CHAPTER 96: THE SECRET TRIBUNAL

"You’re unnaturally wary of me. Why?" The man asked plainly.

"You’re gonna pretend you don’t know me?" Finn fired back with a scoff.

"I don’t need to pretend. Because I do not know you," the man shrugged. "...at least not personally."

A crease formed on Finn’s forehead, but he said nothing, waiting for the man to expatiate.

The man sighed and sat deeper into his chair as he regarded Finn with a deep-set scorn on his face. The same kind Finn had seen on Tron’s face. As if he regarded himself above all others. Except this man’s condescension was even somehow greater.

And Finn couldn’t blame him. If the man was the same white-haired figure from the temple, then his deep-set condescension didn’t need an explanation. That figure had displayed a level of power that was beyond human level.

Even considering the fact that Finn now knew of the existence of Abstract magic, the figure’s power had still been God-like.

"You," the man pointed at Finn, "together with a girl — purple-haired, happened into Egon’s Mausoleum a few weeks ago, did you not?"

He asked in more of a statement than a question, watching Finn whose face betrayed nothing.

"You came in there snooping around like smart asses. It was you fools who triggered him and allowed the Transcendent to take over—"

That finally drew a reaction out of Finn as he shook his head and cut the man off mid-sentence.

"—Triggered the Transcendent to take over?" Finn frowned. "That was not what happened at all. The Transcendent was already in control of Egon Callahan’s body when we first arrived. It was Egon who awakened after the Transcendent soul defaulted on a clause—"

"Foolish." The man scoffed and looked at Finn with an even deeper scorn.

"Did you truly think the conjecture of your friend was accurate?" He sneered. "Frog in a well. Transcendent fragments are not so easy to assimilate! Especially not a core fragment like Egon’s!"

"Core fragment?" Finn muttered in a frown.

The man immediately paused at Finn’s words, staring at him with an incredulous look on his face.

"You don’t even know what that means? And you’re the one meant to be the Pioneer?" he chortled with a heavy dose of contempt in his voice. As if whatever expectations he spoke of had been dashed to dust.

Pioneer? What even is that?

Finn swallowed the retort he wanted to let out, and instead closed his eyes for a second. Thinking things through carefully.

At this point he had already realized a few things.

First, that the figure he and Althea had seen in the temple back then wasn’t the same as this person in front of him... exactly.

In some kind of way he was yet to fully understand, while this man was not that figure, he was still linked to the figure in a way that allowed him to know what had happened in that temple.

Judging from the spatial magic the man had cast earlier to arrive here, Finn had already formed a basic idea of what might be happening right now.

The man had mentioned fragments, and core fragments.

Maybe he and that figure bore the same fragment of space? And going further with that thought — maybe bearers of fragments of the same abstract magic could somehow sense what the other was doing...?

That was what Finn had in mind so far.

The rest of what the man had said on the other hand — specifically about Core fragments, Pioneer, and whatnot — those, he did not have any idea about.

He breathed out slowly and calmly opened his eyes.

"Hmph. At least you seem to have some sense," the man snorted, and the condescension in his eyes lessened slightly. "I had thought you would launch into a childish tirade. On this point you are at least better than the few..." his voice trailed off towards the end, then he cleared his throat and continued:

"It seems you do not even have the slightest idea about who you are..." the man rubbed his forehead exasperatedly and settled deeper into the chair.

"I think you are due for a history lesson..."

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Far beyond the shores of the Stagnant Sea... Outside the World Tear, and in the real world... A secret briefing was taking place.

Preceptor Elias stood right in the center of a dark hall, surrounded on all sides by a circle of shrouded figures like a tribunal.

He had a blank, unreadable look on his face as he stood dazed in the center.

"Elias." A voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"You did not answer the question."

"Pardon me." Preceptor Elias cleared his throat. "I did not hear the question."

The voice sighed tiredly, then took their time before asking the question again.

"I repeat. To which authority did you report the existence of the Order fragment before allowing it enter into the Tear?"

Preceptor Elias remained silent for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath and responding:

"None."

A low murmur, mixed with weary sighs filled the dark hall immediately he said those words.

They were only hushed after the voice that had asked the question ordered them to be silent.

The voice then spoke again. This time as if in pity of Preceptor Elias. The old man cut a lonely figure with his single arm tucked inside his robe as he stared blankly at the ground, as if trying to wrap his head around why, not even once in the time Althea was in his custody, he did not make the proper report to the Inner Circle despite the number of times he mentioned he would.

As if trying to wrap his head around the fact that he’d brought her to the Soul Sanctum. Allowed her access to the Sanctum’s librarians. To the Records and manuals of the Transcendents. Let her roam freely. But yet, never made the standard report he should have. Never detailed to anyone that she was the bearer of the Fragment of Order...

...anyone but Priest.

His eyes flashed with something cold and he slowly looked up from the ground and glanced at Priest who was also present in the Tribunal, standing off to one side in the corner and watching him with those glowing, golden eyes of his.

Priest watched him with indifference. But Elias’ eyes flashed with a certainty that showed he knew Priest knew something.

With a grit of his teeth, Preceptor Elias dropped to a knee and spoke with a voice thick with eagerness for retribution.

"I swear to rectify my wrong and—"

"Your oath bears no meaning when you know not what you are up against." The voice cut him off wearily.

But the Preceptor seemed adamant in his fixation to right his wrong. So much so that he spoke out of turn, letting his emotions seep into his voice as he raised his tone against the old voice.

"Then let me know what I am up against!"

The words left his mouth before he realized what he had said.

The whole tribunal went pin-drop silent.

And Preceptor Elias, finally realizing his grave mistake, unhesitatingly summoned his named sword — The Cruor Mortis — intending to sever his other arm and offer it up as an offering of apology.

But just as the sword appeared with its terrifying, blood-seeking aura, floating in the air and swinging down at his outstretched arm, the voice ordered:

"Stop."

The Preceptor halted immediately, just at the last moment. The sword had not yet hit, but even still, only the air displacement of it coming towards his arm had caused a slit that blood leaked from, dripping to the ground.

"I know you Elias. I know your dedication to the Ossuary," the voice sighed. "You were simply bested by a fragment greater than you are."

The voice let the statement hang for a second.

"You wish to know what you are up against?" A mirthless humor seemed to leak from the voice. "It is not the Order fragment particularly. But rather, what the presence of the Order fragment brings with it..."

"Regardless of the time or the era. The Order fragment is always the first to find... the Fragment of Error."

Preceptor Elias raised his head with a frown, his eyes showing that he was slowly piecing the puzzle together as the voice spoke.

"It is this same Error that bested you. Made the vital duty you are bound to do escape your mind... subtly... naturally..."

The Preceptor’s frown deepened as a face started to become clear in his mind. The face of a simple, unassuming boy. Seemingly talented. But not in the Preceptor’s books based on what he’d observed of the boy in his short time with him...

"Finnegan Slade..."

He is the bearer of the Fragment of Error?

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A/N: I know a lot of readers do not like a switch in POV. But this is necessary for the plot. And we will switch back to Finn’s POV in the next Chapter. I hope you do not mind... 👍