Blinding white light spread in all directions, coming from the shining woman in the center. She was more beautiful than the Goddess of Beauty, more merciful than the God of Mercy, more loving than the God of Love. Or so her followers claimed.

As Yue, the Goddess of Deception, entered the domain of the Goddess of Light, the light failed to pierce the aura of Deceptive Holy Energy around her. The failure enrage the light, and everything shone even brighter. Her aura succumbed, and a young boy was revealed. He looked twelve, had long golden hair, his right eye was brown, and his left eye was hidden by an eyepatch. He wore colorful silky clothes and had a smile on his face.

"Your light power has increased despite your condition," the boy said with an old female voice, then his appearance became that of a glorious phoenix. "It almost broke through my last protections."

Yue looked at the almost thirty-year-old woman. Lika, the Goddess of Light was one of the most beautiful gods, but that was easy when you could change your appearance at will. Her skin was ironically dark, unlike the God of Darkness', which was white. Her long hair was silver and her eyes, golden. She wore a boring white robe.

Her beauty was marred by the heavy golden chains binding her in place, each link the size of an arm. The punishment had weakened Lika enough that Yue had entered her domain uninvited, but it did nothing to decrease her absolute dread of Yue, as shown in her terrified eyes. The Goddess of Deception didn't understand why a small bet from so long ago still haunted the woman.

"Yue," Lika whispered with difficulty. Those chains, that came from the horizon to bind her, were no joke. It made it even more impressive that her light had almost pierced Yue's deception skills.

"Long time no see, sister."

"Leave," the Goddess of Light whispered.

Yue didn't even waste her time answering that. In fact, she had no time to lose at all. It was a hassle to keep her identity hidden, and the more she stayed there, the worse it would become.

"We need to talk," Yue said. "Not here, in my domain."

"Never," Lika breathed.

"Three days from now, as soon as your punishment ends," Yue insisted. "You will want to come. It pertains to the little secret of your precious herald. You know only my domain is sure to be free of eavesdroppers."

In all honesty, the light was even better at revealing hidden ears than her powers of deception could hide what was said. However, the light's domain had been damaged by the Divine Chains of Discipline and wouldn't be able to perform at top efficiency for a while yet. Yue would rather let Shalar, the God of Rule, learn of Lika's secret than not get in on everything she could gain from having access to a former Immortal.

For that was the conclusion she had drawn after her little test. The Herald of Light had felt the Divine Energy, which should be impossible to any mortal. Moreover, he was intimate enough with it to even analyze the incoming Divine skill and avoid it in a unique manner. Only an Immortal, like Shalar himself, could do that. Since he had been summoned from another world, it was obvious he had been an Immortal before coming.

Yue didn't know why he had come to his world, why he had lost his power, and why he was helping Lika. But she would find out.

"See you later," she said and left.

She knew Lika would come. The Gooddess of Light's secret was too big and too important to be brought to light. Yue loved the irony.

Three ships — two others had arrived at night — were floating above the army of twenty thousand people. They stood in a disorganized mess about half an hour away from Illyria. The upper echelon was entirely made of the Arcane Circle's elite. The guardian was the only Master, followed by thirty Champions, five hundred Five Stars, a thousand Four Stars, two hundred Three Stars, and the remaining were Two Star troops.

Aaron was surprised at how many people the Circle had brought. Granted, all of the Two and Three Star cultivators were from nearby kingdoms or locals. Yet, teleporting about fifteen hundred people wasn't cheap. The Circle was really going all out in supporting him, or at least pretending well.

Bymor, Jil, Lun, Selna, and Lana faced the army beside Aaron, who was making them all float so the army could see him. He had talked a bit with all upper echelon in the past days as he agreed with or vetoed their promotions, but most people were seeing him for the first time. He used a skill to help his voice carry to them all.

"You who have heeded the call to arms of the Light, I welcome you. This is a crusade to eliminate the Timelords from the face of Liech. We will not rest until our objective is achieved. There will be no quarters given, no parley, no mercy. Either the Timelords will fall, or we will. And I never fall."

Aaron's voice was cadenced at the right places but controlled. He had elected to give only a slightly inflamed speech. He wanted his troops to see him as a rational leader, not a hothead. It was also difficult to say something everyone there agreed with or felt strongly about, as they were from different kingdoms all over the empire. Only the crusade's call to arms had united them, but who knew how they felt about it deep down?

"I'll be honest with you. The Goddess of Light has graced me with authority, but I'm no Devout of Light. However, I appreciate and follow many of her teachings. Utmost among them is my appreciation for order over chaos. In the following days, you'll receive the rules of my Ironblood clan, which shall be applied to the entire crusade. You are all expected to memorize and obey said rules at all times. No matter who you are, what your background is, or who you know, those who disobey the rules will be punished. And as you'll see in the rules, in times of war like this, the punishment is especially harsh. Do not test my patience."

The reaction he got from the people was mostly of curiosity. Cultivator society was never soft, so they were used to some harshness. They likely didn't understand why he was talking about it at all. Unfortunately for them, cultivator society was also all about quid pro quo, and that wouldn't work for them. They thought he was just saying those words to present himself in a good light — or maybe to inflate the prices of bribery he would charge — but they would soon learn otherwise.

"After receiving the rules, each one of you will have exactly one day to give up on the crusade if you disagree with them. I will not allow those who choose to stay to complain about anything after that. This is not a walk in the park, ladies and gentlemen. This is a holy war, and I will not lose because you can't act appropriately."

He gestured at Jil and pushed her floating body forward a bit. "This is Jil Thenor, the crusade's head healer. She'll oversee the health of the troops at all times. Yes, all times, not just after battles. I shall also not fail because of disease or poison. Her orders will not be elective. Obey her in all matters related to health — or hygiene, for that matter."

Aaron pushed Lun next. "This is Lun Thenor, my bodyguard. Despite his function, he is his own man. Whatever he does, it is not under my authority. Do not let him say otherwise. As I said, I appreciate order over chaos. The rules are vital for the crusade, and I shall not abide to anyone abusing their closeness to me to ignore the rules."

Selna was next. "This is Selna Solaris, my temporary maid. She also has no authority over any of you." Then came Lana. "And this is Lana Seccos, my girlfriend. Though she has no authority over any of you, I'll repay any harm she suffers with extreme prejudice. Do not test me on that."

Lastly, he pushed the guardian forward. "And this is Bymor Laurus, my steward. Only find me if you want to report something he did wrong. All other things should be forwarded to him instead, or whoever he sets up to deal with it, and he'll take care of it or report to me as he sees fit, following a set of rules I am teaching him."

Aaron pushed them all behind him a little and widened his arms. "I tell you all of this because I want you to understand that I value the authority I give people more than the power they hold. Bymor is coincidently a Master and my second-in-command, yet Jil's authority over matters of health eclipses even his. If he tells you to eat something and she tells you not to, hers are the orders to be obeyed, despite her considerably lower level. Lun is a Champion, yet he would need to follow the orders of any Two Star superior if he weren't directly under me. That will hold true for all matters in the crusade. For the last time, I tell you this: the rules are paramount."

He put his arms behind his back. "Now, we have Timelords to kill. March!"

There was no cheering, only confusion. They certainly hadn't expected him to talk so much about rules. Aaron didn't care. Instead, he turned to Lana. "I believe I owe you a class."

She smiled beautifully.

Five Champion Timelords, their white robes tainted by the gore covering them, met each other in the center of a ruined city. Most Timelords had agreed to give their lives for the greater good. A few hadn't.

It was no coincidence that the betrayers had been the ones with the most contact with the other sapient beings of the Time Lands. They had been corrupted, forgotten their way. After refusing the Cabal Leader's orders, they had started a civil war, only to be utterly crushed. Unfortunately, the First Cabal had lost one of them in the fight.

Corpses and cut limbs were all around them, on the walls of the broken fortress beside them, on the floor close to the crying child, on the skies, frozen in time. The First Cabal hadn't come to power due to corrupted politics, but because of their higher power, greater experience, and superior wisdom. It was a miracle they had even lost one of them. It was also no coincidence the one to fall had been their youngest.

"It's done," the Cabal Leader said. His voice was low and somber. "It's time to meet the murderer."

At first, he had considered killing those four too and meeting the murderer alone. However, the Prophetess had revealed to him that it was better for the survivors of the First Cabal to go together. Once they met the murderer, they would show him how serious they were in a very graphical manner — something they could only do if they were alive to do it.

"Tell us again," the Second said, "about his history. About his suffering. About his wrath."

The Cabal Leader nodded. Repeating the story he had heard been told by the Prophetess steeled his heart as much as hearing it steeled theirs. Killing a Timelord was a great sin, one they had been willing to go to war against the empire for. Yet, their inevitable fate had made the sin become a virtue for the greater good.

Thankfully, Timelords knew time changed all things, and they didn't refuse that change. An end was hard to accept, but a chance to survive as a species by merely killing most of them was an opportunity to be embraced, no matter the cost.

"I'll tell it as we move," he said, and they disappeared, running at fast speed toward Illyria.

None of them realized they were being followed.