Chapter 120: The Unplanned
The European King walked alone through the echoing catacombs beneath Altdrachen Castle, deeper than any historical archive, deeper than any awakened intelligence agency had mapped.
Here, light was afraid to linger.
His footsteps rang hollow against obsidian tiles. Around him, the walls shimmered faintly—etched with ancient runes long thought erased, glowing with mana from another time. Each breath he took in that place felt heavier, denser—as if the air itself had been thickened by memory.
Behind him, his guards had been dismissed.
At the far end of the final corridor, beyond three mirrored gates and a sealed door of mana-bound stone, the chamber opened like the ribcage of a long-dead beast.
At the center of the chamber, resting atop a cracked altar, was a broken scythe—its edge dull, its body splintered down the haft. To the untrained, it was scrap. To the awakened, it was a relic humming with the slow rhythm of death itself.
And within it waited the soul of a god.
Arthur approached with quiet reverence—not fear. Not awe. Just respect.
He knelt—not because he had to, but because old habits were hard to kill. Especially when speaking to family.
Black smoke whispered from the cracks in the scythe. It didn't swirl or flare dramatically. It simply rose—and shaped itself into a figure.
Tall. Lean. Robes stitched from shadows. Face pale as bone. Hair long, drifting like it was underwater.
Eyes like voids—deep, endless, calm.
Thanatos.
God of Death.
He appeared not as a blinding figure of divine majesty, but as a withered man seated upon a throne made of fossilized bones
Pale skin marked with cracks like dry clay.
Eyes like twin black stars—lightless, but deep.
A voice that did not echo in the room, but in the listener's mind.
The King approached the figure and stopped ten paces away. He bowed respectfully.
Arthur," Thanatos said, his voice like a knife through velvet. "You've returned."
You still look worse old man
I feel worse Thanatos replied calmly. My soul was destroyed it will take more than a couple of death to heal me the emperor did kill me. With precision. The Law of Destruction leaves no aftershocks."
He simply extended a hand toward the fractured scythe beside him. "A sliver survived. Buried in the chaos of ten million deaths. Fed by war. By plague. By grief. Enough to keep me… aware."
How is the plans coming around are we still on for a world war?
Thanatos's laugh was a thin rasp. "You've always been efficient. You and your wars."
"We're still not done," Arthur said. "But the plan has changed."
Thanatos stilled. His body didn't move, but the shadows behind him twisted like smoke touched by a sudden wind.
"Explain."
Arthur folded his arms. "The Church of Darkness is crippled. Most of their high priests are either dead or scattered.
Thanatos rose from the throne of fossilized bones. Slowly. Every motion deliberate, regal. His eyes flashed. By who
"A demigod?" in africa. "In Africa?"
In Nigeria. He's disrupting everything. He doesn't work for any nation. He's destroyed triads, dismantled the Church, and avoided the Conclave's attempts to probe his allegiance."
Thanatos clenched his hand—light dimmed across the chamber, the air growing heavier.
"Do you realize what this means?" he said softly. "Africa was supposed to be the climax. The harvest. Generations of conflict, corruption, blood rituals—we were building toward another global war. One that would have restored me fully." Thanatos got angry this was an outrage the millions of death was supposed to fuel his comeback he had waited so long.
"I know. But if we push now, we expose ourselves too soon."
Thanatos turned, voice now lower—more controlled, but more dangerous.
"So we let this demigod dictate the tempo?"
Arthur faced him. "For now. He's a variable. Not a final threat. But we can't afford to treat Africa like a blank battlefield anymore. Too many eyes are watching. Including the ones from Planet NAM."
Thanatos's expression darkened. "Those off-world scavengers…"
"They've laid claim to Earth and prevented other worlds from entering ," Arthur said. " "Of course they did." Thanatos muttered. "Cowards."
Thanatos tilted his head. "And what of me?"
Arthur looked up at him. "We continue as planned. Smaller wars. Collapse through economics. Religious fractures. We still own Europe. South America is nearly ripe. And when the next great death wave rolls…"
"I will finish healing," Thanatos said.
Arthur nodded.
Thanatos stepped down from the altar. "And when I rise fully I will stronger than before a death who experience total death.
"You'll need the catalyst," Arthur reminded him.
Thanatos's eyes gleamed. "And you'll get it for me."
A brief silence passed between them. Then Arthur turned to leave.
"We'll watch the demigod," Thanatos said behind him. "