Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Hal\'s timing could not have been better, especially since right at the moment Pietro\'s fist was closing around thin air, the Kruger family Array was also activated.

The whole Estate was enclosed in an Array dome of swimming runes but none of that mattered to Pietro whose frown got deeper and it took all he had not to yell at the sky in frustration.

While he was still rooted to the spot with his fist clenched, Brian and Xerx joined him while Cirk was not too far behind and had the deformed Ergo on his shoulder.

"Where is he?" Brian asked and Pietro turned his head to look at him and the look in his very annoyed eyes struck fear into the heart of the Kruger Patriarch and for a split second, he thought he saw a shadow of something monstrous and immense behind Pietro.

"He\'s gone" Pietro eventually said and lowered his hand before turning away from the frightened Kruger Patriarch and to Cirk, 

"How is he?" He asked Cirk who knew the question referred to the deformed man on his shoulder and when he made to answer he was interrupted, 

"I\'ll live... My ax...?" He asked.

Once Cirk got over the fact that, injured as he was, Ergo could still speak, he answered, 

"I have it with me. In my spatial ring" 

Ergo nodded as best he could, 

"Good. I still need it to kill that little fucker for what he did to me" he said.

Cirk surprised his brows and decided not to point out that they had no way of knowing who the \'little fucker\' was. That said, he was still feeling a sense of familiarity with the stranger and he had no idea why.

"Deactivate the Array" Pietro told Brian in a slow and dangerous voice that jerked the Kruger Patriarch back into awareness.

"What about what we agreed upon?" Brian asked.

Pietro took a deep breath and let it go, 

"Take down the Array... I won\'t ask again" 

This time, his eyes flashed and Brian finally took It as a sign that without the map, there could be no transaction and he had now not only lost the thousand blue gems he used to activate the Array for nothing, he had also lost the million blue gems he had used to purchase the map in the first place.

He waved his hand and the Rune circle which controlled the Array moved over to where he was and he deactivated it right there and then but his blue gems could not be recovered.

His heart ached as he watched the swimming runes disperse but there was nothing to be done.

"Let\'s go" Pietro said and walked away with Cirk close behind towards their carriage to finally leave the Kruger Estate.

The whole trip had been filled with nothing but disappointment.

...

Meanwhile...

While Disappointment and loss was very palpable in the Kruger estate air, Hal appeared above the Teleportation circle in Roxy\'s workshop and immediately fell down as his legs shook.

They shook partly from excitement and partly from how close he was to be at the mercy of a semi-saint.

After all, while he could not tell what the multicolored-haired man\'s cultivation was, the fact that he could see through his invisibility put him at least in the semi-saint realm.

"Well, color me surprised. You actually survived. Did you try my invention? How was it?" Rocky said?

"Would you allow me a second to breathe before asking your questions? Also, you didn\'t expect me to survive?" Hal asked.

Roxy shrugged, 

"Well, the whole idea was insane and since you said yes, I actually believed you were just a brain-dead daredevil" he said.

Hal narrowed his eyes as he took off his mask and placed it on the runemaster\'s desk but said nothing.

"So did you use it?" Roxy asked again and his eyes were wide and bright.

"Yes, I did" Hal told him and the Runemaster clapped with joy, 

"What did you think?" He asked.

"That you are insane" Hal told him but the runemaster waved him off, 

"Oh stop, you\'re making me blush" he said and Hal gave him a look that showed it was not meant to be a compliment. Roxy took it as one all the same.

"So you sent someone to the void" Roxy said and he seemed to find it amusing and Hal could not help but find that reaction creepy.

Don\'t get him wrong, he could not care less if someone died, but the possible cataclysmic consequences of tampering with a Closed Void were so dangerous not to anyone else but to Roxy himself in the process of his research that the Runemaster\'s amusement truly... Creeped him out.

If this was not suicidal tendencies, Hal did not know what was.

"It took me so long to get it right. It\'s a shame I did not get to see its effect on someone. The most I\'ve done is use it on pieces of furniture." He said with a grin and turned to his desk.

"I doubt there\'s that much difference" Hal said and the Runemaster turned to him sharply.

"Of course there\'s a difference. Furniture doesn\'t scream" he said.

Hal could concur with that but did point out, 

"The one I used it on didn\'t scream either"

Roxy picked up a scroll and from the Runes and Spatial distortions, Hal knew it was another closed void scroll, 

"I\'ll just do a little more tinkering and have it ready for the next time they come to my shop" he said.

"Who are \'They\'?" Hal could not help but ask.

Roxy shrugged, 

"Could be anyone. Influential families, secret Organizations. Literally, anyone who would love to employ my service. \'They\' could even refer to the Duchess"

"Because you work for the Princess?" Hal asked.

"No, I don\'t. I work for no one and this was me doing her a favor. I made my own choice" Roxy said.

"So... You really think everyone is out to get you? That\'s overly paranoid, don\'t you think?" Hal said.

Roxy looked up from the scroll he was inspecting with his Astral sense, 

"You say Paranoid, I say Cautious. Doesn\'t change the fact that I\'ve survived this long regardless." He said.

Hal nodded as he could not argue with the results. At least not for now.

"Thanks for your help" Hal told him as he made his way towards the stairs that led back to the ground floor.

"You\'re welcome to stay and watch me tinker with this scroll. Closed Void is super fun"

"And super dangerous. Besides, I already had plans that did not involve losing body parts" Hal replied and continued up the stairs before,

"Oy" Roxy called and tossed his mask to him, "I already have them spying on my shop, I don\'t need them thinking I know the thief as well." He said and Hal caught the mask right as Roxy added, 

"That\'s yours now" 

Hal nodded and stealthily kept the mask in his Inventory before crossing the rest of the stairs and was out of the basement workshop.

He went out of the shop and out into the Capital streets where he once again brought out the golden chariot and drove it to the Sensual Palace where he was allowed entry.

It didn\'t take him that long before he was at the main part of the palace which was residence to the Antonovs.

He went into the Harem space first to freshen up and change out his dark clothes into something more homely and when he came out of it, he headed right for the dining hall where the Antonovs were already seated.