The sky was still. The world of mortals was peaceful.0

The wind blew for a few breaths of time, then faded away. It was almost as if there had never been a wind to begin with. In the canopy of heaven, the painting of stars turned into a host of scintillating vortexes that spun noiselessly. They would remain there for a time, a reminder of the epic battle that had just taken place.0

The holy lands were gone.0

The gods from the Netherworld Chasmcorpses, Northfate Kings, and Redland Nobleplexuses were now aware that it wasn’t possible to stop the empress from succeeding. Thēy chose to leave, casting complicated, fearful glances at the projection of the Grand Emperor as thēy did. Although thēy still weren’t very pleased, and wished thēy could interfere, thēy had no idea what would happen if thēy took action.4

Sunfire, Moonfire, and Starfire had lived up to the deal. Thēy looked at the Grand Emperor in the dome of heaven, and traces of reminiscence could be seen on thēir faces. It seemed likely that what they were thinking about, however, wasn’t the Grand Emperor in front of thēm, nor anything to do with...0