"H-how are you... Taranis?" Nyria murmured, averting her eyes in embarrassnt as she saw him again after two and a half years.
Not only Taranis, but Nyria too had grown considerably during that ti. Although her divinity stood only at the level of an Awakened Sage, she had nonetheless matured fully—both physically and ntally.
The mont Nyria’s reflection appeared in the mirror, Taranis was left utterly stunned.
She had grown... beautifully.
No—beautiful was far too shallow a word, almost an insult to her heavenly grace.
Her flawless jade-like skin was white as milk, smooth and radiant. Her once-soft lips had blossod into a perfectly shaped heart, and the delicate beauty mark above them rested like a cherry placed by the heavens themselves.
Her snow-white hair had grown far longer, flowing like silk and glowing with an even purer divine radiance than before. Her luminous, creamy eyes fluttered shyly, unable to et his gaze as embarrassnt colored her expression—those eyes of a maiden standing before her promised husband.
"D-dear heavens!" The words unconsciously left Taranis’s mouth as he savored the heavenly beauty of his promised wife, etching it deep into his heart.
After nearly a whole minute of uninterrupted gazing, he finally spoke. "I’m good, Nyria. How have you been?"
"Fine," Nyria whispered, her voice low.
"Why did you keep refusing to et ?" Taranis asked, his voice carrying a hint of complaint. "Do you have any idea how much I longed to see you?"
A faint blush appeared on Nyria’s face as she replied, still in a soft voice, "I... I was training under Father’s guidance."
"So busy with training that you didn’t even want to see ," Taranis muttered.
"It’s not like that!" Nyria said, her voice rising before she quickly lowered it again. "I didn’t want to be left behind while you grew stronger there. So I trained under Father, trying to keep up with you."
"Well, you really have grown," Taranis teased as his gaze swept over her upper body visible in the mirror.
Nyria, who had been avoiding Taranis’s face as his re looks sent butterflies fluttering in her heart, finally lifted her eyes, only to notice that his gaze had settled on her chest.
"Y-you scoundrel!" Nyria snapped, crossing her arms over herself, completely misunderstanding him.
"I-I wasn’t talking about your br—th-that area! I ant you’ve grown stronger," Taranis blurted out, his face flushing with embarrassnt.
"Hm... hm, sure," Nyria mumbled, clearly unconvinced.
After a brief pause, Nyria whispered, "What have you done, Taranis?"
"Huh?" Taranis raised an eyebrow, confused.
"I can’t bring myself to look at your face. Every ti I do, my heart starts beating so hard. Even when I sparred with Father, my heart never reacted like this. Why do you have to bewitch so deeply?"
"You say that, but have you asked about the condition of my heart?" Taranis replied, pressing the mirror to his chest. "Look at what you’ve done to my poor heart."
"When are you returning, Taranis?" Nyria asked, changing the topic as the embarrassnt overwheld her.
"The war is in its final stage. It should end in a day or two," Taranis replied. "As for the exact date, I’ll send you a letter."
"I miss you, Taranis," Nyria whispered, touching the mirror with her long, slender hand as if trying to embrace him from the other side.
Taranis mirrored her gesture, placing his hand parallel to hers as he murmured, "I miss you too, Nyria."
The two gods continued talking, sharing small and amusing events with each other, just as they always did through the letters they exchanged every day.
Their conversation only ended when the ti limit of the mirrors was reached.
After speaking with the two won he loved most, Taranis left his abode and stepped outside, where cultivators were already preparing for battle as the sun neared the horizon.
The mont Taranis stepped out, as usual, he was showered with greetings from the Thunderbanes.
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
"Your Highness, please grant your blessing for the upcoming battle."
"Your Highness, please honor with your blessing as well."
"G-greetings... greetings," Taranis replied awkwardly, as he still couldn’t get used to such behavior from individuals who were over a hundred years old and had reached the True Sage Realm long before he was even born.
After passing through them, Taranis arrived before his platoon, which had already assembled in a straight line ahead of him.
"Greetings, Platoon Leader!" the subordinates with whom Taranis had spent the last year fighting side by side shouted in unison.
"Greetings, everyone," Taranis replied. His expression soon turned solemn, his golden eyes narrowing as he continued,
"Commander Stormir has slain five of the ten Archdemons. The number of Demon Lords has been reduced to fifty, and only minor ones remain. Even the Demon Sovereign has suffered injuries at the hands of King Voltrex. However, our losses have been severe as well. Out of the hundred platoons, only forty-eight remain, and the number of soldiers in each platoon has fallen from hundreds to re double digits."
Taranis’s voice then rose, laced with Soulforce, spreading across the walls so that every cultivator stationed on the Sentinel Line could hear him.
"Still, we cannot—and will not—lose hope. The strongest cultivator of the Western Continent, my father, the King of the Hundred Sky Mountains, Voltrex El Thunderbane, stands with us! Tonight, we will end this war once and for all and return to our loved ones!!!"
Taranis’s words sent a surge of adrenaline not only through his subordinates, but through every soldier present on the Sentinel Line.
Ear-deafening roars erupted, echoing across the entire stretch of the Sentinel Lines.
"Kill the demons!!"
"Kill the demons!!"
The voices thundered forward, reaching the farthest ends of the vast land where the demons were once again preparing to assault the human forces.
"Elder brother, I have made my decision," Voltrex said, standing at the edge of the wall, witnessing the scene with a proud smile on his face.
"I have an idea of what you wish to say, Voltrex, but I still want to hear it from your own mouth," Stormir replied, a similar smile tugging at his lips.
"It has been a hundred years since I began ruling as the King of the Hundred Sky Mountains. I have done enough for the Hundred Sky Mountains."
After a brief pause, Voltrex continued,
"After twenty years, when Taranis marries Nyria, I will pass the throne to him. Together, those two will take the Hundred Sky Mountains to heights it has never reached before."
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