Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

"So that's what's been going on," whispered Lilith, resting her head over my shoulders as we soldiered on through the Dead Laws. "It's been so long I'd forgotten such things."

"How many Chaos Cycles?"

She laughed. "Gods, if I know. I usually travel with Ariel and Zena, but after Lil Jin was liberated, I found myself spending hundreds of hours with him or sleeping. I swore Aurelia even said I slept for a Chaos Cycle."

Sleep is natural for mortals, but what about cultivators? I shouldn't be worried, but since Ariel is Lilith's doula but…

"You ready for a fight then?" I couldn't help but ask, noticing her somewhat ashen cheeks.

Lilith frowned for a second, "Sene, I can't help much… most if not all my energy goes into keeping me alive." she raised her head, sighing as she gazed upon my frown.

"Explain."

"Zariel and Zero, in their free time, have been teaching me how to manipulate my divinity in ways no one in the abyss ever thought. In fact. I don't even know how to help you with your request."

"Then Lily lied?"

"The hell she did." Shouted Lily, "What Arsene is trying to do is similar to what the Abyssal Fiends are doing. The Shard is… applying such a missing focus to his soul, allowing him to do that. But… to do so, Lilith needs to be the one to… What's the word? Oh yes, operate on your soul."

A thick vein sprouted its way from my temple to my brow. " Lily… why are you telling me this now? What's this about surgery, now?"

"Arsene, I've been with you for a while now… and I say this with the greatest love. You need to get some. You have been so stressed lately. You've not touched Ezra. And she's been preparing for you. The poor lass even tried learning to sow, gave up, and decided to just learn creation laws, cause apparently, that was easier."

"How long will it take me to learn?" Lilith interrupted through lowered lashes.

"Don't know," Lily replied. " But it just comes down to practice. Kill someone and operate. I'll guide you through the process."

"... I miss little Jin already." she sighed and leaned her head over my shoulder again, this time with pursed lips. "Since I'm going to be down here, mind cooking for your wife?"

"Maybe… if you tell me the truth." I softly whispered. "Your learning from Zariel and Zero. How will this affect the children at birth? Will you need a C-Section?"

Lilith's shoulders trembled, and a long silence whispered through the air. " Don't worry about it."

My footsteps came to a halt, and I stared dead at Lilith, turning silent. "If your life is already in danger… How bad is it during childbirth Lilith."

Something inside me turned cold, and with my hand, I lifted her guilty chin and stared into those quivering amethyst eyes that usually sucked me in. She jerked her head away and shook her head.

"They'll be fine."

"I didn't ask about the twins. Their entities that probably have GODS bloodline, I'm asking about you."

"Nothing will happen," She lied, drawing two steps back, but I advanced, trapping her between a tree."

"I don't like a liar."

"Yeah, you do."

"... Ok yeah, I do. But not right now. You know," I stated, lifting her chin once more, " if I call Zariel, he'll tell me, you know?"

"What do you want me to say? Huh? I'll die?"

"Terminate." was the first thing I said, but with a flash, Lilith was out of my grasp and a few meters away.

"No." she adamantly declared, turning the cheek

"Lilith, I said—"

"Ok, there's an easy solution here none of you are seeing. My god. Just let her breakthrough. No need to go around killing my future concubines."

'Whose your concubine!" We shouted.

"Yeah. Yeah. Gods, you guys are dramatic. Just hurry it up to the Eben Forest. Stronger souls are… best." Lily said monotonously. "Hurry it up. The fun has just started."

Grumbling over my elusive wife, I drew near bearing down on her as she stood with wet eyes. 'you're lucky, you are cute."

"And the best," She continued leaping on me, pressing her lips over mine, crossing her legs behind me.

Allowing the darkness to swallow us, Lilith and I suddenly lifted our heads with widened eyes towards the lit-up skies.

"Mirror Heavens," said Victoria coldly.

Witnessing all that was heading towards my castle freeze mid-air and begin to fade out of sight, Lilith's legs tightened around me, and she screamed just as Victoria snapped, resummoning the arrows and cannon fire that was directed at us, now traveling towards the army from afar."

"Vicky!!!!!"

"Master!" said Freya rushing into the air where we'd materialized. "You should head in side…." Noticing a pause and the absence of light in her eyes, I quickly grimaced. When all of a sudden, she continued. "There's a Paragon out there. Best not getting caught in that hurricane."

My frown deepened, noticing Freya's odd gap in time. "We'll be fine. I'm about to join the battle. But you can take Lilith."

Hopping off me with a bit of reluctance, Lilith snorted. She turned to my knight with an evil grin. " Frey, how've ya been? Are you still fucking my husband?"

"..."

Meep!

Knowing when I need to leave. I tactfully retreated towards the enemy as the screams of war bellowed.

"I don't have the strength to deal with that. Makes me wonder what our future looks like."

"..."

"What you got something to say?" I said to Lily.

"No. Not without spoilers. You guys are fucking weird. I still remember Lilith chopped up some bitch, and fucked you over their corpse… you had to wipe your children's memory afterward."

"Tsk. What wiping memories? My children need to know who the man of the house is and what better way to do it. We are going to go primal in this bitch!"

Piercing through the fog of war and ash. My body tore through a soldier as though it were paper spilling this poor man's entrails and crash-landed on the surface of the Eben Forest.

Snapping my gaze towards the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, I smiled as forsaken qi began to bleed from my pores.