[Nent's Palace]
"How was it?"
Walking out of her large bath, her body still wet, Nent just stood still and let her servant wipe the water covering her body.
Her perfect and alluring body was only hidden from sight after one of her servants covered it with a short bathrobe that barely covered her butt.
Walking forward in the bathroom, she sat on a comfy reclining chair in front of a large mirror and let her servant pamper her as they combed her hair, did her nails, and massaged her feet.
This was one of the few guilty pleasures of Nent, getting pampered to no end. It always brought her joy to feel herself being cared for. A sentiment she rarely managed to feel from her mother. After all, only Nephthys was her favorite.
"Ah. Yes, there, there."
Letting a hot sigh that was closer to a moan, Nent closed her eyes in comfort as her scalp was being massaged.
Near the door of the bathroom, Nefertiti was kneeling on one knee in silence and organizing her ideas.
"Even though I think he was quite bewitched by my appearance, I don’t believe he fell under my charm. At most he appreciates my beauty."
Even as she said it, she couldn't help but feel weird. At first, when Sol had been distracted by her appearance, she had been smug.
After all, since she was told that Sol was a perfect hybrid and a Blessed to boot, she had felt incredibly inferior to him. This was why she had felt a certain satisfaction at being able to enthrall him.
But her happiness was short-lived. It was the first time someone from her generation had managed and controlled themselves so fast while in her presence.
"Oh? It seems like I have to re-evaluate Sol."
Nent dismissed the servant with a wave of her hand and began to ponder.
It was truly a surprising turn of events. After all, Nefertiti was one of Nent's greatest masterpieces.
A woman so beautiful that even people of the same sex could easily become enamored with her.
Nefertiti wasn't just beautiful, she had managed to make her charms reach the level of a pseudo domain. Something she emanated passively and had great effect against males in a certain radius.
Against lesser males, her charm could even be compared to mind control. This was how powerful it was.
Of course, it would have been impossible for such a passive effect to affect powerful individuals with a steadfast will.
But Dragons were not particularly known for their self-restraint.
This was even more so for younger dragons who did not go through the initiation, a period during which the young dragon would be subject to numerous beat downs to grind down their arrogance.
It was a brutal yet effective way of doing things. Over the years, it has even changed into an art form. After all, just destroying their pride might bring negative consequences. It had to be polished in a strict but careful way.
As a hybrid, Sol shouldn't have been shielded from the effect, but in fact, be even more affected. After all, the imbalance between his human self and his dragon self should have made him far more impulsive and prone to emotional swings — even more so after his recent power-up.
'Blaze, your son was raised well.'
Thinking about the unruly dragon brat that was the nightmare of so many divine beasts, Nent lips unconsciously curled up in a gentle smile.
Even though Blaze had only been a Duke rank back then, because she was a chaos dragon and thus immune to all forms of magic, coupled with her powerful body, she had been a true nightmare to fight against, even for a King ranked.
She had been one of the rare divine beast's descendants that had managed to perfectly inherit all the talent of their creator and thus had a chance to reach the level of demigod — at least that would have been the case if not for her premature death.
Something that truly saddened Nent. After all, in her perspective, any individual with such a talent should have never been allowed to leave her territory.
'Talented individuals needed to be protected so that they can produce even more talented individuals.'
This was another reason Nent wanted Sol so much. From the fight she had observed, the boy, like his mother, was clearly a chaos dragon.
He may not have reached the level of complete immunity but just the resistance to all magic made him a terrifying foe to face. Furthermore, he was a human gifted with an incredibly large capacity and a Blessed.
'So many talents concentrated in one body.'
Just thinking about it made her feel hot. It seemed that she had finally found the one who would mate with her for the first time.
She began to twist around her chair as she felt her nether region begin to heat up. But, just as she was about to relieve herself.
"Hum… Matriarch."
She was quite startled at the voice behind her.
“…You were still there?"
Nent neither hid the displeasure in her voice and nor Nefertiti did miss it, but she couldn't keep it to herself.
"I…"
"Please speak."
"I managed to hear the name of my true self."
The irritated expression on Nent's face completely vanished.
Moving so fast she left an afterimage of her still on the chair, she appeared a few steps away from Nefertiti and asked.
"Do you understand what you are saying?"
Nefertiti gulped but her voice did not waver as she raised her head and continued.
"I swear in the name of the goddess that my words hold no lie."
The breath of Nent became hurried, but for different reasons than that of a few moments ago.
Carnal pleasure was ephemeral. But this… This was what she had waited to hear for seven hundred years.
The true self, also known as the Avatar.
The zone and the avatar were the results of the recognition of the world.
When the truth in your heart was recognized by the world, it became a zone.
When your true self was recognized by the world, it became an avatar.
This was why the names of those two were bestowed by the world itself.
Even though hearing the name was nothing but the first step.
Even though hearing the name did not necessarily mean she would reach the next level.
"Hahaha!"
Nent covered her face as tears formed on the corner of her eyes and began to laugh loudly without a care about how unbecoming it looked.
No one could understand just how she had felt during all those centuries.
But now, she knew that it had been worth it.
It did not matter if Nefertiti failed to transition into the next level in the end.
Just this one step was enough to show that she had been on the right path.
'Mother, sisters, I wasn't wrong.'
Taking a hold of her emotions, she crouched down and held Nefertiti’s slender shoulders with a grip of steel.
"Tell me, what is the name?"
Nefertiti winced a little at the tight grip but did not complain. She knew very well that Nent wasn't in the right state of mind currently and did not wish to trigger her negatively.
This was why, dragging the whisper from her heart, she muttered the name that had filled her soul.
"The name of my avatar, it is...Ishtar."
(AN: Dum Dum. The plot thickens. Why do all the avatars shown until now have names related to gods? What is the will of the world? Why was a sexy scene of masturbation stopped? So many important questions. So little answers. Anyway, the will be an important discussion between Sol and Isis. Stay tuned. The Phoenix volume is rapidly coming close to an end. Man, the next volume will be very hard to write because of what I have in mind. I can already feel my stress level shooting through the roof. XD)
Trivia: Ishtar or Inanna is basically the base on which Aphrodite then Venus were created. She is an ancient Mesopotamian/Babylonian goddess with authority over love, beauty, sex, war, justice, and political power. Basically a super badass goddess. Though she is also a spoiled princess and was known as the Queen of heaven. By the way, she fought against her older sister, Ereshkigal, the Queen of the underworld ...What an interesting coincidence. It’s almost like we have another girl in my story related to Nefertiti and that has power linked to the underworld.
