Jake didn’t envy Miranda and Kindroth, who both had to convince a bunch of World Leaders that they would get crushed by superior forces, forcing them to submit to someone no matter what they did, and of the options available to them, Earth was the better choice.

Many World Leaders who didn’t actively engage with divine factions still didn’t fully understand the influence gods had on the new world and the sheer power these massive factions held. Especially not those who hadn’t gone to Nevermore themselves. They simply couldn’t imagine just how powerful a creature that could crush galaxies in the palm of their hands truly was. Even Jake had a hard time imagining it, and he had seen and experienced a vision of an S-grade Valdemar and Villy battle, where the mere shockwaves from their clashes could have destroyed planets if it had happened in a space not suited for their fight.

Miranda seemed to realize that trying to sell them on beings capable of blowing up their planets with a flick wasn’t realistic, so she would go with something far easier to imagine: sheer, overwhelming numbers. In the Milky Way right now, after dealing with the event, planets had only a few billion inhabitants in most cases, with many falling below a billion and others going far beyond that. With time, most inhabited planets would balloon to hundreds of billions, if not trillions, due to increased space from them all growing in size with the integration and the longer lifespans of everyone. That is unless some kind of population control was established, as the Records of planets could be diluted if there were too many born and living there, but it rarely tended to be a problem.

Anyway, the point was that everyone could see population numbers trending upward, especially should the galaxy enter a peaceful period. So, If a single planet could have that many people… how many could an entire galaxy have?

How about a galaxy cluster?

A supercluster?

The number of inhabited planets was an unimaginable number in every universe… and there were ninety-two other universes out there, some larger and some smaller than the ninety-third. People couldn’t imagine the sheer scale of the multiverse, but they could understand the basic concept that a faction spanning ninety-two – working on the ninety-third - universes had to have quite the army.

And soon, the ninety-third universe would begin to open up. These forces would be able to enter their universe, and no matter how much a planet tried or how good they thought they were, there was just no way they stood a shadow of a chance.

As Miranda had said, perhaps things would have been different if they had been in another galaxy. There were many instances where no one necessarily claimed a planet, even if they were aware of it, but just let the natives be if they were considered too weak to bother with or too resistant to recruitment. However, due to the sheer Records of the Milky Way, nothing would be left untouched, and everyone had to pick a side at one point or another.

The entire meeting ended up taking way too many hours for Jake’s liking as they went through topic after topic. After everyone seemed to understand that a side had to be picked, discussions around mutual defense were instantly raised, alongside skepticism that the Order of the Malefic Viper that backed Jake would truly stand against the Holy Church and Ell’Hakan.

Anyway, this was the reason Jake had to be in the meeting. Miranda’s foresight of what people would say was always scary, and she had gone as far as coach Jake on a little speech should this topic be brought up, as he taught the ones lacking multiversal common knowledge another basic lesson.

”I’m not going to argue against the Holy Church having far superior numbers. Neither am I going to deny that the Holy Church and Ell’Hakan have far more planets than we do under their influence. If you compared the standing army each could represent, they would definitely outclass us three-to-one if not even worse… but so what?” Jake began as he stood up. Energy began to gather in his surroundings as an arrow of arcane mana appeared, and Jake reached out and grasped it.

”A single one of these arrows could easily kill a thousand of their so-called army.”

Nine more arrows appeared. ”Ten thousand.”

Followed by that also getting increased tenfold.

”A hundred thousand dead… do you need me to go to a million?” Jake asked as he allowed his aura to spread, as his arcane mana bathed the room. He saw the uncomfortable faces of the World Leaders, and he let his mana linger for a moment before retracting it and continuing.

”You all seem rather stuck in the past, caring so much about who has the larger army despite how utterly irrelevant it is. The fighting power of a faction is no longer determined by their numbers. Half the people in this room could wipe out all life on a planet on their lonesome, with no army able to stop them. It doesn’t matter if you throw a million weaklings at them… all you’re accomplishing is wasting lives and potentially a bit of their time.”

It was true there were methods for numbers to be an important factor, namely through means deployed by factions such as the Holy Church or Endless Empire, but even that required someone powerful to be in charge, and there were limits that simply couldn’t be overcome. Jake simply didn’t believe that any number of D-grades, no matter what they did, could ever stand a chance at killing him. Also, even if they did… Jake could just not fight them and go straight for the head of the hydra and kill every leader of influence in the faction he was aiming to take down.

”Think about it. While the Holy Church may be powerful, why do you think the Malefic Viper and the Holy Mother can both be recognized as beings standing at the pinnacle of the universe? Why do you think no one has dared make the Order of the Malefic Viper an enemy, even during the absence of the Viper, simply due to the fear he would return one day? It’s because of the sheer personal power of a Primordial,” Jake continued as he glanced across the room.

”More often than not, the true power of a faction is not determined by its size, history, or achievements but solely by who rules it. Who its strongest member is. The Order of the Malefic Viper would simply be a shadow of its former self should the Malefic Viper fall or prove too weak to cement his position as a pinnacle being,” Jake said, purposefully giving Carmen a knowing look. ”There is a reason no one has even tried to declare war on Valhal. They have proven just how powerful their leader truly is time and time again. Valdemar does not hold the title of Wargod and wide acknowledgment as the strongest fighter in the multiverse for nothing, but is someone with such overwhelming proven power that even if he had no faction at all, he would still be an unbeatable one-man army.”

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Jake got a few weird looks from this statement where he praised another Primordial that much as he continued. ”Anyway, my point is, while we may have a smaller force than Ell’Hakan, we are certainly not weaker. While he has more fighters, I truly believe the quality of ours is superior. Oh, and should it come down to a direct clash between myself and the Chosen of Yip of Yore… I don’t see myself losing.”

No one in the room seemed to have any objections to this statement, as Jake had proven himself superior when it came to combat prior. He had ”won” in their only direct competition in the form of Nevermore, and the other Chosen had never fought Jake directly, despite Jake’s clear message that he was more than willing to have a bout. Of course, with recent strategies and schemes, Jake couldn’t actively ask to fight the guy all the time… but the fact that Ell’Hakan had avoided Jake when they were actively in conflict before Nevermore did add some weight.

Miranda took over for Jake after his display of power, as the more boring part continued. After a few more hours, things were finally coming to an end. A lot of discussion had been about redistribution of resources and helping the planets who needed aid after dealing with their Prima Guardians, which really didn’t interest Jake that much.

But, sometimes, boring stuff just had to be done, and they had accomplished their primary goals of this meeting. Their first objective had been to convince the other World Leaders they should back Earth and not Ell’Hakan, while another was to make them more comfortable around other races. Casper had spoken during the meeting and made the position of the Risen clear, flaunting his status as someone blessed by the Blightfather while making clear there were no plans of some massive undead takeover. Vesperia had also briefly shared the stance of the Endless Empire, but honestly, the World Leaders didn’t at all comprehend the significance of a True Royal, so it didn’t add that much. The Sky Whale also spoke a bit for the monsters and how maintaining an ecosystem of beasts on the planets was important and whatnot and how coexistence was the best choice.

Now, there was one more objective that Jake had a good feeling was also a success. As the meeting ended, Miranda dismissed everyone with a final short speech, as she stayed behind with a few others. These were the people Jake wanted to have the real meeting with. People in-the-know of the complicated situation with Ell’Hakan and all their scheming. This meant Caleb, Casper, Maria, and many others had to leave due to their relationship with major factions. It wasn’t that Jake didn’t trust them, but that he didn’t want to put them in a situation where they felt stuck between their loyalty to Jake and responsibility as a representative of their factions.

The only outlier was Carmen, who was allowed to stay. Miranda naturally also stayed alongside the Sword Saint, Sylphie, Vesperia, William, Arnold, and Sandy, who only joined now for this part of the meeting, as the giant space worm had successfully avoided taking part in the boring part of the meeting. William was there because he already knew the situation wasn’t as it seemed, and while Vesperia did come from a large faction, she held a position that didn’t require her to ever report anything.

After making sure it was only them in the lodge through his sphere and making sure the formation kept everything said confidential, Jake looked at Miranda. ”Do you think it was convincing enough? Too on-the-nose?”

”Maybe a little, but it can also help sell your genuine admiration of the Wargod,” Miranda said with a smile. ”Besides, you didn’t say anything that was untrue.”

This had been their final objective… because one of the invited World Leaders had been a spy Miranda had identified with the help of William more than two months ago. It was someone they knew for a fact reported back to Ell’Hakan and the Holy Church, and by now, they were likely already on their way back to their own planet to tell the Holy Church what had happened during this meeting. The guy had tried to hide it, but karmic magic was just too damn overpowered.

Anyway, what Jake had said could easily be interpreted as him actively saying he only respected the Malefic Viper because he held the title of someone powerful, and if that was proven wrong, he would more than gladly jump ship. At the same time, Jake had recognized that Valdemar was more than just a strong reputation, but a warrior who had undergone countless battles to prove his power.

In the eyes of someone already suspecting Jake could be convinced to switch sides, one could easily read between the lines and see this as a message that Jake was just waiting for Yip of Yore to make a move and prove the Viper indeed wasn’t as strong as he claimed. To be clear, Jake didn’t at all believe he would influence the actions of the god, but maybe this could help make Ell’Hakan not suspect Jake was planning to soon go on the offensive.

The fact Jake was making sure to have his own large faction and World Leaders under his banner could also easily be interpreted as a negotiation tactic and a way for him to increase his value should he end up joining Valhal or another faction. That, and it was only natural for a powerful leader to increase his own influence.

Jake wasn’t sure Ell’Hakan would read that far into it, but Miranda seemed pretty sure he would, so Jake just trusted her and went along with her plan. Hopefully, it all worked out, and the guy didn’t suspect that Jake and company were considering switching gears… assuming the others were on board, and he could talk to Villy soon and ensure he wouldn’t mess up anything for the god.

With everyone else gone, Jake took a deep breath as they all knew he had been planning something.

”Am I the only one who’s tired of all this?” Jake asked the room. ”All this scheming behind closed doors and deceit to hide our true thoughts and feelings.”

”What are you getting at?” the Sword Saint asked, getting straight to the point.

Jake took a moment as he looked at the floor before sighing.

”I realize have been way too fucking passive regarding Yip’s Chosen. From our very first meeting, Ell’Hakan has always been the one issuing the challenges and the one planning out our encounters. Sure, I got one over him at Nevermore, but the second we were back here, it felt like I was caught in his tempo once more,” Jake began, having had plenty of time to reflect on the conflict.

”For a good while, I wondered why I hadn’t even tried to be more proactive, but recently I realized… I just didn’t really want to deal with him. He’s not the kind of opponent I enjoy fighting. I think the reason why he sees me as an enemy is stupid in the first place, and he can’t just be normal and try to kill me like a normal person but has to spin all his stupid stories rather than just show up in front of me,” Jake continued in an annoyed tone.

”His Path is dumb, and he is a pain to deal with… but I now know I really don’t have a choice if I want to deal with him or not. He’s going to keep being an annoying asshole until I put an arrow in his forehead. Without him, this Desolate Child of Loss wouldn’t have existed. Without him, Earth wouldn’t have been invaded… and without him, I wouldn’t have to attend a bunch of fucking boring meetings discussing how to deal with his schemes. So, the reason I called this meeting is to make a proposal to stop scheming. To find an opening and exploit it to go straight for the jugular. All his tricks, all his deceit, all of it will disappear with his death.”

Miranda looked at Jake with uncertainty. ”This is quite the radical shift in approach… and with the Holy Church now openly backing him, things are even more complicated, and-”

”Then stop making them complicated,” Jake said. ”Killing an enemy isn’t a complicated concept. Killing those who seek to defend your enemy isn’t a complex concept either.”

The Verdant Witch fell silent for a bit as the Sword Saint spoke. ”I’ll be honest… I’m surprised it took you this long. I half-expected having to convince you not to instantly use the cross-galaxy teleporter to invade Ell’Hakan’s homeworld.”

”So you’re opposed to taking more proactive actions?” Jake asked the old man.

”I’m not saying that,” the swordsman smiled. ”I’m just saying that you can’t go at it too simple-mindedly. You will need some form of planning to get to Ell’Hakan, and you need to ensure his support network is dismantled or, at the very least, disrupted before you attack. Finally, have you considered perhaps the most important question…”

The Sword Saint leaned forward and looked Jake in the eyes.

”What if you’re not capable of killing him?”