Chapter 327: The Bazaar of Nethar

[A/N: I won’t show her status, simply because it will all change soon.]

----

’Hmm, it seems like just about everyone here is an Unbound God,’ Akasha mused silently, noting how Tina met his gaze without the slightest trace of fear, only a flicker of mild surprise.

On top of that, from the few quick scans he’d made of the surroundings, he hadn’t seen anyone ranked above Unbound God.

Only the Universal Pantheons seemed to boast Cosmic Union Gods and Constellations—nothing of a lesser tier in sight.

[Tina Malright’s Affection: 59/100]

In that moment, as Akasha pondered, Tina barely registered his earlier words.

Her blue eyes stayed locked on his gray, leaf-like gaze. Her breath hitched, and her fingers tightened around the table’s edge, frozen in place.

Akasha smiled, giving her the moment she needed to climb out. Once she did, her gaze went to Melvin first, then to Calyx, and caution returned to her voice.

"Are you really that bold?" she asked slowly, yet directly, not skirting a single detail.

"To openly go against the Bounded Hearts?"

Akasha heard her loud and clear, but he wasn’t at all concerned about breaking this Pantheon’s rules, because, as the Pantheon hated to admit it... there was no way he would live under someone else’s rules and protocols.

Still, as he’d said before, for now he just wanted to enjoy his peace while it lasted.

’An eighty-year-old woman with a dream of being an alchemist,’ Akasha thought; with a single look, he knew just about all he needed to know about her.

Aside from her age and status as a Prime Human God, she also possessed a God-Ranked constellation star.

Still, in the grand scheme of things, Akasha paid little attention to the star, having already decided she would become his third disciple.

He’d even come here partly because of this—he needed to become more in tune with the Multiverse itself.

And if these people were going to send someone into his pantheon anyway, he figured, why not make them a disciple?

It just so happened to be Tina, and when he learned of her dream to become an Alchemist, he thought it was a perfect fit.

Akasha brushed off her words, shrugging as though defying the Multiversal Rulers was a trivial matter.

"How would you like to become the greatest alchemist Pantheos has ever seen?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

Melvin’s eyes narrowed as a wave of déjà vu washed over him.

"Look," Tina said, crossing her arms as she moved forward.

"I’d rather not upset the ones running this Multiverse, so I’ll go with you to make sure any backlash doesn’t fall on the pantheon I come from."

Even though Akasha could see the faintest glint of curiosity in her, she kept her tone steady as she circled the table and positioned herself next to Melvin and Calyx.

"While I’m not calling you crazy or anything..." Tine said, now standing behind Akasha.

"I would rather prove your words before randomly believing false tales. So, whether I marry one of you... or not, it will be your Pantheon that takes the Pantheone... Not mine."

Growing up in Pantheos, Tina knew better than to dismiss Akasha’s words as nonsense immediately.

Yet it wasn’t only her upbringing in Pantheos that shaped that mindset—it was simply who Tina had always been.

She was blunt and straightforward, but if she discovered something that could benefit her and the terms were agreeable, she wouldn’t hesitate to sign up.

Perhaps, though, if someone else had overheard Akasha, they might have thought he was crazy, for Alchemy was not something just anyone could learn.

Akasha kept the smile, finding her way of thinking a breath of fresh air.

’Well,’ He thought to himself, turning around. ’Let’s just hope she doesn’t become like the others... maybe she could get along well with Calista.’

But in that moment, as he thought about how Calista offered her body to him... he shook his head.

Perhaps... no woman would ever be truly normal around him.

He looked at the incubus who had led them in and blinked once.

Thud!

Instantly, the herald’s eyes rolled, and he dropped where he stood.

"Whatever... Miss Tina," Akasha said, already moving past the group and out the door.

"But once you achieve that dream," he said, stepping out into the hall, "be sure all of Pantheos knows the Lord of Dreams is your master."

[Blink]

In that moment, he channeled his ineffable Affinity through his eyes, and a portal opened in the corridor before their feet; the four of them were gone before the nearest staff member could decide whether the unconscious incubus on the floor was a problem worth shouting about.

----

The portal opened in the middle of a place straight out of fantasy, and the first thing that hit them was its size.

They appeared on a plaza that was a wide platform hanging in the void.

It was as busy as a city square and built on a stretch of nothing that ran for light-years in every direction.

Seven roads spiraled lazily out from the plaza, each painted a different color and wide enough to carry thousands at a time, stretching so far that their distant ends were just thin streaks of color pointing toward districts glowing in the dark like seven separate stars.

Which was absurd... because in truth, those districts were vast as star systems, with entire markets and other things at the end of each road, and the flow of traffic between plaza and district never ceased.

All around, Gods and Constellations walked the colored roads; some flew, some crossed a light-year in a step or on an artifact as if everything was just a normal day.

DINGGGGGG DONGGGGGG!!!!!!

HUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Before Akasha, Melvin, Calyx, and Tina could truly enjoy the atmosphere around them, a loud bell erupted throughout the entire place.

Moments later, golden light dropped on Akasha.

In that moment, everyone in the plaza paused.

Their faces turned from the seven roads and distant districts to focus on him, the pull of his presence sweeping through the crowd until screens filled his vision and his mouth twitched slightly.

"Look at him—"

"Is... that truly the Lord of Dreams?"

"Who is that?"

-----

’Shit...’ Akasha thought as he frowned. ’This damn fatality lock...’

He didn’t even need to question what caused it—whether it was an actual mechanism of this place or not—the fatality lock made such occurrences happen regardless.

As mentioned before, it didn’t guarantee something bad would happen; it was more like having a sign above his head saying, ’Hey, look at me, I’m interesting.’

And, from what his mother had told him, he hadn’t even tried to remove the light.

Melvin and Calyx snapped out of their awe, both wearing the same tense expression.

"Master... what is that light?" Melvin asked. "And where are we?"

Tina dragged her eyes off Akasha and put them on the seven colored roads leaving the plaza.

"The Bazaar of Nethar," she said. "One of the four greatest places in this Multiverse."

"Nethar?" Melvin questioned, gazing at her. "Is that a person or something?"

The golden light on Akasha eased until only a leftover shine remained solely on him.

In that moment, the beings who had stopped to stare went back to walking and flying as if the bell had been scheduled.

Akasha’s lip twitched at the lingering glow as he nodded toward s Melvin.

"You can just ignore the light," he said. "And yeah, Nethar is apparently some old ass dude who built all of this for the Gods and Constellations in the Multiverse to kick back and relax."

"Um," Calyx said as she kept her eyes off him, "If you don’t mind me asking... Why are we here if you mentioned Alchemy?"

"Calyx, you don’t need to be so uptight," Akasha said, chuckling as he began walking towards the red road.

"But it’s simple... I came here to show Tina why she should become my disciple."