Eternity in front of us.

In Hold, I returned to my normal form and took Guizhong and Zhongli to the Palace where their other friends gathered. The moment the Adepti saw Guizhong, they immediately surrounded and welcomed her, leaving only Zhongli and me by the entrance to the room.

-"Thank you."

~"I'll accept your gratitude, but there is no need for it between friends."

-"Friends or not, gratitude and respect are important."

~"Sigh. Let it be your way."

-"You are not going to join everyone?"

~"No, I'm not that familiar with everyone, especially Guizhong. I can get to know her later."

-"I see."

~"I asked Rindō and Momo to prepare some food for you."

-"I appreciate that."

~"Tell that to those two. I'll be going, have fun."

Zhongli looked at me as I disappeared, understanding that not everything was as easy as it seemed.

I appeared in Chaos in a place where no matter how great power I was to unleash, nothing would be affected by me, and immediately, an enormous force started to gather around me.

Despite my best preparations, the Taboo was still broken, and I couldn't get rid of that Karma of me. Now, the Karmatic Punishment was about to start. I had no other choice but to face it. Letting go of any restraints, I allowed my power to fully manifest around me.

I instantly turned into Aeon, as my Phoenix, Dragon, and Deer also took form. The surrounding was lit up by aurora as it fought to take over this region of Chaos under control.

I continued to employ my power to block the oncoming power of Laws, but despite unleashing all Paths under my control along with the celestial fire I possessed, I still was slowly pushed back. Aeon or not, I still was far from taking on the whole [Myriad of Worlds] alone.

Having no other choice, I mobilized the [Crown] to use [Hope], empowering me just enough to resist the Punishment I was facing. I then maintained this stalemate until the Punishment ended, emerging uninjured this time, only exhausted. After recovering somewhat in Chaos, I teleported back to Hold.

When I returned, Rin and Rita appeared by my side.

-"Master Yue."

~"I'm back. How long I was gone?"

-"Five days."

~"Only? Ugh, defying the Law of Time can mess with your perception."

-"Is everything alright? Should I call Lady Ena to help you, Master Yue?"

~"No need, I'm all right. I appreciate your concern, Rita. After growing in strength, I can finally resist the Karmatic Punishment, not only passively defend like before, so I'm uninjured."

-"I'm happy to hear that. During your absence, some matters requiring your attention have been raised, so please take care of them at your earliest convenience."

~"Work, huh? I'll go to my office then."

-"I'll inform Nuwa and Fuxi about Master Yue's return."

~"Thank you, Rin."

My return prompted some people to visit me in my office, so rather than work, I spent the rest of the day assuring everyone that I was OK. I was only able to finish my chores the next day, but before I could move to other tasks, another guest arrived at my door.

~"Hmm? Keqing? You were here just yesterday, so you should know that I'm all right."

-"I know. Yesterday was a personal visit. Now it's a work one."

~"What's going on?"

-"Tomorrow, the Festival of Domination will happen, so I'm here to prepare you for everything that will happen. This time, we will have guests from IPC and their allies, as well as from other words connected with us, so everything needs to be flawless."

~"Yes, I remember that. So what do you want me to do?"

-"I'll explain what tomorrow will look like and everything you will have to do. Astraea asked me to make sure you know everything about guests who will be present so as not to cause any incident."

~"I leave myself in your hands then."

-"Good."-Keqing passed me a thick stack of documents, each depicting a person invited to the Festival with a detailed explanation about them.-"Let's start with..."

Keqing spent the rest of the day with me, as this was the first official event hosted by Hold that was open to outsiders, so for many, it will be the first introduction to our force.

Hold might not be able to compare to IPC as of yet, especially when it comes to the side, but the strength of Hold's Knights and Champions is far greater than the forces of IPC. Each Knight of Hold can easily defeat groups of IPC Security Personnel, and as for Champions, even average Emanators might not be their opponents as of now.

We are already making up the numbers, so we are not worried about that. Right now, we need to secure more contacts with other forces as producing everything we might need is unfeasible, and we need to secure trade routes.

My home world has technology developed in a way that connects the mystical with science, making it the best place for securing many technical components.

Cultivation worlds were much better for resources, and we already started to make some deals here and there. Still, as those can be supplemented by Ningguang's [Horn of Plenty], priority was put on places that can create more complicated products that we can't produce on such a scale.

The reason for sending numerous invitations was our strong standing and reputation. Hold had my official support as [Akasha], along with Ena and Xipe, and as the backing of three Aeons opens many doors, we didn't need to prove our value and power to others, and we instantly rose to the position of major power.

IPC also cooperated with us closely, especially as they lacked a military comparable with ours, and the situation was to our advantage, with the whole world invasion.

Astraea and Ningguang were the ones responsible for making deals and establishing connections, while Nobu and I were to make Hold appear as great and powerful as we could. Elysia was not involved in this plan, as she was busy with traveling to new words and taking care of the Chat Group in my stead.

During those few past months, members of the Chat Group trained with the assistance of some Hold members brought by Elysia and slowly gained a footing on the Paths they were suited for. While they still can't be called Pathstriders, they are not far off.

Luckily, they will soon have free time as their schools will enter the holiday period, so we scheduled their first quest then. New experience should allow them to take that last and first step.

-"Yue!"

~"Sorry, I seem to space out for a moment."

-"Then focus. We don't have much time."

Glancing at the stack of papers that hadn't even been reduced by half, I couldn't help but sigh, praying that I would be able to finish before sunset.

The next morning, the whole Hold Capital City was decorated with red lamps and banners. On those, a depiction of a black tree with a golden fire burning at its roots was visible. This was the insignia of Domination that Nobu approved to be treated as the symbol of the whole Hold's army.

The black tree, of course, depicted [Yggdrasil], which became the symbol of the Hold, and the golden fire depicted Feng's The Immortal Fire, which meant to represent the undying nature of our Knights. Lastly, the background was red, as it was the color of the Domination from the very beginning.

The main street that goes from the gates of High Grounds straight down the city was especially adorned. That street will soon become the center of today's event, and from the early hours of the morning, our policing forces cordoned it off. Some people have already begun gathering by the barriers, securing the best spots to see the parade.

The gate of the High Grounds will be where we, as Hold leaders, will be during the ceremony, along with guests whose tribunes were prepared nearby. The public square before the gate was used during the Festival of Duty as it was big enough to fit tens of thousands of people easily.

It was big enough to allow all the people taking part in the parade to gather there, thus it was chosen to be the final point. The Knights will walk through the main streets until they arrive here, salute and present themself to us before entering the High Grounds, ending their part of the parade.

I continued to watch over everything with my perception until the time I needed to move arrived. Wearing my Royal Armour, I met up with my wifes.

~"I see not only I received new clothes. You all look stunning."

-"Isn't that obvious?"-Nobu smiled at me, her eyes full of provocation.

She ditched her previous military uniform in place of pitch-black armor shimmering with red runes in some places. In contrast to that, she had a crimson cloak draped over her, one that seemed to drip with blood as she moved.

She also didn't hide her aura, which, after Cultivating and becoming Pathstrider of Destruction, became full of bloodlust. She fully became a conqueror, bathed in the blood of those who stood in the way of her dominion.

-"We can't let you stand out too much, Dear."-Elysia beamed as she grabbed my arm.

Elysia also changed her image, no longer wearing her Flamechaser uniform but using her Herrscher outfit with slight modifications. Most noticeably, she seemed to glimmer with soft light, as if stars were ensuring she was the center of attention anywhere she went.

Similarly to Nobu, this was also because of her practice. She continued to Cultivate during her travels, creating her own techniques connected with stars, but what was more surprising, she received the gaze of Idrila, becoming the Emanator of Beauty. Now, when she stood by my side, even my Veil seemed unable to hide our presence and appearance, dimming the whole world because of that.

~"Can't you control your power? You are resonating with me too much."

-"Nope! I don't want you to keep hiding behind that Veil nonstop. I want others to also see your whole Beauty!"

-"While I agree that you should not make that Veil your second skin, you shouldn't force Yue to do something he is uncomfortable with, Elie."-Astraea tried to mediate with her usual soft voice.

Astraea's image changed the least, but she asked Hephaestus and Elune to modify her Divine Raiment so as not to be outdone by the rest of the girls. Before, she only wore an elegant dress from ancient Greece, but now she wears armor fusing elements of Elven Moon Pristes armor with Greek armor from her pantheon.

Over a blue toga that reached to her knees, she had a silver breastplate. This was accompanied by bracers and greaves to complete the appearance of a female warrior from Greek myths. On her head, she had a laurel wreath made from a special plant that was known as a star branch due to its glistening with silver starlight.

While her appearance was least standing out of the four women, her aura was everything but. She no longer used her avatar, appearing in her true body and forgoing any covering of her Divine nature. She emanated with holiness and virtue. As a goddess of justice, innocence, and purity, one would never dare to have any evil thoughts in her presence.

While as a True goddess, she couldn't raise her strength like others, she didn't sit on laurels and embarked on the Path of Order as a Pathstrider. She also often communicated with Elune and Feng, wanting to turn her connection with stars into something more tangible, to one day become Celestial.

-"Yue, take of that Veli. I know you don't mind others seeing you. You just don't like the trouble. We can't have an Emperor who seems to be afraid of showing himself in front of others."-Ningguang decided using her no-nonsense approach.

Because she was the weakest of the four, the changes she underwent up to today were the greatest. She made great strides as a Cultivator, and finding that style fitting her, she began wearing clothes that Cultivators preferred.

Now, she was wearing a white-golden robe that matched my Royal Armour with its style, but it depicted dragons and phoenixes rather than nature like I. She even wore a hagoromo scarf to match my Al'maiesh.

To complete the look of an empress, she also didn't cover her aura, which, due to her Cultivating the Way of Empress, manifested as a Golden Dragon of Luck connected to Hold. While she was the only full noncombatant out of us five, she chose this way as it had the greatest potency to assist the development of Hold, connecting her own power with Hold's Luck.

~"So be it. If I were to hide today, it would be disrespectful to your beauty."~Taking off my Veil, I also let go of other powers that covered my aura.

My appearance didn't change much from the time of my ascension to Aeonhood, only continuing to sublimate, achieving higher forms of beauty. My nine tails swayed behind me, and my whole person seemed to be covered by a slight mist that was pure spiritual power.

Letting go of my aura also no longer resulted in any visible effect on the world, as it perfectly mixed into nature around. The only effect that one could perceive was if he tried to see past that natural look, as then he would glimpse my true nature, but whatever he could survive after looking at Aeon was another matter.

-"Much better!"-Elysia proceeded to hug my arme even stronger.

-"Indeed, you should stop hiding non-stop."-Nobu also agreed with them.

~"Sigh. I'll try to correct that, but I'll keep wearing the Veil in non-official situations. Trouble is one thing. The problem is people getting awed and freezing."~I motioned to our surroundings, where even trained Palace Guards stared at me without even breathing.

-"Right, I can see how that's problematic."-Astraea looked at the Palace Guards and woke them by using her aura.

-"This is because you never showed your true appearance to them. If they were used to it like us, it wouldn't be that bad."

~"You might be right, Ningguang, but old habits die hard."

-"OK, we can discuss that later. Time for us to get going."-Nobu reminded us.-"Yue, get your Guards to be our escort."

~"Sure. Sakura stay by Elysia's side, Jeanne by Astraea, Shenhe by Ningguang, and Tomoe by Nobu. Hare, Benares, you came with me."

Girls moved according to my orders, and soon, we left the Palace and moved toward the wall from where we were to watch the parade. Not even five minutes later, we were looking over the public square, becoming the center of attention for people standing around it.

~"Do you still remember when we stood here and looked at the expansive plain that was here before?"

-"Right. Now, I can't even see the horizon due to the buildings."-Astraea reminisced about that day.

-"Step by step, we arrived here."-Ningguang didn't hide her pride.

-"Don't talk like it's some kind of end."-Nobu brought us back to reality.

-"We still have a whole eternity in front of us."-Elysia showed her usual brilliant smile.

~"Indeed. It seems that I'm starting to look forward to that eternity spent with all of you."~Smiling slightly, I waited for the Festival to start.