Chapter 513: Council’s True Purpose
Chapter 513: Council’s True Purpose
Nerrisa’s smile did not falter beneath their teasing gazes. If anything, the amusement within her platinum eyes only deepened as she calmly nodded her head, showing not even the smallest trace of embarrassment or wounded pride.
"It was certainly an interesting situation," she admitted lightly, her voice carrying the same relaxed confidence as before,
"but it was nothing I could not handle." She paused for a brief moment, slowly looking around the ancient table at all those eager faces that had been waiting for a chance to mock her. Then the curve of her lips widened just a little more. "As a matter of fact... I have even brought a gift for each of you."
Before any of the World Regents could understand what she meant, Nerrisa casually raised one hand and snapped her fingers. The sharp sound echoed once through the Sovereign Hall, and immediately afterward, small platinum-colored portals opened above the table.
One appeared directly before every seated Regent, fourteen in total, their surfaces flowing like circles of liquid light while faint spatial waves spread around them. For only an instant, the portals illuminated the faces of everyone around the table with a pale platinum glow. Then that light dispersed, the portals silently closed, and something heavy dropped onto the mysterious surface of the World Table before each of them.
Fourteen severed heads now rested upon the table. Every one of them belonged to a different creature. Some were covered in scales, some in hardened bone, some in dark feathers or strange metallic flesh, while others possessed shapes so unnatural that it was difficult to imagine what the complete monsters had looked like while alive.Yet despite their differences, all fourteen heads carried one thing in common: an extremely dense and terrifying presence that remained even after death.
The entire Sovereign Hall went silent.
The faint amusement that had filled the Regents’ eyes only moments ago disappeared completely. One after another, they lowered their gazes toward the heads placed in front of them, their lips pressing into thin lines as seriousness settled across their faces. No one laughed now. No one offered another teasing remark.
Razeal looked toward the head that had appeared before his own shadow throne. Even while severed, it was almost the size of his torso. Its entire surface was black, covered in a thick dark exoskeleton from which sharp, jagged corners rose at uneven angles. Layers of armored plating wrapped around what should have been its face, giving it the appearance of something created for war rather than born naturally.
It possessed no mouth. No nose. No ears. In fact, its entire face consisted only of eyes. Nearly twenty dark, glass-like eyes were spread across the front of its head, some large and some small, each facing in a slightly different direction as though the creature had once been capable of watching everything around it at the same time. Even though it was dead, those eyes still reflected Razeal’s image back toward him from countless angles. He stared at the grotesque head in silence, his expression calm, though a faint feeling of disgust moved through him.
He had no idea what kind of monster it was, what it had been called, or what strange abilities it might have possessed. But one thing he knew with absolute certainty was that he wouldnt want to meet such an abomination while it was still alive.
Yet its appearance alone was not what had caused the hall to fall into such a deep silence. It was the presence radiating from it. Even after being beheaded, the creature’s flesh continued releasing a frightening amount of energy, so dense and poisonous that the air surrounding it seemed to twist faintly.
A deadly feeling clung to the head, making it clear that this had not been some ordinary monster. Razeal did not need to ask Villey, nor did he need to spend time carefully studying it. One glance was enough for him to understand. This was the head of an Emperor-rank monster. And the many-eyed creature before him was not the only one.
Every severed head resting upon the World Table carried the same terrifying level of power. Fourteen different Emperor-rank monsters had been killed, beheaded, and placed before them as though they were nothing more than trophies brought back from a hunt.
That was the true reason the atmosphere within the Sovereign Hall had changed so suddenly.
Even the expression of the woman who had teased Nerrisa only moments ago fell completely. Seated upon her pure white throne, Sylvara the Queen of Beasts, the White Phoenix looked down at the enormous bird-like head placed before her.
Its beak was cracked, its dead feathers still carried a dark metallic glow, and traces of Emperor-rank power continued pulsing beneath its severed flesh. As the ruler of countless beast races, she understood better than most exactly what kind of destruction a creature of this level could cause. Her phoenix-like white eyes narrowed, all amusement disappearing from them as she carefully examined the head.
"I believe all of you should be thankful that this irregular event happened around my Empire," Nerrisa suddenly said, her lips curling upward once again as a quiet chuckle escaped her. Her voice reached every corner of the hall, easily breaking apart all the humorous thoughts and petty satisfaction the Regents had possessed only moments earlier. No one answered her. There was nothing they could say.
They simply remained silent, each one trapped within their own calculations as they stared at the proof sitting directly before them. Nerrisa was right. If fourteen Emperor-rank monsters had appeared together within almost any other territory, the result would have been impossible to control. A single monster at that level was already destructive enough to force an entire continent into an emergency. It could erase cities, break armies, and force even the strongest rulers to personally act.
But fourteen of them appearing at the same time was no longer a simple disaster. It was annihilation. Most territories would not have possessed enough power to contain even half of them, much less prevent them from scattering in different directions and destroying everything in their path. Had this event occurred around any of their own lands, there was no certainty that their kingdoms, people, or even they themselves would still be sitting here so calmly.
Against fourteen Emperor-rank monsters appearing without warning...
There would have been no simple way to escape.
Emperor-rank monsters were not ordinary in the slightest afterall.
In fact, it could almost be said that none currently remained freely roaming anywhere in the world, because every known creature that had ever reached such a level had already been hunted down and dealt with by the combined efforts of the World Regents. There was no other choice.
A monster of that rank was simply too destructive to be allowed to exist without control. If left alone, it could wipe out almost everything within hours, and turn enormous lands into lifeless ruins before anyone powerful enough could arrive to stop it.
That was why, whenever even the faintest signs of an Emperor-rank monster appeared, the World Regents personally moved as quickly as possible and eliminated it before the damage could spread. Even with thousands of portals opening throughout the world every single day, gates powerful enough to allow creatures of such a level to pass through were still incredibly rare.
Out of those countless portals, perhaps only one or two of that rank might appear after a very long period of time, and the moment one was discovered, it would immediately become the highest priority for every force nearby.
Yet now, fourteen Emperor-rank monster heads were lying upon the World Table at the same time. Something like this had never happened before. Most of the Regents had already guessed that the portals appearing around Nerrisa’s Empire were unusually powerful, but none of them had expected them to be this powerful.
They had imagined Saint-rank monsters, perhaps several Great Saints, or even something slightly beyond that if the situation had truly become serious. But Emperor-rank creatures? And not merely one, but fourteen of them? That was far beyond anything any of them had considered.
Even Razeal’s eyes narrowed as he fell into deep thought. Until this moment, he had clearly underestimated just how much power it had taken to hold the entire Empire’s attention and prevent its strongest forces from interfering elsewhere.
He had known Riven had created trouble for them. He had known the sudden appearance of portals had been serious enough to keep the Empire occupied. But he had never imagined it had reached this level. Fourteen Emperor-rank monsters were not a distraction in the ordinary sense. That was a disaster capable of threatening the entire world.
Only now did Razeal truly understand how frighteningly large Riven’s move had been. To completely occupy the strongest Empire in existence had not been simple at all. It had taken far more than Razeal had ever guessed.
Scary bastard, he thought silently, remembering Riven’s smiling face from the moment he had extended the power of the Dimension Eye toward him. That relaxed smile now seemed far more dangerous than before. Razeal had already believed the Dimension Eye was extremely powerful, yet it seemed he had still underestimated it.
If Riven could use it to influence portals on this scale, gathering so many Emperor-rank monsters in one region and directing them toward a single Empire, then the true limits of that eye were far beyond anything Razeal currently understood. His gaze slowly deepened as he continued looking at the severed head before him, countless possibilities silently moving through his mind.
"Have you discovered the reason behind this irregularity?" Sylvara finally asked. She slowly lifted her gaze from the bird-like head resting before her and looked directly toward Nerrisa. Her voice had become slightly hoarse and extremely serious, all traces of her earlier amusement completely gone.
The moment she asked, every World Regent turned toward the Empress as well. The situation had become so serious that none of them even cared about the fact that Nerrisa had apparently killed fourteen Emperor-rank monsters on her own, and perhaps even more than those displayed here. Under different circumstances, placing so many severed heads before the Council might have looked like an arrogant display of strength, as though Nerrisa were trying to impress or intimidate them.
But none of them were foolish or prideful enough to misunderstand her purpose now. She had not brought the heads here to boast. She had brought them because no explanation made through words alone could have shown the true seriousness of what had happened. One look at those fourteen heads had destroyed every trace of teasing and light amusement inside the hall far more effectively than any long report could have done.
The earlier relaxed atmosphere had completely disappeared. What remained was tense, heavy seriousness. Every Regent wanted the same answer now. Why had something like this happened so suddenly when nothing similar had ever occurred before? What could possibly cause so many high-level gates to appear together, and why had all of them opened specifically around Nerrisa’s Empire only?
They needed to discover the cause as quickly as possible, whether it meant stopping someone responsible, forming a joint plan, or preparing for some deeper change taking place within the world itself.
Perhaps the laws governing portals had changed? Perhaps a hidden force had discovered a way to control them? Whatever the truth was, this matter no longer concerned only one Empire. If the same thing could happen elsewhere, then every continent, kingdom, and race was now at risk. The possibility alone was enough to make the situation unbearably serious.
"I found no specific or solid reason behind such a focused attack," Nerrisa answered at last, slowly shaking her head. Her voice remained calm, but deep within her platinum eyes there was a trace of frustration that she could not completely hide.
She had clearly investigated the matter already and disliked having no clear answer to offer.
Sylvara remained silent for a few seconds, her white phoenix-like eyes narrowing as she considered everything before speaking again "But it was far too focused," she said, her voice gentle yet majestic.
"What is the probability of so many gates suddenly appearing together, especially when nearly all of them opened only around your Empire?" She paused, hesitation briefly passing across her face, not because she doubted her own reasoning, but because of the seriousness of the conclusion she was about to voice.
"It is more than suspicious now.. no.. it is almost certain." Her expression grew heavier. "Until now, we believed gates were completely natural phenomena, something that appeared beyond anyone’s control."
Another short silence followed before she continued, each word spoken with great care.
"But that belief now seems to be wrong. There must be some method of controlling them, guiding them, or forcing them to appear in chosen locations. What happened around your Empire was no way natural at all."
The moment Sylvara finished, several World Regents slowly nodded. Some had perhaps not reached that conclusion before entering the hall, but after seeing fourteen Emperor-rank heads placed before them, there was no longer much room for doubt.
A single high-level gate might have been chance. Two could still be called terrible luck. But fourteen Emperor-rank monsters appearing in one concentrated region could not be dismissed as coincidence. Whatever force stood behind it, whether person, creature, artifact, or something far older, one fact had now become clear to everyone seated around the table.
The gates could be controlled.
"Any guesses, Empress?" Aurelion suddenly asked from his Spirit Throne. He was leaning back with both arms crossed over his chest, yet the relaxed posture did nothing to soften the sharpness of his pale blue eyes as they pierced directly toward Nerrisa.
His question was simple and straightforward, carrying none of the careful politeness or unnecessary decoration others might have used, and the moment it left his mouth, every gaze around the World Table shifted toward the Empress. Nerrisa did not answer immediately.
For several seconds, she remained silent upon her platinum throne, her fingers resting lightly against its armrest while her eyes became slightly distant, as though she were recalling the exact feeling she had sensed while searching for the cause of the portals. The silence stretched just long enough for the tension in the hall to deepen before she finally spoke.
"While trying to discover the reason behind those portals, I sensed the presence of a Supreme God," she said calmly. Her words were quiet, but they fell into the Sovereign Hall with a weight far greater than any shout.
"Its presence was resonating throughout the entire affected region. It was extremely faint and fragile, almost too small to notice, but I am certain of what I sensed." Her platinum eyes slowly moved across the faces gathered around the table. "It was a Supreme God."
"A Supreme God...?" Several Regents whispered almost at the same moment. Some narrowed their eyes sharply, others widened them in clear disbelief, while a few simply became completely still.
Regardless of how each of them reacted, none wore a good expression after hearing those words. The earlier discovery that the gates might be controlled had already been serious enough, but the involvement of a Supreme God changed the entire meaning of the incident.
These were not merely powerful beings who stood slightly above mortals. Supreme Gods were existences connected to the oldest foundations of reality itself, beings whose names had survived from eras long before the current or even any known civilizations now. If one of them had truly reached into this realm and deliberately opened those portals around the Empire, then the danger before them was far greater than fourteen Emperor-rank monsters.
"What would a Supreme God be doing down here?" Elven Queen Elessa Vanyaloren suddenly asked, her voice filled with both confusion and sharp suspicion. Her elegant fingers tightened slightly against the living armrest of her ancient vine throne as she looked toward Nerrisa.
"I thought such a thing was impossible. Were the gates connecting the Heavens and our realm not destroyed long ago? If that connection remains broken, then how could a Supreme God possibly influence anything here?" Her questions only caused the expressions of several Regents to darken further.
The barrier between their world and the divine realms had been broken for an ages, and that separation was one of the few reasons the mortal world had remained free from direct interference by the gods specifically supreme gods who most aren’t aware that they exist except some rare people. Yet Nerrisa was now claiming she had sensed one of them within her Empire. Either something they had believed for centuries was wrong, or some method existed that none of them had ever discovered.
"That is not the most important question at this moment, Regent Elessa," another voice suddenly said, old and filled with deep wisdom. The speaker was Archmage Valerion, the Headmaster of Arkanveil Academy. He sat upon his simple looking wooden throne with long pure-white hair falling behind his shoulders, equally white eyebrows resting above an aged face marked by countless years of study.
Despite his old appearance, his eyes were filled with powerful life and sharp intelligence, carrying none of the weakness one might expect from his age. He looked first toward Elessa and then toward Nerrisa.
"The more concerning matter is whether a Supreme God is truly capable of controlling portals and dimensional rifts," he continued, his tone grave.
"If they can, then we must ask why they used that power. Why was the Empire chosen? Why were so many Emperor-rank creatures sent there? And why did this happen now, after remaining impossible for so long?" His old eyes narrowed thoughtfully before settling fully upon Nerrisa.
"Imperial Empress, have you ever had any kind of conflict or feud with those gods? Anything at all that might have caused one of them to target your lands?"
"None that I know of," Nerrisa answered directly, without taking even a moment to think. There was no uncertainty in her voice, yet her answer did nothing to settle the atmosphere. If anything, it only created more questions.
The hall had already become too tense and disturbed for one simple reply to calm it. Thoughts moved rapidly behind every Regent’s eyes, each of them considering different possibilities, and almost immediately after Nerrisa answered, Aurelion spoke again.
"Even if you do not have a feud with them, we might have one now," the Spirit King said coldly. His arms remained crossed, and his pale face showed almost no outward emotion, but a sharp light had appeared within his eyes.
"Discovering the truth behind the appearance of dimensional rifts and gates has been our greatest priority since the beginning. They are the largest danger facing this world and one of the main reasons this council was founded in the first place." His voice slowly gained weight as he continued.
"Now, for the first time, we have proof that these gates may not be natural. Someone may be creating them, guiding them, or choosing where they appear. We must discover the method that Supreme God used, and more importantly, we must find a way to stop it." The sharp glint within Aurelion’s eyes grew stronger. "If we can control or prevent the gates from opening, then true peace for this world may no longer be so far away."
As those words left him, mysterious spirit energy began to gather around the Spirit Throne. Tiny blue lights flickered between the black branches and twisted antlers of his ancient crown, while faint streams of spiritual power moved through the air around him as though countless unseen spirits were reacting to the strength of his emotions.
Aurelion’s face remained cold and expressionless, yet the hall itself seemed to reveal the intensity he refused to show. His words also struck deeply within the other Regents.
The gates were the source of endless death throughout the world. Every day, portals opened without warning, monsters poured through them, cities were destroyed, armies died, and countless lives were lost before the breaches could be closed. If there truly existed a method to control those gates or to stop them entirely then the future of the whole world could change.
The World Regents, who normally remained calm and disinterested even when discussing disasters capable of destroying kingdoms, could no longer hide their reactions. They had lived too long and witnessed too much to be easily shaken. There were very few matters left in existence capable of disturbing people like them.
Yet this was one of those matters. Voices began rising around the ancient table as several Regents spoke at once, questioning how such control might work, whether the Supreme God had acted directly or through some artifact, and whether the same attack could happen again in another continent. The atmosphere became increasingly heated, their usual cold dignity giving way to urgency as each one understood how much was at stake.
Then, through all those overlapping voices, a calm voice suddenly spoke.
"I might know the reason behind this incident."
The words were not loud, yet they passed cleanly through the gathering noise, causing the entire discussion to stop almost at once. One after another, the World Regents turned their heads toward the source of the voice. Some looked surprised. Others clearly had not expected the person who had spoken to involve himself at all.
Their gazes travelled toward the very end of the World Table, where Razeal sat quietly upon his dark shadow throne, directly opposite Nerrisa. Until now, he had mostly remained silent while they discussed the portals and the presence of the Supreme God, but something had changed within his eyes. A strange gleam now rested deep within them as he looked back at the countless powerful figures who had suddenly focused all their attention upon him.
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Sigh... I’m really sorry, guys, for being absent for so many days. I truly apologize. I didn’t want this to happen, but I’m currently at the hospital because my cousin sister had a serious accident. She’s in emergency care, so I’ve had to spend several nights here at the hospital.
Yes, I did have some time when I could have written, but I was extremely tired from constantly running around to get medicines, food, and everything else. And above all, there was no peace of mind at all. I was so worried that, even if I had started writing, I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate, and the Chapter probably would have turned out badly.
I’m really sorry, everyone. Please accept my sincere apologies. Some things are simply beyond our control.
Love you all.
Your lovely, handsome author,
Lazydiablo2
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