System's POV

Chapter 1450: This Won’t Be An Easy Fight

"What happened to you?" Dantanian blinked. "Why is your neck bruised?"

"I fell off the bed," Thirteen replied with a straight face.

He didn’t mention that he and Stella had gotten a bit off track earlier after waking up.

"About time you woke up," Forneus snorted. "So what do we do now? I’m itching for some action. The Sea Kings have already gathered around the island, and frankly, they’re starting to get restless as well."

"Understood." Thirteen nodded. "I’ll double check the formation today, and if everything is in order, we’ll lure Zaphiel and his army tomorrow."

Dantanian’s face turned solemn, while Forneus grinned.

"That’s more like it." Forneus patted the teenage boy’s shoulder. "I’ll tell my troops to get ready."

The Sea Serpent wasted no time, heading straight to the sea to talk to the Sea Kings he had intimidated into obeying his orders.

"The time has finally come, huh?" Dantanian said in a serious tone. "Just what could have influenced Zaphiel to take this path? Was he not content with keeping the status quo?"

Thirteen had no words to say to Dantanian. Even though he was a Celestial and had lived for hundreds of years, his way of thinking was too innocent for his age.

Humans were naturally greedy and would always want to have more. Not many knew this, but the Celestials and Fiends were once humans as well.

Since they were originally ‌human, their mentality when they stepped into their current threshold remained with them.

Zaphiel was a very ambitious person, which brought him to raise an army he called the Army of Heaven.

He might have felt that Solterra was a cage keeping him from spreading his wings, so he wanted to destroy it and seek a greater challenge outside of its borders.

Frankly, Thirteen didn’t believe this was a bad thing. He had always looked outside the box and disliked limiting himself or his Hosts from achieving anything.

There was just something that concerned him. Did Zaphiel do all this out of his own accord, or had he been influenced by an outside force?

If everything had been Zaphiel’s idea, Thirteen could care less if the other party collected all the seven divine keys.

If not, well, that was a problem.

He knew of several beings in the multiverse who used this tactic to conquer worlds. Since The One had ordered the Wanderers to stop Zaphiel at all cost, it might have recognized the real masterminds pulling the strings from the shadows.

For the time being, Thirteen tossed these thoughts aside and focused on his task.

He took a deep breath and allowed his consciousness to connect with the formation. A few seconds later, the countless beast cores he had put in place lit up one by one.

Thirteen didn’t fully activate it, simply running a test to see if every node was working properly.

After three full revolutions, he found no irregularities and confirmed that the formation was running smoothly. It was as perfect as it could be.

"Everything is in order?" Dantanian inquired after Thirteen opened his eyes.

"Yes," Thirteen replied. "Tomorrow, I will activate the Key of Pride. You should also prepare yourself for what’s to come."

Dantanian sighed, then glanced at the distant artificial island where Wormwood was currently staying.

When the battle starts, Wormwood would plant its roots deep into the sea, sucking its nutrients to allow it to fight to its fullest.

Needless to say, after the battle ends, the Fortunate Isles and the water surrounding them would become corrupted. It would take centuries for the island and the surrounding water to regain its original state, but this was a necessary sacrifice for them to win this war.

"Zaphiel, Pharzuph, Belial, and Rahab," Dantanian muttered. "This won’t be an easy fight."

On their side they had him, Forneus, Wormwood, and Cranky. The Honey Badger had stated he wouldn’t sit this battle out, and he would come as soon as Thirteen reached out to him.

Eight of the strongest beings of Solterra would duke it out with each other, and their armies would also join the fight.

There was also a possibility that the other Celestials and Fiends would also join the battle, making it more chaotic.

Dantanian sincerely hoped that once all of this was over, everything would return to how it was.

But Thirteen thought differently.

After this battle, Solterra would never be the same again.

Perhaps even the God of Wanderers, The One, had realized this as well.

For better or for worse, a new era would dawn upon the world. Thirteen returned to the village after doing a bit of maintenance in the formation.

Dantanian left for the Valbarra Archipelago, tasked to tell Cranky that they were about to face off against Zaphiel and his army.

Thirteen had forbidden the denizens of the Valbarra Archipelago to join this battle since they had provided more than enough help.

Every time Thirteen was facing an opponent that he couldn’t defeat using his own strength, they would always come to his aid whether he liked it or not.

But this time was different.

He would be fighting against the Deities of Solterra, and this battle was bound to have countless casualties.

Besides, they were fighting in the sea, and his allies were ill-equipped to fight in this kind of environment.

Thirteen had no intention of sacrificing the lives of his allies in a place that was going to witness a battle between the ultimate powerhouses of the world.

"You’re back early," Stella said when she noticed Thirteen enter the living room.

She was currently cooking their lunch because she felt like doing so.

"The formation doesn’t have any problems, so there’s nothing to do right now," Thirteen answered. "But tomorrow, I will reclaim the Key of Pride, exposing our location to Zaphiel."

"I see..." Stella nodded in understanding. "How long do you think it will take them to reach us?"

Thirteen pondered for a bit. "If it’s only Zaphiel, Belial, Pharzuph and Rahab, it will take them two days to arrive here. But if they’re bringing their armies, they’ll take a week or two."

"A week or two..." Stella muttered.

The young lady gave Thirteen a long and hard look as if trying to make an important decision.

After a brief internal battle, she decided to follow her heart.

Since the teenage boy would be putting his life on the line in this battle, she decided to do the same.

She understood the dangers involved, but she had a feeling that if she ran away in this fight, she would regret it for the rest of her life.