ALL NOVEL Chapter 269: Animosity.
"Master, you are also troubled by these recent events, not just Milady, I do not advise you to be alone-"
"Alpha, if it's not related to my current goals, shut the fuck up," Sol glanced up at her and the system went mute and righted herself nodding and disappearing without another spoken word.
With the last voice of reason gone Sol stood and released a long breath of cosmic mana as his Godslayer powers began slowly manifesting, he gently leapt off the chunk of floating debris, closed his eyes and locked on to another outpost and began moving towards it.
*Three weeks prior*
"Arla you're brilliant! I only thought about making the journey personally, but this works far better than my original idea!" Sol praised her, nodding as she showed him her teleportation powers, they were still on Central Province. "I feel kind of idiotic for never thinking along this line..." He admitted reluctantly and the elf chuckled and kissed his cheek.
"I figured it would come in handy, although I am barely able to utilise it here on this dampening world, outside there is barely a limit to how far I can go, what hinders me is what my mana has recognised as a target and the necessary amount of mana needed to travel greater distances," Arla opened het palm and an apple she had thrown in the rapidly flowing river earlier appeared in her grasp with a splash of water.
"Alpha already knows the direction of the outposts within this collective thanks to her alternate mind which stays by Jenifer's side, if you can condense your mana and send it in those directions accurately with time you would be able to instantaneously appear wherever you pleased, the only matter which would hinder you is the massive amounts of power it takes to teleport," she explained and Sol nodded and took the apple from her grasp, throwing it in the river again and watching the runes in her palm light up as she summoned it once more.
"What are you two up to this time?" Ikaris called at them, seeing them chatting and laughing idly when they were supposed to be working.
"Master was telling me what a genius I am!" Arla boasted, huffing steam and setting her hands akimbo proudly.
"Haha, was he now?" Continue your adventure with m|v-l'e m,p| y- r
"No, seriously, Arla's a walking idea factory, she's full of amazing insight!" Sol made exaggerated gestures as the three of them began laughing.
After Arla's suggestion, Sol spent the rest of his free time on Central Province shooting off dense and untraceable beams of mana out into the void, to everyone else he seemed to be exercising, but for his women, this was another step in his grand plan to remove the influence of the Emporium by making himself the most feared and hated being, they would know his name and tremble at the thought, that was always his plan.
*** Presently at the 2988th outpost ***
"The General's been in a fit ever since the attack earlier, he's convinced himself that the Godslayer is gonna attack us next," A guard sat before a dash in a large tower at the highest point of a ridge overlooking a massive army base with thousands of ships stretching as far as the eye could see on a plateau below, lazily tapping his fingers.
"That's not possible, the outposts are arranged as if a child was picking up random rocks and tossing them away again, we're nearly fifteen thousand Pins away from the 2989th and there's eight outposts between us and them," he spoke across to another guard sitting parallel to him. "You think we're next?"
"Do you ever shut up, Maxwell?" The man asked, annoyed. "You've been at it for the last ten minutes, we just got word of 2889s destruction, even if we're next it's gonna take weeks, by then the whole Collective will be under lock we'll be fine, damnit."
"Heh," Maxwell chuckled. "I thought as much; you do agree," he scoffed. "Sol Vestic can kiss my ass, when the 99 get here it'll be all over for that bastard."
"That's when they get here, what if he shows up before then?" The other guard sceptically queried, and almost in queue with his damning question, the alarms started going off; their post became alive with deafening sirens, and they saw thousands of soldiers taking to the skies along with the startup of several hundred ships simultaneously.
"Respond!" He slammed his hand on a large screen but the return feed was a chaotic one full of people running to and fro.
"What the hell?" Maxwell took off his hat and stared at the skies above the plateau, there; he saw beams of gold descending like stars falling from the sky. "Gold, just like we heard from the first two outposts," he mused. "The harbinger..."
The clouds all parted above them and as many soldiers began falling from the skies as there were soldiers that were flying upwards, the ships that had started taking off became targets of massive bombardments of golden beams which easily tore through them despite their shields being erected.
[Creation tier Forced Sun; Nova]
From the core of the planet eating it all the way to the outside a wave of golden destruction vaporised everything swallowing all the emporium soldiers and all of their ships and weapons in one fell swoop, a few dozen stragglers managed to make it off the planet, but Sol didn't hesitate as he summoned his hammer and tore them apart wildly, coming to a stop on top of another escaping piece of debris and sitting just as he had been before.
"I'm not in a good mood today, I think I'll just vent and keep venting until I'm satisfied," Sol spoke to an eyeball which floated before him, wiping a trail of blood off his cheek and sighing as the message was relayed to the Emporium.
"I'm glad you guys exist today, you've given me someplace to direct my frustration..." He glared at the eye and then reached for and smashed it with his bare hand while Alpha appeared in his peripherals again.
"Master-"
"If it's not about what I'm doing-"
"Milady is asking for you," Alpha shook her head and Sol raised his gaze at the skip of a heartbeat, staring at her curiously.
"Is everything okay?"
"She is requesting you," Alpha gave him a vague answer and Sol arose robotic ally, evidently hesitant as he thought about what Ikaris wanted to say after revising what had happened.
"Okay," Sol raised his hand and took hold of the emptiness before him spinning inside of it like fabric and vanishing with an unusual humming as the space he occupied warped and then returned to normal.
Wordlessly, he appeared over the estate and slowly descended, cleaning himself as his feet touched the ground with a light tap; there at the entrance watching his descent was Ikaris, and at her sides were Dina and Arla, with Talia in her hands and Sara standing further down the stairs.
"Is everyone okay, did something happen?" Sol asked, and Ikaris wordlessly walked down the stairs, approached him slowly and pressed her forehead against his chest while the baby was squished between them.
Shocked: Sol raised his head looking at Arla and Dina for answers but the two had already turned and was in the middle of a quick retreat while Sara had already dipped into her shadows and vanished.
"Ikaris?" Sol looked at her once more as she continued rubbing her forehead against him before raising her eyes and smiling softly.
"Sol, my love," She smiled sadly. "I made a grave mistake."
"What?"
"In doubting your sincerity towards me I have sinned greatly, please, I ask your forgiveness -"
"Ikaris... your fears are warranted," Sol shook his head and rested one hand beneath Talia and the other on her shoulder. "If I caused you harm and have no recollection-" He pressed his finger against Talia's cheek and smiled at her laughing face.
"What's to stop me from doing the same to you again; to our daughter?" He asked, but Ikaris seemed adamant it wouldn't happen as she shook her head and released Talia in his care.
"You are in fact the one who attacked me, but at the same time you did not do it, my love; I spent the time you were away thinking about it, so hard my brain hurt in fact; and it just couldn't have been you, not the Sol who stands before me, you are my saviour, my deliverance, my healer and security, my benefactor and my king, you have always put me before all else; you have cried for me, bled for me, and died for me, Master would you hurt me, truly?" She asked and Sol held his daughter close and smiled warmly at Ikaris.
"No, Ikaris, I'd never," he answered slowly in a solemn voice.
"Then it was not you who cursed, it was not you who struck me, it was not you; it was indeed Sol Vestic, but not the Sol Vestic who is standing before me," She stared at his confused expression as she tried making her point.
"What are you saying?" Sol asked.
"I believe there is another, Sol, one who holds animosity towards me from Atla."