Chapter 442: A Friend of Adrastia! III

The transformation was not dramatic…he had no need for theatrical displays of power.

Instead, it was inevitable, like watching the sun emerge from behind clouds that had never really been able to contain it.

His ash-grey skin brightened to its natural tone. His hair shifted from Nihilus black to that distinctive purple-gold that marked the Adrastia lineage, each strand catching light.

The crown materialized on his head with the casual arrogance of something that had always been there but had simply chosen not to be observed until now!

Purple-gold metal that might have been solid or might have been condensed authority, hanging sideways in deliberate defiance of formality.

His body pulsed with sudden radiance as the Primordium Evolutius Suit revealed itself.

The purple-gold material flowed like liquid while maintaining solid form.

Without a word, Achilles gestured to the chair across from him. The motion was minimal…barely a movement of his fingers, but it carried the weight of invitation and command combined.

This was his space, his terms, but he was choosing to share it.

General Lydia moved forward calmly.

She settled into the offered chair with neither hesitation nor hurry, her posture managing to be both relaxed and ready.

Achilles tapped the floating table once.

Golden drinks materialized from nowhere, or perhaps from everywhere.

Stellar Nectar poured into glass!

He lifted his glass in a gesture that was offer and toast combined. General Lydia accepted hers with a nod.

They drank in perfect synchronization, the liquid fire of ancient stars sliding down their throats.

And then… silence.

Not uncomfortable silence.. this was the quiet of two predators recognizing each other across a killing field and choosing, for the moment, not to engage.

Their attention was entirely on each other, two consciousnesses taking measure of the other.

Achilles studied her. Her power radiated from her in waves that would have been invisible to most.

It was… significant. More than significant. If he had to engage her in actual combat right now, the outcome would be far from certain.

But he hadn’t orchestrated this meeting for battle. Violence was sometimes the least interesting solution to complex problems.

A full minute passed.

Sixty seconds that felt both eternal and instant, time flowing differently in a room that existed outside normal space. The only sounds were the subtle hum of contained power from both beings as neither spoke!

Finally, General Lydia set down her glass with a gentle click.

“I came here just in case,” she said, her voice carrying the kind of calm that preceded stellar storms, “but I didn’t expect things to be so easy.”

Her amber eyes narrowed slightly in genuine curiosity. “Why did you remain here? Why arrange all of this?”

She gestured minimally to encompass not just the room but the entire scenario…him waiting in a tavern while fleets searched for him, sending her a message, sitting here drinking as if forces weren’t converging on this location with murderous intent.

Achilles leaned back in his chair, the motion making his crown catch light at new angles, sending purple-gold reflections dancing across the walls like captured aurora.

His expression remained calm.

“I simply looked through time,” he said, his voice carrying waves that suggested depths beyond the audible spectrum, “and found you interesting.”

…!

The silence that followed his words was different from before…charged with sudden tension that made the air itself seem to crystallize.

General Lydia’s entire posture shifted, not into aggression but into something far more dangerous…genuine alertness.

“Are you like most Generals already?” Her words emerged with new intensity. “You have grasped, mastered, and can freely control a Regulation? Especially one as unique as Time?”

The word ‘Regulations’ hung in the air between them.

He could feel the significance of it, the way General Lydia spoke of Regulations as if they were things that even beings of their power had to acknowledge and respect.

Achilles remained calm, neither confirming nor denying her assumption. His expression didn’t change.

Sometimes, he had learned, the most powerful response was no response at all.

Lydia shook her head, “I don’t know what you saw if you can truly control Time,” she said, her tone shifting to something more contemplative, “but I looked at everything happening and thought to myself… how it would be a shame if the same thing continued to repeat again and again.”

She paused, lifting her glass again to take a measured sip. The action was deliberate, giving weight to her next words.

“A so-called Taboo rises,” she continued, her voice carrying the exhaustion of someone who had seen too many cycles repeat, “is hunted, and reappears again after decades or years. The same pattern, the same violence, the same inevitable conclusion. I thought that we have enough enemies as is without adding more enemies to an already extensive list. We have Outsiders butchering us…for amusement more than anything else it seems. Entities that are powerful and could crush us instantly, and yet they find it more pleasurable to scheme and plot. To bring us to a slow, gradual collapse as if we were animals in a farm…”

…!

He words were heavy!

There was something in her tone that suggested personal investment beyond mere strategic consideration.

Lydia set down her glass and leaned back in her chair with a motion that mirrored Achilles’s own relaxed posture.

But where his relaxation suggested confident power, hers carried the weight of someone who had earned the right to sit back!

She crossed one leg over the other, the silver cloak shifting.

“I also had the capability to think of all of this,” she said, lifting her glass again in a gesture that seemed almost casual, “because I was told many things by my Mentor.”

She took a sip, her amber eyes never leaving Achilles’s face as she delivered words that she clearly expected to have impact.

“My Mentor who was a friend…” she paused for precisely calculated effect, “of the Seventh Adrastia Emperor King.”

…!

BOOM!

The words detonated in the space between them like stellar cores!

Achilles’s expression finally changed slightly as events finally arrived at a point that was murky in the possible futures he saw.

The Seventh Adrastia Emperor King.

His Grandfather!

Someone who had walked these same paths of power and vengeance. And apparently, someone who had made friends among those who should have been enemies.

“Relationships are complex…” Lydia said as she sighed.

“The Seventh Adrastia Emperor King was a friend of my Mentor. Through their relationship, I know the history that many have embellished and done whatever the fuck they want with. It is history, but I understand your anger. It is history, but I also ask you to consider the future. Is it possible for us to break this cycle? Because we are absolutely fucked in all directions at this moment…”

…!

2/2