Chapter 596: 596

A frown creased Ikenga’s brow at the thought. He yearned for his child to be born as a baby, small and vulnerable, so he could experience the joys and trials of true fatherhood. He knew it was perhaps a selfish thought, especially when he considered Ikem, his first son, and Maul, his stepson. They had grown too fast, burdened with immense goals and destinies from the moment of their birth, denying him the chance to be a “normal” father.

Ikenga traced patterns on Keles’s stomach, a new hope stirring within him for this child to be different, to allow him the fatherhood he yearned for. Keles, noticing the crease in his forehead, softly asked, “What are you thinking, my dear?”

He raised his head, planting a light kiss on her lips. “I was thinking on whether our child would be born like us, fully grown, or as a baby.”

“From your creasing brow, I’m guessing you don’t want him to come out grown,” Keles said with a knowing smile.

“You don’t agree?” Ikenga asked, raising a brow playfully. Keles chuckled, shaking her head. “In fact, I do agree with you. I want him to grow slow and spend lots of time with me. It gets boring in my realm.”

With a grin, Ikenga gently pinned her to the bed, beginning to pepper kisses across her skin. “I could pay you more visits from mine, or perhaps you could spend some time in mine.”

They shared a long, lingering kiss before finally separating. A thoughtful silence settled between them, broken abruptly by Keles. “Why did those mages take such a long route to get the goblins off of their ship?” she mused, the earlier horrors of the memory still lingering in her mind.

Ikenga sighed, the warmth of Keles’s skin a stark contrast to the cold calculation he now understood. He sat up, leaning back against the headboard, his gaze distant as he pieced together the mages’ grand, terrifying design.

“It’s about the ’First Child’ Project,’” Ikenga began, his voice low, tinged with a fresh layer of disgust. “The mages’ main goal was to replace a world’s existing first intelligent life form, its true ’first child,’ with another. And in doing so, to gain all the immense privileges and natural authority that a world bestows upon its original inhabitants. They’ve spent eons on this, Keles, on long years of research and expeditions, and they finally found a way to do it. But it takes a very long time.”

He paused, a grim understanding settling over his features. “For this project to be completed, the very behaviors they subtly ingrained in the goblins were not just side effects, they were absolutely essential. The goblins needed to be arrogant, filled with pride, and possess an absolute, unshakeable belief that they were the genuine first children of their world. At the same time, they needed to be conditioned to instinctively oppress the true firstborn, the Ratfolk. The mages had already sealed away the Ratfolk’s capabilities, ensuring they couldn’t gain power, couldn’t fight back, couldn’t challenge the usurpation.”

Ikenga met Keles’s eyes, the horror in his own reflecting hers. “With this in mind, their long, convoluted route makes perfect, chilling sense. They had to keep playing their role, maintaining the illusion of freedom, of the goblins achieving something themselves. Even at the end, when the grand deception was ultimately revealed and the goblins realized they’d been played, the mages still achieved the critical effect they wanted: to bolster the confidence of the goblins to an unprecedented degree. They’re not just a new race; they’re a convinced race, full of the very hubris needed to fully step into the role of a world’s dominant, ’first’ species, completely unaware they are merely another carefully cultivated harvest.”

“I have to talk with Zarvok about this,” Ikenga said, his face etched with a new, urgent resolve as he walked toward the door. The memory of Kaelen’s past had provided an answer, but it had also unearthed a terrifying new variable. “This Angel is a variable we don’t want out of our control. It could possibly prevent us from our original goal.” Keles simply nodded, her expression grim.

Zarvok, meanwhile, was in his war room, surrounded by his generals. The massive door swung open, and all the demons around him turned their gazes to see Ikenga walk in, his presence radiating a serious, heavy energy that silenced the room. Ikenga met the eyes of each demon, a moment of silent acknowledgment passing between them, before his gaze settled on Zarvok. The two exchanged a single glance, and Zarvok, understanding the unspoken weight of the moment, dismissed everyone, leaving him and Ikenga alone.

“You usually don’t come around unless it was something crucial,” Zarvok said, a hint of a raised brow in his voice.

An orb of crystalline energy appeared in Ikenga’s hand, which he flung toward Zarvok. Zarvok, with a practiced flick of his tail, caught it effortlessly before giving it a slight squeeze. The crystal shattered into countless motes of light that rushed toward his head, a silent, instantaneous transfer of knowledge. Zarvok’s eyes glazed over for a moment as he absorbed the entirety of Kaelen’s memory and Ikenga’s deductions. By the time his gaze returned to normal, Ikenga had already found a place to sit.

“This is not good,” Zarvok said, a deep frown creasing his face.

“Hence why I came to you. Before we discuss countermeasures, is the Rapture still available to this angel? That would determine if all this was for nothing,” Ikenga asked, his tone serious.

Zarvok sighed, waving a dismissive hand. “That shouldn’t be an issue anymore. The Rapture was only meant to protect young angels before they are fully grown.”

“From the memory, the angel has grown with the mage,” Ikenga stated, a chilling certainty in his voice. “Vellok is a sixth-tier being, and the angel within him would be as well. The Rapture should no longer be a skill available to it.”

Ikenga nodded, moving on to another crucial question. “Is negotiation possible?”

Zarvok stood, the movement showing a deep stress as he considered the implications. “If this were a normal angel, I would say yes,” he began. He stopped, a heavy tone settling over his next words. “But this is a vengeful and angry one. A possible fallen angel.”

Ikenga frowned at this, a new understanding dawning on him. This explained everything. It explained why the goblin empire, despite holding such a powerful ace, was terrified to use it. From his last observation of Vellok, the angel’s strong origin was already eroding and overpowering him. The more Vellok was pushed to his limit and forced to use more power, the faster this erosion would happen. Each seal unlocked might be difficult or even impossible to close. Now, with the final battle approaching, Vellok’s chances of having to take action increased, and with it, the chance of the vengeful angel getting free.

Ikenga and Zarvok’s original goal was the same: acquiring this world. But with the unpredictable and dangerous angel now a factor, that goal seemed nearly impossible to achieve. It was no longer a simple matter of strength; it was a matter of delicate, dangerous power dynamics that threatened to spiral out of control.

Ikenga and Zarvok’s original goal was the same: acquiring this world. But with the volatile angel added to the equation, that goal seemed nearly impossible. It was no longer a matter of strength, for if the angel decided to destroy the world in an act of revenge, there was nothing Ikenga or Zarvok could do to stop it.

Thinking of this, Ikenga raised his head, his tone grave. “Can the Judges take action if the angel destroys this world, or would the other side prevent it?”

The air in the war room grew thick with a sudden, oppressive weight. Zarvok turned slowly to Ikenga, his eyes narrowed with a dangerous intensity. “How do you know of the other side?”

Ikenga, seeing Zarvok’s reaction, narrowed his own eyes in return. “I know not much of the other side or its true name, but I was lucky enough to catch the attention of Lady Tiamat, who briefly told me there were ways to live beyond the rules and the Judges.”

A heavy silence followed, broken only by the low hum of the war room’s arcane machinery. Finally, Zarvok spoke again, his voice barely a whisper. “If the angel has truly fallen, then indeed, it would be protected by the other side.”

“You don’t seem happy with me mentioning the other side,” Ikenga said, his tone inquiring, but his gaze remained sharp, testing the new boundaries that had just been erected between them.

“I am not,” Zarvok said, his voice grave and unyielding. The easy camaraderie had vanished, replaced by a cold, strategic distance. “At the moment, you being on the side of order, with the Judges and the Law, serves me better. The other side tends to be unhinged and not see the bigger picture.”

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