Israeal Kaelthar
There was a cold light in the eyes of the Kaelthar Heir as he opened the hatch of his vessel, standing high and mighty above the atmosphere of the blue planet beneath.
Israeal seemed to be the polar opposite of Zoryx, and yet they were frighteningly alike. Many might mistake Israeal for arrogant, but his thoughts weren’t as such. Instead, he was just exceptionally cold.
His face was devoid of emotion, and there didn’t seem to be anything capable of pulling him off his center of balance.
Alarms blared and large formations streaked across the skies as the planet beneath braced itself. It seemed to have already detected an intruder, but even in the face of this, Israeal hardly responded at all, just standing there and waiting.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
There was a flicker that came from Israeal’s vessel, and the suffocating presence of the cannons of Aether was wiped out the moment they touched it.
The power of the cannons was almost certainly at the very limits of the E-Grade. But because of their scale, one-shotting D-Grades was well within their capabilities.
What no one would have ever expected was that the tiny vessel Israeal stood on, without even its main defenses activated, could block such a lethal assault.
The blue planet shook as though it was ready to gather more energy, but the end result was much the same.
Calm and indifferent, Israeal continued to stand there as the bombardment continued. He seemed to be more focused on proving a point than anything else, the continuous streams and assaults not fazing him.
In truth… Israeal’s parents had told him to wait. They were meant to see how things played out first, and only take action later. But this time… he had chosen to come on his own.
Did he know that he was putting the main Clan in danger? Yes, he did know.
But seeing an opportunity to become a Demi-God before him, he couldn’t allow it to slip by no matter what.
The wider world was slowly learning about what was happening, and soon everyone would want in on a piece of the action. The Thryskai were one of the most powerful races in the entire universe. Such a change to their hierarchy would bring countless into their fold.
No matter the risk, he had to do this.
So he waited patiently, clasping his hands behind his back and closing his eyes.
…
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Deray Hall stood in the throne room of his Hall family as the bombardment continued. His expression was entirely sunken, and he couldn’t help but feel that this was all his fault.
He thought that he could give his family a chance to change everything, but he had just ended up bringing such strong enemies upon himself.
His son, Jala Hall, was nowhere to be seen and hadn’t contacted them in several weeks now. And then there was his son’s uncle, who had seemingly fallen in battle at some unknown time.
Now there was this outsider standing outside of their planet, looking down so indifferently. No amount of bombardment was changing anything either.
“Enough.”
An old man walked into the throne room. His robes were as white as his head of hair, his back sloping into the support of his cane.
Jae Hall, the ancestor of their family and the one who led their world out from their Summoning. Many thought he was already long dead, and it could be said that he was the greatest secret of the Hall family.
Logically speaking, given how long it had been since their world’s Summoning, he should have long since been dead.
But here he was, in the flesh, and still spry enough to walk, even if it was with the help of a cane.
“Grandfather?”
Deray hurried to rush forward to help support the old man, but Jae waved him away.
“Unnecessary. Stop the firing, now. You are wasting Aether. That vessel is not something that we can contend with. You’ll burn the planet through.”
“But…”
“It cannot attack. That is why it is just standing in such a defensible position. If it could have attacked, it already would have.”
Deray’s eyes flickered, and he nodded, sending down the command. And soon… an outsider stood in their throne room.
…
“You’ve come for me?” Jae Hall said calmly.
Deray’s heart skipped a beat. What did that mean?
“Where is Jala Hall?” Israeal asked.
This time, even Jae was taken aback. They were looking for his grandson? What did this mean? Was this why Jala hadn’t returned in so long?
After a long while, Jae calmed and then smiled.
“So you’re looking for my great-grandson. How interesting, how interesting.”
Israeal stood there, waiting for the answer to his question, but when he saw that he wasn’t getting it, he couldn’t help but frown.
“You know why I’m here. You know what’s at stake if you don’t answer my question, and yet you don’t.”
“Of course I don’t. It doesn’t matter if you destroy the entire planet. What good is it to you? At least for me, it’s worth it if you destroy it. If you can’t find my great-grandson, that means the Hall Clan will continue into the future. And since I assume you have very good reason to try and find him, and yet have no capability of doing so, the odds that this will be a good future are even better, don’t you think?”
Israeal stood in silence for a long while. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.
“… Have you grown senile?” Israeal finally asked.
Jae burst into laughter, laughing so hard that his cane cracked the ground beneath it and caused the entire castle to quake.
“I’m sure you believe you have quite a great deal of information and leverage on me. I made choices back then to save myself and my family, abandoning our original world to come here with the help of Legacy to aid them in completing an experiment—but in the end, I betrayed them. Everything that I’ve built here can come crumbling down now that it’s been exposed.
“But do you know who information like this doesn’t work on?”
Jae grinned.
“Madmen.”