Recklessness - (5)

Zulova elaborated, "Uncle's shadow soldiers examined that rebellion empire whole. Shockingly, they succeeded in manipulating five billion people into becoming their disciples and completely tamed them!"

Elsa commented, "As expected from my master. Your intelligence is far above the level of an average Joe!"

Zulova announced, "Dealing with those vermins is no big deal. However, Uncle Dray told me that hurrying things would only complicate the latter when you're alone. Therefore, I will make a scenario where the five billion tamed people began spreading their wings until they become ten billion. I shall name them 'Cosmic Shadowlords' as a counterfeit for 'Cosmic Overlords'. Without my involvement, the rebels will encounter thorns in their path!"

Mihu wondered, "But that would still make fifty billion against ten billion. Can the 'Cosmic Shadowlords' win?!"

Zulova chuckled, "No worries, those shadow souls' monstrosity has no bounds. Therefore, those under their wing would ultimately gain the right to summon endless powers from their masters!"

Mihu asked, "What about the opponents? Do you know what kind of powers they had?!"

Zulova elaborated, "They're cannibals who obtained transformation traits after consuming the meat of ascended creatures and their own kin!"

Everyone looked at her with gaped mouths. Zulova changed the subject, "Those retards aren't worth my attention. What I'm after at present is 'The Domain of Diamond Clusters'!"

The Domain of Diamond Clusters is a place full of meteorites made up of diamond elements. It's located in the middle of space. Zulova continued, "Recently, the satellites near that place began showing technical faults. After scouting the place through a golem, I noticed a weird creature as large as a mountain. It blew my golem with the breath of its nose!"

Mihu thought, 'I heard her golems were as strong as a hundred soldiers. You're telling me some unknown existence blew her golem with just its nose?!'

Zulova pointed her finger towards the projection, "This was the last image captured by my golems!"

Everyone looked at the projection. A pile of diamond meteors came to display. In between them was a titan. Its skin was filled with diamond scales while the overall figure seemed like an eagle with the body of a dragon. Moreover, its bat-like wings resembled the anatomy of a human hand. It had multiple tails wagging like whips and two pairs of eyes glowing whitish blue with an extra eye on the centre of its forehead. Zulova exclaimed, "Based on my intuition, its height surpassed that of an average scidra from our former lands. Maybe ten kilometres long and four kilometres wide!"

---gasp---

Her words shattered the calm composure of all that heard her. Zulova continued, "My instincts tell me its threat is millions of times greater than 'Cosmic Overlords'!"

El-nino interrupted, "Enough, Zulova. You'll only frighten us more and more as you speak. But your laughing face says otherwise. I hope you've already found a way to deal with it!"

Zulova corrected her, "Sorry to say this, your highness. I'm only laughing 'cause this creature is making me writhe in excitement. Perhaps, it can be my personal training ingredient. I'll keep playing with it if its power is more omnipotent than mine!!"

";;;;...!!", Elsa, El-nino and Elvin trembled in fear after hearing her opinion. Even Mihu and the elders made the same reaction.

Zulova then looked at Mihu. Mihu jolted but was assisted by her guardian Masuri to stand straight.

---tap---

By placing her right hand on Mihu's shoulder, Zulova exclaimed, "I'm leaving Mihu in charge of 'Cosmic Overlords'. She shall be the acting figure of 'Cosmic Shadowlords'. I hope no one is against that!!"

"...!", none of the elders spoke. Elsa declared, "You may proceed as you wish!"

Mihu whispered, "Hey, Zulova. I think I told you not to make me a lapdog of the empire!"

Zulova corrected her, "I've never said you're under the empire, did I?!"

Mihu countered, "Then why are you making me do things unrelated to me?!"

Zulova made no reply. That's when Masuri spoke, "Sorry to say this, Mihu. I met Zulova a few days ago and agreed to her proposal, to be the Lord of the 'Cosmic Shadowlords'. Since I was appointed as your guardian, Zulova can't separate me from you. Thus, you will be acting as the Vice Lord, the only figure that can contact me!"

"...!", Masuri's confession left Mihu speechless. She mumbled, "Doesn't that mean…, I got betrayed?!"

---thud---

She collapsed after spouting those words. Masuri picked the woman up and raised her thumb. Zulova nodded in a sigh. She then exclaimed, "With that, I'm ending my part of the meeting. The remaining elders may now come forth to speak!"

And so, the meeting continued for an hour. The latter followed the departure of all elders. Masuri took Mihu and vanished into the thick shadows. Zulova reached the exit. That's when Elsa called out, "Zulova!!"

Zulova turned around. Elsa attempted, "Where are you going?!"

Zulova replied, "To inspect the Diamond Clusters?!"

The princess worried, "What if you were driven to a corner?!"

Zulova chuckled, "There's nothing to fear since I have Uncle's blessings in the form of morals and tactics!"

…

{In a vast space full of magnificence}

A pile of white crystalline meteors revolved in a funnel-like formation. They were revolving around a dozen meteors that seemed like islands floating in the middle of nowhere. A round crystal emanated a blue shade of light throughout the domain from the centre. On top of a crystalline island which seemed nearest to the light source, a gigantic figure exuded fumes out of its nose. The beak of the creature screamed snores, "Hrrrrr… Hrrrrr… Hrrrr…!!"

Her hand-like wings clung to the edge of the meteor. The beast's size matched that of a city. While snoring, she had weird dreams. She kept mumbling, ""Who am I? What's this language that I'm speaking? Moreover, how do I know that I'm speaking and not screaming? No, how am I able to distinguish between a scream and a saying? Just… what am I?!""

That creature writhed in sadness as she doubted herself, since birth. After her birth, all that she had seen was nothing more than being surrounded by diamond meteors in between an endless space. At the end of her sight were nothing but twinkling stars and yellow space clouds. Loneliness dominated her life.

""Hrrr, something's coming here. How daring?!"", she woke up after sensing a distant object flying towards her at light speed. It seemed like a yellow star from afar. But after heightening her vision, she noticed a human figure lurking inside that shooting star.

---flash---

On the other hand, it was Zulova charging towards the beast's territory. In fact, she was flying like a star. She wondered, 'On my way, I noticed broken satellites and cosmic gasses running amok. Just what kind of phenomenon is taking place?!'

---lub-dub---

Suddenly, her heartbeat raised and she choked out black blood, "Kuagh, cough, cough!!!"

---whoosh---

Her light speed degraded. She began to suffocate. Her mind went crazy, 'Ugh, there's no doubt about it. All the physical factors of nature around here feel so much overbearing.

Pressure, intensity, force and everything else seem thousands of times greater than the places I've been until now. Gasp, don't tell me this is an ascended zone.

Based on the knowledge I received from Uncle Dray, all laws of the cosmos multiply one hundred times per every realm.

Take intensity for instance. The logic goes like this:

Intensity in crimson realm - 1

Intensity in orange realm - 100

Intensity in yellow realm - 10000

Intensity in green realm - 1000000

And so on.

So, how is the pressure around here more than a hundred-fold?!!'

At once, she cried in agony, "Khag, haah, cough… Uaaargh!!!!"

As she kept rolling in pain, a blue shade of light neared her. When she turned around, she noticed herself before the eyes of a sinister entity. The eyes totalled five. She then focused all her power on the eyes only to witness the presence of an enormous creature. It was the same entity discovered by her golem. Looking at the creature in the eyes pressured Zulova to the extent of bleeding through her eyes, nose and ears. Slowly, her eyes became pure black.

---fwoosh---

However, the titan trapped Zulova inside a sphere composed of diamonds, although the inside of the sphere brimmed with vacuum. She took a close look at the woman in front of her. She then wondered, ""I shattered whatever it was that tried to invade my home. But none of them seemed as cute and adorable as this thing. What's so special about this one?!""

…

Quite some time had passed. One of Zulova's eyes opened a bit, thereby bringing her back to consciousness, "Gasp!!!"

She looked around. The surroundings were full of white crystals. Her sense of touch made her realize she was trapped inside a transparent sphere. She tried to punch the sphere from the inside.

While blinking, her eyes gazed forward only to bring her to guard up 'cause the five-eyed titan remained seated before her.

On one side, Zulova stared upwards at the beast, whereas on the other side, the beast looked down at Zulova from above. The difference between their size seemed like that of an elephant and an ant in a face-off.

Zulova mumbled, "This… creature's a darkened blue flame stage entity. But how come it's here? Did Uncle create this scenario?!"