Bellessia
Bellessia looked down at all the undead flowing out of the roughly 500 kilometer wide portal on the border of the A rank planet’s main continent, and she couldn’t help but sigh, feeling sad as she looked down at all the mortals dying every second in the constant fight against the Undead Universe’s never ending invasion.
This was where her husband had grown, coming to the Endless Battle as a C rank and eventually rising up to A rank on his own, then gaining the faith of trillions of warriors over the years and becoming a god of war near the end of his lifespan. Even as a god, even after living for dozens of trillions of years before Bellessia was even born, he’d always been fighting, always protecting their universe from the forces which would see it destroyed.
He’d been a truly good person, unlike her, her father, and her father’s other divine descendants.
Looking around at the nineteen other divine members of her family—all, like her, sitting on floating stone thrones surrounding a large circular floating stone table, many kilometers above the mortals fighting down below—Bellessia couldn’t help thinking about what she’d be like had he not died. Would she actually give a damn about mortal lives? Would she have handled the idea that she would birth the next reincarnation of the Runemaster Truesoul differently?
Bellessia’d thought her plan was honoring her husband’s legacy, killing the Runemaster Truesoul before it could grow and strengthen the inter-universe portals like the one down below and the demiplane battlefields between universes like where her husband had been killed. More important, however, it had been the quickest way to gain the last two puzzle books of the Runemaster Truesoul’s previous life, enabling the Primordial Humans to recover the divine bones of the Radiant Behemoth and stop the undead invasion for good.
But would her husband have actually approved?
Thinking about it, Bellessia believed he would. But the use of a bloodline curse, and the killing of another child just to get revenge for his death? He would have divorced her on the spot.
“Why are we all together just to talk about a weak little E rank?” Bellessia’s second eldest brother, the Lord of Twilight Flame, spoke out in frustration after the first few minutes of their discussion, which had mostly consisted of his twin sister, the Lady of Hellwater, updating their father on the events of the War of the Chosen.
“Because he is a threat to our power.”
The Primordial Sovereign looked like any normal middle-aged man you could find on any of the universe’s human ruled planets, with nothing particularly special about him, but he was the strongest of the three human elder gods and the only one who could fight on the same level as the Lady of Laws and the Divine Child, the person all of his children and descendants relied on for their status, so, in this crowd, his word was law.
“The energy levels of the System have been dropping precipitously over the last few dozen years, and not even I have the authority to know why. So, it seems another A rank planet is being formed in secret. At first, I thought this was the old bird or the little devourer fortifying their power but, after trading for information with the devourer, which cost me an entire Longevity Bean—” he looked coldly at Bellessia before turning back to her older brother—“I now believe the planet your sister lost is the one being transformed.
“And, given what the devourer traded with the Runemaster Truesoul to get one of the boy’s coupons for the last Universal Auction, the planet will be a resource-filled one, comparable to Haven, Tanavar, and Serpent’s Nest, one which every divine force in the universe will almost certainly eventually fight over, creating chaos.
“Most bothersome of all, however, is that the little devourer also traded the boy the nearly dead corpse of an A rank Order Dragon, which the Runemaster Truesoul will be able to absorb before his advancement to C rank.”
The Primordial Sovereign looked at everyone around the table with a cold expression. “I don’t believe I need to tell anyone here what will happen when someone with 36 order category Laws gains the Power of Order racial ability, correct?”
“No, sir,” everyone, Bellessia included, responded almost immediately.
The Primordial Sovereign then turned to the Lady of Hellwater. “There’s no way to draw him out before he starts needing resources for B rank?”
“There shouldn’t be, sir.” The Lady of Hellwater bowed slightly. “They already managed to teleport their planet to somewhere arbitrary, so they would have had the chance to choose the otherverse their planet will connect to, but we have no way of knowing which suitable otherverses the Yin Yang Sage would have known about. And, given her position during the last years of her life, it’s likely she knows of some even we don’t.”
“What about threatening that alchemist?” the Lord of Twilight Flame suggested. “From your description of this Aalam’s personality, it sounds like he might be stupid enough to try and rescue her.”
Everyone but Bellessia, the Primordial Sovereign included, turned to look at the Lady of Hellwater.
“But he isn’t the leader of his force.” The Lady of Hellwater looked directly into her twin’s calm fiery eyes. “The remaining apprentice of the Yin Yang Sage is.
“Also, while he most likely recently advanced to D rank, that means nothing. If his master can’t handle a situation, he can’t either, so trying to do so would just be stupid. And he’s descended from Bellessia, not you.
“More important, when Bellessia and I went to question the woman, half the scarabs showed up almost immediately.
“The goal of killing the Runemaster Truesoul is to stop the inter-universe connections in our territory from strengthening, forcing us to invest more of our time defending and thus allowing the forces of the Lady of Laws and the Divine Child to eat away at our Territory. Risking getting into a fight with the Divine Child’s favorite subordinates for a plan which almost certainly would not work in the first place isn’t worth it.”
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The Lord of Twilight Flame looked like he was about to say something, but their father raised his hand, stopping him. “Your sister is right.
“And, with the way the D rank Trial Tower is set up and the talent shown by this incarnation of the Runemaster Truesoul, it is almost impossible he won’t make it to C rank. It’s just a matter of time.
“When he reaches C rank, however, any otherverse he could safely connect his A rank planet to would no longer be able to support his growth. And the C rank Universal Tournament won’t be able to provide him what he’d need to advance. So, it is at this point he’ll need to attempt to inherit his previous incarnation’s fortune and steal from us or possibly other divine level forces. We’ll just have to kill him then.
“Let’s move on and talk about other things.”
The Primordial Sovereign turned to look at Bellessia, his face no longer cold, but instead expressionless, causing far more fear in Bellessia’s heart. “Bellessia, what do you think your punishment should be for how much of a mess you’ve made?”
“Whatever father desires.” Bellessia bowed her head as low as it would go, banging it onto the round table.
“Alright.” The Primordial Sovereign reached out with his psyforce and raised her head. “During the next 1,728 years, birth me 1,728 new grandchildren, each with different men. And keep their identities secret.”
The Primordial Sovereign leaned back in his chair as Bellessia fought down the urge to be sick. “With that number, at least one or two should be able to join our ranks, especially if we send most of them to various active battlefields.”
* * *
Joma
Joma watched as Krysta and Henrietta went through another round of alchemical flame cleansing, both having already advanced to D rank, and felt bad about how neither of the two screamed this time.
At E rank, both of them had been innocent, part of the lucky few who could get to such a rank without sacrificing anything, but Joma didn’t have the power to protect them anymore. All she could do was train them up so they’d be able to protect themselves when she herself was eventually killed.
Joma knew what position she was in. While it might seem different on the surface, Kilvorax and his brothers wouldn’t risk anything of theirs to protect her, only Krysta. And, ever since the Earth Mother had come for a visit, Joma could tell she was being watched.
The Primordial Humans only hadn’t made a move on her because Aalam was too weak to have any hope of helping her, but that would change in the future.
And there was nothing Joma could do about it.
Her oaths forced her to be an honorable business woman, and she’d made hundreds of contracts for providing alchemical products which wouldn’t allow her to flee, the last of which would only be finished in 8,934 years, far too late.
“Mom.” When the alchemical flame cleansing was over, Krysta walked over to her, and Joma could tell from her daughter’s aura that her child had made some kind of difficult decision. “I think I’ve learned as much as I can staying here. I think it’s time I go out on my own to learn on the battlefield.”
And there they were, the words Joma’d been dreading. Her daughter wasn’t stupid, fully understanding the type of situation her mother was in. But Krysta also knew there was nothing she could do about it. All she could do was grow as fast as possible, to the point she was strong enough to be of some kind of help, so Joma’s little girl had been pushing herself harder and harder over the years.
And now, to speed up her growth even more, Krysta was going to leave.
It wouldn’t do any good, and Joma didn’t like the idea of her daughter taking risks. But, unlike Krysta, Joma understood a little about the defenses Krysta’s father had placed on her body, so it wasn’t her life Joma was worried about.
War was hell.
Joma hadn’t participated in too many battles herself, but she’d seen slaughters, and she’d talked to experienced soldiers.
If Krysta went to search for combat, she’d suffer emotionally. But, at the same time, she’d learn the skills she’d need to be able to survive. And Joma cared about that more.
Not able to do much else, Joma just hugged her daughter and tried not to cry.
* * *
Mila
As Aalam woke up in the master bedroom of the abandoned billionaire’s island compound, where she’d placed him after he fell unconscious from Id’s new body-exhausting berserker trait, Mila looked down at him and smiled. “How are you doing, husband?”
“I think I figured out how to awaken Vitality-based uniquenesses.” Aalam’s eyes opened, shining with soul light and excitement. “I need to do some experiments.”
Then, without saying another word, he did a very Aalam thing and created runes around himself which teleported him to his crafting hall.
“Yeah, this is how I should have expected things to go.” Mila looked at herself with her sensory domain, at the lacy red lingerie she was wearing, at the light amount of makeup she’d put on, at how obviously ready for sex she was, and just sighed, changing the form of the artifact making up her outfit to the type of dress she liked to wear while working.
But then, surprisingly, Aalam teleported back, appearing right next to her, his face showing confusion. “Wait, Mila, with that outfit you were wearing, were you wanting to—”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Aalam looked excited again. “Not right now, but after dinner, definitely.”
Then, this time fully understanding what he was doing, her asshole husband teleported away again and Mila had to take a deep breath so she wouldn’t scream out at the top of her lungs.
Worse, after she’d changed her attire, she’d unblocked her connection with Nana Xara, and the old woman had seen what happened after.
“Ooh, this is going to be so fun to watch.”
“I don’t want your commentary.”
“But do you want some advice?” Nana Xara’s voice actually sounded serious, which caught Mila off guard.
“Not really. But I imagine you’re going to give it to me anyway.”
“Ah.” Cheer entered back into Nana Xara’s tone. “You know me so well.”
Then she started acting serious again.
“Getting married doesn’t change anything. Any problems you had before will still exist and anything you haven’t dealt with still needs to be. The only difference is you’ve promised to try and make things permanent, hopefully making your stances clear. So the key now is open and honest communication, and you’re the one who has more problems with that than him.
“If you’re frustrated about something, just say so.”
It was good advice. Aalam likely wouldn’t change much. And, knowing him, new scientific discoveries would almost always come before sex. That was one of the things she loved about him.
This didn’t mean, however, that she couldn’t voice what she wanted. With Aalam, clear communication always worked best, and she’d been trying to be subtle about it to be sexy. Well, not exactly subtle. She’d basically hit him over the head with a hammer and he’d still gotten confused. But this didn’t mean she couldn’t be more clear about her intentions going forward, such as telling Aalam over dinner how being rejected for uniqueness research made her feel.
Still, Nana Xara was going to be a problem. Mila really didn’t want the woman listening in on her and Aalam’s budding relationship, but she also didn’t want to block the woman all the time.
The old witch was still useful. It was just annoying how Mila was the only one she could talk to.
Previously, she and Diana could share the burden of keeping the woman company, but now, with Diana effectively dead, that onus was entirely on Mila, and it wasn’t like she could share it with other people.
Or wait, could she?
She and Diana both communicated with Nana Xara through their master apprentice bonds, but Diana’s currently wasn’t being used. With some help from Aalam, maybe it was possible to project Nana Xara’s bond with Diana onto an artifact, allowing someone else to entertain the old witch in Mila’s stead.