Alliance Headquarters
The council hall of the Alliance was vast enough to fit entire worlds within its walls.
The chamber was carved from obsidian-like stone that pulsed faintly with runes, giving the air a strange weight.
Seated in arcs across the chamber were sixty-eight figures.
They were all Stage 6 Gods.
Among them so were Elental Gods, Divinity Gods, World Avatars, or emperors of across countless worlds.
At the very top of the hall, on a raised dais, sat three presiding figures.
The first was the Supre Commander of the Alliance.
Rhaegor-Kul.
His presence silenced the room even before he spoke.
His body was made of crystalline plates that shifted like armor, glowing faintly with violet energy at the seams.
Six horns curved backward from his head, forming a crown-like structure, and his four eyes—two stacked above the other—glowed with an azure brilliance that seed to pierce through lies.
His broad fra radiated strength and authority.
To his right floated the Vice Commander.
The Vice Commander’s form resembled a massive translucent jellyfish.
His body expanded and contracted with a slow rhythm with strands trailing behind him like ghostly banners.
Within his bulbous head floated two human-like eyes, one red and one golden.
The eyes moved independently, scanning the hall, unnerving even the hardened gods who were used to cosmic horrors.
Beside them, the third seat was filled by another peak Stage Six God.
He remained silent, watching the proceedings with folded arms.
The atmosphere was tense.
On the right side of the hall, voices had already risen, leaders arguing and pressing their opinions.
"We need to discuss about Zeus, the Godkiller. How did he reach Stage 6? How is he moving through ti when such things should be impossible on cosmic scale?"
"The sa needs to be known about the Sword Saint Kane. If ti travel has sohow beco feasible, then everything we know about causality and control is in question."
Others interrupted.
"Forget Zeus. Where is the Machine God? He promised to bolster our legions with weapons and troops. Yet for centuries, we’ve heard nothing from him. Is he even still working for the Alliance?"
"We need to talk about Virexxa-Thal’s territory?" another voice cut in, louder than the rest. "The Obsidian Brood has been without leadership since her death.
"After the Heavenbreaker Naless Death slew her, and her lands, her fleets, her and resources had been left untended. Are we to just leave them for scavengers?"
The discussions piled over one another.
The chamber, though ant for order, was filled with competing voices.
Each figure here was Stage 6.
So were elental gods, radiating raw forces of fla, storm, or void.
Stage 6 was not a level mortals could hope to comprehend.
A Stage 5 God, even at its peak, was incomparable to a newborn Stage 6.
One Stage 6 could casually crush hundreds of Stage 5 Gods, and toy with them like a child toyed with ants.
For most of existence, the idea of reaching Stage 6 was only a dream. Fewer still achieved it.
Among those who had, nearly all had chosen sides.
With rare exceptions, all Stage 6s stood either under the banner of the Forgotten Suns or the Alliance.
And the balance was not even close.
The Alliance boasted more than four tis as many Stage 6 as the Forgotten Suns.
This imbalance was why the Alliance remained confident, even after Zeus’s brazen intrusion and rescue of the Forgotten Suns’ Supre Leader.
They were humiliated that day, yes, but their numbers reassured them.
Now, their interest was fixed on Virexxa-Thal’s empty dominion.
The death of the Sovereign of the Obsidian Brood, a descendant of the Great One, was an opportunity none wanted to miss.
"Silence."
The single word, spoken by Rhaegor-Kul, the Supre Commander, cracked like thunder across the hall.
The voices ceased imdiately.
The Supre Commander slowly turned his crystalline head toward the Vice Commander.
"What is our most important agenda?" he asked.
The Vice Commander’s body pulsed faintly, and then an image shimred into existence above the hall.
It was Naless Death.
"The Heavenbreaker," the Vice Commander intoned, its voice alien yet clear. "He has recently advanced to Stage 5. His existence is confird to include the ability to revive worlds. Moreover, he escaped from Apostle Kevin’s grasp."
The projection vanished.
The silence that followed was heavy, and then all eyes turned toward one figure in the chamber.
Kevin.
Kevin sat with a calm expression.
"Do you know where he went?" Rhaegor-Kul asked.
"I do not," Kevin said simply.
He did not elaborate. He did not defend himself.
He simply closed his mouth and remained quiet.
The silence shifted.
It was suffocating.
Dozens of gazes bore into him, sharp as blades.
Their expressions weren’t hidden.
Anger, disdain, judgnt.
Though there was a Supre Commander, the Alliance was not a kingdom.
Each leader here carried imnse authority of their own, and none considered themselves lesser than another.
For Kevin to lose a True Heavenbreaker, one capable of reviving entire worlds, was intolerable for them.
The bloodlust in the hall thickened, palpable enough to choke.
But Kevin didn’t react.
His indifference, if anything, made the others angrier.
Then a voice broke the tension.
"Supre Commander," said a young man seated among the deities.
Altheris, a Stage 6 Divinity God.
His youthful appearance made him stand out.
He looked no older than thirty, with golden hair and eyes like burning silver.
But his aura was imnse.
Power rippled around him as he rose slightly from his seat.
"I understand your concern about the Heavenbreaker," Altheris said. "He is the first true Heavenbreaker since Ultris. It is natural to covet such a power. And reviving worlds is no small thing. But...."
His aura flared, pressing against the chamber.
Many gods straightened, acknowledging his strength.
"I think our focus should remain on the Forgotten Suns.
"I, and many others, joined the Alliance for one reason.
"To finish the Forgotten Suns. They are still a thorn in our side. They are what we must prioritize. As for the Heavenbreaker Naless Death..."
He looked around the hall, eting the eyes of several gods before turning back to Rhaegor-Kul.
"You can pursue him if you wish, and chase his ability. But neither I nor my world will endorse such greed. We had no interest in it in the past, and we will have none in the future. We do not intend to be drawn into this needless pursuit."
Several gods murmured in agreent.
"That is correct. We opposed capturing him from the start. If you wanted him on our side, you should have approached him differently. Torture and chains only create enemies."
"Do not involve us in your politics," another added. "If he cos for revenge, it will be your burden to bear."
Others scoffed at their words.
"Are you afraid on him?" one mocked. "So what if he is a Heavenbreaker? He is still only Stage 5. My generals could handle him without effort. To be even acknowledge him as a threat is laughable."
Laughter followed from several seats.
"That’s right. A Stage 5, no matter how special, is still a child compared to us. Let him co if he dares."
Their amusent echoed through the chamber, though not all shared it.
The divide between those cautious of Neo and those dismissive of him was clear.
Rhaegor-Kul listened, his crystalline fingers tapping slowly against the armrest of his throne.
His four eyes scanned the chamber, lingering briefly on Kevin before returning to the assembly.
A god with scales like molten bronze rose from his seat.
"Then we shall send an army to search for the Heavenbreaker. Now, let us return to the issue about the territory of—"
"That’s a bit early to move on to the next topic, no?"
The voice was foreign.
It didn’t belong to anyone seated in the council.
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