….
….
…..
A few moments ago, while Tiamat was observing the evolution of Sol’s body she was interrupted by Verdandi.
“Empress. It seems like your backyard is about to go on fire.”
Tiamat froze a little,
“Position.”
“On the 7th heaven. One of the lower islands.”
The 7th heaven was the place where most dragons lived. Thinking about the speculations they had, Tiamat focused on the place and what she saw made her blood boil in anger.
She could see a few dragons in human form holding red rings and bleeding. They were on a completely isolated floating island, inside a hidden cave, and said the cave was covered in hiding runes to cover their aura.
Clearly, this wasn’t something that was made out of the blue.
When Tiamat heard them mutter the name of Marduk and Apsu [1] while praying to the crimson lady, she knew that there was no more doubt to have.
Tiamat's lips twitched when she felt a dimensional door trying to open in her territory. Had she been taken unaware, it would have been too late for her to close it before it was anchored.
But now?
'I thought I eradicated all the traitors back then.'
Even as she cursed inwardly, she crushed those nascent portals before they could do any harm.
"Hehe! It seems like I was right?"
Tiamat sighed, distraught, but was unable to counter Skuld’s mocking laugh.
When they were preparing for this fight, the first thing Sol told them was to beware of traitors.
It was clear that his experience with the Wing of Freedom had shown him how enticed the force of Chaos could be.
She remembered clearly Skuld's words
"Back then no traitor appeared in my knowledge but you should know that, unlike fate, the future is never fixed.
"Furthermore, you already have a history with traitors in your territory. So who knows?
"At the very least, the force of Chaos should know that the future changed even if they don't exactly know how. Then it's clear they would answer appropriately."
—
From the current situation, it seemed that heeding that advice had been the right decision. This did not erase the somewhat bitter feeling in her heart. Those portals clearly belonged to Nihil. Should they have opened, the causality of the approaching battle would have increased tremendously.
At this thought, her eyes grew cold and all bitter feeling she might have vanished,
“Kill them.”
Her expression showed no hesitation nor guilt.
Since those dragons became traitors, Tiamat did not see them as Dragons anymore. They were now nothing more than trash.
Trashes that were dirtying a clean house and as such, needed to be cleaned up.
For such people—death was nothing more than the lightest punishment.
Tiamat wished to act personally but she couldn’t. She had to keep 100% of her focus to prepare for Ymir.
‘I am sorry, my dear daughter.’
….
….
….
On the 8th heaven, after receiving this order, Kiyohime stood up, her expression downcast but resolute.
She already had the blood of many dragons on her hands. It was too late to hesitate now.
This was the beginning of the war.
The only sad thing was…This war would begin with death and blood on their side.
—-
[????]
Somewhere else, in a world filled with a red moon, a red-winged angel with blonde hair and red eyes sat on a rectangular table as she looked high up in the cloudless sky.
All around her, people of different appearances and colors sat with heavy expressions,
“Herald, is the plan a failure from the start?”
One of them finally couldn’t hold back in the oppressive silence and asked.
The others tensed a little. During the short time they had spent together, they had come to know that the woman known as Nihil, or the Herald as they called her, could become even more vicious than a chaos spawn that went hungry for hundreds of years if she was triggered.
Thankfully, Nihil answered to them with a smile,
“Not particularly so. While it would have been beautiful to succeed, let’s not make the mistake of forgetting who this particular realm belongs to.”
They all gulped. The reputation of the Dragon Empress was forged on the blood and bones of people of their races.
How could they forget her? How could they underestimate her?
“Either way, this is just the first step of the plan my strategist formulated.”
All the eyes turned to the man that was sitting a little further apart from the table with his back hunched because of a fitting cough
Most of them frowned with disgust while a few smirked in mockery but all in all few of them held respect in their eyes. Even though the man, or the skeleton, standing was sorta king-ranked being.
The reason for the disdain was clear, like Divine beasts, they hated necromancy and all undead creatures. But for reasons different but strangely similar to that of Divine beasts.
The first one was that no one liked to be reminded of their mortality. No matter how strong they were, they would all die as long as they didn’t transcend.
The second reason was that necromancers were crazy bastards who could use anything for their undead creation. Even if that thing came from a demigod.
Finally and perhaps interestingly, they hated that undead were so-imply rotting food and so could not be eaten.
While Anubis wasn’t born during the Great war. He did participate in some small-scale or big wars later down the line and he terrorized many Titans with his undead legion.
Taking in all those regards, Drei took no slight for he simply did not care,
“As I said, the fact that Skuld and Verdandi entered Tiamat territory means that all most of our previous plans needed to be revised.”
Drei breathed deeply as the wound on his soul made itself remember. That pain had been with him since the attack on Lustburg and he was becoming crazy.
“Initially we should have kept our sleeping agents for other missions. Corrupting dragons is in no way easy after all. But the situation called for a new way.”
To corrupt mortals, you just needed to promise them; food, longevity, and money, and that would be it. The number of old nobles ready to sell their souls for a few more years to live was insane.
But for Dragons and other divine beats, it was near impossible. After all, they already had everything.
This was why keeping care of the sleeping agent was
Drei shrugged, “Rather than keeping and wasting those agents, better use them as Cannon fodder to weaken the dragon realm as much as possible. Because let’s be honest….If Tiamat is at full power …No, what I am saying. If she is even at 50% of her power, then you would be only rushing to your death if you jump out now.”
They all groaned but none of them could refute. Tiamat was simply too strong.
“Speaking of, Nihil…. Were you able to contact him?”
Tiamat was simply a monster. Even though they had ten of demigods present here, Drei was sure that this number would not be enough.
Nihil was powerful but she still needed time to reach a new level. For such an operation, having a bunch of cannon fodder was good. But they also needed that one super powerful being that could keep Tiamat in check.
Thankfully,
“Do not worry. Once we start, he will come.”
If he had lungs, Drei would have let out a sigh of relief and from the way the atmosphere in the room changed, everyone was filling the same.
“Well then. This opportunity is quite hard to come by. Let’s do our best.”
Nihil said so as she stood up and dismissed everyone.
Now alone with her old friend, she couldn’t hide her worry,
“Drei, your double is working with those outlaws, right?”
“Indeed.”
“Despite that, are you sure you want to come with your true body once the fight starts?”
Currently, Drei was barely keeping his power as a King.
“Would you even be able to summon your legion?”
Drei gave a flickering gaze, “It’s the occasion to finally see my old friend. Furthermore, I need my true body to be present to receive treatments.”
“But this doesn’t mean you should come on the field! Furthermore, what makes you believe your so-called friend will help you? 700 years already gone past, do you think she will betray her family for you?”
The bonny knuckle of Drei tightened on his staff, anger, and fury clearly evident despite his skeleton face but even then Drei did not lash out. For 700 Years since he was in the underworld, the one he relied on was the sealed Nihil. It’s thanks to her that he did manage to keep a hold on his sanity and he knew that she just wanted to protect him.
“I believe in her. I believe that she will see the truth of our way. I have researched what she did during those 700 years and I am sure that I am right.”
Drei was a natural undead. Someone who managed to bring himself back from the gate of death through pure obsession.
His obsession were his hatred of the injustice of the world, the pain at the loss of his sister, and his sadness at the loss of a precious friend.
Those obsessions were the drive of his unlife. The fuel that keeps his fire burning. The moment those obsessions vanished, like a vengeful ghost that was purified, he would simply crumble and vanish.
This was why he could not, not believe in Nent.
“Do not worry, Nihil. Once I bring her to you, I am sure you will appreciate her.”
Nihil gazed deeply at one of the few people she could call a friend. In fact, aside from Eins, Drei was her one and only friend. Someone dear to her heart.
This was why, in front of his steadfast decision, all she could do was accept his decision and act accordingly.
[1]: Go back to ch 211: Nabu. Marduk was Nabu’s father and a follower of Apsu during their rebellion.
AN: The war begins with 1 point on Chaos side. Let’s say how the situation evolves.
