With a resigned expression, he pointed to the surroundings.
"What?" The girl tilted her head.
"Block what I'm about to say. They shouldn't know."
"Can't you do it yourself? Aren't you a living god?" She smirked.
"Haa~" A sigh left the old man's mouth. "I am…just a powerless phantom. I can't even make a rank 9 clone with the situation I'm in."
The girl narrowed her eyes and her hand thrust forward. It broke through the old man's body and caught his three beating hearts.
Ba-dum! Badum!
"It's not that you didn't react, you couldn't."
The girl concluded and placed back the hearts in their original places before tapping on the old man's chest.
The injuries disappeared and everything went back to how it was before.
"Speak whatever that secret is." She swiped her hand and with a ripple of time enveloping them, their talks got shielded.
"I'm under suspicion for good reasons. All my actions are monitored—my real body is stationed on the border with a clone of Keman Aurik himself. All my clones are under monitored by one of Lord Yami's avatars.
Any attempt from my side to create even the weakest divine clone would be detected and questioned."
"…And what did you do to gain that much trust?"
"Something I did not too long ago and the failure of my grandson." Keeper Equilius let out a chuckle.
The emotionless eyes of the old man fluctuated for the first time and a hint of anger and disappointment flashed in them.
"A divine ranker would be foolproof for the job." The girl still showed rejection.
"You don't understand…" Keeper Equilius paused. "The only divine rankers I can get would be in Nexus. But they're all deployed now.
There are some divine rankers in Genesis and Mors who could do my bidding. But it won't work anymore.
It didn't matter until now that I met the daughter of Asherah, Lady Asha. But shortly after my visit, Fabricator of Paradise was killed.
And they found the aura of my grandson there. No one had said a word but they linked that aura to mine. It's too obvious for the Life Master.
The situation had turned so bad that the moment I contact any divine ranker, either Keman or Yami would know. Just like how God Emperor would know about this conversation when I say 'Thoren Aur Deus', they too would know when I touch any divine ranker."
The girl showed a gloating smile at his words. "Serves you right, old geezer."
"But the curse doesn't serve you right, does it? I can't imagine going through the first 9 years of my life for so many times. Do you start crawling once this cycle resets?"
The girl's face turned cold before she slammed the table. "I can't just trust your words and do the job."
"You'll have to." The eyes of Keeper Equilius remained emotionless but there was a smile on his face. "Or you can out the entire conversation that you're recording…secretly."
"Tsk." The girl clicked her tongue but didn't show any guilt. "It won't be enough. You have to leave a trace of your aura with me and swear in front of the camera regarding your words and promise.
All of this will be kept safe in the Genesis' Imperial Bank. If I die or you don't fulfill the promise, it'll be released for the entire Alliance to see.
Maybe they won't kill you, but your plans will definitely be thwarted. It's in your best interest to not break this promise."
"I agree." Keeper Equilius nodded and stretched his hand out. "For a win-win cooperation."
The girl bit her lip but eventually shook his old, wrinkly hand with her small one. "Whatever, old bastard. What's his name again?"
"Varian. His name is Varian."
*** *** *** *** ***
Unlike the 7th Prince, Eshala Starlight recognized Varian's presence.
Since he took the help of slivers as well as the divine powers of Sarah and Isadora to put up a disguise, she was able to infer the truth only after spending a good amount of time.
By then, Varian had long left the galaxy.
"Sliverholder Varian…" The Princess pursed her lips and placed her hands on her lap.
ƈοm Beautiful diamonds studded to the doors and windows of the giant palace room were hit by the ripple of time that emerged from Eshala.
The flow of time for these gems skyrocketed as they could not offer any resistance through aura. As a result, they decomposed into graphite in a matter of minutes.
He had grown very strong in very little time. He was still a tiny celesial who struggled to fight rank 6s and rank 7s not too long ago.
But with the strength he showed today which put him just below the top echelon of pseudo divines, even Eshala wouldn't be able to track him as she pleased.
In a one-on-one, she could kill a billion men like Varian. But this was not a battle.
Her senses would have to wade through entire galaxies and space that's vast than all these galaxies put together, pin down a particular person at a particular coordinate in a particular instance of time.
To give an analogy, he's still a fly she could kill anytime. But the problem was finding that fly in a large mansion!
Using her powers to glimpse into future, Eshala locked onto ten thousand locations where Varian could appear in the next hour.
It's an incredible result even for her. It was only possible because Varian exposed himself openly in Lionar.
Had he remained in hiding, Eshala would've gotten more than a billion locations, rendering the whole thing useless.
"I don't want to wait until he reaches the divine ranks. Even though I can still beat him then, if I miss and he grows, a monstrosity with 7 paths could stomp the entire Empire other than Him."
It's a peculiar phenonemon, which Eshala and her siblings suspected to be the work of God Emperor.
But people simply could not reach rank 2 in Jai Empire. And if they did, it must be understood that they were mad geniuses with impossible perseverance.
The high and mid rank 2s of the Empire died off after the Emperor assumed the throne. It's been forever since only low rank 2s remained the strongest in the Empire.
They were assigned particular duties that they must fulfill and rarely participated in the governance.
The direct result was that the three peak rank 1s—the so-
called heirs to the throne–led three factions each and did the ruling.
For all the greatness it boasted of, this was the biggest pain point of the Empire. Take away the Emperor and it'd be run over by the Alliance in a day.
Of course, the God Emperor was someone who'd remain even if the whole of Empire and Alliance were to perish.
"But if Varian grows strong beyond the point I could capture him, I would lose the opportunity to make a military merit. As long as I capture him now, I'll be rewarded. I can ask for Rose's…"
Eshala Starlight bit her lip and exhaled a sorrowful sigh.
Ten thousand avatars emerged out of her and shot for ten thousand spots in wildly different regions of Eden.
One of them was Varian's location.