"Your Majesty, I demand a full explanation for this!" The man's voice echoed through the grand, inverted-pyramid hall. His tone seethed with anger as he glared up at the Empress seated on the highest throne. "Why has my engagement to Princess Astia been annulled? We had already reached an agreement! Why was the marriage contract suddenly and unilaterally terminated without any prior notice?"
Despite his title as the Duke of the Empire, Vijaya Kumar knew that nobility in this age held little real power. The empire's advanced civilization had long forbidden private ownership of military forces capable of influencing the state. His noble status was more symbolic than practical—no more than a title of prestige.
To secure his engagement to Astia, the empire's most celebrated princess, he had sacrificed a vast amount of his family's wealth and business resources, leveraging them to gain support and fend off rivals. Yet now, all of that effort had been rendered meaningless in an instant.
"Duke Vijaya Kumar," the Empress spoke with a calm and measured tone, "as an individual, I sincerely apologize for this decision. However, as your Empress, I must inform you that the annulment of your engagement to Princess Astia was a necessity. This is a matter of our civilization's survival."
"Our civilization's survival?"
The duke's face twisted in disbelief. Around the hall, the empire's other high-ranking officials perked up in interest. Many had assumed that this urgent meeting was merely a political sideshow filled with scandalous gossip. But now, with the Empress's grave words, the room buzzed with newfound tension. No one believed she would joke about something so serious.
"Oh, really? I'm supposed to believe that the fate of our entire civilization is tied to my engagement with Princess Astia?" Vijaya sneered, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Neither she nor I hold that level of influence, Your Majesty."
"You may not, Duke," a solemn voice interrupted. The speaker was Remi Locke, one of the Empress's closest advisors. "But Princess Astia does."
"What kind of nonsense is this?" The duke scoffed in frustration. "Are you seriously telling me that her beauty has some mystical power over the fate of our civilization? This is absurd!" His voice rose, his composure slipping in the face of humiliation. His broken engagement had already become the talk of the empire, and now, this excuse was adding insult to injury.
"Your frustration is understandable, Duke. However, allow me to ask you something: have you ever felt that Princess Astia's beauty is... unnatural?"
"What exactly are you implying?" Vijaya narrowed his eyes at the minister, his resentment simmering beneath the surface.
"Since we began our genetic refinement program, every member of our society has been physically flawless. Our ancestors' imperfections have been eradicated. No one within the empire can be called 'ugly' anymore," Remi Locke explained. "And yet... even among us, Princess Astia stands out as otherworldly. She transcends mere physical beauty.
"And now, we finally understand why. Princess Astia's perfection is not natural. It is because she is the reincarnation of a powerful entity. Her body was shaped by divine design."
"Ridiculous! That's your excuse? You expect me to believe such fairy tales?" Vijaya shouted, his voice cracking with rage. "This is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to justify your actions!"
"We have no reason to deceive you," the Empress interjected coldly. "You are a duke, yes, but in the grand scheme of our civilization, your importance is limited."
"A reincarnation of a powerful being... If you wanted to cancel the engagement, you could've come up with a more plausible lie." Vijaya clenched his fists tightly, his face flushed with fury.
"Do you remember the tremor that shook the capital half a month ago?" the Empress asked.
"I was told it was due to a malfunction in the main engine. The maintenance crew failed to replace a critical part in time."
"That was a cover story. In truth, the tremor was caused by a visitor—an entity whose power defies comprehension."
The hall erupted into murmurs and heated debate. Many of the officials found the Empress's words difficult to believe. The very idea that someone could breach the capital's core defenses was unthinkable.
"If you doubt this," the Empress continued, "then perhaps you recall the night when darkness turned to daylight. That false sun illuminating the entire empire? That was his power. A power comparable to the sun itself."
"A so-called 'great being' appears out of nowhere and demands that my engagement be annulled? How convenient," Vijaya muttered, his voice laced with bitterness.
"Yes," the Empress confirmed bluntly. "This being claimed that Princess Astia is the reincarnation of his wife. To avoid conflict, I immediately ordered Minister Remi Locke to dissolve the engagement."
"And you expect me to accept this?" Vijaya's voice trembled with disbelief.
"You don't have to accept it," the Empress said coolly. "But this decision is final. We have secured the favor of a being comparable to a god. He has promised to protect our civilization during the hardships to come. If annulling your engagement was the price for such protection, then it was a small one to pay. If he had demanded your life to appease his wrath, I wouldn't have hesitated to offer it."
"You..." Vijaya's eyes widened in shock.
"The facts speak for themselves," the Empress continued. "Thanks to this alliance, our chances of survival in the coming era have greatly improved."
"Your Majesty," one of the other officials spoke up cautiously, "could you elaborate on this alliance?"
"Report your findings from this mission," Muria ordered, his golden eyes narrowing as he stared at the crestfallen Fleet Commander Zomari.
"Y-Yes, Sir," Zomari stammered, suppressing his emotions as he recited the details from memory.
"Hmm? Your report lists seven worlds with a high probability of harboring gods. But there's also an eighth world classified as highly dangerous and restricted. Why didn't you mention it? What's in that world that warrants such caution?" Muria asked sharply.
"Report... Unknown," Zomari replied hesitantly.
"Unknown? Explain," Muria demanded, his expression hardening.
"All reconnaissance teams sent into that world lost contact immediately. No information was transmitted back. This... this hasn't happened in any of the other worlds, not even those with confirmed divine presence. It's the only world where we've been completely blind."
"Interesting," Muria murmured, a glint of curiosity in his eyes. "I'll take responsibility for investigating that world. You're to continue monitoring divine activity and report to me at once."
As Zomari saluted and left, Arena stepped forward with a smirk. "Hey, isn't your student a god? Why are you so eager to hunt down more gods?"
"He's on our side. I can't exactly target him, can I?" Muria sighed, rubbing his temples. "Even if I could, it wouldn't be worth the trouble."
"You're seriously planning to hunt other gods?" Arena's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Of course. Why else do you think we came to this world?" Muria replied matter-of-factly. "We're here to grow stronger. And hunting gods is the fastest—though riskiest—path to power."
"I think I'll sit this one out," Arena muttered nervously.
"You don't have to participate," Muria said, his gaze turning sharp. "But my mother does."
His eyes locked onto Arena, as though seeing beyond her mortal guise to the dormant Dragon Queen within. He strongly suspected that his mother, Atris, had already awakened but was merely feigning sleep out of laziness.
"It's time for her to wake up. We need every advantage we can get if we're to hunt gods."
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