Chapter 13: Issues
"First and foremost, the last pale emperor characteristic." Lucien spoke forthrightly. "It's with Bernadette Gustav."
Sia inquired, meeting his silver gaze with trepidation. "So you don't really belong to our pathway?" She phrased it more as a statement than a question.
Lucien thoughtfully thrummed his armrest. "Have you heard the legend among the ancient gods about the original creator?"
Haiter and Sia exchanged hesitant glances, both puzzled as to why their lord had suddenly brought up the original creator; however, Sia turned and answered his question solemnly. "I am not certain, my lord. I've only heard rumours about this..."
Lucien nodded, encouraging her to continue.
Sia did so. "Rumour has it that the original Creator left behind nine different entities. They were kingdoms, cities, rivers, oceans, and keys. And the Ancient Gods tried everything "They" could to find them and inherit the legacies of the Original Creator, but "Their" efforts were said to be ultimately futile."
"The Original Creator left nine legacies behind." Lucien revealed. "They're known as sefirots."
Sefirots.
That word hung in the air, sending Sia and Haiter into deep thought about the reasons for the conflict between gods, as they had a strong feeling both were deeply related given the correlation between the nine sefirots and the nine sequence groups. That couldn't possibly be a coincidence.
Lucien proceeded steadily. "Sefirots are required for gods to progress beyond sequence 0 and become Great Old Ones."
Is that so….They nodded lightly, feeling enlightened. His words simply confirmed many of their long-held assumptions about the gods and the cosmos.
"The river styx?" Haiter immediately asked about the river that was always correlated with the Underworld Emperor. Even he used it in his honorific name: "Is it the sefirot for our group of pathways?"
"Styx is simply one of its titles." Lucien corrected, shaking his finger. "The true name of the sefirot is the River of Eternal Darkness."
A stilling chill descended into the hall the moment the name of the sefirot was spoken, causing Sia and Haiter to tremble in their seats, clutching their armrests tightly. But their lord seemed unaffected, or did he? They didn't know.
Lucien declared, his raspy voice dispelling the chill. "Well, all you need to know is that my existence is inextricably linked to that river; therefore, for all intents and purposes, I am Death."
"Nothing can deny that," the Reaper peered at his angels. "Understood?"
"Yes." They nodded in unison, understanding the underlying meaning of his remarks. Even at their level, some secrets were best left unexplored, though it would be lie to say they weren't a bit disappointed in the end.
"Now," Lucien brought the subject back to the matter at hand. "Let's return to the last pale emperor characteristic, which, as I previously stated, is with Bernadette Gustav."
"Gustav…" Sia muttered the wretched surname under her breath, a glint of hatred in her eyes.
Haiter, on the other hand, remained calm. He didn't seem to care that Bernadette was the daughter of the man responsible for the current state of the southern continent; instead, he was preoccupied with something else: "How did the characteristic fall into her hands, my lord?"
"How do you think?" Lucien returned the question.
"Roselle Gustav." Sia confidently answered for Haiter.
"Yes." Lucien nodded subtly. "Roselle somehow discovered the pale emperor characteristic while adventuring around the Southern Continent."
"I must admit, despite all the horrid things he's done," Sia admitted grudgingly. "Roselle is one lucky man."
"Oh," Lucien chuckled wryly. "I'm not so sure about that."
Sia was confused and wanted to press, but her lord's look suggested that he didn't want to discuss about Roselle any further.
"Well, my lord, what do you want us to do?" Haiter spoke up after a moment of silence between them.
"My lord, Bernadette is merely a saint." Sia chimed in enthusiastically. "And the organisation she found isn't much better—"
"Just set up a meeting with her for me." Lucine abruptly cut off her radical proposal before she could finish. "I'll handle it myself."
Sia sighed and concurred, but she still pointed out the obvious problem in his order. "But, Bernadette knows how much she is hated on the southern continent, so she is unlikely to agree to meet with you."
"Oh, she will agree." Lucien smiled willfully. "Just tell her I have information on her father's condition, and she'll come to me one way or another, like a moth drawn to a flame."
'Roselle's condition.' Sia noticed keenly, then she clenched her hands. 'As I thought, that wretched man is still alive.'
Haiter, on the other hand, being the zealot that he was, didn't care that much about the shocking truth. "We will immediately arrange it, my lord." He took the order unequivocally, followed by Sia, who nodded in agreement.
"Moving on..." hummed Lucien. He took a document from the pile on the silver table and slid it over to them.
Sia and Haiter examined the document—it was a disturbing report written by their organisation on human trafficking in the Eastern Balam. Immediately, a troubled look flashed across both of their faces.
"How come you both haven't done anything about this?" Lucien inquired, his eyes narrowing inquisitively at his angels.
"Please forgive us," Haiter bowed to Lucien. "But there was nothing we could do."
"Elaborate." Lucien inquired, his chin comfortably resting on his knuckles.
Sia took over from Haiter. "We tried." She spoke in a low tone. "When we first learned about the trafficking, we began investigating everything we could find about it, but the more we learned, the more our hands became tied. There were too many powerful parties involved in this, and I even suspected that unspeakable organisation…" she looked at Lucien for confirmation, who nodded in agreement, making Sia gulp in trepidation and Haiter close his eyes in heaviness.
Sia continued, taking a breather. "The point is, my lord, in the face of the trend of the times, we were powerless."
"Well," Lucien declared. "You are no longer powerless now that you have me. We shall deal with this together."
Sia and Haiter nodded silently, placing their trust in their lord.
"But first, do you know who is the mastermind behind the trafficking?" Lucien asked, and then he answered his own question after seeing their uncertain eyes. "George Augustus III, the King of Loen."
"The King?" Sia raised her brows in surprise. To be honest, she also suspected the Augustus Family after discovering evidence of MI9 involvement in her trafficking investigation, but the fact that the mastermind behind it all was the King of Loen himself still astonished her.
"But, why does Augustus require so many slaves?" Haiter, on the other hand, asked solemnly, obviously flummoxed by the strangeness of this whole situation.
Lucien was silent for a moment, and then he told them about the apotheosis ritual of the Black Emperor. After he finished, there was a moment of heavy silence, which was eventually broken by the heavy sigh of Sia.
"The Black Emperor…" Sia leaned back in her seat altogether. "What sequence is he now?"
"Sequence 1," Lucien responded.
"Archangel?" Sia cocked her brow and laughed wryly. "So the Seven Gods have chosen to turn a blind eye."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Leave the Gods aside, Sia; Augustus is trying to steal the throne that rightfully belongs to our lord. If he ascends to godhood, then he will truly become the Emperor of Balam." Haiter said furiously.
"There isn't much to think about here." Sia said, her tone becoming colder with each of her words. "We are going to overthrow Loen Kingdom from our land," she said boldly to Lucien, "aren't we, my lord?"
"I admire your resolve." Lucien leaned forward in his seat. "But do you realise what will happen if we go down this road?"
"A world war." Haiter accurately inferred.
"A world war, indeed." Lucien concurred. "As you may have guessed, I intend to restore the Balam Empire and become its Emperor, which, given the circumstances, will plunge the entire world into war one way or another." He met the gazes of his angels. "So are you still certain about this?"
"My Lord." Haiter said reverently. "The Northerners only gained control of our continent by using our own people. Many administrative positions are still held by us to avoid insurgencies, so all you have to do is say the word, and I will make them swear their loyalty and faith to you, which will effectively destabilise the hold that the Northerners have on the southern continent."
"I interpret that as a yes." Lucien grinned.
"My lord, we are certain." Sia finally spoke up, exchanging glances with Haiter.
"Good." Lucien hummed and moved on, grabbing the trafficking report. "Haiter, your proposal is great, but we will discuss it later because the issue of liberation cannot be decided in a single day."
"I understand, my lord" Haiter bowed dutifully.
"But, there is something..." Sia suddenly spoke up hesitantly. "That unspeakable organisation..."
"Oh," Lucine said calmly. "You don't have to be concerned about them, Sia."
Sia nodded, trusting her lord, but she still felt a slight heaviness in her heart.
"Now, let's move onto the next issue." Lucien went on. "The Artificial Death."
Haiter sat up straighter, bracing himself for what was about to come.
"Haiter." Lucien looked at his angel. "Your plan to resurrect the Underworld Emperor failed because a critical component was missing."
To say Haiter was shocked would be an understatement; after all, this was the plan he had dedicated most of his life to, but now his lord was revealing that there was more to this than he himself knew about.
After a brief moment of silence, Haiter forced himself to ask, "If you don't mind my asking, what is it?"
"Not it," Lucien revealed. "But he."
"You don't mean…" Sia's eyes widened.
"Yes." Lucien nodded, his face betraying nothing. "The critical component is…"
"My father, Azik Eggers."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Lucien_Morningstar
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