"You spoke of a deal, Augustus. I will hear it." Rowan said, deciding to push directly to the point, he would never believe a single word spoken by this man, unless it was given under the administration of Rowan.
He had too much ignorance about what was happening, and the General could easily deceive him, there was no reason why he would make Rowan more powerful by showing him the whole picture.
The General brought out a gray stone with a flick of his wrist, a silver light shimmered around a bracelet on his wrist.
A Spatial Artifact. Rowan had to get his hands on one of these, and then he focused on the gray stone in the General’s hand, was that a Rune Stone? This should be the Central Control Unit of the Nexus.
Rowan was tempted to attack the General at this moment, but he pushed that urge aside, it would destabilize his plans, also he was curious about what the General was planning.
"Eh… Straight to the point. I admire that trait in a man. Very well, I will be direct. This is the key to the Control Hub, I seized it from the hands of Boris, and with this key, I have limited control over the administration of the Nexus."
"These controls include direct management of all the Flying eyes inside the Nexus, I have access to their feeds and also what they are able to broadcast out of the Nexus, I have been manipulating every data that…"
"Flying Eyes? Kind of an unimaginative name." Rowan interrupted.
He was not wrong, he had felt the burst of irritation inside the General. Rowan discovered very early on that his Spatial Sight could now judge the emotions inside a person, the increase in his Spirit coupled with the fact that he knew that Spatial Sight was connected to his Soul, made him guess a part of the reason.
His Soul Reaver bloodline made it straightforward for him to detect the emotions that the soul of an individual gave out, it did not depend at all on their body language, or at least he thought so, the abilities of the Soul Reaver bloodline were vague and mysterious.
Moreover, he had noticed that his Soul had increased in depth, which in turn fed into his Spirit and increased that attribute of his that had been lagging way behind his other Stats.
It did not take long for him to find the reason for the increase, it was due to the two Soul flames he had harvested from the body parts kept inside the Vestibulary.
Soul Reaver had merged those souls with his own, increasing his Spirit. If this new ability had manifested as a result of his increasing Spirit, it was another reason why he should quickly increase the Soul Reaver bloodline for an easy boost in that Stat.
Yet, he hoped to practice with all the abilities relating to the spirit first, to boost that attribute before touching Soul Reaver.
This ability to read emotion did not work really well for individuals with a strong mindset, like the General. Apart from the brief flash of anger and irritation he was reading from his soul, the rest was a blank slate, only giving him a sensation of intense focus.
He had finished experimenting with this ability, so he stopped his awkward acts and listened to the General.
On the face of the General was a blank look of surprise, as if he were unsure why Rowan would interrupt him as he was making his climactic assertions, before he feigned a cough and went along with it,
"I suppose you are right, Rowan. But the name fits their purpose perfectly enough, and that’s all that matters. Of course, you’ve killed them all, so it’s a moot point anyway."
"Then I guess my babies can snack on the rest." Rowan smiled.
The General frowned, then checked the Rune Stone, and that frown deepened.
The Ouroboros Serpents had detected several flying eyes clustered around Boris the Werewolf and all around the room. When Rowan saw the opportunity to destroy them using the very same words from the General, he took it.
Rowan scratched his head, "I figure since you cannot detect the remaining flying eyes, or you consider them useless at this time, then it’s open season and my baby can eat them."
"They could have been of some use to us in watching our backs, but let’s proceed, shall we." The General sighed.
Rowan gestured, "Please continue."
So, Augustus. This is the visible trap you set for me, so I hold the illusion that I have blinded your sight. It’s a good play, but it’s not enough. Just because the Flying Eyes are used to monitor what happens inside the Nexus, that should not mean it is also the only source of surveillance inside the Control Hub. Besides, a Dominator of your level must have many detection abilities and your emotions are different from your expressions. Sigh.
They arrived in a long corridor that reminded Rowan of a Subway station, The General began walking down the passage and he continued speaking.
"Well, as I was saying, I can control the feeds and I have been subtly manipulating what the Order of The Broken Eye has been receiving all these while. If they know that your bloodline is different from anything we have ever seen, they will come for you."
"Although they know you have unlocked a powerful bloodline, I blocked the details of your awakening, some of the things I have witnessed from you have shocked me to the core—I saw the Dragon that created your shell, yet I know of no bloodline that would allow you to create three indestructible Dragons as part of your bloodline heritage, such an ability is nearing those of the gods!"
The General appeared a little shaken on the surface, but his Soul was screaming intense desires, lust, greed and so many negative emotions that the Axe Rowan had nearly forgotten that he held began to shiver.
Envy began to shiver in excitement.
Perhaps I was wrong about the source of my Ability to see emotions—This Axe—Envy, it seemed it wanted to feed on the General!
"I can also operate most of the facilities inside the Nexus, but there is one thing I cannot control… The exit."
"We cannot leave?" Rowan asked the General, as he continuously used his Spirit to probe Envy.
"The Exit of this place is behind something I cannot touch, but you should be able to manipulate it." The General replied with a solemn look on his face.
Rowan frowned, "You think it’s because of my bloodline, don’t you? Though, I want to ask you this question about something you said earlier. Why do you think my bloodline is different from anything found on the planet?"
The General replied quickly, "That is easy enough to know, as it is not a strange circumstance, we can collect bloodlines from other worlds, yet they are all suppressed in this world, they can only be merged with the seven main bloodlines."
"The Tiberius family is the bloodline of the God of War. My ancestor is also an avid collector of bloodlines. There is no other family bloodline that has been combined with more outsiders blood more than ours."
"If you want to know the true reason I became a partner of the Order, it is this: The goal of the Order is to free the Nobles from the bloodline suppression of the gods!"
"Suppression!" Rowan muttered, the way the General spoke that word conveyed so many meanings. The grass was not always greener on the other side, that was an indisputable fact of life, even powerful Dominators have their nightmares.
"The higher you progress in the State of Change, the tighter the chains of your bloodline becomes, those of us who have surpassed the Incarnation State and entered the Second Circle understand the tyranny of the gods. Our lives are no longer our own, but the plaything of the gods." The General lamented.
