Gaius glanced at the ceiling of the Library of Ancients, his hand playing with the tiara he’d relieved from the Human God as he continued to converse with an artificial intelligence. “You were the one who planned this entire thing? You and Yong Yue?”

           “Master Yong Yue was only responsible for talking to the people in our plan,” replied Nexus. “I did the planning. Only I had the ability to monitor the Intersection, Heritage and Orb simultaneously, after all. The Northern forces began their attack the moment I detected your presence in the Intersection, just to illustrate a point. Although it was somewhat frustrating that you didn’t feel the call in the first time you entered Heritage, it was an expected result.”

            “The war between the Northern Continent and the Central Circle wouldn’t have started if I didn’t enter the Intersection?” Gaius tossed himself onto a sofa. “What made the Monarch of Shadows so confident that I would enter the Intersection in the first place? It’s a secret, after all.”

           “Based on what Master Yong Yue knew about you,” replied Nexus. “The act of crossing over to Orb creates a disturbance that alerts those who are aware and watching. The moment you crossed over, Master Yong Yue immediately moved to act, guessing that you would seek strength in accordance with your limits, which would have inevitably brought you to the Intersection and Heritage.”

           “So… he knew I was going to come to Orb?”

           “Very much so, Master Gaius.” Nexus replied, after a short pause. “Your arrival was preordained the moment the Human God summoned his Constellations. You were a balancing force, in that sense, an arrangement that was designed to discourage the Human God from summoning people from another world.”

           “Me being stuck in that old god’s realm was part of this arrangement?”

           “Old god?” Nexus echoed. “Well, you shouldn’t have arrived here in the first place if the Human God didn’t break his agreement.”

           “I’m somewhat confused, but I get the rough gist of it. But I simply cannot believe that my pursuit of strength would definitely lead me to the Intersection,” said Gaius.

           “My former master predicted that within a month of your arrival, you would have found out the importance of gemstones in powering up key infrastructure and weapons,” said Nexus. “You would then investigate their source, and then find either one of the entrances that are secured by the Five Lands, or smaller entrances that aren’t guarded that well.”

           “And if I died halfway? After all, you did say that the Human God was intending to hunt me down.”

           “Master Yong Yue shrugged when I brought this up to him,” replied Nexus. “If I recall, he said that the world itself would help you disguise whatever tracks you’d left behind somehow…although he did not predict that only your soul would cross over. I must say, his face was a real sight to behold when we first saw you in the Intersection.”

           Gaius didn’t really know what to say at these words, but his face was twitching uncontrollably.

           “Yes,” said Nexus. “Exactly like that, although I think yours are somewhat more exaggerated than his. Like master like student, eh?”

           The little boy schooled his face and took a long, deep breath. “What about those chains we saw from the sky? That didn’t look like a creation of the North, or even of the Five Lands in general.”

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           “That was an opportunistic attack from the Demon God.”

           Gaius blinked. “I’m sorry, but did you just say the Demon God? The one in the creation myth of this world, who brought the demons away to the Wildlands?”

           “Very much so,” replied Nexus. “It was easy to get the Demon God’s cooperation — that particular God holds an intense hatred for the Human God Anren, as the Human God was responsible for the killing of a few million demons. Master Yong Yue simply informed him that the Human God was going to descend in the next century or so, and that people were intending to kill him while he possessed a familiar spirit.”

           The way Nexus put it was really offhanded and casual, but Gaius couldn’t simply believe that his predecessor just spoke to a myth from a hundred thousand years ago, and got him to cooperate just like that.

           “I cannot believe that the Demon God was willing to expend his power like so, however.” Gaius tapped on the sofa’s armrest. 

           “Oh, you better believe it,” said Nexus. “After all, my former master told him that if his plans were successful, the Human God would lose at least one-tenth of his power. Which you are holding right now. It was more than enough to spur the Demon God on…and there were other benefits that was offered.”

            “What are those other benefits?”

           “You’ll know in the weeks to come. You just need to know, however, that the demons gained sentience a long time ago. There’s no longer much of a difference between these so-called demons and beastfolk…or even humans.” 

           Gaius furrowed his brows slightly at those words. Nexus was clearly hinting at something, and the first thing that came to mind was the idea that the demons were going to make their reappearance in Orb again.

           He tried asking Nexus about it, but the artificial intelligence didn’t reply. It sounded ominous, it probably was ominous, and anyone with a scrap of brainpower would feel worried, but the robotic voice was apparently not keen on answering that particular question.

           “Fine,” said Gaius. “Be that way. Moving on then — what’s the use of this tiara? How do I absorb the power inside and make myself stronger?”

           “You do it bit by bit.” Nexus replied, having deemed that the question that Gaius just asked was apparently answerable. “That aspect of the Human God is one-tenth of his full strength, and swallowing it as you are right now will just turn you into a bloody mess that I’ll have to clean up.”

           “Figures. So, how do I swallow the power bit by bit?”

           “It’s not that hard. Just keep the tiara in constant contact with you, and let it assimilate into your body.”

           Gaius looked down at the tiara which was, on closer inspection, dainty and expensive-looking to boot. It would be odd, to say the least, if he popped it on his head.

           “I need to wear this tiara?”

           “Not on your head, if you are that concerned about your personal image,” replied Nexus. “Just place your arm through it or something and that’ll work too. You might have to bend or twist it a bit, but that shouldn’t be an issue.”

           Gaius cast a doubtful glance at the ceiling, and then did as he was told. The tiara, once he’d wrapped it around his right upper arm, began to emanate a warmth that resonated with the Stellar Core around his neck.

           “Nexus. This tiara is reacting with the Engine I’m wearing.”

           “I know. I’m recording the experiment now, so don’t move while I take notes.”

           “Recording?!”

           “Correct, Master Gaius. I recommend that you lie back and close your eyes before you black out.”

           “Before I wha—” The little boy’s vision turned black, his head lolling on the sofa helplessly, as energies began to course through his body in an intensity he’d only felt near the Northern Demigod and the Human God.