Irregulars or Singularities. Regardless of whatever fancy name they were called, in the end, they were literal bugs in the code of the Universe.
They were the Living Embodiments of Errors that had occurred in the Universe, and they made the laws of the Universe that interwove to create the reality people lived in to bend around them—just as light and matter curved around a black hole to form its accretion disk.
Among the warped laws was the Law of Knowledge, which was responsible for maintaining a Planet's Records where every activity happening on it was stored.
Since Arthur's arrival on Aramis, his very presence had distorted the planet's database, rendering its records of him incomplete and unreliable.
This distortion wasn't a deliberate act on Arthur's part—he lacked a full understanding of his Singularity nature and had no control over the way it bent the planet's laws.
Evan was the same. The Aramisian Planetary Records of a 'Rogue Hero' named 'Evan' were riddled with inconsistencies and omissions. Anyone attempting to trace Evan's activities through the database would encounter glaring gaps.
For example, statements he had made might appear altered, or be omitted entirely.
Believe it or not, 'Aramis' still did NOT know what Evan looked like, even though the boy's mask had come off on multiple occasions.
Unless it was observing him in real-time, the planet's consciousness couldn't properly track his actions. The same held true for Arthur.
When Arthur, Evan, Artemisia, and Beatrix entered Iklaque, the dimensional realm born of the Titan King Kronos' powerful Authority, they became entirely cut off from the rest of the planet.
'Aramis' couldn't perceive what lay beyond Iklaque's dimensional barriers, leaving it blind to everything that transpired within.
It had no idea that Arthur had reached the Sovereign Level during his time there.
When Arthur exited Iklaque, he briefly deactivated his concealment ring for just a moment, allowing Evan to appraise him. However, since 'Aramis' wasn't focused on that area at the time, it missed its chance to discern Arthur's true power.
It wasn't until Arthur and Evan had already obliterated an Aramisian Division and reached Alvey and McEnda's location that 'Aramis' became aware Arthur had left Iklaque. By then, his concealment ring was active once more, and the Cosmic Artifact effectively shielded his strength from the planet's perception.
But in the course of his fight against the Level 850 Dragonslayer he just beheaded, Aramis finally discovered Arthur had become a Sovereign.
Based on prior observations—such as Arthur's ability to battle and defeat Inferior Sovereigns with ease and hold his own against a few Intermediates despite still being Legendary—'Aramis' calculated that Arthur had likely advanced to the Inferior Sovereign stage.
This assumption was logical given the significant power gaps between Sovereign Realm stages.
In the past, Arthur could effortlessly take on ten Inferior Sovereigns at once but would struggle against three or four Intermediates. A single Superior Sovereign had once been enough to push him into using artifacts given to him by his mother to ensure survival.
Factoring in his consistent tendency to leap power stages as though it were routine, Aramis deduced that Arthur was now an Inferior Sovereign capable of dominating Intermediates and contending with one or two Superiors.
In response, 'Aramis' chose Tanyth—a Hero who did not possess divinity and was thus immune to Arthur's Progenitor abilities—and infused him with power just above the Peak Sovereign level.
It calculated that this would give Tanyth the edge needed to defeat Arthur, assuming the godslayer refrained from using any of his mother's artifacts.
However, this boost came with limitations: too much power would cause Tanyth's body to collapse under the strain, and the enhancement itself was temporary.
'Aramis' was confident in its strategy, believing Tanyth would be sufficient to neutralize Arthur. If the battle turned unfavourable, the planet planned to deploy other dormant defence mechanisms scattered across the continent.
Just like how 'Aidos' had the Iremith Ouroboros Family, Aramis had its own set of defence mechanisms.
Sadly, Aramis failed to realise Arthur was now a Semi-Transcendent, in a state somewhere between Peak Sovereign and full Transcendence—a gap as vast as comparing a single nation to an entire continent.
Even at just 20% into this stage, he could trash anything beneath him.
The realisation that even while buffed by the planet, Tanyth still couldn't match him made Arthur heave a sigh.
In the meantime, Tanyth was healing himself with cosmic energy and light magic. By the time Arthur came out of his sea of thoughts, Tanyth was charging at him with an aether-coated sword.
The sound barrier was shredded to pieces as Arthur deflected Tanyth's thrust aiming for his head, before twisting his wrist and countering with a downward strike that sent Tanyth spiralling towards the ground.
Before he could crash back down, Evan appeared underneath him and unleashed an Icy Vortex, that knocked him back into the sky.
Arthur capitalized on the opening, dashing in with blinding speed to deliver a powerful slash across Tanyth's chest, but the Hero coated his body with cosmic energy at the last moment, allowing him to tank the slash with minor damage.
Tanyth didn't have the time to even think of retaliating as Evan swirled the icy currents of his magic power and summoned a Frostborne Colossus.
The colossal knight of magic power raised its massive frozen lightning sword aloft and swung it down with breakneck speed.
Although Tanyth crossed his arms and summoned a shield of aether to block the attack, Arthur used his Destruction Pseudo-Authority to block the shield at the last second.
This allowed the Frostborne Colossus' attack to strike him unimpeded, and the impact sent shockwaves through his body and sent him hurtling towards the ground.
Despite the severe impact, Tanyth managed to twist his body mid-air, flipping to land in a crouched superhero pose. But before he could catch his breath, Arthur teleported behind him, driving a powerful kick into his side and sending him flying once more.
Following up, Arthur rained down a barrage of destruction energy projectiles aimed at the airborne Hero. Tanyth regained his balance mid-air and dodged them, but just as he dodged the last one, Evan appeared beside him, his light-sabre-like blade glowing with destruction law energy.
'World Sunder. Stoneheart's Embrace.'
Evan's sudden attack connected with Tanyth's right shoulder faster than the Hero could protect his body with cosmic energy, tearing through his armour and knocking him sideways.
Arthur rushed in with a follow-up attack and Tanyth tried to raise his sword to parry, only to discover that his arm couldn't move anymore.
Glancing at his shoulder, his eyes widened in shock. His flesh and armour had turned to stone!
'That guy's attack!'
While Tanyth quickly identified the source of the sudden petrification as Evan, it was little consolation—Arthur's strikes landed faster than he could break free.
Arthur's blade pierced through Tanyth's side, and before the Hero could react, a gravity-infused punch collided with his face, sending him hurtling to the side.
A rose of flames suddenly bloomed on Tanyth's jaw and Evan appeared in front of the reeling Hero, delivering a lightning-charged uppercut that flashed twice on impact, launching Tanyth into the air.
Arthur teleported behind him, landing a powerful kick to his back that sent him plummeting back toward the ground and Evan followed up with a Prismatic Vortex that blasted Tanyth back into the air.
Before Tanyth could process what was happening, three golden serpentine dragons emerged from the ground behind Evan. Swirling with prismatic flames, they unleashed a trio of devastating breath attacks, sending the Hero careening through the air and crashing into a random building within Plomux High Command.
Like a ghost haunting him, Arthur was already waiting at the landing spot. His leg pulled back, he delivered a gravity-enhanced kick that launched Tanyth skyward once more.
Evan teleported behind the airborne Hero, his dragon horns and wings unfurling as he unleashed a full-powered breath of Prismatic Flames at point-blank range, slamming into Tanyth's back and driving him earthward with meteoric force.
Immediately Evan cancelled his breath, and Arthur dropped a literal Time Bomb on the impact site. The bomb detonated in an instant, and the agonized scream that echoed through the battlefield confirmed the devastating effect.
Yet, neither Arthur nor Evan ceased their attacks.
"Harbinger of Ice + Hammerfist: Glacial Gavel."
Magic power surged from Evan, piercing through the skies and turning them dark. A moment later, the clouds parted to reveal a colossal crimson ice construct—a massive fist.
Understanding that Evan's attack needed time, Arthur charged in and grabbed Tanyth who struggled to rise. He unleashed a rapid flurry of punches to the Hero's face, then spun and flung him into the air.
This brought him closer to the Hammerfist which crashed into Tanyth and drove his body into a giant ice platform that materialized from the ground.
The Hammerfist descended with unstoppable force, crashing into Tanyth and driving his body into a massive ice platform that had materialized from the ground. The impact triggered an explosion of icy energy that cleared the skies for kilometres.
Evan quickly contained the icy energy, compressing it to freeze Tanyth within a towering block of ice which Arthur used his 'Mountain Split' technique to cleave in two a second later.
'Gravilife Convergence.'
The skill activated just as Tanyth's body hit the ground. A gravitational vortex formed, pulling him upwards and the earth cracked open beneath him to reveal a massive stone fist that gripped the Hero's body tightly.
Tanyth was immediately subjected to immense pressure as the stone fist sought to crush him, but he unleashed a burst of cosmic energy, shattering the grip and taking to the skies. Portals materialized around him, firing streams of aether rays toward Arthur, who had been ready to strike if Tanyth had lingered on the ground for even a moment longer.
A sudden realization struck Tanyth as his eyes widened—despite his high Status Effect Resistance, a debuff had latched onto him.
The 'Withered' debuff effect of the Gravilife Convergence skill, which didn't remove even after the target broke out of the skill.
The only reason it hadn't activated when Evan used Gravilife Convergence earlier was that Evan hadn't chosen to trigger it.
But though he was aware of the debuff, Tanyth had no time to address it since Arthur, who had countered his aether rays with torrents of destructive energy had closed the distance between them.
With no choice, Tanyth conjured another aether blade to meet Arthur's attack. Their blades clashed in mid-air with an explosive shockwave that split the clouds above.
Arthur spun mid-air, using the momentum to deliver a series of rapid strikes that pushed Tanyth further back.
Pressing his advantage, Arthur swung Celestia in a sweeping arc, combining the motion with his Mountain Split technique at close range.
Tanyth managed to block the attack, but the resulting explosion of destructive energy blasted him backwards. Recovering mid-air with a sharp flip, Tanyth was about to charge forward again—only to see Arthur unleashing a far more powerful slash of destructive energy aimed straight at him.
'Island Split'.
The Aramisian Hero swung his sword to block the incoming destructive slash, but just as the strike was mere centimetres from connecting, it paused and Tanyth's sword sliced through empty air.
"huh?"
**BOOOOMM!!!!
"Pfft…"
Arthur burst into laughter at the bewildered expression that appeared on Tanyth's face when he stopped his attack in time at the last moment.
Still laughing, Arthur raised his free hand and swung it downward, creating a gravitational force that slammed Tanyth toward the ground.
Before Tanyth could hit the earth, three golden serpentine dragons materialized from thin air, their sharp jaws sinking into his body. While piercing his skin proved difficult, the swirling flames in their mouths scorched through his defences, causing damage.