Fairy Road, Jupiter. One of the many partially explored regions of the Ruins. It's here that Evander got the technique where he could burn his vitality to temporarily gain strength.
Sentient species in the ruins had always been a hot topic. But since they're reachable through only partially explored regions, the progress on that front was limited.
Moreover, humans couldn't make any interactions freely with these beings. They acted like workers fulfilling their missions and refused any unnecessary talk.
Varian passed through a portal and appeared on a white crystalline road. The exit portal was right behind. On either of the road in front was a dense forest filled with trees that had glassy leaves that glittered and shone under the sunlight.
Ten miles down the road, a violet gate appeared on the road. Without any delay, it started shooting aura bullets at him.
Varian ignored the attacks bouncing off his body and narrowed his eyes. His acute senses shot past the violet gate and recognized the hidden indigo, blue, green, and all the way to the red gates.
With the restrictions imposed on the participants' senses here, it should be impossible even for a normal rank 1 celestial to pull off that feat. But Varian did it with absolute ease.
"7 fairies, 7 gates, following the colors of the rainbow. The strongest is red and the weakest is violet."
A powerful aura spread from him and enveloped the entire forest, including the seven gates. The dormant fairies woke up with a jolt and appeared on the road, staring at him with vigilance.
There were restrictions on them preventing them from interacting with one another. They could only speak to participants when they clear the gates.
But now…
"Let's have a chat." Varian clenched his fists and something invisible in the sky cracked apart.
The fairies found themselves free and instantly grouped together, staring at each other with teary eyes. They're finally free.
The cries, chatters, and laughter from the little creatures filled the forest. They had a lot to share, ask, and vent.
Varian waited for a while but when it seemed like they could go on for a day, he teleported into the middle of their grouping and the fairies pulled back instinctively.
"Your aura…" The Orange fairy flew around him vigilantly and muttered.
"Shouldn't appear. It reminds me of the Emperor or maybe the Crown Prince or someone else of the distant past." The Red fairy's wings shone like rubies as she glared at him. "Who the hell are you?"
Varian smiled. "We have the same question."
"No, we don't." Red Fairy's eyes glowed with a dangerous glint. Since she's the holder of the strongest gate, few people ever reached her, causing her to be lonely for many years. So, her deepest wish was to talk to others.
But when faced with this man, she put aside her own wishes. This calm, smiling man was setting her instincts on fire. He's too dangerous!
"Recently, a man reached my gate and failed. I helped him out because he had the scent of an important person from the Deva Empire. Perhaps a crown prince or perhaps the Emperor himself." The Red Fairy pulled other fairies behind her.
"Then that should make this talk easier."
"No. Devas are long extinct. But from that man's scent, I thought maybe someone is continuing their bloodline. You don't have a drop of their blood yet you…feel like them. Who are you, imposter?" The Red fairy's voice was sweet but her words were sharp.
"Successor to devas, their Scion. Technically, my wife is also their scion. And maybe I can become the Deva Emperor, once I pass some technicalities." Varian replied calmly.
His words set off a commotion. If he's really some political successor of devas, then they'd need to obey him. The fairies were just celebrating their freedom and now comes their new master.
"W-What do you want to ask?" The Orange fairy came forward and looked at him with teary eyes.
Varian felt a little bad. Was he like that elementary school brat bullying little girls?
"Why are you here? How did you survive? What's your race? How many more are there?"
The seven fairies looked at each other and tried to come up with answers. But they had none.
"…We were already here since we could even think. We survived because of the authority that looks over us…the authority you just broke. We only have basic knowledge of our race. We aren't supposed to look like this, we should be bigger, just like you and we obey the Devas. We don't know how many others are there, provided they do exist."
The answers only raised more questions.
Varian pondered for a moment and expanded his senses. Being the scion allowed him to bypass all the restrictions and with the little wings help, he had an easier time navigating this place.
Jupiter Ruins was famous for its forests, greenery, and gardens. He ignored the explored areas and went for the unexplored and partially explored regions.
The partially explored regions all had rank 1 celestial beasts. These beasts were confined to their regions by barriers and seals. Even if Varian was actually the Deva Emperor, they wouldn't obey him.
There were gorgeous gardens, dreamy forests, and dreamy flower beds. All of them had rank 1 celestial beasts.
Then he dug deeper, inside the regions that were totally unexplored.
"Huh?"
Varian felt an extremely dangerous aura. He'd win but not so easily.
It's a large purple-furred six-legged beast, no smaller than a plane, crouched in front of a protective barrier. The purple beast wasn't alone. There were other beasts, some as strong, some slightly weaker, but more or less in the same range, in different shapes and sizes, attacking the barrier.
Every single one was devastating by itself, enough to permanently damage a planet. But when dozens of such attacks were combined together, it created a scene akin to an apocalypse. If Earth were to face these attacks, it'd break into pieces.
'Fuck!' Varian's head tingled with fear.
Thankfully, these beasts seemed to be locked up inside the ruins and couldn't come out.
'What are they attacking?'
Varian wasn't so sure.
The barrier deflected all their attacks and even attacked them back occasionally. The beasts quickly accumulated injuries. After not so long, they dropped their offense and retreated.
As the beasts vanished from sight, Varian saw a few silhouettes appear behind the barrier before disappearing.
"Haa," Varian released a breath he didn't even know he was holding so far and turned his focus back to the fairies. "I think I found your home and your race."
"What?!"
"There are others?"
"B-But is it okay for us to leave our duties?"
The little fairies voiced their concerns but couldn't hide their excitement.
"I erased that authority shackling you here. You're relieved. Just follow me and I'll take you home." Varian said. "If you still want to do some work, we can think later."
The fairies were still suspicious of him. But the scent he gave off pushed them to agree.
A blink later, Varian teleported everyone in front of an opaque white barrier.
The fairies passed through the barrier without any resistance. Varian wondered if he'd be blocked but he too easily entered.
What appeared in front of him was a breathtaking view of a stunning forest. There were silhouettes visible in the distance, on houses built on trees.
In the center of everything was a huge tree that seemed to pierce through the clouds.
Then a sweet but sharp voice suddenly sounded, speaking in a language he was imparted thanks to the devas.
"Who are you? How were you able to pass through the Great Barrier?" A few humans, no, human-like beings with pointed ears, extremely beautiful faces, and perfect bodies, pointed their spears at him and demanded.
Varian looked at the elves and clicked his tongue. If Kyle was here, he'd be shouting with joy.
The little fairies looked at the elves with wide eyes. Then their gaze was attracted to the huge tree in the center of the forest.
"I..."
"I am…"
A ray of light shot from the huge tree and enveloped the fairies. Their bodies wriggled and they started shining like fireflies.
This dumbfounded the group of six elves. As an elite squad, they had just overseen the defense from the beasts and were returning when these intruders appeared inside without warning.
Despite being the strongest squad, they couldn't even detect these intruders. It's already a big shame for them. And now, they just messed with the World Tree!
"Stop whatever you are doing!" The leader of the elf squad stepped forward and channeled his aura into the tip of the spear.
The little fairies started growing in size, doubling every few seconds. They didn't hear his words or couldn't, either way, they ignored his words.
"I said stop!"
A powerful aura rose from the elf captain and the strength of a peak sovereign was poured into the spear, blazing it with red flames.
The same happened with the rest of the team. Spears of fire, ice, earth, lightning, and even light and darkness lit up in the hands of the six elves.
Then they pierced through the air and reached the fairies in a blink, leaving trails of colorful light. But before they could strike the fairies, space suddenly tore apart and devoured the spears. Then it closed up cleanly.
The strength of the six sovereigns was neutralized without the slightest struggle.
The elves' angry expressions froze and they stiffly turned to the man staring at them with a calm smile.
"Gulp."
