The moment she felt the power brimming with the concept of <<Servitude>> emanating from Nefertiti, Nent’s eyes shone with unconcealed joy, delight, and a fervent madness that she was trying to suppress for some time now.
It resurfaced due to being faced with a situation that transcended all her expectations.
Her heart was beating so wildly that she felt like it would burst out of her chest from all the frantic thumps. This was without a doubt a moment she would never forget even in the thousand years to come.
She thought that Nefertiti had already surpassed all of her expectations of her by obtaining her Kingly name as a mere Duke, but now…from what Nefertiti had shown her, she could say without a doubt that she had underestimated the girl way too much. The concept she was currently showing a glimpse of wielding was far beyond anything she could ever have hoped for.
‘No, this can’t just be because of Nefertiti.’
She fought hard to keep her heart calm and collected, using all her might to bring it back into a normal beating rhythm. It wasn’t as if no one had ever tried to follow the footsteps of the deceased powerhouses and a few even partially succeeded in their endeavors. But those individuals were generally born with the innate power to charm others from the very start.
It wasn’t really something that could be trained or acquired through artificial means.
Despite this glaring fact, however, people still did their best to obtain this power by hook or crook.
After all, if one managed to obtain such a powerful and prominent concept, they would have a straight beeline toward becoming a King at the bare minimum, and the chances of becoming a demigod and even a false god would also increase tremendously for that individual.
But most of them failed in their pursuit of this divine path and those who did succeed could only bring a pale imitation of the power, falling much too short in scale with the real deal.
‘I guess Nefertiti's blood somewhat helped with the results.’
Nefertiti was a hybrid born between a charm spirit and a Phoenix. Perhaps the absurd mix between holy power and the power of charm gave birth to such a result?
This was the most logical explanation she could reach, but at the same time, it was unsatisfactory, to say the least. After all, there were thousands of succubuses and charm spirits with stronger innate talent than Nefertiti when it came to the power of <<Charm>>. There was no way she would be able to beat them just cause she was a hybrid.
She also wasn’t the only Charm Phoenix hybrid to ever exist. There practically was a surplus of them in her faction; Nefertiti just turned out to be the most powerful of them all.
She didn’t really understand why Nefertiti obtained this power just now but she could venture a guess. It was related to a charming boy, the boy that had turned all of their lives upside down with his arrival.
‘Sol is without a doubt the key.’
She did not doubt that fact. Everything was simply too coincidental for it to be otherwise.
Nefertiti obtained her Kingly name right after meeting Sol for the very first time and now she obtained a concept after meeting him after a few months after their separation.
If this wasn’t suspicious, then what was? There was nothing left to doubt, at least that was so in her mind.
‘I can think about this later.’
What mattered now was how to nurture this concept and make it mature into something on the level of Micheal's.
The concept of <<Servitude>> was a twisted concept that instilled absolute faith and irrevocable reverence in the user as well as the ones they were influencing.
This wasn’t just something as mild as mind control. But the true and absolute change that would make one the staunchest of believers.
The era of Michael was the era during which the faith of the fourteen goddesses was the strongest, unlike now where most people only reluctantly believed in them and much less chose to worship them with all their hearts.
His presence alone could change hundreds of thousands of people right into the most devoted fanatics.
Greed began to grow in her heart at the mere thought of what this concept implied for the future, but as fast as it came, she immediately stomped it out with scary momentum. Almost feeling disgusted by her thoughts.
‘What the hell am I even thinking? Fuck!!’
Nent closed her eyes before sighing out loud, “Congratulations. You just took the first step toward becoming an extremely powerful being of this world. I believe soon your zone will adapt to your new Truth.”
The Duke rank was the most important rank as it gave a lot of flexibility to an individual. One could ‘easily’ change the Truth and obtain a different far better zone than what they wielded.
Of course, once they built a True name at the top of it and became a King then it was all over for them.
Nefertiti was an odd case as she already had her name but had yet to really incorporate it into herself. She could make some small adjustments to her truth and her true name and she needed to do it all fast and with extreme precision.
“Of course, you can also choose to become a King. I believe the integration will not take long now.”
Standing on the side, Isis approached Nefertiti and gave her a warm hug, “Congratulations! I am really happy for you!”
Isis was not lying. She was happy to see that Nefertiti took a new step in her path. She had no reason to be jealous of her.
After all, with her talent, becoming a king was not a question of ‘If’ but only ‘When’.
In fact, she had once obtained her own concept when she had deeply contemplated it.
<<Death>>
This one was pretty easy and basically, all necromancers threaded on this path.
But Isis rejected it with absolute indifference.
At the end of the day, the power of Necromancy was a path created by her father so that he could fully integrate with the concept of Death and reach Godhood through it.
She didn’t know if it was possible to become a god. But on the off chance that such a possibility existed, even if it was so small it was nearly non-existent, she did not wish to walk the same path as her father did.
She had her own path to tread on and she already had an inkling about what she had to do to take the first step toward that path.
“Congratulations, it seems like the Phoenixes will soon have a new King among them.”
Kiyohime sighed once her surprise wore off.
Instinctively she hated the concept that Nefertiti had chosen to tread upon. This went against basically everything all the dragons stood for.
<<Rebellion>> and <<Defiance>>.
They were opposite concepts of such magnitudes that they could be easily said to be the antithesis of each other.
At the same time, she respected and admired the unassuming girl whom she thought of having nothing else other than her beauty going on for her.
There was nothing more gratifying than finding your own path. Even if that path was one of servitude, this was her own choice and no one else could despise her for choosing this.
This was way better than walking aimlessly with no purpose. Most beings were like that so the end result was also similar.
‘I just hope she doesn’t end like some of those I know.’
There have been a few King-ranked dragons outside of the main four. But generally, they all reached a bad end.
It seemed this rule applied to all divine beasts. As if Fate was trying to keep the number of King-ranked Divine beasts balanced.
“Well well, I must say. I guess the two of us might end up becoming friends after all.”
Skuld laughed. The girl here was so devoted she literally ended up inheriting a concept related to her feelings for Sol.
This was the kind of person she wanted to work with.
“Now then, why don’t we talk about a few basic rules to respect?”
Rules were the cornerstones of society.
Skuld did not miss the irony that was a being of Chaos like her talking about rules and regulations but thus was life.
It was something full of surprise, and even a seer like her was allowed to be surprised sometimes.
———
[TARTARUS, 5th circle of hell]
While the girls were having a ‘discussion’, Sol had decided to work on his own little side project. He wished to leave the territory on a good note and in a good mood.
So the sooner he finished his exploration of Tartarus, the more time he could actually spend with those he cared about.
Along the way, he had simply used his dimension to walk unhindered. He had no wish to deal with the small fries.
He could already kill them before becoming a Duke and now…it went from easy to simple boring clobbering.
The reason he stopped at the 5th floor though was pretty simple. After all, he was planning on meeting an old acquaintance of his.
“I have been wondering where the two of you were. To think you were hiding in this place.”
“...Used to it… More comfortable…”
Sol looked at the white dragon that was lying on the ground with a white cat sitting proudly standing on its head.
They were, of course, Nabu and Sekmet.
It seemed that after the victory, the two of them had decided to make this place their temporary residence.
He wondered what was comfortable about this place but it was easy to guess why Nabu did not wish to stay in the Nine Heavens.
“So, why did you come here?”
Sekhmet asked lazily while Nabu gazed silently, “Do you wish to…fight?”
Sol smiled. Despite her ice-cold voice, he could feel the blazing fighting intent in her words.
Sadly fighting her wasn’t his goal.
“I do not.”
It seemed that his answer disappointed her as she yawned and decided to go back to sleep.
But Sol’s next words definitely woke her up.
“I wish to make a deal with you.”
It was always necessary to prepare for the unexpected.
———
(AN: Honestly for those who paid attention, Isis’ future concept will be pretty easy to guess. As for Nabu, I toyed around with the idea of making her enter a contract with Sol. Also since he doesn’t have a dragon and all. But heh, it would cause redundancy in my plans. I already have a clear idea about what I want. Anyways two small arcs left and vol 10 will end.)