Salazar Yarhim smiled from ear to ear. The words of his subordinates entered his ears.
“Luweth has crushed it. The plan won’t work.”
The kneeling man in front of him was the harbinger of bad news, but Salazar paid it no heed. He waved his hand dismissively.
“No matter. Dismissed.”
The man blinked before standing up, bowing, and leaving the room. The plan in question had been simple. Salazar’s people would exploit humanity’s current state of uneasiness to build up his forces and image. As usual, however, Luweth saw through it immediately and moved to counter it. By moving first, the old Vampire flipped the tables and managed to get the people to turn to Liam in their time of need. “Faith” was what drove them to believe that the Emperor of Humanity would get them through it all.
Nevertheless, Salazar now knew something that they didn’t.
His time is running out.
He didn’t know the specifics or when it would happen exactly. He didn’t even know if he was right. It was a mere feeling. A hunch. He felt it in his bones that something would happen to Liam, and soon. The more Liam’s inner circle acted with urgency, the more he knew that the time was getting close. As his thoughts reached this point, his brow furrowed. For the past two months, it was as if they had accepted humanity’s situation. Liam’s people no longer acted hurriedly; it was as if something had changed.
Have they realized that what humanity needs is time?
If that were the case, it would explain their current lack of proactiveness, but their past urgency still gave away that something was off.
I’m the only one who can circumvent the time it takes for a species to develop.
His Personal Attribute, Puppet Master, allowed him to share his power with an endless number of people with no downsides. The only one who needed to grow more powerful was himself. It meant that he could support all of humanity forcefully. All they needed to do was to pledge themselves to him.
Ever since he had unlocked the Laws system, his power had only grown. It became obvious that comprehending Laws was easier for him than for most people. It was as he expected. He was called a genius for a reason. Not only could he process all of the information that came to him through his Attribute’s Threads, but he also made plans based on it. This was in addition to his extremely rapid martial growth. The only ones who outpaced him were Alexander, Olivia, and Mikhail, mostly due to the combat-related nature of their Attributes.
In terms of overall power, Salazar was the strongest. The reason was obvious: the number of people he could mobilize had surpassed the tens of millions long ago. He shared his power and Laws knowledge with all of them. Almost eighty million fighters with increased stats and access to Laws were a force that only Liam could handle. Salazar’s furrowed brow became a frown.
He stood up and started pacing in the room. He still had not a single plan to defeat Liam. The man’s martial power was simply off the charts. All of Salazar’s subordinates would be annihilated in the blink of an eye. In the end, he would need to wait. If his gut feeling were correct, Liam would disappear in some way, shape, or form in due time. Salazar didn’t need to defeat him. However, another problem arose.
Luweth.
It was a similar situation compared to Liam, but one he couldn’t find a solution for. Luweth was not only more experienced and smarter than him, but the Vampire’s martial might also allowed him to act as he pleased. The old monster countered all of Salazar’s plans without fail. The growth of Salazar’s subordinates had slowed down to a crawl, while the development of Salazar himself had also been affected. It became much harder to recruit people to his side. For the past few months, he had only managed to win over a few million. All the others were from the time before Luweth.
Salazar rubbed his chin, deep in thought. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t do anything. Once the fateful event happened to Liam, many of Luweth’s plans would be rendered irrelevant. All of the Vampire’s work in carefully crafting Liam’s image and recruiting people to his side would be made useless. There would be no way to hide Liam’s disappearance from the people.
That is, if Liam truly disappears at all. Maybe something else will happen.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Salazar didn’t doubt his conclusion that Liam would be affected by something somehow. He only felt the need to know the details. Would his martial power be suddenly reduced? Would he be forced to go somewhere else? What would happen? He could only make accurate plans if he had all the information on the table. Salazar sat down again with a serious expression. His erratic movements were only indicative of the way he felt. He was anxious. If something was going to happen to Liam, nothing kept the man from killing Salazar beforehand. Salazar had many contingency plans that would take effect after his own death, but there was no guarantee that they would be followed. Puppet Master’s effect would disappear once he died. The undying loyalty that his people felt towards him was artificial and would vanish as well.
In the end, Salazar was afraid of death. He let out a breath. At the very least, he needed a plan to keep himself alive. His eyes shone with craftiness. It wasn’t impossible. By utilizing public opinion and his image, he could try to shield himself. Liam had no reason to care about either of them if he was going to disappear, but what would come after his disappearance? He still cared about his inner circle. There would be consequences if the Emperor of Humanity murdered its President for no reason. Negativity would run rampant among the ordinary people, who were already fragile due to everything they had been through.
I will find a way.
Salazar Yarhim took a deep breath. The gears in his mind turned every second. He was close to a solution.
…
Liam stood up from his sitting position. Still floating in the air, he took in the scenery around him and his own inner state.
One and a half years left, approximately.
It had taken him a bit over two months, but he felt like he had managed to keep his changes at bay. In fact, he felt like he still had some leeway. A decision was made in a split second.
Increase my Perception.
[As you wish.]
[Perception has reached the value of 1000.]
[Skill acquisition rate has massively increased.]
[Skill Proficiency rate has massively increased.]
[Comprehension has massively increased.]
His Perception almost doubled in an instant. Liam’s soul trembled like a flame in the wind before trying to remain steadfast. He had no idea that the small leeway he could feel was a margin this large. He didn’t know that his Perception would increase by so much. He couldn’t help but feel like the Chaos beings had done this on purpose to compensate for the changes he had managed to contain. Liam gritted his teeth. The illogical amount of time reared its head once more. Eternity threatened to wash over him. His sanity was fleeting. As expected, the higher his Perception became the clearer its effects. A single point above 700 was greater than the sum of all the points before it, just like when he reached the 400’s. Now that he had reached 1000, his Perception had become wholly otherworldly. He could no longer be described as a “living creature.” This was likely what the Chaos beings were aiming for. He was closer to being “real” than to “fiction.” The thing most similar to him was the Primordial Essence.
Ulvir’s power coursed through him. It shielded his mind. This time, Liam’s own Will helped it, sharing its burden. Only an unknown amount of time later did the onslaught stop. Liam shook. He could feel it. Strange emotions made their way into his heart. He blocked them off decisively.
They were inhuman. It would be more accurate to say that they were of a dimension that human beings couldn’t reach. Foreign, unknown emotions that humans simply couldn’t feel or comprehend. They were what Liam wanted to avoid. His Will cut them off.
Liam cracked his neck and sighed. He opened his Status Window for the first time in a while.
-----------------------------------Status Window----------------------------------------
Name: Liam Allister (Last Star of Order)
Level: 60
Species: Irrelevant
Race: Irrelevant
Personal Attribute: Dying Star of Humanity’s First ???
Attributes:
Strength: 6,484,356
Dexterity: 6,484,356
Constitution: 6,484,356
Recovery: 6,484,356
Intelligence: 648,435
Perception: 1000
Aura: 6,484,356
Will: 10,000
TITLES:
. Fire King’s Blessing; Ancient Forest’s Conqueror; Mountain Spirit’s Possession; Kingslayer; Sourcekeeper’s Tale; Fateless; Last Star of Order; Genocidal; One Man Army; Law Scholar; Ruler of Laws.
LAWS:
. Water (63%), Fire (74%), Spear (41%), Piercing (68%), Cutting (55%), Spacetime (18%), Striking (46%), Wood (28%), Earth (32%), Metal (40%), Focus (30%), Control (24%), Light (52%), Darkness (60%), Force (21%), Speed (34%), Soul (10%), Will (8%), Chaos (???), Order (???).
IMPERIAL ARMAMENT:
. Divine Emperor’s Garments
SKILLS:
. Passive Skills:
Transcendental Perception (SSS); One With The Dagger; Spear Domain; Spacetime Traveler; Unbreakable Will (???); Wargod (SSS); Endless Knowledge (SSS); Divine Domain; Immovable Soul (Legendary); Ethereal Body (Legendary).
King’s Crown; Great Sourcebearer; Titanslayer; Inner World
. Active Skills:
Event Horizon; Black Hole; Supernova; Constellation; Aura Manipulation; Timestep; Crescent Moon Wave; Drizzle; Flow; Riptide; Drought; Storm; Spatial Storm; Spatial Movement.
. Hybrid Skills
Primordial Essence (Transcendental)
. Supreme Techniques
Singularity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As expected, his Will had multiplied. His knowledge about the Laws of Soul and Will had also increased, albeit unintentionally. It was a mere consequence of the increase in his Perception and Will stats. Liam eyed all of the information he could see carefully. He no longer considered his stats and level to be too important. What mattered was his attainment of the different Laws and how many Supreme Techniques he had. Liam closed his eyes. Event Horizon wrapped itself around him, stopping just a few centimeters above his skin. It was almost as if the Skill wasn’t activated at all.