Galaxy's First Ruler

Or die…

die…

die…

No, this wasn't the word echoing in the surroundings. Aldrich hadn't said it aloud. He had just whispered the last word.

die…

die...

It was Marquess Nicholas who kept muttering the word. Less in shock, more in remembrance. It was as if this word 'die' was his old friend, who hadn't come to meet him for decades.

"Kids these days. Haha! Your use of Mana Field Generator has indeed shocked me. If you had a Marquess, who could replace you from the battlefield, then you could have got tons of contribution points for trapping a Marquess. Even though this Mana Field will only last less than ten seconds under the barrage of my attacks."

Marquess Nicholas, reigning over his momentary shock, praised Aldrich. But soon he sneered, and showing contempt, spoke out.

"Die… It's a big word even for us Marquesses. I have come close to seeing its gentle and raging nature many times. Say, Aldrich, do you even have an idea what kind of thing the Galactic War is?"

Aldrich didn't answer. In this world, Aldrich had a strange relation with the questions. He could intuitively tell if the question needed an answer or not. This was one of those rare questions that he wasn't supposed to answer. The reason was simple.

Even if the two-faced pig-like Marquess Nicholas Askr was to die here, it couldn't be denied that he had served the Galaxy in the Galactic War many times. And even if Nicholas might have done almost nothing substantial in it, it was irrelevant. Aldrich had yet to fight in the war, and thus, he also knew this.

Only those who had fought had the right to answer this question.

Marquess Nicholas wasn't a Kingdom toppling talent, like Boudicca and Eydis, who had reached Duchess Rank within a century. He had crawled his way up, and if his Barren Earth background was true as claimed, then it couldn't be called just sheer luck.

The only thing that could be called a blunder on his part was to cross paths with a Dreamer named Aldrich Guo - The Dream Necromancer.

Unaware of this blunder yet, Marquess Nicholas spoke after a brief silence.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to kill a Marquess? Why do you think among the multitudinous fights, spread throughout the Galaxy, there is almost no story of Earls fighting together? Even if I were to ignore the insult of trying to make me a Recordless, your ignorance about a Marquess deserves capital punishment."

Outside the Mana Field, everything seemed blurry to Aldrich. But even then, he could sense that the end was near. It was time to execute the plan which he had been forming in his mind since the start of the ceremony.

This plan had started with Aldrich's sending Sha to sabotage the Jump Drive of House Star Dust's Battleship. It then changed to come face to face with Marquess Nicholas and to find out his motive for coming so far for Aldrich.

Then he had to add even more to it to accommodate Amalia and Tyra and make them tire each other out by fighting each other as Maya and Boudicca. In just an evening, Aldrich's plan to take advantage of Harold, by planting a seed of Greed, had changed to encompass the potential coming of Kings and Queen.

Nothing could go wrong with this plan. And nothing would go wrong with this plan. Aldrich had already eliminated or accounted for those who could be called variables. What had remained for Aldrich to do now was to fish in these troubled waters.

Aldrich had already decided to deal with Marquess Nicholas when he saw the hint of Law on him. More so when he found out Nicholas had not just bad but worse intentions for him. And to get his hands on the hint of Law, no matter how small a hint it was, Aldrich could take any risk.

How could there be any risk bigger than the one he had already taken by letting the Devil corrupt him?

Almost in a tone as if Marquess Nicholas hadn't spoken a single word since the last chapter, Aldrich repeated his proposal.

"Become my Recordless… or die. Think about it, Marquess. Being Recordless isn't a bad thing compared to losing your current self. As my Recordless, I won't make you fight any war against your will. I won't make you do anything against your will. You will be freed from Random Allocations. And in return, I would only ask you to let me have the true Lost Steps Skill."

Aldrich's proposal wasn't only sincere, it almost sounded like an ultimatum. These were the truest words he had uttered in front of Nicholas so far.

But…

It seemed Destiny had other plans for Nicholas. It seemed Destiny wanted Nicholas to be much more than a Recordless, too.

Hahahaha!

Nicholas spread out his lean and long arms and let out a resounding burst of laughter.

"And how exactly would you do that? Even though I am two levels shorter than Harold, unlike him, your Summon can't remotely catch up to my speed. In no time, I will be out of this paper prison. You can't hide from me either. I have this…"

Nicholas brought the Thermal Monocular up and showed it to Aldrich before continuing.

"… Nothing less than a Level 65 Marquess can make me submit. Tell me, Viscount Aldrich, How exactly would you do such things? Listen and listen carefully. It isn't late. Come with me, and I will forget your insolent behavior once."

…

Silence…

The air had an incredibly sinister silence about it. Aldrich stared into Marquess Nicholas' eyes and finally shook his head. His hands extended outwards and a baleful voice came out of his mouth.

"Remember Marquess! Remember, even after death, that you made me do this… 

From the ashes of my Dreams…

… ARISE!!!"

Houuu!!!

The wind howled, and the space between Aldrich and Nicholas parted. But even before the undead could come out of the shackles of that dense Darkness, a dreadful laugh riled up the fear of the Devil in Nicholas' heart.

Heh Heh Haha HAHAHA!!!