Chapter 912 - 913: Amadeus

The lich seemed intrigued. That was all Seras could think as she saw how its hollow gaze remained fixed on Damon.

As for Damon himself, he was sipping wine and acting as if he were not staring down an eccentric old monster of an evil magical path.

"Come, come... sit. Tell me about yourself," Damon said, making everyone in the expedition force go pale with fright as they gauged the lich’s reaction.

The lich paused, then slowly moved to where Damon was.

Damon was about to summon a chair from his shadow storage when the lich waved his hand, and a chair made of bones appeared behind him.

From where he was sitting, Damon could feel the aura. Still, he had met someone who was worthy.

"What did you mean by ’predated his existence’?" the lich asked softly, his ancient voice low, almost a whisper.

Damon swirled his wine glass, then glanced at the lich.

"Have you heard of a paradox?"

"Yes. It is a simple concept. A contradictory statement of opposing natures that is both true. There are at least ten definitions of what a paradox is."

"You have asked me two questions now," the lich answered calmly.

Damon froze. He blinked in confusion.

"Wait, that doesn’t apply—" he stopped himself. The lich had said he would answer three questions. Damon hadn’t realized the old monster would answer them first, and without specifying that he was doing so.

"Touché, friend. Touché," Damon replied, feeling Seras’s angry glare on him. Honestly, it wasn’t his fault. This lich was cheating.

The lich’s gaze remained fixed on him.

Damon knew he couldn’t continue buying time anymore, but he really didn’t want to talk about the Unknown God in front of so many people if he had a choice.

"The Unknown God is said to have existed before the moment of his birth. He existed in both extremities of time. Apparently, he only became active quite recently, at least compared to when gods like Doom ruled."

There was silence from the lich.

"Interesting... interesting indeed to think... no, that should be a small feat for the Unknown God."

He glanced at Damon with a cold aura of the dead.

"Your words seem to suggest you have knowledge of a time before even the goddess."

Damon paused for a moment. His eyes were fixed on the glass in his hand, but really he was looking at the reflection of Seras’s blade in it. She gave him a subtle nod, which made Damon want to bite his lips.

"Perhaps... what I know is frighteningly little. Still, knowledge should be shared. I’m sure you think so too, friend."

"Amadeus of the West," the lich replied sternly. "I am Amadeus."

Amadeus.

Damon didn’t really know the name. It must have belonged to someone noteworthy. As for how Damon knew that, well, that was easy.

Side characters didn’t go naming themselves after a direction. That was a sign of a great expert.

While Damon was ignorant of Amadeus, Seras had heard the name.

"You... you are Amadeus the God Seeker..."

"A great mage from the First Epoch who was said to have walked the Path of Kings. Amadeus sought the knowledge to become a god. He named himself after the West to symbolize the setting sun, a representation of the dusk of gods. He lamented, and to this day seeks the way to transcend the limits of the world."

Damon understood why she was saying all this. She was telling him while acting surprised, and honestly, he appreciated the trouble she went through.

"I am merely a forgotten name," Amadeus said. "I’m surprised I am still remembered."

Damon sipped his drink.

"I see you walked the Path of Kings. It’s not every day I see someone who experienced Lysithara and all its beauty."

"I am not surprised you would appreciate its elegance. After all, the armor you are wearing is from Lysithara," the lich said, his gaze resting on Damon’s Ascendant armor.

Damon touched his armor, putting down his glass.

"Oh, this old thing... it’s nothing. Personally, I’m curious as to which Ascendant you studied under."

The lich didn’t mind the small talk. It was rare for him to meet anyone who knew Lysithara. Damon was an exception, and worthy of his respect.

"I learned from Valarie Sunwarden. You wouldn’t be familiar with her."

"I see. What a small world... She was my teacher too. Did she have that know-it-all attitude back when she was teaching you?" Damon asked. Having met someone who was acquainted with Valarie, he was genuinely happy to see someone who remembered her at all.

The lich sighed, shaking his body or bones, in this case.

"Yes. She had a tendency to teach in the most inopportune times. She wouldn’t stop until you got it. She especially hated it when her students lost to the students of other Ascendants. She’d encourage us to pull childish pranks on them to get even."

Suddenly, the lich didn’t feel like such a terrifying creature, just an old man reminiscing about his youth.

"Of course, we won more than we lost. However, whenever we lost, it was always against that no-good scumbag, Mugu..."

Damon paused when he heard the name of the Wicked Prophet, the one who had caused it all.

Seras Blade froze. Her gaze, seen through the reflection, urged Damon to probe him more. Knowledge about the Wicked Prophet was far too scarce.

"Hm... Mugu. I see. So you knew him."

The lich seemed irritated, his aura rising.

"We were in the same class. He was just a boy from the Demon Continent, nursing a grudge and hoping to return home to meet his—"

The lich paused. Slowly, his aura stilled. He must have realized Damon was probing him.

"Touché, friend. Touché," he repeated Damon’s own words.

The morning sun forced its way past the dark canopy of trees overhead, shining on them both.

Everyone tensed up, thinking the lich would react, he didn’t. Amadeus was quiet.

"Now my turn to answer," he said. "Tell me what you know."

Damon crossed his arms, glancing at everyone behind him, the expedition force.

"This is blasphemous, and I’ll have you know that just possessing this knowledge can be grounds for heresy and execution. Personally, I’m safe. I am, after all, the Holy Child."

His gaze remained on the lich. They both knew he wasn’t speaking to the lich. He was speaking to the expedition force.

His words translated into one thing: share what you hear here at your own peril. I am highly valued. I am untouchable. You aren’t.

Basically, he was telling them to keep it secret.

One of the mages shook. Her desire for knowledge was great; consequently, so was her fear for her life. Still, she took out an oath scroll.

"I sign this scroll and swear secrecy to the events of today."

She signed it in her blood, then passed the scroll to the next person. Soon, everyone had signed.

Seras took the scroll and signed, not because she needed to, but because she had to if she wanted to keep her soldiers’ morale high.

When the scroll reached Damon, he didn’t sign. Instead, he tossed it into his shadow storage.

He was the one telling the secret. He didn’t need to sign.

"Now then, where was I... ah, yes. The goddess wasn’t always a god. If anything, she was just like you. Well, not like you, since you’re undead. I mean she was human. A mortal."

"She was born. With a mother and a father, I imagine."

When Damon said that, he heard members of the expedition force gasp in shock.

"My goodness..."

"Goddess have mercy..."

"Oh, have mercy on my soul..."

"It’s heresy..."

These were the whispers, and this was why Damon hadn’t said it before they’d signed. To them, it was unbelievable. For a goddess they weren’t even sure existed to be flawed.

Religious people were flawed like that, always trying to defend an all-powerful god when that god didn’t need their defense. The goddess probably didn’t care. Still, these people would ravage and kill in her name. Notwithstanding the fact that she was a goddess of doom and war.

The lich didn’t care for their reaction. Instead, he shifted in his seat, leaning forward.

Damon crossed his arms.

"In the beginning, the omniverse where we all exist was ruled by amoral entities called the Old Gods, or the Old Ones. They were older than concepts like love or kindness. They ruled the world until a select few rebelled. The ones who did somehow became gods and defeated the Old Ones."

"This includes the goddess."

"How... how did they become gods?" the lich asked aggressively, seeing hope in his pursuit.

"I do not know," Damon spoke calmly.

"Perhaps the Outsiders know," he added.

"They don’t. I asked them," the lich, Amadeus, replied.

Damon lifted his head slightly.

He asked them. Of course he did. Amadeus had been here since the First Epoch. The Outsiders were active then as well. Maybe this was an opportunity to know more about them.

"They don’t know," Damon said, "or they refused to tell you."

Amadeus gritted his teeth, the bones grinding against one another on his fleshless face.

"They refused me... keeping their secrets. In their eyes, I saw disdain for us of the lower Realm. Oh, curse the goddess for creating me in a world such as this..."

"A world in a cage," Damon added.

The lich froze.

"Wha... what do you mean..."