Chapter 283: All in the Past.
"I believe welcomes are in order for Cecelia." Ikaris drew everyone's attention back to the woman as soon as Keele finished explaining Umbra's existence.
"Your Highness..." Cecelia abruptly stood from the seat Alpha had left her in and gracefully fell to the floor before Ikaris lowering her head and pressing her forehead against the cool ground. "I am honoured to once again be in your presence, it is a blessing to see you alive and in good health."
"Hm," Ikaris looked at Sol who had his hands on her legs slowly massaging them. "It's kind of annoying, isn't it?" She asked him, and Cecelia felt her heart fall to the pits of her womb when her previous fear of Ikaris being hostile seemed to actualise right before her.
"Indeed it is," Sol answered remaining vague as Ikaris sat properly next to him and stared down at Cecelia again.
"What should I do about it?" Sol queried again. "My offer still remains, we can do this together if you desire to."
"I think..." Ikaris paused seeing the woman on the floor before her break into cold sweat and shudders. "I don't think I want to know, after all, it makes me uncomfortable seeing someone from my past who is supposed to be an ally this terrified of me, I think the current me is a much better version," She shook her head and leaned forward. "Cecelia, I am not going to hurt you, right yourself."
"Yes," The Vatui woman raised her head and averted her eyes.
"Cecelia, am I supposed to know you, personally?" Ikaris queried, and after locking eyes with her Cecelia's lips slowly parted as a shocked expression crept across her face, her eyes widened with her pupils shrinking, her jaw hit the floor, and her breath hitched as she displayed a ghastly shock, had her hair not already been white there was a chance it would have turned white.
"You... you do not recognise me?" she raised her voice and almost stumbled to her elbows again.
"I have no memory of my time outside of Sol's collective; until a few months ago, I was sure there never existed a Grand Collective, I had no idea that I was Vatui, I didn't even know what that word meant, honestly; I still don't know," Ikaris scoffed. "Do not think of me as the one you knew, this is our first encounter."
"Is this true?" Cecelia's brows furrowed while her gaze found Sol.
"I had no idea of any of this either, I only became Godslayer a year ago,"
"Became... Godslayer?" Cecelia was delivered another shock. "One does not become Godslayer, they are a people; a race... How could you become Godslayer?" She looked at the ground evidently racking her brain for answers.
"Her Highness, is the only known heir to the Vatui throne, I thought that your return meant you would rechallenge the Emporium and take what was rightfully yours, but..." Cecelia stared at Ikaris who leaned against Sol and hooked her arm with his. "Forgive me for saying this but you look nothing like your former self, you resemble a housewife."
"Haha, isn't it wonderful?" Ikaris laughed, causing Sol and everyone else to chuckle.
"Admittedly, when I met her I hadn't expected that she would be this way either," Chey spoke up. "The reports only said she had been weakened because of childbirth, but she seems like an entirely different being than any of the records indicated."
"And I am," Ikaris huffed. "I can't imagine myself being any other way."
"How did he become a Godslayer?" Cecelia asked, though her question was aimed to nobody in particular and she seemed to be thinking out loud. "Was such a thing possible, did Her Highness have something to do with it?" She droned, going in a stoop and hugging her legs right there on the ground.
"This makes no sense, how did he even amass that much power if he was not originally Godslayer?" She asked, biting her thumb, only breaking from her train of thoughts when Sol cleared his throat.
"My apologies!" Cecelia stood and bowed to them again, quickly sitting in her seat and smiling as if she hadn't shown clear signs of lunacy seconds prior.
"When Master said she was fearsome, the last thing I expected was this..." Dina whispered to Arla, and Cecelia slowly leaned her head and stared at the two of them.
"I am sorry, does my presence somehow offend you?"
"If your presence offended her, I would get rid of you myself," Ikaris's playful demeanour evaporated like water against hot steel, and her eyes narrowed and turned crimson in a flash, causing even Sol to stare at her surprised after she arose to Dina's defence.
"Do not mistake my warmness as an invitation to do as you please," Ikaris held Sol's hand away from herself when he attempted to calm her down by placing it on her arm.
The air around them began to tremble within the flash of a second the entire earth was suffering under her hostility, man, woman and child; everyone stopped, everyone woke up, and every single person was made aware that someone was very close to pissing off the wrong person.
Upon seeing Ikaris's glowing crimson gaze Cecelia fell to her hands again and lowered her head.
"I was against outright saving you so beautiful careful of the things you do and say around me, I will not tolerate a single act or even a thought of hostility towards my family."
"I- I meant no harm, Your Highness!" Cecelia apologised in a series of gestures with her hand before raising her head with a bright smile. "I see clearly how it is," She grinned.
"See what?" Sol raised a brow.
"She has suppressed her Vatui instinct completely," She explained. "Only through an awakening of some sort or threats will you reveal that terrifying power, I am glad; it used to be hard to be near you without feeling the urge to run away..." She scratched her cheek sheepishly while Arla nodded.
"Three newcomers in one day, how hectic," Dina spoke again and Sol nodded and looked over at her.
"That's why I started the new expansion, I like privacy, it's become too lively around here, I don't want you all sharing the same house as me just because we're allied, I don't even want you on the same estate grounds; I liked the way it was before," Sol spoke gesturing to Keele, Jenifer, Chey and Cecelia.
"There's also the fact that you're all female, it just doesn't make me comfortable, you're only allies."
Sol gestured to the side where Renia was sitting seemingly uninterested in everything else as she played mobile games quietly with her ears plugged. "She's a family friend, and she minimises her presence willingly, but you all want to help so I'm always aware that you're there; it only makes sense that you don't stay here, I'll keep you close enough that you can be at my side at a moment's notice."
"That is fair," Jenifer sat upright and nodded at her mother, then at Keele who also understood what he was trying to say, she then looked at Cecelia and gestured to Dina, Arla, Sara, and Ikaris who seemed to be ignoring everything as she showered Talia with kisses. "His immediate family takes precedence."
"Master, Milady, while we are on the topic of family, I have a rather presumptuous question to ask," Arla looked at them curiously, gaining their full attention.
"Don't you always?" Ikaris raised a brow, gaining a dry laugh from Arla, who couldn't refute such a claim, seeing the truth in the rebuttal. "What is it?"
"I know there is no reason to, but something rather curious crossed my mind after Master's fight with his alter ego," She crossed her legs and leaned forward with her chin resting on her hand.
"True Goddess Ikaris, Ikaris of the Vatui Clan with the same name, time and time again she has shown us glimpses of her power but we have never been able to see where the limits lie, we have only speculated and heard by herself that she is able to destroy an entire universe at will, yet when Master did it she created quite the ruckus..."
"An entire universe?" Cecelia mused, thinking that she could attack across universes because of her peculiar powers, but to destroy an entire universe took potency that no Vatui had ever possessed, that was within the realm of ancient Godslayers like Sol.
"Ikaris can destroy multiple." Sol looked at his wife who went back to playing with their daughter. "The number is unclear but currently with her soul being strengthened she's capable of many feats that she couldn't in the past," He explained.
"And don't forget Arla; I may have caused an explosion that occupied the space of one universe, but the power generated was enough to destroy a dozen in one fell swoop, I'd hoped it would have been enough, but he still got away becahse I tried talking to him prior." Stay connected through mvl
This Umbra fellow..." Chey looked at Sol curiously. "Does he truly pose a threat to all life?"
"To see it in simpler terms Chey; Umbra is what I would have been if Ikaris hadn't gone the extra mile of saving me from myself."
"True, Master Vestic was quite the antagonist when he faced the gods of Arkadia," Sara chimed in. "He used to mercilessly beat them and with a clear grudge too, it is amazing how some of them are now his closest friends," She gestured to Renia who cursed and shook her phone after dying in-game because of teammates.
"It's all in the past."
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