“Contrast Deity Warden?”
Rhode asked, his eyes twitching slightly as this unknown title sounded really powerful. He knew that Christie was the ‘Fate Deity Warden’, Marlene was the ‘Wisdom Deity Warden’, and Alice was the ‘History Deity Warden’. He had to admit that these three Deity Wardens were sufficient to show how mighty the Void Dragon was back then. It wasn’t surprising that they were able to dominate the entire continent. As for the ‘Contrast Deity Warden’, she most likely wouldn’t be an easy one to deal with either.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Alice nodded and continued to explain.
“You should also be aware that the six Deity Wardens were created by the former Void Dragon for the sake of protecting the Order of this world. We were each given six responsibilities: Christie was in charge of creating destiny, Margaret was responsible for recording rules, while I took charge of protecting the past. On the other hand, Cassidy’s responsibility was to contrast all things, just like how the land exists due to the sky, darkness exists whenever there is light; everything is born in contrast. This was the most crucial foundation as for how the world of Order exists. Also, Cassidy is extremely powerful. In her hands, she can turn everything into its contrasting form: water and fire, kindness and evil, life and death. Among the six Deity Wardens, she was ranked second in battle strength, just below Her Highness Christie.”
“In other words, you and Marlene can’t defeat her?”
Rhode finally understood why Alice wanted him to take on Cassidy alone. However, he still felt dubious. Marlene and Alice were powerful beings, and yet they couldn’t defeat Cassidy? They were Deity Wardens, so the difference in strength shouldn’t be that huge… As though seeing through Rhode’s doubt, Marlene forced a smile and replied.
“Rhode, you may not be aware, but the original intention of creating us Deity Warden, isn’t for us to only become the Creator Dragons’ dependents. We were created by the former Void Dragon to protect the world against Chaos. The ultimate goal of our strength isn’t for battle, but to continue the existence of Order. Due to this reason, although we are powerful, on a certain level our battle strength isn’t proportional. Honestly, Her Highness Alice and I are at the bottom in terms of battle strength, while the strongest ones are Her Highness Christie, the ‘Fate Deity Warden’, and Her Highness Cassidy, the ‘Contrast Deity Warden’.”
“I see.”
Rhode nodded to Marlene. He finally understood the so-called division of labor between the six Deity Wardens. Unlike the four legendary generals and three archangels who were high-level ‘hired thugs’, the Deity Wardens’ most important job was to maintain Order. Taking online games in Rhode’s original world, for instance, the six Deity Wardens were the ones who performed program maintenance, which was on a totally different level from the three archangels and four legendary generals regardless of who was stronger. No matter how domineering the four legendary generals were in the game, as long as the programmer disliked them, he or she could remove them entirely in a few commands. This was the difference in level. But on the same level, it was an entirely different matter.
Just like elephants and dinosaurs could squash an ant, but it didn’t mean that their battle could result in a draw.
Shortly after, Rhode thought of another question.
“Can’t Christie do it?”
According to them, Christie was fully deserving of being the strongest and Rhode had also witnessed it inside Alice’s ‘Historical Tracing’. Back then, Christie truly gave him a domineering presence as though ‘the world was within the control of her hands’, while the remaining five Deity Wardens nodded obediently to whatever she said. That said, Rhode didn’t see any dominance from these two Christies…
“It isn’t impossible, but… Her Highness Christie is currently in the Astral Temple. If we rely on the princess only, it will be too risky. After all, the princess can’t maintain the ‘strength of fate’ for too long and won’t be able to defeat Cassidy. If Helen is here, perhaps there’s still a chance to turn the situation around…”
“Who’s that?”
Rhode didn’t stop Alice when she mentioned Christie as the ‘princess’. Ever since Karin started calling Christie that, basically everyone followed suit. In fact, in terms of identity and blood relation, she was indeed suitable for this title, which was why Rhode wasn’t mindful about it. On the other hand, he was more curious about the other name that Alice mentioned. Upon hearing his doubt, Alice paused for a moment before explaining to him.
“She’s one of the Deity Wardens and our companions, the ‘Presence Deity Warden’, Helen. She can give form to all imaginary things and also eliminate the reality of these beings, turning them non-existent. All along, she was the one who coordinated with Her Highness Christie in protecting the continent. But it was a pity that…”
As expected, none of the Deity Wardens were normal; they were all insanely powerful.
‘Presence Deity Warden’? A title with such a high-end feel to it is on a totally different level than the unknown ‘Contrast Deity Warden’ of Cassidy. But there is no point in thinking about the ‘Presence Deity Warden’ anymore. I’m better off handling this problem in front of me first… W-Wait!
Rhode’s eyes glinted at this thought as he suddenly thought of something. He lifted his head quickly, looked at Alice and Marlene, and asked.
“Since the ‘Contrast Deity Warden’ can transform all contrasting matters, in other words… she can turn Order into Chaos and Chaos into Order?”
“You’re right about that, Your Majesty.”
Holy!
Rhode shrieked in his head after hearing the confirmation from Alice. No wonder Alice and Marlene mentioned that they couldn’t stop Cassidy. A Deity Warden who could transform Order into Chaos was too insane. Even though they were all Deity Wardens, Alice’s and Marlene’s strength relied on Order. If they were to take on Cassidy together, Cassidy could immediately transform Order into Chaos and perhaps even if they possessed heavenly powers, they could only stare helplessly and do nothing. It was due to this that they chose not to attack. On the other hand, in order to deal with Cassidy, they needed a being who could create Order, which was why they brought up Christie and Helen.
But now, the other ‘Christie’ was far in the Astral Temple. Even though they could still rely on Christie, Rhode refused to make her risk her life after learning about their blood relation. So the only choice left was him. As the Creator Dragon, he could make use of the dragon soul protection and even if Cassidy was up to no good, he didn’t need to be afraid as he had his home turf as support.
But even so, Rhode still had some doubts in his mind. He knew that the situation wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Apart from Alice’s request for him to throw his hat into the ring, she also made another difficult request. She hoped that Rhode could reawaken Cassidy, which meant that he needed to rely on his strength as the Spirit Swordsman. But…
“Will everything be fine?”
After sending Alice, Marlene, and the others away, Rhode asked. Shortly after, his younger sister’s nice, gentle voice rang in his ears. “It should be fine as long as you seal Cassidy into a card spirit like what you did with me and Marlene. Only then can her lost soul regain consciousness.”
“But it isn’t guaranteed to work, right? Didn’t it fail when I tried it on you? I heard from Alice that Cassidy was just like you; she sealed up a fragment of her soul in another dimension. What should I do if I don’t succeed in the end?” Rhode was apparently not too confident. It seemed like he was still brooding over the failed attempts to awaken his younger sister back then. Besides, he was also concerned that everything would be done for if he failed. Once Cassidy’s soul vanished, no one would benefit. Rhode wasn’t an OCD patient who had to gather all six Deity Wardens to fulfill his wish of eating six steamed dumplings. But since he would be going up against Chaos, the six Deity Wardens’ experiences were crucial to him. Currently, with this opportunity before him, he had to be more cautious and meticulous. Anyway, that Deity Warden hid herself up after being frightened, while Alice couldn’t spot her location using her strength. Right now, he could only use the Projection Crystal to scan the territory. But why did it sound like Cassidy was a frightened bunny?
“This is different, Big Brother. According to Alice, her ability was counteracted by Cassidy, which explained that the soul fragment in this alternate plane contains the core of her original self. For instance, the core is the most important part of a robot. As long as the ‘original self’ of the soul fragment exists, the sealing process will be guaranteed. As for my issue… it is different because my original self was caught in an accident when I transmigrated. And me, as the soul fragment, can’t inherit the core strength of my original self. That was why you failed to turn me into a card spirit.”
“I see.”
After hearing his younger sister’s response, Rhode felt at ease now. But he shook his head helplessly, before letting out a sigh.
“Sorry, I…”
“It isn’t your fault, Big Brother. Besides, you don’t need to apologize to me. We’ve talked about it, haven’t we, Big Brother?”
“You’re right.”
Rhode quickly let go off the melancholy in his head. After all, it happened a long time ago and he had done everything he could. He would never constantly weep over some small stuff that happened more than 10 years ago like those women in third-rate soap operas who kept harping on about, “It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have done that. Why must you treat me this way?” Even though he looked like a woman, he absolutely refused to watch those third-rate performances. Since his younger sister assured him that nothing would go wrong, everything should turn out well.
However, things didn’t turn out smoothly. According to Alice’s speculations, the Grians used a known method to release Cassidy’s soul fragment that was sealed in the alternate dimension. Meanwhile, Cassidy’s consciousness after she was just awakened was still unclear. Moreover, after years of infiltration by the Grians’ mental strength, it caused Cassidy to basically take actions instinctively. Judging from this point, Randolf’s attack was considered to succeed by a lucky stroke. If they were to stand idly by and did nothing, perhaps the confused Cassidy might really treat herself as the Grians’ so-called mighty God and did whatever they told her to. It was as though a person who finally regained consciousness on the bed did things subconsciously to other’s instructions. If that happened, perhaps Randolf and the rest would be lying in the grave and waiting for the group resurrection spell to bring them back to life.
That attack from Randolf was as though one just woke up in a blur and before one realized where one was, someone suddenly knocked the gong beside his ear. One who was greatly stunned surely wouldn’t see who did it immediately. Instead, one would instinctively run away as far as possible as fear struck his soul. This was the case for Cassidy. She was so startled that she fled somewhere far away. What was worse was that Rhode didn’t even know what she looked like. Fortunately, according to Alice, even though her investigation was counteracted by Cassidy, the six Deity Wardens possessed a sensing capability which allowed her to feel Cassidy’s approximate location. And now, the only thing Alice could say was that Cassidy was still within the Void Territory and didn’t run off to the Country of Light or Country of Darkness. This was the only news that let Rhode heave a sigh of relief because if Cassidy ran off to the Country of Light, he wouldn’t have any solutions to search for her in that large place. If she headed to the Country of Darkness… it would be devastating as he would need to bear the risk of clashing with Ion in order to find her.
Fortunately, they were in an era of magic. With the help of the magic projection, Rhode finally saw Cassidy’s appearance. She seemed like a swordswoman, had a healthy, wheatish skin tone, long, silver-whitish hair, and a big sword on her back. According to Alice, Cassidy was the only Deity Warden who used weapons.
The only thing Rhode could do now was to let Sara search for her using the Projection Crystal. However, the Void Territory was huge, and searching for a lost and flustered Deity Warden was as though finding a needle in a haystack. But Rhode had no other ways and could only wait patiently. Fortunately, news of this matter didn’t spread to the Country of Darkness yet. And even if Ion knew about it, Rhode reckoned that Ion wouldn’t stir any trouble soon, so he was relieved.
As for the Grians, there was no nothing left to resolve. On the other hand, the startled Deity Warden wasn’t a little girl who could scream at the top of her lungs and be rescued. According to Joey’s post investigations, the group of Grians were frozen into popsicles before being roasted from outside-in by the blaze. It could also be said that Cassidy helped Randolf in accomplishing his mission perfectly. On the other hand, that lucky bastard, Dwight, managed to escape with some ‘unserious’ injuries, which was why Rhode paid him the related insurances kindly and made him retire… Anyway, he wouldn’t be able to work in this state, wasn’t it?
“But Big Brother, don’t you intend to tell others what you think?”
His younger sister was apparently more concerned about Rhode’s biggest plan: to create a massive Dimension Gate and teleport the entire continent to another world. This was almost a cross-generational project, and even she had to admit that if it succeeded, the continent wouldn’t have to face the endless infiltration from Chaos any longer.
But after returning to this world, Rhode had no intention of gathering the four Creator Dragons to discuss it. His younger sister understood his views. Lilian was standing on the same side as him and would listen to whatever Rhode told her. But it was hard to determine for the other three…
“Just like what I said, beneficiaries will never think about change. Even if they do, it will be out of their intention to protect their interest. We’re the same too; same goes for everyone in this world. I suppose the other three are no exceptions. Do you think, as of now, they will agree with me to risk the entire continent? It isn’t only the Void Territory and Country of Light; it also includes the Country of Darkness, Country of Law, and the entire Dragon Soul Continent. If any accidents were to happen, we would be going down the road of destruction. Do you think they will agree with me?”
Rhode spread his arms apart, shrugged.
“At least… you should try and speak to them about it.”
“When the time is right, I’ll do it. But now isn’t the time for that.” Rhode narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. “The Void Territory isn’t strong enough to accomplish everything yet, be it this plan or in terms of dealing with threats from the outside. If the hands that reach out to us for cooperation aren’t trembling with fear and respect, everything will be meaningless. What we need now is to make them agree and acknowledge our plan and not start a discussion and vote our decisions. Be it objection, a forfeit, or veto, to me there is only one result. And has to be only one.”
Rhode lifted his head and at this moment, his eyes glinted in an ice-cold flash.
