Mornn
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Chapter 655 - Emergency meeting
🕑 Added 2025-04-16 16:00:25 +0000 UTCIn a rather large private room, a number of colorful people were sitting around a table loaded with snacks, staring at the multiple screens hanging in the air over said table.
There was silence for a moment, only interrupted by the munching sounds of a certain old lady with rabbit ears gleefully chomping down on mana rocks without a care for everyone else’s stares.
The oldest-looking man at the table had his hands joined in front of his face, a pensive look, he watched the screens and monitored the reactions of others. After some reflexion, he came to a conclusion, sharing it with the others. “We cannot permit her to ascend,” he declared with a voice that carried unquestionable authority, “not even with a holder.”
The munching sounds stopped. Fragments of mana rocks were violently spat on the table.
The rabbit ears disappeared, the person turning distinctly less human and more reptilian. Her vords were laced with undisguised hostility as she stared right in the eyes of the old man sitting right across the table from her, “My family needs no permit, Avross.”
“You know full well she’s not your family, Erredis,” a woman in bright blue robes argued, her arms crossed, “and even if she were… I am also against it. This human will become a danger if we let her grow.”
Erredis gave the blue woman a deadly stare, but someone stopped her from answering, or rather, they answered before she could, and not interrupting others was the most basic rule of the council.
“I stand with Erredis on this one,” a calm voice chimed in, “Unless you kill her, she will not stop. And I cannot allow that.”
“You too, Beligenus?!” the woman in blue reacted.
“I will not let one of my students suffer the cowardice of this council,” the old headmaster of Brighthall Academy continued, his voice ever steady, “She is already a danger. Her name alone has some of you shaking under your scales, and so what? We need strong people, now more than ever. Before we worry about the balance of power, we should focus on the threat from outside, you, of us all, should know that best,” he finished, staring at Avross.
Everyone was silent, waiting for the patriarch to answer, but another old man in white armor spoke first. “You would have us raise a Kleptra in our garden to keep the Fairies away? We took you for wiser than that, ‘great sage’.”
The table cracked under the pressure of Erredis’ claws, as she tried her best to stop herself from freeing a certain old fart from his skull, “You’re the kleptra! YOUR ENTIRE LINEAGE ARE KLEPTRAS, YOU FUCK!”
“Hey, hey. Calm your tits Erri,” Phillip said, holding Erredis by a shoulder as he was seated to her left, “Why don’t we have a vote? Surely you’ve all had time to ponder the question since I brought up the subject last time. How about that?” he suggested, looking at Patriarch Avross, as he technically held the power to decide on starting the voting sessions.
“Very well…” Avross conceded, “Since there are three of you in favor of letting her grow freely already, then as per our rules, let us have a vote. The subject of this vote will be: Letting Sofia Aphenoreth and her followers grow without interference from the members of this council and their peers. For or against. The twelve of us will vote, majority wins. I shall start.”
The patriarch stopped for a second, cleared his throat, and gave his vote.
“I, Avross of the firmament, vote against,” he declared, before turning his head to Ebeorn, the dragon to his left wearing an armor of flowing magma, both signaling it was his turn to vote, and trying to avoid Erredis’ uncomfortable deathly glare. “Next… Ebeorn the molten.”
“Against,” the magma dragon answered, “No slight to you, Erredis, but she does not seem mentally stable nor mature enough yet for the power she could bear,” he added.
“Two against,” Avross said, looking at the next council member,” Vlakirr the thousand-horned.”
“For,” Valkirr answered without hesitation, giving Erredis a very obvious wink.
“One for, two against,” Avross continued, again passing the torch to the next member, the lady in blue from before, “Valacis the blue.”
“Against,” she answered without more commentary.
“One for, three against. Beligenus the sage.”
“For, of course,” Belignus voted as he sat relaxed on his chair with his eyes closed.
“Two for, three against. Alkorm the faceless.”
“Against,” he said, “we have enough on our plate. Now is not the time to deal with another unstable ascended.”
“Are you serious?” Erredis asked, “Wimp.”
“I will reconsider when we are rid of the phageid. Until then, letting her do her thing is just too much of a risk. She could lead us toward another war with the fae…”
“Let us keep going,” Avross said, “Two for, four against. Erredis the rotten…”
“Do you need to ask?” Erredis answered with an angry glare.
Avross sighed from his seat. “Three for, four against… Phillip the green, for as well, I assume?”
“For,” he confirmed.
“Four for, four against, then. Four votes to go. Ohomarr the red?”
“Against,” the red dragon who had been silent until now said with disinterest.
“Four for, five against. Cecless the hollow.”
This member of the council was perhaps the weirdest looking one, hiding under what looked like hundreds of layers of overlapping gray fabric, it was hard to even tell if they were in an humanoid form at all. Nevertheless, a high-pitched voice came from under all the fabric. “For!” she answered with enthusiasm without giving any explanation.
Avross was starting to look uneasy on his seat. “Five to five. This better not be another tie…” he mumbled in his beard, before looking at the next member, the old man in white armor who had compared Sofia to a Kleptra earlier. “Sactanum of eternal frost,” Avress called.
“Against,” he answered with a small smile, holding eye contact with Erredis who was staring daggers at him.
“Five to Six,” Avross continued the voting session, “Now for the last vote…”
“It looks like this is already over,” Valacis said, leaning back on her chair.
“Stebron the god-eater,” Avross called.
Stebron was hard to read, hiding behind a full armor with his helmet’s visor closed, he had been silent until now, and even when called, he said nothing for a few seconds.
As everyone stared at him, he grumbled some inaudible curse words from under his helmet. He had been rather discontent at learning about this random human collecting so many divine essences at their last council meeting, and so everyone had expected his vote to be a clear cut against, yet he seemed to hesitate. It was with a voice oozing with frustration that he voted. “For.”
The council immediately erupted in a noisy disorganised debate, as was common every time there was a voting tie. This situation happened quite often, much to Avross’ displeasure as the one with the arduous task of keeping everyone in line.
The noise was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a purple portal in a corner of the room, which was surprising as no one had permission to cast non-transformation magic in the vip room, and much less to open up a teleportation portal. A man in a black three-piece suit with a design stolen straight from the human heroes’ world stepped out of the portal, entering the vip room without permission of the owner, which even the trial’s ruling Seraphs were not allowed to do.
Completely warping the space in the VIP room as he walked, he extended the table to make some room between Avross and Stebron, and a chair appeared beneath him as he sat.
Pulling on his tie, he spoke. “Thirteenth member of the council, Nex the explorer. I vote for.”
At the same time, a violent battle started to unfold on the room’s screens.
Sofia looked down at the smoking crater after looking at her kill count.
Her mana senses could still feel foreign mana vibrations coming from way down the fault.
It’s not over yet.
She barely reacted in time, teleporting back with [Summon Self] as a blade split the space she had occupied an instant before.
A ten meters tall twisted creature with a mangled head, four arms, and way too many eyes had flown out of the fault faster than Sofia could even see. She only had her mana senses and quick reflexes to thank for her survival this time.
Pareth!
Pareth was already appearing in front of her as Sofia flew back, while Kuli and Mornn noticed the enemy and rushed in.
The demon roared and screamed, “You human pile of filth! DIE!”
As he screamed, he disappeared, teleporting behind Pareth and swinging his four curved swords at Sofia again.
Strong magic envelopped the demon right as he attacked, making it plummet toward the ground like a meteor until he slammed into the glassy crater below. This was Mornn’s gravity magic in action.
Pareth, who could now walk in the air like Sofia thanks to his signature skill imbuing a Soguva spirit on his armor, deactivated it, and fell toward the demon, sword pointed down. Kuli had the same idea, and crashed with a magically-enhanced downard kick right on the demon’s head while Mornn’s magic kept it down.
Sofia lost no time starting to channel two piercing bolts as she watched Pareth’s sword severe the demon’s spine and Kuli’s boot crush its skull. She knew this would not take the demon down, not when it had survived the previous bolt’s explosion with no visible injuries.
While the demon was getting destroyed on the ground, another one of him appeared behind Sofia.
She had no time to react, and her body was sliced clean through by three swords, while the fourth one shattered as it hit her armguard, but broke Sofia’s entire arm at the same time.
Minimal damage.
Sofia took control of her own bones, fixing the breakage and pulling the separated parts of her body back together in an instant and spinning around. Though her two piercing bolt were still low-mana, she released them directly in the demon’s face.
It was not enough to pierce the demon’s head, but it blinded him long enough for Pareth to attack again, using the Spirit of a Lancer Sparrow imbued on his weapons of light through his signature skill. It allowed him to use throwing and ranged weapons. A spear of light entered the demon through his left foot and pierced all the way through before exiting through the top of his skull.
There were now two dead bodies of the demon, one crushed on the ground and one plummeting from the sky.
The demon appeared again, uninjured and with his four curved swords ready to strike, one of him was behind Sofia again, while another was behind Kuli.
Comments
Tejing
You know, Avross' statement here makes me really curious what a "holder" is. The way he says it makes it sound like ascending with a holder would make her less dangerous... which suggests it would rob Sofia of freedom or power in some way. He also implies ascending without a holder is possible... Good to know what Beliginus really thinks of Sofia. I didn't think he was against her or anything, but this is much more of a ringing endorsement than I expected. Hmm. Wonder what made Stebron vote "for"? Is he constrained by some kind of promise or bet? The frustration does suggest that. Or is it something to do with his own values or plans? Well, this guy's definitely going to be a pain in the ass the kill... Corrections: After some reflexion, he came to a conclusion, reflexion -> reflection Strong magic envelopped the demon envelopped -> enveloped making it plummet toward the ground it -> he (consistency with other references) as she watched Pareth’s sword severe the demon’s spine severe -> sever Though her two piercing bolt were still low-mana bolt -> bolts
MoonlitShade
I just want to say that so far this arc is proving to be my favorite by a long shot. I wasn’t a fan of some of the more recent arcs (the mars exploration trial especially) but with all of the absolute FLEXING Sofia is doing in this trial, it’s been a lot of fun. More nuclear feats like the soul spell and the max power angel bolt, please! Of course, without even asking for that specifically, that’s probably going to be a given seeing as she’s aiming for #1 and all
Cyclone001
How you consider someone with Tartaross's personality as not dangerous is puzzling. He wants to fight anything and everything including Aphenoreth.
April
It's because they have experienced with unstable strong people and they don't want to risk letting Sofia nuke the planet.
E
(btw sorry didn't mean to come off as rude)
E
That's fair. I assumed a different political climate and structure at the ascended level.
Mornn
And I mean... This is basically a mafia of 12 (13) of the most powerful people on the planet, they act on their own interest and don't really care all that much what the others think. And it's not like they were saying they'll kill Sofia either :)
E
I mean... an eldritch being marked someone ("scouted" is the phrase used by Sun). That eldritch being saw potential in someone. I would be insane to try and obstruct that someone. Maybe Inquisitor/Orator do nothing, or maybe they delete my ass. I have no way of knowing for sure. Sun is considered to be roughly Avross' equal from what I've observed in this story. She is clearly a "sponsor" of Sofia which someone like Avross would be capable of noticing. Avross didn't have the authority to make this decision without approval from the deities as well.
Matt Grayson
Or, as Sof would say, it was a Wednesday.
Lazy Monster
Well Scripture is also technically her god, unfortunately, so I imagine that most of the stronger people have the attitude that Sun expressed of “the bad blood between them is personal and the deep has sanctioned her killing him so it’s not my business”
Mornn
Father is kind of a mixed feelings word for Sofia, so she only calls him that sometimes. She feels it's a bit presumptuous also, which, eh, I mean, she got the name but it's not like he explained anything to her about what that really means :p
Phsteven
I'm kinda confused about this point, shouldn't it be father Aphenoreth? She is his adopted daughter no? That is why she took his name. She's called him father and uncle in the past and I don't know why it is being mixed up.
Jumper2105
Yet, and he had not succeeded. They should question, what would happen when hed had succeded. Would he still exist?
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
Mornn
Eh I mean Scripture's been trying to kill Sofia for a while and as far as they can all tell, nothing's happened to him. Yet.
Mornn
Why would they not have a choice? Sofia's name is far from being some kind of ultimate protection or anything, especially from everyone else's pov
E
Didn't uncle Ed call the admins the Deep's "scions?". I think it's more likely that Nex' job is specifically to develop people like Sofia for whatever the Deep has planned.
E
I don't understand why these dragons felt like they had a choice given her last name and all the deity support she already has. Did they not already know that Sofia restored Nex from the Deep's Recycle Bin? That seems unlikely.
E
Disagree. Tartaros ascended quickly but we have no indication that he was exceedingly dangerous. The difference with Sofia is they are likely foreseeing a point where she is uncontrollable should she do something "bad ." Also you're overanalyzing mornn's NK example. The meeting makes sense for the most part. The only part that doesn't make sense to me is why they didn't consider the wrath of the Deep should they obstruct Sofia.
Cyclone001
Then Tartaross would have been eliminated long ago. They are also explicitly sabotaging the purpose of the system. As for the nuke analogy, I see no support for terrorism and gross human rights violations in sofia's past. Israel, France and Great Britain didn't need to go through that. Furthermore, with Sofia being on their side due to Erredis, instead of Richard's, the Fae's or the Kleptra's, this delibrate attempt to stunt their own faction is even more baffling. So be it though. Still, I can't help but think the most interesting part of this meeting right after we cut away from it. I assume this is the first time in a long time that Nex decided to show up.
Mornn
This is like countries meeting up to decide if they can really let North Korea have the nuclear bomb x.x
John Grizzly
It's because she became too strong too fast and is a free spirited individual. As one of the council members said, she is seen as too young and too immature to have so much power. Not only does it tip power balance, she would be hard to control or bring to heel, in their minds, why bother raising someone who might be a problem? They have thousands of years to wait for another one. Clip a problem by the roots before it becomes a bigger problem. It makes sense in a way. They are protecting their world, keeping a status quo. At any cost. It does lead to stagnation though. Hence why some other members are prolly for Sofia asending.
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter!
Joshua Nutter
I was more thinking Orator shows up since he seems to love messing with people
Chance Rose
I really thought that was what was going to happen as well
Daemion
Yeah, Nex will always side with Sofia now because he owes her big time. At least on stuff that won't end the world. Why do I have the feeling that demon lord has "hydra" in his title? Kill one, two more appear? Or is he multiplying automatically every few seconds until he overwhelms you?
Lazy Monster
Erridis is her adoptive grandmother dragon who lives on the moon
Lazy Monster
Also it would be kinda funny if because of all the people watching her she actually wound up making Zeus into a real god. It might be funny if the dagger had a breakdown over this “title awarded: Mother of a god: that shouldn’t be possible but clearly that hasn’t stopped you yet”
Cyclone001
What a weird council meeting. If the goal of the system is to foster high mana individuals, why would they want to get rid of soon to be 300 that every single one of the council members that actually met her for any decent length of time likes? This behaviour makes no sense. Certainly confirms my dislike for both Avross and Alkrom though. Good to see Nex though up and about. As for this demon duke... could he be Sofia's first 400 kill, or more likely in the 350-375 range? I wonder where the real body is.
Lazy Monster
TFTC. Nex making an appearance is so interesting. I’m kinda surprised about Alkorm voting against considering the thing with TLDR and zangdar. Guess Kuli was right that he is untrustworthy. Also didn’t this demon get the memo Sofia is the only one authorized to spam self resurrection that often! Lol
Libery
Erredis? Who was that again?
Songy
*cackling madly* Yeah, this arc is fun ^^
Holly Gregorio
My money is on Stebron having lost a bet against Sun and that is why he had to vote for.
Tom Asciola
Dragon Council Dragon Council
Vettu
TFTC Finally! I've been wanting to see Nex since he was brought back. Hopefully we'll get more of him in the near future
ArtTheGreat
Woo! Nex likes her! I hope Sophia brings out her Zeus transformation. If I recall correctly it kinda needs hordes of enemies like in this competition to maintain itself properly anyway.
Draxas
Damn I was hoping uncle Aphenoreth would show up and scare them straight. TFTC
BOT
You really cut just before the juiciest part of Nex's reveal didn't you? Great chapter, can't wait for more
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
