After a few minutes of random debates, Pai-Relix and Lila came to the conclusion that Aria didn’t quite like being hugged by what essentially was a wall of steel. It was a rather obvious conclusion when Aria didn’t cry after Pai-Relix carried her, but the fact that biological differences were making it hard for the Demon Sovereign to carry his kid had gotten Gemini really depressed.

“That’s not something we can actually help with, unfortunately,” Pai-Relix observed with a grin on her face. “Have you tried adding something like a small pillow to your chest whenever you hug her?”

Incidentally, the Demigod was now talking to him with a very informal tone. She had been taken by the ultra-cute Aria, which probably made her less scared and wary of her parents.

It probably didn’t help that she was cuddling the little bundle of gurgling giggles right now too.

Gemini cleared his throat. “But I won’t be able to hug her the way you guys do, then.”

“Small sacrifice, I’d say.” Pai-Relix winked. “Even if you have to forego some of the more important bits for yourself, giving her comfortable hugs is very worth it. Man up, my lord.”

Lila laughed at those words, and then ran into their bedroom. She came out a few moments later with a pillow, which she promptly handed to Gemini. “Here, for you.”

“You do know that I can create pillows or anything I want to, right? In fact, this pillow is also something I created…”

“It’s a symbolic gesture,” Lila replied. “If I don’t get you anything because you’re able to create it on your own, what kind of partner am I supposed to be? A bad one? A relationship is about both giving and receiving, so things like this cannot be handwaved away with ‘I can create it’. Right?”

“Giving and receiving…” For some reason, Gemini thought about the ongoing war and the measures he was taking to stop the Five Lands, and his lips twitched. Forcibly wrenching his mind away from that thought, he said, “That’s true. It’s just that I have so much power at my disposal now, so…”

“It’s times like this when one’s strength carries little meaning,” said Pai-Relix, who was poking Aria’s cheeks really gently and making her laugh. “Your baby daughter, for instance, will cry when she wants to. She can be in your presence, and she’ll still cry anyway!”

Aria tilted her head. “Gaga!”

“Aww, were you calling out to me or papa?” Lila asked, making a little cooing sound. “C’mere, let mama give you a hug.”

For some reason, Gemini had the feeling that little Aria was actually responding to the Demigod’s words, but how could a baby barely half a year old actually know what someone’s words meant? Rolling his eyes at that absurd thought, he made some baby noises and let her hold his finger with her tiny hands.

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While his finger was being eaten by Aria — she had started teething not too long ago — he turned to Pai-Relix, who was watching the spectacle of the Demon Sovereign being nibbled on with amusement. “Pai-Relix, I actually have some questions that are not related to Aria.”

“Go on, my lord.” The respectful demeanour returned to her face, and Gemini wryly noted that her informality was centred around his child.

“From what I know, you only because one of the Demon God’s familiar spirits recently, right?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“What was the process like?” Gemini asked.

A shadow flickered through her face. “Not something I would like to recall, that’s for sure. The process of becoming a familiar spirit is not too different from becoming a Demigod or a Will-user.”

“A what?”

“Will-user. To be very precise, it refers to Sages, Exemplars and Demigods, but since Scholars also undergo will-carving, the term has expanded to include them too,” Pai-Relix explained.

“Pretend for a moment that I don’t know what will-carving is,” Gemini replied.

“We’re starting from there?” Pai-Relix goggled.

“What? I just regained my sense of self too,” Gemini replied. “I don’t know what I went through to become the Demon Sovereign, and there’s no memories about what happened either. You do know that a whole bunch of Demigods came to capture me, right?”

“Nope,” Pai-Relix replied. “In fact, I don’t have memories of my past five years. The last thing I remember was losing control over myself.”

At those words, her expression turned into one of sorrow and regret. Gemini knew what she had such an expression on too — she had said it herself earlier. In her madness, she had probably killed everyone around her, including her own descendants. Gemini could tell that such an act was probably pivotal for breaking their will and allowing the Demon God to take control, and he couldn’t help but feel anger.

All that, however, was in the past. The Demon God was dead. His means of making the Demigods of the Wildlands lose control was, surprisingly enough, temporary. And most importantly, he had been resisting the encroachment of madness for a very long time. It probably explained why at times, the Demon God’s moves were brilliant, while at others, they were nothing short of straightforward.

The entire conduct of the war was pretty much the latter. At some point, the World’s Blight had lost control of himself and paid the ultimate price for doing so.

“Anyway,” said the Demigod, “if we really want to start from will-carving…well, the process of becoming a Scholar and beyond involves surrendering a portion of one’s free will. To restrict one’s actions. In doing so, we study ourselves, our own nature. What do we value the most? What are we willing to sacrifice for it?”

“That’s why the first stage of a will-user is called a Scholar?” Gemini asked, intrigued.

“Precisely so. As one progresses on the road of a Will-user, they refine this study of theirs, identifying the core ideas that they believe in and turning them into one’s own spiritual wisdom. That is a Sage.” Pai-Relix chuckled. “However, I’ve digressed. Becoming a familiar spirit involves the surrendering of one’s…free will in their entirety.”

“So…” Gemini rubbed his nose. “Well, that does explain why everyone listens to me so closely. I don’t really like it, though, but this is a necessary evil right now.”

“It is. At most, you can return us our free will after your gambits come to fruition.” Pai-Relix shook her head. “Right? Demon Sovereign Asteria?”

“Yeah, no pressure or anything…” Gemini rolled his eyes. “Hmm?”

“What’s wrong?” Lila, who had been standing by his side, asked.

“There’s someone trying to screw my plans over,” Gemini replied.