Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 429: The True Warak

Baffled, Warak blinked. He looked at Treeda but noticed her expression grow heavy. Right away Warak looked back at the gorillas with a face of imminent disappointment. “... Oh no. This involves my brat, doesn’t it?”

Ania hesitated to reply to such a comment but Bradok answered, “Yeah, it involves that idiot.”

“What did he do this time?” Warak asked, not caring if anyone forgot about his son’s title and status as a regional king.

“He fought my husband, Dioro,” stated Ania, glad to know they weren’t in trouble.

Warak’s pupils widened and his eyelids peeled back. “... I assume this was during the incident with Trada?”

“Yes,” Ania clarified.

“Oh... I liked Dioro. I loved watching Kartzal’s face when Dioro denied working for him, standing on his own with pride... I didn’t know him, but anyone could tell he was a spectacular man,” Warak complimented with a soft, sincere tone. “Then I take it Dioro was the one who left the brat on death’s door?”

.....

Nodding, Ania explained, “It was our son that found Trada and your son fighting. And it was our son that ran away with the egg while Trada tried to hold off Brak. But Brak overpowered his wife and hunted down our son, so Dioro stepped in to fight, even though he was only a peak-perennial.”

“Dioro was a peak-perennial and he did all that to Brak?!” Warak was so surprised that he forgot to call his son by his proper nickname.

“Yes. But to do it Dioro burned his own soul and died soon after Brak fled. That was just before we founded Iron Town,” stated Ania. But before Warak could say anything, she added, “And once your son returned, he gave away our clan’s location which caused Tempest Prefecture to secretly hunt us down, even kidnapping our son...

“But, please, Lord Warak, don’t think we hold you up to that hatred. We bring it up because while explaining the situation to Lord Treeda, she mentioned that you would want to know about it-”

“Thank you for informing me! And, regardless, me Razor-hide Clan will offer you recompense.”

“Please, you don’t-”

“I must, Madam Ania,” stated Warak, bowing without any hesitation.

Everyone present was stunned and motionless, except for those that knew Warak, like Treeda and Zelsh. In fact, two of Warak’s subordinate kings also bowed along with the two dragon candidates.

Warak lifted his head, stating, “We will pay recompense. I understand that Brak has paid some form of repair already, but that won’t be enough. To repay the loss of an expert like Dioro, a true champion, whatever the brat was forced to pay is too little. And to repay the loss of Madam Ania’s and Dioro’s child, the difference only widens...”

“Lord Warak, please, there’s no need to bow or act so humbly to us!” Ania insisted, too startled to process the true character of this unusual prefecture lord.

Sighing, Warak shook his head, “No, we will repay in some way. Dioro was the same as your candidate, Netra, a perfect candidate that outshined everyone else. Only Dioro was even more so with his additional soul arts, which he must’ve upgraded even further in order to harm Brak to such a degree... He was a rare beast that I longed to spar with after he was given sufficient time to grow... And, tell me, was your son as talented as Dioro?”

“... He-”

“Even more so,” Vloz spoke up, not being shy like Ania. “According to Dioro, their son was a prodigy, especially with soul arts. Before he had formed a core, little Oli was already training the early levels of Dioro’s greatest soul art.”

“That...” A look of pain and longing appeared on Warak’s face, startling some of them. “And he must’ve started training in Dioro’s king-grade technique, the same technique he won from Kartzal himself... Oh, what a waste! Why are no true talents allowed to grow anymore? It’s too lonely at the peak!”

Warak’s voice reverberated through the colosseum, but he quickly calmed himself down. “... If only he were my candidate, not that slimy snake’s... Sorry, I lost my temper there.

“Madam Ania-”

“At least call me Ania.”

“Then, please, call me Warak,” replied the prefecture lord, again surprising everyone except those that knew him. “Ania, I want to repay you in some way. Even if only to help raise a true talent, then that’s fine with me. But, to make you feel better, I’ll add one condition. How’s that?”

“...Okay,” Ania agreed. “What’s the condition?”

“If anyone from your clan or the land you rule eventually becomes a god, let me spar with them.”

“... Huh?”

“That’s my condition. Dioro had the potential to become a god, and I can’t remember the last time I had longed for a true competitor. Seeing Dioro in the Mortal Championship... In the Global... It revived a long-dormant desire of mine to test my mettle,” reasoned Warak, speaking sorrowfully.

Everyone listening was silent. No one knew what to say or how to react to such a condition, as that was the last thing on their minds. Was raising a god so easy?

“As Iron-body Clan Chief, I’m willing to accept that condition, but I have a condition also,” Bradok fearlessly spoke, startling Treeda.

Smiling back at the confident gorilla, Warak replied, “Very well. Name your condition.”

“Your Razor-hide Clan becomes allies with our Iron-body Clan.”

Treeda and Vloz nearly fell over they were hit with so much shock. And Ania rushed to clobber her father on the head. But Bradok accepted the blow without flinching, staring back at Warak’s unchanging expression.

“... That’s an awfully large condition,” remarked Warak.

“If I promise that we’ll have a god within one hundred years, will you accept?”

“You can make such a promise?! With such a shameless face?” laughed Warak, finding the old gorilla more and more interesting.

Bradok knew that he’d finally gotten Warak to bite the bait, so he nodded and explained, “I can. You see, Oli wasn’t captured by Tempest. He was originally kidnapped, but we soon found the kidnapper, decapitated. Yet Oli was nowhere to be found. My theory is that Oli fled to train and grow on his own. The last thing he wanted was for his clan and territory to get targeted for his sake, which it was. So, I’m willing to bet he’s out there, waiting to shake up the world when the time’s right.”