Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 379: A Warning from Providence

Seat of the Pantheon

Crescent Galaxy

Uetera Universe

ZWF4105 Cluster

August 9th

Year 2019

The Crescent Galaxy was the closest habitable galaxy to the centre of the Uetera Universe, blessed with the highest levels of ambient energy concentration and filled with countless Prime and Apex Worlds.

It was only natural that it had been chosen to host the thrones of its Master and Main Entities, but at this moment, rather than the Master of Uetera, the High Werewolf known as Calhoun, another figure was seated upon the throne of the Master.

It was a human with short grey hair neatly coiffured to frame a chiselled face that bore a cold expression. His narrowed green eyes gazed down on Calhoun while his fingers repeatedly tapped the armrest of the throne.

"Where is... Capella?"

His voice carried a faint trace of confusion as he posed the question, and Calhoun quickly answered.

"That is the name of the Cluster where we installed the Proelium Tower in Luabos."

"I see..."

The green-eyed man murmured in reply, slightly nodding as the Standard Dictum of Providence displayed countless illusions of different scenes before his eyes.

Just then, space distorted and a figure warped into the room, a lean black-haired man with a scar across his left cheek, before whom Calhoun lowered his head in reverence.

This man ignored the Master of Uetera, fixing his gaze instead on the green-eyed man seated upon the Master’s Throne as he spoke.

"What are you doing, Deryn? Your Dictum was interfering with my readings."

At the scarred man’s words, Deryn, seated on the throne, lifted his head and replied.

"Something is wrong, Salenor.

We need to keep a close watch on the Tower in Luabos. Providence tells me something is ’off’, but I cannot see beyond that. Considering Luabos is the last universe that needs to be ’anchored’, I can’t help but worry."

Hearing this, Salenor frowned, clicking his tongue with obvious irritation.

"This is why we told THEM not to allow those dragons to excavate that final piece from Zanerth.

If we had the key, we would already have activated the Towers and begun preparing this place for THEIR descent.

Yet, not only have those dragons failed to bring the key in time, one of them even exposed the existence of the special forces THEY had been working on."

Salenor could not help but feel annoyed whenever he thought about the reason they had been forced to activate the Isolation Barrier already, even though their preparations were still incomplete.

Turning his gaze toward Calhoun, he asked.

"Luabos is the territory of that Ulfur, correct? Have you killed that Scott Wolf subordinate of his?"

Salenor’s words revealed that he was aware that Ulfur’s aide, Mei, whom Miranda had saved only moments earlier, was a member of the Scott Bloodline, and it was for that reason that he wanted her dead.

"I entrusted the task to Kellam, who was eager to prove himself. We should soon hear the outcome of his attempt."

Salenor only snorted at Calhoun’s reply, looking away as he said, "He better not fail. We have no idea what secret methods that Scott might have, so she needs to die."

With that, he turned his focus back to Deryn and asked.

"Should I go over to Luabos in person? To check on matters and see how it plays out?"

"..."

Deryn did not respond immediately. He silently activated his Dictum of Providence, a Dictum formed from the fused Assimilated Origin Cores of the laws of Fate and Destiny, simultaneously pulling on the strings of fate and peering through the veil of destiny to discern the outcome of Salenor’s potential action.

"...I can’t see anything wrong with you going, but my instincts are telling me it would be a bad idea."

When Deryn said this, Salenor rubbed his shaved chin in silence for a moment before finally making up his mind.

"I’ll send a few of those dragons there instead. Let them inspect the area and check if there’s any anomaly.

Shockingly, Salenor trusted in Deryn’s instincts more than he trusted in the Dictum of Providence!

After speaking, he turned and left to issue the orders, while Deryn remained seated on the throne, silently probing the strings of Fate to uncover why the once golden strands had begun to slowly turn grey.

’Something... somewhere in Luabos is an obstacle to us.’

Deryn was the cautious type who preferred to move forward with his plans only when assured of success, but if necessary, he could also act with decisiveness and cut off anything that might jeopardise them.

’The best possibility would be to begin the amalgamation with the final anchor properly set and activated, but we can always start without it, as the other eleven fully anchored universes would eventually pull Luabos in with their combined gravity.’ 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Even so, he was unwilling to move forward with their plans while they remained incomplete, even if it was only a single vital piece missing from the twelve.

’If we fail to anchor every universe entirely, there could be flaws. The amalgamation might even be detected by this cluster’s Masters if done that way.

That would leave us no choice but to fall back on Plan B...’

His thoughts stopped there as he cut off the cosmic energy flowing into his Dictum, lifting his gaze to meet the silent Calhoun.

"Prepare to execute Plan B and distract your fellow Masters."

"As you wish."

Calhoun bowed his head and made his way out of the hall, leaving Deryn behind to ponder in silence, still questioning what had appeared so suddenly that his instincts were sounding alarms of danger.

◇　◇　◇

Not long after the brief meeting between the two beings to whom even the Master of Uetera lowered his head, Miranda arrived in Luabos-Alpha, the central galaxy that housed the Seat of the Pantheon of Luabos.

There, she finally met with Ulfur, the Universe’s Master, and after confirming that he had no knowledge of the Isolation Field surrounding ZWF4105, Miranda immediately began laying out her intended plan.

"I want you to create a special force made up of subordinates you can trust, one that is unaffiliated with your Pantheon. I want them to move into the Capella Galaxy Cluster and gradually shut down the entrances to the Proelium Tower."

"What?"

Ulfur could only stare in confusion at Miranda’s words, and before he could raise an objection about how such an action would inevitably draw the attention of Sonerth and Uetera, Miranda continued speaking.

"You mentioned that the Proelium Tower has been attacked before, didn’t you?"

She directed this question to Mei, who responded with a nod, and with that, Miranda declared.

"Then let history repeat itself. Stage an Intergalactic War if you need to.

My concern is simply reducing the number of beings entering that thing through this universe, and taking control of the entrances seems like the most effective option.

There are certain details I have noticed about it that I want to run tests on."

The first was the energy it was gathering and how it affected the runes on that obelisk at the centre of the waiting hall of the tower.

Next was the faint blanket of destiny law energy Miranda detected only when she was about to leave. It was thin and barely noticeable, but the Authority within it was strong.

Miranda paused after speaking, running through several possible plans in her mind.

"Um, Lady Scott."

"??"

"...your plan to control the entrances of the Proelium Tower would face difficulties since Calhoun and Marric already have their forces stationed there," Ulfur said, his expression darkening as he thought of how the forces of other Masters were boldly strutting around in his domain.

"Who are those?" Miranda asked, blinking, and Mei responded.

"The Masters of Uetera and Sonerth."

"Oh..."

A moment later, Miranda pieced the connection together and settled on a conclusion.

"I see. Their forces are most likely part of their efforts to expand universal influence in Luabos. If that ties into the Destiny Field..."

She trailed off, falling into silence as her thoughts ran for several moments before she made her decision.

"Do you have any major galactic clusters nearby that are rivals or openly hostile toward one another within this universe?"

"Mhmm? Yes, there are many."

With billions of galaxies across Luabos, it was only natural that there would be an abundance of factions holding deep enmities.