CHAPTER 26: ELYSIA ATHAS P3

~26.3~

*****

“K-Kye?”

She smiled and walked toward the balcony. She held up her left hand, her right hand over her chest. Her voice echoing, she said, “Hear me, Elysium. I am King. By my command, let all souls under my rule experience the World System once again. Do not attempt to expel me from my own domain. Let all outside influence be washed away.”

“Command received,” said the system voice. “System starting... successful. Identifying foreign code... successful. Removing foreign code... successful. All systems are now running under normal operation.”

“W-What?” Hannah gasped.

Alethea whispered to Hannah and Layla, “She’s fixing the system so that we can have it without it trying to rip her apart.” Alethea smiled. “She cares very much for the people and will never turn a blind eye when they so earnestly ask for help... even if it’s my mother indirectly asking about turning the system back on.”

“Just like that?” Hannah asked.

“Just like that,” Sanae answered. “I could have done the same, but I was worried about doing so while...” She shook her head. “Nevermind. This is a better outcome that I could have hoped for.”

Finished with her command, Elysia turned back to the group. “Now that that’s done...” She swiped her hand in the air and brought up a system menu. “Let’s see... first thing’s first... I need to connect both of my accounts... okay, that’s done. All communications to the Kye account will now go through to the Elysia account. Good. Sanae’s personal account is already connected to our Elysia account. Good. I’ll send Lanti a message and... Lanti?” She paused for a moment. She didn’t intend to call Atalante by that nickname. “I see. Kye knows her as Lanti as well. I understand.”

“Love,” Alethea said. “What do you want us to call you now?”

“I...” she hesitated, “am not sure. I... don’t feel the same. I don’t... think...” She held a hand to her forehead. “I need to sit. Take me to a-”

Alethea grabbed her lover’s hand and teleported to the common room where they could sit together.

“Thanks, love.”

Sanae, Layla, and Hannah followed quickly, the latter asking, “Kye, let me see!” She knelled down in front of the platinum-blonde and examined her again. “You need to rest, sweetie. You’re experiencing some fatigue. I can’t really say if it’s because of your... whatever just happened, but your body is exhausted.”

Layla looked as well. “Hmm... you have too much mana in your body. Maybe...” She reached toward her daughter, but Alethea grabbed her wrist.

“That’s dangerous.”

Layla’s eyes narrowed.

“Just trust me,” she said.

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The platinum blonde nodded. “This mana... there’s too much for this body. I... I need to get it under control.”

“Trust her,” Sanae said. “She knows much better now than before.”

She closed her eyes and focused. All three of her company noticed the shift immediately.

“Okay. That’s better. I don’t feel sick now.” She opened her eyes and looked up at Layla with a smile. “Thank you for caring!”

“Of course, sweetie. I love you.”

“I love you, too, mom.”

“Mom?” Layla and Hannah had been thrown for a loop the past several minutes, but that word put smiles on both of their faces.

She nodded. “I would very much like to use my real name, but... I understand that may make things difficult. It ultimately does not matter what I am called, so long as I am still me. So, let’s continue using Kye Akari officially, but we can also use Elysia Athas when necessary.” She smiled and looked at her pink haired partner. “Maya, Alethea, or Sa-chan? Teehee, I love you, my queen.”

“Welcome back, love,” Alethea replied as she pulled her now-white-haired partner into a hug, followed by a kiss. “I’m so glad to be together, but what of the-”

“It’s okay, love,” Kye said. “I will take care of the aftermath.”

“Aftermath?” Hannah asked.

“One moment,” Kye pulled Alethea and Sanae toward each other. “It’s not fair that I monopolize our dear Maya. We’re the same soul, after all. Before we split, this was no issue, but Sanae, you have been holding yourself back ever since! You two, shoo, go spend a little time together. I’ll take care of the aftermath.”

““But-”” they said together.

“NOPE.” Kye snapped her fingers and teleported herself, Layla, and Hannah away. “Now. Both of you, please arrange an emergency royal council. I need to speak to them immediately. The system restarting must be explained, but also... the reason I am here in the first place... the entity I was sent to destroy... with my memories as Elysia Athas restored, I understand clearly now.”

“You do?” Layla asked.

She nodded again. “I do. Please.”

“Okay. I’ll go gather the council.”

“Gather all the Grand Dukes and Archdukes, too. The normal council chambers are not sufficient for such a gathering, but that’s fine. We can gather in Atlantis. I have a lot of explaining to do... ugh.” She held her head again. “It seems I have to be very careful using my creator powers.”

“What do you mean?” Hannah asked. As Kye’s doctor, she was especially concerned about anything that would cause her to hold her head in pain like that.

“The name of my power is Zen. Basically, it means all is one. I can do literally anything with that power. Zen is silver in color. You may recall several times lately when my aura of white was coated in silver. That was me tapping into Zen. Using that power is fine if controlled properly, like everything else. But, when I command the world, an enormous amount of mana is required to fulfill that command. At least I already explained mana, aether, and Radiance.”

“It’s fine, love,” Alethea said. “Just do one thing at a time. Don’t overload everyone. Mortals need time to adapt to sudden changes. Too many of those will overwhelm them.”

“Yes, you’re right. Okay-” Kye stopped and blinked. “I left you and Sanae-”

“And we followed you, of course,” Sanae said. “If you truly want to... include me in things, we can figure that out later.” Alethea nodded.

“Very well.”

“What sort of power are you able to command right now?” Layla asked curiously. “Can you fight me or even your aunt on par, perhaps? Are your limits different from before?”

Kye nodded. “Yes, and no. I’ll explain in detail later, but the jist is that my limits are not much different. I can command the world now, but that’s dangerous. I could easily hurt or even kill myself doing that.”

“Then please refrain from using world commands,” Hannah ordered adamantly with a smile. “I will not have my beloved granddaughter harming herself.”

Kye chuckled. “You make it sound as though I do it on purpose.” Hannah pouted. “But thank you, Hannah, for your concern. It means a lot.”

Hannah smiled. “Of course, dear granddaughter.”

“...grandmother.” Kye smiled and giggled. “I didn’t have one of those as Elysia. It’s... nice.” Her face soured quickly. “Uh...”

*****

Revision: 2024-8-25