Polymath Redux

Chapter 63: The Truth is Irrelevant

Even after night had long past fallen the debris that was once the aureate castle was lit aflame by the aftermath of the dance of light and darkness. For tonight the citizens had all returned to their homes and tomorrow an announcement would be made in deference to the future of this country.

It was midnight and the cold night air combined with the brightness of the moon after it had successfully reached its apex had accentuated the experience of the night. Breathing it all in was a certain prince. His silver hair glistened as the lunar light touched them gently and wavered in the night's breeze. His solemn eyes locked onto the city down below as he watched seated on the steps ascending to what was once the royal castle. Now in ruins behind him he was lost in thoughts recounting the events of the day and of what needed to be done in the future.

"He's finally dead; we've won your highness."

A second figure emerged from the shadow, her vivid red hair mixed in with the silent blue light of the moon concocted a mysterious purple flavor. Though much of her figure was covered behind light leathered armor it was evident that her form would be deemed quite attractive to most men. She was the prince's officially assigned partner and possibly even the first person he ever thought of as a 'close friend'.

"We've 'won'? What are you talking about? It's far from it actually; this entire farce was set up so we would get to this specific moment in time. Whoever it was that orchestrated this entire turn of event can't even be called a genius, heck even a soothsayer couldn't predict this perfectly. It's a complete loss on our side and now the entire country is in their hands."

The prince subtly shook his head as he breathed a sigh, almost of relief. Everything was over and now everything will change but for some reason the prince didn't think would particularly be a bad one. Still, the vexation of having suffered a complete loss even after doing everything in his powers outweighed whatever small consolation he felt for the future of this country. It was an odd mixture of vexation and 'enjoyment'; perhaps even he thought of this as a worthy challenge.

"Pardon me, but I don't follow. Wasn't the defeat of Phantom our top priority? Even the Elders said that they saw him die in the visions, and now with him truly gone there's nothing left but to rebuild this country that he's broken."

The prince let out a small chuckle.

"Hahaha~ are you really saying that? Hey, I wonder who the real villain of this entire fiasco truly was? What Phantom did to this country was not break it but remake it from the core up. If I could speak freely, I would honestly say that this country had too many faults and corruption and that someone like Phantom might have been a necessity. I had thought that it would've been me who would have taken Phantom's role but alas it wasn't to be. Now, everything will change, perhaps for the better."

"But the Elders said-"

Before Petra could finish her sentence she was cut off.

"Forget what the elders have said, what they saw was merely this small point in time and even then it was in the form of a cryptic vision that could've gone either way. the power of the Soothsayers are not omnipotent; what they can see can also be worked against them if they interpret it wrongly. It's because of those ironically blind fools that they acted too rashly; they didn't understand exactly just what kind of monster they were poking their heads into. Regardless, in this case whether Phantom truly died or not doesn't even matter, what matters is 'how' he died."

Petra tilted her head to the side and repeated.

"How he died?"

"He died as a martyr and as a Hero. He truly is a terrifying opponent; he used this country's own beliefs against them. No, perhaps it was Lazzaro Zeder that did all of the ground work for him to take advantage of in this case."