# 532
Chapter 532
The Nine Pillar Gods
Within the fog.
Egypt.
The blazing sun hung like a burning fire-ball in the sky, pouring endless light and heat over the silence. Through the haze, an ancient city floated in the heavens.
Here, even the sun seemed within arm’s reach.
The whole city was built of thick, ochre-yellow bricks that glittered like gold in the sunlight. Palatial stone structures rose above the clouds, their craftsmanship far beyond human comprehension; any one of them would be called a “miracle” on earth.
This sky-borne citadel beneath the sun was the gods’ homeland of Egypt—Sun City.
At its center, atop the highest point, hovered a circular plaza so vast it appeared boundless. Its surface was covered with dense, esoteric patterns. When sunlight struck them, they pulsed like living veins.
At the plaza’s edge, nine dazzling pillars of light stood towering.
On the horizon, a green hurricane bore clouds and fog toward the city like a tide.
Within the storm, a figure in cyan-white robes and a golden sash emerged, his body criss-crossed with sword wounds, his garments shredded. He looked utterly wretched.
He stepped onto the rim of Sun City; the next instant he stood atop one of the nine pillars. On its surface, cyan wind-runes flared to life.
This was the Pillar of Wind.
The moment he appeared, figures materialized on the other pillars.
In the end, six silhouettes stood upon the nine beams of light.
“Shu.” On the Pillar of Sun, a hazy form spoke slowly. “Where is Great Xia’s Fengdu?”
On the Pillar of Wind, the battered Shu hesitated. “…It was taken.”
At those four words, the other gods narrowed their eyes.
“Who took it—Asgard or Olympus?”
“Neither… it was Great Xia.”
“Great Xia?” The desert god Set frowned. “From the message Osiris sent before he died, apart from the Emperor of Fengdu, the other Great Xia gods shouldn’t be able to act.”
“It wasn’t a Great Xia god… it was a human with a sword.”
“A human?”
Save for the central sun god, every pillar god was stunned, then burst into laughter, eyes full of mockery.
“Shu, after cultivating your divine status for eons, you still lost to a mere mortal?”
“You let Fengdu slip away and fled in defeat… Shu, you’ve disgraced all Nine Pillar Gods.”
“Looks like next year most of your statues in the Human Enclosure will be pulled down.”
“Shu, are you even worthy to call yourself a child of the sun?”
…
Taunts rang from the pillars. Shu’s fists clenched, anger blazing in his eyes…
“Enough!”
His roar shook the plaza; vast wind-god might swept the other pillars.
“That human… is strong. Even you would lose to him!”
Instantly, several other divine auras erupted, colliding with his. Angry shouts followed.
“Shu, would you rebel?”
“We are gods—how could we lose to a human?”
“Ridiculous excuse…”
“Silence.”
On the central Pillar of Sun, the hazy figure spoke. Overwhelming solar authority crashed down, shattering every other pressure.
The gods fell quiet.
The figure turned slightly, gaze falling on Shu, whose shoulders sank as he lowered his head.
“Osiris died beneath Great Xia’s laws—no shame in that—and he sent us vital intelligence. But you, Shu, lost to a human, lost Fengdu, wasted Osiris’s sacrifice.
Without Fengdu, Osiris cannot revive; we cannot break Great Xia’s cycle of reincarnation. Without that piece of Great Xia’s dragon-vein, Amun’s national-luck curse cannot be cast.
Our two trump cards for conquering Great Xia were ruined by you.
Do you admit your fault?”
Shu opened his mouth, hesitated, then bowed.
“…I admit it.”
The sun-god figure nodded.
“That city fragment must not return to Great Xia. Since the human guardian is strong, Set, go with Shu. Take Amun; once you seize the fragment, begin the curse at once.
This time… there must be no failure.”
Amun—one of Egypt’s Eight Primordials, not among the Nine Pillars.
Desert god Set and Shu bowed together.
“We obey the Sun’s decree.”
The solar phantom looked to the other pillars. “Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Isis—attack Great Xia’s border from one direction. Stay together; split up and the humans will trap you one by one.
Do not press deep—razing a dozen border cities is enough. If we reach the core and wake the Great Xia gods repairing the Great Dao, they might shatter it to take us down with them.
If anyone moves to aid that fragment, cut away a second dragon-vein; the curse will still work.
With the fragment we destroy their reincarnation and curse their fate. Even if every Great Xia god emerges, they cannot turn the tide.”
“We obey the Sun’s decree.”
Rain-goddess Tefnut, earth-god Geb, sky-goddess Nut, and life-goddess Isis bowed.
“One more thing.” The solar silhouette spoke again. “The news that Great Xia’s gods cannot act was bought with Osiris’s life. No other pantheon must learn of it, or they’ll descend and divide Great Xia.
All of Great Xia… will be ours alone.”
“But our strike will draw every pantheon’s eye. What if they intervene?” Tefnut asked.
“They were terrified by Great Xia’s gods.” The hazy figure gave a cold laugh. “Unless they’re certain those gods cannot act, they won’t move. By the time they realize…
Great Xia will already be in our hands.”