Chapter 62: Diplomacy 8

The welcome back to her estate was warm, but Elania skipped past Darius and the servants and headed straight upstairs.

As she stepped into the bedroom, her mind was still processing the events of her journey to Hels.

Yolani looked up from a chair and closed the book she had been reading, concern etched on her face. “How did Arlois take the news?”

Elania shrugged. “She didn’t say anything, but it seemed like she wasn’t pleased.”

Yolani sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “Things have been going well on the construction and production front while you were gone. I will look at the detector thing tomorrow.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Elania’s lips. “I’m happy to hear that. Thanks for doing your best while I was away.”

Yolani nodded, but a frown creased her brow. “Are you really sure about doing the essence purging for the [Regalia] now?”

Elania’s gaze drifted to the window, the city sprawling beneath them. “I’m afraid time is running out. It’s now or never.” She turned back to Yolani, determination in her eyes. “I’ll use the ambrosia Ember gave us to reduce how much [Power] I lose.”

Yolani’s fingers drummed against the workbench, a nervous rhythm. “You expect to drop from around 4,500 to 2,500?”

Elania nodded, her jaw set. “Something like that. Once the [Regalia] is fully bonded, my maximum should go up from 5,000. But what I really need are more followers to replenish faster.”

Yolani’s lips pursed, her gaze thoughtful. “That’s going to be difficult. Especially in Contia.”

Elania leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. “From what I can tell, the quality of followers is just as important. I’ve noticed my regeneration has increased despite losing over a thousand so far.”

Yolani pushed herself up from the workbench, her steps measured as she approached Elania. “I’ll go over the process with you again.”

Elania smiled, then reached out, her fingers intertwining with Yolani’s. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Yolani’s smile was soft, her eyes shining with affection. “You’ll never have to find out.”

They ended up on the bed and distracted for a while, but when they were done, neither of them was actually sleepy.

Yolani rolled over, pulled out a book, and began explaining the two-part bonding process with the [Regalia].

First, Elania would need to purge all essences except [Divine Essence], which wasn’t even part of the process; it was just naturally required. Normal demi-divine didn’t have cores or essence—that was distinctly Elania’s lesser demon race’s fault.

Then, she could match her [Divine Essence] to the artifact and begin melding the bracer and revolver to herself.

When it was finished, she’d be able to morph the revolver into the bracer or vice versa. Eventually, the plan was to expand the bracer into a full set of armor. The elemental ammunition was already complete, but it couldn’t be used until the weapon transformed into its [Regalia] form.

Stolen novel; please report.

The hardest part would be maintaining 100% [Divine Essence] for the entire process.

“I just have to avoid absorbing anything,” Elania said. “[Soul Management] will let me prevent any passive gains from my other cores as long as I vent them constantly. It’ll drain my incoming [Divine Power], though. Two-thirds of it, actually.”

Yolani frowned. “Should we try to gather more... material? The other Towers might have some extra ambrosia.”

Elania shook her head, determination in her gaze. “We’ve waited too long already. We need the [Regalia] as soon as possible. I’m going to do it now.”

“Can I help?” Yolani asked.

A smile tugged at the corners of Elania’s lips. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

Yolani nodded, then got out of bed. Elania eyed her lover’s form.

“I’ll fortify the room,” Yolani explained, her fingers already tracing intricate patterns in the air.

Elania waved her hand dismissively. “It isn’t necessary. It’s not like I’ll be an invalid, just lower in [Divine Power] for a while.”

Yolani stopped and turned around with a frown. “Fine.”

“You can help by cuddling,” Elania said with a smile.

Yolani’s eyebrows shot up. “You are doing something that will leave you vulnerable and is critical to our survival, and the help you want is cuddling?”

Elania’s laughter filled the room. “Yes, come here.”

Yolani returned to the bed, and Elania leaned back against her, welcoming the embrace as she nestled into the other girl’s arms. The warmth of their bodies mingled into a comforting closeness that made shutting her eyes easy.

“I’m not going to sleep. It’s just that most of this is mental,” Elania mumbled.

Yolani nuzzled her hair behind an ear. “Sure, sure. I’m here. Do what you need to do.”

Elania sank into the comfort of Yolani’s embrace.

She focused inward, her mind delving into the depths of her being.

[Soul Management] allowed her to sense the swirling essences within, each one a distinct thread in the tapestry of her existence.

[Human Essence], [Darkwalker Essence], and [Divine Essence] roiled in distinct clouds, with solid cores at the center of each. A thin gray mist suffused the space between them, with the minute amounts of other essence slowly filtering out.

She needed to destroy the balance to reach a state of pure divinity.

Breathing deeply, Elania began the process. She visualized the essences, guiding them with the power of her will.

[Divine Power] surged through her, a conduit for the unwanted energies. The essences were expelled into the air like wisps of smoke, although they weren’t visible to any mortal sense.

It formed a thick cloud in the room and around the estate for several minutes until a sudden, powerful suction began to drag it away.

That almost jolted her out of her focus. But she quickly realized what it was.

The Celestial Engine was hungry, and free-floating [Divine Power] was an easy meal, even at a distance. And the engine didn’t care about what kind of essence it carried.

That’d been bad for Neftasu’s engine when the ratio had gone wildly out of balance due to Relain’s machinations, but here, it probably wasn’t an issue—or so she hoped. Arlois or Ember would have mentioned it if it was, surely?

Time seemed to stretch.

The closer she came to 100% [Divine Essence], the longer it seemed to take to filter out the remnants of the others.

Elania focused on the warmth of Yolani’s arms around her. The longer the process took, the weaker she felt.

When the last trace of unwanted essence faded away, [Soul Management] reported the 100% achievement.

It felt like a lock clicking open. A sense of rightness settled over her.

Immediately, she snapped into place two cyclic expulsions and visualized conduits attached to her [Human Core] and [Darkwalker Core] to push anything they generated out of her. She would be leaking [Divine Power] everywhere until the process was complete.

Elania opened her eyes, blinking at the golden light that suffused the room. Yolani looked down at her, bathed in the ethereal glow.

“You’re glowing,” Yolani whispered.

Elania raised her hand, marveling at the luminescent bracer that encircled her forearm. Her eyes went to the bed table, and the revolver. She should probably wear it, too.

But doing that while naked felt a little silly.

She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her, and Yolani hugged her tighter.

“Sorry,” Elania mumbled.

“Don’t be,” Yolani replied. She reached over and grabbed Ember’s bottle and opened it. “Drink this.”

Elania did so. The rush of sweetness filled her with the feeling of energy and warmth.

She reached up and pulled Yolani into a kiss.