System's POV-Chapter 1481: I Want To Stop Being A Pawn

Sitting on a boulder, Zaphiel looked at the giant red portal over the horizon.

Flip the table, ceasing to be a pawn... What did the Eldest mean by that? Until now, he was still trying to understand it.

All the other Celestials and Fiends were also deep in thought after their not-so-private discussion with their Eldest, who gave them life advice one by one.

Of course, not all of them were happy.

When it was Forneus’ turn to ask for some advice, the Eldest only told him to brush his teeth, sleep on time, and practice smiling at least three times a day."

Forneus understandably blew up and started attacking the purple portal, but the Eldest only laughed at the Immortal Fiend’s futile attempt to cross over to his side.

After he was done talking to each of them, the purple portal disappeared, leaving everyone with their thoughts.

They even moved away from where they had gathered so they could have some private time to think about what they truly wanted to do with their lives.

Thirteen remained and busied himself in inscribing runic magic on beast cores, which his Demons planted deep underground to evade detection.

He knew it was impossible to create a grand magical array with what little time he had, so he settled on smaller magical arrays.

This time, he changed his strategy to quantity over quality.

Cranky stood by his side, protecting him. Zion’s lovers also stayed to keep him company. They didn’t talk to him and simply sat there, making him feel that he wasn’t alone.

Their presence actually helped Thirteen concentrate on his work, assured that he had many protectors who could react to any danger aimed in his direction.

A good distance away from them, Forneus and Dantanian were chatting.

"How long do we have to wait?" Forneus asked. "Should we wait until their entire army descends upon this world? How about we eliminate those gatekeepers while we still can?"

"Zion said to not poke the hornet’s nest at this time," Dantanian replied. "Patience, Forneus. I’m sure Zion has a plan."

Their Eldest told them that the Main Army of the Infernals would arrive in two days. Since only fourteen Demigods were allowed to descend in Solterra at a time, the Infernal Army was preparing a ritual to break this law.

This was an invasion meant to conquer Solterra in one fell swoop. Thirteen stated that their enemy would definitely send in some Pseudo-Gods to deal with the Celestials and Fiends who might wish to stop their conquest.

Suddenly, Dantanian caught sight of Zaphiel flying toward Zion.

Cranky immediately stood between the Celestial and his friend, making sure the latter couldn’t advance past him.

"I have a question for you, Zion Leventis," Zaphiel said.

"Ask," Thirteen replied without even looking up. He was still busy inscribing runic magic to the beast cores scattered around him.

"You seem to know who our Eldest is based on your reaction earlier," Zaphiel said. "When did the two of you first meet?"

"Nine to ten years, give and take," Thirteen replied, not even bothering to hide his relationship with their Eldest.

"He mentioned that you’re a pawn trying to beat the player of the chessboard," Zaphiel stated. "What does he mean by that?"

"Let’s just say I have a personal vendetta against two powerful Gods," Thirteen answered. "I even believe one of them is behind everything happening now, including your first meeting with the Infernal, Arkael."

Zaphiel frowned at those words. He wanted to brush off the teenage boy’s words, but Zion sounded so confident that it made the Celestial ponder if his meeting with Arkael was truly not a coincidence.

"Then do you have a plan to beat those two powerful Gods you’re talking about?" Zaphiel raised his hand and summoned a throne made up of stone, which he set down and sat on.

"Do you want to hear the truth or the answer you’d like?" Thirteen asked back.

"The truth," Zaphiel replied.

"You see, fighting Gods is both easy and hard," Thirteen replied. "Take the God of Wanderers for example. This world is going to get invaded. Wouldn’t this problem be solved if he just swooped in and massacred all the Infernals, forcing them all to retreat?"

Zaphiel frowned because he hadn’t thought of it that way. More like, he had always wondered why Gods, with the overwhelming powers they had, couldn’t solve these problems with a wave of their hands. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"It’s because even Gods are bound by laws," Thirteen continued his explanation. "Usually, they send Champions to deal with the problem that needs fixing. The Goddess I hate more than anything in this world plans to send someone to kill me.

"I’m sure she will appear anytime during the battle. By dealing with that person, I can deal a blow to that Goddess, which will be a win on my side. Of course, I don’t plan to end it there.

"I will strive to face her head-on on the same playing field. By then, I’ll make sure I’ll be the one left standing."

"Can you really beat a God?" Zaphiel asked in a doubtful tone.

"In theory, yes," Thirteen replied. "I tried it once, and my old man killed me."

Thirteen’s lovers listened silently to his story. The fact that their lover intended to have a showdown against Gods made them admire him more than ever.

"Then, do you have any advice for me?" Zaphiel asked in a serious tone. "I want to stop being a pawn."

"Only if you are serious."

"I am serious."

Thirteen finally looked up to gaze at the Celestial sincerely asking for his advice.

"Defeat Mammon first, then I’ll help you flip this table to make those so-called players understand they can’t finish a game without their chess pieces."

"Deal," Zaphiel replied without hesitation. "But tell me one thing. Was I wrong to want to be free from the shackles that bound me?"

"No," Thirteen replied. "You’re not wrong."

"Hearing you say that makes me feel a lot better."

"You’re welcome."

Zaphiel was similar to Thirteen. He had also tried to rebel against his role because he hated seeing his Hosts die miserable deaths.

It nearly drove him mad, and Kate’s incident was the one that pushed him to damnation and beyond.

The Celestial and the teenage boy exchanged a wry smile with each other, fully knowing that this would be the greatest battle of their lives.

————

A/N: Only one Chapter tonight.