8 Father

"A war." Adam prophesied, "His" gaze somewhere far away: "A war that sweeps the entire world."

A world war.

Adam intended to use him to spark a world war.

The revelation weighed heavily on Lucien. The horrors of world wars rushed across his mind—the colossal numbers of people lost in both world wars and how devastated the world was left in their wake.

All of this devastation occurred in a world devoid of supernatural power, but this was a world teeming with extraordinary powers, even Gods—a world war here would result in unimaginable destruction and death.

To be honest, Lucien understood that this was more of a world of madness than a world of mysteries. You simply cannot avoid getting your hands dirty if you want to advance in this world; he was aware of this and had even prepared himself for it, but still starting a world war...

Lucien took a deep breath to calm himself, but his expression remained grim.

He just….

He just hoped that he didn't lose himself in the end.

Grabbing onto that tightly, Lucien turned to face Adam and declared solemnly. "I will liberate the southern continent and become the emperor of Bayam." A heavy sigh brimming with emotions escaped his lips as he finished.

Adam held the silver cross in "His" hand. "Good," "He" said gently. "Now, how are you going to accomplish it?"

Lucien pressed down his chaotic emotions and ventured. "The remnants of Death?"

Adam nodded, taking over from him. "After the fall of Salinger and the collapse of the Balam Empire, the Eggers Family founded a new organisation, the Numinous Episcopate, with the goal of resurrecting the Death. They have survived to this day and continue to wield enormous power over the southern continent, to the point where even Orthodox Church efforts to root them out have completely failed."

Lucien suddenly realised. "They should have a characteristic of pale emperor."

"Not one, but two," Adam corrected. "They also possess the uniqueness of the Death Pathway."

"Uniqueness?" Lucien said, thoroughly surprised.

"Salinger made certain that if he fell in the end," Adam explained. "His characteristics and uniqueness didn't fall into foreign hands."

"But Evernight Goddess and God of Combat?" Lucien inquired, perplexed. "How did "They" allow something like this to happen right under "Their" noses?"

"They had no choice," Adam explained, holding "His" silver cross. "At the end of the fourth epoch, the seven gods had already reached an alliance to deal with the madness of Salinger and the problem of the breaking barrier. So, if either of them had tried to obtain the uniqueness and characteristics of the Death Pathway after Salinger's fall, the alliance of gods would have collapsed immediately, resulting in a new war of gods, which neither of them wanted given the state of the world. And there was also the fact that they decided to wait for the oldest one's will to weaken further before going after the Death Pathway." He finished. "That's why they let it happen."

'Is that so…' Lucien nodded, feeling enlightened. It seemed even by becoming God won't allow to escape the politics and its intricacies.

"So, the Numinous Episcopate went forward with the goal of reviving Death." The Reaper then inquired, his mind flashing with the details of the organisation of death.

"They did, but there were issues." Adam agreed with a hum. "At first, the Numinous Episcopate was united in their goal, but they eventually split into two factions after the angels who led the origination—Haiter and Sia Palenque Eggers—had a falling out over the reviving Death. Haiter wanted to go through with it completely, but Sia had a change of heart and decided to rather wait for the Son of Death to return."

Lucien processed the information, gaining a new understanding of the numinous episcopate. "The Artificial Death Project." He ventured. "That was their plan."

"Yes." Adam nodded. "They took inspiration from the situation of the hidden sage. Though they failed to revive Death, the Numinous Episcopate managed to create an artificial god in his life."

"They brought Death uniqueness to life." Lucien sucked in a deep breath.

"Partially," Adam corrected. "The Hermit Uniqueness was corrupted by a sefirot—the Knowledge Moor—and became anthropomorphic, turning completely into a living being, but the Numinous Episcopate lacked that ability, so all they could do was use faith to grant some consciousness to the Death Uniqueness—it couldn't even be considered a living being, only something that follows basic instincts..."

Lucien blinked in shock at Adam, who was simply revealing such a shocking truth in between "His" words—so that was the secret behind the origin of Hidden Sage? A puppet of Sefirot? Well, this does explain the passive attitude of the God of Steam and Machinery towards Hidden Sage, but wasn't it also said that "He" was involved in the birth of Hidden Sage? What role exactly did the God of Steam and Machinery play in it?

The curious part of his mind wanted to ask Adam about it all, but the rational part of his mind stopped him, bringing his focus back to his future.

Lucien took a deep breath and peered at Adam. "So, according to your script, I should ultimately try to seize control of the Numinous Episcopate."

Adam spoke warmly. "It's the best path ahead of you. By seizing control of the Numinous Episcopate, which still wields power over the southern continent and its people, you will have a real chance of becoming Emperor of Bayam and ascending to Godhood."

"But," Lucien inquired, a little hesitantly. "Will they accept me? Bayam culture values lineage and heritage, and I am all but an outsider to them."

"Who said you were an outsider?" Adam calmly dropped a bomb on Lucien.

"What do you mean?!" Lucien's pupils dilated.

"Lucien, your father." Adam guided. "Recall him."

Lucien never gave much thought to his father, even though his previous self held some resentment and yearning towards him; with him, though, it waned into indifference and apathy.

Now, he recalled him—his earliest memories flowing formlessly through his mind, but only one remained in the end, coalescing to form a scene:

It depicted his father dropping his baby self off at the gate of the orphanage with hesitancy and pain, as well as a bit of grim resolution.

Lucien focused immediately on his father's face, which was illuminated by the golden light of the sun: he had bronze skin, an average height and build, and gentle facial features. His eyes were the most noticeable feature of him, as if they held the vicissitudes of life itself.

It was an understatement to say Lucien was stunned, looking at the face of his father. He couldn't be wrong, this was.....

Azik Eggers!

"Oh, my God..." Lucien whispered silently, his hands over his face. "My father is Azik Eggers…"

"Aside from Azik, you are the last remaining direct descendant of Death in the world." Adam declared. "The Throne of Bayam belongs to you by birthright, Lucien…." "He" paused, and Lucien knew what was in store for him. "Eggers."

Lucien Eggers!

Lucien's emotions were on a roller coaster, going up and down as he spoke with a tremor. "This is, this is…." He paused. "Too coincidental…."

"Truly, nothing in the world happens without a reason." Adam stated calmly, confirming his fears. "Whoever or whatever brought you into this world wanted you to have an easy start."

"Who could it be?" Lucien wondered aloud.

Adam strangely remained silent, his gaze fixed on the cross on the altar.

Lucien eventually forced himself to calm down. He didn't allow himself to be overly concerned because there was no point. Whoever was responsible for his reincarnation was beyond his current self's comprehension. All he could do was deal with it as it came—a risky strategy, that's for sure, but it was the only one he had at the time.

Lucien then took a deep breath and looked at Adam, who was staring silently at the cross. He could tell Adam didn't know the answer to his question, or maybe he had some clues but chose not to tell him. In any case, he wasn't going to delve deeper into the subject to avoid any potential extensional crisis.

Felling his gaze, Adam turned to Lucien. "You are truly adaptive. Most wouldn't have been able to pull themselves together this fast if they were in your situation."

Lucien chuckled wryly at "His" praise, his mind flashing with memories of time when he fought against cancer, but he immediately pushed them to the back of his mind. "You've got to do what you've got to do to survive."

"You are suppressing much within yourself, Lucien." Adam observed Lucien keenly.

"I know." Lucien shook his head forlornly. "I will see to it."

Adam didn't press; rather "He" faintly hummed as he stood up and walked in front of him. "I have scheduled a meeting with Sia Palenque Eggers for you tomorrow. She is the leader of the Royal Faction of the Numinous Episcopate, so she will gladly hear your case."

Lucien nodded, understanding the information between "His" words—the artificial death faction of Numinous Episcopate won't be that happy about his existence. He also understood their meeting was coming to an end, so he stood up from his seat and looked ahead at Adam.

"Tomorrow your path begins." The Angel of Imagination proclaimed prophetically. "Tomorrow, you change the world."

"And I can hardly wait." Lucien smiled, his tone a mix of sarcasm and somberness. "I will be off now." He nodded gratefully to Adam, but then something occurred to him. "The last pale emperor characteristic?" He inquired of Adam.

"Find it yourself." Adam instructed. "Prove your resolve with results, Lucien Eggers."

Lucien couldn't have asked for anything more; he knew it was time to stand on his own two feet and prove himself. His chaotic emotions calmed down as he made that decision, and he nodded one last time to Adam before turning and making his way out of the corpse cathedral in firm steps.

—————-

Later that day.

Kolain, East Bayam.

Lucien sat alone on the golden sand of the beach, his face aglow with the last orange rays before the sun beckoned the stars. He was looking at the horizon, where the sky and sea met. The colour was almost black. The setting sun was a rich crimson colour, almost as if dyed in blood, illuminating the entire world in the brilliance of twilight. The red sun appeared to be sinking into the water like a live ember, and the heat caused the air around it to shimmer.

In serenity, Lucien was brooding about a lot of things, from something as mundane as the sea trade of Kolain to something as personal as his father to something as powerful as the last pale emperor characteristic.

His thoughts were jumbled, but he tried to sort them out.

First, the sea trade of Kolain—The Capital City of East Bayam was a coastal city. Almost all sea trade between the South and North Continents passes through here. This was why Kolain was considered the gateway to the southern continent.

Second, his father, who turned out to be none other than Azik Eggers, to be honest, he didn't know how to feel about this. But nevertheless, by now, his father should have begun to retrieve his memories and gone out to learn more about his past. Will he eventually remember him as well?...

Finally, the last Pale Emperor characteristic—he was focused on finding it right now, pushing aside the emotions that arose when he remembered his father. He began by recalling all of his knowledge of the plot, carefully analysing everything related to death in it. Even in the world of mysteries, foreknowledge was still somewhat advantageous.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn to information about a future event, which caused his eyes to narrow in scrutiny for a moment before a wide smile plastered across his lips, for he had just discovered who possessed the last pale emperor characteristic.

"Bernadette Gustav.." Lucien whispered under his breath.