The Tale of the Void Emperor

Lily's body trembled...but with excitement and happiness.

...

Athan saw Lily suddenly appear in front of him as she entered inside the Ark space with a red face and eyes filled with love.

Right after appearing in front of Athan, Lily dashed forward and hugged him tightly.

"Y-y...you are not joking, right?"

Athan smiled and caressed her back, "I am not."

"So as you said, I...I don't need to hold back, right?"

"Yep," Athan nodded with a smile as he caressed Lily's soft cheeks, "you don't need to hold back."

Lily let go of Athan and looked at him with tears in her eyes before planting her lips on Athan's lips.

After three seconds, she separated with a blushed face, her eyes misty as she looked at Athan.

"You are bad at kissing," Athan said with a smile.

"It's my first time kissing, humph," Lily said with a red face, "you must have a lot of experiences because of Tiana, Avelia, and Sen."

"Don't worry, I will teach you everything," Athan said with a grin, "but for now, focus on training. Your soul is getting stronger fast, and you have to lay your foundation properly."

"Mhmm," Lily nodded as she hugged Athan again and closed her eyes to savor it for ten seconds before separating, "I...will come back later."

Afterward, Lily disappeared.

...

Mimi, Huarin, and Dreevindo came outside of their blessed house, and Lily also came out after a few minutes.

"Eh, sister Lily, you look very happy. Did anything good happen?" Mimi asked with curiosity.

Huarin looked at Lily and was surprised, 'Her eyes...that slight pain and longing disappeared. It looks like something happened between her and Athan. But that means Athan returned?'

"Did Athan return?" Dreevindo asked as he could read Lily's expression easily, just like Huarin.

"Yep. He is training right now," Lily said with a beaming smile, "anyway, while our souls are getting a boost, we should consume soul energy. My soul is already overflowing with soul energy."

Mimi, Huarin, and Dreevindo nodded as the same thing was happening with their soul.

As such, the four of them started clashing with each other using their soul energy; this also served as a refinement of sorts for their souls while they were receiving this boost.

...

While everyone was training and practicing, the situation outside was chaotic.

The name Athan and his images were spreading everywhere rapidly.

Time passed quickly as, in six months, everyone in the Orchos Firmament knew about Athan and saw his picture.

However, the real shock was among the highest echelons in the Orchos Firmament.

Those families who had their ancestors in Outrious Expanse and were allowed to contact them did so to pass on the news.

Some ancestors initiated the contact because they found something wrong in their Bloodline tree.

Everlasting Legendary powerhouses were sure to become Mythical unless they failed during their final test of entering into Absolute Transcendence Mythos.

As such, those people in Outrious Expanse were infuriated at Athan for killing those Everlasting Legendaries.

...

Outrious Expanse was a blanket of cloud—illusionary colorful clouds.

It was a vast expanse of clouds, and there were bubbles in those clouds but hidden.

Outrious Expanse already had a solid society structure established by Nihility Council.

Nobody had seen Nilhilty Council, but it was believed that they would appear during important moments.

That aside, the entire Outrious Expanse had five zones.

Shinrai Zone, Okulus Zone, Celestial Zone, Legumeta Zone, and, Trixen Zone.

These zones were vast and but they had a border as well. The clouds blanketing these zones were always present but behind these clouds were large mysterious continents with myriad lands and waters.

However, beneath these continents was another space filled with clouds, and amidst these clouds were bubbles. These bubbles were none other than worlds like Orchos Firmament and other realms.

All those Absolute Transcendent Mythos from Orchos Firmament were currently inside Okulus Zone. They would automatically ascend there.

Since they were from the same world: Orchos Firmament, the majority of them decided to stick together from the start and then formed their clans or joined the same organization.

And to strengthen their positions and powers, they would eagerly wait for their next-generation from Orchos Firmament every few thousand years.

Right now, forty-seven of them had gathered together in a large hall since the most powerful being among them was a Mystic Lord and owned a City. She was also their leader, known as Vinery Deqont.

Vinery Deqont was sitting on the city lord chair in the hall while other forty-six powerhouses were seated at different tables in groups.

Vinery Deqont had 739 tiny dreamy fishes floating behind her. She looked pure human without any additional body features except a third closed eye on her forehead.

"Lord Vinery, it seems that you yet again made progress and achieved Mystic Power scale of 3739," a powerhouse with vampire features spoke, "I wonder how is your power level once you burst out with your full strength?"

"You can check that after five months since I am going to be challenged by another Mystic Lord for City Lord's position," Vinery spoke plainly.

"Alright," the vampire being spoke with a smile. This person had something floating behind, but they were tiny dreamy turtles —a total of 8771 worms.

"Shall we start the meeting now? Two Everlasting legendary powerhouses from my clan and my wife's side's clan were killed."

People started talking, but Vinery spoke somberly, "Silence!"

She then waved her hand and showed everyone a picture. The picture was of none other than Athan.

"This is a person who killed over five hundred Everlasting Legendary powerhouses in Orchos Firmament, that included my granddaughter as well," Vinery spoke with a serious expression, "he didn't kill them one by one but killed them when they were gathered together."

Everyone knew about it as they got information from their clan members. Their blood was boiling because they absolutely needed their descendants to reach here and aid them.

Everyone was from different organizations or had joined native clans here. Some had also made clans here like Vinery. She had three husbands. All three were natives of Okulus Zone.

"Sigh...my situation is already bad since my brother died a year ago, and I wanted my son to become a Mythos and come here. But that Athan killed him," A bearded man spoke with devilish wings behind his back and dark red skin with two thick horns, "I am in debt since I used Hounus Clan's Hell Door of Weeping Ghost for training, and I need to pay for the resources within the deadline, or I will likely be killed."

"Hounus Clan..., you will probably not live if you failed to pay," Vinery shook her head with pity.

"I could work together with my son since he was really at the very peak of Everlasting Legendary. But that Athan...," the bearded devil gritted his teeth, "how can he kill so many people? Everlasting Legendary powerhouses are supposed to be the strongest. With over five hundred of them together, how come they couldn't do anything to Athan and got killed instead?!"

"That's the mystery," Vinery said with a frown.