Rise Of The Anti God

After Maria thanked Alchemist Azrael, he, along with Arthur, made their way towards the throne hall. 

Since the Xeton Emperor seemed to be busy with something, they waited in the guest room. Damien noticed that Arthur seemed to be trying his best to hide his nervousness and his hands seemed to be fidgeting.

He wondered whether he was nervous thinking about his mother or something else. He had no idea how the relationship between Arthur and Ruthren was like.

Soon enough, a eunuch came and informed them that the Xeton Emperor will receive them now.

Damien and Arthur followed the eunuch, and soon enough, he came upon the tall and lofty doors to the throne hall.

As he entered, he saw a majestic throne with azure light glowing around it, almost blinding his eyes. It was as if anyone who entered the throne hall were not worthy to see the person sitting on the throne.

A gaze filled with the might of an ocean flooded past Damien. However, he calmly continued to walk since he was utterly confident in Luna's skills to make him appear as a senior expert.

Sure enough, the gaze seemed to recede till Damien felt nothing anymore. But he became wary of the man before him since Luna told him that Ruthren's cultivation was at the Peak Level of the Profound Ethereal Realm!

'Dayum, what a monster...' Damien thought.

However, as he walked closer, he was a bit surprised to see a very handsome man in his thirties seated on the throne with a regal aura surrounding him.

Damien bowed along with Arthur as Ruthren waved his hand and said, "Have a seat, Alchemist Azrael. And Arthur, I didn't expect you to come now. Do you have anything important to say to me?"

Ruthren's tone sounded just like that of a ruler without any other emotions. However, Arthur inwardly felt as if his body was shrinking under his father's gaze.

Fortunately, he somehow managed to breakthrough to the second level of the Sky Ethereal Realm. However, he had no idea if his father would be satisfied with just that or order him to do something more absurd.

Before Arthur could reply, Damien said as he sat on one of the marble benches, "I asked His Highness to come with me since we both have a common request."

Ruthren raised one of his brows, "Oh? Then, Arthur, you can take a seat as well. I am curious to know what the two of you want to request from me."

Ruthren already knew about Alchemist Azrael visiting Maria to check on her condition. But he felt that even Alchemist Azrael wouldn't be able to come up with a solution to such a hopeless case unless he had some special treasures.

Arthur inwardly thanked Alchemist Azrael and took a seat beside him. He felt that with Alchemist Azrael beside him, his father wouldn't try to show his usual attitude to him and instead maintain a formal one.

Damien finally spoke, "Your Majesty, you might know that I have already examined the condition of Her Highness. And even though her condition is quite severe, in the end, there is a solution."

Ruthren's expression remained flat, but inwardly he was surprised that Alchemist Azrael managed to find a cure for Maria. He knew how bad her condition was, and it even seemed like a miracle that she held on this long.

Even top-notch pills were useless since how could they heal a body that practically had no ethereal energy to assimilate the pill?

He was curious what method Alchemist Azrael had in mind. 

Damien continued, "I have been recently researching the art of formations and how I could use my alchemy skills along with it. So, I came upon something a type of array known as Blood Arrays where one of its uses can be a healing array to heal the patient. But for creating such an array, I would need two Pandemonium Needles."

"Yes, Royal Father. I also feel like Senior Azrael's solution seems very plausible since I have studied up on the art of formations as well. I hope Royal Father can grant this request," Arthur chimed in after mustering up all his courage.

Ruthren's brows knitted together upon hearing the name 'Pandemonium Needle'. It was a powerful tool when used in the right way by the right person, and the origin behind it was enough to prove it.

His expressions remained unmoving as he asked Alchemist Azrael, "Alchemist Azrael, do you know why the Pandemonium Needle is named as such?"

Damien furrowed his brows and answered, "It's because hundreds of years ago, a genius blacksmith crafted two needles out of a special material to give it as a gift to the city lord on his birthday. However, a tragic event happened to him where he learned that the city lord had forcibly slept with his wife, causing him to go mad with rage. 

"Since he was a genius in the art of formations as well, he created a destruction array around the whole city, and with the help of just two Pandemonium Needles, he activated the array causing the whole city to crumble down in destruction and chaos. That was his revenge, to take away everything the city lord ruled and finally killed him as well. That's what I learned from the historical records."

Ruthren nodded, "So you do understand how powerful and destructive this Pandemonium Needle is. How could such a needle help you to cure someone?"

Damien expected his question and replied, "Of course, the Pandemonium Needle is powerful, and that's why it can be used for various other things. The reason it is so powerful is that the needle is able to draw in the ethereal energy from the surroundings at a shocking rate and also control the flow of ethereal energy in the array in a stable way no matter how much ethereal energy was used to activate that array.

"I plan to use them to create a healing array to infuse Her Highness's body with ethereal energy and then feed her a healing pill to let her body heal. Theoretically, it should work, and I am very much interested in the Pandemonium Needles as a doctor to find out the number of applications it can be used in to treat people."

Damien's tone sounded as if he was a righteous doctor with a lifelong mission to treat and save people. Even Arthur was impressed with how dedicated Alchemist Azrael seemed in helping people.

In his mind, his respect for Alchemist Azrael went up a few levels and even held a slight reverence for being so ingenious. He never thought that the Pandemonium Needles with an infamous origin could be used in such a way.

However, to draw up a Blood Array, one should know how to draw one and how to use the right ingredients to activate the array.

Damien wasn't worried about the formation part since he planned to let Reva teach him. And as for the alchemy part, there was no doubting his abilities.

Ruthren was also inwardly surprised that Alchemist Azrael seemed to exceed his initial impression of him.

He didn't interact with Alchemist Azrael before since he was just a Rank 5 Alchemist and only planned to have a talk with him once he had reached at least Leon Xeton's rank.

Ruthren's expression became complicated for the first time and said, "Seems like your words and ideas are not unfound, as expected from a genius alchemist of your caliber. However, the blacksmith in the story only made four Pandemonium Needles. After that, no matter how many experts tried, they weren't able to replicate the same creation no matter how many times they tried. That's why it became a Saint Grade artifact not only because of its potential uses but also because of its rarity."

Damien frowned, seeing that Ruthren was up to something while Arthur's heart was clenched tight, wondering whether his father was going to help or not. So far, his father seemed to listen to everything calmly without showing any other emotions and held a faint hope because of that.

Ruthren continued with a sigh, "I really wish I could help you, Alchemist Azrael. But unfortunately, I don't have any extra Pandemonium Needles to give. The ones I have right now are being used to maintain a protective array around this palace and have continued to be used for centuries."

'This cunning guy…' Damien already felt that the emperor was going to say something like this. And now this confirmed that his relationship with Maria was not that of a loving husband and wife. But instead, it seemed as if he didn't even have the slightest care for her.

Arthur felt his heart plummeting as all his final hopes got dashed by his own father. He also felt that his father was lying to not help his mother, and this only started to fan the flames of anger in his heart.

However, Ruthren's next words made Arthur's turbulent emotions settle down.

"But there is still a way to get those Pandemonium Needles you need," Ruthren said with a veiled glint in his eyes.