Coiling steel slashed through the air and ripped the ground of the training room. Nyx jumped back and pulled her arm, the Urumi sword following her movement and retracting itself. Sparks of black lightning wrapped her weapon as she landed on the floor.

Her eyes were closed, as if her current training was part of a meditation of sorts, when the sound of a chime interrupted it. She looked over her shoulder and opened her eyes, blinking a few times as she swiftly got accustomed again to the light coming from the tiles in the ceiling.

The elevator opened and Rakna walked out with Pronos hanging around his neck. The therian had a small pause in his steps once he got a look at the state of the training room.

Nyx, despite herself, blushed and looked away. Everything around her had suffered some sort of damage, either by her sword or magic. A few of the overhead tiles were splintered and turned off with a few holes in the walls and floor releasing shadow and lightning energy.

“…well, good to know the shock and noise-dampening enchantments I put up here work fine if we didn’t hear that upstairs,” Rakna commented with an amused smile. “At least, you spared my forge from your rampage,” he kidded as he approached his workshop.

“It’s not a rampage…” The goddess huffed quietly and stored her sword.

“Are you letting out some steam? Something bothering you, Nyx?” Rakna asked as he grabbed two Eion Stones and twirled a carving tool around his fingers.

She sighed and calmly watched the damage she had inflicted gradually repairing itself. She walked to her lover, a thought that had her clearing her throat to hide her embarrassment, and quietly sat on the edge of the unlit rounded furnace.

“I’m not exactly bothered by anything,” she admitted, leaning in on her hand. “I am not frustrated by our battle with Roias if that is your worry. It was inevitable, in the end. He was stronger… much stronger than any of us. And while it frustrates me to not be able to grow faster, my belief in being able to surpass my past limits is not a lie.”

Rakna quietly listened to her as he worked on an unknown item.

“However, knowing of the possibility does not mean I have my hands on it,” she smiled wryly. “In the first place, my current powers annoy me more than anything. Both Eternal Night and Tiamat; they’re not me. Their power is not mine.”

“So, you are bothered by something,” the therian smiled teasingly and she rolled her eyes.

“…I suppose,” she grumbled with a faint blush.

He chuckled and put down his tools. “Well, even I am not above using others’ power… although it can’t be really used as a comparison since I ‘steal’ most of it more than anything else. And the Sage is…” He snorted with an odd smile that Nyx couldn’t quite understand. “A bit of an exception.”

“Comparing myself to you as a whole is a laughable idea,” the goddess deadpanned.

With an amused huff, he turned toward her. “You want my advice? If you have powers that are not your own… make them yours,” he smirked. “It’s as simple as that,” he said and moved a few steps closer to the training area afterward.

Nyx, on the other hand, had a thoughtful look for a second before she snickered. “Simple, yes,” she repeated sarcastically and watched as Rakna started drawing a constellation in the air. Obviously, she already knew who he was going to summon.

It didn’t take long for the constellation to manifest itself into the angelic form of Astraea. Her dress fluttered as she landed on the floor, her long braid almost touching the ground.

Unlike her past summons, she didn’t jump up in excitement nor did she greet Rakna with the grace of the Goddess of Justice. She smiled and glided forward with a nudge of her wings, wrapping her arms around the therian and hugging him.

“I’m glass to see you safe, Lord Monarch,” she said with a cheerful tone and stepped back with her usual smile. “For a moment, I almost thought you were talented enough to even deny fate in order to die,” she shook her head.

“…what kind of talent is that?” Rakna couldn’t help but retort.

“Well, what is recorded of you inside Egregore is already mind-boggling enough. If you somehow found a way to die and erase yourself from the Collective Unconscious, then I suppose it wouldn’t have been too surprising,” she answered in a tone that sounded almost too serious to his liking.

“Right…” The therian droned and looked at Nyx with a teasing smile. “You heard her. As you can see, I’m clearly not powerful enough to beat my plot armor,” he nodded sagely. “You don’t have to worry about me dying ever again. You can relay that to the others.”

“Tell that to Kaelith and she will kill you, ‘plot armor’ be damned,” Nyx replied blankly.

Astraea giggled. “But with that said, congratulations, Lord Monarch.”

Rakna tilted his head. “For not dying?” He asked automatically and she sweatdropped.

“A-ah, um, not exactly. I simply noticed you found internal balance,” she explained sheepishly. She pointed a finger at him and swiftly drew a circle with her divinity. As if acting as a lens, she looked through it and smiled softly. “You appear much grander today than ever before.”

“I hope so,” the therian shrugged. “I almost died for it,” he uttered and tossed the small Eion Item he had been engraving with runes just a minute ago. Astraea blinked in surprise and caught it with both hands. At a closer look, she could see it was made into a necklace.

“This is…?”

“Wear it,” Rakna simply instructed and she complied in wonder.

Once it was wrapped around her neck, the Eion Stone hanging from the silvery chain glowed and passively began to cast a spell. Immediately, Astraea felt a membrane of energy restrain her own power, but not in a worrisome manner. It was as if part of herself was being sealed away back into Egregore while her body remained in the physical world.

She blinked at her hands and clenched them into fists a few times. She raised her head in confusion and Rakna raised an eyebrow as if questioning how she hadn’t realized it yet.

“I just anchored you,” he replied matter-of-factly. “The duration of your summoning won’t end as long as you wear that necklace. It partially seals you back into Egregore through me and weakens you as a side effect. However, you can still use that power. But once you do, the necklace will break and Egregore will probably try to repatriate you within a few minutes. Nothing harmful though.”

Astraea was positively shell-shocked at the sudden information. “L-Lord Monarch…”

“Yes?”

“I’m truly grateful for this but… did you just improvise such an Item on the spot?”

“Hm? Well, I guess,” he raised an eyebrow. “It’s not just some random piece of Eion I used. It’s one of my body’s Shards. It deserves to be S-Rank Material, you know? The things it can do with proper enchantments are countless. It can easily take the energy away from you, repatriate it to Egregore through a magic formation, and then convert its own supply of Eion for you to be anchored.”

Nyx sighed. “Rakna… I don’t think that’s what she meant,” she said with a wry smile. “Simply said, this isn’t something you should be able to do on a whim.”

“Ah,” the therian exclaimed in understanding and merely tapped his temple. Eye of Symphony let its lenses out in response. “Don’t forget I have this,” he smiled. “With my ‘Rune Smith’ being at the Demi-God stage and my Magic Craft close to it, it just has to run calculations. While other people would need hours or days of testing after designing an idea, I can skip the process altogether.”

The angel blinked dumbfoundedly and as if coming to a conclusion, her cheeks reddened slightly and she averted her eyes. “Um, Lord Monarch, do you have a purpose in doing this to me…?”

Rakna’s nose twitched and he scowled at her. “…you’re misunderstanding something, aren’t you?”

“Uh? But…” Astraea pursed her lips and glanced at Nyx. “I mean… the lust crest; if you wish…” She trailed awkwardly with an ever-increasing blush while the Night Goddess’ expression fell terribly as if her darkest and deepest secrets had just been revealed.

Nyx covered her face and went as far as crouching to hide herself. “Why…?” She whined to herself as she remembered what she had willingly accepted unto herself in the heat of the moment; quite literally so.

“…” Rakna didn’t even have anything to say in his defense. He maintained a blank expression the best he could and cleared his throat. “No… it’s not for that,” he deadpanned to the angel. “Besides, the last thing I’d wish is to extend the ‘waiting line’…” He muttered the last part to himself.

The star entity lightly laughed in response. “Then, perhaps I shall wait a bit more,” she said with a teasing tone and he sighed.

“Sure, you do that,” he uttered dryly. “Anyway, point in case, you have helped and saved me more than once at this point. I felt like welcoming you into the fray wasn’t an unwarranted thing to do since you seem to enjoy roaming the living world.”

Astraea widened her eyes in surprise. “I… thank you,” she eventually said with a soft smile.

“All right then. Now you can help me again,” Rakna shamelessly clapped his hands.

“…eh?” The angel exclaimed.

“I want to complete my Resonance with Pronos, but my body and soul are in the way,” the therian said calmly as he walked further inside the training grounds. The small Hydra also jumped down from his shoulder and expanded to a size large enough to almost hit the high ceiling of the room.

“Though, now that I awakened my Obsidian Star, I think it’s stable enough to figure something out with a bit of trial and error plus my Founding Instinct,” he stated and turned to the dumbfounded goddess. “Help me out, will you? Resonance should be a topic broad enough for Egregore, right?”

“…” Astraea was speechless. One moment, he heartfully valued her, and in the next, he asked for her to work right away. She sulked, “Like I said… slave-driver…”