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”Marius.” Another god nodded to him as he took his place among the growing crowds. The number of Divines and immortals in attendance was larger than the Grand Assembly had seen in eons. The chambers themselves were some of the more wondrous ever constructed in the very distant past by gods that were now long dead. They naturally grew larger as the people inside increased in number, even growing to accommodate much larger beings such as dragons and titans, but that wasn’t the wondrous part. The chambers themselves changed according to the person. Marius saw a rather fancy but simple room reminiscent of a theater, but the god that had just greeted him likely saw something entirely different. He could see a grand palace, a wooden hut, or maybe the insides of a volcano, and all of the places would be real. Multiple realities overlapped in this room.

“Nero.” He returned the greeting while sitting down next to the man. He idly wondered what the situation looked like to the god. “It seems most of the True Gods are in attendance. Haven’t seen a gathering like this before.”

“You wouldn’t have. Nearly none of us have. I doubt any gods alive now have.” Nero waved dismissively.

“Have you he-?” Marius was interrupted mid-sentence as the whole gathering suddenly hushed as an enormous titan bearing the golden armor of the Host strode to the stage. Just his presence was enough to grab everyone’s attention and respect. This was undisputedly one of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse, spawning legends that seemed outrageous even to the gods, yet none of them dared assume he was not worthy of every legend.

“I call this Grand Assembly to order.” The titan stated almost perfunctorily. His deep voice carried to every corner of the enormous chamber without any need to use magic to enhance it. “Most of you are already aware that the Expansion this time happened on a completely unprecedented scale. We have confirmed that even the Divine Planes saw the birth of two entirely new planes. There might be more. Assuming the same scale holds to the other planes, that means that the universe grew almost 20% at once.”

“Have there been any explanations as to why?” One of the more powerful True Gods asked, yet even her voice sounded a little hesitant.

“The Heavenly Emperor has not commented. Or at least I have not been informed.” The titan known only as the Grand Marshal gave everyone a sharp look that promised all kinds of suffering if anyone had information and had not informed him. “As such, we can only speculate, and I hate speculating. I deal with facts.”

“Yet speculate we must. If we ignore the hints of the future, only a ghastly end awaits us.” The crowing voice of an elderly female goddess sounded from a dark corner. Marius recognized the voice of Skuld, the Norn of the future. Her voice was a little deceptive as her looks and voice didn’t match, a major reason she stayed hidden.

"Speculation is the work of you seers. I'll leave that to you, and you'll get your opportunity." The Grand Marshal was well-known for his dislike of prophecies. "What we can say for sure is that the Scourges have mobilized on a scale never seen before. Although the borders are still secure, the Expansion has created an open buffet for all the Scourges to push in. Of the worlds discovered by the Host so far, a full third are already heavily contested by the enemy, and that is expected to only grow in the next century. With the numbers we've seen so far, I'm certain that we are on the brink of a new all-out war."

"I thought you didn't like speculation?" The Goddess of Beauty asked snidely. In stark contrast to most Divines, the royal family had not sent most of their members to the gathering.

The Grand Marshal gave a disdainful look towards the spiteful goddess, and ignored her entirely, something everyone knew would incense her further than any kind of retort. "I call for the full mobilization of the Host. In addition, I'm calling for all combat-capable Deities and related personnel to take part."

Marius shook his head a bit. Judging by the voices of discontent already rising from the gathering, the Grand Marshal was asking for the impossible. Some gods would heed the call, as always, and the Host would likely be mobilized in full, but most of the Gods would not risk their lives before they had indisputable proof that it was necessary. His prediction came true as the gathering argued against the Grand Marshal, something they were only barely bold enough to do.

The crafty titan had likely expected this, as he managed to wrangle a different concession instead. All new immortals would be drafted into the Host for the period of the upcoming conflict, something that would last for a very long time. The Gods were happy to agree as it got the scary Grand Marshall off their back, and it didn't really concern them. Sure, some of their children or relatives might end up drafted, but that would allow them to get achievements and military experience. The Gods always had some trouble with their offspring growing a bit too spoiled as their path was so easy due to their inherent talents. And if they died? Well, they could always make more, and the process could be quite pleasant.

Of course, not everyone took the decision as lightly. Many expressed concern over forcing those that had no ties to the Host to fight for them. It wasn't just a matter of politics and empathy either, as the gentle gods were not the only ones to object. Some more militaristic gods expressed concerns over sedition and a general dip in morale as a result of forcibly drafting immortals. Still, those voices were in the minority, and the decision was passed with a huge majority. The more cowardly gods recognized the need for more power to the Host in the current situation, even if they didn't want to risk their own lives.

“How’s the situation in the other planes?” Marius surprised many of the gathered gods by asking.

“Currently very volatile. As can be expected, the main thrust of the Scourge offensive is towards the new Divine Planes, which is also where our defense is focused, but as we keep rebuffing their attempts, they will eventually seek out softer targets. And sadly, they do have numbers on us. At least as long as the Divines, the Great Houses, and the most powerful factions don’t make a move. While the situation is not all too dire at the moment, that will not hold true forever.” The Grand Marshal didn’t really need to put the consequences into words. They could all imagine the problems that would arise.

“Well, I suppose it’s good then that we have a decent presence on at least the Higher Planes already.” The Goddess of Beauty remarked again. “Oh wait, someone forbid us from sending too many people down there.”

This time the Grand Marshal didn't allow her remark to pass by. "Yes, the Heavenly Emperor gave the order. If you have a problem with his judgment, I suggest you take it up with him."

The Goddess reacted as if she’d been struck, and she gave an angry hiss in response. “I would n-“

“I do not care.” The Grand Marshal cut her off. “We are not here to cater to your whims. On that note. All those already on the other planes are hereby ordered to take part in the defense of those planes to the full extent of their abilities. This is an official decree as the Grand Marshal.” Drafting Divines might have been outside of his writ, but he had a lot of authority as the Grand Marshal, and that authority covered all the immortals that had traveled to the other planes.

That caught everyone’s attention. The powerful titan rarely had to flex his authority in such a blatant manner. Many of the more powerful factions had managed to skirt the earlier decree given some years ago and had sent their members to the Higher Planes. This order was a direct challenge to their sovereignty. “The Golden Order agrees and abides.” Suddenly a glowing golden god declared while standing up. He was one of the leaders in charge of one of the largest and most powerful factions, and everyone knew the Golden Order had sent a large number of their members to the Higher Planes for several reasons.

“The House Titannica agrees and abides.” A very expected voice joined in.

"House Asuryan agrees and abides." Kurnous stood up and surprised everyone. With the three enormous factions already agreeing, the chorus of agreements soon rose to cover the chamber.

"Well, that was interesting," Marius commented. The titans had not been a surprise, but the two others…

“Not really. You simply don’t yet realize all the implications.” Nero commented. “I think we might have to send some of our young ones to take part.”

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"Finally found you," Karna whispered while drawing back the string of an ornate bow seemingly made of pure white bone and decorated with several metal highlights near the handle and the ends. The bow didn't seem to have a visible string or an arrow.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be vengeful?” A sarcastic voice came out of the bow.

"This isn't revenge, this is justice for endangering my precious pillows." Karna retorted while power started to gather around the fingers she was using to nock a non-existent arrow.

Her senses were focused on a small group of five. After hunting the group for a fair bit of time through several tests, she had finally managed to narrow down how the archer of the group was able to sense her presence. It was not that difficult to identify the archer, as she could sense the presence of the same arrows that had hurt her before. In addition to the masked man hiding his features, the group had two men and two women, they all at least looked human, although Karna suspected their appearance was a disguise. Of the men, one had a long glaive on his back and was clad in colorful leather armor, while the other had a kite shield and full plate armor. Karna had also seen a sword on his hip. The women were both clad in robes, one wearing religious regalia, while the other looked like the typical mage.

“A rather balanced group they have.” Gem commented, still in the form of a bow.

“A boring group. Such strict roles will only limit them. There’s something to be said about specialization, but a group this specialized will collapse if their formation is broken.” Karna disagreed. She was in the camp that thought that while specialization had its place, most members of a good group should be able to fulfill multiple roles.

The power she was gathering had taken its time to form just so she could do it without drawing attention, but it finally coalesced into a white-hot arrow of fire that seemed to almost be liquid as the power swirled inside. “Let’s set the trap.” She loosed the arrow, aiming at the middle of the group. Almost as soon as the arrow left her bow, it was detected. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that still didn’t leave all that much time to react.

Both the cleric and the mage of the group managed to erect shields of magic and holy power, while the plate-wearing man also seemed to cast some kind of defensive spell. As soon as her arrow hit these defenses, the thing erupted in an explosion of fiery energy, and for a moment it seemed like a new star had been born. All members of the group suddenly seemed to disappear and appear a fair bit of distance from their original spot. The only problem was that the archer was clutching the stump of his arm with dark energy seeping from the wound.

“You were right. They were all capable of using Shundo.” Gem stated in a voice that made it seem there had been no doubt. There existed various abilities that would allow someone to effectively teleport a short distance. They were all complex techniques with various dangers, and usually cost a fair bit of mana or ki to use.

“That’s how he managed to get through the fourth test faster than me.” Karna nodded, happy to get a confirmation. Shundo was a very powerful technique and it was one of the most effective short-range teleportation techniques, but it had a rather obvious weakness as well. It was extremely rare to find a full group capable of using the technique.

The ability connected two points together, allowing the user of the technique to cross the distance between those points in a single step. The problem was that if you could sense the destination point before the transfer was finished, you could pre-emptively attack that point, and it was impossible to change directions mid-step while Shundo. It also made your movements rather predictable as you could only move in a straight line. Karna had expected this result, so she'd had a second waiting by the time the archer had arrived at his destination. The arrow had been just a distraction.

“Happy now?” Gem asked.

“Happier.” Karna corrected. “I don’t think we’re even yet, but I’ll settle for this now. He’s going to need a bit of time and help in exorcising the power of Dhar from that wound, just like I had to do with the wound he inflicted on me. I’ll still need to teach him the price of threatening my pillows. But for now, we can go and find Arjuna. I have a feeling we’ll see them again before we reach the end.”

They were already on the seventh test and Karna had finally caught up to the same test where her father was progressing. The tests were getting progressively more complicated, and they were also now directly competing with the other participants. “Good. We wouldn’t want to run into any of the other groups without his help.”

-----

“What WAS that?” Heng’e screeched with a shrill voice while attempting to treat Hou Yi’s arm. The treatment wasn’t really working, and he could’ve really survived without the shouting as well.

“I’m pretty sure this is payback.” He replied from between clenched teeth. The dark energy seeping from his wound was also quite painful, even for someone as used to pain as he was.

“The one you missed?” Yao asked while leaning against his spear. As a close friend of Hou Yi, he knew that an archer that missed the first attack usually didn’t stick around to make further attacks, and no other attacks had been forthcoming in the last minutes.

"Yes, well, I may have forgotten to mention that I didn't entirely miss. I managed to take her arm." Hou Yi admitted with a slightly humorous tone despite the pain wracking his body.

“A-ha! So poetic justice? It does seem that whoever attacked us had a very specific target in mind.” Yao was also the type to find humor in such situations.

Heng’e was concerned about something else entirely. “Her?” She asked with a sharp tone.

He chose to wisely ignore the question. “It did seem that the attacker could’ve been a lot more lethal if they had wanted to be. Instead of striking at my arm, they could’ve gone for my head. Or yours. No offense but none of you are as skilled with Shundo as I am.”

“I’d like to contest that a bit, but I can’t really.” Yao shrugged. He was rather used to being the fastest person around, something that had held true for several lifetimes, but Hou Yi’s presence had put an end to that.

“The techniques they used were quite interesting.” Zhao Yun commented. The heavily armored man had been studying the damage caused by the first arrow. “I’m fairly sure the arrow itself was just a very dense collection of very fine fire mana, but it was much purer than should be possible below the Divine Planes. And I’m interested in what held that mana together all the way from the sniping spot until here. They also managed to both predict and read our Shundo, as well as making a stealthy, effective, and instantaneous attack over that distance to take advantage of the technique’s weakness. All of those would be quite impressive alone, but when you put them together, you get a pretty nasty picture.”

“Another reincarnator?” Yao asked, suddenly a lot more serious.

“A very powerful one at that” Zhao Yun confirmed. “Or at the very least a very old and skilled one. That would actually be worse, I think. Someone powerful can be overpowered with time, but someone old and skilled will grow faster than us and will be harder to out-fox.”

“I’m, sorry, HER?!” Heng’e once again interrupted with an angry voice. This time she had no intention of being ignored.

“What does that matter?” Hou Yi asked in tired resignation. “Yes, the target that escaped was a woman. Why is that important?”

“Because, dummy, some skank just wounded my man! And now you’re all talking about how powerful and skilled she might or might not be. Yes, I’m taking this seriously, as she’s not only a thieving cat, but also a danger. And despite living so many lives, you blockheads tend to not take women seriously. Especially pretty ones. Was she a pretty one Hou Yi?” The question was asked in a very dangerous tone.

“First of all, Heng’e, despite all your claims, I’m not your man. Just because you claim it to be true, that doesn’t make it so. Secondly, it’s me who she shot at, if it indeed was her, so I’m the one who should feel threatened, not you. Thirdly, she was wearing a veil, so I have no idea if she was attractive or not." Hou Yi replied with emphatic tones.

“A-ha! So she was pretty!” Heng’e either deluded herself into hearing something she didn’t, or she’d actually picked up something in Hou Yi’s tone. She also completely ignored the first two points, which was very much business as usual. She stopped healing his arm and marched away in a huff.

All three of the men and their dark-skinned female mage rolled their eyes together at the sight. “So was she pretty?” Lakshmi, the mage asked after a moment of quiet.

“I already told you she had a veil, and I only saw her for a second before I shot at her!” Hou Yi protested again.

“Oh, damn, she really was that pretty?” Yao exclaimed with a teasing tone. “Don’t bother trying to dodge. We all know how good your eyesight is.”

Hou Yi lifted his good arm and the stump into the air in frustration and stomped off in the opposite direction from Heng’e.