Location: Obrys.
Varkath's Divine Senses swept every corner of his domain—temples, valleys, even the underground. He withdrew it and looked at his daughter.
"It must be an illusion, Helena. No enemy entered. Nothing escapes my perception here."
Helena accepted it. Her father's defeat had rattled her more than she'd admitted, even to herself.
She handed over the hammer and told him about the Myriad Starfall Tower, a structure exclusive to the Dimensional Demons, now standing inside the Great Aetherium. Built in just two months by a force that didn't even exist before that time. Even the Titan Prophet had studied it for years but produced nothing.
Varkath was jealous. He knew it. But when Helena proposed an alliance, even he refused. The Great Aetherium had taken his arm, stolen his natal artifact, and forced him to ransom it back with Divine Crystals. His anger hadn't come close to cooling.
"When I claim the Throne, the Endless Continent is mine." He said. "We don't form alliances with future enemies over a mere tower."
"As you wish, Father."
She didn't push. His will was final.
"I grant you access to the Sea of Thunder." He added, "Reach the Supreme God Tier."
That broke through everything else. The Sea of Thunder, the core of Titans, forbidden to all but Varkath and the Prophet. She bowed, and the Great Aetherium left her mind entirely.
…
Behind the Varkath's residence lay their race's forbidden core, and what it contained explained the restriction.
The Prometheus Ark, known as the Mothership. It had saved Varkath on the battlefield, a beam of light tearing through dimensions, pulling him home before Celestia could finish the job. Her ultimate artifact held the origin of the Space-Time Law: she could seal dimensions, reverse time itself. The Mothership's power had interfered just enough that she couldn't.
Now an illusory figure slipped through the forbidden zone's God-level restrictions. It was Celestia's divine incarnation, wrapped in Angelic spells so complete that Varkath's Divine Senses had passed over her without pause. She knew the beam had come from somewhere inside. She meant to find it.
…
Location: Great Aetherium.
Haru set down his Armor of Sovereignty as the last of the golden light faded. One hundred thirty million Divine Crystals—fifty million to reach high-level, eighty million more to hit the peak. The Thunder Hammer trade had covered it with room to spare.
_____________
[Armor of Sovereignty]
[Owner: Lord of the Aetherium Empire, the 'Divine Emperor' Kazehaya Haru]
[Type: Growth Artifact]
[Grade: Top-level Supreme God Tier Artifact]
[Description: This is an artifact exclusive to the strongest Kings and Emperors. Only the strongest Lords of thousands of planets are qualified to own it. It is a symbol of strength!]
[Defense Value: 80 million points of Divine Power]
[Upgrade requirement: Unknown]
[Next Grade: God Monarch Tier Artifact]
_____________
Eighty million divine power on defense alone. Combined with his own law enhancements, even peak Supreme Gods would struggle to touch him. The path to upgrading this artifact to the God Monarch Tier existed, he just couldn't see the requirements yet. One ceiling replaced by another, further up.
Top-level natal artifact for offense, top-level for defense, three additional Supreme God Tier Artifacts besides those. Haru was literally a walking treasury. Anyone capable of killing him deserved the loot.
He was satisfied with that. Genuinely, completely satisfied, for about as long as it took Celestia to walk through the door.
The ten artifacts stripped from the five Supreme Gods they'd killed on the battlefield would stay in storage. When he resurrected them, they'd need their weapons back. A Supreme God without their artifact was half a Supreme God, useless as an ally.
…
Celestia appeared in the hall and knelt.
"My incarnation entered the forbidden zone, the core of Obrys." She took a pause, "There is a giant mothership inside with a hull length exceeding fifty-eight thousand kilometers, armed with countless heavy cannons."
Haru went still. The entire Earth's diameter was less than thirteen thousand kilometers. This ship wasn't a vessel, it was a geographical feature.
"The hull is layered with runes radiating immense divine aura." Celestia continued, "Its engines and cannons are quite advanced. Magic power fused with technology. Only the Titans from the Throneveil Shrine could have built something like this."
"The beam that saved Varkath came from it?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Can your incarnation seize control of it?"
"No." She said without any hesitation, "Its power approaches Pseudo God Monarch Tier. It is the clan treasure of the entire Titan Pantheon. If it even detects me, my incarnation will get destroyed."
Haru exhaled. That mothership in enemy hands changed the calculus of every future battle.
"Keep exploring." He said. "Seize control if the opportunity appears. If not, learn everything—how it moves, how it fires, how it chooses targets. I don't want surprises when we face it."
"As you command."
"And extract the law sources from the Godheads. Before the Demons arrive, I need every edge available."
Celestia bowed and left.
The 1.6 million Godheads from the recent war. Even discounting duplicates, that collection held many laws he hadn't yet absorbed, each one narrowing the gap between him and the Demon Emperor, and between him and the God King's Throne.
…
At this moment, word arrived from the distant front that Havenloch had fallen.
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