“End…itself?” Gemini asked.

“Yes. You might not have noticed, but for the past two months, ever since the festival of creation started, no new Knights and semi-divinities have appeared. The path to power has been severed entirely,” said Hereward. “I suspect that this change will not revert, even if the Abyss Sovereign is defeated.”

Gemini stared at him. “Elaborate.”

“The creation of a new world, especially one as…impossible as the Abyss Sovereign’s utopia, requires enormous amounts of power. I believe the Crying Abyss is the source of energy for the Abyss Sovereign’s creation.” Hereward sighed, and a sense of sorrow crept into Gemini’s heart. “The Crying Abyss retains the impossible amount of divinity at the moment of its conception, as an extra-chronological and extra-karmic entity, but it cannot employ these energies directly.”

“I know that much,” Gemini replied. “The people of Orb, during their ascension in the hierarchy of life, create a channel in which they can exchange a portion of their freedom for a power that’s based on one’s will, a deformed version of divinity. As they continue to comprehend the concept of Will, this deformation corrects itself overtime, turning into divinity at the Demigod level.”

Lila, who had never heard Gemini speak of such secrets before, raised her hand. “Does that mean that everyone here is actually linked to the Abyss?”

“Possible. The demons especially so,” Gemini replied. “Remember? Hissatsu? I believe that the strong emotions when one kills has a similar beckoning effect to the emotions generated when one reflects on their past and ideals.”

“That’s about correct, but there are various complexities to it.” Hereward paused. “But all of them are useless to our present discussion, so let’s just toss them aside.”

“How flippant,” Gemini commented.

“Deal with it.” Hereward rolled his eyes. “Anyway, the Abyss Sovereign is the most qualified person to harness this enormous store of energy. That channel you mentioned earlier is probably has no equal in the past, present and in the future, which accounts for his incredible powers when he became a Knight years ago. And it is this channel from which he draws the theoretically unlimited energy to power his creation.”

“What happens if it runs out?” Gemini asked.

“Well…semi-divinities would probably cease to exist, for one,” Hereward replied. “On the bright side, his army of immortal spectres would vanish like melting snow, but that’s probably the last thing you’d be concerned about.”

“Yeah.” Gemini frowned. “He’s not reliant on the Abyss now, anyway. With his desires and goals attained, his Will would surpass every last person on Orb, facilitating whatever he intends to do with his utopia.”

“Freedom for the frail. Shackles for the strong.” Hereward hummed for a moment. “And a limitless world that makes conflict sub-optimal.”

“Why not just expand out into outer space, instead of making things this convoluted?” Gemini asked. “From what I can tell, this new world will exist in a new dimension, one overlaid on Orb and Earth, but that’s such a roundabout way of doing things that I cannot help but question it.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Hereward asked. “He wants immediate results. And besides, even your old world hasn’t gone into space and colonised a bunch of planets yet. It would take millennia, unless he imposes his will upon the world and turns them into his slaves or something. If he chose to do nothing, the Five Lands would burn in the pyres of war one last time, and set the world back by entire centuries.”

“Well, he did say that himself.” Gemini rubbed his nose.

“To be honest, I and the other gods don’t really care,” Hereward replied. “Although the mortals of Orb are our children, death is the natural order of things. After a small slumber, most of my Chosen would have died, and entire nations would have changed. It might sound callous, but I am of the opinion that the Abyss Sovereign cares too much about mayflies.”

“You sound like a villain now,” Gemini remarked. “But I suppose that’s how immortal beings view mortal ones.”

“The Abyss Sovereign is quite similar to the Demon God in that regard,” Hereward replied. “Well, at least before the latter touched the Abyss and went mad.”

“There’s no need to qualify that bit,” Gemini replied. “The Abyss Sovereign did go mad, if we consider his stance from the Five Lands’ point of view.”

“Auh…”

“What’s wrong, Aria?” Gemini asked.

“Maybe she’s disagreeing with your argument,” Hereward replied. “Aww. So cute — yeowch! Don’t go biting me!”

“That’s more like a baby now,” Gemini noted. “Ah, good times. Here, pass her over to me. Maybe she wants me back or something.”

After fawning over his daughter for a minute or two, Gemini turned back to Hereward. “Are the other great gods done? The Five Lands have made a move, and they’re getting burned badly for it. If we don’t step in soon, there won’t be much of a backup for us.”

“Soon. Soon. Our familiar spirits have already arrived to provide support, although they’re busy with something else right now.” He pointed out of the window, and Gemini understood immediately.

The unnatural crimson sky.

Sometime ago, the sky had turned into a soothing crimson. Why and how were questions Gemini had no answers to, but it couldn’t be anything good to begin with.

“We’ll have to check it out, then.”

Hereward nodded. “Definitely. The familiar spirits that went there were forced to retreat, since a tough enemy showed up to intercept them. We can expect a similar response, but fighting the interceptors is not recommended.”

“Why?”

“Well, other than you, we won’t fight them. We only have so much power to expend. Our enemy is in the ascendant now,” Hereward replied. “I hope you understand.”

“Very well.” Gemini rolled his eyes.

Hereward nodded, and then paused. “They should be here soon.”