Chapter 2381: Arrival

The news reached the Efivara at almost the worst possible time imaginable... just minutes after word had spread that Kessryn had finally located their Goddess. The entire Race had been holding its breath for so long that the report had sent a wave of relief through even their highest ranks, yet before that feeling could settle, a second message arrived and crushed it.

Kessryn was dead, his Will had vanished so completely that there was no possibility of mistake, and the great hall that had only moments earlier been filled with restrained celebration fell into complete silence.

At the highest point of the hall sat the two remaining pillars of the Efivara Race, both S-tiers and both staring at the same fading remnant of Will suspended between them.

The woman was named Serythra, tall and slender beneath layered crimson robes, with narrow serpent-like eyes that expanded whenever her emotions stirred, while the man beside her was known as Kethros and carried dark scale-like patterns across his throat and jaw.

Neither moved for several breaths, though the pressure leaking from them gradually made the hundreds of Efivara gathered below lower their heads even further.

"We had three," Serythra finally spoke, her voice carrying clearly through the hall despite never rising above a conversational tone. "Now there are only two of us left, and Kessryn disappeared almost immediately after locating the Goddess."

Kethros’ expression remained cold as he studied the remnant before them. "There is more to it than that. Compare this Will to what remained after the destruction of the subordinate Clan."

Serythra had already begun doing exactly that, and her eyes narrowed further the deeper she looked. The two traces weren’t identical, not enough that she would have called them the work of the same person, yet they carried a relationship that was too clear to dismiss, almost as though two different branches had grown from the same root.

Kethros reached the same conclusion at nearly the same moment, and when their gazes met, neither needed to explain what the other had found.

"The Grimblades," they spoke almost together.

The name settled heavily over the hall as both S-tiers began reviewing everything that had happened over the last several weeks.

This was no longer a matter of a troublesome Clan interfering with isolated plans, as three S-tiers had now died through events directly connected to the Grimblades in an absurdly short period of time.

Even among powerful Demi-God Plane forces, losing one existence of that caliber could change the direction of an entire Race, yet the Grimblades were somehow leaving them behind like cabages along a roadside.

Kethros leaned back slightly as his thoughts moved through the implications. "Three S-tiers in weeks, and every time we investigate them, the situation becomes stranger. Just how powerful is this Clan?"

Serythra didn’t answer him, not from lack of thought, but from a complete absence of any conclusion she trusted. She truly didn’t know what to say.

Their information about the Grimblades suggested one thing while the consequences surrounding them suggested something entirely different, and the growing gap between those two realities was beginning to make it feel like they had never understood the Clan at all.

Even so... understanding them and allowing this insult to stand were two separate matters.

"We can’t ignore Kessryn’s death," Serythra finally said, her fingers tightening slightly against the armrest beneath her. "Whatever else the Grimblades are hiding, if we allow an S-tier death to pass without action, every Clan beneath us will understand exactly what that means."

Kethros gave a slow nod, already considering which forces could be moved without weakening the rest of their position. Neither of them liked the idea of acting with so many unanswered questions, yet the Efivara had already suffered too much to simply remain seated while another pillar of their Race was erased.

Before either could settle on a decision, however, a voice echoed through the hall without warning.

The two S-tiers stood immediately.

Every Efivara below them pressed even lower, but Serythra and Kethros reacted for an entirely different reason. Neither needed an introduction to recognize who had spoken. This was the same voice that had once reached Gentrixaul, the same one that had spoken to Rhykan, though unlike many who heard it, the Efivara knew exactly where it came from and what sort of existence stood behind it.

Their anger disappeared beneath immediate respect.

They didn’t even get the opportunity to present what had happened or ask what action they should take, since the voice had clearly never appeared to hear their opinion in the first place.

"It’s time."

Serythra and Kethros looked toward one another, and every plan they had been considering vanished at once.

**

The Skai Heaven was shaking by the time the Hollow Ship approached it.

Sylas stood near the front of the vessel and watched the distant darkness ripple, his eyes following changes in Will that he wouldn’t have been capable of seeing so clearly even a short while ago. He had made countless deductions about this day over the course of his journey, some reasonable and some built upon fragments of information that had later proved incomplete, and after everything he had learned since then, most of those old conclusions had become irrelevant.

Only one of those conclusions had managed to stay until today. There was unquestionably a strong connection between the Beast Emperor Sanctum and the relationship between the Skai and Beast Heavens, and at this point Sylas couldn’t accept coincidence as an explanation.

The Beast Emperor Sanctum had always carried too many abnormalities around it, while the current Heaven Clash had exposed enough hidden structures that the old mysteries surrounding it were beginning to fit into a much larger picture.

Whatever was happening now had clearly been prepared long before Sylas arrived here, and Rhykan’s actions had only accelerated something that had already been waiting to happen.

The Hollow Ship continued forward at full speed until Sylas felt the surrounding void shift, and only then did he raise a hand and bring the vessel to a gradual stop.

Vaelith, Nosphaleen, and Yamero all looked toward the same region ahead of them as the darkness began to distort, with broad waves of Will spreading outward in every direction as though something enormous was forcing itself into a space that had never been meant to contain it.

An illusory mountain range slowly appeared within the void.

At first, only faint outlines could be seen, but every pulse made them clearer, revealing peaks that stretched farther than ordinary sight could follow and valleys drowned beneath layers of hazy light. The entire range existed without a world beneath it, suspended in the emptiness between spaces while its presence grew stronger with every passing second.

Sylas watched the mountains pulse again, and this time the wave of Will struck the Hollow Ship hard enough to make its formations tremble.

The Beast Emperor Sanctum was announcing its arrival.