Chapter 104: Concealment

The large-framed Beastman suddenly shot up from his seat, his chair scraping against the ground as his anger erupted.

"You!!!..." the Beastman growled, glaring directly at the individual infront.

Before he could take another step, the green-skinned figure stood in front of him. His expression remained calm as he looked toward the Beastman.

"Do not question the Entity directly, you fool."

Liam slowly raised his hand, and an overwhelming sense of authority immediately filled the room. The atmosphere became so heavy that everyone instinctively stopped moving.

"That is enough... Odir, Valadin."

His gaze moved between the two of them.

"His concerns are valid, and as Pantheons, all of you deserve to know the truth."

Liam slowly swayed his hand, and the entire room suddenly became dark. Countless white specks began appearing around them, illuminating the darkness like tiny lights.

They were stars.

"Up above, the stars are not merely objects in the sky that give us a shimmer of light. Within them, civilizations and other individuals exist, each with their own lives, ambitions, and sense of belonging."

He looked toward the countless lights.

"I call them... the Others."

Everyone stared upward, and their expressions slowly changed.

"Those... objects..." Rize muttered. "There are thousands of them. I can’t even count them all."

"Exactly." Liam’s voice remained calm.

"We may never know whether they are friendly or hostile toward us. One of them invaded our world before, and that is what they are capable of."

"A foreign civilization..." Akuma muttered.

"So we must prepare again," he said.

Akira looked toward the countless stars. "But what if all of them invaded us?"

Liam turned toward her. "Do not be afraid."

His eyes sharpened. "We have learned from our mistakes, and we shall become strong again. To the point that even if all of them came against us at once, they would be nothing more than insignificant obstacles."

He swayed his hand again, and the darkness disappeared, returning the council chamber to normal.

"Now..."

"Our duty is to create and guide our civilizations without bias. We will maintain neutrality and balance as they develop, allowing them to improve and progress on their own."

"That is the role of the Pantheons."

Liam remained silent for a moment.

I still don’t have enough powerful skills to individually grant them anything meaningful. I may need to spend some time acquiring more skills and understanding what I can do.

He looked around the council.

In this timeline, I will completely erase my existence from their history and allow the Pantheons to take command.

"We will proceed as follows."

"Each one of you will guide the creations below. They may worship you, and you may grant them your blessings, but your responsibility is to help them grow."

"You will make them powerful, loyal, and capable of building civilizations that can survive without depending entirely upon you. Once they reach a certain milestone, we will ascend them and transform them into another form of Pantheon."

Liam paused. "We will call them... Deities."

The old Pantheons exchanged glances, clearly surprised by the concept.

"As the original Pantheons may already understand, this is something entirely new."

Liam raised his hand once again.

Suddenly, the entire surrounding area began to tremble.

The floor beneath them started rising into the air, catching the newly summoned individuals completely off guard. Liam remained perfectly still as the entire council chamber ascended higher and higher.

Then he moved his hand again.

Everything suddenly shook. Liam stood from his throne, and without even realizing it, the other Pantheons followed him to their feet. When they looked beyond the edge of the floating land, their expressions immediately changed.

Clouds stretched beneath them.

The entire surrounding land had been lifted high into the sky.

Below them stood hundreds of thousands of beautiful structures constructed from white limestone, stretching across enormous vast lands.

"This..." Liam looked toward the magnificent city below.

"This will be Heaven."

He pointed toward the vast civilization beneath them.

"Those who worshipped truthfully will be reborn here, where they may live eternally in peace."

Another wave of his hand swept across the horizon.

The distant land began changing shape, rising into enormous mountains with a vast open field stretching across their peaks.

"These are the Lands of Warriors."

"Those who died as warriors will be reborn here, where they can continue to fight, train, and live according to the nature they chose in life."

Liam raised his hand once more.

A massive crack suddenly appeared across the ground. A thin, glass-like layer formed over the opening, allowing everyone to see what existed beneath it.

Endless rivers of molten rock flowed through the depths below.

"And those who go against their nature... will be sent there."

The council fell silent.

Some stared at the newly created realms with amusement, while others remained completely dumbfounded by what they had just witnessed.

"There are no words to describe this... It is as if everything is a joke, mere dust in front of this power," Rize said, staring at the overwhelming sight before him.

The vast white expanse stretched endlessly around them, with floating lands and magnificent structures suspended beneath a boundless sky. The sheer scale of the realm made every person present feel insignificant, as if their greatest achievements were nothing before the power that shaped it.

Liam floated above them, his figure surrounded by a faint divine glow as his gaze swept across the gathered figures. "We shall assign everyone to their respective roles."

"Twelve of you will become the righteous, and twelve of you will become the opposite."

"The righteous will protect those they believe are worthy, while the opposites will challenge them, destroy what they consider corrupt, and force them to question what they believe is right."

Liam paused, looking across the council. "You may ask why I would create such a system. The answer is simple. A world protected from every hardship will eventually become incapable of protecting itself."

"Good intentions can become weakness. Order can become oppression. Peace can become stagnation, while destruction can sometimes make room for something better."

His eyes moved across the gathered gods. "You are not here to represent absolute good or absolute evil. You are here to create conflict, consequences, and choices. Sacrifices will happen, civilizations will fall, and some lives will be lost."

"But if we are to survive the threat that awaits us, then this world must become strong enough to survive without me."