Chapter 945: Alternate Timeline: Gideon wants to marry Kiara?

Satisfied, Kiara stepped outside the tower and summoned the attack helicopter without delay.

The sudden appearance of the steel beast drew startled gasps from nearby guards and passersby.

Its rotors began spinning with a rising roar, whipping dust and loose fabric into a swirling storm.

Kiara climbed aboard.

She did not return to the palace to bid farewell to Caleb Crescent or Gideon Crescent.

Time was more valuable than ceremony.

Soon afterward, Philip informed the king that Kiara had departed urgently due to developments in the Phoenix Empire.

***

Nexus Store, Imperial City, Phoenix Empire

Inside the first-floor residence of Nexus Store, the atmosphere was surprisingly warm.

For the past several hours, Lucian and Arceus Silver had been talking in the sitting room while the android moved between the kitchen and dining area, preparing lunch and discreetly giving the two privacy.

Their conversation had begun, naturally, with Vann Silver.

Arceus had arrived tense and restless, his mind burdened by the looming confrontation with his family’s ancestor.

But as time passed, and as Lucian spoke to him with quiet confidence, some of the fear in his heart began to melt.

When a storm cloud realizes the mountain before it will not move, it loses some of its thunder.

The conversation drifted from family troubles to lighter subjects.

They spoke about cultivation, the Imperial City, and Kiara.

Though Arceus laughed from time to time, one concern remained hidden deep within his heart.

Kiara had said she would return by midnight on the same day.

Now, three days had passed.

He told himself that he was not worried.

Not about his own future.

Not about whether Vann Silver would force him home.

Not even about the possibility that Kiara had encountered danger.

And yet, every few minutes, his gaze drifted toward the door.

Every distant sound from the street made his heart pause for a moment.

There was a feeling in his chest that he could neither name nor dismiss.

At approximately twelve-forty in the afternoon, Noah emerged from the kitchen carrying the dishes.

The aroma of hot food spread through the room, rich and comforting.

He set each plate carefully on the table with precise, graceful movements.

Arceus smiled. "Noah, you should join us."

Noah shook his head. "That is unnecessary, Young Lord Silver."

Arceus tried again, but Noah remained firm.

If Kiara asked, he would sit and eat.

But Arceus was not his master.

His duty was to protect him until Kiara returned.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

Or so Noah told himself.

Yet beneath his calm exterior, a faint irritation stirred whenever Arceus asked about Kiara’s whereabouts.

Whenever the young man’s eyes brightened at the sound of her name, something in Noah’s artificial heart tightened in a way he did not fully understand.

He could not define the sensation.

He only knew that he did not like it.

And because he did not understand it, the feeling lingered within him like a small stone hidden inside a finely crafted machine, silent but impossible to ignore.

*

The Royal Moon Palace, Lunaris City, Kingdom of Celestra

The first pale rays of morning had only just begun to wash the eastern sky in silver when Gideon Crescent stood before his father in the king’s private study, his back straight, his hands folded neatly before him, and his expression so calm that one would never guess that he had just spoken words capable of shaking a throne more effectively than any siege weapon.

For several breaths, Caleb Crescent simply stared at his son.

The newly restored king had faced betrayal from his own wife, imprisonment for ten years, and a conspiracy that threatened millions of lives, and yet nothing in the past day had left him as genuinely stunned as the proposal his son had just made.

At last, Caleb exhaled slowly and pressed his fingers against his temple, as though he feared his son’s brilliance had suddenly taken leave of him in the night.

"You cannot be serious, my son."

His voice was not angry.

It carried the helpless disbelief of a father watching a wise child attempt to leap across a river whose depth he alone could see.

"I did not expect someone as intelligent as you to make such a decision in haste."

After Kiara had departed from Lunaris without even stopping to bid them farewell, Gideon had approached his father and, with the same calmness he used when discussing statecraft, proposed that the royal family seek a marriage alliance with her and, through that bond, strengthen relations with the Phoenix Empire.

To Caleb, the suggestion was as shocking as seeing lightning strike twice in the same place.

He understood why such a thought had taken root.

Kiara was young.

Kiara was powerful.

Kiara was beautiful.

And more importantly, Kiara had rescued the King and shattered the invisible chains around their family.

It was only natural that admiration would bloom in Gideon’s heart.

But admiration and marriage were not the same tree, even if they grew from the same seed.

Caleb rose from his chair and walked slowly toward the window.

Outside, the palace gardens glimmered with dew, each drop of water reflecting the morning light like tiny mirrors.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back before speaking again.

"Listen to me carefully."

His voice was firm now, but not harsh.

"I don’t have any problem that Kiara is a commoner. We never held such a tradition. But, my son... establishing such relations with her is dangerous. We can have friendship with her, but not a familial relationship."

He raised a finger.

"One, she has enemies in the Imperial City."

A second finger.

"Two, she has offended the Church of Doom."

A third finger.

"Three, we don’t know what sort of enemies she still had. If not, she will likely make great enemies in the future, too."

A fourth finger was raised.

"Four, she is too powerful for you to control her. Remember your own mother, for instance? With the Church as her backing, she did whatever she wanted. But Kiara... she herself is a walking disaster. I’m afraid we won’t be able to face the price of her actions."

And then the fifth finger was raised too.

"And last but not least, I don’t think our kingdom is even qualified to make her our daughter-in-law. If she loves you, it is another matter, but if it is a political marriage, I’m afraid she will reject it outright. It will only humiliate us, further."

He took a step closer as his eyes grew moist.

"And if something happens to you son... the future hope of our Crescent House... I don’t think I will be able to handle it."

His voice trembled.

"Do you wish me to die with that regret in my heart, for not being able to stop you?"

Gideon’s fingers tightened imperceptibly at his sides, but he remained silent.

Caleb drew a slow breath and delivered his final argument.

"My son, if you have answers to these problems, then enlighten this old father."

The room fell silent.

For several moments, Gideon said nothing.

Then, to Caleb’s surprise, a small smile touched his lips.

"Father," he said softly, "your son is the direct disciple of the Great Sage of the Aryavarta Empire, not a student. And your son has two senior disciples who were both Supreme realm experts. Do you think they would let me return without giving me any assurance of protection?"

Caleb blinked.

For a heartbeat, he thought he had misheard.

Then his eyes widened.

"Two Supreme Realms?"

The words escaped him in a whisper.

This revelation struck him more forcefully than Gideon’s proposal.

Neither Gideon nor Prime Minister Philip had mentioned this before.

It was as though he had discovered that the candle he thought was lighting his room was, in truth, a star.

Gideon nodded.

"Yes."

His voice remained calm, but his eyes carried quiet pride.

"The scroll I gave you yesterday isn’t a teleportation scroll. It is a summoning scroll."

Caleb’s brows rose higher.

"Because my cultivation is limited, I can currently control a celestial being of the Deva Race with the strength of a seven-star expert. But if you use the scroll, your power would allow you to summon an eight-star celestial."

He paused, then added honestly, "I intended to have you use it if Kiara had not dealt with the situation herself."

A faint smile touched his lips.

"But thanks to her, that was unnecessary."

He stepped closer to his father.

"And if you make a breakthrough, Father, then you could call upon a nine-star rank celestial, too. So, with or without Kiara, you need not fear the Church of Doom or the foreign powers in the first place."

The implication settled over the room like a protective mantle.

Caleb stared at his son, still struggling to absorb the revelation.

But Gideon was not finished.

"As for Kiara," he continued, "She has enemies in Imperial City, and even she knows that they might try to assassinate her if she steps out of her home, yet she came all the way here. She knew beforehand that she would make enemies out of the Church of Doom the moment she killed that grandmage, and yet, she didn’t hesitate and killed him. That means she is fully prepared to face the church, and she might even be confident enough to win."

His smile deepened.

"So, I don’t think we have to fear about it. Kiara is a wise lady, not a reckless woman. Based on her actions and the talks we knew, she knew what to do and always tried to do things to keep situations in her control."

Caleb’s expression softened, though uncertainty still lingered.

Gideon continued in a quieter voice.

"And while it is true that we can’t control her, she is a good person at heart, although she seemed like an opportunistic lady with mysterious plans on the surface."

His gaze drifted briefly toward the window, as though he could see Kiara’s distant silhouette cutting across the skies.

"I do not think I can make her love me, but it is not impossible to make her agree to this marriage now that I know what she is expecting in a relationship. But for that, I need to make a huge sacrifice."

He looked back at his father.

"And I need your blind trust, Father. Because what I am about to do might not only shame our ancestors but perhaps the entire Celestra for a time period. However, in return, the fate of Celestra will be rewritten in history. That’s how confident I was about our future if we brought Kiara to my side."

Caleb said nothing.

In fact, his mind has already stopped working from the moment Gideon told him about the supreme realm experts as support.

When Caleb was gone, Gideon was only a 16-year-old prince, known only for his intelligence and witty nature. Since childhood, Gideon Crescent hasn’t been talented in fighting. So, when the Great Sage Agastya, who was also the Royal Teacher of the King of the Aryavarta Empire, was interested in taking him as a disciple, Caleb accepted.

Caleb only expected Gideon to have the political support of this Empire from the Jambudweepa Continent.

How could he expect Gideon to have the support of a 9-star rank Expert as well? And that too, not one but two of them...

Now, whatever his son says, Caleb couldn’t even express his own opinions properly.

In the end, he could only let out a long sigh. Of acceptance.

"Alright, son. I trust you."

Gideon smiled at those words. "Thank you, Father."

***

Meanwhile, at Phoenix Empire;

Wester Silver’s Guest Manor, Imperial City;

Far away from Lunaris, tension of a different kind filled the grand reception hall of Wester Silver’s new residence.

The elders of House Silver sat in complete silence.

No one dared to speak while their eyes constantly shifted between the two men.

One was Wester Silver, whose face was flushed a deep, furious red.

The other was Vann Silver, the ancient pillar of House Silver, whose mere presence weighed upon the room like a mountain pressing down upon the earth.

When Vann spoke, even proud elders lowered their eyes.

"Grandfather, you cannot do this to me." Wester’s voice trembled with anger and desperation. Unlike the other elders, he had grown up under Vann’s direct guidance, and that closeness gave him the courage to protest.

He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"Because of that damned woman, I have lost my status and my face before the entire empire, not once but twice."

The humiliation still burned in his chest like hot iron.

"This marriage is the only way House Silver can recover what we have lost. If I have to give away my son as the price, I wouldn’t hesitate. It’s not like he is suitable to lead the House."

Vann looked at him in silence. His old eyes, clouded by age yet sharp as polished steel, seemed to strip away every excuse and reveal the truth underneath.

When he finally spoke, his voice was calm. "If you had truly suffered injustice, and if even Alexander Phoenix were powerless to help you, you would have come to me at once."

His gaze hardened. "The fact that you did not tells me that you already know you are in the wrong."

The words struck Wester harder than any slap.

Vann rose slowly to his feet. Though he moved with deliberate calm, the pressure in the room increased instantly.

His voice then echoed through the hall.

"Only an arrogant fool chooses revenge. A wise man swallows his pride and turns an enemy into a friend."

Wester’s face twisted at that. "There is no way I will ever make peace with that wh*re."

The words burst out before he could stop them.

The moment he saw Vann’s expression darken, regret stabbed through him like a needle.

He quickly lowered his head.

"I apologize for such crass words, but Grandfather, I request your help to bring back Arceus. I promise you that if he objects to the marriage, I will not use force or punishment but persuade him through words until he understands our plight."

But Vann was unmoved. If anything, his expression grew even colder. He stepped forward, his robes rustling softly against the floor.

"Arceus Silver will return to this house."

Wester’s eyes lit up for an instant.

But then Vann continued. "But the marriage is suspended until I make my own decision."

The spark in Wester’s eyes faltered.

Vann’s voice became stern as he spoke further, "And Wester, if you retain even a fragment of respect for your grandfather, then you will not pressure him in any way. You will wait until he chooses of his own will."

The old patriarch’s eyes narrowed.

"And if you ignore my words and act according to your own desires..."

He let the silence stretch until every person in the room felt the weight of what remained unspoken.

"...then I will also act as I see fit."

No threat was stated.

None was needed.

The meaning was clear.

Disobey me, and you will learn what it means to lose more than face.

Vann turned and walked out without another word.

Wester remained rooted in place, his chest rising and falling, his fists trembling with helpless rage.

The elders watched in silence.

No one dared to comfort him.

No one dared to challenge the patriarch.

Outside the manor, Vann stepped into the open air.

Without summoning a flying sword or artifact, he rose directly into the sky. His robes fluttered in the wind. His figure then shot forward with astonishing speed, becoming a distant streak before the guards at the gate had time to straighten fully.

One moment, he was there.

The next, he was gone.

Like an ancient dragon leaving its cave to settle a matter that no one else in the clan was capable of handling.