Hold over Myriad of Worlds

After taking a few seconds to regain control over all my puppets and avatars, I teleported Flame Chasers and others who returned with me to the entrance of my Palace, ordering Rita to take care of them. Meanwhile, I appeared in my office, where Ningguang was half-lying on my sofa, reading some papers.

-"It would seem you are back."-Said Ningguang, looking up from the documents in her hand.

~"Few hours passed? It would seem I still need to learn more about [Time]."~I sat next to her and looked at the papers in her hands.

-"I was also surprised, but Elune assured us that there is nothing to worry about."-Smiling, she passed me the documents as she lay her head on my legs.

~"Elune did? Indeed, with our connection, she could easily feel my state and deduce the situation on my side. This is Nobu's report?"~I held the report in my hand while playing with Ningguang's silky hair with my other hand.

-"As it's her world, she took the task of surveying quite seriously."-She closed her eyes, enjoying my care.-"To be blunt, if it were just any other world, I would advise cutting our losses, as the situation there is beyond chaotic."

~"I expected that it would be bad, but to that degree... Even if we were to work together with Artoria, utilizing all our forces fully, I doubt we would be able to secure that world now."

-"With our soldiers about to depart on the Hunt for the remaining Abominations of Abundance left by Yaoshi, we can't even spare one Knight Order."

~"Avalon will have to bear most of the pressure for now. Hmm... I could recruit some ninjas to assist them. Mages from Yotsuba's world would also be useful."

-"True. Those subsidiary forces should finally do their part. Don't forget about Soul Society, though they are in quite disrepair right now."-Ningguang slowly got up and looked at me.

~"A more detailed discussion will be needed."

-"I already called for everyone."-She smiled as she straddled me.-"We will have a meeting in an hour or so. Before that..."-She leaned her body onto me.

I smiled and embraced her waist.

-"Finally here. I was worried you got lost."-Nobu's annoyed voice sounded the moment we entered the meeting room.

-"You can say that."-Ningguang smiled, her face still a little red.

~"Let's get started. Tomorrow is the festival, so we don't have much time to waste."

-"Then allow me to lead this meeting."-Loki jumped out.-"First on our agenda is the Hunt for the remains of Abominations of Abundance."

-"I will lead this Hunt personally."-Nobu spoke with unusual seriousness.-"I had already prepared all the details and data needed, organized troops, prepared logistical channels and supplies. The only remaining issue is how others would react to our war."

~"I will officially give you my Decree, and Lan will give his Mandate for this Hunt. My Aurora and his Arrow will guide you."

-"What about IPC and other forces?"

~"They will mostly stay out of this, two Aeons are not to be trifled with. If there is conflict, you can try to negotiate, but remember that the elimination of Abominations is our purpose."

-"That's easy then."-Nobu nodded and looked at Loki.-"There are some minor adjustments that need to be clarified, but that can wait for later as it's connected to other issues."

-"Sure, then now let's mention the delegation to follow Princess Long Ji."

-"This time, I will go there."-Ningguang spoke out after a moment of silence.-"We now have an approximate strength of forces in that Princess' world, and according to data, they are at least at the strength of Yue's home world, if not above it in some aspects. We have to treat them accordingly to their status, so I will lead the delegation."

~"I will send my avatar with you, but I won't get involved later, as it would place us in a lower position, which we need to avoid when contacting other empires."

Loki, Ningguang, and Meng nodded in agreement with my stance.

-"If I may. I suggest bringing some Champions to show our strength. From my understanding, Cultivation Worlds place greater emphasis on power."-Athena, who sat behind Astraea, spoke up her mind.

-"Indeed, that would be a good idea. Astraea, can you pick some people?"

-"I will give you a list later, Ningguang. On the subject, which Order will be included in the Delegation?"

~"Palace Guard. We can't spare other Knights, and as representatives, they would fit perfectly. Will that be a problem, Alise?"

-"N...No... Please let us do it!"-Alise was stunned by my decision, but quickly recovered.

~"Good. I will leave the details in your hands, as for the leader of the delegation's guards, Durandal will take that position."

-"Yes, Your Majesty!"

-"Then I will leave my safety in your hands."-Ningguang also agreed with my judgment.

-"Then the next matter is about Ionia and the talks we were invited to in that world."-Loki moved the agenda forward.

-"If I may speak."-Irelia's voice sounded from the back.

~"Please."

-"We, Ionians, would like to assist Hold in their war. Our force might be small, but we wish to repay favors bestowed upon us."

-"That's good, but your forces won't be included in the Hunt."-Nobu shook her head.-"But I would ask you to assist with matters of my world."

~"We'll speak about that later. For Ionia's issues, I suggest contacting the more reclusive forces and uniting the whole island under one banner. That way, our voice in the talks will have more weight."

-"This..."-Irelia seemed troubled by my proposition.

-"How about I do it?"-Elysia raised her hand-"I'm quite good at making friends, and from your words, you need such a person now."

~"That's actually a good idea. I will lead negotiations there later, but before that, you will try to unite Ionia."

-"Leave it to me!"

-"Then next we have to talk about Orario. By now, everything has returned to calm, but the atmosphere is still not right. We need to raise people's opinion about Hold and also restore our relations with the gods."

~"Sigh. I can restore rights of descent for gods, but the restrictions will be much more powerful. At the same time, I suggest cooperating with the Guild to increase the oversight of Familias."

-"Well, while I don't want to agree with you, I can see why it's beneficial to everyone but gods."-Loki grumbled under her nose.

-"I will deal with gods, Loki, you will be in charge of talks with the Guild."-Astraea spoke calmly.-"I will need some people to help and promote human growth, to be more precise, mortals, in my words, lack philosophy and science, almost all culture centers around gods."

~"You wish to establish Human Order."~I looked at Astraea, surprised.

-"Yes. I read your research on Alaya in Nobu's world, along with data on the partial authority you stole from it..? Her..?"

~"The 'Thore' is the power of the soul, but not individual, but rather a collective of Humanity of a certain world... Your idea is to elevate your godhood? By becoming a goddess of Humanity, you will become something akin to Alaya in your world."

-"That is it. This also works to Hold's advantage, as gods won't work with us, and at best will cooperate when there is an opportunity to be gained. On the other hand, mortals will work with us for the betterment of everyone."

-"That might be, but mortals are also greedy and weak. Their short lives will make it so that, with time, our actions will be forgotten, and respect will fade."-Aranyani warned everyone due to her own experience.

~"Then we need to form their culture to our advantage. Yae, cooperate with Astraea on that issue, have your mikos spread parts of Hold's culture there."

-"Sure, but what about the religion?"

-"It too. While it also involves 'deities' as part of the faith, the core is the nature and world, not gods. It would be hard to create atheism, as gods do exist there, but we need to remove them from their positions. Let dem not be rulers above people, but just greater beings in the world, part of the same greater 'Nature'."

~"It will be best if we follow Astraea's ideas."

-"Well then, the last major issue is Nobu's world."

~"I will deal with that. After the festival, I will go and help Artoria stabilize her situation, after which we will cooperate to secure Japan. With our base safe, we can move to dealing with the changes in that world."

-"We can't waste that much time. We need to interfere with the actions of other factions as soon as possible."-da Vinci shook her head.-"Don't forget that we still don't know what exactly happened, not to mention who is responsible. After the survey, I'm absolutely positive that Clock Tower, even if it were to unite all mages against us, it wouldn't be able to achieve such a catastrophe as what occurred."

~"What's your idea?"

-"Use CHALDEAS as a springboard. We know that now timelines and parallel worlds have all mixed together, we should be able to find some personnel of ours, or even masters that appeared from their timeline or parallel world. With us as a connection, bringing them on our side won't be hard, after all, mages are interest-oriented people."

-"That's a good idea, but you can go a step further. Didn't you meet heroes of the past in your singularities? Why not reconnect with them? Records of Throne of Heroes are all in disarray, so their memories should return to them."-Suggested Nobu.

~"That's indeed feasible, but we need to be careful about one thing. Both Alaya and Gaya should have returned. Before, we were able to remove one and seal the other from our timeline, but now, with so many fused timelines and parallel worlds, they will be a much greater threat."

-"You are correct, they will be much stronger, but at the moment they should be at their weakest."-da Vinci spoke confidently.-"I have a theory on the current state of things that might shine some light for everyone."

~"Please."

-"We had long ago assumed that our timeline diverged from Pan-Human history, but before it was 'pruned', you dealt with Alaya and Gaya, making this timeline exist in a strange limbo between LostBelt and Pan-Human. Now, many Lostbelts and timelines were fused together, and so Pan-Human history basically collapsed, impacting Alaya and forcing her to repair it."

~"I see logic in that assessment, but with that train of thought, wouldn't Gaia be a problem?"

-"That would be if not for who appeared in the world."

~"The gods, huh?"

-"Not only that. Many True Ancestors of old reemerged. I even suspect that Type-Moon is back."

~"How is Arcueid?"~I asked with slight worry after hearing her theory.

-"We lost contact..."-da Vinci shook her head again.

~"I will look for her while dealing with Artoria's matter. She would confirm your theory. I agree with your plan, but our priority still needs to be securing Japan. If push comes to shove, I can separate it from that world to at least recover our investment."

-"With all that discussed, the problem arises: Hold's actions are too overreaching. We are barely covering our lack of officials, while our soldiers and Knights are trained as fast as we can, yet they still can't meet our requirements. We literally can't spare one division for Nobu's world, and while our subsidiary forces might assist, their quality and loyalty might be questionable."-Ji Xuanyuan summarized our predicament.

~"Indeed, even Elves and Dragons of my Spirit Empire are deployed in Meng's world while still dealing with details of Orario's seal and my Prophecy. For now, I will have my Valkyries deal with dangers in Nobu's world, but they can only be a stopgap. While Spirits are born from time to time in my Nine Realms, their numbers are still low."

-"We need to look for a method of increasing our recruitment. Loki, can your Familia handle training more soldiers and Knights? My Domination can't stay in such a state."

-"It will be hard, but if I were to ask Finn to include more of Astraea's and Athena's Familias, then it should be achievable."

~"Then recruit even more Familias. Artemis, can you lend a hand temporarily? Meanwhile, I suggest looking for even more gods. I believe that Shinto gods, especially, might be interested."

-"It's the only way, I will take care of that before dealing with the Guild."-Loki nodded, seemingly thinking about how to gain the most out of her future coworkers.

-"We should also expand our Familias. Yue, would it be possible to gain some qualified members from members of that Chat Group?"-Asked Astraea.

~"While some of the members themselves might not be interested, as compared to the benefit's of Chat Group, Falna's growth is too slow, for others... I will consult with them and give you the answer later. For now, look for talents in worlds connected to us."

-"We will do so after things calm down a little."

-"With everyone busy, Yue, you will need to deal with internal matters of Hold for some time."-Ningguang smiled as if remembering something interesting.-"I will be away traveling through Chaos, Nobu will be on the battlefield, Elysia in Ionia, and only Astraea might appear in Hold while dealing with matters of Orario. You will have to take part in some dealings with our allies."

~"I'm aware. I was planning to visit our subsidiaries for some time, and now the occasion is just right. I think that we need to intervene in some matters, as from reports given to me, I can't believe how messy things are in some places."

-"While that could wait for some time, it can also secure more help if handled correctly..."-Loki returned to reality after hearing my words.-"I think you can handle it by yourself, but if need be..."

-"I can assist."-Athena interrupted Loki's words.-"While my Familia is somewhat busy, I'm quite free so I can help you."

~"I'll be counting on you then."

-"Then the last major subject is the festival. Yue, while as Emperor you shouldn't do it, I believe you will still decide to take part in performances, right?"-Loki looked at me.

~"I planned to play. I can't do so as an Emperor officially, but I can do so anonymously, even if everyone else knows that it was me, it would only make me appear more 'humane'."

-"That's your idea? Well... not that bad, but you still can't perform on stage. How about playing in your Palace and just projecting sound in Hold?.

~"I don't mind."

-"Phew... Crisis resolved."-Loki acted as if she saved the world.

I rolled my eyes at her.

-"OK. As everyone would like to rest before tomorrow's festival, let's focus and deal with the details before ending this meeting."-Astraea said, smiling at our antics.

Everyone nodded, and we returned to discussing parts of what we brought up before. Only after four more hours were we satisfied with our plan, and so we ended the meeting. As it was already late, I decided to spend the rest of the day with my family. Everyone was here preparing for tomorrow, so we held a big feast, talking about what happened in SAO's world, before resting early.

As for me, I was dragged by Erina and Hisako to one of their rooms. Erina and Hisako came here from Tōtsuki for the festival, while Rindō, Momo, Hisako, Hinako, and Fuyumi, having opened shops in Hold, were often seen in the Palace. During the meal, Erina was annoyed by Rindō's teasing about that, so she demanded that I appease her.

They all will be opening their own stands tomorrow, so I rested with two girls, before sending them off the next day. I will go to see them later, but first I need to play my part as Emperor.