Beyond the Bloodline

Chapter 427: The Eternal Lure

It was through the war’s early deaths that the rest of the universe came to understand just how severe those threats truly were, but those who’d been lost never returned.

Most of them had been Esteans, friends to all six of those present, and trusted subordinates to each of them as well.

Jamie didn’t want history to repeat itself.

Maintaining his calm, Jamie continued speaking.

"Let them understand how grave the threat that thing behind you poses, because it’s clear they don’t fully comprehend it.

After all, why would some of those fools want to side with the bastards expanding that thing if they truly understood how dangerous it is to our universe and the greater Cosmos as a whole?"

Because of the chaos surrounding the bounty hunting incident and Angela’s eventual awakening, Jamie and Miranda hadn’t yet carried out the purge they’d originally come back to perform on the Zenith Universe’s ruling powers, rooting out the traitors still hiding among them.

But it was only delayed, not abandoned, and they fully intended to carry it out, especially now that Jamie had regained his power.

Just as Jamie finished speaking, Sarina glanced toward the Dead Zone and then spoke, her voice cautious.

"I’m not sure this is the best place for us to be having this kind of conversation."

At her words, Jamie laughed.

"Don’t worry about it, Sarina. The only existences inside that thing capable of listening to us don’t dare come anywhere near here as long as I’m around.

These Dead Lifeforms, as they’re called, are beings whose existences have been altered by pseudo-nonexistence. They’re more sensitive than anything else in the Cosmos to true nonexistence."

As Jamie spoke, he lifted his left hand, a sphere of dark blue energy slowly gathering at his fingertip. He was about to flick it toward the Dead Zone, but just before he did, Angela reached out and caught his finger.

"That wouldn’t be the best decision right now," she said, her tone as serious as always.

Jamie fell silent for a moment, considering her words before concluding that she was right.

They hadn’t assembled their forces yet, and they couldn’t afford to start the inevitable war prematurely.

He silently reabsorbed the cosmic energy back into his body, allowing the channel in space through which he’d drawn power from the void beyond reality to close, then lowered his hand.

Angela released him and crossed her arms as she continued speaking.

"You can hold your war council or whatever else you want whenever you feel like it, but there’s something I consider far more important than all of that."

Meeting his eyes, she asked,

"I want to finish what I started with my... Immortality Project. So I’ll ask you again, Jamie Westley. Where’s my body?"

Angela’s aim with her Immortality Project had always been to make her family immortal, to remove the looming threat posed by the Mercury Gem embedded within her sister’s body and soul, and to ensure that her sister and children would never face death by any means.

She’d accomplished that with her children, and now only Daniella remained for her goal to be fully realised.

As mentioned before, Angela’s current body was essentially a construct of cosmic energy. It didn’t possess the full power that the true physical body of an Ultimate Realm existence should have, and without it, one of the core aspects of her existence, Angela couldn’t operate at her full strength.

She needed that full power to detach someone from one of the fundamental Concepts that govern the Cosmos, an action that was a required step in the process of making someone a Deathless Immortal, more commonly known across Zanerth as a Hybrid.

Angela intended to sever Daniela from the Concept of Death itself, and there was one being who absolutely wouldn’t tolerate such an act.

"Do you really want to bring Julio here?" Jamie asked, his tone clearly displeased.

"I just finished explaining how Akasha becoming aware of the Dead Zone is going to be a massive problem for all of us, and now you want to do something that’d guarantee Julio descends on this universe."

The Eternal of Death and Darkness was no ally of Angela’s.

If she despised the Hybrids for being constant anomalies within the Cosmic System of Life and Death, then she hated Angela even more for creating those anomalies in the first place.

If Angela tried to turn Daniela into a Hybrid, Julio would notice immediately, and Jamie was 110% certain she’d lose it, and the situation would escalate into a fight.

He didn’t want a confrontation between two Ultimate Realm existences anywhere near the Zanerth Universe or its territories.

But before Jamie could respond, Miranda suddenly interrupted.

"Wait. Hold on a second, Jamie."

She moved closer, grabbed him, and pulled him aside before whispering,

"You know where her body is, don’t you?"

Jamie stayed silent for a moment, then sighed and admitted,

"Yeah. I know where it should be."

Miranda raised an eyebrow at his wording, then quickly shook her head and continued.

"Okay. If she turns Daniella into a Hybrid, Julio’s definitely going to lose it. And if Julio comes here, there’s going to be a fight.

But what if Angela doesn’t turn Daniella in here? What if she does it somewhere else?"

Jamie frowned, confused.

"What are you getting at?"

"That thing, the Annihilation Catalyst, has allies outside this universe. Other Inter-Universal Empires whose rulers want to exploit the chaos it’ll cause in Zanerth to absorb our outer territories and weaken us.

Why don’t we have Angela lure Julio there instead? Let those universes take the damage."

Miranda’s suggestion made Jamie shake his head.

"What if Julio doesn’t completely lose it and decides to use her Fourth Concretization to transform reality? In that case, the collateral damage would be zero, and we won’t get the result we want," he asked.

"Then Angela just has to prevent her from using it in the first place. She’s strong enough for that, isn’t she?" Miranda said, glancing at Angela, who had suddenly appeared before them with her arms crossed and asked,

"You want to use me to eliminate your potential enemies?"

Miranda wasn’t the least bit surprised that Angela had slipped past her senses so easily, and she turned to answer.

"Yes. I want to use you to eliminate our potential enemies. Do you have a problem with that?"

Her question was, in a way, a provocation.

Angela didn’t have her true body, and only Jamie knew where it was.

She couldn’t force the information out of him, as neither mind-reading nor brute force would work, especially since they were currently roughly equal in power.

If Angela wanted her body back, she would have to agree to Jamie’s terms.

Instantly understanding what Miranda intended, Jamie covered his mouth, his expression strangely proud, like a parent watching their child grow.

"Ah. My pure Miranda has turned evil. How beautiful."

Both Miranda and Angela immediately turned to him with deadpan stares, and Jamie quickly stepped back, hands raised in mock surrender.

"Okay, okay. I’ll stop joking. I’m fully on board with your plan, Miranda."

He turned to Angela, his smile stretching into an evil grin that made her brows twitch. Raising a finger, he let the energies of the Law of Contracts swirl around it as he said,

"So, Mrs Angela. Let’s make a deal, shall we?"