Clone A

He was sent to the people outside the dungeon. His mission was simple: assume an incognito mode and monitor everything. Should anything big turned out, he should immediately report by killing himself.

He used a hooded cloak to conceal himself. The surrounding cultivators came from all over the world and many used different methods to conceal themselves so it was easier to blend in.

"The missing princess....?! How the hell is she here? And who is that red-haired?"

You would think the surrounding people would become excited but everyone was hesitant to talk about it. The clone was able to pick something only because of Interracial Communication.

"I know he is nobility, he must be from Déniz as well. But why is he carrying the crown princess? Is she sick?"

"This is dangerous... I don't think the empires will keep quiet."

The princess had overshadowed Edard's accomplishments; she was the only topic of discussion.

The seven senior people representing the empires fell deathly silent. They took several steps away from each but they did nothing, yet. The clone, using Spiritual Sense, had seen some of them sending messages to different places. Generally, the environment had became much hostile.

And then Tyrant further tensed up the situation.

A door leading to a D-rank dungeon is open, you are all welcome to try.

Requirements: none

It happened after Edard had defeated Dragonkiller.

The first person to jump in was commander Dé Abas. He disappeared into the entrance with his hunters in tow. It was time to hunt.

The other seven hesitated, some of them waiting for a reply from their headquarters. Ayata Déniz was the first to transform into a bolt of lightning and disappeared into the dungeon. The other six hesitated for a second more before they activated the full power of their cultivation bases and disappeared into the dungeon.

No one wanted to miss the hunt.

Clone B

Clone B was sent to the Báyir empire as a scout. He had three missions. His first mission was to find out about any plans the Báyir empire had regarding the corpse. Had they given up? Were they still trying to get revenge? If yes, how were they planning to do it? What had changed after resurfacing of the princess? What about Edard, did anyone payed attention to him? If they did, was it because of the Contract thing or because of the princess?

Before going to Báyir, Clone B had dyed his hair into a black one and had installed a mustache and a shabby beard. He bought a few useful potions that could change his size, making him shorter and with broader shoulders. Another potion wrinkled his skin to mid-fifties. He wore a black, hooded cloak that covered him completely. Unless you knew Edard, and not from the video show outside Tyrant, you wouldn't recognize him.

Clone B had 80% of the original's top speed and the full memories of the original which had the complete map of the South in his head. He arrived at Bolnar, the capital of Báyir empire, in an hour. What greeted was a massive city floating in the clouds. Not really floating but close. Bolnar was built on a mountain. This mountain was just a hundred meter wide but thousands of meters tall, supporting the entire weight of the city on its broad top. The weight of the city should have crushed it years ago but it was no ordinary mountain. Legend had it that this mountain had been around long before humans set foot on Màsar.

The important thing was: no one could enter Bolnar without the proper invitation. The mountain was impossible to climb, both due to its terrain and warding, and flying was prohibited around it. There were special, well guarded lifters, flying up and down the mountain. Though all the lifters had suddenly stopped going up. The ones already up transported any foreigners and merchants out of the city.

He joined the discussion below the mountain.

"Are you sure about it?" A young man asked the person next to him.

"Believe it or not, the missing princess was spotted in the stolen dungeons, with her brother prince Kyru. Some said she was sleeping but many believed she was wounded, probably by the Salvation Army."

"You mean that prince Kyru? How? I heard they weren't on a good terms with the missing princess."

"Well, he is her brother, no matter what internal stripe they might have, they will unite against an outside enemy."

Another person from the side cut in, "I know many people believed the person seen with the missing princess was her brother prince Kyru, but my sister saw him on the live video feed and she knew prince Kyru by face. She told me it wasn't him. This one has red hair and prince Kyru has silver."

He checked his hair out to make sure it was no red.

"Well, what's important is the missing princess. She holds the future of the South in her hands."

No one knew the identity of the person seen with the missing princess. Some said he was prince Kyru, some said he was among the secret assassins under the employment of the Salvation Army, some even believed he was allied with the rebels, but most believed he was serving emperor Déniz. What was common was nobody knew the truth.

"Can I go up there without using the lifter? I have left my family up there and I don't want them in the city when the war breaks." Clone B said.

"Well, you can't go up there, at least not alive. I think your family will be safer in the city. Think about it, the Báyirs are the ones attacking and they already have the support of the Salvation Army. So the war won't be taking place here." The man explained.

Clone B heaved a pretentious sigh of relief. "That's a relief. I still can't get why they are willing to go to a war for a single person. The princess is just a single life, how many people will die if the war breaks? And why is the Salvation Army supporting the Báyir? Aren't they supposed to be neutral in this?" Clone B asked.

"The Salvation Army can't be neutral in this; the princess disturbed the slave auction causing the escape of more than twenty thousand slaves. She even publicly killed our envoy. Besides, the court has already issued a death sentence, the Army must see to it."

Yeah, that was another thing common to all the people around. They all referred to Báyir empire as their own. After a small digging, the clone realized most of them were allied to the House by the Contract. It became obvious why they would have a similar opinion and why they all supported Báyir empire.

After an hour, clone B had found out almost everything. He still didn't know what was going on inside Bolnar but it was obvious there was some kind of war preparation. A massive force field had been erected around the city which prevented anything, including sounds, from going in or out of the city.

And then the Salvation Army arrived.

Five vice admirals, each accompanied by two captains, came in what looked like a gigantic flying shuttle. They wore the typical violet shirt and white close-fitting trousers of the Salvation Army, with a white coverall. The vice admirals had the character '3' written on their coverall while the captains had '4'. The only people above a vice admiral in the entire Army were '2' and '1': '2' represented an admiral while '1' was the fleet admiral. Their shuttle flew directly into the city without any checkup.

Clone B wanted to try it but he resisted. They were put hundreds of meters away from the foot of the mountain. Anybody stepping forward would be noticed immediately.

Another round of speculation arose from this. Everyone was trying to best his friend in predicting what the Army was doing inside the city.

"Think they have decided?" An old man standing next to clone B asked.

Even though, the question wasn't directed at him, clone B hijacked it. "Decided? About what?"

"About when and where the war will be taking place." The old man answered.

Why does everyone thinks a war is inevitable? Probably, wars are common here. Clone B mused.

"We will see." He answered.

Thirty minutes later, the gates of the city opened to reveal an army of five thousand cultivators led by the vice admirals. Somehow the shuttle had adjusted its size to accommodate all of them. It flew into the sky and disappeared.

That was fast.

He didn't expect things to escalate this fast.

His second mission was to track down any dispatch. If possible delay them, slay them, deceive them... he was free to do anything as long as it wouldn't interfere with his third and final mission.

But he obviously couldn't slay an army of five thousand experts. Heck, even his original couldn't pull it. So he decided to follow them. Interracial Communication and Spiritual Sense allowed him to trail one kilometer behind without getting lost.

Half an hour of trailing and it became clear the shuttle was heading directly toward Tyrant. That would clone A's jurisdiction and he still had his last mission to take care of. He turned around when he suddenly felt two more groups of soldiers heading toward the first group from Báyir. One group carried the sigil of House Djinn and the other carried that of House Fáyra.

Shit! What the hell is going on?

The three groups joined together and continued toward Tyrant. It was now obvious that everything was well planned. He still didn't know what they intended to do when they reached Tyrant. Will they attack the dungeon or the surrounding people? Maybe they would wait for the original to come out? Maybe they'd a means to force their way into the dungeon? He followed them until they were a few kilometers away from Tyrant. He had decided to leave these questions to clone A when he suddenly saw an old man at the centre of the Fáyra group. The man had a birthmark at the centre of his forehead that glowed dimly.

Renaissance???

He was at the final stage of cultivation.

Although it wasn't obvious, the three people closest to the old man were different. Their dress and coverall looked similar with that of the others but there was something... special about them. Maybe it was the way they moved or maybe their aura... wait, they'd no aura. It was as if they were dead.

Who are they?

Deva????

All three of them had a similar status and they even looked similar... the same even. Deva wasn't among the five Awakenings Dylas had told him about. Maybe it was the next stage, but that would mean the three, apparently protecting the old man, were stronger than him. And then suddenly, all the three turned around and looked at his direction. At that moment, he decided his last mission was more important. He fled.

Maybe he was just lucky they decided not to follow or maybe they didn't even spot him and he was just paranoid. Either way, he'd completed his second mission and it was time to do the last.

He stood in front of the Eternal Library, a hundred story building in a city full of flat houses. It was said the Eternal Library housed more books than the entire empires put together. According to Dylas, you could use a guide or just browse the books on your own.

"I want a guide." Edard told the attendant.

"The price is between one minute per hour to one hour per minute." She talked to him without looking up.

He cared less. What really mattered was the price. According to Dylas anything that had 'Eternal' in it belonged to the Holy Land, and the Holy Land dealt in longevity, not spirit stones.

"One hour per minute. But I need a guarantee everything I ask will be kept a secret." the clone said, not bothered by her snide attitude.

She looked up to observe the clone, almost sure he would change his mind before the deal was over.

"You want to pay one hour per minute for a guide?" She asked again.

"Yeah, and I will appreciate it if you stop wasting my time."

The attendant fell silent for a second before she said, "you have to pay five hours for the oath of secrecy. It's expected that your meeting will last for at least five minutes, that's ten hours advance, including the oath, before you start."

"Where do I pay?"

She hesitantly pulled a stone tablet from the drawer beneath her and put it on the table. "Put your hands here."

As he made contact, a screen popped up.

Are you sure you want to transfer 10 hours to the Eternal Bank?

He pressed yes.

"Where is the guide?"

"Follow me, sir." She said, leading him up the stairs to the third floor. She said nothing throughout the journey but it was obvious she no longer considered him a rookie. Well, longevity didn't grow on trees. And he just gave ten hours for a five minute guide.

"Wait here, sir." She directed him to a small room that was specifically designed for such interviews. It was a small room that was one-hundred percent empty. Its walls where lined with some opague material. As soon as he entered, the entire outside world disappeared. He couldn't pick a thing even with his Interracial Communication and Spiritual Sense. He appraised the wall.

Nestone paint: repels any sound and erase any record of its existence. Once inside you can't use any skill to reach the outside and no one outside can reach you.

Quality: Ancient

The guide came in before he could run any more tests.

"I'm sorry for the lack of seats, it's our believe that a furniture can carry sound and some can even record it. Your minute starts now." The guide said. He was a middle age man wearing a simple plain white robe. Nothing remarkable.

"Who is the leader of the family of Dé? How strong are they? When was the House found? Where do they come from? Why are they interested in Outsiders? How exactly are they tracking people down easily?"

The family of Dé had actually made a strong impression on him. They attacked him a few minutes after his arrival. It was like they knew he was coming.

"Why are you interested in... " The guide started but the clone interrupted him.

"I'm the one asking the questions, unless if you want to pay."

The guide sighed. "I would like to point out that there are rumors about the leader of that House. They say she will know whenever someone talks about her."

So the leader is a 'she'. He thought.

"They call her Queen, her real name is Dé Heeda. It's our belief she is as strong as the fleet admiral, slightly more efficient. The Family of Dé was found immediately after The Descent, that's 8411 years ago. And it's our belief that their ancestors came from the old sky city which is now the Holy Land. We don't know the reason behind their interest in Outsiders and we don't know their exact tracking methods, though it's widely believed they used longevity satellites."

Sky City? He definitely needed to know what that was but it could wait.

"You said she is as strong as the fleet admiral, how strong is the fleet admiral?"

"We don't know the exact strength of the fleet admiral but he is stronger than the admirals."

"How strong is an admiral?"

"Peak Deva." The guide answered.

Dylas had told him the first five Awakenings were: primary, secondary, tertiary, sage and renaissance. He didn't know about Deva.

"Is this Deva the next Awakening after Renaissance?" The clone asked.

The guide nodded. "Some call it the sixth Awakening."

"So probably this Queen and the fleet admiral will be in the Seventh Awakening?" The clone asked.

"We don't have that knowledge." The guide answered.

Well, he didn't get much but he at least knew how dangerous the family was.

"I want to know the locations of the largest dungeons in the South, and their owners." The clone said.

The guide fell silent for a while. It was difficult to read him because he had maintained the same facial expression from the beginning up to that point. He made a grasp in the air and an ethereal map of the South appeared. There were large dots spread throughout the map. "These are the dungeons, though I'm required to tell you that some of theses dungeons are under the watch of the Eternal Palace."

The clone stored the map in the memory pack. He was done but he still had fifty seconds.

"I want to know about the Contract and the Sky City."

Well, after that fifty seconds he came to realize that this so-called Sky City was actually in the sky, beyond the clouds. Its name changed to Holy Land after a significant event known as The Descent. Apparently, both it and the Contract were common knowledge and it wouldn't be worth it to waste his longevity on. He left the library and headed into the city. His mission was done and he was finally free. Free to explore.

Ever since the original arrived, he'd been running for survival. Not a single day had passed but the number of enemies and battles recorded were astronomical. But that was the original, not him. He was free to explore for as long as he lived.

It was a busy city.

"Watch out, kid." A guard barked at him. It was the guard who had bumped into him but he was the one taking the blame. Why? He decided it wasn't worth his exploration.

And then a few minutes later, another grumpy man bumped into him again. Bumping strangers seemed to be common around this area.

Your garments have been violated. For the next hour, anything you store in your pockets will disappear.

Destination: unknown

"Watch it, you stupid brat."

Theft and violence. No matter how he valued exploration and seeing the city, he wasn't going to let it go this time. He grabbed the man's arm.

"What do you want?" The grumpy man asked.

"Nothing. I confused you with someone else." The clone released him. The man harrumphed and walked away.

As he disappeared into the crowd, the clone activated Curse.

You have Cursed a level 8 (primary) cultivator.

+5min/second for 1 minute.

Think you can steal from me?

He entered the next shop to change garments. The problem was he didn't have any spirit stone on him but he lucky the shop was advance enough to use longevity. The attendant gave him a similar tablet, albeit smaller, and he paid thirty minutes for the most expensive leather suit available. He did buy a pair of sneakers and an expensive watch that actually displayed your Classes.

Now that he had Cursed the pickpocket, a new idea appeared in his mind. He would hunt. Every Curse would bring at least five hours per minute. The original would be so happy as to name him the best clone. Smiling in his leather suit he stepped out of the shop. A flash of something he didn't quite understand hit him on the head.

Dammit! He saw them. It was the pickpocket and his friends, almost an army.

Clone D

This clone went to the ancient castle of the family of Dé. He had a similar disguise as clone B but his hair was grey and he looked older.

He was currently looking at a waterfall, or more appropriately a bloodfall. It was a normal cliff with a river behind it from which water fell to the lower parts of the mountain. But the water was viscous and completely red, almost blood like. They called it Blood Valley in the map Edard had ripped from Dario's mind. The Blood Valley sat at roughly 7,500km from the castle. This distance was divided into three forests. As he arrived at the first forest, he felt an overwhelming pressure pulling him backwards to the original. Any step away from the original doubled the pressure. He'd to stop so as not to be crushed. It was expected since the castle was the most distant location from Tyrant and he could only reach 20,000km away from the original.

He used Interracial Communication and Spiritual Sense to see if he could see the castle from there but to no avail. Luckily, the original had left a direct instruction in this situation. The clone turned and ran eastward toward the mountains.

"I'm only a messenger. I can't really change the terms of the Contract or tell you something I wasn't ordered to, even if I wanted to." Clone D told the dwarf facing him.

The dwarf was one of the three people Edard had targeted with his Contract. It was a bit risky, both because all the three were powerful and prominent people and because he would be broadcasting to the whole world that he'd a Contract, but the benefit was unimaginable. If the deal was successful, he would instantly get enough longevity to reach greater heights and he would have the permanent protection of a big name. Everything came with a risk, the higher the risk the more the benefit. As much as he hated taking such risks he was about to go to a war he'd no say in. He was just an Outsider, his life would be inconsequential before and after the war. The only person who could save him was him. Besides, he'd limited time.

The dwarven lord clone D was facing was the leader of a faction called Arcane Lords. According to Dylas, the Arcane Lords hated humans more than anything and the humans hated them. Because of this, none of the empires was willing to give them their Contract.

"I like your fearlessness. No human would risk coming into these mountains and seeking us out. But then, you are not a human, are you?" The dwarven lord said. He was a dwarf but unlike many other dwarves he was thin and beardless, looking more like a human child. His cultivation was already at the Pseudodeva level which was the second highest Edard had ever seen.

"I have my orders." The clone said in a stoic manner.

"Well, seeing you are only a clone and you have already told everything you can I will say it's time we say our goodbyes. It won't be good for you to wander in these mountains after dark."

"One final thing, I'm giving this same offer to two other people, my original wanted me to tell you that this offer would expire the minute one of you accepted it." Clone D said with a smile.

"I'm guessing you won't tell me their identity?"

Clone D nodded with a smile and withdrawn from the meeting. Two of the guards standing outside the cave escorted him out of the mountains.

As soon as the clone disappeared, an ethereal figure of a dwarf came out into the open. It sat on the chair the clone had sat and faced the dwarven lord.

"So?" It asked.

"The Contract is genuine but the price is... astronomical. My guess is it comes from one of the other empires, in other words, one of the empires has found a way to replicate the Contract and is trying to use it against the other empires." The dwarven lord said.

"Just what we need, a competition between the empires." The figure said, "you will track this clone."

The dwarven lord looked surprised. "My lord, what do you want me to find out?"

The figure shrugged. "Everything. If our interests are the same, tell them I, lord Tyrlud, wants an audience. If not, kill him. I can't do it myself. Besides, it's only natural to send a clone after a clone."

Apparently, the dwarven lord clone D had talked to was also a clone.

The next person on the list was a horsekin which Dylas had personally recommended. Clone D wasted twenty minutes to reach the small town and when he did the arrogant horse refused to talk to him despite wasting his time. Although, Dylas had told him this would happen it was still devastating to his morale. He left the Contract Seal to the man's (horse's) subordinate and left.

The last person was the most powerful, and the most dangerous, of all the three. If Edard managed to pull this off then his life would be insured for thousands of years.

The sight was a typical hideout of thieves and bandits: tents in the middle of nowhere and people walking in barbaric dresses and shouting curses everywhere. There was no order. In fact, he found the man he was looking for on a tree, having sex with two women while others watched.

"EHMM... " One of the watchers cleared his throat.

"What?!" The man shouted, annoyed. "It's the technique, you should pay attention to the technique, Dilti. And you can't call yourself a true man if you have never had a black and a white woman, simultaneously."

"Yeah, I got it. Two women: a black and a white, simultaneously." Dilti said, "but listen to me, there's someone here wanting to talk to you about a... Contract. He said he wants to offer a lightning Contract that has no bottleneck at the Primary Awakening and only one bottleneck at the Secondary Awakening. He is willing to give ninety free Contract Seals if you accept his offer."

The man immediately pulled himself out of the woman and pushed the other woman licking him aside. He didn't care about dressing himself, why would he? "Where is this man you talk about? Bring him here, right now."

Of course, the women were a bit shy and they quickly dressed themselves with the man's clothes, but they didn't leave.

Clone D climbed the tree and found the scene. It was... not what he'd expected. The dreaded rebel leader, standing naked in front of him. Unexpected.

"Ah ah... what do we have here? A soul clone. Although only an ectoplasm it had already reached Tertiary Awakening." The naked man ran forward and hugged the clone in a really gross manner. "You are skilled, really skilled. I have decided, guys, I like this guy."

"The manic phase!" Dilti said with a sigh. "I wonder how long it will last before he enters the quarrelsome phase."

Dilti and the two half-naked women discussed openly. The black woman bet on at least thirty minutes while the white bet on less than thirty minutes. Dilti was smart enough not to enter the bet since nothing was certain. Everytime the naked man had sex his personality would shift. The doctors named it the Sex Drive and divided it into two phases. The first phase was characterized by mania and the second phase was mainly irritability. There were other personalities chipped in between but these two would always be present.

The clone maintained his calm demeanor but he decided it was better to finish his job and leave before the manic phase was over. He pushed the Contract terms forward.

The naked man read the terms for a whole minute. During that time his expression had remained constant; either he wasn't interested in the Contract or he was really good at his window dressing.

"I'm Sereyenkov Daniel Brozovicchi, who am I speaking with?" The naked man said with a serious tone.

"I'm just a clone representing my original. He doesn't want his name to be made public. If you accept the Contract I'll give you ninety free Seals as a show of faith." The clone said.

"Then we can't do business. If your original is a coward who can't even say his name then it's no use. They call us rebels but we prefer to call ourselves the unbowed. Our fearlessness is the only thing keeping us alive and we don't associate with cowards." The naked man said.

Clone D knew he was being intentionally riled, should he rise to the challenge? No, absolutely not. He shook his head. "The decision has already been made, not even you can change it. One final thing, I'm giving this same offer to two other people, my original wanted me to tell you that this offer would expire the minute one of you accepted the offer. Goodbye, mister Daniel." The clone turned to leave but he suddenly couldn't move.

"Think you can leave?" Daniel said and without waiting for a response he pointed at the clone. A very thin, almost invisible, thread of an unknown energy came out from the tip of his pointing finger and pierced the forehead of the clone. The clone dissolved into a pool of colorless fluid that evaporated in an instant. Everything happened in a split second, at one moment they were conversing like gents and in the next the clone was dead.

"Dammit, the manic phase is over." Dilti murmured anxiously.

"That was some interference, how about we pick up from our last spot? Listen, the technique is different when dealing with both a black and a white delicacies simultaneously." Daniel said, ignoring the fear on their faces.

"Definitely not over." Dilti murmured again.

Clone C

Clone C went to Déniz empire. He was in a similar disguise as clone B but his hair was silver and he looked much younger than the original.

Déniz empire was the closest to Tyrant and it took clone C roughly fifty minutes to reach the capital, Jékijs. Unsurprisingly, the security at the gates was tight and only citizens with specific IDs were allowed to enter the city.

There were thousands of people around the gate so it was easier for the clone to hide and observe the surroundings. The walls of the city weren't that tall but they were covered in a thin layer of lightning, emitting an oppressive energy. Just above the gate, there was a massive lightning sword that connected the city to the sky. From a distance, it looked exactly like the sigil of the House, a sky ripped apart by lightning. More than eighty high ranking guards stood at the entrance, shining all sorts of lights to confirm the identity of the visitors. There was no chance of getting around them without a bloody fight.

Dé family was too far, Báyir empire wasn't accessible and he just found out Déniz empire was out of reach as well. There had to be a way. Taking a few risks wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The worse that could happen would be death and for a clone that wasn't too...

I definitely don't want to die!

The clone argued, clutching his arms. He would be dead in twenty five hours but that would be a natural death, much different from dying in a pool of lightning.

Almost ninety percent of all the people present were allied to the House through a Contract. If the House fell then they would lose half their cultivation base and their ability to use lightning. There were still people who felt they would rather lose their cultivation base than participate in a war but obviously the surrounding people didn't feel like that. They radiated a strong killing aura that made the entire place ominous. Clone C had appraised some of them and had realized some were even stronger than him. There was one man who was surrounded by more than a hundred people, trying to get his autograph. This man was already a Sage. Clone C was debating how to connive with the man and secure a gate pass when he heard a gentle voice in his ears.

"How much will you pay to enter?" He turned to see an old man pulling a cart.

"I can slip you inside, no one will know." The old man added.

The clone observed the situation. The old man looked harmless, as harmless as a stranger could be.

"Can you pull it off?" He asked. He actually didn't need the man to take him inside the city, he just wanted to get close to the gates and he would do the rest.

The old man showed his ID. "If we get caught I will be the one in trouble. You are just a visitor, probably on Contract, nobody will kill you because of this. People always try to elude the authorities."

"And why are you risking everything just to get me inside?" Edard asked.

"I need the money. Wars are expensive. If this war breaks, there will be no market and you can only eat what you have saved. I have a family to take care of and I don't have any savings."

"If it breaks, so there's a chance of it not happening?" Edard asked. He reasoned with the man, some people would take a similar risk.

"Yeah, I'm an optimist. I do hope our emperor will give up the princess and seek a diplomatic cause."

The man was obviously just hoping.

"How much do you want?" Edard asked.

"Two-thousand low grade spirit stones." And then as if afraid Edard wouldn't agree to the price he added, "I know it's a bit high but I really need the money. Please."

"Okay." He nodded. He had managed to get some spirit stones on his way.

"How do we do it?"

"Give me the money first." The old man said.

"And what will prevent you from ditching me once you have the money?" Edard asked.

"I won't."

And that was how the clone got into a cart full of fruits and rotten tomatoes.

"What's up, old man?" A guard asked. Surrounding him were twenty guards all looking at the cart.

The old man pointed out his ID. "I am a model citizen."

"Citizen, yes. Model, no. What are you trying to sneak into the city at a time like this?" The guard asked.

"Eh...? Nothing, just my things. You can check it out if you want."

The guard sighed softly and shook his head. "Why can't you people get it? You think we will come here without a sensor? Laughable." He just pointed at the cart with his finger and a lightning bolt shredded it into pieces. Clone C came out of the rubbles, armed with the Dragon-essense sword.

"Intruder!" The guard shouted, taking a step back.

All the officers surrounded the clone in an instant. But, its figure suddenly blurred and disappeared. It was... an afterimage.

"He's escaped into the city." Another guard, who had been silently sitting at the back, said. "We have several contingencies just for this." He also blurred and disappeared into the city.

Dario's map didn't give any illustration of the city as he wasn't from here. The only identifiable location was the palace which was at the centre of the city. But that was all the clone needed for his mission.

Even as a clone he could form a single afterimage which was faster than 1km/sec. This made the guard chasing him looked like a joke. He lost the guard in three seconds and he reached the centre of the city in thirty seconds. But that was where his luck ended...

Fifty thousand heavily armed cultivators stood in ten parallel lines, awaiting orders to kill. The palace was immediately behind them, making it completely inaccessible. His mission was inside the palace. He could cross the distance in a split second and appear in front of the entrance but there were special guards in front of the door and a palace would obviously be warded from search intrusions. He considered walking straight to the front line and asking for help but that carried the risk of being impaled with a projectile. Even if he wasn't killed, he could be thrown in a jail for the rest of the war.

How about drawing attention? He thought. After a short debate he decided to simply walk toward the front line of the army.

And that was what happened.

"Halt!" A soldier thundered when he was several steps away. At that point, everyone turned their attention to him and several soldiers ran toward him. If you looked closely you would see a mixture of assassins, trackers, diviners and even soul cultivators among the attackers.

"This is a restricted area. You have half a second to show your ID and another half to state out your business."

Sage Omen

Sage Omen was the minister of Contract. He supervised the terms of contracts and punished anyone who dared broke their vows. Yes, he was a minister, but today he was a guard, standing at the gates of the city against any outside invasion. He'd earlier called upon all the cultivators using their Contracts to come and help out with the war preparations and that was what brought most of the people outside the city.

Although blending in with the rest of the guards and monitoring the contractees was fun it was far from what he needed right now. His blood boiled at the thought of the battlefield that was about to unfold. It was to his greatest dismay that he and his contractees would be guarding the city not participating in the actual combat.

Sage Omen wasn't the type to take something like this lightly. He had been bugging prince Kyru about it. That he wanted to be in the front line.

An opportunity had just popped up. A man strong enough to bypass the city's shield had just invaded the city. If he were to catch this man then his place would be all but assured.

He's fast. I wonder why he's heading toward the palace. The sage mused. Although the clone was fast, the sage had his way of tracking things down. It only took him a moment to catch up with the clone.

He arrived just before the attackers closed in on the clone.

"That one doesn't have an ID." He said, pointing at the clone.

"I do not." The clone reaffirmed.

The soldiers readied their lightning bolts and looked at the approaching sage for orders.

"And why is someone who doesn't have an ID here? Are you invited?" The sage asked.

"No, not really." The clone answered.

"Then may I ask what brings you here?" The sage asked again.

"I'M HERE TO SEE THE EMPEROR."

Not only the sage and the few soldiers closing in on him, the entire army turned to look at him.

"The only thing you gonna be seeing is my ass." One of the arriving soldiers shouted angrily. They were under the tension of an impending war and couldn't accommodate the clone.

The clone lifted his hand to remove his disguise but the soldiers misinterpreted the gesture and fired their lightning bolts. Twenty four lightning bolts flew toward him from all directions.

"Violet Push."

A thin layer of violet light surrounded the clone and instantly dispelled all the bolts. At the same time, he removed his disguise to assume the original's appearance.

Only sage Omen was calm enough to notice the difference and he immediately stood in between the clone and the attackers. "Halt."

The soldiers were especially surprised by his interference and demanded an immediate explanation.

"Look at him carefully, doesn't he looks familiar?" He said.

At first no one noticed but after a minute, the bright red hair became apparent. His bright skin shone in the evening light and his black eyes looked even more contrasting.

"What the hell...!" It was one of the people at the back that first recognized him. And the word spread like a bush fire.

"Remember the person currently being broadcast with the crown princess? I think they look.. alike, unless if I'm having color blindness."

"What...!? If he is currently there then who is he?"

"I'm a clone sent to see the emperor."

At this point, a powerful voice rose from the palace. "Let him in." The voice said.

Looking at the owner of the voice he... somehow looked like the corpse currently stalking the original.

"Prince Kyru! ....are you sure about this? We know nothing about him. He maybe... "

"Shut up and bring him here. What can a single man do? This is the capital for God's sake!" The prince commanded with an annoyed tone.

And this was how the clone ended up inside the sacred palace, the lightning palace they called it. Prince Kyru stood two meters behind the guards checking the clone up. He grimaced, obviously not agreeing with all the checkup. Why check him up? He was just a single man.

The guard shone a dim light from a specially curved stone on him from head-to-toe. He felt no change but he knew the simple dim light could have detected any weapon or ill-intention he might have. Luckily, he didn't have any.

The guard allowed him inside.

"They could be annoying sometimes. What can you possibly do, alone and unarmed? A strong predator does not cuff his target." Prince Kyru told him as they walked into the first part of the palace. The prince had no problem with spitting words like these to the clone. Well, the clone didn't mind, if he did he didn't show it on his face.

The whole place looked more like an interrogation prison than a palace, with doors opening into a long, winding corridor. The prince shoved him into a room on the right.

"Wait here," the prince said, "and don't touch anything."

He left him there with no shackles and no guards. Kyru was your typical arrogant noble who absolutely thought he was untouchable. In fact, he believed the creation of Nestone chains to be a waste.

The room was empty, except for a table and two chairs at its centre. A stack of wanted posters laid innocently on the table. Surprisingly, the posters didn't have a bounty despite making it clear there was one. What solved the trick was calling the wanted names.

"Buerri." Edard said and a blue screen appeared.

Name: Buerri

Race: human

Crime: Killing three people on Thursday, March 8077AA.

Bounty: ninety thousand.

Collect bounty? Y/N?

There was even a digital picture of this Buerri and the short clip of his crime.

"Ballistic Missile."

Name: Ballistic Missile

Race: human

Crime: aiding and abating dungeon thieves in more than two occasions.

Bounty: fifty thousand.

Collect bounty? Y/N?

Since the clone had little else to do he spent most of his time checking out the posters.

Half an hour later, the door opened. A young looking man walked in. He looked to be between thirty to forty years, even less if not for his old-fashioned dress. Talking about old fashioned dress, his robe wasn't a typical one: it was made from the skin of some animal. It looked really awkward and, although it flowed like a normal gown, the clone had trouble imagining how the man was managing. Even the man's sandal was made from the same thing. What drew his attention the most was the unsheathed sword hanging from the man's left shoulder. It was a small sword, half a meter long, with a dull edge. However, it gave him a feeling of profound crisis. Just by looking at it his hair stood on end.

"Oh, don't worry, I always carry my sword unsheathed." The man pointed at his sword. "I know, I know, you think I'm too slow to draw it out during an encounter. You.. may be right but it's more of a personal preference... "

"No, I don't think you are slow." The clone interrupted.

The man shrugged as he sat on the opposite chair. His facial expression told the clone he wasn't used to being interrupted.

"How is the suspended animation going? I know my daughter is strong but who knows how she has been... Oh my, you didn't think she's dead, did you?"

The clone only twitched once but the man understood the situation.

"You are soul bonded to her, dead men don't carry souls. This is the first thing they teach in the academy." The man said, looking perplexed.

"Is it safe to assume I'm in the presence of emperor Déniz?" The clone asked, ignoring the snide remarks. He had appraised the man and saw 'Deva' which brought him to the conclusion.

"Unlike you, I'm not a clone, I'm Bihanzin Déniz, though not many still remember that name. I believe you are here to see me?"

"I want you to remove the soul bond." The clone said.

"I don't have the skill to do it, nobody on the lower plane has the skill to do it. Maybe up there in the sky city." He pointed up with his index finger.

The clone tapped his hand on the table, pretending to be thinking. He already had everything planned but it was good to mislead your opponent. It would be difficult to defend if they didn't know where you would be attacking from.

"The public view is that your daughter killed the Báyir envoy on her own accord and she escaped on the day of the hearing to avoid judgement. Some sympathizers think she is the only culprit here. But I, on the other hand, don't share these sentiments. The crown princess is not mad, she can't be. And she wouldn't do something like this unless she was under explicit orders from someone, someone above her. I seem to remember you are currently the only person above her in this empire. But why? Why would you risk going to war? The others may not care about this but I do, unless you want me to dedicate all my time in overthrowing your little conspiracy, you should let me out of it. I don't feel like letting you or anyone toy with my fate."

"You are imagining things. You see, I have a bit of a... very bad history with emperor Daljári. You will soon know all about it. The enmity between us can only be settled with blood."

Although the clone didn't know what was the enmity and he certainly didn't know who Daljári was but he didn't show it. He maintained his stoic look.

"This war has been around for a long time, we are only concluding it today. I saw an opportunity and I pick it. Daljári would have done the same."

"You are admitting that killing the envoy was not an accident?" The clone asked.

"I'm not admitting anything, I'm merely stating the facts."

"So how about removing the soul bond?" The clone asked.

The emperor shifted comfortably on his seat. "I'm not sure you understand the situation, you are involved in this war as much as I am. If... "

"If they kill your daughter then I'm going to die, right?" The clone completed.

"Yeah, but that's not what I was going to say. Let me show you something."

The emperor pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something on it before he pushed it toward him. "Read that name aloud."

The clone looked at the writing and immediately knew how to read it.

You have learned Dé Tongue.

"Triple-factor."

As he closed his mouth a blue screen popped up.

Name: _ (known only by his alias: Triple-factor)

Race: _ (not known)

Crime: _ (confidential)

Bounty: 3.5 billion

Collect bounty? Y/N?

There was a digital picture but no clip of the crime. What shocked Edard was the man on the picture. He was surprisingly... the old man who had summoned him and gave him the two gifts.

"Surprised?" The emperor asked and he continued before the clone could respond, "I'm also surprised, surprised you can read that language. Very few people knew how to do that." He shrugged as he said the last sentence.

The clone was in a bit of a situation. The whole language thing could be a test, and it could be a distraction as well. There was also the matter of this so-called Triple-factor. Did this meant the emperor knew Edard was an Outsider? How? When? And what the hell did that had to do with the war?

"What are you trying to say?" The clone asked.

"So you can maintain your calm even under this situation? Impressive. I just want to mention I can read your surface thoughts."

Oops.

Note to self: you must absolutely positively get a mind shield at any cost.

"I can't go deep of course, your original has set an auto cap in your mind to go off in such circumstances."

The clone remained silent.

"That man is the second most-wanted man in the whole planet. I know he summons you from another world and I know the family of Dé are hunting you because of that."

How the hell did he know? The clone thought.

"How the hell did I know? I'm the emperor, I don't claim to be omniscient but I can't miss something so glaring."

"Does everyone knows?"

"No, no, I know because I took an interest in you, because you have my daughter. The other emperors have to look closer for them to know. Of course, there's a chance the Salvation Army will tell everyone, I don't have control over them. Please, don't ask me how the Salvation Army knows; they know everything."

The meeting went silent for a whole minute as both parties considered their next words. At first, the clone was hesitant to read the emperor's mind but it could only be considered a fair exchange now. He carefully sent a telepathic probe forward, slowly winding his way up until he was just an inch away. He stopped and looked for any mind shield or trap but there was none. The emperor didn't even seem to know he was under attack. But... that didn't make any sense.

He hesitated for a while before he pulled back. Even Dylas had a mind shield, it just wasn't possible for the emperor not to have one.

"The Salvation Army has left the Outsiders to the Dé family but they still interfere in some rare occasions, occasions like when the second most-wanted man in the planet made the summon. They already have their eyes on you, the only way you are escaping this alive and not as a prisoner, is if we help each other. I admit I need your help, but you need me as well. I want to kill one of the emperors for my personal reasons and you are going to help me do it, in turn I will protect you from the Army." The emperor explained, completely unaware of the recent mental attack. He waved his hand and a small, corporeal board appeared on the table. At one side there were five pieces and on the other there was only one. The whole set up looked like a chess.

"These five are our opponents," he pointed at the five pieces, "and I'm alone. Each opponent has a cultivation base equivalent to a Deva."

"Who are they?" The clone asked.

The emperor sighed. A few wrinkles appeared on his forehead. "Admiral Kyandir, emperor Báyir, emperor Fáyra and emperor Djinn."

"Well, that's four, where is the other one?"

"I don't know, he may not be there. In war, you should always add one figure to balance the unknown. I have planned how to take care of this, this and this." He removed three pieces. "I'm planning on taking care of this one myself." He removed both his piece and another piece from the opponent, leaving one last piece. "This is where you come in, I want you to deal with the last piece. It's inevitable one of these pieces will target your head, for obvious reasons. The way you are, you will die and you won't even know what has killed you. Only a Deva can fight a Deva. I want to make you a Deva."

The clone opened his mouth to talk but he was stopped by the emperor. "Wait, let me show you something before you decide." He waved his hand and they just appeared outside the city. It was almost unbelievable, no sound, no gestures and no spells. Just a wave of a hand did that. Not only that, none of the surrounding people could see them. They were completely invisible, and he was sure it was no illusion.

"You see these people," the emperor said, "almost seventy thousand, they are all here to fight for me because of the Contract." The emperor waved his hand again and they appeared in front of the palace, near the soldiers standing in formation. He pointed at the front group which wore a white collar. "The white ones are twenty-five thousand, they are in the Secondary Awakening. The blue ones behind them are in the Tertiary Awakening and are also twenty-five thousand. In front of each line, there's a group of one hundred wearing red, each red is at the peak of the Tertiary Awakening, just like you. Each of these ten lines has one cultivator wearing gold, they are sages." He waved his hand again and this time the image of an underground fortress appeared. "I forgot to mention that I moved the original palace underground and all these here is just... not the palace. Look at those six people wearing no collar, they are all at the peak of the renaissance realm, something they call Pseudodeva." He waved his hand again and they appeared back in the room.

"And you are at the peak of the chain? A Deva." The clone asked.

"I'm only a single Deva and I can't fight two Devas at the same time."

"But you can make someone a Deva?" The clone asked.

"I can do more than that, I can make you a Deva today." The emperor answered.

"What do you want in return?"

"I want you to accept my Contract Seal. In fact, I can only make you a Deva when you accept the Contract."

There was a period of silence. The conversation had turned into something else, something that wasn't in the instructions given to him by the original. How could he have known the conversation would turn into something like this? But he knew the original better than anyone, he was the same person.

"How do you intend to make me a Deva?" The clone asked. If there was an easier way to achieve it he wanted to know.

"I will give you longevity and, of course, pointers."

"You have a son, he isn't a Deva. Why don't you make him? I seem to remember you are currently the only living Deva in the entire empire. Why would you possibly waste your time and longevity on a stranger like me?" The clone argued. It was suspicious.

"You don't have a bottleneck. Even if I spend my entire longevity reserve on them they just can't become Deva without breaking that bottleneck. And it could take hundreds of years to do that."

How the hell did he knew about the bottlenecks?

"Sometimes I feel like this is not our first meeting; you seem to know more about me than any other Màsarn."

[Màsarn: inhabitants of Màsar]

"Well, I didn't become an emperor sleeping. Do you accept my offer?"

"I don't." The clone said calmly. "I wish there's a better explanation for it but there isn't. No offense but I just don't want to live my entire life serving someone."

"It's happening today, the war is happening today. You should probably start thinking about how to survive this very day before you plan for the future. You will be up against the emperors and the admirals, nothing like a dungeon fight. This is your last chance, young man, think about the ton of longevity you need. How much would it take to reach Sagehood for a single Class? 100,000 hours. How much would it take to reach Renaissance? 100,000,000. Can you possibly imagine how much you need to reach Deva? And this is just the Awakening of a single class, every level will take more. And you probably have six Classes. Think again, your life or your ego?"

"I have already decided." The clone said, "how about you give it to me out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I won't."

"Then as a credit."

"I won't."

"I will pay you by fighting for you in the war and protecting your daughter."

"You don't have the strength, you will be useless. Listen, kid, this is not some competition between academy teens or some dungeon game between rookies, this is a war and it's happening today. By the end of the day, we will have one less empire on the map." The emperor's tone had become deathly serious.

"I will not become anybody's foot soldier."

"Your clone is a soul-based class, though a non-combat one but still good. The mind-based class you just tried to use on me is fairly good as well."

So he had seen through it.

"You have at least two body-based classes and probably even a longevity-based class. Why do you want to waste it? Besides, what you are asking is senseless. I can't just give you longevity from the empire's treasury without you swearing allegiance. Millions of people will die to get this chance and you are wasting it on your egotism. As an emperor, I'm already above you by any standard. Even if you become a Deva, you will never catch up to me. What's there in becoming my underling? I will train you, give you a ministry and look out for you. Maybe even give you one of my daughters to marry. Why are you rejecting such an offer?"

The clone sighed. He might be making a mistake but he just couldn't hand over his future to a stranger. There were so many questions about the emperor and the princess which made everything suspicious.

"You know there are still three questions I didn't ask. First: how and why did you put this soul bond on me? I want to believe it is not a natural occurrence. Second: you have a male heir, why the hell would you adopt Nusi Kil'zanki and made her the crown princess? Third: you have seen me using lightning and you know I don't have a Contract, why are you not bothered like the others?"

For the first time, the emperor's face twitched. He remained silent for a whole minute before he laughed. "You are a type of clone that can't communicate with his original, all information is passed down after death, right? Well, I will just ask the original."

It wasn't clear how he killed the clone but as soon as he closed his mouth, the clone dissolved into a colorless liquid that quickly evaporated.

Clone A

It had been one hour since the eight strongest cultivators entered the dungeon. Clone A felt more at ease and observed the surrounding more closely. Some people had chosen to leave while others stuck around, but everyone was now hesitant about entering or even cultivating in Tyrant's nature energy.

It was at this point the sky split into two and a pillar of brown lightning hit the ground. It wasn't an attack, it was a teleportation portal from Déniz empire. Yes, teleportation was prohibited around dungeons but the empires were already ganging up on them. Breaking a rule or two wasn't going to change anything.

It was an elite troop of five thousand cultivators, each at the peak of the Tertiary Awakening. There were two renaissance realm cultivators and ten Sages.

Well, no need to mention how the civilian around the dungeon would react to this change. They all practically ran away with their tail between their legs. The clone ran but didn't go too far, he hid in one of the surrounding mountains and used Interracial Communication and Spiritual Sense to scout.

It didn't take long for another fleet to appear. This one was three times larger and they carried three different sigils. There were many powerful people among the fleet but only three people attracted his attention.

These three had a similar appearance, each carried a sigil of House Fáyra, and they looked more in control compared to the others.

Deva ????

Of course, they would be Deva. Even the old man at their centre, who was obviously a decoy, was in the Renaissance realm. They were the same people clone B had seen while tracking down the troops. They turned around and looked in his direction the same way they looked at clone B.

There was a chance they had seen him but, unlike clone B, he couldn't run. This was his only mission. He did change location though, and remained on guard for several minutes after until it became clear the three weren't looking at him. And the minute he looked away, the three people appeared in front of him without a warning. In fact, he was sure the same people were still in the fleet because he was currently looking at them with Spiritual Sense. And yet, the same people had him surrounded.

"So?" One of them asked the others.

"He is the one, albeit just a clone." Another answered.

"Although it's just a clone it has the full memory of the original." The last one said and they nodded.

They looked at him as if this was the first time they had noticed him. "I'm emperor Fáyra, I want to thank you for coming back to us." They said in unison.

It was partly a survival instinct and partly from something hidden deep in his subconscious, like a remote control that automatically activated itself. The clone exploded, taking half of the mountain down with him. The explosion drew the attention of everyone around, many drew their weapons as they perceived the explosion as a move from the enemy. Luckily, the war didn't break immediately.

During all of this, the three who had just attacked the clone stood calmly at the centre of their army.

"How much did we get?"

"His mind was protected but we almost got everything we need."

"So he is truly the one? That damn Triple-factor! Well, we finally get to set things right. Everything is under control."