Egypt.
City of the Sun.
The blazing sun hung above the ancient, magnificent city like a roaring furnace. Buildings of brick and stone rose into the clouds, gleaming like golden bricks beneath the sunlight.
At the highest point of the City of the Sun, atop the central one of the nine towering god pillars, the phantom sitting cross-legged upon the Sun God Pillar slowly opened his eyes.
His brows furrowed slightly.
"Why... is my mind so unsettled?"
His gaze swept across the ancient city below, but he found nothing unusual. Then he raised his eyes and looked into the distant void.
The other Nine Pillars of God noticed the Sun God's abnormality and opened their eyes one after another, seemingly puzzled.
"Is it Great Xia?" Shu, the God of Wind, guessed. "Did the descent of the Heavenly Court and the destruction of Takama-ga-hara pose a threat to us?"
"Though the gods of Takama-ga-hara were weaker than our ancient divine kingdoms, they were still one of the world's major pantheons. For the Heavenly Court to wipe them out so easily... their strength truly exceeded our expectations," another of the Nine Pillars of God said.
For the past century, Takama-ga-hara had remained hidden from the world. Apart from the Great Xia Gods, the many divine kingdoms knew neither that Takama-ga-hara had long fallen beneath the Red Moon nor that the divine kingdom Primordial Celestial Venerable had destroyed was already nothing more than an empty shell.
From their perspective, the Heavenly Court had emerged and immediately destroyed the major pantheon closest to them. Such combat power was simply terrifying.
That single sword strike from the Celestial Venerable had pushed the Great Xia Gods' deterrence in the eyes of the other pantheons to its peak.
"Though they are also an ancient divine kingdom, just