Lord Shadow

Chapter 1989: Changes

Hirate is probably the same though knowing it probably didn’t matter whether the matter is true or not.

Whether it is true or not, Hirate might have some measures.

Nick looked at Hirate for a moment before averting his gaze. Hirate is always cunning and one would be wise not to believe him

“How did you think to check?” Nick asked Hirate.

Hirate started for a moment.

Nick noticed this.

He wondered why Hirate suddenly became startled but before he could even ask, Hirate answer

“I have always been looking at Katarina. If anything happens to Death Monarch, the one that is most worried about it would be Katarina”

Nick eyes narrow

“Nobody knows where she is. Some people tried to. But no one knows. But you know”

Hirate smiles and then said

“I have my ways”

“I have always known that she is obsessed with Death Monarch. For the past couple of months, she has been in the temple of Erika”

Hearing this Nick eyebrows furrows. For a moment as they are walking there is only silence between them

Hirate did not urge Nick to say anything and he himself did not say anything. It is clear that Nick has his own thoughts right now

He could basically guess why Katarina is going there.

Other people might be going there to have their fate and destiny told but Katarina is not that kind of person

If she wanted her fate and destiny told, she could have gone there a long time ago. But she did not.

Which means she came there for something else.

And from what Hirate had hinted before, she is obsessed with Death Monarch. Then there is really one reason for her to come there

“She was there for Death Monarch?” Nick asks looking at Hirate beside him.

They are close to reach the exit elevator.

Hirate nodded

“Out of many powerful beings in this world, Erika is the most mysterious. For some reason all kinds of revealing formation and all kinds of tracing magic does not really work on her”

Hirate shows a bitter smile.

They called her Great Oracle.

And out of the many oracles and seers he had met, none possess more psionic force than that woman

Out of the many people in the world, Erika is one of the few people in the world that Hirate would not try to do his mind trick with

He did not fear that he could not see her mind. He fears that he could see her mind

To see the Divine is to go crazy and from what little research Hiate had done, all of these oracles and seers, when they reach a high enough realm in their clairvoyance training, they seem to be connected by some kind of force, a bond or to be more mysterious an oath.

This oath is intangible and conceptual but there is a great power in things that could not be seen, be touched and be sensed

There is great power and mystery there and Hirate would not try to infiltrate in such matters.

To track her and to reveal her location is one of the hardest things to do. And in these twenty years, she had improved and her method of concealing and hiding had probably reached a higher level than it was twenty years ago

Fortunately, though, Erika rarely hides and everyone knows where she is.

Or maybe, no one had yet reached the limit of her power.

If the limit of her power is reached, maybe she, too, would find herself stumped. But clearly, the reason why Katarina is there is quite obvious

Hirate stopped for a second and Nick also stopped beside him.

He sighed and closed his eyes and shook his head

“Individual actions could be derived simply by looking at their desire”

“It is easy to deduce Katarina action simply because everyone knows her desire. For now, Death Monarch and the Ice Queen seem to be together. But who knows what will happen in the future”

Hirate sighed

“That is a problem waiting to happen. Boris knows it and that is one of the reasons he did not like Death Monarch and what he represents”

“You see, I never liked the union between the Ice Queen and Death Monarch. In the past I didn’t like it because when these two people fall in love with each other and be together, then the Republic and Pandemonium would be bound together”

Nick nodded

He is a World Government person, so he understood Hirate concern.

And his concern is valid

“Making two great powers truly allied. Marriage alliance might seem like an outdated concept, but nothing makes one closer than to share one family with another”

If this is just an alliance of that smaller world power like those of that Order of Thinkers and League of Freedom, I could not care less. But two great world powers allying together. Even if the other five oppose these two world powers, there is nothing one could do.”

“But now I worried about different thing”

And Hirate could not help but sigh. Just thinking about it makes his heart race

“What happens if these two broke up?”

Hirate shook his head and then opening his eyes he resumes his walking. Nick did not offer any words of comfort. He did not really know what to say.

And Nick doubts that Hirate wants to hear his answer.

After all, this kind of thing, there is no right answer.

Even if there, the one that should answer this question is not him or Hirate

It is that mountain everyone wanted to go over that has to answer this question

He himself is not adept and proficient in this kind of matter

And it is always right to shut up when you don’t know.

Then Hirate began talking about Katarina

“She must have come there to ask for some vision. She suddenly runs out of the temple and then she is intercepted by someone”

“After that she goes to Arturia without stopping. At that time, I was suspicious. But now that I check it, I am confident. If the one in that island is just a clone, she would not react like this.”

Nick, after hearing all of this, could not help but sigh

Death Monarch had come out.

Now, it is really confirmed.

“I had hoped it was not true” he thought in his head

He knows some things that other people in the world do not know.

Raymond had once met him a few years ago and he had said that Death Monarch is merely in seclusion

Just because he is in seclusion does not mean he does not know what is happening in the world and do not try to treat him like he is a fool

Nick did not know whether that refers to Raymond or to Death Monarch or he was referring to both of them

This was years ago.

Nick knows this is him telling the World Government.

Nick was supposed to give that message to the World Government. And some people who have high access do know about this

But Raymond himself made his words vague.

Some people think Death Monarch is on Earth.

Walking again among the mortals.

And one would wonder why now?

Is it simply because of the war?

Is he here to bring a new change?

It is because this time his return is quite unusual and is shrouded in the mystery and veil of intrigues and plots

After all, there is his clone or avatar in Pandemonium. There is a war in Pandemonium, with hundreds and thousands of people of Pandemonium that has die.

He did not appear then and now that he appears he is on the island of Arturia. Why not return to Pandemonium instead keeping everyone guessing.

Even Nick who knows some things about Death Monarch is perplexed by some of Death Monarch action and could not make sense of his many moves and action

What more could be expected of the general populace that did not even know Death Monarch personally and only knows him from tales and stories?

Some believe that he is in some kind of solar system absorbing the energy of black holes.

Conspiracy theorists did not stop or fade away after the Fall.

Instead, some of these conspiracy theories actually many times hit the nail on the head.

So, he always knows that Death Monarch in Pandemonium is fake.

From the moment Wang Jian expose the matter, Nick knows that there would be a problem and he was sent back to the World Government capital.

By now, the World Government has three capitals.

The world is big, the continent is vast and three capitals is needed to make sure some things can be done

Each capital holds millions of people and could hold billions and trillions of people.

Many of the people of the World Government is from former Asia, from former North America and also people from other worlds.

The Multiversal Convergence has brought a lot of different people from different universes into this world.

Some of them chose to stay and some of them chose to go back to their world.

This was another matter entirely and this is not Nick problem.

But in these twenty years…. yes, there are a lot of things that have changed.

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