"Is this her?" Madam Lara asked, her eyes widening as the newest arrival crossed into view.
"Indeed. She is the family head of the Water Charles family, and the daughter of the second Meditation Master, Mylah Water Charles." Mr. White kept his voice low as he confirmed it.
The names and appearances of the first nine legendary Meditation Masters were never shared with lower ranks. Lumenia had learned that lesson the hard way, long before either of them was born.
"It is because a lower-ranked aura user who reads one of those nine names, or even pictures their face too clearly, loses control almost instantly." Salvia kept her own voice quiet as she answered her friend's question. "Only someone at Hypernova rank can hold that knowledge without breaking under it. I am a Hypernova of the Mind Pathway, so I can tell you her name and describe her face if you asked me to. You still must not picture her yourself. Must means must."
Her friend was a formidable expert at the Lysi Nova rank, endlessly curious about the world around her, and Salvia had come to rely on that curiosity more than she liked to admit. Talent had made her lonely long before she understood what loneliness even was, reaching Hypernova while still young enough that most of her peers could not follow where she had gone. Her friend had become the one steady thing keeping her tethered to something normal.
"So that is how it works." Her friend nodded slowly, letting the explanation settle.
Every aura user gained lifespan as they advanced; that much was universal, yet none of them could hope to match how long this woman had already lived, not even if they exhausted every method available to them.
So why had she lived so long?
The answer traced back to her mother. The second Meditation Master had used a method of her own to extend her daughter's life far beyond what any normal advancement could grant. What that method had cost her body in return, no one truly knew; only theories, passed quietly from one generation to the next.
She had lived from the start of the peaceful era clear through to the middle of the cataclysm era that followed it, a stretch of time few could even imagine surviving.
And yet, despite all of that, she had never once been permitted to advance to True Supernova, held back by the very arrangements her mother had put in place.
Some claimed it was simply the price of that extended life, an unavoidable side effect she had been forced to accept. Others believed Maxine had chosen it deliberately, determined that Lumenia should never rest in one person's hands for too long.
Time demanded change, after all. Laws needed to shift. Infrastructure needed to grow. Citizens changed, and so, eventually, must those who ruled over them. Anything left standing still for too long would eventually crumble under its own stagnation, and Maxine, fearing exactly that fate for the world she had built, made certain her own daughter could never claim the throne for herself and hold it forever, leaving no room for anyone else to ever take up that torch.
That was only one theory among several, of course.
Watching her now, Sasaki found himself pulled back into the memory of their fight.
A strong woman. Terrifying, and ambitious in equal measure. Old enough to have gathered real wisdom, and dangerous enough to back it with strength that matched. Her techniques rank among the finest I have ever faced, each one a clear mark of exactly how talented she truly is. I lost to her twice. Tied her once after that. It was only on the fourth attempt that I finally won, and even then, only by the thinnest possible margin.
She had always been the opponent Sasaki struggled hardest to overcome.
He watched her ascend the white stairs and offered a bow in the traditional manner of the Water Charles family, and she returned it in kind, bowing the Lumenian way in answer.
A small, knowing smile crossed her beautiful face as she looked up to meet his eyes. "I offer my congratulations to the young talent on such an important day."
"I am equally grateful, and I welcome Madam to enjoy herself fully tonight." Sasaki matched her tone precisely, warm on the surface, careful underneath.
Once the formal greetings passed between them, Mylah Water Charles produced two charms shaped like thick, weathered dictionaries, both marked with the sigil of the Knowledge Pathway.
One slipped quietly into his Domain of Emotions before he even reached for it, and Sasaki let it settle there without resistance, since she had already relayed everything he needed to know about its contents. He took the left charm into his hand and opened the second one himself, finding inside it the full records and documentation for a large resource point belonging to the Water Charles family.
A resource point of that scale in Lumenia meant no less than an entire small planet, or half of a larger, flourishing one, packed with resources any family would consider invaluable. Every noble house guarded its own such territories jealously, assigning entire forces to their protection, because these points formed the true foundation of a family's strength. Families fought and schemed endlessly over one another's resource points, each expansion built on someone else's loss.
And now Mylah was handing him, or more precisely the Blackbell family through him, an entire large resource point as nothing more than a wedding gift.
Is this the Atom Stability Profound Stones point? Sasaki kept his expression perfectly composed even as the thought settled in. This holds enormous importance to the Water Charles family, and she is simply giving it to me? He did not need to ask her anything further. The charm had already told him everything.
Still, he spoke the words aloud, loud enough for the entire hall to hear. "The Water Charles family truly stands on a foundation few others can claim, and its head carries a generosity to match. To gift me the Atom Stability Profound Stones point on this day, I hardly know how I could ever repay such kindness."
A wave of gasps rippled through the guests at the announcement.
Their shock was not for the gesture alone but for exactly what it revealed about the Water Charles family's true wealth.
Not far from where Malefic stood, his father kept his expression carefully neutral, though his mind was already working through the implications. "I have heard the Atom Stability Profound Stones are what the Water Charles family uses to craft their Atom Stability Charms, vital for maintaining their formations and storing the very atoms and molecules their family works with. And she simply hands over that entire resource point at Sasaki Alberich's wedding?" He kept his voice low enough that only those closest to him could hear it. "There is a scheme buried in this somewhere."
He was an experienced man, and the shape of something calculated was unmistakable to him even if its purpose remained hidden.
No one, notably, said a single word about the Blackbell, Heisenberg, or Karma families and their own gifts tonight.
The reasons were plain enough to anyone paying attention. The Blackbell family was, in every practical sense but name, already Sasaki's to command. The Heisenberg family had poured considerable effort into preparing this very wedding. The Karma family had already offered its own gifts well before tonight. Every guest in that hall understood the difference without needing it explained.
Sasaki continued offering his praise a moment longer before he let it trail off, his attention shifting quietly to the second charm still resting in his Domain of Emotions. He read through its contents carefully, and understanding settled over him at last.
So that is what this is truly about. She wants to buy information on the second one from me.
Every family head in Lumenia already knew that the ones had begun appearing, and that they would grow into figures of enormous importance in the years ahead. Sasaki himself stood as living proof of exactly that. Knowing this, it was hardly surprising that every house with any ambition would be scrambling to secure information on them, hoping to draw them into their own fold before a rival family could.
The Heisenberg, Blackbell, and Blackknight families had all been quietly competing over precisely this during the Paris operation, and there was no reasonable chance the other family heads had missed it. Of course they knew. What they lacked was the ability to divine or prophesy anything useful, not while the ones remained inside Paris itself.
The true objective in Paris has always been to obtain 'it', Sasaki thought, the pieces settling further into place. It carries anti-divination and anti-prophecy properties that have spread across the entirety of Paris. Divination performed from inside the city works without issue, even reaching matters that lie outside it. From the outside, however, nothing about Paris can be seen at all.
"No one can do anything about it right now, and it has become a forbidden area for Supernovas and True Supernovas."
Sasaki had gotten lucky, catching wind of the Heisenberg family's scheme early enough to learn about the "ones" before anyone else could. With divination on them now blocked entirely, it made sense the other family heads would start bargaining hard for whatever scraps of information still existed.
Information was currency here. Without it, everything became a gamble, and gambles had a way of turning into disasters.
She's using this "gift" to flex her family's foundation and buy herself reputation, Sasaki thought, watching Mylah retreat with faint amusement, while quietly pricing it as payment for intel on the second one. Still as calculating as ever.
I could just take the gift and ignore the hint entirely. That'd be funny.
He considered it a moment longer, then let the smile settle properly on his face instead.
"I look forward to our future dealings," he said smoothly.
Mylah's mouth curved into a small, satisfied smile as she walked past him, three Hypernovas and three Lysi Nova experts falling into step around her, escorting her toward her assigned room.
The moment she crossed the threshold, white-particled Meditation Aura swept through the mansion like rain, dandelion seeds blooming and drifting across every hall, filling the air with a rich, royal scent that settled over the guests like a held breath finally released.
In the center of the garden, an old woman appeared. White hair. White eyes. Brows drawn tight, authority radiating off her without effort.
Alia's wine glass shattered in her fist.
She turned on her heel without a word and walked off, a sharp, furious snort trailing behind her.
The woman was the head of the Hoshina family. Alexander Blackbell's wife.
And Alia's mother, the one person in this world she hated most.