Book 11: Part 2 – Augusta’s Relationship With Amira’s Parents

Whilst Ace and the others were still talking about the Planar Wars, Augusta had just arrived back at his personal palace in the Divine Plane of Light.

Seeing Amira, who had stared coldly at him the whole journey back, Augusta sighed and explained how he met her father.

He explained that before Larkel went to the Celestial Realm and began his reign of dominance there, he did the same here on the Divine Light Plane.

Larkel went around challenging deity after deity, defeating each of them in the most domineering fashion.

Eventually, after defeating all of the other experts of the Divine Light Plane, he arrived here at the Augusta Clan. Having heard of Larkel's prowess, Augusta was determined to bring Larkel under his banner; as such, he proposed a challenge.

He said that if Larkel were able to defeat all of Augusta's strongest deities without rest, he would get him a Sovereign Artifact of his choice, 100 drops of Destruction-type Sovereign's Might, and he would owe him a personal favour where he would act on his behalf once which could be used at Larkel's discretion. If he lost, though, Larkel would have to become his personal emissary.

With rewards like that, just about any deity would jump at the opportunity, even if they weren't 100% sure, but Larkel wasn't most people. He said he would only agree to those terms on two conditions:

First, Augusta must use his Godrealm to keep others from prying. Second, he had to swear a three-part oath in the name of the Overgods that he would one, keep his end of the deal, two, he (Augusta) and all of his people would keep any information of his true power a secret, and three, not do anything to harm him or anyone related to him in the future.

Augusta was an arrogant sovereign who put very few sovereigns in his eyes, let alone a mere deity. He had half a mind to reject him and force him to submit there and then, but overcome by intrigue and curiosity, Augusta decided to play along. After all, even if he lost, he wouldn't actually lose anything. As such, he agreed.

In the end, Larkel defeated all of the commander-level experts of the Augusta clan one after the other without a hint of trouble. It was only the last fight with Clementine – Augusta's sole paragon-level personal emissary – that proved a problem for Larkel, but it was then that Larkel revealed his Divine Ability that allowed him to wield Destruction Sovereign's energy.

Augusta was completely shocked and regretted agreeing to the deal as he was desperate to use Larkel like a lab rat to find out the secrets behind his power, hoping that it would be a way to increase his strength and potentially even find the path to surpassing the Sovereign-level. Unfortunately, with the oath, he had his hands tied.

As a result, he was forced to watch in silence as Larkel took his leave with his rewards.

It wasn't until Larkel found himself cornered by the underhanded tactics of the Chief Sovereign of Darkness during the tournament on the Celestial Realm that Augusta heard from him again.

When Augusta descended, he warned all the other Sovereigns that Larkel was his emissary and that he would kill any Sovereign that dared to target him. He then had Larkel and Cecelia come to his Divine Light Plane until things died down.

At the time, Augusta had every intention of trying to swindle him into agreeing to become his lab rat, but then, against all odds, Augusta found himself starting to genuinely see both Larkel and Cecelia as friends – something that was wholly out of character for him.

He never asked Larkel for anything during his time on the Divine Light Plane and just enjoyed being in the company of the couple, but eventually, Larkel and Cecelia offered him their blood essence of their own free will.

When he asked them why, they explained that Augusta was the only Sovereign that they felt like they could trust. They didn't know if their blood essence would do anything to help him increase his power, but if it could, then it would only benefit them as it would mean their biggest backer would be even more powerful.

First, by experimenting with Cecelia's blood essence, Augusta was able to create a method for turning mortals with pure souls into angels – the strongest of which were at the seven-star level. It was a monumental breakthrough that elevated the Divine Light Plane to new heights.

But that was when the couple told Augusta that they had been hiding away for long enough. It was time for them to return to their lives.

Augusta was against it, but they planned to return to Larkel's Vis Clan in the Divine Darkness Plane as Larkel had been away for long enough, and Cecelia had never met her in-laws.

Augusta, realising he couldn't change their mind, promised them that he wouldn't let their offering go to waste and told them that if they ran into any trouble, they just had to summon him, and he would rush to them immediately.

After that, Augusta entered seclusion whilst experimenting with Larkel's blood essence. Unfortunately, the secrets behind Larkel's blood essence weren't as easy to see through; still, after all those years studying it, he finally began making some headway with his experiments with the last of the blood, but it was then that Larkel used his medallion to summon him.

Unfortunately, because he was so focused on his experiments, he didn't even realise Larkel was asking for help until it was too late. When he did sense Larkel's request for assistance, he immediately stopped his experiment, not even caring that he had just wasted the last of the blood.

He made his way to the Divine Darkness Plane as quickly as possible, but by the time he arrived, it was too late!

The Vis Clan had been eradicated, and at the site of the remains of the former Vis Clan, the only person remaining was none other than Muyan, Phueus' strongest emissary.

With their bond as soulmates, Ace told Amira everything Verano and Garot had said about the Planar Wars and Phueus Emissaries; as such, she knew exactly how strong Muyan was. Still, with his Divine Ability being what it was, even if Muyan had successfully completely fused both laws and gotten an additional portion of Will, no, even if he had gotten an extra five portions of Will, he shouldn't be her father's match.

With his Divine Ability, he could be considered a half-step Sovereign. No deity should be a match for him.

When she asked Augusta, he said he didn't know either; all he would say was that when he saw Muyan back then, he felt a slight sense of a threat from him. It wasn't enough for a chief sovereign to put him in his sights, but it was superior to any deity he had met in the past – including Larkel.

Augusta was about to kill Muyan to avenge the only people he had ever considered friends, but he was stopped by Phueus. It was that which caused the two Sovereigns to break out in what would've been a battle to the death had it not been for the descent of Wodred – the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.

Even though Orloff was considered to be the strongest of the Sovereigns, Wodred was the one who came in a very close second.

As Augusta started to dominate the fight, Wodred stopped it and asked for leniency on Phueus' behalf.

Augusta didn't know the specifics, but according to Wodred, it was only with Phueus' assistance that Wodred was able to become a Sovereign billions of years ago; as such, he owed him.

Between that and the fact that it wasn't Phueus who acted against the Vis Clan but another deity, Augusta didn't have a leg to stand on morally.

In the end, Augusta was forced to leave without avenging his friends. The only thing he could do was take back Larkel's body and prevent Phueus or anyone else from getting their hands on it.

Augusta said he had no idea that any Vis Clan descendant had survived, especially not the child of Larkel and Cecelia. Had he known, he definitely would've brought her to his side to keep her safe.

Hearing that, both Amira and Ace, who was listening via their bond, were left not knowing what to say, but that was when Augusta carried on by saying that he knew she likely hated him for taking her away from Ace and didn't understand his decision, but he was doing it for both of their sakes.

He didn't know the truth of Ace's bloodline, but for the simple fact that he was Amira's soulmate and Amira's bloodline seemed to have actually surpassed her parents, he guessed that if Ace were to go all out, even as a Full God, he was stronger than most Paragons. Unfortunately, with their enemies being who they were, that wasn't enough.

For him to have the ability to protect himself, he would need to be at least a true Paragon. He didn't know if that would be enough to surpass Muyan, but it should at least give him the power to protect himself and all those around him.

Unfortunately, from the moment he saw Ace, he saw Larkel's shadow in him. They were both born with adventurous spirits. They were both the type that grew stronger faster in the face of danger and adversity.

Even though he could bring him back here and force him to train in peaceful seclusion, for someone like Ace, it would likely only slow down his progress.

As for Amira, it was obvious that she was like her mother. Even though adventuring wouldn't slow her down, she was the type who could train at a fast pace regardless of where she was, but more importantly, as a Sovereign of Light, there was no one better suited to guide you than Augusta.

He intended to create a Divine Plane of Light in front of her so she could gain insights rapidly.

Amira then asked why he gave Ace such a ridiculously dangerous mission. If Phueus had sent Muyan to the Planar Wars, it would have made it impossible for Ace to survive.

Augusta told her not to worry. Back when he tried to avenge her parents over 1000 years ago, he had left him mortally injured. And even though with Phueus supporting him, healing from an injury like that wouldn't prove difficult, neither of them seemed to have noticed that there was a trace amount of his Will left in Muyan's body. So small that unless one was looking specifically for it, not even a Chief Sovereign like Orloff or Wodred would be able to find it.

If Muyan makes a move to enter the Planar Battlefield, he will be the first to know. If such a day does come, he would personally enter the Planar Battlefield and bring Ace back.

Still, the chances of such a thing happening were slim to none. Muyan may be the most powerful deity in the world, but it's common knowledge that he rarely makes a move unless the opponent's strong enough, and not even your average paragon's enough to excite him anymore.

Augusta explained that Although Ace defeated and killed a paragon and commander infinitely close to the paragon realm, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, that was only due to Ace and Amira's ability to boost their powers by fusing their souls.

If Amira were to enter with Ace, Muyan might be tempted to enter, but on his own, Ace would just be seen as an extremely powerful commander.

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