GIVING IN

Nothing was worse than being in a melee with a being who was capable of killing as easy as breathing, thus, the arena opening-up for Yunan and War.

"Seriously, You guys forced me to waste three treasure troves, who do I have to kill next? Let's do this once and be done with it, anyone who cares to fight to the death can come closer, otherwise, I will just proceed to claim your universe and make you all my slaves".

War was about to charge again but found Mir stopping him. Mir had a very terrifying look, there was death glaring from behind his pupils. It was something Yunan knew very well, something had touched Mir's bottom line.

"You said you requested surrender, you said we had a year, you even went as far as fighting for this long without killing, but slavery can never be allowed, we would rather all die than be slaves, I would die first, what say you, invader?"

"True, true, my mistake, I got a little bit bloodthirsty, fighting for so long and resorting to killing was taxing on my mentality, I thought that you may want to end it earlier since you guys attacked me as soon as I stepped out, usually after retreat comes negotiation, maybe wars are different in you universe". Yunan was feeling bad about crossing a line too early, he did promise them after all.

Yunan lowered his sword and returned to his human form, changed his clothes and waved away the grime of battle from his face. He stood still, if nothing was coming out of him leaving Dreamscape he would just return.

Mir moved forward, War and Bahn flanking him, Mir still looked pissed off but Yunan knew it was a façade, nothing more, he was trying to make it so that he had a chip to negotiate with.

"Other than swearing allegiance, we are completely free to do as we wish in the combined universe, you may only call upon us to defend the place from an external invasion, nothing else, these are our terms" the seething hatred that Mir used to speak was the only genuine thing he let out of his moth.

"My terms were already generous, to begin with, I have no need for your willingness, but I prefer to have willing followers than disgruntled and unwilling slaves, you are free to do as you like as long as you follow the rules of the first universe, all you have to do is follow the rules, you can even choose to not defend if and when invaders came, if you become strong enough, you can leave, but as long as you reside in my universe, you follow the rules, if following some rules for the benefit of all is not good enough, then we can see each other in a year."

Yunan turned his back and made his way to Dreamscape, the bitterness in Mir and War was almost tangible, but it was Bahn who stopped him.

"What does swearing allegiance to you require? Although I would fight to the death if it is something unacceptable". The silence was too deep, it felt as if the entire universe was holding its breath.

Yunan stopped and turned around, he took a look at all those who surrounded him then lifted his free hand so that the palm was facing upwards he then drew a tiny bit from the Effort divinity and let it show.

"You swear upon this, that you would take me as your lord, you would follow my rules and if you are willing, you can safeguard what is mine, that is all, if you break the oath, you will lose your divinity and fall, if I do anything to break my side of the oath, I would be rejected by my divinity and die painfully, is that acceptable for you?"

Binding someone through an oath made on divinity was stronger than any kind of bind, the contract was equally merciless on both sides, anything untoward happens, losing divinity was inevitable.

"If I swore your oath but then left to build another universe, would it be affected as well?" there was slight nervousness in Bahn as he spoke but Yunan's following words reassured him.

"Only if you will it, this contract can coexist alongside the one from your primordial, as long as you will it, you may extend the contract to any new universe you make, as for if you chose to leave, the contract becomes invalid until you decided to return".

"Fine then, we submit as long as you swear to treat us the same way you do those of your own universe" Mir was the one to take the first step, Bahn was a creator, if he took the oath first it would make the surrender look forced, well more forced than it actually was.

One by one, god after god, each one of them pledged to the fragment of Effort divinity, then each returned to their homes and divine realms, after knowing the rules Yunan set up for them, they felt a bit foolish.

Some still wanted to reject Yunan and his invasion, but as a united universe, they could not betray everything just for the sake of something worthless.

True to his word, Yunan still waited for the entire year in case new gods ascended and give the late gods to think things through, during that year, he would accept pledges daily, meanwhile he fused his fragment of Fate with the Fate of the universe, turned it murky and foggy, utterly unpredictable, then he took a fragment and changed the course of the universe, it was now headed for universe Hossana to merge with it.

Tasha was having the time of her life chasing skirts, all over the universe, while Yunan was busying himself with the aftermath of his successful invasion when he recalled her, she was as radiant as a star and seemed to have regenerated her batteries. His order was delivered and they headed to the next target.