Careful Not To Break Reality

Immediately after Valerie has left the shuttle, Rydel and Zel also followed her and dropped onto the ground from the shuttle. The more time he has spent inside Zel's pocket dimension, the more he began to understand the mechanics of the space. Zel is the one who works with the artifact to create the pockets of space, and yet Zel is the one who can determine its interactions with real life. Subconsciously, humans always expected a solid surface underneath their feet, so that's why the default for him would be for him to always shape the pocket dimension such that it mimics the surface he is supposed to be standing on.

For example, when Rydel and Zel were on the shuttle on their way to the Arena, the pocket dimension is shaped to match the floor surface of the shuttle, and travel at the same speed as the shuttle through space.

Just because Zel could conjure ground underneath his feet doesn't mean it's fixated this way. Similarly to how he can simple actively and consciously ignore walls in front of them, then the Pocket dimension will simply slip through that as any other regions of real space. He could perform the exact same sort of command and go through floors, when he got lazy, that's how he would usually move around.

'But when you take routes that nobody should go through, you pay the price of seeing things nobody should see.' As they dropped down to the planet's surface, Zel commented. Rydel nodded at him and appreciated the explanation.

Then, they followed Valerie around and witnessed her battle with Gold. It was rather hard to watch for Rydel, as every move by either combatant will shake him to the core. The distant sounds of explosions and the thin screens of smoke reminded him of watching the War Games back in the day. As the battle moved to the abandoned settlements, Zel and Rydel immediately noticed the effects of Lock Down on the surrounding space. The severity of it even hindering that of the pocket domain. It seemed that the scope of the lock down of information exceeds that of real space. However, when Zel created a bubble of pocket dimension around the regions of space locked down, there is a strange sort of interference effect happening.

This isn't exactly a new phenomena to either of them. The artifacts seem to react with each other in varied and unpredictable ways. The art of artifact combat is a lot more complicated and nuanced that people might have realized.

Then, Valerie performed the killing blow, forcing Gold to exhaust all of his options, and then she created the shields just in time to counter against the blows dealt by Gold and blew him up with what remained with her explosive paste.

'Are you kidding me...' Zel almost didn't believe his eyes. As someone who also grew up in the wild regions, he would not dare leave explosive pastes lying around within his sleeves. He already had one mechanical arm, and he didn't want another. It would seem even the craziness within the wild regions hasits tiers.

After Valerie's victory and her claiming the artifact back and she was being picked up and returned to the shuttle, Rydel and Zel both slipped aboard again and followed them back to the Academy.

'If you don't mind just hanging back for a few days.' After visiting Valerie, Rydel leaves her with her sister and headed back out into the woods near her house where Zel left his pocket dimension and his ship, 'I will probably do the same when I challenge Dolon, but the extraction of all of us needs to happen at the right times. I will need talk to Valerie soon after she recovers and discuss the plans of the future....'

'Take your time, Rydel.' Zel shrugged, 'After seeing first hand the kind of power output you enhanced individuals can deal out, I hope you won't lose an arm to Dolon.'

'I mean, we are not really going to fight, right? hahaha...' Rydel tried to laugh away the thoughts, but deep down, he felt like Zero would be foolish to just leave Dolon be. Something may have happened to her, and it's something he needed to deal with.

Many hours after Rydel's left, Valerie had woken up from yet another healing sleep. Her entire body is sore and bruised, her mouth is dry like paper and there is a ringing headache lingering in the background. But other than that, she felt amazing.

She pulled her right arm out from underneath the sheets and brought it up to look at it closely.The spiraling striping patterns looked like a sort of tribal tattoo, and the snapped Aquarian blade near the center of her palm looked just as detailed and photo-realistic as the many times she had visualized when preparing for the fight.

For some reason, in this galaxy, people always knew exactly when an injured individual awake, and her door was pushed open right as the brain fog has begun to disperse.

Two individuals stepped into the room, one is a athletically built beautiful women with an oriental appearance. Her long black here were tied into a pony tail, and she wore a tightly fitted red dress that complimented her body like the armors of a Valkyrie. Valerie knew exactly who she is. Lady Lily, the head master of the Academy, and one of the more influential people within Absolute Being.

Behind her stood a tall massive human male. He had a serious and icy look while wearing a black military tactical outfit. His budging muscles on the verge of tearing through the fabric. His conservative look barely containing his aura. Valerie doesn't think she has met him before.

'So we have finally met in person.' Lady Lily took a seat to her right, and the big man stood in the corner of her room to her left, 'I have come here to apologize for my words before. You had potential, and I knew those were what you needed.'

'I wouldn't have been able to do anything if I hadn't had the talk with you.' Valerie casually replied, putting her aggression away from the tone and using it in her words. Hearing this, the man raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Lady Lily, clearing sensing what she is saying, remained unfazed and simply continued.

'Now that you have obtained Lock Down away from Gold, you are now one of us. You will be one of the executives within Absolute Being.' Lady Lily said, 'and we expect you to work with the organization for the ultimate end goal.'

'I thought we could also choose to go back to the Grey Wolf?' Valerie turned her head and questioned, 'I am the new Black Wolf, and the artifact is back in its rightful owner's hands.'

'I am afraid that this is a special time.' Lady Lily shook her head, 'Some incident with regards to another artifact is going to happen soon within the wild regions, and the Grey Wolf has given his discretion for us to take you under our wing until the crisis is resolved.'

'And just like that, you decided that you will own me?'

'You will cooperate willingly.' The big man finally spoke, his voice as deep and echoing as an Aquarian, 'from now on, there will be no more games.'

'Sir Deva, please.' Lady Lily put up her hand and signalled towards the man without looking away from Valerie. She then reached forward and held Valerie's right hand within her grasp, 'Master will reveal our plans to you in due time, and you will understand us. Master has provided up with a timeline of a few weeks, and by then, I expect you will come to your senses.'

'If not, we could just as easily take Lock Down away from you.' Lady Lily said, as she began to rise from her seat.

'You know my strength!' Valerie said from gritted teeth, 'you have seen what I can do!'

'But you don't know what we can do.' Lady Lily said with a threatening grin, then she turned and walked away from her, Sir Deva following suit right after. It turns out Valerie's sister was listening from behind the doors and reacted too late to try to hide, but they simply ignored her as they walked past.

'Sis...?' She came to her side and brought a glass of water.

'Contact Rydel.' Valerie said, 'it seemed that the extraction for us might have to come a bit earlier.'

The list of combatants for the Test of Brawl was revealed, and Rydel finally saw the name that he has been looking for. The reason for his journey here: Dolon, artifact: Lightining Rod.

'I, Rold, hereby issue a challenge for the posession of the artifact Lightning Rod to Dolon!'

The request was processed, and now all Rydel can do is wait.

'So...what do you think?'

After Lady Lily and Sir Deva left the residence of Valerie, they walked for a few steps out down the hill before Lady Lily first broke the silence.

'She is a fighter. If Master couldn't convince her of our cause, then she is trouble.' Sir Deva said coldly.

'And how dramatically have things changed.' Lady Lily lets out a long frustrated sigh, 'Master warning of an incoming crisis meant whatever we are doing here have to be more careful. From the look of things, it seemed like we will need everything we have.'

'Is this another test from him?' Sir Deva asked.

'Well, probably, since you have failed your last test rather miserably.' Lady Lily looked up to the big man walking slowly behind her, her words stinging more than a thousand bullets. Sir Deva felt his heart pounding and his face became boiling hot.

'I....you are right.' Thinking back to his voyage in the past few months, he wanted to argue, but no words could come out once Lady Lily turned fully to face him, her aroma feeling his nostril, 'I will try harder this time.'

'Then, we need to start with the very next problem on our hands.' Satisfied with Sir Deva's response, Lady Lily turned around and continued heading back to her office, 'Master didn't tell you this, but there is another artifact user here. And he is about to make a move.'

'Yes.' Sir Deva nodded, thinking to the reason he was summoned back here.

'He told me explicitly to let him be, but I also have to do my job. When he makes his move, I want you to be there with me and stop him.' Lady Lily explained, 'can you do this for me?'

'Of course.' Sir Deva replied without a second thought, and Lady Lily smiled. She put a hand on his cheek, and leaned in for a gentle kiss. Then, she headed back to her office, leaving Sir Deva standing alone in the quad of the Academy.

'I brought what you asked. So, are they onto you now?' Rydel asked, and Valerie nodded.

What Rydel brought was an anti-monitoring device that creates false signals and outputs, rather than create noise for any recording and monitoring device. He had seldomly used this ever since Zel has arrived, but it seemed to be a crucial part of Valerie's exit party. The time taken between Lady Lily and Sir Deva and Rydel's arrival was all that she needed to formulate an escape plan. The added cognitive benefits from the artifacts is really no joke, and even noticeable for someone as advanced in mental training as Valerie. She explained her plans to all three others in the room, her sister, Zel and Rydel, and left them to think about it.

'We need to time everything right.' Zel has finally said, 'it wouldn't be difficult for me to do the rest, but that means when Rydel is challenging Dolon, he won't have back up.'

'Well, that's not exactly true.' Rydel said, 'I could always carry a beacon for you to track me down.'

'I could arrange that.' Valerie said, sitting up from the bed, 'a simple device. Zel, thank you for your help.'

'Don't sweat it.' Zel shook his head, 'Rydel came to my help when I didn't really deserve it. This is really no big deal.'

'So it's set then?' Valerie looked around the room, and every one nodded. Her sister was still a little out of it, but Valerie insisted to everyone that the plan should go on without delay.

Then, as Rydel prepared for his very own challenge for Dolon as if he was entering a real battle to the death, the rest of his crew planned Valerie's exit plan. From the perspectives of Lady Lily, the monitoring device in her room showed that she simply slept and recovered for the next few days, while in reality she dragged her body around the house and started packing everything she needed and preparing for the extraction.

To fight against a master swordswoman like Dolon, Rydel needed to take a few pages out of Valerie's book and maximize every single tactical advantage he may have. However, the first thing he needed to figure out is to short out the monitoring devices floating throughout the battlefield. Back on Valerie's Arena, Zel and Rydel had came across quite a few of the monitoring drones floating around and recording the battle. It is a very simple and cheap drone camera set up, and the durability of the devices is less than ideal.

To fully use his artifacts without a worry in the world, he needed to find a way to disable the monitoring cameras. Fortunately, he already had an idea as to how that would be done.

The next few days was of him grinding away in the labs, Zel's training pocket dimension, and the sparring grounds with his now augmented maces, with a less powerful version of Torelamri's spring coiling mechanism installed. Then, the decision for his challenge is finally issued, and the date of the challenge with Dolon is set to be three days from the time of his challenge.

The three days past just as fast as all the days before, and the day of the challenge arrived before Rydel knew it. With regards to the preparation of Valerie's extraction, they have decided to keep Rydel under wraps, and simply relayed the information that all will be done by the time he finished his fight with Dolon, and both of them would be picked up and taken away by Zel as they make an exit from the Wild regions. So with that being said, Rydel then entrusted the detailed preparation to his friends.

Similarly to before, Rydel met up with Valerie for a final breakfast on the day of the challenge, and the sighs of fatigue is quite visible for both parties.

'Look at you, you look like shit.' Valerie said, 'if you are going out, don't go out looking like that...' Valerie said as she grabbed a tissue and wiped away a stain on Rydel's face.

'Well, I did realised fighting against Dolon without abundant protection would be an extremely foolish thing to do. I just learnt to...maximise my use of time.' As he pointed to a cargo container near the back with all the gear he had made prior to today, Rydel stuffed yet another potato wedge in his mouth, 'you have shown me that if you bring a platoon worth of weapons and firepower, anyone could be taken down.'

'Especially for those Aquarians who are in love with their dying art.' Valerie said, 'no offense to your friend, but I just couldn't get myself to devote my life to mastering simple weapons when clearly a combination of everything is the way to go for post modern combat. Close range, far range, use of automation....I am sure you have prepared all those?'

'...yes' Rydel swallowed hard and looked down onto his plate. He has obviously not looked as far as Valerie when it comes to this. Now, Rydel could only imagine what she could do with the power of Lock down. A hidden turret on the battle field with delayed firing? Or even pausing bullets mid air only to fire them later?

'Um...yeah. Well, I think your mind is your most powerful weapon.' Rydel acted like her words didn't affect him and took a sip of his with an exaggerated pose and covered his face with the cup.

'Well, let's hope that could bring you back to me.' Valerie said, 'don't you die out there.'

'Don't you die out there.'

Now,they are standing on the space port of the Academy, and Valerie simply repeated her way of wishing Rydel good luck. He reached out with his left and squeezes her right and gave her a smile.

'I guess...I will see you soon.'

The shuttle ramp hinged around the ship and slowly rose up after Rydel has entered the ship. Then the engine roared and the ship soared up into the sky. Valerie let's out a sigh and looked down on her hand, the beacon device showed Rydel slowly leaving the planet's atmosphere. When they have landed and the fight has begun, then it's time to make her exit.

Valerie went back to her accommodation, and found that a few officers wearing heavy armor have surrounded the area, where a tape is being set up around the house.

'What is going on here?' Valerie asked as she angrily stomped towards them. The leading person there was equipped with a chunky and complicated looking machine around him, and he carried it easily. He spun around, the tubing and wires dangling around his shoulders and shaking with his every movement.

'Miss Valerie Surtnouf, we were told to keep up of you here. Please feel free to head back into your house.' The Officer replied while dropping the nozzle of his equipment and pointed towards her feet.

'So now you are keeping me in custody?'

'Not exactly. Please understand our concerns.' The Officer didn't budge as Valerie stepped forward and got up close and personal, 'but we will leave you to your devices within your home.'

'Fine! But you better be the one to sort out our food too!' Valerie bumped into his shoulder and pushed the combined 140 kilograms of mass to the side. To truly catch them by surprise, she would at least need to put up an act of that truly bothering her.

Valerie disappeared behind the door, and hours passed.

Then, the ground from underneath the patrols shook too it's core as the patrols taking a break around the perimeter rose to their feet to prepare for whatever is coming. Then, flashes of light popped off multiple times from within the living room as. The shock waves tore through the windows and sent the shattered glass pouring out.

Without giving anyone a break, fire grew from within the house as smoke spread around the entire premise within an instant and explosion followed suit, breaking down the supporting structural beams and causing the entire structure to collapse!

'Get the fire fighting drones, now!' The Officer ordered, and then he commanded all those who wore the same gear as him to line up and group in a formation. They are a squad of pseudo artifact users, and they quickly adjusted the dials and locked in in the area.

If Valerie is here, then she would realize exactly what's happening. That's a squad of nanotechnology enhanced individuals wielding pseudo-Lock Down!

They synchronized the timing with each other, and fired at once in order to lock down the entire house and prevent whatever comes next. However, the explosives were faster than them, and despite their best efforts, the building completely collapsed under its load and what was once a beautiful luxury town house were turned into a pile of rocks and rubbles.

'Shit...' The Officer stood speechless as he dropped the pseudo-Lock down down and stared at the piles of rubble.

'Captain...? What should we do?'

'Alert Lady Lily!'