Lord Shadow

Of course, he had a rough idea what that could mean and how it could translate to the future but the thing about prophecies is, as Alsurt had so kindly teaches him in the past, never look at it simply

Took it to literally, you might miss the truth. 

Took it too figuratively and you would end up falling into the trap of destiny and fate

And trying to prevent it sometimes brings about that future. 

Whatever the case, Azief had a lot of worries and it all strikes him at the same time. 

There is Sofia waiting for him on the hill. There is Loki doing God knows what. And there are his enemies that would just love to see him fall.

They wanted him to bleed. And like sharks, they are circling the water, waiting for that blood to be shed.

It is fortunate that most of the top leader of the great power knows that this is not the time to break relations with him 

And he had secured the support of Hikigaya and Jean, the only two other people that matters right now to determine the direction of the world

Since Hirate and Jean had reached the same step as him, he knows there is also a qualitative change in their thoughts and desires.

Not to mention, that those two had also seen their path. Since that is the case, worldly matters would not affect them that much.

Of course, his path is not necessarily their path and vice versa.

But, Azief is quite sure that peace is the more preferable options for those two. 

Jean was warlike in the past but the horrors of war, and the people he lost along the way had changed him

While he is not exactly a pacifist, he is also no longer a warmonger and war is always discouraged by him even though it is still on the table. 

What Jean wanted was stability. As for Hikigaya, he is quite content on his secluded kingdom sharing it with Oreki

He did not require more and he did not have the aspiration to conquer the world. 

This could be seen in the way he handles his relations with World Government. 

He simply wants a carefree life.

But the way he is going about it is different from the Immortal Couple in pandemonium. 

Unlike the Couple, Hikigaya wanted the carefree life but he also wanted to dip his feet and toes in the mortal world once in a while.

He did not want to seclude himself from people yet at the same time when he is tired he wants a pale where he could rest.

Carefree to many people have many different meanings. 

And for Hikigaya, he believes that he must have enough power to protect his carefree life and he is very vigilant. 

His idea of strengthening Japan and supporting its independence from the World Government system while at the same time still benefiting from the status of the World Government founders shows that Hikigaya wanted safety for him and for the people he wanted to protect.

It is not quite like the Immortal Couple and since it is earned, this carefree life could be more permanent and more solid than the one that the Immortal Couple had.

And then there is Hirate

In many things, Azief would find it hard to trust Hirate. But on this matter, he would find not better ally

Hirate like the status quo. He did not want it to change. 

And the Hirate that he knew now, is different from the Hirate he knew in the past

This Hirate look at the stars and worried that something would come down. 

He truly wanted to protect the world, wanted to create a unified government to rule the people of the Earth, for prosperity for all and for the advancement of humanity so that they would not be on the mercy of some other intergalactic civilizations

Never again, that is one of his motto when dealing with otherworldly alien civilization.

Hirate will probably use all of his influence and power he could muster to maintain the current status quo of the Seven Great Power. 

He is in favor of maintaining it and the price of maintaining it is none other than to make sure that Pandemonium still remains the great power

Pandemonium has become the one holding the leash to all the beasts and monsters of the world. And who is these beast and monsters?

It is none other than the other four great powers, the loose organizations and the other dark forces hidden in the dark

If Pandemonium fall, especially at this moment during one of the most chaotic moment of the world since the Fall, one could only imagine the chaos and the damage it would inflict upon the world

Humanity need more time to grow, and to populate the world. 

With the death of so many people humanity has been dwindling. The quality of humans is getting better as most people that survived, did not only survived because of luck.

They become stronger but humanity is in a downward course of population.

Sooner or later if this is not addressed, humanity would dwindle back to only millions. 

And if calamity after calamity struck Earth, then before long, in this wide vast world, there would only be tens of thousands of humans.

Such number is a number that is close to extinction. How could then humanity survive and keep existing then?

Pandemonium as the strongest force had halted this destructive force as it holds the leash of monsters and forces of evil

When they wanted to do something, they still had to think of that man sitting on the dark black onyx throne in the highest tower of Pandemonium.

They have to think whether his sword strike could encompass the world or not. They had to think whiter a red thunderbolt would strike them down from the Heavens.

These thoughts and this fear that people have on Pandemonium had restrained these beast and monsters.

Even the World Government who in their most powerful state, that their military could rival of that Pandemonium did not have such deterrence effect

Because unlike the World Government, the fear toward pandemonium had a face. And that face is Death Monarch face.

If the World Government really bring out all of their methods and they were determined to die together with Death Monarch, even though the chance is minuscule now, there is still a chance that the World Government could fight with Death Monarch and kill him

But that would take the entirety of the World Government to kill Death Monarch. 

Even if they succeed, pandemonium would still stand for a while enough for the remnant forces of Pandemonium to wipe out every single members and citizens of the World Government.

Doing such thing would ensure mutual destruction. It is like United States and the Soviet Union all over again

Both of them would not fight to the death because it would then devolve into a mutual destruction. 

Of course, this is the situation before Death Monarch broke through to Divine Comprehension.

But the score still did not change. 

True, for now, if World Government really does this and send all of their methods they would not be able to kill Death Monarch

But since there is now Azief who had break the ceiling of power again, the development of weapons will once again race each other.

A new arms race would begin again after the world calms down

Since now there is Divine Comprehension levelers, the great power would surely try to create weapons that could restrain such leveler even if they could not kill them

And it is not like the World Government did not have candidates that could breakthrough to Divine Comprehension. 

They still have Raymond, Arno and a few other candidates that could really breakthrough to Divine Comprehension level

When any of them able to break through, then the score would once again be the same

But, there is no worry about the World Government and Pandemonium falling out to such extent. 

A mutual destruction is not what they both want.

Azief deemed the World Government is necessary for the world development and the World Government did not want to fight a meaningless battle.

However, the fact that the World Government could really fought against Death Monarch and even kill him, theoretically, does demonstrate that the World Government does have the power to cow the whole world

But then, the world did not fear World Government as they fear Pandemonium. Azief had created an image that is very strong in the minds of the people

In the past, Hirate would wanted to tear down this reputation and this image. But, now he is probably grateful that Azief had such a n image.

It could restrain the monsters of the world

Though, it also has its cons., The moment Death Monarch dies or the moment Pandemonium is crushed, then the least upon these monsters would be released and chaos would reign.

The Four Great Powers would probably instantly disband with League of Freedom probably leading the charge.

The other four great powers were influences that Death Monarch had elevated so that the world could be governed and serve as a shelter for the people of the world

He would protect Pandemonium even if he didn’t want to. Hirate is like that

Azief smiles a bit

‘It seems I am still good at playing this game. Though, I do not like it’ 

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