A hopeless fight

After everyone was on board with his plan, Seth suddenly turned serious and said: “There is something else I must warn you all about.”

“The people bursting up in flames incidents. It was not Iris’s doing, so I want you to watch your backs. Cain, try not to leave Molly’s side if possible and if you feel fire energy around, use your darkness to protect her. It should be weak enough that you can nullify it.”

“Elise, you also should be able to feel it. You need to move out of the way if it happens. The attack will come from underground, so quickly move to the side.”

“The chances any of you gets unlucky are low, but they are not nonexistent, so make sure you are careful.”

“You know what’s killing the people?” asked Elise with a frown.

“I do, but dealing with it will have to wait until I return.”

“Now it’s time for me to leave again. I need to start taking care of the alliance movement.” Said Seth before making a small seal with his energy imprinted inside it and throwing it to Elise along with a long letter.

“I need you to make sure this arrives in Endora. You only need to send someone to the border and have him show this mark to the people I have guarding there. They will take care of the rest.”

“The letter will inform my wives of the plan and give you all some backup. Henrietta and Caitlin will come to your help, Caitlin being the one who will heal Molly’s hand. With their power, even if the academy intervenes with your plans, you can handle it.”

Elise took the seal and letter before nodding. “I’ll send Xendar as soon as he wakes up. He’ll make sure everything goes smoothly.”

Seth then stood up and hugged Cain and Molly before turning towards Elise.

“I trust you to keep an eye on her soul and ensure she doesn’t shut down.”

Elise nodded and extended a hand toward Seth. “We have a deal, don’t we.”

“That we do.” Said Seth, extending a hand and shaking Elise’s.

The two smiled at each other, and Seth said: “I’m going. Good luck.”

“Same to you.” Said Elise back and Seth disappeared. Elise lowered her hand and turned towards Cain and the red-eyed Molly.

“Guess we’ll be working together from now on. Time to take Oath down.”

----

Having left the Capital, Seth started traveling northwest toward the Kingdom of Sorrow.

‘How long until that third shell they plan to have infiltrating Oath arrives at the border?’

<Two months and a half.>

‘How is their plan of taking down the blood race?’

<The alliance’s armies are already mobilizing silently under the guise of attacking Oath from all sides. The earth ascended are hidden between those troops. The blood race continues to feed on common people while ignoring the large gatherings of soldiers.>

‘How long until they finally pull the trigger?’

<Start of winter. They plan on having the two fifth shell ascended they hired to attack Endora from the south in position and wait for information from Oath before striking at the blood race. If they find out you are part of Oath and not the Council, they will simultaneously attack the blood race, Endora, and Oath.>

‘Even Oath?’ asked Seth.

<Affirmative. An army of over 2 billion people will be sent to their deaths to keep Iris from moving to protect Endora. Their fifth shell ascended will debark on the southern shores of Endora and move towards the capital.>

<Another army of a few million troops will also travel through Loss and Wrath and position themselves at the border between Wrath and Oath. Tarquin, the sixth shell destruction ascended, will be a part of that army disguised as a general.>

‘So a full-on attack on Endora or Oath, depending on who Ronald decides to strike. He’s ready to get his hands on ascended knowledge no matter what….’

<Affirmative. The alliance’s coffers had started to bleed in preparation for this war. They even increased taxes under the guise of dealing with the blood race, but those taxes went to hiring the ascended instead.>

‘And since the blood race has caused so much chaos, the people had nothing to complain about the tax increase. Quite smart.’

‘Make me a path towards that spy heading for Oath. There’s a lot to do and not that much time.’

A map appeared in the corner of Seth’s vision, and he started traveling to intercept the spy heading for Oath. Since the ascended was still in the capital of Sorrow, located in the northern half of the kingdom, Seth had a long way to go, ending up traveling for an entire month until he had intercepted the ascended.

----

Seeing a man waiting in the center of the road, looking towards him with a carefree smile, the spy frowned and pulled on his horse’s reigns. After the horse stopped, he asked: “Are you waiting for me?”

Seth examined the young-looking man up and down as he nodded and started walking towards him: “What gave me away, Ascended Arseus?”

The spy sighed and jumped from the back of his horse, destruction energy starting to revolve around his hands. “I knew this mission was a pain… You’re from Oath, aren’t you? Did those bastards from Sorrow sell me out?”

Seth shook his head and said: “Not exactly. So, are you going to fight me? You should have already figured out you can’t win.”

Arseus shrugged and said: “Do I have a choice? It is not like you will allow me to walk away, and since the association accepted the money, I have no choice but to fight it out with you. I’m dead either way.”

“What if I gave you another option?” asked Seth.

Arseus shook his head: “No need. I still want to fight it out. If you win, you can kill me, but I still have some faith in my strength.”

“Come then. We’ll speak once I crush away all of your hopes.” Said Seth with a smile.

Feeling no energy from Seth, Arseus decided to attack directly. Forming a sword of destruction, he covered his body in a thin destruction membrane and rushed to swing the sword at Seth’s head.

Seth remained unmoving, and the sword looked like it would decapitate him. To Arseus’s surprise, the energy deactivated itself when it came into contact with Seth’s neck, passing right through.

Seth only raised a leg and kicked Arseus in the stomach, sending him back more than five feet.

Arseus stabilized himself and looked at the small hole in the destruction membrane he used to cover himself. He could also feel a slight rejection from his source, making an evident confusion appear on his face.

“What did you do to me?”

Seth lifted his hands with a smile. “Hey, don’t put it on me.”

Arseus frowned and sent a spear of destruction toward Seth. Still, Seth didn’t react again, and the energy forming the spear deactivated once it touched Seth.

Arseus released a deep breath, stopping the energy covering his body and gathering it back inside his source.

“This is quite disheartening… I lost and don’t even know how. Will detonating my source even do anything to you?”

“No, it won’t. Your knowledge is incomplete, and while your control over your energy is not bad, you met a bad match today. Destruction will never work on me.”

Arseus nodded, having seen it himself and not having any other choice but to believe it, before asking: “Can you at least tell me why? Not even my master can deactivate other ascended’s energy like that.”

Seth nodded and said: “Destruction, and energy in general, is quite peculiar in how it works. The more complete and profound your knowledge of it is, the easier it will be for you to control it.”

“Once you reach the peak of the sixth shell, you will finally start to understand a little of the concept behind your energy. All the way to the peak of the ninth shell, that concept will ingrain itself into your soul bit by bit.”

“Once your understanding of that concept is complete, the energy will hold no mysteries in front of you. For someone to fight you using the same energy, the density won’t matter anymore as long as their knowledge is not even close to yours. You’ll be able to cancel it.”

“Ninth shell… peak… are you a ninth shell destruction ascended?” asked Arseus with a sigh.

Seth shook his head, manifesting his destruction energy.

Arseus looked at it surprised and said: “it’s a little stronger than mine… early fourth shell? But how?”

Seth chuckled and said: “My energy might be weak, but I’ve once been one with the concept of destruction. So, now that I have answered your questions, are you ready to surrender?”

Arseus nodded and said: “Fine, my life is yours to take, but it’s pointless if you plan on having me betray Life. If I turn against my mission, my source will get detonated by my master. I would like to know the name of the one who killed me before you do, if possible?”

“Oh, don’t worry. You won’t die, and my name is Seth.” Said Seth before walking in front of Arseus and placing a hand on his forehead. A look of realization appeared in Arseus’s eyes once he heard Seth’s name.

‘It’s the target of my mission… I guess that’s quite ironic.’

Closing his eyes, Arseus didn’t fight back. After a while, his hand fell lifelessly as a mark appeared on his forehead.

Seth felt lightheaded, and his system went offline again, but it was still much better than the last time. Seeing that Arseus remained unmoving and his memories started flooding his mind, Seth sat down, waiting for the process to be complete.

When he finally woke up, Arseus knelt before Seth.

“Being an ascended in the Life Kingdom is quite a sad fate…” said Seth, shaking his head and giving Arseus his orders.

“I need you to pretend you have investigated Oath before returning to deliver your report. Seth was destruction ascended of the academy but had already betrayed Oath and moved to the Blood Kingdom alongside some of the weaker academy teachers.”

“Report that there are rumors of Ascended Iris having injured herself while trying to reach the seventh shell and is incapable of fighting, thus the intense culling of the spies.”

“Understood.” Replied Arseus.

“After delivering your report, return to Life and act as if nothing has happened. Make sure you hide that mark as well.”

“Understood.”

“Go now.” Said Seth.

Arseus climbed back on his horse before starting to ride toward Oath.

Seth watched his back and sighed. ‘System, find me a way to intercept the other two ascended that will sail towards Endora.’

<They are traveling towards the Pain Kingdom, through the Dream Kingdom, accompanied by the Iwan, the king of Noth, and his entourage. The ideal place to ambush them will be the sea as they travel toward Endora.>

‘Find another place. That will take too long, and I still need to take care of the other ascended.’

<…>

<Host can try intercepting them in Dream, but host will have to create an opening to split them from Iwan and his people.>

Seth shook his head. ‘I’ll not attack a diplomatic party into Dream. That’s too risky for now.’

<Then host can only move and wait for an opening in the Pain Kingdom.>

“Then I’ll do that. Let’s hope I can pass Curse without getting the attention of anything annoying.” Seth nodded and started moving again, this time towards the southwest. Still, since he had to wait for the two ascended to arrive in the Pain Kingdom, he didn’t rush this time, taking some time to cultivate.