Michael wasn’t going to let his chance slip away. So, he immediately pulled out something that the two other Conglomerate leaders were probably unaware of.

And it seemed that it had certainly piqued the undead Mystic Master’s attention.

"You... know about my work?"

Levi and Theresa both looked panicked. They immediately turned to their own officers, to their advisors. Michael could tell that they were all trying to figure out what Michael was talking about.

But this wouldn’t appear in any of their investigations. Even Theresa, in her preparation to meet with Lazarus, finding out everything there was to know about the man, she still didn’t know what Michael was talking about.

After all, that book was something that was supposed to only be accessed by the Guild of Arcana.

"I’ve read about it," Michael said. "It’s interesting what you wrote. You think that Zephyrs are the antithesis of the Elves. And that they evolved to become their natural enemies."

Lazarus turned to look at Michael, seemingly observing him. Then, he narrowed his eyes at Michael’s subtle challenge. "You don’t think that I was right?"

Michael shrugged. "I just don’t think that the Zephyrs evolved in order to destroy the Elves."

The undead Mystic Master walked towards Michael. "Then what do you think?"

"I think they’re there to help the Elves."

Lazarus was eerily silent as he stared face to face against Michael. There was no subtle movement in his body. No beating of the heart. No blood pumping in his veins. He was eerily still, as if he was some kind of corpse that had been turned into wax.

"Interesting. You... you smell the opposite of me," Lazarus said.

Then, Lazarus took out a decaying hand from one of his Pocket Dimension rings. Immediately, people recoiled after smelling the rot coming off the hand.

"Is he going to become my enemy," Lazarus asked the hand.

Crack. The ring finger suddenly folded backwards, dislocating the bones in multiple places. Then, a voice as light as the air but as eerie as death itself whispered out of the hand.

"No..."

Satisfied, Lazarus turned to Michael and offered him a handshake. "Then it is nice to meet you."

Michael was hesitant on what to do.

"Oh," Lazarus said. He forgot to take the hand back to his ring, so Michael thought he was being offered the magical decaying hand. "There."

Michael and Lazarus shook hands. "I still don’t think you’re right, but I value your input."

Everyone was silent as they watched the two of them interact.

Meanwhile, Levi and Theresa both couldn’t take their eyes off of the ring in Lazarus’ finger. They were entirely focused on the hand that he had just brought out.

And a realization was brought out to them. That was how Lazarus figured out that they were hiding something here in the Chasm.

They’d long heard about the infamous Monkey’s Paw. They’d heard that it was omniscient, and that it knew everything there was to know about the world, as long as you asked it the right questions.

But they’d always thought that it was just a myth. When they were kids, they just thought it was a way to scare children into going to their beds early.

Immediately, their attitudes turned subdued as they realized that they’d been underestimating Lazarus this entire time.

They couldn’t deal with him the way they do normal people. Out of all the Mystic Masters, he was not the strongest. But he was the most mysterious. His powers were still unknown to everyone, meaning he was the most dangerous out of all of them.

And right now, Michael was shaking hands with such an individual.

"We’ll talk later... once I’m done with this... maybe a week later... I have more corpses... to study," Lazarus said, slurring his words a little bit.

Lazarus turned out to join Theresa and Levi.

"I can prove it to you," he said to Lazarus. "The Forbidden Islands. I’ve been there."

This time, Lazarus put on a serious face. "No one has been there. Not since I did. Ten years ago."

"It’s true. Why don’t you ask that hand again?"

Lazarus eyed Michael. "What do you want?"

"Let me join you on that conversation with them," Michael said, gesturing to the two Conglomerate leaders, whose eyes widened once they realized what he was trying to do.

It didn’t take the Undead Mystic Master a lot of time to think. "Alright... but after, you’ll tell me... everything you know about Zephyrs... they’re the only species... I can’t understand... "

Michael smiled, satisfied with himself. It was basically a win-win situation.

The reason why he wanted to talk with Lazarus was to talk about the Zephyrs in the first place. And now, he was able to leverage that to an invitation with their private talk.

"He’s coming with me," Lazarus said to Levi and Theresa.

Both of them flashed a forced smile. "Of course, of course. I welcome you, leader of Reborn," said Levi.

Theresa’s Nascent Armor manifested around her. Moss, earth, and land and sea covered her entire body, making it seems as if the entire world had become her armor.

"Follow close behind me, or else the void will take you," she said, before stroking a line in front of her.

A division in reality appeared, showing multiple layers of Pocket Dimensions underneath.

Done with her job, Theresa took off her Nascent Armor and stepped forwards. Levi followed close behind.

Lazarus peered to the rift in reality warily, before eventually jumping in feet first as if he was diving into a pool.

Before Michael stepped forwards and followed suit, he looked back and turned to the Dragonborns.

He didn’t have to say anything to Sheina. "Do not worry, Lord Michael. We will take care of everything here."

He nodded.

"Try to investigate the magical monsters in the Chasm," he commanded the Shadow Orcs through magic.

"BU TO TO!"

"RAH TA TA!"

With both Conglomerate leaders out, this was the best opportunity they were giong to get to start investigating on the secrets they were trying so hard to keep.