The ship stopped nearby as my communicator began flooding with voices. Everyone was talking at once, so it was nearly impossible to understand. Although, I could clearly hear Cassandra crying out of happiness.
Regardless, there was a flash of light a few feet in front of me. A familiar woman with long pink hair stood staring back at me. She was still the most gorgeous woman I had ever laid eyes on.
Isabella had used her divine teleportation to reach me first. But...something was different about her. She looked slightly more mature and...
...her right eye glowed dark blue. As if she had taken the Eye of Order.
"Mizik...? Is that really you...? What happened!?" She said cautiously.
"It's me. Is there a problem?" I said.
Isabella held up her hand and created a barrier. It was cloaked in light to reflect like a mirror.
I looked at myself in slight surprise.
Some of the features on my face had become slightly sharper. My left eye blazed black and my right remained normal. Lastly, my hair had streaks of white in it. It was a bit longer as well.
I never bothered to look in a mirror before leaving, so this was a mild surprise.
It was truly odd... I looked slightly older. And I had grown a few inches. I was probably around 6'4, now.
"I guess that was another effect..." I said.
"Effect of what!? What happened!?" Isabella said in surprise.
"Eris fused herself with me in order to transfer the Eye of Destruction without dying. Now she lives in my head and...I guess I aged a few years...?" I said.
I didn't consider myself vain, but I was pretty happy with it. I didn't know I still had more room to grow before the anti-aging effects of my Enforcer status took effect.
"Well...that could be a problem... Eris being in your head and all. N-not your appearance, though... That...I can definitely get used to..." She said with a smile as she narrowed her eyes.
Isabella drew close and wrapped her arms around me. She let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. I held her close as she trembled.
Then...
"DARLIIIIIIING!!!!!!"
I heard a familiar shout as there was an impact nearby.
"That was a nice moment you just ruined..." I thought.
"Oooh! I forgot these were your wives! Don't worry, I won't interfere. I'm not into that!" Eris said.
"Shut it."
Cassandra bolted at us and stopped dead in her tracks as she laid eyes on me.
"Uh...darling...? Is that you?" She sniffed the air around me and tilted her head. "Ahn...it smells like you... I feel warm!"
She jumped and threw her arms around me.
It's a bit soon for you to be acting like a pervert...but oh well. That's just who you are...
"Darling! You look a bit different! You're even more handsome than before! It's like...umm...maybe you got a bit older...? Definitely taller, too!" Cassandra said.
...just before burying her face in my chest and inhaling deeply.
"Cassandra!!! Stop that!!! Although...I suppose he does seem to be at least a couple of years older now..."
"It's fine. I expected her to do something like this. Give her a break, she hasn't seen me in a while..." I said.
"Of course, my love. Ah...maybe we should get you on the ship?" Isabella said.
"Yes! Darling needs to lay down and let me tend to him!!! It's been so long... I'm sure he's pent up, right, darling? Ahn...I'll even let him take me right now!!!" Cassandra said as she began pulling on my robes.
"Alright, that's enough! Down girl!" I said angrily.
It took a few minutes to pry her off of me. Even with my enhanced strength, she was seriously strong when determined not to let go.
After that finished, I rejoined the crew on the Cursebreaker.
As soon as I entered the bridge, I heard Rastair gasp.
Here we go...
"Oh my! Is that you, captain? Hello, daddy... Fancy a few minutes with me? I'm sure you're hungry, right?" Rastair said.
"By the gods, I didn't come back to be harassed!" I said angrily.
"Haaah...killjoy..." Rastair said.
"Can the lewd giant woman please stop sexually harassing our beloved captain that I have no relations with other than purely professional ones?" Virtus said.
"You too, Virtus. Shut it."
"...meanie captain..."
"Now then... As you can all see, I've returned safe and sound. I don't know how, but it looks like that crazy woman caused me to age a few years."
"Definitely so... But uh...you have something else you want to say? I mean addressing the dragon in the corner, that is," Aldaril said.
"Right. Eris had no desire to hurt me. Her real goal was fusing with me to pass on the Eye of Destruction without dying. She lives in my head now, but I'm still the Avatar of Destruction," I said.
"I'm speechless. How does this nonsense keep happening to you?" Aldaril said.
"I really can't say. But over time, I've begun to think that some degenerate might be playing games with my life for their own amusement. Other than that, I have no idea."
"Who would be strong enough to do that? The Creator?" Aldaril said.
"I doubt the Creator has time for such things. Regardless, I want a status update. Tell me everything that happened in my absence."
"Yes sir..." Aldaril said.
Aldaril and Isabella began explaining the events that happened while I was being held captive.
It was just as I had assumed... Isabella was the new Avatar of Order. She took on this power for the purpose of saving me while believing I could deal with the issue of the Elder Core myself.
And she was right. I planned to do exactly that once all of this was over.
I had also been alerted to the Artificer's suspicious behavior. I immediately informed everyone not to let him know of our current strength.
Until then, we needed a way to get to the Central realm. A point of entry.
"Great. Now that we're on the same page, what's our plan of action?" Aldaril asked.
"Find a way into the Central realm. What else?" I said.
"Actually, I can help you with that!" Said Eris' voice.
"By the gods... Give me a moment. Eris is talking to me."
"Take your time, sir. We understand," Sato said.
"What do you want, Eris?"
"To help my bestest friend ever get into that totally-overrated Central realm!"
"I've been meaning to ask...how does someone enter the Central realm?"
"With the combined powers of four Avatars of light or dark, a portal can be made. This is only possible for either me or Kestel. Well, technically YOU and Kestel, now."
"Explain."
"Kestel and I have an ability specific to our Eyes called White Mask and Black Mask, respectively. For some reason, it didn't transfer to you. When all four dark Avatars are present, it allows you to use their powers. This is absolutely necessary to enter the Central realm."
"I see. But if it needs all of its respective Avatars present to properly use, how did Kestel get into the Central realm? Furthermore, why doesn't anyone know about it?"
"I dunno. You probably should have asked Castra before you killed him. He was the last person to have contact with Kestel. And it's not that we can't let anyone know, we just don't talk about it. Plain and simple."
"Damn it all... I'll see of I can't pull memories from the Eye of Chaos or something..."
I opened my eyes and looked around at everyone.
"Alright...here's what's going on..." I said.
Minutes later, I finished explaining everything to the crew. For the most part, everyone seemed to understand.
"Darling, you want to check the Eye of Chaos for residual memories?" Cassandra said as she gently squeezed my arm against her.
"I think that would certainly help..." I said.
"But why would it? If Black Mask will make it possible to open a portal, all you have to do is assign the Eyes of Chaos and War to your crew members. Kestel's method isn't important anymore. There's no need to waste our time!" Aldaril said.
"Continuity, Aldaril. It feels like an unfilled gap in our knowledge of the situation. Besides, it might be useful down the line."
"Whatever helps..." He said.
I held up the Eyes of Chaos and War, then looked around.
I wanted an experienced soldier for the Eye of War, so my eyes stopped on Sato.
"Sato, get over here."
"Sir?"
Sato walked forward and saluted.
"For twenty years, you've served me well. You're a damn good soldier and a great ally. If you're willing, I'd love for you to have this."
I held the Eye of War up to him and it seemed to respond.
"Very well. I can accept that, sir."
"Good. Now..."
I looked around for a suitable candidate for the Eye of Chaos.
And of course...there was only one possible option. Someone absolutely loyal who seemed to already deal with madness on a daily basis. Someone strong and capable of being an opposing force to Isabella.
In case anything bad ever happened again, of course. At this point, Isabella was a terrifying sight to behold. If I had to face her, it would take everything I had just to survive.
So naturally...I chose Cassandra.
"Cassandra."
"Yeeeeeess...?" She said with a seductive smile.
I held up the Eye of Chaos and got the same response as the Eye of War.
"That settles it. Sato will become the Avatar of War, and Cassandra will be the Avatar of Chaos."
Sato saluted me again and Cassandra hugged me even tighter.
"Great...that settles that. But you do realize they need to have the Eyes implemented by their respective high priests, right?" Aldaril said.
"As simple as it would be to go to those realms and make demands, I won't be doing that. I'll do it myself," I said.
"Can he do that...?" Aldaril said as he turned to Nirani.
"Master can do as he pleases with the Dark Avatars. He's their leader now. Your leader, Aldaril," Nirani said.
"This is so damn annoying... If you need me, I'll be in my room. Let's go, Nasuria..."
"Yes!"
Aldaril and Nasuria left the bridge quickly as I held the two Eyes in my hands.
Based on what happened before, I definitely wanted to do this outside of the ship. And that's exactly what I did.
* * *
The implementation of the Avatar Eyes didn't take long. Cassandra and Sato took to their new powers very quickly.
In the past, I hadn't made use of Sato because he didn't wield a Deus Arma. In fact, I wanted to assign him Redemption as soon as I got my hands on it. And that would be very soon...
As the new Avatar of War, Sato would become invaluable on the field of battle.
Next was Cassandra.
Her new power gave her the ability to use powerful time magic just like Isabella. But instead of simply speeding up time for herself, Cassandra could stop time completely in a large radius.
Even if the powers had similar results, it was still quite useful. The Eye came with an armament that was just a flail with the ability to cause explosions or mutations upon impact.
Cassandra gained the ability to summon an army of warped monstrosities capable of all sorts of absurd effects. They were referred to as the Chaos Legion.
Using magic, I was able to pull memories from previous users out of the Eye of Chaos.
Castra had deceived a very large number of people...including Kestel. He taught Kestel to use the White Mask by creating a false Eye of Order to temporary fill that slot. Using this, he opened a portal to the Central realm in order to track down Aldaril.
He was never seen or heard from again. Likely, he had become trapped...
Regardless, we were now ready to find him.
And with all of that out of the way, I sent a message to Estelyn before our departure.
That we would retrieve her as soon as out work was done. At last...the ship was moved towards the Order realm's gateway.