"I’m thinking of ways to kill you."
Jason gave the Mind Apostle a hard glare, and the Mind Apostle huffed pridefully!
"Of course you are! It is only natural that you would envy my majesty! Such is the manner of lowly creatures! They understand that they can never rise to the height of their betters, so they put all their effort towards trying to bring them down to their level! I have had to suffer such envy all my life! I can understand why you desire the death of someone so much better than you so desperately!"
"If you think you’re so much better, then why don’t you bring your real body here and talk to me face to face?"
Jason had a condescending look on his face as he said this, and the Mind Apostle narrowed his eyes in anger!
"It is not your place to question me! My actions are always right, and you will bow to my superiority! That is the way things must be, and you have no choice in the matter!"
The Mind Apostle was still looking down his nose at Jason, but Jason ignored his ranting as he glanced towards Varina’s dead body. Jason realised in that moment exactly what was going on here. The Mind Apostle didn’t just come here to gloat! The Mind Apostle came here because he didn’t want Jason to talk to Varina!
"You killed her because you didn’t want me to learn what she knew about the Mind Arts. Now I understand what’s going on: you’re afraid of me, aren’t you?"
"!"
This one sentence actually made the Mind Apostle stop and look at Jason in pure shock. Jason looked into the Mind Apostle’s eyes, and Jason smiled when he saw genuine anger flash across the man’s eyes! Jason had finally gotten under the Mind Apostle’s skin! But that anger vanished just as quickly as it came, and in the next moment, the Mind Apostle threw his head back and laughed! The laugh was loud and maniacal, like a jackal crying out in the middle of a forest! Jason simply waited patiently for the mad laughter to die down, and the Mind Apostle spoke up!
"Me? Afraid of you!? How dare you!? I have met many jesters in my day, and I have seen many fools, but you have surpassed them all in this one moment! I fear nothing! You are nothing but a stepping stone! A pawn in my grand plan! I will mold you into my perfect vessel and use you for my ambitions! In time, you will understand that your pathetic life is of no value and you will give yourself to me willingly!"
Jason’s condescending look didn’t waver, and Jason stepped forward.
"That sounds like a lot of bitching from someone who’s afraid to even face me himself. You’ve been saying a lot of bullshit about pride and confidence, but all I see in front of me is a pathetic excuse for a man who would rather send mind-controlled creatures to do his dirty work for him. You’re nothing but a coward."
This time, Jason’s words had actually stung the Mind Apostle, and Jason felt a smile growing on his face as the Mind Apostle frowned in anger! But for some reason, the Mind Apostle still didn’t attack him! The Mind Apostle simply raised his hand to the side, and his white sword flew towards him. And then he gave Jason a few last words!
"Your feeble mind could not comprehend the majesty of what I have planned for you. Today is not the day of recompense. Instead, I will leave you with the knowledge that I have set my sights on you, Shadow. And just like all others, you too will kneel before me one day. But until that day, you may go on living in your pathetic existence."
A portal opened behind the Mind Apostle, and Jason didn’t bother to do anything as the Mind Apostle fell back into the portal and vanished! The cave was still littered with the many dead clones that Jason had killed, and Jason looked down at them and put his hand out!
"Resurrect."
Doon!
Jason’s mana spread across the region, but nothing happened to the bodies, and Jason realised that the bodies were not connected to the Mind Apostle’s soul at all! Jason activated [Necromatic Reanimation] to try and bring the bodies to life, but that didn’t work either, and Jason frowned! It was as if these bodies were empty shells. Mannequins that had only been moving around because the Mind Apostle was controlling them from somewhere else! But now that the Mind Apostle was disconnected, they had returned to their lifeless state.
Jason’s eyes finally moved towards Varina, and Jason’s frown deepened! The Mind Art’s user looked like a very spontaneous person who did things for no reason at all, but Jason knew that this was only a cover! Jason knew that the Mind Apostle killed Varina because he didn’t want Jason speaking to her! Varina was one of the most skilled Mental magic users in the Primordial Expanse, so Jason might’ve been able to figure out a way to track or counter the Mind Apostle powers if he spoke to her and learned what she knew! Jason felt annoyance growing in his heart before he let out a calm sigh and went down on one knee to close Varina’s eyes! Jason then turned to the side and spoke to Azrael.
"Did you tag him?"
’Yes, my king. I placed the rune tag on him without his knowledge.’
Jason nodded at Azrael’s answer before he spoke to the Legion subordinate he had placed in the Mind Apostle’s shadow.
"Make sure you don’t lose him. If you can’t follow him all the way back to his hideout, then try to get me the general location."
’Yes, my king.’
The Legion member responded immediately, and it continued following the Mind Apostle! Jason knew that it would be pointless to kill the Mind Apostle again since the Mind Apostle could just recreate more bodies, so Jason had snuck a shadow soldier into the Mind Apostle’s shadow that would allow Jason to track the Mind Apostle all the way back to his hideout. From what Jason could see through the [Eye of the King], the Mind Apostle was travelling across the sixth domain very quickly, and Jason simply waited to see where the Mind Art user was going while organizing a plan in his head!
The conversation Jason had with the Mind Apostle just now made Jason realise that the Mind Apostle had been targeting him from the start for some reason! The Machina attack on Earth and the Bengari attack inside the Blue Gate had all been direct attacks at Jason himself, and even though Jason didn’t know why the Mind Apostle was so fixated on him, Jason wasn’t going to allow that bastard to do whatever he wanted! Jason was going to kill him before he gets a chance to launch another attack!
Jason turned his attention back to the Legion subordinate following the Mind Apostle, and he used the [Eye of the King] to track their movement.
The Mind Apostle had already travelled through two worlds now, and even though the Mind Apostle was moving really fast, the Legion subordinate was still able to keep up. From what Jason had felt during their confrontation, Jason knew that the Mind Apostle was probably somewhere around Titan Rank II in strength. Any random subordinate from Jason’s Legion could defeat him in a one-on-one fight. But the Mind Apostle’s strength wasn’t what was dangerous. It was his skills and gifts that made him dangerous. Jason continued to track the Mind Apostle using the rune he had placed on him, but Jason narrowed his eyes after a few minutes passed and the rune suddenly vanished!