《Annihilation's Impact》Chapter 16 : Grand Scheme
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The Phonograph continued to produce the seemingly random yet organized sound, some were high-pitch while others were low-pitch. Each and every one of them combined in many different ways, creating and portraying unique feeling differed from one another. Enchanting the nonchalant air that rooted deep within the room.
But the profound aura that was emitted by the two figures caused the atmosphere to tense up gradually. When the topic of their meeting was bought up, the casualness of the air disappeared and was replaced by the coldness and detachment. The aged elf and the ancient human sat silently in the middle of the chamber.
"Old man, your scheme ran deep and persisting, I didn't dare to think that something unexpected had caught you off-guard."
Mocking words were spoken by the unrestrained elf, but due to the passage of time, the white-haired human had already experienced all there was, he would not be easily provoked by superficial words.
The old man closed his eyes, but the next thing he spoke was enough for the elf to tense up.
"The seal within the Forbidden Palace was undone, this is, perhaps the only chance to recover your race's original status. To seek out the truth left behind from the myth, wasn't that your purpose?"
"What... did you just say?"
His voice generated ripples across the room, violently shook the antiquated chamber. The aged elf illusionary body shivered as if his soul was burnt by the flame of desire.
The mana flew unstably as his emotion descended into chaos, causing the sound that was produced by Phonograph to distort, the disturbing yet saddening atmosphere suddenly engulfed the entire room.
But before long, his chaotic flow of mana stabilized, the peaceful yet uplifting sound of the Phonograph returned to occupy the omnipresent space in the chamber.
"What is your relationship with that man?"
His twisted voice echoed the chamber once more, it travelled directly to the old man soul, the perfected way to conceal all the detail of their conversation, to not let the third party pried into the taboo subject.
"That man was once the great ruler, he still is. But his sin was unpardonable, causing pain and suffering to countless lifeform on our plane, turning the paradise into the nightmare."
The ancient human spoke out his untraceable past, the complicated emotion ran deep within every word of the sentences.
The venerable elf was surprised, throughout the entire time they spent on the meetings, this calm and composed man never once revealed his emotion.
"It doesn't matter what your objectives are, as long as I can verify the truth lost in time, nothing else matters."
The gaze of the old man flickered, he relaxed his unreal body as soon as the elf stated his indifference reasoning. He laughed at himself softly, confusing the elf in the process.
"I only came here to propose plans with you, for our end goal is the same. The closing of the history book, we would have ensured a better chance at success when we collaborated."
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In his mind, this detached elf would never take any notice of this matter. He thought that the legend was never carried over since that great devastation event, thinking about his naive speculation. He mocked himself with a laugh.
"Seems like that you are not a shut-in, but rather a knowledgeable elf. I won't force or ask you what you know, but the same would apply to you as well."
His knowledge of certain matter was too sensitive for any discussion, some matter must be kept rotting in the insiders' mind. Even the insiders were too fearful to reveal them.
"I have seen things unbeknown to an ordinary person, live far more than any of my friends. Everyone has their own secrets, that must be sealed away from the world."
Once the elf finished his somewhat inspirational speech, both of them smiled faintly at each other.
The old man spread his palm, the artefact ring was produced upon the channelling of his mana. He handed the ring to the elf, who scanned the content with his mana. The elf's expression became much more solemn.
"Have you already gone mad? This plan is a madness by itself, we are talking about the eradication of a civilization here!"
The old man smiled even wider, causing the chill to run down the elf's spine. The maddening aura suddenly emerged from the old man, manifesting into the shadowy figure of a demon in the mental realm.
"You have never known what kind of evil and disastrous events orchestrated by that sinner. My plan was only the revenge against him, but his ability was too great, much so that the destruction of a civilization was required."
The elderly elf fell silent, he only heard the rumour from his decreased progenitor from the Dark Era, the hand-writing of his ancestor revealed many unbelievable secrets, albeit only parts of them.
But in the end, the elf never refused the crazy plan of that old man, if this man succeeded, then he would also benefit greatly. Most importantly, the secret from the past might also be answered, fulfilling his purposed.
The elf exhaled a huge breath, he nodded his head to the ancient man, agreeing with the crazy yet compelling masterplan.
"For the longest time that I have known you, you certainly never fail any bet against me. This time should also be the same, I'm willing to bet my entire life worth of work into this gamble. It might not be the best choice there is, but it is definitely worth a shot."
The old man's aura subsided, he responded with unparallel confidence.
"This time, however, it is different. To tell that I'm certain about this design would be a plain lie, in truth, I lost to him once, but this time... It will be mine revenge."
Many questions surfaced the mind of the old elf, with many intentional reveals of the man's dark and unknown history, he could at least guess some insignificant portions of his past.
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While his mind wondered about the origin of the man before him, he noticed that an exotic scroll was being unfolded before him. The scroll was seemingly made out of the skin of the animals, be it goats or sheep, but there was an unexplainable and frightening power in the scroll, it gave the feeling of the ever-changing chains of promise, able to penetrate even the brightest mind and forced everything under them to obey their promise or they would crumble under the almighty pressure of the chains.
"What is this scroll? It was clearly a normal agreement paper that hasn't contained any magic, but the unforgiving force was detected within it."
The elf instantly raised his intangible barrier created by his secret spell, it revolved around his body, protecting every part of his.
"Don't panic, old friend. This is one of the lost spells amidst the history, the Chain of Promise. The most secure way to sign the deal with someone. With the power from above, the chain would force both ends to obey the condition they set. But, only if both sides agreed would the spell work."
He smiled faintly, and wait for the elf to speak.
The elf shook his head, he smiled lightly.
"No thanks, you are still despicable as always. If you want me to sign the contract, create a new one without anything but the requirement."
Who would be that foolish to use the prepared paper to sign the contract? The prepared paper would be plagued with many hidden conditions in myriad and uncrackable form, if it really signed the contract, his soul would probably be for the old man to take.
"I'm just testing your wit, there is no need to be upset."
The crafty old man gestured his hand again, the new paper with the same enormous pressure was recreated. This time, on the paper, was the plain and simple conditions regarding the sharing of the plan, and that they were not allowed to leak it to anyone any part of the plan.
After several checks with many different ways to assure that there was no loophole to be exploited, the old elf finally signed his name with a drop of his blood. The old man also did the same.
After they signed the contract, the ever-changing chains penetrated both's soul, clinging to it and threatened to crush the soul if someone broke the contract.
"I would await the good news from you, we will be working with each other for a long time. Goodbye, for now, the Great Ancestor of the old Elven Kingdom."
The official agreement sign under their true name, not their birth name, but the name of their soul. Upon attaining the higher layer of power, in the realm of the legend, those godly experts would learn their soul's name. It would be used to create the spell unique to oneself or many more.
"I hope that our plan would not fail us, the Pope of the Pantheon, farewell."
The Great Ancestor spoke before his illusionary body distorted into nothingness.
The Pope smiled in an evil manner, his body also faded out of existence.
The Great Ancestor did not know the true objective of the Pope, he didn't want only revenge, but something else. Something that was even crazier.
The Coming of the Deity. The Opening of the Heaven. The Resentment of the Sinner.
...
"Who are you, exactly?"
Lord Caligo asked this question very casually as if he didn't care about the origin of the man before him at all.
"Who I am is not important, there are many more things that you needed to know, but this is not one of them."
The distorted voice came from the concealed figure, only the distinct green eyes were shown.
"Then, what are the things that I needed to know? How did you know the importance of them?"
The curiosity of Father of Mist was ignited. He probed further into the mysterious man.
The room they were in was protected with many layers of seals and formations, only someone from the legend could forcefully break through the seal. There was no needed to fear that the conversation would be leaked.
"Maybe the Art of Soul? Do you want to know the secret of the soul? What about some records beyond the Ancient Era?"
As the man spoke, many foreign items, such as scrolls, books, tomes and records, started to float around the man, the knowledge hid within those items was enough to cause a war.
"What do you want?"
Lord Caligo's face turned serious all of the sudden, he knew the vault of those items. The other would definitely not show them for nothing.
The man seemingly smiled, but there was no way to know.
"I only have one little trouble that required your assistance before you can take the items."
All the rewards were laid out on the table in the orderly fashion, beside them was a crystal ball, an Information Crystal. It was used to store classified information and secret.
The Grand Archmage held the crystal and examined the information in it, after reading all of them, without a moment of hesitation, he smiled.
"So, I only needed to find the location of this woman? The information you provided was more than enough to find her entire bloodline."
"I only need her, I don't care about the others. I hope for the good news, contacted me when you find her."
The man spoke with no hint of emotion.
Lord Caligo watched the man leave, in the end, he didn't ask about how there was no sign of life force and how there was a thick aura of death from his body. Many people had secrets, to ask about them was akin to offend them personally.
"From what I recalled, she should be one of the Saintess of the Pantheon, an organization created to eliminate the spies that demons sent?"
He sat there and thought about many things.
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