Everyone turned to the direction of the shouts, looking up the lavish railings of the pristine white staircase that seemed to reach to the heavens itself, with 1,000 steps.

The one who declared this had the same skin color as the host of the party, the God Pallas. He also resembled his features, but barely.

Pallas was built to be lithe and lean, with a refined posture of a gentleman. This man was hunched as if he was always ready to pounce on anyone who tests him.

There was no other possibility to the identity of this man. He was the God of War, Violence and Destruction.

“Vesuvius.” Pallas said with great distaste, still holding his goblet with a fake smile. “Why don’t you join us downstairs and have a drink? You’re looking quite anxious—”

“SPARE ME THE FAKE PLEASANTRIES!” He yelled, his sword that resembled Duke Taevas’ on his hand.

Except this sword was larger. He was riding on the back of a large dog, not a wolf like Skollhati.

The dog resembled those breeds like a German Shepard, Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes. They’re a little smaller than wolves, but they make up for it in numbers and discipline.

They were also Sapphires, while the wolves of Skollhati are Silver. Their tongues lolled and their tales wagged as they followed their master.

“We’re wasting time with this Banquet and you all know it!!!! There’s a war brewing, and the Daemons out there have attacked us first!!!”

He continued to berate everyone almost the same way as Ronin’s father does. Except that the God Vesuvius was younger and more hot-blooded.

His veins always pop out of his forehead and knuckles, eternally mad about something. His teeth gnashed and his teeth were sharper.

Ronin even believed that he could rip the throat off someone with those teeth.

“There is no war, Vesuvius.” Pallas answered with a chuckle. “We have it all controlled and that is why we are uniting with heroes in this Banquet.”

“Isn’t that right, everyone?” He said, and everyone cheered to toast.

They were all lulled into this false sense of serenity that he has, charmed and deluded by his eternally calm aura.

Even the gods too, believed in him. After all, he was the smartest among them. Surely he could tell if there was really something to worry about or not?

After Aurion’s disappearance, Pallas took it upon himself to take charge and oversee the Highest Order Gods’ proceedings.

They have trusted his judgment, especially since he was part of the four gods to bring proof that Diamant had fallen. Pallas was the one who presented four pieces of him.

And those four pieces were the four diamonds surrounding and protecting the Core.

They have believed that with it, no evil can come and harm Magecia. And that was true for more than a thousand years.

But then the attack happened, and the diamonds shattered.

And yet so far, there has not been any affront to them. Besides the Daemon attacks, the Lord of Darkness did not show his face to them again.

And so, they thought it must be an illusion by some new Daemon.

Someone pretending to be Fausforus, and creating a group of new Daemons. They really believed that it was Maellan.

“The Daemons that were attacking had gone underground after an in-fighting between them, according to our valiant heroes here.” Pallas said. “There is nothing to worry about.”

Someone else nodded. “I have seen how most of them argue and fight over each other. They do increase in numbers, but so far all their attacks had been mediocre fear-mongering.”

Pallas smiled. “What we need to do is to improve people’s belief in the gods so that we can restore our strength and close the Rift that has been opened by this Fausforus impostor.”

Vesuvius shook his head. “IMPOSSIBLE! YOU’RE ASKING US TO WAIT!???”

“I’m saying that we use our brains and not just our fists, Vesuvius.” Pallas scoffed. “Good gods, I can’t believe I came from the same Sapphire stone as you.”

“This is not using your brains! This is being complacent and doing nothing!” Vesuvius yelled…..

And made his Sapphire Hound leap from the staircase thousands of feet in the air!

It landed in front of Pallas, who was not amused at all.

“What we need is a strategy! Something to end this once and for all!” Vesuvius yelled, above his hound.

Pallas sighed. “Alright then. You want to talk strategy? We’ll talk strategy as we always do to prove that there’s nothing for gods to go yelling about without any decorum.”

Pallas went to ride the Hound beside him after bowing to his guests. “Please excuse me while I talk about war and peace matters for a while. I shall return shortly.”

Vesuvius was annoyed to have him ride behind him, but Pallas only dug his foot on the side of the Hound to make it move away from the party.

Some of the people were rattled, both gods and humans, but they were so far down in their denial.

It has been so long since Daemons existed. All of the humans had never witnessed Daemonic Gods themselves, while most of the gods have forgotten and moved on.

But Ronin noticed that Freja and her husband Elyr was nowhere to be found, possibly staying in that castle of ice that she had the girls stay in.

She was a war goddess before herself so she was also like Vesuvius that wanted to be proactive on the matter.

Not to mention with the girls on her side, she knows much more and the identity of the Lord of Darkness now. But for some reason chose not to tell her fellow gods and goddesses.

And Ronin could already guess why.

“Let’s follow them, Your Highness.” He said, taking Cermin’s hand to go after the two Sapphire gods.

“Huh? But why?” Cermin said.

“I have a feeling we would both like to hear what they have to say. And Pallas seemed to be a good guy, the one who’s hosting this Banquet.” Ronin said. “Maybe he’d help.”

Cermin agreed with that, he really does have an aura that makes you lose your guard and trust him. But…..

“I’m scared of that Vesuvius guy. He seemed to get aggrieved easily and he might hurt you if he learned that the Lord of Darkness is possessing you.”

“Then we must wait until Pallas is alone.” Ronin said. “Just come on.”

They have followed the Gods of War and Peace all the way to this secluded wing in the Palace. They were far from everyone and had the privacy they wanted.

“Now, then. How many times do I have to explain this to your thick skull?” Pallas said as he dismounted from the dog,

“Your plan is not a plan. It’s suicide.” Vesuvius said, getting down and looking ready to beat the shit out of this man.

Pallas chuckled. “It’s called relying on faith. The true essence of Gods. If you want people to have faith in you, then you need to have faith on yourself too.”

“I don’t understand why we have to wait. We know who the Daemons are. They’re not untouchable, and we could easily defeat them if we want to.”

Pallas shook his head. “You’ll be playing into their hands. Haven’t you learned this many years before?”

“When there’s war, there is chaos. When there’s chaos, there’s fear. And fear is for the Abyssal gods to feed on.”

Pallas presented a scroll. “This is a whole list of actions we could take in order to make sure that we increase faith instead of fear. If we follow my plan—”

“Your plan takes 40 years, and an estimate of 40,000,000 lives!” Vesuvius yelled.

“Yes, but it’s worth it. We’ll be defeating the darkness slowly but surely.” He smiled. “After all, every death of our followers goes to us. It strengthen us.”

The moment Cermin heard this, his eyes widened and felt nauseated. Death was his greatest fear.

And millions of deaths for the sake of gods gaining power? That’s absolutely evil and despicable!

He felt like he could no longer trust Pallas anymore. If he just sees human lives as fodder for himself and other gods, then how can he be trusted to save Ronin?

Vesuvius raised an eyebrow. “You want to utilize death to increase your power? That’s no different to Abyssal gods.”

His eyes brightened with hope. At least Vesuvius was talking sense!

He was hot-blooded, but he was doing so out of his care for the world. Cermin pulled Ronin closer and whispered to him.

“Maybe we should talk Vesuvius instead….. I can handle it and maybe he could help us if we explain everything. He actually wants to fight evil, not let it reign free—”

“If we’re going to use death, then why no do it in one strike already using war!” Vesuvius exclaimed.

“Let all humans rise up and fend for themselves, their lives won’t be a waste if we feed on their boundless faith!

Cermin could not believe this.

So they’re all the same! War and peace…. The outcome is all the same! They just want to use humans as pawns in this game while they live lavish immortal lives!

“How… How can the Celestus gods be this cruel!???” He clenched his fist.

Ronin sensed that something snapped on Cermin. He was behaving differently, not like his usual pacifist self….

And much like Aurion when he was angered and raised his voice!

His sword was summoned from this rage, burning so bright that it blinded everyone in the Palace as it appeared!