Chapter 694 Chess Pieces Rowan is a predator, he was so young, yet his ledger was already dripping red with the blood of countless billions. After becoming an Ouroboros Serpent his nature had turned cold, and he did not turn bloodthirsty, only apathetic. He had fought a hundred battles and won every single one, he was sure of his strength and he feared nothing. This was not pride, this was simply confidence. Every action he took was carefully planned, because he knew he was very powerful and to kill him would be extremely difficult but he still understood that his downfall would only come if he was careless. He was powerful but he was not invincible. He just needed time to become one. No one else could make a claim like this except Rowan. Despite his confidence in his powers, not for a single moment did he delude himself into believing that he was just fighting Trion and its gods, that was just a trap laid down by his father because if he was in the position of his father, this would be the action he would take—Find a scapegoat that could be seen and observed by all. In fact, make the presence of this scapegoat to be very loud. How did the old man do it, well he announced to all the universe that a tiny Major World with a single God King had plans to become a Supreme World! Not only that he also sweetened the deal by making a unique resource to emerge on this planet, Elura Shards. A source of power that could grant wishes. This move was successful, Trion was considered the most powerful Major World in the universe, and for the last million years, they had been fighting a mock battle with the Supreme World of the mages and the Great Abyss. When Rowan had first heard of this war, its scale had shocked him, over the last million years untold billions would have died in these blood-soaked fields. With his present vision, he knew that number was laughable. If he wanted he could ten times more in a single year. This war with the other Supreme World was a sham, but it did something right, it drew attention. It was bait, and his father was fishing. Rowan would not forget that his true enemy was always his father, and in this game of chess that extends from the past over to the future, then his chess piece should not only be properly placed in an accurate location but in an accurate time as well. He might be behind by a million moves, but he was a fast learner and he was sure that his father had noticed. This part was even more crucial. Forget the gods, forget the demons or Archmages… the true battle of the strong was fought across time. The ascension to a state of Will had shown him the true face of his father, and even if the Reflection did not control the power of Time, he must surely understand it to a ridiculous degree. Rowan knew he could not fight with his father using knowledge but with power. He was young and strong with limitless potential, and the fact that he was a variant that even his father might have never expected. The only reason he could rebel against his father was that Rowan Carter's Soul Origin from Earth served as a bridge that linked the past of Rowan Kuranes to the present, severing a million years of time that was stolen from him. There were many mysteries on Trion, and if he wanted to be careful, he should stay afar and slowly investigate this planet, sending his armies over to slowly weaken it while waiting for the hand his father would play. Just ten Archangels alone should be able to battle Trion to a standstill, if he sent a hundred, then it would not matter how powerful the gods were or the weapons they controlled. They would all be slaughtered like lambs. Although that would be a great method of waging war, that would be for the Rowan of before who did not understand the intricacies of time. If he could create powerful armies that could raze Trion to the ground in a single moment, was he willing to believe that his father's forces were just these few 'gods' on the surface? Trion was nothing but bait! A million years of time had been stolen from him and although he had snapshots of his memories of those periods, they were mostly focused on his torture and nothing more, his mother Elura had promised him his inheritance and he believed that that inheritance must include the time that was stolen from him. The only link to that time was Maeve, and if he knew that fact his father might also know it too, but Rowan was willing to risk the process of getting close to his handmaiden of the past. In chess, it was perfectly okay to sacrifice a pawn to get to the king. Knowing that Trion was bait, he realized that it was impossible that his father did not have other projects that he was focused on. This was especially concerning because Rowan had not forgotten the vision he received when he was asleep the first time he began to digest the soul of Erohim. This was very important because it unknowingly showed him a secret that 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 was perhaps the greatest opening to this battle. He had seen a hand that was struggling to enter the material universe—This universe in particular. Even after countless years that was impossible for mortals to comprehend, that hand had failed to enter the universe, this continued for so long that even when the universe perished and a new one was born, this hand did not succeed, but it did not stop trying to gain access to the universe. Why was that? What was special about this universe? He was sure even Elura his mother did not exist at that time and for all the many universes in creation, that hand which should have been his father had tried entering only this particular universe. Finally, he had succeeded. Rowan had seen that hand enter a great desert and a shape filled with darkness was born. That vision he had received decades ago was not forgotten by him because it revealed something very important. His father had entered this universe billions of years ago, and as far as he understood, he only interacted with Elura, his mother, a few million years ago. So the important question that he should not ignore was simple. What was his father doing for all those billions of years? He refused to believe that he was the only project he was working on. A creature as powerful as his father must have created countless projects and what he could see could as well be the tip of the iceberg. This was the reason Rowan knew that this war would not be truly fought on just Trion alone, but throughout the entire universe, and he must not be blindsided by the shiny bait in front of him. If this was anybody else there would be no reason to fight. His father was so powerful on a level that would leave any sort of resistance to be futile, but he was not anyone else. Even with his powers, Rowan might lose this battle… he might lose many battles against his father, but he would not lose the war. Rowan grinned, an entire Major World, trillions of lives, millions of years of history, all of it was just a single chess piece of his old man. This did not make him falter before the enormity of the task before him, it achieved the opposite in fact, it made him excited and assured him that his growth was just beginning. Before Rowan would leave this universe he would have battled with the Reflection of a being that was equal to a Primordial. "Good! Nothing else would do."