Zaxary, Barne, and Naley worked together while Sofiel sang some song for them.
Apparently, Sofiel's song was quite effective in giving them a thought of inspiration. This was because her song moved not only the heart but also the mind. Her voice was as magical as true magic, but unlike magic who had rough side effect on the mind, her voice was subtle and soft, causing no side effects.
Magic was like a pill. If someone consumed it too much, they would get overdosed, but her voice did not had side effect.
If Aldred could bring her back, she could inspire millions to reach their full potential. Most people did not reach their full potential because of many things; depression, laziness, etc.
They were too afraid to try, to lazy to stay consistent, and too unmotivated to even began the first step that they did not know how far they could have went.
Aldred could mass hypnotize them to make them feel motivated, but it's too obvious and direct. He preferred the effect to be subtle and vague.
Sofiel would be the perfect figure to do that.
"And we're done," Zaxary said.
"That was quick," Aldred replied.
"I don't actually have to do anything to my temporal drive. I just need to make it bigger so it fit you. These two were just actually looking at me work," he said the last statement to Barne and Naley.
"How do I use this?"
"There's a handle on the side. To use it, simply pull the handle. After that, the temporal liquid will activate and reverse time a few seconds ago."
"How many times can I use this?"
"Until you ran out of temporal liquid. Its consumption is vastly inconsistent, so it's impossible to know how many times exactly can you use it. But in average, probably… once."
"Why is the consumption inconsistent?" Aldred asked.
"I don't know myself. I am not the type of guy looking for the why's, I am the guy that will accept anything as long as it works as intended."
"A true engineer!" Barne laughed.
Zaxary approached Aldred and strapped the temporal drive on his lower back. The temporal drive was big pod that lay horizontally on his lower back. On its side was a handle that he could pull. The pod was transparent, and the shining blue liquid stayed dormant inside.
"How did you create this liquid?"
"That's a secret," Zaxary said.
"Alright, I will respect that. But it's a mystery to me how a liquid could manipulate time."
"It's more a mystery to me how you grab hot kebabs out of thin air."
Aldred laughed. "I guess you're right. Even I can't really explain how my magic works. It doesn't really work through logic or cause and effect. It's more like imagination, intention, and control."
"So magic is like grasping the power of imagination… but to make it a reality, you have to have talent to control the energy of realities which is what you call mana."
"Something like that," Aldred replied.
"That is very interesting. I wonder if technology can manipulate mana."
"I believe it can. Sofiel had something inside her throat, her heart, and her mind. The devices allowed her to manipulate mana in the air to a certain extent. But her power was to manipulate the heart and mind of the masses."
"Who create that?"
"Victor."
"I see. No wonder he is so strong. He can make a device that control the energy of reality. But I am glad that technology could be magical as well. That means I can grab hot kebabs out of thin air someday."
Stella giggled when she heard that.
"So what do we do now?" Zaxary asked.
"Now we have to find Victor."
"Hmmm, you think he will fall for your lure again?" Barne asked. "He's not stupid you know."
"If he's not stupid then he better come to me."
"What are you going to do?"
"I noticed the crystals Archnite is used all over his powerful machines. That is the main source of power of his military."
Barne nodded. "I used them quite a lot. But what about them?"
Aldred smiled. "Archnite can only be obtained by killing Archanite creatures. Those giant scorpions, right?"
"That's right."
"So what if I wreck havoc in their Archanite farm? I will kill as many Archanite as I can, even the babies, and remove this renewable resources once and for all. With that kind of threat, do you think Victor will come to me?"
"That's… sounds like an evil plan to me."
"Sometimes you have to be the devil to win against your opponent."
"You guys wait here. I will take care of this." Aldred vanished.
Barne looked at Stella. "How did you meet this guy?"
"Oh… it's a long story."
…
Aldred appeared on the mountains of ice. Everywhere he looked, there was hardened ice as if if it was an ocean before it got frozen.
All kinds of robots dug the ice, lured the creatures out, and then hunted them. Victor had systematically hunt the Archanite just enough to let them reproduce, preventing their extinction, and keep its resources renewable.
It was like grazing cows, only killing them, after two babies were born.
Aldred was about to change that.
He dove down, raising his palm, and slammed the ice as he landed. The impact created a massive crater that sent all the robots away. He then opened his mouth and belched a thick and wide flame in every direction, quickly increasing the temperature in the area.
Thousands of magic circles appeared in the sky and gigantic fire balls rained down on the world of ice like an apocalypse.
The ice melted and thousands of Archanite came out of their holes only to be burned by the fireballs.
Aldred summoned his clones and they all spread out, destroying every robots they saw and taking the Archanite to the divine dimension.
Aldred rushed at a giant driller robot, raising his blade, and then slashed through it. It exploded as soon as Aldred vanished and attacked another robot.
Hundreds of war robots rushed towards him, but they were nothing in front of the Monarch of Flame. With a snort of his nose, an explosive flame completely melted them into liquid.
High tech aircrafts began to appear in the sky, coming out of a portal. But before they could even do anything, the sky exploded with fire. More magic circles appeared in the sky, on the ground, and almost everywhere the eyes could see.
These magic circles fired arrows of fire in every direction. There was no blind spot. The moment the aircrafts appeared it was destroyed by his fire arrows.
Aldred laughed and punched the ground. His fist dug deep, and then a powerful jet of flame came out of his fist, melting the ice in the surrounding area into water.
Aldred then raised both of his fist and sent a powerful flame into this water, creating massive steam while also changing the temperature of the water into boiling temperature.
The body of water was as a big as a massive lake, and yet he managed to boil it.
The water became so hot that the giant scorpions swam to the surface and desperate for land area, but they were too late and got cooked from the inside.
"Aldred, stop this madness!!!"
Smiling, Aldred looked in the air. "Finally, you have come."
