(3rd Person POV)
Arthur had sent Thanokai and his crew to his personal dimension — the Divine Kingdom, technically, though calling it that in casual conversation felt unnecessarily formal.
"I have a Hexathyr." He glanced at Saza. "In my possession, actually."
Saza's eyes widened. "You have one?"
She'd mentioned it because the space-time array genuinely needed Hexathyr blood — and she needed it for her other experiments as well. She'd thought Arthur, with his power, could search for one in this world. Maybe even venture into the void to track one down. She'd been prepared to accept a half-Hexathyr if necessary; there were more of them in her world than pure-blooded ones, though the array wouldn't reach its full potential with diluted blood.
She had not expected him to already own one.
"Firfel and I traveled the void in a Divine Ship." Arthur leaned back against the desk. "Another ship attacked us. The one leading it called himself Hexathyr."
Saza's expression shifted — genuine excitement breaking through her usual composure. "Then we should see this Hexathyr immediately. With it, we can calibrate the time flow between worlds. You won't need to worry about temporal drift at all."
Apollonia straightened. "This is perfect, isn't it? We can go back to our world without losing months here."
Arthur nodded.
The door opened. Firfel and Sylwen stepped in, catching the tail end of the conversation.
"What's happening?" Firfel asked.
Arthur explained.
She absorbed it, then glanced at him with quiet recognition. "Thanokai. The one you bound as your underling forever."
"That's the one." Arthur smiled faintly. "The goat-deity."
"Goat-deity?" Saza's brow lifted.
"The Hexathyr is also a deity." Arthur watched her process that. "Minor, by most standards. But still divine."
Saza stared at him. "So you don't just have a Hexathyr. You have a deity Hexathyr."
"More or less."
She looked at him strangely, as though re-evaluating something fundamental.
Arthur pushed off the desk. "Anyway, now that I've remembered him, we should go see him. Unless you'd rather wait?"
"Now?" Saza blinked. "Right now?"
"I can bring you to my Divine Kingdom." He said it as though offering to show her the next room over.
"Wait." Saza went very still. "Divine Kingdom? You mean — an actual Divine Kingdom? The kind only high-ranking gods are permitted to manifest?"
Arthur tilted his head. "I mentioned I'm a deity."
"That doesn't—" Saza stopped herself, visibly recalibrating. "Most deities only have Divine Realms. Personal spaces under their full control. A Divine Kingdom is something else entirely."
She was two thousand years old. A demi-god. She knew the difference.
Divine Realms were pocket dimensions — isolated, self-contained, limited in scope.
Divine Kingdoms were realms anchored within the Divine World itself, a space where deities from across the cosmos could coexist without the interference of planetary Origins. A deity strong enough to claim territory there and hold it was operating on a completely different level.
The Divine World was neutral ground. No Origin to expel foreign gods. No restrictions on divine power. Deities from a thousand different worlds existed there side by side, and the strong carved out kingdoms while the weak survived in the margins.
And Arthur was saying he had one.
"Well, let's go." Arthur moved toward the center of the room, then stopped. "Wait. The Origin. I shouldn't use my powers recklessly here."
Saza nodded. "We can set up an array that masks your presence temporarily. It's limited to one location and can't be abused, but it should suffice."
"Let's set it up."
Saza worked quickly. Within two hours, she had inscribed an array across Arthur's office floor — a defensive barrier that would block external interference and prevent the Origin from detecting anything that occurred within its bounds. The array could be activated three times before it burned out.
Arthur stepped into the center and manifested the passage.
A swirling gateway tore open before them, large enough to walk through comfortably. The edges shimmered with spatial distortion, stabilizing after a moment into a clear corridor that led directly to his Divine Kingdom.
"After you."
They stepped through.
Saza followed, her composure held carefully in place despite the anticipation building beneath it. She'd read about Divine Kingdoms in ancient texts — theoretical knowledge, fragments of history recorded by scholars who had never seen one themselves. She was about to witness one firsthand.
The passage opened.
They emerged atop a high-rise rooftop, the kingdom sprawling beneath them in every direction.
Saza's breath caught.
The city stretched endlessly across the landscape — towers of glass and pale stone rising in perfect geometric formations, their surfaces gleaming under an artificial sky. The roads below were wide and black, carved with precision, filled with self-moving carriages rolling past one another in orderly streams.
She'd seen those carriages in Arthur's world — the ones he'd introduced to Horn Kingdom and beyond. She'd seen buildings of glass and stone rising in his cities.
But this was something else entirely.
The sheer scale staggered her. The towers here dwarfed anything in Horn Kingdom, rising impossibly high in gleaming clusters. The roads formed intricate networks that wove through the city with mechanical precision.
The carriages moved in perfect order, thousands of them, flowing like water through carefully designed channels.
And at the city's heart, a distinctive red tower rose higher than everything else, its structure luminous and commanding, unmistakable even from this distance.
This wasn't just an advanced city. This was a Divine Kingdom — a god's personal realm manifested in the Divine World itself, carved from raw divine authority and sustained by unimaginable power.
"This..." Saza's voice came out quieter than she intended. "This is your Divine Kingdom?"
Apollonia leaned over the rooftop edge, staring down at the streets below. "This city is leagues beyond Ferland. Beyond Horn City entirely."
Sylwen stood motionless, her gaze fixed on the red tower in the distance. "So this is the land of a deity..."
Firfel smiled, watching their expressions. She'd worn the same look the first time Arthur had brought her here — shock and wonder blending into something she couldn't quite articulate.
"Welcome to my Divine Kingdom. The Dionysus Kingdom."
The moment Arthur spoke, Apollonia, Sylwen, and Saza felt something shift around them — a presence, vast and aware, embracing them gently. The kingdom itself, welcoming them as guests acknowledged by its master.
Saza bowed, her movements precise and formal. "This is my honor."
She kept her expression composed, but beneath it, her mind reeled. She'd known Arthur was powerful — more powerful than her, certainly. But owning a Divine Kingdom of this scale, thriving and populated, with infrastructure that rivaled anything she'd seen — this was beyond what she'd anticipated.
"Now, let's go see that Hexathyr."
The wind rose beneath them without any visible magic, carrying them smoothly into the sky. The city unfolded below as they traveled — towers gleaming, roads flowing with ordered traffic, the entire kingdom alive with motion.
The citizens noticed.
"Look! The King has returned!"
"All hail the King!"
"Kneel before him!"
Thousands dropped to their knees in unison, their faces turned upward in reverence.
Arthur waved.
Apollonia watched the display with genuine awe. "They're so devoted to you, brother. Even Father doesn't receive this kind of reverence from his subjects."
"That's natural," Firfel said. "They're his faithful followers. This is what devotion to a deity looks like."
Sylwen listened, her gaze sweeping across the kneeling crowds below. Each one radiated power — strength that dwarfed her own.
Figures appeared before them, flying up to meet their path. They bowed mid-flight, armor gleaming, expressions solemn with devotion. The Dionysus Knights — guardians of the kingdom.
Saza's voice carried quiet astonishment. "They're all demigods. Every single one of them."
Arthur smiled. "That's the entry level here in the Divine World. Many of them were followers of other deities before — abandoned or orphaned when their gods died. They wandered the Divine World until they found my kingdom and joined me." He gestured toward the knights as they fell into formation around the group. "And many of the souls faithful to me ascend to early-level demigod status immediately upon arrival."
Saza nodded slowly, absorbing that. She knew the theory of Divine Kingdoms, but seeing it in practice revealed details no ancient text had ever captured.
Sylwen stared at the knights. She'd always considered herself Arthur's sword — his protector, his shield. Seeing him surrounded by countless powerful followers, each one stronger than her, made that role feel... diminished. Almost ridiculous.
They descended toward a particular high-rise building. Arthur entered without ceremony. The security personnel recognized him instantly and led the group toward their destination without question.
Room 1337.
Arthur pressed the doorbell.
Several seconds passed. The door swung open, revealing a four-eyed, eight-armed creature who blinked at them without recognition. "Where's our order? We ordered pizza and coke."
The lead security guard nearly exploded. "What are you saying, you idiot? This is our King!"
The creature's eyes went wide. He began trembling. "I-I... I'll get the captain immediately—"
Arthur caught his shoulder before he could retreat. "No need. I'll go to your captain myself."
The creature nodded frantically.
As they stepped inside, Saza glanced at Arthur. "Why didn't he recognize you?"
"He's part of Thanokai's crew," Arthur said. "The Hexathyr's people."