Other side

"So, they refused our offer and declared war against us," a deep voice resounded through a dark room.

In this room, there was a rather large semicircular table, which at the moment, didn't seem to be occupied by anyone.

Kneeling in front of this table were Priestess Hara and behind her was Grake, who was kneeling a few steps behind her.

"Tell me, Hara, did you and Grake deliver my letter to their leader?" asked the same voice from the corner of the semicircular table, a part shrouded in darkness.

"Yes, Head Priest. I myself was the one who handed it to him. At first, he received it with a friendly face, but the moment he read it, his mood changed to anger," Hara replied, lowering her head.

"What in the world did he get angry for? All I asked for was their submission," the voice said, sounding confused.

Hara and Grake knelt in silence, without uttering a word.

"How many days did it take you to get here?" the deep voice asked.

"Two days," Hara answered.

"So we're two days behind in our preparations, meaning they're two days ahead of us."

After the voice spoke, silence filled the room for a few minutes.

"No matter, I just have to inform the Ascended One. I don't think they'll take this matter as seriously as I do, though," said the voice, breaking the silence.

Krek!

Suddenly, the entire hall was filled with a stuttering sound, similar to the noise made when two bones hit each other.

Gaya and Grake lifted their heads, their faces displaying a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Priestess," Grake uttered as he tried to step forward and get closer to Hara.

But suddenly, the whole room calmed down, and the stuttering sound slowly vanished.

"No need to panic, it's just me," the deep voice resonated again.

"That reminds me, Hara, did you take a good look at the salvation beings?" It asked.

Gazing toward the spot where the voice came from, Hara nodded.

"Good."

"Grake, can you step out for a bit? I have something to talk about with Hara," the voice commanded.

With the command, Grake stood up and left the room, leaving Hara alone.

"And now that he's gone, why don't you loosen up those things," said the voice.

As it said that, Hara grabbed the blindfold from her eyes and removed it, revealing her true eyes.

And Not to bring shame to her body's beauty, her two eyes also had a charm that elevated her overall beauty to another level.

"Has to say, Hara, your beauty is second to none, and with those extraordinary eyes by your side, your value is even higher. It's our fortune that you're in our forces," praised the voice.

No reply came from Hara as she carefully tucked her blindfold into a pocket on her garment

What sets her eyes apart from others and truly makes them extraordinary is the presence of an additional circular pattern in the center of her irises, giving her eyes the appearance of having two irises in one. And Unlike the typical black color, her irises are a striking light blue, reminiscent of ice.

"You flatter me, Head Priest, but this is nothing more than something I was born with," she replied, looking toward darkness again.

"So, did you manage to measure up their strength?" asked the voice again, this time with a curious tone.

"Unfortunately not. The moment I opened my eyes when I got close to them, I felt like I was on fire, so I had to keep my eyes close the whole time I was in front of them," said Hara with disappointment.

"Figured that much. After all, they are beings on the same level as our Ascended beings," said the voice.

"But I managed to measure out their higher-Rank ones in the forces. Luckily, when I got there, it happened to be a gathering time for them, so I had a perfect setup to measure them."

"So?" asked the voice

"In terms of strength alone, there are only a handful of people we need to be careful of; the others are just weaklings."

"Handful, huh? So their strength falls to that low, truly pathetic, pathetic that we have to go to war against a force like that." The room suddenly trumbled, and the darkness in the atmosphere became a little bit denser as it increased.

However at the momant..

"Anyways, I have to inform the Ascended One, so you can go for now," the voice came as the room became quiet and calm again, but this time the voice came from behind Hara, where the door is.

Clank!

Before Hara even turned around, the door opened, and the darkness in the room disappeared.

***

Standing in front of a giant door is a figure whose whole body is covered by a huge black robe.

In the door in front of him, there was no known door knob, only a flat surface.

Huff!

With an exhale, the figure extended his hand to the door handle, pushing it slowly to open. And As it was already halfway open, the robed figure stepped forward, walking inside.

As he passed through, the door began to close again.

After entering, the figure continued to walk.

The area he was in differed from the other side of the door. It had a soil floor and sharp rocks on the ceiling that resembled spearheads. This place was akin to a dark cave.

robed man walked until he reached a place that resembled a place of prayer, shrouded in complete darkness. Kneeling in that spot, he bowed his head toward the darkness.

Gruhh!

Suddenly, within the darkness, something stirred, and at the same time, the cave began to tremble slightly.

The moving object in the darkness started to slither around the entire area, and at certain points, its outline became faintly visible due to the dim light entering the cave.It resembled a snake, a large one, and it moved gracefully. However, after a few minutes, its movements began to converge on a single spot in the center of the cave.

This snake-like thing, which had been circling in the complete darkness, gradually coalesced at the center, causing the ground to tremble.

"So you're here, Kred. I hope it's something valuable this time," the movement stopped, and a deep, eerie voice that sent shivers down the robed figure's spine emerged from the darkness.