Two days immediately passed after the arrival of the Luxians, the revelation that the Luxian Archon Sofiel is someone from my past and the event of taking her in as my 8th Companion.
During the two days, Sofiel fully sold me to the Luxians as The Great Protector that they were waiting for. Though it should be overwhelming for anyone, my Adaptability allowed me to calmly accept the veneration they were throwing towards me.
Of course, I didn't act like some kind of a Holy Man. I interacted with them normally and showed the Metagen and my abilities that were emphasized in their Scripture to prove my identity; The Giant Metal and my Aether/Void Elemental Core.
According to the Scripture which was written by an unknown Priestess, The Great Protector will appear in the World before the descent of Otherworldly Invaders. Through his appearance, the World that was doomed to fall under them will receive his protection.
That unknown Priestess was none other than Sofiel herself who employed someone else's help to compile events that will happen in the future of the World of Elements.
That someone is also none other than the Old Man who gave her the Orb and informed her of my arrival thirty years in the future.
Sofiel used the predictions he gave to write the Scripture filled with future events that will definitely come true which led to further devotion of the Luxians to The Great Protector Church. That Scripture paved the way for The Church to become deeply rooted in the whole race.
Of course, what was written wasn't clear enough for everyone to understand. It's just a vague prediction of the future with only one or two details. Through Sofiel's creativity and embellishments by creating lore and made up stories revolving around vague predictions, she managed to produce it in a way that it wouldn't be mistaken as a fortune-teller's mumblings of the future.
And since the Church looked like it was about to become a powerful organization if it managed to fully establish itself, those who could be called as leaders of the race refused to believe in the Scripture and tried to sabotage the establishment of the Church.
However, with the help of what was written in the Scripture about a story of power-hungry individuals, the devoted Luxians themselves managed to deduce that the threat to the Church were those leaders who would stop its establishment.
With their failure, the next parts became smooth-sailing for her and the Church until she decided to fulfill one of the prophecies written in it. The seclusion of their race.
And that's how the Luxians became a fanatic of The Great Protector Church.
After moving Aves out from where it was initially parked when they first revealed themselves, Sofiel asked for my instructions so I asked her to put the Concealed Aves in between Arland's City and Fleur's Forest. That way, the three territories will be interconnected to each other.
Even with her intention to give me all the power over their race, I decided not to. Like with Nysia, I set it to us deciding together. Though a bit unwilling since she really wanted to just become a devoted Companion to me after all the wait she had endured, I promised to spend more time with her and the promise to take her with me after everything was resolved here. With that promise in place, Sofiel's unwillingness vanished.
With the few enemies retreating after their defeat against the Protectors, the Noxian Transcendents who showed up later stopped right before the border of the Arland's City but never launched an attack. They only observed and investigated the traces that were left behind by the Floating Island.
As soon as Arland's Light Projection went out to meet them with a gloating expression in his face, Benedict and Marina could only indignantly retreat. Aves had already gone off-radar and they couldn't risk facing off against at least four Transcendents all at once with only the two of them.
"Darling, Fleur went back to her Forest?"
Sofiel asked. Ever since she showed up, I started staying with her to catch up and have her answer more of my questions.
The training of the elites still continued though I moved it here in Aves, adding up more elites from the Luxians to undergo the same training as the three Grand Magi and two Elemental Monarchs.
Even with the addition of Sofiel and the three Luxian Transcendents who went out again after meeting me yesterday to our Transcendent force, it wouldn't hurt to add more.
When the Dark World Transcendents descend here, the World's Will along with us will try to locate the Portal that they would be using. Unlike when it was just Mortal Ranks wherein their passage through the Portal went undetected, the Transcendents will surely make a large enough commotion for us to be able to locate it.
If we successfully locate Portal, I already asked the World's Will to lock onto it. With that as our ultimate objective, the confrontation for this world's continued survival will take place.
"Un. I'm supposed to follow her later at night. That will be my first time visiting her home."
Fleur told me that she would prepare for my visit, the one she invited me to.
Apart from all the Great Protector business, the training of the elites and observing Arland as he worked on perfecting the Formation that was already almost finished, I spent most of my time with either Fleur or Sofiel.
Hikari also showed up several times when she wanted to rest from training inside the Virtual Space. That girl was too fascinated at the various simulations she could go into. When I checked on her one time, she was trying the scenario of a Three-way War against both the Darkbugs piloting their Darkgens and the Anzeans piloting their Pentacoms. Piloting a Metagen and battling them was satisfying her thirst for her sci-fi fantasies.
Boris who was busy preparing for his Transcendent Trials was also bugged by her for a spar when she was in the mood for increasing the Proficiency of her Elemental Spells.
Right. Hikari spent the past two days waiting for her Transcendent Trials either inside the Virtual Space, sparring with Boris or visiting me. The only preparation she made was to copy more of my Buff Skills such as Bulwark of Invulnerability and the Bedevilled Outburst. Though she's not using them, she was using the Virtual Space to better manage those copied Skills
"I see. This means you'll finally be mine alone until tonight, darling."
With a charming smile on her lips, Sofiel sat herself on my lap with her arms circling around to the back of my neck.
"Well, you earned this. We've been so busy this entire time that there's no chance for us to be alone. I want to know more about you. Not just the you of our previous life, but also the you of today."
My arms naturally embraced her from her waist. During the past life, she's just a normal human but now, she has these wings attached on her hips. It's all fluffy and whenever my hand would brush on it, Sofiel would produce an unnatural reaction as if her wings were an erogenous zone.
I've been thinking of how I could thank her for what she prepared for me but the past two days have been really busy. The only rests we got were a few minutes of talking and the 10 minutes of Interdimensional Call with the girls.
"We've been busy and also because darling couldn't leave Fleur's side. If I don't know you better, I will likely get jealous from that. Either way, seeing Yuko, Zerina and Jayna appear the same as I remembered them, even without their memories, it brings us back to the question of how special of an existence you are. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember everything."
Sofiel recalled the past two calls to the three and upon seeing them, it almost confirmed that they're really who she remembered. According to her, apart from a few physical features, they're almost the same.
On the first day, we called Yuko and Zerina. Telling them about Sofiel and the previous life she remembered, the two were as expected, confused. However, Yuko's confusion was different from how Zerina couldn't work her head on the notion that we've already met during our previous life.
Yuko's memory was unlocked at a much earlier age but due to that incident years ago, the Principal altered her memory and sealed it. Her confusion this time could be coming from that seal. Once that breaks, she will be like Sofiel and her memories might be more complete than hers. The mystery about how my memories got ripped off will also shed some light even if it's just from her perspective.
During the second call, Jayna wasn't confused but she was curious at the idea of reincarnation. Yumiko that was there with her got infected by her curiosity as she also asked if there's a possibility that she's also one of them. Unfortunately, Sofiel had no recollection of Yumiko. It could be that Yumiko and Erin were like Fleur, someone I grew to like. That made them a little special.
"I wish I knew why. After failing to remember anything about why I am special, I'm only continuing with the thought of becoming stronger for all of you. If not tomorrow, the Portal will open the day after it. Stay close to me, alright?"
Before everything else, I will first make sure that Sofiel and Fleur will be safe during the first confrontation with them.
After I send my Support Incarnation later, if all goes well on our quest to close the Portal before the descent of the Dark World Transcendents in the World of Spirits, the Mortal Worlds' counterattack will start. I will have Yumiko and Jayna go here or help Raiden in his Otherworld.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺