The raid on Hephaestus' Infected Source World ended after nine grueling months of war.
The number of lives lost already reached the tens of millions.
And yet, no new information was revealed.
Near the end, when the Supremes gathered in the stronghold were confronted and defeated, they chose to end themselves rather than submit.
This kind of fanatic faith was terrifying on its own, a level of morale a regular army couldn't reach, but it was worse from the Nox.
There remained the Divine Realm and Infernal Realm now, the last of the Infected Source Worlds, and neither was going to be an easy raid.
After much deliberation, the Divine Realm was set as the next target.
Heaven's army learned from the mistakes they made in Hephaestus and didn't rush to make themselves known.
For the past three months, they had been running surveillance and gathering intel on both remaining Nox strongholds in hopes of forming a foolproof raid strategy before rushing in.
It had now been a year since the ceasefire began.
Judging by the progress until this point, despite the small number of remaining targets, it was unknown whether Grand Heavens Boundary would reach the level of security its inhabitants desired before universal war broke out again.
From her throne in Prismatic Sun Holy Land, Iris slowly opened her eyes.
The Avatar she set up was a bit special. She infused it with her ego and power, but gave it the ability to act independently so she didn't have to focus on it.
Instead, every day she received its memories in bulk, allowing her to understand the situation on the other side.
Currently, she was fuming.
"Hmph! It can be counted as a win overall, but I still feel cheated," she muttered hatefully to herself.
In the end, the 2nd Primal Sovereign promised to follow her to Prismatic Sun Holy Land and lend his efforts as he was needed, but did he need to sound so unwilling?!
It was clear that he and Damien made some sort of secret agreement that he would much rather be attending to!
"Haa, this is the problem with geniuses that are too talented. Even if they don't do anything, everyone else's achievements will end up benefiting them instead!"
Her words were envious, but her thoughts were not.
Damien was a friend, after all. She didn't have any qualms with him getting the benefits he did.
It had just been a very long time since she'd been disadvantaged like this, and the feeling was not fun at all!
She almost felt like a little girl again, able to do nothing but pout and complain.
"Nevertheless, since he is coming, it is almost time to start 'that' plan."
She glanced at a nearby wall, behind which was a hidden room even her closest subordinates had no knowledge of.
She walked through it as if it were immaterial and set her eyes on the compilation of documents and miscellaneous books strewn about the place.
The Motherworld Discovery Plan.
For thousands of years she'd been researching about the Abyss and trying to define it as much as she could in theory, but she never had a method to test her theory in the slightest.
Because even she could not survive the Abyss for too long; even she could easily get eternally lost in its blackness.
A Primal Sovereign was different.
Orion's body was composed of fundamental energies that no longer existed in the universe, which gave him capabilities that earned him the Primal Sovereign title in the first place.
'With his help, we can finally extend our reach past the borders of Eien. We can finally try our luck at attacking.'
The Nox's greatest advantage was their ability to attack from the Abyss while the denizens of the universe remained clueless about their depths.
Creating a path through the Abyss could take away that advantage and expand the paths Heaven's Army could take.
Of course, there were several factors to still be considered, but the plan was just theory at this point. Once Orion arrived, those edges could be smoothed out.
Though, enlisting a Primal Sovereign for just this much wouldn't justify the amount of effort it took to find and reach him.
His real purpose…
'Operation Godslayer.'
A plan that a select few knew of, yet had never been voiced into reality.
Because even alluding to its existence could be considered sin.
Something that defied logic and reason, something utterly blasphemous…
…yet something the peak experts of the universe couldn't give up.
For it to commence, they needed Orion.
'…and perhaps, 'he' might be…'
The thought didn't need to be continued.
If it succeeded, they'd be considered heroes, but if it failed, they would likely be slaughtered by their comrades before their enemies had a chance.
Iris ran her hand across the spine of an ancient text and sighed before turning around and exiting the secret room.
'There is still work to be done. For now, instead of this…'
'…let's focus on exterminating pests.'
***
Luckily, Damien wasn't forced into an embarrassing situation when he woke up from his comprehension.
There weren't three women annoyedly staring him down, but only one, peacefully sleeping on his lap.
He smiled as he returned to his senses and brushed his hand through her hair.
'Second isn't bad at all when I get to wake up to something like this.'
The one who came was Elena. The other two were still busy until now, but they were also slowly wrapping up their individual training.
'She's been giving them a lot of space since we reunited. I guess she felt bad they got less time to bond and compromised, but…'
Did she have to do it like this?
It wasn't a problem, Damien just found it a bit comical how she secretly approached him and took advantage of the opportunity when the other two were busy.
"Hmm…"
She stirred awake after feeling his hand and smiled up at him before raising herself and planting a light kiss on his lips.
"Good morning," she yawned as she stretched her body.
Damien smirked, his eyes not behaving in the slightest.
"Haha, good morning, indeed."
"Have you looked enough? Or do you still want to have another peek later?" Elena teased, rolling her eyes.
"If you're offering, who am I to reject? But…do you think you'll be able to?"
It was Elena's turn to grin.
"Who said I'd come alone?"
Damien's eyes widened.
She didn't mean…
The legendary night he'd been wishing for since the very beginning…
She wasn't really suggesting…
"Pfft…! What kind of reaction is that? Do you want it that bad?"
Damien's joy deflated instantly.
'So it was a joke…'
His hopes and dreams…
His hopes and dreams…!
Well, something like that was a lot harder to bring into reality than expected. He had an easier time learning Universal Law than bringing it up in conversation.
But that was beside the point.
As Damien and Elena stood up, two more auras approached them.
Rose and Ruyue arrived within a minute, and after exchanging greetings, all three women looked at Damien.
He nodded without even hearing their question.
"We've been here long enough. It's time to go back."
The Severed World would remain open and connected to the outside world through the same portal, but since Orion's main body would no longer remain hidden in stasis, its nature would soon change.
Its infinite resources would become finite, and its environment would be given the chance to evolve that it had been denied for so many years.
'Maybe that's what'll lead him to the answers he's been looking for.'
Damien looked up and waved his arm around as if hailing a taxi.
"Hey, you heard it, right? Send us out!"
"Brat, it's fine when it's just us, but give me face in front of outsiders!" Orion's voice responded.
"Haha, what do you mean outsiders? Did you think you'd be able to hide yourself from my wives in the first place?"
"Haa, that's not…never mind. Finish quickly on your side. I am patiently awaiting our fated day of departure."
Damien's eyes hardened.
"Me too. I'll see you then. Don't cause any problems for Iris while you're over there."
"That is not something you need to tell me."
With their goodbyes bid among the girls' confusion, Orion promptly moved his mana.
Spatial waves covered the group.
Unlike the regular feeling of transportation, they felt as if they were going back through the entrance portal.
They felt the chains that shackled them for the past month.
They felt those chains shattering one by one.
But regardless of the freedom they experienced, it was something they were expecting, so their reaction was a bit muted.
However, just how would they react when they found out how long they'd been gone?
Even Damien was clueless about this!
