"It's finally D-Day."
Those were the words Evan spoke as he knotted the tie of the ss dress he had been given for the occasion.
The Annual Gozonian Interstellar Summit was beginning today.
In the three days he had spent exploring Gozon with Arthur, nurous Demon Kings had descended upon the planet.
Most made their way to the Imperium Continent, specifically to the Imperium Astra Region, where the towering Interstellar Citadel stood.
With each arrival, the sheer power of Gozon's Rulers beca evident once again, and Evan was starkly reminded of the overwhelming might wielded by Deities.
The thought alone drew a sigh from his lips.
Coming to Gozon, Evan had hoped to find answers to so of his lingering questions—particularly regarding the level of decline Aidos' civilization had suffered.
After three days of exploration, he could confidently say that even the most advanced futuristic novels and movies he had seen on Earth V paled in comparison to Gozon's level of advancent.
Unbeknownst to him, Gozonians had long moved beyond drawing energy solely from their planet; they now tapped directly into their host star for power.
If Aidos had once been comparable to this, then how had it fallen so far? How had its decline reached the point where sothing as rudintary as televisions needed his intervention to reintroduce?
Evan's thoughts drifted to Artemisia's tale—the story of a god who had gone on a rampage, wiping out nurous civilizations.
This act had led to the restriction on gods interfering in mortal affairs back in his ti.
But no matter how he turned it over in his mind, Evan couldn't accept that the god in question was solely responsible for Aidos' decline.
Even if that being had played a significant role, Aidos must have already been on the downslope before the rampage began.
It was difficult to imagine a planet with a Council of Kings comparable to the 72 Demon Kings simply sitting idle as one individual wreaked havoc on its surface.
In other words, sothing must have occurred before the rampage—sothing catastrophic enough to weaken the Aidosian rulers to the point where they couldn't prevent their planet's downfall.
'Just what?'
The power of the Deities he had sensed over the past few days was etched deeply into his soul. What could possibly cause dozens of such beings to vanish?
Still pondering the imnse power of Deities, Evan's thoughts shifted to the one who had sent him back in ti—the mysterious 'Unknown god' behind future Gozon.
Evan instinctively understood one thing: against the might of a Deity, he was utterly powerless. If one truly wanted him dead, he wouldn't even realize the mont it happened.
This realization brought him back to the god who had used Conroe as a proxy caster to send him back in ti with Spatiotemporal Magic.
Why had they chosen such an elaborate and convoluted thod to get rid of him?
In the past three days, he had done so research on higher-tier magic and discovered that Tier 8 Magic—like the kind used to send him back—was the stuff used by Mid-Tier Deities and above.
That was magic that could destroy entire worlds!
And yet, this Unknown god used sothing that powerful just to send him back in ti? Why?
'Artemisia said that god is on par with her in power, didn't she?'
Evan recalled what Artemisia told him on his first day on Aidos. "I should be around the middle stages of the highest-ranked gods." she had said.
Now, with his understanding of the Deity Realms, he knew she had been referring to the Interdiate Stage of the High-Tier Deity Realm.
If Future Artemisia was a Race Queen, then by her own admission, this Unknown god tied to Gozon was one as well.
With that level of power, killing him should have been effortless.
'Even with the restriction on gods… there are loopholes around it. Artemisia told about so of them before.'
He rembered the look 'Conroe' had given him at the mont he was sent back. Evan was certain the Unknown god had possessed Conroe's body then.
If they had wanted to, they could have killed him and simply passed it off as "The Fallen Celestial borrowed my power to do it."
But they didn't.
Instead, they had gone through the trouble of sending him back in ti.
'It feels like sending back was their goal from the very beginning.'
If that was true, then why? What could they possibly gain from doing this?
So many questions, yet so few answers.
Adding to his growing list was the mystery of why there was even a god aligned with Gozon in the first place!
From the beginning, Artemisia had told him a god was backing Gozon.
However, after coming to the past, Evan now understood that "god" wasn't so much a divine class of being as it was simply another race—like elves, demons, or dragons.
There were Mortal gods and Higher Existence gods, just as there were with every other race.
With this understanding, he began to question the existence of this supposed god behind Gozon.
The spell that sent him back in ti certainly carried a trace of divinity, but the concept still felt bizarre to him.
He recalled ntioning it to Roselia once. When the Demon of Pride heard him, she looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.
To her, it was flat-out impossible.
After all, gods and demons had been enemies for as long as history rembered.
The enmity between the two races dates back billions of years ago.
Evan read records on Gozon that spoke of the Progenitor of gods being friends with the Progenitor of Angels. But as Angels and Demons were diatrically opposed, the gods inevitably beca enemies of the Demons as well.
This enmity was one of the reasons why the Interstellar Hegemon, Aidos, could never ally with Gozon. They maintained a neutral stance simply because the two sides were equally powerful.
Gozon was a demon-dominated world, devoid of a single god-race mber across its 92 continents and sprawling 181.24 billion square kilotres of land, and Aidos included gods in its Council of Kings.
Simple as that.
'If soone really is orchestrating everything, how did Gozon—a demon-ruled world—fall under the control of a god?'
The thought baffled him.
Evan sat down, tapping his fingers against his forehead rhythmically as he racked his brain. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't co up with any answers.
He lacked too much information.
At that mont, the door to his room swung open, and Arthur stepped in, dressed in his official attire.
"Dude, you ready?"
Evan looked up silently before nodding.
Rising from his seat, he grabbed his jacket and slung it over his shoulder, leaving the sleeves untouched as it hung loosely behind him.
"It's ti to go."
Arthur said, glancing at the clock on the wall. He held out a fist toward Evan, who t it with his own in a quick bump.
"Ti to go see the fad 72 Demon Kings."
With that, the two boys stepped out of the room.
◇ ◇ ◇
The Interstellar Citadel
Imperium Astra
Pri World Gozon
June 15th
Year 1054 of 50th General Calendar
The Annual Gozonian Interstellar Summit.
It was a prestigious event where Generals and Soldiers of exceptional rit from Gozon's Battlefront Worlds across the Interstellar Stage gathered to present their yearly accomplishnts to the planet's rulers.
Depending on the significance of these achievents, rits and awards were distributed, with the most distinguished accomplishnts earning special recognition. Generals could make requests for additional troops, and resources, or even draw from the planetary defence budget.
In one of the waiting rooms designated for the Battlefront World Representatives before their turn to present to the Demon Kings, two teenage boys were deep in a discussion that the Gozonians in the room found rather peculiar.
"The Demon Kings aren't nad after the Lesser Key of Solomon, are they?"
"I thought they were when I heard they're 72 in number, but as far as I know, there aren't any McEndas or Valrens in the Lesser Key so, they aren't."
Arthur responded to Evan as he moved his chess piece and for a mont, Evan suspected that Arthur was using his future sight to predict his next moves.
"Ti manipulators should never be allowed to play chess."
"Pfft…I'm not cheating."
Around them sat Alvey, McEnda, Barron, Sigesi, and four of the first three's High-Rank demon aides, all Lieutenant Generals or Rear Admirals.
Each Battlefront World was limited to ten representatives, so two officers had to step down to accommodate Evan and Arthur, though neither of the boys cared about that.
Considering Arthur's achievents outranked those two by a significant margin, there wasn't much room for complaint.
The reporting sequence followed alphabetical order, starting with worlds beginning with "A."
Thanks to ti acceleration within the Hall of Stars, where the summit was being held, the Demon Kings could handle worlds within a five-letter span per day.
On Day One, Worlds A-E were up, and Arthur was glad that Aramis was an 'A' planet. It ant they could get their part over with and have the rest of the ti to explore Imperium Astra.
He was totally treating this like a vacation trip.
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