Chapter 1204: The War Begins

    The final two weeks passed with little fanfare. On the final day before the invasion, I sent Lifre a message, letting her know to stop her livestream for the time being. I couldn’t afford to have one of my top combatants absent for this battle, especially after she had been preparing herself for it. I was quite curious to see the results of her experiment with the streams over these last two years.

    With the clock ticking down, I had Dana deploy avatars into the void, together with one of the Lena’s, while the other stayed with me in Olympus. She was ready to transform into Pierce at a moment’s notice, as soon as I gave her the order.

    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the timer finished counting down. Immediately, I sent out messages to all of the units I had stationed in the void, and around each major world, informing them that the battle had begun. “Dana, do you have Terra’s enhancement spell ready?” I asked, and Dana hesitated, her eyes wide. “Dana?”

    “Boss, we’ve got an issue.” She said, her voice shaking slightly. “My avatar has eyes on enemy universes. Three clusters just appeared in the void, each belonging to distinctly different factions.”

    “How can you be sure?” I asked, clenching my fists as I listened to her.

    “Their appearances. One cluster has what looks like a giant tree planted in the void, the various universes within it suspended within its branches. That should be a type of void defense. The second has five universes connected in a diamond formation, all held within one giant machine. The last is more scattered, but each universe has creatures that look like eyes orbiting them.”

    My eyes widened as I listened to her explanation. Definitely, it sounded like these would belong to different powers. However, the bigger problem was that three such groups appeared within the void. If I was lucky, those would be all of the enemies that I would be facing. However, I couldn’t discount the possibility that another group would appear, as well.

    “Sir Keeper.” Hermes spoke up, causing me to sharply look upwards as he reported. “Sun has sent a report. A fight has broken out in the capital of Spica with an unfamiliar force, which seems to be wielding some form of shadow magic. Due to the time difference, they are requesting immediate assistance.”

    “Dana!” I shouted, and she nodded her head, splitting off an avatar that immediately disappeared into the shadows. Given the difference in time, several minutes would have already passed just as Hermes was passing the message. I couldn’t afford to wait to explain tactics, and just had to immediately send her.

    “What do you want me to do about the three groups in the void, sir?” Dana asked with furrowed brows.

    I shook my head reluctantly. “Keep an eye on them for now. We can’t afford to provoke a big battle with them when we don’t yet know their attitudes towards one another. If they are competing, they might let us take out their enemies, but they could also be allies.”

    If it were only one group, I would be happy to let Dana go wild and destroy their universes. However, three groups could easily push her back if they worked together. Especially if they had their own Origins. “While your avatar is fighting, get Terra powered up. We’ll need the power of Fate to help track down any other stragglers, and investigate what we can.”

    I nodded my head at that. That wasn’t to say that the enemy didn’t also possess an Origin of Plants, just that they weren’t the ones responsible for the giant tree. I waited for a few moments while Dana finished casting the spell, the Origin of Fate quickly swallowing the resulting bead to temporarily gain her full power. We’ll probably need this more than once, since one day won’t be enough to win this battle.

    Terra opened her black eyes, looking up at me. She didn’t need me to tell her what to do, and simply focused. “I can sense the existence of the enemy.” She spoke in a firm tone, not speaking in her usual riddles. “However... there is something blocking my perception. I’m sorry, but I can’t give you much now, except the fact that there are five powers that we have to face this time, not just four.”

    “Five?” I widened my eyes, understanding that this meant that another group had silently appeared somewhere. “Do you know where the final group is? Any information could help.”

    Terra nodded her head briefly, focusing. After a moment, she flinched, bringing a hand up to her head. “I sense an unfamiliar Origin within Fyor. When I tried to peer at it through Fate, it lashed back at me.”

    It struck back at the Origin of Fate for observing it? Is it another Origin of Fate, or just another type of clairvoyant? I wondered to myself, gritting my teeth. And it’s in Fyor of all places.

    Within the darkness of space, a lone figure stood, his hands clasped behind his back. I see. The other four guilds chosen were World Tree, Fierce Night, Five Nations, and Thousand Eyes? This competition will be rather hectic. The figure clicked his tongue as he thought to himself, looking at the distant star. It seemed as though a massive staff made of crystallized mana had wrapped around the star, piercing through the planet orbiting it. And what sort of world is this?

    Curiously, the figure stepped through space, arriving at the base of the staff that had been stuck into the planet. With a smile, he walked up, placing his hand on the massive wall of crystal. He had already foreseen the purpose of this object and its security, using his own powers to interfere with it.

    Soon, a hole opened in the wall before him, allowing him to enter. Once inside, he looked at the display, written in a foreign tongue, and seemed to draw random patterns on its surface. “So, there is a point-based reward system?” He muttered aloud to himself, his power fluctuating again. The indicator for his score immediately shot up, and his hand moved again. “The language package should be done like... this.”

    A moment later, he could perfectly understand the various characters flashing across the screen. “Excellent. It seems that their Master of Fate is ill-fit to match against me, so I can take my time exploring these worlds.”

    With another movement of his hands, he activated the teleportation feature of the spire, sending himself to another planet. “I’ll need to find somewhere nice and quiet to activate the Hermit System.” He said, stepping out onto a vast swamp, the sky above seeming to go on forever, though he could distinctly sense the ceiling high above his head.

    We have at least two confirmed Origins among the enemy powers. I thought, my hands coming up to my head and holding my forehead. In the worst case scenario, there is at least one with every faction. Hopefully, that’s not the case.

    None of our Origins had truly fought another Origin before, so I was not sure what to expect from this. Given the scale of the enemies... I had to be prepared to lose quite a lot with this battle. This was not just a casual match like what happened last time, but a true deathmatch. And this time, I had a lot more on the line to lose.