Within a secluded courtyard. This was the place where Linley normally trained. He stood there, atop the grass, spreading his fused divine sense across the entire Infernal Realm. “Ten thousand years…such a long journey…” Within Linley’s mind, images of his history, starting from when he was a toddler, began to flash past. “Father. Grandpa Doehring. Bebe. Wharton. Delia. Boss Yale. George. Reynolds…” All of their appearances floated through his mind. These people had imprinted themselves deep within Linley’s soul.
But suddenly, Linley thought of someone. “Mother!” When Linley thought of his mother, Lina, Linley couldn’t help but sigh to himself. Although his mother, Lina, quickly grew close with his father, Hogg, after the passage of countless years, there was still a certain distance between Lina and Linley and Wharton. Lina didn’t truly hold any motherly love towards her two children, Linley and Wharton.
How could Linley and Wharton not tell? “Alas. That’s because Mother lost all of her memories from before she was an Angel.” Linley sighed in his heart. But right at this moment…
“Whoosh!” A figure descended from the skies. “Lord Wodred.” Linley saw that the newcomer was the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred.
The black-robed Wodred had a smile on his face. “Linley, last time, during the Planar War, the six Emissaries you sent out were extremely effective. I know that you spent centuries in your search for the six of them. I’ve never come to thank you for what you did…”
“Lord Wodred, I had to find Emissaries for myself eventually.” Linley laughed. Linley was on excellent terms with the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.
“Haha, enough of that, Linley. I definitely owe you a favor.” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, said with a laugh, “If there’s anything you need, as long as I can accomplish it…you can have me do it. In fact, even if you want to learn some supreme secrets, I can reveal them to you. But of course, you can forget about learning my ‘Spacetime Paradox’.”
Wodred was quite forthright about this. Although ‘Spacetime Paradox’ was inferior to the fused innate divine ability of the Four Divine Beasts, it still increased one’s power a thousandfold. Even someone like Linley, upon learning this technique, would be able to threaten the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. Thus, Wodred couldn’t possibly teach it to him.
“Haha, Lord Wodred, even if you didn’t say that outright, I wouldn’t possibly have asked you to teach me your supreme technique, just because I helped out a bit. You, Lord Wodred, put far too much effort into devising it.” Linley laughed calmly. “Right. After the Planar War concluded and Lord Orloff lost, did he have any sort of special reaction?”
“Him? What sort of a reaction could he have? Same as always; he stays in his Orloff Gardens, absorbed in training and research.”
The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, let out a sigh. “Orloff, that madman. He has no idea what being ‘tired’ even means. To be honest, of the Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, Orloff is the only one who makes me feel uneasy. You can never know what sort of supreme technique Orloff might come up with, because that madman simply can’t be judged in accordance with normal logic.”
Linley couldn’t help but laugh. He could feel the Chief Sovereign of Destruction’s discontent. He had worked so hard to develop his supreme technique, ‘Spacetime Paradox’, and yet wasn’t able to defeat Orloff. But of course, that was only because Orloff had an Overgod artifact.
“Enough about him. Just now, when I came over, I saw that you were in a rather poor mood. You had a rather unhappy look on your face. Did something troublesome occur?” Wodred smiled.
Even Chief Sovereigns had emotions and personalities. Although the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts were rather arrogant and aloof, they, too, needed friends. After Linley had displayed his power, their attitude towards Linley had changed somewhat as well. In addition, because of the Planar War, Wodred had come to view Linley as the second most powerful figure on his side.
As for who the number one figure was, that was naturally Wodred himself. And so, because they were on somewhat closer terms now, they became more casual in their manner of speech as well.
“Oh? There is indeed something rather troublesome. Only, there’s no point in telling you.” Linley let out a sigh. His mother had become an Angel, but her former memories were lost. There was nothing that could be changed about that.”
“Why don’t you give it a try?” Wodred said with a laugh. Linley let out another sigh. “This has to do with my mother. When my mother was in her material plane, she was seized by the local Light-aligned religion, and her soul was sacrificed to the Sovereigns. My mother became an Angel, and a Twelve-Winged Angel at that! I once sought out Augusta and paid a very high price to have him restore my mother to her freedom. She does have her freedom now, but…my mother’s former memories are forever lost.”
“What did you say?” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, actually frowned.
“What? Is there a way for Angels to regain their memories?” Linley couldn’t help but grow rather excited. “How could he have possibly chosen to let your mother regain her free will?!” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction stared solemnly at Linley. “Linley, let me tell you this. To release an Angel and let the Angel regain freedom, there are only two methods…and I daresay that Augusta wouldn’t choose either of them!”
Linley was stunned. “What…what are you saying? But that day, Augusta seemed to have been badly injured…his soul…”
“Haha…”
The Chief Sovereign of Destruction began to laugh coldly. “An injury to his soul? That was nothing more than a pretense! Linley, I can tell you one thing; if an Angel truly regains free will, then that Angel will naturally regain its former memories as well!”
“What did you say?” Linley’s face changed. “This…how can this be?”
“Your mother doesn’t have her memories back, which signifies one thing; your mother is still under control, and hasn’t regained her freedom at all!” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction laughed coldly. “As I see it, your mother is just obeying his orders. She’s intentionally putting on a pretense of being free; that way, without having to pay any price at all, Augusta was able to make you pay a heavy price. Why wouldn’t he want to carry out such an excellent bargain?”
Linley’s face changed dramatically as he listened. “And, given how poor the relationship is between you and him, why would he have to worry about keeping his word to you?” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction snickered.
“But, but Orloff was also…” Linley said hurriedly. “Orloff? Orloff had something he wanted from Augusta, and in addition, Augusta has helped out Orloff multiple times. Orloff owed Augusta a favor. You tell me. Would Orloff help him, or help you?” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction laughed coldly. “Orloff doesn’t get involved in any worldly affairs or struggles, but that doesn’t mean he’s this wonderful, altruistic person.”
“Let me put it to you simply. You were completely and utterly deceived by Augusta!” The Chief Sovereign of Destruction said.