Aster waved his hand and the coffin in which Mylene’s body was being preserved disappeared into his spatial ring, below the place where the coffin was resting a moment ago, there was one last spirit formation, which Eris immediately recognized.
But contrary to what she expected Mylene didn’t try anything weird, she simply stood there lost in her thoughts, which was something Eris didn’t expect, but weirder things have happened lately, so she didn’t put too much attention into her behavior.
Instead, Eris left that for Aster to judge, she pointed at the base where the coffin used to be and asked.
“Isn’t that a dimensional communication transmission divine formation Mylene, where you planning to drain us out of our lives to power it?”.
Lilia frowned her eyebrows she inspected the formation in question and she recognized some of the “divine runes”, which were similar to the ones she saw engraved in the ground, so far, she has managed to extrapolate the meaning of some runes.
That being said Mylene defended herself.
“This formation was connected to my own body… my last resort was to use my own vitality to call an elder from one of the stationary bases at the border, Eris you know that many mortals have tried to contact those in higher planes only to be ignored through countless years”.
Mylene sighed.
“Only the firm of spirit energy akin to a high-class member of the ash nether clan, would make an elder suffer the heavens retribution to come all the way down here to investigate what is happening… I recognize I’m not a good person, but I’m proud of always using my reasoning, why would I kill someone when it doesn’t benefit me”.
She looked at Sarina and said in a calm voice.
“You all blame me for that massacre in your continent, but it wasn’t me the one that set those arrays, but that Jordan guy, the deal I made with him was to create the portal, he made his own modifications and that was the result, even then it was all futile since Eris changed the conditions of the dimensional tunnel”.
Alice snorted.
“Didn’t you end up absorbing the vitality of those people though?”.
Mylene shook her head, she walked towards one of the walls of the cave and opened a little secret compartment from which she took out a small box, inside of it there were some eerie looking red crystals.
“I’m not as stupid as to stain my soul by using the method of an evil cultivator, if the heavens were to deem me like that, then my spirit form would have been erased, still I’m not as hypocrite as to say I haven’t used these things to power some spirit formations”.
She looked directly at Aster and then continued.
“That being said, to be honest getting rid of you with something similar did cross my mind when we met, but after being defeated in both schemes and battle prowess, I’m willing to follow you for the time being, with the hope that someday when you have surpassed the strength of my family… you will release me”.
Aster was genuinely surprised by this sudden “change of heart”, shown by Mylene, but it was also understandable, who in their right mind will mess with someone that can control whether you live or die at will.
“I ordered you to never lie to any of us, so I can more or less trust in what you said, still why would someone like you be willing to obey, with just a feeble believing that I would let you go in the future?”.
Surprisingly Eris stepped in for Mylene.
“Because she is the heir of her family which means, she has seen her ancestor at least once, just like me and yet… she can’s see through you with her divine sense, something that shouldn’t be possible”.
Mylene nodded.
“Exactly, my logic is simple, you have no interest in humiliating me, you are going to be stronger than what I can even imagine, then a couple of centuries of… loyalty in exchange for my freedom are nothing, as I have wasted dozens of thousands of years stuck in this stupid planet trying to leave without success, and now there is certain way for me to finally do it”.
Aster smiled; he threw a little bottle at Mylene.
“If that’s the case then drink that, my family doesn’t need a servant which is weaker than me, from now on your job will be to keep guard the girls… I’m giving you this little grace but I’m not a saint, the world loyalty came from you so if you ever show the slightest sign of betrayal, I will cut off your head”.
Mylene doubted for a moment, the contents of the bottle could be something good or bad, it might be some kind of poison prepared with Eris’s help, or it could be what Lillia was referring when she mocked her back in the spaceship.
She looked at Eris which had an amused expression and gritted her teeth, “This bitch is enjoying my suffering… not like I wouldn’t have found joy in hers though”, she thought before gulping the contents of the bottle in one go.
Obviously the “elixir” she drank was Aster’s blood, and just like with Eris it did perfectly accomplish its purpose, Mylene felt a comfortable sensation running through her body, the long-forgotten sensation of absorbing spirit energy made her feel alive again.
“What is this, is there really something divine in this lower plane, that can actually help me this much!!!”, she thought.
Of course, Mylene wanted more, the feeling of new spirit energy entering her spirit form, was nearly addictive after so many years of “abstinence”, but she controlled herself by thinking.
“If he gave something like this to me… then it’s not that valuable for him, which means that if I behave correctly there is a chance to get more, sigh to think that I the princess of the Ash Nether clan would actually be happy to serve”, she thought.
Mylene of course handed the box which contained the crystals created to store the vitality of the people that died back when the second king was exiled, to Aster which only threw the thing into his spatial ring without paying too much attention to it.
Now that this little episode was over, they all returned to the spaceship, and the travel back to the capital city started, on the way Aster got a message from Eric which said that Ritz was already at Hawthorn city and that they also found Brig.
“Go to the capital city, I will see you there, also how many mortal transcending elders from your sect arrived at Prasil?”.
A couple of minutes later Eric’s reply reached Aster’s communication talisman.
“Only two uncle Ritz and one of the sworn brothers of my master, see you in the capital city, brother”.
The travel back was pretty much the same, the only difference was that this time Mylene entered a room to reintegrate her soul into her body, Eris took the initiative to supervise her, she was also in charge of giving her another bottle of Aster’s blood to speed up the process.
Now that there weren’t “outsiders”, Alice threw herself at her brother making them both fell on the couch, before Aster could react his sister kissed him, of course she didn’t occupy the whole place which allowed Aria and Lilia to do the same.
Aster smiled, he caressed Lilia’s face before sealing her lips with a kiss, Aria patiently waited for her turn and her patience was rewarded with a being kissed all the way from her neck to her lips.
Lilia noticed Sarina’s expression and she chuckled.
“Darling, remember that we have new members in our family ♥”.
Aster changed his position so that his back was leaned against the couch, and now there was one… were more accurately two free spots at his back, an offer which of course both Sarina and Kana were happy to accept.
Sarina hugged Aster from behind and she took the initiative to share a short kiss with him, her face was blushed because her daughter watched from the beginning to the end.
Speaking of Kana, she rested her little body in Aster’s left shoulder so that her head was rubbing against his.
“B-Big brother… can I also kiss you?”.
Aster nodded as he patted her head, Kana laughed and gave him a peck on his cheek.
“Mm?”, Aster felt his mother pressing her body against him a bit too much, she also had a needy expression which he found quite cute.
He gently helped Lilia rise her face and kissed her one last time before whispering at her.
“Mom don’t tell me you are feeling jealous because our family got bigger, you still have to meet the twins hahaha”.
Lilia stuck her tongue at her son.
“Yes, I know, since my darling likes to go skirt chasing, I still have more “sisters”, to meet in the future”.
Aster’s smile froze, his mother didn’t answer in a low voice, she did it out loud so the other girls could hear her.
Sarina cleared her throat.
“Ahem, now that Lilia mentions it, I have curiosity about the other three girls that aren’t here right now”.
Aster nodded.
“Let’s start with the twins, the older is called Alessia and the younger is Aylin, technically they are here, but they are in something like secluded cultivation, as for the other one…”.
Before Aster could continue, Rya took the initiative to present herself.
“The one that’s left is me, I’m sorry if I didn’t speak earlier my name is Rya”.
Sarina and Kana looked for the origin of the voice hoping to see Rya standing near them, but they didn’t find anything.
“Big brother is sister Rya joking with us, I heard her voice but there is no one else in the room besides us?”.
Rya laughed,
“I’m not messing with you little girl, just like the twins I can’t be present in physical form for now, but I’m always taking care of Aster”.
Aster smiled, “That’s true, you are always here for me”, he thought.