Phantom.

—

"Don't worry; knowing that these little guys are not as simple as they seem, none of us here would like them to fall into the wrong hands," Yennefer assured.

"Now, because everything is settled, let us make a wish to fix this Conjunction of the Spheres. Everyone, please stand up and hold each other's hands once again," Yennefer commanded.

Everyone stood up to connect their minds, and Richard along with the twelve others repeated in unison what they had briefed an hour ago to complete the ritual and create a wish-generating being.

"Huginn and Muninn, our creation in the flesh, heed our calls! Become the brains of those who seek your guidance!"

"Skidbladnir, our creation in the mind, heed our calls! Become the hearts of those who seek your consolation!"

"Yggdrasil, our creation in the spirit, heed our calls! Become the lungs of those who seek your breaths of life!"

Richard, as the first owner of Huginn and Muninn, declared his existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Richard Haris!"

Margarita, as the second owner of Huginn and Muninn, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Margarita Laux-Antille!"

Moiraine, as the third owner of Huginn and Muninn, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Moiraine Damodred!"

Ciri, as the fourth owner of Huginn and Muninn, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon!"

Lanfear, as the first owner of Skidbladnir, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Daughter of the Night!"

Yennefer, as the second owner of Skidbladnir, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Yennefer of Vengerberg!"

Mirabelle, as the third owner of Skidbladnir, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Mirabelle Ervine!"

Narishma, as the fourth owner of Skidbladnir, declared his existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Jahar Narishma!"

Philipa, as the first owner of Yggdrasil, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Philippa Eilhart!"

Logain, as the second owner of Yggdrasil, declared his existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Logain Ablar!"

Faralda, as the third owner of Yggdrasil, declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Faralda!"

Triss, as the fourth owner of Yggdrasil , declared her existence aloud to fulfill the ceremony rites, "In the name of Triss Merigold!"

"Be born into this world! Become our child, servant, and companion! We, the twelve Heralds, have completed this ritual! Now, exist and let the world witness this scene!"

BOOM—With the sound of thunder, the three creations manifested a phantom so immense that even this universe seemed unable to contain it. Two black and white crows orbited each other, blue translucent ships sailed proudly in the wind, and trees extended their roots everywhere, this was an image visible to anyone who had already touched upon mystical power.

Not only that, at the center of this majestic scene were twelve phantoms of men and women with newborn crowns on their heads. Exactly twelve seconds passed since this phenomenon occurred, and all of them now had a cosmic-level instinct warning them of impending disaster.

Richard, without wasting any time, flipped his watch and activated the Trojan inside the kernel of the other two Sa'angreal that Lanfear and Philippa had created. The others, even though they knew what he was doing, did not stop him. They traveled with their newborn creations into their respective realms to guard them, leaving only him and Yennefer in the physical world, with the latter following the procedure of making the wishes they had prepared beforehand.

Finishing the editing of the firewalls for Yggdrasil and Skidbladnir, which Lanfear and Philippa had amateurishly constructed, Richard then saw a man walking in the skies above the dome he had deployed along with Huginn and Muninn.

The man looked at him and Yennefer with a smile, then at the others deep in other realms. Looking back at him and Yennefer, he then bowed curtly at ninety degrees, like welcoming new kings and queens. Finishing the bow, he tapped the golden bubble protection for a while, making a resounding tick, tick, tick, before vanishing into thin air with a smile on his face.

Richard realized that everything outside the bubble was momentarily frozen—the meteor, the rain, and the thunder in the skies—before returning to normal once the man vanished. Flipping his translucent ashen-colored watch and looking at the features of his firewall designed to protect everything inside Skellige, Richard added another description under the discovered section: time dilation.

Wanting to ask Yennefer who the man was, Richard was unable to do so as he saw many groups of people teleporting outside Skellige that he needed to drive away and kill.

Opening his watch again and knowing there would be many people coming here, Richard then added the feature to create and spread H2O mist mixed with all kinds of energy Mana to hide this place from prying eyes. Finished with creating the feature, he then launched himself into the air to hunt the many demons before they realized that the masters of this archipelago did not like to be stared at.

"Kid! I like your creation here! How about becoming my subject?! I, Wolf Queen of Solitude, Potema will–gurgle gurgle."

Seeing the woman manage to evade his attack since she had time to expect the assault, Richard was unable to follow up and make her limbless because she had already transformed herself into a spectral being and entered the Ethereal Realms, abandoning her body.

Even though he would have liked to try out his Breathing Form mixed with the Mana generated by Huginn and Muninn by directly following her into the Ethereal Realms, Richard couldn't do so because many games were still in the area. Knowing that the bigger fish had slipped through the nets, he then focused his attention on those who lacked the same expertise as that woman.

Typhon Thunder Breathing, Volcanic Lava Breathing, and Searing Mists Breathing were activated one after the other to go all out, knowing that the barrier would protect the archipelago from his upcoming devastation. Especially since there were no weak beings on the seas as far as his eyes could see that he needed to be careful not to accidentally kill or injure.

Starting the onslaught, Richard categorized these prying eyes into four different kinds of people.

First, for those he categorized as demons, he chopped off their limbs and placed an Aon mark on their bodies to be registered as viruses needing quarantine before throwing them toward the bubble so that Huginn and Muninn could imprison them. Second, for those who were hopeless and had no chance of turning to the light side, Richard simply killed them.

Third, for those who manipulated others like Philippa, he kicked them in the chest, launching them far from the archipelago. Finally, fourth, for the innocents who were confused and scared about being thrown into this world and sought clues due to the large twelve seconds phantom in the skies, he left them alone but did not yet allow them to enter Skellige.

All in all, after running in circles from Undvik, Southern Isles, Faroe, Hindersfall, An Skellige, Northern Isles, Spikeroog, and finally back to Undvik, he tallied about fourteen individuals who could be considered demons, seven individuals who were hopeless and needed to be killed, and ten manipulative individuals whose methods he disliked.

One individual was so difficult to maim that Richard had to stick his sword inside its body and use his new Mana Sun Breathing to immobilize it, which he wanted to try on a woman named Potema as the first subject. The reason is that their physical body does not rely on atoms in these Realms for their internal structure to function as intended.

He could have completely severed this undead 'limb' like many others made of flesh and blood, but it would have been too much hassle to travel into the Ethereal Realm, find the atoms composing its body, and then return to the Physical Realms to observe the results, especially for just one individual.

Ciri, already finished sailing the Skidbladnir to a safe place, walked back into the physical realm to see Richard with his Hofund, bringing this undead stuck to the blade like a pike. Memories flooded back to her from the scout drawings inside Sylvanas Windrunner's room, and she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Is that a Lich from the Undead Scourge faction?"

—