I.. Am God?

When they entered, they were met with a man that looked like he was from the military, based on his build and hairstyle. He looked condescendingly at Cris and Gobb and sneered, "Why the hell did you bring your old man here, dipshit? This is the prestigious and powerful Illuminati, not a home for the aged."

In response to the man, Cris and Gobb just looked at him with disgust. "How dare you look at me like that?!" Provoked, the man dashed forward impossibly quick and threw a punch at them.

But, he immediately found himself immobilized as his feet and hands were suddenly restrained by something. He widened his eyes and turned to his arms and found golden rings preventing his movements any further.

"!!" He gasped in shock but quickly regained his arrogant demeanor, "Let me go, you dimwitted old man and you long-haired freak!" He shouted angrily.

Cris, with his narrowed eyes looking straight at the man, moved towards the man one step at a time, "How dare a young man like you address me in such a way? I have lived here for thousands of years more than you, and I have lived to see thousands of nations rising and falling."

He then waved his hand as three stacks of magic circles formed in front of the man's head, "You should suffer a little bit because of that." As soon as he  said that, the magic circles spun and lit up before shooting towards the man's forehead.

"Ahh!!" The man squealed in pain as he slumped down on the ground, clutching his head and clawing it like a maniac.

"Serves him right." Gobb thought to himself as he looked at the miserable but amusing thing in front of them.

"Ho? What do we have here?" Suddenly, a distorted voice sounded as the sound seemed to go near them.

Soon, ten black figures with a man in front of them arrived in front of them. The man was made of some kind of dark matter as it oozed out and flowed like gas. A silver crown was placed on its head while an armor of a similar color adorned its body. In the middle of the armor, a red teardrop crystal sat nice and tightly in its crevices.

Its acidic green eyes gazed at the convulsing man below and spat at him with unknown liquid, "Why is there a weak ant inside this godly domain? You're nothing but a waste of space."

He then threw a black substance at the man's body and, when the dark thing touched the person, it immediately devoured it before returning to the dark entity. "You even taste horrible." The entity shook with disgust.

The person's acidic green eyes then looked at two newly arrived people with an unknown expression, "Greetings, former members of The Ouroboros." The person greeted them with a very distorted gender neutral voice.

"You.." Cris looked at the person with a shocked and terrified expression on his face, "Umbra.."

"How disrespectful.." Umbra scoffed audibly and retorted coldly. No one of them could really determine what Umbra's emotion was when he said that, but it seems that he was really displeased.

"It seems I have to teach you a lesson." Umbra then disappeared and reappeared behind Cris. Umbra then extended its hand on Cris' head. "Urghh.." Cris grunted as he slumped down in a kneeling position. His eyes turned darker than black as it gazed into nothingness. Endless beads of sweat poured down his skin as he resisted Umbra's attack.

"Oh?" Umbra seemed to raise an eyebrow as he looked intriguingly at Cris, "You can resist my Shadow Nightmare? Then, I guess you passed."

It then turned to Gobb and scrutinized him. The latter felt as if he was being looked upon by thousands of souls as Umbra's green eyes focused on him. "You wouldn't be able to handle the Shadow Nightmare. You would just die." It then shifted his look at the rings, "But, with those with you, you can enter the Illuminati while passing the bare requirement." He then turned around to leave.

Right as it did so, Cris returned to normal as his chest heaved, panting as he caught his breath. "Oh, right." Umbra suddenly stopped on his steps as he turned around, "Next time, address me as the Lord of The Shadows. We're not equal for you to call me directly by my alias." After saying that, it turned once more and finally left.

After making sure that Umbra was gone, Gobb rushed towards Cris and helped him up, "Who was that, Grand Direct– I mean Uncle Cris?" He asked with fear lingering in his voice.

"T-The L-Lord of The S-Shadows.." Cris panted and stuttered as he did his best to reply, "H-He is a very powerful entity, capable of fighting even the highest of gods. As far as I know, even Andre can only defeat him by using all that he could."

"That powerful?!" Gobb gasped with horror. Since the inception of the Foundation, many Continental Directors have taken their seats in the seat of power. A lot of them had enough power to dominate their times, yet still, no one had the enough power to gauge the President's greatest strength.

It is undeniable that the President's power is above what they can perceive, yet someone inside The Illuminati really had the strength to go toe to toe with that powerful person?

"I already told you before that The Illuminati is a place where hidden dragons and glorious gods reside. It is understandable that the Lord of The Shadows has enough reason to be one of them." Cris sighed.

"It was a little less than a thousand and five hundred years ago when the Lord of The Shadows appeared." Cris started, "Back then, the world was also in chaos. Disasters were prevalent throughout the world, diseases became rampant, and darkness enveloped the world."

"Through numerous deaths, blood, and souls that were basked in the shadows, it emerged. Umbra once wiped out three hundred thousand people to satisfy his hunger. He spread his shadow throughout Europe and tortured the people."

"Fortunately, Andre rode from the East to stop him." He looked at the sky, thinking back to that day, "Umbra wanted to devour Andre in his Shadow Nightmare, but we all know that Andre has little to no care about nightmares."

"They fought violently, turning the south into a barren mess. Finally, using all of his power, Andre restrained the wild Umbra and tried to tame it. But, of course, Umbra escaped and here, it seemed to reside." Cris sighed.

Gobb also sighed and said, "I wonder where the President is. If not for his disappearance, the world wouldn't be this chaotic."

Cris closed his eyes and clicked his tongue, thinking of the same thing, "Yes.. I do hope that he's okay, because he is the only one that I know that can fix everything."

"Let's go." Cris sighed once more and opened his eyes with determination before beckoning Gobb as they walked deeper into the midst of the most mysterious force in the world.

Back in The Philippines..

Andre stepped out of his house and looked at the new world that is in front of him. Different from the world three months ago, the skies that were once blue was covered in a dark haze. It was as if it was already quarter to six although it was just noon.

There were also multiple patrol cars doing rounds in the area as the alert level is already at the highest. The entire place– no, the entire country– might be in a state of martial law.

As soon as he stepped out, he was noticed by some soldiers patrolling as they immediately strode towards him. "Mister, please return to your home. It is an order." One of the patrolmen commanded.

Although his voice was very authoritative and sounded absolute for a normal citizen, Andre wasn't one. Andre narrowed his eyes at him and reached to his back pocket and took out his wallet.

He then pulled out a card from the card slots and presented it to the soldier. The soldiers were shocked as soon as they saw the card and they immediately straightened up and saluted Andre who still had the card in his hand, "Kataas-taasang Komandante ng Hukbo!? (Highest Commander of The Army!?)" They greeted with respect and a hint of shock.

"We didn't know someone in a position as high as Sire is still here." The soldier said with a hint of surprise as he looked at the near 30 years old man in front of them

"What do you mean?" Andre asked without having any reactions visible on his face.

"Uh.. you didn't know, Sire?" The soldier had a suspicious look on his face, but he cannot really apprehend him, in fear of being reprimanded and kicked out of the regiment.

As of now, the military has a very high privilege inside the society, only second to the supernaturals themselves. Being booted out of the military at this time can put their families in danger, knowing that riots, infidels, and kidnappings are common in these trying times.