Chapter 312: Her Dragon (Patreon)

Diana

Diana stepped onto the teleportation platform in her half-dragon form, with Master Tedros sitting on her shoulder, and activated it with her mana. Then the next thing she knew she was on a different platform on an F rank planet somewhere, a platform which immediately activated, teleporting them again, this time ending up on what felt like a B rank planet, though there was a different feel to it than she was used to, like the laws of the universe somehow weren’t fully formed.

Before she could let it sync in how she’d traveled between universes, however, they were teleported again into what seemed like the living room of full floor penthouse apartment and her brother was in front of her, his eyes tearing up as he pulled her into a hug, Mila standing behind him, patting him lightly on the back.

“We’ll give the two of you some time.” Mila smiled and then she and Master Tedros disappeared, likely off to officially establish the fox kit swordsman as one of Mila’s clergy so he could advance to F rank. And this left Diana alone with Aalam in what looked like—from the ancient Chinese inspired art and furniture which screamed of Mila’s aesthetic sense—her little brother’s home.

“So, you and Mila are married?”

Aalam pulled away and took a step back, but he kept his hands on her arms like he didn’t want to let go. And there was a big stupid grin on his face. “Technically, yes. But we’re still waiting on the wedding. It didn’t seem right to have one without you as the maid of honor. So you’ll have a lot of work in a few tens of thousands of years.”

“Tens of thousands? Why wait so long?”

There were many other things she wanted to ask him, such as why he’d abused the corpse of her daughter to give her a new body, but he seemed excited about the prospect of a wedding, which wasn’t like him, and it had caught her off guard.

“Marriage is a contract, a promise.” Aalam’s smile broadened. “But weddings are different. They’re a statement of the contract, a way to show off, a way to prove to others the strength of the contract’s bond. And this is especially important when its a wedding between rulers.

“Those under us need to see our stability, our possible allies need to see we won’t be broken apart, and our enemies need to fear our wealth and power.

“In short, there are a lot of political concerns. And they would all be much better served when most of the wedding party is made up of A ranks or higher.

“My new master, for example, I’ll probably ask to officiate.”

“New master?” She’d gotten a rundown of what had happened between Aalam and Krysta’s mother from Master Tedros, how the Alchemist of the Deep Woods had very reasonably abandoned him after her death and how he’d then rescued the A rank from trouble, leaving them on still very good terms, but she hadn’t learned anything about a new master.

“Yeah. I met a goddess during this latest monster tutorial and she’s been really helpful with improving my energy control.” From Aalam’s excited expression yet casual demeanor, it seemed randomly meeting a goddess wasn’t a big deal to him and Diana wasn’t at all surprised when he then completely switched topics. “But enough about that. I need to show you all the things that have changed.”

The next thing Diana knew she and Aalam were in what looked to be an elementary school classroom, probably second grade, and the first thing Diana noticed was that pretty much all the students, and the two teachers in the room as well, were of unidentifiably mixed race, likely representative of the population of the Heavenly Soul Universe as a whole after hundreds of generations from the time she’d been alive. Then the second thing she noticed was how everyone was speaking in Universal Common rather than a derivation of any of the languages from Earth, something which felt weird even though the language was demonstrably more efficient than any Earth language in almost every way. Finally, third, they were all saying what sounded like a bastardized version of the Green Lantern Corps Oath, and they were doing so while holding their right hands over their hearts and looking toward a hologram of her in the room’s corner.

“Embodying brightest day and blackest night, no evil shall escape her sight. Let those who worship evil’s might beware her power…” Pausing slightly, they as one raised their hands from over their hearts, formed them into fists, and punched the air in front of them. “Yin yang spirits fight!”

“It’s amazing how much faith energy can be gathered from trillions of youths having that as a daily routine throughout twelve years of schooling.” Aalam spoke from beside her and Diana realized none of the children or teachers could see them. “Just a little over a dozen years was enough to turn the Faith Gathering Stone we stole from Taravan semi-deified, and everything else has just been an added bonus on top.

“Sure, actually getting enough faith energy into your soul to meet the requirements for divinity would take a few dozen million years of this, but, in the grand scheme of things, that is apparently quite quick. And this amount of faith energy constantly being generated should allow your Junior Holy Soul racial ability to advance in grade along with your race without any extra effort on your part.”

They disappeared again and Diana found herself in a large ballroom of some kind with thirty large comfy chairs arranged in a circle, her brother still next to her. And seated in the chairs were 30 C ranks, most looking somewhat like her original body, short and plain, but in the final chair was someone she recognized, Sally Davies, her old subordinate Francis Davies’ wife, and she was looking at one of the C ranks who was in the middle of talking.

“—weird. I’m a prisoner here, and I was forcibly enslaved after having my soul ripped out of my body, but, somehow, I feel more free than ever before.” The speaker, a man who radiated the power of lightning and rebirth, was sitting in a position where he should have been able to see them, but he appeared to not register their presence at all, his eyes instead on Sally sitting to Diana’s right. “I think this is the first time in my life where I haven’t had any expectations on me, and it’s nice.”

“Also no wars to fight.” A woman with her back to them, taller than most of the other females in the room with curly hair and an aura of life somehow unmaking death, spoke with a voice and aura that showed relaxation, but Diana couldn’t see her face.

“Speak for yourself, Zora.” Another woman, with red hair and a fiery aura on the left side of the circle, spoke out. “Not being able to do anything about the undead from here is making me antsy. There’s nothin to fight. There’s no real reason to train.”

Her voice became quieter. “I just feel lost, like I have no purpose. And I’m afraid for my unit.”

“Due to the loss of System access of all the Primordial Humans’ subordinates, all the powers that would normally be enjoying their freedom in their own areas of the universe have rushed to the front lines.” The woman named Zora waved a hand dismissively. “Our big brother’s actions, while destructive to the human empires, have greatly lessened the burden on the front lines.

“And you saw what his wife said, if the Heavenly Spark Soul King has his way, the undead in our universe will be completely wiped out.”

Aalam turned to Diana as the group therapy session continued and Diana was pretty sure none of these people, who she’d belatedly realized were all her half siblings, could hear him. “If there’s another thing about our mom’s side of the family to dislike, it’s how they use endless wars as specialized faith farms.

“Sure, it’s efficient for those without lord line skills, but it’s rather barbaric.”

“So, we have 1,187 siblings you’ve captured, and 6 more you haven’t.” Diana quoted the numbers she’d learned from Nana Xara and Master Tedros. “What do you have planned for them?”

“Nothing for now.” They teleported away again, this time appearing on what seemed to be an asteroid of some kind floating in the middle of empty space, though Aalam had brought air from somewhere else and was containing it with his aura so Diana could still breathe even as she started to float. “They’re free to do what they want in this universe, and, when we move to the universe which will be our new base when most of our main force reaches B rank, most will probably come with us.”

He turned away from where he was looking at a giant gas cloud in the distance and turned to her. “Technically, they’re your slaves, having sworn a blood oath to you. So, when you’re powerful enough that those oaths won’t be a burden, I’ll remove the seal on your soul to give you control over the bonds and you can do with them what you like.” 

Before what Aalam had said could really sink in, something which sounded far worse than the whole having her be worshipped by children thing, Diana got distracted by something flying out of the giant gas cloud and heading toward them at speed. And, when she realized the being was an honest to gods dragon, she almost found herself squealing.

Sure, Aalam and Mila were both powerful monsters, and Isaiah had technically been a dragon, but this was her first time seeing a true flying four-legged bat-winged lizard, and the creature was majestic, large enough that five of her could ride on it, with lithe musculature and an aura of chaos like nothing she’d ever felt.

Then it landed next to them, however, transforming into a form she recognized, and she started to feel nervous.

Large, with pale skin, lavender hair, and indigo draconic eyes, Isaiah’s bare chest and arms were now covered completely in runic tattoos, and he looked good, more confident than she’d ever seen him.

And he was glaring at her brother, a hint of anger in his chaotic aura. “Why does she look different?”

“I changed her base form so she could inherit your racial abilities.” Aalam, unlike she’d expected from him, seemed to have completely picked up on his friend’s anger, and he looked chagrined. “It makes a huge difference for her future power growth.”

“So you used the corpse of our unborn daughter as a material for Diana’s arrival.”

“Yeah.” Aalam, who from what she’d heard from Nana Xara and Master Tedros was pretty much an entire power rank higher than Isaiah, took a step back, his eyes focusing on his feet.

“So you caused the woman who I was almost engaged with, the woman I will likely marry in the future if she’ll have me, to be reborn with my DNA?”

“Wait.” Aalam looked up, surprise clearly on his face. “You still think you’ll get married? But you’re like a hundred times her age right now. And Mila said—”

“Mila?” Isaiah almost growled the word, but from Aalam’s face and having known him almost all her life, Diana was pretty sure her dragon’s anger was being purposefully redirected in the wrong direction, something the old Aalam would definitely not have been capable of. “And you just blindly trust anything your wife says?”

“Of course.” Aalam nodded emphatically, even while throwing his wife under a bus. “Happy wife, happy life and all.”

Isaiah took a deep breath and his chaotic aura calmed down considerably. Then he seemed to think. “What you were about to quote from Mila, was it the recent all-knowing Empress Mila or the unable to even talk to her family E rank Mila of back in the day?”

Aalam looked down at his feet again and his answer was barely audible to Diana even though she was standing right next to him. “Back in the day, something she said acknowledging my own theory on how you guys would be broken up.”

As Diana realized her brother hadn’t been fully undermining his wife but just using her to lessen her dragon’s anger, something he’d probably done with Mila’s full permission and possibly coaching, Isaiah sighed. Then, out of the blue, he punched her brother and Aalam went flying out of the air bubble, moving kilometers away in a matter of seconds before he teleported back.

“That’s no way to treat your emperor.”

Isaiah just shrugged. “I don’t remember voting for you. And you deserved that for not talking to me.”

Aalam looked down at his feet again and mumbled under his breath. “That’s not how emperors work. And breaking up, at least for a while, would be more logical. You cradle robber.”

Isaiah punched him again and Aalam, who Diana realized could have easily defended himself, went flying again before teleporting back.

“Of course there should be a pause, you idiot!” Isaiah yelled. “To her experience, we just lost a child only a few months ago. But how to deal with our relationship should be between me and her, so get lost!”

Aalam almost immediately teleported away and only then did Isaiah turn toward her, reach out, and give her a big hug. “It’s good you’re alive, Di. And I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to protect you.

“I’m also sorry about him, but, seeing as you pretty much raised him, I’ll try not to take personal offense.”

Something inside broke at that moment, a damn she hadn’t even known she’d set up, and Diana started laughing as her tears began flowing.

Things were different than before she’d been killed, but, unlike what she’d subconsciously feared, the changes weren’t all for the worse. Isaiah at least seemed far sexier. And that wasn’t nothing.