Ascension of the Nephilim

The Lowlands had been in utter chaos over the past months since Kyros had left the group.

The adventures of the teams of Kyros were easy and a relaxing vacation for all of the troops if not for the thousands and thousands of dead enemies they left in their wake.

Mezal wrote their exploits' records and left them in a strange magic pillar. Images and recordings could be displayed in the pillar, and those who touched it could scroll over the events to see what had happened.

On that day, Hunter had returned to the Fortress after their escapades and began to read through the records of Mezal.

"Enter the Lowlands: Rise of the Steele Kingdom. Book Seven of Mezal Steele's records."

"The situation in the Lowlands could be summarized into this short phrase: Fate has established its roots in this land."

"The Steele family had done great things in this land. And as an old man who thought I'd die as a Champion, it is fitting for me to speak of my family's glory in the Lowlands."

"The orcs that were supposed to be the minions of Destiny to push through these lands were halted. They were being driven back and could not gain footing as several human kingdoms had suddenly risen to great power in the Lowlands. But, of course, this was only possible because of the Steele family and the Coven of Nephilim. So we were the hunters of those who are people of Destiny."

"The Lowlands was now under the thumb of four major powers who formed a powerful alliance. The Vaux Imperial Kingdom, the Addorant kingdom, and a new kingdom have positioned themselves in Airom had have begun to deal with the kingdoms in the Middle where I, Mezal, resided. The fourth power is the Mage Alliance negotiating with Battle Mage Commander Relik to return to the Mage Alliance as its nominal leader."

"The magical knowledge that the Emberdons presented created such great astonishment that many who saw the most basic of magic knew that the Lowlands could contend with the Midlands with this knowledge. Of course, this was all because of the efforts of the Library of the Nephilim, which we have now upgraded to level 2. Since Relik was the former mentor of the Emberdons, it only made sense to crown him as the Mage Alliance head. In a short span of time, Relik also grew in great power. He would stay in Middle for weeks and become more powerful. He was already close to becoming a Cardinal!"

"Now to the two kingdoms... The Vaux Imperial had my son, Branze Steele. With him in command and with his ever-growing miraculous power, he has been crowned the Supreme Commander of the Alliance. His shield could block several Cardinals easily. His wife, Diana Steele, was equally terrifying. With him and his astute strategies, they easily won and pushed back the orc armies. One could fight over a hundred with the strategies and traps they placed. But the biggest reason our advances were fast and swift is Wings of the Nephilim, who had to hide their true name and went by a rather humble name, the Wings of Steele. Their jet-propelled and powerful bombardment magic practically made the other mages worship the Steele family, and many wanted to join our family. We recruited those with Fate potential using the Emberdon's Fate detecting device... But we only managed to find four recruits!"

"It was reported to me that the other kingdoms were secretly communicating with the members of the Steele family. After our adventure in Future Middle, we have over a dozen mages who were home-grown servants. And it seems that the kingdoms and mages offered great wealth, beauties that will make the hearts of men leap, and other things to these servants of mine. How laughable. If they only knew the battle that's transpiring and how all these material gains seem like nothing in the coming time of the Middle. All my servants were Fated to be Challengers. These house-raised mages only laughed at the offer of these foolish lords. Yet many were desperate, and this would result in illegal means. But against Foresight, what can these people do? The Steele family continues to hold knowledge of the jet technology that is born out of my grandson's disgusting intelligence and the eccentric thoughts of Calaminus. With this, we have become the real superpower in the region. Fortresses fell in the wake of their flight. And when an Emberdon ride along with these mages, victory and mass destruction was assured."

"But in all of this victory, Branze and Diana were bored. They couldn't find an enemy that exited them until the Necromancer, Lorjdenheign, was forced to appear from the Dark Sea. Yet his Cardinal powers could not block my son's and his wife's twin shields, and he was forced to retreat. For some strange reason, Branze did not think that Lorjdenheign was of Destiny despite being a Challenger. He was not a Fate Challenger, nor was he of Destiny. UPDATE: 'Nightwing' had communicated to the Emberdons and told them to war every one of the New Era. He also told of True Challengers, which were those who had the power similar to us Challengers. Branze and Diana are searching for this fighter to capture."

"Now, as for the Addorant Kingdom, they were losing the war against a collaboration of orcs and undead. No doubt the Dark Shine kingdom is behind the sudden appearance of powerful dark dependents. The vampires had plagued the land, and the undead horde was moving everywhere, spreading dark energy that withered the crops. But right when things looked bleak, the small group of thirty soldiers led by Aron and Martha arrived, and they easily turned the tide in a few skirmishes."

"Their group targeted the strongest soldiers and fighters of the orcs and undead and used guerrilla tactics to kill orcs. The soldiers of these thirty, being our servants, could hold their ground against Champions for so long, and their leaders called themselves the Elite Four. They had agreed to use the talking dogs of the Emberdons, Edward, and Alphonse. Surprisingly, they have proven to be very useful in wars and skirmishes as they could sense and smell the enemies three times better than Martha, who has dragonic blood! They could smell an orc for over ten kilometers. And with that, hundreds of orcs would suddenly vanish at an instant in their patrols, and outposts would suddenly turn empty."

"I ordered them to use this tactic, and they killed more orcs and hid the heads in Martha's dimensional space. And when the Addorant kingdom was in an intense battle as the orcs and undead had no choice but to send the attack, I made them appear and kill the strongest Commanders and Champions. So the Addorant kingdom saw their saviors. And two of them were disowned archers of the Bowheart family."

"The disgraced Martha and Myas were already famous since they had made their appearance as part of my Steele family in Airom when all those kingdoms met with us. So naturally, they were very wary of Martha. Was she there for revenge for her family? Was she here to brag and laugh at them?"

"Of course, none of them expected Martha to use dimensional magic that threw the heads of the thousand they slew along the way. Aside from those they killed on the battlefield, the scene of Martha showering her 'gifts' to her kingdom was reportedly a very cool scene. This is according to Gregory. In any case, her power display was only second to what Aron revealed. A single slash that slew hundreds, maybe thousands, were engraved into everyone's memory. Myas tells me that the eyeballs of the Bowheart Patriarch nearly popped at the action of the man who was said to be Martha's husband."

"Little Gregory also fought and challenged the strongest Champion and easily defeated him. He then challenged a Commander and forced the Commander to get serious. But, of course, with the recent army of Mammon that Nightwing sent, Gregory could kill two of those Commanders now."

"To summarize, Myas Bowheart was crowned as a princess. His fiance, Gregory Porter, the last surviving member of the late merchant group, was supported by many merchants who knew him through the trades in Airom. Martha and Aron Steele had moved instantly, but Myas led the kingdom to prosperous victory."

"Lastly, a new kingdom of Orcs that had once been destroyed has risen from the ashes. While there was a princess and a king crowned, the advisor was the most feared man and was considered the real king of this kingdom. Grugnyr of the Thousand Deaths was famous for single-handedly defeating an army all by himself. His power was shockingly high that he could be content with Commanders! Grugnyr's rivalry with Gojirrah and Hunter has undoubtedly become very useful, and it seems that Grugnyr has an ancient heritage that has yet to awaken. But all in all, these four kingdoms are linked to the Steele family. And so, in this pillar, I described the glory, however fleeting and quick this might pass. At least, within the Lowlands, Fate had won."

Hunter finished browsing through the contents on the altar.

He glanced to the side and turned to Mezal.

"Do you like it?" Mezal asked with his eyes full of anticipation. He had been reciting the entire text written on the altar since he had memorized it by heart.

"I honestly would have liked to read it on my own and not have you read it to me..." Hunter sighed.