Mad God

Nilier's main temple was surrounded by millions of people, all believers and cultivators of her camp. The number of demigods present was just shy of 30. Surprisingly, only 10 of them were women, but their aura outshined the rest of their companions. It was clear that they reached the Demigod realm way before turning to Nilier for further empowerment after finding no other way to advance. Still, no matter how many people gathered there, wearing some kind of green clothing, the color of their Goddess, neither Invictus nor Ophila felt threatened by their show of strength.

"Hmmm, there are a lot of people here!" Ren mused, watching the sea of heads bobbing up and down as they did their daily tasks or just prayed to their Goddess.

"Most of them are people who have lost their ways. Doubt in your capabilities can lead to this." Ophila shook her head while responding, "Only finding the future in praying to someone else, so she solves their problems… I would expel anyone like that from my Sect!"

"It is hard to believe all of them are like that!" Ren answered with a smile.

"Maybe not all. But the majority is!" She backed down only a little.

"Plus, most of them got stronger by borrowing power. In a drawn-out conflict, they are weaker than a cultivator at the same level! Their strength comes from their numbers!" Invictus added, "If there were an all-out war between us, it would be a coin toss at which side is going to fall first. Even then, my Sect alone could stand up to this army of hers!" he said with resolution in his voice. "My disciples' fires are hard to put out!"

"You always went head-on against anyone who threatened us, huh?" Ophila chuckled, remembering some old memories of when he was the siblings' only shield against the whole world.

"I learned from the best!" He laughed, looking at Ren, who just flashed her white teeth in response. "Let us go down!"

Landing at the top of the temple's main steps, two maiden demigods were already there to welcome them. Their faces were hidden behind a thin, green veil, only showing their eyes. Even though they could not see the expressions they were having at the moment, from only their eyes, it was clear they were expecting trouble. It was mainly because they were waiting for the famous Mad God to appear now, but he was nowhere to be seen. The two, the leaders of Nilier's maidens, let them inside the temple, right into the main chamber, which was decorated with statues of beautiful women tending to children, raising a family, or teaching others before the imagery of lush fields. There were no tables set, nor drinks or food, only the empty altar where Nilier could come down from her little sub-realm. When they arrived, the maidens left them alone at the request of their Goddess, and as soon as they closed the heavy, jade door, Nilier appeared, stepping down from the altar. She was wearing a green robe, the same as when Athos opened the Sky. Even her hair was done the same way, and she stood there with the same expression of an abyss-like cold. For her, not seeing Athos or not feeling his presence was a straight message that he did not wish to meet with her. Somewhere, deep down, she expected it. Feared it even. Yet here she was, hoping it would not be the case, only to be let down. By him? Or by herself? She could not tell that at that moment.

"You?" She blinked her eyes, and a bit of surprise was mixed into her cold look. She recognized Ren as that young girl who faced her not that long ago, on a spiritual level, killing her priests.

"Yo!" Ren chuckled, raising her hand, waving, and wearing a friendly smile. "You look like a green apple right now, sour through and through!"

That tone, that look, how she stood there, all of that made Nilier freeze in place, her lips slowly parting as her lower jaw felt itself unhinge slowly but surely. Her pupils grew larger and larger, and soon, only their blackness remained as she looked at Ren, speechless.

"Honestly, I thought you would ditch the color green!" Ren sighed, opening her hands wide, "Yet here I come, seeing a sea of people dressed up in it! It still suits you best~."

“You… you…” She blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to recollect herself, pointing at Ren, her finger visibly trembling.

"Haaahh… yeah, ME!" Ren replied, opening herself up completely. Nilier could not just feel her strength, but she even gave her a chance to look at her soul's fluctuations. Ophila immediately stepped before Ren, yet even she knew it was too late if Nilier wanted to do something and snuff out her soul at that moment.

"You are too trusting!" She scolded her master, watching Nilier without blinking her eyes as Invictus was also ready to fight at any given moment.

"Relax, you two!" Ren ordered them with a commanding voice as the two trembled, finally stepping back beside her. "She was someone I once loved; I still trust her. We did not separate as enemies. Or at least I hope not."

"..." Nilier had nothing to say, hearing her words. She was still under the shock of seeing the state of Athos… Ren's body. Even her soul had a different feeling to it, only reminding Nilier of Athos's old presence because they spent so much time together back then. Even if she wanted to deny it, the way she carried herself and the look in her eyes… all of it was his. Even if everything else changed, the way the Mad God acted did not.

"Surprised, eh? You'll get used to it~" Ren grinned, sticking out her tongue a little. "It is not a big deal; it's just a body! What matters is what is inside!" she pointed at her heart.

"You always said that…." Nilier murmured, scanning her from top to bottom. "It would seem only those who became a God by themselves can carry this conviction so strongly!"

"Maybe! So? Now that we have met, what now? Reminiscing about the good, old days?" Ren tilted her head, looking at Nilier.

"No…" Nilier shook her head. "I'm not in the mood for that!" She said, closing her eyes, recollecting herself as quickly as possible, "I want to ask you what your plans are now!"

"Reopening the Sky, of course! What did you think?" she crossed her arms with a confident smile.

"You know we won't let you do that!"

"Oh, I know!" Ren answered honestly, and Invictus and Ophila straightened themselves out, signaling to Nilier that their parent was no longer alone in this fight. If they once again ganged up on him, there are now three Immortals who are willing to go toe to toe with them!

"You don't know what is out there! What you did was reckless!" Nilier continued, looking into Ren's eyes, speaking to her directly, ignoring the other two completely. "You put the whole Realm into the jaw of danger!"

"I did not know." Ren agreed. "But I do now! And you can be sure that I won't stop until I have a breath left in me!" She replied so forcefully that nobody heard it like this from Ren's mouth except Leinor.

"Just because your old disciples found some new way? Just because you 'saw'" what is outside?" Nilier snorted with a clearly condescending voice. "You are willing to risk billions of lives for just that reason?!"

"And because I had a long talk with Kai," Ren added, and suddenly, not just the whole temple but the entire region shook. Nilier's demigod followers had already burst into the temple, expecting the worst, but no fights were going on, yet the shaking was still going on. It took a minute to settle down, and Nilier raised her hand, covering her mouth, trembling, speaking with an equally shaken voice. "Leave… all of you!" When nobody remained, just the four of them, she asked, almost sounding like a child who just found out about their parents finding their stash of adult literature. "Where did you learn that name…?"

"The name?" Ren laughed, now with a bit of a provocative voice, clearly a bit incensed at how Nilier had accused her previously. The situation was drawing satisfied smiles on her disciples' faces. "I spoke with the man himself! I will tell you some even better news!" She stepped forward, and to everyone's surprise, Nilier even backed off a few steps.

"What did you do?!" She screamed with a real, panicked voice, stumbling toward her altar.

"I freed him! Gifted him my old Demigod body! He is amongst the living once again! I learned everything about what is on the outside and about what you four did! And you called me shameless?! How many times did you say that to my face, huh? Yet I was sleeping with a father killer?! Hmph! Come on, tell me! What do I not know? Huh? Answer me, NILIER!" She shouted in the end, standing face to face with her, only leaving centimeters between them. Ren was weaker than the Goddess before her but watching from the outside, it did not look like it now. Not even a little bit.

"When we noticed your reincarnation…." Something clicked in Nilier's mind, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes.

"It was when I freed him! Hmph! So here is the deal! I am going to reopen the Sky and establish our Realm in the wide Cosmos! We will take our place as a Unique Realm and uplift all of its inhabitants! They will grow stronger than we could imagine, and they will go out and explore the endless universe!"

"That…!" She gasped, breathing quickly and heavily, turning completely white, faltering, and falling to her butt, leaning against her altar. What she saw before her was not Ren, but Athos's figure, standing there like a spear, looking down into her eyes with a force neither Skoorn nor her master, Kai, had. She was completely overwhelmed. Afraid. Scared.

"That is that!" Ren answered aggressively, not breaking eye contact. "Last time, I did not hurt any of you because there was no reason to. But now, I won't stand still and let Baldy stab me through the heart. Neither will I leave the twerps to their shenanigans. And I won't let your 'princess' attitude slip by..." She said to her, with every word oozing strength and power from it. Seeing and hearing her, Ophila could not help but smile proudly while Invictus was trembling from excitement as it was so long ago since he last saw his father, or now mother, act like this. "The question is; Which side are you going to stand on?"

"I…" Nilier groaned, sounding like she was crying, wanting to return to her Realm and disappear for a few centuries.

"Outside conquerors? Is that what you are all afraid of?" Ren scoffed at the idea. "So what? Do you think we will be conquered immediately after joining the Cosmos? Have you ever seen what our Realm has become? And it resulted from a sip of the outside world's energy cocktail! A SIP! Did any of you check how today's cultivators are?! How many unique and talented people appeared in the past 2000 years?! Conquerors… heh… we will be the one who does the conquering!"

"You don't… know… how strong… people are out there! Kai! He… he could create all of… THIS!" She gestured towards everything. "Raise us all up! Yet he and others like him were massacred, enslaved! A whole realm of people like that, beaten and broken!" She replied, almost screaming and already crying.

"You can't fathom his past powers because none of you reached them by yourselves." Ren shook her head with a calm voice, "In my past life, I felt it! That is why I had to open up the Sky! I felt it inside that I was held back, sitting here like stranded in a puddle filled with stagnating water! It was disgusting!"

"You are really… mad…." Nilier said as she gulped back her tears, trying to regain some resemblance of calmness without much success.

"And?" Ren's smiled as her voice turned softer, friendlier, reaching down towards her with an open hand. "Join me, Nilier! You are afraid of something that you simply do not understand! You do not understand it because you fear it! Afraid of even learning about it! I don't know what the other three told you, did to you, or whatever the reason is for that, but be at ease! I know what I am doing!"

"..." For long seconds, she just sat there, without a word, watching Ren's outstretched hand before her own suddenly tremble, moving upwards, slowly getting closer to hers until she finally grabbed onto it. As soon as she did, a somewhat unexplainable relief came over her. She could not help herself but exhale a long breath, her shoulders drooping and sobbing, letting out very long years of frustrations all at once.

"Good~" Ren giggled, pulling her up from the ground and patting her back. "First thing first, I want you to meet with Kai!"

"What?!" She screamed out, breathing down her own tears, going into a coughing fit, but even if she was a Goddess, somehow she couldn't let go of Ren's hand, who just stood there, grinning from ear to ear.