Pov: Third person
Far away from Vik and his disciples, back in Azure Mountain City on the Northern continent, there is something happening that is directly related to Vik.
In the lavish penthouse, situated at the top of Horison Guild, Louriel is sitting on her throne, surrounded by her undead creatures. Soon, space in front of her distorted, and an undead came out from that space distortion.
That undead is Winston, the most loyal undead of Louriel. Coming in front of her, he bowed. Looking at Winston, Louriel asked in her usual cold tone, "Winston, did you successfully complete your mission?"
Hearing her cold words, Winston bowed more and said, "My liege, I have done everything as you said."
Louriel narrowed her eyes and said, "Well done, Winston; you saved yourself from becoming an ashtray. Now brief everything you did before I change my mind."
Winston shuddered after hearing the words ashtray and, without wasting any second, started briefing Louriel about everything he did, "My liege, as you ordered, I followed Vik and his disciples through the eyes of my undead summons. I took extreme precaution; I used technology to monitor them most of the time, and I only left when they left for the Western continent. Currently, they are travelling in a white submarine."
Louriel listened attentively to his explanation as she was the one who ordered him to monitor Vik and his disciples, then she asked, "Winston, did something happen while they were leaving the continent or anything more than normal?"
Hearing that, Winston gulped and said, "Yes, my liege, a particular incident did happen."
Louriel smiled coldly and said, "Oh! Did something happen, and when are you going to tell me about this? Should I wait till tomorrow, ask everything from your bones that had become an ashtray on my table."
Winston again shuddered as he knew Louriel's anger, so he continued without showing any delay, "My liege, while just moving out of the port city, Vik's group visited a continental cruiser. I tapped into its surveillance system, and through it I got to know that someone sent an SOS from that cruiser, which was intercepted in the middle because the chief security officer of that cruiser himself intercepted it, as he was involved in an illegal incident."
Louriel listened attentively as Winston continued, "There is an incident at the ship, particularly when a person called Luther decided to attack a man named Noah by confronting him inside the engine room of that cruiser, but somehow Vik got the SOS and saved Noah, and beat up everyone who was trying to kill him. After that, he took Luther and Noah back with him in that submarine, towards the Western continent."
Louriel smiled and said, "That guy Noah, I am sure he is someone from a big family on the Western continent now crippled because of some Chosen one destroying him and his family, right, Winston?"
Winston: "Yes, my liege. I investigated Noah, and his full name is Noah Bloodborn, last heir of the great Bloodborn family of the Western continent. He is a prodigy who had a league of his own; he may be one of the brightest stars in this generation, but unfortunately, a few months ago his lover, a low-class girl called Ruby, started behaving strangely. Showing classic behaviour of a chosen one, my analysis is that she is possessed by a soul that is from another world."
"After getting possessed and becoming a chosen one, she flew like a rocket from nothing to a great figure in her generation. But Noah was not able to stand it, as he wanted her to marry him, as he wanted to get his love back, but that was his mistake."
"Mad in love, he gave her the secret arts of his Bloodborn family, which she used against him by releasing the family bonded to him through blood oath and defeating him in a duel. After that, he became a crippled fugitive who, by chance, ran away from the Western continent and almost reached the Northern continent, but his old enemy Luther found him, leading to an incident where Vik helped him."
Louriel: "Okay, there is no need to explain more; I already get it. The summary of this is simple: Vik now gets another disciple. It is good for him and me as well; the more chaos he created, the more pressure would fall on this world, and due to all this chaos new paths will open."
Louriel tapped her pale, manicured fingernails against the armrest of her bone-carved throne, the steady click-clack echoing through the cavernous penthouse. In the dim ambient lighting, the ethereal blue flames dancing inside the eye sockets of her surrounding undead sentinels flickered in rhythm with her thoughts.
"A fallen prodigy, a betrayed legacy, and an otherworldly parasite masquerading as a darling of the heavens," Louriel murmured, her lips curling into a sharp, poisonous smirk. "How wonderfully cliché. The fabric of fate in this world loves recycling such melodramatic tragedies. And right on cue, my dear scholar snake slithers in to pick up the broken pieces."
Winston remained kneeling, his skeletal head bowed so low his metallic skull almost scraped the polished obsidian floor. "My liege, do you intend to intervene? If this transmigrator named Ruby has truly bound herself to an entity capable of distorting fate, Vik's presence in the Western Continent will inevitably provoke the higher-tier powers that maintain the continental balance."
"Intervene?" Louriel let out a soft, amused scoff that dripped with condescending disdain. "Why would I interrupt a masterclass in theatrical destruction? You still fail to understand the true nature of that snake, Winston."
She stood up from her throne, her midnight-black robes cascading down her slender frame like liquid shadows as she strolled toward the floor-to-ceiling glass wall of the penthouse.
Beyond the glass lay Azure Mountain City, bathed in the twilight glow of artificial mana-lights and sprawling neon arrays. Below her, the entire Northern Continent's criminal underworld and commercial veins functioned under the invisible grip of the Horizon Guild. Yet to her eyes, all of it was merely a localized chessboard—a tiny sandbox compared to the grand planar theater she aimed to conquer.
"Vik does not merely collect disciples," Louriel continued, her crimson eyes gleaming with cold, calculating intellect. "He collects anchors. Every single broken soul he takes under his wing is someone the 'Heavens' rejected, discarded, or attempted to sacrifice at the altar of some pathetic protagonist's ascension. By repairing Noah's broken path, by feeding that fallen genius and giving him a foundation born of chaos, Vik isn't just raising a disciple. He is crafting a walking paradox."
Winston raised his head slightly, his spectral flames glowing with sudden understanding. "A paradox that the heavenly Dao cannot account for..."
"Precisely," Louriel said, a dark chuckle escaping her lips. "When a recognized 'Chosen One' like Ruby encounters an anomaly that completely defies the established laws of fate, the system governing her begins to bleed. The strings snap. The deterministic narrative that binds this world fractures at the seams."
She turned around, the shadows around her throne swirling as an ancient, leather-bound grimoire floated into her open palm. Dark, necromantic runes flared to life along its spine, burning with quiet malevolence.
She closed the grimoire with a sharp, resonant thud.
"Winston."
"Your command, my liege!" Winston replied instantly, shivering with anticipation.
"Recall our subterranean scouts from the maritime border," Louriel ordered, her eyes narrowing with chilling precision. "Do not attempt to spy on Vik while he is in the Western Continent. Let him do as he pleases."
"Understood, My Liege!"
"Instead, redirect all our dormant intelligence cells within the Central Plains," Louriel's smile broadened into something utterly predatory. "Instruct them to quietly monitor West Oak City, the Vance Guild, and the Heavenly Sword Pavilion. Let Vik tear through their front doors and turn their grand auction into a circus. When the dust settles and the protagonist's foundation crumbles... we will be the ones to collect the leftover spoils from the shadows."
Winston, still in doubt, asked, "My liege, if our goal is to create chaos, then why don't we do that ourselves, but more than that wouldn't it be better to do that on higher worlds? The higher worlds and planes have more chosen ones than this world."
Louriel laughed coldly and said, "Your empty skull will not understand plans of fate, Winston."
"You know, originally I also intended to send Vik into a higher world for him to create more chaos, but soon I realised he is doing more than that while staying here."
Seeing Winston's confused skull, she continued, "Winston, you have to understand, those chosen ones like me also are a force of nature that will not stop until they reached there destined end. In this process, they ascend many worlds; some even ascend worlds every week, but what will happen if a chosen one destined to ascend a world and reach the immortal world dies in a small world like this?"
Winston, finally understanding, replied, "It will create a chain reaction."
Louriel: "Yes, chosen ones are like an unruly river, Winston, and rivers need to reach the ocean. So rather than letting that river shape Vik is destroying it from its source, in turn making fate put great pressure on this world."
"If this continued, then this world would become the final stage of this era's ultimate fight."
She raised her hand, casually dismissing Winston with a flick of her wrist.
"Go, my pet. The stage has been set, and the snake has already coiled around the board. Let us see how long that false protagonist can dance before she realizes... the script no longer belongs to her."
After saying that, she orders every undead under her to do their task, while she herself sits back on her throne and silently mutters, "It's time for my main body to get involved in this."