Chapter 1291: My Summons

I looked at the eight figures standing before me and allowed a faint smile to appear on my face. It had been far too long since I had seen them all together, and although I had remained connected to them throughout my three years of isolation, seeing them here again felt different from simply receiving reports through the link.

"Long time no see, everyone."

Knight folded his arms and looked at me with a completely serious expression before saying, "Three years, actually. I was starting to wonder whether you had forgotten you had summons."

I stared at him for a moment before a laugh escaped me. "You waited three years just to make that joke?"

"I had three years to improve it," Knight replied, completely unapologetic. "This is the improved version."

"You need to make more improvements to it then." I chuckled

The others laughed, and I could not help shaking my head. The atmosphere immediately became lighter.

"Come with me," I said, turning toward the distance. "There is something I want to talk about."

Space folded around us, and in the next instant all of us appeared on the peak of a towering mountain.

The surrounding landscape stretched for hundreds of miles, with enormous valleys cutting through the terrain and forests covering the lower slopes. With a casual wave of my hand, the mountain peak flattened beneath us, and thick stone chairs rose from the earth, forming a rough circle.

Lyrate looked around curiously before settling into one of them. "Where are we?"

"An unnamed planet in the eastern sector of the Prime Galaxy," I replied as I sat down. "It isn’t habitable anymore, although it apparently supported life around three thousand years ago."

Lyrate turned her gaze toward the enormous valley below, where the last light of the distant sun painted the landscape in gold. "It is beautiful. Strange that something capable of supporting life could become this empty."

"For now, that emptiness is useful," I said. "No one will bother us here."

Once everyone had settled, I looked around the circle, taking in their familiar faces. "I have to admit, I missed fighting alongside all of you. Three years is a long time to spend alone, even when there is always someone connected to you through the Null Core. Fortunately, we will not have to wait much longer."

Their expressions became serious as I explained what had happened after I returned from the Beast Universe, including my conversation with Amun, Theras’s plan to reach Godhood, the importance of the fourth fragment of the System, and the preparations already underway for the coming war.

When I finished, silence settled over the mountain for several moments.

Ragnar was the first to break it. He leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees, and his eyes burned with excitement rather than fear.

"So the Eternals are preparing for the final battle, and they have an army strong enough to overwhelm entire universes. Fine. They are stronger than us, but that doesn’t mean we have to sit around waiting for them to attack."

He grinned and clenched one fist. "We have enough firepower now to hurt them badly. Give me a battlefield and enough enemies, and I’ll make sure they remember our names."

Aurora gave him an amused glance. "You always reduce everything to punching someone."

"Because it works."

"Sometimes," she replied. "But if we are going to fight a war against the Eternals, I would rather attack their vassal universes first. Those universes are supplying them with Demi-Gods and resources, and destroying those forces would weaken them before the real battle begins."

She looked toward me, her expression becoming more focused. "If you allow me to lead a force of our own, I can take care of several of those universes. We do not need to destroy everything. Cutting off their strongest forces and disrupting their ability to reinforce the Eternal Universe would already accomplish a great deal."

Knight remained quiet for a while before speaking. "I think we should go somewhere none of us have properly seen yet."

Everyone turned toward him.

"The Eternal Universe."

"We know what the Eternals can do, we know they have seven legions, and we know Theras is preparing something enormous, but most of our information still comes from the outside. Instead of attacking immediately, we could infiltrate the Eternal Universe, observe what is happening, and find out exactly what Theras is preparing."

He paused before adding, "If we can enter without being discovered, we might even be able to damage whatever he is building before the final battle begins."

Lyrate had been listening quietly until then. She finally looked at me. "All of those plans are useful, but I think there is something more important."

Her eyes remained fixed on mine.

"You."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You said yourself that Theras is preparing to become a God, and you are still searching for a way to cross that final boundary. If you reach Godhood first, most of these problems disappear before they can become problems."

She glanced toward the others before continuing, "I would rather spend our time helping you find that path than simply fighting battles that might become meaningless if Theras succeeds first. We should gather information, explore the Origin Expanses, investigate the nature of the boundary, and search for anything that might reveal how a Demi-God can establish a true path."

Her words left the group quiet for a moment.

I looked at each of them, and a genuine smile slowly formed on my face. None of their ideas were wrong. In fact, they complemented each other better than I had expected.

"Good," I said. "Because I don’t intend to choose only one of them."

Ragnar’s grin widened. Aurora leaned back in her stone chair, clearly pleased.

"We will do all of it," I continued. "The vassal universes need to be weakened, the Eternal Universe needs to be investigated, their forces need to be reduced, and I need to find a way beyond ninety percent resonance. None of you will be standing on the sidelines while I deal with Theras."

I looked around the group once more.

"The coming war is going to be different from everything we have fought before. We are no longer reacting to the Eternals. This time, we decide where the battle happens, how it begins, and what we want to accomplish."

I leaned back against the stone chair and looked toward the distant horizon.

"Everyone will have a role to play."