Power of Runes Chapter 535: Child of Fate

While Arthur was lost in the enlightenment that came only once across many eras, there were many other people across the Three Realms who possessed Fate Affinity and were lucky enough to be presented with this completely unexpected opportunity.

Wherever they were, they hurried toward a room or some other safe place, sat down, and immersed themselves in the enlightenment, unwilling to waste even a single moment of an opportunity that might never appear again in their entire lives.

Some had been in the middle of training, some were travelling, and some were even in the middle of important conversations, yet none of that mattered anymore, because the moment they sensed the strange resonance spreading through Fate, every other concern became secondary.

And then there was the... Child of Fate.

***

[A Few Moments Ago]

Amelia thought with such certainty that her eyes seemed to blaze with vigor, as though she had just found a oasis after searching for it through an endless desert.

For days, she had been following the first year students like a creep, trying to find that one person, and just now she had accomplished her goal.

Her gaze remained fixed on the group of three girls walking together through the Academy corridor.

The girl on the right had black eyes and long black hair, along with a slightly attractive face, while the girl in the middle had blonde, feathered hair and black eyes, and was easily the most attractive of the three.

Meanwhile, the girl on the left had shoulder-length brown hair with a slight wave at the ends and light green eyes.

They were talking casually as they walked, occasionally laughing at something one of them had said, looking no different from any other group of students on their way to the next class.

Amelia’s attention, however, was focused solely on the brown-haired girl, or rather, Eva, who was using Ash’s clone as a medium to attend the Academy.

As if sensing Amelia’s gaze through the body’s natural perception and senses, Eva turned her head toward her, and their eyes met.

A trace of surprise appeared in Eva’s eyes, as though she had just seen someone she never expected to encounter here.

Although Eva had never met her in person, she had seen Amelia in Ash’s memories, and because of that, she recognized her almost immediately.

She has not changed much.

There was a very large resemblance between that girl of Starlight Academy and now the women in front of her.

And the most prominent change was the aura of maturity that only comes with one’s age and a well developed body.

Amelia also noticed the trace of surprise that appeared in Eva’s eyes.

Obviously, with Eva’s abilities, she could have easily hidden her emotions if she wanted to.

But she didn’t.

Perhaps she simply didn’t think there was any reason to hide it.

Or perhaps she wanted to see what Amelia would do.

As for the reason... that was difficult to fathom.

After all, who had ever truly comprehended the mind of a woman?

Amelia approached the group of girls, who were in the middle of changing classes to attend their next lesson, and the casual conversation between them gradually faded as they noticed an Assistant Professor walking directly toward them.

Seeing an Assistant Professor approaching them, the group stopped and greeted her.

"Good afternoon, Professor."

Amelia nodded at them before looking directly at Eva.

"Come with me. I have some questions."

Her tone was calm enough that the other two girls immediately glanced at Eva, their expressions becoming slightly nervous as they tried to figure out what she could possibly have done.

Amelia then gestured for them to continue ahead.

Both girls were visibly nervous and looked at Eva worriedly, and seeing their expressions, Eva felt as though they might start apologizing for something for no reason at all.

"It’s fine, guys. It’s related to a club I wanted to join, and I have to get her permission before I can join it. It must be something related to that. You guys go ahead, and I’ll tell you about it later."

The explanation came so naturally that both girls hesitated for only a moment before nodding with relief.

"Okay..."

"Tell us later, then."

They finally walked away, although they still occasionally turned around to look back at the two of them, clearly not completely convinced that there was nothing strange happening.

Seeing their behavior, Amelia was amused.

Though, only a little.

It was a surprisingly normal reaction, especially considering that the person in front of her was connected to Ash in some way. The Ash she knew would never make friends this quickly and was mostly a loner.

Thus, she removed the possibility of Ash being disguised as a student.

Only if she knew how correct she was.

Although the body really belonged to Ash, the consciousness inhabiting it was not his.

"I never expected someone like you to befriend people in such a way that they might actually worry about you."

Eva raised an eyebrow before replying, "That’s rude, Professor. Why can’t I befriend people?"

There was a faint smile on her face as she said it, but Amelia did not let herself be distracted by it.

"Drop the act and tell me who you really are, and what is your connection with Ash?"

Eva made a confused expression as she asked, "Ash... who?"

Amelia simply looked at Eva with a deadpan expression, as if waiting for her to drop the act.

"...."

"...."

"I really don’t know any Ash, Professor. I think there might be a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding... you say?"

Amelia moved closer to Eva and spoke in a slow, deliberate voice.

"If you were not connected to Ash, how can you be so calm? If you were not hiding anything, how can your heartbeat not have increased even a little, while your friends heartbeat did? If you were so innocent, why would you lie about a club? Because, from what I remember, I am not overseeing any club in the Academy, and we do not know each other from before. So tell me, how can you expect me to believe your words?"

Eva licked her lips as if she had been caught red-handed.

"Looks like the cat is out of the bag. That’s right... I am related to Ash. What do you want? And why did you approach me if you knew?"

Amelia also looked at Eva with a surprised gaze, not expecting her to admit it so easily, but she still thought carefully about Eva’s words before speaking.

"From the looks of it, I feel that you know quite a lot about me. Maybe Ash told you about me? So, let’s first get to know each other. Tell me... who you are and why you have come to—"

Amelia was unable to complete her words, as her eyes suddenly went completely white and her body began releasing pulses of golden energy.

Seeing this scene, Eva immediately became alarmed as she moved back to protect herself.

For a moment, she thought Amelia was attacking her, but she could not feel even the slightest trace of killing intent or hostility coming from her.

But after not getting attacked.....she looked at Amelia with a deep gaze and moved her hands through air.

Runic language began writing itself into existence around her, rapidly forming layer after layer before spreading over the surrounding space and concealing the energy and the strange phenomenon surrounding Amelia.

"What the hell happened to her...?"

Eva was beginning to panic a little bit, as she had no idea what had happened to Amelia. And she did not want to cause any trouble for anyone.

Even the memories of Henry that she carried with her had no mention of anything like this.

Most likely, even Henry had never encountered the Resonance of Fate, or perhaps he simply never considered such information important enough to pass down to Ash.

That alone showed just how rare it was for the Fate of All Beings to resonate.

Time passed.

Then more time passed.

Almost four and a half days went by while Amelia remained in the same strange state.

Eva had already called one of Ash’s clones to look after Amelia while she continued attending her classes, but as the days passed and news of what had happened spread throughout the Realm of Eden, she finally understood what was happening.

"All the people who possessed Fate Affinity have fallen into a strange state of enlightenment."

It had become a global headline throughout the Realm of Eden, and her two friends had already filled her in on almost everything that had happened.

Eva had no Universal System, so she could not directly access the articles and information being circulated through it.

Though, she could probably hack into the Universal System now.

She knew how to do it.

The problem was that she still did not possess enough power to actually accomplish it.

As she thought about all of this, a voice suddenly resounded within her mind.

"Eva, withdraw your consciousness from my clone. I am going to dismiss all my clones within a few minutes. Withdraw now. The clone will wind everything up at the Academy, and we are leaving."

She was startled to hear Ash’s voice out of nowhere, but before she could ask anything, the connection suddenly vanished.

"Damn it, what happened now...?"

Muttering in frustration, Eva immediately withdrew her consciousness.

***

A/N: The next Chapter will definitely be related to the River of Time.

Also, suggest what kinds of mysteries and things you guys want to know more about. I’ll try to show them through this Time-Slipping thing, as this arc will be answering many of the questions everyone has had for a long time.

I already have a few timelines planned for where Ash could go... but let’s hear the opinions of you guys too.

Comments below!!!