DIABOLICAL

The treasury of the Fawkes family was more than Leonel expected, but after he thought about it, he felt that it only made sense. Gervaise had been preparing for a return to the God Realm all this time, and the methods that he had used couldn't possibly be normal. From the start, his intention was to be no weaker than any other God Race.

Of course, this was difficult in two ways.

First, the Ascension Empire was still lacking in population numbers. Right now, they had a population that could be counted in the tens of billions, and that much was good enough for the God Realm especially since birth rates were quite low here. But the main issue was that this population had yet to be refined down to the point where only the truest talents were left.

The Fawkes had only had one line remaining, so though Leonel's grandfather and grandmother had had more children, it was still difficult to truly proliferate.

While the usual issues with incest weren't a problem with beings of this level, Gervaise had watched the Four Great Families stall due to their methods. Then he had watched an "impure" like Aina become such a powerhouse, while his own grandson had become a monster due to the mixing and breeding of different bloodlines.

He had realized then that mixing wasn't a weakness, it was actually a strength. It could help to shore up what was missing from certain bloodlines with others, and though there would be a lot of misses when taking this route, it wouldn't necessarily be any different if they took the more… diabolical route.

As such, Gervaise had allowed his new sons and daughters to marry as they pleased, and he watched what happened from the sidelines. After all, he and his wife were still young and spry all things considered. They could still have many more children.

It was just that Leonel's grandmother hadn't been in the mood for such things recently, and honestly speaking, neither was Gervaise. She wasn't the only one that had lost a daughter.

This was all to say that the Empire was technically still in an experimental phase. The only reason it hadn't been touched was because Gervaise was too powerful, and there were a few more powerhouses locked away as their trump cards.

The second was foundation.

Although this treasury looked shocking to Leonel, that was because he had never seen a true God Race's means. That wasn't to say that the treasure vault of the Fawkes weren't still shocking, but they would still be ranked near the bottom of the truly fearsome characters.

They lacked enough Crafters, enough inheritances, enough time.

'The Crafters are decent, I guess. But this standard isn't good enough.'

Leonel spent an entire three days just walking around the treasury. By then, news of his appearance had already spread like wildfire and a great deal of changes began to take place whether overtly or covertly.

However, for now, none of these things seemed to have anything to do with him.

…

"Kid, how long are you going to make me follow you around like this for?" Nilrem began to grumble.

"Am I not allowed to take stock of my inheritance? Also, who asked you to follow me?"

"Inheritance?" Nilrem laughed. "You have 16 new aunts and uncles, and there are probably something like 63 cousins for you between them all."

"Do they have anything better to do than breed?" Leonel was aghast when he heard this.

"This is an Empire. They fuck for the sake of the Empire. Get used to it. Your Third Uncle has like 27 wives but he's only impregnated three of them. All things considered, the blank shot rate is too high among your family."

Leonel sneered. "Are you trying to imply something?"

Nilrem chuckled. "I don't know what you mean, my dearest disciple."

"You want to make a bet? I can make my wife pregnant in one sitting."

Nilrem began to laugh so hard tears came out of his eyes.

Leonel frowned and gave him a sharp look. "What are you laughing so hard about?"

"Me? Laughing? At my precious disciple? Never… never…"

Leonel continued to glare at him, but Nilrem only laughed harder.

"Kid, if you keep wasting time around here, someone else is going to snatch up your wife."

…

At that moment, outside the vault, the guards had changed several times and the time had come for a shift change once again. This time, the very same guards that had been here on Leonel's arrival were coming to switch in… and it was also right then that all four guards froze.

A deadly aura pervaded into their very souls. It felt like a reaper had wrapped a dark, clawed palm around their hearts. And what shook them with the most fear was that this deadly aura wasn't even aimed at them.

None of them moved, cold sweat pouring down their backs.

…

"What did you say?" Leonel asked, the cheeriness in his eyes vanishing.

Nilrem seemed completely unaffected by Leonel's aura. He collapsed to the ground, laughing his ass off.

"Hey, hey!" Nilrem wiped tears from his eyes. "Kid, please don't kill the messenger. What does this have to do with me? Plus, with your wife's strength, what are you even worried about?"

"What happened?" Leonel asked, his unhappiness not fading in the slightest.

"Who asked for your wife to be so beautiful? In fact, kid, give me some pickup tips? How'd you do it? Let an old man know."

Leonel turned up his nose in disgust and some of his aura seemed to fade somewhat.

"Stop messing around and tell me what happened."

Nilrem sat up and wiped the last tears from his eyes. After a shrug, he finally gave a straight answer.

"The Fawkes family has become a bit obsessed with procreating thanks to a few policies. Any woman of 'good stock' is a target, especially if she hasn't birthed a child before… even if she's married. Though, technically, because you died, your soul link shattered. Right now, your wife is single," Nilrem chuckled through the darkening of Leonel's expression again. "A few little princes want to hop into your wife's bed, and she hasn't killed any of them yet because this is your family. Isn't she sweet?"

A dangerous light continuously flashed in Leonel's eyes.

"Oh. And it also doesn't help that there's a new update to the God Realm's beauty ranking. Number one and two are both yours, aren't you excited?"

"Number two?" Leonel frowned, ignoring number one as though he already knew that it could only be his wife. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Nilrem began another round of hearty laughter.

"A certain little girl named Minerva. I heard that she was being pestered and said that she only loved one man."

He cleared his throat and put on a high-pitched voice as though he was trying to imitate her perfectly.

"'The man I love is Leonel Morales. Kill him and I'll give you a chance to speak with me.'"

Leonel was left completely and utterly speechless. What the hell was this? A tactic to get him killed? Wasn't it too low-class?

And why the hell did the God Realm have a beauty ranking? Didn't they have anything better to do?

Suddenly, his gaze flashed. 'The Sylvans…'