For a while, everything went right with Pef's plans.

Zorkel didn't rebel, and brought back many slaves and jade.

The training for the new Legion of Rome progressed nicely, even having a few recruits reach Nascent ranks.

Vela's body healed somewhat, she could walk normally, and she had the puppy keep her company day and night.

Qin was getting close to crossing into Saint rank, as her Practice into the nature of fire and plasma continued.

Reason was happy with the new energy she received, and sometimes helped one or another of the family with their projects.

Even Nellie was back in his life, going on dates and spending time exchanging stories or sharing meals.

Then one day, about two months after he last seen him, Zorkel arrived in the system with the spaceship half aflame, and three Greater Demons in pursuit.

Pef blinked himself to intercept, storing the ship in the glove and the passengers inside in his inner world.

Then he stopped beside Zorkel and waited for the demons to arrive. 'Problems?'

'One of them is a Fateweaver. They wanted to save me.' Zorkel answered with a sad chuckle.

'I suspect they aren't demon lovers or such.' he mused with a cynical tone.

Zorkel turned to see if the human was joking.

'Reason, can you incapacitate or control them?' he asked inward.

The gun flew out of his glove, barrel pointed at the demons. 'This will hurt you. Remember, truth always hurts.'

A new sun erupted in the system, waves of golden light spreading instantly in a half-sphere aimed at the incoming demons. Then of course, came the sound.

The familiar noise of rumbling mountains was accompanied this time by words. "By Her grace, the General brings you to the light. In her Presence, there can be no shadows, for hers is the light of truth, and she will lead you to salvation. Keep free of corruption, which blinds the eyes and binds the soul, for her light will bring you to justice. Veritas omni ! "

Slowly, the light diminished but Pef remained blind, at least with his eyes. Even worse, his soul was now in tatters, looking like the bombarded moon of his inner world.

'Legion, I'm burning!' he heard Zorkel complain in his mind.

With a single thought, he encased the four demons into ice, and himself with a water shield.

Then he moved them back on to the space station. With his last thoughts he stored the frozen demons into a hangar each. Then crashed to sleep, letting his outer body to heal on his own.

Inside the inner world the sky was clear blue again, and the volcano has transformed into a water geyser, surrounded by pure white ice banks.

His avatar looked like a sieve, which was kinda fitting considering it was his soul.

The time froze and his weapon flew beside him, her armor now only sporting a few scars.

"Ah, Reason! Y-you look great today." he said with a painful cough.

"Perhaps it was a good idea to discharge her light. Your soul was a bit corrupted. Sadly, the aberration still remains." Reason replied with a frown, and poked a finger at a painful green spot in his avatar's stomach.

"I-I'm afraid I was born this way." he struggled to say.

"Yes. This had happened to you while you weren't born yet. Do you know what this scar is?" she asked rhetorically.

Pef looked down, watching the golden light fizzle as it fought the green spot.

"I suspect a god attacked my mother." he answered with a frown of his own.

"That's a separate incident, instigated by your very existence. Imagine a gem, like a diamond. Now give it a million facets." Reason said in a teaching tone.

Pef nodded. "A bit exaggerated, but let's say it's possible."

Reason held out a palm, forming a plane of light under it. "This is the facet of that construct. Behind it, there're more dimensions. First, a cube." she continued materializing a cube made of light.

"Where is this going?" Pef asked a bit annoyed.

Reason shook her head. "Pay attention, your life depends on it. Now, each of those six facets of this cube is continued by other cubes. Even you can grasp this, right?"

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"More and more cubes, going forever?" Pef asked to make sure.

"Not forever. The diamond has a million facets. Now, imagine each of those facets is not a plane, but a universe, just like this one." she said, collapsing the cube into a vortex of intersecting lines and cubes.

The visual explanation worked, although it hurt his eyes to look at. Still, he had seen something similar before.

"This is about your illusion?"

"Partly. The way nu-goliths attack is by locking to a target's signature, and throwing a spine, or a javelin towards it, attempting to strike at their enemy less protected areas. In humans the most vital target is the brain. In Ascended humans the brain is less vital, and the dantian is considered the most vulnerable."

Pef poked the green spot, trying to imagine a fearsome weapon like that hitting his core. "The scepter?"

"Not so dangerous anymore. Once it has been set on a trajectory, it mostly always hits, but after that the energy is spent. Like a guided weapon, say like an arrow. You could reuse it, but as a spear, not as it's primary purpose."

"Who sends a universe class weapon after a baby?" Pef wondered, confused.

Reason poked a finger into the multidimensional cube, and the tip emerged from a facet straight up.

"The truth won't be pretty. The sting has hit its target. That target is dead. But, he also escaped. Reborn into a new body. The weapon followed, but it was too weak to kill its target again. It would need to gather energy, recharge and try again."

Pef shuddered. Damn thing was vicious.

"My father was the target, maybe. He has a golden aura." Pef mused, feeling a looming threat above him.

"That might work, if the strike had happened in the past. But as you can see, there is only the present. The sting hit the other you, now!"

"Wait a minute! It doesn't make sense. Strike then hit. Cause and effect. It can't happen at once." Pef protested loudly.

Reason punched him into the moon again.

Pef returned to the water geyser, spitting lunar dust. "Okay, you're stronger..."

"Not the point. Look around! No time has passed. I hit you, you flew to the moon and back. And time is still not flowing." Reason said in a more aggravated tone.

"Okay... I don't know how to fight non-causal weapons. The next strike might come next day, or next millennium." Pef shrugged with his hands open.

"I told you, the sting will need to recharge. It also needs a strong host to power it. It will try to mind-control the host, and by what you've learned on Hellsreach, the Archdemon was half-mad already. It won't be long now. You don't have a millennium, Pef. You have a week, maybe two. They can't see you, but they sent those three Greater Demons to track your enslaved demon."

"And now they have me pinned. I would try to run, but the planet..."

"You only need to deal with the sting. We have four subdued Greater Demons now, and the elves might also help if you present your case." Reason explained in a reasonable voice.

Pef hung his head low. "I'm so dead..."

Time began to flow again, and Pef rushed to organize the newest refugees. Luckily, he had sufficient land mass now.

Unluckily, he had a guided spear aiming for him, from half a galaxy away.

'Damn it, even in death I can't escape the cursed thing!' Pef muttered inward.

'The gun didn't tell you the complete story. Maybe she doesn't know it. But that weapon was let inside, intentionally. Think of it as a virus.' the glove whispered with a conspiratorial tone.

'A virus, injected into an egg. Trying to make anti-bodies. A vaccine. Good plan, if a bit cruel for the egg.' Pef mused to himself. Eggs didn't survive the omelet.

'They obviously have a million eggs. Identical to this one.' the adjutant said confidently.

'Damn it. The worm and Yuan's tears. Now, another cosmic horror...' Pef complained in despair.

'Be positive Soldier. You might die, but one of you will survive. Then we can all get vaccinated and let out.' the glove said in an attempt at cheerfulness.

'I'll do my best not to die. My alternate Pefs might be total idiots.' he muttered in a dejected tone.

The glove stayed silent, now that it said the part. Things were coming to an end, and its user was as ready as it could make him. Strong, fast, armed, trained and loved. Not that bright, but then such was life. You had to lose a bit to gain more.

The status window emerged, bringing the newest stats.

Veritas Legion Adjutant-User data file

Name: Pef Xi

Alias: Monarch, Emperor, Saint, God, Legion.

Rank: Local universe CIC, Legion: Soldier

OS: Standard Veritas Legion Indoctrination method: compatibility 1.0013

Race: Physical God, Tier 3 (improved +36%)

Body stats:

-Strength : 9116. (Physical God bonus +50%)

-Agility : 9878. (Physical God bonus +50%)

-Endurance : 8133. (Physical God bonus +50%. Veritas Adjutant modifier +1000)

-Intelligence : 298. (Veritas Adjutant modifier +1000)

-Wisdom : 174. (Veritas Adjutant modifier +1000)

-Charisma : 741. (charm +7%)

-Qi : 2233000.

Cultivation stats:

-Spiritual affinity: Water 19%, Sword 16%, Void 9%, Fire 7%, Wind 3%, Thunder 6%, Metal 5%, Earth 3%, Life 2%, Entropy 2%, Order 1%, Chaos 1%. (Yin and Yang, Creation and Destruction under 1%)

-Core size: Huge. (5.114 cms radius)

-Core inner volume: Huge. (Ocean giant. Livable environment. Avatar. Time stop. Land area: 9000 sq kms)

-Qi purity: 22%. (~1% trans dimensional injection)

-Soul Aspect: Binary-White/Silver. (Combat/Exploration affinity)

-Soul defense: 3184. +90% bonus (open meridians 1+11)

-Soul attack: 1881. +10% bonus

-Sword Ki abilities: 16%. (One with the World: stage 1.)

-Water Dao abilities: 19%. (Greater Water Domain, ~35000 kms radius)

-Fire Dao abilities: 7%. (Large Fire Domain, ~2700 kms radius)

-Void abilities: 9%. Blink radius: 12 billion kms, Voidsplitter skill 2%, Recall radius: 9000 kms

Divine stats:

- Ki sense: Large (~2 billion kms radius)

- coresense: Greater. (~3614 kms radius)

- telekinetic field: Medium. Range 1.78 m (Divine strings manipulation: 62%, Gravity generation: 14%, Quasi strings: 2%)

- add-ons: Icesword rune.

- sword intent: Medium (Swordforce: stage 2, 36%)

- transmutation/alteration: Huge. (water Mastery, fog and ice: stage 8, plasma: stage 4, condensation: stage 7)

- divination: Minor/???. (trans dimensional injection)

- heartforce: Medium. (Mortal Dust: stage 1. 18%)

- kharmic luck: Minor. (Minor reincarnation, trace memories, non-causal scars)

- logopedic Dao ability: Medium: 2 words (Legion, Truth) (Soul digestion stage 3, 6%, Soul restoration 4%) +Veritas Powerword gun = 80000 words (charged at 3.3%)

- Extra abilities: water clone: stage 7, Ice wings, Ice armor, fire clone: stage 5, dojutsu: stage 3 (helix spike), mindforce: Large 55% (shield, maze, pulse, flay).