1582 Jill's Father & Demon Merchant Ezra
Date- 13 April 2321
Time- 10:38
Location- Central Region, Central Capital, ???
“You wagered and not only lost the Silver Milk Powder, Soul Energy Digestion, and VR-Universe but you also pardoned Wyatt for borrowing the devil’s power in the fight. You basically gave him the exclusive right to regulate three things that Masters wanted to rid from the world. Doing exactly the opposite of what the other Masters voted for. You must have been very confident in your people seeing how you went as far as to use a World’s Degree. Buddy, what went wrong?” Jill’s father asked Arnas’s master. He was dumbfounded to learn that his buddy had gone as far as to use a World’s Degree to seduce the Southern Ruler into a wager he knew he would win yet lost.
“It was the Devil Merchant Ezra. That ungrateful bastard, not only tricked us with a fake name but killed the two groups I sent to the Southern Capital to bring me the boy and destroy the new Dual Gate dungeon near it. That dumb devil, despite all his trickery and strength, lost to a Card Master. How ridiculous is that? Can you believe it, a freaking Card Master managed to defeat a devil that killed four parties of demigods as if nothing. Just my luck I guess,” Arnas’s master said in frustration as he went through the events of the battle in the Southern Capital.
“Well, in the end, you got what you wanted right? The boy is on his deathbed and will die soon,” Jill’s father did not seem to be impressed hearing that Wyatt, a card master, managed to defeat the devil.
Jill’s father like the whole world that witnessed this battle seemed to believe that Wyatt was borrowing the power of a Devil. They mainly believed this theory because they could not think of anything else that could allow a card apprentice to gain such a boost in power. And mostly because the devil repeatedly kept calling that Wyatt’s new patron was very generous in sharing their power with Wyatt.
When the Devil conjured secondary time flow, he attracted the attention of all the world powers, that were strong enough to be unfazed by his time rule mastery, towards the fight in the Southern Capital. Allowing Wyatt to spread the message that he planned to convey to the world through this fight, telling the world that he, Dalton Wyatt, was no pushover but the real deal.
If the creation of VR-Universe made Wyatt a big fat Whale in the eyes of these world powers, then his battle against Belphegor morphed their perspective about him from a big fat Whale to a slumbering leviathan. But the sea was never shy of fishermen who dared to catch the monster. It’s a pity that the monster was on its deathbed and going to die soon.
However, Wyatt’s selfless sacrifice garnered all their respect. Most of all this battle was very eye-opening and knowledgable to them, as they got to learn about the Realm fragment, that Micheal Angelo used to help his daughter consolidate her path to transcendence.
“Come to think of it, wasn’t it you who introduced the Devil Merchant Ezra to me?” Arnas’s Master suddenly recalled that the only reason he recruited Devil Merchant Ezra was because Jill’s father had introduced him to him.
“Don’t look at me, I too was clueless about his trickery. It is just that you feel for his deception before me,” Jill’s father acted innocent claiming that he was as shocked by Devil Merchants Ezra’s deception as his buddy was.
He claimed that if today Arnas’s master had not fallen for Ezra’s trick then tomorrow maybe Jill’s father, himself, would have fallen prey to the devil. He defended himself by claiming that all this was just a coincidence that could have happened to him just as easily.
However, Arnas’s Master was not buying it as it was he who paid the price for Jill’s father’s negligence, “You damned bastard, you want me to believe that you did not do a proper investigation of the devil before you recommended him to me? If I recall correctly you said you knew this devil since he was a demon. You even showed me that A-rank equivalent exchange demonic card, that the devil gave you when it was a demon merchant.”
“Yes, I did. But you also saw that the name mentioned on the demonic card read Demon Merchant Ezra. How am I supposed to know that a demon was so meticulous, patient, and cunning enough to play a long con that spanned over millennia?” Jill’s father claimed innocence arguing that he did not have the slightest clue of Ezra’s long con.
“Damn it, damn it all,” Arnas’s master finally began to show his emotions of frustration, anger, and irritation at losing the wager. He was pissed the most at himself for using a freaking World’s Degree to consolidate this wager and its stakes. However, without using it there was no way he could get the Southern Ruler to agree to the wager regardless of how high and mouth-watering the stakes were.
“You could use some miracle right about now don’t you,” Jill’s father taunted his buddy. Reminding him that it was his foolish competitiveness that had cost them the ‘Right Eye of the World’ that he could use now to render the World’s Degree he just used void.
Just because Agent Louis Forger belonged to another Master and he did not give him the right to experiment with her physique, giving in to his insecurities and envy Arnas’s Master used her like one of the disposable pawns, and now that he had lost her, he had become the person who needed her the most. The only way to cancel a world’s degree was by using a higher authority than the item had, such authority was only available to the World’s Will itself, if the ‘Right Eye of World’ was present she could have used her physique to mediate and undo the damage but now Arnas’s father had no choice but pay his dues.