Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"What do you think? How did he pull it off?" Nira asked after she finished explaining.

"Do you think he managed to create his own version of the Origin Clone like your current form?"

Nira knew that she wouldn't be able to track the culprit behind Lemaar on her own. Sansara Sage was her best shot at getting to the root of all things.

The more she thought, the more she was sure that nabbing the behind Lemaar was in her best interests and could potentially lead her to find something big.

Lin pondered for a moment and processed the information Nira provided to him. He then shook his head before responding.

"I don't think that's completely impossible, but still, it's highly unlikely. Plus, even though Origin Clone is an improvement to Alchemy Doll, it still has a few drawbacks.

For example, I wouldn't be able to destroy this Origin Clone like that guy did. My soul would obviously suffer a huge backlash.

If I was in his shoes, I would have rather secured my soul by retracting my consciousness from the clone at the cost of you figuring things about me than destroying the clone completely and destroying all my future prospects.

I guess I trust your powers to smell souls. So I'm ready to believe that his clones are better than mine.

But I also feel confident in my own research. What I can say for sure is the fact that he wouldn't be able to achieve a better result than me without the external interference from a god or…"

Lin's soft voice trailed off as he thought of various things at once.

"You mean he used a Blessing?" Nira asked as she looked at Lin's pensive face. She liked the fact that she had managed to arouse a sense of curiosity about her enemy. "But there was no smell of Blessing on him. I would have known if there was. Did he use a Hex Artifact?" she speculated further, wanting to have Lin's opinion.

"I don't think any Hex Artifact is capable of pulling off something like that. The results would be poorer than the Origin Clone," Lin shook his head in denial.

"But... an Elder Seed Artifact on the other hand–" Lin's eyes narrowed as he came to a possibility.

"An unlisted Elder Seed?" Nira was overjoyed after hearing Lin's words. "That is possible. What do you say, Lehan? Want to hunt this young Elder Seed with me? I can pay you in so many ways," she said as she looked at him playfully.

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet," Lin spoke in a stern voice.

"First of all, find out everything you can about the clone's identity. If it's not an Origin Clone and there's no alchemy involved, the clone must have an original identity. Find out as much as you can about it through your subordinates.

The puppeteer must have left behind some clues when he caught this puppet," Lehan spoke as he massaged his forehead in contemplation, various ideas started forming in his head.

"Secondly," Lin looked at Nira knowingly before speaking in a firm tone.

"If you want me involved in this matter, I want something from you as well. Equivalent exchange– we both are from Anfang, after all. You know how it works," he said as started walking in a particular direction.

"And what would that be?" Nira asked as she followed Lehan closely behind. "You are a big shot among us who left Anfang together. You are our leader and have more than what the three of us have combined. What else can a poor lone elf like me offer you apart from my secret garden?"

Nira asked in a fake tiredness. In her mind, she cursed Lehan and his seven generations. She had thought that roping this nerd in the matter would be easy once he found the peculiarity about her recent enemy. However, it seemed that Lehan was still not interested in coming to Labh Salem.

"I want your help in stealing something really peculiar from Labh Salem's Witch Association," Lehan spoke in a grim tone as he looked ahead of him. He took his time to make up his mind before speaking his next words carefully. "It's the Elder Seed Artifact that belongs to the Witch Goddess Two Lips."

"What?" Nira looked at Lehan's back as if he had gone crazy. "Lin? Do you even know what you are talking about?" Nira looked around in panic as if she feared someone might see her talking with this crazy guy. Her slightly pale face got some of its color back after realizing that she was in a special realm with Lehan that couldn't be monitored by any of Labh Salem's forces.

"Don't worry. You don't have to do much," Lehan spoke in a casual manner, as if he wasn't talking about the biggest heist in Labh Salem's history but a mundane morning affair.

"You just need to put your nose to good use and help from the sidelines for the most part. My subordinates will take care of the rest," he spoke in an assuring tone to Nira.

"It's too risky," Nira mumbled to herself as she looked at Lehan. She then sighed before questioning herself, "Why go to such lengths and risk being chased by the end of the boundless cosmos by the witches?" she asked and sighed. It was as if she had aged a bit after listening to Lehan's bold proposal.

"You know why I and many lone Saints like me look for better clone techniques after reaching the Perfect Sainthood?" Lehan spoke as he looked at the void sky above him, seemingly lost in thought.

"It's because we realize that there's only so much we can do while living a singular life. After reaching the Saint Rank, the path ahead becomes so restrictive and narrow that we are forced to stop in our tracks.

Almost all of us who succeed in becoming Saints live for thousands of years and then some more but in the end, we too die like mortals," Lehan spoke as he was lost in his thoughts. It looked like he was talking more to himself than to Nira.

Nira didn't disturb and let Lehan speak his mind to her. The latter continued after thinking for a bit.

AN: Labh means lips in Urdu.