Chương 413: Urgent Matters

(Around the Same Time — Earth) The conference room fell silent after Rosemary finished speaking. Mors Auctoris's leader was her twin sister. That alone was strange enough. The woman who led the Roses and the woman who had spent years fighting against them. They were sisters, twins, and yet, oddly enough, no one in the room seemed all that surprised. Most of them had already dealt with things far stranger than a family secret. Cleo broke the silence first.

She scoffed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm not surprised. You barely talk about yourself." Rose kept her calm, professional expression, though a faint hint of annoyance crossed her face.

"I'm glad you didn't take it badly." Cleo sighed and closed her eyes.

"Sure, sure. But if there's anything else we need to know, just tell us now so I can get back to being Pharaoh of Egypt." Rose almost sighed herself, but caught it before it escaped. Instead, she straightened in her seat and pressed a few buttons on the table. The screen in front of them changed, filling the room with a pale glow. More than thirty people were gathered around the table, including several Roses and several high-ranking executives. One by one, they turned their attention toward the display.

"Well," Rose said, "we may have a problem." Several people groaned.

"We already have enough problems," Menis muttered.

"What could be worse?" Rose stared at her for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh.

"Two things, actually." The screen changed again.

"First, Barbatos, also known as Hydra to some of you, has begun his fourth Trial." Several people became more alarmed. Even those who had been relaxed moments ago now paid closer attention.

"Normally, that would be good news," Rose continued.

"Especially if he manages to clear it."

"Obviously," a cocky Rose called from the back. Rose stopped speaking and slowly looked toward her. The room went quiet.

"Sorry..." the woman muttered, sinking slightly into her chair. Rose continued as if nothing had happened.

"However, Mors Auctoris will almost certainly use this chance against us. They know one of our strongest weapons will be gone for an unknown amount of time. They will test our defences while he is away. They may bring new weapons, use new plans, or attack targets we aren't expecting. We can't assume they'll make the same moves they have in the past." Her expression hardened as she looked around the room.

"So we prepare for everything." The screen changed once more.

"Second, several of our Paragons are still missing. They were sent to find the students who were teleported to an unknown location, and we still have no clear idea when they will return." Ariel spoke next, her calm voice carrying a strange, almost otherworldly quality.

"If they don't return soon, how are we supposed to prepare properly?" Rose's expression changed slightly.

"By acting as if they won't return." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Silence. The words were simple, but everyone understood what Rose meant. They could not build their plans around people who might not come back. If the Paragons returned, it would be a blessing. Until then, they had to prepare for the worst. Tharion finally spoke.

"Do not worry. It is very unlikely that they will not return. With some luck, they should be back within the week."

"Next week?" Cleo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Is that really enough time?"

"Yes," Tharion answered without hesitation.

"Time moves differently where they are. We don't know the exact rate, but it should give them enough time to finish what they need to do. From our point of view, they may only be gone for a few days." Cleo still looked unsure, but some of the worry left her face. Rose watched the room for another moment. No one seemed to have any more questions. Good. The sooner she finished, the better. She took a slow breath before continuing.

"I assume you're all wondering what happened in the Arctic, especially after what Alexandria mentioned earlier." The people around the table slowly nodded. Rose pressed another button. Satellite footage appeared on the screen. At first, there was not much to see. A frozen landscape stretched beneath a grey sky, with a teleport chamber and a few scattered buildings standing in the snow. The footage shook slightly, making the scene hard to follow. Then, without warning, several students appeared within the chamber.

A man materialised beside them. Almost immediately, a robot arrived. It grabbed the man, removed him from the area, and disappeared from view. The footage was grainy, and much of what happened was difficult to make out. Still, what came next was impossible to miss. A huge rift opened in the sky. It was bright red, almost like a wound had been carved into reality itself. The edges of the rift twisted and moved in a way that made the image uncomfortable to watch. A second rift appeared soon after.

Rose paused the footage.

"From here on, I'll be using the readings from our AI to identify the creatures that came through the rifts." She looked around the room.

"Please. Don't overreact." No one answered. Rose resumed the footage. The first rift opened wider, and something came through. The energy readings immediately began to rise. Stage Five. Stage Six. Stage Seven. Then— Stage Eight Spawn. The room went completely still. An Eighth-Stage Spawn had appeared. For a moment, it remained in the footage. Then something happened that none of them could properly understand. It vanished. Whatever had killed it had done so almost instantly. There had been no long battle.

No struggle, no exchange of attacks. The creature had simply ceased to exist. Several people exchanged uneasy looks. Rose continued the footage.

"That," she said quietly, "is what concerns me about the second rift." The second rift opened. Darkness poured from it. Then came the scales. Black as the deepest night. Two violet eyes opened within the storm. The sky itself seemed to twist around the creature. Clouds gathered at an unnatural speed, lightning flashed across the heavens, and a massive storm formed around the being as its enormous body emerged from the rift. Everyone in the room recognised him. Dagon. The monster that had destroyed half of humanity.

The creature they had believed was dead. The room seemed to grow colder. Dagon had returned. The footage continued. The Eighth-Stage Spawn roared as soon as it saw him. Dagon answered with a low, monstrous roar of his own. Then he moved. One moment, the Spawn stood near the rift. The next, Dagon was already in front of it. His massive hand seized the Spawn and drove it into the ground with enough force to shake the surrounding area. The Spawn tried to resist, but there was nothing it could do.

Dagon simply overpowered it. There was no real fight. Its body disappeared beneath Dagon's attack, its existence erased in a matter of seconds. Then Dagon stopped. He slowly turned his head toward the students. For several seconds, he simply watched them. Finally, Dagon turned away and calmly walked back toward the rift. He stepped through it without another attack, leaving the students completely unharmed. Then the footage ended. Silence returned to the room. No one spoke. Yet the fear was clear on their faces.

They had just watched one of the most dangerous creatures on Earth return, and it had barely seemed interested in fighting. That was what made it worse. Fe broke the silence.

"You know, I've been researching Dagon." Cleo quickly turned toward him.

"Fe. This isn't the time." Alexandria raised a hand.

"No." She looked toward Fe.

"I want to hear it. Continue." Fe smiled beneath his blindfold.

"You see, we once believed Dagon was responsible for destroying our planet. For years, that was what we believed. Everything we found seemed to point toward him." He paused, and his smile slowly faded.

"But that was never the truth." Several people exchanged confused looks. Fe lowered his voice.

"It wasn't Dagon. It was something much worse, and from what I've found, I think I finally know what those beings are called." His attention remained fixed on Rosemary. Rosemary's calm expression seemed slightly less certain. Fe's smile returned.

"Isn't that right... Mother?" Rosemary's eyes flickered. Fe noticed. A chuckle escaped him as he leaned back.

"Our enemy was never Dagon," he said.

"Dagon was only a weapon. Something else was behind him. Something that controlled him and used him to destroy the world." He let the silence linger for a moment. Then his voice became colder.

"The force controlling him." Fe looked around the room, allowing each person to understand what he was saying. Then he finally gave them the answer.

"The Angels."