"Well, you've got to hurry." He said in a level voice.
"Why so sudden? We still haven't finished our exchange." Alexander tilted his head confusedly, same with his other siblings.
"Well, it's because they're already here." Matthias answered with a slight smile of anticipation on his face.
And, at that exact moment, the huge doors of the room sounded with several knocks. "Your Majesty!" A voice from the other side shouted respectfully yet with hastiness.
Matthias raised his two fingers and waved it upwards. The doors opened wide, welcoming Cane, wearing a sleek white robe gilded with gold engravings on its edges. He strode towards them in a rush before kneeling down on one knee as he greeted, "Greetings Your Majesty and Divine Princess Royal Mother. Greetings, Royal Princes and Princesses."
"Are they here?" Matthias inquired whilst sipping a cup of tea. A force suddenly pulled Cane up from kneeling. Cane looked at him and nodded in response.
"Hmm." Matthias smirked. He placed down his cup before abruptly walking out of the room. Cane and the others jumped and rushed to follow him out.
His steps clacked intentionally as he strode within the divine halls, purposefully doing so to eliminate the racking silence within, yet it did nothing but build up the tension in the surroundings. Cane and even the Royal Siblings felt it firsthand.
The Divine Emperor stopped as soon as he reached the platform that oversees the entire realm, where they could see all of Divine Heaven, from the interior of the Divine Capital up to the outside border of the First Heaven where the celestial objects can be observable.
"What do you mean by this, Father? Who are 'they'?" Alexander questioned in a perplexed manner as soon as they caught up to Matthias. The latter didn't answer and instead looked below.
Following his line of sight, Alexander turned pale as he looked at the innumerous fully-armed Ourani army formations positioned at every corner of the dominion. "Look!" Alexander was startled by his sister Han Yue's exclamation and looked behind him, only to see her pointing a little higher than the platform they were on.
He turned around, only to see thousands if not millions of Ourani flapping their wings, gazing at the palace, or so to say, them, with eyes filled with coldness.
In front were two beings. The first one was a huge and bulky man clad in blue gold armor patterned with various dragons and draconic scriptures while the other one wore a blood red armor with a dragon head as the center of its breastplate and a helm decorated with two great longhorns. The former had four oceanic blue wings behind him exuding a terrifying amount of chaotic might while the latter had a similar number of blood red wings behind him releasing a tremendous pressure and blood red miasma.
"Streid." Alexander's eyes narrowed with a sharp glint as he released a hiss at the being before him.
"Crowned Prince Alexander, calling a Heavenly King by his name isn't that respectful, is it?" Streid grinned with a sinister smile on his face. Alexander shuddered as he laid his eyes on the Heavenly King's jagged teeth.
Within the Divine Heaven hierarchy, the two Heavenly Kings are the highest and also the most powerful excluding the Divine Emperor and Empress themselves. As one of the great Heavenly Kings, Streid, the Leviathan noble that rules the Dark Sea Dominion, had already established his title as one of the most powerful beings of Heaven that would even be able to influence some of the Divine Household's members.
His feat of devouring innumerable angels of the Lower Heavens during the war has established his title as the "Heaven Devouring Heavenly Duke", and later on, his contributions had him be granted different territories and Heavenly Nobles under his command, thereby establishing his Heavenly King rank.
"Well if it isn't Streid?" Matthias laughed amusedly as he walked between the two, relieving Alexander the pressure from the Heavenly King.
This time, Heavenly King Streid's face turned solemn. Facing the very reason why he was standing as a powerful being, he couldn't help but get serious.
Matthias smirked smugly, seeing how apprehensive the Heavenly King became as soon as he spoke. "Oh? What's the matter, Streid? You happened to be speaking so arrogant just now while talking down to the Crowned Prince." He asked with a hint of ridicule.
The Heavenly King did not respond. He stared at Matthias with a gaze full of rebellious intention. Matthias glanced at his children and said to them, "You can go do your duties. I'll just talk to this kid." He smiled before waving his hand away, sending the Divine Princes and Princesses away as quick as a bubble popping.
Streid's eyes narrowed and waved his finger, summoning an Ouranos to his side. "Find the siblings." Although he whispered to the Ouranos, Matthias heard it loud and clear.
"I wonder, oh great and mighty Heavenly King. It has just been recently since we met. What provoked you to stage a coup against your Divine Emperor." Gradually, Matthias' voice turned serious, filled with his Divine Authority over all the subjects of his Heavenly Empire.
Streid still did not answer. His unruly attitude has been quenched by his Emperor. Matthias' lips curled up. He then looked at the other being beside Streid.
"Heavenly King of the Dark Sea, I see that it was you who instigated this farce of a rebellion?" He sneered. Hearing him, Streid's eyes widened.
"How brave of you to enter the domain of a wielder of the Universal Laws. Have you no fear that you would instantly be obliterated from Existence?" Matthias sneered at the Heavenly King of the Dark Sea who had been staying silent this whole time.
Listening to Matthias, Streid suddenly felt weird. He turned to look at the Heavenly King beside him and noticed something odd.
For centuries, the two Heavenly Kings have been the leaders of the Ourani, second to the Royal Family themselves. They govern the majority of the dominions and have the support of the greater half of the warring Ourani.
He knew Sakkar, the Heavenly King of the Dark Sea, as a calm yet decisive being. His very driving force of becoming a powerhouse was to protect the universe silently without being noticed by its inhabitants. He swore loyalty to Matthias because he knew he could realize his dream through him.
But, as someone who had been fighting side-by-side with him for generations, he did notice that something had changed with the Leviathan. He became irritable and power hungry lately. He thought it was just the effect of power, corrupting the minds of those who wield it, but with the influence of the Divine Emperor, it would seem highly impossible for him to do so.
Realizing all that, Streid slowly backed off, distancing himself from the Heavenly King.
Later on, Streid's decision proved to have saved his existence.
A creepy smile slowly creeped up on the Leviathan's face. "Hahaha.."
Streid's scales stood up as the Dark Sea Heavenly King's eerie laugh reached his ears. He can definitely be certain that it wasn't the Heavenly King he knew.
"It has been such a long time since the Eldritch got to be active within this universe.." The "Heavenly King" spoke with a guttural voice.
As soon as he finished speaking, hundreds of millions of Ourani screeched in a horrendously high-pitched tone. Their skins shed and turned as black as the void, and their eyes shifted to a mysterious purplish hue.
Gradually, their very being deformed into a gelatinous goo with razor sharp teeth spinning around their bodies.
The Ourani of the Silver Mountain Dominion were horrified, of course. The only existences that they have fought were either demons, spirits, mortals and immortals, and fellow Ourani. Beings that have come from outside of their universe like the Eldritch are a total enigma to them.
But still, as soldiers of the Silver Mountain Dominion, territory of the militaristic Heaven Devouring Heavenly Dragon King, the forces of the Silver Mountain Dominion would never back down from a fight against a threat to their domain.
They immediately gathered and formed a fortified array that was used at the War of Heaven and has been improved ever since.
"Kuaaaaah!" The gooey abominations screeched as they charged at the Ourani en masse.
"What is the meaning of this, Sakkar?!" Streid shouted angrily.
"This universe.." 'Sakkar' cackled eerily. He spread his arms wide, as if welcoming something, "..is all going to be Our food!"
"Nyarlathotep!" Matthias boomed with heavy authority. The 'Heavenly King', suddenly fell down to the ground as Matthias spoke more, "How brazen of you to speak of such blasphemous speech within the domain of a god."
"You!" Nyarlathotep grimaced.
"You Eldritch Beings might be powerful, but you still can't wantonly wreck havoc among the innumerable universes." Matthias sneered as he walked towards the kneeling Eldritch slowly and steadily, "There are still existences that can go against your race within every single universe."
In an instant, blinding light shone down from the sky which alerted the shocked Nyarlathotep.
There, three geometrically shaped beings floated above them, shining with unbelievably immense divine authority. Thousands of rings circled around them with eyes within, gazing at Nyarlathotep with judgment and indifference.
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