-------

”She’s slowly getting better. She’s lucid most of the time, and she can move around more without getting exhausted.” Arjuna describes as he and Karna looked at Tsumi resting on a bed not too far from them. They were talking quietly to avoid disturbing their resting friend.

Tsumi had all but collapsed shortly after being rescued. She'd managed to stay active and functional while still in danger in the Netherworld, but once she had reached safety, all the damage and stress had caught up with her, and the results were not great. The healers of the Divine Plane were quite competent at treating this kind of exposure to negative energy though and had managed to keep her stable, and she was slowly recovering.

“That’s good. I’m slightly worried about what she said about feeling comfortable at the world we found her at though.” Karna replied thoughtfully.

“I think I see what you mean. With a rank 14 being on that planet, the negative energy was especially thick. It should’ve been more uncomfortable there, not the opposite.” Arjuna caught on quickly.

“Exactly. The fact that she felt more comfortable there means the energy had already seeped into her very being. That’s going to take more work to remove. And it won’t be a pleasant experience.” Karna shook her head a bit.

“I have faith in you.” Arjuna smiled at his daughter, seeing the irony in his words considering she was already a god of sorts.

The pun caused her to smile as well. “While that’s great, this is actually something you will have to deal with.”

“Me? I’m not exactly a healer if you’ll recall.” Arjuna looked surprised.

"I'm well aware. However, what I have in mind doesn’t require skill in healing. What it does require is someone’s constant presence. Someone who can dedicate a lot of time and effort into channeling pure mana into a formation I’ll set up. And while it would make sense for me to aid my old master in such a way, we both know that’s going to be a little problematic at the moment. The corruption has seeped into her over time, and it needs to be removed over time as well to make sure it’s done properly. Hope has also volunteered to assist whenever she has time, as she’s quite competent in these kinds of things and can monitor Tsumi’s progress. However, we both know you’d be the best man for the job. You’ll be staying with her anyway.” She explained.

Arjuna was quiet for a moment. “You know, she’d really benefit from spending some time with you. Not enough genuinely friendly faces that she knows and can trust visiting her. She misses you as well.”

“I won’t be a stranger. While I can’t be the one constantly at her side, that doesn’t mean I won’t be visiting. With this heir bullshit calming down, I now have a bit more time on my hands.” Karna promised with a smile.

"Good to know your old and feeble teacher finally rates on your priority list." The weak but joking voice of Tsumi came to them, and they could see she was awake.

“You do look quite old and feeble at the moment, I have to grant you that.” Karna moved closer and joked back, before sitting next to Tsumi’s bed.

"Old? Me? Oh no, never that please!” Tsumi joked again before laughing a bit. Unfortunately, her laughter was interrupted by a coughing fit. Once it subsided, she looked directly at Karna without a trace of amusement. "Tell me honestly. How bad is it?”

“I wasn’t entirely joking when I said you look like shit.” For an Alpyran proud of her appearance like Tsumi, that was a rather unfortunate bit of news. “Still, you will recover. It’s only a matter of time. You’ll be breaking hearts again, even if not soon.”

“And you can’t just do any godly tricks to make it go away?” Tsumi asked hopefully. “I feel so useless and weak. You know I don’t want to feel like a burden. Nor do I cherish looking the way I do currently.”

“It’s not quite that simple. Gods can do all sorts of miracles, but the results might end up being unpredictable. We would also need to counter the negative energy with positive, so not just any god would do. You also unfortunately spent a lot of time next to a rank 14 being, which means the god would need to be very powerful as well. I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that the result might not be what we want.”

"I thought you were on rather good terms with Gaia? I could swear she was part of your attack force.” Tsumi asked, a bit confused. Gaia was a major Goddess of Life.

“She’s the closest option we have, but her power is not quite what we’d need. While life energy is great for staving off the effects of the Netherworld, cleansing it is a bit dif-….” Karna suddenly went quiet.

“I know that look. You just had an idea.” Tsumi smiled weakly and suddenly felt a lot more confident. Things had a way of working out when her disciple got that look.

“Huh. Well, let’s just say that we might have access to a reservoir of energy that might be quite suitable. Even if we don’t use that power to cleanse you in a rush as you suggested, it would be beneficial to your recovery and speed things up." Karna was feeling a little silly for not having thought of this before.

“What god?” Tsumi asked curiously.

"The Sacred Lady," Karna stated with a grin.

------

Karna couldn’t help but smile at the way Tsumi was improving and looking better after being moved into the divine realm of the Sacred Lady, which was in the process of merging with hers. At least something good was coming out of that mess. It would still be a process of recovery, but at least it would be much easier and faster. Months of recovery instead of years. Assuming her attempt to use the Sacred Lady’s gathered power to perform the cleansing didn’t go to plan. If it did work, the progress could be finished in days instead of months.

Her attention was drawn elsewhere as she felt a presence enter her shadow. “Envy. You’ve returned.”

Her fellow sin stepped out of her shadow, appearing next to her. Envy was now freely using her ability to travel between shadows, though jumping to a person's shadow, especially when that person was someone like Karna, required their permission. "I have. I brought your message to the two Nakshatra allies you made, Selendil and Dee. They agreed. I also managed to locate Ysendra. She was quite happy with your present and promised to heed your call once she’s used your present to find the remaining pieces of the Crossroads. She’ll need a month or two to accomplish that though.”

“She most likely wants to make sure she can send her people to all of them to make contact. I wasn’t going to enact my plan for a few months anyway, so this works out.” Karna nodded. She had expected this, and she would’ve done the same in Ysendra’s place.

“What’s going on that you need the presence of three rank 14 beings? Are we finally attacking Lust or Pride?” Envy seemed quite eager at the thought.

“Alas, no. Though if things go as I plan, what we need the three Nakshatra for will give me the power to deal with both Lust and Pride should it become necessary. And I’m fairly certain that in Pride's case that's only a matter of time." She glanced at Envy and noted her less-than-happy expression. "I know you and Lust don't get along, and I'm not opposed to having you two duke it out. She's simply a useful distraction at the moment. I believe one of the reasons Pride hasn’t come after me yet is partially because of Lust and Greed. Pride knows that a fight with me, even without your involvement, would leave him vulnerable, and the two of them wouldn’t hesitate to jump on the opportunity.”

“As they will when you defeat Pride. Never forget that. They might not hate you quite as much as Pride, but they’re not your allies either. Not really.” The ‘not like me’ part didn’t need to be said to be heard anyway.

“I’m aware. Which is why I need to make Pride’s defeat convincing enough that the two of them won’t dare to fight me. That’s what I’m preparing for. And it would be better if I could defeat Pride without your involvement, as that would leave you at full strength to deter them.” Karna revealed.

“Which brings us back to the trio of Nakshatra. Couldn’t you just ask them to deal with the problem?” Envy knew better than that but asked anyway.

“I can’t. It’s one thing to ask them to assist me with small things. It's altogether different to ask them to hand me the rulership of this universe, and maybe the entire multiverse. As you pointed out earlier when it came to Lust and Greed, the Nakshatra are not that kind of allies either. Our interests align, and we're friendly enough to do decent-sized favors, but you and I both know that if I want the keys to the kingdom, I'll have to claim them myself. The Nakshatra were fundamentally made to deal with reincarnators, and that might put us at odds even if we get along now.” She confirmed what Envy had already known.

“So, what do you need all three of them for?”

“Containment.” Karna pursed her lips in distaste. “What I’m about to attempt for my rank up is…unexplored territory. I wouldn’t even attempt it if the experiment with the Sacred Beast hadn’t gone so well. I most likely won’t be able to control myself for a time, and that’s if things go well. The three of them are there to make sure I won’t do anything we’ll regret, like attacking the formation holding this universe together.”

“And you need all three of them for that?” Envy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm also planning on having you, Hope, and some of the Titan True Gods help them," Karna said, clearly serious.

“That’s…well…it’s gonna be a grand show at least.” Envy shook her head wryly.

“To be fair, the problem is that they’ll have to try and contain me without hurting me, while I’ll have no constraints like that. And my form will be designed with harming others in mind. It’s always harder to fight something avoiding any harm, and this time will be especially so.”

-----

Karna allowed Tsumi's condition to improve for a week before attempting to cleanse her entirely. Tsumi needed to be in the best condition they could manage to survive any potential backlash, and for that purpose, both Karna and Hope had been casting several supportive spells on her to improve her condition. Karna had also created a handful of artifacts that would help Tsumi sustain herself, so after the week had passed, they were as prepared as they were going to be.

Hope and Arjuna were the only ones present in addition to Tsumi and Karna, and they had gathered at the central shrine inside the Sacred Lady’s realm. As the Goddess of Mercy, the shrine was relatively simple and eschewed ostentatious displays of power or grandiosity, instead being surrounded by nature and life. Tsumi was lying on top of the circular stone shrine, while Karna and Hope were putting the finishing touches on a pair of deceptively simple magical formations. The artifacts Karna had made were arrayed around Tsumi, taking simple forms such as lockets and candles.

Hope was using a staff to draw glowing lines on the ground in the shape of a rather sinister mandala that would attract and draw away the negative energy inside Tsumi. There were several high-level gems placed around the mandala that would trap and store the extracted energy. Karna on the other hand was using her fingers to draw a glowing glyph in the air above Tsumi that would channel the positive energy of the realm into Tsumi, reinforcing her as well as taking over any areas inside her where the negative energy was extracted from. This would not only help Tsumi recover, but also prevent the negative energy from reclaiming any lost ground. The positive energy would also help to push the negative energy away, as the two couldn’t coexist in the same space. One formation for pushing and another for pulling.

There was a reason they were separately in charge of the two formations. During the ritual, Hope would be in charge of operating the formation she was now drawing, while Karna would handle hers, and they would perform the ritual together. The two of them had performed several rituals together in the past, and this wouldn’t be any different. Their respective roles were also rather obvious, as Hope was quite used to dealing with the corruptive forces as the Chaos Witch, while Karna was naturally going to be the one channeling the Sacred Lady’s power.

“Now, Arjuna, I allowed you to be present, but you’re going to have to look the other way. Tsumi will need to be naked during the ritual, and you’re going to give her privacy. You’re going to hear some screaming, and you’re going to have to block that out and keep your eyes on the horizon. Let’s say you’re focusing on keeping watch if that makes you feel better.” Karna stated firmly.

Arjuna lifted his eyebrow a bit, while still complying. Didn’t stop him from grumbling a bit through. “It’s not like she hasn’t been flaunting her assets at me for as long as I’ve known her.” He wasn’t entirely unreasonable in his complaint, as Tsumi had no issues with nudity, as Karna too was quite familiar with, as proven by their hot spring escapade so many years ago.

“That’s different, and you know it. Bold choices of attire teasing and even playful nudity are different from seeing someone when they’re vulnerable and at their worst.” Karna shot that line of grumbling down immediately, even if she knew he wasn’t really serious and only trying to lighten the mood.

“Which reminds me, I’ll want a repeat of that hot spring thing once I’m all recovered.” Tsumi joined in on the joke.

"And as long as you recover, I’ll agree to it. I’ll even let you choose the people involved.” Karna smiled a bit.

"Ooh, I sure wish Hope and Envy aren't shy because I'd like to see that Valor guy out of his armor, as well as a few others. He seems like he would be quite the looker. I wonder what those stodgy titans would say if we invited them?” Tsumi kept the mood light.

“I think the Grand Marshall at least would have a heart attack.” Hope grinned and joined in on the playful teasing. She'd love to see Valor's reaction though.

Karna allowed the fun to continue a bit before getting a bit more serious. “Now, Tsumi, I wish I could say this wasn’t going to be painful, but we both know I’d be lying. I could stop the pain, but I will need to see how the negative energy reacts when we attempt to remove it. Any pain you experience will be a good signal that something is going wrong.”

"I'll live," Tsumi promised. She wasn't a stranger to pain.

“Very well then. We can begin.”

The process itself wasn’t complicated. Both Hope and Karna kept chanting while controlling their formations, although their chants sounded distinctly different. Hope sounded like she was cursing someone, while Karna’s voice was filled with warmth and life. The negative energy attacked Tsumi’s body as it was extracted, sensing it was being expelled, causing her flesh to wither and die, which was countered by Karna channeling the positive energies to revitalize and revert any damage done as it was happening.

This process of slowly dying and being reborn was not a pleasant one, but Tsumi kept biting her teeth together and only allowed small groans of pain to escape her mouth. The only place where she screamed out in pain was when Karna used the power of the Sacred Lady to force the energy deep within her core out. The pain at that moment was unspeakable, and out of pity, Karna used the power of the Song of Khali to overwhelm the pain with a burst of overwhelming pleasure, causing the cry of pain to momentarily turn into a whole different sort of cry.

More and more negative energy channeled through Hope’s formation, filling up the gems for later use, but slowly the flow of power slowed down into a trickle, before stopping entirely. Every moment that passed caused Tsumi to look healthier, and as the last dregs of negative power left her, she was left looking a lot more vibrant than before. She still needed rest, nutrition, and some exercise to return to her previous appearance, but at least she didn’t look sickly anymore. This method was basically the hastened version of what Karna had planned anyway, just sped up thanks to the Sacred Lady’s power.

“Whatever that trick was you used in the middle, you’re welcome to use it again anytime.” Tsumi gasped out while breathing heavily. “Only leave the pain out next time. I don’t want to start associating pain with that sort of pleasure.”

The chanting of the two lasted a moment longer as they wanted to be sure all of the negative energy was gone, but they finally came to the conclusion they were done. “It’s a good thing you seem lively. At least that part of the ritual was a success then.” Karna replied with a smile, before running a diagnostics spell on Tsumi. They’d have to make sure all of the negative energy was gone and check for any oddities. One of which Karna found rather quickly.

The spell caused Karna’s face to twist into an odd expression, which Tsumi noticed. “What? What’s wrong?” They had known there might be unexpected results when using this method.

“Hope, would you mind running another scan and confirming what I’m seeing?” Karna asked instead of replying.

With slight surprise, Hope did as asked, and the results caused a slight smirk to appear on her face. “Oh. Oh dear. I’m fairly confident that I’m seeing what you’re seeing.”

“What? Seriously, what?” Tsumi asked, now thoroughly confused and more than a little worried.

"Well, we knew there was a chance of something odd happening, and it seems it has. Apparently channeling all that life and positive energy into your body resulted in the energy having nowhere to go once the negative energy was gone. Well, life energy does what it does best. Congratulations. You’re going to be a mother.” Karna announced.

"What the hells?! The least you could’ve done is to take me on a date and show me a good time If you were going to knock me up!” Tsumi cried out in dismay.