"Nice babies you have in the Cult," William and others didn't speak a word until they arrived here. He wanted to know where they were going, any intel about the methods of interrogation waiting for him, "did the Cardinals inform the other side about our visit, or we'll have to stay there for a while?"
"Everything is arranged for us," unlike what William hoped for, the Cult higher ups seemed to take this matter quite seriously, "the portal is ready on the other side. All we need to do is to pass through a few corridors and we'll arrive at the next portal."
William wanted to take more time to think about his options and current situation. Yet it felt like fate was acting against him, not giving him even enough time to think deeper about all this.
Yet he wasn't afraid. Even if they got a way to reveal the truth, he had nothing in his power to control these spirits. If they wanted to help their man, they had to find a way to solve such a crisis for himself as well. So, he calmly walked after Jeremy, passing through a portal, and appearing at another giant stony hall.
This one wasn't empty like the one they came from but was filled with lots of portals and tons of people coming and going from these portals. From the first glance, William could tell how special this place was.
Before William would take a proper look at this wide place, a group of masters approached them. They looked different as they wore some sort of a pointed red hat over their heads, making it easier to spot them from far.
The group was around a hundred, and everywhere they walked, all the masters parted ways for them to pass through. It went without saying how well known they were, and how deeply respected they were.
"Welcome to the Buried Castle," one of them spoke the moment they arrived near William, Jeremy, and others. The one who spoke was a middle-aged man, with a serious face that told William he never smiled ever in his life, "follow me."
Jeremy simply nodded to William to follow, while everyone of their legion marched without saying a single word. The entire group passed through different corridors, just like what Jeremy previously said. But they ended up in a spacious place, one that was without any portals.
"This…" William wasn't the only puzzled one here, even Jeremy and his legion members were. Jeremy turned towards the group of the hundred pointy hat masters and asked, "where is the intercontinental portal?"
"Don't worry, we'll lead you there once we get to know what happened to your Bishop," that middle aged man paused, turning to check the entire legion. When he said he wanted to check on what caused Leo's condition, he didn't remove his eyes for long minutes off William.
"Ahem, how can I help you?" William didn't like how this man looked at him. It felt like he was trying to get through him, open his brain and see what secrets were there.
What William didn't know was that he caused a stir not long ago. This was the place where the old man William once met back at Lara's city came to report what he found.
And since then, the leaders of this branch kept researching and trying to spy over William's fate and destiny. Lots of people got a backlash, a very long list actually. And that was why this group of leaders of this branch came here and did something against what the Cardinals instructed.
In fact, none of these hundred leaders cared about what happened to Leo, but they cared about William. They took advantage of him being part of this and decided to investigate his background.
They already gathered all the intel about William. It wasn't that hard actually, especially when William had quite the name and reputation for himself.
"I heard lots of stories about the fox master, and am curious about you," the middle-aged man paused, before adding, "how about this, why won't you let me check your destiny?"
"Are you sure?" William didn't like this middle-aged man, but he didn't want to stir up trouble in his turf, "my destiny isn't that easy to read."
"I know," unlike what William expected, the middle-aged man didn't show any surprise nor fear on his face. Instead, he gave William the impression that he knew lots of things about him, "why don't you let us try? We plan to use some sort of a grand formation, the One Hundred Dragon Headed formation. It's one of the strongest formations in the entire world, and it will be safe to see through anyone's fate and destiny, someone like you."
"..."
William didn't know anything about what that man said. But when he turned to Jeremy, the latter's expression told him a lot about what this man just spoke about.
It seemed like that formation was something quite famous and dangerous, something grand that even Jeremy paused more than once, unable to speak or express what he was thinking about for a few minutes.
"Are you sure?" After opening his mouth and closing it for a few times, Jeremy finally said, "this formation has serious side effects if things went wrong."
"I know what I'm doing, kid," the middle-aged man seemed to deal with Jeremy in a totally different attitude than what he showed to William, "so, how about it? Do you accept it?"
"I can't decide on something that I know nothing about or the purpose behind it," William shrugged, didn't care how the members of this Cult treated each other, "you need to tell me everything about this formation, how it works, what are the complications regarding it, and what purpose do you have to spy on my fate."
"Sure," the middle-aged man looked quite open to discuss such matters, a thing that garnished him a weird look from Jeremy, "I'm not like you, I'm the leader of this headquarter, the leader of all branches in the entire continent. Things that are forbidden to someone in a legion aren't the same for a cardinal candidate."
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