Mad God – Reborn

At that moment, every elder from the Immortal Wonders Sect was in a spacious room, sitting at a long table, facing the leadership of Heaven's Gate. The disciples were waiting outside, including the trio Ariana's group had fought, creating a cold, silent atmosphere.

"It could have been a political assassination attempt. You can't forget the fact that Lulu is one of the heirs to the Elroth's Kingdom." Rudrick said slowly.

"Then why was the attacker going after my male disciple that she was with?" Ren retorted immediately. As he did so, on the other side, Kaipan, who was now a Heaven's Gate elder, joined the discussion with his own thoughts.

"My granddaughter is not in line to inherit the ruling position. We can cross out the chance of her being the target." He said, looking at Rudrick with one eye.

"Maybe both of them were targets." Rudrick continued, throwing a dissatisfied look back at Kaipan.

"By you?" Ren asked as she leaned forward.

"No." He answered calmly, looking into her eyes, meeting her provocation. "If I wanted to kill them, they would be dead already."

"Like my mother?" She pressed on immediately. "You almost succeeded with that."

"Enough." Zelig finally cut in. "Don't forget the time you and some other elders from your Sect traveled into the territory of the Elroth Kingdom! You disturbed the peace of one of the biggest cities in that region. If I remember correctly, you successfully removed the presence of a legitimate company in that kingdom... Be happy we did not pursue the matter!"

"Company?" Leinor laughed. "You call a gang that? A company?"

"It was." Zelig continued, and his voice pressed down on Leinor, but Aerthus just tapped with a finger on the table, dispersing it before it could hurt him. "This is not your home, prince of the Empire. The Ironclaws operated as a big corporation would on your side, and one of their branches got exterminated by foreigners! You are lucky that it turned out they were working on shady things under the table. They were using a private militia and were planning on revolting..." Zelig leaned back on his chair, looking back at Ren. "If not for that, it could have resulted in way more trouble for you and for your Empire."

"Is this a threat?" Aerthus finally opened his mouth, hearing his words.

"Those are just the facts." Zelig smiled, crossing his arms before his chest. "But we veered off the topic at hand!"

"We can clearly see the connections." Rudrick continued. "Your disciples were the targets. They were attacked at the Ironclaws' old headquarters. The weapon fragments you brought back were examined and traced back to a shop in the Enjin's capital. It was made for a member of the Ironclaws by a custom order decades ago. Everything connects. This was probably an opportunity the assassin stumbled upon and acted in the hopes of revenge for what you did."

"The fact that he disguised himself to have purple eyes is high," Zelig added. "Since we cracked down on this particular… gang, as you call them, they went underground and started their little 'rebellion.' We are in the midst of finding and torching their bases to the ground. Probably, they did it to spark a conflict between us."

"How many members do they have?" Aerthus asked, leaning back calmly and with an unreadable expression the whole time.

"Around 50,000. Give or take a few thousand." Rudrick reported casually.

"Tsk… and you lost track of a whole army of people?" Dermitos clicked his tongue as he couldn't hold it back anymore. It seemed his brother's letter was true. Rudrick was playing for his own side here. No one misses 50,000 people being gone from the face of the earth. If they knew that part… they wouldn't let the disciples wander around freely, because they could be offed just as easily. Hearing the excuses was slowly angering him, and it was showing.

"We have already raided dozens of hiding places they had, but you must understand that rats have multiple holes to hide in," Takaya replied, and he was the current king of the Enjin Kingdom, but... As he spoke, his voice was distant and unconcerned. Practiced.

"Our main problem is still the same. One of ours has been attacked in your home city." Aerthus spoke again, taking back the lead as he was sitting up straight. When he did so, the room started to shake a little, some windows even cracked, as did the table he placed his hands on.

"It was not us," Rudrick repeated, not backing down.

"You are at fault." Aerthus continued, directly looking into Zelig's calm eyes, ignoring Rudrick. "You can't keep one of your own cities clean when inviting guests? Okay. Then... I. Blame. You." He repeated, his voice echoing not just inside the room but throughout the building, shaking the souls of the disciples who stood outside.

"Really… you blame me?" Zelig chuckled, reinforcing the whole area with his own voice and powers, equalizing the rumbling of bricks and floor tiles. "Funny, we are not you, who destroy every kingdom that does not join our cause. We are an alliance, and this is a kingdom under King Takaya! We are helping him clean out the vermin, yes, but we are not here to occupy them, as you did 2,000 years ago on your side of the river. You just went around exterminating every resisting kingdom and slowly curbed and melted down those who sided with you until only you and your Empire remained!"

"..." Even though Takaya's name was brought up once again, the king, sitting at the edge of the table, was still wearing an uninterested expression. He was not even flinching, ignoring the two sides' bickering.

"They are as fragile an alliance as Sect Head said…" Leinor transmitted his voice over to his wife in that moment.

"We can easily guess that King Takaya is not happy about their supposed 'help.' It is what I would call an occupation..." Ren answered, "Also, our ties with the Elroths became pretty tight. They are also leaning towards us instead of them." She added, watching the two Sect leaders butt heads.

"Do you know what Sect Head is planning?" arrived a third voice coming from Frenir.

"No," Ren answered after a small pause. "But I have a guess. Just watch."

"You are still not over what happened in the past. You are stuck in the same mindset! Don't you realize that?" Aerthus sighed, shaking his head. "You were always behind me… In cultivation, ideas, and execution. You are nothing more than a copycat."

"Oh, how I missed your quips, old friend!" Zelig smiled, but inside his eyes, clear rage was brewing. "And what do you want me to do? Mmm? Please. Tell me!"

"A public apology from you towards Lulu, Yanda, and Ren," Aerthus answered with a soft smile.

"...!" The wall suddenly cracked behind him as Zelig's emotions escaped from his body for a moment. "You are going overboard, Aerthus."

"Do I? I know why you invited us here; you want to flaunt your line's prowess and whatnot." He answered simply, "Which I have zero interest in, truly. Second, you want to provoke me into some kind of bet or challenge and gain a reputation amongst the populace that way. Boring! You did this many times already; that is how you rose to be the King of Kings. What a nice title you gave yourself... You are addicted to acting in the shadows and acting in the daylight." Aerthus shook his head with clear scorn in his voice. "I came back not because of you, Zelig. I didn't even think about you at all through the hundreds of years that went by."

His words silenced almost everyone while the trio of Ren, Leinor, and Frenir held back their laughter. They were pointing thumbs up at Aerthus under the table while Dermitos just smiled, sitting next to his forefather.

"You have gone too far," Zelig said with a cold voice and placed his hands on the table.

"I heard that already," Aerthus answered calmly. "You won't apologize or admit that you are at fault; it doesn't matter. You always try to achieve your goals through things that you mask with fake kindness and behind some lofty-sounding goals. You sell dreams to achieve your own. Well… you succeeded!" Aerthus clapped. "I am tired of you and your plays! Let's get down to business instead. You want access to our Sect's new inventions, no? This is why you are letting King Kaipan trade with us without barging into his home like you did here." He chuckled softly. "Just drop the act already... Just for once." Hearing Aerthus's words, both kings, Kaipan and Takaya, flinched a little but kept their poker faces on, listening on silently. "I propose a competition." Aerthus continued.

"I am listening," Zelig answered with a deep voice.

"10 years from now... I'll let you build yourself up as much as you want until then. But after 10 years, we will have a competition between our sect's disciples. Yours against ours. You can see it however you wish! I say it is a good catalyst for both of us and for our people."

"And the winner…?" Zelig asked, clearly interested in his proposal.

"I'd like to say that you must acknowledge before everyone that you were wrong. But it is a pipe dream, I know! So instead, I'll ask for complete access to every kingdom's market."

His words immediately excited most of the Heaven's Gate elders. They were made up of the kings of the remaining 9 kingdoms, roped into this 'play' in their eyes. Only Kaipan was anxious about losing his advantage... Dealing with the Immortal Wonders Sect and reselling their supply of pills for a high price to others was a very lucrative business.

"I agree, but in exchange, if you lose, I want recipes and techniques to be given over," Zelig answered after a small silence of consideration.

"Fine by me." Aerthus nodded.

Soon, an agreement was made that everything would be settled in that competition a decade later. When the elders and disciples finally left, Aerthus decided that they wouldn't stay. He immediately boarded the Skyshark, leaving under the night sky. As the ship rose up under the moonlight in a different part of the city, a shadow moved fast under it. It was Rudrick, covered by the veil of the night and the narrow streets of buildings. He arrived silently at a dilapidated building, walked inside, and descended deep underground. He was walking in complete darkness until he reached a small, damp storage room, where he picked out a green crystal from a lockbox and activated it.

"You failed," He whispered, and the voice answering from the other side was Neiro's, the leader of the Ironclaws.

"If you look at it from that perspective, yes, we did. But I would say it was a half-success."

"Maybe. They still didn't go to war. Our next chance to spark a conflict between them will be after... 10 years. Prepare for it better this time."

"We will. You and Takaya just need to keep them off our backs. You are such a ruthless person…" Neiro chuckled. "Wishing to plunge the world into chaos just so you can finish off your own ancestor… cold. I hate working with you."

"Keep your thoughts to yourself. You are helping me, don't you? You are also a snake. Only another cultivator in his realm can kill Zelig. We have to use Aerthus and finish him after the deed is done. Do you want to become an independent kingdom, sect, or whatever you call yourselves now, or not? Until the two of them die, everything stays in his palms. They must be removed first."

"Right, right. What about that traitor under you?"

"Sentios?" Rudrick chuckled. "He was just wishing to resist my seal on his mind and regain his freedom. He thinks I don't know about his little pet and that he tries to establish contact with his brother... He just doesn't realize it was I who let him do so. It almost worked. I just hope they can still trust him, so I can feed them the information I want to pass down. Through that little blonde boy's mouth. Heh! I already got what I wanted from him decades ago." Rudrick chuckled, and a bloody-colored light danced around his hands for a moment. "But it's good to have pawns at multiple places. Even if some expire like my father did. Oh well! There are plenty of others to replace them." He laughed with a happy voice.

"You are fucked up," Neiro said before cutting the connection, and the crystal crumbled into pieces above Rudrick's crimson-colored palm.

"Hopefully, the next spark will be strong enough to light the flames… The world has stagnated for thousands of years. It needs a good forest fire so something new can rise from the ashes." He mumbled as he patted his hands down. "And I'll be there to lead the rebuilding."