One week has passed since Akhenamen’s conversation with Sofya…

  In the middle of Selinad, the once-abandoned city of the Felinids, thousands stood guard. All were Transcendent, most simple Ancestors with around a hundred Beyonders, ten Thrones, and most impressively, fifteen Dominions. There wasn’t a single Authority, showing how difficult the ascension from Throne to Authority was, so that there were more Dominions than Authorities on Zenthia.

  The Dominions all sat with the Tree of Souls in the middle, Finion standing guard the closest to the tree. All of them wore their armor and weapons at the ready. And as expected, soon the tree started to glow brighter and brighter; above, Selinad cracks began to appear in front of them.

  Fifteen gods guarded the tree, and fifteen descended to attack it. The Twin Goddesses had many allies and many enemies. However, no one moved yet. A crack as big as the chasm Selinad stood in shattered the sky, and a single being descended from it. One of the four Quadrants. He couldn’t care less for Sapphyra’s survival or death. He was here for a single reason.

  A crack of similar size appeared below Selinad as another one of the Quadrants appeared, smoking a pipe lazily…but now both dragonic brothers had a feral smile on their faces…

  “How rare we have a reason to fight, eldest brother.”

  “Indeed. As much as I couldn’t care about Sapphyra, I have to admit the possibility of fighting each other without repercussions from our father or the System is rare. Let’s step aside and allow the kids to fight together while we fight in the Time Realm.”

  An hourglass appeared in the middle, spinning rapidly, as both dragons transformed into golden sand streams that entered the hourglass, which soon disappeared. When the two powerhouses finally stepped aside, the Dominions finally readied themselves. Neither had asked the Quadrant to help them; they had just come because they wanted a justification to fight.

  The only thing that could make those old monsters happy was a good fight. Most were battle maniacs.

  “Let the Battleground start. I…Nyx, Goddess of the Night, Void, and Shadows, shall serve as your neutral referee. May the greatest gods win.”

  ***

  The System was watching everything through a screen, even the battle happening in Oleron was being filmed. How could it not? This was some of the best material it had gotten in hundreds of years. This would definitely be a scene in the main trailers. Especially the one in Oleron.

  ***

  In the great desert of Oleron, massive sand tentacles rose from the desert, snatching strange creatures made from half-melted flesh and dripping blood out of the sky, crushing them in a single squeeze…six humongous Transcendents desert elementals and many of the desert’s natural inhabitants at the Transcendent realm were fighting alongside three fully re-forged and improved Cygilite legions.

  As Akhenamen watched everything happen…the five Fallens before him roared mindlessly. He had to admit…he was…excited. His hand holding the glaive was shaking, trembling from excitement. His eye flared with a bright green fire. Ruby-Khion, standing next to him, licked her lips…everything had been accomplished as expected. Now it was Sapphyra’s job to work toward being brought back; they could do nothing but keep her safe.

  ***

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Everything had gone according to plan… Ruby-Khion and her people had reached Oleron and Cygislax safely, where the XVII Legion was awaited by the newly reforged and improved XIV and XV Legions. All based around defensive manoeuvres and siege warfare. Not that they weren’t deadly when on the attack, but their equipment, armors, weapons, vehicles, and siege engines were all pretty specialized.

  The Felinids reached Cygislax…all looking impressed and in wonder at the humongous city that seemed to pierce the heavens themselves. Being escorted into the Authorities Stratus, the safest one for obvious reasons, where they would be safe. Ruby Khion waited no time in meeting Akhenamen, who had been watching them, standing on top of Cygislax’s outwall and defenses, his cloak softly swaying in the wind. Making Ruby-Khion smirk a bit at his antics. She landed next to him.

  “Pff~Show off…”

  “Wouldn’t you be in my place?”

  “Of course I would. I have to admit. Cygislax has changed deeply since the last time I came here.”

  “When was it? The Forgotten War?”

  “Yes. It’s starting to quickly reach those levels once more, but again, I’m not surprised. Cygilites have always been very swift to build stuff, and with most of the continent shoving their raw resources into your Liquid Silver Production Engines, I’m not surprised you’re recuperating so swiftly.”

  “Thank you. Shouldn’t we hurry? The others could already have attacked.”

  “They won’t until the Battleground is declared open?”

  Akhenamen turned to Ruby-Khion, showing his confusion at the term.

  “It’s the official term used for battles between us, gods. If we obey the System Laws, as we did, then a Battleground opposes fifteen gods to another fifteen gods, or fewer, depending on what has been decided by both sides. A fight outside of a Battleground leads to missions being sent to every Transcendent above the Dominion rank for the immediate execution of any transgressor unless the illegal battle is stopped.”

  “Sounds like a pretty fierce but sure way to not lose too many Dominions in case of an emergency.”

  “Indeed. It has been in place almost since the start of the System. So most of us just respect this rule, which also brings us experience and planned rewards. There’s truly no reason for us not to respect it.”

  “Very well… so how do we start the resurrection of Sapphyra?”

  “Most of the work will have to be done by her. My essence and divine blood are now within the Primal Moon Essence. She must obtain a powerful body and tons of energy, but other than that, it will be her job.”

  Akhenamen stared at Ruby-Khion, already guessing what she wanted. The objectives of his world quest were also to make it easier for him.

  “And I suppose you wish to ask me to divert Oleron’s Arks to power up Sapphyra’s rebirth and use our Living Silver to help simulate Sapphyra’s new body. But that will bring her back as a Cygilite.”

  “Yes… She’s a goddess; her true body is her Divine Body, not the mortal body she will use. It is only to give her a sort of anchor to be brought back to the realm of the living.”

  “If you say so… however, powering her resurrection will cut Oleron’s anti-matter shielding.”

  “Correct, but right now, you must have stats far greater than most gods. I… am aware of how dangerous what I am asking is. I am ready to pay you greatly for such a risk.”

  Akhenamen wasn’t gonna refuse that payment; she might not have known that Akhenamen’s stats were now tier 10. Or maybe she did. Either way, he wasn’t Ruby-Khion’s friend, and while he could appreciate Sapphyra as a friend, and even there it was a big overstatement, he had barely interacted with the goddess.

  Depowering Oleron’s shield meant that Cygislax could be attacked. And while using Living Silver to craft an anchor body for Sapphyra wasn’t that troublesome but it would also be a risky move as it could lead to the gods trying to figure out how to replicate Cygilites technology.

  “I will agree to your request, Ruby-Khion. But once Sapphyra has finished to build herself a new real body… I will demand that the Living Silver Anchor be given back to us. And if Living Silver is ever obtained by the gods. You will be the first suspect and the first punished. I hope you can understand why I ask this.”

  “Of course… I, Ruby-Khion, Astral Twin of the Sun, I swear that the body will be given back to us, and I shall fight alongside you, no matter why or who I must fight. You will only have to point, and I will raise my sword.”

  Akhenamen nodded, instantly, his three legions started to spread out, taking a defensive position in Cygislax, making sure the city would stay safe. Everything was being put in place. Inside Cygislax, the Authorities had left their stratum to go and guard Oleron.

  The Felinids were all kneeling, in a circle, starting to chant, pray, and accomplish a massive ritual supposed to call their “goddess’s guidance from the beyond”. This ritual would bring Sapphyra’s soul to the realm of the living by opening a portal to the Moon Realm.

  The Primal Moon Essence would be the focus of the Ark's power, while the Cygislax Liquid Silver Production Engine was being directly helped by Akhenamen in producing and refining Living Silver.

  Said Living Silver being put through Cygislax’s main forge, where Akhenamen had crafted Syllena and Ascylla’s body to craft a Cygilite body as close to Sapphyra’s original body as possible. Using Ruby Khion as a model. Considering they were twins and all.

  “Before you finish… mind making her breasts smaller than mine? Will teach that girl to have teased me about it for our first five hundred years.”

  Akhenamen stared silently in Ruby-Khion’s eyes; even the forge stopped striking, making the silence far heavier than it should have been. For some reason, she could feel she had just lost a bit of Akhenamen’s respect there.

  “Sorry. I’ll stay quiet now.”