Chapter 867 Four Pillars: Eternity
Chapter 867 Four Pillars: Eternity
“Wait a second… something doesn’t add up.”
“What doesn’t add up?” Hearing Valyr blurt those words out all of a sudden, Vaughn looked at him with a hint of confusion.
“The entire situation,” replied Valyr, going over the conversation between the young Vaughn and the two individuals in his mind.
After that, he looked at the man beside him and began to explain the reason for his confusion, prompting the latter to stop the memory for the meantime.
With that, Valyr explained his reasoning as to why the entire situation didn’t make sense, talking about what he had read regarding Veldanyr’s history from when he scoured the Myriad Archives back then.
Then, he matched it up to the things that had transpired in the memory involving the First Forger, talking about how the two said the same narrative where the system was only attained sometime before the Age of Uprising.
“With all of that said, you’re telling me that Veldanyr could have gotten access to something like the system we have at a far earlier time?” asked Valyr as he looked at Vaughn directly in the eyes. “On second thought, the Apparatus thing they’re offering might be the system that we’re using right now.”
“Yet, for some reason, it only arrived just before the Age of Uprising began. It doesn’t really add up.”
Having been the focus of the current memory they were viewing, as well as the one who spurred Veldanyr’s humanity to get to where it currently was, the young man knew that Vaughn held all of the answers he sought.
But, even after waiting for a couple of minutes in silence, all he got in response from the man was a slightly exhausted sigh.
Scratching the back of his head for a bit, Vaughn eventually found the right words to say to the young man. “First off, you’re correct in assuming that the Apparatus these individuals were offering are indeed the system we now use.”
“In fact, the Apparatus is the formal name of the system, only taking on various names that differ based on region and race.”
“As for your first question, you’ve already seen that we’ve been given the opportunity to adopt the system,” said Vaughn. “But, I’m pretty sure you already know the response I gave after hearing their conditions.”
“That still doesn’t explain why the system popped up just before the Age of Uprising, though,” said Valyr in response.
“It’ll all make sense soon enough,” replied Vaughn, feeling as if he had aged many years from that short conversation. “Just watch this memory to the very end.”
After saying those words, Vaughn willed the memory they were viewing to continue where it left off, greeting the two with the sight of the young Vaughn and the other humans silent in response to the Arbiters’ wishes.
Of course, with how absurd the demands of the two individuals were, everyone in that area had become silent with shock.
It took a minute of further silence for the young Vaughn to regain his wits, taking in a deep breath before looking at the two with a calm expression. “Could you repeat what you just said?”
“The one about swearing allegiance and surrendering to our rule?” asked one of the Arbiters back, to which Vaughn faintly nodded in response.
“Could you perhaps give us a bit more detail on what you mean by that?”
“It’s nothing much,” replied the other Arbiter with a slight shrug. “If you swear to accept our salvation, you would automatically fall under the control of the civilization we come from.”
“With that kind of relationship being formed between our civilizations, you would then have to give up around 85% of your exports to us as tribute, which we consider to be more lenient compared to our other offers.”
“In exchange, the entirety of your civilization shall be given access to the Apparatus and enjoy unfettered access to limitless energy called mana,” continued the Arbiter that spoke before. “Pretty good exchange if you’d ask me.”
“I see.” Listening to the two individuals go over everything in detail, Vaughn nodded as he thought over everything in silence.
After a bit, he looked at the two with a faint smile before asking, “Before I give you my response, would it be possible to know your identities?”
“Call me Bagh’rava,” replied the one whose brown hair made him look like a balding middle-aged man, even though his appearance was that of one in his late twenties.
“The name is Qro’dovitch,” said the other Arbiter, whose appearance looked more like what the average human in Veldanyr looked like.
However, unlike the average Veldanyran human, Qro’dovitch had blue irises with red vertical slits as pupils, forming a stark contrast with the man’s slightly unkempt dark blue hair.
Aside from that, the two wore similar clothing in the form of a space gray jumpsuit that had a dark crescent badge on their upper left chest.
“Alright.” Hearing their names, Vaughn nodded back. “Nice to meet you, Bagh’rava, Qro’dovitch.”
“Nice to meet you as well,” replied the two back as they nodded in unison. “Does this mean that we’ll be ending our conversation with you agreeing to our terms?”
“Who says I’ll be doing that?” At those words, Vaughn looked at the two with a disgusted expression before flashing both men with a middle finger each.
“You’re just telling us to go die at this point. Fuck off.”
“…” Though they did not understand the rude gesture Vaughn was giving them, the two looked at each other for a bit, a mutual understanding obvious in their expressions.
“So, we take it that you decline our offer, then?” asked Bagh’rava as he looked at Vaughn while Qro’dovitch seemed to be in the middle of amassing energy.
“What other response were you expecting?” said Vaughn back, moving away from the two as he felt that there was no need to continue the conversation. “Did you really expect me to agree after dropping something like that out of nowhere?”
“…I see.” Obtaining confirmation of their previous suspicions, Bagh’rava let out a faint sigh as Qro’voditch made use of the energy he had been amassing.
Whoosh!
Flaring out the entirety of his aura to encompass an area that went beyond the ruins that were currently found in the Four Pillars’ Inheritance, Qro’dovitch looked at Vaughn with a calm expression as he opened his mouth.
“Then, the only choice for your civilization is death.”
“To be honest, I could have handled that situation better.” Freezing the memory just as Qro’dovitch was about to make a move, Vaughn looked at Valyr before letting out a faint sigh.
“Then again, I’m sure you would’ve reacted the same way if you were in my shoes.”
Nodding in response, Valyr then asked, “So, what happened next?”
“What do you expect?” Vaughn bitterly smiled, fast-forwarding the memory through what was considered the obvious aftermath.
Against two beings that had heaven-defying power and access to a limitless supply of energy, even an incredibly advanced technological foundation began to crumble.
Of course, at first, Veldanyr was overwhelming the two Arbiters, making use of all the military warfare in their arsenal to push the duo back.
Yet, as the world’s fighting force gradually succumbed to the two, the Arbiters began to show the true power of beings who had wholly accepted the existence of the Apparatus.
In total, the two sides fought continuously for over a decade, the battles unfolding as if it were a massive and violent game of tag.
By the time the war between both sides had lasted for a bit over two decades, a total of three humans remained on Veldanyr.
Bagh’rava.
Qro’dovitch.
And Vaughn.
“Just kill me off at this point.” With his body being battered and bruised at almost every nook and cranny, the young Vaughn looked at the two with an expression of defeat.
They had employed all of the cards that they had under their arsenal. They had even advanced in multiple areas, evening out the odds to where it could turn to their favor.
Yet, in the end, all that remained as a proof of Veldanyr’s existence aside from the ruined buildings was just him.
“Well, that wouldn’t be fun,” replied Bagh’rava, looking at the defeated Vaughn with a cruel grin.
Bang!
Without hesitation, he shot a bolt of mana towards the man’s shoulder, forcing Vaughn to kneel on the ground in pain.
“As the leader of your civilization, it makes sense for you to be the last one to go,” said Qro’dovitch, glancing at Vaughn with a calm expression.
Though, not long after, a cruel grin also appeared on the man’s face. “However, it would be better if you were to remember that your words and actions have led your civilization to this point.”
“In fact, it could be said that killing you would be the easy way out, don’t you think?”
“With that, we’ll be giving you another offer,” said the man, leaning closer to Vaughn. “An offer you can’t refuse.”
“We’ll be giving you access to the Apparatus as we’ve mentioned before.”
“But in exchange…”
“You’ll be cursed to live for eternity.”
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