Steel and Mana

Chapter 564 – Ending on an Opening (3)

Peace... I like it. The best thing was that right now, I knew that it would be a permanent possibility, well, after this so-called last winter, it will be on our end of the continent. And I didn't name it that, I mean, 'last winter,' but the people who knew what was happening with the Gods' Formation began calling it that way. As for most ordinary people within Avalon or the entire Union, they only knew that a great monster had been slain and the world was saved. The... usual stuff.

Because of the peaceful prospects, most Union members focused on, well, it was all about expanding. Not their borders, but their influence, opening towards the East. With many of the north-eastern lands wiped out, it was time to, literally, re-colonise them. Arthur had already hosted multiple Union meetings where we began establishing settlements under Union member flags, because even though the landscape was mainly ruined, that only meant the CC mines. That was what the monsters were after, and many of their natural resources remained untapped. Even my Avalon carved out a massive chunk for itself in conjunction with Atuvia. As for repopulation... Well, that will be up for the future; we were mostly interested in setting up mines and building the railroad around Khulman to reach the many, smaller kingdoms behind them.

As for what that future would hold, we would see, but I think the Union itself was just starting to turn itself into a proper superpower. Maybe by the time my grandkids grow up, we will have unified the entire continent. But that's still in the future, and right now, we were preparing for the end of this 'Godly Countdown' that was happening at the Pass. I even had to retire from retirement because I was going to come and camp at the Pride again to be there when it happened.

Currently, I stood on one of the upper balconies of the Camelot, hands resting on the metal railing, watching the landscape that was still covered with a handful of craters where we really pummeled the monster tide with our cannons. Still, no more corpses and whatnot were lying around, and we had an ample harvest of monster cores to go around... So many, in fact, that we would be fine if we didn't go hunting for them for a decade or more.

"I heard everyone will come." Sa'Ith's voice traveled to me as she slowly walked up the air itself, landing beside me.

"Pretty much," I nodded, not even surprised by her show-off appearance. "It will be kind of a first time for you meeting with all the leaders of the Union, hm?"

"I know of those who are important already."

"Don't tell them that." I shrugged, "Let's wait a few centuries until their ego goes out of control, hm?"

"That quickly?" She asked, honestly surprised, "But... true..."

"You forgot we live shorter lives, huh?" I joked, but then she just nodded, being honest about it.

"I did... To think you also count as someone old..."

"Whoa, hey!" I reeled back, putting my hand on my chest, "Old?! My hair hasn't greyed yet, nor has it started falling out! I'm still good!"

"Oh, you are good!" She chuckled, eyeing me again, "And I am surprised you came without your wives."

"They will arrive with my kids." I shrugged, crossing my arms, "Arthur had to wait a few days as a new message was coming from Khulman, from our spies..."

"Those are the idiots you told me about?"

"I would say they are confused." I muttered, shaking my head, "But yeah. I tried opening a door and inviting them to witness, well, whatever would happen here, but they refused every type of invitation we sent. The last envoy we sent wasn't even allowed in the country."

"Lucky they didn't kill or eat the one."

"They aren't barbarians," I snorted, "And they know if they killed my envoy, I would kick their doors in."

"Aren't you retired?"

"Why do you sound like my wives?" I snorted, making her smile widen, but she didn't answer; she only leaned against the railing, watching me. "Look, I know they think we are trying to conquer them."

"Good." Sa'Ith nodded, "You need to get them in line."

"Your Vasa is showing," I muttered, looking at her with slanted eyes, "I am more of a let us be, and we will let you be advocate. Anyway, Bakhi's latest letter told us that there are two major factions, completely formed inside the Empire. The smaller of the two is those who wanted to isolate, preserve tradition, and even talked about bringing in other parts of the East to resist our Union. The other end are those who had tasted what cooperation could bring and now don't want to go back to how it was before. As for the disappearance of the Gauntlets, it finally spread as rumors, and it had only made things worse."

"A civil war is inevitable." Sa'Ith concluded, "So?"

"Ask Arthur. As you pointed out, I retired." I chuckled, shaking my head.

"No leader ever retires." She argued, making me purse my lips.

"Hands-off doesn't mean I remain ignorant, true." I added with a smile, "Khulman needs to choose its own future, even if that future involves bloodshed. If we intervened too early, we wouldn’t be saving them, and even those who want to cooperate may feel we are there to decide for them. You must know that the line between help and control is thin, so until they call us in, we are staying put. Of course, if things deteriorated to the point where civilians were slaughtered indiscriminately, if Bakhi and those aligned with him needed support to survive, we’d step in."

"See?" She pointed at my chest, touching it, "A leader never quits. You just went on a monologue, yet I barely asked anything."

"..." I wanted to say something, but I couldn't, so I just pursed my lips, "Hmph!"

"Cute!"

"...Um... Thanks?" I had to give up... she was too good at this, so I changed topics: "What's your prediction for this winter?"

"No idea." She answered bluntly, "With the amount of destruction that happened last time, I can't tell. My honest prediction? There won't be anything major happening. Maybe there won't be any beasts trying to come through. But that doesn't mean to stop readying your troops!"

"I haven't thought about that."

The military was preparing anyway; it always did and always will when winter approached. The extra thing was that the connecting railway was finished, the first test runs completed, so we could move from the Avalonian Pass to Markoth's Pass in a few hours or less if needed. The next big project would be connecting the third Pass to it and linking everything up. It would be... the most ideal outcome.

"I wonder..." I muttered, turning around, looking towards the Gods' Formation, "What is all this about..."

...

....

......

I didn't need to wait long to find out. Winter came a bit earlier than usual, but it wasn't as heavy or cold as those early winters were in the past. Funny thing was, that after a week of snowfall, not one monster had ever appeared in the distance, and the whole Beasts Land was like an empty wasteland, devoid of life.

As for the Gods' Formation, it began intensifying in light, almost buzzing, not audibly but vibrating the magic around it. It was a sign that something was about to happen, so I issued the immediate summons. Nobody within the Union thought that it might be dangerous, because it was the formation doing it, the same thing that many times blocked monsters... So, they came, without hesitation.

In a few days, every ruler, their entourage, including my family, was there, standing along with the Vasas, waiting. For anything... for something to happen. And when it did...? Even I was amazed.

When the Formation reached its zero-state, it lit up like a Christmas tree, shooting a bright light into the sky. Then, the entire mountain range shook, and if I wasn't sober, I would have thought I was on drugs, because the mountaintops began shrinking. Or it seemed like they were. It was weird to look at it, because they were shrinking yet not, staying the same height as they always looked like... Ugh. Magic.

As for the sky, it slowly distorted and was replaced by a cosmic tapestry, mostly filled with indigo, violet, magenta, and orange colors... And stars. So many stars... More than what you could see on a clear night in the summer. As we all looked up at the sky, Sasha slowly put her hand in mine, and I just squeezed back, soon feeling all my wives holding onto me... all of us looking and seeing a pair of purple eyes appear above the land.

Damn.

There was nothing else but a sudden flash, and two figures descended from that cosmic background, and as far as I was concerned, they looked human enough. A young girl, a shorty kid if I want to be honest, and a bit taller but still teenage-looking... woman? Or a girl. But I wasn't taking them to be really that young, because even if they looked youthful, I had a feeling they were waaaay beyond what counts as old.

"The Goddess of Death!" Mirian inhaled, recognizing one of them, looking at the taller woman. Great! The Death God herself? Hurray! Apocalypse time!

Probably everyone thought of the same thing, suddenly feeling terrified, but then the shorty just laughed, grinning at the other, who began... pouting? Huh...

"What the hell did you do here, Ariana?"

"Nothing!" She moaned, looking around us, her gaze finally landing on Mirian, who had her spear with her, of course, "I just helped the others clean up the monster infestation; they were killing the locals and the wildlife alike."

"Sure," The white-haired kid chuckled again, and for some reason, she was looking at me... then at Arthur and... Ignis, who was, of course, also here.

"Hmph!" The dragon snorted when their eyes met, wanting me to kick her butt, but Arthur had already summoned the chains, yanking them to make her shut up.

"I need one of those." The kid spoke up, pointing at the chains.

"It would no longer work on Kyu, Master," The Goddess of Death whispered to her, and it didn't escape my ears... Master? Hoh... Well, that is already more info than I had before. So the smaller one is older? And stronger than one of our 'Gods,' being her Master. Geez!

"Well!" The white-haired one clapped, smiling at us, "I see everyone has gathered here... Are you all this world's representatives?"

"That's..." I wanted to say that's complicated, but when everyone looked at me, what came out was much simpler, "right."

"Great!" The girl clapped again, beaming happily, "My name is Ren! I am part of the Alliance of Independent Realms and also the current Master of the Immortal Realm. It is my pleasure to meet you all!" She bowed her head, looking over us all, while I couldn't help but smile. I knew it... I knew it! These are not Gods, but aliens! Kinda. Whatever. Hm, hm, so there is a ton of stuff out there, like planets, I mean, Realms and all... huh...

"I am Leon," I answered after pushing my thoughts and questions down, as nobody else was saying anything, and I didn't want the next voice to be Ignis's, saying something stupid and offensive. Luckily, my son was holding the leash on her tightly... so she couldn't even move a muscle in her throat. "I am representing our Union, made up of the strongest nations in our world."

"I saw you." Ren looked at me, then at Arthur and Ignis, "Including the first demon that cultivated intelligence. She is a bit stronger than the demons were in my world... Ariana?"

"Yeah, she is about the third stage of Harmony... Not at full power yet, though..." The previous Death-Goddess muttered, making me raise an eyebrow, not really getting what she meant, but... those questions can wait for later.

"I think," I spoke up, gesturing towards the Pride, "We should head inside and... talk there, not out in the snow. Let us host you as we should."

"Don't worry about it!" Ren chuckled, yet began walking towards us, glancing at the Camelot hovering above the walls, as she slowly licked her lips, "This feels nostalgic... I once fought with people, well, they called themselves dwarfs but were people once... What I am saying, they piloted machines like those on the wall," she chuckled, pointing towards the mechs standing there, "Althouhg, yours are bigger."

"There are people out there..." I asked, my mind already racing, thinking that maybe others had reincarnated somewhere else? Like me? "Who makes things like this?"

"Not exactly." The shorty continued, walking nonchalantly as the entire crowd began following us, "But we know they exist... If you ever join our alliance... your Realm would be the first that went on this route to reach the Cosmos. Which would be... Unique." She finished, choosing her words carefully.

"Are you inviting us? Into the Heavens?!" Sa'Ith asked, unable to keep silent any longer as Ren's eyes fell onto her.

"I am," She muttered, taking a deep breath, as if smelling her scent, "But you are not there yet... Though" She smiled warmly at her, before looking back at me, "I can't judge you all by personal strength... A machinist realm is more... tricky. Oh well! Let's talk about it a lot~! Ahahaha! I am always happy to make new friends!"