Lord Shadow

Azief chuckles and shakes his head

‘And make me the world enemy number one?’

‘Non-aggression pact among two factions could easily be brokered. But for me to control the entire world and forces them to play by my terms, even I am not idealistic enough to think that would work. The basis of war is different for everyone. No one ever joins conflict for the sake of joining conflict, as war as you yourself put it, an extremely exhausting affair. Not to mention all that brutality’

Azief only smiles.

And then he continues.

‘What if they war against each other for religious differences? I heard some Paladins in Italy establish some sort of order of Faith. Don’t tell me you don’t see cults are flourishing all over the world. With hope gone, people turns to wrong things’

Then pausing for a moment he then continued

‘And what about resources? When I divided the world later, people like always, will never be content with what they have. They would surely war against each other to get what they believe is theirs. And if I prohibit them from fighting for what they believe in, for what they need…who do you think that would bear all that hatred, all that dissatisfaction other than yours truly?’

Hirate only listen and closing his eyes. He knows he is being unfair but he could not help but ask.

He knows that in the end war comes down to wanting something enough that people would die for it.

Whether that thing is some belief or faith or wealth or resources they believe would save them, people would fight if they believe in it strong enough.

They would even willingly die for it.

Azief and Hirate is both pragmatist in a way. And Hirate is an even more pragmatist than Azief.

Azief at least when it concerns the people he loves, his family and friends, he tend to throw all that practical thinking out of the room.

Ironically, it is only during those times Azief could break his limits.

His feeling and emotions, his desire to protect makes him even stronger and it makes him even more alive than he ever is.

In that moment where your failure would determine the fates of the people you love, there is nothing else to do other than surpass oneself and becomes even stronger.

But Hirate is always practical. He tries a shard as possible to remove the emotional part in his decision making procedure.

He tries as hard as he can to never make a mistake

So, Hirate immediately saw the problem of trying to enforce the Prohibition of War permanently.

He hoped that Azief did not see that flaw but Death Monarch is not some idiot.

Other people could be persuaded for the greater good slogan Hirate always preached but he never even bothered trying to preach that to Death Monarch.

Because he knew it is useless and knows he would only be ridiculed by Death Monarch if he tries to do it.

There is also the fact that if the Prohibition is maintained permanently the only one that benefited from the Prohibition is the World Government, the Republic and Pandemonium.

And the other factions could also see it. Their hatred would simmer and then it only takes a few sparks to light a fuse and the result would be a great explosion of chaos.

In the end, if all the faction all over the world felt the Prohibition so unbearable, they might even take up arms.

All of them. At the same time. And with only one target.

Death Monarch.

That is why Azief only decree a one year Prohibition of War. Every faction is still in awe and fears him and his reputation is at the peak.

One year of a world without war….that Azief could achieve with his current reputation.

There is one other reason why Azief did not agree to maintain the Prohibition of War permanently.

It is not only because of the other reason.

It is also because even though in the possibility that if he managed to force the world to obey his Prohibition of war, it would be too taxing for his people and spread out his forces.

Pandemonium is not known to possess many soldiers like the World Government or large influence of power all over the world like the Republic.

Pandemonium is known for having elite experts that could battle with a large army by their lonesome.

Unless Azief ascend to become a higher existence like Azul he is still not capable of making the whole word obey him.

Just imagine if he had to enforce his prohibitions of war all over the world.

Each time a faction started a war and refuses to end the war, Azief had to step in.

Sooner or later, he would be beset with so many problems and distracting thought that he could not pursue the larger world outside Earth.

‘Then, what is it you wish to discuss with me other than that? We do not have many things to discuss after all’ Hirate ask, slightly annoyed.

Azief chuckles a bit and he laughs. He clearly find this situation funny.

Then he look at Hirate and smiling he said

‘The rules of war. We need to establish some rules of war between the many factions in the world so that it would not stunt the growth of humanity and harm humanity chances in the future’ Azief said.

Hirate did not like the smile on the Death Monarch face. It was like he is planning something.

‘The rules of war? What do you mean?’ Hirate ask. Azief was eager to tell him the plan

‘As you know, one expert of Seed Formation could kill hundreds of Orb Condensing levelers and even tens of thousands of Pillar Forming levelers. Not to mention Disk Formation levelers which can commands the energy of the world. We could be categorized as a walking calamity.’

Hirate nodded

‘We both agree that the current human populations are too low’ Hirate nodded at this statement

Then Azief smiles and said

‘Just because I will not be enforcing the Prohibition of War didn’t means that people would start pursuing war. Land? There is a lot of it all around the world. Resources? There is a lot of that too’

Then he paused and then said

‘Consolidation. We must encourage the factions to consolidate their power. And how could one consolidate their power easily. By numbers. And how do you get numbers? Large populations.’

Hirate eyes shined

‘Hmm. This….is quite difficult. You think it would work?’

Azief nodded and said

‘It has too. Because that is the only thing we could do now’

Azief would never want to commit his people to enforce the world rules alone and making them with a target on their back.

Why would he do such a thankless job when he could use others to do it? Of course he did not show this on his face.

‘And you must remember that even if the other faction wanted to start a war they have to think this question. Do people really want a war right now?’

Hirate then open his eyes and then he smiles. He understand

‘We have just survived a Great War. A war of survival. Do you really think people are eager to fight and lay down their lives for some meaningless causes? We may no longer be the Three Great Powers after the distribution of the world but we are still a terrifying deterrent force in the world.’

Hirate nodded in agreement. It is the truth after all. The Three Great Power is not dubbed as such if they are not such powerful and influential entity all around the world.

He then asks.

‘That solves the question of war erupting for the foreseeable future. What about the rules?’ Azief then started outlining his simple plan.

He knows that the World Government and the Republic will perfected it on his behalf.

‘It is simple and crude really. People that could be soldiers are only from Pillar Forming to Middle Energy Disperse Stage realms. The other is classify as expert and must not participate in a war between factions fighting the other soldiers in the battlefield. However this rule is of course exempt in the case of raiding monsters. Any experts could participate in raiding monster expeditions. They are only forbidden to participate in a war between factions.’

Azief continues his explanations

‘People above that realm must only fight people on the same realm. This is to maintain humanity strength. If experts started killing hundreds of people it weakens humanity strength. And Disk Formation experts must restrain from killing other Disk Formation levelers’

‘Of course they are certain exception but we will elaborate on that later. We will use the principle, that soldiers fight soldiers, generals fight generals. It is a simple rule but it would prevent mass killing and preserve humanity population’

Then looking at Hirate Azief said.

‘And we can enforce it. If the Three Great powers send an announcement to the world that any death of registered Disk Formation levelers will be investigated and judged by us….there would be order. Of course this is only a temporary measure. And I stress this again. This is just a temporary measure’

Hirate heard register and his eyes narrowed. The Death Monarch is thinking of registering levelers?

Is there any other hidden agenda in this? After all there are a lot of reclusive experts in this world that is content in remaining low profile.

But Hirate only nodded hearing Azief explanations.

‘At least we need to maintain this rule of war until Earth is stable again’

Azief saying this much of his plans is pretty much expressing to Hirate that he is truly intending to bury the hatchet with the World Government….at least for this period of time.

The only reason he brought Hirate to Pandemonium instead of just talking about this matter in Hawaii is for him to see what kind of man he is.

From the very brief moment he saw him, Azief could only see him as someone he regarded as an enemy and someone who have tried to sabotage him.

But in a way that is a biased opinion.

It is not hard to be biased against a man who tried to kill you.

A writer once wrote that if you really knew someone, really knew them, knew their stories, their pains and their wounds, their scar that they tried to hide from the world you could no longer hate them as much.

Azief called that bullshit.

There are some people beyond redemption in this world, whose pain resulted from their own making, whose scars comes from the people they maligned and whose stories have no weight.

But Hirate, after meeting with him, talking with him, probing him, Azief knows in a way he is very similar to him.

In that they both try to survive the best way they could in this chaotic time.

If there is a difference between these two is that Azief has found his purpose, his goal. But Hirate is still muddling along.

Azief then began outlining his other plans. Their talk lasted for hours. And when evening came they were done.

All in all, they seem to reach an understanding on many things.

Hirate was excused as he was escorted out from the Garden and they parted in good terms. Azief on the other hand is still sitting in his throne of bones. He did not leave the Gardens.

He looks toward the horizon and saw the sun.

The sun is about to set and he smiles a bit. He was about to close his eyes and tries to clear his mind.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Then suddenly he felt his entire being shaken as he was drained of his energy. It was like someone swings a heavy sledgehammer towards his chest and smash it relay hard.

His eyes opened wide and he coughed a little bit of blood, golden blood dripping down from his mouth to the ground.

The pressure enveloping his body is otherworldly and primordial.

‘What is this?’ There is a sense of fear in Azief eyes. This kind of energy is beyond his level. It reminded him that Demon Emperor he saw during his brief moment in the Seresian world.

‘No’ he thought to himself. This pressure surpassed that

The thrones that he sits on tremble and crack in many places, the sound of the bones and skull cracking and crumbling to dust fills the area of the garden.

Azief could feel it and he knows what is happening to him now.

‘Could it be? Is it time?’ And then he smiles.

He knows what is happening to his body right now. His energy is depleting in an accelerated manner.

He let that feeling of shaking coursing through his body, let the pain and pressure in

He know he is needed right now….by his original body.

After all this body is just a clone body.

The fact that his energy is drained right now means his original body is enduring something so powerful that it forces him to uses reserve power.

He let the feeling envelops him and as he let that feeling washed over him Azief body slowly disintegrated into wisp of black red smoke and before long that red black smoke disappeared.

Instead of saying it disappeared, it is more accurate to say that it return to its origin.

The moment Azief disappeared and turns into smoke, the thrones of bones crumbled and shattered on spot.

On the sky above, thunder exploded and dark clouds gathered. Lightning traverse the dark clouds, making the dark clouds to appears golden sometimes.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Sound of great explosion sounded on the sky. The people in the Centre Region look at the sky and was full of trepidation.

Because they could sense a powerful energy hiding in that clouds so much so that they could feel their hairs stands on ends.

Sasha in her office was prepared for this as she activated a secret formation to protect the Centre Region.

Not far away from an inconspicuous cave, there is a person wearing a white robe with green jade coronet on top of his head, laying down on the veranda of his hut.

The hut is large, modest but elegant. Today, he was alone and he was just resting to his fullest as he whistles a few melodies with his mouth.

BOOM1

BOOM!

He then saw the dark clouds in the distance, and he saw the bolts of lightning and the sound of thunders and felt the energy

But he felt nothing peculiar about this. In the center region of Pandemonium this kind of scenery and phenomenon is normal.

There might be someone that is attempting a breakthrough and the Shadow Army would activate the Secret Formation to stabilize the weather outside.

They would then track the person and ask them to attempt their breakthrough away from population centers.

Unless they are making a breakthrough the clouds would dissipate.

But the clouds did not dissipate and the thunder sounded even louder and the lightning seems to be roaring and the wind keep howling

It was then as he was resting he could sense an aura and his entire body felt an instinctive fear as his eyes widen.

‘Shit!’

The man finally realizes what it is causing those phenomena in the sky. It was the result of that man leaking aura

No wonder he finds it so familiar.

‘No, it is not entirely spread out yet. I can still reverse this’ the man said to himself.

That man got up almost immediately from his veranda. He kicked his feet, leaping over the walls of his residence as the guards guarding his residence was shocked

‘Do not follow me!’ the man shouted to the guards that guarded the entrance of his other residence.

His shout reverberated and created shockwaves that forces the guards that tries to follow him to be thrown back.

The other guards that saw this scene stand rooted at their place not daring to follow.

They all stay in their place even though they looked hesitant. The man sighed but he knows no one should know what he is doing.

He flies outside his hut with the fastest speed he could muster. And then he arrived in front of a cave.

He has sweat all over his face, his body panting in exhaustion but looking in front of him, he could not help but gulp in fear.

In front of him he saw it with his own eyes a terrifying aura is about to burst from the cave. It was like the cave is a dam that is about to burst.

The protection barrier and the talisman and enchantment that was put all around the cave perimeter has already tear apart or broken down.

‘I must contain it’ he did not hesitate the moment he decided.

He needed to contain this aura before that aura managed to reach to the skies. That man brought out a brush and painted a circle using the energy of plants round him.

The plants and the soil which housed the plants around him wither and turn to dust

The circle turns into draining portal as it sucks that aura inside it. But it did not produce the effect that man was expecting.

He was expecting that it is over. Instead, the aura is coming in a wave akin of a tsunami building up before it struck.

‘Ah, fuck it!’

He jump up and then landing on the top of the entrance of the cave, he quickly slam his palm into the top of the cave entrance.

The entire cave networks seem to glow with white light inside and outside.

He then shouted

‘SEAL!’ his energy was drained as he visibly ages and his vitality drained from him.

The entire network of that cave tunnel lit up inside and outside powered by the life force of that man

This man is none other than Xu Cong. He is responsible for guarding the cave where the Death Monarch is trying to breakthrough.

Creak!

Crack!

Droning sound is coming from inside the cave and the aura seem to be getting stronger even though it is beings suppressed by the formation.

Xu Cong entire body is drenched in his sweat and his vitality is getting weaker and weaker. He also notices that the area round the cave seems to be undergoing some weird phenomenon.

Colors of lights seem to gathered around the flowers and plants around some parts of the cave area making it shine and it spread beautifully.

The scent of the flowers seems to also contain powerful life force. While the other parts around the cave seems to be undergoing withering and the punishment of time.

It was like seeing the cycle of creation and destruction, of life and death, alternately giving and taking from each other like they both owe Karma with each other.

‘This is not enough!’ Xu Cong shouted as he coughed up another ball of blood from his mouth, his hair is now turning white.

‘I WILL NOT LET IT HAPPEN!’

Then Xu Cong immediately uses his brush to paint a six trigrams shaped illustrations full of divine characters

For each characters, there is a slash on Xu Cong skins. Using the tribute of blood to write characters!

The red blood turned golden and the character seems to hum creating a sound that seems to produced melody of a song

The character floated in the air.

Then using his brush Xu Cong pushed the floating characters to the cave.

It glowed golden and complemented the broken runes on top of the entrance of the caves. The cave stabilizes and the weird phenomenon around the cave stopped.

And the dark clouds on top of the sky disperses, the thunder no longer roared and the lightning disappears.

It was calm again like nothing happened. Xu Cong hands were trembling and wrinkles are formed all over his skin. He looks like an old man.

He stuffed down a few pills by Sina and his vitality recovered and even his youth.

He took a deep breath but he knows that this cave is not truly stabilizes. He needs to keep a watch of it.

So he sits cross legged on top of the cave entrance and slams his palm onto the cave again. His entire face turns red and sweat falls down from his forehead

There is a heat coming from inside the cave that it distorts the space and time inside it, an aura so domineering that even with all these sealing measure it still fighting hard.

All the while Xu Cong is thinking what the hell is happening inside the cave.

***

The largest chunk of the parts. Hope you enjoy it. And the last part of the chapter is coming up right up. Hope you enjoy the chapters and give me some gifts and power stone. Huhuhu. There is not many readers of my novels.

But at least I have a dedicated readers. thank you for all the support and I appreciate all the help. I just hope you all enjoy the story as much as I did