The floodgates have opened after that evening, as Euphemia decided to 'catch up' for all those years.
The Princess has been busy for the past several days.
If it were her, she would have done it all the time, but Marcus had his mobile suit to build, so she could only do it a couple of times per day.
Though eventually, Marrybell returned, she had some good news.
However, the brown-haired princess didn't expect to find THAT.
"What is it, Jeanne?" She saw how the red-haired knight was looking. The Princess wanted to find the Emperor. It was early morning, so she thought he would be in his bed.
"I think you should look at yourself."
With that said Marrybell looked curious; it was his bedroom.
'Did he bring Wang Liu Mei into his bed?'
But what she found was a naked pink-haired girl sleeping in his bed instead.
"Seriously, sister? You can't wait for the marriage day?" The brown-haired girl exclaimed as she strolled over.
What she found was Euphemia, her hair messy and covered in hickeys. She looked 'wasted'.
"Hnnn~ oh, Mary~~ welcome back." The pinkette opened her eyes, and the fellow Princess looked shocked; it was Innovator's eyes.
"You… You stayed all of the days here?" Marrybell commented, realising that this girl most likely skipped her work.
"I did my work from home. Besides, my department is foreign affairs. There are literally a couple of countries left in the world." Euphemia replied as she rose and sat down, then spread her hands and stretched.
"..."
The brown-haired girl sighed as she realised something.
"I see… now it makes sense. You just wanted to be with him, the rest doesn't matter."
"Wasn't it the same for you?" The Pinkette asked with a small frown.
"In a way. I wanted him to know that I can handle hard tasks, but you just pushed everything aside and did this." She motioned at Euphemia.
"Hehehe, that is all I ever wanted… after our world's conquest."
That's right. Euphemia is not a complex girl. She is more of an… idealist, worse than Leila, her Geass power after all is Absolute Happiness Control. When she was a Britannian Princess, all she ever wanted was to bring peace to the whole world, and then Marcus did it like a knight on a white steed. Well, a black-and-purple mobile suit.
But that's beside the point. He did it; what was left afterwards was her own happiness, so she pursued it, even if it was controversial and all that.
The rest didn't matter.
"I see… well, get up, we're going to have breakfast."
With that said, she left Euphemia.
The blonde knight who was at the back was speechless after what she saw.
"Umm… Princess…you won't just jump on him…right?" Oldrin asked her Princess.
"Who knows… why not?" Marybell winked at the blonde, making her pale.
"It's not that there is something important stopping us from doing it." She continued with a teasing tone, making her knight wonder what the hell was going on with her.
As someone from a proper knight and noble house for Oldrin, it was tradition, and she just witnessed Imperial Princess throw everything aside and just do… this.
"A-At least get married first." Oldrin stuttered out a response; she found it awkward, to say the least.
"Fufufu, indeed."
Marybell replied vaguely.
~~~
The brown-haired princess took a lift downstairs, where she found Marcus in his spot, working on his mobile suit.
"It's only been four days, and you're already this far into it." Marybell marvelled at what she saw before her.
The chest of Gundam was complete, only armour left, while now Marcus was filling up the legs and doing some cable management.
"Mary, good to see you."
"Yeah, that." She rolled her eyes at him for a second.
"Couldn't wait until marriage, can't you?" The Princess complained, hinting at what she found upstairs in his bedroom.
"Tell that to Euphemia when she comes here almost naked." He shrugged, the Emperor was still a guy, one can't resist something like a pinkette with a t-shirt and nothing else.
"Ugh…" Marybell didn't even want to imagine; regardless, she pushed it aside.
"On the more important side of things, the bill for the military has been passed, and the first steps of having a space fleet are underway.
The work has begun in the orbital system. Same with more Euclides' class mobile factories. They will have Tau Drives for now." She explained to him what happened in the Federal Parliament.
"Wonderful, then phase two has begun." Marcus got down from Gundam's leg and walked over to the pair of the Princess and the Knight.
"Yes, but you know more than you lead on. Why are we starting to mobilise now? We don't even know when these 'dialogues to come' will even happen." The Princess frowned; something doesn't add up to her.
"Well, it's living metal that is attracted to Quantum Brainwaves. I found out about them with Thought Accelerator, though the specific date of their arrival is vague at best." He frowned as he explained to them. Now that he has this random idea, why not try to use the Thought Accelerator and gaze at the deep void?
Maybe he can see where ELS are?
"..."
"Is it dangerous?" Oldrin, behind Marybell asked.
"Very, if not dealt properly. That is why I have several projects going on."
He flicked a hologram design for a massive cannon at her.
"This cannon looks similar to the one you are building in our Solar System." Marybell saw the similarities between the cannon in the design and the one supposed to be built in their Solar System.
"Similar designs." He nodded, but then he needed to ask.
"You checked what is happening in our Solar System?"
"Of course. I am not Milly, I do catch up when I can." The brown-haired Princess scoffed as she recalled Milly's behaviour.
"Well, Milly is Milly." Marcus shrugged, he wasn't that bothered with one of his wives, he had already got used to it.
"Indeed. Now that I've stopped working, why don't we grab some breakfast?" Marybell offered to him.
"Sure." With a nod, he began to walk towards the lift that took them to the workshop level.
~~~~~~Around Same Time on Other Side of the Portal~~~~~~
Empress Shamna, her entourage and two ex-Celestial Being ladies walked to the Thought Elevator.
"This is a Thought Elevator?" Leesa commented with sheer bafflement! It looks like nothing more than a carving on the wall!
"It's just a fancy carving on a stone slab," Chall said with a frown. Are they messing with her?
"Who said it will be some fancy technology?" The blonde empress's tone was full of amusement.
Sadly, she can't see their expression because they are wearing artic gear. But even so, the tone says it all.
"Now come over and place your hands on it."
Shamna had already done it, and the pair of them struggled for a second, not knowing what to do, but at the end of the day, they were here for this, so they followed her.
Moments later, the Empress Code glowed, and the next moment they were standing on a foggy platform. Everywhere around them was orange and yellow. It was like they were in a different world.
"Our clothes?" Leesa noticed her clothes had changed; she was wearing something quite familiar.
"In here, you are not in your physical form, but spiritual; the way you are dressed depends on your mind," Shamna said with a smile as she saw the way they were dressed.
Her comments caused the pair to look at their clothes. Chall was in her Celestial Being uniform; Leesa was in the civilian clothes she wore while part of the organisation.
These were the most comfortable for them to wear and what they imagined wearing.
"I-I see…"
"This is a peculiar thing."
"This is the spiritual world, not physical, remember that. Now follow me." Shamna tried to remind them of that.
But she doubts these two understand what she is hinting at.
Regardless, the blonde began to walk towards the stairs, and the two of them followed.
Soon enough, the fog somewhat settled down, and they could see that there was nothing there in all directions; they were in the air! The platform they were standing on was made of stone, and the stairs Shamna was climbing were floating, not attached to anything!
'This… doesn't fit any definition of physics and science.'
"Don't fall behind. You could be left wondering between life and death without a code. This place was not built for regular humans." Shamna stopped, turned around and looked at them.
Her warning caused them to rush over to her side.
"That's more like it. Now, let me show you something."
The trio walked a bit farther and ended up standing on a wide platform. There were some columns made from marble, making this place look a bit Greek in nature.
"Look up."
The blonde Empress looked up, and the pair followed after her.
"Is that Jupiter!?"
"No, that's the Collective Unconsciousness, why it looks like Jupiter I can only guess. We, in A.S.P and Geass Order, assume that this is like that because of culture. In Greek and Roman folklore, Jupiter is considered the Chief God.
That could be it, or it's just that they look similar, I do not know."
"...So that's… the Afterlife?"
"Truth to be said, such a thing is not right or wrong. You see. In a sense, you are looking at the source of all Geass.
We concluded that when a human dies, his soul ends up here; it joins the collective over many years, one's ego and personality dull down here, and eventually it becomes something akin to a husk… in the end, it turns into energy.
We can assume that this is where souls are born. As infants, they move to the world of the living, they grow and mature, once they die, these souls return, and they get assimilated right back here."
"So it's like harvesting?" Leesa mumbled with a pale expression.
"I would call it a cycle. It's similar to the Greek Afterlife, no?" Shamna shrugged as she looked up once more, and her code glowed.
She placed her hands on the pair's shoulders.
All of a sudden, the platform moved up and got extremely close to 'Jupiter'
A fog once more crashed down on them.
"Find the ones you want to talk to." The Blonde Empress told them.
And sure enough, the pair got spirits before them.
'Good, the sooner they finish, the quicker they can return to work.'
With that said, she needed to hold them as they could get assimilated early. This was not an easy place to be in.
Any normal human without Geass or Code can't be here for long.
The first one to return was Leesa, who looked perplexed and annoyed.
"Well?"
"He said the same thing he said before… it was not my fault, and that I should continue to live however I want."
"Such a pure soul. At least some greed would have been nice. He could have had some ambition, his girlfriend came to visit, and the man could have had some desire to return to the world of living." Shamna shook her head; she was disappointed.
"Hmph, not everyone is like your husband." The Tactical Forecaster tried to get back, but this is where the blonde smirked.
"Of course, there is none, only one. Do you think I would have married anyone other than an Emperor of the World? I was a Queen before." The blonde replied as she saw fog around Chall disappear; she looked similar to Leesa.
"Let me guess, your friends were confused why you went to see them?"
"..."
"People don't quite want their afterlife to get interrupted. Precurson Humans used this knowledge not person trips." Shamna said while shaking her head.
"Yes. I can see that. At least I saw them one more time. Last time I had no chance to say goodbye." Chall nodded, but her face was full of complex emotions.
"I did my part, now you need to keep your part." With that said, the platform moved away from 'Jupiter', and she released the pair of women.
"I will."
"Same, what do you want us to do?" Chall asked. She nodded alongside the Tactical Forecaster.
"What you two do the best."
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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