"Alright, you're not getting out anytime soon. Unless you have a death wish." Varian said to his two friends.
Kyle and Maya nodded absentmindedly at his words, their gazes still fixed on the floating screen displaying the explosion of abysses.
"They'll be fine," Sia said and pulled him out of their room. Her casual expression grew grim. "What are we going to do now?"
Varian recalled the explosion of abysses and took a deep breath. "That is an incredible level of power. Celestial rank sure is something else. I do have a rough idea of how to advance to the Celestial and I'll need both of your help."
"Aren't you scared?" She asked him softly.
"Of Julius?" Varian raised an eyebrow.
Sia nodded, her mind still playing the destruction of the abysses in an unending loop.
"No." Varian shook his head confidently. "He can't find us. And he won't kill the remaining mankind. At least, I don't think he will. I'm more worried about Abyss Emperor. If even a newbie Celestial ranker is this strong, what about the ruler of abyssals who is at least two hundred years old?"
Sia's face paled slightly. "Do you really think he will come…? Can he even? All the abysses are destroyed."
"We couldn't find two altars in the abysses I cleared," Varian said.
The logic in her mind told Sia something she wished wouldn't materialize. If the altars still existed, hidden somewhere, then it's very much possible that the Abyss Emperor could come here.
"I'm not sure if he would come. But if he wishes to, he can." Varian placed his hand on the window and stared at the bright planets. "The peace we're seeing, the new era everyone is celebrating, it's all imaginary. If one Julius can erase abyssals, one Abyss Emperor can destroy this whole solar system."
Sia glanced at the floating screens showing the celebrations on the planets.
The military men and women still weren't able to digest this. But the common people were already throwing parties.
Entire parks, streets, and even small neighborhoods were dead drunk under this euphoria. They really thought it was all over not knowing the biggest danger was yet to come.
A bitter smile etched on her lips. "Ignorance is really bliss."
"And dangerous, perhaps fatal," Varian added. "Maybe my fears are founded. Maybe all the altars are gone. Maybe this really is the era of peace. But on the slight chance that my fears come true, we'll lose everything.
And Heaven forbid, I still have no fucking idea if my reaching the Celestial ranks would make any difference against the Abyss Emperor."
Sia saw Varian's eyes and heard his thumping heartbeat. He was under pressure. A crushing pressure as he tried to match an enemy he had no idea of.
Before he knew the strength of Celestials, Varian wasn't this worried. But after learning what a newly promoted Celestial can do, he felt suffocated. Until Abyss Emperor died, the weight on his shoulders wouldn't vanish.
Sia placed her hand on his chest and said. "You can do it."
"I will. I must." Varian pulled her into the practice room where Sarah was already waiting for them.
He held their hands and started synergy. "With peace, temporary or not, we can finally devote ourselves to practice."
The door closed and the three descended into a controlled synergy session.
— — — —
Meanwhile, the news and stories about Varian's deeds were silently removed from the metanet. The people that noticed this protested and asked. But they were quickly silenced.
Julius Xander announced the new world order. The federation would now be the Human Empire led by Emperor Julius himself.
It was shocking to some but after experiencing so much pain and destruction, the people were fine with Julius taking up a bigger role.
There was some freedom during the era of eight sovereigns—room for divergent thought and different opinions. But from today, there'd be no such thing. Only one voice, one ruler, one thought.
But given the massive power Julius displayed, people agreed that it was a necessary price. Honestly, they had no say in the matter. No one did.
Along with the celebrations, the ceremony for the coronation began. It'd be held a week later. The surviving sovereigns would be the guests of honor and the whole of humanity would watch their ruler take his rightful place.
The earth was decorated. The destroyed guardian islands were excavated and the remnants were quickly placed into a museum.
The festive mood was infectious.
For some, it was a reason to celebrate the oncoming era of peace. For others, it was welcoming the dream their loved ones in the family died for. For many, however, it was a way to numb themselves from the grief of losing their close people.
But everyone found some reason to celebrate this grand event.
In between Earth and Mars, a space city was built for the Emperor at an unprecedented pace.
The guardian islands were destroyed and Julius was technically homeless. Even if the islands were fine, an Emperor needed something more extravagant as a residence.
The army started the clean-up operations and hunted down the remnant abyssals, most of them hiding in spaceships. They posed no threat and their end was just a matter of time.
Pluto would be visited by the Emperor after the coronation and would be the last event on the big day.
Everything seemed to be going well.
Army was happy. Common people were happy. Awakeners were happy.
But seething with rage were a bunch of young, teenage abyssals that hid far in the edges of the solar system. They were so far away from Pluto that even the human patrol ships had no chance of finding them.
Right after Varian began his massacre and destroyed an altar, the Abyss rulers held an emergency meeting and decided to do one thing before their inevitable destruction.
This resulted in the few survivors protecting the final hope of abyssals.
Inside the stealth spaceship resting in the asteroids, the young abyssals knelt in front of the altars.
The altars were slowly glowing brighter.
