Chapter 2034: This cannot continue. “Lady Sharnoth.” In a huge meeting hall, where Sharnoth and her subordinates were holding a meeting, discussing everything that had happened this past week, a being named Varys barged in. Varys was an Elar’zhun. One of the most beautiful races in the Universe. Elar’zhuns have pale, marble-like skin that glowed faintly. Most of them have silver, violet, or golden eyes that are hypnotically beautiful. Varys himself had beautiful silver eyes. Their hair resembled flowing starlight or crystal thread. They were almost 2 meters tall, their movements were graceful, and their bodies were unnervingly perfect. Even their voices were extremely melodic and oddly persuasive. Yes, it was a race that was pretty much the embodiment of beauty and perfection. Beings that would make you submit, willingly. Beings that seemed… incarnations of holiness. And this is what made the Elar’zhun so dangerous. Their features made them appear holy, pure beings that could not be corrupted, but in truth, these beings were some of the vilest in the entire Universe. Their perfection was stolen. Their beauty, their appearance, their skills, even their memories—they were all stolen. These beings were called the Essence Takers. They had the power to absorb other entities—their traits, their talent, or even their knowledge—they could absorb it all. These beings chased perfection, and the pathway to perfection, according to their belief, could only be achieved once they absorbed every single being in the Universe. Yes, these supposedly beautiful beings aimed to kill every other being except themselves in order to achieve perfection. These beings were so vile that more than a few worlds had joined forces, combined their might, killed their leaders, and destroyed their worlds. Hundreds of thousands of years later, only a few of them remained, all now serving under Sharnoth, who had recruited them. And of course, Varys was no exception either. His appearance was nigh perfect, and his mind was cruel. *Picture* The moment Varys barged in, everyone in the meeting room, including Sharnoth, turned towards him. In a normal situation, Varys’s actions would have resulted in frowns and disgruntled, dissatisfied voices. This was not the etiquette for entering the Meeting Hall. No one was to just… barge into the Meeting Hall without any permission. It was disrespectful and arrogant—an act that might even result in execution. However, Varys wasn’t just any random subordinate. The position he held and the matter he was supposed to handle were grave. As he barged in, not a single being inside thought about etiquette. Rather, they all prepared themselves for more bad news. And Varys didn’t surprise them. “Ten more fell.” He spoke in a grave tone. The entire meeting room fell silent. The council members had grave looks on their faces, even Sharnoth herself was no exception. Varys stared at everyone and started giving the details, “Like yesterday, there were six Lowest Level Worlds and four Low Level Worlds. Their Leaders were assassinated three hours ago. The Worlds’ Wills altered the denizens of those worlds and only then did they find the bodies and…” Varys hesitated for a moment before continuing, “And the Leander Family Sigil near their dead bodies.” Sharnoth’s face turned even grimmer when she heard those words. Again. This was the eighth day. “Coward!” Another one of the Council Members, Siara, shouted as she slammed the table. Like Varys, she was an Elar’zhun as well. She had long crystal-like hair and golden eyes. Right now, however, her perfect face was contorted, and she had an ugly, frustrated expression on her face. *Picture* And she couldn’t be blamed for this either. There was a certain way in which things in the Universe played out, and this was especially true for War. Every time two Worlds, or two forces, fought, they went at each other. It is usually frowned upon to target the enemies’ weaker allies. The usual flow chart of War in the Universe was simple: When two Worlds are at War, and each of them are leaders of their respective Factions, they bring their entire Factions into the said War. The other, weaker Worlds that are part of the Factions wage Wars against each other. The War starts with the Lowest Level Worlds and rises from there. As the Battles intensify, Worlds from one Faction usually overpower the others. The losing worlds are destroyed or surrender and are kicked out of their Faction. The winning worlds wage War against another world or send their armies to their Faction. This continues until one Faction is significantly weaker than the other, and the losing Faction gives in. However, throughout this exchange, no Higher Level World or Higher Level Being is supposed to interfere in the battles between Lower Level Worlds. A High Level World cannot just send forces to destroy enemy Low Level Worlds. And yet… That coward was constantly targeting Lowest and Low Level Worlds of their Faction! In these past eight days, he had destroyed 80 such Worlds. Even though he is not going around completely wiping out those worlds, he kills all the leaders, leaving the worlds at their weakest point. The enemy worlds that those worlds were at War with take advantage of the situation and eradicate them. It is no different from destroying those worlds, even if he is not doing it on his own. It was cowardly. It was shameful. “Something needs to be done about him. This cannot continue.” Another being, Maeve, spoke up. Her appearance was similar to Siara’s, however, she was not an Elar’zhun—she was different. She was a Nocthari. Like Elar’zhun, Nocthari was another one of the strongest races, that were once dominant but were destroyed by others because they were becoming too strong—only for Sharnoth to later find and rule over what was left of them. Similar to the Elar’zhun, Nocthari were quite beautiful beings. They had pale, moonlight-like skin, their eyes shifted colors depending on nearby emotions. Their hair flowed like dark smoke and they were tall, lean, and graceful. When they were at their strongest, Nocthari were known as Emotionless Architects of Domination. They saw emotion as a weakness and logic as supremacy. They did not kill out of anger—they eliminated inefficiencies with cold, calculated precision. These beings did not feel empathy, fear, love, or guilt, and they believed that the universe must be perfected. They even went around conquering worlds to optimize life forms and erase anything illogical—even if it meant erasing entire species. Like her people, Maeve was almost a cold beauty who could not feel emotions. She wasn’t particularly frustrated or angered by Nux’s actions; however, she could see that he needed to be stopped. To have 80 worlds under their Faction destroyed within 8 days—it was shameful. And while Maeve didn’t feel any shame or grief about the lost lives, she could see how this would affect their reputation. Right now, the matter was still small, since only weaker worlds were affected. However, if this continued, other worlds in their Faction would start to notice, and this would cause problems. “And how are we supposed to stop him?” Siara glanced at Maeve and questioned. Maeve’s eyes turned red, reflecting Siara’s anger, and the Nocthari simply turned towards Sharnoth, ignoring Siara because she didn’t want a pointless quarrel, and continued, “Lady Sharnoth needs to do something. Anything. This cannot continue.” Maeve repeated herself and Sharnoth… The Queen clenched her fists in frustration. … *Maeve’s Picture* Hello everyone, I sincerely apologize for the unexpected break in uploads over the past few days. I originally anticipated a short drop in upload rate (1 chap a day) due to my exams—for two or three days at most. However, things quickly escalated beyond anything I could have imagined. My country began preparations for war, and living in a border state meant I was directly affected. Blackouts became frequent, and the sounds of bombardments were constant and terrifying. Writing was the last thing on my mind as I had to keep moving from place to place, trying to stay safe amidst the chaos. My parents were also away from me, living in an even dangerous area. Thankfully, a ceasefire has now been declared. The shooting has stopped, and although blackouts are still ongoing, there is at least silence—and safety. I’m with my parents, and knowing they are safe brings me some peace. I’m slowly getting back into the writing mindset. There will be only one chapter today, but if things continue to remain stable, I hope to return to the usual two chapters a day starting tomorrow. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. Your support means the world to me. <3 <3