Angel Monarch
Chapter 444 444: Time Sphere

Henry's eyes flickered open, while his face winced. His body felt painful, but also more powerful… The Evolution was an utter success!

He felt stronger than ever, which brought a wide smile to his face…

"Hey, stop daydreaming, sleepyhead! We're having dinner!"

The Prince snapped to his senses and glanced around the campfire. Vicky, Michael and Veronica all stared at him, each sitting in their own camping chair, holding a plate of some cooked meat and bread.

The Princess sat by his side, looking at him both with relief and grumpiness. She leaned closer and smacked Henry on the back of his head.

"Agh! What was that—"

Before Henry could've continued, Vicky planted a quick kiss on his lips, which shut him up fast.

Both Michael and Veronica giggled as they handed him a plate full of food and utensils. However, when Henry grabbed it, the ceramic cracked and broke.

"Well, I guess we should've expected that. Luckily, that wasn't one of the fancy plates! My love, could you get another one?"

Veronica said nothing in response to her husband's words. She just reached into her pocket and brought out a round object. The next moment she appeared with a new plate… A metal one…

Henry's face burned red as he averted his gaze from the married couple. He took the new plate of food while graciously thanking them.

They just chuckled at his embarrassment and continued eating. Vicky also smiled, which brought a stupid grin to Henry's otherwise expressionless face.

For a few minutes, nobody said anything. Everyone enjoyed their meal in silence, Henry most of all. He devoured plate after plate of food, as if he hadn't eaten in years.

"At least we know the Evolution was successful, otherwise your stomach would've already burst. Anyway, after you ate your fill, let's talk a bit more about what you witnessed… You must have many questions!"

Michael smiled wickedly, causing the Prince to choke on his food. The picture of his lower body melting was still fresh and horrible. However, it didn't stop him from eating a few more plates of meat and bread.

Afterward, he gave the plate to Veronica again, who made it disappear using that strange device.

Henry tried very hard to get a proper glimpse, but the couple moved too fast, so he could never see it clearly. He also found it too rude to ask, so he instead stayed silent in the suffering of his overwhelming curiosity.

When everyone finished their meals, Michael began by making a few rules.

"Before we begin, let me make a few rules. We won't answer anything about our origin, our motivations, powers, etc. Those truths are dangerous, so we'll keep them in the dark for now!"

The regal couple nodded simultaneously. Neither planned on asking about the married couple's identity, even though their deep curiosity drove them to the precipice of insanity.

"Good. There might also be other questions we can't answer, so don't get too surprised or annoyed… Albeit, I highly doubt this will be an issue with you two."

Veronica chuckled at her husband's words, then they both turned silent and awaited their guests' bombardment of questions. However, instead, only silence followed.

Vicky wanted to know the reason for their help, but since that's fallen under the rule about motivation, she stayed quiet.

Henry had the exact opposite problem. He had dozens of questions and wasn't sure where to begin.

The silence stretched, but before it could've turned awkward, the Prince began…

"What's that rapier? I felt some consciousness in the weapon, and why did it begin turning me into a liquid? Also, what were those powers I gained from using it?"

Michael leaned back in his chair, smiling at the questions, and nodded towards his wife, letting her answer everything… She wasn't too happy about it, but didn't refuse the 'offer'…

"The rapier has relevance to our origin, so I won't go into too much detail. It has some semblance of consciousness; you're correct! The blade has many powers. It can make the user evade any physical and some metaphysical attacks!"

The Prince couldn't quite understand what Veronica meant, but upon further elaborating, his and Vicky's eyes both widened in shock.

"The vibrations you felt are of several different frequencies, which makes your body literally Untouchable. Even when the ground disappeared from below your feet, you evaded gravity, and when the Raving Wanderer wanted to stop your time flow, the rapier helped you escape!"

Henry stared at Veronica with mouth agape. That normal-looking rapier had so much power, a regular human could kill Transcended, maybe even Stellars with it!

"The weapon probably looks powerful to you, and this is only a surface-level ability. A regular human wielding my rapier can kill weaker Ethereals if used right; however, it also has a severe drawback, as you already experienced…"

Veronica grinned at Henry, who began shaking his legs unconsciously, as if afraid they would disappear… Or melt…

"It requires a high degree of mental fortitude. If you lose focus or get disturbed too much, you'll begin losing your form. Your body melts until nothing but a blob remains… After the battle, your exhaustion showed itself, and you lost focus. Luckily, the Evolution saved your life!"

While Henry and Vicky both felt stunned after hearing so much new, disturbing information, Michael glanced up with a curious glint in his grayish-blue eyes.

"Speaking of Evolution, don't you want to test your newfound strength and abilities? I'm sure you'll feel impressed with your current fighting prowess!"

The Prince opened his silver watch's interface, but he forgot it didn't reveal any useful information about his status. It also didn't help that the Raving Wanderer, as Veronica called her, was an Unknown creature.

"Oh, I forgot you can't check your own abilities yet. Let me help you with that!"

Henry glanced at the mysterious woman with curiosity. She reached up and touched the side of her sunglasses.

A low buzzing noise echoed from the eyewear, and a small flashing light moved across Henry's body. A sudden shiver went down his spine. For some reason, he felt really uncomfortable under Veronica's gaze.

The buzzing soon ended, and the light went dark. Veronica stayed silent for a few seconds, while she continued pressing the side of the sunglasses.

"Okay, it's done! I scanned your entire body and soul, so you can check on your current abilities, while bypassing that 'System' of yours!"

Veronica grasped the sunglasses and pulled them off with little care. She held them out for Henry to take, but he didn't take them.

Both Henry and Vicky froze upon gazing into Veronica's eyes. Unique and beautiful felt like derogatory terms when describing the absolute artistic perfection of her eyes.

A heavy pink color dominated most of her iris, but hints of orange and rainbow also showed near the pupil. The mysterious depths of her eyes dazzled the regal couple into breathless silence.

"Oh, I forgot! They haven't seen me without sunglasses! Well, no need to get worked up. We've met people with even more unique eyes, but I guess you've seen nothing similar in your life… Anyway, take the glasses and you can check your status!"

Henry shook his head and took the eyewear, desperate to hide at least some of his embarrassed facial expression.

Upon wearing it, his eyes adjusted to the glasses's interface. It wasn't at all like the watch's holo-screen, and navigating through the menus worked by focusing the eyes.

The first screen revealed his physical status. He was perfectly healthy, and it even provided a 'very detailed' model of his entire body.

Since there wasn't anything interesting there, he went to his soul status, where his abilities popped up. He had three, one passive, one active and a transformation. Nothing out of the ordinary.

However, he quickly noticed something strange. His passive ability's name was 'Past Vision', but he couldn't check on its actual properties. Like he couldn't access it yet.

He continued trying for a few seconds, but eventually moved on to the active ability, while making a mental note about asking the married couple later.

His active ability's name was 'Time Sphere'. The sunglasses didn't provide any story, like the watches, but their usage description had a lot more detail.

'Time Sphere: Gives the user the ability to separate a small area from reality's time flow. In the separated area, the time flow can increase or decrease based on the user's preference.'

As Henry read the description, he used the newfound power coursing through his veins to build a time sphere around himself and Vicky.

The Princess glanced around full of curiosity. She felt it when the sphere went up, and upon looking at the mysterious couple, they seemed to move in slow motion.

Her white eyes then moved to Henry, who continued reading his other ability…

'Wandering Relics: A plate armor and a warscythe, each holding immense power within. The armor can withstand most environmental hazards and can survive even the heaviest of blows. The warscythe carries a strand of time in its structure. It takes nothing but a single cut to seep away someone's future years.'

"Well, that's not something I can test out yet…" He whispered to himself while dismissing the time sphere.

The time flow returned to normal, and as Henry handed back the glasses, he asked, "Why is my passive ability grayed out?"

Before Veronica could've answered, Michael spoke, bringing everyone's attention to himself.

"It is possible your passive uses too much essence or simply takes such a toll on your body that your soul can't activate it automatically. If so, you'd best leave it alone; otherwise, you might kill yourself."

Henry nodded with a thoughtful expression, while Vicky spoke in a curious voice.

"Can I check his status too? I'm curious about his abilities!"

Veronica used the opportunity, while Henry didn't pay attention, to hand the sunglasses to the Princess. She grinned wickedly while handing it over, while Michael just rolled his eyes.

Vicky's face soon went red as her surprised yelp echoed around the campfire… She accidentally opened the physical status window…