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n?The family spent a week together reunited, giving the various forces around the universe that had long been recruited but were busy ‘repopulating’ time to travel over using various battleships owned by Dante’s corporation.

nAntonia was much happier during this period of time, and so was Beatrice. Dante watched over them and mostly left them to fawn over each other, especially since Antonia was growing fast.

nAt the age of 3, she was already looking no different from a six-year-old and was much smarter than that. During the 6 months that Dante had spent with her, he had seen the occasional flicker of her physique awakening, as well as the myriad powers she inherited from him and Beatrice.

nShe wouldn’t have much of a childhood anymore as a lot of responsibility would be thrown on her shoulder, if not for just the Eternal and Centralis universes, then for the entire multiverse that her own father would be managing on behalf of the creator.

nHowever, this was a matter for later. Already, it had been put off long enough, so it was time to deal with the situation at hand. Dante and Beatrice took Antonia long to the corporation’s military section, where things would go down.

nNow obviously, it was near impossible to fit trillions and zillions of beings in one place to have a military speech and orientation. As such, all of this was going to occur through an Augmented Reality livestream for the new fighters on Dante’s side.

nStanding in the small rally square, dressed in their uniforms and already arranged in order, were the three original armies of the Superpowered, the Hellfire Demons, and the Martial Artists. At the front of the row were the 5 Deadly Sins; Harold, Lucian, Humphrey, Ricky, and Aisha, as well as the Gorgon, Slessor.

nWithin the part of space that only technology could access though, were all the other people who were semi-physically here in that they could access all 5 senses passively, but could not actively interact with the world.

nWhen Dante appeared in front of the army, he did not adopt a stern demeanor, smiling casually. He nodded to everyone and began speaking right away.

n“Hello everyone and welcome to what shall be a new force for the betterment of the entire multiverse. I’ll start by explaining some things about the foundation of our universe.” Dante began, immediately capturing the rapt attention of everyone with his words.

n“Firstly, you all know about higher dimensions through the establishment of the Eternal Academy and centuries of research into this matter. However, point of correction, there is only a single space of higher dimension above us and it is a single planet existing within a limited void.”

n“That planet is naturally Earth. On it exist humans as well as various fantastical beings from human mythology including elves, demons, giants, and more, but they are hidden in the shadows as the society of the higher dimensional Earth is urban and modern.”

n“Secondly, In this higher dimensional space lives the creator of our universe and the being keeping us all in existence. In a beautiful love story that transcends the ages, she fell in love with a mortal man and transferred him half of her divine power.”

n“This formerly mortal man, a human, is very smart and skilled, possessing management skills unlike the carefree goddess. With the power given to him, he crafted the entire of our multiversal space, a gigantic void that can birth universes and have them expire at the end of their life cycle.”

n“However, there is a… love triangle… between the goddess, another being, and the mortal turned god. This other being tried everything to sever the bond between the goddess and the human god, using very cruel means that will chill your hearts. This created a rift between them and the goddess as well as enmity between them and the human god.”

n“Things came to a head and an epic final battle occurred. For whatever reason, this other being was not killed, but was sealed by the human god, sealed with the body of a transcendent being that formed the divine connection between himself and the goddess. The safest place if you will.”

n“Thirdly, this being that represents the connection between the two deities of our entire reality was put in charge of managing our entire multiverse. They are the reason why we’re all here today, because this being needs our help and speaks through me as their representative.”

nDante raised a finger. “You saw the livestream with the two Laras and heard what we spoke about. If something from back then does not make sense now, you can replay them again.”

nHe gave them about 5 seconds to do so since everyone had AI chips and could easily replay scenes they had seen before at the speed of electricity. In no time, many confused expressions turned into ones of understanding and realization, then shock.

n“That’s right, the other being in this tale is Lara Sanguis. She was the first entity ever created by the Goddess and possesses authority over all elements in reality. After being sealed by the Human God, she sought to escape and stole a part of the authority used to govern and manage our entire multiverse to craft two things.”

n“The Zero Gate and the First Gate.”

nDante chuckled. “These two things are not natural occurrences, but deliberately laid traps by Lara. Without going too deep into it, you can picture the universe as an engine. Its existence powers life, laws, and everything within, but requires the fuel of energy from the being put in charge of us.”

n“Originally, with how it was designed, the system was autonomous and did not require work, as the energy consumed would be replaced in time, causing there to be no loss and even endless growth.”

n“However, the two new additions that we all treasure are actually akin to a sweet poison. Its framework is designed to drain the energy used to sustain the universes indefinitely for short term gains that are not replaced, causing a permanent loss.”

nDante’s eyes narrowed. “So in essence, ever since the Zero Gate and First Gate were created multiverse-wide, we have been on a timer to total extinction.”

nAs expected, everyone began to panic internally as a sense of existential crisis of a great level befell them. They felt like the air was tough to breathe and the atmosphere around them was filled with a certain heaviness that weighed down on their bodies.

nAntonia, who had been listening quietly seemed to understand some parts but did not understand others. However, the child also felt the weight of the problem and became anxious, clinging to her mother even tighter, causing Beatrice to comfort her gently. .

n“And this problem has an actually very simple solution. To simply capture the one causing this problem and reorganize the structure of the multiverse so that we can keep the benefits without the detriments.” Dante spoke in a light tone, truly making it sound casual.

nHe then gestured to everyone before him. “That is why I need you. Your duty is to invade every other universe in existence and draw out one of the clones of Lara hiding there and pulling the strings so I capture them. Once I have all of them, the problem will be easily resolved.”

nDante then beckoned to the side, where a bunch of androids warriors came out with an assortment of items. They were separated into five distinct groups, which each one being larger than the other.

nEveryone looked to the items with curiosity, wondering what they were. They were all obscured by a thick orange lightthat seemed to make their very souls tremble with desire, but there was also an underlying feeling of wariness and danger.

n“You must be wondering, as you all are, how can nearly a zillion of you from all around the universe possibly fit into one of my current three popular armies? There must not be enough superpowers, demon energy, or martial arts scrolls for all of you, right?”

nDante nodded to affirm his earlier words. “Well, you’d be right. I won’t be incorporating those of you who just came into one of these three armies, but rather forming a new army based on my new title and power.”

nImmediately, Dante could almost taste the disappointment in the air. The denizens of the Eternal Universe had heard of the exploits of Dante’s fabled army in the now-public First Gate, especially how they had torn through the Eternal Universe’s enemies as well as defended their lands.

nThe reason why Dante’s recruitment here could pull slightly over 50% of the known population of the universe was partly because of the reputation of these armies, apart from his own reputation of course.

nHearing that they wouldn’t be shuffled into these armies, many couldn’t help but feel disappointed, but none wanted to leave. After all, their burning curiosity towards the items Dante had brought forth and how he would use them to establish an army were at the forefront of their minds.

nThis content is taken from 𝘳.𝑐𝘰

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