A massive surge of emotions hit Zaja, guilt took over his heart, making him blame himself for the way things had turned out. His sister, Lira should be safe in his arms not captured against her will to be used as some religious vessel aimed to subdue the entirety of the Ethereal Realm.
'Lord Dazzai...' Zaja immediately called upon the Crimson Deity Vessel, trying to subdue his emotions to not come off as weak.
Dazzai's smooth and seamless voice rolled into Zaja's mind immediately his name was called.
'I wouldn't say that my lord, at the moment I am at risk of losing a loved one and I cannot afford to loose...' Zaja replied.
"Huh?!" Zaja immediately snapped out of his mental ferries wheel and activated the Desire System to materialize right in front of him, only visible to him.
Ding!
~Hidden Quest has been activated~
~Vessel will be rewarded upon completing the hidden quest~
~Failure to complete this quest will attract a severe punishment, which is anyone of the three options that would be selected randomly~
~Option 1: Castration~
~Option 2: Loss of the Desire System~
~Option 3: Death~
The Desire System was sentient, that is it was aware and living, having its own reason and thought process as well. Dazzai specifically created it to bring out the full and unadulterated potential of Zaja by giving him items and task to complete such as the Hidden Quest which Zaja knew nothing about it's information till the quest was completed.
'I see, I know what the hidden quest intells...' Zaja said with a slight nod.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, the Desire System designed this quest for him to solve. During the process of solving this quest would build certain skills and techniques that would be useful in Zaja's arsenal.
"None..." Zaja finished Lord Dazzai's sentence, cutting the Crimson Deity off with understanding.
'I fight... I fight like hell...".
Indeed Zaja would need to fight like hell, because he was up against a matriarch of an entire civilization, who was over a thousand years old and rumoured to be as powerful as the strongest humans in the Ironforge Dominion.
Although the country of Blackfield Gorge was lesser in prosperity than Ironforge Dominion, Lady Xena Apotheosis was strong, too strong to be stopped by Zaja's current level. Going head to head with her was a sure death wish.
"Thornhill son..." Lady Elyria was extremely flabbergasted due to the current situation. She too was extremely terrified at the involvement of the religious goddess Xena Apotheosis.
What made Xena most dangerous was that she was weaponized faith. Her entire existence revolves around forcing the world to kneel to her cult. No negotiation, no tolerance. It was just be converted or be erased.
She was known as an emotionless enforcer in the Ironforge Dominion and sees compassion as a disease.
Therefore, mercy is forbidden in her doctrine. Anyone under rule either obeys or becomes a holy example. The crazy part was that her followers didn't despise her as one would like to think, they claim she could purify the realm city by city and by 'purify' they meant wipe out everyone who refuses to chant to their religion.
Xena Apotheosis's constant need to expand her countries reach has alerted the Ironforge Dominion in the past. But the king of that time refused to go into war with them because he didn't want the lives of his soldiers to be lost over some religious war.
Now, Ironforge Dominion has left Blackfield Gorge to do as they please to the other countries so long as they don't touch even a the fence of the Ironforge Dominions boaders. So it was safe to say that Ironforge Dominion is what's preventing Xena Apotheosis and Blackfield Gorge from taking over the entire continent.
But she had greater ambitions. She wasn't just going to take over the continent, she wanted the entire realm and if possible— Beyond that as well.
To do that she needed her deity Lord Tenzen and now turns out Lira is just the key to unlocking that ambition.
'System, what can you tell me about the Cursed Speech Control mutation...' Zaja pulled up the Desire System's interface.
Ding!
~Desire Systems Find and seek feature in use~
~Subject: Cursed Speech Control mutation~
~This is a hereditary technique passed down in the ancient clan known as the Ferrell Clan. The entire concept is simple but extremely deadly~
~An individual that possesses the mutation Cursed Speech Control mutation literally becomes a commander that can force reality to obey~
~The user infused Arcane energy into their voice and whatever they say becomes a direct order to the target. The stronger their Arcane energy the stronger the effect. Hence if the user were to give a direct instruction like "Die" the target instantly drops dead on the spot~
~If the user were to give an instruction such as "Burst" the target instantly implodes or explodes hence it's a conjunction of mind control, body control and forced action rolled into one.~
~Due to the extreme sensitivity of the mutation, the user usually refrains from using certain words during speech as this mutation cannot be controlled~
~This mutation gets stronger with more Arcane energy, direct line of sight, close proximity and the target simply just being weaker~
At Zaja's request, the Desire System immediately pulled down a list of information concerning Lira's legendary mutation.
This was salt applied on an already open wound. Lady Xena Apotheosis was powerful enough, how was Zaja going to defeat her in less than half a year to save his sister.
'Think Zaja think! Six months to defeat Xena Apotheosis on my own is not realistic...'
'Wait... Who said I had to do it all on my own!'