Beyond the Bloodline

Chapter 438: Fragile Agreement

"I understand your anger, Julio, but you have to stay calm right now," Ranus said, his tone flat. "The damage is already done, so focus on preventing it from spreading further."

Ranus was naturally referring to the errors Julio had been trying to prevent, which Angela’s conceptual detachment had caused.

But Angela had only removed a single existence from being bound by the Concept of Death. Why would just one removal cause damage?

It should be remembered that the Concepts governed by the ’Eternals’ were ’Chaotic’ in nature, as they were extracted from the ’Cosmic Force of Chaos’.

Volatility and instability were their default states, but the Numbered Multiverses couldn’t function properly with unstable concepts providing the universal laws that composed them.

The Eternals’ role was to stabilise these Chaotic Concepts.

If the stabilised Concept of Death under Julio’s existence and her Conceptual Authority appeared like a perfectly still lake, then Angela, with her immense Chaotic power and Existential Magnitude, detaching someone from the Concept was like dropping a boulder into that still water.

It would naturally send heavy ripples across the lake’s surface, disturbing everything floating on it. It would also take some time for the lake to return to its perfectly still state, and a disturbance in the ’Death’ lake caused a smaller disturbance in the ’Life’ lake, since Life and Death were Concepts interconnected with each other.

Normally, approaching the restricted area where the lake resided would be impossible for even many Superior Ultimates, but Angela was Chaos’ Favourite Child, and from her perspective, the lake itself lit a direct path to its location for her.

Julio had wanted to prevent the lake from being disturbed in the first place, but that had failed due to Azi Dhaka’s intervention, so Ranus was now telling her to focus on containing the ripples before they spread.

Of course, there was someone present who didn’t care about any of that.

|Oy, Ranus! Why the hell are you spoiling my fun!?|

The six heads of the Evil Dragon spoke simultaneously, his loud True Voice booming across the vacuum as he spread his wings wide and unleashed his energy.

Ranus, however, also didn’t care about Azi Dhaka’s ’fun’.

Julio glared at the dragon and was about to speak, but Ranus held out a hand to stop her, then turned toward Azi Dhaka, raising his left hand.

Immediately, the box that Jamie had dropped in the trap dimension before it was destroyed, the same one Azi Dhaka had come to retrieve, appeared above Ranus’ open palm.

|!|

Azi Dhaka’s eyes widened in surprise, having not noticed when Ranus had moved the box’s location, and as Ranus slowly closed his hand, an immense force pressed on the box from all conceivable spatial dimensions, the power of Ranus’ Authority over the Concept of Space constricting it.

|Are you craz—?|

"You came for this, didn’t you?" Ranus asked, cutting the dragon off.

Then he extended his hand and added in a calm voice.

"Take it and leave. Stay, and I destroy it. The choice is yours."

The glow in Azi Dhaka’s six pairs of eyes darkened at the blatant threat.

Azi Dhaka was impulsive to the extreme, a dragon who, by his own words, ’finds beauty in the symmetry of degradation.’ His acts of ’evil’ were nine out of ten times without reason, which was why he bore the sin of ’Malice Without Purpose.’

But he had travelled across several Multiverses specifically to retrieve this one item that had been stolen while he wasn’t paying attention, and though he had been distracted by the fight between Julio and Angela, the box was still his primary objective.

Unlike Jamie, who couldn’t even see inside it due to Azi Dhaka’s Conceptual Authority of Darkness sealing it, Ranus possessed Conceptual Authorities on the same level as Azi Dhaka and was able not only to see its contents but also completely erase the existence of the box and the Previous Era item it contained.

Items from the Previous Era couldn’t be recreated in the current one, since they were born from a completely different iteration of the Cosmos. If Ranus destroyed this box, it would mean the permanent loss of a unique existence, a leash strong enough to make even the ’Evil Dragon’ freeze.

"Make your choice quickly. We don’t have all day," Ranus said, his tone tired.

He was about to close his fist when Azi Dhaka shouted.

|Fine! I’ll leave! I’ll leave!|

At that, Ranus raised an eyebrow and flicked a finger, sending the box flying to Azi Dhaka.

The moment he did, space warped, and a long spear appeared in his now empty palm, the Rule Breaker bearing the Serial Number of 6: Astravalor.

Azi Dhaka’s giant draconic body condensed into a cloud of darkness that shrank and morphed until it took the size and shape of a regular humanoid, his hands reaching out to catch his box.

He inspected it for damage, and after seeing the dents, he turned to Ranus with a glare, but the Eternal simply pointed his weapon at Azi Dhaka and spoke.

"You have your box. Now get out of my Multiverse.|

His voice changed into his True Voice midway, power flowing into his spear.

|Tsk...!|

Clicking his tongue, the dragon turned and left, the tear in reality he had come through closing up right behind him.

The moment Azi Dhaka left, Ranus unsummoned his weapon and turned toward Angela, who was inspecting Daniella’s body for any anomalies, speaking as he did.

"You’ve got what you wanted, haven’t you, Angela? Now that your long-held wish is fulfilled, I need you to agree to something with me. No more Conceptual Detachments. From any Concept."

Angela only nodded absentmindedly, but the moment she did, reality distorted, and a chain shot from Ranus toward her chest. It didn’t make contact, though, as she reached out and caught it in her bare hands.

Finally, she turned her gaze to the Eternal, eyes narrowing as she demanded,

"What is this supposed to be?"

"Insurance," Ranus replied. "With your track record, I can’t exactly trust you to keep your word."

A tense silence followed, Ranus meeting Angela’s annoyed gaze without flinching.

Angela didn’t like being bound by any chains, but Ranus wasn’t about to let her go without a guarantee.

The silence stretched until a small groan reached Angela’s ears, and her eyes immediately snapped back to the slowly awakening Daniella.

Sighing softly, she released the chain, the cracks her grip had caused mending before it wrapped around her wrist and then vanished.

Without another word, Angela snapped her fingers, disappearing along with Daniella’s sphere and leaving the two Eternals behind.

Ranus heaved a relieved sigh, pleased that the mess had been resolved without a fight, then turned back to Julio, who was glaring in the direction Angela had teleported.

"Don’t waste your strength. There’s no point," he said.

Waving his hand through space, he tore open a Cosmic Gate leading to Elo Katra, the Eternals’ Headquarters, adding, "Let’s go. You need to help your brother with his part."

Julio stayed silent for a moment before clicking her tongue, folding her wings against her back, and turning to enter the gate.