Amelie stepped forward before Haru could respond, wrapping Pandora in an embrace that ended a hundred thousand years of separation in a single motion.
Pandora held on.
She said, "Being able to see you alive is the most beautiful thing I've encountered in ten thousand years."
"It's passed." Amelie said, with a smile that meant it, "Under the Lord's redemption, I've been reborn."
Pandora pulled back slightly, looking at her. Then the word registered.
'Lord.'
She looked toward the throne. The warmth in her expression cooled by a degree, and a question formed behind her eyes, whether Haru had acted on Amelie during the resurrection, forced her faith rather than earned it.
Haru released a fraction of his Divine Aura. Not an attack. Just enough for her to feel what she was considering.
Pandora went very still. She had faced powerful Demon Monarchs in the Ancient Era's Divine War. The pressure she was feeling now surpassed anything from that era.
Haru was not simply a Peak Supreme God who had just crossed the threshold, his Divine Power had moved beyond that level entirely. Against him, her late-stage Supreme God Tier strength was effectively a joke. She felt it in her bones.
"There's been a misunderstanding, my Lord!" Amelie said, stepping slightly in front of her, "Pandora, becoming a believer under the Lord's command was my choice. My honor. Elunara knew this would happen before she sent my soul. She knew I would join the Great Aetherium after my resurrection and agreed to it."
Pandora was quiet for a moment. Then she exhaled.
"Then I have nothing more to say." She looked at Amelie again, and the warmth came back, "You're here. That's what matters."
…
The reunion settled, Pandora turned to the matter she'd come for. She bowed before Haru, the respect of someone who had just felt the gap in power and was acknowledging it plainly, and apologized briefly for her earlier presumption.
"Think nothing of it." Haru said, "What brings the famed Goddess of Light to my empire in person?"
"I come as a lobbyist for Asher, ruler of the Light Empire."
"Is it a surrender, or a request to stop the war?"
"The latter. He has gathered all the empire's True Gods in his Imperial Capital, he's not prepared to surrender."
Haru smiled slightly, "Then he wants me to stop on his terms?"
"I exchanged a treasure that had fallen into his hands in order to make him this promise, that I would come and speak with you. I'm asking whether there is any room for this war to ease."
While Haru was speaking, Pandora quietly extended her Divine Senses across the Imperial Capital. Five Supreme God Tier auras were present here in the capital. Three more at the distant battlefield. Eight total, but during the Divine War against the Evil Pantheon just days ago, the Great Aetherium had six.
Two more Supreme Gods had appeared in the span of days. She could identify Amelie as one of them. The other one she couldn't place.
She kept her expression neutral and filed it away.
"Whose side are you on, Goddess?" Haru asked.
Pandora thought it through honestly. Opposing the Great Aetherium meant fracturing her bond with Elunara, and she would never sacrifice that sisterhood for Asher's sake. Beyond that, Svetlana's relationship with Haru made him effectively family.
The four sisters becoming three, or even two, over an empire that had no particular claim on her loyalty. Asher simply didn't have that kind of charm. The answer was obvious before she'd even finished the thought.
"Yours, of course." She said without hesitation, "Whether because of the Nature Pantheon's alliance or because of my sister Amelie standing in your hall, I cannot be your enemy. If it weren't for my treasure having ended up with Asher, I would never have made him any promise at all."
"Then Asher will be disappointed." Haru said.
He explained the position clearly. The war hadn't been started by the Great Aetherium alone. Eight trillion castle faction troops from billions of Castle Lords and Rangers were involved, all of them having answered his call.
Stopping halfway now would mean breaking faith with every one of them. It would undermine his authority over the entire castle faction for the future. The war ended when the Light Empire fell or when the Abyssal Army arrived. Those were the only two conclusions.
Pandora had nothing to counter that with, because she knew it was true.
"I made Asher a promise." She said, "I told him I would help guard his Imperial Capital if the conversation failed, with the condition that I would not endanger myself. I intend to fulfill the letter of that promise. Even knowing it changes nothing for the Light Empire, even if all my subordinate Gods joined the fight, we would end the same way the Evil Pantheon did. I'm under no illusions. But a God who breaks promises pays for it eventually."
"Then what do you propose?"
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What will Pandora suggest? Stay tuned to find out!
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