Chapter 2508: A Short Fuse

The attendant left without another word, leaving Alex standing at the entrance of the Hollow Ship with a far more complicated expression than the one he’d arrived with.

War with the Skai Heaven.

It wasn’t something he’d never considered. However, with how little he knew about what the various Heavens were up to, he hadn’t expected things to move this fast.

3 years ago, the System had practically dropped a bomb on the entire Real World. It had exposed the Thryskai as Demonic frauds and officially recognized the Grimblades as the sole hegemon of the Skai Heaven.

That announcement had been enormous, especially considering how long the Thryskai had held their place as one of the most powerful Clans in existence.

Of course, being recognized as a hegemon and actually having the strength to hold that position were two very different things.

Under normal circumstances, the other Heavens would probably have swooped in on the Grimblades before they could consolidate their authority. They would have carved up the Skai Heaven among themselves, and dealt with whatever was left of the Thryskai along the way.

Unfortunately for them, Sylas Grimblade existed.

His rampage through the Creation Tower had forced every power out there to rethink just how easily they could deal with him. On top of that, the Thryskai were somehow still standing despite being exposed, which made the situation even messier.

The other Heavens couldn’t just ignore a Clan that had held its position for so long, especially not when its foundations were tied to the Demon World in ways most of them had never imagined possible.

As a result, the Real World had settled into a kind of lull over the last 3 years. Every power seemed content to watch the others instead of making any decisive moves.

But, Alex knew better than to think a lull like that would last forever.

Judging by what the attendant had just let slip, things had kept moving beneath the surface while he was busy with his own preparations. The Nethum were already readying their younger generation for war. If the Clan’s ancestors thought the conflict was inevitable, then there was probably a lot more going on than Alex knew about.

He rubbed his chin. Did this have anything to do with Sylas’ most recent accomplishments? Or had the Nethum started preparing long before that?

Unfortunately, there was no way to know for sure.

"An hour?"

Alex looked up, pulling his attention away from the enormous planet looming beyond the harbor, and turned to Fanelei.

Then, he grinned.

"What do you think the odds are that this is another test?"

Fanelei looked at him without answering. Judging by her expression, she was already tired of his nonsense, and she’d been with him for less than 10 minutes.

Alex didn’t seem bothered by her lack of enthusiasm. He turned his attention to the harbor around them instead.

The platform they had landed on was only a small part of an enormous moon orbiting Planet Nethum. From what Alex could see, several other moons served the same purpose.

Each one had enough space to hold countless ships, with docking platforms stretched across their surfaces and transportation formations connecting them to the enormous planet below.

It was a rather ridiculous display of wealth. Then again, the Nethum controlled an entire Heaven, so Alex wasn’t exactly surprised.

What interested him more was how many ships were still waiting.

He could count at least 50 from where he stood, without even spreading his Will or using the Hollow Ship’s instruments.

Several were quite impressive, though none came close to the size of his own. Judging by the different Races gathered around them, a lot of them belonged to other returning descendants.

That by itself wasn’t strange. What was strange was that nobody seemed to be leaving.

Alex had been standing here for almost three minutes. In that time, he hadn’t seen a single attendant come back to escort anyone to their accommodations, and none of the waiting groups had left through the transportation formations scattered around the harbor.

Statistically speaking, that was rather unlikely.

There was no reason to think all 50 ships had arrived at the same time. Even if their accommodations needed some preparation, the Nethum had more than enough resources to handle something that trivial without making everyone stand around.

So, why was nobody moving?

Alex looked in the direction the attendant had disappeared, and his grin slowly widened.

The Clan’s assessment had apparently changed for this generation, and the ancestors were already trying to temper their descendants against talents from the other Heavens.

If that was the case, was it really so unreasonable to think the assessment had started the moment they arrived?

Maybe the one-hour wait was just a way of watching how the returning descendants reacted to an unexpected restriction.

The ones who obediently stayed aboard their ships might be judged differently from the ones who went poking around. And considering the Nethum’s peculiar philosophy, there was no telling which response they actually wanted.

Of course, there was another possibility. Maybe the accommodations just didn’t exist, and the Clan expected them to figure that out on their own.

Either way, Alex had no intention of spending a whole hour standing around when he could be doing something more interesting.

"Miss Fanelei, we might get into some real trouble now. Want to have some fun?"

"Don’t say words that might be misconstrued by others."

Alex coughed. "Yes, ma’am."

He gave her a crisp salute, then planted one foot on the Hollow Ship’s railing and jumped off.

Fanelei watched him for a moment before stepping forward. Her figure fluttered through the air as she followed him down to the harbor.

Alex landed on the polished surface of the docking platform and took a moment to examine the enormous network of Runes beneath his feet.

The craftsmanship was impressive. He didn’t have Sylas’ level of comprehension, but he could already pick out several mechanisms built to track the movements of everyone who passed through the area.

Interesting.

The Nethum weren’t just relying on their attendants to keep tabs on the returning descendants. The entire harbor was a surveillance formation. Given how detailed its construction was, Alex suspected someone was already watching every single thing he did.

He wondered how far he could push before he got a response.

"Return to your vessel."

A cold voice boomed across the harbor, coming from a small outpost overlooking the docking platforms.

Alex looked over and found several figures standing behind a translucent barrier. Their expressions were indifferent. However, the fluctuations gathering around the outpost made it clear they weren’t happy with his decision to leave the Hollow Ship.

Well, that hadn’t taken long.

"All returning descendants must remain aboard their vessels until their accommodations have been prepared. Any further violation of these instructions will result in—"

Fanelei raised a finger.

An enormous beam of concentrated Aether erupted from its tip and crossed the distance to the outpost before the speaker could even finish.

BOOM!

The translucent barrier shattered, and the beam kept going straight through the structure without losing the slightest bit of momentum.

A massive crack opened up across the center of the outpost, running from its foundation to its roof, and then the entire building split apart.

The explosion sent a violent shockwave rolling across the surrounding platforms. Several nearby ships had to activate their defensive formations as debris scattered through the air.

Alex stared at the destruction. His eye twitched.

Well, shit.

It seemed Fanelei hadn’t been joking when she warned him about her temper.

He had meant to provoke a reaction. Maybe argue with a few guards, or push an advisor into revealing what kind of assessment was going on. But his companion had decided the most efficient way to deal with a warning was to blow up whoever gave it.

Alex rubbed his forehead. Though, that wasn’t what bothered him most.

Fanelei being willing to attack was one thing. Considering her relationship with Sylas, Alex probably should have seen that coming.

The real problem was something much harder to explain.

He had thought Fanelei was a Legend from the Mortal Plane. Someone whose strength had grown through extraordinary circumstances, sure, but who should still have certain limits.

Yet, the attack she’d just thrown out hadn’t met the slightest resistance from the laws of the God Plane.

If anything, the Aether around her had answered her Will so smoothly that it was as though she belonged here. The defensive formation of a Nethum outpost had collapsed in front of her without even slowing her down.

Alex’s gaze moved to Fanelei. She was looking at the destroyed building with the same indifferent expression she’d worn since leaving Sylas’ chambers.

His lip twitched. Had she always been this strong? Why the hell did it feel like she was completely at home in the God Plane?