Chapter 2603: Empress

Minerva's expression seemed capable of burning even the fires of hell themselves. All of the Force in the surroundings was ripped into her control, and both Octavia and Seraphina found it impossible to even breathe. It was as though all the oxygen had been ripped out of their bodies, and to experts like this who entirely relied on Force to sustain themselves, it was exactly like that.

"We will issue a Challenge Sequence," Minerva declared.

Octavia and Seraphina looked toward one another. They had just undergone a Challenge Sequence, and it had not gone well. Plus, even if they issued one, it didn't mean that the Vast Dream Pavilion had to accept. They could just sit on their hands.

In addition, they had fallen to the 9999th rank, sharing that rank with two others. They didn't even have the points necessary to trigger one in the first place. Even the middling Dream Pavilions had more to give than they did.

"I will give the two of you until the penultimate round starts. I want you to complete enough missions to return to the top 1000. Immediately.

"By the end of the Gathering of Kingdoms, we will be entering the top 100. We've done enough time biding.

"With the status of the top 100, I will be able to project my soul directly into their Pavilion and find their general location."

The two women bit their tongues. Hadn't Minerva heard about how Leonel booted everyone out before? They would have a better chance of just asking one of the top 100 Dream Pavilions for that general location... but even that would be a gamble.

It was doubtful that those Pavilions were paying attention that closely. If the top 100 was capable of this, and yet the Human Bubbles were still fine, the reason for that was obvious: they couldn't, or rather, wouldn't act so willfully.

The humans were an insignificant remnant to them, and it wasn't worth pissing off the Gods of the neutral factions, a faction that made up the majority to begin with.

Minerva was playing with fire by doing this. Not only would she be making an enemy out of the 100th ranked Pavilion, but she was potentially going to become a thorn in the side of the Gods.

But it was a calculated risk on her part at the same time.

One Leonel was already enough to raise eyebrows, but now there was Aina. It was hard to say who was shining more brightly right now, and that was something some were bound to find issue with.

There was a gray line in there that Minerva could most definitely toe, and if she wanted to break free from this life, she would have to take such risks.

She had no intention of wiping the rest of the human population from Existence, though she very much had the strength to do so. All she wanted was the Minerva treasure. In fact, if she got it, she wouldn't even care about leaving both Leonel and Aina alive as well... after she taught them a very valuable lesson about not slighting a Demi-Goddess.

"Go," Minerva said coldly.

"Yes, Mistress!" The two women bowed hurriedly.

With their strength, accumulating merits to reach the top 1000 again really wouldn't take long. Aside from the Gem Dream Pavilion that had lost all of their members, the Breeze Dream Pavilion had already made strong headway into returning to their former glory.

As the two women left, the last of Minerva's rage slowly dissipated.

She realized why it was she had lost; she had been too arrogant. She felt that she deserved to be arrogant, but she had pushed it too far.

It was because she was stuck in a cycle of trying to regain the glory that Elrik had sullied again and again through asserting her dominance over lesser beings, but that would never get her anywhere.

Hearing Elrik's words about ascending to Godhood twisted her gut with disgust because she knew that it was nothing more than empty boasting.

She wondered to herself, had she sounded like that to Leonel's ears?

He was arrogant as well... no, he was something beyond arrogant, a controlled balance between self-assurance and self-awareness.

She could feel his Dream Force very clearly back then. It had started off as a perfect reflection of her own, and then it changed.

The disgust welled up in her heart again. Was she really taking the success of a mere human as a template to be used?

However, that disgust was quickly suppressed by an even greater rage, one that painted the picture of Elrik's visage.

Her chest began to heave again before she could slowly rein it in.

She was above it, she was above it all. A mere human couldn't stop her steps.

However, the likes of Elrik had no right to make her act like this.

She was a Queen. No, she was an Empress that should be indifferent to the world around her. She could take things in calmly, observe them in silence, and then act decisively.

She was free to look toward her enemies with disdain, but only after she understood them thoroughly.

That was her balance, her own unique perspective on the world.

When she reached that conclusion, she felt a calmness overwhelm her... a tranquility.

Her Dream Force shimmered and rose. From the Higher Life State, it rose to the Quasi Creation State and even took a peek into the true Creation State before rebounding back.

However, from start to end, much like the Regal Empress that she was, the fluctuations were subtle and imperceptible.

Her temperament became more refined, and her grace returned. Her previous demeanor, calm and soothing, came back on another level entirely.

Even so, she only basked in the change for but a moment. This was what she deserved; it was only a matter of course that she would have such a breakthrough.

Her mind turned to the remnants of the Gem Dream Pavilion.

"They can be used," she said lightly, a smile tugging at her pink lips.