Andrew Robinson Leinbach
patreon
Chapter 225: Divine Questioning
🕑 Added 2023-07-05 00:07:49 +0000 UTCKrysta
Krysta was practicing with her magic in one of the Forest Cauldron’s training rooms, sending out spatial slice after spatial slice to the point of exhaustion. Meanwhile, she was also using her sensory skill to watch as Henrietta was repeatedly beaten in a rotation of fights by a group of weak E ranks. Both she and Henrietta were long since well past their limits, but, every half hour, her mother, who was standing in a corner of the room, would activate the room’s healing formation and give them just enough energy so they could continue to exhaust themselves for another half hour.
Even Isaiah would have been breaking down after the 13 hours they’d already gone through, let alone her and Henrietta, but her mother didn’t seem at all inclined to slow down their training, even though Henrietta had already long since stopped fighting back.
Of the various training regimens her mother had started trying since learning about what had happened to Aalam’s sister and what awaited his force, this was the second worst—right after the alchemical flame cleansing they had undergone to eliminate any remaining pill impurities in their bodies and souls—but it was the third most common, so, even with the obvious beneficial effects the intense training had already started to show, Krysta didn’t feel it was worth it.
Thankfully, this time at least, right after an instance of healing, the training stopped early.
“Girls, come with me. Everyone else, take a day off.” Krysta’s sense of relief faded as she felt the fear and anger which were leaking from her mother’s aura.
Joma then left the room, and Krysta and Henrietta followed, Henrietta looking at Krysta questioningly, but Krysta only shook her head, not sure what was about to happen.
They moved to one of the Forest Cauldron’s meeting rooms, the nicest one, built into the life tree and large enough to hold several hundred people. And there, at the head of the large table in the center of the room, was the woman who had become the focal figure of Krysta’s nightmares.
For a goddess, Bellessia was plain looking, appearing like a normal human of medium build and skin tone, with dark brown hair and eyes, and, if Krysta didn’t know any better, she’d have thought the woman was a G rank, none of the goddess’s power leaking out at all.
Bellessia was wearing a light blue conservative dress, her hair long and loose down to the middle of her back, and she was smiling at them, but Krysta couldn’t help the feelings of fear and disgust which entered into her aura, and the goddess noticed.
“I was going to ask about the new E rank spear wielder your force gained soon after the last War of the Chosen, but it seems now I don’t have to.” Bellessia’s smile was warm and motherly, which freaked Krysta out far more than if she’d shown anger or annoyance. “Why don’t you all take a seat and let’s have a little talk?”
“Earth Mother.” A deep and powerful male voice came from behind Krysta, Henrietta, and her mother. “Coming to my Territory and threatening my tenants is a bit rude, don’t you think?” Wearing an opulent yellow robe, a large human man walked in from the room’s doorway. With skin almost as dark as Krysta’s and her mother’s, shoulder length azure hair, and sky blue eyes shining with an obvious brilliance, the Sky Lord felt much more like a god, the air around him completely controlled by his aura.
The lord of the planet the Forest Cauldron’s main base was located on, Krysta’s mother had probably called on him for help as soon as she’d heard of Bellessia arriving, and Krysta was glad she had. One of the older gods, the Sky Lord was significantly stronger than Earth Mother Bellessia, and he wouldn’t allow the woman to search their souls in his presence.
“Sky Lord, I wasn’t aware you were also involved in the Forest Cauldron’s crime.” Bellessia still smiled warmly even when talking to the elder god, no change in her aura obvious at all. “This escalates matters a bit.”
From behind Bellessia, a spatial portal opened, but it wasn’t one created through the use of space Laws, instead seemingly having been formed through raw force, and, given how controlled its energy was, that was utterly terrifying.
Then out of the portal walked a woman, and, like Bellessia, she didn’t radiate any aura or Laws at all. If she had, however, they would have been of the elements of death, life, and water, as Krysta immediately recognized her as the Lady of Hellwater.
The second eldest child of the Primordial Sovereign, the Lady of Hellwater looked quite a bit like her younger sister, only a tad taller and a bit more traditionally attractive, her figure slightly more curvaceous. More important, however, she was quite a bit older than the Sky Lord and significantly more powerful.
“And what crimes are we talking about?” The Sky Lord’s tone was significantly more respectful than before, but the man still didn’t seem like he was going to give way.
As an independent god, he likely didn’t want to get on the bad side of the Primordial Humans subfaction of the Human Ancestors, but he also couldn’t allow anything to happen to Krysta or her mother or else Krysta’s father and uncles might make him pay.
“The harboring of a class 3 threat to the universe.”
“And what class 3 threat are we talking about?”
Six men walked out of a practically perfect spatial portal near the other side of the room’s table, each looking similar, with hair, eyes, and horns representing the elements of fire, water, lightning, death, time, and space respectively.
The one who’d spoken had a deep and smooth voice, the aura of space around him the strongest of any god under the level of the Divine Child, the Lady of Laws, and the three human ancestors.
Krysta’s father, Kilvorax, the Heavenly Scarab of Space, had arrived, along with five of his brothers.
“The Runemaster Truesoul.” Bellessia turned to the new gods and continued to smile warmly with no change in her voice or aura.
Kilvorax turned to look at Krysta’s mother and seemed to notice her obvious confusion, so he explained. “The truesoul which resulted in Alashan, Camoran, and the Spacetime Seamstress. It usually results in a cultivator specializing in some sort of crafting.”
“Probably the second apprentice you were telling me about during the auction,” Krysta’s uncle, Parvorax, the Heavenly Scarab of Fire, added.
“Understood.” Krysta’s mother nodded. “And why is the Earth Mother’s son a class 3 threat to the universe?”
“Earth Mother’s son?” Parvorax, always the most boisterous of Krysta’s uncles, turned to look at Bellessia. “You birthed the boy and then, what, lost him?”
Bellessia stayed silent, starting to frown slightly.
Meanwhile, Krysta’s father answered her mother’s question. “The Runemaster Truesoul doesn’t originate from our universe. What its origins are, my brothers and I at least have no idea, but, whenever it grows in strength, the power it absorbs affects the universe differently than power absorbed by native truesouls, weakening the universe’s borders ever so slightly.
“Normally, this isn’t much of an issue. Our universe is strong, and its energy is returned to it after the truesoul returns to the cycle of reincarnation, but sometimes, like with the period that will start within the next several thousand years or so, the borders of our universe will weaken, and we’ll start to see more portals between universes and connecting demiplanes appear.
“At the same time, existing portals will grow more stable, including some to universes of equivalent strength, such as the Origin of Undeath, to the point they will even allow gods through, and this makes the time period more dangerous. But it is also an opportunity, as our gods can travel to other universes as well.
“If the Runemaster Truesoul were to reach the A rank level during this time, some of these portals would even allow more powerful gods like the Divine Child and the Lady of Laws through, and this is why it is categorized as a class 3 threat.”
Kilvorax smiled warmly. “In truth, though, given the distribution of faith Territories in the Universe, the threat is mostly to the lands of the Human Ancestors and the Lady of Laws, not ours, as some of their most stable portals lead to those powerful universes, but none of ours do, so for us the Runemaster Truesoul gaining power during this time would actually be a benefit, especially given our recent purchase at the Universal Auction.”
“Where is Aalam?” Bellessia asked as soon as Kilvorax’s explanation was done, having completely ignored Parvorax’s question, her voice no longer pleasant.
Krysta’s mother bowed toward Kilvorax and then waited for several seconds for any other gods to interrupt, but they didn’t, so she turned to face Bellessia, her aura fully controlled. “Presumably on his home planet.”
“That has moved.” Bellessia still felt like a G rank, but something Krysta didn’t understand changed and she suddenly felt suppressed, even though she couldn’t feel the woman’s aura at all. “When will he be back?”
“He won’t.” Joma’s aura flared, fighting against the suppression, and she turned back toward Krysta’s father and his brothers. “Aalam Alvaro, my former second apprentice, had it built into his contract with me that I could abandon him at any time, and, after being advised through one of his underlings, I have done so.”
“What did the Earth Mother do to warn him to run away?” Parvorax reached out and patted Krysta’s mother on the shoulder, an aura of heat and fire, like a warm summer day, spreading over Krysta, her mother, and Henrietta, protecting them.
“She performed a bloodline curse to kill his full blood sister and her unborn daughter.” Krysta’s mother took a deep breath, seemingly forcing herself to be calm.
“She what?” Parvorax turned to look at Bellessia with obvious surprise on his face and all five of his brothers, as well as the Sky Lord, did pretty much the same. “So, the goddess of marriage and motherhood not only has one child she wants to kill to maintain her family’s power, but had another she did kill just for giggles? And she goes around killing unborn babies now?”
Parvorax turned to his brothers. “Do you think we should change what she’s a goddess of? Maybe child abuse and hysteria.”
“Be silent, Flame Lord.” The Lady of Hellwater, for the first time since arriving, spoke, her voice showing controlled anger. “My sister was trying to block the revival of the Yin Yang Sage and, while her methods were questionable and her goal was inane, the issue you all should be worried about isn’t her actions, but why they failed.
“My sister used divination and saw her two children being accepted as the final two apprentices of Xara Valin, but we’ve since learned that, not only was the Runemaster Truesoul not accepted as an apprentice, he even killed himself before his planet’s integration and was reborn as a monster.
“The Yin Yang Sage’s planet, Earth, whose population is entirely descended from Xara Valin herself and the most talented members of the B, A, and divine rank forces she destroyed, also seems to be descended from the Trickster. The Runemaster Truesoul has the chance of awakening to a shadow line uniqueness if he hasn’t already, and there is at least one individual on that planet with a shadow line uniqueness at the Fabled grade or higher, almost certainly an A rank talent.”
“Hmm. Well that complicates things.” Krysta’s father looked thoughtful for a few seconds. Then he turned to Bellessia. “It’s your mess, so you can deal with it.”
“We came here for information.” The Lady of Hellwater looked from Krysta’s father, to her mother, and then to her, pretty much completely ignoring Henrietta.
“Then you should pay for it.” Kilvorax made a gesture and he and his five brothers all sat down. Then, before turning back to the Lady of Hellwater, he made another gesture inviting Krysta, her mother, Henrietta, and the Sky Lord to sit as well. “I’m thinking one Awakening Crystal, one Fruit of Empowerment, and one Primal Enhancement Gem for the ability to question my daughter.”
“The Alchemist assuredly knows more.” Bellessia was back to her creepy pleasantness, seemingly completely unperturbed by what her sister had said about her before.
“I don’t break my word.” Krysta’s mother was also back to her usual calm self, at least on the outside. “Besides, my daughter knows almost as much about your son as I do.”
“Who else would know about him?” This time it was the Lady of Hellwater who spoke.
“My first apprentice here, Henrietta Vin.” Krysta’s mother pointed at Henrietta. “But she barely knows anything even superficial about Aalam, so she wouldn’t be of much help.
“Then there were two others who knew more than Henrietta but less than Krysta. They didn’t have A rank parents and divine protection, however, and your sister didn’t leave the best impression on me given the aforementioned filicide, so I allowed them to leave to serve your nephew.”
The Lady of Hellwater frowned, but then she turned to Krysta’s father and bowed her head. “We agree to your terms.”
Krysta’s uncle Mokvorax, the Heavenly Scarab of Death, then reached over and tapped Krysta on the forehead, using his death Laws to sever all her contractual obligations, and the Lady of Hellwater started to question her, asking all sorts of questions about Aalam, such as about his powers, his personality, and those around him.
Krysta didn’t really feel like giving the woman too much information, however, so she didn’t offer more than what was asked for. In particular, she hid Isaiah’s identity, making it seem like he was another reborn monster from Earth, thus his lack of fame, instead of revealing anything about his actual identity.
The gods around her would probably figure out Isaiah’s true identity in the future, but she didn’t lie, just mislead a little, so it hopefully wouldn’t affect her much.
