"Well I’ll be…” Carter Omni watched his descendants fighting all of the young Cultivators with a smile. Then something went wrong and one of his grandchildren named Ash turned a young man into a pile of dust, her flame killing the young woman in her path to Ash's own horror. The young woman stopping the flow of mana in realization that something had changed within the stage grounds, her flames snuffed out in an instant.
“No, child, defend yourself at all cost!” Carter yelled the words, but knew his warning fell on deaf ears. The scenes only became more violent by the moment, and Carter’s worries were lifted momentarily when Ash found her sister Aura, only for the girls to be completely overwhelmed by a group of 50 or more Cultivators. The sight of the beating taken by the two young women was gruesome enough that Carter rose to handle the situation himself.
Carter knew the scene of savagery was only going to grow worse, as he heard a knock on his door. Arson came across the various screens in Carter's vision. Arson momentarily froze when seeing the state of his sisters' and a rampage began unlike any other the ancient man had ever seen in such a young Cultivator.
“Come in,” Carter yelled furious, unable to keep the edge from his voice.
“Hello, how are—" Draphen froze at the scene being displayed, Carter’s own gaze flicking between Draphen and Arson's merciless massacre of the group that attempted to violate his family members.
“The more I see of this son of yours, the more I wonder if I should take him under my wings,” Carter stated, waving Draphen closer.. The king frowned, still not having had his own time with Arson, and regardless of that, the young man was becoming more formidable by the day.
“That would honestly be a fright to see come to pass,” responded Draphen. Carter smiled, still focused completely on Arson. The two continued to watch, but eventually there was no one left standing around Arson, the young Cultivator trekking off, his sisters draped across his shoulders.
“What is it that you need, young man?” Draphen looked away from the screens and toward Carter, the Ancient waiting expectantly.
“I’ve come to request a favor of you, sir,” Draphen asked. The Ancient looked toward the king, feeling he knew what was going to be asked of him, waving for the king to continue.
“I hoped to have your help in bringing down the barrier set in place,“ asked Draphen as he closed the distance, finally gaining the courage to approach the man, kneeling before the Ancient, glancing at many of the other screens rotating all around Carter. Holograms affixed to absolutely nothing, made by the man’s own power rather than using the massive wall screens all throughout the room.
“I’m sorry to tell you this Draphen, but after what I have just seen,” started Carter looking away from the screens and toward Draphen.
“I cannot. This event will be the the catalyst for great change, and maybe even the reason my descendants leave all aspects of their childhoods behind,” finished Carter. Draphen's own mind had already started to become unsettled by seeing his daughters targeted, but had assumed that he would be able to at the very least get the Ancient Cultivator's help, trying once more after a moment of thought.
“Is there not anything I can offer you that would get you to change your mind, a favor, anything within my vault, or even—“ Carter cut in with an answer of his own, gesturing toward the screen as he spoke.
“Your son?” Draphen looked between the screens, and Carter, his frown deepening.
“You know that I cannot offer such a thing, his mother would never forgive either one of us for any kind of arrangement like that, nor would I want the man known for experimenting on the young to have such a claim on the direction of my sons’ path, I mean this with no disrespect, sir.”
Carter nodded, accepting the man’s answer in part. He felt that he was being sent signals that an opportunity for him to further ravel Arson up in his own schemes would soon present itself.
“As you wish, but nothing you have access to currently is more valuable than your youngest child,” said Carter. Draphen laughed, and Carter glanced at him confused, while shifting his gaze to Bernard, yet another one of his descendants showing a vastly improved set of abilities.
“Alexander is my youngest child at this point,” Draphen stated jokingly, but Carter shook his head and sighed heavily.
“The boy spent time in Endless, not a dungeon. You would be right if he’d been in some trivial location, however he didn’t age, his body grew to be the equivalent to what his mind needed his physical state to be capable of. That young man…” Carter pointed toward a screen he wasn’t looking at that showed Arson setting his sisters down as he was approached by another large group of gathered cultivators.
“may have been gone for a period of time that would be identical to 12 season cycles or more, but in all reality, he’s an 8 season cycle old child as far as the system is concerned, making him still, your youngest child,” said Carter finishing his explanation. Draphen’s smile was wiped away, and another thought occurred to the king in that moment.
“Doesn’t that mean that if he managed to make it to the Port of Heaven, he could be accepted into the School of Prodigies?”
“Now do you see why I find him to be more valuable than anything else? He has a mere ten season cycles before this would no longer be possible, and any who know of the school before being tested, automatically fail, and if he experiences his DeadYear before he goes…,” Carter trailed off, knowing that Draphen knew what he wanted for Arson, and the man chuckled seeing Draphen now struggled to not want the same. An array of emotions fluttering across his features as his mind battled against what he was hearing.
“I would… have to talk to his mother about these things,” Draphen stated as if defeated in that moment. The sigh he let free of his chest, unintentional. He didn’t want to show Carter the true state of his current mind.
Yet, Draphen knew the opportunities given to those accepted into the Port of Heavens’ School of Prodigies were unrivaled beneath the heavens. Additionally, Draphen was starting to feel as if Arson wasn’t truly being challenged by anything as he watched the young man dismantle the scions of the realms with ease, even his largely unpolished martial skills were leagues beyond those he currently fought against.
“You act as if Elizabeth isn’t completely aware of her son’s talents. She partially destroyed her own mental state for a period of time to accomplish this. Have you not considered what it was like for her knowing that Arson was being tested for Godhood at such a young age? Not even I could have been capable of pushing my only child toward such a challenge at her age. If it wasn’t for how strong he is now, I am sure she would have left permanent scars on her heart, forever destroying her own Cultivations progress in the short term,” Carter said nearly scolding Draphen for his supposed ignorance, gesturing toward Arson on one of many screens floating in view.
Draphen was fully aware of this, but had pushed it aside. His love for Jade made him truly blind. Not in the way that he had to overcome, regaining his lost sight through the use of many mana based sensory skills was difficult enough, but not forgiving the woman he felt to be his soulmate for her choices, to the king, felt like an incredibly impossible feat.
“What must be done for this to happen?” Draphen settled on making his youngest son's future as fortuitous as possible, and dealing with the man loved by demons and feared by angels, felt like in that moment to be his only real option.
“For this to work, we must first help him grow even stronger, as for whatever reason, my sister has begun to put obstacles in his way,” Carter stated simply.
“Your sister?”
“Yes, and I cannot fathom why. She once seemed to want to push him to heights unseen, but she now did all of this,” Carter said sweeping his hands across all of the screens in front of them, indicating the violence brought on by the changes to the tournament.
“Who is your sister to be able to accomplish this? Wouldn’t she need to be of an incredible position to be able to do so—“
“Baa, that is preposterous, my sister's knowledge of runes is unrivaled beneath the heavens. Doing this was most likely child play for her, I honestly wouldn’t have known she’d done a thing if she hadn’t tried to cover her tracks with the notification being displayed to us all once the scions reentered the stage,” Carter explained further. Carter saw Draphen open his mouth to ask another question and cut in before the man could even speak a word.
“The system would have shown the change in the competition to those it pertained to, not everyone baring witness, only the final ten would have been able to tell their story, as only the final ten could when it happened to my sister when we were their age.”
“So, your sister is trying to stop Arson by killing him, or having him killed?” Another heavy sigh came from Carter, and Draphen began to wonder if he was pressing his luck by asking the man so many questions.
“No, maybe hinder his progress by having everyone below the heavens despise him as the majority of the realms despise me. It is the only thing I can think of, as that is what stopped my own ascension into the godly paths offered by the heavens to Cultivators.”
“How—“ Draphen closed his mouth when Carter glared at him.
“You still have much to learn it seems, but held within the many paths to godhood, one thing remains the same. Without belief held in the hearts, minds, and souls of others, none can ascend beyond being a mere Ancient like myself.”
Draphen did know the many ranks that were between mortals and gods, and was even aware of the potential ranks among gods, but had never heard of such a faith requirement to continue on the path beyond mortality and immortality. He nodded, cataloging the information for his own later use, and would ask Jade what she knew about the subject matter.
Jade may forget most things held in her short term memory, but if prompted, things she’d long forgotten could be found once more with the continual testing of her brain.
“How can I ensure that this happens smoothly? There isn’t much I can do against ancients,” Carter raised an eyebrow, still watching Bernard appear in random locations, dropping what appeared to be ravens formed from shadows, filled with burst of light with the explosive quality of split atoms. Sunlight rippled outward, turning all touched into piles of bones. Nothing but ambient mana and disassembled skeletons. Those that fled running one moment, and dead the next as if tripped, and forever laid to rest in a blink.
“How the tides have turned,” Carter said in regards to Bernard's stunning new power set; the king taking the Ancient's words an entirely different way.
“Would you not completely shift your mind state after hearing what I have today?” Carter nodded in response absentmindedly, quick to realize the man’s response was to him, even though he’d been talking to himself.
So…”
“Well… as long as you are sure that you can handle what I need of you, we can begin our work now,” Carter said coming to his feet.
“Now?”
“No tomorrow…” Draphen nodded, looking away deep in thought before Carter kicked the kneeling King.
“Yes now!”
…
“Hello?”
“Hello darling, do you have a moment to speak?” Almarine's voice coming through Jade's Overlay.
“Now isn’t the best of times, Momma Almarine,” Jade said, actively running through a portal as the ship she’d just caused to begin to sink from the sky plummeted, and she moved on to her next target.
“I know, I know, but I think this is important, and you know I wouldn’t bother you otherwise,” came Almarine’s voice again. Jade blocked the video function before answering the call, rolling her eyes before she responded.
“Go ahead, Mum, what’s up?”
Jade rushed out of a portal on a new Habitation ship, and immediately ran up the body of a guard bewildered by her sudden presence there. He didn’t even have time to draw his weapon before Jade jumped and spun through the air with a kick that sent the guard sailing off the edge of the flying ship. The scream of the man hurtling to his death toward the coliseum's glass roof drawing the attention of those around her instantly.
“I think that maybe your sudden fling with the king of our realm may be affecting your reasoning…” Jade stopped in her tracks, turned on the video function, and rose a brow in the Orphan Mother's direction.
“What?” Jade didn’t even look up as her next opponent roared and charged her, slapping the woman so hard with a backhand that she too flew from the deck of the ship.
“You are a creature of the night, a lover of criminality and the craft of stealth, do you truly feel you need to become a queen of all things right now, at the height of your career?” Jade thought a moment, swept the leg of another guard that tried to blitz her and sent the man off the ship with a second kick that snapped out so quickly that he was struck and sailing through the air before he’d even realized what’d happened to him.
“Draphen is considerate of this, Momma Almarine, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t even willing to come into the light for him,” admitted Jade, shocked by the sudden honesty that fell free of her lips.
Sparks, I meant that, didn’t I…
“Sparks you meant that didn’t you…?” Jade bit her bottom lip nodding in response, not even able to keep eye contact with Almarine.
“Well, I’ll be, never mind I guess... can’t have a future queen involved in all of what I got planned to mess up the realm,” said Almarine with a sigh. Jade’s brows rose, and she mouthed, mess up the realm, while catching another woman’s incoming kick, before she flung her too off the side of the ship.
“You’re not saying that all of this was you,” questioned Jade, waving her hand around at all the battling ships above the Coliseum.
“You saying you didn’t already know that?” Jade looked away nodding.
“Yeah, but it is different hearing you admit it, ya know.” It was Almarine's turn to nod and look away.
“Catch me up later?” Almarine turned back as Jade did, and the two women shared a smile.
“Of course, darling,” Almarine said blowing Jade a kiss that Jade returned in kind before the two said their goodbyes and promptly hung up. Jade looked around at the dozen apprehensive faces that stood on guard nearby all afraid to approach.
“Ya’ll can jump, you may survive if you help one another, but otherwise I’m sinking this whole ship…” The Cultivators on deck, shrugged, most dropping their weapons, discussing potential ways to combine their abilities to escape the situation alive rather than being forced to jump to their deaths. Jade started to summon a massive portal, its frame so large it surrounded the ship's middle, her intentions obvious.
“You got until this portal forms and cuts this whole thing in half…” Jade lifted both hands in the air, spreading her fingers wide.
“Ten…”