The Nine Great Realms, Central Court.
A battered Sun Ship was moored in the Southern Frontier. The bitter cold left the Egyptians, so used to basking beneath the sun, shivering uncontrollably.
Though their bodies had found shelter, how could their hearts be at peace?
They had lost their homes and their nation. Their parents and siblings had all been buried in that sea of nothingness.
A bleak atmosphere hung over the makeshift camp. From the haphazard tents came the occasional muffled sob. Everywhere one looked, there was only grief and despair.
"Praise be to you, Ra, as you rise in majesty!
You rise and shine, causing the heavens to roll aside.
You are the King of the Gods, Lord of all creation.
We come from you and are made holy through you.
Your priests greet the dawn, cleansing their hearts with joy;
a sacred wind, bearing music, blows across your golden strings."
Just then, a familiar, solemn hymn rose from the battered Solar Boat. A warmth that seemed to come from the soul gradually drove away the chill in people's hearts, and the Egyptians, who had been moving like the living dead, instinctively gathered and walked toward the source of the song.
As rainbow-colored rays of light fell one after another, what appeared before them was steaming mead, hot food, meat, and fur coats that were not especially pretty, but were warm enough.
Before the supplies stood an elegant woman with soft features, dark brown hair, and a red flower hairpin. A faint, heartwarming smile rested on her pale face. But what drew the Egyptians' eyes even more was the gold-and-blue scepter in her hand. Radiance from the sun spilled outward with the shifting divine markings.
Queen Nefertari, and the King's Scepter!
At the same time, on the right, a falcon-headed deity wreathed in golden light descended gracefully from the sky, scepter in hand. The moment it landed, the towering figure, seven or eight meters tall, slowly withdrew its luminous patterns and revealed the form of the female pharaoh Nitocris.
Immediately after, on the left, a hundred-meter-long golden cobra coiled down from within a pillar of light. As the divine radiance shattered, it condensed into Cleopatra's form.
Horus, God of the Sky! Wadjet, the Golden Cobra Goddess!
Divine Spirits! This was Divine Spirit manifestation!
Even if the gods had been extinguished, they had poured their last strength into the two pharaohs and granted them their final divine authority.
Many of the Egyptians, whose hearts had already sunk into despair, suddenly saw new light return to their dim eyes.
According to Ra's will, Osiris was meant to inherit the throne. Later, Osiris was betrayed by his own brother Set, met with disaster, and became the god of the underworld. His son, Horus, the god of the sky, then became the third God King. Known for his falcon-headed human form, he was also called the Falcon of the Pharaohs, as he was the guardian god of the pharaohs.
Though His Majesty Ramesses, Pharaoh and son of Ra, had passed away, the divine bloodline and the King's authority had not been severed.
Egypt had not fallen!
"Mirror of the Dead, Mirror of Darkness. Become a gateway and bring terror here. Anpu Neb Ta Djeser!"
At that moment, the female pharaoh Nitocris stepped forward and chanted the divine words. Behind her, the Mirror of the Underworld opened wide, and one dog-headed Anubis Legion soldier after another, along with sand-breathing Sphinxes, emerged from the pitch-black gateway. They surrounded the Solar Barque, lining up on both sides to distribute food and clothing to the people while guarding their safety.
Cleopatra, the Beautiful Queen, lightly waved her serpent-headed scepter, scattering a golden rain of light that healed the people's wounds and soothed their shaken hearts.
At the same time, Queen Nefertari placed a crystal stone into a Magecraft array and activated it. Above the Great Temple, overflowing with divine majesty, two figures charged without hesitation toward the celestial god high above, launching their final assault until they dissolved into a field of blazing white.
The Egyptians, adrift in grief, looked at the hot soup, fine wine, and fresh food in their hands, at the fur garments wrapped around their bodies, and at the last afterglow within the radiant composite temple that had supported their escape from the Sea of Nothingness. Tears welled up in their eyes.
Yet Queen Nefertari, usually so gentle and graceful, raised the scepter high and looked down at the weeping Egyptians. Though her own eyes were filled with tears, she gave an impassioned declaration, her voice nearly hysterical.
"Egyptians, wipe away your tears. Eat well, restore your strength, and raise your spirits. The King has not failed his people, and Ra's favor remains with us. Even if the sun has set over the Nile, the darkness will pass, and the light will return!
If Egypt's long night has no fire, then we will be the last light!"
Her thunderous cry set the Egyptians' blood ablaze. One after another, they clenched their fists and roared, their eyes red with fury.
"Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!"
Amid the surging fervor, the Anubis Legion and the Egyptians worked together to build a new great altar on the Solar Barque. As they ate, they sang prayers filled with hope and resolve.
"...Praise be to you, Ra, who awakens life from slumber!
You are yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
You rise, you shine, revealing your glorious form.
Millions of years have passed, too many for us to count.
Millions of years will come, and your light will shine for ten thousand years!"
Once the great altar had taken its initial shape, Nefertari solemnly planted a branch of the World Tree in its center.
Watching the band of light slowly rise, the Queen gently stroked the scepter in her arms as tears blurred her vision.
Before they parted, the Greek sovereign had returned the scepter to her, along with an image crystal engraved with the silhouette of His Majesty's death in battle, and his solemn gratitude.
"The sacrifices of Ramses II and Moses were not in vain. The White Giant's pause over Oceanus seems to have happened because the Pharaoh and Moses broke the Sacred Covenant, creating a slight gap in the compatibility of wills. Once again, they protected you, and they protected us…"
...
Meanwhile, in Britannia.
Huaxia had entered the game...
On a shimmering island in the middle of a lake, Samael quietly gazed at the branch-like band of light rising from the east. He let out a long breath, placed the golden chess piece in his hand onto the board, and remained composed. Clearly, he was not surprised by this outcome.
After all, the fluorite he had given to His Majesty Qin Shi Huang was a genuine fragment of a wandering star. Any normal creature of Earth would be able to sense the intense danger coming from it.
What was more, the Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Qin Shi Huang contained the following passage: "Once, Mars guarded the Heart. A falling star descended in Dong Commandery and became stone upon reaching the earth. Someone among the common people carved upon the stone: 'When the First Emperor dies, the land will be divided.'"
Combined with this prophecy of the Mandate of Heaven that followed history, as well as the current state of shared peril, that mysterious resonance between heaven and man would certainly have struck His Majesty the Emperor of Great Qin deeply.
As long as His Majesty the Ancestral Dragon was not a fool, he would surely regard Velber as a great enemy and deal with it first.
Samael sat upright, his gaze sweeping over the sand table. His five fingers rose one by one, then fell one by one.
Now, Mesopotamia, the Maya, Greece, Rome, Persia, Huaxia, India, and Scandinavia were all ready. Of the nine unified branches of the World Tree, only the final one remained.
As the Ancient Serpent's gaze fell on the lone remaining chess piece, a faint sigh escaped his lips.
The world was hard to predict. He had not expected Egypt, which had seemed content to remain tucked away in its own corner, to be the first to fall.
Had he not harbored doubts about Egypt's stance during the Greco-Persian Wars, and had the Old Master not happened to be sneaking into Egypt to gather information when the incident occurred, the final curtain of Ramesses and Moses would likely have been buried forever.
However, according to the later deductions made by him and the Old Master, the sacrifices of Ramesses and Moses had not been in vain. The damage to the Covenant had created a crack in the compatibility of wills, and that was what had bought humanity and the gods a sliver of hope in the earlier Battle of Oceanus.
So, after weighing the matter, Samael ultimately decided to entrust the last bundle of World Tree branches, along with the scepter he had once seized, to that Queen and the two female pharaohs.
May the Egyptians still have the will to fight again.
Hum!
Just as the Ancient Serpent was lost in thought, the ground trembled. A band of light rose from the north, and the Eye of Horus set within the triangle shone across the sky.
At the same time, the ground shook violently. The plates floating atop the Sea of Chaos seemed to be drawn by some unseen force, breaking through the mist and converging toward the luminous World Tree.
As if a great weight had finally lifted from his shoulders, Samael raised his hand and placed the final chess piece on the board, murmuring softly.
The unification of the Nine Realms was about to begin!