In the end, Lesser Half decided to scout out the battlefield first and then do some brainstorming onsite afterwards. Claud didn’t really mind, since the so-called main battlefield was so huge that the closest front was actually only fifteen kilometres or so from Grandia, a short mana-walk away.

  Even then, however, the battlefield seemed to be like a ceaselessly stormy sea. From afar, Claud could sense incredible pillars of energy surging to the sky, too many for him to count properly.

  “Damn.”

  Lilly’s hand shivered slightly. “That’s probably the least explosive way of putting it, though. What is this?”

  “An all-out war,” the black cube floating next to Claud replied quietly. “The Moons and my sister are not holding anything back. They’re burning each other out. It’s a winner-takes-all scenario.”

  “What about the Coloured Gods?” Lily asked. “Wouldn’t they try to gain an advantage once both sides are sufficiently weakened?”

  “Their role is…different.” Lesser Half paused. “Well, since I’m roping you two into this, I suppose I need to explain what the Last Godsfall is actually about. Let’s begin with all creation. Since time immemorial, every single universe in existence that is capable of sustaining life has always been subject to tests. These tests typically manifest in a singular being of chaos, whose sole goal is to challenge the existing order, and if found wanting, to wipe the slate clean.”

  The black cube stilled, and Claud found himself suppressing a shiver. He’d heard this before, and yet…

  “That being, as you two may have guessed, is the Omen. To be more precise, however, that being is called the Omen of Entropy.” Lesser Half explained. “It is a tester of all life and their creations. Those that prove themselves worthy will be allowed to live; those that do not will be destroyed. This is a mechanism to ensure that the lives within the myriad worlds remain ever efficient; it is a warning to those up high that they cannot slack off at any given moment.”

  “The Omen of Entropy?”

  “Mhm. The five grand skies, however, managed to interfere with this mechanism, diluting the power of entropy. The Omen of Entropy’s power in our world, Destiny, was reduced heavily, so much so that it could only conform to the existing power structures of this world,” Lesser Half continued. “Furthermore, the manifestation of the Omen was bound to a native lifeform, and was given the ability to think and choose.”

  Claud nodded.

  “Therefore, although the Omen had succeeded in overthrowing the order more than once, it had never chosen to destroy the world around it completely,” Lesser Half continued. “By chance, each Omen of every cycle had created bonds with others, bonds so strong that they could defy their intricate nature…although I am not privy to the details.”

  Claud thought about the White God and the Black God back, and how one of his iterations had died in their face. This incident, however, was clearly hidden from the rest of the world, if Lesser Half didn’t know about it.

  “Hmm.” Lily tilted her head. “But what does have to do with the Coloured Gods?”

  “The Omen and its counterparts, thus far, have not dealt with the Moons or the Dark,” Lesser Half replied. “It is clear that what they intend to test is the existing order created by those who became gods. You may have noticed that some of the more learned people differentiate between the divinities and the gods, despite them being fundamentally the same thing. The origin of gods is that of humans. Divinities do not have such an origin.”

  “I see.” Claud bobbed his head, thinking back to the many, erroneous times he’d thought about the gods and the divinities. “So the Omen…this cycle, as you called it, is linked to the Coloured Gods?”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Yes,” Lesser Half replied.

  “Hmm. Then why would the Omen want to kill the Dark and the Moons, then?” Claud asked.

  “Because we are the people that are supposed to lead the new world. Furthermore, us divinities, while not allies of the Coloured Gods or the existing order, are of this world,” Lesser Half replied. “The same cannot be said of the Omen. There is a chance that we may strike at the Omen when he is fighting. Common sense dictates that he will thus seek to kill us if we are weakened. After all, he is not of this world.”

  Claud felt a bit left out at these words.

  “The Omen is not of this world?” Lily asked.

  “Hmm. The power of the Omen, at least.” Lesser Half mulled on the issue. “We — the Moons, my sister and I — had the pleasure of speaking to Origo in the aftermath of the Third Godsfall. While he was reluctant to share more details about how he overcame his destiny, the Black God did mention that the power of the Omen is the actual foreigner. He did, however, preface that hypothesis with the notion of a transcendent destiny.”

  “A transcendent destiny?” Lily asked.

  “Yes. According to the Status that the Goddess of Water created, the power of the Omen could actually be transferred. Rather, it will not be destroyed. If its current holder is killed, there is a significant chance that the killer would simply become the holder of the Omen’s powers.”

  “Well, you could publicise that,” Claud muttered.

  “And encourage societal collapse? I think not.” Lesser Half let out a magnificent snort, somehow, and then said, “But it is very unclear. Is the host of the Omen’s powers already predestined? The Black God claimed that he was already a Bearer of Destiny when he became the Omen, after all.”

  Claud had to restrain himself from sinking into deep thought. It would be too obvious and too telling if he did, but Lesser Half had told him some information that he hadn’t heard from the Hollow God. He could recall the day when he became the Omen; it was when he killed the Third. However, was the Third fated to die at his hand to begin with? Was it destiny that he was the first person to slay a Bearer of Destiny?

  That was a question he couldn’t quite answer.

  “Anyway,” Lesser Half continued, “the trial that is the Omen is directed at those who would govern the world and the use of its resources. We, the divinities, sustain the world’s existence itself. The five grand skies, the Moons and us dictate how the world is supposed to be shaped, and the laws in which they run on.”

  “In that case, why are the Moons fighting with you guys?” Lily asked.

  “We represent…in a sense, competing aspects of life,” Lesser Half replied. “It is hard to explain, but you can imagine me and my sister as occupying two extremes of life itself.”

  “Two extremes?”

  “Logic and emotion,” Lesser Half replied. “My sister, the greater eye, represents the supremacy of logic in life. I, the lesser spark, am the source of the most primal instincts in life.”

  “Does that explain why you were so easily cowed by Greater Half?” Claud asked.

  “Life knows when to give up,” Lesser Half replied. “The Moons, on the other hand, occupy various points in the spectrum formed by me and my sister. The main contention, the main dispute, is where life springs from. Does it spring out from moderation, the Moons, or the extreme ends of like, like me and my sister?”

  Claud thought for a moment. “So, you’re basically asking which came first, right?”

  “It matters,” Lesser Half replied. “What is the most efficient way of generating sentient life that has the capability of developing a civilisation? Living beings that facilitate from extreme to extreme as and when needed, or those who can never tap on the extremes but eke out a living based on whatever they can muster?”

  “What a loaded question.”

  “I am the lesser spark, after all.” The black cube spun once. “However, you should understand now. The winner of this war will take everything. The resulting world they create will be one where all life is able to access everything within the spectrum. The only difference is the person doing the actual decision-making.”

  Claud rubbed his head. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t comprehend what this battle was for, but…was it really necessary?

  “…I see.” Claud looked at the raging battlefield. The three of them were trying to scout out the place, but the battlefield seemed to be a place that was raging on ceaselessly. Tides of tri-coloured light and waves of shadow danced and swirled on the ground, while enormous concentrations of power exploded high above the battlefield every so often.

  “This battlefield is insane. And this is just a small segment of the entire thing, right?” Lily asked. “I’ll be honest here, though. I’d rather dismantle a ignited bomb than to actually wade into the middle of this war.”

  “Which is why we aren’t doing that.”

  “Okay,” Lily replied, “but if we aren’t doing that, how are we even going to spy on the enemy? Our own reconnaissance methods aren’t going to cut it.”

  “We have artefacts from the Celestia Ruins,” Claud replied, thinking about the RECON artefact, “but they won’t survive in a place as mad as this.”

  “Well, it’s not always so mad…”

  Claud looked at the raging battlefield and found himself inclined to disagree.