Xalvador's eyes narrowed.
He could tell that Himari's aura had become far weaker than his own. However, what he had neglected was the fact that she still had access to the Shrine. And, unlike in the past where she had only fumbled around, managing to make a final breakthrough in the last moments, the current Himari was at a level where she was more than capable of using the Shrine to slaughter the likes of him.
Unlike the true powerhouses of the Deity Race descended, it seemed that they would have flushed the last few trillion years down the drain.
Xalvador didn't really care much about this as he was never very much invested in it to begin with.
The situation involving the Deity Race was quite long and winding. But the main point was that they had split down the middle in how they wanted their Clan to progress. Well, even that was a bit simplistic as there were far more than just two factions.
With so many individuals pulling in so many different directions, something like this was bound to happen.
Ultimately, these matters had only happened like this because one of his wives, Elena's mother in specific, overstepped her bounds.
Despite having so many wives, there was a very good reason why Xalvador had so many sons but just a single daughter, and that was because whenever his wives learned that they were pregnant with a girl, they would terminate the pregnancy without hesitation.
It was almost ironic in that way. The Holy Wing Clan Ryu was familiar with the exact opposite, throwing away boys as though they were worthless and only keeping the women. But, who would have thought that such a practice originated from a culture that fueled the exact opposite.
Xalvador knew that such things were happening, but there wasn't much he could do to stop it. He would never learn that his wives were pregnant before they would, that was impossible. And, he could do even less to stop their ambitions.
Obviously by this point, it was quite obvious that Xalvador's position was quite unique for his wives to go so far. The only person who had dared to take a different path was Elena's mother, but as a result of this, a whole host of far more complex matters unfolded.
How was it that a woman that was only technically one of 15 could take the reins on a project of this sort of magnitude? Well, the simple answer was that she wasn't supposed to.
Elena's mother was an anomaly. Among the Holy Wing Branch of the Deity Race, Valeska had always been pathetic, so much so that she unanimously claimed the bottom rung.
Valeska, being born with far less talent than her counterparts, found her own method of pulling herself out, sleeping with countless men in hopes of birthing a child who could surpass everyone else.
As untalented as she was, she still had Holy Wing Blood coursing through her veins. So long as she stumbled into the right combination of genes, she would eventually birth that genius she was looking for.
Ultimately, she was correct, and one day, Elena's mother was born.
Unfortunately, being born into such a weak faction, the hardship Elena's mother had to face was more than most could imagine. Realizing this, Valeska sacrificed even more.
The truth was that aside from doing something she shouldn't have been doing, the reason Valeska and the others could lay claim to Sacrum was ultimately because only Valeska was willing to lower herself to the point of coming here.
Not only did she shed most of her cultivation, she also willingly laid at the feet of the Tatsuya Clan for billions of years, taking all the humiliation she suffered on the chin, all for the sake of her daughter's rise.
Valeska might have been a terrible person from Ryu's perspective, but from the perspective of her daughter and Elena's mother, she was a parent willing to sacrifice any and everything for her child, even her very dignity.
In fact, the only reason someone as powerful as Xalvador could even set foot on Sacrum was because of the doorway Valeska had opened by weakening the Heavens of Sacrum and their Protector… The Shrine Mountain.
Unfortunately, just when Valeska was finally gaining some traction and Elena's mother would be able to descend on Sacrum, she caught the eye of Xalvador.
Without much of a choice, Elena's mother had to make her own sacrifices. Sealing her lips and bearing with it, she married and consummated her marriage with Xalvador.
But, she never had the intention of relying on a child with Xalvador to lay claim to the power his faction held. So, she didn't terminate her pregnancy with Elena, instead carrying her daughter to term and giving birth.
She hoped that this action would make her stance clear and stop Xalvador's more powerful wives from seeing her as a threat. But, in an irony of all ironies, Xalvador adored Elena even before she was born to the point he doted on her far more than any of his sons. The result put Elena's mother right back in the spotlight.
Dealing with all the schemes and assaults of Xalvador's 14 other wives, Elena's mother could only take an even larger step back, giving birth to Elena on Sacrum and out of the eyes of the public. The result was Elena remaining to aid her grandmother on Sacrum.
Yet, this matter once again backfired. Xalvador, wanting to see his daughter, descended. The result was the timeline Elena's mother had meticulously planned speeding up.
The good news was that with Xalvador's help, the destruction of the Tatsuya Clan was almost too easy. The bad news was that they didn't get all their ducks in the row first, causing several things to fall through the cracks.
Ryu's father disappeared, his mother managed to seal off the Plane and access to more of Shrine Mountain with her ice, and Ryu managed to slip away and reincarnate.