The gathering of the greatest geniuses of the Empire was abrupt. Some of them were famous but the others kept a low profile.
It'd be difficult to reach out to them for even the king of the strongest kingdom as they'd rather prioritize a bout of training over meaningless political intrigue.
More than five kings had experienced harsh rejections from these proud geniuses. And even some divine rankers were at the receiving end.
In the collective consciousness of the upper elite who were in the same range as these supreme geniuses—kings, divine rankers, empire geniuses—they were aloof, noble, cold and infinitely proud.
But the very same geniuses came rushing to the Hall of Sage in Genesis Empire upon a single notice.
Everything was relative. People would be arrogant only towards the one they could afford to be arrogant. One wrong move towards the wrong person and it'd be the end of the story.
"Greetings, My Lord!"
"Victory be yours!"
"Thank you for gracing me with your divine presence!"
The three incomers greeted their respective leaders first before showing respect for the others.
The three people seated on the stage, Keman of Genesis, Yami of Mors and Aphosis of Nexus, showed no response at all to the humble gesture of the geniuses.
Unlike when they were discussing Varian and Immortal with intense fevor, the three seemed almost uninterested. If not for the slight nods they occassionally gave, one would think they were dragged here to attend the meeting.
"God's Eye timing this time is unexpected. But it happens every now and then." Yami began. "Time…is really not something we can measure when talking about that place."
"Your mission, like every team before you, is simple." Keman tapped his armrest and pursed his lips. "Win."
The candidates stood straight with a stiff expression, as if even the slightest disturbance would somehow constitute a blasphemy.
Varian and Immortal, in contrast were relaxed in their posture. They were both in disguises woven by the rulers of the alliance itself, so there was no possibility that anyone doubted their identities.
For the other three candidates, they were 'geniuses of their caliber that remained extremely low-key'.
The geniuses whose identities they were using were…killed by Yami. Keman proposed to lock them up until this mission ends but the mistress of death was ruthless.
'In the slightest chance that a war suddenly starts and we have to leave these two behind and they get exposed, there is a clear danger to Immortal. I cannot allow that.'
And so, the most promising geniuses of the Alliance, once who would certainly reach the divine ranks and might even reach the peak of rank 1 were erased, just like that.
'By the time these two can reach peak rank 1, Immortal and Varian would already be in rank 2. There's nothing lost here.' Aphosis too showed no hesitation.
It was only then that it really dawned on Varian.
The only reason he was alive after everything he did was that he was special enough. No, he's more than special. He's unique.
If he was just a genius, no matter how big, these guys wouldn't even spare a thought before erasing him.
As humane as they seemed in front of him, it was but a small part of their larger, colder and ruthless personna.
Varian felt a sharp gaze and glanced to his right.
Immortal was looking at him with a cold smile.
He seemed much stronger than their last encounter. But more concerning than that was a familiar power he could sense from the bastard.
'Slivers…'
As they promised, the two rulers gave a miniature version of slivers to Immortal.
Varian was still too weak to harness the power of slivers. Logos admitted that the best he could draw was 0.01% of the total power.
Keman and Yami simply extracted 0.01% of the power from their own slivers and created a pair of slivers for Immortal to wield.
With this, the two of them were essentially equal.
'I can't keep him alive.'
"The current leaders of the Jai's three factions made a name for themselves through this event. There's no doubt their team would deem this an important platform to showcase their prowess.
Even out of the five you're going to face, only two or even one might attempt something dangerous. But beware, the reason that one genius acts is due to the confidence to crush all of you." Aphosis warning was practical though his tone remained plain as ever.
Still, everyone took him seriously. Even though he's the junior of the trio, he's the senior most figure everywhere else.
His words were hard to digest.
God's Empire was in the core territory of the Jai Empire. Andromeda Galaxy. That too near the center of the galaxy.
They're already taking a huge risk by stepping into the tiger's den but now they're asked to guard against a possible madman who'd be interested in butchering them all.
It'd be goodluck if they survived the onslaught. But even if they did, would they able to walk out from the heart of enemy's territory all the way to alliance after killing their best genius?
Taking Aphosis' words into consideration, any chances of survival they had seemed to crash rock bottom.
Varian felt the sense of decadence in his peers and was about to speak up when Immortal beat him to it.
In a tone barely containing his supreme confidence, he waved his hand. "This is a pure contest, done for the good of all Eden. There will be no danger from the Jai Empire's forces during our expedition, while we enter or exit God's Eye. It is the word of God Emperor himself."
His words caused the three super geniuses to heave a sigh of relief.
And one candidate speaking up in the presence of three living gods provided courage for the others.
"Why isn't Miss Calamity here?"
"Yeah, she can't not be in the top five."
"Yep, Yep."
Keman glanced at Varian with a slightly piercing gaze before announcing. "She's a divine ranker now."
"!!"