Chapter 1865 - 1865. Army
"I thought you dealt with lightning bolts," Divine Demon declared, "With fairness and other stupid rules as the main aspects of your law."
The experts were too caught in the situation to realize that Divine Demon was behaving seriously. His questions even expressed one of the most common theories behind Heaven and Earth's law.
"We had a lightning aptitude," The orange chunk explained. "We have evolved it until we became part of every storm on the plane and made their power converge to synthesize the "Breath". That became our law."
King Elbas moved his fingers oddly. He seemed to take mental notes whenever that ancient voice resounded inside the hole.
"What's the reason behind your plural state?" Noah asked. "Weren't you a single existence? How did your personality split?"
"Our personality has always been one," The orange chunk explained while giving voice to a laugh, "But our centers of power had to split once the world had turned out to be too hard to control in one piece. Each organ then evolved independently according to its task.
"Our mind set the fairness and handled the Earth Tribulations, our dantian became the sky and dispenser of "Breath", and our body fused with the plane to facilitate its evolution. If we have to be completely honest, the title Heaven and Earth has always failed to express our triple nature."
A broad smile appeared on Noah's face before a loud laugh came out of it. His roars even mixed with his happy outburst now that the orange chunk had confirmed one of his older guesses.
"You are turning into Divine Demon," King Elbas sighed.
"Maybe we should rely more on your guesses," Alexander calmly analyzed.
"We already do," Wilfred snorted. "It's not like we can stop him or go somewhere else."
"It was a perfect system," A sigh escaped the orange mineral. "Existences worthy of grasping the secrets of our superior energy could strive toward the sky. We were even so close to the tenth rank, but a world can't hope. We failed to see the system of the universe while we were busy building our utopia."
"Perfect?" King Elbas sneered. "How can you call your fairness perfect? It does nothing but punishing those truly exceptional among us."
"You are nothing but a boy who has only seen the corruption of our perfection," The ancient voice remarked. "Our fairness was a worldwide training method. We wanted our world to advance as a whole, but the magical beasts have ruined our plans."
A wave of anger suddenly spread through the hole. The pale-orange light became blinding and started burning the experts immersed inside it. Even the inscriptions connected to the mineral began to deploy their effects in the area.
Still, the burst of anger vanished in a mere instant. The anger in the area dispersed quickly, and everything returned to normality. Part of the light even separated from the main halo and healed the superficial injuries inflicted on the experts.
"We are sorry," The ancient voice expressed in a tired voice. "Part of the anger that has corrupted us still resides inside us. We now understand why we failed. Our fairness favored our old species, and a word can't do that. We had to be more to pull that off."
"So, did the current Heaven and Earth just throw you away?" Noah asked.
Noah couldn't stop himself from asking questions. The orange mineral knew all the secrets of the previous world, and it had even approached the breakthrough to the tenth rank. He would directly try to rip away its memories if he felt confident enough in his ability.
"How can you throw yourself away?" The mineral laughed. "We decided to evolve past the "Breath" and become something that could defeat the magical beasts while maintaining control over the world, and we ended up separating in the process."
The process turned out to be easy enough to understand by everyone without further explanations. After all, everyone had to abandon or adjust some aspects of their existence as the cultivation journey continued. They could imagine how Heaven and Earth's previous core simply left their law once they moved toward the chaotic laws.
"What's your plan then?" Noah asked as a frown appeared on his face. "What are you even doing here?"
The orange metal clearly contained Heaven and Earth's previous existence. Yet, it was so different that even Noah struggled to find similarities with the current state of the rulers. He had spoken with Earth a few times, but she had always lacked that humbleness and openness.
However, Noah and the others could sense that Heaven and Earth's old version wasn't angry at the current rulers. They didn't even hate their previous destroyers too much. Still, they were building something with the city and the Kesier apes. The only issue was that Noah couldn't see that meaning or purpose.
"We want to stop ourselves from forsaking our previous dreams," The ancient voice explained. "Our hatred toward the magical beasts and our obsession has corrupted us. We wanted to elevate the world to reach the tenth rank, but we are devouring it to seize chaotic power now. Our story has to end. We failed once, and the repercussions were immense. We can't allow ourselves to fail again. We are afraid to say that the same would happen if we succeeded."
"How do you plan on doing that?" Robert asked. "You said it yourself. You barely have power left, and your knowledge is also outdated. How can you help us win against your better versions?"
"They aren't better," A snort came out of the orange metal. "They have more power and influence, but their power is chaotic. They can only devour and sever away laws from their existence. Everything else doesn't matter to them."
"This pride was expected," King Elbas commented, but voices continued to come out from the mineral.
"We have worked together with packs of magical beasts during our life in hiding," The mineral explained. "It took us a long time before we could find a species that could exploit us properly. The Kesier apes have now evolved and inherited part of our power. They even lost their dangerous instincts."
"You have turned them into a brainless army," Wilfred complained.
"They have retained their minds," The chunk explained. "They are free to leave and behave as they prefer. We don't want pawns. We need warriors capable of evolving on their own and without our help."
"And how do we fit in that plan?" Noah asked. "From what I've understood, you can take control of their minds quite freely, and they even believe in you deeply enough to let you do it. This city might be a weapon of some sort, but the issue remains. I can only see Heaven and Earth's work here."
"You fit because an army needs a commander," The chunk explained. "This is the best force in the entirety of the plane. Take it and assault the sky. Bring destruction to me and all the other creatures that have decided to side with Heaven and Earth. This world needs to go back to its previous state as soon as possible."
The first real chance to affect the world in its entirety appeared in front of the group. Noah only had to accept to gain access to a force groomed to oppose the rulers. It was even unclear how strong it was. Yet, Noah shook his head and announced his position. "I refuse."