Chương 557: Chapter 525: The Third Faction

Felix, the Chosen of Eryndor, sat to the left and unfortunately for Pinkype he apparently hadn't experienced anything particularly terrible involving Thalion yet.

"Eh I don't really have a reason to hate the guy besides what Ethan and Ryan told me. In fact I think I only saw him for a brief moment during the final stage of the first system event." This entire conversation clearly frustrated the host more and more as he practically had to rip useful information out of the human Chosen one sentence at a time.

"Next," the god muttered almost in disbelief. Things didn't improve when the next person turned out to be the healer Thalion had fought beside only days earlier.

"So we fought together against the elves while Thalion disguised himself as one of our guards. He ignored my orders and instead of attacking the assassin he went after the plant mage. Then the moment his identity was exposed he immediately ran away. Otherwise… mostly what the others already said." Elara explained everything in a calm melodic voice that somehow made the accusations sound even worse. Pinkype genuinely looked like he was dying by a thousand cuts.

Every answer only created more questions while moving the discussion absolutely nowhere.

"Okay quick interruption before we continue." Pinkype raised two tentacles.

"Thalion I thought you said you were simply visiting friends. Why exactly would you help your enemies?" By now countless whispers spread through the audience as viewers enthusiastically developed increasingly ridiculous theories of their own.

"Well many of the people inside that fortress survived the entire tutorial together with me and I was leaving anyway so why not help them out one last time?" Thalion shrugged casually. He definitely didn't intend to explain what he had actually been doing inside the base.

"Okay… whatever. Let's move on," Pinkype said with noticeable irritation.

"Well," Eric began carefully, "we fought together during the final stage of the system event and he allowed someone extremely dangerous to escape for no apparent reason. Also he didn't merely visit friends inside my base. He convinced them to abandon the alliance and join his new faction."

"Can someone please tell me who exactly these friends are or at least become a little more specific?" Pinkype exclaimed clearly reaching the limits of his patience with everyone speaking in riddles.

"They were among the strongest fighters in my army besides myself," Eric clarified which at least finally made Pinkype nod slightly. That part the host could understand. Then came Ethan who already looked prepared with his own carefully constructed narrative.

"Thalion ambushed blessed followers of my god during the tutorial and attempted to murder them. I personally heard the entire story directly from them and as history has now proven it was all true." Loud reactions spread through the audience and suddenly a very noticeable amount of pressure focused directly onto Thalion. At this point four different human Chosen had essentially described him as dangerous or untrustworthy while even the elves their mortal enemies would probably agree.

Simply calling Ethan a liar definitely wouldn't help much now.

"And what exactly is your response to these accusations?" Pinkype asked immediately sensing an opportunity.

"Being called a liar, betrayer, and backstabber does not reflect particularly well upon either you or the gods of your faction." Thalion deliberately let the silence stretch for several long seconds before finally speaking.

"Hmm a liar and betrayer huh?" Thalion began slowly and had to suppress a grin when he noticed Pinkype's eye stalks nearly bulging out from anticipation.

"So since there are apparently quite a few misconceptions floating around I should probably clarify some things starting with the elven attack."

"Oh no not this again," Pinkype muttered through clenched teeth though thankfully he didn't interrupt.

"If I'm truly such a lying, betraying, backstabbing monster then why exactly would I help them fight their greatest enemies?" Thalion asked calmly.

"That doesn't really make sense does it?" That point immediately captured the audience's attention because the entire situation had indeed seemed rather suspicious so far.

"Shortly after we arrived on this planet following the tutorial Eric's faction absorbed our original base. At the time stepping down as leader instead of fighting someone backed directly by a god seemed like the logical decision especially since I didn't even possess a blessing myself." He paused briefly before continuing.

"And those elites they claim I manipulated into following me?" Thalion shrugged lightly.

"They were simply my buddies from the tutorial, who were simply waiting for an opportunity to leave. Even now many people inside Eric's base believe I was the better leader and we had to face Ankhet during the tutorial." Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Thalion paused briefly before continuing calmly.

"And if you truly think I'm such a manipulative liar then doesn't it make far more sense now why I helped them fight against the elves? And if you still don't believe me then simply ask Eric." Suddenly all the pressure shifted directly onto Eric as both the audience and Pinkype immediately focused on him. The host's eyes practically gleamed with excitement as if the worst episode imaginable had suddenly transformed into the greatest thing ever broadcast across the multiverse.

Thalion honestly didn't enjoy forcing that much pressure onto Eric either. Out of all the human Chosen Eric was the one he liked the most. To be fair the random mage and Elara barely counted since he hardly knew them at all. Eric was also the weakest link among the humans when it came to this discussion. Ethan would shamelessly lie without hesitation, Ryan's hatred was honestly at least somewhat understandable, and the others barely interacted with Thalion before now.

Eric however took a very long time to answer and honestly the expression on his face already revealed enough for most of the audience. Then the first accusations spread through the crowd.

"Liar!"

"The mortal was right!" Eric's entire expression slowly twisted towards utter rage and white light slowly started glowing from his eyes.

"Everything he just said is a lie," Eric declared loudly though the hatred inside his voice was barely restrained anymore. Unfortunately for him the audience watching this spectacle wasn't made up of clueless F-grades but ancient beings with countless eras of experience. Most of them had seen more liars throughout history than entire civilizations combined. And they had all seen Eric hesitate. It genuinely hurt Thalion that Eric chose to make him his enemy as well.

Had Eric admitted even part of the truth Thalion would have stepped in. Well that opportunity had passed now. So Thalion decided to apply even more pressure.

"There's another matter I haven't commented on yet." Thalion's voice echoed loudly through the arena.

"Eric accused me of allowing someone dangerous to escape but conveniently forgot to mention that I also saved his life from that exact same person." Eric visibly stiffened in surprise which the audience naturally noticed immediately. Loud shouts erupted once more throughout the viewing platforms.

"Calm down. Calm down please." Pinkype's amplified voice easily overwhelmed the noise and within seconds silence returned again.

"So isn't this an absolutely fascinating development?" Pinkype almost trembled with excitement now.

"As it turns out we apparently don't have merely two sides in this conflict… but three." With dramatic flair he even moved Thalion's floating platform away from the human side entirely.

"Even though my lie-detection abilities unfortunately do not function properly on these projected mortal forms due to the unique nature of this transmission," Pinkype continued proudly, "I still possess countless eras of experience as a god and I know exactly what liars look like." The audience reacted with loud approval.

"And I believe Thalion." The declaration hit the human Chosen hard enough that several visibly lowered their shoulders under the reaction of the crowd.

"So now that things are finally becoming interesting and we have uncovered this rather unexpected fracture within the human alliance…" Pinkype spread his tentacles dramatically once more.

"I believe it is finally time to allow our Chosen to speak freely with one another. And personally I think we are about to witness something truly special." Thalion sincerely hoped this meant he wouldn't need to speak nearly as much anymore. The elves meanwhile had watched the entire spectacle with obvious amusement.

"How exactly do you plan to win this war?" the assassin asked mockingly with typical elven arrogance.

"We possess more Chosen, superior stats, higher rarity races and skills and your own side can barely stop fighting among themselves."

"We are united unlike your people and don't forget you have traitors among your own ranks as well," Felix, Chosen of Eryndor, immediately shot back.

"Ricarda was a traitor to the elven race just like Solan and his little prodigy." The elven king practically hissed the words and the mere idea that he could have something in common with a human visibly disgusted him. Before the argument could fully escalate however Pinkype suddenly remembered something important.

"Wait just one moment please." The host immediately turned toward Thalion.

"If Ricarda's patron joined Solan's faction doesn't that technically mean she belongs to the same faction as you?" Judging by the way Pinkype stared directly at him there was probably no avoiding the answer.

"Yeah. We're in the same faction."

"Okay Thalion listen." Pinkype suddenly started speaking in an oddly friendly tone.

"I like you but you can't keep giving these shallow answers forever. Tell us a bit more about your faction. How did you even connect with Ricarda or the Golden Lord Solan? I'm not saying you need to reveal every secret but at least give us a bit more than yes or no alright?"

"Well there honestly isn't that much to explain." Thalion shrugged casually.

"I freed a few human slaves belonging to Ricarda. She attacked me and I won. While I was asking her some questions and tearing her limbs off it turned out I could gain significantly more than just experience from the encounter and frankly with this planet overflowing with damned Chosen having a divine backer who doesn't force a blessing onto you is valuable." He paused briefly before continuing.

"In general it also turned out I was quite lucky. Most of the elven gods left which means Solan, one of the strongest gods in the multiverse, currently possesses plenty of low and mid-tier treasures without enough people to hand them to." Thalion had absolutely no idea whether that was entirely true but considering how sects usually worked he figured subtly advertising Solan's faction was probably exactly what the gods wanted him to do.

"Indeed an incredibly fortunate situation." Pinkype laughed loudly.

"Most people cannot restrain their killing intent especially during prolonged fights against Chosen. Those battles usually become extremely messy."

"You aligned yourself with the traitor?" the elven king hissed furiously.

"Once the humans are dead we shall deal with you next." The elven king truly didn't seem like someone born with the ability to smile. For a brief moment Thalion considered telling the king exactly what had happened to his son. Probably not the right place or time. At some point he would inevitably clash with the king personally and having an easy method to destabilize the elf emotionally might become an incredibly useful weapon later on.

Besides Thalion sincerely hoped the king survived long enough because he fully intended to claim that bloodline eventually.

"I even gave Ricarda the seeds from Olyndra's plant so she probably won't remain weak for much longer either," Thalion added casually. The reaction was immediate. Visible vines suddenly shifted beneath Olyndra's skin and Thalion interpreted that as a very clear sign of overwhelming rage. That the host then forced her to explain to the entire multiverse exactly what kind of plant she had just lost did absolutely nothing to improve Olyndra's mood.

In fact by the end of the explanation the elven Chosen looked ready to personally strangle Thalion through the projection.

"Hoho this has become far more exciting than I originally anticipated!" Pinkype announced with an enormous grin spreading across his face.

"And now it is finally time for the personal questions which shall become the longest segment of today's episode of Beyond the System!"