"Mika, this child has been in your belly for fifteen years now, and he still doesn't want to come out!"
Above Synapse, within the Cloud City that had twelve satellite fortresses, Muria walked arm-in-arm with Mikaela in a vibrant garden, surrounded by small, delicate flower fairies. Occasionally, one or two would land on their shoulders.
"He will be born soon; I can feel it," Mikaela replied gently, caressing her flat abdomen. As her pregnancy continued, the heroic spirit that had once characterized this seraph girl had gradually faded, replaced by the graceful allure of a mature woman. For Muria, this transformation added a different kind of temptation.
"When he is born, I should be close to finishing the conquest of the Synapse Subcontinent, fulfilling the promise I made back then."
Muria looked at Mikaela's figure, unchanged since the early days of her pregnancy, without showing any surprise. Having mastered the power of space, Mikaela, even after nearly thirty years of pregnancy, wouldn't resemble an ordinary mortal woman with a cumbersome, swollen belly.
"And then? Are you really planning to establish an empire?"
"Of course. According to the World-Beast Ancestors' viewpoint, I've already destroyed and extinguished the ecosystem of the Synapse Subcontinent. Now, I need to rebuild a new ecosystem. Otherwise, I would be the enemy of the world, and those creatures wouldn't spare me."
Muria chuckled. "To achieve that, establishing a centralized empire with me at the core is absolutely necessary. That way, we can ensure the highest level of efficiency."
"If you're preparing to become the founding emperor, are you still planning to explore the void?" Mikaela asked. She had great confidence in Muria's ability to establish an empire spanning the entire subcontinent, especially since one of the conditions—having an epic figure to protect the nation—was not a problem for Muria.
"Of course! Everything I've done since birth has been preparing me for exploring the void and becoming an epic being. Even now, conquering the Synapse Subcontinent is part of that preparation!" Muria replied firmly.
"And after you leave?" Mikaela continued. She had no doubts about Muria's ability to establish an empire, but she wondered about the succession. "Have you thought about who will be the heir to the empire?"
"Isn't that child in your belly?" Muria's gaze shifted to Mikaela's abdomen. He had already confirmed that their first child was a boy.
"Do you really want our child to be a king, burdened with the affairs of the world?" Although Mikaela had heard Muria mention this before, she still felt uneasy. In her eyes, being an emperor involved far too many responsibilities.
"What's wrong with that?" Muria asked in return. "It will be a different kind of training for him."
"But it will be exhausting!" Mikaela responded. To her, an emperor should be responsible for every citizen in the nation, down to the smallest detail. She already managed a mere 1.5 million angel soldiers, all of whom were fiercely loyal to her, and even so, she sometimes felt overwhelmed and emotionally drained. She couldn't imagine the burden of ruling an empire with billions of subjects.
Clearly, Mikaela imagined that if their child were to become an emperor, he would have to be a diligent and responsible ruler, not a lazy or self-indulgent one.
"I will teach him how to govern!" Muria smiled meaningfully as he gazed at his unborn son. He had already decided how to educate him. As the future ruler of billions, his eldest son couldn't grow up carefree as Muria had. He would need a different kind of education from the Titans and Seraphim.
"My son, being my descendant is both your greatest fortune and your greatest misfortune," Muria mused silently. Truthfully, if Mikaela had given birth to a daughter, he might have adopted a softer approach. But since it was a boy, there was no need for gentleness. Sons and daughters needed to be raised differently. He remembered an old saying: "Raise your sons tough, but your daughters in luxury."
…
The silver moon hung high in the sky, and it was deep into the night. Muria sat on a soft couch, dealing with official matters that required his personal attention.
"Jingle!" The sound of a bell rang near Muria's ears. He paused briefly while holding his pen, sensing the room around him enveloped by a cold, deathly force, drawing him into an isolated domain.
"Interesting!" Muria set down his pen, stood up in his loose robe, and walked to the door. He opened it forcefully.
Beyond the door, instead of the gilded corridor, there was an endless darkness. In the midst of this darkness, a chariot emitting a ghostly white glow stood silently not far from the door.
It was a slightly damaged chariot, pulled by four skeletal warhorses, whose bones were ablaze with pale, ghostly fire.
A charioteer clad in gray armor stood at the reins, calmly watching Muria. When Muria appeared, the charioteer gestured to the back of the chariot, as if inviting him aboard.
Muria squinted, not speaking or making any hostile moves. He felt no malice from this strange arrival. Instead, he carefully examined the chariot. Though it was steeped in deathly energy, he felt no aversion toward it.
"I see!" Muria's eyes landed on the emblem on the charioteer's chest, and he suddenly understood. Wearing his simple robe, he strode toward the chariot and, without hesitation, boarded it with ease.
Clop! Jingle!
Once Muria was seated, the sound of hooves and bells resumed. The chariot moved swiftly, but with no visible landmarks in the pitch-black surroundings, it gave Muria the illusion that they were standing still.
Looking back, Muria saw the golden glow of a door—his office door—growing smaller in the distance, eventually disappearing from sight.
"How many others like you have been sent out?" Muria asked casually, breaking the silence as the chariot sped onward.
"…" The undead knight driving the chariot gave no response, maintaining a cold silence as he continued to guide the spectral horses.
Unfazed by the lack of response, Muria wasn't surprised. He had tried probing the knight but hadn't been able to sense his strength. Coupled with the eerie way he had appeared, Muria suspected this knight might not be a simple undead.
"Some kind of manifestation of a higher law," Muria concluded. If the knight were just a regular undead, he would have had no reason to ignore Muria's questions.
As Muria sat in the chariot, he began to sense changes. He could feel the deathly energy growing denser in the darkness around him, and more and more undead presences appeared, gradually growing stronger.
Jingle!
The chariot continued through the darkness until it finally emerged into a desolate, lifeless world. The air here was thick with death energy, forming fog that swirled around the chariot, only to be scattered by the intense life force emanating from Muria.
"So, this is the Underworld Divine Kingdom of Hades?" Muria remarked, sitting upright in the chariot, a look of curiosity in his eyes. This was his first time entering a god's divine kingdom.
Typically, no living being would willingly enter a death god's domain. For most souls, entering such a kingdom meant being trapped in eternal torment.
But Muria had no such concerns. He had been invited here by Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, as a guest. Therefore, he entered the underworld with his true body, making no effort to hide his life force.
Countless hungry, greedy eyes turned toward him. To the undead, the vibrant life energy emanating from Muria was the most precious thing they could desire.
However, no matter how savage or greedy these undead were, they all dropped to the ground in reverence when they heard the jingle of the skeletal horses' bells, suppressing any inappropriate thoughts.
Wherever the chariot passed, legions of undead bowed.
As the chariot ventured deeper into the underworld, the expected happened: another chariot identical to his appeared, riding alongside him. And within it, Muria saw a familiar face.
"Heloise, long time no see!" Muria smiled and greeted the female Titan.
"Yes, it's been a while, Muria!" Heloise stared intently at Muria, noticing that his strength now surpassed hers by three levels. Yet, this gap didn't evoke any negative feelings in her.
"After this is over, let's have a fight!" she proposed, her eyes gleaming with challenge.
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