Blademaster Ascension

36- Step into the Void

"So may I have the honors to learn what is your exact motive? What made you arrange such a massive 'game' ?"
Rowan asked with a small smile.

"No, you may not. You don't have the qualifications for that yet, not to mention you wouldn't even understand if I explained it anyway."

Turio's present style of speech, demeanour and personality seemed to differ greatly from his original appearance. Rowan was beginning to slightly fear this persona of his.

"Where exactly was I wrong in my assumptions though? And how do you plan to escape? I think I deserve to know the answer."

"Yes, this you do. First of all, while you were correct that my appearance in this town was not co-incidental at all, it'd be wrong to say I knew about the blademaster's legacy being in your hands beforehand. There were too many incidents mixed in how I discovered you. Do you think you are the only person I have tricked out of their legacy techniques in these few months?

Secondly, you assumed master Fallspark to be a kind, trusting mage. I assure you, those sort of people don't exist in reality. It all depends on the situation. The archmage is capable of things you don't even want to know. And yes, he has done those things, multiple times in the past. So don't sympathize with him.

Thirdly, you misjudged Rhea. Her involvement had nothing to do with your legacy. She was deceived by me as well, but I don't have any ill intentions toward her. That is why she was able to escape with so smoothly. Otherwise your cryopod wouldn't be the only one to have an unfortunate accident.

Fourthly, almost none of these events that led to you and I being trapped inside the bunker was improvised. I knew that there could be hundreds of deviations from the original plan and took the necessary precautions.

The fact that the bunker is about to explode in half an hour,
that you still think running toward the bunker was your own idea,
that you followed us while we discussed your fate,
that the last room was the one with escape pods,
that there was only three cryopods while there should have been three of us, do you think all that were coincidences?
No. That was arranged by me as well, not partly, but completely.

For example, Isa's appearance wasn't something I could predict. I'm not a god. But do you think I hadn't prepared for such accidents beforehand? Hehe...
You saw how easily I handled the unexpected, did you not?

As for how I plan to escape, that's quite simple really. I'm surprised you haven't managed to work out this part of my plan too. There should have been some vague clues left. "

Rowan's body was growing colder by each second Turio spoke. Turio was much more terrifying than he had thought. Who could plan something like this? Although it all sounded simple and straight when Turio described it, Rowan couldn't even fathom anyone with such meticulous and frightening thought process.
When he finished, Rowan's brows furrowed. His mind rushed to link Turio's manipultion with external factors. His eyes darted around.  The same few questions rang again and again.
How is he able to manipulate so many things inside the bunker despite being a lone man?
How did he arrange everything inside so smoothly?
How did he come up with split second improvisation of his plans?
Unless...he had a helper.

But who? Who has such abilities to manipulate everything inside the bunker? Who has enough authority and knowledge to implement the self destruction mechanism...

Rowan's eyes suddenly froze. With deliberately slow movements, he gazed back toward the walls from where spoke the disembodied speaker of the bunker, the mechanical voice that was busy declaring the time left for self destruction, the supposed artificial intelligence that could actually communicate.