A few hours after the death of lord Bairon, the last living councilman of the Echlisiarchy, Rex was lying on a sofa in one of his mansions recreation rooms, his head on the lap of Leifia, who along with Aina slowly, calmly and affectionately combed his his hair. The rest of his girls were sat on the sofas around, creating a rather serene and calming atmosphere. Rex had spent the last hour like this, thinking things over and listening to what his women have to say about the current situation.
"So, seems like there is quite the consensous regarding the remaining people of Echlisiarchy." Rex finally spoke, having heard all the girls had to say, not really suprised by their near unanimous decision. Val, Mel and Irina were the only ones who did not spoke in favour of sparing as many people as possible, thought that was due to them growing up in the cruel culture of the dungeon orcs, thus making them indeifferent towards people who were not part opf their family or tribe, not because they were in favour of continious indiscriminate slaughter. Even Arana fine with letting the rest of them live, her anger and bloodline rampage having been sated, returning her to the mostly calm girl she was before, though she was no longer as timid or scared as she used to be. Time spent amont a strong willed and friendly women had left its mark on her, something Rex was immensly happy about.
"The main question is different however." Rashuun spoke . "Do you want to let them live, only purging the rot that is their ruling class and their dirrect lackeys? Because if not, this is all pointless anyways. If not now, eventually your hatred would surface and that could be a lot worse than just finishing what you have started now."
She made a good point. something the other girls quickly agreed with, allowing Rex a while for yet another moment of introspection. In the end, it came to the same conclusion as it had the last few times he pondered on the question, but the same answer came through yet again.
"Well, it indeed seems that I no longer have that gnawing desire to end each and every single echlisiarchinas life, unless I have made them slaves. Honestly, old Bairon was probably a character I needed to meet early on in the campaign, maybee even less people would have been culled. Well, it is what it is. I still feel the need to cleanse the damn nobles though."
"As you should." chimed in Vivian. "Just how did their ruling class managed to reach the levels of their depravity is beyond me, and cultivators are quite the extremes with their likes, and that already says something."
"Yes indeed. Such ruling class should never be allowed to develop. We are doing not only their nation a favour by actually alowing them to live, but we are even kind enough to remove the elements of their society that has brought them to the brink of their nation." finalized Izumi.
"Emm, now that the serious talk is over, can we maybee switch to something more pleasant for the rest of the day?" Asked Aisha with a rather cute shade of crimson to her cheeks. "We girls need some attention after all." she added as she bit her lip and looked to Rex with pleading eyes.
Rex eyes focused on her and then a large smile adorned his face. "How can I deny such heartfelt and earnest request."
The rest of the day and folowing night was spent in a rather passionate way as Rex gave the girls exactly what they wanted, leaving them all exausted but with blissfull expressions on their faces. Only Rashuun and Izumi were still properly conscious, since Rex was much more carefull and gentle with the two pregnant women. The trio were relaxing on a sofa, both women nudged in his sides with their heas nudged in both sides of his neck.
"Are you planning to go back to Echlisiarchy, now that only cleaning up the dregs and remaining nobles remain?" Asked Izumi eventually.
"Not anytime soon. A rather large gate has been placed in Rahen 'castle', giving the Svergi free acess to it and the lands around. The corpses have been drained leaving only a scrapyard behind that they themselves will deal with. Soriana is in charge of purging the nobles and establishing a new governing system and revising and cleaning up their holy texts. So, while I still have a rather strict surveilence over their territories, I dont plan on going there any time soon. I wanted to do a quick dive into the deep floors of any of the dungeons and maybee capture a few more S class monsters to brand for the auction. Victor, Eredar and Brogni would surely be quite happy with that."
"Whats in the plans for after the auction?" Asked Rashuun "Dont tell me you dont have any ideas regarding the next few steps to take." she suspiciously eyed Rex from her position, nudged in his side.
"A few posibilities, yes, though nothing concrete. I could do a deeper dive in one of the dungeons of the now cleansed teritories, I could go and explore one of the less known islands at the Misty Drift region. Could also visit and explore one of the countless continents we have barely any knowledge off. That too, I want to spend some time in deciding. I want your thoughts and ideas regarding that as well. No point in exploring new areas and places that are not guaranteed to be dealy and not have some of you along for the adventure I suppose. Though the auction comes first, obviously. Can I ask you two to start asking the girls to think on it for a while. Who knows where the more intriguing ideas will come from."
"Of Course Rex." They both replied lightly, more and more pleased with his willingness to both listen to their opinions and ideas, as well as ask for their help in realizing his plans. Neither Rashuun nor Izumi were his slaves to begin with, so his slow growth was more than just welcome, both in power and maturity. His willingness to depend on his family, instead of just singlemindedly charging forward, destroying every obstacle in the way, was quite the sign of his growth.
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Days went by, with Rex spending quite a bit of his time alongside his women, making a few quick trips to the dungeon in Blythe, shaking of the rust by cleaving through quite a few monsters on the deep floors. Ferocious and somewhat mindless beasts were not much of an issue for him to deal with, but slap together a horde of S or SS class monsters of such disposition, and suddenly even Rex could find quite a bit of enjoyment from such an event. The gains he aquired in such a situation was also many times greater than whatever he gained during his campaign in the Echlisiarchy.
Soriana and her paladins were doing gods work on the purging of the old nobility back there, leaving a veritable river of noble blood in their wake. Thanks to the reknown and fame of her squad in their own lands she had little to no trouble when it came to ordinary people, each and every one gladly sharing any and all knowledge they might have about any of the noble family members they had seen or heard about. Rex even dispelled the barrier walls between the territories that were cleansed by Soriana and her paladins. Fourteen squads consisting of a paladin from her squad, a sizable unit of blood constructs and a few cosmic ravens flying high in the skies, keeping an eye on things worked tremendously well and fast, cleansing the remaining territories with astonishing speed.
Unfortunately, most of the high clergy had to be taken out as well, what with a lack of messengers from their god and their refusal to accept the change. Soriana herself was still in quite the disbelief regarding two individuals Rex shared information about, using both as the main reason that the people who were not culled are alive thanks to. The last high Oracle, who had used her station to save as many archons as she could, masking it as an unquenchable thirst and desire to burn them down till nothing but ash remains. And then lord Bairon. The greatest hero in the last few centuries of their nation, whose worst vice was an infatuation with archon women, whom he had quite the large number as his hidden lovers, going so far as siring at least one child with most, if not all of them.
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And that was the knowledge she and her squad was sharing as well. Tow individuals in extremely high positions in the rotten system that ruled over them, doing their level best to better their nation, all the while balancing on a knifes edge not to arouse suspicion and then swift execution from their corrupt and fallen bretheren. Lord Bairon had even willingly paid with his life for all the failings he had acrued during his reign as one of the council members. Adrianas punishement, if it could be called that, was to keep doing what she had been doing- taking care of the archons she had saved, as well as the destruction of the order of the oracle.
With the stories of the two heroes of their own nation slowly spreading, along with the silent removal of the remainng nobles, clergymen and any agressive dissidents, as few as they were, a new order was quick to establish within the now freed territories. The Svergi from Mountains Rage tribe also moved around, claiming the land and making the humans in the territories aware of their presence. Rahen became their home base and the central point of their expansion into the lands of the former Echlisiarchy. With no military to speak of and the baseline difference in the power both races displayed, no conflicts arouse during the arrival of the half giant people.
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In the folowing two months Soriana and her paladins finished their asigned task, having mostly purged the majority of their targets and cleansed the church as well. Their people were now free of the cebturies long choking opression of the ever more corrupt nobles, breathing a sigh of relief and happiness. For the first time in foreevr, they did not have to worry about their lords taking their people to never be seen and heard from. And while there was resentment towards Rex, since most of their men had been recruited and consequently slain in the last war for their capital, there was also a begrudging spark of respect, mostly shadowed by fera though, at least for now, his monstrous power and ability for ruthessness dominating most minds.
The barrier had been entirely dissolved, once again returning the now ruined nation to the sights of the international comunity, though noone was brash and stupid enough to expoit the current weakness of said remnants of Echlisiarchy. There was a deadly threat standing behiind the remains of them, threatening anyone who decided to try and grab a piece of this juicy pie before their eyes. No, there was a guarddog that could chomp off not only their grubby little digits as they reached for said piece of the pie, but the rest of their arm alongside it. It was simply too dangerous to provoke a beast that had not only anihilated the armies of an entire nation, but before that somehow created a barrier large and powerfull enough to both encompass and lock away and entire nation. Such power, no matter how achieved was to be wary of.
What knowledge traveled beyond the borders to the courts of other higly influential and powerfull rulers was not much, but enough to make waves and force them to reconsider their stances in multiple different questions, the greatest of them being how archons were percieved and treated. While rare, there were places that considered them lessers, not to the extent of echlisiarchy, but enough to make their lives much harder and quite unpleasant. There, numerous new laws were introduced in a record time, trying to wipe away any and all signs of such previous practices. Each and every ruler fearing fro their own safety and rule after learning of Echlisiarchys fate. After all the entirety of their ruling class was exterminated. All at the hands of a single archon mercenary by the name of Neo. Of course with more knowledge arriving, it became clear that there was help from an extremely powerfull blood mage as well, the army of extremely powerfull blood constructs being the most glaring and obvious giveaway. Obviously, Rex from Blythe was assisting the archon, no doubt more interested in ensuring his supplier of heaven grade meat gets his personal crusade over as fas as possible and return to providing him with more of the same. The rumors of the reduced amount in the earth grade meat being sold in Blythe further strenghtened said asumption, fortifying the already rather obvious strong cooperation between the blood mage and the warrior.
On the topic of Rex, his value and signifigance once again rose heavily in the eyes of the nobility on the continents within reach of Blythe. He was classified as a proper X class being. Someone capable of creating an army of A class constructs, with the only requirements being enough material, the most of which was blood demanded the special designation he was given. Even the mage tower could not argue one bit. Everyone now understood the reason their own blood mage that had been sent there was so shaken and scared upon their meeting. The man must have felt it back then- the terrifying power and depths of his potential. In light of this, they once again sent a delegation of their own to Blythe, hoping to earn a better position of favour in the eyes the blood mage Rex, one of the movers in this world for centuries to come, if his close cooperation with Neo was any indication.
The people who had dealt with either Rex or Neo in the past on friendly terms were even more happy than before, their position much more secure than before, as it was expected, with such a powerfull connection serving as yet another safety net for their own future. The kitsunes were particularily happy with their own situation. While izumi was no longer reporting to them as she had been at the very early stages of her service to Rex, she was still on good terms with her home nation. She had not even bothered to hide the fact that she was in fact the first, alongside Rashuun, the previous matriarch of the succubi, the first to bear his child. That, and the fact she was now an eight tailed kitsune placed her on the same, if not higher pedestal than their current emperor.
She regularily had pleasnt talks with her mother, who now no longer acted subserient and meek back in the clan, her father having to scale back his own ironclad rule over her due to Izumis existance. The other kitsune princeses traded to Neo, with Izumis help, of course, had also grown much and where on the were of bloodline evolution as well. That had been a shock and a half to the council, when an emergency meeting was called, one of the clans too exited to boast the fortune of their daughter, even if she was no longer technically theirs. The blood connection would ensure their safety anyhow, if the letters sent by them was anything to go by. Their new master was treating them like lovers, not slaves and they were afforded much greater freedom than most spouses of other nobles ever would be. imagine the stuppor when the other two clans reported the same situation, bringing their meeting hall to a stunned silence. Just how much heaven grade was in his possesion to be able to empower so much girls and in such short time period. Still, kitsunes did not plan to use their position and connection to Rex and Neo to throw their weight around. They continiued their conduct as ussual, leaving said connections to be caled upon in case of a crisis befalling them in the future.
Tyrant Dragon sect too was recieveing more and more new disciples in light of the recent events. After all their sect master granddaughter was alongside the man at the heart of the countless rumors and stories reaching their ears. Quite a few powerfull lone cultivators also seeked out their sect to join as external elders or just friends of the sect, everyone seeking a safer place to continiue pursuing their own path.
Ven Hersts and Al Merhads were much more neutral in the entire ordeal, only having secured several trade deals with the powerfull blood mage, but since they were already on friendly terms due to their previous dealings, they too earned quite the boon from this recent event, having their trades and overall profit increasing quite nicely, many notable figures trying to get in their good graces, hoping to eventually gain some benefits from indirectly aproaching at least one of the Blythes two powerhouses through their trade partners and aquintances.
Nix Ifriiti was in a much better position, beeing Rashuuns blood relatives, ruled by one of her daughters. Rex was sending over a new branded combat slave of high S class every now and then, strenghtening the succubi position as a neutral party within the large demon lands, one that was not to be strongarmed or threathened. And with Rashuuns permission, said power boost as well as their closeness with Rex was utilized to great effect, fortifying their independance a great deal.
Even so far as in the always gloomy and dark Bloodmist isles, word got around, reaching the ears the old and noble vampires. Tales of a powerfull blood lord rising in the far away continent.