Chapter 678: An Infernal Saga’s End
Miacav let go of Jamie and took a single step that spanned the distance between him and Evan, placing both hands on the Rogue Hero’s shoulders as he spoke.
"Kid, become my disciple. I’ll teach you how to incinerate planets with that Ultimate Seed you’ve got."
"..."
Evan, completely blindsided by the offer, stood stunned for a long moment before finally managing to reply.
"...I don’t exactly have the desire to burn planets..."
"Huh? Why?! That’s practically blasphemy to flames!!!"
Miacav exclaimed, his grip tightening on Evan’s shoulders until the younger man could feel his bones groan under the pressure.
’Crazy! This guy is crazy!’
Evan had this thought, turning to Jamie for help, only to see him laughing uncontrollably alongside Arthur. Both seemed thoroughly entertained by Evan’s predicament, which only made him want to punch them.
Finally, after his amusement subsided, Jamie stepped in, prying Miacav off Evan.
"Are you really trying to poach the kid right under my nose?"
"Poach? He’s a walking inferno of talent! Your attribute is Space, Westley. He’d be much better off under my guidance."
Miacav appeared to be under the impression that Arthur and Evan were Jamie’s students or something similar. Given that assumption, his words made perfect sense.
However—
|Azure Inferno Authority. |
The words slipped from Jamie’s lips as his arm, the one shoving Miacav away from Evan, ignited in roaring azure-blue flames.
Raising an eyebrow, Jamie shot Miacav a smug look, his voice laced with amusement as he asked.
"You were saying?"
The Infernal Devil froze, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"...why the hell do you have a fire Ultimate skill?"
The sheer shock etched across Miacav’s face was unmissable, but beneath the disbelief simmered a palpable layer of fear.
It was no secret that Jamie wielded the Spatial Ultimate Skill, Azure Void Authority.
Like most Supreme Kings, it was widely assumed he had just the one Ultimate Skill. That assumption had been safe—until now.
But now Jamie had revealed a second, and Miacav’s mind raced, dread creeping into his thoughts.
’If he has two... he might have three, or four... or more.’
The terrifying implications of Jamie’s still hidden power gripped Miacav, and though Jamie could see these thoughts from a mile away, he just laughed and switched off his flames.
"Besides that, Miacav. I’m sure you can see it, can’t you?"
Jamie’s words snapped Miacav out of his momentary shock. He turned his gaze back to Evan, letting out a heavy sigh.
"...yeah. I can."
Evan, who was left out of the loop despite being the subject of their conversation frowned lightly and asked.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Jamie was about to explain, but Miacav stepped back and spoke first.
"Every existence has a link to the laws of Life and Death.
This link is why they are considered ’Alive,’ and it’s the same link that allows ’Death’ to claim their soul when they perish.
The law of Death keeps a record of every soul, just waiting for that moment when it’s marked as ’dead’ so it can claim it."
Pointing directly at Evan, Miacav’s eyes glowed with a dark light as he spoke.
"You’re no exception, even as an Irregular. But why is the ’Timestamp’ of your Soul Record... the 51st General Calendar?"
As a Unique Authority Wielder in the law of Death, Miacav didn’t need to activate his Authority to glimpse one’s Soul Record—especially if they were a Mortal.
A single look at Evan was enough to uncover the age and strength of his soul. And what baffled him the most was not Evan’s ridiculous soul strength, but the anomalous date on Evan’s record.
"Don’t act like you haven’t pieced it together, Miacav."
Jamie spoke and Miacav shook his head, exhaling deeply as he turned away.
"Whatever ’future’ you came from, I hope we cross paths there. Maybe then you’ll accept my offer."
With those parting words, the Infernal Devil King erupted into a blazing pillar of flames and vanished.
Evan stared after him, his expression neutral but his voice laced with exasperation as he muttered.
"I hope we don’t."
Clearly, Evan had no intention of ever meeting Miacav again—future or otherwise.
◇ ◇ ◇
After the little run-in with the Infernal Devil and Celestial Kings, the reward distribution resumed without further incident and Arthur excused himself, making his way toward Charisse.
She was perched far from the gathering, sitting alone on the edge of a cliff that overlooked vast plains.
When Arthur walked up beside her, his eyes widened at the sight beyond the cliff. Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of gravestones stretched endlessly across the landscape.
"125,764."
Charisse said suddenly and Arthur turned to her, seeing her gazing at the sea of graves with her usual impassive expression.
"That’s how many more will rest here by the time you return to where you came from."
Arthur immediately understood the significance of the number. It was the precise count of those who had perished in today’s battle against the Infernal Devils and Triffid’s Vanguards.
"I foresaw this number. I could have done things to change it, but I couldn’t."
Charisse continued speaking, her gaze remaining on the gravestones ahead and Arthur took a seat beside her before asking.
"Why?"
"Cause and Effect, Sir Arthur."
She raised her hand and Arthur felt the crackling of Causality’s energy around her fingertips.
"It may be the Universe’s punisher, the autonomous law tasked with retribution against those who defy its rules.
But fundamentally, it governs ’Cause’ and ’Effect.’"
Charisse let the energy fade, her hand lowering as her gaze swept over the expanse of gravestones.
"Merely thinking about taking action to reduce the number of causalities—the ’Effects’ my actions would have caused were...devastating, to put it mildly.
Those weren’t the kinds of ’Effects’ Iohodis needed."
"So, it’s a situation where you knowingly let them die because it was for the greater good?"
To Arthur’s question, Charisse shook her head.
"I do not believe I took any action for the ’greater good’. I simply weighed the numbers.
One hundred and twenty-five thousand lives... against tens of millions.
I made my decision to steer events toward the outcome that spared those millions, even though I knew it would cost the lives of those thousands."
The young woman seemed to feel some sort of guilt, knowing those people were destined to die, yet still taking actions that sealed their fate.
She didn’t voice it outright, but Arthur could see it in the way her gaze lingered over the gravestones.
"Don’t beat yourself up over it, Charisse. No matter what you did, no matter what threads of Cause you rewove or what ripples of Effect you foresaw, there would still have been deaths in the tens of thousands.
It was WAR, after all.
People always die in WAR. A war without death isn’t war—it’s an illusion."
Witnessing the War on Aramis changed Arthur’s outlook on many things. Participating in that war—even if for his benefit—allowed him to understand why his grandfather, Diablo, detested ’War’ so much.
Shaking his head to get those thoughts out, he focused on the real reason he came for Charisse.
"You knew from the very beginning, didn’t you? That me coming here was not a coincidence."
"Didn’t I tell you, Sir Arthur? There were things that I understood."
Indeed, Charisse had said that to Arthur when she first met him, but then, the boy thought she was just being unnecessarily cryptic.
"It would have been nice to get a heads up."
"If I had told you, Sir Arthur, you would have been a lot more laid back and you would not have taken these past ten weeks as seriously as you did."
"..."
Arthur went silent when he heard her words. He had nothing to say back because it was true.
He knew himself best. If he knew that this whole thing was Jamie’s plan from the start, then he would have certainly not taken it as seriously as he did.
"Oh well, not that it matters anymore. My time in this dimension is over. It was an irritating set of ten weeks, but some parts were fun."
Arthur finally spoke. Then he looked at the evening sky, at the moons beginning to appear and the faint twinkles of supergiant stars in the distance.
"I’ve made my decision.
I’m remaining in this Universe until I become a Deity."
Hearing his words, Charisse’s eyes widened ever so slightly. She remembered the third dreaded Vision she had seen.
The vision where Arthur had been pissed off and had released Lostvayne, sweeping out both Armies in the process.
’In that vision, he was not a Mortal...’
While she thought this, Arthur was glancing at the 965 on his Level tab.
35 Levels more.
He was going to do everything he could to get those 35 Levels before returning to the Hell Universe.
"Are you going to carry on your plans for the Tepes girl?"
Charisse’s sudden question snapped Arthur out of his thoughts. He blinked, momentarily caught off guard, before a chuckle escaped his lips. Moments later, that chuckle bloomed into full-blown laughter.
"Nothing gets past you, huh?"
Arthur wasn’t even surprised anymore. Turning slightly, he spotted Crim approaching from the distance, likely searching for him. He raised a hand, offering her a casual wave before turning his attention back to Charisse.
"How did you know?"
"Her Causality is linked to an existence similar to you. After noticing the interest you took in her, it wasn’t difficult to deduce why."
Charisse’s response revealed the reason why Arthur had been interested in Crim from day one.
Appraising that Vampire, one would see the name ’Crim Saoirse O’Gorman’.
That was indeed her name.
But when Arthur appraised her, he and only he saw something different. Something he could see because he was a Progenitor.
Crim Saoirse O’Gorman Tepes.
The Name Tepes was not a common one. No Vampire across the Cosmos could answer that name if they didn’t have his blood.
It was conceptually impossible.
Who was he?
He was naturally the Progenitor of Vampires.
Vladimir Dracula Tepes.
Arthur didn’t know why, but Crim possessed a bit of Vlad’s Progenitor blood. Roughly 25% of her bloodline.
She was a real descendant of a Progenitor. That was why Arthur was so interested in her.
’First, the Progenitor Angel, the Progenitor Demon and now the Progenitor Vampire.
Conclusive evidence of the presence of three Progenitors in this Universe before. Plus, the way I’ve randomly discovered Cosmic Artifact Replicas...’
Arthur wondered exactly what it was about this Universe that drew the presences of these Cosmic powerhouses.
But alas, he wasn’t going to get those answers now, so he decided to put that matter behind him.
Getting to his feet, he stretched his arms overhead, yawning lightly. At this sight, Charisse asked.
"You’re leaving now?"
"Yep. I’m Six Weeks late for an appointment, you see."
Arthur could already picture Rachel’s fury when he finally returned to Aramis. Their meeting had been planned for the end of the Secret Realm Exploration—a journey initially scheduled to last four weeks.
But Jamie’s antics had tacked on an extra six, leaving Arthur woefully behind schedule.
Making a mental note to call Rachel immediately after returning to Aramis, Arthur patted Charisse on the shoulder, a small smile on his face as he spoke.
"I hope to see you again in the future, Charisse. Don’t die before then."
With those words, he walked away, leaving behind Charisse whose impassive expression finally broke as she laughed faintly and murmured to herself.
"Worry not, Sir Arthur. The ’Effect’ that is our future encounter, has already been ’Caused’."
