Chapter 266: Out in the Open (Patreon)

Edi

“There goes Grandma being Grandma.”

Cuddled up against Edi on a loveseat she’d brought out from her spatial storage ring, Olivia Garcia scoffed as Astos ‘The Face’ Karidan’s interview with her maternal grandmother began on the illusion in front of them, not seeming to mind the audience of caged C rank prisoners around them at all.

Related to almost all of the founding A rank talents of the Heavenly Soul Universe, Olivia was pretty much a princess, with the stereotypical lack of manners toward her elders and the sense of entitlement one would expect, but, as she’d been apprenticed to Lord Isaiah from a young age, she was also incredibly hard working, almost to a fault, and, for the last several hundred years, she’d been using Edi for regular stress relief, something Edi was starting to wonder if he actually liked. She was a lot stronger than him, however, having placed 5th in one of the Universal Tournament’s regional competitions while only about a hundred years younger than Edi, and she could often be rather violent, so he was afraid to bring up the subject of changing the nature of their relationship.

“Wait, who is Little Sunset?” Astos asked after first showing the clip of Li Evelyn taking out three B ranks and then hearing her say ‘Little Sunset tried to have me and mine assassinated because he’s afraid’ in response to his question on what had happened.

“That rude asshole right there.” Ms. Li pointed at the Lord of Twilight Flame in the illusionary image hovering in front of the two of them. “He’s ancient, so I don’t know his real name, but he came over to threaten us and then tried to kill our soldiers, so I won’t cry any tears when Lord Aalam kills him.”

Astos Karidan, a professional who’d been doing live interviews for almost a million years, didn’t seem to know what to say for almost a second, likely never having seen a C rank call a god an asshole, but then he recovered quite quickly, smiled like he was talking to someone insane, and continued on the interview. “Do you have any proof the Lord of Twilight Flame sent those three B ranks to attack you?”

“Of course.” Ms. Li nodded like she hadn’t noticed the look of ridicule in Astos’s eyes. “He’d just threatened me right before the attack. I’ve checked and the three are all from subordinate forces to the subordinate forces of Sunrise Valley. And he and his family have already put a huge bounty on Lord Aalam’s head ever since he was just an E rank, along with everyone else from the Heavenly Soul Universe.

“But if you don’t trust facts and need someone else to tell you the obvious, just ask Kavon.”

“Kavon?” The ridicule in Astos Karidan’s eyes had mostly disappeared, replaced by fear.

“Yeah. Tall, handsome, with muscular arms and big beautiful wings.” Ms. Li pointed at the illusionary image again, this time at the Law Master. “Him, the reported second most talented individual from our universe. He came over to try and negotiate with Lord Aalam and that’s when Little Sunset came to threaten us.”

“And who is Lord Aalam?” Astos’s voice had become calmer, more professional, but Edi was pretty sure the man was screaming inside, very much aware he was playing with fire if he continued the interview but, at the same time, unable to stop without looking like a coward.

“The most talented of the 1,732 known children of Little Sunset’s sister, Bellessia, Goddess of Procreation and Filicide; the only individual to ever make it past the 12th level of the Heavenly Spark version of the Twelve Element Primal Code; and the only individual from our universe to ever take over another universe while only a D rank. He, like the rest of us, is a descendant of Godslayer Xara Valin, the Yin Yang Sage; he’s the creator of all the Mythic and Empyrean grade artifacts used in this tournament for which you don’t know the origin; and he’s the master of about a fourth of the remaining contestants. The emperor of the Heavenly Soul Universe, he is best known to this universe as the Heavenly Spark Soul King, the man who completely annihilated a B rank force—including single-handedly killing its upper B rank leader—as an E rank after the leader killed one of his subordinates, and he’s the full brother of our original leader, his elder sister, who the Primordial Humans faction of gods killed with a bloodline curse.

“He’s the man the Primordial Humans faction of gods is most afraid of, and this tournament is where he will start the process of his revenge.

“He is Aalam Alvaro, the most powerful C rank to ever exist.”

There was silence for a good three seconds after Ms. Li’s statements where Astor obviously didn’t know what to say. The Primordial Humans were the most powerful faction of humanity in the universe and, even without the rest of the universe’s humans, they were the universe’s third most powerful faction. There were many in the universe who quietly disliked them, but no one dared to challenge them out in the open, at least not anyone with any degree of power. High rank cultivators just weren’t that stupid.

“Wait.” Astor looked like he’d realized something, an expression of relief appearing on his face which Edi interpreted as Edi’s master, sitting just to the side of where the interview was taking place near the tournament’s announcer desk, ‘politely’ reminding him of a fact while outside the main focus of the illusion. “The bounty on the head of the Heavenly Spark Soul King clearly states he is the confirmed agent of another universe, which doesn’t match with almost anything you’ve said. Do you expect us to just believe your nonsense?”

Ms. Li, almost certainly having prepared for this moment with Empress Li before, just looked at the man as if he were an idiot. “If he were the confirmed agent of another universe, how could he have led his force to a complete and flawless victory in the War of the Chosen? How could he have achieved the highest score of all time in the D rank Trial Tower? And how could all the members of his force competing in this instance of the C rank Universal Tournament have the protection of the System to the point Little Sunset can’t just kill me?

“More important for your continued survival, why would Kavon want to trade with him? Are you deliberately trying to malign the name of the Lady of Laws only son? Are you trying to malign the name of the Divine Child, who granted Lord Aalam his greatest power?”

The sudden fear on Astos’s face was obvious, and he quickly tried to walk back his words. “No, of course I didn’t mean that. I just, I just…”

“You, as a human, trusted the words of your ancestral gods over obvious facts right before your eyes. And yet you’re supposed to be an impartial announcer of this tournament.”

The illusion then went to commercial break, but there were no adds added to the coverage in the Heavenly Soul Universe, so instead the illusion went back to the coverage of the last few fights of the third round.

“Hey, asshole lovebirds, is what that woman just said true?” One of the cultivators in the floating cages, a relatively plain looking human woman with bright red hair, showing her race was almost certainly aligned to the fire element, called out to them, and Edi could tell the other 1,456 were all listening in, so, he stood up and turned to look at her.

“Yes.”

“Even that part about a goddess having 1,732 children?”

“Yes.” Edi nodded his head, the general gesture in the Heavenly Soul Universe for acknowledgement. “Daevic and Amalia Stormborn, followed by Lord Aalam’s sister, Diana Alvaro, and then Lord Aalam himself.” He looked around at all the prisoners. “Then a majority of you, 73 cultivators who made it to the finals who will join you soon, five vile bastards Lord Aalam would have no problem killing, and the 537 of your siblings who fell after living similar lives to the ones you’ve all experienced.”

Edi had spent quite a bit of time among these prisoners since the end of the regional level of the Universal Tournament over a year ago, but he hadn’t explained much to them, only telling them they weren’t going to be killed and that all would be revealed in good time. Words weren’t as powerful as personally seen experiences after all.

But, through talking with each other, they’d all started to understand how they were similar, and those half siblings of Lord Aalam had begun to expect they were all related. They’d also been given the same level of access to the Universal Soul net as most citizens of the Heavenly Soul Universe, able to read and watch pretty much anything but unable to write, so they knew what was going on in the main universe. And most didn’t seem to mind the imprisonment much, all having realized the rather amazing dao finding formations built into their temporary homes.

Every single one of them was a soldier, expecting to die on the battlefield, so their current circumstances were almost like a vacation.

“What does this Aalam want from us?” another of Lord Aalam’s siblings, a male with violet hair and misty blue eyes, asked. “You’ve said we’ll be safe here, but I can think of quite a lot of benefits a half sibling would be able to gain from alchemical products made from our souls, and the Heavenly Spark Soul King is reportedly a master alchemist.”

Edi nodded to the man, acknowledging his point. “Honestly, my guess is Lord Aalam does have some sort of alchemical technique in mind to make use of all of you, as well as the other prisoners who’ll be gathered, as otherwise he wouldn’t be keeping you in these specially designed cages.

“But it is unlikely to be for his benefit.

“Lord Aalam is already at the point where it is impossible for any C rank resource below Empyrean grade to be of help to him, and he was reborn as a monster before he started on his path to power, so you don’t share a bloodline.

“I can also confirm, knowing his personality, that this alchemy will not have any permanent negative effects on you, instead almost assuredly having benefits.

“Lord Aalam and my master, his wife, tend to make plans which provide multiple benefits and one of these benefits, at least for Lord Aalam, is that he won’t have to fight his own siblings in the upcoming war.

“I can’t be absolutely sure, as I am relatively young for a C rank, but I would bet my own life that, for Lord Aalam, this is the primary benefit, with whatever he is planning on using these cages for only secondary.”