Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Tanya was right.

The Orb was indeed incomplete.

The parts of it which had been caved in were pieces of it that had actually been chipped away but served as the key to its opening.

Without those pieces, Tanya\'s blood was not going to be enough to unlock it.

However, even as she realized this, the Princess was not put off.

Why should she be put off?

She was closer to achieving her goals.

If she could find all the missing pieces, the Nexus stone would be hers.

The absolute power to rule over the continent would be hers and only hers.

She was so close that despair was not an option.

Not to mention, the Orb was not totally useless...

*Whum*

With a deep sound that gave off vibrations, the streams of green energy congealed to form a network of visible dots all connecting to a much larger dot in the center.

"The remaining pieces," Tanya said now rising to her feet as though that would help her better observe the dot network.

"These dots are the remaining pieces... Some of them are in flux while others are stationary... This is a map to the remaining pieces" she announced.

"And where are those pieces?" Hal asked as he observed the dot network that did not look at all like any normal terrain.

"I... I have no idea. I will need time to figure it out... To decode it if you will" she said and deactivated the Orb to send it into her Spatial ring while Hal shrugged in reply.

Then she withdrew a spatial pouch from that same spatial ring and tossed it towards Hal who caught it with a smile before attempting to inspect it but was interrupted by Tanya, 

"500000 Blue gems. Think of it as an advance payment, because you\'re going to help me get the pieces of the Orb and you will only be paid for your efforts after all pieces have been gathered" 

Hal furrowed his brows, thought to make a counteroffer, and opened his mouth to speak but Tanya raised her hand to tell him to wait, 

"But I assure you that when I do pay you, it will be for every piece you help acquire. Fair?" She asked Hal who thought on it for all of two seconds before nodding his head, 

"Fair" 

"Your Token" she asked and Hal brought it out after which she clinked it with the one in her hands and fed thee token 1000 merit points.

"While you won\'t get paid until the end, you will always get awarded the appropriate merit points" she told Hal as he sent the token back into his Inventory.

"Yay," Hal said with little to no enthusiasm.

With that all done, Tanya grinned, 

"Now that business is concluded, as your sponsor, I should probably ask you, how prepared are you? After all, the Royal Academy entrance exams start tomorrow afternoon"

Hal chuckled, 

"I was supposed to prepare?" He asked and looked towards Marla as though she was supposed to know even when he did not.

Marla took the look in stride, 

"No one mentioned any of this to us" she said to Tanya.

Lena frowned, 

"This does not concern you. How dare you speak to the princess?" She asked.

Marla sneered, 

"I don\'t hear her complaining" she said.

"With me here, she doesn\'t have to" Lena said and began to release the pressure of her cultivation but even before it was fully displayed, Hal\'s pressure extended to repel it away from Marla and he did so with a frown.

In all honesty, even with his significant boost in cultivation, his cultivation was still not close to Lena whose pressure showed she was already at the Cosmic Pagoda realm but even then, he was not going to let her use said pressure to oppress Marla.

Not to mention that powerful as her pressure was, Hal\'s body, strengthened by his bloodline was more than enough to withstand the pressure.

So much so that he could stare her down.

Lena frowned as well while she wondered if Hal actually thought he could hold her back if she really wished to come unhinged.

"I can smile at you and when I feel I can get away with it, I can steal a kiss from you but I will never stand by while you oppress my women"

"Well, your woman was rude" she said and took a step closer to Hal.

The darkness of his Devil bloodline passed over Hal\'s eyes in the space of a split second but it was more than enough to significantly change the atmosphere in the room. So much so that the Semi Saint in the room felt the change.

She was not affected by it...

But she definitely felt it.

And if she did, it\'s no wonder the target of the Devilish presence felt chilly while her forehead became coated with cold sweats as Hal said with a wicked looking smile, 

"And to quote her \'I don\'t hear her complaining\'" he said and looked to Tanya who frowned but said nothing.

The presence left the room.

Lena had not even realized herself pulling back the pressure of her cultivation.

And then Hal grinned jovially, and replied to Tanya\'s question about his preparations,

"I was honestly just planning to wing it. Well, I guess we\'ve overstayed our welcome. We\'ll take our leave now" he said and grabbed Marla\'s hand to pull her with him and away from the lounge.

As they walked out, Marla looked back and waved at the lightly frowning Lena...

"Goodbye Lena"

... Totally unconcerned with the atmosphere change.

When the two were sufficiently away from the residence, Lena finally spoke, 

"What the hell was that pressure?... It was... Sinister" she said and looked towards Tanya who remained silent.

In truth, even she had no idea what that was. 

It had barely lasted five seconds.

But what she did know and could not be refuted was that Hal was now at mid-stage of the Cosmic Aurora realm.

And judging from the manner of cultivation she suspected or more accurately, knew he practiced, she could not help but think on what he could have been doing in the Silver moon sect.

Could it be...?

No, it couldn\'t be.

She shook away such thoughts.

The mere thought that Hal\'s charms went past simply getting the Orb from the Silver moon sect head was ludicrous... Was it not?

...

Anyway, Hal and Marla had already made use of the first teleportation circle in their journey and attempt to leave the Imperial Palace and had only just stepped off it that guards confronted them.

Looking very much as though they had been waiting for them all along.

"We need you to come with us," they told Hal.

Hal frowned, 

"Why?" He asked but they did not deem it fit for a reply and said instead,

"Come with us" and led the way to a different Teleportation circle that took them as well as Marla and Hal to a different area of the Imperial Palace.

Neither Hal nor Marla had the opportunity to admire the location\'s beauty and its architecture as they were quickly ushered inside a grand residence.

In there, a lady in a silk robe was waiting for them, or more accurately, she was waiting for Hal as she told her guards to take Marla somewhere else in the residence to be well taken care of.

Hal recognized the stately woman.

She was the peculiar consort who he had seen during his first time in the Imperial Palace.

You know, the one who orgasmed at the sight of his face;

The mother of the first prince, Creten Haron.