Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 699: Undercurrents [3]

The sky.

What was it like to feel the sky?

What did it feel like to drift through the sky? To sense the soft touch of the wind as the world below slowly shrank into the distance...?

Such were the questions Pebble continuously asked itself.

Since birth, it had never felt what it was like to touch the sky. To feel the sky. Or to be with the sky.

No, there was a time when it happened.

But that was also the time when Pebble died and lost its life.

"Get ready, Pebble. It’s almost ready."

The human’s soft voice reached the cat’s ears, slowly bringing its attention toward the egg that sat before the human.

Pebble slowly inched towards the egg, feeling the pulse of life coming from it.

The cat felt a sudden sense of anticipation while staring at the egg.

Would it finally be able to feel the sky?

Throb!

"Okay!"

The human’s voice rang out again, his eyes fixed on the egg that showed a certain reaction.

"Get ready, Pebble. I’ll soon use the mirror to transfer your soul into the egg. The process should be relatively easy, and the moment you come out of the egg, given your current power, you should be able to grow to your adult form."

"...Okay."

Pebble stepped forward, staring at the egg with a rare seriousness.

Rustle~

Just then, the cat felt a presence coming from behind it.

A smirk played at the cat’s lips.

"Stupid owl. I’m about to catch up. See if you’ll be able to bully me again."

Pebble recalled all the times that foolish owl had taken advantage of it, and all the pain and frustration it had been forced to endure.

’I’ll definetly pay everything back soon...’ Mumbling to itself, the cat didn’t notice the peculiar look the owl was giving it.

In the end, the human’s voice rang out again.

"Okay, I’m ready!"

He channeled his mana into the mirror and a powerful glow manifested over the mirror, enveloping the surroundings in a bright light.

Turning his head, the human looked at Pebble.

"Go!"

Pebble didn’t waste a single second.

The moment it heard the human’s voice, it ran towards the mirror.

Swoosh!

Pebble quickly disappeared into the mirror.

Julien’s eyes flashed, and he brought the mirror over the egg. The mana inside of his body rapidly drained. However, he didn’t mind. He had already anticipated this as he quickly focused all of his attention on Pebble.

Now that Pebble was inside the mirror, the connection he felt with Pebble was completely severed.

"Hoo."

Taking a deep breath, Julien looked at the egg and muttered.

’This is all on you now.’

Julien brought the mirror down, and a white light enveloped the egg completely.

The light was blinding.

It covered the entire surroundings. If not for the fact that Julien had known in advance and had made preparations, almost everyone within the vicinity would’ve noticed the spectacle.

Normally, it wouldn’t matter since it was just him and Noel in the estate.

However, given the current situation, there were, without a doubt, spies around. As such, Julien had to be as subtle as possible with his actions.

Swoosh!

Thankfully, the light didn’t last for very long.

As soon as it rose, it gradually faded before disappearing completely.

Silence.

What followed was a deft silence as Julien focused his attention on the egg.

Closing his eyes, he could feel faint traces of life in the egg, but it was faint.

"Did it succeed...?"

This was the first time Julien had attempted something like this. He was unaware of whether it had worked or not.

Eventually, he turned his attention towards Owl-Mighty.

The owl stood on top of one of the tree branches as it looked at the egg in silence.

"What do you think?" Julien asked, causing the owl to turn its attention towards it. The owl stood in silence for the next several seconds before eventually shaking its head.

"Failed."

"Failed...?"

Cra!

A faint cracking sound broke the silence, drawing Julien’s attention to the egg.

Cra Crack!

At first, there was only a single small crack. But within seconds, it split into two, then three, and before Julien could fully process it, the entire surface of the egg was webbed with cracks.

"This..."

Julien stood up from his spot, taking a step back from the egg.

And then—

BANG!

The egg shattered, and a single black cat flew out of it.

In an instant, the connection Julien had lost with the cat surged back, just as a shadow burst free from the egg, flinging itself into the air.

Falling onto the ground, a familiar black cat appeared, and on the spot where the egg used to be was another egg. It looked exactly the same as before, from the little details to the coloring.

It was almost as if nothing had happened to it.

And yet... He distinctly recalled seeing the cracks and them splitting apart.

What in the world...?

Staring at the egg in shock, Julien’s gaze eventually fell on Pebble.

His expression froze the moment he saw the cat staring blankly towards the sky above.

He felt like saying something, but feeling the owl’s gaze and seeing it shake its head, Julien closed his mouth and looked at the egg again.

Why?

Why did it fail?

***

A month later.

BANG! BANG—!

Drums echoed loudly across a vast plaza, where a towering cathedral loomed at its center. Built from dark stone that gleamed beneath the bright sun, the cathedral overlooked streets crowded with devoted followers.

Today was an important day.

Today was the day when the Saint of the Church of Oracleus would officially become the new Pope of the Church.

Despite the recent chaos and controversy with the Saint, the Cardinals and members of the church decided to give the position to Jackal.

To address public scrutiny, they all announced that the reason for Jackal’s recent actions was that he was suddenly overwhelmed with the power that he was inheriting, turning him mad.

However, they also reassured the people that this problem was one that would quickly resolve.

Today marked the day when Jackal would make his first appearance to the public.

The smell of incense lingered in the air, and important figures from all over attended the ceremony.

Watching the entire scene from one of the upper floors, a middle-aged man with a few wrinkles, brown hair, and narrow eyes rested his hand on the marble railing, feeling its warm surface beneath his palm.

"It’s almost time..."

He mumbled, pulling his hand back.

"I’ve been waiting for quite some time now. It is time that I reap the rewards of my patience."

The man slowly shifted his gaze toward the room behind him. A tall door stood between them, but to his eyes, it might as well not have been there at all.

Inside the room, he could see a figure lying on the floor, his body soaked in sweat and alarmingly thin, as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. His face was ghostly pale, and his long hair had begun to thin, clinging to his skin in damp strands.

Although slowly, his chest was still moving, showing that he was still alive.

However, he didn’t have much time left.

It would soon be his turn to make his move.

Swoosh!

Just then, a figure appeared before the middle-aged man, head bowed in a gesture of submission.

The middle-aged man smiled.

"Dawn."

"....Yes."

Slowly raising his head, Dawn’s yellow eyes came into full display as Sithrus’s smile widened slightly.

"It is good to see that you’re here. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us."

Placing his hand against the marble railing once more, and looking down at the massive crowd beneath the Cathedral, Sithrus calmly looked at the room where Jack was once again.

"Within the next hour, he will have absorbed all of the blood. That will be the time that I act."

"...I understand."

Dawn nodded his head.

"I will protect—"

"No."

Sithrus stopped Dawn before he could finish his sentence, stunning him.

"I don’t need your protection."

Sithrus smiled while looking at Dawn.

"I’ve got other people to take care of that."

Immediately, several presences appeared in the surroundings, stunning Dawn. While he had a vague inkling that they had been present, he hadn’t been able to detect their exact position.

How was this—

"Don’t worry about them. They’re... a little special. There’s something more important that I need you to take care of."

"Something more important?"

Dawn looked at Sithrus in confusion. What could be more important than absorbing Oracleus’s blood and gaining his power?

Seeing the look on Dawn’s face, Sithrus smiled once again while shaking his head.

"...I will most likely fail to absorb the blood."

"Huh?"

Dawn’s eyes snapped wide upon hearing Sithrus’s words.

"Fail? How cou—"

"The chance of me failing is extremely high."

"Wha... what?"

Dawn’s usually calm face was nowhere to be seen.

The shock he felt was too hard to hide.

"This isn’t surprising."

Sithrus was not dumb. He had already more or less figured out that this was a scheme designed by Oracleus in order to buy himself some time. For what? To collect a relic? To grow stronger?

There were a lot of possibilities that crossed Sithrus’s mind. But was time the only thing that Oracleus wanted?

Obviously not.

Sithrus knew Oracleus extremely well. From his powers to the way he thought.

After all...

A lot of the things he had learned were from him.

And as such, he understood something very clearly.

’He didn’t just do it to buy time. He did it because he also knew that I would fail to digest the blood.’

What did this mean?

"Wait," Dawn’s voice shook Sithrus out of his thoughts, causing him to raise his brow.

"If you’re going to fail, why—"

"Because I have to try."

Sithrus answered while sparing Dawn a glance.

He craved to have Oracleus’s power. He wanted nothing more than to see the future. To understand the things that he didn’t understand, and predict the things that he couldn’t predict.

Even if the chances of him failing were extremely high, he had to do it.

Emmet knew this.

He... was the type to exploit this sort of information.

’And if I’m Emmet, I would probably use this chance to attack myself, or do some heavy damage to one of my powers. However, I doubt he will be able to do anything to the hidden organizations since I’ve made sure it would be impossible, meaning that...’

"If my guess is correct, there will be an attack on the Emperor soon."

"What...?"

The shock on Dawn’s face had just subsided when it suddenly returned once more. However, Sithrus continued calmly, assessing everything that he knew about Emmet and the recent information that he had learned.

"Whether it’s a ploy to buy time by sparking some kind of throne struggle while developing a new force, or a quiet attempt to seize control of the throne and get closer to me unnoticed by pretending to be the Emperor... These two are the most likely scenarios. Either way, a new power is bound to rise from all of this. And that power..."

Sithrus quietly licked his lips, feeling his lips pull up again.

"...It would most likely belong to Noel and Emmet."

Sithrus slowly turned his attention towards Dawn.

"Make do with the information I have given you. There’s a chance that my estimates are wrong, but I doubt it."

After all...

Just like Emmet could read him, Sithrus had also learned to read him.

"I’d like to hear some good news once I finish with my task."