"He knows them best." Pandora said, "Because he is one of them. The Demon Emperor was originally an Ancient Titan God, a part of the Ancient Titan Pantheon. He has entered the Shrine personally. At some point, for reasons no one knows, he betrayed it. Left for a distant alien domain, created the Dimensional Demon Race from nothing, and built the Abyss. The Dimensional Demons are his creation. He is not a demon by origin. He is a Titan God who chose to become one."
Haru went still for a moment. He had not expected this. The Demon Emperor, the entity he had identified as his primary obstacle, the Pseudo God King whose arrival he was preparing to face, was not what he had assumed. Not a native of the Abyss, not a creature born to destruction. He was a Titan. An ancient one, who had walked away from the Shrine and built his own empire from the ground up.
That changed the context of everything. The revelation settled over Haru slowly. The Demon Emperor hadn't merely entered the Shrine as a treasure hunter, he had been listed among its ranks. One of the Ancient Titan Gods powerful enough to qualify, which meant the lowest tier of those inside was the Supreme God Tier, with many at Pseudo God Monarch Tier.
Haru had assumed Aschenkranz was merely the strongest demon, he was actually something older and stranger than that, their founder, their architect. A Titan who had chosen to become something else entirely.
He revised Aschenkranz's threat assessment upward. A Pseudo God King with hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation, who had once stood among the most powerful Ancient Titan Gods and knew the Shrine from the inside, was not the same as a Pseudo God King who had simply trained for a very long time. His trump cards would be deep and old.
His only current assurance was Celestia. Once she reclaimed her strength, the calculation would shift. She had cultivated for tens of millions of years, maybe even more, which was longer than Aschenkranz by a significant margin, and her scope of dominion in the Illusory Angel Realm had been broader. In raw cultivation years and the depth of mastery, she held the edge. He held onto that.
…
Pandora watched him think, then sighed.
"The Demon Emperor coming in person means this Divine War will be the most costly in history. Even Supreme Gods who enter the Shrine may not return. Ordinary Gods on the battlefield will fall by the millions. Even those of us at Supreme God Tier cannot feel entirely safe with him present."
Haru said, "If you're concerned about the safety of your Light Pantheon, I have a suggestion."
She looked at him.
"Join the Great Aetherium. Under my protection, your Light Pantheon will gain the special abilities unique to the Castle Faction. Kill to grow stronger, no shackles while ascending, even your potential would improve by using the Bloodline Evolution Blueprints. In the Divine War, the difference that would make is substantial."
Pandora stared at him for a long moment. Then: "Brother-in-law can really joke."
"I'm serious."
"I know you are." She sighed, "And I won't pretend the offer isn't attractive. But I am the leader of the Light Pantheon. I have an infinitely brilliant future of my own. I don't plan on becoming a subordinate Goddess, not even for my brother-in-law, not for now at least."
Haru accepted this without argument. His view was simple: make the Great Aetherium strong enough, make the alternatives bleak enough, and the Goddess of Light would arrive on her own terms eventually. He wasn't in a hurry.
"That said." Pandora said, "I understand the Beast God Pantheon has already made that choice."
Haru nodded. No point hiding it. When the Great Aetherium besieged the Light Empire's capital, the Beast Gods would fight alongside his army, and the relationship would become public immediately, "The Medusa Goddess Christine brought all of them. Over a million Beast Gods, now under my command."
Pandora absorbed this. The Beast God Pantheon was larger than her own Light Pantheon in raw count of numbers. The idea that the entire faction had submitted, without a Supreme God of their own to anchor them, was striking. She believed it without question, but found it difficult to fully comprehend.
There was a related detail worth mentioning, one with a certain comedic quality. The Goddess of Curses, Merc, through her connection with Christine, had learned from the 'GM' that the Beast God Pantheon has submitted to the Great Aetherium. She had immediately begun anxiously trying to improve her standing with Haru, because she had once cursed Christine, and was now worried Haru would come after her for it.
Pandora said quietly, "In just a few days, your empire's strength has multiplied several times over."
"The Great Aetherium's growth spurt isn't finished yet." Haru said simply.
"I can see that." She looked at him, at the Divine Aura still radiating from his stillness, at the complete absence of bluster in how he said it, "If the day comes when my Light Pantheon has taken too many losses, or the Abyssal Army pushes past what I can hold—I reserve the right to knock on your door. Don't refuse me then, Brother-in-law."
"The Light Pantheon is welcome in the Great Aetherium."
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