On the Blood Moon, all twelve Demon Monarchs shivered simultaneously.
Unplanned. Unreasoned. They just felt it.
"Why is it suddenly cold?"
"There's something behind us. Like eyes on my back."
"Something is watching us, something powerful enough to make all twelve of us feel it at once."
One Demon Monarch had stepped forward instinctively, scanning the outer space surrounding the Blood Moon with his Divine Senses, but found nothing. Whatever it was had already looked away.
Eisenfaust stood very still. His dark-purple eyes, full of something unfamiliar. He had shivered twice.
He said quietly, "That strength is far beyond Peak Supreme God Tier."
…
Eisenfaust couldn't explain the feeling, and that bothered him more than the feeling itself.
He was a Peak Supreme God at the absolute limit of that realm, just one God King Tier Law away from the Pseudo God Monarch Tier, closer to that threshold than anyone else at his level.
In the Ancient Era's invasion of the Endless Continent and every planet invasion since, he had never encountered a Supreme God peer who could match him. The only being who had ever suppressed him was Aschenkranz, the Demon Emperor, and that was a difference of level, not just power.
Right now, he had just shivered. Twice. Involuntarily.
"It wasn't an illusion." He said, "All twelve of us felt it simultaneously. Whatever that was, it exists, and its strength is beyond the peak of Supreme God Tier. Only a Pseudo God Monarch could produce that effect."
"I didn't perceive any God Monarch Tier Law fluctuations." Temerith said carefully.
"Neither did I. But the sensation was real. I'm at the limit of what a Supreme God can be. If I can't cause that reaction in my peers, then whatever is out there is operating above our ceiling."
The other Demon Monarchs were quiet. None of them had an alternative explanation.
"There shouldn't be a Pseudo God Monarch in the Endless Continent." One said, "In the Ancient Era, the Faith Faction's strongest—Varkath, Svetlana, Elunara, Drakenvader—weren't even at the peak back then. A hundred thousand years later, some reaching the peak is normal progression. But when the Gods of Faith were defeated and expelled, no Pseudo God Monarch emerged to stop us. The Faith Faction never had one."
"The Truth Faction has existed for a 'mere' hundred thousand years." Eisenfaust added, "That's too short."
Someone said, "We can also ignore the Castle Faction since it has been here for just two months."
Another Demon Monarch cut in, "The Great Aetherium is Castle Faction, and in two months it produced two peak Supreme Gods. Ruling out a Pseudo God Monarch on timeline alone may not be safe."
"We might not be able to rule them out, but the probability of them being the culprit is low." The Second Demon Monarch said, "Far lower than the Titan Pantheon. It must be the Titans!"
The Titan Pantheon was the oldest on the Endless Continent, the Thunder Titans being direct descendants of the Ancient Titan Ancestor, inheriting his power and accumulated wealth. If any faction had the heritage to conceal a Pseudo God Monarch, it was them.
And there was a natural reason for such a powerhouse to emerge now rather than during the ancient era: the God King's Throne. This era's Divine War carried the highest probability of the Throne appearing of any in recorded history. A Pseudo God Monarch who had been waiting would choose exactly this moment.
Several Demon Monarchs nodded at this reasoning.
"But if the Titan Pantheon has a Pseudo God Monarch, why did they let Varkath get humiliated?" Temerith said, "An arm cut off and his natal artifact taken, that's a direct slap to their Pantheon's face. Why was there no response?"
"Because that person probably judged it beneath his attention." Eisenfaust said, "A conflict between the Titans and the Great Aetherium at the Supreme God Tier doesn't require him to move. What he's watching is His Majesty, the Demon Emperor. We're just how he tracks when His Majesty would arrive."
The logic completed itself. The twelve Demon Monarchs unanimously agreed that the Pseudo God Monarch they'd felt was the 'actual leader' of the Titan Pantheon, waiting for the Demon Emperor.
"He's eyeing us." One Demon Monarch said, "If any of us dares leave the Blood Moon, he'll attack directly. We can't move freely while he's out there watching."
The weight of that settled over the group. Even the First, Second, and Third Demon Monarchs felt it. The idea of stepping out alone to face a Pseudo God Monarch, even just to scout, made the confidence drain out of the room. Individually, none of them would dare. The power gap between a Peak Supreme God and a Pseudo God Monarch was not the kind you bluffed your way across.
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