"Master Vestic," Sara who had silently been off to the side approached slowly and took Arla’s hand when the elf raised it to slap Sol again. "It is not that she does not understand, we all do; to face a being like Giza this much is almost a requirement." She held Arla in place with a sad smile.

"But that makes it no more acceptable!" Arla snapped, dragging her hand away from the maid and sucking a shuddering breath through her teeth. "After everything that we have been through, it feels like he is throwing it all away, what is the point to any of this without the man I swore my eternal servitude to?" She asked turning to him again.

"I do not want to take a breath more in a universe where you do not exist, Master," Arla bit her lips and approached him again, taking his cheeks into her palms and staring into his eyes. "Nothing is more inportant than you are, nothing is more valuable than your existence to me, after attaining Godhood I felt the mortality within me wither, I am immortal in every sense of the word, I will never age a day more than as I am now and I refuse to exist after you have lived your last, heaven or hell, purgatory or oblivion, wherever you go I will follow, do you understand?"

"Arla-"

"Do you?" She glared at him, this day had been one Sol would remember for the rest of his life, he understood her hurt, her desires, her fury.

Rather than at him, he could feel her frustration aimed at the worlds around them begging for an explanation and a way out of their new predicament."

"Sol, is this something that can be diverted in any way?" Dr’ul asked him slowly approaching but feeling her chest tighten when she saw his expression at her question. "Is there anything any of us can do?" She pleadingly raised her hand as if begging. "I have lived a good and long life, if I can take this burden from you-"

"You would die pointlessly if you tried." Sol’s eyes widened in her direction after a slow glance at the others who wached them.

"It chose him, Dr’ul, Goddess of War," Xie turned to her. "If you try to remove a force of this magnitude you would be forefeiting your existence to an entity who holds no attachment to, or interest in you.

"Arkadia also has a god of darkness, but he would never dare to say he was a vessel suitable for Giza’s power, he wholely agrees with everything she is doing, yet he fights alongside us, dines with and dwells amongst us, what say you who do not embody true chaos?" Dina asked, staring at Dr’ul for an answer, knowing the Goddess had nothing to retort.

"Not even I the Goddess of Chaos would offer myself to this entity, I know I would die." Reina stared at her sister. "Dr’ul, I know your intent is pure, but that is only a surefied way to perish with no benefit," She rested her hand on her sister’s arm.

"Master Vestic is capable of suppressing the intent because it shares a similar goal, and I do not believe another vessel alive could maintain their sanity or soul if it were to inhabit them, everything that he possesses and has achieved is what makes it possible..."

"I know, but what else am I supposed to say seeing the man I have pledged my all to in this state?" Dr’ul shrugged her hand off and stood at attention. "What is your desire, Sol, What now?" She asked.

"Right now I am driven to finish what I started, but before we set with full force out after Giza, we ought to give the Nexus a final warning." Sol answered.

"Is there a thing more to say?" Ikaris asked. "You already warned them and they still chose to make an enemy of you, we should destroy everything and everyone that lay in our way and make a clear path to them." She stated with her fists balled so tightly her knuckles were pale and bloodless. "Just destroy everything and be done with it."

"I like the way she talks," S’mael chuckled nudging Adonai at his side.

"Sound the departure, Alpha, we’re headed directly for Zan’el’s domain." Sol ordered and then looked at Arla who stood motionless with her hands wrapped around her belly. "Arla," He Rested his hand on her head with one last deep sigh. "I will return, one way or another."

"I pray for your success, Master," She sadly smiled, raising her chin and basking in the warmth of his palm before he left her.

"Who does a god pray to?" Dina asked with a troubled smile, kissing Arla’s forehead and then turning away as well.

"Obviously, the one whom she worships." Ikaris pressed her forehead against the elf’s and smiled. "We need all the prayer we can get this time," She admitted.

***

"The atmosphere has shifted." Umbra’s eyes opened with a snap and he looked in the direction that Sol was coming from. "I can sense his eyes and that awful mana searching for me across the skies."

"You have grown more paranoid by the day, ever since that woman lost her mind and left you have been a mess, now you think he is on the move again, but I have been in constant contact with the borders, Sol Vestic has not..." Alkaios’ voice quited and halted when a knock came on Umbra’s door.

"State your business," his hand rested on the weapon on his hip and a trickle of sweat began rolling down his cheek.

"General Alkaios, sir," A woman called from beyond the film. "We have received word that the vessel SolVestic travels in has begun making a direct line towards us!" She announced and then went silent after Alkaios’ communicator began chiming with an emergency beacon.

"Are you ready for your battle with him?" Alkaios looked to Umbra, to which the latter held his neck and swallowed.

"I will die instantly if I am put anywhere near him."

"Then go into hiding until I have taken care of the brazen bastards, his majesty has no interest in weaklings." Alkaios sneered grabbing the hilt of his weapon, but at the same time that he turned to the door Kent pushed it and walked in unannounced.

"What are y-"

"His Majesty, the Emperor has instructed me to aide you in guarding our guest, Alkaios," Kent wore a grim expression as he spoke to his colleague.

"What about himself? We are his generals and his hands, how can we both stay here?"

"Where is Zan’el right now?" Umbra asked calmly, staring at the window with his arms folded behind himself and his eyes half shut in an expression one could only assume was conceit.

"The Emperor is prepping himself and the Imperial Army for a full confrontation in the Hadiz Sector, he will take action in order to see that the enemy does not reach you, Umbra, I will do his bidding without breaking stride, but I am curious to know more about you." Kent answered humbly.

"There’s no way His Eminence would go to this length to protect you if he was not afraid of that woman... and from what I have seen, we can avoid a lot of pointless asset death if we simply hand you both over to the enemy.

"Our coalition serves us both," Umbra retorted. "Simply put, as things are currently we only have a shot of victory if we join forces-"

"You are too weak to fight regardless, what the fuck are you talking about?" Alkaios snapped in frustration, clenching the hilt of his weapon so aggressively it cracked under his palm.

"My power is not summed by raw strength alone like yours, what I have is far more dangerous than anything any of you possess, Zan’el included." Umbra stared at the man’s hand and then looked to the window again. "I’m not afraid either, but I have no choice but too wait for Giza to return before I act, she is the most crucial part of this all, I am simply an extent of her will and a potential vessel."

"I don’t buy that for a second." Kent raised his brow, standing next to umbra and staring out with the same expression.

"Of course you don’t."

"No, you look at her as nothing more than a tool, the same way the Emperor sees us..." Kent slolwy panned his vision to Umbra’s gaze and suddenly felt his bones rattle in terror at the expression the man held while thinking about Giza.

"You... What the hell are you?"