Rise of The Anti God

"Well, I never expected that after separating one of Ai's ethereal cores, it would still stay inside her system instead of collapsing on its own and disappearing. So I had to improvise by trying to forcibly collapse by directing the ethereal energy inside it towards another body, like Damien and me. It was too much for me to handle on my own, so when Damien held my hand, I was able to lessen the burden on me and balance it. I couldn't simply make the ethereal core collapse on its own since it was too powerful," Yuria explained much to the astonishment of Damien and Valentina.

"So that's why you were gradually weakening it by taking away its ethereal energy and directing it to our bodies...Wow...where did you learn to do all this?" Damien asked with a head shake.

"It's all thanks to you. That mysterious ethereal cultivation art you gave me is truly profound. That's how I learned to manipulate ethereal cores though I have a long way to go," Yuria said happily as the other two smiled.

"Now...what's next?" She added.

Damien smirked as he said, "I never thought my cultivation would gain a sudden advancement like this. Saving Lily now seems more hopeful though I will have to get back to the Xeton Empire the moment Farah brings me the Pandemonium Needles."

Yuria knit her brows and asked, "But can we trust her? What if she was spouting lies and working with the emperor?"

Damien shook his head as he said, "I would never trust a woman like her. But if she tries to remove the miniature formation I planted on her, she will die. So even if she is working for the emperor, I will know, and she wouldn't be alive to tell him too much. But...even if she uses some convoluted ways to tell the emperor about us, at best, he would only know about our fake identities. I will also bring you away from here, and you also don't have to worry about the emperor targeting your kingdom since he still has things to be careful about. If he wanted to, he would have done it a long time ago."

Yuria nodded as she let out a sigh while Valentina said with pinched lips, "So we are risking things by letting that woman roam free. Is there no way to make her your slave just like Tristen?"

Damien shook his head and said, "If I had a choice, I would have definitely done it. But not only am I unable to do it now but there is also no guarantee if she has some kind of seal on her soul that could self-destruct her memories before dying. She isn't a simple woman but someone who is quite cunning, especially since she seems to know her way around making slaves out of corpses considering how she tried to take over Tristen."

Valentina had a worried look knowing that Damien always had to pay a cruel price whenever he used his mysterious ability to turn corpses into slaves.

"Anyway, I have tasked Tristen to keep track of Farah's movements. So if she does something stupid within a week, we will be out of here."

"But then your plans for the Gale Empire would get foiled, right?" Yuria asked in a worried tone.

"It doesn't matter. My true target has never been the Gale Empire. It is and always has been the Xeton Empire. If I am able to take it down, then taking down Gale Empire should not be that hard," Damien said with a narrowed gaze.

"Is that why you are getting close to the Xeton Princess, Reva?" Valentina asked candidly though Damien couldn't help but wonder if Valentina was purposefully putting up an innocent face to corner him.

Yuria pinched Damien's stomach subtly as she asked with squinted eyes, "You naughty playboy. You aren't satisfied even after courting us and still chasing after another beautiful princess?"

Valentina subtly smirked, but when Damien looked at her, she changed her expression to a guileless one.

Damien knew he was treading into a danger zone here and quickly said with a cough, "Ahem, you two are misunderstanding. It's just purely business. I am only getting close to her for information."

"You know...you should come up with another excuse since this is already getting too stale for me," Luna mentally said with a yawn.

"Can you just go to sleep already? Jeez…" Damien felt that he should have expected this slight jab from Luna in a situation like this and wondered how the current topic even came to this.

"Hmph, information? I know you. You are not cruel enough to break a woman's heart with ulterior motives like that, especially not the current you," Yuria said in a tone of certainty.

Damien opened his mouth to say something but felt speechless since he himself had no idea why Reva was making him turn his head towards her.  He knew it was not because of her status or beauty but something else that was pulling him towards her.

"See...look at him. He doesn't dare to say the same excuse again," Yuria said peevishly though inwardly she was giggling in amusement seeing Damien's difficult expression.

She wasn't really upset even if Damien really had something for Reva since she knew Damien would always love her no matter what or how many other women he might have by his side.

"Damien...are you really not happy with us?" Valentina asked with puppy eyes as she tugged at his sleeves, playing along with Yuria.

Damien knew these two were pulling his leg on purpose and wanted to give them a lesson. He looked around and at the hut as if checking something, confusing the two girls.

He then said in a stern tone as he grabbed both their arms, "You two are coming with me now. Let me show you both how satisfied I am with you two!"

"Wait!"

"Damien!"

The two women were caught by surprise, but they could only helplessly watch as Damien dragged the two deeper into the forest.