Chapter 227: Soul's Garden.
"Do it now!" She snapped at the pilot and then looked at Sol again.
"Can I trust your words?" Sol asked watching through the layers in the ship as Jenifer was given emergency care and then put inside an incubation capsule where her body began mending slowly.
"I can\'t speak for the rest of the Emporium, but I will never show my face before you again," Chey answered taking the piece from her ear and placing it on the dashboard while Sol took his and crushed it, lowering his hand and cancelling the flashy technique.
"Get us out of here."
[Watch over her Alpha, if it comes to it, give her a system and make sure she has the strength to at least protect herself.] Sol ordered the third consciousness of the system.
[I will do all I can, master.] Alpha answered, and Sol watched as the ship started going backwards while a great white tear appeared in the space behind it, then a moment later it was gone.
"Well," Sol huffed and relaxed himself changing his clothes and healing his superficial wounds as he began slowly turning until his legs were pointing upwards and his arms were folded behind his head.
"That\'s one part of many, all we can do now is wait and see if it works." He scoffed and spun several more times and then with a flick of his finger he appeared in Eris\'s guest room again and landed on the floor with a graceful tap of his toes.
"A wonderful performance, I never took you for an actor!" Arla applauded Sol\'s acting skills as soon as his eyes opened.
"Come on, he had us all completely fooled until someone messed with Ikaris too, didn\'t he?" Dina made mention of what happened in their third month on Arkadia when Kane and the demigods attacked the encampment and Sol had gone off the rails and Arla nodded to that while Sara smiled, since she had been the very first to suspect Sol of hiding his power after he had thrown her out of reflex.
"What now then?" Ikaris asked, pulling all eyes to herself.
"Jenifer\'s incident was isolated, it was going to happen regardless, our coming here was to warn the others about the Emporium and scout the strongest amongst the pantheon, those I could trust with more strength," Sol answered, scratching his head.
"Do you intend to break the collective apart and gift everyone you trust with more power?" Arla asked skeptically.
"Absolutely not." Ikaris objected before Sol even spoke a word.
"Don\'t worry, only you three and Sara," Sol answered. "I already have those branches separated and ready, but we haven\'t had a lot of time to really settle down so I\'ve been holding off and monitoring Ikaris in the meantime." He added.
"Since this is something that directly affects your soul and mana granting you an abundant amount of cosmic mana that can later be compacted into divine power I needed to give her time and see what happens.
"You used me as a guinea pig?" Ikaris raised a brow at Sol\'s explanation and he chuckled and shook his head.
"It\'s not exactly like it\'s been done before, you already have the capacity to withstand much more than that, but the little discomfort you experienced when I planted the tree in your soul could be the death of others, I wanted to make sure." He sat down and gestured to Arla, Dina and then Sara.
"Dina can handle a small branch, she\'s achieved complete evolution and her mana has already changed nature to that of a Demigod, Arla still possessed cosmic mana, and Sara hasn\'t been making much progress-"
"That was my own choice, Sir," Sara interjected. "I honestly detest fighting, I know you will not always be able to protect me, but I would rather not become some god-like entity that breaks worlds; my place is as your shadow and your maidservant." She smiled and Sol scoffed with a smile.
"Dina," Sol called her over, sitting in a lotus pose on the bed and tapping the empty space before himself. "Let\'s do this.
"I will give you two a little privacy then," Ikaris stood with Sara\'s help. "I am going to visit Eris and Usami for some girl time, come, Arla." She gestured and the elf happily leapt from her seat and followed them out, closing the door behind herself.
"It\'s gonna hurt, right?" Dina asked, biting her lips in anticipation.
"Dina, try to relax as much as possible and let me in."
"I\'ll always let you come in." She chuckled nervously, but Sol was already focused so didn\'t find the humour in her words and glossed over it completely as he pressed his palm on her back. "Uhm... Master, this scares me, what if being a demigod isn\'t enough?"
"I\'m right here, don\'t worry, whatever pain you experience I\'ll heal it, if your body rejects it I\'ll call it all off." Sol\'s image slowly shifted as he went through a quiet transformation behind her, opened his palm, summoned a small branch, a singular universe and held it at her back.
"Close your eyes and focus on my mana, I\'m going in."
"T-This is terrifying!" Dina leaned forward and opened her eyes again just before Sol could breach her soul. "How did Ikaris do this?"
"Do you trust me?" Sol rested his hand on her shoulder and straightened her posture again.
"I do; I trust you with my all."
"Then surrender your soul into my hands and let me do the rest," Sol pressed his hand on her back once more and closed his eyes. "Surrender everything."
"Okay," Dina took a deep breath and calmed her racing heart feeling the wrenching tear against a body she had no power to move, her soul resisted and it showed with every breath she took when sweat started dripping down net chin and her sigils started burning a bright blue hue.
Like Ikaris Dina saw a vast and empty space within herself after Sol intruded and a few seconds later that space turned completely black at the welcome of a golden branch being led by vines, wherever they walked land would appear, followed by flowers and grass, she watched in marvel as the vast emptiness was filled from one stretch to the other with greenery, and at the halt of the vines they all took root and the branch immediately began reaching for the endless black skies above.
Clouds of white formed and winds started howling as the space came to life and beneath this great tree that stretched for an eternity Dina stood with her eyes wide in wonder and her mouth agape unaware that on the outside her body was limp in Sol\'s arms.
For her, only a few minutes had passed since she stood beneath the tree, but for everyone else, it had been hours, Ikaris and the others had returned to Sol holding her and since that moment on she had been in his grasp as he carefully monitored and watched the tree spread, wondering if he should halt the growth as it continued sprouting more branches and growing rapidly.
Just when he was going to halt the growth and try waking her up though, Dina\'s eyes slowly opened and she groaned and held her head. "Dina," Sol placed his hand on the Mage\'s head cheek and tapped it several times.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, expecting her to say something along the lines of being in pain, but instead, she chuckled for a few seconds rolling out of his grasp and vomiting up a pool of squirming black mass on the floor.
"Oh, gods..." Arla scrunched her nose as the scent of the mass arose. "What is that?"
"To my knowledge that should be the impurities which remained after her body was purged and her foundation improved." Sara held her nose and created a shadow beneath the mass vanquishing it to some unknown place, pulling a bottle of air freshener from her pocket and spraying it around the room.
"Sara, where did that idea come from?" Sol raised a brow at her.
"I spend my leisure and lunch breaks reading Manhua and web novels, Sir it is quite common to see this type of phenomenon after one raises their foundation in those fantastical adventures!" She turned to Sol excitedly and clapped her hands while he loomed over Dina who looked up at her and wiped her mouth.
"Did you just compare me to fiction...?" Dina asked but before she could say a word more she turned to the floor and hurled more black mass again.
"Dina-"
"I\'m okay, I promise, after a few more pukes I\'ll be good to g-uuurgh!" She bent over his hand again while everyone held their noses and quietly left them once more, visibly relieved.
"That was a little scary, even Ikaris came running," Sol admitted with a relieved sigh, waving his hand and purifying the mass on the ground into water.
"I didn\'t feel a thing though," She answered leaning against his hand and tapping her stomach when she felt more coming up.
"Dina, you nearly died," Sol furrowed his brows and watched her shoulders stiffen when she looked around at him.
"You don\'t remember a thing, do you?"