The escalating conflict between the Bloodkin and the Sutra Corps, a direct consequence of Elias's desperate gambit to protect the Sylvans, left him with a bitter taste of guilt. He was manipulating entire factions, fueling hatred and violence to achieve his goals. He knew he was losing himself, but the alternative—allowing the Guild to unleash their karmic weapon—was unthinkable.
He returned to the core of the problem: High Sage Theronius, the ancient manipulator who seemed to control the very fabric of the Ledger. He had to understand the Sage's motives, his true identity, if he ever hoped to stop him.
He delved deeper into the erased judgments, the ancient records that the Sage had tried to bury. He cross-referenced the few remaining fragments of information, the subtle echoes that had survived the Sage's meticulous purges. He searched for patterns, for connections, for any clue that could reveal the Sage's true name.
Then, he found it. A single, recurring phrase, a seemingly innocuous legal term that appeared in several of the erased cases: "Arthan's Edict." It was a reference to a long-forgotten legal precedent, a ruling that had been overturned centuries ago. But the phrase, the name, resonated with a faint, almost imperceptible karmic echo.
He dug further, scouring ancient historical archives, long-abandoned Bureau records. He found a name: Sage Arthan. A former member of the Grand Council, a figure of immense power and influence, who had mysteriously vanished from the records centuries ago, presumed dead.
But Arthan's influence extended beyond legal precedent. His last ruling before his disappearance had been to seal a specific section of the Ledger, a heavily guarded archive containing what was described as "primal karmic laws." The very foundation of the system, the original code that governed the flow of karma.
Elias felt a chilling realization. Arthan hadn't just been manipulating the Ledger; he had been hiding something. Something far more dangerous than mere corruption. He had sealed away the original laws of karma, the very source code of the system. And if he had the power to do that, then he had the power to rewrite reality itself.
The implications were staggering. If the High Sage was indeed Sage Arthan, then he was not just a corrupt official; he was a cosmic architect, a being who had tampered with the very foundations of existence. And the Guild, with their karmic weapon and their fanatical devotion to the Sage's twisted ideology, were merely pawns in his grand, terrifying design.