Dao Ma the River God ignored Rowan’s words and looked at the vibrating weapon that he was holding,

“What sort of weapon is that?” Dao Ma called out partly in shock and partly in greed.

Rowan smiled, aware that the god did not find this situation any bit threatening, “Answer my question and I will answer yours.”

Dao Ma’s head reared back in surprise, the gall of this mortal was annoying, and then he seemed to figure something out and he laughed,

“Hah, here is the trap! The arrangement is ingenious and I don’t even understand the energy flowing inside the Formation. For the first time in many millennia, the efforts of a mortal caught my attention. Tell me who is the god behind you?”

Dao Ma looked at the skies and shouted, “Come out and stop playing games, except you wish your vassals here to be sacrificed to placate my irritation.”

Rowan went mute in shock, not knowing if he should laugh or cry, this god had truly underestimated him, if it was any other time, he would have found this development to be pleasing, an enemy that underestimated him was a sure sign of their impending doom, but now he needed this god to show him all his tricks and to fight him with his all.

He was even ready to die and lose some lifespan if it meant he understood the combat capability of a god. Rowan groaned in annoyance, should he make the first move?

The River God began to call out various names, he seemed to be using a sort of homing sound to trace if his words would have any effect, most likely searching for the so-called perpetrators. Rowan noticed that gods tend to use their words in many intriguing manners.

Dao Ma waited for a reply, getting none, his eyes began glowing with anger, “It would seem I don’t know you, yet you wish to cause a quarrel between us. You have spent a lot of time and effort setting this thing up, and I’m sure the Divine Beast you used to attract my attention is fake as well. Hmm, very creative, but still foolish. If you leave your mortals to die, so shall it be, I shall feast on their brains, and I will hunt you down to the end of the universe and wear your skull for an eternity for disturbing my peace.”

Dao Ma observed everything around with a relaxed look on his crocodilian face, “This trap must be the height of achievement for a mortal, did the god you serve promise you a great reward on your death? For you, what did he promise? A thousand virgins? Hahaha. But are you not forgetting something very important, you impudent mortals,”

His voice began to rise, and the scepter in his hand began to glow with a bright green light,

‘Finally.’ Rowan’s eyes sharpened, “Interesting, he pulls power from his Aura!” he muttered to himself.

Dao Ma roared, “Before the might of a god, all your plans are nothing!”

The green light gathering on his scepter exploded out. Rowan did not move and before the green light swallowed his body you could see the white of his teeth, he was grinning.

?

Andar’s face frowned, Rowan’s Reflection was a bit annoyed that the god attacked without much provocation, even though he figured out it was something that his Main Body craved, but it was just a passing thought. You cannot request anything from a god, you can only plead for it or you compel them.

The Reflection was hidden deep inside Andar’s psyche, and due to its unique state, it was very possible that even the Chaos Door Labaletai was not even aware of his presence.

This sentiment from his Reflection entered the consciousness of Rowan that was inhabiting Andar’s body and he nodded internally.

Rowan would not plead, it would most likely go unanswered, every god was the definition of arrogance, and it went against every fiber of his being to forsake his dignity and plead to a god or anyone else.

He had tried it once, on Dorian, Son of Scarlet, and his only reply was to watch the families and the people he swore to protect burned to ashes in front of his eyes, he would never place himself in that position.

The only option was to compel, and after three years of sleeping, he really wanted to know if his fist was big enough.

All these thoughts passed in the blink of an eye and he looked at the Chaos door and asked, “How does all this information help me?”

The Chaos Door Labaletai chuckled, “I thought that should be obvious by now, everything all boiled down to the gift I gave you by taking away the Intent in your body.”

Rowan had a disbelieving look in his eyes, “What is this Intent you took from me, also, am I free from the manipulation of Chaos in the future?”

“Free from Chaos? Hahaha, you are a very funny child. I understand your confusion, I never truly explained what Intent was all about, no wonder you are not more grateful to me, don’t worry I don’t blame you, I know it is hard for the ignorant bones to recognize the usefulness of the skin. I doubt you are older than a millennium, and you cannot comprehend powers that wield Domains.”

“Well, I will try to explain it in a way you can understand. But before I do that, I have to ask you a question, do you remember the moment of your birth? I don’t mean the birth of whatever creature you were before, I mean your real birth, the moment you became a Child of Chaos?”

Rowan’s voice was sharp, “Why do you want to know about that?”

“Oh, I see you are a bit suspicious, don’t be, young one. The reason I ask is simple, usually, our Father Chaos only releases his blood at the end of every Era, it takes him at least that long to gather his strength, so you see my dilemma, this Era is still young, yet here you are, a Newborn Child. It calls into question some certain disturbing possibilities.”