Chapter 2179

With everything laid bare, all that remained was to return Shannon and Benjamin's divine souls to where they belonged. Considering Zidane's current strength, Mordecai stepped up beside him. Together, the two swiftly used the chroyan branch to open a time-traveling portal. Shannon and Benjamin's figures soon vanished into the passage. At the same time, Zidane's soul also dissolved into a wisp of light smoke. Instead of returning to the world with Shannon and Benjamin, he drifted into the body of his present-life self. Moments later, the cold detachment in his expression gave way to a flicker of clarity. After a long pause, a faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Shannon and Benjamin had used the underworld's chroyan branch to open a time-traveling portal. Naturally, upon returning, their souls reappeared within the underworld. With the Underworld Pass Token, the ghost gates opened effortlessly, and the two souls quickly vanished into the depths of the realm. It wasn't until they had completely disappeared that within Morvahn's Hall, where Mordecai had been remotely managing underworld affairs through ghostly projection, a spark of mystic light lit up within his soul. The next moment, his form dissipated in a shimmer, and he reappeared inside Skelldom, the Mystic Headquarters. On the couch, Zidane was still dressed in his signature suit, now lying in a relaxed, lazy sprawl. Seeing Mordecai, he merely glanced at him and asked, "I didn't borrow you a portal just for you to collect a fee from me, did I?" Mordecai remained as stoic and unreadable as ever, his face cold and unsmiling. He looked at the man lounging on the couch, then countered with a question of his own, "400 years ago, when you suddenly decided to bring together the underworld and mystic arts forces, ultimately founding Mystic… Was it because of those two?" Zidane straightened his back. The premium material of his suit didn't suffer a single wrinkle from his casual movements just moments ago. He gazed arrogantly and nonchalantly at Mordecai. "So what if that was the case? So what if it wasn't?" Mordecai's attitude toward him had never gained an edge over the millennia. He simply furrowed his brows slightly and asked, "So, are you really planning to follow her lead and help them eliminate Vlad?" Even the power he had accumulated over the past 400 years was all in preparation to eliminate Vlad. Although he never interfered in Zidane's choice, he still remarked, "You were Morvahn, too. You should know that Vlad will never die or be eradicated unless all malice in the mortal realm is destroyed." Otherwise, how could a hundred thousand malice of the underworld have caused the calamity of Celestria, leading to the destruction of two powerful demons? The abundant malice was merely the cause; the driving force behind the catastrophe was the condensation of all human malice, which then manifested into Vlad. Even though Lucan sacrificed his divine soul to destroy Vlad, the latter still managed to reassemble malice and return even thousands of years later. Mordecai's words were clear to Zidane. It was precisely because he had attempted to eliminate the hundred thousand malice that he had failed and allowed them to escape the underworld. However, at that very moment… "I believe in them," he said. Zidane didn't specify who he referred to, but it was clear as day. "Even if we can't destroy it for good, we'll just suppress it like we did in the past." The flames of hell would ensure that every trace of malice would be incinerated the moment it resurfaced. This time, he wouldn't give it another chance to escape. Mordecai understood his meaning but still reminded him in a formal tone, "You can borrow the underworld's power to suppress malice, but we will not interfere in the affairs of the mortal realm. "That's the rule." Zidane shot him a glare, clearly irritated. "I've been Morvahn; I know the rules well." As if still unsatisfied, he snorted coldly and added, "And why are you, the one who'd snatched the throne from my hand, acting so snotty toward me?" Mordecai pursed his lips. "If you'd like, I can return the throne to you." After all, Zidane's punishment had ended five thousand years ago. Zidane raised his chin nonchalantly. "And why would I care to have that?" Once Vlad was eliminated, Mystic would eventually replace the underworld completely. At that point, he would have Mordecai working for him like a mere underling!