“It’s about time I settled this,” said Gaius. He looked down on the bustling city below. A week had passed since the Last Star made his declaration, and surrounding the city were three infantry divisions from the Republic. Hundreds of stalls had been set up, by enterprising hawkers who saw the business potential in this gigantic peace conference.

It was, incidentally, the first peace conference that had taken place ever since the Second Extermination began. None of the wars that followed had actually officially ended, and the war between the North and the Central Circle had ended on a note so decisive that there was no one to actually negotiate with within the Central authorities — most of them had died, after all.

The conference was slated to begin at noon, but the boy had appeared a wee bit early to investigate the conference area beforehand. It was, unlike what he knew about conferences back on Earth, located in a public venue — a giant open-air colosseum able to sit thousands. It reminded him of the one at Rome, but the one here was far, far more expansive.

Gaius twitched as he saw an elevated platform right in the middle of the entire building. Ten metres in diameter, crafted from some obscure black material and intricated carved…that right there was the Altar of Gods. It was supposedly unmovable, and self-cleaning to boot.

“Doesn’t anyone actually question why that thing is here?” Gaius muttered. “Or did the Last Star just flip the bird at anyone who did and turn them into flesh a second later?”

He looked around the place, trying to find a point from which he could strike, and clicked his tongue.

“Nexus, what’s the chances of me making it from a seat to the Altar unimpeded?”

“Very low,” said the artificial intelligence. “But you have the Blink ability. No one’s going to be able to block you easily. And even if you couldn’t Blink directly to Nox, surely you can relocate to some point high in the air and dive at him, no?”

“True.”

The boy left the colosseum, and ducked into a stray bush to turn visible once again. After crawling out of it, in a fashion that any normal child would do, the boy headed towards the food stands for some food.

And to eavesdrop, naturally.

He walked over to a stall, where fragrance wafted outwards, and brought a set of chicken skewers. Basted with brown sauce, the boy chomped down on the skewers as he flitted through the crowd, keeping his ears out for any interesting bits of information.

Most of them were rather inane, particularly from the younger humans. When these words entered Gaius’ ears, the boy really wanted to dig a hole on the spot. The beastfolk had turned into something like a novelty, for the children who’d never seen them before.

“Mum, I thought I saw a rabbitman! They didn’t have the sharp teeth teacher keeps telling us about!”

“Can…I pull that ear?”

“Does your paw taste different from a usual paw?”

The boy could only pity the rabbit-type beastfolk, who reminded him of Mai, who was probably still busying herself with the other beastfolk in the Wildlands. Gaius couldn’t help but feel a sense of irony, whenever he considered the recent victories by the Republic and compared it to the beastfolk remnants who had fled the Five Lands. A new nation had fought an older one to a complete standstill, after all.

The expressions on the senators’ faces would be a sight to behold. The sun began to crawl, climbing towards the zenith as the boy continued to indulge himself into the meat.

Men and women, both human and beastfolk alike, began to gather together as the sunlight weakened unexpectedly. A giant disk, made of a shadowy mass, had gathered above the city of Lumari — and as the phenomenon entered everyone’s eyes, everyone began to make their way towards the colosseum…or to a place where a good vantage point was, anyway. The main stars of the show were the participating Houses of the Assembly, as well as the representatives of the Republic. The common men and women were just watching it for fun, or for the more savvy, the chance of earning a quick buck.

Gaius melded into the shadows, and when he stepped out of them, his body had turned invisible. Floating off the ground, the boy headed straight towards the colosseum where the conference had already begun,

“This place has been fortified heavily in the few hours after we left,” said Nexus. “Be careful!”

The boy looked at the people stationed around the airspace, and narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of two people. “Sheesh, they’re everywhere.”

“These two?”

“Yeah.” Gaius placed a mask on his face, which changed immediately. “I can’t believe I’m actually hiding from them.”

A ripple spread through the audience as a man appeared out of nowhere. Gaius turned to look at the newcomer…as did everyone else. A young man, barely over twenty, entered his eyes. Slim, handsome, and sporting a suit that fitted him like a glove, the Demigod Nox was exceedingly nice to look at.

A set of purple, square-rimmed spectacles added a single touch of dissonance to his appearance, and squeals came from the crowd as he pushed them up experimentally.

“Is that him?” Gaius asked.

“Yes,” said Nexus. “I’m registering a Demigod’s strength on my sensors now.”

Nox smiled faintly, and then descended onto the Altar of Gods gracefully. He tapped his throat twice, and said, “Thank you, ambassadors of the Republic, for your willingness to negotiate with us. As an expression of my thanks, I would like to invite you to bear witness to the greatest achievement in the past hundred thousand years, before we begin the process proper.”

The crowd tittered. Gaius could see someone in the Republic’s seating area attempt to stand up, only to be mollified by her colleagues.

“The schedule might have to change somewhat,” said the Last Star, “and I apologise for that.”

Day turned to night, and the world began to shake.