On top of the mountain was a man with long grey hair.
His hair was immaculately trimmed and reached the floor beneath him.
His eyebrows were like swords, and his face looked like it was carved out of metal.
An otherworldly sheen exuded from him, which could only be perceived with Ether Sense.
It was like all the Ether in the surroundings was drawn to him.
Yet, at the same time, an unfathomably pure mass of Metal Ether was coming out of his body, which spread into the surroundings.
Most shocking of all, the man was kneeling…
In the middle of the air.
The man hovered about a meter off the ground, while his steely eyes were focused on Kyle.
The others noticed that Kyle was looking at a specific mountain, but they only looked around in confusion.
"What's up?" Falk asked.
"Eeeehhh," Kyle said.
"Approach. Alone," the voice spoke.
"Sure?" Kyle said with uncertainty before turning to the others. "Guys, I gotta go talk to the floating man over there. Be right back."
"Floating man?" Michael asked with skepticism and surprise.
Selene's eyes widened.
"The Captain said the Champion of Skysand is stationed here," she said.
The eyes of the others widened in shock.
The Champion of Skysand!
One of the three Transcendents of the Skysand Kingdom!
They wanted to see him, but they just couldn't see him.
Meanwhile, Kyle jumped from peak to peak until he reached the peak with the floating man on it.
During this entire time, Kyle's instincts hadn't stopped screaming at him.
When he reached the peak, he stopped in front of the floating man, who just looked into Kyle's eyes in silence.
Seconds passed.
"Yeah, so, I'm here," Kyle said.
The man kept looking into Kyle's eyes in silence, making Kyle feel quite awkward.
"Fortune and misfortune," the man said after a while.
Kyle looked at the man awkwardly. "Yep, they exist," he said.
"Do you consider your role to be a fortunate or unfortunate one?" he asked.
"Role?" Kyle asked.
"Theodor's inheritor," the man said.
"Oh, that," Kyle said. "You win some, you lose some, you know? He pushes me a lot, but he's also the reason why I'm as strong as I am."
"Are you strong?" the man asked evenly.
"Yeah, I would say so," Kyle answered.
The man looked into Kyle's eyes, who just looked back awkwardly.
'Brah, I can see why the Chief is so shit with people,' Kyle thought. 'Usually, I would think this guy is otherworldly and proud, but chances are that he's also just super awkward with people.'
"Is your strength enough to survive?" the man asked.
"Imma need more information to answer that question," Kyle said. "Like, right now? In the future?"
The man just looked at Kyle.
"Eh, I guess," Kyle started saying after a couple of seconds of silence, "my strength is pretty good right now, but in the grand scheme of things, there are still thousands of people who can kill me. Stuff is relative, you know?"
Silence.
"Can you fulfill your role?" the man asked.
Kyle's mind shot through his mission.
He was supposed to kill Hieronymus… and maybe a couple of his children.
Kyle shrugged his shoulders. "I guess… maybe?" he said with uncertainty.
The man kept looking at Kyle. His expression hadn't changed yet.
"Theodor can't hear us right now," the man said.
"Wait, what?" Kyle asked. "How?"
"The Inheritance Crystal in your mind is just that, an Inheritance Crystal," the man said. "It is made of metal. I know metal."
"Do you have any doubts or questions?" the man asked. "Doubts about Theodor?"
Kyle felt strange.
For the first time, he could say something without Theodor listening in.
Kyle looked to the side with an uncertain expression.
What should he ask?
Was Hieronymus a good king?
Did he deserve to die?
Was Theodor crazy?
Many questions shot through Kyle's head.
Eventually, he took a deep breath.
"Nah, I'm good," he said. "I think he has been quite honest."
"I see," the man said slowly before closing his eyes.
"After you return, ask him about Karma," the man said.
"Okay, sure," Kyle said. "Soooo, does that mean I'm supposed to leave?"
"Yes," the man answered.
"Okay, good, sure thing," Kyle said. "I'll be going then. Nice talking to you."
Then, Kyle awkwardly jumped away from the peak.
As Kyle landed on another peak, he looked back.
The man was gone.
'Crazy,' he thought.
"A piece of advice," Kyle heard inside his mind. "What has never been alive cannot suffer."
"Eh, sure, thanks," Kyle said. "I'll remember that. See you soon."
Then, Kyle jumped to another peak.
"You have talked to Silvester?" Theodor suddenly asked.
"Oh, you're back, Boss," Kyle said.
"What did you talk about?" Theodor asked with a neutral voice.
"Not much, really," Kyle said.
"Not much?" Theodor asked with a suspicious tone. "Silvester is one of the most introverted people in the world. He rarely speaks to people."
"Yeah, I noticed," Kyle said. "That's why we didn't talk a lot."
"Give me specifics," Theodor said.
"I mean, it genuinely wasn't much," Kyle said. "He said something about fortune and misfortune. He asked me if I'm strong. He asked me if I could fulfill my role."
"Basically all my answers were, I don't know, I'm not sure, or it depends."
"Oh, but he told me one thing I should ask you," Kyle said.
Kyle could feel that Theodor wasn't happy.
"Yes?" he asked.
"He told me to ask you about Karma," Kyle said.
Kyle couldn't feel Theodor's reaction.
Usually, he could feel whenever Theodor was angry or displeased.
But, right now, Kyle just didn't feel anything.
Nevertheless, Theodor remained silent for a couple of seconds.
"At some point, I had to tell you anyway," Theodor said. "May as well tell you now."
"Karma is a real concept. It acts like a Law, but it can't be understood," Theodor said. "Karma is a part of how the world works."
"However, Karma is not relevant to almost everyone."
"Karma only concerns eight people in the entire world. The Transcendents. It has no impact on anyone else," Theodor said.
"Okay, cool," Kyle said. "But what is it?"
Theodor remained silent for a bit.
"The world treats Transcendents differently from mortals. In this case, mortal refers to any non-Transcendent."
"When a Transcendent kills a mortal without sufficient reason, their Karma reduces. Karma is important for many things, and it is also the primary reason why the Transcendents are not killing any soldiers from the other kingdom."
"Every mortal death reduces the Transcendent's Karma, and if it reduces by too much, the Transcendent will experience negative consequences, the most extreme of which is death."
Kyle's eyes widened as several things shot through his mind.
Yet, the most prominent thought wasn't even related to Theodor, Silvester, or Hieronymus.
Kyle remembered a sheet of paper he had signed.
An employment contract.
The employment contract that the Magic Lady had handed him.
More specifically, Kyle remembered a specific clause.
"The Enforcer Trainee takes all actions committed as an order by the client onto their own conscience. The client assures that it will not make any illegal requests."
At that moment, Kyle understood.
This referred to Karma.
When he became an Overseer, his employer would tell him to do stuff.
And all of the atrocities they would tell him to do would be deducted from his own Karma. 'That's why they fucking chose me!'
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