The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 532 - ’Survival Of The Fittest’: Apex Talks

Chapter 532: Chapter 532 - ’Survival Of The Fittest’: Apex Talks

Atop the highest balcony, two friends of disparate physical ages - and vastly different spiritual ones - looked out upon the Astral Exclave like they used to some evenings before the spire was complete. The Goltbred had always liked sitting on the highest place to relax and take stock of things. Especially when that high place was changing daily in the middle of a construction zone.

While a young woman in her past life, a lot of her happiest moments were tricking the eyes of watchers in citadels as she sat along their walls. When her Illusions were still weak and required constant vigilance which led to more than a few chases, by all sorts of Guilds, who thought she was either thief or assassin.

’It was true I occasionally borrowed texts without asking - and returned them without notice. By the strictest definition I am quite the prolific phantom thief of knowledge hoarded by others. Though... I’d like to think teaching others some of it absolves me of part of that criminality.’

Sevra had finally been coaxed into a short travel upward from *outside* the building... as long as it was by foot along the vertical wall. The scout hoped to get praised for her execution of the Primalist essence technique but instead only received notes on where it could be improved. And a constant stream of things like:

"If you fall, I’ll save you... if you can’t correct yourself on the way down. But don’t fall because I might incorrectly decide you can handle it."

Deciding not to complain about that, because it was clear that hearing complaints was the goal of the annoying brunette, Sevra instead kept quiet until something was said worth reacting to. Namely, that Rezzue had the same Astralism as her.

"Really, she does?"

"Yes. That’s why I built a new sigil array up here for her to use when practicing. Since I modified yours to be of more general help."

"I feel like you want me to point out that hers is up high where you like to be while the one built for me is almost literally hanging over a cliff."

"Well, I won’t say I wanted you to point it out, but now that you’ve said it... look, she’s family, okay? And pregnant."

Growing clearly defensive, the brunette stepped closer to the balcony edge and gripped the hollow stone railing firmly. When you had the ability to core out and strengthen everything’s structural nature with the power of circles inscribed with hidden sigils - and conveniently ending up with lots of space to fill with interesting gases - it was neglectful not to.

In particular, these railings were filled with iodine vapor that a little flex of her Element would hit the pressure to phase change, suddenly deposing into violet grains of metallic sand. Warming the surface and sounding like a rain tube until the fidget use of essence reversed, the pressure slipping and cooling back down as the grains dispersed back into vapor.

"You shouldn’t compare the care I show for her, who has been only enthusiastic around me from the start, to the relationship we developed... after months of you being terrified of me."

The fact that she had an Acid Element and was an excellent little assistant was also a key difference. Working with a cultivator willing to have fun producing substances that El *could* do herself was another... Sevra scouted for her back then because she felt she had to! But the step-skipping power of isolation and containment made simpler in some ways, while serving the dual-purpose of teaching the other woman, was the biggest reason she *liked* being nice to Rezzue.

’Upsetting useful people is something I learned early on to avoid. And she simply isn’t the type of person to be okay with my teasing. The few times I tried and went too far I was... lectured. There is a reason taking on her face to trick the boys is so effective...’

"However, if you must, I would say ours friendship is stronger. Pricklier, but stronger. If I ever get to be too much with anything, just tell me. Openly and without fear of retribution. Burying feelings inside by not being clear just how much something bothers you is how situations like my father and Anper’s ended up."

"In this example, you are taking the role of the affable Ondua while I am being given the comparison to someone who hates women. I think this is already you being too much."

Chuckling and pulling her hands away from the rail, the eldest daughter of the Goltbreds tilted her head ’cutely’ while leaning forward and poking her own cheek. Sevra had already dealt with quite a lot of this before she left. Only then, it was called pretending to be Qatrand and judging how effective it looked.

"Well, you do hate incompetent men far more than me. If we are being analogous, than misandry would probably fit your outlook. And I literally have my father’s hair and smile while *you* occasionally have something equivalent to that man’s stern look of arrogance."

"I’m not... arrogant. I never should have shared with you the reason I joined the Sorority instead of any other scouting Guild for the sake of cover."

"But you did and now I will lord it over you. Just like you are likely to be speaking in your heart all of my own little deficiencies in choices."

"I’m not as meanhearted as you think."

"You literally thought I was going to be a disaster for the continent and started spying on me. How can you say that with such an Anper face?!"

The back of the older woman’s hand rose up to hide her face, which only turned *more* severe in response to trying to erase such a physical comparison. Sevra had not had a lot of interaction with friendly faces these years and dealing with officials and the Cloak Astralism wielder tailing her like a squire does a knight... she did feel like her smiles had been hard to come by.

"...Your husband-wife asked me to play nice, so I’ll let that slide."

"You’re letting it slide because you can’t say anything back."

"Untrue. You’re still going to be a disaster. Just for lots of individuals instead of the world."

Jumping up onto the cylindrical railing and spinning on one foot, while giggling wildly, the ancient cultivator bowed low - in a style of a clan of cultivators she once stayed with - instead of her usual curtsy that adhered to the continental norm.

"If so, they will deserve it. I’m sure you trust that by now."

"Your sense of righteousness will be your downfall some day."

"I believe it already has been numerous times. You’ve heard the stories. Hm, but yes, people that deserve that sort of cataclysm in their life... Teovar comes immediately to mind."

Many of the documents that the scout brought to the Exclave this time were copies of things related to his movements in the past. Which is how it became clearer than ever to the reborn cultivator just who might be the first person that she would intentionally, directly end in this life. Copies of the pages and related items that she had seen or imagined with her own eyes filled the violet sky behind her back.

"Beyond what this shady merchant has done to others... the man has been a shadow at the edge of my beloved’s life. You are aware of the Realmshard and trade connections that enabled the corrupt Yecine to act against my own family, but that is small compared to everything else."

Sevra recognized many of these things immediately. What looked to be a very young Qatrand, behind which stood a familiar young man. Dranuil, the body double, had been sold for his use in that scheme by Teovar. The document the scout had found detailing the flesh sculptor connection - a ’scholar’ whose lucrative hobby it was to guide *forced* physical Reforge techniques within cultivators to change their appearance.

Following that... but linked close by, showing that it was connected to that same man, was the Masking Tool being implanted into a spine on a short and viciously quick loop. A set of Negavigor implements that looked as dark as the Void from earlier danced in a spiral along with the official file on the theft report from seventy-five years ago.

That itself was a document that wasn’t brought here today, instead being one Elua had researched and memorized herself a long while back... when double checking records after being handed her own surgical tools. After hearing the full tale from her ’fortress’ about how it had been done to her.

Because while the black market could indeed trade in the unprepared powdered form of the physical energy repulsing substance... a tool form was much more attractive to buyers who did not want to accidentally poison themselves. The heiress had assumed correctly that the person who lost the last set was interrelated somehow.

Sevra read the name on that and knew immediately it was a relative to the family of the flesh sculptor. A hundred and seventeen year old man who somehow was able to keep authorities from tracking the stolen goods to him. The reality was that they were returned by the *real* thief to that man’s laboratory years later, but never reported so. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Numerous documents about Teovar influencing the Saltfire Storm Alliance’s routes and expectations. Despite not being a member, he was to anyone used to looking for clues in a web of data... obviously the driving influence toward that Guild’s push toward artifact collection from the Acid drenched ruins. The merchant lived for trading unusual artifacts of all sorts.

Including a certain variety of little tree sourced from a distant continent. The gift that had lain on her table during the Starbloom ceremony and could have ruined their wedding without Leysah’s random little essence storing stone. No proof of sabotage directly from the merchant could be located...

However, like with everything displayed visually behind Elua er Goltbred, it was part of a tale that stretched across decades. One of ’facilitation’ in the pursuit of goals now made clear to be about the retrieval of this Promised belonging to prophecy and cult. All while treating the harm done against then Qatrand er Yecine as incidental.

"I’ve been aware of him. My dealings through the shadier sides of society had made his name appear more than once. I hadn’t cared that much, because I was selling things I secretly made as a mysterious sigilist. Not artifacts that I stole or recovered."

The heiress no longer *used* a facade, but her voice could still turn monotone. Her eyes could still lose their inner light. While still up on the railing, she squatted down low while smoothing her dress, before both of her hands found the sides of her unemotive face.

Curled lazily against her cheeks as ’anger’ - so sharp that it could pull techniques usually ignored to the surface - roiled out of her spirit like the air itself was sat on fire. Her cloud-like, Breacher strength spirit becoming almost visible as it gathered close with singular intent.

"When I return to the continent... if you haven’t found him by then, I will. And I won’t be as gentle about the matter as her father is being with the little cultists. Death is a mercy to wrongdoers, Sevra. It solves the problem for the people they will harm in the future, but it does not punish them."

The same chill the woman felt when learning that the person before her, at least in her last life, had destroyed whole planets came to the forefront of her mind. Before sinking achingly deep into her spiritual sense. Elua pulled back her outpouring of weaponized spiritual energy just a bit on seeing that reaction.

"No one in this world uses their spirit all that effectively anymore. That only makes it easier for me. I’m sure your family trained you in how to make it quick - as well as how to make it painful. But I *know* that they didn’t train you to do what I can."

Standing back to her feet and walking calmly off into the air, the reincarnator felt now was time to give her a little bit of space. Even with everything going on, even while talking to the others, she’d been ’clinging’ to the reactions of the dusty cloaked scout this entire time.

"This time I believe I’ll spare you the details, hm? Sorry. For being too much."