Clansis had never heard of such a thing.
The voice guiding Amos fell silent for a moment.
It seemed to inspect Amos’s psionic longsword again with suspicion.
‘Are you telling me that was chewed by your little Crown Clan brat?’
Such an absurd note was rarely heard from the ever-unflappable Emperor Clansis.
Through all these long years, Clansis had hardly retained much consciousness and had little information—mostly all from that ‘god’s’ perspective. As for Chu Zao, he truly knew very little.
Ever stable and slow to warm, Emperor Clansis had not had much interaction with Chu Zao.
He merely thought Amos had arrived too late, not as prompt as his own grandchild.
Oh, of course, in practical terms, it wasn’t really Amos’s fault.
But after ages apart, Clansis, faced with Amos, really wanted to ignore all facts and pile the blame onto him—yes, exactly, he was targeting this punk.
Yet faced with Amos’s unexpected reply, Clansis paused for ages, still thinking—what sharp teeth that little one must have.
He didn’t know anything about Chu Zao, and the whole business of Amos suddenly producing a child had been absolutely shocking to him.
With the home planet’s downfall, for his ever-proud, unusually outstanding child to, out of nowhere and some genetic quirk, end up with an offspring?
Yet, thinking of how that ‘god’ had tried to forcibly devour him and the coronet-crowning had caused his dormant psionic consciousness to awaken completely, Clansis never imagined such a scenario before he lost awareness.
He had always thought the contingency he laid would most likely bring him face to face with Amos when he awoke.
The little one was adorable, but being a Crown Clan cub, Clansis felt he could still resist the charm of a nearly-come-of-age cub. If it were any younger, perhaps not.
When it came to offspring, Clansis believed himself the ultimate authority—after all, among all the Crown Clan, he and Solan undoubtedly had the most children.
Granted, after Desmond’s squad was wiped out, before the home planet was utterly corrupted, the home planet itself sensed something amiss. In those several years, the birth rate of Crown Cubs soared to several times that of the previous century.
Thus, the Dwight family smoothly ended up with five.
Amos only had one cub, but wasn’t he caught off guard in the end?
Having slept so, so long, as Amos hurried ahead, Clansis—for once—felt greatly interested in bickering with Amos.
‘Amos, the thing you grew most as you got older was deviousness, hmm? You never used to tattle like this.’
“You only grew in bad taste as you aged. You ran away fast enough, left a whole mess behind, but still shamelessly point at others—”
Amos’s expression didn’t change.
When Clansis was declared dead, all sorts of burdens were shoved haphazardly onto Amos, too.
Tsk—when you get down to it, what’s the point?
Clansis was obviously choked by this as well.
At last, he saw Amos look up.
That always lazy, indifferent face actually cracked a smile—how to describe it?
A little rebellious, a little boastful.
A look almost never found on Amos’s face.
He said, “My cub is cuter than yours.”
Clansis: ……
Listen to what you’re saying.
Is that even a human thing to say?
‘Then you still lost him by accident.’
Clansis couldn’t help retorting. If he had a body, he’d be rolling his eyes at Amos now.
‘Besides, my most representative cub is you, isn’t it? What are you patting yourself on the back for after losing?’
Now you’d go tattle and make me the bad grandpa?
So with this generation’s lack of cubs, there’s really a problem, huh? Like Amos here.
Ridiculous.
But hurry up now— in this labyrinthine space, catching that thing once isn’t easy. Can’t let him run again—
So Clansis mused.
Then he thought of something else.
Wasn’t Amos’s cub always holding someone’s hand, looking awfully close?
Little as he was, already had someone he liked? Oh, kind of reminded Clansis of the time he tricked Solan.
Clansis felt at peace again—good, he’d wait and watch Amos lose his cool.
Clansis kept guiding Amos, his psionic power spreading along the cracks torn by ‘god’ across the stars, extending ever further, pointing the way for the Crown Clan.
All this happened very quickly. For Crown Clan mental exchanges, Clansis and Amos’s conversation only lasted an instant.
Amos, bleeding from wounds left by space tearing at him, never hesitated or paused, continuing ahead as Clansis directed.
Clansis returned to where ‘god’ was.
Dense volleys of arrows rained down; the black psionic dragon beside them handled those constantly spawning flesh monsters, letting Chu Zao focus on ‘god’.
Chu Zao’s arrow in God’s eye was almost spent; the coronet above his head more and more solid.
This distance wouldn’t work.
Chu Zao realized the problem at once.
All arrows were neutralized.
“Brother Mu.”
Chu Zao called, glancing at Chao Huangmu.
The long-earned tacit understanding meant Chao Huangmu didn’t hesitate, instantly following Chu Zao as they pushed their lines ever closer to the monster.
Waves of power collided, a windless void suddenly howling with violent gusts and countless shrieking voices—like something from an elite horror film of the stars’ highest rating. In the center, ‘god’ continued to evolve: flesh balls, protruding bulges, eyeballs— a nightmarish scene.
Then, Chu Zao and Chao Huangmu quickly closed in on the monster.
In the next breath, the monster swelled, a disgusting flesh mass seeming to engulf them both at once.
But this time, Chu Zao’s arrow fired at close range, at last piercing through ‘god’s’ flesh, blowing open a gaping hole; but in the next instant, Chu Zao and Chao Huangmu were both swallowed—
The flesh was only camouflage—a mere layer—after all, he was adept at manipulating space, long hidden as a puppet master.
Combined with his unique power, in that blink, Chu Zao’s consciousness was hauled ever downward.
And the equally battered ‘god’ knew by now he couldn’t erase Chu Zao for good.
But, looking up at the almost-formed coronet—he watched the two little ones’ blank expressions with a gloating eye.
No matter, just trap them a moment and he could slip away, wait and return—surely they didn’t think a few kids could capture him?
How laughable. He’d built so many safeguards for his survival.
Besides, if their twisted painful memories couldn’t break them, maybe beautiful visions could snare them—
Guiding all the Crown Clan to seek ‘god’s’ core, Clansis suddenly noticed his great-grandchild’s state, and stilled—then looked back at the ready coronet; perhaps believing he’d soon subsume its power, the gloating ‘god’—
Fine, Clansis didn’t think there was much need, but he’d wake the kid, and say hello.
Clansis’s weakened, assimilated psionic power brushed close to Chu Zao’s coronet, instantly entering the psionic illusion ‘god’ had constructed for Chu Zao.
He’d see what his only grandchild now thought, where he was—he deserved at least a “grandpa,” right?
Here was Holy Cas.
Clansis remembered this place well; the Holy Cas Empire’s palace had hardly changed.
Surprisingly tranquil.
Having been devoured so long, Clansis’s psionic consciousness was somewhat dulled—his immense power only letting him hold on, revived at last only when the foe most desperately wanted to assimilate him, at the moment of greatest threat.
So at first, Clansis thought the monster was building a nightmare, trying to break little Chu Zao.
But it wasn’t at all—
It was winter in Holy Cas.
Snow drifted thick. The ground lay white and unbroken.
In the distance, Meilun and others bickered, escalating into a lavish psionically-powered snowball fight.
Clearly, such things really had happened over the years—otherwise the child couldn’t imagine them so vividly.
So—Clansis looked around.
Where was Chu Zao?
He wondered.
Until a sweet, soft voice piped up—“Grandpa!”
Clansis jerked to a halt.
He turned.
For this child, the happiest time was likely those early days after Amos picked him up.
First time with family, first time truly cared for.
Clansis’s eyes narrowed just a touch—there was Chu Zao, but at age five or six, right after arriving in the stars.
A round little face, fuzzy hat and scarf, big bright eyes, beaming; mittens on, tiny wings behind bundled in a fuzzy coat, twitching, a chubby puffball rolling his way.
Behind, Amos, head bent (at odds with the task), helping the child build a tiny snow house; behind him, sisters and brothers chattering and jostling, Frey as eldest trying bravely to rein them in.
That moment, even knowing what this world was, Clansis felt a pang.
Chu Zao came up, tilting a baby face at him.
Little hands reached out.
“Grandpa, hug—”
How did he recognize him?
Oh, the little one must have seen his picture.
Clansis grew a bit flustered—he knew what he’d come to do, but this, rather than storing the child in an escapist illusion, hurt Clansis more.
On instinct, he bent and picked the little one up.
“Grandpa, build a snowman with Zao Zao?”
The cub grinned, hugging his neck by nature.
His psionic energy radiated warmth, flowing steadily into Clansis’s icy spirit.
Clansis’s words faltered. Eye to eye with this cub, the words got stuck, he almost instinctively said yes.
But wind and snow whirled; the white ground was ripped into a white tornado.
The peaceful, happy psionic world was suddenly in turmoil. The sky darkened, meteors streaked—of course, not real meteors, nor Chu Zao’s fantasy.
In just a few seconds—
—Chu Zao was waking up.
Unafraid of pain, unlost in happiness—
Amos, your cub really is strong, stronger than many who have fallen.
Even Clansis realized it and smiled.
Oh no, he’d almost hindered instead of helped.
Why did it feel as if this world targeted him alone?
As the psionic world crafted by ‘god’s’ power collapsed in an instant, and as Clansis was, after all, only psionic consciousness, he could only appear briefly as his original self here; as Chu Zao woke, he began to fade, and the cub in his arms grew rapidly, becoming the Chu Zao Clansis had just seen.
Chu Zao looked up, puzzled at Clansis.
“Grandpa?”
Such a cold body.
Though it was their first meeting, Chu Zao had seen Clansis’s face many times.
He dazed for a moment, instinctively wanting to warm the other.
At the moment their psionics touched, Chu Zao saw some of Clansis’s final memories, while Clansis, for the first time in centuries, felt a touch of warmth.
He sighed softly.
‘I must admit—’
Before ‘god’s’ coronet formed, Chu Zao’s previously lost gaze brightened, as clarity returned in seconds; he drew no slower—he saw within that giant shell the sole, hiding, crowning blood-red crystal.
All the dread and fear radiated from that stone.
Chu Zao’s arrow was deflected again; the coronet flashed on its crown, while Chao Huangmu, a step behind, was already being pushed out in those short seconds, the psionic dragon’s voice coming from a little farther back.
And then a familiar voice—affirming his brief moment wasn’t illusion.
Chu Zao heard Clansis say—‘Amos was right, you really are cuter than Frey, Amos, Feeney, Feiman, and Anya.’
He’d grant that.
“Grandpa?”
Chu Zao blinked.
In that instant, Clansis’s memories finished piecing together—
Why was Clansis here?
That was after Solan had already passed.
The greedy ‘god’ could not wait any longer for his followers to deliver the downfall of the immortals. When Clansis’s coronet was on its last legs and he again researched deep pollution, ‘He’ acted, attempting to directly devour and assimilate the Crown Clan.
If it had worked, he’d have tried to consume the entire Crown Clan.
And so Clansis gained a deeper understanding of the pollution and what came after—
This couldn’t continue.
It was meaningless.
The Crown Clan would perish.
His children would vanish, even become fodder for that disgusting thing.
No—not possible, not allowed—
His coronet already broken, being swallowed was fated. But powerful Crown Clan would always instinctively resist, and part of them would painfully flee back to the home planet’s embrace.
Resistance was instinct, but Clansis reined it in, and let the pollution consume him, sucking his consciousness into endless darkness, and yet held out for hundreds of years uncaptured. This, too, made ‘god’ cautious to move further against the Crown Clan, merely waiting for them to reach extinction before starting the next plunder or assimilation.
This was Clansis’s last contingency plan for the Crown Clan.
In these centuries, he had little time with self-awareness, and it was agony.
On Holy Cas, after hardship, perhaps there was still happy kinship, but from the ‘god’s’ perspective, what delighted him—what he watched most—was the annihilation of races, including the Crown Clan.
Whenever he briefly regained awareness, he sometimes wanted to collapse, but steeled himself to keep sleeping.
He so wished to find Solan—
And his children.
Though he was hardly a model father—when the pollution struck, the entire Crown Clan suffered, so he treated his children strictly and expected much.
But the Crown Clan’s love for their cubs was uncontested.
Frey, as eldest—don’t always feel inferior to your siblings; but having Amos hammer you several times, you must have realized.
Feeney—settle down, don’t always jump about and disappear, worrying everyone.
Feiman—don’t cry, if you secretly cry anymore, your grandfather will box my ears in his dreams.
Anya, too—your sharp tongue makes people worry, but never mind, your brothers and sisters will watch over you—
As for Amos.
His finest, proudest son.
Did well.
So—
Once, in torment, Emperor Clansis forcefully erased himself, lying in wait.
To avenge his lost love—and allow no harm to come to his cubs!
As the coronet formed atop that thing’s head.
Every Crown Clan in the stars felt a tug, somehow.
As they wiped out monsters, their powers seemed drawn toward some spot.
Clansis, his last work done, heard Chu Zao say grandpa—
And responded, gentle-minded, to Chu Zao: ‘Never imagined Amos would have a cub.’
If everything could be as lovely as what he’d just seen, that’d be enough.
But it didn’t matter—
Knowing it would be that way in time, was enough.
‘You’re growing so fast, even faster than Grandpa did.’
Clansis smiled.
‘But no hurry—he can’t escape now. Did Feeney teach you archery?’
Chu Zao’s eyes went wide.
Now, it really felt as if someone guided his hands, pulling the bowstring.
‘A bit impatient, I recall I didn’t teach Feeney like this—’
Emperor Clansis, who most often used a psionic crossbow-blade—versatile and deadly—had, aside from formal instructors, personally raised all his children.
‘Ah, Feeney probably does need a beating. Did your dad often whack Feeney?’
Clansis sounded, for once, truly pleased: ‘When your third uncle was young, he once shot through your father’s favorite toy. Amos’s little face instantly drooped—Feeney was beaten terribly.’
‘But just now, don’t be impatient—calm your heart, step by step. He can’t get away, I promise you as the former King of the Crown Clan—’
He’d always waited for this day.
That coronet was about to coalesce; ‘god’, clueless, prepared to flee in triumph—only to be blocked as countless black particles and mist arose, locking down his path.
That psionic power—Chu Zao knew it—Grandpa Lien’s weapon.
What?
‘God’ instantly realized something was wrong. As he tried to resist, he ran another internal check. By rights, he should have finished assimilating the Crown Clan; he’d even evolved the coronet.
The already restless surroundings again started to shake violently.
‘God’, newly evolved, finally noticed Chu Zao had never been trapped by his power—how could this be?
Chu Zao, bow drawn, gathered more and more power.
As ‘god’ moved to flee, a sudden clatter of chains sounded.
Amid the dragon’s roars handling monsters, once in a while came Chao Huangmu’s shouts for Chu Zao.
And the shriek of a windstorm—someone speeding this way.
At last, chains shot to the skies, mixing with that black mist, instantly sealing off the crowned red crystal Chu Zao’s arrows could not reach.
Above, Anya drew a deep breath, clenching his fists; instantly, his mental chains tightened.
The Crown Clan’s power across the stars was ready; minds converged as one, powers rushing from all corners, pounding the barrier protecting that crystal, letting in cracks that could not close at once amidst raging storms and the concentrated fire of the legendary immortals’ clan.
And the hurricane from behind—Amos was almost here, too.
Chu Zao’s strength nearly peaked, still ramping up. Confirming that someone was behind him, the stress of tracking, never losing the target, and losing touch with the Angel Source Stone, slowly eased in Chu Zao’s heart, his eyes sharper than ever.
And as he guided the Crown Clan, Clansis—ill-timed—remembered his earlier joke, waiting for Amos to lose his cool.
But facing Chu Zao even once, he found something off.
Without doubt, at this moment, Clansis cared a little, and maybe even lost his cool—
Wait up, cub, you know, right? You’ve only just grown up, don’t rush into love— so, that one outside…isn’t your boyfriend, is he?