Maja’s head flicked to the sky as she emerged from the warehouse, her eyes seeking David levitating high above Orhain. He sat in the sky, unmoving and unshakable, absorbing almost all the ambient Aether.

  If it had not been for the Aether generators David had procured and installed way back, Orhain would be facing a severe case of Aether scarcity. However, not even the generators could keep up with the amount of ambient Aether David needed.

  She cast [Blink] and teleported to David, her hand reaching out to stir him away, but no matter how hard she tried, Maja’s fingers never reached him. As she closed the distance to him, a natural force manifested, repelling her. The force did not only slow her advances, it blocked her entirely as she forced her way through the first layer.

  No matter how hard she tried, Maja couldn’t reach David. Using brute strength didn’t work, nor did [Mana Bullet]s, [Spatial Fissure], or her other Skill Runes. The harder she tried, the stronger the repelling force turned out to be. It was beyond frustrating and had resulted in more than one breakdown in the last few weeks.

  “I hope you know you’re a selfish jerk!” she snapped, punching David…or trying to, as the repelling force redirected the strength behind her punch.

  Maja hissed as the force of her attack returned to her at once, but the pain did little to stop the tears trickling down her cheeks.

  “I get it. I really do… But did you really have to go into this seclusion or whatever you’re doing right now? Was that really necessary?” Maja sniffled, but David did not respond. He never did.

  She stayed by David’s unmoving side for longer and talked to him. Maybe he could hear her, but she still wanted to tell him about the things he’d missed. Nearly two months had passed since they finished their business in the Fallen Sanctuary – two months in which David levitated unmoving in the air, dark blood pouring from his orifices.

  At first, his blood was pitch-black. It smelled worse than the dead of the Undead Rift she’d cleared with Lukas and the Unitas siblings a few months ago, and it pearled from his body and trickled to the ground, destroying cobblestones and various other materials it struck. Nobody was quite sure what properties his black blood contained. It resembled the impurities of a mortal body, however, David was no longer mortal, his physique was no longer filled to the brim with impurities. Yet, pitch-black blood poured from his orifices the first few days after his seclusion commenced.

  The cleansing process was arduous. They had to go as far as to remove and replace everything smeared by David’s blood. Ordinarily, aether-infused cobblestones lost their ability to contain Aether, while the more valuable materials had been destroyed in similar ways. The Sanctuary was happy when David stopped bleeding. Not because they were worried about his well-being but mostly due to the inconvenience his dark blood caused.

  David resumed bleeding occasionally, every seven to ten days, but his blood was no longer pitch-black after the first session. It was still dark and muddled when he bled for the second time, however, his blood regained more clarity with every additional session. At this point, his blood was dark red. It contained a lot fewer ‘aberrant particles,’ which was what the researchers labeled it, and it no longer destroyed the Sanctuary when it poured from his orifices – not that they allowed that in the first place. Maja and others had hired Healers and specialized Classers to keep David free of blood. The repelling force was a nuisance, but it did not prevent them from removing what poured from his body.

  Thinking about the last few weeks and their troubles, Maja sighed again. She retrieved a small crystal that pulsed more strongly as she focused on it, and shook her head.

  “The Familia? Again!?” Maja felt like punching something, preferably David for leaving the Sanctuary’s management to her, but it would have been a lie if she were to say that she hated it. Managing Orhain and the recently established miniature villages had been rather pleasant.

  Orhain’s residents were pleasant to be around, and the same was true for most former prisoners of the Fallen Sanctuary. The thousands of Classers they’d rescued in the last few weeks had also blended in well. Zachariah had informed them about hundreds of settlements in need of help, be it protection from Rifts, monster hordes, other settlements, or otherworlders, but Maja and her team couldn’t help everyone.

  They left Orhain to rescue those who couldn’t help themselves almost every day, yet it didn’t feel like the number of people in dire need decreased. If anything, more and more natives failed to protect themselves and those they’d sworn to protect from the increasing dangers spread all over the Union.

  Only two months had passed, but the Aether density in the Union increased steadily, resulting in the formation of more Rifts, as well as lowered restrictions on those invading. More and more races Maja had never heard about appeared all over the Union, and they claimed parts of the world that had once been ruled by humans. She didn’t hate otherworlders, as most of them could be reasoned with, but certain races were…difficult, to say the least.

  Shaking her head, Maja cast [Blink] to teleport to the Familia. The staffer was not even surprised when she popped out of thin air with a grimace.

  “Don’t tell me the Pantheon has requested David’s aid again? Or is this about the temples? We won’t accept any more requests for the time being, and you know that. The reason is quite obvious, don’t you think so, Sverasth?” Maja snapped at the staffer, whose expression didn’t change in the slightest. Sverasth, retaining his usual deadpan look, retrieved a white, faintly shimmering letter armed with golden wings and placed it on the table.

  “A message for His Excellency. As both His Excellency and his Prime Champion are unavailable, you, as High Champion, are granted the authority to inspect the letter. It was forwarded with high priority, along with orders to ensure it reaches its intended recipient. Her Excellency also insisted on receiving a prompt reply, as the matter is of the utmost importance,” he said in an official manner.

  Maja retrieved the letter and tried to open it. However, as she tore at the seal, the letter resisted. It convulsed and released a burst of divine energy. Maja released it instinctively and glared at Sverasth.

  “His Excellency’s signature is needed to open the letter.”

  And how am I supposed to—well, that might just work. Maja picked up the letter once again and inserted traces of the power David had infused into her to transform her into the High Champion she was. The letter unfolded, crimson lines etched across the pristine parchment, and the golden wings burst apart, shrouding Maja in a cocoon, obscuring scrying eyes and muffling all sounds.

  Dear David,

  I hope you are faring well. Trouble awaits the Earthen Union, and the Pantheon needs your aid. More of my worlds have been affected by the End’s corruption, and I—as well as many other members of the Pantheon—require your assistance.

  We noticed your absence and nonresponsiveness in the last few weeks, and we hope the reimbursement we offered for your invaluable service was not seen as rude or inappropriate.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I would like to hire you again, now more than ever, as the times we tread are more dangerous than ever.

  Furthermore, I would like to open the World Gate leading to your Sanctuary. It was completed a few weeks ago; however, permission to activate it has yet to be granted. I sincerely hope we can see through the existing issues and move toward the same goal together as allies rather than strangers. United, our forces can achieve much more than separated.

  If you are faced with issues, do not hesitate to reach out to me.

  My most welcome regards,

  Seraphine.

  Maja’s fingers twitched and she nearly tore the letter into countless tiny pieces. She recalled Seraphine as the goddess who had hired David to cleanse one of her worlds of nothingness, and it was not like the content of the message was flirty or anything, but it bothered her nonetheless.

  She huffed and nicked the letter a little, which earned her a glare from Sverasth.

  “Stop glaring at me like that!” she snapped, ruffling through her hair.

  David wouldn’t betray her. Besides, he didn’t believe a goddess who had seen everything throughout the thousands upon thousands of years she had been alive would be interested in flirting when the survival of the cosmos was on the line. Maja patted her chest, calmed her nerves, and snapped her fingers at Sverasth to procure pen and paper.

  Since David was in seclusion, it was on her to write a response. She didn’t bother answering any of Seraphine’s questions. Instead, she wrote about Asmodeus and the empty black vial she had found beside David when she returned from rescuing the Classers imprisoned in the settlements all around the Fallen Sanctuary. Maja tried to be as detailed as possible and finished with two questions:

  Do you know what he consumed? How much longer will we have to wait for him to complete the process?

  Jealousy aside, Maja needed answers. David’s antics had always been odd, and nobody seemed to pay much attention to his figure levitating in the sky above the Sanctuary, but people had started asking questions. Only a handful of people, mostly Classers, were scared of David’s absence. However, Maja was one of them.

  Of course, she missed David, and she did not particularly like Goddess Seraphine’s letter, but she had seen and heard enough about Voidlings, the End, and the future that awaited the Earthen Union once the final step was complete. Zachariah had mentioned a few troublesome “ideas” when they were still in the Dwarven Sanctuary, while David was missing in the Naughtrealm, and everything he had said fit with David’s concerns about the future.

  It was bound to be chaotic, yet neither David nor Zachariah were there to help them. Zachariah was… somewhere, and David was busy.

  You better be done before the Earthen Union turns upside down! Maja shouted in her mind as she completed the letter.

  She folded it with a heavy heart and handed it to Sverasth. “Please forward it to the goddess as fast as you can,” she said.

  ***

  A letter filled with snarky remarks and obvious signs of confusion fluttered before Seraphine’s gargantuan, glistening figure.

  “ He sure picked up a fierce lover,” the goddess snickered, reading through the first part of the letter. However, as soon as she reached the questions, her amusement faded from existence. She imprinted the description of the vial as well as David’s condition into her mind and rummaged through her memories with a deepening frown.

  Seraphine snapped her fingers twice and stepped through a distortion in space as it unraveled before her. The network of the Weave appeared before her divine eyes, and she rode alongside it, traveling the cosmos in the blink of an eye. Thousands upon thousands of worlds flashed past her, yet none of them offered what she wanted—whom she wanted to meet.

  A crimson domain appeared in her extensive reach, and she emerged from the Weave. Seraphine snapped her finger once again, and the domain opened up to her.

  “Not many beings are daring enough to force their way into my realm. Most are foolish enough to think they could usurp me, but you are none of them, old hag.” A voice as frustrating as familiar rang through the domain as tendrils of blood emerged from all directions. They moved toward the center of the domain and gathered, forming a crimson figure with humanoid features.

  Seraphine watched Asmodeus’ incarnation take shape, but she didn’t pay too much attention to it. Her gaze lingered on the rest of his domain, its connection to the Weave, and how much more Asmodeus had experimented with his very body.

  “I’ve been waiting for you, old hag.” Asmodeus chuckled. “You took longer than expected.”

  “When are you going to stop experimenting with your body—if you can still call it such?” Seraphine shook her head in disappointment.

  “As soon as the End has been taken care of. No, that is a lie.” He snickered. “I don’t see why I should stop. I am doing whatever I want, and I couldn’t care less about what others think, old hag.”

  “You are going too far. You have gone too far, Asmodeus,” Seraphine said, her voice low and sharp. “Why did you do that? Don’t even think about denying it; the Host has confirmed your disruption in the Weave’s Defensive Protocol.”

  Asmodeus did not so much as lift a finger. His expressionless face locked onto Seraphine, unmoving—unbothered.

  “Only gods are to consume the Primordial Fountain Serum, and you know why!” she snapped, and frowned at herself. That outburst was… out of character. She cleansed her emotions with Might and looked calmly at Asmodeus, but he shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Is he dead yet? I certainly don’t think so.” A faint smile formed on his face. “Did you know Bereth has been asking around, requesting just about everyone to give David the serum? To push him, forcing him to consume it.”

  Seraphine’s lips parted, but she couldn’t say anything for a good minute.

  “I… I did not know that.”

  “I gave David the serum, but it was never in my possession. It was always in Bereth’s hands, and it has been for the last 43 Cycles. Did you know that? That he’s been holding on to the last Primordial Fountain Serum that has been produced for this long?” The thin smile on Asmodeus’ face widened into a toothy grin reaching from one ear to the other. “Don’t you think that’s interesting? Isn’t it amazing?”

  Seraphine had no answer. She knew as well as everyone else that each god had their own little scheme; their own plans to survive the End and to emerge victorious. They could have worked together, pulled on the same strings, but that hadn’t worked out. Now, they were all working toward the same goal, but their plans were different.

  And sometimes… sometimes their plans aligned.

  “Do you know what Bereth is planning?” she asked.

  “Of course, I do.” Asmodeus snickered. “After all, I am, and have always been, part of that bugger’s plan.”

  Seraphine’s lips parted again, but the Ruler of Blood cut her off. The wide, maddening smile on his lips was no more. It had been replaced with emptiness.

  “Since David was hunting my Heir, I solved two problems at once. I made sure she survived and that Bereth got what he wanted David to obtain. What happens next depends on Bereth’s calculations, and if he was right all along.”

  Seraphine knew she wasn’t going to get any more answers from Asmodeus. She let out a soft curse and snapped her fingers twice.

  “As long as the Origin survives, even the deaths of a thousand worlds are acceptable…” Seraphine muttered in anger before discarding the rising rage with another burst of Might. A moment later, she disappeared into the Weave’s network again.

  Bereth was not usually a nuisance. He was never as active as the other gods and focused on his position as the Guard of the Eternal Cycle. His main activity was during the first days of the integration, when he invested most of his influence in a few individuals, but it was never useful. At least, Seraphine couldn’t remember anyone but Sword God Zachariah who benefited from Bereth’s investment.

  “What are you up to, Bereth?” Seraphine asked as she stepped back into her domain. Several figures emerged in her hall moments after she returned, and she knew something must have happened.

  “One step at a time.” She raised her hand. A wave of sentient energy burst from her fingertip, writing another letter to David’s lover to answer her questions and to make sure the young girl would understand how serious their situation was.

  “The World Gate in the Earthen Union will open soon. Prepare the Sacred Guardians,” Seraphine commanded, and one of the many figures disappeared in a flash. The others remained, their expressions as emotionless as she should have been.

  “How bad is the situation?”

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