Chapter 1969 — Chapter 1969 A reluctant sacrifice

Lex visibly paled. The amount of energy he had used was absolutely massive considering his suppressed state, but he recovered just as quickly. Energy stores had hardly ever been an issue for Lex, not only because of how massive his reserves were, but because of how rapidly he recovered.

Seeing Diyor's state, Lex nodded to himself. With this, he now had three, no four confirmed ways in which he could fight within Arch-Heaven. The first was through the use of his Butter Knife and Tyrant's Mask. The second was his paladin powers, and the third was his arrays. The fourth and final way was his sword intent, but with Naraka locked away, Lex naturally didn't count that.

Most other abilities he had were badly suppressed, which was an inconvenience but one he could survive.

Lex walked up to Diyor with a soft smirk on his lips, yet that sight alone was enough to haunt poor James' nightmares because Lex was a bloody mess, countless cuts on his skin leaving him looking like a walking meat bag than anything else. Unfortunately, Lex had long become accustomed to the feeling of having little to no skin.

Pain, ah sweet, sweet pain. Lex hardly ever even acknowledged it anymore. If anyone ever claimed Lex's path had been easy, or that great success had been handed to him on a platter, let them taste a mere fraction of the suffering he shrugged off casually. Ask them then if they too wished to walk such an easy path.

Lex was feeling particularly domineering at the moment, not because his entire body was bloody, but because a follower of Sekhmet was before him. A

follower of someone who had harmed little Moon. Lex was a lot of things, but he was not a man who let go of a grudge.

So even though his demeanor was relaxed, and he wore a smile, James' tears suddenly started to make sense. Perhaps he saw something in his future that could shake the resolve of even an Elder race.

Gently, almost as if touching a fragile decoration, Lex lay his hand upon the frozen Diyor's head. Carefully, he channeled his spirit sense into Diyor's mind, beginning his search. Another Elder race Lex had encountered was the Zai race, back in Abaddon. By killing him, Lex gained a certain level of his power and skill in controlling spirit sense.

Now, with precision and skill that was literally inhuman, Lex delved into Diyor's memories. Such a thing he could do even on his own with his regular powers, but that would likely trigger some kind of restriction or trap. Lex didn't want that. No, he wanted to see through all of Diyor's memories, not only to learn everything he knew about Arch-Heaven, but to learn his purpose here as well. Why was a follower of Sekhmet in Arch-Heaven? What was their goal? Were there more of them?

While he searched, Lex summoned his Karmic Bead and dissolved it in his ow karma, carefully snipping every connection he made with Diyor, removing all karmic traces. Karma was not the only way to trace Lex or connect him to Diyor, but it was definitely a major one. By removing karma, Lex automatically negated many other means of investigation. For the rest, Lex summoned his Butter Knife and channeled the divine energy within, drawing a line between himself and Diyor.

A faint amount of energy vanished, erasing all traces of Lex. He doubted that he was the only enemy that Sekhmet had, so there was no need to give her any additional reason to focus on him for now.

As Lex peered in, he finally understood a whole lot more. It seemed that besides Blessing Stones, a much more valuable currency was the power percentage itself, and the only one who accepted such currency was the Arch-Heaven itself.

Diyor had previously paid 0.5% of his power to respec himself, and this was something anyone connected to any white marble building could do. Since Lex did not have such a connection, either in the form of an official position or a residents token, he could not do the same. At least now he understood the situation though.

But that was far from all. Just as there were white marble buildings, there were black marble buildings as well, and these offered profound benefits to any who connected themselves to one. Yet the black marble structures were far rarer than the white ones, and each one could only connect to one being at a time.

Diyor's goal, beside his more immediate and short term goal of getting an official position, was to connect himself to such a black marble building. This was a mission given to him by Sekhmet's divine oracle, and it was given to hundreds of others as well, all of whom had come together. Many of them, as it happened, were currently exploring Pink Top Mountain as well.

"James, come here for a moment," Lex said politely as he removed his hand from Diyor's head. He wasn't able to reach the deeper secrets in his mind for he could feel a stronger, firmer restriction there.

James did not resist, and stepped up beside Lex dutifully. The irony of the

situation was that James was an official guard of this structure. He wielded a lot more authority in this place than Lex. Yet here he was, playing along without any indication of resistance.

"I noticed that you've been having a bit of an emotional time," said Lex, sounding concerned. "You are someone who has called me brother. Such a bond is not one I can easily overlook. As such, I have found you someone with a great destiny. This fellow here is on the verge of getting an official position, and quite a good one at that. So, for your benefit, I have decided to kill him. Alas, were there a better way for you to acquire his destiny, I would have chosen it. But since there is not, this is a sacrifice we will have to reluctantly make." Just like that, Lex had found a plausible explanation for who could have killed Sekhmet's followers, just in case there were still some traces left behind he hadn't been able to cover. Also, Vox wasn't entirely trustworthy, so having someone who could challenge his control over some of his powers might come in handy.

This was a totally legitimate business strategy of covering for himself, and not at all a scam. Lex would never do that.