Magical Soul Parade

Chapter 384: A Surprising Move?

"Let me talk to Althea first," Finn said, his voice flat under his bone mask. "Then I will decide what to do."

Instead of giving a sharp rebuttal or a snarky, quick-witted response to the Sage’s massive declarations, Finn had given in to the request without a single protest. The total willingness in his tone made Sage Limitless smile widely for the very first time. The expression looked incredibly foreign on his stoic features.

"It is always much better to talk to people who know power," Limitless said, his voice carrying that smooth, absolute resonance that seemed to vibrate through the thin air. "People who know exactly when not to bother about certain useless things."

With a casual flick of his wrist, the Sage called upon his concept. He didn’t invoke a complex spell or chant any words at all. He simply used his absolute command over mana to weave a localized pocket space out of nothing. The old man seemed to be able to manipulate reality any way he could, anyhow he could, completely unbound by the standard metrics of magic.

The air warped, and Althea’s unconscious form slid out of the dimensional fold, hovering limply in the freezing atmosphere.

Limitless reached out, his fingers twitching slightly as he pulled a lingering strand of energy out of her body. It was the specific, oppressive essence that his Holy Son, the one born out of his essence, had forced into her soul earlier, causing her consciousness to shut down into the deep, dark recesses of her mind to keep her subdued.

The moment that foreign energy was unsealed and vanished into the Sage’s palm, Althea gasped.

She woke up with a violent start, her chest heaving as her eyes darted around in a sudden, frantic confusion, completely disoriented by her surroundings.

But the moment her gaze landed on Finn, she calmed down. Her analytical mind moved instantly, making a rapid series of deductions based on the figures present. She realized exactly what was going on.

Turning her head, she spotted Sage Limitless, and there was not even the slightest look of surprise on her face. She definitely wasn’t seeing him for the first time. A deep, heavy recognition flashed in her eyes, mirrored perfectly by the subtle smirk that crept onto the Sage’s placid face.

"I have brought the Errant to convince you," Limitless said to her, his tone conversational. "I wanted you to see that even he, a man who was once a true God in another life, and still is now, has no choice but to bend to my will. He has seen the logic. He understands how much of a complete folly it is to go against me here, inside my own world."

Althea’s brow furrowed. A flicker of deep confusion, mixed with a sharp trace of suspicion, passed through her eyes as she looked across the empty air toward Finn. He remained floating silently in his dark garb, the white bone mask completely hiding his face, his glowing green eyes shining through the slits.

She couldn’t see his expression, but as she studied his posture, she didn’t sense panic. Instead, an absolute, unshakeable calmness and assuredness radiated from his pose. That single detail made her tension melt away. She trusted that posture.

"Let her come over," Finn said, his voice cutting through the wind.

Sage Limitless didn’t even blink. He simply let Althea go, stepping back without moving a single defensive barrier to restrain her. He was so utterly assured in his own absolute power that even if Finn tried to grab the Order Bearer and escape, or launch a desperate surprise attack, it didn’t matter.

He was completely confident that he could overwhelm the Heretic and take her back in an instant...

In fact, confidence wasn’t even the correct word for it. It was absolutecertainty.

Finn didn’t make any sudden movements either. He didn’t try to flee, and he didn’t manifest his power in a bid to attack. He remained just as placid and calm as the Sage.

He received Althea as she floated across the distance, before hovering next to him. The moment she was within reach, Finn drew his Errant sword, and with a single, fluid slash through the empty air, he released a concentrated pulse of divine powered error energy.

The gray, paradoxical distortion spread outward instantly, creating a strict five-meter radius around himself and Althea. It was a vacuum of absolute nothingness, a localized domain fueled by his makeshift divine power that completely separated their pocket of space from the rest of reality.

For the first time since he had arrived on the battlefield, Sage Limitless’s eyes twitched very slightly.

It was a micro-expression of genuine surprise, but it flickered across his face for the briefest fraction of a second before vanishing back into a flat canvas.

During that exact microsecond when Finn’s divine domain snapped into existence, the Sage had felt a sudden, unprecedented disconnect. His absolute will over the world had been unable to fuel or perceive either of them. The vacuum was entirely devoid of his mana.

However, a moment later, his ambient essence seeped right back into the edges of the space, stabilizing his perception. He saw that everything was still in accordance with his expectations. The Errant and the Order Bearer weren’t casting an attack or planning anything contrary to what he had expected. Instead, they were simply utilizing the privacy to discuss between themselves.

Inside the quiet vacuum, Finn looked directly into Althea’s eyes.

"I need you to trust me," he said, his voice low but carrying an immense weight. "Relinquish your control of Order to him."

Althea’s eyes widened slightly, but before she could voice her protest, Finn cut her off with a firm tone.

"I will create three rules. Three universal laws that Limitless must adhere to before we ever hand over what he wants. I know this sounds like an impossible ask after everything you have endured, but in a way, I will be achieving the exact thing you have spent your entire existence hoping for. I am going to bring true balance back to this world."

He hovered closer, his green eyes burning behind the bone mask. "This plan gives us the cleanest option to bring peace back to the plane as a whole. For the very first time in eons, there will be true stability. Think about it, Althea. You have fought against Arros, and you have fought against the Chaos Transcendent. You have been friends with them at one point, and you have gone through endless ups and downs over the centuries... fighting by their side, then turning your blade against them, over and over again."

He paused, letting the reality of her long history sink in.

"You have failed multiple times to fix this broken system. But this time, I am providing the definitive solution. I know exactly what the Sage wants, but I am not going to give it to him without stabilizing the world just like you always wanted."

Outside the gray barrier, Sage Limitless stood hovering in the sky, observing the conversation without a single flicker of concern. His face remained entirely unbothered by whatever terms Finn was discussing with the girl.