(Mauriss’s POV, Planet Granada)
Mauriss felt no disappointment at the failure of the Juxta campaign, for territorial gain had never been his true aim.
Instead, his true purpose had always been to confirm three particular matters that had weighed on his mind for over a decade, and in that regard, the war had been an unequivocal success for him.
Firstly, he had finally gained a clear measure of Charles’s strength.
For years, the subject of Charles’s limits had been little more than rumor and speculation, but now Mauriss knew precisely what level of force he needed to deploy to bring the Cult Monarch down.
Secondly, he confirmed that Soron still remained within Cult territory and that he had not departed on an expedition to refine his slab of Origin Metal, which pointed towards one of two possible scenarios:
Either Soron had grown too weak to attempt such a journey... or Leo Skyshard had never given him the metal in the first place.
And for Mauriss, both conclusions carried weight, and both opened intriguing possibilities.
Finally, he confirmed what he had long suspected about Raymond..... that despite Kaelith’s denials and Raymond’s own modest claims, the boy was without doubt a Demi-God.
For that was the only explanation he found to justify Soron’s exaggerated reaction.
For while the Great God did not bat an eye for Entrail or Streak, the moment Raymond’s ship edged forward, Soron’s composure shattered.
A God did not react so strongly to anyone less than a genuine threat, and since Soron flagged him as a threat, it meant that he had to be a Demi-God at the least.
"Kaelith, Kaelith, Kaelith... you dirty little rascal—" Mauriss muttered, leaning back in his damp rock chair with a look of pure satisfaction.
"You broke the pact. You nurtured a spawn of the Timeless Assassin all the way to the Demi-God stage." He said, as he smacked his lips in delight, the mere thought of how much chaos this revelation could bring making his blood run hotter.
*Spuck*
Two millennia ago, the three of them had sworn an oath— no children of theirs were to rise beyond the Monarch Tier, for to have a kid so strong would tilt the balance of power unfairly toward one side.
And this rule was especially strict for Kaelith, whose bloodline carried the latent potential to become the next Timeless Assassin.
Yet while Mauriss and Helmuth had honored that vow faithfully, Kaelith had spat on it.
With Raymond’s ascension to Demi-God being nothing short of a grave betrayal.
"The funny part is, you can’t even feign ignorance here," Mauriss chuckled darkly, his tongue clicking against his teeth. "It’s impossible to craft a Demi-God potion without water from Granada, soil from the pit, and a moonshine flower from the Eternal Garden.
I’ve shared portions of my ingredients as rewards to the Great Clans. Helmuth has too. But you? You’ve always claimed never to hand out even a single Moonshine flower.
Which means you either lied to us... or he stole it from under your nose.
And I refuse to believe the second."
Mauriss rubbed his palms together in glee, the anticipation making his body tremble.
"Oh Kaelith, Kaelith, Kaelith... why risk everything on such a reckless gamble?" His grin widened, baring teeth. "For you know the rules. If one of our children ascends to Demi-God without the others’ consent, then their own father must kill them—with the other two of us watching."
He let out a low laugh, shivering with goosebumps at the thought. "Did you truly want history to remember you as both a father and a son-killer?"
Mauriss said as he leaned forward, eyes gleaming, as his voice dropped to a whisper soaked with mania.
"So what will you do, old friend? Will you claim ignorance, and be forced to slay your own blood before my eyes and Helmuth’s?
Or will you protect him... and start a war against us both?"
He wondered as he dragged his tongue slowly across his palm, savoring the taste of his own excitement.
"Choices, choices... but which will you choose?"
—-----------
(Meanwhile Kaelith)
Unaware of the thoughts running through Mauriss’s mind, Kaelith sat alone beneath the silver branches of the Eternal Garden, the glow of the moonshine flowers swaying all around him.
His fingers drummed lightly against the armrest of his chair, his gaze fixed on nothing and everything at once, as the thoughts of the changing universe pressed heavily upon his mind.
The Su Clan, once a pillar of defiance, was collapsing piece by piece.
Planet after planet slipped away from their grasp, either taken by the Great Clans or surrendered by traitors too frightened to stand alone.
However, the fact of the matter remained that every defection, every conquest, drove the nail deeper into the coffin of the Su Clan and in Su Ren’s legacy, as in that decay, Kaelith could not help but see a cruel irony.
The Great Clans had positioned themselves as righteous conquerors, swooping in to "stabilize" the Su territories.
Yet in truth, their appetite betrayed them.
They had profited from the death of a god, and that act alone made them complicit in his fall.
It did not matter that they had not raised the blade themselves, for the spoils they now enjoyed bore his blood upon them.
And the people? The masses had shifted as well. Not long ago, their outrage had been directed at the Universal Government for daring to strike down a god, their voices raised in unison against sacrilege.
But time, Kaelith realized, eroded outrage the way rivers eroded stone.
The commoners now spoke of Su Ren’s fall not as a crime, but as inevitability. A lesson etched into the laws of nature itself— where the weak were trampled, and the strong alone had the right to endure.
Kaelith’s eyes narrowed, the faintest sigh escaping his lips.
"In the end, everything seems to have worked out.
Killing Su Ren was risky, but we seemed to have made it work."
He said, as he leaned back, the shadows of the garden dancing around him as he did.