Over the next two days, Imai received hundreds of famous adventurers, dozens of powerful mercenary bands, and a small number of legendary figures whose mere name could shake a city.
The day began with a bright sun and a boundless sky.
The high clouds formed a white sea that engulfed the lower parts of the city, and the morning birds chirped with a newly found energy. The morning air was crisp and refreshing, and a slight chill hung high in the mountainous air.
Petra was sitting on Bell's lap, causing the big sisters face to redden. They rested together on the second floor. Bell had quietly snuck out to retrieve her remaining belongings from the abandoned home that she once used when staying in Imai. This consisted mostly of books and clothes, with the occasional small magic tool. After returning, Petra quickly locked her down and unceremoniously rummaged through all the new loot.
While flipping through an old book, she kept her occupied with a quick game of 'question and answer'.
At some point, Petra had found the basic learning material that every Tower Mage, or at least, every Sky Tower Mage would learn. She quickly took an interest in the Church of Light, a name that repeated itself far more times than it should.
Petra had heard this name a lot, but she didn't actually know a lot about them.
The Church of Light was prominent around every other continent, but for some reason they never built up their presence on the Cross Continent.
She asked Bell, and Bell began to explain what she knew in a slightly awkward way.
The Church of light was a massive organization that appeared around the end of the Age of Chaos. They followed the Sun God Haillith and his teachings. It was composed mostly of humans, with the occasional demi human as an exception. These exceptions were mostly winged Beastmen, Thora, and Light Elementals. They were a cult-like existence that worshiped the light element to an almost terrifying degree.
They had many professions spanning dozens of unique pathways. Petra had met, although very briefly, a 'Demon Hunter' and a 'Tracker'. These were modified humans that were created through some unknown means to specifically hunt any and everything related to the darkness element.
Petra hummed a little tune as she continued to listen.
Time ticked by…
At some point, Petra had finished flipping through all the basic learning material that each tower mage was given to cover a full year.
From the books, Petra found a lot of things. First, the knowledge that a standard Tower Mage was expected to understand was surprisingly little. Second, hidden between the lines was a large amount of indoctrination. Although the Sky Towers relationship with the church of light was never officially stated, it was clear that their mages were being groomed to become future church members.
Darkness and Light had been incompatible since the dawn of time, so this naturally formed the first impression that the little green haired devil would have towards both the Church of Light and the Sky Tower.
As she rolled this around in her head, Bell finally finished speaking about something that Petra had long lost interest in.
She was still sitting in her lap, so Petra just raised her head and smiled cutely, convincing Bell that she was still listening.
As she finished, Petra and Bell were called for lunch.
* * *
At the same time, the city gate was sent into a sudden uproar.
The onlookers that tightly blocked the gate all gathered around in excitement. The clamor became louder and louder, and a wave of excitement rippled through the crowd.
From down the path came three figures.
A blonde woman led the way, her short black mantle fluttering in the wind. She wore tight leather pants and a loose white blouse, her outfit reminiscent of an experienced rogue. Two sharp daggers forged from an ancient and unknown material hung to her sides, while a subtle black ring wound around her finger. Behind her unyielding gaze flickered the quiet and unspoken weight that held an impossible responsibility.
Following behind Elena were two men, one tall and one short.
The tall man, Kilemin, walked with a calm yet crushing step. Every step was unnaturally heavy, with an unseen power that didn't seem to match his size. He was bare chested, with only a loose shirt, and a thick set of armour guarding his legs and lower body. Locked on his back was a massive black axe that almost reached his height. He had black hair and dark brown eyes. Below each eye was a divine scar that swam with golden light. He gave off the feeling that he was a walking mountain, hard and unbending, unyielding in his goals.
The short man, Arthur, was a childish and youthful individual. He wore a brown robe with a crude jumpsuit underneath. He had short chestnut hair and large goggles covering his eyes. On his back was a backpack full of mechanical equipment, making him almost look like a porter. His eyes flickered from black to gold, not fitting his naive demeanor.
While Kilemin and Arthur chatted in the back, Elena approached the city gate, lost in thought
With the arrival of the three Heavens Chosen, the atmosphere in the city suddenly became a lot more exciting.
-
After the first calamity, all three of the heavens chosen had changed slightly.
They had seemingly settled into their roles, and they had started to better fulfill the role of Hero.
At least, that was what appeared on the surface.
Arthur calmly talked with Kilemin, but in the back of his mind, he couldn't forget the 'thing' behind the black door. After seeing it, he returned to the Hellion Empire with a new understanding of what they were up against. In his heart, he knew he needed more.
Kilemin, on the other hand, was a constant enigma. Unlike Arthur and Elena, Kilemin only seemed to care about himself. Instead of saying he was a Hero for the world, it was better to say that he was using the title of hero to further his own path.
As for Elena, she had shifted the most.
The Grand Gathering was an event that dictated the direction of the continent.
In Elena's first life, she played as a spectator. She watched the world play out as it would without a hero.
Firstly, the events of the first calamity, although slightly later in time, played out mostly the same. The north was overrun but was eventually saved by a nameless mage, the east still isolated itself, the west was attacked by a massive monster, but without Kilemin, it eventually fell to the Mercenary Alliance. Finally, the southern region and the Ice Castle. This was a much longer and bloodier battle, but it ended nearly the same, only with many more lives lost.
Back to the present, the Grand Gathering dictated the future direction of the continent.
Depending on how it went, many things could change.
The Sky tower was actually an unstable factor when looking at it through the lens of fate. They were arrogant and unpredictable, often doing things that had to succeed, for the consequences would be far-reaching. For example, in all three of Elena's past lives, the Sky Tower had always tried to control her. She had no doubt that it would be the same this time.
In her first life they use this Grand Gathering to crown a 'Hero', then control that poor young silver haired elf like a puppet.
In her second life, when Elena took a more active approach, she avoided the trap she knew was coming, then watched as the Sky Tower went berserk and basically went against the entire continent just to hunt her down. They didn't care about the calamities, they only wanted their toy, that was how they behaved.
In her third life, Elena had learned from her mistakes, and chose to take a more diplomatic approach. She managed to balance their unstable egos and work with them from an arms length. She used the same strategy in this life.
Now, in the present, there was the sudden problem of the extra four heroes.
Elena didn't know if Petra was one or not, but she was a little worried about what the Sky Tower might do. With three heroes coming to their door, and two more playing hookie, something was bound to happen.
Her goal was to maintain peace between all the parties, and make sure that whatever happened after the grand gathering remained stable.
Elena walked in calmly, followed by Arthur and Kilemin.
* * *
That same day, following in the footsteps of the three Heavens Chosen, another massive procession shortly arrived.
Outside Imai, a grand caravan quickly approached the towering marble gates. It bore dozens of large banners marked with the royal insignia of the Hellion Empire, their long streamers trailed nobly in the wind. Thousands of armored guards marched in formation, Elite mages stood at the ready, and arcane artillery brought up the rear. The twenty massive beasts, Golden Deer, flanked the convoy, their neat steps gracing the ground with their presence.
Graceful in appearance, displayed in the back most carriage sat a young woman. She was refined and noble, surrounded by royal guards and skilled maids.
Rotell Hellion, the representative of the Hellion Empire, and the first princess.
Not far behind her trailed four more groups. These four small armies represented the four great families of the Hellion Empire.
The Red Arrow represented the Dimbeck Family.
The Green Drop represented the Gallon Family.
The White Skull represented the Barak Family.
The Azure Rose represented the Azurefell Family.
* * *
At the back of the procession, within a small and unguarded carriage that donned the Azurefell emblem, two young Masters were talking.
The first young master wore a tight red and white suit beneath simple silver armor that covered his shoulders, legs, and back., with a long spear laid over his shoulder.
"You know they were spotted in Solarin, right? Those two are definitely coming this way." His expression was leisurely and relaxed.
The second young Master, a man in white and blue robes, sighed. "You don't know that for sure."
The young Master of the Dimbeck family laughed. "You just don't want it to be them! You still have a soft spot, huh!"
"Idiot, we're not monsters."
"You could have fooled me! Others might not know, but how can I, who will inherit the family, not know about the ruthlessness your family has towards that little lass in your main branch!"
"We don't have a choice, we're already puppets anyways. That guy went off after they disappeared this time. I guess he doesn't have long left."
Dilan asked, "What will happen if that thing dies?"
"Grandfather said that we will probably follow it."
"Does that include the twins"
The young master of the Azurefell Family, Nellio, Lilly and Luna's older cousin, sighed. "I don't think so. We still can't find them, so that can only mean they found a good backer. Whoever that is should have broken the bloodline connection to the Guardian, waking it up."
"So you guys are suffering now because they ran away?" Dilan asked her an ironic chuckle.
"Mm, but that's fine."
"Is it?"
"Yes, they've suffered too much. The others might not agree, but me and my brother feel that it's fine. Grandfather said that we were supposed to all die anyways, so its out karma just catching up in a different way."
Dilan shifted his spear.
"I heard about that, your old patriarch divined that the younger one would slaughter your whole family, right?"
"Mm, but only after we made her."
"That's good then, I hope that she can get away from that fate, such a cute girl doesn't deserve that kind of torture. If I didn't pity you, I would want to smash your face in. Haha!"
"Tsk, you have your own problems, right?"
"Aya~ya, but seriously, did you know, when what your Patriarch divined leaked out, little Cinder almost rushed into your ancestral land to kill you all, Bahahah!" Dilan nearly threw his feet up in the air laughing
Even Nellio couldn't help but crack a smile.
* * *
In the front most carriage, Rotell sat leisurely, waving as she passed through the crowd. She wore a short white dress, long black socks, and wrapped herself with a short navy mantle. Her youthful body was adorned with a few golden pieces, and a decorative sword hung to her side. She was like a mixture of a princess and a female knight, not the kind that wore armor, but more like the kind that would suddenly pull out a rapier.
She leaned less towards a proper princess and more towards a tomboy who was forced to care.
She had been sent in place of her second sister because her royal father refused to give up on the impossible notion of her ascending the throne.
She sighed to herself and lamented the hard work one was bound to when born into royalty. She wanted nothing more than to go out and have a sword fight.
"I wish Theo was here, he's the most reliable!"
She narrowed her eyes and lazily looked out the window.
She slowly shifted her gaze to a large group of 'people' not too far behind them. Her gaze cut through the cheering crowd and excited citizens. The blinding light was an affront to the eyes, it radiance was so bright that it was almost sickening.
"Those guys came? I guess the rumors are true… There's a Witch hiding in the Northern Forest?"
'Sigh'
"I hope this doesn't turn into a bloodbath." Her voice was laced with a hidden exhaustion.
* * *
Tower Spider, Second Floor Changing Room.
While Petra was forcibly stripping the flailing Rose to prepare her for an experiment, she suddenly paused and raised her head to look around.
Finding nothing, she frowned.
Rose managed to escape her little claws, quickly crawling to the wall and covering her chest.
From the side, Lilly asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
Petra rubbed her nose, not quite sure. "It's nothing, just a really bad smell."
She turned back to Rose, ready to continue her experiments on the series of gender changing poisons that kept failing to work.
* * *
Hong!
The world suddenly shook.
Those who had tightly packed themselves together and blocked the road before the city gate were all pulled to the side through some unknown power.
A divine light split through the sky, and from the distance came a radiant precession of white and silver clothed figures. They walked with a certain purity, each of them glowing like a sun.
Whatever they passed was bathed in the divine light of purification.
In the lead were hundreds of young priests. These aspirants were clad in pure white robes that had been engraved with golden runes around their collars. They walked with focus, clearly not yet used to the ritualistic way of walking with there elders.
Behind the young came the old. Dozens of priests, each donning a white and gold vestment, walked out with careful steps. Unlike those on the Mage and Cultivator pathways, these Priests were a unique path to the church that branched off from the second realm of the mage pathway.
Behind came the 'Holy / Light Mages', and the 'Paladins'.
Finally, bringing up the rear, three divine figures followed. These three were unlike the others. Unlike humans, these three figures had two large white wings protruding from their backs. These were the Angels of the church. The two male angels had wings protruding from their shoulders, and the female angel had wings protruding from her hips. Above each of their heads rotated a golden halo formed from pure light elemental energy. Being in the mere presence of one of these things was enough to scatter all the shadows around them.
What was worse, those with strength would find that these three angels were each fifth order existences.
-
With the arrival of the Church of Light, the final force had arrived.
Over the next three days, the attending powers all settled in and prepared themselves for the undercurrents that had already started to show.