Arthur Leywin's POV:

I used god step to reach Agrona in a flash. He could barely react. He conjured a sword of mana. I drew my dagger to clash against it, while we had a contest of strength. Shockwaves surged from the impact tearing away at our surroundings. The scythe who was now recovered rushed to stab my back. Regis, 'Armor form' I chanted. The jet black aura of my companion clad my body into full-body armor providing me with complete defense. Now I can focus on Agrona completely. The scythe couldn't pierce the armor, shocked, he used his soul fire which was rendered useless.

I could sense multiple high power surges, although a bit distant, headed towards us. They must be the other Asuras that Agrona mentioned before. If so, then I don't wanna go up against all of them while concerning that Caera is here. I should fall back. But I needed to do something that will stall the Scythes back in Dicathen even if it is just for some time.

I had an Idea. A wave of shock jolted through my mind for a second. Recently, unprecedented pain surges through my mind because of the Fate Edict. Although I failed to obtain its full power. I acquired some info nevertheless. Agrona backed off while giving me the room to follow. This was a trap. But being in Armor form, I was not worried about tricks like that. I kicked forward to slash at his uncovered limbs just before he vanished behind my back.

He swung his sword downward to get a sneaky strike on me, yet he couldn't pass through my armor.

'Looks like he is having a hard time.' Regis smirked.

I learned that there is a large-scale communication device set in the castle to relay information to the Scythes. I wonder if they already knew I was storming the castle. I need to put the scythes on alert If I want to delay their movement. I didn't know whether the messages are passed automatically?. Then I decided in my mind.

Regis, Iets bring down the castle. do you mind?

'Will be a great goodbye gift for taking care of us here in Alacrya' Regis stifled a laugh.

'But how would the communication device delay the scythes.' Sylvie asked.

Destroying the castle might send a signal to the scythes which can distract them by some minutes at least.

I could sense a bit of unease coming from Sylvie. She must be thinking about Agrona and Sylvia. Well, she was their daughter after all. I want to help her settle the issues.

'Not now Arthur, we need to head back to Dicathen quick. We can't afford to risk this. We will settle the matters with him when we get back here again.' she spoke.

Alright, Sylv. I prepared myself to launch an attack.

The knowledge of destruction and despair, the end of creation and evolution flowed into my mind. The god rune shined brightly on my Jet black armor. Noticing the change, Agrona clicked his tongue, then proceeded to use some defense barriers around his people.

Orbs of destruction spread around me as they dissipated everything they came in contact with. They grew in size exponentially. The very castle we are in started to fade away. I was floating at the epicenter of the destruction along with Sylvie carrying Caera. Agrona's barriers were shredded into pieces, they let out some attacks to counter my flame, but none had any effect.

They were surprised to find that the flames didn't hurt them. This was because the flames we conjured only destroyed inorganic things. Although I wanted to test the impact of the destruction rune on Agrona, it has to wait for later. Because the Highbloods and other civilians might get killed.

The castle vanished as everyone stood awed on the ground. Agrona must have sensed a part of my true power now. The incoming asuras were insight as they stared down at us with great tension. Even I knew that going against all of them here wouldn't let me leave unscathed. Although my body can heal itself.

"How do you plan to escape here, since you have already destroyed the portal to Elenoir, which was your only chance," Agrona said.

"Hmm, that is indeed a bad thing. But, anyway.."

I clenched my fist forward causing a part of my vision to distort in front of me. Aether, mana and the air got sucked into the distortion as it grew to the size of a portal. The reason I had to come here rather than using a portal directly was because of some restrictions. If I wanted to teleport to an area with dense energy then the place I am teleporting from also needs to be as much dense. So, I needed to be here in central dominion to teleport to Elenoir.

The Asuras along with Agrona were caught off guard by my move. When they came back to their senses, they prepared lethal projectiles to intercept us. Sylvie, knowing my intent, rushed into the irregular portal while carrying Caera. Several figures raced towards me before I unleashed my king's force to stall them.

I ensured that Sylvie got in safely and god stepped into it. What laid before me, was a tunnel of mystery. No matter how many times I passed through here I couldn't quite grasp the view before me. I compressed the portal enough before the projectile attacks from Asura's reached us. It reduced in size before exploding tremendously. We were only left with deep darkness as we got sucked into the tunnel.

The distortion would be returning to the natural state thanks to the ambient Aether in the surroundings. Since, the source influencing the distortion is stopped, the Aether progresses to bring it to normal state. But, I am sure, the explosion would've been a good surprise. Regis how badass was our escape? I asked as we are kicked out of the tunnel. He manifested into his usual form.

'A Purrfect 10 on 10 Princess' he said amused.

A familiar scene stretched in front of our eyes. The deep forest of Elenoir, although the most part was deserted due to Aldir's attack in the past. Still, I was glad to be back.

"Welcome back home Arthur" Sylvie spoke with a solemn expression.

"yes Sylvie, I almost forgot. Welcome to Dicathen, my home continent, Regis and Caera" I said warmly.

"I bet your people would be dying to hear the stories of how I had to save your ass many times" we snickered at Regis's comment.

"We have a lot a discuss Arthur" Caera spoke, while I was taken back by her using my real name.

"Yeah, we sure do," I said back.

All the incidents, people from Alacrya resurfaced. I was glad that I succeeded in returning alive. I can't wait to meet my mother, Ellie, Virion, Rinia, Kathlyn, and Curtis, twin horns, all the Lances, and most importantly, my responsibility to save Tessia. I want to be able to tell her that it is okay now and you are safe. The sun's dawn glimmered and made me cover my eyes. This is the time for us to take back what we lost.

Fate edict has many branches of which, Agrona has control over the souls of the deceased. But I was bestowed with control over the Abandoned Futures. Simply put, If I had three choices, and I chose one of them. I would know the future events only of the choices I abandoned. This works only after I made my choice and made a permanent move in that direction.

The glimpses of futures I abandoned rushed into me. I had a wide range of choices back in the castle. Every choice had a different consequence on its respective future. Almost every future had a bad result in it. For example, fighting an all-out war against Agrona would've resulted in my victory but the death of all my loved ones. In another, affecting the organic things with destruction rune led to a massacre of many civilians, resulting in a war between the continents for many ages to come. It had many more such abandoned futures and as many gruesome incidents.

Initially, I regretted this power, but I needed to endure this if I want to save everyone. By destroying the castle, my plan was the communication artifact would be done for and might alert the scythes about the mysterious occurrence at the castle. It had to delay them for a short time until we can manage to reunite with my family.

"By the way, Can I go back to calling you Grey?" Caera inquired.

"I guess you can" I answered while leading the group into the forest before flying to our destination.