Achilles was disappointed by the rejection, yet he did not hold it against Darius. He understood that there was nothing special about him except his invincibility and his understanding of Faust's true nature.
Wait, since the secret to his invincibility had already been decoded to the point where it could soon be replicated in large scales, he was no longer special in that regard.
Hang on, since he had just received more information about the TRUE nature of the world via a simple download, he wasn't special in that regard either.
….
Alright, so Darius REALLY had no reason other than to keep him as anything but a bottom fodder subordinate, yet the Demi-God didn't mind. As long as he followed Darius, the only 'real' person, when Faust was done, he, Achilles, would be able to inherit a portion of a 'real' characteristic as well.
That's right, Achilles thought of Faust as something like a simulation, and that everyone within it were simply mirages that would disappear in time. As someone who came from 'outside' it, he considered Darius to be the only 'real' element within, and following him would give him a chance to become real too.
Achilles had the general idea, yet he was wrong. Faust was entirely real, and so was he, but everyone had their own way of interpreting the situation.
Achilles was acting like an NPC who came to realize that he was a small part of a giant game, desperately wanting to follow the player character out so he could see the real world, to avoid getting 'deleted' if the game shut down.
Darius found this sort of thought amusing, and wondered how Theseus or Hercules would receive the information. Well, in due time he would meet them again. Both had set off to achieve their goals, so Achilles would be coming with Darius.
"You will return to Safemoon with me. I will wash away the low-quality Divine Fire in your body and prepare to ignite one that is far superior. I will also give you control of one of the Material element's domains, Refinement."
"This Divine Domain focuses on turning any substance or material you wield into its best state or highest quality. You will be the first True God of my forces, and become the commander of Safemoon's Invincible Army." Darius spoke with conviction, as if making a heavenly decree.
Achilles was so overwhelmed that his whole body shuddered as he fell to his knees in reverence.
"My life, for Lord Stone!"
"Hm." Darius uttered noncommittally.
"However, first we will have to change your appearance. The whole point of having your former leaders war with this continent is to distract them while I claim Fallon for myself."
"Once they hear of an Invincible Army, they will become suspicious enough, yet seeing you lead it would give just away the trick." Darius pointed out calmly.
Achilles froze, as he recognized this problem. He began to worry as he asked Darius: "That is true, my Lord. How do we resolve this?"
Darius gazed down at Achilles with a weird glint in his eye. " 'We'? Shouldn't YOU, the subordinate, be giving ME, your lord, ideas on how to resolve this issue? Do you expect me to solve every problem for you?"
Achilles was chilled and answered truthfully what he thought. "No, of course not! I believe and have seen that my Lord's intellect far surpasses mine."
"I'm aware that I'm not a smart man, only good at fighting and not dying! I didn't dare to propose anything, as I didn't wish to waste my Lord's time. Anything you think up will far surpass any idea I might have!"
"All I need to do is hear your command as to where to pierce my lance, and do just that to perfection."
Darius hummed and turned to Gunner. The half-giant seemed to ponder with a frown before nodding slightly. Darius then smiled and focused on the prostrating Achilles once more.
"You are lucky to have earned Gunner's approval. You will now work under him directly once we return to Safemoon."
Achilles was shocked, then thrilled by this. Being a random lackey and being the lackey of one of the most important subordinates under Darius were vastly different things.
Achilles then felt the nape of his neck being pulled as he was dragged to his feet. He then came face to face with Gunner himself, suffering under the weight of those intense green eyes that seemed to weigh like a mountain on his mind.
"You will either become a capable Lieutenant under me, or you will be thrown to the side like the trash you are. The choice is yours."
After speaking coldly, he dropped Achilles to his feet and left the chamber with Darius. Miranda would work on getting Achilles back into shape as he had deteriorated too much.
From their current level, they traveled through the facility until they came upon the place where Medea was kept. The Witch was currently in her own workroom, seated in a chair while a huge machine was connected to a helmet that was placed over her head.
Darius gazed through the observation window calmly and asked. "What's the progress?"
Solena appeared in her scientist attire once more and began explaining. "We have already breached through 55% of the encryption on her mind. It can be confirmed that yes, she does in fact have a relation to a True God as we have stumbled across many dangerous situations that were only saved through the depth of information we possess."
Solena shook her head. "Any less, and not only would we have alerted the True Lord behind her, but we would have been counter invaded."
Darius was surprised by this. "That dangerous? They have technology behind them as well?"
Solena hesitated, but explained what she thought. "No, but the mind is a computer of its own. Since we can interpret the language of their encryption and breach it using digital means, that entity handling the encryption too is capable of using biological means to interpret digital language and invade us using our own means."
Darius understood the problem and sighed, for it made sense. It was not far-fetched for this weapon to be double-sided, or to put it better, for this road to be two-way.
After all, if an Englishman could learn French and speak it, what was stopping a Frenchman from learning English to speak it?
