Sense Of Purpose

Stella felt a bit lost.

What is the purpose of power?

To live without worry? To protect your close ones? To aid the one in need?

Or....

To live like a ruler? To decide the fate of everyone around you? To shape the world as you please?

Stella shook her head.

'No. I'm not here to live as a ruler. I'm not here to be a hero either. So what is my purpose?'

She invoked her [Space Authority] to teleport.

As she gained basic mastery over this ability, she finally could grasp the coordinates of her surrounding space.

She teleported further and further away from the planet to another barren one.

'This place lacks any lifeform... But the air seems fine. Maybe it's because of the lack of water....'

She floated down to the yellow barren and rough planet surface as she slowly walked alone.... trying to clear her head.

'I'm supposed to live in this world... but I don't fit here with my level of power.

What will happen if anger gets hold of me someday.... and I kill everyone around me instantly?

What do Gods feel?

Will they be sad if they had to destroy their own subjects?

But do they have so much destructive power like me?'

Until she met a God from this world, Stella couldn't find her answer.

She swept her consciousness around.

She could feel and see everything inside her range of dominion.

She could see and feel the atoms of a speck of dust hundreds of kilometers away.

As she kept using [Undeniable Authority] more and more, she could feel her consciousness getting larger and larger with each passing moment. It was already more than 400 kilometers in a sphere around her in just a few minutes of using this ability.

As her mastery over this ability became higher and higher, she could feel herself getting stronger and stronger at a terrifying rate.

The laws inside her range of authority became much easier to manipulate.

She could reverse or remove gravity around her with a thought, make light stop reflecting off surfaces to make the entire area dark, collapse lands to create endless chasms, stop all laws from responding to cripple almost any magic... Or control the law of Fate to influence all beings inside it. She could do almost an endless amount of things.

All she needed to do was just think about it...

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However, her heart was still heavy.

Stella felt she needed to focus.

She knew she was sent here for a purpose.

'What does it mean to live with such powers among mortals?'

She asked this question to herself over and over again.

Her eyes slowly became clear.

'I see...

So was I overthinking things?

I'm not here to help the world, nor rule it.

But doesn't that mean... I'm free?

I just have to live.... free.'

Stella finally found a glimpse of her purpose.

'But being free.... Free from what? What can shackle me, even with my powers?'

As soon as she asked this question to herself, she could feel her soul tremble and touch the essence of flowing time.

[Concept of Time Discovered]

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Bang!

A loud sound could be heard as a table was thrown into the wall with tremendous force. It broke down into multiple pieces as splinters spread out everywhere.

"Useless!!! Utterly useless!

I don't get why I am even paying you!"

A powerful voice of a girl sounded out.

The surroundings trembled from the aura of her voice.

"We're sorry, your excellency! We've failed in our tasks!"

The council members trembled as they replied.

Sylvania glanced at them with fury in her eyes.

"I want the identity of the culprit before midnight! Whoever came in from the spatial tunnel, is probably the person behind the spy's disappearance.

You better find out who's behind this. Or your head is getting chopped off tomorrow. All of you!

Bunch of useless trash eating and rubbing their bellies all day!" She spoke with suppressed rage.

Her black pupils almost turned red from anger.

The council hall threatened to collapse from her aura.

"Yes! Yes, your excellency!" All of them replied in unison.

A senior council member trembled as he spoke "Wh... what about the gate, your excellency?"

The Grand Marshall glanced at him, she was inwardly impressed with his resolve, being able to ask her something in this state.

'Guess you still have it in you, old Albert.'

"I'll take care of it, personally."

She replied with a low voice.

"Understood." He slowly retreated sweating bullets.

"Dismissed." She gave them a simple wave to leave.

They hurriedly left after bowing. Staying in front of her any longer would be lethal. Who knows, she might chop someone's head off from anger.

As they left, Sylvania fell deep in thought.

She was trying to pinpoint who had destroyed the gate.

It was destroyed instantly, without a single glimpse of the culprit. As if it was destroyed by an invisible force.

Even she had to strike at full power continuously for more than 6-7 seconds to break it off the wall.

But someone instantly broke and flung it away like trash.

Naturally, it had to be someone more powerful than her.

But even more powerful than her? People who were more powerful than her could be counted on one hand.

And they held extremely high positions all around the world.

Personally, coming all the way here to pull a prank?

They would lose all their face if they were discovered.

So, it had to be from a force hidden in the shadows.

'So, is it a threat? Are they from the same faction that managed to connect a spatial tunnel?

Are they planning to invade from the inside by dividing our forces to guard the gate?'

She couldn't figure it out. She had little to no information about the culprits behind these chain of events.

She could feel that things were already going out of hand. Things could go very wrong if this hidden threat wasn't taken care of as soon as possible.

All of the planning and preparation would go to waste if things were to be dragged down by unknown variables.

Whether everything was going as planned or not, she had no intention of stopping.

After all, she swore she'll make them pay, at any cost...

Sylvania stood up and left the hall room. There was an unshakable resolve in her eyes. She had made up her mind. She needed to personally take action.

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"I've been expecting your visit, Lady Sylvania. If you were to be a little late, I'd go look for you myself."

An old and frail-looking man with a long white beard was sitting on a study table, facing the Grand Marshall. However, his eyes reflected deep wisdom and knowledge.

"You're too kind, Sir Merlin. I'll go straight to business. I need your help." Sylvania spoke to Merlin in a frank manner.

"Hmm. I've already started working on what you're about to ask me.

Such a curious phenomenon indeed. Connecting a spatial tunnel inside space stabilizers.

If I can't meet such a person and exchange pointers with them, all of my old bones won't rest even after I die." Merlin replied with a smile.

Sylvania smiled and replied, "You still know me best, Sir Merlin."

"Hahaha, quite the opposite. I'm no match for your true thoughts.

So, about the progress of my investigation..."

"I'm listening." She replied as she switched to her serious demeanor.

"It is indeed most probable that the culprit behind opening the spatial tunnel and the disappearance of that Ren lad is the same.

His tracker simply gave us no information.

It's entirely possible he was killed and then instantly sent somewhere far away through a spatial tunnel.

Making the tracker lose its connection." Merlin explained.

"But if that's the case, then doesn't it mean...." Sylvania trailed off

"Yes, then it should mean that the culprit already has a method to hide the fluctuations from the spatial tear. However, I think this is not probable. It's only been a day since we found the fluctuations of the first spatial tear. So if he had the means to hide it from the beginning, he wouldn't have alerted us in the first place. Being able to bypass space stabilizers, this was critical information to us. He could've done his job and left like a ghost if he had the means."

"So you mean he doesn't seem to have the means to open a spatial tunnel stealthily?" She asked.

"That's right. So, he did not teleport inside the shop. The culprit had to get inside by normal means." Merlin explained.

"He went missing around noon. So should we ask around if they had seen someone suspicious entering the shop? But I don't think it's that easy. Why would the culprit just waltz into the shop through the front door? He must've sneaked in at night." Sylvania said.

"Indeed. But it doesn't hurt to ask, does it? Maybe the culprit is not someone who we think he is..." Merlin said with a smile.