The albino woman glared down at Elizabeth, then her eyes turned somewhat softer as she looked towards Mother... and then sharper as they eyed Papa, who continued eating as if nothing was happening.

"Yes?" Elizabeth asked as the woman continued her charade.

"Ah, right... Here is my gift... I was going to originally give it to you after you made a swear upon your divine soul..." [The Prophet] said passing a folder, "But I don't care, also take this."

The woman then threw a necklace to Elizabeth, it landed just above the folder she had put in the table.

"Hope you enjoy it..." And like that [The Prophet] walked away, leaving behind [The Warlock].

"We are so sorry about that," The no longer horned man said bowing to Elizabeth, "She means the best, but the path we walk down has been filled with sacrifice... So we must continue down this path, even if it is filled with souls and death."

And in that way [The Warlock] put a second necklace atop the previous one, "You will need this, it is the safe key for the gift Lucia left for you." And after bowing again, [The Warlock] left.

Elizabeth took the folder first and sent the two necklaces to her [Garage]. She took a second to categorize the reaction though, why?

Because as soon as those two necklaces entered the [Garage] they teleported away into the deepest parts of her [Soul], where they became nourishment of [Prana] and [Divinity].

It was not hostile either, it was colorless, so it was easily absorbed within Elizabeth with no problem, which made Elizabeth even more paranoid about it. But since Alice or Chloe hadn't sent a message... And Papa and Mother were literally at the side.

Taking a second to look at the folder Elizabeth opened, it was...

"The hell?" An official document, one that would serve as a marriage certificate from the church, one that would at least from the religious point of view of the most powerful religious organization in Zaanam, confirm that Elizabeth was indeed married to Rena and Rossie. "Did not see this one coming."

Elizabeth had not seen that one coming at all, turning the document to Rossie to check, Elizabeth turned her attention inward, closing her eyes to focus.

The Prana... was aligning itself with her Core, awaiting to be painted in whatever color Elizabeth wanted, she did notice that there was some kind of... weird blob? There was no good way to describe it, it was like there was a sphere that wanted to open but couldn't.

"That would be my part of the deal," Eleanore said as she walked up the stairs, Elizabeth had thought that the line had ended, but it was in truth that this woman was standing at the bottom of the stairs and no one dared to step ahead of her.

"So then why does it feel like that?" Elizabeth said poking at the blob, "It doesn't taste or feel like shadows."

Not that Elizabeth was a [Shadow Weaver] anymore after her own self-reassignment of Origin.

"Because," Eleanore said as she put an orb of a dark substance in front of Elizabeth's table, "That is my actual power. And not the medium I use to manifest it in the real world."

...Right... Eleanore was Echidnia, the Mother of Nightmares...

"So this orb is made out of nigthmares..." Elizabeth said nodding, that would explain why she didn't really have much experience dealing with nightmares. Even if she did have a skill rolling around about that aspect, the one that she had stolen from Echidna.

"Yes," Echidna said, nodding, "I was paid to make that, and promised it would never be used against me... and yet... the one person in this world that seems to hold a grudge against me, and the means of actually damaging me... Ended having it."

Elizabeth then looked at [The Traveler], then to the metaphorical sphere within her [Garage].

"... The fake divine domain." Elizabeth said as she understood what this was, "This is the fake divine domain you made for [The Prophet]? Then how did she give it to me? Wasn't it made upon her [Soulscape]?"

Elizabeth had heard that straight out from [The Traveler], who allegedly made it extra hard to infiltrate the [Soulscape]/[Divine Domain] made by these people.

And sure enough, even with two keys Elizabeth couldn't breach it... yet anyway, now that it was devoid of the Prana, it would eventually crumble, so Elizabeth didn't have anything to fear from it.

"Yes and not," Echidna answered, "You are right in that it was made as a pseudo Divine Domain and hidden within a Soulscape... But it was so much more than that, the more people used it... Because people used it, your girlfriend even was summoned to it."

"...The Council area where they tried to poach me?" Rossie asked narrowing her eyes, "I knew it wasn't natural."

"Yes, it was used as a means to bridge communications in the magical community, each use empowering... My Nightmares spread the connection, and as such, without my blessing, even if you have the main key and the skeleton key... Even if you have the backdoor key even..." Echidna said pointing at [The Traveler], "You will not be able to breach it."

"...Do you want to get beaten down in public?" Elizabeth couldn't help but ask, "Stop talking in circles and say your part."

"...I want my skill back, and in exchange I will release the seal on the Nightmares that prevent you from taking in fully the gift that [The Prophet] gave you." Echidna said, "I know you did more than seal, I have not been able to manifest new nightmares in the real world, only being able to work with those I had already spread."

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Right... Elizabeth was wondering when she would notice it. To be honest, if that had happened to Elizabeth, she would probably never notice. She had only summoned a couple of hundred minions... Or well, to be honest, she truly had only summoned between one and four minions.

Nyx, Beatrice, Reginald and Sebastian.

The others had been spawned from Nyx, one could even argue that the only true Minion she summoned was Nyx, since Beatrice, Reginald and Sebastian came from him in a way.

As such, the other minions weren't technically summoned by Elizabeth. But this was also besides the point.

"...I don't need your blessing, the space the nigthmares are is isolated, I will be able to tear it down at somepoint, and if I get nothing out of it..." Elizabeth said smirking, "It is also besides the point, since I didn't expect anything, this gift? It changes nothing about my plans, at all."

"...." Echidna stopped at that, "Changes nothing... So... you truly..."

The black haired worst mother of the year said stopping for a second, "I see..." And then added as if she had said the most impressive reasoning of the year, "Well, you may not worry about getting something. And with your Father and Mother now in the memory of every big mover you probably are safer than ever... But then, are you ready to deal with the consequences of this?"

Consequences?

"What consecuences?" Elizabeth asked confused, "This was not on me, this is on you. For being such a crap parent."

"...I was not," Echidna started saying only to stop short, "It does not matter, you wouldn't understand."

Like hell she wouldn't!

"The fact of this is, that even if I can't manifest nightmares, they continue to grow. I expect quite a few of those that visited this reception hall to have weeks of nightmares." Echidna said turning her back to Elizabeth, "I am [The Mother of Nigthmares] and [The Mother of Shadows], the nightmares come to me and manifest themselves in the real world as shadows by my will... or by my presence."

"So you see, you don't need that fancy skill after all!" Elizabeth said nodding, "Good talk, now move it."

"There is a difference, Elizabeth Starbright," Echidna continued, "Nightmares manifested by me are fully in my control, they can't escape or do things I don't expect."

"So what?" Elizabeth asked, "You don't want to deal with wayward sons?"

"Exactly," Echidnia nodded, "The last nightmare that was born without my consent became a spine on my back for almost seventy years, made my son hate me and ended causing the daughter of my first love to hate me so much she stripped half my authority over the planet, then the other half while also punching me."

....

"What?" Elizabeth was dumbfounded, "...You..."

"Chloe Ashcroft was a Nightmare." Echidna stated plainly, "Not one born willingly, but even so she was a Nightmare."

...They never actually spoke about how she was born right? Elizabeth had assumed that she was born because Akasha willed it, a side effect from Elizabeth's soul coming to Akasha as Papa managed to get Mother pregnant.

But if she was birthed as a shadow...

Then Echidna truly was a victim... who would have thought? Did it change anything?

"Even so, you still abused what you knew was birthed from you, even if her original nature was that of a Nightmare, she was innocent." Elizabeth pointed.

"Perhaps," Echidna answered, "But that doesn't change the fact that Nightmares can be birthed in the form of humans, the worst monsters of Zaanam have always been humans..."

Yikes, drama queen much?

"I twist and modify the nightmares to birth monsters from mythos for that reason, because after seeing for myself that a human can be birthed from a nightmare... I do not want true monsters wearing the form of humans." Echidna said turning back to Elizabeth, "I have seen one too many already."

"I will punch you again," Elizabeth said, standing up, "You are the worst monster I have seen, and even after knowing all of this, all that happened to you, I can't even begin to think about pitying you."

"I don't want your pity." Echidna said back walking forward Elizabeth and looking down at her, the woman was tall.

"Doesn't look like that, aren't you nagging me because you can't use your toys and can't be bothered to deal with your own problems?" Elizabeth said raising a finger, "All because you want this?"

And atop that finger, Elizabeth materialized an orb of inky shadow substance, the sealed skill that Elizabeth had stolen from Echidna, or well, to be precise she had taken the content of the skill and left the framework empty.

Elizabeth had then assimilated the skill into herself in a way that suited her best, leaving the original content sealed away. This way, Echidna could not use the skill, and if she somehow regained it, it wouldn't diminish Elizabeth's powers.

"I am not one to skirt my problems," Echidna said, "I will do my best to contain any nightmare that is birthed in my domain, but that is under the assumption that the domain in question is my city."

"So then what's the issue?" Elizabeth asked confused, "Do your goddamned work, you are now a [Hero] right?"

"How far do you think my shadows spread, even after you overthrew my Authority?" Echidna asked, "How far do you think the Nightmare threads come from?"

"...Oh..." Elizabeth said as she realized, if Echidna said that Elizabeth overthrown her authority... And Elizabeth could very well spread her shadows over Zaanam at a moment's notice if she wanted, "...Then everywhere in the world?"

"Yes," Echidna said nodding, "You can't expect me to patrol the world right? No world power will accept it; instead, they will see it as a hostile attack on their nation and attack me, that in turn will create new fear and nightmares, and the vicious circle will start."

...Yeah... Elizabeth could see it happen, perhaps if she had her minions... Then she could deal with that, and still annoy Echidna, but she didn't have her Minion armada at the moment, and the Valkyries while powerful, weren't enough to cover the whole world (Nor stealthy enough).

"Because of your actions, the third great world war will start." Echidna said, voice even, devoid of fear, "The war of the Nightmares... or the war of monsters, depending on the mood of the world news I guess."

God damned hell...

"Fine!" Elizabeth said grumbling and throwing the sphere at Echidna's face, the inky substance spread across the older woman face, but she didn't bat an eye.

Elizabeth instead got the notification of the seal being released from Echidna, and sure enough, her status screen returned to normal. Even if she lost a couple of levels here and there. Not that it mattered as the levels rose once again in seconds.

Probably the woman was manifesting nightmares somewhere private.

"And here is your part of the deal," Echidna said pulling yet another necklace and offering it to Elizabeth.

"It's safe," Papa said from the side, "You can take it, Eli. I was planning on releasing the seal myself and then convincing you to release the seal you put on Eleanore, but this also works."

"And besides, if Lena-Len does a fast on you I will make sure to punish her for you," Mother said brightly from the side, with a little too evil smile on her face.

"Okay," Elizabeth said taking the necklace and feeling it dissolve into shadows, it quickly fell into Elizabeth's shadows and straight into the [Garage], where it started nibbling at the sphere of inky dark nigthmares.

In seconds a new space was formed within Elizabeth's soul, similar to a [Soulscape] in many ways, but also different.

"Shoddy work," Elizabeth said as she analyzed the make of the fake [Soulscape], "I have seen better ones made with less mana and skills involved."

And by that she meant this Cathedral.

"Show me one better made." Echidna said straight away, was she offended by the truth?

"Sure," Elizabeth said pointing down at their feets, "You are standing in one."

"...I beg you pardon?" Echidna said confused, "This is a real building, not a construct...of..."

And while speaking Echidna had sent a few strands of shadows into the building, "...mana....and soul...." And perhaps she truly had made one, as she seemed to understand what she was seeing in the Cathedral.

"Yes," Elizabeth said nodding, "Do you think yours can compare? I don't think so, unlike yours, this one was able to be self-sustained for almost 15 years, then stood three years in waiting while not receiving nourishment... And after all of that, I could still bring it to real space and it stands tall."

"...Who made... You? No, you were born, and fifteen years... this was the Soulscape you used? Why...Ah right, probably to deal with the soul instability that you were born with." Echidna started speaking and thinking faster by the second, "Who made it?"

"A Saintsworths," Elizabeth only answered that, "He was an asshole tho."

"So one of your Mother's friends," Echidna quickly surmised, "Makes sense, I hope the price was worth it."

"Every second I had to see his face, and a couple that I didn't need to see his face but went to see it anyway." Mother answered nodding, "And we would do it again."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Elizabeth. Let's never speak again." Echidna said as she sank into the shadows and teleported away.

Show off.

"Come on then, the big bad evil woman just lett." Elizabeth said looking at the people at the base of the stairs, "Might as well, I will listen to whatever bullshit you have to say, but let me tell you in advance, Echidna gave me enough power to level a country, and that was not enough for me to accept. So whatever you offer, it will probably not be enough either."

And with that Elizabeth sat, and while she hoped that speech would work... It did not, the people still came, still asked, still promised, and most of all...

They all had the same idea of trying to convince Elizabeth that only with THEIR support would she be able to marry legally with Rossie and Rena. Every second that went by the Queen of Britannia's smile continued to grow.

It seemed that only she knew after all. Elizabeth had expected the mayor of the American Federation to know, or even the spy nation... maybe even the Shadow Pact.

Either way, soon would be the time for Elizabeth to reveal her evil achievement, she was already legally married!

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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