Hold over Myriad of Worlds

The moment the two hours passed, all stabilizers started to work. Our job now was to make sure no one disrupted them. Kenshin sent me a status update on the other places. Most were able to be constructed peacefully, but few were met with opposition or profiteers trying to get in contact with the Hold.

Of course, the Londinium base was under the greatest pressure. Not only were we attacked from every side, but Theresa's appearance caused commotion among Rhodes Island operators.

-"Yue, can you tell me about the state Theresa is in?"

-"Kal'tsit, I can only say that she is indeed alive. I've never met an ability similar to what was put on her."

-"Can you make her return to normal?"

-"I can try. Let's hope that our worries are unnecessary, though."

-"Sigh."

We continued our jobs until Dusk told us that Theresa was fighting with Anita in the painting. Kal'tsit and I entered to help with stopping their previous leader.

Quickly arriving at the battlefield, Kal'tsit manifested her Mon3tr to stop Theresa. I approached the Doctor and helped him off the ground.

-"Be more careful next time."

-"Sorry."

-"Go back and cover for us. We will take care of her here."

-"Please."

-"Doctor, you should stop being hung up on the past you don't even remember."

-"..."

-"Think about what is important to you."

Leaving the Doctor to himself, I helped Kal'tsit to restrain our opponent. Using illusions, I was able to confuse Theresa long enough so that she was captured by Mon3tr.

-"Yue, can you?"

-"OK."

I approached the captured woman and tried to understand what had happened to her. Finding no problem with the body, I focused on her spirit, where I detected signs of dormancy.

Spirit dormancy is something that shows that she is not fully conscious but is under some kind of control or mental manipulation. Not finding the source of that state, I used the Authority of Sentience to check the soul next.

I was able to instantly find abnormalities inside. Her soul was in tragic shape as if glued up from pieces of shattered whole. The main problem was foreign parts inserted into that abomination of the soul to control her.

I started to slowly extract those parts, making sure no more harm happened to Theresa, and after an hour, I succeeded in removing the effect that controlled her. As I was to finish, the energy that was extracted by me suddenly attacked.

Receiving the full force of unknown energy head-on resulted in a connection between me and the puppet being severed.

I was in the middle of listening to an explanation about this city from the women who were saved by Jingliu and Sakura when suddenly, I received a backslash. Seeing me sprut blood surprised everyone, especially Jingliu.

-"Master!"

-"Cough. It's OK, don't worry. Something unexpected happened to the puppet."

-"My Lord, where are you injured?"

-"It's not a physical wound, but a soul one. Nothing serious. I will need some time to heal it, though."

-"Leave this place to us."

-"Sorry for the trouble."

I teleported back to Xuling and informed Kenshin what had happened. She passed that information to people in Londinium, as they were panicked after seeing my puppet suddenly falling to the ground and stopping to function.

Kal'tsit even offered to help heal me, as she felt guilty for asking me to do something risky that I wasn't an expert in. I declined her offer and asked her to keep those present there safe in my place.

After calming everybody down, I found a quiet place to meditate and focued on healing. While not serious, soul wounds are hard to heal. Even with me using the power of Finality, the Authority of Sentience, and other healing techniques, it took me five days to fully heal.

During this time, luckily, there was no major problem with any stabilizers. After I received the injury, our forces in Londinium were attacked by a greater force. Kal'tsit unleashed Mon3tr at them to, as she put it, blow off some steam.

After that little massacre, opponents there became more careful, which gave our forces breathing room. Dragon girls also made sure that the enemies paid for the attack on me.

Surprisingly, it was Aegir's side that proved more problematic. For the last three days, girls there were besieged by constant attacks from Seaborn. Wave after wave of individually weak monsters was slowly eroding their stamina.

When I teleported there, what greeted me was an icy wasteland, thanks to Jingliu and Sakura unleashing their techniques. The newly created glacier was overrun with countless monsters. There was also a much more powerful presence deep beneath the ice.

I used the power of Permanence to control Water and, through the generating cycle, turn Water elements into Wood. Moments later plants started sprouting everywhere, roots breaking through the ice and absorbing Water from the environment.

As Wood depletes Water, according to the reverse generating cycle, Seaborn starts being drained of their energy, weakening over time. This change alerted women fighting below to my return. I landed next to them, inside what now became a forest over the frozen ruins of a city.

-"Sorry for leaving you to deal with those monsters."

-"No need to apologize, Master."

-"Yes, My Lord. It was beyond your control."

-"I'm very thankful for your help, you three."

-"It's us who are thankful for helping to defeat Seaborn."

-"We have our purpose, after all."

-"We heard about the role this tool plays. We even can feel the change in the atmosphere after it worked for those five days."

-"Stabilizers are doing a great job. For now, I'll reduce Seaborn numbers as much as I can. You all focus on keeping stabilizers operating."

-"Leave those to us, Yue."

-"I'll be out then, Hare."

Rising into the air once again, I focused on the presence under the ice. Controlling the underwater currents, I took that monster for the ride, throwing him around for a while before taking it to the surface.

What I brought to the surface was a humanoid Seaborn whose aura put in similar strength to Ling, making him one of the top conventional powerhouses in this world. It looked at me and spoke.

-"You are not of this world. Why stop us?"

-"You speak for Seaborn? It was your people that attacked the stabilizer."

-"You entered our territory. We will fight invaders. Those women killed our brethren."

-"It was you who brought us here! That abomination of bishop tricked us here!"

-"Quintus just did his job."

-"So do we."

As this discussion led to nothing, I destroyed that Seaborn with the path of Nihility. Sensing no more danger in my surroundings, I was about to go back, but the aura of one woman we met here started becoming chaotic.

-"What is happening?"

-"Skadi, hold on! Her blood is getting corrupted by the Seaborn! Be careful!"

-"This was probably the job that the monster was referring to. Leave her to me for now."

I used the power of Abundance to forcefully suppress Seaborn blood, but that solution won't last long. Deciding that a more in-depth resolution is needed, I sat down next to now unconscious Skadi and, by utilizing Authorities of Corruption and Death in coordination with Abundance, started combining her with the Seaborn bloodline, creating a new race between the two.

This was a rather laborious process. As tails were swaying behind me, part by part, I altered Skadi's body to match her power and bloodline. While no change was visible from outside, if Mobius had been here, nothing would have stopped her from taking the unconscious girl to the dissection table.

Completing my first operation of this kind, I slowly awakened Skadi, who was confused at first before looking at me with shock.

-"You..."

-"Calm down for now. Try to slowly get used to your situation."

The hunter nodded, still looking at me.

I explained the situation to her two companions, who asked for the same treatment. I agreed and performed the same thing I did for Skadi to them. As Specter was also in the early stages of Oripathy, I extracted Originium from her to cure it. By the end of it, Specter picked up a habit of Jeanne, who was not here, referring to me as Lord with a rather reverential tone.

By the sixth day of the operation, we cleared all Seaborn in the vicinity of tens of kilometers from the stabilizer. As this place was now safe, I decided to go and help in Londinium. The moment I appeared in the room with the stabilizer, a brown-haired rabbit girl jumped and hugged me, apologizing for getting me injured.

-"Amiya, it was not your fault. I was careless. Calm down."

The only response I received was a shaking of the head that was buried in my chest.

-"Kal'tsit mind helping me?"

-"Heh, just bear this for a while. Treat this as punishment for being careless."

-"Being hugged by a cute girl as punishment? Yue will become a masochist if you penalize him like that!"

-"Nian..."

-"What, did I say something wrong, Ling?"

-"Sigh."

-"OK. Sorry for worrying you all. Can you tell me what is going on with Theresa?"

-"She is all right. For now, she is being monitored by Ch'en. Let's say that she is having a hard time being stared at by angry Lung all the time."

-"I'll go and talk with her. Amiya, can you let me go now?"

-"But be careful from now on."

-"I promise you."

Amiya let me go and, under funny looks from Nian and Ling, went to hide behind Kel'tsit's back. Stopping two dragons from teasing the girl, I started walking with Kal'tsit toward where Theresa was currently. Entering a room nearby, I was greeted by Ch'en.

-"Yue, you should be more careful. While saving others is commendable, many depend on you."

-"Sorry, once again. I'll be sure to be mindful from now on."

-"I'll make sure you are."

-"Thanks."

I turned to the table where Doctor and Theresa were sitting.

-"It's our first true meeting. I'm Yue, nice to meet you."

-"Yes, I'm Theresa. Thank you for saving me from my brother."

-"I have recruited many of your loyal subjects. It's the least I can do."

-"Hmm... You indeed poached my people. Well, just be sure to be better to them than I was."

-"Comparison is the thief of joy. How about you help me to take care of them?"

-"I'd be my honor."

-"What's with him? While it's normal for the Doctor to be absent-minded, he hadn't even noticed me coming."

-"He asked me some things about the past."

-"I see. Hope he can come out from its shadow."

-"What do you plan to do here on Terra?"

-"For now, we will establish a permanent presence. We will try to unite this world under Hold, making countries here vasals while providing technology."

-"Many will oppose you."

-"Few have the capacity to do so."

-"Will you let people freely travel between words?"

-"Not freely. One will have to get permission to travel. After all, we can't let some bad actors do what they want."

-"Then what will I have to do in order to get that permission."

-"As a member of Hold, you will be able to travel. Why?"-Theresa looked at the Doctor.

-"I want to not regret something this time."

-"I'll recommend you a few good places."

-"Thanks."

After some more talking, I left with Ch'an to give those two some alone time. Returning to the main room, I sat down with Kal'tsit, Ling, Nian, Dusk, Ch'en, and Amiya to decide what to do next.

-"After today, more forces from Hold will arrive, and Nobunaga will take command from me. What do you want to do?"

-"I'll join your progress. I have to ger forge near you."

-"Same as Nian. I hope to have a place to paint in peace."

-"I won't let my sisters get ahead of me. Domination sounds nice, but don't expect me to let you go."

-"I already talked to Jingliu. When I become part of Hold, I'll join your Guards."

-"I welcome you, Ch'en."

-"Wait! I can also fight."

-"Right, someone to command people will be needed by your side."

-"I'll be happy to accommodate you all, but you should talk with Jingliu, Nobu, and Astraea first."

-"We will!"

-"Sigh. Kal'tsit, Amiya, what about you?"

-"I plan to stay here and help to combine Rhodes Island and Hold."

-"Hou? You were still somewhat hesitant before. What changed?"

-"I talked with Theresa a little and decided to listen to her advice."

-"I can see you don't want to talk about it, so I won't ask. Amiya, what about you?"

-"I'll help Kal'tsit, but after that, I'll join Hold."

-"Then I'll be waiting for you."

-"Some of the Operators wanted to join Hold. I will give you a list later."

-"Astraea takes care of those matters. I can pass it on to her, but I believe you should talk with her about Rhodes Island integration."

-"Good. When we are on the subject of passing messages, Texas has sent us something to give you."

Kal'tsit passed me a message. Its contents asked for assistance in ending the regime of mafia families in Siracusa. She gave some more details and promised to commit her life to Hold if we could help end the tyranny she hated.

-"Then I know what to do next."

-"Go and help them. We'll take care of this place just fine."

-"Be careful."

I teleported to the city of Siracusa and looked for Texas. As luck would have it, she was fighting at the moment with some mob. Arriving nearby, I looked at the situation. Texas and Penguin Logistics were fighting mobsters, along with the women I didn't recognize.

-"Texas, fall back! They are trying to surround us!"

-"Shit!"

-"Leave your back to me."

I entered the battle to relieve pressure.

-"Thanks, Yue."

-"Who's he?"

-"Not now, Lappland."

I looked at mobsters that were standing on the opposite end of the alley. Manifesting my crystal sword, I started walking in their direction. Two opponents tried to shoot at me, but the moment they raised their crossbows, I crossed the distance between us and sent their heads flying.

Being now in the middle of the enemies, I tried to mimic Sakura's style and made a series of quick slashes. I was only able to perform five attacks in time that Sakura could do twelve, but it was enough to remove the heads of every target in my surroundings.

I walked back to where Texas and the person she called Lappland were finishing their fight.

-"Is there something you can't do? Magic, technology, and now sword fighting."

-"I can't sing or play instruments well. Can you give me some lessons on those Big E?"

-"Heck, I will! Giving you another ability to woo will create a monster world that isn't capable of bearing."

-"I'll ask someone else then."

Texas approached me after ending her fight and stood before me.

-"I see that you got rid of that shadow tormenting you."

-"Yes. I have good friends."

-"What do you want to do now?"

-"Make sure no more people are 'tamed' by Siracusa again."

-"Then, you can count on me."

-"Thank you. Take care of me for days to come, Boss."