805 Seeking Counsel
“I see…” Replicus said.
The clouds he had expelled from his body swirled above him and tremored with the same intensity of emotion he felt at the moment. He had to admit. This experience had opened him up to some added knowledge he hadn’t anticipated ever attaining.
Yuyui looked anxiously at her master while a little dark-skinned menace leapt up and down on her head, messing up her hair.
“Since I came here, I’ve seen hints at some form of royalty or authority existing in the Null world. Like the Null Devil’s Aegis of Damnation, which was the first suit of armour I ever acquired with [Unbound],” Replicus said.
(A/N: Refer to Ch.96).
He remembered the dark armour’s description very well. Apparently, it had been made by an entity known as the second Null Devil King. At the time he received it, Replicus had already been getting suspicious about his Null powers, and the details surrounding their origins. While it was cool to have the armour, he did wonder a lot of things.
“When I wanted to get Ferex a race, I also saw another name in one of the evolution options. The Blood-Risen Emperor. The evolution species was called the Blood-Risen Emperor’s Keeper, and it was the first evolution species that I learned of which wouldn’t submit to me entirely. The advantage was that it would be extremely powerful, to offset the glaring trade off. I based this little Apostle’s powers on that actually.”
(A/N: Refer to Ch.323).
As Replicus explained, Yuyui looked at his abdomen with some degree of strain on her face.
The little Apostle’s body, was balled up and packed just behind Replicus’ second mana core, below his ribcage. It was encased in a shroud of mana, and was softly spinning while looking to be at peace.
Timmit was also looking at this odd parental choice from his nest, barely focusing on what Replicus was saying.
“I’m not sure if the Null Devil King or Blood-Risen Emperor are the only types of royal figures in the Null world, but from what I gather, just having one of them in Aigas is a problem. Since it’s safe to assume Skullius already made contact with it and lived…” the Penetrator paused in thought.
Yuyui pulled on the little creature gnawing at her hair.
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“Probably. If that thing is the missing King, then maybe it felt this little guy’s authority, Dominion whatever. Come to think of it, can you see anything about this little guy with the guidance field?” Replicus asked.
It was only natural for him to assume that Yuyui, who was an Attachment – a person given a lesser version of the guidance field by Replicus – had attempted to find out what Replicus’ latest Apostle was like, mainly in how strong it was.
“Uh, I did, but… nothing’s showing. It’s too high level for me…” Yuyui replied meekly.
“I see.”
He was quite proud of that actually.
The little thing was leagues stronger than Yuyui even in infancy. Though, that wasn’t a really great feat at the same.
Different from Yuyui, Replicus could see all about his new Apostle at the moment, and while he already knew what it was capable of, he wanted to know about its attempt just now, information that a simple appraisal with the guidance field couldn’t retrieve.
But wait.
“Right. <Counsel>!” Replicus exclaimed.
He had almost forgotten about it. Or rather, he saw it every time he checked his own status, but because he assumed Skullius would need to use it more than him, he turned a blind eye to it most of the time.
Months back when Skullius reached Tier 2, the guidance field had been upgraded, turning from Patronage Rank 0, to Rank 1. With this, came spectacular benefits such as <Attachments> and <Marked Spots>, but the only one he had ever used – at least consciously – was <Counsel>.
<Counsel> had the simple mechanism of allowing Skullius to ask the guidance field, or perhaps even the Voice of Worlds, something that it should know, and an answer would be provided.
Of course, it seemed one use of <Counsel> had already been used by Skullius in Pelian a month ago, and only one more remained.
‘Unfortunately, [Brisk Storm Avatar] can’t allow us to cheat by having double gains from the guidance field. If I use this last piece of <Counsel>, that’s it, until Skullius raises his Tier or we fuse back together…’ Replicus thought.
But he was determined.
It was all but clear that Ferex was still at large. He doubted Skullius had managed to catch him, if he truly was something of royalty from the Null world.
“Well, it’s better to know the enemy anyway. Besides, I’m pretty sure the only things the guidance field can tell me with certainty are things like this…”
And it was true.
Therefore…
“I want to use a piece <Counsel>,” he said to the guidance field.
[What is your inquiry?]
Replicus thought long and hard.
This was like making a wish to a rigid entity that didn’t take nuance into account. He felt he had to be a little specific.
“Tell me everything about the highest authorities in the Null Verse. Like the Null Devil King and the Blood-Risen Emperor.”
[Processing…]
Replicus anxiously waited as the guidance field seemed to take its time collecting the information.
Yuyui and Timmit had left the Penetrator to his own devices for now. The latter knew – quite obviously – that Replicus wasn’t a normal cloud casted skeleton, and his origins stemming from outside Aigas had turned into less and less of an odd idea the more he hadn’t gotten to know Replicus.
Timmit knew of undead which had ravaged the mainland Sacred Forests millenia ago, but he hadn’t bought at all that Replicus was the same.
Still, he wasn’t the curious sort. If he was, he may have declined helping Replicus with his eggs the same day the Penetrator made the request.
At last, a stream of information flooded in Replicus’ vision, and he eagerly read it.
[The Null Verse is a mystically engineered worldscape lorded over by four authorities that reside in different realms, and are of different races:
The Null Devil King of the East, who rises every dozen millennia as a revered, insatiable Forcemancer;
The Blood-Risen Emperor of the North, usually titled as the Abhorring Craftsmen among the Beastial Demon Fantasies;
The Maleficent Siphoner of the South, a terrible, fleeting Spirit Walker with each consequent heir whose faces remain unseen;
The Ever-Adorned Sovereign of the West, who rules over nothing but desolate cities, satisfied with silence.
Each of the four holds a Dominion, an authority exerted over other, lesser Null Lifeforms, granted to them by Serenity herself.
The four are bound to endless attempts at conquest within the many layers of the Null Verse by seals from Serenity…]