"Don't forget, this stretch of ocean officially belongs to the Great Sea Serpent. Would he really let a rogue leviathan run wild in his own backyard? I suspect we've been played—used as a weapon by soone else!"
This was the grim conclusion Yalennu, the female demigod, reached after piecing the puzzle together. The destruction of their demigod projections had instantly put her on high alert. Tapping into their covert intelligence networks, the Divine Sigil family had quickly confird that Orion and Leonidas were not local deities.
"That damned Sea Serpent!"
"He is deliberately humiliating the Divine Sigil family!"
For demigods, theories rarely required hard evidence. By the ti an entity of their caliber suspected a truth, it was almost always exactly as they feared.
"Ancestors, we can deal with the Sea Serpent later. The pressing issue is how we survive this imdiate crisis," Governor Tyrus urged, clearly far more frantic than the two demigods.
Lionheart City was his domain, his life's work. Bluntly speaking, if things went south, the two ancestors could simply abandon ship. Even if they failed to escape, these were rely their ethereal projections; the family could always manifest them again. Tyrus didn't have that luxury. If he lost Lionheart City and his lands, he lost everything. He would be reduced to a beggar.
"Why panic?" Gotaition sneered. "Do you think the alliances of the Divine Sigil family are just for show? If those two push too far inland, greater powers will naturally step out to stop them."
Gotaition shot a sidelong glance at Governor Tyrus, finding his own descendant utterly lacking in vision—a dull, shortsighted fool. With two demigod ancestors present, it wasn't his place to worry, let alone make strategic decisions. If Tyrus had a shred of wisdom, he would shut his mouth and await their commands.
"It seems the family will have to write off that shipnt of precious resources," Yalennu sighed. That batch of Golden-Silk Tinder had been acquired through highly unsavory ans. They had thought they could smuggle it back to the family under the radar; they never expected the theft to draw the ire of such a formidable faction.
…
The Titanion Realm. Year 12 of the Stoneheart Era.
The prosperity of Stoneheart City showed no signs of waning. Bustling streets, rowdy taverns, roaring coliseums… the entire city was surging toward a bright, chaotic future.
Deep within the citadel, Orion slowly opened his eyes from his slumber upon the throne. He tilted his head, gazing up at the ceiling as if trying to pierce the very vault of the sky. Having forged an inner world of his own, he was acutely attuned to the fundantal laws of reality.
And just monts ago, he had felt those laws tremble.
Such a tremor was impossibly rare in a stable realm. In Orion's experience, an anomaly of this scale usually signaled the collapse of natural laws—the prelude to a world's destruction. He stared into the void above, his brow furrowing deeper. For three days, he had watched the sun and moon cycle, the wind and rain shift. Mortals slept in exhaustion and hurried about their pleasant lives, entirely oblivious to the ticking clock above their heads.
"It's here," Orion murmured suddenly to the empty hall.
Fifteen minutes later, Seraphina appeared at his side. She slipped her arm through his and took her place beside him on the throne.
"You felt it too?"
Unlike her recent deanor, she had shed the soft warmth of a smitten lover. Her expression was grim, her gaze razor-sharp. She exuded a resolute, domineering aura—the chilling presence of a true Valkyrie.
Orion reached around her slender waist, pulling her flush against him. They shared the warmth of their bodies, feeling the steel in each other's resolve. Seraphina didn't speak, nor did she pull away.
Her silence was a statent. In this mont of cataclysmic change, she hadn't fled or sought counsel elsewhere; she had co straight to him, choosing to face an unpredictable, violent future at his side. They would weather the storm together. Orion felt that unspoken vow down to his bones.
"Let's go take a look."
Orion stood, and Seraphina followed. With a single step, the two powerhouses—a couple whose relationship was still an unannounced secret to the world—vanished from the throne room.
High above the endless firmant, the mont Orion and Seraphina materialized, three others appeared in the stratosphere almost simultaneously: the human demigod Evander, the Siren demigod Kairon, and the Dragon demigod Pyraxis Bloodfla.
No one spoke. They all stared into the starry abyss, gazing out at the cosmos, silently witnessing a world in the throes of transformation.
After what felt like an eternity, Evander was the first to tear his eyes away. He swept his gaze over the gathered divinities before locking eyes with Orion.
"Gentlen… does our pact still hold?"
The pact. The mutual defense treaty forged against the coming of the Swarm.
"Why wouldn't it?" Orion replied, finally breaking his gaze from the void. His expression was dangerously calm, utterly unfazed by the cosmic shifts they had all just felt.
"Giant King, the Dragonflight is willing to stand united with you all," Pyraxis Bloodfla rumbled evenly. He seed far too composed, as if he had witnessed this kind of cataclysm before. Deep within the dragon demigod's fiery eyes, Orion caught a fleeting, unsettling flicker of anticipation.
"I don't care what the rest of you plot or plan. This is my ho, and I will defend it," Kairon growled. The Siren demigod didn't bother ntioning the pact. He might be infamous for his explosive, violent temper, but one didn't ascend to godhood by being stupid. He knew perfectly well that despite all their bold declarations, the mont the Swarm arrived and the slaughter truly began, half of these so-called allies might just cut and run, leaving the Titanion Realm to burn.
Seraphina glanced at Kairon. This was the Siren she knew—the volatile, stubborn defender she rembered.
But just as her eyes lingered on him, she felt the heavy hand resting on her waist tighten possessively. Tilting her head, she looked up at Orion, who maintained his mask of breezy indifference.
Heh. A giant through and through. So fiercely territorial he won't even let look at another man for a second too long. My gods, how can this man be so adorable? Orion was jealous, and Seraphina caught it instantly. It thrilled her. It was a silent, powerful confirmation of how much he truly cared for her.
The other three demigods obviously noticed the subtle exchange, but they had the tactical sense to pretend otherwise. In the face of a shifting reality and an apocalyptic future, such trivialities weren't worth a second thought.
Giant King, the Dragonflight is willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Stoneheart Horde. I hope we can act with true unity of purpose. Pyraxis Bloodfla's voice echoed directly in Orion's mind, a private telepathic transmission reiterating his desire for a deeper alliance.
The dragons have our eyes on the shifting oceans. We have no interest in laying claim to continental land. We hope to form an amphibious front with the Stoneheart Horde. To face our enemies together and beco each other's shield. This offer was fundantally different from the previous, loose agreent. This was a comprehensive, top-to-bottom military pact. The kind where if one side was attacked by the Swarm, the other was bound by blood and honor to deploy their armies in total war.
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