Chapter 15: A Terror Beyond This Universe

Back in the airship cabins, Leah gently hoisted herself from her wheelchair and elegantly rolled herself onto the bed.

Not far from her bedside, her maid, Henna, started wiping the bloodstained wheelchair with a rag.

The corpse of the bodyguard had long been disposed of.

The esteemed Princess Eris was now exhausted. Not from sending her bodyguard to the afterlife though.

Rainy day murder was as simple as chopping melons and vegetables to her.

The road to immortality was inherently treacherous. Opportunities to attain the tao didn't just fall from the sky. The millions of souls vanquished under her blade could form a sea of blood.

What she really was exhausted from was spending half an hour in order to comfort her frightened maid and repeatedly reassuring her that she didn't have any reason to gift her a permanent vacation…

The bodyguard was actually someone sent to monitor her actions by the royal family. She was assigned a "protector" from a young age in order to create the illusion of trust. As for exactly who, Eris had no interest in finding out. They would never had expected though that she had the soul of an immortal fairy.

Typical family intrigue motivated by profits. She had seen enough in her past life.

What really annoyed the shit out of her was the constant feeling of being spied on. From her sleep, to the bath, and even when she released the reincarnation of the grains.

Now that she was setting sail for the Skyspire continent, she could finally relieve herself of the human baggage.

Although she had not recovered her past prowess, maiming a mere second order being with her combat experience was simple enough for her to do. Only a true third order would be sweat breaking for her.

All she needed was a few preparations. Sending a hypnotic suggestion through a question, tossing a handkerchief to divert attention, and striking when the guard's defense was most lowered.

Twenty plus years of her laying low had already lowered Leah's guard to an all time low against her.

But just because she was lowkey didn't mean she was a soft persimmon. She was merely in retreat digesting her past life memories to generate muscle memory.

After sending her bodyguard off for a permanent vacation, the princess felt immense relief. Like finally scratching an itch that had lasted for several years. Or silencing a mosquito buzzing all day long.

Swish.

While the princess drifted off, the maid Henna wrung out the rag in a bucket dyeing the water scarlet.

Phew. Now it was time to make dinner for her lady.

Henna secretly glanced at the princess preparing to leave the room.

The steady rise and fall of Eris' chest indicated that she might have fallen asleep.

The maid was scared. Not of Eris but of her unfamiliarity. She was afraid of the future waiting for her when the master chose to reveal her cruelty. Would she be silenced?

While the maid gently left the room for fear of waking Eris, unbeknownst to her, the princess had opened her eyes.

Eris glanced over at the maid silently observing her tiptoe out the room.

"Interesting," she thought behind her flat face.

Believe it or not, this maid was actually her sister.

Well, to be precise, half sister.

Both of them were heirs to the ruler but hailed from different backgrounds.

The maid Henna was born out of a drunken affair with a random maid.

An accident.

The Dawn Empire was a rule of strength. Naturally because of the insufficient status or ability of her mother, the maid Henna could only inherit her mother's position.

Eventually, Henna would end up at the princesses' side.

As for her own mother…hmm.

She really had no affection for her. The biological parents were just carriers of her flesh and blood. Her origins had always been her past life.

Just like nature, the act of reproduction was merely for the continuity of the species or lineage. Not all organisms reproduced for the sake of family, often leaving the offspring to fend for themselves.

This wasn't right or wrong but simply a matter of perspective.

In her view, she was quite generous in even acknowledging her mother's existence. As emotions among the royal family were simply nonexistent. Perhaps some day who you thought was your brother was simply plotting your head.

However, the karma of flesh and blood had to be repaid. If a favor was required of her she would consider it.

Watching her maid leave the room, Eris suddenly spoke,

"Hey… you want revenge on your father dont you?"

Startled by the sudden inquiry, the maid Henna froze.

Wh..what did the princess mean by that?!

Henna froze and clutched the corners of her linen dress tightly.

The air in the room was frozen momentarily.

"That's quite rude. I'm talking to you." In the bed, Princess Eris rolled over and glared at Henna in a monotone voice.

The maid Henna turned around and gave a small bow.

"I'm sorry I don't know," she said meekly.

"Don't pretend. You're hiding something salvaged from the body aren't you? After all, a sorcerers' possession are worth quite a hefty sum for mortals."

Eris stared intently at Henna watching every expression the maid made.

Earlier, she had asked of Henna to dispose of the body. After all, even if there weren't any repercussions for killing a servant, she would expose herself too soon. At first, the maid was quite hesitant in touching human organs but Eris was pretty sure the enthusiasm hidden in Henna's eyes earlier wasn't an illusion.

This girl was actually quite bold.

She could tell the maid secretly kept some of the sorcerer's belongings. But for what exactly it was, she didn't care. She would never bring herself to the level of salvaging from the dead.

But for Henna, it was a completely different story. It could potentially set her for life.

"Don't worry, I'm not made. That was actually quite commendable of you. But what are you planning to use the wealth for? Hiring an assassin? Pfftt" The princess Eris grinned.

Though the grin was quite strange as only her lips moved but her eyes remained in position.

"I..I'm not!" The maid Henna quickly turned around and denied Eris of such accusations.

"Then so be it. What do you plan to do? You have no knowledge of sorcery. Even if you sell it, how? Where are your channels? How would you ensure that you got your money's worth? "

"Face the reality."

Eris narrowed her eyes at the maid, "And how do you suppose you would go about doing anything under my nose?"

Henna backed away nervously…her body trembling in dismay.

"I just wanted to provide for my mother…she..she..I haven't seen her in awhile."

"Don't worry, i won't hurt you. You're not worth my time," Princess Eris sighed. "That's quite understandable. After all, you were assigned to me at quite a young age. The opportunities to spend time with your mother isn't that much."

"But…" she continued. "Have you considered the fact that your mother might be more well off than you at the castle?"

"Or perhaps…" Eris paused before turning cold and continuing. "Even dead?"

The maid Henna gritted her teeth, breathing heavily.

She knew what the princess said was reasonable. Ever since…since she was born, her mother had been ostracized by the servants and royal family alike.

Her mother had given birth to an existence that was proof of the emperor's promiscuity. She knew just how hard her mother had fought for her right to exist. Sheltering, begging, and even crying while protecting her in her arms. She also even knew just how her mother hated her.

In the end for better or worse, she was taken away and assigned to a princess.

For many years now, she had no idea if her mother was either dead or alive. Henna hated her existence. And she hated that selfish man who started all of this. Why was only her mother suffering?

And why did no one blame that selfish man? Why did the gods allow this to happen? Why did fate force existence upon her?

"Because you are weak."

As if reading the maid's mind Eris causally spoke.

What?! Henna glanced at Princess Eris with teary eyes. Her brown red hair mangled with sweat.

"Like I said. Because you are weak." Eris unflinchingly responded. "Weakness was always the original sin."

Fate was never in the hands of the inadequate. Just like in her previous life. All living things were merely just chess pieces for the saints to wantonly play with. That was why she sought to pursue the peak so much. To fight destiny and change her life against the sky.

The maid Henna stared at Eris in disbelief. So…unfair.

She clenched her linen skirt so hard that her knuckles turned white.

Eris sighed.

"Don't look like that. Emotions without action won't change reality. How about this. I'll give you two options."

The princess locked eyes with her maid. And for the first time Henna didn't flinch at Eris's piercing gaze.

The princess Eris raised a finger and nodded in approval,

"Good. Submit to me and I'll give you the chance to change your fate. I don't just want your allegiance but your loyalty. Understand?"

"And when the day comes, I'll personally bring you to check up on your mother. If dead, I'll offer her a proper burial with great honors and if still alive…I'll ensure she lives the good life she deserves."

Eris glanced at her maid. Then raised a second finger and smirked.

"Or… I can set you free."

"You'll become one the very rare few that escapes a life sentence. No strings attached. At the next stop, you take your belongings and get out. Flee to the ends of earth and settle down somewhere remote. Live a good life. No one will care for a missing dispensable servant."

Eris paused for a moment and then added,

"I'll also return your deed"

"So which of the two will you choose?"

Princess Eris watched in amusement as Henna lowered her head in thought.

Confusion, panic, and hesitation was written all over the maid's face like some opera show.

"I….i.. I choose…," Hennie stammered. She really wanted to choose the second option. Some inexplicable intuition told her that the princess would really keep her words and from then on, she would live the life she had always dreamed of.

But..but…

"Lady Eris!" Hennie mustered her courage, "My deed had alway been in your hands."

"Good. Very good. That was quite bold of you." The Dawn Princess beamed. Though her smile was a tad bit awkward and frightening as the muscles on her face were too stiff.

Princess Eris propped herself up on the bed and dangled her lifeless feet over the edge.

"I have no use for cowards by my side but your determination is quite sincere. I promise you that you won't regret this choice. From now on you are no longer a servant or just a mere maid."

"You are my subordinate. And from henceforth you may address me as 'Miss'. Go to my drawers and take your own deed for yourself. I give you permission to destroy it."

"Yes Miss Eris!" Henna nodded in disbelief with tears uncontrollably dripping from her eyes.

Henna rubbed her eyes and sniffed a bit before happily trotting away.

But before she managed to exit the door, Eris greeted her again.

"Hey."

"Hmm?" Henna innocently turned around puzzled.

"We'll be stopping at the Kongwu Kingdom in the Skyspire continent. I'll be meeting an old friend…"

"Understood!" The maid nodded and continued to happily trott away.

Eris shook her head and watched Henna's leaving figure.

"Don't be in a rush to do things. Prepare yourself, I don't need the weak willed by my side. We'll return to Dawn soon. You'll have your revenge then. To see your father's throne topple down as I take Dawn for my own. And don't forget to make dinner on the way."

Naniii?

The maid nearly tripped on the way to the kitchen. Take Dawn? Usurp the throne?

What gave the princess the courage to do that? It was true she despised her father but Dawn was such a behemoth.

But deep down within Henna's heart…there was perhaps, hope? Or expectations?

While Henna was cooking, she thought back to before.

The princess was indeed very fierce then instantly maiming a second order. But the emperor was a fourth order…could she really take Dawn?

Perhaps the princess was secretly a blessed child of a church?

She had heard from the gossip of the maids that only the children of the gods, the chosen ones, would suddenly gain power without the years of training required to master an art.

Perhaps there was some church with a powerful god behind secretly supporting the princess?

Had the princess been biding her time brewing a conspiracy for the perfect moment? After all, Eris seemed so…different now. The extremely cold princess who used to shut herself in the room suddenly became so fierce.

Hey, the "old friend" might even be the pope of a church!

If they were successful in their rebellion and usurped the church, which position would she take? Her mother would finally be able to live in peace…

The maid happily fantasized on her bright future letting her imaginations run wild. It was as if some longtime burden had been released.

...

Meanwhile, the dawn princess Eris Alastair coldly glanced over at the door a while after Henna departed.

Good. Not a single soul in sight.

Princess Eris slightly waved her hand.

In the void in front of her, a droplet of blood slowly materialized.

Not the usual red of mortal blood...but a chilling blue. A chilling blue teardrop of blood hovering on the palm of her hands.

This was immortal blood essence. The purest of blood containing the body, mind, and spirit found at the heart of an immortal being.

A treasure so precious that it was absolutely impossible for a mortal to possess.

Practitioners ,or supernatural beings, would have to attain the tao, pass the heavenly catastrophes, and ascend to immortality in the upper realm in order to condense such blood.

How difficult was this? The immortals of her world could be equated to the illusory gods of the Mortal Realm. So it was as difficult as a magic caster ascending to godhood in this world. Nigh impossible.

One drop of this blood essence could crush a mountain. Straight from the heart of an immortal containing their lifetime understanding of the laws and their undying vitality.

Princess Eris casually admired the blood essence .

It dazzled and sparkled with an icy blue like the frigid allure of a frozen wonderland.

This was her blood essence. The blood essence perserved from her past life.

Therefore she had a special connection with it, able to summon and utilize it freely. If not, she would had long been crushed to death or frozen into oblivion by the laws contained within.

In this one tiny droplet she would be able to perform a single miracle beyond human comprehension.

And if she reintegrated with the blood essence, she would be able to recover a portion of strength from her past life.

Though that would be extremely foolish considering that she was rebuilding from scratch.

In her past life she had majored in the Jade Heart Sutra. A cultivation technique that her sect had developed. It was also the root of her imperfect foundation. This technique was inherently flawed. And because of that she wasn't able to take the final steps to sainthood.

If she reintegrated with this blood essence created through the Jade Heart Sutra, she could kiss her immortal path goodbye. She would rather save this blood as a trump card.

In fact, she had originally reincarnated with two drops of blood essence

Several years ago she sensed an oddly familiar feeling through her powerful battle honed intuition.

At that time she had still been in seclusion integrating the memories of her past life and dealing with matters of the royal family.

She didn't feel the need to investigate at that time though.

But two years later that familiar sensation intensified leaving Princess Eris astonished.

She discerned the aura of an acquaintance!

It was that one…but how could that be?

How could that person coincidently be here too? The multiverse was unimaginably vast and the odds of reencountering that person was too infinitesimally small.

It was the person that gifted her the rebirth sutra. And also the one treading the path of the red dust!

Never in the long river of time would she imagined encountering that person again. Eris had honestly thought he had long died in some ditch somewhere foolishly seeking the impossible.

How odd. She was perplexed. Could it be because of the rebirth sutra? In the vast cycle of samara anything could happen. Maybe it was similar to a key and a door. With the sutra as the key and samsara as the door. Since they had entered reincarnation opening the same door, perhaps they would end up in similar worlds?

Well, then it was the perfect chance to repay a favor. She, the dawn princess, Eris Alastair never owned favors!

So Eris decisively burned and sacrificed a drop of blood essence to temporarily recover a portion of her powers. Due to the lack of integration with the essence, her powers would soon fade away. Quite a waste but it would allow her to cast a single miracle to repay the karma for the rebirth sutra.

And she wasn't mistaken…it was indeed her old friend. Just that…

She had found to her dismay that the old friend, an esteemed red dust immortal walker, was quite…well different now. She never expected him to possess such heavy tastes in nether regions…(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) [a/n: chap 7.5 dude was caught reading something sketchy]

Eris Alastair covered her mouth with a hand and chuckled recalling the matter. Her stiff face relaxed showing a genuine smirk.

It was so ridiculously hilarious to her that such a serious red dust immortal would one day become so …pathetic. Forgetting one's celestial origins and reduced to observing indecent books.

"Huh?" Eris open her eyes in surprise. Then she looked down at her own useless legs.

Dammit, wasn't she the same? Reduced to pathetic garbage? Well, she had planned earlier on using the spare blood essence to reshape her flesh and bones and recover her legs…

Eris Alastair glanced at the last remaining blood essence on her palms.

Forget it.

She would recover from the will of the world's suppression after mastering the Imperial Luck Formula anyways.

Now it was more important to meet that old friend and form an alliance.

In fact she had already been on her way a year ago, but the sea diving Mythoaisa and Skyspire wasn't really something that could be crossed in a day. A cross plane teleportation would be nigh impossible given the astronomical amount of resources required.

Eris knew that she could no longer tread the solitary path she took in her previous life. Trusted support was definitely required in building and managing an empire. In her past life she was foolish enough to believe even the saints wouldn't be able to stop her as long as her abilities were immense enough.

Her tao. Her sect. Her treasure. Her home. They could all be protected under her control.

But apparently she still perished. It wasn't until her final moment that she truly understood no amount of individual power could prepare against absolute terror.

Eris knew that time could be running out for this universe. She had no idea how far away this universe was from hers but based off of her understanding from her memories, Eris knew it was only a master of time before 'they' reached here.

The dawn princess closed her eyes.

A deep bloody scarlet filled her vision.

Foul menacing black matter engulfed the cosmos as celestial stars went dim and lost their luster. A colossal shadow enveloped the entire universe like jaws attempting to devour trillions of galaxies.

Thump thump.

Eris could perceive her heartbeat accelerating.

Blood rushed to her head and even breathing became suffocating. Fine beads of sweat formed at her forehead.

A thousand years of composure weathered away in the face of pure cataclysmic terror older than time.

In the center of a murky darkness, an awe-inspiring fairy turned her head and glanced at Eris Alastair through the long river of time.

The dazzling fairy muttered something and then everything went dark.

This was the last message her past life left.

The conferred god war had attracted primordial horrors that shouldn't have existed.

But Eris Alastair wasn't perturbed.

Instead she even smiled gleefully inside because she knew that the saints's reign was over.

It turns out that even the mighty saints could fall too.

_______________________________________________________________________________

A/N FROM ARTHURONURANUS

btw fyi- Eris Alastair, she is 18th princess of dawn. Alastair is actually her family name. Usually called princess alastair or goes by 18th princess but because she has too many sibling and it would be confusing i just flipped her name teehee :>

my longest chapter yet 3.5k words. editing this was hell.

I could feel my eyeballs slowly drying out and dying as i finished this chapter O-o Btw, if this chapter feels off, ignore it pls :) i wrote it and edited both on days where im legit sleep deprived

positivity for today:

give yourself engough credit for doing things and holding down a life even if you are coping with crippling depression. youre amazing <3< em>

small steps can make big changes

song of the day: ichiban no takaramono (my most precious treasure) from the anime Angel Beats!