'Wait.' Eve hears Pride's voice in her mind and quickly pulls the rein of her majestic unicorn, making the creature rearing.
"Hang on!" Luise speaks in a loud and authoritative tone, making the ten thousand troops that follow Eve stop behind them.
Before Eve questions Pride, she explains. 'Envy and L.u.s.t are here.'
'Lucien? My sisters?' Eve asks Pride.
'Humph. They couldn't be in a more immoral company. Envy and L.u.s.t are the worst.' Pride disdains her sisters.
Eve is not surprised by Pride's attitude towards her sisters. [She looks down on everyone…]
But Eve is very happy and excited to meet Lucien and another of their sisters. Also, she can't help but be proud of them. [So they are already working together… This is how a family should work.]
Pride notices Eve's excitement and speaks in her mind in a severe tone. 'This is not a family reunion, you fool girl. We made a deal, and you have to honor it, or… I will not give you the power to rescue her, avenge your mother, and punish your father.'
Eve maintains a serene expression while answering Pride. 'I know that. But I don't see how our cooperation can be detrimental.'
'I already explained that to you. Although we are sisters, we all seek power, and before our hosts reach the Immortal Realm, every important resource will generate conflict between us, mainly because of Envy, Greed, and Gluttony.' Pride explains.
Eve disagrees. 'I don't know who your previous hosts were, but my brother and sisters would not fight each other for resources. We are a family, and I know we can work together.'
Pride quickly responds. 'You think you know them, but things have changed. I agree that because you are a family, our cooperation will be better. However, my sisters remain the same. They will influence your siblings, whether they want to or not, and you will see your family destroying themselves from the inside out for power.'
'I would never allow that!' Eve exclaims.
'That is the intention. But for that, you will have to do like me… I have kept my sisters together for a long time, even with their peculiar personalities. For that, we must show them that we are the leaders. You cannot be soft with them.' Pride explains.
'I was never soft with them. On the contrary, I always prepared them for the worst situations.' Eve responds.
Pride laughs sarcastically in Eve's mind. 'You still have a lot to learn, foolish child. Just let me teach it to you, and don't speak until I allow it. L.u.s.t is insignificant, but Envy and her host will try to manipulate us. It would be best if you let me deal with them first and show that I'm still the only leader here.'
Eve is upset by the arrogant way Pride treats her sisters and her family, but she can't go against Pride now, at last not before she can do what her father can't do: ensure the safety of her entire family.
'You can deal with Envy and L.u.s.t any way you want, but think carefully before touching my family.' Eve speaks in a neutral tone.
'Is this a threat, child?' Pride asks in an arrogant tone.
'It's a request, Pride. Or do you not respect our partnership?'
Pride is more and more satisfied with Eve's attitude. Her host cannot be someone who lowers the head, but they cannot go against her either.
"My great queen." Luise bends in front of Eve's unicorn, clearly confused about the abrupt halt of them.
Eve looks around and sees only trees as they are in the middle of the forest. Then she orders Luise. "Clean up this area and prepare a table; we are waiting for important people."
———————————————
"Over there." Oya points to the south from their position while Lucien flies over the beach, holding her in his arms.
"Are it going to Portgreen?" Lucien can't help but think out loud.
The girls arrive at Lucien's position, and Cassidy makes a worried expression. "Is the aura moving south?"
They still don't know if the aura is really Pride or a mysterious powerful creature, and as this region is in the eastern part of the continent, it is on the north of Portgreen's territory.
"Let's go." Lucien flaps his wings and flies towards the south, also going a little to the west because Oya said that the aura comes from the forest and not from the beach.
Lucien can't control his eagerness to meet his big sis and uses all his speed to fly ahead with Oya and L.u.s.t while the other girls follow them.
After flying for a little over fifteen miles, L.u.s.t exclaims in Lucien's mind. 'It's her! Pride is here.'
Lucien warns his wives, who are reaching his position, mentally while flying in the direction that L.u.s.t points.
While Lucien can barely contain his desire to hug Eve, he hears L.u.s.t's voice in his mind. 'Lucien… you must calm down. Pride is not like Envy. She is our oldest sister. She is the strongest and most complicated of us.'
'I'll be careful.' Lucien replies.
But L.u.s.t still tries to advise him. 'I know you will. But I also know that you are angry with Pride.'
Lucien can't contain his anger in his upset tone. 'She orchestrated this whole plan to use Bloody Rose on my sisters… I know we need that power, but she and my father will have to pay for that.'
'I agree with you. I will always be by your side, my love. But you have to respect our limitations.' L.u.s.t explains.
So she continues. 'You know how strong Eve was. Now she must be even stronger, so even if she doesn't have a good demonic energy control like you, Pride will be at the worst case on the level of Earth Realm's fifth layer.'
'What are my chances of beating her in combat?' Lucien asks.
'Very low, even if you use all the demonic energy you have.' L.u.s.t responds in a neutral tone.
'I see.' Lucien responds and continues to fly towards Pride's location.
In less than a minute, Lucien flies three miles and sees a stir in the forest another three miles ahead. He can also hear several noises coming from that direction and concludes that there are hundreds of people with Pride and Eve.
'There is an army with them. Almost all of them are on the top of the Zero Realm, but some of them are on the early Mortal Realm. With the power of Pride's aura, everyone can fight on the Mortal Realm level.' L.u.s.t explains to Lucien.
Lucien smiles. 'Big sis has always known how to lead better than anyone. I bet they are totally loyal to her, not like the stupid people of the Light Empire, manipulated by Amelia and Envy.'
L.u.s.t can't help but be a little jealous of Eve as she hears the affectionate way Lucien talks about her. L.u.s.t only found the desire to rescue his mother in Lucien's mind when she met him, but now she fears she hasn't paid attention to the memories of his oldest sister.
He continues to fly towards Eve's group with Oya in his arms.
As he approaches that spot, Lucien notices the trees falling in a circular space as Eve's troops clear the area for them to meet.
As soon as a large tree falls, Lucien sees Eve's beautiful pink hair swaying in the wind as she sits at a table in the center of the circular area.
At first, Lucien loved Eve almost like his mother. They slept in the same bed when he was a child, and Eve was always at his side with Sophia.
But after suffering so much from the pain and anger consuming his heart and soul, Lucien forgot about that connection with Eve and his other sisters.
And now, even though very focused on rescuing his mother, Lucien also knows that his sisters are very important to him as well. He will give everything that Sophia, Amelia, and their other sisters need, be it protection, power, or affection.
And, of course, that's why he really wants to hug Eve and thank her for taking care of him most of his childhood.
As soon as Lucien sees Eve's beautiful face, he doesn't think twice before flying towards her with all his speed, creating powerful waves of wind with the strong flaps of his big wings.
*WHOOOOOSH*
The trees sway, and Its leaves fly everywhere while Lucien flies towards Eve.
Eve's troops get startled by the noise and look up at the sky, getting surprised by the sight of a red spot flying towards them at super speed.
"A bird?" Elsie, Luise's daughter, thinks out loud.
"A spell?" Luise asks.
'My little brother?' Eve can see Lucien even from a significant distance with her incredible physical capabilities, but she is confused by his body changes like horns, height, and others.
'L.u.s.t's host?' Pride is shocked as she notices the powerful aura of Lucien's demonic energy.
Eve can't control her happy smile as she sees Lucien approaching. Although he looks different, he still has that handsome face of her beloved cute little brother. She just wants to hug him after those months that they have passed apart.
However, Pride is not happy to see Lucien. [How does he have demonic horns and dragonic wings? Is that L.u.s.t's thing? Damn, a man as L.u.s.t's host is everything I didn't want to have to deal with now… And this powerful energy? He must be f.u.c.k.i.n.g hundreds of women. This will not be good for Eve. DAMN YOU L.U.S.T!!]
Pride is angry that L.u.s.t is getting in her way right now. She has been working hard to make Eve a Queen respected by everyone, creating a legend for her as they take over this world.
But now, a horny guy is running to Eve to ruin her act as a great woman who crushes all men.
Pride uses Eve's hatred for her father to make her despise men and make women respect her, but she knows that Eve will not mistreat her brother, so he can ruin all her plans.
And he is still L.u.s.t's host. Pride repudiates L.u.s.t for having to take pleasure in other people to become stronger. Pride, as an embodiment of self-respect, sees herself above everyone else and rejoices, using her aura to oppress her enemies and bless her followers with a little power.
And while her demonic energy helps her followers to become stronger faster, her focus is on giving power momentarily in exchange for absolute loyalty. So she is totally against L.u.s.t's methods of giving other people too much real power, making them equals.
Everything about L.u.s.t disgusts Pride, and she gets more and more upset as Lucien flies towards Eve.
Despite knowing that Eve will be upset, Pride knows that he has to do something to limit Lucien's impacts on her host. She has to act now before Eve loses all respect for her followers.
While flying at super-speed towards Eve, Lucien sees a slight smile on the face of his big sis.
He can see that she is trying to maintain a calm leader's stance, but he knows that she is happy to see him as he is to meet her.
As he descends from the sky like an arrow, Lucien's blue eyes line up with Eve's cyan eyes.
His heart starts to beat faster while he can't control his excitement. [Big si-]
But then an incredibly bright white light starts to come out of nowhere.
Using his senses to the maximum, Lucien sees the light emerging from the void in front of him.
Then he hears L.u.s.t's voice in his mind. 'Lucien!!'
Being in the air, Lucien can only rely on his wings to move, which greatly limits his agility.
As soon as he sees the light and hears L.u.s.t's warning, Lucien flaps his wings forward, trying to stop his fall and push himself back.
And although he tries to turn his face while using a hand to cover Oya's eyes, the bright light still blinds him.
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