Karan waited around for the messenger to arrive. He was still not sure if he was headed into a trap or not but he was willing to take that risk. It was all because Aurora was really important to him, to begin with.

The person who walked out of the room had a vaguely familiar face. Karan could say that he had seen her around the tower which meant that she was a mole.

It was the presence of Rita around her that made Karan relax for real. He might not have trusted the tower with Aurora’s safety.

However, her moments were not the most coordinated and even a child could tell that there was something wrong with her.

Karan’s attention snapped up all of a sudden as soon as he felt the foreign magic controlling Rita’s limbs. The redhead’s eyes were closed and she looked to be sleepwalking.

“Hey, stop before you shoot me. I did not control this girl because I wanted to but because I had no other choice. I needed to get them both out of the way before they became targets.”

The tower’s person yelled before Karan could attack. Her presence was masked masterfully which indicated that someone powerful was behind her.

And to be able to mask her magic even from Karan’s senses meant that the person had to be a god or goddess of his caliber.

‘So Minerva did send a mole in the southern fraction. Weird that she did not tell me about it when I asked.’

And Karan had asked Minerva about this. He had asked a few times but Minerva had always avoided his question.

Now he could see why and he was not sure if he trusted Minerva with such secrets of his own or not.

“Fine, I will not shoot. But they both are alive, right?”

That was not a question but a threat. He was sure that Minerva would not mind losing one or two pawns if it meant having Karan on his side.

“They’re alive, but just knocked out. They were asking too many questions so I decided to quit them. Hope that is not a problem.”

It was a problem but not one big enough to make Karan reconsider his options. He eyes the mole distastefully for her lack of care but he chose not to hold her accountable.

After all, Aurora was willful and she was also really stubborn when she needed to be. As such, it would not have been possible to reason with her and get her to trust an unknown person.

And from what he had heard, Rita was a hot-headed person as well so the chances of her being heard were slim to none.

“Thank you for helping these two out. I can take things over from here on out so you can let go of them.”

There was some hesitation showing on the person’s face but she finally let go. Karan used his powers to surround the other two and transport them away.

Not only will it keep them out of danger but it would also keep them hidden and out of the public eye.

The main premise of this mission had been to take revenge and to perform cleaning on the southern traitors. It would not be good to let people know what the real meaning of this mission had been.

“Is there something you want to say to me?”

Karan waited around the female to go away before he left as well. The main reason for this was that he did not want to turn his back on that unfamiliar face.

He knew that it was not for him to be so conscious of this unknown person but he could not help it.

His instincts were up on rising for some reason and the unimpressed look he got was getting to him as well.

He was getting rilled up for no reason.

“You should be careful and consider going back to your roots. That thing inside you will need to leave your body sooner or later. Since you are precious to Aurora, I want you to survive no matter what. Once you decide on what to do, come and find me.”

“Hey wait. What are you saying-“

But the female was gone in front of him. Gone and vanished into thin air. Not even a trace of her smell could be felt around him.

Even his powers were useless in trying to find that female. And Karan could not help but sigh out in defeat as that happened.

“Fuck, what is going on here. I cannot help but feel like I got the same warning twice. First from Lady Dheva and now from this unknown person. Why does everyone try to air out my dirty laundry like it’s their business.”

Karan complained but his heart was not in it. He was afraid of what would happen next since he could not predict the future.

But having so many people know your secret was scary. It made Karan feel exposed in a way that he had not been for a long time.

And just as he decided to move, a bird made up of air landed on his shoulder and dissolved into the air.

But the magic let him know the message it wanted to convey.

“Fuck you, Minerva. Do you want me to come running to you whenever you call? What am I, your dog?”

But even if Karan complained about it, he knew that he would go to Minerva’s side since it was for Mei’s ceremony.

He and Minerva might not see eye-to-eye on most things but they had both help with a certain respect for Mei. and as such, they both wanted to be there for her in her death.

“Still, I cannot believe that one of us managed to fall and die out finally. It has been a long time since such a ceremony had been held. I wonder how the east would take to their goddess dying.”

East had no loyalty when it came to their goddess but they did hold responsibility for her. As such, Karan was sure that they would pay their respect to her memory and not sully it by establishing another religion.

However, in the absence of a core that contained Mei’s powers, it would not be possible to raise the same goddess twice.

As such, it was the end for the east with this lineage. But they had others to replace Mei with and this power hole was one everyone would be eying greedily.

“Let’s hand you both over to the Rocx valley first and then I should head back. Man, I had plans to leave the tower but it seems like they will all have to wait around for a bit.”

Karan carved independence but it seemed it was not written in the stars.

As much as Karan would not mind letting the tower collapse around all the lies it had been built upon. It did not mean he wanted to see a lot of lives ruined as well.

As such, he had no other choice but to contribute to the stabilizing of the tower.

He used his powers to walk toward the Rocx valley where their representative was standing. It was none other than Astoria who looked as calm as she ever did.

“Here they are. They are still alive, just sleep so you do not need to worry about them. Just let them sleep it all off and everything would be alright.”

Karan reassured Astoria who did not look worried but he knew that the other half-goddess had some concerns.

And the tension did ease out of Astoria’s shoulders at his words. She gave him a grateful nod as she reached out for his powers.

He allowed Astoria to hold on to Aurora and Rita and watched them go. But then his vision blurred and his powers felt like they were going out of control.

He hesitantly touched his core but it was not there. Much to his surprise, it felt as if his core had been taken away without harming his body.

But a body could not live long without a core, especially one that was as old as him.

And that was when Karan knew for certain that he was going to die. His body would not last long and that was when Karan remembered the words of Lady Dheva and that mole from Minerva.

‘They knew this was going to happen. But how and why? D-Did they plan this together? I won’t put it past Lady Dheva to try something like this but when did she even pull this off?’

Karan’s mind spun but he took in a deep breath to keep holding on. He would be able to hold on for some time. But he would need to look for an alternative soon enough.

‘Fuck. Do I have no other choice but to go back to my original body? I don’t want to but did I ever have a choice in this matter?’