Mar: “*Tilts head* Brother, I think he’s looking down on us.”

She elegantly sat atop of a tree branch, fully dressed in ‘Modern attire’. Her beautiful irises seemed to shift between blue, green and hazel. As if uncertain about her ‘human’ disguise’s best eye color, she easily multi – tasked fixing her appearance to match her ancestor’s genes, while grasping close to the tree’s trunk. Her mouth spoke while those now stably – colored eyes never attempted to make contact with the black and grey robed man. Only ever using a hand - held mirror to focus her uninterested gaze.

Mor: “(Obviously he is… this ‘grey’ aura… it’s the sign of somebody that’s broken the rules and been banished by those who govern and oversee Fate! That hateful mark on his back-hand that extended to his wrist… that simply proves his status as an exiled former governing body member … and more importantly, somebody that betrayed the Royal Family! OUR family! Yet, how…

...How did such a person escape their banishment? Prisoners of Fate are punished by having all of their powers stripped from their ‘essence’, Their very being. Their soul’s accumulated energy and the prisoner’s developed strength. This means that they are immediately dropped down in all aspects of power. Heheh, It’s to the point where they wouldn’t even be capable of beating an ordinary foot soldier on any mortal planet. And that isn’t even the main problem here! Not only is this man obviously powerful, but he somehow… managed to escape the multi-layered fragile dimensions that he was sealed inside, without destroying himself in the process. And even THEN, he somehow managed to bypass the strengthened outer dimension that had so many precautionary measures!

Just how did he...unless…

Unless he had help from someone on the outside? But to get past the watchful eyes of EVERY God and Divine realm that allied with us and helps watch the Prisoners of Fate… exactly how powerful do they have to be?

...I suppose anything is possible considering this is a few years into the future… dammit, I’ll have to work with my little sister and hold him back until ‘help’ arrives…)”

…

Without wasting anymore time, Mor flashed next to his sister and spoke very softly.

Mor: “Sister Mar. Prepare for support.”

Mar: “……...Mm.

(Why is he treating this poor-fashioned wizard-looking creep so serious? More importantly, why does my chest feel so… tight, whenever I see that book? Surely it’s not just because it’s tied to our family, right? My chest feels... so… Is this book’s owner… somehow connected to my very own…)”

A strange and partly stunning cloud of grey energy bound itself together right before dazzling the twins by exploding into vast sub-molecular particles. For a moment, Mar, distracted by the pulsating feeling in her chest, was slow to react. This left Mor a little lacking in defensive support.

Not that he really cared too much nor held hopes in her assistance.

Prisoner of Fate?: “BAHAHAHA! I… I have transcended time… transcended FATE! yet, the two before me hope to beat me in battle although they haven’t even become full fledged Royal family members? Before they’ve even been accepted into the primary dimension or even become proper Scribes of Fate~!? AHH?? Ahahaha! Though I may be ‘tainted’, my powers presiding over ‘Fate’ is more than enough to wipe the floor with a pair of green neophites – barely old enough to walk! Take this: Demise of Fate!”

Although this move of his wasn’t flashy, it had the potential to directly deteriorate and selectively ‘end’ that which is deemed impossible to alter – Fate. This includes working against other, weaker governing figures that preside over it. At the very least, very few can oppose and shrug off this attack at full power. Because it isn’t truly an attack – on a fundamental level.

No. It’s more akin to calling it a rule. A powerful one.

Mor: “Do you think you’re the only one capable of altering Fate? Observe, gramps! Fate’s resplendence!”

…

For a very brief moment, the world seemed to freeze in place. Those tiny, microscopic particles of a grey shade couldn’t resist a powerful-yet-soft egg white scattering of needle shaped energy with shimmering and differing colored tips.

Prisoner of Fate?: “Hahaha! Hmph! I believe I specifically used the word ‘transcend’ and not ‘alter’~ You’ll never be capable of resisting me without--!”

His words got caught in his throat at the following scene. Was ‘FATE’ playing a practical joke on him, or something? How was such an obviously inferior ‘rule’ able to eradicate his own??

The answer was obvious…

...It wasn’t. The twins clearly called for help earlier, but what they hadn’t expected was that their ‘help’ had always been there, in the shadows – monitoring and observing their movements and actions!

Prisoner of Fate?: “...It appears...you two were lucky. Your bluff actually managed to fool me.(It seems I’ll have to move at a later time. For now, I’ll leave a way to track the book down again at a future date and…

Haah… bear with the thought of going back to that damned place.)”

Bodies shifted around the locale, with the twins none the wiser. It was extremely fast, barely noticeable by the cloaked man as moving at a fraction of an attosecond. Yet they didn’t approach so easily. It seemed they were checking on the prison area and sealing the school off simultaneously. It would seem that from here, he needed to muster the remainder of his squeezed out power in order to flee.

-

and back to the present, right after Hermer Walsh was summoned away and prior to Noel clashing with the giant … creature before him…

He sensed a strange energy wave far off in the direction he wanted to go. It carried a comforting, nostalgic feeling to it, for some reason. He only felt something similar after being interrogated by those stalker twins. The memory alone, made him break out in goosebumps.

{ugh, it’s that feeling again… I wonder if this is what seasickness feels like? I feel a little… woozy.

…

Focus Noel. Focus! That big thing… its balance isn’t very stable, but there are two things that support its massive, mountain – like weight. Those humongous, dragon – like wings and that thick, crocodile – like tail. If I can break those two things first… it should fall...right?}

The twelve year old boy dashed out in a haste. He broke through its attempts at halting his advancement by utilizing his superior reflexes and speed to outmaneuver a forceful tail swing that shattered two nearby trees in an instant. Naturally, these abnormal trees were much larger than ordinary trees and thicker as well – with each one standing at about 30+ meters tall and 7-17 meters thick. Noel hadn’t a clue what they could be used for, but to break them so easily, this beast made of stone must be powerful. That tail swipe could turn ordinary invulnerability users below C grade into mushy paste. Those at B grade would probably find most of their bones shattered at the point of impact, and wouldn't be capable of moving anymore. At least, that’s what the result would be if they properly defended themselves and took the hit well. Otherwise they’d find all of their bones shattered into splinters and barely cling to their lives after one assault!

The same exact results would occur if any equally graded super strength users tried to ‘clash’ with that tail at the greatest point of its momentum – imbued impact. Only A Grade super strength or invulnerability users could withstand its channeled power!

The stone beast could cause so much devastation if it was set free into the school!

…

Ah. It wasn’t a beast in actuality, but a puppet. Right. with such lifelike movements and design, he continued to forget. A puppet that acted in a seemingly automatic function…

{So...like a golem, maybe? As an automatic puppet, could it be some sort of golem?}

He thought such a thing while dodging the monstrous monolith’s tail and sidestepping a stomp! Alas, right after breaking through and jumping up to close their distance, fierce and heavy gale - wind pressure blasted towards him by the two heavy wings. He had been in mid – air at the time and couldn’t dodge, only withstand being blown back and throw three massive and abnormal trees before free - falling and effortlessly landing on the ground. And the moment he landed…

a crater was formed at the spot he landed, and he disappeared.

*BOOM!*

A punch was his response to that blasted wind pressure, creating a similar air pressure of his own. It’s just, a crack did form on its right ankle where the twenty meter tall Gargoyle stood… but in an instant, that same crack was already gone.

It healed!

Noel: “…Hmm, what sort of blasted rock creature is this?! Why can rock even...even heal to begin with?? it’s … it’s rock! But… the saving grace here is that its healing speed, as fast as it is, isn’t quite as fast as I am. If I can get at a great angle… yeah, that thing won’t exactly stay still, after all. Maybe if I aim at the tail… by clinging to the tail, I can test what happens when a higher speed attack competes with its lower speed healing factor… hehe. Let’s try it.”

---