Chapter 93: 93

Listening to Michelle’s question, the creature clad in black narrowed its eyes slowly, its smile remaining in place. Basically, his face was a mix of cold amusement and overwhelming distance.

Floating over to Michelle, the creature bent at its waist to put its head at the same height as Michelle’s head when she sat in the grass. “You are clever, so do you believe that knowing will grant you control over what is to come?” It chuckled, low and quiet, like an echo of something long forgotten. “Tell me…” its gaze locked on Michelle, cold and endless, daring her to understand what’s beyond her grasp. “Would knowing why I gave you these opportunities change anything?” His smile widened coldly.

The silence stretched, Michelle staring at the creature, its humanoid face just in front of her. She could feel its breath on her skin, and surprisingly, it was extremely cold; so cold that even she felt a bit chilly and uncomfortable, when she was usually drawn to cool things.

Almost lazily, the creature spoke again: “Since you oh-so-dislike unanswered questions, I’ll tell you something.” Its cold eyes gleamed with something deep and unfathomable. “You have to walk the path I paved for you, but whether it leads you to ruin or glory depends solely on you…” It finally leaned back, the cold amusement never leaving its face.

“So?” It tilted its head. “Will you walk the path willingly, knowing every step will bring you closer to knowing something you have never wished to find out?”

With unfazed composure, Michelle stared at the creature, a smile tugging at her lips. That was one thing she and the creature were similar in. Most of the time, they smiled, even though the smiles were mostly calculating and cold, not even meant to fool anyone. They were more like lazy smiles, which showed amusement and also their calculativeness, but only to some extent. “So, you enjoy playing games,” she spoke after a while of silence. “You are lucky I do, too…” she added.

But then, she paused, letting her words settle in the creature’s mind. “You laid out a path with opportunities for me, but your help is more like a web of schemes, carefully prepared for me to get trapped in.” She put her elbow on her knee, resting her head on the palm of her hand. “Still, it has an undeniable allure.”

Her expression shifted a bit, showing some intrigue. “I’m not really a good person, so I won’t act like I’m grateful, even though the odds seem to be in my favor now. Also, if there’s a game to be played, I’ll play it, and I’ll also play it by the rules you set, but still, I can always use your rules to drive you crazy.”

Listeing to Michelle, the creature wasn’t the least bit surprised. “Since you want to play, plan carefully every step you take…” he smiled. “Also… About why I called you here.” He waved his hand a bit, and the space behind him tore open. “I wanted to see how you would be able to pass through the barrier with your blood.” With that, he took a step back, about to enter the passage in space he created.

But Michelle still had questions for him and pushed herself off the ground, grabbing his arm. “Wait!” Her eyes darkened as she spoke, though her smile was still present.

The creature wasn’t really expecting that, and it raised a brow. For quite a while, there was no one who dared to touch it as suddenly as Michelle did.

Seeing the creature’s slight surprise, Michelle’s smile widened a bit. “Since we’re going to play a game, do I get to know the name of the creator?” she asked, with a tilt of her head as she retracted her hand from the creature.

For a moment, the creature stared at Michelle’s hand before narrowing its already cold eyes into two freezing pools. “Seeking a name?” it sneered as it moved its gaze to Michelle’s face. “But why should I tell you? A name carries power, so how should I let you use it, knowing that, with your personality, you wouldn’t mind using it for your gains?”

That made Michelle arch a brow. “From the start, you didn’t hide your ’help’ to me in any way, and, though no one noticed it in the Land of Exile, you clearly don’t plan to hide it in the future; somehow, you even seem to plan for it to be found out…” she spoke lazily. “So why should you refuse to tell me your name, when I will still get to know it sooner or later?”

The creature chuckled a bit as it answered: “That might be true, but, my dear, do you not know that my name isn’t known to anyone? Why should you, basically a nobody in this world, be the one who gets to know my name first?” He snickered.

Michelle’s expression twisted into a smile. “As far as I know from Rivenaar’s memories, your name used to be quite well-known, and basically everyone in the heavenly realm knew it in the past, but then, about twenty or so years ago, you used your immense power to erase your name from everyone’s memories, but you still let people remember that they used to know your name,” she narrowed her eyes as she spoke.

“Also, there was one more person who did the same thing you did. Do I get to know what deal you made with the only person who has the same power as you, when you two are known to hate each other? You two are the only ones in the heavenly realm who have reached the God of Gods rank, and after your names were forgotten, people started calling you the white and black ’gods’.”

“Oh, that bastard…” the creature’s smile turned dark and dangerous. “That guy’s not someone you want to meet… But you will still meet him. He’ll come find you once you do something big enough.” The creature clearly didn’t want to talk about the white “god”. “Anyway… Since you want to know my name so much, I’ll tell you. I’m Mavreth, and that bastard is Lavreth. Remember it well, because that bastard hates being called by his name.” With that, Mavreth finally entered the space passage behind him, and it closed. Just his chuckling lingered for a moment in Michelle’s ears.

Lifting a brow, Michelle lay back into the grass, staring into the sky. “What are you going to do now, Michelle?” Nyxaroth’s voice came from her body. Then, black mist seeped out of her body and took on human form, sitting down next to her. “Will you go along with his games?” he asked.

“Yes…” Michelle smiled as she closed her eyes. “Why not?” she chuckled.

Nyxaroth frowned a bit. He didn’t like Mavreth the least bit, both from his interaction with Michelle and from what he knew about him from his past before he was locked away in the sealing book Michelle found in the cave where Rivenaar was. “He’s dangerous… And he will endanger you, Michelle.”

“That’s true, but think about it…” Michelle didn’t seem that worried. “I can’t avoid it or really resist it since Mavreth is basically the most powerful person in the world, so why shouldn’t I use it to my advantage? If it’s already coming at me, I don’t see a reason to try to futilely avoid it.”

Sighing, a frown formed on Nyxaroth’s face. “So you will just give in to him?” he questioned, clearly unhappy.

But Michelle shook her head with a chuckle. “Do I seem like I would just let someone control me?” she sneered as she closed her eyes. “Does your contract master seem like a coward?”

“So what are you planning?” Nyxaroth asked with a raised brow. It was true that Michelle didn’t seem like the kind of person who would just give in to someone and follow their plans and demands. She was more like a person who would stand her ground and push back against those trying to control her, using her schemes to make them go crazy.

“I don’t have any plans at the moment,” she snickered. “For now, we’ll go back to the Archduchy and see how Kieran, Ivona, and Anastasia are proceeding,” she opened her eyes and sat up.

Frowning, Nyxaroth jumped to his feet and kicked a stone into the stream of water. “Why do you never form plans when you are clearly a perfect schemer?” he asked, clearly angry.

Michelle shrugged as she stood up and formed ice beneath her feet. “I don’t need it now. Malrik’s from the heavenly realm, and I’m still in the lower realm, heading to the Land of Exile. If he wants something big from me, he can’t want it in the lower realm. I’ll have to be at least in the upper realm, if not the heavenly realm. But he has no assurance that I’ll go to the heavenly realm, so the games will start in the upper realm. Until then, he will either continue helping me, as he calls it, or he will just disappear for a while.

“Fine then… Let’s return to the Archduchy for now,” Nyxaroth said. “But Michelle, when we go to the upper realm, please have a plan prepared already.” With that, Nyxaroth turned back into mist and returned to Michelle’s body.

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