The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 194

Chapter 194

Chapter 194: Man Behind the Veil

I could feel the blood drain from my face, but I held my ground. Despite the casual disclosure, I could tell that Syl—Agrona was carefully observing how I’d react. The same two gleaming yellow eyes that looked so innocent and confused just moments ago were now bright ruby and carried an unwavering confidence and authority—he could’ve just as easily said he was some sort of sentient shapeshifter from a different planet and I would’ve been compelled to believe him.

Giving no indication that his words had any effect on me, I made a simple gesture with my hand, casting multiple spells simultaneously. The door closed shut and a thick stone slab sprouted to barricade the entrance while a swirling layer of wind surrounded the two of us, muting any sound that might leak from the room. I also layered the floor around the room’s vicinity in case anyone came close by.

“Is Sylvie safe while you’re in control of her body?” I asked.

“Sylvie... a good name. ” Agrona breathed as if savoring the sound. “Yes, what I’m using to speak with you like this is a harmless spell that I’ve embedded onto her while she was still an egg. Sylvie’s simply sleeping.”

Two stone chairs popped up from the ground and I took a seat, gesturing at Agrona to do the same.

Agrona sat down, leaning back in the seat contently. “Thanks for the hospitality, and for keeping your wits together. Makes communicating so much easier without you trying to kill me.”

“You’re possessing my bond, so hurting you like this wouldn’t be very effective,” I replied calmly.

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have been able to put much of a fight regardless since I can’t use any mana arts like this, but I digress. Shall we talk about something a bit more important than the various flaws of this method of communication?”

Seconds ticked by in silence, with only the faint whistle of the field of wind surrounding us while the two of us stared at each other.

My brain whirled with activity, trying to make sense of the sudden change of events while devising a clever way to take full advantage of it. Afterall, it wasn’t everyday that you could calmly have a one-on-one meeting with the enemy’s leader in the middle of a war. But whether it was because I was still having a hard time believing all of it or because my worry over Sylvie was constantly nagging at me even with my calm facade, my mind couldn’t keep a coherent train of thought. So I asked the one question that had bugged me ever since he first took control of Sylvie.

“You said you were grateful that I happened to be in the same room when you made the connection. Why did you only seek me out?”

“Fair question. First reason, and the more obvious one, is that I’m sure most of the members of your leadership wouldn’t take too kindly of me intruding on their home turf in the form of a little girl. Assuming that they even believe me, it would scare the living shit out of them given the fact that I could intrude their most ‘secured’ location in the continent,” he answered. “Although... it would be amusing to see their reaction.”

“And the second reason?”

“Because”—he leaned forward and grinned—“you’re the only one on this continent that I’m interested in.”

I didn’t expect that answer. What did the leader of a rogue asura clan that was hundreds, if not thousands, of years old find interesting about me. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be a good thing.

My expression must’ve betrayed me because the asura abruptly let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to just suddenly pin you to the ground and have my way with you. Assuming my tastes suddenly skewed that way, it’d still be a little inappropriate in this form, no?”

I rolled my eyes as the supposed mastermind behind the intercontinental war, unable to make heads or tails of his character.

“You’re a lot more eccentric than I imagined... almost sociable,” I commented.

Agrona raised a brow, amused. “Did you perhaps, see me as some poised dictator hell-bent on making the world all mine while donning a silken cape?”

“Something like that.”

He put on a grave expression while leaning forward. “Well...”

“You’re partly right!” Agrona flashed a smile.

He leaned back again, as if unable to find a comfortable position to sit still in. “Don’t let this pleasant demeanor fool you. I have my goals and ambitions and a face I show my people in public. But as for my personality, after spending generations upon generations amongst you lessers that seem to change your ethics and social mores on a whim, it’s a pain to keep up with appearing dignified and cultured. For instance, even in my continent just a couple hundred ago, it used to be normal to have public torture and executions—hell, they even brought snacks and watched it as free entertainment. Now? It’s somehow become shockingly horrifying to them.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “I have my people to handle and run the lessers based on their ever-changing sense of right and wrong.”

Wow, he talks a lot. Still, there was a lot of knowledge contained in his little rant. From what I’ve seen facing the Alacryan soldiers and, truthfully, my own prejudice based on the crazy Vritras like Uto and the witch, I imagined that the enemy continent would be some horrid wasteland full of lessers enslaved to do the Vritra’s bidding.

But from what Agrona just said, Alacrya seems to be like any normal developing land with leaders that actually care for the citizens.

“That look you have right now.” He pointed a finger at me. “That annoying look of pleasant surprise... you were thinking that it’s weird that I actually give an ass about the lessers in Alacrya, huh.”

“Well, from what the asuras told me. You’ve been conducting experiments on the lessers and breeding with them before you were even kicked out of Epheotus,” I remarked.

I expected him to get mad—at least annoyed—but instead his expression turned somber. “The best lie is only telling half the truth, I suppose. Kezess or that lackey of his, Windsom, never told you the reason why I did all of this, did they.”

So Lord Indrath’s first name is Kezess, I noted internally before replying. “It was to build an army capable of bringing down the other asuras, no?”

“That’s all they told you?” Agrona rolled his eyes, tapping his fingers impatiently on the chair’s armrest. “Arthur, do you think I one day just woke up wanting to commit genocide against my brethren?”

“Any reason you have isn’t justification for what you’re trying to do,” I stated firmly.

He let out a scoff. “I should’ve more or less expected you to have the same mindset as Kezess and the rest of his underlings.”

Annoyed, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“Let’s suppose you lived in this continent without being able to use magic; how differently would everyone you know have treated you today? The royal families that you know? They wouldn’t bat an eye in your direction. Your peers from Xyrus? You would’ve never met them and probably just befriended thugs and farmers from your own social class. Your family? Well, they might be the only ones that love you, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be inwardly disappointed at your lack of talent.”

I raised a brow. “And... this hypothetical person is supposed to relate to you?”

“Basilisks in general were notorious amongst other races, but imagine if your very clansmen and family looked down on you for the miniscule talent that you had no control over. The same Lord Indrath that approved of you in that brusque and lofty way of his didn’t even find it worthwhile to breathe in my direction,” Agrona spat, his fingers clawing away at the armrest.

“And you found it justifiable to inhumanely toy with the lives of countless ‘lessers’ in order for you to get stronger?” I shot back.

He tilted his head. “Do you shed tears for the ants that you step on?”

Rage smoldered in my stomach, but by his tone and expression, it didn’t seem like he was looking down on me. He truly felt that lessers were bugs to him.

I let out a breath. “It was naive to think we could have a rational conversation.”

Agrona spread his arms, looking at me with a proud smile. “What I achieved through those experiments have benefited not only myself, but the lessers in Alacrya to such a degree where they worship me—not out of fear, but out of reverence. To them, I am their savior.”