Chapter 2249: Stop. That is enough. "Allura... she... She is pregnant." Shadow spoke with a shocked look on her face and for a heartbeat, nobody moved. Then— "...what?" Skyla blurted out, her eyes wide in surprise. Aeliana’s eyes widened sharply, then narrowed, like she didn’t believe it. Felberta froze completely. Lane’s hand rose to her lips. Even Lyriana’s cold expression cracked for a second. As for Amaya... She froze. Completely. "...Pregnant?" Felberta repeated, as if unsure of what she had just heard. "Yes," Shadow nodded slowly. "She’s pregnant." And as the words settled into the room— It was like time stopped. The floating motes of starlight above the bed hung in place. The galaxies painted on the walls slowed until they were barely moving. Even the shadow-silk sheets around Shadow’s body stopped shifting, as if the room itself didn’t know how to react to news that big. Then— Felberta’s fingers twitched—like something inside her tried to grab the air and couldn’t. Her wide... empty eyes stayed fixed on Shadow, as if her mind was refusing to accept the words. Pregnant. A child... Nux’s child... Felberta had been the first. The first to find him. The first to see him when he had nothing. The first to make him hers, before the others appeared, before the family became what it was now. She had to share him, yes. And honestly, at this point, she didn’t mind. She actually thought of these women like her sisters, people who kept her company all the time. She was actually quite close to them and had accepted them all. But... Even then— Her title still mattered, at least to her. The First wife. And in her heart, in a place she rarely showed, she had always believed something else would be first too. His first child. It was only right. It was only fair. Was it not? Nux’s first child should have been hers by right. And when she realized it wasn’t... she... was not happy. To Felberta, this was important. She had trained herself to not want it yet. To not... reach for it yet. After all, it wasn’t safe. For a long time, their lives had been nothing but movement. Running. Hiding. Fighting. Challenging... the impossible. Nux had been throwing himself at monsters that once had the power to erase him with a mere thought. Be it the King of the Skyfall Kingdom, the Pseudo Sage of the Forgotten Continent, the Dragon Lord of Yrniel, or World Leaders of different Worlds they had been to. When they first learned about them, these were all existences far stronger than any of them and even then— Nux did not back down, he challenged them all. Again and again. Like he didn’t know fear. Like he didn’t know the meaning of "too far." And in a life like that— Bringing a newborn child... would have been madness. Sure, they were strong, maybe even strong enough to protect the child if they had to but... A newborn baby is fragile. A newborn baby needed time. A newborn baby needed peace. He needed a home that didn’t shake every day because the Universe itself was angry. Felberta understood that earlier than most. And she had held back. Not once. Not twice. For years. For... centuries even. At their level, pregnancy wasn’t some accident that happened because passion got out of hand. It was a choice. They could decide. They had learned that truth a long, long time ago—back when the System still wrapped around their lives like invisible chains and rules. Back then, even during intimacy, the System pushed everything in one direction. Nux’s ’fluids’ didn’t become a seed of life. They became fuel. It flowed into the women like pure nourishment, strengthening their cores, expanding their foundations, pushing their cultivation forward. That was why, even after their intimate sessions were so... long, none of the women got pregnant. Because the System gave the ’energy’ that Nux released a purpose. And it wasn’t to create a child. Later, after Nux broke free from the System’s grip—after their understanding deepened, after their bodies became more than the System’s rules— They learned the other truth. They could still get pregnant. They simply had to allow it. They had to stop the flow from being consumed as power... and let it become life. It was a simple choice. But... It was also a choice that had a terrifying consequence. A child in circumstances as unstable and dangerous as theirs? With how protective Nux was of his Family, it would basically cripple all his movements. And the women, even those who had thought about it and wanted it much more desperately than anyone else, understood it. This was the reason Felberta and others always stopped themselves at the last moment. Not yet. Not while we’re still hunted. Not while our enemies might come to us anytime. Not while the Universe itself is shaking from anger. These thoughts were how the women, especially Felberta, had lived, this was how she had survived. And then— Their Universe became complete. A true base. A true... home. A place no outsider could find so easily. A place wrapped in protection so deep that inside it they felt... untouchable. And to some extent, they were. Here, they had... close to absolute control. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚 And for the first time... Felberta’s thoughts changed. For the first time, it wasn’t... crazy anymore. It became possible. Felberta had started thinking: Soon. Maybe soon. Maybe I’ll talk to Nux. Maybe we can plan it together. And no, it wasn’t because she wanted to ’win’ against the others. Well, at some level, she did. After all, Felberta too was selfish at some level. But the much stronger reason was because she wanted to see— She wanted to see Nux smile that way. That soft smile. The smile a father had when he held his child. She wanted to see Nux carrying their child. That thought alone made her heart feel at ease— It was a feeling so strong that her mind refused to imagine it. She wanted to see it, for real. Before anyone else. But now— Allura had taken a step forward. And that "first" was gone. Felberta’s chest tightened at that thought. So much that for a long moment, she couldn’t move. The entire room felt her emotion. Of course, she wasn’t angry. She did not hate Allura, she couldn’t possibly hate her sister. She was just... frustrated. A silent, bitter frustration that didn’t know where to go. It just... sat inside her like a stone, refusing to diminish and Felberta... she remained silent. What else could she even do? Well, at least that was what the first wife thought. But... Not everyone had self-control as strong as hers. Especially a certain devourer whose attachment to her husband was... quite distorted in a strange manner. For a moment, just like the rest, Amaya was frozen. Her dark eyes had gone blank, her body stiff, like someone had poured cold water into her very veins, numbing them down. But then— Amaya’s gaze sharpened and together with her gaze, the very air around her changed. Then— BOOOOOOOOOM Her Aura exploded. Ridiculous amounts of devouring energy gathered around her, devouring the very room they were in. The light motes inside trembled, as if screaming, begging to be saved. The bed’s silk rippled like it was trying to escape. Even the women around her felt the pressure weighing over them, threatening their very existence. And Amaya’s dark black eyes shined sharply— Possessively. Hungrily. The devourer took one step forward and that step alone erased more than half of the room out of existence. Then, her eyes turned. Not towards Shadow or Felberta, they turned in the direction where Allura was and the moment the devourer’s eyes locked into that direction, Her eyes became... even more dangerous. Almost as if she could see Allura through the space and her lips parted. "...No." Denial. Complete denial. The devourer clenched her fists, her nails pressing into her palm so strongly that blood came out. And her mind screamed a single thought, so clear that the rest of the women felt it even without trying to sense it through their Bond— It should have been me. Nux’s first child? That title? That closeness? That bond? Amaya wanted all of it. She wanted Nux to look at her first. She wanted him to reach for her instinctively. She wanted to be his center. Even if she couldn’t have him alone— She still wanted to be closest to him. And a child was the closest thing in existence. A piece of him. A piece that stayed. A piece no one could replace. And when all these thoughts strengthened in her mind— BOOOOOOOOOOM Amaya’s aura flared again. And this time, it wasn’t only emotion. It was... intent. Cold, direct, dangerous intent. Shadow felt it first and her eyes widened. Because Amaya’s killing intent wasn’t aimed at an enemy. It was aimed at Allura. The room went tense. Aeliana’s gaze sharpened instantly, like a blade responding to another blade. Lyriana’s eyes turned colder. Edda and Aisha were surprised. Riona was frozen. Thyra and Rune’s bodies moved without thinking—half a step, positioning themselves. Ember, Astaria, Melia and Vyriana narrowed their eyes, ready to act the moment Amaya did. Even Skyla stopped smiling. But before anything could happen— Felberta stepped in front of Amaya and— "Stop. That is enough."