When Pef returned to the beach, he found Gaia sitting comfortably in Arden's lap, and testing her 'dreamsleave' body with kisses. Arden seemed to have fun as well. However.

"You know Gaia, perhaps it's time you ascend and make yourself a real body? I mean, I like Arden as a friend, but you're using my soul as the building blocks for your lips. And he needs to shave." Pef muttered as Gaia jumped away.

Vela giggled with a hand over her mouth, but Pef only grimaced. Sometimes too much was too much.

Gaia glared at him, then glanced away. "I got a dozen druids, but even so it will take many years. My cultivation is slow." she whispered in a bitter tone.

Pef walked forward and patted her shoulder. "Aria has a few of your genes. And I did find a body cultivation method in the demon galaxy to pair up with my Taichi method. If we combine those with some gold and adamantite, we'll be able to coalesce a body that won't reject you. Only problem..." he explained while glancing at Arden with a dubious eye.

"What? Tell me!" Gaia exclaimed, full of energy all of a sudden.

"You two will need to have a baby. That's the problem of your ancestry, since you draw power from life. The good part is Arden will become much stronger from this. If you give him your Ying energy, and him his Yang..." Pef mused with his eyes closed.

Gaia gaped at him for a moment, then blushed furiously. "... We're not even married! And he's too young to have a child."

Pef waved his hand in dismissal. "I think Arden rules his own Empire, right now. With four meridians open and the Taichi method, he could reach Sovereign, maybe Monarch rank. Plus there's seven gods right here on this planet. Arden can pick whoever he wants, to bless the marriage."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Arden asked in a belligerent voice.

Pef smiled wryly. "So you don't want to marry Gaia?" He asked Arden, in a soft voice.

"I do!" Arden blurted out, then blushed and looked down.

"And you, Lady Gaia?" Vela asked with a curious tone, her eyes almost in tears. Pef could feel her heart full to the brim with emotion.

"... I do want to marry Arden." she admitted in a shy voice.

"Really? I'm so happy for you!" Vela yelled and ran to embrace Gaia.

"What about you two? Are you getting married as well?" Arden asked in his brainless manner.

Pef sighed and swatted Arden away, splattering his idiot brains on the moon.

"You killed Arden!" Vela observed in outrage.

"Again!" Gaia added with a wry voice.

Pef shrugged then clenched his fist and reformed Arden back to life. "It's okay. Arden had his savepoint here." he said cryptically.

"Don't bully me, you idiot! Fight someone your own size!" Arden yelled and drew his staff out.

Vela pointed at Pef and grunted. "Get him puppy! Leave no bone not bitten!"

Pef dodged the puppy with a lunge, and found himself in front of Gaia. "By my command, bind!" she proclaimed, making vines and grass explode from the ground and wrap around Pef's body.

The Puppy grabbed a foot and unbalanced Pef, while Arden sneaked from behind and smacked the avatar with his staff.

"Well done, love!" Gaia exclaimed, jumping and glomping on Arden, smothering him with kisses.

Meanwhile, Pef was left bound and being crunched upon by the fearless puppy, and muttering "Not the face...not there either..."

After a minute, Vela caved in and called the war beast back. Then she sat beside Pef and asked softly: "So you don't want to marry me?"

Pef hesitated for a second. "I will. But not right now. You could be a mistress?" he asked jokingly.

Vela kicked him in the ribs and gestured the puppy to continue its feast. "Damn idiot. First I'm too skinny, now I'm not ready..." she muttered to herself as she dropped into her seat and poured more wine.

Arden glanced at her, then bit his tongue. 'Pef is probably right. There are no wise gods.' he thought to himself. Then he glanced at Gaia, and felt better. At least now he knew for certain how she felt. A thousand deaths would still be worth it.

Reason appeared at the table and smiled sadly at the sight of Pef getting mauled by a rabid puppy.

"Sometimes I wish I was a dog. Much simpler then." she said with pursed lips.

The people at the table looked at her strangely. "Your songs would be even weirder." Arden replied before catching himself.

Reason's eyes twinkled with amusement, then she stepped once, grabbing the puppy by the neck.

"One hundred laps around the constellation. You got lazy and fat." she ordered, flinging the puppy away. With a pitiful whine, the beast took off, leaving an aftershadow as it caught speed and vanished into the sky.

Then she snapped her fingers, breaking the vines and releasing Pef from the bindings.

"Hey Reason! Thanks for the rescue." Pef said with a grin.

"Your qi purity is too low. That Knife shouldn't be able to damage you, even if you let it." she admonished Pef with a stern tone.

Pef nodded. 'Can you manufacture a counter for that sting yet?' he asked in his mind.

'That isn't how this works. Your glove can improve the Legion cultivation, the armor will get new defense features, I should get new attack modes, and you need to meditate and duplicate that inspiration moment and improve your soul. And if we succeed, you might survive when we encounter the real thing.' Reason whispered into his mind.

'Wait, new attack mode? Like something to hit all those eyes at once, in every dimension?' Pef asked with a smile. Lately it had been much easier to understand this kind of concepts. The visit to the demon galaxy had been really profitable in this respect.

'Hopefully, yes. Tier 7 entities are all formed and maintained across multiple dimensions in the same universe. Killing just one doesn't kill the rest. Not unless the attack can propagate across multiple dimensions.' she said in a gentler tone.

'Can't you...run simulations, like with that illusion of a golith?' Pef asked, as he got a genial idea.

'That's all I do, Pef. Every minute, every second. I run simulations. I plan for the next fight, I predict what moronic thing you might try, and how to keep you alive when you fail again. Meanwhile, your glove is sabotaging me, trying to get you into more trouble.' she said with a glance at his right hand, showing only naked skin here. The glove wasn't present in the inner world, and now he knew why. Reason didn't want it here.

Pef nodded when he heard this. 'I know. The glove has other reasons, and I approve most of them. I was punching a tree as a child, crying in pain, while the glove told me to imagine punching a god. And then here I am, punching gods with my fists, and breaking their cores. Greater Demons but still, Tier 3s.'

Reason's eyes glinted with steel. 'The glove raised and guided you, that's true. Broke up your parents so it could have free rein. So you wouldn't ask others for advice. Made you confident and self-reliant, and closer to a demon than a human. You almost became a demon, devouring the souls of others. I almost killed you, seeing what you've become.'

Pef sighed and nodded. He suspected all this, but to hear it confirmed was hard. 'It's okay. Even if it's true, I need to become stronger. I will bear the burden and the pain, and do what the Legion failed to do. I will walk through swords and fire, step on skulls and bathe in blood, if I have to. When those things are dead, when my family is safe, it would be all worth it.'

Reason sighed and patted his shoulder. 'Yes, you will probably need to. That's why you have to hold on to your soul. Your heart was ground into dust, like the sea grinds a mountain into a beach full of sand. It's why you reject Vela, fearing you will stain her soul. As if your love would be worse than what she'd been through.'

Pef glanced back, his eyes connecting with the elf goddess' eyes. She felt hurt and afraid, as if she just lost her place by his side.

He smiled and waved, before glancing towards the ice castle. Vela nodded hesitantly.

In a flash, they both appeared in the courtyard, surrounded by tall ice walls and thick white mists.

"I'm an idiot." he murmured as an apology. Well, it was almost proven fact by now.

"Facts don't care about your feelings." Vela said with a thin smile.

He stepped forward and embraced her softly. "I will marry you. But you have to learn to cook. If I die, I want my kids to eat well." he whispered in her hair.

"I heard your wish. As a goddess of magic, I proclaim ourselves married, and bless the happy couple."she muttered in a sobbing voice.

"Cooking." he pressed on.

"Fine. I will learn. But first, tell me more about those kids..." she whispered with a magic voice, then drew him into a long kiss.

A minute later, Pef drew back with a laugh. "No so fast! I'm not actually real, in here." he said in a wry tone, and pushed a grabby hand away.

"It felt real." Vela said in a dreamy voice.

"I'll need two more ranks for that." Pef explained while looking up at the stars. He had seen what he needed for a Tier 4 rank, and that wasn't yet real.

He could change and alter, but not yet create.

"Let's go and help Gaia, okay?" he asked instead.

"Fine. Help your friends first." Vela grumbled as she regained her senses.

Pef raised a finger and nodded. "Yes, I will. They actually have real problems that only I can fix. Well, mostly Aria and Reason. But inside me, so I count."

"You'll have to cook a feast for their wedding. And all their guests." Vela added as a counter.

"Exactly. And you will help me, since you want to learn." he replied with a smirk.

"Damn it. I'll make porridge then." Vela muttered in defeat.

Pef smiled and brought them back to the beach. Arden looked up and almost asked again, before gulping and slumping back in his seat.

"We are getting married too. What do you say Arden, be my best man at the wedding?" he asked the young Emperor.

"Only if you do the same for me!" Arden answered with a grin.

"Sure. Do you even know what to do, with Gaia?" Pef asked jokingly. Arden blushed and prepared to yell, then blinked in defeat. He poured himself a cup of wine and gulped it in one go.

"In theory." he admitted with a sigh.

Pef grinned and snorted. "You're lucky, Arden. I'll make sure to tweak Gaia's new body a little. Or you'll need to reach Tier 2 to consumate the marriage." he said in a fake whisper.

Gaia blushed and patted her belly, realizing the meaning right away. Virgin goddesses tended to be quite difficult at becoming not virgins.

Vela grumbled and blushed as well.

Maybe it was a more common problem than expected.

Pef returned to his kitchen, and began preparing enough food for a month of revelry and a thousand guests. The Legion had a dozen bases on Ardenia, and it would be good to have all recruits gather again.

Arden had his council and various smiths and merchants the realm needed for his Empire.

Aria was beaming, since her friend and goddess was getting married, and promissed to bless that marriage.

Lin wasn't too happy, at least in words. "Another wife, Pef? You're trying to make me angry." Lin muttered while she hugged Vela anyway.

Pef shrugged and gave her another chain of adamantite and more demon bones. As expected, it worked as planned and he was easily forgiven.

The marriages itself were simple, just two couple declaring their consent, while Aria smiled happily and kissed their cheeks as a blessing.

Pef used the month of celebration to appease all his wives, some of whom were feeling a bit forgotten.

Then at the last day, Arden and Gaia re-entered Pef inner world, along with a cup of Aria's blood.

Reason appeared beside Pef, and bumped his shoulder. "You're brave, asking me to use my universe ending voice to bless a couple with a baby." she said in a stern voice.

"Exactly. Put me to sleep first, I really don't want to feel Arden geting horny with my soul." Pef said before laying in his bed.

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Reason smiled and opened her mouth.

Time came still, while Reason sang with new joy. Sure, her song was barely a soft whisper compared to her real firepower, but it felt nice, to bring life and joy instead of death.

Pef's idea wouldn't have worked of course, since neither Arden nor Gaia had demon ancestors to imprint latent body cultivation in their genes. But they did have Tier 7 ancestry and dominion over life.

With Aria's blood, it was child's play to sequence the needed genes and construct a flesh body for Gaia.

Adamantine wasn't conductive so she used gold to anchor the core in the real, then gently disentagled and re-weaved Gaia's soul into the new body. Luckily, the rune imprint of the Veridians were still in her library, lingering there for aeons, since the times their Legions fought side by side and needed Codex access for battlefield ressurections.

Pef's sleave piece that was disentagled from Gaia, she purified and set it aside, as contingency for when the idiot would reach too far and die again. And he will, thinking himself a tragic hero with a great destiny.

His Tier 3 cultivation was little more than cannon fodder in the Realm War. Then again, there were billions of Soldiers who never achieved even that, dying in the first seconds a new battlefield opened.

It was likely why the crazy glove pushed Pef to the breaking point. A Tier 4 might have a slight chance, though as the Archdemon showed, it wasn't much. A Tier 5, a bit more. Only a Tier 6 had a larger chance to survive. And most Tier 7s had died anyway. This universe was full of their corpses, dead or undead.

Still, the boy lived, after a fashion. He lived when all the others had died, and even Tier 7s chose to self-destruct and reincarnate. Perhaps it was his dual aspect, though those birth accidents had happened before and didn't prove sufficient. Perhaps it was something else.

Her song finished, drawing only a minuscule amount of energy. Still over 7 percent reserves, enough to unmake a hundred Tier 6s. Heavenly Lightning was really a powerful energy source, if not one you could harvest at will.

The voidsplitter skill would be a great boon, if the boy could survive the recoil. But the recoil scaled with cultivation, inflicting greater and greater pain and...so that was it. That was the glove's plan. Going against the heavens, on purpose.

Make the boy loved and happy, then bitter and broken, then again, and again, until he would grind and polish that poor heart into a flawless diamond. Then shatter it into a billion tiny shards.

One life of horrible misery, to bring salvation. What would She have done? Same thing, of course. Failure was the best teacher, in the end.

She sang again, this time a less joyous song.