Lord Shadow

Chapter 1951: Rituals and Ceremonies

He could now understand certain things he did not understand before. Noble aspirations and love for humankind.

Love for humankind sounds like an abstract concept when he was young. How could you love all humankind?

How many humans are there in the world?

Once you understand their story, you could not help but understand them. Understanding them, you understand their choice.

Understanding their choice, helps you love them

He loves and hates people.

Because there is evil and good just like the side of a coin.

Azief could only shake his head

“Pitiful people of the world”

He could not help but utter these words.

Azief could say these things since he now stands in a high position and could see more things than normal mortals.

It is like those Olympians sitting high from their throne on Olympus peering through the lives of mortal from the heavens and deducing, past, present and future with a glance

And they could not help but feel mortal is pitiful.

There are too many things they did not know and too many things that they hold dear are nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

And one should not slap the face of a person you want to ask for help from

Azief then walk toward the front gate.

The wall itself is thirty feet high. It is tall and imposing even from a distance.

This wall was not there before.

Even if it is, it must be on some other part of this island

Arturia itself is different from the Arturia he remembers.

Since he bestowed a vassal identity to Arturia, he had never set foot on this island kingdom again.

It is not because he didn’t want to. It is just event around him that keeps spiraling out of control.

He even forgotten that he had left a sword here.

If it wasn’t until today, he would probably have forgotten all about the sword.

“It is side effect” he thought to himself

Azief realizes this about himself.

The more he learns about Etherna stuff, the more things about the past he forgets.

It is like the knowledge of the Etherna is so much, so many, that it pushes some unnecessary things out of his mind.

When he is studying the knowledge of Etherna it almost felt like he is sitting on the laws of time and comprehending the knowledge washes away all the past and all that is present is the knowledge he is trying to understand

Only when he delves back into his memory, concentrating on some deep reaches of his own mind, will he remember some stuff that he had forgotten

The sword is one of those. Arthur is another.

This city, this kingdom is another.

And maybe there are more things that he had forgotten. It is hard to know what he had forgotten and what he had remembered

For the things you have forgotten, how could you know you had forgotten them? Since you already forgot them?

“I thought the stronger I am, the more I would remember. But it seems even magical beings could forget. Forgetfulness is also one of the roads” he thought, and he could not help but chuckles

“Forgetfulness is not my path, but it is also one of the roads” he mutters to himself. Like he is reminding himself of something

For a moment he is engrossed in his own memories but then he shakes his head and then look back at the wall, like the previous things he had pondered is nothing.

He looks left and right and then looks at the wall; his eyes look at it like it was about to bore a hole through it

“Arturia has changed”

Well, it is supposed to change.

Even the seven continents had changed, and the world had changed. So, how could this island kingdom not change

And the changes are numerous.

The tall walls emanated an aura. Azief recognizes this aura. It is a repelling aura. It is mostly used by Formation masters.

A formation that repels monsters. It extended to the ground and reached high into the sky

Someone probably carved some formation on the walls, hidden under the layers of bricks of the wall.

The bricks themselves are not normal bricks.

Each brick seems imbued by magical energy.

Azief look at the tall gates and the tall door. The door is open, letting all kinds of people enter the city, the sky and the ground is full of repelling aura.

Azief is standing in front of this tall city gate, on this wide road as he watches around him, merchants driving in with wagons driven by Pegasus.

Of course, not all merchants have Pegasus as their horses. Those who could have Pegasus drive their wagons must be the kind of merchants that are powerful and rich.

Most of them have other beasts of burden driving their wagons. These beasts are not like mules or cows.

They are more like magical beasts.

As for the wagons, Azief could see with a glance it is embedded with space formation.

It might seem like it could not hod many things but even a building could be put into these wagons.

There are many merchants selling stuff, but there are also pirates swaggering into the city. There are all kinds of people entering and exiting the city.

Yet, none of them even fly to the sky even if they could.

Azief smiles seeing this.

“There would be no flying in the city” Azief remembers this.

Almost all cities have this rule since the World Powers enacted this rule in their capitals.

Arturia in the first place was a pirate city.

So, this rule was not enforced that much.

But since Azief put up a dome here and made everyone know this is territory under the protection of Pandemonium, the people here obey the rules of no flying.

The enforcement probably also plays a part

And the formation is just a fail-safe.

If anyone flies overhead, the moment they do try, the magic formation will pull them down and they will probably be sentenced to imprisonment for a few days

Azief only takes a glance at the walls and then walks through the entrance door.

He is walking just right beside the guards.

He did not use some kind of invisibility cloak or us some kind of invisibility spell.

But even when he is walking in front of the guards, the guards could not see him.

He deceives their senses. There is no smell. No sound, no vision of him that could be seen by the guards.

One sees through the reflection of light, one smells though the nose, scent that is brought by the wind, and the sound which occurs when vibration created sounds

But each of these is under Azief control, so the guards right now could not see him even if Azief look him straight in the eye and breath on him

Azief is looking around the city. He did not use his super speed to flash through the crowd

Instead, he takes his time.

Even as he is walking, he is absorbing the energy of the world

“This wound by that hand….is really something troublesome.”

The energy does replenish but the injury remains. It is like a permanent state of feeling lethargic that comes suddenly.

Eroding his power ever so often.

Azief did not think much right now.

Sometimes you just need to go with the flow. And he is right now just going with the flow. The feeling of destiny and fate has never been closer

And he had never understood it better than he did right now

In the end, he arrives here again.

There is destiny in the dark guiding him.

That, he is sure of.

So, Azief did not rush this time.

The more his heart wanted to rush, the more he forces himself to be calm. He walks along the busy road.

The road is busy with people, but the road is wide enough that no one would bump against one another.

There is restriction on using super speed inside the city.

Unless it is an emergency, like someone that is injured wanting to go to the hospital or an enemy attack.

Azief is reading the stone stele that recorded all kinds of regulations of dos and don’ts once you enter the city

Those who disobey, the lightest punishment is fine of energy shard, the highest punishment is dead

Azief read it and he smiles

“Rules and laws appear again. It seems the world also has adapted…somewhat to this new world” Azief smiles.

He wanted the world to have an order.

Because he had lived through a time when the world had no order.

It is a place that is full of opportunities for people like him. And it created great heroes and villains of the generations

All of the great men and women today, are all forged in that era of no order. That era has not yet reached a decade, but it produces all of these great people

But now, the world is also reaching the point that more heroes and more villains might destabilize this entire world

There is a tendency to control the world, and this is the aspiration of those great powers that emerged in the past.

World Government advocates this.

Control the world and control the heroes and villains.

Establish order and punish the villains.

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