The next day, Rieren resolved to pay her old mentor another visit. She had promised Mercion and Silomene that she would dig up more information from her side. That meant interrogating her most trustworthy source—Elder Olg.

Though, trustworthy was doing a great deal of work, there. The Elder’s goals and intentions had changed after he had taken possession of the Dreadflood.

Before she left, however, she was interrupted by the glowing ball of light. It floated into her little glen as innocuously as it had done the last time. She wondered if it was tracking her or if it had to be sent to specific locations. If she moved to a different glen permanently, would it be able to trace her location there as well?

The question faded from her mind as the commentator’s voice emanated from the glimmering orb.

“Ladies and gentlemen, attendants and combatants, please lend me your ears,” he said, his voice carrying the flourish of a showman. “It is time we determined the next series of bouts and their matchups. Sixteen competitors survived the rigors of their first matches, and now they must put their prowess to the test once more. So, listen close!”

Rieren went a little tense in expectation. Her eyes were fixed on the glimmering orb. Who would she be facing? Among those who had progressed, who would she need to defeat?

“For our first match, we have Rieren Vallorne, the monstrous convert,” the commentator said. A grin stretched across Rieren’s mouth. Wonder of wonders, she was going first. “Facing off against Naviel Kruvain, the Second Fury of the North!”

Rieren froze. Naviel. Where had she heard that name before? It was familiar, but not completely clear in her head.

Batcat meowed softly in Rieren’s lap.

“Ah, you are right, kitten.” Rieren’s grin returned, the ferocity dancing on her lips. The prospect of her battle now made her eager for her bout. “He is the one with Essalina.”

She remembered him now. That scarred, handsome fellow who was Essalina’s teammate for the tournament. That man was a Fury of the North as well? Not surprising that the Arteroth had sent their best to win the tournament, nor that Essalina had powerful allies.

But oh, this was going to be as close to fighting Essalina herself as Rieren could get to, without actually standing against the Arteroth scion. Interesting didn’t even cover half of it.

Her mind was running in too many directions, trying to determine how best to tackle her upcoming bout, but she was distracted by the rest of the matchups.

The commentator had allowed a short bit of time to build up the suspense before continuing. “Next, we have Kalvia Zhouven, self-proclaimed Empress, facing off against Galorian Markand, the first scion of the Markand Archnobles!”

Ah, so Kalvia would be taking on Galorian. Rieren remembered the talkative brat from the first round. She hadn’t seen much of his powers, though, so telling whether Kalvia would win or not would be a difficult matter. But she did recall that he had won rather handily against his monstrous opponent. Perhaps Kalvia had taken better notes.

“Essalina Arteroth, the First Fury of the North and the scion of the Arteroth Archnoble clan,” the commentator said. “Will need to overcome Astosind Erv, the Mountain of the Ardent Mist!”

Ah. That was one of Ledorne’s teammates, if Rieren remembered right. The big man with the strange gravity powers. Another one of those who had defeated his monstrous opponent to progress further into the tournament.

Her other teammate had lost in the previous round, so from Ledorne’s group, Astosind was the sole survivor. Now, it looked like the road had finally come to an end for them.

In the following three pairings, Amalyse, Rykion, and Cerill were all pitted against the monsters. Rieren shook her head. They were keeping to the same tack of having the monsters face off against human opponents to ensure they were all eliminated at the same time.

And unfortunately, she had a sense that it was going to work.

Strong thought the qualifying Arisen, Abyssals, and Aetherian were, they wouldn’t be able to overcome that trio, unless some miracle occurred.

On paper, at least. But that was no reason for them not to try. Especially in the comparatively weaker cases of Amalyse and Cerill, they might have a shot. She suspected both of them had progressed enough to stand toe to toe with even B-Grade monsters now, but with Rieren’s help, the monsters might be able to come up with strategies to win.

Except, Rieren wasn’t certain she wanted to help them against Amalyse. Well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

“Olis Stollen, the famed Chainseeker,” the commentator said. “Will take on Silvas Frale, the Sword Saint of the East!”

“And finally, for our last battle of the round, we will have Ceraline Selvier fighting against the Arisen of the Stifling Nebula!”

Rieren smiled. Stifling Nebula? Looked like the commentator was clearly struggling with originality with that epithet.

Rieren could guess the winners of those two bouts with ease as well. Silvas and Ceraline were both far more powerful than their opponents, as they had proven in the previous round against Rollo and Serace.

Strange how the administration was constructing matches so that there was always an easily predictable winner. It was partially inevitable, of course. The weak would need to face the strong one way or another simply going by how the numbers worked out. It made Rieren think that they wanted to end this round quickly and build excitement for the next one.

Her mind returned to her own match. Naviel…

She didn’t know much about him, had only seen that one battle where he had handily defeated a monster with the signature Arteroth black-gold flames that Essalina used. Surely, he had his own, unique talents that he would no doubt use when he needed.

Since Rieren had no way of figuring that out and was certain any direct spying efforts—even with Batcat—wouldn’t go well, she headed off to take care of a different matter.

Namely, talking with Elder Olg.

Rieren couldn’t contain her humourless little grin as she walked to the location of the first round. What a strange collection of monster and human combinations she had now experienced, either personally or via others.

First there was Mercion, who had been possessed by a monster. The Gravemark Puppeteer had taken control of his body before being driven out after the possession was discovered. Then there was Elder Og, who had taken over the consciousness of the Dreadflood and was now himself an Abyssal in all but name.

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And finally, there was Rieren who had transformed into an Arisen through a combination of her journey through the Abyss and the meddling of other monsters.

What a delightful trio they made.

The first round’s battleground was as forlorn as she remembered from her little corpse-selling trip. Even more so, in all honesty. There were no longer any bodies to be recovered. Even the monstrous ones she hadn’t sold off on her last trip weren’t present anymore. Either the battleground cleaners had removed them or had sold them off just as Rieren had done.

It wasn’t long before Rieren found Elder Olg. The edge of the Dreadflood’s dark sea became visible on the horizon, and a few minutes of walking took her to its shore. Too fast. She was certain she had reached it much quicker than last time. Was the Dreadflood moving closer?

“Congratulations.” The surface of the black liquid slipped away, revealing Elder Olg rising from beneath as though he was seated on an ascending platform. There were no bubbles of trapped air around him, however. “You’ve made me proud.”

He looked the same as before, a familiar head marred by Abyssal growths all over joined to the stolen body of the former Clanmaster of the Stannerig clan. It was odd to realize that by some strange technicality, Elder Olg was an Archnoble now.

“For simply beating a weaker opponent?” Rieren asked. “I was not aware you were keeping an eye on the tournament.”

The Elder tilted his head to rest it on his fist. “Well, I must beat back my boredom one way or another. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? Do you have any news for me?”

Rieren knew what he meant. Elder Olg was still on the hunt for that anchor. “Actually, I came here to seek information from you.”

“Oh?”

“Have you been conducting more forays into the reason behind this… strangeness, Elder? I want to know more if you have found anything.”

Elder Olg sat straighter, grew more serious. “You’ll need to be more specific, Rieren.”

“I want to know why the monsters have been allowed into the tournament.”

“We’ve already spoken of it. The gods who oversaw the Abyssals and the Aetherian saw fit to turn you—”

“Not regarding me, Elder.” Rieren pointed behind her. “I want to know what made the administration allow such a thing. What does the Emperor hope to gain by allowing monsters in his tournament.”

“The imperial court has been captured by the gods. We both know this. The Emperor cannot act against what the gods want.”

“The old Emperor perhaps, but—”

A sudden thought occurred to Rieren. Was there a new Emperor because Zhian had tried to resist the will of the gods? Had the previous Forborne Emperor gone against those who had infiltrated his court, against those who truly ran the Elderlands, and had suffered for it?

That couldn’t be right. Someone as strong as the last Emperor would never have fallen with such little noise.

But the new Emperor was certainly raising no fuss about the current monstrous participation in the tournament. Except, of course, for organizing it in such a way that their path to victory would be as difficult as he and his administration could make it.

Things, Rieren remarked to herself with a little scowl, were a little too convoluted for her liking.

“The old Emperor?” Elder Olg asked.

“Yes. You said you kept your eye on the tournament. Have you not noticed it? Unless you’ve never…?”

Though, Rieren was working under the assumption that Elder Olg had seen the old Forborne Emperor before at some point. She couldn’t be certain he had seen the new one, much less the old one.

“I have beheld him once or twice before, yes,” Elder Olg said, clearly deciphering what she had left unsaid. He looked concerned. “But not recently. He doesn’t show his face during the matches. When did you see him?”

“When he greeted all the competitors who had qualified for the second round.”

“Ah. I was not present then. That explains why I never saw this… new Emperor.” He frowned down at the dark flood around his feet, stretching out into eternity behind him. “Though, this is highly volatile. A new Emperor. With no one the wiser.” He looked up sharply. “Have you told anyone? Do you know how many others might know?”

“All the competitors, clearly.” Rieren thought for a moment. “But most of them are unaware that there has been a change in the position since I doubt most, if not all, have never seen the old Emperor before that.”

The confused consternation Rieren had gone through when she had first seen Astern as the Emperor was now reflected on Elder Olg’s face. He was trying to piece together all the information he held with this development, trying to fit the puzzle into the new picture.

“The gods have captured the imperial court,” Elder Olg said, speaking as much to himself as to Rieren. “Of that, we are certain. This means all the dignitaries and Masked Avatars are under their thrall to some extent. And most of them must know about the change in the Emperor. The uproar would be too great otherwise. But the question remains—”

“Why a change now?” Rieren said. “And why for a man who was working against the old Emperor.”

“Against him?”

Rieren explained the exact identity of the new Forborne Emperor, how Astern was working with Kalvia who was to be set up as the new Empress. Though, how true that was any longer was anyone’s guess.

The Elder took in the new information with a quick nod before refocusing on his flood. It was almost like he could see the picture of everything within the darkness. The blood of thousands of Abyssals, as Rieren had learned.

Then he froze.

“Ah,” he said. “Ah!”

Rieren blinked at him. “What is it?”

“I had felt a shift in the Divine Realm not too long ago. A rippling change in the tapestry there, when the Aetherians landed upon the Dreadflood back in the Shatterlands.”

“A change? In the tapestry?”

“It’s difficult to explain. Think of it as a shift in the makeup of the very fabric. Everything is made up of components, yes, tightly woven and intermeshed with everything else? Suppose there is a new component. When this new piece must it into the puzzle, it shifts the entire picture, right? When speaking of entire realms, this creates a powerful sensation.”

“That makes sense. But what—” Rieren’s eyes began to widen. “Oh.”

Elder Olg slowly nodded. She had come to the same realization he had.

A powerful change in the tapestry of the Divine Realm, a shift so major that it could be felt in other realms as well. A change in the components. And what were the integral components of the Divine Realm if not for the gods themselves. Essentially, Elder Olg was suggesting that there had been a change in the pantheon. A major change.

Like the addition of a new god.

“You believe the Forborne Emperor ascended,” Rieren said. Her voice had turned quiet of its own volition.

Elder Olg didn’t look happy about that deduction. “That seems the likeliest case. For one reason or another, the old Forborne Emperor ascended to the pantheon. He was at the Fated realm as a cultivator when I’d first met him, so by this point, it’s likely he had reached the Primordial realm.”

Primordial. The gods’ realm. The highest one Rieren herself had reached, though only in the early stages. Could Zhian have truly broken through to the Primordial realm?

It wasn’t logistically impossible. When she had known him, he was in the Late-Fated realm. That he could have raised himself to Peak-Fated, before breaking through to Primordial, was potentially possible with the sheer amount of resources and powers he could have accumulated.

Of course, doing so within only a few years would have taken a great deal of Essence. In her previous life, Rieren had needed the better part of five years just to gather enough spiritual energy to survive the tribulation that had propelled her to the Early-Primordial realm. There had been several other preparations she had needed, but the Essence had been the biggest thing.

To accumulate that much Essence not once but twice in less than half the time had to have taken extreme sacrifices. What had Zhian done?

“Can you confirm if it is actually true, Elder?” Rieren asked.

“I don’t know how,” he said. “But I can certainly look into it. Perhaps following the same thread of monstrous and godly intentions through the Abyss will lead me to some newer answers. This all feels tied, after all.”

It did. For all Rieren knew, Zhian could have allowed the monsters into the tournament and the gods into his imperial court so that they could help empower him to a deity’s level. Though, that wasn’t at all the Zhian she had come to know and appreciate…

Before Rieren left, she told the Elder about Starloper.

“I am keeping my distance for now,” she said. “For it seems he wishes to maintain it, but I believe he might be our truest source of answers.”

“I agree,” the Elder said, a bit distractedly. What was one more Banishedborn? “I don’t know how successful my investigations will be, but if all else fails, you have someone else you can corner.” He looked up from the flood to stare at the sky. “If the Forborne Emperor truly ascended, then that might explain the anchor I’ve been sensing too.”

“Something to assist his propulsion to the Divine Realm?”

“Most likely, yes.”

Wishing good fortune to Elder Olg, and receiving one in return for her upcoming match, Rieren left. Not a very satisfying meeting, but things were complicated. There wasn’t a great deal she could do.

Starloper. As much as he was keeping his distance between them, Rieren set a new target for herself. She would need answers from him eventually.