Pride said keep attacking… Find a weakness and overco that barrier through persistence and skill. But wisdom said accept the temporary setback to try and understand the chanism, to preserve what could be preserved. Save Victor for now and deal with finding a way to hit Orion's ass later, when circumstances were better.
Victor mattered more than her pride…
That was the truth she had to accept even if it tasted like ash.
So Selphira took advantage of the pause in attacks to deliberately retreat. Creating distance that would provide a safety margin if Orion decided to attack treacherously during negotiation.
And she deactivated the fusion.
It felt like shedding a defensive shell that had been pushing her forward, the power drained away. The enhanced senses faded a bit and the supernatural durability returned to 'rely exceptional' rather than legendary.
She was 'just' Selphira again, an old woman with depleted reserves who'd been fighting for more than a full day without proper rest.
The transformation dissolved conserving the remains of mana she had left. She was dangerously low on them, less than ten percent of her total capacity. But still with sufficient energy that she could reactivate the fusion briefly to escape if the situation deteriorated to the point where withdrawal was her only remaining option.
If she maintained this considerable distance, she felt reasonably safe that she could dodge Orion's beam shot even without the amplification that fusion provided. Her base speed being sufficient when she had appropriate 'notice ti' of an approaching attack.
Her decades of combat knowledge didn't disappear just because fusion ended. She was still likely the strongest tar in the kingdom now.
And Orion's beams, while powerful, were straightforward. Linear trajectories that could be predicted and avoided with proper timing. She could handle that... She could survive any 'surprise' for a chance to hear what he wanted and decide whether it was a price she could accept.
So Orion began projecting his voice with elental amplification that permitted him to reach across the distance now separating them.
His tone adopted the quality of a formal speech that even part of his army could hear. A relaxed tone contrasting with the violence of the exchange they'd just finished.
"I only want what belongs to by right," he declared with conviction that sounded genuine even if the foundation logic was questionable.
"The ruin beneath the Starweaver territory that you want to give to my niece. The territory itself and my own niece must all be under my jurisdiction. What lies on the other side of the door in that ruin must be treated as mine when I open it. And even if it's not an extractable artifact, it must be treated as such without the castle having any interference over this new 'installation' or in how I use it."
He continued enurating demands with confidence suggesting he truly believed he had the right to what he requested.
"Also, when the third door beneath the castle opens with Luna's genetic key, you must not demand anything from what I discover there either. You've already taken enough from on the second level of sothing that in its great majority corresponded to my 'family' and bloodline. Because it's the Starweaver genetics that makes the opening of those systems possible in the first place."
Selphira beca deeply bothered by the pretense and the absolute audacity of the presentation. Trying to get sothing that should benefit all humanity for just himself.
That stupid story from a few hundred years ago about the genetic key was also completely ridiculous when demanding inheritable benefits as if they were birthright rather than a fortunate accident.
At the end of the day, it had also been sothing fortuitous that happened in an ancient ruin. It wasn't as if the Starweavers had been born with genetics inherently different from the rest of humanity.
No divine right nor special bloodline blessed by gods... Just a lucky ancestor who'd found a potion in a ruin. Who'd drunk it not knowing what it would do and who'd passed on the modification to a small part of his descendants.
It was a coincidence that an ancestor had found that potion. Not deliberate design justifying perpetual claims over unrelated resources that should benefit the complete society.
If she accepted Orion's logic, then he'd soon be taking enough power to be king, a recipe for tyranny based on his actions until now.
If Selphira knew about the true origin of Ren's power and how he'd acquired knowledge through an accident in sothing similar to a ruin, she would compare it quite a bit with the Starweavers' situation. Though she'd recognize they weren't exactly equal in the specific details.
But the underlying principle of "fortuitously acquired power" was comparable in both cases.
And yet he'd shared that knowledge. Almost freely even if compared to posterior secrecy and scam practices for the ones that had relatively 'extended knowledge' of cultivation before. He wasn't demanding tribute or claiming ownership nor insisting that everyone who benefited from his discoveries owed him a perpetual debt.
That was the difference between soone who saw fortune as responsibility to help others and soone who saw it as justification for claiming everything as personal property.
Between Ren and Orion… Between generosity and greed. Between building up and tearing down.
Selphira seethed at Orion's demands while calculating whether accepting them was a price worth paying for Victor's life.
The territory, two ruins with one unopened, the third castle installation and apparently a new one in Yano... The access to the third door of the castle without oversight alone represented a massive concession of power and resources to soone who'd just demonstrated he'd use them for future destructive purposes.
But Victor was dying… Right now at Orion's feet, with beam aid at his broken body.
What were material things compared to family? What were future unclaid resources compared to life? What was a bit of a temporary set back compared to the boy she'd watched growing up?
She knew the answer. Hated it... But knew it.
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