Speed Is King

[Acknowledged.]

[Tyrius was originally an Emperor Level General of the Westreach Heavenly Sultanate.]

[He was one of the Five Archangel Generals of the Sultanate.]

[During one of his explorations in an ancient site, Tyrius chanced upon an extremely rare Ancestral Grade material.]

[He used it to craft a powerful Mythical Grade sword.]

[Pleased with the beauty of the sword, Tyrius split his soul and life force in two, and imbued one half into the sword, giving birth to Gilgamar.]

[After that, Tyrius’ power level immediately dropped to King level.]

[However, with Gilgamar in hand, he was still able to maintain a sufficiently high level battle strength to defend his position as one of the Five Archangel Generals of the Westreach Heavenly Sultanate against all challengers.]

[With Gilgamar’s help, Tyrius quickly recovered to the Emperor Level within two years, and broke through to Hegemon level three years after that, becoming Westreach Heavenly Sultanate’s most powerful warrior.]

[However, a mere two years later, disaster struck.]

[A clan of Void Walkers attacked the Westreach Heavenly Sultanate, and Tyrius fell in battle.]

[Gilgamar was thought to be lost, until it was discovered one thousand two hundred thirty three years ago.]

“I see. What a tragic story.” Elliot said.

“Is that how history remembers Tyrius, the most powerful warrior of the Universe?” Gilgamar’s stiff voice sounded within Elliot’s mindspace. Although faint, Elliot was sure that he could detect a trace of anger in Gilgamar’s voice.

[Affirmative.]

“Drivel.” Gilgamar said with his stiff voice.

“Drivel? Interesting! What is the truth of the matter then? How did Tyrius die?” Elliot immediately asked.

“Awesome! I have an interesting story to listen to, AND Gilgamar is finally speaking!” Elliot thought happily to himself, while making a mental note to remember to ask Hawk how Gilgamar could listen in to their conversation.

“He didn’t die in battle. With me in hand, Tyrius would have no problems fighting even against the very best of the Void Walkers. Tyrius he… was killed by his fellow Archangels.”

Caught completely off guard, Elliot was stunned into silence by Gilgamar’s revelation.

“Why?” He finally sputtered. “Jealousy?”

“Royal Jealousy. The Supreme Leader was only a top tier Emperor. He couldn’t stand the thought of Tyrius being stronger than him by such a huge margin. And so he secretly ordered his four Archangels to poison and kill him.” Gilgamar said in his stiff voice.

“Vicious.” Elliot commented.

“Even weakened by poison, Tyrius was able to kill one Archangel and seriously wound another before I broke under the combined attack of their Ancestral Grade weapons.” Gilgamar remained silent at that point.

“Hawk? What do you think?” Elliot asked.

[Analyzing.]

[Accuracy is estimated at 85%.]

[Tyrius and two other Archangels were never officially seen or documented in the war against the Void Walkers.]

“So he killed another one after I broke. Well fought, Tyrius. Well fought.” Gilgamar sighed.

Elliot spent the next few minutes talking about and listening to Gilgamar share his stories of Tyrius. He knew that Gilgamar was in no position to accept a new owner, and he needed to at least decide to move on from Tyrius first before he could even consider Elliot as a candidate for his new master.

Elliot dug in and prepared to patiently wait for an hour or two.

However, to his pleasant surprise, after ten short minutes, Gilgamar suddenly sighed deeply.

“I suppose you want to be my new owner, huh?” He asked Elliot grudgingly.

“Ah. Well, of course I do. But I am prepared to give you some space first to slowly get over Tyrius.” Elliot replied in mild surprise.

“There’s no getting over Tyrius.” Gilgamar said softly.

“My soul and my life force were his to begin with. I will always feel his absence. But right now, I am filled with a hunger for vengeance. I am willing to be your sword, if you swear that you will find the Supreme Leader’s descendants and use me to slay them all.”

“No.” Elliot instantly replied. “Thousands of years had already passed. And if the Supreme Leader made it out alive, his descendants would probably number in the millions. I will not commit genocide just so you can take revenge.”

“I won’t commit genocide. But I will kill one of his descendants for you. A life for a life. How about that? I’ll even let you pick who.” Elliot responded with an offer of his own.

“Tyrius is worth more than even a thousand Supreme Leaders! One is not enough.” Gilgamar growled.

“Hohoho. Here we go. The negotiating table is now open.” Elliot thought wryly to himself.

“Two.” Elliot replied simply. “That’s my final offer. It’s either two now and work with me to make me strong enough to kill them, or you can wait for another millenia or ten until the next fighter comes along.”

“I will accept nothing less than a hundred souls in exchange for Tyrius!'” Gilgamar shouted in the mindspace.

“Two.” Elliot repeated himself.

The trick to a successful negotiation is to always maintain walk-away power. Be prepared to walk away when the terms become too unacceptable. And Elliot was doing exactly that.

“Ten! I must slay ten of that devil’s descendants before I can live with myself!” Gilgamar howled.

“Three.” Elliot finally gave in. “Take it or leave it.”

“No. Ten!” Gilgamar shouted.

“No? Alright. You can stay in my storage space for the next hundred years. If I die in some uncharted territory, then you’ll probably have to wait for a thousand year-“

“Five. Five is already really low!” Gilgamar insisted.

“I raised the number to three much too early.” Elliot sighed to himself. “I should have stuck with two all the way. Now he thinks I am willing to go even higher than two. He shouldn’t be allowed to think that, even if its true.”

“Three descendants. And I promise to raise your Grade one level to Ancestral Level. How’s that?” Elliot countered from a different angle.

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