Divine Path System

Varian collapsed right onto his knees right after Isadora fainted. Sarah caught him in a tight embrace and pulled him away from Isadora.

Even though she fainted, the flames of darkness were still burning around the woman.

As Sarah feared, for the next five minutes, the flames grew larger and more menacing before they finally burnt out.

"…What the hell is her deal?" Varian finally swore.

His body was aching like hell and if possible, he wanted to hit bed right away. Ironically, his body was more fine than his soul. His soul...he didn't know how many nightmares he'd have to endure before he could return to normal.

This battle had a direct bearing on his soul and unlike other fights, he couldn't just shrug it off.

Sarah created a barrier of light around Isadora and worked it to keep the dangerous woman unconscious for at least a full day.

Varian put a few restrictions using his sliver powers. It took the last of his stamina and he didn't even have the strength to curse.

"We should talk to her after she wakes up," Sarah handed him a healing potion, drank one herself before slumping beside him and stare into the distance.

The region surrounding them was once filled with ancient structures. Palaces, gardens, stunning buildings—build by the devas and preserved to this day.

But now, all that remained was a monotonous plain. Even the debris scattered into dust, taking away the last traces of this once great land.

Varian looked at up the plain gray sky.

Since the ruins was transferred to Hortus, that blue sky now had a sun—the local star of Hortus.

"The view still sucks, a gray sky is so unexciting, sun or not." Varian complained and glanced at Sarah, as if he was asking for her opinion.

Sarah gave a calm but threatening smile. "Isn't who you watch it with more important? Are you implying my company sucks?"

Varian opened his mouth in shock. "Seriously…are we even speaking the same language?"

Sarah beat him softly on the shoulder. "Can't I be unreasonable once in a while?"

"No."

"You!"

"Can't I be unreasonable once in a while." Varian said, imitating Sarah's tone.

Sarah's chest heaved up and down as she glared at him like a pissed-off cat. Then, like a cat, she bit his shoulder.

"Bad girl, bad girl." Varian patted her back for a while before leaning onto the ground, resting against the hard but comforting surface.

Sarah stopped biting and rested her head on his chest. Varian hugged her, resting his hand on her soft, long blonde hair. Gently caressed her head, he smiled.

A silence fell on them.

Only the clear sounds of their heartbeats remained.

After what seemed like an eternity, Varian spoke up. "I thought I was going to die. I mean, I do get into bad situations a lot of times, but sometimes are certainly worse than others. The tower, particularly the Lost Spiral, are really bad places for relaxing."

Sarah hummed softly and listened to him slowly narrate what he went through. From the dangerous battle in Centaurus to entering the unreasonable tower, teaming up with Maria, the Reaper who nearly killed them off in 29th floor, the world tree, the royal heirs and finally, the Lost Spiral where he confronted her.

"…Aren't you just plain unlucky?" Sarah muttered in a voice on the verge of confusion and fear. "I don't think people just get into a space crack and land in a planet that pushes everyone into a weird tower.

And people definitely don't just pair up with a princess in disguise who's on a dangerous, secretive mission and gets targeted by spies of the enemy empire, which all falls under the conspiracy of a god-like being."

Varian nodded vigorously.

"But your luck…I think you exhausted it all on getting good wives. So, it's understandable." Sarah raised her head and gave him a mischievous grin.

Varian pinched her soft cheek. "When did you become a narcissist, My Queen?"

"Itwsh…" Sarah freed herself from his hand and said. "Call my Your Highness and I will allow you to kiss my ha—."

Sarah's eyes widened as she felt him pull her up and imprint his lips on her. It was a raw, passionate and deep kiss that didn't end until who knows when.

Her tired mind was set ablaze and she looked at Varian's mischievous smile with a moist gaze.

All the hardships, struggle and exhaustion pushed them into this state.

Understanding her, he took her back to their palace in Hortus.

…Isadora too slowly floated back to Hortus.

— — —

After a full day of intimacy, with breaks where they'd continue enchanting Isadora's shackles, the Emperor and his Queen finally stopped. In the meanwhile, Sarah already explained her side of the story.

"She's not supposed to wake up so soon." Varian and Sarah walked in the plain fields of Hortus.

There were elegant purple flowers in one square plot of land, cute pink flowers in another, gorgeous red in another. It was the gardens of the Queen of Radiants.

"I left her in a ruin formation. Oob said it'll take care of it, but Oob isn't responding to my call." Sarah said with a worried face.

Varian narrowed his eyes for a moment before he stared into the sky. The World Will of Hortus responded to his thoughts and a few seconds later, the space in front of them distorted.

A pair of wings, dormant in a sealing formation, appeared in front of them. The formation deactivated with a thought and the wings flapped around violently for a moment before calming down.

"M-Master?"

"Are you okay?" Varian didn't blame the little fellow. Instead, he wanted to ensure everything was fine.

If not for having no options, Oob wouldn't do something as ridiculous as unlocking Isadora.

"O-Oob is fine," its voice, still childish, was filled with surprise at the unexpected warmth and joy.

"I-I'm sorry for what happened but the outsiders came with bad intentions, so there was no choice…" In a crying voice, Oob explained the ins and outs of the matter.

"Princess of the Pala Kingdom died?" Varian had an ominous premonition.

This wouldn't end well.