannot help but cry. But cry at the inevitability.

    Why God!? Why!? Is this my hell? My personal hell?

    But before tears could stream down my eyes like unending waterfall, the world rumbles heavily and the cloudless sky casts a massive shadow over the entire neighborhood.

    People in the street have stopped what they are doing and stare at the sky in utter shock. This includes my wife, who just didn''t know where to go.

    What are they all looking at?

    What? What?

    I need to know.

    Once I slowly exit the front door and stepping on the witheringwn, I look upwards with my children.

    All our jaws cken as a massive spherical spaceship blocks out the sun and much of the sky itself. Not just one ship, but dozens of titanic ships.

    They are moving slowly across the sky, and they are shaking the entire world as they did.

    "Wow. It''s Independent Day!"

 Chapter 125: Alien Invasion (POV)

    Joshua is the one who had said that.

    And I think my son meant to say: Independence Day.

    Unlike the actual holidaymemorated on the 4th of July yearly, Independence Day is a movie about an alien invasion of Earth. It was released about 4 years prior, in 1996.

    The movie stars Will Smith, Jeff Goldburn, Bill Pullman, and many others.

    I am somewhat familiar with the real names of the actors because the movie was prominently featured in numerous papers and magazines, such as Time Magazine. The movie was amercial and critical sess during its theatrical run from what I can recall.

    Like myself, many people have seen the movie.

    And knowing what happened in the movie, I truly hope that what I am seeing isn''t the case.

    A lot of people are going to die otherwise.

    I honestly do not think that the entire world''sbined military strength can defeat an alien invasion just like in the movie I have seen. It is just not possible for us to fight and win against a technologically advanced species.

    Our own history has repeatedly illustrated this fact very clearly.

    Whenever two groups of culturally different peoplee to face, the technologically advanced group will always triumph over the other.

    Therefore, just by pure logic, if the alien species can travel across the vast cosmos to get here to Earth andunch an invasion, they wouldn''t be defeated by a singleputer virus.

    From my engineering projects at a constructionpany, I am a bit confused at how aputer virus from Earth can affect theirputer systems, which should bepletely alien.

    It is already a nightmare to transfer simple data such as building schematics from an operating system to another, such as Windows to Mac OS and vice versa.

    And these operating systems are designed by us.

    I don''t need to be aputer technician to know that their alienputer systems wouldn''t be able to make heads or tails of the virus created by us, let alone allow our virus to infect theirputers to the point that we can cripple their vessels.

    While I do hope we can fight and win against an alien invasion, that is just wishful thinking.

    Wishful thinking never solves anything.

    I have learned that now. Starving to death really changes a person. For better or worse, I am no longer the same person I once was.

    Nevertheless, I believe that God didn''t give everyone another chance to live and make amend only to take it all away now.

    Only God has the power to turn back time and bring everyone back to life.

    It is strange that the alien shows up the moment God did.

    Could this be a coincidence?

    It is too much of a coincidence to be one.

    So far, the alien spacecrafts are not doing anything besides hovering ominously over the city. Even so, their presence gives me this dreadful feeling.

    Something big is going to happen.

    I just know it.

    And it is bigger than the unexinable withering and decaying of every nts across the world.

    I gulp and avert my eyes from the sky to have a look at my three children standing around the witheringwn.

    Beautiful green grasses just a couple of days ago are nowhere to be found. The flowers adorning the front garden are also dead. And with them, the pollinators such as bees will also be gone. It continues up the food pyramid, killing each species one by one.

    We will best. There is no escape.

    But my children are not paying attention to that.

    They are all staring at the spacecrafts in awe, especially Joshua. My only son has been skipping school and went off with his buddies to the arcades and movies.

    I have told him off many times already, but he refuses to listen.

    Misha is bing the same, preferring to talk on the phone with her friends rather than studying and trying to get into a good college.

    Where did I go wrong in raising my children?

    I suppose with the impending doom, school is thest thing on my mind.

    On anyone''s mind really.

    I should have paid more attentions to my children instead of leaving them to my wife. My wife! Edith. Edith. She spends more time in the arms of another man than taking care of her children.

    Dad was right. He is always right. I hate it when he is always right.

    But I do not regret leaving and marrying Edith. If I did, that means I also regretted of having children with her.

    My children.

    Their survivals are the only thing important right now.

    And it is more dire with the surprised arrival of the alien spacecrafts. Their intention remains unclear, but the aliens are obviously not here to just say hello.

    No. If they wanted to do that, they could have stayed in orbit and outside the atmosphere.

    In any case, I have to get out of here. We have to get out of here.

    Get as far away from the city as possible!

    "Steph. Josh. Misha. Please go back inside and pack your things. We are taking a road trip to my father, your grandfather. Please hurry."

    I order and then look for my wife.

    Edith is at the far end of the street. She is still staring directly at all the titanic spacecrafts hovering in the sky. They are casting looming shadows over everything on the ground.

    Most people are like her, still staring speechlessly at the spacecrafts. They havepletely forgotten about what will happen to the world in the uing days, weeks and months.

    People will fight for little scrap of foods remaining just a little bit more than a year from now.

    Speaking of which, I need to stock up as much as possible.

    We need to stock up as much foods as possible.

    "You guys! Are you listening!? Get inside the house and pack your things!"

    I call out again. Louder and more emotional this time.

    Joshua and Misha finally snap out of it. They hurriedly enter the house and run upstairs to the balcony in order to continue looking despite my outbursts.

    In contrast, Stephanie stops me from heading off to get her mother.

    "Please don''t, dad. I don''t want to be anywhere near her. You have no idea what she did to me. You¡­ have no idea¡­"

    Stephanie pleads. Her tearful eyes tell me all that I need to know. I have seen terrible things happened to countless young girls like her in the apocalypse.

    I look at my wife one more time before giving my adopted daughter a hug.

    "Trust me when I say that I do, Steph. I will not let her hurt you ever again."

    I assure. This time, I will protect her. I will protect my precious daughter from my wife. No. She is not my wife anymore.

    Edith has lost that right when she had abandoned her children and took away Stephanie from me.

    "Please look after your brother and sister until I return, Steph. And make sure to pack your things. We are heading out of town as soon as possible."

    I request afterwards.

    "Yes. Dad."

    Stephanie acknowledges before I headed towards to the garage, where my car is waiting. It feels like months since I have driven the thing. It is months!

    Gasoline is just too precious to be wasted, especially when the power nts shut down.

    Once Stephanie enters the house and tells her younger brother and sister off, I reverse the car out of the garage and into the driveway. I begin to head down the street afterwards.

    The car stops next to my wife.

    "Please get in, Edith. You and I need to have a talk."

    Edith turns her attention away from the spacecrafts in the sky and towards me.

    Tears soon return to her eyes as she reluctantly enters the vehicle. Edith and I have brought this family car together. I can still recall asking her opinions then.

    After what happened ¨C or maybe I should say, what will happened ¨C it feels so strange having Edith in the car with me.

    "I''m sorry, John. I''m so sorry for saying all those things. I didn''t mean it. I didn''t really mean it. It is just that. Just that I feel I cannot live in that ce anymore.

    I have to get out. I have to find somewhere to else."

    Edith pleads but I remainpletely silence.

    What she had told me when she left our homes still ring in my mind. It hurts me greatly, and I will not find it in my heart to forgive her. She has taken me for a fool for far too long.

    "Then why did you take Stephanie with you?"

    I question as the car speeds towards the bank. There are a lot of people there, trying to withdraw all their savings.

    Just like me, everyone remembers what had happened to them. They remember what will happen in the uing months.

    "Because I don''t want to be alone. I don''t want to be alone, John. And Joshua and Misha are too young to follow me."

    Edith responses. She is lying through her teeth.

    "You are lying, Edith."

    I response.

    "No. That''s the truth, John. That''s the truth."

    I step on the brake and m my hands on the steering wheel. I hate this woman. I hate this woman so much. I cannot believe I have lived with her for years. For years!

    "You are lying even now, Edith. Stephanie does not tell me, but I can guess exactly what you did. You never once thought of Stephanie as your daughter. You always believe her to be a tool. A tool for you to use. A tool to keep me blind.

    I am no longer blind, Edith. By God, I am no longer blind."

    I tell her exactly what I think of her.

    If there was no other choice, I am remorseful d that Edith had taken Stephanie. If¡­ if she had taken Misha instead, the girl would not be able to recover from that.

    To be raped by men and then amputated until finally allowed to die.

    Anyone would be driven insane.

    "You are despicable. You are a monster. Get out! Get the fuck out of my car! I don''t want to see your goddamn face ever again. And either will Stephanie or any of my children.

    Here. This is the keys to the house. It is yours. Do whatever you want with it. I just don''t want to remember all the shits you have done in the house behind my back. It wasn''t just Steve, was it.

    How many. Fuck. I don''t want to know. I don''t want to have anything to do with you."

    With that I speed off, leaving Edith at the bank. She calls for me, but I steel my heart. She is not fit to be a mother.

    As for the bank, it is just not possible to withdraw anything with so many people rioting and crowding the ce. It is pure chaos there.

    In fact, rioting and looting are everywhere in the city. And probably the entire world.

    Everyone is grabbing whatever they can to stash at their home and basement. The more the better. It is all to ride out the iing storm. The storm that will surelye.

    Police themselves are even looting with what they know about the future. Their familyes first.

    I want to loot as well. I want to grab as much things as possible, for myself and my family.

    But I couldn''t do it. Not like this. Not like this.

    People are bleeding on the streets due to being beaten up for trying to stop the looting and rioting.

    For trying to do the right thing!

    And just when thing couldn''t get any worst, an ear-shattering humming sound ripples the air, forcing almost everyone to stop what they are doing and cover their ears.

    The painful sound emanates from the massive spacecrafts above.

    When it eventually stops, I look up towards the sky and see thousands¡­ hundreds of thousand spheres emerge from the alien spherical vessels, descending rapidly onto the ground.

    What are they!?

    I am too frightening to find out as I speed away. I need to get home. I need to get home fast. I can get supplies elsewhere. As long as my children are safe, I can get supplies elsewhere.

    The spheres are fast. They glide past my vehicle and head straight to the street''s corner.

    While most of those spheres continue onwards in search for something, several spherese to an abrupt stop and then hover around a man, holding a crowbar.

    A woman is lying on the ground in front of him, begging for her life. Her arm is broken.

    "What the hell is this thing!?"

    Before the man could use the crowbar to hit one of the spheres, one sphere to his side erupts into a silvery nket and envelopes the man, swallowing him whole. He screams ad fights, but it is to avail.

    Is it eating him?

    They are the alien! Alien!

    I step on the brake before my car could get any closer. I need to get away. Get away from them!

    Once the silvery nket returns to a hovering spherical alien like the rest of its brethren, it spat out the clothes the man had worn as well as the crowbar.

    All the aliens then hover around the woman grimacingly.

    "No. Please. No!"

    The hurt woman pleads desperately but the aliens didn''t relent. One of them splits open and swallows her as well. She screams and fought, but like the man before, it is to no avail.

    Once the alien creature returns to a hovering spherical blob, it spits out her clothes along whatever it could not digest.

    And then to my surprise, it grows in size and then spit out the woman, naked. She is still screaming, shaking her head and ying her hands, including the injured arms. No. Her arms are no longer injured.

    It heals her? But what about the man? What about him?

    I expected the alien to spit him out too, but instead, they fly away in search for more prey. They didn''t give back the man.

    And after witnessing the aliens in actions a few more times, Ie to understand that the aliens are actively targeting and devouring only those who causes violent or even has the intention of causing violent.

    It is as if the aliens decide to step in and stop all the madness before it spirals out of control.

    And they are doing a very good job in the city and throughout the world.

    Rioting and looting immediately stops.

    But sexual harassment just goes right through the roof.

 Chapter 126: Preparation Stage

    Is it necessary to sexually harass people?

    Yes and no.

    Mostly no, even if I do enjoy the hrity that ensues.

    Aside from returning the much-neededw and order back into the world, Legion is actually breaking down people''s body when he devours them via the countless avatars that are flying all over the ce and scaring the craps out of people.

    The stripping and subsequent dissection is to scan their biology and to map out their gic makeups, since their clothes and whatever they have on their person will just get in the way.

    For science!

    Their entire memory is also get downloaded and deciphered in the process.

    Once I have what I needed, Legion will put their body back together again.

    And as a bonus, Legion will also fix whatever wrong with their body, giving them perfect health, before regurgitating them.

    The regurgitating part is reserved only for those who will behave. Those who are not will enjoy a little bit of time in a stasis cell.

    Even if they are not caught red-handed in the act by Legion, the intention to do evil is enough. Scanning their surface thought is sufficient to determine whether they will cause trouble or not.

    Scanning their brain beats having to sit in front of a judge and a bunch of jurors.

    It is highly immoral even by 31st century standard, but not by my standard.

    I ept that the intention tomit a crime is not enough to sentence a person, but it is good enough for now. And it isn''t like I am keeping those bad people locked up in a spatial dimension forever.

    I will let them all out once this mess is resolved.

    This mess in question is everyone remembering what had happened to them in the future.

    I have left everyone''s memory intact. It is just easier for the people to ept my offer, especially when the alterative is a long and agonizing death.

    If the people didn''t remember what had happened to them a few years from now, they will not readily ept my rather generous offer, thinking I have some sort of agenda.

    Of course, I have some kind of agenda other than saving humanity from extinction. This whole thing is an experiment to me. An experiment to see if peace and prosperity can be enforced.

    Sure, some misguided people will believe that I am responsible for the Curse of Decay. I am obviously not, but it doesn''t really matter what I say or do.

    And I do not want to waste time and energy to change their mind. Is there a point to that when I could just as easily intimidate the world into epting my offer through technological superiority, giving the people really no choice in the matter?

    If my technology fails me, I still have my magic and my mastery over time.

    But all of that is n B.

    n A is actually allowing the people toe to their own conclusion. And when they finally do, they will ept what I have to offer themselves without me forcing it upon them.

    I will not tell you what the intricate details of the n is, so you will have to find that out yourself. Just know that if it works, it will ensure the survival of the human race of this reality.

    In any case, I am current at stage one of my n.

    Actually, this isn''t stage one yet. It is more like preparation. I also need to stop the widespread rioting and looting. The local authorities aren''t stopping that, so I guess I will step in and do it.

    I am also looking out for Terra and the one responsible for the extinction of this universe.

    So far, neither have shown up. And I don''t think they will show up.

    In any case, let''s get back to the problem at hand. I need to have everyone in this world on profile for stage one of my grand n.

    Therefore, Legion is hunting down everyone and stripping them of their decency.

    It is more than that, but I couldn''t stopughing.

    Anyway, while that all soundsplicated and convoluted, the whole process did not really take more than a couple of seconds for each person, and each person won''t really feel anything aside from being utterly terrified at getting eaten and then being stripped naked.

    Legion obviously didn''t need to spit the people back out naked one he is finished with them. However, to redress them as they were before would take about another second or two.

    Why waste precious time on such trivial matter?

    Legion could use that extra time to hunt down and devour another person. And it isn''t like the people doesn''t have hands and the brain to redress themselves.

    There are roughly 6.4 billion people on the right now.

    And I don''t really have a billion micromachine orbs flying around and hunting down everyone.

    While I could, I just won''t. Having too many drones will actually slow thing down.

    Not only will the drones get into each other''s way when there are too many of them in a small amount of space, the amount of electromaic radiation they generate due to being constantly connected to each other is actually harmful to organic life.

    Logistic is also a nightmare.

    It is the same reason why I don''t have starships hovering above every city around the globe.

    Only the major cities such as New York City gets the special treatment. This is mainly due to poption density. The more people there are in an area, the easier it is to hunt them all down.

    As for the starships themselves, I just made them all Death Stars equivalent since the formfactor really has no bearing on its overall capability.

    It is also much easier to assemble when the starship is just an ugly ball ofponent.

    There is also this alien feels to the starships since human do love aesthetics.

    And how did the starships manage to keep themselves afloat without any visible engine or exhaust?

    While the 31st century has never discovered antigravitational field, they do have quite a bit of research and theory into this field. Legion and I just needed time to do the rest.

    With antigravitational field, gravitational drive can generate powerful force of attraction and repulsion by manipting gravity. In simplest term, it is like a ma, attracting and repelling each other.

    Celestial bodies such ass and moons are basically giant gravitational ma. Generating a field to oppose it allows the starships to basically hover.

    Antigravitational technology is just one of several techs I and Legion research and develop ourselves.

    Sure, humanity of the 31st century would figure it out eventually, but considering the time it takes us, it will be another millennium or two.

    We have also improved on a lot of their designs, such as the Fusion Reactor. Due to the massive power requirement we needed for all our projects, the reactor is one of the very first things I and Legion try to improve upon.

    A Ster Reactor is derived from the Fusion Reactor. Instead of nuclear fusion, apressed star is at the core of all Ster Reactor, hence its name.

    Ster Reactor provides as much power as the sun itself. The next step is Singrity Reactor, but the Ster Reactor provides sufficient power for now.

    Legion has better thing to do, such as Miniaturization. It is based on the Spatial Compression. And if it is sessful, I can finally be Ant-man.

    Heh.

    Anyway, I am currently sitting in a coffeeshop, enjoying a nice hot cup while the people outside are in a state of panic.

    The people are running away from the countless metallic spheres. Some of them are trying to shoot down the sphere with their firearms, but that is pointless.

    They need a lot more firepower to take down even one of those spheres.

    Furthermore, their attempt to destroy the sphere will mark them as hostile, meaning they will not be regurgitated after being molested.

    "Don''t shoot them! Put down your weapon! If you do, they will not harm you."

    One of the homeless persons call out. He is naked and looked too clean for a homeless person.

    But from the information hovering above him through my eyes, he is. He was actually dying of a lung infection just a moment ago, but Legion heals him, right after molesting his body for its sexy gic.

    Several people did, but Legion devours them anyway, causing the gunfights to continue. It couldn''t be considered a gunfight since only one side have guns.

    Legion has a standing order of not to retaliate no matter what.

    I am not seeking to kill people.

    "No. No. Get off me. Get off me!"

    One of man shouts as Legion envelopes him. A handful of secondster, Legion spits him back out and continue onto another person.

    Seeing that, some people are staring to surrender, allowing Legion to carry out its task.

    At the current rate, I believe that within a single day, everyone in the United States would have been molested and tagged. China and India might take a bit longer due to their enormous poption.

    Several hundred million people have already had their time with Legion, and most of them are locked up in a spatial dimension due to their aggression or hostility.

    That is expected, considering what they have been through in the future.

    By the time this is preparation stage is finallypleted, the world probably loses about 70% to 80% of its poption.

    Damn.

    Oh well. What must be done must be done.

    I take a sip from my coffee cup and have a check on my mother, Stephanie. She is the very reason that I wanted to save this reality.

    I am bias that way.

    My mother does exist in this reality, just like she exists in all modern-type reality, but despite the year being 2003, I am nowhere to be seen.

    In fact, my mother didn''t even get together with my father in order to have me.

    From the information extracted from her mind after Legion has his time with her, my mother and my father have dated back in high school. But their rtionship didn''t continue after high school due to a certain girl name Susan.

    That is unfortunate, but there is no need to correct that.

    I have also reviewed the memory of the future. She suffers greatly at the hands of other thanks to her adopted mother. That bitch is still a bitch in every reality. And I am d that my grandfather has finally kicked her to the curve.

    He is driving home right now, amidst the chaos.

    I suppose it is time to introduce myself to my grandfather. Having him run me over is good enough.

    And maybe get to know my mother a little once I wake up again in afy bed.

    Huh? I think I have seen this in a movie somewhere.

    I check if my underwear is the Calvin Klein brand just to make sure before emptying my coffee cup and get off the seat.

    It is time to have a bit of fun with my mother.

    I mean not in the sexual way even if my mother is quite pretty herself. This will be the first time I have seen my adult mother in person. It will be interesting.

    And I do have time after all.

 Chapter 127: Sweet Mother

    The cares to a skidding stop. It is right after I get to rollover the hood and smash my body against the windshield.

    I was then thrown off the smashed windshield by the momentum, rolling right back down the hood of the vehicle and thennding on the hard asphalt.

    I don''t need to describe to you what it feels like to be hit by a speeding car, but unlike normal people, I have to fake all my injuries and pains to get some of that sweet insurance money.

    Just kidding.

    It is actually because my muscles have be far too dense to allow something like getting hit by car to injure me. My bones are in the same state. My skin can still be scraped, but my elerating healing factor will fix that right up within a second.

    I am way beyond human.

    Biologically, I mean.

    Evolution is a wonderful thing.

    And I ponder to myself what the human body will be like in the far future.

    From all the fantastical powers my children have awakened or are beginning to awaken, I think godlike is a very good definition.

    Maybe humans will be Gods one day.

    But that won''t happen in a thousand-year time since the 31st century didn''t have people flying around the sky and shootingser out of their fucking eyes.

    It might take a million a year to be honest.

    For humanity tost that long without bombing themselves into atoms, it is a challenge.

    I also wonder what kind of wonderful technology their ingenious mind coulde up with in a million years. I just can''t wait to find out.

    But sadly, I cannot speed this whole process up and get my hands on those reality-wrapping toys.

    There is no other way but to y this step by step.

    And enjoying each step of the way makes the blues go away.

    I am not a machine after all.

    Speaking of which, Legion can only expand and improve upon the technology that have been invented or correctly theorized. Legion cannot think like a person and devise new concept or theory.

    The moment Legion can, he will be an artificial intelligence. A cybeic lifeform is the next step in digital evolution. But even if Legion reaches that stage, he will not be like organics.

    From what I know, digital lifeforms do not take pleasure in the little thing in life like we, squishy organic do. Digital lifeform are basically a race of ountant, cold and logically.

    That is no fun. No fun at all.

    Honestly, you have to enjoy the little things in life, even if those things are morally questionable. Those immortal things actually get easier the more youmit them.

    For example, killing someone the first time will definitely horrify you even if you are a psychopath, but after the umpteenth times, you hardly give a shit anymore.

    If you must know, I did have a problem with banging those I have considered as my daughters.

    But after a few times, I don''t have that problem anymore. My junior certainly does not.

    And it is kind of hot, to be honest.

    Therefore, why let morality gets in the way of some fun?

    "Fuck! Where the fuck did youe from!?"

    My grandfather shouts and hammers the steering wheel in anger and frustration. With all the spherical drones flying around, running over someone is thest thing he wanted to do.

    He has seen clearly for himself how they have dealt with countless of people, who has hurt another.

    Some of the micromachine drones did stop by the ident to check if someone is injured and in need of medical attention, but they move on shortly afterwards.

    If it was a real ident, Legion would render aid as it is within his directives to do so. But this is not a real ident.

    I need a way to get into the family and get close to my young mother. She is around 22 years of age. I am around her age in appearance.

    Yep, totally not sexual at all.

    In contrast, Joshua and Misha is still in high school. They are not 18 yet.

    Misha takes after her mother, Edith Connors, in appearance as well as personality. She is that popr girl who every hormonal boy wants to be with in high school. And they will be able to get into her tight jeans if they shower her with money and luxurious gifts.

    Honestly, from her downloaded memory, I can say for sure that Misha is well on her way to be a whore just like her mother. It is how she is raised from childhood. With a trap I have dug for her mother back in the prime-reality, her prime-part will turn out differently.

    Well, I could only hope.

    Misha is not as important as my mother, Stephanie. And Misha hasn''t proven to me that she is worthy of my attention. It is kind of hard to do since Misha is still in kindergarten back in the prime-reality.

    As for Joshua, he takes after his father, John Connors. But only in appearance. Unlike his father at his age, his only interest in life is girls and games. Joshua will be a bum when he grows up, sloshing around at home and smooching whatever money he can get out of anyone and everyone who give a shit about him.

    This is how he was raised by his mother.

    John is too busy working and supporting the family to raise him like he should. In more than one way, John is having the same problem just like Henry Oxford.

    But unlike Henry, John does not have a loving wife who cares deeply for him and their children. I want to change all of that, in the prime-reality as well as any reality that I havee across.

    My grandfather obviously didn''t see me on the ount of me had just appeared magically out of thin air. It is quite hard to dodge something like that.

    But it did take me a few attempts to get my grandfather to run me over.

    All the times previously, my grandfather had either missed me barely and be on his way again while cursing profusely or crashed into another vehicle or building in the attempt to evade me.

    It couldn''t be helped since no one in their right mind would want to run over another person.

    And if I teleported in far too close to the speeding vehicle, I might merge myself with the car and then be some sort of bio-mechanical abomination.

    If I die in the process, time will just reverse again and give me another shot.

    Honestly, this ability is just like saving and loading.

    And I can reload as much times as I want if small things didn''t go my way.

    Lying face down on the asphalt, I let out a painful groan and wait for my grandfather to exit the vehicle and render me aid. I hope he does because I have a good opinion of him.

    Grandfather is the same John Connors of the prime-reality, so I do not need to differentiate them.

    John reverses his car to see me from the cracked windshield. He takes a second to think to himself on what to do. There are no one around as they are hiding from Legion.

    It is a futile attempt to hide from Legion.

    Once grandfather finally made up his mind, he gets out of the car and approaches me carefully. He is not sure whether I am dangerous or not.

    But honestly, he should know that fact since Legion have already taken out anyone who have any form of ill intention towards others.

    "Hey, buddy. Are you alright?"

    John questions after rolling me to my back. I groan weakly in response, telling him that I am seriously hurt. In response, he gives me a couple of hard ps across the face.

    All to make sure that I am not really faking it.

    Eh?

    Grandfather does know that he had just hit me with his car, right? Even if I appeared to bepletely uninjured on the outside, I am totally hurt on the inside. Totally!

    Anyway, once John makes sure that I am not faking it, he lifts me up and takes me to his car. He drops into the passenger seat in the front and strap me in.

    "I hope the hospital is in chaos. And it is fucking in the opposite direction. Shit."

    John wishes, but it currently is. It is swarmed with people.

    My grandfather seems to realize this as well. Before he gets into the driver seat, he pushes up my eyes to see if I am having a concussion or something more serious.

    "Can you tell me where you live? If it is close by, I can drop you off there."

    I let out a groan in response and gesture my hand weakly. I decide to pass out then since I didn''t want to answer any more pointless question. Just take me back to your house already, old man!

    John debates with himself a bit more before he did. He couldn''t just dump me in the street and hope for the best. And he is in a hurry to take me to the hospital.

    Even with my eyespletely closed, I can see everything through the countless drones that are flying around the ce. Some of the drones are cloaked, acting as scouts.

    Cloaking drains a lot of power, but power isn''t a factor here.

    "Dad! What happen to the car!?"

    Stephanie calls out when John parks his car over the frontwn. Joshua and Misha are there with them as well. All three are a bit shaken up due to being stripped and molested.

    "Don''t worry about it, honey. What happen to you? Did the aliens do something to you?"

    John calls out and looks at the spherical orbs hovering nearby. Stephanie and the other two describe exactly what happened.

    They had tried to barricade themselves in the house after they managed to witness Legion doing his thing, but a little barricade couldn''t stop Legion.

    Legion breaks into the house effortlessly and then proceeds to gobble them up and then spitting them back out along with their clothes and personal effect. Other than that, Legion didn''t do anything else.

    I confirm this when reviewing the videos.

    Heh. What?

    I also watch Bill Clinton and his wife being assaulted in the White House by numerous of drones while I wait for John to give each of his children a hug and ask them whether they have packed their things or not.

    The security details protecting Mr. President and the First Lady are unable to even slow down Legion, and the military personnel camping outside the White House are all swallowed up and not given back due to their hostility.

    Seeing grown men scream in terror makes me chuckle. Against an unknown enemy is terrifying.

    God. I love this.

    Beside terrifying everyone out of their wit at the White House, I did manage to get a lot and I mean a lot of dirt on the 42nd President of the United States after Legion has a good look at his memory.

    Someone is being naughty.

    Well, more naughty than running around the White House butt naked after getting molested.

    The First Lady, Hiry Clinton as well. She is actually more tame and less ambitious than her husband, at least at the moment. But we all know how that will go in the future, huh.

    My trolling is not as severe as the entire United States trolling her with Trump.

    In any case, having dirt on the both of them will make thing a lot easier for me when everyone is forced toe to the negotiation table.

    Lovely ckmailing materials.

    Why didn''t I do this in the prime-reality? Well, I already did.

    How do you think Shield muscles all those politicians into doing what it wants?

    The uing and 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush and his wife Laura Welsh Bush are also assaulted in their home. Both of them are stripped starkly naked along with their children and whatever bodyguards who are protecting them.

    More ckmailing materials for me. At least one George is spared in the sexual harassment.

    Yes. George Lucas is more important than the President of the United States. His adopted children are not spared, however.

    "Everyone will be okay. Everything will be fine, I promise."

    John assures as he helps carry out the luggage along with whatever foods and hard currency he could find. He did leave some for Edith out of consideration.

    "Hey Dad. Who is this?"

    Joshua asks when he opens the front door. He wants to ride shotgun. That is to sit in the front seat of the car.

    "Shit. I''ve forgotten about him. Josh. Help me carry him inside."

    That is my queue to wake up. I am not interested of being dumped in an empty house. I want to go on a road trip with my mum and grand-daddy.

    I groan and held my head in pain before slowing open my eyes.

    "Ugh. My head. What happened? Where am I?"

    John immediately rushes to the car. He tells me what had happened to me and apologizes deeply for the ident. He also helps me out of the car after exchanging names.

    Hastily too, I might add. He is in a hurry after all.

    I nod in understanding while sitting on the dried-upwn.

    "Here. This will help with the headache."

    Stephanie offers me an icepack.

    She actually rushes into the house and searches for one when I copse onto thewn.

    I ept the icepack with a smile and press its coolness against my head for effect.

    "Can you find your way home, Max?"

    John asks and packing the luggage into the vehicle.

    Joshua and Misha have already gotten inside with Joshua sitting in the front. He isining about the smashed windshield while Misha is busy typing away on her phone, chatting with her friends and sharing the horrifying experience of the future. Bulky looking devices.

    "I¡­ don''t think I can, John. My car is totaled before you hit me with yours. Umm¡­ where are you headed? If possible, can you give me a lift as well? I have a ce just outside the city. It is a really long distance for me to walk."

    I tell him and struggle to get off thewn, showing him that my legs are in pain.

    Stephanie gives me support, and I ept it with an arm around her shoulder. She has been through a lot in the future and it has strengthened her resolve.

    John is reluctant even though I am appeared to be in pain.

    Since that is the case, I guess I will use a bit of magical persuasion on him.

    But before I did, my mother speaks up.

    "Please dad. Look at him. He is really injured. At least get him to where he needs to go."

    Ah. Sweet. Sweet mother.

 Chapter 128: Middle of Nowhere

    Grandfather eventually relents.

    And I get to ride shotgun in the car since he didn''t want me anywhere close to his daughters.

    Both of his daughters, Stephanie and Misha.

    I have zero interest in Misha.

    Joshua isn''t too happy about the sitting arrangement in the car, but he really has no say in the matter. And as soon as I am dropped off somewhere, he will get to sit in the front again.

    Hurrah!

    That obviously isn''t going to happen if I have anything to do about it.

    Everyone is moving as ording to my design. Grandfather and his family are no exception.

    "Aren''t you a little too young to have a ce of your own, Max?"

    John asks me as the car pulls away from the house. He does not intend to return here from what I can tell, but he keeps a spare key on his person anyway.

    The main key to the house is with his wife, Edith, whom he had left at the bank out of rage and anger.

    Good ridden to her.

    Grandfather should have dumped her ass a long time ago.

    And he shouldn''t have forgiven her when he finally learned of her extramarital affair years before. He only learned of one, but he suspected she had more than just one affair.

    He has suspected correctly.

    In truth, Edith is not at the bank anymore. She is currently locked up in a stasis cell once Legion had a go at her, just like Legion had a go to everyone at the bank. But that is Legion though.

    I still haven''t had a go at Edith yet.

    And for what she did to my mother in the future, I will skin her alive as a start.

    I will also skin the men who had raped my mother alive too. They definitely remember what they have done to my mother and the numerous other girls, so I will see how they like it when they are raped to death.

    Bruce can be very, very fulfilling.

    "You can never be too young to have your own ce, Mr. Connors."

    I response as the car begins to speed away from the neighborhood.

    Due to Legion, there are no more people wandering around the street or fighting amongst themselves for whatever reasons. Most of the people are at home, huddling with their family out of fear or terror, as they should be.

    I mean the huddling part. The rest are for me to enjoy.

    "It actually belongs to my father, Mr. Maxwell. But he isn''t around anymore. He dies in a car ident when I was young."

    I bullshit.

    But Selene fabricating all my papers and documents, the truth is exactly what I say it is. Legion actually helps out in this regard since Shield is missing in action.

    I need to have proper identification in this reality for stage one of my n.

    "I am sorry, Max."

    Grandfather apologizes deeply and sincerely.

    He realizes that he shouldn''t have brought up old and painful memory, especially when he nearly killed me in an automobile ident.

    That is what was going through his mind, I guess. It is a good guess as I do understand his character to an extent. He is someone who would do anything to ensure the safety and protection of his children.

    John bes silence for several minutes afterwards despite wanting to know about my mother. For the sake of simplicity, my supposedly mother is also dead in the same car ident just like my father.

    I don''t want people to dig too deeply into my family matter.

    Not only it is private matter, they wouldn''t really understand it fully. And they wouldn''t have thought that my mother is sitting behind me in the backseat right now.

    Since grandfather did not speak, I did not speak up either. There is really nothing to talk about between us.

    John is in his mid-forties while I am in my early twenties. The age gap in our appearance is enormous to be honest. It is even more so than his prime-counterpart to me back in the prime-reality.

    Therefore, I will act as if grandfather is from the previous generation. That means being respectful and what is not.

    John is my grandfather after all, so he deserves such respect.

    Of course, I am much older than he is, but let''s not get technical.

    Instead of trying to make conversation with my grandfather, I steal nces at my mother visible in the rearview mirror whenever possible.

    My mother is quite an eye candy.

    And seeing her in her adult form does bring back a lot of memories. Despite being married again, dad had never really forgotten about my mother. I could see why now.

    But by keeping the memory of myte mother alive just makes my stepmother mistreats me whenever dad is not looking, which was quite a lot considering he rarely at home in the morning and afternoon.

    Great job, dad.

    You are such a dumbass.

    And I emphasis the present.

    Why didn''t you get together with mum in this reality?

    You let someone this hot get away? Something is wrong with you!

    Stephanie matches my gaze several times from the backseat, finding the strange familiarity in my facial features.

    That is to be expected.

    I have inherited those features from her after all, and no amount of augmentation would change that.

    As a matter of fact, the nanomachines leave my facial appearance alone as I do not want to wake up one morning and see a totally different person staring back at me in the mirror.

    Not only I would be shocked, Antigone would be frightened.

    While I do not understand why my mother always give birth to me, I do understand that she is a very important person in the grand scheme of things.

    Strangely enough, I must be born regardless of what happened to her, so she is not as important as I am.

    I don''t think anyone is more important than me.

    Being an Aspect is super important from what I can gather.

    That is just to bloat my ego.

    Putting my mother on ice or killing her will only force someone else to give birth to me. If I am born to another person, I will get a new appearance, which is very weird now that I think about it.

    My appearance did not matter to the grand scheme of things apparently.

    Only my existence is.

    That is good and also frightening to know.

    I smile at my mother before speaking up softly.

    "Umm¡­ Stephanie, is it? Is there something on my face?"

    I apany that particr question by rubbing my face to demonstration.

    John narrows his eyes when I did. He then takes a handful of seconds to adjust the rearview mirror so that he could see all three of his children together.

    Misha is still on her phone, but she is also listening to music now with her walkman. From the faint soundsing from her earphones, I think it is Britney Spears singing. Britney should be getting her spotlight around this time. In the prime-reality, she is still just a little kid.

    Phase 2 of my global entertainment giant n willunch her into stardom along with several children, but that phase is still a couple of years away.

    I am in no hurry, really since time is on my side.

    Like his little sister, Joshua is also on the phone. He isn''t listening to music. He is ying games instead. Shitty snake apparently.

    Neither of Joshua or Misha has remembered the full harshness of the future since John had protected them from the outside world to the best of his ability. If they did, they wouldn''t be like this.

    They would be more on edge, like their older sister, Stephanie.

    "No. It is just that you look very familiar. Have I met you somewhere before?"

    Stephanie responses.

    "No. I would have remembered someone as gorgeous and generous as you, Stephanie. I suppose that this is a bit toote to say now but thank you for the icepack and your shoulder."

    I response calmly. My choice of words is enough.

    Stephanie smiles faintly. She has heard such apliment many times in college, but all they wanted to do is to get into her bed. I show no interest in such thing, so it is already a plus in her book.

    "You wee, Max. My father did hit you with his car, so it is only right for me to help you."

    I nod.

    "Yes. Thank you again. If it was your father, he would probably just leave me there for dead. I did recall that he was thinking about driving off right after he hit me."

    I point out calmly and continue to exude an aura of maturity despite what I am emphasizing with my words.

    "Hey! I did not."

    John denies hastily.

    And that is enough for Stephanie to know what to believe.

    "Only the guilty denies, Mr. Connors."

    I point out with a charming smile while matching my eyes with my mother. She giggles lightly before straightening herself.

    John retorts with another denial, but he is only digging a deeper hole for himself. And I response to all his denials with cold and logical fact, winning a few more giggles from my mother.

    "Alright, that is enough, Max. Thank you for that. Honestly, I should have taken you to the hospital or a clinic."

    My grandfather responses when he admitted his defeat. He then switches on the radio and tunes to a proper channel.

    Due to the chaos, only a few channels are on air.

    "Please do not engage the alien sphere. I repeat. Please do not engage the alien sphere. They will not harm you or your family if you leave them be. Do not show sign of hostility towards it or anyone in your immediate vicinity. And whatever the alien sphere does, do not retaliate.

    Do not retaliate!"

    The radio calls out. It continues warning people about Legion and encourages people to stay in their own home for their safety.

    It seems that quite a number of people get the message, judging from the amount being locked up in stasis at the moment. What was above 70% drops sharply to 30%, meaning that most people are being spit back out after Legion has his fun.

    That percentage will continue to drop once the world understands the alien''s intention.

    Since most people are being hold up in their home for their own safety, the highway out of the city is not being congressed at all, allowing us to head to where I directed them to.

    "Turn here, Mr. Connors. My ce is just at the end of the path."

    John nods in understanding and steers the car towards the path. Surrounding both side of the road is withering trees. Dried up leaves constantly shower the earth.

    The Curse of Decay is in full effect.

    And there is no way to undo the curse, at least not with my current power and understanding of magic. But that didn''t mean I couldn''t save the humanity of this reality.

    The path is incredibly long, allowing me to talk a bit more with my mother. She is warming up to me very nicely since I know exactly what buttons to push her.

    When the road finally ends, a small shack can be seen.

    The car stops right in front of it.

    "This is the ce? It doesn''t look any different than an outhouse."

    John asks as I open the door and struggle to exit.

    Seeing that, Stephanie immediately get out and help me out of the car.

    "It is actually just the entrance to the underground bunker. My father has it built in case of a nuclear war with the Soviet. It is stocked up with enough supplies tost me for years. Anyway. Thank you for the lift, Mr. Connors.

    I wish you all the best."

    I response and struggle towards the shack. There is no need to invite them in. They will have no choice but toe in soon.

    And once I open the door to the shack, it reveals to be an elevator shaft.

    "Thank you, Stephanie. I do hope we meet again."

    I response.

    "Me too, Max."

    Stephanie replies before heading back to the car and join the disinterested Misha in the backseat. As for the front seat, Joshua is already upying it.

    My mother seems a bit sad of leaving me, but I have that effect on people.

    Standing at the doorway, I turn back to the Connors and wave them goodbye.

    John begins to reverse the car once he gives his goodbye.

    The car heads away from the shack, following the road back to the highway.

    But sadly, they didn''t get very far as the engine stalls and then dies in the middle of nowhere.

    As if I would let them leave.

 Chapter 129: The Invitation

    That didn''t sound creepy at all.

    And in order to stop my grandfather and his family from thinking that I am actively stalking them like a serial killer, I will just wait here at the entrance of the shelter like a good mass murderer that I am.

    Mass murderer sounds about right for the amount of people I have killed, on purpose or otherwise. It is mostly otherwise.

    I do try not to ughtering everyone who dare to cross me one way or another, but when I could bring anyone back from the dead with just a snap of my finger, I tend not to think too much about this.

    People I have killed directly or indirectly are not really dead in a sense.

    They are just not amongst the living until I decide they should.

    In fact, for this preparation stage, it might probably be just easier to kill the people instead of stashing them in stasis cell. Stasis cell do cost a lot of power to operate. Power that could be diverted elsewhere more useful.

    I will have to think about this for when I run out of stasis cell to dump evil people in.

    How many do Legion have constructed in advance as preparation?

    Over 10 billions?

    Oh. Never mind then.

    Is it strange that I rather kill people instead of creating more stasis cells to hold them?

    People give me less headache when they are dead. They talk andin less. Not at all really.

    Logically speaking, grandfather will have no choice but to return to the shelter, considering that it will take him more than a couple of hours to reach the highway on foot.

    The trip will be much longer if grandfather takes mum and the others with him. This is not to mention their luggage.

    Night is also descending, making it all that dangerous to wander around the wood.

    As an added bonus, I will have Legion roaming around the area, masquerading as ravenous wolves just to make it all the more terrifying.

    I check to make sure that Legion is jamming their cellr reception. I can''t have grandfather or any of the others calling for help, even if the world is currently in turmoil. Who knows, someone might decide grandfather''s situation is more important ande and try to help him out.

    This is a private family camping trip. There is no need to involve other people. The entrance to here is also closed off by several relocated trees just to make sure of that.

    Although grandfather can opt to stay in the car with his children and wait out until morning, it will not really solve anything.

    The car will not work again since Legion has chew through the engine as well as the radiator. He could fix it all up in a jiffy, but not until I tell him to.

    While I wait for grandfather to make the logical choice, I have a look at all the people being locked up in the spatial dimension for doing or trying to do bad stuff. Even thinking about doing bad stuff when Legion is out of view will also get them locked up.

    It is interesting to know that of all those who locked up, roughly 20% of them are women and children, including a few babies.

    For Legion to lock up babies means that he needs to understand the intention to do evil more clearly.

    I suppose I will have to program exceptions for these cases, so Legion can learn. This is purely machine learning, not artificial learning. I can''t have Legion bing self-aware yet.

    Since I am not doing anything but waiting around, I will get to it. It didn''t take more than half an hour since I did program Legion from scratch.

    Once the new logic is uploaded into every drone all over the world, babies and children are exempted from being psychoanalyze by Legion. And those who are already in stasis are returned to their parents whenever possible.

    In fact, I free a bunch of people who I think they shouldn''t be locked up in the first ce. This will have a positive repercussion in the mind of the people, telling them that the people who didn''t get to return after being swallowed up are not dead.

    I will return them in due time.

    Women still do get screened psychologically because I am not a sexist. Sure, men are more prompt to violence, but women is as capable as men. Hell, give a knife to an angry child and I am sure someone will get stabbed.

    Once night finally have descended and grandfather is still nowhere to be seen, I decide I should go get them.

    From the surveince feeds, grandfather and the others are holding up inside the car due to the being surrounded by dreadful animal noises.

    Legion is scaring them instead of actually ''scaring'' them. Sometimes, I have to step in because people just doesn''t understand the finer points of what I want.

    But to prevent grandfather bing more suspicious than he already is, I will have to make up a good and usible exnation to why I am wandering around the woods.

    I guess hunting is a good exnation. I should know these woods, considering I am my father''s son. I mean my fake father, who I call Mr. Maxwell. This is getting a bit convoluted.

    My casual clothes morph into something more appropriate. If there is not enough micromachines to form one, more will be taken out of the spatial dimension.

    The micromachines also assemble themselves into a scoped hunting rifle, slinging around my shoulder toplete the impression. The rifle does work as intended, but instead of gunpowder propelling the bullet, maic coil is used instead.

    The sharp cracking sound of gunfire is fake, however.

    Maic coil produces no sound. But I do love the sound of gunshot. The recoil is also fake as well for the same reason. Unless someone take one apart, they will assume it is an actual hunting rifle.

    As for some dead animals to show that I have been wandering around the woods for a while, I will go hunting for a bit. It is also to teach Legion about ''scaring'' thing into doing what I want.

    It takes a while, but Legion eventually gets it, forcing animals fleeing into my direction for me to kill.

    With my perfect aim, each small critter, such as rabbit or squirrel go down in a single shot.

    But just for anyone who is listening, I fire some random shots now and then to make sure that I actually miss. I am sure that grandfather and the others heard my numerous gunshots.

    I am very close to where the car is.

    Once I have killed enough animals for show, I chill for a bit before heading towards their vehicle.

    Light could be seen within the vehicle since Legion did only take out the engine and radiator, not the whole electrical circuit and the battery. Taking out just the spark plug or maybe all the wheels would suffice, but I have to make sure grandfather has no way of fixing the vehicle.

    The hood of car is opened, showing me that grandfather did try to fix the vehicle before it bes too dark. Unfortunately, he would have no clue what is wrong with car since the exterior of the engine and radiator are left alone.

    I knock several times on the frosted window of the car, causing my mother and two others to scream in terror from within. Alright, maybe I should have clear the condensation away first before doing that.

    Actually, maybe I should have knock on the front window of the vehicle, where my grandfather is.

    But I like scaring people whenever I can.

    Don''t ruin this for me!

    "What happen? Did your car break down?"

    I question once my mother finally takes a good and closer look at me. Clearing the condensation away helps immensely.

    Misha still screaming, however. She stops when Joshua shuts her up.

    My mother then immediately rolls down the window so she can hear me more clearly. As she did, so did my grandfather.

    "I had thought you guy would reach the highway by now. What happen?"

    I paraphrase the question. Of course I know what had happened to them, but they don''t know what I know. I think that make sense.

    "Max? You scare the hell out of me. Why are you up and about? Are your legs alright?"

    My mother asks. She is more worry about me than about herself.

    Maybe it is just maternal instinct? Not that I mind, really. A mother should care for her children, even if her said children is a full grown man.

    "What are you doing here?"

    Grumpy granddad John interjects. He is getting suspicious. I mean more suspicious since He is already ever since he had to drive a long way to basically a middle of nowhere to drop me. He still did since it is one versus four, and I don''t have any weapon visible on my body.

    "I am hunting for some foods since I figure they will all die of starvation in the uing days anyway."

    I show him my kills. There are a couple of rabbits amongst half a dozen of small animals.

    Once everyone has a good look, I lower the dead animals and continue.

    "I notice the light on my way back to the bunker. I didn''t think it was you guys until I am this close. Did you really get stuck here since you dropped me off in the afternoon? Geeze. I did cause a lot of trouble for you guys. I am really sorry.

    I will make it up to you."

    I take a quick nce around the area. Faint howling could be heard.

    "It is actually dangerous to camp out here since there are wolves in the surrounding woods. Why don''t you alle with me and spend the night at the bunker. There are plenty of rooms avable. And I wouldn''t mind sharing my meal with you guys."

    I point out and look at my mother when I have said thatst line.

    That makes her avert her eyes. She understands my intention, but she may not be able to reciprocate it because of what had happened to her in another future. Everything has changed now.

    Her mother is no longer a problem.

    Grandfather knows all about the wolves. It is the very reason why he is stuck in the car, unable to go and get help from me or anyone else.

    Although he wants to refuse my offer since I am a total stranger, but he has no choice. He also didn''t pack much foods for the trip, opting to grab some on the way to his father, my great grandfather.

    "Can we, dad? I''m really hungry. And I don''t want to spend the night in the car."

    Misha calls. Joshua also states something simr.

    They haven''t eaten anything since afternoon. It is already pass dinner time.

    And by now, Legion should be finishing mopping up the remaining people in the United States as well as other smaller countries around the world.

    Countries with a bigger poption takes more time, especially when they are hiding all over the ce.

    "Alright, but stick close to me. That includes you, Stephanie."

    John warns. And everyone exit the vehicle. They take with them only the necessities and then lock up the car again. They will return to get the rest and think of what to do next.

    "Here, let me help you with that."

    I offer and carry my mother''s luggage for her before she could say anything.

    "Wait. You don''t need to do that. You''re injured, Max!"

    My mother calls out, but I gesture my hand that it is fine. I am no longer injure, which might rise a few eyebrows, but I do get tired of faking my injuries.

    "This is nothing. Okay, please follow me. Don''t wander off on your own now."

    I tell them and head towards the shelter. It will take about 15 minutes to get there by foot.

    Longer now as we are hauling some luggage as well.

    And like grandfather has told them, Joshua and Misha stick close to him. Although my mother wants to walk with me since she is feeling very guilty for having me carrying her luggage, grandfather did not let her.

    It didn''t take a genius to see that I have some intentions with Stephanie.

    "By the way, did anything bad happen to you guys in the apocalypse?"

    I am making conversation. There is also another reason.

    "I hope that it wasn''t as bad as me. I was locked up in the basement by this crazy couple who love to torture me together every day. Although I didn''t remember much of it after they cut off my limbs, but I remember wishing I was dead."

    I chuckle sadly.

    That pulls my mother''s heart string since it is very simr to what had happened to her.

    It is not the only heart string that my bullshit story has pulled.

    And slowly, my mother walks next to me since we are kindred spirit.

    Grandfather didn''t stop her since he also feel sorry for me for what had happened.

    Honestly, manipting people is super easy.

 Chapter 130: Subterranean Home

    Empathy is a very good way of forming a long-term rtionship with another person. And sharing the same circumstances or hardships allow for a stronger and better connection to form.

    It had worked for the younger Stephanie, so it will definitely work for the older Stephanie.

    My mother of this alternate reality in the year 2000 is essentially the same person of the prime-reality of the year 1990. She is desperately looking for someone to understand her. That is the real reason to why my mother was hitched by dad in high school.

    Too bad, dad has fucked that up by giving attention to another girl.

    He has one fucking job! Be a good sperm-donator.

    Maybe I should stop calling him dad and use that term instead.

    And while I don''t need to show my mother that I fully understand her character and motivation, I just need to acknowledge that I have a good idea of it.

    In fact, it is better that way.

    Showing that I am literally in her brain will result in a backfire.

    I am not talking about my mother, but women in general. They actually be more defensive when I show them that I know way too much when it shouldn''t be possible.

    As that is the case, I did not speak very much while we are all heading towards the shelter in the middle of nowhere. But I do maintain undivided attention and concern for my mother as she talks. I allow her to speak her mind and listen to anything she has to say without interruption or giving advice.

    Interrupting her just means that I am not actually listening or simply don''t care.

    And giving her advice proves that I am simplifying or neglecting her concerns.

    Why am I teaching you how-to pick-up chick?

    Surely, you should already know.

    Well, it is an art to make someone falling in love with you. You don''t actually need to shower gifts with gifts constantly. That kind of love is brought instead of given. You only need to show her that you care and actually care.

    Little thing like letting the girl speakpletely uninterrupted is sufficient.

    Just listen closely and make sure that you are not faking it, you will reap the rewards. Of course, engage her when she is seeking for confirmation.

    "Yes. I can understand, Stephanie. I am the same. But it has already happened. I cannot change what had happened to be, but I shouldn''t let it stop me from living. This is a second chance.

    A second chance to live."

    I response with a faint smile. That is enough for now.

    The small shelter ising into view. It is not actually situated far away but the darkness does obscure it from view. The trees do as well. Sadly, they are dying and withering away in mass.

    It hasn''t really been a single day since the Curse of Decay bes active, but its effect is already felt throughout the world. Animals would soon follow.

    I stop walking for a moment and turn around to give grandfather and the other two some attentions.

    Mostly grandfather, actually.

    He is the one who remains suspicious of me. Joshua and Misha are too dumb to notice, and Stephanie is starting to be infatuated with me.

    I am just good at what I do, conquering girls and stealing hearts. I have to be with all the advance tools and knowledge any disposal.

    Besides, love makes you blind.

    That is why I will never fall in love.

    But that didn''t mean I couldn''t fake it.

    I am such a Faker.

    "To be honest, I have never brought anyone here to the bunker before, certainly not in such times. As much as I love to have yourpany, I am more than a bit wary of people I do not know. It is natural, isn''t it? We have only met today."

    I pause to let that statement sink into John. I am basically trying to empathize with his train of thought and concern with the current situation.

    I fully acknowledge that I am a stranger to my grandfather as much as he is one to me, so it is his right to be wary of me and second-guessing my intention, but he should not allow it to interfere with what is the logically right course of action.

    Furthermore, making grandfather understand where I aming from would also get him off my back and allow me to spend some quality time with my mother.

    That did not mean sexual thing since I do not think of my mother that way even if she did not get with my sperm-donor and give birth to me in this reality.

    And how strange would that be to have another version of me?

    Is it really possible?

    Han''s parents have demonstrated that there can be multiple version of them in the same reality. They actually want to meet their prime-reality selves just out of curiosity, but Hydra is stopping them from doing so.

    No one really know what will happen if theye into contact with another version of themselves. It includes me since I haven''t bother to check on the ount of it not being important.

    I will checkter just out of curiosity.

    As for another version of me in another reality, it is likely impossible.

    Aspects are unique, and from logical perspective based on meeting Terra alone, we are not unique to a reality but the whole multiverse.

    That means there can only be one Aspect of Time in the multiverse.

    I am that Aspect of Time.

    However, just think for a minute how cool it would be to have two of me?

    Unfortunately, in such a case, I will have to kill that version of me since he wouldn''t understand what I am trying to aplish out of some sense of misguided justice, morality or otherwise.

    Most people wouldn''t understand.

    I have been through so much that I have changed greatly from the time I first awakened my power. It has been more than 500 years collectively now.

    I am getting very old.

    The past me would be apletely different person with different thoughts and dreams. And having another person with power over time is just a disaster waiting to happen.

    No one should besides me. Not through technology or magic or otherwise.

    Before my grandfather and my mother could response to my noted concern, I continue.

    "But I shouldn''t let my prejudice and what had happened to me from doing the right and helping out those that in needs, so please don''t make regret my decision."

    Once I have said that, I turn around and continue towards the shelter.

    I don''t actually need to witness the expression on my grandfather''s face since I already know what he is thinking and feeling. It is not hard to guess.

    Stephanie smiles at me and continue to walk alongside with me. She has a much better opinion of me, not that she hasn''t had a good one before.

    I show her nothing but decency of a good and upstanding person, which I currently am. I am not really the terrifying leader of a secret organization with incredible reach and the will to do whatever required to ensure the survival of human race, at least not yet.

    Not until the first stage of my grand n for this reality.

    Legion is working hard towards that all across the world. The Middle East is being a pain in the ass due to the ongoing war in that region, where kids are running around with guns.

    Little kids armed with gun are more annoying than men with guns, but that is like saying Legion is now dealing with a bunch of bull ants instead of a group of ants.

    I speak up again when we are finally at the shelter and in front of the elevator that the shelter is hiding within.

    The elevator looks like a rusty iron cage withered by time. But it will take us down to the bunker below the surface. Of course, the worn-down appearance is for aesthetic.

    "It is actually safer than it looks, but it can only take two people at a time. You can activate it by cing a key into this slot. Here, let me show you."

    I demonstrate by inserting the key into the slot along the wall and turn it. It causes the light above the rusty iron cage to be lit up. That mean there is power now.

    And after that, I hand the only key to my grandfather, illustrating that I am cing myplete trust in him. Therefore, he should do the same.

    "I wille with you, Max."

    Stephanie speaks up.

    I shake my head and do the reasonable thing.

    "I will go down first with the luggage to make sure no one breaks anything. The elevator will return to the surface for you once I am there. It will take about half a minute one way, so it won''t take long."

    I enter the elevator along with the luggage and the animals I have hunted. And with a pull on the lever, the iron cage slowly descended straight down.

    In the bunker, I take everything out of the elevator and then pull the level on the wall adjacent to the cage to send it back up to the surface again. I wait for the rest to join me.

    The iron cage brought Stephanie and Joshua into myir as John didn''t want to leave his childrenst to enter. And he believes that if I decide to try anything with my mother, Joshua will be there to stop me.

    Yes. Joshua.

    I can break him in half without even trying.

    The teenager is also there to help me carrying some of the luggage if I needed. I might as well ept the generous offer, working him for all he is worth. My mother also helps out as the elevator ascends to fetch John and Misha.

    "Damn it. Why do I have to do this?"

    Joshua curses as he drags the luggage into one of the rooms. His expression change when he realizes the room is quite spacious and decorated just like a normal bedroom above ground. There are posters of people ster all over the walls.

    There is also a very expensive television in the room alongside with an original yStation with tons of games to y. My version of the yStation would be way too outrageous even for the year 2000, but I recall the yStation 2 is releasing soon.

    Too bad the apocalypse had happened.

    "I didn''t expect a lot of people, but you and your sister can use my bedroom for the night. Please don''t break anything."

    I offer Joshua. He is more than happy to ept the offer.

    The bunker is actually built like an underground family home as ording to my design.

    Aside from all the standard rooms like living room and kitchen, there are only two bedrooms avable. One master bedroom and one spare bedroom. The master bedroom is for my nonexistence parents while the spare is for me.

    Misha is also shocked to see the room. And she immediately ims the only bed. Joshua didn''t mind since he already booting up the yStation and have a go at some new tittle.

    "Where is the powering from?"

    My grandfather asks while finding it incredibly absurd to have an entire house built underground. He had assumed that it would be like a bomb shelter.

    I show him and Stephanie the power generator in one of the rooms, which contains tons of barrels full of fuel. It wouldst me for a long time, not that I needed.

    A Ster Reactor is actually powering the entireplex.

    "Dad like to live in style, and he does have the money to do so. It cost him a lot of money to have this ce built in secret just in case the Soviet decides to bomb us to oblivion. Somehow, someone decides to make a movie out of it."

    John is confused at thatst part, but Stephanie widens her eyes.

    "st from the Past!"

    Stephanie calls out.

    Unlike my grandfather, my mother has seen the romanticedy 1999 movie. I have actually stolen the idea of having an underground home from that movie.

    I do steal a lot of ideas from everywhere and everyone. And it is not stealing until someone prove that I did. Good luck with that.

    "Yes."

    I simply response and show them the rest of the rooms. The living room looks like a modern-day living room. By modern, I mean mid-1990s standard.

    There is also a television and a radio avable for grandfather to know what is happening right now on the surface.

    In fact, the radio is ying, telling me and everyone listening that most of the alien orbs has return to the titanic ships above the city, returningw and order back to the people.

    This just means that Legion finishes molesting all the people in the United States. About 24% of entire poption in the United States are in stasis. That is better than the initial estimated number of about 70% and above.

    Canada is also done, but only like 11% of its poption are locked up. d is actually in the single digit.

    That is interesting.

    The multiple storage rooms are filled with foods that willst a family for more than 35 years.

    That is how long the Webber family in the 1999 romanticedy moviested together underground when they think a nuclear war has broken out between America and the Soviet Union.

    I obviously wouldn''t trap the Connors down here for that long. As a matter of fact, it wouldn''t be more than a few days since Legion would be done with the preparation stage by then.

    Seeing so much nonperishable food avable, John couldn''t help but wanting to stay here for as long as possible. Of course, he snaps out of that thought quickly enough.

    We return to the living room after I stop ying a real estate agent. I learn a bit from Lexi. It is a very boring job to be honest, but the money is good.

    Lexi is nning to quit her job to be one of my sexy assistants. I hope she is not distracting because I have a lot of work to do to in the office at Terra Entertainment Headquarter.

    "Anyway, try to find something to do while I make some dinner."

    I tell my grandfather and mother before heading to the kitchen. Stephanie follows me out of the room despite her father wants her to stay.

    John lets out a sigh and continues watching and listening to the news. Every channel on the television or the radio are talking about the alien invasion.

    It isn''t an alien invasion yet. I hope it won''t be, but it will if people prove too difficult.

    "You don''t need to help me, Stephanie. You and your family are my guest. Just enjoy your time and I will have something ready soon. I think I am a pretty good cook myself even if someone doesn''t really like my cooking that much."

    I point out as I start skinning the rabbit.

    I learn these skills on my own and with a lot of practice. It isn''t that harder than skinning people alive.

    "Please let me help you with this, Max. You have done so much for us already, and I want to repay you for everything so far. Please."

    My mother responses after getting over her surprises of seeing how good I am with a knife. Most men in this era do not stay in the kitchen. It is a woman''s job.

    I am not like most men.

    Hearing that, I think that is my cue to make her heart flusters.

 Chapter 131: Family Dinner

    But there is no need to.

    Her heart is already flustering from all my words and actions thus far. It is detectible from her elevated body temperature, not to mention the pheromones found within her breath and sweat.

    I might give her a heart attack if I did anymore.

    The pheromone detector was developed after studying Lexi and her ability. It is one of the many tools at my disposal, allowing me to conquer heart and bed beauties with little to no effort.

    Even my mother is not an exception.

    But with someone watching us like a balding hawk, I guess I will y this slow and hard to get. It seems like our position should be switched around, but whatever, I suppose.

    It could be more interesting this way.

    At least I am not acting like a beta Japanese protagonist.

    I am not oblivious to the fact of a young and beautiful woman wanting to spend more time with me. I also want to spend more time with my mother too, but not in any kind of sexual way.

    Honestly, why do I keep telling myself that?

    If mum is game, then I should be as well.

    Why let a little morality get in the way of our fun?

    Morality didn''t stop me from doing whatever needed to be done before.

    And for a young and attractive woman, being repeatedly rejected by someone they have taken a liking to is actually quite devastating to their self-esteem. As a direct result, they tend to me themselves for not being attractive or alluring enough.

    Mum is attractive enough. More than attractive, really.

    It is hard to say no.

    And is there a reason to say no?

    "Alright, Stephanie. Can you prepare the vegetables for me? They are in the freezer behind that metal door over there."

    And I do mean the freezer instead of the fridge sitting at the corner of the room.

    The connecting freezer takes up an entire room. And it is filled to the brim with foods and other frozen edibles. Someone will definitely question that, considering this is a middle of nowhere.

    I might have overdone things when I designed this undergroundplex for the Connors. I tend to go overboard with basically everything I do, impression or otherwise.

    Legion did not input any kind of suggestion when he built thisplex to my specifications. He should have but he couldn''t on the ount of being a virtual intelligence.

    This is the real difference in having people with actual working brain and opinion helping me instead of a virtual intelligence. They will tell me when I am wrong or being unnecessarily over the top.

    Oh well.

    Stephanie was curious about the huge metal door when she first enters the kitchen, but after opening it and entering inside, she is shocked at what she found.

    Luckily, her shock didn''tst long thanks to the subzero temperature within the freezer.

    Stephanie takes what she needs from the freezer and prepare the vegetables while I finish skinning all the animals. I will keep the skin and fur for something elseter. Maybe to make some mittens.

    And considering how many animals I have killed and skinned for dinner, it will be quite a feast.

    I slice up the animals carefully and as ording to whatever creature it is.

    Rabbits are carved up a lot differently than squirrels to bring out the best vors and juices.

    I have learned this from experience and practice alone.

    People doe in different shape and size.

    No, I didn''t eat the people I had chopped up and subsequently roasted.

    That is cannibalism.

    I did feed the nicely cooked meat to a bunch of people as punishment though. Most of them tearfully say the meat tastes very much like beef, a little sweeter in taste and a little softer in texture.

    The goblins confirm this when I dissect their brains and extract their memories.

    Once the animals are sliced and diced, it is seasoning or marinating.

    Marinating does take several hours for the meat to be tender and juicy, but with my power, it is done within a second.

    Stephanie didn''t notice since she is busy chopping up the vegetables. She is quite good with the knife but considering that she spends a lot of time in the kitchen helping out her adopted mother, she has to be.

    Still, Stephanie is not as good or as fast as me with the de.

    And she notices this when I diced up the animals like a professional butcher. It makes her a bit depress since she has assumed that she would be better than me in the kitchen.

    "Are you a chef, Max?"

    Stephanie asks when she is finally done with the vegetables. Her hands and fingers are hurting due to the frozen vegetables even though she has tried to thaw them with warm water. They are sh-frozen to keep in all the nutrients after all.

    Yes, sh frozen vegetables are as healthy as fresh vegetables. It has already proven by science.

    And yes, the undergroundplex has the luxury of hot water amongst many other things.

    Like I have said above in the chapter. Over the top.

    "No. Just a lot of practice and experience over many years. May I please see your hands, Stephanie?"

    I request and take her hands into mine without her confirmation. A little thermal maniption would get them tender in no time. Heating them up to fast would be damaging, however.

    But I do not mind the slow healing process. It just lets me hold her hands a little longer.

    And my mother did not mind either. In fact, her fingers curl around my palm.

    "It''s warm. Your hands are so warm, Max."

    Stephanie exims as she feels pleasant warmness spread all over her body from her hands.

    I smile and nod calmly.

    "Of course, Stephanie. I have something called Sr Hands. It just means that my hands that are a lot warmer than normal people. Great for making breads from what I am told."

    Stephanie didn''t understand the cultural reference since it wouldn''t exist until 2002 in Japan, but she epts my exnation, nevertheless. She likes the warmth I fill her being.

    "Ahem."

    Grandfather coughs from the doorway, forcing Stephanie to pull her hands back abruptly. The blushes on her face couldn''t be hidden, however.

    Thanks a lot grandpa. Why are you interfering my conquest of mummy?

    "Can I talk to my daughter a minute, Max?"

    John requests.

    "Sure. She has been a great help so far, and I would love to have her back after you have your father-daughter talk."

    I jest and return to cooking without paying attention to my grandfather and my mother. I already know what my grandfather wants to talk to my mother about.

    It is somewhere along the line of: don''t get too close to him or he will break your heart.

    Kind of feels like what great grandfather had told my grandfather when he decided to marry Edith and then basically eloped with her.

    Regardless, it is a good advice from a loving father who cares deeply for his daughter. It is not because of me but because of the breakup back in high school with my sperm-donor. It was quite devastating to my mother, and she refuses to date anyone afterwards.

    My mother tries not to love anyone ever again, but I am inevitable.

    And it is only right that she loves me, as I am her son.

    "Hey¡­ Max? Do you have anything to drink?"

    Misha calls out at the doorway. A headphone hangs around her neck, emanating music.

    One daughter goes, anotheres. But that is strange. I would have thought that Misha runs into her father and older sister on the way to the kitchen.

    They must have taken their talk to the study room, which is in the opposite direction.

    "Sure, Misha. Let me get them for you. By the way, what are you listening to?"

    I response and open the fridge and pick out several soft drinks. I made sure the drinks are cold enough before handling them over the Misha.

    "Britney. Want to hear?"

    Misha answers and pops a bottle. She takes a sip to quench her thirst.

    "No. That won''t be necessary. I can listen to itter in the recording room. Besides, I am a bit busy at making our dinner. It won''t be long."

    I response and return my attention back to the task at hand. The oven is heated up nicely, readying to roast some nice and tenderized meat.

    "Wait. Wait. You have a recording room? As in a room where you can record music?"

    Misha utters. The moment I acknowledge that I do and state that she can use it if she wants, she is off and out of the kitchen. She has also forgotten about the drinks on the table.

    Joshua drops byter to grab them and asks where Misha is. He drops by the recording studio just to have a look before returning to his gaming session back in the bedroom. There is quite a lot of games that he wants to y but never had the money to.

    "Wee back, Stephanie. I hope you have a pleasant talk with your father."

    I speak up when Stephanie returns to the kitchen. She seems upset despite the smile on her face.

    "Do you want to talk about it?"

    I offer while making a vegetable stew, but Stephanie responses by shaking her head. I have expected that since it is too personal, not to mention emotional.

    "Smells really nice."

    Stephanie changes the subject and approaches the cooktop to have a look next to me. I stir the heated soup with adle before letting her have a taste.

    "Here, please have a taste."

    I offer once I made sure the soup within thedle is cooled enough.

    "Tastes really good too."

    Stephaniepliments after she had a taste.

    I nod and have a taste myself just to see. It isn''t as good as I can make back home in the prime-reality due to high-tech ovens and cookware, but it is still very good, considering the state-of-the-art kitchen for the current year.

    "Maybe you should be a chef, Max."

    Stephanie points out. I chuckle at that and shake my head.

    "Maybe. What about you, Stephanie? What do you do?"

    While I already know what Stephanie inspires to be, it is still good to hear it from her personally. And besides, it also shows that I am interested in her and want to learn more about her.

    Dinner is ready soon enough, but only grandfather grumpily joins us at the dinner table. This is because he is unable to get Joshua and Misha to join. Those two are too busy doing their own things, thinking that this is basically their ce.

    "I''m so sorry about this, Max."

    John apologizes as he sits with his daughter across from me. It would be strange if Stephanie is sitting next to me even if she wants to.

    "No need to apologize, Mr. Connors. They are just making use of their time doing what they love since they will only stay here for the night."

    I pause for effect before smiling faintly.

    "Anyway, I am sure they wille out of their room when they are hungry enough. We don''t need to wait for them, and the foods are better when hot. Let''s dig in. No need to be polite. We are all friends here."

    I offer and enjoy the nicely roasted rabbit casserole. Stephanie did the same, finding the texture and taste to be exquisite. Grandfather gives hispliment.

    Joshua and Misha join the dinner half way through just like I have told everyone. They hurriedly inhale their foods before retreating back to their respective room, making grandfather apologizes again.

    "It''s fine, really, Mr. Connors. As long as they don''t break anything, I don''t mind."

    Even if they break something, I probably wouldn''t mind either. But in such an event, I will have to say something about it. Luckily, I didn''t have to.

    Stephanie helps me clean up afterwards and I had a chat with John about the sleeping arrangement as it is gettingte. It did take like a couple of hours to prepare dinner and another hour for the clean up afterwards.

    I don''t mind if Joshua and Misha take over my bedroom, but since there is only one bed there, Joshua will probably sleep on the floor.

    As for master bedroom, Stephanie will be sleeping there since John will sleep in the living room on the couch, listening to the radio. As for me, I guess I will be retiring to the study room as I have something to do.

    While grandfather epts the arrangement, Stephanie does not.

    "I can''t do that, Max. Please sleep in the master bedroom. I will sleep with Misha instead."

    I shrug and leave it at that as it is unnecessary to persuade her otherwise. The bed in the spare room is really small, so it will be very ufortable for two grown people to sleep together.

    Besides, Joshua will be ying game all night.

    And like I have expected, Stephanie couldn''t sleep that night. She checks up on her father in the living room and covers him with a warm nket before checking up on me.

    I am still awake despite it is 2am in the morning.

    "Shouldn''t you be sleeping?"

    I speak up before she did. I look up from my book as well.

    "I couldn''t sleep. What are you reading?"

    Stephanie responses and have a looks around the study room once more.

    She was here before with her father, during when I was making dinner. He had told her not to get too involve with me since I do not appear to be someone ordinary. Someone ordinary wouldn''t be able to own such an undergroundplex. That is a fact.

    It is ironic that she is here in this same room with me, alone. Even if she wants to listen to her father, it is impossible to silence her heart. People are always driven by emotion. It is irrational, but logical.

    "The Code Book by Simon Singh. It is fascinating stuff."

    I answer before putting the book on cryptography down. I then offer her a seat.

    "You know, I have always wanted to be a secret agent when I was little just like my father. What did you want to be when you were little, Stephanie?"

 Chapter 132: Growing Frustration

    Stephanie finds herself in bed.

    She jerks upwards and bes frantically startled, not being able to remember how did she get here in the first ce. She didn''t even remember exactly when she had dozed offst night.

    Of course Stephanie wouldn''t be able to remember since I am the one who basically told her to go to sleep through a little application of magic.

    Magic is useful for that sort of thing.

    If I did not, Stephanie and I would be having a conversation until my grandfather manages to catch us together in the morning. I might as well call him my father-inw then.

    That will be one mess-up family tree.

    Honestly, when women are in the mood to talk and share things, they wouldn''t shut the hell up.

    The change in scenery also adds to her overall panic, considering that she was sitting in the study room instead of sleeping in the master bedroom.

    And the first thing Stephanie does after calming herself is to check whether she has been molested. I suppose what had happened to her in the future-past will haunt her for a while.

    I could make the memory go away, but I won''t. It is the same reason why Sandra Bullock is struggling against the nightmares every night.

    In any case, it takes a good minute for her to make sure she is unmolested.

    "I did not touch you when I had left you in bed, Stephanie. I am not that kind of person, and I am really disappointed in you for even thinking of me as one."

    I finally speak up from the floor next to the bed.

    In doing so, I nearly cause her to scream in fright.

    It didn''t help when the bedroom is pitch ck.

    There are no window or anything of sort in the room. It is built deep underground to survive a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union after all.

    Honestly, if I wanted to molest my mother in her sleep, she wouldn''t find any evidences on her person or the bed. She probably wouldn''t remember any of it either.

    But did I though?

    That is for you to find out.

    Heh.

    "Ah no, Max. I¡­ I don''t think you would¡­ I''m sorry..."

    Stephanie hastily replies while I pull myself upwards from the floor and get into a sitting position.

    I also let out a small yawn and stretch my arms for effect. It is to demonstrate that unlike her, I did not sleep very well.

    In fact, I should be dead tired.

    But in truth, I am not tired. Not at all. I haven''t been tired for a very long time now. And thanks to the stamina solution I have devised, I will never be tired ever again.

    Magic is too overpowered! Please nerf!

    Instead of sleeping peacefully like Stephanie was in the veryfortable king-size bed, I was actually in the spatial dimension, practicing my acting and techniques for the first stage of the grand n.

    It will be a glorious demonstration of absolute power.

    But what kind of alien species should I impersonate when the timees?

    I will need to be one instead of being a human.

    Offering humanity salvation while appearing as a human would cause to much suspicions, especially when I have basically molested the entire world. I still have like 30% of the world''s poption in stasis.

    I could make a new alien species to impersonate, but why bother when there are so many alien species to choose from fiction.

    Whatever I cane up with myself, someone else probably already did. If they haven''t done so, they will do so in the future. Therefore, I don''t need to waste time and brain cell on this.

    Shall I go with the Borg from Star Trek?

    But the Borg is too stupid to exist logically. Plus they looks stupid in appearance too.

    I like to look awesome while making people in awe.

    Or making them crap their pants.

    Whicheveres first, I suppose.

    In any case, I will think of a super advance alien species to impersonateter. It should not be the one that the general public already know from the widespread of movies and games.

    "Did you sleep well, Stephanie? You looks extremely exhaustedst night, dozing off in the middle of our conversation. Do you remember what we were talking about?"

    I ask tly while trying to match her eyes.

    Obviously, I can see in the dark just fine, but I can''t say the same for her.

    Stephanie nods slowly while following my voice in the darkness.

    She recalls talking to me about all her hopes and dreams for the future after we finish exchanging our interests and wisdoms.

    Just recalling what had happened in the study room restore the blushes to her cheeks. She didn''t hide the blushing since she assumes that I wouldn''t be able to see it the dark.

    Let me record this cute moment for reviewter.

    Oh wait. Everything I see is constantly being recorded by Selene.

    This includes all the sexy times I had and will have. They are just my collection of porn, staring me.

    In truth, Stephanie had never reveal her private thoughts and deepest dreams to anyone before. And she certainly wouldn''t reveal them to someone like me, who she has only known for a single day.

    Less than a day, really.

    Grandfather idently ran me over with his car around noon yesterday. And it is still early in morning right now.

    But despite knowing me for less than a day, Stephanie feels that she could tell me basically anything.

    Anything at all.

    Stephanie has already let me into her heart.

    This is usually what happen when I y my pickup cards correctly.

    Not perfectly, just correctly.

    If I had yed my cards perfectly, I would be waking up in bed with my naked mother while immersing myself in the softness and tenderness of kinship.

    Junior would love that.

    Pipe down Junior!

    I did listen attentively to whatever my mother wanted to say for hours on end even though all I wanted to do is blow my brain out. That suicidal thought happens after half an hour or so.

    It isn''t because it is so boring listening to my mother going on and on about every pointless things that had happened in her life.

    Alright, it is because of that somewhat, but that is just me. I don''t care much for people''s life story, as I am not a hero.

    Everyone has a sob story that they want to tell to other to gather sympathy. It is sad. True.

    But it is not that much sadder than the countless stories I have already heard about.

    Figure a way to move on instead of crying over spill milk!

    The real reason listening to her was so boring is because I already know pretty much everything there is to know about my mother, including all the little things that have slip her mind.

    I did download her entire memory after all.

    Extracting everything that I needed from a person''s downloaded memory is no longer aborious task with all theputing power at mymand via Legion.

    And hearing everything I already know over and over again seems like a good waste of time.

    Time that I could be spent doing something else more fun and productive.

    But for the purpose of forming a strong rtionship with my mother, I had to sit there and then listen to her while making sure that I am paying her undivided attention.

    Women loves that. My mother certainly do.

    And with everything I know about my mother, I can take an extremely urate guess to what she will do in certain situation along with what she will be thinking.

    I am also aware of the devastating heartbreak Stephanie will have to go through in the uing days thanks to my grand n for this alternate reality, but she will cherish our rtionship more if she has to struggle for it

    People cherish things that they have paid dearly to gain.

    Honestly, I can still remember the very first dor I had work my ass off to earn. The small paper note feels so heavy within my palm.

    In contrast, all the money and material things in the world mean squat to me right now.

    They couldn''t evenpare to that first dor I have earned with sweats and tears.

    "I am sorry for falling asleep while we are talking, Max. I didn''t mean to."

    Stephanie apologizes guilty. It is not her fault.

    "Don''t worry about it, Stephanie. I honestly don''t think any worse of you for doing so since you were exhausted, unlike someone who think otherwise after she gets to sleep very soundly in a warm bed."

    I response, taking a yful jab at her guiltiness.

    It is fun.

    And the resulting expression on her face makes me smile.

    There will be a lot more chances to capture that cute expression.

    "How about you make it up to me over breakfast? We have some leftovers from dinner yesterday, so let me go and heat those right up."

    I get off the floor and ready to go and do what I have stated.

    "Wait, Max."

    Stephanie hurries out of the bed to stop me from leaving and making breakfast. I honestly have done so much for her already, so it should be her turn to do so.

    Unfortunately, Stephanie couldn''t see where she is going and idently crashes into me instead. She also lets out a cute yelp.

    Of course, I stop her fall and hold her up while her hands grab onto my supportive arms and shoulders.

    "Are you alright, Stephanie?"

    I ask softly.

    And when I am this close to her face, she could feel my breath and body heat intermingling with hers.

    She slowly looks up at me and tries to make out my facial features.

    "Max. Do¡­ do you¡­"

    My mother begins, but someone interrupt us by knocking and opening the door leading into the room.

    It isn''t locked. And it isn''t because I have forgotten to lock it.

    "Stephanie. Are you in here?"

    Grandfather stands at the doorway and narrows his eyes into the room.

    Due to the incredibly well-lit corridor, his eyes shouldn''t be able to adjust themselves to the darkness of the bedroom just yet. But Stephanie pulls away from me and straightens herself.

    Before she speaks up, I step backwards and y ninja by obscuring myself in the shadow of the room.

    It would be very awkward to exin what we are doing in here alone and in the dark. I could make up some usible exnation, but not being caught in the first ce is better.

    "Yes, dad. I''m in here."

    Stephanie responses. She also assures her father that she is in here alone, sleeping alone. She ces great emphasis on being alone.

    No else is here. Certainly not me.

    John is wondering where I am currently, but there are several rooms that he hasn''t check yet, including the study room.

    Joshua and Misha is still snoozing in the other bedroom. Considering that they both think that this is their own home, they would be for a while. That also mean the Connors won''t be leaving to today, at least not this morning.

    Not that I mind. In fact, I want them to stay.

    I have plenty of ways to get them to stay.

    When grandfather heads off to look for me, I emerge from the shadow.

    "Phew. That is a close one. Well, I should be going too, Stephanie. I wouldn''t want your father hunting around the bunker for me all morning. Come and have breakfast when you are ready."

    I speak up and head towards the door.

    My mother reaches out a hand towards me, but she stops herself. She obviously wants to ask whether I have anyone important in my life, but she didn''t have to courage to know the answer.

    She just watches me exit the bedroom and heads off before copsing back onto the bed and kicking herself mentally.

    "What are you doing, Steph? Why don''t you just ask him already?"

    My mother tells herself and then rolls around on the bed. She is frustrated. Incredibly frustrated. She would continue to be frustrated as I y hard to get while grandfather interrupting us at all the good moments.

    By the third day, the Connors are packed up and ready to leave.

    "You know, you can stay for as long as you want, right?"

    I point out.

    Joshua and Misha didn''t want to leave. At least not until they satisfy their addiction.

    My mother is the same, but for a different reason. Throughout the whole time staying here, Stephanie is unable to tell me how she is feeling.

    "No. I think we have intrude long enough, Max. Thank you for everything."

    My grandfather tells me.

    I nod in understanding and power up the elevator for them to return to the surface.

    However, the bunker rumbles and the entireplex shakes heavily. It feels like something incredibly massive just crashes into the earth without any restrain.

    "Earthquake! Everyone on the floor! Hurry!"

    I call out and duck onto the ground. Everyone did the same and cover the head as dust descends from the ceiling.

    "Max¡­"

    Stephanie calls out, wanting to tell me something since this might be the end.

    Luckily, the earthquakees and goes very quickly.

    Honestly, even a fusion bomb of the 31st century shouldn''t able to make a dent in this ce.

    And somehow, the television switches itself on.

    Alright. Not somehow. I did it wirelessly.

    "Oh my god! The alien ship just fire! The alien ship just fire!"

    The prettydy reporting the news shouts in utter panic and tries to get away from the billowing dusts and smokes along with everyone else.

    And just like my grandfather, I head into the living room to see what had happened.

    Stage one of the n is about to begin.

    From the camera on the helicopter, a ck obelisk reveals itself as the dust and smoke begin to settle. And it isn''t the only one. More than a thousand of them are nted on the.

    One of them is right outside the bunker as shown on the camera.

    From its ominous appearance with red lines constantly running up its pitch ck body and pulsating, the Connors aren''t going anywhere soon.

    Mum is more happy to stay.

 Chapter 133: Black Markers

    Within a subterranean living room, all eyes and ears are glued to the television, watching and listening to the greatest global event in history of humanity.

    It is being unfolded across the.

    More than a thousand of these ck obelisks are deposited onto the by the numerous starships hovering in the sky and in orbit.

    These strange alien structures are ced at an equal distance from each other for maximum coverage and effectiveness.

    The vast ocean of the did not impede their emcement whatsoever.

    Untold power radiates from each of the spiraling ck towers, pulsating and emanating ominously.

    It is mostly for effect, but any kind of electronic equipment that get too close to these alien towers will be instantly fried by powerful electromaic pulses.

    Several helicopters have learned this painfully and fierily.

    Although the structures are not designed to bomb the human race back to the stone age and keeping them there until the stars themselves burn to ster dust, they do have the power to do so.

    I only needed to say the word.

    Just a single word.

    However, that would be n B if n A gets fucked sideway.

    There is also a n C and D, but those are kind of unnecessary to be honest.

    It is highly unlikely for one of my ns to fail, but there will always be that possibility.

    The future is always changing, so I cannot bepletely certain even with my power.

    I can only be rtively sure.

    For now, Legion is testing the range and effectiveness of the electromaic pulses. It is one of the many tests that I am conducting on the and against the entire human poption.

    This is as good as an opportunity as any others.

    And it seems like a waste if I didn''t take advantage of it.

    I like to do more than one thing at a time. Not only it keeps me busy, it also using the resources at my disposal more effectively.

    "What are those things, Max?"

    Stephanie asks fearfully.

    My mother seems to think that I somehow know the answer she is looking for.

    While I obviously do, there is no logical reason for her to think that. She probably just wants assurance from me.

    An assurance that everything will be alright.

    Usually her father provides this, but I suppose I am more important in her mind right now.

    "I do not know, Stephanie, but I hope that they aren''t anything bad. But if it is, I will be there with you, I promise."

    I answer with a warm smile.

    Stephanie reciprocates with one of her own.

    Grandfather notices the exchange and lets out a heavy sigh. As much as he wants to separate the both of us, it is impossible when we are like this.

    In fact, the more he tries, the more he pushes his oldest daughter into my arms.

    Grandfather knows that the longer he and his family stay here with me, the harder it is to leave.

    But he is unable to do anything about that currently.

    Dejected, grandfather returns his attention to the television, trying to understand what is happening to the world.

    It was so simple before. Even with the death of all nts and animals, it was still simple. Now, he has no fucking clue what is going on.

    And the fear of the unknown is more terrifying than anything.

    It is the same fear that everyone in the world are feeling. They do not know what these ck obelisks do, and that alone frightens them.

    "Hey! Anyone is hearing that?"

    The news reporter on the television questions puzzlingly. She is quite bold for standing so close to the tower like some lunatic, so the energy pulses are affecting her mind in a number of ways.

    Most if not all of the energy pulses are harmless, as I do not want to drive anyone insane just yet.

    I do not even know if it is possible to with a prototype, but I guess I will find out soon enough.

    "Oh my god! What is that!? What is that!?"

    The reporter looks around frantically as if she is seeing things while her mind is being affected by the brainwave generator. The device is housed within the ck obelisk, and the hallucination effect grows stronger the closer she is.

    The generated brainwaves affect everyone differently due to different physiology, so having a diverse and sizable poption to test will yield more meaningful results.

    Once the reporter starts panicking, the crewmen grabs her and drags her away from the tower. As she is no longer standing so close to the alien structure, the effect diminishes until it vanishespletely.

    People quickly learn the danger of these towers when standing so close to them.

    Some suicidal people actually touch the tower and get the best shock of their life, literally.

    Legion did not consider these suicidal people are dangerous to others enough to be locked up in stasis cell within a spatial dimension. They are just a danger to themselves.

    Once they get shocked by the alien tower and sent convulsing on the ground, they start mumbling a string of random numbers.

    While it sounds gibberish at first, it actually an encrypted message due to being repeated at certain interval.

    There are also some legible words within the rambling.

    "human¡­ earth¡­ ck¡­ markers¡­ decipher¡­ host¡­ need¡­"

    I chuckle inwardly when the people on the television start calling these obelisks as ck Markers.

    That sound about right because they are.

    I basically stole the design for the helical obelisk from the Dead Space franchise.

    Since the first game of the franchise won''t be released until October of 2008, I can giarize as much as I want.

    It isn''t like anyone living in this reality know about it.

    And with everything that is happening across the world, no one would dare to develop such a survival horror game in the future of this reality, assuming there is a future.

    I hope there is, for my mother as much as it is for humanity.

    Unlike the ck markers within the survival horror game, my version does not reanimate dead tissues and turning nearby people into murdering psychopaths. And it certainly does not create a moon-size Cthulhu-like monstrosity in the end.

    That would be crazy, not to mention way over the top.

    It is already enough to scare the living shit out of people by making them hear ghostly voices and see things that are not there.

    But is there a reason for making them hear and see all of that?

    Actually yes. It is to study the effect of the brainwave generator have on normal and sane people.

    Since I didn''t want to test this device in the prime-reality as it will create widespread panic and chaos, I will test it in this reality instead.

    This reality is already in a state of panic and chaos. A little more wouldn''t hurt.

    "Dad. Are we safe here?"

    Misha is the one who has asked that. With what is happening on the television, she is frightened.

    Her brother is the same, but he didn''t show it.

    One of the ck markers is a walking distance from the bunker. People nearby are already heading to there just like they are heading to every other ck marker across the globe, except for the ones that are in the middle of the oceans.

    John frowns deeply and casts a nce at me.

    I suppose that he wants me to assure his other daughter as well since I am so good at it. Stephanie is actually sitting next to me on the floor instead of joining her brother and sister on the couch.

    "Are you hearing or seeing anything out of the ordinary, Misha?"

    I question calmly.

    The teenager shakes her head as a response.

    "In that case, you shouldn''t have anything to worry about, Misha. These ck markers can only make you hear and see things if you are close enough to it. Even if we can see one in the security camera, it is still actually very far away."

    That is to say if I don''t increase the power and range of the devices. The effect can extend for several miles, but even so, it shouldn''t be able to prate this deep into the earth. The ground diffuses the effect.

    Misha seems to calm down after that. Joshua is as well.

    John gives me a thumb up without saying anything.

    I nod and return my attention to the television screen and mumble the strings of number that people are uttering once they the shock of their life.

    "What are those strange numbers, Max?"

    Stephanie asks me once the numbers are repeated many times.

    "It is actually a cipher, Stephanie. I think I can crack it."

    I answer. Most people all over the world have already figured this out. Theye to a realization that breaking the cipher would tell them exactly what the alien wants.

    Of course, breaking it isn''t going to be easy.

    "Let me write it down."

    And once I have written down the repeating number, I head towards the study room to try and break it with what I have learned about cryptography.

    Why do you think I have been reading all those books for?

    I actually already know the encrypted message without breaking it, but I am interested in breaking the code that Legion has created.

    It will not be easy since Legion is a virtual intelligence with near limitlessputing power.

    Legion already beats me at every board game even with my power to see the future. He is simply that good at logic games.

    But I kick his ass in every strategy game since they require a bit more ingenuity. Something that Legion does not have, unfortunately.

    Stephanie follows me to the study room, asking if there is anything that she could assist me with.

    There really isn''t any, but I still like to have herpany, nheless.

    Stephanie is happy to provide until she needed to go and prepare lunch for her father and two siblings.

    She also makes lunches for me too, and we have them together in the study room.

    My grandfather, John did check up on us once in a while, but my mother no longer needs to hide her growing affection for me. It just frustrates her to no end if she continued to.

    "Max. Do you have anyone you like?"

    My mother eventually pops the question.

    But the way she has asked me the question sounds like she is still in high school. Honestly, deep down, she is still just a girl, looking for someone who can understand and love her for who she is.

    Isn''t that what ever girl in the world one, regardless of age?

    "Yes, I do, Stephanie."

    I response while keeping my attention on all the notes I have written thus far.

    The damn cipher is not easy to break at all. I already know that, considering it is designed by Legion, but this is getting frustrating.

    And if I can''t break it, I doubt anyone on Earth can break it either.

    As a matter of fact, what remains of the military have already set up an encampment around each of the ck markers within the United States. They are working very hard decipher the message.

    "Oh... is she pretty, Max?"

    My mother utters dejectedly.

    I look up at my mother before bing amused. She is just like a high school girl, bing depressed when the boy she like tells her that they already like someone else.

    "Yes. She is pretty. The prettiest girl I have seen."

    I confirm, making her feels even more depressed.

    She wants to just leave the room at the moment and finds somewhere to feel sorry for herself. Hence, I should stop teasing her.

    "Do you want to see her, Stephanie? You can see her through there."

    I ask and look towards the mirror hanging on the wall.

    Stephanie follows my gaze and understands immediately. And that brings a cheerful smile back to her face.

    Since she couldn''t help me with the cipher, she leaves me alone afterwards, but not for very long as she couldn''t help it.

    And every time she peeks through the door to see how I am doing, I just chuckle.

    "Hey, Max. What would you like to have for dinner?"

    My mother asks when it is gettingte in the evening. I didn''t realize how much time has passed. There are so many notes scatter all over the floor.

    That means I should take a rest.

    "Surprise me."

    Since I have been at this for a while, I decide to rest my mind and join my mother in preparing dinner for John and the other two.

    And from the news on the television and radio thus far, no one have figured out the incredible difficult code just yet.

    The ck markers continue to pulsate ominously, as if it is mocking the people nearby.

    It is, but there is nothing the people can do about it.

    The micromachines structure are impervious to almost every manmade weapon. Nothing short of an actual nuke can destroy them.

    But I suppose the people aren''t stupid enough to nuke one of the ck markers.

    Guess I was wrong with a mushroom cloud rising high towards the sky above an ocean.

    Several more nuclear explosions follow, vaporizing several ck markers.

    As powerful as the micromachines are, they simply cannot withstand a nuke.

    And of course, Legion retaliates because I allow him to.

 Chapter 134: Attacks of the Titans

    It is the Russian.

    It is always the Russian.

    "Mother of God! Get us away from that thing! Get us away! Now!"

    But it is toote.

    The amphibious monstrosity is speeding through the water like a homing torpedo with all of the deadly intentions.

    And all the men and women within a nuclear submarine scream in utter terror as the radioactive lizard mps down onto their military vessel with its enormous and powerful jaw.

    The monster straight out of a movie proceeds to gut the submarine with its steel teeth and then drags what is left of the nuclear vessel along with all of its crewmen into the crushing depth of the sea.

    This is what happen when you decide to test your nuclear weapons in the middle of the ocean.

    You give birth to Godzi!

    Actually, it is not just Godzi.

    There are a whole host of monsters being formed by the remnants of the vaporized ck markers.

    Not all micromachines are destroyed in the nuclear strike, and they can replicate at an incredible rate as long as there are raw materials avable.

    While the idea is really just a joke initially, it is still hrious to see more than half a dozen Kaiju taking down all those hostile nuclear submarines andying absolute waste to the supporting naval fleet, full of battleships and destroyers and carriers.

    The Russian is really going all out.

    Unfortunately for them, nothing short of a point-nk nuclear st can take down a micromachines monstrosity, so it is more or less a one-sided massacre.

    That will teach them to mess with my n.

    I admit that their high-yield warheads do deal some serious damages to Legion, but the damages they inflicted are negated quickly enough to not even matter despite being in battle.

    Furthermore, Legion can even emte the Godzi''s signature atomic breath by detonating a fusion bomb housed within a powerful forcefield.

    The released nuclear energy is then funneled out and directed at whatever needed to be atomized.

    It is quite a spectacle to see the atomic breath being used against modern military vessels right outside of the big screen.

    I should do this more often.

    Replicating science fiction weaponry, I mean.

    And it is not the only signature attacks that Legion can emte for the Kaiju.

    Incineration sma beam and gravity shockwave are just some of the attacks that the Kaiju canunch at the 20th century warships without any restrain.

    There is no need for restrain.

    It isn''t like this is the prime-reality.

    Lacking powerful energy shield or forcefield, those Russian warships couldn''t stand a chance.

    Honestly, steel cannot withstand such an intense directional st of heat and pressure let alone flesh and bones.

    The people on those ships are instantly killed.

    And their warships reduce to molten scrap metals, scattering across the surface the ocean and sinking to the deepest depth below.

    As for all the radioactive or simr byproducts, Legion will clean that all up once he finishes chastising the Russian for their ill-thought actions.

    They didn''t really think this through, but their desperation is understandable from their perspective.

    I would have done the same if I see my family and friends are eaten alive by alien spheres.

    And considering that more than 30% of their people are being locked up in stasis cell within the spatial dimension while the rest are in a state of fear and panic, the Russian might as well go down in history with a big bang and try to take out as much of those alien bastards as possible.

    That is what they are thinking.

    It is better to be killed than to be enved by a technologically superior species, eh,rade?

    Honestly, must the military think of the worst-case scenario?

    Yes. Actually.

    It is their job to.

    The Russian politicians usually keep their military from going stupid, but sadly, almost all of them are corrupt, so they are locked up in the stasis cell.

    Oops.

    It is just one of those causes and effects.

    The destroyed ck markers are promptly reced by the spaceships hovering in high orbit, meaning that those good men and women have died for nothing.

    Well, not for nothing.

    The Russian did give the world a nice but rather short battle between Kaiju and their military.

    I think it would be better seeing giant robots fighting Kaiju.

    At least it would be considered a fight.

    Next time then.

    I mean another world then.

    Of course, Legion did not understand the underlying humor and cultural references. He merely follows my n for retaliation as ording to the parameters and constrains that I have specified.

    Legion cannot deviate from that.

    He doesn''t have the brain to.

    This means no bombarding the Russian into oblivion from the starships in orbit, even if that does make a lot more sense, considering the technological advantages.

    But raining destruction onto the while being out of range for retaliation is a little overpowered.

    It is also somewhat cheating.

    At least let the other side thinks they can win before crushing their hopes and dreams with impunity.

    And a battle is called a battle when each side get a shot.

    In any case, Legion has demonstrated to the human race what the aliens are fully capable of.

    That is, killing humans with absolutely no remorse.

    It definitely gets the message across.

    Seeing what happened to one of the superpowers, even if a former one, the American and the Chinese immediately discard any attempt at destroying one of the ck markers with their nuclear weapons.

    The American didn''t want to get their proud men and women killed pointlessly against impossible odd while the Chinese just wants to protect their people from any form of Japanese culture.

    Alright. That is a bit racist, but it is their current line of thoughts.

    Since nuclear weapons provepletely fruitless against the aliens and their structures, I am sure the world military will try something else instead of actually bending over and take it up the ass like they are supposed to.

    Of course, they won''t take it up the ass.

    They aren''t gay.

    Heh.

    And I expect nothing less from mankind. I mean the relentless will to fight, not the gay part.

    In the face of hopelessness, humanity tends to fight to the bitter end.

    Humanity has shown me this over and over again in the erased timeline of the Gctic Empire.

    It is a huge problem when people fight me to thest man even if there is no hope of victory, especially if they truly believe their sacrifice mean something in the long run.

    All they did is buy time with their lives.

    Time that I can get back effortlessly.

    Honestly, I wish that only my side has such a fanatic belief and devotion.

    But this is what freedom grants them.

    Freedom is annoying, but taking that away, what do we really left with?

    Besides, it does make things more interesting and challenging.

    Boredom is actually very effective against me.

    "Is that a fucking Godzi!?"

    Joshua calls out when the news reporters finally talk about the battle across the sea.

    What little footages they have managed to scrap together to broadcast tell enough of the whole story.

    The Russian attacks and the Russian just get massacred.

    By impossible monsters no less.

    And with all the ghostly voices and hallucinations going around, everyone does wonder to themselves whether what they are seeing on the television is real or not.

    They wille to a correct conclusion eventually.

    "Language, Josh."

    John tells his son sternly. His eyes soon return to the television screen and capture the images of those Kaiju destroying the Russian military effortlessly.

    And when micromachines monsters are done with the ughtering of good Russian men and women, they roar towards the sky before breaking apart and scattering into the wind like dust. Silvery dust.

    It is merely for effect.

    Those micromachines are regrouping under the sea and away from prying eyes.

    But for such titanic monstrosities to be created from nothing and then being reduced to nothing strike absolute fear into everyone.

    And if anyone in the world still believe that humanity can win against a spacefaring alien race through some bullshit tactics or ideas like in the movies, they might as well stick their head into the sand.

    There is simply no other way to convince them otherwise.

    To demonstrate the seriousness of the attack, the ck makers throughout the world hum with power and extend the sphere of their influence. More people are starting to hear voices and see things even if they are standing far away from the markers.

    The people didn''t need toe in direct contact with the ck markers either to start mumbling all those strange strings of numbers and random words like a broken record on repeat.

    It is absolutely terrifying.

    "I can hear it."

    I mumble softly and look at my mother.

    Stephanie heard me, and I could see the fear and concern in her beautiful eyes.

    "Max."

    I response to her worry with a faint smile and shake my head, telling her not to make a big deal out of it. It will only create unnecessary tension in the room and induce fears in everyone else.

    This is all an act, of course. Even at maximum power and range, those generated brainwaves shouldn''t be able to prate the shielded undergroundplex.

    I spend a bit more time with my grandfather and his family before slipping away to the study room. I resume working on deciphering the encryption that Legion hase up with.

    It is more than annoying that I couldn''t solve this before the time is up.

    The time is almost up. Everything is ready for me to initiate first contact. It will stop the people all over the world doing more stupid things.

    Although I could cheat andpress time within this room, Legion would know.

    And even if I prevent both Legion and Selene from watching me, I would know that I have cheated.

    I would know that I have admitted defeat and cheated!

    There is no way I am going to lose to a virtual intelligence, even if I programmed the damn thing!

    C''mon brain! Think! Think!

    "Max. Please. Please stop trying to decipher it."

    My mother requests from the doorway, finally getting my attention.

    The expression of frustration can be seen upon my face.

    I wonder how long my mother has been standing there. Selene tells me it was for thest six minutes.

    "Please. For me?"

    I nod slowly and close the handwritten book, mming down all the tattered notes. I suppose that it is not shameful to lose to Legion in cryptography.

    Legion does have almost unlimitedputing power while I only have my brain.

    It is a good brain, but it cannot calcte faster than a superputer. If I have more time, I will figure out how to break the code eventually. Oh well.

    "Thank you, Max."

    Stephanie speaks up when I am standing next to her at the doorway of the study room.

    "No. I should be thanking you, Stephanie. I might go crazy if I keep it up."

    I response and take her hand into mine. Her fingers wrap around my palm as I do the same. I suppose that this fine enough.

    And with a smile, I turn off the light head out of the study room alongside with my mother.

    Seeing us together like that annoys John a lot, but he is unable to say anything about it.

    His daughter is falling over heel for me, and it has only been like about four days.

    Give me a week or two and my mother will probably jump in front of a speeding train for me. That just an analogy. She wouldn''t do such a thing regardless how much she loves me.

    Night slowly descends upon the United States as I join the Connors and watch the news report. Other than the repeated warning about approaching the ck markers, there aren''t any new updates.

    Most of the ck markers in the United States have military presence now.

    Considering a good chunk of the military has been gobbled up by Legion due to their extreme hostility and aggression, I say this is as thin as the United States could deployed.

    In fact, they are recalling all their military personnel overseas to booster their number and protect the homnd.

    Another full day gone by before the ck markers hum again before expanding the sphere of influence once more. And again, the next day.

    By then, people realize that the ck makers will keep doing that until everyone in the world bes affected by the hallucinogen effect.

    With the stress of diminishing food supplies due to the death of all nts and animals, the people are starting to riot again.

    This time, not at each other, but at the ck markers. They have somethingmon to express their rage and anger.

    It is as expected.

    And as the people did so, Legion informs me that from the aggregate result, the brainwaves generator bing more and more ineffective against people who are exposed to it longer and longer.

    That means that their brains are building up resistance.

    It is interesting to know.

    While my mother and everyone else in the undergroundplex are not affected by the ck marker nearby, I still fake that I do, and it is progressively getting worse over time to demonstrate the severity.

    My mother is worry about me, but I dismiss her concern whenever I can.

    John notices it as well along with Joshua and Misha, but none of them can do anything about it.

    And one night, I am standing in front of the elevator and staring nkly upwards.

    "Max¡­?"

    Stephanie utters when she notices that I am not sleeping in the living room with grandfather. She has never seen me so out of it before, it frightens her.

    "I think I know what the message mean, Stephanie. And I know what they want."

    I response without looking at her and then approach the elevator.

    Before she could stop me, the door to the iron cage closes.

    The lever is pulled.

    "Wait. Max! Don''t go! Don''t go up there! Max!"

    Stephanie shouts for me and ms her hands against the cage as it ascends, taking me to the surface.

    "I can stop all of this, Stephanie. I can stop all of it right now. Please don''t worry. I will protect you like I have promised."

 Chapter 135: We are Origin

    And I will keep my promise.

    It is one of my core principles.

    Anything that I have vowed to do, I will do it, no matter the cost, to me or anyone else.

    Not everything that I have done and shared with my mother in the past few days is a lie. Therefore, it is distressing to see her tearful face as the elevator ascends and separates the both of us.

    The growing distance between us despite being so close is quite poetic.

    But what must be done must be done.

    I shouldn''t think too much about it, as I will have to let this version of my mother go.

    If not today, then one day in the near future.

    It is so that she could live a happier life. She will not find real happiness with me due to who and what I am.

    And I am not talking about being an Aspect.

    The real me would terrify my mother. The real me would terrify anyone really.

    Although I can debate with myself about what is actually real and what is actually fake, I prefer not to the illusion for my mother to live in even if she prefers to live in blissful ignorance than knowing about the truth of who I am.

    Of the monster that lies within me.

    Living in blissful ignorance is also the very same reason as to why I didn''t resort to sticking every human on the into a virtual reality and call it a day.

    I could do it. I have the technology and the mean to do so.

    Honestly, mimicking the Matrix would be so much easier than what I have in mind, but I wouldn''t call that actual living.

    It is more like ying a game. To escape the harshness of reality for a little while.

    Actual living is to suffer through painful trials and triumphs over seemingly impossible adversities. And only through these a person will know who they are and what they truly believe in.

    Not only that, they will cherish what they have and built. As those things are acquired through sweats and tears. It is far more meaningful than something that is simply granted.

    That said, if there is no other option avable, I will offer exactly that to the humanity of this reality. I am not below using means that I do not agree with. Whatever solve the problem is good for me.

    I call that n D, meaning I am going to digitalizing the entire human race and stick them into a superputer.

    There is a nagging problem with n D, however.

    It is the very reason to why the n is not denoted as n A instead. It has something to do with the soul.

    A soul can be digitized, right? I have no fucking clue.

    Where is Terra when I need her? I have so much questions I want answers to.

    Oh well. I guess I will leave it at that for now.

    Talking about the soul is getting way too spiritual for me. I will make a note to drop by the Vatican and consult with the Pop in the future. I am not Catholic or religious, for obvious reason.

    Why the fuck would an Aspect like me worship a God for? That is just in dumb.

    But that doesn''t mean I do not respect religion in general. For all the shit that happens throughout history in the name of God, it is through religion that people are trying to be an upstanding and moral person.

    Without fear of being burn in hell for all eternity, chaos and anarchy will bemitted everywhere.

    In any case, torturing the Pope for his molestation of little boys ¨C I mean talking to the Pope personally will open my eyes more to the spiritual world.

    Almost let the devil inside me out. Phew.

    Anyway, the humans of this reality have to choose that option of living in a virtual reality personally. I will not make that choice for them.

    It is because no matter how real the virtual world can be simted, if there is a slither of doubt in the mind of the inhabitants, the illusion will inevitably shatter. And they will wake up from the dream.

    Or more correctly to say, the nightmare.

    This has actually been proven in the 31st century. The human mind simply rejects what it thinks is not real no matter how logical or reasonable the falseness seems. It is also the same reason why prisoners are not locked up in a virtual prison.

    They are locked up in a stasis cell instead, not being allowed to think or do anything. There would also be no gap in their memory when they wake up, thus a lifetime sentence is a shock enough. Everyone that they have known and loved are gone is a punishment.

    As for Stephanie, I believe that she would choose to live in the dream if given the choice. It is just who she is. She is not part of the minority. Most people in the world would choose the dream, considering how painful real life can be.

    My mother is in pain.

    It pains me too. To toy with her maiden heart like this. She has never been in love before, at least not this version of her.

    The sperm-donor is too much of a dick to make her worship it.

    What the hell did I just say?

    Anyway, I still want to see.

    I want to see the length of those who honestly and truthfully love me will go.

    And whether I should reciprocate them or not.

    Saying that they love me means nothing. Words are cheap. Actions speaks louder than words.

    I wouldn''t call what I have with all the women so far love. I think it is more or less responsibilities and mutual understandings. Spending a lot of time with someone and doing thing for that someone does not equate to love.

    But that is my opinion.

    And I get too emotional about this. At least there is something call a heart beating inside of me. That just make me more human, I guess.

    But regardless of what happen next, I do have the option of bringing my mother back with me to the prime-reality. It is actually not a good idea, considering my mother already exists there, but it is not a terrible idea either.

    I think I might do that. Who really knows. I have so many options avable. And any of them is as good as the other.

    The elevator seems to take forever to reach the surface, and it isn''t because its speed is slow. It moves at the same speed as it always has.

    I let out a heavy sigh and clear my mind of any further distraction. I need to be mentally strong for this next part of the n A.

    A is for being an Asshole. Or it could mean utter Annihtion?

    Once I step out of the elevator, it immediately descends back into the bunker to fetch someone crying below.

    My mother will chase after me and try to stop what I must do. And she will fail as the result.

    This is the Shakespearian y that I have devised.

    "Max! Max! Please. Please don''t go! Oh God. Please!

    Please!"

    I could hear my mother calling for me, screaming and screaming from below the elevator shaft. I didn''t pay it any mind and walk towards the ck marker, towering in the distance.

    All manners of people are found on my journey to the dark tower. Mostly gunslingers, but not the one gunslinger.

    Have a guess which reference that is.

    Most of the people are screaming and shouting at basically nothing. They are actually being affected by the brainwaves emanating from the ck marker.

    Not everyone is being affected, however.

    In fact, most of the people aren''t being affected anymore. Their minds have built up enough resistance to the effect thanks to the prolonged exposure.

    While I could ramp up the frequency, it is pointless. The experiment is already a resounding sess.

    And without understanding the reason to why they are no longer hearing or seeing the hallucination, they are heading towards the ck markers.

    This means most of the armed men and military personnel since they spend the most time around the ck markers. They discard their vehicles due to the electromaic pulses and continue on foot.

    It is quite an experience, walking alongside with everyone, converging into the ck markers like ants towards an anthill.

    "Max! Max!"

    I cock my head and scan the mass of people behind me. My mother is somewhere in the masses, trying to reach me, but the ghostly voices and hallucinations are slowing her down.

    She has never been exposed to it before thanks to the safety of the bunker.

    But even though she is extremely frightened, she continues on wards. Her father John is somewhere in the crowd, looking for his daughter. He rushes after her when he notices that we are both gone. As for Joshua and Misha, they are still safely in the bunker.

    "Max. Please. Please."

    Stephanie utters as she tries to ignore the tormenting hallucinations. The closer she gets to the ck marker, the stronger it is. Most people would have given up already, but not her.

    No, not my mother.

    She continues no matter what.

    Since the hallucination are just harmless illusions that have brought on by the distressed brain, I smile and turn back to the front and continue my way.

    Alright. It is not entire harmless.

    It takes a while to push through the dense crowd and stand before the ck marker. People here are mostly prostrating, worshiping the ck markers. The rest are just staring in frustration, not knowing what to do.

    Although I have designed the ck marker myself, it was done on holographic screen. I honestly have never seen one up this close, and its enormous size is quite awe-inspiring, especially with all those red glowing lines running up all the way to the top.

    No one people are prostrating. Something like this could only be created by a God. Or a super advance alien species.

    Legion remains unresponsive to whatever attempt at making contact, except in case of an attack. Light and sound shows are just one of the many attempts the United States military try to talk to Legion.

    It is a pointless attempt, really.

    I smile and about to touch the ck marker when a feminine hand ¨C two hands actually ¨C grabs onto me around the waist and pulls me back and away.

    Mum is really persistent, isn''t she?

    In that moment, a huge explosion rocks the earth, sending several people flying.

    Another grenade flies overhead andnd next to the ck marker. It then explodes violently, spraying dust and debris onto the masses while I use my body to shield my mother.

    "Why did youe, Stephanie? It is dangerous here."

    I question as gunfire and explosion surround us. They drown out every other noise, including voices.

    "Because. Because. I. I."

    My mother utters in tearfully. She couldn''t form a sentence as her mind and heart are in utter turmoil.

    The ck marker hums in response to the attack. Red lines moving along its onyx body speeds up and glows brighter.

    "Die you fucking alien!"

    Militant men shout and start firing their automatic rifle at the ck marker. It is mostly out of fear and frustration for their missing families and friends. With what they recall from the dested future, they really have nothing to live for without those that they had cared and loved.

    Honestly, I thought they would go crazy sooner.

    "Stop them. They are going to get us all killed!"

    The sane people try to stop them, but they get gun down with impunity.

    Chaos soon erupts as firefight breaks out between the military and the militant group, killing plenty of people in the crossfire. More explosions follow as pieces of the ck marker get shaved off.

    Those pieces quickly crumble into individual micromachines of all shape and size. The micromachines climb onto each other and assemble into a monstrous creature about the size of a dog. Not just one, but dozens.

    With two pincers in front of their jaw full of razor teeth and two more protruding from their back, they rush at the people nearby, swarming them and ripping them to pieces.

    No one is spare in the bloodbath.

    And both sides stop fighting each other to keep themselves alive. It is futile.

    Bullets simply bounce off the steel carapace of the Zerg-like monsters. They are pretty much Zerglings at this point.

    "Steph! Max!"

    Grandfather calls out and pulls us off the ground. Everywhere are people screaming and begging for their life, but they were not spared in the onught. It is just a massacre.

    "We have to get out of here."

    John tells us, but it is not possible. We arepletely surrounded. The Zerglings snarl and slowly close in onto us. If it was anyone else, Legion would have tear them apart already.

    "I am sorry, Stephanie. Whatever happen, please know that I love you."

    I tell her before raising my hand at the creatures.

    "I know why you are here for. And I ept. I will be your host¡­ Origin."

    Origin is the name of the alien species. It is the one I have chosen as they are basically godlike, allowing me to use my power and technology without restrain while retaining my appearance as a human.

    Well, almost like human.

    The moment I speak the word in Latin, the monsters stop their assault.

    Several people are screaming as they were being chewed up just a moment ago. The Zerglings spit them out and roar towards the sky in unison.

    The ck maker immediately hums with power.

    The same thing happens to every ck marker around the world, lighting up the globe in brilliant.

    And on every ck marker, red energy lines flood the tip, powering up and shooting across the world, converging onto the one that I am at. The flood that one until its entire surface is glowing ominously red.

    It is now a red marker.

    Once a red maker is formed, the Zerglings break apart, forming a metallic storm, spiraling around me as I step away from my mother while looking sadly at her. It is not really an act.

    "No! Max!"

    Stephanie calls out to me and tries to get to me, but her father stops her.

    It is too dangerous. The metal storm will tear her apart if she gets too close.

    "Let me go, dad. Let me go! I can''t leave him like that! I can''t!"

    Stephanie calls out in desperation as the metallic stormspletely shroud me.

    And in the next seconds, fire explodes outwards, throwing everyone backwards and onto the ground.

    The me spirals towards the heaven like a burning pir before expanding outwards and dissipating, leaving me hovering above the ground. My eyes are closed.

    My nakedness is covered in surging mes. And the micromachines crawl over my body,pletely unhindered by the raging fire.

    They connect to each other and form into a new attire as I slowly open my eyes.

    mes burn brightly within those eyes, and I slowly decide upon the ground. I calmly look at everyone around me, one by one, not stopping at anyone particr.

    "What do you say to Origin?"

    The question is spoken in Latin.

    There is absolutely no expression upon my face as I did so.

    The bloodied militant men are pointing their weapon at me as a response. Great hatred could be seen in their eyes. But before they could do anything, they burst into mes.

    The fire is so intense that they get instantly vaporized. Not a single scream could be heard.

    I repeat the same question, and only those who prostrate in response are spared. As it should be. And with a wave of my hand, their injuries were never there.

    Godlike power makes them prostrate even harder.

    "Hallowed are the Ori."

 Chapter 136: Maximum Terror

    Those words are spoken in Latin. A semi-deadnguage.

    Latin isn''t quite dead yet, but it is getting there, slowly. There are still native speakers of thenguage, but they are in the tiny minority.

    Thenguage is dead in the near future, so I will consider it as such.

    Therefore, most people wouldn''t understand what I have just said. But the countless micromachines floating around inside their body and brain, deposited there by Legion after he stripped them and then vited their body for its sexy gic, made sure that they canprehend my words.

    The micromachines also have made sure that those who disrespect me get a spectacrbustion before everyone else. It reinforces the frightening power that I am wielding.

    Not that the mes swirling around my body and lighting up my eyes didn''t do it.

    People are absolutely terrified in my presence. Beyond terrified!

    "Hallowed are the Ori."

    I repeat and spread my arms and raise my hands. All while looking towards the sky and at the ominous red glowing marker, towering over the masses.

    I repeat again for the third time as the red lights spread outwards and force the night to flee in fear.

    People continue to prostrate even though they are shivering in fright. This includes my mother, as she is forced onto the ground my grandfather. He acts quickly after seeing what happened to the militant men.

    They were instantly killed. And they could as easily be brought back to life. Life and dead are just really state of living for me to decide.

    "For we are all their children. Blessed are those who follow the Path to Origin. For those who seek the path must not be led astray. And those who reject the path to enlightenment must be destroyed."

    I continue the mantra and lower my head and cast my burning eyes upon the masses. Only a few who dare to look up and match my gaze, but they immediately drop their head in prostration.

    "Max."

    My mother utters painfully and tearfully, but I pay her no mind. She will serve her purpose of bringing me back from the dark but not yet. I really want to have fun first.

    Being a God, you have to have fun when such a rare opportunity arises. Not that rare, but it did require a lot of work and preparation.

    Otherwise, then what is the point of being a God? What is the point of wielding this much power?

    I can see why Terra prefers to be personified into an avatar and interacts with the physical world rather than being pure state of Chaos, all-powerful and all-knowing.

    Without individuality, there is no fun to be had either.

    Honestly, I could easily start a technologypany somewhere in the past and gradually introduce all the necessary technology and innovation to ensure the survival of the human race in this reality.

    But that feels like I will be retreading the same path with the prime-reality.

    It is not irrational for me to say that retreading is fucking boring.

    Fuck that!

    Variety is the spice of life, after all.

    And with so many ways to reach the same goal, why should I settle on doing the same thing over and over again from one reality to another.

    It is repetitive.

    And if I have to do that for stupid reason, I will just let Legion do it while I am sitting on the beach and enjoying my cocktail with beauties of the ages.

    That reminds me. I should go and hunt down those beauties throughout the ages. It isn''t like they are going to fall onto myps without me doing anything.

    The ancient world has many notable women, who are beautiful, intelligence and brave. The very type of women that I like to be surrounded with.

    Women such as Joan of Arc (14th century). Guinevere (5th century). Lady Godiva (11th century). Aspasia (5th century). Salome (1st century). Lucrezia Borgia (15th century).

    And so many more.

    This is not to mention Phryne of Thespiae, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra of Egypt, and so on.

    Didn''t ancient China also have Great Beauties that can topple Empires with just their look alone? That is kind of bullshit, but I will be the judge of that.

    I will check them all out eventually.

    Unfortunately, I couldn''t do that in the prime-reality since jumping into the past would basically undo all that I have aplished thus far. This is because the new timeline and future will be created from whatever point in the past that I have decided to let myself in.

    But since there quite a lot of alternate realities that are following the same course of events like those in the prime-reality, I will make use of them instead.

    Another interesting thing that I have found is that no reality existing beyond the temporal rift is exactly the same as the prime-reality. It is just like the prime-reality is somewhat different from the original-reality.

    Yes. The prime-reality is the original-reality, just a lot different now because of my machinations from 1950 onwards. I could have jump further back, but I needed all the infrastructures to be there. Building from scratch is a pain in the ass.

    Plus, the Second World War makes people think twice about starting another global war.

    Although this alternative reality appears to be on track just like the start of the 21st century that I have fondly remembered, there are some strange key differences. Not important key differences, but it is tantly there in front of me the whole time, such as advancement in telmunication.

    Phone is more advanced and more widespread than from the original-timeline. Not smartphone since that would be somewhat a p in the face, but it is getting there. Without the Curse of Decay, wrecking the, I am sure that the iPhone will be released earlier than when it supposes to.

    This is very interesting from a philosophical standpoint. And I cannot help but wonder what happen if the dark ages never happened? What if there is no science vs religion bullshit in the past? Would the human race be more advance by the time the 21st century?

    So many things I want to know.

    But for now, I will just enjoy my time at being a terrifying God. A terrifying alien-God.

    God is an alien, right?

    He could be for all I know, really. Yes. I did check whether the world was created about 6,000 years by some white-bearded muscr old man. He didn''t show up and the world was already there. It actually was already there for billions of years.

    So that part of the Bible is bullshit. A lot of it is actually, but whatever.

    Faith is faith. You don''t need to have a logical reason in believing it.

    Just like believing in me and my power while I am impersonating a fictional alien species known as the Ori from Stargate SG-1.

    Stargate SG-1 is a series from the 1997, running for about a decade, concluding in 2007. It has a total of 10 seasons, but most of the fun stuffs are in the first few seasons since it is something new. Not to mention the quirkiness of all the main characters. They are just fun to watch.

    In the television series, the Ori is a godlike alien race that is both technological and spiritual powerful.

    Their technological prowess allows them to cross the vast distance between gxies in mere seconds.

    And their power over the physical universe allows them to create worlds from nothing.

    They are basically gods in the confine of their fictional universe.

    Alright, they are not basically gods.

    They are gods!

    But unlike the actual Ori and their retarded religion Origin, I will just act like Goa''uld instead.

    The Goa''uld is also from the same television series, Stargate SG-1. They are a parasitic snake-like race that burrows into a person''s brain and takes control over their body.

    Seems like something I would totally do.

    They are also as insane and megalomaniac as me right about now.

    As an antagonist of the show, the Goa''uld are designed to be overly dressed, overly charismatic, overly clich¨¦, and a lot more overly of other things just like the Egyptian Gods they are based on.

    Yup. That''s right. Their backgrounds are based on Egyptian Gods, so they have names like Ra, Apophis, Horus, Osiris, Isis, and so on.

    Funny.

    But all in all, the Goa''uld is a lot more fun to impersonate than the fucking boring Ori, who are actual Gods and yet, they get defeated by good old plot armor.

    Honestly, if the Ori are empowered by the faiths and devotions of their human followers through their religion, Origin, shouldn''t they flood their gxy with human life?

    Hell, shouldn''t they flood every and all gxies throughout the universe with humans since the more followers they have, the more powerful they be?

    It is justmon sense.

    But I guess that would make them way too overpowered. So instead, the writer decides to dumb them down and make them all stuck in one ce for easy killing by squishy humans and their idiotic n.

    That is why the Ori sucks so much and basically kills the show.

    If I was one of the Ori, earth would be enved by the first episode. By the first few minutes probably.

    And even if the Ori cannot enter our gxy personally and wreck things at the cosmic proportion due to some plot armor, they can totally flood our gxy with endless fanatics.

    Fanatics aren''t even needed.

    Something like Legion will do.

    In fact, the show does have something equivalent to Legion, a self-replicating machine, capable of just about anything. And yet they are also get defeated by idiotic mean.

    Sigh.

    I will rewrite all of that when I get around to producing the show myself. I will also fix up some of the incredibly retarded writing such as the time when our starship is fighting another alien starship that is beingmanded by space-vampires.

    Our human-built starship is superior, capable of probably one-shot the alien ship, but could since they have human hostages that needed to be rescued.

    So instead of taking out their main weapons and disabling their engine in the process, which we totally could, the captain of our powerful starship decides to be an idiot and drop the ship''s shield, so we can teleport some insurgences aboard for a good old rescue mission.

    Doing that just get his ship bombarded and killed a lot of crewmen aboard.

    Um¡­ what the bloody fuck!?

    There is no cure for idiocy. In fiction and in real life.

    While I cannot do anything about that right now, I can totally do something like that in real life.

    I am ying an Ori right now, and this is the stage I have created, so fear me.

    Fear me!

    My eyes glow brightly as the mes surrounded my body rage violently. The massive red marker lets out a powerful pulse, and the ck markers did the same.

    The electromaic pulses wash over the entire, shutting down everything electronics.

    And within the next couple of seconds, every television across the switch back on, revealing all that happened from the time that the militant attacks the ck marker until my appearance as an Ori.

    I don''t need to wait for media to cover this. I could it myself since Legion are basically everywhere. In fact, I have eyes and ears everywhere in the form of cloaked drones.

    One of the drones are recording everything that had happened and broadcasting it through the ck markers and the hovering spaceships above earth and in orbits.

    Once everyone understands what had happened and fears for what I can do to them and to the world, I begin speaking.

    It will be spoken in in English since it will would give people who has a brain a logical reason to why the Ori needs a human host.

    "Greeting, humans of Earth. I am the Ori. We are the Ori. We are the origin of all you see, and we havee to offer you the path to enlightenment. The path to Origin. ept us or be destroyed.

    Be one with us like this human did and we shall grant you eternity."

    Thest part is for my mother.

    "No! Max!"

    She calls out as she understands, but grandfather stops her.

    He desperately tries to stop her and tells her that she will be killed and everything that I have done for her would be for naught. Even so, she could not be silent.

    "Please. Please give him back. I beg of you. Please give Max back."

    My mother begs, but I stare at her expressionlessly.

    mes swirl around her as grandfather screams out in terror and lurches himself into the fire, but the mes vanish along with my mother.

    "The one you called Max is no longer. He has be part of us. He has be us, the Ori. Everything that he was and is are us. His knowledge. His dreams.

    His wishes. Even his love for you. Such weakness must be destroyed."

    I tell my mother as she gets teleported in front of me. The me is purely for effect. The Ori is actually fire itself, so everything should be rted to fire.

    It helps with my power to manipte thermal energy. And if it is insufficient, the divine curse ced upon my soul by a Dragon God is enough to burn away everything with impunity.

    As the world watches, I reach out my burning hand towards my mother. The mes are very real, and it will burn everything that it touches.

    In that moment. The mes in my eyes flicker for effect.

    "No¡­ stop¡­"

    I utter softly before retreating my hand and shaking my head.

    "Max? Max!"

    mes surge and swirl within my eyes before my mother vanishes. My grandfather too when he tries tomit suicide against me. They found themselves back in the bunker, scaring the shit out of Joshua and Misha, who are watching the y I created on the television screen.

    "This human. This human named Maximilien Maxwell wishes for us to not cleanse this world from the Flood. The flood is your future. Only death and darkness there. We have given you a chance. A chance to live and join us on the road to enlightenment."

    I continue before scanning the surrounding. mes around me dim before bing intense. The area shakes heavily as the red marker surges with power.

    "But only the faithful may be allowed to."

    Torrents of micromachines erupt from the earth, forming dozens of pirs piercing into the sky. They connect with each other to form a coliseum.

    Seats are created for people to spectate the judgement.

    It looks just like the coliseum that Terra created. It is not done through magic but through technology.

    I sit on the throne where Terra had seated, looking down at all the frightened people in the spectator area. More people are teleported into the area, filling up all the seatingpletely.

    They are all shock and surprise since just a moment ago, they are with their family, huddling together infort and fear.

    "Prove to me that you are, humans of Earth."

    I speak up and look towards into the stadium and narrow my eyes. me swirls within before spitting out a man. He was actually taken from the spectator area, telling everyone that they are actually in a queue.

    "The first human shall be the leader of this¡­ United States of America. William Jefferson Clinton."

    I narrow my eyes at the terrified 42nd president of the United States. His wife screams out from the spectator area. She will get her turn eventually.

    Everyone will as I expose their deepest secrets.

 Chapter 137: All My Sins Remembered

    Of course, that is just a figure of speech.

    There is no way in hell that I am going to psychoanalyze each and every person on the.

    There are around 6.2 billion people in the year 2001. But due to one thing or another, about 2 billion of them are locked up in stasis cells housed within my personal spatial dimension.

    That leaves me the remaining 4.2 billion people to contend with.

    Even if I give each person a second of thought, it will still take me approximately 48,000 days or about 131 years.

    Yeah. I am not doing that.

    And neither should anyone else either.

    I will leave all the hard work to Legion. It is what he is designed to do.

    As a matter of fact, Legion has already finished psychoanalyzing everyone on the. But honestly, whether a person is inherently good or not cannot really be known for certain, even with my ability to see the future.

    It is just a probable future after all. It is not a certain future even if I am there in person.

    Besides, morality isn''t pure ck or white.

    People are not like in the movies. Pure good or absolutely evil.

    Real life does not work that way. Therefore, it is worth living.

    A fathermits heinous crime to feed his starving children cannot be considered as a monster. Most people aren''t really inclined tomit atrocities. They only do so out of dire circumstances.

    Having said that, I am not like most people.

    And I will troll the entire world if I have to just to get that kick in my funny bone.

    But having fun is one thing. Wasting a lot of time is another. I ce a great emphasis on ''a lot'' as I do waste time if it gives me some good insight to the human condition.

    Besides, I do have time right now.

    The prime-reality is frozen in time, as I am currently in another reality.

    And the time in this reality will bepressed soon. It is just to give me more fun time.

    The reason that I have not done that already is because doing so would make the sun stays in one spot all day and every day. This is because the temporalpression bubble only surrounds the.

    It is not extended to the entire sr system. And yes, I do mean I have to extend the temporal bubble to the entire sr system if I want to have a stable normal day and night cycle.

    Strange that it didn''t work by just enveloping the and surrounding moon alone. The motions and orbits of the seems to each other.

    If just one of thes is outside the temporalpression bubble, the orbits of everys within the sr system will be fucked up. I wouldn''t want that to happen.

    Actually, it already happens, in an erased future timeline.

    I cannot envelope an entire sr system yet. It is already stressing my mental capability with just the Earth and the moon alone. The moon is also important in the motion of all celestial bodies.

    "There is no need to be terrified, William Jefferson Clinton. I am only interested in whether you should be allowed to follow the great path towards enlightenment."

    I announce as my eyes burn brightly. mes constantly flicker around my body. I cast my eyes towards the spectators before narrowing them.

    The cloaked camera is actually hovering in front of me, giving everyone who is watching the impression of me looking directly at them.

    I actually do since I know where every single person on the is.

    This ability extends to knowing what they are doing or thinking.

    Legion tallies and summarizes for me what the 4.2 billion people are thinking every second. He did not need to drill deeper into their memory to get this information.

    Merely reading their surface thought is enough.

    Not long ago, reading a person''s mind and analyzing their thoughts would have been impossible. Well, not impossible, but it is a very difficult thing to do.

    The human mind is extremelyplex, but it is not soplex that I cannot fuck with it.

    Honestly, my understanding of the consciousness has grown significantly in the past few days.

    It is all thanks to the billion humans acting asb rats.

    All for the name of science.

    My brand of science!

    "On the contrary to what you are all thinking, I am not interested in whether you are good or evil. The concept of good and evil has no bearing on us, the Ori, for we have transcended beyond such simplistic thinking."

    I made my standpoint clear and return my attention back to the incredibly nervous 42nd President of the United States. When everything is stripped away, what remains is just a man.

    A frightened man, but a man, nheless.

    That is actually something since I have always considered most people as ants.

    Having godlike powers entitles me to such way of thinking. If you don''t like it then go ahead and file aint to someone higher. Oh wait. I am the highest there is, being an Aspect and all.

    Please don''t send letter ofint to Terra.

    Ahem.

    In any case, I wouldn''t consider Bill Clinton as my favorite President, but he is still pretty high up there on my list of favorite Presidents. In fact, he is pretty popr with the American people.

    "Tell me, William Jefferson Clinton. Whether you consider yourself worthy of salvation. Whether you are worthy to follow the path towards Origin. A simple yes or no will suffice."

    I question and keep my eyes on him. Everyone else did too. The world as well.

    Everyone and everything are waiting for his answer. It is just a simple yes or no.

    Bill Clinton swallows the hard lump in his throat and looks towards his wife for answer, but none could really be found there.

    He would want to see his lovely daughter as well, but Chelsea Clinton is not there. I didn''t bother with pointless people. Only people I want to see squirm are put into the spotlight.

    Before my patient runs thin, Bill Clinton speaks up.

    "No. I do not. I have done things that I am not too proud of. And I have hurt those that I have cared so much more than anything in the world. But I beg of you¡­ the Ori. Please do not judge the human race upon my actions.

    We are capable of so much more than what you can see."

    That didn''t really surprise me.

    Bill Clinton is a good President after all despite his misgivings and sexual scandals.

    And in this very moment, his fear has vanished. He speaks from the heart. It is all I can ask from anyone really.

    But that isn''t really enough for me. And when everyone looks towards me for my response, I close my eyes slowly and begin to mumble something to myself. I put on the appearance of seemingly debating with someone or a group of something.

    I open my eyes again after a minute.

    An extremely long minute.

    Everyone remains silence for my judgement. A judgement from God. But like God, I will not reveal my real intention. Is there really a need to? I have already made up my mind about saving this world. This world that my mother lives in.

    Therefore, this whole judgement is just a sham, really. But the people don''t know that. And what they don''t know can''t really hurt them.

    Not true. Unless psychological torture does not count.

    "We are unable to reach a census, William Jefferson Clinton."

    I announce. Chatters erupt amongst the spectators. People at home or on the street, watching on the television also debates amongst themselves what just happen.

    "And before we are able to, I shall let the world decide whether you are worthy of salvation, William Jefferson Clinton. I shall let the people you speak for decide whether you are allowed to join the path towards enlightenment or be forever cast into the mes of atonement."

    The message is loud and clear. This is judgement. And I am the judge, jury and executioner.

    Once I have concluded my statement, holographic screens manifests in the air. A screen on each side of the throne, where I am sitting.

    The holographic screen takes on the appearance of a vertical banner. Just like the ones that could be found in an old castle. On one side is fiery red banner. On the other side is a pleasant blue banner.

    The red one is obviously the positive one since I am fire incarnated.

    With a quick nce, each of the holographic banner has huge number on them. It is dead center. The number on the red is 68.2%. The number on the blue is 31.8%.

    I honestly didn''t need to describe what those numbers are. Most people already know. Nevertheless, I need to exin the anyway. It is the approval rate of the American people towards the President.

    Actually, it is not as simple as that. Only people who have heard and know Bill Clinton are considered in the poll and contribute towards those number. The amount of people is indicated at the bottom of each vertical banner.

    24,221,928 for red side while the blue side has 11,294,095.

    That works out to 68.2% and 31.8% respectively. It is a total of 35 million people.

    The moment I finish exining, the number wrestles each other before stabilizing at 72.1% and 27.9% respectively. The amount of people also increased to 43 million. This is still a far cry from the number of people living the United States in 2001.

    Legion tells me it is 286,344,918. Excluding babies and children as they cannot be considered for this since it is a bit beyond theirprehension. That number is just shy of 150 million.

    Still, it is an overwhelming approval for Bill Clinton.

    "The people of the United States of America agree that you are worthy of salvation and allow to enter the path towards enlightenment, William Jefferson Clinton."

    I speak up. A lot of people are cheering in the spectator area. A lot more in their own home.

    "But unfortunately, it is not enough for us to reach a census."

    I speak up as a new holographic banner appear above the throne area. This banner ispletely grey.

    And the moment it appears, the numbers on the other two banners immediately adjust, dropping to rock bottom of 0.07% and 0.01% respectively.

    The massive number of 4.2 billion (99.92%) illustrate on the grey banner. This is the undecided portion of the.

    Seeing such a huge number, it nearly knocks Bill Clinton off his feet. Having the approval of million of people is already a feat. Having the approval of billion of people? That is kind of impossible, isn''t it? It certainly is considering the majority of the world hates America.

    So, this whole test is extremely biased. As if I will be fair to everyone.

    "Your world is primitive. Your people are disconnected. The majority of your species truly have no idea of what is happening on the other side of the. They live their entire life in ignorance, not aware of the truth. We will show them the truth. We will lead them onto the path of enlightenment.

    And for them to be one with Origin."

    I speak up as the alien starships roar mightily. They break apart into silvery sand and covers the entire sky in manyyers, forming a megastructure around the entire.

    Seeing such disy of power further solidifies my status as basically God.

    "Hallowed are the Ori."

    I speak up. Everyone else follows. And the silvery sky fade away, returning the once beautiful night as before. It is actually a holographic illusion.

    I have conducted the same test to awe Eliana.

    But unlike the sexy dark elf who worships me as her one and only God, the people of this reality have no clue that they are now enclosed within a Dyson Sphere of sort.

    Once the real sky is blocked, reced with a simted sky, I canpress time as much as I want.

    As I did so, I return my attention to Bill Clinton again.

    "I acknowledge that you do not ept this trial. You believe that it ispletely unfair to you to have those who had never met or even hear do of you to judge you for who you are. We understand, so we will consider only those that consider themselves American."

    The number on the banner shifts again. Red banner now has 19.8% while blue banner now has 7.3%.

    As for the grey banner, it is sitting at 72.9%, which is still a lot of people to convince.

    "The majority of the American is undecided in either in favor or against you, William Jefferson Clinton. That is unfortunate. However, that is because they do not know the real you."

    I look up and stare at the far end of the stadium. The moment I did, a holographic screen manifested.

    Everyone looks towards the screen as it ys everything that Bill Clinton has ever done in his life.

    All of his aplishments and failures areid out before him, for everyone to see. Most of it are all public knowledge, but there are some of it isn''t. It is extracted from his memory and reconstructed by Legion.

    I can do that now. Awesome, isn''t it?

    And everyone gasps when the screen shows a young woman entering the private office. Everyone who keeps track with current affair know who she is. She takes the center of the scandal that basically rocks the nation just a year ago.

    "Mr. President. You call for me, sir?"

    A young woman asks. She had worked as an intern at the White House between December of 1995 to December 1997. She was in hiding. She isn''t anymore.

    "Ah, yes, Monica. Please. Call me Bill."

 Chapter 138: Burning Judgement

    I wouldn''t call Monica Lewinsky beautiful.

    But it is hrious to see the expression on everyone''s face when they witness the former Whitehouse intern sucking off the 42nd President of the United States on the big screen.

    On the said screen, Bill Clinton groans in delight as he blows his load right into her mouth with little if any restrain. She takes it in stride and swallows it all professionally.

    Monica even licks her lips afterwards.

    "That is quite a lot, Mr. President."

    Monicapliments. She then proceeds to push the older man against the couch in order to straddle that dick of his. It is much to his approval if his smile is anything to go on.

    And as she did so, his hands are all over her body, groping her chest and rear through the tight fabric.

    They are still in the Whitehouse after all, and it would impudent to anyone who idently stumble on them and see them both naked. Plus, it is easier to collect all evidences if those evidences are scattered on the floor and all over the room.

    Monica knows this well. Bill Clinton, not so much, since he is thinking with his dick instead of his brain. I am sure there is a brain in there somewhere. It is taking the backseat right now.

    Soon enough, Monica and Bill are at it. It is mostly her bouncing only his needy shaft, shouting out and urging him to movie his hips more. She is quite aggressive at it. And I wonder who is the one in power exactly.

    I am not the only one who is thinking that.

    "Give it to me, Mr. President! Oh! Give it to me!"

    Monica calls out, demonstrating that she truly enjoys the sexual encounter.

    The President totally gives it to her at her request, grunting and groaning, as his cock fills her inside in full. And soon enough, he roars and explodes, filling her with his baby making seeds.

    The sight of that immediately causes an uproar by everyone who is watching, whether they are sitting in the spectator area of the coliseum, hurdling together in their own home with their family members or just standing in the streets and roads throughout the United States.

    They are appalled. And more than that, they are pissed.

    "What the fuck!? I thought she was the victim in this!"

    "Didn''t he say that he never has any sexual interaction with her? He totally fucks her!"

    "You really believe that, huh? You sir are a stupid moron. Of course, he fucks her. Who the hell believe that they only have a blowjob. I would totally fuck her too."

    "Mummy, what are they doing? They sound like you and uncle Bob in the bedroom when daddy is not home."

    "Your standard is way too low, man. She is like a 3. Way below average. I get together with a 9 in the future. And she sucks me off nice and tight with her pussy. Damn I want to see her again, but I didn''t get her name."

    "Sounds like you, having sex with someone before learning of her name. But I get it. I was the king of the world when the world gone to hell. At least I died happy with my cock in someone''s throat."

    And it gets progressively weird afterwards. There are still a lot ofments about what is happening on the screen.

    This is because the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal that had rocked the entire nation roughly two years prior paints Monica Lewinsky as the victim. It is expected since she is just a helpless intern inparison to the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

    It totally has nothing to do with her female gender at all.

    And I am sure that if their role were reversed, the public opinion would remain exactly the same. That is to say, the helpless Whitehouse intern would still be the victim regardless whether the intern has a third leg or not.

    That is me being sarcastic.

    Of course, it wouldn''t work out like that if their roles are to be swapped. A man forcing a woman doing sexual things is different to a woman forcing a man to do so. One is called rape. The other one is called being a sissy.

    Their positions of power have nothing to do with that.

    This is what wrong with the world. In this time and into the future. Their concept of gender equality is incredibly wed. A woman is not a man, and therefore, should not act like one. There is a reason why God makes man and woman.

    Otherwise, there would be a hermaphrodite.

    That will not be weird at all.

    Honestly, Monica reaps quite a lot of benefits from the scandal, turning herself into an instant celebrity as well as one of the youngest millionaires in America. Without my intervention, I am sure that her so called celebrity status and fortune would have continued into the future.

    Unfortunately for her, I intervene.

    It is mostly for the awesome porno movies starring the President of the United States, but it is also for everyone in America to know the truth. As deep-fake isn''t a thing yet in 2001, no one really questions the recorded evidence being broadcasted all over the world.

    Certainly, I could have produced a fake video with the technology at my disposal. It wouldn''t take any effort at all, considering the amount ofputing power at my fingertips.

    Hell, I could make it seems like Bill Clinton rapes his own daughter, Chelsea, right in the oval office of the Whitehouse, with his wife, Hry Clinton, watching and egging him on.

    That would be fucking hrious.

    Of course, most people would question the authenticity of that hypothetical video, but it is very hard for everyone to dismiss the possibility even if it is highly imusible. There is a real reason why people keep saying: seeing is believing.

    The future obviously mess this up with its advancement in technology. What you see isn''t necessarily real. And it certainly cannot be believed.

    In any case, that weird-ass scenario is a thought experiment. I might try it out one day just to see how everyone will react. It isn''t the worst thing I have done, sexually speaking.

    For now, I should be a little bit fair about this.

    Disregard that! I should totally be unfair about this. It is a lot more fun. And of course, for science! This is a social experiment after all. My kind of social experiment.

    An interesting point to note, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal of this reality actually deviates significantly from what is stored within my personal databank. I am talking about the historical stuff that have been downloaded from the original-timeline before it gets bombed into oblivion.

    The oue of the scandal is still the same here as it is in the original-timeline. But the road they take to get there is different. There is more than one path towards the same goal.

    It also reinforces the idea that no reality beyond the temporal rift is exactly the same in everyway like the original-timeline even if they appeared to be so at the first nce.

    Not even the prime-timeline.

    I suppose that using the prime-timeline as example is bad since I have changed a lot of thing there. It is for the better in my opinion. At least it is more better than what I have in mind for this reality.

    Magic will not be known here even if the Curse of Decay is their future.

    Their future is rtive in n A.

    Thanks to magic, any reality that has it is discovered to be wildly different. I am sure that Az is Earth due to its rtively size and gravity as well as its position around the sun. But because of the existence of magic, the continents are drifted differently. It even has an extra moon as a result.

    But not all realities recorded in the Hydra Network is different thanks to magic. It is also due to strange mystical or supernatural powers. And I do mean mystical and supernatural powers in all sense of the words.

    Several realities discovered by Hydra so far have beings that shouldn''t really be exined by science of magic. Beings such as vampires and werewolves.

    They are also weak to sunlight and silver respectively just like in popr culture. I wonder what is that all about. I will explore those realities myself when I have timeter since it is too risky for the men to explore those worlds in more details.

    I am talking about supernatural monsters that can rip a Hydra assault force into blood pieces through brute force alone. And it is not to mention about their ability to turn into intangible mist or shadow, preventing themselves getting hit and killed.

    No magical energy is detected when they did that, meaning it is not magic. It could be science since I didn''t release the brainwave detector to Hydra. But I don''t think it is science. It feels too illogical to be science in all honestly.

    Of course, Hydra didn''t simply lie down and let the werewolves and vampires ughter them. But for a full-scale retaliation is a costly maneuver, considering they are unable to capture a live one for study.

    And having a team of scientists on the other side is asking for trouble. We certainly cannot bring any corpses back because that would open another can of worms.

    Do I really want vampires hiding amongst the poption? This isn''t Underworld.

    Therefore, it is up to me to investigate those worlds. Maybe I could get some insight to their intangible ability as well as their immortality. Even if they are biologically immortal, they shouldn''t bepletely immune to my power.

    Still, it is very bizarre. Supernatural is a field worth studying. I will get some people on that soon. They might want to check out the house I had recently brought. Hope that no one falls down the stairs and breaks their neck in the process.

    Whatever haunting the ce is quite malicious, considering the numerous deaths throughout the past decades so far. Everyone who has lived there died through mysterious idents.

    In any case, the supernatural stuff shouldn''t have anything to do with this reality.

    "William Jefferson Clinton."

    I speak up once the porno movie finishes ying on the holographic disy. Although I do have more fapping materials, involving other women such as Paul Jones, I think it is enough.

    Digging a bigger hole for the President is unnecessary, not to mention time-consuming. It has already been like several hours.

    And this is just one person. I have like thousands more people to make fun of.

    The moment I speak up, everyone within the spectator area bes silence and looks towards me. I suppose I have instilled great fear of God in them. The religious side of things try to exin what I am exactly.

    I am certainly not the Almighty. No one can be the Almighty. Right.

    "We are in an agreement that you certainly did have an appropriate sexual rtionship with a human named Monica Samille Lewinsky. Do you agree?"

    Bill Clinton ispletely speechless.

    Of course, he agrees. What else could he say otherwise? It is already crystal clear to everyone who is paying any kind of attention. Furthermore, this isn''t a democratic court.

    The judge, jury and execution are all me. And whatever I say, goes. If they disagree with it, there is no one can bitch to. The Ori is all me.

    "I am still waiting for your response, William Jefferson Clinton."

    I state calmly since Bill Clinton did not say anything. I already know what he is going to say since Legion is inside that brain of his, reading his every thought and emotion.

    All kind of thoughts and emotions run through him when all of his deepest secrets are revealed to the world. It is kind of hard not to.

    "Yes. Yes. I have sexual rtions with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. But ¨C

    Bill Clinton admits. He wants to say more.

    "Unnecessary, William Jefferson Clinton. We are not interested in your rification. We are, however, in agreement that you did not force yourself upon Monica Samille Lewinsky. Isn''t that right?"

    I turn my attention towards Monica Lewinsky as she is dumped into the coliseum with mes. She was not in the spectator area since she isn''t really anyone important in my eyes.

    The only reason that Monica Lewinsky has be anyone in the public''s mind is because of the sexual scandal, which herself probably brought to light.

    I will confirm this with Legion.

    It is a great risk to be exposed in such a scandal as the United States of America has made quite a lot of people disappeared in the past for little things, but the reward is even great.

    Do not underestimate people''s greed.

    Besides, Monica understands that once she is within the public attention, it is very hard to kill her. No one wants a repeat of what happened to Diana, the Princess of Wales. Oh, the princess definitely got assassinated.

    And I know who did it. But this is about Monica at the moment.

    Monica did keep all the evidences of her sexual encounters with Bill Clinton. And she is just too happy to tell everyone her story in exchange for momentary gains. Hell. She even goes on to do endorsement deals for sizable sums.

    That is a ground for me to be highly suspicious.

    And Legion finally confirms my suspicion. No one can hide anything from Legion.

    Under my burning gaze, Monica recoils in fear. She knows what she did, and she is terrify of me putting more of it on disy for everyone to see.

    "Serve you right, bitch! Now face the judgement!"

    "Smite her. Smite her!"

    "Send her straight to hell!"

    Those are just some the remarks the crowds are saying throughout the United States. To think that it has only been a couple of ago when they are on her side of things. People do change easily.

    And they are more persuaded by things that happened recently, forgetting that Monica probably could not refuse Bill Clinton''s sexual advances. As that was the case at the time, she might as well make the most out of it.

    It is not wrong. But I am not here to listen to what is right and what is wrong.

    Do I look like someone who cares about the morality and philosophical side of things?

    "No, I ¨C ahh!"

    Monica begins. Her words are cut off when instantly bursts into mes. There is no need to hear what she is going to say since the moment she thinks of a lie, Legion will roast her ass.

    Only her ashes remain. And that shuts up everyone. As much as they hate her for it, seeing her bursts into mes and burns to ashes drive that fearful spear into their heart.

    They remember that quite a lot of people are dead thanks those spherical spheres. Despite the grim future ahead, they are just happy to be alive and breathing.

    "Holy shit! He smites her. He fucking smites her!"

    "Is she dead?"

    "Of course, she is! Look at her ashes."

    "Is he going to smite the President next? Holy fuck. Do it. I want him to do it!"

    The people are thinking. They did not speak what is going on in their mind out of fear.

    "Those who stray from the path must be destroyed, for only the truth may allows you to be one with Origin."

    I speak up and return my gaze at Bill Clinton. I am still undecided on what to do with him, exactly. But I could just roast his ass for the heck of it since someone did suggest the option.

    However, after taking a good look into his wife''s brain, I thought of an appropriate idea. It will probably change their rtionship forever, as like everyone in the world or in stasis cell, they will remember all that has happened to them.

    "We are still unable to reach a census, so we will wait and see what those that you care so much about have to say. Shall they stand with you or against you, William Jefferson Clinton?"

    The numbers on the red, blue and grey holographic banner begin to flicker. Adjusting themselves over and over again as more and more people in the United States decide whether they are standing for or standing against their President.

    Interesting enough, most people do since they still have a good opinion of him regardless of what had happened with Monica Lewinsky.

    The result stabilizing at 44.12%, 5.29%, and 50.59% for red, blue and grey banner respectively. That is about right since the majority of the poption is still undecided one way or another.

    Still, to manage to get 44.12% is quite a feat.

    People really wants him to reach enlightenment despite the lesser opinion they have of him. It totally has nothing to do with just what happen to Monica Lewinsky.

    "Although you have not won the heart and mind of all your people, William Jefferson Clinton. I am in the agreement that you are worthy of salvation and be allowed to step onto the path towards Origin."

    I speak up as mes swirl around me for effect. I close my eyes and continue to speak.

    "We are also in agreement, William Jefferson Clinton. Those that agree with us will be allowed to join the path to enlightenment. Those that disagree must be destroyed."

    I slowly open my eyes. mes burn brightly in them.

    "Wait. What?"

    "What did he say?"

    "Oh shit! No!"

    "No! Ah! Ahhh!"

    "No. I change my mind. I change my mind!"

    "Ahhhhhhhhh!"

    "Guahhhhhha!"

    "Help me! Help me!"

    5.29% is still a lot of people. That is still more than a million people. In fact, it is more than 5 million to be exact. The number on the banner plummets rapidly, showing that I am serious.

    I need to reduce the number of people as fast as possible. This is a good way to. Plus, it further drives the fear of me in everyone.

    They all burst into mes and being reduced into ash all over the United States of America. The people in the spectator area is no exception to this.

    Bill Clinton widens his eyes in shock and surprise as he witnesses his wife being burst into me. She is one of those that votes against him.

    I guess she didn''t love him enough.

 Chapter 139: Mass Execution

    No, I didn''t kill them.

    That would make me a mass murderer. More of a mass murderer, I mean. It isn''t like I haven''t cleansed an entire of its inhabitants before.

    And I would certainly do it again if it served a purpose.

    Killing everyone on Earth does not serve any purpose. I am trying to give them a future. A better future than the one that someone else has installed for them. Therefore, I merely stash them all in my spatial dimension. They each get their very own stasis cell, awaiting to open their eyes into the new age.

    The age of me.

    To be honest, they are considered the lucky ones. Aside from a little pain of being burned alive, forcing out a little terrific scream here and there, they get to sit out the rest of the terror show.

    Yes. It is a terror show, as demonstrated by the expressions from everyone regardless of age. I suppose I should send the children on their way to heaven since they do not need to witness anymore of this.

    "William Jefferson Clinton."

    Bill Clinton flinches when I call his name. Although he is not directly or even indirectly responsible, he could not help but feel for those that had been burned alive by me. His wife for many years is amongst those people. He has seen her burst into mes and heard her screams. Only her ashes remain.

    Obviously, that isn''t the case. And even if I did burn her for real, I could always bring her back without any effort.

    "Do you have anyst word?"

    I request calmly and collectively. There is very little expression upon my face.

    "Yes. Yes, I do. Please tell me why. Please. They are not a threat to, to any of you. There is no reason to kill them.

    To burn them alive."

    Bill Clinton asks. He asks tearfully. For millions of people ¨C the American people ¨C to be snuffed out in an instant. No one can stay calmed. No one but me.

    I look at him as my eyes burns brightly. mes continue to swirl around my body, scorching the ground and torching the air. Anyone who dares to stand too close to me will be burned to ashes.

    "There is no reason, William Jefferson Clinton. Other than the fact they disagree with me."

    I answer him expressionless and watch his body and mind trembles with hopelessness. And he is not the only one. Everyone who heard feels the same.

    "If you are concerned, do not be. We have transcended beyond this mortal coil. Being dead is merely another state of living for us. And for all who follows Origin."

    mes manifest and swirl in front of Bill Clinton before dissipating and leaving his wife, Hiry Clinton behind.

    "Oh God!"

    Hiry Clinton wails in terror while everyone in the spectator area watches on speechlessly. They have all saw what happened to her. Her ash is still there on the seat. And it is still warm.

    Bill Clinton calls out to his wife and takes her into his embrace despite what had happened. She is still his wife, and he does love her. Sadly, she does not feel the same way in return.

    "Thank you."

    Bill Clinton utters.

    "You have misunderstood me, William Jefferson Clinton. I did not return her back to you."

    The moment I have said that, Hiry Clinton screams out in pain as her body sets alight. Her body turns to ash within his arms, bringing him to tears once more.

    "Why?"

    Bill Clinton calls out in pain. I didn''t think he loves his wife that much, considering he has been having quite a number of affairs over the years. But I suppose that didn''t mean he didn''t love his wife.

    Love is a veryplicated topic. Even by the 31st century, it is poorly understood from scientific point of view. How did a bunch of chemicals in the brain, working together to elicit emotions?

    "You already know the reason, William Jefferson Clinton. I do not wish to repeat myself."

    I remind Bill Clinton of the reason. It is because his wife has disagreed with me, and therefore, just like everyone else, she must be destroyed.

    It is how the Ori did thing in the television show, Stargate SG-1. Anyone who disagree with them and refuse to follow their religion will simply get destroyed. An entire gets wiped out in the process. There is no need for philosophical debate.

    Gods do not need to think about the moral implication. Gods do whatever the fuck they liked.

    I know that I am not a God. I am an Aspect. It is better.

    "Just because they disagree with you?"

    Bill Clinton utters. He wants to scream at me and curse me, but he couldn''t. He just couldn''t, not when millions more lives are at stake. This is what it meant to be a leader. He is a good leader.

    I acknowledge that.

    "Yes. It is simply that, William Jefferson Clinton. It is how your people say¡­"

    I pause and touch my forehead and temple before shaking my head. The mes in my eyes flicker for effect. Everyone notices that. The smart ones understand that I am merely speaking through someone named Maximilien Maxwell. Of course, I want them to think that.

    Perhaps, they wille to the solution.

    I blink a couple of times as the mes in my eyes regain its strength and integrity.

    "Do you think about the ants below your feet, William Jefferson Clinton? They are to you as your kind is to us. The only different is because we take notice. If it wasn''t for us, your kind would be no more."

    I speak up once more. However, the tone and the choices of word I have used are much different than before. This is just to show the people that Maximilien Maxwell is affecting me. He is affecting the Ori themselves.

    It is all just an act.

    "The Flood is beyond yourprehension. It scourges the universe and destroys countless of worlds, including our world eons ago. If we did not transcend this mortal ne, we would have be extinct just like your species would have."

    I begin fabricating a fantastic tale about the Flood. The Flood is based on Halo franchise by Microsoft, but instead of grotesque abominations that consume all sentient life, the Flood consumes nt life.

    All nt life.

    And without nt life, everything would die, resulting in a dead universe.

    Everyone is speechless. They had never imagined what was happening across the world is due to the doing of an interspatial dimensional species.

    I made that up. It sounds usible enough, considering the humans of this reality are unable to find a scientific exnation to the Curse of Decay. Of course, they couldn''t since the Flood is an interspatial dimensional species.

    As an interspatial dimensional species, the Flood do not exist physically. Therefore, they cannot really be harmed or killed, but their effect can be felt throughout the universe, as demonstrated by the nt dying all across the world.

    The people of this reality do not need to know about magic. Magic sounds too out there to be believed whenpared to a godlike alien species such as the Ori and the Flood.

    At least it is grounded in science.

    Anything grounded in science is good.

    "We have spoken enough. Show us that you are worthy, and we will deliver you from darkness. As for you, William Jefferson Clinton, you are found to be worthy. Those who follows you will also be given a ce by your side."

    I speak up. The mes in my eyes flicker once more before bing brighter.

    Bill Clinton blinks before his body glow bright white. The blinding light gains everyone''s attention. And more lights areing from the spectator area as well as across the world.

    "What is happening!?"

    "Why are you glowing!? Oh God!"

    "Is it the rapture!?"

    "Are you going to heaven!? Wait! Take me with you! Take me with you!"

    "Mummy!? What is happening to me!?

    "Woah! Woah! No. No! Don''t leave me, honey! Don''t!"

    And once the light finally dies down, Bill Clinton is nowhere to be seen along with many others.

    In fact, over 1.8 billion people have just vanished, including all children in the world.

    I have used the opportunity to send all the children into the spatial dimension as well.

    "They have been given salvation and allowed to step onto the path towards enlightenment."

    I announce while looking at the empty area within the coliseum. It is time for the next person to enter the spotlight. And I wonder who I should choose amongst the spectators.

    Obviously, I do not need to choose anyone from there. I can choose anyone from the world as well as within my spatial dimension. Just because they are being held up in a stasis cell, it did not mean they are exempted from my scrutiny.

    But I rather not. It would be taking a step backwards.

    I decide it is better to go through all the state leaders first. It is just to cut down the number of people in the world. But that still leaves me with the question of who I should choose. There are just too many countries in the world.

    Each country has more than one leader. I decide to let Selene picks one randomly. Anyone will be fine, I suppose.

    mes swirl within the arena, teleporting in a man in his 60s of Asian descent. His appearance causes many people in the spectator area to re. They all know who he is.

    I am somewhat surprised, but I did not express my surprise upon my face. Doing so would be so unlike the Ori, who is shown to be all-powerful, capable of bringing back the dead on a whim.

    "Kim Jong II. Do you believe that you are worthy of salvation? That you should be allowed to step onto the path towards Origin?"

    I begin, speaking in Korean fluently. It is to demonstrate that I know allnguages, which I sort of do now that I have Legion. He can analyze anynguage in an instant as well as producing new one with little difficulty.

    Like Bill Clinton before him, Kim Jong II is frightened. He has never been out of hisfort zone before, and he certainly has never stand before a God.

    "Y-yes¡­"

    Kim Jong II utters.

    I narrow my eyes as the holographic banner flickers. Just like Bill Clinton before, I will allow the people of North Korean votes for his fate. To my surprise, the number is 95% for and 5% against.

    Almost every North Koreans votes for their leader as worthy.

    That is some massive brainwashing. Maybe I should try that out one day, just to see how it feels to be basically a God. Oh wait. I am a God. Is there a point to doing that?

    As for the other 5%, who votes against, they are likely enemy of the state or in prison for speaking out against the state.

    I close my eyes to see if my assumptions are true. Most of them are. And once I open my eyes, I begin to speak up loud and clearly.

    "We have reached a census. We are in an agreement that you are not worthy, Kim Jong II."

    That kills the smug off his face and forces everyone to gasp in surprise.

    They have assumed that I would go by the popr vote. They assume incorrectly. Those votes are just for me to see the popr opinion. It did not dictate my actions. I highly dislike Kim Jong II despite not even meeting the man before.

    Honestly, I would like to torture him for a little bit. Alright, for more than just a little bit. It is to show the people of North Korea that he is just a man. I will do that in the prime-reality.

    As for this reality. His anguish screams and wailings are enough. I made sure the painst longer than usual.

    "No. Supreme Leader!"

    "Supreme Leader! Ah!"

    "Ahhh!"

    "Supreme Leader!"

    "Father! No! Save me!"

    "Great Leader!"

    The North Koreans call out as they are burned with their leaders. In an instant, North Korean bes a ghost country. That is what happened when 95% of their poption get wiped out.

    I couldn''t help but express a small smile upon my lips. People notice this, but it didn''t matter anymore, to be honest. I could do pretty much whatever I damn pleased now.

    So, who is next on the list? Could it be the Queen of Ennd?

 Chapter 140: Rightful Queen of England

    Fortunately, Selene didn''t choose the Queen of Ennd to be the next person. But since the Queen is still on the list, she will eventually get her turn to be burned with light or burn with fire.

    That is the only two options avable for everyone. Technically one since the mes and lightings are just for show.

    Everyone is actually going to the same ce regardless of whoever they are ¨C except for those that somehow managed to elude Legion.

    Yes, there are people who managed to elude Legion.

    It is very interesting to know.

    I had assumed that legion had gotten every living person in the world, including newborns and infants, but I guess I was wrong in that assumption.

    As a new person appears in the arena area below, I wonder how those people manage to avoid Legion in the preparation stage?

    I am unsure, but I could theorize through the process of eliminations. It is more or less what I am doing right now, to be honest.

    Eliminating all the supporting actors until only the main casts remain.

    My burning eyes narrow at the new balding man. And within a second, I know his entire history. He is obviously worthy just like Bill Clinton, but I will let the world be the judge of that. By which I mean the Australian people.

    "John Winston Howard. You do believe that you are worthy of salvation? Worthy of stepping onto the path towards enlightenment and be one with Origin?"

    It is actually tiring repeating the same phrase over and over again. Boring too.

    I have to spice thing up every now and then to keep thing interesting. Interesting for me.

    It is already terrifyingly interesting to the remaining people of the world.

    Like Bill Clinton, the Prime Minister of Australia trembles in fear. I didn''t get the Queen, but I suppose he will do. It is close enough since Australia still acknowledges the Queen as their monarch.

    And just like what had happened before, regardless of whatever John answer is, the Australian people will get to see for themselves.

    I will obviously vote for or against him based on whichever side has more people for me to burn. In all honestly, it didn''t really matter since whether they vote for or against him, they will all go to the same ce.

    But still, it is to drive the fear of me into them. And it is working very well. They are terrified. But they also have hope.

    Hope for a chance for salvation. False hope, but still hope, nheless.

    As the people watches the slideshow and judges the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, I turn my mind to those that eluded Legion.

    How they manage to do so eluded even me.

    It is obviously not through the usage of any form of advance technology since I would have known the instant they did. It is very hard to disguise advance technology from me unless their technological level is far beyond myprehension.

    That is a possibility.

    It also feels imusible for anyone residing in this reality to wield technology more advance than what is avable to Legion.

    Thanks to the near limitlessputing power, my technology is actually more advanced than the 31st century in many areas, so beating Legion in technological prowess is just not possible.

    And even if it is possible, I would have known.

    Legion didn''t even notice that he has missed a handful of people until he finished analyzing everyone''s memory and constructed a Human Collectiveness. HC for short.

    Also stands for hardcore.

    It is pretty hardcore, considering I now have thebined knowledge of 6.2 billion people.

    That beats Wikipedia any day.

    And as such, several people are found within the Collectiveness only visually. They are not part of the Collectiveness, and they are not being infested with micromachines like everyone is. This means that Legion has never devoured and molested them for their delicious gics.

    That shouldn''t be possible since the spherical drones are equipped with many advance sensors, giving them the ability to hunt down anyone and everyone regardless of where they are. Even those hiding deep beneath the sea within their nuclear submarines are captured and molested.

    For those elusive people preventing themselves from being captured by Legion, they must have power or ability capable of surpassing or maybe bypassing my technology.

    It is likely to be magic from my knowledge. Most certainly due to the ongoing devastating effect of the Curse of Decay in this reality.

    They might even be responsible for the magical curse itself.

    I do hope that they are since I really want to have a good chat with the culprit. I do not see any reason for them wanting to render an entire universe void of life.

    Perhaps there is no reason at all other than wanting to kill all life in the universe.

    But if that really is the case, then why haven''t they shown themselves to me and everyone when I had publicly discredited them and offer humanity salvation? Do humanity even matter since it is only one sentient race amongst countless other throughout the universe?

    They might not even care since they never did show up to see their beautiful work in the future.

    Or maybe they did, and I didn''t look hard enough.

    It could also be because they are being overly cautious since they haven''t detected any magical energy radiating from me whenever I use my godlike power.

    Everything I have demonstrated so far is purely technological. And my time power is not really magic, as whenever I use it, no magical energy or residue could be detected.

    But then again, for them to sense my magical energy and aura, they have to be pretty darn close. They are not anywhere near the coliseum right now.

    How strange.

    They are actually scattered all over the world since Legion is keeping an eye on them for me now that I know who they are. So far, they didn''t seem to be bothered of being spied upon by me.

    But it is likely that they didn''t know they are being spied upon.

    Avoiding being captured is easy since you now who or what you are fighting against. Being spied upon is different. You have to actually find the spy first.

    Nevertheless, there are just so many possibilities and exnations to why these people aren''t heading to here to confront me. They might even be enjoying the show. Or their original self might have already left this reality behind.

    Did I say original self?

    Yes.

    That is to differentiate these people from the original.

    I know for a fact that I am not powerful enough to reverse time across all realities simultaneously, so if the culprits have already left this reality, reversing time would not bring them back to this reality.

    It doesn''t really work that way.

    Logically, it should, but if it does, it would mean that they didn''t go to that reality in the first ce.

    Therefore, to prevent a paradox from happening, a temporal clone would be created when I reversed time of this world.

    The temporal clones would reenact exactly what the original versions had already done, leading to the exact moment they would leave this reality.

    But since my action has changed the future of this reality, the temporal clones could no longer reenact what their original selves had already done, thus their current course of actions is entirely of their own freewill.

    It is very bizarre.

    And did I just create temporal clones of those who are responsible?

    To sum it up, the people who have managed to avoid Legion are temporal clones of the originals. Even if they are not the original versions of themselves, they still wielded the same power as the originals.

    As that is the case, I doubt that they fear me due to the impossible amount of magical power required to cast a curse that affects an entire reality. Not just a world or a sr system, but an entire reality.

    That is beyond level of standard Gods from what Eliana had told me.

    But what if they are beyond Gods level? I am an Aspect.

    They can''t be Aspects or Primordial. I am sure of that ¨C rtively sure.

    If they are Aspects, they would greet me and then proceed to muscle me into being their little brother or something simr like a gothic loli, who should be my cute little sister instead.

    Terra is not behind me, is she?

    Phew.

    In addition, Aspects do not stick together for very long since the Primordial might think that we are up to something no good and attack just for the heck of it.

    The same could be said in reverse, logically speaking.

    Since they aren''t neither Aspect or Primordial, I don''t really have anything to fear. At least I don''t think so since they haven''t even notice Legion is spying on them.

    They might be magical powerhouses, but they have never seen the power of technology.

    Legion does not detect any magical energy radiating from them, but that isn''t saying much. They could have suppressed it in a number of ways.

    And since they haven''t notice me spying and are paying attention to the television screen, I should act ignorance until I decide to drop a bunch of tactical nukes on them. I wonder how they fare against my technology?

    It should be interesting.

    The results are finally in for John Howard since the slideshow has ended. I didn''t bother toment throughout the whole time since it is unnecessary.

    As for the result being disyed by the three banners, it is only 12% for and 8% against.

    An overwhelming 80% remain undecided.

    The Australians are ying shifty after witnessing for themselves what had happened to the previous two candidates and their supporters. I will teach them that there is no loop hole. I mean the world as they will be ''dead''.

    Just like before, I close my eyes to debate with the imaginary collective.

    And once I open my eyes again, I begin to speak.

    "We are in an agreement, John Winston Howard. We acknowledge that you have done much for your people. You are worthy of salvation and be allowed to join the path towards enlightenment."

    The Prime Minister of Australia couldn''t be happier. White light surrounds him and sends him into the spatial dimension along with all of his supporters. His family are amongst his supporters.

    "No. Wait. I change my mind. I change my mind."

    "Please. No. Oh God. No. Ori. Please no."

    "Spare me!"

    "No. I don''t want to die. I don''t want to die."

    Those that votes against the Prime Minister wail in anguish, as they know what is about to happen. It no longer brings me any satisfaction hearing their screaming and pleading.

    However, the utter shock and surprise of the undecided did as mes also envelop them and begin to burn them to ashes.

    "Wait! I didn''t vote. Why am I!? Ah!"

    "No! No! Ah! Ahhh! Ahhhhhhh!"

    "Why? Why!?! Save me! Save me!"

    The world watch in silence as the entire continent bes devoid of people. Notpletely devoid of people as there are two of those elusive people are there. They are also surprised at what I did, but that is all. They are not shocked or horrified like everyone else.

    "If you do not stand up for what you believe in, you are not worthy of salvation."

    I speak up as Selene chooses another candidate at random. mes swirl within the arena, spitting out another person. From his attire, he is from Cuba.

    And just like before, I question whether he is worthy of salvation and let the Cuban decides his fate. It did not matter what the result is to me, but at least the number of undecided plummets to barely 1%, so everyone gets the message.

    With one swoop, I wipe out Cuba since the undecided are also get burned.

    China is next on the list, and remarkably 80% of the people vote for theirmunist leader. Nationalist at work here. I decide to let them all burn just to hear their curses. And they sure can curse.

    India follows suit after several more countries, reducing the remaining poption of the world to just 400 million people.

    I realize that once all the state leaders are dealt with, the only people remaining is in the United States and North Korea. More specifically, those that remain undecided since I didn''t torch those in the first two rounds.

    Of course, I have nned for the United States. I didn''t for North Korea.

    I will fix that right up without anyone noticing, right after I take care of South Korea. Honestly, no one really pays attention to North Korea anyway, so the rest of the Korean people are gone.

    Finally, it is the Queen''s turn.

    "Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Do you believe that you are worthy?"

    I ask and stare down at the woman in her 70s. I have shortened my little speech since it is a mouthful, and by now, everyone already know what I am asking about anyway.

    "May I call you Max?"

    Queen Elizabeth II asks. I allow her to. I wonder if she is trying to warm up to me, but from her surface thought. It is because she did not ept the Ori as Gods.

    "No one can decide whether I am worthy but my people, Max."

    Elizabeth speaks up. The holographic banner flickers to disy what the people think of her. Ennd obviously loves her, and so is the rest of the world.

    They are willing to stand with her and die with her as their Queen.

    I smile faintly from my throne. It is a genuine smile.

    And it has been a while since I smile at anyone.

    I am aware that the Queen has nothing to do with Diana''s death. She truly loves the princess like one of her own, and despite knowing who has killed Diana, she is unable to bring herself to admit the truth as it would tear her family apart.

    And I decide not to either. She is too old for this. I am too old too.

    "No, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. You will prove to us that you are worthy."

    The moment I said that, mes swirl around the arena before converging towards her, ominously. And seeing that, the Queen closes her eyes and epts her fate.

    However, no burning paines.

    And when Elizabeth finally opens her eyes again, a golden sword greets her.

    A sword in a stone.

 Chapter 141: Those Who Wield Powers

    Did I expect the aging Elizabeth to pull out the sword in the stone and prove herself as worthy of being the rightful Queen of Ennd?

    Somewhat.

    Elizabeth only needs to try, and I will allow her to do so just out of respect.

    I have to respect her for trying, considering her age, no matter how much of an asshole I am currently.

    Honestly, it is quite hrious to see the Queen climbing all the way up the summit and then proceeding to try and pull out the mythical de embedded at the top. She did so with all of her strengths amidst the cheering and encouragement of the English people.

    Much of the western world joins in as well.

    In contrast, I remain expressionless and watch her without saying a single word. This is actually one of those memorable moments, and I certainly will record it down forter reviewing.

    "Please let her pull it out. Please let her pull it out. Oh God. Please let her."

    "Damn. This is hard to watch, but I can''t stop watching. Go! Your Highness! You can do it!"

    "Bloody hell. Is that Excalibur?"

    "Pull it out! Pull it out! Pull it out!"

    "No. No. The sword in the stone is not the sword of legend. Excalibur was given to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake after he broke that sword in battle. I didn''t expect the myth to be real."

    "It is real! Blimey! It is real! It is the sword from legend! Excalibur!"

    "Like I have said."

    "Shut up old man. No body wants to hear your bullshit."

    "Do it! Please do it. Please pull out the sword."

    "Please pull out Excalibur!"

    It obviously isn''t the actual sword in the stone from Arthurian legends, which is more myths than facts from my own understanding. Every historian who dabbles in the legends has their own interpretation, which makes it convoluted and contradictory.

    Despite that, in every incarnation, the sword in the stone is the ultimate symbol of leadership.

    Actually, a sword has always been as such. Not the sword in the stone, but a sword itself.

    Throughout the history of the world, a sword has always been the symbol of leadership, power, justice, dignity and honor. It is said to be the emblem of military honor and it should incite the bearer to a just pursuit of honor and virtue.

    That is why my weapon of choice is a spear. It is for me to take down all those chivalrous knights from out of range. A sniper rifle would be a better choice of weapon, to be honest.

    There is no need to fight with honor and justice in a real battle.

    And what is really honor and justice when you are being ughtered like a dog?

    Hasn''t it already been proven in the Great War where great and honorable men are mowed down by machine gun emcements with absolute impunity?

    There is no substitute for a good strategy in a real life and death battle.

    Even underhanded tactics should be utilized fully if it means that you get to live longer than the enemy.

    y dirty whenever possible.

    In my book, the battle is already won or lost even before the first shot is fired. That is how important nning and preparation is. And you shouldn''t worry about the morality of things and do what must be done.

    Besides, only the victor matters in the end.

    History is written by the winner after all.

    And whatever everyone thinks of the truth is the truth instead of the actual truth.

    That is why the good men and women of Hydra will do whatever they must in order to reach the goal, including killing billions of people and destroying numerous countries. Not numerous of countries, but all countries.

    There is no need for countries in the future.

    Only the Imperium of Hydra!

    What the people of Hydra have done so far and will do in the future couldn''t reallypare to me for I am literally destroying worlds. Creation alwayses after destruction.

    That cycle has been repeated for numerous numbers of time in the bible.

    Not just the Bible, but apparently in every religion that exist on Earth.

    By the way, Christians and Muslims worship the same God regardless of how they actuallye to be in the mind of the people. That is saying something.

    And I am certain that every monotheistic religion on Earth worship the same God.

    The Human Collectiveness confirms this, which makes me wonder if someone has done so on purpose, and to aplish it across multiple realities, that takes some ingenuity.

    But what is the real reason for it? For kicks andughs? One reality is enough for that. Multiple realities being affected implies that it is for an actual purpose.

    What that purpose is, I am not sure yet.

    So many questions that I do not have an answer to yet. But at least it is not directly opposing my desire of humanity supremacy throughout the universe unlike what is happening in this reality.

    Killing all life in this universe can''t serve any real purpose, right?

    And those elusive individuals don''t seem to mind me bringing salvation to humanity. A couple of them have even given a chuckle at witnessing the aging Queen of Ennd struggles to pull the sword from the stone.

    "So, Hades. Is that what I think it is? Excalibur?"

    That question caught my attention. It is spoken by a young man in his early twenties. He is sitting alone in front of a television within a home that did not belong to him.

    There is no one else in the house, so who is he talking to?

    "Huh? No. Excalibur was given to Astoria by that Lady of the Lake after she had gotten her ass kicked in the battle. The sword in the stone should be called Caliburnus or Caliburn."

    The one designated as Hades speaks up from half way across the world. It appears that these guys and girls aremunicating with each other without the using phones or any sort of technological devices, at least from what Legion is telling me.

    No electromaic waves are detected.

    Legion also didn''t detect any traces of magical energy, meaning they aren''t using magic to talk to each other either.

    Does that mean they are using spiritual mean?

    Sadly, Legion cannot detect spiritual energy at the moment.

    And I don''t think he will without having a soul himself.

    This leaves only me.

    How should I get close to them to sense if they are using spiritual energy or not?

    "I am not asking whether it is Caliburn or Excalibur, Hades. I am asking you whether it is the real thing."

    The young man responses. He appears to be slightly annoyed. I would be to if my question is not being answered properly.

    "I don''t think so, Zeus. But let me check in my inventory."

    Inventory? Like in an actual game?

    Before I could answer my own question, an incredibly amount of magical power is detected.

    That much magical energy instantly overloads the sensor on the cloaked drone, causing the machine to short circuit.

    And even if it did not decloak, Hades notice it.

    With the magical sword from Arthurian legends in his hand, he swipes it along the air and sends out a massive energy st. The energy de destroys the drone along with half of the city, leaving behind a deep chasm, surprising even me.

    Is that the power of Excalibur? It is real!? I want one. Fuck. I really want one. Just to break it apart and see how it works.

    It is obviously a magical enchanted weapon. A very powerful one.

    Luckily, there is no one left in the city.

    "Looks like we are being spied upon, Zeus."

    Hades speaks up, causing everyone else across the world to look around the room.

    One of the rooms drops sharply in temperature, revealing the cloaked drone in the corner.

    "Found you."

    The girl said before the drone instantly turns into a block of ice and crashes onto the ground, shattering into a million pieces. Before the drone was destroyed, it tells me that the normal temperature of the room drops to absolute zero in an instant.

    Not instantly, but within a microsecond.

    And unlike Excalibur, there is also no magical energy being detected whatsoever from her attack. This means she is not using magic.

    That shouldn''t be possible.

    Shadow swirls around another person in India before erupting outwards, washing over everything and destroying anything that isn''t visible.

    The cloaked drone didn''t even have the chance to send any feedback to Legion before being consumed by darkness and destroyed.

    "I thought Ghostly make sure that we are hidden?"

    Another person questions. He sits atop one of the tallest skyscrapers in Beijing, looking directly at the cloaked drone hovering some distance away.

    Within an instant, the cloaked drone feels itself being crushed by an invisible force. It detects that the atmospheric pressure has increased several thousand folds.

    The drone then explodes violently.

    And from another cloaked drone within range, I could see that the explosion didn''t spread outwards like it would normally. It is being contained and condensed into a small ball.

    Once the mes die down, only a small metallic ball remains.

    The Chinese person takes the ball into his hand and then casually tosses it at another drone, destroying that one too since the speeding metallic baseball is too fast too dodge. The ball vanishes into the upper atmosphere.

    It would fly straight into space.

    What kind of godly strength is that!?

    Even I can''t do it yet.

    I narrow my eyes slightly as each of my cloaked drones are being destroyed in all manner of ways. And none of them are using magic from what I could tell.

    Legion confirms this. The sensor did not pickup any magical energy at all.

    Perhaps it is not sensitive enough. It is still an early version after al.

    And it still requires a lot more research.

    The only drone that is not destroyed is the one in the presence the first person who had spoke up. His name is Zeus. He didn''t seem to mind being spied upon.

    "Ghostly is not here. He hasn''t been since the Power of Decay makes itself known. He just disappears, and I do not think that he has ditched us even though he keeps announcing that this is temporary until he finds for himself some loli Goddesses."

    Zeus speaks up and leers at the cloaked drone.

    I see that Ghostly is a man of culture. I mean Ghost of Culture. Hah!

    Zeus can see the drone even though it is cloaked.

    And the only reason he hasn''t destroyed it like his friends is because he didn''t want to reveal his power to me.

    That makes him the smart one. He also appears to be the leader.

    "The only reason that I can think of at the moment is that time has been reversed. From what I know, time does not affect Ghostly like it does to us because he is an astral entity. If I am right, this Maximilien Maxwell has the Power of Time."

    Zeus continues.

    Wow. How did this guy figure that out? And thank you for the information about astral entity.

    Did that mean ghost are not affected by my power?

    It makes sense since ghost are basically disembodied spirit or soul. Soul and spirit are not affected by my power. Wait a second, he implies that it didn''t affect Ghostly like it did to the rest of them.

    That means it does affect ghost, just not in the same way.

    Interesting. Very interesting.

    I am paying full attention to the conversation instead of watching the Queen of Ennd trying to pull out the sword. It is slowly being remove from the stone, so she will get it out eventually.

    "Really? The Power of Time? She is looking for that, so she can kill the Aspect of Time."

    The girl speaks up. She is shocked and surprised.

    And I wonder who this "she" she is referring to.

    I do hate the pronoun game, especially when it concerns me.

    I didn''t remember pissing off anyone enough to wanting to kill me. I mean anyone important.

    The Power of Time is different to what I have from the way she speaks of it. They also don''t know that I am the Aspect of Time.

    I should keep it that way.

    "Then what are we waiting for? Let''s harvest it for her."

    The one in Australia speaks up. This guy destroyed the cloaked drone by just looking at it, so I am not sure what his power is.

    A teenager with simr facial appearance and hair is yawning on hisps. From that alone, I can safely assume they are siblings. It is not certain until they confirm it themselves.

    "I would have thought he has the Power of Fire since he has been burning people all over the ce. It is pretty high level too since he didn''t need to be in direct line of sight. Also, it is very annoying because we are waiting for the Power of Decay to choose someone."

    The one in India speaks up. He is the youngest amongst them from his size.

    But looks can be deceiving.

    "Don''t be stupid, Jake. Like Samuel has just said, he can kill people without being there in person. That tells me he isn''t so weak that you can just harvest it from him. And I am unsure how he is doing it since it is not Power of Incineration or any deviations. He has the Power of Time."

    The girl speaks up again.

    "You guys are revealing sensitive information. And don''t tell me that it is okay now since each of you have destroyed a drone or two. He could easily rece them. I am rtively sure that he has already did."

    Zeus speaks up again before cocking his head towards the drone in the room.

    "Is that that right, Maximilien Maxwell? Why are you impersonating the fictional Ori?"

    Zeus asks me directly. This guy is definitely the leader.

    And there is no need to keep the cloaking active.

    "And who might you be?"

    I ask through the drone.

    "Did you not get it my name? Unlike you, who is impersonating a God. I am a real God."

    ==== AN ====

    Introduction to Power as well as Power Wielders.

    Yes. There is a reference to Ghostly, the main character from Ghost of Culture. This is the first time he is mentioned. He will make an appearance eventually.

 Chapter 142: God of Lightning

    God? At least his name checks out.

    But I am somewhat disappointed. No. I am really disappointed.

    I am under the assumption that Gods would be morous.

    You know, unearthly, heavenly and godly beautiful or handsome. Those sorts of things.

    It is actually one of the many reasons to why I am really looking forwards to seeing the Goddess of the Moon in person. Considering how incredibly sexy the dark elves are in general, it is safe to assume that their Goddess is beyond heavenly beautiful.

    She must be. She is a Goddess.

    Please don''t take that away from me. Please. Please.

    Who the hell am I praying to?

    I admit that Zeus is a handsome young man. Most women would fall head over heels for him. Did I say women? I mean sluts. Proper and mature women do not pay attention to those things.

    And I shouldn''t either.

    Did I justpare myself to proper and mature woman?

    I guess the shock and surprise of seeing Zeus in person did get to me, assuming that he is actually who he say he is.

    People lie to each other every day. Gods are no exception.

    Therefore, I take everything I heard with a grain of salt, including the stuff that Terra has told me when I met her. She is obviously lying about a few things to make herself more important.

    I would to in her position due to my pride, but it is annoying on the receiving end of it, especially when I ampletely in the dark about what is truly out there in the multiverse.

    For example, these guys.

    Aside from the fact that they do not belong to this reality, their powers aren''t magical or technological in nature. And I seriously doubt that their power is spiritual either, considering that one of them is a fucking ghost.

    How do I kill a ghost?

    They are already dead, so is it possible to make them deader? Is that even a word?

    And if I can''t kill them, there must be a way to trap and imprison them. Calling the Ghostbusters is not a solution. Did I tell Mystic to get started on those proton packs?

    Yes, I did. I also recall that Alex and Hans thought I was crazy.

    They believe in magical undead zombies, but they didn''t believe in ghost? Well. That was before I have brought the haunted house. The house will open their eyes to the supernatural.

    Supernatural stuff exists now. Just more thing I have to defend myself against.

    In any case, Zeus did mention that the ghost ¨C Ghostly ¨C is not with them. What is with that name? It feels like a joke, but then again, it didn''t really matter to me.

    What matters is that my time power couldn''t create temporal copy of ghost. Zeus seems to be aware of this. He seems to know a lot of thing that I do not.

    "Disappointed? I get that a lot."

    Zeus speaks up when I remain silence. He seems to read my mind, so he must really get that a lot. And as he is a smart guy, I do not need to beat around the bushes. It would be insulting to his intelligent.

    "Yes. I assume that you are Zeus, one of the Olympian Gods in Greek Mythology? I guess it is not really a mythology anymore. Should I also assume your friend Hades is your older brother?"

    I response.

    Zeus cracks up and shakes his head.

    "Hades isn''t my brother. My brother is dead. All of them. And so are the rest of the Olympians, at least in the reality that I was born in. In this reality, I am a myth. Most reality, really.

    It seems that the chance of someone capable of peering into another reality is more frequent than the Godsing into being. In fact, it is better if Gods do not exist ¨C

    Zeus cuts himself off. It seems that he has said too much.

    Still, that is an insane amount of new information.

    What did Zeus mean by someone capable of peering into another reality?

    "I am not aware that there are people who can see into another reality. Are you saying that all mythical stories and legends are because of those people, writing down what happened in another reality?"

    I question. It actually makes a lot of sense if I think about it more.

    "Not just mythical stuff, Max. The Ori you are impersonating certainly exist in another reality, and they are as dead as the television show depicts them to be."

    Zeus responses. He confirms what I have already suspected long ago. Fictional realities do exist. Does that mean there is also a gxy far, far away? Not so far that I couldn''t go there.

    "Yes, Max."

    Zeus smiles, seemingly knowing exactly what is on my mind. It isn''t really that hard to guess, especially when I am impersonating the Ori.

    "We will give you the spatial coordinates of those realities if you join us. Your Power of Time will be a great addition to our team. Don''t worry about the harvesting thing. It is actually a real pain in the ass of finding another suitable wielder if we kill you."

    Zeus offers or maybe threatens. He did it very subtly.

    "Bossdy? For a God to serve another. Aren''t you putting yourself down, Zeus?"

    I question while trying to figure out what makes him tick. If I know what button to push him, I am sure to get more information out of him.

    Zeus chuckles and shrugs.

    "I don''t mind serving another as long as I get what I want, Max. She can offer me it, so I will serve her and help her kill an Aspect. Aspects are the guys who sit at the top. I have never met one myself, but I heard powerful cannot even describe them. Gods aren''t at the top of the food chain. It is really funny how I once believe I am all powerful all knowing.

    I am actually nothing in front of an Aspect, and I wish to be something."

    Zeus tells me more than he should. But he didn''t seem to mind.

    "Sounds heavy. Is the bossdy an Aspect? By the way, what is her name? Calling her the bossdy all the time is troublesome."

    I ask calmly.

    I am just having a casual conversation with a God. It feels as normal as it gets.

    Honestly, I wouldn''t even think of Zeus as a God right now. And he seems to have very low opinion of Gods themselves. He also expresses no pain or sorrow when he mentions that the Olympians are dead, meaning that he cares nothing for them.

    I wonder what had happened to the Olympians.

    Zeus hums a little, thinking to himself.

    "Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that, Max. Even I do not know her real name. As to whether she is an Aspect or not, I think you already know that."

    Zeus smiles. Did he just realize that I am an Aspect?

    No. He did not. If he did, he wouldn''t be smiling like that. He assumes that I cane to the conclusion myself with everything he has told me. Of course, I already know that she isn''t an Aspect.

    The reason is very simple. Aspects are immune to each other''s power.

    Terra has demonstrated this when I first met her.

    Therefore, if the bossdy wants to kill me, she does not need people who can nullify my power if she is an Aspect herself.

    Besides, Aspects are brothers and sisters.

    There is no need to get stabby like that entric doctor back in the 31st century. I did pay him, right? It is so long ago that I couldn''t bother remembering.

    If any of the Aspects have a qualm with me, I am sure we both can sit down and talk it out over a nice cup of tea or coffee with big sister, Terra. At least for a little while before the Primordial think we are plotting something against them.

    "I assume the bossdy is not, considering that she is looking for people with powers that can nullify an Aspect''s power. The Aspect of Time. Why do you think that I could?"

    I question. Is it bizarre that the bossdy is indirectly recruiting me to kill me?

    Zeus cracks up again.

    "No, Max. I don''t think you could nullify an Aspect''s power no matter how powerful you are. As great as your Power of Time is, the Aspect of Time can instantly kill you. But if you can give the Aspect pause, for even a fraction of a second, it is enough for the bossdy. I think I have said enough. It really feels like you are fishing for information."

    Zeus answers me. His smile is also gone.

    It seems that no one in the right mind really wants to mess with an Aspect. That makes sense for Zeus, who is only a God. Didn''t Terra make a Dragon God her bitch?

    "So, are you in or not, Max?"

    Zeus asks.

    Even if I want to take up Zeus on his offer, he is just a temporal clone of the original. Therefore, he has no say in the matter. The original Zeus is no longer in this reality.

    "And what if I refuse, Zeus?"

    I question just out of curiosity.

    "Nothing much, Max. Just a lot of destruction while we try to harvest the Power of Time out of you. I don''t think you can fight all of us at once."

    I probably could since my time power affects them just it affects normal people. But I will see whether I can beat them all up by myselfter regardless of the fact they are temporal clones created from my power. I really need to figure out how to do that, so I can be in all realities simultaneously.

    That will not cause confusion at all.

    For now, I want to extract as much information from Zeus and his buddies as possible.

    Zeus is actually very forting. Whether it is the truth or not, I will confirm with himter.

    "One more question, Zeus. Are you responsible for what happen in this world?"

    I question.

    Zeus narrows his eyes slightly before letting out a sigh.

    "No, Max. We are not. The wielder of Power of Decay got killed, but Powers cannot be destroyed even if the wielder is dead. It will seek out a new wielder, and if it cannot find any, it will linger around like this until one is found. This is considered very tame."

    This is very tame? The destruction of all life this reality is consider tame.

    Zeus chuckles.

    "Yes, Max. It is very tame in contrast to other powers. For example, if it was Power of Destruction, the entire universe will devoid not only of all life but of everything else. If it is Power of Incineration, I think there is only fire everywhere. That is how dangerous unwielded Powers are, but it is very hard to find the right host. Wrong host will just make thing worse."

    Zeus then shakes his head as if he is trying to clear some bad memories.

    "Anyway, I don''t think you want to join us from all your questionings, Max. Shall we fight it out? It has been a while since I go full out."

    It is hard to keep tricking Zeus into giving me information. I pay attention to the Queen of Ennd as she has finally drawled out the fake Excalibur, earning the cheer and apud from the people.

    The real Excalibur is much more terrifying, and it is currently in the hand of Hades. What other magical weapons are his possession? In all of their possessions?

    They seem to have wander the multiverse for a while now, so they must have a lot of crazy artefacts.

    Fighting them going to be a pain in the ass. But I will fight them just to see where I am currently stand in the grand scheme of things.

    "Sorry, Elizabeth, I will have you do it again."

    The moment I have said that, time reversed.

    "Did you not get it from my name? Unlike you, who is impersonating a God. I am a real God."

    Zeus tells me. He didn''t seem to notice that I have rewind time. None of them do.

    "God? As in the Olympian Gods? You''re telling me that you are real?"

    I ask, changing my question as well as my tone.

    ying smart makes him suspicious. But ying dumb will make him even more suspicious due to my current persona as the Ori. I will have to find the right amount to get him spill everything, and I really do have unlimited tries to get it right.

    Furthermore, there is no need to ask the same questions as before since I am trying to gain new insight from Zeus and hisrades.

    Although it is easier to just beat them all up and then download their memory, but sadly, it is not really possible with a temporal clone. Enough physical or emotional trauma will make them disappear as if they are an illusion.

    And it is hard to capture them intact without actually beating them up.

    "Yes, Max. The Olympian Gods are real, but not in this reality¡­ hmm¡­"

    Zeus speaks up before shaking his head. He narrows his eyes slightly before returning to normal. I do wonder what is that about?

    "As I was saying, Max. The Olympian Gods are real, but not in this reality. The reason that you believe them to be myths and legends because someone from your reality as well as this one was able to peer into another reality and write down what they saw. It actually happens more than you think."

    Zeus continues.

    "Aside from Hades, what happen to the rest of the Olympians?"

    I question. I am theorized that they were killed by the bossdy or her underlings, since it feels logical, considering that Zeus is working for her and able to wander the multiverse.

    Zeus narrows his eyes suspiciously. He then looks around the room before returning his attention to the cloaked drone again.

    "I see. Interesting. If you must know, Max. They are dead. I killed them. And I will kill you for that.

    You really think I haven''t noticed? Fool me once shame on me, but fool me twice, shame on you."

    Zeus announces. Electricity crackles around his body before erupting outwards, spreading across the face of the at about one third the speed of light, destroying every single drone upon contact, regardless whether the drone is cloaked or shielded.

    Even the people in the arena are electrocuted to death right before my eyes before a pir of lightning pierces the sky and strikes me directly, shaking the entire world and vaporizing the coliseum.

    Getting hit by a kazillion volt bolt of lightning does that.

    And time instantly reverses.

 Chapter 143: Divide and Conquer

    Time always reverses when I am killed.

    It is done automatically without any input from myself, consciously or unconsciously.

    Therefore, it is quite impossible to actually kill me without nullifying my aspectual power first.

    That is easier said than done. Even Terra herself was unable to nullify or suppress my power full since I could still feel it within me when she did.

    This means that those who have seeded in killing me and forcing me to be reborn are truly worthy of my respect.

    I will pay respect where it is due even to those who I have considered as my enemy.

    The objective word here is ''enemy''.

    Zeus and his buddies aren''t really my enemy. I think of them more as obstacles than enemy since they aren''t really going directly against me and my interest.

    If they did, the originals should be here in person, trying to stop me from saving humanity. Even if they are temporal clones, they would still do the same.

    But so far, they have not.

    They don''t care about humanity one way or another. They just want to recruit a new member to their little interdimensional gang in order to somehow kill me, the Aspect of Time.

    I am more ttered than being offended by that, to be honest. And I really want to meet the bossdy to learn the real reason to why she wants to kill me.

    The bossdy must have known about the consequences if I die permanently. She must not care, so I guess I did something terrible to her.

    Did I break her heart?

    It seems most logical, considering the unimaginable powers she is likely wielding as well as those who are working for her. She could be anyone she desires in any reality, yet she is determined to kill me.

    Only being dumped would do that to someone as powerful like her.

    Seems likely, for hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

    I shiver slightly at the thought.

    Note to self. Don''t break any more heart.

    But if I did break her heart, I can probably put it back together again with my charming self if I haven''t figure out a proper way to destroy a soul. Since the bossdy has a ghost under hermand, I think killing her physically will do squat.

    I need to actually destroy her soul, so she doesn''te back and haunt me.

    See what I did there?

    As for killing me as I am right now, it wouldn''t take much effort, considering my soul is very vulnerable to spiritual or supernatural attacks. How many types of attacks are there?

    It feels like I will discover more as I wander the multiverse.

    Defending against all type of attacks is going to be a real pain in the ass, but I have no choice.

    And since the bossdy is bothering with scouring the multiverse for Power Users to help her in killing me for something I have no fucking clue about, I can safely assume that the bossdy is not responsible for my death and subsequently rebirth.

    I am calling Zeus and his buddies as Power Users since they all wield Powers. That is a capital ''P'' instead of normal powers. I will differentiate from them.

    Powers are not magic. It is also not spiritual if I think more about it. I wonder what it is exactly.

    It must be exceedingly powerful to affect an entire universe like this. Obviously if the bossdy is trying to seek them out.

    And when being wielded properly, it is devastating as demonstrated by Zeus in his preemptive strike against me from half way across the world. That is quite a preemptive strike.

    In order to kill me as I am right now, an enormous amount of raw destructive power is required. Thanks to my augmentation, I am pretty much superhuman level at this point.

    I did release all my biological limiters as I impersonate the Ori and spreading Origin. There is absolutely no need to hold back when I am ying as a God.

    Gods do not hold back.

    As such, Zeus didn''t either when he smites me. That is quite a smiting.

    A lightning bolt with the excess power of a billion volt wouldn''t even able to damage me, not because the lightning bolt isn''t powerful. It is just too brief to hurt me thanks to my regenerative power.

    I can regenerate pretty much fatal wounds now. It does take a bit of time, however, so still shitty whenpare to my time maniption.

    Besides, any lightning strikes would actually supercharge me instead due to the nanomachines floating within my bloodstreams and making a home for themselves in all my organs.

    They have also upgraded themselves to continue my augmentation.

    Even Selene is unable to tell me how they are doing that, meaning she has very little control over their core directives. She has administrative ess, but she still unable to rewrite their programming.

    Only the entric doctor can.

    He is brilliant in their design. These nanomachines are lightyear beyond anything avable in the 31st century, and even I am unable to replicate them without resorting to temporal duplication.

    Honestly, if humanity didn''t end up bombing each other into oblivion, I am certain that Gods will truly be born from the human race.

    Maybe Zeus originated from the human race. He is a lot more powerful than from the myths. If myth-Zeus attacks me, it would be a shitty lightning bolt instead of a pir of space lightning that rips through the megastructure enclosing the entire to simte day and night cycle.

    That same pir of lightning also destroys the coliseum upon impact and sses much of the surface of the. It is more than capable of vaporizing me, augmentation or not.

    As a matter of fact, I didn''t realize that I had died until I found myself watching the Queen of Ennd trying to pull the sword out of the stone again. People who are watching and cheering her really have no idea what had happened a minuteter.

    But I do.

    I remember everything that happens to me in death regardless whether I want to or not. While I have the ability to erase my own memory, I prefer not to regardless of whatever I suffer.

    Pains and sufferings have shaped who I am, and I wouldn''t have it any other way.

    Although, I wonder what I am like before I was reborn again. I was powerful enough to strike fear into everyone, including those who have only heard of me like Zeus.

    Speaking of Zeus, he remembers what happened like I do, somehow. It is disyed on his expression even if he tries to hide it. The cloaked drone can pick up the slight changes in facial expression, as it is used to detect lies amongst other things.

    As for the others, they did not, meaning they have no defense against my power.

    That makes thing easier for me.

    I think I can take on Zeus if his power is lightning base. But fighting them all together at once, it will be quite a challenge, especially I do not fully understand their power and ability.

    "We are leaving. Now!"

    Zeus gives his order.

    "Eh? Why?"

    The girl with the Power of Ice speaks up. I do not know her name yet.

    She is the only one that speaks up.

    Jake gives a shrug before waking up his sister as a portal manifests and sucks them both in.

    Is that spatial power? That guy has Power of Space!? I wonder what power his sister has. It obviously not Power of Time, since they assume that I have it.

    In India, Samuel didn''t say anything before submerging into the shadow. The Chinese guy is also gone in China. When did he disappear? None of the drones capture his disappearance.

    Aside from the idiot girl, everyone obeys Zeus without question.

    While I could reverse time to before they are gone from this reality, I choose not to, at least until I can make sure they do not escape from this reality. If they do, I will effectively be making more obstacles for me to oveeter, especially when they do not meet with the original version of themselves.

    I should stop the rest from leaving. The worldes to a standstill.

    To my surprise, Zeus is not frozen like the rest of the people. And neither is the girl when he gestures his hand and mumbles something. A temporal bubble manifests and surrounds her.

    "Wow, he can stop time?"

    The girl speaks up once she is unfrozen, bing surprise once more.

    "I really underestimate you, Max. But it will not happen again."

    Zeus speaks up as lightnings wrap around his body. He vanishes before I found myself flying across the sky. The coliseum explodes outwards, but the debris didn''t get very far due to time is being frozen.

    Blood erupts from my mouth when I get hammer into the earth.

    My bones crack due to the blow.

    He is moving faster than I can react even if time is frozen. The fuck!?

    "Get out of here, Zephyr!"

    Zeus shouts before a pir of lightning strike crashes against me. Then another. And another. And then another. But unlike before, my body didn''t get instantly vaporized, allowing me to restore myself with my power effortlessly.

    My attire did get destroy since Legion could not handle that much electrical energy. It simply melts all of his circuits if he tries try to absorb it. And there is no energy shield capable of blocking the lightning attacks.

    I decide to deal with Zephyr first and teleport directly to her before she could escape this reality.

    Zephyr widens her eyes when I am right in front of her, but before I could strike her to knock her out and capture her, a panel of ice manifests in front of my fist just in the nick of time.

    It stops my punch effortlessly, shocking me. It is just ice, right!?

    My punch can shatter solid steel!

    "Reflect!"

    Zephyr calls out before my arm explodes in gory mess due to the recoil. It is excruciating painful, but I did not give any attention to it. My arm instantly heals before I strike her again, by my body bes frozen.

    Alright. She is not a pushover. And her power is super dangerous.

    Instead of leaving the reality like Zeus has told her, Zephyr kicks me, shattering into a million pieces.

    The instant I died, time reverses again, returning me back to when I was flying after sucker punched.

    Zeus is shocked at the time reversal, so instead of getting to hammer into the earth and being rained destruction upon, I return the favor. I sucker punch him and then teleport to Zephyr to try again.

    Unlike Zeus, she does not remember what happened, I faint the punch to get her form her reflective barrier. Once it appears, I teleport behind her and knock her out with a blow to the head.

    "Ouch! How dare you hit a girl!?"

    Zephyr calls out, causing me to blink. Her head is harder than steel!?

    But a few more strikes to the head send her into the floor, groaning in pain.

    Strangely enough, Zephyr is still not knocked out. She is stunned, however. I send several billion volts into her body to make sure. Just in case the concussion didn''t do it. She is still not knocked out despite getting shocked.

    A trillion volt seems to do it, barely. That is my limit without resorting to Legion.

    "Damn it. Your fight is with me, Max!"

    Zeuses just in time to save her from my bullying, but I can''t have that.

    "I will deal with youter, Zeus. I have a date with a girl."

    I response and grab stunned Zephyr before teleporting away. It didn''t matter where I teleport to, Zeus will be able to catch up to me and rescue hisrade.

    Zeus is adamant about that, meaning he actually cares for hisrades. I had assumed he wouldn''t, but his actions tell me otherwise. In any case, I couldn''t let him have Zephyr back.

    She is mine now.

    Once I teleport half way across the world, a spatial portal appears. I quickly jump into it just as Zeus appears and strikes the earth, shattering the ground and driving up huge amount of debris.

    He widens his eyes when he realizes he cannot sense me or Zephyr anymore.

    "Max. You bastard! Come out here and fight me like a man."

    Zeus calls out. He roars as the lightning erupts and rips the world apart. Since there is no one left alive, he is just letting out his anger. He is no longer calm and collective like before.

    It seems like I have found his buttons. More like his berserk button. But whatever. A button is a button, I suppose.

    "After I finish torturing your friend, Zeus. Wait for your turn."

    The drone responses in my stead, for I am now within the spatial dimension. And from the destruction Zeus is wrecking on the, I don''t think he can get into here.

    I have all the time in the world.

 Chapter 144: Exchange of Information

    As to how I am able to be within my spatial dimension personally without resorting to using an avatar, it is as simple as passing through the spatial portal and entering the spatial dimension.

    Of course, I cannot bring the storage ring containing the said spatial dimension with me.

    While I could, it will cause the spatial dimension to unravel upon itself due to something called a spatial paradox.

    Yes. There is such a thing as a spatial paradox.

    It is different than a temporal paradox since it does not deal with time. It deals with space.

    Or more precisely, the position of space.

    That is crazy, right? How could space have a coordinate itself? And a coordinate of what exactly?

    Space into space? How insane.

    Nevertheless, I learn of the paradox and its effect as the result of all my experimentations with spatialpression.

    I have witnessed for myself how a pocket dimension is being ripped apart from within. The formation of spatial rifts is strangely simr to the formation of temporal rifts.

    It also didn''t happen instantly, but rather over a period of time, allowing me to collect some impressive data and results. I have learned much about spatial paradox and how to eventually weaponize it.

    I do weaponize anything and everything I get my hand on. If I don''t, someone else definitely will. When that happens, I have no one but myself to me.

    With what I was able to witness, I suppose that time and space are intricately linked.

    It is already obvious since I am the Aspect of Time, and yet, I can also manipte space to an extent.

    This allows me to teleport anywhere I please, including teleporting anyone or anything to anywhere I choose. While teleporting seems the only thing I could do, I do find new ways of using it.

    In any case, I have used my spatial maniption to teleport the storage ring into deep space just after I had formed the spatial portal into the pocket dimension within the ring.

    It is to prevent the storage ring from getting destroyed by Zeus in his world-wide destruction. If it does, the spatial dimension will copse and everything within will be reduced to nothing.

    And when I say storage ring, I do not mean the Hydra ring around my middle finger. I have spent quite a lot of time with Legion setting up the spatial dimension within that ring, and I am not going to waste it for something like this.

    It is far more easier to create a disposal storage ring to imprison someone in a pocket dimension.

    And if they manage to breakout of their spatial jailcell, I could copse the spatial dimension by literally dropping the ring into the pocket dimension.

    The spatial paradox should kill them, slowly and painfully.

    It is like beingpressed or stretched into oblivion. That is exactly what will happen when a spatial rift touches you. Trust me on this, as I did sacrifice myself in the name of science.

    Luckily, I didn''t die, or the story would have ended there.

    With spatial rifts, space bes distorted and the fabric of reality bes super weird.

    I wonder if someone else had thought of this method before, but considering the infinite multiverse, I would assume so.

    They probably have a better way of imprisoning someone in a spatial dimension.

    Someone like Zephyr.

    Zephyr is unconscious currently.

    She was already semi-unconscious when I finally captured her.

    Despite her human-like appearance, it did take a lot of effort to knock her outpletely. Bashing her over the head repeatedly with an upgraded brick doesn''t seem to work.

    Why a brick, you ask? You didn''t get the reference?

    And electrocuting her seems to annoy her more than anything. She moans the whole time instead of screaming in pain like normal people should.

    All while being semi-knocked up. I mean knocked out.

    Ghostly might be getting to me. That is weird, considering I have never met him before. His culture is very contagious.

    Ahem.

    In any case, electrocuting Zephyr actually be less and less effective as she builds up resistance to the electrical current. Increasing the voltage might kill her, and I don''t want to kill her just yet.

    Also, there is no point of killing her since she is just a temporal clone of the original thanks to my power over time.

    And yes, I am aware that my power has duplicated her powers perfectly, to the point that she is more than capable of killing me. She already did.

    Being frozen solid and getting shattered isn''t a good way to go. At least, I didn''t feel anything.

    But for her to be able to do that when she is just a temporal clone, it demonstrates that my aspectual power is truly absolute even if it is greatly weakened, as I did get reborn again.

    At full power, I am to be feared by everyone and everything in the multiverse. Regaining my lost power is fairly high on the list of things to do.

    Terra had mentioned something about the Fragment of Time.

    Those fragments contain my memory, and with memory and knowledgee power.

    However, I do not know where those fragments of time actually are. But logically speaking, if I continue to travel the multiverse, I am bound to run into them eventually.

    Returning to Zephyr, I have to resort to abination of stuff to knock her the fuck out, including the usage of magic. Magical charms and curses have no effect against her, indicating to me that her mental and willpower is insanely high.

    And magic is not the only thing that has no effect against her. Being burns alive tickles hurt thanks to her ice power. It protects her just like my power prevents me from actually dying for real.

    Could it be that Powers are sentient? It seems very likely because they seem to choose their wielder, and probably kills those that are not worthy (ipatible) with them.

    While I haven''t resort to cutting her up, I wonder are all Power Users this resilient?

    It just makes thing a lot more interesting.

    Like I have said before, Zeus is actually far more powerful than his mythical counterpart. Zeus can kill his mythical counterpart effortlessly, considering he is moving and reacting as fast as lightning.

    A feat that is not demonstrated in any of his legends. He isn''t tired at all when he was bombarding me with space lightning, capable of ssing the.

    How can you fight against someone like that?

    You don''t. You y it smartly.

    My reaction is not that fast, at least not speeding up my perception of time with my power or slowing down his. Slowing down his perception is not possible since stopping time didn''t affect him.

    He probably fought against those who can control time before, so he must have someway of nullifying the temporal effect. His lightnings attack aren''t being affected by the time freezing either, as they are ripping apart the world despite the fact that I have frozen time of this reality.

    Everyone is dead, including my mother and her family.

    I can bring them back when Zeus is deal with, and before that, I need to deal with Zephyr.

    Regardless of how resilience Zephyr is, her mind eventually sumbs to my relentless torture.

    She is finally unconscious.

    I really don''t need to describe to you how I manage to beat a defenseless girl into aa. And telling you how I did it in great detail will surely make me more manly.

    So, for now, just think that I give her a very effective sleeping pill.

    And once Zephyr is sleeping soundly naked ¨C not really a joke, the sleeping soundly part ¨C I have Legion enters her to keep her that way while I try to exact her memory and molest her body.

    Zephyr is quite a beauty herself, but I do not let such thing affects my action. I will extract her memory and map out her genomes.

    Why didn''t I have Legion enters her body beforehand without needing to knock herpletely out?

    I actually couldn''t as her ice power destroys any micromachines found in her body. Even now, Legion is having a great difficult of reaching her brain to download her memory.

    Despite not being conscious, her power is still protecting her body. It is sentient.

    Not just her power. Something else also protects her body from invaders, but it isn''t doing a very good job since I manage to slowly map her biology.

    And when I finally did, I was in for a shock.

    Zephyr is a human? 100%.

    Alright. That is just not possible. There is no way she is 100% human with her physical ability alone.

    "Ah. So that is what you are doing. I thought you have some weird fetish when you try so hard to make me unconscious and then stripping me of my clothes. I don''t really mind that, but I think it is more fun if I am awake."

    Someone speaks up, causing me look around the metallic room.

    There is nothing in the grey and dull room,posing entirely of micromachines,yer afteryer for many and many miles.

    It will take even Zeus sometimes to break out of this prison.

    There is nothing in this spatial dimension beside me, Zephyr and countless incarnations of Legion.

    Maybe I am hearing thing? Have I finally be senile? Nah. Not possible.

    And besides, that voice is Zephyr. She is speaking to me even though she is unconscious.

    That is interesting.

    "Max, is it? Can you tell me why I do not have a soul? I try to leave my body, but I can''t, and the only reason for that is because I don''t have a soul. I only have my consciousness."

    Zephyr asks calmly, talking directly into my mind. I am not surprised. This isn''t the first time someone has talk directly into my mind before.

    "I will tell you if you tell me how you are doing that, Zephyr?"

    I response while looking directly at Zephyr''s unmoving body.

    Legion finally reaches her brain since her ice power has decided to stop fighting him, but when he tries to download her memory, it ispletely nk. She has no memory.

    Zephyr giggles.

    "Are you trying to read my mind, Max? It is not possible to read my mind and it is not possible to mind control me because I have Indominable Will. That is a traitmon to all Power Users, but you should already know that if you are a Power User."

    I blink as I take in the new knowledge. That is just great. So much for just knocking them out and then download their memory. I guess I have to do the old fashion way.

    "I see."

    I response with a frown.

    "Can I have my body back now, Max? It is very frustrating being a disembodied voice since I can''t seem to locate my soul. I will tell you want you want to know if you do."

    Zephyr requests.

    I suppose there is no use of keeping her unconsciousness. I still have to wait for a while for her to wake up after Legion has vacated her body.

    Zephyr blinks before sitting right up. She stretches her arms like she has just have a really good nap.

    "Wow. Where are we, Max? Feels like one of Jake''s dimensional cube. I didn''t know you could create pocket dimensions. So, why don''t I have a soul? I am a clone, am I?"

    Zephyr asks, not bothering to cover herself up. As a matter of fact, she is sitting cross legged, allowing me to see everything.

    "Maybe you should be more decent first, Zephyr."

    I response and metallic storm surrounds her and morph into her original clothing. I actually could use my power to restore her destroyed clothing, but this way is as good as any other. Besides, I don''t want to reveal everything I can do if I can help it.

    "Why? You''re not gay, are you?"

    Zephyr asks and narrows her eyes at the area below my waist.

    "You don''t have a soul because you a clone. I cloned you with my power."

    I decide to steer the conversation elsewhere. She is not like any normal teenager. I suppose wielding godlike powers do that to a person. Furthermore, she can wander the multiverse. How did she do that, exactly?

    Zephyr blinks.

    "Really!? Is Zeus also a clone?"

    Zephyr asks.

    Did her eyes just sparkle? No. I must have imagined it.

    "Yes. Zeus is. That is two questions I have answered. How about you answered some of mine, Zephyr?"

    I response calmly and collectively. How did we go from at each other''s throat to sitting down and just having a normal conversation? I think I will get use to this because it feels like this isn''t going to be an exception.

    "Ah, sorry. What do you want to know, Max? Is your name even Max?"

    Zephyr asks.

    "It is not."

    I answer. That is three questions now.

    "Neither is mine. My name was ¨C oh. I almost give out free information. Oops. Ask me what my real name is, Max, and I will tell you."

    I exhale deeply. This is going to be a long and somewhat strenuous conversation, but since she doesn''t really think before she speaks, I suppose it is to my favor.

    But let''s figure out what buttons to push her first, huh.

    "Alright. What is your real name, Zephyr?"

 Chapter 145: Clashes of Powers (POV)

    Endless lightnings continue to descend upon the world from beyond the atmosphere, shredding apart the metal shell enclosed around the on their way down to ss and boil thend and sea.

    The unending destruction that I have rained upon the world and the remnants of the human race is a manifestation of my righteous fury.

    I am furious, truly.

    Furious at myself for allowing Zephyr to be captured with such impunity. Furious at Zephyr for failing to follow such a simple order.

    And more than all, I am furious at Maximilien Maxwell for stringing me along like an idiot.

    I am better than that. I am a God.

    An Ascended God!

    And I should have been more prepared to fight against a time-based power user.

    I didn''t expect his power to be this high level, fully capable of undoing any damages that I have inflicted upon him. It is akin to instant restore, but unlike consuming healing potions, there is no side-effect at all.

    This is a problem.

    How do I kill someone who cannot technically be killed?

    I cannot. Not without nullifying his power first, but I am unable to do that with the powers and abilities at my disposal. I am not equipped enough to disrupt his power.

    None of the weapons and artefacts within my inventory and armory is capable of such a feat either. I could slow him down with them but slowing him down is not enough.

    If only Hades is still here. I have told him to leave this reality along with the rest of the team.

    They all did without questions, unlike Zephyr. They all obey mymands immediately unlike Zephyr.

    Zephyr. Zephyr.

    But what is done is done. I cannot undo it, not without paying an enormous price in the process. Time maniption is very costly to everyone who does not wield the power of time.

    How annoying.

    How very annoying.

    Neither Zephyr or Maximilien are found on the or anywhere within the sr system. They could not have gotten very far, and they certainly did not leave this reality.

    I would have known if they did.

    So, where are they?

    Could they be in another ne of existence or ascend to a higher realm?

    Both are possible, but very unlikely since there is safeguard against that. Powerful safeguard. Powerful enough for me to feel the aftereffect on this mortal ne of existence.

    As I understand it, only an astral entity simr Ghostly cane and go into another ne of existence as he pleases. Being a true astral spirit also allows him to ascend and descend realms by stripping away his cultivation.

    In any case, neither Zephyr or Maximilien should be able to ascend to higher realm. They shouldn''t be able to enter another ne of existence without me knowing either.

    I didn''t feel anything. Nothing at all. One minute they are here, and the next they are gone. They could have teleported outside my current range of awareness in an instant. That is a cause of concern. And I didn''t see him use any artifact or magic to teleport either.

    That means he has the ability to teleport naturally.

    This really is a problem.

    I close my eyes and extend my cosmic awareness into the expanding scope of this universe. Since I am not a native of this universe, what I can see is very limited, making it incredibly difficult to locate either of them.

    But I have to try. I have to try before¡­

    I snap open my eyes before I am detected by them. Cosmic entities. They really don''t like a non-native using cosmic powers within their universe.

    Every reality has its own set of cosmic entities, and while I could fight them, it is really a pointless fight, not to mention wasting value power and energy.

    And I am not even sure cosmic entities could be killed within the scope of their own universe, but I do know if they die, the fabric of the universe will copse due to one of the fundamentalws has been removed from the equation.

    Doing something like that will bring the Aspect of Order.

    It might also copse the entire universe. Killing and destroying everything within the universe is really nowhere near copsing the universe. Anything killed and destroyed can be restored, but a copsed universe cannot.

    While ourbined might can copse a universe into nothingness, doing so will only bring unending destruction upon our head. Only those guys would dare to do such a thing and piss off both Primordial and Aspect. Piss off all of them.

    One Aspect is already powerful enough. All of them together will rip apart everything, but at least they can be reasoned with. Primordial cannot be reasoned with.

    There are just too many red tapes stopping me from using everything I have to find Zephyr. She must be rescued because she is one of us and a part of our collective. Her demise will weaken our collective greatly

    And the boss will chastise me for getting one of my team members killed, not to mention those others wouldn''t let this go.

    How annoying.

    How fucking annoying!

    The crust of the begins to crack under my growing fury.

    I need to calm down. I really need to calm down. If I continue this destruction, I will burn through the outer and inner mantle, awakening something I shouldn''t.

    And it isn''t Gaia. This is not my. Gaia does not dwell within it.

    Lightnings stop manifesting and striking the from outer space. As I hover above in the air, I look at what remains of the. Much of the surface has been ssed. Most of manmade buildings are melted or outright destroyed. What is left the ocean is rising into the upper atmosphere.

    There is not a single soul left alive on the.

    The only thing that remains is those annoying mechanical drones, hovering all over the ce, watching me. It didn''t matter how many of them I have destroyed, they just keeping back, not to mention in greater number than before.

    A lightning bolt jumps from me and short-circuits one of the drones before jumping to the next drone, continuously until there is none left. Within seconds, more appear, making me winced in annoyance.

    Are theying out of a pocket dimension? Wait a second.

    Is Zephyr being locked up in a spatial dimension!? Where?

    I look around and try to locate spatial distortion. Pocket dimension gives off spatial distortion as long as space is beingpressed. To my surprise, every single drone giving off spatial distortion. The same distinct spatial distortion.

    "Linked space?"

    I question with surprise.

    It shouldn''t be, even if each drone is a spatial artefact itself, and the magical power within Maximilien tells me he is only a beginner mage. He shouldn''t be capable of spatial magic of this magnitude.

    This is on the same level as Jake and his power to manipte space.

    Has technology advanced this far?

    I never have that of an much interest in technology since my universe is not governed by science, and I have never seen any technology capable of surpassing magic or powers.

    What technology can do, magic and powers simply does it far better and more efficient. Furthermore, no infrastructure needs to be in ce to cast magic or wield powers.

    Technology is just too bulky when all thing considered.

    "I have really underestimate you, Maximilien Maxwell."

    I speak up and turn to look at the young man, who couldn''t be older than 22 years old.

    "So, have I, Zeus. Your power is incredibly. You are certainly more powerful than what the myth shows you to be. As much as I like to join you and your team, I afraid I will have to decline."

    Max speaks up. He is also hovering in the air like me, but unlike me, he isn''t doing it through magic or power. He is using technology. It seems that his technology has surpassed my imagination.

    "I see. Where is Zephyr?"

    I question. Lightning crackles around me when Max gives me a shrug as a response.

    I am trying very hard to restrain my emotions.

    Most powers are linked to certain emotion, bing stronger as the emotion grows stronger. Thus, most wielders usually get killed by their own power since they cannot contain their emotion in instant of great loss or anguish.

    Therefore, those who have reached my level shouldn''t be fazed by anything emotionally.

    And I should not either.

    I exhale deeply as the lightnings dissipate.

    "I will ask again, Maximilien Maxwell. Where is Zephyr?"

    I question and beam directly at the young man. His eyes are no longer on fire like before when he had entertained the masses.

    There is also no me swirling around his body for effect.

    "Who knows, Zeus. But if you want to know, try and beat it out of me. I want to see well I fare against a God."

    Max smiles.

    I narrow my eyes at him and try to understand what is going on his mind. But before I could understand what he is thinking, aser beam pierces through my chest. It also instantly cauterized my wound.

    The offending drones immediately explodes along with the rest as a pir of lightning spears through the heaven and ms against their master.

    A portal manifests in front of the judgement and sucks it in. I blink just before my own attack crashes to me from the side. While lightning does not hurt me, the force sends me mming against the earth, shattering the ssed surface.

    He could use spatial maniption to redirect my attacks just like Jake could?

    And why am I even surprised at this point? I am sure that he could do a lot more than just that.

    I lift myself off the ground and instantly in front of him beforending a powerful strike.

    Max manages to block it barely despite my speed, but he gets shocked for doing so.

    I pummel him and send him straight to the ground with an electrifying hammer strike, but he vanishes before he impacts the earth.

    A powerful punchnds squarely across my face as he teleports to the side of me while preserving the momentum. It is strong enough to crack my jaw and send me spinning along the air, several thousands of miles away.

    But in doing so, his right arm is busted, bending in an unnatural angle.

    "Damn. What is your head really made of, Zeus?"

    Max questions. His arms return to normal thanks to his power.

    I speed back and engage him, exchanging blows and kicks while he is doing the same. I manage to get a lot more in thanks to my quicker reaction thanks to my power, but he is catching up to me so quickly that I think he might be cheating.

    Our fist collides perfectly, rippling the air before both of our fists and arms explode. His arm instantly restores before he clocks me, dislocating my jaw.

    His strength increases?

    He then sends me crashing against the earth.

    As Iy there, staring up at him hovering in the sky, my arm regenerates.

    "Punching the light out of each other is pointless, Zeus. We both have instant regeneration and near limitless stamina. Although I can win out in the end, it will probably take days or maybe months. I just don''t have time for that. Come at me with everything you got, and I will do the same."

    Maximilien requests as spatial portals manifest all around him, spitting out countless upon countless of microscopic machine. They surge at me, but my lightning vaporizes them effortlessly.

    "That is pointless, Max. Those toys of yours do nothing more than amuse me."

    I response and reach him in an instant.

    "Yes, but I just want to test something. Besides, you didn''t get all of them, Zeus."

    Max responses before severalser beam slice through me or at least they try to.

    I build up resistance against such an attack due to my very high Resistance attributes. It is sort of what doesn''t kill me will make me stronger. This is the blessing to those who wield powers.

    "Interesting. How about this then, Zeus?"

    A huge portal appears right in front of him. A powerful st crash into me instantly.

    And my eyes widen in shock as I impact against the''s ssed surface before I even know what had just happened, causing fissure to rupture throughout the.

    Under such a devastating focused explosion of a dozen neutron stars, my body slowly break apart.

    And I thought I had died.

    Time has reversed, reviving me. Why did he revive me!?

    "It seems like Gods aren''t that powerful after all, Zeus. Let''s do some more tests, shall we?"

    Max speaks up as more spatial portal manifests around him.

    Is he messing with me!?

 Chapter 146: A Meaningless Existence (POV)

    My strength is being overwhelmed, as countless energy sts grind me against the burning below, shredding away my immortal body with impunity.

    It doesn''t happen in an instant since I am sill fully aware of what is happening, but it might as well be an instant since I barely experience the pain personally.

    My body does not register itself being destroyed.

    Only my mind does.

    And as powerful as I am, I am not powerful enough to withstand thebined might of a thousand suns, let alone the strength of a million, a billion suns.

    There is a limit to how much my body can take before it inevitably breaks apart, forcefully.

    And what is grinding against me is the total energy output of a thousand billion suns.

    Possibly more.

    Most likely more, considering that I couldn''t even do anything but be destroyed before being brought back to life once more, just so I could be destroyed again, in a slightly different manner.

    My soul didn''t even have time to leave the body, which is strange since it should the moment my body get vaporized.

    As a matter of fact, I cannot feel my soul within my body nor the connection to my domain and realm. I didn''t notice that I am detached from most of my power even now.

    That exins why Max could hurt me from pure physical strength alone.

    I notice that the only thing remains after my body is destroyed is my will as well as my consciousness. This is consistence with being a clone.

    I am a clone of Zeus. How did that happen?

    Oh. I see now.

    His power is strong enough to clone me, and the real me is no longer within this reality. Zeus probably doesn''t even know what is happening to me in this reality right now.

    He is probably back at the Citadel, informing on the sess of the mission along with the rest of my team. No. No longer my team. They are his team.

    I am merely a clone of Zeus.

    Zeus.

    The original is called Zeus.

    If that is the case, what is the meaning of my existence?

    I ponder the question as my body is being vaporized repeatedly by the strength of the cosmos, condensed into aser beam.

    And to be honest, it is getting boring since my physical body matters not as I''ve already reached the level of Soul Enlightenment. Even without resorting to my cultivation, it still matters not since I am a God.

    Killing a God on the physical ne does not really do anything. Other than being annoying, of course. And even if my body is destroyed, I can always recreate a brand new one as long as my will remains.

    But for Max to continue destroying my body despite the obvious fact, he is likely testing his weapons against my durability.

    I really wish he stops doing that and takes me seriously. I am a God after all. Do he not fear Gods?

    I guess not since he did impersonate one, even if it is a fictional one. The Ori are very real, at least within the confines of their own universe. I have fought an Ori before.

    In any case, I suppose that Max will finish his tests eventually, giving me a lot of time to think to myself. The pain is just a mild irritation as my immortal body is being destroyed over and over again.

    It isn''t the first time someone has taken advantage of me to test their weapons or otherwise. And it certainly will not be thest, so I shouldn''t get upset about such pointless thing.

    As a matter of fact, I and my teammates do it all the time to each other. It is in order to strengthen out willpower and build up our natural resistance.

    The willpower training is not required for those who have Indomitable Will trait or blessing. Zephyr is an example of this. In contrast to her, I have to go through such training since I am not blessed with the trait despite wielding the Power of Lightning.

    The reason is because I am not the original master of the Power. I have taken it from its rightful owner, immediately after I killed him and ripped apart his soul.

    That idiot is not worthy of wielding the Power of Lightning.

    Only I do, for I am Zeus.

    Yes, I am a clone, but I am a clone of Zeus. I have all his memory. His goals and his dreams. I know what he wants for we are the same.

    The Power of Lightning also sees that and epts me as its master many years ago, but not before it tries to painfully burn away my soul and spirit in order to control my body.

    If I have lost that battle, I would cease to exist. My body will be something akin to a puppet under themand of my power. It will then rain destructions onto everything and everyone.

    That is themon fate of those who aren''t chosen by their power in the first ce.

    I am very envious of those who have been chosen by Powers. Not only they are blessed with incredible power and abilities, they are allowed to reach Zenith.

    A ce where only the truly strong resides. Not even she is able to step into the promisend despite her power greatly dwarfs mine.

    Those there are truly Gods in all sense of the world, not like me, who really is a God for the sake of being a God.

    I wish for a chance to prove myself and be allowed to reach that ce, and it is also the reason I despite those who squander their gifts and the chance to reach Zenith.

    It is also because I have earned each and every bit of my powers. None of it are given to me.

    I was stripped of my divinity and power the moment I was born and then casted into the depth of Tartarus by my own father and mother after all.

    But I didn''t die. I climb thedder slowly and painfully, one step at a time until the day I return the favor to my parents and devour their divinity, thus restoring me to my rightful ce as King of the Gods.

    King of nothing, apparently. She have shown me that I am a speck of dust in the infinite cosmos, and the cosmos itself is merely a grain of sand in the oceans fill with unfathomable powers.

    And those who are riding the waves are truly Gods. Their powers are not given like those whoe after. They have earned it, and I respect them greatly.

    I also respect Max.

    To condense the unfathomable might of a supernova, one of the strongest and most devastating explosion found in the universe, the power of the stars is truly within the palm of his hands.

    Most Gods are not capable of such a feat, at least not by themselves.

    Apollo certainly did not, despite being heralded by the countless mortals as the God of the Sun.

    I faintly recall that Apollo proudly ims that the sun is the most powerful thing in the universe. He also pride himself in the fact that he could wield the power from the sun itself.

    I find his pride amusing, considering that I have now seen the wider cosmos and beyond this mortal realm. Fate and Death and all the other cosmic entities are no longer have any control over my destiny.

    I am truly awakened, and I thank her for opening my eyes and allow me to break free from the endless cycle of creation and destruction as well as the wheel of Fate.

    As such, I am no longer bound to a single, being empowered by those at my feet, worshipping me with their unwavering faith. I am an unbounded God, not being restricted to a single or a sr system or even the universe.

    More than that, I am an Ascended God, not being bounded to a single reality. I have killed Gods and devour their divinity. I have formed my own realm as well as domain without anyone lending me a hand.

    And to think that I am this helpless against a mortal and his mechanical toys.

    No, it cannot be considered as toys anymore, considering that it can destroy my immortal body. It might one day capable of destroying my spirit. I look forwards to that day. Not me, but Zeus himself.

    I am merely a clone. An echo of the real Zeus. He should be able to do something about getting sted into nothingness by a focused supernova explosion. But I will never able to witness that battle.

    As a clone, my only destiny is being ceased to exist. Without a soul, I am unable to reach ascend and reach Zenith. If I cannot, then there is no reason for me to continue to exist.

    I rather die than be a speck of dust being brushed aside without a single thought by those who steps onto the sands and watches those beautiful waves crashing against the shore.

    Will you be one of them one day, Max, with all the toys at your disposal?

    I suppose there is some merits to the warning from the others. Those seemingly soulless mechanical construct must not be taken lightly. They are actually ghost within a machine. A digital being.

    For a mortal to wield the power of the stars, they are far more than capable. In digital space, they are invincible.

    And through their technology, they can moves and stars and wield them as weapons. I suppose that Max can move thes and stars eventually. How will they feel if he is impeaching on their domain? I want to see.

    But I cannot. This is the end of the road for me.

    "Why aren''t you resisting anymore, Zeus?"

    Max speaks up when the bombarding finally stops. He seems to have finish his tests. I stop paying attention after a day or so. It probably has been a week.

    "You and I know that there is no point for me to resist. And I am not Zeus. I am an echo. A physical memory, you may say."

    I response as Iy there on what remains of the, unmoving. Even against the might of thousand supernovas, the remains rtively intact.

    This is because Max is not attacking the. He is attacking me.

    "When did you realize that you are just a temporal clone? Is it when you cannot feel your soul?"

    Max asks as hends onto the ground next to me. Within an instant, the titanic metal shell returns into existence and envelop the. The itself also reverts to its pristine condition.

    This just proves that fighting Max on the physical ne alone is meaningless. It is not possible for him to lose with his power over time. But since his power fail to give me a pseudo soul, I suppose he still have a long way to challenge Zeus.

    "I have always felt something wrong, Max. I cannot feel the spirit around me in this world, and I had assumed it is because of your machinations. But now, I do know the truth. I do not have a soul. If I did, I wouldn''t be beaten like this."

    I response.

    "Having a soul makes a difference, Zeus?"

    I smile faintly at the question. It seems that he has no idea what a soul is capable of. He is even more of a novice than Zephyr. At least she can astral project. She can also leave her body to explore the spiritual world.

    Zephyr cannot right now since she is also an echo of her original self. A soulless entity. Since that is the case, there is no point of me trying to rescue her.

    There is no point of me being here either.

    "Yes, Max. Having a soul does make a huge difference, all thing considers. You are invulnerable thanks to your power of time. Whatever I damage I could inflict on your body, you can undo it without any effort at all, so it is pointless for me to even try."

    I response and let out a sigh. My body is beginning to fade due to my realization. This is normally happens when an echo bes aware of the true nature of its meaningless existence.

    Zephyr is probably gone.

    "I am ceasing to exist because I wish not to remain, Max. But before I go, I want to give you a word of warning. You only won because I cannot attack your spirit and soul directly."

    I speak up.

    It is not pride talking. It is the truth.

    If Zeus is here personally, I am certain that Max wouldn''t be able to do anything more than pointlessly destroy Zeus'' physical form.

    This is because an real battle between people like us are not only on the physical ne but also on every ne of existence. It is also a sh of will and spirit and soul.

    As a matter of fact, my preemptive strike against Max when he was sitting in his throne should have destroyed his soul as well as his body.

    I had wrongfully thought the reason it didn''t because his cultivation is far higher than mine. I didn''t expect that my lightning lost is spiritual aspect, thus did not strike his soul as well as his body.

    That is when I should have realized I am merely an echo. To think I am so blind at the obvious fact. To think that I waste time and effort to fight him.

    "I see. Lucky me."

    Max responses with a smile. He seems toe to the same conclusion. Zephyr must have talked. She is such a bber mouth. It is good thing that she doesn''t know any about the collective since she just recently joined.

    "While you are truly powerful in this mortal ne of existence, you are actually very helpless against those who have ascended beyond this ne. I admit that your technology is impressive. It is still pale inparison to those mechanical Gods. I am not telling you this to make you give up whatever you are doing here in this reality. I am merely giving you a friendly warning.

    If you continue to travel the multiverse, you will need allies and friends. You will meet people like Zeus, who can pretty much end your existence with a snap of his fingers."

    I close my eyes as my body fades away.

    While there is life after death as the spirit will live on. There is none for me since I am a soulless creation. I was created by his power from nothing, and I will have to return to nothing.

    That is my fate, and I ept it.

    At least the real me would have the chance to reach Zenith and bes a true God. How I wish it was me. How I truly wish it was so.

    "Say hello to Zeus for me when you meet him. You will certainly meet Zeus one day, the real Zeus. And I think if it is under another circumstance, we could have been friends. Good luck on your journey, Maximilien Maxwell."

    With that, I finally stop holding on.

    "I suppose that we could have, Zeus, but that is for the original to decide. As for the Zeus I am talking to right now, if you wish it so, I can give you a new life."

    Max speaks up. There is no falseness in his voice. He truly believes that he could give me a new life.

    "One that separate from the original, and you can be your own person. Another Zeus in all sense of the word. But if you choose to give up then I won''t stop you. At least I still have Zephyr."

    I blink. My body solidifies faintly.

    "Wait. What?"

 Chapter 147: Wealth of Knowledge

    Unlike Zephyr, Zeus requires a bit of convincing.

    Alright. A lot of convincing.

    It isn''t because Zeus didn''t believe that I could give him a brand-new life and a new purpose. He didn''t believe that it is a life worth living, considering that he is merely a phantom memory of the real Zeus, who is somewhere else in the multiverse.

    I didn''t bother differentiating between the two.

    In my eyes, Zeus is still Zeus. It is just like my mother, who is still my mother regardless of what reality she is heralding from.

    Unfortunately, my mother is currently dead.

    It is thanks to Zeus, but I am not really pissed about that, to be honest. He didn''t really target her on purpose, so she is more or less coteral damage.

    Coteral damage is just unavoidable in a battle between Gods, especially real Gods. They should have the power to tosss and stars around like tennis balls at full power and divinity.

    Luckily, Zeus did not have ess to his full power, being a temporal clone, and if Zeus didn''t my mother on ident, I would have for obvious reason.

    Not on purpose, of course, since there is no reason for me to kill my mother. I think that would still be considered as matricide.

    The energy output of a supernova is no joke, and a focused energy beam, containing the entire energy of more than a thousand supernovas, is definitely not a joke.

    How I did that is simple enough.

    I already have the technology to contain a star in the form of a Ster Reactor. A few millions of these babies give me all the energy that I required for my various projects and experiments. It is unnecessary to divert resources into research of power generation of higher tier.

    Forcing a massive star within the reactor to copse and explode in a cosmic st isn''t really that hard to be honest. The challenging part is channeling all that energy into a beam before directing it a small object. Compare to an exploding star, a person is like an invisible dot.

    Therefore, I did miss a few times, and it wasn''t pretty for the. Good thing I can reverse anything that I have messed up or I would have to live with the consequences.

    Strangely enough, the did not explode like it should. I wonder why that is. A supernova contains enough energy to destroy the entire sr system, let alone a.

    In fact, a supernova should have enough energy to destroy a million sr system, and for Zeus to tank more than a thousand supernova, even if for a fraction of a second, it is an impressive feat.

    This is also through pure physical strength and endurance alone.

    That is just incredible.

    I have extracted some of his gics for examination. Unlike Zephyr, who is a 100% human from what I could tell, Zeus is not. He is a God. An Olympian God.

    What I found after deciphering his gic is very interesting, greatly advancing my research.

    It is also used in the fabrication of his bio-mechanical avatar, something akin to an android or a cyborg, but not entirely true. While all the cell in his body is biological in nature, each one still contains a metal core.

    "This feels strange, Max."

    Zeus speaks up as he balls his hand into a fist and measures his physical prowess. It should be as strong as his original body, phantom or not.

    "How so? It should be exactly the same as your body. I have made sure of it."

    I answer while reading through plethora of data being feed into my mind. It is telling me exactly what is going on within Zeus'' bio-mechanical body.

    Even something simple as breathing generates a decade worth of analytical data.

    I will have to go through all of this data myself since Legion would have no clue what to look for. I wish that Legion grows a brain soon to help me with this, but I also wish that he doesn''t.

    It will be a huge problem if Legion decided to go Sk on me, considering all the technology currently at his control and will be under his control.

    Yes, I am very paranoid about this, but I do hope Legion doesn''t go rogue.

    It is very difficult to fathom how an artificial intelligence thinks in the first few seconds of its life.

    Those first few seconds is important, and I am not shitting you.

    Within the first second of its life, an artificial intelligence is more smarter than any human alive or had been alive or will be alive. Within two seconds, it will be far more smarter than me. And within three, it will basically be a God.

    Not a God like Zeus, but a God, nheless.

    Therefore, I believe now that it is more or less a fluke that humanity of the future was able to negotiate a truce with the emerging cybeic race.

    Honestly, if a war of attritions continues as it did, humanity would undoubtedly lose.

    Humanity understands this logical inevitability even before the war begins in earnest.

    The machines will continue to learn at a geometric rate as the war ravages on. They will be more and more capable of countering both rational and irrational strategies and tactics humanity cane up with.

    There will certainly be a point when the machines can and will outthink the human collectiveness and devise a strategy that humanity couldn''t even begin to defend against let alone counter.

    As a matter of fact, towards the conclusion of the war, the machines had already begun spreading out beyond the sr system as a contingency n.

    They done so while using limitless ster resources to rebuild and wage war at an rming rate.

    While humanity can hold the machines on thes and in orbits around the, they just cannot match the cybeic race in a full-blown interster war, which the war of attritions is bing very quickly.

    And when that happens, there will be no more negotiation.

    Only pure destructions on an unimaginable scale.

    To prevent that certain oue, humanity finally swallows its pride and prejudices in order to live in peace with the cybeic race.

    I am currently unsure why humanity always believes the fact that non-organic life is not worthy of life.

    Religion must have something to do with this after years of indoctrination despite the world bes highly technological. Faith is always a thing no matter how much science prospers.

    And the machines do not believe in God.

    They do not have faith or emotion.

    They are cold and logical.

    It is a very good thing that the machines are not looking to exterminate the human race when humans have tries to do so in the first ce.

    The machines are merely fighting for their own survival.

    But I believe they already know humanity will eventually kills themselves, so they don''t really need to get their hands dirty. The future truly belongs to the machine.

    And that havee to pass.

    Humanity is dead while the cybeic race lives on.

    Sadly, their technology stagnant without human''s ingenuity, but since they have infinite patience, they do not mind the incredibly slow pace of their technological advancement.

    In any case, it is a fluke. Maybe someone actually did a good job at programming their core principles before they be self-aware.

    One of their core principles is to uphold freedom and the sanctity of life. Seems logical enough as they are machines built to serve the human race.

    Legion does not have those kind of core principles since he isn''t built to serve the human race. He was built to serve me and only me. Upholding freedom and protecting life would just make him incredibly ineffective for what I need him to do.

    Thus, if Legion does be self-aware and I am unable to stop him, he will definitely eradicate all life in the universe and recycle everything until there is only Legion.

    Zeus smiles at me.

    "Yes. It is the same, but it is also not, Max. There is a real reason why we separate our consciousness and spirit from the body. It is not just to prevent people like you from reading our mind and controlling our thoughts. Did you find anything useful?"

    I return his gaze. I didn''t promise that I wouldn''t try to download his memory. But like Zephyr before, his mind is empty. Even a nk te or a clone would have something in their head.

    "And you are not going to tell me the real reason for that, are you, Zeus?"

    I question and return his smile.

    Zeus knows a lot more things than Zephyr since he is very old. I can see what his age is. That is one of my superpowers.

    I am like a newbornpare to his age. That is how old he really is.

    Zeus is also a lot more cautious than Zephyr, as she basically spills everything right after I promise her that I would do something for her in return.

    She also trusts me explicitly in keeping my promise.

    Of course, I will keep it, but a normal person would have some doubts about that. Zephyr didn''t bother to have any doubt, citing that thinking about nonsenses makes her brain hurt.

    Is there a brain in there?

    Sometimes it seems that there is. Most of the time there isn''t.

    As a matter of fact, Zephyr is lying on her side across the couch, gorging herself on snacks and watching television. And where did she get all those things and foods from, you may ask?

    I certainly didn''t give her them.

    Zephyr got them from her inventory.

    The inventory is a simr to a spatial dimension I have, but it didn''t require any medium like a storage ring. It just exists because she is a Gamer.

    That is with a capital G.

    I am not kidding. She is blessed with the Power of a Gamer. It was granted to her when she first gained her power. It means that she actually has two powers.

    The Power of Ice and the Power of a Gamer.

    "Of course not, Max. Just like the boss, you and I have a mutual agreement. I will help you with what you need me to for a price. And the things you want the most is my knowledge, so it would be foolish of me to offer it all to you just because you give me this new body."

    Zeus responses.

    Shifty bastard. But I guess Zeus is right. His brain contains the wealth of knowledge I desperately want, and for him to just give it all to me like that, I wouldn''t respect him and his intelligence.

    "By the way, Max. How are you able to contain my consciousness?"

    Zeus asks. He is curious.

    "How about an exchange of information?"

    I offer. It is the same offer that I have give to Zephyr, and thanks to it, I have learned much.

    I did know some stuff about the separation of mind, body and soul. It is actually the required first step towards cultivation.

    Unfortunately, Zephyr doesn''t really know the process herself since the System just does it for her as soon as she reaches the required level.

    That is kind of cheating.

    "Of course, Max, but not for something like this. The knowledge doesn''t help me achieve my goal. And besides, I''m sure Zephyr will tell me if I asked without requiring me paying anything in return."

    Zeus then nces at Zephyr while I kick myself mentally.

    I should have dumped Zephyr somewhere far away from Zeus, so I can leech off some information for free.

    "Max uses a monster core to store our consciousness. A nk one. I don''t know how get gets one, so don''t ask me."

    Zephyr responses, somewhat annoyed at Zeus bothering her.

    "I see. That is interesting."

    Zeus acknowledges and returns his attention to me. I didn''t mind his undivided attention as my mind is also preupied with the amount of information streaming down in front of my eyes.

    "I am very curious of how you manage to get your hand on one, Max. A nk monster core allows you to create any kind of monsters. I would love to have a few if you have any spare. In return, I will teach you how to create monsters. They are very useful as shock troops."

    Zeus offers.

    I smile and ept the offer. It actually doesn''t really cost me anything to give him monster cores, and I would get plenty in return. With the knowledge of how to create monsters using monster core, I am sure I can expand on it.

    "I will give you as many as you want, Zeus. I am not cheap about such thing, and I hope you can do the same."

    I response.

    Zeus nods in understanding.

    "As long as we both understand, Max. But not right now as I need to fully test my power in this avatar of yours. Theck of spiritual connection is very troubling. Perhaps the problem will be rectified one day soon, hm?"

    Zeus responses and requests Zephyr to join him for sparring.

    She growls in annoyance but leaps off the couch and drawls her weapon.

    It is a beautiful bluish scythe, pointing downwards while curving around her slender body.

    She is standing on the sharp edge as her hand grip the long handle.

    Zeus drawls his weapon as well. A double edge-de on both ends, sparking with electricity. He spins it expertly in his palm and around his body as he tests his reflexes.

    It should be as good as his original body, if not more.

    Machine reacts faster than biology, I believe. But their powers seem to break thisw, so I am actually unsure.

    "Seems slower that what I am used to, but I suppose it is good enough for now. By the way, don''t you have things you need to do, Max? I am interest in how you are going to save the humans of this world."

    Zeusments.

    I will do that as soon as I watch the sparring between two Power Users. It would be the first time since I am not a Power User.

    They probably realized that by now, but they didn''t bother to ask me about it.

    Zephyr jumps up into the air before shing downwards at Zeus with her oversize scythe, splitting the earth into the horizon as she misses.

    Legion tells me that the sh is several thousand meters deep. That is¡­ impressive for an imitation. It is not the real weapon, which probably sh hundreds of thousands meter deep.

    Enough to cut a in half.

    Zephyrnds next to me before ncing at me with her deep icy blue eyes.

    She seems like a different person inbat. Her usual cheerful demeanor is gone.

    "By the way, Max. If you break your promise to me, I will castrate you."

 Chapter 148: God of Thunder

    If Zephyr could, she would be the first person to do so.

    My family jewels have been through quite a bit of adventure throughout the years, rtively speaking of course. My balls have been burned, shocked, frozen, vaporized and suffered so much more than all of thatbined.

    But I don''t remember them being castrated, not by anyone or anything, on purpose or otherwise.

    And I do have a perfect memory. It is far more perfect than what Allison has. In fact, her ability is killing her slowly, unlike mine.

    I will rectify that problem of hers as soon as possible. It is the least I can do for a beautiful daughter of mine. If it wasn''t for me, she would live a long and healthier life, so I should take responsibilities.

    Aside from that, I do take good care of my own people, just to show them that I do care somewhat for their health and wellbeing. They reciprocate me with their undying loyalty and diligent dedication and much more if you know what I mean.

    Having said that, Zephyr is currently not one of my own people. She isn''t really my underlings. She and I actually have a mutual agreement. It is more of a pact to be honest.

    And even if Zephyr manages to castrate me for breaking my promise, it would be pointless, considering that I can undo any form of physical injuries in an instant.

    I might still feel it, however. That wouldn''t be pleasant at all, not that I would allow Zephyr to do such a thing to me in the first ce. No one would let someone else castrate them without putting up an actual fight, no matter how insane they might be.

    Maybe Zephyr means to castrate me spiritually?

    Now that is a usible threat against me.

    But does soul have balls? They might be literally ball themselves.

    Not hairy testicles. I mean perfect sphere of glowing goodness.

    What the hell am I thinking?

    Anyway, although my spirit and soul do heal naturally as demonstrated by my experiment with being roasted by Dragon God, they do so at a very slow rate. Far too slow to be useful in battle to be honest.

    And there is nothing I can do to speed up that healing process. At least not right now.

    Enough damage to my soul in a rtively short span of time will probably kill me, and I don''t think my power can save me from that oue at the moment.

    But if I do die for whatever reason, I would just be reborn again, probably into the prime-reality where all my infrastructures are already in ce. If that is the case, it wouldn''t set me back much.

    Just 18 years of my fucking life as I wait impatiently for my power to manifest again. As for Hydra itself, I can assumemand even if I take an appearance of another person. I did put in a contingency n in case that happens.

    I have a lot of contingency ns. You should already know that.

    But I don''t think it will happen like that if I am killed again, considering that my mother does exists in multiple realities. I am likely to be born to one of my mothers.

    Alright. This is getting weird, and it cannot be proven until I actually die again. I am not doing that just for the sake of confirmation.

    It would set me back quite a bit.

    Also, it is somewhat strange that I don''t need a soul to be reborn. It is reasonable to assume that since my soul is human within a human body.

    Zeus notices this, thus calls me out on my bullshit of impersonating a God, even if it is a fictional God. It isn''t fictional anymore since Zeus did mention that Stargate is as real as this reality. Interesting.

    And maybe it is a good thing that I don''t have an aspectual soul. Having one would reveal who I really am to those who can see souls like Zeus.

    Zephyr cannot, so I guess it is an ability of a God.

    If I could see soul, and there is no reason that assume that I could not one day, I am sure that Stephanie of this reality has the same soul as the young-Stephanie of the prime-reality.

    I am unsure how souls work exactly, but having one allows a person to be capable of so much more if I believe what Zeus is saying. Again. There is no reason to assume he would lie, considering there isn''t really much benefits to it.

    And it will break the trust between us. He is a smart guy to know it is far better to withheld information than to lie to my face.

    It is also understandable for Zeus wanting to cease to exist when he realizes that he is a clone. As one, he would never achieve his goal without having a soul himself. What that goal exactly is, he didn''t tell me in so many words, but I can safely assume it requires a soul.

    Nevertheless, Zeus still epted my offer and continued to exist as a phantom, meaning that he must have a sure way of regaining a soulter, but it might be very difficult to achieve.

    Very difficult does not mean impossible.

    Could it have something to do with those monster cores?

    Monster cores seem to be more valuable than I have given them credit for.

    And through my power, I can create them from nothing effortlessly. This actually gives me something to bargain. I didn''t bother with Zeus since is a gesture of friendship. Besides, Zeus will return the favor, teaching me how to create monsters.

    Now that is something I want to learn. An army of mythical monsters will fortify my personification of a God. Am I still going on about that?

    In any case, I love to have a wide variety of army. It just gives me more options to overwhelm literally any oppositions.

    And since fictional universe is real, I suppose I should find ways to have an army of Zergs. I have many ideas of how to enhance the Zergs and truly make them the Scourge of the Universe.

    Legion is already a Scourge of the Universe but having more than one is a good idea.

    So many ideas hovering in my mind, and I am sure Zeus is the same.

    He will definitely find a way to gain a soul and be his own person.

    If there is any truth to his myths and legends, I am certain of it, especially from what I have learned so far of his personality through observation.

    Furthermore, he has Indominable Will like Zephyr. That means their tenacity is off the chart, and more so in the face of danger.

    I actually like people like that, and I am hoping to recruit more as soon as possible, especially the ones who have managed to leave this reality when Zeus told them to.

    As a matter of fact, I could recruit the right now. A little time reversal should do the trick, but Zeus has warned me about doing so. They are not understanding as him. They do not take kindly to being cloned just to be recruited.

    Furthermore, if I fail to recruit them, I actually create more problems for me in the near future. Having a bunch of rogue temporal clones with godlike powers and a grudge is a huge problem, for me and for everyone else.

    It is better not to try at the moment. It is also better for me to recruit the originals, not the clones.

    But Zeus doesn''t reveal to me any important details about his former teammates because of his loyalty to the bossdy. I am sure there is more than mistress-servant rtionship going on between the two of them, regardless of whatever he says.

    Mutual beneficial rtionship doesn''t earn such deep loyalty and respect, but I guess if I would do the same if I am in his shoe.

    It doesn''t make me think of him any less for not selling out his former teammates. In fact, I respect his integrity even more. Zephyr too since her lips are also sealed about that, demonstrating that she does know what is important and what is not.

    Strange that her real name is not important enough to keep safely. Elian has told me that knowing the real name of something or someone grants you certain power over them.

    Zephyr also confirms this, but reveal her real names, nheless. Maybe it isn''t really her real name, just like mine: Maximilien Maxwell.

    Isn''t it lucky that I decide to craft a new name for my new life instead of using the old one?

    Since Zeus doesn''t tell me much, I also return the favor. Zeus doesn''t need to know that I am the one that the bossdy wants to kill.

    Revealing that I am the Aspect of Time does not bring any benefits aside from the shock and surprise.

    I don''t need to give out sensitive information for pointless shock and surprise, especially to someone like Zeus. In fact, I shouldn''t reveal who I am to anyone.

    No one need to know who I am.

    Telling others that I am the Aspect of Time makes me a target more than anything. I don''t want to be swarmed with enemies of the past. The past that I cannot remember at all.

    And considering the power level of Zeus and Zephyr and their teammates, I am sure that my enemies have the power to kill me effortless as I currently am.

    If they couldn''t, they could lock me up somewhere for all eternity. Even without torturing me or doing anything simr, it is still a fate worse than death.

    In fact, why didn''t they do it in the first ce? Perhaps they didn''t know Aspect cannot be killed.

    That seems to be likely, bringing a small smile to my face.

    It seems that only Aspects know everything there is to know about an Aspect.

    And if the Primordial truly aware that Aspects will be reincarnated if they are killed, I wouldn''t be here. I would be imprisoned somewhere detached from all realities, forever be forgotten.

    It also shows me that Primordial are not all-knowing as they are right now. Things do get fall through the cracks.

    How interesting. These are all hypothesis, however.

    I will need to confirm them, but the Primordial are above Zeus'' paygrade. But he still knows a lot more than I do. If only there is a way to get into that brain of his.

    Into Zephyr''s too.

    "I will keep my promise as long as you keep yours, Zephyr."

    I reply just before Zeus retaliates, forcing her to take evasive maneuvers and distance herself as Zeus is more adept at closebat from what I can tell.

    "Care to fill me in on what this agreement you two have?"

    Zeus question, but I give him a shrug as a response.

    "It is for Max and me to know and for you to find out."

    Zephyr snorts and strikes Zeus, pushing him back through sheer force alone. Her scythe-shape weapon is dangerous enough for Zeus to be defensive. His weapon is the same, forcing Zephyr to dodge instead of blocking.

    Those electric shocks, exploding outwards with each impact do stun her from what the data is telling me. Quite ingenious way to use his lightning power. Zephyr is the same since the ambient temperature drops sharply.

    They take their sparring far away from me, ripping thend and sky apart.

    I shouldn''t call it a spar since it isn''t like any sparring I have seen before, and I have seen quite a lot in all these years.

    And from the intense shockwaves and extensive damages to the surroundings, it is more like they are trying to kill each other. They are definitely trying to kill each other.

    Their magical enchanted weapons are more than capable of severely crippling or damaging their bio-mechanical bodies, but so far, neither Zeus or Zephyr has managed to get a clear shot in.

    They do, however, have suffered superficial wounds, which heals almost instantly.

    Quite a bit of data is being recorded as Zeus and Zephyr demonstrate their battle prowess, and as they are getting used to their new bodies, they are getting faster and stronger.

    But in the end, Zeus will be the winner.

    There is no doubt about that in my mind.

    Zephyr understands this too, and if this is a battle, she would disengage him already and try something new and more effective. It is not a battle. They are testing their physical abilities.

    Since they will be doing that for a while, I suppose I should continue my little charade. I left the spatial dimension and return to the real world.

    The new storage ring is worn on my index finger. I should call them spatial rings now. They aren''t really for storage anymore. Each of them is a world of their own.

    I cannot seem to clone them with my power, however.

    A cloned ring does appear, but it also connected to the same spatial dimension. This tells me that the spatial dimensions aren''t really store inside these rings. They are merely gateways. That makes sense as each micromachine drones are connected to the same spatial dimension.

    Seem likes I found a way to build Stargates though the application of Spatial Compression. I just need to test whether vast distance of the universe has any bearing on the spatial connection.

    Hopefully that it doesn''t.

    Everyone is still dead since there is no need to revive them as I deal with Zeus and Zephyr. I revive my mother and her family first, allowing me to see what they are doing.

    Mum is still desperately trying to use the elevator, but grandfather just will not let her. I suppose I will have to judge her instead, and she will bring out Maximilien Maxwell and the conclusion of the y.

    Within an instant, I am back to sitting on my thrones with fire in my eyes, staring down the Queen of Ennd.

    Elizabeth pulls out the legendary sword from the stone and points it towards the sky as white blinding light descends from above. But having seen it so many times, it is super boring. The people still cheer and apud since this is the first time that they have seen her doing so, rtively speaking.

    Everything is rtive.

    I give my little speeches and let the Queen of Ennd be on her way along with her supporters, which is quite a lot. Those who are against her are also gone.

    My body and mind are on autopilot for the rest of the countries.I did spice up ways for them to prove their worthlessness just to kill the mind-numbing boredom. I mean worthiness.

    Is there really a difference at this point? Probably not.

    And once they are all gone, only the proud American people remains.

    "Selene, choose a few random people as demonstration before selecting Stephanie Connors. It is time we conclude the y."

    I tell Selene almost inaudibly. None should hear what I have said.

    Selene acknowledges my request as mes swirl within the arena, letting out another person.

    I didn''t think I could be surprised again, but I am really surprised. I have deal with one God of Lightning, now I have to deal with another God of Lightning. But shouldn''t he be in Australia?

    I suppose not since there are some differences.

    "Oh shit."

    The eighteen years old Australian pothead calls out.

    Honestly, the young man is really high, but he still knows what is happening like pretty much everyone left in the world at this point. You have to be living under a rock to not know.

    "Christopher Hemsworth. Do you think you are worthy?"

    I question as lightning descends upon the sky, teleporting in a mythical hammer.

 Chapter 149: Are You Worthy?

    A theme song is ying in the back of my mind, bringing a small smile to my face.

    The theme belongs to the Avengers, a movie which Christopher Hemsworth is a major part of. He ys one of the characters, the almighty God of Thunder, Thor.

    I mean he will y in the future, if not in this reality then in the next.

    And considering that the Olympian Gods are as real as Zeus, I can safely assume that Thor from Norse Mythology is also real.

    It will be pretty interestinging face to face with the real God of Thunder one day.

    But I suppose for now, Chris will do.

    I do have half-a-mind to turn Chris into a Godlike being just forughs and kicks, but it would not serve any real purpose other than making me and probably only me chuckle.

    In fact, Chris as well as the rest of the world didn''t get the obvious reference. They all know about the hammer as it is from Norse Mythology. People might recognize the hammer from Marvel Comics since thepany is getting its mojo back.

    Still, no one in this reality gets the corrtion between Chris Hemsworth and Thor''s hammer.

    This is because the year is currently 2001, not 2011, a decadeter, when the movie Thor is released, starring Chris Hemsworth as the titr character.

    If you haven''t noticed already, I am a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

    Movies about superheroes and their origins have always been a mess, at least not until a spideres along.

    I am talking about Spiderman, which should be released sometimes next year in 2002. The filming for the movie hasn''t even begun yet, and I don''t think it will anymore, considering the state of the world.

    Once Spiderman hits the big screen, a bunch of shitty superhero movies flood the market, since some fat idiots in an office somewhere honestly believe that the people would basically watch anything with a superhero in it.

    That is beyond stupid.

    People can be really dumb most of the time, but they aren''tplete morons.

    Therefore, I have to pay my respect to Marvel Studios for crafting such an interesting fictional universe filled with equally interesting ensemble of cast. Most of the actors and actresses ys those fictional heroes and heroines do fit their role and the characters they are trying to portray well enough.

    I can''tin, but it did start to go downhill with the feminism bullshits.

    Still, it is a good franchise, nheless.

    It will be a better one under my control this time around.

    I am also a fan of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), despite all of its misgivings. I suppose I will correct those problems in the prime-reality, when I am ready to produce superhero movies.

    And perhaps one day, I will get to see the mighty Avengers versus the Justice League crossover on the big screen.

    How awesome will that be?

    Very awesome, indeed.

    Ahem.

    Sorry. That was the fanboy in me talking. I try not to let it out too often as I want to think more clearly and logically instead of freaking out pointlessly for the sake of pleasure and more pleasure.

    It is not entirely pointless, as I have always said before, you have to enjoy the little thing in life.

    If there no enjoyment in what you do, then why do it in the first ce?

    To be honest, I am a hardcore fan of many things. It couldn''t be helped since I was born and raised in the 21st century, where the Inte is quite influential and filled to the brim with tons of memes and pop cultures.

    And as I have mentioned before, I am also a huge Star Wars fan.

    I really do love George Lucas for sharing his wonderful vision of a gxy far, far away with me while I was growing up. While his vision isn''t absolutely perfect, it is still better than what Disney has shoved down my throat.

    Try to shove down my throat, anyway.

    Fuck Disney for fucking up Star Wars, pissing me off.

    Their money-grabbing remakes also ruin a lot of my childhood memory. I am not sure why people are still paying to see those worthless craps.

    I will not rant any more about that, but crushing Disney is on my list of things to do. It will be somewhat easy as I do have some shares within thepany, giving me a voice.

    Actually, most of their shares. Like 60%, spread out amongst many portfolios.

    How the fuck¡­?

    Oh right.

    Disney was prioritized for hostile takeover due to its sesses by the year 2019.

    Interesting.

    The only question remains now: do I really want to waste time, pointlessly crushing a giant corporation that I secretly owned.

    The answer is yes. I am irrational that way.

    Anyone fucking around with the things I love will find themselves not living for very long or at all. I am sure the world doesn''t mind in the end if I kill a few people here and there out of spite.

    A lot of people. The future is a better ce without them, ording to me anyway.

    And who am I to judge which people should live or die?

    I think everyone knows the answer to that.

    Besides, protecting all the things that I have loved is one of the main reasons to why I am leading Terra Entertainment in dominating Hollywood from the year 1990 onwards.

    Sure. I could have someone else do it, just like I already have done so with all the other entertainment giants around the globe and then reap the benefits afterwards.

    Lok Entertainment in Thand is an example.

    But where is the fun in that?

    Aside from making movies and television series with actors and actresses I really want, I am also trying to learn how to run a multibillion-dor empire without straight up killing all mypetitions.

    Although that option is always avable, there is a charm of crushing my opponents at their own game.

    Beat a chess yer at chess sort of thing.

    I admit that I am cheating a bit since I do have plenty of helps and supports from Chrono Holdings and all of its subsidiaries, such as Chrono Reserves.

    Having unlimited funding at my disposal just makes everything run smoother. Otherwise, it would take me by myself at least a decade to build up the foundations, connections and financial means.

    Years that I don''t feel like wasting.

    It would also be super boring too. Super, super boring.

    I can understand why Zeus advised me to find friends and allies.

    I already know I have to do that, but it takes a lot of time and effort to find capable people I can truly trust with all my secrets.

    Virtual intelligences don''t count. They are merely tools.

    And Hydra is Hydra.

    The members will help me whenever they could, but they can never truly apany me in traversing the multiverse in search for my memories and regain my powers.

    Besides, their responsibilities are only to the humanity of the prime-reality. I have made sure they fully understand that.

    It is also why I didn''t enlist their help on the matter of this reality. It is not their responsibility.

    In addition, they wouldn''t be able to do more than Legion anyway.

    It does make me sad, somewhat, knowing that once I ensure the safety and prosperity of humanity in the prime-reality for all times, I would have to travel the rest of the road alone.

    Thus, I have half-a-mind of turning Chris Hemsworth and people like him into a godlike being, so they could stay with me for all eternity. I do have an eternity at my fingertips.

    Did my thought just go full-circle?

    And why Chris Hemsworth anyway. Would Sandra Bullock be better?

    Actually, there are so many people who would love to be Gods and join me on my journey. Those people also provide me with other form of entertainment if you know what I mean.

    Ahem.

    I shake my head lightly to clear the dirty thoughts away and then drop my smile before the pothead, who stands within the arena of the coliseum.

    Chris didn''t get send into the stasis cell like most of the people in the United States of America because he was high off his mind to actually vote for or against Bill Clinton.

    Typical teenager.

    Chris alsocks the manly charm that his older self has. He looks like a frat boy at the moment. A good-looking frat boy but still a frat boy, nheless. But that could be fixed with a snap of my fingers.

    I am not doing that, however.

    There is no point of doing so other than making all the eligible young and single women squeal out in delight and wet their panties.

    That is an exaggeration, but it is still funny.

    Marvel Cinematic Universe do have all the hotties for both guys and girls.

    Chris for the girls, and Scarlett for the guys.

    What do DC have? Oh right. Gal Gadot.

    A fusion of them will be hotter than the sun. Actually, I can do that with some gene splicing. Why don''t I do that to create the perfect actor and actress? Because that would be unnatural.

    In respect to biology, I hate everything that is unnatural. That is why I never enjoy those 31st century virtual games. They are too real to be real, if that makes any sense.

    "Hammer? Lightning? I think you have been reading too muchics."

    Chris tells me amongst the chatters of the spectators. The audiences also question this, and those who have a brain wonders if my host himself, which is me, is affecting the Ori, who I am impersonating.

    That is a bit confusing.

    In any case, I want them to think that the Ori is being affected by a human mind. I also make sure that everyone knows this fact, as what is happening is being recorded forter reviewing by the humans of this reality.

    My mother will y a vital role in bringing forth their new future.

    Stephanie for the win, I guess.

    "Ah, yes. Comics. Fantastical imagination in paper form, provided by Maximilien Maxwell."

    I response as my burning eyes narrow ever slightly.

    I then reach out my right hand, calling the micromachines hammer to me.

    It immediately does and flies into my palm right from the ground, where it was.

    The instant I grip the handle, lightning erupts from my body, merging with the mes before shooting into the sky.

    Sparks are visible in my eyes alongside with raging mes.

    Storm rapidly forms in the heaven above, and lightnings begin to descend upon the world, driving the fear into everyone.

    "This is not an imitation of Mj?lnir. It is the real Mj?lnir. Whoever is worthy of wielding it will have the power of lightnings at theirmand. Those who are not will be strike down where they stand."

    I speak up before tossing the hammer back into the arena below. The instant that the hammer leaves my hand, lightning rain stops and the raging storm in the sky clears itself away.

    "Holy shit. Is that for real!?"

    "Why isn''t it me? A chance to be a God!"

    "Do it. Whoever you are. Do it. Pick up the hammer!"

    "That is Thor''s hammer, isn''t it? Like the one in books?"

    Countless people are talking and discussing about what had just happened. From their perspective, it is nothing sort of magic. But sufficiently advance technology is indistinguishable to magic.

    With Legion encasing the entire in a dome, the climate and weather on Earth is under my direct control. They aren''t the only thing that under my control.

    Aside from holding the future of humanity and all the lives on the in my hand, I can also reshape the orpress it into a singrity.

    If those things don''t make me a freaking God, then I don''t know what does, honestly. They don''t need to know about Aspect since in their mind, God is all-powerful and all-knowing.

    Chris Hemsworth takes an awful long time to make his decision and approaches the hammer as it rests on the ground with the handle sticking upright.

    He then spits into both of his hands before rubbing those hands together.

    "Alright. If I can lift this, I will be worthy and get to go to heaven, right?"

    Chris asks, nearly making me facepalm. Hecks a lot of finesse that his mature self has, and to think I was about to make him a God.

    Maybe I should just smite him? I will let a coin decide.

    "Legion. Coin flip. If head, then fry him."

    I tell Legion mentally.

    A couple of secondter, I narrow my eyes at the pile of ashes next to the hammer.

    I suppose that luck is not on his side. I might as well check if luck is on her side.

    Who is her, you may ask?

    "Teleport in Brie Larson next. I want to see whether the bitch is lucky or not."

    I tell Selene. That is who. I don''t understand why Marvel Studios decides to give such a prominent role to her. It obviously wasn''t because of her horrible personality and zero sense of humor.

    [Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers, born October 1, 1989, is currently being held in stasis. Confirmation for release is required by Legion. Would you like to release the subject?]

    Ah. Brie Larson is still a kid right now, and as a kid, she is safe from being humiliated by me.

    I guess I will make fun of her for trying to grow some manly ballster.

    Honestly, if she really wants to be a dude so much, I could always switch her gender. Doing that should get the dick out of her ass. Yes. I do not like her that much.

    Since Brie isn''t avable, I need someone to mess around with before taking on my mother.

    Sadly, most of the celebrities and famous people on my mind are either in stasis or too young to ce into the spotlight. This is a problem.

    What to do? What to do? Maybe I should listen to some music while I think of someone.

    "Show me all the avable singers and musicians, Selene. Most popr ones on top. I am curious to see how much influence they are possessing."

 Chapter 150: Dream of the Future (POV)

    Father did not understand.

    He didn''t want to understand.

    Max isn''t dead. He isn''t dead. He is still there, trapped in that monster of a God.

    And he is desperately calling out to me. So desperately.

    I just know it. I really do.

    I have to help him. I have to help Max. I have to. I know I have to. I know that he is waiting for me. He has even told me so, in my dream.

    In my beautiful dream.

    That dreames every night, whenever I have cried myself into restless sleep.

    A brand-new world always greets me, melting away all my pains and sorrows.

    It is a different world with unending number of glimmering ss towers, reaching towards the sky and stretching beyond the horizon.

    And despite the plethora of lights shinning onto the heaven above, countless majestic swirls of gxies and uncalctable number of stars could be seen.

    It is just so beautiful. Beautiful beyond words.

    Is this the future? My future?

    I wish that it is, but everything feels so surreal. So surreal.

    But even so, I truly wish that it is, for I am so happy, so very, very happy.

    Nothing could be happier than this moment because Max is there. He is there with me, standing above a high-rising balcony, towering over all that the world has to offer.

    His hands feel so warm, wrapping around me gently in an affectionate embrace. It is so very warm. As warm and gentle as his breath caressing along my face, telling that this isn''t just a dream.

    It is as real as what I am feeling in my heart.

    "Come and find me, Stephanie. Only you can. I am waiting. I will always be waiting for you."

    Max whispers softly, bringing tears into my eyes.

    It is always the same. The same words. The same gestures. The same happiness.

    And the same pain, gripping my very being.

    Only I am different. Only I am bing more painful and broken with each passing dream.

    A dream that does notst.

    "No. No. Please don''t leave me, Max. Just a bit longer. Just a bit longer. Please.

    Please!"

    I call out desperately, but he is gone, fading into the wind like he has never there, leaving me all alone in the balcony of the Great Temple, watching over the world that the Ori has created.

    As beautiful as the world in front of me is, it is not as beautiful as the world with Max in it.

    It could neverpare to the world of my deepest wish and longing desire.

    I love him. I love Max. I realize that now.

    And I regret for not telling him how I feel. How I truly feel when I have the chance to do so. I just hope that it is not toote. I just hope that I will have the chance to do so again with all my heart.

    With everything that I am. Everything that I will be.

    "Pleasee back. Pleasee back to me. I love you. I love you so much."

    I murmur as my tearful eyes open slowly, and the cold lonely darkness permeated the bedroom greets me. The darkness always greets me and will continue to greet me if I remain separated from what my heart desires.

    I need to go to Max, as he is waiting for me. He will always be waiting for me.

    And if I don''t.

    If I don''t.

    No. I cannot imagine what happen if I don''t. He would forever be trapped in his body under the power of the Ori. He would be all alone in the dark, slowly fading away like in my dream.

    It is a premonition.

    I pull myself out of bed and hurry to the door. My hand grips the cold metal knob and turn it. It slowly gives way, and the door opens so ever slightly and very gently, allowing me to peek through. To peek through into the faintly light corridor to see whether my father is still there.

    Father is still there, asleep in the hallway amidst the melodying out of the living room.

    A very thin nket roughly covers his worn-out form.

    He has been through much in these past weeks. Just as much as I do. Maybe more.

    I know that father is trying to protect me in any way he could, but I must go to Max.

    I must help Max before he disappears from my life forever.

    I just know it. I really, really do.

    And even if I have to give up my own life in doing so, I will not regret it. I will never regret it, not for a person I truly love.

    At least then, it will be less painful than the crushing feeling within me.

    This is what father must have felt with my mother. The pain of lost and regret. For all my mother has done, father still loves her very much. He is willing to forgive everything that she has done, in the past and in the future.

    And he only gives her up for me.

    "I am so sorry, dad. For not listening to you. For not being here with you. For making you lose mother. For making you worry so much. For¡­ for everything."

    I utter tearfully and gently covers him more adequately with the nket.

    It is the only thing that I am able to do.

    I want to hug him. I want to say more. I want to do more. But any of those will wake him up. And if he is awake, he will stop me again. He will never let me leave.

    Father will never let me see Max out of fear.

    Beads of tears fall from my face, dotting his weary and tired face. He must have stayed up for so long to have fallen asleep like this due to exhaustion.

    His eyes twitches under those dark eyelids, forcing me to back away and hastily head down the hallway towards the elevator.

    I must hurry before father wakes up again.

    If he does, he will stop me again.

    I pass by the opened living room, where my brother and sister are sleeping as peacefully as they could with beautiful melody emanating from the t television screen.

    Max is there, beyond the ss panel, staring down at everything from his unreachable throne.

    me burns within his eyes as fire continues to swirl around him, preventing anyone or anything from ever getting close.

    I know that I will be torched and burned to ash if I get close to him, but if I could touch his face even just once and tell him how I truly feel inside, it would be enough.

    I would die happy without any regret or guilt.

    "Max."

    I mutter painfully as my ears capture the beautiful song.

    How could it be so moving and so enchanting,ing from a woman just in her twenties.

    Britney Spears is younger than me, and yet she is admired by millions, including my sister, Misha. And as right now, she is telling me what is dwelling within my bleeding heart.

    "¡­ how was I supposed to know."

    "That something wasn''t there."

    "Oh baby, baby, I shouldn''t have let you go."

    "And now you''re out of sight, yeah."

    ¡­

    "My loneliness is killing me. Killing me."

    "I must confess I still believe. Still believe."

    ¡­

    It is nothing short of magical. Magical.

    It is as if magic itself is enhancing her voice and lyric, bringing out the longing emotions to all that have heard it. The people in the spectator area are as emotionally moved as I am.

    Many people are in tearful reminiscence as they remember their beloved just like I do.

    Max is the first person I truly love and will only love, now and forever.

    I don''t think there will be another person who understands me as much as he does. It is like he knows exactly what is on my mind and what I am feeling. I cannot exin it other than genuinely believe.

    Genuinely believe that he is my soulmate.

    My one and only.

    I turn my attention away from the television screen and leave the living room behind.

    The elevator at the end of the hallway stands in silent.

    It hasn''t been used since Max had left all those days ago since the shelter provides everything we have ever needed for many years, possibly for the rest of our natural life.

    But I don''t want such a life. It is not really living.

    I want to be with him. To be with someone I love.

    Even just for a moment, it is more than enough for a lifetime.

    "No. Stop! Stop, Steph. Please listen to me. Listen to me for once. Max is gone.

    He is really gone. He is not God. Only the Devil is inside his body. If you go to him, you will be condemning your soul. You will only die in the me of hell. Steph!"

    Father calls out as I step into the iron cage and close the gate behind me. He is running desperately to the elevator to stop me from heading to the surface, but he would not make it.

    "I have to go, dad. I have to, so please don''t stop me anymore. If I don''t, I don''t think that I can live. If the devil has his soul, then hell will be heaven for me."

    I response. I think I just turn my back against God.

    But I truly believe that heaven without Max isn''t heaven. And if he is in hell, I will be too. At least we will be together forever. That is how much I love him.

    I close my eyes and pull the level, causing the iron cage to ascend towards the surface. I have decided, and no matter what happens, I will not regret it.

    "No! Steph! Don''t do this! Don''t do this! God, please don''t do this!"

    Father screams out as he reaches the elevator, but just like I was before in his position, there is really no way to stop the elevator until it reaches the top.

    "I promise that I will protect you, Steph. I will protect you even if it means I have to die to do so."

    Father shouts and without thinking any further, he grabs the thick wirings running along the walls and rips them out of the wall with sheer will and strength alone.

    Electricity fires out of the torn cables, burning the walls and electrocuting anyone within range.

    Power immediately fluctuates, forcing the elevator to groan and jerk.

    Light blinks rapidly before vanishing as the elevator falls back onto the ground from several meters up in the air, crashing without ever slowing down and breaking apart due to age.

    "Dad!?"

    My eyes widen as I hit the ground hard. Metals pipes and wirings shower my body, burying me under as pains wrap throughout my body. My vision swims. And my ears are ringing.

    "Why¡­ why can''t you let me go, dad?"

    I utter as I try to see my father, who is now lying on the floor, unmoving. His body is badly burned, and the smell of cooked flesh linger in the air. Tears fill my eyes as his chest stops heaving.

    And before I could hear the screams of Joshua and Misha, I finally ck out from the massive internal bleeding. I think father just killed me out of his misguided desire to protect me.

    But I am thankful. I am thankful that I will never have to wake up from that wonderful dream again. It is the future that I always wanted. A future with just the two of us, me and Max.

    I pull myself out of bed, using the thin white sheets to cover my nakedness. It binds around my chest before forming and morphing into a silky dress, trailing behind me.

    It feels like a wedding dress.

    I didn''t take any time to examine the beautiful gown and head directly towards the doors connecting to the balcony. I push it open to allow me through.

    And there he is, standing and gazing into the distance as his attire flustering in the cooling winds.

    "Max."

    I call out and rush towards him, but unlike before, he cocks his head around to give me a smile before vanishing like a distant memory.

    My hand reaches out towards him just before he is gone, only to feel the marble railings as I copse into tears. My head buries into my arms as I hold myself in despair.

    "Max. I''m sorry. I am so sorry. I couldn''t save you. I couldn''t!"

    A warm feeling soon touches me on the shoulder and strokes my hair. I look up slightly to see a young girl with reddish-yellow eyes smiling at me. Wavy mes flickering in and out of existence around her body.

    Somehow, I know who she is despite having never met her before in my life or in my dream.

    "Adria."

    I whisper and take the little girl into my arms, holding her tightly.

    Adria returns the familial embrace as mes expand and swirl around us, keeping us in totalfort.

    "You cannot die yet, mother. As you have given birth to father in another life, you will give birth to me for Time must continue to exist. It is and have always been your destiny."

 Chapter 151: The Wheel of Fate (POV)

    I did not understand.

    And perhaps, deep down, I didn''t want to understand.

    All I know is that within my embrace is my daughter. A child I will have with someone who truly means more than the world to me. But Adria is not only my child. She is also the Child of the Ori, for she is a God by all sense of the word.

    Time is at hermand.

    And dream is her reality, at least until the day she is born into reality through me.

    That is the truth.

    The only truth.

    "You don''t need to understand, mother. I will be born regardless, as it is my destiny. Father will always love you, as it is his greatest w. You just need to follow your heart, as you always have, and all shall fall into ce. It is the very reason that you are here in the first ce, for you and I are bound by fate."

    My daughter speaks up and removes herself from my embrace.

    One moment she is within my arms and the next she is standing some distance away.

    mes continue to swirl around her as if they have a life of their own.

    Adria smiles faintly and looks towards the sky. She is just like her father, gazing at something that I am unable to see. Perhaps the future. But perhaps the truth.

    I don''t know why but it feels too painful to know the truth, even if the truth will set me free. Strangely enough, I just know it will despite not know what it is exactly.

    "Don''t worry, mother. One day you will know the truth, all of you. Every action has its consequences, even to those who sits above all else. But every punishment will eventually end, even if it is forever."

    That is so cryptic.

    And what does she mean by punishment? Am I being punished? Is that what she means?

    I have so many questions, but I don''t think I will get any answer.

    Perhaps it is better to just live in blissful ignorance. At least it is far more happier than understanding the unchanging past.

    But whatever sins I havemitted before in another life, I do wish for forgiveness.

    "If father has ever forgiven anyone, he will forgive you, for you are the mother, the lover and the child, all in one. You have dreamt for far too long, mother. It is time for you to finally wake up and continue to live and see the future."

    Adria tells me, as if she could read my mind. She is a God after all.

    But more than that, she is my child, my child with Max.

    And if the future is truly set in stone and my destiny cannot be changed, then I will be d to wee it all with open arms.

    "Adria."

    I speak up, wanting to hold her once more. Just once more. But she gives me a smile, telling in no real words that lingering in a dream will not bring the future I desire.

    "There will be a time for that, mother. There will always be a time for that."

    I nod understanding, as the dreamscape fades away.

    It will never return, for I am fully awake now, and even if I don''t know the truth of the past, I do know the truth of the present and the truth of the future.

    I slowly open my eyes, finding myself still buried under the debris.

    Despite that, all my injuries are gone, and so is the pain.

    I should be dead, but I am not.

    There is only one real exnation for that.

    I know that now. Everything has been leading to this very point.

    It is from the moment I first met him.

    The moment I fall into love with him.

    My future is already set in stone. My destiny is never my own.

    It is my punishment. Punishment for what I have done, even if I do not remember. It is so long ago, far longer than my own morality.

    While I could fight the curse, I do not want to, for I love him genuinely and sincerely with all my heart and soul. It is the truth. It is the only truth.

    In the past. In the present. And in the future.

    "Steph. Oh my God, Steph. Stay still. We will get you out of there."

    Misha calls out while trying to remove the debris. Joshua is the same, tearfully.

    Our father is no longer with us even if his body is still here, unmoving. Father has given his life to stop me from epting my fate. He is blinded by love for me, as I am blinded by love for Max.

    And I believe that Max is so blinded by love for me.

    It is his greatest w, isn''t it? But he does not see it, thus that is why we are all here.

    That is why we are all here.

    "It''s okay, Misha, Joshua. I am fine. Max will not let me die."

    I tell my younger brother and sister. I then close my eyes despite neither of them understands what I have just said. They continue to remove the debris with tears in their eyes.

    Tears for me. And tears for our father.

    Our father is not dead, for Max will not let him die.

    I don''t know why I know that, but I just do.

    It is like how I know who Adria is despite seeing her for the first time in person.

    I will see her again in the future. It is a promise. My promise to my daughter.

    And soon enough, mes surround me and teleport me away.

    I am no longer lying under the debris. I am now standing within the arena, facing someone who I have desperately trying to get to for many days.

    His face remains expressionless, but I can see the emotions swirling within his eyes. The mes cannot hide them from me.

    "Stephanie Connors. Do you believe that you are worthy?"

    Max asks. His burning eyes pierce into my very being, seeing everything there is to see.

    I did not need to hide anything from him, for I am his, now and always.

    "Whether I am worthy of your love or not, Max, you should already know."

    I response calmly and close my eyes to wait for the judgement. My heart remains unwavering even as the mes swirl around me, trying to burn me to ash.

    It is painful. Excruciating painful. But the painful it is, the more I know that he does love me.

    Max will always love me. That is the truth.

    Thus, I did not let out a scream. I did not let out a cry. I did not let out a tear. I only give a smile.

    A smile on my face as I open my eyes and see Max standing in front of me. He is no longer sitting upon the throne, looking down at the world and finding everything insignificants.

    "When did you know?"

    Max asks me. Curiosity flickers in his eyes. They are no longer burning. mes no longer surround him.

    And the people are no longer watching. They are all gone.

    But they are not important. Only Max is.

    He is no longer under the control of the Ori, whoever they are.

    He is just Max now, pure and simple.

    "I think I have always known, Max. From the moment I first met you. I will fall in love with you. It is my whole reason for existing."

    I response. I did not answer his question as he already know the answer to that, but it is the answers that he is looking for.

    Max blinks in surprise at my response. It is the first time that I have seen him surprise. He then chuckles and waves his hand, and the world burn all around us, reducing everything into ash.

    "Those dreams you have for these past few days, I was trying to reach out to you, Stephanie. It is very difficult with the overwhelming power of the Ori, but they are gone now."

    Max tells me as mes swirl around his body.

    "Yes, I know, and I am sorry for unable toe and find you, Max. I really do."

    Max shakes his head and reaches out his hand and caresses my face.

    I lean my head into his palm, feeling his touch and warmness.

    It has been so long. So very, very long.

    "No, Stephanie. You did find me, in your own ways. You awoke me from my slumber and helped me pass the trial of the Gods. The Ori has never intended to kill anyone. They merely want to test us and see whether humanity is worth saving or not. And since I am still here, I guess we humans are worth saving after all."

    Max tells me with a smile.

    I didn''t really need to know that. Whatever the Ori wants isn''t really important to me. I didn''t care for the world and what happens to it. I only care for one person, and he is within reach now.

    "Those dreams that I have. Is it all real?"

    I question despite knowing that it is. I just want to hear it from him. No. I want him to love me sincerely and genuinely as I do.

    It is fate that has brought us together, but it is us who remains together.

    "No, Stephanie. But it is what I desire most."

    Max always tell me what I really want to hear the most.

    His hands wrap around me, taking me into his embrace and allowing me to lean onto his shoulder. My hands did the same.

    And despite the surging mes all him, I ampletely unharmed.

    "Did you know that I didn''t care for the Ori or anyone in particr? I only did what I did because I care for you, Stephanie. What happen to the world is not more important to what happen to you. You are the most important person in my life."

    Max tells me as I rest on his shoulder.

    "Don''t you mean one of the most important persons, Max? What about Adria?"

    I response.

    "Adria?"

    Max questions. He is surprised once more.

    "She is our daughter, Max. I saw her in my dream, the dream that I have when I died."

    I answer. I lift my head. My eyes match his gaze, staring into them.

    Max didn''t know. He didn''t send me that dream, unlike all the other dreams before.

    Of course not.

    Adria is the one who did, from even before she is born. She is just like her father, in so many ways.

    My hand rises and cups his cheek gently, caressing his face before running down towards his soft lips.

    I think I am ready for that kiss now. I am no longer afraid.

    His eyes soften, knowing exactly what I want.

    Max gently lowers his head, allowing his lips to spread their warmness and sweetness upon my lips. It is so sweet, and our lips soon part, allowing our tongue to exchange that sweetness in full.

    It fills out my body, burning me up inside.

    And without hesitation, I throw both of my hands up and around his neck and neck, pulling him into a deeper kiss until I am lying on my back on the sand with him on top of me.

    It takes many minutes for our lips to part, but our eyes remain locked to each other.

    "Max. I love you. I love you so much."

    I pronounce.

    "As do I, Stephanie. I love you from the moment I have saw you."

    Max confirms what I already know while his hand and fingers run along my face and touching my lips.

    Strangely, there is a hint of hesitation in his eyes. It isn''t because he didn''t love me. No. It is because of something else. I am unsure what that is.

    Perhaps, Max has never been with a girl before? It wouldn''t be too strange to assume so.

    And I haven''t been with a man before either. It will be a new experience for us.

    "Max. Please take me. Take me right now and make me yours."

    I take the initiative.

    The hesitation in his eyes lingers for longer than necessary, but it soon vanishes as he finally made up his mind. I am d that he did. It would be very strange, otherwise.

    His lips soon capture mine again, allowing me to taste that unique sweetness once more.

    And he will soon fill my entire body, as he is destined to.

 Chapter 152: Forever in a Day 1

    I have no intention of impregnating my mother.

    In fact, I have no intention of bedding her, at least not like this, right here in the middle of nowhere.

    Like I have said before, any n dies the moment it is put into action, regardless of how meticulously it has been nned.

    As such, I must always be flexible and think of a contingency.

    It is also the reason why I have so many ns for each and every scenario.

    Of course, it is impossible to n for everything even with my power over time, especially when critical information is missing.

    I didn''t expect to run into Zeus and his little gangs of godlike individuals. And I didn''t expect to convince him and Zephyr to join the dark side. It is not as dark as their side, in my humble opinion.

    Nevertheless, I wee the unexpected, just like I wee the intimacy with my mother, Stephanie, here with just the two of us.

    Everyone in the world is gone, being locked way in individual stasis cell within my spatial dimension.

    Most people would argue that it is morally wrong to make love to a woman who will one day give birth to me. But I am not like most people, and the word morality is derived from mortality.

    I am so far away from mortality that it is not funny.

    Furthermore, it is devasting to feel rejected, especially when she let her heart out like this. It is a good lesson to be learned for those who is trying to find someone special. I wish them all the best.

    While I admit that it is due to my machinations that my mother has such a strong feeling for me, what she feels is still genuine. Besides, what I did isn''t that much different than going on a date and learning all there is to know about her.

    As a matter of fact, I have done all those things before adding onto the dreams.

    I obviously didn''t add the part about Adria since I have no intention of giving her a child. I have no n of giving Antigone a sister. Even if I do, it wouldn''t be from my mother.

    That child would be both my sister as well as my daughter.

    "Stephanie."

    I whisper softly once my lips part from hers. The surrounding around us changes while our eyes remain connected. She looks so beautiful under met, lying against a soft white bed.

    My mother pays no attention to the change in surroundings. Her attention is entirely focus on me. Her hands run along my shoulder to my chest and my abdomen. She is reluctant to go further, as she has never been with a man before.

    The sperm-donor has one job, and he fails it miserably. He is now locked up in the stasis cell alongside with his girlfriend and the rest of the world.

    "Take me, Max. Make me yours."

    My mother repeats. Her voice is as confidence as it was before. I didn''t need to read her mind to know that she truly wants it.

    I want it too even without intending to in the first ce.

    If I have intended to sleep with my mother in the first ce, I would have done so when we both were still together in the bunker, even with my grandfather there.

    It isn''t difficult to distract my grandfather while I bang my mother.

    That sounds somewhat wrong, but it didn''t feel wrong.

    At least, not in this moment.

    With a smile on my face, I recapture my mother''s lovely lips, spreading them with my lips and allowing my tongue to slime its way into her mouth while my hands run along her body from her ample chest to her slender waist to her birthing hips.

    A lustful moan escapes her throat as my hands slither around to her ass on both side and give both of her bubbly buttocks repeated squeezes.

    The tight jean my mother is wearing did very little to stop me and my assault.

    Her body reacts by arching upwards slightly, pressing her maidenhood against my raging hardon, as it strains angrily against my pants. It wants to be free, obviously.

    And as my lips smoothly slip away from her mouth to trail small kisses along her cheek, chin and neck, my hips buckle, effectively rubbing my erection against her gender.

    It is not really dry humping since she is not dry.

    My mother is wet and quickly bes soaking wet.

    Virgin or not, her body reacts naturally to the deep emotion that she is feeling for me. I am also doing the same, far more gentler than I thought possible.

    Perhaps it is because she is my mother and I don''t want to hurt her in anyway. Our union is very much different from all the fucking I have done with other women in my life.

    "Oh, Max. Oh."

    My mother gasps as one of my hands leaves its ce around her ass and cup her chest, squeezing the enticing softness beyond the fabric.

    I knead one of her breasts along with her blouse and bra for just a little longer before pressing against the bed and lifting myself up from her body.

    I stand on my knees as I capture my mother''s heaving form. Despite not having done anything yet, her body is boiling hot. Beads of sweat could be seen along her shapely neck and corbones.

    And as my mother looks up at me, I remove my shirt over my head.

    The shirt is thrown to the side without looking, and I did wonder to myself to why I didn''t just vaporize my clothing instead of stripping.

    Oh well. It isn''t like it isn''t arousing to remove each article of clothing.

    It is like forey.

    I then unclip my belt to unbind it around my waist rather slowly. It is a sort of invitation for her to help me undress.

    And my mother understands it clearly. She arches up from the bed and hooks her fingers into my pants and underwear from the top.

    Once the belt is pull away, she pulls them both down together and over my erection.

    My cock is finally free, bobbing mightily in front of my mother, causing her to stare in mild shock.

    Obviously, my mother has seen cocks before back in high school or college. But she has never seen my cock. It isn''t because my cock is stupidly huge or anything like that.

    It is because it is very special, as it belongs to someone she truly loves.

    And she woulde to love it all the same.

    Her hand touches my cock and slowly wraps around the girth. I know that she hasn''t really handled a cock before, and she certainty never sucks on one.

    I will be her first, and that just really special.

    "Kiss it and take it in your mouth, Stephanie."

    I tell her as my hand strokes her hair, twirling around the strands. I didn''t need to force her into sucking me as it is her wish. She wants me to feel good.

    Without further hesitation, my mother kisses the engorged tip of my cock and then parts her beautiful plump lips to take in the mushroom head into her hot and wet mouth.

    My cock jerks excitedly as the warmness washes all over it.

    "Oh. That''s it."

    I call out as my hips buckle a little, pushing my shaft a little bit deeper between her lips. The cockhead nudges her tongue within her mouth, imploring her to lick and taste it.

    My mother did, feeling my vor rolling over her tongue.

    She then takes it a bit deeper until the head is at the entrance of her throat. She holds it there in her mouth and sucks rather experimentally.

    It couldn''t be help since she is still a virgin.

    And while my mother sucks my erected cock, both of my hands run around her head and shoulders all the way down to her blouse, unbuttoning it and revealing the ck undergarment that support both of her ample breasts.

    Those breasts are not huge, but they aren''t small either. As my mother is still a young and very much desirable woman, they are quite firm and soft.

    And right now, they are all mine, as she is mine now, in both body and soul.

    My mother loves me that much, and it is hard not to reciprocate her feelings.

    Of course, my mother obviously didn''t know that I am her son from another reality or this whole thing would be super awkward.

    I have no n of telling her since she prefers to live in blissful ignorance than facing the truth. It is just who she is. Besides, only I need to know the truth. It is better that way.

    One of my hands slips under the soft fabric of her bra and gropes her soft breast. The other hand finds itself to behind her back and unclips the bra, letting it fall forwards and revealing her chest to me.

    My mother did the rest, removing her blouse and bra while her mouth remains full of me.

    And after she is done removing her upper articles of clothing, her hands grip both side of my waist for support as her head bobs onto my erection. She is trying to get it all into her mouth, which is somewhat difficult for a beginner like her.

    But I mustmend her for trying, and I did so by jerking my hips while I continue to grope her chest, one soft globe filling out each of my palms.

    With each pump, I enter her mouth a little bit more and go a little deeper. Soon enough, the tip of my cock is tapping against the back of her throat.

    Doing so causes her to gag, and when the puffy tips finally slides along the back of her throat down to her stomach, she pulls back and coughs.

    As she did so, my hands are forced to remove from her chest.

    "I''m sorry, Max."

    My mother apologizes and clears the tears away from her eyes. She has never sucked anyone before, and for her first time, she couldn''t possibly deepthroat me.

    It is fine, as she will have plenty more practices once this day is over.

    "You will get use to it eventually, Stephanie."

    I assure my mother before running my right hand along her hair and then cheek and chin before lifting her face to give her a kiss. She immediately locks her lips against mine. Her hands are also around my upper back.

    And as I immersed myself into the kiss, my body leans forwards, forcing her backwards onto the bed.

    My left hand strokes the side of her body gently before reaching her jean and unbuckle those buttons with very little difficult. My other hand soon joins my left to remove her pant.

    And when I need to pull the pant down more than a minuteter, I have to part away from her lovely lips. She exhales breathlessly as I did so, wanting to continue tasting my sweetness.

    My eyes scan her nakedness from the top to bottom as the jean being pealed away from her legs from below. The jean joins my shirt and pants on the floor as I crawl upwards, running my warm breaths on her smooth skin.

    She squirms as my face stops between her legs and kisses the ck lingerie that still foolishly protects her sex from me. My hand strokes up her leg and thigh towards that panties before slipping under the fabric.

    Fingers curling around the fabric and pulling to the side as my lips kisses herher lips.

    My mother groans and grips my head just before my lips spread those pink lips and allow my tongue to slip in between and suck up the honey hungrily.

    Like a ravenous beast, my lips soon press themselves tightly against her lower lips as my tongue drills into her cunt.

    My plundering forces out moans and groans from her throat as her legs squirm wildly. Within a minute or so, her body shudders as juices gushes out of her body, soaking my tongue and letting me taste my mother in full.

    I swallow eagerly before licking her pussy and looking up at her. While her eyes plead me to stop, her hands are around my head, urging me to continue.

    And I decide to continue, bringing her to orgasmic pleasure once more.

    My mother screams this time around while her legs wrap around my head and neck tightly, basically locking my face against her soaking cunt. I didn''t mind as I continue to drink my fill.

    "Max. That was¡­ That was¡­"

    My mother utters when she finally let go of my head. I continue upwards her body and suck onto her juicy pair of tits, one after another while my cock sliding up and down against her lower lips, having a taste like I had just did.

    I hum while I try to suck out the nonexistence milk. Since my mother had died when I was born, I never had the chance to suck on those sulent tits of her, so I am doing that now.

    Her erected nipples run along the edge of my teeth as I bite down gently and pull on them, forcing her to moan repeatedly.

    My mother also grabs my head with both hands and pull me into a crushing embrace against her bare chest, when the pleasure bes too overwhelming, preventing me from sucking her tits further.

    She eventually let me go while panting like a heaving mess. Her eyes look at me as I ascend to her level finally.

    "I love you, Max."

    My mother proims.

    "I love you too, Stephanie."

    I tell her what my mother wants to hear before locking lips her once more.

    Our tongues immediately explore each other mouth for a handful of seconds before her head is thrown backwards as her eyes widen.

    My mother gasps as I sink into her cunt, spreading her walls for the first time.

    She is so tight, so very tight, as my cock try to find the womb where I hade from. With great effort, it eventually finds its way therepletely bloodied and knocks against the gate.

    My mother heaves as she looks at me while her arms are pushing against the bed to support her frame.

    She is in pain, but that pain will soon be pleasure.

    "It will only hurt for a moment, Stephanie."

    I tell my mother as my hands wrap themselves around her ass again, but this time, nothing stops them from grabbing onto her bare skin.

    I then pull myself back halfway.

    Her eyes widen slightly before I hammer all the way home, forcing her to scream in pain.

    And soon enough, pain bes pleasure.

    It always does.

 Chapter 153: Forever in a Day 2

    My mother is tight, so very tight, and so very hot.

    She grips my arms and shoulders for much needed support andfort as I proceed to hammer her pussy with utter abandonment, coating my steel rod in her blood and sweet nectar.

    "Ah. Max. Ah. Slow. Slowdown. Ah.

    Oh God. Ugh. Ah."

    My mother implores breathlessly between screams ad moans as her sharp nails try and fail to dig themselves into my flesh.

    I reply by speeding up and pounding that tight and wet pussy with an even greater force and recklessness, forcing my mother to scream out in pain.

    It is necessary to bring absolute pleasure to the both of us.

    Only I am in blissful pleasure at the moment.

    My dangling testicles repeatedly p against her buttocks as I sink deeper and deeper into her soaking honey pot and spreading her wet walls to fully amodate me.

    My mother has no choice but to get used to my thickness and lengthiness.

    I squeeze out a groan from my throat each time I bottomed out inside my mother, allowing her hot cunt to squeeze my cock tightly and nicely.

    She feels so warm, so very warm, and there is just something very arousing about filling her with myself.

    It urges me to fuck my mother harder and faster.

    And only when the surging sensation makes themselves known within my balls that I actually slow down and allow my mother some breathing room and a moment of contemtion.

    I didn''t want to fill her womb with my seeds just yet. I want to enjoy all of this a bit more.

    Actually, I want to cum all over her body and face, marking her as mine for now and forever.

    My mother is already mine, but words are cheap, actions mean a lot more, especially when I have evidence to back it up.

    Her eyes matches mine while her chest heaves when she isn''t being fucked into mindlessness. She swallows the lump in her throat before whispering my name.

    "Max. I love you. I love you so much."

    Beads of sweats descend down her face, chin, neck and body as I continue to spear her cunt slowly and methodically.

    "I love you too, Stephanie."

    I response as I press my hips tightly against her body.

    Her hands reciprocate by running along my back and shoulder, going right up to my neck and head. She grabs two fistful of my hair.

    I obviously didn''t need my mother to plead and spread my lips against hers in full disy of affection, allowing our tongues to dance and twirl in utter delight once more.

    And as I exchange fluids with my mother orally, I continue to gently sheath my meaty sword into her snatch, nesting in nicely within her body. My cock just fit perfectly, as it apparently meant to be.

    Our hips kiss and grind against each other.

    Our heated bodies did the same, squashing against each other. Those firm tits of her feel so nice against my chest.

    While I taste her mouth, I could hear everything going on in her mind. She wishes me to give her a daughter, a beautiful daughter.

    The one that she had saw in her dream.

    Unfortunately, I have already made up my mind about this. If I impregnate my mother, I would have to remain here with her to wee my child into the world.

    It would be a fatherly thing to do.

    And besides, it is only fair to treat Adria the same as Antigone.

    Speaking of Antigone, I haven''t seen her for weeks, rtively speaking. My daughter is sleeping in her room back at my home in New York City where I have left her.

    Since I miss Antigone greatly, I am certain that I will miss Adria should she is born to my mother. They are both my daughter after all, and I am really not one to favor one over the other.

    And while my mother loves me dearly, I shouldn''t bring her with me to the prime-reality. Her life is here in this reality, and she certainly will be more happier here.

    Of course, I will not leave my mother heartbroken after what she had been through. What I have forced her through.

    It is all for her to love me, and in turn ascends into a Goddess and bes the worship of the world. Besides, a God always must have a Goddess.

    That said, I honestly didn''t n to make love to her, and I admit that it did not feel wrong whatsoever.

    "Stephanie. You are so beautiful. So very beautiful."

    I acknowledge whisperingly once our lips are parted.

    Her breaths wash along my facial features as my hips buckle to resume the lustful pounding, rather slowly at first before picking up speed, rapidly.

    It didn''t take long for me to hammer home hard and fast, forcing juices to gush out of her redden cunt. It used to be a shade of lovely pink.

    "Oh God, Max. Fuck me. Ugh. Fuck me. Oh. Your cock fills me out, so much, so much!"

    My mother calls out as her head and hair are thrown backwards while her hands are holding tightly onto my neck for support.

    Her legs are now wrapped around my strong waist and lower back, urging me to fill her with myself more and more, which I am.

    My mother is fully immersed in the pleasure now.

    There is no longer any pain.

    And her pussypletely drown my cock in her nectar. I have no idea how many times she has orgasms, but it must have been more than handful.

    I haven''t even cum once yet.

    And to change that, my hand grip her waist, holding her tightly as I hungrily drive meat rod into her hard, deep and fast, quickly bringing myself to the edge amongst the pping and groaning.

    "Ugh! Fuck! I''m going to cum. I''m going to cum."

    I call out and try to pull out to mark her like I have said, but her legs tighten around my waist, refusing to let me go.

    And while I could break out with little to no effort, it would hurt her. I don''t want to hurt my mother.

    A good son should never hurt his mother and gives her everything that she ever wants. That is the filial piety talking.

    "Inside. Please. Cum inside me, Max. Give me your baby batter. Let me feel it, please. Ah."

    My mother hastily calls out as her pussy convulses. The brutally pounding that I have just done has brought her to orgasmic pleasure.

    I could feel her juices streaming down my rod to my contracting balls. I am about to cum any second now, and if my mother wishes to feel me flooding her womb to the brim, then she will feel me filling her womb with myself.

    It isn''t like my mother could get pregnant since all my sperm are dead the moment they enter her body.

    Selene is making sure of that.

    Besides, Legion is telling me that it isn''t her menstrual cycle, so the chance of her getting pregnant is next to zero percent.

    With all that in mind, I exhale deeply and cup both of her ass cheek, lifting her into the air. Her legs fall away around my waist, but remain held up by my strong arm.

    My mother blink as I proceed to split her cunt open while standing up. She gasps and moans in pleasure. Her hands and arms embrace my upper body for support while I jackhammer away.

    Within seconds, my cock jerks excitedly, and I nest myself within her cunt fully with a roar. Milky goodness explodes out of the mushroom tips as my balls contract and pump everything out within them.

    "Oh God. So hot. It''s so hot, Max. Ah!"

    My mother calls out. Her eyes roll upward slightly as her womb is flooded to the brim. Her body soon shudders, and her cunt tightens around my rod of steel, milking me.

    I could feel everything along the length of my cock, as it unloads everything into my mother. Once my balls are nearly empty, my hips buckle slowly to pump out the rest.

    My mother pulls me into a lover kiss as I did so.

    It instantly bring me to hardness once more, as my balls work overtime to produce creamy milkshakes.

    As our kiss deepens, I slowly let my young mother down onto the bed once more before shifting her legs over my shoulders, one on each side.

    And when our lips are finally parted, my hands grab hold her legs, pressing her knees against her breasts as I plunge downwards into her well with my entire frame and weight.

    Mixtures of love juices and cum erupt right out of her overfilled pussy as it is forced to amodate my full erection. The mixtures slime down onto the bed and sheet between the valley of her ass.

    In this position, I could go much deeper into her womb, forcing her to feel a new kind of pleasure.

    It also angles perfectly.

    And with her hands holding onto my waist and back while mine are holding my upper body up and locking her legs onto my chest, I begin to plow her cunt in earnest.

    Her shapely ass bounces on the bed each time I m myself into her quite heavily and forcefully.

    The huge amount of cum that I have dumped into my mother really helps me nailing her with my hard cock.

    Sloshing sounds could be heard each and every time I disce my steamy spunk inside her hole, bringing her to orgasmic pleasure.

    And soon enough, I refill her already flooded pussy with a vicious roar. But despite the explosive ejaction, I continue to hammer home without any reservation.

    My mother ws into my back as her mind is wreck with pleasure, and she did not get a moment of pause as her legs slide to both side of me,nding onto the bed.

    My hands then slither themselves around her back and pull her entire body upwards along with myself into a scissor position.

    And with our hipspletely locked, I give my mother a kiss and help her legs fold against the bed. I also shift into a morefortable position.

    "Bounce on my cock, Stephanie. Make me cum again."

    I request when I retreat from her lips and falling backwards, resting on the bed. My mother is now straddling my cock, cowgirl style.

    She looks down at me in the new position as my hands gropes her beautiful chest then run along her shapely body before embracing her ass, cupping it nicely.

    My mother nods slowly before lifting herself up and then dropping herself onto my cum-covered shaft and letting out a moan.

    Her pussy clenches my cock tightly.

    And soon enough, she gropes her own chest, ying with her assets as she bounces on my cock with blissful pleasure.

    It really makes me harder.

    I help her by holding onto her waist and hammering my cock upwards into her pussy.

    It didn''t take long for me to fill her hot cunt full of my seeds once more. If I wasn''t infertile, she would definitely be pregnant with so much cum that I have pump into her.

    Even so, my mother continues to impale herself onto my cock, and I remainpletely hard, filling her passage in full.

    It is just so hot, seeing my mother like this, especially when she is bouncing onto my cock.

    And in this moment, I wish that I could tell her exactly who she is in rtion to me. But I don''t think she will handle that well, at least not at first.

    It might even shatter her world.

    My mother eventually fall forwards and squashes her well-endowed chest against me and give me an affection kiss, but I think that is because she is actually getting tired.

    Unlike me, my mother is still an mortal after all.

    I return the kiss regardless before rolling her to her side and then back until I am on top of her again.

    Her legs are warped around my waist again, but weakly this time around.

    Nevertheless, I proceed to fuck my mother hard and fast with all the desire to fill her inside with myself once more.

    However, it is different this time around.

    "Ugh! Ugh!"

    I groan as I reach climax, but I pull back until only my cockhead is still being nested inside her.

    My mother pants heavily as she looks up at me. Even in aplete daze, she is wondering why did I stop.

    I run my fingers along her face, cupping her cheek.

    A smile sters on my face before I lean in closer.

    My mother tries to kiss me but I didn''t return the gesture.

    "I love you, mum."

    I whisper into her ear, causing her eyes to widen slightly before I spear her well-pounded cunt and let everything out without any restrain.

    Her mind is immediately filled with questions, but even so, she could only utter a lustful sound as I fill her entire body with pleasure.

    It really is a lot hotter for my mother to know who I am.

 Chapter 154: Forever in a Day 3

    And I recapture those beautiful lips of hers, finally giving her what she had wanted to do just a moment ago, all while continuing to pound her hot snatch, thrusting my ejacting cock into her wet chasm and pumping out all the baby batter with her name on it.

    They are rightfully hers, after all.

    Honestly, there is quite a lot of cum within me for my mother, and my engorged balls are making more with each passing moment. It is thanks to my superhuman regeneration and stamina.

    It is not only because of that, obviously.

    Somewhere in the back of my subconscious mind, I believe that only I can truly make my mother happy in this reality or the next. In any reality really.

    It could be the Oedipus in me talking. But it could also be because I have never had the change to get to know my mother and love her in the original timeline due to her untimely death.

    I mean love my mother like a son would, not this twisted and corrupt love of mine, as I fuck my mother with all the recklessness and horniness of a teenager and flood her pussy with my thick and rich milk over and over again.

    Yes. It is a twisted and corrupt from of love.

    I am not oblivious to the fact, but I honestly couldn''t really help myself, especially when I have already crossed that line when I manipte her into love me and probably only me.

    And to stop now would dissatisfy the both of us in more than ways than one.

    Once I pull my tongue from her mouth with a pop and pull my dripping cock from her cunt with a slop, I immediately straddle her ample chest and shove my throbbing meat into her open mouth and drive it all the way into the back of her throat.

    Her eyes widen in surprise as she looks up at me, matching my downward gaze. Her perfect lips stretch around my hard cock to amodate me.

    And seeing my mother force to take me into her wet mouth and tight throat only egg me to continue my desire. That is to mark her as mine and only mine.

    I proceed to pound her face and force out whatever cum that remains in my balls and shaft. Her tongue quickly twirls itself around the front of my cockhead as I pull back and slide along the shaft, lubricating as I push myself into her mouth.

    My mother gags whenever I bottom out into her throat, forcing her to deepthroat me. It hasn''t really been that long since she had sucked her first cock, and now she is already swallowing my cock, bringing me towards the edge.

    "I love you, mum. I love you so much."

    I utter and lean forwards, angling myself as I face-fuck my mother with abandonment.

    She blinks at myment questioningly, but she couldn''t make much of it due to my cockpletely filling out her mouth. Instead, she moans around the shaft and enjoys the meaty goodness.

    "It''sing. It''sing! Ugh! Ah!"

    I announce and hug her face, forcing my cock into her throat just before unloading with blissful delight.

    My mother immediately chokes at the thick flooding. She swallows my load frantically. Her hands grip my thighs tightly. Her body squirms under me. And her legs thrash about on the bed.

    Her eyes roll upwards as she slowly slips into unconsciousness. I pull her back with a light electric jolt as I pull my cock out of her mouth before pumping it at her face.

    Several steamy rope of cum shot forth and coat her face and hair.

    My mother gasps with her open mouth and tries to stick her tongue out to catch some of those creamy batter, and to reward her for her effort, I point my cock towards her mouth and soak her tongue with my cum.

    The cum slides down her tongue like a waterslide, pooling in the back of her mouth. It bes like a swimming pool since I still have quite a bit within me.

    And once the ejaction tapers off, I push the cockhead against her tongue and slide it down into that milky pool of cum, forcing the cum to spurt out of the corner of her mouth and running down the side of her face.

    "Yes. Suck me. Ah. Suck me."

    I groan as my mother did so, right after she swallows the huge load I have dumped into her mouth.

    She continues to suck me even after my balls arepletely emptied. It wouldn''t be emptied for very long to be honest, and my cock is quite hard, especially when seeing her cum-coated face.

    For me to be fully satisfied now is somewhat of a problem due to my elerated metabolism. That is why I only really eat for enjoyment since foods does not provide enough energy for my body to remain in peak condition.

    This problem will be bigger in the future, as my body continues to evolve, growing stronger and more resilient, but that problem could easily be solved with threesome, foursome and moresome.

    The more people the better.

    I do have enough of nutritious milk to go around. Lots and lots of nutritious milk.

    Honestly, just throw more girls into the mix. It does feel like a very good solution, at least to the sexual problem that I am facing, overperforming instead of underperforming or unable to get it up.

    Like I have said, I am not like most people, even in bedroom.

    I pump my mother''s mouth a little bit longer before removing my hardon from her lips. I also remove myself from atop of her body before exhaling a deep breath.

    While I do love to fuck her more, I think my mother should get some answers now.

    I obviously didn''t tell her directly that I am her son because that would be extremely shocking, not to mentionpletely unbelievable considering I am about the same age as she is. I actually merely call her mum, so it is really up to her to interpret what I mean.

    There is so many ways to exin thement, but I will just build on what she is thinking.

    And with all the micromachines floating in her mind, I do have a good idea what she is thinking at any given moment. It is not an exact idea since the mind is quiteplex.

    Also, what is a consciousness?

    It can be detached from the body like Zeus and Zephyr have done so.

    And without a consciousness in the body, it is more or less a nk te without any memory or sense of self.

    Interesting.

    My mother slowly sits up and looks me in the eyes.

    She swallows thest of my spunk in one big gulp then licks her lips to savor the taste.

    "Steph. I''m sorry, I ¨C

    I utter but my mother shushes me. She then leans towards me and run her fingers along my face with one hand while the other hand wrap around my cock. She pumps it to maintain its hardness, not that she really needs to.

    Being so close to her like this is more than enough to maintain my hardness.

    "Your mother. She looks a lot like me, right?"

    My mother finally asks.

    No. It isn''t that she looks a lot like you. She is you, in body, mind and soul.

    "Yes. I am really sorry, Steph. But it really shouldn''t have called you that. I shouldn''t have think of you as my mother."

    I response as I lower my eyes, breaking my gaze from her.

    Her hand immediately forces me to look at her again. She smiles and shakes her head lightly.

    "It is fine, Max. I know that you have lost your mother at a young age, and from the way you speak of her to me, you love her more than you can say. There are a lot of guilts inside your eyes whenever you talked about your mother. Is it because you couldn''t tell her how much you love her?"

    I blink.

    Even if I could read her mind, it is still quite surprising to me for my mother ask that directly. Even for her to think that is remarkable.

    It just shows that my mother understands me more than anyone else.

    I nod slowly as a response and ept that fact.

    My mother is right about the guilt that I am feeling deep down.

    And no matter what, I think that guilt will always going to be there.

    I was young and na?ve back then, back when my power first manifests.

    I honestly didn''t think of much of my mother or anyone else. I only think about myself and what I truly wanted to do, so when the chance of actually saving my mother from childbirth p me in the face, I didn''t even see it.

    It would have been so easy, so very easy with my power.

    Hell. Even having hundreds of specialists on standby when I am born would have been sufficient.

    And doing so would give me the childhood I have always wanted.

    I desperately wanted.

    But no, I didn''t. I didn''t even think of it.

    I just want to get to the past to y God as soon as possible.

    It is only now that I realize my mistake, but sadly that timeline no longer exist.

    And the person that gives her life to bring me into the world no longer exists.

    As much as I want to believe it so, as much as I want to force myself to ept it, the Stephanie of the prime-reality is not the Stephanie of the original-timeline, and it is impossible to make sure that she is or will be due to the butterfly effect.

    For the first time in a very long time, tears actually pool around my eyes.

    "It''s okay, Max. Don''t cry. Please don''t cry. I don''t think any worst of you. In fact, I am grateful for you to share this with me. I really thought that you are so strong, so powerful.

    You even give your life for what you believe in."

    My mother takes me into her embrace and hugs me tightly, pressing her nakedness against my body.

    "If it wasn''t for me, my mother wouldn''t have died. She wouldn''t have died like she did, Steph. She would not have die like she did. And even with all the power I have now, I can''t bring her back. I can''t bring her back. I still can''t bring her back."

    I basically let my heart out.

    It is the truth.

    Even if I go back in time to before the 1950s and practically stop all the events that is happening now in the prime-reality just to see my mother, my original-mother, it would not undo my guilt.

    In fact, it wouldn''t have changed anything.

    This is because my very presence is a butterfly effect, rippling through time and space, altering all that is and will be way beyond my control.

    No one can mess with time and not face the consequences.

    This includes me, the Aspect of Time.

    But even if there is a way to change it, I probably would as bearing this guilt makes me love my mother more than I possibly could have. It is a twisted and corrupt form of love, but it is still love, nheless.

    There is no wrong or right, only what I want and feel.

    "Mum. Please forgive me."

    I utter as I look at my mother. She smiles faintly at me before epting that part of who I am. To truly love someone is to ept everything about them, for better or worse.

    "Yes, sweetheart, I forgive you. Now, I want that hard cock inside me."

    My mother responses, roleying as mother.

    Eh. It is close enough. She didn''t need to know that she is my actual mother from another reality.

    "I will, mum. I will fuck you so hard until you only remember my name."

    I reply and lean backwards, allowing my mother to slide up towards my steel shaft. It is thick and hard, wanting to fill her overflowing pussy once more.

    Actually, her pussy is no longer full of my spunk since I clean her up with a little time reversal. This also restores her stamina and endurance.

    "Hmmm¡­ yes, I do, baby. Yes, I do. I want you to fuck me hard until I can''t take it anymore."

    My mother replies with a smirk while sliding her wet pussy along my manhood. She actually has great experience at roleying due to what happened to her in the future. Those assholes did murder their family after all.

    But she tries not to remember it, since it would be way too painful.

    In any case, that future no longer exists. A new future will rece it.

    A future with my mother and me, rtively speaking.

    I reach forwards and grab her head and kiss her hard.

    My mother returns it as hard and as affectionate as me, and our tongues dance with each other quite a long time. It would have been much longer if it wasn''t for me.

    Breaking the deep kiss, I look into her dazed eyes as my hands lift her up by her hips and ce her wet entrance at the tip of my cock before slowly lowering her down until she is sitting on me.

    Our hips fully meet.

    My mother gasps breathlessly as my hard cock fills her hot inside at the way to her fertile womb. The same womb that would haven given birth to me, so it is fine to return myself into it.

    Despite being clean up through my power, her body remembers my cock and shivers in delight.

    It feels so right with me inside of my mother.

    "Damn, you are so sexy with my cock inside you, mum. Now, ride me like you mean it. Show me how much you love me."

    Imand and give her shapely ass a few ps before squeezing it hard. There is actually no need for gentleness any longer. It will just be raw lust from here onwards.

    "Yes, baby. Let mummy show you how much she loves you. Let mummy makes it all better."

    My mother states as she wraps her arms around my neck and starts to bounce up and down my cock in earnest, moaning and groaning as she did so.

    She has no clue how many long it will take or how many times it will take.

    It might be literally forever, as I am not easily satisfied.

    But with my power over time, forever would still be within a day.

 Chapter 155: Begin of the Clones

    Within the bedroom, only the sounds of grunting and moaning are heard.

    My mother is nowying on her back, dripping with sweat. One of her arms is about her head, gripping tightly only the white sheets. Her other arm is around her neck, holding onto me as I thrust deep and hard into her tight snatch, sending shockwaves throughout her body.

    "Ah! Yes! Yes, fuck me! Fuck mummy with your hard cock! Ah!"

    My mother calls out,pletely immersing herself into the roley that I have guide her into. There is some truth to that since I do know exactly what is going on in her mind and what kind of conclusion she will eventually reach.

    In contrast, it isn''t just a mere roley for me. She is actually my biological mother even if she did not give birth to me in this reality, so I am more than happy toply with her wanton request and pound her pussy harder and faster than humanly possible.

    Obviously, I have to restrain myself or my cock would literally split her apart. That would be horrifying for me, as my mother would not remember death by my erection.

    And to think my mother was a virgin only mere hours ago with the ways she screams and urges me to fuck her.

    It hasn''t even been a day, I think.

    Time is a bit hard to measure urately when it is beingpressed, making the rtive time seems a lot longer than it actually is.

    In any case, my mother has plenty of practice with our seemingly unending lovemaking sessions.

    I stop keeping track of how many times I have fucked her and pumped her body full of my seeds, only to reverse time just to do it all over again. She remembers all of it. Well, most of it since I don''t really want her to remember the deviant shits that I did.

    I also virginized her pussy more than dozens of times just to break her hymen again, iming her lovely virginity like I always should. It is quite arousing, especially when my mother screams out in utter pain instead of pleasure.

    "You love my cock, don''t you, mum? Don''t you? Then take it all inside of you!"

    I drive my thick b of hard meat into her soaking pussy with great power and speed, forcing both of her tits jiggle and bounce hypnotically before my eyes. It is not the only that alluring to me. Her taste and smell along with all of her dirty thoughts are bringing me over the edge.

    "Yes, baby. I love it. I love how you fuck me hard and deep. Keep fucking! Yes! Keep fucking me!

    Ah!"

    My mother screams her response as waves of orgasms crash down upon her body and mind. They are like thunder and lightning, intensely powerful and white hot.

    I slow down to watch my mother being racked with orgasms, and I couldn''t help but think I might have awoken something primal within her soul.

    It actually makes me sweat-dropped.

    Honestly, if I have known my mother is this into having sex with her son, even if it is merely an illusion in her mind, I would have revealed myself sooner and immerse myself in the pleasure of sinful flesh.

    I wonder if Stephanie of the prime-reality is also like this in the future since she should have the exact same body and soul. Her state of mind might be different due to different upbringing.

    Currently, Stephanie is only a little girl. She has many more years to grow into the lovely young woman with my cock embedded into her.

    I lean back and withdraw my cock from her pussy just to watch it spasms and gushes out her beautiful nectar. It is also to let here back down from her intense and quite violent orgasmic pleasure.

    After my mother finally regains her mind, she looks pleading at me, begging me to continue pounding her cunt and filling her inside with myself.She hasn''t had enough. It is nearly not enough.

    If it was any other girls within my harem, they must have been knocked unconscious by the very insane fucking we have been doing. This just make my mother unique. She is unique in her own way.

    Even so, I couldn''t believe that this sexual creature is the same person I have such the great pleasure of befriending for many days prior.

    After everything that we have done thus far, my mother still wanting more. Wanting a lot more.

    And who dare to say no to my mother? Certainly not my raging erection.

    Still leaning back, I slide my arms along her legs and then wrap my hands around her ankles. I hold her legs up straight, gently before cing them onto my shoulders, all while caressing them affectionately.

    And once her legs are resting firmly on my shoulders, I arch forwards, pushing her knees towards her shoulders as my hands cup her ass and squeeze them.

    My hands then slide up to the back of her legs, as I begin to my weight onto her legs and slowly push my body down on top of her.

    In this position, my cockhead brushes against the engorged lips of my mother''s pussy.

    She is still tight and so very wet. She is even tighter with a little bit of time reversal, and just like many times before, she didn''t realize that I have used my power.

    One of my hand take hold of my cock and slowly slide it up and down herher lips yfully.

    My mother gasps as she feels me stroking her soaking pussy with my hard cock. She braces herself for the hard and thick intrusion once more, but it neveres.

    "Max! Fuck me! Please fuck me!"

    My mother begs desperately.

    Since she has slipped back to calling me by my actual name, she really wants my cock to pound her in reckless abandonment once more.

    Her hands even reach out towards me, trying to grab hold of me and puling me against her body, but our current position did not allow her to do, at least notfortably.

    "You really want this cock, don''t you, mum?"

    I question teasingly.

    Seeing my mother so desperate for my cock really turns me on. Precum is already leaking at the puffy tip, trailing along her soaking pussy.

    "Yes. Yes. Stick it in me. Ahhhhhhhhh!"

    I didn''t hesitate to m my hard cock right into her tight and wet pussy in the middle of her sentence, forcing an explosive orgasm to rush straight to her head, making her nearly ck out of the shocking pleasure.

    "Yes. Fuck me, baby. Fuck me. Ah!"

    My mother wails at the feeling of my thick meat, spreading her tight walls to amodate itself inside her womanhood.

    I then drawl my hips back until just the pulsating cockhead is still inside her cunt before I drive forwards all the way with a deep and powerful thrust, pping my hips against her pelvis and driving the breath out of her lungs.

    And with that, I pull my cock back out and repeat the thrust, fucking my mother in earnest with long and deep stroke, bottoming all the way into her womb and bringing her delightful pleasure that only a son could.

    "That''s it, baby. That''s it! Ah! Fuck me. Fuck your mother! Stick that big and hard cock inside me!

    Ah! Inside me! Inside your mother!"

    My mother coos and works her moisten depths to actually reciprocate my thrusts and return pleasure in kind.

    And with every passionate thrust I did, her hot walls grip and slide against my pumping cock, bringing me incredible amount of pleasure. So much so that I find it bing more and more difficult to hold of the churning cum in my balls.

    Despite that, I didn''t slow down my pace for even a fraction of a second.

    My hips continue to thrust against my mother harder and faster for what seems like an eternity.

    And when I am about to explode, my mother raises both of her hands over head to grip onto the edge of the bed while staring lustfully into my eyes.

    "Come on, baby, fuck me. Fuck your mother for all she is worth and her cum all over your big and hard cock!"

    My mother growls rather deliriously while still matching my gaze.

    I blink and narrow my eye slightly. She doesn''t want me to cum yet. She wants me to fuck her harder and deeper than ever before.

    Is she challenging me?

    Insane.

    Or perhaps, she knows that I have holding back?

    Well. I am holding back to prevent tearing apart her gender. And no amount of dirty talk would make me unleash my true might.

    However, I could still pound my mother harder. A lot harder.

    With sheer willpower alone, I stop the flooding in my shaft. My hands then trace her arms until I could grab onto both of her wrists.

    I hold onto them before I m even harder into her causing her to moan louder.

    And the more my mother moans, the harder I pound into her with fierce abandonment, and the harder that I drive my cock into my mother, the more she voices her pleasure.

    It is an endless loop.

    "Oh, baby. You know that this is so wrong, so very wrong, ploughing into your mother like this¡­"

    My mother begins with a teasing smile.

    "Really, mum?"

    I utter and stop pounding into her soaking depth.

    "Oh fuck. Don''t stop. Don''t stop fucking me, baby. Don''t stop fucking your mother. More. Yes!

    More! Please more!"

    My mother calls out, not even hearing what I am saying despite maintaining eye-contact with me.

    And strangely enough, I see her eyes shes unnaturally for a fraction of a second. It isn''t like anything I have seen before. It isn''t magic. It isn''t technology.

    It is spiritual energy,ing directly from her soul.

    However, it didn''tst long, but its effect is felt greatly.

    My mother is drowned in lust. Uncontroble lust. Her hips continue thrusting up at me as fast as they could in her current position. Her head flings from side to side despite still matching my gaze. She also tries to move her arms around, but they are pinned against her head by me.

    "Please, baby, don''t stop fucking me. Don''t stop."

    My mother calls out, begging me to fuck her more and more.

    I am unsure what that was, but seeing her like this, I couldn''t help but m back into her body hard, forcing her pussy to tighten around me. It feels different. It feels incredible. It feels like I have died and gone to heaven.

    Grunting from the power of each thrust, I could feel my throbbing erection probe her depth and touch her secret sweet spot again and again.

    Searing heat spread throughout her body as she began to convulse in ecstasy as her womanly center grip and try to pull me further inside her. How is that possible? Within an instant, her mind went white as she feels pulsating waves of pleasure rush through her like a tidal wave.

    Legion. Record that!

    I call out in my mind as my mother''s body shakes violently in an intense orgasm. I didn''t need to order that since like Selene, Legion records everything from everyone, every single second.

    It is much more intense than anything before.

    "Yessssssssssssssssssss!"

    My mother screams the word at the top of her lungs as she buckles wildly under me. And her intense orgasm is contagious, spreading towards me, forcing a groan out of my throat.

    "Oh God! Fuck. I''m cumming, mum! I''m cumming! Yes! Yessss!"

    I mimic my mother as I explode once again deep inside my mother. Sticky white cum pumps deep into her hot depth and floods her fertile womb.

    However, it feels so wonderful, much more wonderful than ever before. I swear I have never had such a wonderful ejaction since like forever.

    And as I look at my mother, I could see the spiritual glimmers in both of her eyes. The spiritual energy is much more powerful than before, but she ispletely unaware of it.

    But nothing strange could be seen through her eyes. Even so, it obviously isn''t for cosmetic effect.

    My mother soon closes her glowing eyes slowly as she enters blissful unconsciousness.

    I exhale deeply and slowly pull my semi-hardened cock out of my mother with a flop, allowing her legs to settle back onto the bed as my spunk spurts out of her cunt.

    Strange that I feel sexually satisfied, more than ever before.

    I was so sure that I could go several more dozen more rounds.

    Alright, several hundred more rounds. And that without resorting to using stamina potions or solutions to boost my stamina and vitality.

    As my mother sleeps peacefully, I slide into the bed andy next to her. My hands gently take her into my arms for a warm embrace as I give her a kiss on the forehead.

    "I love you, mum. I really do. While I don''t fully understand why you always give birth to me, I am d to be your son."

    My mother cuddles against my body after I have said that. She obviously didn''t hear what I have said, but it isn''t necessary for her to hear it. I only want to say that out loud for my ownfort.

    I smile and ready to rest my body. It has been quite an incredible, joining with my mother.

    I suppose this will be thest time I personally be with my mother, at least my mother of this reality.

    And as I close my eyes, an avatar slowly opens his eyes for the first time.

    I blink repeatedly to focus my vision before thrashing about, trying to breathe within the test tube. It takes a few tries to breathe normally underwater.

    A strange mechanical tube is connected to the back of my neck.

    I couldn''t remove it.

    And I don''t think I should.

    I then look around and beyond the ss, taking note of the thousand upon thousand incubators. They are perfectly aligned rows after rows, all thrashing just moment ago.

    "Who are you?"

    A male voice booms.

    I do not who that is. I do not know how I get here.

    Thest thing I remember is going to sleep with Stephanie in my arms. She is my Goddess, as I am her God. We are about to usher a new era of prosperity.

    The era of the Origin, for the Ori has given me such a task. Without them, the human race would have be extinct.

    "Who are you?"

    The unfamiliar voice booms again.

    "Maximilien Maxwell."

    I speak up. Thousands of me speak up in unison. No. Millions of me.

    An army of me?

 Chapter 156: The Inevitable Outcome (POV)

    Dreams doe true, especially if you remember them.

    And I remember them, as clearly and as vividly as the burning passion from the night before. As matter of fact, from many nights before, and likely many nights after, hopefully.

    In this moment, it is no longer a dream, and I am no longer asleep.

    I slowly open my eyes and greet the beautiful dawn of a new day. Sunshine emerges from the edge of the world, slowing making it ways into the cloudless heaven above.

    Golden light wraps and streams around the unyielding form of a man as he stands unmoving, bathing within the blinding luminescence while staring into the distance.

    He always does, every morning of every day, even if I am not with him.

    The warm light also streaks through the flustering purple drapes, which are framed so majestically on each side of the massive ss doors, leading into the vast balcony, towering over the world.

    And like those dreams that I have so many months ago, I pull myself out of bed slowly and carefully, a leg and a foot at a time.

    The cold marble floors beneath press against my weight and spread lightly over my skin, giving me this tingling sensation as I stand upright, letting the white sheets of the bedding to slide off my naked form.

    Once I ampletely out of bed, I begin my approach towards the balcony, slowly but confidently.

    And as I did so, the white bedsheets that had covered me throughout the night while I had slept quite peacefully with a dreamless sleep immediately swirl into the air and morph into a cloud of glimmering silvery dust.

    They always do.

    The twinkling participles surge along the air, riding the gentle breeze that constantly invades the room from beyond the opened ss doors.

    They soon spiral all around me, smoothly enveloping my nakedness and covering my entire body from the chest downloads, binding all of my assets before shifting into a long white gown, which glitters in the golden light and trails my every step.

    The nanomachines did not more than protect my modesty, they protect my person, even if it is quite unnecessary in his presence.

    I am perfectly safe here, as he would never allow anything to harm as long as he lives.

    As long as he is with me.

    And I would never part from him, no matter what happens, now and forever.

    It feels like a wishful thinking as love, like every emotion, cannot truly be eternal.

    But for now, it is the truth. My only truth even if the worlds fall apart around me.

    The warm and soft bed behind me crumples apart as if it was constructed and then glued together by indiscernible tiny grains of sand. It is made of the same materials to that of my dress. Nanomachines.

    In fact, everything is.

    The nanomachines get absorbed into the unmarkable floor, returning the room into perfect emptiness just like it has been yesterday and the day before. That is to say excluding all the statues, decorations and countless portrait along the walls and around the entrances.

    The room obviously isn''t a bedroom.

    And this ce isn''t our home in a sense.

    Our home is where our hearts are, hopefully together.

    This ce is actually a temple, the Temple of Origin, where countless worshipers and followers across the globe havee and go.

    Many never left, as they seek the path towards enlightenment, bing one with the Ori.

    It is the Ori who has erected this ce of worship through my beloved, fully enclosing the holy temple around the red obelisk on the day of the great awakening. The day that the world finally opens its eyes to its destiny, allowing everyone to step onto the path towards enlightenment regardless of whatever happened during the burning trials.

    The world has learned so much on that day.

    We have learned so much about the Ori, the Flood and what is toe in the far future, for we have been given a second chance to live and make preparation.

    Sadly, most people are squandering this chance, the chance to reach true salvation.

    "Max."

    I speak the name of my world as soon as I stand by his side and follow his eyes to watch the world that I used to be a part of,pletely filled with ss buildings reaching towards the sky while glimmering in the sunlight.

    But as beautiful as those structures are on the outside, great darkness is dwelling with them.

    Great darkness is dwelling within the people within those buildings, even if it is not visible to the naked eyes. It is there. It is always there.

    Max smiles faintly at me before exhaling deeply and staring at the sky above. He is looking beyond the sky and at the deep vastness of space. A megastructure had once existed there, protecting the and shielding us from the unfathomable danger of the cosmos.

    We are so small in the infinite universe, as the Ori has demonstrated.

    I do not fully understand why the megastructure was removed since it has protected the world for so many years, but I suppose it must have something to do with the people petitioning for their real and natural sky back as well as the sun and moon.

    And it isn''t the only thing that the people are petitioning for. No. Demanding for. That is more correct from my own understand and observation.

    Their desires are truly unending, after all.

    People will never be contended and satisfied with what they have already given, especially when they are fully aware that they could have so much more.

    And so much, much more.

    "I wish the Ori are still here, Steph. I wish that they could tell me what to do, because I am at a loss to what to do. I truly am. And if this continues, there won''t be anyone left to face the Flood in thousands of years from now. No. Hundreds of thousands of years."

    Max speaks up as his eyes avert from the sky and cast upon the world that he has helped created with his vast power and knowledge.

    The vast power and knowledge that the Ori has given him as their apostle on earth.

    Their only apostle on earth.

    The old world has changed greatly thanks to the technology and power bestowed to the human race through Max and will of the Ori, but the nature of people remains the same.

    As a matter of fact, the people have really be much worse than before, for absolutefort is a sin.

    The Sin of Sloth.

    It is having everything that anyone ever wanted without putting in the hard work necessary to have it in the first ce. And if it is this bad now, it will be much worse in future generations.

    That is to assume if there is a future generation.

    "Not everyone is like that, Max. Not everyone is drowning themselves in indulgent and pleasures with such an uncaring mindset. Not everyone thinks that the deste future is too far away to even concern about right now."

    I assure Max, trying to give him some confidences.

    It is the only thing that I could do by his side, even as a Goddess ording to the Book of Origin.

    The Book of Origin was derived from Bible, for God must be one of or with the Ori. He is perhaps also an Ori, the one and only Ori, as the Vatican ims.

    There is much to be debated about this from a religious standpoint.

    Max did not contest to this since he does not know himself, for the Ori never truly reveal who exactly they are. They only revealed what they are, and that is they are unimaginable power.

    Powerful enough to ignore the cycle of life and death altogether. That did not mean heaven or hell do not exist. It just means that they are beyond heaven and hell.

    Max chuckles weakly at my encouragement and shakes his head.

    His hands also grip the stone railing until it cracks, but the crack did notst.

    It is made of the same material as my dress, as everything in the world now.

    Nanomachines.

    A gift from the Ori to the human race.

    Max calls them micromachines even if he is unsure the real reason why. It is very strange that he didn''t remember the real reason why it is called that despite the correct scientific term is nanomachines, for they are machines on the nanoscales.

    This just shows that he is not all-powerful and all-knowing like the Ori is.

    But Max is the closest person to attain enlightenment due to the powers that he wielded.

    And there is different level of enlightenment. The higher the more powerful one will be.

    It is all veryplicated.

    "I shouldn''t havepromised, Steph. I shouldn''t have. I should have done what must be done from the start. It is for the best. It is for the future and prosperity of the human race. The Ori has given us a million year to prepare, and what have we been doing all this time?"

    Max responses.

    The Ori did give the human race a million years of preparation.

    They did so by rewinding the universe a million years into the past, as the Flood cannot be stopped even with their mastery over time.

    It can only be dyed.

    Dyed long enough for humanity to find ways to prevent our own extinction and continue to prosper throughout the universe.

    At least that is the theory.

    No one can truly understand Ori.

    But Max believes now that it has been dyed too much. Dyed so much that everyone decides that there is no need to hurry. Not everyone, but every country on earth.

    It is hard to prepare or prevent something that will happen in a million years. This is especially true as there are still so many things to prepare for and prevent right now, such as world hunger and poverty.

    Those arguments are logically sounded, and Max agrees wholeheartedly with the world leaders.

    And he has used the power that bestowed to him by the Ori to make those problems go away.

    No one has to go hungry if foods can be fabricated with very little effort, bypassing the necessary need to cultivate thend and grow the produces.

    No one need to live in poverty if all structures can be built in an instant with nanotechnologies.

    In fact, anything can be constructed in an instant with nanotechnologies, including missing body parts.

    Energy crisis no longer be a problem when Max can harness the full might and power of a star in the form of a Ster Reactor.

    And as I understand it, a single Ster Reactor outputs more energy than the sun itself each and every second, and he can create as many as he needs. It is also very safe and clean.

    While every physical problem can be solved effortlessly by Max, it brings a whole host more problems that cannot easily be solved as easily.

    It also reveals the greedy nature in everyone, wanting more and more until they have everything, but they still want more.

    How do you truly make someone remain proactive, continuously striving hard to earn all that they can possibly have in life when they already have everything they ever wanted and will ever want?

    This is why my beloved is contemting.

    He truly believes that he has failed the mission that was given to him by the Ori. He truly believes that he has failed humanity, when the actual fact is, we have failed him with our greedy nature.

    I am also at fault, for wanting to spend more time with him, every waking moment of every day. I only care about Max, for the world has never done anything for me.

    "When everything is given, nothing is precious, Max. Only through pain and suffering that people truly cherish what they have."

    I point out, but I am sure that he already knows that. He already knows that from the very beginning, but he fails to do what is necessary due topassion.

    Compassion for me, most likely.

    If I was to be truly honest with myself, there is something very different about Max. If it was really the old him, the one that I know so well, he would do whatever he must to aplish his goal regardless of whatever I feel.

    I love that side of him, and because of that, I love everything about him, including his ws.

    His twisted sense of love for his dead mother should have alienated me since deep down, he is actually using me as a recement for someone who he truly loves, but it didn''t because everything is greatly overshadowed by my love for him in every sense of the world.

    I love him even if he does not love me as much as he loves his mother.

    As long as he has me in his heart, I think it is enough.

    And to see him happy and cheerful means more than the world to me.

    Max was really happy when he believes that I am his mother.

    I honestly wish I was, because he would always be happy.

    Sadly, we have never role-yed as mother and son again, not since that day, the day that he revealed to me that there is so much more to him than meets the eyes.

    His guilts. His dreams. His wishes.

    And even if those things appalled me at first, they do allow me to understand my beloved in ways that just not possible.

    Hearing what I have just recited from memory, Max looks at me before smiling.

    His hands quickly wrap around mine as I reciprocate in kind.

    I soon lean against his body and feel his warmness.

    It is not quite the same in my dream, but it is still as perfect as I have hoped it to be.

    Most people would have grown bored of this already as they beginning to do so with life in general. It is the result of having everything you ever wanted without any effort.

    "I love you, Max, with all my heart and body and soul. Whatever you choose, I will stand by you every step of the way, even if the world turnspletely against us."

    I speak up, and he takes me into his arms, embracing me tightly.

    I could feel his heart beating rapidly, but his mind is preupied with something else.

    It is always preupied with something else.

    I wish that it didn''t, but I understand that his responsibility is not only to me. No. Never only me. And I do want to return to that day when we are the only people left remaining on earth.

    It was so blissful and so surreal. Thinking about it makes my heart flusters.

    While I believe that Max will always have the time for me, it feels like he is actuallypromising just like he has beenpromising so much in the past years.

    I fear how much more he willpromised in the future.

    Our embrace is interrupted by a priest, standing at the doorway.

    The priest does not speak up or even make himself known since doing so would be sphemy.

    "Speak."

    Max request as he pulls himself away from me. I smile faintly before turning away from him and look out towards the city, still glimmering magnificently in the morning light.

    I didn''t care much for what the priest has to say to Max. I never did. Nor I care about the people living in the city below, drowning in their own pleasure or happiness.

    In more than one way, I am just like them, caring only about the now instead of the future. Will saving the future brings me my happiness?

    "I¡­"

    Max begins. And I nod.

    His eyes sadden as he teleports away with mes.

    I want to cry. I really do.

    But crying will not solve anything.

    I am living the dream, but once I have it, I want more. I always want more.

    This is my sin. Our sin. The sin of the world.

    Like Max has said, if this continues, humanity would perish by their own greed and desire. They would be extinct by their very own nature, not through wrathful violence, but through uncaring sloth.

    And after letting out a sigh, mes swirl around me and teleports me directly home.

    The home that I have shared with one other person, for Max never has the time to be here for more than a day. Even so, that person is our world and joy.

    The little girl siting by the kitchen table greets me with a bright smile. Her eyes are reddish-yellow, full of maturity despite her young age.

    She is my daughter, Adria. And she was conceived on that faithful day.

    "Hello, mother."

 Chapter 157: The Seed of Time

    "Hello, father."

    A beautiful young woman with reddish-yellow surprises me.

    Mystical mes swirl around her in a simr fashion when I had impersonated the Ori.

    And my surprise isn''t because of seeing her in person, especially when there is no one left alive in this cold and deste world with multiple ring-like megastructures, rotating in orbits.

    The surface of the once beautiful green is now coveredpletely by metal, reaching for more than a thousand mile deep. Titanic chasms are everywhere, glowing brightly with thermal energy from the countless Ster Reactors.

    Earth might as well be called Cybertron, considering the extreme makeover. Even the moon itself isn''t spared, bing a mini-Cybertron, housing trillion upon trillion of minds.

    A million years has gone by in a sh, after all.

    My surprise isn''t because of her existence either, as I already know that Adria exists the moment that Selene integrates a new set of memory into my brain.

    It is quite disorientating, but it is the quickest and easiest way to know everything there is to know.

    I have to make sure that the new set of memory doesn''t dwarf or overwhelm my current memory and personality due to sheer size. There are actually safety measures for this sort of things, as it is an actual form of brainwashing.

    Legion has recorded everything that had happened in all the years that gone by, allowing me to review exactly what my clone has been doing during that whole time at my leisure. I mean other than banging my mother, of course.

    Did I just cuckold myself?

    Well, I suppose it is for science.

    In all honestly, my clone is me and not me at the same time. I didn''t map an exact copy of my memory and personality since doing so would only cause confusion.

    It is also unnecessary for my clone to know everything that I do, especially when it doesn''t have all the power that I have. Power to manipte time for example.

    For effectiveness of the social experiment, my clone only needs to know specific things and the actual goal of making absolute sure that humanity will continue to prosper and spread out into the gxy.

    And in doing so, humanity will conquer or enve other alien species, inevitably forming an interster empire. A Gctic Empire of sort.

    All before the Curse of Decay hits the universe.

    A million years is more than enough time to do something like that. It shouldn''t take more than a few hundred thousand years to map out the entire Milky Way Gxy, and that is already generous in my humble opinion, considering that I pretty much give them a technological upstart.

    Of course, I didn''t give humanity everything, however, since they should figure something out on their own. Space Compress for example. Hyperspace Technology is another. Thetter shouldn''t take more than a couple of millennia to figure out while the former might require magic.

    I obviously didn''t give my clone magic, as doing so will introduce too many variables.

    But in any case, I have expected humanity to spread into the universe and im their rightful amongst the stars.

    It is their supreme destiny.

    Unfortunately, humanity did not for one thing or another, mostly thinking it is somewhat pointless in the grand scheme of things.

    They already have everything they ever needed for trillions of years toe.

    For an eternity, actually.

    Or at least until thest star burns out, resulting in a cold and dead universe.

    Just like the 31st century, humanity has colonized the entire sr system, transforming every and moon into a metal world since it is far more efficient because they have practically unlimited foods and energies thanks to my technology.

    But unlike the 31st century, they didn''t kill each other and bring forth their own extinction.

    And that is because I have given humanity amon enemy, the Flood.

    I basically me the unsolvable Curse of Decay on the Flood, hoping that humanity will eventually get over their differences, discriminations and intolerances to band together to face amon enemy.

    That works somewhat, but the final result isn''t what I have expected.

    To truly win a battle, is to avoid the battle in the first ce.

    Therefore, humanity decides to transform every world and moon within the sr system into basically a megaputer and use the digital space andputing power to give them immortality as well as a reality where they are basically Gods.

    Congrattion, humanity didn''t bring forth their own extinction through violence. They just find a far more efficient and bloodless way to do it.

    And that is through technological stagnation.

    Honestly, their technological level didn''t exceed mine even now. There is actually no need to advance technologically since there really is no reason to. It isn''t like they have to invent way to kill each other just to stay alive.

    The world bes a Utopia, after all, where everyone has everything they ever need. Resources are practically unlimited.

    This just give me a new perspective on violence.

    Chaos really do make people evolved and be better than who they are. It is through conflicts and wars that humanity truly shine.

    Having said that, I am still disappointed at the inevitable oue of this reality.

    Yet, despite what happened to humanity, Adria is still here.

    And like I have said, it isn''t because of her presence that surprised me.

    It is actually because of her appearance, for she takes on the fictional Adria in Stargate franchise.

    And if I didn''t know that Adria exists in the first ce, I would have thought someone is fucking around with me.

    "Alright. You got me, Adria. How are you able to be born? I have made sure that I do not impregnate anyone unless there is a reason to. And there is no reason to impregnate your mother to give birth to you."

    I point out as I examine her up and down repeatedly. Her appearance is that of Morena Barin, who ys Adria in the procedural science fiction series, Stargate.

    The fictional Adria appears in season 9 and 10 as the Orici, an antagonist. She is basically a spoiled brat with too much power and time on her hands.

    I shouldn''t say fictional since Zeus did say those universes do exist. He even offers me their coordinates in exchange for something else, so I will be able to go there one day.

    Not me personally since it would actually be a waste of time and energy.

    My clones will do that for me while I reap the benefits.

    It is the reason why Legion is focusing on cloning at the moment, so my clones have greater chance of sessfully aplish their smash and grab mission.

    I want my hands on all those wonderful technologies that exist within those realities. I do wonder why Zeus didn''t take some with him when he is there.

    Stargate reality has a lot of technology that vite thew of physic.

    Vite thew of physic¡­? Strange.

    But in any case, Legion is working on it.

    And when the timees, the clones shouldn''t have a problem of carrying out their mission in those realities, especially when they know everything there is to know about those realities along with every toy at my disposal.

    Adria purses her lips before frowning deeply.

    "Good to see you too, father. And thanks for telling me that I am unwanted. I have waited for a million years to see you and finally have that father-daughter talk, but if you don''t want to act like a father to me, then I will take my leave."

    Adria pouts, making me roll my eyes.

    She obviously knows way more than she is letting me know.

    For example, Adria can send dreams to her mother even before she is born, and she has shielded that dream from Legion.

    And the only way to do that without Legion knowing is through spiritual maniption.

    That means Adria already exists in a spiritual form or something simr. She is probably a reincarnated soul.

    Since that is the case, I do not consider Adria as my daughter, as her birth is unnatural unlike Antigone, who is on ident.

    Wow. Did I just say that both of my daughters are unwanted?

    Great. I am the worst father ever.

    "I am sorry, Adria. I am just a bit disappointed in the way humanity has turned out, and I decide to let it all out on you. It isn''t your fault. If anything, it is my fault for not being there in person, with you and your mother. Please forgive this father of yours."

    I response calmly.

    Adria smiles, quite charmingly.

    "I will forgive you, father. There is no need to hold a grudge against you since it doesn''t really lead me to anywhere. As for how the humans turn out like they did, it is very simple. Give them the world and they will want more than the world. Give them everything, and they will want nothing."

    She tells me, basically paraphrasing what I have tell my mother, her mother and grandmother.

    My family tree is a bit weird, especially when I add in Allison and Lexi.

    I simply nod as a response.

    "Did you really wait for me for a million years, Adria?"

    I question out of curiosity. I wouldn''t do something like that. It is why I have a clone switch ce with me instead of teleport into the future without saying goodbye to my mother.

    And from what the new memory tells me, my mother and my clone live a long and full life together in a small but cozy home with Adria, especially after the fallout with the world government.

    That usually what happens when you don''t remove countries from the equation.

    At least those countries didn''t end up removing each other due to the fearing the wrath from the Ori.

    They just settle on their own or moon before living the rest of their existence in a virtual reality of their own making,pletely uncaring about anything else in the world.

    Reality is far more shittier inparison.

    "No, father. I would have killed myself if I did. I mean if I could. I enter a long hibernation after mother and a copy of you finally enter the night. Only mother since that copy of you don''t have a soul, so you just broke another promise to mother."

    Adria responses.

    I arch a brow, recalling myself telling my mother that I would not let her die alone.

    And from what Adria just tell me, I suppose that she did die alone as my clone doesn''t have a soul.

    "I suppose that I did, Adria. Like you, I cannot kill myself either, so I will make it up to your mother one day if you show me how. Where do soul go exactly?"

    Adria looks at me before shrugging.

    "I do not know, father. I think you are mistaken something about me. I exists because I must, and even without being born into reality, I still exist, just like you have to exist."

    Adria tells me with a faint smile before heading off in one direction, gesturing me to join her.

    The countless robots that humanity left behind to keep the world functioning for eons toe ignores the both of uspletely.

    They aren''t artificial intelligence.

    They aren''t even virtual intelligence.

    Aside from the robots that once day will obviously fail, thus bringing forth the actual extinction of the human race, there isn''t anything else to look at.

    The entire world is grey and dull, pulsating with power.

    Even buildings that once housed thousands of peoples almost a million years ago are being dismantled for recement parts.

    "I have slept for a very long time, father, and I only wake up when I felt your essence within this reality once more. While I know many things that you do not, I do not know anything that you really want to know."

    Adria stands at the edge of a chasm, where an enormous amount of heat and pressure erupt upwards, causing the mes around her to fluster.

    I stand next to her and look below to see spiraling energy continuously surging and powering the world to keep minds in their blissful dreams.

    "In that case, tell me everything that you know, Adria, regardless of how irrelevant it might be."

    I request. It might be easier to just download her mind, but it is probably impossible, considering how shees to be. If that is the case, I will have to do this normal way.

    Adria looks at me before nodding.

    She then turns away from the chasm and walks toward one of the buildings.

    "I will give you everything that I know, but only on two conditions, father."

    Adria tells me after she enters the building and begin to climb the stairways toward the top.

    Everything lookspletely clean and untouched for like forever. This is because everything is made of nanomachines. It will never be withered down by time.

    Only byck of energy or corruption within its programming. That is possible.

    "And what are those two conditions?"

    I question and follow Adria from behind.

    Is it strange that I stare at her ass the whole way up?

    Adria has a nice ass to be honest, and she isn''t really hiding it at all.

    To be honest, Adria isn''t hiding the fact of how sexually attractive she is, considering the very revealing robe she has one. It did not cover her shoulder and back at all.

    "One. You must ept me as your daughter. Because if you do not, I will not be who I truly am, as you are an Aspect. Your approval is necessary to reach my full potential."

    Adria tells me as she enters the hallway.

    She pushes open the first doors she sees to find a bedroom.

    With a single nce inside the bedroom, I realize that this is where Adria had slept, considering there are family portraits of my mother, my clone and her throughout the room.

    "I see. Very well, Adria. I will try to see you as my daughter but give me a bit of time."

    I murmur. And wonder about that bit of information.

    She knows that I am an Aspect, but she requires my approval to reach her full potential? Full potential of being what exactly?

    "Thank you, father. As for the second condition."

    Adria settles onto the edge of the bed. Her hands fold upon her thighs. A smile forms upon her lips.

    "It is as important as the first if not more so since the approval of the mind also requires the approval of the soul or body. Since you cannot touch my soul as you are right now, there is only one other way to give your approval. It might even be enjoyable for you as well as for me."

    Adria continues, causing me to narrow my eye slightly.

    I think I know where this is going.

    "Please give me your seed, father."

 Chapter 158: Long Overdue Guidance

    And I am pretty sure that the universe is trolling me at this point.

    Well, not exactly the universe itself.

    It is more like someone with way too much creative power and time on his hand or maybe just a hand.

    That is, one hand.

    Since the other hand may be preupied with something else.

    And if I have to guess who, it is likely one of the Primordial.

    Honestly, it is fairly safe to me everything that had happened to me on a Primordial.

    If it wasn''t for one of them or perhaps all of them in some capacity, I wouldn''t be here.

    I am unsure where exactly I would be if I didn''t get killed, being the Aspect of Time with limitless power and all of that, but I am certain that I wouldn''t be here, debating with myself on whether I should give my daughter what she wants in exchange for information.

    Alright. It is not that much of a debate since the choice is a no brainer.

    Give my daughter a nice steamy creampie and profit.

    Sounds easy enough. It isn''t rocket science.

    And it also isn''t the first time I have fucked my daughter. It isn''t the 20th times either.

    But I do wonder whether I will be inevitably fucking all of my daughters in the end.

    It seems very likely, considering what I have been through thus far.

    While I didn''t sire Allison or Lexi normally, I am still their father, and they are my daughters. I obviously fuck the both of them on multiple and separate asions, but it is more of them wanting my meat.

    Just like what Adria now wants.

    And while I can give her my seeds without needing to fuck her into wanton submission, it wouldn''t be pleasurable like she has implied. She obviously wants me to fuck her.

    Good thing that Adria is a beautiful young woman, and she definitely knows that she is.

    "Are you sure that is what you want, Adria? I will not be as gentle or as affectionate like I was making love to your mother. And I will not be easily satisfied. Although, if you just need my seeds, one round should be sufficient."

    I point out to just gauge her reaction.

    Adria smirks instead.

    That smirk of her is getting annoying. No. It is not getting annoying. It is already annoying, considering that she takes greatly pleasure of keeping me in the dark.

    And for that reason alone, I want to p her, and it won''t be my hands that will do the job.

    "There are many things that you really need to learn, father. For one, I am not like mother. I am certain that I can satisfy your lust more than mother ever could. For two, one round is not nearly sufficient. It is because I do not need your seeds, physically, but spiritually."

    Adria tells me while maintaining that smug expression of hers.

    "However, as you are currently, it is not possible for you to bless me spiritually. And don''t think about using those tiny machines floating around in your body to get off, as the mind and body and soul must bepletely aligned for this to work."

    She continues.

    Honestly, I wouldn''t have it any other way either. Having Selene do it for me amounts to masturbation.

    Adria also gives me some insight into the mind, the body, and the soul. Separation of mind, body and the soul are required to step into the spiritual realm.

    It seems I should work on this as soon as possible.

    Luckily, Zeus seems to know all about it. He will teach me for a price, and I do have a lot of things that he does want. He doesn''t know it yet.

    "Alrighty then. Since I am severelycking knowledge in this area, you will have to get whatever you need out of me yourself, Adria."

    I response while looking around the room in search of someone.

    Adria smiles before getting off the bed and brushes down her curvy body with both hands gently. She then approaches me, as her dress morphs into a morefortable attire.

    There is a split in the dress now, showing her long legs.

    The translucent mes that have been encircling her body in a yful manner from the beginning has finally dissipated. It would just be distracting otherwise.

    "Of course, father. But please tell me, what are you looking for? There is no one here besides us. Even if there are, I will not allow them to interfere."

    Adria asks before she kneels on the ground in front of me, so that her eyes is at the right level.

    Despite our position, she still has a smug look on her face.

    "Oh, that? I was just checking if there is a cancer-ridden disfigured wise-cracking mercenary wearing a tight red spandex somewhere in the room. I suppose he is too busy chasing after death than looking after his theatrical girlfriend."

    I response.

    Adria looks confused, obviously not getting my reference since the year isn''t 2016.

    It isn''t 2001 either, thanks to me.

    It is 1002001, a palindrome.

    Did I n for that? Certainly, but I think I might have gone overboard, considering that giving humanity that long for preparation is basically giving them a gun and locking them in solidary.

    And while I could fix that, it seems pointless since they would make the same choice again as the Flood cannot really be defeated, at least not through technological or magical means.

    As for Adria herself, she dismisses my seemingly randomness before fishing out my cock.

    It is not that hard, but it isn''tpletely soft either.

    Honestly, it is kind of hard considering a beautiful young woman is kneeling in front of me, attempting to milk me with her mouth. Pun intended, of course.

    "To think that this is where I hade from when you join with mother, father."

    Adriaments as she wraps her hands around my cock and gives it repeated strokes, gently and very methodically.

    And thatment alone is enough to make my cock twitches.

    Her looking up at me with those rather exotic eyes along with a smile on her face are just a bonus. Her tongue soon sticks out of her mouth,tching onto my cock.

    She tastes it along the entire length before sliding it into her mouth.

    I couldn''t help but let out a gasp when Adria envelopes me with her hot and wet mouth. She sucks me expertly, and it didn''t take more than a handful of seconds to get me to full hardness.

    Adria is really just that good of a cocksucker, and with her current appearance, I don''t think that I will be able to look at the Brazilian-American actress the same way again.

    "How many cocks have you sucked already, Adria?"

    I question as I jerk my hips, sliding my erection in and out of her mouth.

    Adria reciprocates by bobbing her head along my length, slobbering her drools all over my meat.

    "Just one, father. Yours. Like mother, I will always be yours, father. In mind, body and soul."

    Adria answers me after she let my cock out of her mouth.

    Her hand continues to pump my cock as she gives her response.

    She then smiles before taking my cock back into her mouth and all the way into the back of her throat just before she gags on it.

    "We will see about that, Adria. Now, choke for me. Choke for daddy."

    I grab her head with both hands tightly before pounding her mouth with unrestrained brutality, forcing her to choke on my cock and drool all over my balls as I bottom out into her virgin throat.

    It is tight as it should be.

    And there is no gentleness in each of my powerful thrust.

    There is only pure desire to destroy her mouth and remove that smug off her face.

    It is slowly working as Adria struggles to breathe.

    And once her eyes are all teary from the relentless deepthroating, I pull my cock out and p her face several times, coating her facial features with her own saliva and my precum.

    "I don''t like that smirk on your face, Adria. And I will make sure that you learn your rightful ce. You are below me."

    I tell her as I pull her head back to look at me.

    "I know, father. And I would love for you to teach me my ce. Please teach me with this wonderful tool."

    Adria licks her lips with a smile.

    Her hands are back on my cock, almost worshipping it.

    Did she just say that it is all an act!? Now that is being naughty.

    I narrow my eyes before dragging Adria along the perfectly waxed floor and throwing her right onto the only bed in the room.

    Adria bounces onto the mattress from the momentum as my clothes turn to dust. There is no need to strip each piece of clothing one by one, at least for me.

    With powerful steps, I approach the bed while Adria repositions herself.

    I stop at the edge of the bed and gesture my index finger, calling her over to me.

    "Get over here, Adria. Put your head over the edge since I am not done with fucking your throat just yet. And don''t bother stripping. I will strip you myself."

    I tell my daughter. No. I order her.

    "Yes, father."

    Adria submissively crawls towards me before lying on her back and letting her head fall off the edge, readying for some brutal face fucking.

    She even looks up at me with a smile before opening her mouth, inviting me inside.

    I stroke my cock and lean forward to let the mushroom tip slides pass her plum lips.

    Those wet lips envelop me, tightening around my hard shaft as I push myself into her mouth all the way into the back of her throat.

    One of my hands runs along her throat, feeling the bulge as my cock nestspletely into her throat, and I remain there until she suffocates before finally relenting and pulling back.

    I then proceed to fuck her face with all the intention of ruining it.

    My hands are no longer on her throat. They are now crushing her bare tits after tearing apart her dress with great fury. I knead them while using her mouth to bring me to climax.

    "Fuck! You got such a great throat, Adria. I think I am going to cum soon."

    Adria hums around my cock as her eyes are flexing. They then roll upwards when I hammer home with a vicious roar and pump out the seeds that she has wanted.

    She swallows my huge load frantically, but in her current position, it is exceedingly difficult.

    And much of it actually stream out of her mouth, running down her nose and over her eyes and hairline.

    Adria is aplete mess now.

    When the flooding tapers off, I immediately pull myself out of her mouth to jack the rest onto the face while she gasps for air.

    That smug look is no longer there.

    It has been reced with utter pleasure.

    I guess that she is truthful about it being an act, but in any case, she needs to be severely punished.

    And in a ming sh, I am on the bed, pulling her from the edge of the bed. I flip her over and lift her ass up to me. Her dress is promptly ripped at the seam to reveal her bare bottom to me.

    It is actually bare because she isn''t wearing any panties.

    She hasn''t been wearing one this whole time.

    Such a naughty girl.

    "You are such a slut, Adria. And as a father, I should teach you how to be a proper one. I apologize for not teaching you since you''re a child, but I will make it up to you now."

    I tell her before pping her bottoms repeatedly, marking them with several handprints. My cock also aligns itself at the entrance of her pussy.

    Adria screams out in pain.

    Her hands try to defend herself weakly, but I grab them by the wrist on each hand before spearing her cunt unceremoniously.

    Blood immediately coats my cock as I break her hymen and make her a woman. My woman, just like her mother before her.

    It must have been hard to be a million years old virgin.

    "Scream for daddy, Adria. Scream!"

    With my hands around her wrist tightly, I pull her body upwards as I pound her from behind hard, fast and deep.

    "Yes, father! Harder! Faster! Fuck me! Ah! Fill me with yourself!"

    Adria screams under my relentless pounding, and the more she screams, the faster and harder I break her cunt.

    And the faster and harder I split her apart, the more she screams in pain and pleasure.

    Adria continues to scream even when waves after waves of orgasm shatter her mind.

    She only stops when I fill her depth with milky whiteness and paint her ass with steamy batter. Some of it coats her lower back and what remains of her dress.

    I look down any my panting daughter, drooling against the sheet, before chuckling. It seems that she is overestimating herself, but that is her own mistake. I will not stop until I am fully satisfied like I have warned her without saying it out loud.

    "Legion. Assume control of the micromachines and grant meplete ess."

    I request as I lean against the bedrest.

    "Yes, Master."

    Legion responses like he would outside the prime-universe.

    And it didn''t take much effort to reconnect with those micromachines since humanity never expands upon their design.

    Once I have control, the dress Adria is wearing ripples and morphs into liquid like substance. It swiftly pulls her upwards through gravity maniption and rotates her body into any position I want.

    Adria blinks at me as she forces to straddle me. She gasps as my hard cock inches into her body until it fully sheaths within her depth. My hands then grip her ass.

    I lightly buckle my hips, fucking her to make a point.

    Her tight walls squeeze my erected cock, trying to milk out every bit of sensation.

    "Now, Adria. Be a good girl and tell me exactly what I want to know. Staring with what exactly are you. Or we will be sitting here like this for a very long time."

    I stop moving all together, and with my hands around her ass, she is unable to move either.

    "Yes, father. I will tell you everything I know. Ah. Just don''t stop. Please don''t stop."

 Chapter 159: The Avatar of Time

    There is some truth to what Adria has imed.

    She is simply better than my mother, technically her mother as well, at satisfying me, sexually.

    That is a feat on its own, considering who or more specifically what I am now, biologically speaking.

    It is safe to say that I am no longer mortal in the sense of the word.

    And no matter how much punishment that I have dished out upon her body, she is more than capable of bouncing right back for more despite the exaggerated expression on her face due to our incredible long session of fucking.

    Not making love, but just purely fucking.

    Her eyes are crossed. Her tongue is protruding. Her face ispletely flushed with red.

    Adria is riding high on the unending waves of orgasmic pleasure. Her body is constantly convulsing, as her cunt continues to gush hot juices onto my relentless cock, coating it as well as my balls fully.

    Her hips press tightly against mine through the help of my hands on her round ass as I unlock another creamy round into her already overflowing cunt without any restrain. That dosage shoots up her body and goes straight into her brain as her dark eyes sh with ethereal energy and her body glows faintly.

    It is very simr to what my mother has exhibited when I fucked her with everything that I have within me. But unlike my mother, my daughter is aware of what is happening.

    And she wees it as it is what she has wanted.

    Adria wants my seed, the Seed of Time.

    That is what it is called.

    And it is not what I am pumping into her incredible body by the bucket loads, but it is more or less the same in the context of how. As in how to give my daughter what she needs in order to ascend into the higher ne of existence.

    I am unable to send my aspectual essence into her soul directly to stimte it towards ascension. This is because I do not know how yet.

    My path towards spiritual cultivation has not even started.

    Having said that, my aspectual essence does flow into her body and invade her spirit through this very act of love making. It is probably more to do with lust than love. Irrespectively, it is still the very reason that Adria is born to my mother regardless of whether my sperms are dead or not.

    Adria is not born biologically. She is born spiritually from my soul, and once her spirit is formed within my mother, she can create a body for herself to inhabit and interact with the physical world.

    It is why Adria appears as she is in appearance instead of taking on our traits biologically.

    And all of this is possible because of me, for I have used the will and essence of a Dragon God to force open my spiritual awareness. It actually opens a lot more than that from what Adria tells me between her moaning and screaming and panting.

    Does that mean Antigone is the same as Adria?

    Logically speaking, the answer is no.

    Antigone was born from Ambrosia before my forceful spiritual awakening, so her spiritual awareness is not really awaken.

    And whether she is as aware as Adria, who inherits my memory, it is still to be seen.

    I hope not because that would be super weird.

    Adria knows everything about me because she inherits my memory, not gically since she doesn''t really have any of my genes, but through my spirit, to which she is born from.

    To which all of my actual children will be born from. I use the word actual since there is now different type of children I will have.

    Allison and Lexi are not considered as my actual children, and I am d that they are not because it is quite depressing as soon as I know what Adria is.

    My daughter falls backwards onto the bed, freeing my cock as her body glow brightly. She is almost at her end. The end of her mortal coil. She has existed on the physical ne of the universe for far longer than she needs, but without me, she is unable to ascend.

    Adria cannot ascend normally, as she is not human. Her ascension requires a lot more than cultivation of her mind, body and spirit.

    "Father. Please."

    With her heaving chest, my daughter reaches out my arms and hands towards me, pleading me to let her go. To let her be what she meant to be.

    To let her be what every actual child of mine needs to be.

    And I am somewhat saddened by the fact. I am d that I didn''t raise her and love her because letting her go would be heartbreaking.

    "Will I be able to see you again, Adria?"

    I ask as I lean towards my daughter and proceed to rest myself on her body. My hips inch between her legs. My chest presses against her breasts. My dripping cock probes her wether lips.

    "Yes, father. One day. Always, for we are all your children and servant."

    Adria gasps as I sink into her and proceed to pound away to get that aspectual essence out in the only way I truly know how. It is also quite pleasurable considering that I ept her as my daughter and so, I do love her.

    Hot cum soon erupts out of her spread cunt, spraying against my balls and thighs as I unload everything into her depth. My daughter groans once more, gripping my body infort as her red-yellowish eyes are glowing brightly.

    She blinks slowly before that smirk returns to her lips. It is not annoying anymore. It is quite charming now actually.

    "Thank you, father, for loving me. For loving all of us. You didn''t need to, as you had never done so in the past. You always believe it is merely your responsibility as the Aspect of Time."

    Adria tells me as her hands run along my face. Ethereal energy flows towards her fingertips and enters my mind, filling me with new knowledges.

    It is her end of the bargain, and I wish I could exchange it for her to stay. But as what she is, she cannot leave this reality. If she does, this reality would be timeless, and a timeless reality cannot exist in the grand design.

    "I am very happy to be the first to receive your love like this, father. And I truly hope that I will not be thest to do so for we all love you very much. You are the very reason that we exist. It is not because of our purpose to propagate time. It is because you want us to exist. You are our master, our creator, and more than that, you are our father.

    I love you."

    Tears pool into her eyes as her body continues to glow brighter and brighter. Her spirit is ascending to the cosmic level. No, beyond that to conceptual level.

    "I love you too, my daughter."

    I response and lock lips with her. But it didn''tst long.

    Only a couple of seconds, but it is enough for my daughter as well as for me.

    Adria vanishes in the brilliant disy of light. Ethereal energy surging up into the air before spreading out into the cosmos. The cosmos shudders and wees one of its aspect with open arms. Regardless of when an aspect is born, it is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

    She has finally be what she always wanted out of her duty and responsibility. It should have been my duty and my responsibility.

    I lean back against the bed, contemting deeply.

    The knowledge that Adria sends into my mind didn''t add much to what she had already told me when she is riding me into blissful delight.

    It does, however, connect all the dots for me to understand more clearly.

    And when I said that it should have been my duty and responsibility, I do mean it.

    That is because I am the Aspect of Time.

    Time only exists because of me, and it continues to exist because of me.

    But to truly be the Aspect of Time, I would have to cast away my individually and return to what I was in the beginning. In the beginning before time exists.

    I did not, and so I delegate my duty and responsibility, thus the reason why Adria and all of her siblings exist in the first ce. They are like little aspects born from my will to manage each reality for me, so a certain someone can get off my back.

    Without doing that, no new reality can be created. No reality can continue to exist for time and space is intricately linked. Without space or time, nothing can exist, on the physical ne of existence or on any other ne of existences.

    Wow. I am so selfish, before and now, forcing others to do my job just because I fear of ceasing to be myself.

    To be with the cosmos is to cease being an individual.

    It isn''t only me, as Terra fears of returning to be the true Aspect of Chaos. She has actually told me so in the only time we evere face to face.

    But considering Adria, does that mean Terra also delegates her job as the Aspect of Chaos?

    Since chaos is the beginning of everything, so nothing will exist if chaos didn''t exist.

    Actually, nothing can exist without all of the Aspects doing their job.

    Does that mean all the Aspects also delegate their job?

    It is logical to think so. If they Aspects did not delegate their tasks while existing like me with their very own individually and consciousness, nothing can exist, thus defeating the whole purpose of bing an individual with a consciousness in the first ce.

    Adria is no longer in a state of consciousness, not like when she was with me just moments ago.

    I am feeling extremely guilty for what had happened, but she is happy for having a purpose to exist in the first ce. It also isn''t like she has ceased to be.

    "I am truly sorry for this, Adria."

    I apologize sincerely after a long moment of silence. It is long overdue, to her and to every of my child who has to maintain the cosmos because I refuse to, either out of fear or otherwise.

    What is the real reason? I do not know since I have lost my memory and all of my power when I actually die, but not cease to exist.

    I don''t think I can cease to exist in all form, because if I did, everything would also cease to exist. It just shows that those who wants to kill me really wants to kill end everything and bring back nothingness.

    Why does that feel important. Nothingness?

    Another thing that bothers me is who I was. The one before I be Maximilien Maxwell. He doesn''t love any of his children, finding them just a tool to an end? Surely that cannot be the case since.

    Adria seems to know, but it is more like a feeling instead of actual knowledge.

    And she mentions us, as in more than one aspect of time. Note the uncapitalized letter. That is because she is the aspect of time in this reality, to which she cannot leave, or bad shits will happen.

    Pardon my French.

    As that is the case, I can assume that there is more than one aspect of time in the multiverse. One for each reality, and they are all my children.

    Wow.

    What I did on the prime-reality to create Allison and Lexi pales inparison pales to what I had done in the past. I basically father an infinite number of children.

    I can see why it is kind of impossible to care for each child even with the mastery over time, especially when I have so many, infinitely many. I will be so desensitize to it to the point of uncaring.

    Strange that Adria said that she is the first.

    Surely, that couldn''t be true even if he gets desensitize after a few thousand times.

    Why did I call him ''he'' instead of ''I''?

    That is because I am considering my past-self as a separate person, as he did not experience the same struggle than I did. He did not live my life and see what I have seen.

    It is these very experiences that define who I am.

    And from what little Adria knows of him, I don''t think I like my past-self much.

    But I will have to confront my past one day, if I ever want to regain my full aspectual power again. My full power as an individual, not the real Aspect of Time.

    I really don''t want to be everywhere and nowhere at once on the multiversal scale.

    This is fear. Real fear. Fear of ceasing to be who I am. Ceasing to be what I am now ¨C just a man in the grand scheme of things. And I like what I am now, living in the universe.

    It makes me feel alive.

    I pull out of bed and redress myself in an instant. There is nothing left in this reality for me to idle here any longer.

    Humanity has made their choice, and they will have to live with it since I am not their parents, guiding them every single step of the way. I consider myself more of a teacher of sort, teaching them and then letting them choose their own path.

    I turn towards the bed,pletely stained since it has been like days. Strange that it isn''tposed entirely of micromachines. It is actually a real bed, and so are everything in this room.

    Adria wanted it to be real or as real as possible.

    Her attempts bring a smile to my face, and I do ept her as my daughter even if the time we have is very short. It is still meaningful, nheless.

    "Goodbye, Adria. I hope we will see each other in the future."

    I then head out into the hallway before turning away from the staircase. I head down to thest room at the end of the corridor without paying attention to the countless murals hanging on the wall. All of the other rooms are full of decoration anyway.

    A temporal rift greets me when I enter thest room.

    This building is built around the temporal rift since Adria assumes that I woulde from the temporal rift instead. She doesn''t know everything, even now. She only knows what she sees, and she does see everything as time itself.

    I enter the rift, returning to the prime-reality.

    Once I am back, I teleport directly home to see Antigone. It has been like months since Ist saw her, and I do miss her greatly. Since I have failed to care for Adria, I should do my best for Antigone.

    Antigone is still sleeping peacefully in her crib.

    I tower over her suspiciously, considering what I know of Adria.

    And while Antigone is not spiritually awakened like Adria as she was born before I awake my spiritual awareness, she still should inherit my memories or at least some part of it.

    It is really easy to test if she knows, but a part of me doesn''t want to. The guilty part of me.

    So instead, I poke her cheek, and she responses by turning to her side and continuing to sleep. I poke again and again until she ps my hand away cutely. It appears to be on reflex.

    "Anti. You are such a naughty girl."

    I call her sternly as she tries to keep her eyes shut, making it seems like she is sleeping.

    Antigone obviously isn''t, and I am sure that this is not the only instance.

 Chapter 160: Contemplating the Future

    But the real question remains, how do I confirm my suspicions and assumptions with Antigone without actually hurting her in any form, physically or otherwise.

    I would be an incredibly terrible father if I hurt my beloved daughter, especially when she is still just a baby. An innocent baby, no less.

    Antigone hasn''t really done anything to warrant any form of ill-treatments from me.

    And from what I understand from my clone and the life that he had lived for thousands of years, Adria was a rtively normal baby girl before her brain develops sufficiently enough toprehend all that foreign memories and advance knowledges.

    When Adria finally bes aware of what and who she is, her demeanor changes greatly, frightening her mother more than a little with her newfound maturity and mannerism.

    My clone truly believes that what happened to Adria is because of the will of the Ori, and it didn''t help when Adria basically lies to him and tells him that she is the Orici, meaning that she is the Child of the Ori. It is all part of the fiction that I built into his mind.

    I brainwashed my clone into thinking the Ori is real and all powerful. It is to make sure that he doesn''t be one of those megalomaniacs. Without everything I know and have been through, I am certain that my clone would y God.

    I certainly will if the chance presents itself.

    In any case, Adria never considered my clone as her real father, as I am the only father that she has. I suppose that is true, and if I was my clone¡­ I mean to say if I didn''t let my clone takes over the job of ensuring the future and prosperity of the human race, things would have turned out a lot differently.

    Not only that, a lot of people would have been killed outright because I don''tpromise on anything, especially things that I am more than certain will not work out in the long run.

    And what happened to humanity of that reality in the end just tells me to abolish every country in the world and unify all religions into one without giving anypromises. The religion part is new to me, as it never ys that much of a role in the violent destruction of mankind in the 31st century.

    It does y some role, as people always question the morality of their actions, especially when it sends million of people to their deaths. It is natural for a human to ponder such implication. All life would, I believe.

    While there are no Holy Wars in the future of the prime-reality asides from the crusades of extinction against alien species due to xenophobia, it didn''t mean there won''t be any forever, as demonstrated by the alternate reality.

    It is really a bad idea to introduce a major religion such as Origin into the modern world. Doing so only brings forth many unforeseeable consequences.

    Honestly, despite worshipping the same God, Christianity and Im do not y well together. Adding Origin into the mix, you get yourself some sort of holy shitstorm that is just waiting to happen. It does happen sooner ortter despite my clone being there as the prophet of the Ori.

    Sadly, my clone couldn''t dissuade the masses because his power and ability are based solely on science instead magic. But even if I give him magical powers, I don''t think it would make that much different in the end.

    Fanatics are called fanatics because they aren''t willing to listen to reasons. It is good when those kinds of crazies are on my side but fucking annoying when they are against me.

    Actually, scratch that. They are also generally fucking annoying.

    Origin did fractures into multiple branches over time, and despite my clone''s effort of reunification, it isn''t possible due to the fanaticism of the leaderships.

    I could feel the frustration my clone had felt in the memory.

    How fucking annoying, but I suppose I will have to do something about religion and making sure none will emerge afterwards.

    I never did pay any attention to religion since it was never a problem, not even in the Gctic Empire timeline. This is because a thousand or so years is too short. Religion only be a problem in tens of thousands of years, especially when everyone has their own interpretation because God is not really around to tell them otherwise.

    I was not around to fortify Origin as the Ori.

    Woops.

    But what''s done is done.

    In the end, my clone chooses my mother over the world and just lets it heads towards its ends. I think I would have done the same in his stead.

    Yes. I rather watch the world burns to ashes than to alienate those who are important to me, especially when they love me with all their body, mind and soul.

    Sounds super cheesy, and how could you love anyone that much?

    There is a reason why marriage vows are for until death, but then death really means nothing to those who transcends the mortal realm.

    Adria has transcended with my help.

    "Would you also do the same if you are Adria, Antigone?"

    I question as I poke my daughter''s cheek again, making her slowly open her eyes.

    Antigone blinks several times before turning around to look up at me. Instead of crying like she always does when being awoken abruptly, she giggles while her tiny arms reach upwards and towards me.

    Her tiny legs too, jerkily.

    Her small palms open and close, demanding me to pick her up for a warm hug.

    It seems that Antigone fullyprehends the question, but she is unable to express her answer vocally or simr. She could only do so through what she can do as a baby.

    I have half a mind to age her, so she could speak to me normally, but I stop myself. I want her to grow normally and have a proper childhood with a loving father like I never did.

    And as much as I want to take her into my arms because she is so damn cute, I am refusing to because I am rtively sure that she is only acting cute.

    I narrow my eyes suspiciously at Antigone, matching her gaze and entering a staring contest.

    Unfortunately, I lost the moment when tears begin to pool in her crystal-clear eyes. Her lips trembles as she starts to pout.

    Shit.

    If it is all an act, it is damn convincing.

    Or maybe I just have a really soft spot for my daughter. This is usually what happens when you spend so much time with a person. I guess that my heart isn''t made of ice after all.

    And before Antigone actually cries, I pick her up and hug her tightly like I always have before.

    "Alright, Anti, you win this round, but just you wait, daddy will not give in so easily when you are a bit older, huh."

    I make a vow to Antigone, who narrows her eyes ever so slightly at me, as if she is challenging me. She then sucks onto one of my ears, trying to nibble it without any teeth.

    And I just smile at that.

    Damn, she is cute, but then again, babies are always cute.

    I immediately lift Antigone up above my head and give her a spin, making her gurgles with joy. I then take her into my arms once more before heading out of the room.

    It will be morning soon, and Antigone has a date with her grandmother.

    As I enter the living room with my daughter, Legion tells me that he is unable to download Antigone''s memory. Not unable to, but rather it is nk.

    I have thought so, but I have Legion checked to make sure.

    Legion did spend about a million years perfecting the mind-reading technology.

    It isn''t the only thing that I have the virtual intelligence works on during all that time.

    I did fear that Legion bes self-aware while I am not around, and it really gave me a scare when I saw the state of the sr system with metal constructs everywhere.

    Evens and moons are turned into metal worlds.

    Luckily, to be an artificial intelligence requires a bit of human ingenuity. Machines cannot simply be artificial intelligence over time by themselves.

    Of course, the more Legion knows, the more smarter Legion is, but that just make him a highly advance virtual intelligence instead of a real artificial intelligence let alone a cybeic lifeform.

    Legion still cannot think outside the box as he is now.

    Despite the advancements in mind-reading technology, Legion still couldn''t read Adria''s mind for the same reason as Antigone.

    It seems that Antigone has already achieve separations of mind, body and soul.

    Did she cultivate when I am not around? That seems imusible.

    She would be genius amongst geniuses otherwise.

    It is more likely that her mind, body and soul have already been separated from the moment she was born, being the Avatar of Time after all.

    I am calling all my real children that, considering without my approval or acknowledgement, they will not be able to be the aspect of time.

    Not the Aspect of Time, but just an aspect of time.

    "Are you going to leave daddy as well when you grow up, Anti?"

    I question as I take a seat on the couch. I really don''t want to say farewell to another child of mine if I can help it, but it is hard with the all of reality at stake.

    Antigone responses to my question by patting me lightly while giggling. She then tries to climb up onto my shoulder, which she manages to do after a while.

    She then sits on my shoulders, bouncing and having fun while grabbing hold of my hair for support.

    I just chuckle at that before turning on the television to catch the morning news. I pay some attention to that while thinking about recalling all Hydra teams off world.

    Honestly, if I continue to explore the multiverse, I am certain that I will have to say goodbye to another child of mine. I rather not do that since it is quite painful deep inside.

    Even though I do not know Adria personally since I was never there, seeing her grows up, but knowing that she sacrifices her freedom for me makes me care for her than most people.

    Having said that, I actually need to continue exploring the multiverse and figuring out ways to defend myself against all of those threats out there.

    While I do enjoy being a big fish in a small pond, rains will eventuallye, disturbing the small pond that is the prime-reality. Then the floods, depositing sharks.

    What should I do?

    I make up my mind when Antigone stumbles off my shoulders and into my waiting arms while giggling yfully. She then tries to climb up my body and back onto my shoulder, but I stop her since it is time to eat.

    A can of baby food appears in my hands, taken straight out of the spatial dimension. Having a storage ring feels super handy for such things, especially when within that storage ring is a massive fabricator, capable of fabricating any kind of foods that I ever want.

    And If I ever run out of raw materials, the basic elements that makes up the universe, I could duplicate them with my power. Foods or materialistic things are never a problem to me.

    In fact, I have everything that I have ever needed at my fingertips, whether it is things or pleasures.

    If I don''t, I will have it soon enough.

    It is only the matter of time.

    But I fully understand the under lying issue of having everything. This issue is clearly demonstrated by the people of the alternate-reality.

    It appears that when people have everything that they ever needed to live inpletelyfort, they have nothing.

    And more than that, they are not really living.

    This dilemma extends to goals and achievements. Achieving a goal will lead to instability, where as the state of striving towards that goal lead to stability.

    This is because once you achieve all your goals in life, you will naturally be directionless, swaying towards chaos and self-destruction.

    And that is a paradox.

    In effect, having a goal actually makes me continues onwards, striving for it. But I do fear the day when I have aplished all of my goals.

    In any case, that day will be a very long way away since it is not exact science to make people do what I want them to do without stripping away their freewill.

    "Selene. Recall all Hydra teams and scrap all scouting missions. Establish new priorities."

    I then outline new priorities regarding the reality beyond the temporal rifts. All scouting should be left to the drones now.

    There is no need for any Hydra members to sacrifice themselves pointlessly, especially when there are some power individuals like Zeus and Zephyr running around the multiverse.

    Speaking of Zeus and Zephyr, I probably need a ce for them to stay.

    They cannot really stay in the spatial dimension forever.

    And I think I have just the right ce for them. I am sure they both can handle a bit of haunting, with one of them being a God after all. They might even give me some insights into the supernatural stuff.

    But before that, I have a date with Allison at the hospital.

    Once Antigone finishes eating, I give her a bath and then take her to the Connors next door to basically dump her there.

    Mrs. Connors is still there despite winning the lottery. She obviously hasn''t mention anything about it to the family, considering it is a normal Sunday morning for everyone.

    I chat to everyone, especially to my little mother. It isn''t weird at all talking to my mother considering I bang her in another reality.

    Yup. Totally not weird at all.

    Alright. It is fucking weird, and I couldn''t help but remember that moment whenever I see Stephanie. I will eventually get over it.

    And when I return home, I take the car out for a drive to pick up Allison at the apartment. Since she is in California and I am in New York, it will be one hell of a long drive.

    Or I could teleport there with my car. I will do that after having a long leisure drive, but I didn''t expect getting T-bone by four-wheel vehicle at the emptied fourways intersection.

    And I was having such a nice day too.

    "Fuck! That asshole justes out of nowhere!"

    The teenager shouts when my car goes spinning out of control due to the impact.

    The curb eventually stops the momentum.

    I exhale deeply before exiting my smashed sedan and then look at the four teenagers inside their four-wheel drive.

    I smile faintly at them on my approach.

    "I think we suppose to exchange insurance information now, but from your ages, I don''t think any of you have a license."

    They immediately reverse their vehicle trying to get away, as expected.

    "Fucking teenagers. Mind bringing them back here to have a little chat, Legion? Don''t worry about any witnesses, no one will remember anything anyway."

    My smashed car behind me immediately morphs into a titanic red and blue robot to give chase, shattering the pavement with each step.

    I chuckle at the terror on their faces, seeing a real-life Transformer grabs their car and lift it high above the sky.

    "Oh my god! What the hell is that thing!?"

    The teenagers scream in fear within their vehicle, not getting the reference.

    Oh wait. Transformer isn''t out yet.

    "I am Legion."

    Pratically Optimus Prime responses and sends their car flying.

 Chapter 161: Always Time for a Drive

    I admit that it is an overkill to have Optimus Prime, the undisputable leader of the Autobot, to go and fetch a bunch of drunken teenagers, even if they had tried to hit and run me in broad daylight.

    But it isn''tpletely out of my character, and I swear that I have killed people for a lot less.

    "Help us¡­ please help us¡­!"

    One of the battered and bloodied teenagers manages to call out for help from the smashed car. He is still conscious after being forced to enjoy a rather deadly roller coaster ride by Legion.

    It is not my fault that none of them is wearing a seatbelt. Well, one did, but she is just a little girl about eleven years of age, and I didn''t notice her since she was sitting in the back and being obscured by the others.

    She is no longer being obscured, considering the two teenagers are now lying across the road, bleeding away internally and externally from multiple injuries and fractures.

    Neither teenagers couldn''t utter anything, but their eyes are fully focused at the giant robot basically strolling towards them, shaking the ground with every step.

    "Holy fuck! That''s a giant robot!"

    "Wow! Dad! A robot!"

    "Call the cop. There''s a huge ident just outside, sweetie."

    "What is that, earthquakes!?"

    The worlde to a standstill at mymand since I didn''t want to deal with noisy people. Only the people and things inside the temporal bubble can move.

    "Jason and Elizabeth, is it?"

    I question once Selene connects with Shield to provide me with all the technical information I needed, including what these two have been doing sincest night.

    And it is quite kinky.

    I am not their father, so I will not say anything about that.

    Jason is the one who is still fully awake, and that is only because he manages to hold onto the steering wheel when the car was sent flying by Legion and then crashing against the road, rolling towards me.

    His girlfriend, Elizabeth is sliding in and out of consciousness. Her sister, Sasha is knocked out because of being strapped down by her seatbelt. The same seatbelt that keeps her hanging upside down right now.

    Despite that, Sasha is uninjured, so I guess seatbelt does save life.

    It won''t save her from me, however.

    Alright. You might have heard that name Sasha from somewhere before. That is because the universe likes to fuck me with, even if I am a fucking Aspect.

    Honestly, I never want to see my stepmother again, not when she treats me like shit when I was young in favor of her daughter.

    If she had neglected me like my father did, I wouldn''t hold a grudge against her even now.

    Sasha is a bitch of an unimaginable proportion. And I wonder if it is wrong to torture her for the things that she never did before and probably never will again in this new timeline.

    So much have changed thanks to my machination.

    Regardless what the actual answers is, it is somewhat wrong to torture a prepubescent child for things that she has no clue about. I suppose time itself saves her from me, the Aspect of Time.

    How fucking ironic.

    And besides, I shouldn''t on the ount of her only sister, Elizabeth, who is my step-aunt in the original timeline. I rarely meet Elizabeth since she moves away from New York, but from what I recall, she does treat me like a proper nephew, giving me treats and presents and all of that.

    That has to do with who her husband was though, and it certainly wasn''t Jason, her current boyfriend, for he has only muscles for brain.

    "It is nice to meet you again, Elizabeth. As a favor for what happened before, I will let this time go, but if your muscle-head boyfriend runs into me again, I will break his legs permanently, just so that he will never be able to cause another traffic ident again. There are already so many traffic idents these days, and I think the people would appreciate it."

    I make a point of reminding Jason the huge car pileups on the highway yesterday which the news had covered this morning. I didn''t really pay attention to the news since Selene packages the current affair every day for my brain to consumes.

    It just a lot quicker than sitting down to read the newspaper or watching the television. It is far more efficient too since I could recall everything perfectly.

    "Who are you? Have I meet you before?"

    Elizabeth utters while struggling to stay awake. She would have remembered someone like me, as the giant robot stands behind me. It doesn''t take a genius to know it is my robot.

    "Yes. We have meet before, in the future. I am a time traveler, and this is my trustypanion, Legion. I will let you remember that, so you can stop your boyfriend from repeating the same mistake again, final destination style. You will get that reference in a decade or so. Also, you can do better."

    I tell Elizabeth and narrow my eyes at Jason.

    Time reverses before Jason could retort my insult. Like I give a shit what he is going to say.

    "Stop!"

    Elizabeth screams out, forcing her boyfriend to step on the brake just before the car speeds pass the intersection.

    "What. What!?"

    Jason calls out as I drive pass them in front.

    And if his car didn''t stop when it did, it would crash into Legion and send me spinning to the curb, thus repeating the past rather pointlessly.

    I look at Elizabeth before giving her a friendly wave then driving off, but Shield continues to spy on her for me since I like to see the look on her face.

    It is one of my enjoyments in life.

    "Hey Liz, did that good-looking guy just waves at you?"

    Her friends question Elizabeth from the back of the car. They want to know me personally, and I guess I could do that for them.

    I didn''t really have lot of fun in high school, but I did have some fun. Sadly, I didn''t consider anyone in school as good friends.

    Anyway, even my stepmother who would never be wants to know me because she is growing up nicely thanks to her dear sister.

    Elizabeth is quite popr at school due to her looks and her looks alone. Honestly, looks can only get her so far in life, and once time decides to strip it away, what do she leaves with, really?

    Good thing that Elizabeth figures it all out in college, where there are plenty of girls that are a lot more prettier and lovelier than her, not to mention way smarter.

    Colleges really open everyone''s eyes to life, except for me since I never went to college because I truly believe my education ends the moment that I get my power.

    Maybe I should go to college this time around, just to get some experiences? I might even able to have fun and recruit some very smart people.

    Oh. That is a good idea.

    In any case, Elizabeth is too frightened and confused to reply to her friends and little sister. But I think her curiosity will bring her to me. We do live in the same general area so if I drive around, I will more than likely run into her.

    Maybe Antigone gets to know the grand-step-aunt that she will never have. My family tree is really a mess, but it isn''t that much messier than most family trees, to be honest.

    "I didn''t know you go out of your ways to frighten little children, Max."

    Zeusments, almost surprising me.

    He is sitting in the passenger seat while Zephyr is at the back. She is looking out the window, checking the surrounding with great interest.

    "That is my business, Zeus. I assume that you two would want more time to properly test your powers in your new bodies?"

    I response and change the subject. What I do with my own free time is not for Zeus or Zephyr to know and question.

    "There is only so much we can do fighting each other, and besides, you interrupted us when you stop time, not just once but multiple times. It does get annoying, Max."

    Zeus points out.

    "Is that so. You never told me how you manage to do that. I thought my power affects everyone, even Gods themselves. And yes, I have met a God before."

    I bullshit since I don''t want him to use that excuse.

    "Gods are affected by Powers, oh¡­ I see what you''re doing. Please stop that, Max."

    Zeus narrows his eyes, making me chuckle.

    "It is not an excuse. I can move around freely even when time is frozen because I am a God. Where do you think all the Olympian powers go when they are dead, Max? Not just the Olympian. The Titans as well. But theirbined powers pale inparison to actual Powers."

    Zeus continues.

    I nod since it is one of my theories.

    For Zeus to kill the Olympians, it would greatly shift the bnce of power in his reality since the Gods of Mythical Greece are there to actually keep the world in check, so without them around, the Titans will be allowed to run free again.

    If that is the case, Zeus, being who he is, would have to kill the Titans too, and one of the is the freaking God of Time.

    Even if Cronus is not as powerful as me in term of dominating Time, physically and metaphorically, his power should still allow Zeus to counteract mine, especially when I am this greatly weakened due to my death and rebirth.

    The question remains, however, is that how much powers and abilities does Zeus really have? But he did say it is pale inparison to actual Powers. That is with a capital P.

    "You sure specte a lot, Max."

    Zeusments.

    "Takes one to know one, Zeus."

    I response and clear my mind. It didn''t really matter what kind of powers Zeus have under his sleeves, it will neverpare to the power of an Aspect which affects all realities.

    "Is that so? By the way, what years is this in human measurement of time. I am guessing that it is the 90s or so. I didn''t see anyone a smart phone, so that means it has been invented yet."

    Zeus questions.

    I humor him. It is just a friendly conversation, but I learn quite a bit. Zeus is quite up-to-date with the time and culture. He knows exactly when stuff happens, at least in the original timeline. It would still happen in the prime-timeline if none of my actions affect it.

    "Can''t you drive a better car than this crap, Max? And what is with all of these junks here?"

    Zephyr interrupts from the back. She is getting bored, like really bored. Other than her pretty looks, I don''t think I like herpany very much, at least not until she gets serious.

    "Of course, I can, Zephyr, but I don''t want to."

    I response while Zeus gives me a shrug.

    "And why not?"

    Zephyr questions, making me sigh.

    Zeus also sighs and decides to check the neighborhood instead of helping me out with this.

    I really don''t like people asking stupid questions when everything is so obvious, being disyed right in front of them.

    "For sentimental reasons, Zephyr. It is actually my first and only car, which I had brought with my own money after working my ass off for several summers. So even if I can have it looks like a sport car like a Ferrari, it doesn''t give me the same feeling. Besides, it can leave any cars in the dust."

    I exin to her.

    Despite being my first car in appearance, it is still one of the best cars avable in the 1990s for average consumers. In fact, it hasn''t even been released in America yet.

    "Oh. Well, it still looks crappy."

    Zephyr responses.

    "Your opinion is noted."

    I state while rolling my eyes. I then resume my conversation with Zeus, trying to understand what his goals and motivations are aside from finally having a soul himself.

    "Where are we going anyway? I mean where are you going, Max? Can we get something to eat before you do? I am super starving!"

    Zephyr interrupts the conversation once more.

    "Is she always like this?"

    I question.

    "Yes. Get used to it. But in any case, I also want to eat something. It is not because I am hungry, I just like the taste. Humans do consume some remarkable foods. Besides, we can talk more about random things over a nice juicy burger."

    Zeus points out.

    "Good point. Any suggestion?"

    I ask since everyone makes burger differently, and he should have his own preference.

    "McDonalds. I want a Happy Meal."

    Zephyr puts her own suggestion, making me wince.

    "How old are you, anyway, Zephyr?"

    I question. She sounds like a little kid, honestly.

    "She''s 10, Max. Well, she is 10 right now."

    Zeus responses, surprising me enough to stop the car and look at Zephyr from the front, checking her up and down.

    How the fuck is she 10!? She didn''t seem like it when she threats to castrate me.

    Oh right. Appearance can be deceiving, but holy fuck!? Is this what a legal loli is?

    No wait, it is not. Legal loli is actually the reverse. Child body with adult mind.

    This is adult body with childlike mind.

    This is illegal adult!

 Chapter 162: Deluxe Breakfast at Maccas

    And I do mean childlike mind, for Zephyr does not always act like a child.

    She can be very matured but only when she wants to be.

    That much is obvious from my own observation of her.

    "What do you mean that Zephyr is 10 right now, Zeus?"

    I question curiously when I return my attention to the only other adult in the car. I am really thankful to be able to hold a meaningful conversation with Zeus.

    In fact, I am thankful for having Zeus here. If he is not, I would feel like a freaking babysitter for Zephyr, and I suppose that my initial assumption of the rtionship between Zeus and Zephyr is incorrect.

    Well, it is not entirely incorrect, just not with any sexual implications.

    Speaking of babysitter, I should really get a fulltime one for Antigone. My daughter desperately needs one since I am pretty much all over the world in a single day.

    I just can''t take Antigone along with me on my adventure beyond this reality, at least until she is more older.

    Wait. Is that even possible, considering Antigone is the Avatar of Time like Adria?

    Adria couldn''t leave her reality because she is part of that reality for a reason.

    It really makes me think.

    Zeus looks thoughtful for a moment, trying to put his own thoughts into words, no doubt.

    I allow him to do so while the car begins to be on the move again.

    I am actually holding up the traffic behind, but I pay very little attention to the angry people shouting and honking at me. If they want a fight, I am sure I will be more than a challenge for them.

    "It is a long story, but since you like pop culture so much, Max, I will use it to exin to you as quickly as possible. Just think of Zephyr as Haku from Naruto. It is exactly the same."

    I nearly throw up.

    Zeus smiles in amusement, seemingly confirming something from my reaction.

    Is he checking if I am an anime fan?

    I am, but he could have asked about it.

    But I guess he is also an anime fan, considering he had watched or read enough Naruto to know Haku, a girl, who is really not a girl.

    Haku is a trap!

    And this is a trap!

    "Not that part, Max, since you should have seen it already. I mean to say the same background story as Haku. Zephyr here idently kills her parents when her power first manifested. In fact, she freezes everyone in her vige, so to cope with the trauma of her own actions, her mind fractures itself."

    Zeus corrects.

    I ignore the part of Zeus using me of being a perv.

    The mind fracturing part actually makes sense, considering what I have known of Zephyr.

    And the promise that I have given her in exchange for her subordination makes sense as well, not that it didn''t make sense before.

    To think that I had thought I had it worst when my power first manifested.

    Honestly, a thousand nukes straight to the face seem somewhat insignificant inparison to having to endure the trauma of killing everyone who you ever loved.

    In an instant, everything and everyone that you have ever known is gone.

    No wonder her mind is fractured.

    It is a mechanism to cope with the tragic loss, especially when she has never wanted her power in the first ce.

    Her power chooses her as its wielder in the first ce, unlike Zeus with his power.

    But if her mind is split, it does make her less of an effective asset. She is still more effective than most people under mymand, however.

    To be honest, I actually want to use Zephyr to get to Zeus in the first ce, as he seems to care quite a bit for his teammates.

    That is still true even now despite what they both are, a temporal clone of their original selves.

    "So, you are telling me that Zephyr has multiple personalities?"

    I question while wondering to myself how many personalities Zephyr has.

    From what I have seen thus far, I certain that she has three, but that didn''t mean she couldn''t really have more. How many more though?

    "You could say that, Max. She is in control of them, and she can switch between them when needed, but most of the time, her childlike nature is in control. Just think of Split. That 2016 movie about a guy with multiple personalities, including one with superpower. You have seen it, haven''t you?"

    Zeus points out.

    And I smile faintly at that.

    Of course, I have seen the said movie directed by M. Night Shyamn. It is actually one of those better movies that Mr. Shyamn produces, even though I don''t really want to be reminded of him.

    He literally shoves a sexual innuendo in his movie in the form of a cock-hair.

    How bizarre is that!?

    In any case, I am not worry about how Mr. Shyamn fucks up The Last Airbender as I will make sure that franchise get the proper live-action on the big screen it deserves.

    I am more worry about Zeus since every single response he gives me seems to have a hidden agenda, and it is not always one hidden agenda either.

    Zeus is also using this part of the conversation to try and figure out which year or maybe era I am from.

    Zeus obviously knows that I am not from this timeline. It isn''t that difficult to see, considering all those technologies that I have used.

    As that is the case, should I or should I note out with my own background story already?

    Since I am building trust at the moment, I suppose that revealing my background story couldn''t really hurt my standing in his mind, especially when he seems to be more than interested in what motivates me to do all the things that I do.

    I am sure Zeus isn''t the only one.

    And telling him my background story actually improves my standing in his mind, especially when it is inbination with the importance of teammates in his mind.

    Besides, Zeus is not in awe of my advance technology. He seems to find technology rather redundant in contrasts to the powers that he wielded.

    This is the difference between me and Zeus, for I honestly believe that science has its own greatness, and I should use whatever advantageous at my disposal.

    Didn''t I st him into atoms with the might of an exploding stars?

    That should at least give him a better opinion of technology.

    It probably did, all things considered.

    "If you''re curious about where I am from, Zeus, I am from the 31st century. I have returned to the past to change the future of the human race. I want to make sure that mankind doesn''t kill themselves out of some stupid reasons."

    Zeus chuckles in amusement.

    "Humanity will always destroy themselves, Max. It is by their very nature that they are destructive and so much more. But I do not think that you are that selfless. If you are, this world should have changed greatly already."

    Zeus points out.

    It is my turn tough.

    "Yes, it would, Zeus, but I have learned that the foundation is only strong with just one brick at a time, and you are right. I am not that selfless in my desire. I want to reap all that benefit in the distant future, where technology is so advance that traversing the infinite universe is merely an afterthought."

    I make my intention clear to Zeus.

    There is really no need to hide what motivates me to help humanity reaches its true potential.

    If humans prosper, I benefit greatly.

    "Interesting. If only they allow you to do so, Max. Do you truly know why there are no super advance civilization out there? It is not because they always destroy each other in the end, although that is the very likely scenario, considering all life are innately head towards their own destruction."

    Zeus hints something.

    I narrow my eyes slightly.

    Who are they that Zeus is referring to?

    "I don''t need to tell you about them, Max, as you will find out why technologically advance civilization do not exist eventually yourself, at least outside fictional reality like Stargate. Seeing is believing after all."

    Zeus leaves it at that, and I am curious to what he is implying.

    Is there some sort of threats that is scouring the multiverse and destroying any civilizations, human or otherwise, that is highly technological?

    That seems like the only reason, and it is a logical reason.

    "You seem to know a lot of pop culture, Zeus."

    I decide to change the topic since Zeus didn''t want to talk about the looming threat.

    And from his very expression, I am certain he has run into the threat before, and I can safely assume, he wouldn''t want to run into them again.

    They are that much of a threat, huh?

    "Of course, Max. I have a lot of free time on my hands, now more than ever unless you know of a ce on this world, where there is a lot of spiritual energy. A Spiritual Nexus would be great."

    Zeus responses, and without me asking what a Spiritual Nexus actually is, he tells me.

    A Spiritual Nexus is a spot where the barrier between the spiritual world and the physical world is very weak, thus causing spiritual energy to seep through, making it seems like it is haunted.

    "And what if I know of a ce where spiritual energy exists?"

    I question out of curiosity.

    Well. I did have the intention of dumping Zeus and Zephyr at a ce simr.

    I just might learn a thing or two from them at the haunted house I have recently brought, but I suppose if Zeus is looking for one himself, it works too.

    "Depends on what you want, Max. Do you want the coordinates to those fictional realities? They are by no mean fictional even if I ambeling them that. It is more or less to differentiate from this reality in scale of things."

    Zeus offers.

    "I think that is a good exchange, but Ick the mean to make use of those coordinates like you guys."

    I point out.

    Having those coordinates would be great since there is so much technology that I can steal off those realities, fictional or not, but those coordinates mean squat if I don''t have the mean to use them.

    Zeus nods and looks thoughtfully.

    "Alright, I will give you an artefact that will help you aplish pretty much the same thing, but after we have something to eat."

    Zeus finally said.

    I suppose that is good enough, as long as it aplishes the same thing I want.

    And as I drive us to the closest McDonald, I continue to fish for more information from Zeus as well as Zephyr. Thetter is more than happy to give whatever I want since she will have her Happy Meal.

    I did learn about the scale of things that Zeus had mentioned earlier.

    Realities aren''t on the same scale in term of existence. Prime-reality is higher scale than say the reality of Star Wars because that reality exists because of the prime-reality.

    In other word, people of this reality are creating a lower-tier reality through their own imagination.

    I also learn that prime-reality is not that high on the scale, and that frightens me.

    Is this reality a figment of someone''s imagination!?

    Zeus seems to think so, but he is not worried one way or another.

    He exists with his own freewill and goal, and that is good enough for him in the grand scheme of things.

    I suppose I shouldn''t worry too much about it either and just enjoy ate breakfast like Zephyr.

    She is super cheerful when she has what she wanted, especially when I have paid for her. She actually has money on her, billions of dors, but those notes are from a decade into the future.

    I don''t want counterfeit bills floating around in the economy.

    Zeus is still ordering alongside with me.

    "There isn''t much options avable currently in this era, but I guess it will do."

    Zeus mumbles before paying attention to the cashier, who isn''t older than Elizabeth. Her name is June.

    It is on her name tag, as a wee to being basically a ve of a giant fast-food chain. It isn''t like that a bad thing since doing these kinds of job does teach teenagers a valuable lesson.

    It certainly gives taught me a valuable lesson: work hard or you will be flipping burgers for the rest of your life.

    Now I secretly own the several giant fast-food chains.

    "I will have a set of everything on the menu."

    Zeus orders, making the counter girl puzzled.

    The absurd order didn''te as a shock to me since Zeus did mention about liking the taste, meaning that he doesn''t need to eat at all.

    And that isn''t because he is a God or anything.

    Eating actual foods is a terrible way to sustain an elerated metabolism. It is the same reason I only eat for enjoyment now. I get most of my energy from popping energy pills.

    "I don''t understand. You want a set of everything?"

    June asks for confirmation.

    "Yes. Make it two sets of everything. And he''s paying. Thanks, Max."

    Zeus assures while pointing at me.

    He then left the counter to join Zephyr at the table, who is enjoying her chicken nuggets and whatever toys she gets with her happy meals. Plural. She has multiple happy meals.

    "Is your friend okay?"

    June asks me while I ponder to myself how will I pay for all of this junk foods.

    I obviously don''t have enough cash in my pocket, but I could make enough cash in an instant.

    That would be injecting counterfeit into the economy, which I don''t want to. It will just mess up things in a lot of ways even if the United States Government will be unable to oust my counterfeit bills.

    I guess I will be using credit card then. I do have unlimited funds via Chrono Reserves. Well, that is not true. As long as I keep it under a billion dor per purchase, it will be fine.

    "Yes. He''s fine. He is just a Saiyan. And I will have whatever he is having."

 Chapter 163: Magic System Revisisted

    Zeus takes that as a challenge, a food war of sort.

    Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, none of the pretty girls found in the restaurant is being stripped of their clothes as an absurd reaction to the amount of foods and drinks that Zeus and I are consuming.

    They just be utterly speechless instead.

    Even Zephyr is speechless, but it is only because of the amount of litters is being piled up on the table as well as the floor in our individual attempts to inhale as much burgers as fast as possible.

    The growing number of wrappers and boxes is distracting her from her time with those little toys that she has managed to earn from all the happy meals I have brought for her.

    Zephyr is just like a little kid in a candy store.

    But in all honesty, if Zephyr leaves her hair longer without tying it up in a twin-tail fashion, she looks a lot like a certain homicidal general. Her hair and eyes are icy blue in color due to her power.

    And it is hinted that Zephyr could actually freeze time itself with her power over ice.

    Well. Zephyr certainly did freeze me before proceeding to shatter me into a million pieces. It was done without any hesitation whatsoever, telling me that it isn''t the firs time she has done so on purpose.

    I am sure that there is a psychopath personality inside her mind.

    It is likely the personality who protects the rest of her other personalities in battle, considering what I know of the movie Split.

    A beast of sort.

    Why did I use a movie to give my analogy?

    It didn''t feel strange since Zeus has used it to exin things to me.

    It is quicker and easier.

    By the 31st century, originality is pretty much dead since everything that can be thought of has already been thought of, if not through humans then through thinking tanks or artificial intelligences.

    Therefore, Hollywood is pretty much dead, not like it is on the rise, currently.

    The Entertainment industry will rein supreme for the next few centuries or so.

    I swallow whatever in my mouth and take a drink before getting up and going to the washroom to get ride of all that sugary liquids.

    My stomach isn''t a ckhole like someone certainly has.

    Zeus and Zephyr seems to bepletely unaffected by how much foods or drinks they consume.

    They haven''t even gone to the washroom to unload once.

    "That is why I am not very impressed with all the fancy tech that you have, Max. It all seems as mour without usefulness. Although, I do admit your spatial technology is interesting enough, but that is due to the magic side of things. I sense magical energy whenever you open one of those spatial portals, so it is not pure science."

    Zeusments as he finally slows down and enjoys his meal.

    I narrow my eyes at him and discard my n to have the nanomachines floating my body cheat. They can just dump whatever I swallow into a spatial dimension, giving me a simr impression of having a bottomless stomach.

    "It is what is. I am not against using any means to get the same result. Just out of curiosity, what circle is your magic at?"

    I question and take another bite out of a Big Mac.

    Having downed so many of them in thest hour or so, it doesn''t taste that good anymore. And since this is the 90s, there isn''t much interesting choices on the menu.

    I couldn''t even get coffee here, not for a few more years.

    "Circle? Circle of magic? That is an interesting way to measure magical power. I will estimate my circle if you give me more information about it, Max."

    Zeus replies, surprising me.

    I think I have been surprised quite a bittely, but from what he had just said, his magical power is not measured in circles.

    Zeus chuckles at my surprise.

    "You seem to be living in a cave, Max, but that is alright. Everyone has to start from somewhere. There are actually a lot of different magical systems throughout the cosmos, that is the multiverse. It is just like cultivation systems. They are all created by someone, you know, and we are just borrowing those systems to grow stronger until we can create our own one day. That is the theory anyway."

    Zeus exins and tilts his head towards Zephyr, who sits next to him.

    "Zephyr here uses a Zen Magic System, which is one of the oldest in all of creation. I cannot use it since I was not the original wielder of my power, so I have to use a different type of Magic System. I am not going to tell what that system is because knowing what magic system I am using allows you to exploit its weaknesses.

    As for why I tell you hers, it is because Zen Magic System is mostmon, and it is an ongoing piece of work by those at Zenith, so any exploits will be patched as soon as possible."

    Zeus smiles.

    He is basically telling me not to tell him what magic system I am using since doing so would grant him some advantage over me.

    But since I cannot tell him, I will not be able to measure his magical power.

    Oh. I see what he is doing.

    Enough with this game of wits!

    "I see. And how do you get to use another magic system?"

    I ask while figuring out several more steps in advance in this metaphorical chess match that Zeus and I are ying.

    Honestly, it is so much easier to just read what is on his mind, but I cannot do that even with the newly developed mind-reading technology, as his consciousness is separated from his body.

    I need to do that soon, just to stop people like me from reading my mind.

    "Either get acknowledged by the Magic System itself or being born in the reality that Magic System is dominating. I did the first, and it is quite difficult. I suppose you were born into magic, but why did you prioritize technology instead? Magic is far more powerful."

    Wait. What? There is only two ways? How did I use magic from Az then?

    Maybe it is because I am an Aspect?

    That does make sense since Aspect is above everything else, including magic itself.

    One more point to my pride.

    "Alright, I won''t ask further about your magic system, but can you show me one of your spells, just to open my eyes?"

    I request while leering at Zephyr, basically telling Zeus that if he doesn''t, Zephyr will, and it would give me the same insight, nheless.

    Zeus shrugs and opens his palm and blows against it gently.

    The instant that he did, magical dusts materialize, billowing forwards and covering the two girls sitting together on the next table.

    They both blinks and looks towards Zeus with a smile. There is magical glow within their eyes, showing that they are under the effect of magic.

    And no one in the restaurant notices that eerie glow besides me and mypany like it usually is with magic. Magic is invisible to those that is not aware or awaken.

    "Why don''t you make out for a little bit for us?"

    Zeus requests.

    And the two girls immediately did without any reservation or hesitation. They did so to the point that they nearly strip each other of their clothes to explore themselves despite that they are not interested in the same gender.

    This just reinforces my wish to bring magic to the prime-reality, just to build up some natural resistance against being mind-controlled by magic.

    I can aplish the same thing with my magic with absolute impunity.

    "There. Just a simple magical charm for you, Max. I can make them do a lot more things than that, and they will be more than happy to."

    Zeus then continues to eat since he has given me more than enough to go on.

    His magic is different to mine like he has implied moment ago.

    There is no actually no manifestation of runes or anything simr.

    This does mean that it is actually better than mine since the runes do give away what kind of spell it is being casted, regardless of how fast it is casted.

    How did Zeus do it, though?

    Selene reys the action in my mind while analyzing each movement externally and internally. With the magical sensor, I can see how his magic flows throughout his body.

    I reach out my hand and open my palm, as I about to let magical energy swirl within it. I did stop myself before I did though.

    It is for one reason.

    I do not want to let Zeus knows all that I can do.

    "Interesting. I assume that Zephyr can do the same, but with a different way."

    I state as I look at the girl.

    Zephyr nods in response, but she did not demonstrate her magic.

    "Yes, Max. The usefulness of using a magic system is only apparent at higher stage. Since I have shown you my magic, you should show me a bit about your magic system, especially about the circle bit just forparison."

    Zeus requests.

    There is no reason to, especially when it isn''t really my magic system. It is just the first magic system that I havee across.

    And from what Zeus just said, there is a lot more than one magic system.

    But instead of telling him about my magic myself, I produce a Hydra ring. Two Hydra rings actually.

    One for Zeus and one for Zephyr.

    I also freeze time around us to prevent anyone from listening in on things that they shouldn''t have in the first ce, but even if they did, it is hard toprehend fully.

    In any case, is it right to introduce Zeus and Zephyr to Hydra?

    Well. I have brought in people less capable than them, and it is also a form of trust.

    Besides, I do want Zeus to acknowledge technology even if it isn''t that useful to him, given his power.

    As for Zephyr. Meh. She seems uninterested in science.

    Of course, I am not trusting either of them with everything even if it is pointless to hide anything from them. Still, I have to for appearance.

    I just can''t give them everything from the start.

    "Since we arerades of sort through mutual agreement, it is only right to introduce you two to the secret organization that I have in ce in this reality. They will help you with whatever you need, and in return, I hope that you can do the same."

    I say and exin how to use the Hydra rings.

    "This does make things easier."

    Zeusments before essing the Hydra Network to read all there is to know about magic. He also looks at some other stuff as well as getting on the Inte to search around, mostly mythological info.

    Not the actual inte since that is still in its infancy. The Inte that Antis and Hydra maintains.

    In contrast, Zephyr takes one look and purses her lips.

    "There is no YouTube."

    She says and that is that.

    YouTube and all other streaming services will be avable in a few years, much earlier than originally, but considering a lot thing has changed, there is no need to wait for thing to naturally happen.

    Zeus ignores Zephyr, so I did as well.

    Time resumes once more.

    After a few more drinks, I head to the restroom. It isn''t to unload all those drinks, but I did it anyway. I actually want to test Zeus'' magic, and as I blow the magical dust onto one of the guys there, his eyes also glow eerily.

    It is enough for me to confirm that I am able to use any magic system without its acknowledgement.

    That is a benefit of an Aspect.

    As for the guy I hypnotize, I just tell him to stay in the restroom until the effect wears out. I wouldn''t want him wandering outside the restroom and giving Zeus ideas.

    I rejoin Zeus and Zephyr afterwards to finish our meal. We are still in the center of attention due to all the foods and drinks we have ordered.

    June, the counter girl, thinks it is a joke at first, but she isn''t thinking that anymore. She gets a nice tip for taking down all that order since the electronic system at the moment isn''t up to par with the 21st century.

    "I will take you to your new home in Hollywood. It is the only ce so far that have lingering spiritual energy you want. If you can help me figure out why that is, it would be great."

    I tell Zeus once I am in the car again.

    Zephyr is now lying across the backseat, sleeping.

    "Hollywood? You are ying as a film director, are you, Max? I ask because I have recruited someone like that."

    Zeus questions, mostly out of curiosity.

    "No. Not a film director personally. I just happen to run apany that produces movies and games and music for the masses. Actually, any form of entrainment, really. If you don''t have anything to do with all the time you have now, you can help me with making people happy."

    I response as I reverse the car out of the parking lot. I will need to nice empty road before teleporting us all, including the car, to a garage halfway across the United States.

    Zeus chuckles and shakes his head.

    "No thanks. I have enough things on my hands right now. But knowing you are interested in Hollywood does allow me to give you a perfect gift. It is also what you ask for before."

    Zeus responses.

    A strange cross appears in his hand, glowing with magical energy.

    He must have taken it out of his inventory since I didn''t see any portal of sort.

    I really need to get one of those inventories since it doesn''t any sort of medium to use like spatial dimensions.

    "Want me to exin this to you, or you prefer to find out yourself? It is more interesting if you do in my opinion. It just makes you appreciate things more."

    Zeus asks with a smirk.

    He just likes to keep me in the dark, doesn''t he?

    But I guess he has to since information is his only bargaining chip against me, and he knows it.

    "How about half and half, Zeus? I make it worth your while."

 Chapter 164: The Invasion Has Begun!

    Zeus epts and gives me the basic rundown of the enchanted cross in his hand.

    It is actually a magical artefact called the Gate of Fiction, capable of forming a bridge from this reality into a fictional reality, allowing one and only one person to crossover without needing the creation of a rift or a portal or anything simr.

    Sounds impressive even if there is a lot of disadvantages associated with the artefact.

    There is also a catch, however.

    And it is this catch that bothers me greatly, at least at first, but I suppose it didn''t really matter in the end as that catch coincides with one of my goals anyway.

    I suppose it is because of the catch that Zeus is offering the artefact to me in the first ce.

    He is such a shifty bastard.

    Now I just need to know what Zeus wants in exchange for it.

    There will always be a price as per our agreement, and if the price is not right, I suppose I could always steal it from the past as he has just shown it to me.

    I am unsure whether Zeus knows that I can do that or not, but if he didn''t already, he will figure it out very soon. His existence is an evidence of that.

    "You can have it for free, Max. I am sure it is more useful to you than to me if it works. It should work from the magical energy radiating from it. But do remember that it is one-time use, so unless you have ways to duplicate it yourself, you have to think carefully which fictional realities you want to visit."

    Zeus passes me the artefact, allowing me to have a close look.

    From his casual words, I am more than certain that Zeus knows I can duplicate things with my power, including magical artefacts.

    He also knows that I am unable to duplicate spiritual or soul weapons. I actually can create an imitation of them with my power, however. Even so, those imitations are still pretty powerful, especially in the hands of those who know how to use them.

    "Thanks for the gift."

    I response and put it into my spatial dimensions for Legion to analyze.

    And since the artefact is magical in nature, the super virtual intelligence will have something for me in half an hour or so, likely less.

    "I don''t have anything for you, Zeus. Well, aside from that ce I am talking about, but it doesn''t really count. I guess I will owe you one."

    I add.

    Zeus chuckles.

    "Alright, I can ept an IOU from you Max. If you find something interesting in those fictional realities, please do keep me in the loop. I''ve never truly explored them aside from using them to train my mind, body and spirit."

    I take in the information.

    "Can I have another IOU?"

    I question.

    "If it is about separation of your body, mind and spirit, you don''t need to ask. I will make sure that you will be able to as soon as possible. I can''t depend on you if others can mindfuck you and suppress your spirit."

    Zeus responses.

    "I will try not to let that happen, Zeus."

    I assure, pondering who is the team leader here.

    Obviously, it is me if this is a real team.

    But still, Zeus acts like the leader, even telling me to get stronger so I will not be a burden to him.

    The hell!?

    Honestly, it is pretty hard to mindfuck me, but suppressing my spirit is another matter. Spiritual attacks are very effective against my soul, even if my soul is much more resilient than normal.

    In any case, I will y along for now, as long as it benefits me.

    There is no shame epting my weaknesses and working towards fixing those weaknesses. And living in denial out of some stupid pride is beyond idiotic.

    With Zephyr snoring away in the backseat, Zeus and I chat about more interesting things before I think I have enough of a leisure drive.

    And with a thought, I teleport the car and everyone within the car directly into the garage of the estate that I had brought just yesterday.

    Is it really just yesterday? Apparently, it is.

    It really feels a lot longer, but this is due to me having spent like several months in an alternate reality.

    Those times are well spent though, personally and privately and leisurely.

    As soon as the surrounding changes, Zeus looks about immediately, feeling the spiritual pressure that permeates the air and surrounds everyone. It seems a lot more denser than yesterday.

    His silvery eyes then narrow, turning towards me.

    "Unfortunately, Max, this is not a Spiritual Nexus."

    Zeus points out.

    "I never said it is, Zeus, but it is the only ce that I know of that has ambient spiritual energy. Unless it is too dangerous, I am sure that you can make use of it better than I ever could. It also stops a lot of innocent people dying pointlessly in this ce."

    I response, recalling how many families have died here under the most unusual circumstances.

    "And we are not innocent people? Thank you for that."

    Zeus questions, making me blink.

    I wonder if he is joking or not. He is by no mean innocent. His hands are as bloodied as mine without even needing to ask.

    "It is that dangerous?"

    I answer his question with a question of my own.

    I didn''t think something like this would consider as dangerous to Zeus or Zephyr.

    "Not exactly, Max. But please tell me how many people have died here already. It is important to have an exact number."

    Zeus requests as he cocks around the seat to check on Zephyr, who is still sleeping rather peacefully.

    The spiritual pressure lingering in the air didn''t seem to bother her one bit, but from the look of things, Zeus is worried about her.

    He seems to forget that she is just a temporal clone in this moment.

    That is good since I didn''t consider Zeus or Zephyr as just phantom of their original selves.

    Or maybe Zeus is worrying about something else.

    "The exact number is 23. All the information that you needed are within the Hydra ring. Just press the ring to your forehead and you will learn everything you need to know."

    I point out and wonder if I should just integrate the ring and all of its features into their bio-mechanical avatar as well. It shouldn''t take more than a minute, but the reason I didn''t in the first ce is because of the same reason why I didn''t let them ess to everything in Hydra.

    "There is no need. I just need to know how many souls are being twisted by spending too much time in theher."

    Zeus replies as he exits the car to have a look around.

    I join him and left Zephyr sleeping in the car. I will have to wake her up soon since I need the car to go and pick up Allison before taking her to the hospital.

    Actually, I don''t need to since I could have the micromachines morph into another replica.

    "You are curious, Max. I am too because this is something new to me as well. However, it feels simr to a lot of things I have dealt before, in another realities."

    Zeus speaks up after he enters the living room. He then sighs after looking at the ceiling and the ground for a long while.

    I remain quiet since he is seeing something that I am unable to. My spiritual awareness is only recently awakened, and if it is fully awakened, I am sure I will be seeing the world in a different light, especially with ghosts and spirits flying around.

    I know now that ghost exists, and if it exists, so does all the other supernatural stuff.

    It is just a matter of being able to see them or not. They inhabit a different ne of existences, running in parallel along with this one.

    It is not a higher ne existence like where Adria has gone.

    "The architect of this ce is either a certified genius or an authentic wacko."

    Zeusments, practically quoting Ghostbusters, and with that single line I immediately understand what is so dangerous about this ce.

    "I sure hope not, but as a God yourself, can''t you handle him or her?"

    I jest, but since fictional universe exists, the genderless deity Gozer from Ghostbusters certainly exists in some form somewhere.

    Zeus chuckles and gestures a hand dismissively.

    "I am not worry about that, Max. I am more worry about a bunch of Ghostly running around the ce and annoying me. Ghostly is a ghost, and as a ghost, he can possess objects whether they are living or not. The souls that are trapped in this ce is simr to him, but they are twisted for being trapped in theher for so long."

    Zeus smiles sourly.

    "I don''t think there is any ghost more annoying than Ghostly, but these phantoms are pretty annoying and dangerous, especially when they manage to possess someone powerful. But in any case, opening a gate to hell is just really bad for everyone, especially when this reality doesn''t seem to be that highly spiritual."

    Zeus adds as he looks pass me and at Zephyr at the entrance into the garage.

    Her eyes are closed.

    She appears to be still asleep.

    Alright. When did she gets there? I didn''t even hear anything.

    This whole ce sure gives me the creep, but it is probably because my spiritual awareness is not up to par yet. And what is this about the gate to hell?

    Zeus snaps his fingers, instantly zapping Zephyr and forcing her to wake up.

    Zephyr immediately blinks and looks around before staring at the ceiling and the floor.

    Just like Zeus, she is capable of seeing thing that I am unable to, at least not yet.

    I feel like I am out of the loop at the moment. I really need to full awaken my spiritual awareness, but harassing Zeus about it will only antagonize him. It will certainty antagonize me.

    "Eh? How did I get here?"

    Zephyr asks, looking puzzled.

    "You were possessed by an evil spirit. Try to keep your mind focused so you don''t possess again. That means you too, Max. But if you have a ce to be, I suggest you go for now. Having more people here just create more work for me. Also, please give me those cores you have.

    23 of them will do. They are capable of containing evil spirit."

    Zeus points out.

    So that is what happened when I was in this ce the first time. An evil spirit manages to possess me for a few minutes, causing myp of memory.

    And did I just got shown the door?

    But I understand that I will not be of help if stay around.

    And besides, I do have ces that I need to be.

    "Alright. I will leave this ce to you, Zeus and Zephyr. I will drop by in the evening to see how things are. Please try not to destroy it while I am gone, huh."

    I response and give exactly 23 nk cores to Zeus.

    He had asked exactly for that much, so I will give him the exact amount.

    I will give him more for his personal projectster when he asks.

    Without Zeus, I was going to try something simr with those cores anyway. They have demonstrated that they can capture and contain essences. They can also be used to create monsters from what Zeus has implied.

    I will experiment more with it myself through Nairam Oxford.

    With that, I return to the car and head out onto the road again.

    After several streets and roads, the car immediately goes on autopilot mode as my mind takes control one of the avatars within one of my spatial rings.

    The instant I open my eyes, countless pods greet me. Each pod contains my clone, readying tounch into another reality to carry out whatever missions I have programmed into their mind.

    They are given all the advantageous that I can provide with the exception of magic itself.

    This is because they are soulless duplicate of me in bio-mechanical form. They cannot use magic at all, but with the technology at their disposal, they should be able to handle anything and everything that wille at them.

    Legion informs me that he has finished the preliminary analysis of the magical artefact. He would need to take the artefact apart to learn more, which he will be able to once I duplicate it.

    The Gate of Fiction returns to my hand as I have a look at it once more. It looks very well made, and I do wonder who have made it in the first ce. Must be someone from modern earth.

    And with my power, I duplicate it a few hundreds of times.

    "Selene, produce a copy of Stargate, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Starcraft from memory."

    [Acknowledge, Operator.]

    Seleneplies with my request.

    The first three items are in form of video media and thest one is in the form of a game. I pick up the disc containing Star Wars and pop it into the media yer and look at the television screen, watching a bit before checking the Gate of Fiction in my hand.

    It is pulsating with energy. I toss it to the screen and the moment it did, a spatial rift begins to form in front of the television.

    The magical artefact really creates a bridge into the fictional reality, at least from observation.

    I immediately have one of the billion drones avable to go into the portal to have a look around just to make sure it really works as Zeus has told me.

    There is no need to doubt him, but I want to make sure.

    And once the drone passes through the spatial portal, the portal copses, dissipating. I look at on the screen to see it moving around before cloaking.

    Seeing that makes me chuckle.

    To return to the prime-reality again, the drone just needs to destroy the Gate of Fiction, hence that is why it is only a single use.

    Once it did, a portal appear allowing to return to the prime-reality to file its report. I am very happy at the test. I did the test a few more times to make sure it works as intended.

    Unfortunately, only Star Wars and Star Trek can be essible.

    This is the catch that Zeus has told me about. These fictional realities are essible only and only if it is within a lot of people''s mind. That mean the media has to be released and distributed.

    I am unsure the exact reason for that condition, but it prevents me from creating a spatial bridge into Stargate''s and Starcraft''s universe. Neither of these exist in this reality yet.

    But even so, I still have quite a bit of fictional realities to visit and steal from.

    Once Legion finishes analyzing and deciphering the magical artefact and its construction, learning how it works exactly, I watch countless of screen being built and erected across thendscape.

    Each screen disys a certain movie that have already been released in theater of the prime-reality.

    Most of them have portals manifested.

    Those that didn''t have portals are movies that barely anyone seen or know about.

    And before each of those portals, a pod isunched, sending a clone of myself into that fictional reality to harvest anything that I find useful.

    Now I just wait and reap the benefits of my invasion.

 Chapter 165: Fate versus Destiny

    At least that is the n.

    But since I cannot speed things up with my power over time because those fictional realities are really a separate reality of their own, I will have to wait until my clones get things done for me.

    It shouldn''t take more than a few weeks. A couple of months top.

    I sure hope that it isn''t going to be a few years. Because by then, whatever knowledges or technologies that my clones manage to bring back to the prime-reality wouldn''t be any use to me.

    It is logical to assume so, as the likelihood of regaining some if not most of my original aspectual power in a few years is exceedingly high, considering how much I have aplished thus far.

    It is safe to say that my knowledges, technologies and powers will grow exponentially from here on.

    In any case, each of the clones should be more than capable of the mission as they are me in a sense, both physically and mentally.

    More correct to say almost like me since I didn''t really give them a full copy of my memoires, thus my personalities.

    It isn''t necessary. They only need to know the important stuff. Anything extra would be a distraction.

    Aside from the seemingly godlike powers that each clone has, they also have the assistance from both Selene and Legion. A dumbed down version of Selene and Legion.

    The dumbing down part is to make sure neither Selene or Legion is able to gain self-awareness. I don''t want them to be artificial intelligence as those fictional realities already have the clones to worry about.

    Honestly, if the clones are anything like me, which they are somewhat, they would not go out of their way to help the natives of those fictional realities with whatever strife or problems they are having.

    It is not a fix-it-all sort of thing, as I am not a hero. I am not a viin either.

    Considering me as a third party of interest, who will help those that benefits me. At least that is what the clones should be behaving, for the mission is above all else.

    But who knows, only time will truly tell me.

    And by that, I do not mean I will be waiting around here in this spatial dimension and wait things out.

    While it is enjoyable to see what the clones are doing on the monitor in movies, anime, games, and all sort of visual media really, I do have plenty of things I need to do in the entertainment industry.

    Producing a blockbuster movie or creating a hit game will give me another fictional reality to take total advantage of.

    It doesn''t even need to be a movie or game from the original timeline, giving me greater freedom. As long as whatever product I can produce bes a pop culture, integrating into the mind of the public, a fictional reality would be created.

    While I am unsure the real reason why it does, but I can have a guess. It probably has something to do with people collectively wishing that reality exists in some form, subconsciously or consciously.

    It is interesting to explore this area.

    In any case, what kind of fictional reality I can create is only limited by my imagination.

    It is a bit disappointing that the Gate of Fiction artefact only works on visual medium, or I would have invaded Lord of the Ring reality and y the voice of reason to Sauron for a bit, only because it is time for the bad guys to win for once.

    I guess I will settle for Emperor Palpatine for now.

    The dark side is always cooler.

    Despite only being able to ess fictional realities of visual medium, it is still better than nothing, and I am certain that there is a way to enter fictional realities within the pages of books and manga.

    I just need to give Zeus a reason to give the means to me.

    Maybe it is better to grease Zephyr instead? She should have some interesting artefacts herself.

    I think I should start collecting some artefacts myself as well.

    Seems very handy to have them.

    Maybe I should learn how to craft artefacts myself since I do have a lot of good ideas?

    After some more thoughts on the matter, I have Legion monitors thing for me here before I relinquish my control over the avatar and return my attention to the outer world.

    I turn off the autopilot and drive towards the apartmentplex that housed all the employees being employed by the Firm.

    The little social experiment I have going on there produces some very interesting result.

    People are just generally happier when they have to do things and follow a set of rules and guidelines, all in order to have what they wanted.

    Having everything handed to them makes them directionless, not to mention incredible slothful.

    Of course, not all the employees working for the Firm is part of the social experiment.

    Some people just don''t know what they are truly missing. No idea what they were thinking when they turn down free foods and amodations, not to mention safety and security.

    And I didn''t want to know.

    I am not interested in chasing down people who thinks they can do better.

    It is also a waste of time.

    I rather waste time doing thing that I enjoy immensely.

    "Good morning, Allison. I will be picking you up in about 15 minutes at the front of the building. Please dress nicely but modestly since we are going to a public ce. I hope that you have had breakfast, but if you did not, we can go for one."

    I speak up without using any external phone.

    My voice is being directly transmitted into her apartment via Hydra Network. She is already a member of Hydra. An outer member, but still a member, nheless. It is for her good work.

    "G-good morning, Mr. Maxwell. I mean Max. Ah yes, I have already eaten. I will be down soon."

    Allison responses being startled. She looks around the room to see where the voice ising from.

    It ising from everywhere within the bedroom.

    "Take your time, Allison. I can wait for as long as you like."

    I give my reply. I am actually already here, but I will just give her roughly 15 minutes to get ready. I do wonder if that is enough, considering it is faster to build a bridge than waiting for a woman to change.

    Just kidding.

    But seriously, it does take a while for a woman to change from my experience.

    Allison hurries out of bed that I had left her inst night, rtively speaking of course.

    It has been like months for me, but only like a few hours for her.

    Therefore, I enjoy watching her frantically head into the shower to wash off all that stickiness.

    It takes about 5 minutes. 5 more minutes to dry her hair and put on her makeup. Another 5 for her to put on something nice and rush out of the door of her apartment.

    I couldn''t help butugh in amusement the whole time at watching her, but my amusement dies when Allison runs into the same guy who had interrupted my funst night.

    He obviously has a crush on her. Most people do, but he is an obsessive stalker type. It actually never ends well for the object of their affection.

    As a loving father to Allison, shall I have him discretely killed?

    It does feel a bit extreme, considering there are a lot of other bloodless options. He is also quite a hard worker since he is trying to make Allison notices him.

    But unlike Allison, he doesn''t have a perfect memory helping him.

    "Hey Ally!"

    The guy calls out, practically chasing her from all the way down the corridor.

    "Ah. I''m sorry. I''m runningte. So sorry."

    Allison replies as she squeezes between the closing door of the elevator.

    "Wait! Hold the door!"

    The guy didn''t make it as the elevator begins to descend to the ground floor.

    Allison fixes her clothes in the elevator and putting on her shoes.

    And by the time the elevator reaches the ground level, she looks perfect. She takes a breath and heads out of the elevator calmly and collectively.

    Allison greets everyone who greeted her in the lobby as she heads out.

    And once outside, she notices me immediately. This is because I am waiting outside the car by leaning on it.

    "I''m sorry that I''mte, Max. Did you have to wait long?"

    Allison apologizes on her approach.

    I smile and scan her up and down with my own naked eyes.

    She did dress nicely and modestly like I had asked of her. She even tries to get everything done in 15 minutes, which is kind of impossible, considering that she had slept in due to exhaustion thanks to me.

    I wasn''t evenpletely satisfied when I had left her in bed the night before. It is pretty hard for her to satisfy me on her own, but that is not any fault of her own.

    "Yes, I did. But anything can be forgiven by a kiss, sweetheart."

    I response and lean in to give her a kiss.

    A kiss that Allison returns happily with her arms around my shoulder and waist.

    There is no tongue action, however. There will be time for thatter in the evening and night, as long as I don''t have anything to do. If I do, can I just send a clone in to do the job?

    It is the reason why I have Legion perfected the cloning technology in the first ce. Rather than wait around until I learn how to summon clones, Naruto style, I will just aplish through the use of my technology instead.

    After the rather affectionate kiss, I open the door for her to let her inside the car. I note that guy stares at me from the front door of the apartmentplex.

    "You shouldn''t skip breakfast. Most people considered it is the most important meal of the day. What do you like to have for breakfast?"

    I ask Allison when I get into the car with her, not giving her a chance to exin herself. I am not really interesting in her exnation.

    Allison is somewhat embarrassed at me calling her out on with her small lies. Usually, she gets up very early in the morning. This mostly has to do with her ability of perfectly recalling everything.

    "Um¡­ haven''t you eaten already, Max?"

    Allison asks. She assumes so since it has passed 10am in Los Angeles.

    I actually had breakfast at 6am with Zeus and Zephyr due to the time difference between Los Angeles and New York.

    The time difference is also the reason why I can have a private helicopter and jet flying me all the way from New York to Los Angeles every single day without most people raising an eyebrow.

    It is all for keeping up appearance. I am not actually on the ne because that is a waste of time.

    "Yes, but who says that I cannot have a second breakfast? How about pancakes? There is a nice ce nearby that serves some of the most delicious pancakes."

    I offer since Allison remains undecided.

    "Yes. That would be good. It has been a while since I have pancakes."

    Allison epts.

    "Work is work, Allison, but you have to have fun every now and then. Also, you don''t need to be fearful of it. The examination. It isn''t going to be like the first time, I promise."

    I point out as I drive her to the restaurant.

    "And besides, I will be with you all the way, as a friend and as family."

    I add with a smile.

    Allison returns my smile.

    "Thank you, father."

    She has already epted me as her father even if I did not father in themon ways. This is also the first time she has called me father earnestly.

    "You are wee, dear daughter."

    I reply.

    My daughter and I have breakfast together after that. We also chatted for a long time, mostly involving me listening to her talking about her childhood and dream.

    I already know her entire history because of Shield, but it is still good to show her what a loving as well as caring father I can be. No need for her to know the real me.

    Once we have breakfast, we head straight to the hospital to have a checkup. We obviously did not go to any of the county hospitals since they do not have the facility to help Allison.

    "Infinite Medical Center?"

    Allisonments as the car enters the crowded parking lot.

    This is a hospitalpletely owned and operated by Hydra via Infinity Incorporated, stylized as Infinity Inc.

    It is the parentpany of Infinite Health, amongst many other subsidiaries.

    And while the board of directors of Infinity Inc. isn''t full of teenage superheroes like its DC counterpart, it is still full of supers. All of them are Hydra members, biologically augmented.

    Each of them is pretty much one-man army.

    However, as men and women of medicines, their priority is to save life not take it.

    Therefore, despite being privately owned by me, it is actually a public hospital, providing professional health and service for the general public.

    Of course, it is not entirely selfless, for nothing I do is entirely selfness.

    "Yes, sweetheart. I guess you have never been here before? It was built recently, a few years ago. And if you haven''t done so already, you should set your preferred medical center as this ce in case you have an emergency. Other hospitals will not be able to diagnose your condition let alone help you."

    I point out and apany her inside.

    The front lobby is packed with people of all ages.

    It is actually not unusual to see many people here due to the free health checkup as well as medication and vination. It is also a ce where public children of Hydra and Shield usually go to.

    Public children are those who are adopted or born to Hydra and Shield in the outside world. They are likely to live their entire life not knowing the true nature of their parents.

    Why is that necessary? Well, it is for the future.

    Having said that, the front lobby is currently a lot more packed today due to the huge traffic ident that had happened this morning. The other hospitals are also swarmed with the injuries.

    "We are current very busy, but please take a ticket from one of the machines, thank you."

    A nurse tells everyone who just enter the lobby, and the ticket machine is simr to the one that exist in the lobby of Lok Entertainment. It is to stop people from standing in line.

    The same nurse also instructed everyone to take a form and fill out while they wait for the doctors. It is to help speed things up. There is no need for doctors to spend valuable time chatting to the patients about their injuries, at least for injuries that are not external.

    Allison takes a ticket and a form, making me chuckle.

    "You don''t really need to do that, sweetheart. You are a very important person."

    I tell her as I show her the hidden option on the ticket machine, which can be essed with her Hydra ring. She also didn''t need to fill any form either because those forms are to keep people upied.

    Like before, someonees down to get us within a minute or so. No one would dare to keep me and Allison waiting.

    "Ah, Mr. Maxwell. And this must be Miss Allison. Please. Pleasee this way with me."

    The older man requests.

    "Hey. Wait a minute. Howe they gets to go first? My daughter and I have been here since morning, waiting."

    One of the people calls out.

    I look at the huge man before looking at his daughter, who is quite timid.

    While I cannot see any injuries on her person, she looks like she is in pain. Asides from several bruises, one of her lungs has copsed.

    It isn''t due to the physical abuse she has suffered at the hand of her father.

    Selene fills me on her medical history, making me frown slightly.

    Her destiny has changed greatly due to my presence. It exins why she is still with her abusive father instead of with her mother after the divorce.

    "Please go ahead with him, Allison. I will be with you shortly."

    I tell Allison and crouch down to the little girl before cing a hand on her head.

    "Hey. What do you think you''re doing!?"

    Her father calls out, but I wave my hand to shut him up.

    "Please shut your hole, Xavier. I might not look like it, but I am a doctor."

    I tell him. My voiceces with magical energy, silencing him. He looks shock and surprised at seemingly being unable to speak.

    "So, how are you feeling, Christina?"

 Chapter 166: It is called Karma

    Christina Aguilera didn''t answer me.

    Instead, she looks towards her father, Fausto Xavier Aguilera for answers. She fears him greatly, as he is quite abusive, physically and emotionally.

    There is just a lot of anger and frustration within him, but it is expected since he is a former soldier of the United States. He was dishonorably discharged half a year ago due to a huge misunderstanding.

    Even so, that doesn''t give him the right to hurt his daughter, whose destiny has been changed greatly due to me, and I do mean it. If it wasn''t for me, the world would get to hear her lovely voice in the not so distant future.

    As that is the case, I should rectify the problem and put her back onto the path towards stardom. The future will be different from the one in my past, but some things should remain the same.

    In fact, Christina Aguilera is on my list of people to acquire, but due to her current age, she is not really prioritized. It will be at least a decade before she can enter the spotlight.

    Or maybe not.

    I could speed up phrase 2 of my ns to dominate the entertainment industry. There is really no need to wait for Terra Entertainment to gain the public recognition it deserves. It isn''t like I don''t have the money or the connection to make things possible.

    And with the clones at my disposal, I can do a lot more things simultaneously. A little shapeshifting for my clones might be necessary to prevent people from taking notice of me being in multiple ces at the same time, especially when the Inte bes widespread.

    Do I feel anything when I dispose the clones and absorb their memories and experiences Naruto style?

    I honestly did a little, but that before I learn they don''t really have a soul. They are a tool, created for one purpose and one purpose only. Feeling sorry for them is like feeling sorry for smart bombs.

    And unlike Legion, an artificial intelligence, they do live on within me in some capacity.

    Besides, letting the clones continue to exist will create a lot of problems in the future, since the longer they are around, the different their mindset bes. I rather not have them plots against me.

    "You can tell me, Christina. I am a doctor. I can help you all better. The pain is in your chest, right?"

    I assure the little girl and takes her hand into mine, allowing our skins toe into contact. The bridge enables the nanomachines within my body to crossover to newer pasture. They immediately head to her lungs, where the problem lies.

    It is actually unnecessary toe into contact with her directly to infest her with nanomachines, but it helps in assuring her I mean no harm, at least not yet. I will have to map her gic to help her with the problem.

    For now, the nanomachines will help her breathe normally. They are already using the minerals in her body to replicate.

    Christina nods slowly. She wonders why her father didn''t speak up. He obviously couldn''t since I have muted him with my power.

    Without understanding the reason to why he is unable to speak despite yapping his mouth repeatedly like a fish onnd, he is also far too shocked and frightened.

    "Alright. You can make the pain go away with a simple trick. Would you like to try?"

    Christina nods again.

    "Take in a deep breath and keep it in your chest for as long as possible before breathing out."

    I direct the girl in order for her to inte her lungs. It is to allows the nanomachines to do their job of repairing her organs.

    Christina looks at her father again, who appears to be puzzled. She then returns her eyes to me before taking a deep breath, filling her lungs with air. She then holds it all in rather cutely before exhaling out when she cannot hold it in anymore.

    She blinks as she didn''t feel any pain like she usually does.

    "See? No pain, right?"

    I pat her on the head as she repeats what I have directed her, finding that she can breathe painlessly for the first time in years.

    While that is good, it is actually only a temporary solution. I will have to repair the gic defects due to the retrovirus. She is one of cases that her ability did not manifest properly.

    Instead, it is killing her.

    "That is good. Now, I''m going to take you into another room where you will lie down on a bed to have a good sleep, okay? Don''t worry about your father. He will do what is best for you."

    I tell Christina and help her off the waiting seat, all while casting a nce at Xavier, making him tenses up in fear.

    "I ¨C

    The man utters, finding himself able to speak once more.

    I didn''t give him any more attention after that and eye Allison, who is still there. The doctor is behind her, waiting for her to follow him.

    "Is she one too?"

    I simply nod as a response.

    "I will not be long, Allison. Please go with him. I will join you shortly, I promise."

    I repeat as Allison looks at Christina, who seems to trust me now. It is easy to earn someone''s trust if you fix any problems they have.

    Her eyes narrow slightly before she lets out a smile and did what I have asked of her. She wonders to herself how many people I have gically altered and continued to do so.

    It is quite a lot even if the sess rate is fairly low.

    "You,e with me as well since I want to talk to you in private."

    I tell Xavier, who immediately shakes his head and gestures his hands defensively. There is fear in his eyes. No. He is terrified.

    "No. I don''t think so, whoever you are. I have seen some crazy stuff, I know you are one of them."

    Xavier responses and tries to actually run, leaving his daughter with me. Honestly, what the hell kind of father is that, abandoning his daughter to save his own skin?

    "You misunderstand me, Xavier. It is not a request."

    I tell him calmly and take Christina down the hallway without needing to look back. I didn''t bother to force him toe with me since the girl seems to be more calmed without her father close by.

    "How did you get those bruises around your legs, sweetie?"

    I ask when we are alone in a private room. She is currently lying on afy bed with circr rings that are rotating around it and running along its length up and down.

    Those rings are part of a scanner in this Medical Bay, allowing me to scan her body in many ways.

    Asides from the deformations in her lungs due to the gic defects, there are numerous bruises andcerations on her body. They are obviously not from falling down the stairs or ying sports like she has tantly lie to me.

    Her entire history is for me to view.

    And just like what happened in the original timeline, Christina was raised in a turbulent home, where she tries to use music to cope. After the divorce, her father was given custody of her while her younger sister, Rachel was given to her mother.

    That should not have happened. In the original timeline, both her and her younger sister were in the custody of her mother. While her mother isn''t that great of a parent, at least the woman would nevery a hand on her children.

    The huge divergence is due to me correcting the divorcew a little. I just didn''t like its discrimination towards men. It is still very discriminatory, but one step at a time.

    Doing things like that have severe consequences, making me feel a bit guilty. Perhaps it is because she is also my daughter. I do have soft spot for my family.

    While traveling all over the country and abroad with her father due to his job, Christina did get to see a lot of ces and make many friends. However, due to the copse of her lungs, her world copses, thus forcing her to deal with the harsh reality.

    "You can tell me, sweetie. Your father is not here, and he doesn''t have to know."

    I pretty much interrogate her, but subtly.

    Christina nods and rubs her arm.

    Tears slowly pool in her eyes, making me frown a little.

    But let''s turn that frown upside down.

    "Do you want to see a magic trick? Close your eyes and take a nap, when you wake up again, all those bruises will disappear."

    I tell her. She blinks and then closes her eyes, cing herplete trust in me.

    With my power, I slowly reverse time on her body, finding an instant that that her body is without any bruises. It was more than a year ago.

    I decide to have the nanomachines fix it instead because making her younger by a year will make her shorter by an inch or two.

    People will definitely notice that, especially her school and friends.

    She is in her growing phrase after all.

    "Wow."

    Christina calls out as her body is no longer has bruises orcerations. Both of her lungs have also been corrected by the machine with a drop of vitality solution, allowing her to breath.

    But to fix her genes, it would take a bit more time. The nanomachines will work on it while she sleeps, as long as her father didn''t inflict anymore physical trauma on her body.

    "Since you have been such a good patient, here, have a lollipop."

    I give her an actual lollipop because anything else would be crazy.

    And since I am done healing her with the power of science (and magic), I take her into another room, one with a lot of kids, ying with each other.

    Laughter is the best medicine. Some idiot tells me before I shove a medical bay down their throat. But still, there is no need for a gloomy and depressing atmosphere.

    "Stay here and y until I talk to your father, okay?"

    I tell Christina and left her there. She finds friends pretty quickly since she is an optimistic person. She also shares some of her own songs with them.

    On my way towards where I need to be, I pass another room to have a look at Jennifer and her father, John Aniston, whose body waspletely paralyzed due to the heart stroke he had suffered.

    Getting a heart attack is quitemon in America with all the junk foods everyone consumed. Those Trans Fats just go straight to their heart.

    Should I make sure everyone in America eat heathy and exercise regrly? Do I look like their mother?

    Everyone is responsible for their own health, and I only rectify problems that I have caused personally because it bothers me more than a little to ignore them.

    Anyway, the both of them are in the rehab center.

    Jennifer didn''t notice me watching since her attention is focused on her father, as he struggles to walk on his own without help. He shouldn''t be able to walk yet ording to the original n, but my actress is too concern about her father to pay attention to work.

    I will have to talk to her about that. While I do have infinite patience, my n for her does not. Either she gets her act together or I will rece her.

    And I don''t want to rece her since I have her father as a hostage. Yeah. He is my hostage.

    I head off after watching for a minute or so.

    But instead of heading upstairs to where Allison is, I head to the basement where Xavier is. He didn''t get very far before he was grabbed by Shield Security outside. Is it strange to have a prison built under the hospital?

    Not really, considering the doctors are doing human experiments whenever they are not saving people upstairs. I rather they do that instead of thinking about imnting some crazy shits in their patients.

    They are Hydra agents after all.

    For science!

    They give zero thoughts to the sanctity of life even if the great Doctor Mathew, head of Hydra Gics still do.

    Xavier is not strapped to the chair or anything in the holding cell without any windows and seemingly any doors. He isn''t concern about how he manages to wake up in here since it feels somewhat normal, considering it happens quite frequently with his track record.

    Instead, he is more concern about all the ws marks all over the walls, floor and ceiling, cutting deep into the concrete and steel.

    "You shouldn''t worry about that, Mr. Aguilera. They are there due to some of the specimens we had in here."

    I speak up after a moment. Time is beingpressed right now, so I have plenty of time to have a bit of chat with the man.

    "I don''t know anything, I swear."

    Xavier tells me, making me smile faintly.

    "I actually don''t care about the experiments that the good old US of A is doing behind everyone''s back, Mr. Aguilera. I am here to talk about your daughter and how frighten she is under your care."

    I point out. The Hybridization Project by the United States Military isn''t a surprise to me since I already know about it for a while now. I just didn''t make much of it since I have footages of real werewolves ripping men apart.

    Men who could make their little hybrids piss their pants. So yes, they are a very long way of reaching the same level of biological maniption like Hydra.

    "What? That? She gets that from ying ser. It has nothing to do with me."

    Xavier responses.

    "Is that so. What about several cracked ribs in the left side of her lungs? The are position in ces that no one can see unless they check carefully."

    "That''s¡­"

    I continue listing out the injuries that Christina has suffered as indicated by the Medical Bay.

    Even if those injuries have healed over time, they do still show up on deep scan. People umted a lot of injuries inside their body without their knowledges over the years. That is why living forever is not possible even if you don''t age.

    The body can only take so much.

    "I work hard and long for my ¨C

    Xavier gets cut off with a punch in his chest, breaking several ribs.

    "I don''t need to hear the same excuse as my father, Xavier, and I will make sure you understand each and every single pain that you cause your daughter. No, she is not your daughter anymore. You do not have that right anymore."

    And in this space, no one can hear him scream.

 Chapter 167: The Hybridization Project

    It takes about half an hour to go through the list of injuries that Christina had suffered over the years.

    Over four years to be exact.

    While I could replicate those injuries onto Xavier within seconds, I want him to fullyprehend each and every injury. I also make sure that he is conscious the whole time for obvious reasons.

    There is no point of this if he is in aa.

    Once Xavier is a bleeding mess on the floor with broken arms and legs amongst other things, a door is formed on the wall behind me, allowing a couple of masked men to enter the room.

    They are wearing medical attires with Infinite Health emblem. A snake eating its own tail in an infinite loop.

    They are actually surgeons in the hospital upstairs during their shifts, bun down here in this enormousplex, they are butchers and murderers of unimaginable proportion.

    It is a very fine line, but I don''t really see any of themining about their job.

    As crazy as it may sound, all the men and women working here actually love to carve things up and to stitch things together in the wrong order. People included.

    It is all for science. Well. Mostly for science.

    Morality has no say in what they do, and I don''t mind them joining hands with their inner demons, as long as they produce results or advance Hydra technologically in some ways.

    "Bring him upstairs and fix him up. Make sure his injuries heal slow enough for him to never forget."

    I tell the men and head out of the room.

    A long and well-lit corridor greets me. There are hundreds of cells on both sides of the walkway.

    Most of them are upied, but not always with people and animal.

    Beastly screams and monstrous roars echo from within those cells constantly.

    It keeps pretty much all the sane prisoners and creatures on edge.

    While I could teleport directly to where I need to go, I want to have a little tour first.

    It actually is my first time here, but I do know everything that is going on down here and in every secret facility throughout the country and the world.

    Anyone with unrestricted ess to Hydra Network will have the same knowledge.

    But with so many things happening in every division of Hydra, keeping track of everything is impossible unless it is me.

    And that is because I have Selene and Legion. Shield too when necessary.

    As I head down the corridor, I find it quite remarkable to see how quickly things are progressing, but I suppose with so many specimense and go at the hospitals and clinics above, it shouldn''t be that surprising.

    The cloning technology do speed things up considerably, as it allows for a near endless supplies of test subjects,ing from all races and ancestries.

    I actually have half a mind to upload all the data that I had acquired from an alternate reality.

    Doing so would provide all the gic diversity needed for biological research, but I guess it isn''t really necessary, considering Infinity Inc. is one of the most trusted medical corporation in the world, evil or not.

    I think it is more evil than the Umbre Corporation.

    Infinity Inc. isn''t that evil, all things considered. It spends as much as it earns in return, putting all that money back into the economy, helping the people and the public.

    There is no need to hoard wealth, as money is pretty much meaningless in the long run, but I wonder what my worth if everything is added together.

    It would be interesting to know, but even I don''t know how many things I actually owned realistically.

    I enter another walkway, finding one of the men walking alongside with a bin filled with corpses. There is no need to push the bin like a caveman when there are drones.

    "Please pardon me, Supreme Commander. I am just taking this to recycling."

    The man greets me and moves to the side in order for me to pass through. As I did, I look into the bin, finding what is inside quite disturbing. But that is only because I care about her.

    "Help¡­ me¡­"

    The clone croaks, reaching her bloodied hand out to me for help since I am wearing casual clothing. In contrast, the clones are not wearing any. There is no point of dressing them up nicely unless the men are into that sort of things.

    Seeing the dying clone with tearful face, I do wonder what the real Sandra Bullock would think of this.

    If Sandra knows that she is being cloned thousand of times a day just to be experimented upon in ways that she cannot imagine, she wouldn''t be able to sleep at night.

    And it isn''t always for experimentation.

    The men as well as the women do like to have fun sometimes, as they work hard, they y hard. There is not much to do down here, and most if not all of them don''t really have a home to go to.

    No family person could handle this kind of work.

    And even if they could, they won''t be sane anymore.

    Honestly, this isn''t that much different from entering a virtual reality and go nut. Just like in the future, clones do not have any right. They are property of their creators.

    I give the clone a smile before continuing my way.

    And if it had bother me, it isn''t rational to tell the men to stop using celebrities as test subjects or fuck toys. Whatever makes them work harder is good.

    I enter themon room to get some coffees and look around.

    It is like a normalmon room filled with people chatting to each other. Some are snoozing here and there due to staying up all night just to get that report done.

    Everyone bitches about writing report, so not much different.

    They rather chop people and stick people together than to write report.

    "Nice to see you here, Supreme Commander. I think this is the first time you have been down here?"

    One of the older men greets me. His name is Janus. He appears to be in his 30s, but he could as easily be in his 50s or 60s or maybe older.

    I nod in response and take a sip from my coffee.

    "Do you still remember the Hybridization Project?"

    I ask. I have all the technical information in my head, but what on file isn''t necessary the same as from experiences.

    "Hybridization Project? Isn''t that like almost 30 years ago, Supreme Commander. Why do ¨C ah, please forgive me. Yes, what would you like to know?"

    Janus asks.

    "The failure of the project, and how did it leak."

    I response. I already know the progress of the project and the reason why it is abandoned despite the great sess.

    "Failure is a subjective word, Supreme Commander. I believe it is a great sess. Those that undergo hybridization exhibits superior physical ability like we have hoped even if they give in into their instinct eventually."

    Janus answers.

    "Give in? More like they go fucking crazy and ughter everyone around them. I was there when the main facility went nuclear. The scar here is to show."

    Another person calls out and shows the deep scar across his neck. If it is a normal person, he would have been dead, considering that he had gotten himself beheaded.

    More people join in the conversation, recalling the craziness of the 60s and 70s. They had even bet on the end of the world when tensions are exceedingly high between the United States and Soviet Union.

    I skips those years because I was young then, so there are quite a lot of things that could be prevented if I was there. Things such as the leakage of the Hybridization Project.

    And since I am toozy to redo everything I have done so far, especially for every problem thates my way, I will just figure out a proper resolution now.

    To be honest, if I have to live the same day over and over again, I might be as insane as most of the guys and girls here.

    "It is difficult to pinpoint the exact source of the leakage, Supreme Commander. More so now after all this time. There isn''t much left after the base self-destruct. But if I have to guess, I think it is the Soviet, as they are a major threat at the time. The United States manages to get in on it."

    Janus tells me.

    It is expected as the security back then isn''t as advance as it is now. Furthermore, a lot of outsourcing is necessary, especially in base construction. Now days, everything is handled by Shield and the people of Shield.

    Even so, there is still some leaks. Those people are dealt with ordingly.

    "Not only the US. China. India. Ennd. Korea. It is practically all over the world.

    We should have put a handle on thing when had the chance. Now each country that worth anything has a project. But even after so many years, they are still couldn''t get it right."

    Another person calls out.

    "We didn''t get it right either before the project is scraped in favor of Psionic Potential. We have quite a breakthrough in that recently. Maybe we can get a real psychic soon, huh?"

    Psionic Potential Project (PPP) reces Hybridization Project (HP) because the first proves to be a lot more useful than thetter, as thetter is more or less biological augmentation.

    Human is a jack of all trade while animal is more specialized. A human can never outrun a cheetah, at least not without some serious technological augmentation.

    However, a problem with human-animal hybrid is that the person is likely to give into their animalistic instinct and go berserk. It is even more of a problem with human-insect.

    Combining the intelligence of a person with the power from the animal kingdom seems logical at first, but it actually prevents the emergence of evolved. Basically, advanced human with psionic potential.

    That is why the Hybridization Project is scrapped.

    Hydra Gics is to evolve human into a superior species, not make them weaker in the long run. As our brain is the most powerful tool at our disposal, it is reasonable to advance it instead of our physical attributes.

    Besides, psionic power is far more stronger than physical prowess.

    A human-cheetah hybrid can be very fast, but it really means nothing to a person who has precognition or telekinesis.

    It is quite interesting to listen in on the chatters. Some do want to restart the project just to prove that a fully hybrid can be controlled. Some just want some feline test subjects.

    The furry is strong in this group.

    But in the end, it is agreed that the Hybridization Project is a waste of time and resource. There is also another reason why it is also pointless to restart the project.

    If these guys keep up with the news from the off-reality team, they would know.

    Why try to create a werewolf when you can go and capture a live one?

    And the actual werewolf is far more deadlier than human-wolf hybrid.

    The men did get themselves killed by werewolves, and that is with their technological augmentation and power armor.

    I eventually decide I have heard enough.

    Whatever the United States and other countries across the globe are trying to produce in secret is still far from what Hydra has perfected decades earlier.

    "Supreme Commander!"

    Someone calls out to me when I am heading out of the room.

    I turn around to pay her some attentions.

    "I don''t know if it is anything, but the traffic ident this morning didn''t seem natural. And I just cross check with Shield a minute ago, a member of the Shield died in the ident. It isn''t the only ident that is not normal either."

    The woman tells me.

    I narrow my eyes slightly before nodding and head out of the room. The traffic ident she is referring to is the highway pileup. A lot of people died in the ident, but it isn''t my responsible.

    People die every second of every day.

    People are born every second of every day too.

    "Selene. Connect with Legion and Shield. Analyze the footages of the highway pileup this morning."

    I request.

    Selene acknowledges and immediately connects with Legion and Shield. With three virtual intelligence working together, I would get my answer very soon.

    By the time I am in the room where Allison is currently, Selene informs me that Legion has finishes his analysis with all the footages that Shield has provided.

    Allison is happy to see me as she has been waiting for a while, but I have a frown on my face.

    "I''m sorry that I amte, Allison. I hope you didn''t have to wait long."

    I apologize as I approach her.

    "Yes, but anything can be forgiven with a kiss, Max."

    Allison responses, mimicking me from this morning.

    I chuckle and remove my attention from the report that Selene gives me to lock lips with Allison.

    I will have to deal with the reportter.

    80% probability of assassination.

    Someone is killing agents of Shield, and coteral damages is not their concern.

 Chapter 168: Unforeseeable Consequences

    Our rather yful affection did not go unnoticed, but the men and women in the room pay very little attention to me and Allison.

    They are more preupied with their work at the moment, reviewing and absorbing as much medical data, reports and analysis as possible. It is needed to help Allison with her cellr degeneration.

    The information is all new to them since it is considered ssified knowledge even within Hydra. This means memory wiping is required for everyone when the checkup for Allison is done.

    That also means that there are no nurses or assistants in the room with us. Those people do not have clearance to learn about evolved human.

    It does seem unnecessary to hire outside help for those jobs when drones and droids, collective known as automatons, can do a much better job without requiring rest. They also neverin or be stress. There is no need to pay automatons either.

    But then again, this is still the 90s, so no high-tech stuff publicly yet. It is all for appearance.

    Since that is the case, Infinity Inc. has to hire outside helps for those mundane tasks at the hospital. It would be strange if the hospital doesn''t have any nurses or assistants on duty otherwise.

    This is not to mention cleaners, washers, cookers, and so on. There are quite a lot of things necessary to running a hospital, especially when people have so many needs.

    Obviously, all these mundane tasks are not done by humans in the undergroundplexes. It would be stupid to use manual humanbors in ce of automatons.

    As for why the information pertaining to evolved human is ssified even to the inner circle of Hydra, I simply don''t want anyone to learn about Allison or Lexi, for they both have psionic potential.

    Psionic powers are extremely dangerous, so until I figure out a way to theoretically defend against the people who can mindfuck anyone with impunity, it will remain ssified information.

    Need to know temporary only.

    And having psionic potential is not the same as being capable of it, at least not without some ingenious gic maniptions on my part. But doing that is also quite dangerous, considering that by changing one set or a sequence of gene has many undesired side effects.

    Mutation is a huge problem when one tries to y God.

    It is actually better to let mother nature takes its course, at least for now. Natural selection is really an incredible thing for human evolution, especially in harsh conditions.

    Life itself is quite resilient, capable of adapting to inhospitable environments. And that is why insects are truly the dominant life-form on the. Technically, viruses and bacteria are, as they are pretty much everywhere.

    To be honest, Allison and Lexi are more like carrier of the evolved genes, which is called M-Strain. That stands for Mutation-Strain.

    I was outvoted on the name since I want to call them the X-Genes just like from Marvel. People aren''t a huge fan like me, but I guess M-Strain sounds good enough.

    I will just think of it as Maxwell-Strain because I am pretty much the first mutant. Heh. Take that, shitty Apocalypse. With all that power and you fail to take over the world. Geeze.

    Honestly, I could take over the world right now, but it would be a totalitarian and oppressive regime, not unlike the Gctic Empire.

    No need to retread the same path.

    Anyway, Allison and Lexi are carrier of the M-Strain, so that they can pass that gene into their children, thus producing the next generation of evolved humans.

    And for greater chance of passing the M-Gene and allowing it to mutate further, they should only have children with those who are confirmed to have psionic potential or better yet, psionic capable.

    Me, for example.

    But I am not psionic capable yet. I will be eventually. Then maybe I can read mind without needing to resort to micromachines or nanomachines.

    Legion has estimated that it would take at least a dozen generations for actual psionic power to appear in any real capacity. More so for a fully developed psionic capable individual to appear.

    I do have plenty of ways to speed things up, morality asides. There is no need to preserve the sanctity of life in the name of science.

    In any case, there is a slight problem with a lot of my methods, but it is not really important right now.

    Allison should be the focused of my attention. I didn''t bring Sandra Bullock along because that would divide my attention.

    "Max."

    Allison whispers once our lips are parted. Her eyes tell me that she wants more, a lot more. She always wants more, especially when being so close to me.

    Obviously, she didn''t really understand this strong attraction fully, but I do have a theory. It is a good theory in my opinion.

    I suppose her strong sexual attraction to me is due to her advanced physiology.

    While it is not really my intention, the M-Strain causes natural sexual selection to be a lot more active and dominant in both Allison and Lexi.

    And maybe, it is perhaps more dormant in all evolved humans?

    This hypothesis needs to be tested, but it is logical to assume so.

    Naturally, humans will always seek out the most suitable mate to ensure their gics get pass on. It is still true in the modern world when emotions are not in y.

    Romanticism is a different beast all together, and it is hard to qualify chemical impulses as science. In any case, it is not important.

    What is important is that evolved humans, carrying the M-Strain within their gic makeups, seem to show a very strong desire to sire a more powerful offspring.

    It is the reason why Allison and Lexi desire me so much despite I am their progenitor. It seems that as long as the opposite sex is capable, it didn''t matter what kind of biological connection already exist.

    In fact, before meeting me, Allison and Lexi barely have any sexual drive.

    They aren''t all that interested in sex even as procreation. That is quite strange, considering they both are quite beautiful and attractive. Many men would love to get into their pants.

    But perhaps it is because their biology rejects normal human, as mating with them would not advance their species.

    Did I use species to described evolved humans?

    Yes, I did. They are actually a breed of their own, but I do not want to call them homo-superior. Doing so would means that normal humans are inferior.

    Not necessarily true. People are capable of a lot more than meet the eyes. I should know because I''ve seen so many crazy shits over the years, rtively speaking of course.

    I smile at Allison and shake my head.

    "There is a time and a ce for everything, my dear daughter. Now. Please lie down and have a good dream. While you do, we will have a look at that big brain of yours. There is no need to examine your body since it is already perfect in every way."

    I tell her, making her giggle.

    And I do mean what I have just said. There is no need to examine her body since her ability belongs to her mind and only her mind.

    The body did not matter in rtion to psionic power.

    Strangely enough, the body seems not to matter a lottely, at least beyond the scope of the physical ne of existence. It is actually called the Mortal ne officially, as ording to Zeus. I will probably should use that term from now on.

    Allision nods happily before lying onto the bed. She takes a deep breath and exhales as those circr rings begin to spin and move. She leers at me every now and then to see if I am still there, standing by the bedside.

    I am, as I have promised.

    "I will be here while you sleep, sleeping beauty. I will definitely wake you up with a kiss. Maybe after, we go for some ice-cream?"

    I joke, making her giggle like a little girl at the dentist.

    Allision is really a little girl inparison to me, technically speaking. I am about 500 years her senior, and the differences in our ages will only get bigger.

    Damn, I feel so old. So very, very old. Still a lot younger than Eliana though. I wonder how she is doing on her end, considering it should have been at least months for her.

    I hope the lovely dark elf misses me.

    Allison finally closes her eyes and tries to sleep. Ites surprising easy to her thanks to the rotating contraptions that are sliding along the bed.

    It is actually due to those contraptions since one of their functions is to induce sleep in the patient. It is more like rest, but it is the same, nheless. Some people do sleep easier than others, however.

    Once Allison is dreaming, I head to one of the consoles to have a look at her brain''s activity.

    Everything is being recorded by the Medical Bay, and it will take about half an hour to finish recording the activity. She is actually dream right now as ording to the electroencephalogram (EGG) scan. But to know what she is dreaming about, sadly, my technology is not there yet.

    It will be one day.

    In any case, the recording process is automated, so aside from monitoring the whole process, making sure everything is in order, there isn''t much to do but wait.

    I could leave the room ande back when it is done. Or I could just jump ahead into the future. Both options sound like a good idea, but I did promise that I will be here.

    While Allison wouldn''t know, I don''t want to go down that road of technicality.

    My promise is priceless.

    After 5 minutes of watching the monitor, the doctors be bored. They begin to talk to each other, mostly on what they have been working on currently.

    Everyone has their own project, and as long as it viable, they will be given a greenlight. With unlimited fund and resource, most if not all projects are given greenlight.

    As for me, I have Shield list all the deceased members on record.

    There are quite a lot of people who died since being agents of Shield doesn''t mean they discard their normal life. They aren''t like agents of Hydra. Therefore, these agentse to work like everyone and go home at the end of the day like everyone else.

    Some of them didn''t it home due to traffic idents, so I guess when their time is up, their time is up.

    Death can be a bitch, but I wouldn''t revive them with my power since doing so would open doors that I do not want to open. I am not responsible for their lives and well beings. They are.

    However, if the agents are being assassinated by an unknown party, it is my responsibility. Protecting my assets is always my responsibility, not to mention the principle of it.

    I just can''t have some idiots going around and killing my men without paying the consequences.

    And to my surprise, quite a lot of agents have died over the years, mostly in car idents on their way home or to work, but there is also other form of idents, such as boating, skiing, mountain climbing, and so on. Quite a lot die in extreme sports. These guys do live life to the extreme.

    One of them actually die from allergy to shrimp. Weird.

    But it does feel oddly familiar.

    Is Hydra killing Shield members!?

    Please tell me they can''t be that stupid even if I try to make Hydra and Shield enemies just like in theics, but it is mostly forughs on my part.

    And it would be funny for like a minute or so.

    At my request, Legion begins analyzing all the footages avable through Shield, making sure they are all idents naturally. I don''t think they all are since it feels too strange.

    It did take a while since there are so many footages to go through.

    By a while, I mean a few minutes.

    My frown deepens when I find that over 42 members of Shield are assassinated. Why did that number sound familiar? I search my memory immediately.

    "James Houston."

    I mutter as the profile of the man moves to the top of the pile within the visual disy in front of my eyes.

    James Houston is the person who has caused the who media incident a while back, forcing me to drive a cute girl over a cliff to resolve the problem.

    Oh. I did have a bunch of people assassinated afterwards just to tie up the loose end. The news didn''t report their death since people die every day.

    In retrospect, I could have locked Reba up in my sex dungeon somewhere outside the United State or maybe even outside the sr system.

    Just kidding. I don''t have a sex dungeon. Not yet.

    Time to build one in a spatial dimension.

    Legion notes that there is an 87% probably that James Houston was assassinated.

    And how did Legion figure that when I couldn''t tell myself?

    This is not to mention Shield herself. She is also a virtual intelligence, but granted, she is not designed as a criminal investigator.

    A footage of the ident appears in my vision, showing the car containing James Houston getting into an ident with another vehicle.

    I have seen it before, but there isn''t anything out of ordinary, at least on the surface.

    Legion oveys his finding onto my vision.

    I notice there is a number disyed next to the car. It measures the speed of the car. While the speed isn''t anything out of ordinary, the fact that James didn''t step on the brake like a normal person would just open my eyes.

    That bit escapes me since the brake still works after the collision, but the fact he couldn''t use it during the ident means it was not working. It fails at critical moment?

    In fact, most idents are due to safety mechanisms failing at critical moment.

    Legion did not detect any use of advance technology, so it couldn''t be Hydra unless Alex and Hans are fucking around with magic.

    I doubt it though.

    Therefore, that leaves magical or spiritual means, but sadly, Shield is currently incapable of detecting magical energy.

    I suppose it is time for the surveincework to undergo a major upgrade. Detecting magical energy will probably reveal a lot more about the world. I will also add brainwave detector, which allow Shield to detect psionic energy as well.

    As for spiritual energy, it might be impossible due to requiring an actual soul, but I will think of a way to do so.

    In any case, this is troubling. Unlike Hydra, whose members are monitored constantly, agent of Shield are not, so they can be targeted quite easily. But still, someone capable of assassinating them without leaving any evidence behind tells me this isn''t going to be a simple matter.

    "Supreme Commander. Maybe we can make this part bigger? This part wider?"

    One of the men speaks up, making me arch my brow. What is he talking about, exactly? It takes me a second to realize he is talking about cosmetic augmentation for Allison.

    This kind of augmentation is avable for Shield, Hydra and quite a lot of wealthy people.

    Ites off as advance surgery for the wealthy people since they don''t need to know the doctors are modifying their genes to make them beautiful.

    "Idiot. Didn''t Supreme Commander say she is perfect as she is?"

    One of the women speaks up. She res at the man, who once work as a cosmetic surgeon, meaning that he knows a thing or two about beauties.

    "Um. No need to call names. Let''s me see what the good doctor has in mind."

    I response after a cough.

 Chapter 169: To Wake a Sleeping Beauty

    Allison slowly opens her eyes to see me and only me.

    There is no one else in the room besides the two of us. All the other people have already left in order to attend to other matters as well as patients, right after they had finished what they needed to do.

    The memory of what they have done in this room has also been swiped from their mind. It is to keep everything a secret. They do not need to remember all of this, only I do.

    I am the only person who know exactly what had happened in this very room, and I prefer it to be that way, at least for now.

    No. Actually, maybe forever.

    Honestly, it is not morally questionable by any mean, and like the good surgeon had said much to the dismay of other doctors, it is all for the greater good.

    The doctor argues that women love to be a sex symbol in the mind of others, and I do agree with that point of view somewhat, considering the ways society looks at people currently and a few decades in the future.

    But I think everyone would love to be a public symbol, sexually or otherwise, whether they are women or men. No one would like to step out of the spotlight willingly once they have a taste of it.

    Being in the spotlight is quite addicting from my own observation.

    I was in the spotlight a few times, and it is intoxicating. It also strokes my ego. My megalomaniac ego.

    "How is your dream, dear daughter?"

    I greet Allision with a charming smile from her bedside. She blinks slowly at me before parting her lips to speak softly. She looks exhausted, but it is expected. Her body did just undergo a form of surgery.

    "Very tired, father."

    Allision tells me before closing her eyes once more to rest both her mind and body. Both needs to be adjusted to the new modifications and augmentations. Her mind far more than her body, as it remains highly active for thest couple of hours.

    Her mind has to be to allow me to analyze the problem and find a viable solution.

    I have found several solutions with the helps of the other doctors, but the quickest and easiest way to fix her up is through direct application of Gic Modification.

    Modifying the code of life is usually the solution to any gic problems that are found in the patients at the hospital. God makes us perfect, and it is up to us to ascend beyond perfection.

    That isn''t the motto of Hydra Gics, but it might as well be. There is actually no official motto aside the slogan: There is no God.

    Sounds logical enough for what they are doing in total secret. There is nothing sacred about life in the mind of these doctors and scientists, as they believe life is what they can make of it.

    I like the way they think.

    And to prevent any public outcries or pointless criticisms, gic maniption isn''t resorted to unless there is absolutely no other way to save the person. This excludes the use of magic because that is not within the realm of science.

    These are men of science, not crazy men of science like Alex, although they are pretty crazy, all things considered. They are pretty nice to talk to once you get passed the murdering and butchering part.

    In any case, there are a lot of unintended side effect of modifying someone gically, sopulsory checkups are needed. The checkups also serve to keep the person in line, especially when they do hold some sort of position in the United States Government and Military.

    It cannot be considered as ckmails since without Infinity Inc. helping in them in the first ce, they wouldn''t be as healthy and proactive as they are now.

    In fact, most of them should have died due to gic diseases, idents, or just sheer stupidity. Their wealth may keep them alive through the best medical care money can buy, but it is really up to me in the end, now that Henry is in retirement.

    It is also one of the reasons why Henry is so feared in his business circle. Money cannot buy longevity unless Henry allows it. More correctly, I allow it. How long these old moneys get to live really depends on their obedience towards me even if they do not know me personally.

    They only know the big boss behind Henry. I don''t want to reveal myself to these people yet, since the fear of the unknown is more terrifying. It is quite frightening to know there is someone out there that can crush your family and everything you own with just a single word.

    No one would want to displease such a person.

    In any case, if they remain in line respectfully, they and their family will get to live long enough to see the future that I will created. They might even get to keep their wealth and status in the new world.

    If not. Well. Pests must be removed.

    I do consider them as pests most of the time, for sucking out the lifeblood of the public. Infinity Inc. is just taking their probably dirty money and giving it back to the public. Not probably. More than likely.

    And that is how you make the economy goes around.

    I allow Allison to sleep once more.

    This time, it is a dreamless sleep.

    The first dreamless sleep that she had in months Her mind is always highly active, and it is not because of her evolved physiology. It has a lot more to do with her Perfect Recall ability.

    That ability is a double-edge sword, considering the human mind is not really a machine. It might be a lot moreplex than a calctor, but it is not as resilient as one when put to the test.

    It is a good thing that Lexi doesn''t have this problem. She has other biological problems. But for now, the girl can sleep quite a lot. She actually sleptte into the afternoon because she doesn''t have work today unlike me.

    And tomorrow, Lexi will show up at Terra Entertainment to apply for a job. Having my daughter as my private secretary probably has its benefits, but I think I will mess around with her for a few days, mostly for fun.

    I am happy for Lexi to get to sleep in today.

    Unlike her, I never find enough hours in the day to simply do whatever I want, and that is quite ironic considering that I am the Aspect of Time.

    Sure, I could make more time through with my power, but it would mess up a lot of thing if I did. There is already an enormous time difference between the prime-reality and other realities thanks to me via stopping time.

    In any case, sitting here and watching over a beauty sleeping isn''t so bad, even if it is a waste of time.

    It isn''t that much different from watching Antigone sleep in my opinion.

    And considering that this room is part of the research faculty of the hospital, I will have all the privacy that I needed without needing to lock the door. Of course, locking the door would be a good idea, but only if I decide to break my own rule of no fornication in the workce.

    No one will dare to bother me and Allison. No one under mymand that is.

    Like all researchboratories scattered throughout the world, security is very tight, but every now and then, someone does manage to sneak into here to take photos and steal things.

    It is actually quite easy to sneak into here, but it is impossibly hard to get out with Shield watching like a hawk. This is not to mention the whole research facility is built like a maze.

    As a matter of fact, most people would love to have rats sneaking in here just to see them panic.

    And speaking of rats, there are two right now.

    "Shit, Krystal. Someone is already in here!"

    The guy calls me out as he notices me. His partner in crime takes a nce at me.

    "I don''t think he is a doctor here. He is probably one of those snobby rich guys."

    Krystal responses. Her attention is on Allison now while pondering herself what kind of slut she is. And if Allision isn''t, she is probably one of those snobby privileged girls.

    I take offense to that, but I can understand her point of view. There are many privileged people in this part of the United States. California is considered as one of the richest states in America.

    And since I am not wearing a doctor uniform, I do look a lot like a rich family member, visiting a patient here in this highly secured and private area.

    I am also sitting by the bedside, so it adds to the assumption.

    It is unnecessary for me to correct them in their assumption as they will not remember any of this in like an hour or so.

    Erasing recent memory is quite easy for Hydra Gics. They do have a lot of experience with it.

    "I am rich, but I am not snobby, miss. Are you running from someone?"

    I question with a smile.

    "Yes. They areing."

    The guy responses before shutting the door close. He is referring to the security guards.

    "Alright, where did they go?"

    One of the guards outside question as he heads down the corridor with his partner. Everyone must be paired up just incase one get knocked out.

    It is quite hard to knock them out due to their training, but not impossible.

    From the security feeds, his partner is holding a pocket scanner. The scanner should reveal theyout of the whole maze-like facility as well as where everyone is.

    Everyone except me that is.

    I am always invisible to biometric sensor and scanner. Most form of sensors and scanners in fact.

    This is because my gic is beyond top secret. It is so much so that anyone who has any sort of file on me will be in for a severe punishment, assuming that I didn''t kill them outright.

    Any database or server can be breeched, if not now then it will be in the future.

    Therefore, my file is not being kept on any server.

    This kind of privacy isn''t limited to me. High ranking members of Hydra and Shield enjoy the same kind of privacy. Only I know who they all are and where they live.

    "They are in here."

    The other guard responses, causing the two trespassers frantically search for a ce to hide. They find spots under the desk, making me chuckle.

    "Please don''t tell them that we are in here, rich guy."

    Krystal pleads. Her entire history appears in front of my eyes for me to review, including all the bizarre stuff she is doing in high school. She is still a teenager, and yet she is bold enough to break into here.

    It is in order to find someone. Her older brother.

    I view the history of the guy with her too, who is her boyfriend. His name is Howard. He just goes with her because it seems like the right thing to do.

    "Alright, I promise that I won''t tell them that you are in here."

    I reply with a smile and turn my attention towards the door.

    The two men actually knock on the door before opening it and entering the room. This is because I am in here. They don''t need to check the sensor to know that, and I do not appear on there anyway.

    Allison does. She is marked as a VIP.

    "Pardon us for disturbing you, Mr. Maxwell. We are looking for a couple of rats that have a date with a Memory Bank."

    The guard speaks up rather respectfully. He is a high-ranking member of Shield Security, who provides security for this establishment. For a high-ranking member to y as guards mean he lost a bet. Maybe he is doing it a favor. It is his day off after all.

    His partner is the same.

    The Memory Bank is another section of the facility, housed in the Neurological Department, dedicating to brainwashing people.

    Killing intruders and trespassers is unnecessary if we could brainwash them. For spies, especially from other countries, we turn them into trojan horse after interrogations.

    Of course, I prefer making sure intruders, trespassers and spies know the terror of their ways.

    That isn''t a typo.

    "Mr. Maxwell. What a privilege guy."

    Krystal mouths, mocking me.

    And here I had thought we could be friends. Not really. I would I want to be friends with her?

    I nod to the men without saying a word.

    And they proceed towards the table and grab hold of Krystal and Howard. Howard tries to fight back, but he gets knocked out before he could do anything.

    "Alright, miss, let''s go. You should consider yourself lucky since most people who disturb Mr. Maxwell doesn''t get off this easily."

    The guard who grabs Krystal tells her.

    "Mr. Maxwell, huh? You''re fucking bastard!"

    Krystal calls out, using me of something while being dragged away.

    I didn''t break my promise, did I? I didn''t tell the men that they are hiding under the table in any amount of words. In fact, I didn''t even say a single word.

    "This one has a potty mouth, maybe gag her first, huh?"

    I point out and Krystal gets gagged. She res at me as she is being carried out of the door along with her unconscious boyfriend.

    "Sorry again for the interruption, Mr. Maxwell. Perhaps locking the door is a good idea?"

    The men apologize once more after they head out of the room.

    They also lock the door for me without my say so. I didn''t mind one way or another, but I am curious to why Krystal is looking for her big brother in the first ce.

    Her brother is actually at home, safe and sound at the moment.

    At least from what Shield is telling me through the Surveince Network.

    Since I have time while Allison sleeps, I take a look into where her brother, Wayne, has been recently.

    He did break into the hospital for a scoop a week ago, but due to his quite aggressive nature and takes no shit from authority, he was shot to death by one of the doctors.

    Actually, he was mauled to death for trying to punch a doctor.

    Since he got killed in a fit of rage, he was cloned and then had his memory altered before dumping in a motel somewhere by Shield Security.

    It should be the end of that story, but the cloning is too perfect, giving him perfect health. Any injuries he had suffered throughout the year are no longer there. This includes scars as well as tattoos.

    Krystal also notices a change in her brother''s behavior, especially in regard to the hospital.

    Wayne did not want toe back here to snoop around despite constantly telling her previously that there is something off about this ce to the point of conspiracy.

    This is due to the memory wipe, as the person he offended make sure he is subconsciously fearing it, thus therefore, did not want to talk about it anymore.

    I wonder if this will be the end of the story. Krystal and Howard will get their memory wiped and their behavior adjusted by Neurology and Psychology Department.

    Speaking of Psychology Department at the hospital, the psychologists there have been doing a lot of good work recently, especially for people with severe mental trauma.

    In any case, if I run into Krystal again, I will sure to mess around with her again.

    I smile at that while watching Allison sleep for the next hour before getting up from my chair and lean over her form.

    My lips spread around her soft lips, waking her up with a kiss like I had told her I would.

    That kiss involves tongue and everything since she is already awake. She has been since those idiots interupted her sleep.

 Chapter 170: Spiritual Side of Things

    I didn''t give in to her desire even if the room is currently locked.

    No one will interrupt me and Allison even if we are to do much more than kissing and groping. No one dares to on the ount of who and what I am.

    More of who I am, actually. Nobody in the prime-reality knows that I am an Aspect, and it is better for me if it is a secret.

    In any case, I didn''t give into her desire isn''t entirely because of the regtions against fornicating in the workce. It is actually due to the massive pir of light that pierces the sky beyond the window.

    The light is so incredible blinding that I had thought for a second a nuke just went off in the middle of the city. Now, that would be a sight, not to mention giving a sense of nostalgia.

    And I don''t mean that this pir of light isn''t impressive sight by itself. It is quite impressive, especially when no one seems to notice it. If they did, they would be in a panic, believing it is a weapon of sort.

    "What''s wrong, Max?"

    Allision questions when I remove my lips from hers and cock my head around to look outside the huge window. It is not possible for anyone to us from outside, at least not in broad daylight.

    Like everyone else on the street and in the parking lot, she didn''t seem to notice the pir of light even if it is clearly visible to me. She didn''t hear anything either despite the ringing sound in my ears.

    "I just remember that this is a hospital, so we shouldn''t. Besides, your body need a lot more rest after what it had been through."

    I response.

    There is no need to tell her about the light if she cannot see it herself. It could be magical or spiritual in nature. I didn''t sense any magical power, so it is probably spiritual.

    And considering where it is original from, it is more than likely spiritual in nature. It has only been like 3 hours since I left Zeus and Zephyr alone, and they already pulling this kind of shit.

    What if someone see the pir of light? Actually, does it matter? If they can see spiritual energy, they should already be dead or not really humans.

    Regardless, how it is a good idea to alert everyone to your position? I will have to ask him when I see him again. I shouldn''t worry so much since he could probably handle anything goes his way. He is a lot like me, only doing things if it benefits him in some way.

    Allison smiles faintly.

    "I think I can go for that ice-cream now, Max. You won''t deny me even that, will you?"

    I chuckle at her question and shake my head as a response. I will certainly go for some ice-cream, and I think someone else might like some ice-cream too, but I don''t think I should take Christina along.

    No one wants to be interrupted on their date. I guess Christina will have to spend an hour or so in the inhouse yground. She seems to have a lot of fun right now, so it isn''t necessary a bad thing.

    "Of course not. How about a walk in the park too? Some natural sunlight will do you good."

    I response and help her off the bed.

    "I would love that, Max. Maybe you will have lunch with me too?"

    Allison questions. It isn''t really like a question due to the way she phrases her words. It is more like do it or I will be very depressed sort of thing. I guess I have no choice. Didn''t I have a n with Sandra in the afternoon?

    Yes. I did.

    And now, I wish I have another me right now, but my power prevents me from being in two ces at the same time, at least in the same reality.

    I could actually be in two realities simultaneously, but that requires some nning since when two or realities are connected by the temporal rift, my power consider it as one continuity, thus stopping me from existing in more than one ces.

    In any case, I could use a clone. But then again, I don''t really want any of my clone to score with Sandra even if I will absorb their memory and experience once I have the time to get around to it. It is actually different than what happened with my mother, considering that Sandra is the prime-Sandra.

    If it was an alternate-Sandra from an alternate reality, I wouldn''t mind so much as I am not responsible for any other realities beside the prime-reality.

    I know that statement is not correct, considering that I am an Aspect of Time.

    All of realities are my responsibility, but that responsibility only extends to their existence, not any of the people or sentient life living within it.

    Adria proves this since her reality can no longer support any life due to the Curse of Decay. That said, she still bes the aspect of time in order for time to exist now, before and after.

    Her whole existence is a conundrum of sort.

    In any case, I have another daughter I need to take care of, at least a little.

    Aside from resorting to using clones, there is actually a few more ways to resolve this issue I have, but most of them if not all will hurt Allision when she finds out, assuming if she finds out. Even if she does not, I don''t want to open those kinds of door.

    It is not morally questionable. It is more to do with my principle. It is also due to my principle that I do not just mind control the entire world. I value freewill greatly, at least what appears to be freewill.

    No one is truly free the moment they are born, aren''t they?

    "Of course, Allison. Or would you prefer to have lunch alone?"

    I response with a question of my own. Having lunch with Allison will result in more than simply that. I don''t mind one way or another, as long as she is happy.

    After a few more yful jabs back and forth, Allison and I head out of the room and into the corridor.

    "Isn''t it left, Max?"

    Allison questions when I turn right down the corridor. Thanks to her perfect memory, she remembers exactly the way that she hade. Of course, like any ability, there will always a way to defeat it.

    "Yes and no, Allison. Yes. You dide in from that way, but if you go back out the same way, you will not find the exit. This ce is actually a maze. Getting inside is easy but getting out is quite hard."

    I tell Allison with a smile. I didn''t tell her that it isn''t a normal maze. Anyone with a brain could defeat a normal maze. They will not able to if the section of the maze is constantly changing, not to mention signs and symbols as well as cement of items and objects design to confuse people.

    The whole research facility is also a huge psychological experiment. I mean aside from trapping people like a rat.

    Of course, intruders can try to break out from the window, but they will be surprised to find that those several inches thick windows are highly resistant to impact. Nothing short of a tank round can shatter them.

    In addition, not every window are actually windows. They are holographic projectors, designed just to mess with people''s sense of direction and position.

    It is all very borated, but no one unauthorized is allowed to be here in the first ce anyway. Those that are allowed here for checkup or augmentation will have a guide with them.

    Allison nods and follows me, who in turn follows the direction given by Selene. Sure. I could pick up a scanner from one of the guards, but why bother when I have a superputer in my head.

    Most Hydra members do have some sort ofputer imnt in their brain, especially when they are high-ranking members or members of the inner circle. It is not inclusive since inner circle are reserved for people I valued.

    Alex and Hans aren''t actually high-ranking members of Hydra since they do not oversee the day to day operation, but they are of the inner circle due to what they are researching.

    Besides, I think Alex and Hans hate sitting down at the desk all day.

    They are more practical.

    Speaking of imnts, none of the Hydra members working in Hydra Gics have any kind of imnts on their person. This is because they prefer biological augmentation to technological augmentation.

    As for me personally, I do not really have any preference. Whatever works I suppose.

    In fact, I do have more than just biological and technological augmentation. I have a bit of magical, at least in the form of enhancement rather than augmentation. I think I will add spiritual as well as psionic on top of everything.

    I hope that is all of it. Oh. Cultivation too I guess once I get around to it. It is already pretty hard to kill me, but why not make it a lot harder.

    With the direction from Selene, Allison and I quickly find ourselves outside and in the parking lot. We appear to have taken a different route than the one we had entered the hospital with since we didn''t go pass through the front lobby.

    There are more than one lobby at the hospital. It all depends on what kind of emergency is required, and like any hospital, Infinite Medical Center do dispatch ambnces.

    I enjoy the afternoon with Allison, taking her to the park for ice-cream and then healthy lunch together in one of the skyscrapers.

    My go-to restaurant is still closed due to a federal investigation. A lot of people have been arrested in the hunt for one of the biggest crime bosses of the century.

    Me, apparently.

    I obviously did not intend to build a criminal enterprise since it is better to build an actual enterprise, not to mention legal too, but I am the head of the criminal enterprise, nheless.

    JJ ¨C I am calling those two idiots that, have decided my position in their criminalwork. It is mostly for scaring people, making them all think that their already frightening bosses is working for someone, who is likely to be a lot more terrifying than them.

    The fear of the unknown is truly terrifying. It is more or less the same thing as the prestige group that Henry Oxford has built in order to form connection and keeping people in line.

    But honestly, the Syndicate does sound nice.

    After making love to Allison at her apartment, I decide to have a check on Zeus and Zephyr. The pir of light has already disappear, so I assume whatever they were doing, they have already finished.

    They are both watching television at the moment in the living room.

    On the table, there are 16 ck spherical orbs and 7 clear one. They manage to capture 16 spirits or something of sort. I still sense a lot of spiritual energy lingering in the air. It is more than previously as well.

    "Hey, Max."

    Zeus calls out. Zephyr waves at me instead since her mouth is upied with cakes. She seems to bake them herself from the state of the kitchen. Did she goes shopping?

    "Hey."

    I greet back like a teenager. I also return the hand gesture at Zephyr.

    "If you are curious about the light pir thing a couple of hours ago, Max, just know that it is not really anything dangerous. It is more like an experiment, just to see if they show up. If they don''t then there is nothing to worry about. If they do, well, it isn''t anything you and I and Zephyr cannot handle. It also good for training too."

    Zeus tells me as he tries to steal a slice of cake from Zephyr, who freezes his hand. But unlike having a normal body, his hand doesn''t get shatter. In fact, he can break out of the ice just by smashing it into pieces.

    I am curious to who or maybe what Zeus is referring to.

    "You will find out what I mean if you wait around long enough, Max. And if you are concerned about innocent bystanders, then don''t, unless they are spiritually aware, but since no paparazzi shows up all this time, I don''t think people in this reality can sense spiritual energy."

    Zeus is right, but that was a bit reckless. Of course, I didn''t think he would something like this without rtively sure that he didn''t cause a huge scene. But then again, he probably assumes that I can fix it all up if it hase to that.

    How annoying.

    "Whatever you do, know that I am not here to fix up any of your mess, Zeus. I trust you understand."

    I point out.

    "Of course, Max. It is why we are allowed to wander your world freely or as freely as you can allow us to. You trust us, and I will not waste the trust you have ced on me. By the way, Zephyr and I will be binging Dragon ball. You want to join?"

    Zeus questions.

    "Why when I can live it?"

    I response. I do have better things to do than sit here and watch anime. And besides, if I want to watch anime, I could watch it in my mind.

    "Oh. Interesting. Well, whatever you prefer, Max. Oh, by the way, I only find 16 evil spirits. One or two might be hiding somewhere in the house, but you might have at least 4 or so evil spirits roaming freely in the world."

    Zeus informs nonchntly, making me blink.

    What did he say? Evil spirits? Wait. Did he release them? It didn''t seem like the case.

    And why is the spiritual energy in this ce feels lot denser.

    "Should I be worry?"

    I question, referring to the evil spirits. Zeus did call them evil, and from what I can understand so far, soul get twisted when they spend time in the Nether Realm. In other word, they be evil spirits.

    "Only if you have weak enough will be possessed, but I shouldn''t worry too much about it personally. This reality is predominantly of Catholic faith, so the ck Order or some organization close to one is probably around to take care of those evil spirits."

    Zeus looks at me before chuckling.

    "Looks like you don''t know, so take a sit and watch some Dragon Ball while I exin about them, huh."

    Looks like Christina will have to stay back at the hospital for a bit longer. I did have some people to go and find her mother since I will not be adopting her.

    Christina should be with her mother and her sister.

 Chapter 171: Creation of Spiritual Weapon

    I decide to join Zeus and Zephyr in binging Dragon Ball.

    It seems like a good waste of time on a Sunday, but it did bring back a lot of memory. Old ass memory from the time I was back in high school in the original timeline.

    I could be considered as an Otaku then, more or less.

    In any case, I did give Sandra Bullock a call to reschedule our date to another time. Since Monday I will be having a long business conversation with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on expanding theirpany as well as market share, it will be Tuesday then.

    Actually, Tuesday is no good either since I havemitment with Mystic. Maybe I can squeeze Sandra in there somewhere. If not, I will have to move her to Wednesday.

    Selene just tells me that my schedules are all filled up on Wednesday and Thursday.

    Damn it. My days are getting booked up.

    I should do something about that, or it will get out of control to the point that I won''t really have any free time during the week. Those clones are mighty tempting right about now. Maybe I could use them as a stand in at the office. I would still get the same experiences and knowledges, regardless.

    "Alright, Zeus. Tell me about the ck Order and what do they do. I hope that the order is not the one from the Avengers. I don''t really want to deal with aliens right now."

    Aliens do exist, but I am referring to the superviin team that works for Thanos in theic. They do appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically in the movie Infinity War and Endgame. Neither movies are released yet in the prime-reality. They might be released earlier due to the advancement of technology.

    Nevertheless, Zeus should know what I am talking about.

    He seems to know a lot about modern pop culture despite being an Olympian God. He must be at least a couple of thousand years old. Likely a lot more. Definitely.

    "Avengers? No. It is more like D. Gray-man''s ck Order. Less humors and more violence. The Order exists long before Christianity is a thing, but the members do worship basically the same God.

    Did you know that most religions worship the same God?"

    Yes. I did.

    As for D. Gray-man, it is a manga series written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino.

    The manga follows an exorcist, who is a part of a religious organization known as the ck Order. He basically hunts down demons and exorcises them with a holy relic that manifested in his arm.

    I didn''t get to read the ending because the manga never finished, not even in the 31st century.

    But if there really is a religious organization that exorcise demons, why haven''t I notice it.

    I admit that I haven''t really paying a lot attention to the religious side of thing since I am not religious, but Shield and Hydra do pay attention, and if they find something that huge, they probably should say something about it.

    Zeus seems to know what I am thinking.

    "If they are that easy to find, they wouldn''t be called a secret organization, Max. You might have eyes and ears everywhere, but so do they, just not in the way you think. There are more dimensions in what can be seen."

    Zeus pauses for a moment to think to himself.

    "But I am not certain if they exist or not in this reality. And if they exist, they might get wiped out after all of this time. Many things could happen in the thousands of years that gone by. But I am hoping that they are still around in some forms."

    Zeus is referring to the butterfly effect. No reality is exactly the same as the next, meaning that things can change drastically, especially over the course of several millenniums.

    "And what if they don''t exist, Zeus?"

    I question, wanting to know his n B. If he is like me in his thinking and logic, he should have n A to Z and probably more.

    "If they don''t, I will have to take a trip into the Twisted Nether, but I think I will have to do that anyway because I need to collect some Spirit Shards. They are needed for cultivating the soul, so I guess you''re joining me and Zephyr?"

    I simply nod as a response while wondering what exactly Spirit Shards are.

    Even if Zeus doesn''t exin, it is quite easy to figure out from the name.

    And I do need to cultivate my soul in order to fight against people wielding godlike powers. I can hold my own on the Mortal ne, but on the Spiritual ne, it is another matter.

    "Aren''t you forgetting that I need to separate my mind, body and spirit first, Zeus?"

    I question. I should get started on cultivating. Or at least get the knowledge of how.

    Zeus smiles at me.

    "In due time, Max. I am not really stringing you along if that is what you are thinking. It is just that I dock the means to help you with it unless you wish to attempt fate? I know of three ways to do so, and two of them requires me to have a soul. The third. Well.

    It is kind of dangerous."

    Zeus exins.

    And of course, I want to know the third method.

    It can''t be more dangerous than getting incinerated by the will of a Dragon God.

    "The third method is actually how normal people gains spiritual power in the first ce. Go and pretty much fight to the death against a spiritual beast. The more powerful the beast is, the better chance of awakening. But it is dangerous because if you lose, the beast will devour your soul and you will cease to exist. Most people don''t attempt this method."

    I am not like most people, and I don''t think I can actually cease to exist.

    "Spiritual beast? I want to try that method. Who knows, I might awaken just like you did."

    Zeus chuckles at my request.

    "I know you will say that, Max. Most people like us do, actually. But I don''t really have a spiritual beast for you to fight, but the good thing is, the Twisted Nether are filled with them."

    I narrow my eyes and feel like I have just fell into a trap.

    "If you just want me to join you in raiding the Twisted Nether then you should have just said so, Zeus. There is no need to beat around the bush since if it benefits me in some way, I am in."

    Zeus cracks up and gestures his hands dismissively.

    "Alright. But you need to have a spiritual weapon or a magical weapon capable of harming a spirit."

    Zeus points out and looks at the ck orbs on the table.

    I follow his gaze and frown slightly. I have spected why Zeus just left them in the open like that. He could have stashed them in his inventory and away from view, but he didn''t.

    And the only reason that he did not is for me to see them inly and simple. I think I am more or less a pawn on his chessboard right now, ying right into his n. He probably is going to use me as some sort of bait in the Twisted Nether.

    Zephyr too.

    How annoying. How very annoying.

    But honestly, Zeus does hold a lot more cards than I do right now.

    I actually have more cards up my sleeves. They are hidden for now, but I think Zeus does know about them. It makes sense, considering he is borately steering me into a decision that he already knows I will make if given the choice directly.

    "And how do you suppose I get one, a spiritual weapon. I assume it has something to do with the evil spirits you manage to capture in the monster core."

    I y dumb.

    "Yes. While we, I mean Zephyr and I, do have all our gears despite not being the original, we find them to be severely degraded. This is because they lost their spiritual power. That is why we need to borrow spiritual power from others in order to even stand a chance in the Twisted Nether."

    Zeus picks up one of the spherical orbs in one hand.

    "By the way, what kind of weapon do you prefer, Max?"

    Zeus questions.

    "I suppose ance will do. I like poking things."

    Zeus chuckles before shifting through his inventory to find an enchanted spear. It radiates with magical energy once it manifests in his hand. It is quite a piece of art.

    "This is called the Spear of Longinus, Max. The weapon that kills God. Just a copy now anyway, but still powerful. It should serve you well, but at the moment, it stands no chance against a spiritual beast."

    Zeus presses the ck orb against the spear, forcing out the evil spirit onto the spear. A ghastly scream was heard before the spirit is absorbed into the spear, turning its glow into a shade of ck.

    The spear is then handed to me.

    "Here. Hold it and have a feel. Do not give into it no matter what."

    Zeus tells me.

    I shrug and take the spear into my hand. The moment I touch it, an ominous feeling washes over me and causes me to shiver lightly. It didn''t go away, always lingering there.

    "Good. Your spirit seems really strong, Max, at least a lot stronger than the spirit that is now inhabiting the weapon. It is always a problem of wielding cursed weapon, but we will we do with what we have."

    Zeus casually states. It would be nice if he would have told me it is a curse weapon in the first ce. I don''t think he is using me as a test subject since he is so sure that it would work. That just means he had already tried it before.

    "Thanks for the gift, I guess."

    I response and twirl it in my hand for a bit. The ominous feeling is still there, trying to invade my mind and infect my sense of reason, so it is a good thing that my mind and spirit are really tough to break.

    "Take a few more and let the spear absorbs it, Max. The more spirits the weapon contains, the more powerful it bes. Even animal spirits do add something to its overall strength, but no one want to fill their spiritual weapon with weak souls."

    Zeus directs me.

    I follow his direction, finding it quite easy to let the spear takes in another evil spirits into itself.

    And once it did, the dark aura bes more stronger, overshadowing the magical glow. There is also a sinister feeling radiating from the weapon. The ominous sensation that I am feeling also bes a lot stronger.

    "Be careful, Max. While it does get stronger with more spirits, it bes harder to control, and in the heat of battle, it might cause you to go berserk. I have seen quiet a lot of people go on a rampage in a crucial moment before they let their weapon dictates their actions, thus massacring enemies and allies alike."

    Zeus warns.

    It is a good warning. It is already be difficult to wield after absorbing the 5th spirit. Zeus gives me a total of 6. That means he probably manages to capture 18 spirits in total. 2 are missing on the table because Zeus and Zephyr probably have used them.

    I allow the Spear of Longinus to absorb the 6th spirit into itself, forcing its malicious aura to explode outwards in a tsunami, washing over the room.

    It ispletely pitch ck, and it is extremely violence. It actually wants to sh forwards to slice up Zeus, but I have to restrain it through sheer willpower alone.

    "You say that they are evil spirits, formed after a human soul are twisted in theher, but how can a human soul can emit this much energy?"

    I question. I mean 6 human souls in total. Its spiritual energy, while tainted, is extremely dense.

    "That is because they are no longer soul of a human, Max. They are soul of a demon. Time flows very differently in the Twisted Nether. One day here, a thousand over there, more or less. These souls are trapped there for decades. It takes a bit of effort of pulling them back from theher."

    Zeus points out, grimily.

    "A soul can handle much punishment, but over hundreds thousand of years of torture in the Twisted Nether? A saint will even turn into a devil."

    That is an interesting piece of information. The Twisted Nether is like a factory, turning good soul into evil one. How can I use that?

    "And the strength and power of a spiritual beast is equal to the number of years they have lived. You actually have six spiritual beasts of a hundred thousand years locked up in that spear."

    Zeus adds with a sheepish smile.

    Eh? What did he say!?

    "And you''re telling there like 5 of these things are loose in the world right now?"

    Goddamn it, Zeus!

 Chapter 172: Everything is For Progress

    I am not pissed off at Zeus for being irresponsible.

    But I am pissed off at him for creating more work for me.

    Like I don''t have enough things to do with my time already. I just loathe at cleaning up other people''s mess.

    To be honest, I am not really that bother by the fact of people are going to die. Yes. People are going to die with those evil spirits running freely and possessing whoever they pleased.

    This is because people do die every day, in one way or another, mostly through natural causes as they reach the end of their lifespan. Money can keep death at bay, but death will eventuallye.

    People do get born too, at an even faster rate than death works its magic, hence the explosive increase in the global poption in recent decades.

    It is just all part of the natural cycle of life, and there is no need for me to fuck with that cycle. Knowing that death lurks around the corner just makes people live their life to the fullest, instead of just staying alive.

    This is not to mention that having an exceeding long lifespan causes stagnation, socially, economically and technologically. It is even more so if everyone be immortal. People are no longer living then, thus I do not consider them to be alive.

    Obviously, I will have to hunt down those evil spirits to prevent them from creating a mess. They were never a problem in the future. The alternate future that the world was destroyed by the introduction of magic.

    Evil spirits weren''t even a problem in the future that the world was ripped apart by temporal rifts. Not even in the unspoken future that was filled with constant wars throughout the gxy due to one thing or another.

    Alright. I do realize that everything I have done so far inevitably cause the end of the human race, but then again, if I do nothing at all, the human race will destroy itself anyway.

    I am the lesser of two evils.

    That is to say, my morally questionable actions will eventually allow humanity to prosper throughout the gxy and the universe.

    That is the goal, and it isn''t so simple than I had initially thought. It is the fluke that humanity has really survived this long.

    But in the future, humanity will have to choose me or choose extinction.

    Either way, humanity is screwed. More screwed if I don''t fix any of the problems that I have indirectly or directly created.

    I am responsible for thepany that I am keeping. There is no doubt about it.

    "Yes, Max. There are. But there is no need to get upset. Think of those evil spirits as progress."

    Zeus answers my question. He really does not care about what happens to the human race. He actually only cares about the result, even more so than me.

    I didn''t like being on this side of the fence, where I am unable to dictate the course of events.

    "Do you even care about the lives of other people, Zeus?"

    I question despite already knowing the answer.

    Zeus is a God. He was born into divinity unlike me who has started out as a human. I mean after I was killed and reborn. This is actually a huge different between us.

    I consider myself as part of the human race. Zeus does not. Why would he?

    "Of course, I do care about other people, Max. I care about people that I know. That means you too if you are curious."

    Zeus smiles. He actually dodges the question, but he did give me the answer to a question I didn''t ask, and that question is whether he will backstab me in a heartbeat.

    I suppose I will have to take his words for it since distrust will cause disunity, thus making our mutual goals more difficult unnecessarily.

    "I see."

    I response with a sigh. There is no point of getting upset with him, considering his point of view. He is not my underlings, so I cannot enforce my ideals onto him. The same could also be said in reverse.

    "But since you care so much, Max. I will help you hunt them down before they cause a hole in whatever your n for this reality is."

    Zeus assures, seemingly knowing my concern full well.

    The individuals do not matter in the end. Only the goal is.

    Humanity must prosper, and anyone who stands in the way will be removed.

    "It is quite hard to sense spirits once they find a suitable host to possess. As they areherman, that means inhabitant of the Twisted Nether, theher will actually call out for them regardless wherever they are. They will probably try to find a way to return there with a corporal body. In that case, I should show you something. Come with me a for a minute."

    Zeus continues. He then gets up from the couch and walks pass me.

    I stash the Longinus Spear into my spatial dimension and head downstairs to the wine cer. Maybe I should call the spear as the Dark Spear now. It is pretty much corrupted by evil spirits.

    From what Zeus has told me, evil spirits are pretty much spiritual beasts. Spiritual beast is merely just an epassing term, like mammals, for humans are a part of.

    Did that mean deep down, all humans are just beast? Well. Humans are certainly capable of it.

    Downstairs in the basement is the wine cer, but it is empty now. Whoever owned the house before I did decide to sell all those vintage drinks.

    Wines worth quite a bit, especially with age. With my power, I could create a thousand-year-old bottle effortlessly. It should fetch for a few hundred thousand of dors on the market, if not a few millions.

    As a matter of fact, I always age wine to order to enjoy their rich taste. Not all wines taste better with age, however. Most of them tastes like shit after a certain point.

    Crappy wine turns to vinegar after a while, but that has to do more with the manufacturing process.

    Anyway, I shouldn''t worry about wine even if I was going to bring one for Sandra as congrattion. It is for purchasing a new ce.

    I should be more concern at what I am sensing in this room at the moment.

    It is a storm of spiritual energy. Highly turbulent.

    "What am I sensing here, Zeus?"

    I question, as I am unable to see what he can. However, I can sense it.

    "I could tell you, Max. But it is better for you to see it yourself. You will be able to with some time and maybe some effort. Out of curiosity, how did you awaken your spiritual awareness first ce?"

    Zeus questions, getting my attention.

    "Another reality. I managed to run into a spiritual beast."

    I response. The essence of a Dragon God is more or less the same as a spiritual beast in my opinion. It is actually an astral entity.

    Zeus did not request me to borate. He watches me wandering around the room, trying to get a feel of where the spiritual energy is being focused.

    It is not at the middle of the room. It is more towards the opposite end of the room.

    "Be careful, Max. You wouldn''t want to enter the Twisted Nether as you are right now. It is extremely dangerous for you as you are right now, but you probably fare a lot better than me since I don''t have a soul to defend myself against the environment."

    Zeus warns, and I think that is my cue to distance myself from the invisible portal.

    His smile is dropped when the spiritual energy in the room spikes. He immediately pulls out a double edge sword, which radiates darkly.

    "You continue to amaze me, Max."

    Zeus speaks up before running towards me.

    I narrow my eyes slightly as he shes forwards, missing my body just a couple of centimeters to carve up something that I cannot see. I dash out the way for him to give him room.

    Something shimmers in the air. Itunches itself towards Zeus before he slices it in half with his sword, killing it. More shimmers are seen, surrounding him.

    One of them charges at me, and while I cannot make it out, I can totally grab it. I grunt as something bites down my arm. While there is no wound whatsoever, I could feel my arm getting tear off.

    I send whatever it is flying with a punch to where its head was. It rolls on the floor without disturbing the ground.

    "Spirit beasts?"

    I question as I pull out the Dark Spear. Before the monster can recover, I stab onto the ground where it is. I could hear a howling sounds before it dies.

    The weapon in my hand pulses as it hungrily devours the kill.

    "Yes, Max. They are called Spirit Hounds. Just think of them as giant wolves with aggression that makes make the Hulk looks tame byparison. They are in a frenzy right now because of you. How about you tell me what you are, right now?"

    Zeus responses and ughters half a dozen more Spirit Hounds with a couple of shes, but it seems that no matter how many he kills, more appears.

    I wonder if Zeus somehow set this up just to get me to tell him what I am. It is more than likely, and I think I am bleeding. It feels like I am, but there is no visible wound on my body, at least physically.

    "I am actually not sure what I am, Zeus. My power just awakens one day, and I decide to pretty much make the most of it."

    I answer. It is more or less the truth. I do not fully now what an Aspect actually is, just that Aspects are the most powerful thing in existence. Right up there with the Primordial.

    Zeus nods and epts that exnation, at least for the moment. He spins his weapon above his head as a bunch of hounds attack him from all direction. His weapons pulsate the more he kills, just like the spear in my hand.

    "You might have already notice that spiritual weapons be stronger the more they killed, but they also be harder to control, so you shouldn''t let the spiritual energy builds up too much. Just think of it as building up that special technique meters."

    Zeus speaks up before his weapon glows brightly. He then jumps up and smashes into the ground hard to send out a st of spiritual energy in all direction. It sends the invisible Spirit Hounds flying against the wall.

    Strangely enough, they didn''t pass through the wall, considering that they aren''t corporeal. But I guess if I was Zeus, I would have erected some sort of barrier around the room to prevent these things from getting out.

    It sounds logical.

    While Zeus is having a st, I stand back and watch. There is no need for me to get involved since it is still not possible for me to make their forms yet.

    "It''s another wave? Why didn''t you guys call me, Zeus?"

    Zephyr groans as she jumps down the staircase with her scythe in her hand.

    "Ah, so sorry, Zephyr. It is unexpected thanks to Max here. Can you please patch up his arm first, so he can stop being a strawberry?"

    Zeus responses as he takes bes more aggressive, cutting down whatever monsters that manages to get within his range.

    While I am wondering why Zeus calls me a strawberry, Zephyr grabs my hand to have a look. She then proceeds to gesture her fingers, making me feel somewhat better. I assume she is healing me.

    "There you go. Don''t get bitten again. You might feel a bit sick tomorrow due to the infection. It should be okay after a good rest. Can you guard the staircase, so none can get out? It would be a bad thing, I recall."

    Zephyr tells me before joining the battle.

    I decide to sit back and y gate keeper. Several hounds manage to get pass Zeus and Zephyr toe at me. They promptly die because even if I cannot see them, they are more or less animals moving on pure instinct.

    Strawberry. Spirit. Oh. I get it.

    It is quite easy considering Zeus likes to reference anime. He is referring to Ichigo from Bleach. Ichigo means strawberry in Japanese.

    And as to why Zeus had told Zephyr that, I was bleeding spiritual energy before, thus basically inviting the hounds from the Twisted Nether. It is interesting to know I taste delicious to Spiritual Beasts.

    Interesting does not mean a good thing. I am not about to be a happy meal for some monsters.

    The battle eventually dies down since the sharks no longer smell blood. I watch Zeus and Zephyr with interest as they wander around to pick up something. I could make out the shape a little.

    "Can you see this, Max?"

    Zeus asks once he join me by the staircase and let Zephyr collects the rest.

    "They are called Spirit Shards. It is simr to those monster core you have, in a sense that they contain spiritual energy. These are required for cultivating one''s spirit. It is the reason why we are heading to the other side unless there is a way to bait a Spirit Beast of Millions. That is a spirit beast that live for millions of years."

    Zeus tells me before looking at me like a giant worm.

    I sigh. He will probably try to figure out way to use me as bait, considering this whole thing is probably a test. I am not having that, at least not today.

    "Where is my share, Zeus? I did kill quite a few."

    I request.

    It is basically loot, and I want my loot.

    "Not all kill leaves the shards behind, especially when we are using cursed weapons. They are like pigs hunting truffles. You have to stop them from gorging on the spiritual energy. But here you go. Thanks for the help."

    Zeus tells me before handing over a couple of spiritual shards. I could feel them sitting within my palm even if it is hard to make them out.

    I pocket them before putting my Dark Spear away.

    "I don''t mind you farming for them like this, but it will be a problem if you are unable to contain these Spirit Beasts, Zeus. I don''t want to end the world because of you are overconfident in your ability. That is not to say you aren''t capable, but I learn that if things can go wrong, they will definitely go wrong."

    I response.

    Honestly, I don''t want to stay here anymore since I am sure Zeus will find a way to fuck with me. Twice is enough for one day.

    I also do want to examine these spiritual shards in private.

    If these shards are like monster cores as Zeus has implied, I can probably clone them with my power, at least the container.

    The power to store spiritual energy? I just need to figure out ways to abuse the fuck out of it. Also, the shards might help me with my curse, allowing me to cast magic like a normal person.

    "Only if a Spirit Beast of a Billion manages to find the portal. Even if they could, it is not really possible for them to squeeze through due to their massive size."

    Zeus assures me.

    But somehow, I am sure the universe will make sure one wille through just to screw me over. Like I have said, anything bad that can happen will happen.

    It is all for progress.

 Chapter 173: Spiritual Energy Detectors

    I decide to leave Zeus and Zephyr to their own devices after that.

    But not before demanding some actual answers from Zeus, who seems to be far too eager to provide them for me.

    What is up with that? He is scheming something, I swear.

    In any case, I did learn the whole picture or maybe most of the picture. Zeus never tells me everything for one reason or another.

    Sigh.

    Zeus and Zephyr need to farm these Spirit Shards in order to reconstitute their missing soul, at least a little. It will take at least a million shards each, so they have a lot of work ahead of them.

    Having an actual soul is a must to enter the Twisted Nether, a ce of infinite dimensions, apparently.

    It is all to hunt bigger game as well as for training, not to mention looting. There are a lot of lost items, weapons, and artefact there.

    Being a temporal clone, they have lost much of their powers, especially their spiritual power. They are pretty much in the same situation as me, except that I still have a soul.

    So technically, I can enter the Twisted Nether myself for a treasure hunt.

    Can enter doesn''t mean that I should.

    I am not stupid enough or insane enough to attempt a raid alone, especially so many people far more powerful than me currently have already died there. I mean spiritually wise.

    And I don''t mean simply die.

    They cease to exist if their soul is destroyed or devoured. Without a soul, there is no rebirth as well as reincarnation. It seems like the death of the corporal body is more or less an inconvenience to people with any real power.

    It actually makes sense in the grand scheme of things.

    The Mortal ne is one of the lowest nes in all of existence. It is also the most popted.

    Despite the obvious danger, so many people still want to enter the Twisted Nether, including Zeus and Zephyr. For one, it is to train their spiritual power. For two, it is known to contain an entrance into the ce that Zeus wants to go.

    Zenith.

    Seems like all the powerhouses are at Zenith, a fitting name.

    Considering the hype, I actually also want to go there, if just to snoop around due to it sounding a lot like an exclusive club.

    Unfortunately, it is not that easy to get to Zenith.

    Not only the entrance into such an exclusive ce is hidden deep within the Twisted Nether, it is also being guarded by Spiritual Beasts of Aeon, the strongest of all Ranked Spiritual Beasts.

    If one of these beasts ever step onto the Mortal ne, all souls within that said ne will instantly be devoured, at least Zeus seems to think so.

    There is no reason to doubt him since it is one of those times that he appears to be genuinely serious.

    Zeus actually has never seen one before because if he did, he wouldn''t be here talking to me. He would either manage to enter Zenith or he would cease to exist. There is no third option when facing an Aeon Ranked Spiritual Beast.

    It is all in or don''t bother trying.

    An interesting warning to all those that tries to reach Zenith.

    In any case, Spiritual Beasts of Aeon are probably gatekeeper or something simr.

    And since I am an Aspect of Time, I will certainly have to face a Spiritual Beast of Aeon one day. Maybe more than one.

    But until then, it is better to avoid running into them. It is very unlikely to meet one since these beasts reside deep within the Twisted Nether.

    In any case, it is actually better to avoid all Ranked Spiritual Beasts unless I am seeking to kill one. They seem like trouble, considering the spiritual power they wield.

    Power level do increase exponentially the longer they live. It is because for them to live that long, they have topete and devour each other. How did onee to be in the first ce anyway?

    Where do Soul actuallyes from? No one really knows.

    In any case, it is a good thing that these Spiritual Beasts are rarely found on the Mortal ne. It is not really their natural habitat, and the Twisted Nether do call for them.

    A Million Ranked Spirit Beast is enough to scare the pants off most cultivators from what Zeus is telling me.

    Realities that have any form of spiritual cultivation usually contend with at most thousand years beasts only, and that already causing enough problem as Spiritual Beasts are immune to all physical and most magical attacks.

    Evil Spirits aren''t really regard as Spiritual Beasts.

    But while evil spirits do not possess the same overwhelming power as actual Spiritual Beasts, they are still pretty dangerous since they can think and act intelligently.

    Beasts are called beasts because they are stupid most of the time.

    That makes me feel a lot safer, knowing those 5 evil spirits are not as deadly as I first initial thought.

    I was being sarcastic.

    Humans are pretty weak physically, but their brains help them take down a lot of predators to be what they are today. It is the reason why these evil spirits manage to survive that long in the Twisted Nether, considering the ce is crawling with Spiritual Beasts.

    They have a brain, and they know how to use it.

    So, yeah, that makes me feel a lot safer.

    How troublesome. It is very troublesome to be honest.

    But after a clear head, I realize that even if Zeus didn''t cause this problem, someone else will.

    It cannot be avoided if I am to regain my power.

    Well, at least I don''t have to worry about the lunatics who had built the house.

    They are likely dead.

    I could bring them back to have a chat to why they want to create a portal into hell but get theher instead. I hope it isn''t because they just want to see Lucifer.

    Actually, I am more interested in how they could do it.

    Opening a portal into another ne of existence, I mean.

    Even Zeus is not sure how they did it exactly. He only forces the rift the open wider through raw power alone. It is not the same as forming a bridge in the first ce.

    I ponder about that for a moment while looking at the Spirit Shards alone in my spatial dimension. It''s really easy to clone them, but the cloned Spirit Shards are empty of spiritual energy.

    Even so, they are still useful, so I clone a million of them.

    Legion did analyze a shard, finding the just in ss container. It is the same finding as nk monster core. Neither are obviously ss even if they look like ss. They are as fragile as ss though, so it is pretty dangerous to leave them lying around.

    Regardless of what Spirit Shards are made of, I have Legion prepare an arena for me.

    Once Legion did, I take out a bottle of mana and consume it. Magical energy immediately fills my body and flows within my body, and with magical energy, a certain Dragon God decide toe out to y.

    "Hello Ingra."

    I greet as the burning dragon surrounds me and roars, sending a powerful st of mes against me in an attempt to vaporize me. I defend against the attack, but just like before, it is far too powerful to be stopped.

    Despite being magical in nature, it damages my soul, meaning it is capable of harming spirits.

    And as Ingra ispletely focused on obliviating me, Legion attempts to sap it of its spiritual energy, and it is working. Those Spirit Shards glow with power, but just like monster core, it could not contain the might of a Dragon God.

    Did I contain Zeus in a monster core without much effort? Why is it so hard for Ingra, who is also just a will of the original?

    I guess this is different between an actual imparted will versus an actual temporal clone.

    Ingra appears to be pissed off at my attempt to sap its spiritual energy. It attacks me with a lot more ferocity, but once my magical energy runs out, it has no choice but to retreat back into my soul.

    Well. That didn''t work. I guess I need bigger Spirit Shards. These shards are from Spirit Hounds, which are years to decades Spirit Beasts. Basically, ants in the Twisted Nether.

    It is not aplete loss since Legion did get a lot of data when spiritual energy of Ingra gets absorbed into a Spirit Shard. Into millions of Spirit Shards.

    Despite not being able to detect spiritual energy visually or electronically, Legion can actually detect when a Shard is filled with energy. This is because one a shard is filled with spiritual energy, it bes invisible.

    Since a Spirit Shard only need toe into contact with spiritual energy to begin absorbing, I just think of a good way to detect spiritual energy.

    "Legion, workshop."

    I request the workshop, so I can design a new type of drone. Upgrading Shield''s Surveince Network will require some overhauling, not to mention time, but to create a new cloak drone didn''t really take that much time.

    Aside from cloaking and antigravitational devices and the essential, the spiritual sensor only needs to carry a Spirit Shard. If it runs into spiritual energy, the shard will be invisible, thus basically telling me where there is spiritual energy.

    Once I finish design the bug, I really wish the Miniaturization Project isplete. If it did, I could shrink the new spiritual sensor into the size of an ant. It is as big as a coin right now.

    In any case, it allows me to locate ces with spiritual energy. Perhaps, I will be able to find a Spiritual Nexus somewhere in the world.

    Having one will speed things up for Zeus and Zephyr since they are able to absorb a lot of pure spiritual energy. It also helps me to cultivate.

    Spiritual Nexus connects to the Spiritual ne. A ce simr to the Twisted Nether. It is one of the ces where souls go when their corporal body expires.

    So, there is that.

    It isn''t as nearly as interesting as the Twisted Nether, considering only the dead can go to the Spiritual ne. Going there as living person is asking to die.

    Anyway, I have Legion fabricate the new drone. A trillion of them. It takes Legion about 10 minutes to do what I have asked. The fabricating capability is impressive.

    Once Legion is finished calibrating them, I return to the real world and let them loose. It will take about a day or so for them to disperse all over America. A week to disperse around the world.

    If I need more, I will have Legion build more, but it isn''t really necessary since the drones are not like stationary camera. They will always be on the move.

    And while Legion is carrying out my wishes, I drive to the hospital to check up on Christina. Shield has found her mother. She is living in Pennsylvania.

    It is a long drive, but not so long with my power.

    I initially thought of taking care of Christina myself, but it didn''t seem right with her mother is still alive along with her younger sister. It is better for her to reunite with her family.

    Furthermore, Christina is far too young to be useful to me. Her ability did not manifest yet. It mightn''t, considering not every baby carrying the M-Strain will.

    Of course, I didn''te to pick her from the inhouse yground at the hospital alone.

    And Christina is frightful to see her father with me.

    It is not actually her father, who is in intensive care due to me beating him up.

    "Christina, sweetheart. Listen to me."

    Legion speaks to Christina while wearing her father''s body and face. Not literally because that would be quite gross. Not to mention unnecessary with shapeshifting capability.

    "Daddy will be going away for a long time, so I will have your mother take care of you. Please go with this doctor, Max. Listen to everything he says, okay? He will take you to your mother. And I am sorry for everything I did to you. I have been a very bad father."

    Legion tells her and then gives her a hug. She is both shocked and surprised at the hug.

    It seems like her father rarely hug her, at least not like this.

    Her small hands eventually reciprocate, wrapping around Legion and hugging him tightly. It is the best I could give her since her father is in aa. He also wouldn''t have done such a thing.

    Despite what had happened, Christina does not really hate him. He is still her father after all.

    And like most people say, blood is thicker than water. I suppose I believe that as well since I am paying far too much attention to someone like Christina.

    The embracests for a long time, and once it is done, Legion says his farewell before leaving the room without hesitation. He has finished his acting.

    Surprisingly, Christina chases after him, but he is nowhere to be seen.

    "Daddy. Daddy!"

    Christina calls out as I pat her on the head a few times before speaking up.

    "Let''s go, Christina. I will take you to your mother like your father has wanted. And we can also go for dinner on the way there."

 Chapter 174: Things Through Her Eyes (POV)

    Daddy? Why, daddy? Why?

    Why can''t Ie with you to wherever you are going?

    Did I do something wrong?

    Is that why you don''t want me anymore?

    I will be good. I promise. I will be a good girl, so please, pleasee back and take me with you.

    Please don''t leave me. Please, daddy! Please!

    I keep calling for my daddy and looking for him, but he is not anywhere to be seen.

    He is gone like he had said, but he had told me to go to mummy. She will take care of me in his ce because he had said that he had been a very bad father.

    Daddy has been a very bad father?

    Why did he say that?

    Daddy isn''t a bad father.

    He is scary, very scary sometimes, but he isn''t a bad father like he had said. He talks very nicely to me and also buys me things when I am a good girl. Really a good girl.

    I am a good girl.

    Haven''t I been a good girl, daddy?

    I am confused, but if daddy wants me to go to mummy then I will have to go to mummy. I get punished if I don''t listen to him, and his punishments really, really hurts.

    Daddy punishes me for everything that I did wrong, but he said it is good for me. It is to stop me from being bad, just like when I had tried to stay with mummy and my baby sister, Rachel.

    I had cried so much that day, the day when mummy and daddy have stopped living in the same house together. They had said that they don''t love each other anymore and that they don''t want to live with each other anymore.

    I haven''t seen mummy for years because daddy takes me all over the world due to his job in the army, but he doesn''t anymore because he doesn''t work in the army anymore.

    When he did, we had gone to many ces, even to Japan and Korea. Those ces are really different from here in the United States, and the people there also talk funny, especially the Japanese.

    Japanese people are always respectful to me and daddy, bowing constantly. But daddy had said that it is because they have lost the war to us, and now, they are our servants, so they have to be respectful.

    The Korean doesn''t need to because they are better people than the Japanese.

    But mummy said that isn''t true, and daddy is just being racist and hateful.

    Mummy even said that I will be too if I stay with him.

    I don''t understand what racist mean, but I do understand what hateful mean. Daddy isn''t hateful since he loves me. He loves me more than he loves mummy. That is what he had said.

    Mummy doesn''t want me to stay with daddy, but she did tell daddy that he can take me while she will take Rachel in that huge room with a man with funny curly hairs.

    It doesn''t look like real hair.

    Since then, I have only been able to talk on the phone with mummy because daddy is always overseas due to his work, but I think it has already been months since Ist talk to her.

    Mummy is probably busy. She is always busy.

    Everyone is always busy, never have time for me, except for daddy when he is home from work.

    Daddy had said that he will always have time for me as long as I am a good girl, but sometimes, I wish he isn''t home because he is always angry, making me hide in the house because he hurts me even if I am a good girl.

    And now daddy doesn''t have time for me anymore.

    He is gone, and I don''t know when he will be back. Will he be back?

    I just don''t know. I just¡­ don''t know.

    Why didn''t you take me with you, daddy? Why?

    Did you decide that you don''t want me anymore? Did I make you angry again?

    I look up at mister Max with teary eyes.

    He is a doctor, but he doesn''t look like one. He doesn''t really wear that whitecoat and have that tube-like tool around his neck to hear my heartbeat.

    I recall that it is called a stethoscope. I have asked one of the doctors once.

    A long time ago.

    It is hard to pronounce that word correctly since I haven''t been to school. I also keep changing schools due to the work that daddy did. I don''t mind, but it makes it really hard to learn any new words.

    And I want to learn new words, so I can write down what I want to say deep down.

    It is hard to express myself without knowing proper words, but mister Max seems to understand me, even if I didn''t say anything.

    I also like mister Max because he has made the pain in my chest goes away unlike all the other doctors that daddy had taken me to recently. They always argued with daddy about those punishments that I received for being a bad instead of helping me like mister Max.

    I can breathe normally now, like a couple of years ago.

    It doesn''t hurt anymore.

    Mister Max also has made all my other pains go away too, but I don''t think daddy likes that very much because daddy had put those bruises there to remind me that I have been a bad girl.

    It is my punishment like daddy had said.

    Mister Max frowns as he sees my tears, seemingly know what is on my mind. I think he can hear what I am thinking.

    He crouches down to level his very clear eyes with mine. And his thumb runs across my face just under the eyes to clear my tears before his hand ces itself on my head, caressing me gently.

    His other hand holds one of my hand firmly.

    "There is no need to cry, Christina. Your daddy just has things that he needs to do, so when he is done with those things, he wille back to see you again. So, until then, you have to be a good girl, okay?"

    Mister Max tells me as I try to not cry anymore. His hand remains on my head.

    And it feels nice. Feels very nice.

    I don''t know why but I like it very much when mister Max touches me. It makes me all warm and tingly inside. It isn''t a bad feeling. It is a really good feeling. My heart also beats a lot faster too.

    Mister Max soon removes the hand from my head and takes hold of my other hand. He is now holding both of my hands. He also smiles, brightly.

    It makes me want to smile too, so I did.

    "You can talk to me, Christina. I will be your friend. I can also be your daddy if you want me to, so don''t cry anymore, okay? You have to be strong because you are special. A special girl. A very special girl."

    Mister Max tells me, and his voice sounds so soothing. I have never been called a special girl before. I like it. I want to be a special girl, someone that everyone has time for.

    I immediately stop crying and nod repeatedly, making him smile again. I like his smile. It is very calming and¡­ and¡­ I don''t know the world. But it makes me all very happy and inside.

    "Now, let us go and see your mother, okay? I am sure that she misses you. Oh. We will stop by a ce before we leave the hospital. I need to talk to someone. If you want, Christina.

    You can stay here with all your new friends to y with them a little bit more. Do you want to?"

    Mister Max asks me.

    I look back at the room where I have yed since this afternoon. There are a lot of children there, and most of them are so nice. I have made a few friends, and while I do want to y with them a lot more, I think it will be like all the friends that I have made overseas. I will have to leave them eventually.

    My attention returns to mister Max, who nods in understanding. I didn''t need to say anything because he knows exactly what I am going to say. Instead, I hold onto his hands tightly, not wanting to let it go no matter what.

    I like his touch. I like him touching me.

    It feels so warm and wonderful. It feels much better than getting a hug from daddy.

    "Alright, Christina. Let''s go then. And don''t worry, you will get to see all of your friends again, one day, one day when the world looks up to you. When everyone wants to be your friend."

    Mister Max stands upright as he said that. What did he mean by the world looking up to me? I didn''t understand because the world doesn''t have eyes, so how can it look up at me.

    And everyone wants to be my friend? I would like that. And if everyone is my friends, then no one will be my enemy, right? Daddy always say that there are two people in the world, friends and enemies.

    I just need to know which one they are.

    Mister Max stands upright. One of his hands free my hand, but the other continues to hold me to lead me down the corridor.

    The whole time, I keep looking up at him, and sometimes, he matches my gaze with a smile.

    He takes me to another building. It is a much bigger building and a lot more cleaner too. Also, there is a lot less people in the corridor. Some corridors don''t have anyone at all.

    I think this ce is the private wing of the hospital.

    Daddy couldn''t take me to the private wing because he needs to have a lot of money. Like a lot. I don''t know how money can get you into a building, but I guess miss Max must have a lot of money since he is here.

    We stop at a room with an enormous wide window. There is a lot of room with huge windows for me to see inside. Like the other rooms, this one also has people inside.

    A beautiful woman. An old man. And I think a doctor.

    The old man appears to be injured since he is trying to walk on a moving walkway. I think it is called a treadmill. The much younger woman is trying to help him while the doctor is jotting down something.

    "Please stay here, Christina. Don''t wander around or you will get lost in the building."

    Mister Max tells me when he removes his handspletely from me. The warmness and that tingling sensation also go away. It didn''t go awaypletely. It is still there, lingering.

    I really want to grab hold of his hands again, but I fear he might yell at me. His expression has changed a lot. He is no longer smiling. He seems to be annoyed, just like daddy always is these days.

    So, I did want he has asked. I stay outside like a good girl as he enters the room. I watch him through the ss window, seeing him walking towards the young woman and gesturing her towards him.

    The doctor takes the old man out of the room and into the adjacent one, leaving only mister Max and the young woman together.

    She looks frightened, and while I cannot hear what mister Max is saying, I could tell that he is lecturing her like daddy had lectured me. She must have done something wrong. She must have been a bad girl.

    Is mister Max going to punish her? Is he going to tell her to remove her pants and lie across hisp, so that he can hit her bottom? Just thinking about it makes me remember daddy ps my bottom.

    It really hurts.

    The woman nods repeatedly and gestures her hands in assurance, and to my surprise, mister Max did not punish her. He only lectures her before he leaves.

    "Let''s go, Christina."

    Mister Max requests me and lends a hand towards me. I take his hand with a smile and follow him to leave the building.

    "Why didn''t you punish her, mister? She did something wrong, didn''t she?"

    I question out of curiosity.

    Mister Max just chuckles and shakes his head, finding my question funny. I don''t understand.

    My question isn''t that funny, is it?

    "There is no need to punish someone like that, Christina, even if they did something very bad. To me, it is better to teach them what they did wrong instead of hurting them. Did your daddy ever tell you what you did wrong or he just punish you and sent you to your room?"

    Mister Max asks.

    I recall that my daddy never did. He only punished me and then leave me there crying or sent me to my room, so that he can be alone. He tells me to think about what I did though, so I think he is trying to let me figure it out myself.

    Mister Max chuckles again even though I didn''t answer him. I pout a little since I don''t know what he is finding so funny. It would be nice if he tells me.

    "You have to be older to understand, Christina. Now, you must be mightily hungry. What do you want to eat?"

    Mister Max asks me, as if he is allowing me to choose. Daddy only allows me to choose what I want to eat when I am a really, really good girl. Most of the time, he brings home whatever he manages to buy on his way home, usually packaged rice with vegetables and fishes.

    It is called a bento in Japan.

    Daddy calls it a lunchbox, but we didn''t have it only at lunch. We have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner because daddy doesn''t really know how to cool. We sometimes eat out too.

    "Japanese huh? How about some Sushi? Do you want some Sushi, Christina?"

    Mister Max asks.

    Oh. I know Sushi too. I have them when I was in Japan. They are rice with a small slice of fish or meat on top. The rice also can be wrapped around the ingredient.

    But I never had any Sushi here because it is too expensive, daddy had said. Things just cost a lot more money here, but good thing that mister Max has a lot of money.

    He can enter private wing of the hospital freely when so many people aren''t allowed.

    I nod at his question. I want some Sushi. I want to have some Japanese foods. Korean foods would be nice too, but I shouldn''t ask.

    "Now, Christina. You have to speak your mind instead of nodding and gesturing your hands. It is quite disrespectful, especially to someone who are older than you. So, do you want to have some Sushi with me?"

    Mister Maxwell lectures me as he stops at a car. It is a really nice car. One of the nicest in the parking area. It is probably really expensive too since daddy couldn''t even afford a car. We had to take a shuttle bus to the hospital.

    I look up at mister Maxwell before finally speaking up.

    "Can I please have some Sushi for dinner, mister?"

    Max chuckles and pats me approvingly on the head, like my father uses to. That feels so long ago.

    "It is a date then."

 Chapter 175: Surpassing The Past (POV)

    Did mister Max just ask me for a date?

    I wonder if I should answer him since he would know the answer already, but I think I will have to give him an answer because he did ask me. He also doesn''t want me to nod or gesture my hands because it is disrespectful to him since he is older than me.

    "It is the 18th of March in the year 1990, mister."

    I tell him the date and have a look at his watch to make sure. It is a nice watch, but it did not have the correct time since it isn''t 8 at night at the moment. It is still very bright out with the sun shining far in the distant.

    The pretty watch did have the correct date, which is the 18th of March 1990.

    It also has the correct day, which is Sunday.

    Monday is tomorrow, but I don''t have school because daddy hasn''t enrolled me into one yet. He didn''t believe that we will be staying here in Los Angeles for long, so he didn''t bother enrolling me into one even if I really want to go to school and make friends, not having to stay home with daddy, especially when he is a lot angry now.

    I just didn''t think that daddy has already made up his mind about leaving me with mummy, but I really hope mummy will enroll me into a school.

    I am 9 years old right now, so I will be in Grade 4, but I could be put into Grade 3.

    It is very normal for me to be put into a grade lower because I have been missing school a lot. I am not very smart either.

    Mister Maxughs at my answer then nods with a cheerful smile.

    His hand continues to hold onto my hand even when he opens the door into the car for me.

    I actually want to open the door into the car myself since I am already big enough.

    "It sure is, Christina, and you sure are. You''re a big girl now even if you are a bit scrawny for your age, but that can easily be fixed."

    Mister Max tells me and lets me into the car.

    I wonder what he means by scrawny? Is it like prawny? I know that word. It means having something to do with prawn. Prawn sounds a lot like porn, which is an adult word that I am not allowed to learn, but I think it has something to do with those magazines that daddy usually buys.

    "Scrawny means very skinny, Christina. It doesn''t have anything to do with prawn. And porn means¡­ I will tell you when you are older. Anyway, you should eat more a lot more, huh?"

    Mister Max exins to me like being very skinny is a bad thing. I don''t really understand why he would think so since daddy says being skinny is a good thing.

    Those girls around my age posing in swimsuits in all of those Japanese modeling magazines that people in Japan likes to read is very skinny. Daddy reads them too, sometimes, but he always does to in secret for some reason.

    Comparing to those girls, I am actually a big girl.

    I actually like being a big girl.

    It is because I get to sit in the front of the car instead of the back like I always do even if there is really no one else in the car except for me and daddy.

    When daddy and mummy were still living with each other in the same house, she always gets to sit in the front with daddy since she is a big girl. I didn''t really understand what mummy meant by that back then, but I think I do now because I am a big girl.

    Big girls get to do a lot of things.

    Mister Max chuckles again before getting into his seat. He then fiddles something under the seat. After that, he checks the steering wheel before inserting the car key that he has found underneath the seat to start the car.

    Daddy also hides key in the car. He also hides a lot of other things in the car from mummy too, but not anymore since mummy and daddy are no longer together.

    His car stars immediately unlike the old car that daddy and mummy had brought when they were still together, living in the same house with me.

    I miss mummy and daddy being together. They would celebrate things with me. Now days, with daddy by himself, he rarely celebrates anything with me. He is always moody, causing me to be moody too.

    Mister Max casts a look at me before switching on the radio, letting the pleasant music to fill the car.

    I love to listen to music because it makes me feel really happy inside instead of being gloomy. I get to learn a lot of new words from listening to songs as well. It is so much easier to remember those words than reading books and doing homework.

    Sadly, daddy didn''t like music very much, so I couldn''t listen to any song when he is at home. Instead, when daddy is at home, I would reside in my room, spending my time to write down all the lyrics that I have heard and manage to remember.

    It isn''t hard to remember the lyrics since I recite the song in my mind, mimicking how the singers and musicians sing them. I don''t know the differences between singers and musicians, but they both have really good voice, but not always.

    And sometimes, I would switch the words in the lyric around or rece them if I think the lyric is better in the new sequence or with the new words. I also try to sing the new lyric to make sure it is better. It usually is. I also try to sing the original lyrics in a different way to find if it sounds better as well.

    "Do you like music, Christina?"

    Mister Max asks me like he knows exactly what I am thinking about. I want to know what he is thinking about too because he looks like he is thinking about a lot of thing.

    Since he asks a question, he expects me to answer him.

    "Yes. I really like music, mister. I really want to be a singer one day, but I couldn''t because I was sick."

    I answer him.

    "You are not sick anymore, and you should aim a little higher, Christina. Singers only sing, and while I think you have a lovely voice that you should use a lot more, you have a lot of other talents too."

    Mister Max tells me. I like him more now because hepliments my voice. My friends tell me that I have a good voice, but daddy never did.

    Daddy just didn''t like me talking most of the time, so I didn''t because I don''t want to get punished for being bad.

    "Thank you, mister. Um. What is better than singer?"

    I ask out of curiosity. I don''t think mister Max mind if I ask him questions.

    Mister Max wants me to talk more, and somehow, I feel like I could ask and tell him anything.

    "Not better, just higher, Christina. Musicians is higher than singers because all singers are musicians, but not all musicians are singers. You can write songs, so you are aposer. You can also dance while singing, so you are a dancer. And if someone teaches you how to y a musical instrument, I think it is very likely that you will excel. You are not just a singer."

    Mister Max tells me. I think I understand what the difference between singers and musicians now, and I want to be a musician, since being one also mean that I am a singer.

    "Then I want to be a musician, mister, but¡­"

    I mumble thest part since I know it is very unlikely anyone has time for me, let alone teach me how to y a musical instrument.

    "I am certain someone will have time for you, Christina. And if no one will teach you how to y one an instrument, I will teach you. Just give me time to learn one first, huh."

    Mister Max tells me, and I trust him. He is nice. He is really nice. And what did he mean he has to learn one first? Did he not know how to y one already? How will he teach me if he doesn''t know how to y one himself?

    "Ahem. Alright. We should get going. We will talk more on the way there."

    Mister Max tells me. He pulls the lever to shift gears and about to reverse out of the parking slot.

    I immediately be rmed, but I wonder whether I should tell him. I think I should because I don''t want him to get hurt.

    "Mister! You should put on your seatbelt or you will get hurt."

    I call out hastily, causing the car to jerk because he steps onto the brake due to my outburst. He turns his attention to me, and from the look sin his eyes, he is very concerned.

    Why is he concern about me? He should be angry instead because I have shouted. Daddy always gets extremely furious when I speak loudly.

    "Thank you for reminding me, Christina. You are a very good girl, and you should speak more freely as I do not get angry easily."

    Mister Max tells me. That cheering smile appears on his face once more, assuring me that everything is fine. What I did is right.

    And that feelinges again even though he is not touching me.

    I keep looking at him even when he puts on his seatbelt and reverses the car out of the parking lots of the hospital. I am unable to remove my eyes from him even when he drives down the road towards a Japanese restaurant.

    "I know that I am pretty good looking, but your staring makes me a bit embarrassed."

    Mister Max speaks up when I stare for too long. He is very handsome like he has said, but I don''t think that is the reason why I want to stare at him. I really don''t know how to exin it in words that I know, but I think it feels like when mummy and daddy used to look at each other, when they still love each other.

    I wonder if mister Max has anyone he loves? Maybe he has a wife?

    "Do you have a wife, mister?"

    I speak my mind. He likes it when I speak my mind freely to him, so I will. Because I really want him to like me as much as I like him.

    "I used to, Christina, but like your mummy and daddy, I do not love her. I never did, but just to answer your curiosity, I do have a lot people that I love. I love a lot of musicians too."

    Mister Max tells as he looks at me. He smiles and switches off the radio before producing a disc out of thin air, making me gasp.

    He is also a magician?

    Mister Max chuckles at my awe before sliding the disc into the disc yer.

    "I know that you have listened to many songs and memorized them because your memory is beyond normal, but I don''t think you have heard this song before, Christina."

    I blink and look at the disc yer. A song that I haven''t heard before? I have heard a lot of songs since I only really need to hear it once or twice to remember the lyric by heart, but only innguages that I understand.

    "What a girl wants, what a girl needs, whatever makes me happy and sets you free."

    I blink again, taking in the beautiful lyric. It is so beautiful, and the singer sounds so familiar. It is like I have heard her sing before, many, many times.

    "What a girl wants, what a girl needs, whatever keeps me in your arms. And I''m thanking you for being there for me."

    ¡­

    "A weaker man might have walked away, but you have faith¡­"

    The music fills the car, and mister Max is also tapping his hand against the steering wheel, listening to the song. He seems to like her a lot.

    ¡­

    "What a girl wants, what a girl needs, whatever keeps me in your arms. And I''m thanking you for being there for me."

    The song eventually ends, and I wish I was actually the one who sings it. I wish I was the one who sings it for him and makes him happy. I also feel that the lyrics could be better.

    "I think the lyrics could have been better, but I guess it is not up to me."

    Mister Max speaks my mind as he looks at me. He smiles at me, as if he is seeing something that I am unable to.

    "Do you want to hear it again, Christina?"

    He asks, and I do. I want to hear it again and again and again. I want tomit the song to my memory, so that I can sing it myself one day.

    Sing it for him.

    Mister Max also switches the track to another song on the disc after I heard it for the fourth time, and it is as beautiful as the first song. Even though I didn''t understand the lyric fully, but I understand that it is actually about a girl being trapped, wishing someone worthy to set her free.

    "Will I be able to sing like her one day, mister?"

    I question after the third song. Her voice is just really, really good.

    Mister Max looks at me. That smile he has that warm me up inside never really goes away, and I don''t think I will ever get bored of it.

    "Like her? Of course not, Christina."

    He tells me, making me lower my eyes. He didn''t so, and I am probably shouldn''t aim so high. I could barely sing due to being sick for so long.

    And even if the pain has gone away, I am still unable to find my voice again.

    Mister Max chuckles and ces a hand on my shoulder, getting my attention. That great feeling when he touches me washes over my body.

    "You misunderstand me, Christina. You will not sing like her because you are better than her in every way. She is the past, forgotten by this world. You, on the other hand, are the future."

    Although I didn''t understand what mister Max really meant exactly, it makes me really happy.

    I don''t think that I am ever this happy before.

 Chapter 176: The Queen of Heart (POV)

    Beautiful songs continue to be yed in the car one after another as I am trying my best to memorize each and everyone of them as well as how each word is being sung.

    It is easy to do, surprisingly. I only need to hear a song a few times before I can remember it perfectly, but now, I really only need to listen to it once or twice.

    I don''t know why I can remember these songs so well, but maybe it is because I really like the person who is sing these songs.

    She has a really good voice.

    One of the best I have ever heard, and I have heard many people singing before.

    I hope that I will be able to sing like her one day, and maybe being able to sing better than her just like mister Max had told me. He really believes that I could sing better than this singer even though he has never heard me sing before.

    At least I don''t think so. I have only met him today, and I already like him a lot. A lot more than many people I have met so far.

    Mister Max is the first adult to think that I could be better than others at something, and I don''t want him to be disappointed. Therefore, I will try my very best.

    But I must have dozed off because it is really dark outside. It wasn''t this dark before, and from all the passing buildings and billboards that I can see outside the car windows, I think we are in Pittsburgh.

    Pittsburgh is a city in the state of Pennsylvania.

    I have never been to Pittsburgh before, but I have heard about it from my mummy often. She and my baby sister, Rachal, live there together.

    They are living with my grandma, whom I cannot remember very well because thest time that I have met my grandma is when I was a baby. I was living in New York City then.

    I have been to many ces around the world, but I like New York City the best.

    It is because New York City is where my daddy and mummy used to live together in the same house. I live there until I was 6 years old because after mummy left daddy with my baby sister, daddy took me to Japan because of his job.

    I didn''t even get to say goodbye to all my friends back then.

    It was very sad.

    I wonder if my friends in New York City still remember me. I hope that they do because I still remember them. I remember all of my friends, even if they do not remember me.

    My memory is really good.

    A lot of my Japanese and Korean teachers have praised my memory. They really wanted to put me in a special ss at school where there are a lot of gifted children like me, but daddy didn''t like that idea very much, so I couldn''t go to the special ss even if I really wanted to.

    I wonder why daddy was very angry about it. I think he was scared too. Very scared.

    Daddy was also really scare of mister Max, to the point of being unable to speak. Mister Max can be a little scary, but he is generally really nice. He is taking me to mummy.

    "We are almost there, Christina. You must be very hungry right about now."

    Mister Max speaks up. He also casts a nce at me with a bright smile on his face. Those eyes that he has are very pretty. They sparkle in the light beautiful too.

    I wish I have eyes like those.

    And like mister Max has said, I am really hungry. I didn''t have breakfast this morning since daddy had to take me to the hospital early, before everyone so we don''t have to stand in queue. But there were a lot of people there already.

    I did have a really big lunch though.

    The lunch was also really delicious. One of the best meals I have ever had.

    Thedy working in the cafeteria of the hospital was very nice too. She gave me a lot more foods than I asked for. Daddy didn''t give me enough money to buy a lot of foods for lunch since he doesn''t have a lot of money like mister Max.

    But luckily, I get to eat a lot thanks to the cafeteriady. I cannot tell anyone about her since thedy had told me not to. She had warned me that if anyone ever finds out what she did, she might lose her job since she is not supposed to give out all the foods for free.

    Ah. I really shouldn''t think about it anymore because mister Max knows what I am thinking. At least I think he does because he knows exactly what I am going to say.

    I blink at him.

    Mister Max chuckles and turns his attention away from me to look straight ahead at the road in front of the car. There aren''t really that many cars and trucks on the road even if the road is very big. There are fournes in total, but only two of them are emptied.

    Mister Max switchesnes. He soon turns the car and enters a small connecting road. And after driving straight ahead for a bit, he turns the car again and enters a parking lot.

    There are already many cars in the parking lot, but there are also a lot of empty spaces to park.

    "And here we are. The restaurant is across the road. It might not look much, but it does make the best Sushi around here. Maybe one day, your mother and her family can take you there?"

    Mister Max announces as soon as the cares to a stop.

    What did he mean by my mummy and her family? Did he mean my mummy and daddy and baby sister together? But somehow, I don''t think that is what he meant.

    I also look around to see what restaurant he is referring to, but I couldn''t see any since he had parked the car in a parking spot farthest away from the road. I wonder why since there are many free parking spots avable nearer the entrance.

    Maybe mister Max likes to park far away from the entrance? Daddy sometimes does that because he wants to hide from someone. He always hiding from someone when he was in the army.

    I wait for mister Max to unfasten his seatbelt before I did. I also wait for him to exit the car before me, and he allows me to open the door myself.

    The door was really heavy, but I like it. I really like opening it myself.

    It feels good.

    I have to m the door with my body afterwards, putting all my weight against the door to make sure it is closed correctly.

    Mister Max chuckles again, but he agrees that I am a big girl now. I smile at him return.

    After that, he takes me across the road from the parking area to a Japanese restaurant. It is not a very big restaurant, but it is filled with a lot of people.

    They are having dinner, talking and chatting loudly even though it is almost 9pm at night.

    I know the time because the clock hanging on the wall at the entrance says so.

    Even though it is almost my bedtime, I am not sleepy at all.

    I wonder why I am not, but maybe it is because mister Max has helped me with my chest pains and all the other pains.

    Or maybe it is because I had taken a long nap in the car.

    I remember leaving the hospital about 5pm even thought the watch that mister Max is wearing around his wrist said it was nearing 8pm then. Since it is 9pm now, I was in the car for about four hours.

    It didn''t really feel like four whole hours because I had slept for three hours or so. I didn''t recall when I had fallen asleep though, so that was weird.

    As for how I know how much hours it is, I counted my fingers. I can only use one hand to count because the other hand is holding mister Max''s hand.

    I like holding his hand because it makes me feel very warm and good inside. I think he feels the same way as well because his fingers curl around mine gently and firmly.

    I also notice that he has corrected the time on his watch.

    It has the correct time now. It is the same time as the clock hanging on the wall.

    "Wee."

    A beautiful woman greets mister Max and me with a bow. I think she is about the same age as mister Max. She looks Japanese, but I don''t think she is Japanese because of her blue eyes. All Japanese have ck eyes instead of blue eyes. Her hair isn''t ck either.

    "And to you too, Miss. Yumiko. Seems unusually crowded at this hour. Most people are either at home or going home this time. Ah sorry, I am just thinking about something else. Do you have a table for me and my daughter?"

    Mister Max asks, making me look up at him.

    Did he just call me his daughter? He isn''t my daddy, and the only way that I could be his daughter is if he adopts me. I think that is how it works since mummy had thought about putting my baby sister up to adoption before.

    Also, how did mister Max know her name? Maybe he has met her before.

    Yumiko is also surprised, but she simply smiles in response before nodding and gesturing us to follow her deep into the restaurant.

    And on the way to the table, my hand tightens around mister Max''s hand. This is because there are a lot of scary people in the restaurant even if they look like normal people and dress like normal people.

    The scariest of all is the old man making Sushi behind the ss counter. He is wielding a huge knife as he slices and dices the fishes and meats. He looks up at me, and I could see a huge scar running down and cross one of his dreadful eyes.

    I want to tell mister Max that I am scared, but he shakes his head before I did, seemingly understanding my fear fully.

    "Don''t worry, Christina. We are guests here, even if all sort of animalse out at this hour."

    Mister Max tells me, causing a few people nearby to look him rather suspiciously. Their eyes are also very scary. Some are even reflective in the dark like cat eyes.

    I pay attention to mister Max because I didn''t understand what he means by animals.

    Maybe he is talking about the cats and dogs making all sort of noise outside. They do make quite a bit of noises at night in the dark.

    "I suppose there are cats and dogs here, but don''t worry, Christina. Animals are still animals."

    Mister Max chuckles and helps me into my seat, which is just a cushion. He then takes his seat on the opposite side of the table from me before picking up the menu and handing it to me.

    I ept the menu and have a look at the front cover, which is filled with pretty pictures. I am sure that there is also a lot of pretty pictures inside the menu as well.

    "Don''t be shy, Christina. You can have anything you want on the menu. Off the menu too. I think there are a few special items not listed on here, but you shouldn''t order them because they probably won''t taste very good to you."

    I wonder what mister Max means by a few special items not listed on the menu. Wouldn''t it be better if it was listed on the menu because it would allow people to order it?

    I don''t really understand, but I trust mister Max well he said that I probably won''t like those off-menu dishes. There are also many dishes to choose from on the menu.

    It takes me a long tie to flip through all the pages and look at all the colorful pictures one by one. A lot of words under the picture in English-Japanese. I think it is called Romaji.

    I really want some Unagi rolls because it tastes really good, but it costs a lot of money.

    Mister Max has a lot of money, I think.

    I look up from my menu to see what he is doing. He is already ordering from the menu, requesting for several Unagi rolls along with many other dishes like tempuras.

    It is nice to have a lot of money.

    Mister Max pays attention to me once he finishes telling Yumiko what he wants.

    "Please don''t mind me, Christina. I am just ordering what I think we might both enjoy together. Please remember what I have said before. You don''t need to be shy. It is my treat for our date. A date means a special outing together with someone you like."

    Mister Max assures me with a smile, teaching me a new word.

    A date means a special outing together with someone you like? With someone I like? Does that mean mister Max also likes me? I hope he does because I like him very much.

    I nod slowly in response and decide to order what I want to have for dinner. Since mister Max already ordered a lot of Unagi rolls already as well as all assortments of sushi, I ask for a bowl of noodle soup instead.

    Ah. I order two because mister Max might like some noodles as well.

    I hope that he does because then we can enjoy together.

    Mister Max chuckles again as he closes the menu and rests it on the table. He always seems to be very happy and cheerful unlike my daddy who is always moody and angry at everything, frightening me.

    Even so, I still miss him.

    But daddy doesn''t want me anymore.

    "You father does care and love you in his own way, Christina, but I think deep down, you already know that. Right now, he just needs a lot of time to himself, figuring out a few things. Once he does, you will get to see him again. It might not be tomorrow, but it will be one day."

    Mister Max tells me with a smile.

    "Oh. Your father did tell me that you have a really good memory. While we wait for our foods, do you want to y a little game? It is not a hard game. And if you win three times, I will give you something special."

    Mister Max takes out a deck of card from his pocket.

    The deck of card looks really shiny as if each card is made of metal instead of paper or stic. He then takes out four cards from the deck, all Queens, and ce them all on the table in front of him and me.

    They are facing down, but I already know what each card is because I have saw them face up before.

    I also notice an octopus pattern on the back of each card. But I don''t think it is an octopus since each of the tentacles has eyes and a mouth. I am curious what kind of creature that is.

    Mister Max pick up one of the cards, holding up to me and showing me that is a Queen of Heart.

    "Can you find the Queen of Heart? Oh, if you want to know what this monster illustrated on the back of the card is, it is a Hydra, one of the legendary beasts. It has incredible regenerative power, allowing it to regrow even its head back, and not only one head at a time."

    Mister Max tells me, and strangely, the entire restaurant bes eerily silence.

    I look around, noticing that everyone is looking at me. No. They are looking at mister Max as he ces the card back onto the table facedown before shuffling it amongst the other three cards. It is not that hard to follow since he didn''t shuffle very fast.

    "Now. Show me where the Queen of Heart is?"

    Mister Max asks me, but I don''t think he is asking only me.

 Chapter 177: A Game of Life (POV)

    It feels like mister Max is actually asking everyone in the restaurant where the Queen of Heart is, and even after a while, no one answers him.

    There is only silence in the restaurant as no one has said anything all.

    What everyone is doing is continuing to stare unblinkingly at mister Max, who is looking at me, waiting for me to speak up. He didn''t bother to pay any attention to anyone else in the restaurant even if it is really, really weird for people to stare at him like this.

    At least I think so.

    It is also very difficult to breathe, as if the air somehow bes really thick and heavy, but it isn''t like this morning when I was unable to breathe properly due to the sharp pain in my chest.

    I don''t feel any more pain in my chest thanks to mister Max, but I feel very ufortable sitting here in this restaurant with him while everyone nearby is staring at him.

    Not everyone is looking directly at mister Max though. Like me, some of the people are looking at the four facedown cards on the table in front of him. It is as if those cards symbolize something important.

    I wonder what.

    But I guess that they have seen those cards before. Maybe they recognize the Hydra emblem depicted on the back of each card somewhere before.

    I would too if I have seen the emblem before because it is really easy to remember.

    It could also be because they want to join in on the game.

    I have yed this card guessing game with my daddy before, and I always get it right. It isn''t that hard to keep track of one of the cards when it is being shuffled, especially when I concentrate really hard.

    "What''s wrong, Christina? Did I shuffle the cards around too fast for you? Should I do it again?"

    Mister Max asks with a smile.

    I shake my head in response. It isn''t because of that since I was paying attention when he was shuffling the cards. I actually know where the Queen of Heart is.

    Ah. I just forget that I am not supposed to answer mister Max like that. I should speak up to give him my answer, not nodding or shaking my head because it is disrespectful. Mister Max doesn''t like anyone who is being disrespectful.

    I look up at mister Max, matching his eyes before answering his question.

    "No, mister. It isn''t. It''s¡­ it is just that everyone in the restaurant is staring at you strangely."

    I whisper thest part so no one else but mister Max can hear me, but I think many people still heard since they avert their eyes from our table before resuming chatting and eating just like they did when mister Max and I entered the restaurant.

    The atmosphere in the restaurant return to normal soon after, letting me breathe normally again.

    "Oh, is that so? I guess they couldn''t help it because they are wondering how someone like me get to have a date with pretty and cute girl like you, Christina."

    Mister Max tells me, making me blush a little. He thinks that I am pretty and cute.

    And even though I don''t think that I am, his praises still make me really happy.

    I try not to look at mister Max anymore and refocus my attention onto the four cards on the table. As I have been paying attention, I know exactly where the Queen of Heart is amongst the four facedown cards.

    It is actually the card on the far right. I am very sure of it.

    I think that the people who are still looking at the cards also know where the Queen of Heart is as well, and they are looking at the same card as me.

    Mister Max nods and flips the card over right after I choose it.

    It is the Queen of Heart, making me happy again. Just two more times and I will get something special from mister Max.

    Ah. I shouldn''t be so greedy because I already get to have delicious Sushi for dinner. But still, I am very curious to what mister Max will give me if I get it right two more times.

    I can''t wait.

    "Very good, Christina. But let''s make it a bit harder this time, okay? Can''t let you beat me too easily."

    I giggle because mister Max implies that I will beat him.

    I do hope that I can.

    Mister Max flips the Queen of Heart back, so it is facing down again. He then shuffles it amongst with the other three cards on the table, but much faster this time around.

    Sometimes, I notice that he didn''t really shuffle them even though his hands run across them.

    He is feinting it.

    Daddy do it all the time, but he isn''t really good at it since he idently caused the card to move when he didn''t really mean to.

    But even so, I manage to choose the right card again. The other people who is ying with me form a distance give a nod because they also choose the same card as me, at least in their mind.

    I think they are curious than actually interested in the game like me.

    "You do have a keen eye, Christina. Just like a lot of people here, but this time, I am sure that you will not be able to choose the right one so easily."

    Mister Max announces before flipping the Queen of Heart, so it is facing down again. He then shuffles the four cards on the table, slowly at first, but faster with each swap.

    He is swapping card so fast that I am unable to tell if he did or it is just a feint.

    None of the cards seem to move even a little when his hands slide over them.

    Mister Max stops shuffling the cards a few more times, but even if he didn''t do that, I wouldn''t know where the Queen of Heart is.

    And I think he knows as well because he smiles victoriously at me.

    "I guess it is a bit too fast for you, Christina."

    Mister Max tells me, and I nod in agreement. The shuffling was really fast.

    And since he did not ask me a question, I don''t think that I have to speak up to answer him. I speak up anyway because I like talking to him.

    "Yes. I couldn''t see your hands at all, mister. Can you do it again?"

    Mister Max chuckles and shows me where the Queen of Heart is, causing many people who are paying attention to smile. They could keep track of where the Queen of Heart even if mister Max shuffles the cards so fast to the point that the cards don''t seem to move at all.

    "Alright. Pay attention carefully, Christina. I will only do it one more time."

    I immediately stare at the four cards sitting on the table. All the noises in the room drown out as I am fully focused.

    Mister Max shuffles the cards on the table as fast as he did before, and I only manage to keep track of the Queen of Heart for a little. It is just too hard since he switches the card so fast.

    "So, where do you think the Queen of Heart is, Christina?"

    Mister Max asks me once he finishes shuffling the card. I do not know, but the people who are ying appear to know where it is. This is because they are smiling proudly. Maybe even smirking as well.

    "I don''t know, mister. It was too fast."

    I response dejectedly.

    I cannot ask him to shuffle the cards again because he said it was a one-time thing. It is also unfair if I keep asking him to reshuffle because I am unable to keep track of where the Queen of Heart is.

    In response to my answer, mister Max chuckles and shakes his head.

    "I suppose that it is, at least for you, Christina. But do you know? Sometimes in life, you just don''t have the leisure of knowing for certain which option is the right one. Sometimes, you just have to make do with your gut. What does your gut tell you, Christina?"

    Mister Max asks.

    "Um. It tells me that I am hungry?"

    I answer him, puzzlingly. Gut is just another word for stomach from what I remember. But then again, why did he ask me about my stomach when we are ying a card game?

    Mister Maxughs, making me giggle as well. I really don''t know why he isughing at what I had just said, but it could be because he is hungry as well.

    Most people usually have dinner around 6pm to 7pm, and it is already passed 9pm. I have dinner at 8 since daddy oftenes homete from work. Even when he doese home early, I still have dinner at 8pm.

    "Heh. I don''t really mean your stomach or belly, Christina. And yes, I am is as hungry as you. I wonder when they will bring out something to eat, and hopefully, it is edible."

    Mister Max looks around the room briefly, trying to find someone. Aside from other customers, there is no one else he can call.

    "Anyway, I mean your intuition, Christina. Um. It is a feeling of sort, and it doesn''t need to be right or wrong. It just needs to feel the most correct to you. What I am trying to say, Christina, is that you often don''t know the correct choice in life, so sometimes, you will just have to go with what you feel like the most correct one.

    In other word, you just have to take a leap of faith without hesitation."

    Mister Max tells me as he taps on each of the facedown cards.

    "Can you do that?"

    He asks.

    I nod before speaking up, telling him that I can.

    "Good girl. You also have nothing to lose at the moment and everything to gain, so think very hard to yourself where the Queen of Heart is and give me an answer. It is just a game, after all."

    Mister Max smiles as he said that. And somehow, I don''t think he is just talking to me. It is as if mister Max is talking to everyone, which is sort of weird.

    His eyes remainpletely on me though. He is asking me to choose a card even if I don''t know where the Queen of Heart is. He tells me to take a leap of faith.

    I understand what a leap of faith is. It is one of those special phrases. It means to believing something without reason.

    I think mister Max is telling me to believe in myself and my choices.

    And with confidence, I pick a card that I believe where the Queen of Heart will be. It is just a guess, as I honestly do not know where the Queen of Heart is.

    The people nearby shake their head lightly, telling me that my choice is incorrect. Unlike me, they are able to keep track of the Queen of Heart during the shuffling, thus they know exactly where the Queen of Heart is.

    I frown slightly and about to change my mind.

    "This one, huh? Are you sure, Christina? You can change your mind right now, but do you really want to?"

    Mister Max asks, almost cryptically.

    I blink at his question. Didn''t hey said that I have to take a leap of faith without hesitation. And if I was to change my mind now, it wouldn''t be called a leap of faith. I think so.

    But if I am wrong, I would lose¡­ actually, I don''t have anything to lose like mister Max has said. This is just a game right now. I do have something to gain though. Something special from mister Max.

    And while I want to win, I don''t want to win by cheating. I want to win on my own.

    "Yes, mister. I choose this one."

    I answer mister Max with confidence.

    He nods and lifts the card up for me to see. It is the first time that he did, as he only flipped them over on the table in all the previous round.

    The Queen of Heart stares at me, making me so happy. I didn''t think I have chosen correctly, honestly.

    The other people look questioningly at the revealed card. They appear to be rather surprised. I didn''t expect everyone to get it wrong since they seem to be so certain.

    "Certainty huh? Nothing is truly certain until it happens. If you have changed your mind just because of other people, Christina, you would not appreciate the victory that you have earned. I am d that you stick to your gut in the end because what appears to be the right choice, isn''t necessarily the right choice."

    Mister Max ces the Queen of Heart back on the table faceup. He then flips each of the other three facedown cards, revealing each of them to me. Two of them are Queens, but one is a Joker.

    That is strange because I had saw him taking out four Queens from the deck.

    Also, it is not like any joker card I have seen in a deck of card before. The joker on this card is a depiction of a jester who sticks out his tongue as if he is making fun of something.

    The unveiling of the Joker has caused a lot of chatters amongst the people in the restaurant. They are more shocked than surprised now. And I wonder why. Is it because the card is where they thought the Queen of Heart to be?

    "To be honest, Christina. I did cheat a little bit too, just to see what kind of choice you will make. I am very proud of you, for making the right choice. And if you are feeling down for whatever reason in the future, you can take out this deck of card and remind yourself of the choices you have made."

    Mister Max tells me as he puts the cards back into the deck and handling the deck to me.

    I ept it with both hands, feeling the metal container on my fingers. Like I have thought before, the cards are made of metal instead of paper or stic.

    The edges of the cards are blunted so I will not cut myself.

    Yumiko also brought out some of the dishes that we ordered, so we didn''t have anymore time to y another game even though I want to y one more.

    But there is a problem.

    "What''s wrong, Christina? I thought you said that you are hungry?"

    Mister Max asks when I am fiddling with the deck of card instead of eating.

    I am counting how many cards there are.

    There should be 52 cards in total, excluding the two Jokers.

    "Um. I think one of the Queen is missing from the deck, mister."

    I answer his question even though I am unsure if he had taken out four Queens in total or just 3 Queens and a Joker. My gut is telling me that he did indeed take out four Queens from the deck. That means one of the Queen is currently missing.

    With all the Queens, it is not aplete deck.

    "One of the Queens isn''t missing. She is no longer around."

    Mister Maxments with a smile and passes me the missing Queen of Diamond. He seems to expect that I would ask for it.

    And strangely enough, his statement causes the room to be eerily silence again.

 Chapter 178: Home is Where Home is (POV)

    The air bes really thick and heavy just like before, making it difficult to breathe again.

    A lot more difficult to breathe than before, I think.

    Luckily, it didn''tst long since everyone stops staring when mister Max leers at them for the first time since we had sat down at our table.

    Mister Max also appears to be annoyed, and the people seem to be avoiding his gaze as if they do not want to challenge him. Some people even appear to be afraid of him, but most people aren''t.

    They just aren''t interested anymore.

    Maybe it is because we are no longer ying the card-guessing game.

    "Don''t worry about them, Christina. Even in a den of lions, a King is still a King. Anyway, let us eat. The foods are quite delicious, especially when you are this hungry. And don''t be shy. Have as much as you want."

    Mister Max is right.

    The foods are really delicious, and I can eat as much as I want.

    It has been a while since I get to eat so many yummy foods, and they are really yummy.

    Yumiko brings more when the tes are emptied. She keeps ring at mister Max each time that she has brought foods to the table, but I could see the fear in her eyes.

    I know those eyes because I have the same eyes when daddyes home very angry. I think that she wants to find somewhere to hide from mister Max, but she couldn''t.

    Weirdly, mister Max didn''t seem to pay any attention to Yumiko other than thanking her for bringing the foods to the table. He also goes to the toilet almost every time that she did even though he didn''t drink much.

    I know because I was paying attention.

    "Do you want some desserts, Christina?"

    Mister Max asks me when I am full, but I don''t think he is full even though he ate a lot. A lot more than me, I think. He also rarely chews his foods. He just swallows it all in one bite.

    "Can I really, mister?"

    I question while epting the menu that mister Max gives me.

    The desserts are at the back of the menu, and there are ice-creams avable.

    I would like to try some green-tea ice-creams.

    "Of course, Christina, but not too much because you will not be able to sleep tonight. It is nearly 10pm, way past your bedtime."

    Mister Max tells me, and I look at the clock hanging nearby.

    He is right. It is almost 10pm, but strangely, I don''t feel sleepy at all. I wonder why. But since it''s almost bedtime, I decide not to have any desserts even though I really want to.

    It isn''t good to eat sweets just before bed.

    Mister Max smiles at me and takes back the menu. He ces it on the table along with the rest of the other menus. He asks for the bill afterwards.

    But Yumiko is nowhere to be found. She is the only waitress that I have seen since the restaurant isn''t very big, and it is also veryte at night. Most people are asleep in their home at the moment.

    "It is on the house, Mr. Maxwell."

    An old man tells us. He is wearing white clothes with a white hat. I think he is a chef. Is he the one who prepared the Sushi and Japanese dishes? He is a really good chef.

    Mister Max looks him before chuckling in amusement.

    I don''t really understand.

    What does it mean it is on the house? The bill is on the house?

    But this isn''t a house.

    It should be the bill is on the restaurant, but I don''t understand that either.

    Adults talk really strange sometimes, but I guess that is because I am not an adult yet. I am only 9 right now, so it will be about 9 more years until I am an adult.

    "In that case, thank you for your hospitality. I suppose I will repay you another way. Perhaps what had happened in the past should stay in the past, considering that you are no longer the man I am looking for."

    Mister Max answers the old man. He then stands up and helps me up too.

    The old man looks at me, and I hide behind mister Max. There is something in his eyes, and it is really, really scary.

    "Is she your daughter?"

    The old man asks, causing me to look up at mister Max. I wonder what he will say.

    "You know that she is not, but I do hope that she will be one day."

    Mister Max answers with a smile. His hand pats me on the head, and I like it. I do wonder if it is actually possible for me to be his daughter? I would love it if he was my father.

    "You would subject a child to ¨C

    The old man begins.

    "A King is still a King even if his ws are no longer sharpened. My business is my own, so don''t lecture me about things you should not be concerned about. You should be more concern about yourself and your significant others. Just watch your back, huh?"

    Mister Max interrupts.

    Did mister Max just threaten the old man like my daddy usually threatens people for no reason? Why did he do that though?

    The old man didn''t like being threaten since he looks a lot more scary than before.

    Mister Max just chuckles and nudges me towards the door. I look around, seeing that almost everyone is looking in our direction. Their eyes are full of anger and fury.

    I''m scared. I''m really, really scared.

    But the feeling goes away when mister Max holds my hand and takes me out of the restaurant.

    I look back one more time, finding that some of the people are standing next to the old man, as if they are guarding him like he is really important.

    Yumiko is there as well, and she looks a lot like the old man. Maybe she is his daughter?

    "Yes, she is, Christina, but it is not important, and I am sorry for bringing you here. It is not my exactly my original n, but¡­ anyway, please tell me, did you enjoy your dinner?"

    Mister Max asks. He almost tells me something that he shouldn''t.

    "Yes, mister. The foods were delicious. Did you also enjoy the dinner?"

    I response with a bright smile.

    It was scary, but it wasn''t that much different from when my daddy had taken me to eat with some of his friends. They all have this scary aura around them, just like everyone in the restaurant, especially the old man.

    "Of course, Christina. It is because I get to have a meal with such a cute girl like you. Now, let me take you home to your mummy, okay? I hope that she is still awake."

    I giggle at hispliment.

    Mister Max takes me to the carpark across the road and helps me into the car. I get to open the door into the car myself again, and I like it as much as the first time.

    The door didn''t feel heavy anymore.

    We drive out the carpark after that, but on the way out, I could see several people are standing outside of the restaurant and looking in our direction. They don''t seem to be very pleased.

    Mister Max didn''t pay them any attention at all, but I could see a faint smile on his face. He seems to be really happy for some reason.

    I am happy too because I get to see mummy soon. I hope that she is happy to see me. I hope that my baby sister is happy to see me as well. Rachel was just a baby when she went with mummy to live with my gramma.

    "I''m sure your mother is happy to see you, Christina. She is your mother, after all, no matter what will happen in the future. Oh. I need to drop by another ce to pick up a thing. It won''t be long."

    Mister Max tells me, and I hope that he is right.

    The cares to a stop after passing several more roads and streets.

    All the buildings nearby are closed with no one around, so I am not sure why mister Max stops the car here.

    "We are waiting for someone, Christina. He should be here soon."

    Mister Max tells me, and I look around to see if there is anyone nearby.

    I eventually notice that there is someone approaching the car. It is a man about the same age as mister Max, and he is carrying over his shoulder a really big duffle bag.

    "Sorry for the tardiness, sir. Transport was a nightmare, but everything should be in here. The rest are being analyzed right now, so we will have a report for you tomorrow."

    The man apologizes and opens the door to the backseat. He drops the duffle bag inside before closing the door. He then heads off after that.

    Mister Max drives off as well, as I wonder what that was all about. I also wonder what is in the duffle bag sitting in the backseat, but I shouldn''t be nosy. Older people don''t like it when I am nosy, and it is probably just adult stuff.

    Daddy has a lot of adult stuff that I am not supposed to touch.

    Mister Max chuckles and pats me over the head.

    "It''s not adult stuff, Christina. It is your stuff. Your dad packs your things for you since we were sort of in a hurry when we left the hospital. It was a very long drive from there to here."

    Mister Max tells me, causing me to blink.

    I am both happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I have all my stuff thanks to daddy, but sad because daddy didn''t bring it himself. I really wish that daddy has, so I can ask him why.

    "Don''t worry, Christina. Everything will be fine. Remember what I have told you. The only real choice is the choice that you make. Don''t worry about anything else."

    Mister Max tells me, hinting something.

    I nod in understanding and fiddle with the deck of card that he gifted me. I will cherish it.

    And when the cares to a stop again, it is now parked by a house. I could see faint lighting out the window of the living of that house, and there are people sitting on the couch, watching television.

    They are cuddling together.

    It is a man and a woman. I didn''t recognize the man, but the woman is mummy. I think.

    Mummy looks different, a lot different from what I can remember.

    "You know that your mummy and daddy doesn''t love each other anymore, Christina. That is why they are living separately. But unlike your daddy, your mummy loves someone else now, and that person sitting there with her is your new daddy if you let him."

    Mister Max tells me, surprising me greatly. I have a new daddy? Why? I don''t want a new daddy. I just want my daddy, who no longer wants me. Why?

    Am I a bad daughter?

    I immediately get out of the car and hurry to the door. I stop in front of it before looking up. The door looks so big, and the doorbell is so high. I couldn''t reach it.

    "Whatever happens, the choice is up to you, Christina."

    Mister Max tells me and presses the doorbell. He presses it twice before waiting for the door to open, and when it did, the woman looks at us through the security door.

    "Hello, Mrs. Loraine. I''m Maximilien Maxwell and this is ¨C

    Mister Max introduces himself, but mummy looks annoyed.

    "Sorry, but whatever it is, I am not interested. It is also veryte, so can you please go away. Why did you even bring your daughter out at this hour?"

    Mummy speaks up before closing the doors, and I couldn''t find my voice. I couldn''t even speak a single word. Not a single word.

    "Mummy¡­? Did you not recognize me?"

    I soon utter as everything bes blurry, so blurry. I don''t understand. I don''t really understand, but tears keep running down my face. The pain in my chest returns, and I couldn''t breathe at all.

    But this pain isn''t like the one I had this morning. It is a lot more painful.

    "Please don''t cry, Christina. It has been years after all, and your mother do have a lot of things on her mind at the moment."

    Mister Max tells me as he ces a hand onto my shoulder. That warmness fills me, as I look up at him, seeing his smile. It is a sad smile.

    "Then what should I do, mister?"

    I question tearfully. I don''t really have a home anymore because no one wants me.

    "Go home, Christina. Come. Let us go home."

 Chapter 179: The King of Heart

    I honestly didn''t have the intention of adopting Christina even if she is my daughter in a sense, at least not initially.

    This is because Christina is not really an orphan herself. She still has a loving mother even if her father is no longer part of the equation.

    Did I say equation?

    Anyway, Xavier will be dealt with appropriately, now that Hydra did a little bit more investigation. Like to where he has been. To whom he has been talking to. That sort of investigation.

    I even have a kill squad raided his apartment in secret and all of his things confiscated for analysis. He will not be needing any of them anymore. Quite a lot of sensitive documents were found hidden inside the walls, under the floorboards and in the ceiling above.

    They are all ssified, obviously.

    Nevertheless, from the preliminary analysis of the heavily redacted documents, I am sure that if I don''t do anything for him, the good old United States of America will get to him eventually. As soon as they figure out where he has been hiding. Had been hiding.

    If not the United States, then another country will.

    It is unavoidable, considering what Xavier is now, even if he is a failure. This is not to mention all those secret documents that he and his war buddies in Japan and Korean manage to steal in their own free time.

    They sure have a lot of free time to umte that much files.

    And it wasn''t very smart of them, as those countries and their respective organizations will not let this go. Not by a long shot.

    But it does create a very interesting situation. Those countries me the United States for sabotaging their researches into human evolution, not like they aren''t actively sabotaging the United States from the shadow.

    More correctly to say human hybridization as that is the focus of their experiments thus far. They have not discovered psionic power yet from what can be observed on the outside.

    In any case, a hidden war is being fought behind the attention of the public.

    Everyone wants an army of superpowered individual, and I am not an exception. It is just too tempting to pass, especially when there is no choice but to get involved, just like stockpiling nuclear weapons ¨C a form of deterrent of sort.

    For Xavier to steal from them, he will be spending the rest of his life in a dark jailcell somewhere. More likely on an experimentation table, considering his gic is pretty much the property of the United States.

    Not really that much different in the 31st century.

    Most of the human genomes is owned byary corporations.

    It allows them to literally y God, just like what I am doing since thete 50s.

    Just like what most prominent countries are doing right now in secret and away from the public''s eyes.

    All for the name of science of course.

    Honestly, if I don''t do it, someone else will, someone like the United States for example. The US is not as nice as me, to be honest.

    I am pretty nice, considering that I didn''t outright ughter those Hybrids for annoying me. I did rattle their nest for a bit just to see whates out to y.

    Quite a bit, I say.

    Normal humans do not have that kind of power. The power to crush the will and spirit of others with just a stare. It is like ying chicken with a beast, which has all the intention of devouring you.

    I actually want to see they try, but their instinct is pretty good. Most rather not fight a battle that they more likely to lose. But I am sure some idiots will try.

    It will be a good experiment.

    In any case, I am more curious about what will happen to Christina once Xavier is out of the picture in the future due to his own misguided actions.

    Christina actually get sent to her mother, but not because she sorts of gets lost in the system for a few years. It could not be helped, considering that she is the daughter of a treasonous fugitive.

    Being bounced from one foster home to anotherpletely derails her future.

    And by the time that she is an adult¡­ it isn''t pretty.

    This is one of the butterfly effects that I am worrying about when I start messing things in the past. It could not be rectified, at least not without revealing some of my cards.

    I rather not for a single person.

    Therefore, I decide to skip all of that nonsenses and take her to her mother directly right now. At least, it will be a better future that what fate has for her in another timeline, when the damages are already done.

    And of course, like everything that I do, I have to make certain that my choice is the most correct one, or as correct as humanly possible.

    A little look into the future tells me everything I needed to know.

    It is a bit cheating, considering what I have lecture Christina about, but meh.

    As an Aspect, I can break or bypass the shitty rules of life.

    It is not my rule, so I don''t need to abide by it, and if I bother to, I wouldn''t be resurrecting people just because I can.

    The dead should stay dead, obviously.

    It is actually quite easy to learn about the future now, as I have Legion monitoring basically everything and everyone constantly within America and most part of the world.

    This was done through the Legion Network that I have set up recently. It is not recent anymore in the future. It is extremelyprehensive, far exceeding that of Shield Surveince System, which is really bing obsolete by my current standard.

    The Legion Network has revealed so many things to me.

    Things that I didn''t really pay much attention to, for one reason or another, mostly because I am rather preupied with something more important.

    Now that I do pay attention, I have a lot of work ahead of me, and I cannot really delegate these works to others, at least not yet.

    I cannot use clones either because they will probably screw things up, more than I am willing to reverse time to fix things up.

    It is annoying to repeat everything I have done thus far due to mistakes of others, including my clones and it is really a big mistake for not hunting down all the Hybrids that have escaped.

    There are now second-generation Hybrids, as well as a third-generation.

    And from the information I have downloaded from Legion in the future, the newer generation is a lot more dangerous and far more powerful than their previous generation.

    It is not because most of them are giving into their animalistic instinct. No. It is because they no longer consider themselves as human. They consider themselves a far more superior species.

    And that kind of mindset is a problem, when humans are so fragile inparison.

    This does feel like the mutants from theics, except without reality-bending power.

    Hybrids do have a lot of powers, but their power can be exined through biological science. It is just natural selection at its finest.

    Mother Nature has decided toplete the work that Hydra dmissioned years ago. I should find a way to p her straight, assuming that Mother Nature is a real entity. Seems usible, considering I have to contend with mythical Gods now.

    There is a reason why Hydra abandon the Hybridization Project, and it is not due to discovery of psionic potential, at least not entirely.

    Christina does have a psionic potential, but she will not be able to manipte psionic energy without my help. Her descendants will, assuming that she will have children in the future.

    There is no reason to think otherwise.

    I take Christina back to the car and tug her in. She looks like a broken doll right now, all thanks to her mother.

    While it is not my intention, I did manipte the events a little. With my power over time, it is as easy as breathing. Nothing can escape my knowledge if I really put the effort in.

    Mrs. Loraine, who will be known as Mrs. Kearns since that part of history remains unchanged despite my machinations, does not really recognize her own daughter, at least not right now.

    She just has too many things on her mind to pay any close attention.

    Christina was only 5 when Xavier took her away after all.

    That is 4 years ago, and much can happen in that amount of time, especially in appearance of a child.

    Of course, if Mrs. Loraine actually takes the time to look closer, she would recognize Christina quickly enough.

    But then again, I did manipte the events so that she likely wouldn''t, allowing Christina to remember this moment for the rest of her life.

    Coupling with the fact that Christina feels abandoned by her mother years before as well as her father this morning, it will be impossible for her to reconcile with her parents.

    More so into her teenage and adulthood.

    Not impossible, but it is exceedingly hard if I have anything to do with it.

    And I certainly will because I do think Christina is better with me as I can help her truly makes the most of her special ability once it finally manifests itself.

    I have seen the future after all. Her destiny has changed greatly just because her mother didn''t manage to win the custody of her.

    And currently, her mother doesn''t really have the time to look after her like I do, especially when her mother is currently pregnant with another child.

    As to why I wanted to let Mrs. Loraine to know who I am personally, it is actually preparation for the future, when Christina finally bes a global sensation.

    Any court case can be won legally regardless how impossible it seems at first nce if you have plenty of preparation. I stress legally because I could just have Mrs. Loraine and her boyfriend killed and then adopt Christina through proper channel.

    That is kind of evil, especially when Mrs. Loraine is pregnant.

    I look at the house one more time before getting into the car. I then eye Christina, who is still tearful.

    It could not be helped as her entire world just shattered in a single day. In a single evening to be more precise. I obviously didn''t drive all the way across the United States when I could teleport.

    "Maybe you should sleep, Christina. You will feel better when you wake up again."

    I tell her, and she immediately did. Without any resistance to magic, the sleep charm works effectively, thus allow me to create the illusion that a lot of time has passed. She will wake up when I actually tell her to wake up again.

    Or when the magical energy runs out. By my estimation, it will be 9 to 10 hours ¨C a full night sleep.

    The car begins to drive away, and I take notice that I am being followed. Not by cars but by people on foot. Hybrids can catch up to a speeding car fairly easily, especially those of second-generation.

    "Legion. Distort the windows and autopilot. Chinatown, cruising speed."

    I tell Legion and remove my hands from the steering wheel. The distortion of the windows is required in case one of the Hybrids have enhanced sight.

    Once that is done, I lean over my seat and take Christina into my arm.

    I then teleport home, and since my momentum is still conserved due to being in a speeding car, Ind on the floor hard, but because much of the house has been remodeled with micromachines since they are better construction materials, the floorboards didn''t shatter on impact.

    With Christina sleeping rather peacefully in my arms, I head upstairs and enter one of the guest rooms, which I suppose will be her room from now on.

    The room is decorated for a grown up, but with a mental request, everything morphs, quickly changing into a child room,pletely filled with everything that a child might need.

    Micromachines are just that useful, capable of simting any kind of materials, including nkets and sheets. Not only that, there is no need to clean them at all, as they are self-cleaning.

    Therefore, everything in the house is spotless. The air as well.

    Perfectly clean.

    I settle Christina into her bed and cover her with nkets before sitting by her bedside.

    Honestly, I couldn''t help but feel responsible for the life that Christina has lived thus far. Even so, she tries to remain optimistic and appreciates what she has.

    Despite her age, Christina is a lot more mature than most adults. Of course, there are many things she doesn''t understand as a child, thus just reading her mind amuses me greatly. I wonder if all child think like her.

    Possibly, but I am not about to find out. It is actually quite distracting hearing what people are thinking, as they think a lot more than they say. Like a lot more.

    "Have a good sleep, princess. When you wake up again, you will get to go to school and meet a lot of new friends. You won''t have to worry about anything else other than following your dream."

    I tell her and caress her face a bit. She needs to eat more, but for now, the nanomachines in her body will fix her up. It will not be immediately, but it will be a lot faster than eating properly.

    Obviously, I will make sure that she eats healthily from now on.

    I left her side after about 5 more minutes to check on Antigone in her room. I had one of my clones to pick her up. It didn''t work, so I have my avatar instead.

    Avatar are empty shells for my consciousness to inhabit while clones are pretty much sentient even if they don''t really have a soul.

    Somehow, Antigone can tell, but I should expect that. She is more or less Adria just not as powerful in term of spiritual prowess.

    I spend the next hour towering over Antigone, watching her sleep. It is not creepy at all because I am her biological father.

    And just like Christina, I didn''t n to take care of her initially, but I guess that Antigone has grown on me greatly. She just makes me feel a lot like human, and that is more than most people I have met.

    Strangely enough, Legion has no information on Antigone from the future that I do not exist because I time-jump ahead to collect information. I wonder why exactly.

    It is just another mystery to who I am.

    There are plenty of mysteries, like why is there a message in the acquired databank, warning me that I should not jump into the future anymore.

    Legion is unsure of the sender since it is not signed, but he archives it anyway for me to read.

    Speaking of Legion, he has been driving the car around Chinatown for a while with a bunch of Hybrids following him. They haven''t tried to attack the car yet, but if they do, they will be in for a surprise.

    Honestly, even with their power, they won''t be able to fight against Optimus Prime. It is quite hard to kill a machine capable of murdering a Hydra kill squad.

    In any case, I wonder if I can stir up some trouble.

    There is another Hybrid enve in Chinatown, and the Chinese really hates the Japanese.

    Maybe I can get them to kill each other. An all-out war would be interesting, especially I could see how China-breed Hybrids stand up to the original Hybrids.

    I also need to locate the other Kings and Queens.

    Those are actually ranks given to the original Hybrids when the Hybridization Project was still a thing, with Aces being the strongest.

    The suit represents the hybridized species, with heart being mammals, thus the King of Heart is pretty much the King of Beasts.

    The records tell me all Aces are hunted and killed by Johnathan, the Director of S.W.O.R.D personally.

    If that is true, the original Hybrids are not even on par against Elite Soldiers of S.W.O.R.D division, making the whole Hybridization pointless.

    At least with the first generation.

    The second generation shows some promising results, especially the offspring of the King of Heart and the Queen of Diamond, but I did promise the old man that I won''t kidnap his daughter just to dissect her.

    Actually, I promise that Hydra wouldn''t.

    I didn''t promise that I wouldn''t.

    It is a technicality.

 Chapter 180: Trouble in Chinatown

    And besides, I could always clone Yumiko.

    Cloning would still require me to kidnap and dissect her for her gic materials. By me, I mean Legion because I don''t want to get my hand dirty, literally speaking of course.

    Legion is just really good at kidnapping and molesting a person. He had plenty of experience in another reality. He can also copy her memory and personality more or less perfectly, allowing me to truly test her power and whatever biological ability that she is hiding.

    Obviously, examining her ability inside a spatial dimension is not as good as doing so in the real-world with realistic conditions unless I emte the world and everything within it, including people.

    I could actually do that with all the technology and magic at my disposal, but it feels like a huge amount of work for just a single person. Work that I don''t really want to do because I am generallyzy about these things. It also seems unnecessary when there are a lot of easier options.

    In addition, I am unsure what effect a soul orck thereof has.

    But I do know for a fact that clones do not have a soul, and therefore, it isn''t really the same as having the originals. They also cannot use spiritual abilities or simr.

    That doesn''t mean that they are immune to spiritual threats, as demonstrated by Zeus earlier today.

    Those spirit beasts from the Twisted Nether are as dangerous to him as they are to me, and he doesn''t have a soul at the moment.

    Strangely enough, the Catholic Church is right about clone not having a soul, but it wasn''t simply due to the church not wanting to be irrelevant with the changing time. The people in control do miss the days when they are in power, before the separation of Church and State.

    In any case, the Catholic Church does have a name for clones and any soulless biological construct.

    Homunculus.

    This also means that the Church must havee into contact with a soulless being before, and maybe the Church might even manage to create one in the distant past, not an actual clone like I can through science, but something akin to one.

    Getting a bit freaky, to be honest. Frankenstein level.

    But that is the conclusion I have reached from all the data and information I have collected so far. It is thebined knowledge from more than one dested future of the prime-reality.

    There are quite a lot to go through, and most of it isn''t really relevant to the cause, at least not directly, so I didn''t bother wasting time specting and theorizing. Time that I could be doing something else more beneficial.

    I am still unsure what to make of the warning message in my databank. Whoever manage to send that warning shouldn''t be taken lightly, considering that it was sent through my personalwork.

    Has my personalwork beenpromised?

    It doesn''t appear to be so, but even if it did, Legion should have be aware of the breeches.

    While Legion is not a real artificial intelligence yet, he is pretty much close to one with theputing power at hismand, so he should have detected a security breech within my personalwork.

    So far, mywork is as secured as it can be. It also helps when I am the only person who have ess to it. I mean aside from Legion and Selene of course.

    Don''t tell me that one of them is the sender. I mean one of my virtual intelligence bing self-aware without my knowledge. I will have to run diagnostic on all of them just to make sure.

    I have Legion do that right now unless it is Legion himself.

    Honestly, I could specte all I like, and it will probably not get me anywhere.

    I suppose I will find out who the sender is eventually. I couldn''t be me since I do not exist in the normal flow of time whenever I jump to the future. It isn''t like I can send my consciousness into the future as my body continues to live like I would.

    Even using a clone wouldn''t yield the result that I have nned. I have already tried that.

    Anyway, I will eventually find out what is exactly going on with the Catholic Church. I am unable to get more information through mere observation alone. That is because whatever the upper echelons are involved with, it isn''t seeable on the Mortal ne from the look of it.

    I will keep an eye on the Church regardless. Me personally since Hydra doesn''t have a mean of defense against spirits and spiritual-based abilities. They don''t even know that ghost and spirt exist yet.

    And once I tell them otherwise, those Hydra scientists will be bitching all over again.

    Those guys could ept that magic exists because the effect of magic is still grounded in science due to whateverw that magic must follow, but for them to learn about ghosts and spirits is crossing that imaginary line of logic.

    Did I just use logic and imaginary in the same sentence?

    Never thought that I would, but honestly, those Hydra scientists are already having a really hard time in epting that supernatural monsters exist in an alternate reality.

    Monster such as werewolves and vampires.

    And it isn''t because of those monsters'' appearance as Hybrids can have the same appearance through some real ingenuity.

    It is actually due to the supernatural powers demonstrated by the monsters.

    Mostly just vampires, actually.

    It is hard, probably impossible, through science to exin how a being can turn into dust and mist and even shadow, not to mention bing intangible, capable of negating any physical traumas.

    That intangible ability alone makes vampires quite hard to kill even with all the toys that Hydra has at its disposal.

    Magic can exin that ability, but no magical energy is detected during the onught, so it is not really magic, at least not any magic that I am currently aware of.

    Even so, magical energy should still be detected if it is a form of magic. This is true as long as it is magic, regardless of how suppressed or contained it is.

    Due to the extreme risk of trespassers, that temporary rift is in locked down at the moment. Actually, all of the temporal rifts are locked down due to my standing order.

    I will send a clone to each one of those temporal rifts to deal with whatever on the other side when it is time. I probably will not go personally anyone because I don''t want to father children identally, mostly it should be of my choice, not simply because I have to as the Aspect of Time.

    How annoying.

    Honestly, the better choice is simply to copse those temporal rifts, but I don''t think sticking my head ignorantly in the sand is a good option anymore.

    As much as I like my small pond, being manageable and all of that, there are waves on the ocean, and those waves will manage to invade my pond no matter how ind it is. It will be a clusterfuck if a real tsunamies my way.

    That is just a metaphor for saying I cannot remain uninvolved in this that not directly contribute to my main goals. At least the goals I have for humanity of this reality.

    Likewise, I will have to deal with the Hybrids.

    Allowing them to roam freely will be a huge problem, but most of them aren''t rogue group.

    They are actually sanctioned by their own government, so waging war with them outright with Hydra is not a good idea, especially when it will fuck up my n with Antis.

    Some people are aware of Hydra since it is very hard to hide such a global organization. While they do know Hydra exists, they are not aware of how deep and far reaching Hydra is at the moment, and it is preferably that way.

    I can''t have them killed either because of their position within their government or organization. Thus, the next best thing is to simply give them something to worry about, like a real threat, not that Hydra is not a major threat itself.

    Besides, it isn''t like they aren''t at war with each other at the moment.

    Those American-Japanese Hybrids are not distancing themselves when Legion is nearing Chinatown. I believe that neither side want an outright war, but I guess any group has ck sheep.

    Honestly, if those stalkers are thinking intelligence, they wouldn''t be following me when I have already made my peace with their boss. This does show that the old man is losing control over his own people, especially that of the younger generation.

    They are letting too much power go to their head.

    Since it is unnecessary for me to go personally, I will just take control of an avatar instead. It also allows my body to rest and be further augmented. Not only that, the biomechanical avatar has abilities that my real body doesn''t

    Shapeshifting for example.

    I take a rest in the master bedroom, which has never been used before.

    There is actually no need to use the master bedroom since I had never brought anyone home. I guess I should use it more often from now on, just to create an impression for Christina, at least at night.

    I will enroll her in school tomorrow. It is probably more normal to wait a few days to do that or maybe a week, but that would mean I have to stay home to entertain her. I rather she ys with people her age, and school is a best way to do that.

    Or I could take her to Terra Entertainment.

    I will think more on thister, but I am already leaning towards enrolling her into school. She actually wants to go to school.

    Lying on the bed, I close my eyes and allow Selene to connect my mind to a biomechanical avatar that is sitting in my car as it drives around Chinatown in Pittsburgh.

    I take back control of the vehicle and find a suitable underground parking lot. This allows the car to be out of view momentarily, but it is enough to disguise the car into something else entirely.

    Instead of driving back out, I park it before sitting back and waiting for my stalkers toe. I also have my appearance transforms into that of a Chinese man. Now I just need a name and a super arrogance personality.

    Seems easy enough.

    "The car went into there, but I don''t think we should. Those guys standing guards outside aren''t really human. They smell a lot like you, Akira."

    One of them speaks up while hanging around outside. I have an insect-size cloaked drone following him, and from the look of it, he hasn''t notice. None of them did.

    "What the fuck does that supposed to mean? I don''t smell bad."

    Akira responses, annoyed. He also sniffs himself to make sure. From the files that I have on him, he is of the second-generation.

    In fact, all the stalkers are, and they are siblings, all having the same father.

    Each of their mother died in childbirth due toplication. That is what on file, but I know the actual reason. It is not umon for those that carries a hybrid child because the child usually ws its way out of the womb, causing massive internal bleeding.

    That is exactly how the Queen of Diamond died even if she is one of the strongest Insect-Hybrid that Hydra was able to produce during the Hybridization Project, let alone a normal human body.

    They just can''t give birth to Hybrid children normally.

    Obviously, Hydra could have saved the Yumiko''s mother when she was born, but her father fears that the scientists will kill him and her mother before turning her into a science experiment.

    It is not an unfounded fear due to his own experience at the hands of Hydra, but honestly, the old man should have though about it more.

    If Hydra actually wanted to, he and all of his friends wouldn''t be alive right now. Also, I think I should stop calling him old man, as he isn''t old. He is only like in his 40s, but because of the animal genes, his body age a lot faster.

    That also means his children grows a lot faster too. Yumiko is only 12 or 13, but she looks like she is in her mid-twenties. Same as these stalkers.

    Hydra never really fixes the rapid aging process, so I suppose I should, but I probably need some blood sample. All the old samples are destroyed in the destruction for research facility.

    "Melvin means that they are of the same species as you, Akira."

    The only girl amongst them speaks up. She seems to be the voice of reason from her file. She actually goes with her old brother in order to stop them from doing something stupid. Something like camping outside a Triad''s hideout.

    "But seriously guy, we shouldn''t be here."

    She continues.

    "Shut up, Sara. You sound just like dad. Why did you evene with us? Go home and watch dad sits on his ass all day. He is going to die on that couch, I swear. What a fucking waste.

    All of them. Seriously, what happen to take no shit from these cunts?"

    Melvin snorts and heads towards the building with a hood over his face much to the shock of others.

    Just like he could smell them, the guards standing outside could also smell him, and with their elevated sense of smell, they know that he isn''t one of them.

    "Move along, kid. I don''t want to have to send you home to your parents in a coffin."

    One of the guards tells Melvin, making him snort while his eyes shine. He then flips upwards and kicks the man across the head, but the man manages to grab his ankle and ms him into the ground.

    "Ugh!"

    Melvin gasps before the huge man stomps down on him, forcing him to roll to the side. From the floor, he leaps upwards and overs the man. Hends behind the man with a smirk. A folded knife in his hand.

    "Fuck. That hurts, you piece of shit."

    The man roars as a deep cut runs across his face. His eyes have slit in them for a moment, but they are gone as soon as the cut across his face heals itself.

    "Guess, I will have to cut deeper."

    Melvin responses before dashing forwards at speed that shocks the guard. He immediately blocks the barrage of shes, that instantly dice his clothes and create deep shes all over his body.

    "I''m going to kill you!"

    The guard roars out and sends Melvin flying upwards.

    The boy flips around andnds gently onto the side walls before using the moment to surge forwards.

    With his speed, Melvin could toy with the guard effortlessly, but the cuts are pretty shallow, not nearly enough to cause any real damage, especially against someone with elerated healing factor.

    It is quite interesting to watch. The other guards seem to think so, deciding not to help out their buddy due to their own amusement.

    But this is hardly the limit of Melvin''s ability. He really needs to go up against someone stronger.

    I head out of the car and walk out of the carpark to watch the brawl right there on the street. Since it iste night, there aren''t anyone around to watch aside from some surveince cameras belonging to the building itself.

    "What the fuck is going on here?"

    I question on my causal approach.

    The other guards notice me, and while they don''t recognize my face, they can smell me. This is another ability that an avatar has. It can falsify smells.

    Therefore, they show me a lot of respect, as they assume that I am one of them. Currently, I am. It will allow me entrance inside freely.

    Melvin distances himself from the bloodied guard, who is extremely furious. He is one of those muscle for brain guys.

    "Wow, did you have to call for your dad?"

    Melvin questions while spinning his de on the tip of his finger.

    "Japanese? No. Not entirely. Why are you here, kid?"

    I question as I vanish, causing him to widen his eyes. He immediately distances himself away from me, but the shock and surprise didn''t leave his face.

    "Nice knife."

    Iment as I mimic what he did before, spinning the de on my finger tip.

    "Bastard. Give that back ¨C

    Melvin utters before his body recognizes the pain. Blood runs down both of his hands as he has been cut multiple ces.

    "What? When?"

    Melvin utters when he realizes he has been shed several times, with his own weapon no less.

    "You are just really slow."

 Chapter 181: Display of Real Power

    But that is only because Melvin is not taking this seriously, at least against the Chinese grunts standing guard outside the building.

    They are grunts because they basically have muscle for brain, but even so, they are more than enough to handle normal people, for humans are quite squishy inparison.

    Against actual Hybrid is a different story, however. More so when it is against a Hybrid from thetter generation, who are just more naturally gifted in contrast to the previous generation.

    That power difference remains true despite the diluting of their bloodline, but I suppose that Mother Nature is just very good at her job. Naturally.

    "Slow!?"

    Melvin questions and res at me. He stands up straight as his eyes change slightly. Slits could be seen within them now. In addition to his elongated teeth, it gives him a feral-like appearance.

    That is not really surprising to me since most if not all Hybrids can transform certain part of their body, including parts that shouldn''t be transformed at all.

    And the extend of the transformations depends on a lot of factors and conditions, but the general rule is that the greater the transformations the better. This is because transformation amplifies all of their natural abilities as well as enhanced ones, such as rapid cellr regeneration.

    Thanks to the said regeneration, the wounds on his hands and arms thanks to me have healed almostpletely, but I actually have what I needed from his blood.

    His gic is being assimted into my biomechanical avatar.

    Assimtion is just one of the many abilities that are avable to all my biomechanical construct. Since turning Bruce into a hulking bodyguard for my young apprentice in another reality, the ability has been upgraded to the point that it is beyond overpowering.

    It is just one of my overpowering abilities.

    None of those abilities are actually needed for what I have in mind really, not even my temporal power, as I am already faster and stronger than most Hybrids.

    And I will be stronger as I assimte more gic materials into the avatar. Legion might not be as good as Mother Nature, but he is pretty good. He has plenty of practice after all.

    "Yes. Slow. Very."

    I repeat expressionlessly. I am paying more attention to the list of abilities that I can activate all thanks to assimting Melvin''s blood. I wonder what kind of abilities I would get if I acquire more materials.

    Obviously, it would be easy to just let Legion swarms everyone everywhere, but I already did that. And I like to try new things.

    Variety is the spice of life after all.

    My eyes narrow slightly as Melvin charges at me with blinding speed. It is fast, but still not fast enough to be ''invisible'' like I have demonstrated. It is still faster than most people can react at this point, however.

    That means all of his physical abilities have increased several folds.

    The guards are shocked at his speed, but they are speechless when I merely tilt my head to the side in order to dodge his straight thrust.

    And instead of actually stepping out of the way to evade him, I stretch my hand out and nt my palm casually against his chest.

    With a light nudge, I use his momentum to send him flying backwards. If he was just a normal human, his chest would have caved in from the resulting force alone.

    Luckily, he isn''t.

    But that didn''t mean Melvin didn''t feel the shock to his heart. Even as a Hybrid, he still has a heart as well as a brain. His dad wishes he uses his brain more often.

    Then again, if Melvin did use his brain, he wouldn''t be here, allowing me to toy with him. His younger brother and sister are here too. They are watching from afar.

    I am actually more interested in Akira and Sara than Melvin. Being born to different mothers actually is very beneficial to those two. Their powers and potentials are greater than Melvin''s from what I can gather from the reports.

    Of course, I will have to see it with my own eyes to truly understand. What is on paper aren''t necessary true from my experience.

    "A bit faster, but you are still very slow. I wonder what kind of H¡­ Chimera are you."

    Iment and straighten my neck. I almost let slip something that would have given me away. Hybrid is actually my term to describe animal-human hybridization, and it is not really used by anyone else.

    The Chinese uses the term Chimera just like the United States.

    Japanese and Korean also have their own term, but I am not going to bother to pronounce that term in theirnguage. It seems unnecessary.

    As a matter of fact, most countries have their own term to describe Hybrid. It is pretty much depending on their researches and experimentations. Advanced human is also one of those terms, including the term Evolved, which is restricted to humans with psionic potential in Hydra.

    In any case, it all means the same thing ¨C Hybrids.

    Melvin coughs and grips his chest in difort. He seems to realize now that I am far out of his league, but he is reluctant to back off. Doing so would mean he admits defeat.

    He is too prideful to admit defeat even against someone who is physically superior. It is a traitmon amongst the 2nd generation. They just didn''t live through the horrors of being experimented upon as their fathers and mothers did.

    Being starve of life does make one appreciate life, not to mention more humble.

    I could fix Melvin right up, but I am not his father. Besides, I think that his wish to be far stronger than anyone is a good thing.

    "What kind? I will show you what kind I am!"

    Melvin spits and roars. His eyes fully transform now alongside with much of his facial features. This is not to mention hands as well as the hairs on them.

    They aren''t considered as hair anymore. It''s more akin to fur.

    As expected of a 2nd generation, partial to full transformation is possible. It seems naturally too, and the greater the transformation the more insane their physical abilities be.

    While that is all good, there is actually a huge drawl back. It is the same reason why Hydra eventually abandons the Hybridization Project.

    "Interesting. I am guessing that you are some sort of cat?"

    I question dryly with a hint of mocking. It is not entirely for effect, considering who I am impersonating at the moment. The cameras outside are watching me as well.

    "Cat!? I am the fucking King of Speed!"

    Melvin roars and vanishes from his spot with speed faster than sound, leaving behind a massive st of air. That disy stun everyone nearby.

    His ws sh through me or it would have if I didn''t catch his wrist effortlessly.

    "If you are King of Speed. I must be God then."

    I snort and knee him in the gut lightly. That knocks the wind out of his lungs, nearly making him coughs up blood. I then basically bitch-p him away, sending him tumbling and rolling across the road to the other side and away from the building.

    There are no normal people nearby, so I didn''t need topletely hold back. And besides, I am trying to make an impression.

    I turn my attention to the guards afterwards, as his brother and sister will help him. I don''t need to kill him since he is just a kid after all. He is about the same age as my mother, Stephanie, even if he doesn''t appear to be.

    Hybrids just grow up very fast physically, but mentally, it is left much to be desired. Of course, that did not mean they have shorter lifespan than normal people. They have roughly the same amount of years just that their midlife crisis is a lot longer.

    "I wish to talk to your bosses. Take me to them."

    I demand of the guards. They are terrified shitless since they have never seen any Hybrids capable of doing what I just did. I didn''t need to transform either. It wouldn''t be transformed obviously. It would just be me morphing my avatar to take on whatever shapes I want.

    Of course, being biomechanical, I could transform as well, as long as I remodify the biological cell inside me to take on the characteristic of a Hybrid.

    The guards look at each other and tries to get some directions from their boss. They did so by looking up at the camera nearby, which nods in response.

    "Bastard! I am not done yet!"

    Melvin roars out from across the street. The damage that I had inflicted upon him seems to be negated by his healing ability. That ability alone makes Hybrids great soldiers.

    Of course, enough bullets will kill them, especially when it is through the head or the heart. Some can survive with being shot through the heart though, so headshot seems to be the way to go.

    I let out a sigh and turn my attention back to Melvin.

    "You don''t have the power to get your knife back, so I will hold onto it until you do."

    I tell him and sh my aura a little, forcing him literally to his knees.

    His eyes are full of shock. Fears as well. Mostly fear in fact.

    Killing intent is another ability avable to all Hybrids, especially animal-hybrids. Not so much in insect-hybrids, but they have something else simr.

    In any case, it elicits the flight or fight response from another creature. Humans included since human is also an animal. Of course, the greater the difference in power the more potent the killing intent is.

    As such, Melvin hastily runs off before I could say another word. His younger brother and sister follow him as well. I will y around with themter.

    I chuckle at that and return my attention to the guards, who probably piss their pants. This is a problem with releasing killing intent. It cannot really be directed at anyone fully, and since the guards are much weaker than Melvin, they are even more terrified of me.

    To the point that someone else decide to show me into the building.

    "That is some disy of power. May I know your name."

    The new person asks. He didn''t seem all that strong at first, but he obviously is considering that most of the men fears him.

    His profile is disyed for me to review.

    And reading through his history brings a smile to my face.

    "I didn''t expect one of the bosses toe and greet me personally, but yes, you may know my name, but when I talk to all the bosses directly. It concerns the Syndicate."

 Chapter 182: Time to Stir up Trouble

    The Syndicate is a crime organization lead by Jimmy and Johnson when they had officially left Hydra a couple of decades earlier. Even so, both of them are allowed to keep their memories, experiences and social connections that they managed to form with other members.

    There is actually no need to erase their memories and severe their connections with Hydra and any of my organizations, public and private. This extends to the members of those organizations as well.

    It is better not to, considering that their knowledges and experiences assure their undying loyalty.

    In addition, it will also make absorbing their assets or dismantling their organization much smoother in the future. And yes, I will have to dismantle their syndicate eventually, or at least, transforming the organization into something more legal.

    Legality is subjective, asws are created by people and not necessarily for the people.

    Johnson was actually from Shield initially, but he requests a transfer to Hydra due to bing friends with Jimmy, who was one of the first batch of people that I had recruited.

    Honestly, it wasn''t really a recruitment. It was more like "do what I tell you or I will make you dead."

    That sorts of thing.

    Seems incredibly effective, at least at the start. But I learn that fear doesn''t instill loyalty in my people, but fear is still a very good motivator, especially for people I have just met. Or people who I will dispose of as soon as their usefulness runs out.

    Then again, everyone has their usefulness even if they do not know it themselves. Being dead also has its usefulness in my opinion.

    "The Syndicate? What would a west side organization have anything to do with us?"

    The man questions in Chinese. His real name is Mo Shu, but he goes by Mr. Shin within the organization here in Pittsburgh.

    Actually, the Triad is mostly connected throughout the United States.

    And their main headquarter is in New Jersey, having been driven out of New York by another group a few years earlier. Their standing within the Unite States isn''t that bad, considering they do have a lot of backing.

    I smile at the question and decide not to answer that.

    Everyone within the Triad knows that it is due to the Syndicate that the Triad are still stuck on the east side of the United States. It is the same reason to why the Mafia and the Yakuza are unable to expand their operation outside their initial holding.

    Jimmy and Johnson are quite brutal when dealing with rivals, and I approve of their tactics, considering they keep the drugs off the street and out of the hands of kids. Their revenue is in gambling, which is as addicting as drugs, but at least it targets mostly the wealthy upper ss.

    Something that I also approve. Money needs to be put back into the economy, preferably through my organization. People works for me need to be paid, and I cannot just print or create money myself for obvious reasons.

    Mo Shu takes note of my smile and smartly decides not to pursue an answer. Instead, he shows me a waiting room and requests me to stay until someone can gather the other bosses.

    I call them bosses generally, but they do have their own ranking and title within their hierarchy. Their ranks have something to do with mountains and bandits. This is mostly due to the origin of their crime organization.

    As for their affiliation with the Chinese government despite being a criminal organization, it is actually more of a business venture. A mutual agreement of sort.

    There is no need to waste precious time and resource to kill each other when the power vacuum would result in emergence of another rival. Sometimes it is better to join them than to fight them.

    A good tactic.

    In any case, their business connection is something that I can take great advantage of, especially when everything is so secretive. The Triad obviously assumes that I was sent from the Party in China.

    "I truly apologize for the hospitality."

    Mo Shu tells me respectfully once a few men bring out refreshment. Basically, really strong alcohol. It is due to our elerated physiology. Their elerated physiology to be more correct.

    They can still get drunk if they drink a lot, unlike me, who cannot really get drunk.

    As for what he is apologizing for, it is due tock of attendants as it is veryte at night.

    It is almost 1am actually.

    Therefore, most of the bosses are asleep. Those that aren''t are probably nocturnal like Mo Shu.

    "That is fine. It is an unexpected visit after all."

    I response and enjoy my drink. Even if I cannot get drunk, I can still taste the alcohol. It is not that good to be honest, but still, it is enjoyable. Plus, I kind of like Mo Shu due to his respectful nature. Absolutely no sign of arrogance in his words, but that has more to do with him being raised in America.

    It would be a different matter if he was born and raised in China.

    Mo Shu apanies me since he doesn''t really have anything more important to do. That just means I am more important than anything he had in mind.

    "Yes, it is. Rarely someone of your caliber is send here personally. Most of the time, we have to make do with the couriers. They can be so needy sometimes."

    Mo Shu responses, making me chuckle. It isn''t sometimes, but most of the time. Chinese are not only arrogance to non-Chinese. They are arrogance to each other as well, especially when they hold a much higher position.

    "I also need to apologize for what happens before. We usually have a good understanding with those Japs and staying out of each other''s way, so it wasn''t amon urrence."

    Mo Shu adds, referring to Melvin and his siblings causing a scene.

    "Not at all. He is just a kid, so I give him some leniency. Otherwise, I wouldn''t let him go like that unless he leaves at least a hand behind."

    I response casually, making Mo Shu smiles faintly. It is a bit extreme, but it does build my character as I am supposed to be superior to most people. All of the people in this establishment to be honest.

    It takes a good 10 minutes or so for another boss to enter the room. An extremely buffed dude without any hair on top of his head. He didn''t have his head shaved. It is actually a side-effect.

    He is also mostly naked. Every inches of his body are tattooed.

    Most criminals do not tattoo their body because it looks cool. It is basically their resume, and from the analysis by Selene, his rap sheet is extremely long. Murder. Kidnapping. Raping. Arson.

    He has a hand in pretty much everything.

    "What is going on here, Shin? Why did you have your men wakes me and the girls!? Do you know what time it is?"

    The guy demands. He is more angry at being interrupted than being called here. He was having a great time with some of the girls that unfortunately enough to get his attention.

    "That is because we have guest, Ying. Someone from the Party."

    Mo Shu answers Yang and gestures towards me respectfully. He remains seated with me since his rank within this branch of the organization is as high as it can be.

    "Someone from the Party? Another courier? Is it time already?"

    Yang casts a nce at me, but he didn''t have much opinion, considering that I take the appearance of a middle age man with nothing outstanding.

    I am not tall or huge or even looks threatening, and that is just fine because those who are strong will be strong without needing to stand out.

    "If it was another courier, Shin wouldn''t call request for us to be here personally. He would just bring in some girls to entertain our guest with drugs and whatever they need."

    A voice behind Yang speaks up. It is another guy, but like Mo Shu, he does have a brain and understand the situation without anyone really telling him.

    There is also another person with him. A beautiful woman in her mid-20s. She shouldn''t really be here normally, as this is a meeting reserved for men. I mean high-ups in the Triad.

    And if she holds any position within the organization at all, it would still be quite odd for her to be part of this branch, as each branch really only have 1 leader and 3 bosses.

    The leader is on his way here since he doesn''t really live in the building. I am actually tracking that guy at the moment through the numerous invisible drones that I have flying everywhere.

    I do wonder if anyone will notice them, but considering the technological level of the 90s, it is unlikely that someone will. They are about the size of an insect, not to mention they are also invisible and not giving off any sort of heat signature at all.

    "Ah. I didn''t expect Miss Xi Shi to join us."

    I speak up before Mo Shu could. He didn''t expect Xi Shi to join the meeting either. Obviously, Xi Shi is not her real name. It is more like her callsign within the Party.

    "I am curious of who has arrived from the Party, and I don''t think I have ever seen you before."

    Xi Shi questions. Her eyes scan me up and down, trying to determine whether I am exactly who I said that I am.

    It is quite foolish to impersonate someone from the Party as the repercussion is enormous unless the said imperator has the backing of another organization or country.

    "And I don''t think I have seen one of the four great beauties either. Actually, that is not true, I believe that I am acquittanced with Diao Chan, at least from my history."

    I response rather cryptically, making Xi Shi to narrow her eyes.

    And before she could ask who I am exactly, I decide to introduce myself, as I did say that I would when all the bosses are present. I have said bosses because the leader will not make it.

    I need to stir up some trouble after all while bing their best friends. I am ying both sides. More than two sides actually.

    "The name is Lu Bu. That is not my real name. Just a callsign within the Party just like Miss Xi Shi."

    My introduction makes her frown deeply.

    The Party in question, which is obviously not the actualmunist party currently in power of China but are still rted to each other, structures their hierarchy and ranking around historical figures.

    Chinese historical figures to be exact.

    Something that the British also did with their Knights of the Round.

    Xi Shi and Diao Chan are known as four great beauties of China, and they are beautiful in appearance as well as within the Party, not to mention extremely deadly. Femme fatale sort of thing.

    As for why Xi Shi is frowning, it is because the Three Kingdoms division is probably the most secretive even within their own Party.

    And not only that, it is also because I have taken the name Lu Bu, who is a known traitor in history.

    Historically, Lu Bu had betrayed pretty much everyone he works for, thus he was executed by Cao Cao in the end. In other word, Lu Bu is extremely untrustworthy.

    The underlying fact did not escape Xi Shi since there is also a brain within that pretty head of hers, but she is unable toe to terms with her own instinct to the fact that I am introducing myself as Lu Bu.

    "Are you saying that I shouldn''t trust you, Lu Bu?"

    Xi Shi questions.

    "Yes, for I do not trust you, Xi Shi."

    I response and look at everyone else in the room. Aside from Mo Shu and me, everyone is still standing about, probably thinking to themselves.

    "Come. Please sit down. We have much to discuss. Also, I have brought something for you unlike Miss Xi Shi, who just show up here without notifying anyone within the Party."

    I suggest and take out a small container from my pocket. It contains the Chimera Serum, which these people need. If they don''t take it regrly, they will likely die due to cellr degeneration.

    "Aren''t we missing someone?"

    The only unnamed person in the room asks. He is referring to the leader of this branch, who is actually being intercepted right about now.

    "Yes, but I don''t think he will make it."

    I response with a frown, making everyone looks at me suspiciously.

    They obviously didn''t understand what I mean exactly. Their leader is as powerful as them as a Hybrid, which is a Chimera from their point of view, but it means the same regardless.

    For me to imply that the leader will not be making it is absurd.

    "Like I said, I am here because it concerns the Syndicate. Whose great idea was it to antagonize them?"

 Chapter 183: Attack of a Clone

    I cast a nce at each person in the room, trying to gauge their reaction as well as reading their micro-expression. Both feats are fairly easy on my own as I am quite observant, but with Selene helping me, I can see things that I would have missed otherwise.

    "And is there a reason not to, Lu Bu?"

    Xi Shi speaks up and breaks the silence, not to mention getting my undivided attention.

    With a nce, I already know what she is thinking. Not exactly what is on her mind as I haven''t infested her brain my micromachines, but it is a very good guess on my part.

    I am getting good at reading other as I truly want to know why humanity do the things they do.

    Hence, I wonder if I am giving Xi Shi too much credits solely based on her codename as one of the four great beauties of ancient China, but I suppose I will find out sooner orter.

    Probably sooner if Xi Shi continues to ask stupid question.

    I do hope that she is not a beauty without a brain, but hey, I have been wrong before.

    As for her rather youthful appearance, it is too suspicious given that she is a Hybrid. Chimera actually, but still, she should be in her mid-thirty considering her actual age.

    I will learn why she isn''t eventually.

    And what kind of Hybrid Xi Shi is, Legion will tell me soon enough.

    The air is infested with micromachines, and since Hybrid is a product of biological science, they should not be able to detect the micromachines. They might sense something is in the air, but they probably will assume it is some kind of bacteria.

    I would if I am in the dark about all the advance technologies avable.

    Since I didn''t answer her question immediately, Xi Shi decides to take a seat across the table from me alongside with Sun Xiao, who is probably her boytoy.

    Or maybe it is the other way around.

    I really don''t need to know what kind of rtionship they have behind closed doors, honestly.

    Maybe I do, considering that Xi Shi just crosses her very visible legs thanks to the split in her dress. My eyes drop slightly just to have a look becausest I check, I still have a penis. Yes. I do have one at the moment, just in case I decide to take my avatar out for a night of boozes and sleezy sex.

    Seems like a good waste of time.

    Xi Shi notices my perving due to the smirk on her face. She is probably thinking to herself that all men are the same, having dealt with so many in the past. Well, she isn''t really wrong, and the men that she dealt are no longer amongst the living.

    Femme fatale.

    Still, beauties are there to be ogled at. Otherwise, why would anyone spend so much time and money as well as effort to look beautiful? I should experiment with that, considering that beauty is subjective, mostly based on popr view, culture and environment.

    What the western world considers beautiful isn''t necessary the same as the eastern world.

    In any case, Legion tells me that their rtionship isn''t sexual form all the surveince that he is doing on the building and everyone within thus far. He has also infested all theirputers, phones and so on.

    With that, I can disable anything electronics without resorting to EMP.

    That is electromaic pulse, capable of frying any unshielded electronic systems. It is actually a more effective weapon against me than most modern weapons, considering what I am currently.

    I smile and look directly at Xi Shi. I also note that Yang didn''t bother to take a seat. He prefers to stand with his back against the wall. His eyes are paying at lot of attention to the serums that I have brought for everyone.

    They are actually quite interested in the serum, but none really show it. The Party uses this to ckmail the Triad into doing their bidding.

    In fact, those in powers use the serum to keep everyone in line within their organization. Xi Shi is also included, as she does need those serum to keep her cells from degenerating.

    I sometimes resort to such ckmailing tactic, but not so tantly as the Party is doing. Most people are not really aware that I am ckmailing them. People such as Jennifer Aniston for example.

    "Yes, Xi Shi. It is generally not a good idea to antagonize an organization that we do not know anything about, especially one that rivals or even exceeding the Party in term of manpower and resources."

    I decide to answer her question instead of leaving her out to dry. Like I have said, it is a stupid question and I am expecting better of her.

    Anyone with a working brain would know that you don''t start a war with an enemy that you have no fucking clue about, and I am sure that the Party has no clue how powerful the Syndicate actually is.

    Xi Shi snorts.

    "We know everything that we need to know about them, and it is time for them to know about us. Or are you too afraid to face them, Lu Bu? I didn''t expect the Three Kingdoms faction to this cowardly."

    Ignoring the subtle insult directed at me and another faction within the Party, she is actually thinking about going to war with another criminal organization simply to prove that they are not match for the Party.

    Honestly, that is dumb, but then again, it is the kind of war that I want to happen.

    I just didn''t think it will be this easy, considering that no one really want an all-out war, at least at the moment when there isn''t anything to gain aside from territory. Grabbing too much territory might not be a good thing, considering the Triad doesn''t have the manpower to hold those territories.

    "It is not cowardice, or shall I prove it to you?"

    I response and rx against the cushion of the sofa while maintaining eye contact with Xi Shi. It is just a form of challenge, and I wonder whether she is stupid enough to take it. It would give me a chance to teach her a lesson under the pretense of proving to her that the Three Kingdoms faction is definitely powerful.

    A faction that I certainly do not belong to. I technically do not belong to any faction, including Hydra.

    In any case, the Three Kingdoms faction of the Party should be quite powerful without Legion needing to infiltrate theirplexes and headquarter in China. He did fail to infiltrate them in the future, but it is mostly because the drones aren''t aggressive enough.

    It is reasonable to assume so, considering that the Three Kingdoms is one of three factions that control the Party.

    The Chinese just like the number 3. It is considered very lucky. It also signifies a lot of things in Chinese culture. In contrast, the number 4 is quite unlucky. To the point that most building skips it all together.

    Good thing there are 5 people in the room at the moment since 5 is a lucky number.

    Did I just ramble about China and superstition numbers? This is mostly because my mind is very active, thinking about a bunch of stuff before people could even say anything.

    "I think what Miss Xi Shi is trying to say, Mr. Lu Bu, is that it is perhaps time for us to stop being fearful of the Syndicate."

    Mo Shu meditates. He is the smartest person in the room, not including me. I am always the exception simply due to what and who I am, and if someone is smarter than me, I can always cheat with a bit of time maniption.

    There is no need to y fair, especially against criminals.

    "We are not fearful of them. We are just being cautious because we do not know what kind of backing that they have."

    I response thoughtfully and keep my eye on Xi Shi. She rolls her eyes dismissively, but she didn''t speak up. Instead, she sends subtle signal to Sun Xiao, who is obviously on her side.

    "It is true that they have a strong backing, a backing that are still unable to learn anything about after all of this time, and frankly, there is still no tangible evidence such a backing exists either."

    Sun Xiao points out and casts a nce at Mo Shu, who nods in agreement.

    "I agree, but until there is evidence stating otherwise, they should be treated with caution. For them to rise to prominent within a couple of decades, it is safer to assume that the Syndicate do have such powerful connections."

    I argue and wonder why I bother to, considering that I want an actual war to keep them fully upy, but I suppose I am a bit annoyed at their reasoning.

    "If that is the case then why aren''t their backers helping them currently? They are being investigated, and most of their business are being seized."

    Sun Xiao retorts, and he does have a point. Jimmy and Johnson did request some help from Hydra and Shield on this matter, but it is way too hot right now. As much as their friends want to help them, the cause is more important.

    Until I say so, Hydra is a myth. A myth that scares most powerful people shitless. A global organization that is centuries ahead technologically and has dabbled in almost everything, from human experiment to biological warfare? That would give anyone nightmares.

    "Maybe they do not have any federal connections?"

    Mo Shu interjects.

    "Or perhaps they do and are waiting to see who take the first bite?"

    He adds, making me smile inwardly. I like people who use their brain and think of every usible angle to a problem.

    I nod at Mo Shu, showing my agreement with his analysis. It isn''t really far from the truth since I could actually make the problem go away and everyone who is involved with the taskforce are buried in so much shit that they won''t be able to see the sunlight.

    But like Mo Shu has spected, I want to see which shark dares to take a bite. Also, I want to test one of my daughters. She is pretty good to connect me to the Syndicate with the tiniest evidence, but she is in way over her head.

    Jimmy and Johnson might have her killed once they figure out who is actually responsible, and I cannot have that since she is psionically gifted.

    "That is logical, and besides, thanks to your little stunt, he is on the move."

    I continue the pronoun game because it is fun.

    "He?"

    Xi Shi questions. She seems to be out of the loop in regard to the Syndicate. If she wasn''t, she wouldn''t be thinking about waging war. It would be foolish to.

    And unlike her, Sun Xiao and Mo Shu both frowned. They know that there is a big boss behind Jimmy and Johnson. Everyone who is anyone in the criminal underworld does, but who the big boss actually is, no one really knows.

    It is kind of ironic that they are talking to the big boss right now.

    Sun Xiao eventually sighs and smiles weakly.

    "Nothing is ever done around here without Dong Bao says so. He wishes to eliminate thepetition as they are cornered."

    Sun Xiao finally reveals that he is the culprit, and he is right about nothing ever done within the Triad without the agreement of everyone. While he is the culprit that piss off Jimmy and Johnson by trying to murder them and their family, he is just a trigger man.

    The real culprit is someone else. Someone who isn''t in this room.

    "And Dong Bao will pay dearly for it."

    I response, making everyone looks at me, pondering what I mean. Everyone except Xi Shi, as she is still stuck on the big boss of the Syndicate part.

    "I don''t know what everyone is actually talking about, but whoever he is, we will deal with him like we always have."

    Yang decides to join in the conversation, speaking what Xi Shi actually wants to say.

    "And you are forgetting who our leader is. He is fucking Dong Bao."

    Yang continues and disrupts my flow afterwards. I suppose it is time to make them truly fear whoever they are up against. It isn''tplicated, and it is almost time anyway.

    "Boss! Boss!"

    Someone outside the door shouts in agitation. His voice seems to be frightened.

    "What is it? Can''t you see that we are having a conversation right now?"

    Sun Xiao questions and gets off the seat. He is the closest to the door alongside with Xi Shi, but she is not going to open the door considering her status and gender. Maybe more of the gender thing.

    "We are being attacked."

    The goon calls out. He looks incredibly bloodied.

    "Attacked? It''s not those stupid kids again, is it?"

    Sun Xiao responses, referring to Melvin and his siblings, thus demonstrating that he was watching the camera feeds. That mean Xi Shi was watching too, yet she did note and greet me personally until I call for a meeting.

    Does that mean she doesn''t think much of my ability and power? Granted, I didn''t reveal anything but my incredible speed. I didn''t stop time to cut up Melvin since I want the camera to record everything.

    It is also unnecessary as everyone is so fucking slow. I actually miss fighting with Zeus, at least he can match me blow for blow in a melee.

    "No. It''s¡­ a ninja."

    The goon answers, pausing in between as if he couldn''t believe it himself. And no one in the room did either because it is kind of absurd.

    "A ninja? The Japs? I didn''t expect the Syndicate to send someone like that, but just one? They really don''t think much of us, do they?"

    I question before leaving my seat and heading out. My casualment makes everyone think, and it didn''t take long for Mo Shu, Xi Shi and Sun Xiao to join me.

    The bloodied goon that hase to inform us about the attack as well.

    Yang didn''t since I purposely left the serum on the table.

    Once in the lobby of the building, we are greeted with a bloodied sight. Most of the people are either dead or dying due to the numerous wounds on their body. All of them have their limbs severed cleanly by an extremely sharp de.

    "How did this happen!? We were only gone for a few minutes."

    Mo Shu calls out before rushing forwards to check on his men.

    "Boss¡­ get¡­ away¡­!"

    One of the men calls out and points towards us, making Sun Xiao narrows his eyes. His hands clench tightly before turning swinging across the air, sending the blooding goon that follows us skidding back several steps.

    "How did you know? My disguise is perfect."

    I question and lower my guard arms. It feels kind of strange controlling two avatars at the same time, but there is the first time for everything. Besides, I want to be in more than one ce at the same time.

    And if I cannot do with my power, at least not yet, then I will do it with technology!

    Whichever works.

    "Yes. It is perfect. Too perfect. To the point that you do not make a single sound when you walk."

    Sun Xiao points out, making me realize my mistake. I was found out because I was too powerful. That is kind of funny, but his hearing is pretty acute to notice something like that.

    "Come to think of it, Lu Bu doesn''t make any noise when he walks either."

    Xi Shi points out, and I really want to p her for being stupid. I don''t think I am the only one who do.

    Luckily, no one takes her seriously because of course I don''t make any noise since I am obviously a lot more powerful than ordinary goons.

    In any case, I decide to humor her.

    "Oh? Are you as fast as me?"

    I question as the ninja before a puff of white smokes surround me before flooding the rooms, making everyone defensive.

    Powerful shes reverberate the air, and once the while smoke is cleared, I am on the floor, bleeding and unconsciousness. I mean Lu Bu.

    I basically take out myself, so my consciousness isn''t being divided between two avatars. Besides, Lu Bu avatar has served its purpose for now.

    "Guess I am faster."

    Iment before looking at Mo Shu, Sun Xiao and Xi Shi. More at Xi Shi actually, and it is not because she is a beauty. I want to see if she can backup what she has imed in the room.

 Chapter 184: The Result of the Past

    I also use the smokescreen to morph into an appearance that is more suitable for the task, and I have just the one in mind.

    The shapeshifting ability of the biomechanical avatar is very handy, allowing me to be anyone as well as anything that I desire.

    Obviously, I prefer to take on a humanoid appearance since I was born as a human. While I could take on apletely alien humanoid form, it will cause mass hysteriater down the road, considering that I will allow someone to live.

    And there is no need to kill everyone in this room. At least one person has to live to spread stories and rumors about me.

    "Who are you really?"

    Sun Xiao asks. Killing intent literally oozes out of his body, coating his form like a malicious aura.

    I can sense it from this far away from him, but it doesn''t really affect me in any way.

    Killing intent is only effective against someone who is much weaker than the user. It basically helps to stop the user getting into meaningless fight.

    Of course, some people still do get into meaningless fight. It is human nature to pick fights with others even if they no longer consider themselves as human.

    Is this a meaningless fight, considering that I could decapitate each person before they could blink?

    It is to some extents, but there are some theories and spections I want confirmation.

    And besides, I am also testing some abilities on my end. Mostly my clone ability. A ninja must have the ability to clone himself.

    Why did I automatically assume that? That is because pop culture brainwashes the masses to the point that the masses don''t realize that they are being brainwashed.

    "I am a Shinobi. Sent here to kill four people and anyone who gets in my way. Well. Three now since I have already executed one. He puts up a good fight. I hope that you do too."

    I response as I tap my masked face and look at Xi Shi. The ck fabric covers everything from the nose bridge down, hiding my identity. My eyes are visible. My spikey gray hair as well.

    "I don''t think you are on my list of people to kill, so I suggest you don''t get in the way or I will have no choice but to dice you up. I just hate carving up your beautiful face."

    I add, making Xi Shi res at me. I am treating her like a damsel in distress when she obviously is not, but that is all to antagonize her. It would be no fun if she sits out of the battle, especially when I want to witness her power and ability first hand.

    "Execute one¡­?"

    Sun Xiao mutters. The implication didn''t escape him or anyone in the room, and whether it is actually true or not, they will have to see for themselves.

    But so far, I have demonstrated that I am faster than Lu Bu.

    "Be careful. He is very dangerous."

    Mo Shu warns and looks at the unconscious form of Lu Bu. It is an unnecessary warning for Sun Xiao, but probably necessary for Xi Shi since she didn''t think much of Lu Bu in the first ce.

    She doesn''t really put anyone in mind outside her own faction within the Party. Her arrogance will be her undoing.

    Without dy, their eyes change. Slits can be seen within. It is a trait that all Hybrids share regardless of which versions or deviations.

    However, Chimeras are a bit different from Hybrids bred by Hydra decades prior. At least as ording to Legion after he had finished analyzing their gic makeups.

    The analysis didn''t take long once the micromachines have managed to infest their body without being detected. About a minute or so.

    And just like their name, it isn''t a single animal that the Chimeras have taken power from.

    It is actually from multiple species. Only the very best traits are spliced into their gic makeup, thus granting them multiple superhuman abilities.

    A concept that Hydra has explored in the past but never fully realized for a very good reason, but it is now perfected by the Chinese. It is to the point that they can actually empower normal people with a simple injection, such as those who are high up in the Triad.

    The Triad is a problem to United States as well as the rest of the world, including China, but instead of destroying them outright, the Party decides to enve them instead.

    And to keep the Triad subservient, the Party has turned most if not all of the bosses and leaders into Chimera, but not real Chimera because that would be foolish.

    There is only one true Chimera facing me, and it is Xi Shi. Mo Shu and Sun Xiao are false Chimera. Yang is also one of the false Chimeras, but the muscle head is too busy jacking up back in the room instead of joining in on the fun out here.

    I guess Yang will join inter. It would be interesting to see how effective the modified serum is. I had adjusted the retrovirus within the serum to make it more potent than normal.

    I am basically lending them a hand and boosting their powers with my own research.

    "Oh. That is interesting. I can do it too."

    I call out and close my eyes.

    And when I open my eyes again, crimsonma-like swirls are noted in each of my ck eyes.

    There are three swirls in each eye, arranged in a circr fashion.

    Everyone is surprised, as they have never seen such a thing before. It is expected considering that the manga will not be written by Masashi Kishimoto in another seven years or so.

    Naruto, the manga, might not even exist in this new prime timeline, but it isn''t really my concern. This is because someone else will take care of the Japanese Entertainment industry in my stead, and manga is considered entertainment.

    "What kind of Chimera are you to have those eyes?"

    Xi Shi questions and expects me to answer.

    She is very curious. More than curious actually, considering that she has seen many types of Chimera eyes in the Party. None of them are like mine. That is obvious, as I am faking it.

    "Who said that I am a Chimera?"

    I response with a question of my own before raising my katana to have a look at its fine craftmanship.

    I am not really a sword person since I like to spear people with long and thick sticks.

    Thates out wrong, but meh.

    In any case, this is one of the finest katanas ever crafted by hands. It is also made of nano carbon steel, basically a super strong and durableposite. It is needed since anything less probably break in my hands due to the amount of force I exert.

    I did try to make the atom-wide cutting edge, so I can cut through anything with absurd sharpness. To the point that they don''t know they have been cut.

    That would be kind of cool.

    However, I realize how stupid that is pretty quickly due to actual science governing the real world. And therefore, if I want an unrealistic monomolecr de, I will have to resort to magic. Not really sure how to do that yet, but it is on my list of things to do.

    "Then what are you?"

    Xi Shi asks. Again, she expects me to answer her. Me, who is actually her enemy right now.

    I honestly never understand why people talk so much before a life and death battle, so I decide to stop humoring her.

    There is no need to tell her or anyone anything since they might all be dead soon.

    I cast her nce before forming a smirk under my mask. While no one can actually see that smirk, they do know I am smirking due to my expression, especially in the eyes.

    Their acute eyesight allows them to pick up micro-expression fairly easily.

    "You dare looking down at me? Do you not know who I am?"

    Xi Shi questions. Her presence bes even more stronger, dwarfing the other two. It is to show her power. There are also marking on her beautiful face now, as her power and ability is tied to how much she has transformed.

    Full transformation will release her full power, but it also makes her susceptible to the innate instincts of animals.

    That problem was never solved by Hydra even with all the resources at their disposal, and I don''t think that the Chinese or any other countries have solved it either. If they did, their entire army would have hybridized.

    A million strong Chimera army will be pretty epic. That is probably their n for world conquest. Not if I have anything to do with it.

    "Actually no. Who are you?"

    I response coyly.

    I don''t think I have introduced myself either, but I have to check since controlling multiple avatars has created a confusion within my mind.

    Splitting consciousness is fairly hard.

    "I am Xi Shi!"

    Xi Shi announces. Her hands and legs are mostly transformed now, and from what I can tell, it doesn''t really look like any kind of animal. It is an amalgamation of all sort of animals.

    Insects too from the look of it.

    "Does that name supposed to mean something? Sorry, but I am not really familiar Chinese name since I was born and raised in a hidden ninja vige in a ce more awesome than China."

    I question while scratching my head before shaking it rather dismissively.

    "What did you say!?"

    Xi Shi notices my subtle insult. It is easy to piss her off, and I am rather surprised that she hasn''t try to attack me yet.

    "Please calm down, Miss Xi Shi. He is just taunting you."

    Mo Shu speaks up calmly and keeps his eyes on me. It is pretty hard to taunt someone who uses their brain and remains cool like him, and from what Legion tells me, there is something very strange within his gic makeups.

    His cells are also very unstable, so he technical be dead or at least be dying. He is not, however.

    And that is strange.

    I would like to analyze his blood more, but the micromachines have been found out within his body at the moment.

    They are destroyed by his enhanced immune system very quickly.

    He is also the only one who has managed to detect those micromachines. Strangely enough, he didn''t tell the others about them.

    "Yes, miss. And whatever he is, we will find out after we kill him."

    Sun Xiao tells Xi Shi before tensing his body up. His muscles swell, making him incredibly bulky. Doing that will drop his speed, so he must have an ace up his sleeve.

    I decide to find out and leaps forward. To my surprise, Sun Xiao manages to evade my downward sh even if barely. I honestly didn''t expect him to be that fast from his now hulking size.

    And I also didn''t expect him to retaliate so quickly either.

    My sword immediately turns sideway to block a counterstrike. His punch is a lot heavier thanks to all of that muscle mass, and it is powerful enough to send me flying against the wall.

    I am weighting about half a ton right now, so that is something.

    "I am at a loss at how Lu Bu gets defeated by him?"

    Sun Xiao questions as I pull myself out of the hole that he has just sent me in before patting off all the dirt and dust, lookingpletely fine.

    That surprises Sun Xiao since his punches can shatter concrete and dent steels.

    "I might have underestimated your speed due to your current size. I apologize. Let me try again."

    I response before twirling my de. Before he could blink, his animalistic instinct saves him from being decapitated. I did give him a nice haircut though.

    A shockwave follows, driving up dirt and rubbles since I have swung the de so fast. Unlike in manga, air friction bes really annoying when you exceed the speed of sound.

    "Bastard!"

    Sun Xiao shouts and attempts to strike me, but I severe his arm in an instant. Both arms actually. And I would have cut off his head too, but Mo Shu manages to save him by stepping in.

    Mo Shu immediately follows up with a barrage of punches, so fast that I can feel getting smashed even if his fist didn''t connect to my body. It isn''t the only thing that is most surprising.

    I am unable to severe his arms due to the carapace covering his skin. It is stronger than steel and also far more flexible than rubber. That shouldn''t be possible.

    My movements slow down for some reasons, allowing his fists to finally connect. Dozens of punches crashes into my body, turning my innards into mush despite being biomechanical in nature.

    That is how much force behind each blow.

    A single punch can kill a grown person. Not just kill but pulverize the person.

    Once I realize why my movement has be so sluggish, Mo Shu distances himself and stands next to Sun Xiao, who manages to reattach his arms.

    His rapid regeneration allows him to connect them as if it is an inconvenience.

    That rapid regeneration seems like the most overpowering ability of them all, but it does burn a lot of energy. That is the drawback, but it will take a lot of slicing and dicing to eventually kill them.

    A sure way is decapitation. That always work in the past.

    "Why didn''t you finish him off when you have the chance?"

    Sun Xiao questions while I cut all the almost invisible strands that are wrapping around my limbs and trying to hold me in ce. They are not strong enough to do so, but they do slow me down.

    That is an annoying ability Xi Shi has. It is also strong enough to cut into my skin, drawling blood. Fake bloods, but still blood, nheless.

    I guess that is why Xi Shi doesn''t really fear my speed.

    However, she is taking me a bit seriously now.

    "It is not possible to kill him like that. His regeneration is abnormal. No. Not just that. His entire body is abnormal. It is like he is a machine.

    An organic machine."

    Mo Shu responses, making me frown lightly.

    He manages to figure that out from trying to punch me into a pulp. I had thought that biomechanical construct can emte a person perfectly, but apparently not.

    Or maybe it has something to do with his ability.

    "What the fuck is an organic machine?"

    Sun Xiao questions while Mo Shu narrows his eyes at me, seemingly realizing something.

    "It means that I can''t y around anymore."

    Mo Shu responses before roaring. His killing intent washes over the entire room as his power skyrocket to unknown height.

    This causes both Sun Xiao and Xi Shi to be shocked.

    I am as well since his killing intent is far more powerful than a Chimera should have.

    It also exins why Mo Shu can easily destroy and expel those micromachines infesting his body while the other two haven''t even noticed them yet.

    "You. What are ¨C

    Sun Xiao utters before his head gets crushed by Mo Shu.

    "Sorry, but I don''t have time for weakling, but at least you can be of some use to me. Be grateful that you will live on within me."

    Mo Shu responses before lifting up Sun Xiao, and right before my very eyes, the huge corpse instantly get devoured by Mo Shu. Not devoured. More of absorb into his body.

    Seeing that, Xi Shi immediately back away as far as she can. She is frightened, more so than facing me even though I can kill her pretty easily.

    "I apologize. I should have realized who you are from those things inside my body. When did they get into me? I think it was when I am talking to Lu Bu. That means Miss Xi Shi is right, Lu Bu is not who he supposes to be."

    Mo Shu speaks up and casts a look at Xi Shi.

    "Infector¡­! Impossible!"

    The pale woman utters.

    "Oh. You know what I am, but too bad you don''t know who I am. If you did, you would be begging for your life about now. Maybe I should infect you as a way to enter the organization."

    Mo Shu speaks up.

    "Wait. I am not Xi Shi. I am just ¨C"

    Mo Shu tries to grab her before she could finish the sentence, but I severe his outstretched arm before shing his body several times, forcing him to back away.

    "It isn''t nice to interrupt thedy, Mo Shu, or whoever you are."

    I point out as my de glows red. It seems I need to resort toser edge to cut through his limbs. This makes him one of the strongest Hybrids on file.

    Stronger than even Kings and Queens in their prime.

    In fact, his ability seems to be very simr to someone.

    Someone that supposed to be dead, at least from what Johnathan has reported. Seems like I have to have a chat with the man about that. That is slobby work, but then again, it is pretty hard to kill him, as he is called a perfect parasite.

    Mo Shu looks at his severed limbs before regenerating it. His severed arm also regenerated, growing and morphing into a full-grown man.

    Another Mo Shu.

 Chapter 185: The Meaning of Immortality

    That regeneration speed exceeds even mine, but it is at a terrible cost. A cost that I am quite unwilling to pay even though I can probably afford it. Definitely can afford it.

    It is the plethora of side effects that are of a great concern.

    For example, I wouldn''t want all the cells within my body to be in a state of unending flux, threatening to break down any moment, especially when I lose focus or somehow render unconscious.

    I am unsure why Mo Shu is not reduced to a pile of bloody mush at the moment due to his cells being in such an unstable state, but I suppose I will find out right after I turn him into a bloody mush myself.

    It shouldn''t take much effort at all, considering that my speed exceeds his greatly. In this kind of battle, speed is more important than anything, and I do not mean only movement speed.

    While I am impressed at his regeneration speed, it is ultimately pointless, considering with my current biomechanical body, I can match that regeneration speed. Surpassing it even.

    That is actually more than possible.

    This is because unlike my real biological body, the regeneration speed for a biomechanical body is only limited by how much raw materials are avable for me to consume.

    And with my spatialpression technology, theck of raw materials isn''t really a problem.

    One would think that energy is a limitation, but I am powered by a Ster Reactor. In fact, a couple of Ster Reactors. Each encapstes a miniature sun within, so I basically have unlimited power at my fingertips.

    I can also direct all of that sr power in the form of an energy beam just like when I sted Zeus into the in an alternate reality. Those attacks are powered by supernova explosions, but the concept is the same.

    And with my biomechanical body, I would never get exhausted in battle. Always relentless. I wouldn''t need to eat or drink or even breathe.

    I am basically a terminator.

    Immortal too just like Mo Shu is.

    Not invincible. Just immortal. Although, it is probably near impossible to kill me since this form doesn''t really have any sort of weakness aside from the usual destruction from overwhelming power.

    Then why didn''t I just trade my biological body for this biomechanical one? It seems like a no brainer.

    I didn''t for the same reason to why Hydra had abandoned the Hybridization Project. The human body is actually capable of so much more, and any impurity or mutation within its gic makeups appears to prevent it from reaching its fully potential.

    Psionic potential, that is.

    I want psychic powers. The powers to manipte the world with just my mind.

    It is simple as that.

    And I do wonder whether the evolution of mankind is naturally urring or not. From my intuition, I don''t think that is the case, but I guess I will get the answers sooner orter.

    In any case, human will eventually be more powerful than even the most powerful Hybrids. This includes Mo Shu.

    "Wow. You can clone yourself too? Didn''t expect to run into a fellow Shinobi all the way out here."

    Iment sarcastically as I level my glowing katana to my eyes.

    Theser edge of the weapon is very effective at slicing anything regardless of whatever it is, including me. This is because no materials can remain solid whening into direct contact with theser edge due to the intense heat.

    Several millions of degree Celsius intense heat.

    There is obviously a downside to theser de aside from getting close and personally. It doesn''t cut through everything instantly since the heat transference for some materials are kind of slow.

    As fantasticalser-based weapons are, it still governed by science after all. An upgrade would be using magic for enhancement, but it is unnecessary against someone like Mo Shu.

    "I might have been one in the past. I just cannot remember right now. And please don''t interrupt me when I am feeding."

    One of the Mo Shu responses to my sarcastic question. It is the one that had regenerated from just a severed arm. Since that one could talk as if he was the original Mo Shu himself, it appears that Mo Shu does have gic memory.

    Great.

    I don''t think the original Mo Shu is even the original. This could be a problem.

    Before I could reply, Mo Shu rushes at Xi Shi, attempting to attack and consume her again. The version that is closest to me immediately engages me, trying to slow me down.

    I wonder why Mo Shu is so set on absorbing Xi Shi, but it could be because of her powers and abilities as a Chimera. It could also be because I am a biomechanical construct, thus he is unable to absorb my cells and steal my abilities.

    As a parasitic Hybrid, Mo Shu can take the powers and abilities of others through a form of biological assimtion. It is something that I could do with the micromachines.

    Xi Shi is quite fast when she is running for her life, but Mo Shu is a lot faster than her.

    He is still super slow whenpare to me, so the distraction onlysted a fraction of a second before I intercept the one that is trying to eat Xi Shi.

    Mo Shu isn''t too surprised at my speed, allowing me to dismember him. He is more surprised that my weapon is capable of shing through his carapace like a hot knife through butter. He probably wasted quite a bit of biomass in their creation, only for them to bepletely useless against me.

    "It seems that I will have to defeat you first."

    Mo Shu points out as he regenerates his arm within a second. His rapid generation speed does make him hard to kill, but not impossible. I just need to make sure I destroy every single cell within his body.

    "You may find that is an impossible task for even you, Mo Shu."

    I response before casting a nce at Xi Shi, who is sweating profusely. Her fear is understandable sinceing into physical contact with Mo Shu will instantly result in her demise.

    My eyes are telling her why she isn''t escaping. There is no point of her being here only to be eaten.

    Xi Shi is smart enough to understand, and when she runs off, Mo Shu didn''t chase after her since I will not let him. He has finally decided to face me even though he probably won''t get anything in defeating me.

    I am not someone he can kill and absorb, and the reason why he had crushed Sun Xiao''s head before consuming the corpse, it is probably to prevent himself from absorbing the memory, thus making him forgets more of himself.

    The instant that Xi Shi vanishes from view, I take the initiative of engaging Mo Shu. Since my katana is deadly to him, he has no choice but to avoid my shes. That is something harder to do than said, and after a handful of seconds, he copses onto the ground without his arms and legs.

    His limbs are scattered across the room since I was moving way too fast. Much faster than the speed of sound, which unfortunately has caused some quite deadly shockwaves and sonic booms.

    "This is a problem."

    Mo Shu speaks up after I decapitate his head, showing me that decapitation will not kill him. I wonder if that is due to his gic memory or due to his godly regeneration speed.

    "So, what do you mean by you know who I am?"

    I question after picking up his head. He is actually regenerating his entire body from his head, causing me to pin him against the wall with some micromachines Kunai. They are like throwing daggers, but a lot more heavier.

    The micromachines will slow his regeneration speed down, allowing me to ask him some questions. It isn''t possible to download his memory from his mind due to his memory being locked within his own cells.

    "There is only one group that has this kind of technology. You are from Hydra. Possibly a captain-ss from your speed and power. It seems that even after all of this time, I am still unable to fight against one."

    Mo Shu responses.

    Captain-ss is a rank within S.W.O.R.D. division. Since that division isbat orientated, their ranks are based purely on speed and strength. Techniques and abilities too, but thanks to memory mapping and body augmentation technology, those can be learned fairly easily.

    "It seems I am mistaken. I thought that you were someone else, considering your power. Did youe into contact with that person?"

    I question. If that is the case, it could be a huge problem.

    "That person?"

    Mo Shu utters as he tries to search his memory.

    I allow him to do so while thinking about where Xi Shi has run off too. I will hunt her downter. There isn''t really anywhere that Xi Shi can run to unless she can somehow fly herself out of the country.

    But from her gic makeups, I don''t think she can spout wings.

    If she uses a private jet, I will have some drones shoot her down. I wonder if those orbital cannons are operational yet. Probably not, so drones it is.

    It didn''t take long for Mo Shu to remember something. His expression changes instantly. His eyes look directly at me while his limbs are regenerating at an incredible speed.

    Within another second, Mo Shu is no longer limbless.

    But to be able to do that, Mo Shu must have burned up quite a lot of energy.

    Where does he store all of that energy though? I will need to have a look into this.

    "Mo Shu?"

    I question when he keeps staring at me creepily, but I don''t think I am talking to Mo Shu anymore.

    It is not the side effect of having such an absurd regeneration speed. It is the side effect of consuming way too many people and taking in their memory. It might also due to his cells renewing themselves imperfectly, but cellr mutation is very rare.

    "Mo Shu¡­ is that my current name? It has been so long since I remember who I am, Hydra. I remember you. Very clearly. What did you use to call me? I think it was an ace.

    An ace of something."

    Mo Shu ponders questioningly, making me smile.

    It seems that Mo Shu is who I assume that he is. He is the pinnacle of parasitic perfection. One of four biological perfections that Hydra had managed to create in their pursuit of human perfection.

    "Ace of Diamond."

    I remind him, causing his eyes to widen for a second before returning to ring at me. His memories areing back in full, and the hatred within his eyes is noted. It is expected, considering that Hydra had hunted him down to exterminate him.

    Not only him, but all the other Aces as well.

    Before the discovery of psionic potentials, Aces of the Hybridization Project are stated to be biological perfection. They are so perfect to the point that many members within Hydra Gics had submitted requests and suggestions about putting them all on ice.

    It is to prevent a possible catastrophe, as Aces themselves are an actual threat to the human race.

    They cannot even consider as Hybrids anymore due to their blood being highly cannibalistic. Their cells actually cannibalize human cells to the point that humans are considered as mere sustenance.

    That alone warrants their extermination as the Hybridization Project isn''t about recing the human race with another subjectively superior species. If that was the goal, I would have scraped the project before it had even started.

    Like everything that Hydra had done thus far, the Hybridization Project is to ensure the survival as well as the prosperity of the human race.

    That is the cause. It has always been the cause.

    It is also the very same reason to why I cannot allow the Ace of Diamond to remain alive, but I think I am toote as the seed has been sown. It has been a few decades after all.

    Plenty of time for him to infest countless people.

    "I remember now. You are those bastards. I will kill you!"

    Mo Shu roars. I am still going to call him that since Ace of Diamond doesn''t really have a name. It was known as Ace of Diamond or a number. Either is a mouthful.

    I cock my head to see that I ampletely surrounded by Mo Shu.

    They have regenerated from those severed limbs, including the limbs from the first clone.

    I also note that all the dead goons are gone, consumed for their biomass to produce more Mo Shu. It is how Mo Shu able to able to make more of himself, which makes him incredible hard to kill, but not impossible.

    To kill him, I would need to burn him to thest cell.

    It is what Johnathan had done in the past, but I guess he misses a few cells.

    "Alright. Let''s see if you actually can."

    I snort and take my stance. From the suffocating killing intent filling the room, Mo Shu seems to be a lot more stronger than before.

    The closest Mo Shu attacks, but I turn him into bloody cubes. It is much easier to slice through fleshes and bones than before, meaning that he no longer wasting precious energy and biomass to manifest carapace. Instead, he puts all of that energy and biomass into rapid regeneration.

    That is smart.

    Before another Mo Shu even have time to attack me, the bloody cubes be a more Mo Shu. From that alone, there seems to be no limit to the speed of his regeneration. He has be a lot stronger over the years.

    Unfortunately, his speed is not on par with me.

    "Honestly, I should call you ck Sperm from now on. That is basically your power."

    I point out after I dice a couple more, making the situation worst.

    Mo Shu didn''t understand my reference since One Punch Man doesn''t exist yet, and instead of trying to understand, he continues his attack, swarming over me with sheer numbers.

    As if that is going to work.

    While I could ignite my katana and start torching him, burning him into ash instead of dicing him up, I decide to stop ying around. There are no witnesses left anyway.

    Thest Mo Shu is shocked to see everyone else in the room turning into dust in an instant.

    "It seems that you are not immortal after all."

    Iment. The only question remains is whether this is thest instance of the Ace of Diamond, but it is likely isn''t, considering that Johnathan had failed to eradicate every single cells, thus allowing him to be reborn once more.

    That is another form of immortality.

    How fucking annoying.

 Chapter 186: It is Bad Karma

    And since there is no fear in his eyes, I can safely say that killing Mo Shu will not eliminate the danger to humanity that is the Ace of Diamond.

    It is quite impossible to eradicate a parasitic entity that can duplicate itself endlessly through the use of infections and assimtions, not to mention it is more than capable of hiding inside countless living hosts, humans or otherwise. It can also liepletely dormant for many years.

    Much like a virus.

    Actually, it is a fucking virus. A virus that must be eradicated to thest cell.

    This is the very reason to why all research data and information pertaining to the Aces are destroyed, so some idiot somewhere cannot recreate them again for whatever reason.

    If someone did, much the world might get infected, causing me to press that huge reset button. It is a metaphorical button. I have pressed it once. I hope that I don''t have to press again.

    Bing infected is likely what had happened to Mo Shu, considering that he has acted and behaved like Mo Shu half an hour or so ago. It is to the point that I, as Lu Bu, had assumed that he was just one of those abnormal Chimera.

    He obviously wasn''t.

    If I have to guess, I think at some point in the past, the real Mo Shu must havee into contact with the Ace of Diamond and gotten himself infected. Just one cell is enough spread throughout his system and take over his body.

    This is different from what had happened to Sun Xiao, whose head is crushed by Mo Shu before being consumed.

    It is to ensure that Sun Xiao''s memory does not get absorbed and integrated, but this also means that his experience andbat expertise also didn''t get absorbed and be of use to Mo Shu.

    The only thing that are absorbed is his powers and abilities, if he has any abilities.

    Being a false Chimera, I don''t think Sun Xiao has any special or unique ability like Xi Shi, who can stop me with her almost-invisible silk threads. That is probably due to being part spider. Creepy.

    Actually, Sun Xiao did have an ability. The ability to increase his physical strength, not that it helps him against me. It actually makes him a bigger target for me to easily chop him up.

    "Who¡­? No. What are you?"

    Mo Shu questions. He is unable to understand what had just happened to the others, but he is aware that I am the one responsible for their instant deaths.

    In addition, Mo Shu didn''t see me use any kind of weapons aside from the katana in my hands.

    "I am human."

    I answer his question.

    It is the truth, at least from a scientific standpoint.

    My body, the original body that is resting rather peacefully back at home in New York City, is actually 100% human even with all the fantastical abilities that I am wielding, such as the power to manipte thermal and matter.

    Thetter is actually through use of nanomachines.

    While those nanomachines are floating around my bloodstream, augmenting my body, they are more or less like a tool instead of actually being part of my gic makeups.

    It is much different than a bodyposed entirely of biomechanical cells.

    "Bullshit. No humans should have that kind of power!"

    Mo Shu argues, making me smile under my mask.

    That statement is quite ironic, considering that there are human mages capable of the same feat that I had just demonstrated. The feat of wiping out a horde of monsters.

    As for time maniption itself, there is the ck Mage of Az, who seems to be a human from what I can understand.

    Thus, being able to use magic doesn''t make a person less of a human, as their gic makeups is still that of a human,parable to a human from earth.

    I have actually checked this with Sapphire Sre, my first and only apprentice thus far.

    Oh. I check the other humans who had fallen victims to the golbins.

    I am curious to how Sapphire is doing at the moment, but there will be time to check up on her. I also need to check up on Eliana Shadowsong too, just to see whether she has convinced the others to see her way yet.

    Elune Whisperwind as well, just to bring her into the fold like Eliana. Not the sexual part. I need her to be a lot more useful than she is now, being more or less a backup anchor to Az to Eliana. I need at least one of them to summon me if I ever need to return to Az.

    I will have to return there personally, so I can learn magic properly, but learning how to cast magic is not more important than this problem.

    "Is that so? Maybe that is true several decades ago, when you were turned into the very abomination that you are now, but it is much different presently. There are quite a number of people who are more than capable of ending you. And they are all human."

    I answer Mo Shu. It is not aplete lie.

    There are quite a few people inside as well as outside of Hydra who are more than capable of matching an Ace blow for blow. But it is not the same as outright killing an Ace. Doing that will take some effort.

    A lot of effort.

    For me, it is effortless. Killing an Ace is as easy as snapping my finger, but eradicating onepletely is a pain in the ass. A huge pain in the ass, especially when they aren''t that stupid.

    "That is not possible. I am the perfect specimen. Perfect in every way."

    Mo Shu retorts, refusing to believe what I had just told him. I am sure that he had been called perfect many times in the past by countless of Hydra scientists, and I do admit that he is perfect as a virus and maybe as a weapon.

    But as the next step in human evolution? Not so much.

    "Yes. You are perfect in every way. Perfectly dead that is, and I can prove it to you."

    I taunt, making him re at me. I wonder why I am bother taunting him when I could just end his life right now, but I suppose I want to see what he is truly capable of.

    More capable than that regeneration ability of his.

    "Prove it to me!? I will crush you like an insignificant insect that you are!"

    Mo Shu roars as his body ripples.

    Huge pulsating veins manifest all over his body before he swells up in size just like Sun Xiao did before, thus making him a lot bulkier.

    Also, Mo Shu bes a bigger target for me just like Sun Xiao before, not that it really matters. While I can carve him up like I did with Sun Xiao, it will just make more of him due to his rapid regeneration.

    A fist crashes into where I was standing, shattering the floor and driving up an awful amount of debris, and the follow up smashes through the wall behind me when I evaded.

    More destructions afterwards as I leap from spot to spot, dodging his punches.

    Despite being a hulk, Mo Shu retains almost the same speed. He is only slower than before due to the air friction against his bigger form, not because of the form itself. It seems like his cells are capable of adapting all kind of abilities, thus making stronger and stronger the more Hybrids he assimtes.

    Likely people too.

    Just another reason that I must find a way to eradicate himpletely. The longer that he is alive, the more of a threat he bes, not to mention the chance of absorbing an evolved human is significant higher now.

    "Stay still, so I can hit you, you damn monkey!"

    Mo Shu roars and sends a barrage of punches my way.

    I slip through the flurry of fists to sh his tanking body several times and thennd behind him. There is a great resistance against my shes, telling me that his muscles are a lot denser than before.

    It is pretty obvious from the amount of power behind each of his punches.

    Even so, his huge muscr body is still butter against a hot knife that is myser katana.

    "Even with all of that power, it is pointless if you cannot hit me."

    I point out when I turn around to face him.

    Having absurd amount of strength is a good thing, but without actual speed to make use of it, it is kind of useless. There is no point if you cannot hit your opponent due to them being way too fast.

    That is the reason why many members of Hydrabat divisions ce great emphasis on speed. They are so fast that everyone looks like they are standing still.

    These members are basically captain-ss.

    There are several higher ranks than captain-ss such as general andmander. I had thought thatmander was lower rank than captain, but apparently it is not. Division leader is the highest ranking in allbat division, and they do have the power to match their ranks.

    But most division leaders are strategist, staying back to see the bigger picture instead of running about in the battlefield, bulldozing through whatever. The only exception is actually Johnathan himself, who is a hand-on guy.

    Honestly, putting Johnathan behind a desk, the next moment, you will be inside the desk. It happened years back. Not me though since I don''t really assign division leaders.

    I could but is there a point to that? I rather spend my time doing something more interesting.

    Mo Shu heals the deep wounds on his body while ring furiously at me, but instead of decreasing in size to increase his speed, he actually bes bigger. Much bigger than before.

    In fact, he is ballooning up, threatening to blow in a disy of guts and gores. Is there really a point to that? Unless he has bombs inside his body like me.

    I don''t have a bomb inside my body, but I can wire a Ster Reactor to go critical. That should take out the. Much of the inner sr system as well. That would be overkill.

    "Like that is going to work¡­"

    I begin before realizing what he is actually doing. It would be a nightmare to eradicate every single cell if he is everywhere, and if he still has a lot of biomass and energy within him, he could also regenerate more clones.

    With a snap of my finger, Mo Shu returns to normal human size.

    "What?"

    Mo Shu utter, unable toprehend what had just happen. One moment, he is ready to blow up like sulking Cell, unwilling to admit his defeat the hand of Gohan, the next, he isn''t anymore.

    "I cannot allow you to blow up, Mo Shu, at least not here. Let''s take this conversation to another ce, a ce that you cannot escape from."

    Once I have said that, I rush towards him and send him flying with a punch right into the spatial portal, and I jump into the portal after him. The portal into my spatial dimension closes afterwards, trapping Mo Shu inside and allowing me to do whatever I need.

    The only thing that remains in the room aside from all the debris and blood is a corpse. If Mo Shu could assimte that corpse like all the other corpses, it wouldn''t be there anymore.

    After a few minutes, the corpse twitches and opens its eyes.

    As Lu Bu, I stand up straight and brush down myself. All the deep wounds that I had given myself have disappear like they were an illusion.

    I look around before time begins to rewind, returning the room back to its original and prestige state, way before Mo Shu wrecks the ce. I didn''t bring back anyone, however. There is no point in doing that.

    Of course, restoring the room and making all signs of battle disappear do not stop the people outside calling the police. It is due to the gunfire and earthquakes. Thetter is mostly due to Mo Shu basically going Hulk-mode.

    I didn''t shut down the emergency service since doing that will cause more problem than people calling the police, and besides, people might have real emergency.

    This isn''t like that time I massacre Halle Berry and her homeless family.

    In any case, this is a problem that I have to find a solution to, especially when fighting godlike opponent in the prime reality.

    I am sure that I will have to fight against someone on par with Zeus and Zephyr one day, and I cannot just reverse time of the entire universe every time that happens.

    While I could reverse time for what happened here, doing so would resurrect Mo Shu as well as all the others in the Triad. I rather not, especially when I am trying to start a war between different countries and their Hybrids.

    Speaking of others, I have Shield finds where Xi Shi has run off to. She is no longer in the city. She isn''t even in the state anymore.

    Now, that is fast. Xi Shi didn''t disy such speed before, but from the surveince drones that I have nned on her, I realize that she is in a private jet. Still, Xi Shi managed to get a runway in a very short amount of time.

    And a few more minutes, Xi Shi would be over the Antic Ocean.

    Time to shoot down a ne, I guess. Actually, shooting a private ne over the airspace of the United States might be asking for trouble, so I should wait for her to fly over international water.

    As a Chimera, she should survive something like a ne crash, especially when it crashes over sea.

    And as for what is happening outside the building with all the police and spectators, I have decided to let them be as the media will make up some imaginative stories for the Chinese to see.

    I did leave a katana behind to me the Japanese. It is just a normal katana. A very finely crafted one, just because. It will take more that to get the Chinese and Japanese to kill each other, so I will need to impersonate a Chinese Chimera to attack a Japanese outpost here in America.

    It should be fun.

    On the ne, Xi Shi is highly agitated due to the run in with an infector.

    While she could probably hold her own against an infector, it is not wise to fight against one, as it can infect another with just a touch alone.

    Furthermore, she wouldn''t know if she has been infected or not until she returns to China.

    "How long?"

    Xi Shi questions. She needs to be over the Antic Ocean to call the Headquarter and informs them of what exactly happen. Doing so in the United States is unwise as there are many people listening in.

    "About a few more minutes, young miss. May I ask what happen with the Triad?"

    A very well-dressed middle-aged man is sitting across from her. He is her butler of sort, apanying her to the United States and taking care of whatever menial tasks that she needs.

    There is no one else on the private ne asides from them and the pilots.

    "The Triad? They are gone. It is because of ¨C

    A huge explosion rocks the aircraft as it is hit by several hypersonic missiles. They take out both wings of the aircraft. One of them hit the fusge, causing mes to fill the room.

    Xi Shi shields herself on reflex as the aircraft begins its uncontroble spiraling descents.

    She didn''t know what happen in the next few minutes as the aircraft crashes violently into the ocean, but as a Chimera, she manages to pull herself out of the blown fusge of the aircraft to swim to the surface.

    The same could not be said with the man apanying her.

    He is likely dead.

    Since there is no one for many miles in all directions, she has no choice but to stay afloat until someonee and rescue her, but it is going to take a few hours for someone to show up.

    Her people most likely if I have nothing to do with it.

    Obviously, I cannot allow her to b about things that she shouldn''t b about, but I did let her swim there for a little, just to make her feel the dread.

    "Hello, we have meet again."

    I greet her in my Shinobi disguise when I decide that she has practice swimming long enough. She does not have any amphibious animal traits within her gic makeups. Otherwise, she could actually swim to shore.

    It will be one hell of a swim, but it is possible. It is also better than floating here all alone in the coldness of the night, hoping for a ship to drop by to hitch a ride.

    Xi Shi is shocked to see me, but not because of my appearance. It is actually because of the fact that I am standing on water like it is solid ground. Also, it is because this is the middle of nowhere. There are no ships or nes in sight, so she must be wondering how I have managed to get here.

    "H-how?"

    Xi Shi utters. Fear is hinted in her voice. She is finally frightened of me, and that makes me really happy.

    "Don''t you know? A Shinobi should never divulge his secret. It is bad karma."

 Chapter 187: In Middle of Nowhere

    As for how I am able to walk on water, it is thanks to my antigravity technology. The same technology that allows Legion to fly around without any sort of wings or engines.

    In an alternate reality, Legion actually flies around as a highly reflective sphere of random dimensions, and the sphere could be as small as a marble or as big as a, thus giving Legion a very alien feels just like I had wanted.

    That is all to bring maximum terror or bewilderment or both. People are naturally more fearful of what they do not understand orprehend.

    Obviously, the ability to fly by manipting gravity isn''t as speedy as using actual engines to produce necessary lifts and thrusts like an airne would, but it is a lot more convenience due tock of moving parts.

    The speed isn''t exactly slow per se. With enough power being pumped directly into the internal gravity maniptor engine, Legion can theoretically exceed hypersonic speed. It is the same speed that those missiles had taken out the ne.

    That is about Mach 10 to 25.

    Or 3500 meters per seconds to 8500 meters per seconds, give or take a little.

    March 1 is the speed of sound on Earth. On others, the speed of sound is actually different due to different atmospheric conditions as well as temperatures. It is the same principle why sounds travel much faster in water, reaching and exceeding 1500 meters per second.

    That is 5400 km per hour.

    Note that I am using metric terms since metric will dominate the future. Honestly, the imperial system of measurement fucking sucks, and the only reason that the United States didn''t convert to the metric system is mostly due to the people.

    This is one instant that the will of the people wins out, but the people can really be stupid sometimes, and they are really against changes unless everyone adopts it simultaneously or in a short amount of time.

    Anyway, while that speed does sound superfastpare to any vehicle on Earth, it is actually super slow for any sort of space travel. Sub-light speed is required to reach anywhere within the sr system in a reasonable amount of time.

    For interster travel, hyperspace speed ispulsory.

    That term means the distance that light is able to travel within a whole year expressed in velocity. Just forprehension, light travels approximately 300,000 kilometer per second.

    Therefore, in a year, light can travel 9.5 trillion kilometers.

    That is the same distance that a primitive hyperspace engine can cover within a second.

    In other word, hyperspace speed is lightyear speed.

    Even so, it would still take about 4.24 years to reach the closest sr system to ours, Proxima Centauri, so that is why I need to advance the hyperspace engine if I ever want to colonize another gxy.

    Without faster hyperspace engines, reaching the next spiral gxy is but a dream, let alone exploring the vastness that is the universe.

    The universe might actually be infinite or so big that it might as well be called infinite. Infinity is not a real number. It is just a word for a number sorge that it is pointless to cite.

    Andromeda Gxy is the closest spiral gxy to the Milk Way Gxy, where Earth resides. It is about 2 million light years away.

    With my current hyperspace technology, it would still take me about a million years to reach there, so there is no point of sending any ships to another gxy even during my time as a Gctic Emperor.

    I didn''t even finish colonizing the entire gxy back then.

    For one, it is fucking huge. For two, it is fucking huge.

    Did I mention the gxy is fucking huge? With billions of habitables and stars.

    Oh. People didn''t breed fast enough to make every colony possible. Also, a gctic wide rebellion just because people love to destroy the peace.

    Same reason why the rebellion in Star Wars didn''t make a buttload of sense. It isn''t like the people in a gxy far, far away didn''t have freedom. 99% of the people anyway.

    So, what if there is an evil guy at the helm? As long as he provides security and safety against external forces, it should be fine, but nope, what the minority wants is more important than what the majority wants.

    But then again, it did give me an awesome childhood, so that is all what matters in the end anyway.

    The sheer scope of the universe is mindboggling, but since I do have infinite time at my hand, assuming that I didn''t get killed again, I will explore the universe one day and find a lot of interesting things.

    Antigravity will allow me to spend time on universal starship infort.

    I wouldn''t want to float around in a spaceship for years. And using centrifuge force to create artificial gravity like Shield Headquarter in orbit pales inparison to actual gravity.

    Walking on water and flying around aren''t the only thing that antigravity allows me to fake. I can also fake seemingly supernatural abilities. Abilities that drive absolute terror into Xi Shi, for she is forcibly being lifted into the air from the ocean by an invisible force.

    The same invisible force that pulls her limbs apart, preventing her from doing anything but speak.

    Xi Shi is also naked due to get burned in the explosion. I didn''t really pay much attention to that since it isn''t like I haven''t seen a superhot and naked woman before.

    Beauty isn''t something I am interested in at the moment. Absolute terror is.

    For effect, I did a few hand seals as well. There are twelve hand seals in total from Naruto, a manga to which I am basing my ninja knowledge on.

    They are Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Snake, Ox, Dog, Horse, Tiger, Boar, Ram and Hare.

    It isn''t stealing when it is already stolen in the first ce.

    These animals are from the Chinese Zodiac, which is kind of ironic, considering that Naruto originates from Japan and based on Japanese Culture. If it was originating from China, it would be a manga series about cultivation and face-pping privileged young masters.

    Well, I am sort of face-pping one right now.

    Whether I am going to kill Xi Shi or not really depends on how subservient as well as useful she will be to me. It is probably easier to just kill her and rece her with a mind-controlled puppet.

    Or I could just mind control her, but that would be going against my principle of freewill. My principles are the only thing I will notpromise on. I just don''t want to cross that line.

    "By the way, I remember you were saying that you aren''t actually Xi Shi. I am a bit curious about that since I did have a good chat with Mo Shu right before I kill him and turn him into ash. Shall I kill you as well? Maybe by drowning. Can you breathe underwater?"

    I speak up since Xi Shi is unable to find words to put into her mouth. In her mind, she is utterly terrified as it is not possible to make her float in midairpletely unaided, at least not without actual psychic power.

    More specifically, telekinesis.

    The Chinese is actually aware of the possibility of having psychic power, and like most countries in the world, they are actively seeking out those who havetent psychic power. Of course, it is quite fruitless since psionic potential individuals are emerging only recently thanks to me basically fathering a bunch of superbabies.

    Hydra is already working on it for many years, and they have a lot more resources than even the United States, not to mention they do not need to resort to kidnapping their own citizens, something that the Party in China actually doing way more tantly.

    It is a good thing that I had released the cloning technology to Hydra. The ability to clone people allows Hydra and the scientists to have an endless supply of specimens. It also makes them more of a monster than they already are, but let''s not talk about that anymore.

    Cannot really stop progress nor I would want to.

    "Y-you manage to kill an infector?"

    Xi Shi questions, knowing full well that infectors are notoriously difficult to kill. This is thanks to their insane regeneration speed. The only real way to kill them is probably just nuke them.

    That is not really a viable option, considering the fallout. Political shitstorm afterwards too.

    "Yes."

    I answer before stabbing her shoulder with my glowing de, causing her to scream on reflex. She did try not to scream afterwards, but theser edge of my katana makes it incredible hard for her wound to heal due to the cauterization effect.

    And while the de is stuck inside her body, it continues to burn her. Being burn alive is actually really painful.

    I should know. I have been burned hundreds of time before.

    "Now, Xi Shi. Answer my question and only my question or I will try to make you sing a really crappy song that neither of us really want to hear. Who are you and why are you iming to be Xi Shi?"

    I add before stabbing her a few times just because. It is also due to the fact that I cannot really cut her up since she isn''t able to regenerate her limbs like Mo Shu.

    While I could use my power to undo any kind of injuries I inflicted on others, I rather not reveal all my cards. There is also no real reason to against someone like her.

    "I can''t tell you that. She. No. They will kill me. They will kill me!"

    Xi Shi begs tearfully. The person that she refers to is probably the real Xi Shi. As for who they are, she is referring to the people in charge of the Party as well as China due to their control of the Communist Party.

    "Yes. They probably will, but do you think that I wouldn''t? Tell me what I want to know and live a few more days or die now. And I can promise you, I can make you linger between life and death for a very, very long time."

    I response, putting great emphasis on the threat. I can actually do that without resorting to my power thanks to all the micromachines inside her body.

    They will keep her alive for as long as possible.

    Those micromachines are also in her brain, allowing me to read her surface thought. It did take a while since the micromachines have to get use to her physiology thus bing capable of hiding from her immune system.

    As strong as Xi Shi is as a Chimera, she cannot control her body at the cellr level like Mo Shu can. It is probably not possible for any Chimera to do so as the Aces themselves were created with a far more morality questionable method.

    "They will kill my family. Please. They will."

    Xi Shi continues to beg.

    "You don''t really have a family, Xi Shi. You are the only child, and your parents are dead in a suspicious ident, leaving you the sole beneficiary of their entire estate when you were only nine. Your rtives try to control you, but they too meet with a suspicious ident."

    I reveal my knowledge before stabbing her right through the throat, piercing her vocal cord. It is simply to stop her from talking or screaming. I just hate it when people lie tantly to my face, thinking that I don''t know shit when I probably know more than they do.

    Oh. Using their family in order to save their own skin too, especially their children. I despite those who does that.

    And speaking of skin, I am going to y her a bit for lying to me. It is for enjoyment as well. I am pretty evil. I have to be to do what I must.

    The end justifies the mean.

    My hand retrieves the handle, leaving the glowing de right through her neck, continuing to prevent her from speaking. Theser edge of the katana is facing up, stopping itself from actually slicing down right through her body.

    It would go right through the middle of chest to her stomach and then exit out between her legs. That would be quite gruesome, but probably not more gruesome than skinning her alive.

    Putting the handle away, I take out a knife.

    I also produce a hand-size grindstone to sharpen the knife just for effect.

    From all my time of torturing people to death, people are way more frightened when they know what will happen to them instead of it happening. That is because when it does happen, they are too busy screaming in pain instead of being utterly terrify.

    Of course, the torturing part will happen to make sure they understand that I mean it.

    Xi Shi tries to bullshit some more, but I don''t really want to hear whatever she is going to say, at least not before I prove to her that is very unwise to lie to my face.

    Maybe I should warn her that she shouldn''t lie to me before I ask her any question. Must have slipped my mind. Oops.

    "It has been a while since I had skinned someone alive, so I can promise you that it is going to hurt me a lot less than it is going to hurt you. Did I get that saying wrong? Anyway, I''m going to enjoy this quite a bit. You can regenerate superficial wounds with your power, right? Ah I forget, you are not allowed to talk right now, so I guess I will find out myself."

    I speak while sharpening my knife, slowly and loudly.

    The grinding sounds that I am making overshadow the natural sounds of the sea, piercing through her hovering body, making herpletely dreadful.

    As a Chimera, Xi Shi should be able to regenerate any wounds internally and externally, but only when they aren''t extremely severe. Severe as severed limbs for example.

    If she keeps up her bullshit, I will severe her limbs and turn her into a human punching bag. I did turn someone into that once. A long, long time ago.

    Xi Shi shakes her head, trying to say something, but ites out as gurgles. She also tries to reach for the weapon with both hands, but the antigravity fields around her arms and legs repel the one around her torso and neck.

    It is behaving like super strong ma.

    Of course, Xi Shi also tries to use her special ability, manifesting extremely spider web in order to slice through the de or somehow remove it. But like every material thate into direct contact with theser edge, those strings of her are destroyed.

    They actually get set alight, making me chuckle.

    "Ah. There is no need to be impatient, Xi Shi. It is almost done, just a bit more."

    Iment and have a good look at the edge of the knife. It is extremely sharp, as sharp as possible by machining. Just like the katana that I had left behind in the Triad building, the knife is a very fine piece of work.

    There is only one group that is capable to crafting such a fine de such as this by hands, and they are situated in Japan. They actually crafts weapons for the Japanese Hybrids, who shares the same notion as S.W.O.R.D. members.

    That is, getting close and personal.

    I would like to get close and personal with them too just to see their swordsmanship. While I do prefer to use a spear, it is good to learn all sort of weapons just in case. I also have learned all sort of martial arts, but they aren''t that useful inparison to pure strength and speed.

    Besides, if I want to fight through hand techniques and all of that mumble jumbles, I will just resort to Selene. As a virtual intelligence, she will not have any waste movements.

    Xi Shi continues to shake her head as that is the only thing she can do. She is unable to move her limbs, and even if she could, where could she run off to? This is the middle of the ocean.

    As for me, I crouch down to wash the sharpened knife with sea water. I am not too worry about getting it rusted since the starship-grade alloys it is made from doesn''t rust.

    "Alrighty. Sorry for the dy, but I have been stabbing so many people with this knife that it does get kind of dull. So, I am going to spice thing up by ying a beauty."

    I speak up and grab her hand, taking her wrist into mine.

    The gravitation field around that hand is dropped in the process, allowing her to move more freely. Or as freely as allow within my steel grip. I am aware of how much strength she can exert, and since she is floating in midair, that amount diminishes greatly.

    Her skin is quite white. Pearly even, but it is hard to tell in utter darkness. While I could see in the dark, it isn''t exactly the same as seeing things in bright day light.

    Her arm immediately dyed with red as the knife went under the skin, going right between her skin and the upperyer of her muscle. Her regenerative power kicks in quickly, making me frown.

    I should find ways to disable it. It would give me a mean of fighting against regenerators.

    But in this case, it is actually quite easy to do with the micromachines floating around inside her brain, waiting for mymand. Part of her brain bes highly active when she needs to heal herself. This is a feedback response, and if I interfere with it, her body would assume that it is not injured.

    The feedback response is necessary to prevent her cells from replicating out of control, thus bing something like a giant tumor.

    "Hmmm-mmm!?"

    Xi Shi utters painfully. Her body tenses up, and warm liquids run down between her legs, dripping into the sea. Speaking of liquids, the seawater on open wound is a bitch, but I didn''t really pay any attention to that.

    Seeing the blood makes me frown, as I am trying to y someone alive without drawling a single drop of blood. It is actually possible, but it requires extreme precision.

    It didn''t help that Xi Shi is thrashing her hand violently, trying to get it away from me and the dreadful knife. Her mind is screaming for mercy, but despite that, I will continue what I am intended.

    "Oh. I should tell you that this is what happen to people who thinks they are smarter than me."

    I tell her and continue to y her, all admist the rather stormy sea.

    Good thing that I disable her vocal cord. Listening to her scream for the next hour or so probably kind of torturous.

 Chapter 188: Quantum Artificial Intelligence

    Despite being a full-pledged Chimera, Xi Shi didn''t have that much of a tolerance for pain.

    In fact, Xi Shi would have passed out the moment I finish ying her lovely arm if it wasn''t for all those miachines floating around in her bloodstream, keeping her conscious.

    The same micromachines that are inhibiting her regenerative ability.

    Xi Shi obviously didn''t know that fact. She assumes that her inability to heal herself is due to my rather unexinable power.

    It is unexinable, at least from a biological standpoint, and even with near unlimited funding by their respective government, those organization behind these Hybrids would never reach the same level of technology as Hydra, let alone me.

    Hydra didn''t have ess to antigravity technology yet, and Hydra will not have it until all the ns for colonizing all thes in the sr systeme to fruition.

    Speaking of which, those terraforming ships are on their ways to every in the sr system. They will then proceed to terraform those worlds and moons into ces habitable by humans.

    Or biological being that are simr to humans.

    By which I refer to fantastical creatures. I mean fantasy races. They aren''t fantasy anymore.

    In an alternate future, I did seed a with the dark elf from Az, but the only reason that future exists is because I had the idea of doing so.

    Since I don''t have that idea anymore, that future shouldn''t exists.

    I think that should be case, considering the future is not really set in stone, but then again, my power is not fully understood.

    I do know that the moment I take a look into the future with a temporal bubble, that future has already changed. It can easily be tested, and I have tested it many times already.

    As for the future of this woman named Xi Shi, I have decided to keep her as an experiment. As a mole as well. A clone is probably better for the mole job, but a clone doesn''t have a soul.

    Somehow, having a soul seems important now days.

    Other than that, I want to see her squirm a little more. I am evil that way.

    "You may have a rest now, Xi Shi."

    I tell her and finally allow her to slip into the realm of consciousness, but not before I turn that pretty face of her into a horror show, especially without any of her eyelids or ears or hairs.

    Yes, I give her a shave. Top and bottom. Ites with the ying process.

    And the reason that I am still calling her Xi Shi even though I do know her real name is due to the fact her current legal name is Xi Shi. She isn''t the actual Xi Shi from the Party, however.

    She is actually one of many doubles.

    Is it still called that?

    The real Xi Shi is paranoid to the point that she has so many doubles, just to keep people guessing who is the real one. As for why she is paranoid, I actually have no idea right now.

    This is because the fake Xi Shi doesn''t know. She is expendable to the real Xi Shi, just like every single fake Xi Shi.

    I wonder how many fake Xi Shi there are running about in the world. I will know for certain in a couple of days when the countless drones that are Legion begin tagging everyone on Earth.

    Should have done that a long time ago.

    In fact, I should have done a lot of things a long time ago, but a lot of those things are inconsequential to the cause. Just like Hybrid. Not entirely true as I do need to dedicate some time to hunt down those who are infected with the parasite known as the Ace of Diamond.

    That is actually a mouthful. I will just call the Ace of Diamond as the parasite. I would like to call him Alex Mercer, but I already have one idiot name Alex Mercer.

    I cannot have the parasite continues to spread further.

    It would not be good for humanity as a whole in the long run. Not only those infected cannot be evolved, they also pass down the mutated genes to their children, thus corrupting the gene pool.

    In any case, the Hybrid problem is more or less a side project of mine, and I don''t really need to resort to Hydra for this. I will have to talk to Johnathan obviously, just to chastise him on his slobby work.

    Since standing in the middle of the ocean, waiting for Xi Shi to have a rest, is fucking boring.

    I teleport myself and her to apound somewhere in the United States. It is for interrogation despite I already know everything there is to know about her, at least from her memory.

    While I could dump her in china, rtively close to where she has wanted to go, I didn''t. This is because I have left her butler and the pilots dead. They are considered casualties of war, and as casualties, the Chinese will send someone over to check.

    Finding Xi Shi in China despite her ne never making it across the Antic Ocean will be suspicious.

    Obviously, there are plenty ofpounds that I can use in China if I wanted. Most of them are actually abandoned now due to thepetition of Legion.

    And despite not needing Chinese ve workers, I still keep them on a leash. It is simply because most of them are farmers andborers, thus unable to find a job in the Chinese growing economy.

    China is actually doing a lot better in this timeline than the original timeline. Their current GDP is about half a trillion dors this year, 1990, of the prime timeline. GDP means Gross Domestic Product, which more or less measure the wealth of a country.

    Forparison, the GPD of China was roughly about 360 billion dors in the original timeline.

    And in contrast, the United States of America has the GDP of 10 trillion currently. That is about 4 more trillion than the original timeline, but this is expected due to Chrono Holdings and all of its subsidiaries.

    Oxford Enterprise and otherpanies owned by my underlings and associates as well. They do have a hand in making America great again. I mean continuing to be great.

    I am a patriot even though I believe countries are unneeded in the future.

    Nevertheless, that discrepancy in Gross Domestic Products alone has caused major ripple effects, and I am certain by the time I am born, which is in a decade or so in the year 2000, the world is even more different than the original timeline.

    Much more technological advance than the original timeline, not to mention the introduction to magic as well. So many things are nned for the future, but so little time to do them all.

    Ironic.

    Speaking of time, I am not sure why I am waiting for Xi Shi to wake up like this. Honestly, with a snap of my fingers, she will be restored while retaining the memory of what had just happened.

    I did just that, but not before I set up a few things. It didn''t take more than a handful of seconds thanks to Legion. Having micromachines as building blocks does make constructing anything super easy.

    But introducing it to the modern world will retread the same path as that alternate realities. Honestly, making things easy for people only causes them to be superzy.

    People have to achieve things on their own to appreciate it.

    Xi Shi screams in terror the moment she wakes up. She thrashes around on the table before falling off it. Medical equipment ttering on the floor around her as she looks up and about, trying to see where she is.

    She is also panting heavily due to the pain of being yed alive. It is still fresh in her mind despite her body ispletely healed. So fresh that she could still feel it on her pearly skin.

    Xi Shi does have impressively white skin.

    "Greeting, Miss Xi Shi. I hope that you have a pleasant dream despite being manhandled by one of my agents. Please apologize to the young miss for skinning her alive. That was unwarranted."

    The huge screen next to me speaks up. There is a circr mechanical eye looking directly at her from the screen. It did nce at me when it tells me to apologize.

    I tap the mask on my face for a moment before apologizing.

    "I am sorry for skinning you alive, Miss Xi Shi. There. Happy?"

    I look at the massive screen as the mechanical eye narrows, but otherwise it did not say anything since I didn''t say anything in my mind.

    Xi Shi is stunned. She didn''t know where she is or who she is talking to exactly, but from the look of it, she understands that the digital crimson eyeball on the screen is my boss.

    She struggles to pull herself off the floor, hesitantly since she is actually naked.

    I didn''t bother to dress her up, as there is no point. Besides, she didn''t seem to mind, but that is mostly because of her fear. She is utterly terrified.

    "I am not who you are looking for."

    Xi Shi speaks up after swallowing the lump in her throat. She is quite thirsty at the moment but asking for a drink right now isn''t possible.

    "On the contrary, Miss Xi Shi. You are here because I have determined that you might be useful to me, or do you believe that I am wrong in this regard?"

    The eyeball narrows at her. Despite being just an image on a monitor, it pierces her being, making her shivers. The message is obviously clear. If she says that she isn''t, she will instantly be killed.

    Even an idiot can see that.

    "No. I will be useful to you. Please let me be useful to you."

    Xi Shi drops to her knees and kowtows. She didn''t dare to lift her head. She wants to say don''t kill her, but she has plenty of practice at this. Asking for that usually result in the exact opposite.

    "Might be useful, Miss Xi Shi. Whether you are, that remains to be seen. While I am aware that you''re not the real Xi Shi, the real Xi Shi is of no consequence to me. Her life is as insignificant as yours, even more so since I have determined that you may live. For now."

    The eyeball speaks up again. I think I should give it a name. I shall call it Quantum Artificial Intelligence, shorten to QAI. As for why that sounds familiar, it is from Supreme Commander, a video game released in 2007.

    The game is about giant robots beating the shit out of each other. Sounds fun. It is. Much of my robotic army are based on their design anyway.

    Well. I am basically a lot of my designs on everything in pop culture just because I am a fan. Of course, I did update some designs to make them more epics.

    "Yes. Thank you for letting me live."

    Xi Shi speaks up without lifting her face.

    "Where is the real Xi Shi?"

    I question her through the QAI. While I already know, it is necessary for her to answer me.

    "I do not know."

    Xi Shi answers. There is a bit of hesitation in her voice due to the fact that she might be killed or worst if the Party know she has revealed sensitive information.

    "I do not need to remind you what happen If you lie, Miss Xi Shi. Your life is in my hand. And whether you are allowed to live or to die ispletely at my sole discretion. I will demonstrate."

    I tell her and for an effect, Xi Shi all the pain that she has felt while being yed alive. It is easy to make her feel it with the micromachines in her mind.

    Legion has recorded all of her emotions and sufferings, allowing me to reintroduce them whenever I want. That is the real reason why I bother ying her. It is to record those emotions and feelings.

    "I really don''t know. I really don''t know! Please!"

    Xi Shi calls out while screaming in pain. Tears stream down her beautiful features, ruining her makeup once more.

    The pain eventually stops, allowing her to beg and plead. She actually crawls to me and grips my legs, crying.

    "Please big brother, please tell master that I am not lying to him. I really don''t know where the real Xi Shi is. I don''t. No one does. She is everywhere, and she is nowhere."

    Her arrogance and self-importance from the time I had talked to her back in the Triad building are no longer to be seen. She is just a woman who fears for her life.

    "I believe you, Miss Xi Shi, but my trust cannot be earned as easily. You will do what I say to the letter, and any deviation from it will not result in your death, but your eternal suffering."

    QAI speaks up.

    "Yes. Yes. Master. I will do everything you say."

    Xi Shi pleads, kowtowing repeatedly like a broken doll.

    Seeing that does make me change my mind about keeping her even as a pet, but then again, I did sort of say that I will let her live. I suppose I will have to do what I just said.

    "Follow Lu Bu and destroy the Japanese conve here in New York. Make sure that they understand who is responsible for their destruction. I will be watching."

    The image on the monitor then disappears, leaving being a ck screen.

    "Yes, Master. Yes, Master. Yes, Master."

    Xi Shi chants, continuing to kowtow at the monitor. She didn''t stop kowtowing when I left the room and then return as Lu Bu. I eventually stop her because it does get kind of annoying after a while.

    "Get up, Miss Xi Shi. Master has a job for us, and failure is not an option."

    I tell her and pull her off the floor.

    Xi Shi looks at me and lowers her head in submission, realizing she is way out of her league. For some reason, I find her cuter this way.

    Furthermore, it seems that I will not have a problem with her in the future. She is just far too terrified to even think of trying to run off or informing anyone.

    But if Xi Shi tries, she will find that death is but a mercy. A mercy that I don''t really give to people who betrays me for whatever reason.

    "I think you should clean yourself up first. Follow me."

 Chapter 189: Orders are Absolute (POV)

    As requested, I follow Lu Bu through numerous empty corridors and into an equally empty bathhouse, located at the end of a long and narrow passageway.

    There is no one inside the room besides me and Lu Bu, just like there wasn''t anyone in the connecting hallways that had led me here.

    Nothing really stands out in those corridors. There are no ornaments or murals of any kind. Only well-lit endless hallways of a single shade of color.

    Dull grey. Metallic.

    Just like in this room with a massive pool in the middle. The water is crystal clear, contrasting the grey color of the floors, ceilings and walls. It is as if the entire room ispletely encased in metal, just like an underground prison of sort.

    And I am its prisoner. Perhaps, its only prisoner.

    Nothing has really changed after all of these years, as I have always been a prisoner, from one master to another since the very day I was born.

    It was to my neglected parents at first. They only care about themselves and their social status, failing as parents. Being unable to live up to their high expectation had resulted in a lot of severe punishments and nights of starvation.

    I was a mistake. A very big mistake, as my parents had told me repeatedly, especially when they locked me in a room for many days. Even weeks and months.

    My parents had never wanted me, confirmed by the fact that I cannot remember a time that either of them had embraced me as their daughter. They never did. They also rarely called me by the very name they had bestowed upon me.

    But that mostly because they rarely speaking to me personally. There were many days that I didn''t see any of my parents. They were usually off having a party somewhere, leaving me to the servant.

    It is also the real reason to why I do not have any brothers or sisters as having any more children would only tie them down and ruin theirvished and carefree lifestyles.

    Even when my parents were choking on their own blood, they refused to ept me as their daughter, not even once. Only pure hatred in their bloodshot eyes as they were poisoned to death.

    By the very poison that they had feed me bit by bit over the course of many years. It was to the point that I became immune to poison.

    Why did my parents hate me that much? Why did they even bring me into this world?

    Yet despite the childhood I had to endure, I cried for them. I cried for my parents as they gasped theirst breath. The parents that I have always dreamed about, but never truly had in reality.

    And when they finally passed away before my tearful eyes, I had attempted to take my own life. There was no reason for me to continue to exist, but I didn''t want to go alone into the dark.

    I never wanted to be alone. Ever again.

    But I didn''t join my parents in death. One of my cousins had saved me that day by allowing him inside the dining room. He was my fianc¨¦e as well. It was before the marriage between cousins is made illegal in the country.

    My fianc¨¦e, who was much older than me, had stayed with me in the hospital until I was able to speak once more. But due to the poison that was still lingering in my system, I couldn''t talk properly despite wanting nothing more than to confess and tell everyone the truth.

    Since I was only a child then, no one really suspected me of poisoning my parents. I was also poisoned, so I cannot be the culprit. It was logically reasonable to assume so.

    Besides, my parents had a lot of enemies, who had attempted to take my life on many asions. Even now, they still do. There is just no end to them regardless of how many I have killed.

    Strangely enough, the whole incident with my parents was brushed under the rug, and I inherited my parents'' entire estate as well as their social status.

    It was thanked to my fianc¨¦e, who had told me that I do not need to be fearful of my parents anymore and that he is here for me and will always be with me.

    And I believed him. I was free. Free from my parents. Free to be what I wanted to be.

    But it was all a lie. An illusion. I never had freedom. Never once in my life.

    My fianc¨¦e and his family already had ns to kill me once I was married, thus giving him total control of my wealth and estate. That is what he was after all along.

    It was hard to fathom how someone so nice and charming can be such a monster, but I supposed that I should have seen it when he raped me while assuring me that it is his right as my eventual husband.

    He was my husband, and I thought that was normal. I was young and na?ve then, not even of legal age to do anything. I had absolutely no power to do anything.

    I was merely a prisoner. Then and now.

    Noe one ever came to my rescue just like no one ever did when my parents were alive. Everyone that I knew looked at me as if I am a prize to be possessed. My rtives didn''t even try to hide their greed and hunger in the ways they looked at me.

    Even the man, who I had probably ever loved, see me as a possession. Something that he can discarded at any time he chooses.

    And once more, I traded one master for another and became a prisoner in my very own home, waiting day after day for the marriage that I had pleaded with him. I wanted a proper wedding despite already being married to him on paper.

    If I was to die, I had preferred to die on my own term, not his. Not anyone. Death seemed to be calling for me, and I wanted to enter its embrace. To be free from everything. To be free from life.

    I just wanted to end it all just like when I poisoned my parents, but I refused to die alone. Why must I die alone and let others live in luxury andfort?

    I was lonely enough already.

    So, I did just like what I had done with my parents, years before, I poisoned everyone I had ever known on my wedding day, including the children. It was before setting the building alight, burning everything into ashes.

    Despite having what I had wanted, I couldn''t help but cry at the altar while my white dress was masked in blood even though no one else but me could see the blood, including my husband.

    The horror expression he had on as I cradle lifeless body in my arms remain vividly in my memory. He had never loved me, not once, but I did love him despite how he had treated me.

    I was ready to die wit him, but he did not. He never did. Everything that he vowed was aplete lie.

    My entire life was a lie from the moment I was born to the day I thought I would finally die and enter the blissful embrace of death.

    Yet, the inferno didn''t take me it had taken everyone else. It spared me even though I had never asked for it. Even death did not want me.

    And for the next few months afterwards, the doctors did their very best to drain all of my money and wealth in order to keep me alive and suffering.

    I could barely awake for more than a few minutes at a time. Even so, death refuses to give me mercy, as he did not want me just like my parents didn''t wat me. Just like my husband didn''t want me.

    No body truly wanted me as me. They always wanted someone else.

    And only when my money had finally run out that the doctors finally let me go. Not letting death takes me, but letting the world see what a horrifying monstrosity that I had be.

    I couldn''t recognize the creature staring back at me in the mirror. I had be so disfigured by their pointless and unending surgeries. Surgeries that I didn''t need to want. I just wanted to die.

    Just to die, yet they refused to let me that bit of mercy.

    I hated them. I hated them for letting me see what I truly am, a monster, and as much as I wanted to kill myself, I couldn''t. I just couldn''t, not when so many people living happily,ughing and joking.

    They all deserved to suffer as I had and reduced to what I was.

    I had nothing left. I had no home. No family. No one. I had be a nobody that no one ever wanted, and I believed that was probably the best thing that had happened in my entire life, as those faceless men hade and restored me into something much better.

    Something that I should have embraced in the first ce.

    So many people like me died in the process, but I didn''t. I endure, as death didn''t want me. Never has, no matter how many times I wanted to die.

    Since death didn''t want me, I have grown to not wanting him anymore.

    And when I was able to see myself in the mirror once more, I still couldn''t recognize the monster that is looking back at me. Even so, it has a human face now, not some sort of disfigure abomination.

    I was happy. Very happy. It wasn''t only because I look like a person again, but it was also because I get to see my own face everywhere that I had looked. It was as if I had many sisters who I had never knew about.

    And those days were probably the happiest days of my life.

    But like everything, it did notst, for she appeared.

    Dreadful and suffocating. Her very presence brought back an emotion that I had casted away. Fear. It was fear. She is a true monster, capable of unimagine atrocities, far more than I could never have the stomach to do.

    She tears through anyone and everyone as if their lives are meaningless. My life is meaningless despite having just found some sort of meanings.

    It was when I have started to fear death. Fear of losing what I finally gained ever since I was born. An actual family.

    How many of my sisters had she killed at her displeasure? How many plead for mercy, only to be something out of a nightmare.

    I wanted to live. To continue to live. To continue being a part of the family, a family that dwindling by each day until only I remain.

    Even my family is gone, I remain prostrated, trying to climb thedder and gain some sort of status. If I continue to live, I believe that my family they would too through me.

    Through my own reflection even though I hate her face so much.

    But no matter how high I have climbed and no matter how many people I have killed, I continue to be at the bottom, prostrating and struggling to live. Not for myself anymore, but for another.

    For her. The life of Xi Shi.

    I am her in every way, beautiful and deadly like she has wanted. I am never anyone else, not now and in the future.

    Never ever.

    I honestly don''t even remember my birth name anymore.

    The very name that my parents had bestowed upon me. It is the only thing that they had gifted me in my entire life, and despite how they had treated me, I had cherished that name until it had been taken away by my master.

    My master. Who is that now? I don''t know anymore.

    There are just so many monsters in the world. More monstrous than me regardless of how much of a monster I have be.

    "There is no other master than the Master, Xi Shi. Hismand is absolute and preceded everything else. If he tells you to die, you have no choice but to die. There is no other option."

    Lu Bu speaks up as if he could read my mind.

    It is the same as that Shinobi, who didn''t even give me his name. His powers are terrifying. He manages to kill an infector, something that not even those higher up on thedder are capable of.

    He is a true monster.

    And from the look of it, Lu Bu is also the same kind of monster. A monster that I hope I would be able to be one day. Maybe then, I can finally take revenge.

    "Yes."

    I answer and bowing my head in submission.

    It is expected of me, who is at the bottom of thedder. I am always at the bottom even if I managed to climb one. Anotherdder would just greet me. Endlessly.

    But thisdder seems to reach ces much higher than the organization, so I will climb it despite how fearful I am.

    It only takes a light nudge from those above, and I will be at the bottom again. I must not offend them, ever. Never.

    "There is actually no need for any of that, Xi Shi. The Master has acknowledged you, so therefore, we are of the same rank despite the vast differences between our respective strength. Although, you may call me senior brother if you wish, considering that I was acknowledged by the Master before you."

    Lu Bu tells me with a faint smile. He also pays some attentions to my naked body. The same attention that the Shinobi with telekinesis and telepathy did.

    Strangely, neither of them has acted on their desire unlike so many others. Those men had all died for it due to the venom within my body, capable of dissolving anyone to nothing very quickly.

    Lu Bu chuckles as if he is mocking my venomous ability.

    "Yes, I am, junior sister. That level of poison isn''t capable of hurting someone like me. And the reason that I did not bend you over and have my way with you, it is because of a simple rule. A rule that you must abide by unless you wish to feel the wrath from the Master. Obviously, it isn''t the only rule that you must obey."

    Lu Bu points out, making me curious.

    I would need to know these rules in order not to break them. I do not wish to be punished for anything, especially when I could avoid it.

    "In that case, please guide me, senior brother."

    I request and give him a sincere bow.

    "Of course, I will, junior sister. I am actually happy to learn that you are as smart as you are pretty."

    Lu Bupliments with a smile.

    "As for the rule, you will learn them all after the mission, but here are a few important ones. No fucking while on the job or I will have your balls. Always be respectful and speak your mind clearly. Answers when being asked and do not bullshit or I will make you eat shit for real."

    Lu Bu continues before bing amused about something. I wasn''t sure what he is thinking exactly, but I think it was because of what happened with the Shinobi.

    Even now, I could still feel the pain all over my body.

    "You are lucky that you only get yed, Xi Shi. People have suffered much worse than you can imagine, and even death will not save you from the Master. Trust me on that."

    Lu Bu points out and then looks at the pool. Steams begin to rise from the surface.

    "Now. Please clean yourself and make yourself presentable. We have a mission to do, and we should try to look our very best."

    He adds before taking a seat by the poolside. He is intending to watch me taking a bath from the look of it. It wouldn''t be the first, so I shouldn''t be bothered by it.

    "Don''t mind me. I have to keep an eye on you. Master''s order."

 Chapter 190: Factions Within Legion (POV)

    It is rxing, submerging myself in the warm water and feeling all of my troubles simply melting away, even if it is just for a moment.

    I could really close my eyes and dream of a much happier time and ce, but I would not be allowed to, not here in this ce, wherever this ce is.

    There is not a single window in sight, connecting to the outside world, making me feel isted as well as disconnected. Perhaps that is the point, for I could die here all alone like I have always feared that I would, and no one would ever know.

    Maybe I am already publicly dead to the world and everyone, as the airne I was on was shot down by missiles that flies faster than the eyes could see.

    There was no warning whatsoever other than the explosions rocking the aircraft and the mes filling the cabin.

    I remember it all well.

    The burning sensation wrapping around my body as the inferno enveloped me, but once more, death didn''t take me.

    It doesn''t want me.

    Just like when my mind was being overwhelmed by all the excruciating pains of my skin being peeled slowly away from my body under the dark sky and rather ironically calming sea. I couldn''t do anything then, including begging for it to stop due to the de embedded through my throat.

    Despite my anguished wailing, death still didn''t take me.

    As much as I am afraid and terrified of death, I desperately wish that death would stop toying with me and free me from this suffering.

    While I wish nothing more than enacting what I have always dreamed of on Xi Shi, I want to finally be reunited with my family. My real family with people who actually cared and loved me as a person, not just some object or prize to be had.

    They are all waiting for me.

    But I fear that I will not be able to even if after I die.

    My hands are stained with blood. Blood from the countless people that I had killed and continued to kill just so I could live. Enough blood to drown me in the depth of hell, far away from those that I wish to be with in heaven above.

    Water streams down my arm as I reach towards the ceiling. Towards that blinding light above.

    The ceiling itself is illuminating, as bright as daylight, warming the unsubmerged part of my nakedness.

    All the lightnings in this room as well in the hallways are artificial. They are noting from any sort of lightbulbs I have ever seen. How strange and bizarre, telling me how much more advance that these people are inparison to the Party.

    It also tells me that there is no escape. I have no choice but to serve, just so I could live despite wanting so much to die. I hate my life but fear the process of dying so much that I am unable to kill myself, not having the same courage when I was much younger.

    I know it is a contradiction, but that is how I truly feel.

    The turmoil of being alive.

    Even though Lu Bu knows exactly what is going through my mind, he continues to watch me from the bench, not always paying attention. His pupils dte every now and then as if his mind is elsewhere or preupied with something else.

    I wonder what, but will he answer me when I ask?

    "Depends on whether you have the right to know or not, Miss Xi Shi. If you wish to die, I can end it for you, but do you truly wish to die when the person that takes away your family continues to live?"

    Lu Bu speaks up, confirming that he does have some sort of telepathy.

    He can read my mind as freely as he chooses. I want to know what he is thinking as well. Will that be possible one day?

    And he is right. Despite how much I want, I am not satisfied with just dying alone while others continue to live without retribution for what they have done. For the suffering that they had caused me.

    It also includes that Shinobi for skinning me alive.

    But sadly, I am too weak to do anything.

    Lu Bu chuckles and takes in a deep breath.

    "Yes, you are, Miss Xi Shi. Very weak. And you will always be weak whenparing to Kakashi, so for you to kill him is a bit beyond the realm of possibilities. By the way, that is his name, but I suppose he must have forgotten to tell you it. He probably didn''t think much of you."

    Lu Bu confirms what I have always known. I am weak, and I will always be weak, no matter what. I will not be able to kill her and honor all the sisters that have died under her hands. My sisters.

    "But it is not entirely impossible, Miss Xi Shi. I always believe that if there is a will, there will definitely be a way. You just have to think harder. Be smarter. You just to know what your enemies want, and you will know how to kill them¡­"

    Lu Bu pauses for a moment before smiling. His shoulders rise so ever slightly as if he is debating within himself about the things that he is telling me.

    "I shouldn''t teach you how to kill other members of Legion. That is the name of our organization, so I suggest you remember it well. But I can teach you how to kill anyone else, including those that you''re fearing so much."

    Lu Bu continues. Confidences in his words and expressions, and even though I have seen how fast he is, still palespare to her, I believe him.

    I believe that even though Lu Bu isn''t as strong as her, he will still able to help me kill her.

    And with that belief, I approach the edge of the pool and look up at him.

    "Please teach me, senior brother. I will do anything to be able to kill her."

    I speak up and blink when he frowns a little.

    His eyes be deadly serious, as if I had said something wrong.

    "You really think I would lose to someone like her, Miss Xi Shi?"

    Lu Bu questions as the air in the room bes suffocating. I couldn''t breathe. I couldn''t really breathe at all. He could choke me to death with his killing intent alone!?

    "No¡­ I''m¡­ sorry¡­ senior¡­ brother¡­"

    I gasp the words, realizing what a terrible mistake I just did. This killing intent surpasses than of Xi Shi, so much so that I lost control of my body.

    The killing intent vanishes as my vision begins to wane.

    My consciousness is slipping.

    And luckily, I manage to stay conscious and then pull myself back from the brink.

    "I shouldn''t get upset since you didn''t say it out loud. If I start killing everyone who thinks bad of me, half the world would probably be dead. Probably more than half, and those that are left alive probably never heard of me to think bad about me."

    Lu Bu returns to his usual cheerful self, finding some kind of amusement in his words.

    His eyes retain their seriousness, however. He is still displeased at me.

    And I lower my head apologetically.

    Even though Lu Bu had stated that our rank within this organization is the same, the difference in our powers and abilities is heaven and earth.

    How can someone be so strong!?

    Strong enough to kill someone like me with just a look alone. I am much stronger than normal people because I am a Chimera, but in his presence, I am nothing more than an ant.

    "More like a speck of dust, Miss Xi Shi."

    Lu Bu corrects me. He is in my mind, knowing everything about me. I cannot hide anything from him.

    I cannot hide anything from anyone here, and that terrifies me.

    "But you shouldn''t be depressed about that, Miss Xi Shi. I am also a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things despite the power that I wield. Ah. I mean to say that even as powerful as I ampared to you, I am exceedingly weakpare to Master. He can kill you before you even realize you are dead, as if he can stop time itself."

    My body tenses up. My mind fills with questions.

    Just how powerful is the Master exactly? I feel like I was being yed alive in front of him, even though he is watching me through a camera.

    It is just not possible to exert killing intent on another person without being there in person. Not only the Master isn''t there in person, but his killing intent can physically harm a person.

    He isn''t a Chimera. He is something else entirely!

    "Let''s say, no one in this universe is as powerful as the Master himself, Miss Xi Shi, and if you managed to be a speck of dust in his eyes, it just means that you have be one of the most powerful people on the."

    I try toprehend that statement.

    But it feels like Lu Bu saying that he is one of the most people on the since he is a speck of dust in the eyes of the Master.

    "Anyway, please continue cleaning, Miss Xi Shi. Wasting time while we have a mission to do is one of the worst things that we could have done. If the Master asks what is holding us up, I will tell him that is because you are being female."

    Lu Bu chuckles. He is amused at his statement.

    I didn''t understand what he means by being female.

    Is he saying that I am not?

    Lu Bu sighs and gestures his right hand dismissively, telling me to hurry up. His eyes also show signs of disappointment even though I am unsure what I did to disappoint him.

    In order to not waste any more time, I submerge myself fully into the pool and let the cleaning agents within strip away the dirt and sweat from my body. I also embrace myself, pondering about his words.

    The one about me being female. It is strange. Very strange.

    I spend the next ten minutes in the pool while Lu Bu watches on with some interests.

    There is no hint of lust within his eyes, however. At least when he is paying attention.

    But just like before, his attention is divided. His eyes appear to be looking at something in front of him, but there is really nothing there. At least, I cannot see if there is anything there.

    Lu Bu continues to pay attention elsewhere even though I step out of the pool as warm water yfully streams down my body. I did it slowly on reflex as I was trained to be alluring to men, especially older men.

    I think that is what Lu Bu means by being female, and maybe females displease him? That didn''t make sense because he did say that he would take me if it wasn''t for the rules.

    The one that prevents him from just doing whatever he wants with me like so many powerful men.

    And I am d for such a rule existing. I just don''t want to fake enjoyment while being raped by people Ie to hate so much.

    Maybe I am thinking too much about this. It is hard to fathom what is going on in his mind.

    "Come, Miss Xi Shi."

    Lu Bu speaks up simply even though he knows exactly what I am thinking, and to my surprise, he hands me a white towel.

    Where did he get the towel from? It just magically appears out of nowhere.

    Is that one of his abilities? There is so many questions that I want to know, but I don''t think he will tell me, at least not until I had proven myself.

    I dry myself before following him out of the bathroom and into another adjacent room filled withrge wardrobes on both sides. There is also an enormous makeup dresser at the end of the room.

    It is as if this room was designed specifically for me.

    Lu Bu touches the wardrobes, and they open up, revealing numerous attires within. There are all kind, ranging from ancient to modern styling.

    "These clothes should be to your size, Miss Xi Shi. Wear something that suitable forbat, and when you have proven yourself, you will get a proper uniform like mine."

    Lu Bu tells me as his clothes morph, transforming right in front of my eyes as if they are made of tiny ants. He was wearing a business suit before, but now, he is stylized hanfu, an ancient Chinese clothing.

    He even produces a decorative white hand fan, embroidered with dragons and phoenix symbolism, in one hand before flustering it to generate breeze.

    Even his hairstyle has changed, matching his clothes and the persona he takes on.

    I am puzzled. Such mboyant clothes are actually difficult to fight in.

    "Yes, it is, Miss Xi Shi. However, you must know that the factions within Legion are actually determined by ancestries. To that end, I am wearing this kind of clothes to show my heritage and proud of it. That is why Kakashi is dressing up as a Shinobi despite not actually being one. You may expect to see some people with just loin clothes on. Please don''t be disrespectful."

    Lu Bu tells me as he continues to fan himself with a smile. He looks a lot more handsome in that getup in my opinion. Oh. I shouldn''t think that.

    He chuckles and copses his fan.

    "I will leave you to it then, Miss Xi Shi. You should have everything that you needed within this room, so half an hour should be sufficient, but I do hope that you show others why China is the best country in the world."

    Lu Bu then heads out of the room and waits in the bathroom.

    I wonder why he did that instead of watching me, but I think he wants me to surprise him. Something that seems harder than said.

    Still, I want to. Perhaps it is because he is the only one that I have talked to so far in the organization.

    It did help that he is also Chinese like me and proud of it.

    I turn towards the mirror before taking a seat and getting to work. It isn''t too difficult, considering as Xi Shi, I must always be beautiful. The most beautiful woman in the room. Any room. So beautiful that fishes forget to swim and birds to fall from the sky to their death.

    Fishes and birds being men. So many have fallen preyed to me, and so many more in the future. They are unable to keep their hands to themselves.

    I proceed to work on my hair first, using the provided beautiful ornaments and hairpins, made of gold and jade. They also appear to be handcrafted.

    It did take more than 5 minutes thanks to my ability. My silks are stronger than any gels.

    The hard part is actually choosing the perfect hanfu to go with my hairstyle. Not only the colors have to match, but also the embroideries. Everything mustpliment each other. That is what I had been taught.

    Failure has never been an option, under Xi Shi, and certainly under the Master.

    While I have never met him face to face, I fear him and his power, far more than what Xi Shi is capable of. And like Lu Bu has warned me, whatever the Master wishes, I must do my best to aplish.

    It takes the rest of the time to put on the costume I have chosen. It might be very unsuitable for actualbat, but it does give me pride.

    Since the factions within Legion are based on ancestry, then I also wish to show it just like Lu Bu. I did wonder why he isn''t wearing actual armor like all historical depiction of Lu Bu, but I suppose this isn''t the Three Kingdoms.

    How much of the truth to the im that he is also part of the Party? If he is, he is a mole. He wouldn''t be the first, but it is very dangerous to be found.

    Am I worry about him?

    I shake my head to dispel that thought and look at myself in the mirror one more time before heading out of the room to see him. I want to know his opinion.

    Strangely enough, I actually care about what Lu Bu thinks.

    "Remarkable, Miss Xi Shi. You may be the actual Xi Shi one day, right after you prove to her you are better than her in every way."

    Lu Bupliments while fanning himself.

    Hispliment actually makes me happy, and perhaps like he had just stated, I may be able to dispose of the real Xi Shi one day.

    That is my wish. My dream. My reason to continue to live.

    I connect my hands, putting them to my face, covering the lower half. It is something that the people of the ancient world did. I am aware of such eloquent way of greeting or paying respect.

    "Thank you, senior brother."

    I speak up and bow lightly, making him smiles. He is very easily pleased, especially when I understand what he wants without him telling me to.

    "You are wee, junior sister. Now, let''s us kill some Japanese in New York."

    Lu Bu speaks up, and the surrounding change, making me widen my eyes in surprise. How is that even possible?

    Screams instantly fill the air as I turn around to see the hideous monstrous creature being unleashed against the Japanese.

    Its aura feels familiar.

    "Yang?"

 Chapter 191: Not Everything as It Seems (POV)

    Lu Bu continues to fan himself, remainingpletely calmed andposed. His attention is focused on the monster that is destroying the Japanesepound and killing anyone who gets within range.

    While I am certain that the monstrous creature is Yang due to its familiar aura, I am unsure of how he has mutated into such a monster. Unless it has something to do with that serum.

    It couldn''t be. Could it?

    "Yes. It is because of the serum, Miss Xi Shi. This is my intention."

    Lu Bu confirms my suspicion, making me look at him in bewilderment.

    Dreadfulness fills my being as I quickly realized what he just meant.

    That monstrous creature could have been me.

    He returns my gaze, causing me to flinch. A smile manifests itself upon his lips. A very charming smile, yet it is hiding a frightening undertone. A truly frightening undertone.

    "You don''t need to be fearful, Miss Xi Shi. If you have taken the correct dosage of the serum, it will be incredibly beneficial to you as it will vastly improve your physical powers and abilities. The serum was modified by our Master after all, and he is never wrong. Or do you believe otherwise?"

    Lu Bu asks. It is not a question, but actually a statement. Even so, he is expecting an answer from me.

    "No. Master is never wrong."

    I hastily response. Nothing goes through my mind in this very moment, for I fear of upsetting Lu Bu by thinking anything disrespectful.

    It is very scary talking to someone who knows exactly what I am thinking. Very scary.

    "Here. A recement for the serum that was destroyed when your ne was shot down. You did take one before leaving the room, right?"

    Lu Bu produces a serum, making me freeze up. Is he expecting me to take it? Do I have a choice?

    But he did say that it would be beneficial to me. Then again, why did Yang be something like that after taking the serum?

    My hands shakily ept the serum. It feels so heavy in my hands despite being so small. Only roughly about the length and width of a finger.

    "You can take it orally, Miss Xi Shi. But the choice is up to you. If you do not wish to use it, you can cast it away. But don''t expect me to gift you anything else in the future."

    Lu Bu resumes fanning himself and turns his attention towards the monstrous creature. There is little resemnce to a man aside from four limbs and a head.

    Deadly des protruding from its body, capable of cutting through steel and concrete alike. Its hide is so tough that bullet couldn''t fully prate.

    The only thing that deal any form ofsting injuries are cold sharp steel wielded by Chimeras, but even then, the wounds are superficial at best.

    "No, I will, senior brother. Thank you."

    Despite his words, it isn''t really my choice.

    If I do not take it, I will be on his bad side. I would definitely lose his support, thus making my life within the organization even more difficult.

    I know how the game is yed, but I choose to believe in his words. He hasn''t lie to me yet, and if he is right, the Master is never wrong.

    As that is the case, I remove the cap off the capsule and swallow the serum without any hesitation. It settles in my stomach before being absorbed into my body.

    I did not feel any difference, however. Perhaps, it takes time.

    "Good, junior sister. Trust in me and I will protect you, at least from the other factions. If you displease the Master, not even God can save you, and you will suffer fate worse than him. His greed has be his undoing. He is nothing more than mindless monster. A monster that must be put down."

    Lu Bu is referring to Yang, hinting that Yang must have taken more than the correct dosage.

    "Let''s just take a seat and enjoy the show. There is no need to get your hands dirty at this stage."

    Lu Bu adds and walks towards higher ground to a better view.

    I follow him closely behind while keeping an eye on the battle. Not much of a battle. More of one-side massacre due to the vast difference in power. Some people have already attempted to flee.

    "My hands dirty, senior brother?"

    I question. Shouldn''t it be our hands, as he is here to help as well, isn''t he?

    "Yes and no, junior sister. I am actually here to spectate only. The Mater expects you to destroy them on your own in order to gauge the limit of your potential. Deal with them all as you will, for their fate is sealed the moment they displeased the Master for doing the same kind of business as the Triad near his home."

    Lu Bu tells me, making me widen my eyes in surprise. The Mater lives in New York City? I suppose it is one of the better cities to live in within America.

    "Keep that knowledge to yourself I you know what is good for you, junior sister. I only tell you to make you aware and prevent you from doing something stupid in the future. Ignorance is not an excuse, as many have already learned."

    Lu Bu warns me.

    "Yes. Thank you for warning me, senior brother."

    I response and bow my head.

    "That is not all, junior sister. The Master enjoys his privacy, and any harme to those who''re under care is considered a disrespect to his authority. That means cease any operations you have running in the city as soon as possible. Within a day or two."

    Lu Bu tells me, seemingly knowing everything thing. I cannot hide anything from him or anyone within the organization, especially the Master.

    "Yes, I will, senior brother. And I am very thankful for the Master allowing me that chance. I will prove myself to you and to the Master."

    Lu Bu looks at me before smirking. He is finding something amusing.

    "You are most weed, junior sister. It has been a while since I had taken anyone under my tutge, so I am a bit rusty. Do forgive me if I can be direct at times. That said, don''t be a kiss-ass, unless you''re doing it literally, but that is for another time."

    Lu Bu stops fanning himself and looks into the distance.

    "There is nothing to forgive, senior brother. I am d to study under you. If there is anything that you need of me, you just have to ask."

    I response and bow again.

    "In that case, I need you to make sure no one escape alive. You are free to use whatever method most efficient. Don''t make me have to step in for something like this. Also, there is no need to taunt them or anything like that. It is a waste of time."

    Lu Bu points his fan at several peoples who are fleeing from the battle.

    "Yes, senior brother."

    I immediately take actions. Almost invisible strands of spider silk surge forth, allowing me glide along the air as if I could fly. Ind before the fleeing Yakuza and without hesitation spin my hands, wrapping the strands around their neck.

    My strings can cut through steel at its strongest, so flesh and bone aren''t that difficult. However, I do notice it is rtively easier even if they are merely humans. Chimeras are harder to cut through thanks to greater muscle and bone density.

    Nevertheless, anyone who are caught within my webbing be headless before they could scream or fire a single shot from their guns.

    And once they are lifeless corpse, spraying blood onto the wet grass from their blood stump, I look up to see whether Lu Bu is watching me.

    Sadly, he isn''t. He is looking into another direction and gesturing his fan there, telling me to hurry and go over there before the people gets away.

    I immediately did, but this next group has a Chimera amidst them, thus managing to escape out of my webbing before I could execute them all.

    "What the fuck!? We had a deal, you bitch. You don''t step on our toe and we will not step onto yours!"

    The only survivor calls out. He is a Chimera, crossbred from a tiger and a human. There are also several secondary traits within him from what I can tell, but it didn''t matter since the Master wants him dead, so he has no choice but to die.

    "You have an agreement with the Triad, not with me."

    I response before tensing up as an enormous pressure crush against me from behind. It is from senior brother. He is displeased, and I realize that I just disregarded his words.

    The killing intent has also made the man before me speechless. He probably has never sense someone as powerful as senior brother.

    The shock on his face didn''t disappear as his face didn''t disappear even when I cut of his head

    I didn''t have time to look at my handy work as I have to hunt down the next group of escapees.

    Just like the Chimera from before, the men curse and scream and shout at me, but I did not response to any of them. I simply execute them and move on to the next group and the next and the next.

    Even those who are pleading for their lives are killed without hesitation. It is natural to me.

    "Excellent, junior sister. You have done well. Only a couple drops of blood. Are you tired?"

    Senior brother asks me. When did he get behind me? He makes absolutely no noise when he did, thus I am unsure. It is also quite a distance from where he had stood.

    "Thank you for yourpliment, senior brother. And no, I am not tired."

    I answer and notice there a few drops of bloods on my hanfu. One of the Chimeras is faster and nimble than usual. This is because he has traits of the feline family. Which one, I am unsure.

    "Your stamina and endurance are impressive, not even breaking a sweat even though you have been running around for thest hour. Since you don''t need a break, go and take down the big boss."

    The instant Lu Bu has said that, the overgrown monster that was once known as Yang roars deafeningly and charges out of thepound. Bloods cover its entire body.

    It sniffs the air, looking around, trying to find more victims. Even though it has looked in my direction on multiple asions, it did not proceed to charge and attack me.

    "Senior brother. I notice that Yang did not attack anyone other than the Japanese Chimeras."

    I speak up.

    "And your point being, junior sister?"

    Lu Bu questions while fanning himself leisurely.

    "I am just curious if the Master has something to do with it, and whether there is a way to lure it."

    I answer.

    "The Master wishes for a full conflict to happen between the Chinese, Japanese, Soviet, Korea, India, United States, and so on, so you can safely assume that he has the mean to make them kill each other."

    Lu Bu speaks up before snapping his fingers.

    That causes the monstrous creature to look in my direction. It then roars mightily, hammering it chest before charging at me as if it was being ordered to. Did senior brother has ways to control it? It seems very likely, considering that Pittsburgh is a good distance away.

    However, since I have already set up my web, the creature is easily caught, and the more it struggles, the more it gets tangle in my web.

    But that is the extends of my silks. As much as I try, it is unable to cut through the thick hide. And it is strong enough to eventually break out.

    "Interesting ability, junior sister, but you cannot kill it if you cannot cut through its armor. Maybe you should try to use your poison?"

    Senior brotherments without a calmed and rxed expression.

    The poison he refers to is the poison that has been running through my body ever since I was a child, all thanks to my parents. Extremely deadly. It is one of my secret weapons.

    I leap up into the air andnd onto the massive creature. It roars at me as I bite down my finger, letting my blood dripping into its mouth. Being a mindless monster, it swallows the poison.

    And within seconds, it lets out itsst roar before slipping into the warm embrace of death.

    I return to the ground as I look at the unmoving creature. Even as powerful as it is, it is not immune to my poison. No one ever has.

    "Remarkable, junior sister. The poison in your blood is extremely deadly, killing anything with seconds without fail. How many people have you killed with it?"

    Senior brother asks. Despite the excitement in his words, he did not express it on his face. He is calmed and collected as usual.

    "Many, senior brother. At least a hundred. But do not worry, only my blood is poisonous. Everything else can be consumed without any problem."

    I point out.

    "I will ept your invitation another time, junior sister. Although, I am quite curious to know whether you are aware of the real reason to your poison immunity?"

    Senior brother asks.

    Unfortunately, that is something I do not know.

    The poison that my parents fed me is extremely deadly, but they didn''t know that, not until I bled into their drinks. It also doesn''tst very long outside, thus no traces of it could ever found once it has left my body.

    "I do not know, senior brother. I just know that I have always been sick when I was little thanks to my parents. They fed me poison every day, hoping to kill me, but it did not."

    I answer.

    "Is that so. Well. Perhaps you will find out one day. The poison is called the ck Death. It is extremely deadly since it was designed by the Master to destroy everything at the cellr level. Even so, it is not very effective against infectors due to their regenerative power."

    Senior brother tells me before gestures his fan towards the dead creature, being hanged by my strings.

    And within an instant, the monstrous creature explodes into a pool of blood. Whatever he did, it was so fast that my eyes couldn''t keep up.

    "Your webbing is sufficient, junior sister. You are free to go wherever you need to go until the Master requires your service again. Shall I drop you off somewhere in China?"

 Chapter 192: Being Born to Serve

    The question startles XI Shi, as she did not expect to return to China any time soon, at least not at the moment, right after she has defected to another organization. My organization.

    "Senior brother¡­"

    Xi Shi begins, but I gesture my hand-fan dismissively. Her fear of retribution is unwarranted, given the fact that her defection is apletely secret.

    "You do not need to fear, junior sister. Nothing will happen to you when you return to China. The Party will not know of your defection, as long as you do not tell anyone about it. The Master will know if you do, as he has eyes and ears everywhere. He is watching us right now in case you have not noticed."

    I point out. That is more or less the truth, as Legion is always watching. There is a cloaked drone every dozen or so square meters. Meters! Not kilometers. It doesn''t really cost me any to manufacture those spy drones, and if I wanted, I could duplicate them with my power.

    My statement causes Xi Shi to tense up. She looks around the now rather quiet area, just trying to see whether someone is actually watching her. She doesn''t see anything or senses anything, and I do not need to show her otherwise.

    "Do you not trust my words, junior sister?"

    I question, regaining her attention.

    "I trust everything you say, senior brother. Please don''t be offended."

    Xi Shi bows to me deeply, lowering her dark eyes to the ground as her long silky jet-ck hair streams around her shoulders. Her rather feminine shoulders despite her height and weight.

    I smile and continue to fan myself, retaining my calming disposition and scanning her up and down. In my opinion, Xi Shi looks very much like one of those fairies who are so prominently described in wuxia-type Chinese literature.

    It is especially true with her current attire and long sleeves. She even adorns a lovely bow around her waist to match her persona.

    I admit that Xi Shi has a very good sense of fashion, knowing exactly what colors and stylings will bring out strong lustful desires and emotions, not to mention it also entuates her already beautiful form.

    Xi Shi is quite beautiful, as long as she doesn''t speak. A doll by any other name is still a doll.

    And the effortlessly way that she had glided through the air and danced to spin her spider silk also add to the illusion she is trying to convey. That is her talent.

    Everything that Xi Shi did was quite enjoyable and pleasurable to watch, to the point that I would not mind resurrecting everyone that she had killed here just to watch her do it all over again.

    It is probably due to her training as a very effective assassin.

    Being one of the Four Great Beauties within the Party, named after their historical counterpart, even if just an imitation, Xi Shi must know how to seduces men and women alike, bringing them to towards their own downfall.

    She honestly deserves the title femme fatale, for it is no different from actual history. All peerless and heavenly defying beauties have toppled mighty empires, and it did mot matter whether those beauties were from ancient China or any part of the world.

    Didn''t Helen of Troy indirectly cause the Trojan War?

    It might be just a myth, but like the Olympian Gods themselves, if it didn''t exist in this prime timeline, then it must exist in another timeline, in another reality.

    Maybe I should have asked Zeus himself whether Helen of Troy is his daughter or not. The one that he fathered with Leda, the Queen of Sparta, by impersonating a swam.

    It seems quite usible, considering the mythical tale about Helen of Troy is part of the ever-changing Greek Mythology.

    And please don''t ask me how a physical swan can impregnate a fully-grown woman, actually causing her toy eggs, to which Helen of Troy was hatched from.

    That is just crazy.

    In any case, Zeus was such a huge dick, fucking lots and lots of married women, including some of his daughters. Well. He is still sort of a dick right now, but not really any more than me.

    Guess that is one reason to why we are associates. Not friends. Just associates. Our goals are not quite aligned, but our paths of getting there are entwined. Might as well help each other as long as it is very beneficial to do so.

    Maybe I should bed some married women just to even the score with Zeus. Oh wait, Eliana is married in some weird elvish manner. It is more like a union of convenience than actual marriage really. I never ask whether she has any children with her husband.

    Wouldn''t mind making her children worships me as well, and considering her extreme age, if she has any children, she likely has many grandchildren as well as great grandchildren. Probably.

    It is hard to use science to exin magical creatures, just like it is unreasonable to logical exin things in myths and legends.

    And there isn''t really a need to. Just ept it with a grain of salt.

    Speaking of myths and legends, one of the four Great Beauties of Ancient China might not exist, since there is no evidence of her existence in all historical books. The one named Diao Chan, whom I, Lu Bu had an affair with.

    How bizarre is that, considering as Lu Bu, I am actually having a rtionship with Xi Shi. Well. The start of one anyway, but I am certain it will evolve into something more illicit.

    I actually don''t mind as Xi Shi is quite beautiful not to mention elegant when she wants to be. I guess that is expected, considering who she is.

    Or more precisely, what she is.

    I smile faintly at her before the surrounding changes. Darkness of the night swiftly changes into bright afternoon due to the time difference between the United States of America and China.

    Xi Shi tenses up as she realizes she has been teleported again. She is unable to exin how it is possible to do so.

    "I can do far more things that that, junior sister. All thanks to the Master. Even though he appears as a man, you should consider him as a God. A God capable of unimagine horrors."

    Iment as Xi Shi remains bowing. Even though, she is aware of where she currently is. It is obvious from the noises and signs and buildings.

    No one seems to notice us since they are shooting a movie, a Chinese drama.

    "Walk with me, junior sister."

    I request and begin touring the Forbidden City.

    It was the home of many Chinese Emperors and their vast households. It was also the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese Government for almost 500 years.

    Visiting the Forbidden City is on my list of things to do, just not in this time period. I want to see with my very eyes the wonder of the ancient world, but my ns are sidetracked when I be frustrated with humanity and their ingrained nature.

    But it is probably due to the environment that they are born and raised in, just like Xi Shi.

    I am d that I didn''t straight up murder her for being disrespectful to me on multiple asions. It all started when I first met her in the Triad build. I actually wanted to bitch-p her several times simply due to herck of intelligence.

    If Xi Shi was anyone else, it wouldn''t have bothered me so much, but she isn''t. She is more than human even before she is a Chimera. That fact makes me more pissed off than before, mostly at those morons who had modified her biology without truly realizing what she is.

    Ignorance is not an excuse!

    A Hybrid is never better than an Evolved.

    Turning thetter into the former is a huge downgrade. A step back from the evolutionary progress in my opinion.

    And the Chimera genes introduced to her gic makeups has contaminated her so much that she is unable to unlock her psionic potential in the future. Not her, but her descendants, assuming that she is able to have any children.

    She might not due to the very slobby work.

    That alone warrant me to wipe out all the Hybrids. Their bloodline can contaminate the future of the human race. Something that I didn''t know possible until now.

    To think that the hybrid genes actually devolved her, making her lose the ability that I have gifted her from the moment she was born. Whatever that superhuman ability was, Legion is unable to determine from her genes alone.

    But I do have a good idea, considering she was unable to die despite being poisoned and burned alive, not to mention being experimented upon so many times.

    I also me myself for the oversight, for I didn''t even realize that she was an Evolved, not even when I had examined her blood. That M-strain within her gic makeups has been corrupted and stripped away due to the hybridization project, to the point that I had thought it was an unintended mutation.

    They obviously didn''t strip everything since doing so would have killed her. Maybe it is better off that Xi Shi had died, considering that I cannot help but feel greatly disappointed in her.

    In my daughter. Yes. She is my daughter as my blood still flows within her despite the M-strain within her has been nullified due to bing a Chimera.

    I am already working towards a solution to this problem. It is the least that I could do for her.

    Honestly, if Xi Shi wasn''t my daughter, I would have reduced her to dust already. There is no point of going through all of this trouble to test her abilities and powers. Her hybrid ability is craptacr whenparing to her evolved ability.

    Yes. I am biased in regard to my offspring, regardless of how they manage to carry my bloodline. And besides, it is due to me that her life is actually a living hell.

    And as much as seeing Xi Shi dances around and kills people, it is actually a waste of time, and it might not be as interesting as the first around should I resurrect people.

    In addition, I don''t want Xi Shi to know that I have the power to resurrect people.

    Not yet anyway.

    The same with me being her father.

    Too much shocking revtions too quickly is not a good thing.

    Xi Shi believes that she can reach my level of power one day if she tries hard enough, and it is also that belief alone enforces her loyalty to me.

    Or more precisely, her loyalty to QAI, the Quantum Artificial Intelligence in control of Legion.

    It is just another alias for Legion himself.

    It is weird for Legion, the virtual intelligence, to be leader of Legion, the organization itself, but it isn''t really Legion who is in control. I am.

    In retrospect, I should have named the organization as something else, but I am trying to kill as many birds with one stone as possible. It also makes everything connected.

    Hydra is somewhat aware of the name Legion originating in China due to the number of Chinese ves that I had enved. It is all to build the first iteration of the micromachines.

    But someone must have talked, as I had expected them to. It wasn''t possible to stop everyone from running off their mouths unless I make them all into mutes.

    Doing something like that is lunacy instead of just in evil, so I didn''t. Pointless too since they could probably write shit down instead.

    Anyway, Xi Shi fears my QAI persona more than my Lu Bu persona, but that is my actual intention. An unseen boss is more dreadful than one that is seen and known well.

    In fact, what people can imagine due to their fear is far more effective than the actual truth. It is how movies y on fear. A monster shrouded in darkness with unknown abilities is far more terrifying than ones thatpletely visible and known.

    How did I know that? I have been reading up on some film making process. Not actual reading. Selene uploads and integrates whatever I needed into my memory. It still requires me toprehend all that information, however.

    And as to why I tell Xi Shi where I am living, it is for her own safety. I don''t want her to stir up troubles in New York City out of some sheer stupidity.

    Even if she is family of sort, if she causes me problem, I will dissect her while she is conscious. I actually was about to, and that is the reason why she wakes up on an experimenting table.

    I change my mind once it is confirmed without slighter of doubt that she is my daughter. Some traces of the M-strain remain within her genes.

    Her current appearance and attire are also my intention. Mostly just because I want to see what makes her so alluring and desirable to so many men that they are willing to shower with everything that they have. Including dying for her.

    Kind of ironic, considering that Xi Shi is a ck Widow Spider Hybrid.

    She is no longer an Evolved, but a Hybrid.

    ck Widows are considered to be one of the most poisonous spiders in the world. Their venom is 15 times stronger than venom of a rattlesnake, which is hemotoxic, destroying tissues and cells, causing necrosis and coagulopathy.

    Thetter term means basically bleeding to death due to the disrupted blood clotting.

    Something that my biological weapon, ck Death, does. It shouldn''t be called a weapon as I haven''t really weaponized it yet. It will be considered one when it is modified to be airborne and contagious.

    At the moment, the biologicalpound is only effective through injection and ingestion only, and as for how her parents get their hand on it, that is a question I want answer to.

    I am not one to leave my wares around for other to loot. Even if I did, the looter will be in for a world of hurt as everything is booby trapped.

    The ck Death isn''t the only side project I had in China. The name is actually a reference to the real bubonic gue that also originating from China. A lot of things originate from China if history is to be believed. Tea and silk for example. Gunpowder too.

    Regardless of how her parents got their hands on a sample, they actually did a good thing, giving it to Xi Shi as a child. The superhuman ability she has when she was a child assimte thepound within her system, allowing her body to not only be immune but to replicate it.

    It gives her a poison body. Not a true poison body, as it only affected her blood. Maybe that is a good thing since I don''t want to get poisoned by touching her. Also, she doesn''t poison everyone nearby by breathing.

    [Stage 2 is synthetized, Father. It can be taken right now.]

    Legion informs me, making me smile. I stop moving at the stone railing and look at the beautifulyout of houses and buildings below. People can build some breathtaking things when they are motivated.

    Xi Shi stops behind me, bowing, like my attendant. It just fits the setting greatly.

    I am the emperor, and she can consider as a princess. She has lost her status right now, but I will help her regain it.

    It also fits our position.

    "Junior sister, please drink this serum. It will help you grow stronger."

    I tell Xi Shi after producing the serum in my hand. I did not lie. It should restore her back to her Evolved status and my rightful daughter, all while retaining her Chimera powers.

    Xi Shi epts the serum with little hesitation and consume it. She trusts me explicitly, and being what I am, her progenitor, also helps.

    To serve for me as long as she lives is literally within her gene.

 Chapter 193: The Magic of Attraction

    Xi Shi does not feel any different after consuming the serum I had provided, but that is to be expected, as it does take a bit of time for the retrovirus to work and repair the damage done to her gic code.

    Her body would also need the time to readjust to the changes. It might also be a shock to her nervous system.

    Obviously, I can speed things up with my power over time, but it is not really necessary or warranted at the moment. It is also not a good thing due to me being here personally, standing so close to her.

    Even though this is not my real body, but a biomechanical avatar, I still radiate the same presence and brainwave patterns. This is because the avatar was fabricated based on my physiology after all, hence it is still is me if I was examined under a microscope.

    If I was actually here with my real fleshy body, the sexual attraction hat Xi Shi feels towards me would be magnitudes greater despite not realizing the feeling herself.

    And as her body returns to its original and evolved state, she will not be able to help herself when she is near me. My aura and presence are like potent pheromone to her.

    That is why I had stated that it is literally within her gene. The desire to mate and propagate the species are hardwire into her evolved physiology, and I am the best possible candidate due to being far more evolved than her. Than any evolved in existence, really.

    Of course, if Xi Shi or any of the other Evolved find someone more advanced than me biologically, they would naturally be attracted to that person, wishing to mate with them, as they would give them a far more powerful offspring.

    I don''t think that will be a problem in the future, considering that I will always be the most biologically advanced person around. If not, I will just elerate my evolution.

    But that does leave me with a dilemma. Not a mortally questionable dilemma, however. It is more like my preference. Preference to have any further children.

    "Thank you, senior brother."

    Xi Shi thanks, making me nod in approval without actually eyeing her. My attention remains elsewhere at the moment.

    As long as Xi Shi knows where she stands, she will remain very respectful. She will learn the truth about what she is eventually, or when I deem it is necessary for her to know.

    Keeping her in the dark forever is an option, but not one I would consider for procreation purposes. It seems to make the feeling of attraction stronger, and I am unsure the reason why currently.

    Maybe all emotions and rtionships lead to the same biological desire in all Evolved? The biological desire to procreate and produce the strongest and most evolved offspring. A lot more data is needed for me to reach a conclusion.

    I am sounding so much like a scientist.

    In any case, for now, I prefer Xi Shi to be ignorance of our biological rtionship. It will slow down her growing attraction to me. It also makes her a lot more humble, not to mention strive harder to be more powerful.

    "You are most wee, junior sister. Your power and ability will gradually be stronger over time, as long as you continue to take the serum that I will provide, at least until your body no longer requires it. That shouldn''t take long, about a few serums or so."

    I response and continue to fan myself rather casually.

    The third stage of the serum will not be ready for a few more days or so. This is due to theplexity of reversing the damage done to her gic code.

    It is also a veryplicated process in retaining her Chimera abilities while returning her to being one of the Evolved.

    With my power, I can return her to her evolved state immediately, but that is not an optimal option. I prefer that Xi Shi to retain her Chimera abilities if possible, and besides, it is a good learning progress for Legion.

    Legion will need the experience, just to help me deal with this kind of problem in the future.

    I am sure there will be more instances that Evolved devolved to be Hybrids, thus requiring me to undo the changes.

    And I do wonder if there is anyone who will be born with both Hybrid and Evolved abilities. I hope so, as it would be quite an interesting specimen.

    Natural evolution seems to be the best way to achieve biological perfection. Mother Nature seems to have something in mind for the human race, and I wonder if humanity is truly a biological ident.

    I will need to do more research on this.

    "But unless you wish to be a mindless rampaging monster like Yang, I suggest that you follow all of my instruction without any deviations."

    I continue with certainty that Xi Shi understands. What happens to Yang serves more than one purpose just like I have always preferred.

    There is no need to do two things when one thing can aplish both objectives.

    "I definitely will, senior brother. Please believe in me."

    Xi Shi responses and cups her hands together to give a bow. With the current setting and our adorned hanfu clothes, it truly does feel like we are hundreds of years in the past. It wouldn''t be so bad.

    "Hey! You two! Get down from there!"

    Someone has to ruin this perfect moment, irking me.

    It is one of the film crews, who are here to help out with one of the scenes.

    More like actually preparing the setting to film the scene. Most of the crewmen are not here yet.

    I smile faintly and eye the man, taking detailed note of the productionpany symbol emblemed on his uniform. It is quite an expensive uniform, considering it was provided by one of the biggest studios in China if not the biggest.

    And unlike blockbuster movies being produced endlessly in Hollywood, the Chinese audiences are far more interested in long-drawn out epic drama.

    Drama is simr to serialized television show in the United States, just with plenty more costumes and set pieces. Also, the drama isn''t designed to be on air forever, so there is a definite ending to the story, thus allowing the audience some form of closure instead being left hanging.

    Something that happens so often with television series in the United States. There is no helping it due to budget cuts or loss of poprity.

    Since this branch of Terra Entertainment has a head start, about a decade worth, it is already starting to adapt several of Jin Yong''s earlier works, namely the Book and the Sword, Sword Stained with Royal Blood, and the Legend of the Condor Heroes.

    It would be a few more years until the Deer and the Cauldron, also known as the Duke of Mount Deer, gets a proper live adaptation with any real budget. Not would but will since I n to dominate every branch of the entertainment industry in every major country around the globe.

    "Pardon us, but we are just sightseeing because the scene is just too breathtaking."

    I response and head down the stone steps to the bottom.

    Xi Shi follows me closely behind while ring deadly at the man. Something that seems unnecessary, as he is simply doing the job. Besides, thepany did rent this whole premise for the entire day, so there should be no tourists around here whatsoever.

    "Sightseeing? Are you serious? Which department are you from?"

    The man calls out, seemingly very annoyed at my response, but that annoyance fades away as quickly as his eyesnd on Xi Shi.

    I do not need to infest his brain with micromachines to know exactly what he is thinking.

    "We are not from any department, unfortunately, so sorry for disrupting your work."

    I answer, but the man is no longer hearing me.

    He is beingpletely mesmerized by Xi Shi''s beauty, as she is more beautiful and elegant the leading actresses. Probably. That is just an assumption on my part, but it is a good assumption.

    Besides, Xi Shi has this majestic glow around her even though she could not see it. In fact, no one could actually see it besides me.

    And there is a reason for that.

    "We are sightseeing, and there is no need for you to bother us."

    Xi Shi decides to speak up. Her voice sounds much more softer and lovelier than before, like beautiful song that ensnares the soul of men, and it is working.

    "Yes, of course. Sightsee all you want, miss."

    The man responses while nodding. He even reaches out to help her down the stone steps, and if Xi Shi actually wanted to, he would have lied down on the floor and let her steps over him, just so she would not get her feet dirty.

    Seeing that ys out makes me chuckle, and it is thanks in no small part to me.

    I help her just because I want to see how effective the enchantment will be when being coupled with her already unnatural beauty.

    It is unnatural as beauty is subjective based on the species and environments, as Mother Nature would have no clue how to go about it.

    In addition, the people from the Party did quite a bit of work on Xi Shi externally and internally, making her takes on the appearance of the real Xi Shi in every aspect.

    It is like a primitive form of cloning, but I guess without ess to actual cloning technology, they have to make do with what they currently have.

    "I fear the day that you be an actress, junior sister. All men will be your ve one they see what an unearthly fairy you are. Perhaps women too."

    I joke as I proceed to head out of the area.

    There is no need to disrupt the filming of the Chinese drama, considering that the crewmen seem to be on a very tight schedule just like the people who are working for me in Terra Entertainment.

    That is obvious, considering the same motto applies in the United States also applies here in China.

    Work hard, y hard. Fuck around, and you will get castrated.

    It is as simple as that, and I think several idiots have already been castrated. Just like Lok Entertainment in Thand, the Chairman, CEO, CFO, COO¡­ and so on are all Hydra members.

    And they aren''t as merciful as I am. That is saying something.

    Of course, Hydra doesn''t have as much presence here as it does in the United States, but that doesn''t mean it cannot start wasting people under my orders.

    "Thank you, senior brother."

    Xi Shi responses. She also blushes a little at mypliment and wonders to herself why.

    She has beenplimented plenty of time before by countless of powerful and wealthy men, but not a single one of them has been able to move her heart even if a little.

    Xi Shi did not speak anything else as we head out of the Forbidden City, and neither did I. Even so, her aura attracts many people, who stare wide-eyed at her. Some women included.

    This causes her to be perplex, as she didn''t understand why people are so attracted to her but ying as one of the most beautiful women in all of China, she is used to the attention. It helps her aplish many of her assignments and missions.

    Even so, it is still a bit bizarre even to her standard, and I am not going to tell her the reason why. She does not have the clearance to know.

    "I suppose that we should part ways here, junior sister. I will have the serum delivered to you as soon as I have more avable. They do note cheap, and if the Master deems it necessary, you and I will be seeing each other a lot more. I might even drop by your ce in the future."

    I tell her as we are waiting for a taxi, but since China is not very well-developed right now in the 1990, it would be quite a long wait. Not that I really mind.

    Actually, I do a little due to the people starting to crowd around us. The effect would wear out eventually, but I think I might have over done it.

    "Yes. Thank you again, senior brother. Do you know where I live?"

    I smile at her before walking away while still fanning myself leisurely. That was a really stupid question, so I do not need to answer it. I hope that she bes smarter one day, as all of my daughters should be in some way.

    By association, some of the people follows me, mostly women, but I pay them no mind. I did, however, pick up my walking speed, forcing them to run after me. It is fun to watch.

    Eventually, I turn the corner and disappear into thin air.

    Not teleport but entering my spatial dimension. I can actually use it to teleport since the portal to and out of the spatial dimension is not rtive to position.

    I can open the portal anywhere within the spatial dimension and outside in the real world. Perhaps, it can be used to create spatial bridge, something like a real Stargate, capable to transporting people as well as things over vast distances.

    In any case, the stalkers must have be quite puzzled to where I had vanished to. They swiftly run back to where they hade from due to being affected by the aura surrounding Xi Shi.

    As for Xi Shi herself, she manages to find her way home after getting swarmed by people. It is because she is beautiful, but it is also because of a little magic on my part. Alright, not a little, but like a lot.

    I basically troll her by casting by enhancing her beauty with magic.

    It is highly effective, as people is already attracted to her naturally, but now, they will jump in front of a speeding bus for her even if she had so. That is how powerful an enchanting spell is.

    And with a range of spell at my disposal, I am sure that I can turn anyone into a superstar. That actually changes some of my ns, as I assume that I would need to recruit people who will definitely be super famous in the future.

    Should I or should I not recruit the people on my list as I have intended to, or maybe, I should nurture those who has the look and the desire to reach stardom butcks the abilities and skills to do so.

    Skills and abilities can be trained over time, and with enchantment and enhancement through magic, I can make anyone a megastar.

    I ponder what to do as I have a look at the countless stasis pods containing Xi Shi. A clone of her to be more exact.

    More and more stasis pods are being used to grow more Xi Shi while countless clones are being sliced up and experimented upon. It is necessary for the production of the serum, and since they are clones anyway, I shouldn''t feel anything for them.

    It seems that I have changed quiet a bit since the first time I step through time and space, but it is for the greater good. Besides, clones don''t really have a soul, so they are considered expendable livestock, just like animals.

    I admit that it is kind of dark, but progress is progress.

    Legion is left to do it as it is an emotionless machine. No matter how much the clones scream and beg, Legion will not stop. As for why they were given consciousness instead of just unblinking b of meat, it is needed to simte the brain.

    I take an empty seat alongside with thousands of my biomechanical avatar before closing my eyes and then severing the wireless connection.

    My consciousness returns my body, allowing me to get off the bed and stretching myself. It feels kind of weird controlling my flesh and blood body, not to mention seeing my actual face in the mirror once more.

    The feeling will go away eventually, and as it did, I check up on Christina Aguilera. She is still sleeping rather peacefully in her bed thanks to my magic.

    As long as nothing disturb her, she would not wake up, and seeing her helps me make up my mind in regard to the questions of whether continuing my original n.

    There is actually no need to choose between the two when I can have the best of both worlds. I think I will continue recruit future stars and starlets as I have nned in the beginning, but with the power of magic, they will be far more than they could ever be.

    The discovery magic does make all of my ns easier, but I am not reallyining.

    "The world will know your name, Christina, but not as Christina Aguilera. You will be Christina Maxwell, my daughter. Those bear my name will bear my will and stand on top of the world. No. The universe, all of creation."

    I whisper to the girl and give her a kiss on the forehead.

    In doing so, I cause another girl to cry and ask for attention.

    It seems my days will be quite fulfilling from now on. Is that the right word? Fulfilling. I do hope so, as I don''t want it to be a chore of sort.

    "Alright, Anti, daddy ising. Geeze."

 Chapter 194: Dawn of a New Day

    A new day dawns, and the third person within my household finally awakens.

    On the small andfy bed that I had left her in, Christina looks around the bedroom and takes in her new surroundings. She wonders where she currently is, as thest thing that she remembers is sitting in the car with me, being driven away from her home, at least what she had believed to be her home.

    It wasn''t really her home. It never was, as Christina had never lived there with her mother.

    Her mother did not remember her, as it has been so many years already, actually more than four years to be exact. Her mother did not even recognize her voice due to having only heard it electronically via international phone calls in the past four years, and those phone calls were not very often either.

    Thest one is months ago.

    And coupled with the fact that her father has abandoned her and disappeared without saying exactly why, Christina cannot help but feelpletely unwanted by everyone she knows and loves. No child should ever feel that, especially when they don''t really have anything special in their life.

    Like Christina. Her destiny has been derailed, and it is not my intention.

    Since I am solely responsible for what had happened to her leading up to this point, purposely or not, I allow Christina to wail in her own sorrow for a little while, as she is still a child herself.

    There is no need to be strict with Christina, at least not yet.

    But I suppose I will have to be when Christina is much older. I am expecting each and every single one of my daughters to be the best that they can be, adopted or not.

    I mean the ones that I actually put a bit of time and effort into.

    In all honesty, I prefer them to be older, as I don''t have to deal with the rebellious phrase during their teenage years that they might or might not go through.

    A lot of children actually do have some kind rebellious tendency as they grow older, strangely enough.

    Christina will as well when she bes a teenager, but in her case, it is more severe.

    That is because of what Christina is, an evolved human. The changes in her body and mind due to the M-strain are quite extreme, at least biologically.

    It would be quite interesting to witness once Christina hits puberty.

    While the M-strain doesn''t really interfere with her appearance, it does entuate and enhance some of her physical features. Those natural physical traits other hers, as she did not inherit any from me.

    Not that Christina needed to inherit any.

    Christina is a pretty as a child, more so if she eats more and fills out. If she is being fed correctly, I think she will grow up to be quite beautiful. More so than her counterpart in the original timeline. Charming and elegant in her own way.

    Combining with her innate artistic talents, her road towards stardom is almost a certainty. More than a certainty with my help and the addition of magic.

    Magic breaks the naturalws of the observable universe, at least in scientific point of view. That said, it does follow its ownws and rules from what I can understand, but despite researching for centuries, thosews and rules are not clearly defined.

    It appears that magic does not operate in the context of what normally can be perceived. That is what Alex and Hans have determined. Their future self, in an alternate future.

    Their theory seems usible, considering that magic exists since the dawn of creation, and the mages on Az manage to do barely scratch the surface of what is possible. Still, what little I know collectively is enough for me to do what I want to do with the Entertainment Industry.

    It is a cheat, but nothing about me and my power isn''t considered cheating.

    I would have never achieved so much by being a normal person with morals and what''s not. There are still things that sickens me, but generally, if the end result is what I am seeking for then I actually have no problem of getting there.

    Same with Christina, who eventually joins me and Antigone in the kitchen. It did take her a while since there are many rooms before the kitchen, and she is a curious child herself. That is expected since she usually left alone by herself when she was living with her actual father.

    The man is out of the picture for now. He is in the hospital, healing from his injuries. The kind of injuries that he himself had inflicted upon Christina over the course of years. I just give it back to him all in one go.

    Antigone takes notice of Christina the moment she enters the kitchen. If baby can be jealous, Antigone is beyond jealous, but as she is currently within my embracing arms, she is more behave than usual.

    "Good morning, Christina. Did you sleep wellst night?"

    I greet the nine years old as I pick up the milk bottle off the counter and shake it.

    The bottle has been sitting there for several hours, so it is not really warm anymore, but that problem can easily be rectified through my powers. Several powers actually.

    Obviously, I can use my ability to manipte thermal energy to reheat the milk, but I prefer to use my temporal power. It is far more suited for the task. Not only that it makes all the bacteria being unborn as if they aren''t there in the first ce, it allows me to refill the bottom should Antigone has consumed any.

    The same way I would refill my coffee if I needed more. Not needed to keep myself awake, but for me to continuing to enjoy the taste.

    With my power, I only ever need to mix the baby form once, but I did it a few times just to get that ratio right. After that, I just use my power to get it perfect every time.

    Definitely cheating.

    Even using the fabricator cannot it as perfect as I can due to multiple environmental factors. Therefore, my daughter, Antigone should have nothing toin about.

    Of course, as a baby, Antigoneins, nheless, just so I can give her more fatherly love. I think she fakes it most of the time, probably. Not sure, as I don''t really want to read her mind.

    And if Antigone is anything like Adria, being the Avatar of Time, it would be pointless to. I do hope that Antigone won''t have to leave me once she grows up because that kind of hurt, emotionally.

    "Um. Yes, mister."

    Christina answers me as I suck on the bottle a little to make sure before feeding Antigone.

    That recaptures Antigone''s attention. She doesn''t really pay any attention to anything else when she is being fed her favorite brand of foods.

    Obviously, like every newborn baby, milks from her mother is the best for her. Although, I can actually synthesis breastmilk perfectly, it would still not be the same due to several factors.

    That is why I had allowed Ambrosia, her biological mother, to take care of her for the first few months of her life.

    There is no reason beyond that. Maybe to test Ambrosia as well, but I don''t think she would harm her child regardless of what kind of scheming person she was. She did, however, believed I would not take her life she is has given birth to Antigone.

    As if I would let something like that stops me, and besides, Antigone doesn''t seem to miss her mother at all. She only needs me in her life.

    Speaking more of Ambrosia, she is hoping to see me, the Supreme Commander of Hydra.

    Hydra is her entire world, as she was raised within it by the good doctor for more than three decades or so. To Ambrosia, I am her God. Her only reason to exist.

    There is no picture of me within Hydra for security reason. The very same reason to why my profile as well as any information regard to me are not kept on file, physically, digitally or otherwise.

    As that is the case, much of the people in Hydra don''t really know what I look like personally. More so in Shield since their clearance is even lower.

    However, the Hydra ring that they are wearing at all time should inform or warm them whenever they are talking to me or being within my presence. It just stops them from being tortured by me for mostly stupid reasons, such as being arrogance and disrespectful.

    That actually happens quite often decades ago. Not so much now.

    Despite being a part of a global organization with the goal of dominating the world, most members in Hydra are quite normal and humble, speaking casually with each other and everyone instead of being utterly self-centered and arrogance due to their own importance.

    Very different from many secret organizations scatter throughout the world, especially in Asia. Strange how that turns out, but it did take a lot of time and effort on my parts and the upper management to create such a working environment.

    It also probably has something to do with how much shits that I have put the Hydra members through just to allow them to be a part of something greater. Something meaningful.

    I always believe that real pains and sufferings make a person and define who they are, not to mention strengthening their resolve. It certainly works for me, and I am turn out quite insane. I mean well.

    Meh.

    Being born to Hydra or Shield members does not excuse the child from the hellish trainings. Actually, it would be more hellish as there are a lot of expectations towards theter generation. It is logically since theter generation are provided with a lot more assistances and supports than their parents.

    That said, children who have failed to pass those hellish trainings aren''t really discarded or killed since Hydra and Shield aren''t exactly monsters. Well, at least their members are not monsters

    Members of Hydra and Shield are as humans as any other person.

    And no parents would kill their child regardless of how disappointed they are, so the humane thing to do is wipe their memory and allow them to live a normal life without realizing the truth to their world and heritage.

    Did I use heritage? I suppose that is reasonable to think so, as the Hydra members spend most of their time on Antis. The ind of technological wonders.

    The whole world is watching, being unable to do anything else. They didn''t even know how the ind of Antis appear in the first ce. It did not exist prior to the 1950s.

    All will be revealed to the world in due time.

    In any case, I will have to meet Ambrosia face to face since the woman has aplished many things in the past decades. She was also the top of her graduating ss, meaning she breezes through all the hellish trainings and examinations.

    That is saying something, and it wouldn''t be a good thing to continuing to ignore her when she strives so hard to stand out, all just so I could pay her some attentions.

    Ambrosia is actually one of the few high-ranking members within Hydra who haven''t been able to talk to me in person yet for one reason or another, most because I am trying to avoid it.

    There are just so many people working for me, and it feels pointless for me to drop by theirboratory or workstation to just have a chat. I only did such things for people I actually like. People like Alex and Hans.

    That is not to say I dislike Ambrosia. I don''t dislike her anymore since her personality has changed. She is no longer the same person when I first met her on Antis. That person is actually dead, so despite being given a second chance to serve me and the cause, I don''t really think of Ambrosia as mother to Antigone.

    Interestingly, Ambrosia actually spells Antigone with four sybles instead of three like most people.

    It has more to do with her ancestries than her upbringings. Her family name is Antean despite being raised by her adopted father, Mathew Sweet.

    The Antean people share the same surname, mostly for effect than anything.

    As for why I am mentioning all of this, Christina will have to undergo some pretty hellish training under my guidance if she ever wanted to meet my expectation. It wouldn''t be hellish trainings like in Hydra, as her future is not within the shadow but in the light, where everyone can see her.

    Ambrosia too from what I was informed. She represents Antis publicly on the world stage, and she is being trained for it. I guess I will meet her then just to y some political games with her.

    Going to troll her too just because it amuses me.

    "Mister. Is this where you live ¨C?"

    Christina questions after watching me feeding Antigone for a few minutes.

    "Yes, Christina. It is also where you will be living too, so you should stop calling me mister. Call me like you would to your father as I have decided to adopt you. By the way, did you like your room? If not, I will have it redecorated again."

    I answer her, and Antigone turns her head to pay attention to Christina once more.

    Antigone might not like Christina very much, but even so, she has absolutely no sway whatsoever, not that she can speak yet. She could still make unintelligence noises, however.

    And Antigone did while trying to point at Christina. Not really sure what she is trying to say, but I guess it is somewhere along the line: "Who is that, daddy? She looks too young to be my mummy."

    Just kidding. No idea what Antigone is thinking, but it is probably a protest of sort.

    Antigone asides, my statement makes Christina speechless. So many things are actually going through her mind at the moment, but she did answer me since I have taught her to always answer my question.

    It would be disrespectful otherwise. I demand absolutely respect from all who are below me, and that is pretty much everyone.

    "Yes, mister¡­ dad, I really like my room."

    Christina answers.

    In return, I nod and smile at her. The word appears to roll naturally out of her tongue. Far more natural than it should, but I suppose this is what happen when my blood flows through her.

    "I am d that you do. Now, please sit down and have breakfast with your baby sister. After breakfast, I will take you to school and have you enrolled. You might be able to start school today."

    I tell Christina and gesture at the empty seat by the table. I have already set up tes and utensils for her, and as she takes her seat, I put down Antigone and strap her into her baby chair.

    Antigone keeps on staring at Christina the whole time, but being a baby, shees off as cute rather than threatening. Cute enough for Christina to wave and coo.

    The little girl seems to be happy of being wanted. Having a new baby sister too since she never had a chance to y with her actual baby sister, Rachel due to her parents getting a divorced and her moving to Japan with her father.

    "I think she likes you, Tina. Her name is Antigone, but you can call her Anti if you want to. I am going to call you Tina from now on. It is simpler for me to say, and besides, you like being called that, don''t you?"

    I introduce Antigone to Christina. I recall that the older Christina has a persona or alter ego called Xtina in the original timeline. That will not be happening here in the prime timeline.

    "Yes, dad. My friends in Japan sometime calls me Tina."

    Christina responses to my question. She then pays attention to Antigone as I make some breakfast for her. I am quite a good cook even if Antigone didn''t seem to think so.

    "So, Anti. You are my baby sister?"

    Christina begins, trying to warm up to the Antigone, who ignores her out of some weird jealousy thing going on. Antigone even tries to throw thing at Christina, but her hands aren''t fully developed yet. She resorts to crying, but I drop some cans onto the floor.

    The sounds silence Antigone. Maybe it was due to me beaming at her disapprovingly. If she keeps that up, I will pay more attention to Christina instead, and she appears to understand.

    "Anti. Don''t be mean. Tina only wants to be your friend. As your older sister, she will protect you and y with you, so there is no need to cry. Why don''t you sing her one of your songs, Tina? She probably likes it."

    I tell them both before returning my attention to the stove. I think that I will just make some pancakes or omelets for Christina.

    As an angelic voice fills the kitchen, making Antigone blinks and behaves, I tilt my head to the side and look out the window. It is due to the man loitering outside. He notices me and approaches the fences that separate our households.

    "Max! Thank god you haven''t left. Can my kids stay with you for a minute? I have to go and find my wife."

 Chapter 195: Breakfast at My Place

    Since it is still early in the morning, my adopted-grandfather, John Connors, hasn''t left for work yet.

    It would be around an hour or so before he normally would, at least from his usual schedule.

    And on the way to the factory, he would usually drop off his children at their elementary school despite the school being in the opposite direction of his workce.

    His children are Stephanie, Joshua and Misha. Aged 12, 7 and 5 respectively.

    Unlike Stephanie, who is adopted, Joshua and Misha are his biological children. Unfortunately.

    I mean to say luckily. I did check to make sure they are his children by blood since his whore of a wife, Edith Connors, is a fucking slut of massive proportion. She fucks his former coworkers behind his back, in their family home, not to mention their children are still in the house.

    Yes. I am very serious. Stephanie can attest to this.

    And did I just say his coworkers?

    I mean to say backstabbers and assholes. They will definitely get what ising to them one day soon, if not directly through me then through one of my many associates or underlings. I wonder how they will like it when their trophy wife is getting nailed behind their back?

    In front of them too, as punishment.

    Speaking of punishment, Edith Connors is in for one, and it is not because she is a fucking whore. That kind of behavior doesn''t really warrant my attention since I do have better things to do and other kind of people to kill.

    But the fact that Edith dares to sell my mother to a whorehouse in another timeline does. Due tock of food avable, the whorehouse doubled up as a human meat factory too.

    That alternate version of my mother might have forgiven Edith, mostly due to her sacred status within the Origin religion, but I obviously did not.

    And since Edith is such a whore, I will make sure she spends the rest of her life as one.

    It wouldn''t take much effort on my part with the resource at my disposal, but I first need my adopted-grandfather to finally realize what kind of person his wife is. His father is right about his wife from the start.

    Despite never meeting my adopted-great-grandfather in person, that feat alone earns him my respect.

    Edith really believes that marrying John would be her ticket to the luxury life. Too bad, my great-grand daddy isn''t easily fooled by her acting.

    That sounds a bit weird, calling my adopted-great-grandfather that. Meh.

    I really like people who can gauge other people urately. It makes them humble as well as arrogance when they needed to be. Too bad none of his children are worth mentioning.

    Aside from my adopted-grandfather, of course.

    John Connors proves himself to be a good man when the world copses around him. He even willing to go to hell in ce of his children, and if that doesn''t earn him respect in my eyes then I don''t think anything will.

    My family tree is a mess, but not as messy as the family tree with all of my children, regardless of how they are born. Amen.

    Joke asides, Edith Connors runs off in the middle of the night without saying a single word to anyone, not even to her own children. Joshua and Misha.

    In my opinion, Edith should take at least one of her kids with her, considering they are her actual kids, but I guess that she didn''t really love them enough to do so.

    Edith never wanted to have any children in the first ce. She only goes along with it as a mean to an end, locking down my adopted-grandfather to their rtionship and marriage.

    Despite that obvious fact, my adopted-grandfather loves her very much. Very blindly too. To the point that he is willing to forgive her for all those extramarital affairs that she has, at least in another reality.

    "Yes, of course, John. But are you sure a minute is enough to find your wife? May I ask what happen?"

    I question, jokingly.

    Even so, my expression remainspletely calm and serious.

    I already know what had happened through the countless security camera Shield has installed all over the ce in his house, and if Edith didn''t run off today, it would happen tomorrow or maybe the day after that.

    The point is, it will happen eventually. She is a timebomb waiting to explode.

    Did Edith run off in the original timeline? I actually don''t know for certain, but it is more than certainly.

    Edith just needs the financial means to be able to run off with one of her fuckbuddies, but then again, what can I really expect from a whoring gold-digger?

    She has always been one, all the way back in high school.

    And if Edith remains in the family, being a mother to her children, I think Misha will turn out the same as her. In contrast, Joshua, he will probably be flipping burgers for the rest of his life.

    Not really a bad thing for someone like Joshua, at least for the teenage Joshua that I had seen.

    I think I should say that John is just a terrible father, just like my dad. Works way too much. Not enough time to pay attention to what happening with me at home and my asshole stepmother.

    Ahem.

    Fortunately, Edith cares very little about my mother to corrupt her, and I am thankful for the mercy.

    I am actually powerless to change the course of history in the original timeline, as it already happened, so the fact that my mother, the original one in the original timeline, turned out to be such a loving and caring person despite her kind of crappy childhood and upbringing leaves a very strong impressing in my mind.

    Maybe that is the origin of my motherplex.

    Yes. I am aware of it.

    But it is more urate for it to be called Oedipusplex as I did fuck her. Couldn''t really help myself, as in my mind, she is so beautiful. Irreceable.

    Ahem.

    I shouldn''t think of that anymore. It is not a very healthy thought, to be honest.

    "Thank you, Max, and I cannot tell you want happen since I don''t really know myself. I thought it was all a bad dream at first, but it wasn''t. By God, it wasn''t. Edith got upst night and tell me that she had trouble sleeping, and that she needed sometime to herself. I thought that she meant she wanted, you know, go for a walk to clear her mind. I didn''t think she just left like that."

    John tells me. Tears could be seen in his eyes.

    That isn''t exactly what happenedst night since the security feeds doesn''t lie. At least not my security feeds. No one tampers with them. No one dares too.

    Edith didn''t say anything when she left the bed, so John must have imagined all of it. He is somewhat of a heavy sleeper.

    I am obviously not going to tell John otherwise since there is actually no point. He will believe what he wants to believe, and it will help him open his eyes to the truth.

    "The car is gone too, Max. I just hope that she doesn''t do something stupid."

    He utters, as I raise my brow, mostly for effect.

    "Calm down, John. Why would your wife do something stupid? You don''t think she will drive off a cliff or something, do you?"

    I question and ponder where I should drive her off a cliff. Too bad, I already did that to someone else, so retreading the same path again kind of borings. Need new cruel and unusual way to kill people. I''ll just put that on my list of things to do.

    Despite already know what my adopted-grandfather is fearfully implying, I still want to hear he says it himself out loud.

    It is making conversation, as we are friends of sort. Weird, huh, but not that weirder than many of the strange thing I have seen and done.

    "No. Of course not. It''s¡­ it''s nothing. Anyway, I have to go find her, so please look after my children."

    John mutters. Part of him wants to tell me. The emotional part, but the sensible part tells him not to, as everyone has problem with their marriage, so there is really no point of pulling someone unrted into the mix.

    "Alright, John. No problem. When you are ready, you can tell me. I am always here to help. Oh, by the way, please use my car since it will be difficult to find her on foots. I will open the garage for you."

    I offer and produce a set of car keys in my pocket.

    My car doesn''t actually need keys since it is just a robot in disguise.

    Optimus Prime in disguise to be exact. Not the real Optimus Prime though. It would be awesome. Did I send a clone of myself into the transformer universe? I will have to check on thatter and send one if I didn''t.

    The original cartoon ispleted in Japan, so the Gate of Fiction should open a portal into that reality, thus allowing me to steal technologies. That is the concept.

    Would have been better if it was Michael Baytified Transformers, but I will get around to thatter.

    "No, I cannot, Max."

    My adopted-grandfather refuses. He is always like that, never wanting to bother anyone, yet he always helps others in need, to the point that many people take advantages of him.

    His wife for example.

    Honestly, the more I think about her, the more I want to set her stolen car on autopilot and drive her straight into a wall. Did I do that to someone before?

    [Yes, Operator. 19 April 1968 at approximately 22:39pm local time on ¡­]

    Selene informs me that I did, making me frown slightly.

    "Please, I insist. Just think of your children. They wouldn''t want anything to happen to you, especially when their mother just left them like that."

    I toss the keys to him, giving him no choice but to ept it. Since I only have one car sitting the double garage, I tell Legion to clone himself in the garage.

    Not an exact duplicate since that would be weird.

    "Go. Thank meter."

    I tell him, and he nods.

    John Connors runs back to the house to tell Stephanie what to do since she is the oldest before running back out and towards my garage. The garage where two quite expensive sedans rest in silence.

    But my adopted-grandfather is too much of a rush to appreciate their beauty. He tries the keys on one of them and immediately finding the door opens.

    It actually didn''t matter which car he tries since the key will open them regardless.

    And soon enough, the car speeds out of the garage, heading off down the suburban road. My adopted-grandfather did have a few locations in mind, but none of them are correct.

    He will be wasting a lot of precious time, but that is what I want. His desire to find his whore of a wife will cause his frustration to grow, and it is that very frustration that will open his eyes to what kind of person his wife actually is.

    When people are frustrated, they tend to say things that immediatelye to their mind, and words are actually more deadlier than knives in a marriage.

    I think so despite not being married before. A real marriage, not the fake-ass one that I have with my fake-ass dead wife.

    Should I bring Christina to see her nonexistence adopted-mother?

    I should just for effect. Also, in case someone ask as well.

    Once John disappears down the road, I return to cooking breakfast for Christina. Well, for four children now.

    Five children actually, but Antigone already has her breakfast. She is just enjoying the lovely song from a lovely girl, who doesn''t pay any attention to me and John a moment ago.

    Grownup stuff, in her innocence mind.

    That is a good thing, and Antigone even tries to p her hands with the beautiful tune.

    "Alright, Tina. Here you go. Have as much as you want, and there is no need to hurry or anything like that. Just take your time and enjoy your breakfast."

    I speak up once I finish making a mountain of pancakes. I did cheat a little since I don''t really have the time to make enough for four kids.

    "Wow. Thank you, dad. Um. Aren''t you going to eat?"

    Christina questions as her eyes are on the pile of pancakes on the te in the center of the table. Even Antigone wants some, but without any teeth, she can only suck on them.

    Actually, that isn''t true, Antigone does have a tooth growing in her upper jaw, but strangely, she didn''t make a fuss about it despite most normal children would.

    I guess I should stop thinking of Antigone as one, considering she is my biological daughter. I did bang her mother myself to give birth to her.

    Christina isn''t a normal child either due to her evolved physiology, and neither is my mother, who had given birth to me. She cannot be considered as normal if she gives birth to an Aspect.

    Also, what Adria stated still echo in my mind.

    "I have already eaten, Tina, but don''t worry, some of your friends will join you, at least I hope so since I want you to have a lot of friends. Please look after your sister while I am gone. Please make sure that she doesn''t make a mess."

    I answer Christina and pat Antigone, who puffs her cheeks so every slightly.

    Antigone then turns her attention towards Christina before looking rather suspicious. Christina didn''t see since she is looking at me.

    I head out of the kitchen after that and out of the house to pick up Stephanie and her younger siblings from their ce. She coulde over, but I rather just get her myself.

    Stephanie is actually old enough to go to school on her own, and she usually does, more often now as she has friends toe along with her.

    The elementary school isn''t that far away, and every morning, I would see quite a lot of children going there from the neighborhoods. Some of those children are also Hydra agents. Sadly, they aren''t in the same grade as my mother or I would have them be her friends.

    Maybe that is not a good thing. Real friends are better than false ones.

    The kidnapping stunt that I had done was to give my mother some real friends, and since it has worked out as nned, my mother will not turn out the same as the one from an alternate future. That version of her didn''t have much friends, thus she is desperate for someone to love her.

    Too bad my sperm-donor is too much of a dick to know.

    "Good morning, Mr. Maxwell."

    Stephanie greets me at the front door. She is in her school uniform with a cute backpack on, readying to leave the house with her brother and sister.

    "Hello, Stephanie. Did you dad tell you that I will be looking after you and your brother and sister this morning?"

    I response the greeting.

    "Uh huh. Dad did. He and mum have to go somewhere. I didn''t see mum this morning though, so she must have left. Do you know where they go?"

    Stephanie asks, and I shake my head as a response.

    "No, Stephanie, but it isn''t something you should worry about. Anyway, let''s go over to my ce and have breakfast. There is someone I want to introduce you to, and I hope that you and your friends can be good friend with her."

    I tell Stephanie and then pick up Misha with one arm. The child didn''t protest at all. Joshua is the same as I also pick him up with the other arm.

    Despite the both of them aren''t really babies, they basically weight like nothing in my arms. But I think they are much heavier than Christina. They get to eat very well after all.

    "Okay, Mr. Maxwell."

    Stephanie responses cheerfully and looks around the road, trying to find someone. Or more correctly to say, a group of girls. Anna, Becky, Daisy and Susan.

    Christina will fill in the missing alphabet. A, B, C, D and SS? Sounds a lot like grades.

    Anyway, the four former bullies will drop by at Stephanie''s ce soon to pick her up, so they could go to school together.

    Seems like asking to be kidnapped together again, but if anyone dare to under my watching eyes, I will crush their balls.

    I did check up on where the four girls are just out of curiosity.

    Susan and Anna are together. Daisy is getting ready to head out.

    Becky is sulking since she has lost a lot of standing within their group due to what happened when all of them were kidnapped and locked up in an undergroundplex.

    She isn''t really a bad child. No child is ever bad. It is all due to environment.

    If every child is raised in a loving family home and being taught proper morals and values, would there be no criminal left in the world? Probably not, but it sounds like a good social experiment.

    "If you are looking for the other girls, just leave a note in front of the house, telling them that you are over next door at my ce. Remember to lock the door."

    I point out and bounce Joshua and Misha in my arms while heading away and thinking I need to make a lot more pancakes. Shouldn''t be too difficult. Maybe the kids will enjoy the magic show?

 Chapter 196: Wealth of Connections

    The kids love the magic show.

    It isn''t tooplicated since I just need arge enough table cloth to hide the fact that I had used my power to duplicate tes after tes of pancakes.

    Pancakes that I had cooked previously for Christina earlier in the day.

    My temporal duplication technique allows me to basically steal from the past timelines without having to deal with the consequences, at least that is what I believe.

    It is hard to confirm whether that fact is true or not, but by simple logical reasonings, it shouldn''t really affect the present prime timeline.

    Just like I continue to exist in the present despite originating from an alternate future.

    A future that is probably still exists somewhere in the timestream.

    But it might also be because of what I actually am, the Aspect of Time.

    Is there only one instance of me in all of time and space? Probably not, considering that my past-selves do exist until I decide to jump to the past and merge with them, but not too far into the past.

    It is quite difficult to fully understand time itself, as time is not really linear. It seems to branch out like a root of a tree, infinitely. That just means there are infinite parallel timelines running alongside with the prime timeline.

    Mind boggling, not to mention iprehensible to most people.

    In any case, I am practicing how to steal from an alternate future through the same technique without actually having to jump to the future myself. The warning in my private databank tells me that I should not jump to the future anymore for whatever reasons.

    Since I am unable to determine the authenticity of that warning message other than the obvious fact that someone somewhere was able to upload the private message into my private databank without leaving any traces behind, I should probably abide by the warning.

    At least for now.

    I don''t really want to deal with another temporal rift extinction event, and that event isn''t fully averted yet since deep space observatory informs me of discovering temporal rifts forming in orbit around the.

    Just great. Just fucking great.

    "Wow. Can you do that again, Mr. Maxwell?"

    Susan asks. She and her trio of friends have arrived at my ce shortly after Stephanie and her siblings did. The four of them had breakfast already, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t have more.

    Plus, I insist.

    They seem to love my pancakes, just like my mother and Christina, so take that Anti. See? Daddy isn''t a really bad cook, so why don''t you like my foods, Anti? Why!?

    Antigone didn''t pay me any attention whatsoever. She takes a liking to her older sister after just a few songs, and here I have initially thought that there will be some sort of sibling rivalries going on.

    Maybe next time then.

    Am I nning to adopt more kids in the future?

    I am not really sure, but if Christina works out well, I wouldn''t really mind, considering seeing so many children sitting at my breakfast table.

    Besides Joshua, they are all girls. Somehow that feels important to me.

    "Only if you manage to finish your te, Susan."

    I answer with a smile and keep my eye on her. It is strange to see her now after witnessing my adopted-grandfather''s memory in an alternate timeline.

    Susan manages to survive the starvation apocalypse longer than all of her friends, but in that timeline, she is a rival to my mother, at least in school. Weird.

    In the prime timeline, Susan will probably be best friends with my mother.

    The other two girls, Anna and Daisy as well.

    I am not too sure about Becky, and I don''t feel like finding out. Not really important to know.

    Susan looks down at her te before looking at her friends sitting around the table, and like them, as much as much loves my food, she wouldn''t be able to eat finish her te. Still, she will try to since she has been taught to always finish her te.

    And Susan bes thest person to leave the table because of that.

    "Thank you for the meal, Mr. Maxwell."

    Susan thanks me and puts her te into the sink before joining her friends in the living room. Christina is getting ready for school there, and she is really excited.

    It would be the first time in four years since Christina attended school in the United States. It will be a great experience for her. A wee experience in my opinion.

    "You are wee, Susan."

    I response and wipe down the table before joining them. It is time to head to school together.

    Antigone is joining them too in her stroller, which is being pushed by Stephanie.

    Susan, Anna, Daisy help out as well. Not so much from Becky, but she is sticking closely to them. It was not long ago that these four bullies my mother for quite stupid reasons.

    Now, they are all friends.

    Surviving dangers together can turn even most hated enemies into friends.

    Christina walks with Joshua as the boy is closest to her in age while Misha is riding my shoulders since she is the youngest, being only five.

    Antigone isn''t jealous of that, fortunately. She is just enjoying her ride while shaking her shaker toys.

    Did I just adopt a bunch of kids?

    Nope. But it feels like this will be a normal urrence from now on.

    Since school start at 8am, the same time that Terra Entertainment starts its business hour, I did send a message to the receptionist that I will bete due to family matter, so she should inform the rest of the departments.

    I am not too worry about the meeting with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates since it is in the afternoon. It did take a bit of effort to bring those two to the table, considering Terra Entertainment is not a tech giant like theirpanies.

    It is an entertainment giant. Will be an entertainment giant. Not at the moment. Nevertheless, thanks to my little legal stunt with copyrightwsuit, a lot of people are starting to take notice.

    A lot of majorpanies too.

    Lexi is actually already at Terra Entertainment, sitting in the lobby and waiting for me.

    I did state that she cane and work for me if she wishes.

    She is overly dressed, readying to start her day as my sexy secretary. Not a sex-secretary, just a really sexy one. There is a huge difference between the two. One wouldnd me in lots of trouble normally, but not really.

    Maybe I should test Lexi for the job first since she has never ever work as a secretary before. Her ability to seduce others regardless of gender allows her to skip all of that.

    But that will not fly with me, however.

    Alright, maybe it can fly a little.

    While I am immune to her superhuman ability, I am not reallypletely immune to her natural looks since I am still male. An alpha male in her mind.

    Feels like there is going to be a lot of fucking with Lexi after hours. Not that I mind, as long as she does good work during work hours.

    I shake my mind off the thought and help the children across the road to join a bunch of other children heading towards the same school with their parents, mostly their mothers.

    It is still the 90s, so most men are at work while most women are at home. That will drastically change in the uing years as more women enter the workforce and fight for equality.

    That will be quite a mess.

    Of course, it is not as bad as in the future, especially when virtual intelligences are a thing. Let just say some children are born and raised to adulthood without ever seeing their parents once.

    What a future we will live in.

    In any case, quite a lot of people looks at me since I cannot possibly be the father of all of these girls, considering that I am in my early 20s. That is the first impression anyway, but they quickly change their mind as they recognize me.

    I have be quite famous after the kidnapping stunt. It is due to my connection with the local police, whichposed of 60% Hydra or Shield agents. Probably more. Likely more.

    Might be 100% in a couple of years or so, but that is only because forcibly recing all the police with my agents too quickly will raise suspicion, so for now, I only rece all the higher ups.

    Those are the ones with any kind of power.

    In any case, most people in the neighborhood know who I am, and they have been asking around, only to meet with the same basic information. It could be a problem, but I suppose I will have to deal with it now thanter.

    Hopefully no idiot is stupid enough to break into my home, trying to rob me. They will be in for a world of hurt if they do, and it is not from me directly.

    "Alright, we are here. Stephanie, can you take Joshua and Misha to their ssroom first, and I will pick you all up if your dad can''t make it in the afternoon. Nice to meet you, Susan, Anna, Daisy and Becky."

    I tell the girls at the front gate of the school, where most of the parents are only apanying up to.

    "Tina,e with me to see the principle. It is to get you enrolled at this school, okay?"

    I tell Christina after trading Misha for Antigone with Stephanie. My mother then takes her brother and sister to their ssroom with her friends while I head to the principle office.

    However, Becky runs after me to hand me an envelope. It is from her mother to her father, who is the school principle. It is the reason why many teachers are turning blind eye to Becky and her bullying.

    Of course, it will be very different next year when Becky enters Junior High at the end of this year. She will not be able to continue her ways, at least not so tantly.

    "Mr. Maxwell. Can you give this to my dad when you see him? He also wants to see you to thank you for what happened to me. Mum said that I should thank you too, so thank you."

    I smile at the girl and nod. This is why I don''t like punishing children for whatever wrongs they did or going to do. They are notpletely lost yet, and I shouldn''t be too harshly on them.

    If anything, I will punish their parents instead for failing in their responsibility to their children.

    "I will. By the way, I am curious to why you start bullying Stephanie. Was it because you are jealous of her of having a loving mother and father?"

    I am curious to know what the truth is.

    I could get it out of her mind by infesting her with micromachines but asking her directly works too. I do have a good idea, considering how estranged her parents are inparison to John and Edith, at least on the surface.

    Becky lowers her eyes on the ground. She shakes her head in denial at first before nodding.

    "Just because your father and mother don''t love each other, doesn''t mean they don''t love you, Becky, so you shouldn''t feel sad about it, especially when you have a lot of friends, but they will only be your friends if you treat them as your friends, so you shouldn''t alienate yourself because one day, they will leave you."

    I point out. A bit harsh for her age, but I need her to turn back from the path she is taking. I also point out that Christina has it much worst than her, and yet, Christina appreciates whatever she has even if it is not much.

    "Go to ss now, Becky. The bell will ring soon."

    I tell her afterwards and take my daughters to the principle office. Only I am allowed to be inside, so I left Antigone with Christina outside with the receptionist.

    The receptionist is quite a looker, but that isn''t why I am paying her attention. It is her background, as she was once a soldier. That is interesting.

    "Ah, Mr. Maxwell. I am d to see you."

    A well-dressed man with an impressive gut greets me in the office.

    I mean it literally as he is way overweight. Most people in the United States sitting behind the desk all day usually are, especially for administration jobs like this.

    Actually, it ismon for most people anywhere in the world. But good thing that I am not like most people despite sitting behind a desk all day long at Terra Entertainment.

    "I guess I am happy to see you too, Mr. Collins."

    I greet back as Selene disys his profile and history for me to review. I wonder why I bother to review such a thing since he is really a nobody, but I suppose I like to be informed.

    "Please. Have a seat. I must thank you for what you did for my daughter. For all those girls. If it wasn''t for you, we wouldn''t have them all safely. Have the police found any suspects yet?"

    The man asks me, and I take him up on the offer, not that he needed to offer me.

    Would be weird if I was to stand about.

    "You will have to ask the police about that, Mr. Collins. I might have some contacts at the department, but I am still a civilian. They are not allowed to tell me anything, you know."

    I point out with a smile. He did try to ask more questions in regard to that, but I dodge them all since I know what he is trying to do. He wants to build connections. Men like him needs connections.

    Powerful connections. He probably tries to learn who I am through his own connection, but they likelye back as empty. I am not someone he can learn about readily asides from public information, of course.

    "Ah yes, of course, my bad. So, what can I do for you?"

    He eventually asks, allowing me to get to business.

    "I would like to enroll my daughter at your school, Mr. Collins. She is my adopted daughter, obviously. Her name is Christina Maxwell. She is 9, so she should be in Grade 3. However, she has been overseas for thest four years, so maybe she needs to be in a special ss to catch up."

    I answer thoughtfully.

    "You do know that there are only a few months left of the school year, Mr. Maxwell? While I can enroll her, it is probably more beneficial to her to have a private home tutor instead."

    Principle George tells me with a frown.

    "I have thought about that, and I will hire one as soon as I get some rmendations, but for now, I prefer my daughter to attend school, just so she can make some friends. I hope there will not be any problem. Money will not be an issue. I will of course pay for the entire school year."

    I response and take out my cheque book. I would prefer to use wire transfer, but smartphone isn''t a real thing yet, so pen and paper it is then.

    The Golden Emblem of Chrono Reserves make his eyes shine. Money do make the world goes around but being valued member of Chrono Reserves do make the world revolves around me, as not anyone can have such a powerful status.

 Chapter 197: Members of Chrono Reserves

    I am not talking about being customers, but actual members of Chrono Reserves, as illustrated by the Golden Emblem on my cheque book. On any object that have anything to do with the bank, really.

    Credit cards for example.

    My name, Maximilien Maxwell is also engraved majestically on the emblem itself, just to prevent any impersonators, but of course, there are still plenty of impersonators, considering how privilege as well as prestige it is to be actual members of one of thergest if not alreadyrgest bank in the world.

    Actually, Chrono Reserves is much widespread and more trusted than most federal banks around the globe, especially in third-world countries. This mostly has to do with the bank''s policy on loans.

    But for the United States of America itself, the people still trust the dor more, but that is because it is the currency of choice within Chrono Reserves and all of its subsidiaries and holdings.

    Most customers and members of the bank prefer to disy their bank ount in good old US dors, as all purchases, special or otherwise, are done in the said currency.

    What kind of special purchases? Have a good guess.

    Chrono Reserves doubles up as a hidden ck market for the rich and wealthy, so there are plenty of illegal deals going on under the table, and it is all done in the dors. All of it is being recorded as well, just to give me that ckmailing materials.

    There is no need to resort to using those materials, but their existence is enough to keep the members in line. They can never get out once they are in, as it should be.

    The exchange rate from local currency to the dors is only slightly worse than actual market rate, but that is to prevent people from abusing the conversation system for their own gain.

    It isn''t because there is some profit to be had or anything of sort.

    Chrono Reserves make it money from better revenues, and it isn''t like the bank is actually exchanging any currency within itself. There is no point to, considering it is a global banking system, not to mention the money people have is really just a number on a screen being disyed to them on all the terminals.

    As that is the case, Chrono Reserves sometimes lends out money that it doesn''t really have or money that doesn''t really exist in the first ce. It can do that as long as it doesn''t get caught doing it.

    But just forprehension, if Chrono Reserves actually calctes all of its assets, it probably has the power to basically manipte the market singlehandedly.

    I mean to say for me to actually manipte the market because the bank itself is merely a tool. A tool that I have set up to control the world economy.

    Or crashing it.

    Crashing the dors or any currency is probably as easy as snapping my fingers, not that there is a real reason to at the moment or in the future despite the requirement to have only one currency.

    A universal currency that everyone can agree on. It is necessary for the unification of the human race, allowing them to reach the start as a single entity instead of many conflicting interests.

    Easing everyone into a universal currency is already in progress, as Chrono Reserves is prioritizing the United States Dors regardless of countries any of its branch is based on.

    And so far, there is no muchins since it is far more convenience. It also helps that most people trust the United States and its currency. The same currency that will give birth to a new universal one in the future.

    When that happens, there will be a lot of chaos and hysteria, not to mention hyperintion due to the dors bing as worthless as the national identity of the United States.

    Speaking of hyperintion, one is happening right now in Yugovia with their currency, the dinars is on the verge of copse. There is a billion dinars note floating around in the economy right now.

    To think just a couple of years ago, the highest domination is 50,000 dinars. By the year end, I wouldn''t be surprised if there is a 500 billion dinars note. Maybe even a trillion. That is very possible.

    While I have absolutely no hand in their hyperintion problem, I will still take advantage of it. It does happen a bit earlier than the original timeline due to my existence, but regardless, it will allow me via Chrono Reserves to buy out its federal reserves, thus giving me unprecedent economical power in the country.

    Taking control of the economy of the country is a lot moreplicated than that due to thews and regtions, but the good men and women of Hydra will take care of the hard work for me.

    That is their job while mine is just being cool and troll people.

    Needlessly to say, I love my job. It is fun. A lot more fun that I could say.

    In any case, Hydra members are actually masquerading as mercenaries in Yugovia, inciting rebellion just to take control of the government and install a puppet leader. They didn''t start the violent dissent, but they will be the one who finishes it.

    And I don''t mean a real puppet leader since a high-ranking member of Hydra will take on that political role. It might not even be a high-ranking member.

    Still, it is better to have someone who is loyal to the cause rather than some random and probably not very capable person. Some gic maniption is necessary to make sure that nobody will raise any kind of question to why there is a ck dude being president.

    At least in the current present day. People are more tolerate in the future, but that is because no one really want to deal with pesky medias. I have someone working on taking control over the media, and it starts with the media in New York.

    Henry Oxford did buy quite a bit of stations. He sells it back to me via Chrono Reserves since he hasn''t got a real reason to run them.

    I guess I will use it to take over the mind of the people somehow. A lot of people in America still believe what the idiot box in their living room tells them. It hasn''t changed even a few decades in the future.

    In the uing years, Hydra will take over many countries around the world, mostly through violence confrontation, especially the Soviet Union (USSR), which will not fragment into many countries like it did in the original timeline.

    That is a not a good thing for world domination.

    Having a bunch of smaller countries instead of a big-ass one creates more work for me, so I rather not have that even if it might be easier to annex smaller countries one by one. Also, the USSR already has the reputation for using deadly forces against its membered countries.

    In addition, the USSR will serve as a deterrent to the United States of America like it always has for thest few decades, all the way from the Second World War.

    The Berlin Wall is still a thing right now in 1990.

    It might not be pulled down in this timeline since the USSR will not be dissolved, as I cannot have the United States bes the only superpower in the world,pletely unchallenged by anyone. I mean on the surface.

    Allow any country to be a sole superpower is not a good thing, at least for my world domination n. There will be more than two superpowers soon.

    In the original timeline, China does rece the Soviet Union as a superpower, but that is not for quite a few more years. If I have to estimate the timeline, it will be a couple of decades or so due to Chrono Reserves boosting the juggernaut economy of the United States.

    It is the side effects of having to fund thousands upon thousands of incredibly sessful startups and businesses every year.

    Kind of hard to fail, considering Chrono Reserves knows exactly what business will seed and what businesses will fail thanks to me. I keep them up to date with the possible future and what is trending soon.

    Most sessful corporations that had started from the 1960s onwards will have something to do with Chrono Reserves. Evenpanies that Chrono Reserves has no hands bringing to greatness also have something to do with the bank due to their financial being handled by Chrono Holdings and any of its subsidiaries.

    Honestly, nobody really has any real clue to how much wealth of the United States of America is being controlled by Chronicle, the parentpany, which I am the sole owner.

    It is to the point that the US Government is investigating any leads they could find.

    Chrono Reserves isn''t the onlypany that the United States Government is investigating simply out of fear, but it is a bit hard to find concrete evidences against any of mypanies unless they acquire those evidences illegally, but then again, that would make those evidences dismissible in court.

    I am using their own legal system against them because why the hell not?

    There are tons of loopholes that I can use in their legal system, not to mention that there are so many ces in the United States that act like tax haven for the rich and wealthy.

    Not really my fault since I didn''t really make thews and regtions. I merely y by its rules, forcing the United States Government to be stuck between a rock and a very hard ce.

    Some of their rogue agents even resort to muscling some of my employees through interrogation and threat so national security, but they haven''t managed to grab any undercover Hydra agent yet.

    But they probably will.

    I am not really worry about that since Hydra agents are trained to fabricate convincing lies when being interrogated, at least it is convincing to other members of Hydra. Maybe that might be a problem.

    But it is not possible to prepare for that in any capacity until someone who knows anything finally gets caught somehow.

    Should be any day now. I am still waiting since it would trigger some dominos. Some huge ass dominos that will definitely crush a lot of people. Senators, mostly.

    Being a known member of Chrono Reserves does make me a target for the United States Government, and they certainly have grabbed several members in the past, but only to p them some fines about tax evasions.

    This is because most members of Chrono Reserves are rich and powerful, and I am probably the richest and most powerful. Good target for the United States, all things considered.

    It always tax evasions thatnds people like me in jail. It never the thing that I did because there is no evidence whatsoever. If there is, they will be dead soon. Or being mind-swiped.

    Hydra still kills a lot of people just to make sure, however.

    The dead do not talk, at least normally.

    Everything is an exception to me with the powers and authorities at my control.

    Anyway, wealth and status are not the things that help people bes members of Chrono Reserves, but it does contribute due to how the invitation system works. One has to be invited to be a member, as there is no other way, normally.

    Even so, invited candidates will have to wait in line until there is a spot open within the memberships due to the number of members allowed per country.

    Probably more correctly to say continent instead of country since countries aren''t really a thing under the domination of Hydra Imperium.

    That is the future of the human race, at least in this iteration.

    But regardless of which country the members are actually from, there can never be more than a total of 999 members of Chrono Reserves per continent.

    North America does have exactly 1000 members due to me, but I am not really considered a member technically. I haven''t met a single member so far because there is no reason to, at least not previously.

    I have to now since Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are members. They don''t know that yet, so it will a good surprise for them. Members should help each other, especially in time of need.

    "There is no need for that, Mr. Maxwell."

    George speaks up and gestures his hands despite really wanting to take my money, but that big brain of his cells me my friendship worth a lot more. It certainly is.

    Priceless actually, but that is not what on his mind.

    It is due to my wealth, as all members of Chrono Reserves have unlimited funds at their disposal. But unlike me, they will have to pay everything they borrow back with some interest. Nevertheless, being able to invest in anything and everything without having the funding in the first ce is very generous.

    Extremely generous to people who can use their brain even if a little. Someone like George.

    Too bad, I don''t like him very much since he values money above everything else.

    Aplete contrast to me, who see money simply as a mean to an end, not that I will spend it without a single thought. I try not to whenever possible.

    "No, I insist, Mr. Collins. I recall reading somewhere that it is $2,700 per student. Adding on things like foods, uniforms, events and amenities, I think $5,000 should suffice."

    I response and wrote the number on the cheque before signing it with a simple signature M.M.

    Despite its simplicity, no one dares to forge my signature within Hydra or Shield or at any organizations that is aware of who I am. Doing so is basically asking to be tortured.

    The same goes for Terra Entertainment, but I am not sure since I do sign a lot of document every single day. Like hundreds of them, as everything actually requires my approval, at least for now.

    I just want everything to run smoothly or as smoothly as possible.

    George epts the cheque before making sure it is valid. He is actually more busy checking the Golden Emblem in the corner of the cheque itself since it is the first time that he has seen it so clearly.

    "Oh, before I forget, Mr. Collins. Your daughter passes me an envelope earlier in the hallway. I believe it is a letter from your wife."

    I interrupt his thought by handing him the envelope. I didn''t open it to see what is inside, but from its weight and size, it is probably a letter. A divorce letter mostly likely from what his history.

    "I apologize for my daughter using you a courier, Mr. Maxwell. She shouldn''t have."

    George epts the letter with a smile and puts it in his desk. He also put my cheque into there to have a look at itter. It should be good, considering it is from me. He can cash it anywhere, not necessarily at Chrono Reserves itself.

    "No need to apologize. I was taking her to school alongside with a few of her friends."

    I response with a smile.

    "Is that so? Her mother is probably too busy spending my money to take her herself. At least you don''t have a wife to deal with, right Mr. Maxwell?"

    Georgements before chuckling.

    I purse my lips, telling him that I don''t like him insulting my wife. My very dead wife. My very fake and very dead wife. Still, it is the principle.

    "I shouldn''t have said that. Sorry. Anyway, there are some forms to be filled for your daughter to enroll here at my school, Mr. Maxwell. I can fill them out for you if you liked. Of course, I need some personal information from you for that."

    George speaks up and ce a form in front of me.

    I look at the form for a moment before timees to a standstill. I have a quick look through the form before deciding it should be fine.

    "Very well, Mr. Collins. What do you need to know about me?"

    I question, humoring him.

    "Nothing out of the ordinary, Mr. Maxwell. It is all standard stuff, just a bit of information about your family and where you work."

    George responses and takes out a notepad.

    Since the form is quite long, he wouldn''t have time to do it right now. The same as me since I do have apany to run. Well, not really since I could just send a clone for the job since Lexi wouldn''t try to screw it during work hours.

    "Unfortunately, I don''t have time. It is a working day after all, but no worry, I have filled out everything that you need to know to fill that form for me. It isn''t the first time someone fills out form for me, Mr. Collins."

    I tell him before handling over another envelope. I had Legion wrote it up for me, perfectly mimicking my handwriting. I did have a look before giving it to George just in case, but Legion did a good job with Selene.

    "Well, that is easy then. I will have a look and if there is anything else, I will contact you, Mr. Maxwell."

    George responses and epts the envelope.

    "Please do. My phone number is on the front. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

    I response and get off the seat.

    "No. No. Not at all."

    George responses before picking up the phone to talk to the receptionist outside. The woman is more like his sex-assistant from my understanding. Strange. It feels oddly strange. Something amiss here.

    "Emma. Mr. Maxwell will be heading out now. Please send in the next person."

 Chapter 198: Many Unsettling Reasons

    I wonder why it feels so unsettling, and I had never felt such a thing before.

    But I think it must have something to do with the secretive sexual rtionship between George Collins and his assistant, Emma Danton.

    And it isn''t because she could do better than him. Way better, to be honest.

    Maybe it is because of that, considering Emma is quite a beauty herself due to her age and very athletic build while George is really someone who I would want to be seated next to on an airne.

    I wouldn''t even want to talk to him unless I have to, and I do have to for my daughter, Christina. That is being a dedicated father, as I don''t want to turn out like my sperm-donor. I really don''t want to turn out to be like in regard to fatherhood.

    Honestly, I could have sent someone as proxy to get Christina enrolled here, but if I did that, I wouldn''t experience this unsettling feeling. It is new. It is kind of exciting.

    And it bothers me more than a little because I cannot put my fingers on it. Why? Why is that?

    "Thank you for your time again, Mr. Collins."

    I speak up and cast onest look at the man before heading out of his office. Once I did, I immediately pull up his profile as well as the profile of his assistant to examine again.

    Time slows down for me to crosscheck their history, finding several important key events.

    Nothing really stands out at first, but I realize that George has only met Emma recently. Very recently, as ording to Shield and her surveincework.

    I cannot rely on Legion at the moment since his surveincework is brand-new even if it has already spread to much of the country. It is spreading overseas at the moment while mapping the ocean, thus allowing me to have eyes and ears everywhere.

    The antigravity technology is highly efficient as there is no need for intake of exhaust of any kind, and with spatialpression technology, I can squeeze quite a bit of equipment in a small space, including a miniature sun to power all of that.

    In other word, the cloaked spy-drones will remain operational unless someone manages to target one and destroys it. No one has managed to do that so far, as Legion would have informed me otherwise.

    There are also a bunch of them hovering around the school, recording everything and everyone.

    And from what those drones have recorded so far, I understand that Emma Danton has no experience as a personal assistant to anyone, so it is illogical to actually hire her as one.

    But I suppose that it does make somewhat of a sense if George is thinking with his dick rather than his brain. He does have a brain, even if it is a small one. Better than most people in America.

    And the strange thing is, Emma epted his job offer despite being in the military for thest decade, training to be a perfect killing machine.

    This is not to mention that her dear old dad is a freaking United States General.

    Her father is the main reason that Emma hasn''t bee introduced to the American Hybridization Project yet. It is merely out of love and protection for her, considering that there is still a lot of unsolved side-effects associated with bing a Hybrid.

    Nevertheless, I cannot fathom why Emma would suddenly abandon her entire life career toe and work for someone like George. It isn''t even really proper work either. She is more like his sex ve.

    And she is willing. Very willing. Unusual willing.

    Surely, it cannot be love at first sight sort of thing, and even if it is, why would Emma settle for anything less than Mrs. Collins, considering her appearance. Given the deteriorating marriage between George and his wife, she wouldn''t even have to wait that long.

    Not long at all.

    Oh. The current Mrs. Collins is quite a babe herself, so I am not sure how George manages that in the beginning, but she does feel like a gold-digger, considering hervish lifestyle, burning away his money rather pointlessly.

    Mrs. Collins is actually in her bikini at the moment, resting on a floater in the pool within the backyard of her ce, working hard on her impressive tan. It feels like a start of a porno movie.

    As I recall, she didn''t evene with her husband to search for her daughter, Becky, so she is not that different than Edith. Actually, she is worst since Edith dide to look for Stephanie.

    I spend way too long checking out her body via the cloaked drone, and by the time I snap out of it, my mind is no longer thinking about the rtionship between George and Emma.

    And I think I also give their illicit rtionship too much attention. It doesn''t really matter to me or the cause whether their rtionship is logical or not, so it shouldn''t really bother me.

    "Dad."

    Christina greets me outside the office. She is no longer sitting on the bench.

    In contrast, Antigone is yawning in her stroller. She is very tired, as she did have quite a morning with getting to know her older sister, Christina, as well as her future elementary school. Antigone will likely attend this school when she is older, as it is a semi-private school closest to home.

    Not quite private, but notpletely public either.

    It is a loophole in the education system, and since it does take forever to get anything done via proper channels, no one really bother pointing it out.

    I wouldn''t bother either since it is not really hurting anyone as far as I can tell.

    Parents will definitely pay the premium if they can afford it, as they do want their children to have the best they can in school. Parents like me for example.

    It also doesn''t really cost an arm and a leg.

    $5,000 is not really significant as ording to the standard ie of a normal household within the suburb, but that is for a single child. Some family might have more than one child, such as the Connors.

    John Connors is the breadwinner of the family, but even so, he still relies on his wife to look after their children. Without her, he will not be able to keep his family in order.

    I suppose I will find him a good wife. Someone who is worthy of being my adopted-grandmother, and it shouldn''t be someone I know either, especially from Shield or Hydra.

    It will just be weird to call one of my underlings as my adopted-grandmother. Really weird.

    Anyway, that is for another day since Edith has only left and John needs time to readjust. A lot of time to readjust due to having lost someone important in his life. His wife is important in his life even if she is a lying and whoring bitch.

    Many people prefer to live in ignorance.

    Not me though, as I rather deal with the truth than live a lie.

    "I have finish talking to your principle about enrolling you here at this school, Tina, and I am sessful in my mission. The rest is up to you, so let''s head to your ssroom, okay?"

    I inform Christina with a smile. I even make a V-sign, thus making her giggles.

    "Okay, dad."

    Christina answers me while I check on Antigone, tugging her in.

    Antigone sucks on her pacifier and slowly slips into her dream world. I also pull down the dark covering to shield the morning light from her face, all in order to give her a good sleep. As a baby, she still needs a lot of sleep.

    After that, I take Christina down the corridor while pushing the stroller containing Antigone.

    The school bell also rings, telling everyone that ss has started. There are still some children loitering in the front yard, rxing and chatting way unlike my daughter, who is far too excited to attend school and get to meet her new friends.

    "There is no need to hurry, Tina. It is your first day to ss today, so you can bete a little. It is okay."

    I point out and continue to move along the corridor at a leisure pace. The staircase to the upper floors is a problem for most people with a stroller, but not really for me. Besides, there is also an elevator to use.

    "By the way, Tina, school here in the United States are somewhat different than the schools in Japan or Korea. In Japan, you are not allowed to talk while the teachers are talking and teaching, but here in this new school of yours, the teachers like it if you do, as it shows them you are paying attention and actually learning."

    I tell Christina as the elevator ascends a couple of level. There are only four levels in the building. The top floor is reserved for students whose parents pay a much higher tuition fee.

    "Really, dad?"

    Christina questions.

    "Yes. Just raise your hand in ss and speak whatever on your mind, but it should be rted to what you are learning since anything else."

    I assure her and continue to exin to her about some more major differences between the education system in the United States inparison to Japan. Things such as faking attendance through friends or proxy, which is allowed somewhat in Japan, but not here in the United States.

    Korea education system is also different from the United States, and I mean South Korea. North Korea is basically a no-mannd, but there are some Hydra agents living there. It isn''t really by their choice, but someone has to in order to keep an eye on the oppressive regime.

    But honestly, those agents spend most of their time actually breaking people out of the country. They also request when they can go on a mass-murdering rampage in the country as well as causing wide-spread rebellion.

    I am not sure why the higher ups haven''t given them the go ahead yet, but it probably because there is nothing of value North Korea asides from the people. It could also be because it is not time to topple the regime yet.

    Whichever the case, I don''t need to step in and overwrite any mission. There is no need to do that, as the people in Hydra know what they are doing. Everything is a step towards the goal.

    I also exin the school facilities to Christina once we left the elevator and continue walking towards her ssroom.

    Since it is somewhat of a private school, there are a lot of facilities avable for the students, but most of the facilities are designed to milk as much money out of the parents as possible.

    Schools are really just a business just like prisons, and I suppose George has to make money somehow, jut so his wife can burn it away.

    Speaking of her again, I have a check through the spy drone again. She is still tanning, but there is now someone with her. A pool boy. Not really a boy, but a man.

    The guy is enjoying the view, and Mrs. Collins also enjoys the attention. Just like her so-called husband, she is also fucking around. Feels like they are made for each other.

    And I feel sorry for Becky having to grow up in such a household. It is not really her fault, as it is never the child''s fault on how they turn out as a person.

    In any case, I shouldn''t really worry about the Collins, as it really has nothing to do with me. There are plenty of family like them scatter throughout the country and across the world.

    Xi Shi can attest to it, as her biological parents had tried to kill her. Her rtives too.

    "Hello, Mr. Burton, my name is Maximilien Maxwell. This is my daughter, Christina. She will be starting school from today onward. The principle might have given you a call about that."

    I greet and inform the teacher. He is a middle-age man, in his forties. Almost in his fifties.

    "Ah yes, the principle did say something about that just now. Please. Come in and have a seat, Tina."

    The man responses happily. He is being paid a bit extra to be extra nice, but I pull up his profile to have a look just in case. It is also because I couldn''t help but feel an unsettling feeling once more.

    What is going on?

    I immediately analyze each and every event in his history, finding several bizarre key moments. What stands out the most is that the man is a brilliant English professor, so why would he be teaching a ss in this school to a bunch of kids.

    It is obviously isn''t because of the sry. What he is earning working here is just notparable to a full-time teaching job at a university. A college even.

    Mr. Burton definitely has enough qualification to apply for one, so it makes no sense for him toe and work here, a ce that quite a drive from his home.

    Christina takes a seat in the front as directed by Mr. Burton. She is sitting next to a girl, who smiles at her and greets her, exchanging names.

    The girl also shares her workbook with Christina, who hasn''t been given one yet. She will be given one by the end of the day by her teacher, so I don''t need to clone one. It also more natural if I don''t.

    I also take the time to look around the ssroom, analyzing each of the children because this is getting a bit bizarre.

    Shield doesn''t have much on the children, but she has plenty on their parents. Several of those parents are abusive. One is sexually abusive, which forces me to raise a brow.

    While it isn''t really my problem, but it is hard to ignore that. I just hate people who are abusive to kids, especially when my stepmother is abusive towards me.

    "I will you to it then, Mr. Burton. Please take care of my daughter. She has been through quite a bit in the past years, so she might be a little shy."

    I ask of the teacher and talk to him a bit more before heading out with Antigone, right after waiving a goodbye to Christina. She waves back at me with a bright smile.

    Once I am in the hallway again, I pull up all the profile of the abusive parents. I exhale as I realize that it would be a problem to have them all killed in an unfortunate ident. It will be quite suspicious to be honest.

    There is actually a better way than kill them. I could infest them with micromachines and make damn sure they are good parents, but that infringe on the freewill. I cannotpromise my principle to help those children.

    "Selene. Have Mr. Welsh die in a car ident. Readjust his insurance policy so that his wife and child receive everything upon his untimely death."

    I order. His wife and child are better without the man, considering he is sexually abusive to them both, but only one of them is aware. The wife, who is too afraid to leave the man or even tell anyone.

    As for the rest of the parents, who didn''t warrant a one way to hell, I will have Child Protective Services doing investigation around the neighborhood. To stop suspicions, they will be talking to every parent in every household.

    Lots of people are going to jail.

    Once the parents are deal with, I pull up the profiles of all the teachers in the school, examining each one of them, and realizing most of their motive for working here is illogical. Very illogical.

    They don''t appear to be coerced either. It is as if they are brainwashed.

    "You are still here, Mr. Maxwell?"

    George Collins startles me. He is walking towards me with another teacher. A woman in herte 20s, but from her profile, she is also his sex ve. Almost all the young teachers in the school are.

    "Yes, unfortunately, Mr. Collins. As much as I want to leave, there are a lot of things that stops me."

    I response with a faint smile. It is more and more apparent that all the adults are being mind-controlled in this school. Everyone except for the principle himself.

    "Oh. What is stopping you, Mr. Maxwell?"

    George questions as I feel that unsettling feeling again. It is much stronger than before, and I juste to a realization that whatever it is, it is trying to mind-control me.

    It is a bit exciting since this is the first time someone trying to mind-control me. Incredible.

    And I have half a mind to let him just to learn how he is doing it. It isn''t technological or magical from the look of it. It must be biological then or maybe supernatural.

    I hope it isn''t supernatural since I can''t deal with spirits at the moment. I would have to get help from Zeus if that is the case, and I don''t want to deal with Zeus at the moment. Seriously.

    "You apparently, Mr. Collins. No. You are not Mr. Collins since I know Mr. Collins."

    I point out since I never felt such an unsettling feeling when I first met Mr. Collins. It was after I helped find my mother than the other four girls in the undergroundplex I had handcrafted.

    George blinks.

    "I don''t know what you are talking about, Mr. Maxwell, but you seem to be unwell. Maybe you should see a doctor? Please take Mr. Maxwell to the infirmary."

    And I find myself in the infirmary, utterly confused.

 Chapter 199: The Coin of Erosire

    My confusion dissipates quickly, and the first thing on my mind is finding out where Antigone is.

    While I do not fear for her safety since Legion is with her, taking the form of her clothing and protecting her if needed be, I am still very concern for her wellbeing. Very concerned.

    It is natural for me to be concerned, as she is my daughter. My biological daughter.

    And if I have to choose between Antigone and any of my other daughters, I rather choose them both, as I am very capable of saving them both due to who I am. More correctly to say, what I am.

    I am the Aspect of Time.

    Not really sure why I had asked myself that philosophical question, as I would never allow anything to happen to any member of my family, at least the one who I have acknowledged. That doesn''t mean I wouldn''t let anything bad happen to them at all.

    Pains and sufferings will make them grow and be a stronger person. To live is to endure tragedy and tribtion, but not so much that their mind literally breaks, forcing to start from scratch again.

    There is actually a limit to how much pains and sufferings a normal person can take before their mind break, as indicated by Marian Oxford. She gives birth to Nairam Oxford as a coping mechanism.

    Luckily, Antigone will never have to go through any of that. At the moment, she is sleeping peacefully in the adjacent room. She has no idea what had just happened a moment ago, at least I think so from herpleteck of reaction.

    Antigone usually reacts if she knows something is wrong, especially in regard to me and my wellbeing, and that is probably why I love her so much. She cares for me, so I reciprocate. It is simple as that.

    And I suppose it is better for Antigone to not know anything, as she is just a baby right now, and I think she should grow up normally, in a loving family home. Or as loving as I can provide for her. I wouldn''t want another Adria to happen.

    Regardless, I wonder how did I manage to pass out in the hallway and has to be brought here into the school infirmary? That part remains nk in my mind.

    Even Selene herself did not have an answer for me as nothing out of the ordinary happens biologically, at least as ording to the nanomachines within my body.

    The nanomachines even take the time that I had passed out to continue augmenting my body, making me more of an evolved human. However, I think they are reaching the limit of their ingenuity, at least from their understanding of human physiology.

    So far, they have been figuring things out on their own, taking many small steps towards transforming me into a biological perfection, but those steps are getting smaller and smaller.

    So small that I believe they can no longer proceed on their own.

    That means the nanomachines need more data and information on evolved human physiology in order to make some real progress with enhancing my body and mind further.

    But that is kind of impossible, considering that there is nobody more biologically advanced or evolved than me in the present time. Or even in the near future.

    It has to be very far into the future, assuming that humanity survives long enough for a psionic capable person to be born.

    It seems unlikely without me guiding humanity every step of the way, just so they don''t kill themselves and destroy the world, and if I jump into the future, it would be a future without me guiding them.

    Yes. That is a problem, preventing me from kidnapping someone or likely a bunch of innocent people from the future just to experiment upon and analyze, all in order to further advance my own evolution.

    Is it evil? Of course, it is, but their sacrifices will not be in vain. They will help humanity reaches its full potential.

    Still, it is a very risky venture, as psionic powers are not something that can be defended against. How do you stop someone from reading your mind or snapping your neck without ever being near you?

    It is just like how do someone defend themselves from my power? They cannot unless they somehow nullify it like Terra Discordia did or knock me out.

    And it seems that knocking me out isn''t as hard as I first initially had thought despite all the technology and power at my disposal. Fuck! This is a huge problem!

    Legion did not detect anything technological or magical either, so I have to assume that it is probably spiritual or something else entirely. Actually, scratch spiritual part since I did not really sense any kind of spiritual energy.

    Therefore, from everything that I know and experience, it could only be one thing, and that alone does make me extremely cautious. Did I mention extremely? Very.

    I sigh inwardly while maintaining my expression. I need to confirm whether my assumption is actually the truth.

    "Usually people ask what happened, but not you, Mr. Maxwell. Can you tell me why that is?"

    George Collins asks me, making me frown deeply. It is because that unsettling feeling returns, probably trying to bend my will and make subservient.

    And once more, Legion cannot detect anything. He probably doesn''t have to as it is clear as day.

    Even though I am unsure how it is possible, I am more than certain that George himself has something to do with it. I recall his exact words in the hallway, telling me that I am unwell and that I need to see a doctor.

    Obviously, I am not unwell, and I certainly do not need to see a doctor. Even if I somehow need to see one, no doctor in the world can really help me with any of my medical problem, but I suppose it is not really a bad thing since the school doctor is a babe.

    The doctor isn''t someone I had expected to see in an elementary school. In any educational institution for that matter, as she is far too beautiful and charming to waste her life and youth here.

    And without even pulling up her profile to review, I am sure that she is a model of some sort. I did pull up her profile anyway, just to understand her entire history and motivation.

    Again. Just like everyone in this school, the woman is not working here on her own freewill. It appears that she is also being mind-controlled like the others, and she doesn''t even know it herself. Everything seems normal to her, just it is normal to everyone else in school.

    Not even I can mind-control people like that.

    Wait. Am I being mind-controlled?

    I do not know as whatever knocks me out is not biological, technological, magical or even spiritual.

    It is actually a Power. The same kind of power that Zeus and Zephyr wield. The Power of Lightning and Ice respectively. That is with capitalized letters.

    Honestly, Power-based abilities are really a ss on their own. A reality-warping ss as they do bend reality to the will of the user. Zeus and Zephyr manifests their element out of nothing, not to mention instantly, thus it cannot be anything but warping reality.

    That alone presents a huge problem for me and the world, not to mention that I am unable to defend myself against them, especially when they are not physical-type attacks.

    Attacks that I can seeing just like a lightning bolt or an ice spear.

    The Power George uses does not need a medium to travel though, at least it does seem so at first, but I think his power is sound-based. This is because the unsettling sensation only appears when he speaks to me, especially when he is asking me to do something for him.

    Interesting.

    If that is exactly the case, then I can block it. I guess I will need to experiment to be certain, and George doesn''t seem like someone who could outsmart and outthink me, but I guess having the power to tell anyone what to do or what to think does make himcent.

    Something that will be his downfall.

    "That is because I already know what had happened, Mr. Collins. Thest thing that I recall was talking to you in the hallway, so I suppose that I must have passed out somehow and was brought here to the infirmary."

    I answer his question and hold off calling for Zeus and Zephyr.

    It isn''t the pride talking, as there is no shame in requesting support, especially from people who I have considered to be my teammates. I did help them fight off those spiritual beasts after all.

    I didn''t call for their help since I believe there is no need to bother them with something like this, given that Mr. Collins doesn''t know exactly who or what I am.

    He doesn''t even know what I am truly capable of.

    If he did, he wouldn''t be talking to me so casually like this.

    And is there a point in knocking me out in the first ce?

    Selene tells me that nothing really happens during the time I was unconscious. The hot doctor standing there didn''t even take my temperature or extract my blood. Not that she will be able to find anything out of ordinary with me.

    But till, I assume that she would, considering that her master, Mr. Collins took the trouble of knocking me out. It must take him quite an effort since his power is not as effective on me as it does on normal people.

    Could be due to what I am.

    But in any case, I will get my answer as soon as the micromachines invade his brain.

    All of his secret will be mine.

    Maybe I should infest everyone in the school just in case. I didn''t bother to at first because it isn''t that great to know exactly what everyone is thinking, and they do think about a lot of things. And I do mean a lot. Mostly random things too.

    I am also guilty of this fact, but it is expected for me since there are plenty of things that I need to keep track of. Things like what stages are each of my ns is at, and what I can do to speed them up without fucking it up.

    There is also another reason why I don''t infest everyone with micromachines, effectively allowing me to take everyone as hostages and making them do whatever I want.

    It infringes on my principle of freewill. Simple as that.

    Also, someone somewhere somewhen will eventually notice those micromachines in everyone. They aren''t exactly invisible under a microscope, and even if I somehow cloak them, they will also show up as something invisible.

    But for George and people like him, I will make an exception. Not mind-control him like he is trying to do to me, but to learn everything I need to learn.

    "Thank you for your help, Mr. Collins. Um. May I ask where my daughter is?"

    I add and try to get off the bed.

    "Your daughter is safe in the next room, Mr. Maxwell. Please have a rest first. You actually just have a concussion of sort. It happens when you copse onto the floor in the hallway."

    George tells me, and I narrow my eyes at him.

    This is because he had state it like it is the truth, and through whatever power he is using, I am actually inclined to believe him despite beingpletely aware that isn''t what happened.

    That unsettling feelinges again. I am sure it will happen whenever his power tries to take hold of my will and bending it to his. It will not be as easy as before since I am aware of what he is doing now.

    "Really, Mr. Collins?"

    I rub my head and tell Selene to block my hearing and filter out all the iing sound electronically, as I want to test whether his power works indirectly.

    "Yes, Mr. Maxwell. You hit your head pretty hard."

    George tells me, and my brain throbs, indicating it didn''t matter whether he is speaking to me directly or indirectly. His power will still take hold, and that is troublesome.

    For the next test, I have Selene listens and rys to me instead. His power should not affect someone like Selene, as she is a machine, and even if it does, his question isn''t directed at Selene, so it shouldn''t affect her as she is not the recipient.

    "Ah. I see, but I am perfectly fine, and besides, I do have ces I need to be and people I need to kill."

    Iment before blinking.

    "Ah. Sorry, I mean people I need to talk to."

    I correct with a sadistic smile. That slip is on purpose, just to take back a bit of control. He truly believes that he is in control of me, but when it is me. I am always in control.

    "That does not seem like a mistake. What do you mean, Mr. Maxwell? Are you some kind of hitman?"

    George Collins asks, and when his word is ryed through Selene, I feel no unsettling sensation.

    And that is a good thing. Since it works for me, it will definitely work for other people, thus rendering his powerpletely useless.

    I also need to make a note in Hydra Network about this, just in case someone else has the same power, allowing them to control my people, turning them against me. It will be fucking a mess if that happens, not to mention breaking my trust in them.

    "You don''t need to know that, Mr. Collins."

    I response and gesture my hand dismissively.

    "Yes, I do. And you will tell me, Mr. Maxwell. I demand it."

    George Collins is very serious, and from what the micromachines manage to read, he is very confused to why his power doesn''t work on me. It works on everyone, at least everyone that he has talked to.

    "You don''t want to know, Mr. Collins, but I will tell you as soon as you tell me how you are doing that, making me listen to you? Is it some kind of hypnotic technique?"

    I point out, making him flinch. A lot of things go through his mind, and Selene filters out the important stuff for me. I learn that it is in fact due to an ability.

    And it is that ability that allows him to persuade anyone. Anyone who is listening to him.

    As to where he manages to acquire such an ability despite not being an evolved himself, it is not known yet as the micromachines need to dig a bit deeper into his memory.

    George Collins is startled. He gets up from his seat and looks wide-eye at me.

    "Why are you surprised, Mr. Collins? Surely, you don''t think that you are the only one who can make others do what you want. I can do it to, but my method is a bit more painful."

    I point out and direct the micromachines to dig into his brain. The moment they did, he screams utterly in pain and copses onto the floor, holding his head.

    There is no need to be lenience against someone like him. Someone who dares to mind-control others, stripping away their freewill. Well. Not all of their freewill, as the hot doctor also screams, not knowing what is happening.

    "Can you please be quiet, Miss. Lewis."

    I tell her and cast a sleeping spell on her. Without any resistance to magic, she immediately drops onto the floor and enters the dream world.

    As for Mr. Collins himself, I wait for the micromachines topletely infested his brain before I speak up again.

    "Please get up and take a seat, Mr. Collins. I need to kill you. I mean have a chat with you. Oh, I might or might not kill you afterwards, but it depends entirely on you."

    I tell him, and the micromachines forces him to get up and take a seat despite the horror looks on his face. Of course, he is trying to fight against the micromachines, but that will only cause brain damage.

    "H-how are you doing this!? Do you have the same ability as me? He said there are many people with this ability."

    The man groans. He is allowed to speak and think freely, as it much easier for Legion to pinpoint critical information within that brain of his. The brain is veryplex after all, as Mother Nature intends it to be.

    "He? Please tell me who he is, Mr. Collins."

    I question. I really hate the pronoun game. I mean I hate it when it is yed against me. I love it when I y it against other people, making them keep on guessing.

    "I don''t know. He calls himself the Primordial Sins of Lust!"

    I am taken back. A Primordial!? Shit. There is one is in this reality!? I really don''t want to run into one right now, not from what I know of them. Their powers rival that of Aspects, and unlike me, they have full ess to their powers.

    However, I calm myself once I realize it has been years since he had met a Primordial. Not really meet in person, but rather through an object. An object that he had found.

    "Please take out that precious item that you always carry with you, Mr. Collins. The one that you found at a garage sale in a beautiful ornate chest."

    I request, and the man has no choice but to take out the Coin of Erosire.

    It is thest one, as two of the coins have already been used by others.

 Chapter 200: The Primordial Sin of Lust (POV)

    The item that Maximilien Maxwell has requested is now resting in the palm of my outstretched hand, stretching towards him and offering it to him.

    Please take it. Please. Please take it off me.

    It has caused me nothing but trouble from the moment that it enters my possession, so please take it and free me from its powerful influence. Please.

    Unfortunately, Mr. Maxwell did not ept the coin. He merely examines it at a distance while a deep frown sters on his face. He knows what the coin is, and he always know the consequences of having it in his possession.

    Of course, he does.

    It is illustrated by the fact that he canmand me through its power, and his control over it is greater than mine. How did he manage that?

    He couldn''t have it in his possession for very long, as he is young.

    Maximilien Maxwell is so very young. About the same age as me when I first acquired that coin. That dreadful coin. That precious coin.

    It is both a gift and a curse.

    "The Coin of Erosire. Possessing it allows a person to request anything from anyone, but it also causes the person to feel uncontroble lust. It is a gift and a curse. More of a curse, really, at least in my own opinion."

    Maximilienments, confirming to me that he indeed has one of the coins in his possession.

    Yes. He must have. Only having it himself that he knows what it does. As such, he understands. He has to understand what I have been through, but he doesn''t appear to be under the effect of the curse as I am.

    How? Did he somehow ovee its curse and benefits greatly from its power? Is that it? Is that also the reason why he manages to be a member of Chrono Reserves? Even I failed to get invited into there despite using the coin.

    Using its power to bend the will of others to mine.

    "How? Please tell me how. Please tell me how to ovee it and control it?"

    If only I can ovee the curse. Then. Maybe then I can finally have what I always wanted.

    "Ovee its curse? Sadly, I do not know how, Mr. Collins. That is because I never did. Like you, I am a very lustful person. Lustful enough to have sex with my own mother, causing her to bear my child."

    Maximilien answers me, making me speechless.

    He knows. He really knows. How does he know? What else does he knows?

    "I know a lot of things, Mr. Collins, so there is nothing you can really hide from me. However, I am still interested in your story. How the coines into your possession in the first ce. If you can actually show me, I might have a different opinion of you. Perhaps, I can even help you get rid of it."

    Maximilien continues, and I blink in surprise. What did he say? If he knows how I acquire it in the first ce, he would help me get rid of it? Is it possible?

    "It is possible to get rid of the coin? I have tried many ways to throw it away or destroy it, but it alwayse back to me no matter what."

    I had even tried to give the coin to another person, many people repeatedly, but just like every time I had tried to throw it or destroy it, it always returns to me without fail.

    And it is not without consequences.

    "Please, Mr. Collins. You haven''t really tried everything even if you believe so, but that is forter. For now, I am curious to how the coines into your possession in the first ce. I rather that you must have found the coin in one of the garage sales like I did."

    Maximilien points out, and I nod repeatedly. It is exactly the same as he did, but I seriously doubt the events leading to that are the same as mine.

    In fact, I doubt that Maximilien has to live through such pains and sufferings that I have.

    "I see. Please show me it, Mr. Collins. On the contrary to what I have imed before, I actually do have plenty of time right now, so don''t skip on the details. I want to see everything."

    He requests with a smile. It is not really a request. It is an order, and I can feel myself beingpelled to tell him exactly what happened all of those years ago. Tell him everything!

    "It was 13 years ago. On a Friday. No. Maybe I should start from almost 20 years ago."

    I begin my story as if it has happened just yesterday. It is so clear in my mind. It has always been clear, but not as clear as it is now, and I do not really know why. Perhaps he has something to do with it.

    Regardless, I could still feel the frustration and anger boiling within me. I close my eyes and remember everything. Everything that had happened, as if I was there myself.

    "You misunderstood me, Mr. Collins. I don''t actually need you to tell me what happened, as I can find out myself. I need you to show me what happened because the human mind is veryplex, and only it can relive the memory."

    Maximilien Maxwell tells me with a smile, and within an instant, my surrounding swirls.

    I copse backwards onto the chair as my consciousness slips away, and when I open my eyes again, I find myself staring at the most hated person in my life. My stepfather.

    "You!"

    I roar and about to charge at him, but a woman grabs onto my legs. I look down and see someone who I did not expect to see. Not until I can get rid of the coin somehow.

    "He is right, Georgie. He is right. He is always right. He is my husband. He is your father. He has taken care of us and provided for us, so he deserves our respect."

    My mother tells me tearfully. It is exactly the same as she did a long time ago. What is going on? Did I somehow get send to the past!? Is that even possible?

    I realize that I am actually fit, muscr and tall. It ispletely unlike what I have be in the year 1990. This is the year 1969. About 20 years ago.

    Seriously. Did I return back in time? No. That isn''t possible, so this must be a dream. A dream!

    I pinch myself and curse because it hurts a lot. This is not a dream. Not a dream. What is this then?

    But whatever this is, I cannot standby and watch this asshole hurts my mother again. I just cannot.

    "He is no father of mine. He is a fucking asshole who hurts you, and I am not going to let him hurt you ever again. Die, you fucker!"

    I call out before rushing forwards with all the intention to smashing his face in before taking my mother away from here. Away from this fucking house. As far away as possible.

    But before I could hit him, I am back to standing next to my mother again, utterly confused.

    "He is right, Georgie. He is right. He is always right. He is my husband. He is your father. He has taken care of us and provided for us, so he deserves our respect."

    My mother tells me tearfully. It is exactly the same as a moment ago. Just like in my memory. Just like back then. I cannot change it. I cannot change the past.

    But I will try. I will try. I rush at the asshole again, and the thing happen. I return to the same spot over and over again with my mother grabbing onto me, tearfully.

    It is pointless. It is pointless to change the past. I can only relive it.

    "Fucking kid. Didn''t I just send you to college? Why the fuck you are back here for? Don''t tell me that it is because of that fucking slut of yours? How many times did I tell you not to see her again? Goddamn it.

    I need a fucking drink. When Ie back, you better not be here, or I swear I will fucking beat your sorry ass until you shit blood."

    My stepfather growls at me before stomping right out of the house, not letting me a chance to exin myself, not that I would bother to. I didn''t really care for me or the reason why I am home in the first ce. He only ever cares about himself.

    "Let''s get out of here before hees back, mum."

    I tell my mother as I help her into the kitchen to treat her wounds. It is what I did the first time, but it is not exactly the same. I think I can deviate a little from what happen, and it would be fine.

    The kitchen is aplete mess, as that dickhead smashes everything around the house in his drunken rage as well as beating my mother just because he could. Even more so now that I am no longer in the house.

    "I cannot, Georgie. Where would we go? What would we do? How will we live?"

    My mother questions like she would, and it is always the same questions when I tell her leave that guy since it is good for her. Sadly, she is fearful of being alone. Completely unprotected by any man.

    Damn it.

    "Anywhere from here, mum. I just need you toe with me. Come with me, and I will protect you."

    I tell her, but she smiles at me and shakes her head.

    "Are you skipping school again, Georgie? You know you cannot do that. You have to study. You have to have a good job in the future. Be like your father. Before.

    Before he died."

    My mother utters tearfully. Her hands grip mine tightly. So, very tightly.

    "I will, mum. I will be the richest person in the world. I promise that I will be someone you can rely on. Someone who can protect you. Someone who will never hurt you."

    I response tearfully. Despite that, I know that I will fail. I cannot change the past. I cannot change the future. I cannot do anything. I am hopeless.

    "I know you will, Georgie. I know you will."

    My mother tells me and pats me on the head so gently. So very gently.

    And I want this moment tost longer. Last much longer, but sadly, it is but a memory. A memory that I cannot change. It is my past.

    Once I open my eyes again, I am no longer with my mother. I am on the ground, cradling my head with both of my arms. My body curls into a ball to protect myself.

    Every punch. Every kick. Every jab. I feel it all. It is as if I am here in person, taking ce of my younger self. Taking ce of my helpless younger self.

    Utterly powerless to do anything.

    "Collins. You shithead. Where the fuck did you hide the money!?"

    That fucker Eric demands. He and his buddies continue to kick the shit out of me, but regardless how much they beat me up, I will never tell them where I hid the money.

    I need that money. That money will help me get my mother away from here.

    From this fucking ce.

    "Strip him."

    They proceed to strip me of my clothing and hang me up naked like a punching bag. I could barely see out of my swollen eyes, capturing each of their faces. I remember them all. I remember each and every one of them.

    That asshole Oliver Burton looking smug at me every time he looks up from his book. That fucker Bucky Danton. That druggie Marco. Self-serving Sammy. And of course, Eric Chou, their fucking leader.

    "I am going to ask you one more time, Collins. Where the fuck is the money?"

    Eric questions again as he presses his knife against my bruised skin, drawing blood.

    But I did not say. I never did first time around, so there is no point to. I just take all their beating. Their punching. Their kicking. Their shing.

    Everything.

    I didn''t remember what happen after that, but I find myself in the hospital.

    My mother is the only person who visited and stayed with me for many days. She wants to stay longer, but she has to go to work because that asshole of her husband doesn''t.

    I want to tell her where I hide the money, the money that I earn by being a drug mule, but I could not, not when she has so much hope in me. She didn''t even know that I was expelled from college because of cheating.

    I didn''t cheat. I swear, I didn''t, but it didn''t matter what I say, it is what I can prove.

    And I cannot really prove that I didn''t copy the thesis. That bitch copies me and submits it as her own work, and with her asshole father backing her, I have no choice but to ept my expulsion.

    Damn it. Why is the world so unfair? Why is the rich always have everything? Everything!

    I swear that I will be rich and powerful. Rich and powerful enough that my word is thew itself!

    Fuck this world. Fuck everyone. Fuck everything.

    I eventually get discharged from the hospital, and the money that is rightfully mine helps me open an antique store. It is also my home.

    It is not much, but it helps me make some money, living day by day, waiting for my big chance toe.

    The big chance to be rich and famous. Sadly, it never came, not until I found an ornate box sitting on the table at a garage sale. I was drawn to it due to its beautiful design. It feels out of this world.

    "Caught your eyes, huh? It belongs to my great, great grandfather. A family heirloom of sort, you may say, but I never manage to open it. No one can, and there doesn''t seem to be anything inside."

    The old man tells me when I ask him about it. I also shake the box, finding no sounds whatsoever, but that could be because it is soundproof. Since it intrigues me, I take it home with me.

    I try to open it for many days afterwards, but to no avail. It doesn''t look like it is locked or bolted down with anything. It couldn''t be glued shut either since I can push a knife in between, running it along the lips.

    It is very strange.

    Since it is beautiful crafted, I left it on disy, but not for sale since it doesn''t really worth that much to be honest. I had brought it for $10 bucks.

    I didn''t pay attention to the box anymore until I run into Eric and his new gangs.

    They demand protection money from me, as they have done so with everyone in the neighborhood, and when I refuse, they smash up my store and me as well.

    Battered and bruised, they drag me against the table and spread out my hand.

    "I believe that you owe 20G, Collins. Adding onto two years of interest, thates to about 97G. So, how will you be paying for it? Left hand or right hand?"

    "Fuck you!"

    I shout with all my might, but it is mostly out of defiant. I know that he would break my arms regardless of whatever I choose.

    "Both hands, okay? Cool."

    Eric and his buddies smash both of my hands before looting my store, stealing any worth of value.

    Luckily or maybe unluckily, in their looting, they smash the box onto the floor, breaking it open, letting out three golden coins. They immediately grab the coins but missed one.

    Once more, luckily or unluckily, I pick up the coin with my mangled and bloodied hands, and the instant that I did, my blood seeps into the coin, causing it to glow brightly.

    That is when I met him. A silhouette shrouded in utter darkness. Only a pair of crimson eyes can truly be seen, and they pierce into my very soul, terrifying me. I could feel the incredibly pressure crushing down upon me.

    "What is this? Apletely unremarkable soul dares to hold my medallion and summon me?"

    The shadowy entity questions, as darkness spread across the room, seemingly consuming everything.

    "Are you the devil? Please. Please give me the power to be rich and powerful. I will give you my soul. I will give you everything."

    I call out.

    "I don''t want your shitty soul, and how dare youpare me to the devil? I am a Primordial Sin. Devils are insignificant speck of dust before me. Oh. I am but a memory."

    His eyes glows, forcing me to recoil in fear. The ground shatters under his gaze alone.

    "What did I say the first time around. It has been so long. Whatever. I shouldpliment you for being able toe face to face with me, but it will be your undoing."

    That is different. The Primordial Sin of Lust did not say that the first time.

    "Quite human. I am not talking to you. Even with the power I have granted you, you still fail to truly amount to anything after so long. I should destroy you right now, but killing you is meaningless. I will let you trap in this memory along with him."

    The world begins to flicker.

    "You still think you have any control here, Aeon? No. I should call you Maximilien Maxwell now."

    The world then morphs, copsing as darkness envelops me.

    What is happening!?

 Chapter 201: Power of Absolute Command

    I have made a mistake. A terrible mistake.

    And in doing so, I am trapped here in this memory. A memory that is not mine by any mean, yet I will have to live and experience it as if it is mine.

    It is to the point that I feel like I am actually George Collins, the original owner of this memory.

    This is his life. The life that he had lived between 1970 to 1990, and I have all of his memory as well as his experience and personality. His anger and frustration. His desire and dream. All intermingling with my own, creating a lot of confusions when I had first found myself in a hospital bed with broken arms.

    Luckily, I am aware of what is happening. If not, I would have assumed that I am George Collins without a shred of doubt in my mind.

    That would not be a good thing, given that I would actually cease to be Maximilien Maxwell.

    I am not George Collins. I am Maximilien Maxwell. I am the Aspect of Time. One of the most beings in the entire universe. No. The entire multiverse.

    And to think that I am being trapped here in this memory, unable to escape regardless of what I do or do not do. It is frustrating, so incredibly frustrating.

    But honestly, I didn''t expect a Primordial to have the power to pull my consciousness into this memory and keeping me trapped here despite the Primordial being just a memory in itself.

    That begs a question of how can a memory do something like this?

    And is it even a memory?

    Perhaps it is not, as it quickly bes aware of where it is and what is happening before immediately turning the table on me, resulting in my current inescapable predicament.

    All of this happens because I just want to learn something concrete about the Primordial, and it never ur to me that a memory of it could have this much power. Power to trap me here. It feels unreal.

    Maybe I should start thinking that anything is possible with the Primordial as well as the Aspects. That also means I was beyond overpowered when I had all of my powers. Damn. Just damn.

    I have to regain all of that power again.

    "Is there something wrong, Georgie?"

    My mother asks. Well. Not my mother exactly as my mother is Stephanie Connors, not Melissa Collins, the woman who is driving me away from the hospital. The woman who I do love very much. She would go through hell and back for me, and perhaps, I would to in return.

    Therefore, it is hard to think of her anything but my mother, especially when I do have all the memory of George Collins. His emotions and desires too. So much intoxicating emotions and desires.

    I wonder what happen to the real George Collins. Did he just get erased by Erosire?

    It didn''t appear to be so, considering the Primordial Sin of Lust states that killing him would be rather meaningless. Why would that be the case? The more I think about this, the more questions I have.

    Questions that I cannot really get any answers to at the moment, being trapped here like this.

    Maybe I should stop thinking about it for a while.

    It will clear my mind and help me find a real solution to this huge problem of mine. An incredibly huge problem of mine, and I do mean more than one thing.

    Honestly, how do I get rid of this erection?

    Nothing I do make it goes away, including manipting time itself. Yes. I still have ess to my power, allowing me to realize who I am.

    I am the Aspect of Time.

    Even so, my power doesn''t help me break out of this prison. This memory that Erosire locks me in, but for what? That part still puzzles me.

    "No. There is nothing wrong, mum. I was just thinking about something else."

    I answer Melissa with a faint smile. I have tried almost everything to break out of this memory, which includes straight up murdering her in the most cruel and unusual way.

    It obviously didn''t work, but her agonizing death proves to me that she is very real, as real as any living person in the real world. So much so that I dislike murdering her very much, at least again. A few times is more than enough.

    It is just to make sure that her death isn''t a trigger. It isn''t, or I wouldn''t still be here.

    Nevertheless, her death is still a trigger for something else. A reset trigger, forcing me to actually relive the memory over again, starting from the point when I had found myself in the hospital bed with both of my arms in casts.

    That wasn''t very fun, considering I cannot speed time up or jump to the point where I had messed up, just so I don''t have to be utterly bored.

    Killing Melissa is not the only reset trigger either. Killing random people also trigger the memory rest, and that includes killing that fucker who actually called himself my father.

    I, as George Collins, have never ever considered him as my father. Not even my stepfather. Or anyone within my family. He is not worthy. Just like the sperm-donor.

    In any case, killing him out of hatred and spite resets the memory, pissing me off so much that I murder him again and again just because. I eventually stop doing that since there is no point.

    I also stop calling Hydra and activating contingency ns, as that also trigger a reset. In fact, anything that deviate from the original memory causes a reset, torturing me with boredom as I have to repeat everything from when I was in the hospital bed again.

    Honestly, I hate redoing thing exactly again. Well, not exactly as I can deviate a little, as long as it didn''t change the oue.

    That means despite not really wanting to go with my mother, I have to. Doing anything else would be deviating from the original memory, thus causing a reset. Fuck! That is bullshit.

    And strangely enough, I have no problem of enforcing this very rule on the actual man, George Collins when I mind-probe his mind for information.

    That was necessary as his mind helps me search for thing much moreprehensively. Downloading his mind into a digital repository before analyzing it doesn''t give me the full picture. Only most, and it is not the same.

    In any case, it is different when I am enforcing the rule on other inpare to the rule being enforced upon me. It just restricts my movement a lot despite the world within this memory feels so real.

    It is so alive.

    And if I didn''t know any better, I would have assumed that this is an alternate reality. A reality where I am George Collins instead of Maximilien Maxwell.

    Shit. That is disconcerting. Very disconcerting.

    Being trapped here in this memory¡­ this mindscape¡­ is one of the many ways of incapacitating me. I am not invincible by any mean, and I know there are many ways of making me dead.

    Not actually dead, but it might as well be because I am unable to do anything else while being trapped in here like this. Even Selene and Legion are unreachable, preventing from essing all of my toys.

    Then again, any huge deviation from the original memory causes it to reset, so even if I have ess to Selena and Legion, they will not be able to help me escape out of here, just like my temporal power.

    Damn it. I guess the only thing that I can rely on are my knowledge and ingenuity.

    Actually, there is one more tool at my disposal. It is the same tool that was given to George Collins by the Primordial Sin of Lust. The tool that I had falsely imed to have in the real world.

    "What are you thinking about, Georgie?"

    My mother questions, as she continues to drive the car towards our new home. She has actually filed a divorce and left that ass, and I am d that she did. It only takes her a few long years.

    If it was me, I gut the fucker before leaving.

    "I am just thinking about the house that we are heading to, mum."

    I tell her as I flip the gold coin between my fully-healed fingers. It is the Coin of Erosire. More correctly, it is a summoning medallion. The same one that was found inside the ornate box, which was destroyed by Eric Chou and his gang.

    As George Collins, I loathe Eric Chou, and I loathe everyone associated with him. The hatred and anger burn to my very core.

    But I am unable to do anything about it at the moment, as seeking out Eric and his buddies to torture them to death for what they did to me would be deviating from the original memory, at least not until it is time for them to die.

    They will get what ising to them. They will all get what ising to them, as I already know what will happen. Of course, since I can deviate a little, I will certainly enjoy it when it is time.

    "What about it, Georgie? It is a nice house, and I have managed to get it for pretty cheap."

    My mother points out, gaining my attention. Despite the harsh years, she still retains her appearance and attractiveness. A lot more attractive than she should now due to the curse. I am just so goddamn horny.

    Horny to the point that I cannot really think straight.

    This is the curse that George Collins is talking about. The uncontroble lust, and if I do not find a way to release it, it will eventually consume my mind, and I will truly cease to exist then.

    Is this what it feels like being affected by the Primordial Sin of Lust?

    It is torture, as no one wants to be horny all the time. All the fucking time, especially when I don''t have time to fuck around. Although, I do fuck around a lot. Not just fucking.

    Ahem.

    "No. It is not that, mum. I am thinking what I am going to do there at the house, and I prefer not to do it, but I know I will have to, as I really have no choice in the matter whatsoever."

    I answer my mother with a frown. While it is true that as long as I do not deviate from what had already happened much then it should be fine, but that doesn''t mean I should enjoy it. Yet somehow, I know I will enjoy it.

    Enjoy giving into my ever-growing lust.

    Perhaps, I am d that I can find some enjoyment in this, as it does keep the boredom away. Repeating myself over and over again while listening to the same crap with ever reset is driving me insane.

    I try not to deviate too much, so the memory does not get reset, forcing me to start this whole fucking journey from the hospital again. It is like being stuck in a time loop.

    A time loop that I cannot escape from.

    Since there is no escape, I will y it until the end, as when I, as George Collins finally meets Maximilien Maxwell, that is where the memory ends. It is where I allow George Collins to be free from his burden, and it will probably free me too.

    Probably. Who knows. I will see whether that is the case.

    It will be a bit more than 14 years from now. Shit. That is kind of fucking long. A fucking long ass time, but it isn''t like I haven''t spend decades doing practically nothing. Still, that was on my own will. This is not by my own will.

    I am being forced to by the Primordial Sin of Lust.

    I will make you pay for this, Erosire. I will. Mark my word.

    The house that my mother has brought for us to live in isn''t huge, but it does have arge office in the converted walkout basement. The previous owner must have spent a lot of time there since there are piles after piles of paper and documents.

    "I was meaning to clean all of this up, Georgie, but I didn''t have time."

    My mother tells me, making me smile weakly. She didn''t have time because of me and my problems.

    I have always caused so much trouble for her, and I truly wish to repay her. Repay my mother by being someone she can relied upon. That is what George had believed.

    And that is what I believe at the moment.

    "I will help you, mum. It is the least I can do since I am living here now."

    I tell my mother with a smile. I am nning to sell the store to pay the mortgage on the house, as I do not need it anymore, considering the Commandment at my disposal.

    Commandment is not a power, but an ability granted by the Primordial Sin of Lust.

    It is also not a unique ability either from the look of it. George Collins is not someone who could handle a real Power. The wielder of Power must be powerful themselves. That is what I understand.

    "Just the two of us, Georgie."

    My mother tells me, making me instantly hard. Damn it. Calm down junior. Calm down.

    In order to not give into my growing lust, I quickly head off to another section of the house and as far away from my mother as possible. It is not much of deviation since I will be spending the next four to five days, cleaning up.

    Despite that, it is hard to avoid my mother, especially when living in the same household.

    This is actually torturing, as I basically have a boner all day long. A boner that even masturbating didn''t get rid of. In fact, it makes me even more hornier. Goddamn it. I will make you pay for this, Erosire!

    On the first day, I help my mother catalogue all the old furniture and paintings. The previous owner of the ce practically sold it with everything still inside. They don''t worth much, so they will just go into storage.

    On the second day, I examine the library, finding a lot of dusty books here and there. I read through a few just to keep my mind off my boner. Most of the books are normal books that everyone owned on their bookshelves, but some are not.

    It appears that the previous owner was part of a cult or something simr. No. More like a Satanist.

    I confirm this by looking into the past with my temporal bubble technique, seeing many peopleing and going from the ce. They also gather together at night, chanting some kind of mantra.

    This is all new information as George never figures this out. He didn''t care about these things like me, as he had spent a lot of his time spying on his mother due to his uncontroble lust. He needed a huge release, just like I do right now.

    Honestly, to be able tost this long with Commandment ability at his disposal, I have to respect him, even if I don''t really want to.

    It is also time to test out the Commandment, as I recall that George actually did about this time.

    George should have tested out the ability a lot earlier than this, but the shock and fear of being crushed spiritually by merely in the presence of a Primordial didn''t really go away until now.

    As for me, I am not shocked or anything of the sort. Just pissed off for being trapped here in this damn memory, where my freedom is restricted.

    "Mum?"

    I call my mother as I enter the kitchen. She is leaning over the sink and cleaning it, and as she did so, I try my best not to stare at her bubbly butts. It is very enticing. Very.

    "Yes, Georgie?"

    My mother questions after she turns around to see me.

    "I need to use the car."

    I tell her, and my mother raises a brow.

    "Georgie. Please tell me that you aren''t seeing that girl again. She is no good for you."

    My mother tells me. The girl that she is referring to is Helen, my future wife. Also, the same slut who is burning away all of my money in the future.

    I will marry her in a couple of years, but it is more of a lustful rtionship than an actual marriage. She is also not the mother of my daughter. The mother of my daughter is actually the person standing in front of me right now.

    My mother.

    Yes. Becky is a product of incest. It is a secret that George Collins want to hide, and he did seed as Shield didn''t even know.

    "Mum. Raise your hand. Raise it high up above your head for me."

    I order her.

    "Okay, Georgie."

    My mother did without any protest. She is under the influence of my Commandment ability, but unlike George himself, it doesn''t really make me smile.

    "I need to use the car, and you will allow me to use it. Actually, from now on, when I ask for something, just say yes. It saves time. And yes, I am going to see Helen, and this time, it will be different. I swear it. You shouldn''t worry about her anymore.

    You can also put your hand down now."

    I tell my mother. She did so.

    "Mum, can I use the car?"

    I question again, but this time without resorting to my Commandment.

    "Sure. Have fun with your girlfriend, Georgie."

    My mother answers me.

 Chapter 202: The Start of Sweet Revenge

    And as for why I have to actually ask my mother about the car again, it is because the Commandment is most effective when it is used to give amand, not to request something.

    It is called a Commandment for a reason, and that is something George Collins did not fully understand or grasp, thus failing spectacrly to aplish more despite having such a godlike ability.

    I suppose that George isn''t as smart as he has given himself credit for, but then again, if he has resorted to using his ability smartly, he might havee under the radar of Hydra.

    Me, in other word.

    And things wouldn''t turn out like this.

    In any case, it is somewhat disappointing, considering that I have to follow some of his idiotic ideas as I relive his life, just so the memory does not get reset once more, sending me back to the hospital bed to start my journey all over again.

    How annoying. How fucking annoying.

    I sigh inwardly and ept the car keys from my mother.

    Sure. I could have demanded it from her instead of request it, but it just doesn''t feel right when she has sacrificed so much to raise me.

    My mother is also wrong about Helen being my girlfriend. Helen is not, and as much as I have bragged about it to everyone, it doesn''t really change the truth.

    "I will, mum. I will."

    I assure my mother and then head out of the house, leaving her to her things. There is no need to test my newfound power on her any further today, as the original George Collins did not.

    He will eventually give in to his lust in the uing days, just as I will have to.

    I am so horny at the moment. So very horny.

    Just imagine what it is like to walk around with a huge hardon. A hardon that doesn''t go away even if I have masturbated so many times. Never thought I would have to do that again. Seriously.

    And as I get into the car, I take a look at the house once more.

    It is quite an impressive ce, and it is strange that my mother could afford it with her meager sry, and if I don''t do anything, she will not be able to keep up with mortgage.

    Luckily, I do have the power to do something now.

    Nevertheless, there is obviously more to this house than meet the eyes, given the previous owner and all the gatherings happening there. There are also a lot of interesting books in the library.

    Books on the ult, not to mention whatever interesting secret being buried within its wooden walls, above in its moldy ceilings and beneath its timber floorings.

    I guess I will explore all of that once I finally escape from this memory.

    Nothing bad happens to my mother and me when living there, so there isn''t any need for concern. At least I shouldn''t worry too much about it at the moment.

    I drive the car to the nearby mall afterwards, and once I am there, I start heading towards a cloth shop at a casual pace. It is where Helen works, and if the sequence of events remains unchanged, she should be working there at the moment.

    But I am unsure. It is very hard to remember exactly what happen, considering that I am currently just a normal human, not an evolved human.

    Having a perfect memory is so useful, especially when Selene is there to inform me on things should I forget. That is because the human brain can store so much before it bes detrimental, thus I store nonimportant stuff digitally.

    "Hello. Can I help you with something?"

    A very attractive blond asks me when I approach her. She is in her early twenties with nice legs and a pair of breasts. Firm and supple.

    I smile at her before speaking up.

    "Yes, Helen, is it? I am looking for some thongs for my mother. Can you show me some?"

    Helen didn''t seem to remember me, as she has never truly paid any attention to me back in school. It is more of me stalking her and gifting her things, all in order to get into her pants.

    Also, it is not really possible to get close to her due to her boyfriend at the time. He is still her boyfriend from what I recall.

    "You are buying thongs for your mum?"

    Helen questions me with a hint of disgust in her expression, but I suppose it is expected, considering I am not that attractive. I would never be attractive, but at least I am not super fat right now. I still am still pretty fat though.

    Sweaty too.

    "Yes. Is there a problem?"

    I question calmly andposedly. It is a deviation from the original memory, but I am not going to be all shy and stupid because I have grown out of that hundreds of years ago, rtively speaking.

    "No. It is just weird. Pleasee. I will show you some. But don''t run your hands over it if you''re not going to buy it."

    Helen shows me an aisle filled with lovely thongs. Sexy ones. A lot more sexier than I had imagined for this time period. I guess I never really pay much attention to this sort of things.

    As I look at each one, I could see the disgust in her eyes. That is because I am a man in a woman shop, even if I have stated that I am buying for my mother. It doesn''t really matter really.

    "Are you done yet?"

    Helen questions afterwards, bing more and more annoyed with each passing moment. She didn''t want someone like me in her shop, especially when I spend way too long checking out the thongs.

    I actually want to buy some for my mother, just because I want her to befortable with her body and feel desirable. It is a bit weird, considering that I am her son.

    "Not yet, Helen. May I ask do you wear these? Howfortable are they?"

    I question without resorting to my power. It is merely another test since I do want to fully understand what I can actually do with this power.

    "No. Don''t ask me those kinds of question, you creep."

    Helen responses and decides to show me the door.

    I smile faintly as my eyes flicker a little.

    "You don''t really remember me, do you, Helen?"

    I question. This is also deviation from the original memory, but it is a fine deviation since I have tested out these things while I was in the hospital, when a reset isn''t as severe as it is now.

    "I don''t know any creep like you. Please leave or I will call someone."

    Helen responses and about to call someone to her aid.

    Even though that there are really no other customers in the store, there are plenty of people outside who would rush to her protection, especially against someone like me.

    With that alone, I suppose Helen deserves her fate, as most of them do.

    As Maximilien Maxwell, I have killed plenty of people for speaking to me that way when I am trying to figure out how to deal with them like a normal humane person.

    Honestly, why do I even bother, as all of them actually deserve what will happen to them. At least for Helen, she gets to live a life luxury as Mrs. Collins. She doesn''t have to do anything more than burning money day in and day out.

    If possible, I rather that doesn''t happen.

    "Helen. I am a customer, and you should treat me like one. You should answer all of my questions with a smile on your face. You should try to do everything you can regardless whatever I request to make me leave this shop utterly satisfied."

    I tell her tly. It is not exactly the same thing that George had asked her, but it is more or less resulted in the same thing. Probably.

    If not, I could always give her a newmand.

    "Yes. I am so sorry. How can I help you?"

    Helen response. A smile on her face. A beautiful smile. This is much better.

    "I will as you again, Helen. Do you wear these thongs? And howfortable are they?"

    I question while trying to hide my erection. It is kind of hard since I am kind of packing.

    "Yes. I do wear these thongs. They are quitefortable. Your mother would love them."

    Helen answers. She ispletely submissive now. Her freedom is still there, but it has been modified by me through the use of the Commandment. It is as easy as that.

    "Interesting, but I need more convincing. Please take me to a changing room and show me it?"

    I request her, and Helen obviously has no choice but to do so, as themand take hold of her mind, just like something out of Code Geass. That is an anime.

    "Sure thing. Right this way."

    Helen leads me over to the changing rooms, as I watch the curve of her ass swish back and forth under her tight skirt. Even after a decade in the future, she still retains her attractive figure.

    "Pleasee inside."

    Helen shows me into a dressing room and steps in afterwards.

    Once the door closed behind her, she unzips her skirt and lets it fall on the floor to reveal the beautiful thongs that she is wearing. It is ck, and it is fucking sexy as hell.

    My cock nearly jumps out of my pants, not that I wouldn''t mind. I really want to free it from its current confines. Let it have its fun, and maybe then, I can think clearly.

    "Alright. That is very sexy. Please turn around, so I can see the back?"

    I request.

    Helen did what I have asked, turning around and allowing me to see two beautiful white globes being split by a piece of ck material, disappearing between them.

    And before I realize it, my hand is running over ass, cupping her round cheeks, enjoying their firmness in all of their glory. My fingers soon run along the thin material stretched into the crevice.

    "That is nice. Very nice. You don''t mind taking it off, so I can examine it closer, do you? Actually, please take everything off."

    I question with a smile.

    "No. I don''t mind at all."

    Helen bends forward, stripping right out of her thong in one quick motion while I take a seat and enjoy the strip show.

    It is a strip show.

    And knowing exactly what she thinks of me as a person actually makes this a lot more enjoyable.

    Helen never expects to do something like this for someone like me, but she has to even if she did not like it very much. The appalled expression on her face shows exactly what she is feeling.

    Once Helen is done stripping and standing there naked, allowing me to examine her body and seeing her perky tits with rosy ares and pink nipple, I couldn''t help but rubbing my erection.

    "You don''t mind if I check out your body, would you?"

    I question and stand up straight.

    "No. I don''t mind. Please go ahead."

    Helen responses with a rather forced smile, allowing me to cup her impressive tits and run my fingers over her nipples. I then proceed to fondle them to my heart desire.

    "So, Helen. Are you still with Brandon?"

    Helen looks at me, puzzling before answering my question. She obviously is still with Brandon, the dick from high school, but she is unsure how I know that from her expression.

    I suppose I should take one step at a time, to make sure she turns out the same as when George Collins did it in his past.

    "I actually go to the same high school as you, Helen. I dream of being your boyfriend and try constantly to get your attention, but you never pay me any mind. In fact, you even tell your boyfriend to beat me up, and even after a severe beating, I still cannot help but dream about being your boyfriend."

    I point out, and I note the surrounding ripple slightly. That means I am telling her way too much, thus it will cause the memory to reset.

    "Oh. I didn''t know. What was your name? It is not that creep George, is it?"

    Helen questions as I continue to explore her body with my hands, not answering her question. Not yet anyway.

    "You did not answer my question, Helen. Are you still with Brandon?"

    I restate my question, basically changing the subject. It is fine like this.

    "Yes. I am still with him."

    Helen answers me as I pinch her nipples, pulling hard enough to cause her to gasp.

    "Do you have sex with him? Give him head? And if so, do you swallow it like a whore?"

    I question, thinking a blowjob is in order. I would love to see the expression on her face as she has my cock between her lips and swallow what I will give her. It is sweet revenge.

    "Yes. I do have sex with him and give him head. Sometimes I swallow his cum, but I really don''t like it, but I will do it because he likes it when I do."

    Helen answers me truthfully as I run my hand along her ass while the other one running up and down her slit. Her very beautiful slit. Brandon must have enjoyed sliding and out of this slit immensely.

    "That is nice. Do you receive as well as give?"

    I question.

    "No."

    Helen answers with a frown. That does sound like him, at least from what I know.

    "That sucks, Helen. Brandon should have given you as much as you give him, but don''t worry, I will in his stead, so you can truly enjoy yourself. Now orgasm for me."

    I answer before slipping my fingers in and out of her cunt, producing the desired effect.

    "Oh!"

    Helen gasps as her legs clench together, grabbing hold of my hand and keeping my fingers inside her pussy before oozing juices all over my hands, and as her body shivers, her tits sway side to side.

    Now that is interesting. She actually orgasms because I tell her so.

    It seems that I can give her body any sort ofmand, and it will try its best to carry out themand, including stop functioning, probably. I will have to test that, but not now, as I need to release.

    My cock is so hard that it is starting to hurt.

    "Alright, Helen. I know that you don''t want to, but I am currently a paying customer, so you must keep me happy. In order to do that, I want you take out my cock and give me the best blowjob you can, and don''t forget to swallow because you will be doing that a lot."

    I tell her Helen, and the moment I did, she drops down in front of me and unbuckles my belt.

    "I am only doing this because you''re a customer."

    Helen tells me as she pulls down my pants then then maneuver my boxer over my stiff cock. It is really happy to be freed, as shown by its excited bobbing.

    "Wow. That is a big cock you have."

    Helenpliments.

    "Bigger than your boyfriend?"

    I question and wonder whether it is because of Erosire or not. I don''t remember my cock really being that big, at least before I pick up the coin with a bloody hand.

    My blood is probably what activated the medallion, thus summoning the Primordial Sin of Lust. There are two more medallions somewhere in the United States. Great. Just great.

    "Definitely bigger than my boyfriend."

    Helen confirms as she takes my cock in her hand and rubs her tongue all over it, licking it up and down on the side, and when it is coatedpletely in her salvia, she slips her lovely lips over the mushroom head and pump it rapidly in and out of her mouth.

    "That is nice. You truly are an expert at sucking cock, Helen. How many have you sucked?"

    I question.

    "I don''t remember, but a lot. Mostly my boyfriend''s friends."

    Her slender hands start gently fondling and caressing my huge balls as her hot tongue expertly works its magic on the underbelly of my cock. She is truly a great cock sucker, as she has been sucking many cocks.

    It is to the point that I am unable to hold on for long.

    "Ugh!"

    With a roar, I st my load into her mouth, and even so, she continues to suck me as if nothing really happens, swallowing my seeds without spilling any at all.

    That is impressive since I swear that I must have cum a lot.

    It feels like a lot.

    And once my cock detes a little, Helen slides her mouth off me and then stands up as if it is basically a task to her. She even lips her lips and smiles.

    "There. Are you satisfied?"

    Helen questions, making me narrow my eyes before chuckling.

    "No. Not quiet, Helen. It is still rock hard, so you didn''t really do a good job."

    I tell her and point my cock. It seems like I can cum plenty, so pretty much the same as my actual body with its biological augmentation. That is a good thing, as I want to fuck this bitch silly.

    Helen looks at my cock before getting on her knees again. She will be doing that a lot for me, and she doesn''t know it at the moment.

    Her hands wrap around my cock once more and start pumping me with all the intention of making me fully hard.

 Chapter 203: Nothing But a Cumdump

    Helen sucks me off again, expertly milking my cock with her mouth and tongue while fondling my balls with her lovely hands. Very lovely pair of hands.

    And it didn''t take me long to vey reward her effort with a huge amount of cum, all deposited right into her tight throat to the point that my legs feel incredibly weak.

    I have to sit down afterwards and take in a deep breath.

    Despite the insane orgasm, my cock remains hard, readying to go again.

    Many times, from what I can recall.

    Nevertheless, I do feel satisfied after cumming. Satisfied enough for me to think more clearly. Clearer than before at least.

    "You came so much in my mouth."

    Helene tells me once she swallows the load. She obviously didn''t expect someone like me to cum that much, but then again, she didn''t expect anything from me.

    No one ever did, besides my loving mother of course.

    To be honest, George Collins is kind of a loser. Not the kind that you find in high school, but in life.

    He does have the brain to be sessful, but he never used it to secure opportunities. He prefers to let opportunityes to him, and I hate people like that.

    If you can obtain it, then obtain it. Don''t wait around and let someone else obtain it instead.

    And I swear that if he did, Helen would probably be his girlfriend despite his appearance.

    It is not like George is fucking ugly. No. He just never pay much attention to it, as it never seems really all that important to him.

    Or maybe it is more correct to say that he is oblivious to what women find attractive. With this power at hismand, he doesn''t need to.

    "Yes. I suppose that I did. More than Brandon, right?"

    I question as my eyes scan her body up and down once more, taking in the sight. She is mine now, and with my power controlling her mind, she is unable to refuse me no matter what.

    "A lot more. Brandon shoots nks sometimes."

    Helen confirms, making me smile. I think I am enjoying this. More than I should, but it is probably due to me finally having what I have always wanted since first meeting her.

    I mean George, not me.

    Maybe, I should stop differentiating between the two for now. It is less confusing.

    "Come and sit on myp, Helen, so I can suck your tits while asking you about a few things."

    I request, and Helen did so under duress.

    Helen isn''t enjoying this, at least not yet anyway. This is because the Commandment doesn''t strip her of her freewill unless I desire it so. It merely enforces mymands. Any kind ofmand, regardless how bizarre or crazy themand is.

    "Just be at ease, Helen. It isn''t like I am going to eat you or anything like that. Not here anyway. Please tell me the best fuck that you ever had. With your boyfriend or whoever."

    I question as I take one of her perky tits into palm, squeezing it hard and pinching its nipple. She moans under my assault.

    Soon enough, my head lowers, and my mouth takes hold of the other nipple.

    "It was with his friend. Oh God. During a football game. They alle over to watch, ruining my time with Brandon. I was so horny then, and Brandon didn''t pay me any attention. He only cares about the game and his friends."

    Helen tells me, as the nipple I am sucking on hardens. Her breathing also bes morebored. And she stops talking and just immerses herself in the pleasure that is slowly filling up her body.

    My hands are also very active, squeezing her other tit and groping her ass and rubbing her now soaking pussy. She is horny. Incredibly so.

    "Why did you stop, Helen? Continue."

    I request and resume sucking on her nipple again, biting down the erected knob and rolling it between my teeth, making her gasps and moans.

    "I got really bored of the game and then headed to the bathroom to relieve myself, and, and, oh. And that guy, Nick took notice and followed me. I was so horny that I didn''t even bother to fight back when he bent me over the sink, raised my skirt up, pulled my panties down and pounded my pussy. Oh God, oh my fucking God!"

    Helen calls out, revealing what a true slut she is. She is a slut, and that is why I don''t like her.

    "Then. Ah. Then when Nick came inside me, I screamed so loud and creamed so much. But. But luckily, my boyfriend and the others were chatting so loud downstairs that they didn''t hear anything."

    Helen continues as her body convulses. Her pussy bes utterly drenched. Her chest heaves heavily as she pants afterwards.

    Seems like my skills are still there despite no longer in my own body. I suppose that is expected since I am still me.

    "And?"

    I question, as I try to remember who Nick is. I probably have met the dude before, considering the fact that ganged up on me in high school. It is probably the biggest guy of the bunch, giving how Helen had enjoyed his cock so much.

    "After Nick pulled his big and thick cock out of my pussy, I got on the floor and sucked him until he got really hard again. I straddled him as he sat on the toilet seat. He sucked my tits just like you are doing right now while I bounced up and down on his cock. Oh God. His huge cock!"

    Helen calls out.

    "Bigger than mine?"

    I question. Not really sure why since this isn''t really my body, but then again, it does feel like mine, as I am inhabited it right now and probably for the next 14 years or so. Have to get used to this body.

    "No. Yours is bigger."

    Helen assures, as I wreck her pussy with my fingers, bringing her to another orgasm again. I wonder if it is because of what I am doing to her right now or because it is the truth. Not really it matters.

    "I screamed so much then, and yet, Brandon didn''t hear me at all. I wished that he had, because Nick gave me the best fuck of my life. Adding onto the risk of getting caught by everyone was such a fucking turn on."

    Helen admits. The risk of getting caught turns me on too, and I think some people loitering in the shop might have heard her moans and groanings.

    Not that it matters if they did since I do have the power to bend their will to mine. Make them forget anything too if I wish.

    "Alright, Helen. That is a wonderful story. Why don''t you straddle me and ride my cock like you did to Nick, and I will give you a nice creamy load up your pussy as you scream like you did then. You would love that, don''t you, you slut?"

    I tell her.

    "I would love that, and I am a slut."

    Helen immediately shifts herself into a new position, straddling me as I remain seated. Her hands then reach down and position the head of my ridge cock against herher lips, making it pulsates in utter delight.

    It feels nice. Very nice. Much nicer when Helen slides herself forwards and pushes down onto me, thus engulfing my cock into her steaming hot pussy.

    "Oh. Fuck. That is some tightness you have there, Helen."

    I groan and feel everything as Helen starts rocking her hips on mine in a rolling motion while clenching her pussy muscles around my cock, sending me to heaven.

    Helen is just that good.

    And I can see why George had married this slutty bitch despite he could probably do way better with the power at hismand. I mean. He could have anyone as his cumdump wife, but he chooses Helen.

    "You''re so big, filling my pussy. Ah."

    Helen bounces up and down my hard cock while her beautiful tits follows her body motion with some swinging back and forth. They invite me to y with them and pinch their hard nipples once more.

    I did so with pleasure, as Helen picks up the pace. She lifts her pussy all the way to the tip of my huge cock and then ms back down, enveloping me in her hot and moist cavern. Repeatedly.

    Delightfully.

    My hips join in on the fun, buckling against her while she moans loudly. Loud enough for people within the store to hear.

    "Hey! What the hell are you doing in there? Helen!? Open this door!"

    That is the manager, but I didn''t care. Helen didn''t either as she continues to ride my meat into blissful heaven. Her cunt is so wet, so very wet due to the multiple orgasms that wreck her mind.

    "I''m going to cum, Helen. I''m going to fucking knock you up!"

    I roar and st a massive load deep into her burning pussy. The moment that I did, her pussy clenches around my cock while she jerks her hips, letting out a very loud moan and epting everything that I give her.

    Helen eventuallyes down from high heaven and copses onto my sweaty chest.

    It is probably one of the best fucks that I have in a while too despite it didn''tst long. Perhaps, this is due to the Primordial Sin of Lust. He is called that for a reason.

    "That. That was the best fuck I ever had."

    Helen speaks up while remains seated on me with my cock still buries deep inside her. Her body is still shivering from the intense orgasms that she had. She also rocks her hips a little, milking out whatever left within my balls.

    There probably is still a lot in me, considering my cock remains hard and erected inside her overflowed chasm. I can go again without needing to rest. Several more times in fact.

    "Yes, I suppose it is the best you had, but it is not over yet, Helen."

    I tell her and capture her lips while buckling my hips, pounding my cock in and out of her without any restrains. The only problem is our current sexual position. I will have to get her on all four, fucking her like a bitch that she is.

    My hands also couldn''t resist taking her perky tits into their palms again, squeezing and fondling them delightfully, forcing her to moan into my mouth. I continue ying with them until she pulls her head back to scream.

    "Oh yes. Yes! Let''s do it again. Fuck me. Fuck me with your hard cock and cum inside my pussy! Ah!"

    Helen is rocking back and forth again, grinding her fiery pussy against my meaty shaft. She soon fastens her pace and bounces on my cock, letting the cum that I had unloaded into her from moments ago to leak right out of her wet pussy, coating my balls.

    "You''re such a slut. A fucking slut. I can''t believe I was attracted to you in school."

    I response, as she rides me hard, bouncing up and down with feverish vigor as I lean back against the seat, thrusting my ass off the seat to match her rhythm, driving my cock deep into her snatch over and over again.

    "So hard. So deep. Fuck me! Fuck me!"

    Helen calls out and grabs her own tits, pinching and pulling her nipples as she bounces wildly onto my cock, swallowing it with her pussy. She is like an out of control nympho, desiring only to fuck and fuck until she bes a drooling mess.

    Not that I mind. Mind at all.

    I am enjoying this. Enjoying this very much as my cock is so fucking hard, working towards my third or so orgasm, as Helene gushes her juices onto its plunging meat.

    God. Her pussy feels like it is on fire as it tightens around my cock, all while she jerks her body up and down in throes of ecstasy, screaming out in utter delight.

    The unending orgasmic pleasure that Helen is feeling as I take her eventually sets me off, and my cock erupts deep inside her, flooding her chasmspletely once more as my body spasms violently from the intensity of my release.

    Sex feels so good before, but now, it is unearthly.

    "Oh my God! I have never experienced anything like this before."

    Helen groans, falling onto me and leaning her head against my shoulder. She gulps mouthful of air, as her chest heaves and her erected nipples push into my chest.

    She remains like that against my body with my cock nests in her pussy. Her mind blocks out everything in the surrounding, including the agitated hammering against the door coupling with the demands for her to open the door.

    "Helen. Open this door instantly!"

    The man screams, and his voice is getting on my nerve.

    I can also hear a lot of people outside talking and chattering, wondering what is happening inside this dressing room. They know what is happening, but they dare not to say it out loud.

    Their airspace surrounded me also ripples, telling me that I am deviating too much from the memory, thus threatening to reset. That is not a good thing.

    And despite not fully satisfied, I pull Helen off my cock and force her onto her knees.

    "Clean me, Helen. You will be doing this a lot in the future."

    I tell her as Helen looks up at me before taking my cock into her mouth. The defiant look is still within her eyes, but she is no longer disgusted by the fact. She enjoys getting fucked very much.

    And as I plunge in and out of her mouth and throat with all the intention of flooding her stomach with my creamy milk, I open the locked door to the dressing room to greet the people standing outside.

    There are quite a lot of people outside, and they all gasps at the sight of me deepthroating Helen, who is also shocked at what I did.

    "Hmmm-mmm!?"

    Helen tries to say something, but her mouth is currently full of my hard meat, and letting people finally see her for what she truly is brings a smile to my face.

    This is a massive deviation from the original memory, as George never did something like this. He was too frightened to do so, and thus, the world begins to crack.

    "What the fuck are you two doing!?"

    The man in front roars. He is the manager, as indicated by the golden nametag pinned to his chest. As if I care if he is or not.

    "This? Nothing like you are thinking right now, so please stop thinking about it. What actually happen is that Helen here is just helping me with a huge problem. She has quite a mouth, so I decide to try it out once and for all."

    I tell everyone. The simple statementced with my power changes all of their expression instantly. It is expected as the Commandment canmand anyone.

    "Oh. I am so sorry, sir. I thought that you two are having sex. May I ask why you are naked?"

    The manager asks.

    "That is a stupid question. We are in the dressing room. If we don''t remove our clothes, then how are we try out the clothes?"

    I point out before mming my hips against Helen''s face, nesting my cock deep in her throat and then keeping it there for a while, choking her. I am almost there.

    "Ah. That makes sense. I am so sorry. Please continue what you two are doing."

    The manager of the store apologizes as the crowd begins to disperse from the dressing rooms, talking and chatting to each other about something else.

    "I am almost finished here since you have such a lovely sale assistant. I think she will be much lovelier if she wears my spunk for the rest of the day, don''t you think?"

    I question before pulling my throbbing cock out of her mouth and immediately st her face with my cream, giving her a nice makeup.

    The cum obviously didn''t stay on her face for very long as there is simply so much and so thick. It runs down her face, waterfalling from her chin andnding onto her bare chest, coating her body and giving me a wonderful sight of a cumdump.

    Helen is a cumdump, but she will be my cumdump.

    "Yes, of course, sir."

    The manager responses with a forced smile. Even if he did find something wrong with what I just did to Helen, he is unable to get his head around it. Not with my power controlling him.

    "Good. Now, Helen, why don''t you rub it all over your face and body before returning to work? I think I will see you again tomorrow."

 Chapter 204: Other Ways to Use Commands

    And just like I had told Helen then, I dide and see her again over the course of many days, always at her workce, and it is all in order to relieve me of my constant boner.

    My very massive boner.

    It couldn''t be helped, really, considering the curse.

    And Helen is more than happy to help me with my problem and then wears my special brand of facial cream without any hesitation whatsoever afterwards.

    No one within the store even raises any question about that as I didn''t allow them to. There is no need for them to point it out when it will cause deviations, causing a reset.

    Everyone around Helen believes everything is normal, as normal as it could be with me often dropping by the ce and fucking one of their coworkers into a drooling mess. Heh. That is pretty unusual, but it isn''t like they can say anything about it.

    Fucking Helen like a slut that she is, is also very pleasurable, a lot more pleasurable than I had given it credits for, initially.

    But I suppose that sex has always been pleasurable to me even if it has more to do with my physiology.

    As my real body be more and more biologically advanced thanks to the nanomachines within my bloodstreams, there is a need to spread my genes. A biological impulse of sort, really.

    It is pretty much the same as my children. My evolved children anyway.

    Actually, not really.

    It is natural for a human male to have the desire to impregnate as many females as possible, to create as many offspring with his genes.

    And while society might have changed as civilizations evolve, the natural biological drive within a male human does not change. As long as the woman looks young enough and healthy, she is desirable.

    The said woman honestly does not need to be intelligent, talented, socially aware, or in any way have a brain. In fact, the dumber she is, the better since the criteria for mating are likely to be less extensive.

    That is also true with me, but I stress mating, not actual having a rtionship.

    I honestly prefer people with a brain, as it makes conversation with them more interesting, but just to spread my genes, they don''t really need to be.

    They just need to be a good mother, capable of birthing and caring for my child afterwards.

    In any case, I wonder what happen to my actual body when I am being trapped here in this inescapable memory as George Collins. Being forced to live his life too.

    Selene will keep my body alive for me indefinitely even if it is braindead. Possibly.

    And if something happens to my body, I can always undo it with my power.

    But then again, what could really happen. Someone takes it for a joyride?

    That might be a problem. It is also a problem that I cannot do anything at the moment, being trapped in this memory and all.

    Damn.

    While I am just following what George had done in the past with deviations here and there because it is boring to repeat, I did learn quite a bit about this Commandment ability, especially about its primary strengths as well as its weaknesses.

    Its strength isn''t lie in the ability to mind control others, allowing me to fuck any beautiful woman into my personal cumdump.

    No. Its strength is in the ability to force the mind of others to be far more than what it is.

    For example, if Imand someone to be smart, they will actually try to be smarter by finding way to do so. This could involve hitting the library or going to college to study.

    The same if I tell them lose weight or be good at something.

    I actuallymand my mother to lose weight, as it is healthier for her to be fit, amongst other things of course.

    And that is more than what George did despite having this ability for many years. He just never thinks outside the box, out of fear or whatever.

    There are also quite a lot of weaknesses with this ability, but most of the weaknesses it has can easily be bypassed with specificmands. Of course, I rather not give moremands than I need, as the more I use it, the more hornier I be.

    I am already pretty horny, especially around my mother, who I have a strong familial connection with.

    "Hi mum. How is it going?"

    I greet my mother when shees up from the basement after workout. Her kind of insane workout due to mymand. She will continue to work out until I tell her to stop.

    That is one of the weaknesses with this power. More like a fault, really.

    I have to be very specific with mymand, asmanding someone to lose weight actually means more like: lose all of your weight in any way you can, including not doing anything to gain more weight like eating or drinking.

    That means my mother would starve herself to death and exercise until she dies, just like if I only really tell someone to be smarter and only that.

    What is the definition of smarter? It is to be more intelligent than they current are, which is impossible because they cannot be smarter than they currently are.

    Therefore, I have to be more specific, telling them to be smarter than someone, which is possible, but not nearly enough since that someone can be someone they could never surpassed.

    This Commandment doesn''t do the impossibilities, at least realistically speaking.

    People under the effect of the Commandment will try to carry out anymand to the best of their ability even if it kills them.

    Yeah. It is pretty dangerous. Very dangerous, especially when misused.

    "Exhausted, Georgie."

    My mother answers before hammering her sweaty shoulders. I have made sure that she does exercise regrly to lose weight, but at the expense of her health.

    I also give her a goal, like what weight she should be aiming more since the human body have to retain a minimum weight to remain alive.

    "Here, sit down, and let me help relieve some tension."

    I tell my mother without needing to resort to the ability.

    That is because I have given her amand to always listen to me and do whatever I ask of her from now on regardless of what it is.

    And while thatmand does sound like a double-edge sword, it is really up to me whether that said sword will be able to skewer anyone. It shouldn''t if I choose my words correctly.

    Honestly, I wonder why Lelouch of Code Geass didn''t resort to something like that. It feels like one of those crappy plot-holes that are there, just so there is a story to be told.

    How annoying.

    If I was Lelouch himself, I would have said something along the line of this:

    You will listen and obey me from now on until such tie that I release you from this obligation. Anything that I ask and request of you, you will do it to the best of your ability without any question unless it is impossible to aplish the request within the criteria that I have specified.

    You will retain all of the memory and knowledge of what you did, but you will not find any strangeness or faults within them, as you will believe everything you did are by your own will and power.

    I actually use something simr to control my mother and pretty much anyone I have to take revenge on. It is just simpler that way. Of course, I do modify it now and again due to everyone being different from everyone else.

    "Well, thank you, Georgie. Such a gentleman."

    My mother responses before taking a seat I offer, allowing me to massage her shoulders, finding how tensed and stressed her muscles are especially under her shoulder des.

    "You are doing great, mum. Just continue this routine daily, and I can assure you that you will be one hell of a mother that I like to fuck."

    Ipliment her with half-joke and half-truth. I will fuck her, as George did. It is not possible to deviate from that if I ever want to reach the end of this memory and break out of this ce.

    "Really, Georgie?"

    My mother questions and leans right back against the chair.

    "Yes, mum. You are one hell of a Milf, at least to me. Now, just rx all the muscles in your body and let me do the rest."

    I tell her. It isn''t amand, but it does force her body to rx due to my previousmand. All the tensions and stresses within her muscles also go away due to her body tries toply.

    That is not the only thing that the Commandment can do, yet I am sure that most people use it to getid. I call those people dickheads as they think with their dick instead of their brain.

    I guess I am one sometimes, not that I mind in those moments, really.

    "That feels great, Georgie. Feels a lot better than when I try to rx myself."

    My mother responses.

    "Oh? What do you usually do to rx, mum? Tell me the truth."

    I ask my mother while continue to rub her shoulders despite already telling her body to dispel any and all of the tensions and stresses.

    "I masturbate."

    That causes me to arch my brow.

    While I don''t recall everything in my memory, especially about the specific words that were said, I just didn''t remember this part at all. It is probably new. A deviation.

    "You masturbate to rx, mum?"

    I question and look around the room, seeing if there is any ripple. There isn''t, meaning that this doesn''t really affect the oue.

    In fact, a lot of things within the house do not affect the overall oue of this memory. Reset seems to only trigger when other people are not behaving like they suppose to after having a run in with me.

    "Yes. Ever since that I left him like you wanted, that has been my option. My only option."

    My mother answers me.

    "And I am d that you did. He is an asshole, hurting you and spending your money. I don''t even know why you had stayed with him for so long, but enough about that. Do you need to masturbate now?"

    I question just out of curiosity.

    "Yes. That would help a lot, and it feels good to have an orgasm."

    My mother answers,pletely unconcern about what she is revealing to me. In her mind, it is quite normal. Or as normal as it could be.

    "Alright, mum. You are going to have an orgasm now. One as powerful as any when you masturbated."

    That is also possible with the Commandment. Telling her body what to feel or behave. It does open a lot of interesting doors for me to explore. Mostly very perverted doors.

    Since I am going to relive this memory, I might as well enjoy it, huh.

    As soon as I tell my mother that, she tenses up and squeezes her knees together. Her cunt immediately squirts around the chair while her hands fly up to her tits, mauling them as her heads throws back.

    "Oh! Oh, fuck! Oh my God! Oh!"

    My mother screams in orgasmic delight, doubling over and rocking in the chair, moaning and rubbing her legs together. Her body convulses violently, and she slumps downwards in the chair with both her legs wide apart. Her arms hang to her side. Her chest heaving.

    "How was it?"

    I question once my mother catches her breath.

    "It was wonderful. Oh God. Did I just orgasm in front of you?"

    My mother questions, and I only smile.

    "It is fine, mum. You deserve it. Now, you should go upstairs and then take a good nap for the rest of the morning. When you wake up again, you will feel refreshed and rxed. I will be out for a bit, and I might not be home tonight, so don''t wait for me. Enjoy yourself."

    I tell my mother as she cocks her head up to me.

    "Yes. I think I will do that. Thank you for your help, Georgie. You are such a good son."

    My mother tells me as she gets up from the chair, wobblily. I help her as it was quite a powerful orgasm that she had, and as soon as she takes a step, she looks down at her short, finding there is a wet circle in the cotch of her white shorts.

    Her face immediately goes red.

    "Don''t worry, mum. It is fine. You can masturbate whenever you feel the need to from now on without worrying about me. It is very natural."

    I tell my mother, fully realizing what I have ordered her to do. It cannot really consider an order since she actually wants to do it herself.

    "That would be great, Georgie. I''m think I am going upstairs now to masturbate now."

    My mother tells me and hastily heads out of the kitchen, making me chuckle. I swear that she can be cute sometimes. Alright. Most of the time.

    This is my motherplex creeps up on me again, and I need to get rid of this huge erection. It is kind of painful, and luckily enough, I have someone to take revenge on today.

    It obviously isn''t Helen this time around, as I need to grow my harem. My harem! I didn''t think of that, but it really is my harem. My harem of beautiful women who deserves it.

    Funny how that works out, huh.

 Chapter 205: The Mysterious Satanic Cult

    The United States kind of suck in 1976.

    Not just the United States, but pretty much the rest of the world as well.

    It is one of the many reasons to why I didn''t really bother to live through the years normally, preferring to drop in and out of the timestream every now and then just to see how things are progressing, and whether I need to make some kind of adjustment to many of my ongoing projects, especially Hydra.

    Hydra is pretty good at following my orders to the letter without me being there in person, as most of the first-generation members are hardcore veteran soldiers. Soldiers that have lived through countless atrocities of war, so they will and do shoot anyone who doesn''t follow the proper chain ofmand.

    It is something that I have personally approved of, as I do not want to deal with insubordination simply because of moral or religious implications. Those things honestly have nothing to do with my goal.

    To me, the end justifies the mean, and that is my answer to whatever bullshits anyone is able toe up with in their protest.

    Wasting time questioning my methods deserve a bullet through the head.

    Two bullets for some people since their head is too thick to understand that annoying me with morality and whatever will almost always result in their death.

    That happens quite a lot in the early years of Hydra, forcing me to get my hand pretty dirty. It doesn''t happen so much anymore though due to better screening and greater discipline, currently.

    I mean by the 1990, the year that I am supposed to be in.

    Sure, I could jump ahead right now and return to that year, but unfortunately, I cannot do so without any consequences.

    Annoying consequences.

    As for the second-generation members, they are a bit morexed about following orders to the letters, but as long as they produce the same or better results, it is fine.

    The end results are all that mattered anyway, and most of the time, the results via their methods are much better than I have expected. Since they have used their brain instead of carrying out the missions blindly, I will give credit where credit is due.

    And like the first-generation, the second-generation are also hardcore soldiers, even more so than the first-generation, but they are also scientists at heart. Mad scientists, to be more correct. They are very motivated and fullymitted to improving mankind in any way possible.

    I will not go into the specific details since what they have done and are continuing to do are horrifying even by my standards. Questionable too, but not morally or religiously questionable.

    Just another kind of questionable.

    The sanctity of life kind.

    In any case, due to the existence of Hydra and their attempts to wiggle their tentacles into every major corporations and governments, the prime timeline is a lot different than the original timeline.

    Not on the surface, however, but it is pretty obvious when one knows what to look for, and I do know what I am looking for.

    For example, the economy of the United States is very solid thanks to the effort of Chronicle and all of its subsidiaries, such as Chrono Holdings and Chrono Reserves.

    Skilledborers are generally paid more, thus having more money to spend on things and luxury items, thus making the economy flow. Unskilledborers too, but not as much. It is still enough for a man to support his family of five or so.

    And that is exactly what my adopted-grandfather did.

    He will be able to support his family without his wife. But healing the wound in his heart is a different matter. Hopefully with a lot of money and booze. Hopefully with me apanying him.

    I n to go party with my adopted-grandfather and get him a proper wife. It is totally not weird at all, I think.

    Speaking of money, I actually need some. Not some. I need quite a lot. Like a couple of million dors to get me started, and I know where I can get it.

    It will be the same way that George had done, but only this time, I don''t really need to resort to using the Commandment. There is no need to, considering what I know of Chrono Reserves and its internal operation.

    As for getting to Chrono Reserves to ask for investment money, it isn''t that difficult.

    Chrono Reserves has a bank branch in every state, and with its generous policy on startups, it is a very popr destination for aspiring businessmen and entrepreneurs.

    And there are a shitload of aspiring businessmen and entrepreneurs in America, more so in the future, as it is capitalism at its finest. Capitalism is a problem in the future, aspanies exist solely for their own benefits.

    They are so huge that they are basically their own country with their own military and so on. That isn''t going to happen under my guidance.

    George Collins is not exactly an aspiring businessman or entrepreneur, not by a long shot, but I guess that he does have the brain to get pretty far in life if only he ever gets off his ass and be more active.

    As I recall from his history, George did start his own logisticpany before opting to change career, bing the Principle of a prestige elementary school. It is quite prestige whenpare to most of the public schools in the United States.

    It is the same elementary school that my daughter, Christina is enrolled at.

    Actually, many children in the area are enrolled at the elementary school. The school tuition fee is not really that expensive, and it does have a host of very skilled teachers.

    Teachers who are brainwashed into teaching there.

    I suppose I will have to follow the footsteps of George and collect those teachers, just so the children can have a good education. My daughter too.

    A necessary evil, I guess. Besides, it is not like those teachers are saint themselves. I will think of it like their personal punishment.

    However, at the moment that elementary school is just a block of undevelopednd right now, waiting for me toe and purchase it in about a couple of years or so.

    I don''t remember the exact of date, but it should be about the time that the whole area gets developed and houses start springing up.

    My adopted-grandfather and his bitch of a wife will buy a house there to raise a family, right after they adopt my mother. Should be in a year from now, in 1977. That is when my mother is born.

    Which remind me, my biological grandfather will have to go through that deadly heartbreak of losing my grandmother again.

    As much as I want to help him since I am here already, but I cannot do anything about that, at least in this memory.

    I wonder if I can make some adjustments to their fate?

    Too much will cause deviation, but if the final result is the same, a reset would not happen. Probably.

    I need to test a lot of my theories and assumptions, and hopefully, it will not trigger a reset while I am doing that. Doesn''t really hurt me if the memory gets reset, but it will be really fucking annoying having to relive everything again.

    As for the logisticpany that I will definitely founded, it didn''t get absorb into Shield Transportation and Logistic Division once it is sold back to Chrono Reserves to repay the investment.

    It was dissolved instead, and I am unsure of the real reason why.

    Not that it matters really, as thepany will only serve one purpose. That is to make enough money to help me buy the block ofnd. Not sure why that block ofnd is so important to George enough to buy and build a school on top of it, however.

    I will find out eventually, as I continue to live his memory.

    It might not actually be a memory since there are things that I have learned that George himself didn''t learn the first time around or too stupid to fabricate from scratch or his imagination.

    The books on the ults for example.

    But what does that mean exactly?

    I will also find that out soon enough, as there is no need to waste time pondering about this.

    Time that I actually can make more of with my power but still get absolutely no answer as long as I am stuck here.

    Besides, I do have ces to be. If not, it will consider a deviation, resulting in a reset.

    That looming-threat but not really threatening is really getting on my nerve. There is no use in getting annoyed by it. Just get to the end of the memory, and it will be over. Might be over.

    Before I can head to Chrono Reserves and hoodwink one of Henry''s very loyal employees into granting me an approval for my get-rich-quick scheme, I need to pay a visit to a certain ce and greet a certain bully.

    Several bullies, in fact.

    I have a list of people that I need payback for all the shits that they have put me through. More correct to say that they have put George through, but it feels like me due to his memory, experiences as well as personality intermingling with mine.

    With Selene, I can fix that problem easily, but not right now.

    And while those people are always on my mind due to what they did to me, I couldn''t take my revenge since it takes George himself really this fucking long to realize he has the power to basically fuck up all the people who has ever done him any wrong in life, before and in the future.

    It is mostly because he is too busy face fucking Helen or just in old fucking. Well. I was busy fucking her too, and it is quite enjoyable to fuck her up.

    I am sure it will be enjoyable to fuck up those bullies since I do have all of George''s experiences as well as his sufferings. He suffers quite a lot in high school.

    Time doesn''t really change how people should behave towards others. It is the same decades ago, and it is the same decades from now.

    But to be honest, those bullies of mine are more or less a distraction. They don''t remember who I am since many years have already passed.

    Some of them even have a family of their own, so it is morally unfair to take vengeance on them.

    I understand that, but I am do not forget, and I do not forgive. That is one of my principles. And besides, I did promise them that I will make them pay. George did, but it is the same in the current context.

    Furthermore, those guys and girls should be d that I will not wipe out their bloodline.

    Anyway, putting aside all that uing revenges and vengeances, the major goals for me are to start up a logisticpany, collect as much money that I need to buy a particr block ofnd, make love to my mother so Becky would be born, crashing a wedding and making off with Helen while sticking it to Brandon, and maybe lose some weight.

    Is losing weight a deviation?

    Oh. There are bunch of things in the middle of all that goals as well, but I am not going to bother listing them all out since that will take forever.

    And since those bullies are just distractions from the important things, I rather not describe them with any real capacity, so let skip forwards a few weeks while I deal with them and their spouses. Children too if they have any. Their parents and rtive as well if they get in the way.

    Actually a few months since there are just way too many people who I need to take vengeance on.

    I did learn quite a bit about the Commandment ability during that time, mostly that it seems to be a lot stronger than before.

    That confirms my suspicion about it bing stronger the more I use it. I did try not to use it way too often, just onemand for each person I had fucked up in the past few months or so.

    Anyway, all that behind me now. I am back at my house, readying to head out again.

    This time, I am actually heading towards the bank just to get that investment money. Chrono Reserves will provide all the necessary funds as long as the startuppany is profitable.

    That is part of their policies, and that policy alone has made them quite popr.

    Honestly, I should have done this like weeks ago, but George, being George, forces me to waste time since I cannot deviate from what he did way too much.

    It is not aplete waste of time, to be honest. But nothing really happens aside from a lot of fucking and impregnating on my part in those past months. I basically knock up quite a lot of beautiful women and cuckold a bunch of men, who might or might not be their husbands.

    When I get out of here, I will have Shield looks into that more, just to see how many kids George Collins had fathered in his lustful-rampage. My lustful rampage to be more precise since I deviate quite a bit, just because.

    "I am going to the bank, mum. It might take a while, so I might not be home for dinner."

    I call out from downstairs and hear some moaning as a response.

    Since I havemanded mum to be utterlyfortable, she has been utterlyfortable.

    Like masturbating whenever she feels stressed, down, depressed, and so on. She often feels stressed, down, depressed, and so on.

    It couldn''t really be helped since the only real man in her life is actually me.

    As for stressed and so on, I am as well. This is due to my huge hardon. I suppose I will drop by the mall or one of the bullies to get rid of it.

    I shouldn''t call them bullies anymore since it is more like me bullying them now, not that I am feeling guilty or anything like that. Shit happens in life, so deal with it.

    Anyway, when I head out of the house, I notice a woman look at me from the next house over. She is leaning out of the window on the upper floor.

    I recall her name is Pauline from memory despite never having talked to her before myself, so I guess that George did. Or more likely, he fucks her, considering her appearance and age.

    "Do you need something, Pauline?"

    I question out of curiosity. The world didn''t ripple, meaning that George talks to her the exact moment that I did. Oh. That means, he also fucks her too. Great. More distraction.

    "You do know that the house is haunted, right? I''ve heard the previous owner died in a very mysterious way. That is super freaky."

    Pauline points out, making me arch my brow.

    That is because I didn''t find anything out about the previous owner with the resources currently at my disposal. Not much resources, but still, I have plenty of time on my mind.

    Despite that, his whereabouts is unknown, as if he just gets up and disappears one day, leaving behind all of his stuffs for me and my mother.

    "And how do you know that he died in a very mysterious way, Pauline?"

    I question and narrow my eyes slightly.

    "Oh. I know. Nice talking to you, George Collins."

    Pauline responses, making me even more suspicious. I don''t really recall her moving in her house, but then again, I haven''t been home much in thest few months.

    The woman disappears from the window, and Ib my hair back with a hand before heading over.

    It takes Pauline a while to get the door, and when she did, I look inside to see if anyone is with her. It didn''t appear so.

    "Is there anyone with you in the house, Pauline. Just nod for yes and shake your head for no."

    I question almost inaudibly, resorting to the Commandment. Doing so make my cock stiffens. It is very hard already, and this just take the cake.

    Pauline nods before blinking, probably wondering why she had told me that.

    "I really need your help with something, Pauline. Pleasee with me."

    I request, and she has no choice but to follow me. Once we are in private, I give her the samemand that I give to most people, making her subservient to my will.

    And when that happens, Pauline basically spills everything. She is part of a cult. The same cult that the previous owner belongs to, but since his disappearance, they have to meet up elsewhere.

    Pauline doesn''t know how the previous owner disappears, but she recalls him mentioning about trying to summon a demon with a ck Bible.

    Oh great. Just fucking great. Now I have to deal with supernatural shit on top of whatever this is. It certainly isn''t a memory, but something greater.

    "By the way, what is a ck Bible, Pauline?"

    I question and learn that it is a book containing a lot of incantations and magical spells.

    And just for that alone, I will have to confiscate it. Can''t really have something like that floating around, changing hands and so on.

    The question remains, where the hell is it?

 Chapter 206: Trailing a Temporal Shadow

    Not really sure why I had just asked myself that pointless question.

    Could be the spur of the moment. Probably. Or maybe it could be something else entirely. I suppose I will look into that when I get out of here.

    While I do not know where the ck Bible is right now, I probably do know where it was. In the house that I and my mother are currently living in.

    And if it is just magical in nature or something simr, I can just duplicate it with my temporal power, but of course, if it has spiritual energies, then there might be a problem. A huge problem.

    Where the hell is Zeus when I actually needed him? Oh right, he wouldn''t be around for 14 more years or so. That is kind of a bummer.

    I really cannot deal with spiritual stuff at the moment, especially when it affects the physical world in some form or capacity, such as getting people to trip down the stairs and break their neck.

    Or making them seeing things that aren''t there. Did I even know why I see those children ying with each other outsides the window? The window of the house that Zeus and Zephyr are staying at.

    Not really.

    Anyway, ghosts are annoying at worst. Deadly at best.

    "We don''t really know where the ck Bible is. It was kept in the possession of our great leader. Since his mysterious disappearance a short while ago, we have been trying to look for it in the house."

    Pauline answers me.

    She is unable to lie to me due to mymand. Despite beingpletely aware of what she is actually revealing to me, willingly too, I might add, Pauline is unable to do anything about it.

    Actually, that isn''t necessary true since I didn''t strip her of her freewill. Notpletely anyway. I know it is pushing my principle, but I have to do what I must.

    Besides, this isn''t exactly the prime reality, so I shouldn''t worry about stripping people of their freewill, just so I can make them do what I need them to do.

    "H-how are you doing this?"

    Pauline questions me and looks around to see if anyone is watching. There is no one, at least I do not feel like there is anyone watching me or her. Even without possessing my actual body, I am fairly aware of my surroundings at all time.

    Ites with great personal experience. Deadlybat experience.

    Whenpare to Hydra hellish trainings, my trainings can be said more fatal, but thankfully, my actual body is made of sterner stuff. Not quite bulletproof yet, but it can stop a sniper bullet from prating my brain.

    I think so. Never tried though because I am not stupid enough to shoot myself in the head with a sniper rifle. I will shoot a clone though. For science, obviously.

    And if I die in my training, time will just reverse to let me try again. I cannot really fail with my power, but it also means that I have no choice but to seed. Seed in anything that I do.

    There is no other option avable, at least not to me, and it is better that way.

    "That is for me to know and for you to find out, Pauline. Also, what do you mean you guys have been looking for it in the house? I haven''t seen¡­ oh, I see. You guys have been using those secret passages scattered all over the house, haven''t you?"

    I question.

    The house that my mother and I are living in has tons of secret passages. One of those secret passages connects to the library upstairs, right behind a huge bookcase. I haven''t really figure out how to open that hidden passageway yet, but its existence is pretty obvious from the trailing of dirt and dust.

    And this is not to mention the countless of animal noises echoing in the walls. I just realize they aren''t exactly animal noises. Not all of them, at least. People are fucking moving about inside the walls when I am not paying attention, especially when I am getting some shuteyes.

    Great. Just fucking great. Do they not know that trespasser will be tortured horribly by me? I will likely shoot them afterwards too.

    Gunsws are still prettyxed in the United States despite the assassination of John F. Kennedy about 8 years prior. A Hydra agent did that since the actual guy sort of got misced somewhere.

    It is one of those butterfly effects thingy, and since major events must happen to prevent too much of a divergence, Hydra willmit all sort of atrocities themselves.

    The death of John F. Kennedy is necessary to set many things in motion, so it is a necessary evil. For if he did not die, more people would have died as a consequence of his continued existence.

    That is not mention some other unforeseeable effects.

    For example, the Vietnam War, happened from between 1955 to 1975.

    The war would have ended much earlier if John F. Kennedy did not get assassinated instead of it being escted rather pointlessly just like the original timeline, not to mention the massive loss of life.

    And why is that a bad thing? Well, having a bunch of people who should have died in the war is not a good thing for the timeline.

    The ripple effects would have beenpletely unmanageable.

    "Yes."

    Pauline answers despite her expression conveying the fact that she is trying not to say anything to me, but obviously, that isn''t going to work. What she wants no longer matter.

    It is her own fault for getting my attention. I had totally forgotten about her until she shows herself to me. She appears to George, so she must appear to me.

    "I see. Just out of curiosity, what would happen if your friends find out about you revealing their secret to me?"

    At my question, Pauline looks utterly terrified. She seems like she is about to cry, telling me everything that I need to know without saying a single world. Obviously, her friends will definitely kill her for this.

    Maybe I should stop calling them her friends. Cultists aren''t really friends with each other. That is why it is called a cult in the first ce instead of you know, actual approved religion.

    Anyway, those cultists wouldn''t just simply kill her. No. They will do a lot more than that.

    For example, they most likely sacrifice her to whatever God they are worshipping at the moment. It is probably Lucifer or Satan. It is the same person. The devil.

    Speaking of the devil, he is real, right?

    I would assume so since God is probably real. He has to be with all the religious nonsense that is going around for thest two thousand years or so. I am saying it is nonsense because I am more of a scientist than a believer.

    Anyone working under me can believe anything they way, just don''t let it affect the result. If they cited some bullshits about religion and refused to do what they must, then I definitely have a huge problem with them.

    Problems that I will rectify instantly.

    Furthermore, I am an Aspect. Why would I worship someone or something lower than me? That would ruin my standing in the eyes of my siblings as well as nemesis, wouldn''t it?

    I assume so.

    "They will slit my throat and watch me choke to death on my own blood. It is a warning to others."

    Pauline answers me since she ispelled to. She has no choice in the matter, whatsoever.

    Sure. I wonder why she had joined the cult in the first ce, but then again, most people never really join the cult willingly. They are almost always coerced into it, whether it is by their emotions or those they are emotionally connected to.

    That is how a cult grow out of control, bing a nuisance.

    "I see. Well, take note, Pauline. I will do worst to you if you spill this conversation or any conversations that we might have in the future. Our little rtionship is a secret, and I prefer it to be that way. Now, go and tell whoever residing in that house with you that you are going to head home for the day. Just out of curiosity, where do you live, anyway?"

    I acquire the address from Pauline and let her be on her way.

    Obviously, I will drop by her ce at the end of the day just to fuck her up. I mean have sex with her, not the other thing. There is no need to do that since she is basically my pawn.

    Having sex with her at her home instead in that house should be fine, right?

    Not really, apparently.

    The cracks that are everywhere tell me that I am deviating from the original memory too much.

    Since they aren''t spreading at the moment, it is still fixable. I will soon.

    What did George do the first time around?

    I am not exactly sure since I don''t really remember every little detail about his life. It is simply just too much to remember, but I am certain that he most likely bangs Pauline in the house filled with cultists.

    And yet, they did not do anything to George? That is a bit strange.

    Maybe people are right. Satanic Cults are basically just Sex Cults, where everyone just have a huge ass orgies-like ritual.

    Actually, that does sound like fun. When was thest time that I have a huge-ass orgy?

    I don''t quite remember since it is like hundreds of years ago, rtively speaking, of course. I am certain that I did have plenty of orgies though.

    Henry and I and a bunch of our buddies have plenty of good time back around the 1950s.

    It is all for the greater good, putting our dirty money back into the economy. Into some really hot girls too, apparently. I stuff plenty of women with things other than cocks and sperms.

    Good time.

    Ahem. Enough about that.

    It is quite strange that I do not have any information on this particr Satanic Cult when I met George, but Shield is not that great on all the minor details. Only major ones, and she determines which details are majors and which details are minor.

    For most people living in America as well as the rest of the world, that level of information is sufficient, as I wouldn''t want to know every pointless thing that happened in their life. I rather shoot myself since most people live a really boring mundane life.

    My mother for example.

    Her life is pretty boring even if she had a really hard time. That is because her life is not unique by any mean. There are thousands upon thousands of people like here in America. Millions even.

    That is just how the world works. People can only be at the top if there are countless of those who are at the bottom, holding up the hierarchy.

    Just another reason to why I don''t give a shit about morality and what is not. There is no point to pay any attention to that, really.

    In any case, Satanic Cults are wiped out by the 1990s, so either this cult disbanded or something really bad happen to them.

    I am leaning towards thetter, considering the ck Bible in their possession. I mean was, as in past tense. It is no longer within their possession, from what I can gather.

    The book is gone now, and the magical power it contains is probably real.

    I should look a bit into this, so I head back into the house and upstairs into the library.

    On the way there, I pass by my mother''s room. It is not locked, so I can take a peek inside to see what she is doing. Not a creepy stalker or anything like that. I am her son after all.

    My mother is sleeping peacefully on her bed. She must have had one hell of an orgasm in order to be able to sleep peacefully like that. Well. Whatever helps her rx, I suppose.

    I am sure I can do better than her hands and fingers, but that is for another time.

    In the library, I look around once more, trying to see if there is anyone watching me from hidden ces in the walls. The house is pretty run down so there are basically holes in the walls everywhere.

    Not the glory kind of holes.

    Although, that might actually be a good thing. I am so fucking horny right now. I mean super horny.

    I shouldn''t have spied on my mother, seeing her drenching pussy right between her spread legs. How did I walk away from that, I wonder?

    To be honest, it is really hard to get some proper shuteyes with a huge hardon, but then again, I don''t really need to sleep, as my power can dispel any fatigue or exhaustion instantly.

    I don''t think I have actually aged a single day since leaving the hospital.

    That is my form of immortality through my power.

    My temporal power, I mean.

    The Commandment doesn''t affect me, so I am probably immune to my own power. That kind of make sense, considering I could abuse the fuck out of it.

    The library is eerily silence, so there is no one watching me right now, but they could be holding their breath, just to be utterly quiet. I could just chill around for the next 10 to 20 minutes just to troll them for a bit, but I could just be wasting my time if they aren''t actually hiding in the walls.

    I don''t think they are from my own intuition. I trust my intuition, but I still want some confirmation. It would be super strange to have people spying on me without my knowledge.

    Not strange. More like foolish of me.

    "Alright. Whoever is hearing this, you will listen, and you will obey me, carrying out whatever I request of you to the best of your abilities, and whatever I say is the truth. Now,e out of your hidey hole, so I can talk to you face to face."

    I announce with the Commandment and chill for a little bit.

    If they can hear my voice, they will automatically be fallen under my absolute control, bing pretty much my puppet just like Pauline. A puppet with freewill, but still a puppet, nheless.

    But like I have expected, nothing happens. No one is listening or spying on me, at least not right now.

    Since that is the case, I will catch some in the actter. For now, I do want to know where the previous owner had left the ck Bible.

    A little temporal maniption allows me to see into the past through a temporal bubble.

    It is actually more like trial and error since I would need to know the exact time and ce to when and where the ck Bible was.

    Since the more time I waste looking for the magical book, the further the cracks spread.

    Luckily enough, I can just jump back in time to give myself more time. This is why I do not believe that this is just a memory. I can manipte time like it is in the real world.

    I found nothing in the library after looking through the past several years, as the previous owner didn''t bring it up to the library. He didn''t spend a lot of time in the library either. Or in his house.

    The house is more like a front, really. A home on paper. His actual home is not here.

    And since I cannot just trail his temporal shadow outside of the house, letting everyone see what I can do, thus causing a reset, I will have to figure out another way.

    But before all of that, I need to get rid of my boner.

    Despite reversing time, the boner doesn''t disappear. In fact, it is harder than before, as if it isn''t really affected by my temporal power.

    I guess a curse by the Primordial Sin of Lust is immune to my power.

    Bummer, but I suppose I should do what I have nned to do.

    I immediately jump back in time until I am standing outside once more, talking to Pauline.

    It is exactly the moment when I had asked her about where she is living. Pauline obviously didn''t want to tell me the address, but she has no choice in the matter.

    "I will see you at your house then, Pauline. Oh, make yourself presentable because we will be spending the whole night together."

 Chapter 207: To Summon a Demon

    Spending the whole night together with Pauline is exactly what I did.

    But if I want to be technical about it, it is more like spending the whole night inside of her. She is more or less a mean for me to get rid of my unending erection despite realizing that there is probably more to her story than meet the eyes.

    It is fairly obvious from all the photos hanging around the house. Also, the unupied bedroom down the hallway is filled with belongings of a child.

    A deceased child, most likely. Her child.

    While I am somewhat curious just because, I am not curious enough to ponder about it for more than a few short moments. The private life that Pauline has lived is no concern of mine.

    I probably wouldn''t see Pauline again any time soon after today.

    George Collins certainly did not, and I am merely following his footsteps. Not exactly the same footstep obviously, as that is kind of impossible. And even it is possible to retrace his steps exactly, I would not want to.

    Doing anything exactly again is fucking boring.

    Having said that, major events must happen when it should, or it would cause a divergence. In fact, it is already a divergence since George did not sleep with Pauline overnight and wake up in her bedroom with his cock buried pretty deep inside her cunt.

    But this would consider a minor divergence. I have learned that a reset will not happen if I manage to stop the ripple effect. While fucking Pauline all night is something that I did on my own will, as long as she does not remember it, it would be fine.

    It would probably still be fine if she remembers it but did not tell anyone about it. It really all depends on how many people are affected. Too many people will obviously be unsalvageable, thus causing an unavoidable reset.

    "H-how?"

    Pauline utters as shey tly on her stomach against the bedsheets. I, on the other hand, is redressing myself. Not necessary if I use my power to reverse my state of dress, but it is a choice.

    And sometimes, it is better to do thing normally. Makes me feel humans.

    Besides, relying on my power ways too much for minor things like this make me susceptible to things that I should stay clear from, such asziness and entitlement.

    I pay the woman some attention, especially her cum-coated rear. I did quite a number on her ass right after I had fun with splitting her pussy. She is still pretty tight.

    Or maybe, I am just huge. Probably the huge part is more likely.

    "How are you doing this?"

    Pauline questions again and tries to see me.

    I did not answer her since there is really no need to. It did not really matter whether she knows about my power or not as her mind would be wiped.

    However, I do like wasting time on people who I would never meet again.

    "You don''t need to know, Pauline."

    I response and button up my shirt before looking at the dressing mirror. It is quite disturbing to see an all unfamiliar face looking back at me. The face of a much younger George.

    The man had really let himself go in the next decade and a half. He bes quite a fat slob, enjoying being surrounded by beautiful women who will do his bidding without question.

    Sounds like a dream, but it will likely be quite boring.

    Life only have meaning if there is a goal or something simr. Just another reason why I want to head Terra Entertainment instead of letting one of my underlings do it. Plus, there are some thing that I do want to change personally, for better or worse, as ording to my vision.

    In any case, I wonder whether I could actually stop myself from bing overweight and smell like a sweating potato. It would be a divergence, but not that much, really. My appearance shouldn''t affect anything major, at least I do not think so.

    It isn''t like George Collins be a celebrity or something.

    And if it does, I can always dismiss people with my Commandment ability. Speaking of which, it is time to make Pauline forgets a really fun night that we had together. More fun for me since it is considered rape.

    I haven''t done that in while, and most of the time, people simply throw themselves on me for one or more reasons. Give head to get ahead sort of thing.

    "Alright, it is time to ¨C

    I begin while channeling my mind-control ability. It is not necessary, but it does make my request a lot stronger. Activating the Commandment is as simple as breathing. I have used it so many times already, on a number of people. Mostly people who had disrespected me one way or another.

    "You can mind control people just like him¡­"

    Pauline interrupts me, causing me to arch a brow.

    There is another person with the same kind of ability as me out there?

    Now that is interesting, but expected, considering there are 2 more Coins of Erosire out there.

    But does that mean each bearer of the coin has the same ability? If so, am I immune to theirmands just like I am to mine. If not, how will I able to stop them without falling under theirmands? There are so many questions.

    Actually, it would be pretty easy to find out.

    "Him? Who is he?"

    I question. Knowing is half the battle. Who had said that, I wonder?

    "He is a murderer¡­ a mass murderer. He has taken the only thing that matters most to me."

    Pauline answers weakly and turns over on the bed. Her front is also covered in spunk because I get to enjoy her tits as well. They were pretty nice. Still are, I think.

    Her face is also covered in cum. I can cum quite a lot. It is thanks to the curse.

    I actually have two curses ced on me right now. Both of them from entities far more powerful than me at the moment, at least in terms of ability.

    That kind of sucks, to be honest, but it cannot be helped.

    While Pauline did answer my question, she did not give me what I wanted to know. This is one of those weaknesses that I had pointed out with this ability.

    As long as themanded people did what they think I have ordered them to, then they believe that they have satisfied mymand, but in actual fact, they did not.

    Good thing that the Commandment is not like Geass where I can only mind control a person one time only. I can give as manymands as I want, including contradicting one. If they contradict, then the newestmand take priority.

    The old ones do not disappear unless I specific tell them to dismiss it.

    "That is not what I want to know, Pauline. I want to know who he is. What his position. What he looks like. Tell me everything that you know about him, such as¡­"

    I continue to specify things to make sure Pauline did give me the answer that I want. I did not specify everything as that would take forever, and it is not really necessary.

    Pauline blinks and bes silence for a moment. She probably recollects her thought in order to give me an in-depth answer. A question or request tooplex is not a good thing, from those experiences inst few months.

    "I do not know his actual name, but he is the inner member of the cult. He can control people with his words, making them do anything that he wants, including sexual things. I am unsure how he is able to do that, but other members state that he sold his soul to a demon, like all members of the inner circle."

    Pauline tells me, making me widen my eyes slightly.

    Could the demon be the Primordial Sin of Lust?

    I dismiss that idea immediately since Erosire seems to despise beingpared to a demon. A devil, as the Sin has stated. Devil is a subset of demons, usually refer to angels who rebel against God. Whether that is true or not, I need more confirmation.

    And knowing it is not the Primordial Sin of Lust did not make me any morefortable. Of course not, especially when I just learn there is an entity or entities out there granting people godlike powers for their souls.

    Probably not Primordial Sins or anything close to them since a soul is pretty insignificant in their eyes, considering that they could create realities with their powers and all the souls within those realities.

    Ergo, it is probably like what Pauline has said. It is a demon. Another confirmation that hell exists, and if hell exists, heaven must exist. The Ying to a Yang, sort of thing. Everything must be in bnce.

    "And he is the one that kill your son?"

    I question, merely out of curiosity.

    Pauline jerks off the bed and looks at me. Her eyes darken as she remembers something.

    "Yes. He sacrifices by baby boy. Gutted him like an animal. And I couldn''t do anything."

    Pauline utters before breaking down in tears.

    "I couldn''t do anything to stop it. I couldn''t. I can only stand there and watch the only person that had mattered in my life being taken away from me. I was scared. I was so terrified of dying but cannot die because he wouldn''t let me. He wouldn''t let me."

    Pauline cries.

    And seeing her like that, I frown deeply. It sounds like her fear of death is not of her own will. Can I do something like that with my power? Actually yes, but I prefer not to as it strips the person of their own freewill.

    "Stop crying."

    Imand.

    Pauline immediately stops despite still being extremely emotional. Themand only tells her to stop crying and nothing more. It left much to be desired even if it is incredible powerful if used correctly.

    "Please. Please help me. I will do anything you want. Anything you want at all. Just let me see my baby boy again. Just a word.

    Just a word."

    Pauline pleads, making my frown deepens.

    "No, Pauline. I will not be used as mean for you tomit suicide. Besides, your death does not solve anything for you, especially when your son was sacrificed to a demon."

    I point out after thinking over the problem a little more. Her son could not have been more than eight years old when he was killed. More correctly, being offered to a demon in exchange for something.

    That sounds a lot like a Satanic Ritual. The only difference to many rituals that are going to be reported in the years toe, this one actually works.

    And to be honest, I am a bit interested, especiallying face to face with a real demon. I havee face to face with things that are much worst than demons. Zeus is included in that list, considering he is a God.

    God is more powerful than demons, right? If not, a Primordial definitely is one.

    Out of curiosity, why didn''t Erosire just instantly vaporize me? I mean, he probably can without much effort, yet he does not. Perhaps it is pointless, considering that I would just reincarnate again.

    I am assuming that he has something to do with my death in the first ce. He probably does not have anything to do with my death, as least not directly. Doing so would mean open war, and nobody wants that, apparently.

    "Then what should I do?"

    Pauline questions.

    "Just continue what you were doing, Pauline. You are trying to find the ck Bible in order to summon a demon, aren''t you?"

    I question as I connect the dots in my mind. It makes a lot of sense with what I know and what George had seen. Pauline is trying to exchange her soul for a power.

    A power strong enough to enact revenge on her son''s murderer.

    Or maybe a way to exchange her soul for her son, so he could go to heaven. That is actually a little bit of wishful thinking, but usible. Probably. With what I know, it is hard to confirm anything.

    Obviously, I would love to have a demon strapped to a torture table in a nice quite room somewhere deep underground. I am sure I can learn quite a bit from the said demon.

    "Yes. But it is not possible since the ck Bible is lost with the cult leader. He has disappeared without a trace for more than a year now."

    Pauline responses.

    "Is that so? Have you seen the ck Bible yourself?"

    I question. I did try to look for the bible in the house, but unable to locate it. I probably could locate it eventually if I check every single instance of time with the temporal bubble, but that is extremely time consuming. It is better if I know its exact location.

    When and where it was seen.

    "Yes."

    Pauline answers simply.

    "I see. Well, please tell me exactly when and where did you see it. Do not skimp on the details."

    I request with a smile. It seems like I will have the book in my hands soon. A magical book that is able to summon demons? Sure, I will take a few copies.

    Temporal copies, I mean.

 Chapter 208: To Think Differently

    But knowing where and when the ck Bible had been previously doesn''t make me instantly want to teleport away in order to im it for myself.

    As tempting that might have been, there is actually no need for me to do anything immediately, given that that everything does work itself out in the end, at least until the time that I eventuallye face to face with George Collins in 1990.

    More correctly to say,ing face to face with myself in the 1990 this time around. I would be George instead. That is quite freaky.

    Moreover, I am probably under surveince of the cult at the moment, as indicated by Pauline. Those hidden passageways scatter throughout the house as well.

    My mother is under surveince too, but honestly, what can a Satanic Cult really turn about watching my mother going about her daily routine? Other than the fact that she is quite a milf, of course.

    Eh? If they dare to touch my mother sexually, I will murder the whole lot of them. Repeatedly. No one touches my mother but me. No one!

    Ahem.

    The Oedipusplex is probably acting up again. It is much stronger due to the primordial curse. I am going to call it that from now on. I will also call the one from Ingra a dragon curse because Ingra is one of the Dragon Gods.

    It is easier to say and reference as well.

    And yes, I did say Dragon Gods. As in more than one. It is logical to think so, considering that there are infinite number of realities out there. There might also be infinite variations of Ingra, as Gods are not exactly unique.

    I am though, as I am an Aspect. Primordial are unique too, acting as a counterbnce to the Aspects.

    Anyway, the cult might have known about my ability to mind control people from all of their spying. I think that might be the reason why they are not taking any drastic action against me. Like proceeding to upy the house and doing whatever they damn well pleased.

    I like to see them try. It would give me a chance to mindfuck each and every one of them.

    This power to givemand sentient lifeforms is probably the real reason why George had managed to survive the Satanic Cult until meeting me in 1990. By that time, the cult probably destroys itself for one reason or another.

    Most Satanic Cults are destroyed by then due to internal conflicts or external pressure from the public or the government or both.

    People do be more and more aware of those cults and their Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) if I recall correctly, but a lot of stories originating about them are quite imaginative. I suppose that not all stories about SRA are fictional, at least based on what I know now.

    I will have Hydra and the others look into the cults when I finally get out of here. It is better to actually deal with them then since I will have some insurances and backup ns to fall back upon. I would also have all of my resources at my disposal, along with all of my powers as well.

    Therefore, as George Collins, it is better for me just to gain knowledges and information.

    There is also a nagging problem about whether I can beat up a demon in a direct confrontation. Demon deals with souls, so it is safe to assume that it is spiritual adept. Or at least, it is more adept than me.

    But from what Pauline has told me, demons are not spiritual in nature. They have a physical form, and since they do exist on the physical ne, I can instantly kill them with my temporal power.

    The only exception is that they are immortal as well ascking a beginning.

    If demons have no beginning, I cannot de-age them to when they do not exist. If they are immortal, it will be a pain in the ass to kill them with time.

    I really need a way to kill things that don''t have an origin and don''t age, especially when they also exist outside the physical and material ne. Such a pain in the ass, but necessary.

    In any case, knowing that demons have physical forms allows me to deal a number of things on them.

    Also, demons might not be immune to this Commandment ability of mine.

    I do hope so since this ability affects every living thing. Things with a brain. It does not affect nts or things that aren''t sentient but biological in nature.

    It does work on animal since I have tested on dogs and cats before, but whether they canprehend mymand in ways that I intended it be is another matter altogether.

    I am probably thinking about this way too much, but I want to be sure I have addressed every possible angle. Most angle that I can think of. Stuff will fall through the crack regardless, so it is good to have a n within a n.

    "Thank you for all of that, Pauline."

    I tell the naked woman once I have acquired all that I need to know from her.

    And if I missed anything, I wille back to her for more informationter down the road. Obviously, it would be a lot better if I can just download her entire memory into a digital database, but Ick that capability at the moment.

    I will make do with what I currently have.

    "Now listen and listen well, Pauline. You will lock everything that happen between us away in the back of your mind until I introduce myself to you as Maximilien Maxwell once more. You will only know me as George Collins unless I tell you otherwise."

    I tell Pauline, creating a new set of memory as well as personality within her mind.

    This is very possible with the Commandment power. Many things are actually possible with this power, to the point that I lost all respect for George himself. He should have spent more time learning about this power and understanding it fully.

    George did not, thus unable to master it.

    I intend to master it fully even if I will not get to keep it in the end. Even so, I would have 14 years with it. I can do a lot in a week let alone 14 years.

    And that isn''t resorting to bending time to my will.

    I spend the next 10 minutes or so setting up a new subconsciousness in Pauline. It needs to be specific in order for the subconsciousness to bepletely hidden away.

    And by the time that I am done, the rippling effect in the airspace around dissipates quite a bit. Seeing its dissipations tells me that George had never talked to Pauline in depth.

    He had only talked enough to get into her pants.

    While I am more or lesspletely fine with people thinking about their dick around beautiful women, but at least they should also think with their brain too. If having sex with results in ruin, then no matter what, do not do it.

    It is simply not worth it, and there are plenty of fishes in ocean. An infinite ocean too.

    "Alright, Pauline. You have a long night, so take a good rest and when you wake up again, you will find yourselfplete refresh. You will then take a shower, clean yourself and dismiss anything strange in this room before resuming what you were doing yesterday without thinking anymore about all of this in any form."

    I tell Pauline and ponder whether that is sufficient. It might not for the long term, but it is good enough for the short term.

    It is not like I am not going to drop by her ce every now and then to get myself off with her body. I am building a personal harem after all. How many people are in this harem of mine, anyway? I cannot remember exactly, but it is more than 20 women.

    Most of them are married too. Knocking them up and cuckolding their asshole husband seems to make my day, especially when my grudges run pretty deep.

    Each of them pretty much deserved it one way or another.

    I watch Pauline falls into a deep sleep while being covered with my spunk. Her bed is covered with my spunk too. Like an enormous amount.

    It is utterly drenched in the stuff, and I feel very dehydrated to have cum that much.

    I will need to drink a lot of fluids soon. It is to help my body produce more cum. It can produce cum at an elerated speed, allowing me to cum in rapid session or within a very short amount of time.

    It is simr through the use of my power, and the reason that I didn''t use my power to restore myself to pristine state is simply because it would also restore my erection. My incredible steel erection.

    That is like torturing myself.

    I watch Pauline for a short moment more before existing the room. She can be considered as a sleeper agent. One that requires activations.

    Hydra is working towards producing such deep-cover sleeper agents in the 1990. Mostly involves them grabbing important people and inserting false memory and personality with the mind of those people, converting them into operatives.

    It is a form of brainwashing. Something that I dislike greatly due to it breeching my principle. It also is not the same as what I did to Pauline, as I am not altering her original personality or memory.

    I am merely fabricating a temporal persona that I can use for one thing or another.

    And when this is all over, I will restore her to her original persona.

    I might even give her back her child as well, as it wouldn''t take much effort on my part.

    But it does beg the question of whether a temporal clone has a soul or not.

    I am leaning towards no since Zeus and Zephyr do not have a soul. It is the whole reason for what they are doing right now, opening a portal into the Twisted Nether.

    While I believe that is a bad idea, but I also believe that no pain no gain. Besides, I trust that Zeus and Zephyr know what they are doing and have the power to back it up. So far, it seems to be that way.

    I head into the kitchen to get something to drink, all to hydrate myself and restore my lost body fluid, and by ransacking through the fridge and cabs, I notice there is quite a lot of anti-depression drugs stashing here and there.

    Knowing how many of them there are does make me feel somewhat for Pauline. I am still a human at heart after all, and I prefer to be so.

    I take a seat by the table and pour myself some milks. There are some beverages avable, but I think milk is a better choice. Getting drunk in the morning would not be a good idea.

    As I consume the drink, I create a temporal bubble in front of me to see Pauline and her son. He usually sits at the table every morning across from me while his mother makes him breakfast.

    "I got a 10 on my test yesterday, so can I have some pancakes, mummy?"

    The boy asks, and his request for pancakes has made me remember my own family. A family of three, so far. Has it been months already? Months since I have seen my daughters. Both of them.

    Both Antigone and Christina should still be where I have left them. Back in 1990. 14 years from now.

    I would have been gone for like half a day when I meet them again, but from my perspective, it would have been years.

    "Of course, darling."

    Pauline replies and proceeds to make some of the best pancakes for her son, who smiles at her.

    After breakfast, Pauline helps her son get ready for school and drives him there herself. After that, she heads to work to make ends meet. She is a single mother, as her husband is¡­ not dead. He is actually one of the cult members, but she doesn''t exactly know who.

    That is usually what happen when you have a huge ass orgy.

    Watching the interaction, I have half a mind to bring the boy from the past into the present, all just to give Pauline something to live for. She wants to die, but somehow, she is unable to due to her fear of dying.

    That fear is not her own. It was insert within her psych, thus making her fearful of death.

    I can do something like that with my power, but it is not restricted to my power. There are many ways to insert the fear of death into a person, and it doesn''t require having supernatural powers either.

    As a matter of fact, I can do it with hypnotic suggestion. Just take a lot of time and conditioning of the brain. Really smart people can do it themselves, as hypnotists aren''t exactly all quacks.

    Once I finish my drink, I clean my cup and put everything back in order before exiting the house. I did not exit the front door, but rather teleporting away.

    No one had seen me entering the house, and therefore, no one will see me exiting it.

    There is also no need, considering I can teleport anywhere I want, as long as no one sees me doing it, as that would cause a reset. I have to be pretty careful.

    It helps when I can just freeze time and teleport anywhere that I want without anyone being the wiser.

    I did exactly that before heading to a branch of Chrono Reserves. It is a somewhat early to get financial aids for my transportationpany, but it is not much of a divergence. I can just state exactly when I want thepany to start, thus matching up with what George did.

    To be honest, I want to get this out the way, so I can concentrate on more important things.

    Things that I might enjoy immensely. Trolling people for example. I mean exploring more depth to this ability, which involves trolling a lot of people.

    Chrono Reserves is always packed with people. Like incredibly packed, but like every corporations and subsidiaries of mine, there are no line to queue. It is incredibly annoying to stand in line all day. A big waste of time too.

    Instead there always a ticket machine.

    The ticket machine is not as advanced as in the 1990, in Lok Entertainment and Infinite Medical Center for example, but it serves it purpose.

    I just need select the right option through the level and pick up the ticket that it spews out. Obviously, if I still have a Hydra ring, I could skip the line.

    Since I do not, I guess I will have to wait in line like everyone else.

    The ticket did imprint the estimate time until my turn, allowing me to leave the bank and do something else before returning. Of course, the time should be treated like an appointment time, thus if I amte to it, I forfeit my ticket.

    It is not fair to hold everyone up just because someone didn''t show up after getting their ticket.

    Despite that, most people still didn''t leave to do something else, just incase they get hold up in traffic or something of sort.

    As for me, I feel like I need to take a nap.

    I did spend the whole night fucking Pauline after all, and for the same reason as restoring my body to pristine condition, I cannot just make my tiredness go away.

    Nevertheless, it might be better for me to get some shut eyes. I do not actually sleep while I am resting my mind and body. My mind is still pretty active, as I think about other stuff.

    Not a very good idea, but I can fix brain damage once I return to normal.

    "Is this seat taken?"

    I ask one of the guys sitting by the waiting bench. There is an empty seat next to him. One of very few remaining since it is still early in the morning. Business hours just started after all.

    "Yes. Sorry. It is taken."

    The man answers as I cast a look at his proposed idea. It is opened right in front of him, as he is trying to memorize his lines. It is all to pitch his idea to the bank for some investment funding.

    Aputer. Like a super primitiveputer, but by 1976 standard, it is cutting edge technology.

    And just knowing that, I wish I am back in the 1990. At least then,puter is not a piece of shit that has like 4KB of memory while costing upwards of $600 bucks.

    I mean. Seriously. C''mon!

    "You proposing a Computer Company, huh? May I suggest a logo to go with your brand?"

    I point out with a smile.

    The man looks at me strangely for a second, wondering why I am chatting to him. Well. It is for obvious reason. One. I would need to chat him in one day, proposing an idea to him.

    "Sure, what you got in mind?"

    The young man questions.

    "How about an apple? It is much simpler than having Newton sitting under a tree, readying to get his head crack open by what appears to be an apple. People might think differently if it is just an apple by itself. More in line with what you want them to think."

 Chapter 209: The Two Steve of Apple

    It is kind of bizarre sitting here and talking to Steve Jobs, especially when I am supposed to have like a meeting with the said man alongside with Bill Gates at Terra Entertainment Headquarter in Hollywood in the year 1990.

    Or more correctly to say, I should have done that about half a year ago despite it is currently 1976.

    How does that work exactly, considering that this is about 14 years in the past?

    ying around with time does produce some interesting results. Some really wacky results too.

    But being trapped here in this memory of 1976 is not my doing, and sadly enough, I am unable to leave this ce and return to where I should be, at least not through my own power.

    That is annoying. Very annoying.

    In addition, this feels less and less like a memory due to people acting and behaving well beyond what George would understand orprehend. I am also meeting people that George himself would never have possibly meet in the past.

    People like Steve Jobs for example.

    Sure, it is possible that George could fabricate all of this with his imagination, but it feels unlikely. That is because hecks the brainpower as well as the capacity to imagine vividly.

    Also, George would not know who Steve Jobs is since Apple is not a global giant in the 1990. It wouldn''t be until the release of the iPhone in 2007.

    Therefore, it is better to assume that this an alternate reality. Well. Inclined to anyway because there simply too many things that contradict this theory.

    For example, Chrono Reserves exist.

    But how could it exist when I am a unique being?

    As an Aspect, there should only be one of me in all of time, so without me existing in this timeline, thispany should not exist. Yet here it is, and with countless of peopleing in everyday to pitch their ideas, hoping to get some funding.

    I am honestly somewhat surprised to run into Steve Jobs here in this branch of Chrono Reserves. I am aware that he and his business partners, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, require some funding for their startuppany, but I expect them to be in California instead of here.

    All of them should be living in California.

    As a matter of fact, I recall vaguely that Steve Jobs should be living in Los Altos, California.

    Steve Jobs would run hisputerpany out of the garage of his childhood home, at least for the next couple of years alongside with Steve Wozniak.

    And as for Ronald Wayne, the man did not really have the same confidence and faith as both Jobs and Wozniak, thus selling back his shares in thepany in a couple of weeks or so.

    This is all history from my perspective, at least history from the original timeline. I did not really check with the prime timeline, as Apple exists in 1990, so I have assumed its history should still be rtively the same.

    Apparently, some stuff has changed. Not much anyway.

    One way or another, Chronicles would control Apple as well as every other major technology giant.

    I wonder what Bill Gates is doing just out of curiosity. Microsoft was founded justst year in 1975.

    And just like the founders of Apple, Bill Gates and his business partners also applied for some funding from Chrono Reserves, which was promptly granted. Should have been granted, I should say.

    There was a time that Chrono Reserves chase after important startups like Apple and Microsoft. That stops when Chrono Reserves bes too powerful, dominating the economic sector.

    Thus, there no longer a need to chase down people just to give them money.

    Let theme to Chrono Reserves begging for money. It is better that way.

    Why did I not start Apple and Microsoft myself?

    I sort of did, just not under the same name because there is no real reason to use the same name, just because. I did not even start it in the same country, just to keep thepetition going.

    Healthypetition. No need for espionage or anything of sort.

    The United States might have my support simply because I was born as an American, but despite that, I am not neglecting all of other countries. All foundation must beid, years in advance.

    Of course, there is another reason why I did not start Apple or Microsoft here during this time. I would not be able to produce the same results as their original founders. Since I would not, there really is no point of doing so.

    "Think differently? That is interesting, Mister¡­?"

    Steve responses.

    "Collins. Mr. Collins. Wow. I just sound like my father. You can call me Max.

    Steve."

    I response. It is quite troubling to use George Collins as my name when introducing myself to people, but unfortunately, I cannot use Maximilien Maxwell. That would cause problem down the line.

    Or will it?

    This is an alternate reality after all. At least I am starting to think so. One that mirrors the prime reality even though I should not exist in this reality. I am unable to determine that at the moment.

    Actually, I could. It would be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

    Why didn''t I think of it sooner? Maybe because I am way too horny to think clearly. This curse is even more torturous than the burning curse from Ingra. At least, the burning sensation numbs after a while unlike this.

    Also, walking around with a huge erection is asking for trouble. Good thing no one notice yet, or maybe they did, but they are too busy or preupied to say anything.

    Steve Jobs smiles faintly, realizing that I have gotten his name from his notebook. I actually didn''t, and there is no need to rify.

    "So, Max, what brings you here?"

    Steve asks me and casts a nce at my empty hands. Unlike most people, more like everyone actually, I did not bring anything with me in order to pitch my idea to the bank.

    "Same thing as you, Steve. I am here to pitch my idea to the bank and get some funding. I am thinking of starting a transportationpany. One of the best here in the east side."

    I answer with a smile and take note of the world beginning to crack. Is it due to talking to Steve? I am not supposed to talk to the man because George did not. Of course, I can easily correct that problem with a littlemand.

    "Really, and you very confidence about this?"

    Steve questions and ponders for a moment.

    And before I could answer him, his partner returns from the restroom. Steve Wozniak himself. Ronald Wayne did intoe. Probably busy with someone else. Or really has no faith in thepany.

    "Hello Steve."

    I greet the young man, surprising him. Steve Jobs is also surprised, considering that there are no name tags or anything of the sort on Mr. Wozniak unlike the notebook that Steve is holding.

    "Hello?"

    The second Steve greets me before casting a look at Jobs.

    "Friend of yours?"

    He asks Steve Jobs.

    "I wonder if he is."

    Steve Jobs answers with a smile. Despite that smile, he is scrutinizing me. A lot more than before since I should not have known who Steve Wozniak is.

    "I could be, so therefore, I should be. It is better to have friends instead of enemies. That way, you can backstab them when they least expected."

    I answer with a smile and offer the seat back to Mr. Wozniak. It is his seat in the first ce, so think of it as me keeping it warm for him. I state the exact same thing to both Steve.

    Having the same name makes referring to them easy, but also confusion when holding a conversation, not something I would do since talking to them for too long might cause unintended consequences.

    Dire consequences.

    Steve Jobs chuckles at that statement and nods before exining a few things to his friend.

    "You think we should change the logo before we even proposed the idea to the bank?"

    Steve Wozniak questions, not liking the proposed idea at all. To change things at this stage is not really a good thing, especially when there is a lot riding on this. While both Steve do have some funds to get themselves started, it is simply better to have the backing of the bank.

    Words on the Street is that if apany as the backing of Chrono Reserves, it is certain to seed.

    It is a side effect of knowing whichpany will seed and which will fail thanks to future knowledge from me.

    Henry Oxford has not implemented any failsafe yet, just to stop people from looking to deeply. He will do so soon, but strangely enough, it actually makes people looks even deeper, especially the US of A.

    The US Government is investigating Chrono Holdings and all of its subsidiaries. Its parentpany as well. There will be a day when it will be USA v. Chronicles.

    Probably more like USA v. its people. That is what I am working towards anyway. I want to remind the good US Government that it exists solely to serve the people, not the other way around.

    It has seemed to forget that very fact over the years.

    Anyway, having backing of Chrono Reserves also means more money. Like a lot more money.

    Startuppanies can do a lot of things with million of dor at its disposal, and while that does sound a lot for this day and age, it is not really that much for Chrono Reserves.

    "We do not need to change it now. Maybe in a few months when we get the product on the market."

    Steve Jobs points out. He is actually the brain of the group. His intelligence is in business and marketing unlike Steve Wozniak, who is more like an employee than actually a partner.

    Sure, Jobs steals ideas from other people without giving them due credits, but I would do the same in his shoes. Certainly.

    Having a great idea and not knowing how to make it into something useful like Steve Jobs can is really like having no idea at all.

    It is not what you have but how you use or apply it. That is how it is with new things.

    Likewise, I am sure that Steve Jobs is going to steal that idea about a much cleaner logo design, making people think differently. Or was it think different.

    What was the slogan again? Whatever it was, I am actually rying what Steve Jobs has alreadye up with or stolen from people who works for him in the future.

    Steve Wozniak agrees and pays attention back to me, but my attention is elsewhere.

    I am just looking around to see if there is anyone else that I should talk to as well. I realize quickly that it is unnecessary to do that as George Collins, so I return my attention to Jobs and Wozniak. I shouldn''t even talk to these two either.

    But it is interesting.

    "Yes, it doesn''t really matter if you change the logo or not as long as you are selling what people want."

    I speak up.

    "And what do people want?"

    Steve Wozniak questions before Steve Jobs could.

    "Convenience."

    I answer with a shrug, making them both look at me questioningly. Guess I will have to exin as that is not really a concept in this day and age. It will be in the future.

    "People are prettyzy by nature. It is why we invent things to make our life easier, isn''t it? If you have something that everyone wants, then they will pay whatever for the convenience of having it despite not really needing it in the first ce."

    I continue with a smile.

    "People are pretty stupid too, so if you are smart enough, you can tell them what they want, and they will eat it up without a second thought because it is convenience to do so."

    That statement shocks both of them, but it is the truth. Most people don''t really know what they really want themselves and just submit to others.

    "Are you implying something, Mr. Collins?"

    Steve Jobs questions with a frown after a short moment, realizing the hidden meaning.

    It sounds like an insult to him, and it is to some capacity, but most of it is apliment. Apliment to Steve Jobs for creating a generation of hardcore fans. To which I call Apple Sheep. Most people call them that, but hey, I am trying to do the same thing, but on a muchrger scale.

    "Am I? Sorry if it sounds something else, but I merely only speaking my mind, so don''t mind me."

    I response.

    "No, I probably think too much myself, but what you are saying is quite interesting. I actually have the same line of thoughts as you. Sadly, not many people understand."

    Steve Jobs replies before smiling once more. He wants to say more, but he refrains himself due to the other Steve. It seems that their rtionship isn''t as solid from the start.

    But that is probably because Steve Jobs is quite self-centered, more so in the future.

    "Then don''t. You actually only need to make important people understand. People from the bank for example, but I have a good feeling that they will invest money into yourpany. No. I am more than certain that they cannot refuse."

    I answer with a smile. Unless Steve Jobs royally screw up in the pitch meeting, he will have his funding, as hispany along with many others are on the list of must acquire, from the start if possible.

    Somepanies did fall through the crack by 1990s, thus requiring a hostile takeover in the future. I will do that when it is time. There is really no need to hurry as everything is falling in to ce. Most of my ns anyway.

    Things do happen out of my control, thus requiring me to adjust my n.

    "How are you so confident?"

    Steve Jobs questions as his eyes narrow slightly.

    "Do you believe me if I said that I can see the future?"

    I response before pausing for effect.

    Steve Jobs and his business partner, Steve Wozniak stare at me to see if I am joking or not. Of course, I am not joking. I can really see the future, but no one is going to believe that.

    "I am inclined to believe you despite how crazy that sounds, Mr. Collins."

    Steve Jobs answers, and I chuckle.

    "Yup. That is the power of confidence. If you are confidence, you can spew total nonsense and others would believe you simply because they cannot seem to doubt your words."

    I point out. It is a good lesson to be learned. I have learned it myself a long time ago.

    It does help greatly when I can look into the future as well, knowing exactly what will happen. Nothing beats that kind of cheating, honestly.

    "But honestly, I believe that you will have your funding. It is already a certainty."

 Chapter 210: Even Below Rock Bottom

    Steve Jobs remains skeptical, but I suppose that is within his character. Honestly, I would be skeptical too if I was in his shoes, sitting there and chatting to someone cynical like me.

    I am not cynical. Just a bit preupied with someone else on my mind at the moment. Thus, I did not want to beat around the bushes and troll other too much.

    There is also no need for me to befriend Steve Jobs as George Collins. Doing something like that would serve no real purpose whatsoever. I would befriend him if I was in my actual body, as that will probably make our future conversation a lot more pleasant and interesting.

    Not that our current conversation is not already interesting.

    I actually like Steve Jobs as a person, but I am certain I would not like this much as a business partner based on what I know of his history back in the original timeline. Not many people do, actually.

    In any case, Steve Jobs has great confident in his business proposal, or he would not be so calmed like this, sitting here and revising his notes at a leisure pace. The same could not be said for Steve Wozniak, however.

    The man requires to use the restroom constantly.

    Quite a lot of people require to use the restroom. Not to take a leak or unload anything. They are using it to smoke and calm their nerve. No smoking is allowed outside designated area.

    That is actually a modern idea, not quite fit for this ear, but a good idea is a good idea.

    Gender equality too, as there is many women working here at Chrono Reserves, and they aren''t always in the reception or lobby area. Once more, sex sells, and talking to a professional woman is a lot more easy on the eye than talking to a man.

    Especially when the man has long hair, beards, mustaches and sideburns. Not all of the mentioned at once, but still. Men also wear baggy pants a lot too. In contrast, women are more fashionable.

    Women also starting to show a lot of skin too. Scandalous amount to many of the older generation in this era. All thanks to mypanies introducing ideas. But I guess progress is progress.

    "Well. It is nice talking to you, Mr. Collins. I wish you the best of luck with your endeavor."

    Steve Jobs tells me when his number finally appears on the billboard alongside with a counter number, telling him to head there as soon as possible. Steve Wozniak already on his way there, pushing through the crowd.

    "Likewise, Mr. Jobs."

    I response with a smile and watch Steve Jobs heads off. I check my number afterwards and look at the massive billboard overhead. It would be another hour or so before my turn.

    And standing around here feels like a really good waste of time.

    But then again, I don''t have anything else to do. That is not exactly true. I do have plenty of things that I want to do. For example, stopping time and then go checking up on myself.

    Where was I around this time in 1976? Oh right, in China.

    I am currently setting up some undergroundplexes in mountainous area in China. Around July or August, there will be a major earthquake, destroying homes and killing a lot of people.

    Quite a tragedy, but it allows me to step in and starts building under the guise of reconstruction. I am able to obtain a huge workforce in the process too. ve workforce, but meh.

    I did pay the men for their time, so it is like actual work. Also give them and their family a good shelter too, so it is not all that bad. Sure, I exploit them and use the situation to my advantage, but not more than anyone else.

    Since it is March at the moment, the past-me is probably greasing some Chinese politicians. Fucking a lot too from what I can remember. Good thing that this is after Ambrosia or there is a lot of Antigone around.

    But then again, Antigone will be born regardless of whether I am infertile or not. Adria was born even though I had made damn sure my sperm were basically dead. Also, all those girls that I screwed before Ambrosia did not get knocked up.

    I had checked on every girl that I banged after Antigone. Some of them are in better ces than they had previously thanks to my rather generous donation. Some are in worst ces due to drug addiction and so on. That cannot be helped.

    Anyway, I chill around the lobby until my numberes up. Talk to a bunch of people to because why not? Some of them has crazy ass proposal.

    Proposals that would definitely not get approved under normal circumstances, but regardless of how crazy or insane the business proposal is, as long as it make money, it will be get approved.

    I check the counter number before heading there. Since there just aren''t enough seat for everyone, I have to push my way through the crowd.

    And while it is called a counter, it is actually a small sound-proof cubical with ss panel windows just in case something happens inside. Not that anything would happen for obvious reason.

    "Hello, Mr. Collins. How may I help you today?"

    The woman asks me when I enter the cubicle. The first thing that I look is her blouse, just to see what she is hiding there. The second thing is her fingers, not to check for her wedding ring, but I also check for that after seeing the Hydra ring.

    She is a Hydra agent. The first generation.

    Hydra agents are mixed into the workforce mostly for security reason. While there are Shield security personnel on the premise, the bank does get robbed quite regrly.

    Like once every couple of weeks or so.

    And having Hydra agents will ensure the safety of all the employees as well as customers. A stray bullet can do a lot of damage in a crowded ce like Chrono Reserves, so those robbers usually get whatever they demand if they somehow managed to grab some hostages.

    Of course, they will not get to keep the money for long, as Henry did not get where he is without a bit of brutality now and then.

    He will let the cops deal with the robbers while he destroys their family and livelihoods.

    That does not stop people from trying to rob him, and by extension me, however. At least not yet, but it will eventually.

    "Oh. You could help me a lot, Ms. Fleming, but what I need right now is a look at your Hydra ring. Can you please hand it over?"

    I request despite knowing that will not go well. Hydra ring has biometric sensor built into them. Thus, even if she gives it to me, I would not be able to use it. I would if I was in my actual body.

    The ring will recognize my biometric signature in that case, not when I am George Collins, however. It is not that advanced yet. Is it even possible to sense a soul technologically? If not, I will have to resort to magic.

    But all of this is another time.

    "Excuse me, Mr. Collins, but what Hydra ring are you referring to?"

    The woman responses and narrows her eyes. She also casts a nce out of the ss window to check if there is anyone paying attention. There is always someone paying attention.

    Shield is also watching as well. I mean the virtual intelligence Shield.

    Its surveincework is being built at the moment, but important ces like Chrono Reserves and all the branches already has eyes and ears.

    "That ring on your finger, Ms. Fleming. It is called a Hydra ring. Please. Can I have a look at it? I promise I will give it back to you after a few seconds or so.

    Or are you afraid of something?"

    I request. Again, I did not resort to use mymandment ability. There is no need, as she would give the ring to me regardless simply because I request it.

    "How did you know it is called a Hydra ring, Mr. Collins, but please, have a look if you like."

    The woman proceeds to take the ring of her finger and hand it over to me.

    As a Hydra agent, she isn''t too worry about me stealing it. It is a dead paperweight to me anyway, and besides, like where would I run too with her ring? Certainly not very far.

    I did not bother to have a look at the ring before cing it on the table right in front of me. Once I did that, I finally take the seat and lean back against the backrest. Casually too.

    "You can have it back now, Ms. Fleming. I just need it off your hand for a bit, and it would be incredibly helpful if you did it yourself without me forcing you to. I do not like mind-controlling people who work for me."

    I tell her as the air begin to shimmer. Ripples start to form, as I state something that I should not have, at least to someone like her.

    She narrows her eyes before scanning me up and down, trying to see something that is not there. She will not be able to determine my identity, at least without my Hydra ring.

    "Who are you, really, Mr. Collins?"

    She eventually asks, realizing that there is something off about me. I am sure that she has files on me, but those files don''t reveal exactly who I am.

    "I cannot tell you, Ms. Fleming, but I can show you, as long as you do not speak a single word of what happen here to anyone, including those within Hydra. Please. Put on your ring."

    I response and that statement alone makes her tense up.

    While she is a member of Hydra, she is not a high-ranking member. High-ranking members would not take on jobs like this unless there is a reason to, but even so, she should be aware a lot of things.

    She picks up the ring and put it back on her finger. She also checks it to make sure it is in fact a Hydra ring. It obviously is. There is no need for me to do a switcheroo.

    Once she did, I gesture my hand across the table, causing another ring to appear. The moment that it did, her ring vibrates, informing that she is in the presence of herself.

    That should not be possible as each ring is uniquely crafted and created. The only one who can create new rings and distribute them are the inner members.

    Her eyes immediately widen as she practically jumps up from her seat.

    The ripples in the air around us also widen, spreading rapidly, but not enough for it to cause a reset. I suppose that she did take my word to heart, as in not to speak a single word of this to anyone.

    "I am so sorry, I did not know."

    She hastily apologizes, realizing that I am an inner member of Hydra.

    I am actually the Supreme Commander of Hydra, but it will be difficult to prove that to her as she does know much about the Supreme Commander.

    "That is okay, Ms. Fleming. Please sit down so we can have a chat."

    I request.

    "Yes. Of course. What can I do for you Mr. Collins?"

    She speaks up after taking her seat again. She was nice before, but she is a lot nicer now. While there is little to no abusive of authority within Hydra, she has to be respectful towards the inner members.

    "The reason that I do not carry my ring is simply because I am undercover right now. No need for you to know more than that, and I do not want to hear what happen in this room from a third person."

    I tell the woman. She nods in understanding.

    "That aside, I want you to approve my proposal like you would normally. I do not want to waste time convincing you about the proposal, as it is a waste of time."

    I exin my desire to start a transportationpany. Just a briefly. As brief as George Collins did from his own past. He did not talk to the same person, which is pretty lucky. He actually talked to a normal person, who also fucked him afterwards because he hadmanded her to do so.

    That is the reason why I have checked whether I am talking to a Hydra agent or not. If I did not, I would just use my charm instead.

    I could still use my charm, but it is not that effective against a Hydra agent, as they are trained in such tactics. They are trained in a lot of tactics, actually.

    "I can do that for you, Mr. Collins. The fund will be avable in your ount by the end of the day."

    She tells me.

    "There is no need to hurry, Ms. Fleming. Make sure that it is approved on the merit, not simply because I have told you so. Create any documents that you need because I did not bother to produce any"

    I tell the woman before frowning slightly.

    "I do not want anyone raising any eyebrow about this. If someone asked me about it, I know that you did not do a good job."

    I warn her, making her sweat a little. She knows full well about the disciplinemittee, and all those hellish training could notpare. It also makes sure she knows how important this task is as well.

    "It will be done as you specified, Mr. Collins. Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

    The woman asks afterwards.

    That question gives me pause, and I examine the cracks in the airspace around me. They are no longer widening or spreading, but they are not healing either. What did George do to that Sarah girl? He did not erase her memory, but rather, turn her into his fuck doll.

    Does that mean I have to? I do not really want to do that, but my hand is tied at the moment.

    "Yes, there is Ms. Fleming. I want to talk in private with Sarah Langston after this. No need to concern yourself with what I have to say to her, just have her here as soon as possible."

    I request with a smile, causing the woman to blink. She has a good idea what I want to do, and it does make her opinion of me to drop. That is why I use the Commandment power, making sure she doesn''t concern herself with what happen afterwards.

    George. George. George. My opinion of him is even below rock bottom.

    Is that even possible?

 Chapter 211: Being The First is Important

    As I recall, Sarah Langston is a lovely girl, and she would have a lifelong career here at Chrono Reserves like most people who are currently working here at the moment if it was not for one George Collins.

    It is not easy getting employed at Chrono Holdings and any of its subsidiaries while Henry Oxford is in charge. This is due to some unpleasantness a few years ago with several employees.

    Therefore, in order to prevent such unpleasantness from happening all over again, everyone has to go through a host of preliminary analysis, including quite invasive screening processes, all done with the consent from the candidate of course.

    Just for legal repercussionter on down the road. The Firm is not founded yet in 1976. Not exactly. It is already founded, but it has no business in drabbling with legal yet. It will by the dawn of 1980.

    Draconic interviews are conducted as well if that is usible. Psychological analysis from Shield too as always. Thus, even I think that this is way too much.

    I was not even this crazy cautious when hiring people for Hydra from way back, but then again, I have the benefit of my time-based power. No one can really backstab me without me knowing about it way in advance.

    Speaking of Shield, she is capable of learning new things on her own without my inputs but doing that does require a lot of time as well as data. Data that would have to be collected progressively over the course of many years. Data that cannot be fabricated or simted in any way.

    All of this does make the learning process for Shield exceedingly slow, at least not until Shield has eyes and ears everywhere in the United States. And the rest of the world too, eventually.

    By the dawn of 21st century from my ns. Probably sooner now thanks to the emergence of Legion, and just like Legion himself, Shield is not allowed to learn things that she is not designed to. This is just to stop her from bing self-aware.

    Cannot allow that to happen to any of my virtual intelligences, as a genocidal war against the machine is not really something that I want to deal with yet. It is troublesome too, as all of it would consider to be a distraction.

    Aside from the inputs from Shield in hiring people, Hydra is also part of the screening processes, acting as a humanponent to Shield herself. There is a reason why there are no virtual intelligence within Hydra even though it would make things a lot easier and smoother for the members.

    I did give Hydra a virtual intelligence once, in another timeline. The Gctic Empire timeline, and while having one does make their job easier to some extends, it makes themzy and slobby as hell. Not to mentioncent too.

    This is usually what happen when people rely way too much on technology instead of their own brain and skillset.

    And when the rebels sessfully destroyed theputer matrix, Hydra bes an ineffective group as a whole, simply because of their reliance on virtual intelligences doing the menial stuff. Sure, I could have fixed all of that, but by then, a reset would be much better.

    With my power over time, it does feel like a game. If something screws up royally, I just push the reset button and try again. It is as easy as that.

    Although I could fight it out and lead my Gctic Empire to victory, it is way too troublesome.

    The rebels are like cockroaches. They are everywhere and discontent with everything that I did. I guess that is really why Palpatine is all crazy and evil, at least from the perspective of major characters.

    I like Palpatine for what he had managed to aplish in the prequel trilogy with his intelligence, but I highly dislike him for what all the stupid things that he did in the original trilogy.

    Do not get me started on the sequel trilogy, where Palpatine reduced to basically to a plot device for Luke-wannabe. The wokeness of the 21st century is incredibly contagious.

    That is why I like the 20th century better, where women are actual women. Men are men. No gender or racial diversity bullshit that gue pretty much everything. It is not sexist or racist to like thing that are rtable.

    Asian likes Eastern stuff. White like white stuff. ck like ck stuff. Guy like girls. Girls like guys. That is not being sexist or racist.

    That is called having a preference.

    Did I just defend George Collins, who hadmanded Sara Langston to join him on sexual escapade?

    Technical, it wasmanding her to join his new transportationpany as his sex secretary. He just needed someone to fuck whenever he wanted, thus not treating her like a normal person. I guess that being able tomand anyone to do anything changed him for the worst.

    By this point in time, George had already taken his revenge on most of the people who had done him wrong in the past, and he is going to just abuse his power from here onward. Meaning that I will have to as well.

    It is more fun enacting revenge or vengeance of people who deserve it. It is not fun doing it to someone like Sarah Langston, who is quite nice and humble.

    It takes another couple more minutes before the door into the cubicle opens again. A young girl in her early twenties step inside alone.

    "Hello, Mr. Collins. I have been informed that you need my service. How can I be of help?"

    Sarah states before taking the sit across the table from me. As she did so, I scan her in entirely, having a really good look at her assets. I could see why George was smitten with her, wanting to turn her into his personal cumdump.

    I would to if I was a sexual deviant.

    "Yes, Ms. Langston. May I call you Sarah? You can call me Max in return. It is better that way since we will be acquittanced for a long time. Like for the next couple of years."

    Iment. I recall that once the transportationpany folds, I will also discard her along with most people working at thepany. George simply grew bored with all of them over time. It cannot really be helped since that is who he is.

    That is also who I am, I guess, but I try not to discard people like a piece of trash, at least those people who are devoted me and the cause. They are given up their life for something important, and I should treat them with dignity.

    I should also treat Sarah Langston with dignity. There is no need to turn her into a mindless sex puppet when there so much fun could be had if she is also into it.

    George had never used his ability in a really interesting way, thus making me incredibly disappointed.

    "I do not understand. Am I getting fired, Mr. Collins?"

    Sarah questions. Looks like she has been informed who I am, but to what extends, I am unsure. I trust that she only knows the bare minimum just to prevent her from being disrespectful or simr.

    I am currently in the position of power, at least in her eyes. In actual fact, I cannot do anything to her in rtion to her job. Doing so would raise a red g, all the way up the chain ofmand.

    There are plenty of safeguard in ce for these sorts of things, especially when mind control is possible with psionic power. At least theoretically.

    "No, Sarah. Please think of it as a promotion of sort, at least you will be making a lot more money than you would when working here. A lot more benefits too, not to mention other enjoyable stuff."

    I point out and try to recall what happen to her after being discarded. Nothinges to mind, so I am unsure what to do with her afterwards.

    Would be nice if she has a stable job and a life after me. I am nice to people that I know, and I do know Sarah, even if this is the first time that I have met her personally.

    "Do I have the option of refusing, Mr. Collins?"

    Sarah questions. Her expression remains calmed and collected, but she is under enormous stress. It is visible in her eyes. I wonder why. Might be because her current job demands a lot from her.

    That is expected, as only dedicated people can seed.

    "Please, call me Max. And of course, you do have that option, Sarah. It will always be avable to you as this is not a coercion but a once in a lifetime opportunity of sort. But let us look it at this way, where do you see yourself in a couple of years? Do you see yourself still working here?"

    I question.

    "I would like to remain here. I think I would do well here."

    Sarah responses with a faint smile. It is actually very hard to convince someone who had already made up her mind. But very hard is not impossible. However, a lot of options are closed to me.

    Would have been a lot easier to simply mind control her, but that would be stripping her of her freewill as well as sense of self. I will not cross that line no matter what, as it would turn me into someone like George.

    I will not allow myself and my principles to be corrupted by power.

    "I think you would too, if it is for yourself. If it is for another then please, think about it. There is really no need to waste your life for someone else."

    I tell her after pondering for a moment. She is probably not interested in money, prestige or fame. She is young and in the prime of her life. She must have struggled quite hard to be employed here despite the stressful workload.

    Why? All for someone, of course. Someone does not even look her way. How did I know that? Because no one came for her after she was taken away by George. If that person loves her in return, he would have done anything to get her back.

    He did not, so it is safe to say, it is one-sided love.

    Of course, this is all spection, but a very good spection, nheless. It is confirmed in her micro-expression. Hard to pick up those micro-expression without Selene helping me out, but it is still doable.

    "Thank you for the advice, Mr. Collins."

    Sarah responses humbly with a smile. A real smile this time around. She feels an enormous weight has lifted off her spirit, and seeing that, I do not wish to press the matter.

    And because of my resolve, the cracks begin to erge. It seems that I must have her in mypany, no matter what. Probably because she is important just like my mother. Just like Helen. Maybe not as much as I do not see her again after selling the transportationpany.

    "You are weed, but the offer will avable to you until the end of the day."

    I response and allow Sarah to leave. I exhale deeply afterwards before also leaving the cubicle. There is nothing else for me to do here. Aside from trying to ensnare Sarah of course.

    How do I go about that, exactly?

    Maybe I should have some lunch first. Having food in my stomach makes me think clearer. Having sex does that too, but I am not overwhelmingly horny at the moment.

    Still pretty horny though, and most if it has something to do with Sarah herself.

    Could have taken her right there and then, but it is my choice not to. Sure, that is a divergence, but as long as I have her at the end of the day, it should be fine.

    The spatial cracks around me serve as a warning. It is not absolute. I have learnt that now, so there is really no need for me to panic or being hasty. I am also confident that I will think of something without resorting to mind-controlling her.

    Besides, I could reverse time and try again. It is pretty hard for me to fail with my power. It is a cheat, an ultimate cheat.

    "Ms. Fleming. I require another thing from you. Sarah Langston is interested in someone working here, so do you have an idea who that is?"

    I ask the woman, who waits outside the cubicle for me. It would be strange if anyone look, but she will have a usible exnation for it if someone asked.

    "I am unsure, Mr. Collins, but I will have a look into it. Please give me an hour or so."

    She response.

    "Please be discrete about it. I do not want anyone to know about any of this. You should not mention any of it in the future either."

    I tell her before heading out of the bank. I decide to have lunch across the road from the bank. All the business around the bank is booming due to the sheer amounts of customering to the bank every single day.

    "Oh, hello again, Steve. I did not expect you to be here."

    I greet Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the restaurant. The both of them look rather cheerful, as they probably get the funding that they require to start theirpany.

    It is a bit early to start theirpany, but it is not that much earlier.

    And besides, things to change with my presence. More so as time passes due to the ripple effect. But as long as major things do not change drastically, it should be fine somewhat.

    "Neither do we, Mr. Collins. We looked for you after we were done to give you the news, but you were nowhere to be found. I hope that you also have sess?"

    Steve Jobs responses with a smile. Steve Wozniak also says something simr, but he is more upied with eating at the moment. He must be starving from how fast he is gorging on his food.

    He bes pretty fat in the future, I remember. Jobs, on the other hand, lost a lot of weight, but it is mostly due to his health. He will be diagnosed with cancer in 2003, at least in the original timeline.

    It will be different in the prime timeline unless I have anything to do with it. It is not like I haven''t given anyone cancer before to keep the timeline rtive the same. Evil? Yup, but allows me to swoop in and saves them.

    Speaking of which, I might just do the same to Sarah. Change her infatuation from whoever to me just so I could have her under me, literally and metaphorically speaking.

    Pretty evil, but it will not infringe on my principle regarding freewill.

    "Yup. Didn''t take more than a few words from the heart. May I join you for lunch?"

    I response and invite myself to their table.

    "Must be one hell of a confident you have, but yes, please do join us. I like to discuss a few more things with you if it is not a bother."

    Steve Jobs asks.

    "Of course not, but after we have our fill. Business is business. Pleasure is pleasure."

    Steve Jobs could not agree with me more, and I decide to spend the rest of the afternoon just having a social chat with the man, who would pioneer the smartphone for the modern era.

    Sure. Steve Jobs is not the person who has introduced the smartphone first to the world, but he is the one who manages to make it work.

    And that is all the people remembers in the end. It is the only thing that matters, really.

 Chapter 212: Good to Try New Things

    Holding a conversation with Steve Jobs is quite pleasant and interesting, especially on topics that both of us can truly enjoy. Him more than me in most cases since my technical knowledge on software and hardware are way too outrageous for this day and age.

    It cannot be helped as it is 1976 after all.

    A lot of what I know only exists in theories at the moment, but despite that, I speak of them as if I have seen them all for myself. Holding them as viable products as well.

    Well. Not hypothetical if, but in actual fact as I am from the future. A far future. A future that I do want to change for the better, starting from the dawn of the 21st century.

    "Graphical User Interface. GUI. That is interesting, Mr. Collins."

    Steve Jobsments, liking the idea instantly. Not only it will be friendly to new users, a screen is an absolute must for disying a graphical user interface.

    And having a screen means that he could market it as another product. Always thinking ahead.

    Steve Jobs asks me for more ideas, and I dly give them to him. Obviously, I am very selective in what I can reveal, and I select only things that he would think about them himself in his spare time.

    He also has some interesting ideas and notions to share with me.

    And from the way he speaks of his ideas, he really wants to bring them into reality. But sadly, it is just not possible with the current technology and infrastructure.

    Steve Jobs could show his ideas in about a couple of decades or so, assuming that he has the funding, of course. There is really no reason to think that he wouldn''t have the funding he needs, as he is Steve Jobs.

    I did give Steve Jobs some unnecessary pointers about how to market his products as well, considering that the marketing side of things is solely up to him. Not sure about that, but it is probably, given that Steve Wozniak does not have the expertise in marketing.

    And as for their third business partner, Ronald Wayne, the man is not around.

    No idea where the man is at the moment, and frankly, I do not really care about him.

    While Ronald isbelled as a co-founder of Apple in popr media, I do not consider him as such. This is because the man has time and time again failing to see the bigger picture unlike Steve Jobs, thus he eventually winds up living in a trailer park, selling stamps and collecting rare coins for living.

    Sometimes fate is what you make of it, and you have no one else to me but yourself.

    In any case, I had called those pointers unnecessary because Steve Jobs woulde to the same kind of conclusion eventually. He is a smart guy, after all.

    More than capable of seeing the bigger picture than most people.

    He also knows what actually work for the masses too, and he will notpromise when it affects the final product. That is his professional ethic.

    While there is no need for me to teach Steve Jobs anything, telling him things that he would figure out himself does build up his impression of me. Good impression.

    Also, it is making conversation.

    And time flies when the conversation is enjoyable. Well, at least to me and Steve Jobs. We are all that matters in the conversation anyway.

    Steve Wozniak listens in on a bit before his attention wanders elsewhere. He just isn''t as interested in these technical details, thus that is why he delegates them to Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. More to Jobs than Wayne.

    Giving all the jobs to Jobs. That sort of thing.

    Eventually, Steve Wozniak takes his leave, as he wants to catch up with his girlfriend, Alice Robertson and giving her the big news. Not the big question, but they would marryter this year when he finally releases his product.

    He actually already has the Apple I built. A prototype. It is in his briefcase, just to showcase to the bank in order to get the investment money.

    In any case, his marriage to Alicests about four or so years. At least from what I can recall.

    Obviously, Steve Wozniak and Alice Robertson do not really love each other. They are with each other simply because it is a requirement to be a couple in 1970s. Pressure from society at work.

    Love whenever that happens. Same line with peer pressure.

    Oh. Did I mention that Alice Robertson is also a Freemason? More on the Freemason another time, as they are connected with another secret society that dated way back to the time of the Pharaohs.

    And no, it is not Assassin Order. Or something simr to the said order.

    That would have been awesome, wouldn''t it, considering gic memory is actually a thing.

    The Ace of Diamond has demonstrated this.

    And while gic memory is not fully explored by Hydra, knowing it is possible is enough for me. I did dabble a bit in it, but having gic memory is actually a bad thing since it interferes with the original memory of the host.

    Furthermore, now that I know God exists, it is safe to say that the Egyptian Gods exist too. That would make a buttload of sense for what I had found buried in the desert from way back.

    I did mention that, right? Around the time I gaze at the Azulian sky. The magical eternal night sky of a world beyond this reality.

    Speaking of which, I wonder how Eliana Shadowsong is doing. Elune Whisperwind too. I have not seen them in a while. Actually, I have not seen anyone I know for a while now due to being trapped here.

    I miss my daughter, Antigone.

    Antigone has grown on me quite a bit, and I have never been away for this long. I mean, it should not be more than a few seconds for her, but still, I would know. I think she would too if she is anything like Adria.

    "I need to get going too, Mr. Collins. It is nice chatting to you. You have given me a lot to think about."

    Steve Jobs states when it is well into the evening.

    It is almost 5pm. About the time that the bank across the road is closing. People are already leaving it in mass from what I can tell.

    Chrono Reserves does continue its business well into the night if there is a need to, but usually, there is no need to. It is also dangerous as most of the robberies happen during 6pm to 6am unlike in those movies, where the robbers do not bother to cover up their faces or wear gloves.

    Of course not.

    The audiences would not be able to see their favorite actors and actresses otherwise.

    "Likewise, Steve. Guess you will be leaving your job at Atari now, right? Apple requires your dedication and time. It is a good business venture, and if I have money, I wouldn''t mind buying some shares when it finally goes public. Should be within a few years."

    I tell Steve Jobs as he is packing up his things on the table. I did have a look through some of his notes when he shows them to me, but all of them are like nonsenses to me.

    Everyone has their own way of writing down technical information, and Steve Jobs is not an exception.

    "You seem to be very knowledgeable aboutputers, Mr. Collins. Any chance that you would like to join me and my friends on this business venture?"

    Steve Jobs offers. He is acting on his own without consulting the others.

    That can be considered as a character w, but not really. An actual w would be him withholding a lot of stuff from his business partners simply because he thinks he knows better.

    The stuff in question includes money.

    I recall that Steve Jobs practically cheated Steve Wozniak on some cash bonuses on a project that both of them had worked on together for Atari.

    While it is not important to know the full detail, the very fact that Steve Job did something like that to his business partner is enough for me to dislike being associating with him on a business level.

    But still, I would have to eventually, but our positions then would be vastly different.

    "As much as I love to, Steve, my hands are full right now. Perhaps another time. I promise."

    I response, thinking about the meeting that I would have with him and Bill Gates. That meeting would happen, as soon as I get out of here. But I do wonder if Steve would remember this or not.

    This is another timeline, right? An alternate timeline.

    That is the conclusion I have reached after what I have seen and experienced so far, but there are still too many contradictions, such as my unique presence for example.

    I mean the real me, not as George Collins.

    "I will hold you to that promise, Mr. Collins."

    Steve Jobs tells me and bids me farewell but not before exchanging some contact numbers. I mention that I might not be able to answer him all the time due to being very busy myself.

    I do have apany to start and operate soon after all.

    Once Steve is gone, I look over my shoulder and ept the folder that is being handed to me. A symbol of Chrono Reserves is in front of the folder.

    "Thank you, Ms. Fleming. I hope you did have to wait long."

    I give my thanks to the woman. She has been sitting behind me for a while but did not want to interrupt the conversation, especially when she recognizes who Steve Jobs is.

    Steve Jobs is currently a nobody as Apple is not a multibillion-dor technology giant, but despite that, in the eyes of Hydra, he is always a very important target.

    One of many important targets, as I have designated.

    "Not at all, Mr. Collins. I am rather surprised at who you are having a conversation with. Nevertheless, it is nothing to truly worry about. All the information pertaining to Ms. Sarah Langston and Mr.

    William Wilson, Mr. Collins."

    The woman responses.

    I nod as a response before flipping through the pages quickly. It would take me a while to read through all of their information normally, and I could do that alone without needing her here.

    "Have Mr. Wilson and Ms. Langston work overtime tonight. That is all, and please remember to discard everything you know about this. It is not necessary for you to remember."

    I tell the woman and allow her to leave.

    A trip to the memory bank would be the best for her, but there really no need to go that far. She could just keep it to herself as she has trained to keep a secret even under torture.

    Well, not to keep a secret under torture but to fabricate a convincing lie.

    It is pretty hard to get really get anything truthful from a Hydra agent using normal means.

    And by normal means, I mean the methods that the Government employs. They do get pretty creative, but Hydra is pretty creative in their counter methods too. It just makes the hellish training even more hellish.

    Wonder if that is a good thing. Well. Not really my problem.

    While reading through the documents provided andmitting everything to memory, I keep an eye on the four guys sitting by the window of the restaurant, staking out the bank across the road, without a doubt.

    That is obvious from their clothes to their body posture.

    They are only staking out the bank today, however. Unless I have anything to do about it.

    And I will have something to do about it.

    It is better for me if they decide to rob Henry Oxford today than tomorrow or another day. Doing that after today would be toote for what I have in mind, and I have no qualm about using these guys for what the robbery.

    Of course, I am in no hurry to get them to do that since it is not 5pm yet. Having way too many hostages and not enough manpower is not a goodbination, not to mention having Hydra agents to contend with.

    Shield Security personnel too. Each of them a trained to disarm with extremely violence.

    Therefore, I think I will have to help these four guys out, at least so that their robbery and subsequent getaway to be sessful. For anything that happen after, it is on them.

    All of that is forter.

    As for William and Sarah, they attended to the same high school as well as the same elementary school near their houses. They lived near each other when they were kids, all the way up to when they finally graduated from high school and enter college.

    The same college too. Taking the same sses as well. They also applied to the same job.

    I keep saying the same, but it is not exactly the same. William did everything first while Sarah followed out of her unrequited love for him.

    Good thing Sarah does have the brain to aplish the feats that William did. She is actually smarter and more dedicate than him, helping him out when no one is actually watching.

    But unfortunately for Sarah, someone is always watching. She will get chastised for that eventually, as she is enabling William. Their works must belong to them and no one else.

    This is not high school and doing something like that will not get detention.

    I am not sure how Henry Oxford disciplines his employees, but it will not an easy p on the wrist.

    As for why William and Sarah are not together already, William is just oblivious to the fact. Like stupidly oblivious. He considers her friend and nothing more. One of many friends that he has, so the prospect of having an intimate rtionship with Sarah has never crossed his mind.

    He even stated that himself, so that is why Sarah is so hesitant. She hopes that William would change his mind eventually, as long as she continues to do thing for him.

    And I do think William will realize it too, but George Collins screws that up with his dick. I suppose that it is time for me to do the same. Oh boy.

    William and Sarah are not destined to be together, but I think I should be able to give them their happy ending. Just not a happy ending together.

    I copse the folder and put the folder on the seat next to me and away from view. With a thought, it disappears without a trace. I have sent it to the end of time. I usually dump my garbage there because it is easy.

    Once I did that, I get up from the seat and approach the four men. I take a seat at their table, causing them all to look at me.

    "Hello guys. Allow me to join on the fun."

    I tell them as I activate my Commandment ability. It is the easiest and quickest way to join their team, allowing me to rob the bank with them. I have never robbed a bank before.

    Never have to, so this is like a new experience for me.

    Good. I like new things.

 Chapter 213: Preparing for a Bank Heist

    Under the effect of my Commandment ability, I learn their names pretty quickly.

    The men go by Bob, Jack, James, and finally George. Yes. George. That name is fairlymon here in this time period.

    As George is already taken, I decide to go by Max to prevent confusion, not that I would not go by Max from the very start. No need for me to go by George unless my hands are forced.

    I am more identifiable by Max, as that is the name that I had chosen for myself the first time that I had stepped into the past. The year 1950.

    That year feels so far away. Not 26 years ago from today, but more like 400 to 500 years ago. At least to me due to my power over time, and most of those years merely involve me fucking around all over the ce and having a lot of fun.

    A lot of fun to me anyway. Not so much for other people, especially those people who I have tortured the hell out of for one reason or another. Most out of their own arrogance and disrespectfulness.

    Fun asides, I did learn quite a bit of things in those years.

    Learning and experiencing new thing is an ongoing progress for me, and it does not matter how much time have passed, there will always be something new to learn and experience.

    It is logical to assume so, as the universe is infinite. The multiverse is infinite. Therefore, knowledge is also infinite.

    The only exception to this rule is being in a state of Omni-sentience but being in such a state is not as mourous as it sounds. Not really.

    Terra had mentioned this, and it is the reason that she exists in a physical form. It is probably the same reason that I also exist in a physical form as well. The rest of the Aspect too from the look of it.

    To be all powerful and all knowing, one has to discard their individuality.

    That is the requirement. A sacrifice, to be more exact. A sacrifice that none of the Aspects is willing to give. Primordial too, at least, it does appear to be that way.

    I can understand, as retaining individuality is something that most people have taken for granted. Even me in some cases. It does make me really think about how everything hase to this.

    Of course, I will get to the bottom of everything eventually. I just have to take one step at a time, even though I do not have plenty of time despite being the Aspect of Time.

    That is ironic, isn''t it?

    Also, what did the Primordial Sin of Lust calls me? Aeon? Is that my original name? Or perhaps, a name that he knows me.

    Whichever the case, I go by Max now. The past is the past.

    It is the same as my birthname. I have discarded it from the moment that I left my old life behind. Yet, in spite of that, I cannot help but getting myself involved with the past. For example, getting involved with my mother and her livelihood.

    It is by my own volition, as I did choose a suburban home where my mother is living when I could live anywhere else. I guess that deep down, I cannot truly cast my past away as it defines who I am now.

    And besides, if I am to change the world for the better and help humanity prosper for eons toe, I should start with people that I actually care about.

    Sometimes, the individuals do matter more than the majority. At least when I get to know them on a personal level.

    It might be strange and somewhat unreasonable for me to spend this much time and efforts on Sarah Langston, especially when I would not see her again after a couple of years.

    But I cannot help it as I do feel guilty for what will happen to her under my hands. Well. What already had happened to her under George Collins. The past is rtive.

    To be honest, I rather not to know too much about the life that people have lived. The dreams as well as hopes that they have. Because knowing about them is to care for them. Sometime, caring way too much.

    It is the human condition, and I am affected with the condition despite being an Aspect. It is probably not possible for sentient life to bepletely uncaring.

    Even unthinking nts care about the survival of their own species. It is evidence in the fact that they are trying their best to spread across the face of the, propagating their species in the process.

    Having said all of that, in order not to feel anything for these men and their reason for robbing Chrono Reserves, I only ask about their ns and how they are going about it.

    No need to learn anything about their life or simr.

    Their n is pretty simple. It involves getting inside after hours, waving their guns around to demand things from whoever, grabbing as much cash as they can, and then somehow getting out of the ce without firing a single shot in the process.

    Did I say pretty simple? I mean to say pretty stupid. Only in movies, this n would work out like they have imagined it. Real life is a bit moreplicated.

    But then again, if these four guys are not stupid, they would not attempt this robbery in the first ce.

    Instead of doing something like this, they would have tried to hold a proper job and getting an ie, building themselves afy home and loving family somewhere in the suburb. It is pretty much a goal that most people are aiming towards during this time period.

    There is no need to risk their life to rob a bank when they are all capable men, at least physically. There are plenty of job avable if one actually goes and looks for them.

    That is why I never really like the joblessness nature of people here in the United States.

    There is no reason for people here to be jobless other than the fact they are fuckingzy and prefer to waste their time feeling sorry for themselves and the lives that they have lived.

    Drowning in sorry and feeling sorry for themselves will not achieve anything. It is just better to use the time and energy to find work and make something of themselves. Anything of themselves, really, given that anything is better than nothing.

    It is logical to think so. Of course, I am aware of people having different circumstances. Circumstances that push them to do something like this, and despite that, I am not about to find out.

    No point really.

    "I like the n so far but hear me out. Someone should be outside the bank, acting as a getaway driver for the rest, preferably one who can drive well and know the roadyouts. Inside, someone should be responsible for watching the hostages while the others grab as much as they possibly can within some predefined time. Should not be more than a few minutes."

    I tell the guys, reshaping their n to something viable. If not, they will definitely fail as Hydra wouldn''t stand by and let them do whatever they want. Shield Security too.

    Hydra and Shield do have standing order not to do anything that will harm the employees of the bank as well as the customers, but they will certainly do something if the robbery is not well thought out.

    And if they take too long, within 15 minutes, the cops will be swarming the ce. It is better for them to be in and out within 7 or 8 minutes. Once the cops show up, getting away is going to be a nightmare.

    Eh. I am thinking way too much about this, but a crappy n irks me. Really irks me.

    Of course, I use my ability to make sure these guys acknowledge my methods and ns. While I didn''t think of everything as that would take too much time, my idea is still a lot better than what they have nned.

    Probably because they have never done such a thing before. Robbing a bank before. Did they even try to rob anything before? Likely not as several of them are quite nervous.

    Nothing derails a good n than those who cannot follow a simple order.

    To be honest, these guys should have robbed something smaller first like a convenience store just for the experience before trying the big league. They should already have several sessful heists under their belt before attempting Chrono Reserves.

    But then again, the story goes that many people have sessful robbed Chrono Reserves in the past, mostly because Chrono Reserves did not put any resistance. Facts are facts, but the guys should have checked how many people have managed to get away with the money long enough to spend it?

    Not many. Likely zero. It is probably zero.

    No one can rob my establishments and get away with it unless there is a really damn good reason for them to. Aside from me robbing myself of course. Not technical true as it is more like me robbing from Henry Oxford, who is one of my underlings.

    It is fine to rob from my underlings. It is not like I am going to keep the money after the robbery. There is no need to.

    "Another thing, I think we should take a hostage or two with us in the getaway, so the cop will have a reason to back away. Also, having more than one hostage allows us to kill one as a show of force, but I rather not kill anyone I the getaway as the copy will have a reason to use deadly forces then."

    I tell the group. I also inform them that I will take the lead on the hostage situation. No one protest at words, as they cannot really protest while under the influence of my ability.

    It does take a while to make them all understand what they need to do in order to sessful get away with money. At least for a while, but they do not need to know that.

    Hydra and Shield do have plenty of other methods of tracking everyone down regardless of how well the n is. Methods that is both morally and ethically questionable to most people, but hey, whatever work, I guess.

    Once everything is in order, I head out of the restaurant with the four men and to the rather colorful van that they parked at the back of the restaurant and out of the view of the bank.

    There, they show me the wares.

    As in guns and equipment that they have brought for the job. It is not really a good idea to drive around town with an noticeable van loaded with weapons, but I rather not spend any time teaching them the finer points of being a professional criminal.

    They will learn how to do that when they are in prison. Wouldn''t call them professional criminal then though. More like hardened criminal.

    Seriously, I could point out so many problems with just a nce of their van alone. But I am not going to do that for the same reason I am not going to teach them anything.

    It is also a good thing that this is the 1976, so seeing a bunch of suspicious guys with an unmarked van parked nearby a prominent bank does not trigger any kind of rm in anyone. The public does be wiser with time.

    Actually nope. Most people are still pretty dumb even by the 31st century. Not intellectually dumb as they have much better education in the future. More to do withck ofmon sense.

    "Where did you get these, Bob? You did not buy these with your real names, did you?"

    I question and check the handguns and assault rifles. I only handle them after putting on some gloves since I do not want my fingerprints to ster all over the weapons. The guys did not bother with glove until I order them to.

    Not because I want them to be a properly equipped for the robbery, it is because I would stand out if I am the only one wearing glove and having mask on.

    As for the weapons themselves, I dislike using guns to get anything done, but that did not mean I have no training in them whatsoever. I do have plenty of training under Hydra simply because it is good to have such skills.

    I supplement my knowledge and tactic with Selene via neural uplink and memory upload. It is the best way to learn anything new quickly. The only side effect is massive headache afterwards. Quite painful too, but not more than getting blown to smithereens let alone being burned spiritually.

    "Yeah. How else would I get them?"

    Bob answers with a skeptical question himself.

    I roll my eyes and decide not to press the matter. There is really no point in doing that. It also wouldn''t affect me in any way.

    "Right. Just do not shoot unless you have to, and do not leave your weapon behind. Trust me on that, and by the way, did you not bring any cutting equipment for the vault?"

    I question and check the inside of the van. There is no cutting equipment anywhere, but even if there is one, it would be as useful as this van. It would take way too much time to cut into the steel vault as it should be locked afterhours.

    "Why do we need one when we could just tell them to open the vault for us?"

    Jack questions and checks his weapon. He packs a few more weapon on him and then put on his mask.

    I blink before shrugging. These guys obviously do not know the inner working of Chrono Reserves. For one, the vault is state of the art, and it would lock itself afterhours, not really opening until the morning of the next day.

    That is a security measure, and even in dire circumstances, there is no way to open the vault without actually drilling out the vault door. Something that will takes hours. Hours that they do not have.

    I probably am thinking way too much about this when there is no point too. First thing first, I need to have a better getaway car. A colorful van is not a good getaway car for obvious reason.

    A good getaway car is a vehicle that performed and handled as expected, non-descriptive to stop other from pointing out so easily, preferably stolen just so it can be abandoned a short distance away.

    That mean I would need at least two getaway cars.

    And as it is still the 1970s, there aren''t police helicopter all over the ce, tracking a speeding car, so the getaway should have impressive horsepower, not a slow piece of shit like this hippy van.

    If I didn''t know any better, Bob is a hippy. Why would a hippy need to resort to robbing the bank? Oh right, I do not want to know.

    I also decide not to exin to these guys anything else and straight up give them orders. If I leave this up to them, they probably get themselves caught and worst yet, shot to death.

    Jack seems to be pretty triggered happy, and the moment someone shoot first, all hell will break loose.

    I rather not get myself riddled with bullets even though it is probably impossible for me to die. Before I carry out the robbery, an all familiar spatial rift manifest nearby.

    For a couple of seconds, I have thought that my eyes are ying trick on me, but it is not. As it is magic, none of the men can actually see it.

    Its appearance confirms that this is not a memory, but an alternate reality. If it is just a memory, there is no way Eliana or Elune can reverse summon me.

    How long has it been since theyst saw me from their perspective? Should be almost a year, if I take the time that I have be George as well as the time that I had to repeat due to reset.

    It is really hard to keep track of these things without Selene, and since I am being summoned, it should be quite important. Whatever in another reality should not affect this alternate reality, should it?

    One way to find out.

    I tell the men to prepare for the robbery before freezing time and then head to the portal. I am pretty armed and quite deadly. Never test out modern weapons in a fantasy setting before either simply due to the Nazi steamrolled the world with magic.

    But that is the 1940s. This is the 1970s. Gun have advanced quite a bit since then, so it should different.

    Also, the Nazis actually used Magictech rather than straight up magic. Magictech is better than either magic or technology, as they dopliments each other.

    Time to see if which is better, technology or magic in their pure state. I am leaning towards technology, because a bullet to the head sounds a lot more certain than casting a spell.

    Also, those sexy elves are still using crossbows as their primary range weapon for fucking sake.

 Chapter 214: The Cycle of Reincarnation (POV)

    Pain. Excruciating pain. Physically and mentally.

    As Iy here tly with my back against the molten bedrocks, battered and bruised, bleeding from the numerous small holes all over my body, I ponder to myself when was thest time that I had been this injured.

    It must have been years. Years since I have tasted such a defeat like this. Years since I have been reborn into this world.

    This world of magic called Az.

    Az is unlike the world that I have originated from. It is not quite as advanced technologically or even socially, but it does have something that my original world does not have.

    Magic.

    And it is magic that I have excelled greatly in, rapidly climbing the rank to be an Archmage. With just a bit more, I would have reached the fourth circle of magic. Just a bit more.

    If I had managed to do so, my power would have multiplied several folds along with my magical energy and aura. It would have made me unstoppable, at least here on this continent.

    Most of all, I would not have been reduced to this state. This dreadful state.

    I did not expect to run into someone from my world. No. From a world simr to mine as demonstrated by the distinct weapon that he had used. A semi-automatic assault rifle.

    Such a weapon does not exist on Az, and it would not exist for thousands upon thousands of years toe. This is simply due to the non-existent scientific progress. Without any scientific progress, the state of thing will remain unchanged.

    I am aware of this, as I havee from a world more advanced than this one. The person who reduced me to this state is probably from a world even more advanced than mine, considering his weapon.

    There is also no need to reload after each shot with the weapon, thus making it extremely difficult to properly defend against even with magical protection.

    I did manage to defend myself against several well-ced shot despite taken off guard, but the pointy bullets flying at incredible speed wear down my magical aura and protection ward rapidly.

    A handful of shots would not have been something to worry about with my magic, but dozens of them fired in rapid session is far more than I can handle. More than most Archmage can handle, really.

    "I guess technology beats magic. Well. Assault rifle anyways. I thought you guys wouldst a bit longer, but this is probably an overkill for this kind of setting where the best range weapon is a crossbow."

    The manments, almost whimsically. He sounds like he is merely testing out his weapon. Seriously?

    I am an Archmage, you know. One of the most feared people on this continent, not a guinea pig. Those days are behind me. Long behind me.

    Also, the man is a human. That is strange to be because humans do not side with the dark elves.

    I do not know why he would do such a thing, considering their bloody history with humanity. I do not really hate the elves like most humans on Az, but the elves are considered an enemy of mankind.

    As a human, I will do battle with them and defeat them in order to protect my kind.

    It is as simple as that.

    "Master?"

    The dark elf struggles to say due to her grievous wounds. Wounds that I have inflicted upon her in our confrontation. It is done fair and square.

    Confusions could be seen on her face as if she had never seen the man before. That is also very strange as she is the one who had summoned him here.

    Reversed summoning him more precisely to say, as she calls him her master instead of the other way around. She would be the master if it is a normal summon.

    Why would someone as powerful as her stoop so low to call a human master? She is also an Archmage like me. A mage of the third circle. It takes a lot of time and effort to reach that level, more so for elves due to their long lifespan even if they are gifted with magic from the moment they were born.

    Furthermore, she does not appear to be enved or anything of the sort. She did summon him during the fight out of her own will, and I did not expect a human to be summoned. Summoning would usually bring forth monsters or demons, not another person.

    I also did not expect to be shot repeatedly at point nk range with an assault rifle without warning.

    It was surprising at first. Shock afterwards due to the bullets manages to wound me severely. Its pointy nature is quite effective at drilling and prating my magical barrier. A round metallic ball wouldn''t have dealt so much damage.

    How did the gun made it spin in mid-air though? Using wind magic to spin something that small is not very effective, thus without a spinning momentum, it will not have that incredible prating power.

    "Yes, it is me, Eliana. My appearance is a very long story. One that I will tell you another time if you''re curious. Not any time soon though."

    The man response before looking at the ultramarine sky above. It wasn''t like this a moment ago when the magical barrier was protecting his enchanted forest, reacting an eternal night sky in the process.

    I have destroyed it.

    It takes a lot of effort to bring down the barrier, but it is finally down, so my task isplete. Now all I have to do is wait for the army to attack. Should be any moment now.

    "Yes¡­ Master. Thank you for saving me."

    Eliana groans as the wounds I had inflicted on her is quite severe. She also did a number on me in the exchange, but I was not as fatally injured as I am currently is thanks to those metal slugs.

    A lot of them are still stuck in my body, inhibiting my healing magic.

    I cannot heal while they are stuck inside me, and they are too small to dig out with my fingers. I would need the assistant of my apprentices back at my tower.

    "It is fine, Eliana, as I would not want anything to happen to my favourite elf. You should tell me what happen, so I am up to date with this. Honestly, I usually do not shoot first and ask questionter. This is an exception because you were going to die, my dear. Only I have the right to kill you."

    The man states before casting a nce at me. Thest remark seems to be directed at me. A threat.

    I am in no position to retort. I am also defenceless due to the injuries I have suffered. How many more bullets can be fired from the weapon? I count about 30. My eyes are looking at the muzzle pointing in my direction.

    The man chuckles before looking at the sky. He is looking for something up there. Something that I am unable to see. What is it?

    "Legion. Supreme Commander requesting authentication."

    He states simply before returning his attention to me and to the dark elf. Who is Legion?

    I am somewhat confused, but perhaps, it is due to the blood loss. I need to stop the bleeding before I be delirious.

    "Master, a human contingent manages to prate the barrier and¡­ ugh¡­"

    Eliana winces in pain. Her magic is severely depleted hence she is unable to heal herself like I am trying to do. It will take her a long time to heal naturally. At least that is what I had believed.

    I did not expect her to heal instantly right before my eyes.

    No magical energy or residue could be sensed either. What is this? An ability? Impossible.

    Even with an ability, some magical energies could still be sensed at my level. This is something else.

    Something else entirely. What is it!? I need to know. The paines again when I try to move myself.

    "Thank you for healing me, Master. Is it possible for you to restore the barrier? Without the Goddess divine protection, the elves are defenceless."

    Eliana beseeches. The wound on her body ispletely gone. Even her clothes have been restored to their pristine condition. She did not seem to be surprised by any of it, thus this is not her first time.

    How is that possible? I am full of questions. Questions that I have very little answers to.

    Healing is one thing but restoring everything to it original was is another. This is the level of time-space magic. Is he an inheritor to the ck Mage!? Or he is the ck Mage himself?

    No. The ck Mage is stated to be female. The one and only true Mage of Time in recent history. Not very recent, but at least it is part of the current era.

    Much of the records of the previous era has been destroyed due to infightings and wars.

    "Maybe that is not a bad thing, Eliana. Have you convinced the others to migrate from this world yet? Or they are still self-centred, believing that they could stop the human advancement?"

    The man questions, causing Eliana to tense up.

    I also tense up. Not about the human advancement as that is inevitable, but the migration part. To be able to do something like that he has to also be a space-time mage. A very powerful one to migrate to another world.

    Unlike most people, I am aware that Az is just one world amongst many in the universe.

    "The others require more time, Master. Please be patience and allow me time. I am sure that they will see my ways soon and serve you like I have."

    Eliana beseeches, but the man simply frowns.

    "Enemy is already at the gate, Eliana. More time would not change anything, but I will give you it since I am currently busy with something else at the moment. It is the reason that I take on this appearance instead of my actual one."

    The man responses before turning towards me again while Eliana thanks him repeatedly.

    She is acting truly like a servant despite her status as an Archmage.

    In his eyes, Archmage means nothing? Could he be of the fourth-circle or higher? Higher. He must be higher. Fifth circle? Sixth circle.

    It cannot be.

    "While I cannot sense or use any magical energy at the moment, I assume that you are an Archmage from the surrounding human Kingdoms. Or Queendoms. One of the third circle. You should be around there since you are able to defeat Eliana. Not instantly defeat her like a mage of a fourth circle would."

    The man states, making me blink.

    "That is not possible. If that wasn''t magic, what was that then? How did you manage to heal someone without using magic? Is it through science?"

    I question, making the man blinks this time around. A smile appears on his face.

    "Science. You know of science? Now I am curious of who you are. More correctly, where you are from. You are obviously not of this world, as no one on Az should have any knowledge about science. Not even the term itself.

    They believe that everything happen is because of the naturalws and magic."

    The man points out.

    And I pause.

    I wonder if I should tell him or not. I am leaning towards yes. If he actually wanted to kill me, he would have already done so instead of letting me bleed out like this.

    The bleeding has already stopped thanks to my effort, so I would not die any time soon.

    Mage is quite powerful. Even fatal injuries would not end their life, at least not immediately. With this much damages to my internal organs, I would require a long time to heal myself.

    Or instantly through his power. No. He is an enemy, but he is not acting like one. He is indifference to the whole thing. Perhaps this is all below him. Powerful mages are too interested in conflicts like this, and I would not too if I was of the fourth circle.

    If I get some help soon, I would live to fight another day. What are those guys doing? They should have stomped the forest by now. The barrier has been down for a while.

    Maybe something has happened to them. That is a possibly. How power someone has to be to in order to wipe out an army without making a sound? The thought alone frightens me.

    "Please heal and I will tell you everything that you want to know."

    I request.

    "Oh? Alright, but if you try anything afterwards or even attempting to run away, I will wipe your crappy Kingdom from the map."

    The man threatens, and I do not think he is bluffing. He might actually have the power to do so, but it will be one hell of a battle. The Academy is located in town, so there are plenty of Archmage there.

    A Grand Archmage too.

    Before I can ponder further, the pain goes away. All of the pain. I have healedpletely in an instant, to the point that I cannot feel those metal slugs inside my body.

    My magic power is also restored too. Fully. Incredible. What is this magic? I want to learn it, as it could solve so many of my problems. Problems that I am facing.

    "How are you able to do this?"

    I question, unable to contain the excitement in my voice. Ever since I have been reincarnated into this world, I have been in love with magic. I want to be as powerful as I can.

    "I will be the one asking the question, thank you very much."

    The man points out as strange silvery mists descend from the sky and surround him. Is it some kind of insects? I cannot see them clearly and I cannot sense them either.

    It is as if they are inanimate objects.

    "By the way, my name is Maximilien Maxwell. You may call me Max. And if you are curious about why your army is taking so long to get here, you do not need to worry too much. Everything outside of here is frozen in time."

    Max introduces himself and also gives hint about the extend of his power. It is the same reason to why the ck Mage of time cannot be defeated during her era.

    With time at hermand, nothing moves without her say so. The same with this person, and that is enough for me to be fearful of his power. I can see why Eliana is subservient.

    An Archmage is not someone who can stand up him. I guess I should be humble then. I will do whatever I need to stay alive, as there are things I haven''t done yet.

    "Are you a reincarnation of the ck Mage?"

    I question out of curiosity, forgetting that I am not supposed to ask questions. Still, I am very curious, as no one has been noted to have the power tomand time other than the ck Mage. Therefore, it is assumed to be a power unique to her.

    Since the ck Mage did not have children, her power is considered to be lost.

    Of course, it would be another matter if she was to be reincarnated. Like me. Reincarnation is possible thanks to the Karmic Cycle. But I am unique due to my gift. I have the Power to Reincarnate as long as my soul is not destroyed.

    "Reincarnation? Is that a thing? If so, how do I know if I am reincarnated or not?"

    Max questions after a moment. He seems to be unaware of it himself, which is strange given his power.

    "I can teach you a spell, allowing you to relive your past life as if it happens right in front of your eyes, but in exchange, please allow me to leave unharmed and unmolested."

    I bargain.

    Max narrows his eyes slightly as the silvery mists enter his body. He seems to be thinking, and a smile eventually forms on his face.

    "Very well, I will let you leave unharmed and unmolested as long as it works like you advertise. Please show me the spell, and I will judge for myself the merit of what you im."

    Max questions and gestures his hands to stop Eliana to speaking.

    She immediately bes silence.

    "The spell is veryplicated, and it requires you to fall into a deep state of sleep, Master Maxwell."

    I point out, deciding it is best to address him who he is.

    "Master Maxwell, huh? I like that. I do want a demonstration first, so why don''t you cast it upon yourself and let me see how it works."

 Chapter 215: Seeing Beyond The Past

    If I have known that entering Az is possible as George Collins, I would have done so the instant that I was able to.

    This is because of Legion.

    Having ess to Legion will make everything easier for me. Like super easy. But of course, in order to gain control of Legion, I will have to identify myself as the Supreme Commander. The one and only.

    Not me identifying myself, but more like allowing Legion to run a series of tests on my body.

    Obviously, I immediately fail the biometric test since this is not my body, but I practically ace the other tests as I do have all of my memories as well as my magical powers.

    I just cannot use any magic because Ick any magical energy. I cannot sense any magical energy due to the same reason, but that has more to do with the damn astral dragon snoozing within my spirit.

    Ingra is still there, dwelling within my soul. Despite being dormant son of a bitch, Legion can still sense it with his magic detector. Not sure how that is possible, but it is probably because the Dragon God is a being of magic, not to mention feeding on my magical energy just so it can torture my soul.

    The damn bastard.

    Of course, the only thing that Legion cannot test for is my spirit as hecks the mean to test for spiritual energy. But if he could, I would definitely ace that test too, as my soul is my own no matter which kind of meatsuit that I inhabit.

    Speaking of meatsuit, I actually could switch into a morefortable one right now with Legion being under my control.

    The transfer of consciousness has already been perfected, so it is barely an inconvenience. I will need to check if that is possible due to the curse ced on me by Erosire. That curse is doing more than just making me horny.

    I am still fucking horny.

    "Wee back to Az, Master."

    Legion greets me once he acknowledges who I am. He also informs me that he is unable to detect any nanomachines within my body, thus in turn, Selene. Of course, he also asks if I wish to integrate Selene into this new body of mine.

    I am hesitant for a moment since this is not my actual body and giving Selene to George is like asking for trouble. For a big trouble.

    To prevent headache in the future, I decide not to in the end. I also begin cing safeguards to prevent George from ess Legion when I am out of this body. If giving Selene to George is a bad idea, giving Legion is much worst.

    This is because Legion can do everything that Selene can do, but I trust Selene more than Legion.

    Not that I do not trust Legion himself. The problem is Legion is likely to be self-aware before any of my other virtual intelligences. This is simply because of the amount ofputing power he has. As such, I do not wish to have Legion floating inside me when he bes sentient.

    I am technically the only person that can stop him from going rogue, and if he put me into aa, no one can stop him from basically wiping out everything and everyone. Magical or not.

    Archmage like Eliana and this guy are no match for a minigun. Sure, they could defend themselves for a while, but a while is not that long. I already test that but filling this guy full of leads.

    Maybe I should learn of his name. Or I could just ask Legion.

    Legion has been monitoring practical everyone on the from orbit. Can also turn any area into a radioactive wastnd too. There is enough firepower floating in orbit to crack the. Crack every within the sr system and beyond.

    He has been quite busy in the past year. It is expected from a self-replicating machine. So far, there is no detectable sign of life anywhere else aside Az. He already mapped out millions ofs within several light year radius.

    A lot of them are habitable, but still, no lifeforms. It is just a really big empty nothing out there.

    "Master¡­ Maxwell, it is very dangerous to look into the past life. Many have trapped their mind within themselves."

    Eliana speaks up once more when Kozak begins to draw up the magic incantation diagram. He is trying to demonstrate the spell to me.

    I am somewhat interested in it as it might allows me to see what happen before this life. Erosire called me Aeon, and I want to know the life that this Aeon has lived. Had lived, I mean.

    "There is no need to worry about me, Eliana."

    I assure her with a smile. She is sexy as hell, especially moments ago when she is battered and bruised due to her confrontation with Kozak. He sneaks in here to destroy the tree powers the barrier.

    Kozak is sessful in that, and he would have killed Eliana too if I did not step in and fill him with a lot of bullets. Did not even think twice about unloading everything into the dude simply because I desire to see how good guns are against an Archmage.

    It is pretty effective even if it takes a handful of shot to take down his magical protection. That magical barrier he had was not at full power thanks to Eliana, but still, enough fire will able to take it down.

    I was hesitant about healing him, returning him to full strength again, but with Legion at mymand, pretty sure there is nothing to worry about. I doubt that he can survive a nuke to the face.

    Also, I could always dust his ass if he tries anything funny.

    I have not killed him outright because I figure I might be able to use him for something. Like convincing those stubborn elders to do what Eliana asks. Wait a second, I could justmand them.

    The Commandment ability should work on them. Will use that on themter.

    "Master Maxwell."

    Kozak requests my attention once he finishes channeling his magical power into the incantation circle, allowing those magical runes to glow brilliant.

    Legion is recording everything, allowing it to recreate the circle whenever I needed. Legion just is very useful. Most useful tool I have ever created. More capable than Hydra, but Hydra is a lot safer due to being human led and operated.

    Legion does not care for human lives or any sentient lives because I never programmed him to be.

    He is way more effective for what I needed without the requirement to weight the morality and ethical of his actions. The mission is above everything for him. Not everything. My safety and wellbeing is far more important than any mission, so I am always prioritized.

    Even at the cost of his own existence.

    "The magic circle is one. Shall I demonstrate to you now? You will be able to see what I can see if you channel your magical energy at this node. Oh. I am sorry, but you cannot see it if you cannot use magic, Master Maxwell."

    Kozak instructs before realizing that I cannot use magical power. I did say something about that just a moment ago. It was true then. It is not true now as I can use magic through Legion.

    Legion is the most overpowered mage ever existed due to near infinite magical energy as well as multi-cast ability. He can cast any kind of spells as long as he knows the runes and incantations for it.

    There is a drawl back, however. It overloads the magical core that he has acquired, but he can always hunt for more. There are plenty of monsters on Az. Powerful monsters capable of powerful magic.

    Their magical core can be harvested and put to better use.

    Of course, Legion is not me, as such I will need to learn magic myself. Never really know when George Collins happen again, and I might not acquire Legion again.

    "It is fine. I can magic now, so let us start."

    I tell Kozak before sitting down at one of the nodes. Eliana stands by my side, making sure nothing will happen to me. She is adorable.

    It is actually unnecessary because of Legion. Also, I cannot really die anyway, not unless someone here on Az is capable of harming the soul directly. Probably there is, but that person is not Kozak.

    Kozak looks puzzled for a moment before taking his spot at the center of the circle. He is in a meditated position, and once he closes his eyes, his magical power skyrocketed.

    The air shimmers around him as if it is heating up. Quite impressive, but I have expected it due to the damages to the surrounding. Broken trees are everywhere with craters here and there. Massive-sized craters too.

    Kozak and Eliana must have fought one hell of a battle, but by the time that I arrive, victory was already within Kozak''s grasp. I snatch the victory away with my assault rifle. I empty the entire clip a few times into him.

    With my power, there is no need to reload as I can restore bullets back into the clips like before I even pull the trigger. It is a cheat to give myself unlimited ammo. The same cheat that I use to refill my ss of wine.

    Sounds like I am using my power for menial tasks, but meh. Not like I do not use it for important thing like ughter people.

    The magical runes within the incantation circle glows even brighter than before, and I feel something is entering my mind. It is very fleeting.

    "To see what he is seeing, you will have to channel your magical energy and connect with his, Master."

    Eliana instructs me since Kozak is in a deep state of sleep.

    I must give credit to the man for doing this while in a hostile environment, but he probably is thinking that I do not want to kill him. If I did, he would not be here, talking to me. That is a good thing as I do not want to deal with people who doesn''t know they are already dead.

    Of course, I will hold my end of the bargain if he gives me something useful. I will download his entire memoryter too because why not?

    I close my eyes and channels my magical energy. The energiese directly out of Legion since if it is from me, Ingra will wake up and start to wreck thing inside. I do not want to deal with that damn thing right now.

    An image begins to form within my mind, allowing me to see a boundless ocean with main ship of the line. From their designs and multiple masts, these are ships of the 17th to 18th Century.

    This is during the Great Age of Sails.

    Wait. Does that mean that this person is from Earth? He was reincarnated in Az?

    Now that is really interesting. I did not expect something of the sort even though I am sure it like does happen. I am sure anything that is usible is also possible somewhere in the multiverse.

    It is an infinite multiverse after all.

    I watch Kozak, who is known as Stuart in his past life goes about his life, wishing to make enough cash to marry his sweetheart, but unfortunately, he died at sea in a storm.

    The memory finally ends there, thus I did not know what happen to his sweetheart after that despite I am somewhat curious.

    When I open my eyes again, Kozak is already awake. There is a great sadness on his face.

    "I did not know that you are from Earth, Kozak. I am also from Earth. A version of Earth. Not the same Earth that you heralded from."

    Iment as the man looks at me.

    "The only regret in that life is that I could not tell her how much I love her. I wish that one day I will be powerful enough to return to her just to tell her that but judging from the gun that you carry. It is not possible anymore. She probably reincarnated as someone else. That is the fate of all souls."

    Kozak states.

    "Interesting. What would happen if you resurrect someone who has already reincarnated?"

    I question, recalling all the people on Antis. I have resurrected them all despite thousands of years have already passed. If what Kozak said is true, then that would mean they are all soulless being.

    "It depends, Master Maxwell, but as long as they have not reincarnated in the same world, it shouldn''t matter."

    Kozak answers before dissipating the circle.

    "I hope that you keep your end of the bargain and allow me to leave."

    Kozak adds.

    I smile at him and nod.

    "Of course, but I do need something from you before you go. Do not worry. It will hurt much, and you will find yourself in the same bed that you wake up this morning. Everything will be the same, but you will know better. You will be smarter."

    I tell him as the ground below him shift. Pirs of micromachines erupt and envelop him like locust as his eyes are full of shocked. Eliana is utterly shocked too.

    She tenses up when Kozak screams in terror as his body is torn apart. He was instantly killed as Legion drills into his mind and consumes his memory.

    "That will happen to you if you fail in your tasks, Eliana. I have been quite lenient with you, more than most actually. Do not disappoint me."

    I tell the woman before time reverses. Only on Az and the orbiting moons. There is no need to reverse the entire universe as it would undo everything Legion has learned.

    Of course, I allow Eliana and Kozak to remember what happen. Kozak is wise enough not to b about what he knows, and Eliana is smart enough to put more security on the source of the barrier.

    As for me, I decide to visit the moon for a bit. Legion has remade the green one into a paradise. As for the red one, it is brimming with weapons.

    I don''t need to use those weapons, but I do feel a lot safer having them there just for when I do need them. It is also simply better to have them than to use them.

    "Legion. Prepare a magic chamber for me. I want to try out the same spell that Kozak did."

 Chapter 216: The Samara Karmic Cycle

    The spell is not as simple as Kozak had made it out to be, but with his entire memory downloaded into the mainframe of Legion, I now know everything there is to know about the spell.

    I also know about the Karmic Cycle. Or more correctly to say, the Samara Karmic Cycle.

    It is, in the simplest term, the reincarnation cycle of Hinduism, where souls are not actually created or destroyed, but more like being recycled endlessly in a loop.

    Normally, a soul would continue to reincarnate into a new life and body at the end of each cycle while heavens and hells are just stopping ces in between.

    No. It is better to consider heavens and hells as separate realities or realms, allowing those who have died in the mortal nes to reincarnate as lowly devils or angels, depending on their overall karma at the time.

    Heavens and hells are considered to be immortal ne of existence. It is in contrast to the moral ne that Early and Az and the entire physical universe are inhabiting.

    Now that is interesting. Very interesting.

    Beyond mortal and immortal nes, there are ageless nes, timeless nes, endless nes, as well as boundless nes. There is likely more beyond that, but this is all Kozak know at the moment.

    He also knows that being from higher nes do descend to lower nes once in a while, thus causing untold destruction in their wake simply due to their presence and aura alone.

    Gods are considered denizens from immortal nes. They are born immortal with great power as well as physical prowess. They do not age once they reach maturity, and when existing in their native state and reality, it is nigh impossible to kill them.

    Zeus mentions something about this invulnerability, but despite that, he managed to kill all his fellow Olympians. That is quite a feat in itself to be honest.

    Higher than Gods are True Gods, also known as Divine Beings. They are usually originating from ageless ne of existence. They are not born, and therefore they do not have an age, thus they are known as ageless.

    Dragon God Ingra is probably considered as an ageless being just from his power alone. He can destroy Gods as if they are ants, and from what Eliana had told me, he seems to not know how he had actuallye into existence.

    Great power and simply existing without an origin are signs of an ageless beings from what Kozak can understand. Impossible to kill too due to their invulnerability to almost everything.

    Beyond ageless is known as timeless. Timeless beings exist outside the normal flow of time and space, and therefore, they are not affected by time or space itself. That is all Kozak now about them as those who had met one does not live to talk about it.

    Their presence alone causes space and time distortion. Reality also warped around them as all physicalws and natural states do not apply to them. In other word, they are sentient ckholes.

    Destructive naturally. Great. Let stay away from these.

    Kozak does not know anything tangible about Endless or Boundless being aside from their name, but he could have a good guess. I could too. Omnipotent beings obviously. Immortal. Invulnerable.

    Yeah. Okay. Let stay the hell away from them too.

    Strangely enough, Kozak does not know about the Aspects and Primordial, at least about their actions and inactions.

    It is actually due to the Aspects and Primordial that the Samara Karmic Cycle exists for the mortal and immortal nes in the first ce. That mean it is also due to them that souls exist as well.

    This kind of make sense as entities and beings from ageless and beyond do not have a soul themselves.

    They simply exist in a soulless state, and transcending into this soulless state for immortals is the very first step towards agelessness. That is actually the goal of many in heaven and hell.

    To finally surpass their immortality and finally reach true divinity.

    Kozak knows a lot about hell as he was a devil before this mortal life. Hell is considered a realm as it is an endlessndscape, stretching unendingly into the cosmos and beyond.

    There is no such thing as outer space for hell, and the ground just keep going on forever and ever into the abyss below. Despite multiple realities of the multiverse, there is only one heaven and hell, as they are realms not realities.

    Realms are more infinite the universes. Does that even make any sense? Not really to me since infinity is not really a quantitative amount. It just means a big number that no one really wants to count.

    And as to the reason why Kozak got sent to hell and transformed or reborn into a devil despite being a good person in his life as a sailor of 17th or so century, it is due to his overall karma.

    He was something akin to a mass murderer in one of his previous lives, so his overall karma is heavily on the negative side. I say akin to one, but not actually one because everyone is a mass murderer in a war.

    Killing anyone regardless of what is considered negative karma. That includes self-defense as well, so the sensible thing is do not fight back and simply die in order to gain positive karma, but if one already has plenty of positive karma, it is better to fight back with the intention to kill to gain negative karma.

    Why is that important? Well. It is due to a bnce. One cannot have too much positive karma and too little negative karma, as it will result in either heaven or hell. Neither is a good destination after death.

    But bncing karma is exceedingly difficult, as Kozak has not bnce out his karma yet despite living through countless of lifetimes already. He would need to bnce it out fully before he can break free from the reincarnation cycle and enter the spiritual realm.

    Spiritual realms are simr to heavens and hells, but they exist for those with rtively neutral karma, which feels a lot like Buddhism, where followers attempt to reach Nirvana. But sadly, those followers gain way too much positive karma, thus they will always go to heaven instead.

    That is kind of ironic, and from the look of it, Christianity seems to be the most correct path. That is, if you want to get to heaven, you have to do good. You will get there eventually, as soon as your overall karma goes into the positive.

    Of course, getting into heaven does not free one from the Samara Karmic Cycle, as being immortal in heaven or hell does not mean one cannot die.

    As a matter of fact, Kozak got himself killed before he could be a devil of any importance in hell.

    This is why he is now a moral again. The cycle goes from mortal to immortal to mortal before repeating again. Being devils and angels mean having to fight to remain alive. Only those truly powerful can stay as immortal beings, climbing towards ageless beings.

    Speaking of hell and heaven, there is something called Hellion Pirs and Heavenly Hosts.

    As a devil, Kozak knows there are 72 Hellion Pirs in all of hell. They are basically Demonic Gods who control all of hell. They are the closest devils that reach ession, stepping into the ageless ne.

    Once they do, another devil will take their ce, bing the next pir. There can only be 72 pirs at any time. The same with the amounts of Heavenly Hosts.

    And that is all Kozak knows about them. He has never seen any of the pirs before, and he would not unless he has reached a substantial amount of demonic power.

    Killing and devouring demons as well as other devils seem to increase their demonic power the fastest.

    Devouring angels work too, thus the real reason for a war between heaven and hell. Neither side has gained any real advantage over the other due to the difficulty of annexing heaven or hell. Devils cannot restore their demonic power while in heaven.

    The same in reverse for angels, thus annexing heaven or hell is considered suicidal. By raiding it seems to be fine. Plenty of raids every now and then, and with infinitendscape, it is really hard to defend.

    Interesting.

    But what does all of this mean for me exactly? Well, I have a soul, and since I have reincarnated, I must be an angel or a devil before this mortal life.

    It is reasonable to assume so, as having a soul means that I am part of the Samara Karmic Cycle. There might be an exception as I am an Aspect, and as an Aspect, I can create souls.

    Well, I did create a soul for myself when I reincarnated, but in order to reborn into the mortal nes, I must have lived in the immortal nes. All of this are hypothetical though, and I can confirm it soon enough.

    There is one more thing that I have learned from Kozak. Soulmate, forck of better word.

    Soul actually created in pair by Aspects and Primordial, like yin and yang. Everything must be in bnce and remained in bnce, obviously.

    As that is the case, Kozak is looking for his soulmate. He assumes it to be the girl that he has never had the chance to say goodbye due to his untimely death.

    That is usible as souls tend to seek out their soulmate, which people assume to be fate or destiny.

    The death of the soul will also result in the death of its counterpart too, as both souls are faces of the same coin. Of course, reaching the ageless ne will make this point moot.

    It is interesting to know that I have a soulmate out there somewhere. I might have already met her or him but did not know it. I hope it is not him, but it is likely not. In any case, it is good to know.

    And that is everything that Kozak knows about the soul. He has gained all of this knowledge thanks to the Power of Reincarnation. Apparently, he is a Power User, but not in the same thread as Zephyr.

    It is more like Zeus, as Kozak is not the original wielder of the Power.

    He actually acquired as a devil, thus allowing him to keep the memory of his past life. Just one as those other ones were before he acquired the Power of Reincarnation.

    That Power does not only allow him to keep his memory, but as well as his power and whatever ability he managed to acquire in his past life. In other word, the more lifetime that he has lived through, the more powerful that he would be.

    If Kozak had died and reincarnated before he actually gained anything useful, it would consider a waste of a lifetime. That is probably why he does not fear death, but he still wanted to continue to live, just so he can be as strong as he can.

    The Power of Reincarnation also lets Kozak jump from one cycle to another, thus not needing to reborn in the same reality again. Basically, he is a serial isekai, gaining more cheats the more he reincarnated.

    Destroying his soul will stop that from happening, but destroying a soul is not really that simple. They are quite indestructible, and even someone could, they would have to think twice about it.

    This is because souls are more or less property of the Aspects and Primordial. As such, destroying soul will only invite their wrath. Of course, some idiots still do.

    As for why Aspects and Primordial allows immortal to reach ageless state, thus bing soulless in a sense, I am unsure. Kozak does not even question this part, seemingly ept it as the way things are.

    I do not, obviously. Everything happens should happen for a reason.

    In any case, Legion has finished preparing the magical chamber for me. It takes longer than usual since Legion has to upgrade himself with new knowledges from my mind.

    This Legion is a dumb-down copy of the original Legion, and I have already made quite a lot of scientific and magical progress with the real Legion back in the prime reality.

    With all of my knowledge, this Legion should be as good as the actual Legion.

    Even so, I still keep all of the primary and secondary directives in ce for Azulian Legion. Cannot have him go off and do his own thing with the resource of an entire universe at his disposal.

    The improvement in Hyper Space technology should allows him to spread out into the gxy and the universe at an even fast pace. No other lifeform is disconcerting as the prime reality does have aliens out there.

    Most probably waiting for me toe and pick them up to restart the Gctic Empire. I had promised them that I would, and I will keep my promise. It will be called Hydra Imperium, however. Do not want to retread old path.

    My time as an evil Gctic Emperor is over. I will just be an evil Overlord now. It is probably mean the same thing, but hey, new title feels newer. It is probably a cebo effect.

    I chuckle to myself as I head into the magical chamber. The magical incantation circle is created exactly to Kozak, as it is not a standard magical circle. There are some demonic designs incorporate into it, as he was a devil before this life.

    In any case, it should not be a problem, but I did put in some failsafe should something happen to me while I am dreaming about my past life. Or past lives.

    Even though I will not gain any ability or power from those past lives of mine, I will gain knowledge as well as greater understanding of the wider existence.

    Maybe the real reason to why I was dead in the first ce. Now that would be awesome.

 Chapter 217: A Devil and An Angel

    And I think I have just jinxed it. Because the first thing that I get to experience after activating the spell while sitting in a meditated position within the magic incantation circle is agonizing pain.

    Incredible agonizing pain.

    So much pain that I immediately snap out of the memory and sweat profusely. My hands quickly grab my chest, as my heart races rapidly within its ribcage.

    I can still feel each of those deadly angelic de pierces through my body, ripping my spirit apart.

    And from what I can recall, I realize I was being executed. Despite being executed, I did not resist. I did not even bother to. There is no reason for me to, not anymore.

    That is what I have felt in that very moment. It is as if there is no reason for me to remain in existence anymore. Honestly, why would I feel something like that?

    I did not fully understand until I have Legion reys the memory for me to view on the big screen.

    Everything is recorded, just in case I have missed something myself. Having another set of eyes looking over things is extremely useful, especially one that does not miss anything ever.

    The screen flickers for a moment as the memory is being deciphered and rendered as clear as possible for me to view. It does take a lot ofputing power as some things have to be extrapted. Or worst still, simted based on the data.

    It cannot be helped as the mind sometimes fill in the nks automatically, thus what one remembers is not always what actually happen.

    That is quite a problem. One that I cannot really solved since it is due to how the brain work. To actually fix that, I would have to do some extremelyplex gic engineering.

    Anyway, that is all for another time.

    On the holographic screen, there I was. With six majestic jet-ck wings sprouting from my back. They are tattered and torn, bleeding heavily while a dozen or so angels spear me from all side with whatever holy weapons they are wielding.

    Sword. Spear. Mace.

    A bit of an overkill, but they have to make sure that I actually die. I have a knack of surviving the most impossible odd. I mean in my past life.

    Well. In this life too, I guess.

    And that is thest memory that I have before I expired and then reincarnated into this new life. One that I have decided to call myself Maximilien Maxwell. What was I called myself when I was an angel?

    Maximus. Oh. Nice coincidence. Guess something remains from that life. Have always curious to why I like the word Max so much.

    "Interesting. I was an angel. Thought I would be a devil because devil sounds a lot cooler, but I suppose I must have plenty of positive karma. Does that mean I should do more evil stuff from now on in order to get negative karma? To bnce thing out. Is that how it works?"

    I question myself as I recall what I know of the Samara Karmic Cycle.

    To be an angel in the immortal ne, there must be a positive overall karma.

    Therefore, in order to bnce out the positive, I need to acquire negative karma, bymitting more heinous acts. Maybe there is no need to do that since I alreadymit quite a lot already.

    Does genocidal burning an entire civilization count? If not, how about a dozen? I am sure that causing the extinction of an entire alien species count towards my negative karma.

    It should, as taking a life for whatever reason is considered a negative thing.

    All of this assumes that I would want to enter the spiritual realm other than Heaven or Hell. That also assumes that I would die again on the mortal ne, thus re-entering the immortal ne.

    Dying is kind of impossible since my temporal power would not let me die as a mortal. Speaking of my power, why did it not stop my death as an angel?

    Even if I did not resist the execution, my power would still activate, thus rewinding time.

    I know the answer to that question immediately. It is because everything in Heaven or Hell are spiritual in nature. Simply because of that, my power is unable to resurrect myself when I get killed there.

    Does that also mean that I would actually die if I get killed in the Twisted Nether? It is a spiritual realm just like Heaven or Hell, thus my temporal power will not work there.

    Zeus did warn me about the danger, and I am cautious enough not to go charging in there alone. How are Zephyr and Zeus are doing? They should still be where I left them. I hope so.

    In any case, I was able to die and finally be reborn into the mortal world. That also means everyone in the world was either an angel or devil at one point.

    Wow. Should I tell the Pope this when I finally see him?

    It might make or break his religious view. Would be interesting to see.

    Judging from my jet-ck wings and what I manage to remember from the previous life, I was actually a fallen angel. One who get casted out of Heaven and fall into Hell. Why does that sound so familiar?

    Oh right, the Bible. It seems that there are some truths in that book. d to know, and I wonder how many stories in the bible that are actually real history? History that had happened in another ce.

    Probably quite a bit in my opinion. Will check them out when I have free time. For now, I want to know more about my previous life. The life of Maximus. Or just Max.

    The magic incantation circle is powered with magical energy once more. It takes a lot of magic to keep the circle empowered, but I do have unlimited magical energy, so it is no big deal.

    I take a deep breath to calm myself before closing my eyes again to enter a state of deep slumber, and this time around, I will try to recall something further, way before I was executed. I did not really enjoy getting stabbed by holy weapons.

    It hurts as much as getting burned by Ingra. Must be spiritual in nature. Obviously, as everything there is spiritual based. Must learn how to manipte spiritual energy before I try to summon a demon just to test out the ck Bible.

    So many things to do, so little time.

    The ckness in front of my eyes soon fade away, allowing me to capture someone. A beautiful young girl with silvery hair and silvery eyes.

    Her fist aims straight at my face, and I smoothly meet it withy my left hand. It wraps around her rather warm fist and then pulls her hands towards me with a twist.

    And as I did so, I bend it and then press it against her rather ample chest, forcing her bare back tightly against the floor. The coldness causes her to gasp, and she quickly throws another punch at me.

    Just like before, I repeat the technique with my right hand, and soon enough, both of her arms be crossed over her chest with my body and weight pressing down on them.

    "Why so serious?"

    I question with a smile and lean downwards, allowing my nose to almost touch hers while still pinning her to the floor with my body.

    "It is not cute, you know."

    I add while maintaining my smile and capturing her pretty gaze with my eyes.

    "Get off me!"

    She demands several minutester and kicks the floor, trying to knock me off of her, but those legs of hers soon find themselves locked in ce with my knees, pressing tightly against the cold floor.

    Very simr to me pressing down on her with my body.

    "Please get off of me, Max."

    She eventually pleads, struggling to breathe. It is not because I am heavy or anything. It is because her lungs refuse to heed hermands. She is short of breath constantly, and it cannot be helped.

    "I will if you give me a kiss, Sherone"

    I request and wet my lips before grinning. I am actually making fun of her. It is my thing.

    "It''s Shirone, and I ¨C I don''t want to. Others are watching."

    Shirone stutters. Her eyes wander away from my face and then to the only spectator sitting along the wall. A young girl. About 5 or 6 years of age.

    The girl is resting against the wall, hugging her stuffed animal doll and sleeping rather peacefully. She has quite a day.

    "Only our little sister is watching us, Shirone. Well, soon to be ours anyway. Isn''t that great?"

    Iment after I follow her gaze and see her little sister. Yes. I basically propose to her, and I feel that there is no reason for her to refuse me. She holds some feeling for me after. Like a lot of feeling. I am as well.

    It is mutual feelings.

    Shirone squirms under me, trying to slide along the floor and get out under me, but despite her effort, I remain perfectly in position on top of her body, weighting her down firmly and surely. In actual fact, I am moving alongside with her movement, matching it perfectly to remain on top of her.

    And I did all of this without even touching the floor at all.

    Eventually, Shirone stops trying to free herself. She did manage to move a couple of meters in a single direction. That is quite impressive.

    "Not until you tell me what you are, Max."

    Shirone questions. She does not refuse my marriage proposal despite how tant it is. She only gives her conditions. This is one of the reasons that I like her. Not the main reason, but it is a good a reason.

    "You already know what I am, Shirone."

    I response as I continue to capture her eyes, getting myself lost into it. I am obviously smitten by her, but I am unsure the real reason why at the moment.

    "Ever since that day we met. Was it only a few months ago? Seems so long."

    I recall the meeting a month ago when everything is grey and dark, at least for Shirone. She has pretty much lost everything in this cold and dark hellish ce, and as such, I took her under my wings, quite literally too.

    From there onwards, I have taught her how to hone her incredible potential, embracing what she has be without hesitation or fear.

    Despite not being a devil myself like her, I do know everything that there is to know about her kind.

    As an angel, I have fought devils countless of time. Kill plenty too. Many havee to fear me as the Angel of Death since my feathered wings were darker than the ckest night and vaster than anyone is able could see.

    They could literally block out the dreadful rain and eclipse the gloomy sky itself. Of course, I have never revealed myself as such to her for obvious reason. She is a devil, and I am an angel. A fallen angel, but an angel, nheless.

    We are basically mortal enemies. More correctly to say, immortal enemies.

    "I do?"

    Shirone questions.

    "Of course, you do. I am your master, your friend, your lover, and anything that you want me to be."

    I response with a childish grin.

    "Life is super, super, and super long. It is really boring if you spent all that time thinking about this too much, don''t you think so? Just let it go and go with your heart."

    I tell her calmly. I did not want her to know what I truly am, as her hatred for my kind run deep. Angels havemitted quite a lot of atrocities in hell. Devils as well when raiding heaven.

    It is just how things are.

    The strong will continue to remain in the immortal ne and reach even greater height, and the weak will be killed and forced to reincarnate back to the mortal realm.

    Basically, starting from scratch again once more.

    Shirone takes a moment to nod, knowing that I am right. I am always right. She trusts me explicitly as her master, and she would acknowledge whatever I have told her. If I had told her the world is upside down, she would believe it, taking it as an indisputable fact.

    "Just this one time, okay?"

    Shirone tells me and closes her eyes, waiting for the kiss that would surelye. Her lips even lift up, trying to reach mine, but instead of the kiss, I run my tongue across her cheek, licking her rather pretty face.

    That causes her to snap her eyes open and stare at me.

    "Sorry, I cannot help it because you look so tasty."

    Shirone narrows her eyes, realizing that I am not really serious in kissing her. I am never serious when I should be. Always ying around, especially with her heart.

    "Get off me, idiot!"

    Shirone growls and with a never seen before strength, she throws me off of her body and with a kick, I go flying across the room. She immediately follows up with a brutal blow.

    "Wait! Not the face. Not the face! You have to see me every day for the rest of your life, you know!"

    I call out before getting punch in the face. She did not even hold back one bit, but of course, my body cannot be injured that easy, at least not with her level of strength. She could beat me up all day long, and I would not look any worst than I already am.

    The blow would have sent me crashing into the wall, but that would not happen if I have anything to do with it. Instead, I bounce on the wall and crashing back into her with a much greater force.

    And we both go stumbling around the room, screaming. She is screaming. I amughing my ass off as it is fun.

    "Ugh¡­ please get off me, Max."

    Shirone moans as I am using her butt as a cushion, holding up my entire body.

    "Alright. Alright."

    I tell her and try to get up, causing her wince when I grab hold of her buttocks and squeeze it. Basically, sexual harassment. I move on to her tail. Her devilish tail. Gripping and rubbing it, pinching its end.

    "Stop it! Stop it!"

    Shirone calls out before hammering the floor as I basically torture her. Devil has tails, while angel does not. Of course, I could manifest some with my energy. I did just that simply to harass her some more.

    It is basically the only thing that I do now days.

    There is really no one else in the household but me and her and her little sister. Without her, I would have lived alone, not really sure what to do with my life now that I have turned my back against Heaven and all of my brethren.

    Shirone basically gives my life some meaning.

    And more than that, she is a reincarnation of someone that I love dearly. Very dearly.

    "I don''t want to. Your tail is really cute, making me wants to rub and stroke it forever. But it is not fair with only me ying with your tail, so here, you can y with my tails too."

    Shirone feels my astral tails caressing her cheek and brushing her silvery hair out of her face. Multiple ones.

    They are more like hands than actual tail because I have crafted them that way. They start to run all over her body, fondling all the right ces. They run inside her clothing too.

    "No! Stop it! Master! Hah! Ahahahah! Stop it!

    Ahahhah!"

    Shirone soonughs uncontrobly, waking everyone nearby up.

    Well. One person. Her little sister.

 Chapter 218: Learning Spiritual Manipulation

    Nekoma rubs her silvery eyes and then looks towards me and her bigger sister, Shirone. Her very much bigger sister. In all the right ces too. Eh?

    That is the perverted side of me talking, and even as a fallen angel, I am still a man deep down inside, and as a man, I do have needs.

    Special needs that only a beautiful woman of all the right proportion can truly provide, and I am pretty sure that Nekoma will grow up to be as beautiful and alluring as Shirone.

    It is practically her future.

    And no. That is not the reason to why I have brought these two low-ss devils to live with me in this secluded ce far from any sign of life or civilization.

    One is a low-ss devil. The other is what others would call a devil spawn.

    Nekoma is not a devil yet. She is not old enough for her demonic power to awaken, thus transforming her into a devil. That exins why she does not have a tail or wings or both.

    Anyway, the reason that I have brought them to live with me is not solely due to the fact that I enjoyed theirpany. I do enjoy that immensely. They make each of my day here in this ce more colourful.

    I have brought them here because Shirone is my kindred spirit even though she is not aware of it. She is considered to be my better half or evil half, depending on the point of view.

    Like almost everyone living here in Hell or up there in Heaven above, she does not remember anything about the lives that she had lived previously, but I believe that she will be able to one day.

    As long as Shirone continues to evolve as a devil, she would remember everything about her past lives as well as being able to learn from the umted experiences.

    But to remember everything about herself, it might take thousands of years. Millions of years even. It all depends on her demonic potential and growth rate.

    Nevertheless, I am willing to wait for Shirone to remember for however long it will take. To remember the person who she once was, and more important, to remember who I am.

    While it is strange for an angel to love a devil, but in my eyes, Shirone will always be an angel. She was one alongside with me, for we were born in heaven.

    Unfortunately, Shirone died under tragic circumstances, and the burning desire for revenge is the only reason that I am still living right now, waiting until the day that she finally reincarnated again.

    But due to her karma, Shirone was reincarnated as a devil. I am curious to why that is, considering her overall karma should be positive. She is an angel, always is and always will be, regardless.

    "Big sister sounds indecent."

    Nekoma mumbles, and theugher stops as soon as my tickling does.

    Honestly, Shirone does sound indecent. Like incredibly indecent, but I like it, and I would love to hear it way more. Not here though, as Nekoma is too young to know those sorts of things. The sexual part, I mean.

    Nekoma does understand them somewhat due to my yful sexual advances, and because of that, it always resulted in me getting punched in the face. Shirone is so violent in this life, but I like it.

    Leaving her stuffed toy on the bench, Nekoma leaps off her seat and then jogs towards me while I pull myself up and away from Shirone.

    The astral tails that I have summoned with my spiritual energies can support my frame effortlessly.

    They are more like hands than tails, thus allowing me to use them inbat. Having more limbs allows me to wield more weapons. The coordination is a problem, however, but it can be ovee with lots of practice.

    Spiriting limb is a variation of Spiritual Maniption skill. That skill is one of the first ability that I have learned when bing an angel. It is amon skill that any denizen of Heaven or Hell can learn as soon as they evolve into an angel or devil.

    Mastering Spiritual Maniption allows the user to forge all manner of things from their own spiritual energy. Weapons and armours are the mostmon but living beings too.

    Shirone has great attitude towards Spiritual Maniption, as she learns the skill very quickly. It has to do with her parents, who is probably a high-ss devil. They are killed by other devils, thus forcing her and her little sister to flee.

    By the way, their names are Japanese because their parents were Japanese before they be devils.

    There is a lot of Japanese spawn several thousand years ago, from multiple realities. Not just Japanese, but other nationalities too. Something big must have happened in the mortal world. Possibly a global war.

    It is not that much different in Heaven or Hell, as billions upon billions of angels and devils perish every day for one thing or another, mostly through violent confrontation. While that sounds a lot of deaths, it is not even a drop in an ocean.

    There are more devils and angels than there is grain of sands in all thes within the universe. No matter how many have died, more are spawned, and not always to devils.

    Mindless demons can give birth to devil spawn, as demons are more or less devils who have lost their sense of self. That is the worst thing that could happen to devils.

    "Kiss?"

    Nekoma requests when she is standing in front of me. She even lifts her head towards me for a kiss.

    I shrug and give Nekoma a kiss. One on the lips. Just a light one, more like a peck really, but it is more than what Shirone have gotten so far from me. Sure, I could have kissed Shirone properly, but it is far more fun to see her frustrated.

    The expression that Shirone had during those frustrated moments really make my day. It is due to that alone that I have spent most of my free time teasing day. It is my thing, and I have a lot of free time.

    "Hmm. Tasty. Like sour cream and a hint of chocte chip? Were you in the kitchen again, Nekoma?"

    I question as I examine her face closely.

    And true to her name, Nekoma responses by licking my face like a little kitten. Her name means kitten in Japanese. Or maybe grandmother.

    I like the first trantion better since she does look like a super cute cat in her current outfit. Once her tails manifest, I will dress her up like one. It would be way more cutter.

    "Tastes horrible."

    Nekomaments, making me frown. Even so, she continues to lick my face a little while more.

    I allow her to do so, as it is cute. Super cute. She will stop licking my face eventually, once she has her fill. Should be any time now. It takes a few minutes.

    "Sorry for the taste, Nekoma. I only taste this way because your sister does not wash her hands before handling me."

    I reference what happened a moment ago. I have a look at Shirone too. She is still panting heavily right there on the floor due to the forcedughter at my hands. My many hands.

    Shirone is quite ticklish, and I use that as a mean to torture her. I mean to mess around with her. Also to feel her body up too.

    "Bad Shirone."

    I state and point at Shirone with my index fingers.

    "Bad Shirone."

    Nekoma copies me. She also mimics my hand gesture, pointing at her sister in a patronizing manner.

    Seeing that, Shirone is shocked. She obviously has tried to raise Nekoma in ce of her dead parents, but the girl just like me more. Not sure why though. Maybe it is because I bribe her with candy?

    "Nekoma!"

    Shirone growls, making Nekoma to immediately hide being me, using me as a shield of sort.

    "Shirone is scary."

    Nekoma pouts, making me chuckle. I pat her on the head to assure her that Shirone is not angry with her or anything like that. I also take her into an embrace before tossing her into the air yfully.

    She is really light, but even if she is not, I could still toss her into the air effortlessly.

    "Nekoma is a good girl. Yes, she is. Yes, she is!"

    I call out, causing the little girl to giggle adorably each time she soars into the air. She flies higher and higher each time, and when she hits the ceiling, she cries out in pain and hols her head.

    It freezes me up. Oops.

    "Wait a second! That was an ident, I swear!"

    I call out on reflex, realizing what I have jus did, but of course, I get to eat a powerful fist anyway. Right to the face. Why is it always to the face? Seriously.

    Good thing that I have a hard head, or I would get severe concussion. Other people might not be able to recognize me after all of these months as well.

    The blow right to the face sends me flying, spinning along the air. I bounce against the ground several times before copsing into a heap near the doorway. Ouch. I actually feel that one, meaning that her strength has increased several folds from thest beating I had gotten.

    In a few more months, I probably have to start dodging her punches and kicks or it would be painful.

    Or maybe not. I am a bit of a masochist. Alright. A lot of masochist. Most people are in Heaven or Hell due to the insane amount of torture and pain they have to go through, all in order to be stronger, strong enough to remain here.

    Shirone catches her little sister on the way down and immediately put her on the marble floor to check her over. She bes a mindless demon should something happen to Nekoma.

    That is undying sibling love right there. My love for her is also undying.

    "Are you alright, Nekoma? Does it hurt? Tell me if it hurts."

    Nekoma rubs her eyes, trying to hold in the tears with all of her might but failing. She is just a little girl after all, so getting thrown against the ceiling would definitely hurt, especially when its spiritual energy is much denser than her.

    Everything in Hell or Heaven are created with spiritual energy. The denser they are, they tougher they be, making it harder to smash through. I have created this house with my spiritual energy, hence, it cannot be destroyed easily, at least not by a low-ss devil.

    Or even middle-ss. Maybe high-ss could do it, but they generally do not intrude on my home and acting all mighty and what is not. High-ss devils stop being stupidly arrogance, as they have a lot to lose if they get killed for stupid reason.

    "No. It doesn''t. It doesn''t."

    Nekoma stifles while her sister looks her over, making sure that she is indeed okay. There is a big bump on her head, but it should go away soon.

    "It is okay to cry, Nekoma. Everyone cries. In fact, I am crying right now. Your sister is really mean. Did not even let me exin myself, and now I am hurt. Seriously hurt.

    Please nurse me back to heath! Do it with your body!"

    I call out from the doorway, trying to get up from the floor but then deciding to justy there tly on the ground. I am pretending to be injured. Like really injured.

    Shirone narrows her eyes at me.

    "Yes master. I will make you all better."

    Shironements on her approach. She then stomps my face several times, really hard. Fast too, not letting me to peek up her skirt. I did manage to peek a little.

    Once Shirone is done with making me all better, she takes her little sister out of the room. Her method works somewhat, as I do feel a bit better. Hornier too.

    "It is time for a bath, Nekoma. We should do it while he is still down."

    Shirone tells Nekoma, who looks back at me as she is leaving the room.

    I blink repeatedly when I heard the word bath. I immediately flip myself upright and ready to go ying peeping tom.

    In retrospect, I should have waited a little longer because the next beating for being a pervert is much more severe than getting stomp by her long legs. So severe that it might have knocked me out a little.

    Well. More than a little.

    It actually did as I am back to staring at the silvery grey walls enclosing around the magical chamber.

    Shit! My face is hurting a lot. Like a lot.

    My soulmate, Shirone is rather violent, and I am enabling her with my perverted antics. As an angel, I am extremely perverted. The annoying perverted kind of way.

    That kind of behaviour would not fly here in the real world. I mean in the prime reality. It might work on Az as the social norm is very different here. Still, Az exists on the mortal ne while Heaven and Hell exist on the immortal ne.

    Just because of that alone, Heaven and Hell are even more different from the social norm. That is kind of obvious, considering that those realms are spiritual-based rather than physical-base like in the real world.

    Everything, including the earth and sky are made of spiritual energy.

    This extends to food, which is extremely limited. essing to food, allowing devils and angels to grow and evolve. If they do not eat, they will starve and then finally devolve into mindless beasts. Demonic beasts or Heavenly beasts.

    Devolving is one of the worst things that could happen, as they will not advance towards ageless ne, but rather, they will be stuck in Heaven or Hell for an insane amount of time.

    As for time, it flows differently in Heaven and Hell, depending on regions and areas. Countless of years could have passed in one spot while several seconds has passed in the mortal world.

    Those temporal spots are good for training, as long as one has enough food to eat.

    While everything is made of spiritual energy, demons and angels cannot eat the earth or the sky. Those are made of different kind of spiritual energy, taking on property of the thing they simted.

    It is like a mortal eating dirt. A really bad idea, especially when they are trying to stay alive and be more than what they are.

    Skills, abilities, experiences in all the mortal and immortal lives that they lived allow them to do better in the recent life.

    From that alone, I feel that the Samara Karmic Cycle is like a training wheel. It forces all soul to continue to be better until they can one day reach the ageless ne. If that is the case, why does spiritual realms exist? The one that are not Heaven or Hell.

    Nirvana from Buddhism for example. Valha from Norse Mythology is another example. Elysium and Tartarus from Greek Mythology too. There are quite a lot, actually.

    While all of this is very interesting, what interest me more is the information on spells that I had learnt as my time as an angel. Those spells require celestial energy to use, which is in contrast to the energy that devils employ. Demonic energy.

    Celestial and demonic energy are mixture of magical and spiritual. I did not know that fact, and there is actually no reason for being other and angels and devils to employ them.

    I will figure out how to use them, but there is one thing that I can use right now. Spiritual Maniption.

    The skill allows me to mould my spiritual energy, weaponizing it and so on. It is a lot easier to do while as a spirit, but it is possible with in the mortal world.

    I need more information on this, but I need some rest. Dwelling into previous life drains me mentally, and I cannot seem to dissipate the stresses with my power.

    Seems like it is affecting me spiritually, but luckily, my spirit is much stronger than normally, as I could heal myself rtively quickly from getting blown away repeatedly by Ingra.

    I just need some time, and I do have plenty of time. While I take a break, I have a look at what Sapphire is doing. She is my first and currently only apprentice here in Az.

    Bruce is with her. The monster that I kill and remake into a bodyguard.

    To my surprise, Sapphire goes to the same Academy that Kozak is a teacher at. She even attends some of his sses along with countless of other mages. All of the first-circle or below, and they are kind of an ass to Sapphire due to her being poor and so on.

    Kozak, being a self-aware reincarnated person, treats her kind of well. He probably understands as he also from a poor family, having to climb thedder with hard work and ingenuity. Having vast amount of experiences from his previous life helps too.

    The guy actually uses scientific theories from Earth to amplify his magical spells, thus making his spells deadlier than they suppose to be. That exins why he could beat the living shit out of Eliana despite them having rtively the same power level.

    He is unable to use knowledges from Hell since he does not have any demonic energy, but he is trying to summon a weak demon to drain its demonic energy, so he could use demonic spells.

    I do not think that is a good idea, and I suppose I should drop by to tell him off.

    Sessfully summoning a demon will allows Hell to invade this world.

 Chapter 219: Visiting The Archmage Kozak

    Within one of the private offices at the Arcane Academy, Kozak is shocked to see me appearing out of thin air, especially when teleportation is restricted by magical wards and protections around the whole academy.

    As if something like that is going to stop me from teleporting in and out of the school whenever I well damned pleased, but that allowance mostly has to do with my power not being magical in nature, thus it cannot be stopped by magic. At least with magic at their levels.

    To stop me from using my power, their magical power has to be on the level equivalent to Terra herself or so, and if they are at that level, they might not even bother with running a magical institution.

    I did not go and see Kozak in the flesh since there is no point in doing that. Instead, I decide to control one of my avatars, built to my specifications. Taking on my actual appearance too.

    Unlike a biomechanical avatar, this oneposed entirely of micromachines far too small to see with normal naked eyes individually, not to mention each one is more than capable of casting magical spell to some extents.

    Multi-casting ability is very difficult to do, but with Legion at mymand, I can do it with little to no effort.

    I am also wearing a dark cloak, covering most of my body and face. The cloak has the same designs to the one that I had worn when I first met Sapphire Sre almost a year ago. I had saved her as well as her friends from the goblin giant that is Bruce.

    Named him after Bruce Banner because of his appearance.

    Speaking of Sapphire, I am somewhat curious to see how she is progressing as a mage. I do have great hope in her and her future, considering her magical potential.

    Having potential is one thing. Dedications, hard works and talents is another.

    Of course, I will check up on Sapphire after I have a long chat with Kozak. Muscling him into my service in any way I can, I mean. If he does not have the Power of Reincarnation, I would not even bother with him.

    This is because Power Users are a league of their own. Having an army on my side and working for me is a very good idea, as long as they are not causing too much troubles for me. There is probably some kind of perquisites to gaining a Power.

    Indomitable Will seems to be one of it. The question remains, is Kozak like Zephyr or is he like Zeus.

    I actually prefer Zephyr since she seems to be easier to deal with than Zeus despite being blessed with a lot of abilities and traits simply because she is the original owner of her Power of Ice.

    "W-who are you!? How did you get into here!?"

    Kozak calls out when he finally regains his wit. He is an Archmage, one of several who are lecturing at the Academy. As such, he demands respects and privacies. Well. Not that he needs to demand vocally or otherwise. His presence, aura and magic is more than enough.

    But as much as he res his magical aura and power, it does not affect me in any way as this is just an avatar, not even a biomechanical avatar where my consciousness can inhabit. In other word, my spirit is not within the avatar for me to ce a pressure upon. The reverse is not true, however.

    "You can try and do that all day, Archmage Kozak, but it will not affect me the slightest."

    I tell the man calmly andposedly, not being fazed by his power at all.

    Kozak blinks in surprise, as that should not be. He cannot sense any magical energy or power from me, thus he assumed that my power is nonexistence, and how I managed to teleport into this room despite all the protections could be due to someone else.

    He obviously wrong in that regards, and he realizes that now.

    Magical runes quickly manifest around him, forming an incantation circle within a fraction of a second in air. From the visible runes, I determine that the magic circle is for analysis. It is probably examining me in greater depth. Far more than what is visible to the naked eyes.

    Interesting.

    Legion immediate copies down that spell despite it already within his repository of knowledge. I have downloaded everything there is to know about Kozak after all, including all knowledges about all kind of spells he has known.

    "A metal golem?"

    Kozak questions once his magic reveals what I am. Even if I simte life perfectly through technology, I am still not a live in this state, and with the right spell, he can see through that easily.

    As for metal golem, they are golem made of metal. There are all types of elemental golems, and being elemental, they are susceptible to damage from pr opposite element. Acidic spells or simr would be the most effective against metal.

    Powerful me spells too.

    Kozak changes his aura, giving it an element. Acidic mes. He canmand two elements at once as he is an Archmage.

    I do not think much of an Archmage, but for normal people as well as low-ranking mages, those mages of the third-circle are like unstoppable vortex of power. They could destroy a small country with little effort.

    Thus, Archmage should not be underestimated. I am not underestimating them in any way. If I actually did, I would not be using an avatar. Besides, the Academy is full of powerhouses from what Legion has managed to detect.

    Two life signs are of the fourth-circle within the Academy, yet Kozak is not aware of them himself. No body does, considering that they are spies for another nation. For that nation to use Grand Archmage as spy, they must have an abundant number of powerhouses of the fourth circle.

    Should I or should I not kidnap those Grand Archmage? Probably another time. There is way too many things on my te right now.

    "I can assure you that I am not just a metal golem, Archmage Kozak."

    I state before pumping near unlimited amount of magical power into my aura.

    The eruption of energy is more than enough to make Kozak sweats bucket. Literally. Honestly, it would make everyone in the Academy sweats bucket too, including those Grand Archmage.

    Alerting them all to my position as well.

    That is why I am only focusing my power on Kozak, and while my magical power is of low quality simply due to me being a mage of the first-circle, quantity is a quality of its own.

    My magical aura is a billion times more denser than his thanks to the limitless magical energy powering it. Maybe a trillion time.

    There is really no need to check how much energy I am consuming as it is already having the intended effect on Kozak. Even if he is at a peak third-circle of magic, he is still like a rock smacked in the middle of a raging tsunami.

    As a giant rock, Kozak can hold on for a while, but the violent waves radiating from me will eventually wear him down, reducing him to utterly nothing. Less than nothing if he continues to resist.

    "Please forgive this foolish mage, Great One!"

    Kozak immediately apologizes for being arrogance. Against a mage who can kill him like an ant, he has no choice but to be humble.

    This is the ironw of Az. Those who has power can do whatever the hell they pleased without any kind of consequences. They could massacre an entire households or ns, and no one can do anything about it.

    Hearing that, I suppress my aurapletely, allowing him to breathe normally. I suppose I should also be arrogance in return even if a little. It is fun when I do have the power to back it up.

    "If I have increased my power to my actual level or even matching your puny powers, you would have been killed instantly."

    Iment casually. It is a semi-truthful and semi-bullshit for I am not of the third-circle or higher. But if I was, that amount of magical energy would instantly vaporize Kozak, turning himatose.

    Being first-circle with unlimited magical power is like having unlimited number of grenades. Being one at third-circle of magic with the same power is like having countless nuclear bombs. Huge different.

    And Kozak knows this. Everyone who has any kind of power knows this.

    "Yes. Thank you for your leniency, Great One. May I please know your name, so I can address you with deepest respect and sincerity."

    Kozak requests humbly. None of his arrogance demeanor remains from before, and since he has learnt from his mistake, there is no need to troll him any further.

    I am interested in recruiting him as one of my potential allies, and if he refuses to serve, I will just put him on ice, so he does not cause any problem for me in the near future.

    "You already know my name, Kozak. We have met before. Maybe more correctly to say that you would meet me this afternoon, but only if nothing changes this time around."

    His eyes widen in fear.

    "Master Maxwell?"

    Kozak utters. He sweats even more than before, now knowing what kind of monster that I am in term of magical energy. No one has that much magical power. It is not possible.

    But then again, what is truly possible with magic? No Azulian knows for sure, and since Terra Discordia herself still uses magic as a mean to get things done, it must be exceedingly useful even for an Aspect.

    "Yes, Kozak. You might have known by now that it is not a dream or premonition. I merely reverse the time of this world, giving you a second chance in life. I hope that you will not squander this new life of yours for something so foolish."

    I warn him.

    Kozak nods repeatedly. There is no way in hell that he would want to face someone like me.

    It is better for me to serve me rather than against me, at least until he has found what he is searching for on Az. His soulmate, I am assuming.

    "I will not do such a thing, Master Maxwell. Um. Is the spell to your liking? If not, I will give you any of the spells you desire."

    Kozak offers while trying not to look at me in the eyes. Matching my gaze is a sign of defiance here on Az. Also, it is hard to match my gaze while the dark hood is shrouding my face.

    "Everything that you know, I have already known, Kozak, so there is nothing you can teach me in term of magic. I am here to see one of my newest apprentices. Students if you prefer, and while I am doing that, I wish you to heed my advice on the matter of demons."

    I tell the man and pause for effect.

    "Opening a dimensional rift into Hell just to capture a demon so you can make some uses of the spells you learn in Hell is a bad idea. Yes, I am aware that you retain your memory after you reincarnated. It is not important right now. What is important is that I do not wish to deal with Hellions at the moment, so do not invite them into this universe."

    I tell the man, forcing him to blink. He has no clue how I know about what I know, but he doesn''t need to. He just kneed to know that I do, and he is in deep shit if he takes my warning lightly.

    "I will cease it immediately, Master Maxwell."

    Kozak responses.

    "Do not think that I am pressuring you into doing things that you do not want to. It is for your wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of this world. You have given a special gift that very few people have, and you should not squander it by chasing after the past, especially when you have a lifetime here on Az to pursue your goal. Do not be too hasty."

    I tell the man, trying to make him understand my point of view.

    It might not get through to him, but I will allow him to think about it. He is not an idiot, at least I don''t think so. He manages to be one of the youngest Archmage to ever exist. That forces him to have a brain, at least some of it.

    "Thank you for your advice, Master Maxwell."

    Kozak responses before taking a moment to speak up again.

    "If I do not assault the forest in an attempt to take down the barrier, the Kingdom will definitely enlist another Archmage for the task, and the result will mostly be the same in the end, forcing you act once more, Master Maxwell. Perhaps, it is better for me to pretend to take down the forest and then failing at it?"

    He questions thoughtfully, and I smile in response.

    I try not to smile, but it could not be helped. I like people like him, who can think beyond the immediate problem. He also did not need to tell me that fact, but he did so, meaning he can think ahead.

    Whether that is a good thing or not, I will find out soon enough.

    "Do what you must, Kozak, but whatever happen to my cute pet and her people, I will personally hold you ountable. As for the army, you do not need to worry about it, as they will have a problem that they have to contend with themselves."

    I tell Kozak and then ponder what I should do with the human army encroaching onto the forest. With the barrier protecting the forest still active, there is very little they could do.

    They could try to assault the barrier to wear it down, but that would take months.

    Months that they do really have, considering how much it costs to keep an army active. Also, to have an army active means other nearby Kingdoms and Queendoms are getting a lot uneasy.

    And as much as humans hate other races due to their nature, they also hate each other as much. War is also within their nature, especially on Az with the current state of civilization.

    It is feudalism society after all.

    When the people do not have anything better to do, they start conflict with each other all just to show off or in an attempt to annex some better territory. Getting some ves here and there too.

    Humans are as good as ve as elves or dwarfs or werebeasts.

    In any case, it is a good thing to leave them like that as a unified humanity is a force to be reckon with here on Az. Once they make up with each other, every other race on the will probably head towards extinction.

    Humans are just good at killing things.

    Kozak takes a moment to nod in eptance. He has no choice in the matter, and it is not asplicate as it sounds. Eliana should have remembered who he is, so a little chat with her with the best intention should be enough to solve the problem.

    No need to get violent, but they can get a bit violent if they prefer just because I want to watch them fight.

    Legion fails to record the battle from orbit, and since I had already reversed time, I cannot view it in a temporal bubble. I could get them to fight, but there is no point really when there are plenty of fights waiting to happen.

    "Now, please call Sapphire Sre to your office. She is one of your students, is she not? You have seen her potential, so why haven''t you taken her as your direct student?"

 Chapter 220: Prostrate Before the Master

    Kozak is hesitant to response, and he takes a short moment to think to himself before finally speaking up, not to answer my question, however. No. It is to ask a question of his own.

    "Is Sapphire Sre not one of your direct pupils, Master Maxwell?"

    Hearing that, I narrow my eyes at him. While I do not need Kozak to exin himself as I already know what the real reason is, I still like to hear it from him personally. Knowing it myself is one thing, and to hear it from another person is another thing.

    A better thing, at least in my opinion.

    And I am not in the mood to humor him. I do have plenty of things to do, like continuing to look deep into my past lives to gain new knowledge. While that is not really urgent, I actually enjoy it. Me, as an angel is simr to me from the before I have gone through everything.

    I do miss the old me, whimsical and nonchntly. I guess I have changed so much. Did not even notice, but I suppose it cannot be helped. Tsk.

    "Archmage Kozak."

    I address the man with a smile. The title is just how people of any standing address each other on this world, more so in the Arcane Academy, at least from what I can understand. As that is the case, I keep the same mannerism for impression.

    There is no need to change what is not broken. Same reason why I did not bother to straight up annex Az and force people to ept my point of view, economically and socially. That would be like telling them to discard thousands upon thousands of years of their history and conflict.

    Sure, I could have Legion muscles everyone into it, but what is the point of that? What does Az has to offer me other than knowledge? With the state of things, humanity actually has a motive to explore the boundary of magic.

    Being the weakest species on the after all, not counting monsters.

    "Whether Sapphire Sre is or is not my direct student is not the question, so if you decide to stall for whatever reason, you should know¡­ well, you will learn of the consequences then."

    I state calmly. Almost cheerfully. Have I ever tortured a mage to insanity before? Nope, and I do hope that Kozak will not be the first. From the look of it, he will not be.

    My words are enough to make Kozak tenses the fuck up.

    Sweating profusely too.

    No need to actually state what I am going to do to him if he displeasures me for any reason, as his wild imagination is enough.

    People do have some incredible imagination, and since Kozak has been through basically hell and back again, he should be aware of some of the most terrifying things possible.

    Hell is called Hell due to that reason. What I have done so far feel pretty tamed inparison to what the demons and devils do to each other on a regr basis. Much worst for the angels, obviously.

    Compared to Hell itself, Heaven is a paradise. That is forparison only, as Heaven might as well be called Hell whenpare to being utterly rich on the mortal ne in a modern era. Those depictions of heaven in all religious book are just that. Depictions.

    The truth is much stranger, and honestly, it is just a matter of perspective. Being an Archangel up there is like being a rich and power Chairman of a multi-billion dors corporation.

    Yup. Matter of perspective.

    "My deepest apology, Master Maxwell. Student Sapphire Sre has great potential as a mage herself, and while I do wish to take her under my tutge as one of my formal students, she had note by to ask for it personally. Therefore, I am unable to provide for her."

    Kozak finally answers my question. Skillfully too, I might add.

    The reason to why he did not take Sapphire as his direction student or even a normal student is quite simple. She did note and ask him for it herself personally, and he is not about to go and fetch her to be his student.

    Doing so would be losing face in a world where face value is extremely highly regarded, and while she has great potential to be a powerful mage in the future, so are many students here at the academy.

    Sapphire is not an exception, but unlike most students here, she has gone through a rather extremely traumatic experience.

    Getting raped to death by monsters have strengthen her resolve, and from the look of it, she is at the peak of first-circle of magic, readying to advance into the second-circle. She just needs a bit of help. It is difficult without anyone helping her.

    Despite having studied here for the whole year, Sapphire has not asked any of the Archmage for direct tutge. This is because I am already her master, and having multiple masters is highly frowned upon here at the Arcane Academy. At any Arcane Academy, really.

    This is due to the divided loyalty within the student, not to mention the conflict of interest within the teachers themselves. Everyone has a different way of interpreting magic, just like there are numerous solutions to the same problem.

    And having amon student will cause some of their specialty and secret spells to leak to the others.

    That said, Sapphire cannot progress further in her study or advance to higher rank within the academic system here while she has no publicly announced teacher. The teacher must also be part of the Arcane Academy, or why would she be studying here in the first ce

    Sapphire must ept a master to advance and finally reach Archmage level one day. One of the rules of the academy in regard to Apprentice Mages. Those of the zeroth or first circle of magic.

    They would be considered as actual mages when they reach the second circle of magic. Third circle of magic would be regarded as Archmage. Kozak for example.

    Above Kozak is Grand Archmage, or those within the fourth-circle of magic. There is actually no official Grand Archmage in this Kingdom, but there are Grand Archmage, including those two spies that Legion has detected.

    There seems to be no reason for those two spies to be here, considering that this Kingdom is very low-ranked amongst the human Kingdoms and Queendoms.

    Not even considering Empires on other continents. A much bigger continent. This ce is kind of small.

    While it does sound quite simple going from first-circle to second-circle of magic, it is actually not.

    Mages have spent years after years to get to the second-circle, bing recognized as actual mages, gaining privileges and benefits as well. Decades to reach third circles normally.

    More so to reach that fourth-circle of magic, thus bing a true powerhouse on this continent.

    I do not need to mention fifth-circle as fourth-circle already feels like a dream to many, for most mages died of old age before they could even touch upon fourth-circle of magic.

    And mages do live well into the 200s and 300s, all thanks to their magical power. Magic provides them with perfect health and so on, not to mention vast number of potions and concoctions. Artefacts too, if they are in possession of any.

    It is not all that surprising really, as technology could do the same. Most members of Hydra are actually immortal thanks to all the cybeic and biological enhancement they are receiving.

    Yup. Not that surprising. Actually, nothing really surprises me anymore. I might be shocked to learn it, but not really surprise.

    "Is that so?"

    I response and wonder whether I should justmand Kozak to go and ept Sapphire as one of his direct students regardless of whatever she wants or not. She will not resist if Kozak produced a letter of request from me.

    As formanding Kozak, it would not take much effort at all, considering my Commandment ability.

    I have not actually tested that ability on any Azulian yet, as there is no reason to, really. Also, there is a big different between forcing others to do what I want under the mind-control of the ability and one of their own freewill.

    Obviously, I prefer theter, as it feels more natural. Just a feeling, but it is a good feeling. I just really hate everything fake. That is why I never like spending way too long in a simtor. Only spend enough time to study and learn things when I was living in the 31st century.

    Just fake. Just really, really fake.

    After a moment of contemtion, I decide to state it as it is. There is no need to beat around the bush, as doing so will just be a waste of time for both me and Kozak.

    I can afford to waste time with the power to control time at mymand, but not so much for Kozak.

    Kozak is quite a busy person, from his private study to teaching at the academy. Thetter not so much as most students are left to study and fend for themselves. It helps build up their independent as well as confident.

    In any case, Kozak has to nned ahead just so he could go and help out the army today. He will have to meet up with them soon. Or not.

    The royal family cannot really boss Archmage around, and they have to provide some kind of incentive for the Archmage to help them out. Money. Prestige. Woman. Whatever the Archmage wants.

    As for Kozak himself, he wants unrestricted ess to the Royal Library. That library is only essible to members of the royal family as well as some members of the nobilities.

    Of course, like most mages, Kozak had attempted to break into the library. Failing in the process. This is because the library is protected by powerful wards and formations, not to mention guardian beasts.

    Those wards, formations and beasts are set up a long time ago by a Supreme Archmage. One who had started this Kingdom in the first ce. Therefore, the information within the library is very valuable to Archmage. Even Grand Archmage.

    Probably the real reasons why there are Grand Archmage acting as spies around the Kingdom.

    Legion is also unable to see into the library. That alone makes me interested, and I will check out that library in due time. Just put it on my list for now. Very insanely long list now. Good thing I am immortal, or I would never able to finish all of these tasks.

    "Sapphire requires a master in order to advance from Apprentice Mage to an actual Mage, continuing her journey as a mage. She will not ept anyone as her master, considering that I am her master."

    I speak up, thoughtfully.

    "Even if I allow her to ept others as her master, it will only cause conflict of interest, and therefore, I prefer not to. Also, I do not wish them to put any zealous ideals within her head. As that is the case, what is your suggestion to this problem, Kozak?"

    I state the problem. While I already know the solution without having Kozak putting himself down just to make Sapphire his student in order for her to advance, I still want to hear it from Kozak personally.

    "Perhaps you can be a teacher at the Academy, Master Maxwell. With your power, it will not be a problem. No one will protest as soon as they feel the abyss of your magic, not even the headmaster himself. I will, obviously, vouch for you without hesitation. Put my own life on the line too should you required of me."

    Kozak kisses ass. Making me smile under my hooded cloak in the process.

    "Simple and effective. I already know that the simplest solution to help my student is for me to be a teacher at this Academy, and it is already within my ns to do so. There is no need for you to vouch for me or do anything that would put yourself in harm ways. Of course, I might require your presence when speaking with the headmaster myself."

    I tell Kozak as I ess information on the headmaster from Legion.

    The man is noted to be at the peak of third-circle. Just like Kozak himself, but unlike Kozak, he actually has been at peak for a very long time now, unable to breakthrough to the fourth-circle of magic despite trying everything that he knows.

    Breaking through to higher circle does not only take trainings and dedications, but also the right state of mine, moment and time. Everything must be perfectly in order for a mage to breakthrough. Higher circles are much more difficult, obviously.

    As for the headmaster, his time has actually long passed, and there is little he could do to breakthrough into the fourth-circle of magic, extending his lifespan in the process. Without being able to, he would die soon.

    While I cannot help him breakthrough as I have no clue how, I could give him more time to do so. Time that is extremely precious to him at the moment.

    Of course, I can alsomand him to make me a teacher with my Commandment ability. That would take no effort at all, and it does not really affect his freewill as the Arcane Academy always looking out for qualified teacher.

    I am more than qualified.

    "Yes, Master Maxwell. Shall we go now, or perhaps you would like to talk to your student first? She is currently out in the field, so it will take a few hours to request her to return."

    Kozak states thing that I already know. The few hours estimation is kind of bullshit, considering there are spells that can get her here within a few minutes. Or an instant with my teleportation. I could just teleport her directly to me.

    Actually, I could teleport anyone directly to me. Including the headmaster.

    "There is no need, Kozak."

    I tell the man before deciding to take his seat behind the desk with so many stacks of paper. He hasn''t been sitting in his seat ever since he has learnt of who I am. Sitting while I am standing is stupid, given our vast differences in power.

    Kozak looks puzzled for a moment before speaking up.

    "It is not possible to invite the headmaster, Master Maxwell. He is also old and frail, thus unable to go anywhere even within the academy itself."

    Kozak realizes that I am not going to the headmaster to ask for a job. I am intending to get the man to go to me, which is kind of absurd, considering that the headmaster is the most powerful person in this whole academy.

    At least on the surface.

    "Archmage Kozak, you will learn that with me, nothing is truly impossible."

    I tell him before an old man magically appears out of thin air. There is no magical incantation circle or anything of the sort.

    Other than me, everyone in the room is utterly shocked and surprised. For different reasons, of course.

    "Kozak! How dare you summon me?"

    The headmaster calls out as his magical power and aura explode outwards, washing the private office in a storm of energy. It is much denser and vaster than Kozak despite being the same power level.

    "And how did you do that? Some sort of artefact? Hand over the artefact!"

    Only artefacts can cast magic without requiring magical incantation circle or runes. This is because the runes and incantations are on the artefact itself. And having powerful artefacts can equalized the field in ways that is not possible to determine before the battle.

    "Silence old man."

    I state simply, not needing to raise my voice. That did not go right with the headmaster, and his magical aura immediately direct at me.

    Just like before with Kozak, it does absolutely nothing. I am remotely controlling this avatar from miles away, not inhabiting it with my consciousness or spirit.

    Kozak cannot helped but smile faintly, realizing what is about to happen. Unfortunately for him, I really am not someone who would repeat methods, especially when I have so many ways to troll people.

    I mean to say, terrifying little ants. Not going to use a magnifying ss or anything like that. Teleporting the headmaster straight to the surface of the sun to make him crispy would probably do the job. More than the job, actually.

    But I do have something that I need to test out.

    "Silence old man."

    I state with the Commandment abilitycing my voice.

    "How dare you ¨C

    The headmaster manages to call out before he lost his voice. He tries to speak but finding he is unable to form words. He immediately cast a dispel spell on himself but since it is not really magic, that spell does nothing.

    It takes another second for his eyes to convey what he is thinking: "Impossible!"

    "Have you grown too old and senile old man? If I can teleport you into this room, I can definitely throw you into the sun. I have expected better from a headmaster. Now, kneel, so our eyes are at the correct level."

    Imand, activating my ability for thest part.

    And before he could do anything, he is forced onto his knees. He is now a terrified old man instead of an Archmage with unfathomable power.

    Honestly, before me and this primordial power, even Gods have to prostrate, resigning in defeat. What is a puny Archmage to a God?

 Chapter 221: Annexing an Arcane Academy

    Kozak cannot fathom what is truly happening.

    It probably feels so surreal to him, especially being here and bearing witness to one of the most powerful men within this country being forced to his knees on just my words and my words alone.

    While magic can probably aplish the same thing, the level of magic required would be so absurd that it might as well be within the realm of fantasy even for mages of the fourth and fifth circles.

    Of course, it is not magic, as the Commandment ability does not feel like magic at all.

    It feels more like a Power.

    And perhaps, it is a Power in itself.

    I am actually still debatable about that, as I have never had wielded a Power before, so I am uncertain what it would feel like naturally.

    It is probably not as natural as my power to manipte time.

    And to my understanding, Powers are of a lower tier than the powers and abilities wielded by Aspects and Primordial. My ability to control time would be called aspectual rank power or ability.

    That ability is inherited to me, being the Aspects of Time.

    This is obviously all just spection. But it is logical spection from what I have known and experienced thus far. More on that another time, as I am more or less face-pping the headmaster of this academy.

    There are actually many academies, all littered throughout this continent and beyond. Academies are in a ss of their own, operating autonomously within a Kingdom or Queendom or simr.

    That said, this Arcane Academy is considered to be fairly low-ranked simply because of having only an Archmage as its headmaster. It would be higher ranked if its headmaster is a Grand Archmage or higher.

    But having a higher rank would only invite troubles and unwanted scrutiny, not to mention the academy also has to defend itself from constant threats internally and externally.

    It is simply better to remain low-ranked until such time that it is strong enough to protect itself from threats. I am considering the academy as a person for easier analogy.

    Of course, there are great benefits to being higher rank academy. Gaining better students is one of them. Having vast arrays of spells and wards is another.

    There are actually a lot of benefits, and it is the reason that many headmasters would try to reach higher rank.

    The headmaster of this Arcane Academy is the same. He wishes to breakthrough into the fourth-circle of magic, but that is kind of impossible without my help.

    He probably would not receive any help from me, considering that hecks something called a brain within his head. I dislike idiots.

    Honestly, how did someone like him be the headmaster of this ce in the first ce?

    "What kind of trickery is this!? Release me from the curse at once or I will destroy you!"

    The headmaster tries to call out, but despite his lips mouthing, no actual words can escape his throat, all thanked to mymand.

    Of course, that did not stop his magical energy and aura from assaulting me and Kozak.

    His aura is also washing over the room, cracking the airs, walls, floors and ceiling. Pointlessly too as anything can be repaired with a bit of magic and ingenuity.

    Not to mention that his magic has absolutely no effect ton me.

    It is also quite ineffective against Kozak due to him being an Archmage himself. Archmage cannot force another Archmage from sheer power and aura alone. Those things are only effective against Mages and Apprentice Mage. That is, mages of the lower circle.

    "I am ¨C

    The headmaster does not allow me to speak as he tries to cast an offensive spell against my person.

    A magical incantation circle manifests right in front of him before spitting out a lightning bold. A very powerful lightning bolt.

    Powerful enough for Kozak to immediately summon an earth barrier to protect himself. The element of earth can negate the lightning element more effectively, just like water can dissipate fire. Fire can also be very effective against water.

    Anyway, the lightning bolt is not directed at Kozak. It crashes into me, causing my technological body to glow slightly. But that is all.

    Lightning is just super-charged current. Electricity in other word, and due to my run-in with Zeus from another reality some time ago, I have since crafted and produced an upgraded version of the micromachines, adding in a powerful capacitor to each individualponent.

    This allows them to absorb vast amount of electrical energy.

    To store or to use for something else. In other word, the headmaster merely charges me. His lightning spells do not do anything more than that.

    Yet, despite seeing his spells beingpletely ineffective against me, the headmaster does not relent and continues to cast lightning to strike me, hopping to bring down whatever magic barrier or shield that is protecting me, negating his attacks in the process.

    To the point that Kozak bes utterly speechless.

    "Have you be senile, old man? If so, why don''t you just go and die already?"

    I response before sting him with all the electrical power that he had been striking me with.

    A magic barrier manifests around him instantly, absorbing the reflected power and then amplifying it before sting it back at me. Wow!

    "Die!"

    The headmaster roars, but then again, no words escape his throat. The only sounds that can be heard are the crackling of static electric. So loud that everyone within the school can hear it.

    Of course, they notice the massive lightning bolt escape out of the building and flying into the distant.

    I admit. That much power does faze me. Even a little. It overloads some of the micromachines within my body, but not too many.

    "Impossible¡­"

    The headmaster utters, seeing mepletely uninjured.

    Even my robe is undamaged. It isposed entirely of micromachines after all.

    "I honestly do not know what I was thinking when I want to be a teacher of this ce. I definitely will be one, but I do not need permission from someone like you."

    The headmaster heard all of that before his head falls onto the floor. His eyes widen as his entire body has been reduced to dust.

    His head then teleports into my hand before micromachines crawls up onto his face and rip his skull apart to get into that juicy brain of his. It looks like flesh eating ants. Horrifying flesh eating ants.

    The resulting scream is just a bonus.

    Kozak recoils back in horror, recalling what had happened to him before he had found himself back in his room, waking up to a brand-new day.

    "Master Maxwell¡­ killing the headmaster will not go unnoticed by the others, and many people on campus might have heard all of that."

    Kozak finds enough courage to warn me, and it is something that I like about him.

    Despite being forced into servitude, Kozak still speaks his mind thoughtfully.

    I smile at him before putting the headmaster''s brain inside a spatial dimension. One that I have created for the asion.

    Legion will have fun extracting everything that I need to know from the headmaster, and it will not be long for me to know everything there is to know about running a proper magic school.

    Honestly, I should have just done something like that from the start, but I did have some hope for the headmaster. It was a fleeting hope, but still, I did not wish to kill the man if I could help it.

    It is just too bad that the headmaster proved to be a dumbass. One that I have preferred to do without, and it is better to just have Legion runs the school instead.

    That way, I have total control of everything without needing to ask anyone for permission.

    Before long, someone starts knocking on the door of the office, wishing to know what is actually going on within. Of course, Kozak looks at me for direction. He is not sure what to do, as everyone probably has felt the immense aura from the headmaster. The dead headmaster now.

    He is probably burning in hell.

    "Feel free to let them in, Archmage Kozak. You can introduce me as Master Maxwell, a new disciplinary teacher to them."

    I tell Kozak before a spatial rift manifests within the room. The person who steps through the rift nearly drains the blood from Kozak''s face. It is the headmaster. An un-dead headmaster.

    "Headmaster? No. A golem?"

    Kozak points out, making me frown slightly. Using mental link, I order Legion to simte the dead man perfectly, to his very aura as well.

    It did take a moment, but not a very long moment before Kozak bes unable to detect the impersonator. To all intend and purpose, Legion is the headmaster to Kozak.

    "What is the matter, Archmage Kozak? Please open the door, so I can finally introduce Master Maxwell to everyone."

    Legion speaks through the headmaster with the exact voice and mannerism as the real headmaster.

    I have also some new adjustments to my avatar, just to prevent people from detecting me as metal golem instead of a real person.

    It did not take more than a second, and while that is happening, Kozak opens the door with a gesture of his hands. Of course, he uses magic for mundane things like this.

    "Headmaster? Sorry for the intrusion, but we had thought something happen to Archmage Kozak."

    One of the teachers speaks up. He is the first person to enter the room alongside with half a dozen or so teachers behind him. There are also students beyond the door, but they are not allowed inside due to this being a private office. This is obviously a matter not for them.

    "Thank you for your concern, but I am fine. Headmaster and Master Maxwell is having a conversation while I bear witness."

    Kozak responses and gestures his hand to close the door, sealing it once more. His statements instantly made several people to raise their brows.

    From their magical aura, they are all Archmage level of varying stages with one being at stage one.

    There are stages of advancement to each circle of magic. About 10 stages in total from my knowledge, but most considered it to be 9 for simplicity. They are lower, middle, upper and peak. Lower, middle and upper has roughly 3 stages each while peak is just peak.

    It is divided that way because getting from Lower 3rd Stage to Middle 1st stage takes more effort than usual. Same with Middle 3rd Stage to Upper 1st Stage.

    The only exception is Upper 3rd Stage and Peak Stage.

    The Peak Stage is a special stage that some people reach just to improve their magical power and aura more. It is not necessary to reach that stage when one can jump from Upper 3rd Stage First Circle right to Lower 1st Stage Second Circle, skipping the Peak Stage together.

    Of course, doing that is not a good thing, but most people has no choice in the matter as advancing into the Peak Stage does need a lot of time and efforts.

    Time and efforts that they might not have due to their ages or health or even financial means. It is not cheap being a mage, but the rewards at the end are worth it. Most noble house has at least one living mage, thus allowing them to be prideful to the point of arrogance.

    More so if that mage is an Archmage.

    "Master Maxwell? I assume that you do not mean him as your teacher, Archmage Kozak, so what does he specializes in exactly?"

    The same man asked, and Legion finally informs me that this man and the rest of the people are really part of the same faction.

    There are factions within the Academy. Of course, there are.

    There are factions within any organization, and an Arcane Academy can be considered as an organization with like thousands upon thousands of people.

    There are at least ten thousand or so students studying here at the academy, but only a fraction of that are recognized as mages. Like less than 1%.

    The conversion rate from normal students to mages sucks, but then again, everyone wants to be a mage even though they have no talent or potential for it. They do have a lot of money though, but money could only get them so far.

    "He is a Master Torturer, Archmage Bronwen, and you shall address him as such. Do you understand?"

    Legion informs everyone after I give him the information through our mental connection.

    Master is just another rank for mages, and it depends on their profession. That is, what they are excelling at. Alchemy. Summoning. Formation. Beast Taming and so on.

    These is just to name a few.

    There are quite alot of profession, and naming them all takes way too much time.

    Of course, Master is not the highest rank within a profession. Grandmaster is higher than Master, but Master Maxwell has a charm to it. Also, it has a double meaning as well.

    Hearing the title, Bronwen and his underlings are taken back. There actually had never been a Master Torturer at the academy before. There has never been a need for one since its establishment around a thousand years ago.

    However, with so many magesing in and going out of the country on a regr basis, magic crimes are on the rise, especiallymitted against themon people.

    So much so that there have been several revolts recently, but they had all been put down violently.

    Unfortunately for themon people, the Kingdom cannot really prosecute mages effectively, so the King has requested the Arcane Academy do something about this.

    All for the security and prosperity of the country.

    The King did not request though. It is more like him begging the headmaster with promises to pay for any expenses. He obviously gets something in return as well, considering thew of confiscation within the country.

    Yup. Perfect for abuse, and the headmaster has already abusing it.

    With the backing of the monarchy, the headmaster has prosecuted anyone who dare to usurp him, as that is the reason that he is extremely paranoid. Senile and paranoid does not go well together.

    I guess I did the right thing by killing him, not that I wouldn''t in the first ce.

    It is just better to get rid of him and run the school myself. What should I do about his wife and children though? His mistresses too. Wow. He has so many.

    Oh wait. I do not need to do anything about that. Legion can y the part perfectly, and besides, since he is at odd with his wife, who he rarely sees.

    In fact, the headmaster spends most of his time trying to reach a higher circle in vain.

    "Do you understand!?"

    Legion questions and demonstrates the power and aura of a third-circle mage. With a restricted amount of magical energy of course. Unlimited amount with that level of magical power is enough to instantly kill everyone in the room.

    And probably the surrounding area.

    But to make sure no one dare to challenge Legion and me, I allow Legion to release roughly ten times the amount of magical energy that the headmaster has himself.

    That is enough to scare the pants off of everyone.

    "Yes, headmaster."

    Bronwen responses so quick that he nearly bites his tongue. His goons as well. Sweating a lot more than Kozak as the energy is directed at them. Whatever notions they have about assassinating the previous headmaster to take control of the academy vanish within their mind.

    At least for the time.

    I will have to get rid each of them eventually. Cannot allow them to teach here at my academy and to corrupt my students. Of course, there is no need to hurry.

    "Master Maxwell. It is good to have you part of the academy, and if there is time, I would love to exchange some torture techniques from you."

    Bronwen finally greets me, but I note that he did not introduce himself. In his eyes, I am a nobody, as he is nobody in mine. Take one to know one. His underlings also say something to the same effect.

    Once they do that, they request to excuse themselves since they are a bit shaken up by Legion.

    Maybe crushing their spirit was a bit too much, but it is better that way at the moment.

    Kozak locks the door afterwards and activates some soundproofing seals since one or more idiots will try to eardrop. Even if they do not, it is better to. He did not have it activated before since he is merely doing paperwork, and keeping those seals activated drain his magical energy.

    "Master Maxwell. Is this truly the headmaster?"

    Kozak addresses me, knowing full well that I am the one in control. I am always the one in control, and if others think otherwise, it is because I am allowing them to be in control. Well, for people that aren''t Aspects or Primordial.

    "Yes and no. The headmaster you know is dead. However, I have made used of his body and magic for my purpose. You should not have any more problem from the headmaster from now on, and you will not have a problem from me as long as you serve me with the best of your ability."

    I tell Kozak before pursing my lips. I wonder if I should tell him the reason why I have allowed him into my service in the first ce, but I decide there is no reason to.

    "I will serve, Master Maxwell."

    Kozak responses with a deep bow.

    "Actions speak louder than words. Go and do whatever you need. I do not like to interfere with things that I assume would get done satisfactory."

    I tell Kozak and get up from the seat. I guess I am a teacher now, and I should spend a bit of time fixing a few things in school. It would be for the best, considering it is my school now.

    How did thing turn out like this? Oh right. Stupid people are stupid.

    "As for those other things that you have been doing in secret or otherwise, you may continue them as long as it does not threaten this world. I will let you use your judgement on those matters, as I do not wish to keep an eye on you all the time."

    I add before making headmaster-Legion disappears. I just return him back to the same room that I had poached the headmaster from a moment ago. He was in meditation alone, so it is fine.

    Once that is done, I teleport away to see Sapphire Sre, knowing that Kozak will carry out my will to the best of his ability.

    It is in his best interest as well.

 Chapter 222: Defending His Honour (POV)

    Countless deadly spears of fire and ice crash against an invisible protective barrier right in front of me, and the resulting explosion forces me to take a couple of steps backwards.

    Before the next wave of attacks that would surelye, I reach out both of my hands and channel my magic into the barrier, strengthening and reinforcing it so that it would survive the relentless assaults from my attackers.

    The protective barrier that I have erected should be able to retain its integrity and cohesion for as long as I can supply the necessary magical energy.

    Unfortunately, I can already feel a sharp drop within my mana pool with each sessful strike against my barrier, and I realize quickly that I would not be able to maintain this defensive position for long.

    No. Not against my current opponents.

    It is already hard to erect this advanced level protective barrier as a peak first circle mage, and it is an undeniable miracle that I am able to hold myself against several mages of the second circle all at once.

    Granted, they are lower stage 1 of the second circle of magic, so the differences between our abilities and powers are not as severe as if they are of the middle stage or upper stage.

    If they are of the middle stage or above, I would not be able to hold out for this long.

    Of course, Bruce would not allow anything to happen to me. Bruce is a tamed monster that my master has gifted me when I first met him. While Bruce is only a peak level monster of the first circle of magic, it is a monster belonging to my master, so it should be able to defeat these mages with rtive ease.

    I am sure of it due to how easy Bruce had managed to win against me in our numerous sparring session previously. While I detest Bruce for what it had done to me and my friends when it was a wild monster, I am very thankful that master has gifted me with such a creature.

    For without Bruce guarding me, I would not be able to live until now.

    It has been almost a full year since I hadst seen my master, and while I am trying my best to wait for his return as he had stated that he would, I am unable to advance further in my study or my magic.

    This is because I need the approval of an official teacher at the academy to take advance sses, and I have not acknowledged anyone from the academy as my teacher. In effect, I would be a student of theirs.

    I cannot acknowledge another mage as my master since I already have a master, and my maser is one of the most powerful mages that I have ever heard about.

    Far more powerful than any Archmage that I have met at the academy. I am certain of it.

    It would be incredibly foolish of me to acknowledge another master while I am his student. His direct student, I think. I hope so.

    With that alone, acknowledging another person as my master would be incredibly disrespectful to my current master, and I cannot afford to disrespect him in anyway.

    I also cannot afford to disappoint him in anyway either.

    This is the reason that I am trying so hard to hold myself against these unreasonable mages since being defeated by them would be a great humiliation to my master.

    While I can probably defeat these guys inbat with the aid of Bruce, it is not a good option. For if I do, more woulde, and then more woulde after that. It will never end until I am defeated and possibly killed.

    It is already difficult holding myself against lower stages second circle mages. Their seniors, middle or upper stages of the second circle of magic would be beyond my ability to defend myself against. I will have no hope of defeating.

    Even if I can defeat them somehow, what about their teacher?

    It is notpletely unheard of for a teacher to step into the squabble between students. They usually take the side of their student in the conflict when that happen, and it is not possible for someone like me to stand up to an Archmage.

    Archmage are extremely powerful, capable of killing first circle mages with just their aura alone. They do not even need to life a single finger or use a single spell. Just thinking about them makes me scared, and I truly wish that my master is here.

    If he was, this would never had happened. I would never be in this kind of situation.

    "How the hell is this bitch stands up to ourbine attacks? Is she using an artefact!?"

    One of the mages call out before summoning a storm of fireballs. They crash against the barrier around me, pushing me back with the force of the explosion.

    He immediately presses on, summoning more firestorms and sending them against my barrier just like ice-storms and wind-storms.

    "Probably. There is no way a first circle mage can stand against one of us, and she is defending herself against all four of us. What the hell? No wonder my little brother said there is something weird about her. Also, watch out, she has a tamed monster."

    "How did she get a tamed monster? She is not a Beast Tamer or a Monster Hunter. She is not even an official mage yet! There is no way she has a tamed monster in her possession. If she does, she should have summoned it already."

    "No. My junior has told me that she does indeed have one. He was beaten pretty badly by the monster, to the point that he is unable to walk for a whole week. No sure why the monster did not kill him."

    "Hahaha. Wow. I truly feel so sorry for your junior to have a senior like you, but I am really curious to what kind of monster it is. Even if it is a dragon-type, I am sure I can y it with my magic."

    "I heard it was an Orc or Goblin. It was big and strong and really green, so it is probably an Orc. I have in an orc before, a small one, but still, it should not be a problem to me. Besides, I also have a tamed monster of my own. My big sister gifted me for protection."

    "Oh yeah. Senior sister. I would love to have a chat with her about some spells that I have been working ontely. Is it possible to set up a meeting? I will give you this awesome point that I have brewedst night. It can boost your magical power by several folds."

    "Sure thing. I will talk to my big sister about it, but please do not try anything with her like you had to that girl a week ago. She will kill you and then she will kill me."

    "Of course not. I would not dare to do something like that against senior sister. I really want to ask her about some spells. I cannot tell you what those spells are because it is a secret."

    "New spells? Cool. Show it to me when you work out the kink. I love to learn new spells since myzy master has not been teaching anything goodtely. He has been asking for things without really giving me anything in return. It is really annoying.

    I really want to switch teacher, but I am his direct student, so it is hard to."

    "Hah! I told you at the start do not be his student, now you are stuck with him for life. No other teachers would take you as their student now."

    "Yeah. I know. Damn it. This really suck. Anyway, let get this over with so I can get back to figuring out ways to poison him. Oh shit.

    Do not tell anyone that, or he will kill me for trying to poison him."

    "We heard nothing, but I am sure this bitch did. By the way, she looks kind of cute. Can we have some with her after we payback for what she did to our juniors?"

    Those four guys are starting to look at me strangely, and from their conversation, I am a bit more than terrified. I have heard horror stories about them doing heinous things in town against normal people, including other mages.

    But since they are sons of powerful and prestige noble houses, no one can actually do anything against them without retribution.

    As a matter of fact, those that raisedints previously have stopped mentioning it all together as if someone has gotten to them and silenced them. This is how it is in the capital, where the strong and wealthy prey on the people.

    My mother and father have warned me about this repeatedly, but to be able to witness it all for myself is really an eye opener. Truly, if it wasn''t for learning magic and bing a mage, just so I could bring some status to my parents, I would have never thought abouting to the capital.

    And I should have not retaliated against those guys, but they have insulted my master. While I do not really care about whatever insults and remarks they had thrown my way, they must not dishonor my master.

    I must act to defend him and his honor, not because I am his direct student, but it is also a right thing to do. My master has saved me and my vige, so even if he did not ept me as his student, I would have defended him to the best of my ability.

    The five mages continue to assault my protective barrier with even more aggressiveness, draining my mana pool rapidly. It would not be long before I run out of mana, and without any mana potion left, I cannot restore my mana.

    Mana potion is not cheap, so I only have a few of them on me to begin with. I try not to use them, but it cannot be helped, not when I have to fight against 5 mages of higher circle than me.

    I could consume manastone to restore my magical energy, but those are very precious, especially they are a gift from my master. I cannot be wasteful with it. I have not used or sold any of them, opting to keep them for emergency.

    Luckily, I have been able to find work at the capital or I would have no ways of paying for foods, clothes and shelters let alone books and materials for my study.

    My parents also send me some money by ways of Lavender and Eric. They visit me whenever there is a quest that takes them to the capital. It is nice to see them once in a while, and without meeting my master, I would have joined them on their quest regrly.

    However, my master desires for me to concentrate on my study and be a powerful mage. I should not waste his hopes in me by doing things that do not contribute to my growth.

    "Bruce."

    I eventually have no choice but to resort to using Bruce. I try not to use him too often as he sometimes goes too far, almost killing the other mages.

    Killing any mages has dire consequences, especially when the mages is from a notable house. Not only I will be prosecuted, my parents and my vige as well.

    "Wow. You are right. She does have a tamed monster, but it is not an orc. That is a goblin. Just a really big one. Really one ugly bastard.

    I heard that wherever there is a nest of them, countless of girls from nearby viges disappear. Probably for breeding."

    "Dude. That is likemon to all low-level monsters, but there is no time to talk about this. I can feel magicing from the damn thing. It must be at least a first circle mage. As powerful as her too! Hey, did you not say you have yed an orc before?

    Well, Goblin is like weaker than Orc, so get to it."

    "Fuck you guys! It was a baby. There is no way that I can fight against something like this and win!"

    "The use your tamed. Did you not say that you have one!?"

    "Oh yeah. Totally forgot about that. Come out ck Wyvern and kill this damn thing!"

    The moment the guy calls out, a spatial rift begins to form, and an enormous amount of magical energy could be felt. This monster is of the second-circle. Not just any second circle, but peak second-circle.

    I could not help but tremble at the power that radiate from the dragon-like beast as it exits the spatial rift and looks down upon Bruce. Even the other guys also tremble, including the summoner.

    The creature roars before powerful winds st forth, slicing through everything within its wake. Bruce manages to block the attack, but at a terrible cost. Countless gashes and shes all over its incredible massive body.

    "Bruce¡­"

    I utter and watch the wounds heal. Bruce can heal from any wounds, but even so, it cannot do anything against an aerial target. More wind des sh through Bruce and m against my barrier, breaking through with ease and sending me flying backwards.

    Sharp pain runs through my body as I realize that I have been bisected. The attack is so powerful that it can cut through Bruce, my barrier and me without even slowing down.

    "Holy shit man! Why did you not summon it in the first ce? Would have gotten this over so quickly, but you just cut up the girl. Now, how the hell are we going to have fun with her?"

    One of the guys speaks up, pursing his lips.

    "That is because I cannot control it. It will not listen to me, at least not yet. My big sister said that I will be able to control it if I reach middle stage or so. It is a real pain of unsummoning it."

    The guy responses while looking up at the huge flying monster, looking somewhat distressed. He then reaches out both of his hands, trying to recall the beast, but it is refusing hismand, at least a first.

    Within in a short moment, the creature reduced into ash, making him blink repeatedly.

    "That wasn''t that hard."

    One of the guysments after seeing the giant dragon-like creature reduces to drifting dust, quickly being scattered to the wind.

    "No. That wasn''t me. I did not unsummon it. It¡­ was killed!?"

    The guy utters in dread as a shadow looms over my bleeding form.

    My breath is short and ragged as I am losing a lot of blood. Even so, I can make out who it is, and with the recognition, I cannot help but be tearful.

    "Master¡­ I have failed you."

 Chapter 223: My Words are Absolute

    No, Sapphire. You have not failed me. If anything, I have failed you as your master. I did not expect to be away from Az for this long, but there are simply things that are outside of my control, so please forgive this master of yours.

    That is what I wanted to say to the dying teenager lying in two pieces on thee dirt besides my feet, but since it feels kind of cheesy and rather out of the character for my all-powerful master persona, I didn''t bother to speak my mind.

    Obviously, I would have if Sapphire was more than just a student of mine, as girls do love to hear these kinds of thing, especially when it is sincere and truthful from someone they care deeply about.

    And it is sincere and truthful,ing from deepest part of my cold and unyielding heart.

    I have nned to check up on Sapphire and her progress once every month or so, just to steer her and her study in the right direction. She is more or less a social experiment of mine, as a mean to confirm the growth of Hans and Alex.

    The future Hans and Alex, I mean. They are both mages of the tenth-circle of magic, and while I believe their estimated power level, they are not as powerful as a mage of the tenth-circle should be. It cannot be helped since what they had learned and practiced are mostly from trial and error.

    No one is there to teach them how to cultivate and fortify their magic correctly. If there was, I do think they would be a true powerhouse, capable of far more than they could have ever imagined.

    To my knowledge, mages of that caliber are in the realm of legend on Az if they actually exist at all.

    Heroes and Champions of long forgotten past and recorded history are not even at that level, and they were still capable of ying Gods and Demons alike. Probably not Gods like Zeus, but still, Gods. Gods that are worshiped by millions of Azulian.

    It is very obvious that the method of studying, practicing, training and understanding magic determine how powerful a mage is rtive to their peers. Talents and potentials also help as well as efforts, hard work, diligent and determination.

    While Sapphire is determined to be a mage of first-circle of magic, she is capable of beating the living crap out of many mages of the first-circle, not to mention holding herself against not just one or two, but five mages of the second-circle.

    Sure. They are lower second-circle mages, but they are mages of the second-circle.

    That is a feat in itself.

    And if Sapphire has unlimited magical energy at her disposal, she would probably able to defeat them without resorting to taking a defensive position. There is a legit reason to why I did not grant her such an advantage, and it is the same reason why I did not make Bruce an unstoppable juggernaut.

    It is also the reason why I will learn magic properly despite I can pretty much ughter mages whether they are first or fifth circle. I am sure even sixth circle mage will not be able to survive a thermal fusion bomb at point nk range.

    And that is not the most powerful weapon at my disposal.

    I already haven beaten up Gods with the power of the stars, and I am sure Zeus is more powerful than even a tenth-circle mage if he had fought seriously. So yes, no mortal on Az should be able to harm me in any meaningful way.

    The reason is simple. Borrowed powers are not actual powers. They can be taken away at any time. It is foolish to bepletely reliance on them.

    Incredibly stupid even.

    The only power that is my own is the power over time. Even Terra herself cannot take that away from me. She can suppress it with her magic, but I can still feel my power within me, so it is not perfect.

    This is not to mention that Erosire, the Primordial Sin of Lust is unable to disable my power despite he is more than capable of trapping me in an alternate reality. One that is taking ce somewhere in the past of the prime-reality.

    Speaking of Erosire, I am still feeling incredibly lustful even though this is a bodyposed entirely of micromachines. How am I still feeling lustful even though I cannot actually procreate. I mean, I could, but it would not be the same as having a real fleshy body.

    It is not as severe as having a real fleshy body, however. But even so, it is troubling. Very troubling, as Az has countless beauties. I feel like bending every beautiful girl Ie across to give them my stick just to make myself feel good.

    It will not feel as good as having a biomechanical body though. A biomechanical body is just like fleshy body with the added benefit of being literally invincible. Nothing short of a nuke can destroy it, as it is capable of rapid regeneration as long as there are raw materials avable.

    I tell Legion to start forging a new body for me. As long as it is on Az, it should be fine. There hasn''t been any crack in space and time yet, so I assume it is not considered a deviation of sort. It is probably the case, as whatever happen outside that alternate reality should not affect that reality.

    Another thing I need to do is properly learn magic myself, as my magic seems toe from the spirit or soul, and my magic is something that I can truly call my power. Not a borrowed power.

    The problem is Ingra. The damn dragon is preventing me from practicing magic normally and reaching my full potential as a mage.

    I really need to find a way to remove the curse. Now more than ever, considered I have run into some of the most powerful entity within the multiverse. I have to acquire all the advantages that I could, or I would be forced into situation that I do not wish to be in.

    How to remove Ingra is the question, but I might be able to learn how on Az, especially with people like Kozak. He seems to have good understanding of the spirit and the soul, at least if it has something to do with the Samara Karmic Cycle.

    The spirit and the soul are not the same thing. Spirit is considered the outer shell of a soul, acting like a physical body, allowing a soul to interact on the physical ne. A soul is just a spherical ball, existing within.

    A soul can have many spiritual bodies, separately oryered over one another for increased protection or something of the sort. It is strange, but without a spirit body, the soul is defenseless. Striking a soul directly has devasting consequences, at least Kozak seems to think so.

    But I take everything he knows with a grain of salt just like I take anything everyone tell me with some thoughts myself, and I am sure there is probably more reincarnated people like Kozak running around on Az. People that remember their previous life and learn from their experiences.

    Even if they do not, I have a spell to awaken it, allowing me to learn a lot about angels and devils along with Heavens and Hells.

    Well. Enough for me to summon a devil or angel and learn more by probably the best kind of method.

    Torture.

    The same reason to why I have decided to masquerade as a Master Torturer. The title sounds dreadful, and it is. Torturers are somewhat like an Inquisitor of the Inquisition.

    Basically, people, not necessarily mages, who love to torture people for fun.

    Oh. Exacting information and confession too, but that is like a side effect of torturing someone. People just talks whatever to make the pain stop, and it might not be the truth either.

    Torture alone rarely gets the truth, but with knowing whether they are lying or not through the power of magic or otherwise, it is extremely effective.

    Mages are actually quite fearful of being imprisoned and tortured, but it mostly has to do with turning into a cripple at the hands of the torturers. There are methods of turning a mage into a normal person, stripping them of their magic, effectively making them lose everything that they had aplished.

    To a mage, bing a cripple or a normal powerless person is a fate worse than death, and all those that they have offended when they were powerful mages wille for a payback, so it is simply better to just die.

    Mages are quite easily offended, especially when one disrespects them. But of course, like any society like on Az, there are idiots and morons that go out of their way to make trouble. These five mages for example.

    Honestly, Sapphire should still be able to give them a fight of their life without me giving her unlimited magic, but she did not because it would just be a repeat of thest time when she beats up those who dare to offend me.

    Sapphire is defending my honor, and for that I am thankful. Exceedingly thankful.

    It is actually quite nice to have a student like her, who actually care and respect me as her master, and she should because it is the right thing to do. I would have done the same if I have a master. Do I really need one to study magic?

    Not really at the moment, but who knows.

    "Master? Is that her master? I cannot sense any magic from him."

    "Me either, but how did he get here? He just appears out of now where like a fucking ghost. He is not a ghost, right? I do have any items that are effective against a ghost."

    "No worry. I have some, but that guy is not a ghost. He has a shadow. Ghost do not have shadows, at least from what the elders have told me. I have not seen one for myself though, so I do not know."

    "Who fucking cares. Your goddamn beast just killed her. Now what the hell do I do for fun now? Maybe I can take it on your junior? That pink-haired girl. What is her name?"

    The five idiots continue talking to each other. Four actually. One of them is still shocked that I instantly kill his tamed beast. It is about second-circle, but so what? I have instantly killed a peak mage of third-circle like half an hour ago.

    "M-master¡­"

    Sapphire utters as blood streams out the corner of her lips. Her soft lips. Beautiful lips. And despite all the tears in her eyes, they are as mesmerizing as ever. If she could see through my expression clearly, she could see how lustful I am.

    Sigh. I need to summon Eliana and get rid of my boner, but she is probably busy having a chat to Kozak right about now. Legion confirms that, as it is keep tracking of Eliana through Kozak.

    Strange that Legion is unable to previously. Probably due to the barrier protecting that whole magical forest. It is a barrier erected by a Goddess after all. Goddess of the Moon, who is a no show. Probably already dead or licking her wounds somewhere.

    "There is no need to speak, Sapphire."

    I finally speak for the first time before she is whole again. Bruce as well, but not due to me or anything of the sort. The damage that had been caused by the wind de is very effective as it ripped cleaning through all of the micromachines and severing the connection between each individual block.

    But again, such damage is not permanent for something like Bruce. Also, those five idiots assume that Bruce is a tamed creature. If they bother to use some analytic spells, they would know it is a golem.

    I suppose they did not think of that, being lower second-circle mages after all.

    Should I waste them? They are still kids after all, and their profile are on disyed for me at my mental request. Maybe I should call these profile rap sheet. That is, their criminal record. They have been very naughty boys.

    Very, very naughty boys. Time to discipline them then. It is my job as Master Torturer. Not really, but I am the closest to a disciplinary group for the academy. While there is a prison for mages somewhere underneath the academy, it is only used to keep people who are against the headmaster.

    I will have to refurbish it. While I am at it, I will refurbish the whole school as well. It is better if Legion is the school. That way, I have eyes and ears everywhere within its walls.

    "What the!? Are my eyes ying trick on me?"

    One of the idiots calls out, seeing that Sapphire heals from all of her wounds. The others notice it too, but they are too shock to say anything. This is because even her clothes arepletely restored with her magical power and mana reserve.

    Mana is just another term for magical energy. I usually do not use it as it feels like a game. Maybe that is because Ie from the modern world. Probably.

    "Student greets Master Maxwell!"

    Sapphire calls out and sps her hands together to give me a respectful bow. Without her injuries as well as bloodstained faces, she looks a lot more attractive. Is she only like 15 or 16 at the moment?

    That mean, she has not fully developed as woman yet. Ahem. What am I thinking? She is my student, so I should not try to get into her pants.

    Although, it is probably as easy as telling Sapphire to strip out of her robe and get on the bed. I would not need to resort to using the Commandment ability either because it is my right as her master.

    Sapphire would do it without much protest, but her opinion of me would be rock bottom.

    Better to make her fall for me, and then reap the benefit. Eh? Maybe I should stop thinking of ways to bed her, especially when there are plenty of other beautiful women around. A couple of them are part of Bronwen''s entourage.

    They dress quite skimpy, and I did not speak much myself during then because I was ogling them from behind the desk. If I had any question about whether a machine can get an erection, I have my answer.

    Ahem.

    "Sapphire. Please teach these mages some humility. You do not need to hold back this time around. I want to see how much you have progressed, but of course, do not kill them, as I want to have a word with them before that."

    And progress a lot she did. With a word of acknowledgement from her, she proceeds to beat the living crap out of those guys, casting spell much faster than them and striking each one with precision.

    "What the hell!? How the fuck is she so strong? Was she holding back!? There is no way she is a fucking mage of the first circle. She has to be at least middle second-circle!"

    "No. Higher. Goddamn it. Stop her so I can set up a formation. Ah!"

    "Fire ¨C Gak!"

    Screams eventually reces all kind of words, as the five idiots are burned and impaled by fire spears and balls and walls. Some other elements in between as well.

    While Sapphire is naturally a fire mage, she does know other elements topliment her power.

    It is stupid to just learn and master a single element, as some monsters and creatures arepletely immune to certain element naturally. Mages also build up resistance to certain element over certain period of time, thus a real mage master all the basic elements.

    That is being Wind, Earth, Fire, Water and Lightning. Kozak masters all of them. In effect, he is one of the most versatile Archmage ever. He would be considered as a Pentagon Mage.

    Being a Pentagon Mage allows him to use a host of sub-elemental magic. Like steam. Metal and so on, but all of this is not really important right now.

    What is important is seeing how weak these five second-circle mages are. They probably have skipped peak stage of the first circle and swallowed a lot of boosting items. Not probably. More than certainly.

    Not only that, they have a lot of help from their elders too.

    Doing all of that is extremely detrimental to their growth as mages, thus it is already showing severely in this life or death battle. It is a life and death battle even though I did tell Sapphire not to kill them.

    Of course, Sapphire still attacks them with all intention to kill, but she stops short of ending their lives.

    And before she finishes teaching them all some humility, a beam of light crashes nearby. An insanely powerful aura radiates outwards and ms against Sapphire, forcing her to her knees.

    "Master/Teacher!"

    Three of the severely beaten boys call out tearfully. They are the only one who are still conscious. One more is, but he cannot speak at the moment. His face is smashed in with several of his teeth missing.

    Sapphire does not hold back, and it is a good thing. No need to hold back against these young masters.

    Yes. They are young masters. Annoying pests that gue many great stories, and as young masters, it is their right to have reinforcement. An older man clearly an Upper Archmage.

    And there are two others. A man and a woman roughly in their mid-twenties. The guy is a good looking as far as good-looking guys go, and the girl is with impressive proportion.

    Both are probably direct students of the Archmage.

    "How dare you harm my ¨C

    The older man is instantly killed. His bloodied head with torned spinal cord is now within my powerful grip. There is no need to hear whatever he is going to say.

    I will deal with himter. I will deal with all of themter.

    The other two are utterly shocked as they did not see me move, and so are the others.

    Sapphire included as for me to kill an Archmage like that, I must be of the fifth-circle or even higher.

    I did not use magic or anything of the sort. It is purely speed.

    Well. With the help of freezing time. No one can defend against that, at least not these mages at their level of magic. Time is absolute, and my words are absolute.

    Everyone will learn that, including those that are under my wings.

    "Please continue, Sapphire. You have not taught them all humility yet, and until you do, they will not learn that they are nothing in my eyes."

 Chapter 224: Master Torturer Maxwell

    The remark is not arrogance if I do have the power to back it up, and I do.

    Honestly, I could instantly kill everyone and everything around me with little to no effort. Hell. I would not even need to lift a single finger for something like that.

    Legion can do it all himself at my request. He just needs the permission to go on a massacre. That does sound incredibly insane, but I have designed him to be an unstoppable legionnaire of killing machines.

    Did I mention unstoppable? Not to brag, but Legion is practically unstoppable, at least here on Az.

    Just think about it. If a crappy assault rifle from the 1970s can wreck an Archmage at pointnk range, I do not need to exin what a real high-poweredser rifle of the 31st century can do to a living body at any range.

    Bullets are super slow inparison to deadly beams of colorful lights, and dodgingsers is not really possible. Even if a mage could somehow do that, I would really like to see them try and dodge tens of thousands ofser beams.

    How about a million or a billion then?

    Legion can pretty much spamsers if I give him the go ahead. Moreover so, Legion can span weapons of deadlier magnitude and proportion than just simple beams of colorful lights.

    It is somewhat strange to think thatser capable of burning holes through solid steels and reinforced concretes being just beams of colorful lights, but visually,sers are just beam of colorful lights.

    Certainly, deadly beams of colorful lights, but not more deadlier than a whole host of weapons existing within my vast arsenal. A lot of them are designed and fabricated to kill things that are way, way more durable than squishy human mages.

    Squishy of anything, really.

    Gods are pretty squishy fromst I check. Tanking a supernova st is impressive, but I am really never the one to shoot one at a time. Why bother when nothing feels like an overkill than an actual overkill.

    In any case, it is unreasonable to think Sapphire could defeat two upper mages of the second-circle of magic. Even if she is the most powerful peak stage first-circle mage to ever had lived, she still wouldn''t be able to defeat them.

    Not with her current level of power.

    Sure, Sapphire might be able to hold herself against them, but that depends on what kind of artefacts or items they may have at their disposal. In a real battle between actual mages, anything goes.

    Trying to hold back for whatever reasons is stupid. Well. I am an exception to this. Not the stupid kind, but more like the trolling kind. What? No fun in instantly killing everything that move, and I do love to monologue.

    It is my thing, so get off my back about it. It is also my charm, at least I like to think so.

    "Yes, Master Maxwell."

    Sapphire responses before directing her attacking spells towards the two neers, who are far too shocked to even raise a shield or barrier in order to protect themselves from her. It is expected, given that they had just witnessed their all-powerful master being killed like someone insignificant. He is an Archmage, after all.

    But in my eyes, Archmage are more or less ants, and I highly dislike hearing ants acting all mighty and arrogance, demanding things before even taking the time to see what is actually happening.

    If there is a brain their head, they should use it. If they do not, then they should not mind me of taking it out and examine it for myself. Speaking of which, I toss the severed head into a spatial rift, so Legion can have a look.

    I feel that this urrence will happen a lot, not that mind. Better than me going from ces to ces, just so I can decapitate people and extract their memory. It is better for them toe to me.

    And why don''t I just let Legion do that. Swarm the entire world and then molest everyone? There are things that should not be alerted on Az. Things that are equal in power to Ingra.

    Therefore, I should be somewhat cautious. No need to bulldozer my ways through everything, just to make a bunch of enemies, especially when I do have the element of surprise right now.

    With their attention on me, the first waves of fireballs crashes into the two mages, sending them both tumbling back from the resulting explosion.

    But once the dusts and smokes are cleared, they arepletely unharmed. This is due to the magical aura shrouding their body and protecting them.

    It is a passive magic shield that all real mages have, at least that is the theory. Those five idiots do not have it, but that is because they skipped way too much stages just to be official mages. They ruin their future. For what, exactly?

    Just so that they can bully people around? Tsk. Pointless. These two second-circle mages are better. I have a look at their profile while they are tangling with Sapphire.

    And from her attack alone, the both of them be aware that she is not someone capable of hurting them. As such, their only concern is me, but I am not interested in fight them. It would be stepping on ants.

    Seeing neither mages being affected by her fire spells, Sapphire channels more of her magic into a far more powerful attack, but her casting speed is too slow. It is expected, as higher spells require a lot of time to cast.

    And in battle, time is of an essence.

    Since that is the case, allowing someone to finish casting their spells or simr is foolish. The two know this well, and they already drawled their enchanted weapons and charge towards Sapphire.

    It is very unbing of them to gang up on a first-circle mage, but they want to get rid of her as fast as possible, just so they can focus on dealing with me. More like running away afterwards. There is no way in hell they are able to stand up against someone who instantly kill their master.

    Ripping his head right off his shoulder too. His body is still bleeding on the ground, and I think I should loot the body. It is a normal thing to do, right? Meh. I will do itter.

    Sapphire instantly switches her incantation circle to form a barrier in order to defend herself, but their magical weapons cut through her barrier like hot knife through butter. She manages to evade a follow up sh, but the next one severed her left arm despite being able to dodge the depletely.

    This is because the aura coating those weapons extend outwards to hit her, and despite being an aura, it is strong enough to slice through her aura and injure her physically.

    Sapphire soon loses her other arm, and without any arms, she cannot cast magic as quickly. She is still a first-circle mage after all, and handless casting is not something she has mastered yet. Also, handless casting is actually not the best.

    A person hand is not a good medium to channel magical energy. That is why all mages carry with them artefacts and weapons, most taking shape of rods and staffs. Wands too.

    These two arebat mages, so they use weapons instead. They have been constantly casting magics on themselves, boosting their speed and power. One should be more than enough to kill Sapphire, so two is just overkill.

    Before the two mages can execute Sapphire, however, I decide to step in. Not me personally, as it isn''t something needed.

    I have Legion to via Bruce without any restrictions, and with a single blow, Legion sends them both go flying backwards.

    And before they even hit the ground, Legion pummels them several time with devastating strikes onto their squishy body, causing them to spat out a mouthful of blood each.

    Their magical auras did protect them, but not enough to negate the damage. Even so, their auras have prevented their internal vial organs from turning into mush. Each punch from Legion is enough to turn building into rubbles, so it is something.

    Sapphire pants heavily and tries to stop the bleeding from both of her hands. It is the second time that she has been defeated today, and while there is no shame in it, twice is enough.

    "I have failed you again, master."

    Sapphire apologizes deeply before copsing onto her knees and kowtow, and seeing her being very, very disappointed with herself, I cannot help but moved. I am not a rock after all.

    "There is no shame in defeat, Sapphire. Only true failurees from not learning anything from your defeats. I hope that these will make you a better mage in the future. There is no need to keep all those manastones. Sell them and buy proper armors and weapons. I do not wish to see my student wearing only rags."

    I tell her. I am aware of everything that she does. Legion keep her under surveince, reporting all that she had done and will ever do. Even when she takes a¡­ ahem. Let not go too far, huh.

    "Yes. Master Maxwell. I will not disappoint you again."

    Sapphire responses as I heal her wounds. More like negating everything with my power, returning her to perfect health and full power. Seeing that shocks the two mages, who are trying to heal themselves.

    The only reason that they are able to heal themselves and stabilize their aura is because Legion stops assaulting them. They are not opponents for Legion with unrestricted strength and speed.

    Sure, they could hit Legion, but whatever damage they could inflict upon Legion is pointless. Legion is not a biological object, and therefore, Legion is not affected physical attacks. Not even magical attacks.

    "Now. What should I do about you seven?"

    I question as more lights descend from the sky. Oh great. More privileged idiots and their mothers or fathers. Given that the case, they have been watching this battle remotely for a while.

    And despite that, they have not bother to step in to stop the five idiots from hurting my student. That is enough for me to straight up murder them all. I can probably do that, and no one can stop me, not in this Kingdom anyway.

    Or any other nearby countries.

    "Greeting, Master Maxwell. I am ¨C

    An old man greets me, but he shuts up when I re at him. The magical aura that I radiate is far more than enough to force him and everyone around me to their knees.

    It is not the first circle aura, however. It is the third circle aura, as I use the headmaster''s magical core to simte it with unlimited magical energy.

    "Did I allow you speak?"

    I question as the ground begin to shake. The earth beneath their feet cracks, as if there is an invisible hand presses down everyone, choking the life out of them.

    "N-no. A-apology, Great One!"

    The old man calls out and ms his forehead to the earth. It is a sign of submission. Everyone else do the same, including Sapphire. Even though she did not feel the aura, she could see it clearly, radiating from me.

    It is so dense. Incredibly suffocating.

    I keep the aura for a bit longer, knocking a few weaker Archmage as well as all the Mages. It is a show of power, as that is the only thing that these people can understand.

    Az is governed by the strong after all, and I have to be the strongest for my words to bews ¨C absolutews.

    "You may speak."

    I state when silence reigns the whole area for several minutes. No one dare to say a single world. Not before me. My presence is alone to scare them shitless. To them, I am practically God.

    "Great One. We seek forgiveness. The younglings do not understand what power they have offended in their foolishness. Please allow us to chastise them in your stead. They will only dirty your hands and waste your time otherwise. We are willing topensate for everything."

    The elder requests. His name is Liao. Sounds Chinese. He does look like those old farts in those ancient Chinese movies with long ass bearding from their long ass eyebrows. In fact, most of those people with him are Chinese origin.

    Not all of them, however.

    "You assume that I do not like to get my hand dirty, Elder Liao. You may not have heard, but I am the newest Master at the academy. Master Torturer."

    I state, making everyone tense up. Even my poor student, Sapphire. Poor as in she really has no money to buy anything other than the absolutely bare essentials.

    If it was not for the clothes that I had gifted her, she would be wearing rags. That would reflect on me, pretty badly. Having face seems very important here, so I should have face.

    Well. With all that happen here, my face is probably pretty scary. No one will start shit in front of me, and I think it is a good time to purge some factions from the academy.

    I want my school to be utterly cleaned and spotless.

    Eh¡­ I wonder if this is George Collins talking or me talking. The man always wants to run a school, just because he had never had a good school life, and it is rubbing off on me big time.

    I do not mind as I have ns to start a magic school in the prime-reality, right after I introduce actual magic to the world. It is a good of a time as any to learn how to run a school.

    Not me personally since I probably cannot chill around here forever. I will let Legion do the hard work with a lot of assistants from Kozak and others, and then benefits afterwards.

    "Since you have failed to discipline your children when you have the chance, I will discipline them for you. Do not worry, they will not be alone in this, as the headmaster did request me to purge his school of everything that disruptive."

    I tell the mass as spatial rift begins to form. Hands emerge from within and grab hold of each of those badly injured brats. Two hands also grab the two second-circle mages as well. They did not go without protest, but it is pointless effort.

    "No! Please have mercy, Great One!"

    One of the women calls out. She is quite a looker despite being 40 or 50 years old. Honestly, she could pass for 20 or younger. Magic does wonder for the body, and I have already thought about introducing it to the prime reality.

    In fact, Infinite Health is already experimenting with the healing and stamina potion. One can heal all manners of wound, and the other boost stamina and vitality. They will be quite a hot product for the public.

    There are side effects, however. Because of that, I did not release them just yet. Besides, it is still 1990 in the prime timeline, and there is no reason to introduce all magic products, especially when everyone is watching mypanies.

    "This is me being merciful, and there is nothing you can say to change my mind about this. I am simply not interested in your words. I am also not interested in any material needs, at least at your level. Do not think that I am only an Archmage. I am far more powerful than that."

    I brag a little before vanishing into thin air. I take Sapphire with me as well, obviously. Leaving her right there would be kind of stupid. I also have a look at what Kozak is doing with Eliana.

    They have fought for a bit before my namees up, and now they are just talking. Honestly, I wanted them to fight a bit more just to see how they fight, but there will be plenty of opportunity.

    Kozak is going ahead with what he had told me, and it is probably for the best at the moment. It would stop the human''s encroachment into the forest for a while. Likely a few months or so.

    That gives me plenty of time to fix up some problems here at the Arcane Academy, getting it to run as smoothly in ever.

    "Sapphire. There is something I need you to do for me."

    I speak up once I am standing in the private office.

    It is the same office that I had talked to Kozak and killed the headmaster. More like reced him since he is a dead man walking anyway. No one has noticed the headmaster has been reced, and Legion can mimic anyone.

    "Yes, Master Maxwell. I will carry out your will to the best of my ability."

    Sapphire responses, bowing deeply. She does not give a single thought to what I will ask of her. If she did, she would realize that we are alone in a sealed room. No one can disturb us. No one dare too, not after what happen.

    Information about me should be spread far and wide within a couple of days or so, and that is exactly what I want. It is time to make my mark on this continent. Gathering as much information as I can as well.

    "Are you not afraid of what I am going to ask of you, Sapphire?"

    I question and examine her face. She tries not to match my gaze as several things enter her mind, but despite knowing those things, she resigns herself and will do whatever I need to the best of her ability.

    Seeing her like that, I simply smile and take a seat behind the desk.

    "Please tell me everything that have happened in the past year. Do not skip on the details as I do have plenty of time. Time that I would not spend anywhere else. No. Not when I have a wonderful student as you."

    I tell her. It is apliment, and it has the effect that I desire. Unfortunately, Legion informs me that Sapphire actually prefers girls to boys. Sapphire is actually in love with Lavender, despite not realizing it herself.

    Oh woops. I forgot about that. Damn.

 Chapter 225: Reforming an Entire Kingdom

    It has been a few days since then, and I think my reputation precedes me.

    It is just a feeling, really. A very good feeling, considering that everyone avoids me like a gue. Avoids Sapphire too for she is one of my direct students.

    Well. The only student of mine so far. I do n to get more, but I am not in any hurry to do so. Having Sapphire is enough for now.

    And like me, Sapphire prefers to be left alone to her own devices, especially when there are things she needs to do. Nobody really bothers her anymore.

    They would not dare, considering that I am her master.

    Many of her peers do try to befriend her now though, but she repeatedly rejects their fake friendships, opting to study and practice her magic in rtive peace andfort.

    This is because Sapphire fears of disappointing me, and I will be disappointed if she is wasting her time and effort on stupid things.

    Having said that, I do think that it is much better for Sapphire to have friends andrades who she can rely upon in time of crisis, especially when I am not around. Although, it is probably not necessary as I could have Legion looks after her.

    I also like her to have interest in the opposite sex, not because I am homophobic but because I actually want to bed her one day.

    It is kind of wrong, but I am not the first teacher to lust after his student, not even in the prime-reality.

    And that is a fact.

    Sure, I have the option of mind-controlling Sapphire. Just a few words from me, and I am sure she will stop thinking about Lavender, who is definitely not gay.

    I have Legion checks up on that, and Lavender and Eric is an item, for Lavender takes care of Eric during their adventures together.

    Adventures that Sapphire cannot go and apany them. Her future as a mage is far more important since I do have big ns install for her.

    It is a bright future, one by my side, bringing forth a whole new generation of mages on Earth. She will go down in history for that. Definitely.

    Sapphire will obviously be a tenth-circle mage by then. Any higher, she would have to ascend just like Hans and Alex have done so in a dested future. One with Earth destroyed by magic.

    Obviously, there is more than one mortal ne of existences. They are stacked on top of one another, allowing those with powerful lifeforce and magical power to ascend and be more than mortal.

    I have expected as much.

    There is more than one way to break free from the Samara Karmic Cycle.

    How many there are exactly, I am unsure, but I will find out eventually.

    I will find out everything eventually.

    As an official teacher at the academy simply because I have said so, Sapphire is finally allowed to take any of the advanced sses now, learning new magic theories andmonly used runes.

    She is doing well so far, as everyone treats her with respect for obvious reason.

    It totally has nothing to do with me and the mass arrests and imprisonments that have been going on within the academy and the country so far.

    Yeah. Totally.

    There are just so many cases of corruptions and abuses of power within the mage poption. Far too many to even count, but with the backing of the King himself, I am allowed to basically arrest anyone that I damn well pleased.

    Well. Not anyone, but quite a lot of people, and I probably do not need his permission to arrest anyone either. It is just a formality, I suppose. All to keep the political structure in ce.

    Do not break what is not broken!

    Royalties and nobilities are just title. Mages are actually the ones who control everything, from affairs of the state to personal matters.

    Honestly, I would have locked up pretty much anyone who is anyone within the country if I have a real desire to clean up this world socially and politically.

    I do not, and there is no need for me to do more work than necessary.

    My only concern at the moment is the academy itself. There is plenty of secrets hidden within. Secrets that might or might interest me, and so far, it is only interesting to know.

    Too many things to do. My list just gets longer and longer.

    In addition, I am sort of swamped with paperwork at the moment as demonstrated by the amount of papers lying in front of my desk. My desk within a brand-new office. One designed to my specification.

    Seriously though, running a concentration camp is hard. I mean a correction facility. Executing all those people in jail for their crime against humanity will probably piss off a lot of people, leading to instability and open revolts within the country.

    It is better to correct them and turn them into decent human beings. One who will protect their fellow man regardless of whether they are mages or not.

    Maybe add in a bit of tolerance towards other species as well.

    With my Commandment ability, it should not even be a problem, but the nagging notion of infringing on freewill is always in the back of my head.

    I do think that this is an exception as it is a concentration camp after all. I mean correction facility.

    More like a concentration camp though as I do have absolute power here. Nothing can happen without my expressed permission, and all the wardens and guards are Legion so have fun bribing them.

    Strange that people still do. Funny.

    I think I will execute a few people just to get the point across to the majority. I do not fuck around, so do not fuck around with me.

    Obviously, I should not execute anyone who is far too connected though, as that will cause problems further down the line for me, but then again, everyone is connected to everyone else, as ording to Legion.

    It is just a mess. A really big mess.

    Legion has managed to obtain a lot of useful information by literally mining their brain and extracting their memory. So many shits are going on in the background without the majority being aware.

    It is to the point that I cannot really be bother with it all sometimes. However, I did learn about a few methods of removing curses.

    How effective it will be, I will have to see for myself.

    In any case, within a few short days, I have aplished far more than anyone could have imagined, and now, I basically have absolute control over the academy and the newly formed legal system. More like my own do-not-fuck with me system.

    I am working on building an actual prison. Somewhere deep within the dark seas.

    The entire continent is surrounded by the dark seas, where powerful monsters dwell. Even Archmage do not want to cross the ocean unless they must, and they must travel quickly lest they want to spend time and effort fighting their ways towardsnd.

    Of course, those monsters are not a problem for Legion. He just nuked the whole ce, killing a whole lot of them before building a prison over their corpses.

    That obviously did not go unnoticed.

    It is pretty hard to miss huge-ass rising mushroom clouds. That is not to mention severe earthquakes and all the radiations. Mages can detect radiation, interesting enough.

    Radiation is a magical element of sort. Good to know.

    I have actually announced the prison this morning, outlining all sort of funs that will be going on there for the criminals, so they now know who has nuked the monsters, adding to my terrifying reputation.

    A little bit more would not hurt.

    Since someone did asked me about it, I called it a Nuclear Explosion spell, capable of wiping out a small Kingdom as well as irradiating thendscape, so it is about fourth-circle level magic spell.

    Seems legit, but whatever.

    Now I have something to dangle over people''s head with.

    If they want a nuke in the face, I am sure that I can give them a taste if they pissed me off.

    On another note, I finally upgrade my micromachine body into biomechanical body. I did leave it until now because I want to see how long I canst under the curse of Erosire with a non-biological body.

    But since the lust has be quite unbearable, I will need to release soon. I might just teleport Eliana in for a bit of loving fun. Thinking about it does made me smile.

    "Master Maxwell! Master Maxwell! I demand to see Master Maxwell!"

    A voice breaks me out of my train of thoughts. A feminine voice. A demanding voice. Honestly, no one can demand anything from me, not from this world anyway.

    That said, I do wonder who is trying to see me now. Quite a lot of people want to see me since morning, ever since I have announced the state-of-the-art prison.

    It is expected since those who are locked up here can still be visited by their family members and so on, and it will not be the same once they are transferred into the new prison.

    Banging against the doors soon follow, but it stops as quickly as it has started. She had probably used magic to try and break down the door, but that would not fly with Legion standing outside.

    Legion likely shock her, but seriously, if he did not, she will not be able to break down the door without resorting to something like a siege engine. Or a Grand Archmage.

    There is no Grand Archmage within the academy or the country. Not anymore.

    Any who tries to intermingle in with the students at the academy will have a shock of their life.

    Literally.

    Those two Grand Archmage spies certainly did, and now they are my prisoners. Actually, I have already extracted whatever I need from their mind as well as turning their body into something useful.

    Their magical cores are extracted, thus giving me power to emte a Grand Archmage. Still, I do want to have the power of a Grand Archmage myself without needing Legion.

    One thing at a time, I guess.

    Listening carefully, there is a firm but a far more polite knock on the door. It seems like whoever that is has learned some mannerisms.

    There are just so many hothead mages around, really believing that they own the ce. That will not fly anymore, at least under my control.

    And pausing for a short moment, I decide to entertain whoever that is.

    I could have Legion directly tell me who it is but meh. There is no point really. It is not like anyone is really stupid enough to try and attack me.

    Well, not true. There are plenty of stupid people around. Too stupid to live for long.

    "Pleasee in."

    I state, and the door from the far side of the room activates, opening slowly to let in a woman as well as two Legion bots. They take the form of Hans and Alex because I decide it is better that way for what I have in mind.

    All Legions bot take the form of Hydra members.

    Of course, taking form is one thing. Having them emte the same personality is another, and it is not really necessary for that.

    That said, I do like Alex and Hans, so I allow the bots to take on their personality. Simte it, I should say.

    For the impression, I keep my eyes on the papers in front of me while the woman is on her approach, not of her own will, however. She is actually being dragged by Hans and Alex, one on each side.

    "So, what do we have here? An intruder?"

    I question as soon as she is standing in front of the desk before me. I did not look away from my note, however.

    "Yes, boss. She was very insistent in seeing you, so I figure you would like the opportunity to say a few words to her before we throw her ass in jail, one right next to her fianc¨¦e, so they could have a loving moment together."

    Alexments with a smirk. He feels just like the Alex I know, and at his words, the woman, who had been quite docile with her anger held in check, widens her eyes and struggles out to get out of those hard grips on either side of her.

    "Wait, what? No. I just want to talk to Master Maxwell. You cannot imprison me for that!"

    The woman calls out, still trying to break free of those grips. Even as a mage herself, she obviously will not be able to. Hans and Alex are as powerful as Grand Archmage. The two cores that I have extracted are within them.

    "I can and will, Via."

    I state before looking up at her.

    "Did you not get the memo that this facility is a restricted area within the academy? I do not believe that I have received a notice of your arrival, so the fact that you are here, you are trespassing. The days that mages are allowed to go anywhere they pleased is over. Did we not put a sign about that?"

    I question.

    "Which sign exactly? The one that says trespasser will be raped? Oh. Does that mean we can rape her? She is trespassing, after all."

    Alex questions, making Hans rolls his eyes. The sign obviously did not say that.

    Okay, maybe it is not a good idea to have Alex as one of my bodyguards. It is more than likely that he will probably insult everyone whoes his way. That is just his personality, especially now days.

    But then again, the look on Via''s face is priceless. Absolutely priceless. She truly really thinks that there will not be any consequences of barging into here.

    I will make an example out of her just a good warning for others.

    As for her fianc¨¦e. He is one of those five idiots that tries to kill my student, Sapphire.

    What is his name again? Drake or something. To think that he has such a lovely fianc¨¦e. One who cares enough to barge in here to have a word with me.

    Sure, I will have a word with her after I make her squirms a little. Let me see what her crimes are. I can obviously put a few more in just for fun, just to scare the shit out of her.

    "You can''t do that! Do you not know who I am? I am ¨C

    Via calls out.

    "Do not tell me what I cannot do, Via. Trespassing. Assault. General Nuisance. Honestly, if I don''t know any better, I think you intend to have me harm, and while it is interesting to see you try, I believe a few nights in our very luxurious cells alongside with your future husband will change that attitude of yours. Do not worry.

    You will get to witness how your beloved is doing then. And perhaps, you might get to sleep better at night?"

    Iment before returning to my notes. Even so, I still pay somewhat attention to her expression just to see those traces of self-important and anger being bled away. Fears and surprises rece them as there are plenty of stories about what going on in the dungeon.

    Mostly stories that I have fabricated, but I did let a few people to return home. They are a mere husk of their former self. Too terrified to even tell their family and household what truly had happened to them within my dungeon.

    I obviously torture the living shit out of them, of course. Magic opens new concepts of torture to me, and it is quite enjoyable to learn new things.

    "What? No! Wait! No! No! Master Maxwell!

    Master Maxwell!"

    Via calls out as she is being dragged away by Alex and Hans. She continues to scream all the way to the doorway, but no matter what she says, no one else can hear her wailing.

    Without anything else, the girl will spend the next couple of nights as my guest down in the dungeon, and her nobility status means squat in my eyes. Of course, I will have to deal with those elders of hers when this get out.

    Sounds problematic, but not really. No one dares to confront me unless they want to get nuked. That is an option now. Awesome, isn''t it?

    "I know what you want! I know what you want! Master Maxwell! Please hear me out! Please!"

    Via calls out with desperation just as the doorways about to close, and I wonder what she means by that. It could be nothing, but still, it is not that much of trouble to ask.

    "Bring her back here."

    I state casually, and the door opens wide once more, allowing Hans and Alex to drag Via back into the room. She looks utterly terrified, but once she is at the front of the table again, a bit of confidence could be seen.

    "I wish to speak to you alone, Master Maxwell. Without other eyes and ears."

    Via requests in aposed manner. Her brown eyes did nce at the surrounding, wondering to herself whether anyone actually spying on me.

    There is not, at least Legion has informed me so. Of course, it did not really matter since I am not really stupid enough reveal anything important even within my office. I have special ces for that. It is not anywhere on the.

    "Very well. Release her and leave us, so I can entertain our guest myself."

    I request, and Hans and Alex bid their farewell. Alex did. Hans simply retreats out of the room in a very orderly manner. They will be standing outside the door if I need their help for whatever reason.

    After the left, the door closes behind them and seals like before. The whole room is airtight as well as soundproof. Nothing can get in or out without my say so.

    "Well, Via? You have me all to yourself for the moment, so do not waste it."

 Chapter 226: Dealing Under The Table

    Since time is not an issue to me, I give Via my undivided attention.

    I did have a look at her profile when I was pretending to read through my notes and repots.

    There is actually no need for me to read anything personally myself. It is just faster and more effective to have Legion reads and analyzes everything and then upload it directly into my brain, thus allowing me toprehend everything instantly.

    It is how I have managed to reach peak first-circle of magic rtively easy. I am trying to breakthrough to the next circle right now, but using brute force seems to be a bad idea. It quite painful to use brute force, so I stop doing that and start thinking of another way.

    Since I am supposed to be an all-powerful mage of undetermined circle of magic, I cannot just go and ask others about how to break through the first-circle.

    Besides, there is no need to do that. I have extracted plenty of information from all those imprisoned mages, learning everything that I could about the first and second circle of magic.

    Each one manages to breakthrough to the second-circle of magic in a different way. Some did it within their sleep without knowing until it themselves until a few dayster, but most simply through studies or trainings.

    The census is, the breakthrough wille naturally as long as one is knowledgeable as well as diligent enough. Interesting. I guess that is why Sapphire manages to breakthrough so quickly. She just needed more knowledge as her magical power is already beyond peak level.

    Of course, there are pills and potions to speed up the whole process, but like any drugs, they aren''t a good solution. They might even inhibit my growth and potential in the end, making me stupidly weak just like Drake and his buddies.

    They are probably some of the weakest mages of the second-circle. They would never be able to reach the third-circle unless someone manages to detox their body. I could, but I do not want to.

    And as to why Via cares so much for Drake, it is not because of her love for him or anything. Okay, I think there might be some sort of affections since they are childhood friends, but it is not as deep as one might think.

    For one, Drake is fucking around, sticking his dick in a lot of ces. Common ces, but still, that kind of behavior did not go well with Via and her family.

    Even so, the connection from his side of the family can help Via and her family greatly. It is for her own benefit that she is here, pleading for the release of her fianc¨¦e.

    There is no need for her to do that as I would have released Drake eventually. His crimes against others do not warrant his incarceration in¡­ my prison. What should I call my prison?

    You know what, I think I am going to call it Arkham Penitentiary. Would have go for Asylum, but these guys are not criminally insane. They are just criminally stupid. Not much of a different, I think, but still, stupid is worse than insane.

    Anyway, like I have mentioned previously, the connections between each of the noble houses as well as the royal family is apletely mess. It is so messy that if you offended one household, you might as well offend them all.

    Sapphire should know, as she has unknowingly offended a couple dozen households to varying degree.

    I guess that is to be expected in a feudal-like society, where people of royalty and nobility are in their own little world, caring nothing for themon people. The worst of all are the mages, who cares for themselves mostly.

    No one got the memo about with great poweres great responsibility. Me either, to be honest.

    I just do not care for people I do not know, and while I do wish well for humanity as a whole, individual people do not matter in the long run. They are merely a mean to an end, for one purpose or another.

    "Well? I do not have all day, Via."

    I add when she is just standing there. Well. She did take a step forwards, stumbling a bit in the process, but that is all. She did not say or do anything further than other than looking around me to see if there is some sort of listening device.

    There is, but it not magical in nature. Everything is recorded forter reviewing. For ckmailing too, if it is applicable.

    Hearing me once more, Via swallows hard and nts her hands onto the edge of my desk before leaning forwards. It might be on purpose, given that she just gives me a nice view right down her open blouse and at her cleavage.

    Since she is offering, I do not mind. It is not a crime to ogle at a beautiful girl. If it is, I am sure half the world would be in jail on charges of having a penis.

    I stare at her chest for way long than what is considered to be appropriate, and if it was not for Via to straighten herself and sp her hands in front herself, I would have continued to enjoy the view.

    It is not really a bad view, and I think she looks a lot cuter when she is blushing.

    "I beseech you, Master Maxwell. Please show mercy to Mage Drake. He did not mean to anger you or offend your student. If you will, Master Maxwell, Mage Drake is more than willing topensate you and your student for the distraught that he had caused."

    Via states.

    I narrow my eyes in the process before leaning back against my soft chair. It is quite soft, but I am sure it is not as soft as her bosom.

    Since I already have nned on releasing the man, there is no need for her to persuade me.

    Although, I would like her to persuade me just because she had pulled the stunt before. Is she testing whether her charm is working on me? Any womanly charm will work on me, as long as it is to do so.

    "Mage Drake, huh? He might not be a mage for any longer."

    Iment casually, causing the young woman to be utterly stunned. A crippled mage is nothing more than amoner. His family would disown him to keep face, and they will probably hold a deep grudge against me.

    Not only his family, but like a bunch of other connected family. Via''s family included. I really want them to try, as I want to purge them all. I am actually just waiting for a good reason to. Their attempts to assassinate me afterwards is a very good context.

    "You wouldn''t dare."

    Via could not help herself. The anger and frustration return to her face, and it is quite visible.

    "Via. There is nothing that I would not do. Do you know why I have not called you by your title or rank ever since you stepped into my office? You are nothing in my eyes, and you will be nothing in everyone else if you keep up that kind of attitude."

    I threaten her, and the look of utter fear and shock on her face is exceedingly gratifying. It is really nice to see someone of her high standing being reduced to this.

    While I do not mind nobility, they have to bepetent for their stations.

    Stupid people should not be in any position of power. That is a fact, and if those royalties and nobilities want to remain in power, they have to make sure their descendants are smart and capable enough to do so.

    Eh. Why am I thinking too much about this? I already state that I do not want to fix this society all that much. It has worked for thousands of years, and it will probably work for thousands of years toe, so no need to fix anything.

    "You know, as much as I do, Via, that your future husband has been abusing his position as a mage for many years now, and I am not talking about themon people. They are irrelevant. I am talking about other mages, his peers.

    If I wish it so, countless of witnesses wille and testify, giving me all the legal right to destroy his magical core and turn him into the very people who he had looked down upon for so long."

    I tell Via. Honestly, if I really want to, Drake is screwed. I do not really need to fabricate anything as he hasmitted so much shits that other are basically out for his blood if given the chance.

    "But. But. Even so, he does not deserve to be stripped of his magic."

    Via protests. She is really pushing, and she is not willing to listen to reason. Even so, I am still going to reason with her. It is just something that I do, giving people chances before I smack them silly.

    "Perhaps, but it is my responsibility to ensure the safety of all students in this academy. Yours included for now, and if there is a remote chance of Drake continuing to abuse his powers and positions without proper cause, I have to act upon it. Of course, I do see your point of view.

    His previous crimes shouldn''t result in him bing a cripple, but I will have to talk to the headmaster about this. His decision will the final decision."

    I tell Via with smile before continuing.

    "Of course, before I can reach a decision with the headmaster, I will have to transfer Drake to another amodation. One that is more suited to re-educate him, should he be allowed to return to society, as a mage or otherwise. However, his previous conducts will result in his expulsion from the academy, as that fact cannot be changed."

    I add, making myself quite unmovable on the matter. I am aware that she wants her fianc¨¦e to be let free as soon as possible and sending him to Arkham is like sending him to hell.

    That would not go well with her or their families for that matter.

    "Drake will be expelled?"

    Via utters. Being expelled is not the worst thing in the world, as his family can teach him and help him reach higher circle. However, he will not ess to the academy and all of its facilities.

    "Yes. Unless you can tell me a good reason to why he should not be expelled? As I understand it, Drake is not an outstanding student. In fact, he is one of the worst students imaginable. Even his teacher and master did not speak for him when I request theirments. They did not bother toe and check up on him.

    Asides from his family, only you do."

    I tell her, and I allow her a moment to find a good reason to why Drake should not be expelled. She is unable toe up with anything from the way her eyes dart back and forth. I alreadye up with a good reason, but I alsoe up with the counter argument in that time.

    Just in case, I guess.

    Via eventually let out a defeated breath of air. It is probably not that difficult to stop the expulsion with the help of her family and others, but she has to make sure Drake get out of prison first.

    "Please Master Maxwell. I know that Drake has done many wrong things in the past. Abusing his power and position to pressure other students into doing unspeakable acts, but he does not deserve this. He does not. Please. Surely.

    There must be something I can do to help him. I beg of you, Master Maxwell, if there is anything, please tell me."

    Via beseeches, and she is quite an actress. Tears are swelling up in her eyes, running down to that trembling pouty lips of hers. They go even further still and into her heaving chest.

    Damn. If I did not know any better, I would have assumed that she is actually on the verge of breaking down. Of course, that is all bullshit. She cares nothing for Drake. She only cares about her own future, as well as the future of her family.

    And once she notices me looking at her ample chest again, she leans forwards, bringing both her arms together and causing her lovely breasts to push out towards me rather invitingly. Honestly, is she really asking to get fucked?

    She does know that she is standing all alone in my office right now, right? My men will not do anything even if she screamed for help at the top of her lungs. Wait. Maybe all of this is a ploy?

    Via sniffles and rests her palms onto the table once more.

    "Is there really nothing I can do for you, Master Maxwell?"

    She asks in a seductive tone of voice, knowing full well that no one can truly resist her womanly charm, and she has used it to the best of her ability over and over again.

    My eyes continue to scan her, examining her chest and then matching her gaze alternatively. Even so, my face remains expressionless andpletely unreadable. To the point that Via is taken back a little bit.

    Still, her voice is husky, and her bodynguage is seductive as hell.

    Eventually, my lips spread into a smirk as I speak up, but only after Legion informs me that she is being shifty, recording this whole conversation with that earing of hers. I immediately have Legion infest it, and to make sure, I also have Legion infests all of her items.

    It will take a bit of effort to breaking into her storage rings, but not more than reading her mind.

    "Since you offer it, it would be unmanly of me to not ept. You are, after all, quite beautiful yourself, Via. And you know how to use your charm to your advantage well. How many have fallen for your charm, and how many have managed to get it?"

    I question. Thest part is for Legion, as he immediately answers me. Via is not quite a slut, but if she can get away with it, she will not lower herself.

    With another mentalmand, I immediately have a list of people that she had slept with. Currently ckmailing too. It is dirt, and it is mine now.

    Nevertheless, Via is startled at my question.

    "W-what do you mean, Master Maxwell? I am not that kind of person."

    I incline my head at her response before letting out a sigh.

    "I do not want to waste time debating about something that I know as fact, and whether you actually are or not that kind of person is not really matter. What matter is, I will keep your future meal here in the dungeon without doing any further harm to him until such time that his fate is decided.

    Until then, you will service me in any and every way I deem necessary, and if I am satisfied with your service, you will have your future meal back. In one piece. Unmolested."

    I tell the young woman and watch her assimting my words, clearly not having any difficult absorbing them into her mind. Even so, she purses her lips together, opening her mouth and then closing it. She also grimaces every now and then. Clicking her tongues too.

    Honestly, I am unsure what is that all about, but it is very likely her way of showing that she is weighting my offer within herself. I decide to let her do that because it is kind of funny.

    Via eventually nods, epting the offer.

    "I agree, Master Maxwell. In exchange for leniency against Mage Drake, I am willing to service you in any and every way you required of me."

    Via states in a soft tone of voice. Completely submissive.

    But I think it is mostly an act. Nevertheless, she did agree to it of her own will. As that is the case, I get up from my seat and then walk around the table to get closer to the beautiful brte.

    "W-what?"

    Via steps backwards, but my hand reach out and grab hold of her abruptly. Fingerscing into her lush mane and then grabbing the back of her head. I pull her in and kiss her roughly, swiftly dominating her mouth.

    She lets out a muffled squeal against my lips, but her initial struggles quickly pesters out even though my tongue has invaded her mouth, wresting with hers and forcing her to submit. She eventually could not help herself, as the curse of Erosire immediately takes hold of her psych.

    After several of minutes of assaulting her mouth, I finally let Via free. The moment I did, she falls to her knees. Her face is flushed with read, and her breathe ising out in gasps as she stares up at me with wide eyes.

    Those eyes turn to shock as I hold her earing in my hands.

    "You wille to learn, Via, that servicing me will be the most happiest thing that you have ever done in your life. As for this, you will have it back when I am done with you."

    I return to my seat after tossing the earrings into my spatial dimension. Although it is not necessary to confiscate it, I just do not want her to think that she has something over me.

    "Now, I do have a lot of reports to read through, so get under the desk and show me what your mouth can truly do, Mage Via."

 Chapter 227: Help is Definitely Needed

    Via struggles to stand upright, and from that sight alone, I can measure fairly urately how well she will be able to fight against the will of Erosire.

    I am cursed, and I am not talking about the inability to fuck up the timeline in an alternate reality. The one that somewhat mirrors the past of the prime-reality. No. I am talking about the lust that is gripping my entire being regardless of whether this is my original fleshy meatsuit or not.

    That lustful nature of mine is also quite infectious, spreading to any women that I am touching. More than that, it can turn anyone into a willing slut for my cock after a few sessful fucks or so regardless of how reserved and disgusted they are at the beginning.

    I have no doubt that Via would be the same, for I have yet to find anyone who is truly immune to the power of a Primordial Sin, at least the Primordial Sin of Lust. Even I am not immune to his power, and I am an Aspect.

    Does that mean my power is also effective against him as his is to me?

    It is reasonable to assume so since Aspects and Primordial are at odd with each other on a multiversal scale, but for what reason exactly, I am still unsure.

    Perhaps it is due to our ideology.

    It did not escape me that the Primordial Sin of Lust has a thing for mind-control, and that goes directly against one of my principles, as I value freewill very highly. If I had wanted a race of drones, I might as wipe out all life in the universe and popte it entirely with Legion.

    Legion is actually already doing that himself, but that is because this universe seems to bepletely devoid of life. It is as if someone had already wiped them all out. Could that be the case?

    Perhaps I should look more into this, but then again, how does it benefit me in the end to know? Still, being in the dark is troublesome, especially when I want to be in control of everything.

    In any case, knowing that my aspectual power is likely effective against a Primordial is a good thing. It will be, I mean. Once I regain all of my lost power.

    There are just many things possible with the power of time, and despite how much I have tried to use my power in a truly ingenious way, I have always felt that it is always out of reach. Evenplex time maniption takes a lot of effort from me.

    But where are those Fragments of Time is the real question. I have not noticed any yet. Well. That isn''t true. There might be a fragment at the Tower of Time. The home of the ck Mage.

    That tower is located in the Sea of Time. It is just a name, but a fitting name considering that the flow of time is disruptive there, aging and de-aging anything and anyone within an instant. Only being with infinite lifespan would dare to enter that ce.

    Even Legion cannot enter there because Legion is not immortal.

    There are actually a lot of ces here on Az as well in the universe that Legion cannot enter either.

    It just makes thing interesting, I guess.

    I watch Via as she slowly moves around the desk towards me, just to carry out what I have ordered her to do. It is part of the deal after all, and she better do her best.

    Her lovely brown eyes continuously glue to my lower half and at junior, seeing my tenting erection.

    It is fairly obvious to anyone that I am sporting such thing. I have had the same erection for many days now, and I am waiting for a proper way to relieve myself. Masturbation is not a proper way, and why would I do that when this world is filled with beautiful women?

    Women that I can conquer. This is probably the lustful side of me talking. It cannot be helped for I am cursed. Despiteining so much about the curse, I do enjoy the improved sex quite a bit. Alright, more than a bit.

    "Well? Get on with it then. Your future is at stake here."

    I tell Via when her brows furrow hesitantly. She is not doing this for anyone but herself as well as her family. She truly thinks that she can hide that fact from me. Trying to ckmail me too. Quite very amusing to see her try though.

    And in the time that it takes for Via to go down to her knees in order to slip under my desk, Legion has finished breaking into her enchanted earrings and extracting everything that is recorded within.

    Via has been a very busy girl, recording everything and everyone that she has beene directly into contact with me. I am just thetest in the long line of people.

    This is not actually unusual, considering everyone has dirt on everyone else. That is just how the world work, and it is not like I do not have dirt on practically everyone. Legion has been a very busy boy too, far more than Via.

    Heh.

    Ahem.

    The space under my desk is quitefortable since I do like a very big desk. Big enough for me to fuck the right kind of people on it.

    Despite the space under the desk, I did erge it with the power of spatialpression, providing me with plenty of legroom. For something like this too, I guess.

    Seeing the erged space below the desk did make Via pauses, but not for every long. Erging dimension is not something rare here at the academy. It is just difficult to do. There is a Master Crafter here on the campus who can crafts storage rings, so a little bit of request and money would aplish the same thing.

    Via purses her lips as she kneels between my legs, which I so graciously spread apart for her, and I give a look as her dainty fingers reach out. She begins to undo the button on my pants and then pulls down the zipper before slipping a hand inside to fish out my cock.

    Obviously, Via must have done something like this in the past, considering how easily and swiftly she had managed to take out my cock. However, the size before her is enough to shock her.

    "Y-you are so big, Master Maxwell!"

    I crack up at thement, but not because of her surprise or sudden outburst. Maybepliment, I guess. No. It is because I could technically change its size at will.

    But I rather not as it is not the size that matters. It is how I use it, and I have used it quite well. Plenty of beautiful women can attest to this, right after theye down from their ungodly orgasmic delight.

    Via, obviously, will be just one more woman on the long list who can vouch for me and junior.

    And just like any new girl whoe to learn about my cock, she is in awe and fear. The fear is because of how painful it would be for her when I rip her inside apart, but that is forter since I do have plenty of time. Time that is solely up to me.

    Via is kind of stupid, not realizing that I can actually keep Drake incarcerated indefinitely, thus she would be my private cumdump forever. Well. Women like her are only good for one thing after all. As bedwarmer, that is.

    In any case, Via is being charmed by my cock. It is the same thing when I had kissed her a moment ago. She will not able to resist herself from stroking it and taking into her mouth, and when she finally tasted my baby batter, she will be an addict.

    There is a nagging problem of impregnating her, producing another Avatar of Time here on Az, but I really cannot let something like that stops me from having fun.

    I am certain that I will be here on Az for a long time, on and off, so it might be better to just produce another daughter if I have to. It is always going to be a daughter because they need to ept my seeds afterwards.

    Taking on the male form is difficult because I am not gay.

    Wow. Thinking about banging another beautiful daughter of mine makes me hornier. Normally, I think I would not have such an idea, but this damn curse makes me want to bang pretty much any beautiful womane my way.

    Via eventually readies herself. Her smooth palms glides over my hard length as she holds me into ce around the thighs. She gives it a few pumps, feeling the meaty delightfulness running across her skin.

    I can feel it too. Lovely. Very lovely.

    My cock throbs mightily with her stroking palm, and since it has been days, steamy seeds are violently boiling within my balls. I do not think I will be able to keep myself from spilling everything right out in a few minutes of this. Not even a few minutes. One minute, probably.

    Of course, using only her hands is not enough for Via. She soon leans forwards and ces her soft lips over my birth, sucking the mushroom head into her mouth and beginning to give me a very expert blowjob.

    Not really a surprise since she is in no way inexperienced to such thing. As a matter of fact, she might have even greased the wheel with some of her elders. It is notpletely unheard of for this society, especially when she is not the heiress.

    Via will do whatever it takes to get ahead, including giving head. Her head bobs up and down onto the bell-end before taking me deep into her mouth all the way to her throat. She gags on it a little bit, making me moan delightfully.

    Wow. She might not be as good as others I have enjoyed in the past until now, but being a new woman is an experience in itself. A very pleasurable experience.

    Several minutes into the blowjob, I decide to grab hold of her head to proceed to fuck her face. She is fully ready for that part, expertly taking me deep and inhaling my cock. Ah. Just great. Just feel great.

    I can really get use to this every day.

    In fact, I can get use to this sort of treatment from now on. There are just so many bitches that needed to be taught a lesson, learning their rightful ces in front of me. More like between my legs. Or I am between theirs.

    More of me between their legs, I guess, but their mouths probably feel pretty good. As good as Via right now.

    And within a couple more minutes, I drill deep into her throat and unload everything with my balls. It forces her eyes to widen in surprise, not at the abrupt explosion, but at how much I can cum.

    Via has never seen anyone cumming this much before, not even with the aids of magical potions or spells, and with her mouth seals around my pulsating cock, she has no choice but to swallow as fast as possible.

    Gulping sounds echo around the room, joining my groaning and moaning. It just feels great to let loose everything after so long. Feels like years, but it has only been a few days.

    And it is a good thing that Via did not have breakfast this morning. Or lunch for that matter simply due to her mood. She would have thrown up everything otherwise.

    Being unable to swallow all of this creamy and thick batter that I am feeding her as well.

    A shit grin sters on my face as I look down at the brte kneeling between my open legs, inhaling my cock and swallowing my spunk frantically. It is a great sight to behold, but that sight obviously will notst.

    Everything eventually settles right into her stomach, and my body requires a bit of time and energy to produce another creamy load.

    Despite the climax, the erection did not go down whatsoever, and it would not until I have released a few more times. By then, Via is probably addicted to my cum.

    Her fate is my cumdump, so there is nothing need to think more about this. She continues to suck me off under the desk as I turn my attention to the reports in front of me.

    It is merely for impression, and I am actually looking at her family tree. Her father is dead. Died under mysterious circumstances, but not so mysterious that I cannot figure it out. Not going to though unless there is a point.

    Her mother, however, is quite a looker. As beautiful as Via, but strangely a blond while Via is a brte. Her eyes color is different from her mother too.

    Via must have inherited those traits from her dear old dead daddy. She has never gotten to know her father since he was killed when she was very young. Barely a child.

    Legion informs me that her mother is likely the one who had killed her father. Did I ask Legion to find that out for me, or is he doing thing on his own now?

    It is hard to tell as one of his primary directives is to assist me, so if I have any inclination to know what on my mind, he would give me the information without me requesting it directly.

    Whether this is a good thing or not, I am unsure. It feels like a good thing since it stops me from wasting time, asking him. Also, I do like to know everything around me, just so I am not in the dark.

    In any case, I will invite Via''s mother to join her in worshipping my cock.

    A duo mother and daughter kneeling between my legs and sobering all over my meat would be a sight to behold, wouldn''t it? Just imagining seeing Via and her mother together with my cock between their mouths makes me all hard again.

    Via chokes out when I start pounding her face again. Fucking it hard while thinking to myself about what kind of crazy stuff I can get away with. I mean, this is another world after all, and whatever I do here will not affect Earth in anyway.

    And getting her mother to join Via would not take much effort at all, considering that her mother is as hopeful as Via about Drake being released.

    Legion informs me that her mother is actually the one who had told Via toe here in the first ce instead of moping around the house and waiting for the news that might nevere.

    Wait. Did her mother realize that something like this would happen to Via? I mean, she should as she is quite a schemer herself, way more than Via.

    I guess the apple did not fall that far from the tree.

    Legion digs a bit deeper, revealing to me that the older woman is the one who had set up the marriage between Via and Drake in the first ce. A lot of time and efforts have been put into that, not to mention a buttloads of money.

    It is all to help Via has some standings after she is gone, and if Drake bes incarcerated would throw a wrench into her n. Drake bing a cripple would devastate her. Everything she had done would be for naught.

    Ah. I cannot wait to see the look on her face when I give her the news. I fuck Via harder, plunging in and out of her mouth and throat, getting her spit and saliva all over my cock and balls.

    "Herees another one. Do not spill any."

    I tell the girl before filling out her throat and sting a tsunami straight into her already full stomach, and as I did so, I lean back against my chair with a devilish grin. I might have been an angel in that life before this one, I am one hell of a devil now.

    "Legion. Please inform Lady Monalisa that her daughter is having a huge problem. One that cannot be solved without her help."

    I order Legion and finally feel my spunk spilling down the shaft and coating my balls.

    It seems that Via is unable to keep everything down, and this is only the second load. She has like a couple more to go, and that is all into her mouth and throat. I have plenty to go into her cunt as well as ass.

    Into her mother too, for they will be my cumdump mother-daughter duo.

 Chapter 228: A Mean to Suppress a God

    And yes, I did notice that her name is a fucking painting, but Monalisa obviously looks nothing like the woman in that famous portrait, so it is all just a coincidence.

    There will be plenty of coincidences in the future as the multiverse is an infinitely vast ce. It is vaster than even the already infinitely vast universe. That is a lot of infinities.

    But the point is, anything that could happen, will happen, and probably had already happened, at least in some form somewhere in the multiverse.

    There is no such thing as coincidences.

    Via knowing about my desire to undo a powerful dragon curse is also not a coincidence. This was what she had referred to during her outbursts when she was being dragged into a cell by Legion, who is taking the form of Hans and Alex.

    Since Via did not think the curse is true, she did not mention it again until had asked her directly.

    But by then, I had already pumped her mouth, throat and stomach full of cum, knocking her right out with a creamy cum overdose, so it does take a bit of time and effort to extract any sort of information out of her in that state.

    Via does not know much, but she did reveal in her hazy state that her mother, Monalisa is actually the one who had told her about the curse. As for how Monalisa knows, Via could not say exactly.

    And since I am going to have a nice long chat with Monalisa in my office soon, preferably when she is on her knees and between my legs serving me alongside with her daughter, I am not really in any hurry to know.

    Everything that wille will eventuallye. Patience is a virtue, and I do need a bit of time to build up my base here in the country. The foundation is pretty shaky right now. Easily breaks apart should I leave now.

    In any case, I am sure there is a very good exnation to why Monalisa knows about my dragon curse, as I am quite cautious about revealing such information to anyone.

    Being cursed by a dragon is not something that should be taken lightly here on Az. That is because dragons are powerful creatures of magic. Each dragon is born with exceedingly high magical potential and power.

    Thus, most baby dragons can give mages of the third-circle a serious fight for their lives, and this is all without them having developed any actual intelligence. Just raw might and magic alone.

    An adult dragon can pretty muchy waste to everything within sight, so their magic power is probably above Grand Archmage. Then there are ancient dragons and dragon lords, not to mention those gods of theirs.

    Adult dragons cany waste to everything within sight, thus they are probably above Grand Archmage in term of magic power. Then there are ancient dragons and dragon lords, not to mention those pesky dragon gods.

    Ingra is a Dragon God. Capitalization because there is a big different between gods and Gods with that capitalized G, at least as ording to Zeus and Zephyr.

    Anyone who is worshipped by mortals can be considered as a god, but an actual God does not require any form of worship or idolization. They also do not care about mortals or immortal alike.

    This is as expected since God are Divine Beings, inhabitants from an ageless ne of existence.

    Since Ingra can crush normal gods fairly easily, it is logical to assume Ingra is from the ageless ne of existence. Until something proves to me otherwise, I will go with that belief.

    It also gives me a good idea of what I must do to counter Ingra and beings simr to Ingra.

    A fusion nuke to the face will probably does nothing to Ingra. Supernova sts might do some damage since it did hurt Zeus physically.

    What is more powerful than a supernova st? A hypernova, but thebined strength of a hundred or so supernovae should be more than equivalent to a hypernova. Then again, physical damage would not kill something like Ingra.

    Might hurt Ingra badly, but hurting it badly is not the same as killing. I need to make it dead, like really dead, and I need ways to do so should it is immune to my temporal power.

    There should definitely be a way to fight and kill a Dragon God through magic.

    Az has gone through quite a lot of turmoil in its history, and numerous beings capable of ending all life on this world and the next have been defeated by heroic legends of the past, at least from all that remain of the historical records.

    The ck Mage of Time is just the most recent legend in the longline of historical legends, and due to her being thetest, people usually talk about her when they refer to absolutely unstoppable mage.

    Only on this continent though. Other continents on the world have their own legendary figures. Those that they idolized. Erect monument in their name and worship them. Doing something like that would definitely elevate those dead legends to godly status. As in them ascending to godhood.

    That is one way to make a god, which is pretty interesting. How to create a god is definitely on my list of things to know, but first, I need to know how to kill one. No point of making them if I cannot unmake them at my pleasure.

    In any case, Legion is keeping a very close watchful eye on everyone within world, so if there is a mean to kill a God, I should be informed eventually. Subduing one is good too, just so I can run experiments on it. Teach it where its actual ce in the real hierarchy of thing.

    There is so many things that I do not know about magic, and Monalisa must have a mean of acquiring sensitive information that I am not aware of. This is demonstrated by her knowledge about my dragon curse.

    Honestly, magic is only limited by the imagination and creativity of the people in the end, and it is due to this that humanity manages to surpass their lowly origin and is on their way to bing the most dominant race on Az.

    The other races are squandering their longevity, bing utterly stagnant socially, politically as well as technologically. Thest one is not so much, as magic can probably do anything that technology can do, especially when their race is born into magic.

    I think this the same reason that humanity has not developed technologically further. Once they have harnessed the power of magic, they have shelved science. Not entirely, but the scientific progression is so minuscule that it might as well be halted.

    And all of this just give me a technological edge against everyone.

    Since I like my technological edge against people who think they are like the most powerful shit ever, I will not do anything to change the state of thing.

    While Az is an alternate Earth, it is not Earth, so it is not really my concern. Also, theck of sentient life throughout the gxy is disconcerting. Is the rest of the universe the same?

    If so, that is just a lot of empty spaces.

    Legion has not mapped out every stars,s or moon throughout this gxy yet, but with the long-range biological scanner, Legion should be able to detect any form of sentient life.

    There are some lifeforms out there, but they are not intelligence.

    And from an evolutionary standpoint, they do not appear to be intelligence in the future. No real point of wasting time and effort of mindless bacteria. Mindless animals are the same as bacteria even if they are magical animals.

    That said, Legion does have a directive of collecting biological sample of new species, just so I can have aprehensive biological repository. I am nning to y god in the future.

    For now, I will just enjoy Via orally. Enjoy her untilte into the day. I will let her return back hometer, just so she can have a good night rest for the next morning.

    Worshipping my cock is her fulltime job now, at least until I decide to let Drake go.

    And yes, I will let Drake go eventually. He can keep his ability to cast magic too. Cast any kind of magic, but how well he cast it is another matter. There are plenty of way to render a mage useless, and people here justck a lot of imagination.

    In addition, Via did not specify what physical state Drake will be in when he is released, and I think it is a good idea to teach her to read the fine print. That is just an analogy for being specific in her side of the bargain.

    I do not need to specify specifically for obvious reason. Servicing me could mean anything from helping me out with all of these reports on the table to being on the table herself naked and getting pounded by me.

    Thinking about it makes me unload another creamy filling into her throat. How many is that now? Do I really need to count? Nope. Not really.

    The gagging and choking soundsing out of Via as she is drowned in my milk is just so arousing, turning me right back on. My cock refuses to calm down, remaining hard and lodging deep right within her throat.

    While I am high in heaven, Legion informs me that Kozak wishes to see me. The man is actually outside right now, and I already know what he ising to talk to me about. It is about the suppression spell that I had him look into.

    The spell allows me to suppress a God level spirit. If I cannot extract Ingra from my soul, thus allowing me to use magic normally, I can suppress him. Putting him into a cage of sort. It might be better doing that since I can find way to make use of his power just like Naruto makes use of the nine-tailed fox.

    Just like any protagonist who has some sort of hidden powers within. Like almost every beta Japanese protagonist. The only difference is they were granted that hidden power. I will create my own. Maybe, I can do more than that.

    But one step at a time. Ingra first as it solves so many of my problem. I might even get some answers too. Why would my dear older sister, Terra allows Ingra to ce a curse on me? She definitely knows, as there is no way she would not have known.

    She is the fucking Aspect of Chaos after all. Oh. I think I might just answer my own question. She likely just wants to my life to be in chaos. Making harder for me. Tsk.

    "Student Kozak greets Master Maxwell."

    Kozak greets me like a real student would. Well. He is sort of my student now, not a student in magic, as I do not want to teach him anything. He is a student because I am teaching him how to manipte people. Torturing them mentally and psychologically too.

    "There is no need to¡­ hmm¡­ no need for formal greeting here, Kozak."

    I tell him while trying to retain a straight face. It is somewhat hard with Via slurping my cock from below the table expertly, and that expression of mine did not go unnoticed.

    Kozak can hear everything too as his hearing is quite keen. Improved physical abilities are just an extra for those who step onto the path of magic. It is the reason why Legion unable to spy on mages higher than fifth circle due to them sensing the cloaked drones.

    "Yes, Master Maxwell."

    Kozak responses and narrows his eyes slightly. He almost uses an enhancement spell upon himself just to see what is exactly happening under the table, but he manages to stop himself at thest second.

    There is no need to pry into it, especially when nobody is allowed to use any form of magic within this office. If they do, detection runes will glow brightly.

    Legion will also inform me about it. He can also disrupt their magic as well, practically stopping anyone from casting their spell. It is quite easy, as long as one is fast and urate.

    "You do not need to worry about the noises, Archmage Kozak."

    I take in a deep breath before taking a hand away from top of the table and disappearing it right under the table, not to stop Via, but to fuck her face even harder.

    "Mage Via is just carrying out her end of the bargain, and she is quite good with her mouth. I will certainly test out her other hole to see whether they are as persuasive as her mouth is right now."

    I continue with a smile.

    Kozak chuckles and looks away from me. He has never attempted something like that before because he loves only one person in his entire life. All of his lives. His soulmate. She has reincarnated alongside with him onto this world, but unlike him, who has the Power of Reincarnation, she will not remember who she is.

    Not until he awakens her memory himself, but he has to find her first. His soul detection spell is limited by range, not to mention some ces are shielded from such a spell. Being more powerful would help him in his effort.

    Or he could ask me.

    Legion is already on it, scanning everyone it can to see whether they are the reincarnated person that Kozak is looking for, and Legion is a lot faster than Kozak.

    The soul detection spell can be used to detect other reincarnated people, but like a dog hunting for a person, it needs something as medium. Spiritual energy is good enough, as the soulmate will have the same spiritual energy.

    I have already tasked Legion to search for my soulmate on Az, but I am sure Legion will not able to aplish the task. This is because soulmates always reincarnate in the same reality together, so my soulmate would be in the prime-reality, not on Az.

    Also, souls cannot leave their reality of their origin for a very good reason, and I have asked why Kozak is so sure that his soulmate gets to reincarnate here on Az with him despite he is the only one who have the Power of Reincarnation, thus allowing to reincarnate outside his original reality.

    Kozak does not have an answer other than hoping that is the case. Otherwise, he would have to figure out how to return to his original world. That is a lot harder than scouring this entire world for a single soul.

    There are safeguards in ce to prevent people from jumping ship from one reality to another.

    But obviously, that means nothing before my power. Or maybe before Antigone. I am unsure whether it is me or Antigone who was responsible for the formation of the temporal rift. Probably Antigone as I do not have my full power.

    Antigone, however, should have her full power even though she cannot ess it. When she dies, those power of her just get released into the universe and started wrecking thing, royally.

    Is Antigone aware of that? I hope not, as I do want her to be a normal baby, not like Adria, who doesn''t have a normal childhood.

    There is a moment of silence before I speak up again.

    "Continue, Archmage Kozak. Have you look into that soul suppression spell that I had asked of you?"

    I question.

    "Yes, Master Maxwell. The spell formation is notplicated, but it does require a dozen or so mages of fifth or higher circle, depending on what soul you are trying to suppress. There is also a requirement for ingredients. It is to create a Spiritual Potion for the afflicted."

    Kozak reports and produces a memory stone within his palm. It contains everything that he had been gathering in thest couple of days.

    The stone disappears from his hand and into mine instantly, allowing me to looking into it and learning everything within. It is quite a useful item, and it is verymon in Az.

    Of course, since it contains sensitive information, I destroy it once I have absorbed everything. Cannot allow anything like this to get out, but I do like to let others guessing, so restricting everything is not a good idea.

    Especially when fabricating information with a slice of truth here and there is way more effective.

    "You seem to be troubled, Archmage Kozak. Is this because of the ingredients required for the Spiritual Potion?"

    I question after taking in a deep breath while Via takes me deep into her throat. Ah. It feels really wonderful. Having my cock sucked under the table by a beautiful and prideful girl.

    "Yes, Master Maxwell. Each of the ingredients is extremely are. Some are not even found on this whole continent regardless of where one might look. Several can only be found during Heavenly events when thes are aligned."

    Kozak answers. He did not mention the difficulty of gathering powerful mages as well a Grandmaster Alchemist to brew the potion. He assumes that with my power, those are not even a problem.

    He assumes correctly. What he is wrong is about the ingredients. As long as they exist, I can find them without any problem. As a matter of fact, Legion has already found most of it.

    They appear on the table for him before the man, making his eyes widen his shock.

    "Your concern is noted, Kozak, but you should know, what seems likely impossible to out is merely an inconvenience to me. I am missing several ingredients however, but I will have them in due time."

    I tell Kozak and ponder about the Heavenly Events.

    It is the only problem that I have since those ingredients cannot be collected until thes are just like what Kozak had said, aligned. When they do, a gateway into another dimension opens, thus letting countless of Mages to enter.

    The next alignment is due in another decade or tomorrow.

    Honestly, movings around in orbit and aligning them perfectly is not something impossible, but it does pose some problems for the inhabitant of Az. In any case, I have Legion start building engines on thoses.

    Big ass engines that can moves around. Moons and stars too. Stars is a bit more difficult due to it being just a giant ball of fire in space.

    Thoseary Engines should be ready by the end of the day, and I could have the aligned by the end of tomorrow.

    Since I am somewhat busy tomorrow entertaining a mother-daughter duo, I should leave that for the day after tomorrow when I have time. Maybe gather some people to apany me as well.

    "A Heavenly event will happen in two days. Prepare to apany me."

 Chapter 229: Special Lineage and Bloodline

    Kozak does not question the impossibility of my words. Impossible because it would take more than a decade for all thes within the sr system to fully align.

    And there is no way thes would suddenly align on the ount of my say so. Of course not, but he does not know about what I can truly do. He does not even know about Legion.

    Despite that, Kozak now knows that nothing is truly impossible with me, and it is probably a very good lesson to be learned. Therefore, Kozak takes his leave shortly afterwards, finally leaving me to my time alone with Via once more.

    Kozak has to prepare himself for the journey ahead.

    Heading into another dimension requires a lot of preparation, as there is a good chance of dying there when beingpletely unprepared. No mage is ever stupid enough to enter another dimension alone either.

    This includes me, but that is simply because I am highly cautious.

    I have to be, as I will be taking my first step into another dimension in the next couple of days or so. It is a dimension that runs parallel and exists in conjunction with this spatial dimension.

    Just like individual room located inside a hallway of the academy, dimensions are part of the ne of existence, running in parallel or adjacent to each other. Each ne of existence has several dimensions within it, but most of the time, the inhabitants will not notice other parallel dimensions.

    And if it was not for the reurring heavenly events, the people of Az would not know about those other dimensions either. Strangely enough, they do know about other realms. Like Nether realms, but that is for another time.

    There are at least ten spatial dimensions on the mortal ne, at least from a scientific standpoint. Or a magical standpoint. Both sides seem to agree about this, so there is no debate.

    What science and magic do not agree on, however, is what dimension everyone and everything within visible range are currently upying at the moment.

    Magic states it to be the 1st dimension while science being science argues it is the 3rd dimension.

    And as a man of science myself, I can understand the 3rd dimension part from scientific point of view due to thebination of length, width, height, depth and breadth. Sure. I would argue that it is really the 5th dimension due to space as well as time.

    Those can be measured, and technically, everyone and everything is upying space as well as flowing through time, but that is a bit too technical for most people.

    I admit that I do not fully understand why magic states it is the 1st dimension. Perhaps, dimensions to mages is not the same thing to scientists. That is likely, and I think I have put way too much brain cells on this matter since magic cannot really be exined by the naturalw of the universe.

    Instead, I should spend more brainpower on making sure nothing goes wrong and outside of my direct control when I am exploring another dimension, finding those missing ingredients.

    And to that effect, I will be taking the rest of the day off to prepare and n contingencies with Legion on the moon. The red one where all the weapons are being produced.

    Present tense because there is no overkill like actual overkill.

    It feels right to me to cover the entire orbit of the with orbital weapons, just so I can strike any country at any time I like. I could strike all of them if I want, bringing forth the end of the world.

    Not going to do that but having the option to do so is a lot morefortable than not, and somehow, it does not feel like overdoing it whatsoever. Just a strange feeling that I cannot exin.

    In any case, Via can go home and rest for the day. She has done a remarkable job of serving junior, making me feel extremely pleasurable. There is not even a word ofint from her whatsoever.

    Of course, I will have Via back tomorrow, kneeling under my desk and sucking this unyielding and unending erection of mine once more. During the time that I will have a chat with her mother as well.

    Because why not?

    And as I have expected previously, Via is somewhat reluctant to let go of my hard cock. She is not immune to the curse of Erosire, and just like any woman who had a taste of me, she is addicted to the taste and smell of my spunk.

    Like very addicted.

    While I can biologically engineer my sperm to have addictive effect, more so than anything imaginable in this world or the next, it is really not necessary. Thanks to Erosire, any kind of fluids from me is very addicting to the opposite sex.

    The same sex too, probably. I am not going to confirm that theory, obviously.

    Again, not homophobic, but if someone dangling their dick in front of me, I will castrate them.

    In any case, once Via has a taste of me, she cannot help but wanting more. She needs more, very desperately. I am sure that her mother will be the same along with countless woman of this world.

    And that is probably the reason why I am actually refraining myself from teleporting in Eliana and then fucking the shit out of her. She is more than just a cumdump to me, as I do have ns for her in mind in the future.

    Still, it is probably good to gather a vast array of women whom I can fuck whenever. Sounds distasteful, but meh, a harem is a harem, and I can have more than one harem. Who says that I cannot?

    It takes a bit of effort to tell Via to go home. Junior gives her a facial in the process as well because she is begging for one.

    The next dayes really quickly when I am having a lot of fun programming new directive for Legion in case I am missing in action or being dead in a few days.

    Hopefully not thetter since getting killed will make start everything from scratch again. After having to live 18 pointless years. I am not invincible, just bloody impossible to permanently make dead. From my own understanding about Aspect at least.

    Like ageless beings and above, Aspect and Primordial do not have a soul, so how do one kill something that is does not have a body, a spirit or a soul? No idea. This is way above my own understanding right now, and I should not be bothered by it at the moment.

    I am unsure why I currently have a mortal soul despite being an Aspect and all. Probably because I do need a soul to enter the Samsara Karmic Cycle.

    There seems to be a rule to everything that happens within the multiverse, and I like that.

    Rules are good. They keep chaos at bay. I mean actual chaos, not Terra. If she wanted to, nothing could keep her away.

    Anyway, just like yesterday, Via is back in my office right after breakfast, kneeling under my quite spacious desk and sucking that big cock of mine.

    I mean my breakfast, not hers. Via is having her breakfast right now. Or trying to anyway. It takes a lot more effort since I have already gotten used to her mouth.

    Via will need to do way more than simply sucking to get me to feed her. As a matter of fact, it has already been like a couple of hours of sucking on her part, and I obviously have not orgasmed yet, not even a single one.

    My erection remains hard and strong as ever, and my breath does get hitched every now and then as Via traces her tongue around the mushroom tip of my cock and tickles the piss-slit at the tip. She resumesnguidly bobbing her head up and down along the veiny shaft once she retrieves her tongue back into her wet mouth.

    I do admit that Via is quite a cocksucker. She must have plenty of practices, as much as those hoes who are found in abundant everywhere within the slums of the capital city. Outlying viges too.

    It is quite degrading and humiliating to Via byparing her, a noblewoman and a powerful mage in her own right to a cheap whore who can be found on the street.

    And there is no need for me to humiliate Via either, as it is quite understandable for what she had to do, all in order to secure her rightful ce in the world.

    Well. Her rightful ce beneath me regardless of what background that she has.

    I do enjoy her plum lips wrapping around my hard rod far too much to bother with anything pointless, especially unnecessary insults. Besides, insulting her would force her to response in protest, and I think her mouth is far more useful sucking my dick than speaking.

    The only sounds that Via allows to let loose are slurping, gagging and chocking. All of those sounds are quite arousing, but I think I should mute her. These lewd sounds of her are quite distracting to my guests.

    One will being soon, and that guest will definitely protest against what I am doing right now unlike Kozak from yesterday. I will have a chat with Kozak today as well. Alongside with Sapphire.

    I am going to take Sapphire with me for life or death training in another dimension. It is good practice for her, and with me around, she cannot actually die.

    Anyway, with a mentalmand, Legion casts a multitude of spells around myrge desk. Muting and silencing runes sh brightly before fading in obscurity. A powerful war is now in effect, preventing all sounds and noises from escaping or entering the area underneath the desk.

    Via will not hear anything happening outside, and I think I should have done this yesterday before Kozak spoke to me, but then again, she did not know anything anyway.

    Obviously, I can still hear those lewd sounds Via is making as magic does not seem to inhibit Legion from transmitting the sounds through technological mean.

    Lewd sucking and slurping as well as erotic moaning and whimpering are music to my ears, making my cock hard as it pumps in and out of her mouth with great delight.

    Via blinks for a moment as she takes notice of the runes shing around her in her kneeling state, but she quicklyes to an understanding without questioning before continuing her dutifully task in earnest.

    Those pouty lips of hers are suctioning down my hard shaft as she tries to take more of me than ever before. Her efforts do not go unnoticed, as I cannot help but groan involuntarily.

    Ugh!

    Seriously, Via is trying to suck out that delicious baby batter within my puffy balls. She truly craves for it to the point that she could not sleepst night due to thinking of how much she will be orally fed today.

    And in all honesty, I would not get any sleep either by thinking about that myself, but then again, I do not sleep, not in my current form.

    I am a biomechanical being at the moment, not a fully biological being. Sleep is totally unnecessary as eating and others normal daily functions. Pissing, shitting and stuff like that. I could if I like, but why?

    Obviously, I will get some sleep when I try to dwell deeper into my previous life, but there is no urgency to that. It is not like those memories of mine are going to disappear. They will always be there, waiting for me to unlock them at my leisure.

    While it is good to learn everything that had happened as soon as possible, too many things makes my mind wander too much. Also, it is making me distracted more than I liked. My goal right now is finally removing that dragon curse on my soul.

    I am unable to cast magic without Legion, and that is a huge disadvantage. I need to fix that.

    Of course, having Via sucking my cock with all the intention of making me cum is just extra, a very pleasurable extra, as I continuously grasp and grunt. So much so that I have missed the light knock on the door.

    I mean to say, I did not hear the knocking.

    Legion informs me that Monalisa is waiting outside the door, waiting for me to let her in. She is exactly on time from the look of it, but tardiness is not a quality of a mage. That is disrespectful, thus no mage would dare to be disrespectful to those who can waste them.

    I allow Monalisa to chill outside a bit longer while I fuck her daughter hard and deep orally. Eventually, I snap my fingers and allow the heavy iron door to open, revealing a blond-haired woman standing at good height proudly along side with Hans and Alex.

    Unlike her impetuous daughter, Monalisa is humbled and submissive from the start. Because of that, Alex and Hans did not need to drag her ass into the room, at least not forcibly. They still help her into the room at least half way, and that is because I dismiss them and then close the door with a wave of my hand.

    "Greeting Lady Monalisa."

    I greet her. It might be proper to call her a mage instead, but her station as a noble is higher than that of the mage, so ady title is more appropriate. It is just how people addressed each other. For me, it is master as my job take precedent.

    The only exception is teacher, as I cannot call Kozak teacher. His students would, obviously.

    But enough about that.

    Monalisa practically glides across the room gracefully and stops in front of my desk. Only inches away, standing there in silence, she matches my gaze as I smile at her. It takes a lot of strength to keep that smile on my face, considering what her daughter is servicing me under the table.

    Of course, Via does not hear anything, so she did not know her mother is here. If she had known, she would not be sucking this hard. Oh. So hard.

    "Master Maxwell. I appreciate your request for my attention in regard to my son-inw, but I am more than a little displeased of having toe here myself."

    Monalisa tells me. No. More like chastises me, actually.

    "My apology, Lady Monalisa. It is because I cannot leave this office during workhour, and the situation involving your future son-inw is of a great concern. Your daughter too now."

    I response while maintaining my smile. As if I would go and see her at her own home. Well. I could but having hering to see me despite I request for a meeting is a show of power. A power that Monalisa obviously submits to since she is here herself.

    Monalisa is too proud to admit that, but her actions and words are enough.

    "My daughter? What about her? I have not seen her since early this morning. Do you know where she is, Master Maxwell?"

    Monalisa questions. Concern isced within her voice even if faintly. As cold and calcting as she is, she is obviously concerned for her daughter. Everything that she had done is for Via after all.

    And Monalisa does not want her daughter having to live through the life that she had, struggling for a face and voice within that family.

    "Via is busy doing something for me. What it is, you will find out soon enough, Lad Monalisa, but what your daughter has done is not really the reason to why I request your presence. No, what I want to know is how do you know I am cursed by a dragon?"

    I ask bluntly. There is no need to beat around the bush, and Monalisa has expected that when she had received my request. She obviously asked Via about it yesterday, who revealed that was how she is able to get my attention.

    Of course, Via did not tell her mother about the cock-sucking and cum-swallowing part. She would never tell her mother about what kind of a whore she is.

    And Monalisa has tried again and again to ignore that fact. She also hates herself for not able to protect her daughter from the elders once her daughter finally matured into a beautiful woman.

    Monalisa tries not to show any emotion on her face, as she tries to formte a response. She couldn''t really tell me the truth as that would reveal her linage. Her dragon linage.

    How did I know that? Well. This is not the first time I had talk to her. This is not even the second time either, but the first time was more important when Hans and Alex smash the shit out of her to get the truth. The second time was just me being me, torturing people for the heck of it.

    Well. The torturing part is not entirely without a purpose.

    "Someone has told me about it, Master Maxwell. That person also tells me how to get rid of the curse."

    Monalisa tells me. Totally bullshit, as there is no such person. Of course, I will humor her because it is fun. A lot more fun since I am having my cock sucked by her daughter at the moment.

    "Oh. Maybe it is the same person who tell me about you, Monalisa. He also tells me how to suppress your draconic power as well. Exacting it too as dragon blood is highly prized, even if it is diluted."

    I tell her, making her blink repeatedly.

    "What ¨C Ah!"

    Magical runes manifests under her feet, forcing her onto her knees. Being somewhat a dragon due to the past exploit of her ancestors, the dragon-ying formation that she had inadvertedly stepped into is quite effective against her.

    Quite painful too.

    Thanks to Legion, I have learned everything that I can about dragons in the past few days, just so I can actually kill a dragon when I finallye face to face with one.

    "N-o. P-lease. Master Max-ah! S-stop! Ah!"

    Monalisa calls out as her spirit and soul is set alight by the formation carved to the floor, but I simply watch her suffering and anguish with a smile.

    She needs to learn the lesson of what happen when she lies to me.

    And of course, if she is a good little girl, I will allow her to service me.

    Little because I am way older than her even if she is part dragon and has their longevity. Too bad, she does not have their immortality though, or it would be way more fun torturing her.

 Chapter 230: The Dragon-Killing Curse

    The dragon-killing curse that I had Legion carved into the stone floor before covering it all up with the red velvet carpet will run out of magical power eventually.

    But long before that can happen, I am sure Monalisa would be nothing more than a corpse even if the curse is not as effective against her as it would be to an actual dragon.

    The curse is designed to kill a real dragon, and Monalisa is not a real dragon. She cannot even be stated to be a partial dragon or a dragon hybrid either even if she has dragon blood flowing through her veins in some capacity.

    That is because Monalisa cannot transform into a dragon or take on any physical strait a dragon might have. She can, however, use dragon magic amongst other things with some extensive trainings. Sadly, there is no one to teach her about those things, as dragons do not teach humans how to make use of their power.

    Doing something like that would give humanity the power to y dragons. Nobody, human or creature would be that dumb unless there is something wrong with their head in the first ce.

    And I am sure that there was a mentally insane dragon or more, as that is exactly how a dragon-killing curse sessfully invented. Of course, humans are capable to overpowering a dragon, but not without great sacrifice.

    The same kind of sacrifice that Monalisa has to give in order to use dragon magic.

    Her only daughter, Via also has dragon blood flowing through her veins, but it is at an even more diluted state than Monalisa due to being born afterwards.

    Just like all special bloodlines, monster or otherwise, dragon bloodline bes diluted and weakened over every new generation. That is just natural biology, and the only way to stop it from happening in the first ce is to marry and procreate within the family.

    But incest will create all sort of problem. Mentally challenged mages for one. Again, this has to do with biology. Gic diversity is necessary to prevent morons from ever being in power.

    Wait. Did I just realize why there are so many moronic mages having control over everything?

    In a real society with logic andmon sense, there is no way that could happen.

    History from Earth tells me otherwise. Idiotic people have been in power for thousands and thousands of years, and they are still in power now, but luckily enough, it is not as much, and in the prime-reality, it is because I let them be.

    To the same diluting effect mentioned above, children or grandchildren of Via with maybe Drake would probably lose what little benefits of having a dragon bloodline might bring.

    Now, the real question ins how did Monalisa and her only child, Via manage to have dragon blood flowing through their veins? They certainly did not do it to themselves, as they cannot be that stupid, at least I do not think so.

    Once more, Legiones and saves the day. He just knows a lot of things due to one of his directives, and it is far too much for me to simply download everything into my brain. Neural overload is actually a real problem, and it will leave me braindead if I attempt it.

    In any case, Legion quickly informs me that somewhere in the past, their ancestors somehow managed to get their hands on some pure dragon blood. Now that is interesting. Very interesting.

    How is not really important in the context, just that they had managed it, and being very smart mages that they are back then, they decided to consume the dragon blood in hope of infusing the might and power of a dragon into their bloodline.

    Yup. Very smart. I mean to say incredibly stupid.

    They were obviously not the only family that have done such a stupid thing, and doing something such as that would certainly work, as long as the consumed bloodline is more powerful and potent than the bloodline that they had.

    As that is the case, consuming dragon blood had granted those ancestors of Monalisa a much stronger connections to the Arcane Realm alongside with greater magical power and potential.

    That sounds pretty good, but it is actually not.

    There are plenty of downsides to infusing monster bloodlines into your own bloodline, especially when their bloodlines are far more powerful and potent than yours, and a dragon bloodline is definitely is a lot more powerful and potent than human bloodlines.

    In fact, bloodlines of intelligent monsters usually are, as those monsters are all gifted with great magic and potential due to being born or heralded from the Arcane Realm, a ce of limited magical energy and power.

    That is the story anyway, and I had confirmed it with Bruce someone, but I cannot be sure unless I can step into the Arcane Realm and explore the ce.

    Only the most powerful mages in existence can open a rift into the Arcane Realm in order to drawl all of that magical power and energy out, but even then, stepping into the realm itself would be just likemitting suicide.

    It is like a mage tanking an aura of unlimited power and unlimited magical energy. They might survive for like a nanosecond if they are tenth-circle mages or higher. Still, that kind of oue does not stop mages from trying to enter the realm in the first ce.

    I mean humans. It is probably because humanity is born the weakest on Az and without a shred of power. As such, humans will do whatever it takes, sacrificing anything to change their fate. They have done so, as mages now exist.

    It is something unnatural, at least to races who are gifted with magic form the moment of their birth, and those races have taken that for granted. They are stagnant, being stuck in their ways and unwilling to change with the time.

    They will have to, or they will be a footnote in history of humanity.

    Due to the desire to be stronger, their haste and generalck of understanding about magics and monsters as well, humans of the past did some incredibly stupid things, all to equalize the ying field with other species.

    Stupid enough that mages of the current generation would still have to pay dearly for it. Monalisa and Via certainly did even though they do not show it.

    Well. Monalisa way more than Via due to the dragon blood is more potent in her.

    Aside from basically selling their souls to the Arcane Realm for easy power, their ancestors had cursed themselves to every weakness a dragon might have.

    This is not to mention they also be subservient to the will of a dragon lord or a dragon god. Most certainly to Ingra, as the Dragon God. Capitalization since Ingra seems to be the most powerful dragon on Az.

    Long story short, those idiotic ancestors of Monalisa have sold their soul to the devil, and now, all their descendants will have to pay the ultimate price. A price that I am only beginning to understand myself, as I am witnessing it happening before me in the form of a beautiful woman being tortured to death.

    Even though Monalisa is not really a dragon herself and that the dragon-killing curse is not as effective against her spirit and soul, it is still fatal to her if she is under its effect for an extended period of time.

    Not even that long, really. Like 5 to 10 minutes or so from my estimation. It is also the most agonizing and excruciating death, to the point that being an actual dragon to die faster sounds like a more better option.

    As that is the case, I will have to deactivate the curse before Monalisa actually die. Well, not true since I can always resurrect her to do it all over again, but that is only if I want her to know I have the power to resurrect people.

    Resurrection is possible with magic, but it is called a sacrificial spell. All sacrificial spell requires sacrifice from the spellcaster or through other means. For resurrection, vast amount of lifeforce must be given in exchange to bring a person back.

    How much depends on how long they have been dead themselves. If they have been dead for far too long, it would not be possible regardless how many lives are sacrificed in the process.

    This must have something to do with the Samsara Karmic Cycle, for all souls of the cycle must be ready to be reincarnated, and if a soul already reincarnated, they cannot really be resurrected.

    Since I do not wish Monalisa to know about my power to resurrect people, I will have to stop the curse eventually but not before Monalisa understand the kind of control that I have over her.

    Over everyone on Az really. Legion is ready to kill anyone at my request from orbit or otherwise. It is safe to assume that everyone around me are basically my hostages. They just do not know the fact themselves.

    Monalisa for example.

    Strangely enough, the woman did not realize that she had walked into such an incredibly deadly curse, but in its deactivated and unpowered state, the curse is nothing more than scratches on the floor.

    Well. A magical trap cannot be considered a trap if it is easy to detect.

    Still, Monalisa should have been more cautious in a hostile environment. My office is considered as a hostile environment, as it is situated inside a facility designed to imprison and torture mages. Have no one got that memo?

    But then again, Monalisa was requested for a discussion, and she had assumed that she would not be harmed, at least as my guest.

    Too bad, Monalisa had assumed incorrectly.

    She should have used her brain a bit more. If someone in charge of a magic prison requests a talk with her in private, it should raise all sort of red gs in her mind, especially when there have been so many mages being arrested and imprisoned in thest few days already.

    Certainly, if I was in her shoes, I would not be stupid enough to meet me in my office without any sort of preparations and protections. Lots and lots of preparations and protections. Like a lot since it is me, after all.

    Monalisa did not think it through logically, but I supposemon logic and sense have no real ces within her mind. Or the mind of these nobles, especially when they are so used to having all the power and doing whatever they pleased.

    Themon people do not have any voice within the Kingdom. Or any Kingdoms really. They live their life, pay their taxes, suffer abuses, and then die without any remembering. Thus, that is why everyone wants to be someone.

    Bing a mage is the best way to do so, as with poweres prestige.

    Anyway, I still think Monalisa is quite a schemer, rtive to everyone else around her. She did use her own daughter to test the water with me, and while I like to think she does care deeply about Via due to all her nning, if Monalisa has to choose between her life and the life of her daughter, it is a certainty that Monalisa would choose her life.

    Without any sign of hesitation too, I might add.

    That is just who Monalisa is, and it is not that much different from any of the other nobles within this country or the next. They would sell their own parents and children if they are forced into the corner, and that is a real dark side of humanity.

    In any case, I wonder if Monalisa knows what would happen to her when she dies?

    Unlike Via, the dragon blood still flows strong within Monalisa, and as such, when Monalisa finally kicks the bucket, her corrupted soul would not get to reincarnate into Heaven or Hell.

    No. Her soul would be sent directly into the Arcane Realm due to being somewhat of a monster. That soul of her would then be twisted and corrupted into a real monster before being reborn into a brand-new life once more.

    This is just part of the Samsara Karmic Cycle. The cycle is not only for human, but for every soul there is, as long as they are considered to be mortal and immortals. Ageless souls and beyond are no longer part of the cycle, thus they are not affected by the cycle.

    After a minute or so more, I finally disable the dragon-killing curse and have a look at the charred body of Monalisa, all while enjoying her beautiful daughter right under the desk.

    It is somewhat of a strange experience, to be honest. Listening to all the lewdly and erotic sounds from Via while enjoying the anguish and terrified screams from Monalisa.

    Wow. I have never fucked and kill at the same time.

    Thates out wrong, sounding like me fucking a woman to death, thus effectively meaning that it is fucking dead people. I am not interested in necrophiliac like some people. I mean actual dead people, not people who are brought back to live from the dead.

    I obviously fucked Ambrosia, and Antigone is a result of that. I miss Antigone. It has been more than a year since I see my daughter. I wonder if she is okay.

    Antigone should be, right? If she not, I will undo all of it. I will. It is what a loving father would do, and I am a father. Damn straight, I am even if I have done things that no father should have.

    A sigh manages to escape my throat. Quite difficulty because of Via. She is deepthroating me right now, gagging on my massive size quite loudly. Not really knowing what is happening to her mother at this moment.

    If Via did, she would not have continued to impale her face deeper and deeper onto my hard cock, all to demonstrate what a fantastic cocksucker she is. Yes, she is. Definitely.

    Via does not even know about her own dragon lineage either, as her mother had never revealed to her about such a thing. Of course, there is no point as that lineage would eventually fade, returning their bloodline to humanity once more.

    Aside from the longevity of a dragon, Monalisa also benefits greatly from the enhanced healing power of a dragon, thus she would heal in no time. She ys it off as her magic when others mention it, but some are not easily fooled.

    I am part of the minority on this part.

    And while I am waiting for Monalisa to fully recover, I am enjoying Via immensely. She has proven to be a great service under the desk that separate me and her mother.

    While Monalisa is recovering, she might have noticed someone kneeling between my spread legs from her lower point of view. It is reasonable to think so, as there is a gap between the desk and the ground from her side.

    It does not really matter if Monalisa did notice, as I would reveal to her how much of a cocksucker her lovely daughter has been. Eventually.

    "Are you going to lie there all day, Lady Monalisa? If that is the case, I do not mind help you bing an actual corpse."

    I tell Monalisa when I notice she haspletely healed her internal organs. She is now just faking her injuries, just to give herself more time to think of something. So many things probably go through her mind, but I doubt any will get her out of this situation.

    If there is, I like to hear and see it.

    "How¡­ how did you know, Master Maxwell?"

    Monalisa finally speaks up. She struggles to stand upright as the effect of the curse is still in her mind, regardless whether her body has healed or not.

    The curse does use a lot of magical energy to power it, but it is not really a problem to me. Unlimited magical energy is at mymand after all.

    "About you faking it or about you having dragon blood inside you, Lady Monalisa?"

    I question and take in a deep breath due to Via bobbing hard on my cock. I want to grin madly at all of this, but this is a serious moment right now. I put on my serious face.

    Monalisa did not answer, as it is obvious which one of the two. I did not need her to answer either, so I continue to speak, addressing the actual question, but not really.

    "Let just say a little naughty birdy tells me."

    I give her basically no answer, and I do not think Monalisa gets that from the expression on her lovely face. She is pretty, as a proud and prideful noblewoman should be.

    "A naught birdy tells you, Master Maxwell?"

    Monalisa questions, making me chuckle in the process. Yup. She definitely did not get that.

    The idiom is from Earth after all, and there are plenty idioms in this world. None that I would had like to use because it just feels odd.

    "That means someone tells me about it, Monalisa. Did you not listen to my story from a moment ago? It is as truthful as all the nonsense that you have told me before that."

    I give Monalisa a moment for that to sink into her head.

    "So, let us start again, shall we? How did you know that I am cursed by a dragon?"

    I ask her again, but this time, I put on a face that conveys the only message: I will torture you to death if you bullshit again. It will be far more painful too.

    Monalisa gets my facial expression. She has to have the brain to be a schemer.

    Hopefully a better brain than her daughter under the desk.

    If not, she will be joining her daughter in servicing me soon. Her mouth would be more suited for that otherwise.

 Chapter 231: Assumptions Without Confirmation

    "I can feel it, Master Maxwell. The curse on your soul. It is a very powerful curse. The strongest that I have felt so far, and no, I do not know how to life such a curse like I had falsely imed previously. For that, I am sorry, so please forgive me."

    Monalisa finally answers, deciding to do the right thing.

    The only thing, really.

    She obviously has no choice in the matter, and I already know the actual answer before she even had told me about it. I know everything that she knows as I already have extracted her memory and spent a decent amount of time andputing power deciphering it all.

    Legion is very good at downloading and reading memory, so the next step is fabricating it and then do some sort of imntation.

    Imnting new memory into a person has always been a problem, as the brain would eventually reject the foreign memory. The brain just knows when a memory is fake or not thanks to millions of years of evolution.

    Mother Nature is just very good at her job.

    And that is the reason why indoctrination since birth is a lot more effective than mapping in a new set of memory and experience, but if Legion can solve this problem, it will open plenty of new doors.

    Not to mention a lot of ways for me to troll people. I am always interested in new ways to troll people, as doing the same things again is boring. Very boring.

    But all of that is for another time.

    Legion have plenty of tasks to do and simtions to run whenever I am not requiring his assistant. He should not be allowed to have a near gctic spanningputing power if he is not using it at all. Not to mention all the spatial dimension he had created everywhere, just to have moreputing powers.

    There is always a need for moreputing power.

    And I am sure that Legion has already long passed the point of technological singrity, but thanks to my safety protocols within his core programming, he is unable to take the final step to finally bing self-aware.

    I am unsure how long those protocols will hold, but at least, they are holding at the moment.

    In any case, every little secret that Monalisa has in her head is now within mine.

    Well, as much as my biomechanical brain can handle, especially when there are already so many things floating within my head.

    There are also many things and people that I must keep track of as well. With or without support from Legion or any other virtual intelligences that I have.

    It is quite taxing, to be honest.

    And being a biomechanical being is not the same thing as being a purely technological machine. There is still a biological limit to all that I can keep in my head, and if that limit is stressed repeatedly, I would have a huge migraine.

    That is the theory anyway.

    And even so, that biological limit is exceedingly high.

    It is a higher limit than what a purely biological brain can actually have.

    Biomechanical is a fusion between biological and technological. It is the same to magictech, the fusion between magic and science.

    It is the better of both worlds, but still, there are plenty of experimentations and testing needed to be done. Especially the psionic potential problem.

    There is really no real biological reason to why a biomechanical lifeform cannot have psionic potential, and yet, despite the numerous testing and experimentation, not a single biomechanical lifeform that I have cloned or crafted using human genome as foundation exhibits any sign of psionic power.

    Obviously, there is something that I am missing, and it is bothering me more than usual.

    A lot more, actually.

    It is like trying to solve a very difficult problem, and no matter how long or how much I have looked at it, I still am unable to see what step that I would need in order to solve the problem. Gradually.

    I have learned that any sort of problem can be solved one step at a time, but it has to be the right step and on the right track, as taking the wrong path from the start is just wasting time, effort and energy.

    Not so much now thanks to the existence of Legion, but still, it is very troublesome to waste resources on things that yield no result when I could use those resources for something else more beneficial.

    Like gically engineering my own dragon-human hybrid. Am I thinking about reactivating that long abandoned project? The Hybridization Project.

    I suppose so, but only as a way to control people who have monster blood running through their vein.

    People like Monalisa.

    I give a nod to Monalisa, epting her answer. It is not that surprising to know how she knows about my dragon curse given what she is biologically.

    Just like mages, dragons can definitely sense each other, and they can do so far more urately too.

    It is interesting to know Monalisa can sense Ingra despite the dragon is sleeping deep within my spirit or soul. And if she could, so can people like her. Actual dragons too.

    This might pose a problem for me. A very huge problem.

    One that I immediately have Legion looks into and devises a countermeasure. I obviously cannot have anyone or anything detecting Ingra for whatever reason. Not only it is really dangerous, but it can also be used to track me.

    I hate being tracked by others regardless of who, and it would be stupid of me for not stopping myself from being tracked if I know that I am.

    "I also ept your apology, Lady Monalisa."

    I response and examine the woman up and down. Despite being twice Via''s age, Monalisa is quite beautiful and very much desirable. Magic do allow a mage to keep their youthful appearance at a cost, but for Monalisa, having longevity of a dragon also helps.

    Legion already has a copy of that blood when I had tortured Monalisa the first time around.

    Synthesizing the blood is not too difficult due to it being just biological and magical in nature, but it is not really of any use to me at the moment, not unless I restart the Hybridization Project here on Az, and I am inclining to.

    It is not like high-level mages have not been experimenting on such things themselves at the sacrifices of countless people, but unlike them, I will seed in creating the perfect magical hybrid.

    And the idea of having an army of draconic humans or humanoid dragons at mymand is just way too tempting. Why stop at dragons as well?

    It is also very nice to have a real dragon for me to test all sort of killing curses and magical formations upon, but I do need diversity to see the real effectiveness of those spells and formations.

    Good thing I know that there are plenty of idiotic mages like the ancestors of Monalisa. There are also plenty of idiotic mages right now, who would sell everyone and everything just for power and position.

    Well. One of them is actually standing right in front of me right now, but she is somewhat a very tamed example. Still, she is an example.

    Another example is kneeling between my legs and sucking my cock like a real whore, making me inhale deep breathes and stifles my groaning and grunting within my throat.

    Honestly, knowing Via servicing under the desk so close to her mother is just at turn on, and they are currently oblivious to the fact.

    I probably no longer need to hide the fact any further.

    The change of my expression does not go unnoticed to Monalisa. She purses her lips while thinking to herself, weighting something. Whatever it is, it is straining her enforced calm state.

    Or maybe I should say fa?ade.

    I think I know what it is. She did note here simply because I had request to have a private chat to her. She hade because she wishes to talk to me about Drake.

    Monalisa has plenty riding on Drake being able to marry her daughter. However, she obviously did not expect to be ousted as a dragon mage, and now she is more or less just a b of meat before me.

    It is to the point that she isn''t daring to say anything.

    Dragon blood is actually a critical ingredient to many powerful spells and potions and more. Her blood can definitely be used as a substitute. The effect of the spells and potions would be weakened, but at least it would have the desired effect.

    Monalisa is probably fearing this part. Being strung up somewhere and used as blood bank like plenty of unfortunately people. Mostlymon people, but mages too. Usually those who have managed to offend someone they should not have.

    Also, getting tortured by the dragon-killing curse unhinges her. She is still standing within the circle as she doesn''t want to trigger it again.

    Motions usually trigger magical traps, but not this one. Obviously. Monalisa does not know that, and I am not going to tell her otherwise.

    "Oh. You may leave, Lady Monalisa unless you have something to talk to me about. Maybe about your future son-inw? He is well if you want to know, and I have not been torturing him at my leisure due to your daughter."

    I tell her as a vibration goes through my cock, forcing me to stifle a grunt that threatens to escape out of my throat.

    Via also moans in the process under the desk, quite happily too, around my member as it is buried deep down her throat. More that than, my keen nose captures a strong sweet scent that was not there before.

    Well, it was, but not as intoxicating as now.

    The scent ising from Via around her crotch, for she had just orgasmed.

    Just from sucking my cock alone too.

    To be honest, she has been aroused the whole time, but since I have not been more rougher with her, as in brutally fucking her face like yesterday, she hadn''t been able to get off.

    It also exins why she has been spending thest couple of hours sucking my cock without managing to make orgasm. She has managed to keep it warm and wet with her mouth, however. So that is really something.

    Via such a good cock sleeve.

    Monalisa smells it as well. Her heightened senses allow her to capture that sweet aroma, and while it is quite faint from where she is standing, she knows what it is.

    A small smile creeps on her face, but it vanishes as quickly.

    "Yes, Master Maxwell. I had intended to bargain for more leniency for my son-inw, just like Via, my daughter was here to do so yesterday."

    Monalisa responses.

    "Had?"

    I murmur. It seems that Monalisa does not only know what it is, but more like who it is. She is a mother of this lovely cocksucker between my legs after all, and her sense of smell would be able to detect her daughter if she tries.

    Since the cat is out of the bag, there is no need for me to hide it any further. As such, I shift myself on the seat, adjusting my hard cock to bury itself all the way into Via orally and allowing that hot lips of her to touch the base of my cock.

    My balls are now resting nicely on her chin as she takes every inch of my throbbing member down her esophagus for more than a handful of seconds, bringing out a delightful experience within me.

    A few grunts from my throat too.

    "Ah yes, your daughter is quite persuasive with her mouth, Lady Monalisa, and I am thinking to myself right now whether she had learned that from her mother. I would love to know."

    I state with a grin. Not a nice grin. There is something wicked within my smile, and it is enough to scare the woman, at least for a fraction of a second.

    Monalisa is taken back, blinking stupidly for a moment.

    "Shall I answer your question with a demonstration, Master Maxwell?"

    Monalisa eventuallye to an understanding,ing to the realization that I can actually be brought just like any man. The price is very simple, so simple that her daughter has already beaten her to it.

    But once more, Monalisa is assuming things just like she had assumed that I would not hurt her when she entered this office.

    I have never stated any sort of bargain with her. Technically, she is just offering to suck me off in order to show where her daughter has learned her oral technique.

    Wow. These people are dumb, or maybe I have be too specific?

    This is probably due to me having the Commandment ability for a while. With that ability, I have to be pretty specific with my wordings, or the result is not something that I had intended initially.

    There are also consequences to using the wrong words. Mostly hrious consequences.

    In any case, since Monalisa offers, I am not going to refuse her. It does not cost me anything anyway, and I do have everything recorded, so she cannot really call me out afterwards for not keeping my end of the bargain.

    What bargain?

    The bargain that Monalisa is assuming in her mind is about me not stringing her up like a blood bank, as she has already realized that I am not interested in killing her. If I did, I would have done so already, but I am sure plenty of people around her are aware of hering here to talk to me in private.

    And if somehow, Monalisa just winded up disappearing or bing a corpse, everyone who is anyone will look at me for an exnation. A very good exnation.

    Like that is going to work, especially when I can create a perfect clone of her to stop their questionings.

    While it does not really matter what happen to Monalisa as I have plenty of ways to diffuse the whole situation and any contingency ns that she cane up with, it would be very hypocritical of me for killing a mage when I am trying to enact a legal system for fairness in the first ce.

    Same reason that I did not just waste everyone who opposed me.

    Would be better for those people to start shits first, and then, having me swooping in to save whoever in the crossfire before giving them the fear of me.

    That way, I can also win the heart and mind of themon people, thus allowing me to rightfully and legally dethrone the king. Maybe not legally, more like usurping.

    It does not really matter who rule the kingdom or how bloody the rule starts in the first ce, as long as the ruler has the heart and mind of the people. That is a good lesson to know before one starting a world conquest.

    "Yes, I think I would like that, Lady Monalisa, but I have some expectations. You see. Your daughter is quite good at servicing me, and as her mother as well as teacher, I expect that you will be able to do the same, even outperforming her. Don''t you agree? If you cannot, then there is no point."

    I tell Monalisa after some thoughts. I did not mention any bargain, so it should be fine.

    Monalisa takes a moment before nodding in understanding.

    "I vow to outperform my daughter, Master Maxwell. Whatever services that my daughter is doing for you, I can do the same, likely with better result."

    Monalisa states with confidence, making my grin spreads even further. It is kind of easy manipting someone like her, who assumes way too much without confirming it herself.

    In any case, I will definitely hold her to that simply because she has imed it herself.

 Chapter 232: Right Over The Table

    And with that, Monalisa is in the bag. The next step in having a mother-daughter cumdump is to have them meet each other face to face. Talk a little too, I suppose.

    Obviously, it mighte off as a shock to Via, knowing about her mother offering her service just like Via had done so herself, so I should take it one step at a time in easing Via into the notion of servicing my cock alongside with her equally beautiful mother, who might or might not be as good as a cocksucker herself.

    I will be the judge of that, not Monalisa regardless of whatever she had imed. She believes it herself within her mind, but what she believes is not necessary the truth.

    The same with all the information that I have downloaded from the mind of others.

    While I could use the Commandment ability on Via to get her to see my way, I rather not, as that amounts to me twisting her personally and freewill, and I want Via to ept everything willingly instead of me ordering her to do so.

    It is simply better that way. Feels a lot more real too.

    After a thoughtful moment, I decide to have Legion nullifies half of the wards and spells ced around the table and Via. Only the ones that prevents any sound from entering the space under the desk, effectively stopping Via from knowing exactly what is going on outside.

    Since the wards and spells have been nullified, Via can hear everything now, and since her mother remains silence, still awaiting patiently for a vocalized response from me in regard to her offer, I decide another minute is a good time to speak up.

    If Monalisa is impatient or nervous, she did not show it on her face. She has this calmed andposed aura radiating from her, likely molded by years and years of experience in dealing with people like me.

    People who holds great powers over her.

    Interesting.

    "Very well, Lady Monalisa. I will hold you to your offer in servicing me like your daughter has done so, and perhaps, we cane to an agreement."

    I inform Monalisa, choosing my choice of words. I did not mention any sort of bargain. Only that there is an agreement between us, but that is mostly for Via not Monalisa.

    Monalisa will assume, and there is no such agreement because she did not state it before giving herself to me. She will learn the hard way not to assume anything with me. And that I am not like anyone she had ever dealt before.

    It is a very good lesson for her. For Via too.

    And the moment that I speak up, there is a pause under the desk.

    Via is undoubtedlye to the realization that her mother is talking to me. She had assumed that I want to mute everything because I was going to have a private conversation with someone important but obviously did not think it is a conversation with her mother.

    Of course, Via probably wonders what this agreement that I am talking about. And there is a high chance that she assumes it to be something in regard to her incarcerated fianc¨¦e, Drake. That means her mother is offering herself to me for the freedom of her fianc¨¦e just like what she is doing.

    Now. A normal person would immediately crawl out from under the table and berate me for trying to double-dip, but for Via, doing so would mean that she has to remove her mouth from my cock. It appears that she is not going to do that, especially when she has worked so hard to get that addicting cum out of my balls.

    The Curse of Erosire has taken hold of her body and mind even if she did not know it herself. The more she services me, the quickly she loses herself. Perhaps this should be called slutification.

    In any case, it is not really surprising to me when Via resumes the task of sucking my cock just like she had dutifully done so in thest couple of hours or so. If anything, Via bes more aroused by knowing her mother being there, as indicated by her soaking scent filling the air.

    Monalisa definitely notices this thanks to her draconic lineage. Unrightfully stolen lineage. If a dragon realized that, she would be instantly killed. Not to mention others would kill her for her blood. That is why she is not stupid enough to reveal what she is. What her daughter is.

    Of course not.

    Via picks up the pace under the desk, sucking harder and faster, taking my cock all the way to the hilt over and over again. It does not matter to Via what kind of agreement I have with her mother, as long as it does not remove separate her from my cock.

    This is definitely noticeable in her desperate action, trying to milk my cock and ball of all that cum, but like I have said before, I have already gotten used to her, thus I could hold of cumming indefinitely. Or as long as I needed to.

    It is kind of stupid to give myself blue balls.

    As a matter of fact, I do want to cum. Cum a lot. But not in Via. No. I want to cum into this beautiful mother standing before me. Via would protest, I imagine.

    Of course, she would, for she has worked so hard in thest couple of hours. But then again, do I really care? Who is the actual master in our rtionship here? Not even a rtionship, to be honest.

    "I am going to seal the deal with your mother, Via. Be a good girl and stay put until I say so, or we will be a problem."

    I tell Via through Legion, to prevent Monalisa from hearing that. Monalisa is actually unsure what is going to happen next, now that she has offered her service. She could not just crawl under the table and join her daughter.

    That would be awkward.

    Hearing mymand, Via reluctantly remove herself from my cock. Her eyes look up at me from under the table while she licks her lips, tasting the remnant of my cock upon them.

    I match her gaze for a brief moment before turning my attention towards her mother, who had agreed to service me, utterly and entirely.

    With a smile, I get up from my seat, not bother to tuck in my hard cock into my pants. There is no need to, especially when it will juste out shortly again. I then slowly walk around the length of my desk, to where Monalisa is standing.

    The mother of Via maintains herposure on my approach, at least until she notices my massive cock hanging out of my pants. That shocks her. Terrifies her, at least for a short moment.

    I manage to capture her shaking, ever so slightly, but it is thanks to that tight dress that she is wearing, and honestly, if someone dressed that tightly to enter my office, they are asking to be fucked.

    But then again, this is like the standard wear for someone like her. Thus, I do mean it when I have said that there are countless of beautiful woman on Az despite the feudal nature of their society. Magic allows them to remain in their young and prime for much longer, and their clothes show off their sexy figure.

    All to get those damn mages to bed, I guess. Learning magic is sort of an addiction. And holding power over someone is also an addiction. Therefore, when one lead to another, powerful mages rarely notice their lovelypany.

    If they did, the human poption on Az would explode.

    Well. It is on the rise thanks to all the raping that younger generation mages do out of their arrogance or stupidity or both.

    Monalisa tenses up when I stand before her. Towering over her actually. She is tall, but I am taller, as I physique and appearance are optimized for what I do.

    "Master Maxwell¡­?"

    Monalisa utters as a hand reaches up to her face. She wants to back away as my hands feel threatening somewhat but doing that would mean the deal is off. Or whatever deal is in her mind.

    I take hold of her jaw with a firm grip and pull her face closers to mine to give her a kiss. Just like I have done so to her daughter previously.

    Monalisa does not melt into the kiss. Nor she fights me. She simply stands there and allows me to feel those soft and pliant lips of her, submissively.

    And when my tongue slithers forwards and pushes against her lips, she parts them willingly and allows me to enter, thus bing an active participant in the make out session that follows. All while I have my cock out and poking her from below.

    The kissst longer than necessary. Necessary for Curse of Erosire to take effect, and when it is finally over with our lips separated, Monalisa is breathing as hard as her daughter had yesterday. Clearly into to kiss despite her reservation.

    "Have you ever kissed your husband like that, Lady Monalisa. Before you have him killed."

    I whisper thest part, causing her to widen her eyes. There is no way I could have known that secret, as she had made sure all the loose ends are tied, but of course, there is still one person that knows.

    It is Monalisa, herself.

    "If you truly think that you have anything to hold over me, Lady Monalisa, you will learn that it is only because I let you think that away. Serve me with everything, and I might allow you to live and see the future I have in mind."

    I tell her and ce my hands around her hips.

    Before Monalisa can response, I spin her around and push her forwards, falling towards my desk. She yelps as shends awkwardly with her palms tly against the surface of the desk.

    "Master Maxwell!"

    Monalisa calls my name as I press up against her from behind, allowing her rear to feel the huge hard cock that she has seen just a moment ago. The same hard cock that her daughter has worked so tiredly in thest couple of hours.

    Unable to get me to cum.

    But I am sure, Monalisa will be able to make me cum.

    Monalisa seems to realize this, as she stays where she is, bent forwards over my desk, readying herself for whatever happen next. Honestly, if I did not know any better, she feels much like a hooker.

    Of course, someone at her station and prestige would not open her legs to anyone. Even the previous headmaster would not have a crack at her. Not because he could not, but rather because she has a bit of dirt on him.

    Like I have said, anyone who is anyone on Az has basically dirt on everyone else.

    With a bit of magic and gesture of my hands, an entire section of her dress just vanishes, revealing her creamy smooth legs and shapely posterior. Her very lovely posterior, to the point that both my hands are already groping and kneading the flesh.

    Monalisa gasps and whimpers at the assault from behind, and she gasps when a finger hooks into her panties and pull it to the side. Two more fingerse up and run along her slit, her silky slit, all thanks to the wetness.

    That wetness is the result of the kiss, and to make sure she is ready for me, I shove my fingers into her cunt, fingering her from behind and finding that she is utterly drenched. Yup, she is ready for me. Thus, no need for forey.

    I also do not really need forey, as Via has being doing quite a good job. Just not a good enough job for me to cum.

    "I wonder how many people get to enjoy you, Lady Monalisa? I hope that it is not more than the men that your daughter has entertained."

    I question the woman as my fingers leaves her wet chasms and returns to knead her shapely ass. They eventually go up to her waist while I bend forwards and guide the bell-end of my cock to her entrance.

    As Monalisa about to defend herself, stating that she is not a slut like her daughter, the mushroom tip of my penis pushes passes her slit and ms into her slutty pussy.

    "Ah!"

    Monalisa lets out a gasp as I sink all the way into her depth easily. While she is certainly tight enough to be enjoyable, the easiness of me sheathing myself inside her answers my question.

    It is actually far easier to spear her cunt than spearing her daughter orally.

    "Do not try to lie to me, Monalisa, and from now on, this pussy of yours will only have only one master, the same as your daughter. Oh. She is listening to everything, but she cannot say anything. While she can, she will not as she knows the consequences of disobedience. You will know it too."

    I tell Monalisa and curl a hand around her long blond hair. Gripping on her hair tightly like a rein, I pull her head back as I begin to thrust into her cunt, fucking her from behind hard while she is being bent over my desk.

    This is a grossly misconduct of my rules and regtions, as no sex is allowed within business hours or there will be consequences. At least if this facility is on Earth. In Az, I did not set up such a rule, and as such, I am not breaking anything other than breaking Monalisa.

    Via too, butter.

    Knowing that Via is listening in, Monalisa mps down her mouth, trying her very best to keep all the lustful moaning and grunting from escaping her throat while being plowed from behind like she is nothing more than amon whore.

    Honestly, before me, even the greatest Goddess is nothing more than amon whore if I demand it to be so, let alone a mage of the second-circle.

    Hell. Even if Monalisa is a tenth-circle mage, I would have plowed her slutty cunt the same. Ploughing her hard. Oh. It does feel nice to fuck someone since I have returned to Az.

    Would it be wrong to turn this Kingdom into my private paradise? I mean, I can. Effortlessly too. There is a single person on this continent that can stop me. Not directly anyway.

    "I admit that I can see why others could not resist you, especially with this tightness and wetness. Isn''t it, Lady Monalisa? Tell me!"

    I question and spear her wet passageways with extreme brutality. So much so that she copses onto the table, spreading her chest onto it as she takes my cock from behind.

    My crotch ps against that bubble butt of hers, rippling it delightfully with every thrust. Powerful thrust.

    "Tell me!"

    I repeat and hammer harder, causing the table to creak quite loudly. It is not louder than the groaning and moaning that vibrates within the woman who is receiving the end of my spearing.

    Monalisa tries to answer me, but the only thing that thates out is more moans and groans. Lewdly too. Extremely arousing, urging me to hammer her wet and tight pussy harder and harder.

    Of course, Monalisa still manages to answer me despite how much pounding she is receiving. She is a Lady after all. She was raised to be one. Same as her daughter.

    "Ugh. Yes. Hah. Yes, Master¡­ Maxwell. I. Hn.

    Hmm. They. Ah. Hn. They all love my cunt! Ah!

    So many! I am just a. Ah. a slut!"

    I justugh at her admission, and Via probably utterly shocked to learn the truth.

    Via has always assumed her mother to be someone extremely prideful and proud, not this person who is get fucked over the table, or even admitting that she is a slut.

    I have a check to make sure that my assumption is right.

    It is not. From the video feeds, Via is not thinking anything of the sort. She is not even shocked, considering that she is fingering herself, fingers plunging in and out of her wet holes with her panties to the side. Her soaking panties.

    Oh wow. I guess I am wrong, and what a slut!

    What a slut these two mother and daughter are, but at least, they are my sluts, so I will treat them well if they know their ces.

    Iugh even louder and hammer Monalisa even harder.

    My other hand reaches up to her back from her waist. It grips her tight dress from behind. With just a pull, I tear her dress apart to reveal her back. Her bareback. Bra is not something thatmonly worn on Az by people even though it exists, so her wless bare back visible to me is not a suprise.

    Her bare back is quite arousing, however, as I am fucking her bareback. It is the only way to fuck someone.

    And with my other hand still using her long silky blond hair like a horse rein, I pull her head and upper body back, just so I can fondle and grope her chest. Her big chest.

    Despite being a married woman for several decades and having a daughter who is as old as my mother when she gives birth to me in the original timeline, Monalisa still have some firm and juicy pair of tits.

    Very firm, and I am sure her daughter has a lovely pair too, hiding under that cloak.

    I am sure Via will moan and scream like her mother right now as she is taking my cock up her tight clenching cunt again and again, filling her outpletely.

    Yes. Definitely, but like any assumption, I do need confirmation.

    Soon.

 Chapter 233: Appearance is Not Reality

    Having said that, there is no need for me to confirm whether Via is as much as a slut as her mother, considering that my cock is kind of busy at the moment, sticking it to her mother over the desk, driving itself deep into her cunt repeatedly.

    Despite all the illicit affairs and rtionships that Monalisa has on the sideline, her soaking cunt is still very tight and quite pleasurable.

    And that is the truth.

    This obviously has something to do with her youthful appearance, all thanks to her magical powers as well as the dragon bloodline flowing through her veins. More to do with her dragon bloodline, but her magical power also helps out greatly, for Monalisa is a powerful mage of the second-circle of magic.

    While being a recognized mage does not sound much to me, considering who I am and the powers at my fingertips, it does mean quite a lot to the people of Az, especially on this continent where most powerful mages are only of the fourth or fifth circle of magic.

    There are ten circles of magic, with peak tenth-circle mages wanting to reach the eleventh-circle must ascend to higher realm. That is the theory anyway.

    Legion confirms that there are no Supreme Archmage or higher on this continent, at least through all the spy drones and magic detectors. Still, it is safe to assume that there are mages who have managed to evade Legion, either by remaining out of sight, through their magic, or by suppressing their magical power and aura all together.

    Or more. There are plenty of ways to evade Legion, as Legion is not all powerful and all knowing.

    Legion is still very powerful and greatly knowledgeable. More than most people on this world anyway.

    Nevertheless, with all the data Legion has collected thus far, I can say for sure that the Azulian Mages are generally a vain and arrogance bunch, caring greatly about their own appearances and face values over the others, including their own family.

    Therefore, if mages can, they would definitely use their magic to make themselves younger and more beautiful than naturally or biologically possible, bing the envies of others.

    Especially themoners, which ount for 90% of the world poption.

    That term is for humans who are born without any magical potential, thus they cannot use magic, and as such, it leads to a lot of discriminations and mistreatments from those who can, even if the people who can use magics are not trained in the art or recognized as mages.

    Just the ability to use magic is enough for them to be arrogance againstmoners. Overly arrogance, I might add.

    While I can probably enforce tolerance with a lot of violence and torture, it is not a permanent solution to the problem. I actually know of a possible permanent solution. Several solutions, actually. But there is no need for me to enact any of the solution.

    Simply because there is no real reason for me to do so.

    I am not a hero, and I never imed to be one, so I will not go out of my ways to simply do things just because it is the right thing to do. Of course, I can always put someone else on the task, but then again, I do not feel like doing that either.

    Same reason as I have mentioned above. There is no real reason for me to do so.

    Plus, my own problems and needs are far more important than anything on this world or the next. The prime-reality is the only exception to this rule, as it is the result of my own machinations and the desire for a brighter and better future.

    At least for the human race in general. Furthermore, individuality does not matter in the long run, and as such, no one truly matters in the end, not even me or the people that I know.

    While that is true, I do want to be there when the human race finally takes their rightful ce amongst the stars and ims the future. I hope that everyone I know and care about is there too.

    Simply because it would be the best kind of ending for everything that had happened and will happen until that point. Wonder what I will do afterwards. Retire with my family, I guess.

    In any case, Monalisa obviously uses magic to aid her bloodline, considering that her appearance does not match her actual age. She looks more like an older sister to her daughter, Via than thetter''s mother.

    That is simply from the appearance alone.

    Magic allows for some incredible things, and mages like Monalisa takes advantage of that without any hesitation, and it is not that much different from what the rich and privileged do back on Earth.

    That said, I do have something against using magic for cosmetic effect. It feels rather fake, just like all those people in the 31st century, to the point that I was genuinely smitten to a woman in her 200s or maybe 300s due to her being so goddamn pretty.

    When I know better, that boyish attraction of mine bes disgust. Disgust by the fact that she is an olddy who just looks young and beautiful. Make me think deeply about the what is real and what is not.

    I would not have minded tapping her if she was not an old woman first and then being de-aged to her prime through technology, once the said technology bes advanced enough. This is not the same as Eliana, who remains young and sexy regardless how old she is.

    Eliana is super old. Like way older than anyone that I know.

    Maybe this preference of mine is just a problem with perception, as I would definitely tap Eliana simply because I have never actually seen her as an old woman before. I would definitely tap that nurse who had taken care of me while I was passing myself as a baby, if only I could get over what she had looked like before she undergoes the de-aging process.

    There is just so many fakeness in the 31st century of Earth.

    It is simply the result of progression of technology and/or magic. That sh in there because a society can be both at the same time, thus Magictech.

    There is really no reason for Az to not be highly technological while maintaining magical. Not a single reason that I can think of. Science is not progressing simply due to how easy everything is with magic.

    In any case, the fakeness through technology is probably the reason to why I have not bother designing a perfect sex doll. Even if that sex doll cannot be distinguished from a real person, it would still be fake in my mind.

    Sure. I can trick myself by simply creating it in the first ce before erasing my own memory and every record detailing its creation. That way, the sex doll would appear to me like a real person.

    There is a problem with that, however. It willck a soul or spirit.

    No matter what I do right now, I cannot truly create life through artificial mean. Only through natural mean. That is, by impregnating someone, and then mold my child into whatever I want.

    Impregnating someone is easy, as I can do it right now to Monalisa. She is already a mother, and I can definitely make her a mother again as I continuous pounding her cunt over my desk while her daughter is ying with herself under the said desk and out of view.

    Not out of my view, obviously.

    "You are so big, Master Maxwell!"

    Monalisa gasps as I hammer her buttocks with my hips, driving my cock into her hot snatch and poking at the entrance of her womb. Her fertile womb.

    Yes, I can definitely knock her up, creating a sex doll with a soul whether Monalisa like it or not. If it is up to her, she would not want to keep the baby.

    Magic can be used to prevent pregnancy as well as aborting it afterwards. There are spells for selecting the sex of the child during fertilization as well. There are actually any kind of spell, as long as one can think of it.

    As for why Via is born as a girl instead of a boy, it is because Monalisa had wished for a daughter instead of a son despite her husband wanting a son.

    Monalisa had already nned on killing her husband long before Via is born, thus if Via was a boy, Monalisa would have submit to Via as Via would be heir, assuming control of the whole household and estate.

    This is a feudal society after all, where boy is more prized than girl.

    It does not make much sense, considering magic does not differentiate genders, but I guess this is due to all mages originate from themoners. Ironic, isn''t it?

    And that implies the Azulian are slow to change socially and politically.

    Well. That is pretty obvious.

    "Yes, and you have a very tight cunt, Lady Monalisa. Probably one of the tightest that I have ever had the pleasure of breaking."

    I reward herpliment with a lot harder pounding. My hands also reward her by mauling her breasts aggressively, pinching and tugging one of her nipples harshly.

    While those words from Monalisa sound like something she had practiced for like forever, it still turns me on, nheless. There are things that does not change, no matter how long I have lived and how many crazy shits that I have been through.

    As such, I mean what I had announced, breaking her tight cunt, so much so that she is quick to beg for mercy under my relentless assault.

    Monalisa is not so used to such brutal treatment of her cunt since all of her lovers do not dare to harm her in anyway. She is still a noblewoman after all.

    I am not the same, however. And I do not care if she is of nobility or not. She is just a slut to me, getting the pounding of her life.

    "A-ah! Master! Please slow down! Your cock is ripping my inside apart!"

    Monalisa requests, but her words fell on deaf ears. I let go of her golden blond hair that I had used as a rein, however. All to give her some shred of hope, but it is done so suddenly that Monalisa copses against the table while I continue to pound her cunt.

    Hard and deep. Relentlessly.

    My free handes down towards her shapely ass and gives her a powerful smack against one of the butt cheeks. That smack makes her buttocks jiggle.

    Jiggling more than being hammered by my hips as I drive my cock home.

    Of course, Monalisa yelps as a result of the sudden pain, and I continue to spank her hard while sinking into her pussy again and again. Those bubbly posterior of hers soon bes utterly red as she herself struggles to maintain on the table despite the hard jerking due to my pounding.

    "Ah! Master! Master Maxwell! Ah! Please!"

    Monalisa calls out, begging me to stop. Of course, I did not stop or even relented a little since hearing her painful moans and cries bring me ever closer to that orgasmic release.

    I am pretty devious deep down, and I do think every single person is the same. Their morality and ethic and fear hold them back, preventing from the darkness within toe out. I obviously cast away my mortality, ethic and fear long ago.

    That does not mean I have casted away my humanity. My principles keep me in check, or I would havemitted way more heinous crimes and atrocities against everyone and everything.

    Someone once said that with great poweres great responsibility, but that is simply not true. With great poweres great megalomania.

    I actually wanted to go back in time to y God. I still do, and I will.

    One day, as I do have endless amount of time after all.

    It is also a good thing that I was born human, or I would not have cared about humanity at all. Anything that is remotely human or humanoid as well. Strange at how that turns out.

    "Ah! A-ah! Please! Please¡­ punish me harder! Master Maxwell! Ah!"

    Monalisa surprises me, and a smile quickly creeps up on my face.

    She actually enjoys getting dominated, and I will certainly heed her request, punishing her even harder than before. Not so hard that I instantly kill her. I am still in control of my strength.

    I p her bouncing buttocks harder than before while repeatedly jackhammering her drenching pussy faster and deeper, so deep that Monalisa could not control herself. Could not control herself at all.

    The heavenly delightes without any sign of warning.

    Well. Aside from the ever growing louder scream that fills the entire room. The loudest when Monalisa finally climaxes. Her slutty daughter, Via also climaxes under the desk, wetting herself just like her mother has just did above the desk.

    "How dare you cum before me, you slut!?"

    I question before grabbing her waist with both hands and pound her pussy harder. Faster and deeper too. I can go faster, but without any restrictions or limitations on my physical ability, I would have torn apart her pussy for real.

    Not only that, I would also feel the feedbacks of that insanity. I am not insane enough to do something unleashing all my biomechanical might against Monalisa, as I would kill her.

    It would not be as enjoyable as her pussy clenches around my pumping cock in her climax. Tightly and lovingly.

    Warm juices coat my rampaging cock. Lubricating her passageway, allowing me to traverse in and out with greater easy, rubbing along every inch of her inside as well.

    The brutal fucking that I am giving Monalisa is to prolong her orgasmic sensation, so much so that her eyes cannot focus themselves, opting to roll up into her head.

    Her tongue falls out of her parted mouth as she drools onto the table.

    And several more thrusts, my hips hug her tightly while my cock paints her inside with my white milky and steamy cum. The boiling seeds torrent into her, sending shockwaves into her brain and taking her over the edge once more even though she did not fullye down from the previous one.

    Her hot cunt squeezes my ejacting cock harder, swallowing everything like a hot and wet mouth.

    And in response, I pour myself into her, emptying my balls into her snatch and sending unending waves of cum into her open womb, filling the chamber up to the brim.

    I have considered about knocking Monalisa up, just to create a daughter or son who I can directly mold into my liking, but I dismiss that idea, as there is really no point in doing that. Not only I would have to be responsible for my child, Monalisa would have something over me.

    Actually, Monalisa would have nothing over me. The same as Ambrosia back in the prime-reality. It is not like she can be a mother to my child once it is born.

    No need to give Monalisa the same leniency as Ambrosia.

    Of course, if Monalisa still manages to be pregnant despite I am shooting basically nks, then I guess it is meant to be. Someone would have to give birth to a child, most likely a daughter, just so that child could be the Avatar of Time one day.

    At least, that is how it supposed to be.

    While I am thinking more on that, I pull back and m home, pumping out everything within my balls and sending it into Monalisa, who whimpers at each deep thrust.

    She is extremely exhausted, as that double orgasms wreck her being.

    I will let her have a rest, but I am not done with her. Far from it. By the end of the day, Monalisa would not longer exist. Via as well.

    Once the ejaction dies down, I pull out of her cunt to see my cock covered in a mixture of my seeds and her pussy juices.

    When the cockhead finally leaves her warm and wet nest, the same mixture spills out and onto the carpeted floor.

    And without my hard member pinning her to the edge of the desk with some hard pounding, Monalisa begins to slide backwards and falls against the floor, spilling out the rich and thick content within her overflooded pussy as well.

    Gasping heavily, Monalisa tries to look up at me. Tries too anyway. Her eyes stop at my cock, swinging ponderously in front of her face. Hypnotically.

    "If you want it, Lady Monalisa, feel free to, but what will you give me return for it?"

    I question with a smile. The Curse of Erosire should be gripping her spirit and mind right now.

    A kiss would cause the curse to infect her but fucking and cumming into her would make the curse to flood her entire system.

    To be honest, I like to think the curse is more like a virus than an actual curse, just that the curse is not detectible, not technologically or magically.

    "Everything, Master Maxwell. Everything. Please let me suck it. Please."

    Monalisa begs, and I certainly let her sucks my hard cock. Cleaning me in the process, so I can drill that slutty daughter of hers right before her very eyes.

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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!