Return of the last survivor
Chapter 88: Compliance

Merlin nodded slightly before saying, "No."

This statement left both of the envoys stunned for a moment, before hostility began radiating from them.

However, at this moment, a humanoid blob of lava, and a humanoid mess of branches and leaves, walked over from either side of the mountain. Seeing this scene, all the people in the envoys bowed to their respective leaders' avatars.

Merlin looked at them and nodded at the golems created using pure mana force. This was both a show of strength and a show of acceptance, of treating himself as an equal.

Merlin scanned the two elementals before sighing slightly,

"You are both too old. You won't last another decade or two."

Hearing this, both the golems immediately stopped moving, as though they were unaffected, but the fact that they stopped moving showed that the ones controlling them had lost control of the golems for a brief moment.

This was proof enough that the two peak Tier 2 were shocked.

"That doesn't matter. I want to know one thing. Are you guys facing the 'infection', or undead creatures?"

A brief moment later, both golems shook their heads, which caused Merlin to fall into thought.

As he was thinking deeply, he muttered unintentionally, which was caught onto by both golems and their controllers,

"Them what Apocalypse had Arcania done here?"

Merlin had read about many different kinds of Apocalypses. A majority being zombies, or as many other planes call it, 'Infection'. Some of the rarer ones are just complete destructions of the planes with things like asteroids, planer collisions, and even spawns.

Hearing this mutter, both golems were even more shocked.

However, the nature golem recovered first as its controller remembered how the demons nearly brought about the Apocalypse to the elves.

"It is the demons! They started spawning in the west, and took over half the world!"

"Mmmm?" Merlin's interest was piqued. This was quite interesting information. The Apocalypse was a spawn type, and the spawns were actually an intelligent race which could continue to survive and thrive even after the spawn time completes.

The lava golem could only sigh, "Yes, Arcania spawned us with the mission to destroy all intelligent life. But that has changed. We have evolved from mere spawned creatures to a race with a significant amount of culture and history."

Merlin looked over at the lava golem with a strange expression, clearly saying, 'Why are you defending yourself? You were spawned to kill. Own up to it!'

A few awkward moments later, Merlin finally sighed softly as he said,

"Alright. I know each of you hate each other to the bones."

Every fibre of every being present seemed to nod fervently at those words, however, this was all stopped with Merlin's next words.

"But I don't hate any of you. Let me be clear, In the name of myself, Merlin, the leader of the Great Nation of Cayden, this mountain and all the land around it for 10km in any direction, is my territory. Any conflict between anyone in this region will be considered an act of war with me. You guys can go and have your fights away from the mountain. Kill each other until nothing is left for all I care."

"But-" the lava golem was just about to speak, but was rudely cut-off by Merlin.

"You fellows hat each other. Cool! But I don't have any enmity with you, and nor do you with me. I intend to keep it that way. Anyone from any tribe who wants to settle down in the mountain is welcome to, but fighting is prohibited. Remember this. You fellows are incredibly old. I will soon be the only Tier 2 in this world once you guys pass on. Think clearly about making me your enemy."

Although the latter part of the announcement was a blatant threat, which sent shivers down the spines of the elves and demons, the two controllers of the golems went silent as though in deep thought.

They were both considering Merlin's words. He had said the 'Great Nation of Cayden'. Just were was this fellow from? And furthermore, he clearly knew of the status of both the grand elder and grand demon. And the most important thing, was that this Tier 2 fellow had said that he would allow people from either tribe to settle in his territory. The implications of such words were terrifying.

This fellow wanted to create a safe haven for both races, who were at complete odd with each other.

However, with time, the two leaders began to realise something. The hatred between the two tribes had existed for an incredibly long time, with every warrior having it deeply ingrained into their hearts from the moment they advanced to become warriors from children.

However, the females, and children themselves were not part of this hatred, only living in fear of the horrifying enemies that would reap the souls of their family. It was not hatred, but fear.

Hatred was a feeling which would never disappear from one's heart, only growing stronger and stronger until it consumes one from the inside.

However, fear was a completely different emotion. It was not deep rooted, and could both be easily formed as well as removed. Fear was an instinctual emotion which was like chalk on a black-board, while hatred and vengeance are like cement, never to be forgotten, a heavy load forever remining in your heart.

This mean that those who were not warriors, as well as the next generations of both tribes could live without the fear of being whipped out by the other tribe! This revelation sent shivers of happiness welling up through both the leaders of the tribes, emotions which had been supressed for almost a thousand years, due to the constant threat of being whipped out.

Almost 20 minutes later, Merlin had waited long enough for the emotions of the leaders to clam down and finally spoke. This time, he used his mana to amplify his voice such that it reached throughout the entire plane.

This normally would not be possible with his mana alone. It was actually the planer will that was helping him. Surprisingly, after this conversation with the leaders of the two resident tribes, Merlin felt the pressure of the planer will's suppression had completely vanished, as though it had sensed the intentions of Merlin. It had decided it would be better for its own growth if the two tribes did not eradicate each other completely, and so supported his motives now that it came to the realisation that Merlin's actions were beneficial to itself.

This was typical of weaker planer will. Even most stronger planer wills will have such an indifferent attitude which closely resembled that of a shrewd businessman only looking out for its own benefits.

"I am Merlin Ross, leader of the Great Nation of Cayden. I am not a demon, nor am I an elf. I am the a human, whose strength is on par with the leaders of your tribes. I hereby declare that the Saint Ferlin Mountain, and exactly 10km around it, will be my territory. No fighting is allowed in this region. Those who attempt to cause trouble will be dealt with by the punishment of instant death! Those who wish to live in peace are welcome to enter this region and set up your home. But go against my rules and the punishment is death, no matter the circumstances."

Merlin's voice boomed throughout both the forest and the volcano, the will of the seed of destruction as well as the will of the world tree harmonising with it as they increased its power and might.

Being as old as they were, not only did planes have wills, but so did the seed of destruction, which kept the grand demon alive, and the world tree, which kept the grand elder alive.

This power, with the help of all the conscient and powerful wills on the plane, had touched upon the very laws of the plane. This was an incredibly familiar feeling to Merlin, the feeling of touching upon the laws of a plane.

Although what Merlin said was rather harsh the world tree bloomed with a brilliance green lustre, a sign of the acceptance of the world tree's will who used some of the laws it learned, and the volcano erupted into a bellowing cloud of ash and lava, along with a pale red glow, showing its own acceptance of this proclamation.

All the residents of both the tribes were stunned. Did the Seed of Destruction, and World tree just comply with the will of a foreign race?!