The emergency council gathering started less than two hours after Kaien returned from the northern battlefield.
Every major Dominion commander had been summoned immediately.
No delays.
No excuses.
No absence tolerated.
Because the moment Kaien stepped into Novaris command headquarters everyone already understood something terrible had happened.
Not from reports.
From his face.
For ten years Kaien had stood against impossible things without visibly shaken composure. Even during the Pacific catastrophe he remained calm enough to continue fighting after nearly dying.
But now—
for the first time since the Shift—
he looked genuinely disturbed.
And that terrified everyone more than battlefield reports ever could.
The war chamber lights dimmed automatically while massive tactical projections activated around the circular chamber. Generals, scientists, strategists, and political leaders filled every seat while countless officers monitored global battlefield data from the upper levels surrounding them.
Nyra and Lyss stood beside Kaien silently.
Both immediately sensed his tension.
Vijaya rested against the floor beside him unusually unstable tonight. Golden energy flickered constantly across the spear while faint distortions spread through the air surrounding it.
Like the weapon itself sensed danger approaching.
Orion finally spoke afterward.
"You said it arrived."
No one in the room interrupted.
Kaien slowly nodded.
"Yes."
Silence followed instantly.
Then Kaien activated battlefield recordings from the northern sectors.
Dark storms appeared across the projections first.
Then the image zoomed inward toward Vesper territory.
And finally—
Kael Draven appeared within the storm itself.
The room immediately became uneasy afterward.
Because whatever stood there no longer looked fully human anymore.
Darkness consumed half his body completely while reality distorted unnaturally around him. Countless glowing eyes surfaced beneath his skin repeatedly before vanishing again while black energy spread endlessly through the surrounding clouds.
Some officers instinctively looked away.
Others visibly paled.
Then Kaien spoke quietly.
"That's no longer merely Kael Draven."
The projections froze afterward.
Kaien's expression darkened further.
"The Entity succeeded."
Several commanders immediately started speaking at once afterward.
"That level of corruption should be impossible—"
"How is he still alive?!"
"What exactly are we looking at?!"
Kaien raised one hand slightly.
The room quieted again immediately.
Then softly—
"It's a fusion."
Every eye fixed onto him again.
"The Entity spent years infusing its power into Kael's body."
"Not controlling him directly."
"Preparing him."
Kaien's eyes narrowed toward the projection afterward.
"And now…"
His voice became colder.
"…they've become something else entirely."
Seraphine slowly looked toward the data projections afterward while analyzing energy readings.
"…this power output is abnormal even compared to previous manifestation events."
Kaien nodded once.
"Because the Entity can finally fully manifest now."
Silence swallowed the room afterward.
Then Orion quietly asked the question everyone feared.
"…can you kill it?"
Kaien didn't answer immediately.
Which itself became terrifying.
Nyra slowly looked toward him afterward.
Because Kaien always answered immediately before.
Always.
Finally—
"…I don't know."
The room froze completely.
Those four words shattered whatever confidence still remained inside the chamber.
Because if Kaien himself didn't know—
then humanity truly stood at the edge now.
Kaien quietly continued afterward though.
"I can fight the Entity."
"I can damage it."
"I may even kill the vessel."
His grip around Vijaya tightened slightly.
"But…"
Golden energy flickered violently across the spear again.
"…I can't handle the Entity and the entire army alone anymore."
No one argued.
No one denied it.
Because the battlefield situation already proved him right.
Humanity's forces were collapsing slowly even with Kaien carrying entire fronts repeatedly for years.
And now the Entity itself prepared to descend fully.
Then suddenly Kaien looked toward Orion, Seraphine, and his father afterward.
A different tension entered his voice now.
"Tell me."
The room focused instantly.
"…are the weapons ready?"
The atmosphere shifted immediately afterward.
Several commanders exchanged glances.
Nyra and Lyss frowned slightly too.
Because they knew what he meant.
The Project.
The thing hidden from most of Dominion for years.
Orion slowly exhaled afterward before nodding once.
"…almost."
Kaien's eyes sharpened immediately.
During the past decade—
while fighting endless wars—
Kaien also worked closely with his father and Seraphine studying the manifestations themselves.
Not merely how to kill them.
How they existed.
How their energy interacted with reality.
How divine power affected them.
And eventually—
they discovered something revolutionary.
Manifestations could be harmed by frequencies mimicking divine resonance.
The same resonance generated naturally by Vijaya.
Humanity couldn't recreate astras.
Couldn't recreate divine weapons.
But they could imitate fragments of their principles.
That realization changed everything.
Thus Project Helios was born.
For years Dominion scientists secretly developed weapons capable of integrating artificial resonance energy into ordinary military equipment.
Rifles.
Blades.
Artillery.
Combat armor.
Weapons designed specifically to harm supernatural entities.
Not enough to rival Kaien.
Nothing could.
But enough for ordinary soldiers to finally survive against manifestations instead of dying helplessly.
And now—
with the final war approaching—
those weapons represented humanity's last chance.
Seraphine activated another projection afterward showing prototype equipment lines.
Black combat rifles lined with golden energy channels.
Anti-manifestation artillery systems.
Resonance blades.
Defensive armor designed against corruption exposure.
The chamber quietly watched the displays afterward.
Seraphine finally spoke.
"We completed eighty-seven percent of production targets."
"Mass deployment begins tomorrow."
Several commanders visibly relaxed slightly afterward.
Not because victory suddenly seemed possible.
Because now humanity at least possessed a way to fight back.
Kaien quietly observed the projections afterward.
Then nodded once.
"It'll help."
Nyra folded her arms beside him afterward.
"Just help?"
Kaien slowly looked toward the battlefield maps again.
"The final war is still coming."
His voice lowered slightly.
"And when it begins…"
The chamber became silent again immediately.
"…every manifestation across Earth will move simultaneously."
Several strategists visibly stiffened hearing that.
Kaien continued calmly despite the horror of his own words.
"The Entity no longer needs to hide."
"It has a complete vessel now."
"It has armies."
"It has corrupted nations."
"And once it fully manifests…"
Vijaya pulsed sharply beside him afterward.
"…it'll try to consume reality itself."
Dead silence.
Not one person spoke afterward.
Because deep down—
everyone finally understood.
This wasn't merely humanity's greatest war.
This was extinction.
Either humanity survived the coming battle—
or civilization ended forever.
Then Orion finally stood afterward.
His voice remained steady despite the tension consuming the chamber.
"Then we prepare for war."
The commanders immediately straightened afterward.
Orders began moving instantly across the tactical systems surrounding them. Global deployment plans activated. Production facilities entered emergency operation. Entire fleets started mobilizing across the projections while evacuation routes lit up worldwide.
Humanity moved as one final time.
Preparing for its last stand.
Kaien quietly watched all of it afterward.
Then slowly looked toward Nyra and Lyss beside him.
Both already understood what he was thinking.
The final battle was coming.
Soon.
And deep inside himself—
Kaien felt something terrifyingly familiar returning once again.
The feeling he carried before Kurukshetra.
Before the fractured expanse.
Before every world-ending battle across every lifetime.
Fate moving again.
Toward destruction.
Far beyond Novaris meanwhile—
inside endless dark storms above Vesper territory—
Kael Draven slowly opened glowing black eyes.
And this time—
something else smiled through him completely.