“What about Sakura?” Mok Fan asked softly. Naturally the Goddess of the Acropolis would have to be involved in all of this.

“In the end, she is going to oppose you and what you are going to become, Mok Fan,” I told him simply. “She has Awakened the Silver Magic, and in doing has become untouchable to you. She will be in direct contact with the Will of Heaven, the heart of true Holiness and Goodness, and you will burn one another when you touch. Your Doom is to become the representative of the Netherlords upon this world, and when the Avatar of the Lords of Light descends to start that fight, it is you it will be hunting. If you don’t embrace ALL the power the Netherlords are going to make available to you, you will die... and of course that power comes with some hefty prices attached to it.

“You will be called the Herald of the Netherworld, and it’s totally going to be true, even if you don’t want it to be. If you fight the Avatar, ruin and bloodshed will follow all your conflicts, and you’ll be bringing massive armies of the dead into the mortal world to battle against the Legions of the Light.

“If you do not face the Avatar, the unflinching Legions of Light will march across the world and slaughter all who do not submit to the Lords of Light.

“Regardless of who wins between you and the Avatar, it is merely the beginning of the End Times, although death and ruin will follow both of you. The Lords of Light will come, the Netherlords will manifest to oppose them, and they’ll ruin the entire planet in their battles, one side trying to kill all the Beasts and Humans left so that the other force cannot have them for themselves.

“The world as we know it will die, most of Humanity and virtually all the Beasts slaughtered before whoever loses is finally driven off, the world left to exist in eternal slavery and eventual subsummation into the Realm of the victors.

“TRUTH.”

This time they all screamed and cursed, but there was no stopping the pounding absoluteness of what I had beheld when looking into the future, so many endless conflicts that all ended in exactly one of three ways: one of the two winning, or the whole world destroyed.

If I had to know that and see it coming, they could certainly tolerate the facts being shoved down their throats in a way they could not ignore.

It took them longer to recover this time, as they tried to fight it, and naturally that got nowhere. Clinging to falsehoods and defying the Truth were really bad options in the face of a Word of Creation.

Mok Fan tried to be belligerent, but just sort of sounded tired when he wheezed carefully, “No other options?”

“Not before this moment, no. If I let you all vanish for eleven months and come out of that tunnel, the groundwork will have been laid, and the planet is doomed. What you decide would determine the nature and flavor of the Doom, but doom it all the same.”

They considered one another and how drained they look, worse than they had in fights to the death... all of which seemed very small and pointless now.

“So... you can help change this,” Mok Fan rasped unwillingly.

“Maaaybe.” I spread my hands. “There is no course of Fate I could look at that holds the decisions you make here today. I can only do my best, and see if the disruption to the plans on both sides is enough to delay things long enough to stop them.”

“Stop them?” Ruronalee asked first, leaning forwards. “How do you intend to stop at least eight Realm Lords?” she demanded harshly, something cracking in her voice. “Survival, survival would be the only option!”

I glanced over at her, unruffled. “Realm Lords are far, far from the most powerful beings out there. The Realm Lords of the Lands of Light and the Netherworld are mere minor players in the conflicts of Axiom and Sin, respectively.

“They have not ‘always been here’, either. They came across the streams of Time when the three High Emperors of Terra started trying to mess with Time, and basically flashed a ‘Come Eat Here’ sign out to both factions when they did so. There are many Beast Emperors who can remember the first times the interlopers manifested, the introduction of Dark Magic to the world, and the sudden rise in Light Magic that rose to counter it.

“There are two other forces out there, Chaos and Good, which haven’t had Entities arrive here to represent them. With only Sin and Axiom here, our homeworld is basically Doomed. The only way to save it is to bring in a third party, which will most likely also attract the fourth.

“That’s the play at this point. Build up enough Faith and power to attract a power of Good here, halt these idiot Realm Lords in their tracks, and save our world.”

It sure sounded cornball, except it was coming from me, and I was dead serious, and every word was ringing with Truth that wasn’t subjective.

“How?” the harrowed Gabriel whispered, her face still drained and eyes nearly lifeless as the fact she’d been set up as a human sacrifice to the ‘gods’ she thought she’d been serving so diligently crushed down on her.

“Hope. Valor.”

Their chests almost seemed to inflate. Sparks of youthful resistance, of willingness to fight and to overcome, flared into furnaces of motivation, the courage of uncounted souls who’d dared to dream and to fight for their dreams exploding through them and letting them know they were not alone!

It didn’t make the Truth hurt any less, but suddenly the burden was on countless other shoulders, and they were not bereft in this fight!

Ruronalee was the most resistant to such a thing, given the scheming she’d surrounded herself all her life to survive in the socially deadly world of the women of the Acropolis. Directly standing up, making an example of herself, and fighting was simply not her preferred way of doing things, nor was working with others in a place where so much political treachery abounded.

Hope was something she didn’t believe in, trusting to her schemes, where standing up and fighting valiantly was something that got you killed. More oily black leaked down her cheeks as she tried to fight the swell of emotions, and cling to what had worked so well for her in the past.

“If you cannot believe in others, only in yourself, you are already lost to the Netherworld, and it is best to just kill yourself now and take your place with them,” I stated calmly, and the Intents of the Emperors hanging from Noble seemed to turn from wisps of attention to sudden razor blades. “You just came from a battle of life or death where the teamwork between your controller and your teammates was crucial, each doing their part so you could succeed. Where a Realm Lord of Shadow killed off over ninety thousand people, murdering them because they were irrelevant and of no use to him.” I leaned forward towards her slightly. “Ninety thousand people murdered just to get their hooks further into you. Do you believe the Waters you stole come without a price to your soul?

“Your fate right now is to murder Sakura and destroy the Soul of Hera, the heart of the entire Acropolis, so that you can take your place at Mok Fan’s side as his right hand and consort... or replace him should he fall, or be slain with him if he dies, for you will be unable to run from your fate.

“You will either fight it, or you will fall to it. There is no evading the debts upon you, Dark Daughter of the Acropolis.”

She swallowed as she stared at me, knowing death was looking her in the face. “What... what would you have us do?” she barely whispered.

“You three are among the most powerful young mages of this generation, particularly Mok Fan. Whether you like it or not, much of the destiny of the world is now swirling around you.

“I thought there was a twenty to thirty percent chance to delay the End Times of the opposed Lords coming down and slaughtering the world long enough for Good and Chaos to manifest, and I was wrong. With this move, there is currently zero chance of that happening. The Netherworld has its hooks into both of you, and the Lords of Light have made you even more dependent upon your Wings, Archangel.

“The only ones who can make the time now are the three of you. Their plans are wrapped up in the three of you, so you have to throw those plans into utter disarray.”

“This sounds like it’s not going to be easy...” Mok Fan muttered, but there was no fear in his eyes. “What do we need to do?”

“You and Ruronalee need to go Typeless with your Dark Elements, which will shatter their hold on your souls,” I stated calmly, and both of them froze in astonishment. “You, little Angel, need to do the same with your Light, severing your connection to your Wings and freeing your soul from the fate planned for you.”

All three of them swallowed, but were smart enough to consider what that meant, and why it was needed. None of them made a peep about doing so.

“Is it even possible for me to purify away my Demon Element?” Mok Fan asked softly. He had relied on it as his great edge, enabling him to take on Sages and mighty foes, and the thought of being without it plainly pained him.

Being a slave to someone else’s manipulations obviously pained him more!

“Oh, yes. However, I doubt you’re going to actually purify it, given the nature of your Multi-Elements Talent.” I couldn’t hide my amusement. “I’m afraid that when you get done, you’re going to be even poorer than ever, Mok Fan.”

He blinked at me. “Why is that?”

“Because your Demon Element is probably going to fracture into all the Elements of the Seven you don’t already possess... Light, Water, Ice, and Air.” His jaw dropped slowly. “It’s already tied into all the Elements you possess, and once you Purify away the demonic nature that makes it Dark Magic, you’re going to find it’s not a Demon Element, it’s a Magic Element.

“So, you’re going to be poorer than ever as you build up four new Elements, while giving up two.”

His face was interesting to see as he realized he would be coming out of this with a net gain... and a Typeless Element meant he’d be able to fuel all of his Elements with more Mana than any normal mage, regardless!

I turned my eyes back on Ruronalee, who lowered her gaze quickly.

“I will do it,” she whispered. “I’ve already lost my Contracted Knight, so the cost to do so is minimal. What... should I do with the Water of the Well of Infinite Black?”

“Show it to me.” She flicked her hand and pulled a globe of swirling black liquid out of her Void Pocket for me to regard.

“Ah,” I said without blinking. “This is a method of replicating the Blessing of the Stars, but for Dark Mana instead of White Mana, a fine method of boosting truly Dark Mages. It would not stack with the Blessing, and you are going to be removing your Shadow Element, so it has very little use for you.

“I will administer all the Blessings upon you all when you have completed your conversion to Typeless and freed your souls... although you will probably want to wait to attain Sagedom.”

She blinked despite herself at the note in my voice. “We will attain Sagedom together?” she asked in disbelief.

“Purifying your Stars is going to be a grinding, harrowing process that will test your Will like no other experience in your lives,” I informed all three of them. “Furthermore, this is a place frequented by Beast Emperors who are willing to help worthy souls rise to Sagedom.

“Purge a Galaxy of your Stars of their Dark Mana, and there is nothing that can stop you from rising to Sagedom.” I glanced back at Mok Fan, who was listening intently. “I imagine when you purify your first Star of the Demon Element, it’s going to fracture into four of them, all bound to your Earth, Lightning, and Fire Elements in an internal Seven Element Formation.

“You might well become a god of magic of sorts, but it won’t be at the hands of the Netherworld.” Mok Fan nodded, uncharacteristically somber, his eyes filling with the hardened Will of someone who’d had to labor long and hard to manage his many Elements.