Samael Astreas sat in an exquisite small pavilion floating outside several barriers surrounding vast duel stages. Next to him was Victor Earendel, the 2nd Prince.
The two of them watched with indifference as hundreds of princes and princesses moved in the large venue, preparing for the competition.
The ranked princes were seated in a larger pavilion a few few million below. They were only a few dozen of them and they too would have a competition later on.
"Competition for those unranked mongrels and for these ranked weaklings. Tsk, why waste time? Can't we just knock down this woman?" Victor leaned back into his seat, gripping his armrest with a pissed off expression.
The 7th Prince glanced at him with a calm gaze and spoke nonchalantly. "As the administrators of the empire, we have to follow certain procedures."
"And what if I don't wanna?"
"…These are set by God Emperor."
"Procedures are important!" Victor flipped his position without a change in expression.
The followers of the prince who treated him as a supremely brave man would've been shocked if they witnessed how he changed his opinion without a spine.
However, even they would bow down their heads once they knew it was regarding the God Emperor.
All human qualities would work only against fellow humans.
But against a living god…
The bravest of men turn into cowards.
The fiercest of warriors grow meek.
The smartest of scholars admit ignorance.
Victor was not spineless for changing his opinion, he's a mortal. It's ironic since he's one of the strongest divine rankers of the Jai Empire.
But divine rankers were merely quasi gods and pseudo gods. In front of a more perfect god, their divinity shrinks, mortality amplifies.
In front of God Emperor, every being would be a mortal.
There were no second places to godhood.
'I do not want godhood, I merely want to resurrect my family and die with them.'
Samael's eyes darkened as a deep pain filled his mind. The loving gaze of his wife, the smile of his mother and the hug of his….
"Procedures are not meaningless." Gathering his composure, Samael said. He couldn't understand why his heart was unstable even though he relived that day recently.
Creating them, spending time genuinely loving them and killing them at the end to tell himself they're all fake…he had been doing this forever.
Even though it hurt, it worked. The fire in his heart remained alive, pushing him to keep going in this harsh world.
But why?
Why was he feeling so restless now?
Samael shifted in his seat, gazing down at the princes, ranked and unranked.
'It's okay. Even though I'm still far away from the goal, I've come a long way. I need only a few more steps.'
There were only a few things that interested the God Emperor.
Slivers. Life and Death slivers were beyond his reach. On the other hand, Order and Chaos slivers were recently discovered. But it's difficult to grasp. Primal Union Body.
A unique constitution in the cosmos, one which he recently believed to be a mere theoretical fantasy.
Even though it gave significant advantage in mortal and celestial ranks, the true function of such constitution would only be revealed at the peak of divine paths.
Samael could only guess what the God Emperor wanted to accomplish. But even the guess was too absurd.
A single body accommodating the power of three avenues, what happens if the mastery of the three avenues was at its very peak? It's a feat that even the Primordial Gods couldn't achieve.
Victor looked at the 7th prince who fell silent and raised a brow. "What is it?"
"Ah?" Samael came to his senses quickly and spoke up while hiding his thoughts."The procedures are not meaningless. Competitions are conducted for a reason."
Whether they belonged to their faction or not, each prince had a certain affinity towards the three of them or were neutral.
"If supporters of my faction show more strength, I'll gain more influence and followers. If supporters of Eshala's faction look significantly weaker, even the neutral ones will side with us against her. They'll bring her down so they can join that faction and climb up. These two competitions are purely political." Samael explained with a casual smile, as if he wasn't in a mild existential crisis just moments ago.
"Oh." Victor nodded with an uninterested expression.
Not that he was an idiot but he rather enjoyed being straight forward actions than subtle politics.
If he had to design the competition, he'd let his faction fight against other two factions, allowing them to show their power. As for relative ranking of the faction members within, he'd let them settle it once they join.
Of course, when brute force wouldn't work, Victor was flexible enough not to force it and let politics figure out a way.
Ironically, this was why his faction had quite a few good strategists.
"Forget the boring stuff, what about her?"
The 7th Prince's lips curled into a chilling smile. "I didn't really believe it at first but the evidence is very convincing."
The evidence came from the alliance, from someone who gave no details of why he knew what he knew.
The 7th Prince verified the evidence and as it stated, Eshala's subordinate Zahara Onyx did die. And she did send an assassin into a Pala province hiding from his army.
Eshala's soul was broken. The star was going to fall!
"If she's not my equal, she has no right to be in that seat." Victor pointed to the empty throne next to him.
It's the throne for the Warring faction commander. If Eshala won, it's hers. If she loses, the winner would assume the throne while she would likely get killed or expelled from the factions forever.
"She'll be late, some important work apparently. " Samael said with a disdainful smile.
What could be more important than protecting her position?
"Her faction has no morale." Victor pointed out.
Indeed, even the strong divine rankers in her faction were looking worried. It's natural after all. They were first dumbfounded when they heard Eshala was challenged. Later, they sneered and laughed.
There's no way Princess Eshala Starlight would be challenged, they said.
There's no way their leader would lose to anyone, they said.
And now, they could only say in the corners, trying to hide the quiver in their voice. "W-Why is she not here yet?"