Location: Devil's Moon, a.k.a. Blood Moon.
The Twelve Demon Monarchs turned their attention to the Great Aetherium's capital. Their Divine Senses traveled hundreds of millions of kilometers without effort. Thick clouds meant nothing to Supreme Gods like them.
But they hit a wall when their vision reached Angel City, the Imperial Capital, which was blazing white with Holy and Light elements, pearl-bright against the continent's surface.
A Divine Barrier, layered over the entire city, blocked their senses completely. All they could see was dazzling holy light. Whatever was inside remained invisible.
"The aura on that shield." One Demon Monarch said, "It is undoubtedly at the peak of the Supreme God Tier, filled with Holy and Light element Divine Power. Whoever constructed it ranks in the top three among us in terms of raw Divine Power."
"It must be the Eighteen-Winged Angel named Celestia."
The Demon Monarchs went quiet for a moment. Most of them were unwilling to admit the implication. It didn't matter. Reality didn't adjust itself for their comfort.
The First Demon Monarch Eisenfaust spoke carefully, "My Divine Power likely exceeds hers, my battle experience far surpasses an Angel born less than two months ago for sure, and my Demonic Arts run deeper than anything she could have developed in that time. In a battle to death with no outside interference, I survive. But suppressing and killing her outright?" He paused, "The probability is not high."
He had a theory about Varkath's defeat, and he held it with some confidence: Varkath had underestimated the enemy and fought carelessly. If Varkath had gone all out from the start, the result would have been different. Eisenfaust intended to make no such mistake, no carelessness, full strength from the first exchange. On that basis, his chances of defeat, in his opinion, were infinitely close to zero.
The second and third Demon Monarchs, both Peak Supreme Gods, both ancient, shared the same assessment privately. An Eighteen-Winged Angel who had existed for less than two months shouldn't be their equal. And yet, Varkath had been defeated. That wasn't nothing.
What none of them knew, and what would have changed their calculations entirely: was that Celestia had not existed for only two months. She had cultivated for tens of millions of years in the Illusory Angel Realm, longer than most of the Ancient Gods waiting for the Throneveil Shrine.
The 'less than two months' was only how long she had been present on the Endless Continent. If the Demon Monarchs had known the truth, they would have named her their biggest priority for life and would have moved to kill her before anything else while invading the Endless Continent.
Instead, they moved on.
"The Great Aetherium currently has six Supreme Gods." Eisenfaust said, "Two at the peak, their Emperor Kazehaya and the Angel Celestia. One in the late stage, one at the intermediate-stage, and two Eighteen-Winged Angels who have just ascended. They have six Supreme Gods, while there are twelve of us. We go for the Great Aetherium first, kill Kazehaya and Celestia, the rest will collapse on their own. After that, we deal with the Gods of Truth and whatever remains of the Gods of Faith at our leisure."
The other monarchs nodded. In the Ancient Era, the twelve had broken every Supreme God the faith system could field. There was no reason a recently risen empire changed that math.
"There's one concern." someone said, "The Endless Continent now has more than thirty Supreme Gods in total across all three factions. If they unified and all thirty-plus came at us simultaneously—"
"They won't unify." Eisenfaust shook his head, "The Gods of the Endless Continent don't have the discipline for it. And even if they did, His Majesty the Emperor is coming with his 'servants'. Thirty Supreme Gods against the Emperor and his servants is different from thirty Supreme Gods against us alone."
The word 'servants' did what it always did. It settled the room.
"There is one other relief." Another Demon Monarch said, "The Goddess of Fate, Svetlana. In the Ancient Era she gave us more trouble than almost anyone. A hundred thousand years later, she's still a late-stage Supreme Goddess. Still hasn't broken through to the peak." He exhaled, "That's enough to be grateful for."
"Then it's settled. When the Battle of Planets begins, we go to the Great Aetherium immediately and kill those two to clear the threat before it can compound further."
"Agreed."
"Praise His Majesty the Demon Emperor."
"Begin. Activate all the Demon Nests. Bring the Burning Legion and the Twelve Demonic Armies through. The Shrine is close. When the wall cracks, we enter directly."
The nightmare that had gone quiet for a hundred thousand years was about to start again.
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