Chapter 556: Another Celestial Is Here

"At least five Overlord-level presences have been detected outside the borders of Verendal."

The sentence remained in the hall for several seconds.

The discussion that had been going on between the Six Great Families and the representatives of the Twelve Ancient Guilds until a moment ago almost immediately went silent.

Even Severin, who was still standing in front of the family leaders, turned his head toward the commander.

Lian sat a little straighter.

Five Overlords.

The presence of even one person at this level was enough to make the defense forces of many countries around the world go on high alert.

Now, at least five of them had appeared almost at the same time outside one of the most important cities in the world.

Rhaenar, however, did not even frown and only asked,

"Who called them here?"

The commander paused for a moment.

Before he could answer, Gregor Valemont spoke from the other side of the table.

"I did."

Several gazes turned toward him.

Gregor showed no shame in admitting it.

"One of my people was killed inside a city under the protection of the Pendragon Family. Then it turns out that the killer is probably not what we first thought, so of course I would ask for backup."

Adrian Stormheart spoke almost immediately.

"I requested backup too."

Gregor looked at him.

Adrian continued without changing his expression.

"We were accused of murder, and that is not something we are going to stay silent about."

One of the representatives of the Ancient Guilds also placed his hand on the table.

"We did the same."

Then another person.

And another.

It soon became clear that no foreign army had suddenly decided to surround Verendal.

Almost all the powerful forces gathered outside the city had been called by the same people who were now looking at each other inside this hall.

Lian moved his gaze between them for a moment.

It was completely logical, actually, and it was expected that something like this would happen.

Valemont had asked for an Overlord because one of their people had been killed, and Stormheart had practically been accused of killing a member of the Six Great Families.

The others who had requested backup had probably done it just to be safe, or perhaps the forces behind them had decided on their own to send an Overlord.

And considering the current situation, the presence of the Overlords could only increase the tension and make it even harder to control.

No one wanted a war, but everyone was preparing themselves so that if a war started, they would not be the first ones to lose.

And this exact preparation was making the chance of a war starting even higher, Lian slowly moved his finger along the armrest of his chair, he did not like this situation.

More than anything, because he had that same feeling from before again, as if every step was creating the next step by itself and that bad feeling was still in his heart.

He was still trying to figure out which of the two sides was the real culprit behind all of this.

The problem was that both sides could have their own reasons for doing it, and he was sure that the Six Great Families also definitely had the means to do something like this.

But which side was willing to go as far as starting a world war? Which side would benefits more in the end?

The commander continued.

"They’re all outside the city and they don’t dare to enter, Your Majesty."

Rhaenar stood up, and this simple movement made the room become even quieter.

Isolde gave her husband a brief look, but she did not ask anything.

The patriarch walked toward the tall window at the end of the hall.

Then the view behind the glass changed.

The towers of Verendal that were hundreds of meters away seemed to bend slightly, the horizon lost its natural shape for a moment and the distance between the buildings seemed to become compressed.

Space simply... folded.

Several kilometers of distance folded in on itself like a piece of cloth being gathered from the middle.

Rhaenar took one step forward and disappeared.

Lian did not even blink for a moment, the place where the Pendragon Patriarch had been standing until one second ago was now empty.

There was no speed involved and the man had not moved from the first point to the second point, he had simply removed the distance between them.

Everyone stared at the empty space for a while and took a deep breath.

Celestial.

Maybe this was the reason for their name.

At that level, the laws that seemed fixed to most humans were no longer that fixed, perhaps none of the laws of the world had any meaning to them at all.

Several kilometers outside the western wall of Verendal, the air bent for a moment.

Rhaenar stepped out.

And the five people standing at different distances almost at the same time turned their attention toward him.

Each of them had a different presence and all five were floating in the sky, with distance between them.

"None of you are entering Verendal."

"One of our family members was killed inside your city." A man wearing the Valemont insignia stepped forward.

"I know."

"And now our people are not allowed to leave?"

"That’s right."

The Valemont Overlord remained silent for a moment, while Rhaenar kept his usual calm expression.

"So, Your Majesty, you expect us to stand here and trust that everything is under control?"

"No, you don’t need to trust me, but you are not entering the city either." The patriarch said calmly.

"My people inside may be in danger." One of the Guild Overlords said.

"They are safer inside Verendal than here."

"That’s what you say."

"Exactly, no one enters and no one leaves, until I give the order, and this is better for all of you, unless you want to oppose me." The patriarch said calmly and then looked around.

All the Overlords became silent and did not dare to say anything more, none of the people present were young or stupid enough not to understand who was standing in front of them.

For a few seconds, it seemed that everyone had accepted this.

Then the sky changed.

The color of the sky gained a strange depth for a moment, as if something was behind it and was now passing through it.

The Overlords around them almost reacted at the same time and immediately moved aside to make way for whoever was coming.

Rhaenar raised his head and his attention became completely fixed on one point.

A man stepped out of the bent space, with almost white hair, a hard face, and a long robe with the insignia of the Primal Firmament.

No huge amount of Mana was coming out of him.

But his presence was so heavy that all the Overlords around him felt as if they could be crushed under that pressure at any moment, unlike the Pendragon Patriarch, who controlled his aura and power, this one did not seem interested in doing so.

Kairos.

One of the main Celestials of the Primal Firmament, and his eyes were directly fixed on Rhaenar.

"Rhaenar."

"Kairos."

There was no greeting between them and the two men simply looked at each other for several seconds.

"Release my people." Kairos said next.

"They are not prisoners."

"Then let them leave."

"No."

Rhaenar’s answer did not have even a moment of delay and Kairos remained silent for several seconds.

"An interesting name for a prison."

"It’s called a crime scene." The Pendragon Patriarch gave a very small smile this time.

The space between the two became compressed for a moment and cracks appeared in the sky itself, as if space-time was starting to crack and could fall apart at any moment.

The Overlords moved back again.

One of them even created a distance of more than a thousand meters without taking his eyes off the two Celestials.

No one intended to stand between these two.

Kairos said calmly,

"One member of the Twelve Guilds has been injured, then a tool belonging to my Guild is accused, and my representatives are not allowed to leave? Rhaenar, do you think I’m afraid of you?"

It was completely clear that he had heard about everything that had happened and knew that his Guild had been accused.

And that was not good.