OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 252: Trust

Chapter 252: Trust

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Everything happened fast.

Too fast, even for his eyes, which saw everything in fractions of seconds.

A blinding light engulfed the white room.

Then an Aether vortex formed, right above the cores.

All the Aether in the environment instantly congregated towards it, condensing everything into a single point.

An Anomaly was created...

This caused the world to become quiet.

Then it was destroyed.

All due to its owner's last command.

The Zerathar wished for their deaths.

And the world responded to that wish as it was silent no longer.

An implosion of absolute energy occurred.

Stronger than the one Emir experienced with Virearth, and even stronger than the nukes of long ago.

All because of the influx of Aether those six cores unleashed to their surroundings.

This explosion wiped everything in its vicinity to nothingness.

And Emir could do nothing but watch...

'0.01'

Watch as the wave neared them.

'0.009'

Ever so quickly.

'0.008'

Every moment was an agonizing wait for certain death.

'0.007'

'0.006'

'0.005'

It had knocked on Emir's door, this time around.

'0.004'

'0.003'

Then, it opened.

'0.002'

And after a step forward...

'0.001'

Death had arrived.

'Dammit-'

WHOOSH!

His thoughts paused, alongside the world itself or so it seemed, and an old man appeared before him.

What once was a bright world turned dark.

And the explosion was snuffed out.

Silence returned.

The only sound that resounded in the room was Ragnar's quick breaths.

He didn't understand what happened and had only just realized that his death was a moment away.

{You've passed the test.}

{Congratulations.}

Emir didn't say anything and bowed his head down.

"Speak... You three passed."

The old man, who had his hands behind his back, gave him permission, his voice

uncharacteristically soft.

'So the novel spoke true, huh.'

"Thank you... Principal Amon."

Amon turned around, his face showing subtle surprise.

"Oh, so you truly are a chosen one."

"Yes, nice to meet you, Principal."

"Please, don't be too formal with me."

Emir nodded.

"Alright, old man."

Flabbergasted, Amon's jaw went agape, almost reaching the ground. "Act shy, at least!"

The prince chuckled and gestured for his brother to introduce himself.

Appearing to have just gotten out of his shock, Ragnar stuttered out:

"S-Sorry, uhh... Principal, I'm R-Ragnar—"

"Calm him down."

Emir complied with Amon's demand and patted Ragnar's back.

"He isn't here as the principal, just a supervisor, so you can just ignore him if you want."

Ragnar's head snapped at Emir and his outlandish comment.

Amon, a Celestial, an Archon, with a life span of over a century, didn't have anyone who knew of his status interact with him in such a way.

"Well... as long as he calms down."

Showing a nod, Emir left Amon alone and pulled Ragnar towards Morgiana, who remained at

the back of the throne room.

"Give her some medicine."

Ragnar grabbed the hundred million UC old-world medicines that Emir presented and shoved

them down Morgiana's throat.

She was Aether starved, and this wouldn't resupply her reserves, but it would give her back energy, in turn waking her up.

And that's what she did a few seconds later.

"Awake?"

A groggy Morgiana nodded at Emir, a weary but triumphant smile gracing her lips.

"Looks like you guys killed it...."

Ragnar matched her energy tenfold and pulled her off the ground.

"Hell yeah, we did!"

A quiet laugh was shared between them as a sense of accomplishment settled.

This marked the end of their harrowing ordeal and the dawn of a new phase in their journey.

Killing the Tyrant wasn't an option the supervisors presented to the candidates, so the fact that this trio actually did it was almost...

Inconceivable.

And they not only killed it but totally dominated it, which was harder to imagine.

Domination wasn't possible without a plan.

So yes, Emir did in fact have a plan in mind from the start; it was what his actions showed.

But if he had shared that plan, then winning might've become impossible.

Attacking 'blind' was the only conceivable path forward that he found.

After all, the UEF had access to Morgiana's thoughts, which meant that they could give the

Tyrant the idea behind their attack.

However, in the scenario Emir created, this couldn't have happened as the possibility itself

was wiped out.

The ones attacking didn't know what they were doing themselves, so how would the UEF

know?

'Ah... wait.'

But even with all that planning, Emir seemed to have overlooked something.

'I fucked up.'

***

"That was impressive..."

"Amon?"

"Yeah, snuffing out an Aether implosion instantly like that... it's no wonder he's the principal,

eh?"

Eldritch, Auric, and Ignatius talked amongst themselves, already moving on from the battle

they witnessed.

If anyone saw them now, they wouldn't have related them to the screaming monsters from a

few minutes ago.

Meanwhile, Isidore remained relaxed on his throne, many thoughts going through his mind.

The unnatural teamwork between Emir and Ragnar interested him at the start, but soon it

grew suspicious.

No matter how skilled they were, it just wasn't possible for someone on their level to adapt

that quickly to a stranger.

But... what if Ragnar wasn't a stranger to Emir?

What if, on the extremely off chance that both of them were... 'Subjects?'

"No, no, no... that's impossible."

A murmur escaped his lips as those thoughts reached him.

Subjects were controlled and watched over from the outset, and if they at any point in their

lives proved useless to the Order, certain death could only be a natural consequence. Emir was the only one who escaped their clutches, but instead of death, he received a galactic

bounty, one that only 'he' could control.

So if Ragnar truly was a subject, then he escaped... flawlessly.

The Order didn't know of his existence, as they assumed him to be dead.

Isidore's curiosity bested him, and he soon commanded to be shown the inner workings of

Ragnar's mind.

With this, he would know of their relationship, as Ragnar's thoughts would unknowingly rat

Emir out.

While Isidore was doing that, Auric pressed a button on his armrest and commanded: "The test is over; send everyone back home and wipe their memories."

"Get Emir, Ragnar, and Morgiana to the Hub; if they don't need any help, invite them to the

observation room."

"They are hereby accepted as professors."

***

Ragnar, Morgiana, and Amon talked in the middle of the room, but it was mainly Amon

telling them what would happen to them next.

Emir was by himself, sitting on the stairs leading to the cracked white throne.

He didn't need Amon's words, as he already knew what was coming next.

So instead, he focused on what happened in the test.

His mind was constantly telling him that he had overlooked something...

[Is it Ragnar?]

[...But what? What did I miss?]

Suddenly, his entire body twitched.

[Shit.]

He had finally realized it.

[The thoughts...]

[They'll know everything.]

[I'm fucked!]

Emir took the relic off his finger and 'angrily' threw it away.

'Or so they'll think.'

What he just 'thought' was like the usual ruse he set up, one of his implanted thoughts.

Unlike usual, however, he made this up on the spot, as only minutes ago had he realized the consequences of Ragnar's intervention.

It greatly switched up the end of his plan.

With Lyra alongside him, they could account for every variable imaginable, with the limit

only being her processing power.

But unlike her, Emir was a human and couldn't calculate for everything. Ragnar's thoughts reaching them escaped his mind until the last moment, where he faked a

few thoughts and sent them over.

Emir knew that the Elite could read his brother's mind, as he had already thought all about it

back when he entered the digital realm.

Yet he couldn't tweak his relic, as there was a high risk involved.

Ragnar wasn't immune to the contract like Emir, so if it were detected, instant death would be

the least of his worries.

So instead, Emir could only... trust the bastard.

Yes, he had to trust him.

The thoughts he sent were an assist to Ragnar, as they would amplify what he kept in his

thoughts.

If they were bad, then it would become terrible.

Why? Well, because of the Streisand effect.

But if they were good, then it would become incredible.

And now, he couldn't do anything except wait for the results.

After Emir's thoughts slowed, he approached his companions, who were still listening to

Amon's lecture.

However, that lecture paused when the principal saw Emir near them.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I am, Principle; we can go to the observation tower now."

"...Sure, and by the way, about the friends you had made a few hours back..."

"You mean the three loudmouths?"

Amon showed a sad face and dropped his head down while saying:

"Yes... well, they killed themselves."

Emir smiled.

"I see... That's too bad, eh? Now let's go."

The principal grabbed Emir's shoulder while fishing out his terminal.

"Right, but before that, I need you three to sign this contract."