THE EMPRESS IS BACK?.

***On Planet Gieă, In Continent Eclipse of the Oceans.

***The Imperial Castle, The Empress's or The Dark flood Dragon's Palace.

The broad and tall hallways of the Empress's Palace are beautiful beyond mortal description yet still most try to take in as much as they can into their imaginations.

     The hallways featured tall marble pillars with carved jade realistic sculptures of Eclipse Flood Dragon's, tall walls sculptured upon from up to down in order to show grand life-like images that tells a story as well as marbled blue floors; polished like ice with boundless still waters magically sealed underneath for unknown purposes.

     No more than a handful of massive and priceless paintings hangs off these artistic hallway's walls but yet the life the breath into these luxurious and majestic masterpiece is beyond breath-taking.

     *STEP*.*STEP*.*STEP*..

     Footsteps resounds through the the majestic icy grounds as the Empress is seen walking through the hallways with her Imperial Counsel two steps behind to her right side and a Scholar who is giving her a report three steps behind and to her left side.

     Unlike the Empress's usual pick of her Imperial wardrobe; -which is filled mostly with elegant power gowns, jewelleries without a price tag and seductive robes only for the Emperor's eyes-, the Empress is currently wearing something completely different.

     She was wearing a long sharp and sassy brown grain-leather coat that would remind an Earthling of the British people but with an Asian twist. The leather coat had an Italian collar and was firmed to her waist with a leather rope twisted into a simple ribbon with its ends holding two small bell ornaments.

     The Empress foot wears were heels as usual and today they came in a set that's brown-orange in colour. Her lips were painted with a dangerous red tone while giving a vibe of romantic poison and her calm golden-orange eyes were as sharp as always as she stares confidently forward.

Unlike her normal flowing braids, the Empress's icy-blue hair were packed into a much tighter and neater french braid.

     Although she could do whatever she wanted, this pattern of dressing is still a little unusual for the Palace's atmosphere but it can be considered absolutely normal considering the situation at hand. After all, the Empress is just returning from a three year long journey!.

     The number of people who knows that the Empress ever stepped out of the Palace can be counted on one hand and the number of people who knows that she was away for three whole years were even fewer in numbers. Even the hidden guards in her Palace have no idea that the Empress ever stepped out as she has full authority over what they see or not!.

     "..that Cultist Group are still making a lot of efforts to elevate their 'truths' but the Emperor has sent a decree to their name. They should have been uprooted by now but their roots seems to run deeper than we thought. Doing a bit of research, I was personally able to gather a bit of better information about their true nature, beliefs, powerhouses and intentions.

     "..Their belief's hail from Continent Pervilût and has been running in silence for a few millenniums now. It seems they have had a lot of foresight and have posed as something much smaller than they actually are while strengthening their roots.", The man reports with lowered head and speaking with an even voice as he follows behind the still walking Empress.

     "The reports?..", Empress Orverlia Andruv -ö-Neil asks with a calm tone without turning back.

     "They are stored in your personal library Your Majesty,..", The trusted Scholar reporting says with his head looking down for a short bow. After a few more steps in silence, he continues on his reports.

     "..True Imperial Princess Seflim has broken through to the first rank and have gone out in search of her shadow. Her mother seems to have the intentions of hiding this fact cause nobody but a select few knows. No one has been able to find out most-likely due to the fact that Princess Seflim  always wearing a probe-proof jewellery given by the Emperor..", The Scholar says calmly while the Empress shows no reaction to his words before she finally asks. This so called probe-proof jewellery have obviously not stopped the Empress's means of probing.

     "When did she breakthrough?..", Empress Orverlia Andruv -ö- Neil asks calmly while still walking through her hallways.

     "It's been fifty-two days your Majesty..", The Scholar responds calmly.

     "Impressive.", Still walking, the Empress says in a calm voice. She is not-at-all shy to give complements when due even to a possible opponent. Seeing his master seems interested jn the topic, the trusted Scholar keeps talking more on it.

     "Her mother Imperial Consort Tamara have made some bold investments and with the Emperor helping her behind the scenes, She is booming. Her wealth has been doubled several folds, her Influence is slowly expanding and her potential is becoming more attractive to some certain powerhouses.", The Scholar reports while the Empress retains her silence as she keeps walking down the incredibly long and wide hallways.

     "Your Majesty, would you be interested in slowing or halting her momentum?..", The Empress's Counsel asks in a soothing voice while the Empress's keeps walking a few more steps forward before answering.

     "No.", The Empress answers shortly and calmly. This seemingly pompous decision isn't about pride nor about overconfidence but it is just that the Empress sees Consort Tamara's growth as a plus instead of a minus to her especially considering the grand scheme of things.

     Just like a blade needs another one to be sharpened, her children would need a competition strong enough for a collision in order to become tougher!. The Empress doesn't have expectations high enough to believe that the 'other ones' would last even a couple of collisions with her children but considering the Emperor's help, anything can happen.

     If the 'other ones' manage to somehow grow big enough to be actually considered as competition then it is her own good luck. If they grow enough to give her children issues then it's still for the best as she strongly believes that if her children cannot deal with whatever is thrown at them despite their benefits then they just aren't built for the throne!.

      All of this is still a distant fantasy because the most likely possibility is still with the 'other ones' becoming a lazy stepping stone that can be used as comparison in order to boost her children's future reputations.

     The Empress doesn't see how she loses in any of this three situations so why bother?. When Seflim was born with such high potential and star readings the Empress had wanted to kill her if she could but now, her mind is changed. She had long stopped hunting for Seflim's shadow and she had never interfered with her growth.

     What's wrong with a bit of brutal competition?.

     In her opinion, the tougher the better and Seflim is just a tool for this set-up.

     "The full reports on Imperial Consort Tamara and True Imperial Princess Seflim has been recorded in your library Your Majesty", The Scholar says humbly while still following behind the Empress.

     "Good work..", Empress Orverlia says calmly to the earnest Scholar.

     "I an honoured Your Majesty..", The Scholar humbly receives his praise with his head lowered.

     "You are dismissed.", The Empress's Counsel says coldly while the Scholar immediately stops walking as he respectfully offers a Ninety degree parting bow without daring to look at the backs of the still walking Empress and her Counsel.

     After walking a few more steps forward, Empress Orverlia calmly asks her Counsel without actually facing her.

     "How is she?..", She asks with her Imperial Counsel immediately realising who the Empress is speaking about.

     "Phenomenal your Majesty. She did an amazing job as a leader and although she stumbled a lot, she kept her spine straight through it all. She even managed to place suspicion on one of the spies we placed in their midst.", The Empress's Counsel responds with a bit of pride in her tone as she speaks but then, the Empress suddenly stopped walking.

     Finally turning to face her Counsel, the Empress asks another question but this time there is a pinch of emotions in her tone.

     "Did you carry out the last phrase?.", The Empress asks. Her tone is still as cold and detached as ever but her Counsel knows her better than to mistake this manner of speaking for indifference.

     "Yes your Majesty.", The Counsel responds with a calm yet gentle tone.

     "How did she handle it?..", The Empress asks again with her tone calm and her gaze detached but her Counsel still made sure to pick her words carefully as she answered.

     "Like her mother's daughter your Majesty. She didn't let anyone take advantage of her flaws, She fought and defeated herself as she lead others till the end. Only after victory did she find an isolated place to mourn..", The Empress's Counsel responds while the Empress closes her eyes for a deep and silent breath as she lets her Counses words settle in.

     The still-waters below the hallway's ground stirred in response to the Empress's slight shift in emotions. As a Saint level Cultivator, a change in her emotions also brings a change to the world!. It is a good thing that her Palace is equipped to handle such changes without any consequences.

     "Where is she?..", The Empress asks.

     "She and her shadow have stayed sitted in a cave for three straight days. She is broken your Majesty but I believe she is strong enough to pull herself back together.", The Counsel calmly responds but then her face gets hit with a soft explosion of mana as a burst of blinding light suddenly shines through the hallway.

     The Empress's Counsel can only watch calmly as wide and circular multi-coloured sparks weaved into themselves in front of her. These sparks burned bright for a moment but then with a swipe of the Empress's hands, the multi-coloured pattern instantly turned thuderous white as the fabric of space-time is visibly melted with a cold cave being slowly shown on the other side.

     On the other side of the opened portal lies the inside if a cave. The slightly dark cave had a bit of snow in it with chilly air as small icicles hanged from rough rocky roof. The corpse of an eight feet long and two feet wide centipede monster can be seen lying upside down in a corner of cave with its brown exo-skeleton covered in cracks and chars as a testament to its brutal murder.

     Unimpressed but the chill or state if the slightly dark cave, the Empress didn't even give a glance to the dead centipede monster as all her attention rests on her last born.

     Her daughter was cradled to herself at another corner of the cave. She was sitting on the cold floor with her knees to her chest and her hand buried in between her forehead knees. A fur coat can be seen over her shoulders and standing a feet to her side is her daughter's shadow.

     The female shadow stood by the Princess's side while standing without a coat as she immediately looks in the direction of the Empress and the new portal with her hand on her sword. The shadow subconsciously steps forward as if to protect the still unmoving princess from anything and everything but she didn't do more than just step forward.

     With her eyes still on her daughter's figure, the Empress calmly steps forward and finally moves to the other side of the portal.