493 The Truth About the Voidwalkers

From his premium seat in Attie's — or more accurately, the War God's — hand, Baiyi summarized the case of the students' sudden disappearance. The deity listened quietly, knitting Attie's brows together closer and closer as Baiyi narrated.

"So, even the God of Space himself was troubled by the incidence, huh?" Baiyi wondered out loud as he watched the War God's reaction closely.

"Nah, I was just thinking about how best to explain these things to someone like you," The War God corrected.

'What's that supposed to mean? A roundabout way to say I'm stupid?' Baiyi grumbled in his head, but he kept the words in.

"Let's put it this way," The War God began, waving Attie's hand over. Several dinner plates suddenly manifested in the air, which Baiyi suspected were purloined from the pantry.

Hanging in midair, they arranged themselves in varying, random heights and positions. Between the distances, some of the plates hosted a few coins while some were empty. Baiyi's mask, too, had joined this impromptu magic show with two silver coins erected on top of his flat surface.

"Imagine theses plates as realms and these coins as living beings on these realms." The War God pointed at the two largest silver plates. "Here we have Isythre. And the other one over here is the Divine Realm."

Careful not to topple the two silver coins on his mask, Baiyi asked, "By that, you're referring to the abode of the gods, right?"

"Abode? Yes, more or less. Now, what happened is that someone is trying to bridge your world and the Divine Realm through a gargantuan ritual, which causes this…" The smaller plates and Baiyi's mask started to move under the War God's control, zipping through the air somewhat brutishly towards the spaces between the Isythre-plate and the Divine Realm-plate until they formed a single line connecting the two.

"What you have witnessed is an enormous shift between realms, and it had made a critical impact over living beings residing on these shifting smaller realms," The War God explained, gesturing towards the toppling gold coins. Some of them, like the silver coins on Baiyi's mask, even fell off from his mask during the movement, making a ringing racket echoing unsettlingly in the room.

"Of course, the actual number of realms involved in this shift was a lot more than this demonstration; as of now, the scope of its consequence has not been made certain. Perhaps some micro-realms managed to remain unscathed, perhaps some had suffered such catastrophic destruction that they had ceased to exist," The War God finished with that happy note.

"You're telling me… that my two students had been swung off from my micro-realm?" Baiyi raised his voice in concern. If that was indeed their fate, then the students were as good as dead.

"That depends on their luck. If they landed safely on some other realms or micro-realms, they may still be alive," The War God answered before his monotone voice became a little more accusatory. "Which begs the question: which madman among you is behind this ruckus? You're making me work even more than usual, stupid mortals. What exactly are you people up to, fervently trying to connect with the Divine Realm?"

Baiyi's gauntlet reached out to the suspending assembly of plates and took his mask before fixing it back to its original position. "Maybe someone's trying to summon an Angel?"

The War God sank into silence so conspicuous that it was as if he held his tongue at the last second before saying what was on his mind. It made Baiyi wondered if there had always been a few things that a god simply could not divulge. For now, the War God appeared to be on the Voidwalkers' side, but maybe the Angels were somehow associated with him as well.

Curious, Baiyi seized the chance. "You mention that it's a mega-sized ritual, right? Large enough to actually force the realms to align, anyway. Doesn't that mean it's even more dangerous than the one back in Mars?"

"That was trite compared to this. The point of establishing that one was to allow a fraction of a god's mind and power to manifest into this world," The War God replied. "However, the channel we are looking at is established to summon the Angels in flesh — yes, 'Angels', plural. The one on Mars simply cannot compare to the magnitude and nature of this current channel."

That set off a siren in the Fifth Walker's mind. 'Holy s***, just what kind of angels is the goddamn Church trying to summon this time?! The kind with a full face of beard, thick black hair all over their legs, and eight-packs washboard abs? The kind that can level an entire city of dragons by himself? A single bear with angelic wings is difficult enough, now I have to face a group? With enough numbers on their side and some water-styled mirage magic…. There will be nothing to stop them at all!'

Baiyi was mortified at the gargantuan threat coming his way; for once, he might have lethally underestimated an enemy. The last time the Godsfall cult managed to quasi-summon some god into a medium, the Voidwalkers had to fight tooth-and-nail just to prevail. This time, a legitimate, powerful organization was actively summoning divine beings with powers second only to gods, in flesh!

Could this finally be the fight that the Voidwalkers were hopefully outmatched against?

The apprehension became so overbearing that he felt compelled to summon the Book of Servitude this instance and halt the Church's summoning ritual with a tactical nuke. It would automatically turn him into a dishonorable jerk who walked back on his promise, but there was just no contest between bearing an abominable reputation and the very real possibility of being curb-stomped by a group of Bear-angels.

The War God read his mind and warned steeply, "No, that is not an option. Do not attempt to halt the ritual forcibly with such a tactic. You will cause a large-scale chaotic flux in the entire fabric of space in ways you cannot even comprehend, let alone fix."

"What, am I supposed to just kick back and watch them succeed in calling upon some big, burly, hairy angels to come downstairs and gang up on me?" Baiyi protested hotly.

"Sorry, but weren't you the ballsy mortal who's brave enough to bully an actual god's messenger on a daily basis? You never worry about my divine retribution, so why are you suddenly so concerned about a flock of Angels?" The War God retorted.

Baiyi found himself unable to rebut him. He gulped, trying to come up with an excuse before settling with a farce of naivete. "Well, I was just worried that those Angels might be your friends, you know? I wouldn't want this to ruin our good relationship —"

"Do not try to be flippant with an actual god," The War God's voice was extra stoic and commanding. "I do not live in the Divine Realm, nor do I have Angels to do my bidding."

"Then where are you?"

"I am everywhere."

Attie's body limped as if she had lost all of her strength; the god had finally left her body.

A few moments later, his Kitty Cat Maid fluttered her beautiful eyes open and blinked several times. Then, turning to Baiyi, she comforted, "Don't worry, Master. I'll protect you!"

"I appreciate the offer, but I think you should rest for now," Baiyi said. He scooped her up in his cradle and took her upstairs before laying her down on her bed and wrapped her up like a little burrito. He patted her head a few more times and then left in a hurry.

Soon, he organized a war council consisting of both Voidwalkers still in the Void and those who had Pseudo-descended.

"… And that's the gist of our current situation. The only option we have for now is to be as prepared for war as possible. The floor is now open for any helpful suggestions and advice. Has anyone here ever fought an Angel?" Baiyi asked loudly before turning his head to the Lich and the Devil.

"Oy, why are you looking at us?" The Lich, who was in the real world, and the Devil, who remained in the Void, sang out in a chorus.

"Because the two of you are evil reincarnates or something like that? Look, have any of you ever been pursued by an Angel before?'

"I'll have you know, good sir, that I've never left the Abyss all of my goddamned life. Every war I waged was against my own kin, every conquest was restricted to the Abyss, and I've never once extended my reach to you humans' realm. Honestly, how did I even get this horrible reputation?" The Devil objected indignantly.

For the second time in the day, Baiyi found himself at a loss of any rebuttal.

The Lich was much more placid in its response. "Don't you know how terribly complicated and troublesome it is to summon an Angel by now? Do you really think that I was ever deemed worthy of using the Church's most powerful card? Oh, but you're different. If anything, you're more of an evil reincarnate than I ever was to them… Heh heh heh! They hate you so much, they'll go to these lengths just to be rid of you!"

"Alright, alright. That's enough bad talk. Let's contribute something constructive and substantive to the council, shall we?" The Archmage interjected.

The crowd immediately quieted down at his words.

"What I want all of you to remember is that the Void will never be afraid of any damned soul! As our emissary, Hope, you must always remember this!" The Archmage proclaimed.

The crowd hummed appreciatively and waited for him to continue.

The Archmage fell silent as well.

It went on for a few seconds before Baiyi cracked, "So… Your very substantive contribution is a rallying call?!"

"Yea, duh! I mean, what else am I supposed to say? I have never seen an Angel! In fact, while I was alive and being a totally awesome ruler, this whole religion was not even a thing yet!"

'That's it?! You shouted a slogan and called it a day?!' Baiyi grouched in his head.

"Pfft, what's so scary about a group of winged babies? You have a Divine Dragon with you, my foolish friend. Divine Dragons have 1000HP while Angels only have 250HP! They can't overcome a beefy Divine Dragon," Somewhere from the Void, someone stepped in to break the silence with a concept that was obviously plagiarized from Earth's pop culture.

"Maybe you should try reasoning with the Church again?" The Thane suggested. "In fact, you should chide them as hard as you can, telling them to stop the ritual at once."

"Chide?! How am I suppose to chide them?!"

"Like this: 'Do you not know that history will judge you harshly if you carry on with your unethical act? You will be seen as worse than both Brutus and Cassius combined! The truth will out! I despise what you've been doing lately, what will your friends think?'" The Thane rattled off a series of weakly-jointed sentences before adding, "See? Can't you do that?"

Baiyi was close to going mad. "How are those supposed to help?!"

"Hey, do that for more than five times, and you'll earn the right to fight them for a just cause," The Thane replied matter-of-factly.

'Is this guy for real?!'

The word "fight" seemed to be the trigger to finally rouse the rest of the Walkers from their torpor. Unfortunately, this also meant that they were starting to bombard the meeting with even wackier ideas.

"We shall recruit the most elite of soldiers, fill our barracks with rations, equip our knights with the sharpest blade we can forge and the sturdiest armor we can smith, and gather schools of painters and bards to immortalize our gallant deeds as we rise and claim victory!" The Second Walker began.

"That's so last season, mate. Don't look at the past for solutions — look at the future! This is the era where it's the weapons that make the victor. We need every weapon with every possible function and utility to overwhelm our enemies! We need tanks, navy fleets, assault rifles, and talon knives!" The Blacksmith chimed in.

"That will only improve on raw damage output, but not the skills of the army. No, on top of your suggestion, we also need high-end fighters, such as mega-size, for-apocalyptic-fights-only prototype mobile suits!" The Engineer added to his friend's idea. "I think my latest masterpiece, the RX-78GP-03S, is out and ready for action!"

"Fools! All of you are mad fools! None of these will be all of any use… Because only magic shall prevail. Magic is assurance! Child, it is time for us to remind the world the glory of the Sorcerers Corp!" The Archmage dove into the furor with passion.

Baiyi was speechless. He had completely forgotten the most important thing about the Voidwalkers — at the end of the day, they were all really just a group of zany weirdos!Bear here is a borrowed gay slang. It means big, burly, and VERY hairy dudes. They are the opposite of twinks!Refers to either Decimus or Marcus Junius Brutus, who both plotted the assassination of Julius Caeser.Gaius Cassius Longinus, usually known as Cassius. A major instigator to the assassination of Julius Caeser.From Shakespeare.