Evan had appraised Arthur in the morning to check his stat levels, and he ended up noticing the update.
"Yeah," Arthur replied casually. "Today's my birthday. Doesn't feel all that different, though."
"Of course, it doesn't. In the end, Age is just a number quantifying how many years you've been alive, nothing more," Evan replied, his expression distant.
Then, a grin slowly crept across his face as he added, "But besides this age talk, you really didn't think I was going to ignore it, did you?"
At that mont, Jamie, who had been quietly focused on the tablet in his hand, finally spoke.
"Nope, Arthur. We were definitely not going to ignore that."
His gaze shifted toward the silver-haired teen as he continued, "You said you could relate to Evan just now. Explain."
Arthur froze for a split second before casually replying. "Oh, that."
Evan sat up, making no effort to hide the curiosity in his eyes as he spoke.
"You know, I get that Jamie is practically married to one of his fellow Hybrids, and I have a fiancée, but you, Arthur…" His gaze narrowed. "What's the update on your love life? I know your novel has the romance tag in there."
Faced with that question, Arthur folded his arms and looked away.
"I reserve the right to remain silent."
Evan and Jamie exchanged a glance before shaking their heads in unison.
"Nah, bruh. You lost that right the mont you said you could relate," Evan said.
"Spill it," Jamie added.
Despite their demands, Arthur didn't budge.
"No matter what you say or do, you're not getting anything out of ."
He went quiet for a mont before adding, "I'll update you next ti."
When Arthur said that, Evan's expression shifted into sothing lancholic, a sigh slipping past his lips as he repeated.
"Next ti, huh?"
"I did say I'd be returning to this Universe, didn't I? I've made far too many investnts here. I'd like to stay longer, but sadly, I can't afford to."
Arthur replied as he rose to his feet, brushing the dust off his clothes before speaking again.
"All things must co to an end…even this Crossover."
The instant those words left his mouth, Jamie and Evan turned toward him with stunned expressions.
""Dude! The fourth wall's barely holding on!""
Arthur scoffed. "The audacity of these pots calling the kettle black."
Jamie and Evan burst into laughter at that, and after a mont, Arthur found himself laughing along with them.
"We should plan a reunion with the whole gang. Maybe after my Godslayer's Legend," Arthur suggested, stretching his arms.
Hearing that, Evan stood and replied,
"Not so sure. Tiline-wise, that might be before I get my Reincarnated Hero System."
"All this is long after I got dragged Beyond the Bloodline, so I'm good for a reunion anyti."
Arthur sighed. "Fair enough. I guess we'll all be waiting on Evan, then."
"Hey, don't dump all the responsibility on !"
Arthur and Jamie casually ignored Evan's protest, which only seed to irritate him further. Still pretending they hadn't heard a thing, Jamie glanced at the ti before speaking.
"Let's head back to Aramis. It's about ti Uvton said Artemisia and Beatrix would be there."
As he spoke, Jamie lifted his hand and activated his Authority, creating a Spatial Gate before them.
The three stepped through, and in a single jump, they arrived inside Alvey's mansion in the city of Militopolis on Planet Aramis.
When they landed, Jamie looked down at his hand, clenching and unclenching it as unstable cosmic energy pulsed through his arm.
"I don't think I have enough left for another big jump like that," he muttered.
Arthur shot him a knowing look. "You should be preparing to head back, too. Any more than this, and your soul fragnt is going to start taking a hit."
They spoke as they walked, making their way toward the mansion's drawing room, and when they entered, they were greeted by the unexpected sight of Beatrix tugging insistently on Alvey's arm for so reason.
Evan, Arthur, and Jamie exchanged puzzled looks before turning to Artemisia and Sigesi, who stood nearby.
"What's going on?"
In response to Arthur's question, Artemisia gave a brief explanation.
Apparently, Beatrix was trying to drag Alvey—and everyone else—sowhere, and in true Beatrix fashion, she was attempting to convince Alvey by whining about it.
After hearing this, the trio nodded in understanding and said together, "Typical Beatrix."
At that mont, a thought crossed Evan's mind, and he stepped forward, calling out to the white-haired goddess.
"Beatrix, can you g—!"
Before he could finish, his arm suddenly glitched. Before everyone's eyes, the space around it distorted briefly before stabilising again.
Arthur and Jamie's eyes widened as they caught sight of it.
"Jamie…" Arthur began.
"Yeah, it's exactly what you're thinking," Jamie finished.
Then, switching to telepathy, he addressed Evan.
[If you wanted to spend more ti here, getting close to Beatrix might not have been the best idea. But if you were looking for a fast track ho… congratulations.]
Then, out loud, he said, "The Universe has pinpointed your exact origin, Evan. As we speak, it's already gathering cosmic energy to send you back."
A heavy silence filled the room as everyone processed his words.
"Wait, already?!" Beatrix exclaid. "But I thought you could stay longer!"
Disappointnt washed over her face, and it was clear she had truly hoped he would remain for a while longer.
Evan, however, simply shrugged.
"Well… it is what it is."
Beatrix sighed at his response, her expression falling into one of sadness.
"I just wanted everyone to have fun one last ti.
Arty and I are going to be stuck in the Regal Void Expanse for the next few years, so I thought we could have one fun mont before that…"
Her shoulders drooped as she spoke, and Artemisia quietly stepped beside her, placing a comforting hand on her back.
anwhile, Arthur reached into his subspace, sorting through the countless items stored within.
"Well, we might not have ti for a big send-off," he said as he pulled out a cara, "but we can at least make so last mories."
He lifted it for everyone to see, gesturing toward the built-in printer that would instantly print out each photo taken.
The mont Beatrix caught sight of it, her entire deanour changed.
"PICTURES!!" she yelled, her eyes sparkling with excitent.
"WE'RE TAKING PICTURES!!!"
Without a mont's hesitation, Beatrix grabbed Alvey, who barely had ti to react, then grabbed Artemisia and practically dragged them both out of the room.
Watching her leave, Arthur blinked in confusion and asked,
"Can't we just take the pictures here?"
Beatrix stopped at the doorway, turned back with half-lidded eyes, and replied in a flat tone,
"Seriously, Arthur? This is the most horrible background for a picture that's supposed to be a keepsake."
Then, without another word, she turned around and continued pulling Alvey and Artemisia outside.
Thus, the protagonist trio followed them down to the courtyard of Alvey's mansion, where their commorative photoshoot began with Sigesi taking on the role of carawoman.
Arthur had barely started explaining the basics of operating the unfamiliar universal instant cara before she quickly understood it and began capturing so truly great shots.
They took all sorts of pictures, from full group photos to smaller pairings, and unsurprisingly, plenty that centred around Beatrix and Alvey.
Arthur, Evan, and Jamie naturally had several protagonist trio photos as well, featuring an increasingly absurd number of over-the-top poses. Artemisia joined in for a few alongside Arthur and Evan, as did Beatrix—though in two of those, she was mostly seen jumping onto Artemisia mid-shot.
After finishing the smaller groupings, they moved on to more full-group photos, though in almost every one, Beatrix was far too focused on Alvey to actually look at the cara.
They had to remind her several tis to face forward.
When they printed one of the pictures where Beatrix was more focused on Alvey than the cara, Evan picked up the first copy, blinking in surprise as a wave of déjà vu hit him.
'Where have I seen this before…?'
Ti Difference activated as he searched his mories, but his thoughts were interrupted when Artemisia ca over and looked at the picture, her eyebrows raising at the sight.
"It's a ss."
She was referring to the picture, but the fact that she'd spoken imdiately reminded Evan where he'd seen it.
'Artemisia's white dinsion!'
It was shortly after he'd nearly died fighting the assassins from Osmaoque, Zoskye, and Goshya after the GEE-Wolfen war. (Chapter 732)
'I see. So this is the picture's origin.'
Evan chuckled at the thought, and Artemisia turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just a ss like you said," Evan replied, handing the photo to her. "But you look good here, so keep it."
Just as he said that, McEnda walked in and found them gathered around, waiting for the cara to print more photos.
"Huh? You guys were taking photos? Why wasn't I invited?!"
He hadn't known about the impromptu photoshoot beforehand, but the mont he saw them taking pictures without him, he imdiately decided to join in, mostly because he wanted a few personal shots with Sigesi.
With that, the commorative photoshoot expanded, and even more mories were captured.
The cara printed so many photos that Arthur briefly wondered if it would run out of film. Once they were finished, they gathered around the prints, laughing as they sorted through them and picked out their favourites.
It had been a fun mont, but as Arthur had said earlier, all things must co to an end.
Soon enough, the cosmic energy surrounding Evan grew far too strong for Arthur and Jamie to ignore any longer. At the sa ti, Artemisia and Beatrix's wristwatches beeped in unison.
The instant Beatrix heard the sound, her expression dropped.
It signalled that their pickup would be arriving within minutes to take them back to Aidos.
When Artemisia explained that this was the reason behind Beatrix's sudden change in mood, Evan recalled the situation and asked,
"Co to think of it, you guys finally figured out the Regal Void Expanse had an entrance in your backyard, right?"
At those words, Beatrix imdiately spun around to glare at him.
"That wasn't fair, Evan. You knew and didn't tell us?"
Evan simply shrugged. "What? You were gonna find out eventually."
Beatrix clicked her tongue in annoyance, still finding it hard to accept that the legendary Regal Void Expanse she had heard stories about for years had an entrance on her ho planet, right on her ho continent, and she had never realised it.
She had only learned of it after she and Artemisia's parents changed their minds about keeping their daughters away from the Regal Void Expanse until they reached the Transcendent Realm, a decision made in light of the catastrophic events on Cruotis Pri and the confrontation with Bewússtsein.
The new plan was to send them in early so they could train, grow stronger, and fully benefit from the Expanse's opportunities.
The downside was that they'd be gone for quite a while, since Artemisia's father had negotiated a deal with the Realm Lord that granted them additional resources, but required a long period of ti to absorb.
That was exactly why Beatrix had wanted them all to enjoy one last mont together—why she had clung to the idea of taking commorative photos the instant Arthur brought out the cara.
When Artemisia explained this to everyone in place of the saddened Beatrix, who was clinging to Alvey for comfort, Arthur clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention before speaking.
"I ntioned this to Jamie and Evan earlier, but we should really plan a reunion."
His gaze swept across the group as he added, "When I return to this universe, of course."
Gesturing toward Jamie, Arthur continued,
"Jamie over here already said he's good for a reunion anyti, so I guess it's up to the rest of us—mostly Evan, but the rest of us."
Evan turned his head toward Arthur, eyes narrowing. "Oi, I said don't dump all the responsibility on ."
Arthur, acting as though he hadn't heard Evan's protest, went on as if nothing had happened.
"We should plan for it to happen whenever at least three of us end up in the sa place again, whether it's by coincidence or not.
Once that happens, we can call up the others and actually make it happen. I have Jamie's universe coordinates, so getting to him won't be an issue.
The only real problem is figuring out when and where we all et up again in the first place, but I guess that's a matter for our future selves."
When Arthur said this, Jamie glanced at him with a raised brow.
"Arthur, do you have any idea how far Zanerth is from here?"
Arthur shrugged without a hint of concern.
"Not in the slightest, but I trust in you, or more accurately, I trust in the power your real body possesses that can bring us back in record ti."
User Comments
0 comments from readers