AN: HELLO EVERYONE, I'm back, and I will be attempting to cast today the Susuga Tier Spell [Aplogy for Missed Week: Tripple Release], they should come out within a few hours of each other and then I will most likely get back to my regular schedule until we finish the story, please comment and review and thank you all for the support.

Chapter 20

"YOU CAN STOP TIME!"

The shout was absurdly loud, and Zesshi saw Raymond immediately bring his hands to his mouth as if trying not to disturb the motionless crowd surrounding them, for more than obvious reasons they did not seem perturbed at the very least by the outburst and he brought his hands down slowly remembering the ludicrous situation they were in.

Zesshi herself couldn't quite think straight, which she deemed acceptable, this whole situation was beyond thinking or even really believing, but here they were, and while it was all still fresh, a very casual reply was heard from the Sorcerer King.

"Oh, yes, I can"

The answer was more than just unimpressive, it was mocking as if this entire situation was plebeian to this being, this god, and Zesshi couldn't help but just slump down on a nearby seat, her mind completely out of rhyme or reason to try and make an excuse for what was happening. when she finally accepted the truth, she broke, she had a sickening madness building in her wide eyes as they peered through her fingertips as she held her face, this quickly descended into tears as she hysterically laughed at this whole joke of a situation.

'What the hell is this thing, that's just plain unfair'

Zesshi knew that number two from the Black could alter his flow of time, but his ability came from his weapon, [Sliver of Kronos] and its power was to make the user faster while simultaneously slowing down its target to a certain extent. It was a neat trick and when applied in single combat it could be seen as some form of time manipulation but in truth, it was just a much more powerful version of [Flow Acceleration]. She knew he took pride in his ability just like the previous user of the weapon, but ultimately if someone was fast enough they could manoeuvre around his speed and just end him there, just like the previous user of the ability. She knew he had never faced a sufficiently powerful opponent, in secret she was waiting for when he would try it on her to break his little pride over his trick.

But this right now, this wasn't some trick, none of this made sense unless she believed what the Sorcerer King was saying, and for everything she was, she was trying really, really REALLY hard not to believe.

Zesshi had known a lot of beings with absurd levels of power, many of which she now surpassed and would look down upon, some of them could move as quickly as the wind, or strike hard enough to shatter mountains, they had powers which could amaze even her sometimes, but nothing was as laughably ridiculous as literally stopping time, what did that even imply, and how long could he do that for, was there even a point in trying to fight something like this?

'He could just end a battle before it even began, how do you fight that?!'

"Can... Can you actually stop time?"

Her question was weak, the delivery soft and the answer she didn't really want, but she asked anyway,

The skeletal mass of divine power and majesty looked her way, the flames of its eyes probing why such a question would be asked, and she breathed softly knowing the answer before he even said it,

"This isn't really all too difficult, it's a rather simple tenth tier spell"

Raymond for his part was still freaking out, and at the mention of a tenth tier his sporadic movements just died down, and he too slumped at the nearest chair, which he missed and landed squarely upon the floor but he didn't seem to mind at all, and the usual hilarity of such an event was lost upon the current participants.

"umu,... while this is all too entertaining, I presume you wished to speak to me about more than this?"

The question was seemingly more of a command,

'Get your shit together, you're wasting my time!'

and it seemed to drive them out of their daze and momentarily return them to sanity, it was the tone which led her to think that there was more danger in wasting this being's time if that was even possible for an immortal undead with the ability to stop time itself.

'Is that even possible?'

Regardless of the specifics, she most definitely did not want to know, it seemed Raymond was smart enough to not wish to hesitate too much longer as well, but his knees were fighting the gravity of the situation as he stood. He cleared his throat so as to speak with some manner of respect and dignity, a credit to his determination and she thanked him for it.

"W-We did your majesty, events are transpiring which I have taken some personal aversion to, and we have information which we believe would be useful to you and would like to offer a trade of sorts"

The Sorcerer King's flames dimmed some as he spoke

"Oh, a trade you say, please do go on, what are these events?"

"Raymond again cleared his throat and began to speak,

"Not too long ago we received information that there is a horde of Beastmen heading towards the Dragon Kingdom, I presume to destroy it in retaliation for past grievances. While I had initially petitioned to have this information presented at the next summit meeting, my fellow Cardinals sought out to conspire with the Elf King to utilize the chaos of this event as a means of distraction to attack not only your kingdom but eventually the rest of the summit participants as well."

"Ahh, that is indeed interesting Cardinal, but I already know all of this"

The air immediately shifted,

"...W-what?"

He continued to casually amaze them,

"I know about the Beastmen invasion, I also personally confirmed it not too long ago, and I have planned accordingly, this is not news to me,"

Before Raymond could continue a skeletal hand waved him to shush

"I had predicted the Beastmen invasion quite some time ago, it only made sense considering their nature as a powerful nation, as well I also anticipated that your Theocracy might try to use this obvious distraction to make a bid for my territory, your ideology would certainly agree with this assessment thus it would be opportunistic to strike hard while I am away. in addition considering the events of the past day concerning your relic and the Cardinal, it would solidify this course of route, and it seems my suspicions are correct, now what I do not fully know, is why you are here, speaking to me. You mention personal aversions, should I take that to mean you not agree with your fellows Cardinal?"

The revelation that this being had apparently already anticipated all of this was hilarious, and Zesshi could not help but just laugh at how stupid all this was turning out, not only were the people she thought she could trust backstabbing her but they were doing so on the hope that they would win a war with a being who was a thousand steps ahead of them. Zesshi couldn't help but just laugh more at the slight bit of justice in all that, she also knew that the laughter was drawing attention to her, and while she didn't like the eyes of that all-powerful being solely on her, she couldn't stop herself,

"Ray, what's the point, he's already anticipated all of this, everything they think they're so smart for trying to do, which means even now the rest of them are just dancing on the palm of his hand, I bet he even knows about Momon, so what's the point?"

Raymond seemed to realize the same thing, and he again looked to be trying to find some way out of this, he was racking his brain for a plan, something and Zesshi was honestly too fed up for any more cleverness, she had enough,

"You're not going to try and smart your way out of this Ray, it's pointless"

She sighed as she resolved herself, years of life had taught her important things, and while she had always won, she knew when it was time to admit defeat. So she looked death in the face, and while she hoped it was more figuratively she knew this could be the literal death of her. Raising her head to find that he was already meeting eyes with her, fear crept its way back into her soul but she tried her damn most to at least appear strong, though she suspected it didn't seem like much to this thing, she most likely just looked like a bug squirming when noticed and he was deciding whether to swat her or not, nevertheless she persisted to speak.

"We came here to try and feed you information to save our nation, but I guess that's all moot now isn't it"

"I wouldn't say that at all,"

The response was a surprise to them both, and she sprang back to life, sensing some sort of hope,

"What!?"

"While you are right that I had anticipated this turn of events I still do not desire to destroy your nation, my plead for peace was genuine and it is one that I would still like to preserve,"

He looked back at Raymond as he continued

"I believe I told you and your fellows that during the summit, though clearly most did not listen, in my eyes peace is an eventuality in this world. One that I will work tirelessly to ensure, in this manner I commend you both for coming to speak on this more peaceful of paths,... however it is a shame the same could not be said about the rest of your delegation,"
The words were like an oasis in the distant desert and hope was springing back into both of them, Raymond was slowly standing, picking himself back up,

"But understand, while I have no intention of destroying needlessly, I will not show mercy to those who would conspire to bring ruin to those who have trusted their lives to me, this will only confirm to the others that you can no longer be trusted in any manner, thus even if you are left alone of exposed the Theocracy will not fare very well at all, the actions of your council have permanently tainted your reputation thus,... Cardinal, would you be willing to make a deal?"

"Yes, yes, of course,"

Raymond's response was immediately

"Excellent, now, before I explain, there are some questions I have for you,"

He pointed directly at Zesshi and she could feel sweat slowly dripping down her back,

'oh fuck, oh fuck,..'

When she routed her courage she responded,

"W...What exactly is that,.. sire?"

"Firstly, please remove your mask"

She did as asked, bearing to light her heterochromatic eyes,

"Ahh, that makes sense, and I presume then, you have some relation to the Elf King?"

"Yes,... He's my father"

She would normally not hide the hate that went with those words but she did not really feel his being deserved to overrule the danger she was in,

"Interesting, and tell me, how would you like the opportunity to finish the fight you had earlier?"

Lakyus was having a relatively peaceful time within the wondrous realm that was Nazarick, her and her sisters had done, eaten, and enjoyed things which could only have been made by the gods themselves, and she was just on the border of declaring herself a heretic and pronouncing Ainz Ooal Gown a full god. They had spent the last few hours learning how to play something called Lazer Tag, the weapons issued looked completely strange and foreign her and her sisters. They were called guns, and they apparently fired some sort of invisible light based projectile towards the opposing player and when it makes contact with the armour they were given, it would alert them that they had been hit somehow and were designated as dead within the rules of the game. The entire thing seemed overwhelmingly strange and Lakyus could not wrap her head around what sort of devices they were holding or how they operated, she had tried to ask the attending maid, they retorted by telling them that it was just light. This had caused them all to assume it was a form of magic but when they were assured that no magic was involved the confusion was even more intense.

Keeno seemed adverse to the things at first, untrusting of how they would function, but when they saw that not only was it completely harmless but it did function as foretold, they found themselves trying to at least give it a chance. That chance had turned into a complete slaughter courtesy of the twins, stealth and movement was their dominion and they far outclassed the rest of the team in those categories, and even Keeno who was using her vampire senses and speed was not agile enough to escape the twins when armed with the laser guns. It had gotten so bad that during the previous matches Garagan, Keeno, and Lakyus coordinated to kill at least one of the twins so as to feel some form of accomplishment, a task which they accomplished only several times to be quickly ambushed by the other and her winning the entire game.

"We go again!" said Keeno in a fit of hot rage, she clearly was not happy losing, very much not happy

"Give it up shorty, we suck at this" Garagan was not in high spirits either, and Lakyus could not help but loathe the gleeful expressions on the twins, they had each won a similar amount of games by now, and this next one might help break that tie,

"These things are amazing if they shot anything lethal they would be devastating in combat"

Keeno seemed to have calmed somewhat from the situation and she was carefully examining her gun, the item was strange, very light and it made a strange buzz noise when the 'trigger' was pulled.

"You think so, seems like a crossbow would be better"

Garagan's retort was flat, it was a question and not an actual position she held

"No, Keeno is right, this thing is extremely easy to use, simply point and shoot, imagine if it could fire an arrow bolt at this instantaneous sorts of speeds, you could effectively kill anyone by just being nearby, and with no magic preparation it could be done without the other person even knowing it's happened"

Tia and Tina were looking at these items like a gold mine, Lakyus could understand, as assassins being able to kill someone from a distance almost instantly with no extra work was a dream come true, but she also could see how this could lead down a very dark and cruel road.

"If that were truly the case It would be too easy, you could arm any peasant with this and in a matter of minutes they would be able to kill even us, that seems unfair"

Lakyus's examination gave them pause, and they thought about all the training and hard work they had to endure to reach the level they were at, being Adamantite level was obscenely difficult, not many can or do reach the level and it would indeed be unfair for a random individual to be able to easily kill them without much effort, the notion seemed ridiculous, but they had no time to think more.

"Pardon the intrusion," A beautiful maid was walking up to them slowly, a cheerful smile on her face, she continued,

"Your presence has been requested by Prime Minister Renner and King Zanec,"

The mood shifted as they realized their fun was ruined, the outside world just had to come calling and interrupt their happiness but this at least offered them the ability to ruin the streak the domination the twins were enjoying.

When the Roses had appeared beside the King, they took to quickly access the situation.

Facing Renner, Lakyus asked,

"Are we escorting you back to the summit conference chamber?"

"No, we are going to the Throne Room, his Majesty has requested we all gather, It seems things will be getting interesting,"

Lakyus didn't fully understand the meaning behind those words, she knew that Renner and Zanec had met with the Sorcerer King yesterday before the Slane Theocracy had asked for their religious leave, a strange situation altogether but one that the Roses did not mind as they were able to spend more time exploring the wonders of Nazarick. But Renner's tone seemed to indicate something else was afoot.

"Is this in connection to the summit itself?"

"No I don't believe so, The Sorcerer King had made some grave predictions concerning the Slane Theocracy and the Elf King, predictions which unfortunately came true, and it seems this will be a meeting to see how we are to deal with that reality"

Zanec's words were confusing,

"What were these predictions?"

"Ultimately that the Theocracy would betray everyone and incite war"

That caught everyone off guard, this was a complete turn from the peaceful intention of this entire event,

In all seriousness Lakyus had actually been very invested in this summit, she had learned a great deal from the single day's meeting alone, on matters of thought and action, and finally getting her answer from the Sorcerer King on his view of life had deepened her respect and adoration for the undead king. She also was very interested in seeing or perhaps even helping with his plan to create this Utopia, she had discussed the matter with her sisters at length and they all were of a similar mind, they too longed for a kinder world were all inhabitants were somewhat equal, where fairness out ruled the lust of the powerful and the greed of the wealthy. Everything in her understanding was pointing to most of the delegates looking in the same manner, despite the obvious stupidity involved with the rantings, and actions of the Cardinal of Wind, she believed they all were of the same mind.

And so with the ramifications of this new predicament began to dawn upon Lakyus, they made their way towards the Throne Room,

Just as they had been told she did not see anyone from the Theocracy present, interestingly the Elf Kingdom was also absent and Lakyus made clear lines within her head, an idea of what would follow. Yet she could still not fully rationalize why, it seemed foolish, and she was not inclined to believe the Theocracy would incite war without thinking. As she pondered over the matter, more delegates arrived, with the Dragonlords being the last to take their place, two of them deciding to remain in their full forms, which despite the massive size of the dragons, seemed rather small in comparison to the truly massive throne room they were in.

She saw from the corner of her eye that the Dragonlords were seemingly busy deliberating amongst themselves, and whatever it was they were talking about it seemed relatively important, she gave a sign to Tia and Tina to try and pick up on it, just out of curiosity, she knew the twin's had ears like hawks, and could read lips to boot, though dragons were a different matter, within some time they leaned in and reported back.

"Seems to be something about an expected event, perhaps this but not sure on the full context," whispered Tia,

Just as they were about to continue, the doors behind them opened, and it was at that point that everyone dropped to a knee out of respect towards the entity entering the room. Lakyus had started to be extremely intuitive on the mannerisms which those around the Sorcerer King would take when within his presence. His followers were zealous, they bowed extremely deeply and she knew it was out of absolute respect and adoration for their master. She had seen and heard them interact somewhat with others and none of their egos displayed at all when within his presence. This assessment seemingly extended to the both Bloody Emperor and Renner as they were also deeply bowing, she could understand why, their stations in life were secure, their power near absolute by virtue of their servitude to the Sorcerer King. This caused Lakyus to be mindful of her own mannerisms, was she also changing to fit this mould, perhaps working for him would do the same to all of them. It seemed regardless of who it was everyone would, after the initial hesitation of his person, adjust to see the Sorcerer King in a very glorious light, taking time to truly understand the majesty he carried, all would show reverence towards this undead king, and considering the power, wisdom and awe he inspired she reasoned this was just the right course for any sane person to take.

She calmed herself of useless questions as he ascended the stairs to sit upon the large crystal throne, she figured that whatever was happening, they were here because he wished to explain some facets of it.

Once he had seated himself upon his throne, he called for them to rise, which everyone did accordingly,

"Dear friends, It seems there will be more to do in the days ahead,"

The words were a little bittersweet, and for a few moments a part of her was a little giddy about the prospect of being seen as a friend to this supreme being, this quickly dissipated as the leader in Lakyus knew that whenever anyone said words like that, it was because things were not right, and she was careful to listen now.

"As we discussed, The Theocracy has moved against us, my earlier predictions have been proven true, during their requested time they sought out and spoke with various members of the temples and orchestrated a plan for the taking of E-Rantel, they were seen roaming the city scouting various sights under the guise of a tour by the temple high priests, it seems they plan to covertly make an attempt at holding E-Rantel hostage."

'... what?'

Lakyus was at a loss for words.

"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard in my life"

Whispered Keeno behind her, murmurs of agreement following from her other sisters.

Lakyus was dumbfounded and agreed, on the matter of strategy, it was always important to be advantageous in where you position yourself, what lands you hold and what places you take determine victory. While it was true the Sorcerous kingdom was small, its power was not to be underestimated, the idea of taking the very seat of the Sorcerer King's power might seem intelligent but when one considered the living nightmares which patrolled the streets, the various groups of adventurers who now held loyalty to the Sorcerer King, and Momon, the idea was ludicrous, a deathwish a best and a madman's dream otherwise. this was beyond what she thought was going on.

'By why hold the city?'

'Are they betting everything on the love the Sorcerer King has for his people?'

Lakyus knew very well now that the Sorcerer King valued even the least amongst them, and for a being of his power and calibre it honestly spoke volume to her, but she also knew as a king he had to be pragmatic in how he deals with threats, would he bow to even the Theocracy over this?

Lakyus looked over to her sisters and could see that they were looking back at her, they all had similar levels of surprise and stunned faces, this whole turn of events was insane.

"Momon has confirmed with me as well that they approached him with a plea for aid, I had instructed him to accept, and they revealed a portion of their plan to him. There is to be a multiple stage attack, something to take us all by surprise, and while we are unable to respond, give them strategic superiority. As we discussed using the Elf King and the powerful escort they are making an attempt on your castle to gather powerful artefacts from Yggdrasil in order to have the chance to destroy the biggest threats, namely myself, my loyal guardians, and you Dragonlords."

This was the first bit that made any form of sense to Lakyus, though she was still sceptical on how they would obtain such weapons, from the summit she learned that these items from Yggdrasil held tremendous power, and the only places she knew where there could be a myriad of them would be within the Great Tomb of Nazarick under the care of the Sorcerer King, or the floating Palace of the Eight King's of Avarice, guarded by the Platinum Dragonlord.

'Doesn't seem like that will work either way'

The dragonlord spoke up at this point,

"So It seems you were correct, I am awed by your foresight of such matters Sorcerer King, if they are to launch an attack upon me to try and steal the King's weapons, then I shall hold to what you recommended earlier and allow them to take them."

Lakyus was slightly confused if they had already discussed all this before why let them take the weapons?

None of the leaders seemed surprised by the developments, and Lakyus was not sure what to think of all this, but she reasoned if they had everything under control than it would be better to simply speak with Renner later to get updated than to sit looking confused the entire time, but a question arose in her and while she did not wish to speak out of turn or be disrespectful her sense of justice needed to know,

"Your Majesty" She had meant to sound much more composed, but her voice broke midway and she resolved herself of the looked which were now upon her.

'God damn it, get it together'

She took a deep breath as the Sorcerer King bid her to continue,

"Sire, I,... I wish to ask, do you plan on destroying the Elf Nation and the Theocracy as retaliation?"

She praised herself for her courage, and an answer followed,

"In a manner of speaking, yes"

She felt her heart sank just a small bit before he continued,

"I have no wish to kill the citizens of the Theocracy, they are blameless to a degree, what I do wish to destroy is the ideology of superiority which is ingrained within them, to that end, you can say I will destroy them with this war, but rest assured, while it may be changed they will not be gone, there are,.. sensible individuals among them"

'One of them defected?'

She wished to ask more but she knew he might not be inclined to reveal any more information in this manner, more importantly at that moment she felt as if a hole was being burned into her by the Prime Minister, she was staring at Lakyus, with a slight beastiel glint in her eyes, the smile was there, but her aura made it clear she did not appreciate the interruption, and so Lakyus, decided it was time to shut up.

Once they had been given leave from the Throne Room, Dradillon, Jircniv and Renner quickly reconvened to discuss what was about to happen. Renner had promised to explain more to Lakyus once they returned to their temporary living arrangements, and had asked the Roses to allowed her time to discuss with her fellow vassals before they planned for their own actions.

Once this had been taken care of the three prime rulers of the vassal states came together. They had asked the maid to allow them a tranquil place to speak and they had been taken to a place called the Sakuranbo no Yama. It was an isolated hill with a small waterfall overlooking an ocean of pink floating petals, dancing eternally to some unseen force, the air blew gently and smelled pleasant, Renner found herself again questioning how such a wondrous world could exist, but knew nothing seemed impossible for her master.

Once they had been given time to adjust to the sight, they were served a sweet smelling tea and they began to discuss,

"Every time I believe I have seen everything in life, something else in this place appears and destroys that notion,"

Jircniv looked on with a bit of wonder in his eyes, and Draudillon nodded her head as she brought the teacup to her mouth.

"I am also beyond mystified by his Majesty, truly,"

It seemed the only one among them who was any form of surprised about the developments was Dradillon and Renner felt a ping of pity for the poor women but she knew that she would come to learn very soon about what sort being the master they now served was, they hung onto the moment for some time.

"They've really doomed themselves haven't they?" the Dragon Queen's question was reflective,

"Yes they have, though, to be honest, I think his Majesty is being very kind to them considering everything they are trying to do with this little plan of theirs"

Renner agreed with Jircniv's estimation, she would never dream of disagreeing with her master's actions but she too would have brought her full wrath down upon the entirety of the Theocracy, there would be no mercy on her part but she was also trying to think on what sort of grander plan her master would have for saving them at least in part.

"Perhaps his Majesty is looking forward into the future," Renner's comment caught both of their interests and she began to lay out what was within her mind.

"He is creating a forever grateful and changed nation, imagine it, this event will cripple the Theocracy beyond measure, and with the scorn of its neighbors, they will not have any help to recover soon, if ever. As our master said, their ideology is centred upon being superior to everything and everyone, when they lose this war, and we all know they will"

There were nods of approval at her words,

"It will shatter that dogma, the survivors will be bitter towards the circumstances which lead them to such despair, and if his majesty comes in to become their saviour then not only will he change their mindset about the undead but perhaps even demihumans in general. We need only look at the Northern Holy Kingdom for an example of this, it's a strategy which has already worked before, and with someone sensible like Raymond left to take control, their nation can be salvaged at least to an extent, our master can effectively have the leadership present his ideals to the masses, and turn them with a trusted face coaxing the change, it's brilliant."

Renner was extremely proud of herself for being able to piece together something which could at least shed some light upon their master's plan, and the smiles she received from Dradillon and Jircniv seemed to prove that they too saw her interpretation as correct and they were impressed.

Their master had not spoken too much about what he viewed as the future of the Theocracy but they had known from the beginning that should anyone be of use, it would be Raymond, as well his propensity to transform nations for his purposes worked much better with someone like him in charge, as it had with Renner.

"By gods, I think you're right,"

"Indeed, that is just like our Lord, wow,"

Draudillon brought her hand to her chin before speaking again,

"Do, … Do you think he planned for all of this,... the invasion I can understand it makes sense considering the nature of the Beastmen, but everything seems to be falling right in line with everything he says, and his Majesty's actions only point to him having prior knowledge of events, he was too prepared to receive the threat, too prepared for the Theocracy to attack, he turned us against them to drive them into a corner and this war will not earn them any friends allowing him to be the only one to be able to help them."

"You may be right Queen Draudillon," said Jircniv raising his teacup before sipping it lightly and continuing: "I learned quite some time ago that it is foolish to stand before his majesty and try to manoeuvre around him in any manner, it's utterly pointless. I believe that if this is all coincidence it just shows how well our Lord can alter and be flexible with his plans, and if he did plan for all this than it just goes to show the truly godly nature of his Majesty. Either case is enough for me to know that he is worth following, and doing so wholeheartedly."

The responses resonated with everyone, it painted a very accurate description of their master, and Renner was really pleased with the idea, she knew that it wouldn't matter as well, and it seemed she was not the only one who thought so,

"Well the future seems very bright for us then, I am more happy to be a vassal now than ever, not only will my nation be defended but the benefits just seem to keep piling up, …. how do you think the others will respond?"

The question was almost redundant, Renner knew what choices they all had, and for those true to the Sorcerer King, it was not a choice at all, those like that girl, the Saint of the Holy Kingdom,

"They will fall in line, there is no benefit to being in the way of the Sorcerer King, not when he offers his friendship earnestly first, and I believe the Dragonlords understand this, they know they have not the power to stop him, and they seem to even enjoy his ideals and his personality, a trait which makes our lord even more terrifying. His charisma, his intellect, his wisdom, and even his kindness, are all transcendent, to those who cannot see that, then perhaps death is the best outcome."

Renner's words were sharp,

"Are you inline to believe that he is a god, like that girl in the Holy Kingdom?"

"it's not just her, she has amassed quite the following from what I understand, and there are many other places her order has spread to, I am in fact in the works of establishing a temple within Arwintar, but some have already appeared in the Empire"

Jircniv responded before she could relay her thought,

"I too am inclined to believe, I have never been one for the gods, not the four or the six. Too often they become tools to control the less fortunate and less educated masses, this, in turn, feeds the pockets of some very wealthy priests. However, there is no denying our master, if ever a god existed, then surely it is he, while it is still a dangerous time for the Re-Estize Kingdom when we have managed to stabilize, I too wish to invite Neia Baraja and her band into our nation,"

Draudillon looked contemplative, but she nonetheless spoke,

"I have lived a long time, and I have seen the rise and fall of gods and their worshipers, even we dragons have our gods thus I am hesitant to admit to believing but after everything I have seen, perhaps it is so."

"Dragons also have gods?"

The question was one that Renner herself was curious about, she had never heard of dragon gods before, in fact, she did not know if most demi-humans or heteromorphs believed in any gods themselves,

"We do,... If you would like I can tell you a story my grant grandfather would always recite to me, of the creation of our world,"

They both nodded in the affirmative and drank their tea as she began,

"Well, in the beginning, there was nothing, and from that nothing came god of light, Bahamut and god of the eternal dark, Tiamat...….."

They listened as she continued, three monarchs in their own rights, old rivals and past enemies, fast becoming friends drinking tea under a wonder world of roseate pedals.