Harbingers of Change

The prime numbers, her husband's most powerful servants and the only ones permitted in the imperial quarters, moved out of her way as she stomped forward, her aura charring the walls and igniting the furniture.

These furnishings and decorations were works of art, some centuries-old and made by long-dead legendary artists, yet all of them were irreparably damaged by her mere presence. Then again, she was an embodiment of an ever-changing reality.

Velgrynd knew she was letting her emotions control her, but the theme of the day was control anyways. Her husband, or whatever was left of him, had influenced, if not outright controlled her, for a long time, and that needed to end. After finding out that Rudra's skill could completely control everyone with an angel series' ultimate skill, she couldn't deny that she was also under his influence. There was more; she suspected Rudra's soul, by all means, shouldn't be able to function to the level it did, and that meant that something else was parading around as her husband. And there was a prime suspect, the skill Michael itself.

The massive arched, two-sided door exploded into splinters as she walked through the floating debris. Charred pieces lodged into the wall and ceiling, leaving dents and holes.

Rudra turned his head but showed no fear or surprise. The emperor treated her dramatic entrance as if such occurrences were the norm.

"You seem to be upset about something," He flatly remarked, as he activated his shield that was considered unbreakable as long as he had enough people worshiping him. And at this moment seven hundred million people believed in Rudra as a living God, the peak of the Eastern Empire, and the one who would rightfully rule the world.

"Start talking! I know what you have been doing!" Velgrynd demanded as she stomped towards him.

"Let's not overreact. I was doing what was necessary," Rudra replied, standing up and fully facing her as he dusted the door pieces off his shoulders and took a small shard out of his blonde locks.

"Necessary!?" Velgrynd screamed, slamming her fist against the invisible shield, her entire frame engulfed in a faint reddish halo.

"Yes, necessary. I needed to keep you in check. You know how easily you let your temper take over. This conversation proves my point. So calm down. Your tantrum will not do you any favors." Rudra gave her a faint smile as the barrier rippled with each punch.

"You are not my husband! What are you? Michael?" Velgrynd slammed her fist into the shield again, aura flaring.

"Calm down! All you'll do now will harm the world and its mortals by having a fit!" Rudra's tone grew harsher.

"You think you are safe!" Velgrynd snarled as she pressed her palm against the shield and began using her primal power to burn it away, while simultaneously blocking all teleportation in the area. "I will tear that damn skill out of you and crush it into oblivion!"

The shield flickered, gaining a reddish tint as its power began to wane. Rudra's forehead glistened with sweat, whether it from fear or sheer heat, Velgrynd couldn't tell. Not that she cared. She would burn the imperial palace down if she didn't get her answers.

"Let's be reasonable." His tone changed, betraying his nervousness.

"You had a chance to be reasonable. It is clear it is Michael who controls you. I will rebuild you, my love! I will get back my husband!" Velgrynd loudly voiced her plans as the shield grew darker and what appeared to be holes appeared in it. Small, but rapidly growing larger by the second.

"I will leave you and your husband alone. I know where a large part of his soul is. Velgrynd, do not push me into the corner, you will regret it." Every semblance of what was her husband faded as the entity before her spoke back frigidly.

The threat worked. If Michael destroyed Rudra's soul, even she couldn't do anything to restore her husband. Velgrynd stepped back and crossed her arms, glaring. "Speak."

"There is a reborn version of Rudra in this world my agents have protected for the last two years. He does not know who he was but about a third of Rudra's soul is this new personality. I will give you the rest from this form, but in return, you will let me keep this body and the Empire. I have a duty to Lord Veldanava to uphold," Michael offered.

"If that is true, I will let you keep this body and rule the empire, but know this, the game was canceled. All True Dragons, including me, are now working on repairing the world and any strong entity causing trouble will be eradicated by us. Velzard threatened to kill you herself if you caused more strife." Velgrynd nodded, stepping away.

"Very well. Rudra has been reborn as the newly proclaimed human hero Masayuki, currently located in Engrassia. I notified my agents that you will take over and they will leave him in your care. You can take what remains of Rudra in me right away. Is there anything else I should know before proceeding?" Michael canceled the shield.

Velgrynd approached him and pushed her hand into his chest, seizing the weakened soul of her husband and separating it from the now sapient skill. "Veldanava has intentionally abandoned the world for his selfish desires. Whatever orders he gave you are now irrelevant, and with Velzard in the lead, we will repair the world on our own. I suggest you find common ground with my siblings, Momonga and Velzard are not ones to hesitate sending their armies at you if you decide otherwise."

Michael paused as he stood still like a statue while Velgrynd gathered what remained of Rudra's soul and absorbed them into her form. Once she finished her task and stepped away, he spoke again. "I will contact Velzard and Momonga with the intention of establishing the new status quo. After you have reforged Rudra, do you plan to return to the empire with him?"

"That's for him and me to decide. You can rule the Empire," Velgrynd replied. "...How long?"

Michael smiled, "I'm sure you can figure out when I had to take over."

"Indeed. At least I know why my husband stopped showing me any attention." Velgrynd remarked.

"Wouldn't be tactful of me if I took over that duty of his as well. I am the Lord of Justice after all. I did try to repair Rudra's soul a few centuries ago, but there was nothing I could do except take his place and carry on the plan. I will say that there appears to be no memories left in Rudra, as a final message for the peace we had maintained for so long." For once Micheal sounded somewhat remorseful, giving the impression that the sapient skill did care about its holder. Not that Velgrynd cared. Her beloved husband was nearby.

"And for that, you still exist. Good luck." Velgrynd said her goodbyes before teleporting away.

How could his creator simply leave and not care about his creations? Where did he go? and was there any way to contact Veldanava? Those questions haunted Michael, flooding his mind.

In truth, he was completely at a loss on how to even carry on, his very foundations shattered. Velgrynd, his most powerful weapon, was gone, and the game itself was canceled. Centuries worth of effort for nothing, disabled in a single meeting. At the moment the Eastern Empire had nearly a million active military units dedicated to foreign deployment, and nothing to unleash them upon in hopes of create ascended humans to increase his power.

Micheal sat in his freshly repaired office, tapping his fingers against the polished oak table. The room was made of the Empire's strongest materials, the moment Velgrynd and her destructive aura had left, it had begun repairing itself. With his complete control over the hundred strongest people of the Empire, he had no reason to worry about any internal strife. The army could just guard borders and any uprising could easily be crushed, but there was still the question of what to do.

He didn't react when the door to his office quickly opened. He knew who it was. The leader of the angels parading as his number ten moved towards him without making any sound. Feldaway, alongside the other angels of origin, had been put in stasis since Lord Veldanava departed, and had awakened around the same time Tempest appeared on the map, garnering power through spiritual means.

With how much energy it required to pull the angels through the material realm without opening the gate of the heavens, Michael had only brought his master's most loyal servant into the physical realm, the rest were busy preparing just beyond.

"So you let her go? After everything she revealed?" Feldaway questioned.

"Velgrynd is a True Dragon. She is far stronger than I could have ever suspected, my friend. My shield wasn't enough to hold her back." Michael replied as Feldway took one of the guest seats at his office table.

The angel had taken the rather unassuming appearance of a young man in his early twenties who could blend in a crowd with ease, an intentional choice as the "extra." As the lead angel, his power was close to Guy's, capable of destroying the world if nobody stopped him.

Then again, the primordial demons had spawned in response to the seven angels of origin getting created to balance the newly created universe, which by all metrics was still in infancy. Outside the individually crafted worlds, the rest of it was still barely formed and natural life forms outside the so-called core planets were sparse, with most of the power held here.

"Sometimes arrogance blinds us. Do you think she told the truth? About our Lord abandoning us and the world." There was a slither of anger in the angel's voice.

"She had no reason to lie about it, and I didn't sense any duplicity. Besides, if all of the Lord's siblings are uniting to fix the world, they would have had a reason to do so, and the loss of the creator would presumably be one such reason." Michael spoke without any passion in his voice. Though he had achieved sapience, emotions weren't something he understood or could properly express, nevertheless, he knew that Feldway was by no means happy.

"If the Lord has abandoned us and the world, then neither we nor anything else has a reason to exist. It doesn't matter what the other True Dragons want. Maybe it's time to wipe the world away." Feldway suggested.

"We cannot compete with the dragons. Our only option would be to destroy the world tree, the stabilizer of the world's magic power, and even then the dragons would stop us if we tried. Velgrynd made it very clear that Velzard would eradicate me if I tried something like that," Michael retorted.

"Then all we can do is to sit back for now. Or perhaps I could try to find a way to contact our Lord," Feldway suggested.

"Agreed. If possible, we should find a way to reach Lord Veldanava and get instructions, but for now, we need to go along with the plans of the other dragons. Though the option to cause the collapse of the world could be explored." Michael tapped his fingers against the table.

"I'll notify you if I find anything," Feldway nodded and faded from the room, returning to heaven.

Micheal stood up and slowly paced around his office. For now, it was paramount to keep a low profile, and the best way to do that was to pick a dragon to ally with. Velgrynd likely was a lost cause and wouldn't look favorably at him after being manipulated for centuries. That left Velzard and Momonga.

Momonga was a newcomer and the most enigmatic of all the True Dragons, building a massive empire almost overnight and destroying the old world order. From what Michael knew, Momonga represented death, so his appearance bringing massive changes wasn't that surprising. He was reluctant to even go near Momonga as, to his guess, it was the Death Dragon who had killed Uriel for unknown reasons. It could very well do the same to him.

On the other hand, Velzard was the oldest and very likely the most powerful dragon as even Velgrynd was wary of her older sister, which meant she was the safest bet against the latter and would likely keep a check on Death. Additionally, that would distract Guy, who was somewhat of a rogue element. The first demon lord was, to a degree, loyal to Veldanava and dutifully carried out the role entrusted to him, but he too could be outraged at the death of his longtime friend.

Of course, he could put up a friendly front with all the dragons to avoid his and Feldaway's true goals from being revealed. Now he only needed to wait for an opportune moment and approach Velzard on favorable terms.

Editing by aidan_lo.

Proofreading by Omnax, Sluethen, clagan, mfkz_rocker, Stac, fvvck, Malguis, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Alassandro, CakeEight and aidan_lo.

Link my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2)