Chapter 117: The Final Stage
"Speaking of Lord Raymond— there is a really simple solution for this problem, you know?" Celestia tried her luck. Ronan was the only obstacle in her path to reach her lord.
If she could make him indebted to Raymond in some way, she could be one step closer to achieving her goals.
"Hmph," Ronan snorted. "He has already done enough by informing me about this incident. There is no need to rely on him further to deal with our problems.
"Irrespective of what you may believe, My Lady, at the end of the day he is still an outsider and a human to boot," Ronan stubbornly replied before Celestia could argue. "And from what I have observed so far he is a very selfish and money minded person.
"Those are not the qualities of a good leader, My Lady," Ronan continued. "I don't think he is suited to lead us… and he has done nothing that can change my opinion of him."
"He can be taught. Not everyone is a natural born leader," Celestia said hotly. Her nails dug into her palm as she tried to control her raging fury.
If not for her gratitude towards Ronan for being her teacher and raising her from a young age when she had lost both of her parents, she would've directly told him to screw off.
Her lord needed no one's approval. His strength alone was enough to make anyone submit.
Who does he think he is to test her lord?
Was he even qualified?
Unfortunately, even though she had the highest authority among her fellow elves and wanted nothing more than to hand over that authority to Raymond, she still had to be accommodating if she wished for a thriving community since most of the elders in the council listened and valued Ronan's opinion over hers.
She wanted the elves as a whole to prosper— not a selective group of people.
"Sigh, that's in the future, My Lady, he still has a deathly aura around him which makes it difficult for me to trust him. For now, we can only observe him from a distance before concluding anything."
Damnation to the old man and his paranoia!
"If you're so wary of him, why did you let your granddaughter get close to him?" Celestia spat indignantly.
It took Ronan a couple of seconds to digest her words, and when he did, he thought he heard it wrong.
"My Lady, I think I heard it wrong! Did you mention something about Vivian?" Ronan felt a stab in his heart and his whole demeanour turned gloomy when Celestia gave a firm nod in reply.
"Yes. I saw them together once in my vision. Fortunately, I disrupted their meeting before Vivian could do something foolish!" Celestia paused and fixed her glare on the old man.
With all the power and authority she could muster, Celestia uttered her warning:
"I don't care what you plan to do with your granddaughter but make her stay away from him! You do not want to make me angry."
Ronan felt the world around him go dull for a moment and his old bones started to creak threateningly.
Celestia was directly subjecting him to her oppressive aura and she even removed the scarcely present light from the room with her elemental manipulation to appear more intimidating.
"I-I understand, My Lady," croaked Ronan through his parched throat.
Sometimes, Ronan would forget the gap between their strength because of her harmless disposition. It is during these times when she was angry that he would remember he was in the presence of a Martial Sovereign, someone who could squash him like a bug.
"Good," Celestia reined in her aura and benignly smiled at him like an innocent girl who wasn't threatening him just a moment ago. If not for her eyes that were untouched by her smile, Ronan would've passed the previous experience off as a hallucination caused by his old age.
"And I will covertly interrogate the elders just to clear your suspicions while you handle the investigation outside." Celestia seldom left the Inner Sanctum and there was a good reason for it.
Her real cultivation level was a secret known only to Ronan. Even the rest of the elven council was kept in the dark about this matter.
The reason for this was simple; she was only a step away from reaching the pinnacle of this world and there was already someone who had reached that level.
It was the Lord Protector of the Continent, who was in the Martial Supreme realm. Under normal circumstances, he would never allow the existence of someone who could rival his power.
Lord Protector loved nothing more than to keep the things as they are now. If anyone tried to disrupt the power hierarchy of the Continent, he would swoop in and deal with them accordingly.
Celestia had managed to hide her cultivation from him with the help of the World Tree. By staying near the said tree, she could mask her aura with the World Tree and confuse people into believing she was drawing strength from the World Tree when, in truth, she was using her own strength.
"As you wish, My Lady," Ronan quickly got up from the floor and bolted out of her tree house.
'Sigh. She is crazy…'
Ronan let out an exasperated sigh and thought that the priestess had completely gone mental.
No way his Vivian would associate with that brat when he had specifically warned her to stay away from him.
Even though she was angry with him, he knew his granddaughter well. She cared for him dearly and wouldn't ignore his words and do whatever she wanted.
Thus, he decided against visiting her again for the time being and instead went to make preparations for the investigation he was going to carry out.
If he didn't catch the culprit quickly, there was a chance that he would come after his granddaughter to offer her as a sacrifice to make more Puppet Makers.
***
Celestial Lord Elion woke up after a few hours of unconsciousness. His servant was by his side, dutifully looking after him.
"Lord Barhwark! Are you fine? Do you feel any discomfort?" asked the servant.
However, Elion was lost in his thoughts and didn't deign to answer the servant.
The last thing he remembered was someone complaining about Vivian.
"Vivian! Where is she? Where is my wife?" He sat up straight in his bed, seemingly full of vigour. It was hard to tell that he was the man who was lying motionless on the bed a few moments ago. "What is she doing instead of tending to my needs?"
"Uh?" said the servant in confusion. "Lord Barhwak, I think you are still not feeling well. You should rest for the day."
"Hmph! Don't tell me what to do!" his mana surged in tandem with his fury and the servant was sent rolling to the floor.
"Argh!'
"Where is my wife?" he thundered and the servant quickly scrambled to his feet. "Bring her to me!"
"My Lord, I don't think that's a good idea. Lord Ronan will be furious if we touch Miss Vivian."
"Tch! Ronan? He is nothing! He should be grovelling at my feet for marrying his granddaughter!" said Elion haughtily. He had magnanimously married Vivian when no one wanted her.
"My Lord, you've not married her. I seriously think you should cool down before doing anything!"
"You swine! How dare you tell me what to do!" Elion shouted and grabbed the servant by the neck. "Do you know who you're talking to? I am the Celestial Lord, the one who rules above all! And you, a mortal, have the gall to talk back to me?"
"Prepare to die!"
Without any hesitation, Elion twisted his neck and killed him mercilessly.
Elion threw his lifeless body to the side and kicked open the door to his room.
A few villagers were still waiting outside his house even though the poor servant had tried to send them off. They wanted to see this matter to the end and have Vivian punished for law breaking.
"Ahh. Lord Barhawk is back!"
"This is great! Now we can punish that witch!"
The villagers discussed among themselves excitedly as they saw Elion coming their way.
"You!" Elion pointed towards a young man who had just called Vivian a witch.
"Come here!"
"Yes, My Lord!" the villager came forward with an ingratiating smile on his face and said:
"Is there anything I can do for you, My Lord?"
"Hmm? There is," the youth perked up immediately. If he could carry out the task given by Lord Barhawk smoothly and establish himself as a capable individual in his eyes, his life would be set.
"Who were you calling a witch just now?" asked Elion with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
However the youth failed to notice it and answered honestly:
"Of course I was referring to Vivian. Who else could it be other than her?" he said derisively.
"Is that so? Where is she now?" Elion clasped the shoulders of the youth and asked in a friendly tone.
The youth preened under Elion's attention.
"My Lord, the last time I saw her she was going to one of Rafe's rooms rented by the humans!"
"I see…" Elion trailed off for a second and gripped the youth's shoulder harder suddenly.
"Argh!! My Lo—"
-Gale Slash-
Elion's hand blurred and the warm blood of the youth geysered out, splattering Elion's cloth with red.
"Arghh!"
"What happened?"
"There is something wrong with Lord Barhawk!"
"RUN!!"
The rest of the villagers panicked when the headless body of the youth slumped to the ground and his decapitated head rolled to their feet.
"You peasants! You dare to call my wife a witch? I will have your head for that!" Elion let out a war cry and chased after the villagers who were quickly fleeing from the scene.
The villagers were only half right. There wasn't 'Something' wrong with Elion, instead, 'Everything' was wrong with him.
He was in the final stage of the 'Rave Spirit' addiction.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone