The Alpha's Return

Chapter 49 - An Illusion

"What is that? Who spoke?", Eva asked.

All of them stopped moving. They looked at each other with serious faces.

"Is it actually possible? Could we possibly be in a huge illusion?", Michael asked.

"No. Even if our senses and our powers are possibly diminished because we do not have the support of our gods, the same cannot be said about Lucas. He is different. Fenrir is within him. No one can take that power away from him, because it originates within him. This could all just be a gigantic hoax, to possibly divide us, or stop us from ascending.", Praneeth said.

.

"That is possible. It is not hard to remove a corpse and clean up quickly. Maybe they want to separate us and finish us one by one. How about we keep going up, and then if this all does end up being a trap, we will be together to face it.", Mu Chen said.

"Then why don't we wait for Raphael? He is probably done taking care of that stupid slime monster. He should be here by now.", Eva said.

"If he is not here right now, then that means that he is not done. He is not the type of person to waste time just sitting there and relaxing. He must be in some sort of trouble, or maybe the monster was harder to face than we expected. Let us go now. I don't want to waste more time. Killing Meredith shook something within me, and I don't think I can control myself any longer.", Lucas said, his tone hasty. It seemed that something was wriggling within him, because he was panting heavily, and there were signs of unrest within him.

"Fine then. Let us go.", Praneeth said. "But remember, I am the weakest now. I rely too much on the gods, and losing that connection hit me the most."

"Well what can we expect? You suck up to them so much that it is surprising that you are not even an apostle to all of them.", Lucas snickered as he started climbing the stairs.

Behind him, all of them followed. Lucas picked up his pace as he started jumping up the stairs.

"Wait for me. Unlike you, I have a bag that I have to carry.", Mu Chen said again.

"You and your stupid bag. You don't allow anyone to touch it, but you let it drag you down. Sometimes, I just want to strangle you for how much you irritate me.", Lucas said as he paused for a few moments. After Mu Chen caught up, they continued moving. The third floor was not in sight.

Just like in the labyrinth, there was mist everywhere, and it was moving into the staircase as well, but is dissipated before reaching them. The consequence, however, was that they could not see a thing in front of them.

"What now? Do we just charge in like idiots?", Eva said.

"Isn't that what we do?", Lucas smiled as he took the first step into the floor.

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"Looks like they didn't take the bait.", a sweet voice came from the corner of a room.

"They did not, Marquess. Looks like they are not the idiots that I thought that they were.", the same voice that told Lucas and the council that this was all a big illusion spoke now. Th light revealed the voice to belong to a middle aged man, who had a strikingly rememberable scar on his face down to his mouth.

"What did you expect? They have Praneeth. If one thing is true, it is that he is going to be the biggest problem for us. He is their guiding light, and it would help us immensely if he just died all of a sudden.", the Marquess said. Her figure could be seen at the end of the room, facing the window that overlooked the street in front of the building.

Her silhouette could be seen, but her face was not that clear.

"We could always have him killed. He is just an intellectual. He won't be a big problem.", the man said.

"No, Azar. That is where you are so wrong. So wrong. He is not an idiot. He made sure that the group stayed together even though we tried to split them apart. Even though Lucas almost helped us. He also told everyone that he was the weakest, and now they will be placing him in the center. And just forget all that, just battling him is not that easy. even without Shiva's power, he will be able to battle you and not lose. Add to the fact that we are trying to keep our operation a secret for the moment."

"What do you mean? How will that be an issue? Killing him will just close everyone's mouth. He already guessed that you were an apostle of Apophis by just coming in contact with Meredith. If he tells this to the gods, that will spell even more trouble for us.", Azar said.

"And you think killing him is the solution? Killing him will only cause more trouble than leaving him like this. The gods do not take us seriously at all. They have more important things to take care of. They think that Ouroborus did all of that on his own, and do not associate us with them. They also will think that the intel that Praneeth received was wrong. No one has ever become an apostle to the greatest god, and they will not expect it to happen. But if we kill Praneeth all of that will change.", the Marquess said.

"Change? How so?"

"Praneeth is the bridge between the god realm and the human realm. Imagine. They let Lucas stay alive because Praneeth pleaded with them. They let Fenrir himself stay free. I mean, he was shackled by the man, but still, Fenrir loved this arrangement. The gods only allowed this because they trusted Praneeth so much. The moment that he dies, they will pay attention to the mortal realm for the first time in centuries, and that will be a problem for us.", the Marquess explained.