Shara sat like a queen invited to her own amusement, one leg crossed over the other, black velvet draped across the impossible chair as though it had always belonged in the middle of a Spartan dreadnought's hangar bay. The parchment floated beside her. The quill hovered, waiting.
Every eye in the bay was on the pirate captain.
The woman swallowed hard.
Her crew behind her looked much less dangerous now. Some had gone pale. Others were sweating openly. One of the men near the back looked like he wanted to bolt, but the line of Spartan warriors surrounding the bay made the thought die before he could act.
They knew they were trapped on the dreadnought, with no actual place to go but a cell, or the cold void of space itself. Which to them seemed better than dealing with the Cambion Oath Keeper.
Shara smiled, but it was not reassuring. "Well?" the cambion purred. "You called upon the Oath. Don't be shy now. Speak!" She said with a dreading cold finality.
The pirate captain licked her dry lips, trying to recover some sense of confidence. "Right... This challenge is unfair," she said, voice rough but steadier than before. "I challenged the Blud brat, not his nanny. My opponent was switched on me after I declared it."
The quill scratched across the parchment on its own as Shara tilted her head. "Mmhmm. Continue."
The pirate gestured sharply at Harmonia. "That one accepted before the brat did. That ain't how it works. The brat was the target, not some servant."
Adonis didn't move, but he paid close attention.
There it was. The angle she was betting on now that she's in over her head. She probably thinks she's found a loophole, but she couldn't be more wrong.
The Right of the Blood Glove was older than the current shape of the Spartan Empire. It came from an era when gods, demigods, and half-blood lords abused commoners and the weak so often that several divine powers of justice and order had to force a balance into existence.
It was brutal, but precise and fair. There was a reason it had survived to this day. And she wouldn't be the first to try and use it to her advantage, but it seems like she was too ignorant to do it correctly. Or she was just unlucky to get a Keeper like Shara.
Shara's expression remained amused as she wrote. "This is an interesting attempt, but a weak attempt," she murmured. "Do you have anything else, or is this your entire argument?"
The pirate captain clenched her jaw. "The challenge was for the lordling. I named him. I wanted his blood. That means the duel should be with him."
Shara's smile sharpened. "Should?"
The pirate hesitated.
"Then tell me, little miss scavenger," Shara said, leaning her chin on one hand, "Did the young lord actually acknowledge your initiation of the right itself, or was it his nanny?"
The pirate captain froze as her eyes widened. Behind her, one of her men whispered, "That's right, the boss was talking to the nanny..."
She glared him silent, but the damage was done.
Shara's crimson irises gleamed. "Oh. You thought you could pull a fast one on me. A being who's lived several of your lifetimes and can see into the very heart of mortals themselves."
The pirate opened her mouth trying to speak, but then shut it from pure terror.
Shara let out a delighted little laugh and clapped once. "Oh, my, you really have no idea what you have done."
She uncrossed her legs and sat forward slightly. "The Right of the Blood Glove may be issued to a lord, a scion, a demigod of any recognized bloodline. But the duel can only occur from the challenger to the one who accepted. Article 1, clause 2. Should a recognized party be unable to fight and an Oath Keeper is summoned to proceed over the Right, a recognized protector or champion for either side can stand in their place, and the result is still binding."
The pirate's face drained. She knew she messed up when she didn't say she challenged the Blud brat directly.
Shara continued sweetly, "When you issued the right, it was the nanny of the House of Aphrodite who accepted. And she meets all the requirements of being from a godly bloodline. If her young lord, who she is sworn to, wanted her to fight in his stead due to his age or health, I as an Oath Keeper will be able to rule in his favor or not if the claim is just. In other words, nothing would have changed about who you're facing."
The quill scratched faster. "So far," Shara said, looking delighted, "this really isn't going your way, is it, darling?"
The pirate captain's breathing quickened. "No. No, that still ain't fair. She's not from the clan that runs the empire. That one," she jabbed a finger at Harmonia, "she's just a servant. If I beat her, nothing would stop the brat from ordering my death."
The hangar grew still.
Adonis felt the atmosphere shift, not because the argument had merit, but because everyone wanted to see how Shara would answer.
The cambion blinked once and then twice. Then she laughed so hard her wings fluttered. "Because she's not from the Blud clan. Because the little lord can still order your death?"
She raised a hand to her chest in theatrical disbelief. "My apologies, I was not aware fairness under the Oath was measured by your personal comfort, or by the idiotic mistakes you were too ignorant to not make more of. But here you are now, too blind to notice you are well past the point of no return."
Even Fleet Admiral Owl's expression shifted just slightly at that. Astrapios, standing at her side, looked like he was fighting not to smirk.
Shara waved a hand and a second parchment appeared, this one filled with glowing script.
"Fairness is not sameness," she said lazily. "Fairness under the Oath is measured by acknowledged status, lawful substitution, declared terms, and freedom of consent. You were not tricked into who you challenged. You simply failed to understand how the right truly works, but you wouldn't be the first."
She looked at Harmonia again, eyes gleaming with private amusement. "Many have, and they have all suffered for it. Whether by the hands of their opponent, or by the hands of the Oath Keeper."
The pirate captain's jaw tightened. "How was I supposed to know how this stupid thing worked..."
"You're a fool through and through?" Shara supplied helpfully. "No one can help you there. If you had an ounce of humility, you would have studied the rights and oaths of the pantheon. They are part of the basic education of every galaxy. They were meant for you common mortals who sought justice, not to make a mess and hide behind beings like me, who have much better things to do with their nearly limitless time."
A few of the pirates behind their captain lowered their heads. They knew this was going badly.
Adonis stood with his hands folded behind his back, taking in everything. Arionna sat at his right side, unbothered, tail curled neatly around her paws, silver-white eyes following everything as well with a deep analytical gaze.
Harmonia had not moved since stepping in front of him. Her posture remained graceful and straight, but Adonis knew enough now to understand what that meant.
She was ready to fight at any moment and she was just waiting for the go-ahead from the Keeper. Adonis knew her cold, calm gaze meant she didn't want to simply win. She wanted to erase this pirate and her kind from his sight.
Sofia finally spoke. "Oath Keeper," the Fleet Admiral said, voice level, "Can you please state the allowed conditions of resolution."
Shara nodded approvingly. "Ah. Someone competent."
She raised one finger. "One: if this fool's claim is upheld, the challenged party or accepted protector must reissue terms under balanced conditions of my judgment."
Then a second finger. "Two: if the claim is false, the Oath requires punishment for false invocation and waste of my time."
A finally a third finger. "Three: the accepted duel still proceeds unless the wronged side grants mercy."
Shara turned to Harmonia as her smile widened. "Will mercy be granted to this fool?"
The question lingered in the air. The pirate captain looked toward Harmonia, then at Adonis, then at the line of Spartan warriors surrounding the bay.
Nothing was said yet, but she was starting to understand. There was no coming back from what she had done, and this had never been a negotiation. The moment she had spoken the Rite inside this part of the galaxy, against this bloodline, she had placed her life in the hands of systems older than her crew's entire family history.
She looked at Harmonia, then Adonis again. "You really don't have to do this. If you let me and my crew go, we will leave and never come to this galaxy again. We can let all this be water under the bridge. I will even forgive you killing some of my men, and you can forgive some of the rude things I said. So what do you say, you give us mercy. Young lord, you can make her do that, right?" she asked, trying to sound confident, but fear had already rooted itself in her voice.
That's when Adonis met her gaze. "You threatened me and my nanny," he said calmly. "You threatened to sell me, and do far worse to her. You insulted the Rite after invoking it."
He then tilted his head slightly. "So why would I stop it?"
The pirate looked like she wanted to spit at him. Instead, she swallowed.
Shara hummed in approval. "This is getting good."
The pirate captain tried one final angle. "You're a Blud. You're rich, nobility, and powerful. This is supposed to protect people like me from your kind."
Adonis's expression did not change. "And yet you were the one who chose to attack us. Threatening kidnapping, extortion, and rape in your opening statement, did you not?"
Several of the pirates flinched at hearing it repeated so plainly.
Adonis's voice remained level but cold and indifferent.
"If the Oath exists to protect mortals from the abuse of the divine, then perhaps you shouldn't have acted like the thing it was made to destroy."
Everyone in the hangar bay could tell that struck a nerve, based on the pirate's twisted face.
Shara let out a pleased little sigh. "Oh my, he really is a smooth little talker, with a knife for a tongue. How wonderful."
Harmonia finally spoke again. "Oath Keeper."
Shara turned toward her.
"I request a formal ruling."
The cambion placed a hand over her heart. "Granted." She rose from her chair, and immediately the entire hangar felt colder.
Her parchment rolled itself shut. The quill vanished. Her wings folded tighter as she stepped toward the center of the bay.
Shara then looked at the captain. "State your full name."
The woman hesitated, then muttered, "Vexa Rhor."
Shara raised one elegant eyebrow. "Louder."
The pirate swallowed. "Vexa Rhor."
Shara then nodded. "Vexa Rhor, your claim of unfairness is denied."
The words struck through the bay harder than any shout. The pirates visibly sagged as they knew what came next.
Shara continued. "The challenge stands as properly accepted by Harmonia of House Aphrodite. Thus the insult to the Rite's balance is confirmed. Punishment is now owed."
Vexa took one stumbling step back. "No... wait..."
Shara lifted one finger and Vexa's mouth locked shut. The pirate clawed at her throat in a panic.
Shara's voice remained pleasant as she continued. "I have not yet decided the scale of punishment. That is the interesting part." She turned toward Harmonia. "As the accepted challenger, you retain the right to duel and the right to mercy."
Then she turned toward Adonis. "Since she works for you, I will let you know. You retain the right to ask price."
Shara then spread her hands. "So. How shall this proceed?"
Harmonia did not answer immediately. Instead, she looked at Adonis. Because she needed permission and she respected his decision as her lord. And because she wanted to see how he would act and what he would decide.
Adonis took a moment. He could feel the eyes on him.
The pirates feared him now, but not because of power they had seen from him directly. It was because of what stood behind him. House Blud, Harmonia, the Spartan warship, the Rite itself—and that bothered him.
Power borrowed from others was useful, but it wasn't enough. Still, he knew this was not the moment to pretend he stood alone. He was still a child. He knew he could probably kill them all himself if he told Harmonia to stand down.
But it would be good not to put so much of a spotlight on himself when he's so young. Otherwise the other Blud children would try to hinder him more, before he was truly ready to combat them.
Adonis stepped forward one pace. "Can the challenge be fulfilled without deaths on our side?" he asked Shara.
The cambion smiled. "Of course. The Rite does not demand death. It demands justice, balance, and consequence."
Adonis nodded. "Then Harmonia will fight."
Vexa's eyes widened in horror.
Adonis continued, looking directly at the pirate captain. "Harmonia, I trust you to handle this as you please."
Shara's smile deepened.
Harmonia's expression did not change. If anything, she looked quietly satisfied. "As you wish, young lord."
Vexa struggled against the invisible silence still gripping her mouth and throat, panic giving way to fury. Shara snapped her fingers and the pirate's voice returned. "Wait! This wasn't what I meant! I just wanted..."
"You wanted leverage," Adonis said. "Now you find out you have none."
Vexa's eyes darted toward her crew, but none of them met her gaze. Cowards, she thought.
No one stepped forward or tried to claim her place.
Shara noticed too. "Well now," the cambion murmured, amused, "that tells me all I need to know about a pirate's loyalties. Even where I'm from, there is a sense of honor bound by loyalty." She chuckled.
Shara gestured dramatically. "You may proceed when ready, Miss Rhor."
Vexa hesitated.
Which made the cambion smile. "Or I can begin your punishment before the duel and save us all some time."
The pirate captain cursed under her breath and stepped forward. Her crew watched, helpless and pale.
Then all eyes turned to Harmonia. She looked down at Adonis.
"I will be going, young lord."
Adonis nodded once. "Yes, Harmonia."
Arionna moved to stand beside his leg, her ears forward now. She seemed finally interested.
Harmonia stepped forward, and for the first time since Adonis had met her in this life, he truly looked at her. Not as his caregiver or as the warm and attentive woman who nursed, taught, cooked, guarded, and comforted.
But as what she actually was. A daughter of the House of Aphrodite, and a protector of a child of a great demigod clan. She was a warrior and a woman who had just made an Oath Keeper stop smiling for a heartbeat.
Nannies of the Blud clan were not weak by any means, especially if they came from the House of Aphrodite. In Adonis's past life, nannies of the other Blud children would sometimes fight on the front lines with their wards.
There were powerful men and women that, if they wanted to, could even in Adonis's opinion give a good run to a powerful house. Even Leonidas's nanny fought with him most of his life, and even when old and gray, she accompanied him to the New World until her death.
Adonis then noticed Harmonia's outer garments shift as she walked. The elegant nanny attire did not vanish, but parts of it flowed and restructured, folding into combat-ready lines through woven enchantment. The sleeves tightened as the hem shortened. Hidden slits formed that allowed freer movement. Ebony thread lit faintly along the seams.
But Harmonia did not draw a weapon.
Meanwhile, Vexa pulled a blade from the back of her belt the moment she reached the center of the platform.
The pirate grinned nervously. "That all?" she asked. "Where's your weapon?"
Harmonia tilted her head. Her icy gaze fixed on Vexa. "I won't need one to deal with trash like you. My hands will suffice."
That made some of the pirates laugh with a little more confidence. Only for those laughs to die when Shara spoke. "Be grateful," the cambion said lazily. "If she had one, I would say this would be a lot shorter."
Vexa's bravado cracked.
Then Shara lifted one hand as a tiny bronze scale appeared in her palm. One side held a pinkish flame, while the other held a light blue flame. The scale was moving as Shara spoke.
"A duel under the Rite of the Blood Glove shall commence. The terms are as followed: the challenge is upheld as accepted. Unfairness claim is denied. Outcome is dependent on the victor." The scales became perfectly balanced as she finished.
Her crimson eyes flashed. "The scales are balanced. You may begin."
Vexa lunged immediately. She was fast and clearly desperate from the look in her eyes. Her blade aimed straight for Harmonia's throat.
Adonis watched closely, as he wanted to see how Harmonia fought.
As the blade got dangerously close to Harmonia's throat, she didn't dodge but stepped into the attack. Her hand caught Vexa's wrist with frightening speed and precision, twisting just enough that the blade went to the side and missed. Then her other palm drove into the pirate's sternum with great force.
The sound was sharp and heavy. A distinct pop and cracking sound could be heard. Vexa flew backward and hit the bay floor hard, coughing up blood.
The hangar remained silent again, and Adonis blinked. He had expected Harmonia to be strong, but he hadn't expected that.
Vexa rolled and scrambled back to her feet, face twisted in shock, pain, and humiliation. She charged again, this time feinting low before slashing upward.
Harmonia moved like water as she redirected Vexa's arm, stepped behind her, and kicked the back of her knee. That time a clear cracking sound could be heard, as the pirate's knee was shattered.
Vexa dropped halfway, screaming in pain. Then Harmonia's elbow struck her across the jaw. Vexa spun and crashed back to the floor.
Harmonia did not press. She let her get up.
The pirate captain staggered upright on one leg, her breathing hard now, blood dripping from her mouth, her rage overtaking fear. She drew a second knife from the boot of her disabled leg. Adonis and Harmonia noticed as mana stirred in the air of the hangar.
They realized she was using rudimentary magic—basic physical augmentation that dulled pain and enhanced strength and speed. She began to faintly stand on her damaged leg and roared, rushing in wildly with greater speed, to the point she disappeared from sight for a moment.
Shara sighed. "Rudimentary augmentation to dull the pain and enhance your physical abilities won't be nearly enough at her level."
Adonis and Sofia's expressions remained stone still as they thought the same. Astrapios folded his hands behind his back and watched in silence, interested in the pirate's stubborn nature in the face of a greater opponent.
Vexa slashed high, then low. The air shifted from the force of the blades, and then she drove both knives toward Harmonia's stomach.
Harmonia shifted once and only once. Her fingers closed around Vexa's forearms and squeezed them instantly as a distinct popping sound could be heard. Both of Vexa's forearms were broken in an instant, but Harmonia's grip didn't loosen.
Her knee rose into Vexa's ribs with enough force to make bone snap audibly and air be forcibly pushed out of her lungs in the same motion. Then Harmonia's hand blurred across Vexa's face, and the two knives fell from her numb hands.
Vexa collapsed to her knees, gasping as Harmonia stood over her. She showed no signs of breathing hard or visible strain. Only her cold control over her opponent.
No, Adonis knew that calling her an opponent would be too generous to this foolish woman. If anything, she was Harmonia's victim.
Shara rested her cheek against one fist and smiled at her entertainment. "Well now," the cambion murmured, "this is becoming educational."
Vexa looked up, one eye already swelling. "What... the hell are you?"
Harmonia looked down at her.
"I am a nanny to the thirteenth child of the Blud house. A proud daughter of the House of Aphrodite, a humble servant to Lord Adonis. And I am a warning to trash like you. I will drag trash like you to the depths of Hades before I let you hurt him." Harmonia said as her delicate soft hands began to clench into fists. Her eyes cold and devoid of light.
Then she hit Vexa. Harmonia's fist struck across her face and sent Vexa sprawling across the platform.
The pirate captain did not get up immediately. She lay there, wheezing and stunned.
Shara sat gracefully in her chair and asked one question. "Do you yield?"
Vexa coughed and tried to move. But she did not answer.
Shara's smile vanished. "That was not rhetorical."
Vexa spat blood and glared upward. Then, instead of yielding, she forced herself up again. The side of her face was already swelling. Blood ran from her nose and split lip. One eye was nearly shut. Yet adrenaline, magical augmentation, along with hate and stubbornness drove her where good sense and survival instincts would have stopped her.
With a strangled shout, she grabbed for one of the dropped knives with her mouth and launched herself again.
Harmonia's cold expression did not change, but this time she went forward. Even Adonis barely saw her move.
Harmonia slipped inside the pirate captain's space and drove a knee into her stomach so hard the woman folded around it as she was lifted into the air. Before Vexa could even scream or her knife hit the ground, Harmonia was already behind Vexa as Harmonia's elbow crashed down between her shoulder blades and sent her face-first into the floor with a loud crack.
Vexa's body bounced once. Then Harmonia seized the pirate by the back of her hair and hauled her upright. Blood poured from Vexa's nose and mouth now. Her face was a ruin of swelling flesh, split skin, and fast-purpling bruising, her nose broken. Several of her front teeth fell out from her mouth, hitting the floor with tiny clicks.
But still Harmonia did not stop. She dragged Vexa upward and buried a fist into her liver. The pirate made a broken, strangled sound.
Then Harmonia hit her again. And again. Each strike landed with terrifying precision. The jaw, ribs, throat, solar plexus, sternum, kidney, floating rib, shoulder joint, collarbone. Places meant for pain and ending resistance. Harmonia was making sure Vexa's body remembered this defeat long after wounds healed.
If she lived, that is. Otherwise she was making sure she took these memories with her to Hades.
Vexa tried to swing wildly once, her vision gone on one side, but Harmonia caught the wrist and crushed it. Bone cracked audibly and the pirate screamed loudly. The scream was cut short when Harmonia drove her fist into Vexa's mouth and sent her flying backwards, coughing blood and fragments of broken teeth.
Adonis stood absolutely still. He wasn't completely surprised by what he was seeing. In his past life, stuff like this was common in a fight or duel in this galaxy. Especially when threatening a demigod. Harmonia was strong—there's no doubt about that.
He'd seen a few combat-trained nannies of the Aphrodite house in passing, but from the way the Keeper spoke about her, she knew Harmonia had power that didn't fit neatly into the nanny position. Adonis wondered just what did she notice that he didn't?
Harmonia advanced in calm, measured steps, her lavender eyes cold and pitiless.
Vexa tried to retreat but could no longer move. Her magical augmentation had ended, and her adrenaline was fading more and more. She tried to guard through the pain, but it didn't matter.
Harmonia struck again, a backhand fist across the cheek that turned the pirate captain's whole body sideways. Before she could hit the ground, Harmonia caught her by the throat and lifted her high in the air. Then she drove a knee into the same broken ribs as before.
Vexa's body spasmed.
"Do you yield?" Shara said, sounding more entertained than concerned.
Vexa wheezed, unable to form the word. Harmonia released her throat. The pirate dropped to all fours, choking and gagging on her own blood.
Harmonia then stepped around her, then drove a heel into the captain's side and sent her rolling across the circle.
This time Vexa did not rise. She only twitched and groaned.
Harmonia crossed the distance in an instant and planted her foot on the pirate captain's head, pressing her into the floor.
"The only reason you are not dead yet is because my young lord has not ordered me to do so. You should yield before he changes his mind," Harmonia said coldly.
Vexa coughed and tried to push up, but a quiet increase in pressure from Harmonia made her fail instantly. She couldn't use her arms or legs. Her face was smashed into the arena floor. She could feel that if the nanny wanted to, she could crush her skull instantly.
"Say," Harmonia repeated, just as softly, "that you lost. Or don't. I am perfectly fine ending your pitiful existence here."
Shara watched in clear delight. Sofia remained rigid. Astrapios's gaze sharpened, taking in every detail. The Spartan warriors lining the hangar did not move, but Adonis could feel their attention deepening.
Vexa's voice came out ruined and broken through blood. "I..."
Harmonia leaned down, her voice low enough that only those closest could hear. "You were going to touch my young lord." The air around her chilled. "You were going to sell him." Her foot pressed harder. "And you threatened me, which I don't care about, but if I couldn't protect my lord, I would be devastated, and you tried to make that happen, so I will never forgive you."
Vexa made a wet, terrified sound, and then finally she spoke. "I lost," she choked. "I yield."
Shara clicked her tongue once. "More clearly."
Vexa's body shook. "I yield the duel."
Harmonia stepped back at last.
The pirate captain lay there gasping and bloodied, one side of her face nearly unrecognizable, her breathing ragged and panicked. Her entire body trembled every time she tried to move or breathe.
Adonis took one step forward. "Harmonia."
She turned instantly, the cold violence around her fading—not vanishing, but settling back beneath the surface.
"My lord?"
Adonis looked at the pirate captain. She was useful. Even more now that she was broken and terrified.
Someone had told her about his travel route. Someone had sold information on a Blud heir, and he was going to find out who.
"Killing her now would waste what she knows. She still has value, so I will spare her, for now at least." Adonis said.
Harmonia held his gaze for a moment, then inclined her head and knelt down to one knee. "As you wish, young lord."
She turned toward Shara. "I invoke my right to grant mercy."
That made the cambion's smile widen into something almost feral. "Oh? Mercy?"
Harmonia did not react. "She will swear on the Oath and her blood that she lost the duel and surrenders herself to my lord. In return, he spares her life so long as she remains his prisoner and subject to his judgment."
Shara looked delighted as she turned toward the pirate captain.
"Well, what say you?"
Vexa tried to raise her head but couldn't and only coughed. Then, through a busted mouth and a face swollen nearly beyond recognition, she forced the answer out.
"Yes... I... swear on all that."
Shara's eyes gleamed. The quill and parchment reappeared beside her and wrote itself in a burst of crimson script. Then she snapped her fingers, and the hangar bay hummed once and the pressure of the duel dissolved out of the room.
"The Rite of the Blood Glove is done," she declared.
The blood around Harmonia's hand then warped and twisted itself into a crimson glove fitting perfectly around her hand. While Vexa had a small brand appear beneath her collarbone as it flared once, then settled into a darker, sharper mark.
Adonis's gaze shifted to the rest of the pirate crew.
They understood before he spoke, and fear spread through them like disease. Some stepped backward. Another tried to hide behind others. One man actually turned as if there were anywhere to run.
Harmonia looked to Adonis again.
"What about the rest, young lord?"
Adonis did not even pause. They were trash that had committed god knows how many atrocities. "Dispose of them like the trash they are." His voice was cold, indifferent, and absolute.
Panic erupted immediately.
The remaining pirates shouted, cursed, begged, and tried to run all at once. Some moved for the edges of the hangar. Some lunged toward the Spartan lines as if taking a hostage could still mean something. One reached for a dropped knife.
But it was all pointless. Harmonia, without warning, disappeared. One moment she knelt at Adonis's feet. The next, Harmonia reappeared in front of Adonis and dropped to one knee as if she never left.
The pirates in the hangar bay all at once dropped dead. Their heads came free from their bodies. The sounds were delayed by a second, then the thuds of bodies hitting the deck, weapons clattering, boots scraping once and then stopping forever.
To Adonis and the others, it looked like time was skipped.
"Young lord," she said calmly. "It is done."
Sofia's eyes narrowed. "I could barely see her movements. She cut them just with her bare hands," she observed quietly.
Astrapios nodded once. "The cuts were clean. Too clean."
Even Shara looked amused. "Oh my, now that's what I expected of a..."
Harmonia cut her off. "Keeper. Your job is done. Now leave."
For the briefest second, Shara actually looked offended. Then delighted. She looked past Harmonia to Adonis and smiled with all the danger of a blade hidden in silk. "Until we meet again, little lord. Grow up big and strong so I can devour you later." She winked.
Then she opened a crack in space with a snap of her fingers and stepped backward through it. The portal sealed at once, taking the impossible pressure of her presence with it, causing the hangar to suddenly feel somewhat normal again.
Adonis looked down at the broken pirate captain. "Admiral, have her moved to the medical ward and her wounds treated, but basic healing only," Adonis added.
Vexa twitched weakly at that.
Adonis wanted her alive, but he did not want her comfortable.
Sofia saluted at once. "It will be done." Then, after a brief pause, she stepped closer. "My lord, I request permission to personally deliver you to New Sparta."
Adonis looked at her. A Fleet Admiral did not need to escort a child home. Well, not normally, and he wasn't a normal child. Which meant Sofia already understood what all this implied.
The Matriarch would want to know everything. And she would want one of her best officers present when the details were given.
Adonis nodded once. "Yes, I agree that's best. The Matriarch would likely prefer that as well."
Sofia inclined her head. "Then it is settled. Spartans, resume your duties. Clean up this hangar, and take this trash to the medical ward." The hangar then shifted into motion at her command.
Spartans dragged the headless bodies away. Others took Vexa to the medical ward. A few began cleaning the areas, while others started preserving every scrap of data from the dead ships and their communications.
Harmonia rose and resumed her place at Adonis's side as though she had not just slain a whole crew with her bare hands. She took off the blood glove and put it away.
Arionna rubbed once against Adonis's leg and yawned.
The voyage to New Sparta was not long aboard the dreadnought, since it had a warp drive in it. Adonis remained quiet through most of it, standing by one of the reinforced viewing ports as the planet came into view.
New Sparta.
The place he lived and suffered for so long. But from orbit, it still looked magnificent in the cruel, severe way only Spartan civilization could.
The planet held vast seas and mountainous lands, armored cities and fortresses carved into stone. The capital itself gleamed like a spearpoint thrust into the world in the middle of a sprawling desert, with massive walls, towers, military complexes, and noble estates linked by geometry and impossible engineering. The planet had two suns. One was a yellow sun, and the other was a slightly more golden yellow sun.
A unique sun only found here orbiting New Sparta. No one could explain it, and they considered it a wonderful mystery.
The Spear entered atmosphere in a controlled descent. By the time the dreadnought landed, a reception force was already waiting.
As the hangar doors opened, Adonis stepped into the world he had once called hell. The Matriarch stood at the center of the reception line.
Seraphine Blud wore formal command attire, desert robes that allowed breathing but distinguished her as the ruler. Her posture as sharp as a drawn blade.
Beside her stood the First Daughter Helena, the First Son Pleistarchos, and the Third Daughter Otrera. Several of Otrera's warriors stood behind her, their attention sweeping the hangar with open suspicion and battle-readiness.
Adonis took one look at the scene and thought with bitter clarity: I'm definitely back on this hellish planet. And in the den of my enemy.
"Adonis. Welcome home, my son."
Sofia led him down the gangway with Harmonia and Arionna beside him. Before anything else, Sofia stepped forward and saluted Seraphine. "Your grace, it is an honor to see you again."
Then, she turned her head toward Pleistarchos and said with perfect composure: "It is nice to see you again, fiancé."
Adonis's eyes narrowed. Pleistarchos, with charming, poised, and cold indifference behind those charming eyes, gave her a basic greeting. It was polite, clean, and distant all at the same time.
"Sofia. It is always a pleasure to see you. Especially when you're in uniform." He smiled as he took her hand, kissed it, and smiled, but nothing in his face showed true warmth to her.
Adonis, staring at the First Son, felt an old certainty settle like poison in his chest. I know you are the reason she died in the past life, and I swear that won't happen again this time.
But Adonis said nothing. He didn't let any emotion show.
And as the hangar sealed behind them and New Sparta received him once more, Adonis understood that returning home to the Blud estate meant returning to a battlefield that was fought in the light and the shadows.