CHAPTER 69: ANSWERS

"Shall I play your game and call that two questions?" Grandmaster Oswald chuckled before turning serious in the blink of an eye. He kept silent for a second with a vacant gaze in his eyes like he was arranging his thoughts.

"Both your questions still fall under one blanket... how power is defined in your world," he started. "You obviously know the early tier classifications—simply called Tiers 1 to 3. Titles are only given from Tier 4—Adept, though according to journal entries of ancient Exalted we have in our records, some do not consider Tier 4 as a titled tier."

Dale and a few others frowned at the latter part of Grandmaster Oswald’s statement. They had never heard of any such records. Veronica had, but from Grandmaster Oswald’s earlier words, she knew there was more, and he was about to reveal things she wasn’t aware of. Perhaps she’d only gotten access to a part of the records.

"The true titled rank of your world begins at Tier 5—Master, after that is Tier 6—GrandMaster—"

Zephyr frowned. He remembered Guide Rita’s earlier words about most people of this world fully adopting the classifications from his world, but he didn’t think someone of the caliber of Oswald, the head of a governing council of people in direct opposition to the foreign rule of his world, would still adopt the classification standard.

Grandmaster Oswald saw Zephyr’s expression and laughed, "If it’s not broken, we don’t need to fix it just for the sake of it," he answered Zephyr’s unspoken question. "I don’t bother myself with petty technicalities like that," he waved a hand in dismissal, looking towards Veronica, who was one of those particular about the title they were called by.

Her lips were set in a thin line as she looked on, unperturbed.

"And after that are Lawbearers?" Zephyr asked, drawing Grandmaster Oswald’s attention back to him.

The old man nodded solemnly. "They are described as walking embodiments of chaos. Wielding the ability to bend reality around them to their will like the world is their playground."

"Doesn’t that make them Gods?... Just like the Exalted make people believe?" Dale asked hesitantly, stealing a wary glance at the suave gentleman seated calmly at the end of the table. He was one of the three Half-Exalted in the council, and unlike the other two, he seemed to already know everything Grandmaster Oswald was talking about.

Grandmaster Oswald chuckled humorlessly at Dale’s words, "As far as I’m concerned, to us they might as well be Gods. A single Lawbearer could waltz right into Freehold, past every single one of our defenses, unopposed, and take their time to create a render that is a perfect copy of the Sanctuary, with no one noticing a single thing out of place. At that point, they could kill every single one of us cleanly, and there’ll be nothing we could do to stop it." His words sent shivers down the spine of the council members. Even Zephyr who had experienced Grand Commander Regina’s render had a frown on his face. ’Was she that strong?!’ he thought in surprise.

"I don’t believe we wouldn’t be able to put up a fight." Veronica shook her head. "We have you and other Grandmasters in this Sanctuary. And if all else fails..." she left the words unsaid.

Grandmaster Oswald snorted. "We would still be annihilated!" he asserted.

"..." Veronica’s gaze burned with unwillingness. The conviction with which Grandmaster Oswald had said the words made anything else she might want to say useless.

"Why do you think they are called Lawbearers?" He gazed at the now silent council members. "Rendering the reality of their choice isn’t what makes them so formidable. It’s their ability to declare laws within the reality they create that makes them God-like!"

"A Lawbearer could ban the use of magic within their render, making everyone within as helpless as lambs ready to be slaughtered."

Zephyr gulped, thinking back to his narrow escape from the Grand Commander. He had been extremely lucky. If he was a beat slower he would have been held down by the Grand Commander’s Law.

But the fact that he had escaped meant others could too. Lawbearers weren’t absolute. Their renders could be broken. Just as Zephyr thought along that line, Grandmaster Oswald also said the same, almost like he could read his thoughts.

"But according to the journal, there is a way to break a Lawbearer’s render," he said.

"—By finding a glitch," Zephyr completed his statement, meeting his gaze.

Grandmaster Oswald nodded, walking back to Zephyr. "Every render has a glitch in their construct. It is an inevitable and unchangeable fact. The world doesn’t permit a perfect reality to be superimposed upon itself, so there must be a flaw, a glitch, in every render."

"Okay. So it is possible to defeat a Lawbearer." Veronica asked eagerly.

"Knowing there is a glitch, and actually finding the glitch, are two different things... Lawbearers know exactly what the glitch in their render is, so they do everything to cover it up, making it virtually impossible to be found... Which is why Zephyr here intrigues me," Grandmaster Oswald said, resting both hands on Zephyr’s shoulders.

"How did you find the glitch in the render?" he asked again.

Zephyr shook his head, "You’ve still not answered my question fully. There are more tiers above Lawbearers, right?"

"... Tier 8—Transcendent. That is the highest recorded Tier I know of. There’s no detail about it in any record besides the name." Grandmaster Oswald quickly said. "Now, how did you find the glitch?’ he pressed.

"... The render itself was already coming apart, so when I felt threatened by the Grand Commander, I simply tried smashing my path open through a section of the render I noticed wasn’t clearly defined. The details there were splotchy and unclear, so I just went with my instincts, and thankfully it ended up well... mostly." Zephyr explained.

"That’s it? You expect us to believe that’s it?" the stern old man spoke up from his seat near the head of the table.

"Child, I think we’ve been mostly cordial and understanding so far. We’ve even given you information most council members are hearing for the first time as a show of our sincerity. If you want this to work, you have to be willing to divulge an equal amount of information," the kind old lady also chipped in.

Zephyr exhaled heavily, thinking of what else to say. "To be honest, that’s basically it." he concluded with a shake of his head.

"So, you spotted the glitch, just like that." Grandmaster Oswald said, giving Zephyr’s shoulders a light squeeze.

"Just like that." Zephyr shrugged.