Gaius sat on a throne of grey and black, his breathing slow and disjointed. Simply inhaling and exhaling once would stir up massive winds, which would then tumble around in the deceptively huge throne room he was in and stir up some dust. In accordance with Nexus’ suggestions, he had created a huge throne room at the very top of the Cradle of Creation, folding space itself to accommodate the senselessly huge room.

It had served as a good exercise in controlling his newfound power…or rather, his affirmed path onwards. With the process of Celestia’s creation halfway complete, all of Gaius’ minor goals had been met. His desire to create conditions suitable for the world’s unity was satiated, as was his promise to bring back the citizens of the true Orb. Even if the world seed — now something he called the Cosmic Egg — was destroyed, the souls trapped in a meantime of a hundred thousand years old would be seeded throughout the false Orb.

Leaning back on his chair, Gaius willed the Cosmic Egg over to him. Now that it had completed its metamorphosis from the world seed, the nascent dimension inside was now a world of its own. It was currently a self-iterating fusion of Cybral and the Wildlands, and as the grey film that now bordered the circumference of Orb closed in, the self-iterating process would slowly come close to perfection.

He patted the Cosmic Egg lightly, watching as souls flew into it. After checking that Orb’s expeditionary fleet weren’t going to make any moves, Gaius generated multiple barriers to enclose the Cradle of Creation, before getting up from the throne.

Walking behind the needlessly luxurious chair, he pushed the door behind it open, and the sounds of chatter filled his ear. Gaius smiled for a moment, and then walked through the door.

Isabelle and the others were sitting around a table and playing a board game there.

“Done?” Isabelle asked.

“Throne room’s done, yes.” Gaius pulled Nexus out of his robes and sat down. “Happy?”

“Hey, it’s for your own good. Something this grand will reinforce your self-identity as the Abyss Sovereign,” Nexus replied. “You’ll need every advantage you get when the great gods and just about everyone named by the Conferment Committee busts in there.”

“I really feel like a final boss or something,” Gaius mumbled, referring to a bunch of interesting books he’d read recently.

“Defeat you for world peace.” Nexus sniggered. “Since that’s your Plan B, you should at least live up to it. It wouldn’t make sense if they rushed into the Cradle of Creation, only to see a nice house inside. They won’t even feel motivated to fight.”

“…Alright, you got me there.”

Gaius rolled his eyes, and then turned to the others. “Was I impressive?”

“Impressive?” Xanadu glanced at Nakama and La-Ti. “Yes, very impressive. The sight of you holding onto an axe was so impressive that I’m going to take the kids into another room, since Isabelle has some very choice words for you.”

“Eh?”

A pair of soft, yet firm set of hands pressed down on Gaius’s shoulder, stopping him from getting up. A faint floral fragrance wafted into his nose, but the Abyss Sovereign didn’t dare to move.

Nexus wriggled out of his hands and ran over to Xanadu, who was already getting the others out of their seat. “Alright, I’m coming with you.”

“You traitor!”

“Sorry, Gaius, but safety first. See you later!” Hopping onto Xanadu’s shoulder, Nexus waved goodbye and left through a door with the others, leaving him alone to face the music.

Gaius gulped, and then turned to Isabelle slowly. “Dear, I can explain…”

Isabelle’s gentle face, which was usually a source of peace and tranquillity for Gaius, made him shudder as he looked into her eyes. At some point in time, her soft hands had shifted to his cheeks, which began to deform as she kneaded them back and forth.

“What did I tell you about not putting yourself into danger?” Isabelle asked. “Why would you block a giant axe with your hand? Does it feel that nice to show off? The stronger you get, the less technical your attacks are! There are so many ways to block a giant falling axe, and you chose the dumbest one! Didn’t you consider our feelings? Blocking a giant red fiery axe isn’t cool, it’s reckless!”

Gaius bowed his head as Isabelle tugged at his cheeks and berated him for his showboating. For all of his strength, despite having absorbed a huge — albeit less important — chunk of the Crying Abyss, he was still as powerless as ever when faced with Isabelle.

After around five minutes of scolding him — which felt more like a display of her worry back then — Isabelle paused, grabbed a nearby cup and downed the water inside.

“S-sorry.” Gaius took the chance to apologise. “But I couldn’t really dodge, since that axe would have sunk the whole continent — yeowch!”

“You had many ways of stopping it, so why use your hand?” Isabelle asked, tugging his cheeks once again. “You could create thick barriers or something, right? Or maybe divert the attack.”

She threw her arms around him, and in a muffled voice, said, “Dummy. Don’t do stupid things like that anymore, okay? If you want to do something, imagine how you would feel if I did that. Got it?”

“Mm.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Isabelle asked, separating from him after a minute-long hug. “You took so much of the Crying Abyss. Is there anything off with you?”

“I don’t think so,” Gaius replied.

“Be more careful, okay?” Isabelle asked. “Oculus and Weiwu aren’t here to help you anymore.”

“Don’t worry.” Gaius looked her in the eye. “My will is firm, and my path complete. There will be no impurity. Besides, whatever I took in was of little true importance. Just raw power and nothing else.”

“What’s in that remaining bit, then?” Isabelle tilted her head.

“I wish I knew too.” Gaius smiled. “But let’s put that aside for a bit. I need your help?”

“My help?” Isabelle asked. “Sure!”

“Wow, you didn’t even ask what sort of help I need…”

“Oh, it’s that sort of help? Fortunately, I took a shower earlier…but isn’t it a bit too early for that? The kids are still awake.”

Gaius cleared his throat. “That’s for the night, and— wait. That’s not what I meant. Not that kind of help. No, I’m going to bring you to Celestia.”

“What for?”

“To familiarise you with the process of running a world, so that no problems would happen if I have to run out and fight some great gods for a week or two,” Gaius replied.

“Oh.” Isabelle rubbed her hands. “Sounds fun!”

“Good. We’ll just inform the others first, before we go.” Gaius grinned, and then whispered something in Isabelle’s ear. As she blushed, he got up and headed over to the door, where four busybodies were trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Three people and a sculpture fell onto the floor as he opened the door.