Mad God

When Kyu opened her eyes, after nervously stepping into the mirror-like gate and following the others, she soon found herself standing in knee-high, clear, blue water.

“Uwuwuwuwu, cooooooold!” She cried out, jumping up and down, rushing towards the shore she had just noticed. When she finally got out of the big lake, shaking her legs with a pout, her expression quickly turned from frustration into a salivating mess, being unable to close her mouth for minutes. "So many yummy things!" She squealed, watching the never before seen flowers everywhere, emitting an incredible amount of spirituality, almost on the verge of gaining intelligence. "And fishes!" She exclaimed, rushing back into the water, now not bothering how cold it was, searching for and quickly finding giant, 6-7 meters long, golden koi fishes. "Yey!" She grabbed one out, gulping it down in one go. "Mmmmm! How yummy!" She laughed, grabbing a second as they could not escape her lightning-fast fingers.

After eating only two, a huge, 15 meters long fish with an eel-like head popped out from the deepest part of the lake, forming an energy beam at his mouth, shooting it straight at her, with anger blazing in its beady, black eyes. For the misfortune of the still bestial demon, Kyu just turned into her even more enormous, actual form and opened her mouth, shattering his attack with one chomp, burping loudly after it.

"Nyuuuuuuuh, yuuummyyyyyy!" Kyu laughed happily, scaring away her attacker back into the lake's deepest depths. "What else is here?" She splashed around, rushing back to the shore with more fish in her mouth, grabbing one at every step she took. Sniffing the air after she was back on the shore, she acted like a vacuum cleaner; she started to suck out the different kinds of flowers from the ground, along with their roots and all. "Ahaha, this is the best! And this is too! THIS!" She shouted to herself after tasting every and all things she came across, even slurping up patches of dirt.

By the time she was found, a painful chunk of the garden near the lake was already cleaned barren, sucked dry of energy. Even when Ren spanked her, she just belched out petals and raw sprinkles of pure energy. The others even heard her murmur one sentence, drawing out a defeated sight from Ophila; "Totally worth it…."

The one who was the most disturbed was Leylon, as he was tasked with guarding the field for the next 100 years. It was a noble and highly sought-after job amongst the demigods of the Lotus Mandala sect. Yet the most destructive event happened under him. He would not be able to wash this off for centuries to come!

"Let's go!" Ren groaned, feeling it would be best to move away from here, like, right now, and not even remind her what Kyu just did. Ren considered putting a slave collar on her for some time… Again. Sadly, it was highly possible that it would be useless by now, and she would just eat that too.

"Yeah, let us go!" Ophila agreed, not wanting to see the ravaged part of her precious garden as they left only poor Leylon there, soaked in his own tears.

…
….
…..

By the time night had come, Ren was standing atop Ophila's 30-story high pagoda, watching the large Sect, spanning towards every direction of a compass. Small, little, immaculate streams of water were flowing along the paved streets, surrounded by multiple, different, smaller houses and pagodas, drawing out a strange circle, watching the Sect from high above. Sometimes small koi fishes simply jumped up from the blue water, flipping a few times in the air, brimming with pure energy, before landing back in. For now, Kyu was confined to a room guarded by Ariana because the moment they arrived, she almost grabbed one fish out from the air, only stopped by Ren's glare.

"You built this?" Ren asked, smiling, leaning on the red wooden railings, her eyes scanning the winding streets below them.

"Of course!" Ophila said as she stepped beside her proudly, "It is the best formation in the whole Realm! If I activate it, the entirety of my Sect becomes an impenetrable fortress!"

"You have grown up! I can't see through it at all, yet I have been watching it for hours now!" Ren reached out, rubbing her head, drawing an innocent, childish smile onto her face, enjoying it immensely. "This place is more intense than back home!" Ren stretched, taking a deep breath. "I can feel the air being filled with pure energy all around us!"

"Most big sects are like that, built in either a place where it is much easier to cultivate or utilize formations for large-scale energy condensation!" Ophila explained, "But when you are going to travel, you will notice that it is also the drawback of this place; the air is polluted heavily by centuries of fighting between cultivators. It is mixed with so many different residues of affinities that cultivating outside of a Sect is basically three or four times as hard as inside one!"

"Hmmm, and that just further strengthens the need for sects!" Ren thought out loudly, "How many demigods are there here?"

"Mine has twelve. Of that twelve, four make up the inner circle; they are the strongest demigods, and I taught them personally. They have the title of Grand Elder. The remaining 8 are the Elders of the Sect. Since the day I raised the four to demigod status, I stepped back, only dealing with the most important things, and I was focusing on keeping an eye out for your return and making sure the Gods won't get away with everything they do!"

"And you don't need to micromanage everything~" Ren chuckled, prompting Ophila to nod with a smile.

"I learned it from you! The smarter you do something, the less work you have to do~ Ehehehehe~" She stuck out her tongue playfully.

"See? I am a great teacher! What about Harmony Experts?"

"A lot." Ophila tilted her head. "We have around 400.000 disciples, give or take a few tens of thousands at any given time! To become an Inner Disciple and gain access to every resource and technique, one must be at the Harmony Realm! After that, it depends on their performance and what they do for the Sect!" She explained in detail, "From then on, they could be even at the 3rd stage Harmony if they are not contributors for the whole Sect, they won't be given any titles! Those who have titles can call themselves Master and are allowed to accept personal disciples. Then there is the title of Great Masters; they are allowed to be part of one of the departments of the Sect. Then there are the Grand Masters; they are allowed to lead said departments! Plus, only Grand Masters can potentially become Elders in the future!"

"Are the others' sects the same?" Ren asked, leaning against the railing, watching Ophila's face as she explained.

"Yep! We came up with it together, mostly based on how we built up the gang when we were young!" She chuckled with a deeply nostalgic tone. "There are only differences in the numbers of their disciples! Kaizer's is similar to mine; maybe he has 10-20% more disciples but big brother… Well, Invictus has way more! He has around a million disciples, but his Sect only accepts those with fire affinity! Others would not even survive there!"

"Well, he did once call himself… what was it?" Ren touched her lips, thinking before almost bursting out laughing, "The Manifest Of Fire, Spirit Of Flame, Sire Of Embers!"

"Ugh… don't remind us of that phase… please!" Ophila lowered her head embarrassedly.

"Can't do that, Miss Lightbringer! Sorry!"

"Ugh… hauh, we did not choose those names! Swear!" She cried out, turning bright red.

"Yet you did not deny them~" Ren poked fun at her, not letting it go.

"Hauh… Dad…" she said with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Ahaha! Come here!" Ren laughed, hugging her close, patting and stroking her head while Ophila almost melted in her embrace, smiling from ear to ear like a child, hugging her back firmly. "He always played pretend with you, didn't he? When everything was bleak, Invictus was the one who laughed and showed no fear before his siblings! Even when beaten up while stealing food for you two, telling stupid little tales just to make his little sister and brother smile! When he called me Father, it was something I am still immensely proud of! I am proud of all three of you!"

"Dad…" Ophila sniffled, holding her even more strongly.

"Mom. It is Mom now! But oh well, call me how you want~" She laughed gently. "Maybe I will call you three my Master soon enough?"

"Eh?" Ophila flinched, letting her go, confused a little.

"You need to teach me how to become an Immortal!" she flicked her forehead. "Which one of you came up with it? Was it you?"

"Ah? No!" Ophila said, rubbing her head. "Believe it or not, it was big brother!"

"Huh?" Ren crossed her arms with surprise. "Really?"

"It was… an accident…" She said, with a bit of embarrassment, "We were trying multiple things to find the correct way, and one day Invictus landed himself in trouble, fighting a whole Sect by himself."

"Stealing?" Ren sighed with a small smile.

"No, he deflowered their leader's daughter," Ophila answered with a calm expression.

"Oh!" Ren blinked with a surprised look before laughing out loud.

"While fighting, he was injured so badly that his core cracked, and in a hurry, to not lose the chunk that broke off, he absorbed it into his body. By the time we got to him and helped him escape, he was on the verge of death," As she told her, Ophila's voice still trembling, and subtle fear was laced in it, remembering those few days. "Luckily, he pulled through and successfully absorbed the broken-off part! After that, he was even more powerful! It was… bizarre! Next time, when he recovered, with the help of Kaizer, he broke off a small part again! It was even more dangerous as it was a bigger chunk, nearly killing him! But he once again leaped up in power when fighting through it! That was when we found the way to Immortality."

"Lucky bastard~" Ren flashed a grin, hearing her story, already having the urge to try it out right there and right now. Of course, Ophila knew what she was thinking and started explaining more.

"It is not risk-free! In fact, it is the deadliest part of cultivation! Why do you think there are only three of us?" She said, letting out a long sigh. "The piece you break down can't exceed what you can manage! Be it too big, and you will die in a snap of a finger! Be it too small, it dissipates before you can take control of it and absorb it! If that happens, bam! You just crippled yourself! We came up with a method, a one-of-a-kind meditation that helps you explore your core, visualize it perfectly, divide it in your mind into equal chunks and then make you able to crack it. But if you divided it badly…." She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.

"How many have tried to follow you so far?"

"My Sect had 3 who attempted it. Two were personally raised by me. All of them are buried as heroes!" She replied with a sad look. "Kaizer's had 4, only 1 survived, but she is crippled forever… Invictus's… they have a Hall of Heroes, filled with the broken cores of those who tried but failed."

"Still easier than becoming a God." Ren said honestly, "You at least know the dangers and see the goalline! Most demigods who try to fill their cores are chasing a mirage in the desert! I am going to try it soon!" she said with unshakable resolution.

"We need to get ready for it then!" nodded Ophila. "Every time you break off a part until you manage to absorb it, you must be protected! Anything that disturbs you will result in failure, and there is no second try here! One failure thwarts everything! Even after absorbing it, you need time to recover; the shock your soul and body receive by cracking it is enormous! But your soul is strong! I am not worried about that!"

"I'll be ready!" Ren clapped with shining eyes. She knew that her soul was not complete. She tore part of it out to wrap it around Leinor... but she had already decided it was not a problem she would bring up to her children. "How many times did you crack it before finishing?"

"I did it in 7 attempts. Invictus did it in 5 and Kaizer in 6. It differs from person to person. But when the last piece breaks into pieces and you absorb it, you can feel it fuse with your body and soul! I can't describe the feeling to you Da- Mom, but it is… like you become one with energy itself!"

"So, like an orgasm?"

"Ugh…" Ophila stumbled even while standing still.

"Ahahaha~ Don't play the virgin girl! What about that pretty boy when you were 16? The one Kaizer wanted to castrate?"

"Hmf! Don't even bring him up! That bastard cheated on me with three others!" Ophila crossed her arms with a pout, feeling anger even after more than a thousand years. "I was stupid to stop my brother…" she clicked her tongue. In the end, she let out a defeated sigh. "I don't get it; what do I do wrong, dad? Whenever I found someone I liked, the moment I grew stronger than them, they changed and left me in the end! Now? After becoming an Immortal? Not even a chance! None of the guys dare to court me anymore! Hauh…" She lowered her head in defeat.

"Come, come… let me teach you Ophy!" Ren patted her hands, leading her into the room, sitting on the oversized couch, pulling her into her lap, and stroking her head as she listened to Ren like a small child would listen to her father. "You need to raise them well!" She started and immediately made Ophila flinch.

"Ah… Dad… that… sounds so wrong!" She blinked her eyes rapidly, turning bright red.

"Is it?" Ren asked as she tilted her head, finding it weird. "I grew up with LeiLei; it was fine! True, I was promised to him since the day I was born… Is it bizarre?" She asked, becoming less sure about it, "Growing up together was the best way to learn quickly that we were compatible! Developing the same interests and whatnot meant we would be a perfect pair!"

"Dad… I think that your view of this became skewed in the process…." She twitched her mouth.

"It did?" Ren exclaimed with surprise. "Hm…" She fell silent, tilting her head from left to right, then back and forth, still holding Ophila, stroking her head gently. "Well, then, maybe it is not the best to listen to my bits of advice!" She laughed, not really bothering with it anymore. "Sorry~"

"No… this is good…" Ophila whispered, leaning against her, feeling like a little kid once again, closing her eyes, breathing slowly, letting her mind and senses relax. She was listening to Ren's heartbeat and enjoying the gentle caressing. "I missed you, Dad…" she murmured before falling asleep, something she did not do in a long, long time.

"I missed you too, you little rascals…." Ren replied softly, holding her until morning came, reminiscing about a time that was the most important in his whole previous life. Raising them and learning about what family really meant was something he never knew before meeting them. Not even when he was living with Nilier.