Laz stood there as he looked through the open ceiling, watching Nagi, Clio and Erato standing up there along with dozens of others, bows and weapons in hand as they prepared for the defense of the black castle. In front of him stood the hundreds of solders they had at their command, those who remained from the gates defense and the few they could recruit in time. Along with them were the more war like daughters of Hera including Athena, Artemis and even Persephone along with Eris and a few others. The guards were on call throughout the fortress with Pooja, Nesha and their remaining sisters, ready to enforce martial law or defend the halls if needed. As for Hera, she was currently stationed in the main combat chamber with her advisors, Anisha and her daughters who weren’t fighters as well as her dozens of personal guards.

As for the one who sold her out, she had been locked in a room with her family, their fate to be decided later.

Everyone was on edge. As soon as the massive bell in the main tower rung, it meant the teleportation was underway to the place that Laz had indicated on the map. He didn’t remember it well as the moment he came through the gate, he had been attacked and knocked out, awakening only later in the slave pen of the arena. But with his help and Hera’s knowledge of when they came in way back when, they knew it’s approximate location.

"Battle doesn’t scare me. Even if I die, at least I will die with a sword in my hand. But this waiting... it’s killing me minute by minute..." Athena said, gripping her sword hilt so tightly Laz couldn’t help but wonder how it wasn’t being deformed in her hand.

"How are you so calm?" Athena then asked, turned towards Laz who had his eyes closed and was taking deep breaths, as though enjoying the mountain air.

"I once fought a battle against ancient gods and even chaos gods, well, witnessed one anyway. A god could shatter a city, and ancient god could destroy a continent. As for a Chaos God? It could destroy a small world. And even then, I knew, in my heart, there were some stronger beings somewhere. Whether we live or die right here, it doesn’t matter much. Not even a spark in the long blaze of the universe. And yet, to us, it’s the most important moment of our lives. The right here and right now will decide our future and yet the reason I am breathing easy right now is because I don’t know if I will have a breath in me by the end of the day. So I am living in this exact moment, feeling my body, feeling the live of the world and the universe around me. Even if I don’t make a mark in history, I can at least take a moment and feel the same energy of the omniverse that’s all around us. Take a moment and appreciate that vastness which I am a part of, even if only for a fleeting moment," Laz said, taking another deep breath even as he kept his eyes closed. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

He had many people waiting for him and even more now who would look for him in the future. He had no idea if he could save them all, but the least he could do was fight till the last breath in his body to have a chance at it.

’I wonder if Rain survived?’ Laz thought about the poor prisoner he had met in the slave pens of the Arena and wondered if she had survived the destruction of the capitol. He hadn’t seen her since and no one he asked had any idea if she was still alive or not.

Laz didn’t hide his voice, nor his actions. All those around him, including Two and Seven, took a moment to steady their nerves, take a deep breath and close their eyes, feeling, or at least thinking they felt, at one with creation, even if for a moment.

DING

A bell rung right above their heads as they all opened their eyes.

Laz couldn’t help but smile.

...

The shadow dragon stood at the door, the strongest gods of all of the beast races behind him as he began the process to open the door. Despite having a key, it still needed an influx of energy and time to unravel the locks that kept the door closed from this side. He had been warned about this when entering, along with the hit it’s cultivation would take.

It used to be a high level ancient god pet of the nameless god, but now it wasn’t even an ancient god.

Still, it held it’s own pride and believed it had succeeded, even though it hadn’t killed the boy with the Asura blood. After all, once the door was open, it’s master could send it in enough high level gods to take down the rest of the humans here and even move the gate anywhere it wanted, giving it a free range hunting ground.

After all, the nameless god was currently confined and unable to move around as it pleased. Having a small world to play with would at least improve it’s mood.

"Master. Are your sure that leaving only the weaker children back at the fort will be alright?" One of the high level beast gods asked. After all, the ones inside were the strongest beings they had ever faced. Even though their numbers had dwindled to the point of nothingness, the ones who remained could easily slay the ones who still guarded the pass out of the mountains. Should they try to break free, without the ancestors there to hold the line, how would any of them survive.

"The humans will just be glad to be alive. Besides, even if they wished to escape, where will they go? This is the only door in and out of this world and pretty soon, it shall be controlled by my master. Now begin injecting your energy into the door to open it. And remember, if you wish to be recognized by my master, you need to be able to prove your worth. Just being a level seven beast is nothing in the eyes of my master for he has far stronger experts who are all loyal to him, even if that means giving up your shallow bloodlines for something greater," the shadow dragon replied, obviously not concerned about their tribes dying. It was even insisting they they should let them parish so that they might start anew in the outside world. As for it’s own desires, it would use them as subordinates if it’s master felt they were useful. If not, they would fill the shadow dragons’ belly. After all, it enjoyed eating quite a bit and the only thing that stopped it from doing so with these beasts was that it’s master had punished it before for eating all of it’s subordinates as finding anyone willing to work with the shadow dragon was hard considering it’s disdain for others.

Basically, everyone but it’s master was stupid to the shadow dragon and it’s IQ left a lot to be desired.

"With so many feeding the door energy, it should open within a few hours. And those humans were dumb enough to believe I would leave them alone. How foolish..." Even now, the shadow dragon believed it was all the humans choice to give up the key, including the empress. It had no idea that the ones who had done so had actually betrayed everyone and that the humans had no intention of actually surrendering.

Therefore it was particularly surprised when a massive fortress with a black castle hovering above it suddenly appeared right next to where they were all standing and crashed into the ground causing dust to fly everywhere.

None of the beasts said anything as they were all shocked to no end.

Even the shadow dragon, wearing the disguise of the human emperor let his jaw drop at this change of events.

The gates had been destroyed and with the shift, all of the defenses were down. So while everyone outside was in shock, those inside took action.

"ATTACK!" Laz yelled as the massive gates opened and the humans ran out, grouping up.

While caught off guard, they couldn’t stay that way for long as the shadow dragon quickly muttered back,

"Attack," it said at once, a little hesitant before regaining it’s limited wits.

"ATTACK!" It then yelled as it strode forward itself.

"The six of you keep at that gate even if it kills you," the dragon roared as it came face to face with the charging Laz.

As for the other god rank beasts, the goddesses all began to engage with them as Laz’s Death Walkers broke into units to assist the closest goddess.

"You should have stayed on that mountain and waited for your death Asura."

"I can’t die yet, beast. Not until I remove that head from that neck as a thank you for attacking me from behind when we first arrived here, you coward!"

The two angry gods charged at one another.