Everything happened in a flash. Chu Zao went in with zero delay, biting down with absolute resolve.
No one had time to react—only Zao Zao’s great-grandpa Ebinino’s stunned, muffled roars echoed through the area.
Was anyone going to do something or not?
Today he bit someone’s crown—what would he do tomorrow, the possibilities were unthinkable!!
It was a truly bizarre moment, though that hardly covered it.
But Ebinino really did seem like an animal whose tail had been stomped, no pretense left.
Amos flashed over to the top of Ebinino’s head and yanked his little cub off.
The crown was far tougher than a psionic weapon—though Ebinino was injured and only just beginning to recover, even so, his crown didn’t actually lose a piece for the little one to taste.
But clearly, Chu Zao’s uncompromising bite left an obvious tooth mark in Ebinino’s psionic crown.
Ebinino tried to lower his crown further, clearly still a little shaken.
“Zao Zao, don’t eat random things.”
Amos said.
Ebinino nodded vigorously.
“What if it upsets your stomach?”
The cub still had a fever.
Ebinino was about to nod; halfway through, he suddenly heard this and looked up at Amos flying above him, disbelief in his eyes.
Truly bullying the elderly—those fun little Dwights, all grown and none of them funny anymore, even learning to hold grudges. Ebinino was heartbroken—how could it be like this?!
Ebinino let out a meaningless low growl.
Only to be mocked by Feeney.
Feeney entirely forgot about his upcoming night in the training room, doubling over with laughter at the totally dumbfounded Ebinino.
“Grandpa, don’t shout—you’re supposed to have seen it all, haven’t you?”
Feiman sat in front of Ebinino, laughing too, long ponytail shaking with her movement.
Ebinino: …
Fine.
He let out another low growl.
“All right, Amos, I have to admit, Feeney does take after me a little.”
He really wanted to beat Feeney up.
How did this kid turn out like this?
That was before Ebinino had seen Feeney sporting a big beard, in that era when all of Holy Cas lavished him with praise.
Amos just watched Ebinino and thought, “At least you have more self-awareness than he does, Grandpa.”
Ebinino: …?
“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”
“By the way.”
Amos had landed with his cub, and casually passed his psionic longsword to the little one.
Seeing Ebinino’s slow-swinging tail drifting toward the belly-laughing Feeney, he added,
“You can’t beat Feeney, Grandpa—not even Feiman could.”
Ebinino: …
Ebinino’s tail fell.
Fine, he’d let the boy off this time. Wait until he recovers! He’ll reclaim his glory!!
Old kid.
Though Meilun and Kaman sometimes had these thoughts too.
Amos couldn’t be bothered to comment on this crowd.
Just as previous generations of the Crown Clan never understood his.
He watched little Chu Zao, successfully diverted, happily gnawing on his psionic longsword, still a bit listless with the fever.
Though, like the others, Amos was curious how Zao Zao’s psionic power had grown, and whether the effect he’d had on pollution could be repeated.
But the parents, after struggling in agony for centuries, tacitly agreed not to mention any of this.
They simply kept quiet, watching over their still feverish little cub.
He’d grown a lot, but to Amos, he was still so small.
Time passed too quickly.
As immortals, it was a recurring issue, but amid extended pain, the suffering seemed to stretch time endlessly.
Ever since they found Zao Zao, time for the Crown Clan had started to flow swiftly again.
Too fast, it all passed too fast.
That little cub cradled in his arms was now only in memory.
Still—Amos looked at Ebinino and smiled slightly, always the backbone of the Crown Clan, now seeming a little helpless.
The sound of little Chu Zao gnawing on Amos’s psionic weapon caught Ebinino’s attention; the flickering red light in his sockets was all curiosity, glancing between Chu Zao and Amos.
The scarlet in Ebinino’s eyes had clearly dimmed.
He was just too badly hurt, putting up a brave front, but after all the laughter, Ebinino was running out of steam again.
Yet he couldn’t help his curiosity.
“He’s gnawing your psionic weapon? Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Of course it hurts, only Second Brother can stand Zao Zao gnawing all the time.”
Otherwise, what makes someone a real father?
Feeney, still laughing on the ground, got up and mumbled—
Who knows how many Crown Clan would love for Zao Zao to gnaw on their psionic weapon these days.
But the sensation was too weird. Normally, no one else could bear the little guy gnawing for long—except Amos.
The crunch-crunch sounds from Chu Zao’s mouth made Ebinino shudder each time, especially looking at the perfectly still Amos.
Ebinino was quite impressed.
“Yeah, Amos must be the one with the gene mutation.”
Ebinino was quick to adapt.
“Grandpa.”
Feiman covered her face helplessly.
“Don’t tease Second Brother like he’s the Second Brother from centuries ago.”
Feeney and Ebinino looked over at the same time, with nearly identical meaning—
What, you think he’d actually beat up Grandpa/ patient Grandpa?
Chu Zao finally looked up; now that he’d grown up, his appetite was much bigger. These days, Amos rarely had a psionic longsword with Zao Zao’s tooth marks left; he used blades the kid had already bitten when small.
If Zao Zao got really hungry—like now—he could chew through Amos’s psionic sword in one go.
He stood up, the six fluffy wings on his back almost forming a white feather ball.
Like a little beast, he shook his feathers vigorously and trotted over to Ebinino, hugging his paw.
“Great-grandpa, you have to rest and recover.”
The boy murmured softly.
“When you get better, I’ll sing you the song I learned.”
The glow in Ebinino’s eyes was dimming by the second, the massive drain forcing him into slumber—
Thinking of the kid’s terrible singing, Ebinino managed a smile and replied, “All right, grandpa will be waiting.”
Still dazed, the little cub tipped up his head and found himself looking at Ebinino’s crown, smacking his lips—
“Great-grandpa’s crown smells nice and sweet, like mangoes, tasty.”
Ebinino: …
Who asked you?!
Struggling on the edge of sleep, Ebinino muttered, “Now you’re even a crown connoisseur… naughty cub…”
Satisfied at last, little Chu Zao got up, wings fluttering, ready to find Amos.
But Feiman, having not seen Chu Zao for so long, came over first and blocked him.
“Aunt?”
Chu Zao shifted to the side.
Only to be swept up in Feiman’s arms.
“Zao Zao—”
She sounded delighted.
Of course; auntie loved great-grandpa best.
Zao Zao understood.
Chu Zao generously gave her a hug, only to hear Feiman say—“Auntie’s turn to kiss!!”
The hugged Zao Zao: ?
Awooo!!!
Amos hurried over to rescue his dazed, besieged cub.
Feiman stayed behind with Ebinino; Feeney was sent off by Amos to handle something else. He would’ve liked to slip off to explore with Frey, but clearly, Amos’s scheduled training session that night was inescapable.
Chu Zao rubbed his cheeks, sore from auntie’s kiss.
He leaned against Amos as they walked to the lounge.
On the way, Amos changed Chu Zao’s fever patch.
Just in time to hear the kid mutter—“Kiss maniac is too scary… way too scary…”
Back in the Sanctuary, others glanced over too—these days, there’d been no pollution, no aberrant beasts, and today was a rare fine day.
Sunlight poured down, making the roads shine.
After a while, Chu Zao started plying Amos with questions again.
Why wasn’t little uncle here? Where was big uncle? Where was everyone else, his other uncles, and grandpas?
The interstellar situation was settling; systems were rolling out, including comms and connections to minimize the pollution’s impact on ships. The Holy Chalice Clan had made a field visit, and gone home to keep researching.
Plenty of nations and alliances friendly or partnered with Holy Cas wanted to join their fleet here, and if nothing went wrong, the next group would set out soon.
In stabilized regions, the focus was on maintenance, so the other Crown Clan took over activities in that sector, but the Dwight family left one person on guard.
“As for why it’s Frey who came?”
Amos explained calmly.
“Apparently, your big uncle and little uncle played rock-paper-scissors to see who would come.”
Leaving Anya stamping with frustration.
Chu Zao blinked his big eyes, confused for a moment.
Rock-paper-scissors?
That sounded like something little uncle would do, but why was big uncle playing along?
In his memory, Uncle Frey was a low-presence, even-tempered, very reliable sort. Dad left many tasks to him.
A serious, earnest Crown Clan.
Always meticulous, so showing up here by rock-paper-scissors just didn’t compute for Chu Zao.
Amos couldn’t be bothered to guess what his brothers were thinking.
He took Chu Zao back to their room, making sure he ate properly. Though the kid kept chattering and asking questions, it was clear his eyelids were drooping, exhaustion setting in.
Amos frowning now as he tidied Chu Zao’s feathers—the one upside being, with age, the wings and feathers were bigger and coarser, much easier to manage than in childhood.
“Big uncle’s all right? I haven’t seen him in ages.”
Chu Zao settled on a nearby mat, naturally curling up small, wings on display. As he looked at them, he wondered—eh? Weren’t they neat just now? When’d they puff up again?
“Comms are open now.”
Amos sat in a high-backed chair.
His elegant white inner-shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbow, muscle and veins showing, head bowed as he calmly, tenderly tidied Chu Zao’s feathers—like an adult bird preening its chick.
Now and then he’d reach out to smooth Chu Zao’s inordinately soft little curls—Amos’s hair was curled too, but not as fluffy as Chu Zao’s.
“You can call your uncle now.”
Chu Zao, perched on the mat by Amos’s knee, was having the topmost pair of wings sorted out.
With a fever patch on, Chu Zao responded, pulling out his communicator and tapping away—failure.
He tried again—still failure.
Chu Zao’s fine brows creased, clearly aggravated, a sign the sick cub’s temper was slipping; just as he was about to get mad at the device, Amos contacted Frey and sent the image to the big screen.
“Amos? What’s up—Zao Zao?”
Just as Chu Zao was wrangling with his comm, Frey’s voice came through.
Chu Zao looked up.
On the screen, Frey stood dead-center on the bridge, wearing a crisp black uniform, all buttons done, gold braid hanging from his epaulets. His cap pressed slightly over messy black hair, his face icy and severe, but his frosty eyes softened the instant he spotted Chu Zao.
“Big uncle.”
Chu Zao naturally flopped on Amos’s knee, honey eyes matching Frey’s.
“Exploring this star region?”
“Mm, need something, Zao Zao?”
Frey watched the kid, then glanced at Amos—he’d long suspected Amos had a bit of an OCD streak; every time, he’d make sure Chu Zao’s little wings were just so.
“Amos, Zao Zao’s fever hasn’t broken yet?”
“Needs a few more days.”
Amos didn’t look up, watching the boy on his knee.
Thinking of something, he even chuckled.
“He’s so muddled, he went and gnawed on Ebinino’s crown.”
“…Ah.”
Frey paused at the news.
Expressionless, he said,
“That must have been terrifying for grandpa. I sympathize.”
He spoke of sympathy but showed none—Frey watched Chu Zao, looking perfunctory.
“Zao Zao’s collected tons of intel.”
Chu Zao ignored the previous exchange.
He snuggled closer and grumbled to big uncle.
“This place is the worst, uncle—so many nations and alliances love playing dirty, taking advantage of how we don’t know this territory—”
Warm light fell on Chu Zao, beside him was the carefully preening Amos, his big hand gently petting his head occasionally, soothing the impulsive cub.
Just like when he still slept with Baba.
In the morning under warm blankets, wings poking out for Baba to preen.
Peaceful and safe.
Fed and watered, having seen Ebinino too, Chu Zao was finally at ease, inevitably slipping into sleepiness.
He lay on Amos’s knee, eyelids closing, but still managed to make Frey promise—
“Uncle, be careful, stay safe—if anything happens, tell me—”
Neither Amos nor Frey said anything until Chu Zao’s breathing evened out.
“Asleep?”
Frey asked quietly.
“Mm.”
Amos replied at random.
“All worn out. Did you have a run-in with these local powers?”
“Had a brush, nothing special, they scurried off quick.”
Both had lowered their voices.
After a bit, Amos looked over at Frey.
“Need to end the call?”
Sitting there watching Zao Zao nap—perfect example of Crown Clan slacking during work hours.
“Why should I?”
Frey replied calmly.
“I’m not Feiman, Feeney, or Anya—I won’t slack off.”
Amos didn’t mind.
“Suit yourself, but keep it down.”
“I know.”
Frey nodded.
Meanwhile, in Frey’s ship, among the Sanctuary members with him, was Yu Ye.
Yu Ye had seen plenty these last few days.
With the First Army Group to be rebuilt, these strong young Sanctuary members would form the core, but had a ton to learn. They were used to mecha battles, untrained with large starships and unused to Crown Clan joint ops.
The exploration had been going for a day.
They had entered the area near the Gesen Empire.
Nothing bad had happened, but they’d recently encountered a Gesen Empire patrol squad, which tried to block them from entering their borders.
If before, the Holy Cas Empire and Crown Clan had offered basic respect for this place, now, knowing the situation, Holy Cas couldn’t have cared less about Gesen.
Other regions were untouched, but from all Sanctuary-Gesen friction—it was clear that Gesen Empire was Holy Cas’s enemy.
So investigating this region, and the spots favored by the beast commanders, Frey’s forces had no intention of humoring Gesen’s face.
“This whole zone, be careful.”
Yu Ye eyed their trajectory and reminded.
Frey looked over.
“There’s a kind of shark-type aberrant beast here—very fierce. They haunt Gesen’s periphery. Their senses are sharp, and Gesen uses a special powder to hide from them.”
Yu Ye explained.
“They’ll lure beasts to attack incoming ships.”
He was already aware of the Crown Clan’s strength, but old habits die hard, and after Sanctuary had taken hits here, Yu Ye couldn’t help but speak up.
Frey nodded.
“Don’t worry.”
Frey spoke softly, eyes lingering on the comm image.
Even the Holy Cas crew couldn’t help peeking again and again—there was not a hint of tension.
Total relaxation.
Yu Ye, feeling uneasy, wanted to speak up, but why was everyone just watching the little highness sleep?
Yu Ye’s nerves were taut—wasn’t this a dangerous mission?
Yet… Even he, after glancing at the comm screen, snapped himself alert.
No, no, no, why was he staring too?
Well… If everyone else was looking, a few more glances couldn’t hurt, right?
At this moment, they ran into another blockade.
“Forward is the Gesen Empire territory. Unidentified vessel, please reroute. If you wish to discuss cooperation, please arrange a formal meeting with our Emperor. We will then open our border to your legal passage. For now, you are entering Gesen Empire space illegally, repeating—”
It was the same patrol team as before, likely now acting on high-level orders.
These days, Gesen had been monitoring the Sanctuary group, but seeing no activity, they’d let their guard down, and fancied themselves diplomatic equals to Holy Cas, at least on par.
They admitted friction with Sanctuary at first, but between nations, nothing was so absolute; as fellow humans, their goal was survival. States disagreed at times—but this was how it went.
When the news came that Holy Cas ships were directly approaching their borders, Gesen’s upper echelons self-importantly held onto this view.
Yu Ye and the Sanctuary group tensed a bit.
Now what?
Yet the Holy Cas ship was calm to the point of indifference.
Frey didn’t care about what was being said at all.
The Holy Cas comms officer frantically tried to lower the incoming volume.
Only they seemed nervous.
The Holy Cas starship didn’t so much as veer off course.
Their voices, though now much quieter, came through again:
“As you are guests from another star region, our Emperor is very understanding of your rudeness. But now you know our position, please immediately halt your incursion into our space or we will take action.”
The Sanctuary crew now heard the fearsome shark-beast shrieks.
Yu Ye jumped up in fury, about to retort.
Unexpectedly, the Holy Cas crew responded first, worried about the little highness being woken.
The Holy Cas soldier curtly told the Gesen comm, “Get lost.”
“You—”
Gesen’s liaison seemed momentarily speechless.
“We came with full sincerity to negotiate. Such an attitude will win you no friends here.”
At that moment, aberrant beasts launched, gathering toward the Holy Cas ship.
The leader was a formidable aberrant beast legionnaire, but hadn’t yet reached commander level.
Frey, hearing the noise outside, exhaled lightly and headed out.
He said coldly, “Open the hatch.”
“Yes, Highness.”
The Gesen patrol, seeing the Holy Cas ship halt, nodded smugly—clearly, Holy Cas wasn’t as tough as they’d thought.
“You can still leave this region. If you continue, we won’t help you—you’ll face the ferocity of our aberrant beast army…”
The leader barely finished, watching the beasts closing in, craving flesh and blood.
A soft slicing sound.
The beasts closest to the Holy Cas ship froze and fell apart in a split second.
Behind them, a figure had appeared.
He was immaculate, every button fastened, cap straight, his crown visible above. He raised his head coldly, both hands curled as if holding something over four fingers—two single-edged psionic blades, gleaming silver-black.
Gesen had never had a single challenger of Holy Cas return, so they didn’t know what it meant to face a mythical immortal.
They stared as not a single beast came near the Holy Cas ship, and under that dreadful psionic pressure, even the beasts were hard to control—the legionnaire’s power couldn’t overcome their urge to flee.
Until Frey’s blade hovered at the leader’s weak spot, countless psychic assaults rained down, beasts behind falling out of control, fleeing on instinct—under those scarlet eyes, the battle ended almost silently.
“What the hell…is this…”
Just moments before, the Gesen officers had expected fair, earnest negotiation.
They believed they controlled all resources and data here—no matter how strong these outsiders, they couldn’t bypass them.
But—the reality was otherwise.
Frey turned.
“Didn’t I tell you to get lost?”
His wings flapped, psionics boosting him instantly in front of the delegation, raising his psionic blade.
His voice, as always, was icy: “Quiet down.”
Within the Dwight family, Frey’s presence was never strong, his nature stiff and not jokey—he was the eldest, not as formidable as his younger brother Amos. But most of Holy Cas’s affairs ran through him.
Although as eldest he wasn’t as amazing as Amos,
Half of Holy Cas’s business passed through his hands.
The area was actually very quiet, except for Frey’s shining blade. He looked at them, but it was as if he didn’t see them at all.
Under trembling, terrified stares,
Frey was just as cold and unsmiling as ever.
“Holy Cas—is to be respected and feared, not judged for whether you like it.”