Cutting off the communication with Gabriel, Tiamat gently tapped the armrest of her throne, deep in thought.
Her discussion with Gabriel, albeit short, had given her much to think about.
'Well, Michael's daughter or not, it doesn't change anything.'
She wasn't yet alive when the likes of Michael and Lucifer still roamed the battlefield. As such, while she respected those seniors who died in honor of the cause, she had no deep feelings for them.
'The movements of the remaining Titans are also worrisome. That bastard Skryrim[1] is acting again.'
Most of the Titans had been killed or sealed alongside Chaos. But some of them had managed to survive by escaping to the deepest part of the abyss.
The rhythm at which she tapped her armrest increased, showing her irritation. Anyone would be irritated if they were in her place.
From her point of view, all she did was go to sleep. When she woke up, before she could even be happy for her increase in strength, she was hit by one bad news after the other.
Pinching her brows, she sighed as she saw her most mature daughter, Kiyohime, enter.
"Hello, mother. You seem frustrated."
"Heh heh. I guess I am a little. So, what's the matter?"
If Blaze was the youngest and most spoiled child out of her nine children, then Kiyohime was the eldest child as well as the one with the heaviest responsibility.
Not only was she the second ruler of the whole territory, but she was also the one who took care of and trained the young dragons.
Different from Nephthys who had a limited control over the other Phoenixes, Kiyohime had absolute and total control since basically, all the dragons were indebted to her.
A chuckle escaped Tiamat. She was sure that If Kiyohime could become a demigod, most dragons would follow her.
"Mother, the young ones are becoming restless, since you announced that a new position of prince would be open."
In the dragon's territory, there were four Kings and five Princes.
Though, after Blaze signed a contract with Mars and left the territory, there were only four princes, and her position as princess had always been left open.
Many young dragons wished to obtain the position of Blaze since it wasn't just some empty title but one that really gave power over the tribe.
"So?"
Kiyohime hesitated a little before continuing, "I wonder, why would you suddenly open it?"
"Out with it already. You know I hate hesitation."
"*Sigh* Most of the dragons think that this opening is a shame and that you just want to give the position to Blaze's son."
"Heh. Well, they aren't completely wrong."
"Mother!!"
Tiamat stopped her with a signal.
"Let me finish. This position was indeed opened for Sol. But at the same time it's a challenge for him. If he is strong enough, he will take it. If not, he will lose it."
"But…"
"You are speaking about the fact that he is still not even a Duke, right?"
Kiyohime didn't answer verbally, but her opinion was clear. Even though Gabriel hadn't explained too much the situation about Sol, she had at least given his current rank and all the dragon Kings knew it.
Tiamat simply smiled mysteriously, "You are underestimating too much, this thing called Fate. Furthermore, I left him to you, right? Train him well enough for him to succeed."
Tiamat honestly didn’t care whether Sol won the title of prince or not.
She knew that it was a condition for some weird debt between Sol and the Goddesses, and his success would allow him to form a contract with a phoenix, most likely Anubis’ daughter.
But, so what? If it was an S rank contract he wished to have, she was willing to give him as many dragons he could take away, no matter who he chose.
As for the price to pay for breaking the contract with the goddesses, she had enough divinity and Faith coins to spare to pay for his debt if necessary.
She was rich after all.
[Tiamat…]
[I will not interfere as long as I judge it’s beneficial for him.]
Saying so, she cut the connection that was reading her thoughts by covering her own body with her dimension.
It was a little trick she learned. The territory of divine beasts and all demigods, in general, were based on taking a part of space and having control over it.
In a way, it was akin to receiving a house( territory) on a lease and having to pay rent(Faith coins) regularly to the landlord, aka the goddesses.
But the dimension was different. it entirely belonged to her and the goddesses had no power or control over it. They could not even enter it if she didn’t wish to.
Another way to avoid the control or observation of the goddesses was entering the Abyss or doing the same as Anubis did and ‘steal’ rather than ‘rent’ a territory.
“Mother?”
“Do not worry.”
Tiamat wasn’t happy about what happened with Blaze, she really hoped that it was just the result of Fate or coincidence. Because if it wasn’t…
*Rumble* *Rumble*
The ground sank and cracked, Kiyohime suddenly felt like a mountain was resting on her shoulders.
It only lasted one instant, but even for a king like her, breathing became so difficult she felt like she was going to pass out.
“I am sorry. I lost control.”
“No, I am alright.”
Rather than feeling upset, Kiyohime was elated. Dragons respected strength above everything. The stronger Tiamat was, the happier Kiyohime was.
Nothing more, nothing less.
----
[Gabriel’s territory]
“Did you make a decision?”
“Yes, I have.”
While Tiamat was discussing with Kiyohime, another mother-daughter discussion was taking place.
Looking at her daughter sitting on the bed, Nephthys made a difficult expression.
“It’s going to be hard.”
“I know.”
“You might...No, you will face many tribulations.”
“I understand.”
“You might regret this day.”
“Perhaps.”
“You...You…*Sigh*. I am sorry for nagging so much.”
A bitter smile spread on her lips. Now she understood what her mother must have felt back then when she left the territory with Anubis.
She didn’t know if she was making the right decision. But, she knew that a bird would always leave its nest.
Rather than restraining the freedom of her daughter, what she should do as a mother was encourage her daughter and be there for her if something happened.
On the other side, Isis also threw a complicated glance at her mother.
Standing up, she walked toward her and gently hugged her, which surprised Nephthys briefly, though she immediately happily returned the hug.
“I am sorry for giving you so much grief.”
Isis knew that she hadn’t been on her best behavior when she initially heard about Sol. In fact, she had acted like a disrespectful spoiled child.
She had many logical reasons for her actions.
The stress from being isolated.
Missing her father.
Feeling like she was being controlled.
Rebellious age.
But in the end, all it boiled down to was that she acted like a bitch and a spoiled princess to someone who only wished the best for her and loved her from the deepest part of her soul.
This was made even worse by the fact that in the end, she decided to follow Sol of her own volition, making her earlier tantrum even more worthless.
Now, all she could do was apologize and act in order to amend herself.
Once they separated, Isis gave a bright smile, “Everything will be alright. We are going with Aunt Nent and we are going to use a direct channel. What could happen?”
If Sol was here, he would have face-palmed himself.
[1] Skryrim was one of the Jotnar. He was so large that Thor could use one of his gloves as a makeshift bedroom. Also just to be clear again. It’s Skryrim, not Skyrim. Lol. Like, even my autocorrect tried to rewrite it as Skyrim.
(AN: Tiamat is very belligerent and proud. She respects and admires the goddesses but she won’t accept any of their BS. Now, what do you think? Was the situation with Tiamat falling asleep a machination of the goddesses? Or was it just Fate at play? Or simply a coincidence?)
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