"No one owned these things, not even the academy. And even if the Academy did own these artifacts, so what?" he asked the two Founders of the Academy.
"When we are killed just for our Elements, and the Academy even helps the killers, they don't deserve to hold these Artefacts. If they keep it, these Numens would just end up in the hands of my enemies if I don't take them right now."
"Before they can give it to others, it's much better for me to take them from their hands and reduce their burdens."
As Gabriel explained his thinking, he was looking inside his space, wondering which Numen to bind next. However, his eyes soon fell on a specific Numen, which made him intrigued. He really wondered if he could bind that item to himself as well? Was that even possible?
He looked at the item before bringing it out. Qin and Novius felt some affinity with the item as soon as it was called out, even if the item was wrapped in a piece of cloth.
"You said there was no restriction on what I could bind, right?" he asked before unwrapping that item. "I want to bind this to me. Is it possible?"
Even though Novius could feel the energy of the item, he was still surprised as he saw the item. When it was hard for them to come across even one Ancestral Staff, Gabriel was walking around with two?
Still, he was less surprised by what the item was and more by what Gabriel was suggesting to be done with it.
"Ancestral Staff of Darkness? You want to bind that to yourself?" Novius asked, quite stunned by the preposterous idea. "Do you even have the element of darkness?"
"My second Element does share some properties with Darkness. But I don't have a specific Element of Darkness control. Still, I want to bind this to me. Is it possible?"
Seeing what Gabriel wanted to attempt, even Cylix found the young man crazy. But he was an interesting kind of crazy. It was quite exciting to see a person like him. Even though the idea was crazy, it was still intriguing to think if it was even possible.
"Why do you want to bind another Ancestral Staff when you have your own Elemental Ancestral Staff?" he asked. "Moreover, don't you work with Lira? You can also give it to her, right? So why?"
"Have you ever been betrayed by your best friend?" Gabriel asked in response, staring at the alluring Ancestral Staff of Darkness.
Cylix and Novius looked at each other. They were each other's best friend, but they had never betrayed each other. They didn't even think about the possibility. Still, they both know just what an awful feeling it would be if one of them betrayed the other.
"When you are betrayed by your own, you become hesitant in trusting even your own Shadow with information that could harm you," Gabriel further continued. "And this Staff is more than just a tool that could be used to harm me."
Gabriel came here to get the Ancestral Staff of Darkness for Lira, but he wasn't intending to give it to her just yet.
" I told you before... I work with her, but we aren't friends," he repeated. "And I don't trust her to the extent of giving her this Ancestral Staff without any failsafe to protect me,"
Even at the start before coming here, he was still thinking if he should give her the Ancestral Staff or not. He knew that she could betray him after getting the Ancestral Staff, even though the chances of that were very small. Even with that small possibility, he wasn't going to take the risk.
"After binding the Staff to myself, I'll give it to her to use it. However, then, she won't be able to use the Ancestral Staff to betray me. That will be my failsafe."
Even though he felt that Lira wasn't going to betray her only ally, he had had enough of trusting others. He wasn't going to take the risk as he was still weaker than her for now.
If he could bind the staff to himself, then even Lira shouldn't be able to control her Ancestral Staff without his permission. With that, if Lira ever tried to attack him, he could just take away that staff, which could weaken Lira more, giving him an advantage against her.
According to him, this could be his failsafe. The only problem was that this was an Ancestral Staff of Darkness, so trying to bind it was going to be quite hard, especially since he didn't have the Element of Darkness himself.
"Can I do it?" he asked the two friends on the main throne. He didn't know if something like this was ever attempted before, but from their expressions, the answer was most likely a no.
"Honestly, I don't think I've ever heard anything like this. No one even tried to do it in our time," Cylix answered before turning to Izen. "Did you hear about something like this?"
"Never." Izen also shook his head. It was also his first time hearing something like this. This was definitely a crazy attempt that no one had tried before. Honestly, no one ever needed to attempt it either.
"I think technically, it should be possible. However, it's definitely not easy at all." Novius also didn't know if it could be done or not, but he knew that it was possible. "Are you sure you want to try it?"
The Ancestral Staffs were also similar to Numens, even though they were more powerful than other Numens. As for the Holy Grimoires, they were in a different league of their own.
"The Ancestral Staffs do have a Soul of their own as well, but their souls are connected to their respective Grimoires. So if you try to bind it, you won't just be fighting the Soul of the Ancestral Staff. You'll also be going against the Holy Grimoire of Darkness," Novius reminded Gabriel just how hard this was.
"In other words, it can just as easily become a battle between your Grimoire and the Grimoire of Darkness. Normally, with that kind of battle, I would think your chances of success were nil. However, you do have some advantages," Cylix explained. "It's definitely a crazy idea, but it is ever going to be possible; it's right here."
"The different space on this Floor weakens a Numen. As you saw before, ordinary Numens don't even work here. As for something like Ancestral Staff, it would be weakened a lot. Moreover, the distance of this staff from the owner of the staff is quite a lot as well."
"Taking all that into consideration, I would say you have a ten percent chance of success. It's still very low, but much better than it would be outside when the Ancestral Staff isn't restricted. So do you want to take the risk?"
Cylix gazed at Gabriel with curiosity, wondering if he was going to accept. The chances weren't in his favor, and there were too many risks since his soul could seriously be hurt in this. However, if anyone could do this, Cylix believed it was Gabriel.
"I think you shouldn't do this. Even with a weakened Ancestral Staff of Darkness, the burden on your soul would be quite harsh. Even with the backing of your Grimoire, your soul will be the weak link of this entire process. You might see if you seriously get hurt."
Unlike Cylix, Novius tried to talk Gabriel out of this idea since he didn't want Gabriel to take this risk. Moreover, he knew that this could create a wall between Gabriel and Lira which he didn't want. He wanted Gabriel and Lira to work together.
Unfortunately for him, Gabriel had made up his mind. He needed Lira's help. However, he wanted to be able to protect himself against her as well. This was the only option.
He bit his finger, making it bleed...
