Lysanna had not been able to keep up with her Sisters but she had been brought up to the Divine Lands because her skills in organization and negotiation were second to none in the family.
Further, the Harmonic Dragons and other key allies preferred working with her over others due to long standing bonds and trust. When the army was being assembled, several of her Sisters and others tried to get her to stay behind.
She understood they worried for her as an Immortal but Lind had only asked her what she wanted to do. He backed her choice.
The warmth of that mont really made her consider if she would hinder or help and ultimately she chose to help. Not even halfway through the trip, the trap triggered by Shoti actually put a lot of work on her plate.
While all that was going on, she had kept abreast of the tensions and machinations flowing underneath the relatively united face of the army. She had known about the faction issue brewing but they chose to irritate Lind before she wanted to bring it to his attention.
She felt a little powerless at that level yet below that was under her control.
Small and moderate issues were curtailed or solved to prevent them from spiraling.
Now that they were in full flight over the Void Ocean, most of that stopped. There was simply no way to waste ti or deny the new tension focus. The upcoming clash with the Fiends and the bridge to end the world being built.
She had been finding less to do with her ti outside of cultivation or very basic issues on the flagship. It was a surprise then when Lind stord into the office she had made inside the ship.
It was one of the few places space was afforded, but only just enough for her to work!
His aura was thunderous yet she recognized it. It was not rage, but grief he was trying to contain! She quickly checked the tallic slate artifact but there was no news of an attack.
What had happened?!
She gently stood behind him. His back, even after his transformations, was still so much broader than hers and he lood over her but he felt so fragile at that mont.
She put her pale hand on his shoulder. He did not flinch but she could feel the tension through the silky smooth gray robes he currently wore. They were Forged by him for his particular needs.
Yet, they were just cloth covering him at that mont. The detail stood out as she took in his reptilian erald eyes and every curve of his face. He was often called cold to others over the recent era.
His draconic features were more prominent even in his human form but to her and her Sisters, he was an open book. Right now, every tick of his chin to the flicker of light in his eyes told her he was in pain.
She cupped his cheek in her hands before slowly pulling him down to her shoulder.
"Whatever it is, we are here for you, always." Their relationship had not been smooth but it was steadier than ever after the revelations in the Endless Peaks and the 4th layer.
The grief aura faded a bit before she felt his hands tighten on her back. There was no closer intimacy than the silence at that mont. No words were needed between them anymore.
The comfortable silence was ended by his sigh. She pulled back and he gently stroked her dark hair and tucked it behind her ear.
"Thank you." It was just 2 words but all the work she did for the family paled to the feeling they gave her. She was only an Immortal but she could do what others could never do.
She was about to pull back but he held on. He seed to consider sothing before pointing at the chairs built into the wall.
They sat and he held onto her hands before he revealed what happened. The scouting results only confird what they had been able to see before with the ship they were on.
Yet, when he ntioned the odd confrontation with the Great One, her face paled and her heart leapt into her throat! How much more cruel could the Fiend be?!
No one had spoken of it, but all hoped in their hearts that those still being refined inside the Fiends could be saved, even if only to go into Samsara, but she was now harshly reminded.
Souls were cultivation resources to them. Aside from their longevity, they had to break down the souls and refine them to build their power. All those people lost over the epochs were not only not coming back, but it was better to assu they were gone forever.
She pulled him back into a hug but also crushed a jade stone in her left hand. Reinforcents would be needed.
Unsurprisingly, Annabelle and Shoti were the quickest but the others ca. Chu had been on another ship yet she was there as if she had only been on the top deck.
The room beca too crowded but Lind opened the portal to his current Erald Haven attached to him.
They all went inside and she saw each of them deal with the reminder of what Fiends truly did to those they took.
Qing grasped Shoti's hand tightly as they all recalled how close they ca to losing one of their own.
Ethry's knuckles audibly cracked as blood began to flow onto the stone floor of the furnace room they were in.
Kora and Chu looked like they would rip apart the Great One if they got the chance. Karu stood to the sad with a very gloomy look on her face before she sighed and spoke up.
All turned to her and her burnt orange eyes felt like they wanted to flee.
"There is sothing you all need to rember. Those of us that are alive, even if their souls were taken by the original Great One, have been restored each ti, but any that were taken and never recovered, may still be inside the original." The group froze.
Lind looked like he was grappling with strong emotions once more but the nine tailed fox was not done.
"Further, while Lanbao was not always known to , she has encountered you before. She was taken but not refined by so of the previous tilines. Those incarnations would have fused with what was in the original." Her words were like lightning.
Lind was instantly across the room and staring hard at her. Lysanna quickly ran and put a restraining hand on his arm. He blinked before pausing and starting again.
"Are you saying that the original had not consud them?" Karu rubbed her hands and shook her head.
"He may have done so the first ti to ascend but even small traces would remain. If those pieces attracted the alternate versions as it did his other selves, it is possible they have recovered. Only possible, not certain. The best case is they can enter Samsara in my opinion." Lysanna looked at her.
It was not just wishful thinking but the opinion of soone who had seen the end of all worlds many tis and died trying to stop it. The horror of those tis they only had a taste of but the fact that there might be so version of all that died possibly clinging on in an endless nightmare sparked so hope of reclaiming them.
Still, it was not a kindness. If those souls had reconstituted or absorbed into a new version of themselves, it was certain they may be suffering not only inside the dantian of a Fiend but also losing their minds from alternate tilines converging inside them.
None of them could imagine the Hell that had to be but Lind seed to consider sothing before a strange look passed over his face. Many missed it because he was facing Karu but Lysanna saw it.
She wanted to ask questions but he suddenly hugged them both.
"Thank you." He then went to the others and thanked them as well as caught up as they had been running at full speed while he was working on various projects before they set out once more.
Considering all the miracles she had seen, Lysanna so badly wanted one more but knew the current situation was far darker then they consciously considered. Karu also looked confused at Lind's sudden burst of energy.
She knew him technically the best in one sense but the current Lind was known far better by them.
Lysanna wished Cyntilla was still with them. The demoness was a warrior without equal in their group but she also seed to have a strange prescient instinct when it ca to Lind. Lysanna felt like Lind had just made a very dangerous decision.
She could not put a finger on why she thought that, but it would not leave her mind. The others might share the thought yet the reality was clear. He would have to face the Great One no matter what.
No one else could survive against him.
She prayed to the spirits then paused.
{Big Sis Cyntilla, watch over him.} She had never prayed to another cultivator before but she did now. There was no feeling of reassurance or sign the Heavens heard her, but she had done all she could.
She could only hope it was enough.
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