Meeting

In a deep forest far, far away, an exceptionally beautiful elven lady was practising archery. As the arrows from her wooden bow impacted the targets perfectly, a middle-aged elf standing beside her praised, "Great job, Elena. You've improved quite a lot."

A large, sweet smile broke out on the young lady's face. "Thank you, Teacher."

Just then, the middle-aged elf's face turned serious. "I have some matters to attend to. Keep training here until I get back."

He sent a message to two other elves through his will. "Brothers, I'm sure you've got summoned as well. Stay and guard the Elf Race from the Dark Elves for now. I'll go outside to settle the matters."

On the opposite side of the world, there was a vast wasteland of nothingness. A young mage, seemingly in his mid-twenties, was flashing across the wasteland. "Wind elements, hear my call and bestow upon me godly speed."

He travelled tens and thousands of kilometres every second, completely invisible to normal observers at that speed. Even Grand Knights would see nothing more than a flash.

"Mighty wind elements, hear my command and form a tornado of destruction," he mouthed. The spell was unleashed, with the mage looking noticeably tired after. Right below him, the furious wind gathered to form a tornado - evidently not a normal one. The wind created spatial cracks of kilometres across. The whole wasteland shook more and more violently, until it disappeared completely.

The mage opened his eyes to see his training room in front of him. "Hahahaha!!!" In childlike excitement, the mage jumped for joy. "I've finally become powerful enough to destroy the alternate dimension. I should have a friendly spar with Uncle Aloysius now."

He suddenly felt a tingling sensation in his head. "Oh no, I've been summoned. I wonder what happened…"

In the deepest recesses of the Grand Demon Empire, a shrivelled old man was meditating in a room. After a while, he stood up, having received the summon. "It's that brat Aloysius again. Wonder what he has to say."

He teleported away. The room was empty now, having no indication that anyone was ever there in the first place.

In an alternate dimension, there was a large round table, for about fifty people. It quickly became populated. The weakest of anyone there was a Saint-class combatant. In the middle of the round table, there was a special area carved out with significantly more regal seats - seven of such seats, to be specific. A wizened mage in crimson red robes was sitting in the middle.

The meeting started. The mage in the centre started to speak.

"Greetings, everyone. It's a pleasure to have you today. I have two pieces of news for everyone here."

"First, the Oracle has made a new prophecy."

Uproar rose among the crowd. "It's been so long…"

"What did she predict?"

"Order," commanded the mage. A silent pressure bore down on those at the border of the table, but those next to Aloysius were unaffected.

"The Oracle has predicted a new age of vitality for those on this planet. She has told us that monstrous talents will emerge in this era, who will rise far above their predecessors."

"That's true…" murmurs came from the crowd, as they recalled stories they had heard recently about freakishly talented youths.

"At the same time, with great fortune comes great danger. Betty, tell the others about it."

A figure at the edge of the table rose, a young female mage covered in blue. "Earlier today, I noticed spatial fluctuations in the Abyssal Barrier."

An even greater uproar emerged. The strongest people on the planet all had worried expressions on their faces.

Betty continued. "Our spatial locks are greatly weakening. From my estimations, we only have a few years before the first big wave of Abyssals hit us. This was definitely a planned attack. The Abyssals probably found some treasure to suddenly weaken the lock."

"Betty, how sure are you about this information?" A voice from the opposite side of the table resonated.

"My comprehension of the spatial law has reached the Demigod level a while ago. I am confident of my predictions."

A third uproar. The young wind mage sitting besides Aloysius smiled and said, "Well done, Betty. It looks like the planet will birth its eighth Demigod soon."

Betty smiled in return. She continued, "There are only two ways to delay the first wave significantly. The first is to mobilise Saint-level Magi who specialise in spatial magic to reinforce the seal. But as you know, there are only three such Magi in the world who fulfil this condition, and we are already working day and night to reinforce it - we can't possibly work any harder."

"The second way is for any Demigod-level combatant to use his sheer power to try to force the seal shut. It doesn't matter whether the Demigod is a mage or swordsman, as his power will still be a great help."

She bowed to the seven Demigods in the centre of the circle. "I implore the Lords to help us."

The wind mage had a very emotional expression on his face. "I'll go." Listening to her emotive, imploring words, tears streamed down his face.

Aloysius sighed. "It's been hundreds of years and you're still so immature, Tristan."

He replied to Betty, "You must understand that there are many internal threats we have to deal with as well. Dark elves, random Abyssal attacks, matters regarding our Empires…I'll pass, but rest assured I'll come to help when the Abyssals do breach the barrier."

Just then, the shrivelled old man from the Demon race stood up, and everyone was silent, looking at him respectfully. Pointing to the two other Demons, he commanded, "You two, go back and guard the race. I will personally reinforce the seal."

As he said these words, images appeared in his mind. The first one was an pale orphan abandoned on a street, then changing into a young boy, smiling as he sat in the old man's lap. Deep thoughts appeared in the old man's mind. I must give him time to grow strong. I must pass on my legacy…

Meanwhile, Betty looked incredibly thankful. "Many thanks to the Demon Grand Elder for your help. With two Demigods assisting, we should have slightly more than ten years before the seal breaks.

The Grand Elder spoke, "The top priority for us now is not to prevent the Abyssal invasion. That would be impossible. What we should do is to delay the invasion, to buy as much time as possible for our young heroes to be nurtured. We should increase guidance and student rewards at the Holy Academies, and open up the secret realms. Do not be worried about the first wave. I expect only a few Saint-tier Abyssals, and if they're lucky, one or two Demigods. With our current strength, it is more than enough to deal with them. Of course, the next few Abyssal waves will be another problem."

Everyone in the room nodded their heads, even the Demigods in front. After all, it was a gesture of respect to the absolute strongest man in the world, the Harbinger of Death, the Grand Elder of the Holy Demon race. Both in strength and wit, he was far superior to everyone here.

Feeling overshadowed, Aloysius delivered some concluding words. "Alright then, I hope everyone will be prepared for the first wave in ten years. Wishing everyone the best of luck."

The group split apart, all going their different ways.

"Hold on, Uncle Aloysius!" The wind mage caught up to Aloysius on his way home.

Ugh…he's too fast with his wind magic. There's no hope to escape this kid…

"Yes?" The fire mage, Aloysius replied.

"Could we have a spar? I improved some of my skills recently, and I want to try them out."

"Alright then…we can do it in your pocket dimension," said Aloysius.

"Well…I've destroyed mine," Tristan was quite embarrassed.

A look of shock appeared on the fire mage's face. Already…I expected the dimension to last for a couple millenia, he thought. A slight feeling of fear welled up.

"Let's use my dimension then. Fire dimension, come out."

------

A few hours later, both mages crawled out of the dimension, exhausted. Aloysius' worldview was completely flipped - Tristan had managed to tie with him.

"You…as much as you're annoying, I can't help but say I'm impressed."

"Hehehe…you praise me too much, Uncle Aloysius."

Aloysius thought in his mind: to improve with this speed even as a Demigod, how long will it be before he exceeds my level? How long will it be before he exceeds the Dragon Emperor's? What even is his limit? Oh whatever…improvement should be encouraged, as it makes the whole of humanity stronger. He's a good lad.