louisehourcade Chapter 385: Three Decrees
Chapter 385: Three Decrees
To an old monster of his scale, the specific details didn’t matter. His singular, overriding goal was to acquire the authority of Order to fix his own incongruent existence. So long as Finn’s conditions were within the realm of reasonable logic under the Great Dao, he did not mind acquiescing to them. He had all the time in the world.
A moment later, Finn finished his explanation to Althea, and with a wave of his hand, the small, protective domain dissolved into mist, opening their space back up to the wider battlefield.
Althea turned, her expression settling into a cold, determined mask as she faced forward in the air, locking her eyes onto Sage Limitless across the vast distance.
She opened her mouth to state the final conclusion of their privacy, but before the first syllable could leave her lips, the Sage cut her off.
"I will grant whatever wish you have," Limitless said, his voice echoing across the peaks with a flat, absolute certainty. "Name your conditions and let me hear them."
He didn’t even bother to hide the fact that he had listened to their conversation through the ambient mana. He showed them openly that he had heard every single word, treating their grand conditions as minor, irrelevant details he could easily grant.
Finn hovered forward, moving slightly ahead of Althea as he took the lead. He raised his eyes, staring directly at the white-haired entity.
"Before we grant your request, Limitless, you must agree to three conditions," Finn called him directly by his true name, not adding his title, his voice carrying a resonant, heavy chime. "I will make three universal decrees. Before the Great Dao, you must adhere to them, else the very power you wish to hold will be stripped from your soul. Not only that, but your own original power will be completely relinquished, cast down into the Great Dao itself."
The Sage’s white brows furrowed immediately upon hearing the warning. He paused, actively pondering the words, the very concept that his core power could somehow be stripped away from his makeup. A moment later, he let out a very light, mocking snort.
None of it mattered. No matter what kind of specific rules or restrictions Finn wanted to put into the contract, it couldn’t possibly be of any lasting importance to him. There was absolutely nothing in existence that held any value to the Sage more than achieving his ultimate goal — the singular realization of immortality that he had spent his entire existence chasing.
"State your conditions," the Sage said, folding his arms casually.
Finn nodded slightly behind his mask. But before he uttered a single clause of the three decrees, he raised his hands, channeling his makeshift divine power into the open sky to call upon the ultimate authority of reality. His voice boomed, altering the very frequency of the wind:
Great Dao
Source of all laws
Foundation of all existence
Witness us
Let every realm hear
Let every plane bear witness
Let the endless expanse between worlds remember
The covenant we forge this day shall be engraved upon reality itself...
Finn’s green eyes flared with an intense, absolute conviction as the cosmic pressure settled over the peak.
So long as the Great Dao endures, so too shall these terms.
With those last words, the surroundings immediately deepened, the fabric of reality becoming so dense and corporeal that it defied any known description.
Then, the gaze of the Great Dao descended.
A staggering, primordial weight pressed down on the mountain peaks, so immense that Sage Limitless trembled for the very first time in his existence. For all his centuries of absolute dominance, he had never truly stood before the raw, naked witness of the Great Dao itself.
Althea felt the same violent tremor course through her body, her breath catching as the cosmic scrutiny anchored to their coordinates. Far below, on the ruined plains, every living being left on the battlefield was instantly brought to their knees, though their terror was entirely inconsequential to the current situation.
Only Finn remained unmoving. Having already experienced the vast, unfeeling depth of the Great Dao in the past already, he did not so much as flinch.
He didn’t wait for either of them to settle their minds. Reading the sudden, flashing hesitation in the Sage’s white eyes, Finn knew the old monster was finally realizing just how small and inconsequential he was — a mere ant standing before the source of all existence. Yet, the Great Dao had only sent down a microscopic aspect of its presence, solely to actualize and bind the pact they were about to forge.
Finn raised his voice, commanding the silence:
"Great Dao, bear witness to these three conditions... these three Universal Decrees."
He opened his right hand, his glowing green eyes locking onto Limitless.
"First. The Order Bearer shall completely relinquish her personal consciousness, allowing her concept of Order to integrate seamlessly with Sage Limitless and the mana of this plane, making them a singular, unified entity."
The expression on the Sage’s face didn’t alter much. He forced his mind to settle, tuning his perception to the absolute sharpest frequency to analyze every single word Finn uttered.
Experiencing the true weight of the Great Dao had entirely changed his unconcerned outlook. He knew now with absolute certainty that he could not allow a single detrimental clause to slip past him.
But for this first decree, he found no fault. It was, after all, the exact outcome he had been chasing for ages.
Seeing that the Sage remained silent, Finn moved directly to the next term.
"Second. To ensure the stabilization of this plane, all external active hostility from I, the Errant Heretic, against the physical fabric of this world and this plane shall cease entirely the moment the assimilation begins."
Limitless frowned.
His white brows knit together as he tried to understand what he had just heard. This clause was an absolute restriction on Finn himself, legally forbidding the Errant from launching any form of offense against this planet of existence...
Why?
Was the Heretic trying to demonstrate total sincerity, or was there something else?
Finn had demanded three conditions, yet the first two offered him absolutely no personal advantage. Was he simply showing good faith, expecting that the Sage would follow suit?
No, that was redundant. The Great Dao was absolute. If Limitless tried to violate the covenant, the backlash would erase him instantly, especially now that he had felt the terrifying scale of the authority witnessing them.
Conflict flashed openly across the Sage’s stoic face. Was the Error Bearer truly naive enough to think they could forge a world of perfect, harmonious cooperation? Was he trying to legally bind Limitless to act in good faith once the assimilation of Order was complete?
The old monster had no definitive answer, and the theory felt entirely insufficient. He guessed the true crux of the trap... or rather, the true price of the conditions, would manifest in the final clause.
He waited, his focus completely locked onto the Error Bearer, fully intent to dissect the final condition before giving his consent.
Finn looked through the slits of his mask, seeing that Limitless still had nothing to say, and spoke the last decree: