The Sovereign’s Tear was a divine relic unlike any other. It was, by the reckoning of the most powerful beings in the divine realm, in fact a demiurge relic—a remnant of the incomprehensible creator gods from which the font of creation sprung. Yoshika’s best theory was that it was itself a miniature font of creation, leaking a limitless amount of power from that same unfathomable higher dimension where the demiurges existed.
Even now that it was part of her, Yoshika struggled to understand its full nature. Physically, it was little more than a small gemstone, ruby red and shaped like a teardrop. That form persisted as a presence in the spiritual and elemental planes, and the sheer density of its aura was enough to suffocate a mortal or even a weaker cultivator in its presence.
“Didn’t Chou unearth it while he was still a mortal? How did he do that without killing himself?”
Jianmo looked up at her from where he’d been relaxing on a huge plush lounge chair that he’d conjured within her soul realm. She’d asked for his help uncovering the secrets of the Sovereign’s Tear, but he hadn’t done much more than laze about and watch her meditate.
“How should I know? That was long before I was even crafted, much less alive. That’s what he told me, but he tended to be rather light on details about his past.”
“It’s always been gushing essence, ever since I first found it. I assumed that was just how it was, but Chou’s tale suggests that there’s a way to render it dormant.”
“That’d be convenient, huh? Just switch it off and save the world.”
“I think it’s too late for that. It was probably already too late for that when we recovered it. But if the flow of essence can be stopped, maybe it really can be reversed too.”
It was unlikely, but that sliver of hope was all she had left to hold on to. Maybe she or someone else would come up with another idea, or maybe they really were just damned, but Yoshika was prepared to work on a solution until her dying breath.
There were other problems, too. Even if she could halt or reverse the flow of essence, her soul realm was held together by a powerful formation left behind by the Bloody Sovereign, and powered by the Tear. Her soulscape was an intrinsic part of her, and nothing could take that away, but the physicality of it, even within the spiritual and elemental planes, was a product of the grand formation that she’d have to either replace or rebuild.
Jianmo actually scoffed at that.
“That’s a crutch anyway. You think he needed a formation to realize his soul realm? I certainly don’t. It was only there to keep it together in his absence, not to coddle a baby goddess.”
Yoshika pursed her lips, but she had no retort. Of all her advantages, the soul realm wasn’t really one that she’d earned.
“Come to think of it, Jianmo, you’ve mentioned that you have a soul realm of your own, but we’ve never seen it.”
“That’s because it’s not a place for people, sweetie. I’m a weapon, and my path is one of destruction and bloodshed. Nothing living enters my soul realm and stays that way. Not even you.”
“Fair enough, I suppose.”
There wasn’t much else to say to that. When not charging across the world trying to fulfill promises and negotiate alliances, Yoshika had been spending most of her time trying to analyze her soul realm and the formation that held it together. Jianmo helped—a little—but it was still tedious and exhausting, so it was almost a relief when Dae approached Eui and tentatively reached for her shoulder.
“I’m not asleep, Dae. You don’t need to shake me to get my attention.”
He jerked his hand back with a start and blushed as she opened her eyes to smirk up at him. He coughed in a vain attempt to hide his embarrassment.
“S-sorry! I did try calling your name, but you didn’t respond.”
Eui shrugged.
“I guess I was tuning things out a bit—using this body’s mental capacity for other things.”
“Does it work like that? I have my own compartmentalization techniques, but nothing quite so direct as quantifying and dividing my concentration across multiple processes.”
“Nerd. It’s not really a deliberate thing, I just stopped focusing on being Eui for a bit since I wasn’t doing anything.”
Dae’s eyes widened, and Eui cocked her head as she practically saw him box up his fascination and set it aside for later. Her emotional insight was getting uncomfortably good—especially with people she knew well—but it was hard to ignore. Yoshika could pretend not to notice the emotions that played across the auras of everyone around her, but she couldn’t stop seeing them. Unlike closing her eyes or covering her ears, it was a sense that she hadn’t figured out how to muffle.
For example, the next thing she saw was Dae working up the courage to bring up something that had him nervous. He was worried, but uncertain whether he should be, and even more uncertain about the actual nature of his worry. He was certain it needed to be brought to her attention, but suddenly concerned about how to do it.
Eui smiled gently, and rather than directly reassure him in a way that she knew would make him uncomfortable about how much she sensed, she opted to give him an opening to compose himself.
“What are they working on over there? It looks pretty complicated.”
She nodded over at the conflux of mages busying themselves with designing a new spell circle, and Dae blinked as he followed her gaze.
“Oh! Er, recursive spell formulae. Self-replicating formations as a way to gain theoretically unlimited essence throughput.”
“Woah—sounds kinda dangerous. Try not to instantly suck up all the mana in the city.”
“We’re using self-terminating formulae to start—no geometric growth, that way, and in theory it means we’re just recycling the same essence over and over again. Though expanding Iseul’s proof of concept into something workable is proving difficult.”
“If anyone can figure it out, I’m sure it’s you.”
Dae smiled, and talking about work relaxed him a bit. Enough for him to come to a decision as he turned back to her with a short bow.
“I’ll do my best to live up to your confidence, Miss Eui. I do have some concerns, however. About Do Hye.”
“Oh? I was under the impression that you supported bringing him on board, so long as we could keep him on a short leash.”
“I was—am—but, I think there may be something...wrong with him.”
Eui furrowed her brows. She’d had her own suspicions as well, but chalked it up to his incomplete reincarnation. But if Dae thought something was wrong—well, there was nobody she trusted more on matters pertaining to his legendarily slippery father.
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“Something dangerous? I thought he was a little off, myself.”
Dae shook his head.
“No—at least, not to us. Not, er, directly. I wasn’t sure whether I was the best person to bring it up—I know I’m entangled, and it’s hard to escape my own biases—”
“Dae, you can speak freely. If you're concerned about anything—especially Do Hye—don’t hesitate to tell me.”
“Right. Well I think there might be something wrong with his mind. He’s forgetting things, and not just things from his previous incarnation. I fear he’s struggling to maintain continuity—like mortal senility, except that mages don’t get senile.”
Eui swore under her breath.
“Are you sure? I noticed that too, but I thought he was just...being shady like always. Playing his stupid games.”
“I can see why you might think that, but no, I suspect it’s genuine, and he’s hiding it.”
“Well he can’t hide it from me—bring him over. Now.”
Dae didn’t even need to. Despite the privacy wards he’d prepared for their conversation, Do Hye stepped into the circle with impeccable timing, smiling wryly at the two of them.
“I felt a prickle in my scales and thought ‘Ah, someone must be talking about me.’ From your expressions, I can see that I haven’t lost my touch just yet.”
“H-how did you know?”
The Snake waved off Dae’s incredulous question.
“I haven’t lost my entire mind just yet, my boy. I noticed you noticing, then saw you scurry off to tell the Empress. Your privacy wards are impeccable, but I’m bound to Yoshika and that sort of connection always goes both ways. It wasn’t hard to sense her emotions peaking then make my grand entrance.”
Eui rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Well at least we know you’re still yourself. The same self-absorbed show-off you’ve always been.”
He bowed dramatically.
“Lesser, but no different. Indeed!”
“Why did you keep this from us? If your mind is compromised—”
Do Hye held up a hand to cut Eui off.
“If I thought it would affect the work, I’d have said something right away. I’ve been making a point of saving any valuable insights in a recoverable manner, so as long as I still remember the technique to recall them, I can still contribute.”
Eui pinched the bridge of her nose.
“That’s not the point! You should have told us your memory is failing so we could fix it.”
“That’s precisely why I did not.”
Dae and Eui both looked askance as they each echoed the same sentiment.
“What?!”
“Time is of the essence, Miss Yoshika. My soul seed takes time to properly germinate, and even if you could make a perfect artificial soul jar in which to plant it, we do not have enough time to wait for it to properly grow. Had I told you right away, you’d have tried to save me.”
“Of course I would! You’ve got a lot to answer for, but that doesn’t mean you deserve—”
“It’s not about what I deserve, Miss Yoshika. Your mercy is without equal, even for a scoundrel like me, but you do not need my eternal gratitude after however long it takes to enact a proper reincarnation—you need me now. This simulacrum is imperfect—decaying—but it’s what you need.”
Dae clenched his fists and grit his teeth, and Eui’s eyes widened as she felt genuine anger from him. Hyeong Daesung was one of the most gentle and calm people Yoshika had ever known. He could be cold and clinical, especially in duels and battles, but never cruel, and only very rarely angry. Even when Do Hye abandoned him, he was just hurt and disappointed. In the moment that he’d ensnared his former mentor and handed him over to Goryeo, he’d been resolved and maybe a little sad.
Now?
“You arrogant fucking bastard! How dare you?! After all this, are you so desperate to feed your ego that all you can think about is how noble your sacrifice is? Do you think this is enough to make up for all that you’ve done?”
Do Hye took a step back as Dae advanced on him, taken aback.
“Dae? No, that’s not what—”
“No! Shut up, for once in your life and listen! You don’t get to die a hero! You owe us—me, Aecha, Yoshika, the entire damned world! I will absolutely not allow you to leave this grand formation as your final mark on the world.”
“Be reasonable, my boy! This formation is our best chance, if you don’t use it—”
Dae shook his head.
“Of course we’ll use it, don’t be stupid. I mean that you owe us an eternity of reparations, to make up for all you’ve done. This will not be your end—it cannot. I won’t allow it.”
Do Hye sighed and raised his hands.
“I fear it’s too late to change. The soul seed is already withering without anything to sink its roots into. There’s no going back—it cannot be reformed or repaired. Remove it from this simulacrum, and I die, or leave it and it will eventually decay enough that I die anyway.”
“As much as I admired you growing up, Do Hye, you have a fundamental flaw that took me a long time to understand. But I know you, father, perhaps better than you know yourself. Your greatest weakness, and the reason Yoshika has surprised you time and again is simple—you cannot conceive of anything that you cannot do yourself.
“You are wrong. I will find a way to save you, and I neither want nor need your help to do so. Now get back to work while your mind still functions, and report to me about any inconsistencies immediately from now on. That’s an order from your Grand Magus.”
Dae trembled slightly after his outburst, but kept his face and breathing steady as he stared down the man he called father. Do Hye had to turn his head to hide his smile, but he schooled his expression and bowed low as he backed out of the circle of privacy.
“Yes sir, Grand Magus.”
Once Do Hye left, Dae let out an exhausted sigh, then blushed when he noticed Eui staring up at him in awe.
“S-sorry. Was that too much?”
Eui shook her head.
“Not at all. I’m proud of you for giving him a piece of your mind, and to be honest...”
Yoshika averted her gaze and scratched her head, suddenly feeling awkward. Eui was the worst body to express what she wanted to say, but it wouldn’t be fair for her to read everyone’s emotions like open books and then hide her own feelings.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but seeing that confident and authoritative side of you was kind of attractive.”
Dae, already blushing, turned downright incandescent.
“And just what is the right way for me to take that, exactly?”
Now it was her turn to blush.
“I-I just meant like...attractive to someone else. Someone more interested in men. K-Kaede maybe?”
She wanted to slap herself. Why did she say that?! Aecha was getting into her head. Oddly, however, that seemed to temper Dae’s flustered state.
“I see. Well, I appreciate the sentiment, Empress Yoshika, but I do not think it’s appropriate to tease. I apologize if my sister has been...making suggestions on my behalf. She means well, and I think we are both still learning to properly express ourselves outside of our work. We’re more alike than I realized, I suppose.”
Yoshika winced, wishing more than ever that she could turn off her empathy. He was hurt, an old wound torn open by her awkward blundering. Somehow, even a decade later and after becoming one of the most powerful beings in the world, she was still the same clueless little girl trampling blindly over the feelings of those she cared about.
The worst part was that when she stopped to think about it, that applied to every single one of her aspects—except Meili, who’d mercifully gotten to skip straight to being a socially awkward adult instead.
“Dae, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tease you. I was trying to be encouraging and...I did mean it.”
He smiled sadly and bowed.
“I know. I forgive you, of course, and I really do appreciate the sentiment. It is gratifying to know that I am not entirely as hopeless as my sister seems to think. Perhaps it was just poor timing. Thank you for helping me resolve this.”
“I barely did anything—you pretty much handled it on your own.”
“Maybe so, but I was still glad to have your support. I must get back to work, but I’ll keep you apprised of our progress. Farewell, Miss Eui.”
Dae ducked his head once more before leaving to oversee the experiment that the mages were preparing. Eui leaned back against the wall and sighed, staring up at the dim gray border of the bubble of privacy that Dae had left in place.
“Damn it.”
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