The Ancestral Nation was a remote place, wrapped in cloud and mist all year round, and its people's thinking had grown just as insular. If not for Xilan's forceful arguments, this capital might well have shared the golden capital's fate. Xilan understood all too well how terrifying an apostle could become once granted divine power — he had only to think of Dirigi, or of Shilock before her. Resisting the faith was simply not an option.
Herder nodded, satisfied. Whatever else could be said of these people, their attitude, at least, wasn't wrong. She was someone who could be reasoned with — she didn't care for using force, if she was honest, since all of these people would be believers before long anyway.
In the council chamber, officials and warriors alike stood ready to receive their distinguished guest. Herder addressed Suan Aska directly. "The Snow Region has already been brought to heel by Casillas. Both the night elf empire and the Kingdom of Huttonmar have declared their membership in the faith. As for the Delos Empire, we'll have results within the week. Now that the Ancestral Nation is joining the faith of the gods as well, I don't imagine there's much left to discuss — is there?"
"None at all. We're glad to join the faith. Truly — if it brings the people happiness, I couldn't be more pleased to see it," Suan Aska said at once.
The woman standing before her was no ordinary figure. She was strong enough to have leveled an entire ancestral capital, and over these past months the strength of the gods had been proven again and again. For now, this audience was little more than a formality — inviting Herder here at all was simply a courtesy, a way to let everyone save face. Herder had expected as much and come prepared for it.
What followed was straightforward. Just as she'd anticipated, the Ancestral Nation began work on a temple at once and established a branch of the Eternal Faith, with Suan Aska at its head — a complete, functioning branch of the church. The nation, naturally, fell into line without further resistance.
Before Herder departed, Xilan pulled her aside. "Master, there's one thing you should be careful of — Mehmet of All Days. That one is truly frightening. The power of time I once wielded was a gift from him."
There were four beings in this world who governed time:
Mehmet of All Days.
Baston of Yesterday.
Andres of Today.
Rigel of Tomorrow.
These four lion-headed powers held dominion over the whole of time, and understood everything Herder had ever done. Xilan didn't dare say more than that — he only hoped the warning would be enough to make her cautious. Mehmet's power, after all, was well beyond his own reach.
Herder only smiled, faint and untroubled, at the solemn look on Xilan's face. "Once you truly understand what divine power means, you'll understand exactly how confident I have every right to be right now. He's nothing more than a relic of the past who wouldn't dare set foot in this world. Don't trouble yourself over it."
If the other side genuinely made a move, the goddess would arrive the moment she was needed. As for the four of them — Herder had already read what the records had to say. They were said to rank a tier above the power of an apostle. Notice, though: a tier higher in status, not necessarily in raw combat strength. If that was truly all there was to it, then there was nothing here worth Herder's worry, and she wasn't about to pretend otherwise.
With that, she took her leave.
Xilan held the scripture in his hands and withdrew into the mysterious realm within it. An hour later, he opened his eyes, and the power Mehmet had once stripped from him had returned to his body — no, that wasn't quite right. It was the power of time, granted anew by the gods, and stronger now than it had ever been. In the past he could only crack open the door of time far enough to glimpse what lay beyond, never able to touch or shape it. Now it was different. Xilan could see clearly, for the first time, the four lion-headed figures who dwelled within the gate of time and space itself.
"So that's how it is. The power of the gods truly does surpass everything else..."
Having completed her business in the Ancestral Nation, Herder now turned her attention to the last piece of the puzzle: the territory of the Skyshroud Behemoth — the same land where Lotters had died. She needed the creature's core; without it, the coming sacrifice would be sorely lacking.
The great Skyshroud Behemoth still drifted through the open sky. The people who called it home had been living hard lives. The upheavals of these past months had left them badly shaken, but on reflection, it seemed none of it had truly touched them, and peace had settled back over the place — until the moment Herder arrived.
Ophelia looked at the woman who had just touched down before her with unmistakable dread, and even the GBL faithful nearby, itching to strike, were stopped short by her raised hand.
"Don't move, everyone — this person is not our enemy!"
She had meant to say that she herself was no match for this stranger, but she caught the words before they left her mouth and changed course instead. Ophelia held real standing within the sect, and her knowledge commanded respect; when she spoke, people listened.
"Who are you? Why have you come here?"
Faced with the red-haired girl's question, Herder answered with quiet pride. "I've come to bless you, on behalf of truth and the will of the gods. Are you prepared to accept a gift from the divine?"
"May I ask which god you speak for?" Ophelia asked, not daring to refuse outright.
"The great Eternal God. The goddess arrived in this world not long ago — surely you've already witnessed that yourselves?"
"What — that god!"
At the mention of the goddess, both Ophelia and the rest of the GBL faithful understood at once, and dread swept across every face. That god's power was simply too terrifying — and living as they did, adrift above the sky, they had seen Liu Che's descent far more clearly than anyone down on the Arad continent below.
Ophelia, who had spent her life in pursuit of truth, dropped straight to her knees.
She spoke with reverence. "I greet the Lord's envoy. My name is Ophelia, currently acting head of the GBL Order. Your presence is an honor beyond words..."
What was truth, after all, if not this? God was truth itself. As a devout seeker, Ophelia chose to join without a moment's hesitation.
A word of explanation is due here. The GBL sect was not, in fact, a faith devoted to any god — it had begun as a fellowship of scholars, formed when an adventurer wished to learn more of the world, something closer to a civic society than a religious order. It was only that Lotters had deceived them, and that deception had brought down many of their number. Ophelia's own teacher, Marcel the Judge, had been played to his death this way. It wasn't until the Sword Saints later marched against the apostles that the whole sect was finally saved.
Herder nodded in satisfaction and turned her gaze on the rest of them. The oddly dressed congregants dropped to their knees at once. The truth stood right in front of them; there was nothing left to hesitate over.
Then Herder addressed the red-haired girl again. "Your talent is considerable — you could become a goddess in time. I'll pass the power of the gods to you now. When the sacrifice is held, you'll need to serve as an offering."
"Yes. Thank you for this gift," Ophelia said, bowing her head again.
Herder raised a finger, and the practice of Eternal Meditation settled into Ophelia's mind. Along with it came a design for the altar's construction, and the sacred pattern to be engraved upon it.
With that done, Herder turned her attention to the Rotes core resting on the back of the Skyshroud Behemoth.
"It's been a long time, old friend..."
———
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