Read Novel Full Chapter 381: The Second Phase
Chapter 381: The Second Phase
In the City of Gods, the air was thick with the scent of celestial wine and the shimmering resonance of a thousand divine instruments.
A festival was in full swing, the Festival of the First Harvest. It was a celebration not of grain or gold, but of conquest.
The first God vanguard team had returned, marking the successful integration of the first external multiverse into the Sovereign's inner world.
This expansion was a ripple that turned into a tidal wave of opportunity. It wasn't just a victory for the ten Gods who led the charge; it was a frontier for every deity in the pantheon.
Gods of Art, Craft, and Industry found themselves with trillions of new mortal canvases. A God of Harvest or Weather, once limited to the fields of the small subspace universe, now found untold trillions of farmers across the multiverse crying out for their favor.
With every passing day, as these deities answered prayers and stabilized seasons in the newly acquired realms, the flow of faith back to the City of Gods intensified, fueling a cycle of exponential growth.
Yet, away from the roaring crowds and the light shows of the new Gods, the atmosphere in a secluded corner of the celestial gardens was far more somber.
Around a table carved from a single block of the World Tree's branch sat three figures whose mere presence would have brought any mortal in the Inner World to their knees in frantic devotion.
These were the legendary titans of the old era, the champions who had defined their races during the Tournament of Mortals centuries ago.
There was Anaske, the previous King of Humanity; Vel, the leader of the Elven lineages; and Thalorax, the Primal Sovereign of the Dragonborn.
Their statues were the most visited pilgrimage sites in Veridia, yet here they sat with the quiet gravity of old friends, and old rivals.
Thalorax, his draconic eyes slitted and glowing with a low, subterranean heat, broke the long silence. His voice was a deep rumble that vibrated the delicate crystal glassware on the table.
"So, you planned it all, didn't you, Anaske? From the very first proposal to withdraw our presence and leave the mortals to their natural friction, to the inevitable rise of this Cosmic Empire that is currently swallowing the entire subrealm universe?"
Anaske, still as handsome and commanding as the day he ascended, adjusted his regal robes. He looked at the reflection of the festival lights in his wine.
"Yes... and no. Since the day I first stood before our God as a few months old baby, when he looked at my father and told him I was extraordinary.... I knew my life was a bridge. I led humans to greatness, I founded the first empire, I fought the demons until my sword chipped... but I ascended with a singular, gnawing regret."
"The unification," Vel whispered, his sharp elven ears twitching as he caught the weight in Anaske's voice. "You wanted the one thing the situation was unable to provide."
"Exactly," Anaske said, his eyes flashing with a mix of ancient determination and lingering sorrow. "In the beginning, I dreamed of leading the lifeforms of Veridia to conquer everything the stars had to offer, to lay a unified multiverse at the feet of our God as a gift."
"But my dream was shattered by the Sovereign's own efficiency. Before I could even build a fleet, the other Gods were already bowing to him. The worlds were integrated before they could be conquered."
He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial hum. "Because those worlds were under the direct protection of the God Emperor, I couldn't touch them. I couldn't unite them under a single banner without defying Him. When I passed my throne to Anohara, I told him of this dream. I thought I was passing on a ghost... just a story of what might have been."
"Until the day I noticed the stagnation," Vel interjected, his eyes widening as the pieces of the puzzle finally clicked into place. "I brought the report to you, complaining that the lifeforms were becoming soft, that their growth had hit a plateau because they faced no struggle."
"And that gave me the opening I needed," Anaske admitted softly.
"To unleash a beast like Anohara?" Thalorax growled, his Law of Protection flaring instinctively. The air around the table grew heavy with the Dragonborn's indignation. "To let trillions of lifeforms suffer? To let a young man play God with the lives of the innocent just to satisfy your unfulfilled ambition?"
"They are not truly dying, Thalorax," Anaske countered, his voice like steel. "The Sovereign granted them nine lives. The Era of Friction has claimed many, yes, but it has claimed their caution, not their existence. Those who fell have learned the price of weakness."
"And look at the results! Under Anohara's rule, the killing has stopped. The looting has ceased. The growth rate of the Cosmic Empire is already projected to surpass the peak of our own Golden Age within the decade. I didn't create a massacre; I created a crucible."
Thalorax grunted, the logic of the statement forcing him to relent, though the fire in his eyes did not dim. "But why the banner, Anaske? Why must they all bow to your bloodline? Everything is already under the Emperor's hand."
"Because it is my way of showing faith!" Anaske's voice rang with a sudden, fierce devotion. "To give the God Emperor a finished masterpiece rather than a collection of scattered parts."
"My father died due to the intervention of a demon demigod and returned more powerful than a star with the Emperor's help. My bloodline doesn't accept good enough outcomes."
"Anohara is doing what I could not. He is turning the 50 billion worlds of the sub-realm into a singular, sharpened weapon for our God. And this? This Multiverse of Gods is the next journey for him. I suspect he won't stop until every multiverse our God touches is unified under the banner of the Cosmic Empire."
While Anaske spoke with the fire of a visionary, the reality on the ground was far more complex.
The universe of six billion Gods, the sub-realm Sunny had created to house the worlds he rescued from the demonic incursions was currently a closed system.
To Anohara, who had yet to grasp the terrifying scale of the Real Multiverse, these 50 billion worlds were the entirety of existence.
He felt the weight of a sacred duty to unite them, unaware that he was merely a gardener tending to a single flowerbed in a forest that spanned infinities.
He didn't know that beyond the barriers of his universe, billions of other universes, some vast enough to swallow his entire empire were currently sharpening their swords for any upcoming battle.
The transition, however, was reaching its tipping point. Following Esmira's public confession and her submission to the Cosmic Empire, the dominoes began to fall with a rhythmic, thunderous grace.
The current state of the Inner World was a sight to behold; in just a few months, nearly 13 billion worlds accepted the rule of the Cosmic Empire.
Meanwhile, the 3 billion worlds that had abandoned the empire during the slander campaign desperately sought to return.
However, as Anohara had decreed, those who betrayed the empire in its most crucial time would find no way back into the fold.
Thirty billion worlds now marched to the beat of Anohara's drum. The Cosmic Empire severed all trade with the remaining independent worlds because of the limited amount of products and billions of worlds to feed.
This further agitated the other 17 billion worlds to join, yet the memory of the previous slander gave them pause; they decided to wait and observe how the worlds under the Cosmic Empire flourished.
For Anohara, it was a moment of silence, a breath before the next great push. He sat in his study, his All-Seeing King eyes scanning the ley lines of the unified worlds. He felt the shift in the weight of the world; the friction was dying down, replaced by the hum of synchronized industry.
But far above him, in the Real Void, Sunny was watching. The Sovereign knew that the First Phase was nearly complete.
He had plans to open the barriers of the sub-realm soon, connecting Anohara's unified empire to the vast, wild Multiverse of Gods, which contained billions of such universes and quadrillions of civilizations.
"You did well, Anaske," Sunny whispered from the darkness of the void, his voice a ghost in the demigod's ear. "You gave the boy a dream. Now, let's see how he handles the reality."
Anaske froze at the table, his wine glass halfway to his lips. He looked around at the festival, a tear of pure, fanatical joy tracing a path down his handsome face. He turned to Thalorax and Vel, a manic grin spreading across his features.
"He heard us," Anaske whispered, his voice trembling with devotion. "The God Emperor is pleased. The second phase... it's coming. It will begin once the sub-realm is united."