[Days later].
Emrys lay peacefully well on the bed of his mother, surrounded by a wave of starry crimson divine essence which spread out far beyond the room of the house, enveloping the building itself and going many miles further.
For the first time in days the essence began dissipating at a visible rate until just moments before Emrys began showing signs of awakening, he stirred in his sleep, releasing a tired groan as his eyes fluttered open only to lay there unmoving for a few seconds more before finally getting his bearings and sitting up on the bed to examine his surroundings.
The first thing he did was send his consciousness inwards to check the state of his cores or so he tried to but, he couldn't feel it.
No, to be more precise he could feel his power but it felt like he was disjointed from it, meaning he was all too aware of his state but he couldn't move his power to do anything.
"Hmm, I can still levitate freely".
Emrys came to terms with his situation pretty quickly, he had a strong idea of what had caused this and knew all he needed was a little bit of time to get back to normal. Now coming down from his levitation he looked towards the end of the room where his mother sat with an object in her hand and dazed eyes as if looking into something distant, instinctively a smile crept upon his face as he gently got down from the bed and walked towards her.
Realizing quickly that her mind was in a completely different place likely due to the object in her hand he crouched down and decided to examine it, in his curiosity he placed his index onto the onto the object and instantly felt his mind projected to a different space.
Now standing in mid-air right beside his smiling mother, looking on fondly at the familiar recreation of the battlefield he had just fought in it recently and the projection of both himself and one of his earliest opponents whom was the red orc.
"You know, this fight would have gone a little easier if you'd learnt rune magic like we tried to teach you".
Emrys chuckled at her words "maybe, but I don't like rune magic, breaking it is more my thing".
"Besides, I couldn't use magic here at this point anyway, to any relevant level that is".
"So even if I had (the gods forbid), it would have been useless since I can't apply it".
She clicked her tongue in playful annoyance "you have quite a bit of prejudices for someone so young on the arcane path".
Emrys titled his head a little to the side, a playful smile dancing on his lips as he slowly raised his index "Technically.....
"Don't you even dare".
Emrys immediately put his hand down and kept his mouth shut, well, as shut as can be when considering the little snickers he kept teasing her with.
Maeve could only smile and lazily shake her head at her son's antics as the battlefield suddenly shifted before them now displaying the fight between he and the Jorōgumo named Isla.
"Now this one, this was odd".
"I did not notice it at first but after close to a hundred times watching-
Emrys with shock evident in his eyes could not stop himself from interrupting her "close to a hundred!?".
"Yes, anyways I noticed you already imposed your influence onto the canvas of her false domain".
"The tinge of darkness visible in different areas make me sure of that".
"Yet you did not turn it against her, why".
Emrys shrugged lightly "that was more of a precaution than anything".
"Just in case the level I chose to fight at proved insufficient".
"It may be a false domain but I had no idea of just how much of a real one's abilities it was able to replicate and to what level".
"And gleaning information from my dormant influence over it would have taken the thrill out of it".
"Guess it fell into that sort of reasoning in the end".
Maeve sighed, the genes of a reckless battle maniac as she feared had influenced her own child in the end. It only skipped one person in the family and that was the sweet Leah, now it was too late to curb it fortunately or unfortunately, she couldn't decide, maybe a bit of both.
The scene shifted to that of his fight with Bahu-
"Ah, and this is where you fixed the problem with your base".
"Your aunt and I ideas for something different but, I cannot complain about you choosing the nature of a phoenix instead".
Emrys smiled and soon they resumed their watch in silence until it got to the point of his fight where his body was continuously bursting to pieces over and over again of which his mother made a small motion with her index to skip forward towards the end where he had borrowed the technique of Sarang to defeat Bahu once and for all.
"Right, I've been meaning to ask".
"Where did you learn that technique? When even".
"Because I know the owners and they're not exactly....the sharing type when it comes to this little thing".
Emrys smiled "well, I copied it off the beastman in our spar within the other realm".
"Ah".
Realization shone in her eyes "he must be quite the troublemaker, I pity that family".
They sat throughout the entirety of his fight in peace for most of it and did the same in his fight with Ishmael, only making small commentaries here and there along with some lighthearted jokes.
And then it got to his final battle with Hope-
"Hm, quite scary one isn't she".
Emrys titled his head a little to the side "really?".
"Mhm, at one point due to your negligence you almost lost fair and square".
He paused for a moment trying to understand what moment she was referring to in particular and it didn't take long to realize - "Ah, when she stripped me of my power".
"Correct".
Emrys considered a few factors in his head for a moment and ran through different scenarios, the conclusion?
"Doubtful".
"I still had a piece of my soul which could have come fight in my stead if my awakening had occurred a little later than it did".
Maeve raised a brow at his words "and how strong would this piece be if you trust it to fight against your equal".
"Hmm, if I'm valued at perhaps a 150 points right now, then he's 50".
"But as he in possession of the Gàe bolg which currently in my estimation should add nearly a 100 points, then he could easily bridge the gap between he and his opponent".
His mother smiled "which means you place your overall personal strength at a value of 200 points and with the addition of the external weapon, nearly 300".
"That's quite the gap between you and your opponent".
Emrys shook his head "no, without a doubt an artifact is in her possession on the level of mine or above, multiple surely just like I posses".
"And the extra 50 points difference in our overall personal strength? It's not missing from her".
"I could sense it, a hidden piece stored someplace I cannot reach".
"Had she decided to call upon it and reclaim her power faster than I could retrieve mine then there exists a small possibility that I would have lost".
"But if she hadn't and the piece of my soul had been forced into a two on one situation".
"Depending on how valuable those hidden artifacts in her possession are, then he in turn also has access to my realm which would enable to gap to become much smaller".
"Only if she called upon her familiar would I truly be in trouble then if my lost power hadn't been recovered by then".
"Still that's just a what if scenario, in the end I had a promise to keep".
And with that the recording came to an abrupt end as Emrys found himself back in room kneeling before his mother who smiled warmly at him.
"Let's go meet your sisters, they've been worried sick in spite of how hard we've tried to convince them that there was nothing wrong with you".
Emrys chuckled "well, in their defense i do seem to have a knack for entering some pretty terrible looking situations with my recklessness".
"I'm glad you admit that at least" she playfully pulled at his cheeks and then got up with Emrys following close by as they were moved through space.
The door of her bedroom within the palace opened up and the duo walked out, almost immediately it was like his presence rang an alarm through the minds of his siblings as not even a few steps had been taken before they were before him in a flash.
"Ah, hello there" he smiled warmly at them.
Seconds passed and he received no response, they just kept staring at him but Emrys wasn't discouraged yet.
"So.....I kept my promise at least".
He received no response from them once again, his sister just kept looking him straight in the eye until finally they heaved a tired sigh.
"What do we even say to you now that we haven't already said before" Rachel questioned in a tired tone.
His mouth almost got the better of him in giving a response but he quickly reeled it back in with all his might sensing that it would only make things worse now, so he could only keep his silence and look down at the floor.
"Tsk".
He felt both their arms wrap around him and froze for a moment before he reciprocated the gesture while still maintaining his silence.
"Glad you're okay Raven".
Emrys smiled "yeah, thank you, Leah".
He hissed at the sudden surprise pinch he received from Rachel just before she let go of him and looking all innocent like nothing has just happened but in the end he just smiled as did his mother who had been standing to the side enjoying the sibling interactions the whole while.
As they walked towards the throne room Emrys noted just how busy things seemed to be once again, it was then that it suddenly hit him.
"How long did I sleep for?".
Leah was quick to answer his question "three days".
Emrys raised a brow "hm, not long at all".
"Oh and you actually won that fight" she suddenly announced causing Emrys to take a pause in surprise but he continued walking along with them a second later.
"Huh?".
Leah smiled "yep, well you both won to be more accurate".
"A lot of things happened actually afterwards".
"Ah, I see" he felt himself turn calmer as she spoke, though this result was certainly not in his calculations he still couldn't say he was all too surprised by it.
"Raven, how is Irmir".
His mood turned a little sour for a moment but it cleared up the next as he smiled and looked down to meet Leah's gaze.
"Still undergoing the evolution, but at least she's still stable".
She bobbed her gently in response "I see".
Soon they reached the throne room and even from a distance out they could hear the sound of her court arguing with one another in raised tones over different matters which promptly came to a halt the moment the doors opened.
Almost immediately Emrys could feel the not so friendly gazes of the old fossils on him, they still did not like him even after all these years and he knew that, but they also had no choice but to accept his authority as prince of this kingdom still and they knew that.
That and the fact all of them were aware he was a fated god and it hung over their heads like a guillotine, so it was both fear and distate that they held for him.
The only unchanging comfort they had was still the fact that Emrys had no right to the throne, a matter that Emrys himself cared little for in the first place.
Still, it did not mean he couldn't mess with them a little sometimes.
"Hello aunty, did you miss me".
He cheerfully called out with a small wave and just as expected, the old fossils were ticked off. Emrys was fully abusing the closeness of his relationship with the Queen by refusing to show the customary respect demanded when in an official setting, of course Hestia knew this quite well, she could almost see it written all over his face and was holding back the urge to just laugh at the antics of this wonderful troublemaker.
But-
"Behave".
Maybe just this once she would let them keep their dignity, they still remained a part of her court after all.
"Right, apologies your highness".
He gave a curt bow but the persisting and almost mocking smile on his face and the way his eyes kept running across the members of her court only served to annoy them further.
But he promptly composed himself after receiving a small elbow to his sides from Rachel.
Hestia almost let out a chuckle but held herself back well and instead chose to dismiss the members of her court for now of which they begrudgingly replied to by giving a respectful bow before teleporting out of the throne room but not before noticing the playful goodbye wave Emrys threw at them along with that mocking smile once again.
The very moment they left the air of composure and class surrounding the rest vanished almost immediately as they just walked up the platform to meet her with Maeve being the only one who stayed behind.
"Must you antagonize them so much".
"I'm the one who has to listen to each of their complaints you know".
Hestia lamented in a playful tone just as Emrys came before her, his face full of smiles as he replied with a light shrug.
"Maybe when they drop their prejudice against him for not being blood" replied Leah verbally in his stead earning a tired sigh from her mother and look of amusement.
"Oh deary me, let's find out then".
"Would you quit even if that were to happen Emrys".
"Not in a million years" he answered with a small grin.
Hestias's amusement grew as she gestured towards Leah with her eyes waiting to see what her daughter's response would be this time-
"Would be deserved still" was her response prompting a playful head shake from her mother.
Her attention was returned to Emrys once more as she gracefully got up from her throne-
"Come, now that you're awake, there's a lot for you to see and know".
They descended down the platform and headed out the throne room along with the rest whom were all immediately teleported by Hestia into the halls of one of the minor palace buildings.
Before them stood a great barrier extending far higher up beyond what a view from the outside would reveal and on the other side of it were a large plethora of tributes trapped in countless transparent spheres each ranging in size in relation to the gift they contained and all surrounded by a magic circle and floating around in an orderly manner, from the door were a line of servants carrying more of them into the hall to place into the barrier which automatically applied the spherical protection onto the gifts while also stopping to greet and give their respectful bows as they continued on their way.
" Isn't that...too much?".
Asked a puzzled Emrys, it wasn't anywhere near close to his birthday yet which had already passed for the year and it was like he was relieving the same occasion again which just how many tributes he was receiving and this was even after days of him being asleep.
Though no one had informed him yet that everything here was his, he already knew as this was one of the main places his tributes were stored to. Well, mostly the unimportant ones compared to the few that is anyway.
At this rate his aunt might need to build another world into this place which is a little funny considering he did receive a whole world as a gift about two years ago, never did anything with it really.
"Heh, you should have seen just how terrible it was on the first day" Rachel mused.
Emrys shook his head and then a thought struck his mind-
"Wait, the winner, or winners in this case of the tournament are supposed to receive a gift contributed to by both the great emperors and the Pope weren't they?".
Rachel smiled "just realizing that now huh".
With a snap of Hestias's fingers a giant magic circle was summoned above the building locking it from the world entirely as she opened her palms and placed them side by side in a cupping gesture as a quadruple layered interlinked golden magic circle was summoned above.
" You should know that it was quite a difficult task for them to come up with something different, more special than all occasions of before in the history of this tournament".
"Because, what are you supposed to offer a boy who has everything".
Her hands slowly moved apart as a small portal appeared right in the center of the circle and from it came a sealed golden palm sized bowl made with the finest craftsmanship and exquisite engravings, embedded in it also were the most rare and precious gems.
Even with the array of spell casted onto it to prevent the details of what it contained being revealed, the magic still did a poor job of just how powerfully divine and pure it's contents were just from the little that waffed across the room nourishing his body, soul and mental energies like never before.
A golden hue glazed over his eyes for a second before settling deep into his core, Emrys almost could not believe it but it was too real to deny, the fact that something like that was really here.
"Is that really-
"Yes" Hestia interrupted with a smile.
"From Igram itself, a personal artifact granted by the goddess of light herself onto the church eons ago".
"Holy water".
Emrys still found himself mildly flabbergasted even now, the fact that the church would be willing to gift something they hold more value to than their lives, one of the their most prized possessions, it truly was a most surprising thing.
There were an array of legends surrounding this little thing and so little about it being an exaggeration in spite of it all. Most famed for it's unmatched and unsurpassed healing abilities by anything and anyone under the heavens, it still possessed a whole multitude of benefits.
One of them being it's ability to continuously nourish, improve and evolve every facet of a beings existence or state so long as you fall short of the divine itself. Meaning that with enough of this and with enough time, one's potential or magic could hypothetically grow to reach or come close to a level just below what the ancients were.
And another benefit was the possibility of it granting you two specific affinities if consumed, one could immediately awaken to be at the top of healing magic or gain the affinity for light, and if already in possession of said affinities they could also be evolved to a level unseen before.
There remained quite a few other benefits left, but these were the major ones most discussed and known to the populace hence why it was so surprising that the church would be willing to let something like that fall into his hands when considering the rocky relationship between they and his aunt.
Still, even with the prospects of such incredible benefits laid bare before his eyes his greed lay somewhere else.
"This feels more like a peace offering than just a gift"
Hestia giggled a bit "how perceptive and accurate".
"Even for me, something like this can be looked at as valuable up to a point".
Emrys scoffed internally unable to hide the small amusement showing on his face "A kind way of saying barely valuable huh".
In response all she offered was a warm smile prompting Emrys to heave a small sigh - "I remember asking some years ago just how strong you were".
"And my answer will remain the same were you to ask me again".
"I am much stronger than I am" she gave his forehead a playful tap after repeating the same annoyingly cryptic answer of years ago.
He couldn't ask either his mother or sisters for answers either cause they played the same game, this was one of the only things that had ever truly frustrated him a bit.
*tsk*
"Ah well, it's not so valuable to me either".
"I'll let Leah and Rachel have most of it while I feed the rest to Irmir".
Rachel's eyes shot towards him and then towards the rest of her family "I mean, if my dear lovable brother is offering then I can't uhh....exactly refuse him now can I".
"I mean think of his poor fragile, oh so gentle heart".
"What if-
Hestias's hand was placed onto her shoulder cutting her off, more for her sake than that of Rachel's as her quivering lips was barely able to hold back her laughter from spilling out
"Geez, have you no pride as the eldest sibling in the family" Leah chastized with a gentle shake of her head to express her disappointment but if one were to look closely-
"Ah, you're drooling sis".
With immediate haste a hand was clamped over her mouth as she stealthily applied cleansing magic and cleared her throat a bit to pretend like everything was normal but the refusal to meet their eyes told a different story.
Emrys no longer able to contain his amusement at the antics of his sisters broke out into a hearty laugh-
"Jeez".
Hestia suddenly snapped her fingers having remembered something - "Conveniently, you woke up at just the right time because we made a decision on this".
Emrys found his interest piqued at her words wondering what it might be.
" Tomorrow, your first day of school begins".
A silence passed for a few seconds as Emrys took in her words and replayed them over and over just to make sure he heard it right but-
"Huh?".
EnD.