"Svetlana." The Spirit's voice cracked through the battlefield, furious and betrayed in equal measure, "We have met before. Back in the Ancient Era, when our planets still communicated freely. Have you forgotten?"
"I haven't."
"Then why are you doing this?"
Svetlana walked slowly, her divine scepter held loosely at her side. It was a gift from the Endless Continent's Laws, an honor extended to no other Native God on that planet, placing her effectively beyond challenge by any of them, "The divine war is coming. When the Burning Legion invades again, what does Arboriel have to put up against it? Phoebe and a handful of local True Gods?"
She let that sit, "You can feel your own future. Tell me I'm wrong."
The Spirit was quiet for a few seconds. Then, "That has nothing to do with you helping them suppress me."
"The Great Aetherium is your best chance at survival."
"You're not sure of that. You said it yourself, the future has infinite possibilities. You can't guarantee that this empire would defeat the Demon Emperor."
"No." Svetlana admitted, "I can't."
"Then I'll make my own choice." The Spirit's voice steadied, "When Phoebe has taken the native creatures out, I'll destroy my own body, flee to a distant galaxy, find a habitable planet and start over. If the Demon Emperor still finds me after all that, then I'll accept my fate, but it'll be my fate, not one chosen for me."
She gathered herself and shattered the fate cage in a single burst.
"I won't compromise. Take your friends and leave."
Svetlana sighed softly. In her hand, the divine scepter began to glow.
"I know." She said, "I saw that branch too."
The three of them, Celestia, Yvonne, and Svetlana, closed in together. The Spirit fought back with everything she had, and it was considerable. With the Eye expelled, her power was climbing by the minute, already brushing the ceiling of peak Supreme God Tier. She was right that time favored her. A few more days and even four Supreme Gods working together couldn't have held her. Unfortunately though, she didn't have a few more days.
"The Great Aetherium is your fate." Svetlana said, pressing forward through a wave of divine pressure that would have flattened weaker gods, "Your power won't just be preserved there, it will grow beyond what you reached at your peak."
"Don't lie to me—"
"You're the Spirit of a major planet's laws. You can tell whether I'm lying or not."
That landed. The Spirit screamed back anyway, fighting harder, but something in her rhythm had changed.
…
Nearby, sealed in her time-space cage, Phoebe kept throwing herself against the walls. Useless, she knew that Celestia had built it, and her Divine Power was not the kind that developed structural weaknesses under pressure. But the Spirit was out there fighting alone and Phoebe was the only Supreme God Tier powerhouse on Arboriel's side, so she kept trying.
The Eye of the Abyss watched all of it from its sealed prison, its single blood-red pupil tracking the distant battle with an expression that might have been called stunned if it had a face.
'The Spirit of a planet's laws…' It thought, '…is resisting because she wants to fight for her own future.'
It looked at the cage holding it. Tested the walls. Felt the combined power of four Supreme Gods woven into every inch and gave up almost immediately. Its core origin was gone. Haru had eaten it. There was no scenario in which it broke free. At least the Spirit had a chance.
Then the Eye noticed something. There was nobody where Haru had been standing just now. It scanned the fourth layer and found him near Phoebe's cage, reinforcing its walls with a single gesture that made them visibly denser.
The integration of the Abyss Law was complete. In under half an hour, Haru had refined and absorbed an abyss origin law that would have taken a Demon Lord days.
'What is this creature?' The Eye thought, with genuine bewilderment rather than anger, 'All I can say is he's a monster…'
…
"Stop." Haru looked at Phoebe through the cage, "You helped us seal the Eye. I'll remember that. Once the Spirit is suppressed, I'll let you out, and if you want a safe place in the Endless Continent, the Great Aetherium would welcome you."
"Why are you doing this?" Phoebe's voice was controlled, but her knuckles were white, "We were allies an hour ago."
"I need a planet's law for my Divine Kingdom." He said it without embarrassment, "I want to build something comparable to Obrys (the Titan Pantheon's Base) and Drakara (the Dragon Pantheon's Base), even surpass them if possible. Building a spirit of laws from nothing takes an eternity. Arboriel's Laws are already complete, and the Spirit has a better foundation than anything I could grow myself quickly. That was part of the reason I came here. The Eye was the second part."
Phoebe stared at him, "This has been your plan since the beginning!"
"One of them. It worked out better than expected." He almost smiled, "Rest. I'll come back for you."
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