Around the chamber, several council members had risen halfway from their seats without even realizing it. Others stared openly, their expressions shifting between disbelief and astonishment as they tried to reconcile the scene before them.
I looked around the chamber, meeting the eyes of the council members one by one.
"Now, I know I look young, and after hearing the mission I just described, most of you probably don’t believe me. That’s alright. Honestly, I understand why."
My gaze briefly drifted toward the Saint still embedded in the far wall before returning to the council.
"From your perspective, a living being you’ve never met has appeared out of nowhere, claimed he’s working for Amun and announced that he’s going to challenge the Eternals’ control over the Prime Territory. If I were sitting where you are, I’d be skeptical too. That doesn’t change anything, though."
"I am going to do exactly what I said I would do, and whether you believe me or not won’t affect that decision. More importantly, I’m not doing it alone. Gerald the Wise has already agreed to help me and is currently working on his part of the plan."
That announcement caused far more reaction than my earlier display of aura.
Several council members straightened in their seats. A few exchanged startled glances. Even Samuel’s eyes narrowed slightly.
I continued before anyone could interrupt.
"Which leaves my own family. Whether you choose to support me or not is entirely up to you. I’m not here to demand loyalty, and I’m certainly not here to force anyone into another war. All I’m offering is the truth."
I spread my hands slightly.
"So if anyone still has doubts, questions or even tests they want to throw at me, feel free. Or better yet, all of you can come at us together."
The words hung in the air. For several seconds, absolute silence filled the council chamber. Then a chair scraped against stone.
Dean Ironhart slowly rose from his seat.
Unlike the shocked expressions surrounding him, the old man looked almost amused.
"I’ll admit," he said while stretching his back, "the offer of an all-out fight is very tempting."
A grin slowly spread across his face.
"But I think I need clarification on one particular detail."
The entire chamber turned toward him.
Dean pointed a finger at me.
"When you say ’come at us’..."
His eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"...who exactly is the ’us’ in that sentence?"
I couldn’t help smiling.
Slowly, I raised both hands.
A lot had changed since arriving in the Null Realm. Fighting the native creatures, absorbing their soul essence and constantly operating in an environment saturated with soul energy had strengthened me far more than I had initially expected. The increase in soul energy itself was valuable, but the greatest change wasn’t within me.
It was within my connection to my summons.
Back in the Prime Universe, maintaining contact across great distances required effort and concentration.
Here, however, the connection felt unnaturally clear, almost as though the Null Realm itself favored beings that existed through soul bonds. Even though none of my summons were currently inside my Soul Core, I could feel every one of them with perfect clarity.
I gave a single command to all of them through our link.
’All of you. Full power.’
The response came instantly. The floor behind me erupted with crimson light.
One circle appeared.
Then another.
By the time the sixth formation emerged, the entire council chamber had been bathed in crimson radiance.
Several Saints immediately rose from their seats.
Samuel’s expression changed first. For the first time since meeting him, genuine alarm appeared on his face. The security formations protecting the settlement hadn’t reacted.
The perimeter defenses hadn’t activated. The countless layers of detection surrounding the council hall hadn’t noticed a thing.
Yet six Saint-level entities were about to materialize in the center of the most secure location in the entire settlement.
Within moments all six summons had emerged from the glowing formations behind me, their Saint-level auras flooding the council chamber without the slightest attempt at restraint. The sudden arrival of so many powerful entities caused the atmosphere itself to distort as waves of soul force rolled outward in every direction.
Yet it wasn’t their appearance that truly shook the council.
It was what appeared behind them.
As their power surged, enormous translucent projections began flickering into existence above and behind each summon. The manifestations were unstable, appearing for only fractions of a second before fading away, yet those brief glimpses were enough to send a chill through the room. Vast silhouettes towered over the chamber like ancient beings standing beyond reality itself, their forms partially obscured by swirling soul energy and spatial distortions.
Some appeared humanoid while others looked entirely monstrous, but every projection carried an overwhelming sense of power that made even experienced Saints instinctively tense.
Every Saint present understood what those flickering images represented.
Soul manifestations. The embodiment of a being’s path.
By now every council member was standing. Several had instinctively released their own soul force.
Others were staring at the summons with expressions ranging from disbelief to outright horror.
Marcus looked as though he had forgotten how breathing worked. Even Dean’s amused expression had vanished.
Meanwhile Samuel appeared moments away from suffering a spiritual breakdown. His eyes moved between the summons, the inactive defensive formations and me.
Then back to the summons.
Then back to me.
The realization slowly dawned on him. Six Saint-level entities had bypassed every security measure protecting the settlement.
For a brief moment, Samuel genuinely looked like a man who had just bitten into something and discovered it wasn’t food.
I glanced toward the stunned council.
"So," I asked casually, glancing toward Dean, "does that answer your question about the ’us’ part?"
"It does."
Dean’s answer came without hesitation.
For several seconds, the old man remained silent as his gaze swept across the chamber before settling on the other Ironharts present among the council members. The room had become noticeably quieter. Most of the Saints were still studying my summons, while a few seemed to be reassessing everything they thought they knew about the mission Amun had entrusted to me.
I did the same.
The strongest people present were undoubtedly powerful by any reasonable standard. If things somehow escalated into a fight, I was reasonably confident my summons and I could handle whatever followed.
Fortunately, nobody appeared interested in testing that theory.
"So," I said after a moment, "are we doing this?"
"Ah, no need. No need at all."
Before Dean could answer, Marcus suddenly appeared between us, moving so quickly that the space around him rippled from the displacement.
The scholar-Saint raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
"I believe we’ve seen quite enough."
His eyes moved from me to my summons and then back again.
"At the very least, I now understand why Amun would personally involve himself in this matter."
A few council members nodded reluctantly.
Others still looked unconvinced, but none of them seemed eager to continue the discussion through combat.
Marcus cleared his throat.
"How about we proceed like rational people instead? We’ll contact Gerald, discuss everything among ourselves, and determine what role the resistance can play moving forward."
Then he smiled.
"In the meantime, why don’t you spend some time with your family? You’ve only just arrived, and I imagine there are quite a few relatives who would like to meet the first living Ironhart they’ve seen in centuries."
I shrugged.
That worked perfectly for me.
Maintaining six Saint-level summons across such enormous distances wasn’t exactly effortless, and the connections linking them to their respective regions were already beginning to strain. Without wasting any time, I waved a hand and released the summons.
One by one, the crimson circles reappeared beneath their feet and moments later the summons vanished into the portals from which they had come.
The oppressive pressure lingering throughout the chamber disappeared with them.
I turned toward Dean.
"So where are we going, Ancestor?"
A grin spread across the old man’s face.
"Follow me."
Before I could respond, he stepped forward and vanished.
The space he occupied twisted and folded inward, leaving behind faint ripples that stretched away through the air like an invisible trail.
I nodded politely toward Marcus and the rest of the council before stepping after him.
A moment later, I followed the lingering spatial fluctuations and disappeared from the council chamber as well.