2268 - Power
"Hiiieeeeh!!!" Althera opened her eyes and gasped sharply in terror, then reached her hands back and pulled herself into the corner of the bed.
Her body was trembling violently.
She had tasted a torment she never imagined existed, never thought possible no matter how vast her imagination or how many ancient stories she had read.
The pain was gone; she no longer felt anything physically, but its effect lingered, and she still felt her soul tearing apart as it had in that moment, as if the memory itself had turned into a living wound that had not yet healed.
When she remembered the pain, Althera reached out and grabbed her short sword, which had always made her feel safe and steady, then pulled it toward her and hugged her knees to her chest with both hands... and looked down, her eyes full of tears.
"What happened... why did this happen to me..." Althera muttered in a pained voice for a few minutes.
She felt that strange things were happening around her, and she felt a vague unease she couldn't pinpoint, and she noticed a golden glow in the Glass House, but she paid no attention to it, as it didn't affect her much, so she thought it was just an aftereffect of the shock she had endured.
"He..." Althera muttered, "He will know the answer if I ask him..."
Robin's image immediately appeared in her mind.
Not the Cosmic Elder.
Not the archive filled with the tales of the ancients.
But him alone.
"Yes." Althera lifted her head, and a glimmer of hope returned to her eyes. "He will surely know!"
Then she quickly stood up on the bed, enthusiasm returning to her face as most of the signs of pain and collapse that had dominated her moments before faded away.
Her last meeting with him had been tense.
She had let her feelings of helplessness at the moment of her deputy's death cloud her logic and affect her judgment, and she had thought Robin would try to comfort her, but she was wrong and learned that the hard way.
That person who fought the Executioner and warded off calamity from the universe had no need to comfort anyone; judging by his appearance and state at the time, he was the one who needed comfort more than anyone else.
She had had enough time to think over the past month.
"Hoo~" Althera let out a long breath and jumped quietly off the bed.
Talking about that strange state would make their next meeting easier, and at the same time, she would ask him if she could try to break through again after the first failure, and also—
BAM
"Huh?" Althera looked down at her feet in shock.
There was a hole in the floor.
She leaped gracefully, suppressing all her strength, not even releasing any aura or battle state, yet the stone floor of the glass house cracked, and the entire house sank slightly from the force transmitted to it.
"What the..." Althera bent down slightly and extended her right hand to examine the crack.
But her wide eyes grew even wider.
It was her right hand that was holding the short sword by the middle of its scabbard.
And the moment she reached out, she saw something astonishing.
The short sword was crushed.
The sword she had used to kill young space beasts without damage, a fourth-level planetary gear she had obtained as a precious inheritance, had been completely compressed as if she were holding a paper bag, not a piece of gear built to withstand a Monarch's power.
Clang
Althera let the sword fall to the ground and took two steps back in shock, then raised her hands and pressed them against her head as if trying to wake herself from this strange dream.
But she didn't wake up.
Bam
Bam
With every step Althera retreated, a small crack appeared in the floor beneath her feet.
"What's happening..." Althera lowered her hands and began examining them in panic. "I feel... power?"
Crack
As soon as Althera clenched her hand into a fist and heard the cracking sound, and saw the space around her distort... a strange feeling washed over her.
Power.
Immense power.
Power that shouldn't belong to a Low-level Monarch, nor even to a High-level Monarch!
Power...
With this power, if she faced The Executioner again, if she were placed in that situation once more...
Althera clenched her hand tighter with fervor.
BOOOOOOM
The space around Althera exploded, the Glass House of the Cosmic Form turned to rubble, and everything inside scattered in different directions, never to be seen again.
"Haha..."
Althera began to laugh in bewilderment.
"Haha... hahaha!!!"
Then she raised her other hand and turned it into a fist as well.
BAAAAANG
The cracking beneath her intensified.
"Hehe, what happened... that coincidence made me gain power beyond anything in existence!"
Then she gritted her teeth and lifted her head to the sky with a dreamy, ambitious smile.
"Finally, I can take my revenge, finally, I can walk the universe the way I see fit, finally, I can—"
UOOOOOM—
She saw something astonishing...
A golden sky.
A familiar, massive eye.
Four Huge Engravings connected to it, also familiar.
That was the formation Lord Robin used to fight the Executioner and force it to flee.
But there is something different…
All of them…
Why do they all seem stronger?
Althera's expression gradually calmed…
The aura of the symbols did not make her want to kneel, nor did it strike her spiritually, but she felt power—immense power, without a doubt.
And this…
Is this the Fifth-Level Master Spacetime?
The Fifth?!
"Five Master Laws cooperating under the banner of a single person…" Althera murmured with a calm smile, "This is power."
Althera sensed it…
Those symbols were undoubtedly Lord Robin's, and in that state, Lord Robin was stronger than her, even if she felt the gap between them was not too vast.
Her expression turned serene…
For some reason, she felt neither envy nor anger that Lord Robin was stronger than her.
This simply seemed…
Like the right thing.
This is how things should be.
Ooooom
"Hmm?"
Althera saw something strange at that moment.
The sky, which looked like a pool of golden water, began to churn as if someone had thrown a massive stone into it.
Then a mass of golden light emerged from it, moving erratically and twisting around itself strangely until it took the form of a chaotic cloud, and then—
Crashhh
A golden lightning bolt descended from the sky above her, splitting the cloud, and then began to surge within it.
That cloud began to grow larger, becoming more chaotic and violent with speed.
As for the Four Symbols around the eye, they began to move, but not toward her nor away from her. Instead, they drew slightly closer to one another to make room for the thundercloud to settle at their same level.
After that, a new eyelash emerged from the Huge Golden Eye and connected quietly with the thundercloud.
Bang
Althera dropped to her knees.