The Legendary Mechanic, page 882
The next moment, the seal broke through the suppression and erupted, instantly incinerating the soul of this manifestation.
“Hmm‽”
Oathkeeper, who was leading the way at the front of the revived Primordial Ones, instantly turned around and saw the manifestation that collapsed to the floor.
“Someone just triggered the Soul Flame seal…”
Uncontrollably excitement appeared in Oathkeeper’s eyes.
Could it be… the legendary spy has appeared?
Ha! It’s been so many years I almost thought you really didn’t exist!
You’ve finally shown yourself!
Chapter 1241: Sorokin“s Bizarre Adventure 2 |
The soul energy he used to possess the Holy Accord warrior was incinerated, but Sorokin could not be bothered with the fact that he had been exposed. Thinking of what he saw before his manifestation collapsed, disbelief appeared on his face.
Dozens of Primordial Ones, all alive till today… did they fake their deaths like me‽
Sorokin could not believe it.
Impossible!
Some of them were definitely dead. Even their ashes were scattered!
How did they get past the exploration era, hide their existence, and live till now?
Is this place actually the nursing home for the Primordial Ones?
Or have these people been hiding for so long and planning an astronomic conspiracy‽
Sorokin completely lost it. The more he thought about it, the more terrified he was.
He had never heard of this organization before. Could he be the only one in the universe who knew this secret?
This time, Sorokin suddenly shivered. He hastily ordered the leader of the mercenary group, “Split up the fleet immediately. Retreat in different directions and run at full speed!”
For the first time in a long time, Sorokin panicked.
He was confident in his strength. Originally, he felt that the success rate of retrieving Soul Flame was not low. He only got a bit more serious even when he saw three Beyond Grade As earlier and did not think he could not do it.
However, to his absolute shock, there were more than thirty Beyond Grade A there!
The situation far exceeded what he expected, who in the world could deal with this!
Dozens of Beyond Grade As far exceeded the limit of what he could deal with. Plus, he had triggered Soul Flame’s alarm, which was basically the same as poking the hornet nest. Sorokin immediately lost any desire to continue his plan; all he wanted to do was immediately run out of this area as far as possible.
At this time, the mercenary group leader looked at the remote observation images and suddenly screamed, “Boss, their fleet moved and is heading toward our direction. Plus, dozens of high energy reactions suddenly appeared on the radar, all possibly Beyond Grade As!”
“What are you standing there for then? Run!”
Sorokin was furious and shocked.
He could secretly find out more about this organization in the future, but if he got caught now, there would be no ‘future’ to speak of!
The mercenary group split up right away. The main ship Sorokin was in sent all its energy into the engine, entered overload mode, and fled at full speed in hyperdrive. The starlight outside the window was stretched into lines.
However, only shortly after they started fleeing, a deafening alarm rang on the radar!
Boom!
The next second, the entire spaceship suddenly trembled and exited from hyperdrive mode. The huge inertia caused everyone but Sorokin to fall onto the floor.
Sorokin ignored the screams of pain of all the crew and hastily looked outside the window.
The cosmic space around was filled with magic arrays. Glass-like translucent arcane tentacles extended from within and tangled around the entire spaceship tightly. The arcane tentacles squeezed the spaceships continuously, and the sound of the metal armor tearing up could be easily heard in the cabin as cracks appeared and extended on the alloy walls.
At the same time, a magic teleportation suddenly opened up right in front of the spaceship. Beiger and the group of Primordial Ones walked out.
“Beiger!”
Flames of rage filled Sorokin’s eyes. He ground his teeth.
Damn Mage!
This time, the spaceship was suddenly taken over by a Virtual Mechanic among the Primordial Ones and opened its communication.
The next moment, Oathkeeper’s projection appeared in the cabin. He sized Sorokin up. His tone was thirty-percent curious, thirty-percent excited, and forty-percent annoyed.
“You’re the one who dodged Soul Flame’s seal and possessed my subordinate?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Who are you?” Sorokin was on full alert.
“Interesting, you’re not going to tell us you just happened to pass by, are you?” Oathkeeper narrowed his eyes.
“Listen to me, I…”
“You’ll have plenty of time to explain later!”
Before Sorokin finished speaking, dozens of Beyond Grade As attacked at the same time. A shocking amount of energy headed right toward the spaceship Sorokin was in.
Boom!
The spaceship was instantly shattered into atoms. Sorokin dashed out the cabin at the last moment. Feeling the hopeless strength difference between him and the enemies, he was filled with despair.
He wanted to calm these people down with words first, but they attacked right away, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Although his physical body was not the core of his life, he did not want to end up in the hands of these people.
“There’s no other way!”
Sorokin clenched his teeth and retrieved most of his Soul Seeds. Suddenly, his entire vibe changed and became cold and violent. An enormous energy shockwave erupted from his body, creating visible ripples in the cosmic space around him!
Feeling this energy, Oathkeeper’s eyes turned serious. He pulled his teammates into a mind chat channel and said, “Careful, this guy is very strong. Don’t let down your guard.”
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of us!”
They laughed and charged forward.
An intense battle erupted instantly. However, within seconds, Sorokin was completely overwhelmed, and the battle became one-sided.
His actual strength was indeed very strong, on par with even peak Beyond Grade As. However, he had yet to step into that higher territory and was still a normal Beyond Grade A.
With dozens of Beyond Grade As attacking him together, Sorokin could only get thrashed. Even if it was the evolved EsGod, he would still meet the same end.
All Sorokin could do was try not to die. Very soon, his mask was shattered, and everyone saw his face.
“This guy is… the Limitless Financial Group’s Sorokin?”
Oathkeeper was surprised.
He did not expect the guy who infiltrated his organization to be the renowned head of the biggest consortium.
Isn’t this guy known for being weak? Isn’t he among the weakest Beyond Grade As? Why does he have this level of strength?
Has Sorokin always been acting weak and hiding his strength? Is he this cowardly?
While he was being confused, Beiger suddenly noticed something from Sorokin’s combat style and exclaimed, “This Esper Ability… Are you Soul Emperor?”
“What?” The others were shocked. They hastily observed Sorokin, and everyone discovered some clues.
The modern people could only analyze Soul Emperor’s abilities, whereas they were in the same generation as Soul Emperor and had fought him God knew how many times. They noticed it right away.
Hearing this, Sorokin was filled with frustration.
He had always avoided going all out because he was worried about being recognized, but in the end, it still happened.
He knew he could not deceive these people who were familiar with him. Plus, he already planned to give up this identity. Thinking at least they shared some common topics, he gave up acting and yelled, “That’s right, it’s me! Aren’t you *ssholes dead? How are you here‽”
“It’s really you, Rovell Sissock!”
The Primordial Ones were surprised and slowed down their attacks.
If it was a stranger, they would not have been affected at all. However, Soul Emperor was someone in the same generation as them, so he was at least a familiar face. They were all very curious about what was going on with Sorokin.
We didn’t revive you. Did you not die?
Beiger’s expression changed slightly. He recalled what Black Star said in the past that hinted Soul Emperor had always been alive.
“Did you fake your death?”
Beiger was shocked.
“I clearly beat you to death back then. You did not leave any sign of life at all. How did you do it?”
“You’re one to bring it up!” Sorokin dodged another magic missile that had more than enough power to penetrate a planet. Veins popped up on his forehead as he was reminded of what happened in the past.
Back then, his physical body had lost its life, and he had indeed been on the brink of death. The strong sense of frustration and hate in his mind had pushed his potential to explode, causing his Esper Ability to evolve. In the last moment, he had acquired the [Immortal Soul] ability. Otherwise, he would have died during the exploration era war along with his physical body.
This time, Oathkeeper thought of something and suddenly started to doubt his thoughts on the spy.
From the way it looked, it does not look like Sorokin knew about us long ago. Is he not related to the leak of the organization’s information in the past?
“I didn’t expect you to be Soul Emperor from back then. You’ve hidden yourself really well… How did you find us?”
“I was just trying to retrieve Soul Flame and followed my senses. I didn’t know about you guys at all.” Sorokin clenched his teeth. “Stop attacking, let me go!”
Oathkeeper recalled what happened earlier and believed Sorokin mostly, but he still shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter if you knew before or not. You’ve found our secret today, so there’s no leaving. We’re all people from the same generation. We can have a good chat… but that’ll be after you lose the ability to resist. Stop resisting. There’s absolutely zero chance you can escape, so why prolong your suffering?”
The others nodded in agreement. Most of them did not intend to kill Sorokin right there. After all, they knew him from the old era, and they all wanted to hear Sorokin’s experience in the past years.
Bang!
This time, Sorokin’s face got punched by Pangon again, blasting him away flying. He forced himself to stay focused and observe the battlefield. His heart kept sinking.
Dozens of Beyond Grade As formed an encirclement. He had no chance of breaking through it head-on at all. In terms of mobility, as a mind Esper, he was no match for the teleportation spell of a Mage. There was absolutely no way he could escape.
Is this really going to be the end for this shell I’ve spent so much effort raising? I was supposed to use it against Black Star, but I haven’t even seen Black Star’s face yet!
Although Sorokin was confident to a certain extent that he would not die there because of his Esper Ability, he did not want to take the risk if he could save his body too. After all, he had already faked his death before; these people would definitely be more careful.
How many years has it been since I was last in such a desperate situation‽ I’m still not ‘cowardly’ enough. If I knew I’d end up poking the hornet nest, why did I think about killing Black Star? Isn’t just retiring quietly so much better‽
Sorokin was filled with regret.
“What, still not surrendering?” Beiger snorted. “Don’t think just because we know each other, I won’t kill you. I’ve killed you once, and I can kill you again!”
Suddenly, it occurred to Sorokin. Memories deeply buried in his mind surfaced.
“I remember now! Holy Accord, you guys are the Holy Accord!”
The memories of the exploration era became vivid again. Sorokin had heard of the Holy Accord back then but scoffed at it and did not join.
As so much time had passed and Primordial Ones died one after another, he thought that secret-association-like Holy Accord organization had long disappeared.
When he just saw the dozens of Beyond Grade As, he was too shocked and occupied with fleeing, so he did not think of this at all. However, when he tried to find a way to escape earlier, his mind had spun rapidly, and he finally recalled this ‘rumor’ that once circulated around the Primordial Ones during the exploration era.
Therefore…
“Reviving using the Sanctums is real‽ You guys succeeded‽”
Sorokin’s expression changed drastically. His tone was filled with disbelief.
If they came back by being revived, everything would make sense. He never thought such a rumor with absolutely no proof or whatsoever would be true!
Seeing that Sorokin had figured out the truth, everyone present was surprised.
Soul Emperor was in the same generation as them, so it was not impossible for him to figure it out. However, although they were already mentally prepared for that, the moment their secret was exposed, they were still shocked.
At this time, bolts of lightning crisscrossed in Sorokin’s mind and connected everything he had just experienced. A plan quickly appeared in his mind, followed by joy, as if he had seen light in a dark cave. He found the only hope he had of escaping!
The Holy Accord was so secretive definitely because they did not want the information about the Sanctum to leak, this was the only leverage he could use—he would only have a chance if he bet on these people being afraid of leaking this secret!
While thoughts flashed through his mind, Sorokin yelled without hesitation, “You guys have been hiding and protecting the secret of the Sanctums, but you guys definitely remember that I can possess others with my ability. Yes, I can’t escape from this encirclement today, but before you guys kill me, I have the time to control my manifestations in other Star Fields to spread out the information about the Sanctums! Stop this immediately if you don’t want your secret to be leaked, or I will share this information with everyone right now!”
As soon as he said that, the others’ expressions changed, and they slowed down their attacks subconsciously. They turned to look at Oathkeeper.”
“… Are you threatening us?” Oathkeeper’s eyes flickered.
“You’re leaving me no choice; I just want to live!” Sorokin wiped away the blood on his forehead. Although he had no confidence, he could only act firm. “You’re the master of Soul Flame. You can try to see if you can stop me, but can you deal with the consequences? It’s better if I’m the only one who knows this secret than the entire universe finding out about it,” Sorokin said.
Oathkeeper sized Sorokin up for a while silently. As the atmosphere kept getting more intense, he suddenly raised his hand, signaling for the others to stop attacking. “All of you, stop.”
As soon as he said that, the others stopped attacking but still surrounded Sorokin with hostile expressions, not letting him escape.
This indeed hit Oathkeeper’s weak spot. He knew what exposing the information about the Sanctum would mean. Comparatively, Sorokin’s life was insignificant.
Oathkeeper was an expert in the mind too, but he did not have complete confidence he could stop Sorokin from activating his Esper Ability to control his manifestations. God knew what new abilities this guy learned after living for so long.
Oathkeeper did not want to push Sorokin too hard and force him into a corner. He planned to take it slow and see how things went.
Chapter 1242: Sorokin“s Bizarre Adventure 3 |
Seeing that everyone had stopped attacking him, Sorokin finally heaved a sigh of relief. His body was covered in wounds.
Although the duration of the battle was not long, the strength difference was too huge. He was crushed by dozens of people the entire time and was quite heavily wounded. An ordinary Beyond Grade A would have been done for long ago.
Luckily, he had a flash of insight and found the Holy Accord’s weak spot. Just knowing their weak spot was not enough; he had to be able to use it as a leverage and only an extremely few people in the entire universe could do that. Sorokin was one of them. No one knew how many manifestations he had and where they were hidden.
Furthermore, they were not sure of what method Sorokin used to fake his death, so they did not dare do anything impulsive.
This time, Sorokin endured the pain all over his body, suppressed his annoyance, and put up a stiff smile.
“Ahem, ahem. See, this is much better. We all know each other. We should use a peaceful method to solve our misunderstandings. There’s no need to resort to violence.”
Oathkeeper hovered in space and said, “What ideas do you have?”
Sorokin’s mind spun quickly. “We can totally work together.”
“Work together?” Oathkeeper sized Sorokin up.
“That’s right. We’re all from the old era. The conflicts we had in the past have dissipated with time. We’re not enemies now. Today was just a misunderstanding. My goal is actually just Soul Flame, but I coincidentally discovered your secret. The biggest issue between us is that you guys don’t trust me. You’re worried that I, an outsider, will leak your information, so you want to capture me…”
Sorokin had calmed down, and using his magical mouth trained through his business experience over many years, he started negotiating.
He observed everyone’s expression, paused, and continued. “However, you guys can’t stop me from leaking your information now, and I’m also worried you might do something to me. We both have worries. Therefore, working together is the best choice for all of us. If we can peacefully come to an agreement, we can avoid escalating the situation that’ll do neither of us any good.”
“How do you want to work together?” Oathkeeper narrowed his eyes.
Sorokin smiled. “Simple. You guys are worried about me leaking the secret, so you don’t trust me enough to let me roam outside. Therefore, you might as well let me join the Holy Accord and make me one of you. Then, isn’t the problem solved?”
