Chapter 174: As the Empress of Mankind Appears
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"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Ai snapped her head at Quetzalcoatl as she held her son in her arms, as carefully as a flower, yet as firmly as a sword, only for the Dragon Goddess to rub the back of her head. "I trusted you to not get him in trouble, and you return with him in this state?!"
Blue had fallen to her knees at the sight of her Lord bleeding from all the pores in his body. She held her face with her hands, tears running down her cheeks, while Serafall looked at the scene with wide eyes and a mind-boggled expression.
He was the man who kept her and Yohtli safe through the battle, and she took it for granted at one point. But it was at this expense?!
"Well, I…" Quetzalcoatl didn't have much to say.
"Fucking hell, fuck!" she growled and turned to Aqua. "The Empress, right, her…" she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. A moment later, she opened them with the pupils lighting up. "Wardrobe: Empress of Mankind."
Just as she spoke, smoke burst out of her, and her outfit changed. Her body also grew more robust, and she grew taller. Her pajamas were replaced with golden armor, and her hair turned black, divided in the middle. Her pink eyes were now golden, and her earlier angry expression was replaced with calm worry.
"Do not worry," she spoke with regal dignity, "I'll keep you safe, my so-" her voice gave in as her head swayed and fell to the side. She passed out as the spell went off, the smoke dispersing out of her as she returned to her usual self.
"Uh, I don't think that was supposed to happen…" Yohtli said, looking around, but the other two ladies beside her had frozen in their spots. Quetzalcoatl's eyes were wide, beads of sweat on her forehead. Footsteps filled the air, and the sound of piano keys accompanied it.
Someone came down the stairs, with the slow piano strings of City of Stars following her. The [Crown Icon] shone overhead as she stopped under the stairs, stepping into the door of the living room. The tall, busty woman from a second ago, who Ai had transformed into, now stood at the door with a thin smile on her face.
[Image Here]
-「City of stars… Are you shining just for me…?」
Quetzalcoatl stared at the entity with wide, spinning golden eyes. Earlier, the pressure that Empress Durga exuded made her tremble in battle lust. Now, she felt her blood flow calm in the presence of this woman… the truest of Empresses.
She tucked down to get through the door and slowly walked over. The Empress did not meet eyes with anyone, only briefly glancing at Ai, as she stopped above Aqua's unconscious body.
"...So much pain, for who?" she asked the air, and the air nudged her chin to look at the sleeping goddess on the couch. She recognized her right away, although having never met her before. "Ah, Galaxara, his Goddess…''
"How do you know her?" Serafall asked, and the Empress gently turned to her. Gold eyes pierced through her pink ones and she nearly fell on her knees.
"I know her because he told me. I know… everything about his life." The Empress said and turned back to Aqua.
She gently crouched down and took him in her arms, standing up. She turned around and walked out of the room, heading up to the stairs to tend to his wounds. Leaving a dumbfounded crowd and a song playing in the air.
-「Is this the start of something wonderful and new?」
Blue stared at the scene in stupefied awe, finding too many similarities between this scene with the appearance of Nyxondra. But Nyxondra had come from the outside and left through the windows, while this woman came down from upstairs.
Only Ruby and Asia were upstairs, along with the three girls who were sent earlier to shower.
What the hell was going on?
-「Or one more dream that… I cannot make true?」
****
Tsubasa rushed into the house a minute later and came to a screeching halt in front of the staircase. The others were waiting outside it.
"W-what's going on?" she asked, worried filling her voice. "I sensed a sudden drop in Aqua's life force earlier, where is he?"
"He's upstairs," said Yohtli, while Quetzalcoatl was too busy staring at the barrier in front of the stairs.
A barrier was put on the stairs, made out of luminous solar energy. It forced them to stay here and not interrupt the Empress' treatment. The windows and any other holes were also closed by the same energy. Quetzalcoatl felt like she could break it if she went all out, but otherwise, it seemed indestructible.
They had no reason to break it. It's not as if they had any way to treat him. The only thing they could do now was to wait and hope everything went well.
After hearing the situation from them, Tsubasa groaned in frustration. Her heart beat like crazy as she bit her lip. She knew she was the one who healed him last time when he reached a similar near-death state, although she remembered none of it as if she had been possessed by some entity. Couldn't she do the same thing again and save him?
But how do I summon that entity to take over me? She wondered. Mother?
[I don't know, don't ask me.] Her mother's voice rang in her head, [And I'd prefer if that entity doesn't come over us again. We might… cease to exist in exchange for her to exist. It's not a feeling I'd enjoy, and I had only felt the edge of it last time after which I was sleeping for months.]
Still…. Tsubasa gulped in worry and fear, while her mother sighed in her head.
[He'll be fine. That woman beside him is stronger than the one who possessed us anyway.] Hanekawa said, and Tsubasa closed her eyes to calm down. She decided to trust her mother on this, and hopefully, whatever was going on will end well for Aqua.
She took a look at the living room for a moment to distract herself, finding Ai still passed out like a baby, and the other woman, a Goddess, according to what the others told her, still asleep on her couch. "Ah…?"
She blinked and turned to the living room, causing the others to look inside too. The Goddess, Galaxara, slowly parted her eyes and blinked at the ceiling. She gently sat up as her eyes darted around to search for someone; Aqua, Tsubasa assumed.
"O' foreign Goddess," Quetzalcoatl decided to stop glaring at the solar barriers and walked into the living room. "Your Hero asked me to accompany you while he's busy receiving treatment."
"Treatment?" the Goddess asked with a tilt of her head, but before Quetzalcoatl could answer, her head snapped to the ceiling, looking at the room where Aqua must be at the moment. "Ah, he appears greatly injured."
"Indeed. It seems his limitless mage power we witnessed came with a price," the Dragon Goddess said.
"Mhm. I was expecting him to receive injury since he clearly performed a ritual by sacrificing his lifespan to me, but to think it was to this degree…" she said with a sad and worried expression etching her face. "But let us fear not, I can tell he'll be fine since an entity of immense authority is treating him. Huh, who is that, by the way? My [Observe] says she's titled as the…. Empress of Mankind, Great Sage of Humanity?"
Quetzalcoatl heard the title with a frown before shrugging a moment later, "No idea, but she smelled immensely dangerous and… imperial. I haven't met someone who let out such a noble and royal aura in my entire life."
"Aha, then we can only wait until she finishes treating him," Galaxara properly sat on the couch with a soft grunt and looked at her. "I apologize, I'm unable to stand properly, but allow me to introduce myself." She clasped two hands before her chest and raised her head upwards, "I'm Galaxara Voidborne, Great Goddess of Pangeal. It is a pleasure to be your acquaintance."
"Name's Quetzalcoatl, Dragon God of Warfare and Chief God of the Aztec Pantheon." Quku nodded at her, "The pleasure's all mine, Goddess. But may I ask where this 'Pangeal' is?"
Thus, the two Goddesses delved into a conversation to distract each other from the painful wait, and the others around them decided to sit around and listen.
****
Putting a Solar Barrier around the gaps in the house, the Empress dragged her partner to his bedroom. She wouldn't enjoy being interrupted, he required all her attention.
"What a painful state you're in," the Empress said as she gently put her Emperor on the bed, watching his unconscious body wince from just that little action. His skin was as sensitive as a burn victim's, and his fingers trembled as if they'd been squashed by a sledgehammer.
"Such a stupid spell I had created, hadn't I?" her golden eyes drooped with sorrow seeing him pained. She gently touched his cheek, "My elegant star is in pain because of me…"
In hindsight, the Spell of 'Greater Life Enjoyment' wasn't bad. Otherwise, all of his life will truly be boring, as he'd be born with the magic of deities at his fingertips. It would be satisfying for a few lives, maybe, but then he'll die of boredom. Boredom was the greatest curse for an entity like him; she didn't want her love of life to not be able to enjoy his life.
It was how humans of the modern world would practice "Dopamine Detox" to enjoy life better. It made sense from a scientific point of view.
She hadn't overlooked the possibility that he'd be in extreme danger, if he were to go against it, and she had made the consequences severe because of that. Otherwise, it'll be unable to hold its seriousness and lose its purpose.
If she weren't in this world, he'd have died today and started a new life.
Perhaps Ai Hoshino would have pulled off a miracle and saved him, but the chances of that are low. Just because Ai could turn into her didn't mean she could use all of her powers and authority.
Still, it is due to Ai's transformation that she's able to manifest for this long. When the woman used [Wardrobe] to transform into her, the energy rushed into her vessel to temporarily awaken her, although the vessel will forget all memories afterward.
"Unfortunately, I can't take off the spell," she murmured with her lips brushing his nose, while her hand began to shimmer against his cheek. "One because I still believe you'd benefit from it in future lives, and second because I'm not strong enough to take it off as of this moment."
She initiated the spell when she was at her peak power, where she could take down galaxies with a wave of her hand. Right now she wasn't even 1% of that.
"However, I will heal you," she gently climbed the bed, lying next to him before she held him by his shoulders, and embraced him against her chest. Although she wasn't at her prime height, she was still much larger than his 6'3" self so his face fit perfectly between her chest. Her arms wrapped around him as she closed her eyes.
"Let us take a nap," her entire body let out a radiant glow, cocooning around him as his wounds began to heal. She'd have to connect minds with him to put a stop to the raging Spell for now, otherwise, healing would be useless since it'll hurt him again and again until stopped.
However, connecting minds meant they'd see each other in their dreams.
The Empress felt ashamed and reluctant to meet him face to face, for she had rejected him when he begged her to accompany him to his next reincarnation. She had chosen to stay behind for humanity instead of sailing with him, and so she felt ashamed even to show her face to his dignified self.
"Haah," the Empress closed her eyes and admitted there was no other way, and that they'd have to meet one day or another. So be it today, when her worthless self would meet his gaze.
The Empress of Mankind and her Emperor drifted into the realm of dreams.
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