The merging of Ironclaw and the Angel of Jotnar worked, and now one merging remained before it was all set, he had to merge Casper along with the new summon.

"Will this work? I’ve stacked divine beings with humans. Tch, humans do share a lot of similarities with them, and that’s what the merging works with."

He paused for a brief moment, looking at the system screen as his finger hovered over where the merge button was, a single press or a single thought was all it would take to kick his plan into motion.

"I have no choice, it’s either I do this or allow my friends to suffer a cruel fate."

His responsibility was far beyond him alone now, he had to take a bold step and that was what he was doing now.

"Merge," he muttered, his gaze steady, his breathing calm as a pond.

The merge began, he watched it with a calm expression and after a few minutes it was done and he now had his final summon.

This would be the strongest summon that Aren had so far, well that is if it wasn’t a complete waste of all his resources because the merge didn’t work well.

[Celestial Warrior of Jotnar]

When Aren saw the name alone, he was already interested in the rest of the details, so he looked right into it.

[Celestial Warrior of Jotnar: a shadow formed from the core of many great shadows, contrasting their great abilities. The power to constantly adapt, the ability to use divine energy, size control and immense strength, and the ability to control earth, metal and all crystal forms.]

The summary of what it could do was already amazing from the first look. Aren was stunned, but it was not the end as at the very bottom there was a warning, a very clear warning.

[The current stage of the user cannot summon this shadow for too long, its very presence could cause the user to collapse.]

Aren read the warning, he didn’t need to be told multiple times the risk of what he had planned, but he knew that if he wanted to forge ahead, it was what he had to do.

"It’s been battle after battle, non-stop, but I can’t stop." He clenched his fist as he looked at the castle, "not yet," he muttered.

Now that the first segment of the plan was set, the next was to play along for a bit. He needed to know what the demons had planned and what Geisha also had to do with all this.

Aren might hate the royal families and a good number of humanity, but his family still remained part of humanity and he also did, so he wasn’t just going to allow it all to get turned to dust by whatever plan they had.

The issue with the way all of these powerful beings planned was the fact that humans were at the center and they were suffering for it, they had done nothing, yet they were constantly targeted by the plans of these beings.

"Tch, humanity needs to grow some balls," Aren muttered as he walked away from the tree. He stopped after a few steps and looked at the grave of Kira.

"I’ll make sure I get us all out of this."

After saying that, he walked off, heading back into the castle where the main plan would start, a pivotal moment in the story of Aren.

As soon as he stepped through the large doors, he saw two armed guards standing at either side, they were decked in full armor so he still wasn’t able to tell who they were. Aside from them, he also saw the maid standing there and waiting for him.

"A meal has been prepared, would you like to head to the dining area now?" she asked.

"Not really, do you know where Lucy is?" Aren asked, and instantly, the top of her brows furrowed and her lips bent downward, it was only for a brief moment but he caught it.

"Seems like Lucy isn’t particularly welcomed here."

He could understand why that was so, after all, she was a fallen angel, and no one really liked the angels.

"I do not, last I know, she was watching over the demon that’s locked in one of the dungeons below the castle," the maid said.

"Sounds like she does know, but she doesn’t want to say, she hates her that much, huh."

"I have a few questions to ask, especially about your master," Aren was direct, there were a lot of things he wanted to know about Geisha.

Her brow raised, he saw her give him a weird look, the type you gave someone when they started moving suspiciously, but it faded away fast and then she turned around.

"Please come with me to the dining area, we can talk as we head there and your friends are there already." This time she wasn’t offering, it was more like telling.

Aren followed behind her without much thought.

"So why did you all allow Geisha to get killed if you are all here, and from what I can tell, your strength rivals humans that have ascended already?" Aren made his observation clear.

She didn’t look back while she replied, and she did her best to make it as short as possible. "Because my lord would have killed me had I tried to help him."

"Oh, I see how it is, Geisha is an ass," Aren said, only for her to snap her neck, looking right at him with a fierce expression that made his skin crawl.

Even then he forced a calm smile and then spoke, "it seems you have a lot of connection to him, probably care for him.

I don’t know why, and you can’t force me to not speak badly of him, after all he killed thousands of humans."

"Your race is a weak race and it’s all for the amusement of gods, so what difference does it make when my master does it?" she asked.

"You have me mistaken," Aren spoke, his eyes flashed from under the mask. "You think I accept what the gods are doing? No, I’m ready to kill the gods, so your master is not too much to kill as well."