CHAPTER 318: WHAT A MILLION YEARS AMOUNT TO

"Little mouse~"

I chuckled at the Architect, watching as those countless violet eyes darted frantically through the darkness, searching for answers that would never come. The tables had turned so completely that I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

(How was that, Master? Was I cool?)

Virion’s voice rumbled through my mind, carrying that familiar note of dry amusement. (Yeah, but not as cool as me.)

(No.) I had to fight to keep my expression neutral. (You were late, so we’re taking points away from you.)

(Oh? Do you want me to leave then?)

The threat, even delivered in jest, made my blood run cold. I went silent for a moment, then quickly replied in my mind.

(You are the coolest in the world, Master. Please, don’t leave this disciple of yours alone.)

Virion’s mental laughter was warm and reassuring, washing away the momentary panic. (Relax, my boy~ I’m not going anywhere. Though I must say, your performance was... adequate. You managed to unravel his web without revealing my presence until the perfect moment. You deserve an award for it.)

The emerald eyes behind me shifted slightly, and I felt the weight of that ancient gaze like a comforting hand on my shoulder.

Well, he was right. I managed to stall for time till the promised 10 hours passed. But he was really late. I couldn’t find his presence when I first asked Ossian to open a portal.

Thankfully, I did it the second time. Or more like Virion finally found us. And while tending to Zephyr, I quickly explained the gist of the situation and returned.

And here we were.

The plan... succeeded.

Hmm...

Pride and relief warred within me, a heady cocktail that I carefully schooled into a mask of cold control. The mental exchange with Virion had taken less than a second, but it was all the reassurance I needed to face the crumbling abyssal horror before me.

The plan, a desperate gamble built on stalling, misdirection, and absolute faith in my master’s eventual arrival, had somehow, miraculously, worked.

I hadn’t just outwitted the master manipulator; I had scammed him at his own game, and now he was well and truly caught.

Heh, look at him.

The Architect’s terror was palpable now, his skeletal form actually trembling in the void he’d created.

"Now then," I said aloud, turning my attention back to the cowering entity before me. "Shall we discuss the real terms of this negotiation? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re the one who needs to start making offers."

The violet eyes flickered with desperate calculation, and I could practically hear the gears turning in that ancient mind as he tried to find a way out of the trap he’d unknowingly walked into.

And now that Virion was here, now that I was truly in control, I needed to think strategically about our next move. What was the best course of action?

Killing the Architect outright was off the table from the start. Too wasteful. An entity that had survived for over a million years would possess knowledge and secrets that could prove invaluable. Ancient techniques, forgotten magics, lost relics - the wealth of information trapped in that skeletal skull was staggering.

But most useful of all would be intelligence about the Abyss itself. I lost the opportunity to learn about that realm and its inhabitants, its rulers, and their machinations before. But now, the Architect could provide insights into threats I didn’t even know existed before.

The question was how to extract that information without giving him any chance to turn the tables again. With Virion’s overwhelming presence backing me, I had the upper hand, but creatures like this were notorious for finding loopholes in even the most ironclad agreements.

Just as I was mentally cataloguing what to demand first, the Architect let out a ragged sound that might have been meant as laughter.

"Oh, boy," he rasped, the violet lights of his eyes flickering with something between despair and bitter amusement. "You really do keep surprising me. To think I’d be outmaneuvered by someone who’s lived less than a fraction of a fraction of my existence..."

Then, the eyes looked away from me, as if losing interest.

"I thought I was dealing with a clever little mortal, but it turns out..." His countless eyes fixed on the emerald orbs behind me with barely concealed terror. "Instead, I find myself face to face with something that makes my million years of existence feel like a child’s tantrum."

He leaned forward despite his obvious fear, violet light flickering like dying candles.

"What does The Primordial One want with this useless trapped Architect? Surely, you’re not here to rescue this insignificant boy, right?"

The Architect’s voice was a mixture of desperate flattery and pathetic hope, trying to redirect the attention of the vastly greater power he now faced.

A sound echoed through the void that was neither laugh nor growl, but something far more ancient and dismissive. It was the sound of a mountain acknowledging an ant.

"You flatter yourself, worm," Virion’s voice boomed, not in my mind this time, but through the very fabric of the ossuary, making the bone walls tremble. (You are not worth my time. Besides..."

The ancient, emerald gaze seemed to sweep over the cowering entity, taking in the entirety of his failed scheme and shattered pride in a single, contemptuous glance.

"You couldn’t even outwit my youngest disciple, and he’s barely lived two decades," the words dripped with such disdain that the very darkness seemed to recoil. "What makes you think you have any right to question me, worm?"

Whoa, Master’s roasting skills are terrifyingly high.

But I didn’t expect him to be this savage.

"A million years of existence, and this is what you amount to? Reduced to begging children for your freedom because you lack the competence to escape a mortal-made prison?"

The Architect’s skeletal form seemed to shrink under the verbal assault.

Master was absolutely ruthless as always. Though I had to admit, seeing the Architect getting torn apart verbally is oddly satisfying after what he put Zephyr through.

"Do not presume to know my motives. And cease your pathetic attempts to manipulate this conversation. Your little tricks are transparent to me. I have a thousand ways to make you disappear from existence, each more permanent and painful than the last. Your prison would seem a paradise compared to the oblivion I can offer. And..."

...Oh, is he gonna say what I think he’s gonna say?

"I have yet to collect payment for you laying a finger on my disciple."

Virion’s eyes went to deadly slits as his voice dropped to a whisper that somehow filled the entire void.

Oh no. I know that tone. Someone’s about to have a very bad time.

"Gah-!"

"Grr-!"

"Urgh-!"

Suddenly, agonized screams tore through the darkness - raw, primal sounds of suffering that seemed to come from the Architect’s very essence.

The countless violet eyes squeezed shut in unison as his skeletal form writhed in what looked like unbearable torment.

Yikes.

I couldn’t even tell what Master was doing to him, but it sounded like he was being turned inside out.

Note to self: never, ever get on Virion’s bad side.

The screams echoed through the void for what felt like an eternity before finally, mercifully, stopping.

And I remembered something disturbing...

I already got on his bad side...

Wait! Was that why? Was that why he appeared so late?!

He did it on purpose!