"Why are you here?"

Ul’Thakar questioned, in his mind, however, he was already preparing to attack.

He could already see how the battle between him and Seraphielle would drag on longer. He had to admit, he hadn’t anticipated Seraphielle’s move as well as he should have, it was his mistake and he paid for it dearly.

Son Darkness had been constantly telling him about the outside situation of the War and how their Faction was at a disadvantage, and while most of him was focused on his battle—

Some part of him could see how all of this was making these two stronger. At this point, the two of them had already surpassed them in terms of Faction Strength.

And the gap would only continue to increase the longer they fought.

The only way he could think of to stop them was... to involve them in the War, and while it was risky since it was very possible for these two to work together with Seraphielle to put him down for good—

That was the risk he had decided he was ready to take.

This War was no longer about planning and careful execution—

It was about surprise.

And him attacking the two Infinities would be the biggest surprise. If everything went well, he could even use this moment to turn this into an even bigger battle, a battle where everyone loses, death and destruction reaches its peak and once it does—

He gets stronger.

Strong enough to take out these three.

That was the plan.

Yes, that was it—

But before Ul’Thakar could initiate his plan—

"Zylarith reached out."

Orravyn said words that stopped him. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Ul’Thakar looked at him, then he looked at Seraphielle, who seemed just as confused as him.

"Zylarith...?"

She questioned with a frown and Equarios nodded.

"Yes, Zylarith.

He wants to talk."

He spoke clearly.

"And what are you two? His lackeys?"

Ul’Thakar grinned. The two Infinities, however, didn’t react to his words, they just looked at him and—

"We are the last people who want the two of you to stop, you should know that."

"Yet here you are."

Seraphielle muttered.

"Yes, here we are."

Orravyn nodded.

"Do you not think that alone makes it worth listening?"

Silence.

For a good few minutes, none of the Infinities said anything, even Ul’Thakar dropped his plan. The logical side of his brain that had been repressed since his war-hungry nature had taken over, was now in control again.

Orravyn and Equarios noticed that, so they nodded at both Infinities and—

"You know where to find us."

Saying those words, both Orravyn and Equarios disappeared, the waves of attacks resumed and Ul’Thakar, using that moment, rushed forward to launch a surprise attack on Seraphielle, which wasn’t actually a surprise attack since the Infinity of Light had already predicted it.

"I knew you would do something this lowly."

She grinned as their energies collided.

"Says the woman who launched a sneak attack at the very start of the War."

Ul’Thakar didn’t back down.

"That’s strategy. Your mind wouldn’t understand that."

Seraphielle countered and Ul’Thakar just snorted.

"As one would expect from a hypocritical bitch."

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Once again, the two Infinities collided, but this time, the void around them did not crack.

Was it because the Universe had strengthened it even further?

No, the Universe would still need at least a thousand years to stabilize and strengthen the void enough for it to stop cracking under the Infinities’ attacks.

This wasn’t the Universe—

It was the two Infinities themselves.

They had purposefully lowered their attack power and had decided not to give their all, at least not until the Meeting was over.

Yes, the meeting that had now begun back in the hall where the four Infinities usually met, both Seraphielle and Ul’Thakar had sent a part of their consciousness there while they themselves continued the battle that they had been... enjoying so much.

...

So the War continued—

The two Factions did not know that their Leaders were now having a conversation, they were still going all out.

Back in the Supreme Hall, the consciousnesses of Seraphielle and Ul’Thakar, together with Orravyn and Equarios, had appeared. The four took their usual places, Seraphielle, sensing the Universe’s situation and seeing how her own faction was performing with her own eyes, chuckled—

"I did not expect it to go this well."

She was proud.

More than pride, however, this was about how she had basically brought Ul’Thakar’s Faction to its knees, it was a beautiful sight to see.

"To be proud of a lowly attack like that, as one would expect from you."

Ul’Thakar snorted, but Seraphielle—

"As I said before, it’s called strategy."

She shrugged.

It was clear that no matter what Ul’Thakar said to her, it wouldn’t make a difference, Ul’Thakar understood that as well.

So he turned towards the other two instead—

"So? When are you two beginning? I skipped beating her up to come here, this better be worth it."

"Heh."

Seraphielle outright laughed at those words, but she too, had turned towards Orravyn and Equarios. As fun as it was to tease Ul’Thakar, she could see it was important.

The other two Infinities nodded lightly, then, Orravyn took out a crystal and activated it—

The other side accepted the call almost instantly and in the air, in the middle of the table, a projection of a being formed.

A being who had... long been forgotten by most beings in the Universe, but not the Four Infinities.

The moment they saw him, old memories freshened up and...

Every single one of them turned silent.

And Zylarith—

"It has been a long time, my dear friends."

He grinned.

"You are alive.

I did not expect that."

Ul’Thakar commented.

He remembered destroying Zylarith’s body completely, he did it on his own, so he knew there was no way for him to recover from it—

But the fact that he still survived, even after all that...

It was clear that the monster was prepared for it, and honestly, at some level, it made sense. Zylarith alone was going against all four Infinities at the time—

He would be a fool to jump into that battle without an escape plan.

"Don’t act surprised, you knew I was alive all along."

Zylarith looked at Ul’Thakar and smiled, Ul’Thakar smiled back, almost as if they were old pals, as if he wasn’t the one who did everything in his power to make sure Zylarith stayed dead.

"So? Why are you here?"

Seraphielle asked directly.

"Straight to the point as always, huh? I was expecting to have a little chat, greet each other, recall the good old times."

Zylarith sighed dramatically.

Seraphielle’s mouth twitched.

This was another one of the reasons she did not like this man, not one bit. That annoying tone, that annoying sense of ease that he had around him, even when he should merely be a soul barely hanging on for dear life.

This was the reason she did not like interacting with Anomaly, he was no different, he too, had that same annoying sense of confidence around him despite clearly being weaker than her, despite clearly being the one who had been living all his life in hiding, only coming out when he knew he wouldn’t be hunted.

"There was nothing good about the old times. You tried to bite off more than you could chew, and you paid for it.

Your face when you realized you would lose was entertaining to watch though, maybe that can be considered good."

Seraphielle snorted.

Zylarith shamelessly laughed at those words, almost as if those words weren’t being said to him.

"Your look when you realized just me alone was pushing the four of you back was quite amusing too.

See? We both have good memories.

Good old times."

He chuckled.

Seraphielle’s mouth twitched even more.

"Say what you came here for."

That was when Orravyn interrupted with an expressionless look on his face, not wanting to waste any more of his time. He would rather go watch the battle between Seraphielle and Ul’Thakar than this.

Zylarith, however—

"Oh hold your horses, milk boy, adults are talking."

He just shrugged, almost brushing Orravyn away. The Infinity of Eternity, however, did not react to that provocation.

He just looked at Zylarith and Zylarith...

He looked around and seeing that none of the Infinities were willing to speak to him and exchange greetings with him, he just sighed—

"Gosh, this place has become a nightmare since I left."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

But again, the four Infinities looked at him in silence, waiting for him to say his part. Zylarith sighed even more dramatically, then, his face turned solemn as he looked at Seraphielle and Ul’Thakar.

"Stop the War."

He spoke directly.

"And why should we listen to you?"

Ul’Thakar asked directly and Zylarith answered that very instant—

"Because if you don’t,

You will lose everything you have worked for all your life and together with you—

I will lose everything as well."

"Hah?"

Ul’Thakar frowned.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He asked.

And Zylarith revealed the truth—

"Anomaly.

That’s my son."

"...huh?"