Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 305: Orikar’s Dilemma

After listening to Wanete’s narration of events, Jamie rested his hand on his chin, mulling over everything she had told him.

So, essentially, a group was plotting to reopen the sealed dimensional gate beneath the arena using the Stellar Keystone. Once the gate was open, one of them intended to recover lost summoning techniques from the other side.

Jamie wasn’t sure how the man could be so confident that those techniques were still in the same place after centuries—unless he had some secret method of contacting those beyond the gate.

Meanwhile, the other conspirator, a royal family member, likely planned to use the Xelvan army—the invaders from the past—to overthrow the Planet Lord and seize power.

The Stellar Keystone was the key to opening the gate and controlling access, determining who could enter and exit. To fuel it, they had been stealing magic power from eliminated summons throughout the tournament.

As for acquiring the Keystone, their likely plan was to seize it the moment it was unsealed for the tournament winner’s use—or simply ensure that one of their own men won the tournament.

Jamie had, of course, noticed the sealed dimensional gate under the arena. However, since it wasn’t his business, he hadn’t given it much thought, focusing solely on the tournament.

Now, he was discovering it was tied to a larger conspiracy.

Thinking over their plot, Jamie twisted his lips before remarking,

"I’d give them a six out of ten for planning. Not bad, but it could be better."

Yes, here he was, casually rating the enemy’s scheme as if it were a mere strategy exercise.

"What was his name again? The guy who detected you?"

Wanete responded to his question with a single word.

"Orikar."

Jamie nodded, then asked, "Did you get a look at his face?"

Wanete shook her head. At the time, her only thought had been survival. She hadn’t had the chance to see Orikar’s face, and that made finding him far more difficult.

Even for Jamie, finding someone on a planet with billions of people using only a name—without a face—was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Who knew how many Orikars existed?

Suddenly, Wanete’s eyes lit up with realization, and she quickly spoke.

"The blonde man he spoke to! I remember him calling Orikar the ’Council of Summoners’ Best’."

"Council of Summoners?"

Jamie raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar organization name. David, on the other hand, was already searching the web for more information.

"They’re the governing body that regulates summoners on this planet. Registrations, quests, commissions, and things like that. I’m looking up any Orikar associated with them, and..."

He trailed off, fingers swiping across the screen. Moments later, his search results popped up.

"Found him. There is an ’Orikar’ in the Council of Summoners. He’s recognized as the second-best summoner on the planet, right behind the Planet Lord."

David turned his phone around, displaying a picture of Orikar. He appeared to be a middle-aged man with unremarkable features—generic black hair, brown eyes, and a small beard.

However, just as Wanete had described, his skin had an unsettling sickly pale hue. In the image, his fingers were adorned with multiple rings, each embedded with a gemstone glowing in a different colour.

"It also says this Orikar has an adopted son, named after himself, competing in the Transcendent Division of the Tournament. And he passed the first stage, too."

Jamie raised an eyebrow at this revelation before chuckling.

"Hah. Would’ve been funny if I’d already eliminated him from the tournament."

Then, his amusement faded into thoughtfulness.

"This Orikar Junior is definitely involved in his father’s scheme. And since they were absorbing the energy of the eliminated summons, they must have used an Authority."

He leaned back in his seat, stretching his arms as he pieced things together.

"That barrier above the arena prevents outside Authorities from interfering, so Orikar Jr. must be the conduit—the key to making the energy absorption work inside the barrier."

As someone who had comprehended the Law of Summoning far beyond anything the people of Kaelithis could fathom, Jamie could easily deduce what kind of technique was being used to siphon the magic power of defeated summons.

A mischievous grin spread across his face as he finished his deduction.

"Honestly, I was already planning to mess with their plans just for fun... but it looks like I’ve already started." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Jamie’s words left the others momentarily confused, prompting him to elaborate.

"Wanete, they said they were absorbing the energy of the eliminated summons, right?"

Wanete nodded.

"Well, today, Glox and I wiped out more than half of the summons in the free-for-all. And I’m absolutely certain that whatever method, whatever Authority or Summoning Law ability they were using to steal the energy of the eliminated summons—it didn’t work on the ones Glox defeated."

His declaration was filled with confidence, and for good reason.

Jamie and Glox had eliminated thousands of contestants during the battle. If Orikar’s group had been relying on siphoning the energy of the fallen summons, then their entire plan would have taken a massive hit.

The reason?

Jamie’s Summoning Law Authority.

The default command of ALL Jamie’s Authorities was to invalidate the effects of all lower-tier Authorities.

He had summoned Glox using his Authority, and its energy enveloped Glox’s body.

On Kaelithis, no entity possessed an Authority higher than Jamie’s. As a result, whatever method Orikar had been using to siphon the energy of eliminated summons had simply failed when it came to anything Glox had taken down.

Unbeknownst to Jamie, he had already thrown a wrench into their entire operation.

"The next stage is the Round of 32. Then the Round of 16, the quarter-finals, the semis, and finally, the finals.

I bet the next part of the tournament is going to be very interesting."

Watching Jamie’s grin widen, Wanete could only shake her head in silent pity for Orikar and his collaborators. They had no idea what kind of trouble had just knocked on their doorstep.

With a snap of his fingers, Jamie rewound the room. The things that had been scattered across the floor when Wanete had pushed Davina down returned to where they were moments before, and the blood on their clothes faded away.

Then, he moved toward the door, leaving behind two simple instructions.

"Rest for a bit, kids. And don’t leave this booth."

◇　◇　◇

Meanwhile, on Orikar’s end, things were not going well.

In the headquarters of the Council of Summoners, Orikar—his real body—sat with a deep frown etched across his face.

The cause of his frustration was none other than Wanete.

She had definitely overheard his conversations with the unknown blonde man and his Royal Family collaborator.

The problem? They had no idea who she was.

Orikar had seen her face, of course, and had immediately ordered his subordinates to track her down.

Yet, even after running the image he provided through every database on the planet—both citizen and tourist records—there were no results.

It was as if she simply didn’t exist.

And that was a big problem.

’Was that appearance of hers fake? Just who had sent her?’

Questions like these swirled through Orikar’s mind. He couldn’t afford for his plans to be leaked, not when he was this close to his goal.

He needed to locate Wanete—wherever she was—and find out who had sent her.

Just as his frustration peaked, one of his subordinates suddenly barged into the room, breathless.

"Sir, I found her!"

"What?! Where?!"

The subordinate hurriedly turned his laptop screen toward Orikar.

"In the database of a resort called ’Lakssi’," he explained. "I found security footage of her leaving the building this morning with three others."

Sure enough, the footage displayed on the screen showed Wanete walking alongside David and Davina as they exited the resort lobby.

But it wasn’t them that caught Orikar’s attention—it was the man walking with them.

"Isn’t that—?!"

"Yes," the subordinate confirmed. "That’s the contestant who suddenly appeared and wiped out half the competition in the first round of the tournament!

And just like the girl you asked us to find—and the two with her—we have zero records on them. It’s as if they didn’t exist until a few days ago."

Orikar’s fingers pressed against his chin as he mulled over the possibilities until he landed on a single conclusion.

"They’re from another world. They must be."

His subordinate’s eyes widened in shock at the implication, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it as Orikar posed another question.

"Did you find anything on the relationship between the four of them?"

"All we know is that they’ve been together at the Lakssi resort for the past three days. I checked the resort records and found that they were staying in rooms booked by the silver-haired man.

Oh, and according to one of the resort staff we questioned, she overheard them calling that man ’Lord.’ So, they might be in a Master-Subordinate relationship."

Orikar narrowed his eyes at his subordinate’s response.

’If he’s their Lord, then he’s the one who sent her, right? But how did he even learn about our plans? How did he know to send her there?

Is he with the Xelvans?’

Too many questions. Too few answers.

Still frowning, Orikar spoke.

"We have to assume our plans have been compromised. If he knows our intentions, we need to eliminate all of them. Have you located their current positions?"

His subordinate’s expression darkened as he shook his head.

"No, sir. After the tournament’s first round, some officials and Royal Family representatives tried to find the man, but he completely vanished into thin air. No one has been able to pinpoint his location since."

Orikar’s irritation only grew upon hearing this response.