Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 267: Unseen Forces

’Estea’ couldn’t, for the life of ’her’, understand their lack of instinct for self-preservation. Even after witnessing the system nearly crash and their Race Ruler Authorities deactivate—an event that should have sent them fleeing for their lives—they had lingered.

Why weren’t they afraid? Why didn’t they grasp the gravity of an existence that could make something as fundamental as the Universe’s Ruler Authority system malfunction?

With a shake of ’her’ head, ’Estea’ turned ’her’ attention back to Jamie who was searching through Kumal’s soul.

Kumal was a Deity Level 400, vastly stronger than Jamie in his current state. Searching his soul would have been nearly impossible for Jamie under normal circumstances—unless he shattered Kumal’s mental defences first. To do that, he needed to deliver a blow so devastating it would leave the elf’s mind in ruins.

What better method than to strip away the Race Ruler Authority Kumal had worked tirelessly for tens of thousands of years to obtain—a symbol of his pride and accomplishment? The act left the elf mentally broken, allowing Jamie to delve into his soul with ease and uncover everything he needed.

As Jamie concluded his search, ’Estea’ shot him a sharp glare and demanded.

[And you—what’s the big idea making such a fuss over something so trivial?]

Jamie looked up from the mind-broken elf and turned to meet ’her’ eyes as he spoke.

"This bastard. He’s the one who sent that dragon."

’Estea’ blinked, momentarily taken aback.

[Huh?]

Jamie sighed and further explained so the Planet’s Incarnation could understand.

"The gate malfunction. It was him who caused it."

He was also the one behind the Elves in the Snowy Dimension—the one who had ordered them to attack.

Hearing this, ’Estea’ had ’her’ brows furrow in confusion. Why would this guy go through all that stress?

Jamie did ’her’ the favour of explaining before ’she’ even asked.

"He has a grudge against Seren. She killed his father, and he was trying to get back at her by killing her grandchildren."

This revealed that the targets the elf leader and the high elves within the snowy dimension had mentioned were none other than David and Davina.

However, that wasn’t the real issue at hand. Jamie’s reaction wasn’t driven by that revelation.

The true concern was the dragon.

Eyes locked with ’Estea’, Jamie asked.

"Where the hell did this elf get an eight-headed arch dragon to work for him?"

That was the detail Jamie found confusing. That was the piece in the puzzle that felt out of place.

’Estea’ looked at Jamie in confusion when he mentioned the dragon.

Dragons were notoriously prideful, rarely deigning to serve anyone, especially those of other races unless there were compelling circumstances—contracts, bargains, or some mutual benefit.

So, maybe Kumal had something the dragon wanted and they entered a contract, or they had some unknown deal.

But just as ’she’ thought about that, ’she’ quickly dismissed the thought.

Jamie wasn’t stupid. Even if he lost his power, it was only his Physical Body and Energy Core that were affected.

Jamie’s Soul—the core of his existence and the most important Existential Aspect—was still that of a Zenith Haven Realm Existence.

This was why Jamie could pull off the spectacle he had just done. Of course, his Singularity nature had a part to play but that wasn’t the point here.

The point was that there was no way Jamie would miss something like a contract when searching Kumal’s soul.

Yet, he still asked this.

’That means something doesn’t add up.’

That was the conclusion ’Estea’ came to.

The Recognition Inhibition spell Jamie had cast on the Vampire trio allowed others to acknowledge their presence but obscured their identities, preventing anyone from pinpointing exactly who they were.

Jamie had used a low-level version of the spell, one that any Deity could easily see through. However, he hadn’t been concerned—after all, he had no intention of encountering a Deity at the time.

But Kumal was in Efvahona. He had noticed Nimon, the Elf whom Jamie put in charge of OmniVerge moving around a lot and decided to take a look.

This was how he discovered David and Davina were in Efvahona and upon noticing there wasn’t any Vampire Deity nearby, he decided to act now.

He took advantage of his contract with the Eight-headed dragon to get its spatial coordinates and nudged the spatial tunnel in the direction of that Dimension.

If not for that contract’s link, Jamie would have detected Kumal’s involvement immediately since the Elf would have needed to use a Spatial Authority otherwise—something Jamie wouldn’t miss even in his sleep.

As for why Kumal failed to perceive Jamie’s power, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Jamie had concealed his current power. His concealment was so good that even Lapis, a Race Empress had not seen through it, much less Kumal.

In searching the dragon’s soul, Jamie discovered that it was subordinated to someone else, not Kumal.

"That dragon was someone else’s [Retainer]. But I can’t tell who since the dragon was so low in the hierarchy."

That was the first red flag for Jamie. Why he initially felt the dragon’s involvement was out of place, like a mismatched piece in the larger puzzle.

However, the real issue that drove Jamie to find Kumal and search his soul wasn’t the dragon’s allegiance but what he uncovered within its memories.

Both the elf and the dragon shared one disturbing commonality: neither had any recollection of the dragon’s true master.

As Jamie searched their souls, he found that the entity who had handed the dragon over to Kumal—for an entirely separate task—was nothing more than a vague, black, distorted silhouette in their memories.

The voice tied to this silhouette was androgynous, devoid of clear identifiers, leaving Jamie unable to determine whether it belonged to a man or a woman.

This deliberate obfuscation deepened Jamie’s suspicions, making it clear that whoever was behind this had taken extraordinary measures to conceal their identity.

Another troubling detail was that, although the plan Jamie uncovered from their memories was fragmented and riddled with gaps, it was tied to two locations he could not ignore: the Pinecone Galaxy and Planet Zotov.

When Jamie mentioned this to ’Estea’, ’her’ expression turned grim, and ’she’ fell silent.

Thinking on the shadowy, distorted figure he’d seen in the memories—something he could have easily seen through if he had his full power—Jamie rubbed his chin thoughtfully before speaking.

"It seems I can’t dawdle any longer." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He summoned the Galaxy Sword and swung it, beheading Kumal in one swift motion. The EXP due to their level gap gain allowed his Deity Level to surge straight to 290 in one go.

As he unsummoned the sword, Jamie declared.

"I’m heading to Pinecone tomorrow."

The power he had left behind in the Amphitheatre of Eternity needed to be reclaimed—and soon.

◇　◇　◇

Unknown Location

Unknown Planet

Unknown Dimension

December 6th

Year 2018

A certain figure who was busy shifting pieces across their intergalactic chessboard suddenly froze, their brows furrowing.

Something was amiss.

One of their Retainers had just perished.

They quickly the list to find out who was gone and it didn’t take long for them to discover who it was.

The eight-headed dragon they had entrusted to that elf—Kumal—was dead.

Their expression darkened. It wasn’t merely the dragon’s death that troubled them; it was the fact that the dragon’s soul, which should have returned to them due to their Authority of Death, was missing. Stolen.

No, not missing. Taken.

"Someone took the soul right after the kill."

The figure murmured, their voice neither wholly male nor female, but a distorted blend of both.

They clenched a gloved hand, their nails digging into their palm.

The implications gnawed at their mind. Why would someone take the dragon’s soul? What could they hope to gain from such an act?

Their gaze turned outward, piercing through dimensional barriers to lock onto the distant planet where the plan had been set into motion.

But the mortal ice elves who were supposed to execute it were nowhere to be found. In fact, the domain of the ice elves on that planet was in ruins.

’Were they attacked?’

Narrowing their eyes, they shifted their focus towards the giant breach in space, then towards Estea on the other end of the gate.

But they didn’t let their gaze linger for long.

Estea was an Intergalactic Hegemony, with far more Deity Realm Existences than the rest of the Universe knew about.

There were dozens of them on the Planet’s many moons at any given time.

However, that wasn’t the only reason why allowing their gaze to remain on Estea for too long was dangerous.

’That Planet’s Consciousness.’

’Estea’ was far more sensitive than any other Planetary Consciousness. If their gaze lingered for too long, then ’Estea’ would no doubt detect them and thanks to a certain person feeding ’her’ dead Galactic Cores, ’her’ power was far greater than that of any Apex Planet out there.

’She’ might figure out their gaze was coming from another Dimension and the last thing they needed was to draw attention to themselves.

Pulling back their sight, they clicked their tongue in frustration. Even after meticulously scanning Estea’s surface, there was no trace of the dragon’s soul.

"Troublesome."

They muttered this, yet, a smirk crept onto their shadowed face.

"Good thing I took precautions. My existence is obscured. If blame falls anywhere, it’ll be squarely on the elves."

Still, the situation demanded caution.

"Best to stay out of the Vela Galaxy for now. Besides, it’s almost time to head to Pinecone."

Space fractured into a swirling portal and the figure towards through it.

In their mind, one name dominated their thoughts. The being they sought to bring down. The one they intended to seal.

With a final glance back, they dismissed their Intergalactic Chessboard and then stepped through the gate, the rippling energies swallowing them whole as they vanished toward the Pinecone Galaxy.