Dimensional Descent

Some time later, Mistress Oliidark sat in her room alone, calmly stacking papers.

At that moment, a seemingly insignificant shadow in the corner moved and morphed into a person.

"Is it done?" Mistress Oliidark asked.

"You shouldn't have allowed his leash to be so long, you will regret it," the figure cloaked in black spoke.

"Too long? Maybe it isn't long enough. He isn't useful to me as he is now. He won't even defeat even the weakest of all the live-in son-in-laws I've collected, let alone becoming the strongest of them. If I don't allow him some free reign, I might as well just kill him now like he said."

"Then let me kill him, you've given him too much. His benefits are even better than an elder's. Free access to all of our techniques and cultivation methods was a bridge much too far."

Mistress Oliidark chuckled. "If you were in the Fifth Star right now and I stripped you of all the knowledge you had ever learned past that point, and then I gave you access to all the knowledge I have now, how long would it take you to be able to threaten me?"

The figure fell into silence.

"My level isn't one you can reach even if you have all the resources in the world, at least not with 100% certainty. At best, you would have a slightly better chance than most. And, even if the certainty was 100%, how long would it take you? Five decades? A century?

"Even for my husband, it took at least this long, let alone for a brat who's already passed his prime age for reaching the Sixth Star."

you want him

for a decade to remember it. Aside

family needs

a better

like them to show any sort of emotion at all, so just this little bit might as well have bene the equivalent of

leash is even less of a worry. But if I'm correct, and the answer is instead yes, then it's because

when the time comes. Are you sure you want to subject Athrae to a life of marriage with a

Oliidark shook her

blood that runs through her veins. With a talented husband, she

to live is built off the backs of the talents of the previous generations. She will also have to sacrifice something if she

about Athrae

split into the Light Branch and the Dark Branch. The Light Branch was currently headed by Mistress

split many generations ago. In order to survive for as long as they had, a family needed a group of individuals with just as much vested interest in their success, who also happened to be willing to do the dirty work,

were very select members of the Light Branch. This secret was one that was passed down in silence from

questions about whether their Mistress would be strong-hearted enough to do what needed to be done. If the answer was no,