High above the glorious City of Gods, four intruders floated in a bubble of nothingness.

The silence inside the bubble was heavy and suffocating. It was the silence of men who had walked into a lion's den armed with a toothpick.

"Kairos..." one of the Gods whispered, his voice trembling so violently it vibrated in the air. "What... what do we do now? This isn't an assassination mission anymore. It's a suicide."

Kairos stared down at the city. His knuckles were white as he gripped the Pearl of Calamity.

His arrogance, usually his most defining trait, had been shattered by the scale of the city and the number of Gods.

He realized that even if he somehow managed to slit Sunny's throat, an impossible task in itself, he still would never be able to leave this city alive.

The moment the Emperor fell, six billion Gods would look up, and Kairos would be erased from existence before his next heartbeat.

"We can only retreat for now" Kairos hissed through gritted teeth.

It tasted like ash to say it. His pride screamed in protest. He wanted to burn this city and kill Cosmos. He wanted to show all of these Gods that he was back, stronger than ever before. But Kairos was a survivor first and a conqueror second.

"I hate to admit it," he growled, turning his back on the dazzling city below. "But we cannot win this. Not today. We are four droplets trying to drown an ocean, it is impossible."

He looked at his subordinates, his eyes burning with a promise of future violence.

"We possess the Pearl. Getting in was a piece of cake; getting out will be the same. We will return to the shadows. We will build our strength. And when I am prepared to extinguish Cosmos in a single blow, and convince these sheeps that I am a better shepherd, only then will we return."

He channeled his faith into the Pearl. "Let's go."

But the Pearl did not respond.

The sphere of darkness, which had been obedient to his will, suddenly solidified.

The command to move from Kairos was ignored. Due to which the four Gods were stopped dead in the air, hovering dangerouly close to the city of Gods.

Kairos frowned. "Move," he commanded mentally.

But nothing happened.

He pushed more faith into the artifact. It felt like pushing water into a stone wall. The connection he thought he had with the Pearl, the bond of master and tool was severed instantly.

His face distorted in confusion, then horror. A cold feeling curled in his gut. It was the distinct sensation of betrayal.

"Kairos... oh, Kairos."

A voice come from the Pearl in Kairos's hand.

The artifact shimmered. The black surface swirled like ocean, and then turned into a projection.

A figure appeared in the darkness, a face that was handsome, pale, and crowned with two blood-red horns.

It was Lom, the Demon God.

He was looking out from the Pearl, his red eyes bored and cold, staring directly at Kairos.

"Do you really think," Lom whispered, his voice echoing inside the sphere, "that I gave you a treasure of this caliber just so you could run away at the first sign of difficulty?"

Around them, the protective sphere of darkness began to thin. The edges of the sphere flickered, becoming translucent.

Kairos froze after seeing the sphere disappearing, If the stealth drops now, they will be dead in seconds.

"What is this, Lom?" Kairos demanded, though his voice lacked its usual arrogance.

He understood his situation with terrifying clarity. He wasn't the 'Chosen One' of the demons. He wasn't a partner.

He was a pawn. And pawns were not allowed to retreat.

"What do we need to do?" Kairos asked, surrendering to the devil that was looking at them from the pearl.

"Quite clever," Lom said, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his face.

"You realized your position instantly. I apologize; I thought of you as an arrogant fool earlier."

Lom leaned closer to the surface of the of the projection.

"As for your task, it is simple. You need to destroy that city."

Lom's gaze shifted past Kairos, looking down at the City of Gods. For a brief moment, the Demon God's mask of indifference slipped, revealing a trace of genuine fear.

"I knew there was something big developing in there, the disappearance of so many Gods, and death of the demon Gods" Lom murmured.

"But seeing it now? It terrifies me. An organized army of this scale is a bad omen to our cause. I want you to destroy it."

"Destroy it?!" Kairos laughed, a sound that was filled with sarcasm. "Are you insane? Look at it! I might as well try to assassinate Cosmos with a spoon! Destroying the entire city is impossible. We are outnumbered a billion and half to one!"

Kairos was afraid of death, all this time he thought that he would be just assasinating Cosmos and take over Veridia.

But now with the 6 billion variables, it was not possible, he wasn't even sure that he can kill Cosmos in one strike.

He knew he will die one way or another, if he listened to Lom.

"If I attack now, I die instantly, and your mission fails," Kairos argued rapidly. "If you drop the darkness, we get caught, and you will lose us, your pawns. Let us retreat. We can plan-"

"You can choose how you want to die" Lom interrupted softly.

The Demon God chuckled, a sound devoid of any feelings. "Do you think I care if you survive, Kairos? Do you think I actually care if you manage to kill Cosmos?"

He shook his head, looking at Kairos with pity. "You are mistaken. You think you are negotiating with a partner. No, instead you are negotiating with the hand that holds your leash."

"You will lose this treasure!" Kairos shouted, pointing at the Pearl. "If we get caught, the Gods will seize it!"

"I can control it from across the multiverse," Lom countered, dismissing the threat.

"I controlled the entire journey. You thought you were steering, but you were just the passenger. If you are captured, I will simply detonate the Pearl, taking down a few Gods with it, it will be better than what you can do anyway. It is of no consequence to me. Artifacts like this are only useful for cowards who need to hide."

The statement hung in the air like a sharp blade. Showing Kairos and his subordinates their situation.

They were trapped, and whatever they do only death awaited them.

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