No one seemed to have anything to say about Elizabeth going forward with her plans, Rossie and Rena merely nodded at that while Jenna and Lily just ignored her.
"I still don't know why you are matching me with Sloth," Aura was the only one miffed about it, not that Elizabeth would say anything extra about it. "I work around the clock, and unlike you I don't spend as much as possible trying to laze away."
That was fair, but even so Elizabeth wouldn't allow complaints! Why? Because the other options...
She had three open sins to mess around with: Envy, Sloth, and Lust. She didn't want to add Envy to Space since...well, she wasn't sure if Aura would be affected by that. She did not want her purple-overpowered maid, who could probably be the most powerful entity (Besides Nyx) that she had around, to suddenly grow jealous...
She didn't want to even imagine what Aura could do if she was to be affected by Lust. That was just something she didn't want to think about. An Aura that was as horny as Rossie? That was the stuff of nightmares...
But then again, if Aura could capitalize on her Space mastery to fulfill her needs...Yeah, that could be interesting, perhaps if Aura was one of her lovers...
No, Elizabeth, you already have your hands full with two girls. Do not try to add the mysterious purple girl to the harem. Not that said purple girl wanted to even be part of it. Elizabeth had asked after all.
No, the issue was that if Lust and Envy weren't in the equation, then Sloth was the only answer.
"It's better this way, trust me." Elizabeth decided to say after thinking it through.
Maybe if she had access to the virtues? She could probably match Aura with one of those and solve the issue, but beggars can't be choosers. And Elizabeth was not going to chase after those. Part of it was because she had a hard time as it was, besides if she ended up doing that. She would rather match Virtues with Sins.
So instead she would fuse Space with Sloth and call it a day, easy enough. Not overly complicating things, Elizabeth already had a complicated life it, was complicating things even more.
"But will you be okay doing that?" Rossie asked finally. After what felt like an eternity.
"Yes," Elizabeth answered without thinking, "My Soul is stronger, and while Sloth may be new…Space has been with me almost as long as Shadows."
And probably would be for a long time if Elizabeth was to guess, she could imagine herself not using or even lossing some of the elements she had, but Space? She couldn't see that happening anytime soon.
The issue now wasn't if her Soul could tolerate it or not, but about how fast she could go about doing these. She would do Sloth now, then she would need to move to Envy and finally go around and do Lust. Well, that one was scheduled for her eighteen birthday. So that was beside the point.
"Anything we should get ready then?" Jenna asked from the back end of the table, because yes, they were still at the dining table, even if breakfast wasn't that important to everyone at this table.
Elizabeth could survive with Mana, same as Jenna and probably Lily. Rossie…could probably survive on Sin Mana alone, and Rena? Well, Rena was probably able to survive without food for a month or two. Her endurance was something else.
So yes, Elizabeth didn't need anything to do this.
"Not really," So she answered as such, "Maybe just make sure no one interrupts me, since this will be….something that may take all my focus away."
Elizabeth had the pair of gems hovering atop her stretched palm, "Sloth and Space." Elizabeth commanded the gems, and with a mere thought, they crashed into each other.
The fusing was, if not immediate, almost instantaneous, Elizabeth's gems joined with a clear sound and soon where two gems stood now hovered a single piece.
Elizabeth hadn't summoned the other fusions before, so this was a first. Usually she just let them hang in her Crown of Sin alone and happily.
But this? This time she had brought them out to fuse them for a very important reason.
"How do you feel Aura?" To confirm nothing had happened, Elizabeth asked the purple-haired maid who stood there with them.
"Nothing seems to be out of order." Aura answered also eyeing the result of the fussion, "Are you going to do something with that?"
The new Gem stood there floating as if nothing was wrong, merely lazing away the time, truly the result of Sloth with the whimsical maid. Elizabeth ignored the jab at her new Gem from both the purple-haired maid and from the Gem itself.
Elizabeth toyed with the Gem a little and before thinking too much she opened her mouth and swallowed the thing.
"Amm...Eli-Eli? I don't think you are supposed to swallow..." Rossie said, passing a glass of water to Elizabeth.
"Very funny," Elizabeth said shaking her head and taking the glass of water and taking a sip from it, she felt the new gem combination settle into her Soul.
A small ripple of power extended outwards till it reached the outer reaches of the planet that was Terra Nexus; it was at that moment, when the boundary between the planet and the void out there, that Elizabeth felt the change.
A fundamental change happened all at once, and before she was even aware of what was happening, golden cracks started forming in her body. She felt the mana starting to increase in density, all at once she felt as if her own Core was about to explode.
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"Move!" Jenna screamed as her presence fell on all of them as one, and before Elizabeth could even say anything, she felt Rossie and Rena being thrown against the walls of the apartment.
Elizabeth wanted to complain about that, but couldn't utter the words, if she attempted to open her mouth, all that came out was blood. Not her normal red blood, hell, not even golden blood.
Elizabeth wasn't sure why she thought her blood could come out in golden color, but she was pretty sure it would be the color it would become at some point. She didn't have proof of it, but she also had no doubts about it.
"Elizabeth, focus on my voice." Jenna's voice came with worry, "I need you to feel your Core, try to find where it is that the energy wants to go and let it, stop containing it."
"That may not be a good idea," Aura said, walking towards Elizabeth and placing her index finger atop Elizabeth's forehead, "Yeah...I see the issue."
"What's the problem then?" Jenna said as she poured her mana and compressed it around Elizabeth.
Elizabeth felt as if she was being stuffed full, she felt herself start feeling bloated. It was so much worse.
"Her Soul took a step forward, one that made a fundamental change into how she is, instead of having a pseudo domain of a planet as her Soul. The space is changing into an actual thing. Moving from the metaphysical into the physical."
"...She is turning her Soulscape into a real place?" Jenna asked turning to look at Elizabeth, then turning to Aura, "How can we help? This...I just assumed her Mana had achieved a new threshold like with mine..."
"Unlike you, Mistress isn't bound to Zaanam, so she gets no subsidy from The World." Aura said shaking her head, "Okay...So here is the deal Mistress."
Aura started speaking, and midway, Elizabeth felt the space start to bleed away, a second she was standing there in the apartment with the worried glances of Rossie and Rena and the next she was standing in the space beyond her Soulscape, the void that was filled with shadow mist just outside of what her soulscape used to have.
"Your Domain is getting too big, you may be able to stabilize it one extra time after this. But afterward, it will get dicey if you don't commit." Aura pointed behind her, the mist that covered her Soulscape fading away and instead of the weird crystal form that she had seen sometimes, she saw a planet in the process of reforming back.
It now looked closer to a normal star than a cracked world as she had seen before.
"Your Soul or well, your World is ready to return to normal space. Usually this would not be an issue, most Gods and Worlds just pick an empty spot in a solar system and settle there, well, at least those that didn't have one to begin with." Aura said with a shrug, "You on the other hand are....screwd. Since you are living on a normal planet. Letting your World into the open would probably mean a direct contest with Zaanam, and let me say this in advance, that is a fight that you will not win."
She wouldn't?
"Unless you are confident in being able to defeat your parents, then no. You will not win, your parents may let you live. But they will not be able to not defeat you. It is part of their obligations, after all." Aura said in a more serious tone, "So you need a way to shunt away the growth....Or find a way to twist the space surrounding your Domain into real space and start settling your Domain in real space."
....What?
How was Elizabeth going to do that?
"And before you even think of doing it, I can't do that. It needs to be done by you, or someone under your actual ownership. Not someone like me who became a Minion willingly, but someone who is actually subservient and not like me who merely is around because she enjoys the time bothering you." Aura finished before Elizabeth could even say anything.
Actually, could she even speak?
"You can't become an actual servant?" Elizabeth said attempting to check if she was able to speak, surprising herself of the fact that she could.
"No," Aura answered, "I tried it, but your Soul does not have enough Weight or Authority to bind me down."
....Well, that was....not surprising.
"And you would never do that," Aura said, sighing, "I know it, you wouldn't actually enact the type of restraints you would need to bind me down. You don't even enforce them on your actual servants. If not, how do you think the Valkyrie Order was born."
Right...
"Then I need a new servant or minion to do this." Elizabeth said looking at the space around Terra Nexus, she could feel the fabric of reality wanting to roll out and let the planet out. She understood why she was feeling bloated now.
Space wanted to be Real, not merely theoretical as it was right now.
"Precisely, good thing you just got a new combination at hand right?" Aura said, smirking, and ripped open a portal into the central spire, just right in front of the podium where the Crown of Sin rested.
"Yes, good thing, the action that almost killed me, again. Are also the way forward." Elizabeth said sighing and pulling the Crown of Sin, a mere thought was all it took for the gems to realign themselves leaving Sloth and Space at the helm. And with that, Elizabeth put the thing on her head, feeling the new energies course her body.
Now she was aware of Space and how much or how little affected her around, and those near her. Like Aura, for example, who was...not really here?
Elizabeth couldn't explain how Aura felt to her new senses, the girl was here, there and everywhere. It was like Space and Aura were the same thing. Overall, it gave her a headache, intending to parse how Aura existed and didn't.
But she wasn't doing this for Aura, or with Aura even. No, Elizabeth needed a new minion.
The Shadow Dragons got created because Elizabeth wanted both a plushie to sleep with and a way to better use her Shadows. And by following her instincts, she weaved a minion who was what she needed and a reflection of her past, even if she wasn't entirely aware of it.
The Fire Salamanders got born from the passion that Elizabeth felt towards Rena.
The Thunder Birbs got born out of her pride...A reminder of how stupid powerful Elizabeth's Lightning inheritance was, both the one she got from Chloe Ashcroft and from Alexanders.
The Spectral Owl got born from a need that Elizabeth hadn't recognized, the need for a way to actively guide the Souls of those who served her.
And now...She needed someone to help her manage Space. So, thinking about the best space mage she knew, she focused on how she felt about her and how she had helped Elizabeth.
Elizabeth thought about all the things the purple-haired maid had done, how she behaved, what she helped and how she moved. How she was always there ready to help, how Aura went beyond what was needed from her and what she did.
How she acted, and what she actually did. Because unlike what some may think, Aura actually did her work as a maid, even if she also bothered and played jokes on Elizabeth.
"Rise, borne from Sloth and space. You who will be the carrier of Space and guardian of those that traverse across My World." Elizabeth started, unlike those that had come before, she actually focused on what was needed; she couldn't let this one go to luck, "Become the bearer of space and stand forward. Help settle my world from the immaterial to the material. Guide the space into their rightful place within this galaxy filled with monsters and entities."
She would not only need a way to shunt the growth of her Soul into the material. She would also need someone who could work and help her manage it. Also someone to manage the expansion, because while Elizabeth wasn't sure what would happen with her Terra Nexus after it moved fully to the material world...
What would happen to her actual Soulscape? What would happen to her Domain? Would it be gone?
A Magical Girl used the Soulscape as a way to cast magic.
A skill user used it as a way to store the mana and the infrastructure of the skills...
Elizabeth used it also as a storage skill, a place to relax and a way to not only nurture, but also heal the Soul of those she loved.
"So come forth Space Fox, the one who will be the stalwart guardian of the space surrounding my Domain." Elizabeth finished the incantation and let the space mana suffuse the Sloth Mana, letting it gestate and twist into reality. "Be born, Kuzunoha Sana...The Space Trickster."
Wait what?
The what now?
"Hello Mistress...Hello, Mother," The blob of mana said before her figure was finished forming. Slowly, it shifted and twisted, first into a small four-legged fox-like minion, then extending and twisting further. Soon, the figure was almost as tall as Aura. "My name is Kuzunoha Sana, The Priestess of Space."
The form started coalescing into the form of a young girl. Roughly twice as tall as what Alexa had been, which was a good signal. Elizabeth was wary of almost all the little girls who materialized within her Soulscape distance.
"...I demand a redo." Aura said, looking at the purple-haired teenager who stood in front of them, "No way in hell I am accepting this thing as a daughter."
"I love you too, Mom," The teenage girl said, sticking her tongue out to Aura, "Mistress, what is your desire?"
"Can you help shunt away the space around Terra Nexus into real space? I need to stabilize the growth of this till I can finish dealing with the other Sin Gems." Elizabeth said pointing behind her.
"...I have no idea what a Sin Gem is or how many others there are." The smaller purple-haired Izanami priestess says, nodding, "But shunting away the space surrounding that planet into real space is easy enough."
...All her minions so far had known about the Sin Gems hadn't they? Elizabeth at least knew for sure the Thunder Birb seemed to be aware of them.
Nonetheless, Elizabeth turned to look at the purple-haired smaller girl as she smiled at the planet, "Since you asked me instead of Mom, I assumed it would be hard, but this one is easy enough." The teenage girl said, "Twist."
As she spoke, three fox tails blossomed behind her, and Elizabeth felt as if the feeling of being bloated disappeared all at once.
"There, I may have needed to destroy a couple planets in a solar system a couple light years away from real space. But that is done," Sana said, smiling and turning to Elizabeth, "Anything else?"
Yes, many things. Like why are you calling Aura Mom of all things.
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