Princess Eshala halted her deep meditation.
After losing a 'part' of her self, she spent most of her time in this state, trying to 'fix' herself.
It just didn't work out.
Even though the part she lost was equivalent to a clone, it was more than just a dumb clone.
It was only a rank 9 copy but it had 'life' in ways a normal clone wouldn't. It was supposed to break the borders, sneak in and
If she had been a rank 2, she'd have recovered long ago. But as a peak rank 1, it was going to take a few more centuries on top of the five hundred years that already passed.
"I hate that woman…" Isadora's arrogant face flashed in her mind.
Until then, Eshala mostly moved behind the scenes. People didn't even know her rank or achievements.
But that one battle where Isadora defeated her clone and sealed it off caused a huge stir in the Empire.
Eshala never understood how the battle seemingly in her clone's favor suddenly shifted. But before it did, the transmission was cut off.
She could only feel her clone's state, not what's happening there. In just a short while, Isadora who was on the losing end until then flipped the table.
"Why did she have to die so abruptly?"
Isadora might've died but the damage remained.
Voices rose in her own faction, questioning her competence.
Eshala came into the spotlight on her own voilition and with as much publicity as she could get, ruthlessly crushed any opposing voices.
'If only I could kill her with my own hands…'
Shaking her head, the divine ranker went through the latest happenings in the Empire and beyond.
< A kingdom from Mors is trying to create a drug to corrupt living and non-living >
'Is this guy new to the job? Too many experiments happen everywhere everytime.'
< Nexus is shaken by the news about order-chaos slivers. The public are hopeful but the elites are divided. The agencies are frustrated for not finding any leads >
'If you could find him so easily, then he wouldn't be a sliver, no, slivers holder.'
< The investigation of the team that participated in the Tower expedition has been complete. They were welcomed into their territories grandly.
Attempts are being made to either put our agents around them or to lure them away to kidnap for an interrogation.
Preliminary estimation of the task: Fifteen years >
'Experience says it'll take fifty at least. But that's not too long.'
A divine ranker saw time in a fundamentally different way from everyone else. Even though they weren't immortal, they might as well be due to their lifespans that easily crossed millions of years.
Even though Eshala wasn't very old compared to the old monsters, she too couldn't take the time span of a decade seriously.
But if she was like them who lived so long they'd blink away at Centuries, then she wouldn't be called a genius princess and assume this position in the first place.
"Oh, what's this?"
After the important news regarding strategic affairs came pieces of information regarding her 'dear' siblings.
< The 7th Prince wants to teach the Pala kingdom a lesson for invading so close to Andromeda. Even though it's just a duchy, it is considered a stain in his career >
"Oh," Eshala put her index finger on her lower lip and tapped it with a charming smile. "An attack so close to the heartland? That's a first since…as far as I can remember."
The Princess turned her gaze and her eyes flashed with a soft, holy light.
Her gaze flashed past hundreds of light years, crossed the Andromeda galaxy itself and reached the Zion duchy in a satellite galaxy.
Mysterious symbols flashed in her pupils and the state of the duchy before its destruction slowly constructed in her vision.
'A solar system, a few planets, moons. Not a lot of destruction. But it's definitely a humilation.'
The invaders could just jump a bit more and they could enter the heartland—Andromeda.
If they could attack Zion with impunity, what's to say they couldn't do the same for any duchy here?
Eshala couldn't see everything through her powers. Divine rankers weren't omnipotent. The leverage she had over others depending on the opponents' power as well as other factors.
Still, in just a few seconds, she learned more about what happened than most investigators.
As the sequence of events played like a movie, she caught a few unclear silhouttes.
She couldn't see their faces clearly. Not that 'appearances' mattered to someone of her rank. It's that she couldn't sense their essence clearly. It was a blur.
But the 'feeling' she got from the man, not his appearance but simply his being, was familiar.
Like a genetic signature, each individual also had something called 'signature timeflow'.
Like a star, an individual would also distort space-time curvature around them. But this wouldn't matter to normal people who were too weak. Or even for weaker celestials.
After some threshold, however, it becomes clear. Due to the sheer energy they hold, these powerhouses affect the space-time fabric around them.
Even though the amount of energy keeps changing and so does the distortion, the patterns of an individual remain.
Esahala couldn't grasp the 'signature timeflow' accurately due to the blur. But her experience over centuries told her that she did encounter this already.
'Constantine! It's definitely Constantine!'
The Princess' eyebrows jumped. Gnashing her teeth, she called on for more detailed reports.
Even though the Jai Empire had excellent agents, nothing concrete was found about how or why it happened.
Whoever was behind the attack seemed to be a cautious personality.
But one thing was certain.
Centaurus seemed to be launch pad for the attack. The same Centaurus that was previously the stage for this bastard to make his entrance.
'It could be a bait to mislead everyone but it can't be ruled out that he's from Centaurus or surroundings…'
As she browsed through the latest intelligence on the duchy, a piece of information caught her eye.
'The new civilization. The time of its discovery shortly preceedes Constantine's activities. Unknown powerhouse, unknown civilization.'
The Princess parted her lips and tapped into the empty space.
A light flashed and an old, reluctant and confused voice sounded.
"Am I dreaming?"
"No. I didn't want to call you, but I'll need you to find me something. In return, your offense those years ago will be forgiven."
The other side fell silent, seemingly giving it some thought.
Of course, Eshala didn't mean what she said. The man on the otherside wasn't a fool enough to believe her words.
But if an exchange was to be established, then a superficial excuse was enough.
"What is it?"
"Full census of the new civilization near Centaurus."
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