Lord Shadow

The orthodox way is of course using Divine Sense. Unorthodox way is using the hybrid technology that is mixed with science and magic.

It is fortunate that Azief is stronger enough to be able to disregards all of that.

After all, any great power would surely have the desire to control the people under them. And for such reason, surveillance is required. 

It is that way before. And it is still the way now.

And once a surveillance system is set up, it would not be long before the surveillance system would be used against enemies and rivals. 

Even before the formation of the Seven great powers, many organizations send spies against each other and try to uncover the secrets of the others

And Azief is quite sure, in the minds of many people and leaders and crime lords, any words that come out of his mouth, anything he does is without a doubt something that these people would try to hear and see with their surveillance system.

That is why he set up that barrier. 

So that no one knows what he is talking about with Hirate. 

He, of course had the mind to open the barrier and let these leaders know what he had done and what Loki had not done. 

There is always a possibility one of the great powers spies would be able to listen in to his conversation with Hirate if he did not put up any Divine Sense shield around him

But Hirate is also prepared for that. He too had created a Psionic Field around him that would make anyone unable to extract any information from their conversation.

And, Azief also did not know whether revealing the truth was really the right choice. He also understood why Loki made his decision. 

He also had understood why Hirate back him up, why Jean remains silent and why Hikigaya pretend to see nothing.

Because the benefit outweighs the cost. And the truth has no benefits whatsoever and might even incurred losses.

Then the choice is easy for Hirate. As for Jean, it is the choice he could back. As for Hikigaya, he probably thought that this is the best way for things to end

So, Hirate lies to the world. Jean become mute. And Hikigaya close his eyes. 

And Azief? 

He still did not know what he should do. Azief took a glance at the soldiers in the distance who is trying to recover from their backlash and once again he shakes his head

‘Idiots’ he muttered

How could he have expected that the soldiers of Hirate would be so stupid to send their Divine Sense against someone that is stronger than them?

Not to mention, if there is someone stronger than them and they use their Divine Sense, they should have felt that uneasy feeling and quickly retract their Divine Sense.

Of course, Azief still detected the Divine Sense that retracted their Dive in Sense but at least, those who retract it would not suffer a backlash.

Instead, these soldiers push through that feeling and bounce back and suffer backlash. 

The stronger Azief Divine Sense Shield, and the weaker the person who send their Divine Sense, the harsher the backlash would be

It is one of the lesson he learned from Alsurt. The lesson was if he is stranded on some planets, or some dimensions and he did not know anything about the world, he could use his Divine Sense to scan the world.

But if he felt this instinct of fear and a force of power that bring uneasiness to one heart, trust that instinct and quickly retract the Divine Sense

The wielder of that power might be able to sense him, but at least he would have enough time to hide or run. 

Because such feeling could only mean that person is stronger than him. 

On Earth, he did not have to worry about spreading his Divine Sense to envelop the entire planet because he is quite sure he is leading the pack 

But what gives these soldiers courage to do such a thing?

There is now silence in the Island.

‘At least, now it is silent’ Azief said. 

The sirens no longer blares on the background and the people also no longer running around trying to activate some kind of mechanism or trying to rush to the Quorum building.

Hirate had also sent a telepathic message to his soldiers to be calm as he and Death Monarch is having a conversation. It allays some of their fears.

Azief did not immediately said anything to Hirate as silence began to come. 

The moment he came here, he immediately appeared around Hirate. He had no chance to look at the Island of Peace.

Looking at it, it felt it is a very picturesque island with flora and fauna everywhere mixed with modern looking buildings.

It gives the island a feeling of an island of fairies. It calms him down for a moment. 

‘The plan’ he thought to himself. After thinking about it, Azief also agree. No matter what he did after this, people would always blame Loki for the Multiversal Convergence. 

But there is still hope in his heart

Azief then sighed and he said

‘If you announce to the world that the culprit is me….’ Hirate shakes his head. 

‘That is not something I would do. I would not be the cause of Earth demise’

Azief frowned and said

‘You thought too badly of me’ Hirate only smiles and he said

‘Tell me you will not kill the people that would try to kill you. Tell me you will not move when some of those people would target people you love. Can you promise me that?’

Hirate said as he looks straight at Azief eyes. There was silence between them and there is a smile on Hirate face as he said

‘You can’t promise me that, right? I know you. If such thing happens, you will kill the people that try to kill you and when they targeted your family, your lover, your people, you will move and many more would die. There would be death and destruction all around. All I would see is more bones and ashes. That is not something I wish to see’

Azief did not know how to respond to that as Hirate continues his word

‘You have a hammer. A big hammer at that. And since every problem that you have could be handled by using that hammer, I am pretty sure you would use it to stamp every nails that you see. Your only tool is your hammer, so every problem look like a nail.’ Hirate was talking metaphorically but Azief get the gist of what he is saying and he frowned.

Then Azief said

‘If the truth is revealed, and it was me that is revealed as the culprit, the world might not react as you think it will. Since they already know they could not defeat me, they would give up’ Hirate once again shakes his head and said

‘You underestimate people madness. You underestimate their love and since you underestimate their love you would also underestimate their hatred. The casualties report would be coming in for the next few hours. I expect that it would be lower than the casualties during the Weronian Invasion. But, regardless, tens of thousands of people had died. They lost their loved ones, their parents, their children’

Azief close his eyes and sighed as Hirate continues his word 

‘Imagine their anger. And imagine that anger directed at you. Angry people do stupid things. Angry people do mad things. When the truth is revealed, you think they would be afraid even if it’s you? Even if they knew they would be unable to kill you, they would come for you. They would not care even if that destroy them. Because they lose everything. Love is a powerful thing, as you might already know. Even if it could destroy them, they would still do it. In the name of Love, they would say’ There is a bitter smile on Hirate face.

‘They would do everything in their power to bring you down. Because…they are angry and they are mad. Mad people do mad things’ Azief frowned. 

He could understand madness. He could understand anger. It is not like he could not understand it. But he is trying to convince himself. 

He is trying to convince himself that this is the right thing to do. 

Maybe sometimes, the right thing to do is not the right thing at all. At certain circumstances, the right thing to do might be the wrong thing to do.

Azief understood this. He was once an Emperor.

And while most of the memories he has during that time is slowly being eroded as time passes, he remembers that there were many times that he had to make a choice he did not want to make. 

Because the world is not always black and white. Sometimes it is grey. No, most of the time it is always grey

The right thing and the right thing to do is not exactly the same sometimes. Azief sighed.

>>>>>