The Invasion of Earth had begun. Above the swirling blue and white of the planet, the newly awakened human transcendants, glowing with their intricate marks, busied themselves fighting the encroaching Krill invasion fleet. Bolts of lightning, arcs of solar energy, and waves of pure psionic force clashed against Krill plasma cannons and swarms of attack craft. The void above Earth was a maelstrom of light and death, a cosmic dance of desperation.

But on the surface, amidst the pristine forests of what would one day be known as the Amazon, Terralia and Mainu fought. Their colossal forms, one a shimmering beacon of light, the other a pulsating mass of dark purple scales, tore through the ancient landscape. Each blow shook the very ground, sending shockwaves through the air, felling ancient trees, and carving new canyons into the earth.

Terralia, her voice resonating with sorrow and fury, lashed out with a glowing tail, striking Mainu across the face. The blow sent him reeling, a shower of obsidian scales erupting from the impact. "Mainu! This is not what you promised me! You swore to protect this civilization, you promised me that! We built a home here! A family!"

Mainu, recovering quickly, his dark eyes burning with a complex mix of pain and self-justification, replied in a calm manner. "When I saw our child born, I swore I would do anything to protect it. Before I met both of you, all compassion never took my side. Everyone thought I was evil, I was the calamity. I just wanted a normal life and that was something I seek, but I destroyed. That was when you gave birth to our child. I felt that my dreams, my wishes had come true, that fate never truely was against me or so I thought. Maybe I am a destroyer, everything near me, just ceases to be normal. I swore I would change myself, atone for my sins, to become a better father. With you and our child, I thought we could have a peaceful family, a haven and I swore I would defy my nature that all that I am isn't death and chaos. That was when I realized you never truly cared for our family. I thought you really cared. I do." His voice, though calm, held a desperate edge, a plea for understanding.

Terralia saw the chaos rising even more deeply within him, the internal struggle that threatened to consume him entirely. "And that I did!" she cried, her light flaring. "I never stopped finding a cure for our child, Mainu! Even the humans, these very beings you now seek to enslave, have found a way to fix it! They offer their service, their very lives to understand! But no, you…you let those Krills ignore my side. You sided with those cunning Krills, you let them deceive you, you let them twist your love into a weapon!"

Mainu scoffed, a dark, bitter sound. "No. You just chose sides and I chose mine. The Krills. They are actually the only ones who dared to approach me, who didn't procrastinate me because of how I look, because of the chaos I embody! They saw a solution, not a problem!" He paused, letting it sink in, his gaze sweeping over the ravaged land. "What would've happened to our child if what they saw was just chaos? Did any humans actually respect me? Did they not see me as a person instead of just... well chaos? Well, as a matter of fact, none. Except for the Krills, they understood me, they were ready to give their service with something in exchange and that is something I respect. You exactly know what they want. it's all about mutual exchange. You see, you fear the monster that bares its teeth. Instead you should fear the one who waits, who forgives, who loves. Because when they finally stop… nothing survives."

The chaos in his body, once contained, now fully stabilized and concentrated, hardening his resolve. His tone of voice changed, becoming cold, detached, almost alien. "It's in the contract, Terralia. I intend to use them, they intend to use me. It's that simple. And besides, what's four hundred thousand years? A blink in our existence."

He lashed out, his massive claw tearing a furrow in the earth. "Besides, I never liked the humans anyway. They see me funny because my scales were dark, because I was a dragon of chaos. They never really accepted who I am, not truly. Even the Martians never really treated me as their guardian, just some mountain, a silent, unfeeling monument."

Terralia suddenly attacked him again, her glowing form a blur of light and fury. She slammed into him, sending him skidding across the ground, carving a trench behind him. But Mainu just stood, caught her arm with surprising gentleness, and held her. The thing she feared became a reality: his immense power, once balanced by her, was now fully under his chaotic control. He was stronger. But he continued talking, his voice calm, almost nostalgic. "It really feels like, I was back on Draconia. The fear, the judgment… it felt like it never truly left. Like that pain that keeps on coming back at you. But for you, I held myself back. For our family, I became a dog, asking for help. The most strongest race, asking for help. It felt suffocating, but I endured because you know why? Our family, our child, comes first. But you.. " he pointed at her, and just walked. "You chose their side over our child, our family. I just can't believe you. If you truly cared, truly loved our family, you would absolutely do anything." Mainu shook his head in disappointment.

Terralia struggled against his grip, desperation etched on her face. "Look, Mainu! You don't understand. You have to look at the bigger picture. It's your chaos energy. You need to control them! If your chaos reaches that threshold, you will thin the veil between this reality the void. Any more than that will rip the fabric of reality. They will wake up." Her voice dropped to a terrified whisper, a primal fear that resonated through the very ground.

Mainu just said dismissively, letting go of Terralia's arm, turning his vast head towards the sky, towards the shimmering distortions that marked the nascent Void Gates. "You don't know that, no one does. No one really knows about them besides ancient texts. And besides, if they do, I never liked this kind of universe anyway. It's flawed. Imperfect. Let them wipe the slate clean. It's a quick, peaceful death. Away from them. It is much better than being used a tool."

Terralia roared, her voice filled with a desperate, primal fear that shook the very air. "You don't understand! If the void gates open, if those things from the lower dimensions invade, they will awaken! Everything that does not belong to their genetic lineage will be wipe clean! Everyone! That includes you, me, our child, other surviving draconians, the entire civilization! Opening the void gates does not help cure our child! Holding on to your anger and despair will only worsen our situation as it is."

Mainu then shouted, his voice echoing across the ravaged landscape, filled with a terrifying conviction. "So what?! I just want to cure my child! Just because she's not their descendant doesn't mean they get to ignore us! Are we just dogs to them, Terralia?! Huh?! Are we just meant to protect their weak descendants, watch them grow stronger following to their ancestors footsteps and what happens to us? We're gonna be slaves forever? Bound by their rules, their designs? I'm not gonna let you and our child live our entire lives slaving ourselves to these insects. What you believe is just a story, a theory, a myth! They don't exist!"

Terralia attacked him again, a desperate, powerful blow that sent him stumbling. "No, it's because you're not looking at my perspective! You're not taking me seriously!" She breathed hard, her glowing form flickering with exertion, the effort of fighting him taking its toll. "Please, Mainu, I beg of you, you need to let us help you. It's not too late. If you do this now, all my efforts to be of service to their descendants will be in vain. They will come and they will wake up. Once you realized, it'll be too late. "

Mainu simply looked at her, his expression unyielding, his love for his child a terrifying, all-consuming force. "It's a gamble and sacrifice I'm willing to make."

The battle between the guardian dragons began, shaking the entire region with their power. The very land groaned beneath their blows, mountains crumbled, and new rivers were forged in the wake of their fight.

The battle had gone on for three months straight without stopping. The Krills, relentless in their pursuit of human blood, captured innocent civilians, herding them onto their massive ships like cattle. But not without resistance.

On the scorched plains non-transcendents, ordinary but still powerful psionic humans fought with desperate courage against the Krill surface armies. Genetic insect hives, chitinous and terrifying, spewed forth swarms of razor-clawed drones. Bipedal dinosaurs, monstrous creatures genetically engineered for war, ridden by Krill knights in gleaming, segmented armor, charged across the devastated landscapes, their roars echoing with primal fury. Human soldiers, though outmatched in raw power, fought with a ferocity born of desperation, their lines holding, breaking, and reforming in a bloody, endless battle. Every inch of ground was contested, every life a sacrifice.

Above, in the smoke-choked skies, the transcendants kept the main Krill fleet busy. Zeus hurled bolts of pure lightning, shattering Krill cruisers. Ra unleashed solar flares that incinerated entire squadrons of fighters. Odin, with a single sweep of his hand, created localized gravitational anomalies that crushed Krill battleships into metallic dust. The sky was an art of divine power and alien technology, a testament to humanity's awakened might.

But not all transcendants went up and fought. Some stayed as a contingency plan, their power reserved for a dire, final act.

In the middle of the sprawling, turbulent sea, amidst the churning waves and distant flashes of orbital combat, lay Atlantis. Once a mythical city, it was now a sprawling, peaceful metropolis, its streets clean and ordered, powered by glowing crystals that pulsed with a soft, internal light.

Below the city, a huge pyramid, standing beneath the ocean, acted as the central base for the entire city. Its colossal structure went down towards the ocean floor, reaching an astonishing eleven kilometers deep. Inside this pyramid structure were contained vast underground cities, a labyrinth of chambers and tunnels where the Atlanteans and refugees from other villages and settlements near the Atlantis territory were taking refuge from the war, their numbers swelling with each passing day. It was humanity's last, best sanctuary.

At the lowest level, located in a vast, circular chamber at the very center of the pyramid's base, sat a council of powerful transcendents. Poseidon, his form shimmering with the power of the deep, sat beside Mazu, the serene goddess of the sea. Hephaestus, his hands scarred and calloused, tinkered with an unknown, glowing fragment of metal. Vishnu, his multi-limbed form radiating calm, sparred lightly with Archangel Michael, their movements a blur of controlled power.

A few other arch-angels and arch-demons, usually associated with the twin brothers Yahweh and Satan, who were mostly fighting amongst each other in an eternal cosmic struggle, were present. But the war was an exception, a cataclysm that surprisingly united the two factions, their ancient animosities momentarily set aside for a common, desperate cause. A hooded figure, cloaked in shadow, sat silently in a corner.

Poseidon muttered, his voice a low rumble like distant thunder, sitting beside Mazu, his eyes scanning the chamber. "Where's Loki? What taking him so long? I can't reach his consciousness through the network. Is he dead?"

Hephaestus, still muttering to himself as he stared intently at the glowing, unknown fragment, didn't look up. "He better not be. He still has to settle his debt. If not for Odin, I would've skinned him alive for that stunt. That damn snake."

Vishnu, his movements fluid as he parried Archangel Michael's light-infused blade, chuckled. "That's just a single piece of ingot, Hephy."

Hephaestus cut him off, his voice rising in a shout, dropping the fragment onto the table with a clang that echoed through the chamber. "Yahweh gave that to me! That fucking single ingot, is made from the first extradimensional ore I obtained! It took fifty thousand fucking years to turn that into an ingot. I kept working day and night in the heart of a dying star! I was gonna turn that into a hammer, a weapon of unimaginable power, but that damn snake, Loki, just stole it, and gave it to his father, Odin! He better not be dead, because stealing from me, is different! I'm gonna enslave that fucking bastard to Nidavellir for three hundred thousand years! I will have every right to Gungnir! If Odin falls on his face, and I hope he does so that I'll be taking that Gungnir from his corpse!" His eyes, usually focused on his craft, burned with a terrifying, ancient rage.

Everyone in the room was shocked into silence. Poseidon, wide-eyed, said, "Damn, Heph-san, you're still on that? That was a long time ago."

Hephaestus slammed his fist on the table. "If someone can give me a similar ore, forged for fifty thousand fucking years, then I will forget! But if you can't understand what I feel, then I will stop making and detonate this stupid fucking bomb right now!" He gestured to a dark, pulsating orb on a nearby pedestal, a device of pure, contained annihilation.

Poseidon then turned back, his face pale, and said, "Understandable. Have a good day."

Everyone went silent and continued their tasks, not speaking more against Hephaestus. Speaking against someone who made your armor and weapon wasn't a very good idea after all, especially when that person had just volunteered to make a dark-matter bomb. Not everyone agreed to the idea of exploding it right onto their face, but no one dared to argue with the enraged smith god.

To change the topic, Mazu, her voice gentle, asked Poseidon, "Who's that kid beside Hephaestus anyway? "

Poseidon didn't look and just lazily stared at the ceiling, a slight frown on his face. "Ohh… he's just a child, who said to have come from the future, through a black hole and stuff."

Mazu stared at Richard, who was quietly observing the conversation, his own glowing marks pulsing faintly. "He seems to be… stronger than a child. He's a first-stage transcendent. I would've believed if he was Buddha's disciple, given how transcendants from his temple usually reincarnates and awakened at such a young age to become a transcendant."

Poseidon scoffed, still staring at the ceiling. "Tell me more, because anyone's guess is as good as mine. Especially when Buddha told me himself said he didn't know the child, and that he was an anomaly or just a prodigy. But no one would dare touch him, since even Yahweh acknowledged him. Just treat him like a normal person. "

Vishnu, still sparring lightly with Michael, smiled. "Perhaps he's indeed from the future." His eyes sparkling, wanting to know more about the mysterious person.

Poseidon sighed, finally looking away from the ceiling. "Well, I don't care about that right now. All I want is for Loki to arrive so we can get this thing done." His gaze drifted to the hooded figure in the corner, who remained utterly still, a silent, powerful presence. The fate of Earth, and perhaps the universe, rested on a desperate gamble, and a missing trickster god.

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