Chapter 1022: How To Deal With Him (2)


    ?


    "Nice idea. Maybe pincering will work on that son of a bitch, but what if he uses his masses upon masses of undead to ovee that hurdle? What then, genius?" Aurolio asked in a deliberately tactless fashion.


    "As we have seen from that first wave, the masked man''s army of undead isn''t made up of overly powerful creatures. There are stronger and more unusual enemies mixed in, but the majority are weaklings. Even if there is a full batch of absurd monstrosities we have yet to see, that makes it all the more feasible for us to count on the Giants. Even if they aren''t expecting the masked man, no living thing can resist the stench of undeath. They wille running," Eaniss replied.


    "That sounds sound," Em-Sul said as he caressed the jewel around his neck, the Harmonic Ember, which was slightly aglow with the churning of his mana.


    It was visibly in use.


    "But what about this? Since we already surmised that we are about two days from Edagon, why don''t we attack the masked man a day from now, when we are closer to Edagon''s shores. If we force the man''s hand, he will show his backup ns - his artefacts, his undead and all. If we assume he has millions of undead thralls under him, I''m sure, as you said, the force of the Giants will sense it ande our way. I believe that is a better way to confront the masked man."


    Eaniss raised a brow at Em-Sul''s suggestion.


    "Are you wary of approaching Edagon?" she asked.


    "Clearly you aren''t. Trespassing on thend of the Giants with our enemy will only get usbelled as intruders as well. Perhaps you have forgotten but the Giants, millennia ago, were already strong enough to suppress the entirety of Aigas. Do you think they have stagnated since then? It''s better to approach this as the pursuers that we are and have the Giants join in from a distance."


    Eaniss nodded.


    She understood where Em-Sul wasing from.


    Her strategy perhaps hingedpletely on the fact that the Giants would be rather amodating of the fact that the Factions were innocent and harboured pure intent, which would make them overlook all their suspicions as they focused on the enemy.


    Who was to say in the Giants view - that they weren''t enemies as well?


    This could turn out to not be the case if both the Factions and the masked man appeared on the shores of the Edagon with seemingly no conflict between them, and with matching ships to boot.


    Factoring this, it could be argued that Em-Sul''s suggestion offered one slight merit.


    If the Factions engaged the masked necromancer outside Edagon, it was easier to better mark themselves and the masked man as enemies while also making their case as ''heroes of justice'' not at all attempting to raid Edagon more ptable.


    It was a small change, but perhaps it was worth it.


    "What about the necromancer''s other means of attack? We have already discussed his uncanny possession of the Pdin Champion''s body, haven''t we? What of it?"


    Eaniss, Em-Sul and Aurolio looked towards the Bishop.


    A rare injection of seriousness had turned her face dark and stern, erasing all madness and mirth.


    This was Aurolio''s first time seeing this.


    ''This woman...'' he thought. Looking into her eyeless sockets, a result of her supposedly gouging her eyes out because that made her life more challenging and in turn, more interesting, he frowned.


    Eaniss wasn''t shaken. She simply smiled brightly and answered:


    "Indeed, the masked man seems to have incorporated the Pdin Champion as a dummy for reasons unknown. As far as I could tell, the man is still alive. Probably. He must have some kind of use for him. Perhaps the Champion''s Divine Blessing."


    Back when the masked man, Actuass, split the world in two, it had been revealed that aboard his original ship whichter sumbed to the abhorrent conditions on this side of the Central Boundary, was the body of the Pdin Champion masquerading as him.


    But strangely, this body of the Pdin Champion had expressed a potent, vivid presence of undeath that matched the one Actuass had.


    "Not only that," the Mad Bishop said with a sombre tone. "When the masked man and the Pdin Champion duelled, Bright Storm rescued what he assumed was the battered body of the Pdin Champion. It seems this was a ploy the masked man made in order to obtain a vessel that would better ferry him to Edagon. He must have foreseen what would be of his inferior ship beforehand. It wasn''t some coincidence as we thought before."


    This was old news.


    After the splitting of the world, Eaniss had called a meeting between the four pirs of the Severed Union to discuss all this.


    What emerged as a new finding right now, however, courtesy of the Bishop''s insight, was that the masked man was likely to have an extensive foresight ability.


    "Are you trying to say that this man has already seen the future and is making attempts at changing it in his favour?" Aurolio asked with a deep frown.


    Eaniss wore a bizarre look of hrity.


    "You might be right? The masked man has the ability to possess other bodies. While we first imagined that he likely possessed the Pdin Champion for his Divine abilities.... what if that was only a secondary objective? Hahaha. You think he might have already known that I would reverse time back then, which would lead to us to pinning him on all sides? As a matter of fact, there''s no question! That must be it! The only reason he managed to escape back then was because he had a separate vessel, his original body on Bright Storm''s ship which disrupted our formation and confused us all."


    Aurolio mmed his face.


    Right.


    No way.


    Right!


    He wanted to deny it, but it seemed true.


    Sadly, this truth wasn''t the kind that set one free. It only came with a weight that threw freedom out the window.


    What was devastating about this revtion wasn''t simply the fact that Actuass had a ridiculous ability to foresee what could happen in the future. It was the fact that he might have seen how everything would unfold before embarking on his journey!


    ''Is that why he warned us not to try anything again? It wasn''t just a threat but actual advise?


    Fuck me!''


    If this man was this meticulous and this confident, it certainly made sense how he made an


    event like the Premium Age Royale work at all.


    It even made sense why he knew about Aurolio''s Veneration art!


    "That changes things then, doesn''t it?" Em-Sul said with a heavy sigh.


    Eaniss pulled on the fabric of the ribbon-like cloth around her body as if to tear it apart.


    She grinned and... blushed.


    "No, it doesn''t. We''ll stick to the n."


    The three others in the room gave her quizzical looks.


    "What? You do realise that this n of ours may have already been seen though, right? What''s the use in continuing on with it?" Aurolio was puzzled.


    Eaniss grew silent for a while.


    "In as much as we are sharing information and concocting ns on top of ns... we are still individuals participants in this race, are we not?" she then said with a white glow in her eyes.


    Indeed.


    This was still an assignment branded with an attractive reward for whoever put down the


    masked man.


    "So what?" Em-Sul asked.


    "So... let''s each execute the n as you proposed, but in our own ways. We were always going to anyway, right? I don''t know how far or how vast the necromancer''s foresight is, but I am quite sure all Divination is weak to intense vtility. The human mind is the hardest to judge because it seldom attaches itself to a strict code. It can be swayed. If you say we should attack, let''s do so, but in the most chaotic way possible."


    The two other Faction Leaders mulled it over.


    The masked man couldn''t be all-knowing. If that were the case, he wouldn''t make errors of


    judgement.


    But then again, had he made an error in judgment yet?


    Still, he had to be fallible in some way.


    His abilities were weak to something, and that something was likely the schemes of other


    humans.


    "Very well," Em-Sul said.


    The Bishop regained her yfully demented spark and kicked her feet.


    "Can''t wait to im all the bread I can eat!" she eximed.


    Aurolio on the other hand...


    "Isn''t this the risk you wanted us to go for? Why the sudden sullen face?" Eaniss said to the


    pale man''s face which bore an expression of unease.


    Aurolio turned to her but didn''t answer her question.


    Instead...


    "What will you do about Bright Storm? I thought you were very fond of him. That thin stalk of


    stars might have bit it long ago. It''s fucking hard to travel without a ship. Even that


    necromancer knows," he said with obvious snark.


    Indeed.


    What had be of that freshman Faction Leader and his gang?


    Ever since their vessel was stolen, there had been no word or sight of them for thest three


    days.


    Could they have, as Aurolio said, truly perished?


    Of course, it wasn''t like the pale man wished for Bright Storm to have fallen.


    He had vested interest in him.


    He had vested interest in that Null creature he had seen with Bright Storm''s crew.


    That thing was clearly different from the Null Badubs.


    It was no ordinary Null beast.


    If he killed it...


    Eaniss didn''t say a word to Aurolio''s inquiry.


    Well, she had intended to, but she found herself looking up at the ceiling, rather the


    underside of the deck.


    The others in the room did the same, looks of surprise on their faces. Naturally, what they were looking at wasn''t the sublime textures used to craft thefortable underdeck, or even the umbre-shaped barrier past.


    What they gazed at, was past the ship entirely, and high into the clouds!


    Far above the ebony sea, arge vessel as tenebrous as charcoal, if not moreso, could be seen.


    It hung in the air, as still and as calm as the clouds it shared the airspace with.


    It was just asrge as all the ships given by the Emissary, with simr features as well.


    "What is that?" Em-Sul asked curiously while narrowing his eyes.


    "Speak of the devil," Aurolio said with a grin.


    Eaniss also donned a creepy look of exhration, and was the first to vanish from the


    gathering, appearing on the deck to her ship.


    She kept her gaze up and even ordered the ship to be stopped.


    ''So he wasn''t done for after all!''


    Indeed He wasn''t.


    He was diligently keeping himself alive for her amusement, as she had asked him to!


    Right when the Bishop, Em-Sul and Aurolio appeared on deck as well, the beast ck ship far


    into the sky spat out four figures.


    Three humans and one beast.


    All four fell with style, and just when their figures became more than just dark dots to the


    ordinary eye, each of them expelled furious bursts of meaningfully woven mana that had distinctive characteristics.


    "Grant me the chances!"


    "Paradon Parody."


    Shiiiiiiiing!