Disappointnt was written all over Alex’s visage as he glanced, first, at the burning body of the Many-faced Fallacy and then at the distant city of Nysodosia.
When he opted to attack the Fallacy from above, it wasn’t because he couldn’t do so from the ground.
He could easily have attacked from the ground, but he decided to instead go above and then strike down, creating a spectacle that he hoped would be witnessed by the denizens of Nysodosia.
A chance, he thought, to be the light that would bring them out of the depths of despair.
Unfortunately, the feedback he expected didn’t happen which left him quite upset.
He couldn’t help but feel that he was going about the Trial all wrong.
Taking a deep breath, Alex took several steps back in his train of thought, swiftly arriving at the origin which was when the Trial was first given.
Ignoring everything about him except the flas burning below, Alex began to ditate, pondering the exact words Adam had used when giving him the Trial.
anwhile, down below, while Arwen focused on manipulating her flas to burn the second half of the Fallacy and Victoria stood guard beside her while also keeping an eye on Alex in the sky, Elena returned to Confluence in a bid to once again gain access to the Abyss.
As for Nadia, she kept watch over Ana while the latter swam through the rivers of ti, swiftly arriving at her destination.
It didn’t take long for Ana to return to the present, gasping for air as the piece of flesh in her hands disintegrated into dust.
Nadia moved to support her though it seed Ana didn’t quite need it as she took steady breaths, allowing her to regain her composure.
"What did you find?" Nadia asked.
Gulping hard, Ana replied. "We were tricked."
"How?"
"The Kallidon that spoke to us before the attack wasn’t the real one."
"He was a fake?"
Ana nodded. "Indeed."
Then, glancing towards the burning body of the Many-faced Fallacy, she pointed at it and said. "That is Kallidon."
"... You are joking," Nadia said, more in disbelief than anything else.
"I kid you not," Ana replied. "Before he turned into that, he was a shaman for a barbarian tribe... one that was attacked by the Beast."
"The Beast attacked him?"
Nadia felt even more disbelief as she glanced at Ana. "Why?"
"I don’t know. From what I experienced, Kallidon lost his mind while trying to create sothing... I couldn’t tell what it was."
"So the Beast just attacked?"
"More or less. It attacked but then after destroying Kallidon’s tribe and ruining what he’d been working on... he just left."
"You are not making any sense," Nadia admitted with Ana nodding.
"Even I have to agree with that. The farther back in ti an event is, the harder it becos to make sense of it and it doesn’t help that the event involves an entity like the Beast."
"Oh goodness ," Nadia said while massaging her temple.
"At least we know now that the Beast didn’t completely disappear after the incident at Erethetri."
"It’s not exactly much to go on." Nadia pointed out before inquiring. "So is it because of the Beast that Kallidon turned into that?"
Ana shook her head as she replied. "Kallidon wished to exert vengeance on the Beast."
"Bold."
"Agreed." Ana concurred. "His desire for revenge pushed him to worm his way into the Hunters Association, after which he turned them into his personal slaves without them knowing it, making them hunt exotic creatures for him."
"Why?"
"To build that." Ana pointed at the burning body ahead.
"What gave him the idea to even do this?"
"If I were to guess," Ana remarked. "Either a Devil or an Otherworldly."
Taking the ti to digest everything, Nadia remarked. "So why did he decide to attack his slaves out of the blue?"
"Kallidon’s revenge sche seed to revolve around replicating what he thought the Beast was. Physically, ntally, historically... he was trying to be a mirror image of the Beast to beat it."
"So after mimicking the Beast physically, he decided to commit a massacre of his own, just like Erethetri," Nadia said with Ana nodding.
"Indeed, a twisted plan but considering he has been at this for hundreds of years, utilizing human sacrifices to prolong his life, we can’t expect him to be capable of critical thinking."
"But why now though?... Even with all that, it doesn’t explain why he would commit the massacre now?"
"You think he must have reacted to sothing," Ana remarked with Nadia making a wild yet valid suggestion.
"The Beast must be active again."
"How would it be able to tell though?" Ana asked only to swiftly get the answer. "The Beast marked him."
"Why?"
"I don’t know," Ana said. "I do recall the Beast marking him before leaving but that’s about it."
Nadia was just about to suggest that they utilize the mark as a beacon to track down the Beast only to recall that Kallidon’s body was now a mishmash of hundreds of exotic creatures.
Wherever the mark was, there was no chance of them getting to it.
Nadia let out a tired sigh as she breathed out in a resigned tone. "We are chasing the wind."
"Don’t lose hope just yet," Ana said, trying and failing to make Nadia feel any better.
***
The silence that followed after Cybele’s question was profound with Cybele watching with a smile as Ull tried and failed to make sense of her strange words.
Finally, after several seconds passed with very little progress in figuring things out, Ull pointed his weapon at Cybele. "Explain yourself this instant."
"Humans," Cybele muttered in a disappointed tone while shaking her head. "Are you all so stupid?"
"Watch your mouth, woman!"
Cybele chuckled. "Fine then, I’d be more than happy to spell it out for you so make sure to listen closely; you are a pawn, a ans to an end."
"I am no pawn." Ull retorted. "I am the son of God. I have been chosen for a higher purpose; to rule over an empire!"
"You have been chosen, but not to be a ruler as you have deluded yourself into thinking. You are instead one of the seven sacrifices that would herald the arrival of...." Cybele trailed off, a knowing smile playing at the corners of her lips.
"Arrival of what?" Ull asked. "Speak woman!"
"You should attack now, Ull, who knows, I might just have a trap waiting to ensnare you."
Ull sneered. "No trap of yours is worthy enough to hold ."
"Is that so?"
Amused as she was, Cybele said nothing else and instead shifted her attention back to the orb she was carrying.
Ull stood at the entrance, seemingly contemplating what he should do.
"Oh." Cybele suddenly spoke up in a mocking tone. "Is the great son of god now hesitating to walk into the room of a defenseless woman?... That is quite intriguing."
"Shut your mouth!" Ull scolded, barely managing to keep himself from doing sothing impulsive.
Even though Cybele appeared defenseless, this was a woman who had found the terror weapons, had received the favor of the Jester, and had incited the barbarian chiefs to rebel against him.
She was dangerous and he wasn’t about to underestimate her.
Just as he began to consider how best to handle her, Cybele pulled out a revolver and fired at him.
Instead of a normal bullet, what ca out of the muzzle was a black bullet that seed to have been forged with Quillion.
Ull instinctively reacted, utilizing Soul Crusher to shield himself with the bullet striking the weapon, resulting in an audible bang that sent the self proclaid son of god flying into the tal wall behind.
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