Shades of the New World

Chapter 121: The top of the World

"This place is good. I'll cast my magic so we can see what had happened," A blindfolded woman donning a white cloak and had two horns, one silver and one dark-blue, said suddenly. She then pulled out what could only be described as a shining blue star from her pockets and started furiously absorbing the power that was contained inside it.

"Do take your time, Prophetess though I do wish you could see these matters in advance" Another woman snorted coldly. She then held her hands to her mouth, like she was surprised with what came out of her mouth and she spoke without her own consent. This new speaker wore a complicated clothing that looked similar to feathers, which covered practically every part of her body, leaving only a small slit for her eyes to see. From the woman's fingertips, countless metallic threads drooped down to the ground, swaying slightly with her movement.

"Keep your tongue in check, Puppeteer," An Ivari man wearing something akin to a full body suit with a witch-doctor like mask said. He also had two horns, transparent and silver.

"Bickering like children," one of the humans said with a slight sigh. It was a lean, white-haired young man with a half-naked top, whose body was riddled with tattoos of various sizes. The general theme seemed to be vectors of various sizes and directions.

"Shut your mouths. We'll make our decision after we find out what happened," A red horned Ivari said imposingly. His words caused the other people of the group to fall silent, albeit reluctantly.

There wasn't much chemistry in the group, but nothing extreme happened because of this one individual, Kal. 

The commander of the Paradra decided to personally accompany this special team as its temporary leader since he was the only one capable of keeping the others in check. But even with him on board, the rest of the mages eyed each other with veiled hatred and distrust.

Kal could also see that none of them were interested in showing effort in this small endeavor, except for the ones who were directly connected with one of the four countries.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the situation. Even if he was technically part of the Authorities and he knew that the strongest entities on Alvox had a relationship that could be called friendly, their descendants' hate for each other could not be quelled so simply. The conflicts between them even influenced some of the newer Authorities' viewpoints from what he could gather.

Not to mention the fact that this whole operation was extremely rushed and forced. Everyone here was one of the most powerful mages in their countries, feared and respected by all but in the face of the Authorities, they were no more than children. They were abruptly gathered by their ancestors and were told to perform a joint operation in the Empress' name. They didn't even know what they were supposed to do, only receiving some info about some unknown organization that could pose a threat to the Empire.

'What threat?!' they all thought in unison when they were first gathered. With a literal goddess on the side of the Empire, even if the Authorities failed, it would still stand. They would rather play around with their little countries and spells, instead.

And worst of all, Kal had to act as their babysitter.

'It's truly weird to call these people babies, though,' Kal could not help but think in amusement.

Noticing his playful thoughts, he realized that he was starting to become more like those ancestors of his. Irresponsible and carefree.

Kal's thoughts on the Authorities and on life in general experienced many changes. Obviously, he respected them greatly at first and thought the he should constantly strive to better himself. He had the fortune to meet some Authorities on his journey to become one of the strongest in the mortal World, and during those meetings, most of the Authorities he met acted extremely awe inspiring. 

Naturally, such a brilliant life caused Kal to become arrogant and prideful, along with the classic rage issues of World of Fire mages. A raging ball of pride and ambition began to rule the North. It was heaven for the control faction, since they knew that they would see action soon. But after he had become strong enough, his ancestor, Selat, dumped all of his work on the super-imposer, saying that he was going to be traveling the North for the time being.

Kal was thrilled at first, but quickly became bored of the job. His job was to maintain the World of Fire and take care of the Mana formation that worked the magical World. It was a simple job, although a bit time consuming. Occasionally, he would attend a meeting with the other Authorities that happened either due to someone's boredom, or when something serious like this incident happened. During these meetings, he witnessed his awe and respect being crushed time and again at the sight of how the Authorities acted.

Even his rage issues smothered down into nothingness after all these years of replacing Selat.

Thinking of the last meeting, Kal could not help but think of the black-haired boy. It pissed him off greatly that the boy acted exactly like the older Authorities. It was like one of the older Authorities lost their memories and their powers and were set free to roam the World.

But instead of the Authorities who were bound to the Empress, the boy was relatively free to do whatever he wanted. Just thinking about the troubles the Child might cause him filled his head with pain, forcing Kal to glare at the boy with vehemence.

And lo and behold, this morning, Kal received a report from one of his daughter Tribes that a child came and killed one of the instructors by accident. Hearing of the details, Kal learned that it was the same exact black-haired boy! Thankfully, the super-imposer there, Nasst, took the boy under his care and was instructing him.

'A capable man, but a bit too ambitious Well, the Child can take care of himself. And even if he can't, he still has Kena to rely on,' Kal judged.

Shaking his head, he focused on the "babies" he had to monitor, admiring the strength of this group.

Thanks to his influence, there were three Ivari in the crowd with him. The other three countries sent two mages each, and the final member was a Cosmic.

The Prophetess Irene was undoubtedly the most special World of Thoughts mage in the era. Thanks to the power of creation that Lady Veidra's World possessed, the Prophetess was able to glimpse into the secrets of the World of Time. 

As her name suggested, she would sometimes see glimpses of the future, but aside from a few events, most of her visions never happened in reality. But nonetheless, she shared every vision she received with the rest of the World. 

Kal asked Twelve Jokes about this ability and the latter explained that the future is forever changing, so it was natural for some events to be influenced by many factors. Perhaps if the Prophetess didn't inform the rest of the World of her visions, those events would happen in reality.

But aside from her ability to see the future, she also had the ability to see the past. This ability of hers was much more successful, although it took enormous amounts of mana and effort. She was currently working on the Spell's construction.

Kal then glanced at the man in the hazmat-like suit. This was the World of Storms mage of the North that specialized in poison, Kortan. Sometimes, World of Water and Storm mages would sometimes choose not to cut with their Worlds, but to debilitate their enemies. Most of the poisonous attributes of their spells came from different Worlds, the World of Thoughts and the World of Life being the most widely used ones, because of its flexibility.

Even Kal would have a hard time fighting Kortan, if the fight went on for long enough. Kal sparred with the mage before and never knew how he was poisoned. Obviously, he persisted even through his weakened body and won the spar, but he still needed Kortan's help in cleansing his body afterwards.

He then glanced at the woman named Puppeteer. Kal didn't know her true name, but she was quite famous for her obsession and her corpse-puppets. Most described her as a control-freak, and true to her nickname, she was a fearsome marionettist. 

She was one of the few lucky mages who were able to find the perfect Beast Lord for them. She could take control of her enemies during combat and turn them into one of her puppets. The method of her control was a complete mystery, aside from her nickname and her famed Puppeteer's threads. Obviously it had certain weaknesses, but none would be happy to meet her, as it always meant that it was going to be a battle against many.

Next to her stood a beautiful blue-skinned Undine with two tail-shaped bodies of water instead of her feet. A big bubble of water floated above ground and the undine swam freely inside it, wearing a dress that was decorated with various laces and patterns. Her two tail-ends would sway back and as she looked around the underground area with interest. Kal never saw this undine in his life, so he didn't know much, but from a glance, he could see that she practiced a very traditional and mainstream specialty of the World of Water. Well, Kal was definitely not one to judge, since his Flames could not be called anything unique or special.