1415 Her Reason

Zahara Onyx tapped the armrest of her chair with her index finger. With each tap, time power infused into the armrest and rippled into the surroundings.

The millenial flowers in her room, said to bloom for a thousand years began to wilt as these ripples touched them.

Under the overwhelming power of the woman, even the lifespan of a millenia was over in a blink.

The hologram playing in front of her showed Varian being cut into two—once along his waist and once across his torso. Both times, he managed to heal back. That in itself wasn't surprising. But the fact that it seemed so effortless and costless to him was suspicious.

"Zahara…"

A voice rang out of nowhere and a whole galaxy seemed to flash past her in a blink.

As she gasped for breath, the woman found herself on her knees, facing Princess Eshala on her dazzling tone.

"Greetings, Princess."

Even though it had been so long since she first saw her, deep reverence rose from the bottom of Zahara's heart upon greeting her mistress.

Eshala looked at Zarah for a moment and nodded to herself. "You're about to take the leap, huh? Not bad."

"It should happen in a few weeks. It's been long due, Your Highness. I'm ashamed at my lack of talent."

"It's true that you aren't very talented." Eshala agreed.

If anyone heard this conversation without knowing their identities, they'd have tried to beat up Eshala.

Zahara was less than 4500 years old and was all set to take the final step. But for Eshala, this was significantly slower.

A good genius from the Empire, starting from scratch would reach the peak of rank 9 in about 2000 years.

Interestingly, a thousand of those two thousand would be spent in rank 9 itself!

The journey to divine rank begins after these 2,000 years.

If everthing from the awakening in mortal ranks to the peak of celestial ranks was a single step, then going from the celestial to divine rank was a large jump, spanning two full steps which had to be done in a single attempt.

Even great geniuses would spend thousand to two thousand years struck at that stage. Most never make the leap.

Zahara, despite being a little slow, was able to crack open the door that held back many and was about to enter the stage of the divine.

If nothing else, Eshala was happy to gain one more subordinate of the divine rank.

Even though as one of the three 'pillars' of the Empire, she controlled one of the three factions, she's just one of the strongest peak rank 1s before being damaged by Isadora.

To this day, Eshala was still confident in her strength. But that's where her prospects seemed to end.

If she wanted to go even higher, she'd have to hit rank 2. Since she hit the peak of her rank already, she knew how difficult this step was.

The Princess raised her hand and the space above her palm began to fluctuate violently, cracking and twisting. A blackhole eventually formed before collapsing.

Before it could do the room any damage, a storm of time power swept it and 'skipped' any destruction that woud've ensued.

"Haaa~ Mastering the opposite path of your divine rank. It's a ridiculous requirement." Even though her tone was soft and gentle, Zahara shivered.

The Princess wasn't the type to complain. But when she did, it meant that the situation was really bad.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that Eshala's soul was missing a piece. Even though it's 'technically' a small piece, it made her imperfect.

Thus, the progress she made in space path—which approximately equated her to a rank 7—halted. She'd regressed back to that of a rank 6 equivalent and had stayed there ever since.

As she twirled her soft hair, the starry pattern in the pupils of the Princess suddenly glowed pink. "I just remembered something. Kidnapping that new province's ruler, where is he?"

"H-He…" Zahara hesitated but only for a moment. Telling a lie was punished much more harshly than revealing a discomforting but honest truth.

"The first agent failed and the man fled to Pala capital. I activated a sleeper cell…but the connection was cut off. Only a clip of their battle is transmitted."

Watching Varian being sliced into two and heal back in a blink with little cost, Eshala Starlight narrowed her eyes.

The gloom in her mind about her stagnation disappeared even further. Instead, a fervent desire soared in her heart, threatening to overtake her entire soul.

'The more I watch him, the weirder he gets. If there's only 20% chance that he's the sliver owner before, I think it's 40%.

It's not even the slivers of the path I walk on but it doesn't matter, does it?

If I capture the slivers and capture them I will, it'll be a feat even greater than capturing the Alliance.

Then, I wouldn't have to serve in this stiffling job anymore. I can finally retire and live the life I've always wanted. Even though it's too late, but I can make up for her.'

Threads of memories that she long suppressed almost broke out.

Memories of a broken family. Of slaughtered children.

And that of the only child who survived the onslaught. Eshala's biggest desire was to meet the child she had to send far away for safety. But a normal thing for many mothers had become an impossible challenge for her.

'The Emperor is merciless but fair. He would reward me properly.

With four slivers in his hand, he'd be unstoppable.

The Alliance would crumble under his might and he'd gather the six slivers in the cosmos.

What happens next...is none of my concern.

But fair to say that if I do this job well, all the roadblocks to his future are essentially removed.

I'd be saving him millions of years.

So…maybe he'd not just let me free and live with my child…with his newly reached powers, he might even…ressurect my dead children.

Yes, yes, he will.

Kids, please wait for a bit longer. Mama is coming to you, soon!'