"We should allow Shuu a few more minutes to spend his time in his memories and then I will wake him up. It has been a long time since he went under. Being in his memories too much won’t be good for him."

Loki assured Kaiden as he recovered and walked toward Shuu. He reached out to touch Shuu when he felt the sudden influx of mana flowing into Shuu.

It was foreign and felt heavier than the one Loki had used. Shuu made a pained expression and a voice of protest left his lips.

"What is happening here?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Kaiden asked and Loki immediately tried using his powers to calm Shuu down. But the foreign energy was making it hard for Loki to put his powers to good use.

He barely managed to grab hold of this energy to check whom it belonged to. And there was only one person that came to his mind.

"This is...Goddess Astoria’s energy? But how is she interfering with Shuu even from this far away? She should not even be able to feel him?"

Loki asked in an annoyed voice. He was also afraid that his defenses had been breached but that was a secondary matter.

If he failed to appease Kaiden, then this world was gone. Heck, even Loki’s safety would be at risk.

Unfortunately for him, it was impossible to pinpoint where Astoria’s energy was coming from. It was as if his environment had turned into Astoria’s domain.

Kaiden had no such problem. He grabbed a strand of energy flowing into Shuu and tugged it hard. It rippled before it broke apart. So Kaiden started to rip apart other sources of energy as well.

But there was just too much energy for him to handle alone. He broke off one strand and two more took its place. It felt like a never-ending cycle. But giving up was not an option either.

"I will do it myself. Hey, send me into Shuu’s consciousness. I will pull him out and then take care of this mess."

It was hard to take care of Goddess Astoria’s energy when Shuu’s subconsciousness was in danger. But it would be a different case if he helped.

"Y-You can’t do that. It’s dangerous and...I understand."

Loki tried to appease Kaiden’s anger with words first and reason with him. But when it did not work, he had no choice but to follow what Kaiden wanted. He gathered his power and sent it all over to form a web around Kaiden.

"I won’t be able to pull you or Shuu out if I send you in. You will have to find your way out, alright?"

Loki warned and Kaiden nodded. The next thing he knew, he was inside Shuu’s consciousness and he looked around to see if he recognized this place or not.

It was somewhat familiar, with those white arches towering over the sky. But the corrosion had degraded this place beyond imagination.

Kaiden had no time to admire the place because he needed to find Shuu. He immediately spread his senses around to find Shuu but it was of no use.

He could not find any traces of Shuu.

But he could feel Goddess Astoria’s energy converging around a point.

"Darn that bitch. I am going to make sure she gets what she deserves once I am with her."

Kaiden muttered as he ran toward the source of this trouble. He immediately saw Shuu suspended in the air and Goddess Astoria’s magic lingering around him.

Shuu was choking on this foreign magic and Kaiden immediately walked toward him to grab the energy ropes and pull them apart. They were stubborn but Kaiden was even more stubborn.

He was able to free Shuu but the energy bands left their mark.

"Shuu, are you alright—?"

"K-Kaiden, we need to get out of here. H-Hold on tight."

Shuu firmly grabbed his hand before his power began to expand. It was such a warm feeling that Kaiden closed his eyes and decided to bask in it.

"Don’t! You have no idea—"

The world flashed white before nothing could be seen anymore. Kaiden blinked as he came back to the present with Shuu by his side.

He was tired but Shuu looked even more tired. Shuu could not even keep his legs under control and they threatened to wobble and drop his weight.

"Are you alright?"

Loki asked as he immediately ran over with a concerned face. Goddess Astoria’s powers were receding due to the sudden shock and Kaiden decided to take this chance to launch a counter.

Only then did he feel a sense of relief and fulfillment.

"I am feeling more than fine. In fact, I suddenly feel like I did something I should have done ages ago."

He said with a refreshed look on his face.

__________

"Ugh, it burns. Someone, do something. It hurts so much."

Goddess Astoria clutched at her eyes as she tried to get the pain under control. Kaiden’s attack had left her winded and her eyes hurt because of the counter.

She wanted to use her powers but fighting with Shuu had drained her of her reserves. She was in no condition to pick a fight.

"Goddess, are you alright? Do you want us to bring you something?"

Her servants immediately jumped into action and Goddess Astoria glared at them. That made them immediately back down and serve her again.

"Ugh, this is so annoying. I want to go and destroy that world right now. Where are my generals—"

There was pin-drop silence around the room and no one spoke for a whole minute. It made Astoria feel annoyed, but someone spoke up just before she could rage.

"Ugh, Goddess...your generals were...taken out by you. You said that you did not need such disloyal people and they were all..."

A servant spoke softly, not wanting to anger the goddess but not wanting to hide it from her either.

Goddess Astoria let out a groan of annoyance as she recalled that she had gotten rid of those traitors. But in her defense, they kept trying to take Shuu and Kaiden’s side and even advised her to let Shuu be free.

What did those fools know? It was a good thing they were gone because they would have been tortured by Astoria for disobeying her anyway.

But this was also a problem because she had no one to send to fights to.

"Get me a new general right now. Make sure this one is obedient. I don’t want a repeat of the past."

"B-But we don’t have manpower."

The servant who spoke was terrified and yet, he knew that it would be worse for him if he did not speak up now. Goddess Astoria could be terrifying and no one wanted to see her lose her reason.

His hesitation made the goddess even more annoyed and she grabbed the closest thing she could reach to throw at him. It turned out to be a tray and it made a loud noise as it clashed against the servant’s head.

Because this was the divine realm and the people here were immortal (as long as their goddess wished and no other god killed them), the servant was fine. But the goddess’s anger shook him to his core.

"Useless. All of you are useless! Why do I even care to keep someone like you by my side?"

Goddess Astoria asked in a low voice before she turned back to her servants with a definite look in her eyes.

"Just go and find anyone who can fill the place by my side. The sooner you do that, the sooner I can get this situation over with. Now get going before I lose my temper even more."

She yelled and everyone scattered. They were just happy to be alive.

But Goddess Astoria was in a weird mood after that. Somehow, it felt impossible for her to settle down and a part of her warned that her end was near.

__________

"It feels weird."

"You have said that before. But now, would you like to tell me what feels weird?"

Kaiden asked and Shuu shook his head. He could not explain the feeling he was having. He could just tell that he felt different.

"I don’t know how to explain what I am feeling. It’s just...it feels like there is more than one of me inside and they are fighting over control. It’s a weird feeling to have."

Shuu clutched his chest when he spoke. He could feel the different parts inside him trying to merge together.

Kaiden wrapped his arms around Shuu and pulled him closer.

"Is it a good feeling? Or a bad one? Should I grab that bastard and make him confess what he did to you?"

Kaiden asked, referring to Loki and gesturing that he was going to beat Loki up.

Shuu shook his head to show that there was no need to go that far yet.

"Let’s leave Loki for now. I don’t think he meant any of what he did. Instead, we should focus on the present."