Time Twister

Xander, on the other hand, didn"t mind it at all, but rather, continued to eat.

The sergeant"s face was stern, and he continued to release his pressure around him, causing some of the guests inside the restaurant to spew out blood, yet Xander was still unaffected, but rather, he was enjoying his food.

The sergeant was about to act, when his and Xander"s eyes met for a moment. At that point, it was like his entire being was being shrouded by an overwhelming force, as if he was facing a formidable being. His presence momentarily faltered, causing surprise and confusion to flash in the faces of the soldiers and Bamon.

Xander, on the other hand, merely spoke a few words,

"Don"t interrupt me while eating my food. Wait outside if you have something to tell me," before continuing on chowing down the fried chicken. The sergeant"s face alternated from red, to blue, and then back to normal, before waiting for him to finish his food. He didn"t wait for him outside, in fear that he might escape.

After 5 minutes, he used the napkin to wipe his mouth and drank the pop bottle empty. He then called for the server to pay for the bill.

The server hurriedly served his bill, and upon seeing everything was in order, he scanned his watch on the portable terminal, paying successfully for the food. He then stood up, causing the soldiers and the sergeant to stiffen, ready to attack.

Xander raised his eyebrow, before heading out.

Once he was outside, the other two brothers surrounded Xander in a triangular formation, ensuring enough s.p.a.ce for him to move about while security was still covered. Xander rolled his eyes and asked,

"So, what"s your business? You should know I"m here to just submit a mission for my university. If you have any problems with it, call my university."

"Mr. Cloverfield, let"s keep the lies out of the conversation, shall we? Can you please cancel the tsunami spell you placed at the seaside? You are endangering thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of lives," the sergeant in blue said, his voice frustrated.

"What bold words of accusation you have, sergeant! We, the Cloverfield Clan may be scattered and seem weak, but that doesn"t mean we don"t bite back if we are attacked!" Gammon said, indignant about the experience.

Xander merely laughed as well on the statement of the sergeant.

"If you have any evidence of me controlling the so-called tsunami, please, present the evidence. Where are my magic signatures? Where are my elemental control traces? Hmm? What, you don"t have any? That"s because it"s not my fault. Also, attempting to arrest a child in broad daylight without due process, do you think my family"s power is just that, making me like a beggar that can just disappear in the eyes of the ma.s.ses?" Xander"s voice echoed throughout the area, reaching roughly around 2-4 kilometers in radius. Everyone who was present could hear it, thus, complicating matters of human and civil rights.

The sergeant in blue was angry, but he couldn"t show it, because he came here for other reasons. The one in red spoke out,

"If it really wasn"t you who caused the tsunami, then you have nothing to fear in coming with the military isolation ward."

At this, the three laughed, before Amon spoke out,

"Hmph! Who are you to command our family descendants to do so, huh? You do know we are protected by our country"s laws as well as the Global council"s laws. If our sweet, sweet under-aged descendant entered your military isolation ward, who knows what might happen to him?" Amon sneered at the sergeants, spite layered in his voice.

It was Blue"s time to reply.

"Mr. Cloverfield, your family has already been alerted about the situation. At the same time, there was an issue concerning one of your acquaintances, Mr. Lindhart. He was found dead, 3 hours after talking to him. So the local police wanted to invite you as well for questioning, however, they felt they had insufficient strength to escort you to the premises, so they requested our help. It also coincided with the appearance of the tsunami, so you are the number one suspect."

Xander looked dead in the eye at the Blue, who was tense. He then spoke slowly, emphasizing each word,

"Oh? Did he die? That"s weird, why can I actually detect his life essence? Mr. Okazawa. You are in the military. You should have read the files about me. You should know that not only am I good in the 5-elements, I"m also quite proficient on matters concerning life and death." Upon hearing his name being said, Okazawa paled, before looking at Xander warily. However, Xander merely continued to look at him, before further saying,

"So please, enough with the bulls.h.i.tting, and if you sergeants and your squads came here in an attempt to interrogate me, or make me meet someone powerful in the government and manipulate and mold me to help the development of the country of Nema, stop before you regret it."

Okazawa hesitated for a bit because he could really sense a dangerous aura from Xander, causing alarms to ring inside his mind. Seeing his conflicted look, Xander"s face softened a bit, before saying to Okazawa,

"Mr. Okazawa, how about this, I"ll contact the head general as well as the president of the country so that you can easily retreat from this situation, okay?"

Before Okazawa could reply, he already activated a hologram call to both the head general and the president.

The two immediately answered, of course beginning with threats of jail and military crime stuff for an unknown number calling one of the important figures of the country.

It took them a while to realize that they were both called, causing them to stop in their tirade, and looked at the figure of Xander, who just waved his hand at them.

"Head General Cabal and President Valores, I presume? Hi, my name"s Xander Cloverfield. Can you stop sending people and creating scenarios for me to be entrapped in, just so you can talk or convert me into your country"s follower?" Xander said exasperatingly, his eyes rolling in their sockets, with the audience surrounding dumbfounded. Even the General and the president were quite shocked. Before they could even formulate a reply, Xander said in his sweet, childish voice,

"If you don"t stop, I"ll have to reveal to the world Project 32, Project: Gehenna, and Project: Nirvana that you guys have been working on. Yes, this is a threat. No, I won"t tell you who gave me access to all countries" lists of secret projects and doc.u.ments, it is above your payroll, maybe ask the Sage magician supporting this country. Yes, it might sound silly, but you know the information is the real deal. You might even have to kill your soldiers here for just hearing those project names, tsk, tsk."

Upon hearing his words, the surrounding soldiers paled instantly, as well as the sergeants. They knew the importance of state secrecy as well as the notion of "above your pay grade" kind of information. It was the kind that can kill. The trio, on the other hand, was surprised about these projects the Nema government had been working on, unknown to them.

After all, they had a Cloverfield in every government in the world, and information has a way of trickling down as well as showing their influence. The president and the head general were surprised, before becoming highly alert towards Xander. Xander, however, continued with his aggrieved, child-like voice, layered with emotion that seemed to be conveyed to the General and the President even if it was just a hologram call.

"I came here to this country to submit a mission and enjoy the tourist spots and the wonderful things the country had to offer, and this is what you give me? An accusation concerning a situation that would endanger the lives of innocent people, as well as trying to frame a murder? A murder that never existed in the first place, because the person is still alive, but hidden in one of your military isolation wards? This is how Nema"s government treats budding scholars who have contributed to the field of magic research and science? Frankly, I am quite disappointed." Xander then "shed" a few tears, eliciting sorrow and pity to everyone who was watching Xander, which was basically, well, every citizen of the country.

Of course, Xander was actually hacking the broadcast signal of the 10 cities of Nema, plastering in the hologram billboards and projectors all over the country the situation happening around Xander, including the hologram of their head general and the president. At the same time, he released the Emotion element, causing them to feel pity and anger for his sake. He had started the broadcast since he had called the head general and the president, but he did cut out the snippet concerning the state projects; he wasn"t that cruel to the citizens who might be caught up in a war with other countries, haha.

Xander then wiped his tears, sniffling a bit before saying,

"Mr. Valores, Mr. Cabal, Good day to you. I don"t require you to apologize or whatnot, but please, apologize to your people, especially the people of Fargrow, who were endangered by your attempted "capture" me by summoning a gigantic tsunami, and pinning the blame on me. I"m just a kid; do you think I can manage to create such a large spell that even DemiG.o.ds can"t stop?" Upon saying this, he switched the view of all the holograms in Nema to the gigantic tsunami being held at bay, but not dispersing. The beach was deserted, with beach b.a.l.l.s, blankets, and umbrellas left in disarray.

He then stopped the broadcast, before smiling craftily at the two.

"I have broadcasted the whole situation to the whole country. Good luck saving your a.s.ses. You shouldn"t have attempted to disturb me during my vacation. Bye~ wipe your a.s.ses clean, ok?" He ended the call and looked at the squads, who were now pale and shaking. He gave them his signature smile.

"So, why haven"t you loyal soldiers left the city and escaped to other countries, dimwits? Do you plan to be killed, or sign a labor contract that strips almost all of your freedom?"

Upon hearing his words, the soldiers snapped from their stupor, before looking at their commanding officers, who were hesitating. It was hard for them to leave the country quietly.

While they were busy deciding, Xander signaled his seniors to go back to the villa and take a rest there. After all, it will blow up after a few hours from now. He had also taken control of the news outlets, so what they are saying in the television would not be matching to what the citizens would hear, hehe. He also collapsed the tsunami spell, causing a large explosion of water elements.

_______________________________

6 hours after the incident, the president"s office. Sound of items being thrown to the walls and on the ground echoed, breaking into pieces, scattered in the ground.

After a while, the president, sweating, was taking deep breaths that slowly calmed him down. The head general was merely standing quietly, not saying a word.

"Mr. Cabal, as the ruling president of this country, I should be informed of such matters, am I correct?"

"…Yes sir."

"So tell me, why have I heard 3 state project names come out from a tourist visiting the country? State projects that I specifically, enforced my vetoing powers to be stopped. Am I just a joke to you?"

"…"

"Not only that, why have you agreed on the plan to capture the said target, Xander Cloverfield? Do you really think a family that has survived and thrived for the past thousands of years can easily be played against? Not only did you fail, you even left evidence and traces that can be taken by those opposing the country!"

"… It was for the greater development of the country, sir."

"So that gigantic tsunami, the biggest one yet to occur in Fargrow, was also in your plans? Drown half of the city and pin the blame on a kid? Who, by the way, is just a Master cultivator? Do you have something wrong with your brains?"

"… Sir, it was an unforeseen situation. The original plan was to-"

"I don"t care about your original plan! The fact is, your target wasn"t even near the beach! I might not be a scientist or magic researcher, but I know a thing or two about spell deployment. Controlling a spell from a distance of more than 30 kilometers, are you joking? Not only does that require enough magic energy, but it would also leave traces. What happened afterward? Nothing! No trace at all!" Mr. Valores screamed at the head general, snapping at his incompetence. Although they were friends, he knew the current s.h.i.thole he was in, and the government was currently in.

If he doesn"t manage to resolve the situation, this would involve ma.s.s protests and probably his impeachment. All his PR teams and the government were working arduously to fix this for the past 6 hours, from influencing the news outlets, to even doing minor censorship concerning keywords in the net.

This was where they hit a snag.

When the pre-recorded and live videos of news anchors, reporters supporting the government were played, the things that they were saying changed. The people listening at the comfort of their homes, pubs, and their communicators actually heard them criticize the government for going to such extremes, as well as releasing information concerning who Xander Cloverfield was. Not only that, but other countries surrounding Nema were also reporting the situation, causing people to become curious and began to search the web for information, blowing up the situation further. Even the Ete continent was also taken aback by the furor happening in Nema.

The PR teams were panicking because when they reviewed the videos they were normal and worked properly, but when it was played already for the public to see, the words the newscasters were saying changed. Not only was it not a superficial change, but even the emotions and the facial expressions of the anchors and reporters were also modified to suit the words they were saying.

This had led to more calls, as well as violent protests to occur at the government buildings in all the cities in Nema. The president and his aides were shaking in anger and surprise with what had turned up to. Even the head general was astonished by the elicited reaction, and couldn"t help but mutter,

"It was supposed to be a simple extraction and manipulation of a target; how did it turn out like this?" When the president heard this, he could help but shout expletives to his best friend for his dumb actions, telling him to mobilize the military to ensure the safety of the government as well as the safety of the people.

They weren"t allowed to harm the protesting people because if they did, this would be another issue that would blow up.

After 6 hours since the broadcast, the SeeMe account of Xander had grown to a following of nearly 400 million people, quite remarkable considering the population of the planet was roughly 23.8 billion people; that"s roughly 1.68% of the world that was following him. He currently topped the number of followers in SeeMe, surpa.s.sing celebrities, actors, singers, and even presidents.

One can even say, due to this event, he had entered the world stage. Which was both good and bad for Xander, since it means it would be harder to travel incognito, but good at the same time since it gives him a certain level of prestige and access that being in a clan does not give.

Xander, on the other hand, was actually just relaxing in the villa, swimming in the pool for a total of 5 laps from one end to the other. After he was done, he headed straight to his room and went in Eden, and began to tour the different islands and underwater paradises that existed.

____________________________

12 hours after the situation.

Xander had just finished his 50-year tour of the islands and underwater paradises. He even made friends with a mythic-cla.s.s Death Coral, which is technically named as such because aquatic beings use this coral as their graveyard. The population of Eden was continuously increasing, roughly around 50 million now, but because of the size, there was enough room to accommodate even up to a trillion beings.

He also added some new aquatic animals that he had bought from a pet shop, as well as some new terrestrial animals. What was good with Eden was that it was structured in such a way that no regular animal or plant can die of old age. They can only die if they want to die. This was because of the abundance of life and other elements as well as a decreased amount of death elements.

The conditions in the garden were perfect in growing and cultivating magic beasts, sentient beings, and sprites. When he added the new aquatic and terrestrial species, he also tested [Samsara Revolution] to see its effects, and boy, was he not disappointed.

Each one of the animals was basically enlightened, awakening the sentience in their bodies, even without the formation of a magic core. This gave them an advantage once they were able to transform into Magic beasts. Or will they still transform into magic beasts, since their life-essence doll had been constructed, but not really into the form of a magic core.

This was one experiment Xander was curious to see tomorrow for the results. He set them free after the experiment, telling them to act smart and take care, before leaving them to their own devices. At the same time, he placed a spatial marker for him to track them when he returns here tomorrow.

He then headed to observe the Tree of Life and saw the older one was already growing them, albeit they were very small.

He immediately sent out a decree in the s.p.a.ce: No one is to get the fruits. If they fall and you take hold of it, you are to submit it to the 4 elder Sprites. It was a decree that echoed deep inside their hearts and minds, and no one would dare to go against it.

He then once again summoned his once in 175 thousand years appearance, releasing a total of 2 million spheres of light. Due to the population increase, he added another decree that once you have been called, you cannot partic.i.p.ate in the next 5 appearances, allowing others to partic.i.p.ate.

He was there for a total of 40 years, talking to 6 people every hour. He then talked and served different food cuisines to Pan, before playing with Sam, Marie, and Mary, and Fae. They were already Mythic-7, so Xander just wanted them to practice fighting one another and fighting together.

Afterward, he left the garden and teleported to his villa in Eta, where he went straight to the laboratory to check the trees. He was surprised to see that the time acceleration in the laboratory seemed to have increased, without his interference? From 1 second: 10 days, the time increased to 1 second: 2 years.

He looked around and thought for a moment why this was the case, before realizing it must be the two trees" influence.

He headed to the center of the trees, where the 2 trees of destruction were placed. As he came closer, he realized that the time and s.p.a.ce in the area were more chaotic, but destabilized; just chaotic for now. It was tightly contained by the 3 trees of creation, which caused some sort of influence in the movement of time in the whole place. Xander decided to put another 3 trees of creation, surrounding the triangular set-up.

He then checked if there were any fruits growing, but there were none. The 2 trees in the middle were still bare, while the creation trees were just filled with luscious green leaves and blooming flowers, but none of the flowers were undergoing reproductive cycling.

He returned back to Nema afterward and headed to sleep.

A few moments later, his communicator was buzzing, rousing him from sleep.