Diana
Diana looked down at Sydney from the top floor conference room and took a second to marvel at human engineering. Most of the animals on Earth had either died or begun to change upon the integration starting, becoming monsters and absorbing primal energy from the universe to rise from G to F rank, yet almost all major cities on Earth still had their skyscrapers and other large buildings.
Granted, Earth’s monster population was apparently quite low compared to other worlds which underwent apocalypse style integrations, humans having taken over most of the land while sea monsters hadn’t yet started to come out of the depths. And no monsters had reached E rank, given the limited amount of time since the integration started. But still, Diana’d expected the world would have been far more destroyed than it had been and it was a pleasant surprise that wasn’t the case.
“So, Diana, are you going to answer the question? Who is this Heavenly Spark Soul King and why have you agreed to enter into a servant relationship with him?” Nitya Chakrabarti was the head of the first legion and, herself a powerful wind mage, she’d flown back to Sydney upon noticing the Territory they’d claimed in Pakistan had a new overlord. A software developer originally from India, she was the most powerful subordinate Diana had, with a Legendary grade race and Epic grade class, but she was also a friend from before the integration as well, one of Mila’s former roommates at Harvard.
“The Heavenly Spark Soul King is a powerful crafter who, by himself, could quite easily kill every living being on Earth.” Diana turned from the window and smiled at everyone there, from Mr. Li and Mr. Davies, to her three legion heads, to the high level members of the administrative staff which kept her Territory running smoothly. “He doesn’t have much interest in power, but he does have a skill which empowers him based on the size of the Territory he controls.”
“Given I don’t have such a skill, and the benefits and protection he can provide, I didn’t see much point in refusing the offer.”
“What sort of benefits?” Mr. Davies, who Mila had already talked to and thus already knew a bit more about Aalam’s fake identity, asked the important question to make the conversation flow without distractions.
“First, everyone should have noticed my Territory now provides an increase in affinity to all Laws, which I’m led to believe is something quite rare in the wider universe. I myself also get an even bigger benefit in the form of a boon, as will anyone else the Heavenly Spark Soul King accepts due to the nature and power of his Lord line skill. More important, however, to monsters my Territory now feels as if it is the domain of a much more powerful entity than me, one they know to actively avoid.”
“The number of monsters attempting to attack our citizens living in population centers with more than 1000 humans should go down to single digits per month, freeing up most of our armed forces.”
Diana smiled at the shocked looks on the faces of the administrative staff members, those in the room not personally among Earth’s elite, to whom this benefit would provide a huge relief of anxiety.
“Second, the Heavenly Spark Soul King has sent his most powerful retainer to help us get rid of the invasion forces and force Earth’s other native forces to bend the knee.” Diana looked at Ezra Walker, James Robinson, and Mr. Davies. “She should have said hello to the three of you before she and I headed to Antarctica to destroy the Ice Giants last night, so I’m guessing you understand how effective she can be.”
Mr. Davies nodded, while Ezra and James both looked extremely nervous.
“Why destroy the Ice Giants? They’ve been peaceful.” Nitya asked one of the questions almost everyone else in the room was thinking.
“The Ice Giants were plundering Antarctica and had planned to leave with their wealth, permanently harming the elemental balance on Earth. We didn’t know it, but they were actually doing the most damage of any of the invasion forces. And I was able to confirm their actions myself.”
Diana summoned three array disks from her spatial storage ring and tossed one each to Nitya, Mr. Davies, and Mr. Li. “The third reason is that the Heavenly Spark Soul King is a crafter. Those he apparently made back when he was an F rank and his world was undergoing its own integration. As a D rank now, the types of things he can create are much more useful.”
“How did a D rank get onto our planet?” Nitya was again the one asking questions.
“He’s been here since before the start of the integration.”
“And do we have any way of confirming he doesn’t have some hidden agenda?” Nitya was looking right at Diana’s eyes.
“No.” Mr. Li answered instead and everyone turned to look at him. “But this is a D rank from the wider universe, and nothing points to him being stupid. Quite a few of Earth’s citizens have the chance to get to D rank and beyond, but right now Diana is right and there is nothing we could do to stop him from doing anything he wants. Given he’s helping us, it’s likely he’s playing the long game and hoping to be a part of the force created by our planet in the future.”
“Why now then? Why not earlier?” Nitya was asking all the right questions, which was one of the reasons Diana valued her so much, but in this case it was a bit annoying.
Thankfully, Mila had helped her prepare a good answer.
“The Heavenly Spark Soul King has no interest in taking away our chance to train ourselves against enemies at our own level, but the Ice Giants were taking things too far.”
Diana summoned twenty more array disks from her spatial storage ring and summoned Helen in a small form to carry them over to Nitya. “More questions can wait until we’ve dealt with the other invasion forces.
“Nitya, I want you to deliver these and the other three to the second and third legions before returning to the first. They’re all marked with my power and, when charged with mana, placed down, and protected for 24 hours, they will help expand the Territory. Make sure the two legions are aware the activation of the array disks will summon monsters from nearby, so they need to be protected.”
Diana then turned to look at Ezra and James, her expression turning into a glare. “Finally, the last item on today’s agenda. The two of you are relieved from your duties as the heads of the second and third legions for being spies from the Anderson and Smith families, and you have two options. You can either travel to Pakistan and help fight against the Flameborn invasion, maybe earn back a little of your status after a year depending on your performance and how quickly your masters bend the knee, or Dioscuri can rot your flesh from the inside. What do you choose?”
Diana released her control over her mana and the mana in the room twisted slightly, making everyone other than her uncomfortable, even as most were looking from the two men to her and then back, no one stupid enough not to see the confirmation of her accusations on the two’s faces.
“I’ll head to Pakistan.” James was the first to get out of his chair and take one knee on the room’s carpet.
“I’ll do the same.” Ezra was quick to follow James’ example.
“Good.” Diana turned to look out the window again and retook complete control over her mana. “It’s not like I haven’t suspected your true allegiances for months. So don’t worry about being found out now. Nothing much has changed.”
Nitya looked at the two former legion leaders and then to Diana, a somewhat concerned look on her face, all of which Diana could see through her aura. “What are you going to be doing then?”
“The Psionics invasion has been going a bit too far lately.” Still not turning around, Diana summoned Dioscuri and called back Helen. Then she merged both into her body, the mana in the room starting to tremble as her hair began to fly every which way and her skin alternately emanated and absorbed light. “I’m going to go end them.”
Moving at a speed faster than anyone else in the room was capable of, Diana then raced to the entrance to the building’s main stairwell located in the corner of the large room, ran up onto the roof, and began flying towards the north, wings of yang energy forming on her back and propelling her forward as yin energy covered her form and provided her a powerful stealth effect. It was time to go test her new skill by taking out an invasion force completely alone.
* * *
Francis
James and Ezra were the first to leave, hopefully to rush toward the front lines in Pakistan and not to do something stupid, and Nitya followed them, having been left out of the loop throughout the entire process of the two being suspected and then having the suspicions confirmed, so likely wanting to talk to them.
Most of the administration staff then left as well, talking about the Heavenly Spark Soul King and their boss’s obvious increase in power, and this left only him and Mr. Li.
“How long have you known about this?” Francis asked the older man.
“I just found out yesterday.” Mr. Li was actually smiling, an expression he’d never seen before.
“But you’re sure that scary woman I met yesterday was actually your granddaughter?”
“Yes.” Mr. Li’s smile grew slightly wider.
“And do you actually think partnering with this Heavenly Spark Soul King is safe for Earth and Diana, or were you just doing your job in the meeting?”
“Partnering with the Heavenly Spark Soul King is safe for Diana and almost certainly the best thing for Earth.”
The certainty in Mr. Li’s voice was out of place for his normal behavior. As a point of pride, Mr. Li was never certain about anything, always believing what he saw could be wrong. So, for a second, Francis wondered whether Mr. Li had signed a contract with his granddaughter and was being forced to lie to him.
But then he realized they were dealing with Mr. Li’s granddaughter, who by all accounts had been trained since she was a small child by Mr. Li, so why was he trusting what anyone was saying.
“You have information I don’t? And there is some kind of secret, which I shouldn’t try to figure out?”
“Yes.” Mr. Li patted him on the shoulder. “The thing you should be worrying about is how, with my granddaughter starting to move and Diana increasing her power, our Territory will likely soon cover the entire planet, leaving you the effective leader of Earth. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill.”
Without another word, Mr. Li then teleported himself to a shadow on top of another nearby building and Francis was left in the room by himself, it only just dawning on him what his role would be if Diana actually became the sovereign of Earth.
“I should really go spend some time with my family while I have the chance.”
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Diana
Diana looked down at Sydney from the top floor conference room and took a second to marvel at human engineering. Most of the animals on Earth had either died or begun to change upon the integration starting, becoming monsters and absorbing primal energy from the universe to rise from G to F rank, yet almost all major cities on Earth still had their skyscrapers and other large buildings.
Granted, Earth’s monster population was apparently quite low compared to other worlds which underwent apocalypse style integrations, humans having taken over most of the land while sea monsters hadn’t yet started to come out of the depths. And no monsters had reached E rank, given the limited amount of time since the integration started. But still, Diana’d expected the world would have been far more destroyed than it had been and it was a pleasant surprise that wasn’t the case.
“So, Diana, are you going to answer the question? Who is this Heavenly Spark Soul King and why have you agreed to enter into a servant relationship with him?” Nitya Chakrabarti was the head of the first legion and, herself a powerful wind mage, she’d flown back to Sydney upon noticing the Territory they’d claimed in Pakistan had a new overlord. A software developer originally from India, she was the most powerful subordinate Diana had, with a Legendary grade race and Epic grade class, but she was also a friend from before the integration as well, one of Mila’s former roommates at Harvard.
“The Heavenly Spark Soul King is a powerful crafter who, by himself, could quite easily kill every living being on Earth.” Diana turned from the window and smiled at everyone there, from Mr. Li and Mr. Davies, to her three legion heads, to the high level members of the administrative staff which kept her Territory running smoothly. “He doesn’t have much interest in power, but he does have a skill which empowers him based on the size of the Territory he controls.”
“Given I don’t have such a skill, and the benefits and protection he can provide, I didn’t see much point in refusing the offer.”
“What sort of benefits?” Mr. Davies, who Mila had already talked to and thus already knew a bit more about Aalam’s fake identity, asked the important question to make the conversation flow without distractions.
“First, everyone should have noticed my Territory now provides an increase in affinity to all Laws, which I’m led to believe is something quite rare in the wider universe. I myself also get an even bigger benefit in the form of a boon, as will anyone else the Heavenly Spark Soul King accepts due to the nature and power of his Lord line skill. More important, however, to monsters my Territory now feels as if it is the domain of a much more powerful entity than me, one they know to actively avoid.”
“The number of monsters attempting to attack our citizens living in population centers with more than 1000 humans should go down to single digits per month, freeing up most of our armed forces.”
Diana smiled at the shocked looks on the faces of the administrative staff members, those in the room not personally among Earth’s elite, to whom this benefit would provide a huge relief of anxiety.
“Second, the Heavenly Spark Soul King has sent his most powerful retainer to help us get rid of the invasion forces and force Earth’s other native forces to bend the knee.” Diana looked at Ezra Walker, James Robinson, and Mr. Davies. “She should have said hello to the three of you before she and I headed to Antarctica to destroy the Ice Giants last night, so I’m guessing you understand how effective she can be.”
Mr. Davies nodded, while Ezra and James both looked extremely nervous.
“Why destroy the Ice Giants? They’ve been peaceful.” Nitya asked one of the questions almost everyone else in the room was thinking.
“The Ice Giants were plundering Antarctica and had planned to leave with their wealth, permanently harming the elemental balance on Earth. We didn’t know it, but they were actually doing the most damage of any of the invasion forces. And I was able to confirm their actions myself.”
Diana summoned three array disks from her spatial storage ring and tossed one each to Nitya, Mr. Davies, and Mr. Li. “The third reason is that the Heavenly Spark Soul King is a crafter. Those he apparently made back when he was an F rank and his world was undergoing its own integration. As a D rank now, the types of things he can create are much more useful.”
“How did a D rank get onto our planet?” Nitya was again the one asking questions.
“He’s been here since before the start of the integration.”
“And do we have any way of confirming he doesn’t have some hidden agenda?” Nitya was looking right at Diana’s eyes.
“No.” Mr. Li answered instead and everyone turned to look at him. “But this is a D rank from the wider universe, and nothing points to him being stupid. Quite a few of Earth’s citizens have the chance to get to D rank and beyond, but right now Diana is right and there is nothing we could do to stop him from doing anything he wants. Given he’s helping us, it’s likely he’s playing the long game and hoping to be a part of the force created by our planet in the future.”
“Why now then? Why not earlier?” Nitya was asking all the right questions, which was one of the reasons Diana valued her so much, but in this case it was a bit annoying.
Thankfully, Mila had helped her prepare a good answer.
“The Heavenly Spark Soul King has no interest in taking away our chance to train ourselves against enemies at our own level, but the Ice Giants were taking things too far.”
Diana summoned twenty more array disks from her spatial storage ring and summoned Helen in a small form to carry them over to Nitya. “More questions can wait until we’ve dealt with the other invasion forces.
“Nitya, I want you to deliver these and the other three to the second and third legions before returning to the first. They’re all marked with my power and, when charged with mana, placed down, and protected for 24 hours, they will help expand the Territory. Make sure the two legions are aware the activation of the array disks will summon monsters from nearby, so they need to be protected.”
Diana then turned to look at Ezra and James, her expression turning into a glare. “Finally, the last item on today’s agenda. The two of you are relieved from your duties as the heads of the second and third legions for being spies from the Anderson and Smith families, and you have two options. You can either travel to Pakistan and help fight against the Flameborn invasion, maybe earn back a little of your status after a year depending on your performance and how quickly your masters bend the knee, or Dioscuri can rot your flesh from the inside. What do you choose?”
Diana released her control over her mana and the mana in the room twisted slightly, making everyone other than her uncomfortable, even as most were looking from the two men to her and then back, no one stupid enough not to see the confirmation of her accusations on the two’s faces.
“I’ll head to Pakistan.” James was the first to get out of his chair and take one knee on the room’s carpet.
“I’ll do the same.” Ezra was quick to follow James’ example.
“Good.” Diana turned to look out the window again and retook complete control over her mana. “It’s not like I haven’t suspected your true allegiances for months. So don’t worry about being found out now. Nothing much has changed.”
Nitya looked at the two former legion leaders and then to Diana, a somewhat concerned look on her face, all of which Diana could see through her aura. “What are you going to be doing then?”
“The Psionics invasion has been going a bit too far lately.” Still not turning around, Diana summoned Dioscuri and called back Helen. Then she merged both into her body, the mana in the room starting to tremble as her hair began to fly every which way and her skin alternately emanated and absorbed light. “I’m going to go end them.”
Moving at a speed faster than anyone else in the room was capable of, Diana then raced to the entrance to the building’s main stairwell located in the corner of the large room, ran up onto the roof, and began flying towards the north, wings of yang energy forming on her back and propelling her forward as yin energy covered her form and provided her a powerful stealth effect. It was time to go test her new skill by taking out an invasion force completely alone.
* * *
Francis
James and Ezra were the first to leave, hopefully to rush toward the front lines in Pakistan and not to do something stupid, and Nitya followed them, having been left out of the loop throughout the entire process of the two being suspected and then having the suspicions confirmed, so likely wanting to talk to them.
Most of the administration staff then left as well, talking about the Heavenly Spark Soul King and their boss’s obvious increase in power, and this left only him and Mr. Li.
“How long have you known about this?” Francis asked the older man.
“I just found out yesterday.” Mr. Li was actually smiling, an expression he’d never seen before.
“But you’re sure that scary woman I met yesterday was actually your granddaughter?”
“Yes.” Mr. Li’s smile grew slightly wider.
“And do you actually think partnering with this Heavenly Spark Soul King is safe for Earth and Diana, or were you just doing your job in the meeting?”
“Partnering with the Heavenly Spark Soul King is safe for Diana and almost certainly the best thing for Earth.”
The certainty in Mr. Li’s voice was out of place for his normal behavior. As a point of pride, Mr. Li was never certain about anything, always believing what he saw could be wrong. So, for a second, Francis wondered whether Mr. Li had signed a contract with his granddaughter and was being forced to lie to him.
But then he realized they were dealing with Mr. Li’s granddaughter, who by all accounts had been trained since she was a small child by Mr. Li, so why was he trusting what anyone was saying.
“You have information I don’t? And there is some kind of secret, which I shouldn’t try to figure out?”
“Yes.” Mr. Li patted him on the shoulder. “The thing you should be worrying about is how, with my granddaughter starting to move and Diana increasing her power, our Territory will likely soon cover the entire planet, leaving you the effective leader of Earth. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill.”
Without another word, Mr. Li then teleported himself to a shadow on top of another nearby building and Francis was left in the room by himself, it only just dawning on him what his role would be if Diana actually became the sovereign of Earth.
“I should really go spend some time with my family while I have the chance.”
Please only read at https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/48991/shadow-of-the-soul-king and https://www.scribblehub.com/series/461729/shadow-of-the-soul-king/. It is free and anywhere else this story has been stolen.
