“Disperse the audience,” said Kolya, directing his words into an artefact of his. “Galina, can I trouble you to contact our helpers?”

The Oracle nodded, and then left the room.

“It seems that your care and concern for your citizens is just a whole host of drivel, eh?” Queen Hyperion asked. “You’re actually using this gathering to bait in a maddened animal. Callous…but it does seem that this is the only way for you to lure a great god over.”

The Pinnacle grunted. “Xanadu’s cooperation was sorely needed. Unfortunately, her ability to restrain the great gods does not work against someone touched by the Oblivion Portal.”

By now, Gaius had connected this Oblivion Portal to what Weiwu had told him long ago, when he became the Abyss Sovereign. Back then, the Chanter of Innocents had talked about a passage that the Crying Abyss had carved out, and this passage was definitely the Oblivion Portal.

“But are you certain that we can win?” Archduchess Gaia murmured. “We are up against the great gods. Fighting such a being will be a nigh impossible task for three Demigods alone.”

Gaius eyed Kolya, but he decided not to say anything about the Pinnacle’s true might.

“We are not alone in this endeavour,” Queen Hyperion replied. “Three great gods will be helping us in it too. I didn’t tell you about it earlier, because you seemed rather busy at World’s End.”

“Who are they?” Gaius asked.

“The famous Lost Star…right, pardon us. We forgot to introduce ourselves.” Queen Hyperion waved her hands languidly by way of greeting. “But to answer your question, the Goddess of Wind, the God of Earth and the Sentinel of Space will be aiding our assault.”

“We convinced them to aid us by telling them the truth,” said Kolya. “For some reason, the Oblivion Portal does not seem to register on their consciousness all that much, like some other topics in this annoying world. Once they saw it, however, Queen Hyperion’s task was done, and it was my turn to set things up.”

Archduchess Gaia drew close to Queen Hyperion. “Are you certain that trying to kill the Preserver, the mightiest god of the Five Lands, is a good idea given the impending demon invasion?”

“We cannot afford the risk of being blindsided by a maddened great god,” said Kolya. “His actions in recent years have proven that he pursues power with a horrifying obsession; wasn’t the Second Extermination proof enough of it all? Let me ask you, Archduchess Gaia, would a sane great god focus so much in trying to wipe someone out of existence?”

“I get what you’re trying to say,” she replied, “but there might be other ways to use the Preserver. A maddened one still has value. We might be able to point him at the Demon God and let the two of them duke it out.”

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“I will not risk the lives of anyone without due cause,” Kolya replied. “And more importantly, we owe Xanadu and her deceased team an enormous debt. Perhaps, if the Preserver had decided to let her live, I might not have done anything, but he didn’t.”

“So it’s all about your personal feelings?” Gaia shook her head. “You are an unbelievable person. What happened to being far-sighted?”

“I didn’t say that I would definitely let him live,” Kolya replied, irritated. “But he was asking for it by attempting to barge into my territory. If he didn’t, I would have done something at World’s End instead.”

“We’ll have a lot to discuss about World’s End after this,” Queen Hyperion replied.

“But for now, we’ll focus on the target.”

The world shook at those words, and seconds later, the theatre began to crumble away. An imposing presence was pressing down from above, reducing everything beneath it into rubble. As the ceiling crumbled away, golden light streamed into the venue, dyeing the blue skies above into a golden sea.

“Kolya! You dare trample my design!” An enraged voice shook the ground, while a wave of divinity swept through the whole theatre. Within moments, the entire structure turned into drifting dust, a huge cloud that was impossible to see through. For some reason, however, the furious voice was not directed at where Gaius was, but rather, towards the direction of Twilight Elysium.

“Watch! And behold the consequences of going against my will!” His voice seemed to weaken a moment later, but instinct told Gaius that the Preserver was now focusing on Twilight Elysium, the stronghold of the Mortal Light Dynasty.

The golden radiance above doubled in intensity, forcing Gaius to avert his eyes from the blinding skies. A faint, corrosive heat seemed to gather around him and the others, and with a slight jolt, he grimly noted a faint touch of the Crying Abyss’ chaotic will in it.

If he had any doubts about that earlier conversation, Gaius now had none. With a simple thought, the ring on his hand blinked, turning into two weapons. However, before he could aim the Custodian at the only shadow in the brilliant gold light, someone held him back gently.

It was Kolya. Even with all that light, Gaius could still make out that familiar shit-eating grin, the kind he had whenever he had someone at a disadvantage, or if the plan he cooked up was going well.

Trading nods with the others, Kolya took out a small glass ball, and then smashed it onto the ground. Grey streams of power shot out of the fragments, coalescing into a figure that Gaius didn’t recognise.

Yet, there wasn’t a need for Gaius to recognise that person, not with the sheer amounts of divinity that he exuded. It was enough to rival that of the great god above, who was about to make an example of the Mortal Light Dynasty, and such a god had to be a great god, a great god that Gaius had not seen before.

There could only be one person that fit the bill.

The Sentinel of Space, Hereward.

The gold light seemed to wash around the great god helplessly. Time seemed to slow as he raised a single finger and pointed it at the Human God, who was still hollering in the direction of Twilight Elysium.

A pinprick of grey light gathered at the Sentinel of Space’s finger. The figure of grey smoke seemed to shrink as the light continued to gather, and before long, only the finger was left behind.

“I’ll leave the rest to you.”

The grey light winked out, and the shadow high in the sky froze up, crumbling away in a matter of seconds. The gold light dissipated as Gaius followed the others up into the skies, surrounding the frozen figure. Two streaks of light, one brown and one green, arced over to join them.

Pointing the Custodian at the Human God, Gaius focused on the writhing figure.

A battle Orb had never seen before was about to start.