Outside of the Dragna Empire.
A lightning bolt was traveling through a thick thunder cloud. After a few seconds, it struck the earth in the Eastern Region of the continent. From it, Lennox appeared.
“Oh?”
He looked around with a confused look until spotted someone sitting on a rock. This man was muscular, had tanned skin, short blonde hair and beard, and was covered in tribal tattoos.
“You saved me there, Skylar.”
Lennox smiled at the man, Thunder Emperor Skylar.
“I didn’t save you. I just retrieved you before you did something you shouldn’t.”
Skylar answered.
“If you wanted you could’ve escaped that situation.”
“Well, I won’t deny that.”
Lennox laughed.
“But at least I got to deliver the letter. This way the war can kick off the right way.”
“I’m still surprised that a man like you is actually working for a small empire.”
Skylar said.
“It’s not about the money. I was just interested in seeing what’s the hype all about.”
Lennox replied.
“Do you mean that Miko kid?”
“Yeah. The whole world suddenly halted when he made his appearance, so I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.”
“And?”
“To be honest, I’m disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, he’s definitely not your average kid. Especially with the power he has, but he isn’t enough to make me fight seriously. Well, that could change if he use those special techniques of his.”
Lennox replied.
“I guess I’ll have to give him a try during this war.”
He looked at Skylar.
“I take it that the Asgard empire wants to use this war to test him out as well.”
“…….”
Skylar didn’t reply.
“It’s pretty obvious, so there’s no need for silence. The only reason you were deployed here is to boost the Seven Moon Alliance confidence, so that they’ll serve their purpose as a sacrifice to test the waters. You know, like how penguins push each other into the water to see if there predators lurking within before entering.”
Lennox said.
“We’re not penguins. Plus you’re statement implies that we fear the Dragna Clan.”
Skylar replied.
“And you don’t?”
“If the clan was to go to war with our empire, we would emerge the victor 8 out of 10 times.”
“But you guys can’t ignore the other 2 times out of 10.”
Lennox replied.
“There’s no need to feel ashamed or anything. It’s just being cautious.”
He laughed.
“But I’m curious. If someone manages to defeat you who is hailed as the Asgard empire’s trump card, would that mean that they defeated the empire.”
He smiled.
“I’m dying to test it out.”
Skylar looked at him and laughed.
This caught Lennox off guard since that wasn’t the response he expected.
Skylar patted his shoulder.
“Your baiting is useless against me. Do you how many challenges I receive in a day? If I was someone who was easy to provoke, I would’ve been fighting nonstop all my life. Someone like that isn’t worthy to be called my empire’s trump card, and it’s certainly isn’t the behavior one would expect from its heir.”
Skylar said with a calm and composed tone.
“Hmm, how mature.”
Lennox replied with a smiled.
“I guess I’ll lay off. Besides, despite our individual reasons we’re currently fighting on the same side. Infighting isn’t wise considering who our opponents are.”
He extended his hand.
“Let’s get along, Thunder Emperor.”
Skylar looked at his hand for a while, before grasping it.
“Let’s get along, Human God.”
The two smiled at each other and then-
They clenched their opposite fists and thrust their arms forward.
*BAM!*
Their fist slammed into each other’s face.
A shockwave spread across the land and caused the earth to become wavy before breaking apart. In the air the clouds divided and moved into two separate directions.
It was as if the sky was divided.
Even so, neither of the two flew back. They held onto the others hand tightly and didn’t budge an inch from where they were. The only thing that moved was their heads that had been forcibly turned by the punch they received.
“Heh.”
After a while, they smirked and released the other’s hand.
“Not a bad punch. Worthy of Thor’s Proxy.”
Lennox said as he spat out a couple teeth.
“Damn. You seriously can’t be human with strength like that.”
Skylar fixed his jaw as he spoke.
“No, I’m human. The most human person you’ll ever meet.”
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Lennox replied.
“But was this okay? I thought that the empire’s trump card wasn’t suppose to succumb to provocations?”
“What are you talking about? That was only a greeting between men, nothing more.”
Skylar replied.
“Hahaha! I like you, Skylar!”
Lennox held his hand out again.
“For real this time. Let’s get along.”
Skylar stretched his hand out and grasped his again.
“Let’s get along.”
The two peacefully shook hands and began focusing on their task at hand.
Dragna Empire.
Miko was in his room looking through the letter that Lennox had given him.
“Is it me or have my enemies developed a habit of making announcements through writing lately.”
Miko said as he read the names on the letters.
“I see. So an alliance consisting of 7 empires in the Eastern Region has been formed. Carpo, Kale, Carme, Herse, Elara, Leda, and Sinope, huh?”
Miko immediately recognized these names as countries he’s been keeping an eye on.
“Well, isn’t this perfect? These were going to be my next targets, but to think that they would make the first move. Who would’ve expected that?”
“Didn’t you attacked their allies just to make them do exactly this?”
The creepy shadow appeared by his side and said.
“Oh, right.”
Miko answered the shadow as if it was normal.
“But they've chosen a pretty interesting name to call themselves.”
He said as he looked at the sender’s name and smiled.
“The Seven Moons Alliance, huh. If I remember correctly Carpo, Kale, Carme, Herse, Elara, Leda, and Sinope were all moons of Jupiter. It’s a fitting name.”
He burnt the letter and reduced it to ash.
“If it’s a war they want, then it would rude for us to deny them.”
“That’s right. It wouldn’t be fitting of your image as an emperor.”
The shadow entangled itself around Miko.
“Invite them for dinner and slaughter them like the dirty pigs they are!”
It shouted in Miko’s ear.
“You know creepy shadow, for once I actually agree with you.”
Miko smiled and said.
“Right? And this is also an opportunity to see what’s so special about that Lennox guy.”
The shadow whispered.
“After that we can kill every one of your comrades too, and party of madness would be complete!"
“We were this close, this close to becoming friends but you had to fuck it up.”
Miko sighed and said.
He snapped his fingers and the shadow disappeared.
“What a shame.”
He stood up from his bed.
“Anyway, lets go prepare for war.”
At the same time, Tia was sitting in the palace hall seemingly thinking about something.
It was then that a golden light flashed before her. From it came someone she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Boros.”
It was her long time friend and Luka’s parent God Ouroboros.
“Tia.”
From the moment Ouroboros appeared he had a strange look on his face.
“Sigh.”
Tia sighed when she saw it.
“From the look on your face, the meeting in the summit has come to an end.”
She said.
“Actually, it’s still ongoing.”
Said Boros.
“Really? That is surprising. I thought it would be a no brainer.”
She looked genuinely surprised.
“Maybe I have a chance then?”
Boros shook his head.
“No, Tia. This isn’t a good thing.”
He said.
“They already found you guilty a long time ago.”
“Then why is the meeting still ongoing?”
She expected to see countless warriors coming for her head the moment the meeting finished. The only reason she could think of why this wasn’t the case, was because they already sent their executioner.
“Well, isn’t this pleasant? To think that my friend would be sent to take my head. Those bastards still have bad taste I see.”
She said with a mocking smile.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something here.”
Boros replied.
“I’m not your executioner. The reason why the meeting is still ongoing is because no one can agree on what kind of punishment you should receive. I’m here because my voice is meaningless now that you were found guilty.”
“Hahahahaha!”
Tia suddenly burst out laughing.
“I see. So those idiots are debating on how to make me suffer for my sins, huh. Only an egoistic group like that would argue so long over something so pointless.”
She said.
“Tia.”
Ouroboros held her shoulders.
“Answer me honestly. Is Miko Augustus?”
This question is the same question that occupied most of the higher beings’ minds and caused them to have a grand meeting.
When Miko was publicly announced as Tiamat’s Proxy, this thought popped up in a lot of the higher beings head. The reason was because Tia hadn’t shown interest in choosing a Proxy since the creation of the system; and yet, she suddenly chose one.
A lot of people found it suspicious.
Some were more nosey than others, and started to pay close attention to Miko and his every action. Those who were familiar with Augustus quickly saw the similarities between him and Miko.
When this was pointed out to them, others started to pay attention to him as well. Eventually, Miko slipped up.
It was when he was in Grim City. He had lost control of Deus Malum and alerted a few higher beings who were keeping watch. His immense power was imperceivable by even them. After that they started to inspect Miko’s birth and origin.
After digging around for a bit they discovered that a spiritual bridge had been made from Terra to earth. Spiritual Bridges were pathways between the two worlds that mirrored each other. However, only spiritual beings like souls could past through it. When they cross it, the spirits will be able to transmigrate or reincarnate into either world.
However, Spiritual Bridges were rare and only came about naturally every couple millennia. But there were ways to forcefully open one; although it would be slightly different. And the Spiritual Bridge they found had signs of being manmade, rather than a natural one.
When the higher beings found this out, they were even certain that Tia had broken a great taboo.
Turning a reincarnated person into a Proxy.
It goes with saying that someone who reincarnated or transmigrated had a huge advantage over normal beings. Because of this, they were ban from being proxies because it would be unfair.
“Why ask a question you already know the answer to?”
Tia replied.
“I mean, you should have felt his power that time.”
“Yeah. I sensed it.”
She was referencing to the time Augustus let his power loose on the world. That had been sensed by almost every higher beings. This further concreted their speculations.
“Let’s face it, Boros. The big deal isn’t that I broke the taboo and used a reincarnated person to represent me, but it is who that person is.”
Tia said.
“They all fear my man.”
She smiled proudly.
“Well, I won’t deny that. Augustus was a terrifying human, who made too many enemies and it ultimately led to his downfall.”
Boros said.
“It’s because he had so much enemies why no one except a few like myself sided with you. Everyone wanted the monster known as Augustus to be buried forever.”
“If that’s the case, then why don’t they try to kill Miko before he blooms into the that monster they feared?”
Tia asked seemingly already predicting the answer.
“Because they aren’t stupid. If we kill one monster, a bigger monster will be enraged and a grand slaughter will begin.”
“You mean that stupid bird.”
Tia mumbled.
“Only you would call the Phoenix Queen a stupid bird.”
Boros smiled bitterly.
“But you’re right. If we kill Augustus without having a way to deal with Rias then Higher Beings are going to be extinct.”
Tia didn’t seem to care about what he said since it involved Rias, even so he continued.
“The only reason they attacked and killed Augustus back then was because they had Devoro on their side. Although even they underestimated Devoro (To Devour) and was almost annihilated themselves. If the Supreme Being hadn’t stepped in and sealed it away, I’m pretty sure we would all be dead by now.”
Ouroboros shivered when he remembered being in that monster's presence.
“Anyway, they’re hesitant because they’ve yet to acquire something to suppress Queen Rias.”
“Hmph. So what kind of punishment they want to give me.”
“Death. They want you to be executed, that much is decided. They just haven’t decided on the method as yet. The fact that you didn’t try to plea your case, just makes them want to kill you more.”
Tia sighed when she heard that.
“Why would does she need to go plea her case?”
It was then that Nero was seen walking down the halls.
“If those bastards want to come, then so be it. Let them come.”
The other branch leaders were seen right behind him.
“We have no intention to let them harm our grandmother.”
Said Rouge.
“We’ve already lost our parents. She’s all we have left.”
Said Echo.
“If they want war tell them that we’re ready anytime. It won’t end like last time.”
Said Alexus.
“This time we’ll be the ones living in the lime light and they’ll be the ones shivering in the shadows.”
Said Andreas.
Nero slammed his fists together.
“The Dragna Clan won’t abandon grandma or Miko. Tell those geezers in the summit that when they dig our holes be sure to dig one for themselves.”
A sinister and mad look appeared in his eyes.
“Because we’re all dying together.”
“Do you know what you’re saying? You’re basically picking a fight with every Higher Being out there. Their proxies will be at your doorsteps ready to tear you apart.”
“Then let them. I’ll be the first to drag them to hell.”
Andreas boldly declared.
“Don’t you fear for your lives in the least?”
Ouroboros had to ask.
He knew that Nero and others were strong, but they weren’t strong enough to take on the whole world. And yet, they were acting like they couldn’t be killed, like death was meaningless to them.
He looked at them and waited their response.
It was then that he sensed a gloomy atmosphere around them. Like he was looking at the walking dead.
Nero was the one to speak.
He looked at Ouroboros with dead eyes and spoke –
“Dead men knows no fear.”
That was what clinched it. He had to acknowledge it after hearing that.
Those that led this clan didn’t fear death, because for them they died all the way back in that war.
This was why they acted anyway they wanted without considering the consequences, because to them nothing can hurt them like what they endured back then.
That was why all five branch leaders had the smile motto on life.
“Consequences be damned.”
At this same time, in the underground Imperial Treasury.
The Black Coffin that carried the world’s evilest existence, shook. Without a soul to see it.