Apocalypse: Starting With Three Unique Blessings-Chapter 53: The Council.

-[The Next tier will begin in ten seconds]

"What the actual hell?" Magnus exclaimed, staring at the screen in front of him, his brows furrowing. Why would the system suddenly display this message? He was planning to advance to the next Tier, but the system usually gave him a proper warning and enough time not a ten-second countdown.

Ten seconds? Was that even enough time to do anything? To prepare his men? His soldiers stationed on the other side of the wall had come to reinforce his position during the recent battle with the Armored Ape. Ten seconds wasn’t nearly enough time to get them back to their posts.

And where was the beast horde? There wasn’t a single sign of them. Perhaps they were attacking a different section of the wall? But even then, it didn’t make sense. Although some of his men had come to his aid, few of his summon remained at their original post. They would have alerted him if a horde was approaching.

’Damn, I’m running out of time,’ Magnus thought, scrambling to reorganize his thoughts and formulate a plan. He needed to organize his men. He had no idea what was coming next. Even without any visible signs of an imminent beast horde, Magnus remained on high alert. Anything was possible. He needed to act, and act fast.

But just as he prepared to issue orders, the screen flashed again.

-[Time up. Next Tier will now begin.]

’What the actual fuck?’ Magnus thought, frustrated. But the thought was cut short by a searing pain that erupted in his head.

"Argh!" Magnus cried, clutching his head as he collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony. His cries, however, were drowned out by the cheers of his men celebrating their recent victory.

"Lord Magnus!" Kelvin, who was standing nearby, noticed Magnus convulsing on the ground.

"Lord Magnus!" The other soldiers, alerted by Kelvin’s cry, rushed towards their fallen leader.

"Someone get a healer! Something’s wrong with Lord Magnus!" Kelvin yelled.

Oblivious to the commotion around him, Magnus was consumed by an excruciating pain. It felt as if his head was being repeatedly smashed by a giant hammer. The pressure was immense, but thankfully, his skull remained intact.

"Argh!" He screamed again, his body convulsing violently. Suddenly, he felt his consciousness brush against something... something strange, yet incredibly powerful. The next moment, a pulling sensation ripped his consciousness from his body.

"Lord Magnus!" Kelvin shouted, shaking Magnus’s unresponsive form. "Lord Magnus, please stay with me!" His voice was thick with emotion. Magnus’s men gathered around, their faces etched with worry.

Elora, the lead healer, arrived with her team and immediately began working to revive Magnus. They employed every healing spell and ability at their disposal, but nothing seemed to work.

Magnus’s men continued to watch anxiously. His summon, however, were the most distressed. It wasn’t that the soldiers didn’t care; their concern simply couldn’t match the intensity of the bond shared by Magnus and his summons. The connection forged during the summoning ritual was unique and profound, almost as if their very souls were intertwined. They couldn’t help but feel deeply concerned.

Vorax also shared this powerful bond thought different from that of Magnus’s Summons.

Even before the contract, Magnus had hatched Vorax, creating a connection akin to that of a father and son. The contract only strengthened this already deep bond.

Seeing its master unconscious, Vorax let out a mighty roar. Through their link, it could sense that Magnus was still alive, but the sight of him sprawled on the ground, surrounded by people trying to revive him, was unsettling. It roared again and rushed towards Magnus, driven by an instinct to protect its unconscious master. Even with its considerable intelligence, Vorax couldn’t shake the feeling that it needed to be close, to stand guard. It didn’t matter that these people seemed to be helping; its duty was to protect his master.

Magnus’s men, seeing Vorax’s massive, intimidating, and spiky form approaching, immediately made way for the huge creature. Even though they knew Vorax was their lord’s pet, they were still scared of it. With Magnus unconscious and unable to control it, none of them wanted to be too close in case it went berserk.

Meanwhile, a hooded figure stood amongst the crowd of Magnus’s men, his eyes flashing with fear and despair towards Magnus. It was Kael.

While everyone was worried about Magnus, Kael was probably the most worried of all. He stared at Magnus, his heart pounding as he prayed nothing would happen to his master, the only person who had ever cared about him.

Magnus was the only one who didn’t treat him like a tool, the only one who treated him like a human being, the only one who considered his emotions and cared about his well-being. Something terrible happening to Magnus was unthinkable.

Through the link between master and summon, Kael, too, could sense Magnus, and he knew Magnus was still alive. But seeing the healers trying and failing to revive him made his heart sink.

"Please get better, Lord Magnus," he muttered under his breath, his gaze fixed on the scene.

---

Meanwhile, oblivious to all this, Magnus’s eyes snapped open. His consciousness had been traveling through a void—a tight, constricting void that felt like it was trying to compress him, like squeezing an adult into a water bottle. It was that tight.

After that painful journey, Magnus found himself standing in a vast, misty space.

-[The Fifth Tier has now begun.]

The system message flashed before him.

Magnus glared at the screen. "You fucker! You said I had ten seconds to get ready! And where the hell am I? How is this supposed to be a trial?"

He received no response from the system. Instead, a booming voice echoed through the space. "Kneel!"

"What the—" Magnus didn’t even have time to finish his sentence before a powerful force slammed him to his knees. He barely felt any resistance before he hit the ground with a thud. Even though he didn’t have a physical body in this space, only his soul, he couldn’t feel the pain of impact. However, he could feel the overwhelming energy that forced him down. It was immense.

"What the actual fuck is happening?" Magnus exclaimed.

"Mortal, how dare you curse before the Council of Gods!" the booming voice resounded, and the oppressive force on Magnus intensified.

Before Magnus could respond, the mist in front of him began to part. Not dissipate, but part, like curtains being drawn open.

Magnus gaped at the sight before him. It was magnificent.

Twelve grand pillars, shimmering with amethyst crystals and intricate golden designs, stood in a semicircle on a circular platform. The platform’s surface shimmered with magical patterns. Magnus was in the center.

Atop each pillar sat a figure clad in a flowing golden robe that draped down, almost reaching the platform far below. The pillars were incredibly tall, nearly three thousand feet high (914 meters), making the robes extraordinarily long.

Each figure radiated an ancient, majestic aura, the kind that compelled reverence.

Magnus shivered, feeling the combined aura of the twelve figures as he looked up at them. But as his eyes met their faces, a searing pain shot through his head. It felt like a powerful force was forcibly erasing the images of their faces from his memory.

Magnus quickly looked away, unwilling to endure the agonizing pain.

’What the actual hell?’ he thought, reeling. ’Who the fuck are these people?’

He remembered the voice mentioning something about a Council of Gods.

Before he could gather his thoughts, the booming voice echoed again. "Mortal, bow before your Gods."