"Are you sure you want to go alone?"
"I must. This is a matter that began with me, so it must end with me as well."
"... I understand, however, I'm going to come with you. There's still a possibility you will–"
"No, you have something better to do, don't you? There should be roughly 500 Lords remaining."
"That doesn't matter. You know they won't have any impact on my power."
"Maybe not, but you are in need of experience more than power. Now that you have awakened your true self, you must become equipped with using your strengths to their full potential."
"I don't like how right you are."
"Yet, right I am regardless."
"Haa, I get it. But when I finish, I'm coming. Don't think you can stop me."
"Mm, it is nice to have a friend like you."
"Friend, I'm honored."
"You should be."
The last conversation between Tiamat and Iris went something along those lines.
It took a bit longer for them to part, since Iris was adamant on hearing Tiamat say those last few words one more time, but it couldn't be helped.
They eventually separated.
As Iris went to take care of the rest of the rodents hiding in various parts of the battlefield, Tiamat finally approached that place.
A man sat there on his own.
He wasn't maintaining a stance of nonintervention like the Saint Emperor, but his visage was just as calm.
He had no plans to interfere with the Ancient Battlefield. Doing so would go against the mission he was fulfilling.
Nox Emperors were privy to the Nox's hive mind network, but their memories would not be transmitted like the lower-level beings.
Because the Saint Emperor made sure to cut the connections of those who accompanied him on that day, the Soul Emperor wasn't aware of the destruction of the Demon Abyss, as he was away from Al'Katra when it happened.
He didn't care if the Nox died out here, because he still thought he could return to the lower universe and wait for the race to return on its own.
Unfortunately for him, his plans had been ruined before they even had a chance to begin. Damien really had a habit of slapping him in the face like that.
But that was beside the point.
Whether he intervened or not, this day would have eventually come.
Tiamat approached without hiding her presence. She wanted him to know who had come.
His eyelids calmly separated, those soulless orbs staring into her eyes.
"You…welcome back," he said indifferently.
"Yes, I have returned, and…"
Tiamat's eyes were ablaze with fury.
The Soul Emperor was the second oldest after the Saint Emperor. He had been alive for at least 100,000 years already, interfering with the universe to deliver World and Universal Cores to his creators.
He was present from the beginning of Tiamat's existence to the moment she was betrayed, and of the Emperors who were responsible, he was one of the main causes.
Tiamat was a hindrance. She never had a connection to the creators in the first place, nor was she born from the Demon Abyss. She was a Nox in name, but she wasn't truly a Nox at all.
She had plans to overturn the race that ruined her and rebuild it in her image, however, what image was that?
It was certain it wouldn't be the image the creators envisioned.
Therefore, no matter how valuable of an asset she would have been, he sacrificed her.
Unlike those who envied her strength or feared her authority, who had long died out, he who opposed her because their interests were misaligned remained alive.
As did the Saint Emperor, a man who only had one reason to support the coup.
He was bored.
If she had to choose between them, she'd rather go after that man, but he was already being confronted by someone who was a much better match,
Therefore, she came here.
"You are still acting like a dog after all these millennia. I should have never expected anything else from you," she spat condescendingly.
The Soul Emperor didn't react.
"I am a vessel for my master's will. We are vessels for the master's will. You, however…"
"...are a mistake."
He stood up calmly. He was like an old man who'd lost all purpose in life.
Yet, there was purpose behind those soulless eyes. A single-minded purpose that didn't require the existence of a soul uniquely his own at all.
"Did you come here to vent your emotions, or do you plan to once again impede my path?" The Soul Emperor asked.
Tiamat scowled in disgust.
"Your path is nonexistent, and my reason doesn't matter. Know that you will not die by my hands. There is a much worse fate in store for you."
"I see…"
The Soul Emperor nodded.
"Then, let us fight."
Tiamat attacked first, or at least, she thought she did.
She stepped forward and summoned the mana of death in her soul, the flames of vengeance empowering them greatly.
However, before she could release any attacks, a strange formless impact struck her, pushing her mind out of her body.
Like she was astral projecting, she watched her body from the air above. It was in a stunned state, and the Soul Emperor paid it no mind, instead looking at her soul form floating in the sky.
"This is enough."
He raised his frail arm and shakily pointed at her.
There was nothing, but she felt it. If she didn't dodge, she'd die instantly.
Tiamat gritted her teeth.
She had nothing else to do in the First Dungeon where she was imprisoned but think.
She understood her power to its greatest depths, and as someone who specialized in the art of death, she paid close attention to her soul.
After tens of thousands of years of waiting, she trained to a point where her soul control could rival even the best of masters.
She wasn't going to lose so easily!
She infused her will into the incorporeal vessel she currently inhabited, and as if she were the wind itself, she drifted through the air and became one with it.
The formless impact didn't hit her, but she understood its horror clearly.
'I will not be able to return to my body easily.'
The Soul Emperor had moved for that purpose. With him so close to her body, even trying to approach it would spell death.
Therefore, Tiamat had no choice but to fight in her soul state.
'All pain will be multiplied, and death will follow my every move. If I make even a single wrong move…'
It didn't need to be explained further.
'Still, I have not been put at a major disadvantage.'
She was closer than ever to death when she acted as a soul. Therefore, her power of death would be multiplied just as much as the risk of falling into its embrace.
Losing wasn't an option.
Neither was falling here.
To fight against a man who controlled souls in a soul state was likely the stupidest decision one could make, but it lit Tiamat's heart aflame with tongues of excitement.
She was here for revenge.
What better way was there to exact it than destroying the enemy in the aspect he was most confident in?
Her soul was dyed black, a different blackness than Damien's, and power surged forth.
The battle had only just begun.
She was the Empress of Death, and one day, she would become the Goddess who ruled over it in totality.
A mere dog of some unnamed pests from the Heavenly World wouldn't be the one to end her reign!
