Lord Shadow

“Those words…. those are not the Magician words” 

“It is not” he confessed easily

“Who is it then?”

“The Magician has other allies. And some of them are very cooperative. We are quite sure that Death Monarch would enter into seclusion. That is the time”

“Time for what?”

“Reclaim back some of the influence. Death Monarch…. Hikigaya and Jean…. they have more important things to do. Ants like us only could take their attention for a little while”

He paused a second, a cold smile formed on the edge of his mouth. 

“But even ants could bite. And some powerful ants could bite until you kneel to the ground and die” he chuckles and then said

“But…. you and your people are still just small ants whose bite could not even tickle. So, when that time comes, take it. Take it and grow stronger. Because unlike ants, we are people. And we could learn from our mistake. We could grow. And we could become stronger”

For a moment there is silence between them both 

Alexei seems to be thinking of something. The silence did not last long as John continue saying

“Corruption abhors a vacuum. If you could time it well, this defeat might a blessing in disguise. You could pick some people to unify the Crime Alliance structure. Even though you called yourself part of the Crime Alliance, in the end, you are not truly united”

Alexei frowned. 

“The Red Table is there” he mentions. Hearing this John snorted. 

“Convince them. Convince them that they are wrong. The Red table could stay. Trying to move that would create another war. But what is necessary is for the Crime Alliance to rebrand itself. Solve the vacuum and then lay low. And scheme in the dark. Don’t try to fight Death Monarch openly. You would not win”

Alexei frowned

But John maintains his smile

“Even if you found someone who is stronger than Death Monarch, you could not win against him”

“Why? Alexei asks

“The world depends on him. The interest of the world power depends on him.

When that interest is so large as it is now, even if you want him to die, so many people wanted him to live. Just by standing on the seat of the strongest person in the world and shielding and protecting so many people…he created this large interest”

He paused for a second. He looks at the distant sky, seeing the snow keep falling, enveloping the lake slowly. 

He then continues 

“Even the world power relies on him to maintain the balance of the other world power. This is not like the beginning of the Fall where warlords could rise and fall easily”

The Rat also one of the old generations. The one who was in the beginning of the Fall. Where monsters like zombies were rampant all over the world and even a small beast could kill him. 

At that time, it was an era of chaos. There were warlords all over the world, all trying to assert dominance in the new world. 

Rising and falling all the time

“The entrenched power wanted to keep the status quo. And killing Death Monarch now is not the same as before. Before, if you kill him, you only kill him”

“A death of one person, even if that person is the strongest man in the world would not affect so many things. Because at that time, his death would mean other forces could grow. At that time, it was the wild west. Now, it is not. Now, if you try to kill him, what would crumble is the world order”𝒪𝔳𝐞𝑙xt.𝒸𝚘𝚖

He laughs because of how ludicrous it is. But it is what it is. There is example in history that also could pertain to this kind of situation 

Just like Franz Ferdinand death led to the world war, he is quite sure if Death Monarch is assassinated or killed, what would await is another chaotic period of Earth

Pandemonium still has many experts. 

But without Death Monarch on the helm, Pandemonium would be besieged by the world powers that wanted to replace it as the premier power of the world forces. 

And in such instances, what that would lead to is inevtaibly a world war with the world powers woudls urely taking sides and when that happens, the world order woudlc rumble and ther eis a possibility that the war would be so hiuge that Earth itself would be swallowed whole by it.

Pandemonium wrath would drag down the entire world into a world war. And it is a world war that this world could not survive. And John sighed

“How I wish I could kill him” he muttered

Then he looked at Alexei and smirk 

“And when he fights something that is labeled evil like your organization, he would get the support of the world and in turn even the Heavenly Will has to listen to the will of the world”

“You are branded evil. And nobody decent wanted to live under the tyranny of evil. So, fighting openly only increase the support of Death Monarch. He would find allies wherever he would go but you would find every inch, every step you take would be met with great resistance. So, from the very first moment, you have lost.”

Alexei listen to all of this but he did not change is face at all

Instead, he chuckles. Because he found it ironic

“I never knew you were that…generous and merciful. For the people and for the world” he nearly laughed out loud. 

Hearing this John only chuckles

“For the people and for the world?” John laughed. 

What he wanted to destroy is not Death Monarch.

  What he wanted to destroy is the world powers. 

All of them. Every last of them

And the Magician shares the same view. That is why the Rat who always betrays people, for some inexplicable reason seems awfully loyal to the Magician. 

But it is not inexplicable at all. 

Those people that wanted the Rat to be loyal to them have never had something that the Rat deemed important. 

The path is not the same, so how could they walk the same path?

Every person has their own desire and their own lines and their own rules. And the Magician way, his path is the same path that the Rat wanted to walk on. 

And so, people of the same path should walk together. 

As for Alexei after hearing about what John have to say, he ponders for a second before saying

“The will of the people?” he scoffed. 

But when Alexei thinks about it again, he found out that the upper management really did ignore this one part of the equation

But in this world, with the mystical energy all over the world, even an inconsequential oath had binding power

Even more so, when wills converge and desire could move the Heven. 

The will of the people then is not just a word. But sometimes it could act as a shield. And at other times, it could be a sword that could cut. 

Alexei remember that Katarina slashes her sword. And her sword cut Kaiju. How could such a sword cut Kaiju?

Some people still could not find the answer to that question. Katarina is clearly a Disk Formation leveler? As for Kaiju, when he holding that trident, he possesses the power to fight equally with Death Monarch

Some people speculated that Death Monarch is on the peak realm of Divine Comprehension realm so at that time, Katarina sword should not be able to cut Kaiju.

But it was that sword that cut Kaiju and led to his defeat. No one expected that. 

And it is also because of that the snow keep falling. 

Because people feared that Katarina could cut that sword again. And this time, that sword might fall toward the Senate.

Alexei was never a fighting maniac like some of the powerful people in the world. He likes to settle things with negotiations and words

But just because he is not a fighting maniac does not mean he does not fight. Those who survived the Fall are all battle hardened warriors in their own way. 

And just like everyone else in the world, he also thought about that sword. And why it could cut Kaiju

He is not a swordsman and he does not use sword, but clearly, there is something to learn there. 

“The number one beauty in the world, the Ice Queen Katarina

She wears white, untainted like the first snow that falls from the heavens. 

Her sword is red, crimson like blood. 

The Red Queen comes out, a Fairy from the White Palace comes from the West”

There is many such words about Katarina. 

He thought about that sword strike and he felt it has something to do with accumulating momentum of invincibility. But why does he think about that sword strike right now

Because the will of the world, the will of the people, emotions and desires is like that. Intangible things that could be made tangible. 

Like an aura of invincibility that could cut down Gods and Demons, who’s to say that the will of the people could not move the Heavens and bring down Heaven Punishment?

Who’s to say merit does not shield?

Who’s to say that evil will be punished and good will be rewarded by these forces? 

Will of the people, the Will of the Heaven, these intangible things is now becoming tangible. 

“What a world , what an era” he thought to himself. 

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