Chapter 702 - Shadowheart's Choice

The problem was something that even Draco could not easily resolve. Even in the height of his power in the other timeline, the various hidden families of the world had always been a wall to him, one that had been filled with too many thorns to climb. 

Heh, you heard about how Draco made a president of one of the top countries kneel down on live television? That wasn't entirely him. It was a mixture of many factors. 

You see, in the previous timeline, some time after his break-up with Eva, Draco had sold his body to Maria for her support. She had then helped him take over the Cartel from her father, before connecting him with her pseudo-backer, Nathan Rothschild. 

The Maria of that timeline had eventually ended up marrying the Fifth Councilor, simply because there had really never been a chance for her to completely refute him. The Queen of the Cartel had merely been delaying the inevitable – something which she was still doing in this timeline - but eventually, once Nathan would grow tired of her constant excuses, she would yield to his pressure. 

At her wedding, Nathan Rothschild had actually gifted Draco a personal nuke, not only because he had taken a liking to the fellow, but mostly because Maria had made her father adopt Draco as his son, making the fellow her younger brother and therefore Nathan's brother-in-law. 

Do not be soft-hearted for her. Maria never did anything for free. Every 'kindness' she had ever shown Draco came at varying costs, not all of them sexual. For one, there was one that made Draco's Avatar feel awful inside right now. 

.........….. 

"You're sure I need to kill this guy and that's it? You'll give me access to the Cartel's backend network?" Draco asked coldly. 

Maria folded her arms and pushed up her D or E cup breasts tantalizingly. "Have I ever lied to you? Just get it done, and you get what you want, baby boy." 

Draco's eyes flashed. "Hmm…? Whoever this fellow is, he must be some sort of serious threat for you to be so insistent. Also, to give up so much." 

Maria rolled her eyes. "Yes, he is a big baddie that's trying to kill me. I just had a little tantrum on him, and he went berserk! Anyway, are you going or not?" 

Draco snorted and left. He wore his own fixer attire that was quite similar to Nightwalker's but was far more edgy and decorative. He took a personal car until he reached the area of the target, which was a pub with low patronage. 

With his Tier 2 Control, Draco easily incapacitated everyone within seconds, now walking towards the back of his target to take him down. However, Draco's danger sense tingled greatly, in a way they never had before. 

"So, Maria has sent another assassin, huh?" Came a slow drawl that seemed less relaxed and more resigned. 

Draco immediately dodged to the left, but nothing appeared. No hidden blade, no bullet, and no clone. Nothing seemed to have happened at all, but Draco's expression was solemn. 

'What the fuck kinda power was that?' Draco cursed internally. 

The man still remained seated on his barstool, finishing the last bits of his wine before burping. "Tell me, have you ever watched your family members burn to death? Not because of natural causes, not for any benefits like theft or torture, but just for petty revenge?" 

Draco remained silent as he rapidly calculated how to deal with this fellow. He was sure that his target did not have Control, for he had felt no emanations of brainpower forming a domain, nor could he feel emanations of brainpower controlling his muscles. 

However, the fellow had some kind of power, and it reminded Draco of those bullshit abilities that he had seen that bastard Ao Shangtian and his whore Riveting Night perform inside of Boundless. Just thinking about them almost unsettled his calm, but the situation forced him back into focus. 

The fellow stood up and tossed his glass away, turning to face Draco finally. It was a handsome man with well-defined features, but his hair was scraggly and his beard unkempt. 

'Err... John Wick?!' Draco commented in his mind. 

His eyes were bloodshot, filled with sadness, fatigue, and dedication all at once. In that split second, he turned, Draco rushed forward with his dagger to attack. He could have used a gun, but that wasn't his style, obviously. 

His target initially watched him rush over calmly, but his face suddenly warped to one of confusion. 

"Ouroboros…? He's the one…? But how…?" 

His eyes glazed over temporarily and his motions halted. Draco took this chance to deal a fatal blow to his target, not even stopping to consider why he had suddenly reacted weirdly. 

All he saw was a chance, so he took it. 

Being stabbed like this, Connor Baines did not come out of his trance, though he could have healed himself with ease. In fact, he should have been able to revive himself from the biggest injury. 

However, he didn't seem to even register the wound on his body, his glazed-over expression indicated that he was fighting something within himself, right up until his skin became purple and his blood leaked in drops. Draco did not even clean up the battlefield, leaving in haste as he felt nauseous. 

For an inexplicable reason, this was the first kill that made him feel this way, as even his first attempt at taking human life didn't faze him. Today, he vomited in a random alley while feeling like shit, despite not taking a lick of damage. 

His blood boiled painfully, his subconscious screaming at him as if he had done something utterly unforgivable. 

Heh, so what? 

He, Draco, had done many unforgivable things and still planned to do many more! This would not stop him on his path to revenge. Forcing his blood to calm down using Tier 2 BoG, and settling his subconscious forcefully via Tier 2 VoP, Draco left the alleyway to collect his spoils from that bitch, Maria. 

.........… 

The Avatar sighed when remembering this. 

In that timeline, nobody had ever told Draco anything about Lineages, and whatnot. He had never found out that the friendly Aunty in his neighbourhood that had taken care of him, had actually been the sister of his biological mother, since Aunt Fyre had disappeared shortly before his falling out with Eva, never to be seen again. 

When the main body learned of this, Draco would probably feel extremely guilty given his character. Back then, he had been too caught up in his own interest to even spend a single second thinking about others, but that entire situation should have rung bells for him. 

Well, that shitty timeline was gone, and this one was incomparibly better! 

Now, instead of being a retard by murdering his own general, he rather recruited him and promised to help him against his former lover. Maria had no idea that she was currently being targeted by two men with powers that could shake the world. However, her second backing was still far too potent to ignore. 

"You understand the problem, don't you?" Draco asked. 

Connor Baines had been silent in contemplation all this while, finally sighing. "I do." 

Draco gazed at him ponderingly. "What do you plan to do?" 

Connor passed a hand through his neatly combed hair and smiled. "Nothing direct. There is no rush in me taking her down. I didn't plan on doing so anytime soon, I just decided to follow Akainu's advise, hoping it might help." 

"Since I cannot touch her now, it only means the power I wield is not enough. As such, the natural solution is to increase my power to a threshold where enacting my vengeance would not cause me any detriments, regardless of who wants to marry her." Connor concluded with a soft clap. 

Draco slammed the armrest. "Good! Good! Good! Lucifer truly selected a great fellow to fight at my side! Connor Baines, as of today, you are among my inner circle! When the other God Serpent Inheritors come, we shall work together to sort out all problems and obstacles in our way!" 

Connor bowed slightly, respect in his eyes. "Yes, Progenitor." 

Draco waved his hand. "No need to be so formal. Feel free to just call me, Guildmaster, Boss, or Draco." 

Connor nodded and acquiesced. Draco stood up from his seat and gazed outward, seeing Vita's core section from this office, which belonged to Sublime. 

"I initially planned to take the remaining core members and general members of Umbra and teach them Control, but now that I know that people like you are out there, I shall wait until you all gather before teaching you all at once. That promises to be far more efficient." 

"For now, Connor, log out of the game and head to Purgatory Group's offices in the Central State. When you get there, look for any members or staff and tell them you are Umbra's newest core member, and they will set you up." 

"Sure thing. Akainu offered me something similar before directing me here, so I'll go talk to him before logging out." Connor acknowledged with a calm nod. 

"That would be even better. Well, take care then, Connor. We shall meet again soon." Draco stated with finality. 

Shadowheart tleft the administrator's office and walked through the Aether Palace. He couldn't help but stop to absorb the ambient Aetheric Energy and sigh with pleasure. 

"This energy is so beneficial to life and limb. A shame, it would cost us so much to generate a wisp of it outside." Connor murmurred seemingly to himself. 

"That is true. Even if we generated a wisp and attached an Essence of Eternity, or Infinitum Essence, the costs would outweigh the gains." Ouroboros agreed wholeheartedly. 

Connor sighed. In truth, his faith in Ouroboros was exceedingly high. He still believed him to be the most powerful God Serpent, even above the Black Dragon and the others. 

Why? 

It was because of a special and unique power the Ouroboros had that qualified it to wield the title 'Eternal Dragon'! This was in the form of the Essence of Infinitum! 

This was a special energy that when attached to, or imbued into anything, whether a substance or energy, would allow it to achieve an eternal status! 

It worked exactly like you might imagine. If one placed it in a drop of water, that drop would infinitely renew itself with no limit. If attached to a special gas or molecule, that molecule would always renew itself upon use. 

The same was true with energy. As Connor and Ouroboros just discussed, they could pay a price to create a wisp of Aetheric Energy in the real world then imbue it with Infinitum Essence, they could have a stable and infinite source of Aetheric Energy! 

Wow! 

This was OP! Too OP! 

No wonder Connor trusted Ouroboros so much! 

In fact, Ouroboros might even be stronger than the Black Dragon!!! 

… well, no. 

See, while this sounded lovely and all, real life ain't as pretty. 

First, let's talk about the cost of using Infinitum Essence. 

This is a part of what allows Ouroboros to do what he does, generate things infinitely. A single unit of Infinitum Essence can be likened to 1% of black/white/brown mass or bloodline source. Every one given away, is one lost permanently. Unlike Draco and Eva, Ouroboros doesn't recover Infinitum Essence at all. 

So they had to be picky about what they invested it in. Aetheric Energy too had very few uses in the real world. It could power spells and all that, but very few people had the capacity to even gather and move Aetheric Energy, much less Worldly Energy. 

There were other energies they could invest in, and one that had been on Connor's mind was always Dark Matter, or this newly found Origin Energy belonging to the game. 

Both of them were top-tier energy sources that could be broken down into many other types that could be useful for many purposes. Origin Energy would be impossible to generate out there, even if Connor sold himself three times over. 

However, Dark Matter did exist, and was in the hands of a certain organization. Draco had originally planned to let them go, but who knew this would occur. 

Brother CERN, it's not that I want to antagonize you, but you're just like a fat sheep. So plump and juicy, ready to be devoured by a nefarious soul. 

Still, that was for the OG Draco to decide. The Avatar could not even leave the game, so Connor logged out outside the Aether Palace and began packing after speaking to Akainu. 

Looking at his ramshackle studio, Connor finally displayed a smile.. His heart felt light as he left, knowing that tomorrow would be a new beginning.