Gemini closed his eyes and listened to the reports streaming in from his Demigods. All of them had, naturally, succeeded in convincing the invasion force to surrender without a fight — he had skilfully crafted the situation such that they didn’t have much of an incentive to resist offers of housing and actual warm food. Besides, he had dispatched Demigods and Exemplars to handle those nitty-gritty issues.
Whether the invasion force liked it or not, their only fate was to surrender.
Reports continued to flow in as the Demigods took up station around the Wildlands. Exemplars gathered in groups, taking up positions around the routes the Five Lands had used previously to send in their initial invasion force and subsequent reinforcements. By now, their movements had to be made known to the Five Lands at large — it wouldn’t be long before a counterattack was mustered and sent at them.
Probably, anyway.
“Lord,” Pai-Relix’s voice echoed in his mind. “We have confirmed the capture of every last soldier of the Five Lands.”
“Excellent work,” Gemini replied. These two words weren’t just directed at her; they were directed at the entire war effort. In response, hundreds of feelings flowed back to him, each of them emanating something like satisfaction.
“The captives are docile,” Pai-Relix continued after a minute or two. “Most of them seem to be enjoying their stay here. There are some who are showing bits of anxiety; most of these people seem to be officers.”
“I see.” Gemini thought about it for a moment. If he ignored those issues, these officers may eventually act on their anxiety and try to rally an escape. Although they were very unlikely to succeed, the Demon Sovereign didn’t want to run the risk of soldiers being injured. “Well, we can provide some counselling for them. Can you do something about that?”
“Counselling?”
“I know it’s odd,” said Gemini. “To begin with, I don’t think this has ever happened before — who would actually take care of their captives’ mental state? But we are launching an extraordinary operation to put an end to an extraordinary war. This is…par for the course.”
Even though a huge distance separated the two, Gemini could imagine Pai-Relix with a blank expression on her face right now.
“I’ll…work out the details, Lord.”
“See to it, then.” Gemini’s mind returned to the task of examining the Wildlands, to make sure that there weren’t any pesky Demigods sneaking in or something. Fortunately, he had managed to defuse the timebomb that was Demigod Gaius; he was probably off on a road trip or something to seek out his true self.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
If he had been here when Operation Enduring Peace started…
“Auh.”
The temptation to get up and play with Aria was incredibly strong, especially since he had been in the same position for more than a day. The muscle pains or whatever they were had vanished halfway through, but simply paying attention to the entire landmass was taking a toll on his sanity.
Little teeth began to chew on his arm, and Gemini chuckled. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know that Lila probably had a helpless expression on her face, as their daughter tried to chew her father’s forearm.
Was it that nice to bite?
The urge to open his eyes and return his senses to his home strengthened rapidly.
“Maybe I should really try to put in some work,” Gemini muttered. There was something he could try doing, and that was to copy what the great gods did. From the records, the great gods were capable of multitasking to an absurd degree, something Gemini should have been able to do. After all, before the Demon God passed away, the pawn known as the Demon Sovereign Asteria could engage in battles of Divine Will with Hereward.
Battles of Divine Will were…complex, to put it simply. The great gods and oddballs like him would attempt to control reality around them, to fix everything that occurred next into their desired outcome. Left unopposed, a single being capable of using Divine Will could sweep an entire battlefield with absurd ease — it was like driving a steamroller over an ant nest.
After all, such a being controlled reality itself. Gemini could walk through a shower of arrows entirely defenceless and come out unscathed. If he willed it, any arrow that would have hit him would diverge from its path somehow. This was why the great gods were invincible — well, most of the time, anyway — just like his battle against that oddball Demigod, they had the luxury of dictating reality until it met their requirements.
Engaging in battles of Divine Will required a particular skillset, however. Unstable realities would appear in multiple locations the moment two Divine Wills clashed; the key to winning such battles was to gain control of these unstable realities and use them to forge an overall future disadvantageous to the enemy.
Being able to split up one’s Divine Will was the most essential prerequisite, for starters. It was an exaggerated form of multi-tasking…an inhuman form of multi-tasking.
Anything was fine if he could increase his time spent with Lila and Aria more, however.
“Gemini?” A voice, one that seemed to come from beyond the horizon, spoke in his ear.
“A moment,” Gemini replied. “What’s going on?”
His voice also seemed needlessly distant, but again, his mind was incredibly far from his body.
“You’re glowing,” Lila replied.
“Auh!”
“I’m the sun of your lives…alright, that was too cheesy.” Gemini cleared his throat. “Give me a moment. I’ve done this before, no worries. It’s just that I wasn’t Gemini when I did this.”
“What’s that supposed to—whoa!”
“Whao!”
Serenaded by surprised cries from his family, Gemini successfully divided his Divine Will. The first success was all it took, and within moments, he had covered the entire Wildlands with part of his mind.
Gemini opened his eyes, satisfied. He could now…feel the entire Wildlands with his mind, without needing to pay attention to it consciously.
“Done.” He grinned.”
“Done?” Lila echoed. “What did you do?”
Aria, who was making little bubbly noises, also stared at Gemini inquisitively.
“Regained partial use of the abilities that I should have,” the Demon Sovereign replied, before turning to Aria. “Isn’t papa great?”
Aria nodded.