Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Tanya's form of exit announced that the game had changed just enough to give the Harons a semblance of gaining ground on the Sapphirine Cult.

Tanya had opened herself to the power of the gem to the point where she could transport her entire self into the monument of Ordinances at any given time.

The reason why the portal she had escaped with had been so easy to recognize was that it was the same portal that anyone entering the Monument of Ordinances would have to go through and after strengthening the connection between herself and the gem and the gem and the monument of Ordinances, Tanya could manipulate that opening wherever she was.

She then combined that means of entry into the Monument with the perception she had over the landmass of the Haron Continent to pinpoint locations in which she wished to exit at.

Basically using the Monument of Ordinances as a medium with which to cut short the journey between regions on the continent.

Hal had not known of her arrival and neither had any of those in his camp partly because he had not done to Doxon what he had done to the Dane Duchy but mostly because Tanya had the power of the Monument shielding her. In other words, she had the Primordial Concept of Order on her side, either deliberately or not.

These were just some of the abilities the Haron Princess had gotten from her Monument-gem and this was only the start of the terror she planned to rein down upon Hal and his devotees.

She amplified her Nexus Stone perception over the Haron Continent with the Monument-gem and was using it to pick out Duchy rulers whose devotion lay with Hal and the Sapphirine Cult.

At the moment, there were regions of the Haron Continent where Tanya's perception was hampered but she was forcing the clarity and while she did, she still had other targets marked and she and her Army of Harons returned to the Imperial Palace to regroup and prepare to strike the next target.

The region Tanya wished most to attack was Sapphire City at the Dane Duchy Capital but the entire Duchy was shrouded by a nefarious barrier that forced her away. Should she adamantly try, she would likely succeed in breaking through that barrier but until then, the allies of the Cult would have to do.

***

Dystopian Continent...

The Phoenix Clan Palace...

After the time-warped Orgy, Hal crossed his legs but it was not to make use of the essence he had reaped but rather to improve his Infinity while reminiscing on ongoing events.

Hal was not ready to make use of the essence he had reaped and rather kept them all for a massive advancement during which he would require a lot of energy and dual-cultivated essence.

Hal was very aware of Tanya's actions at the Doxon Duchy Palace but he was not ready to personally deal with the Haron Princess.

Yes, many had died but none who had died was an actual member of his force and were rather criteria he checked just to gain control over an entire family and then an entire Duchy.

Also, he had not expected Tanya to be so impossible to defeat for powerful Doxon experts.

Watching how she had killed Kirill and imbued Harons with the strength to make Doxon Elders look like fodder had especially been an eye-opener into Tanya's abilities and the length of what she was capable of through the Monument-gem and the Nexus stone.

It was not time for a confrontation with the Imperial Family... Hal wanted his hand on the Dystopian Nexus Stone first and for that, he had made very substantial progress.

He had captured the loyalty of both Elenor and Alvira and scoured their memories for what he needed while they both, as well as Phaedra and Aspasia, slept after the intense session they had just had with Hal.

The Dystopian rulers had a similar idea as the first Haron Emperor which was to keep the Nexus stone in a different dimension which could only be assessed by the combined effort of the four. If one of them died, that responsibility would fall onto their heir.

This had not always been the way and in the days before the rise of the Devil Tribe, the Nexus stone was more accessible.

The Devil Tribe, during their rise, discovered the existence of the Nexus stone as well as the fact that their conquering of territories would not be enough to make them part rulers and so through a mixture of trickery, the sowing of discord, and straight-up theft, they got their hands on the stone and added their Devilish signature to the already occupying three and thus made the trio of rulers into a Quad.

Anyway,

With his inclusion of Elenor and Alvira under his banner, Hal used them both to usher in his control over their respective segments by having them both allow the distribution of Nirvana pills which was done by Lucile who was happy to travel to the Dystopian Continent without fear of being killed on the spot.

The businesswoman welcomed the idea of expanding the brand of her Paladin Trade Union past the borders of the Haron Empire and that idea was entertained.

Elenor and Alvira only had to endorse the pills and everyone wanted a piece of it. Whether the endorsement was taken as a promotion for how good the pills were or they were taken as Orders, the point was that every single individual who resided in the segments ruled by the Phoenix Clan and Devil Tribe took at least one pill and had the root of connection to Hal's Devil seed growing within them.

After fully allying with Hal and his cause, Alvira shot down relations with the Dragon Clan and she raised a lot of disapproval for her decision but she shut it all down as fast as they rose.

In a week or so, the territories of the Phoenix Clan and Devil Tribe were saturated with Nirvana pills, and in that week, Hal neared the end of the plans he had for the Dystopian Dragon Clan.

First, Hal learned of the factions within the Dragon clan and found one that, despite being loyal to Dogroth the Dystopian Dragon King, was still very open to corruption by him. The faction within which there was Reyna Gord, a young draconic lady who was only just getting introduced to the council of the Dragon Clan.

Reyna as well as her sister were from the equivalent of a branch family within the Dragon Clan and did not have a path for the throne that Dogroth held and would have left for Dakon had Dakon not died.

The Dragon Clan was still at war with the Devil Tribe or more accurately, they were still getting butchered by sneak attacks from the Devil Tribe.

There was nothing the Dragon Clan had that could accurately combat the power of a Tribe who had been lent a means of travel by Hal with the means being championed by Sassy the serpent Familiar.

Once the Phoenix Clan shut off all connections, the Dragon clan was truly on its own.

Their constant war meetings had become an occasion to discuss the most recent depressing event rather than to actually plan for the future.

It was one such meeting that a tired-looking Reyna had prepared to go for when she heard a voice behind her,

"Don't tell me you are actually feeling stressed at the fate of the Dragon clan"

Reyna's eyes widened at the suddenness of the voice but that was the limit of her reaction as she answered,

"It's my clan. Its fate concerns me... As it should" she said.

"I disagree," said the blue-eyed man laying on her bed with his hands behind his head and his face directed at her ceiling.

"Of course, you would. You caused this, did you not, 'Havi'?" she said with a mention of the name the blue-eyed man had used along with a certain disguise not too long ago.

"Yes I did and it is why I am best equipped to tell you that now is the time to abandon the sinking ship," Hal said and he sat up on the bed just as Reyna stood up and turned around to eye him,

"What do you want?" she asked.

"With you?" Hal asked with a smirk.

"With my clan," Reyna clarified.

"I seek to enlighten your clan... To have you abandon the idea of ruling the Dystopian Continent and the Nexus world as a whole and accept that the only possible outcome is to be beneath me" He said and stood up.

"That's prideful," Reyna said.

"It's truth," Hal said with only a foot of distance between them and Reyna found that she could not tell when he got so close.

Hal raised a hand and brushed her hair while he raked his eyes over the military attire she was wearing in preparation for the war meeting she was not going to attend.

"You should let me go," Reyna said a little breathlessly at his touch, "My sister will come looking if I'm not at the war meeting"

Hal smiled and leaned closer to brush his lips against her cheek and then whisper into her ear,

"Let her come"