Varian's soul froze in time. Now, he's just a blank puppet she could use and kill as she pleased.
But Eshala's mind blanked out by what she heard at the end.
"Safe?"
He must be lying. The letter clearly stated that and also showed her the evidence that she disappeared after falling into his hands.
"The letter…" It's sent by someone clearly hostile to Varian.
Eshala hurriedly took out a memory extraction treasure. It's used on prisoners to find out important memory. But using it would destroy their soul beyond repair. She wouldn't have cared about it. Yet, a part of her mind questioned what if she's going to regret this?
What if he really saved her daughter?
What if he didn't torture her?
If she broke his soul, would her daughter forgive her?
Eshala's love for her child was beyond anything normal. For any challenged faction leader, escaping the tournament avenue was akin to forfeiting. Once she went back, whether Guan won against her or lost, she'd be stripped out of her position.
Both the 7th Prince and 2nd Prince would have full justififation to kill her. Yet, when she left to chase Varian, she didn't even care about the consequences.
Her daughter was the most important part of her life. "If it's false….if you lied…then you're in for hell!"
Gritting her teeth, Eshala took out a precious golden flower. It's something she acquired with great difficulty to heal her soul. Even if she used a single petal on Varian, her own recovery would be incomplete. She might need to spend millions of years to get another flower or she might not get one at all. Heck, she could die by then if someone like Guan surpassed her and he most likely would.
Faced with not destroying her daughter's possible relative and her own future, Eshala chose her daughter.
The shining black orb enveloped Varian's soul and the particular memory of the daughter was called out. If it was before, Eshala would've used the treasure to know all his secrets. But with her daughter involved, she wanted to damage his soul as little as possible.
So, she only asked for the memories of her daughter.
Even the slivers were put aside.
The memories she saw…
"She's really the assassin!" When he realized she was just a child under a curse, he didn't chose to kill the baby. He made her his family.
"B-Big Brother?"
The girl grew up. Due to the lineage from Eshala, her growth was different from the normal children. But it's also more difficult.
The foods she needed, the treasures she consumed were enough to feed kingdoms.
But never did Varian complain. And even his wives found her what she needed.
Even though they weren't even related, they were better parents than she ever was.
"Big bro! Big bro! Big bro!"
The little girl would run with him on the fields, up the mountains and jump into the rivers. The smile on her face was not fake nor was the joy in her laughters.
Whenever Varian was with her, the little girl enjoyed herself.
"Big brother! Big brother!"
And he disappeared one day, for a thousand years.
When he returned, Primula managed to partially break the curse and become a teenager for some period.
Eshala wondered how Primula managed. 'Ah, the dream loop!'
Just like Primula used a dream loop to keep the precious memories with Varian, Eshala too used a dream loop.
She dreamed of her time with her children.
The dream loop allowed them to keep memories precious even if millions of years passed. It's their racial solution against the cruel passage of time. But it could only be used if the memories were the most cherished.
From how she acted after his thousand year return, Eshala was sure. Varian was the central figure of Primula's dream loop.
A side effect of the dream loop was that the person's attachment would be tied to the central figure.
If Primula learned that something happened to Varian, she would be devastated. And unlike other races that could move on, she could never move on. The dream loop would continue and the pain would stay with her forever.
"Primula, Primula, Primula." Eshala muttered her daughter's name. She liked the name Primula way more than Black Rose. Her child didn't need to be an assassin. She should just be a child, enjoying her childhood.
Varian gave her that childhood. "Primula, help! The Red Turtle Thief of the galaxy need your special double plasma gu…" And she loved him back for it.
"Brother is the best."
"Brother is the most honest person."
"Brother is the kindest person. He wouldn't even hurt an ant."
It wasn't just a great childhood. Varian successfully broke her curse and allowed her to live a normal life.
"Primula, you'll be a fine young lady!"
The teenage Primula was so cute and pretty that Eshala wanted to hug and spoil her all day. "My Primula is the best!"
"Isadora, my daughter is not a shorty!"
"Sarah, stop placing your hand on her head, she won't grow tall!" "Sia! Stop eating from her brother's hands! It's her brother, don't steal her sweets!"
Before she knew it, Eshala was arguing against the family members for Primula. Of course, she had no real complaints on their treatment.
Everyone treated her well, even if they teased her from time to time.
Sia taught her how to cook. Sarah taught her etiquette. Enigma played games with her, though Eshala suspected it's because this silent girl liked winning and bullying children.
Isadora…took her to fishing. It's fine most of the time but once, Primula fell into water and this woman literally fished her out!
"Okay, Isadora! I've written down this grudge. But Primula, how are you so clumsy sometimes, pfft~"
The memories of the teenage Primula from Varian's perspective were coming to an end.
She was initially embarrassed at suddenly growing up but she was soon fine. "Beat that bastard! Immortal is useless in front of my brother!"
Eshala was surprised at the secrets she learned in this duel.
Immortal, Varian and the rulers of the alliance.
But still, she was more impressed by how brave Primula was in front of the rulers!
"That's my baby girl!"
After watching the memories over and over again, Eshala wordlessly plucked two petals of the flower and put them onto Varian's soul.
The second petal wasn't just for healing, it's also for improving his soul.
She withdrew the time power from his soul and as she did, he began to recover.
"Haaa~" Eshala put a hand on her heart with a wry smile. What was this set of conflicting emotions?
She was incredibly happy that Primula was living a happy life. But…she couldn't help but feel jealous that it was Varian, not her who gave her that life.
"If I take away your brother, you'll hate me."
She didn't even need to ask. From what she saw, it was obvious. Not only would Primula not care that she's the birth mother, she might hate her even more for it.
One day not too far in the future, Primula might point her sword at her, wanting to kill her for revenge.
Eshala still wanted to sacrifice Varian and resurrect her dead children. But as the scene of clashing with her won daughter emerged, she began to hesitate.
Firstly, no one knew if resurrection was even possible. Her belief until now was simply because of her blind faith in God Emperor.
Secondly, even if it's possible, she didn't know if he would do it. It must be costly even for someone like him to reverse entire space-time flow to a point millions of years prior and pull out dead souls. Why would he honor the agreement when he could simply take the slivers and kill her off?
Eshala found herself at the cross roads.
She could sacrifice what's at hand and hope for something much more which might or might not happen.
And if she did pick this path, Primula would be destroyed if things didn't go as planned.
Or.
She could sacrifice the grand dream that's difficult to achieve and be content with a happy reality she never dreamed of. Primula would remain happy.
People were certainly greedy but they were also very, very loss averse, especially if it's something very cherished.
"Children…sorry, I can't erase the smile of your younger sister."
"Mmm…" "Ah? Have you come to your senses?" Eshala looked at the man. His eyes were closed and there was a faint frown on his face. It looked like he was experiencing a nightmare.
"Varian? Varian, wake up."
"Ah? Ahh!" Varian's heart nearly stopped as he saw Eshala's face up close upon opening his eyes.
His aura stirred and the formation loopholes he found out just before fainting were quickly exploited.
With a resounding explosion, the formation cracked and Varian was about escape.
"Stop!"
Eshala's scream was a moment later and the formations nearly broke.
"Sh*t!" The princess cursed. "Stop it, I'm not going to harm you!"
Varian distanced himself from her and rolled his eyes. But he was also surprised at his condition. Why was he back at his peak, no, why was he stronger than before?
All that torture did push him over the edge but why did he wake up?
'Status'
[Dragon: 70/100 (+19)
Titan: 70/100 (+19)
Phoenix: 70/100 (+19)
Order: 70/100 (+19)
Chaos: 70/100 (+19)
Space: 81/100 (+21)
Time: 81/100 (+21)]
It's a great increase, but it's not something he wanted to replicate, ever. From exerting the strength of [94], he had grown into [97].
Of course, the difference between [99] and [98] was vast. His individual paths would need to reach [80] for him to hit [98] and [90] for him to exert [99] strength. It might be seen as ridiculous since he had seven freaking paths. But the difference in sub-ranks of divine ranks was vast. And in the sub-rank of peak rank 1, the difference between a beginner and expert was greater than an early rank 1 and high rank 1.
Still, Varian had confidence of confronting Eshala. Of course, he'd only survive under her for a few more seconds unlike before. And in that time, he had the confidence to escape.
If he's at her full strength, even that wouldn't have been possible. With a soul fragment destroyed, her full strength fell from [99] to [98]. She should be able to defeat Guan, but she wouldn't be able to stop him from escaping.
Varian's aura once again stirred and he was about to attack the formations once again.
"Don't mess up again! There's no time to waste. Just shut up and listen, Primula's big brother!"
"Huh?"
"I am her mother!" Eshala screamed.
Varian prepared for another attack anyway. She might've read his memories when he was knocked out and was playing this drama fo—
"This is my blood."
A drop of blood flowed from her fingertip and Varian stopped his actions.
"What the…"
As a life awakener, he could tell instantly. This mad, mad woman was indeed the mother of his sister. For a moment, Varian didn't know what to do.
Eshala hurried to the formations, trying to repair them to no avail. "Sh*t, Sh*t, why do you have to break them?!"
"…I wanted to escape."
"I could've given you the formation key!" Eshala screamed. "The broken formation already leaked out auras! They'll be coming any moment! You must leave!"
Her voice was laced with a sense of urgency and desperation.
Varian thought for a brief moment. He didn't know if he should trust her. But she spared his life once. It's worth a risk. What strongly convinced him was the state of her soul. When she was attacking and torturing him, Eshala's soul was in a state of deep sorrow and madness. Now, there's peace and relief in that chaotic soul. The formation could not be repaired without a few minutes of hard work. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have even that few minutes.
"Open the formation."
Grabbing her hand, Varian combined the shards and activated the space-time powers.
In a few moments, they jumped across quarter of a galaxy.
Eshala was dumbfounded noticing the way he combined the shards into mini-slivers.
"H-How?! So many tried and all failed! But you!"
"I do that every Tuesday." Varian replied casually and kept teleporting away.
"Then do teach us, Varian."
Boom!
An arrogant voice rang from the sky and a pull came out of nowhere.
Eshala moved at the last moment, skipping barely a moment into the future. Boom! Boom! Boom!
The region behind them turned into void as a tremendous blackhole swallowed up everything in an instant.
If what Avner created was dangerous, then this thing was a galactic scale disaster.
Victor and Samael appeared in void, locking their killing intents on Varian and Eshala.
"Varian," Samael uttered his name with a nostalgic smile. "I've been searching for you since a millennia. Eshala too. But why did she switch camps?"
"Sliver holder." Victor noticed the remnants of the seven paths as well as the power of slivers from Varian.
When they were attacked just now, Varian brought out his full powers for a possible defense, including his slivers.
"Today is a great day." Victor smiled. "Eliminating a traitorous princess and capturing the slivers. Both at once."
Eshala stood in front of Varian and a hourglass materialized in her hand. Pouring out her full strength, she stared down at her brothers. "Don't even try."