Chapter 450 Return Home
"So do you want to come with us, or do you want to stay here?" Nial asked after the Little Oracle's drowsiness was washed away.
She had slept for around half a day more before finally waking up from her deep slumber.
The Little Oracle squealed out in joy when seeing the change in Ryu's appearance and she started to caress him gently.
Half an hour passed as she played with him before she was fully awake and ready to properly answer Nial's question.
"I have no reason to leave yet. Once I'm told to leave, I will naturally do so," Oracle responded in seemingly simple terms, but Nial's brows twitched.
'Just how old is she?! Sometimes she acts like a normal child and then she gives mature answers…that's so confusing,' Nial sighed but then quickly realized something else that interested him more than the Little Oracle's duality.
"You said that once you're told to leave you will do that, but who is that person, who can order you around?" He revealed the doubt he had been harboring for quite a while already.
He was pretty sure that the Little Oracle wasn't acting on her own and that there was someone, who told her to stay by his side. Nial had this hunch since the Oracle had joined their group.
She was far stronger than expected, her powers were extremely unique and it was not unlikely that she was sent by someone to help him.
"There is no person who can order me around," The Little Oracle said proudly, throwing her hair backward. She smiled confidently, but Nial could only frown deeper.
'There is no one? Was I mistak–...' He thought before he was interrupted by the words the Little Oracle added, "But the Origin can order me around."
"The Origin?... You mean Jundra told you to journey around with me?" Nial blurted out in astonishment. He couldn't actually believe the gibberish she was spouting but something deep down within him told Nial that there might be a trace of truth to her words.
And that was what made him get goosebumps all over his body.
"Yes and no… can't we leave it at that?" The Little Oracle asked quietly. Even if she wanted to tell Nial more, she couldn't do so. The moment she would reveal something he was not supposed to know right now, the Origin would take countermeasures to ensure that he was punished for the forbidden knowledge he received.
There had often been similar situations where the Origin issued its support to certain individuals just to punish them later. And some beings never understood why they were punished.
They were oblivious to the equilibrium of the Universe, and the fact that the Origin was the Center of the Universe, its Guardian, and also the judge!
'I wonder if the Immortal Witch is doing fine,' The Little Oracle thought at this moment, recalling the worst case of betrayal that had ever happened since the birth of the Universe.
The Origin was the one, who raised the Immortal Witch, just to discard her in the worst possible way, cursing her with Immortality and imprisoning her for eternity.
The Little Oracle's expression turned sad at this thought and she frowned.
Nial visualized her expressions clearly which is why he discarded his curiosity and lightly caressed the Little Oracle's silky hair.
"In that case, let's leave for the Forest of Life!" Nial announced, retrieving a bunch of Origin crystals and the Teleportation device.
By constantly supplying the Teleportation Device with Origin crystals, it would take them less than an hour to return to the Forest of Life, instead of wasting several months traveling.
With that in mind, Nial teleported himself, Ryu, and the Little Oracle outside Alliance City before he waited for the Teleportation Device to be charged once again.
It would require a large amount of Origin crystals to return home but that was not something worth mentioning. His mother's last wish was for him to return home and he was already pretty late because he had waited for the Little Oracle to wake up.
Thus, while waiting for every mana charge that occurred after the mana within the Teleportation device was fully utilized, Nial organized his storage ring as he was talking to Kaeldur and Tyrant in his mind.
'Kaeldur, why didn't you talk with me earlier? Wouldn't that have made things much easier?' He asked one of the few questions that bothered him the most.
[You were too weak, Master!] Kaeldur answered simply, causing Nial to frown.
[I cannot even use a tenth of my true power because your tiny bit of strength restricts mine!] He added bluntly, just for Tyrant to add,
[My strength is also restricted but I'm slowly getting stronger thanks to your Heart of Darkness. The Heart of Darkness has a really pure Essence of Darkness!]
Nial didn't really feel better after hearing the comments of his subordinates, but he was somewhat glad that they didn't treat him like a pushover just because he had become their master.
The two Demons, or whatever they were, still retained their personality, whether it was a nice personality, or not.
'But what are you guys even, to begin with? What did Damian label you guys? Devils, Demons?' Nial asked the question which popped up in his head whenever he wondered what kind of existences Damian's direct subordinates were.
[You can call us whatever you like. Our late Master merely called us using the names he granted us,] Tyrant said quite nonchalantly, and Nial nodded his head in understanding.
'How did Damian die?' Nial asked after he thought about asking a few other questions. There were lots of things he wanted to know but he was also quite interested in finding out details about Damian's end, especially after all the things he had seen from Damian's memories.
Nial knew that Damian had been one of the strongest existences in the vast Universe. He was pretty sure that nobody must have been able to actually kill Damian, not by normal means at least.
[We don't know that] Kaeldur was the one to answer Nial's question after a few minutes of silence.
[Most of us were sealed away long before we felt his death] Tyrant clarified Kaeldur's words, his voice filled with sadness and frustration.
Nial felt that the situation revolving around the Late God of Darkness' death was far more complicated than first expected, but that was fine.
He had more than enough time to find out how Damian had died. It was important to get to know this, especially since the knowledge might come in handy in the future, but time was currently on his side.
'Alright then…how strong am I compared to Damian? Not when he was in his prime but if you know how strong he was at my rank…just give me a rough estimation if you don't know for sure!' Nial was confident in his strength, however, it was pretty obvious that the God of Darkness was on a completely different level.
From the memories the Odyssey seed had shared with him in the past, Nial could tell how overpowered the God of Darkness had been from the moment he had awoken his Origin.
The God of Darkness had possessed control of the Essence of Darkness the moment he awoke his Origin, and he could merge it with the dark energy his body created out of every tad of mana he had absorbed.
[Your foundation…] Tyrant mumbled just for Nial to sense darkness spreading through his body. It was Tyrant's darkness that spread through his body to analyze his foundation and strength.
The Tyrant of Destruction hadn't been with Nial for a long time, so he couldn't actually gauge his strength properly.
[Your foundation is definitely weaker than what our late Master's foundation was at your age and rank, but that's only if we're talking about the common powers you and our late Master possessed…you…are different…you possess more powers…a wider variety of them and also have the capabilities to become stronger…probably,] Kaeldur took over the evaluation.
He had been with Nial for the longest and he knew Nial's personality, strengths, and weaknesses best.
While the God of Darkness had been overpowered with the use of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness, Nial was merely 'above-average' in that regard. This might actually change in the future, but currently, Kaeldur would consider Nial to be merely above average.
Nonetheless, Nial possessed far more powers than Damian, who had fully focused on strengthening his dark energy instead of trying to get his hand on new powers.
Nial possessed a power-supporting ability, the ability to control the Mind to a terrific degree, the power to Summon otherworldly existences, and the mysterious Power of Chaos, something Nial had yet to comprehend and learn about.
Thus, Kaeldur had a change of opinion and started to wonder if Nial might actually possess a stronger foundation than their late Master…and that was something he never expected to be possible!