With Ethan’s statement, Guilde accepted the deal. His other in-laws accepted. Everyone in the dimension, except for Zark, accepted. Zark didn’t need it after all.

"Would the babies be added?" Harley suddenly asked Ethan.

"Of course. In fact, they are already partially primords, so their ascension won’t be a hassle," Ethan answered her with a smirk.

"Ascension?" Clara asked in confusion. "I thought it was a racial change?"

"It is a racial change, but not to any normal or common race. The primord is the first celestial race, as far as I am concerned. To become a celestial means you ascend to a higher realm," Ethan told them, breaking them out of their confusion.

"Think of it as an advancement in cultivation rank, plus an evolution all combined," Zark added from the side, with a smirk that mirrored Ethan’s own. A smirk that made them understand instantly.

"How much do we advance?" Lilith, her eye glowing with an obsessive light.

"One full rank. If you’re at Emperor, you jump straight to Saint. If you are Grandmaster rank, you get Emperor. If you are already Saint Realm, you have two choices depending on your ascension level.

If you are at the lower ascension stages from 1 to 4, you just advance to the next stage. But if you are in the ranks of 5 and above, you can choose whether to advance to the next stage or re-ascend by your own accord to the Demigod Realm.

If you are already a god, I don’t know... but you get a lower concept based on the race.

That is all," Ethan explained, making them shocked. If at first they were hesitant to accept, now they would accept by all means. Forget about the race change; an advancement in rank was insane.

Of all those there, if you exclude Delphina, who was yet to awaken her magic and the babies, the lowest-ranked there was Expert level. Regnare was already at the Master level after engaging in various battles both in the simulation and with Kaldaroth. He would have been at Grandmaster, considering his insane talent and strength, if not for his Sin Candidate position holding him back.

He would have to evolve into the Sin of Wrath, which would further push his rank up by one. But it was proving very difficult, since he barely got wrathful or angry.

But now with this opportunity, he would become both the Sin of Wrath and a primord, and also get a push in rank for both of them. That meant... Emperor Realm!

This was a cheat, and everyone had realized it now.

"This is why you can’t change everyone... I see," Lamair said with a smile. "Thank you for trusting us."

"I always knew my son-in-law was amazing! Haha!" Lisa’s father bellowed as usual. His black hair was cut short now, into a fade with grey patches of hair visible. His beard was full now and partially grey. He was old, no doubt. But, he exuded the aura of a strong person just as Ethan recalled.

"Feel free to praise me more!" Ethan added with a laugh. The next moment, everyone was laughing, the tension they all felt earlier fading into the background. What was there needed to be tensed about?

They were going to ascend to a powerful race. The first celestial race!

It called for a celebration. Forget about gods and what have you. They were going to be overpowered once this was over.

"Papa! What about sister Onyx and the rest?" Delphina suddenly asked, causing everyone to look at Ethan.

"You’re too old to be calling me Papa. It’s cute, though," Ethan said with a laugh.

"Answer my question, Papa," Delphina said with a pout.

"Alright. Alright. They don’t need it because they are technically a part of me. They are a huge part of my soul. So, they are already primords by default."

"I see... That’s so cool!"

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"They are also going through their last evolutions as we speak, that’s why you don’t see them here."

"What?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Yep!"

"What of Master Kaldaroth?" Regnare asked from the side. He was standing beside Xander, looking like two lost siblings.

"It’s his choice if he wants to join us. I’m yet to receive an answer from him," Ethan answered him with a solemn gaze.

"I see. I’m sure he will make the right choice."

"I know."

...

Laughter still echoed faintly in the mirror dimension, warmth lingering like an aftertaste of sunlight on stone.

Then...

Elsewhere.

Far beyond mapped realms, beyond orderly heavens and curated hells, there existed a dominion that should not have been stable... yet was. A place where divinity had rotted without dying.

The sky there was not a sky but a swollen membrane of bruised crimson and sickly gold, pulsing slowly, as though the world itself breathed in decay. Light existed, but it was wrong, thick, viscous, dripping like molten fat from invisible wounds in reality. Every breath carried the scent of death, not the clean end of things, but the long, patient rot that followed.

At the heart of this domain rose a throne.

Bodies, ancient, divine, mortal, forgotten, were fused together in obscene harmony, bones melted into bones, souls screaming softly as they were woven into the structure itself. Some still twitched. Some still prayed. Others had long since learned silence.

Upon that throne sat a being.

He was obscured, as though existence itself refused to give him form. No face. No flesh. No silhouette.

Only eyes.

Two red eyes, vast and bottomless, burned in the void where his presence condensed. They were not angry. Not cruel.

They were tired.

Before him knelt twelve figures, arranged in a fractured semicircle, each radiating a different distortion of power.

A feline creature with six tails and void-marked fur bowed low, claws digging into the necrotic stone.

A human wrapped in living scripture trembled, runes crawling beneath his skin.

A vampire with cracked alabaster skin knelt stiffly, fangs bared in reverence.

A werewolf whose shadow moved independently pressed his forehead to the ground.

An elf with bark-like veins and hollow eyes stood frozen in forced humility.

A dragon, reduced to humanoid size, wings folded tight and trembling.

A fairy surrounded by dead light hovered inches above the floor, wings tattered.

A dark seraph with broken halos knelt with all six wings bound in chains of sin.

A demon whose horns bled ichor smiled even as he bowed.

Others followed, aberrations, hybrids, things without proper names.

Champions.

Heralds.

Failures reborn into usefulness.

The red eyes shifted, and the entire realm shuddered.

"They are gone," the being said.

His voice did not travel through the air. It engraved itself directly into existence, etching despair into every layer of reality it touched.

"My sight no longer finds Ethan."

The kneeling figures stiffened.

"The threads I planted," he continued calmly, "have vanished. The echoes of fate I followed have been severed. Entire regions of probability have... folded."

A pause.

Not for effect.

For calculation.

"Anbord has fallen silent to me," he said. "Not dead. Not destroyed."

"Hidden."

The dragon among the twelve growled softly, scales grinding. "Impossible. Nothing escapes your gaze, Lord..."

The red eyes flared.

The dragon’s words died in his throat as his shadow was torn apart, devoured by the throne itself. The body remained kneeling, hollow, obedient.

"Impossible," the being repeated flatly, "is a word spoken by those who misunderstand scale."

Silence reclaimed the hall.

"He has moved beyond expectation," the being said. "Beyond the curve, I prepared for him. He is no longer merely reacting."

A faint pressure settled over the kneeling twelve.

"He is choosing."

That, more than anything, unsettled them.

"I will not pursue him directly," the being continued. "That would be... inelegant."

The red eyes shifted again, focusing, piercing.

"You," he said, and the word selected all twelve at once, "will go to Debranlith."

The name alone caused several of them to flinch.

"Break it," the being ordered. "Burn its foundations. Corrupt its ley cores. Awaken what sleeps beneath its crust. If Ethan has hidden his people behind balance, then imbalance will draw him out."

The demon licked his lips. "And if we encounter his kin?"

"Kill them," the being replied without hesitation. "Convert them. I do not care which."

A beat.

"But Ethan..." the being added, his tone finally shifting, curiosity threading through the decay, "is mine."

The red eyes narrowed, and for the first time, something like intent sharpened the air.

"He was born in a system I designed. He rose on paths I permitted. If he believes ascension frees him from consequence..."

The throne screamed as souls were crushed tighter together.

"...then let Debranlith remind him what it means to be seen."

Power surged.

Dark portals tore open behind each of the twelve, leading toward distant calamity.

"Go," the being commanded.

One by one, the kneeling figures vanished, swallowed by distortion, carrying ruin with them like a promise.

When the last portal closed, the throne room fell quiet once more.

The red eyes lingered, staring into nothing.

"Run, Primord," the being murmured, almost softly. "Ascend. Hide your family behind miracles and love."

A thin crack spread across reality itself.

"I have all the time decay can give me."

And somewhere far away, unseen by gods and monsters alike, the balance of the world tilted, just enough to matter.