Ending the rush.

-"Impressive! At first, your strength was a little worse than that of Good Fortune Saint Emperor, but later, you overwhelmed him. Can you tell me how did you do it?"-Asked the fired-up Astral Vault God King.

~"I don't mind. At first, I used my own power, while later, I drew power from my patron."

-"A patron? Who is so powerful to grant so much power?"-Asked Soaring Feather God King.

~"Aeon. From the world where I'm from, Aeons are beings who gave birth to a Path."

-"Birthed a Path? Isn't the Path the same as the law? How can one create it?"

~"It's hard to describe. Laws and Paths are not equal. Law is a building block, while Path is an idea, for example, Destruction. The law of destruction is the fact that everything can be destroyed. Path of Destruction is the idea that existence is self-destructing."

-"Then what Path embodies your patron?"

~"Finality. The idea that all existence is traveling toward some kind of end. But don't mistake it for Nihility, as the Principle of Finality is from what the Path gets its name."

-"Instrictiv nature of being to pursue their ideal form, huh."

~"Indeed, one Path thinks about existence as meaningless because it would end, while the other says that the journey to that end is all that matters."

-"I see. Let's end this talk here. What will you do from now on, Yue?"

~"Nothing. Mara will take care of his ideas about counter-attacks, and he won't risk angering me after today."

-"That is most likely true. Well, it was a nice show, but we will be returning."- Said Astral Vault God King.

-"We also will say goodbye for now. If you visit Asura Road someday, feel free to come and talk."-Divine Void also excused himself.

-"I plan to stay with Divine Dream for a while to discuss our Cultivation."

-"Yes, Soaring Feather will stay for some time."

~"I see. I'll probably be traveling between Sect and one other world Hold plans to expand to."

-"Then we will have a lot of occasions to become familiar with each other."

In the end, Soaring Feather and her disciple Blue Lotus will stay in Divine Dream Heavenly Palace. Lin Ming returned with his Dao Companions to the Ancient Phoenix Clan. He wanted to take Lin Xiaoge with him, but she decided to join Hold after she was invited by Elysia, so she stayed.

In Hold, we ended the state of emergency and allowed Knights to rest. The last three months were exhausting for all members, and the rest was well deserved. Five of us, Principles, gathered to talk about what to do now.

-"So, what do we plan to do from now?"-asked Nobu.

-"I will focus on my ascension. After that, I'll find a mortal world and settle there for some time."

-"Yes, you spoke about something like that before, Yue. Will you take us there?"

-"Yes. I'll take my whole family to live a quiet life."

-"Then let's focus on making Hold capable of functioning without constant supervision."

-"I agree with Ningguang. We have to establish a more solid structure of power to reduce our workload."

-"Then Astrea and Ningguang will focus on that. Elysia is getting ready for the travel to the last of those three worlds, and you, Nobu, have to prepare Knights to assist Elysia if needed and continue working on Terra."

-"Yes. Yue, what about you?"

-"I'll work with Yae on the second festival as we missed the first. Aside from that, I'll contact Terminus to help me with establishing Path. I just lack that one last push now in the right direction."

-"Ok. But you should rest for a while."

-"I know. I have a whole collection of promised tea times and dates to spend time on."

-"Just don't add too much sisters for us."

-"I'll try."

-"Then, until meeting in your home world, we will focus on those points."

-"Yes."

-"Let's go to rest now. I haven't slept much during that state of emergency."

We moved to Inner Palace and didn't leave bed until the evening of the next day.

Following days, everything in Hold calmed down. Yae was already preparing for the next festival, the Festival of Duty, while I buried myself in my office to take care of Hold's matters.

-"Master Yue, Keqing is here."

-"Hello, Yue."

-"Yes, Hello Keqing. Thank you as always, Rin."

-"It's my job, Master Yue."

-"Why did you call me here?"

-"I want to get more info on how the Palace is functioning and if you need more people."

-"There are no problems. Both Palace Guards and caretakers do their job well. But I have two matters that require your attention. Inner Palace is understaffed. You should consider recruiting a few more maids to help Rin."

-"Hmm... Rin, what are your thoughts?"

-"I could indeed use a few more hands. My sister, Tomoe, and Tingyun often help me cate for Inner Palace. Without them, I would be unable to take care of everything."

-"Sorry for not thinking of your workload. Do you have anyone in mind for the position?"

-"Yes, I frequently talk with Nilou while doing some tasks in the City. She is always happy to help, and as your biggest fangirl from time in Sumeru, she might be interested in working in the Palace."

-"Let's go later to her performance and ask her. I always like seeing her dance."

-"Any other proposition?"

-"I have one. I received an application from Lin to be your maid."

-"Lin? From Terra?"

-"I know it is surprising, but yes. I asked her why, and she said that you helped people that others treated as worse than trash, and she wanted to help you in turn."

-"It's indeed unexpected, but I don't see why not."

-"The last person is the maid herself, Rita Rossweisse."

-"Isn't she the person who you take lessons from, Rin? From what I remember, she once rejected the position."

-"Yes, but now she reconsidered, as in her words, 'I promised to serve Durandal, and that's why I rejected before. Now that Durandal has made her decision, I can serve her future husband'."

-"May I know the context?"

-"There was none."

-"Sigh. I'll act like I haven't heard anything then."

-"Another matter is about Palace Guards and your Heralds. Right now, there are three Heralds: Durandal, Yukong, and Otto. Because many matters require an official representative from you, they are busy most of the time."

-"You want to recruit more Heralds?"

-"Yes. I suggest Cecilia Schariac, Gao Changgong, and Kallen Kaslana."

-"Will they agree?"

-"All of them volunteered."

-"Then I approve it. What about Palace Guards, though?"

-"Current Palace Guards are too unorganized. Jeanne is their nominal leader, but as your Guard, she can't be present here nonstop. I want to restructure them and appoint an official leader of the Palace Guard."

-"Good, I'll give you full authority on the matter. As we talk about such matters, Keqing, do you need someone to help in your work?"

-"No, I feel that my workload is just right."

-"Yes, my bad. After all, my Chamberlain is a workaholic."

-"Huff, I won't bother with your jokes."

-"Yes, yes. Do you have any wishes, then?"

-"Wishes? Hmm... I have one, actually. I wanted to visit Cultivation World once to see what it looks like."

-"I see. How about we go there after the festival?"

-"Together?"

-"Yes, or you don't want to see me?"

-"No, let's go together."

-"Then we have a date."

A while later, Keqing returned to her work. In my office, usual work continued until Fuxi and Nuwa came with an urgent task.

-"Yue! There is a situation!"

-"Nuwa, calm down. Fuxi, mind explaining?"

-"Yes. Da Vinci contacted us that she detected some anomaly in Chaos with the World Compass. Your presence is required."

-"Anomaly in Chaos? I'll go to her to take a look. Rin, are you coming with me?"

-"Allow me to stay."

-"Good. Let's go, you two."

I teleported with two sisters to World Compas, where da Vinci was gathering more data on what she had detected. This location has now become similar to the command center of Chaldea. The biggest difference was that CALDEAS was no longer a simulation of the earth but of the Tree growing over the Hold.

Approaching da Vinci, I started reading recorded data to understand what was going on. From what was noted here, the anomaly was detected fifteen minutes ago with a burst of energy. After that, a small mass of matter was left in Chaos, emitting breath of life.

-"Living being drifting in Chaos?"

-"Most likely. The energy emitted before is still unidentified, but 80% matches the power of Nihility in our database."

-"I see. Nuwa, go and call a medic."

-"Be right back."

-"Will you attempt contact?"

-"Yes. From what I can see, that being isn't prepared for traversing Chaos. The breath of life is weak and slowly weaning. Just run some reading to check if it is some kind of bait."

-"Give me a minute."

Da Vinci cooperated with some Divination masters and checked if any eyes were watching over that source of life. I stood on the side and waited. Soon, Nuwa returned, bringing Kal'tsit with her. Cellinia also came here as she was informed that I had left the Palace.

-"Sorry for leaving without informing you, Cellinia. This was somewhat urgent. Kal'tsit, how was your first week as a member of Progress?"

Cellinia nodded and came to my side, wrapping her tail with one of mine.

-"It's nice here. The only thing I lack right now is some capable assistant."

-"Who doesn't lack those? Didn't you bring someone from Terra with you?"

-"There are still many things to do on the ground there. I can't poach people from Amiya."

-"That is certainly like you. I called you as we detected life floating in Chaos, and I wanted a second opinion from someone versed in medicine."

-"Aren't you also a capable healer? Won't Abundance suffice?"

-"You know that healer and doctor are much different. I want you to check for any hidden danger."

-"I see. Well, it's better to be safe than sorry."

-"How's the result, da Vinci?"

-"Nothing detected."

-"Continue monitoring and inform me if anything changes."

-"Leave it to me."

Taking Kal'tsit and Cellinia with me, I teleported them to my avatar outside, which was already nearby. Manifesting the Tree branch to shield us from Chaos, I created a small plane to stand on.

Three of us looked at a woman covered in a gray outfit that was some live form in itself. I started to use Abundance to restore now a faint breath of life. Kal'tsit approached the woman and started performing a medical examination.

-"Strange. That thing covering her can be considered a carapace. It's living on her like some kind of symbiote. Can you remove it for me, Yue?"

-"I can make it recced, but fully removing might cause harm."

-"Make it possible for me to finish examining her."

I nodded and manipulated that carapace with Authority on Corruption.

Limiting my perception to preserve the alien woman's dignity, I waited for Kal'tsit to finish. A few minutes later, I covered the still unconscious woman with her carapace again.

-"Your opinion on her state?"

-"She will live if taken out of the Chaos. She has no physical difference from Humans, other than that carapace, of course."

-"Any dangerous thing on her?"

-"A quick test of blood hadn't revealed anything, but I suggest quarantining her until further tests are done."

-"Can you take care of her for now?"

-"I don't mind."

-"I'll take us back then."

I put the rescued woman in a quarantine room, where Kal'tsit started preparing for more detailed tests. After putting restraints on the room to limit the usage of power inside, I returned to the Palace with Cellinia.

We decided to walk through the city rather than going back directly. To not be recognized on our short date, I used the Path of Enigmata on us. Taking Cellinia's hand, we walked the streets.

-"How are your friends from Penguin Logistics doing?"

-"They are doing good. Exusiai wanted to meet you again."

-"Probably tell me some more stories about the Laterano, right? Well, why not? We can meet if I have time later."

-"I'll tell her that."

-"To think that this city would grow so large in not even two years."

-"Hold is now larger than the whole Hexafleet together, right?"

-"Yes. After it became part of me, Hold started growing steadily. Now, there is more land than on Terra. Astraea also performed a census last month, and the population of this city rose to beyond five million."

-"So much?"

-"Yes. We now are preparing to build new cities some distance from here."

-"Then you will have to finally name this city."

-"True. Do you have any proposition?"

-"Hmm... Luna?"

-"We thought about that, but it was decided against."

-"Pity."

-"Hmm? Do you hear that?"

-"Yes, it sounds like Robin's song."

-"You want to go and listen?"

-"Yes."

We walked through the crowd, and soon, we could see the square on which Robin, Eden, and Venti were performing. Finding a place to sit down, we listened to the music for some time. A few songs later we were about to leave when Venti spotted us.

-"Guys! You came to listen to us?"

Knowing that there was no way to avoid attention, I rose from my seat and approached the trio of musicians. Seeing me, most people around started kneeling, but I stopped them with my power.

-"Your Majesty."

-"No need to kneel. We are here privately, after all."

-"Sorry, hehe..."

-"Don't worry. It was nice to listen to your music, but I haven't heard those songs before. Are they new?"

-"Yes, we wrote them some time ago."

-"Your Majesty?"

-"Hmm? Robin, what's the matter?"

-"I was wondering, do Your Majesty know music?"

-"I certainly can't be called an expert, but I learned to play an instrument lately. Why do you ask?"

-"What does Your Majesty think about music and art in general?"

-"Art is the soul of people, while the music is the language of hearth."

-"Thank you for your words, Your Majesty."

-"How about I play you all a song? Just keep it secret from Loki."

My words surprised those present, but everyone quickly agreed and quieted down. I took out my zither, sat down, and started playing a calm song.

My tails swayed behind me as illusions started appearing, creating scenes as if dreams in waking. Telling the story of a small Fox spirit traveling through a world seeking his place there. Along its journey, the spirit encountered some difficulties as well as new friends and, in the end, arrived at the root of a tree. Building a burrow with its companions, it finally understood that you have to create a place for yourself, not seek it.

After finishing my performance, I took the zither away and walked to Cellinia. Taking her hand, I walked toward the Palace.

People started waking up from their daze only moments later, looking at my and Cellinia's backs with tender eyes. The trio of musicians looked at each other and nodded. Venti quickly took out a memory stone and recorded my whole performance.

The next day Loki barged into my office and was ready to screw my head off for acting in a manner unbecoming of the emperor. She was only stopped when Yae also ran into the room and threw herself at me.