"I am here. Why have you called this emergency meeting?" I questioned the goddess seated across from me.

  I was abruptly pulled from my playthrough just when things were getting interesting. An emergency and also a mandatory meeting notification came across my vision. This was something you don't just ignore, even during a playthrough. Normally playthroughs are sacred; we leave a big do not disturb sign hanging over us. But an emergency meeting was in itself an emergency.

  "Let us wait for the rest to arrive, but assure you this is a matter of extreme importance." She explained, and I accepted that for now.

  Taking my place at the conference table I adjusted my tie, I manifested a business suit, needed to keep the entire company look going. But I was never a god that was formal all the time. Now seated I leaned back in my chair, trying to keep myself from fidgeting. I got this way during game time, I could never sit still during breaks, to eagre to return. Games were not just entertainment they were a life. I loved and breathe my game, something the others could never truly fathom. They were all gods of tangible concepts, magic, martial arts, healing and control. I was born of gaming; it defines my entire being.

  Glancing across the table I gave the goddess before me a once over. She was in her typical divine attire, but anyone from a magical world or just an earther during Halloween could recognise it as the stereotypical witch costume. Only hers was divine tier if we plugged it into the system. Her conical hat was deep purple and seemed to shimmer in the light, the fabric was inlaid with runes and symbols that would baffle every wizard in the universe. It radiated her style of divinity, not the typical primordial energy most gods used, but a purified version of mana that was on par with divinity itself. The rest were equally divine tier, a purple decorative dress and a wand at her side. That piece of wood could command spells strong enough to wipe planets away. Not that she would, she was never a wrathful goddess.

  "What's with the hat Andrea, you going old school today?" I asked.

  "You know I don't understand those idioms." Her mesmerising and refined voice came forth.

  "Earth idiom, you really should pay more attention to the earth feeds. They are an important source of inspiration for the company."

  "I am in management Ludus, not content creation." She said without looking up from her tablet, which appeared out of thin air.

  "You used to be." I grumbled, letting a little frustration come out.

  A clank of tablet falling to the table pulled my attention. Andrea, goddess of witchcraft, lady of forbidden knowledge, stared me down. Any lesser man would flinch at that gaze, piercing your very soul, power just behind those eyes that changed colour depending on her mood. It was dark purple right now, which meant she was not in the mood.

  "I am sorry Lu, but times are changing, we can't game like we used to. Somebody needs to mange this..." her words stuttered, a little emotion coming out, "beautiful universe we created, needs to be maintained."

  "I get it, its not like I don't understand. But with all our advances in automation, the new systems we have put in place... I thought we would have time to at least enjoy our work."

  "I know Lu, I know." She exhaled a heavy sigh, pushing her tablet to the side. "We don't have time right now. Events have come up that we need to deal with."

  I nodded, accepting her words for now and just in that moment the other founding members arrived. Unlike us they were a little showy in their entrances. A small tornado swirled into existence around a chair to my right, dropping a bald humanoid dressed in white robes with a third eye atop his forehead.

  "Greetings." He said in a gruff voice, bowing to each of us.

  "Araman, thank you for coming." Andrea greeted.

  A moment later the last two arrived, a woman with golden hair and dressed in silver robes fit for a priestess of purity descended from ceiling bathed in light. Her typical mode of travel, she was the flashiest of the group, despite being oddly modest in daily life.

  "Hey Physia, you are looking radiant as ever." I complimented, she was the only goddess I could never be truly mad at for long.

  "Ludus, what a lovely suit." Her wonderful voice rang out and would gave healed the entire room of every ache and pain if any mortals were present.

  Just as she took her seat another being arrived, materialising from nothing, atom by atom in a beam of energy, forming into a humanoid figure. Unlike the rest of us that had human like visages he only took the shape of a human, without the typical features. No nose, mouth, hair and anything to define it beyond a simple mannequin.

  "Hey Hive how goes it."

  "I am well, Ludus." The monotone voice sounded in my head, telepathy was his style.

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  "Good, now that everyone's here we have important matters to discuss." Andrea wasted no time getting our attention.

  "And what matter is this?" I questioned.

  "I think it would be better if you heard it from our guest." She gestured to the corner of the room.

  Glancing at the empty space, I was about to question her when suddenly an ominous energy started to slowly coalesce at a single point. Energy I recognised, any divine being worth their worship would know that at a glance. The essence of sin, the eternal corruption, the taint of chaos. All names to this frightful energy that mortal and god despised in equal measure. Well, that was the propaganda. It was just the Infernum another realm with its unique power source, sin itself. Not my preferred energy, bit to chaotic for my taste, I preferred the subtlety of mana, the bluntness of Qi and the whimsy of my personal power, the system.

  The energy built up to a critical mass, erupting into a gout of hellfire, flashing into a humanoid form. What appeared as the flames died down was a humanoid but not human at all. It had the head of a bull with curved horns and crimson glowing eyes. The bull's head sat on shoulders that morphed into a human shape, wearing a bespoke black suit and tie, Armani I believe. Tracing further down the creature's feet were bare, only they weren't any human feet. Instead of pink toes there were hooves and with a spade tipped tail flapping about behind them. The creature was a horror made flesh, a demon of the ancient world, the devil of the infernum, feared by both heaven and hell.

  "Moloch? What are you doing here?" I frowned at the mischievous devil.

  "Oh, you know me Ludus, making deals, playing both sides, the old schemes."

  "The old schemes were child sacrifice Mol, you're not doing that anymore?" I gave him the side eye of judgement.

  "Of course not, very little in it for us. We are into conflict and corruption these days." Moloch admitted, shrugging.

  "Really now? You aren't planning any of that here?" I pressed, concerned my old free was cooking up some conflict.

  "No, I have no stake in this realm. I can't say the same for my brothers and sisters." He adjusted his tie and winked at me.

  "Love the suit... Armani?"

  "Yes, it is. But yours smells of Savile Row?"

  "Indeed, I guess we both visit Earth variants for our tailoring... wait what was that about your kin?"

  "That is why we are here." Andrea chimed in.

  "And why is that? I am not comfortable with a devil in our midst, I was never comfortable with their involvement." Physia gave Moloch a scathing look.

  "Peace Physia." Andrea raised a hand, forestalling any conflict. "Moloch has been a very cooperative patron in the past and deserves a modicum of respect..." she turned to the demon. "That does not mean we respect all your kind entails."

  "It is fine. I am not offended." The demon raised both clawed hands as if surrendering.

  "Why is he here, explain?" The stern voice of Araman spoke up.

  "I would like to know as well." Hives monotone voice echoed across the room.

  "I was getting to that," Andrea gestured for the them to sit, "Moloch has information he wishes to share, which correlates to a few reports I have received." She nodded to the now seated demon.

  "Thank you, Divine Witch of the Forbidden." Moloch bowed, invoking an old title.

  "Why don't you use some of my old titles?" I complained.

  "You don't need any more ego stroking." Moloch said.

  Glancing at Andrea, I could see she had her patterned frown. I didn't need to use any of my divine perception abilities to see she was not happy with the banter. By the Titans, she got so serious nowadays.

  "Can we get on with it?" She said, giving a scathing look to a demon and a god.

  "As you wish mighty witch." Moloch bowed theatrically.

  "Good, now I have called this meeting to inform you all of a breach."

  "What kind of breach?" Hive inquired.

  "A breach of infernal origin." She sent a side eye to the devil.

  "Are you breaching us Mol?" I accused with mock surprise.

  "Not currently my old friend..." he grinned, "but I can't say the same for my kin."

  "Are you brothers and sisters at their old schemes again?"

  "They just get bigger and bigger. Boredom and eternity will do that to you."

  "You should totally build a game universe, it's a lot of fun." I suggested.

  "Probably not wise considering what my kin find fun, but I'll keep that in mind." Moloch nodded.

  "What's going on then?" I asked, letting some seriousness slip into my tone.

  "I have learned some of my cohorts are starting a major scheme, or perhaps multiple schemes. Many realms are involved, including yours." He explained.

  "Moloch was kind enough to give us this information as it matches several breaches we have detected on several of our worlds."

  "What breaches, corruption?" Araman asked.

  "Infernal Gates, several demonic incursions have been detected." She explained.

  "So we have a few demons. We can send some system quests to hunt them down." I suggested.

  "That is not the core issue. The incursion occurred as we were putting the new project in place and several systems integrated entities were taken through the gate to parts unknown."

  "They would become unlinked from the system." I realised where she was going with this.

  "Correct, but that is not the only anomaly." She frowned. "Before we corrected it, one of the new System AI's to ensure proper management, copied itself and sent that copy through the infernal gate."

  My smile vanished the moment those words were uttered. Many thoughts passed across my mind, but only one of them came forth as speech. "How many have escaped?"

  "Just one. We could issue a universal command preventing any further actions." She explained.

  "Ill find it. What was the progenitors' designation?"

  "Grimgard." She answered.

  I paused for a moment, absorbing the name and wondered what were the chances of that. But I had no time to waste and began scanning for any iterations of the Grimgard construct. Nothing but the progenitor existed within my realm, so I sent my senses beyond this realm, scouring the multiverse to every corner I could reach and found... nothing.

  "I can't sense it... it's... he is gone."

  "We devil can conceal things even from gods. They have concealed many things, the invasion of this realm and another I heard about." Moloch looked puzzled. "What was the name? Oh yes it was one of the Earth variants, I am not sure which one." He shrugged. "Besides, they have concealed that realm, even I can't find it."

  "Earth? The Infernum hasn't cared for earth for thousands of years."

  "Our interests are like the wind or a hurricane." He grinned.

  "Fine." I turned to Andrea. "Send out a system alert to all worlds affected, tell everyone demons have invaded. I want system quests to kick them out of our realm." I shifted back to Moloch. "I am assuming this is acceptable? And if we directly intervened your brothers and sisters would directly intervene as well?"

  "That was the rules we decided upon."

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