Sonya remained depressed since her mother's death. If Isadora was with her, perhaps she would've been a little energetic, if only for the sake of appearance.
But with even her sister absent, the little princess couldn't hide the anguish in her heart.
After she learned everything that transpired, she couldn't spend an hour without her mother's final moments flashing in her mind.
Why?
Why did it have to be like this?
She blamed herself for hating her mother and believing her to be evil so easily. How could her mother really kill sister? Even until the end, her mother never blamed her.
There was a reason she strived so much to accomplish her dream. And when it all failed, the woman who bore it all alone sacrificed herself so that others could live to fulfill their own dreams.
"If only I didn't come here…maybe…" Sonya leaned against a tree in one of the many gardens, her lifeless face under the warm shade showing no more expression than a dead corpse. "Mother…mother…mama."
It was six months. She was supposed to move on already. But forget going that far, she wasn't even able to forget the way she was surrounded and killed.
"Seraphina, Micheal, Kriad, Corinthian…" Sonya exhaled and clenched her fist, not caring that her nails had dug into her palm, pouring out so much blood that it dyed the grass.
"Two left."
With a thud, a limbless body rolled in front of her, frothing at the corner of its mouth and then twitching violently, as if it was electrocuted.
Sonya barely stopped herself from exclaiming and carefully examined the man's identity.
"Ah," A sigh escaped her lips. "Really, that old sinner. Micheal. Micheal…Micheal!"
A hammer appeared in her hand and without looking anywhere else, she slammed it down.
Fresh blood splashed on the little princess' face and she smelled the raw scent in the air.
A gentle smile appeared on her face before it distorted into a raging expression.
"Give me back my mother!"
Boom!
"Return her!"
Boom!
"I'll spare you if you do!"
Boom!
"Give her back!"
Boom!
Varian sighed and left the little princess on her own.
He sealed up Micheal anyway and asked Oob to look after him. So, there would be no security risks.
"A few hours of torture wouldn't have hurt."
Isadora greeted him outside Sonya's residence. There were dried tearmarks on her cheeks and blood on her clothes.
Varian shrugged. "If he broke, then Sonya wouldn't get any satisfaction."
Isadora tilted her head and looked through the large building, directly at Sonya in the back garden. She sighed. "Sonya will get better. She's a strong girl."
"I hope so."
He stepped into the air and the world shifted.
Three pure white beings were restrained by a divine chain, looking around with a horrified expression.
"Now, now, don't worry." Varian gave them a cheeky grin.
"W-What are you going to do?"
"Why are there divine rankers with you?"
"Who the hell are you?"
As always, all of them talked. Perhaps it was fun for them, but it was hella annoying for Varian.
So, he swung his sword and their bodies split into two vertically. But somehow, they still remained alive.
"Thank you guys for sacrificing to a greater cause."
He raised his hand to the sky and then pointed it down. A beam of light fell from the sky and swallowed the three high rank 9s.
A few minutes later, a hundred powerhouses of Human Empire reached the location in an unstable flight.
Ninety of them were humans, ten belonged to the races of ruins.
Now, all of them reached low rank 9.
"…"
"…"
"…"
Varian didn't say a word and looked at them with a calm gaze.
And everyone in the crowd, standing in a perfect military formation and posture, looked back with a gaze filled with fear, respect and more than everything, awe.
"Familiarize yourself with the powers. Might come handy. Might not." Varian said casually and waved his hand.
The power of 'Lordship' applied onto the power of space and sent them all back to their locations.
A minute later, he appeared in a luxurious villa in the suburbs of a top city.
"Give my accelo-temporo-meter!"
"I modified it! It's a regressor meter, ohohoho!"
A 6-year old boy laughed as he ran from a 8-year girl. It didn't take long for him to stumble and fall.
When the little girl caught up and began beating him up, he grabbed her leg with a fierce expression.
And then he started massaging her feet.
"Sister, my dear sister, please don't hurt your feet by kicking me. I'm just a weak boy. Please, sister~"
With his shameless cajoling, he did manage to cool her off.
"…Your son is as shameless as you." Varian remarked as he sipped the premium coffee. "I feel sad for Maya."
"Oh please." Kyle crossed his arms and gave him a disdainful glare. "My children got the best genes they could ask for. Both of them will graduate from university by the time they turn ten. All thanks to me."
Compared to before, he looked more mature. Even though he didn't age as much, he's still a 33 year adult. His face was that of a 25 year old but his demeanor was that of an 'Uncle'.
"Old bastard, stop bragging about your genes." Varian chuckled. "It's not your genes. It's your mother's. She's the real hardworker."
Kyle rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you aren't a business owner. You'd have told your employees to sleep in the office to save time."
"Seriously, I'm a good guy." Varian defended himself. "I told her to delegate the work many times. She just can't stop taking it up since she wants it to be perfect. Her spy career made her a bit too much of a perfectionist."
"You don't understand, it runs in our blood!" Kyle slapped his chest and declared. "If you ask us for 99.9% good products, we'll produce the 0.1% defective pieces separately."
