Chapter 74: Prologue: The heavenly meeting

In the middle of the chamber, dimly lit with a cold blue light emitting from the large crystal hanging overhead, the large transcended man stood still, his hands firmly clenched into tight fists. His long fingernails pierced through the palm of his hands, causing his thick, red blood to slowly drip down onto the spotless, shiny floor beneath.

「Adela… What happened?」His furrowed brows have been unmoved for minutes now as he looked worryingly at the sleeping body of his precious daughter, who lay peacefully inside a small clear pod. 「It has been days, yet your soul has yet returned...」

「My lord!」Another Astral suddenly appeared behind Adeus, reported in. 「According to the news Otto san had gathered, the civil conflict within the Vernys Forest had concluded a few days ago, with the force of the Princess triumphed over her brother.」

「What do you mean the Princess triumphed?」growled Adeus, his voice verberating loudly within the hollow chamber. Knowing his daughter, once she finished dealing with Zaeryn, the next person on her torment list would be Sylvia's reincarnation. It was impossible for the Princess to emerge unharmed, let alone victorious if Adela was there to oversee the conflict. 「Adela would never let her win! Did Otto find out where my daughter is?」

「I asked him but I don't think he knows where the lady is, my Lord.」The messenger cowered in fear, knowing such an answer would enrage the Ennead Candidate even more.

「HOW COULD HE NOT LOCATE HER?」Adeus screamed out in anger, the large lotus flowers floating around him began to stir up erratically. 「Each homunculus vessel is embedded with a Seer Stone, which continuously transmits signals back to the Modun, how can he be unable following such signal?」

「... That..」The man hesitated for a moment. 「Otto told me, for some reasons, the signal belonging to Adela sama's vessel ceased to emit anything four days ago. But since Adela sama tends to turn off the Seer Stone function on her own, Otto did not think much about it.」

「Four days ago?」That's when she was supposed to face Zaeryn, Adeus' cold heart started to race. 「Are you sure it was really four days ago?」Adeus asked again to confirm.

「Yes, sire...」

「Damn you, Zaeryn!」Adeus took another look at Adela's sleeping body before stomping out of the chamber. 「What have you done!??」

「Where are you going, Adeus sama?」The man hurriedly followed his Lord.

「Vernys!」Adeus simply answered, before stopping dead on his track.

「No, you don't.」A husky voice disagreed.

「You're coming with us to the Council of the Ennead, Adeus kun.」A woman quickly appeared in front of the fuming Astral, blocking his path,

「Get out of my way, Ereen」Adeus stared down at the petite woman, dressed in a pink gothic dress that easily revealed half of her breast.

「This is not a suggestion, Adeus.」A man, owner of the husky voice, finally materialized next to the woman.「You have been summoned. The Enneads demand to know why you and that daughter of yours have been keeping Zaeryn's reincarnation a secret.」

「What?」

「Don't make a scene here, Adeus kun.」The man warned.

「Listen to Malus, Adeus kun. It'd be regrettable if you let this escalate into a fight… After all, a fight between Ennead Candidates like ourselves could easily decimate all the buildings in the vicinity.」Ereen simply smiled. 「I'm sure you don't want that, given that the body of Adela chan is resting over there.」

「... What's going here?」The messenger broke into cold sweat as he stood alone, witnessing the clash of Nen released by the three closest powers to the Enneads, unable to comprehend what had just transpired in front of his eyes.

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The familiar empty space that filled with nothing but a complete whiteness had always stirred up a sense of uneasiness in the fearless Adeus. Such a feeling was not caused by currently being in the presence of the 7 members of the all powerful Enneads. It was something else entirely that the transcended man could not fathom. The location where he stood, the heart of the Modun realm, was clearly more than just an empty room. Calling it a "room" implied its definitive existence and this space was anything but "existing": This whiteness was the result of an absence of existence, a manifestation of a bottomless void that devoured reality. Adeus still remembered ten millennia ago, the moment he first entered the space to gain an audience with the Enneads, he could feel his very own existence being actively erased. Ironically, any normal being, who was neither strong nor sensitive enough, would not be able to perceive the peculiarity associated with the white dimension.

… Only 7 of them are here… Where did he go? Adeus noted of a missing Ennead.

「... You're late.」said one of the figures with a long, white beard that fell down to his knees.

「My apology, Ozyan sama.」answered Ereen before all three of the Candidates dutifully knelt down on their knees and lowered their heads.

「Oz, you're too strict on the timing again.」The beautiful goddess, who was much like Ereen, had half of her ample breast exposed, quickly dismissed her peer's scolding. 「They're only a few minutes behind schedule.」

「Freya sama, you're too kind…」Spoke Malus, though he still has yet dared to raise his head. 「but we shall take full responsibility for our tardiness.」

「Good that you understand the importance of being on time, Malus kun.」Ozyan gazed down at the kneeling man. 「After all, in this rush hours before the commencement of the "Harvest," it is of the utter most importance that we have to be precise and efficient as possible, right down to the seconds…」

… Seriously, wouldn't this nonsense reprimand also be a form of wasting time? The goddess thought to herself before intercepting Ozyan's lecture.「Since time is of the essence, why don't we start with the reason why we summon Adeus kun here? You all can raise your heads.」The Candidates quickly stood up on their feets after Freya had given them permission.「So, I'm sure Malus kun and Ereen kun have told you the reason why we called you here…」

「Yes, Freya sama.」nodded Adeus.

「So tell us, Adeus kun」said another figure of the Enneads, who took the form of a young boy. 「Why have you and your daughter keep the news of Zaeryn's reincarnation a secret from all of us here?」

「... News of the reincarnation of an insignificant failure like him is hardly worthy of your attention, Ea sama.」The Astral defiantly answered. 「We planned to quickly deal with him and simply present you with his head once everything had settled.」

「Insignificant failure?」Ea noted.「Is that how you view him?」

「Yes. He's nothing more than a feral dog who once tried to rebel against us Astral.」

「I see…」nodded Ea.「And how have you and your daughter dealt with a failure like him? Where is his head now?」

「...」Adeus remained silent.

「SNAP OUT OF YOUR RIDICULOUS REASONING, ADEUS! HE'S A FAILURE?」screamed out Ea.「AS IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOURSELF! Just admit that you simply fucking indulged your daughter and her twisted fantasy as you always have, allowing her to act selfishly on her own to prey on that man you called "failure", instead of alerting us of his return!」

「As a Candidate and the one who led the defense of the Modun's gate against Zaeryn's followers, you should already knew Zaeryn's existence is an unprecedented threat to us Astral. The only other threat more urgent than him is none other than his own pupil of 10k years ago, Matelus…」Ozyan declared.

「...And yet, you still let your daughter deal with him alone, simply because she wants to toy with his reincarnation, did you not?」Another of the Ennead asked.

「I let her take care of his reincarnation because I believe she will succeed.」denied the Ennead Candidate.

「Did you now?」snickered Ea.「And did you know what happened to her?」

「Do you know any idea where Adela is, Ea sama?」Adeus was eager to learn of any news regarding his daughter.

「I've personally traveled to Vernys with my Homunculus vessel and checked out what happened there…」Ea told Adeus.「It took some time but I've located the site where the battle between her and Zaeryn's reincarnation took place. And there, I was able to peek into the past and observe their fight. Your daughter lost against the man you called a "failure," Adeus. She underestimated him, much like you did and she paid for that failure with her soul.」

「... What… What are you saying?」

「Kibadios was able to devour her soul and sealed her inside him using power.」

「How… can it be?」Adeus' heart raced. 「... Octagram Holy Wall? But that meant she was not able to escape before the barrier went down. But how can that be? The one who erected the barrier was acting under her command, she should have told him to dispel the barrier the moment she's in trouble.」The man continued to talk to himself, trying to make sense of what had transpired.

「That hero named Ryan, of whom Adela believed was working for her, was in fact dutifully serving Zaeryn's reincarnation instead. Because of her overconfidence, your daughter was tricked and she unwittingly walked into the trap. Now, her captured soul is now suffering within Zaeryn as we speak.」

「I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!!!」screamed out Adeus as the lotus suddenly floated erratically around his body.

「Oh no, you don't.」Freya disagreed.

「What?」Asked Adeus in a disrespectful tone. Since this matter concerned his precious daughter, in his eyes, anyone who dared to stop him would only be asking for trouble, even if that person was an Ennead themselves.

「Watch your tone, Adeus kun!」warned Malus.

「... You don't think we would just let you travel to Esthar, do you?」Another of the 7, who had been remaining silent during the exchange, finally spoke up. The old man dressed in a long, white tunic, stared down at the fuming Adeus.

「Vrag sama, please give me a chance to right my wrongs and deal with Zaeryn. I promise I will take care of this. 」

「You don't understand, Adeus kun.」Freya gave Adeus a twisted smile.「There's no need for us to deal with Zaeryn's reincarnation… at least for now. Not when we have yet to deal with the urgent threat that Matelus' posing.」

「What are you talking about, Freya sama?」Adeus could not believe what he had just heard. 「He is undoubtedly tormenting Adela at this very moment, how could we not…」

「Not that he could kill her.」Freya interrupted. 「Just let she suffer a bit more and think of it as her punishment.」

「What did you just say?」Adeus could not hide his murderous intent toward Freya, which elicited quick responses from Malus and Ereen as the two quickly teleported behind the man and pinned him down on his knee. Despite the scene and Adeus' disrespect, the goddess simply continued.

「You don't understand, Adeus. The only way that Zaeryn can prevent Adela's soul from escaping is by actively using as "gatekeeper." That means as long as Adela is trapped within him, he cannot summon And if he cannot summon , then the threat he poses to us is already cut by more than half… Unlike Matelus and his primordial spirit of Earth.」

「... What are you implying?」

「Is it not clear enough? What we're saying is that in order to prevent Zaeryn from utilizing , it is imperative that Adela's soul stays trapped.」Ea answered.

「How dare you use my daughter like that?!!!」The unexpected Nen burst out from the man caught both of the other candidates off guard, causing them to take a few steps back, created an opening for the Adeus to spring upward and jumped onto Ea's pedestal.

「Contain your rage, Adeus.」Commanded Ea, who still appeared indifferent toward his subordinate's transgression. 「One wrong move and everything you have worked toward these past ten millennia will crumble in front of your eyes.」

「... You」Before Adeus could say or do anything, the raging Astral suddenly found himself being forcibly teleported back to where he previously knelt down, next to Malus and Ereen.

「Like I said, think of these times when she suffers under Zaeryn as her fitting punishment for trying to conceal his reincarnation from us. But sooner or later, the Anathema will have to resort to and your daughter will be able to escape her imprisonment and return to her body in this realm… That is, if you decide against doing anything rash. If her father elected not to listen to my warning though, she may find out that her soul no longer has a real body to return to.」warned Freya in a grim tone.「... Do you understand… Adeus kun?」

「... Yes… Freya sama…」The Astral gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

「Now, you also played a part in this, Adeus.」said Vrag. 「and we have thought of a good punishment that befitting your mishap.」

「... I am… obediently awaiting your judgment..」After Freya threatened to harm his daughter's real body, the Astral had learned to carefully choose his words in front of 7 of the Enneads.

「 "Punishment" may not be the correct word here.」Vrag corrected himself.「It's more of a task that we assign to you.」

「The sooner you complete it successfully, the sooner we may allow you to confront Zaeryn's reincarnation and force him to summon in order to break free your daughter.」Motivated Freya.

「... And what task would it be?」asked Adeus.

「Dealing with some of the Irregularities that upset the balance of this world these past few crucial decades, right before the commencement of the Harvest.」Ea answered.

「You don't mean…」

「Yes. You may want to start with eliminating that Great Demon Lord named Ashura. After all, I don't like the fact that he had somehow befriended Zaeryn's reincarnation.」

「It's never wise for us to allow Irregularities to team up together… especially if one of them is the Anathema.」Ozyan noted. 「We rarely directly interfere with Esthar, and when was the last time that we directly took out a Yonko like this? But I fear if we leave them alone, it will come back and haunt us in the future.」

「We're already having a headache dealing with Matelus and his scheme, the last thing we want is having the Irregularities and their forces growing stronger than they are now.」

「... Though, if you think about it, I don't think it's a coincidence that so many Irregularities like the members of the Yonko are popping up in the same era like this… and on top of the fact that Zaeryn and Sylvia have both reincarnated now, right before we're readying to start the Harvest.」Noted Ea.

「It may be "her" doing. That's why one of us has gone to meet with her to confirm.」

「... She's such a wild card…」