Strongest Necromancer Of Heaven's Gate

"It is an honor to meet you, Your Excellency," the Rhino King bowed his head.

The Beast King responded to the Rhino King with a brief nod. 

Both of them were Kings, but the Beast King was the King of all Beasts. Because of this, any Beastkin, regardless of their Rank, had to give him the respect he deserved.

"Did you succeed in your mission?" the Beast King asked.

"Yes, Your Excellency," the Rhino King replied. "We have captured the two daughters of the Dwarf King of the Xeno Kingdom. They are currently residing in the guest room under the strict supervision of my subordinates."

"Take me there."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The Beast King had just arrived at the Zane Kingdom, but he didn't plan on staying there for long. He intended to take the hostages with him to the Beast Empire and wait for the Half-Elf to make his appearance.

A few minutes later, the Rhino King personally opened the door of the guest room, allowing the Beast King to enter first.

When he entered the room, the Beast King's gaze landed on the two young Dwarves who were seated on the couch.

The younger one was hugging her sister, and there were tear stains on her face.

The older one held her sister firmly and was patting her head. Clearly, she was doing her best to assure her sister that everything was going to be alright.

This scene made the Beast King click his tongue in irritation. 

He wasn't too happy with what he was seeing. 

As the mighty Beast King who ruled all the Beastkins in Elysium, he found this a bitter pill to swallow.

For him, taking hostages, especially hostages who were as young as his daughters, was beneath him.

However, what was done was done. Although the Rhino King moved without his permission, he still decided to agree to the Oracle's plan of using hostages to lure the Half-Elf into saving them.

'To think that I would stoop this low,' the Beast King grumbled in his heart. 'After this is over, it will be in my best interest to distance myself a bit from the Divine Army of Light.'

Aina, who had already sensed the Beast King's presence, glanced in his direction. The two stared at each other for nearly a minute.

Surprisingly, it was the Beast King that first averted his gaze. The reason why he averted his gaze was due to the fact that he was afraid that the young Dwarf would see the shame and guilt in his eyes.

"What's your name?" the Beast King asked.

"Aina Goldenslayer," Aina replied.

"Aina, you and your sister will come with me to the Beast Empire," the Beast King stated. "Worry not, you and your sister will not be hurt. Take them with us."

The Beast King ordered his subordinates. However, just before his men could approach the two dwarves, a Rhino-Kin stepped forward.

"I made an Oath to their parents that I would safely send them back after everything is over," the Rhino-Kin stated. "Your Excellency, I wish to keep my promise, so please, allow me to travel with these two to the Beast Empire."

The Beast King eyed the Rhino-Kin before nodding his head.

"Very well," the Beast King nodded. "You will be in charge of their safety."

"Thank you, Your Excellency," the Rhino-Kin Saint bowed his head respectfully.

A few minutes later, the Beast King entered the Teleportation Gate of the Royal Family, along with his entourage.

Since the battlefield would take place within his Capital City, he needed to make preparations just in case things got out of hand. 

Aina and Colette followed without resistance, for they knew that the two of them were incapable of escaping their captors.

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Somewhere in Elysium…

"It will be best if you return those children to their parents," the Sovereign of the Divine Army said as he looked at the beautiful Oracle in front of him. "Now is not the time to antagonize the Heretics."

"We and the Heretics have an irreconcilable grudge against each other," Maeve countered. "This is the best opportunity to put an end to this conflict, is it not?"

"Child, you are still blinded by your hate against Hereswith," the Founder of the Divine Army joined the conversation. "We cannot afford to have a large-scale war at this moment, especially when the Gate of the Abyss is starting to show some activity. You need to look at the bigger picture."

The corners of Maeve's lips curled up into a smile. "What's this? Since when did the Supremes of the Divine Army become cowards? Did the two of you lose your edge after our Main Headquarters was destroyed? Are you too afraid to raise your head in fear that it will get blown off from your body?"

The Sovereign of the Divine Army sighed. "Look. Do you know why Memento Mori and the Divine Army never engaged in a full-blown conflict with each other? Sure, we have skirmishes every now and then and even lose the lives of our people in battle, but it never reached the point where both sides want to exterminate each other from the face of the world.

"We only dealt with Hereswith because she was taking a path that shouldn't be taken. As a Necromancer, she should have stuck to the path of Necromancers. But she wanted more and decided to seek the power of the Divine. This is the reason why we agreed to kill her."

The Founder nodded. "A Necromancer wielding the power of the Divine will be immune to Light, Life, and Divine attacks. This means that we will not be able to kill them without our Core Abilities. Because of that, we needed to kill Hereswith before she succeeded in her ascension."

The Sovereign then glanced at the countless human-sized tubes to his right side and placed his hands behind his back.

"When that Half-Elf succeeded in becoming a Necromancer of Heaven, we decided to kill him while he was still weak," the Sovereign stated. "Also, since Gaap is already our enemy, it was just normal to take his Disciple out along with him. 

"Both of them could be killed because, even with Antero's help, Gaap would not have been able to live for a long time. We know that the Golem of Destruction used his Soul as its source of energy. Simply put, the chances of killing them were high, so we decided to get it over with. But now, things have changed."

The Founder of the Divine Army closed his eyes. "Now, Hereswith has returned and has become Heaven's Necromancer just like that brat. On top of that, she is now a peak Demigod and has the ability to summon another Demigod-Ranked subordinate, but that is not why we decided to not antagonize her anymore.

"The Kingdoms in Elysium are split into three factions. Those on our side, those on Hereswith's side, and those who want to retain their neutrality. If we attack Hereswith, the Elven Kingdoms will support her. The High King of the Elves will not allow his daughter to die a second time. 

"If something happens to Hereswith, a full-scale war will take place, and it will cause countless and unnecessary deaths in this world. Countless Saints will die. Supremes will meet their end. The Powerhouses of Elysium will decrease drastically by the time the war is over.

"After that, the Abyss only needs to successfully open one gate, and this world will be finished. Maeve, it is not because we are cowards. We are simply looking at the bigger picture. This world can not lose any more of its powerhouses, especially when the fabric between the Abyss and our world is getting thinner.

"This is why we started the Apostle Project. With this, even Apostles will gain the power of Supremes. No matter how many Demigods the Abyss has, no matter how much they outnumber us, as long as we can create countless Pseudo-Supremes, we will be able to push them back to the Abyss.

"While we are doing this, the Necromancers of Memento Mori are gathering the Stars of Calamity. They are not trying to awaken these fearsome creatures to fight against us. They are trying to find them all in preparation for the real battle that we have to face. So, child, do not antagonize the Heretics for now.

"The delicate balance of this world must be kept. It doesn't matter even if we lost our Divine City. These things can be rebuilt at any time. But once the Saints and Supremes start killing each other, this world would become inches closer to being conquered by the Abyss."

Maeve snorted after hearing the explanation of the Founder and the Sovereign of the Divine Army. In her eyes, the two were just sugarcoating their inability to stand up against their foes.

"Forget it." Maeve scoffed. "I was a fool to think that two old men still had what it took to keep the influence of the Divine Army alive. Since you don't want to move, I'll do it myself. I will be taking twenty Apostles with me."

Maeve didn't even wait to hear the reply of the two men inside the room. She simply stormed off because she felt disgusted talking to the two cowards, who had lost their pride and edge, after the battle that took place in the Divine Empire.

The two old men glanced at each other and sighed.

"The young sure are fearless," the Founder said softly. 

"Are we really letting her go like this?" the Sovereign asked. "What if she dies?"

"She won't," the Founder replied. "Before her mother passed away, she told me about a vision she saw where her daughter was fighting in the final battle against the Abyss. Since that is the case, it is impossible for her to die until the Abyss starts their invasion."

(E/N: Fufufu. Just because she is fighting, doesn't mean she's alive)

The Sovereign nodded. "Should we proceed according to plan?"

The Founder replied. "Yes. We need to create our True Divine Army before that Fallen Hero makes his move."

The two men then gazed at the hundreds of human-sized tubes in their surroundings and sighed. 

These Apostles were the hope of their world, and to be frank, both men truly hoped that they would be enough to tilt the tide of battle in their favor.