Kairos Typhon was an enigmatic primordial, a man of few words despite his quite boisterous display during the process of the war. A quiet but deadly figure, preferring to be the silent force behind any power in his galaxy-wide empire, it always amused him when sometimes his peers took his somewhat docile personality for stupidity.

It irked him to no end, but it was something he had taken as something of an occupational hazard. Staring at Rieus, the bright scourge with his emissary that was a few steps from having a panic attack, he took a deep breath, settling on his throne of vines and leaves before speaking.

"What offer does the supreme being of constructs have for a primordial of the terrestrial faction?" he asked idly.

Rieus made to talk when he paused, glancing around the whole forest of vines and lives that slithered on.

"Is this a manifestation of her form?" the bright scourge asked.

Typhon simply summoned a decanter of dull grey wine, pouring two glasses as one floated over to Rieus who sent his glass of wine into his vault, taking the one offered as a courtesy. Kairos ignored Habriel, but he could guess the emissary considered it a good thing. No one wanted the attention of the king of monsters, after all.

"A stellar sentient," Rieus said softly, seeing as Kairos made no move to answer his question.

Kairos paused, the glass of wine inches from his lips, eyebrow quirked.

"Interesting, if my memories serve me right, there are only four supposed seeds of stellar sentients ever created. One belongs to Eses, bestowed upon her by Liakya," Kairos said.

"Another works in the service of the dragon's brigade, sworn to Xerxes himself, the destroyer, as it is called," Rieus said.

"The third is the silent patron of the construct empire, the devastating force that has held back the shambling wraith hordes from the dark places within worlds," Kairos said.

"And the fourth belongs to that child, bestowed to him for his defeat of the lord of mutation," Rieus said with as much bile as he could put into the word.

"I've always wondered what the supreme beings gave him, Liakya included," Kairos murmured to himself

"And now, the fifth seed could be yours, the fifth stellar sentient, not this," Rieus said, pausing as he gestured to the glowing ball of light behind Kairos.

"Well, whatever it is you think you're creating, a perversion of the works of the supreme beings," Rieus said.

Kairos smirked. While the bright scourge pretended to be genuinely irritated and affronted by the experiments he was doing, he could see the raw hunger in the eyes of Rieus. The seed had enough power to push a fledgling to ruler rank in one go. It was a precious relic, one of such power and resonance on reality that Kairos was sure that Rieus would spread word of its existence, drawing down forces who would attempt to steal it. Kairos wouldn't have it any other way, you see.

The seed had to feed, after all, and what better food than the lives and flesh of thieves?

He kept it to himself, reclining on his throne of vines as a leaf pulsed with light softly right next to his ears. Giving a light nod, he turned his gaze to Rieus.

"A stellar sentient," he repeated.

"Not even you would give up on such a valuable treasure," Rieus said, eyes glowing.

There was something out of this for the bright scourge, whatever it was, Kairos had no idea, but he could see that. He just had to figure the angle Rieus was playing from. To do that, though, he would have to play to the vanity of the bright scourge, and in all honesty, Kairos could care less again at this point. He had already made up his decision. Still, he gave a smirk like he was interested.

"I see, and what does she require of me?" he asked.

Rieus sat up, the wine glass floating from his hands as Kairos saw the intensity of his look.

"She wants what the titan got for defeating the lord of the abyss. She wants the pure rune of mutation, the very aspect given form," he replied.

Kairos froze.

"Now, what would a supreme being want with such a malevolent item?" Kairos asked softly.

Habriel shivered a little, eyes darting around as he placed one hand on his blade, watching as the slithering vines etched ever closer to their position, preparing to lash out in a suicidal attempt to escape. Not even his master could break the dome over their position if Kairos didn't will it so. Rieus maintained a sense of calm, though, staring intently at his fellow primordial.

"What better hands to protect the item than a supreme being herself?" Rieus asked.

Kairos chuckled, shaking his head.

"And are the other beings aware? Is Lotes aware, Alastor? The others?" Kairos asked rhetorically.

Rieus reclined on his chair.

"Sometimes, someone has to take steps for the greater good. The rest would follow, in time, of course" he said, satisfied with his answer.

Kairos nodded along with him, taking a deep breath before sighing.

"Tell me, Rieus," he started.

"Have you ever thought of your time, back when you were a true messenger, I mean? When you were one of the most esteemed in the galaxy, when you served the being of mana herself, Vazyra?" Kairos pushed on.

The bright scourge froze, eyes wide as anger flashed through it.

"When you were one of the most esteemed in the galaxy, when you served the being of mana herself, Vazyra?" Kairos pushed on.

Rieus began to tremble little by little as Kairos continued, aware of the primordial and emissary burning with simmering fury. He found it amusing if he was being honest.

"Do you realize now why she cast you down from your lofty heights in the ethereal realm, or are you that foolish to keep along that path, hmm?" Kairos asked.

"Vazyra was a slave master, blind to the truths!" Rieus snarled.

"It was because of your lust for power, the same lust that clouded your thoughts into thinking a supreme being would share her powers." Kairos said with a sigh,

Rieus reclined on the chair, but his eyes burned a harsh gold, his aspect bursting at the seams to flood the entire dome, to scorch everything in its ‘holy’ power, but it seemed the bright scourge had more sense for self-perseverance than Kairos gave him credit for. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, exhaling the tension,

Habriel shot his master a grateful look,

Opening his eyes, Rieus spoke calmly,

“Do you know how many galaxies are in the archailect?” he asked,

Rieus shook his head softly,

“More than we ever need, more than was ever counted” Kairos replied,

“As of when I left the messengers, it was a little over a hundred thousand” Rieus said,

“That was eons ago, with the current rate we’ve been going, I’d be surprised if we haven’t tripled it” Kairos said

Rieus nodded,

“And you’d be correct, except you should had multiplied that count by at least five” Rieus said,

Kairos shrugged,

“And I could care less, enough space for everyone to burn with the power of a sun” he said,

“And yet, less than ten percent knew of our very existences before the war started, as primordials I mean” Rieus said,

“They also know little of ancients, harbingers and emissaries to an extent, what is your point?” Kairos asked, getting impatient,

“that the untold quintillions who live in pure ignorance of the true powers of the archailect, and have remained as such are suddenly waking up to realize that the heights they thought the peak could be surpassed" Rieus said,

“that diamond wasn’t the end, and that if they try enough, to try and rise above their betters, then they could reach our heights, the heights of a primordial” Rieus said with a snarl,

Ah, so that was it,

“why do I feel like this is somehow tied to the titan blade?” Kairos asked,

“because it is, because of this child, untold millions of worlds have rebelled, anarchy is breaking out all over the archailect and the skeletal crew the brigade put in charge are barely holding the worlds together” Rieus said,

‘you mean your galactic empire is fraying at the seams, don’t you?, you and your other celestials who have ruled with an oppressive fist for millennia” Kairos said,

Rieus paused, teeth gritted,

“so if I understand you right, you fear your empire of destruction and pure terror does crumble, and you’ve somehow pointed the kid, like you always do by the way, as the cause of this upheaval” Kairos said,

“Tell me, what did Liakya offer you?” the king of monsters asked,

“a way to stop the child from causing any more troubles, tell me, what do you think would happen when he eventually becomes a true primordial, one step away from becoming the one thing we’ve all been running towards?” Rieus asked, his eyes alight,

Kairos froze eerily still,

“You wouldn’t dare” he said, the words carried a command so absolute, reality began to find ways to obey the words,

Rieus flexed his power then and there as the command honed in on Habriel, six pure white wings appeared behind him, runes of blistering power tore through the dome, tearing into the protective runes that lined the green shield and bounced back towards the bright scourge, repelling the power of the command itself. The shield dome shattered and as the broken shards of the dome rained down on the three beings within its former protection, more figures began to appear in the air, pathways opening up as they stepped out.

Dressed in grey cloaks, each with a chain somehow attached to one part of their body or the other, a larger pathway opened up and a female figure strode through, hair made up of dangling interlocking chains, each bearing enough authority to weigh in on reality around them, each strand possessing no strength less than a diamond.

Her hands were wrapped with silvery chains that burned bright green and behind her was a hulking figure of some creature, a mix between a falcon and a deer, its uppermost part that of the avian and from its waist down hairy with hooves for feet.

She glanced at Kairos, bowed at the waist for a second or two before turning cold eyes on the bright scourge who regarded her as a stain below his feet

“Malia chainer” he said,

“Still alive and kicking it seems” he said,

The captain of the wardens, the cult dedicated to Kairos simply turned her gaze to Habriel whose wings were outstretched as well, golden in all their glory,

“Keep those things away, or I clip them for my collection” she said softly, her voice reverberating through the air,

“You insolence goes too far Malia” Habriel answered, this time with his blade drawn,

He might quiver in the presence of the king of monsters, but in front of a fellow emissary?, that was a different matter entirely,

“You would stunt another ascender’s growth?, a fellow primordial no less” Kairos thundered softly, a cruel smile on his face,

Rieus knew that look well and began to summon his forged mythical weapons and defenses,

A shield forged from a blackhole and a dying super sun on the edge of going supernova,

A blade forged from the dead body of a creature close to becoming a system eating terror,

An armor forged in the burning forges of Alastor, imbued with the aspect of desolation and given to him for completing a task,

A helm of pure bright gold, forged from the armor of a fallen true messenger,

Reality released a tune with all the powers bolstering its presence, Rieus glowed like a literal deity, rising higher as he brought his shield to bear, Habriel staring in awe at his master as he fell to his knees in veneration. Through all these, Kairos never moved, merely staring at the bright scourge with disinterest in his eyes, then he raised one finger and Rieus went on the defensive, wings flared,

“ENOUGH” a voice echoed through the entire area,

Habriel knew enough to know who it was and sheathed his blade almost immediately, wings drawn back into his body. Rieus floated still, eyes locked on Kairos who had been busy opening his vault, an eye stared out from within and Habriel shuddered from the pure malevolence he had felt from the creature. The vines below their feet began to coalesce together into a humanoid form, growing taller as blue and black eyes glowed from within what it passed for a face,

“kraken” Rieus said,

“I will only say this once and once only, sheath your weapons, all of you” she said,

The wardens replied immediately, weapons were locked away and heads bowed in absolute deference, behaving like there wasn’t an enemy right in front of them, able to strike them down in but a second. Not that Rieus would dare, not in front of the great maw herself, he had heard rumors of rulers and even ancients who had offended the queen of monsters and had disappeared from the faces of reality. Rieus was a primordial, but he wasn’t willing to test that hypothesis and see what would happen to him, he sent his weapons away, floating down in silence.

Tiamat’s avatar turned to Kairos,

“You know better than to expect a shred of dignity from the bright scourge” she said,

Rieus froze as Kairos inclined his head, admitting the words, she turned back to the bright scourge,

“Leave our domain immediately” she started,

“Tell your supreme being that her offer has been heard, tell her we reject it” Tiamat said as Rieus dispelled his aspects power,

“Tell her that should she try to go for the titan blade, we’ll make sure to repay you back tenfold” she promised,

“You cannot fight the supreme beings, not even you two would last against that fundamental an aspect” Rieus said as he flicked his hands, a pathway opening up behind him,

Tiamat smiled,

“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you though” she replied,

Rieus stepped through, the pathway closing up as Habriel hastily went through as well also, Tiamat glanced to the wardens who nodded and went back through the pathways they had came from. Turning her gaze to her husband,

“Well, that was as expected, the schism has begun” she said,

“Not necessarily, we do not need to hasten any of our plans, at least, not until we reach the end” Kairos replied as she nodded,

“But the child, should we alert him?” she asked, concern in her gaze,

Kairos smiled,

“Is that concern for the child or the unborn child of he and our daughter’s union you look forward to empower?’ he asked coyly,

The vine face gave a shilling smile,

“can’t it be both?” she asked innocently,

Kairos chuckled, folding his arms behind him, a look of utter seriousness in his face,

“No, it is too soon for that, let us deal with the abyss and whatever lurks behind them, if we survive” he said, leaving the sentence open,

“Then we began the next phase” she completed as he nodded,

A loud gong echoed through reality,

“The two carnage striders are down, the path into the enemy’s territory is open” Kairos said,

“And so we go to war” Tiamat whispered,

The both of them staring as their forces began to move.

********************************

The defiance powered to life, aboard the vessel, in the grand hall that held only diamonds and masters, the other forces on flagships of each cohort of the legion, Moyo opened his eyes that glowed. Feeling the power of carnage and bloodlust as it grew stronger, he stood up, drawing dominion whose blade sang in tandem with his own power, Shola appeared by his side, her crystalline Aserite form glowing as her eyes glowed as well,

“now” Moyo whispered and released his aspect,

Power flooded the entirety of defiance, its very walls both inside and outside glowing with his aspect that burnt the very touch of bloodlust and carnage away from the vessel. The other flagships behind him as well also took on the colors of the defiance, his power shielding them as well as he grunted, holding on with all the tenacity and Ashe he could gather. The defiance thrummed, rumbling as the path they pushed deep into the domain of the lords of the abyss jarred him to his bone, and then they were through, silence reigning as Moyo fell to his knees,

“All ships are safe, no signs of bloodlust” Urne’s voice said, echoed,

Moyo nodded, josh and Idris by his side,

“Bring up the live feed, show me where we are” he ordered, shaking his numb hands,

A holographic image showed him a dead system, debris floating around with nothing in sight, except for five large planets, each with a different color, and the pure power of the abyss wafting from them. Moyo glanced at Idris who nodded,

“All forces prepare!” he ordered as klaxons echoed.