Oakwood Town. Isilda Continent.
Manor of the Heaven Scheming Devil.
The lavishly dressed and handsome Heaven Scheming Devil sat reclined with his legs crossed atop one of the elegant stone benches of his garden. In his hands, he held the latest copy of the ‘Heavenly Times,’ fresh off of the printing presses of the Heavenly Spirit Continent.
Behind him, as always, stood the tall and subdued figure of the Devil’s right-hand-man and shadow: Azazel
“Mu Household and the Eastern Central Commonwealth enter a landmark partnership as two Era-defining ‘Geniuses’ join hands to create the perfect machine.”
“Mr Solomon Grunde, inventor of the ‘Automaton,’ the latest brainchild of the [Enginnering Path], comments that the timing of this partnership could not have been any more perfect.”
“‘... the biggest drawback of my automatons was their power source. These machines, each of which could accomplish the work of fifty men for a fraction of that time, required a Rank 5 practitioner to manually power them. However, with the timely discovery of the ‘artificial core,’ by the ‘Son of the Heavens’ Mu Yuelong, I believe that my machines have ever so closer approached that ideal of perfection that I had envisioned before their birth.’”
“When reached for a comment from the Son of the Heavens, the latter replied that he was honoured to be a part of this monumental task and promised to begin work immediately. He was then seen boarding an airship later during the day alongside the Eastern Central Commonwealth’s party and left Heaven Overseeing City, presumably, heading off to the Capital City of Pestron.”
Closing the papers, the Heaven Scheming Devil stared off into the distant blue sky with an empty gaze. After a moment of silence, he softly muttered, “And so beings, ‘The Arms Wars.’”
Setting the newspaper aside on the stone bench, the Heaven Scheming Devil rose from his seat and put his hands behind his back. As he turned around and began to stroll, he asked the shadow quietly following behind him. “Azazel, do you know what the first tool grasped by Mankind was?”
“It was ‘Fire,’ Master,” replied the servant. “Bestowed upon the First Human as written in the Book of Beginnings.”
“Indeed. It was the humble fire,” the Heaven Scheming Devil smiled. “The light against the darkness. The warmth against the cold. A tool of myriad possibilities and endless applications.”
“Tell me, Azazel. Do you know what Mankind’s first application of this wondrous tool was?”
Without missing a beat, the shadowy servant replied, “It was used to forge the blades to slay the Seven Ancient Races, Master.”
The Heaven Scheming Devil broke into an uproarious laughter. He laughed to the point of tears appearing at the rims of his eyes.
“Thousands of years and endless generations have passed, yet nothing has changed. Mark my words, Azazel. I’ll call it now. The first use of the ‘automaton’ will be on the battlefield.” The Devil arrogantly declared.
He then shook his head and asked, “How are things on our end?”
“The first prototypes were constructed by the R&D Department without any issues, Master. Testing is due soon.”
Nodding his head, the Devil ordered, “Instruct them to hasten the timeline. I want to see the test results by the end of next month.”
“I shall convey your orders, Master.”
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“Any other new developments that I should be privy to?”
“There is one, Master,” replied Azazel. “Our continuous efforts at infiltrating the domain of the Demon Sovereign have finally borne fruit. We now have a vague idea of what the Demon Sovereign is up to in the North.”
“And?”
“We believe that he has found a Sacred Land, Master.”
The Heaven Scheming Devil paused his steps. Without turning around or raising his head, he calmly asked, “Which one?”
At that question, Azazel shook his head and honestly replied, “We do not know.”
There were 8 World Path Sacred Lands in this world. One of the Sacred Lands was impossible to access, and the location of another three were more or less known to not be up in the North.
In other words, it could be any of the other four Sacred Lands that the Demon Sovereign had found. This boded ill for the world.
A twisted smile formed on the Devil’s handsome face. “The board finally seems to be spicing up a little. Wouldn’t you agree, Azazel?”
“If that is your wish, then yes, Master.”
“I can feel it, Azazel. I can feel the changes in the wind. For thirty years I’ve been stirring this pot of sh*t, sparking conflicts and tensions all over this damn world, all for the sake of adding that missing pinch of flavour to my life.”
“I can feel it, Azazel. That flavour that I’ve been searching for; it’s almost there.”
“Soon. I will be able to taste it soon.” The Heaven Scheming Devil let out a breath of excitement.
Continuing his walk through his garden, the Devil pondered in silence. A few minutes later, he suddenly scrunched his brows and unhappily asked, “Right. How’s that sh*tstain of mine doing?”
While this sudden and enigmatic question might’ve stumped a lesser servant, Azazel, who had spent nearly half a century accompanying his master, needed less than an instant to grasp the nuance of his query.
“Replying to Master. Wuzhi has left the Sacred Snow Heart Sect and has nearly arrived at the Mu Household compound in Miu Aislu City. He is accompanied by a retinue of personal guards and servants, all of whom are disciples of the sect. The retinue is currently headed by the twin sisters of the Rosemark Family.”
The Heaven Scheming Devil listened to his report but offered no comments or questions.
Azazel, however, knew better than to stop his report here.
“He seems to have dealt with the injury to his psyche. The exact method that he has employed to achieve this result is unknown. Our agents, who were tasked with monitoring and analysing his behaviour, have sent back the latest report.” As he finished speaking those words, Azazel snapped his fingers, causing a portion of the shadow underneath his feet to tear away and appear within his hand.
The torn fragment of shadow then melted away, revealing a piece of pure white paper in his grasp. Azazel proceeded to hand this piece of paper to his master.
The Devil read the information on the paper without any changes to his expression. Once he was finished, he crumpled the paper and threw it back to be caught by Azazel, before resuming his walk.
“Template #3. Without warmth. Cruel,” the Devil muttered under his breath.
The disappointment and disdain present in his tone was hardly hidden.
---
Mu Household Compound.
Miu Aislu City. North Aislu Continent.
The date was the 3rd Day of the Second Month in the Year 736 NCE. It was an ordinary and unremarkable day for the Mu Household with no special events scheduled or notable functions organized.
It was an ordinary day with ordinary happenings. Doubly so for the Investigation Hall of the Mu Household. The various servants and disciples performed their usual duties, instilling the bare minimum of life in this part of the Mu Household compound.
As this unremarkable day progressed and the sun reached its usual zenith during noon, a change finally arrived.
Clack! Clack! Clack! The grating sound of metal striking against stone heralded his arrival. Flanked on both sides by columns by beautiful stone-faced Faries, Wuzhi entered the main space of the Investigation Hall. His arrival immediately drew the attention of the nearly one hundred employees present within the hall, calling all eyes onto his beautiful, yet crippled figure.
An indifferent expression hung on Wuzhi’s face; his usual cheeriness and bright energy missing. His left hand clutched the metal crutches that he employed for walking while his right hand held a briefcase.
As his emotionless eyes scanned the entire hall, Wuzhi raised his voice and declared.
“Notify the Grand Elder of the Investigation Hall to meet me. I, Mu Wuzhi, Second son of the Golden Sovereign, have an extremely important case that I wish to report.”
At his declaration, the silence within the hall immediately gave way to speculation and chatter.