One by one, Pef's beloved wives arrived to meet their husband, while the Legion's troops were being expelled for some real time experience. Keeping the soldiers into the inner universe was possibly detrimental, as some features of the real world did not translate exactly.

Lia hugged Pef gently, and patted his neck. "Welcome home, beloved. I was slightly worried."

Pef embraced her silently. With the Oracle, words were futile anyway, as she would anticipate everything before he could say it.

Miya and Blossom arrived next and hang to his arms, longing and desire apparent to everyone.

"Welcome home, hubby." they spoke at once and giggled.

Pef grinned and patted their bottoms in promise.

They Lin arrived and grimaced at the new wives, before her face softened, and she drew closer to kiss him in welcome.

"I expect a lot of gifts. Tier 4 at least. You hear?" the soulsmith demanded as penance.

Pef smiled genially. "Of course my love." He checked around, but the other wives were missing.

"Yuan is roaming and mapping a new galaxy. Should be back next year." Lia answered his unasked question.

Pef nodded and glanced towards Zeus, where he detected Qin and Vela, deep inside the gas giant.

"Cultivating?" he asked to make sure.

Lia nodded with a smile. "Millions of idiots brave the depths to follow your footsteps, husband. And those two were there the longest."

Pef grinned at her knowingly. "And you didn't?"

Lia glanced down in shame. "..."

They all laughed and then flew towards their home.

"Silentia, Strella and Lasciel, I'll leave you to get to know the rest. Lin, with me." Pef commanded and drew his maker wife in the inner world.

Lin glanced around for a minute til she detected the newcomers. "Another gun?"

"Yes, she is Faith. The dragon boy is Drake. And the fairy is Misty." Pef explained while bringing over some Archdevil bones from Yama, and some more bones from the Godbeast.

Faith nodded politely upon seeing Lin and her golden aura. "Captain."

"Sorry, I do not remember that. Only some crafting skill." Lin muttered absently, while examining the bones intently.

"I will fight beside you anyway, Captain. You have the right soul." Faith proclaimed and vanished.

A few seconds later, Pef arrived next to Vela and Qin in the depths of the gas giant and stole them away.

"An elf!"

"A fairy!" Vela and Misty yelled while pointing at each other.

Pef chuckled and prepared a table, then glanced towards Lin as she bit from the Godbeast meat curiously.

She promptly exploded and had to be revived, although she was stronger now.

"This is potent stuff, and filled with many daos. Perhaps if I dilute it a bit, make it a long soup?" Lin mused out loud.

Pef passed her a wine gourd with blood wine. "Try this!"

Taking a few gulps, Lin nodded in satisfaction. "Very good Pef. You're forgiven." she allowed while closing her eyes to mediate.

Meanwhile, Pef began interrogating Qin about her life, while Vela and Misty became fast friends and walked away to chat in private.

"I'm almost at Tier 2, hubby! Soon, I'll be able to dive into the sun, and increase my Fire Dao to maximum." the fire goddess replied in a proud voice.

"And Yuan?"

"She is near Tier 3 now. But she was so much stronger before. Just a tiny bit and I'll catch up." Qin explained with an eager tone.

Pef nodded sagely. If Yuan returned still a Tier 2, then Qin will be ahead of her already, just by eating Godbeast meat.

He took out a drop of beast blood and pushed it gently in her mouth.

Instantly, Qin crossed into the Tier 2, the regular rank of Legion soldiers. Well, regular for the Great Realm at least.

Once her body was restored to life, she grinned and hugged Pef tightly. "I did it!"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Pef smiled in amusement and hugged her back. "Rest now, and meditate. The world will look different soon." he advised her by experience.

Meanwhile, Drake drew closer to Lin, and they began sharing soulsmith stories.

Pef stepped beside Reason and offered her some tea, with unspoken words.

The armored woman sighed and sipped the tea while eying him suspiciously. "It's too soon Commander. Finish the beast first, and repair the weak defenses in your mind. We still have some time." she told him in a tired voice.

Pef grumbled and slumped into his seat. "Still too weak, even with voidswords?"

"You think Lin didn't have them, before she died?" Reason asked mildly.

Pef sighed and closed his eyes. Of course, as a Captain in the Legion she would have the sword skill of a Captain.

"And my father? He had the cutting skill too." Pef murmured softly.

"Indeed. You will need to combine them. Make it multidimensional. Strike the goliths in all dimensions at once. Like the General does." the weapon said in a weird voice.

"A Tier 8 skill. The retaliation..." Pef replied with worry.

"Yes. Myriad Sword Domain. A transcendent skill that can kill Tier 7 entities. She was working on that, last time I saw her." Reason explained gently and poked Pef's forehead with a finger.

He fell asleep, as time stopped for some reason. In the dream, he saw someone looking like Reason bend time and space and dimensions with her sword, straining to strike at a wooden pole from two directions at once. With a single sword strike.

She failed and failed and failed, and kept trying.

A billion times later, the pole had two cuts on either side, while the woman fell to her knees exhausted.

When the dream ended, Pef opened his eyes to find Reason had vanished somewhere.

Vela and Misty had come back, and were playing with a puppy by the sea.

Lin and Drake had blown up and awaited resurrection yet again. Some experiment gone wrong, or too well.

Either way, he revived them and expelled both from the inner world. The temptation to abuse Godbeast flesh was too strong for those two.

"Misty, wanna visit my home planet?" Pef asked the resident fairy.

"After I reach Emperor rank! So next week." Misty yelled back and rolled over with the puppy in her arms.

Pef glanced at Vela and sighed. "Ready to break my mind again, dear vestal?"

"Hehe. Always glad to help, Pef. Seeing you cry is so funny!" the elf goddess replied with a wide grin.

Pef grit his teeth, anticipating more pain and suffering for a few years. "It's called learning, Vela. It's what I do."

he answered weakly.

"Your husband is kinda stupid." Misty whispered to her new friend, like this wasn't his inner world, all under his control.

Vela giggled and splashed some water into her eyes. "Just wait til you find one yourself, you minx fairy."

The puppy yelped and ran around, while the girls splashed each other and laughed.

Outside, Pef and Lia shared a bench in his sauna, enjoying the heat and companionship.

"Devil wives. I'd have thought you learned that lesson." the oracle spoke after nearly an hour.

Pef shrugged. "The heart wants what it wants. And they'll be helpful, I think."

Lia patted his leg in defeat. " Lasciel was a ruler. Perhaps even in the Devil Realm Court. And she remembers a lot."

The Tier 4 hero nodded and sighed. "Even so. She'll become an Archdevil soon. A powerful ally here and perhaps there as well."

Lia leaned on his shoulder "A lich, a druid, a demon, a witch, elves and now ants and devils and dragons. Covering bases for the gate." she deduced in her usual manner.

"Hopefully it will work. Allies are important." Pef said in a tired tone.

His Tier 4 body didn't need sleep or rest anymore, but the weight of the world was too much sometimes.

He still slept sometimes, just to remain sane and allow memories to deposit properly.

But Reason's dream scared him. The General tried so hard. A million times harder than he did.

What could he do to help, when even her wasn't enough?