Chapter 443 Three Steps Ahead (Part 2)
By Daimon's request, Thea approached Josue, her right pupil turned bright red, Daimon might not have the means to directly contract any natives from Neptune through the system, but Adam and Marcus might have one, considering this place was originally destined to help them grow stronger.
But apparently that wasn't the case, at least not for Josue, Thea frowned as she noticed that contrary to her expectation, it's not as if the other party had someone that could cancel contracts without the other extreme of it noticing it.
The fact is that Armando didn't tie these guys with a contract to begin with, and now he was paying the consequences, on the other hand these five were like his adoptive sons so he didn't expect that a contract was necessary.
Aurora was in a similar situation with Bell and Sylvie, the difference is that she put her trust in the right people, while Armando didn't.
Anyway, the only thing Thea found was a contract made through an emblem, a Devil Emblem to be more accurate, since it was an emblem from the Bone Sea, it was a strange one too.
For emblems to have the capacity to officiate contracts, they have to be complete and to complete one you must fulfill the respective requirements, otherwise an emblem is as good as a paperweight, that's in part why people don't really value them too much.
No one knows what the conditions to get the second half might be, they can randomly appear and then disappear the next second, there is no pattern or way to predict whether it will happen or not, Vincent and Aurora were lucky to have completed theirs when they were young.
And they don't know anyone else who has a complete emblem, but right now Thea was a bit confused, the contract she found was slightly similar to the one that tied the original alliance together, since the new additions were made with her ability, as an emblem has a limit of people it can put under a contract, and Vincent's is already full.
The difference between this contract and the which was made with Vincent's emblem, is that the one at which she was looking at, was rather weak, it couldn't be compared at all.
Ultimately Thea shrugged and she just snapped her fingers, Josue's face paled a bit as he spat a mouthful of blood, after coughing a couple of times the man looked normal again, Thea then put Josue under Daimon's command, the man could have refused but he knew he will die if he showed any resistance so he obediently accepted to become Daimon's subordinate.
"It's done, the holder of the emblem is slightly stronger than me, but the emblem used is either trash or it was completed recently and it is unstable, the contract was too shabby", said the Empress as she lost all interest in Josue and then casually sat on the chair where Remi was sitting earlier, to enjoy a few sips of the non-intoxicating drink made with the three-colored water.
'Young master I have a situation which requires your authorization, I have finished getting the information from one of these two guys, I'll bring the other the other one back to the previous room, while the other recovers enough to move again'.
'Okay', with Daimon's greenlight, the bone general returned to the room, but before entering Horals looked at himself, there were blood stains all over his black armor.
"Mm, I can't look like this in front of young mistresses, a knight is a reflect of its master after all", mumbled the bone general as it used its green battle aura to get rid of any stains on its armor, it's not like battle aura has cleaning effects, but Horals's affinity is metal, so he could manipulate the black armor.
The idea wasn't bad to look nice and clean to get a good impression on the Risha sisters and the others, but it would have been better if he did it before being in front of them, since the door of the room remained open.
So not only they saw his blood-stained appearance, but they heard what he said, ignoring the gazes of the girls on him, the bone general gave his young master a knowing gaze, which made Daimon wonder whether he should laugh or cry.
'For an artificial undead to develop such a strange personality, I guess you even influenced him in that aspect~', naturally Evangeline was laughing as if her life depended on it, even Narasha who couldn't properly handle emotions softly giggled.
Daimon inwardly shook his head, he should have a conversation with the bone general regarding this subject later, however now it wasn't the time for that, the one who Horals brought back to the room was Remi.
"Reporting to young master, the other guy was easy to interrogate, there is no contract preventing him from talking as Lady Thea mentioned, but this one… after a bit of torture I perceived a similar but weaker sensation to when young master tried to subdue the creatures, so as previously ordered by young master I stopped immediately to report back", respectfully said Horals.
Daimon nodded in response, as he thought.
'So, a curse instead of a contract, I guess it aligns better with Marcus's system, but why this guy had it and the other one didn't, is it because of the difference in their realms?', he wondered.
Apparently, the momentary silence made Remi believe Daimon and the others were afraid of alarming Marcus, so he recovered some confidence remembering that Marcus said his status is of the highest grade at his place of origin and that he is unbeatable in the young generation as well.
"That's right, my Lord not only is a true representative from the goddess, but he also comes from the outside world, and has granted me his grace, so I'm protected, do yourselves a favor and let me go, then I might put up a good word for you".
"…"
Daimon looked at Remi as if he was looking at an idiot, he then turned to see Josue, before saying.
"So, why is he under a curse, while you aren't, power level shouldn't be the only reason, right?".
Josue hesitated for a second, as he felt Remi's cold glare on him, but ultimately, he was now under a contract so he had to answer anyway.
"He gained the Lord's favor, because he wanted the power that he offered, with the goal to reach the Maximum Stellar rank, which hasn't happened since many generations ago".
Daimon raised an eyebrow, how could he not understand the hidden meaning in Josue's words, he also knew Marcus had… particular tastes.
"I guess that idiot granted you more than his "grace", that explains the curse, the conditions should be either infidelity or a certain degree of wounds", said Daimon.
The girls looked at the old man White Walker and then imagined Marcus, who according to Daimon is on the same range of age as Adam, and they all had disgusted expressions on their pretty faces.
They then gazed at Daimon making him bitterly smile, he didn't explain the system as that would take too much time, he just told them that he was in a similar position to Adam and Marcus, and reserved the long explanation, Aisha and his other soulmates already knew the truth, because they were tied to him forever.
As for the others, it wouldn't do them any good to know about the existence of systems as of current, because who knows how many users are there, they might hunt and kill those who know about them, as the saying goes, sometimes ignorance is bliss.
"Don't compare me to those weirdos, I meant that I also received an emblem so I represent my galaxy, and they are the same, they will also for sure assist the Global Raid", said Daimon.
A cold light flashed through Jasmine's eyes when she heard that, Daimon has promised to take her into the Global Raid, so she can personally beat the crap out of Adam, Sarah also asked to participate.
Leaving Marcus's personal tastes aside, Thea was angry that she wasn't able to detect the curse in Remi's body, but Daimon didn't blame her, she has only unlocked three out of the nine eye abilities she has, and curses are harder to detect, the only reason as to why Rita was originally able to notice it was because of her abnormally sharp senses.
In Horals's case, the bone general could feel when Daimon's well-being was threatened, which was the case with the second Nethereal they captured, and this time the curse had a similar aura to the one his young master gives off, so he noticed it as soon as the curse surfaced, even before it got to activate.
"Miss Thea, if you do the honors, please", said Daimon to which the Empress nodded, she might not be able to detect curses yet, but she can erase them with the same ability she uses to nullify contracts.
That being said the tie between Remi and Marcus was stronger, it was going to take her a few minutes at least.
In the meantime, Daimon ordered Horals to go get Bandor back, since he had a nice plan for him, it's not easy to get a hold of Horrorclaw's subordinates after all.
Daimon naturally wouldn't let go of such a good opportunity, and since these two didn't care to be in conflict publicly, that meant that the scheming guy wasn't willing to work with anyone, and Marcus was also not going to follow anyone's instructions.
The girls saw Daimon unconsciously smirking, and they knew someone was about to suffer.
By the time Thea finished erasing the curse on Remi, Josue had already spilled the beans completely.
Turns out that Remi apparently found Marcus when he was travelling looking for a way to advance, Marcus was accompanied by a black robed figure which never left his side, no one really knew about who that guy is.
But Josue can confirm one thing, it isn't far from becoming a Maximum Stellar rank, anyway, after Marcus met Remi, he presented himself as the new representative of Snakele, sent to first punish the previous one for not fulfilling its duties, and second, to bring the whole Neptune to the arms of Snakele.
The moment Armando had that he was furious, one of the principles of Snakele is freedom, those who decide to believe must to it out of their own will, so he couldn't believe why these two were tricked so easily.
Daimon on the other hand did know why he could get this far, for Marcus this was all probably part of his mission, but unlike Adam, the opportunities that were for him, were related to these old geezers.
As Daimon supposed, the one who ordered that the statue of Snakele had to be burned was none other than Marcus, and they did it with the help of Remi and Josue, the first was the right hand of Armando so he had enough authority to secretly make the population of the town where the statue was placed.
That's right, the temple of Snakele was built in a mere town, and was accessible to everyone regardless of status, power or anything else, so it is normal that many people visited it, at least until now.
Remi made the citizens go away, Josue acted as the eyes of the operation, spying from the shadows, and then it was Marcus the one who personally burned down the statue, meaning that there was something important for him, as he had to do it personally.
And that's how they have been operating, after burning down the statue, Marcos seemed to have gotten new goals, mainly they were recruiting more and more dissidents, while Marcus gave them all tasks to take care off.
"It's done", Thea's slightly tired voice woke Daimon from his daze, the curse was officially gone.
"Bring that Bandor guy here, Horals", said Daimon.
Horals nodded and the rushed out of the room before returning with a Bandor, that has lost any sings of greed or anything else, right now he was praying that somehow the old Armando take pity on him and save him from the black armored guy.
He suffered an amount of pain he didn't think it was possible, and the armored guy said he was being rather soft, because he had some questions to make.
Of course, Bandor didn't what was Horrorclaw's plan, he was a mere representative that acted as a spy.