[Distant universe]

"What?" Araquios asked in a condescending tone.

"You heard me correctly, you are replaceable." Vunreon reaffirmed.

"Maybe, but each of us is also worth far more than all nine of them put together. We rule over your entire multiverse, we keep the beings of legend in line, and we're the ones disposing of invaders, without us you would have nothing!" He shouted with increasing volume.

Shaking his head at the outburst, Vunreon let out a pitying chuckle of amusement.

"Without you, I would have nothing? Your worth more? How delusional have you become that you spout such nonsense. Yes, I created the six of you to defend me and keep my territory stable and prospering, but the three of you failed miserably in both aspects. In fact, you're the reason why the greatest current danger to me exists at all.

Meanwhile, Irsyr and Azeal are the only two beings alive that even remotely understand how the Void works. That alone makes their good grace worth more to me than all three of yours.

Furthermore, Idaia and her fellow Lifebringer dragons are the group responsible for the most amount of area successfully reclaimed after a monster infestation. So just these three surpass you in every single purpose I need you for.

And conclusion is already set without considering that they don't rely on me for power or their immortality. They can simply leave and nothing would change for them, whereas you can't leave and also can't refuse to fight without serious consequences.

So consider your attitude carefully. I might prefer for you to remain alive and won't support them should they start a war, but if you force my hand I already know on which side I'll be." Vunreon said with threatening calmness.

Remaining undeterred, Araquios met his gaze with a defiant attitude. A moment later Nemeus and Giralus, the primordial of earth, jumped down next to him. Conjuring weapons of their own, they flanked him in a clear display of support.

"When Darganth was around you cowered but now you act tough? Maybe you need to be reminded that you aren't the strongest being within Vunreon, only the strongest that benefit from its immortality. Some of them still owe me favors so I can arrange that lesson if you want." Idaia said as she stepped next to Vunreon.

"As much as I believe he would want to take care of you himself once he returns, I'll gladly help with that." Krezegor said as he also stepped forward.

Seeing two of their fellow dragon gods step forward, Irsyr and Azeal quickly glance toward the other. Immediately recognizing that they had the same thought, they only needed a quick nod before stepping forward together.

"This was supposed to be reserved for after his return,-" Azeal started.

Along with his words, both dragons flared their wings.

"-But right now also seems like a good opportunity." Irsyr finished.

At this, reality itself seemed to break open at thousands of spots both above and below. From them, beams of silver or emerald green energy shot out repeatedly, streaking through the air and colliding randomly. With each collision where both consisted of the same energy, another rift opened at the spot, while collisions between beams of the opposite energy caused a small explosion of the same dark nothingness that made up the void to appear.

And though the piece of unreality quickly vanished again, those present could clearly feel that it was simply gathered somewhere unknown.

Watching this spectacle with a horrified look, Vunreon still needed to regain his bearing when Araquios spoke up with contempt.

"You know that this won't kill us, even without Vunreon's immortality." Araquios asked.

"And that while you two might be immune to the void, the rest of you aren't." Nemeus added, his tone carrying a hint of unease that stood in contrast to the confidence of his two fellow primordials.

Nodding with a wide grin on his face, Azeal laughed at their words.

"Absolutely. But killing you was never feasible with this, today is more of a demonstration. Let's see how many of your subordinates will stay by your side if they learn that we've got a way to plunge entire universes into the void. I've obviously never experienced it myself, but I heard it's supposed to be a painful death." Irsyr said with a mocking smile.

"And you seem to forget, it's easy for us to drag people back out of the void. At most a minute of pain and a few weeks of recovery to send this big of a message seems like a worthwhile trade." Azeal added.

Already half laughing their words off as a bluff, Araquios's cocky smile slowly faded as he saw the accepting expressions of the other five old dragon gods.

"You wouldn't, even you aren't crazy enough." He said without much confidence.

"Wanna bet on it?" Azeal asked.

At those words, Nemeus and Giralus stepped back ever so slightly as they remembered Azeal's reputation, with only Araquios continuing to remain stubborn. Frantically looking around for a way to turn the tide, he felt a glimmer of hope when he noticed the expression Vurneon was making.

"Are you really going to allow this?" He questioned Vunreon.

"I would prefer to avoid it-"

"Then stop them!" Araquios shouted.

"-but we have a deal and as long as they keep following their part I can't force them." Vunreon finished.

Watching Araquios's expression sink with an amused smirk at those words, Azeal decided to double down.

"What, did you think we didn't try to go after you after Darganth's death because we were afraid or something. No, Vunreon offered us and Scalladras a good enough deal to make it worth waiting before getting revenge." Azeal revealed.

"Now what is it, are you gonna leave or do you want to test whether this spark would be enough to burn your reign to the ground? Because we've both been waiting to do this for over four millennia, so our control might slip out of excitement." Irsyr asked.

Meeting their gaze with narrowed eyes, Araquios became unnerved by the unusually headstrong attitude Irsyr showed. Considering both of his options, he finally could only sigh in defeat.

"Fine, but don't push this too far." Araquios growled as he stepped back.

Turning around to hide his frustration and rage, his entire body turned to water that disappeared within the blink of an eye as he teleported away.

Glancing at each other for a moment as their ally stored away, the other two primordials followed after him a moment later. As they teleported away, they left rocks that rapidly crumbled apart until they disintegrated and an extremely tiny hurricane in their wake.

When all three had vanished, silence reigned for a moment. Then, Edriza's roaring laughter echoed throughout the area.

"That was awesome, these fuckers better remember this lesson." She shouted.

"Probably not. But we've won some breathing room and that's also good." Irsyr said.

"And two new members that stood shoulder to shoulder with us." Idaia added.

At her prompt, the two new dragon gods suddenly became the center of attention.

"What better day than your first with us to risk learning how dying as an immortal feels." Azeal joked to them.

"I prefer being able to boast about surviving a fight with three primordials." Terima said.

Chuckling at her words, the other dragon soon followed Azeal's example. Congratulating her and Metrail one by one and in their own way for their first fight against a primordial, the group finally welcomed them among themselves.

After a few minutes, the mood turned toward a general celebration of the meeting and the success against the primordials. At that time Irsyr and Azeal stepped away for a moment and made their way over to Vunreon's avatar.

"So, what's the matter still?" Azeal asked as they stepped before him.

"Not here." Vunreon answered before reaching out with his powers.

A moment later time stopped around the three as what looked like millions of cracks in reality opened around them and formed a closed-off sphere that looked as if it was out of countless shards of glass that were crudely connected to each other.

As soon as it was complete, its bottom broke open and let the three people inside drop down, phasing through the ground and landing on an invisible platform in an endless expanse of near-total darkness. What little light there was came from a giant sphere of constantly shifting colors that hovered in the nothingness a few hundred meters away from them.

"That important?" Irsyr asked surprised, his eyes turned to the giant sphere that was Vunreon's core.

"Better to be too careful than to do things halfhearted. Especially with this." Vunreon said.

Along with those words, Vunreon's avatar made a motion as if beckoning someone closer. At his motion, the giant sphere that was the core of its being moved closer to them.

Initially not slowing down in the slightest as it approached, it came to an abrupt stop just a meter away from him. Reaching out, Vunreon's avatar placed his hand against the core before focusing.

Soon, a far smaller sphere emerged where he had placed his hand. Grabbing it, he pulled it out of the small opening that had formed in his core before turning around and presenting the orb to Azeal and Irsyr.

Consisting of two halves, it was far simpler than Vunreon's core. The first half was filled with a blinding bright blue light that radiated all the way out of the orb, while the other consisted of darkness that turned everything that came into contact with it into streaks of dark red energy that were rapidly devoured by the endless nothing.

In addition, the orb felt exactly the same as any other divinity to Irsyr and Azea's mana sense, making both of them realize what it was as soon as they saw it.

"I had considered it due to your reaction but he's truly back, isn't he?" Azeal asked.

"Yes, he was reborn in the universe my clan is currently living in. Though I don't know how I should feel about him knowing that." Irsyr confirmed, motioning toward Vunreon's avatar at the last part.

"If it helps, it took me until half a year ago to find him. And even that was only because I've been actively searching ever since I knew of his rebirth due to Terima and Metrail becoming dragon gods."

"Honestly, I would've preferred if my protections had worked as good as I had hoped." Irsyr admitted.

Shrugging in acceptance, Vunreon still reached out to give the orb to him.

"Can't change that, but at least it allows me to give this to you so that you can pass it on to Darganth."

"Did you already forget that divinities don't work well for him?" Irsyr asked.

"No. 'An interesting but ultimately useless little trick' was what he called it after I gave it to him back then. And while that might be the case for him, right now he can use every help he can get." Vunreon said.

Considering it for a moment, Irsyr soon had to agree with the assessment. Though Darganth couldn't form a divinity as his close connection to the space and time elements would result in any attempt being immediately destroyed by these two energies, he had proven capable of partially utilizing one that was given to him. He did this by not fully fusing it with his soul like one would do normally even though the resulting weaker connection was the reason why he couldn't use it to its full capability.

"Alright, I'll relay him the offer." Irsyr said once he made up his mind.

Taking the divinity Vunreon was holding out for him, his eyes turned to their true appearance as he inspected it with his dragon eyes. Rotating the orb in his hand to scan it from every angle, he let it vanish into his personal pocket dimension as soon as he was finished.

"Seriously?" Vunreon asked in response.

"Don't take it personally but even the primordials have what are essentially curses on their divinity. Yes, it only allows you to strip them of their power if they attack you but there are also worse ones. So even though I don't think you would do it, you also aren't a part of the, admittedly small, group which I would trust with Darganth's safety in these times." Irsyr said.

"Fair point." Vunreon admitted.

After all, while he was nearing the final stage of personality development a universe will can reach, he wasn't quite there yet. That meant that even though he was now able to feel emotions and they could influence his decisions at least somewhat, his actions were still mostly influenced by the robotic and calculating thought process inherent to universe wills before they gain individuality.

On occasion, this would lead to him despairing over what he was doing despite knowing that it was the optimal solution. On the other hand, it also gave him insight into the thought process of living beings he never had before, as well as the ability to choose a more humane solution over a slightly better result.

The latter two were the main reasons why he could even do what he was doing right now and get rid of the scourge to the beings living in Vunreon that three of the primordials have become. In his mind, that alone would make all the times the first case happened worth it.

"With that done, there is another thing I would like to discuss with you. Namely, I would like to expand on our previous agreement."

Frowning, both dragon gods reacted skeptically to the offer.

"The divinity is nice to have but I think you might overestimate it." Azeal questioned.

"It was just a small gift as a bonus. No, I think that my proposal will benefit all of us."

"Then ignore what I said and continue."

Having quickly cleared up this small misunderstanding and relieved that they were willing to even consider the idea, Vunreon immediately started explaining.

"My hope is that we can expand the deal to also cover all large third parties, especially the different clans of legend-empowered beings."

Already seeing Irsyr and Azeal frown, Vunreon quickly explained himself.

"I know that many beings of legend aren't on good terms with either Darganth or dragons as a whole, but right now they are the faction with the strongest fighting force that I have at my disposal. But they are also on extremely bad terms with the primordials since the latter didn't fulfill their part of their alliance."

"So you want our help in keeping the current stalemate?" Irsyr asked.

"For the time being, yes. I know you probably want to start preparing for Darganth's plans but the three big factions are all about equal right now. The beings of legend possess the most individuals who are around Darganth's prime in strength, the primordials and many of their subordinates have their immortality. And while those who would rally around Darganth include both, there's few of either and you're less organized."

"It's probably the best stable situation you can hope to keep but agreeing to help with it would negatively impact at least my plans. So, what's in it for us?" Irsyr asked.

"An end date. The day Darganth recovers enough of his strength to be able to match any one of the primordials both this one and our previous agreement ends and I'll support you in acting against them however you see fit." Vunreon said.

Turning to Azeal to see his reaction, Irsyr nodded as soon as he saw the smile on his face.

"Then we have a deal." Azeal told Vunreon.

"Perfect. I don't have anything else to talk about, so if neither of you two want to use the opportunity for something then I would say we return."

Seeing Irsyr and Azeal respond by shaking their heads, Vunreon snapped his fingers, immediately bringing them back to where they had been without a single second having passed outside the bubble encasing them.

"Good luck." Vunreon said as the world returned to normal.

"Mhm." Azeal answered, though by then Vunreon's avatar had already vanished.

"Now then, let's enjoy the moment for a bit." Azeal continued a moment later before making his way back to the other dragon gods.

Hesitating for a moment, Irsyr decided that a short pause wouldn't hurt and followed after him a moment later.