"What exactly are you talking about?" Anathasia's voice dropped, her gaze sharpening as she fixed it on him.
Mingyuan didn't look up right away.
His fingers tapped lightly against the table before he spoke.
"Shinzhou Fuyukawa. The one closest to The Causality within the clan."
"He warned me about a looming threat… brought by one of the Outer Gods."
A brief pause.
"The Causality, specifically."
Anathasia raised an eyebrow.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know the Fourth Outer God is unstable right now, but she hasn't done anything drastic."
I leaned back in my seat, arms folding over my chest as my gaze drifted to the table.
"Fran said her aunt's been holed up in her estate this whole time…"
"That doesn't add up."
Mingyuan's expression didn't change.
Then—
"Shinzhou also added…"
Both of us looked at him.
Waiting.
"…that Earth is not the one in danger."
We paused.
Tilting our heads slightly—
And slowly…
Everything started to click.
Anathasia leaned forward, elbows resting on the table as her gaze darkened.
"Wait…"
She shot me a glance.
"It's not that… is it?" I muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.
A small smile tugged at her lips.
Followed by a quiet, dry laugh.
"Too bad…"
Silence settled between us.
"It might be exactly that."
She leaned back, resting the back of her hand against her forehead as she stared up at the glass ceiling of the pavilion.
"That sly fox…"
She clicked her tongue.
"Why did I think she'd stop just because she went quiet for two months…?"
Her fingers slid through her hair.
"She really took advantage of the timeline difference, didn't she…"
"While only a month passed here…"
Her eyes narrowed.
"She's probably took her sweet time moving everything into place over there."
My eyes widened slightly.
"A month here… that would be almost a year in Aegea, wouldn't it?"
She nodded.
"She really did it this time…"
A brief pause.
"…that scheming fox."
Without another word, she turned to Mingyuan and stood.
"Thanks for the heads up. I'll raise the Li Group's revenue by another ten percent for this."
I stood as well, pausing briefly as I glanced at him.
His eyes had gone wide.
"That would be unnecessary… you are my benefactor, I—"
"Take it," Anathasia cut in.
With a snap of her fingers, the two of us were already walking away.
By the time Mr. Mingyuan looked up again, our forms already vanished.
—
The next second, we were back in our living room.
Lena, who had been sitting on the couch scrolling through her phone, immediately looked up.
"Mom? Dad?"
She stood, setting her phone aside.
"What's wrong?"
We paused.
Turning toward her—
Then exchanging a brief glance before looking back.
"Lena," Anathasia spoke, her tone sharper now. "Have you checked on your aunt Roselia recently?"
She tilted her head slightly, then shook it.
"Not really…"
"There've been a few temporal disturbances inside the Demiurge's Image Aegea's in," she added with a small shrug. "I couldn't really look into it."
One of her brows lifted.
"What's going on? Is something wrong?"
Anathasia's jaw tightened.
"…So we really are late."
Lena blinked, her confusion deepening as she turned to me.
"Dad… what's happening?"
"It's your aunt Roselia," I said.
"She's moving things again."
A brief pause.
"But this time…"
My expression hardened slightly.
"…millions could get dragged into it."
"Tens of millions, at worst."
Lena froze.
Then slowly lowered her gaze, her brows knitting together.
"…Aunt Roselia?" she murmured. "I knew she had her own past, but… putting that many lives in danger…?"
"The temporal disturbances you noticed are already proof she's on the move," Anathasia said, pacing around the living room with her arms crossed.
"Timelines being unaligned isn't unusual…"
She paused.
"But suddenly losing access to a specific pocket within our own cosmology?"
She stopped, turning to face us.
"That only means one thing."
"She isolated that Demiurge's Image… inside a pseudo-continuum."
"That's why Lena couldn't access it."
My eyes narrowed slightly as I brought a hand to my chin.
"Then how are we supposed to deal with her…?"
A thought struck me.
"Wait—Rania's still there, right…?"
Anathasia shook her head immediately, her expression turning grim.
"She's in the Ruins, most likely."
"Handling the rest of the Collective Spheres I rebuilt years ago."
She dropped onto the couch, dragging a hand down her face as she exhaled sharply.
"She's probably tied up with something else right now…"
Then she glanced at me.
"There are two of us, sure. More than enough if we're talking about raw authority."
A dry laugh slipped from her lips.
"But she's not playing that kind of game."
"That sly fox of a politician…"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"She's playing on a societal level. A political one."
"Out there…"
She leaned back.
"Influence matters more than authority."
A brief pause.
"And you can't solve wars with raw power."
Her gaze lowered slightly.
"Unless you're willing to ignore the lives of millions."
"Then sure…"
"Maybe you could end it."
"For a while."
Silence lingered.
After a moment, Anathasia lifted her head again, rubbing her temple.
"Pulling that Demiurge's Image out of her pseudo-continuum is the easy part…"
Her brows furrowed.
"…dealing with whatever she's already set in motion in Aegea is something else entirely."
She tugged at her hair, exhaling sharply.
"Good god… why drag an entire Continuum into this in the first place…?"
"She could've just isolated Aegea."
Her voice tightened.
"But no… she pulled in an entire structure filled with innumerable, self-sustaining systems…"
"That's not just reckless."
"That's endangering more lives than you can even begin to imagine."
She paused.
Then—
"…Lives aside, Rania's home is there too."
Her grip tightened slightly.
"We can't afford another unstable Outer God."
"I worked my ass off stabilizing everything…"
"And now it's getting torn apart by the very people I trusted with it."
She stood.
Her clothes shifted, reforming into her formal red dress with black accents lining its edges. A dark ribbon settled into her hair.
"Roselia is already bad enough."
Her eyes hardened.
"She's not dragging Rania down with her."
Lena and I exchanged a glance before nodding.
"Lena and I can handle whatever societal or political mess Roselia's stirring," I said, glancing briefly at her beside me.
"And I—"
"I'll help Dad."
The voice cut in cleanly.
We turned.
Francesca stood behind Anathasia, having just materialized.
"I think Big Sis should help Mom instead."
Silence followed.
Her hand rested over her chest as she took a slow breath, eyes closing for a moment—
Then opening again, meeting ours.
"Big Sis has more experience handling things on a cosmic level…"
Her gaze shifted toward me.
"And I…"
Her fingers tightened slightly against her shirt.
"I think Dad and I can hold things together from the inside."
"Since we both have Stillness."
A small pause.
"That way…"
Her voice steadied.
"People won't spiral… or do anything drastic."
Anathasia stopped.
Her expression softened as she met Francesca's gaze.
Her fingers tightened. Turning pale as she clenched her hands.
Silence settled heavily between them.
Then—
She exhaled slowly.
Her eyes flickered toward me… then back to Francesca.
A small nod followed.
"Alright."
She stepped forward, gently patting Francesca's head.
"You and your Dad will stabilize everything inside Aegea…"
Her gaze shifted toward Lena and me behind her.
"Your older sister and I will handle things from the outside."
Her dress flowed as she turned. Its edges subtly bending the space around her.
"We'll regroup with you after the extraction."
And just like that—
She vanished.
Lena followed a second later.
Francesca and I exchanged a glance.
Then nodded.
—
Within Aegea
Nutriscu Duchy Estate
Roselia Nutriscu.
The Fourth Outer God of Causality.
Duchess of the Nutriscu Territory within the Empire of Kazar.
"The preparations should be complete by now," she murmured, stepping onto the cobblestone path leading toward a pavilion at the edge of her garden.
Roses lined both sides of the path.
And among them—
A single tulip.
Her steps slowed.
"…A gem among stones," she mused softly.
She bent down, carefully uprooting the tulip before materializing a small flower pot in her other hand.
Placing it inside, she gently brushed a finger along its petals.
"There…"
A faint smile formed.
"That way… the world won't ostracize you for simply being different."
With a snap—
The pot vanished.
Reappearing at the window of her office.
Roselia straightened, her gaze lifting toward the orange clouds stretching across the horizon.
"Just because something is seen as wrong…"
"…doesn't make it inherently flawed."
She turned, continuing toward the pavilion.
"Love does not guarantee permanence."
"Control ensures the other stays."
"Equilibrium only exists when both sides accept the same ground."
Her fingers brushed along the chairs as she stepped inside.
"I will create that ground for us both."
A pause.
"…Rania."