Jiran bid Olive a hasty goodbye and excitedly made his way to Mayalyn. He pulled his aura inside his skin to activate Oneness. The next thing he knew, he was standing before her and the blast of wind from his passing scattered her hair behind her like a cloak. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her until she released an undignified squeal that was music to his ears. At that moment, nothing else in the world existed beyond the feeling of her being crushed into him.

The moment didn’t last nearly long enough, coming to an end when a sharp spasm of pain blossomed across his entire body. The current she sent through his suit lasted only a heartbeat but it was enough to bring him back to his senses. The first thing he noticed upon pulling back and meeting her eyes was the annoyed scrunching of her nose which was completely ruined by the playful twitching of her ears as she did her best not to smile.

“Were you really so excited to see me that you could not even say hello before attempting to crush me to death?”

He answered her with a kiss that came too fast for her to dodge, “Hello.”

Her laughter was infectious. She pushed him away and spun in his grip. As if his hands were suddenly coated in oil, he completely failed to hold onto her despite trying. “How do you do that?”

“If I showed you, it would not work anymore,” she teased, “Have you eaten breakfast yet? I… made some, would you like to try it?”

“Absolutely!” The last meal he ate was so long ago that the offer set his stomach to rumbling.

Mayalyn failed to hide her furious blush, “Do not get too excited! I-I have been learning from my aunt but this is only my third attempt.”

Jiran chuckled, “You know what I usually eat, so I’m sure whatever you made is going to be amazing in comparison.”

She narrowed her eyes and scowled, “That did not sound like a compliment… I was going to hold your hand but now you may follow me until you ask nicely for the honor of receiving the fruits of my labor.” She cutely raised her nose, turned, and walked away without waiting for a response.

“Uhh… gladly,” Jiran was all too happy to oblige as he ogled her retreating figure; for as long as he lived, he doubted he would ever grow accustomed to the way her tail swishing accentuated the sway of her hips.

image [https://i.imgur.com/LlXURdW.png]

“That was delicious! I don’t believe that’s only the third time you’ve made this. Even though it's lower-tier meat, it was flavorful and had perfect texture.”

Mayalyn was the picture of adorable as she refused to meet his eyes, squirming in her chair. She had led him to one of the tents the People were borrowing from the Imperials. Its interior was bland but at least it was made of thick canvas that kept out the cool morning air.

“Well, it is a recipe I learned from Olive, and aunt Rayhal helped me improve it so I did not do much besides copy them.”

Upon hearing Olive’s name, Jiran stopped with a fork full of meat halfway to his mouth. Their gazes locked and Mayalyn took a deep inhalation, tasting the emotions flooding into his aura.

His heart was beating like a drum as he frantically contemplated what to say, eventually settling on brutal honesty, “Olive’s father proposed a union between her and I. I turned him down, but wasn’t able to tell her. I… could see how disappointed she would be and I froze.”

Mayalyn spun her finger in a slow circle while raising her brows, “There is more, continue.”

Jiran flopped back in his chair and sighed deeply, staring at the roof of the tent. He then sat bolt upright and met her eyes without flinching, “Sure, there are a dozen things I could say but none of them matter before I hear your opinion. I wouldn’t dream of entering a political union, or any kind of relationship without your approval.”

Mayalyn scanned his face for several seconds before releasing a weary sigh, “This will not do, my Aajiran. You are far too conflicted on this matter. It should not be difficult, yet you make it so. I only have one question for you, and your answer to my question will also be the answer you seek from me.”

Jiran swallowed, incredibly nervous about her question and what kind of future it would lead to.

Her voice was quiet, yet filled to the brim with emotion, “Are you prepared… to claim us both, and to accept responsibility for everything that entails?”

Emperor Dominus Le’Cruex

Dominus had seen a thousand geniuses in his time, many of them fathered by none other than himself. He often reminisced about the first hundred of his children, all mothered by the love of his life over a thousand years past. Now, they were but sand in the wind. In hindsight, their deaths were entirely his fault, and their loss burned within him still; had it not been for his refusal to listen, his pride, and his unwavering confidence, some of them may have survived. The memories of each and every one of them were as bright and clear as the day they happened, for attributes are both a blessing and a curse.

Long ago, when the Graymin first appeared, their threat seemed minor. A few beasts of low tiers joining together wasn’t unheard of, nor was it an issue to eradicate them. Then, the king appeared on the horizon and his party was utterly powerless to stop it. The years that followed saw the deaths of untold millions; their only option was to retreat again and again. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished for no apparent reason. But by then, the empire had been reduced to a fraction of its previous size. With so little land to divide amongst them, his party had insisted on the creation of a treaty to maintain balance and peace.

Now, they were allowed no more than five children at a time and each of those precious young ones was forced to fight the Graymin until they reached the eleventh tier or died. Unfortunately, in the six hundred years since that time, not one succeeded. The situation grew worse as resources dwindled and access to higher tier beasts became constrained. It became so bad in recent history that even recouping his own mana expenditures was an impossibility. Ever so slowly, they were being choked out by the more powerful enemies residing on all sides of their tiny plot of land.

Everything changed in what felt like a single night. Oliviala’s capture had felt like death’s hands were clasped around his neck. When the barrier restricting his senses fell, and he appeared to save her, it was instead a little boy who had done the deed. Again and again, that boy’s exploits had reshaped their understanding of what was possible. And now, for the first time in over a thousand years, the sunslight beaming down on his skin felt refreshing and filled him with vigor.

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Dominus’s manapool was filled to the brim, and the feeling of freedom he experienced while racing through the skies was exactly like he remembered from his youth. He flexed his entire body and felt the world around him bend and tremble. His aura claimed it all, holding the fabric of reality together so he could enjoy the sensations a few moments longer.

He didn’t allow himself to get lost in the euphoria, his current task far too important to ignore. His oldest friend—Mesalay, was far to the east, their auras only barely in contact. Dagris was to the west at an equal distance, and together the three of them scanned every nook and cranny of their surroundings. If even a single tier eight or above slipped past them, it would spell doom for the empire and their last remaining children.

Besides their current mission, they had only one other goal: To stall the king until it left once more. Such a plan would have seemed impossible only a year ago, but then their ability to convert density to mana increased by a thousandfold. If everything went just right, they may pull off the impossible. Equally as ludicrous were the several fold increases to the power of their elements. Dominus’s finger’s practically burned from the itch to test them, but such a waste of mana was unacceptable so he maintained a tight leash on his desires.

Despite their new advantages, they had no delusions about killing the king. Such a thing was simply not feasible. No matter how strong their attacks had grown, if they couldn’t reach their foe without dying, how would victory be possible?

Dominus gazed down at the mountains choked with the oozing press of the horde. He had created the entire range long ago. It was filled to the brim with deadly traps and bewildering formations, allowing the vast mountains to remain an effective barrier to the lower-tier beasts ever since. Not to mention it gave their strongest warriors a suitable training ground. Before his terraforming, these lands had been a desert that stretched a hundred thousand kilometers further to the north. That wasteland had been created by a single attack, and never again would Dominus underestimate the power of the Graymin King after witnessing its might.

Mesalay’s aura tapped against his, letting him know she had found their quarry. He Teleported to her side and Dagris picked up the slack in their net by expanding his aura into a wide oval. The group halted their advance to investigate the hidden beasts who were not nearly as stealthy as they thought.

“Only ten? I expected a few more. This might be a distraction,” Dominus mused.

Mesalay nodded, “My thoughts exactly.”

Lostrifar appeared beside them, her gaze glued to the mountain that the beasts were currently burrowing far beneath. She raised her hand and the entire thing vanished in a sizzling storm of blazing fire. The tier nine Graymin were reduced to dust, their vast manapools combusting on death and adding to the inferno.

She’s grown so much more powerful. How much did she learn when she abducted Jiran? That ornery, cursed boy learned too well from Lenton; keeping his secrets tight to his chest like an old geezer. What did she give him to loosen his lips… Surely not that…

As if she knew he was thinking of her, Lostrifar shot him a smirk before vanishing.

Dominus grunted, “I’ll return to my position.”

Mesalay waved him off with an annoyed frown that he knew was a front to hide her amusement, “Why do you suddenly feel the need to speak your actions aloud? Just go.”

Dominus flashed the wide grin that always got under her skin and Teleported away before she could berate him further. They continued north for several more hours, moving at speeds incomprehensible to the mundane existences of the lower-tiers. They found several more pockets of hidden tier nines, and even one with two tier tens. Lostrifar appeared to deal with the beasts each time, refusing help and smirking after every victory as if she were hiding some juicy secret that they could only dream of knowing.

When the end of the mountain range came into view, Dominus stopped moving and his musings fell silent. Even the enjoyment of his full manapool and the uplifting sense of freedom faded. The sight that greeted him was straight from the nightmares of his past and brought with it a plethora of deeply sealed emotions.

Beyond the final row of peaks, the land for hundreds of kilometers squirmed as though alive. The wriggling movement filled the entire gap between the last mountains and the horizon. And there, protruding from that hazy line that separated land and sky, a single gargantuan figure rose far above gathering densoon clouds that had only recently expelled their energies. Without approaching close enough to see, Dominus knew that the horde spawned endlessly from somewhere within its impossibly massive bowels.

image [https://i.imgur.com/LPWomGy.png]

None alive save his four closest friends knew this devastating truth about the king. Already, its wretched children numbered in the hundreds of millions and they would never stop birthing from within it. Dominus cracked his neck and prepared himself mentally for the momentous task ahead. Even if it took them ten years, they had to hold this beast off until it decided to leave once more.

Mesalay and Dagris Teleported to his sides, “It appears our juniors will be making frequent trips back to restore their mana.” She mused.

Dagris responded with a grunt, “Indeed, if only we could join them.”

“If we don’t get a move on, we won’t have any juniors to be envious of,” Dominus grumped, knowing that if the king did attack, it would surely target them and anyone nearby would become naught but another memory.

Mesalay eyed him suspiciously, “When did you become so sour-mouthed? At this rate, you’ll be in danger of losing your position as the party mascot.”

Dagris, as usual, was quick to steer the conversation back to seriousness, “That reminds me, do you think those two will come?”

“I think it would only cause more problems if they did. Hopefully, they remain oblivious until the end. Just like our mascot…”

Dominus didn’t rise to her bait, instead leaving them behind as he Teleported to the northeast. He released the fine control of his aspect, allowing the energies of the void to cascade out of control, packing the confines of his aura. He pulled enough of the energy into his body to step fully into the emptiness of that void. He exited a moment later at the edge of his aura’s range, just as the cooldown on Teleport ended. He instantly used the skill again, once more traveling northeast. He alternated between the two methods of transportation, quickly arriving in the middle of the horde to the east of the king.

He didn’t bother wasting mana to attack. Merely moving and operating his aura was already expensive and his mere presence was enough to wring the life from anything below the ninth tier, so long as he stopped restraining himself. He had to admit that it felt good to release the constraints that always bound him. It had been many years since Madra last sent a tier eleven to challenge them, and he relished the moment; something he could never do inside his palace.

Luckily, he didn’t get too swept away as the king opened one of its many closed eyes—each the size of a large town. Dominus reacted on instinct, Teleporting away. The mana released by that lifting lid was more than he could contain in his entire manapool and the destruction it wrought was awe inspiring to say the least. A swath of land two hundred kilometers wide and a thousand long was turned to ash in an instant.

Dagris appeared beside him, his head tilted in consideration, “Why is it holding back? I definitely remember its attacks being much stronger last time.”

“I… don’t know. It's either underestimating us, or it has some kind of plan. Either way, I don’t like it. Should we get a little closer and see if it livens up?”

“Certainly. If it’s going to continue treating us like bugs, we might even have a chance to give it a black eye or twenty.”

“Hah! Wouldn’t that be grand,” Dominus’s grin turned feral as he imagined giving the beast one good punch for all the suffering it brought him last time. His smile slipped when he noticed Mesalay already halfway to the beast.

“You cheating wench! Wait for us!” Dominus roared, blasting forward at top speed.