Yuan and Qin stood silent and stared at Vulcanis as he devoured the meal, sometimes grunting in indecent sounds of pleasure. "Sooo good, even fruits and salad..." the marathonist mumbled in between bites.

Juices and saliva dripped on his beard, making a mess.

Pef glanced at the famished smith, then towards his ex-fire disciple wives. "It's rude to stare. The man ran a million kilometers. It's normal to be hungry." he admonished them gently.

Vulcanis rose his eyes and nodded in gratitude, then returned to his feast.

"I guess the old maxim is true. You should never meet your gods, lest you be disappointed." Yuan whispered to herself, and Qin nodded to herself.

Pef sighed.

"Anyway. Did you find any problems that need my attention?" Pef asked his wives in more serious voice.

Lia smiled thinly, and knocked on air. Pef reverted the oracle to the real world, and watched her beam away towards the moon.

No doubt she was working again on the laser diffraction phenomena.

Lin stepped out as well, and flew towards Lacrimosa, with barely a pat on Pef's elbow as she left. She wasn't too happy then.

One by one, his wives left the beach dinner, and spread over the planet, returning to their duties as leaders of the Monarchy. Something always needed to be fixed on the planet, from building roads to stomping crime and draining floods.

And unlike in his inner world, a simple thought wasn't enough to reshape the world. Constant work was needed to maintain civilization.

Soon everyone left, except Vela, who didn't have duties or even roots here on Lacrima.

Reason appeared on the beach, and measured Pef's children with a frown in her eyes. Well, they were responsible adults now, with a thousand years of life experience. And lucky for them, they hadn't need to grow up fast, and fight monsters all the way.

"They are pathetic. A Demon Lord would eat them alive." Reason muttered in a disappointed tone.

Paragon perked up and returned the stare, and almost threw a punch. Then his education took over and he bowed politely. "Hopefully, we would get stuck in this demon's throat and doom him to suffocate on our bones." His sisters, Lily and Rose, smiled grimly at the sarcastic retort.

Reason snorted and dismissed the idea. "Glib won't get you far, Sovereign Paragon. You're ten magnitudes of cultivation too low for that."

Pef scratched his cheek and measured the kids with his coresense. He had enough demons in his freezer to push the children into a rapid Ascension, at least to first Tier. But they would be rather useless as frontline troops. Reason was right, as always.

He waved a hand, equipping the kids with Tier 1 armors and spears. Then, he relocated them to the moon, along with Vulcanis. 'Three on one. You stay here until you win.' Pef explained with a qi burst, while pointing at the new target.

The smith reacted first, launching a surprise attack consisting of fire jets and explosions. The armors resisted the flames for a short while, til the wards got overwhelmed.

In a few seconds, all three kids reached a fiery death. Then they got resurrected, and they launched they own attack, while trying to coordinate among themselves, with qi pulses. Didn't quite work, of course.

Vulcanis may have been new to his body, but had been a god for millions of years. And had good control over fire.

A puppy appeared on the beach, next to Pef and Vela, looking towards the moon with curious eyes. "No puppy, you can't help." Pef said with an amused voice, then reassembled the fried kids back into shape.

The puppy ran a circle around the table, then rushed into the sea, chasing fish like it always did, since Pef began populating the inner sea with marine life.

"They'll need years to find a working strategy against Vulcanis." Vela commented with a frown on her face.

"They have Rose though. I say maybe two months, before she figures it out." Pef replied with a careless wave.

"Enough time to plan that ball of yours." Vela concluded with a small smile.

Pef smiled back, glad to see at least one of his wives was seeing eye to eye with him. Vela was new in this role, and easier to trick.

He poured more wine, and revived the dead kids, again. Maybe three months?

------------

In the Patriarchy, there was a large debate still going on, pretty much continuously since the Patriarch had died. Some wanted a new Patriarch to be elected, a few proposed Shan Xi, the Patriarch's Emperor ranked wife as new leader. Remi Xi among them most vocal of them.

Monarchs Ventu and Hestia stood at the head of the table, their rank unassailable but also useless. With a foreign wife, the other Emperors would never approve of his leadership.

Lithos and Wixtal were only Sovereigns, but had equal power with Ventu, one due to their connection to Pef, the other as the older son of the Patriarch. Not the eldest, since Saren was still outlawed due to his defection.

Empresses Remi and Shan stood aside, the Patriarch's holy blade stuck into the table, in front of them. How did one argue with an invincible sword that drank souls?

Sure, the Monarchy had proven that women could be effective leaders, but the Patriarchy was too ingrained and ossified by the Patriarch's geological rule. Two hundred thousand years since founding, and the same person as a ruler...left its toll. The populace was still in shock.

"We could simply remain Emperors of our own provinces, under the aegis of the Monarchy." Wixtal proposed with a shrug.

Ventu glanced at his brother and saw the same reluctance. They had fought too long for their country, just to have it fade away now.

"Lady Shan is a strong oracle. And she has the blade. " Remi argued again, despite her words going unheard a hundred times before.

A Xi Empress was tolerable, especially a married one. If their province was well managed and defended, nobody minded too much.

A Patriarch was by definition male though. And Lady Shan was not a Xi by birth. Not an option, sadly.

Ventu sighed and squeezed his wife's hand a bit. Hestia replied with her own squeeze, returning the feeling.

"We don't need to rush. Pef has returned to our planet, as you already know. Perhaps he'll take the Patriarch's mantle." Ventu proposed in a peaceful tone, while rubbing his left arm. The arm had healed, but the reckless disregard for his life had left a deeper scar.

The young man was strong, but not wise. He would make a mess, for certain. Which was why his wives ruled the Monarchy instead. Keeping the damage to a minimum.

But the threat of his return would allow a more reasonable candidate.

Half of the Emperors at the table shuddered a little, and shook their heads.

"I believe we should keep the boy friendly, but not too close. We all remember the Locust cult incident. And he also killed my goat." Lithos murmured to himself.

"I think we all agree we're better off pointing my son towards an enemy, instead of letting him fail at ruling. Sixteen billion people in the Patriarchy can't be risked so easily. His first empire went out in plagues and flame." Wixtal said with a grimace.

"Hey! My brother killed the damned worm, didn't he?" Remi jumped in Pef's defense.

"And lost his country and half of his family for it. I don't want to lose our country to a grand adventure." Wixtal replied with a grave voice.

A wave of qi pulses and whispering began among the leaders of the Patriarchy. A consensus emerged at Ventu's urging.

"Take the blade Wixtal. If you live, you will become Patriarch." Ventu proposed with a soft voice, and a glance towards Lady Shin.

Wixtal held is palm out towards the Legion's knife and waited. It wasn't the first time he had wielded it, although the memories of that Roaming were not all pleasant. He had to leave her behind, along with the glove and the unborn child.

If only the knife had obeyed...

The black weapon floated up from the table and towards his hand, then poked the blade into his palm, a bit hesitantly. Blood flowed freely, splashing onto the blade then disappearing by magic.

Wixtal closed his hand into a fist, grabbing the handle despite the blade being in the way.

His hand was half severed for a second, then the wound vanished, as it normally did, when the knife did not intend harm.

He held the knife up, for everyone to see. Then he flashed his sword qi, making the blade glow white and truly deadly. Now it could sever souls, a thousand years too late.

"Patriach!" the Xi family chanted, all glad the crisis was solved.

Remi thumbed her nose, but remained silent. She wouldn't oppose her own father.

Maybe Pef would, but that was doubtful. He preferred to stay away from Wixtal, and avoid painful memories.