George III couldn't shake the feeling that something was off lately.
Everything seemed to be progressing smoothly as planned. With his ancestor's aid, he was advancing through the Black Emperor ritual, had secured cooperation with the Demoness Sect, and even gained the support of the Aurora Order's Red Angel. Victory appeared within reach, and the three gods... Evernight Goddess, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Steam and Machinery... seemed oblivious to the Augustus family's maneuvers.
By all accounts, he was on track to become the Black Emperor soon... though failure could mean death or transformation into a monster.
Yet, for reasons he couldn't pinpoint, George III felt a nagging unease, as if something had slipped beyond his control unnoticed.
"Am I being too sensitive, or is my spirituality warning me…?" George III rubbed his brow, then pulled out several intelligence reports concerning the three major churches. The findings: everything was normal.
He flipped through additional reports from border cities. Due to their geographic importance, George III kept tabs on these regions, but the distance from the capital and lack of efficient communication meant he relied on his spies, subordinates, and officials for updates.
Again, everything appeared normal, save for some unrest in Intis hinting at potential war.
George III's frown deepened. He sifted through more reports, his unease growing.
Everything as usual, everything normal, everything as it should be…
Every report, every spy, every subordinate told him the same thing: Loen was unchanged.
"No, this isn't right," George III said, abruptly standing from his chair. As the king chosen by the Augustus family and a candidate for Black Emperor, he was no fool, despite his flaws. Even though the reports showed nothing amiss, his instincts screamed otherwise.
His intuition was correct. After aligning with Alaric, the Churches of Evernight, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Steam and Machinery had tacitly sealed off the Augustus family's intelligence network.
As the saying goes, know your enemy to win a hundred battles. Conversely, when someone's eyes and ears are covered, fed only curated information, their chances of failure skyrocket.
The Augustus family had been rendered blind and deaf by the three churches' coordinated efforts.
"Summon…" George III began to call for his attendants but stopped mid-sentence.
A chilling realization hit him. If all his intelligence was false, it meant many of his subordinates had either defected or been subdued... perhaps replaced. Could he even trust those in the palace?
In the past, he wouldn't have questioned their loyalty, but now he had to.
Instead of calling his attendants, George III quietly sought out his ancestor, William I Augustus.
"What's wrong?" William I asked, glancing at his disappointing descendant.
"Ancestor, I suspect…" George III explained his concerns about the potentially false intelligence, his expression grave. "If these reports are fabricated, it means someone has blocked our network. That's not something any random organization could pull off... not even one of the three churches alone…"
His face darkened as he spoke.
"Unless the three churches are working together," William I said, his expression surprisingly calm, betraying no shock. He sighed. "George, do you know why the family chose you to become the Black Emperor?"
"Because only a family with a true god can hold sway before the Seven Gods, securing a chance of survival in the apocalypse," George III answered without hesitation.
"Exactly," William I nodded, studying his descendant. "I once thought the Seven Gods wouldn't oppose this. Even if they didn't want an eighth true god, they'd tolerate it after the fact to face the apocalypse."
"But it seems I was wrong…" William I sighed again. Had he, a Sequence 1, truly not noticed anything amiss before George?
Of course not. He'd sensed something was off even earlier than George.
Yet, after noticing, he'd taken no action, allowing events to unfold.
"Ancestor, you knew… Why?" George III's eyes widened in shock. Then, realization dawning, he asked, "Are the three gods truly so unstoppable?"
"No, the three gods aren't that fearsome. Sequence 0s are immensely powerful, but they can't easily leave the Astral World, and the apocalypse limits them. For the Augustus family, they're not that terrifying," William I said, shaking his head. "What I fear is the entity behind the gods."
"The one who changed their minds, who united them. That's the one opposing this."
William I didn't know of Alaric's existence, but he suspected such a figure. It wasn't hard to deduce. Having lived from the Fourth Epoch to now, he'd witnessed countless events and understood the dynamics among the Seven Gods, especially the tensions between the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
He also knew some gods desired change in the status quo but refrained due to the apocalypse, social stability, and their anchors. So, when he noticed most of the Seven Gods making covert moves toward reform, with the Lord of Storms, Eternal Blazing Sun, and God of Knowledge no longer at odds, fear gripped him.
He didn't believe the gods had suddenly become altruists or lost their minds. There could only be one reason: a will they couldn't defy was forcing their hand.
An entity even the gods couldn't resist… William I took a deep breath, his gaze settling on George III. He smiled faintly. "Perhaps we'll all die here today."
***
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