Chapter 189 - Disorder Draws Closer As Arthur Awakens

It was Red. Red as far as any eye could see, except for the occasional black dots floating around, everything else was red.

In this seemingly infinite red, footsteps could be heard. They sounded calm and relaxed, like a king strolling in his castle. The one who made these footsteps could not be described with anything other than one word; black.

A black three-piece suit, black tie, black shoes, black gloves, black hat. He looked like a rich noble from medieval times, dressed in the best quality clothes.

His face was ever-changing, as if he could not settle on a particular appearance, one thing was certain, and that was all the faces he put on was undeniably the most handsome one could ever imagine.

It was unknown when it happened but at one point, the red became white. White as far as any eye could see. The occasional black dots floating around remained and of course, everything else was still white.

In the midst of this white sat a woman, a tea table in front of her and a tea set atop it.

Opposite her was a black chair where the man in black walked up to and sat on.

The chair she sat on was white, as was the table before her.

She was also similarly dressed in white, her gown, her shoes, her shawl, even her necklace had what could only be called white diamonds.

Her appearance was also breathtakingly beautiful, with white hair and skin. Her hair was longer than average, flowing down until her waist. Unlike the man in black, her face was unchanging. Her every action was angelic yet also bewitching at the same time.

She stood up and poured tea from the jug into both cups and dropped a few cubes of sugar in each before seating down.

The man picked up the teacup and was about to drink from it but the glare he felt made him look up at the woman in white.

"What?"

She said nothing and glared at him in silence much to his discomfort.

"Ah, thank you."

The moment he said that, she smiled brightly like a sunflower blossoming on a summer morning.

She then picked up her own teacup and drank from it, ignoring the look of exasperation the man was giving her.

"Seriously…."

He shook his head and drank his tea before asking her a question.

"You seeing what's been happening down there?"

"Mhmm…"

"Craziness everywhere. "

"Says the origin of it all."

The man dropped the teacup on the table and spoke in a warning tone.

"Don't say anything that would make the readers figure out who we are, it's not time for our arc."

She dropped her teacup and rolled her eyes at him before replying.

"Like they haven't already done so."

The man just sighed and fixed his appearance to that of an average-looking Caucasian Male in his 30s.

"Vestiges of the past have been discovered."

"So you're going to go mess around with it right?"

He stood up and his suit changed to a brown one, fixing his tie, he replied.

"Yes, a good amount of disorder is necessary don't you think."

The woman nodded in affirmation and finished her tea.

"I won't stop you, just don't go overboard."

The man grinned mischievously before disappearing without a word.

"Tsk…he's definitely gonna go overboard."

The woman tapped her foot on the floor and the black chair disappeared.

She then poured another cup of tea for herself and sipped it happily while humming to herself.

◇ ◇ ◇

Unlike what Diablo said, Arthur remained in the cocoon for more than just a few days.

Hades arrived from Olympus and even spent a week in Hell before the cocoon showed any reaction.

Cattleya, who was practically living in that room, was the first to notice the changes.

A single crack appeared at the top of the cocoon, it then spread out to other parts, and soon the entire cocoon shattered like an egg would if it was dropped from a high place.

The unknown sticky liquid that was inside was absorbed into Arthur's skin faster than Cattleya could even react and Arthur's body dropped to the ground.

Arthur opened his eyes and looked himself over, scanning his body from head to toe.

His first words after months of being unconscious inside a cocoon were far from what one would expect.

"Shit! I missed my birthday!"

And they were followed with a knock to the head from an annoyed Cattleya.

"Ow! What the hell mum?!"

"What the hell?! You're really asking ME that?!"

It was then Arthur remembered the sequence of events that led to him falling unconscious in the first place and Cattleya's anger began making sense.

Before she could say anything else, the door opened and Hades walked in. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed before pulling Cattleya away from Arthur.

"Calm down, he just woke up."

He then turned to Arthur pulled him up before sighing once again.

"Seeing you now reminds me of my father, you even have the eyes to match."

It was at that point that Cattleya noticed that Arthur's left eye, was blue and not black like his right.

Studying him properly, she noticed that his height had increased considerably and his face matured a bit.

However, the greatest change was his realm of existence.

"Superior stage grandmaster…"

Arthur had become a superior stage grandmaster and his energy had stabilized, thus he would have no problems whatsoever, fighting at full strength for as long as his stamina could hold.

No more fighting while trying not to use too much energy and overwork his body, causing it to break down.

All those problems were solved.

Arthur created a small mirror with ice magic and looked at his appearance.

He sighed as he noticed his eye color change before looking at Hades and speaking.

"Hey dad, can we go to a training hall, I want to test out a few things."

Hades turned to Cattleya who was still analyzing Arthur's physical changes and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Arthur and I have a few things to test out, is there any training arena nearby?"

"Test out? He just woke up from a two-month slumber and I haven't even finished scolding him yet!"

Naturally, Cattleya disagreed with Arthur's plans, she even covered his mouth to prevent him from making any attempts to refute.

On a normal day, Hades would have agreed with her, however this time, he had things he wanted to test out too.

"Cattleya, I have something I want to confirm."

Cattleya wanted to refuse once more but seeing the seriousness in Hades' eyes, she faltered a bit.

"Fine, but don't go overboard.

The training Arenas are in the northeast wing, you cannot miss them.

And Arthur, when we get back to Aeturn, you're grounded."

"Huh?"

Before Arthur could even begin to protest about Cattleya's verdict, Hades grabbed him by the shoulder and teleported away.

Left behind, Cattleya heaved a sigh of relief and plopped back on her seat.

"You were so worried these past two and a half months, I expected you to hug him tight and not let go for at least a few hours when he woke up."

Inglis' voice rang out as she entered the room from another entrance while holding two glasses of wine.

She gave one to Cattleya and sat beside her before taking a sip.

"I'm happy he's awake but then again I have to discipline him a bit.

It is partly my fault he turned out like that, and precisely because of that, he ended up going to somewhere that was part of dad's scheme.

And Dad saw fit to let him remain there without warning him of the danger."

Inglis chuckled lightly and patted Cattleya's head while speaking.

"You should really make up with your father, he did say Arthur needed to learn things the hard way.

It would serve as a good lesson for him, he would be a lot more cautious when he's moving around."

Cattleya only snorted and downed all the wine in her glass before replying.

"He could have at least told me what he wanted to do; Arthur's MY son you know?

Don't I have the right to know about such a thing?"

"He is wrong in that aspect but everything else was for Arthur's own good, don't hate him for it okay?"

Cattleya did not reply to Inglis' words, only dropping her glass on the table before warping off to watch Arthur and Hades in the training arena.

◇ ◇ ◇

The moment Hades and Arthur arrived at the arena, Hades created multiple barriers to prevent probing and turned to Arthur with a serious look on his face.

"So, did you ask me because I was the first one you saw or because what you wanted to test related to me?"

Arthur rose an eyebrow in surprise before shrugging his shoulders and replying.

"Yes on both fronts."

He then took a stance and faced Hades seriously, the next moment, he had kicked off the ground with enough force to leave a small crater in the reinforced concrete floor.