After returning home, Edward discovered only a few hours had passed despite spending a week in the Rick and Morty Universe. So, he no longer wasted time and got to work after checking on his family.
He had two weeks before the Council Meeting. In such a short time, he needed to understand and be capable of using all the Citadel's technology.
Technology did not come as naturally to Edward, but he still had an extremely high IQ, so it took him some time in a Time Acceleration Room to master the technology of the Citadel to the point of being able to replicate and upgrade it.
Finally, he had to prepare before activating the thing. The process took three more days. Finally, Edward launched the citadel. A few members of his family accompanied him along with the Time Aurors.
The Citadel will now fall under their jurisdiction, so they need to know how to control and incorporate it into their existing system.
The process was simple, at least on the surface. Edward felt a slight tremor, but it was too subtle and unnoticeable by most.
"How is the data?"
"Everything is fine," replied Mulatu Amine, an Arcanist from the Ethiopian Region and the current Department Head of the Time Auror. He was born with a unique perception of time since the Old Era. Unfortunately, his talent never had a chance to shine until the Empire.
He was discovered to be one of the few people with the talent to wield Time Magic, so Edward used every means to nurture him. He did not let him down and proved his talent. Then, Edward granted him control over the Time Auror, guarding the Empire's timeline.
"We have successfully placed a wall around our timeline."
Amine felt relieved as his job just got a hundred times easier. People would be surprised how often individuals tried to mess up with time and rewrite history.
There were more Time Turners than the Ministry of Magic of the previous era told the people existed, and some people are born with the talent to control time magic. However, instead of training properly, they often hide their talent and engage in dangerous secret experiments that can endanger the space-time continuum.
Finally, their job is to also prevent creatures from the Blank Realm and from other timelines from entering their timeline. Before Edward's variant, they rarely encountered such a thing. However, plenty of scary creatures from the Blank Realm roam from one timeline to another.
"Your agents won't have any problem entering and leaving, right?" asked Edward.
"No problem."
"What about the protocols to ensure no problem?"
"We have updated our security measures and monitor every particle that leaves and enters our timeline."
"Excellent. However, from now on, reduce the number of tasks to the Multiverse to the bare minimum."
With the current situation, Edward wanted to cancel all missions into the Multiverse. However, the Empire needs more resources, and the Dark Multiverse will soon become its main source.
Amine was surprised by this order, but he did not ask much. He is one of the few people in the Empire with the highest security level. So, if the Empire did not tell him, he understood it was an issue beyond security levels.
Such knowledge usually involved the deepest secret of the royal family, and he was politically minded enough to know not to pry.
Edward continued observing the data for this citadel. His understanding of Space-Time Rules and the Multiverse will drastically increase with the newly gathered data.
Sadly, it was not time for study and research.
He left the citadel and returned to his lab. He closed his eyes and waited a few hours. Finally, he succeeded in his attempt.
Soon, he found himself in a white room with a petite woman before him.
"Cronai."
"We don't have much time," she said indifferently. "Be quick and direct."
"I placed a wall around my timeline. Would that solve my current issue?"
"No, it can only buy you an extra ten years."
"So few?"
"The Guardians are monitoring the Multiverse. They won't care about a destroyed timeline, but a disappearing one is another thing. So, once my method is no longer useful and they begin their search for you, they will notice the anomaly of a missing timeline."
Edward frowned before asking, "Could I move the Empire and move to another plane?"
Cronai was quiet; this was the last thing she wanted after putting so much effort into Edward and the Empire. She was already hopeful about them but became even more joyous after seeing the technology to put a wall around a timeline.
Furthermore, she saw this was not the limit of this technology. In the peak era of the Magus Race, they did not have such technology. They had Tier 11 Magus who could easily hide one or multiple timelines but never the technology or magic to do such a thing.
One advantage the Arcane Empire had over the Magus Race was its inclusivity. The Arcane Empire could perfectly fuse and accept everyone and everything, whether it was technology, countless different power systems, multiple races, ethnicities, or civilizations.
Meanwhile, the Magus Race walked the path of assimilation. They assimilated everything into their races and their magic.
As such, she saw hope for them to reach heights greater than the Magus Race.
"Your method might work," replied Cronai, deciding to tell the truth.
"Might?"
"Every life I create has a unique life or soul imprint. I keep a record of these imprints, and the Guardians have access to these records. If you move to another plane, they can track you there.
"However, in other planes, they are only a very powerful Tier 10 God, so it might be easier to deal with. Moreover, you also know the relationship to other planes, they might not be willing to take the risk."
"Maybe before, but not after exposing the citadel," added Edward. These guardians must want to become true Tier 11, so they should lust after his citadel and its technology.
"Possibly."
"Can't you hide my soul imprint from the records?"
"That's against the rule. Furthermore, even if I did, what about all the citizens of your Empire?"
"That's true," nodded Edward. "What about preventing the Guardians from accessing the records?"
"I have a binding oath with them. Unless they no longer hold the position, it's impossible for me to break the rules and reduce their power for the sake of protecting you."
After saying these words, more chains appeared on Cronai's body, becoming visible even to the normal eyes.
"Thank you for telling me the truth," quickly said Edward.
Edward appreciated Cronai not hiding the truth for her benefit. Furthermore, he could also see the risk she took to reveal the truth.
"That's all I can say for now. In the future, you will not be able to contact me. However, as long as you find the Savant Race, you will find a way to deal with the Guardian."
Edward opened his eyes and exhaled deeply.
'This trouble is not as simple as I imagined.'
He did not wish to move the entire Empire to another plane. Firstly, this place was his home, and he had many advantages, mostly in the form of Cronai's blessings.
Edward could predict how much harder it would be for the Empire to rise to the pinnacle of the Astral Realm in other planes.
'Furthermore, why do I need to run away from these Gods? They should be the ones running away from me.'
A ray of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. He would not deal with these Guardians simply to remove his status as a Time Criminal. No, once he has enough information, they should be the ones afraid and running away from him.
Edward left the lab and prepared for the meeting at the Council of Bones.
On the day of the meeting, Edward took a special spaceship and headed to the meeting. He could have traveled alone, showing how he achieved Multiversal Travel using only his strength and ability. However, he decided it was unwise to show too much power during the meeting, which could easily lead to his other variants teaming up to deal with him.
However, he also knew what kind of people his variants were, so he chose a ship with very advanced technology to show up.
After opening up a portal, Edward headed directly to the coordinate of the meeting. He soon found himself on a somewhat desolate planet on some unknown planet.
His scanner showed him this was once Earth, but all life was eradicated for some reason.
"Was it done naturally or the actions of one of my variants?" muttered Edward before the power of time flashed in his eyes. He saw the reason for Earth's extinction, and it was just misfortune. A giant meteorite took out all life on the planet, just like it did for the dinosaurs.
Edward was a little reassured before focusing on a towering construct floating above Earth's orbit. He immediately sneered as he could see the design was eerily similar to the Citadel.
"One thing about me is I'm somewhat predictable when it comes to certain things."
He knew he would have chosen the same designs if he had been in charge of creating the meeting place for the Council of Bones. Without much hesitation, he controlled his ship to enter this fake citadel.
There was a designated area for people to land and undergo a registering process. Edward looked at the man with the same face as him registering his information, and he felt this experience was somewhat trippy.
"You're G-003?"
"That's correct."
"You only need a small test before attending."
"What test?"
"To detect your tier."
"I see," nodded Edward. "Has the council taken measures to prevent leaks of our data?"
"Such a thing will be discussed in the upcoming meeting," replied Edward A-765. His manner indicated this was not the first time he answered that question. Edward no longer asked any questions and followed the man to the testing area.
He saw the large room for the testing area, and his eyes immediately turned purple.
"What's wrong?" asked A-765 after seeing him stop.
"Why does this machine record my Mana and Soul Fluctuations, even scanning for other energies inside my body?"
A-765 frowned after hearing this before pressing a few buttons on the pad in his hand. Edward immediately knew he shut down these functions and sneered. Without hesitation, he entered before exiting a few seconds later.
"Tier 8," uttered A-765 with a severe tone. So far, the council has recorded seven Tier 8 Variants among thousands. Although all these variants are confident they will reach such heights–especially after coming into contact with the council–reaching this Tier so quickly was still an advantage.
After all, besides the founder of the council, who is rumored to have reached Tier 9, such a tier was the highest in strength.
"Welcome, G-003. I hope you have a pleasant time at the council."
"I hope so too," nodded Edward before leaving the testing room. Meanwhile, A-765 checked his pad and frowned after reading the information displayed.
[Technology Level: Highest Tier.]
A-765 knew what it meant for the ship of G-003 to be classified as the highest tier. Adding on his Tier 8 strength, this meant only one thing:
"Another contender for the Council President, and it's one of the best."
A-765 sighed before focusing on his task. He knew he had no chance of becoming the president. So, his objective was to become the head of the department that kept records on all members of the council.
After entering the council, Edward found himself in a vivid atmosphere with countless people talking, competing, exchanging ideas, and even fighting. An unforgettable look flashed in his eyes as he looked at his variants, specifically the ones who brought their wives.
Unfortunately, these variants had the same taste in women, so their harem was similar to his, minus the ones from other universes.
'It seems my inability to form single, deep, meaningful relationships is a constant of the Multiverse.'
Edward sighed to himself before mingling with these people. The council meeting would not start until five days later, giving everybody enough time to gather information and prepare for any worst-case scenarios.
During these five days, Edward met many variants of himself and made plenty of connections. He analyzed the information he received and summarized it.
So far, he has discovered a few groups or factions among his peers. The first one is the Arcane Empire Faction, composed of all the Edward who walked similar paths of conquering the planet and gathering knowledge from multiple individuals. Although not everyone used the name [Arcane] for their empire, their ideologies were similar.
So far, Edward discovered they were the most powerful and dangerous group. These people care deeply about a large population, so any timeline is another place to conquer. As such, even if they create an alliance, they are always on the lookout for each other.
The second group Edward noticed was the Dark Lords, composed of all the Edwards who gave in to their desires and abandoned all morality for the pursuit of magic. Although some of them led tragic lives, which led to their current situation, they were still a group of madmen willing to do anything to become powerful.
This group was considered the second most dangerous after the Empire factions. In some situations, they were even more dangerous.
The third group was the Headmaster Faction, composed of the variants who became Hogwarts' headmaster, slowly changing the wizard world through education. Edward loved teaching, and these variants of him pursued such love and talent to the extreme.
These guys were relatively harmless, with a more peaceful personality– at least on the surface. Edward feared that some of them would wish to create a Multiversal Academy, spreading knowledge and teaching across the multiverse. Their ambitions might make them as dangerous as the Empire factions by then.
Of course, they could also be a perfect group to ally with if they can control their greed.
The fourth faction is the God Faction, composed of the Edwards, who walked the path of Divinity and gathered believers. This faction was the least popular as most Edwards shared a passion for anti-God or even religion. Few people publicly associated with that faction, probably even worse than the Dark Lords.
The fifth faction was the Alchemy Group, created by a group of variants who enjoyed making artifacts, potions, puppets, and many more. This group has great potential and has the foundation to become extremely popular in the council.
The sixth and final main faction is the Magitech Group; these people focused more on the development of technology and fusing it with magic. They seemed to have some contradictions with the Alchemy Group, especially the Artificers.
Besides these six, there were other groups, like the Adventure Group, which focuses on traveling the universe and multiverse only for adventure, or the Yu-Gi-Oh Group, which focuses on the Monster Card Magic that Susan was developing. These groups were powerful but not enough to be classified as the main six.
'Besides becoming the Council President, I also need to become the leader of the Alchemists while maintaining sufficient power in the Empire, Headmaster, and Magitech factions.'
Edward made a plan before heading for the official meeting.
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