Chapter 224 - End of the World

"Your Highness," Fredek said as he curtsied before the Ritz King.

As usual, Ivan just breezed through Alistair's study room and sat on the chaise comfortably as if he belonged there. Despite knowing the Ritz King's Returner to Ancestor status, he appeared as relaxed as ever, unlike Fredek who chose to be more formal. Together they made a great contrast as well as balance each other.

Alistair, on the other hand, didn't care about formalities, and so he waved Fredek directly towards a seat, and the latter followed.

"I take it, it was a failure," the Ritz King started seriously, and Ivan cleared his throat as if in protest. "What?"

"It's not a failure at all," Ivan answered, and when his friend looked dubious, he explained. "There are eleven girls who look similar to Ali."

Alistair frowned. This he already knew. But what was the point?

"So Fredek and I were wondering that if you were unaware that Ali's soul broke into more than two, then there's a possibility that there are still more of her out there."

Ivan looked so proud of himself coming up with this idea that Alistair was speechless. He turned his questioning amethyst gaze towards Fredek whom he caught closing his eyes as if in prayer. It seemed the wind caster was not in agreement with the Flame Emperor but had no choice.

The Ritz King sighed heavily as he leaned back on his seat. He turned his gaze back to Ivan who was still beaming like a rooster. "And you had this idea because?"

"Well, how else can you explain the fact that they all look similar?" Ivan looked at Alistair as if he was too blunt to understand his thinking.

Fredek on the other hand who normally sat rigidly like a soldier, now slumped in his seat as if he wanted to slide to the floor and disappear.

Alistair placed his elbows on the table and palmed his face as he took a deep breath. "And the lack of divine inheritance?"

The eleven girls in question didn't really have any. They could only muster weak types of magic. As for physical strength, they only exhibited normal strength of mortals in Ged.

"But if Ali's soul broke into a few more pieces, won't she lose her divine inheritance then? It'll be too weak since it was shared."

With this, Alistair closed his eyes as if in prayer. "Thank heavens you were born strong," he muttered pertaining to Ivan who thought he was being complimented.

"Of course, I'm from Kresnik's direct line," the Flame Emperor answered with a confused expression.  He was Emperor Vladimir's great-grandson. Being strong came with the territory.

"Yes, and too bad his genes got messed up somewhere and the descendant's intelligence got stunted," Alistair muttered but mostly to himself.

Ivan could be so sharp at times, but there were more times when his brain just gave up thinking. He was, after all, a warrior demigod. Still…

Kresnik was a very intelligent deity. Whatever happened to the infamous sharp mind of Heaven's Flame Emperor and it decided to skip Ivan's generation? If he didn't know any better, Alistair would think that Ivan came down from his twin brother's bloodline instead of Kresnik's. Stribog, after all, was an infamous idiot.

"Anyway, if any of those girls have no divine inheritance, then it meant none of them is Ali," the King of Ritz announced.

"Why not?" Ivan still didn't understand.

It was true, that if a soul's broken, then the divine inheritance would also be divided. But Ivan forgot that Alinea didn't have any divine inheritance originally except for her superhuman strength.

"Your Majesty," Fredek called out to Ivan who turned to him, still not understanding what was going on. "Did you forget that the Princess didn't have any divine inheritance originally?"

Hearing this, Ivan finally understood, and he settled on his chair with the realization on his face. "Oh…"

Alinea didn't have divine inheritance when she was born because Alencica, the original soul didn't have any either. So, even if Alencica's soul broke into more pieces, the result would be the same. She would just be uncannily strong, but without divine inheritance.

However, the Princess of Ritz was blessed with the ability to control the lightning during the Immortal War. She was only part of a soul, and therefore, in the event she fused with another part of her, she would still have Perun's divine inheritance – a pure ability that only she could have.

It meant that if Alinea was one of those human girls they found, the girl would have had access to Perun's seal.

"None of them can manipulate lightning," Fredek reminded Ivan who now slumped in his seat and sighed heavily.

He thought he had a great idea going on. But in the end, it was impossible. Alinea should have been a lot easier to find since she had strong lightning power.       

"Then, did that spawn lie?"

Ivan couldn't think of another reason now. They had searched the whole world for Alinea but came up empty. If she's not here then it meant they were deliberately manipulated into a wild-goose chase. Thinking about that awful woman who bore the same face as Ali fooling them made his blood boil.

Alistair saw his friend's expression and sighed again. He could see that Ivan was obviously unhappy, and it wouldn't be farfetched if the Flame Emperor would punch the daylight out of the spawn when they saw her. Ivan had no qualms about the foe's gender – be it a woman or man, he'd beat them to a pulp.

But the spawn was something none of them could touch. If not…

If not, Alinea would truly die, and the cycle of the curse would begin once more.

"No," Alistair answered as he shook his head. "She couldn't have been lying. If not, we already would have a second Immortal War within our hands this generation. Besides…"

Ivan and Fredek stared at Alistair as he paused, waiting for his words.

"Besides, I gave Ali the power to use my seal. If that spawn managed to piece back  together with Ali's soul, then she wouldn't hesitate to use that to kill me."

Derisive laughter escaped the Ritz King's lips. "It would be amusing for Perun to die by his own power right?"

The two men who'd been listening suddenly looked grim.

Die…

For Alistair who was Perun to use the word would have been a great joke. But it was the truth. Regardless of what Alencica had become, Perun couldn't kill his own child. In the event that the spawn managed to unite with Alinea, Alistair would let his child kill him, and it would really be the end of the world.

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