Chapter 1227: What Went Wrong
Chapter 1227: What Went Wrong
Elita knew a great deal about the Deities as a Paladin Champion. She knew of their Heralds, and she even understood a lot more about their powers than most.
She had felt the individual intimacy of the powers of the Quintess, Listafelle and Suzamete through the Primus that flowed through the Higher Order Priests of the Purity.
Her years as a Paladin Champion taught her that indeed, the Deities were real, as was their essence.
She could differentiate them all: the land, sea and sky felt close to her ever since the day she was knighted.
Elita also had knowledge about events lost to time like the Ashing of Time caused by the dragon Jiggorrhax. She, like all the other Paladin Champions, was apprised of most secrets the general public weren't mandated to know, but even she hadn't met the Deities that had created her home world; not that meeting A Deity was anything special to her though at this point.
The fact that Replicus essentially revealed that he had been in Suzamete's domain before surprised Elita.
The Warmoth's Progeny looked at her.
"Let's go," he said and he had Red Rage take him into the spatial crack. Yuyui followed with a look that was a mix of excitement and fear. She didn't hesitate to follow her master because she trusted him deeply.
What she was about to face was supposed to be just as incredible to her as it was to Elita, but she hardly valued it as such.
Elita, on the other hand, took a breath. After Replicus and the others had sunken into the crack, she then followed.
At once, a bizarre view met them all.
To Replicus, it was rather familiar, though not in a pleasant way.
The sky was everywhere. The whole place was a canvas of bright blue with vast, white clouds softly floating in each direction.
Yuyui gaped and clapped her hands on her mouth. Her reaction wasn't because of the odd view, however.
She had seen HER within the first few seconds upon entry.
Beyond the simple design of the place, Yuyui saw something colossal yet difficult to define, perfectly integrated into the domain. It was gazing down at them. Well, it seemed as though it was gazing at them.
Yuyui felt the pressure from its presence and collapsed to her knees, as did Red Rage and by extension, Replicus, whom he was supporting.
Elita stood firm, however.
She gave a quick appraisal of the whole place and then looked up at Suzamete's Divine figure which seemingly had no end and no beginning but could still manifest in a form humans could measure somewhat as humanoid.
Replicus looked up as well, his gaze also as relaxed as it could be.
<Welcome.> Suzamete said softly.
Neither Replicus nor Elita knew what to say to this.
For the former, it was because his relationship with the Deity was quite tense and unfriendly, while for Elita, it felt as though she was meeting a parent for the first time, even if she knew that Suzamete did not have a hand in the creation of any living thing (the official races) on Aigas.
There was a pause, and then Replicus spoke. Well, he sneered.
"Seeing as you invited us, I have no doubt that the subject you wish to talk to us about is something that has spiralled out of your hands, unlike last time."
Elita gave Replicus a quick, questioning, rebuking look, but he pretended as though he didn't sense it.
<I see you are determined to make things difficult between us, anomaly.> Suzamete said to Replicus.
The Progeny scoffed.
"And I see you are still determined to not call me by my name. I'm not some damn anomaly!" "Ahem!" Elita coughed awkwardly to disperse the tension.
This wasn't going as she had expected.
Sure, it seemed as though Replicus was already acquainted with Suzamete, but she hadn't expected them to have hostilities towards each other.
In all honesty, their short hisses at each other made Elita cry inwardly at the ruined fantasy she had just dreamed up. Perhaps a part of her had wanted to imagine herself as the Paladin Champion she had always dreamed of becoming before: one that actually met the Deities she served and was ordained by them personally for a task.
Right then, Elita felt the attention of Suzamete creep over her.
<Elita.> she said, and Replicus nearly detonated. <I remember the day I infused Quintess' Essence to create your Blessing. I'm happy you still have it despite how much you've been
through.>
Elita gave a quick glance to Replicus who was now shaking his head, and nodded. She understood the deeper meaning buried within Suzamete's words.
"I couldn't get rid of my roots even if I wanted to. However much I've changed, I'm still Aigas-born and proud of it."
<Indeed. I can see that.>
Indeed, Suzamete could see it. In fact, she had banked on it.
Her words just now about being the one who forged Elita's Divine Blessing, were to extract all the insurance she could get from the former Paladin Champion.
Indeed, since Quintess and Listafelle were long gone, they hadn't distributed Blessings personally in more than 4,000 years. It had all been Suzamete who had handled the task of granting minor blessings and bringing the vast majority of living beings on Aigas into the Foundation Stage, though she used the essence from Quintess and Listafelle's bodies - as most people were more biased towards those two Deities.
Suzamete's tone suddenly turned grave.
<Forgive me. I hoped to capitalise on your sense of belonging to Aigas before you even arrived. I had always known that Boron would rise again. Quintess forewarned me. Thus, I planned for a very long time with all that I could see of the future, and you were my first hope among many less effectual options.>
Elita was stricken with surprise.
She had been Suzamete's hope?
Or perhaps...
Elita turned to her sword.
<Indeed.> Suzamete said to her. <I saw that sword arriving in Aigas from the beginning. I had hoped that under the right circumstances, you would be able to diminish Boron considerably to the point where I could deal with him or even better, to kill him.>
Replicus frowned.
"Hold on. What do you mean, hoped? I know you can see everything that will happen in Aigas, but how could you have possibly not noticed if there was going to be a mishap somewhere in
your plan?" he asked.
Suzamete turned to him.
<That ability of mine will not work when an entity as strong as I am enters the fold. The future events I see will become... uncertain. It becomes no different to envisioning a goal that may or may not succeed. As such, I could never have known how Boron would fair against the sword
in reality.>
Replicus narrowed his eyes.
He supposed that made sense.
"So, Boron's outburst..." he began, referencing how Boron had suddenly turned livid earlier,
screaming into the sky.
Suzamete sighed.
<I used your battle as a means to derail him, to postpone what he eventually wanted to do: to destroy Aigas. I meant to delay as long as I could until Elita arrived with her sword. Unfortunately, I might have underestimated him a bit. Perhaps being alone with mortals on this world made me complacent. I quite imagined Boron taking more damage than he did.>
Elita exhaled a shuddering breath. Her hazel eyes shone with understanding.
"If you saw me arrive with the sword, then... does that mean that..." she began.
<It's as you think. The reason Quintess spared you back then from the Undeath curse that assaulted you, was for this very same purpose.>