“Now to the next order of business,” Raphael clapped his hands and silenced the chattering chambers.

Thus far, the members of the Summit had agreed on sending an elite force to weaken the Black Masks and Allfather if the intelligence suggests that they had been crippled. Made verbal agreements to send aid to whichever region needed help, regardless of the country. And to also evenly deploy forces to bolster the defences of each broken-down city, to fend off deadly attacks from stray Spirit Beasts. They’d even discussed the logistics of distributing food and supplies to the needy and had ticked off basically everything on the agenda.

“Was there something else other than discussing the messy state of our planet?” Deputy Prime Minister Venus folded her arms, befuddled by the change of topic that wasn’t brought up in the agenda.

“That’s right!” Raphael nodded and eyed the Blacksmith’s League President Ingram. Taking notice, the bearded man slowly stood up and reached into his oversized coat. Ingram took out a large scroll and tossed it effortlessly to the centre of the table, allowing it to unravel itself. Confused, the high-ranking members of each superpower glanced over. Ingram Ragnar may have his flaws, but he was still the respectable leader of the Blacksmith’s League.

Raphael didn’t wait for everyone to take a peek and continued: “After the last Summit, we’d asked the Blacksmith’s League to study the Allfather’s creations and the relics that had been left behind by Spirit Immortal Dream. Remember that?”

“Yeah...”

Ingram took over with a beaming smile: “Well, after almost a decade worth of research… Hours of hard work and gallons of burnt midnight oil, millions of gold spent in procuring the Paradise Hearts, we’ve finally managed to reverse-engineer the Payirci!”

“You what?!” Prince Koshaku slammed his palms on the table as instantly got to his two feet. “The Blacksmith’s League had managed to reverse-engineer the Payircis.”

“You don’t have to be a parrot...” Ingram chuckled. “That’s right, the blueprints for creating the Payircis are drawn out in that scroll. Though we can’t create Umbras in the same method as the Allfather, we are on the verge of creating faux Spirit Beasts that bear some resemblance to Umbras. Furthermore, based on our projections, we can use the Paradise Heart to power yet another Deus Citadel. An improved version, as well!”

The Payircis had always been a thorn in the three superpowers side ever since the Allfather made his presence known. Many armies had been sent into the Payircis, but they all almost universally failed magnificently. It was far too dangerous for normal humans to tread into the floating dungeons and only elites such as Shin’s Guardian Sword could clear the Payircis efficiently. However, now that the Blacksmith’s League had reverse-engineered the science of the structure, the future raids would be far more straightforward.

“Can you identify all of the Payircis remaining and destroy them?” Deputy Prime Minister Venus asked with a grim tone.

“Hahaha, we’re way ahead of you! Shin Iofiel, the Prince of the Lantis Republic and the Master of Guardian Sword, has begun to map out all of the remaining Payircis. Additionally, he has a copy of these plans, so breaching them and taking the structures down would be ten times easier than before!”

“Him again...” Venus sighed, allowing her tensed shoulders to drop. Although Shin was doing good, the Deputy Prime Minister couldn’t help but feel a little restless. Shin’s achievements were just far too much for a guy his age. It made a three-hundred-year-old Spirit Venerate like her feel entirely useless.

“That’s right Once the Payircis are conquered, Prince Shin would surrender all of the Paradise Hearts to the Blacksmith’s League for refinement. I hope you wouldn’t mind us using the Paradise Hearts to create stronger weapons! Don’t worry, the Blacksmith’s League won’t be charging a dime for the weapons we make out of the Paradise Hearts.”

“Wait a minute, are you going to give us those weapons?!” Hearing this for the first time, Guild Master Xerxes widened his eyes like saucers. It was uncommon for the black-hearted President Ingram to give away freebies just like that.

At that moment, it was Ingram who let out a distasteful sigh. “It’s part of my agreement with the young Prince… He said that he’ll break all of the Paradise Hearts if I don’t donate all of our creations to the Alliance.” The Blacksmith’s League President didn’t hide his desire to charge the crippled Alliance one bit. “Also, Venerate Seraphim from his Hall of Science is imperative for our breakthroughs. If not for her, we would never have the ability to decipher Spirit Immortal Dream’s writings so quickly.”

Lady Seph was a well-known Spirit Immortal Dream fanatic. Other than studying the medical arts, Lady Seph’s research was almost exclusively based on learning Spirit Immortal Dream’s inventions. In fact, she was the one who discovered how to synthesize the Paradise Heart into a fuel core or use them to power weapons.

“So we’ll owe yet another debt to Prince Shin, huh?” Guild Master Xerxes dropped his head and rubbed his temples. It seemed like… Shin was doing much more than anyone from the elder generation.

“The list of favours is probably endless. Even as we speak, His Highness is clearing out our Lantis Republic and gathering his forces to help the Himmel Empire and Kori Federation.” Zhangyu Yaoguai took this opportunity to build up Shin’s reputation among the big shots. After all, the more the other countries owed Shin, the less likely they were to start a fight with the Lantis Republic.

“That’s all good. Prince Shin is what we needed during these turbulent times...” Raphael grinned. “When the times are down, a hero will emerge to save the masses. That’s how it has been, and that’s how it’ll always be.”

“A Hero, huh...” All of the top executives in the room universally sighed. How long has it been since the last bona fide Hero had appeared? If Shin could genuinely become an entity that was beloved by everyone, the man could very well unify the three superpowers and the fractured planet into one singular civilisation once again. That’s if… They could weather through the natural disaster that was the Allfather.

“Let’s not think about that now… We have more pressing matters to attend to.” Prince Koshaku interrupted the flow of the conversation. “Let us more about the Blacksmith’s League inventions. How are they going to help us take down the Black Masks?”

“Haha, I was waiting for you to ask!” Ingram chortled heavily. He reached into his breast pocket once more and took out a new parchment of paper, this time detailed a different set of plans. Knowing that it would be a revolutionary invention, all the dignitaries in the room paid extra attention to the paper and quickly scoured through the details. What they saw… Had shocked them to their very core.

“T-This is!”

“That’s right...” Ingram grinned from ear-to-ear. “Prince Koshaku, do you remember how the Black Masks managed to take down the Guardian Rock at Aldrich’s Keep?” President Ingram forced the royal to remember the dastardly laser beam that decimated the western part of the Himmel Empire.

“You can’t mean...”

“That’s right! Using the Paradise Hearts… We shall make our own death lasers!!!”

❖❖❖

The New Continent. Mythpoint Reach. The Tree of Darkness.

Many days had passed since the Terre Continent had been split into seven different continents. The Uncharted Wildnerness had floated a distance away, far from the nearest human civilisation. The Kori Federation had been fractured in two, with many islands taking shape on their western border. The Himmel Empire was now equally divided in three, leaving a vast amount of ocean between each one of the new regions. However, there was one thing that remained firmly at the centre of the world.

The former Neutral Lands. Once home to Spirit Immortal Dream and the Land of Dreams. Now, it had been reverted into an island that was half controlled by the Alliance and the Black Masks. The Alliance taking the Land of Dreams while the Allfather found his home on Mythpont Reach.

It was at the centre of the world, and it sure felt that way as well. After the Worldquake, all eyes were now glued to Mythpoint Reach, cautiously waiting to see the Allfather’s next move. Would he lead an army of Spirit Beasts and bloodthirsty Black Masks out to annihilate every single human being that was left? Or would he slumber like a bear, only coming out when provoked? No one truly knew.

Of course, inside of Mythpoint Reach, the Black Masks were far less confused.

“Everyone to your stations! I don’t want to see a single person lagging behind!” A senior voice barked, lashing out at any who didn’t keep out with his tempo.

“I want all sentry towers to be manned at all times! If there aren’t at least a hundred of you keeping watch, don’t even think about sleeping for the next three months!” Another authoritative voice boomed again. Vaishyas were flying around, relaying orders from their Brahmins, while the lower classes worked tirelessly to move their aching bodies about.

Technically speaking, the Black Masks had gotten the last laugh. They had caused senseless destruction, one of a scale that had never been seen before. However, their current situation didn’t look like one of winners. Instead, they seemed rather frantic and afraid, as if they were a citadel under siege.

No… They were under siege. And they were currently at their weakest point.

Ao stood silently over the entire army moving, watching with a scrunched face as the Black Masks turned even more restless. The situation was dire, and there was a Black Mask with the mark of the Golden Tree to back that claim up. “The reports have come in… Deus Citadel had passed a resolution to invade Mythpoint Reach if there’s an opening...”

“How accurate is the information?”

“I have eighty percent faith.” The Brahmin succinctly replied.

“Eighty….” Ao closed his eyes and took one deep breath in. “That’s good enough. Now, we should move under the assumption that an attack would come from the Alliance at any given time.”

The Brahmin gulped fearfully. “Pardon my impudence, but… Is the Allfather really unavailable?”

“Do you think that breaking down the Terrestrial Dragon’s mana from the Terre Continent is a piece of cake?” Ao snorted derisively. “The Allfather has taken off a few years off his remaining lifespan, which isn’t much in the first place. If he were to awake now, it would severely affect his health, and the final battle that was prophesied would result in our loss.”

“But… Based on our intelligence… The Alliance might send six Spirit Saints over! I know that the barrier created by Spirit Immortal Dream is strong, but without the Allfather, how could we possibly resist SIX Spirit Saints?!”

“That...” The World Serpent was stumped. If one or two Spirit Saints were coming, perhaps the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts could do something about it. However, if there really were six Rank 90 Spirit Saints arriving, there was nothing much that the Black Masks could do.

“We should have faith in the Allfather’s plans. His mind works in ways that I couldn’t possibly fathom. Just look at everything that he’s done thus far.”

“Still...”

“No more retorts,” Ao quickly got annoyed at the Brahmin’s constant nagging. “If you really want us to survive, go and prepare the remaining defences quickly!”

“... Yes, sir!” The Brahmin unwillingly clicked his boots together in a salute, before gradually fading into the background.

It was only after Ao double-checked that he was truly alone, did he let out a despondent sigh. He looked back at the Tree of Darkness, the entity that represented everything that his celebrated leader represented, and took a knee. “Akumu, I don’t know if this is really the right way to do this, but I’ll promise you this. I won’t let Mythpoint Reach fall even if it costs my life!”