Chapter 2460: Phase II [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to TheHonoredOne69 <3]

The Perfect Plane-Wide Notification did not fade cleanly from the Skai Heaven.

Even after the words vanished, their weight remained pressed into every layer of the world, and nowhere was that pressure clearer than within a sealed hall far above the territories ordinary God Clans could ever approach. Seven figures sat around a circular table, four men and three women who represented the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Seven Thryskai God Clans, while an eighth figure occupied a seat slightly removed from the rest. ℯ

Thessa had not spoken since arriving.

She was the same woman Sylas had killed after being thrown into the past, the Myrrakhael whose existence should have ended with that timeline, and the same woman who had recently tried to reach through the Quicktime Event only for Elara Grimblade to tear apart the paths she had prepared.

The other seven, though, had considerably more to say.

"We should have killed him the moment he first stood against us. Not tested him, not maneuvered around him, not relied on Mortal and Demi-God branches to contain him. Killed him no matter the cost."

"And exposed ourselves ahead of schedule? You speak as though there were no reason we tolerated him."

"What reason matters now? We are enemies of the universe. Every existence under the System has effectively been given permission to tear pieces from us."

"Permission isn’t the problem. Incentive is." ⅇ

Their territories hadn’t collapsed and their bloodlines hadn’t suddenly weakened, but the difference was impossible for someone at their level to miss. Connections that had always responded to them had gone dull, old System privileges refused to answer, and the accumulated fortune of their Clans had begun bleeding away in countless small places at once.

The Skai Heaven was abandoning them.

"We cannot return."

Their original world still existed, if existence was a generous enough word for what remained. It had been dying long before the Seven Clans established themselves here, and whatever scraps of life continued clinging to it now couldn’t sustain even one of their God Clans, let alone all seven.

"Then we remain. The System cannot remove us."

"It can certainly make us wish it could."

"Don’t exaggerate. If it possessed enough strength to erase us, it would have done so the moment that announcement finished."

"No one is claiming otherwise. A Demi-God Clan can be erased from history without much trouble. Even a God Clan might be destroyed directly if it shares its Heaven with enough other powers to carry the burden afterward, but seven God Clans controlling the foundation of an entire Heaven are another matter. The System isn’t omnipotent."

A faint ripple passed through the hall as another protection surrounding their territory weakened, almost as though reality itself had chosen that moment to support the point.

"It doesn’t need to be omnipotent. It only needs patience... give it enough time and it can grind us down without ever attacking once."

"And it won’t be alone."

That brought the conversation to the matter none of them wanted to reach.

Information had already started arriving from beyond the Skai Heaven. Old enemies were mobilizing, neutral powers had begun shifting fleets and forces toward their borders, while several organizations that had maintained polite relationships for generations had stopped bothering to disguise their preparations.

The System had labeled them Demons. For many, that was all the justification required.

"The first attacks will be opportunistic. They will test what protections remain, determine how much of the Heaven still answers to us, then the larger powers will move once they know there is no punishment for doing so."

"The Creation Tower will likely be first."

Several gazes hardened.

"What else? The moment they realize the System will no longer protect our claim, every Tower Creator with half a brain will turn their attention here."

The most aggressive of the four men leaned forward, contempt already visible across his face.

"Let them. This world’s Rune Mastery has always been inferior to our own, and without our protection, what will that ant Sylas Grimblade do? The other Tower Creators are probably chomping at the bit already. Let them fight over scraps while we deal with what matters."

They had been holding back in using the secrets of their world being doing so would just expose them. But now what need was there to continue? They could lay all their cards out.

"You still don’t understand what happened."

His expression darkened.

"What exactly am I failing to understand?"

"The Creation Tower isn’t the greatest problem."

The seven had spent an impossible amount of time ensuring that the truth of their existence remained buried beneath layer after layer of identity, history, bloodline and System recognition. Mortal Thryskai, Demi-God Thryskai, God Thryskai—all of it had been made to look natural enough that even those who noticed the inconsistencies found nothing decisive beneath them.

Now one notification had torn through generations of work.

The aggressive man’s gaze shifted toward Thessa for the first time.

"Our veil would still be intact if not for—"

His voice vanished.

His throat worked once, then again, but no sound escaped it as his face slowly changed. A Will had closed around his neck with such casual force that every instinct in his body warned him against testing it.

Only then did Thessa look up.

Her expression carried none of the fury she had shown when Elara ruined her plans. That might have been easier for the seven to deal with. What remained now was a cold irritation that made the room feel several degrees smaller.

"I’m in a very bad mood, and I don’t have the patience to deal with nonsense right now."

The pressure around the man’s throat disappeared, though he didn’t speak again.

Thessa looked across the seven.

"It’s time to enter Phase II."

None of them questioned her immediately, and that suited her perfectly.

What they didn’t know was that Phase II could have begun long ago.

There had never been any strategic reason to delay it this far, no missing resource they still needed to gather and no final preparation the Seven Clans had failed to complete. Thessa had simply wanted something first.

Sylas Grimblade.

Not his death alone. That had stopped being enough a long time ago. She wanted him cornered, stripped of every advantage he believed belonged to him, forced to understand exactly who had destroyed him before the end finally came.

There was no reason left to delay Phase II for a revenge she had already failed to take. She had to know when to cut her losses or else this matter would only grow worse.

Thessa refused to let the seven know that.

That lingering Karmic attachment was irritating enough without allowing others to know of it. The more powerful you were, the more cautious you had to be with allowing others to grasp your weakness.

Worse yet, she could still feel that irritation buried deep inside her, scratching against the final veil she had failed to pierce, the one obstruction that should have vanished long ago if Sylas Grimblade had simply died when he was supposed to...

The final step to cross the limitations of her current strength.

Her fingers trembled slightly before she forced them to calm.

If he managed to ruin this as well, then so be it.

She would let the Angels descend and destroy every last one of them.

If not for her actions back then, even the system wouldn’t have been able to see through their disguise. These fools had no idea how much she and her blood had already sacrificed just so they could continue breathing.