"I was hurt back there. I tried to obtain hard-to-get things hastily and foolishly. This gave me serious injuries that could only be recovered with many years of rest.
At the time, I had the time array with me and decided not to return to lose to Maximus. I decided to take my chances and stay in the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus for a while. I just didn't expect that no one from my faction would return to free me.
I clearly left warnings and various methods of locating myself." Maximillian spoke mournfully, though he was not sad about how it all turned out.
In the end, he had won, and Maximus was dead!
People in the surrounding area heard that story and believed Maximillian.
His case was extraordinary, and probably no one there could repeat what he had done. But Maximillian Flamen knew many things about the Church and had unmistakable techniques and ways of fighting.
Once he showed them such things, any doubt would be removed!
These people knew that, eventually, he would have to show his skills because he had kidnapped people from the Travisani family. So they decided to believe him for the moment to confirm his identity in the future through methods less aggressive to themselves.
But a level 98 elder asked. "Why did you kidnap these men? Are you aware of the current configuration of the Central Continent?"
"Yes, young Minos and his people have helped me with the most ordinary matters about the current reality of the continent. But I will need more detailed information from you...
In any case, these men were in the Black Plain Empire to torment young Minos for freeing me. Then as I promised to protect him from the Demigods, I stopped them from acting in Dry City.
Now I still continue with them because I don't know how best to use them, haha."
Since he had been surprised by Duncan, Maximillian decided to improvise and follow the plan of turning this man into his ally before taking the Church for himself.
In his view, it would be more work to do things this way, but he felt it would be better this way because he would not have to engage in mortal battle with so many experts from the Church and the empire.
He was not afraid of these people. On the contrary, the worry about losing powerful men who would be on his side once he started his wars of conquest kept him from fighting there.
To avoid unnecessary rancor and loss of experts, he decided not to fight!
This caused the animosities in the surrounding area to diminish, making room even for some of the weaker Demigods in the city to approach that place and observe the situation more closely.
The Supreme Pontiff then said. "You should release Vico's heir. I don't like to say this, but that man is stronger than I am.
Even with this weapon in your hands, you will have difficulty facing him. So since he will discover your association with us, you had a better release this young man to avoid unnecessary friction."
"Oh? Is this person that strong?" Maximillian was curious. "Would he be stronger than Maximus in my time?"
The people in the surrounding area were silent, trying to compare the stories they had heard with what they knew about Vico.
Duncan said. "I can't tell, but they are probably very close regarding combat ability.
Vico is a very intelligent man, and he has luck on his side. Because of his many qualities, he is one of the few level 99 Demigods today who has the death of 2 same-level experts on his record."
There were few cultivators at that level, and they rarely met. Precisely because of this, it was infrequent for them to fight and even rarer for one to succeed in killing another.
So any level 99 Demigod who had same-level expert deaths in their record would naturally be considered more powerful and risky to act against.
He was the only one with such an impressive record in the entire Central Continent!
Maximillian kept this information in his mind, noting that although the continent was currently weaker, there were still those who could hinder his plans.
"I will keep that in mind. I still have to get better up to speed on life in contemporary times, so I'll keep them with me for a while longer. In any case, I doubt that releasing them will save us from trouble.
I had to kill a man from the Eastern Empire to protect the location of the island where the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus is."
"What?"
"That..."
"That's terrible!"
People in the surrounding area commented among themselves as the heir to the Eastern Empire clenched his fists, lamenting the loss of his state.
'So the elder Daniel died...' He closed his eyes in anger at being so weak and being in this passive situation at the hands of this enemy.
Duncan didn't like this information either, becoming a bit altered due to the sudden worry that came over him.
"What do you intend to do to protect the Church from this? That will certainly bring trouble for all of us." The Supreme Pontiff said.
Maximillian spread his arms and laughed, looking at the people in the surrounding area. "We have three level 99 cultivators here. Why fear Vico Travisani? If he wants war, let's show him his place!
My friend Darren and I are not afraid to fight him!"
Darren swallowed its saliva, not liking having its name used like that.
It liked battles and even more liked the possibility of devouring the bodies of powerful experts. But after hearing how monstrous Vico was, it would rather not get involved in a fight against this human.
In all its thousands of years, it had heard very few times about beings capable of killing other level 99 experts!
'Shit! I'm traveling next to a damned lunatic!'
"Anyway, I would like a place to rest after my recent trip," Maximillian said to Duncan, changing the tone of the conversation.
That man felt he couldn't solve anything at that moment, so he didn't insist on continuing this dialogue.
With a movement of his hands, he made one of his subordinates appear there to guide Maximillian.
"Guide the ancestor Maximillian Flamen through the temple. Arrange a suitable place for a figure of his caliber."
As the elders in the surrounding area dispersed, worried and with much to talk about, Maximillian and his group followed that subordinate of the Supreme Pontiff.
In their descent into the capital of the Evergreen Empire, the leader of the Blood Triangle Pirates approached them, intent on presenting his plans to this man.
"Ancestor, this here is named Norman Lynch. I am part of a group previously searching for your map to free you!"
...
