(MC POV)
I double checked on the current state of the Universe.
I was a little curious why Tsuki was in such a rush to ascend to godhood but I thought she might have wanted to make use of her divinity to speed things up.
That thought was overturned when she said she had to rush off somewhere right after ascending and then disappeared.
I didn't think too much about it since I was busy integrating all my other selves at that point of time but a short while later she had returned with several of my disciples in tow.
I assumed they might have wanted to take a break after having gone through the stress of jumping to so many different universes, so they went somewhere to take a walk or something.
The moment they got back, they immediately dived straight into jumping to other universes again with much more fervour than before.
I'm guessing that was to make up for the time they lost from their break?
I would argue what the point of the break was if they overwork themselves like that anyway.
In the end, I chose not to say anything since the speed of them clearing through those universes sped up considerably.
Partly thanks to Iris's influence, the number of universes has dropped considerably to the point that it was now countable.
With my disciples now basically brute forcing their way through each one, they've managed to catch up and even surpass Iris's control of me.
While Iris has control at a little over thirty percent of me, my disciples managed to take forty percent back.
One of the reasons that they were able to surpass her was mainly due to the fact that I have been actively hindering her at every opportunity I got. I even went as far as to appear in the universe she went to to distract her by giving her head pats.
Hey, it works, so why stop?
Like seriously, it works really, really well.
Once I start head patting her, she would be content to just stay there for several hours and do nothing.
And because it felt so perfect for her, she did not even try to avoid it and let herself be immersed in it, even if such an action would cause her to lose several universes to my disciples.
On the other hand… When I said my disciples were brute forcing their way through these universes, I really meant they were brute forcing it.
Like in one particular universe where that version of me had not taken in any disciples, Lian Li basically stormed her way into the Sect and showed me those memories by freezing everyone in place and going straight inside to find me.
Then there was that one universe where Manami basically burned an entire continent just to get to me.
And that particular Universe where Kiyomi froze an entire continent to do the same as well.
Even Tsuki spent no time trying to understand the universe she jumped into and simply went straight to find me the moment she found herself in there.
Efficient, yes, but it seems like their previous desire of experiencing those alternate universes was gone. I wonder what caused their sudden change in priority?
Well, I can't argue with results so here I am in this universe where this version of me chose to become a farmer instead.
The reason I'm here is, of course, to prevent Iris from taking this version of me.
It looked like she was starting to speed up her process now and sometimes she would be able to capture that universe before I could even get to her.
Not this time though, as I managed to intercept her just as she reached the farm where this version of me lives.
"Ara? Hello again, Master~ Are you here to give me head pats again?"
I nodded, "That's right, so do you want to rest on my lap for me to pat you?"
"Fufufu~ I can never reject you, Master~"
I sat on my knees and she came to lay down on my lap, heedless of the dirt on the ground.
I was just about to start patting her when I felt the universe start to collapse into itself.
Surprised, I extended my senses to inspect the universe only to find that this place had already been taken by her just a second ago.
Extending my senses further, I realised that a huge number of universes were also experiencing the exact same phenomenon, all of them being taken by Iris at a frighteningly rapid pace.
I looked down at Iris who was showing me a look of pure bliss.
"What did you do?"
"Ufufu~ What are you talking about, Master?"
"How are you doing this? I know you're not Ending them, so what are you doing?"
Her smile widened, "Ara? I just felt that I needed to get a little bit more serious, that's all~"
"What do you mean by that?"
She reached up and cupped me on the cheeks, shuddering slightly as she did so, "Ufufufu~ I could, of course, go to every single Universe out there and convert those versions of Master one by one. But at the end of the day, those are still not you, Master. To make me even interact with someone who isn't you, that is truly an abhorrent thought, wouldn't Master agree?"
"Errr… Not sure I agree since all of them are technically me?"
She giggled at my answer but continued, "Because of that, there's no need for me to be gentle~ A simple offshoot of myself to deal with those other variations would be enough~"
Oh… Considering who she is, she could make a lot of clones of herself for sure, way more than I could at the moment… She really wasn't kidding when she said she was holding back…
"That's why~ If I were to just let those little sacks of flesh think they stood a chance to go against me, they would help me deal with the other Universes so that I wouldn't need to~ And once that number has gone down enough, then I'll clean up the rest~"
I don't even know what to say to that… Except that doesn't really answer the question of what she has done.
Reading my mind, her smile widened, "Ufufufu~ Whatever those sacks of flesh can do, so can I, Master. There is no need for me to do anything special to those variations of you after all~ I can just use those offshoots of myself to direct the needed influence to change you~"
Damn… That means that all this while I've been played?"
"Ara? I wouldn't say that~ This is something that is simply inevitable, Master~ You could think that this is just fate~"
Did my disciples know about this? Is this why they were in such a rush? Because she appeared in front of them and told them this as well?
If Iris heard my thoughts, she did not answer them aside from bringing my hand to her head.
"Ufufufu~ Did Master not promise me headpats? I am ready to receive it~"
I suppose I did say that… Oh well… I'll just pat her for now and go back later…
Yeah… Just for a little bit…
