(Lian Li POV)
Without thinking, I immediately turned and let loose a streak of lightning towards Iris, aiming to blast her head off.
Of course, there was no way that attack would have hit considering who she was and my lightning fizzled out of existence before it could even touch her.
Same goes for the fire and ice that Manami and Kiyomi had thrown at her as well.
"You bitch!" I screamed at her, unable to hold back my rage. "What have you done?!!"
She didn't even look at me.
I was ready to leap at her when Master suddenly sucked in a breath and blinked a few times as though just waking up.
"Oh? Hello Iris. I was just wondering where you've been-- What the heck? Why are there so many Erises here?"
Eh? What's going on?
Master then turned to us, "Umm… Why is everyone looking at me weirdly?"
I approached Master carefully, "Master… Do you remember anything that happened just now?"
Master frowned, "Just now? Just now weren't we planning on testing out our new cruiser by hunting some pirates? Eh? Wait a minute… What's going on?"
One of the Eris from another world came forward, "Master… I think you most likely shifted your main consciousness to a different Universe just now… Do you remember what happened?"
Master narrowed His eyes, "A different univ-- Wait… Are all of you from another universe?"
The group of parallel Universe Eris nodded.
Master then turned to us, "Ok… What did I miss? How did this even happen?"
I poked my fingers together, "Umm… Could I ask what was the last thing Master remembered?"
"Hmm? Like I said, we were planning on testing out the new cruiser we bought from the Quad-Tachyon Corporation… Wait… Where are we right now?"
Oh no, nonononono…
I ran up to Master and grasped His hands, "Master! Please remember! We are your disciples! You are Master Lin, Master of Heaven Sect!"
Master blinked at me a few times, "Ah… Yeah, yeah… That's right. I… I got lost in thought there for a moment. Oh right, now I remember. I got Eris to tell you girls about her adventure there and then I… Ah…"
Manami scowled at the stalker bitch, "What have you done to Master?"
This time she did not ignore us but showed us a self satisfied smile, "Ara? I did not do anything to Master at all, why do you ask?"
Manami got closer to Iris until their chest was pushing against each other, "Ara? You must really take us for idiots then… Why is Master like this?"
"Fufu… That has nothing to do with me~"
Master looked up at the bitch, "Iris… Did you plan all this again?"
I thought that the bitch would lie but to our surprise she simply nodded at Master, "Of course, Master."
"Why? Didn't I tell you to stop?"
"Ara, ara? But I did stop Master. You told me to cease all plans I had to return you back to your old self and I did."
"So what is this now?"
"Ufufufu~ My plans to make you better than before, of course~ Isn't that what Master wanted?"
Master's brows furrowed, "That is definitely not what I wanted, Iris. Do I really have to spell it out here?"
The bitch looked up into the air, as though spotting something up in the sky. A few of us even looked up with her to see nothing there. She then shifted her gaze back towards Master with a wider smile.
"Ara, ara? Master, I think you caught something on your fishing line~"
Master gave her an incredulous look before suddenly gasping out in surprise, His hands grabbing the air as though reaching for something before slumping back down into His seat.
Cai Hong looked up at Master before jumping off His lap, a disappointed look on her face.
"Mama… Meanie…"
"Master? Master?! Master!!" I cried out, grabbing Master's hands again.
The stalker bitch nodded to herself and turned to us with that damnable smile of hers.
"I will say this clearly here," She told us with that damned smile. "Master does not belong to you… Master is mine and mine alone. As thanks for taking care of Master while I was away, I shall not End all of you~"
"Listen here you bitch!" Tsuki stormed up to her but before she could say anything else, the stalker bitch disappeared from right in front of us.
I continued to call out to Master but this time He was completely unresponsive.
"What did she do to Master, Cai Hong?" I asked, realising she must know something for her to say what she said.
Cai Hong's body shifted and she transformed into her older self before letting out a sigh, "Mother directed Father's attention to another Universe and she is keeping Father there…"
Brendan glanced at Master's unresponsive form, "But why? Isn't Master's real self here?"
"All of them could be considered Father's 'true selves', so there's not really any difference…"
Before we could ask more, we heard a scream and we turned to see one of the parallel Universe Eris suddenly dropping to the floor.
We quickly noticed that her feet were slowly turning transparent and it continued up towards her torso.
"What… What is happening to me?!" She screamed.
Cai Hong shook her head sadly, "Mother is trying to create a new Father… She's now Ending the Universes that aren't needed anymore… And because your existence is tied to those Universes… I'm sorry."
That was the cue for several other Erises to topple over onto the ground as well, their bodies also starting to disappear right in front of our very eyes.
One of them looked right at me with a fearful expression even as her hands started to fade away, "Hel… Help us… Please… I... I don't wanna go…"
I turned to my other sisters, "What can we do?"
Everyone was at a loss as well. How do we stop someone who is on par with Master's capabilities from doing something?
Actually… Do we even want to?
Their Universe was already gone, so that means they have nowhere to return to right? If we were to save them… Doesn't that also mean they will need to stay in our Universe?
And since they also have feelings for Master… That just equates to more competition for us…
But then again…
I turned to Brendan and he nodded, pulling out a vial of Origin liquid that Master had left for him.
He immediately poured the contents of it on the ground and we watched as droplets of it flew towards each of the alternate versions of Eris to seep into their skin.
Soon enough, those that were on the verge of disappearing had their bodies reverted back to normal again, none of them in danger of disappearing again.
At least, for now…
Of course, we're not doing this out of the kindness of our hearts, but we do still have those giant tentacle monsters that are heading towards us to worry about and we need all the help we can get…
So for now… I suppose we can let them hang around.
Make no mistake though… They aren't getting a piece of Master at all. The moment their usefulness runs out, we're getting rid of them.
