790 Seventh Prince
"Hey, you're too injured!"
Following a loud clap, an anxious shout followed.
"It's enough!"
The sound of bones breaking was accompanied by a heartbreaking voice.
"STOP!"
Finally, a gravity forcefield spread in the training room and held the severely injured man from launching one more attack.
With broken bones and torn muscles, Varian struggled to move against the heavy gravity pressing him down.
But instead of giving up, he struggled. He channeled his powers, pushed his body, loosened the space, used the telekinetic power—he did everything he could.
With every passing second, popping sounds reverberated in the room as more and more blood spilled out of Varian's wounds.
Even though his plantae powers healed him at a rate that would drive even level 9s jealous, Varian kept resisting the gravity to an absurd degree that even his healing couldn't catch up with his injuries.
After the fifteenth minute, Varian fainted from exhaustion.
The blood puddle under his injured body was a testament to his mad struggle. For some reason, Varian's blood was hard to clean off even for the best bots.
So, even after cleaning, his blood puddle always left behind a small red mark.
Sia glanced at the red marks all over the ground and sighed.
"This is madness…" She raised her hand and flew Varian into the shower.
The bots fed him the healing potion and washed him clean. Varian's body was already used to it and everything proceeded smoothly.
A few minutes later, Varian lay on his bed, deep in sleep.
"You're worrying me," Sia mumbled.
After the Mars event, Varian threw himself into mad training. He went to hell and back.
Sometimes it was her, the other times, it was Enigma. Every training session ended with him fainting with severe injuries.
Almost every waking hour, Varian was pushing himself.
Sia watched Varian's tired face and sighed. 'I hope he doesn't let his mistake become his trauma.'
Thirty minutes later, Varian opened his eyes and found Sia staring at him with a reproaching expression.
'Of course, she'd be mad with how I train.' Varian sighed and gave her an awkward smile. "A-Another round?"
Sia crossed her arms and said with a displeased expression. "Can you really go for another round?"
"Of course, I can, I—" Varian channeled his aura to show that he could, but to his surprise, he found that he was only back to a third of his peak.
Usually, he would've recovered at least 75% of his aura, but his body seemed to be protesting now and demanding a rest.
Looking at Varian's surprised expression, Sia nodded with a face that said 'I knew it'.
"You grow stronger the fastest through combat, but fighting every waking hour for days? It's not the smartest way to go about it. Take a breather, you really need it."
Varian considered her words seriously for a few minutes before nodding. "Alright. I'll take the evening off."
Sia breathed a sigh of relief and walked away. "Me as well. Watching you like that was mentally taxing."
Varian gave her an apologetic smile before shifting his focus.
'Status'
[Superhuman L8: 5k/25k (+4.5K)
Space L8: 2k/25k (+2k)
Lightning L8: 1k/25k (Advanced, +1k)
Plantae L8: 8k/25k (+4k)
Psychic L8: 4k/25k (+2k)
Macrokinetic L8: 1k/25k (Advanced, +1k)
Water L8: 2k/25k (+2k)]
'I want to fight the high level 8s so bad. But I am just getting pulled into world-ending schemes I can't smash my way through. This is so frustrating. Curse my luck.' Varian sighed.
A thought flashed in his mind and Varian's eyes lit up. "I can go join the frontlines…"
Sovereign Ares invited him to join the most active warzone once. Now was the best time to join.
Varian's comm rang and displayed the details of the 'Date'.
"…How is it possible to finish so many things in a single evening date?"
It was impossible, but Varian didn't bother asking and made himself presentable with nice clothes.
A few minutes later, the ghost ship landed on Eos. On their way to the exit, Varian and Sia passed by the seclusion room.
The aura of the room was locked off, but Varian could 'feel' Sarah due to the Synergy.
"A few more days," Varian said with a disappointed expression. "I miss her."
Sia's lips twitched. She stared at her reflection on the wall and confirmed that she had indeed dressed up meticulously. She was already a stunning beauty, with the extra touch-up, she was simply breathtaking. Yet, here was her boyfriend, missing another girl.
Even though it's her best friend and even though they're both his girlfriends, Sia still had the urge to smack Varian for saying those words.
"There are some things you shouldn't to a lady say if you want a long life," Sia warned him with a peaceful smile.
"I don't want to lie. Besides, she's my girlfriend too." Varian said with an innocent face.
"And what happened about using the wordplay to lie about 'chilling' on the vacation?"
"Technically, that's not a lie. I did chill."
"Mr.Varian, you're playing with fire."
"Actually, I play with lightning and water."
"…"
The couple bickered as they began their date in Eos.
The nightlife was brimming with energy and enthusiasm.
As the falling snow shone in the neon lights, the lovers walked together.
Right now, they didn't worry about impending crises.
Varian didn't think about the Abyss Emperor. Sia didn't bother about her past.
In the crowd of thousands, they just enjoyed the heartbeat of the one they loved.
They made joyful little memories to carry for the rest of their lives.
— — —
An unknown location, the neighboring galaxy.
A magnificent castle, spanning thousands of miles, shone in the darkness like a bright star.
Any material in the castle, even a brick or the doormat, was so precious that Celestial Rankers would fight over it.
Taking care of this spending castle were tens of thousands of servants and hundreds of maids.
Even the lowliest servants here were Sovereigns.
The common maids were Celestial Rankers!
In the most refined room of the Castle, a man was seated on a throne. His face couldn't be seen due to the scarlet light covering his body.
A single wisp of this scarlet energy, if accidentally released, was enough to obliterate the solar system.
Seated in front of the throne across both sides were beings of different races and backgrounds.
But they all swore their allegiance to him.
"The Emperor has confirmed," The Seventh Prince's voice, aking to the rumbling of thunder, sounded in the hall. "In the Alliance, the perfect specimen has been born."
His words drew hisses from the audience.
"The Primal Union Body, it was just a theory, a madman's fantasy, wasn't it?" An elderly voice said, his unwillingness evident.
"If it's the Slivers, then fantasies become realities." A feminine voice trailed off.
Her words set off the crowd in turbulence as their souls trembled from the heaven-shattering implications.
"E-Even if it's the Slivers," a younger voice stuttered. "Unless you have the powers of six slivers, the creation of Union Body is impossible. But those two slivers had been missing for millions of years."
It happened in the distant past.
Even though the Jai Empire never stopped searching for the slivers, it was merely ceremonial.
No one really thought they could find the Slivers anymore.
But now…
"Indeed," The Seventh Prince's ever calm voice now contained a tinge of anticipation. "We have the Slivers of Space &Time, they have Life & Death. Neither we nor the Alliance have any traces of the lost slivers' powers."
He implied the only possibility was the lost slivers' having traces of their sliver powers.
The Seventh Prince chuckled. "The Slivers of Order and Chaos have returned."
