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CHAOS OF VOID (I)

Lino stared at a massive spread steaming in front of him, on top of a rather wide and long wooden table . Exotic fruits, drinks, birds, and bovine wrapped in various ways, sauced with various spices, creating an invasion of smells that caused his brain to momentarily freeze . Right next to him, Dangwe and Yog’son had already begun indulging themselves in the food, leaving Lino behind .

The latter quickly began catching up, however, stuffing whatever he could put his hands on into his mouth, one after another . The tastes broke something inside of him to the point where he even shed a couple of tears, ones he wanted to reserve for the birth of his first child . . . or at the very least a really good night of this and that .

"--alright, the first order of cooperation -- you give me your cook . " Lino exclaimed, licking his fingers .

"I’d rather watch the world burn than give you my wife . " Dan replied with a cheeky smile .

" . . . tsk . "

"What? Your wife can’t cook this well, Lino?"

" . . . s-she . . . being a wife is more than being a good cook! She can, for instance, heave her legs over her shoulders . "

" . . . what’s that good for?" Dan asked, causing Lino to look sideways dubiously .

" . . . nothing . She’s tried, to be honest," Lino said . "Just doesn’t have much talent with it . Even I’m better . "

" . . . before Layla became a cultivator, she used to own a small-time portable bakery . She was hunted east and west when she wouldn’t show up on her usual spots in time . "

" . . . so? What’s the secret?" Lino asked as they wiped the last food from the table, sitting back down, with even Yog’son joining them on the third chair . "How’d you keep the fire kindled for so long?"

" . . . in many ways like you and Hannah . "

"Hm? You been stalking us?"

"Of course I did . " Dan chuckled . "I was mightily surprised to learn how similar you two are to us . "

"So you fight all the time?"

" . . . we spend as much time as possible being just . . . ordinary people . " Dan replied, smiling lightly . "We sleep, we eat three meals a day, we get drunk . . . it’s never really about keeping the fire alive, Lino . Unless it’s with someone special, that fire won’t keep burning . Though, I suppose you know that . "

" . . . will I ever have the pleasure of meeting her?" Lino asked .

"Eh, she’s fairly shy . Though she’ll be happy to know you’ve enjoyed her cooking . She has always had a soft spot for the Empyreans -- lonesome wolves standing against the world . She’s a romantic like that . "

" . . . tell her we’re very thankful for her support," Lino chuckled faintly before his expression turned serious . "Now, there’s one thing I’d like to know before we move forward . "

"Oh? What’s that?"

"--are you purifying Bloodlines for yourselves, or as a business opportunity?" Lino’s words seemed to surprise both Dangwe and Yog’son, causing them to stare at him in shock for a few seconds .

"How’d you figure it out?" Dan asked .

"A team effort . "

"Huh . You’ve got a good team . " Dangwe chuckled . "Though, not good enough . "

"Hm?"

"We’re not trying to purify Bloodlines," he said . "We’re researching for ways to neutralize them . "

" . . . oh? Why’s that?" Lino asked, somewhat shocked himself .

"Well, largely because forced cross-racial breeding has been a massive thing for eons now," Dangwe explained . "In vain hopes they might get a useful Bloodline, thousands of wastes have been created . The race that can’t breathe our air so they have to live near an active volcano so they can breathe the soot . The race that dies if they touch the water . Currently, there are over ten thousand different racial groups in the world . I think that’s a bit out of hand, don’t you?"

" . . . so you’re selling it . " Lino cracked a faint smile, causing Dan to reply in kind after a few moments .

"Nothing gets past your eyes and ears, huh?"

"Are you short on funds?"

"Funds? No . Resources? Yes . " Dan said . "We’re not selling it for Qi Stones or some ordinary bits and pieces that can be dug up anywhere . For instance, the last time we sold it for a piece of fossilized Titan Heart . I mean, it’s entirely useless as far as their legends go, but nonetheless, it allowed us to study the structure of their core in greater detail than ever before . "

"Didn’t you live through the Titan Era? I imagine you’d have many opportunities to study them alive back then . " Lino asked .

"Aha, sure," Dan grinned . "I’d like to see you approach a mile tall giant made out of stone and ask them if you could crawl through their body to study them . A large reason why Titans dominated so much during the Era wasn’t simply because they were stronger than us -- we couldn’t even harm them Lino . Back then, I had failed my Origin Awakening six times in total, yet my all-out attack was unable to even leave a dent in their ordinary bodies . There was a saying: a Titan wounded was wounded by a Titan . "

"Not much of a saying . But, seriously? I’d fought a Titan once -- he didn’t seem that resilient . "

"At best, you fought a remnant . " Dan shrugged . "I’ve spent over two million years after their ’official extinction’ confirming there were no more Titans left before I allowed my people to surface back up . "

" . . . "

"Now, an inquiry for you . " Dangwe asked, leaning forward . "Throughout the entire history, we have never failed to locate someone . No matter who, no matter what, there was no hiding from us . Yet . . . you did . Not just you . Everyone even remotely related to you . Care to elaborate?"

" . . . trade secrets, Dan . " Lino cracked a faint smile . "We’re talking about going on a first date and you’re immediately gunning after the wedding . Slow down . "

" . . . extend me the courtesy and answer at least this: is it exclusive to you? Or could it be employed by anyone else?"

"Parts and pieces of both . " Lino replied mysteriously . "Why me, though? I imagine part of the hope is that I’ll cripple the Descent so you can take their place, but I don’t plan on going after them . "

"You don’t?" Dan asked .

"No, not as a whole, at the very least . " Lino said . "Two will die, that much I promise you . The bitch derailed my plans too much . Perhaps even One, but as I know next to nothing about the man, that might be a bit difficult . "

" . . . then that’s enough . " Dan’s lips curled up into a smile . "Really, in the grand scheme of things, One is the Descent . "

" . . . who is he?" Lino asked .

"The first-ever human bearer of the Origin Soul," Dan explained, sipping a cupful of mead and taking a sip . "As far as I’m aware, he was born sometime during the late stages of the Prosperity Era . He largely heralded the rise of the Humans and ushered in the age of Skyhaven Domination . Ironically, he founded the concept of numbers for members of Descent based on his title . "

"Hm?"

"It’s One . "

" . . . just . . . One?"

"Yeah," Dan shrugged . "I happened to ask him about it once, and he said it’s because he’s the one . "

" . . . the one what?"

"Just . . . the one . "

"Huh . " Lino mumbled . "Pretentious bastard . "

"Oh, tell me about it . "

"So, what are my chances of currently taking him on?"

"About . . . huh, negative ten to an infinity . " Dan grinned, taking a sip . "Even I would only be able to last a few rounds against him . As far as I’m aware, there are only two other humans who can stand up to him, and a couple of High Lords . "

"And . . . what are the chances of us conscripting any one of them to join our crusade?"

"Even less than you defeating One as you are now . "

" . . . you are nothing if not a bearer of bad news, huh?" Lino grinned, sighing faintly .

"How much of a role does One even play in your plans?"

"A very minor one, if I’m being honest," Lino said . "If possible, I’d simply leave him be . My grudge with Two is largely personal, so . . . "

" . . . you might be in luck then . One hardly ever concerns himself with what goes on here . So, he might just not care that you’ve whacked Two to the afterlife . My turn . How strong is the Maiden?"

"The Maiden? Oh, you mean Ella?"

"Yeah . " Dan nodded .

" . . . I . . . have no clue . " Lino smiled bitterly . "I can’t really put it into words . Once you meet her you’ll understand what I mean . "

"Oh? So I’ll be meeting her?"

"Well, it will be relatively difficult to maintain this partnership if only the two of us were in on it, you know?"

"--we’ll start off easy," Dan said, taking out a small piece of stone and putting it on the table . "This is [Qi Soul], a Qi-mine central density . "

" . . . and in return for it . . . " Lino mumbled, swallowing a large gulp .

"I want you to lend me your pet Dragon for a couple of days . . . "