Soul Art Online

- Azazel -

"The contract was made through a virtual interface. How did he do that?" He pondered as he moved away from the hospital bed.

Baraqiel was still sitting beside the bed, looking at his daughter.

He felt bad for his brother who finally got a chance to meet his daughter but it was under these circumstances.

Shaking his thoughts away, he decided to face the other people in the room. "So, any idea where this guy came from?" He asked Sirzechs who was standing between two beds with his mother and sister.

The guy had been under immense pressure.

The son of Lucifer was killed and hung on his very castle and the entire mine of their magic mineral was whisked away. The entire Underworld was in a state of alert.

People were terrified and riots were happening in several places and the four of them have been working overtime to soothe the rising tensions of the people.

The man couldn't even spend time beside his trapped family member's bodies…

The answer came from Ajuka instead. "There were no records found about this person. Who he is, where he came from, everything is unknown. We don't even know how he formed contracts with those three or that Goddess Tiamat… was even alive for that matter."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I was the one who personally led the attack on Babylon under Father's orders. We wouldn't have dared to do so if she had been alive. Both she and her first husband were strong… far stronger than any of you can imagine. If they had been alive, even if Heaven had won, it would have been pyrrhic at best and we would have been slaughtered by other Pantheons. She was dead. If not, there was no way those guys in the Mesopotamian Pantheon would still be alive. She would have killed them without a doubt. She died and the Dragon King Tiamat was born from her remains."

He took a deep breath. "And yet… she is somehow back. Did that guy…"

"How did he do it? Not to mention, Great Red and Ophis?"

The more he thought about it, the more of a headache he got.

He turned to look towards another person in the room. "Was… was Father actually exhausted from sealing that… that thing?"

Michael's face took on a sad look and he nodded.

Azazel couldn't even imagine a being that could force their Father to that extent… and that was just to seal it while it was asleep.

They moved out of the hospital room to a meeting room.

"What do you all know about this game?" He asked.

Ajuka shook his head. "As much as others. We checked and it turns out that not even the employees who work in the company knew who they worked for. Everything was fake. The owner of the company didn't know anything either. They were checked thoroughly and there weren't any signs of tampering with their memories… or at least any that we could notice. They are currently under custody, being questioned by the governments of different countries about the way to end the game. It was due to this that several governments contracted us. Several other supernatural beings were contracted too."

"Yes. We received several requests as well. Not that anyone would dare to accept those." he shook his head.

The entire Supernatural world was shaken due to the example made of Rizevim. He might not be the strongest one in the world but he was quite up there on the Totem Pole. Not to mention the threat of releasing that thing and then coming out to deal with everyone by themselves.

" By the way… what about that Thanos guy which the Gamemaster spoke of?" Michael asked.

"The Mad Titan, the purple guy and someone who had erased half the life of the universe?" He shook his head. "No. There has never been any records of any such beings. Not even the oldest of Gods knew of such a being. The Greeks are running around trying to find out any clues about this guy but to no avail."

"I have heard that several Pantheons have taken to aim at Zeus after the mention of the Titan." Michael said.

"Oh they did. People from all over the world were so publicly endangered. There has never been a case where a supernatural force had taken a direct action of this scale involving humans. Zeus is running around, panicking at the slightest of things since the reveal of that name."

"I personally think that he was just trying to throw us out of the loop. I mean if someone had actually erased half the life of the Universe… we would have known."

That was probably something he said to throw them out of the loop.

"Would we?" Ajuka asked and everyone in the room turned towards him.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't notice the word he used. He said 'universe'. Generally when we refer to our world, we use the word… 'world', in some cases 'planet' for the human world or even 'dimension' but never 'universe'."

"So you mean…" He narrowed his eyes.

"We have never been able to find out what lies outside the Dimensional Gap because…"

His eyes widened in realisation. "Great Red guarded it."

"But Great Red is now with him… so he… did he mean the ones… outside the world?" Suddenly realising the true meaning of the words and then understanding the implications of the words… he found his mouth open.

"It is still my guess but it does make a lot of sense. I mean… how does such a powerful figure remain unknown? This explanation does provide a reasonable explanation for this."

"The Mad Titan… are you saying that there is truly a being who erased half the life of the entire Universe?" Michael asked, shocked beyond words.

"But that kind of power… no. No, that's impossible. It's…"

….

….

….

….

No one spoke anything, still trying to wrap their minds around the idea.

And that Game Master had spoken of such a being as if it was a casual thing….

"Do you all have any plans for… rescuing the ones trapped inside?" Baraqiel asked, breaking the silence which had enveloped the room.

He looked at his brother and sighed. "It's not like we don't want to, Baraqiel but you must understand what would happen if anyone interrupts the game."

"Then we don't interrupt it." Baraqiel replied, gaining the attention of the people in the room.

"What do you mean?"

"The Game Master said that we cannot interrupt the game and that the game will only be stopped when it is completed… so… why don't we send in some people to assist in completing the game?"

….

"You want us to send people inside to who knows what kind of danger? Baraqiel, I understand that you are worried but this is…"

"How is it any different from any missions we did before this? There is always the danger of the unknown, always a risk of life."

"Well, for first, we don't even know if what the Game Master said was true."

"Do you think someone like him would have any reason to lie to us? You saw his power. The guy has the entire world in his hand right now. Why in the name of Father would he even lie?"

"But…"

"That's a good plan, Baraqiel." A voice interrupted his sentence.

Sirzechs had a serious look on his face. "What you said is without a doubt a viable plan. Can we have other people enter the game, Ajuka?"

Ajuka stared at Sirzechs for a while and then replied. "If we use other sources, it might be considered as interruptions but… if we could find other unused consoles and use those to connect… then maybe the Game Master wouldn't interfere?"

"You guys want to risk it all on a 'maybe'?"

"I am willing to risk my life." Sirzechs stood up and then turned to Ajuka. "Do you have any plans?"

Ajuka thought for a second… he was actually considering the insanity.

"Their official website wasn't under the control of the employees and we couldn't crack it. No one could find the place where it was being operated from. We could perhaps try contracting the Game Master through it. It's a long shot but maybe we could ask permission." He suggested.

Sirzechs nodded. "Then we do it. If there is no reply in a week, we will discuss what to do next."

"Alright."

Azazel closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

This… was much better than just running in blind.

"I will try to do the same. Maybe some other factions will be interested in joining this….operation if we actually get a permission." He spoke finally, looking at Baraqiel who nodded. "But you will not be going in."

"Azazel!"

"No arguments on this, Baraqiel. I will send the best people we can find but I can't afford to lose you at such a time." he replied firmly.

Baraqiel stopped the argument too but he knew that he was not happy.

This whole mess was turning out to be such a pain.