Back To Soverick.
The Will of a world god pulled and pulled but his mind remained immovable. It refused to be sucked into an unknown space. So the Will pushed instead. It wanted to barge into his mind. His mind rebuffed its attempt again. It is not a matter of strength. It is a clash of Wills. He doesn't have as much a strong Will as the sage but his mind is anchored by a very powerful entity. The sage will have to overcome Legion-7's ability to manipulate souls for it to gain access to his mind.
He waited until the brutish attempts stopped before he opened his mind up for communication. He has proved his point so he allowed the sage to appear in his mind. A white eye appeared within a dark space. Soverick's mental space is black like the void. The eye and the golden monkey stood opposite each other above an abyss of darkness.
At the bottom of the abyss is an octopus monstrosity. It is the source of light in this dark world. The octopus monstrosity is what the illusion lady that tried to control Soverick saw. Back then, Legion-7 looked more monstrous because it was an amalgamation of several laws that he has devoured. But Legion-7 has fully reformed the body of the beast now thanks to the serpentine world god.
The eye observed the dark mind space for a while. Then it regarded the octopus monstrosity in the abyss that leads to nowhere. The first sage can only see one portion of it because it is so large and because the abyss is so deep. What little he can see is very disconcerting. There is a thin tentacle that extends from the golden monkey down to the monstrosity in the abyss. And that's not good.
"You're not Soverick." The sage said. "What are you?"
The sage is sure that this isn't Soverick. The way Soverick died ensures that he will stay dead unless he is an Origin god. What the sage is seeing right now proves to him that this person is not Soverick. It looks like Soverick and acts like Soverick but it is not Soverick. It is certainly not the one he pulled into his mind space for their first meeting.
The golden monkey shrugged. "It doesn't matter what it is that I look like. I am a battle sage monkey and I am Soverick to you. That is what I know to be true. You promised him something so you promised me something. Soverick did his part so I am here to collect my debt."
The sage knew it to be the truth as absurd as it sounds. That's what is perplexing him further. He can sense truths and lies when it comes to the communication of the mind so he is sure that the entity he is speaking to believes itself to be Soverick.
He spoke, "I see. So what do you want?"
The golden monkey smiled and replied. "First I would like an explanation. I participated in that competition because of your promise of safety. You even swore an Oath to protect me. It seems my trust was misplaced."
"I tried to protect you, I really did. But the other world god killed you before I could help. He used his law of order that you imbibed from that rank 10 monster to kill you instantly. Nothing could be done." The sage explained.
"Is that so? What about this nonsense about Salvini defeating and killing me?" Soverick asked.
He knows how he died. What he doesn't know is why his death was falsified to glorify someone else and destroy his reputation.
The sage replied, "Your death would have destabilized the plane. They needed their hero and it is only right that I give them someone to look up to. Salvini is not a bad option to become the child of the plane."
Soverick nodded at the explanation. "It is fortunate that you just happened to have my connections attached to the core of the world fragment ready to be grafted to someone else."
The eye glinted sharply but it restrained itself. There was no outburst for Soverick's accusations. The first sage continued to explain calmly, "It is all a coincidence really. Your act of tampering with the core created a link between you and the world fragment that came in handy after your death. It is a fortunate coincidence if I ever saw one." The sage said with a straight face or in this case, a straight eye
Soverick laughed. He clapped and said, "Good one."
The sage watched him laugh without feeling any guilt or shame. He did what he did without remorse and for the good of the plane. It benefitted him but that doesn't mean he will feel guilty. He won't even feel guilty about destroying a realm much less causing the death of a single person. Guilt is for weaklings. You shouldn't feel guilty for killing and robbing. The day you start feeling guilty for taking or doing whatever you want is the day you deserve nothing.
Soverick spoke. "You know, I noticed that the core connected with me when I gained access to it. I suspected you will do something against me. I thought that you will trap my consciousness within the core and force me to do your bidding. I knew you know how to take my connections by killing me but I never thought you will do it. After all what's to gain by having me killed and who else can be a better child of the plane than me?"
Then he paused and shook his head. "I guess I was being full of myself. Knowing you and your intelligence, I never thought you will try to replace me because I am the best child of the plane ever. I thought I was too good to be replaced and I thought you needed me for the era of conquest. I guess I was wrong. I was very wrong."