Sophie was having an existential crisis and needed a moment.

A snuggle moment.

As many as she could get.

The human delegation of useless onlookers each held at least two small red bunnies in their arms, with the guys holding half a dozen emotionally drained red fluffies seeking comfort in their larger arms, as they watched one hundred and thirty-five ways to have a breakdown.

Some were silent, with vacant eyes that failed to comprehend the oddities they’d witnessed.

Some gesticulated with their limbs yet failed to express a thought even as their lips tried over and over to make a sound.

Some mindlessly expressed a lot of thoughts without saying a single coherent thing.

Some simply screamed.

Jun was nervously looking for anyone sane at the table to help him understand why their reactions were so violently different from when he’d earlier explained the circumstances. The fairies weren’t even this exaggerated back then.

A few snippets about runes and something about gods from the ramblers made him suspect that they weren’t like this because of the children.

“E-Elder Jun,” Lady Cynth called out in a hoarse voice, finally reacting after a long moment of paralysis. “I-is this your interpretation o-of m-my rune formation?”

“Um, yes?” Jun nervously responded into the sudden silence, feeling insecure with the most powerful beings in the multiverse staring down at him like they wanted to eat him.

“A-are these supporting runes, a-all Origin runes?”

“Ye-s?”

“Oh.”

“…”

“…”

“Would you mind sharing with us the identities of these Origin runes?” Elder Albara translated for the flashing rainbow sphere of emotions that was the Spirit of Light.

Jun glanced at Lady Cynth, worried about her reaction, since the formation was based on her signature rune formation. She looked particularly eager for his reply, so he spoke without reservations.

There were the four 2nd ranked Origin runes as the core with a series of 1st ranked Origin runes forming the connective structure.

When pressed by the elf with the twitching eyelid, Jun explained in his limited words how he simply inserted the runes he felt were most appropriate. Things became rowdy after that.

Jun wasn’t quite sure why everyone was reacting as they were. They were already familiar with the Garden which was filled with all kinds of base ranked runes in all kinds of combinations. The 2nd ranked Origin runes were copied from Lady Cynth’s original rune formation and supplemented with runes of his own comprehension that didn’t exceed the 1st rank.

Did his use of a handful of runes warrant this level of reactions?

Yes, it fucking did. Was this guy serious with his clueless look?

The storms that raged in nearly every heart were those that couldn’t be comprehended by a mortal of less than a century of experience.

For such a young thing, barely a blink old, to have comprehended to the 1st rank in so many obscure Origin runes that strayed from the major Paths, as well as perfectly reproduce the original 2nd rank Origin runes from someone else’s comprehensions - it was no wonder he held such prominence within the tapestry of events that defined the history of all things.

Several further rounds of questioning from the surrounding Elders only further demonstrated to them the absurdity of the being they’d all gathered to recognize as one of them.

This man was not one of them.

Getting tired of all the distracting perspectives, Jun cleared his throat and gestured towards the children in the center and tried to redirect attentions where he needed it.

Several figures, that were well versed in the matters of the soul, including Lady Cynth as well as Elder Paskone and the Fairy King, rose from their seats and drifted down through the opening in space to make their evaluations.

They examined separately, each with their unique forms of observations and explorations, and as a group, discussing among each other their findings and speculations, occasionally glancing at Jun with odd expressions.

The seven sleeping children were poked and prodded and their very essences examined, but it wasn’t till they looked up towards the napping Ella resting in Mary’s arms that everyone finally showed their appalled feelings. Not all for the same reasons.

A fairy cried, an elf cursed, and a white cybernetic face looked pale.

Terrible things were done to children, and that was terrible. But for one, there was something familiar about the way these souls were manipulated.

“I believe,” Elder Paskone began, his steadiness challenged by the admission he was about to make, “that the origin of these evil deeds are tied to me.”

With every baffled gaze on him, some looking less so than others, he explained how he recognized some of the foundational theories behind the soul modifications as coming from his old research. Research that many of his defected machine minds participated in.

His son, as the Demiurge of the Second Heaven that had taken in these traitors, had access to enormous amounts of his previous research, and this was the first physical evidence that he was using it.

“These are not the first souls I’ve seen tampered in this style. If what you say is true, Elder Paskone, then I fear that the influence of the Second Heaven is far more extensive than what we previously presumed.” Whether this technology was directly or indirectly obtained from them or directly planted by their hand, the influence of the Second Heaven was already felt in a desolate world like Earth. How many other obscure worlds were being manipulated by the dimensional pirates?

Jun watched the pained look on Elder Paskone’s face, felt the bunny buried in his arms twitch in agitation, and sighed. What was he going to do with this family?

“Is there a way to cure them? Or at least make it so they can live normal lives? From what I understand, these initial children don’t live very long,” Jun asked, looking hopeful.

“There is no need. You’ve already taken care of it.” Lady Cynth replied for the group, clearly dazed by her findings.

“Ah?”

With a great sigh, looking both defeated and excited, Lady Cynth explained that in the way her original rune formation successfully stabilized Ella’s inelegantly strengthened soul, his new rune formation had successfully done something similar for the seven new children.

In fact, one couldn’t simply define it as ‘stabilized.’

They were transformed.

From incomplete and damaged, they were made into something whole that was no longer the same as it was before. No longer human.

“Ah?!” That sounded kind of bad though?!

“They’re fine. More than fine! The demonic ones are no longer demonic, and the crowded ones are no longer crowded. Everyone is happy! Everyone is more!” The zooming streak of glittering giggles exclaimed in a sing-song voice.

“…ah?”

“What he means is that the human souls have successfully ingested the demonic and purified their essence into one that is in harmony with their own, and that the girls have found their own unique Paths thanks to your hand, and that they are all with new extreme potentials,” Paskone clarified.

“So all good things?”

“The best things.”

Well, that was fairly conclusive. He didn’t mess up. Should Ella also sit through this?

“Ella’s soul has already been stabilized. She won’t benefit from the formation in the same way,” Lady Cynth said, seeing his glance towards his daughter and guessing his thoughts.

“Oh….” Jun mumbled dejectedly, feeling a great opportunity had been wasted.

Lady Cynth’s lips twitched, feeling insulted for no reason.

Soon, groups were either making their own observations of the children, examining the Origin rune formation, or discussing how to deal with Jun’s other problems.

The issue of a world’s dying spirit always required a unique solution depending on the universe and the nature and severity of the problem.

Earth’s original mortal wound was made billions of years before humanity took the stage, when the universe was first invaded by the Enemy. Unable to defeat them, the previous rulers of the universe sacrificed the Soul of the Race to a forbidden soul weapon to cleave away the rotting parts of the universe the Enemy clung to in order to devour them, extinguishing the First Beings and nearly killing the world in exchange.

Billions of years later and the world was finally beginning to heal when a pesky race of apes blew it up ten different ways and killed everything besides a few of their own kind to rebuild in their domed cities.

Now the world sat suffocating in its own filth and the demonic pollution from the Gates, waiting to die.

Not too big of an issue.

It was a problem, for sure, and if it were anyone else, a potentially guaranteed death sentence, but when over a hundred demigods wanted to save a world, the world needed to work pretty hard if it wanted to die.

The first order of business was identifying the major wounds. When a knife was sticking out of a chest, there was little point in bandaging paper-cuts. Jun had to somehow discover what specifically was killing the spirit.

Whether it was the lack of life, or the density of foreign energy, they needed to know, and they needed to know it yesterday. The second steps could vary wildly depending on it, and there was no telling how little time was left. It was fine.

As for the matter with the Second Wave and the suspicions of deliberate interference from Crowns in making it so, the views were rather unified.

Destroy them and place your own Crowns.

Elders had enough things on their plates to worry about. Micromanagement would not be one of them.

“I see you’ve already established an inner circle. That’s good. They will be the foundation to everything you’ll accomplish for your world, so treat them well.”

“The secret is forming a loyalty factory. Brainwash them while they’re young, all proper like, and you’ll never have to lift a finger again.”

“What is the matter with you? Don’t make your disgusting suggestions in front of Elder Jun. You’ll contaminate his ears.”

“You’re going to pretend I didn’t get the idea from you?”

“Its called free education.”

“Same thing.”

“It’s about establishing generational power that continues to grow. The Waves will come with increasing ferocity regardless of our desires. The peoples of the world need to grow at a faster pace than the Gates or they’ll be devoured.”

“By the Nexus, we’re literally saying the same thing. You just dress it up and make it look noble, but take away the titles and the pretenses and it’s no different from what I do; take the strongest and make them loyal to me. Everything else naturally follows. Tell me I’m wrong, you stupid monkey!”

“You wretched elf, it’s about the spirit with which one acts. Noble spirits and wretched souls may briefly walk similar paths but for vastly different reasons and different destinations.”

“Who you calling wretched you stupid monkey?!”

There was really only one solution. While a single powerhouse could theoretically conquer the ten Gates of the First Wave, but defending against the next 10 gates of the Second Wave that could pop up anywhere on the planet was impossible for one man. He needed an army. At least ten, assuming they conquered all existing Gates before the Wave.

While none of these solutions were new ideas they hadn’t already considered, the confidence with which they were presented gave the party from Earth a dose of confidence as well. It just seemed so reasonable when they said it.

Like, ten brand new armies to battle forces beyond anything they’d ever seen established and trained within an indeterminately short period. No problems.

Elders well versed in military affairs freely shared their wisdom and advice.

Like, establish a defensive rune network around the planet, as well as in orbit, to respond to the coming threats. Easy peazy.

Elders well versed in rune formations freely expressed their opinions and ideas on how to make it so.

Like, creating a new world order based on Jun’s own vision of world prosperity. Yeah, not going to do that.

Elders well versed in ruling the masses debated the merits of an autocracy. That was so beyond him he didn’t even tune in.

After a surprisingly productive brainstorming session where Jun was promised a wide range of support to see him through his immediate crisis, the Elders that were satisfied with their time spent began to rise and make motions to leave.

When Dogadon saw this, the small Elder who’d remained surprisingly quiet throughout the meeting grandly stood from his seat and made a great theatrical display of getting Jun’s attention, as well as everyone else’s.

“Elder Jun! As a fellow artisan, it’s impossible for me to express the depths of my awe for your expansive vision. Say nothing of the tremendous gains we’ve all had at the Garden, simply having been bestowed the opportunity to peer into the lost histories of my own world through the use of a true treasure is a great honor for which you have my eternal gratitude. As a show of my appreciation for the multiple boons you’ve graciously bestowed, I will make a pledge to you,” the Old Dwarf waxed eloquently, making everyone very uncomfortable, as he rested on a dramatic pause that was more confusing than it was a grand gesture.

“I will accept a person of your choosing as my next disciple, who I will pass all my teachings and wisdoms to support you in laying the foundations of your new reign.” The dwarf proclaimed magnanimously.

“Ooooh.” The surrounding onlookers all exclaimed with widened eyes.

He already had hundreds of thousands of disciples. Becoming one wasn’t seen as anything precious, yet he offered it like a treasure.

What a cheap bastard.