Yasenia approached the sparring arena. She had gained enough strength since the last time she fought seriously that she would not be even comparable to who she was before.
First of all, her War Intent and Monarch Intent had reached Level 9. While Celestial Intent was still stuck at Level 7, its strength was not much worse than the other two.
Then, her cultivation realms had reached the "middle" range of the fifth realm. Yasenia had always thought that by the time she reached this level, she should be almost unstoppable among the people in the Distancia Continent. Her plan back then, when she didn't have the maids, would've been to turtle until today, when she gained this level of strength, and then face the World.
Of course, plans changed.
Even then, she participated in the peak-level battlefields thanks to her [Celestial Pearl]'s incredibly overpowered buff.
Now, Yasenia was confident that she had the strength that her buffed self had back then. Standing at one side of a big arena, Yasenia looked forward with a focused face.
She didn't know that the children were standing and looking at her in the stands together with the rest of the girls.
Skye muttered, her eyes glittering. "Mommy is so pretty! She looks… different!"
Estrella looked at Yasenia's relaxed stance and asked. "Why do I feel like Mommy's relaxed stance is so… defense-tight?"
The girls smiled while looking at Estrella. Her cultivation and strength might be falling behind, but martial-art-wise and combat-instinct-wise, she was the sharpest of them all. Kali answered while patting her head. "Very good observation, Estrella. The reason you feel like that is that she is on guard. While her posture is relaxed, all the fibers in her body are tensing and relaxing. The second a threat appears, she will jump at it like a predator."
Dawn asked, excited. "Can Mommy win against her maids? Aunty Leila and the rest are really strong!"
Andrea answered while laughing. "Even we don't know how strong your Mommy has become. So, we'll need to see. First, one of the Level 8 maids will enter the arena and fight. If Yasenia wins, a Level 9 one will enter. If she wins… Then, Aunty Leila or one of the others will need to step forward."
Skye looked up at Evelyn and asked. "Do you think she can win, Mama? You have seen her from very close, right?"
Evelyn hummed. "I am honestly unsure. However, I can tell you that I felt somewhat overwhelmed the second I tried to look at her aura. While a sense of strength has always accompanied your Mommy, that level of oppressive feeling is entirely new."
Angel blinked. "Really? Was it that much of a difference?"
Evelyn nodded seriously. "It was like looking at a peak-level senior. Other than Angel, we can more or less fight at a Level 8 to 9 Dantain Spiritualization realm strength. But Coraline and other people of a similar level felt… weak compared to Yasenia."
Ebirah blinked twice. "Even Mom?"
Evelyn crossed her arms. "I am unsure, Ebirah. I have sparred with your mother and lost, but when fighting her, I didn't really feel an overwhelming sense of defeat. When I thought of fighting against Yasenia…" Evelyn shook her head and laughed. "The only word that flew through my head was 'Impossible.'"
Tatyana spoke up. "It is normal you felt that way." The Death Empress spoke as everyone looked at her. "When Yasenia has transformed her energy into the liquid state, she has also mixed a bigger proportion of Celestial Energy with it. The gas energy had less than 0.1 percent Celestial Energy purity. The liquid energy in her Dantian has around two to three percent of Celestial Energy purity."
Cecile spoke for the first time. "Too strong."
The girls looked over, and Cecile's face was more severe than ever. "She is even having trouble holding back her aura. Tatyana, you might want to increase the aura-blocking feature a bit before she starts for the children."
The Death Empress didn't mind adding a few extra layers, and she quickly did so. Several geometrical lines and runes spread in their private room, making the space around her flicker a few times while an Aura Blocking formation spread around.
Then, Tatyana looked at the children and smiled. "Little brats, remember to look at that screen if you want to know what's happening. The speed that your Mommy fights now is too fast to follow by your eyes." Tatyana looked sideways and smirked. "Flame, Kaleina, you both as well."
While holding Angel's hand, Aurelia asked, surprised. "Even Big Sister Kaleina?"
Tatyana nodded. "Yes." Then, she looked at the arena. "Oh? A maid is about to enter the arena."
The girls looked at the screen that was showing the maid preparing to jump in. Kali hummed. "Her face is so serious."
Tatyana laughed. "They know. Their Young Miss has finally caught up. The realization has hit them harshly. After all, most of the maids you see here were in the early Unification Realm when Yasenia was five years old or so."
The Death Empress smiled somewhat evilly. "They know that they are not as useful the second they can't protect Yasenia. They are Yasenia's personal maids because they can fight by her side. If they become so weak that they can't fight by her side, what is their use other than intelligent and trustful advisors?"
Angel muttered. "But they are not becoming weaker, no? Yasenia is just… too fast."
Tatyana shrugged. "Yasenia is their zero point. If the zero approaches you ten steps and you move one, you go from a 10 to a 1. Therefore, you are weaker by comparison, and consequently, you are worse. As a result… You are useless."
Andrea repeated. "Their zero is Yasenia."
Alaia spoke in the maid stands that were hidden from the dragoness. "Many of you were doubtful. I know it." The other 49 maids looked over. "We are all her loyal maids, and while I know that everyone here would give their entire existence to avoid any harm from happening to Young Miss, some of you slacked off."
Alaia looked at a few Level 8 maids and said. "The potential of all of us is similar. We all started at a similar point. However, some of us are now Level 8, others Level 9, and others are already deep in the Half-Step Dantian Spiritualization Realm."
Alaia spoke. "That's unacceptable. Yet, Lady Tatyana never said anything. Why do you think it was?"
A Level 8 maid spoke firmly. "Because Lady Tatyana never doubted that Young Miss would eventually catch up. That this exact moment would one day occur, one way or another."
Alaia nodded flatly. "Exactly." Alaia looked at the weakest of them all and said. "River, this is not a spar for you."
River was an otterkin beast human. She had a slender body and cute, rounded animal ears. Her attributes were Water and Darkness. The reason she was on the maid team was her assassination skills. Similar to Doriel, River had a terrifyingly lethal Innate skill.
Not to mention, her combat style was incredibly agile and swift. By the time her enemies tried to slash once, River would've probably sliced them to death. She was someone who used speed combat to the limits.
River looked around and tightly gripped the handle of her short swords, her adorable face struggling like never before. "I don't want to assassinate Young Miss."
Alaia didn't blame her. Instead, she said. "None of us want to. We, who love Young Miss with all our beings, would never, even in our worst nightmares, want to point our weapons at her seriously." Alaia continued with a sigh. "That's why we train. That's why we never complain. That's why we always cultivate. We want to stay a step ahead of our extraordinary Young Miss. Ahead enough that, when fighting her, we can hold our killing intent back."
Alaia sighed. "Sadly, River, Young Miss's strength is currently the same as yours. She has caught up."
River's face, filled with pain, slowly became determined. "I was wrong. This is my punishment."
Alaia nodded. "It is."
River took in a deep breath and looked at Yasenia, who stood in the middle of the arena with her sword drawn out. 'That's not Young Miss. That's not Young Miss. That's not Young Miss. That's not Young Miss. That's not Young Miss. That's not Young Miss.'
River repeated those words in her head again and again. She repeated them so many times that anybody would've lost count. However, the more she repeated them, the worse her body's state became.
From the family viewing area, Aurelia asked, puzzled. "What is happening to Aunty River?"
For the children, River had always been a playful and adorable aunty who played with them in the water. So, seeing them suffering like she was made them a bit uncomfortable.
Tatyana spoke. "This is her punishment."
Aurelia blinked, and Skye asked. "What did Aunty River do wrong?"
Tatyana spat flatly, with zero compassion. "Be weak. That's her sin. She had tools, but she didn't use their 200% potential. She didn't grind her soul against a wall to become stronger. She relaxed, thinking Yasenia would not catch up for much longer."
Tatyana looked at River coldly. "Now that she is weak, she needs to aim her swords at the person she swore to protect with her very soul. She is in pain, enough psychological pain that it is affecting her physically." Tatyana said. "But she needs to do it."
Estrella asked, grabbing Tatyana's hand a bit tightly. "What if she doesn't?"
Tatyana looked at her daughter and knew why she grabbed her hand. She understood Estrella's current thoughts. However, Tatyana didn't mellow her words. "You must do it. There is no 'ifs,' Estrella. You fight, fight, fight, and fight. You clash with your future until the day that your heart stops beating."
Estrella tightened her grip, and Tatayna spoke. "Estrella. There is no failure. It doesn't exist because you can keep trying. Failure only becomes failure when you give up. If you try again, you haven't failed; you are still trying."
Estrella looked up at Tatyana's face, expecting to see a cold expression. However, she saw a smile gentle enough to melt ice. Tatyana said, softly. "You are my daughter. You can do it as long as you push forward. Mama could, Mommy could. How could someone that came from both of those people not do it?"
Estrella blinked a few times and nodded seriously. "Okay."
In the middle of the arena, Yasenia was highly alert. She also understood what challenging the maids meant. 'They will come with the intent to kill. This is a death battle, not a spar. They are my maids, so they would probably rather die than be weaker than me.'
As she was thinking that, her hairs stood up as a presence appeared right behind her. Yasenia's aura exploded outward with violence together with the skill she had prepared. "[CELESTIAL DRAGON ROAR]!"
ROAR!
BOOM!
A blue shockwave impacted against the attack that was aiming at her heart from behind, blasting the person who rushed at her away. Still, when Yasenia turned around, she saw that River had already recovered and was just a few meters away from her with a terrifyingly cold face as her short swords rushed at her throat.
Yasenia grinned to herself. 'So freakishly strong! Hahahaha.'