Chapter 26: "Land of gods"- Finale: "The good, the bad and the innocent".

Thinking for a moment, Thedus finally knew the answer that even Hieu knew:

'Couldn't the reason for this be because... she was afraid we would tell others if we were to be unsealed after knowing about this...'

'To keep her brainwashing campaign undetected...? Hmm, a wonderfully valid reason. That possibility cannot be ruled out.'

'I thought you were thinking the same thing as me?'

'Come on, I'm not that smart. I just want to test your brain and hear what you think. For this reason, even I can't think of it.'

'Is he pretending? Or did he really not know, so he wanted to let me guess with the transcendent brain of a god...?!'- Thinking of that, Thehdus approached Hieu, stared at him, and said:

'Are you acting? Judging from your attitude just now, I guess you share the same thoughts as me.'

'Can't get past you, seriously, I did think about it. That's the only theory I can think of after what happened. I bet this hypothesis is correct up to 99.1%.'

'Ridiculous, that can't be the reason for that. The real reason is…'

Suddenly Thedus hesitated when he said that. Wondering about that attitude, Hieu asked:

'What is the real reason? Go on talking.'

'…I have no business telling you about that. It's just a silly theory, in general. Don't try to make up stories to slander the Goddess. Granted, brainwashing is real, but I believe she didn't do it on purpose, maybe someone instigated her to do so, for example, a member of her cult.'

'On what grounds are you so sure?'

We – the gods have served her longer than anyone. Therefore we understand her better than anyone. She is not that kind of person, she loves everyone and never intends to harm anyone, even if there are people who hate her very much, always trying to bring her down and harm her again and again. Her personality makes us admire her. Don't try to brainwash and draw me to your side against the Goddess with that dirty trick. It's useless.'

Faced with Thedus' terrifyingly consistent attitude, Hieu knew that he no longer had the initiative in his 'mind game', he understood that his brainwashing did not seem to work on an almighty god like him.

'There's no use in doing anything to change Thedus' mind now...'- Hieu thought so in his mind...

'You say the one whose ancestor was almost brainwashed, me, is trying to brainwash you to increase my allies against the Goddess? Listen, whether the Goddess did it on purpose or not, whatever the reason, the fact is that she has already carried out a brainwashing campaign on the followers of the Black God, you understand? '

'Don't talk to me anymore, it's no use, mortal. My loyalty and faith to the goddess will never change.'- Thedus still showed a firm, resolute attitude towards Hieu.

The part when Hieu lowered his head to look depressed as if he wanted to give up, sighed, and said:

'Never mind, nothing you say now won't change your mind, for the truth is that you believe in the Goddess more than anyone and that everything has happened anyway.' I want to warn you for mercy: 'If you still blindly trust the Goddess, the only person who will bear the consequences is you.

Thedus showed little interest in the warning, saying nonchalantly:

'You have what you want to know from me. Now answer my question.'

'Okay, as the deal.'

Hieu didn't know that Thedus was talking to him to buy time, taking the time to treat Yelena's wound...

Because Hieu still didn't know anything, he still said passionately:

'After I got out of prison, I wandered around, homeless and penniless. One day, I saw an agony elderly man lying on the street, holding something in his hand and giving it to me, Just enough. I want to die peacefully. Please accept.' I agreed before he stopped breathing. That's how he transferred ownership of the thing to me. The thing he gave me was this.'- Hieu pointed to the blue Elemental Card and continued- 'Then I learned the origin of this thing through the documented records of my great-grandfather. Thanks to those documented records, I discovered this thing with what is in the documents left by the great-grandfather is one, the Vietnamese name of this thing, according to the documented records, is called 'To Than Menh The'. Is that true?'.

'Right.'

'A criminal with an EC? It's dangerous indeed. My fears about him were correct.' thought Thedus.

'I realized that I had obtained something more precious than diamond'- Hieu said- 'Later, thanks to it, I discovered that three more existed and knew the power of each. From the records of my great-grandfather, I know that there are four gods who owned them and was also the guardian of the ancient tomb of Savakaj 1000 years ago, so it means you were one of them. They even say whoever gets all four of them will have unlimited power comparable to their creator- the goddess of creation...'

''He doesn't know what bad things will happen to him if he owns all four, he thinks that mastering four Elemental Cards is so easy for him. Such an idiot he was.'- Thedus thought.

'So you've been planning to find them since that time, haven't you? And the Elemental Card that Toan kept was the first target?'

'Yeah. Five days ago, I went to Linh's Institute and heard her talk about what she and Toan did at the ancient tomb a month ago. She hired me to find and watch Toan 24/7 to get EC from him. I gladly accepted but always kept it a secret about whether I kept another one and also my identity. After some debate, I realized that Linh and I didn't share the same goal: She didn't want to find EC anymore. She just lied to me in the first meeting to exploit me to work for her and do what she wanted. Linh wasn't like the type of person she said she was many months ago, I just feel that her soul must have been left in that ancient tomb. Linh that I come into contact with is just someone who is immersed in guilt, and regret, and always wants to mend his relationship with Toan. So... I realized I had to do something...'

'That's the explanation for you using EC to manipulate her. There's no reason why you didn't give up on her at the time when you knew she wasn't the type of person you wanted. Is she still worth using in your plans…?'

'Right. I cooperate with her because she is the center of everything. Even though she didn't do anything, Toan and Yelena still came to find her after that meeting. I considered her as bait to lure Yelena to meet her. She knows more about EC than anyone. I only heard a few things about this from her before she was temporarily brainwashed by the EC I was keeping. She's still valuable in some ways.'

'Understood. I found Linh's attitude, behavior, and speech at the Institute last night very unusual, strange, unlike the first time I saw her, which made me quite confused all night...'

'Anything else?'

'Also, I sensed the dark energy from EC, which was parasitic in her brain, after entering her mind, it spread to all the nerves.'

'Thanks for explaining to me. I see her as a tool to serve my plan, and even so, I still complete the task she gave me because I consider breaking the contract to be the worst thing for an assassin... But later I realized she was the deal breaker between the two of us. She is a disgusting slut in my eyes.

And I always remind myself I won't forgive her. I swear when the time comes, I'll get someone to get rid of her. Luckily it went as I planned, Yelena was the one to do it for me.'

'Although I disagree with your brutal ways of killing, in this case, you have your reason to be angry, I think, she broke her promise, and therefore, she deserves to be punished, but in less cruel and brutal ways. You remind me of the enemy I faced in the War of Contradictions. He is also scheming, ruthless, and doesn't like being betrayed, just like you. The only thing that makes him different from you is that he has dark powers. You see, you made it become a much more complex matter than you thought.'

'I don't care. Speaking of which, Yelena is probably dead now, which means your Elemental Card will belong to me. Come back to me, Thedus. I am your EC's master now.'

'In the end, what was your purpose in collecting them? Simply for the sake of your great-grandfather's wish to revive the guild and kill the Goddess?'

'No, that's not my intention. To be honest, I don't want to have anything to do with the revival of the guild or destroy the Goddess, on the contrary, I consider the Elemental Cards to be something that serves my own interests. When I have all four, I will use them to control the world's leaders to create the laws I want, including the law to disband the police, because I hate them so much. When they lose faith in the authorities, they will be broken and fall into the criminal path. I have this purpose because the arch-feud with a damn cop has shaken the criminal world for years.'

'Do you want to see a world destroyed by lawlessness, where is always in turmoil by human corruption, violence, and fear?'

'As expected, Gods perceive faster than mortals.'

'I was concerned that you would become the heir to the legacy and testament left by that guild and your ancestors. But in the end, my worries were a bit superfluous. Your great-grandfather shouldn't have expected too much from a descendant who goes against his own goals for personal gain like you. Ah, do you know that when some mortals are at the border of life and death, even though their bodies can no longer move, their desire to live is extremely strong? It is it that will pull them out of the scythe of death narrowly. Have you heard the saying 'God is your crutch'? You're about to experience what you don't want to happen to you: contemplating my power before you die. It is your fate that has been decided.'

'What?'

When he was paying attention to Thedus' words, he didn't know one thing: Yelena was alive. Her wound was healed by Thedus. While still keeping her sanity, she put all her remaining energy into the index and middle fingers of her left hand and fired a bolt of lightning that hit Hieu's stomach. Hieu fell to the ground and died, and Yelena immediately passed out.

Thedus approached Hieu's body and said:

'The purpose of my speaking to you is to buy time for Yelena while I use my energy to heal her wounds, help her heal quickly, and help her take the time to finish you off. You should know, I will not let the Elemental Cards fall into the hands of someone like you, especially since you are a descendant of someone who is considered 'one of the remnants of the god of Darkness'. I understand I need to silence you forever before you become a real threat to the world Yelena did this for me. Goodbye, Hieu...'

The part when Thedus approached Yelena, saying:

'If what Hieu said is true, I need to meet the Goddess as soon as possible, but she's been hiding her energy to avoid detection. Why would she do that?... Whatever the reason, this will make finding her very difficult. It's probably going to take a while... I gave Yelena a lot of trouble by giving her power because I believed she was an ally and was well aware that she was in a dangerous situation. As expected, possessing a great strength like that was too much for a girl with weak legs and soft arms. Maybe I should wait until she's well enough before finding a new ally.'

The part when he knelt his legs down to Yelena's body, said:

'It's about time for me to say goodbye to you, Yelena. You endured many things that were still beyond your capacity. I hope you'll live happily for the rest of your life. Thanks for everything.'

Speaking of which, Thedus disappeared. A few minutes later, Yelena woke up."