"The air around here is a bit different!" Invictus said as the trio entered the Empire's territory from the west, just leaving the desert.
"It is not polluted with residues from clashing cultivators fighting all over the place." Kaizer nodded.
"Yet." Ophila added, "But if Master has reincarnated here…."
"Ehehe… Take it as I said nothing…" the two brothers nodded with a weird smile.
"By the way…." Kaizer looked around, "I think it is the best scenario we could have had. I mean that we and so many others thought this part of the world was barbaric, a no man's land! Master being reborn here had an easy time growing up, without notice, without the eyes of worshippers!"
"Um!" Ophila nodded happily. "Master was always lucky!"
"Best to keep it that way!" Invictus agreed, "I know a lot of people who would come and try to play king or god here!"
"This is why I said Master is a lucky person~ For a Harmony-level cultivator crossing the desert is still a struggle that can end in death! On the other hand, a Demigod is too high on the ladder to even consider it a worthwhile endeavor! Why would someone at that level leave for the unknown?" She smiled, watching the changing scenery.
"My only concern is Nilier!" Kaizer spoke up again. "Now that Master has been reborn, he ought to have a family! We have an obligation to protect them at all costs! The distance is still great for even us to travel back and forth if the Gods decide to descend down here! They could be in mortal danger!"
"I have a solution for that already!" Ophila clapped proudly. "My disciple and I have been working on a stable teleportation formation that can transport any kind of living being! It is going to be key, especially now!"
"And you say Master is the luckiest?" Invictus laughed, hearing her sister's explanation.
"Of course!" Ophila nodded seriously. "He is lucky to have me as his disciple!"
"And there it is…." Kaizer looked at his brother, "The most spoiled of the three of us, she did not change at all!"
"It is just the truth!" Ophila replied proudly, holding her head high.
As they were talking, they soon arrived above the Immortal Wonders Sect, yet nobody noticed their arrival. They made sure that their presence was masked and ignored by any other living being, becoming invisible to their senses, except for Levictus, who, as soon as he noticed his Master's presence, flew up from the Sect, cupping his hands and bowing deeply before them.
"Master! Your excellencies!"
"Stop!" Invictus laughed, "Being Ophy's disciple, you are family!"
"You did well by contacting me!" She patted his shoulder, straightening his back. "We fought off Nilier. For now!"
"I see..." he nodded with a sharp glint in his eyes. "We need to prepare for trouble then! My father is stepping into the next Realm; soon, he should emerge as a Demigod!"
"Oh? He finally did it? Took him long enough!" Invictus clapped, "I always liked the boy; he is built for battle! His regeneration was already on par with a demigod's before! Can't wait to see what he does with it now!"
"I also completed my work." Levictus presented a thick book to Ophila, who quickly took it, flipping through it, nodding heavily.
"Good! Good! Some change is needed, but we can build this!" She murmured, quickly adding them, and when finished, she flipped over a ring to Levictus. "Use these while building it! It should be enough for a permanent one!"
"Yes!" he agreed, quickly checking its contents, but even his usually calm face contorted at that moment. The amount of resources stored in that ring would bring any mid-level sect to a new height, blessing them with a mind-boggling amount of wealth.
"But for now, bring us to the one who sent the message!" Ophila said, and even as she tried to look calm, her excitement was written all over her face.
"Hm?" Levictus tilted his head, finding it weird but slowly, the last of the puzzle pieces started to fall to their places in his head. "She is in the north, overseeing an operation. There was a fight against another faction, trying to burn down the demons' forest, who are our allies now. You can't miss it."
"Sounds like him," Kaizer murmured, holding back a laugh. "Of course, there is a battle that he is involved in!"
"Let's go!" Invictus spoke up loudly, flying away impatiently.
"We will go first to the north, then! When I'm back, we will talk more!" Ophila rubbed Levictus's head like a mother would before following her brothers, leaving her bit-stumped disciple behind.
"Weirdoes…" He murmured after the Immortals were gone. Ultimately, he flew back to the Sect, starting to plan where to build the finalized version of his teleportation spell, distracting his mind with it. As the trio was flying north leisurely, suddenly, Ophila twitched, looking at her brothers.
"Wait… Leviticus said… she?"
"..." the two brothers looked at each other before turning their eyes at Ophila. "He did."
"..." She said nothing more, just speeding up, disappearing in the front, wanting to confirm it right now and there.
In the camp, or more precisely above it, Ren was having a mock battle against her little brother. Bringing down his weight close to almost nothing, it was easy for him to fly in the air, albeit not as fast and not as maneuverable as someone in the Harmony realm. What was even more praiseworthy was how easily he created electricity through magnetism, attacking his older sister with his full powers, not holding back at all.
"Father must be proud~" Ren laughed, dodging his final lightning bolt, which was, in fact, a superheated coin, shot out from between his fingers, crafted by Xendar for his son as 'ammunition.'
"Hehe… you know how he is! He wouldn't say it directly to me, though!" Valen laughed, breathing more heavily, close to running out of energy.
"With how you are advancing now, I can see you becoming one of the main pillars of the Sect in the future!" Ren flew closer, patting his shoulders. "But don't get too cocky until you leave me behind in power levels!" She laughed, ruffling his hair, while Valen just grinned happily, enjoying the presence of his sister.
"No worries! I'll remind you of it every time when I finally become stronger than you!"
"Pfft~ Dream on!" She flicked his forehead. "Go down and rest! I'll train you again tomorrow while your Master is fighting underground!"
"I wanted to go as well… it sounded magical, listening to the reports!" Valen said with a bit of disappointment in his voice.
"No chance!" Ren scolded him immediately, "I won't let anyone under the Harmony stage go down! They are too dangerous; you would be shredded into pieces even before you can react; their machines are deadly!"
"How can something be so strong without cultivation? It is a bit hard to believe, sis!"
"Is it?" she put her hands on her waist as they slowly descended down. "Just take two, regular men. One bare-handed, one with a sword! Which is going to win in a fight?"
"Are they equal?"
"Let's say yes."
"The one with the sword," he answered quickly.
"Now take the same fight. One still has the sword in hand, nothing else. The other is clad in full armor, enclosed from top to bottom, forged by father! Also, he has Toobu's Instant Fire at hand, able to cast it every second. Which is going to win?"
"Does this even need to be asked?" Valen twitched his eyelids. "It is pretty obvious…."
"That is why you are NOT going down there! Got it?"
"Oh… o-okay!" He nodded, getting a little perspective as to how it would be. "It is still a bit unbelievable, but if you say it, I am going to believe it!"
"Good! And never think something is impossible! We do not know what it is like in the wide world, outside, far away from our own little home! You can be surprised, amazed and shocked but never think something is impossible! Not for a minute!"
"Yes, sis!"
"Good boy~" She laughed, ruffling his hair once again. "Go, meet with Ariana. She is going to help you meditate and go over our little fight in your mind to cement your experience!" Valen was surprisingly obedient in his sister's presence, yet back in the Sect, usually not even his parents or Master could reign in the little troublemaker. When he finally disappeared, Ren also teleported away, reappearing in the Sky, watching towards the south, seeing three little dots approaching her. She could not help but smile, seeing them arrive, and the first to stop a few meters away from her was Ophila.
"Dad?" She blurted out subconsciously, watching Ren, looking into her eyes, seeing the same smiling face looking back at her. Her gaze was something she had seen so many times growing up, immediately knowing it was Athos in that teenage-looking body. By then, the other two also arrived, watching Ren, looking, scanning her from top to bottom, hardly believing what they were seeing. She had a completely different aura, but the way she carried herself was something they would never mistake for anybody else. "Dad!" Ophila flew forward, only stopping, freezing in the air as Ren raised her index finger.
"A-a!" she shook her head in sync with her finger, bringing the three Immortals to a complete halt, even stopping their breathing. "It is Mom now!" Ren said after a long pause, chuckling at their lost expressions.
Ophila just burst out laughing and crying at the same time, jumping on Ren and hugging her so close she almost suffocated her. The next moment the brothers joined in, sandwiching their only Master, who was also like a dad to them. Or, as she said now, a mom.
"Okay, okay! Geez! Did I raise three crybabies?!" Ren laughed, barely sticking out her head from their group embrace. "The last time I saw you cry, Kaz, was when you thought Ophy was dying of flu!" She joked, ruffling the second sibling, before flicking Invictus's forehead. "You too Invy! Stop smearing your snot onto my hair! Ahaha! Look at you, as big as a mountain yet bawling like a kid!" Of course, none of them cared at all, and even Ren had some shining, small tears welling up in the corner of her eyes before being buried in their chests once again.
They only calmed down after almost an hour of crying and laughing, releasing Ren and letting her stand before them once again as they kneeled, lowering their heads. If anyone saw this picture besides the Gods themselves, they would be shocked as the common knowledge was the following; Immortals bow to nobody, not even to Gods!
"You have grown up! All of you!" Ren laughed proudly, feeling out their powers, their aura, and she could not get a proper read on them at all, further fueling her proud grin.
"On the other hand, you have been shrunk!" Invictus joked, raising his head with a wide smile.
"Hey, a compact form is best for battle!" Ren laughed, "Plus, look at me! I am gorgeous, even more so than you, Ophy!"
"Mmmm…." Ophila tilted her head, thinking deeply, looking at Ren, then finally snapping her fingers, puffing out her chest, having a more curvy figure but not as gifted as Isha's. "Not really! I have bigger boobs!"
"Those are not everything! Um, um, I learned that small ones can be just as sensitive as big ones!" Ren retorted proudly.
"You did?" the trio asked immediately, looking like cats with perked-up ears and wide eyes, ready to jump on some juicy story, kneeling before her.
"Yes…" Ren's voice turned to a much softer tone, and her smile gripped the Immortals' hearts. It only took that one word, the look in Ren's eyes, to turn the whole region dark, as the three's outburst of emotion influenced the Realm itself. The day turned into night, and the Tear high above became visible to everyone. At the same time, the projection of the vast and colorful Cosmos replaced the image of the Sky, answering everybody who was looking upwards as to what was happening. "You really are ready to step out…." Ren whispered, also watching the phenomena happening above them. "I knew you could do it; now we just need to reopen it…" she said slowly before looking back at them. "Reign yourself in, kids~" She chuckled. "You are scaring everyone else!"
Her words finally calmed down the trio as everything returned to normal. Still, below them, there was a spreading chaos in the camp as some of the demons simply thought it was the end of the world while dozens of ents uprooted themselves, going into a kneeling position. Their leaves were constantly rustling and aiming upwards like needles. Allafather, in his human form, was standing down below, looking at the Sky, seeing the Cosmos… seeing the same image that was engraved into every ent and every demon's bloodline. It was their own unique imprint, the energy that gave them true intelligence, brought forward by the Mad God, the only being they would call their own God.
"It is a long story!" Ren said, smiling at them, taking a deep breath as everything returned to normality. "Come, I'll calm down everybody first; you just scared the shit out of many of them! Then we can talk!"
"Sorry…" said the siblings at the same time, following Ren down into the camp.
"The air around here is a bit different!" Invictus said as the trio entered the Empire's territory from the west, just leaving the desert.
"It is not polluted with residues from clashing cultivators fighting all over the place." Kaizer nodded.
"Yet." Ophila added, "But if Master has reincarnated here…."
"Ehehe… Take it as I said nothing…" the two brothers nodded with a weird smile.
"By the way…." Kaizer looked around, "I think it is the best scenario we could have had. I mean that we and so many others thought this part of the world was barbaric, a no man's land! Master being reborn here had an easy time growing up, without notice, without the eyes of worshippers!"
"Um!" Ophila nodded happily. "Master was always lucky!"
"Best to keep it that way!" Invictus agreed, "I know a lot of people who would come and try to play king or god here!"
"This is why I said Master is a lucky person~ For a Harmony-level cultivator crossing the desert is still a struggle that can end in death! On the other hand, a Demigod is too high on the ladder to even consider it a worthwhile endeavor! Why would someone at that level leave for the unknown?" She smiled, watching the changing scenery.
"My only concern is Nilier!" Kaizer spoke up again. "Now that Master has been reborn, he ought to have a family! We have an obligation to protect them at all costs! The distance is still great for even us to travel back and forth if the Gods decide to descend down here! They could be in mortal danger!"
"I have a solution for that already!" Ophila clapped proudly. "My disciple and I have been working on a stable teleportation formation that can transport any kind of living being! It is going to be key, especially now!"
"And you say Master is the luckiest?" Invictus laughed, hearing her sister's explanation.
"Of course!" Ophila nodded seriously. "He is lucky to have me as his disciple!"
"And there it is…." Kaizer looked at his brother, "The most spoiled of the three of us, she did not change at all!"
"It is just the truth!" Ophila replied proudly, holding her head high.
As they were talking, they soon arrived above the Immortal Wonders Sect, yet nobody noticed their arrival. They made sure that their presence was masked and ignored by any other living being, becoming invisible to their senses, except for Levictus, who, as soon as he noticed his Master's presence, flew up from the Sect, cupping his hands and bowing deeply before them.
"Master! Your excellencies!"
"Stop!" Invictus laughed, "Being Ophy's disciple, you are family!"
"You did well by contacting me!" She patted his shoulder, straightening his back. "We fought off Nilier. For now!"
"I see..." he nodded with a sharp glint in his eyes. "We need to prepare for trouble then! My father is stepping into the next Realm; soon, he should emerge as a Demigod!"
"Oh? He finally did it? Took him long enough!" Invictus clapped, "I always liked the boy; he is built for battle! His regeneration was already on par with a demigod's before! Can't wait to see what he does with it now!"
"I also completed my work." Levictus presented a thick book to Ophila, who quickly took it, flipping through it, nodding heavily.
"Good! Good! Some change is needed, but we can build this!" She murmured, quickly adding them, and when finished, she flipped over a ring to Levictus. "Use these while building it! It should be enough for a permanent one!"
"Yes!" he agreed, quickly checking its contents, but even his usually calm face contorted at that moment. The amount of resources stored in that ring would bring any mid-level sect to a new height, blessing them with a mind-boggling amount of wealth.
"But for now, bring us to the one who sent the message!" Ophila said, and even as she tried to look calm, her excitement was written all over her face.
"Hm?" Levictus tilted his head, finding it weird but slowly, the last of the puzzle pieces started to fall to their places in his head. "She is in the north, overseeing an operation. There was a fight against another faction, trying to burn down the demons' forest, who are our allies now. You can't miss it."
"Sounds like him," Kaizer murmured, holding back a laugh. "Of course, there is a battle that he is involved in!"
"Let's go!" Invictus spoke up loudly, flying away impatiently.
"We will go first to the north, then! When I'm back, we will talk more!" Ophila rubbed Levictus's head like a mother would before following her brothers, leaving her bit-stumped disciple behind.
"Weirdoes…" He murmured after the Immortals were gone. Ultimately, he flew back to the Sect, starting to plan where to build the finalized version of his teleportation spell, distracting his mind with it. As the trio was flying north leisurely, suddenly, Ophila twitched, looking at her brothers.
"Wait… Leviticus said… she?"
"..." the two brothers looked at each other before turning their eyes at Ophila. "He did."
"..." She said nothing more, just speeding up, disappearing in the front, wanting to confirm it right now and there.
In the camp, or more precisely above it, Ren was having a mock battle against her little brother. Bringing down his weight close to almost nothing, it was easy for him to fly in the air, albeit not as fast and not as maneuverable as someone in the Harmony realm. What was even more praiseworthy was how easily he created electricity through magnetism, attacking his older sister with his full powers, not holding back at all.
"Father must be proud~" Ren laughed, dodging his final lightning bolt, which was, in fact, a superheated coin, shot out from between his fingers, crafted by Xendar for his son as 'ammunition.'
"Hehe… you know how he is! He wouldn't say it directly to me, though!" Valen laughed, breathing more heavily, close to running out of energy.
"With how you are advancing now, I can see you becoming one of the main pillars of the Sect in the future!" Ren flew closer, patting his shoulders. "But don't get too cocky until you leave me behind in power levels!" She laughed, ruffling his hair, while Valen just grinned happily, enjoying the presence of his sister.
"No worries! I'll remind you of it every time when I finally become stronger than you!"
"Pfft~ Dream on!" She flicked his forehead. "Go down and rest! I'll train you again tomorrow while your Master is fighting underground!"
"I wanted to go as well… it sounded magical, listening to the reports!" Valen said with a bit of disappointment in his voice.
"No chance!" Ren scolded him immediately, "I won't let anyone under the Harmony stage go down! They are too dangerous; you would be shredded into pieces even before you can react; their machines are deadly!"
"How can something be so strong without cultivation? It is a bit hard to believe, sis!"
"Is it?" she put her hands on her waist as they slowly descended down. "Just take two, regular men. One bare-handed, one with a sword! Which is going to win in a fight?"
"Are they equal?"
"Let's say yes."
"The one with the sword," he answered quickly.
"Now take the same fight. One still has the sword in hand, nothing else. The other is clad in full armor, enclosed from top to bottom, forged by father! Also, he has Toobu's Instant Fire at hand, able to cast it every second. Which is going to win?"
"Does this even need to be asked?" Valen twitched his eyelids. "It is pretty obvious…."
"That is why you are NOT going down there! Got it?"
"Oh… o-okay!" He nodded, getting a little perspective as to how it would be. "It is still a bit unbelievable, but if you say it, I am going to believe it!"
"Good! And never think something is impossible! We do not know what it is like in the wide world, outside, far away from our own little home! You can be surprised, amazed and shocked but never think something is impossible! Not for a minute!"
"Yes, sis!"
"Good boy~" She laughed, ruffling his hair once again. "Go, meet with Ariana. She is going to help you meditate and go over our little fight in your mind to cement your experience!" Valen was surprisingly obedient in his sister's presence, yet back in the Sect, usually not even his parents or Master could reign in the little troublemaker. When he finally disappeared, Ren also teleported away, reappearing in the Sky, watching towards the south, seeing three little dots approaching her. She could not help but smile, seeing them arrive, and the first to stop a few meters away from her was Ophila.
"Dad?" She blurted out subconsciously, watching Ren, looking into her eyes, seeing the same smiling face looking back at her. Her gaze was something she had seen so many times growing up, immediately knowing it was Athos in that teenage-looking body. By then, the other two also arrived, watching Ren, looking, scanning her from top to bottom, hardly believing what they were seeing. She had a completely different aura, but the way she carried herself was something they would never mistake for anybody else. "Dad!" Ophila flew forward, only stopping, freezing in the air as Ren raised her index finger.
"A-a!" she shook her head in sync with her finger, bringing the three Immortals to a complete halt, even stopping their breathing. "It is Mom now!" Ren said after a long pause, chuckling at their lost expressions.
Ophila just burst out laughing and crying at the same time, jumping on Ren and hugging her so close she almost suffocated her. The next moment the brothers joined in, sandwiching their only Master, who was also like a dad to them. Or, as she said now, a mom.
"Okay, okay! Geez! Did I raise three crybabies?!" Ren laughed, barely sticking out her head from their group embrace. "The last time I saw you cry, Kaz, was when you thought Ophy was dying of flu!" She joked, ruffling the second sibling, before flicking Invictus's forehead. "You too Invy! Stop smearing your snot onto my hair! Ahaha! Look at you, as big as a mountain yet bawling like a kid!" Of course, none of them cared at all, and even Ren had some shining, small tears welling up in the corner of her eyes before being buried in their chests once again.
They only calmed down after almost an hour of crying and laughing, releasing Ren and letting her stand before them once again as they kneeled, lowering their heads. If anyone saw this picture besides the Gods themselves, they would be shocked as the common knowledge was the following; Immortals bow to nobody, not even to Gods!
"You have grown up! All of you!" Ren laughed proudly, feeling out their powers, their aura, and she could not get a proper read on them at all, further fueling her proud grin.
"On the other hand, you have been shrunk!" Invictus joked, raising his head with a wide smile.
"Hey, a compact form is best for battle!" Ren laughed, "Plus, look at me! I am gorgeous, even more so than you, Ophy!"
"Mmmm…." Ophila tilted her head, thinking deeply, looking at Ren, then finally snapping her fingers, puffing out her chest, having a more curvy figure but not as gifted as Isha's. "Not really! I have bigger boobs!"
"Those are not everything! Um, um, I learned that small ones can be just as sensitive as big ones!" Ren retorted proudly.
"You did?" the trio asked immediately, looking like cats with perked-up ears and wide eyes, ready to jump on some juicy story, kneeling before her.
"Yes…" Ren's voice turned to a much softer tone, and her smile gripped the Immortals' hearts. It only took that one word, the look in Ren's eyes, to turn the whole region dark, as the three's outburst of emotion influenced the Realm itself. The day turned into night, and the Tear high above became visible to everyone. At the same time, the projection of the vast and colorful Cosmos replaced the image of the Sky, answering everybody who was looking upwards as to what was happening. "You really are ready to step out…." Ren whispered, also watching the phenomena happening above them. "I knew you could do it; now we just need to reopen it…" she said slowly before looking back at them. "Reign yourself in, kids~" She chuckled. "You are scaring everyone else!"
Her words finally calmed down the trio as everything returned to normal. Still, below them, there was a spreading chaos in the camp as some of the demons simply thought it was the end of the world while dozens of ents uprooted themselves, going into a kneeling position. Their leaves were constantly rustling and aiming upwards like needles. Allafather, in his human form, was standing down below, looking at the Sky, seeing the Cosmos… seeing the same image that was engraved into every ent and every demon's bloodline. It was their own unique imprint, the energy that gave them true intelligence, brought forward by the Mad God, the only being they would call their own God.
"It is a long story!" Ren said, smiling at them, taking a deep breath as everything returned to normality. "Come, I'll calm down everybody first; you just scared the shit out of many of them! Then we can talk!"
"Sorry…" said the siblings at the same time, following Ren down into the camp.
