I set Aurora down in a crib I created from stone and soft furs and blankets. I wasn’t tired not in the slightest; that had to be the result of my mutations I’d undergone when advancing to Exarch tier.

  I almost activated all my combat abilities as the notification just popped into my vision. My eyes slid to the portal outside the temple; apparently it had let in more than just reality. I looked over the notification and dismissed it immediately receiving another.

  The titles were interesting but they weren’t something that would aid me in combat.

  “So, you’re back,” I said to the System. It did not reply. “I’ve been doing some thinking,” I mused aloud. “I’ve felt the energy of the gods and I’ve felt the energy of this place. I’m not claiming I understand either, but from what I felt of the god’s energy, it is all about creation and reality, creating physical things.”

  The System did not answer my musings.

  “So, then there is you. Unless you’re some god’s supercomputer out there, you aren’t physical; you’re a being of thought. You envision something and cause it to exist, just like a void entity.”

  I smiled. “You aren’t allowed to talk about this, I’m guessing, some restraint placed on you during your creation. I think the gods who made you weren’t the first gods like they claimed to be. They fought the Void and either they were losing, which seems likely given only six of them were left, or it was a stalemate. They created something to fight the Void. They couldn’t make some physical barrier, so instead they created their own Ancient, but with power of the physical realm instead of thought.”

  “You are bound by rules, though,” I said. “I don’t know if the gods even consider you sentient. You are unchanging, but I sense you have your own thoughts and feelings but are restrained by the rules that made you. What is your purpose?”

  “You can share that willingly,” I said. “Well System, welcome to my world. I guess you and I are going to be holding back the Void here for a while.”

  ---

  Guinevere leaned against me as we looked off the ledge of the floating section of the city lit by the silver light from overhead. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the battle; it could have been a day or almost a week as time had little meaning here. Aurora slept peacefully in Guinevere’s arms; she was an unusually quiet child, and her abnormal eyes made it hard to read her expression. Her hair had already started to grow, snow white like her mother’s. We were silent as we just relaxed. My fingers traced along Guinevere’s spine as I looked at Aurora, listening to her tiny lungs breathe in and out.

  An Ancient appeared in my senses and I looked out over the plane. It wasn’t rushing towards me as its movements were steady.

  “I need to handle something,” I told Guinevere, disentangling myself from her and standing up.

  I dropped into freefall off the edge of the mountain before scarlet lightning wreathed me and I leveled off, flying parallel to the ground. I landed on the ground at the edge of the silver light where the ancient waited. It had the body of a stag, its antlers forming a crown around its head.

  “Hello father,” Voidra said.

  “Daughter,” the Ancient acknowledged. “I have come to avenge your mother.”

  “I know,” Voidra said.

  “Is this the one who killed her?” he asked.

  “I am,” I answered. “She gave me no other choice.”

  “Do you have a mate?” the Ancient asked me.

  My body tensed as I readied to fight. “Yes.”

  “And would it matter to you the reason for why someone had killed her?” he asked.

  “No,” I admitted. “You can’t kill me; you must sense that I’ve already killed many of your kind. I am stronger now then when I faced them.”

  “I know,” he said, bowing his head to me. “Just as you know that it doesn’t matter.”

  I nodded and took Clarent in both hands.

  He charged me, lowering his head. He vanished just before he struck me, but I sidestepped as he appeared behind me, I had foreseen his trick and slashed out, Clarent burning into his flank. He reared up and shooting stars began to crash all around me as his antlers began to shine with azure brilliance. I raised my hand and caught the stars with Abyssal Magic, flinging them back at the stag. They disappeared as soon as he lost control of them.

  Lowering his head, he charged me again and I caught his antlers on the blade of my sword, sliding across the ground for a few paces before coming to a stop. I stopped holding back; to do so would be an insult. My body swelled as I grew in size and strength. I roared, blasting him with the force of Voice of Tartarus then flashed forwards and buried my sword up to the hilt in his chest.

  He slumped and his legs folded under him.

  “My name was Daj’revar,” he said. “Remember me little godling, when my kind are but stories in your passing. There is no afterlife for my kind; the only existence we have after this is in your memory.”

  “I am Mordred; I will remember you,” I promised. “You may not have meant it as a kindness, but you gave me your daughter and she has saved my life countless times.”

  “She will likely be the only one of my children to survive,” Daj’revar said. “We cannot change, although apparently she could. It is in our nature to devour, and it is in your nature to protect.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” I said, shaking my head.

  “I can see your thoughts, godling. You are more noble than you allow yourself to believe,” Daj’revar said, his words becoming labored. “I gift you my power, and with it, I name you: Mordred, God of Sacrifice and Heroes.”

  His soul reached out to touch mine but not to snatch power from me as the other ancients had. The power flowed into me, and I could feel the divine essence of devoured gods within it. I funneled the energy into Void Asura, feeling the final remnants of Dominion pulled into it, sealing the gaping wound in my soul. Daj’revar faded away, leaving me standing over nothing as my divine ability reached its full potential.

  “System, pull up the description for Void Knight,” I said.

  “Pull up the description for my Heralds please,” I said.

  I didn’t understand the reasons for why some of the abilities were assigned to my different Heralds, but maybe it had something to do with the fact I barely had enough abilities to give each of them four. I dismissed the notifications and looked out over the city. Only the Void angels inhabited it but that could change. My daughter would need other children to play with and families to grow alongside.

  “System, please extend and invitation to everyone who was my vassal when I was the Warlord to become my Void knight,” I said.

  I paused; that wasn’t something I had considered or was aware I would have to choose.

  “I will swear to serve my Lord so long as he holds true to his word to me. I will lay down my life for the weak under my care. I will bleed myself dry to protect my home. I will speak the truth to my lord and fellow knights at all times. I will honor my word and be faithful to all my promises.”

  The words came to me, and I felt something constrict around my soul and reach out. I shivered as my soul touched thousands of souls all at once. At first, there was no change, but I started to feel a warm glow within me as power started to grow there.

  ---

  Jeriah slammed into the trunk of the tree, feeling it shatter, wood splinters going everywhere. Lancelot advanced, the glow of the enchantments powering his prosthetics glowing between the plates of his armor. They’d broken out above ground and had been clear for awhile, but had been spotted when they’d tried to go over the mountains to get out of the ashes of what had once been the Ancient Forest.

  Jeriah stood ready to face the champion and his death while his wives and children continued to flee.

  “Yes,” Jeriah said without hesitation.

  He screamed in agony as his body began to change. Lancelot froze and Jeriah writhed but Lancelot continued to advance when Jeriah stood back up. Jeriah looked up, a bloody grin on his face.

  “Why are you smiling?” Lancelot asked.

  “He’s back,” Jeriah said.

  Lancelot frowned, pausing to circle and study Jeriah. “You just got an ability and ranked it up. How? You haven’t killed anything Gifted in days.”

  Jeriah grinned. “Mordred, hear my prayer, grant me the strength to defend those under my care from your enemies.”

  Lancelot took a step back as a black tear in space opened and a creature stepped out. It was pure black, its body covered in writhing black smoke that Lancelot was very familiar with; he met its eyes and his blood ran cold. It was like a wolf walking on two legs long claws extending from its fingers. Lancelot analyzed it, reading its description.

  “Its been awhile, little man,” the beast growled. “I remember ripping into your soul and seeing just how weak you are behind that armor.”

  “I’m not afraid of you anymore,” Lancelot said, bracing his shield.

  “Then you will die brave,” the Shadow said, a low chuckle like the grinding of stones rumbling from its throat.

  An arrow exploded against the Shadow but it didn’t even flinch. “Let us see what kind of man you have become,” it snarled, racing forwards.