Rex was innitailly slightly intrigued by the reason of said visit the mages guild had paid to him, but now he found himself quite dissapointed. Then again, what was he expecting from a bunch of old foggies who believe themselves to be the pinnacle of wisdom and knowledge in quite a large part of the world.
"He he he he" Rex ligtly laughed at his own naivete, and at the words the mage had uttered. "Is that all?" he asked as he looked at master Airen, disregarding the two pompous mages entirely, and focusing on the one person who seemed the more levelheaded of the trio. Master Airen smiled bitterly at Rex words and responded
"While the tow coleagues of mine are here for said matter, and I was requested to assist with ensuring the meeting, I would not mind in having some discussion regarding magic and the magical aspects of our world in large. My scholarly roots simply cannot let me leave without at least attempting something of the sort." Rex smiled at the old mans words
"It is difficult to deny such an earnest desire. So lets du just that and have a nice conversation. I will quickly deal with the issue at hand first though." Then he looked at the two mages and uspoke in a voice that had no emotions or care in it.
"I have no interest in joining or being asociated with your institution, so there is no need to for any further interaction. Reigen will escort you two out." and as soon as Rex finished speaking the door opened adn in the study came said man. The two mages became more vary, since the new persone was S class, just like them, and seeing his attire and the blade by the mans side, he was a melee fighter- a very bad matchup for the two should they cause trouble in such a confined space. Of course, they were not stupid enough to start a scene here, since neither wanted to give other factiosn any advantage in securing the blood mages favour, so they just stood up and left guided by Reigen. Master Airen remained seated, and one the door closed, the blood mage and teh scholar engaged in a rather theoretical conversation regarding the origin and mutation pattern of dungeon life. Where Airen had a wreath of knowledge from around the world, Rex had quite extensive and detailed observations from deep floors and how there were differences between the same species of monsters depending where they were encountered and the different patterns of behaviour of the same origin.
An hour or so later, the conversation switched to the nature and manner of raw mana, and its variious manifestations, as well as the general principles of magecraft in the current times. Rex mostly listened and sometimes asked qestions that looked at the current schizm from a different perspective. It was quite easy to do so since Rex thought process was much more scientific and armed with quite extensive knowledge about advanced science and physics - knowledge his strenghtened soul could easily find in the deep and dark corners of his mind, previously obsessed with hobby of reading enciclopedias and books on many scientific phenomena.
It had served him quite well already in his own personal endeavors when crafting or changing some magic, so he was more than willing to offer a small snippets of his perspective to the curious scholar he was talking with. Even all their boring talk did not scare away Izumi, who had dozed off a while ago, still within Rex embrace, a fact the two mages laughed over, and continiued their discussion.
"If you are interested in experiencing my own little blend of magic I dont mind giving you a small glimpse, since there shoudl be a perfect oportunity quite soon." Rex spoke as they had finaly decided to end their cobversation, since it was well past midday already.
"Do tell?" Airen exitedly asked his scholarly compatriot, more than eager to witness some unique magic that Rex had developed, or rediscovered on his own.
"Well its nothing much, but soon some demon princes should be ariving, desiring to challenge me to a duel over my succubuss. Those would surely be duels of combat,, and I dont mind allowing you to spectate said duels. It should provide you with two different and possibly unseen magic styles."
"I would be honored!" exitedly answered Airen, and then proceeded to leave a way to contact him easily, since he would not like to miss such a golden oportunity to expand his horizons. Not every day does one see a demon prince fighting in a duel. Plus his new fiend here had a lot of interesting and unorthodox ideas, but that was to be expected from someone who had lived in seclusion quite a lot. He had learned a thing or two about Rex during the hours of their discussion, his solitude being one of them. But being the scholar and the experienced person he was he did not probe more into Rex's life than what was provided willingly.
With their long discussion coming to an end, Rex said goodbye to the enthusiastic scholar and asked one of the maids to escort him out of the mansion, and unlike the other two members of mage guild, Airen recieved a friendly chat with the maid who was guiding him. The senior mage was quite suprised when he learned of the general athosp[here in the mansion, and the borderline worshiping words towards the master of the house. What was even more impressive was that the slave brands did not flare up during the maids praise for her master- a surefire sign that said girl was sharing her own thoughts.
'What a curious approach.' Mused Airen as he continiued their small talk and he kept mulling over things all the way home and hours after. He had just come to know another person quite interested in gathering and researching knowledge of all manner of topics, and the old mand could not wait for another opportunity to for a discussion that provoked ones thoughts to such a level.
With Airen gone, Rex remained on the sofa with Izumi in his arms for a while longer, not willing to disturb the sleeping beauty. She natturaly woke up some twenty minutes later and was slightly blushing and had a sweet smile on her lips. She was more than happy to see Rex spendng more time with her and being attentive to her.
"Hmmmmm." she exhaled as she was hugging him, lifted her head and lightly pecked his neck "I like you more when you are so sweet and attentive." she almost purred with happiness and joy in her voice. "If only there were not so many dangerous and scheming entities all around us, I would love nothing more than to grow our family, but sadly I am well aware of the reality." she sighed. The though of her own little runts running around becoming more and more enticing by the day.
"On the topic, what are your plans for the near future?" she asked Rex. As his dplomat and spokesperson, she liked to have a general understanding of his whereabouts and plans so she could maximize and plan her own actions accordingly to better utilize his existance to attain the most for her new family, while not impedeing on the kitsune interests in the process. She reasoned her nation had been kind enough towards her that she should return the favour for some time.
"Humiliating the demon princes comes firts, so i will stay here for a few days, then will probably visit the dungeon in Xian-Wu city, and after that I should check out The dungeon of the Accursed. That giant/human hybrid race adn their muscle mommies seem quite interesting. But worry not, with the portal to my world shard anchored and you having been granted access, we can meet every evening there, so adjusting our plans in case something important happens should be easy. I can also come back at any time since I can enter my world shard from anywhere I am at, and use this anchored portal to exit here. Then there is the Echlisiarchy. My ravens are providing me with more and more disgusting info, and I am more adn more inclined to not stop at just enslaving a decent amount of their oracles and sainteses. The more I know, the more I want to eradicate their entire nobility and ensure that their abomination of a faith dies forever."
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Then Rex proceeded to tell Izumi of some of the atrocities that were performed by the upper echalons of their faith as well as the general mindset that prevailed in said country. once Rex finished his part, adding a comentary that he kept the more gruesome and sickening acts to himself, since Izumi did not need to hear or even imagine such atrocities, she thought for a moment and then responded
"Most of what you mentioned is considered to be reality already by quite a lot of powers around Echlisiarchy. However due to their connection to a god, noone has the courage to dirrectly take action against them, since said god could easily order his angels to descend and cause chaos and mayhem to whoever decides to act against them. It has happened in the past when Echlisiarchy was just developing into what it had become."
"I am guessing that that prophet of theirs was alive then yes?" Rex asked a qeustion of his own, having formed some sort of a theory, and once Izumi confirmed his guess his gut feeling became even stronger.
"So, said prophet ensured that their god could send his forces here much more easily, and I cant shake the feeling that for whatever reason, no actual dirrect interference from said gods will come." Rex had learned that his intuition had been gettign sharper and sharper, as if he sometimes was hearing barely audible wispers of the world that contained undeniable truth. A wild thought bloomed in his mind, creating quite a scene, and having feeling that his instincts inclined in the same dirrection, he lightly kissed izumi, excused himself and exited the room.
Soon he was standing in the gardenlooking into the horizon, a smile on his face
"Whoever and whereever you are, I hope you are having as much fun as I am, and I hope that I can provide you with more entertainment for years and centuries to come, and maybee, once day I will stand there in front of you, with questions or answers. So, Stay tuned, I suppose." With that said he returned inside, on his way to claim a rather excited and nervous white haired and tailed kitsune. Millie had waited for long enough. It was time for her to trully join as one of his women.
*********************
Sitting on a grand throne, in a room that had no walls or ceiling, just the vastness of cosmos all around, was an astonishingly hansome man in his early fourties. In font of him, almost lifelike projection of Rex, exiting the room where he had just been with Izumi and coming to the garden,where he made the declaration. he just made. The screen followed Rex whereever he went, it registered everything he did, only his thoughts remaining his own.
Hearing Rex adressing no one in particular, said man started laughing like a mad man. A few minutes later in came a frowning lady, her scarlet red angelic wings lightly moving with each of her steps. Even her frown could not spoil that divine beauty she posessed. Her movements were elegant and enticing, as if her entire reason for existence was to arouse and seduce men with her mere existance.
"Is anything the matter, my lord?" she asked in a rather monotone voice, the frown remaining on her face. Her creator adn master only laughed like that when some of his insane experiments exceeded his expectations and whildest dreams.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha. No Alpha, on the contrary. This time I had found the perfect soul for one of my vessels. All I have to do is now sit back and watch. This stagnant world will turn soon once again. What wonders will it produce this time? What gods will rise and who shall falll? HA HA HA HA HA HA. Exilarating indeed." The man was just happy. Being a deity of the level that he was, there were few things he had not experienced already, so drawing souls from other worlds to his own and following their lives was a welcome change. Sure, he would have to sit back and let other gods to mess around as well, but such cycle ensured that once he did the same, others obeyed without complaints. Not that he could not simply subdue the others by pure might, he could do that hundred times over, even if every other god joined hands, but what fun would there be in such a simple act. No, he needed a play, a grand stage where each and every god could play, exchange, borrow, trade and steal from each other, without dirrectly intervening. It was he, adn he alone who was thereasong that from time to time another god ascends, joining their neverending game, forcing the other to share more adn more of the pie they so desparately clung to.
They were playing the game for long enough to have multiple gods ruling over the same concepts, making said concepts more nuanced and developed,enriching his world even more in the process, allowing new divine spark to form, in turn giving new opportunities for more gods to ascend.
Rex was his first true piece played. He took the unfortunate soul that was to be the owner of Rex's new body, and after a short glance at its previous life, he ahd realised just how unjust it would have been for it to live this in said vessel. A life of pain and suffering, was supposed to followed with one of great fortune, but as with everything that stemms from chaos, there are variables that could change the entire plan. And so it was here. The ever so miniscule bloodline that laid dormant in the genes of the parents of this vessel, just so happened to trully awaken, giving birth to a true archon body. A blessing in any other circumstance, but the one where it would be born. Destined to be discarded, and to suffer a life of a mindless beast, untill finally hunted down, was anything but a blessed life, so the creator god did what any designer woudl do in such a case. He took the soul, created a small mirracle, causing a mother to concieve twins insead of a single child, adn placed this soul in the new thin, who would otherwise be born lifeless.
What to do with teh perfectly healthy and extraordinarry vessel he now had without a soul? It was not even a question in his mind. He had done similar things in the past, whisking a sould away from another world. With his expertise and mind, he could do so without the gods of said word being aware. And so he did. Such and action would ensure that the person his vesel would become would have a memories of his last life, thus preventing said person from becoming a mindless beast, and in turn giving way to a new herald of change in his ever evolving and morphing world, even if said change and evolution had slowed down to barely a crawl.
He could have never anticipated that the soul would be such a good fit for the vessel that it bogged ones mind. yes even he was surprised how well the merging happened. If he did not know about his own actions with the soul switch he would never guess that said vessel was housing a soul from another world. That thought exited hime even more. Just why and what caused such a perfect fusion? What was his potential and limit of growth? Could he attain and ignite a spark? Was he a new god in the making? So many questions, so little answers. Yet, he had all the time in the world and he needed a new project to focus on. Still, he new better than to interfere. He followed the same rules he had set for every other god. How else would the game be fun if he could cheat as the game master.
As years passed, he grew more and more exited about the his project, but never had he shown his emotions outward. Even the projection that displayed Rex's actions at all times was seen only by him, and him alone. Even his most trusted servant Alpha had no idea about his soulswap and pouching. So was it any wonder when his object of interest had somehow come to the conclusion that a god was responsible for his arrival here, and not only that he reasoned that said god was not only watching him for his entertainment, but also kept other gods from taking dirrect action against the world of mortals.
And the icing of the proverbial cake? The man wasa not angry or anything. On the contrary, he invited Azaros to keep watching and enjoying himself. He was also sure that he had encountered a being with similar drain powers eons ago, but for whatever reason he just could not remember who it whas, and what happened to the being. No matter what, said vessel had already surpassed his expectations. He was entertaining and different from all previous reincarnations brought into this world. A soul with so fluid and everchanging morality was unique. Ussualy people were either good or bad, following a simple but rigid code, deeply engraved into their being, not deviating from said pattern. But Rex, lived as if it was a game to him too, looking at each and every decision from an unchained perspective.
"It feels good to be alive." Azaros smiled at Alpha. "You are forbidden from leavign my heaven untill further notice." he ordered said angel and shooed her away. He smiled and watched as Rex turned around and went back inside to return to his duties and plans said man was certainly working on.
"I am only watching. Its all you." Azaros said the words in a wisper. Words that only Rex heard in a mechanic and genderless voice. An affirmation and a guarantee- It was Rex's choices and actions that would make or break his life. No do overs, no deus ex machina saves for him. Only he and his hard work, and his harem. Rex smiled as he walked towards Millie, super exited to both satisfy the now ready kitsune and eager to see just where his actions will lead him.