[MA] 247. Synonym to Chaos (Patreon)

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[Chapters this week: 3/3

Late chapters: 1

Next chapter: Tuesday]

Nothing happened for a few seconds, and Shen looked around as he knelt on the cushion beside Liya. Five of the seven talents who had banded together with him had teleported beside someone of the same race. The two who hadn't were the moon butterfly and the treant.

The moon butterfly rested on the shoulder of its guardian. It was a handsome pale man with long dark hair in a ponytail. His eyes were completely white and released a cold blue mist. He wore something that closely resembled Earth's Victorian aristocratic attire. He was also one of the three A-ranks present.

"Inspect," Shen whispered, checking on everyone, including the man.

| Deathwalker (A) — 50,000 / 50,000

"I didn't know the undead were a thing in the Alliance," Shen told Liya.

"They aren't. We don't take well to beings that can corrupt us into joining them. Deathwalkers aren't undead." She easily guessed what he was talking about. "I guess they would have a mix of vampire and lich powers from Earth culture, but they are a natural biological race."

"If they aren't undead, why are they called deathwalkers?"

"They are born living humanoids with long lives. However, as they approach the end of their lifespan, they grow more powerful. That power is related to death. They walk towards and through death and overcome it. They are naturally immortals. I don't know the details, but at some point, they can also give up on parts of themselves to grow more powerful. Apparently, Arcabous, that one's name, gave up on his sight."

"He seems like a bad match for the moon butterfly."

"They are, but they are also one of few races that can thrive wherever deathwalkers live."

"How so?"

"Deathwalkers see themselves as the epitome of biology because they are a race that naturally overcomes death. They attempt to kill anything in their worlds by releasing Death-related Concepts. They see it as filtering out the unworthy. Almost no race or being succeeds, but moon butterflies do. You can only kill a moon butterfly if you use fire or Law-enhanced attacks."

Blind or not, Arcabous stared at Shen. His entirely white eyes seemed to pierce the cultivator's soul and gaze into his deepest secrets.

Shen used everything he knew about protecting his soul, but the infiltration wouldn't be contained. That was an A-rank. Shen was D-rank. He had no way to resist such power.

Shen couldn't take his sight from the deathwalker. He was frozen, overwhelmed.

Death, horrible death, called to him, inviting him to walk a Path few did. It was a death of Putrification. His cells should rot, for he wasn't worthy. His soul should fester, for he deserved nothing else. Death was his destiny, and he should hasten it.

It took only an instant, which felt like an eternity, then the man looked at Liya.

The cultivator looked worried at Liya—

The drow smiled at the man, clearly unbothered by the soul attack. "You attacked a drow. Explain yourself or compensate us. Else, we'll go to war."

Her voice was pleasant, and her words weren't even spoken too loudly. Almost everyone was also chatting, but a few nearby talents turned to stare at her declaration, surprised.

"You dare to look at and talk about your betters," the man replied with a deep, raspy voice. "We'll annihilate you in the war." It wasn't even a threat, just a declaration of a fact that would happen, like the sun rising the following day.

"My charge indeed needed a reminder about the stupidity of looking at the powerful," Liya replied. "But that was not for you to do. The drow formally declare war against the deathwalkers."

"The deathwalkers formally accept and declare war against the drow," the man replied without care and turned to look elsewhere.

Shen was astonished. Wasn't that a bit too much? He looked at Liya, but she didn't even look angry. Obviously, more was going on here than that attack.

She wasn't done. "I formally denounce a breach of the Summit's rules. My charge was attacked—and by a guardian, no less. If my charge's willpower wasn't strong enough, he would be dead."

And then, the world exploded. No, the Laws broke. No, Reality cried.

Shen could barely understand what was happening as existence itself twisted and bent until it was almost shattered, then returned, then repeated the process a billion times every instant.

He couldn't breathe, for there was no air. He couldn't discern anything he saw, for light was distorted. He couldn't hear, for soundwaves couldn't travel through that twisted space.

Reality couldn't hold something that now existed within its boundaries.

It was something he felt. A presence. It came from where the empty, lonely chair had been.

Then, he just knew something.

'The one who floats above the empty cushion is Propriety, an A-rank infinity-edger. He accepts the accusation and demands an explanation.'

Shen couldn't believe what was happening. How did he suddenly know those things? His mind hadn't been invaded. Or had it, but he hadn't even noticed?

Was that the power of an A-rank?

"I will pay reparations for offending the Summit," the deathwalker said, still uncaring. Shen was sure he had also lost his hearing, yet he could hear his words. He guessed it was only because the infinity-edger had allowed it. "My A-rank chair should suffice."

'Propriety declares he asked for explanations, not empty gestures. Attempt murder is a serious offense in the Summit. It being against a talent makes it worse. Does Arcabous plead guilty or innocent?"

"Guilty, but as I said, my A-rank chair—"

'Propriety sentences Arcabous to death.'

Then, power exploded all around Shen. He heard nothing else in the twisted Reality. He only felt his body being pushed, stopped for a while, then pulled back.

Reality was still crying, though.

'Propriety declares the Summits exist to protect and nurture talents. The guests seem to have forgotten it, but The End of All Things has not. He has declared pettiness, schemes, and hypocrisy to have come to an end in his hallowed ground. Arcabous was made an example because he killed seven other talents in past Summits. If the human hadn't said anything, Arcabous would've attacked someone else sooner or later. He always does. From now on, all guests must attend to the spirit of the rules, not their letters. They will not be exploited. If confused, the participants must express their doubts, and Propriety will clarify them.'

Reality stopped almost popping like a balloon, and everything returned to normal. Shen could see again. He took a deep breath and looked at the still-empty cushion. There seemed to be no one new around.

His hearing had returned, but there was only silence.

Arcabous was gone. There was no sign of battle, no blood smear. Even the moon butterfly was fluttering its wing in the same space it had been moments ago, as if the deathwalker had been removed without issue.

However, every B and A-rank's eyes were dazed, as if they had just witnessed something that shocked them. Even Liya was affected.

No strong presence was threatening to tear Reality apart anymore, but Shen still suddenly knew something new.

'The moon butterfly can join whoever it wants. The banquet will now commence. Propriety hopes we can build a strong future together.'

The little one immediately flew to the malu, who started talking to it in rushed tones. Speaking of which, that a literal moon could be compressed into being only half as tall as Shen and have no gravitational mass was astonishing.

It made Shen realize something obvious: his mind was too limited. He learned and used his abilities to kill, but there was much more out there. Earth was highly militarized because of the challenges it had to face, but old forces in the Alliance had pushed magic in other directions that defied common sense.

'Now, Propriety has declared a start to the banquet.'

A few simple G-tier bows with Chinese human food materialized on the table before Shen and Liya. Different cuisine appeared on top of every other table.

The mud ball, the other talent with a guardian of a different race, was accompanied by a tiny fairy, a scantly dressed tiny female with butterfly wings. Like the butterfly, the fairy hadn't changed sizes. Shen wondered if they had been given the option not to or if their existence was beyond the chair's enchantment's ability to affect.

The fairy didn't touch the food, a wiggling mass of green tentacles. The mud ball promptly jumped on it and started absorbing everything.

Shen waited a few moments for Liya to come back to herself before asking, "Should I eat?"

He didn't need to eat and still heeded her warning. An A-rank had just been killed in some hidden, hypocritical agenda. Even without details, he could guess it had to do with aweing everyone present and keeping them in line. By their reactions, it had worked, too. Shen didn't want to be poisoned—by the organizers or competitors—in another ploy.

"If you want to," she asked as she shook her head and took a deep breath. "It should be safe."

Shen hadn't been hungry ever since becoming a Guardian. It was one of the props. But the food smelled nice enough. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks and started eating.

He was immediately happy with the decision. It tasted even better than it smelled.

The dumplings, especially...

Heavens, he couldn't remember ever tasting G-tier food that good!

"I underestimated the organizers," Liya commented. "I learned that they stayed millions of Standard years away from the Alliance. I expected their fighting ability to be different from ours, but they are also much stronger. You couldn't see it, but Propriety quickly overwhelmed the deathwalker. I didn't even know there could be such a gap in power in the A-rank, but it makes sense in hindsight. Realizations will grow stronger as an A-rank progresses."

To almost everyone's surprise, the omnispider Guardian, another A-rank, voiced their opinion. "None of this makes sense, child," they said, their voice a chorus of dozens one instant, then thousands the next. "Propriety only used mana to protect C-ranks and below. He killed the deathwalker without using any energy. Around him, his Realization can be stronger than any Law, regardless of whether he's using energy. That should be the domain of S-ranks."

Shen was surprised to hear that. The description sounded like an aura, only using a Realization instead of Concepts or Laws.

Liya had talked about domains, and they used mana, but surely they could also be deployed without any energy?

A moment later, he knew another thing.

'Propriety says he was surprised to hear that and is researching the subject. He noticed the Alliance has been spreading misinformation ever since the Guardian System came to be. What we call S-rank is propaganda to inflate egos and have us believe the Alliance is stronger than it actually is. Most of our S-ranks have not pushed their Realization into becoming Laws, which was the threshold millions of years ago. Instead, they reached the final step before that, becoming living beacons of their Realization. That's the step Propriety is at.

'He guesses there is some sense to the new classification. Propriety is stronger than any A-rank who has yet to take that step. However, when he entered the Alliance, he was categorized as A-rank. Becoming S-rank seems to also be a military rank or political position. And there should exist a rank above S for those in the know. He has just invited the System Administrator to the Summit to explain matters to us all.'

Shen's chopsticks stopped midway through his mouth at the shock.

Had he just been casually forced into knowing an Alliance-wide conspiracy that might have him killed? And now another uber-strong being might come and fight where he might become an unfortunate casualty? An uber-strong being that would also know he knew?

The Guardian System's Administrator?!

"Well, fuck," Liya swore beside him. "I underestimated how their mind works, too. I should've noticed it."

"Huh?" Shen asked.

"I just realized infinity-edgers are incapable of scheming beyond a very shallow level. They can only lie to the direct benefit of others, as they did to the talents when they said you might die in the first demonstration. But even then, one of them quickly told the guardians the truth. That's also why he was surprised his lie suggested he could lie to us. In fact, infinity-edgers might have trouble understanding indirect causality. That's why Reality cries when they release their presence; they don't fully understand what's happening and barely hold themselves. It's beyond their minds. They are a walking calamity."

Shen stopped himself from frowning. "What? Why?"

"Because if a stupid-ass B-rank like me noticed it, S-ranks will, too. Their leader, an S-rank, is meeting other S-ranks as we speak. Their inability to scheme too deeply and unwillingness to hide information that the powers-that-be want hidden will give the leader credibility and political momentum. He'll be incapable of compromising, and many will support him, especially most of the races not in the know about this S-rank thing. And that should be most of those that don't have an S-rank. I give it less than a Standard month until the Alliance is engulfed by chaos." She turned to the empty chair. "Propriety, warn Discontinuity. If he can't get the support of everyone he knows right now, he'll die. His very existence is synonym to chaos, and there's nothing the High Commands despises more."

'Propriety says Liya doesn't have to worry. The Primordial Bridge has been called to the High Command and is intermediating things. Justice will be served.'

"The Primordial Bridge might be the issue!" Liya insisted with urgency. "They negotiated with the Dreamer before but let him die! And I know people who asked others to infiltrate the Bridge, meaning it can be infiltrated!"

'The infinity-edger mentally shook his head somehow and said that the Primordial Bridge's previous "betrayal" against Dreamer adds to its trustworthiness, not decreases it. It means a Purge is coming.'

Liya was clearly as confused as Shen. "What?"

'Propriety answers that it saddens him to realize we know nothing about the Primordial Bridge and the Primordials.

'The Primordials aren't distant masters or ignorant benefactors. In the past, everyone knew Primordials treats the Alliance as dogs watching over their backyard. The Primordials don't need us; they tolerate us in exchange for service rendered. That's the reason they provided the Alliance's founders with the secrets to mana.

'In the past, there was resentment, but more importantly, fear. People knew they honored the Primordials with Racial Titles to appease them for an old offense. They knew what would happen should they defy the ultimate rulers. Yet, they still revolted once back when The End of All Things was here. Give anyone too many S-ranks, and they'll sooner or later believe they can achieve anything. It also happened once while The End of All Things was away.

'The Primordials answered with a Purge, and the Alliance only survived because its masters felt "entertained enough" and retreated.

'During the Purge that Propriety witnessed, The Alliance was much better prepared than now. They had enough S-ranks—true S-ranks—that at least a few survived. Now, the Alliance marches towards its doom like babies swinging toy swords against a giant. It uses stupid rules purposefully left with loopholes to incentivize internal discord. It experiments with the Void in a direct challenge to the Primordial Commandments. Worse, they do it right beside the Primordial Galaxy.

'This is an obvious two-pronged attack by the Void, which somehow manipulates the Alliance. Two-pronged because it's not just disobedience that the Primordials punish, but also weakness. They treat us as dogs. Without enough S-ranks to give the Primordials some sense of accomplishment in the Purge, the Alliance might simply end up extinct.

'The Primordial Bridge is the Primordials' elite hunting dog—but to our benefit. It does as commanded so its masters don't need to. When a Primordial puts down a rabid dog, the entire kennel catches fire.

'Usually, the Bridge will ignore politics and act according to its rules. It's forbidden by the Primordials from interfering with the Alliance. However, if the Primordials have already declared their intention to conduct a Purge in the future, the Bridge can help the Alliance sort its messes. They can only do so passively, by refusing or accepting requests that will help the Alliance recall what it should or shouldn't be doing.

'Propriety feels something close to pity for us. The Alliance is on its deathbed, yet an S-rank has to personally interfere, or its greatest talents and their guardians will kill each other. This is the first time he has witnessed such a thing in all its existence.'

Suddenly, a female voice resounded in the Summit. "Is that true?" it demanded. At the same time, white teleportation light appeared in the chair circle's center. Someone was teleporting in. "How can you stop me?!" the female inside asked the next moment, surprised.

'Instead of replying, Propriety demands an answer of his own. The System Administrator never met Discontinuity. Who told her to give him such a brooding Title as The End of All Things? And why wasn't The End of All Things or his people informed of the changes to the ranking system?'

Shen felt very, very lost. Even with his mind and learning ability, he lacked the context to understand some things. Even so, he comprehended enough to conclude Liya had been right.

Chaos was imminent in the Alliance.

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