Galaxy's First Ruler

The planet VR-252 was a red dot in infinite space. It had only one moon, and the solar system it was a part of had only one sun.

Pretty normal, one might think.

But today something weird was going on inside and outside the planet. The countless spaceships patrolling the Rosalia had almost vanished overnight. There was a huge battleship orbiting the planet. But the occasional sparks coming out of it told a story of it encountering a major problem.

Aside from the single battleship, the most noticeable about the planet was the blurry covering of a blue shield. From afar, it was indistinguishable from Rosalia's red atmosphere. But upon nearing it, one could feel the repulsion coming out of it. It started as an itch, but if people were to barge into it, disintegration would be the least of their worries.

This blue covering was the Grade 5 Mana Field.

Through the Mana Field, in the space around the Manor and above the dense layer of clouds, one could see blue and black flashes. These flashes were as frequent as the lightning that surrounded them. And their nature felt serene and toxic at the same time. At one glance, one could say that the intensity of blue flashes was slightly higher than the black ones.

Some 200 to 300 miles south of these flashes, opposite to the Everlasting Tower, one could see a fiery balloon rising from time to time. From space, these balloons were of red and blue color and seemed quite concentrated. If measured through an instrument, one could find out they were at least five to ten miles away from each other.

But the most bizarre and inexplicable scene was the distortion in Mana Field. It happened every single time after the disappearance of these balloons. And it was like a whirl had appeared on Mana field's surface as if there was a drain under it. This whirl and the supposed loss of Mana were insignificant on the scale of the entire Mana Field. But for a single Dreamer, it was an incomprehensibly huge amount.

*

BOOOM!!!

This was the tenth time this sound had shaken the space surrounding it.

Marquess Harold's body got thrown out from the center of the explosion. But there were no simple cuts and bruises on him anymore. His loose shirt had vanished, and the ponytail on his head had gotten untied. A coating of blood had covered his black-brown disheveled hair, and his entire body was like a disfigured pineapple.

Thuu!

Marquess Harold stood up and spit out clotted blood. Although he seemed in pretty awful shape, these were nothing but superficial wounds. But the damage was piling up, little at a time. And from the raging and helpless eyes of Harold, one could say that he, too, couldn't find any solution to this problem.

"What the fuck is this Summon?!"

Harold muttered under his breath as he saw the vanishing explosion sucking away Mana out of the Mana Field surrounding the planet. He just couldn't comprehend what type of Summon could actively take Mana, outside of his Summoner, to revive itself.

This section of Mana had even disturbed the Mana within the immediate surrounding, making it impossible for him to go for Aldrich. And even if he tried to get away, the Summon kept appearing in front of him like another Nuclear missile. The thing that baffled him the most was its use of One Step Shunpo. Though its range was low, it was as fast as the original.

For the last few minutes, Harold had tried every means possible to search for Aldrich and get away from this bug. But even his tremendous Divine Sense had gotten no hint of Aldrich. Harold took himself to air, and like a hawk, eyed every direction. But soon the abysmal song rang up and reached his ears.

"Ra ru ra ra la la…

Thou art King of Kings…"

Ahhhh!!

Harold let out a deafening shout, and the space rippled as the Summon appeared in front of him.

"You fucking insect!"

Shuuu!

Harold cursed and vanished in a random direction. But he couldn't just go outside these hundred miles. Even though he didn't know accurately, he knew Aldrich was right here somewhere. As soon as Harold took a perfunctory glance at the surroundings, the Summon appeared in front of him.

The only solution Harold had found was to use the time of its resurrection in searching for Aldrich and cut the roots once and for all.

"But where is he?"

Harold muttered, but as he saw the Summon dashing towards him like a flying grenade, he shook his head in absolute anger. Gritting his teeth, he spread out his arms and shouted.

"Come! Have a taste of your father."

Even before they could touch each other, the Summon lit up in a blue flash. Time seemed to have stopped eternally at that moment. And then this sound originated and reached the depths of the planet and space.

BOOOOM!!!

...

Cough! Cough!!

"Ughhh…"

Harold came out of the explosion, and coughed, paining his dry throat. He looked at his hands and found many nails missing. Even the end of his hair had got burned. None could say that this ten-year-old boy, who looked impoverished and malnourished, was a Marquess.

Harold, wasting no time, looked here and there. His Perception was working at its max output, searching even the bugs under the rocks miles away. But even then he couldn't find Aldrich. Seeing that this round was over, Harold waited for the Summon to reappear.

30 seconds

1 minute

2 minutes, then turned to 3, but Harold couldn't see any hint of the Summon. He looked up and didn't sense any suction of Mana, either. If the Summon had disappeared, it only meant one thing.

Aldrich must have canceled his Skill.

"ALDRICHHHHH!!!"

Harold let out such a cry that even the sound of the explosion seemed to fade away compared to it. Finally, accepting his inability to find Aldrich, Harold menacingly looked around before dashing towards the distant flashes.

*

Directly under the last position of Harold, sitting leisurely over a rock, Aldrich eyed the yellow-eyed boy flying away.

There was no hint of lethargy about him, and his breathing was calm. It felt like Aldrich had been watching a movie the entire time. The only thing out of place was that this movie's characters were a Marquess and a ticking Nuclear Bomb. A smile soon came upon his face as he spoke out, seemingly to himself.

"Pretty interesting! Won't you agree....

... Marquess Nicholas?"