Icarus made his choice, and the Emperor granted him the mercy he deserved.
Inanna, restored to human form, watched the Emperor emerge from the cave carrying a head. The blazing Sacred Sword had been sheathed in its golden scabbard and no longer radiated heat. Scorching air no longer poured from the cave. The evening wind, still carrying residual warmth, swept across the charred desert wasteland, bringing with it an inescapable stench of burning.
The goddess of Venus tilted her head, wrapped in deep crimson silk, her raven-wing-like hair falling with gravity. She felt nothing at the sight of Icarus's head. In her view, the Eternals' deaths had long been fated. There was no need to feel anything over the death of an Inhuman.
"Did you obtain the location of the Earth Machine?" she asked curiously. "How many more people do we have to kill?"
"Icarus asked me to show mercy to the Eternals. I agreed, and I will try to keep blood from spilling onto the earth." The Emperor's voice was heavy with exhaustion. "Kronos is the most important one. As long as he dies, our objective will be achieved. He has no body in the physical universe. He has become the machine spirit of the Earth Machine, so I must kill him in the Outer Dimensions. Once we possess the Earth Machine, we can cultivate legions and launch the most important expedition."
Icarus's soul had been utterly incinerated by the Sacred Sword. The Eternals' Earth Machine could no longer capture it, and the body cloned for Icarus by its auxiliary activation chamber would never possess a soul. Before he ran toward eternal peace, he told the Emperor everything he knew.
After the Eternals split apart, each faction made its own choice. One group of Eternals led by Zuras had