Chapter 836 Bold Statement
The familiar feeling of falling, followed by the rush of colours and wind, made Astaroth slightly nostalgic.
It felt like forever since he last entered New Eden, and his mind suddenly felt at peace, like he was meant to be here and not in his world.
Opening his eyes, Astaroth saw the familiar ceiling of the royal bedroom, and before he could even get up, something slammed into him hard.
"Oof!" he exclaimed, his lungs emptying out.
"PAPA!" Luna's high-pitched voice exclaimed.
Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around Astaroth's chest, sobbing in a mix of sadness of missing him and joy of seeing him again, safe and sound.
Astaroth looked down at her and smiled warmly. He embraced her as well, feeling their souls reconnecting.
It was soon followed by the tethers between him and all his soul companions reforming.
One by one, he felt White Death, Morpheus, and Genie's presence wrap around his soul and mind like a warm blanket on a cold winter's day.
He instantly knew where all of them were and what they were doing. But most of all, he also immediately felt their power.
'I see you all have been keeping busy. Well, almost all of you,' he said in his mind, looking at the top of Luna's head.
Astaroth opened his interface and saw a new tab, and his head tilted.
*Summons*
**
He didn't know when this had appeared, but he knew this was an excellent addition.
'Most likely, many players started forming bonds with creatures of New Eden, and EG patched the interface.'
He still didn't know how EG could force the interface on New Eden since this was an entire world, but he speculated that it was a player-specific thing and that the pods and helmets were responsible for it.
But this was not important.
He tapped the summons tab, curious about what it added to the game, and grinned.
On a list, from the oldest bond to most recent, he had access to all their stat windows and a resume of them all right there.
Levels, HP, MP, Statuses. Everything was shortened, meaning he no longer had to scan every one of them individually.
*Summons*
Souls:
White Death (51):
HP: 87% / MP: 56% / Status: Summoned (Forced)
Genie (53):
HP: 84% / MP: 49% / Status: Embodied
Luna (75):
HP: 100% / MP: 100% / Status: Embodied
Morpheus (51):
HP: 100% / MP: 100% / Status: Summoned (Forced)
Shegror (55):
HP: 24% / MP: 11% / Status: Summoned (Forced)
Demons:
**
Astaroth didn't keep reading the list down into the demon section since he already had all their info. But he did notice something missing in the souls section.
'Where did Geminae go?' he wondered.
He knew that Anima Geminae was originally a soul companion, even though it was a shard from a higher being. But now, it was gone entirely from the list.
'Do you know why?' he asked Geminae in his mind.
'That is because I no longer am a soul shard,' Geminae responded.
'You'll have to explain yourself better than this,' Astaroth grumbled.
'I've already told you why. We have become a single entity. Your soul is no longer just you. It is an amalgam of you, me, and that retched red skin.'
Astaroth felt like slapping Geminae in the face for being so vague. But he held himself back.
'You'll have to explain the complete ramifications of this later, Geminae. I want the full story.'
'As you wish,' Geminae replied before going silent again.
For now, Astaroth had things to do. Things that couldn't wait.
The first one was to announce he had returned to his officials and guild.
The latter, he could do right now with a quick message in the guild chat. But the former was a bit more complicated.
Leaving the royal chambers, Astaroth walked toward the staircase. He wanted to see Chele and ask him to mobilize the officials in the palace.
As he moved around the palace, the Royal Guards and servants quickly noticed him, which caused a wave of whispers to spread around the palace before he could even gather the officials.
When he reached Chele's office, the tall Lizardman was already waiting outside the door.
"Your Highnesssss. It issss, a plaessssure to see you ssssafe and ssssound again. I have already ssssent for the offisssssialsssss. They will gather in the throne room."
Astaroth smiled at him, giving a curt nod.
"Very well. Thank you, Chele. As always, you are on top of everything that happens in this palace. It is a pleasure to see you again as well. You should head to the throne room as well. I have a message for everyone, you included."
Chele bowed his head, saying, "Assss you wissssh, ssssire."
He followed the monarch toward the throne room, which was already abuzz with the news of the king's return. Phoenix had kept mum until he was officially back since she knew he would want to address them on his own.
But that didn't mean she wouldn't be present.
When Astaroth entered the busy throne room, a lot of the officials were already gathered, with the last few reaching the doors soon after him. Silence filled the room as Astaroth's footsteps across it echoed in the enormous throne room.
Everyone watched him walk past them, go up the dais, and sit down with a wide grin.
The moment his ass was on that throne, the doors to the throne room closed, and everyone suddenly dropped to one knee.
"Welcome back, King Astaroth!" they chanted altogether.
Astaroth's smile widened.
There were a few fresh faces in the room, which he didn't recognize, but all the other faces he remembered were there. And that made him happy.
'No one died or got replaced. That is the best start I could hope for.'
"Thank you all for this warm welcome. You can relax. I am still me, and I still disdain too much protocol," Astaroth said with a chuckle.
This caused a small wave of giggles and chortles before the room quieted again.
"The reason I wanted all of you here at this time was because I have an announcement. And it is one I want all of you to hear. Because it concerns all of you."
Everyone's eyes were glued to him, including Phoenix's.
"Starting next week, Stellar Woodlands is going to war."
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