Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 783 - 724: Divine Child, Deceiver

Hunger was the first sensation that arose within Lyle’s body. It felt irrational, yet Lyle understood exactly what Susanna intended to convey. Devouring, plundering, using the newborn Intangible Sons as sustenance, digesting them like chewing raw flesh, as if to transform divine infants into a part of oneself. Even though they originated from the same source as Susanna, and were ’siblings’ closest to her in physical structure and bloodline, Lyle wholeheartedly endorsed this dark ritual that resonated with ancient, barbaric customs deep within his heart.

New knowledge instantly emerged from instinct, knowledge of ’feeding’ shared with him by Ominous. Fortunately for Lyle, the primitive form of the Intangible Sons did not consist solely of material components, and perhaps the process would be more elegant than he had imagined.

The Elf Executive leaped over the cliff of the boundary first, morphing into a nightmare behemoth midair, like a whale crashing into the sea of the subconscious and tossing up huge waves. Those dirty grey-black waves did not fall with the behemoth’s advance; instead, they seemed to freeze over the surface, leaving a trail behind the monster.

The fixed waves were torn apart by tentacles that followed, the only remaining beauty sucked into chaos. The Omen Giant strode on the water, its tentacles of chaos carelessly slapping the surrounding spray. Following the trail left by the nightmare behemoth, the Omen Giant moved towards the undulating depths of chaos beyond.

With no clear distinction up from down, the concept of a ’water surface’ seen within the realm of dreams disappeared the instant they plunged into the subconscious sea. Ominous seemed to walk upon the water, submerge at the seafloor, or fly in the air. The murky colors around lost the common sense distinction between ’sky’ and ’sea,’ and the sense of distance and direction was confused. This was indeed why Susanna left the trail – guidance was needed here, and Lyle could only vaguely feel that he had not yet reached his destination.

Traversing an indescribable distance, having spent a time that was not simply ’an instant,’ Ominous halted in place. The trail before him had vanished, and the surroundings had turned into a hazy expanse, with no sight of the emerald coasts of the dreamland. The Omen Giant was lost in the ocean.

"I can’t hear my own heartbeat; is this a vacuum?" The moment this thought surfaced, it was denied. Sound is relative; only when an abrupt heartbeat occurs in silence, can one hear their own.

Feeling within, Lyle was certain that nothing had changed inside him.

"The heartbeat should be there; it’s just that I can’t feel it..."

Because... The blurry face of the Omen Giant stretched into a hideous smile, and the twisted laughter quickly turned into a cacophonous symphony. The sound grew clear, eventually becoming piercing.

"I can’t hear the heartbeat because everything in this space is fluctuating with the sound of my heartbeat; [They] hear my heartbeat."

The Intangible Sons were all around him, Susanna had led him to the very center of the birthing chamber. They were a group of chaos unobservable, their existence form somewhere between energy and matter. It was only when the Omen Giant bellowed an unreplicable ’tenor’ that these Intangible Sons slipped up.

Lyle saw them.

The Intangible Sons, when observed, appeared as a cluster of long tentacles with faint glowing spots, squeezed together like cells, their tentacles undulating in the gaps between individuals. The center of the cluster showed little variation, while aurora-like flickering patterns occasionally sparked along the tentacles.

They were watching Ominous.

No longer disguising themselves as the surrounding subconscious sea, the Intangible Sons began to mutate anew. They started to stretch, becoming elongated and darkened, with their starry spots shining brighter. Limbs and torsos emerged, wrapped in tentacles. They were imitating, imitating Ominous. Each one did so, slowly extending their tentacles, ready to touch the simulated incarnations of Ominous.

Lyle did not interfere, nor was he worried that the Intangible Sons would surpass their own nature by imitating Ominous. That was an impossibility, as the Intangible Sons belonged to the Kin Clan of the Evil God, just like Ominous. The Evil God was one of the powerful ancient gods of chaos, representing the most ancient and primitive concepts, devoid of sharp, rational thought. Their very existence being so powerful, the Evil God seldom used their intellect, and of course, their higher cognitive processes were incomprehensible to mere mortals, although they were quite straightforward. When a group lacks the wisdom to break norms, their hierarchical system becomes absolutely rigid; the Kin Clan’s power is derived from their lineage, their closeness to the ancient Sleeping God.

And Ominous was the Divine Child birthed in flesh, while the Intangible Sons were merely a defense mechanism nurtured in the subconscious ocean. Even if this wayward son were rebellious, he would not be outdone by mere janitorial robots.

Moreover, Lyle was curious about the characteristics of the Intangible Son.

The Phantom Clan, how similar they were to the Intangible Son, perhaps the Phantom Clan was an extension of the technology of the Intangible Son.

Both being imitators, becoming their own Kin Clans’ Phantom Clan, perhaps they could find a new path upon the Intangible Son.

With this thought in mind, Ominous didn’t resist and instead took the initiative to touch the probing tentacles of the Intangible Son.

Probing, a form of communication that transcends language and mental connection, sharing information through physical contact, is the most efficient way of information dissemination for the Kin Clan of the Evil God. Well, the deepest probe, which is assimilation, is to become completely one with another individual. For the Intangible Son, communication, and feeding are not separate concepts.

Ominous watched the glowing tentacles intertwined with his own branch-like arms, emitting bright specks of light. A bridge was constructed between the Intangible Son and the Omen Giant, they began understanding each other, delving into one another.

However, the information Lyle passed on was forged, no one said you had to tell the truth, right?

So Lyle, communicating with a group of newly born Intangible Sons that had no concept of true or false, acquired many new pieces of knowledge.

The process of communication could be simplified and translated like this:

Intangible Son: "You are very special, my superior kin."

Lyle/Ominous: "Of course, because I am the inheritor born from the bloodline of the Father God, I will inherit the glory and the world of the Sleeper Triton, I am... the Deceiver."

The Intangible Son nodded in admiration, not fully understanding: "A name similar to Father God’s, although I don’t grasp the meaning of Deceiver, it must be a very prestigious title. We are the Intangible Sons, the guardians who eliminate the dangerous elements threatening Father God." The Intangible Son defined Lyle’s lies as truth, because the Evil God had no need to lie, the prestige of Ominous alone proved his authenticity. The Intangible Son never imagined that a prince of the Evil God would willingly become an insect, and be willing to betray his own Father God for these ants...

Lyle/Ominous smiled; these Intangible Sons didn’t know that the greatest threat to the Sleeper was right in front of them.

The renowned Andrey Lich, the Evil God juvenile, Dragon King Priest Mr. Lyle Butler had a new idea.

He wanted these spicy chicken wings to work for him.

"I, the Deceiver, am the heir to the Sleeper. Everything of the Sleeper, in the future, will be mine. Including servants like you."

"So, why don’t we skip the intermediary steps and go directly to the last one?"

"Become the Deceiver’s servants, Intangible Sons."