"You…you did what?!"
A surprised exclamation echoed through the throne room of the Golden Dragon Imperial Palace.
The Golden Dragon Emperor slammed his hand down on his armrest in surprise, looking at the small cube in his hands.
Elena grinned as she responded to him. "Overall, the process was pretty simple. This is Valkyrie trapping technology, made so that even extreme peak masters can't escape. I was lucky enough to get my hands on it a while back, which is why I had complete confidence in this operation."
Right, despite the fact that Elena was currently in the late-stages of 4th class, she wasn't an incomprehensible genius who could easily take down extreme peak masters, regardless of how weak they were.
However, Elena wasn't someone who used the head-on approach so wantonly like a certain someone. If she could solve a problem with wits, she naturally preferred it that way.
For this reason, Elena was always equipped with several artifacts with various different purposes, artifacts that could help her survive even the most difficult scenarios.
"I'm sure there isn't long before the Black Dragon Clan catches wind of what happened. I suggest you find a way to pry information out of those three before that happens, so we can preemptively strike them at their hearts." Elena suggested.
The Golden Dragon Emperor nodded in agreement. "Worry not. I have already summoned experts to do this very job. I shall inform you when we are preparing to move out."
He was more than just a little pleased with Elena's contribution. After all, she'd just provided him the key to enacting many plans he already had in motion!
He spoke with confidence oozing from his words, as if gaining the necessary information was something in the past.
And Elena didn't argue. She also trusted in the capabilities of the Golden Dragon Clan's specialists.
She decided to instead return to her room to rest and recuperate, as well as train with the Genesis Bead while she could.
She could feel her Life Laws on the verge of another breakthrough, and until she reached it, she didn't plan to exit seclusion.
How long would it take?
While Elena had no way to measure such things, she was confident that she could finish before the raid started.
And at that time, she would join with her peak strength, making her a completely different monster than she already was.
As Elena sat down in meditative posture and withdrew the Genesis Bead, the countdown began.
6 hours.
At most, there was this much time before the beginning of war.
***
Somewhere in the starry abyss between worlds, the deep space of Grand Heavens Boundary, two figures meandered without proper destination or speed, as if tourists enjoying the sights of the universe.
"Master, why are we moving so slow?" The woman among them asked.
She was just a little girl when they left for training, but as they were returning, she'd already become a grown woman.
As for the handsome young man next to her, he gazed at the universe with eyes that seemed weathered by time, indifferent due to the commonality of all things they viewed.
"There's no rush. You're a spatial expert now, so interact with space a little bit," he said with a light smile.
"But Master, the Festival of Fate already started! We're going to be late!" The woman, Astoria, exclaimed in a disgruntled voice.
Damien looked off into the distance, his eyes glazing over slightly as he spoke. "Well, I don't think we're missing much."
The Golden Dragon Clan was definitely in a precarious situation at the moment with the Black Dragon Clan and it's allies on the verge of striking, but Damien didn't quite want to arrive on the scene yet.
After all, he wanted to see what those fate clouds could do.
'Fate has always been so esoteric. If I can use this chance to grasp a bit of its workings, my comprehension on universal flow will see a major boost.'
Universal flow didn't have any sort of presence in reality. Damien might've been comprehending it, but he felt that he'd never be able to actively utilize this flow.
Rather, the ability to read it was already an unimaginable skill.
'Worst case scenario, I can just devour a few fate clouds, but if I want to do that, I need to first solve the Golden Dragon Clan's troubles…'
At the moment, what Damien wanted to see was how the fate clouds boosted the Golden Dragon Clan.
There wasn't much power left in those clouds, but he wanted to see what this little bit of suspicious fate could accomplish.
'It's unfortunate that I can't go to Beast Emperor Star and just observe directly.' He sighed inwardly.
With Astoria present, there was no way he could covertly arrive at Beast Emperor Star and spend time reading it rather than directly entering it and getting involved with his troubles.
As such, he was forced to remain at this boundary, not far away from the Beast Domain but not too close either.
From here, Damien could somewhat understand what was happening in Beast Emperor Star through a combination of awareness and universal flow.
To read this was also a form of training, which was as why Damien tried to urge Astoria to stay for longer to experience the starry sky, but she wasn't having it at all.
Currently, she hung off his back like a monkey, her arms around his neck to support her as she swung around and bothered him.
"Master, I'm bored~!"
"Haa…"
Damien sighed, out loud this time.
"Are you going to keep acting like this until I agree?"
"Yup!"
"You're quite the annoying disciple."
"Ehhh~? Don't be mean, Master. I know you love me!"
"Tch. Get off already."
"Are we going now? Are we?"
"We'll go, we'll go, just quiet down already."
"Hehe~"
Astoria formed a V with her fingers and flashed it at Damien victoriously, making him endlessly roll his eyes.
But either way, it was obvious that he wouldn't be allowed to concentrate on what he was doing as long as this disciple of his was around.
In the end, he could only shrug it off. It was his fault for letting her act so willful, but what could he do?
He didn't want to see this overenthusiastic disciple of his lose her spark.
'I guess I'll observe the fate clouds later. It won't be too late as long as there's still conflict ongoing.'
With Astoria still on his back, Damien began teleporting once more, making his way back to Beast Emperor Star using shorter jumps to help fortify Astoria's body.
And was it a coincidence?
A certain Bloodlock clansman was making his way to the same destination at almost the same pace, his arrival time aligning with Damien's.
In reality, he should've arrived far earlier.
But was it truly a coincidence?
It seemed like the universe itself was doing its best to hold him back, throwing endless perils in his path to block him.
If it wasn't for that, how could he have taken so long to make this journey when he was already within the Beast Domain many days ago?
Strange coincidences…was that the only one?
Weren't there so many people already moving like they were pieces on a chess board?
Strange coincidences…
Wasn't it better to call this…fate?
