"Did you cook this?"
"Yes."
"It's excellent."
Her eyes curved slightly. She seemed to enjoy that.
"You're not eating?"
"I'm not used to it." She said, which he took to mean she didn't need food the way he still chose to eat it, and left it at that.
He looked at the veil while he ate. He was a late-stage Supreme God. His Divine Senses could read most things, yet the veil defeated it completely, which meant whatever sealed it was operating above his current level.
"Not yet." Svetlana said, before he asked.
He looked at her, "Can it be removed at all?"
"Something is sealed inside it. If the veil comes off, something unspeakable happens. It's not stubbornness, it's precaution."
He could feel the truth of that. Whatever the mechanism was, it was real.
"When it becomes a problem, I'll help you deal with it." He said.
She received this with the calm of someone who had already factored it into her plans. Not gratitude exactly, something more like acknowledgment between people who have established that they're on the same side.
He finished eating. She refilled his plate without being asked.
"Lily is still in retreat?"
"She's refining the Godhead. When she finishes, I'm taking her to 'The End', to meet the spirit of the Endless Continent's Law. I want to help her ascend before the Divine War begins."
The Spirit of Endless Continent's Laws was an ancient and vastly more powerful entity than anything Haru had encountered so far, born tens of millions years ago in the Era of Throneveil Shrine.
It was the force that the Ancient Supreme Gods like Elunara, Varkath, and Drakenvader, the Dragon Lord, all answered to without exception. Getting its help for Lily's ascension was not a small favor to arrange.
"It's about this precise timing, because the Demonic Army is already moving to the Blood Moon." Svetlana continued, "Once it changes, the Divine War would begin."
"The Blood Moon is their staging ground?"
"The demons have occupied it in the Ancient Era's Divine War and built their nests on it. I'm sure you already know that they're teleportation points connected directly to the Abyss. The Demonic Army would assemble there and wait. When the Endless Continent's border wall cracks, they come through."
(T/N: I feel like 'Border Wall' is the correct term to describe the protective wall that surrounds a super large planet like the Endless Continent to prevent invasions. If anyone has better suggestions, please leave them here and I'll consider them.)
"Why would the border wall crack?"
"It's the Throneveil Shrine." She said, "Every ten thousand years, it descends from Kronforge into the Endless Continent and the God King's Throne appears with it every hundred thousand years. The force of its descent cracks the wall."
"This window, when the Endless Continent's defenses are at their weakest and the ultimate prize is present, is when the Demons will invade. The window when the defenses are weakest and the prize is present simultaneously."
He turned this over, "Kronforge, where is it?"
"In the void. It is the Ancient Titan Pantheon's core planet. Very few know of its coordinates."
She looked at him and smiled, "I have a feeling Your Majesty will find it."
He thought about the Myriad Starfall Tower scanning the void continuously. Estelle, the Protoss, was logging every discovery. It appeared that Svetlana knew about the tower, he could tell by the way she didn't mention it while clearly having calculated it into her answer.
She was protecting the secret even in a private conversation, which told him how seriously she took the risk of exposure. If the Titan and Dragon Pantheons learned the tower existed and what it could do, they wouldn't try to take it, they'd demand a share of its discoveries. Refusing would mean war. Agreeing would mean handing away his strategic advantage.
Svetlana hadn't even told Elunara. He appreciated this more than he said.
…
They talked through the night, the Era of Faith, the last Divine War, the Throneveil Shrine's history, the structure of the Ancient Titan Pantheon. She gave him more context about Endless Continent's history than he'd accumulated in all the time since arriving. By the time he stood to leave, he understood the shape of what was coming considerably better than before.
At the doorway, she said, "Six Supreme Gods will be coming to the Great Aetherium soon. Be careful, Your Majesty."
He stopped, "Six Supreme Gods?"
He turned back to look at her. She met his gaze with those silver eyes, and said nothing more.
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