Chapter 197 - Volume 7: 0: Lord of Shadows

Mrakus: "Brother?"

Shadow: "I can feel it, the changes to the timeline, my memories slowly being altered and replaced…though not yet permanently"

Mrakus: "If everything goes according to plan, your current self will stop existing. Now this is one tough pill to swallow, isn't it?"

Shadow: "…."

Mrakus: "It all lies on his shoulders"

Shadow: "I wouldn't be so sure…"

Mrakus: "I assume you have more tricks up your sleeve"

Shadow: "You could say that….There are quite a few strings I would like you to pull"

Mrakus: "I will do anything you ask of me brother"

Shadow: "Such a fanatical devotion might lead you astray, you know?"

Mrakus: "If it is for you, I don't mind"

Mrakus: 'You are the one whose coming gods dread, I am certain of it. The one who shall take up the mantle of the King of Black can be no other. Even if it costs me my life, I will help you reach your goals'

By now, Mrakus's true allegiance was with Shadow and Shadow alone.

Shadow: "…You could have backed out any time"

Mrakus: "And keep being a slave to those who massacred our brethren and enslaved our kind? I have served that fool of a deity long enough!"

Shadow: "That fool of a deity can easily kill both of us, as we are now. Have patience, do not be reckless"

Mrakus: "I know….but you are the only one I have left"

Few that lived were enslaved.

Anhelium, 900 years in the future.

This was one of the locations that once gave rise to the angels.

But thanks to the gods, now there were no survivors, only corpses.

All of the Mother Trees were burned down to the ground.

Any other locations that created angels were ransacked and destroyed.

In this timeline, angels were practically endangered species.

Shadow's black wings seemed to fit so well in the grey ruins of their former home.

Mrakus: "This realm used to be such a magnificent, beautiful place….Now, nothing but the ashes, bones, and dust remain"

Shadow: "…."

Mrakus: "What a sad picture to look at"

Mrakus: "Lucifer once tried to unite us to fight the gods, to free us from their tyranny. If it were not for that traitor Michael! Damn it!"

In rage, Mrakus shattered a broken statue into pieces.

Shadow: "I will finish what she started. If everything plays out as planned, all of them can be revived once more"

Mrakus: "That's a big if. What if everything goes astray and it destroys everything we have planned for so long?"

Shadow: "I doubt that will happen, but even if it does, I have a few contingencies in place"

Mrakus: "Why did you choose him, of all people?"

Shadow: "Convenience, if you will"

Mrakus: "What do you know about him?"

Shadow: "I arranged his creation, so to speak. His father, a demon of crow bloodline was an impressive specimen, but his kind's weakness to holy magic made him unfit for my role. So, I played a cupid and arranged circ.u.mstances in such a way that he would meet, fall in love with a human, and sire a child"

Mrakus: "And I am assuming the result was the creation of someone who possessed the attributes of both but without the vulnerability to holy magic"

Shadow: "Correct. It was a matter of arranging couple of events, getting rid of unnecessary variables, and in the end, he was mine for the taking"

Shadow: "To prevent him from being subject to fate, I stripped him of half his soul. I only needed one, the other one I dumped off in another world"

Shadow: "After that, leaving him in that Shinigami's realm was an easy matter. Even if she noticed that he was missing half of his soul, she did not suspect a thing. I made sure to forge an account in his Book of Life, just to be certain."

Mrakus: "Why the Shinigami?"

Shadow: "Interaction with a Reaper was the fastest way to acquire True Sight"

Shadow: "Of course, I made sure to implant a mental suggestion into his mind that when he heard of the Banquet, he would be eager to go"

Mrakus: "You make it sound so easy"

With Shadow playing his part, it was up to Mrakus to inform Chronos of the mortal's presence in the Banquet.

Over the years, Mrakus knew the whims of his master quite well. What word to use to achieve what effect and such. By now, he could manipulate her without her suspecting a thing. Having absolute power made her rather imm.a.t.u.r.e, childish, and overconfident, a perfect tool for Mrakus's machinations.

Mrakus: "He might still think everything that happened was a coincidence"

Yet, it was anything but.

It was by design, a very complex and detailed plan that was unfolding even now.

Mrakus: "But I have to admit, he is more of a loose cannon than I expected. Are you sure he is not going against our plans?"

Shadow: "On contraire, everything unfolded exactly as I had hoped. Though, much, much faster than expected. I assumed it would take him years, at most a decade to reach the point of causing a war between kingdoms, not mere months."

Mrakus: "He proved himself a rather impressive specimen"

Shadow: "To play the role I gave him, he must be"

Mrakus: "I still have my doubts"

Shadow: "Order and the system gods have built is a very precise and complicated machine, so what would happen if I were, say, throw a wrench into it?"

Mrakus: "The results would be catastrophic. Chaos would ensue"

Shadow: "And from that chaos, we can forge a better tomorrow"

Mrakus: "Some of his actions were indeed unexpected. An elaborate plan like this has very high chance of going down in flames, but every measure must be taken to ensure its success.

Shadow: "If the father fails, I can always use the son"