To the Light Empire, the Dark Empire was an inconvenience, while the Great Aetherium was an existential threat. And if the Dark Empire's army ended up positioned between the advancing Great Aetherium and the Imperial Capital, it would be great. Using wolves to counter invading tigers was a time-honored strategy.
The core ministers in the hall shared his relief, with the bitter edge underneath it that came from understanding exactly what they had been reduced to. The most powerful human empire in the central area, bringing wolves into its own house. It was a tragedy, but also the right move. And all of it traced back to the Great Aetherium's declaration of war.
"One day, we will make them all pay." The ministers muttered to each other, "The Great Aetherium, the Castle Faction, the Dark Empire. Everything we've lost, we'll reclaim a thousand times over."
Nobody disputed this. Nobody said when.
"The most urgent task is surviving this." One minister said, and the room refocused.
…
Asher leaned forward, "We cannot simply wait and hope the Great Aetherium and Dark Empire collide. If the Dark Empire loses its nerve and retreats when it encounters the Great Aetherium's strength, our plan fails. We have to force a confrontation."
He outlined the next phase. Their agents, True Gods of the Light Empire, masters of the Divine Law of Light, would disguise themselves as Angels. Divine Body transformation was an elementary skill for any God. What mattered was ensuring the Divine Law of Light they emitted was close enough for them to be confused for Angels.
Thus, the Dark Empire's Gods wouldn't detect the difference. They would move carefully, timed to the moment when the Great Aetherium and Castle Faction crossed the Nivara and made contact with the Dark Empire's army, giving the Dark Empire no window to investigate before the chaos of that encounter consumed their attention.
Their targets: heirs and family members of Dark Empire's High God Tier ministers. Their direct bloodlines. Since Gods rarely produced offspring, when they did, those children represented thousands of years of investment.
Grief of that kind didn't stay rational. If the core ministers of the Dark Empire believed the Angels had killed their children, during the confusion of first contact and with no time to verify, the probability of an explosive response was high.
Asher understood this on a personal level, in a sideways manner. He himself had no heirs. His children from his mortal era had all died long since, and as a Supreme God with eternal life, he had no need to pass anything on. But he could imagine the rage precisely because he could imagine the loss. What he couldn't feel as vulnerability, he understood as leverage.
"Move fast, strike hard, leave no evidence." He said, "If this works, the Dark Empire will attack the Great Aetherium and we gain time. Time is all we need."
The ministers had already identified their targets. The moment came, they were ready.
Asher dismissed them and sat alone in the hall.
"The Great Aetherium. The Castle Faction. The Dark Empire." His voice was very quiet, "One day, this Asher will repay every debt. What we've lost today, we will take back a thousand times over."
He sat with that promise for a while, then returned to his work.
…
Above the Nivara River, inside one of the Great Aetherium's Astral Cities, the four Supreme Gods had gathered.
Yvonne. Lysandra. Eveline. And Amelie, newest to the group, already at ease with the other three in the way that shared faith produced quickly. She was human rather than Angel, but in the Great Aetherium racial distinctions didn't carry the weight they did elsewhere.
Haru's goal was to establish an Empire where Gods of every race gather. Lysandra and the others understood this and lived by it. Though the Dark, Evil, and Undead factions were a separate matter: those required conversion through the Holy Grail before anyone from those camps could join. But Amelie was simply a Goddess who believed in Haru, which made her as welcome as any Angel.
Lysandra's gaze, when it passed over the battlefield below, had the particular quality of someone looking at something small. Her actual horizon was elsewhere, the Angel Race's purpose, as she understood it, was to help the Almighty Lord rule the entire universe. The mortal-level battle beneath her was one step in a journey that extended far beyond the Light Empire.
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