Chapter 1971 Let's start with a bath, shall we? "It sure looks happy." Nux chuckled as he saw how the Universe reacted. The rest of his wives smiled as well. Then suddenly, "It went better than what he was expecting." Faustina, who returned to their Universe, spoke with a light smile on her face. "Mother." Nux greeted her with a smile on his face. "The Universe is quite satisfied. It thinks that the anomaly's gone. It has been a while since I have seen Azriel smile like that." Faustina reported, and Aeliana smiled at those words. "How did you even come up with that plan?" Amaya, on the other hand, questioned with a curious look on her face. "I didn't. It was Azriel." Faustina answered. "He could now see everything with the Universe's eyes, so when he stared at us, he realized that in the Universe's eyes, we and Nux had no difference - we are all Anomalies from different Universes. We have no traces of our prior selves left. So he decided to use it. This was also the reason why he didn't tell you to stop even when the Universe was enraged - he wanted the Universe to become desperate." "Huh? Why is that? He could have directly devoured an Anomaly instead, couldn't he?" Skyla didn't understand and tilted her head in confusion. "The higher the desperation, the higher the dependency." Amaya answered as she turned toward her sister, and Faustina nodded at those words. "The goal wasn't to help the Universe, it was to make it more dependable on Azriel. The Universe has tried to get rid of the anomaly tens of times but never once was it able to catch it, or even harm it for that regard. The Anomaly had always been playing around with the Universe, mocking it at every step, yet the Hero was able to take care of this Anomaly in their second encounter. This showed how dependable the Hero was. This showed how capable the Hero was." "But the Universe chose Lord Azriel because it knew how capable he was, didn't it? It should already know that - Lord Azriel was the best option he had." Skyla muttered. "Knowing and believing are two different things. Yes, the Hero was young, his journey had only begun, and the Universe would have understood if the Hero was unable to catch the Anomaly. But if the Hero did manage to get rid of the anomaly... Imagine how quickly would the Hero's importance increase." Faustina answered. "Wouldn't it be dangerous instead?" Suddenly, Vyriana questioned. "Now that the Anomaly's gone, wouldn't the Universe think that the Hero isn't needed anymore?" "It might." Faustina didn't deny it. "But..." "The Anomaly isn't gone yet." Nux completed his mother's sentence. Faustina nodded, "The instant the Universe even thinks of getting rid of the Anomaly, you will go and devour another World again. That would be the appearance of the Second Anomaly, then the Third, the Fourth, the Fifth, and more and more. The Universe will soon be at War with the Anomalies, and to win this War, it would need its child at its strongest. This will ensure Azriel's survival." Faustina smiled as she said those words. She was definitely liking this little game. Aeliana was the same - the more the Universe relied on her father, the more relieved she felt. "Hehe, it is like we are playing both the good guys and the bad guys in a stage show." Skyla laughed as she thought about it. The rest chuckled at those words. "So mother, why are you here?" Nux questioned. "I wanted to tell you to lay low for a while, stop your investigation. Or at the very least, you cannot devour another entity from the Main Universe and alert him." "For how long?" "A few months." "Why is that?" "Wouldn't it be strange if the second Anomaly appeared right after one was dead? Also, the Anomaly had never appeared so frequently before - don't break that right now, right after Yrniel is gone." "I understand." Nux nodded. "This would have been so much simpler if Lord Azriel could have told us about the Temple of Time." Amaya shook her head. This was something she had thought of before - since Azriel was now connected to the Universe, if he wanted, he could search for Temple of Time using this connection. The problem with this plan, however, was that none of them knew what sort of place this Temple of Time was. If they were forced to devour something there - which would probably happen, then the Universe would realize that the Anomaly appeared there. For the enemy to appear in a place the Hero was looking into - that would be too suspicious. In the end, they had to do this themselves. Faustina knew that as well, so she just shook her head with a wry smile on her face. "You can still investigate as long as the Universe does not know of it." "It is alright." Nux shrugged. "We have all the time in the world." He then stretched his body and stared at his mother. "I was also thinking of getting some rest. Are you going to stay?" "No, I will return." "I will miss you." Nux nodded as he hugged his mother. Aeliana hugged Faustina as well, then, the Human Progenitor turned toward Shadow, and the woman sent her away. "Haaaahhhh..." The instant his mother disappeared, a smile appeared on Nux's face as he turned toward his wives. Then, he grinned, "We have a few months to ourselves - any ideas as to what we might do?" The women grinned. Clearly, all of them had their own plans for these next few months. "Alright, there is no need to fight. According to the rules, it should be my turn now." Very quickly, Allura stepped forward and announced her claims. "What rules?" Thyra narrowed her eyes. She was especially resistant to these rules because her turn was at the very last. "Of course, you would say that when you already enjoyed the privileges of these rules and are now at a disadvantage." Allura snorted as she appeared next to Nux. "I am telling this right now - it is my turn. There will be no change in the rules. The new additions will be added accordingly." The Succubus spoke as she stared at Aeliana and Eisheth. Amaya, on the other hand, had already surrounded herself and Vyriana with Devouring Mist and devoured time around them. Nux will wake them up when it was their turn - it would be like instantly skipping to their turn. This was also the reason Amaya had become much more tolerable to all these annoying bitches around her - she could devour time around herself and only be awake when her Nux was with her. She helped Vyriana because the Dragon wanted the same. The rest of her sisters still needed to break through to the Primordial Stage, so she didn't help them. As for Aeliana... Why should she help that bitch? Yes, the Devourer wasn't a fan of the Vampire. Not that the Vampire needed her - she simply closed her eyes and started cultivating. She had different ambitions. She wanted to break through to the Transcendent Phase. Now that Yrniel was no longer limiting her, it was high time that she broke through, and once she did... She would deal with the devourer on her own. Yes, the Vampire hadn't forgotten how the Devourer had hogged HER Nux all for herself when she broke through. She still remembered how she surrounded every single one of them with that devouring mist of hers. If only she wasn't weakened back then, she would have shown her the consequences. But no matter. The Vampire still had time. The moment she breaks through and becomes a Transcendent will be the moment when she will put the devourer in her place. Yes, the Vampire now had an entirely new motivation to break through. Nux, who could sense what the two women were thinking, couldn't help but laugh out loud. As dangerous as their rivalry was getting, it was also pushing them further, making them stronger and stronger. Because of them, women like Vyriana and Astaria pushed themselves beyond the limits as well, and because of them, Ember, Thyra, and others forced themselves to cultivate and break through as well. The race between the harem was on. Since the reward for a breakthrough was direct time with Nux without having to use their turn, none of the women backed down. Nux enjoyed this competition - after all, no matter who won, the true victor would be him. He felt like he was the income tax department back on Earth who charged taxes on the tournament prizes - it didn't matter who the winner was, the true victor would always be the government of the people. 'Hahaha~' Nux laughed at his own joke as his eyes fell on his Allura, who was floating toward him with that sensual, hypnotizing smile on her face. Something that he couldn't resist no matter how hard he tried. "Are you ready?" The woman whispered into his ears as a chill of anticipation ran through his body. He nodded lightly, his body trembling ever so slightly like prey standing near its predator. Allura's grin widened. Very quickly, the two of them were covered in shadows and appeared in a dead world that had long become their new home. As safe as their own Universe was, Nux wanted to see all of his wives whenever he spent time with them - not their shadow versions. So he preferred doing the deed outside. As safe as their own Universe was, Nux wanted to see all of his wives whenever he spent time with them - not their shadow versions. So he preferred doing the deed outside. "Let's start with a bath, shall we?" Allura muttered as she gently tapped onto Nux's chest and took him to the bathroom. There, she removed his clothes and took him inside the bathtub, and then, "I'll be back." She muttered as she walked out. Nux didn't know what she was preparing - he had stopped sensing her emotions to make it more fun. His anticipation made his little brother twitch. Click Then, he heard the doors open again. Step Step The footsteps echoed in the bathroom. Soon, however, a frown appeared on Nux's face. This didn't... sound like Allura's footsteps... It belonged to someone else.