The next morning hit different.
It's the forty-ninth day since the Second Epoch Cycle began and for once, the city didn't wake up to screaming, chaos, or something trying to eat everyone alive.
I was leaning against a half-broken wall, watching the early movement of the refugees, when Veneri just stopped mid-step.
"What?" I asked, already suspicious.
He didn't answer immediately. His gaze drifted across the crowd.
"The males are weaker."
"That's what you figured out? Not the war, not the displacement, not the massive trauma everyone's dealing with? It's 'huh, the men are weaker.'"
"It's a structural observation."
I stared at him for a second, then sighed.
"Alright, go on. Enlighten me, oh analytical one."
He didn't even react to the sarcasm.
"In Spheraphase, superiority isn't determined by raw physical strength. It's determined by energy capacity and control. Women naturally possess larger energy reserves and more developed pseudo-cores. When that is applied to physical enhancement…"
"They become stronger," I finished it for him. "Yeah, I know. That's literally basic knowledge."
But he wasn't wrong.
Compared to Earth's whole "men are physically stronger" thing, Spheraphase flipped that logic completely. Here, energy is everything. And since women have better energy capacity and control on average, they didn't just match men physically. They surpassed them. Therianthropes took that and cranked it up to an absurd level.
Their biology already leaned heavily into instinct and physicality so when you combined that with higher energy output in females, the gap wasn't subtle. I watched as a smaller male Therianthrope hesitated near a distribution point, only for a taller female to step in, take his portion without askingnand walk off like it was completely normal.
He didn't even argue. He just stepped back.
"And you're just going to ignore that?"
He didn't even look in that direction.
"I already got what I needed."
"Wow. Cold."
But again… not wrong.
At the end of the day, he had gotten his Divine Energy. The exchange was complete. Whether the internal social dynamics of the Therianthropes were fair or not wasn't his concern.
"You really don't care unless it affects the bigger picture, huh?"
"No."
Yeah, that checked out.
We moved through the city again, but this time it felt different. The lines from yesterday had evolved into organized distribution systems, led almost entirely by female Therianthropes who enforced order with an efficiency that was honestly kind of terrifying. Meanwhile, Veneri's attention shifted upward to the water sphere.
Actually, spheres.
The massive one he had created yesterday was still there, but it wasn't the same anymore. The water had turned golden, rippling with dense, compressed Divine Energy. All that fear, faith and desperate reliance was feeding into that sphere all night.
He raised his hand slightly and the massive golden sphere began to shrink. The entire structure compressed as the volume reduced while the density skyrocketed. The glow intensified as the Divine Energy was forced into a smaller and smaller space, until what had once been a massive floating construct was now condensed into something barely larger than a human head. The golden liquid solidified into a crystalline sphere.
"That's actually insane."
He stored it away.
By the time the sun had properly risen, there were five more massive water spheres floating across different sections of the city, each one silently absorbing Divine Energy from the environment. To the refugees, they probably just looked like strange water constructs.
To anyone Divine, they were resource collectors.
"Okay, now you're just farming."
"Of course I am."
At least he was honest.
Xander and Nelle had already left earlier, heading out to deal with more Krepsunas in the surrounding regions. Which, honestly, was very on-brand for them. Leave the logistics and protection to Veneri while they went off to fight.
"Must be nice for those two. They get the fun part."
"You prefer combat?"
"I prefer chaos I can control. Big difference, Darling."
With them gone, Veneri was technically in charge of the city's protection, though "in charge" for him just meant establishing systems and letting them run. A few Divine Rank Therianthropes had been assigned to assist but honestly, keeping them in line was almost laughably easy.
All Veneri did was supply them with meat. That's it.
"Distribute it," he told them.
And just like that, they obeyed. Of course, some of them tried to skim a little extra for themselves. I saw it and he did too. He didn't even react immediately.
"If you continue, I will report it to Xander and Nelle."
That stopped them. They're inefficient when greedy and Divines don't even need food. Seriously...
At some point, we ended up on top of a ruined spire overlooking the city.
It was one of the few structures tall enough to give a proper view, even if half of it looked like it would collapse if someone sneezed too hard. Veneri stood near the edge, completely unbothered, while I sat on a broken ledge, swinging one leg idly.
"There are about 137,000 Therianthropes here," I said, after doing a quick scan.
He didn't question it. Instead, his attention shifted to one of the floating spheres in the distance. I followed his gaze just in time to see it.
The second sphere had fully saturated.
He lifted his hand and the sphere responded instantly, detaching from its position and gliding through the air toward us like it had been waiting for the command. When it reached him, he repeated the same process as before; condense, compress and freeze it.
He placed it into his inventory like it was nothing. He then created a new water sphere to replace it.
"Did you check the entire city?"
I stretched slightly, rolling my shoulders.
"Yeah. Rough estimate's holding. So far, there's no major outbreaks or internal riots—"
A scream made us both turn at the same time. Far out, near the edge of the ruined city, I could see a crowd forming.
"That's not good."
Veneri didn't respond. One second we were on the spire, the next we were already there. It made a few of the nearby Therianthropes stumble back in shock when we suddenly appeared in front of them. The crowd froze almost instantly. Even if they didn't know who Veneri was specifically, they knew what he was. A few of them lowered their heads instinctively. Others stepped back without being told. No one spoke for a moment.
Veneri's gaze swept over them once.
"What is the situation?"
The silence stretched awkwardly until one of them—a broad-shouldered female Mammalian Therianthrope—finally spoke.
"She's being punished."
"For what?"
"Stealing rations."
I frowned slightly and shifted my focus past the front line of the crowd. That's when I saw her.
She was the same age range as Shimmer and Runner, maybe a year off at most. Her body was curled slightly on the ground, barely conscious. Blood stained her clothes, her limbs were visibly bruised with cuts running along her arms and shoulders like someone had made an example out of her.
She wasn't just "punished." She was severely beaten.
'She has nine tails.'
If it wasn't for Veneri's Soul Vision, I wouldn't have noticed it. The illusion she was using was really good for someone in her condition but it wasn't perfect. Under Veneri's perception, and mine by extension, it was easy.
She's a Nine-Tailed Fox. A Divine Therianthrope, to be elaborate.
I let out a slow breath and spoke directly into his mind.
[She's definitely Divine, no question about it. But look at how they're treating her. She's not recognized. She's probably been surviving on her own.]
My gaze flicked back to the crowd. Veneri didn't say anything to me in return. He just moved.
The crowd tensed as he stepped forward, instinctively parting to give him space. No one tried to stop him. No one even considered it. He reached her in a few steps.
Without a word, Veneri bent down and lifted her up effortlessly.
That's when the crowd reacted.
"She's a thief!" Someone shouted from behind.
"She should be executed! We can't let people steal from the others!"
"She'll do it again—"
Veneri turned his head. Just a look and the entire crowd shut up instantly.
He didn't acknowledge them further. He just turned and started walking.
I fell into step beside him, glancing down at the girl in his arms. Up close, the illusion was even more obvious now that I knew what to look for. Her tails were hidden. Even her features were slightly altered to look more ordinary.
"You're taking her?"
"Yes."
"You don't usually pick up random dying strangers, you know. Very off-brand for you."
"She's not random. She's a First Enlightenment Divine. Also, she's not affiliated with any Dynasty."
"Wow. A Divine with no backing? That's rare."
And just like that, in the middle of a broken city filled with starving refugees and lingering fear, Veneri casually picked up a dying Divine like it was just another step in his plan.