Primordius

  As Primordius sat on the planet sized skeletal arthropod he’d just killed, a former undead elder god who’d entered into the Primordial Thunder Universe, he decided his plan had worked better than he’d expected, but not as well as he’d hoped.

  Likely due to no longer having any eyes in the Prime Material after his grandson’s actions, only one undead elder god had entered the Primordial Thunder Universe when he’d pretended to return to the Prime Material after his grandson killed over a third of his divine followers, and, while he’d killed the beast after a few minutes of fighting, he hadn’t been able to reduce the strength of the portal between the Primordial Thunder Universe and the undead universe next to it, so, other than gaining some extra primal energy he could transfer to his followers, nothing much had changed.

  He’d just had eight of his follower gods killed, with two more missing, for almost nothing.

  On the bright side, however, his grandson’s move had been too big, almost certainly scaring the other gods in the Prime Material, and he was looking forward to seeing what they would do.

  * * *

  Kavon

  “The United Federation of Planets has become too much of a danger.” The clone of Kavon’s mother spoke from her throne at the start of the hastily put together meeting in The True Heavenly Court. “They are competing for faith and, more important, they now have their own afterlife, reducing how much they can be controlled.

  “Primordius previously asked for his force to regain System access, and, while I’ll still not agree to that, I will propose that the United Federation of Planets be declared a foreign force, so we’ll get word if they ever come to the Prime Material.

  “This doesn’t change our existing plans, however.” She turned to everyone individually and then finally to Kavon. “Prepare yourself. We make our move against the eldritch terrors now, as the portal to their universe has fully stabilized at its new God rank strength.”

  * * *

  Arthur

  “If the Primordial Human Gods don’t serve their believers, then what is the point of their continued existence?”

  Through his connection with the System, Arthur watched the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s sister’s speech, a large grin on his face.

  “Yesterday, the Primordial Humans sent Omorius, the God of Hunting, to kill all civilians in every civilization that surrendered to the United Federation of Planets, a petty action, but one within our expectations. These are the gods who’ve let the undead have free reign within our universe for billions of years after all.”

  Her sad smile turned into a more serious expression. “So, in response, my brother personally stopped the divine genocide and killed Omorius. Then, as revenge for our new citizens’ deaths, he visited the Primordial Humans’ headquarters on the so called Eternal Battlefield and killed all but one god.”

  Images appeared behind the young woman, images of seven dead gods around a floating broken table, the girl’s mother sitting in one of the floating chairs in shock.

  “My brother decided to let our mother live for now, having promised to let me kill her in the future.” One of the woman’s eyes changed to be completely white, seemingly emitting light, while the other transformed into an abyss of total darkness. “But, should she cross the line, she’ll be killed by him as well.

  “The United Federation of Planets will not tolerate the mass killing of civilians, so we’ve grown our abilities to allow us to protect you.

  “Believe in any of the United Federation of Planets' budding divinities—currently myself, the Draconic Spirit Queen; my sister-in-law, the Mistress of Oaths and Deception; or my brother, the Heavenly Spark Soul King—and you will receive the same benefits normally reserved for believing in gods, albeit weaker given we are only B ranks, and your souls will be brought to my brother’s afterlife upon your death.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “There, should you so desire, you’ll have the option to sacrifice your remaining time in the afterlife to empower my brother to take revenge for you in the case you are killed by a god.

  “And, through this method, for the first time in a very long while, gods will fear mortals.”

  The young woman slammed her right fist into her chest over her heart and then held her fist up to the sky.

  “Our enemies will fear our wrath!”

  With this, her speech was over, and Arthur realized the fun of the war would be paused for a while, the United Federation of Planets unlikely to strike again in the near future due to the injury the Heavenly Spark Soul King received when the God of War killed his clone.

  Still, it was all quite exciting, and it would only get more so if he agreed with Quandra’s suggestion to declare the United Federation of Planets a foreign force, so he did so, the speech he’d just watched instantly completely erased from the System.

  Then, like before, he continued manipulating the life of his eighth victim, the young woman’s planned death date a bit over a thousand years in the future, and prepared to wait.

  Before even a day passed, however, he received the signal that Quandra’s spawn had left the Prime Material, and the smile on his face grew much wider.

  Playtime was over.

  It was time to break his contract with the gods of the Prime Material.

  It was time for all his planning to finally come to fruition.

  Flicking his right index finger, he killed the woman he’d been manipulating.

  Now there was better prey on the menu.

  * * *

  Francis

  “Your Majesty!” Francis, like all his subordinates, fell to one knee as Aalam, or at least one of his clones, appeared in his office, and he, like all his subordinates, slammed his right fist into his chest as well, right above his heart.

  Knowing their emperor, the formality probably annoyed him, but Francis was in an official capacity while at work, so he was going to follow the protocols they’d put in place, Aalam’s opinion on the matter be damned, as those protocols had good reasons behind their design. Aalam technically had final say on everything in every universe he owned, so, if he wanted to change them, he could do so at any time.

  “Rise.” Aalam made a gesture with his right hand, thankfully not using any power to physically lift Francis or any of his subordinates. “I just have a few words to say.”

  Francis rose to his feet, right fist still over his heart, and bowed his head slightly. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “The expected has happened in the Prime Material, but operation God Season will be delayed while I recover from an injury. At the same time, the Empress and I will be going on an extended vacation.

  “If you need either of us, please contact me, not her, and try not to contact me.”

  With that, Aalam vanished, and Francis suppressed a groan, turning to all his subordinates within ear shot. “The Emperor has given his orders. He and the Empress will be entering seclusion to prepare for the upcoming fights. It is our job to keep things stable on the home front so they can focus fully on the battles ahead.”

  Most of his subordinates appeared to buy into his words, and those who didn’t were probably aware enough of Aalam’s nature to know the lack of emotions on the man’s face showed there was nothing to be worried about.

  There were a couple, however, he was worried might start annoying rumors from a lack of understanding, so he quickly called for them to stay while asking everyone else to leave so he could explain the actual implications of what their emperor had said.

  * * *

  Linvorax

  Linvorax, Heavenly Scarab of Life, looked at his eleven brothers and then back to the Master of the Eternal Forge, interested in what the man would say but a bit afraid his most fiery brother would offend the man even more than he already had the god’s sisters.

  “The deal is simple.” The Master of the Eternal Forge mostly ignored Parvorax and Kilvorax, instead putting his focus on the rest of them. “You help us take revenge for my nephew, nieces, and the other gods of the Primordial Humans and my father, in turn, will agree with the Divine Child’s proposal to make your life stages the default naming scheme for Laws in the entire Prime Material instead of just the universe’s hinterlands.

  “Do you agree?”

  “Yes.” Ungvorax, Linvorax’s wind-focused brother, quickly spoke for most of them, but, Parvorax, just like Linvorax feared, decided to speak up as well.

  “What if we don’t agree?”

  The Master of the Eternal Forge, a man who could likely take all of them on at once, turned and smiled at their generally most talkative brother. “Then I’m not sure what my brother, currently not himself due to the deaths of his children, would do to the god responsible for giving his children’s murderer the Power of Order, our enemy’s greatest source of strength.”

  “Got it.” Parvorax quickly capitulated, his aura showing extreme fear, and the Master of the Eternal Forge looked over the rest of them.

  “So, we have a deal then?”

  “Yes.”

  All of them, Parvorax and Kilvorax included, quickly agreed.

  “Then I look forward to working together in the future.”

  * * *

  Elandra

  On an A rank planet owned by the Sangha, in a private garden no one ever entered, Elandra, the Elder Goddess of Emotions, sat crosslegged under a fig tree, her flawless medium toned skin radiant, her brown eyes brilliant, and her long silk-like curly black hair perfectly arranged as if she’d just had it stylized, all despite her not having moved nor cared about her appearance for at least the last several millennia.

  Then, for the first time in over forty billion years, hidden from everyone else in the Prime Material, the emotionless goddess, known to be more robotic than robots, smiled ever so slightly.