?1143 Victory Comes To The Bold.
Anyone who enters the kingdom of life through any place other than the gates will be visited by the guardians of the god-king soon after. They always know when someone has crossed the barrier and can always find the intruder. They will question her if they find her. And if she is found wanting, then there will be no escaping for her.
She above all else knows how terrifying the guardians of the god-king are. She is aware of how they killed the vessels of the previous Celestial Supreme. The guardians are more terrifying than the god-king because, unlike the god-king, they can leave the borders of the kingdom of life and also wield his power if only temporarily.
The guardians are transcendents like her but they can surely kill her even without drawing upon the divine power of their god-
king. It is because she has no divine power or Origin energy. She has no runes and no stigmata. They may both be transcendents but they are not the same.
She doesn't have her divine ability anymore either. So if she is discovered, which should happen anytime soon if the artifact isn't working, then she can kiss her dream of becoming the next god-king goodbye.
Still, she continued. She walked for more than half an hour until she left the forest. Then she went to the nearest city. She blended in and tried not to look out of place. Next, she moved around the city.
She stayed around the edge of the city as if the ease at which she could leave the city would help her escape if she was found. It is false hope but it is something and she desperately needs something right now.
Her heart thumped wildly in her chest as she walked around. Everyone around her is her enemy. She is literally in enemy territory. One wrong move and she will die.
It was an ordeal despite her mission being to lay low. She kept expecting demorgorgs or the guardians to show up and apprehend her. She kept expecting the god-king himself to strike her down. She had to remain alert constantly and it drained her mind. Her wound-up state made her jump at the slightest odd sight.
Her worst fears didn't happen but she wasn't relieved yet. She still has to leave the lion's den safely to consider this infiltration a success. Relief finally came when she exited the barrier after a day in the kingdom.
The rebel leaders had gone by the time she returned. It is partly because they didn't think she would return. But it is mostly because they didn't want her to lead demorgorgs to capture them.
They had all scattered so she had to reestablish communication with them through their secret methods. The leaders soon met to hear her report of the mission. Then they sent more rebels to ascertain the validity of her report.
Things went well for the rebel alliance. Nothing unfortunate happened and they weren't discovered. Apparently, the artifact could really hide them from the god-king. The success emboldened them to increase their level of infiltration.
This is how 11 transcendents infiltrated the kingdom of life. They spent a month in enemy territory collecting information, food, tools, and weapons. Then they returned to their base with their loot. They brought with them almost everyone in their group the next time they came. So more than 1,000 rebels entered the kingdom of life unseen.
Tanya's rebel alliance prospered. They could enter and leave the kingdom of life unseen. They used their newfound wealth to recruit more followers to their cause and they used the artifact to entice other rebel groups to join them.
In this way, their rebel group grew in quantity and quality. It didn't take long for them to reach 10,000 in number. These are ten thousand people who now have a mark from an artifact created by an Origin god.
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The kingdom of life can be described as the only light in the otherwise dark plane. It is not a wonder why some people would yearn for it. The kingdom is very accepting but these rebels don't want to be a part of it because they don't want to be under the control of the ruler of the kingdom.
Their resistance caused them to be cast into the dark. But now they have found a way to bypass that restriction. They have found a way to enjoy the warmth and safety of the light without having to put in any effort to add to its kindling.
In the metaphorical darkness are also predators. Unlike the prey who hide in the darkness and yearn for the light but are reluctant to be exposed to the god-king, these predators are after the god-king himself.
Someone said in the darkness, "It is time."
These words opened the floodgates. Several entities that have remained hidden came out of the darkness into the light of day to bring the denizens of the day into submission. They stopped hiding behind the scenes. They made themselves and the power they wield known to the world.
About a hundred entities appeared outside the border of the kingdom of life. They look like ordinary giants. Except that they could fly. No ordinary giant of order can fly. Not even transcendent giants of order. So despite their ordinary looks, no one would see them and be fooled into thinking they are ordinary.
But even their harmless visages changed when they crossed the border. Tanya crossed the border in fear and healthy trepidation but they did so with confidence.
Then they unleashed their true form as an announcement of their presence to their unwilling host. Their physical forms changed into abstract and metaphorical manifestations.
Everyone within the plane became aware of their presence immediately after they entered the borders of the kingdom. Even the ordinary mortals became aware of the presence of these apex predators. They had to look towards the source of the dangerous pressure bearing down on them.