Titan King: Ascension of the Giant Chapter 1702 A Shared Divine Kingdom

The fight was over, and before Orion could shed the transformation, Commander was already at his side, frank surprise on his face.

"Stripped it down to the bones. Looks like less of a fighter than before—but raw force beats finesse every time. You're hitting harder now than you ever did."

Orion shifted from the four-headed, eight-armed shape back to ordinary human form. It looked like a weaker combat state. It wasn't. It was a body grown denser, strength reforged. Not an evolution of the blood—a secret art, forcing the body's shape to change so it could shoulder more power than it ever had before.

"I never used to see it. The whole Titanion Realm stands behind me—not just the Titan Continent." There was a lot in the words. He'd only come to it after turning hard inward. He was one of the holders of the world's Authority; his domain was the Titan Continent. But Orion and the Titan Continent alike were only pieces of the Titanion Realm. It came back to the beginning: from the moment Orion fused his Divine Vessel into the Titanion Realm, the Realm became his Divine Kingdom, and he earned the right to draw on the strength of the whole world.

By that same logic, the other Masters of the continents—the Lifeless Dreadgod, Archbishop Kysar, Moriphara—held the same right to call on the Titanion Realm's source-power. The one great difference: none of the three had a Divine Vessel, so none could shoulder more World Essence. Which meant, for now, Orion alone could call up the source-power of the entire world. He was the Titanion Realm's greatest hope—part of why he and the Stoneheart Horde had won the favor of the Will of the Realm.

"What you've got is a shared Divine Kingdom." Commander saw straight to the heart of it. "Here's some advice, kid. When the moment's right, you put the other three down or bring them to heel. Otherwise they blow up in your face sooner or later."

"They're still useful. Take them off the board and who carries the weight in the other regions?" Orion gave a barely perceptible nod, answering Commander while his attention drifted to Kaidric and the last sixth-stage enemy.

"All avatars, this lot. No real teeth in it. First probe, nothing worth watching." Commander sounded bored. He'd figured the Mirage Void for an older Ascendant Plane, its fabric strong enough to bear Divine Vessels—an enemy attack should have meant a true clash of the strong. He hadn't counted on them being this careful, sending nothing but avatars.

"Probe or not, it's plenty for us. If that fabled Sovereign of theirs weren't sleeping, what came today would've been the most ruinous strike the Boundless Expanse could throw."

Commander granted him that. An apex power slept with a Divine Mantle—even he wouldn't lightly bet on coming out ahead. When the strong measure themselves against the strong, there's no telling high from low without a fight that settles life and death.

"Kai, quit playing. Pin the enemy down—Blackstone City needs the source-power." Commander pulled his eyes off Orion and looked to the far reaches of the sky, pressing Kaidric to wrap it up. Old friends, the two of them; Commander knew his measure. Kaidric had fought at sixth-stage strength while still bound to a Demigod Artifact, and now that he'd ascended to sixth stage outright he overmatched his enemy by a wide margin. If he weren't busy honing his edge, the fight would have been done already.

"Give it a minute. I'm not finished playing." There was something gleeful and cruel under Kaidric's chuckle.

Down in Blackstone City, two men had watched the whole of it—Orion, Commander, Kaidric, every exchange—and the sight left them full of envy and admiration.

"My friend, is your companion truly under a thousand years old? An apex power that young—we've never seen the like, not even in the Saint Gran Council." As Deputy Speaker of the Saint Gran Council, Morando knew his order's history, every great name it had ever produced by heart. Even the old gods, at Orion's age, had been a touch stronger than a demigod and no more—nowhere near apex.

"Under five hundred, strictly speaking." Deputy Commander Edward held his hands out, body bowed a little, lowering them by slow degrees, terrified that one stray motion might throw it off. High over Blackstone City, the nearing war-citadel came down toward its planned berth in time with his movements. A long rolling crash—and only when Commander's citadel had grounded did the ease and pleasure break across Edward's face.

"So young." Morando let out another sigh. If he were Orion's age, he'd have stood up to fight for it—not sixth stage, but godhood itself. He'd have had the nerve to challenge the Speaker.

"After today, I don't imagine the Council will have any objection left to the satellite settlement." A question in form only; Edward's tone was all certainty, with a thread of quiet smugness through it. Orion gaining face in front of Morando was Edward gaining face before the whole Saint Gran Council. The stronger Orion, Commander, and Kaidric grew, the higher Edward's standing rose, and the more weight he carried. After this, not only would Orion and his Stoneheart Horde draw investment—Edward, a son of the Saint Gran Council himself, would see the Council's resources tilt his way.

"You're blaming me?" Morando shot him a sidelong look, caught between exasperation and amusement. "My friend, I'm only a Deputy Speaker. Don't give me more credit than I'm due. Investing in the Stoneheart Horde—standing up a satellite settlement on a strange, dangerous Ascendant Plane—that's beyond me. Beyond the Speaker too, without a nod from those few old hands behind the Council."

With the Saint Gran Council's strength and depth, if they truly set their minds to raising a satellite settlement for Orion, they could throw down a temporary fortress bristling with mage towers in short order, even if they couldn't relocate a whole battlefield overnight. The only reason the settlement hadn't broken ground was that the Council was still watching, still on the fence.

"Hmph. With the fighting strength Commander and Orion have now, even if those old hands showed up, they'd shake in their boots—if it didn't scare them half to death outright." Nerve makes for bold talk, and Edward was full of pride.

"My friend, don't forget you're one of us. Mock the Council and you mock yourself." Morando was in fine spirits all the same. Brokering the tie between the Saint Gran Council and the Stoneheart Horde had grown out of his friendship with Edward from the start. The better Orion and his Horde performed, the more the Council prized this powerful ally—and the greater Morando's hand in it all, his credit swelling right along, his standing climbing in the eyes of the other members. Down the line, it might even carry him to the Speaker's seat.