After his discussion with Sol ca to a close, Anubis announced Sol’s awakening to the whole tower. It went as one could have expected. His room was imdiately sward by dozens of won, all caring for his well-being. Isis, in fact, was already crying and hugging Sol at the mont, but no one mocked her as even the most stoic won of the group were slightly teary-eyed.
This reaction was quite normal. After all, this was undoubtedly Sol’s first ti to have been wounded to such an extent. Even after having a hole made in his body by the Wolf King’s spear during the war, Sol had simply shrugged the wounds off and healed the next second like it was nothing at all.
Anubis smiled at the heartwarming sight and left the room. Now that Sol was awake, his job here was done. He would leave the rest to the girls.
Walking down the hallway, he briefly looked to his right and whistled.
“Not going to et him?” He asked the tall, dark-skinned woman who was resting against the wall not far from Sol’s room.
Nent. One of the Phoenix Queens and perhaps the strongest phoenix alive after Gabriel. The Eldest of all of Gabriel’s daughters and a war veteran who once stood at the frontlines alongside the Dragon Queen, Kiyohi, against the forces of Chaos.
She was a beautiful woman. Long flowing red hair and a voluptuous body that many n would die for. No matter what opinions he may have had about her, her physical beauty was undeniable.
However, for Anubis, such epheral beauty was simply worthless. All he cared about was the interior, the soul of a being, and for that very reason, in the past, Anubis had found Nent to be nothing but an eyesore. An ugly, worthless, dented woman who was running towards her ruin and alienating all those who cared for her in a desire for revenge and recognition.
Her desperation and growing madness reminded him too much of Echidna, and he knew that such a road was a direct path to self-destruction.
Now, though, her sad and rotten soul was bright enough that one would think she had bathed herself in holy water regularly. Which he was sure she did. But it was not like holy water was all that rare in the Astral Realm anyway, so that did not really an anything.
Though it was said to be good for the skin, so there was that.
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Nent gave a mature smile and ignored the strange glance Anubis sent her. She knew what opinion Anubis had about her in the past, and though their relationship had considerably eased off, there was still a little awkwardness left between them.
“I have ti. For now, I will just let the won here spend ti with him.” She answered his question with a short shrug. She was in no hurry. She always had full confidence in Sol's ability to wake up and heal, and as such, she had been less worried than the other won.
After all, she had seen firsthand what kind of miracle he could accomplish. In her opinion, there was little Sol could not accomplish if given enough ti.
“I just wanted to take a closer look at so of those won.” She mused.
She was more interested in observing the won around Sol. During the last few days, she had not been able to look at or discuss properly with them as everyone was tense and isolated. Sol was their anchor, and with him in a dire situation, there were few reasons for them to mingle.
Now that she was here, she could see that Sol was truly surrounded by a group of monsters.
All extrely talented in their own right, and so more than others. She had always thought that Sol was exaggerating when he described them and their abilities with pride, but now she realized that he had, in fact, been underselling them. And that too by quite a bit.
“If those won were born and raised in the Astral Realm, they would have been monsters.” She muttered.
Anubis looked behind him, his eyes landing on the won hugging Sol for an instant, but then shook his head.
“This is where you are wrong. Sure, they are talented. But this talent would have never blossod if they were born in the current Astral Realm. Things might have been different if they were born during one of the wars, though.”
He grinned. “Mortals struggle like no other being. To reach the peak, combat and struggles are inevitable. This is why so many of them can reach the King rank while only a limited number of Divine Beasts reached the King rank in the Astral World.”
Anubis laughed. Talent was great, but it was never enough to reach the apex. A lot of luck and a lot of hard work were necessary as well.
Nent nodded in acknowledgent and started walking away.
eting Sol was nice, but that was not why she ca down to the Mortal Realm.
It was now ti for her to et Nefertiti.
* * *
Watching Nent’s departing back, Anubis nodded to himself. She had truly changed. Her goal was still the sa, but she lacked the all-consuming darkness that had once filled her heart and mind.
My son-in-law is really incredible.
Anubis chuckled to himself and took the stairs. His direction— the hanging gardens. Nent was not the only one who had put an important discussion on pause while waiting for Sol to wake up.
Now that they were sure that the boy was in no danger, it was ti for him to et with people who had once been very dear to him.
He could have just flown to the rooftop or teleported, but his steps as he climbed the tower were slow, deliberate, almost hesitant.
mories he thought he had already long buried were now resurfacing. So were warm and others much less so.
His adventures in the past had not always been all roses and sunshine. In fact, he suffered greatly as a bastard born to the Demon King.
A union between an unwilling, lowly woman and an all-powerful King that nearly ruled the entire world. The result was easy to guess. When compared to his nurous siblings, he had nothing special and was just a lowborn.
Mocked, despised, and rejected by a world he had never wished to be born into, Anubis went nearly mad, and perhaps he would have done so had he not t them.
Stopping at the gate of the Hanging Garden, Anubis gazed at the two won sitting face to face. He could only muster a bitter smile at the sight. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Ambrosia. Echidna. It has been a while.”
This should have been a happy reunion for the age-old friends. However, Anubis already knew…
The three young drears of yesteryears were no more.
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