Chapter 672: 672

A month after Edward Ortberg's appearance in Green-Leaf, things started heating up in the Wasteland, more than anyone could have imagined . Many people, especially those roaming or living in that barren land, were surprised by the aggressive and alarming behavior of the newly established MoonStar sect .

The only thing that was publicly known is that the Vice-Sect master, Sonia, recruited a mortal who was put in charge of the army, which is only composed of a few tens of thousands of Undead . Before Aborak, the Lich King returned to his Realm, he left a few of Arthur's undead and took the rest with him, as agreed before the war against the White Specters .

With just a small and relatively weak army of undead under his command, the mortal did the unthinkable and before anyone could react, he marched South-West and took the wasteland by storm . His decisive thinking and flawless strategy allowed him to totally and one-sidedly win against the Naga Tribe, one of the three forces dominating this place . Many called his way of fighting as dirty and unorthodox but it was effective and definitive .

The only strong undead under his command were two bone-dragons, a squadron of earth and fire-using zombies, and a skeletal Lord . The Bone Dragons were no longer enhanced by Death Energy, neither were they controlled by a Death-Magic user so they could only contend against Divine Realm cultivators, nevertheless, Edward managed to beat the two Naga Leaders, who are both at the God Realms .

If this was it then the serial-killer wouldn't have been the talk of Green-Leaf . The crazy human didn't even rest as he took the Army East and attack the Pigolo Tribe next, showing no mercy or hesitation . Although the battle was much harder, he managed to emerge victorious after losing close to three thousands undead .

Even Sonia, who cautioned him to expand their territory without provoking nearby factions, were startled and couldn't stop him in time . Edward's leadership and conceited strategies are, without a doubt, fascinating, however, it would them no good to incur the wrath of the forces outside of the wasteland, which are much stronger than the Nagas or Pigolos .

Plus, if the Holy Dominion were to heart about this, they would stop at nothing to eradicate the newly built city and everyone living it . Arthur and Lucy became well-known in the Cloud Sea Universe, especially after the war in the Divine Planet and Lucy's abrupt arrival at Astrith's execution .

Sonia banged her fist on the table, causing Robin, Rey, and Gutcha to twitch and take a step back . It's the first time they've seen the usually calm Sonia this enraged . Her face was flushed and she was trembling as she glared at the nonchalant man sitting opposite of her and munching the fruit as if he wasn't the origin of this whole mess .

"I told you to slowly expand!"

Edward shrugged his shoulders and coldly retorted,

"Am I not supposed to eat the foot presented in front of me? Think about all the loot and prizes I've brought back . There has even been people from both tribes who forsake their homes and joined my army! I think you should be thanking me!"

"What thanking! You bastard! You don't even know how much danger you've brought us!"

Sonia seemed about to pounce at the weak mortal at any time . Were it not for Robin, who lightly coughed and held the woman's shoulder, she would have already choked the man . He said many things to prove his identity and when he requested to be put in charge of the army, Sonia never thought he'll do something this absurd, after all, who would expect anything from a mortal?

Seeing him still maintaining that casualness, Sonia snorted and kicked him out of the room before sitting back on her chair . Rey and Gutcha left, leaving her alone with Robin, who massaged her shoulders while saying,

"The King will surely visit us soon . "

Sonia groaned and replied, "Ugh, I know, I will deal with him . We must block the news from leaving Green-Leaf the situation is already bad in Astria and I don't think Arthur can handle both the angels and the Dominion at the same time . "

The vice-master paused for a couple of seconds before asking, "Is Taliya back yet?"

"No, not yet . You know her relationship with the King is deepening and that's something good for us . Even if things turn for the worse, we can count on her to provide help using the King's forces .

**********

"Cycles are actually a fraction of a timeline that is repeating itself . It can be interpreted as a 'glitch' hence the existence of countless fixes . In your case, your life is revolving around two cycles, both relatively short but still impact the whole timeline due to your nature and origin . To better understand the methods I will provide you later, let's first go back to the beginning . You, named, at first, Arthur and given the last name of your creator, Bilgart . When you came into existence, your soul was whole but through a complicated series of events, it was split in two and one became Sol'khin after being influenced by The Black Devil's savage aura and his defected 'children' . Up to that point, your cycles have yet to begin and time was advancing smoothly, as it should be . The 'Glitch' I mentioned is the conjunction of two reincarnations happening to the same person, meaning that when Patrick Stone appeared on Earth and offered you another life, the cycle began . When you accepted his offer and ended your life, it disrupted the balance because even if you refused, you would still have been reincarnated .

Maybe you're unaware of this but Wolfram Sakimoto and Leiu had forced Fate to reincarnate your soul in Astria so there was no need for Patrick's interference . Basically, the first cycle was created when Fate's powers and the Patrick's Symmetric Wheel of Reincarnation clashed . However, even that is not enough to form a real 'Glitch', or a loop, some would call it . The catalyst was something many call it 'Luck' but it's really an unfortunate coincidence . Being reborn as Parasite instead of so many other options was the finisher, the thing which started and caused all the rest .

Now, let me jump to the second cycle, which is tied to the first one but wasn't born the same way, per se . The second cycle is because of Zodiak's large impact on the timeline, which caused a successive loop to contain the first one, it can be interpreted as a self-protection measure put by the world, the existence itself . Are you following me?"

"Yes, please continue . "

"Cycles are like holes inside a straight and flat ruler, for example . It can be patched up, filled up, replaced, and so on The best way is to create another timeline but that is a very difficult yet effective and safe method .

Now, for your case, you can break out using many ways . I'm sure you have been told this by your other self but one of the method is for an outsider to break the cycles when it's the second one is beginning as, at that time, the link between the two is at its weakest . There is also death, by dying at not the right time and place, it can break the cycles but you'll cease to exist, of course .

I'm sure you know this is not the first time 'you' come here and the Garden of Words is not a place restricted by Time and Space so the repeating cycles do not affect it neither does it reset anything . You've come here many times before and the questions are, more or less, the same as the last time . It's the same for the answers I'm giving you . Also, let me tell you a bonus thing unrelated to your questions . The Arthur of the first cycles, albeit failing, still managed to achieve an unconceivable thing and made it so that a certain person is like me . "

"Like you? What do you mean?"

"I told you that I'm not bound by Time and Space so I retain the memories of all previous cycles and everything that precedes them . Understand what you will and if you can't come to a conclusion then forget what I said . "