Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 200: Push of will

It was just RIGHT.

Vale knew the artifact came with his Mark Order without anyone telling him. It was his. His inheritance. And he wanted it. He stretched out his hand to take it, but the old man didn’t allow it. He moved it to the side.

"Yours? Maybe. It is mine as well." His voice was like someone commenting on the weather. It lacked the urgency and desperation that molded Vale’s own.

Vorgaelor shifted, his eyes flickering to the wall. The two images were still there, but the lantern was gone as if it had never existed. He gritted his teeth so hard they crunched.

Years of planning! But still, all wasn’t lost. He just needed to keep his life. His original plan was to find a way to overload the Rift with a large amount of essence to loosen the law binding it a little, allowing a massive Rift break to occur, sending armies of monsters outside.

As a rule, Rift Lords cannot get out of their Rift. They can only use the different ruins with Rift seeds to move from one ruin to another. This was also why Rifts wanted their ruins to spread as far as they could.

For that, he needed help from the outside, and he was able to secure Steelclaw. Slowly, over the years, they had used monsters from the Rift as resources for Steelclaw to gather enough money to buy all the equipment and ingredients he needed.

Then, with his trait as a Rift Lord, he began to create monsters. All this was to prepare for the overload to happen and to push a whole horde of monsters out.

With Steelclaw’s help, the Flagbearers would be wiped out, and the whole of the Borderland would become a monster stronghold. Over time, they would slowly build up the number of monsters outside since no one would be killing them off anymore.

But then Vale had happened. Vorgaelor saw him in that ruin, and he knew who he was. He saw what he carried. He carried one of the powers that bound and created the Rift. So Vorgaelor changed his plans.

He couldn’t believe he was seeing a Forbidden Knight walking so freely. It was almost too good to be true, but the boy had been untainted by other influences.

Why not just break the Rift? With Vale, he could do that and even obtain a powerful artifact in the process.

But he should have known. There was no such thing as free food!

Vorgaelor knew of the old man. They had clashed before when he first turned his gaze to the artifacts years ago, but ironically, only Vorgaelor knew the spell to release it.

Vorgaelor began to laugh. "Old man, you have been playing a long game, it seems. Does the boy even know? Why is he the one on the altar and not you?"

"The Arcane Wizards created it as such. The inheritance they left behind could only be accessed by a select few. And each inheritance has its corresponding artifact. But those who claim the inheritance don’t know the spell to remove it from the Rifts it was sealed in. Only the Rift Lord of that Rift knows!"

"But they knew the two would never work together because taking the artifact means the total collapse of that Rift—unless the Forbidden Knight also allowed hordes of monsters to escape into the world."

Vale’s head was buzzing, but he latched onto the secret Vorgaelor was sharing like a starving man. He was getting better as well. His body was healing, and the blood he had lost seemed to have been replaced. His core was full and brimming with energy. He didn’t know if this was the effect of the old man or the artifact.

He pointed to the old man and said without doubt, "But he does not care about such things."

Vale was sure of it. The old man’s aura was cold and flat. He didn’t have bloodlust, yet everything about him screamed danger and death.

Vorgaelor laughed. "He does not. But others do. Do you think the Arcane Wizards only left behind an inheritance? Or an artifact? Why don’t you wonder why he didn’t come here himself and instead used such a roundabout way? He did not want traces to lead back to his prison. What happened years ago—"

Vorgaelor continued speaking, but no sound came out of his mouth. A silence, like that found in a graveyard, descended on them, and the old man said, "That is enough now."

Vale shuddered.

’...What the... So he only allowed Vorgaelor to speak so that I could learn something, but apparently, it was nothing important enough... but for me, it was still something...’

Vale felt a lick of anger then because it was happening again. He had been used again.

Shit!

’...So this is why he wanted me to work for him... This is why he led me to the inheritance... This is why Kren didn’t kill me... I thought I was free when I said I did not work for them... but I was still within the board... I was still used...’ Vale thought bitterly.

The anger in him bubbled and turned to seething bitterness—a rolling inferno of rage. The red in his eyes flickered with fury. Vale raised his hand and then drew it backward as if he were plucking something out of the air.

The artifact in the old man’s hand shuddered and flew toward him.

Vale was just as surprised as everyone else, but the old man was also quick. His will clamped down on the artifact. It hung in midair between the two of them.

"Give me what is mine," Vale hissed. He wrapped his will around it, pushing against the old man’s will that felt like an iron wall. This was not a contest of strength or magic.

It was the pull and push of will.

Even though the man could swat Vale like a fly, he knew he would not go down without a fight.

The artifact trembled between them, wavering forward and back.

Vale concentrated, his forehead beaded with sweat. He shifted his palm backward to reveal the red moon. His voice was like steel. "I am the owner. Come here!"

The artifact did—but then it stopped again as hundreds of years of will bore down on it. Through it all, the old man did not say anything. He only watched calmly.

Vale grimaced. He knew that even with the right he had over it, he would not be able to take it. But he had something he had not yet tried.

Just then, seeing all the distraction, Vorgaelor made his move.