Did I expect the aging Elizabeth to pull out the sword in the stone and prove herself as worthy of being the rightful Queen of England?

Somewhat.

Elizabeth only needs to try, and I will allow her to do so just out of respect.

I have to respect her for trying, considering her age, no matter how much of an asshole I am currently.

Honestly, it is quite hilarious to see the Queen climbing all the way up the summit and then proceeding to try and pull out the mythical blade embedded at the top. She did so with all of her strengths amidst the cheering and encouragement of the English people.

Much of the western world joins in as well.

In contrast, I remain expressionless and watch her without saying a single word. This is actually one of those memorable moments, and I certainly will record it down for later reviewing.

"Please let her pull it out. Please let her pull it out. Oh God. Please let her."

"Damn. This is hard to watch, but I can't stop watching. Go! Your Highness! You can do it!"

"Bloody hell. Is that Excalibur?"

"Pull it out! Pull it out! Pull it out!"

"No. No. The sword in the stone is not the sword of legend. Excalibur was given to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake after he broke that sword in battle. I didn't expect the myth to be real."

"It is real! Blimey! It is real! It is the sword from legend! Excalibur!"

"Like I have said."

"Shut up old man. No body wants to hear your bullshit."

"Do it! Please do it. Please pull out the sword."

"Please pull out Excalibur!"

It obviously isn't the actual sword in the stone from Arthurian legends, which is more myths than facts from my own understanding. Every historian who dabbles in the legends has their own interpretation, which makes it convoluted and contradictory.

Despite that, in every incarnation, the sword in the stone is the ultimate symbol of leadership.

Actually, a sword has always been as such. Not the sword in the stone, but a sword itself.

Throughout the history of the world, a sword has always been the symbol of leadership, power, justice, dignity and honor. It is said to be the emblem of military honor and it should incite the bearer to a just pursuit of honor and virtue.

That is why my weapon of choice is a spear. It is for me to take down all those chivalrous knights from out of range. A sniper rifle would be a better choice of weapon, to be honest.

There is no need to fight with honor and justice in a real battle.

And what is really honor and justice when you are being slaughtered like a dog?

Hasn't it already been proven in the Great War where great and honorable men are mowed down by machine gun emplacements with absolute impunity?

There is no substitute for a good strategy in a real life and death battle.

Even underhanded tactics should be utilized fully if it means that you get to live longer than the enemy.

Play dirty whenever possible.

In my book, the battle is already won or lost even before the first shot is fired. That is how important planning and preparation is. And you shouldn't worry about the morality of things and do what must be done.

Besides, only the victor matters in the end.

History is written by the winner after all.

And whatever everyone thinks of the truth is the truth instead of the actual truth.

That is why the good men and women of Hydra will do whatever they must in order to reach the goal, including killing billions of people and destroying numerous countries. Not numerous of countries, but all countries.

There is no need for countries in the future.

Only the Imperium of Hydra!

What the people of Hydra have done so far and will do in the future couldn't really compare to me for I am literally destroying worlds. Creation always comes after destruction.

That cycle has been repeated for numerous numbers of time in the bible.

Not just the Bible, but apparently in every religion that exist on Earth.

By the way, Christians and Muslims worship the same God regardless of how they actually come to be in the mind of the people. That is saying something.

And I am certain that every monotheistic religion on Earth worship the same God.

The Human Collectiveness confirms this, which makes me wonder if someone has done so on purpose, and to accomplish it across multiple realities, that takes some ingenuity.

But what is the real reason for it? For kicks and laughs? One reality is enough for that. Multiple realities being affected implies that it is for an actual purpose.

What that purpose is, I am not sure yet.

So many questions that I do not have an answer to yet. But at least it is not directly opposing my desire of humanity supremacy throughout the universe unlike what is happening in this reality.

Killing all life in this universe can't serve any real purpose, right?

And those elusive individuals don't seem to mind me bringing salvation to humanity. A couple of them have even given a chuckle at witnessing the aging Queen of England struggles to pull the sword from the stone.

"So, Hades. Is that what I think it is? Excalibur?"

That question caught my attention. It is spoken by a young man in his early twenties. He is sitting alone in front of a television within a home that did not belong to him.

There is no one else in the house, so who is he talking to?

"Huh? No. Excalibur was given to Astoria by that Lady of the Lake after she had gotten her ass kicked in the battle. The sword in the stone should be called Caliburnus or Caliburn."

The one designated as Hades speaks up from half way across the world. It appears that these guys and girls are communicating with each other without the using phones or any sort of technological devices, at least from what Legion is telling me.

No electromagnetic waves are detected.

Legion also didn't detect any traces of magical energy, meaning they aren't using magic to talk to each other either.

Does that mean they are using spiritual mean?

Sadly, Legion cannot detect spiritual energy at the moment.

And I don't think he will without having a soul himself.

This leaves only me.

How should I get close to them to sense if they are using spiritual energy or not?

"I am not asking whether it is Caliburn or Excalibur, Hades. I am asking you whether it is the real thing."

The young man responses. He appears to be slightly annoyed. I would be to if my question is not being answered properly.

"I don't think so, Zeus. But let me check in my inventory."

Inventory? Like in an actual game?

Before I could answer my own question, an incredibly amount of magical power is detected.

That much magical energy instantly overloads the sensor on the cloaked drone, causing the machine to short circuit.

And even if it did not decloak, Hades notice it.

With the magical sword from Arthurian legends in his hand, he swipes it along the air and sends out a massive energy blast. The energy blade destroys the drone along with half of the city, leaving behind a deep chasm, surprising even me.

Is that the power of Excalibur? It is real!? I want one. Fuck. I really want one. Just to break it apart and see how it works. It is obviously a magical enchanted weapon. A very powerful one.

Luckily, there is no one left in the city.

"Looks like we are being spied upon, Zeus."

Hades speaks up, causing everyone else across the world to look around the room.

One of the rooms drops sharply in temperature, revealing the cloaked drone in the corner.

"Found you."

The girl said before the drone instantly turns into a block of ice and crashes onto the ground, shattering into a million pieces. Before the drone was destroyed, it tells me that the normal temperature of the room drops to absolute zero in an instant.

Not instantly, but within a microsecond.

And unlike Excalibur, there is also no magical energy being detected whatsoever from her attack. This means she is not using magic.

That shouldn't be possible.

Shadow swirls around another person in India before erupting outwards, washing over everything and destroying anything that isn't visible.

The cloaked drone didn't even have the chance to send any feedback to Legion before being consumed by darkness and destroyed.

"I thought Ghostly make sure that we are hidden?"

Another person questions. He sits atop one of the tallest skyscrapers in Beijing, looking directly at the cloaked drone hovering some distance away.

Within an instant, the cloaked drone feels itself being crushed by an invisible force. It detects that the atmospheric pressure has increased several thousand folds.

The drone then explodes violently.

And from another cloaked drone within range, I could see that the explosion didn't spread outwards like it would normally. It is being contained and condensed into a small ball.

Once the flames die down, only a small metallic ball remains.

The Chinese person takes the ball into his hand and then casually tosses it at another drone, destroying that one too since the speeding metallic baseball is too fast too dodge. The ball vanishes into the upper atmosphere.

It would fly straight into space.

What kind of godly strength is that!?

Even I can't do it yet.

I narrow my eyes slightly as each of my cloaked drones are being destroyed in all manner of ways. And none of them are using magic from what I could tell.

Legion confirms this. The sensor did not pickup any magical energy at all.

Perhaps it is not sensitive enough. It is still an early version after al.

And it still requires a lot more research.

The only drone that is not destroyed is the one in the presence the first person who had spoke up. His name is Zeus. He didn't seem to mind being spied upon.

"Ghostly is not here. He hasn't been since the Power of Decay makes itself known. He just disappears, and I do not think that he has ditched us even though he keeps announcing that this is temporary until he finds for himself some loli Goddesses."

Zeus speaks up and leers at the cloaked drone.

I see that Ghostly is a man of culture. I mean Ghost of Culture. Hah!

Zeus can see the drone even though it is cloaked.

And the only reason he hasn't destroyed it like his friends is because he didn't want to reveal his power to me.

That makes him the smart one. He also appears to be the leader.

"The only reason that I can think of at the moment is that time has been reversed. From what I know, time does not affect Ghostly like it does to us because he is an astral entity. If I am right, this Maximilien Maxwell has the Power of Time."

Zeus continues.

Wow. How did this guy figure that out? And thank you for the information about astral entity.

Did that mean ghost are not affected by my power?

It makes sense since ghost are basically disembodied spirit or soul. Soul and spirit are not affected by my power. Wait a second, he implies that it didn't affect Ghostly like it did to the rest of them.

That means it does affect ghost, just not in the same way.

Interesting. Very interesting.

I am paying full attention to the conversation instead of watching the Queen of England trying to pull out the sword. It is slowly being remove from the stone, so she will get it out eventually.

"Really? The Power of Time? She is looking for that, so she can kill the Aspect of Time."

The girl speaks up. She is shocked and surprised.

And I wonder who this "she" she is referring to.

I do hate the pronoun game, especially when it concerns me.

I didn't remember pissing off anyone enough to wanting to kill me. I mean anyone important.

The Power of Time is different to what I have from the way she speaks of it. They also don't know that I am the Aspect of Time.

I should keep it that way.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's harvest it for her."

The one in Australia speaks up. This guy destroyed the cloaked drone by just looking at it, so I am not sure what his power is.

A teenager with similar facial appearance and hair is yawning on his laps. From that alone, I can safely assume they are siblings. It is not certain until they confirm it themselves.

"I would have thought he has the Power of Fire since he has been burning people all over the place. It is pretty high level too since he didn't need to be in direct line of sight. Also, it is very annoying because we are waiting for the Power of Decay to choose someone."

The one in India speaks up. He is the youngest amongst them from his size.

But looks can be deceiving.

"Don't be stupid, Jake. Like Samuel has just said, he can kill people without being there in person. That tells me he isn't so weak that you can just harvest it from him. And I am unsure how he is doing it since it is not Power of Incineration or any deviations. He has the Power of Time."

The girl speaks up again.

"You guys are revealing sensitive information. And don't tell me that it is okay now since each of you have destroyed a drone or two. He could easily replace them. I am relatively sure that he has already did."

Zeus speaks up again before cocking his head towards the drone in the room.

"Is that that right, Maximilien Maxwell? Why are you impersonating the fictional Ori?"

Zeus asks me directly. This guy is definitely the leader.

And there is no need to keep the cloaking active.

"And who might you be?"

I ask through the drone.

"Did you not get it my name? Unlike you, who is impersonating a God. I am a real God."

==== AN ====

Introduction to Power as well as Power Wielders.

Yes. There is a reference to Ghostly, the main character from Ghost of Culture. This is the first time he is mentioned. He will make an appearance eventually.