Chapter 223 - Ingenious Plan

"You call that harmless? Why did I feel so harmed when she spoke then?"

Well…

Ara fought hard not to laugh out loud again. Her brother had a point, but his expression at the moment was just too much – too comical that she couldn't help the twitching of her lips. He totally looked offended and scandalized as no one else had noticed that Maki Yuuka just threw a barb at him but himself.

"I just got insulted right?"

"Don't be such a snowflake. She just said her opinion," Chiaki rebuked Aki which made Ara more amused.

Poor big brother…

It seemed Chiaki would be taking Maki Yuuka's side – and it was amazing. After all, it hadn't been an hour since they spoke to the other woman, and not only the secretary but Ara herself felt a connection with her. Since both Ara and Chiaki were with the people they love – at least Aki was obviously into Chiaki as she was with him, they found Yuuka's loveless situation quite pitiful.

"Oh, should I stop saying what I think out loud now?" Maki Yuuka asked so seriously.

The two women, after all, gave her the go signal to be blunt, and it was understandable that she'd ask if it's still okay since Aki was here now.  

"No!"

Ara and Chiaki answered at the same time, making the other woman move back in her seat, and so they followed up their words with smiles.

"We prefer you to continue speaking without brakes."

Being very honest was a breath of fresh air, and the two women didn't want her to change.

"Er…what's speaking without breaks?" Aki asked, confused.

"No, not break but 'brake' like being honest."

"What?" Aki looked horrified as he turned to Maki Yuuka, and Ara had to cover her mouth to stop a guffaw.

It seemed Suzuki Aki just now realized that indeed, Maki Yuuka was very blunt and just basically spoke whatever that came to her head. Ara knew that knowing this 'handicap', Maki Yuuka just made herself harmless. After all, she couldn't keep things to herself.

"Ah, so it's a rumor…"Maki Yuuka suddenly said, distracting Aki's attention from his thoughts.

"What rumor?"

He looked like he was bracing himself to hear something special – like a rumor circulating in the business world about himself. He was wrong.

"That you're smart," Yuuka answered bluntly, and this time, it was hopeless for the women to even try to stop themselves from laughing.

Aki was beyond offended now. He transferred his accusing gaze from one woman to another.

"Why did you even call me here if you're all just going to bully me?"

============

Ritz…

Amethyst eyes stared out the open window over the courtyard, seeing but unseeing at the same time. It had been just a few hours since the search for Alinea started, but he was already impatient for the result.

As expected, no kingdom had ever dared refuse the request from Alistair of Ritz who was the Returner to Ancestry, Perun. As soon as Ivan of Kres and Fredek started the mission, most of the kingdoms of Ged gladly cooperated with the Lightning Country and even went as far as formed teams of scouts to do the task.

All Ivan and Fredek had to do were to wait at a single point at the edge of the kingdoms as a quick hunt transpired in all the countries. It started and ended swiftly. Most of them could do magic, and a simple spell could immediately lead them to someone who bore a resemblance with the late Princess of Ritz.

Alas, the search ended up with only eleven women who could possibly be the other piece of the princess' soul, but none of them was the one they were looking for.

At least that's what Alistair thought.

Right at this moment, a chariot pulled by six chanleyas, the flying white tigers stopped at the courtyard and the people inside alighted. Based on the serious expressions of Ivan and Fredek, Alistair concluded that the quest didn't bear any positive results.

Feeling and looking grim, Alistair turned away from the window. He marched towards his seat behind the huge table and slumped there as he sighed heavily as he waited for the two to come.

Defeated.

The word described everything he's feeling right now. He couldn't help but wonder if his decision to trust what the spawn said was correct. Still, in spite of the result, a huge part of him continued to believe that she couldn't have lied to him.

After all, the spawn was still around – the weak version at least. It meant that his daughter's soul was not yet devoured by her evil nature and had turned into the harbinger of catastrophe that she was meant to become from the beginning.

Yes, Alencica was the catalyst of the end of the world – the herald of doom that the Black God had sent to the mortal plane.

Millions of years ago, after the initial Immortal War led by Czernobog himself against Perun, the King of Heaven, the Black God, and his minions were all banished in the depths of hell. Everyone who was stronger than, or as strong as demigods wouldn't be able to break the seal or cross over to the mortal plane.

It was why only weak creatures of the darkness suck as shadow lurkers were able to surface and they were easily defeated. Only once every fifty years, when the seal Perun made weakened could the creatures which were as strong as demigods could emerge from the depths of hell and go to the surface to wreak havoc. Ergo, the Immortal War every half a century.

However, thousands of years ago, Czernobog hatched a very ingenious plan. On the day of the Immortal War, when the seal was weakened, he had sent a piece of his soul out to the mortal plane. Unbeknownst to Perun, when he had struck the Black God years ago, he had accidentally broken off a piece of him, and Czernobog nursed it so it could be the greatest weapon of all.

But it couldn't live on its own…

It was why, when the piece of his soul came into the mortal plane, it had settled on a human girl – the girl who would be its mother. The plan was that his soul would attach itself to the woman's future child's soul, and the child would bear the powers of the Black God and become the harbinger of catastrophe.

It was a simple, excellent plan.

Then again, plans were made not to go the way it was supposed to. Why?

For Perun, the King of Heaven found it suffocating in heaven that time, and decided to descend to the mortal plane and changed the course of destiny for everyone.

Alistair closed his eyes and an image of a dark-haired beauty with laughing gray eyes appeared in his mind and the name of his beloved wife escaped his lips. "Shitara…"

Yes, Shitara was his wife and the mother of Alencica. Fate had made the human with the piece of the Black God's soul end up married to the King of Heaven, his mortal enemy. This was why in this tragic story that spanned thousands of years, his beloved child whom he'd been trying to save for millennia was both the heroine and the villain.