Chapter 1245: Karin
Looking at the capsule in her hands, Shiro sighed out heavily before making up her mind.
She'll do Aekari the favour of saving his daughter. However, she will only live as a normal person. The body will not be able to gain strength, she will not remember anything and she'll live as a citizen within Asharia.
A second chance.
If she somehow remembers or decides to stand against her, Shiro will no longer show any mercy.
Closing one of her eyes, she activated Error and manipulated the codes. Opening the capsule, she watched as the soul slowly floated out and formed into the shape of a woman hugging her knees, oblivious to what had just happened.
The fact that her father put everything on the line so that she could get a second chance.
Creating a body for her wasn't hard as she had done so many times before. In fact it was even easier now due to her new core. Giving the soul a 'fresh state', Shiro snapped her finger and created a new-born's body.
A quick glance of the code told her everything she needed to know about the issue regarding compatibility with the body. Since she was Aria's child, her soul has gained the effects of creation while she was in the world of destruction. Only a unique instance like Lisandra could host her soul.
'The new body will be a balance of creation and destruction so there will be no rejection from the soul.' Shiro thought to herself.
Imbuing the body with the soul, she watched as the soul was able to merge perfectly with the new body as she had expected.
Thinking to herself for a brief moment, Shiro placed a tag on the baby clothes she had made for the child.
"Since I'm giving you a fresh start, you will gain a new name. Your new name shall be Karin taken partly from your father's name. I hope you don't squander the mercy I'm showing you." Shiro sighed before opening a portal to Asharia.
She will send Karin to an orphanage that she had set up within Asharia in hopes that a kind family will take her in.
Stepping through the portal, Shiro arrived at her destination and placed Karin in an empty basket before setting her down in front of the orphanage. The owner of the orphanage should be returning soon so it wouldn't take long for her to be found.
Thinking about it for a moment, Shiro decided it was probably best to leave her a keepsake of her father.
She remembers that back in their old world, Aekari treasured a locket from his family. Making the same locket from her memory, Shiro etched the words Karin on the back and placed it in the same basket.
Before Karin could wake up and see her, Shiro disappeared from the area and hovered in the air, invisible to even the senses of her party.
She waited patiently for the orphanage owner to return so that she made sure Karin was found before leaving the area.
As expected, it didn't take long since she had already told Nimue to inform the others. Once Karin had been taken inside, Shiro walked away since it was no longer her business.
Glancing up at the sky, she couldn't help but sigh.
'Aekari should've been able to put up more of a fight… But my new core and domain overwhelmed him so he decided to give up and gamble for his daughter's life.' Shiro thought to herself as she had grown to the point where her nemesis was an ant in front of her. Unable to retaliate and could only beg.
In search of strength, she didn't think about the loneliness that came with it. When you're strong to the point that even your worst enemy could no longer pose a threat.
It was no exaggeration to say that she could now do whatever they want in this world. In the world of destruction, nothing could go against her.
The only one who's stronger, that she knows of, is the unknown third party that's watching her every move.
Even back in their own world, when Shiro was the strongest, she didn't feel loneliness like this. After all, there were still gods that were stronger than her.
"Even gods are but children in front of me. A single swing of my hands is all it takes to dispatch them." Shiro laughed. Her laugh was hollow and lacked the joy she experienced in fighting long ago.
'I guess I should hold back a little… Or should I keep getting stronger?' She thought to herself. She would rather be strong enough to face the third party when they appear, but at the rate that things were going, there was a chance that it might be a repeat of what happened to Aekari.
After the third party falls, who's next? When is enough, enough? Her obsession with chasing strength now cursed her. Shaking her head, Shiro tried her best to ignore this feeling for now. After all, it's just disappointment from having killed Aekari without a proper fight.
"There's still the matter of making Isilia and Edvimar a body… The other gods should recognise my strength and surrender. This war is as good as won I suppose." Shiro muttered.
If she remembers correctly, the third party told her to rise up and seek out the truth. She assumes it's probably to face off against Aria and find out the truth behind the system. And once she does, she should be able to find the third party.
Thinking about this, Shiro wondered how she should approach this. If she wants to find Aria, it should be rather simple if she is still within the realm of destruction. If not, she'll have to talk to Juri and borrow the beyond with the help of the bifrost. With the two combined, she'll be able to travel wherever she wanted.
'Though I still owe Juri a favour since she helped Lyrica.'
Shaking her head, she'll set the thoughts aside for now since she still needed to talk with the rest of the party.
Teleporting back to the main tower, she could see that everyone had gathered. They had just finished with treating the wounded and are now just talking amongst themselves. Lyrica was recounting her adventures while Yin and Nitha seemed to have run off to the cafeteria for an eating contest.
"Shiro!" Madison called out as she noticed Shiro appearing in the corridors.
"Have you finished dealing with Aekari's daughter?" Nimue asked as Shiro nodded her head.
"Yes I have. Setting that matter aside, I don't think we'll be in any danger of the gods attacking us anytime soon however, aside from me and Lyrica, all of you struggle against the gods. Granted, there was a barrier suppressing your powers but all of you need to hold your own even when I'm gone elsewhere. So we'll be having a large training holiday where I'll be teaching you how to use creation energy. While you won't be able to use it like I do it'll give you a big boost in power." Shiro smiled as Aarim dropped her mana stick.
"I don't think Training and Holiday should be said together." She forced out a smile as Shiro shrugged.
"Well, you're taking a break from fighting and training your strength. So training holiday. Anyhow, I don't know what caused the system failures and the gods to be able to arrive in their main body, but I have a few thoughts in mind. Have any of you been able to contact the gods we're allies with? Or has the barrier blocked everything for now." Shiro asked curiously.
"Not yet. I'm trying to contact some of them but they haven't responded. I'm assuming they might be having trouble on their end as well. After all, this was far from the army that Nyx described. We can safely assume that the others have been dispatched elsewhere." Nan Tian shook his head.
There was a sinking feeling in his heart that Nyx, Gaia and the other gods have all been ambushed in a similar manner. However, they should have an easier time compared to them due to their power.
"Hmm… That's fair. I will see if any of our allies have manifested on Earth yet. Once I finish scanning this world I'll see if I can bridge a gap between realms. Take this time to rest. With Zeus, Aekari and others dead, even if they sent gods elsewhere they should be retreating and regrouping their forces." Shiro ordered as they were in no shape to fight. Most of their skills are on cooldown with backlashes still happening within their body. If they needed to fight, Lyrica was more than enough.
Plus, they still had her.
After talking for a little longer, the group went back to their living quarters to recuperate while Shiro stayed behind with Lyrica to figure out what to do with Isilia and Edvimar.
Just before Nan Tian could leave, Shiro called out to him so that it was only the three of them left in the room.