(Lian Li POV)
"Six, three!!" I called out, prompting the rest of my sisters to break out into cheer as well.
Well, there's nothing much Brendan can do against Cain when he literally flooded his entire side of his net with copies of himself, blocking any chance of our alchemist's scoring.
At the rate this is going Cain is sure to win!
Cain snickered at him, "Were you counting on the fact that my inexperience with this game would somehow nab you a victory?"
Brendan smiled, "Well… I have to admit that I overestimated your self confidence since your solution to this was to outnumber me."
How rude, Brendan! Cain is obviously giving you face! How could you even think of something as ridiculous as that!
Cain chuckled at his accusation, "Hahaha! So you think the only reason I'm winning is because you're alone on your side of the net?"
Brendan shrugged, "This was meant to be a team game in the first place."
"Ha! Well don't say that I was unfair. I'll allow you to pick any of the girls to join you on your team against me! Heck, you can even pick all of them if you want to!"
Eh? Why would Cain ask us to play against him? This would be torture for anyone that Brendan picked since I'm sure all of us wanted Cain to win.
I'm also sure that Brendan knows none of us wants to be on Cain's opposing team either, so it would be in his best interest to not pick any of us.
Brendan turned towards where we were seated, "In that case, I just need senior sister Lian Li to join me."
All eyes turned to me.
Eh? He really picked me? Ugh… What is Brendan thinking?
I sighed and resigned myself to simply just play with the bare minimum of my ability and still help Cain get the win.
"Oh, you're free to reject his request if you want," Cain called out, giving me an unexpected lifeline.
My face brightened and I was just about to reject Brendan when he interjected, "Oh, wouldn't it be an impressive sight to showcase your abilities here? I'm unfortunately not the best player for this game and I must be making Cain here think this game is boring. Cain wouldn't want to play this again if he thought it was boring, right?"
I gasped, Brendan was right! Our initial plan was to play with Cain and it wouldn't do if he lost interest because of this!
"I'll do it!" I quickly volunteered, handing over the task of score keeping to Elaria to join Brendan's side in facing off Cain.
Hmm? It seems like Cain wasn't really happy with that decision for some reason… Should I have--
"Here, senior sister, the sun is quite hot today so put on some sunscreen," Brendan interrupted my thinking by handing me a vial of white liquid.
Ah, yes. This was the one Master created for us to use on our last trip here.
While I was busy smearing the cream over my exposed skin, Cain was looking at Brendan with an especially displeased look.
"Surely you don't think you can win me like this? Are you actually looking down on me?"
Brendan smirked, "I did say I overestimated you, didn't I? Master was right all along, like He always is. I should really just stop putting myself down. He'll, I even over prepared for this too, if you could believe that."
"What are you talking about?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, your ability to alter emotional attachments does not change your victim's memories, yes?"
"I do not see why this is relevant, but no?"
Brendan shifted his gaze towards me, "Do you even know how any of us became Master's disciples and what we have done in His name?"
Eh? Why is Brendan talking about that now? Why is… Eh?
The scenery around me suddenly changed and I was back in my younger days again, watching as I lived my life in the village that I remembered was destroyed.
I felt everything, even the despair and rage I had when that scum son tried to have his way with me and how I survived those painful years in the slums of the capital.
I remembered the first time I met Master in the courtyard of Heaven Sect, how he took me under his wing despite the wretched state I was in.
Master taught me everything I knew without asking for anything in return and I… I fell in love with Master?
Seeing that now… Why did I even love Master?
We even made love multiple times too and each of those times I was always enamoured with Master.
This doesn't make any sense, Cain makes my heart beat faster than Master ever… No, that's not true. Master was the one who made me who I was, gave me back my life, my purpose and everything I had.
Even before I knew Master's true identity, I had followed him. That very day where Master had pulled me out of the darkness, I had pledged my very existence to him.
Firm but also gentle; strong but also caring.
Then that night when Master first embraced me, how he swept away all the shadows in my heart and made me experience love and the pleasures of being his woman.
My days after that were filled with so much love and happiness I felt it was a crime for me to even be by Master's side.
My sisters and I recognised Master's divinity even before it was revealed to us and I had sworn myself to Him.
Master was my everything… The pieces of trash who dared hurt my Master who had given me everything I had were shown no mercy.
Master was my everything.
MASTER WAS MY EVERYTHING AND THIS PIECE OF SHIT DARED PLAY WITH MY FEELINGS FOR MASTER?!!!
HOW DARE HE?! HOW DARE HE?!!!
Am I that pathetic to be manipulated by a piece of trash like this?!!
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Then… Then I just need to make sure that you can't do it again!!!
I came back to my senses just as I heard him scoff, "Why should I care?"
Why should you care huh…
Master had given me the secrets of Cosmic Lightning Tribulations to ascend into Godhood… Something that I had been trying to comprehend all this while in order to ascend.
The books I've read in that tower had given me clues about it but I was still lacking in something to reach full potential
I reached deep within myself, searching through my consciousness until I found my way to my Cultivation Point.
Inside there, streaks of Divine Lightning sparked around the area, the one thing that no one but Master had seen in me.
I reached out my hands and commanded all the lightning to gather up into a single point, ignoring the pain that immediately assaulted me as I did so.
The physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional pain Master must be going through right now as He watches us fawn over this piece of trash.
With that in mind, I concentrated on combining every single Divine Lightning Quark I had into that one single point, right as it reaches critical mass.
Normally this would just explode and I would be knocked out for an hour or so without anything to show for it, something that I didn't understand why until this day.
I had been too focused on reaching Godhood without a clear aspect to personify myself as, something that I could very easily answer right now.
I will be Master's light to purify everything in His name.
Should all of existence turn against Master, I will still remain by Master's side. This new life was granted by Master and I will never forget that ever again.
The gold streaks of lightning turned silver before changing to electrum in colour and then bursting out in all directions.
Instead of staying inside my Cultivation Point, the new Cosmic Lightning Quarks infused my entire body with it, remaking my very essences and replacing them with divine essences.
It was by no means a painless process as every single part of my being was being remade.
Stars danced across my vision as I forced myself to endure the pain until all of a sudden, everything popped.
I opened my eyes again and now everyone had their eyes on me.
But for myself, the only person I was looking at was Master.
To see the pride Master had while smiling at me… That meant everything to me.
I am the Goddess of Conception, right hand of Origin.
I have ascended.
