What was a god? Laz had never really considered that fact too much despite now being one. In fact, when he considered what people of religion would call a god versus the realm he was in now, he wondered just how accurate the saying was. There were, of course, all different forms of gods. There were those who created the earth and the cosmos and there were those who lived in the sky and played with mortals like chess pieces. The problem with it was, if the gods of those stories were really as powerful as people said, how long would a place like a planet hold their interest? And would they even be able to understand the problems and lives of mortals? Sure, some would perhaps find it interesting, but they themselves would live a very different life in which the problems of mortals wouldn’t cause much thought for them at all.

Have you ever owned an ant farm? How much time would you really spend watching it? minus making sure it had food and water enough for the ants survival, how much of their lives would you perceive to truly understand? Unless an ant had an outstanding feature or deformity, would they even be recognizable from all the other ants?

Probably not.

Instead, what made Laz a god was the birth of a world that he built within himself, a world that supplied him with energy by both absorbing it from without and making it from within. While it seemed like a real thing when Laz looked at it, it was simply his inner core and the way it looked and grew and he grew. It wasn’t a real world, at least not yet anyway. Perhaps one day it would be? Perhaps someone who had grown strong enough could make actual planets within the cosmos. But that kind of power would be far from the range of what was considered a god.

Could Laz fly? Sure. He could. But what would be the point right now? This world was so small he could get from one side to the other in almost no time and then be lost in whatever void existed outside this pocket dimension. While he was curious about that, he didn’t really have the time to check it out. Perhaps when he got back to his own planet, he would experiment more. Not that he could go into space, he still needed to breath after all. Or could he? He actually wasn’t too sure about that. Could he be killed by someone weaker than himself? Sure. Despite how hard his body was, it wasn’t like it couldn’t be pieced by the right blade or a beasts claws if the claws were hard enough so it wasn’t like he was immortal.

No. Gods were simply called that because of the level of their inner core. Once it resembled a world, they were called a god. That simple.

But there was a change in perception and overall mindset of a god, one that meant even when they slept, their attention could be spread out to alert them of an incoming threat. And it was Laz’s spiritual sense, his perception, that awoke him when the beasts were ordered to keep coming.

"Hmm... a thirty minute nap. Obviously even with it’s control, the beasts instincts meant they didn’t want to just throw themselves to their deaths, huh?" Laz said, standing up to see the lines reforming back beyond the devastation that he had caused earlier.

"What should we do now first?" Two asked, eyeing the line. Laz might have been able to nap, but even though his was able to calm himself down, Two wasn’t able to relax nearly as much.

"The beasts are being lead by level four beasts now. So.... Break everyone up into groups and have a void palace realm or two in the front to take on the level four beast. Until they get serious, we shouldn’t get serious. We will have quite a few days like this and we need to get everyone here into as good of shape as we can before the real battle begins."

"What kind of battle are you expecting boss?" Six asked, looking at the enemy lines.

"A battle of gods. When that happens... The legion needs to be ready. Any mistake or misstep would spell our downfall."

"If god level beasts really descend upon us... can we even fight back?" Seventeen asked in a rare moment of seriousness.

"When that happens, gods will fight the gods."

"Then will we have to kill all of the beasts just to survive?"

"No. Just one. If we can kill that thing... We will win..." Laz responded, eyeing the shadow dragon still hiding in the shade of a mountain hundreds of miles away.

"Why does it not just attack itself?"

"Because.... it’s not strong enough to ensure our demise. Not yet anyway. It only played tricks and games before to beat off those stronger that itself. But right now all of it’s concentration is on consuming the Emperor and it can’t spare even a little bit of it’s energy away from that fight. Even if he was a bastard who ate his own children.... he’s a tough bastard at the very least."

"Can the emperor win? What if he escapes the beasts control?" Six questioned.

"It can’t. I don’t really know why I think this... but something within me is telling me that beast isn’t something that a cowardly emperor can deal with. To be honest, I feel as though there is some great secret I’ve yet to find out about as for some reason, I was under the impression that the shadow dragon’s master was weaker than the shadow dragon is now.... So how could it get so strong so quickly?" Laz replied as he thought about that himself. After all, when they stole that temple that belonged to the nameless god, that love god was only a second level god and Laz had far outstripped that now. And yet the nameless god was powerless to do anything at the time to the ’love god,’ and yet sent the dragon after Laz.

’Something about that whole thing seems wrong now. I do feel stronger than that love god or at least the impression it gave me, but I still don’t feel anywhere close to the nameless god. And why did that love god need the temple anyway? It was just a transportation tool and it’s followers.... could I give people power the way it did? And why would I? What would be the point? There seems to be a lot about being a god I don’t know. I’m just following what my bloodline tells me without even thinking it through,’ Laz thought to himself as his legion was beginning to reequip themselves.

Laz spread out his senses, but didn’t participate this time. Instead, the numbers and trash legion members directed this battle from inside the squads of troops, working on their training.

One thing Laz did note was that as the beasts passed over the destroyed road, some of them stayed and began repairing the road, moving dirt into place while other beasts crushed it down. It was obvious that they considered how important the road was as their flying beasts were at a disadvantage with the seal in place.

Although he could do it again if he wanted, it would just waste some time and not lead to anything productive so there was no point. On the plus side, it did stall the lines enough for the squads to get in some quality time against a smaller force and the holes and devastation that was caused right in front of the gate still acted as a diversion. While they could repair the holes behind the lines, the ones at their line couldn’t be taken care of so easily and gave the Death Walkers a good terrain advantage in some spots. The Death Walkers didn’t need to advance forward so it was the beasts problems.

Still though, despite the ease with which they held on, the beasts never stopped coming, and their bodies quickly lined the holes in the road. As it was cold, there wasn’t much in terms of decay and smell, but once the piles got too high and allowed the beasts easier footing, Laz ordered oil to be brought forth and fires lit, burning the bodies to ashes and giving the beasts another obstacle.

By the end of the day, the beasts retreated back, dragging the bodies of their fallen comrades as they were able too. Seeing this, Blake wondered if they had learned to clean up after themselves, but Laz scanned as far as he could while staying outside the range of the shadow dragon and what he saw was a nightmare.

"They don’t have any food. Even if they are being driven by some form of mind control, they still need to eat otherwise they would be too weak to fight. As for supplies in the mountains? I’m sure you can guess about that. On top of that, they don’t have supplies being delivered which means they need to find their own meals. So can you guess what the dead are for?" Laz said, pointing to the road.

Any beasts that had fallen and ended up within range had been dragged away as a meal for other beasts.

"That’s a good thing though, right? Doesn’t that mean they can’t sustain a long period of siege?" Blake then asked after thinking about it. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Yeah. It also means the stronger ones will get fed while the weaker ones will be sent to die sooner and that as the days go by, they are going to get more and more desperate. But at some point, they will run low on food. And when that happens.... that’s when they will become the most dangerous."

"So the longer the siege lasts, the better off we are?" Six asked after a while.

"Us? Yeah. I guess. But you all are missing one other important point...." Laz said as he sat down on a stool that had been brought over for him.

"What’s that?"

"We might be safe, but what do you think is happening to the rest of the world while we are all held up here? If there are any humans left out there... what do you think will be happening to them right now?" Two said, his thinking in line with Laz’s. They knew the Empire had fallen, as had the island the Demons were on. But there were still several other nations further out. Without the Empire’s forces doing their thing, the humans would be at the mercy of the beasts. In the past, that meant most likely death. But with smart beasts having been tainted by the darkness of the shadow dragon, who knows what would happen to them.

"So even if we survive this..." Six started to say.

"The world has already fallen...." Blake finished as realization now dawned on each of them.