The Gathering Of Monarchs!

Many priests, kingdom officials, princes, and princesses gathered from different parts of the Central region. This was a special occasion in a fight against humanity's greatest enemy.

Their current location was known as the City of Light. They gathered in a large circular room, where many big shots congregated.

Five thrones with signature symbols stood around this circular room. On these thrones sat the leaders of their respective kingdoms.

They wore high-quality silk clothing that had been strictly tailor-made. Their heads were adorned with crowns customized with diadems and mysterious patterns. 

It was the Queen of the Oricon Empire, Charlotte Melos Atawood of the North Zone.

The King of the Ebonhawk Empire, Rainer Z. Crossguard of the South Zone.

The King of the Teslan Empire, Romanov Von. Rupeer of the East zone.

The King of the Baladeer Empire, Jack D. Baladeer of the West Zone.

The King of the Blackwing Empire, Ventamon Bluemann The 6th of the Central Zone.

In the center of the room was a man wearing pure white priest robes. This middle-aged man wore heavily decorated robes that emphasized his status. 

This was the Grand Priest of the Temple of Light.

"We have gathered here for a reason. I'm glad to see most of the top figures from the five kingdoms." The Grand Priest gazed around the room and continued. 

"The Void Emperor and his Seven Heavenly Kings have been born. Their forces have broken into our world and attacked many settlements. You can guess the significance of our situation."

These monsters came from a region outside their world. They had strange, rare skills that were hard to acquire. 

"Yes, they've attacked several villages, it seems they're using them as a warm-up for the time being." King Rainer raised his hand and spoke, highlighting the situation. 

"I believe this to be true, they'll start small before advancing and attacking stronger posts. The Void Emperor can't enter our world for now, so he'll send spies and a small army to sneak attack or infiltrate small settlements." 

The Grand Priest speculated that this was likely the case. The Void Emperor was restricted for the time being. However, this wouldn't last forever, and eventually, he would completely invade 'The Aldnoah World'. 

"At this pace, Baron Ranked Void monsters will break through the Spatial barrier. There are only Void Knights, which are already troublesome for regular adventurers and troops." Queen Charlotte frowned and said.

Void Knights were a middle-class void entity, always fitted with a full suit of armor. They usually used a lance, sword, or spear as their primary weapon. In rare cases, they used a sword and shield; making these the most deadly type of knights. 

"Don't worry, several local guilds are rallying and being hired. This includes mercenaries and other fighting forces. Even foreign races are making their own preparations against the Void entities."

Romanov rallied many guilds that were willing to contribute to the war effort. Some were still on the fence about the situation, since they were more concerned about their pockets.

"Yes, this is good, but let's talk about why I invited everyone here today. Surely, you guys know I didn't invite you here just to talk about war plans."

The Grand Priest smiled and continued.

"Last year, our temple found and ruin and explored it. Within it, we found an item that will change the tide of battle for this war."

Hearing the Grand Priest, everyone tuned in with anticipation.

What did he find?

"We found a Divine Summoning Stone!" The Grand Priest's voice reverberated throughout the room. However, this room was soundproof so no one but the people present could hear it. 

"What?!" Many people's eyes bulged while some stood and sat up abruptly.

The significance of this matter was world-shattering. These stones were simply too rare, the last one was found around two thousand years ago. 

If one had to classify this stone, they would be Mythical Grade or higher!

"Hehe, do you guys understand?" The Grand Priest smiled, he was a 42-year-old man but he looked like he was in his mid-twenties.

Everyone nodded like chickens pecking grain, their eyes refusing to close. The princes and princesses that were present, were just as shocked while some seemed confused about this stone.

"That's right, this means the summoning of heroes from another world!" The room was silent, this indeed meant the summoning of heroes.

"How many heroes can this Divine Summoning stone summon?" After a while, the Queen of the Oricon Kingdom asked hurriedly.

"This stone can summon 10-20 heroes to this world." The Grand Priest grinned and said.

"What? So many at a time!" Everyone was excited to hear this news. 

"You guys probably understand to some degree by this point. The Temple of Light will take the most Heroes and each of you will get a few to train up."

The room was suddenly in an uproar, they could train up their very own heroes?! The talent of heroes was extraordinarily high.

Their Leveling Potential was usually 4,000 or more, with the rarest ones reaching at least 5,000 plus! Not to mention their overwhelming skill sets and abilities.

"Good, Good! If I can take in a male hero and marry him into our royal family, my family's potential would skyrocket!"

King Jack of the Baladeer Empire clenched his fist, he was practically shaking with joy. Everyone had their own thoughts about the situation as well.

However, the Grand Priest warned them about trying to force these heroes into submission. Heroes contained a special power known as a Hero Aura.

This meant they couldn't be enslaved if they had such thoughts, nor could they be brainwashed.

If they were under some sort of debuff or infliction. They would simply make a full recovery minutes or hours later from such attacks.

When the Blackwing and Ebonhawk kingdoms heard this, they sighed. Indeed, this plan to enact force upon them wouldn't work. This would only garner the resentment of the heroes, and cause unnecessary trouble later. 

But this didn't mean some wouldn't use intimidation tactics.

Right then, a man rushed into the room with haggard breath.

"Reese! How dare you break in at this time, are you tired of living?!" One of the Holy Knights was furious and wanted to strike this fool down.

"Wait! The Divine summoning stone was damaged by a Void Monster! The monster tried to escape but was struck down by one of the priests!"

"What?!" The Grand Priest's expression turned green. He almost shot a ray of Burning Light at Reese to soothe his anger.

"What's going on? These monsters are already trying to sneak into the City of Light? No, they seem to have snuck into the Temple of Light already!"

The Ebonhawk King's voice had a tinge of disdain in it. How could these monsters already invade such a holy place? The Kings, Queen, Princesses, and Princes frowned. 

"Bring the Divine Summoning Stone into the hall!" The Grand Priest's Mana gushed out and permeated the room, causing the people nearby to sweat.

It was like a tsunami crushing down on those too close. The princesses' and princes' eyebrows twitched feeling this pressure, it was too terrifying! The Grand Priest's body was wrapped in a tint of white light and so were his eyes.

The Kings and Queen frowned at this sight. This Grand Priest was far stronger than they thought. Not to mention, they were worried about the stone, could it still be used?

Two Clarics and a Priest came into the room hurriedly. The Clerics were men carrying the corpse of the Voidling. The Priest was holding a yellow stone the size of a basketball. 

The Grand Priest didn't even look at the Voidling as his attention was strictly on the stone.

"There are cracks on it, this won't be good. It seems this stone will only have the ability to summon around 7-15 heroes physically." 

The Grand Priest frowned as his face turned red with suppressed anger. He was so angry that he wanted to kill these ignorant fools.

They had one job and they couldn't do it right! The Grand Priest was supposed to give them the signal to come into this room with the stone later, but it had taken damage.

However, he calmed down before sighing in relief since the damage wasn't critical. 

"What do you mean by physically?" One of the princes couldn't help but ask. 

"It means a few heroes won't be summoned here, but instead, they would be thrown into a random location in the world." The Grand Priest shook his head and said bitterly.

"We will send people to be on the lookout for someone with the Hero Aura. This aura gives off distinct fluctuations that set them apart from other mana users. Additionally, they possess an Origin Core rather than a Mana Core, Aura Core, and Divine Core."

Hearing the Ebonhawk King, everyone nodded in unison. They all turned to the Voidling and understood that this was a rare mutated variant. This variant had the Shadow Mastery and the Shapeshifter Mastery.

It could also phase through walls. It would seem the Void Emperor had put in a lot of effort to sabotage them.

They were very hard to spot and detect.

The Grand Priest looked around the room. How could the Void Emperor know about the Summon of Heroes?

There was clearly a traitor among them! He kept his mouth shut but he would secretly conduct an investigation.

Everyone was relieved, this meant they would still get a few heroes for themselves. Some Monarchs had originally been jealous when they heard that the Temple of Light was going to take the most heroes.

However, the stone had been damaged, so only a few would appear from the altar while the rest would be discharged into random locations around the world. They were secretly celebrating to hear that this was the case.

They also wished to covertly locate these heroes and induct them into their ranks.

"This will do, we need all the help we can. You guys should assemble a team just for this search."

As the Grand Priest said this, he walked toward an altar in the room. He continued to talk as he ascended the stairs.

"Every hero possesses a Special Skill in which they excel. This Special Skill is always at the Triple S-rank, also known as the Nine Star rank among guilds. Additionally, heroes are guaranteed to have an Innate Talent, which is a rarity among most people."

The Grand priest sat the Summoning Stone on the altar before it started to flash. 

The summoning of the chosen ones had begun.