As Illumia and I exited our temporary residence once more, the two royal guards who stayed behind saluted at my presence, causing me to nod lightly while pointing at our residence.
"Follow Sarah's orders." Said Elif lightly as he glanced between the guards, who both nodded with a hardened gaze.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Stated the two guards sternly as they lowered their salute before deeply bowing toward Elif, who nodded before turning around and leaving.
Walking down the street, flirting with countless women along the way like usual, Illumia and I reached the city's exit, prompting us to fly into the air, phasing through the bubble that separated the water from the city before appearing within the ocean.
As we rapidly ascended into the sky, I cast my gaze between two-dimensional rifts; it would still be some time before any even slightly strong monsters emerged from the Nether Realm, so I wasn't concerned I would waste time. However, as for the Aether Realm, if the person who inherited the Chaos Lords' inheritance was intelligent, they would visit the Aether Realm as it would be heaven for them, a realm full of soul creatures; it was an obvious choice.
The smart thing for me would've been to stay behind and act as the Aether Realms guard, checking everyone who entered and exited the realm, and while I plan to do that when I return, I wanted to have a little adventure; Elaine was having her own, so I wished to also experience my own. Besides, acting as a guard would be incredibly dull, and I wanted to avoid such boredom for as long as possible.
'Now that I think about it, the Emperor and Empress are just glorified guards, no? No, they're worse as they have other responsibilities they must take part in.' Mused Elif with a thoughtful expression as he tapped his chin while ascending through the ocean with Illumia beside him.
While dreading the day I'd be forced to ascend the throne, losing my heavenly position as the Crown Prince, Illumia and I came across numerous species I'd never heard of nor seen; of course, it was no surprise, the book of OverRealm species is comprised mainly of just aquatic species.
'Hmm, what do you think, Illumia? Should Elaine and I make love on the ocean floor?' Asked Elif curiously, via divine sense, as he tapped his chin while glancing at Illumia, who blankly looked at him before shrugging her shoulders with a shake of her head.
'I do not know Your Highness. Her Highness, nor are you, into exhibitionism… Is she?' Replied Illumia softly, via divine sense, as she looked at Elif curiously, thinking back to when Elaine serviced him while she watched.
'Hmm, good question. But no, I do not think she is one. As for me? A bit. I'm not afraid to show off my body to the world; I'm just worried it can't handle my goods. After all, you know how crazy I can make women and some men go; one look at me, and they're prepared to kill everyone just to be given a chance to force their lust onto me.' Remarked Elif narcissistically, via divine sense, as he flipped his hair behind his ear while forcing Illumia's hand to trail atop his clothed body, though she stopped once she felt his crotch.
While blanky eyeing Illumia, who was fondling my crotch through my clothes, we finally emerged from the ocean after a few minutes of constant flying; swiftly drying ourselves with a burst of Qi, I forcibly removed Illumia's hand, which she promptly began to sniff and even lick. I'd never seen Illumia behave like such a nymphomaniac, but I suppose she's been starved, so I couldn't blame her; she was already holding out better than I expected any other woman to.
'Speaking of nympho maniac, the location of the Chaos Lord's hidden abode was near the Dryad Kingdom. Maybe I could stop by? Say hello and stroke my narcissistic ego? Hmm, I'll think about it.' Thought Elif with a curious expression as he stroked his chin while waiting for Illumia to finish lusting after her hand, which took a few more seconds.
"I apologize for my sudden behavior, Your Highness; I had lost control." Said Illumia apologetically as she bowed toward Elif, who gently patted her cheek before leaping onto her back, letting his legs hang off her side while crossing them.
"Yes, do try and control yourself, though what happened with the jar I had given you?" Asked Elif lightly with a nod as he gazed at Illumia, who faintly blushed while averting her gaze, causing him to furrow his brows.
"You drank it already!? H-How? I had given it to you not even three hours ago." "I-I'm sorry, Your Highness. When we separated, I couldn't contain myself and consumed everything. Your taste, it's just so good, your Highness, you can't and will never understand." Remarked Elif and Illumia, respectively, as the former eyed her in shock and disbelief, while the latter blushed in embarrassment but proudly held her head, causing him to rub his face.
"Haa, well, whatever. Just fly us to the Chaos Lord's hidden abode." Muttered Elif with a shake of his head as he glanced at Illumia before softly sighing, causing her to nod before speedily shooting through the sky.
With Illumia's Qi wrapping itself around me, she further increased her speed, effortlessly surpassing my top speed, causing our surroundings to turn into nothing but a blurry mess as we traveled through the sky; however, even so, I could easily tell Illumia was far slower than either Zulo or Zala.
'This will be a while. I wish Elaine had left one of them behind like she did last time.' Thought Elif softly as he yawned behind his Quat-tay before closing his eyes while humming a tune to pass the time.
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"We've arrived, Your Highness." Said Illumia lightly as she slowed while lowering herself to the ground, prompting Elif to leap off her back, allowing her to stand upright.
"Huh, looks just like any normal forest. Boring." Muttered Elif blandly with a yawn as he stretched while observing his surroundings with a bored expression.
Although everything looked boring, I spread my divine sense, searching for suspicious injuries upon corpses, such as ones caused by man-made weapons rather than claws, horns, talons, etc.
While I did quickly find corpses that fit such a description, it was pointless to even inspect them; they were nothing but skeletons, and whatever traces of their soul could've been found had long vanished.
'Hmm, though they're all in one direction, this must be the path the inheritor took to leave.' Thought Elif lightly as he flew through the sky above the forest's canopy while gazing down at the trees below.
As we passed by the corpses, I continued to fly, searching for more, which took several seconds before I came across some more, and while they were slightly fresher, it hardly made a difference. This continued for several minutes as I flew around the forest, following the path the inheritor created, only for my eyes to widen slightly as I swiftly descended to the ground.
Gracefully landing on the ground, I waved my hand, manifesting a purple palm that pushed the Salen Lioness, eating the corpse I wished to inspect. Approaching the corpse, I squatted down and carefully examined it, surprised to find a wisp of a soul still within it; it was in an unfortunate circumstance, where it was too weak to enter the reincarnation cycle, yet too strong to dissipate just yet.
Of course, such an occurrence is exceedingly rare and doesn't quite make sense naturally.
"Unless it had been lucky enough to consume a heavenly treasure that can enhance one's soul." Mused Elif softly with a faint smirk as he observed the corpse while the Salen Lionness charged toward him from behind.
Ignoring the Salen Lionness, which I simply pressured to the ground, I extended a tendril of my soul to connect with the soul that remained within the corpse, allowing me to view its most recent memory. Unfortunately, while I couldn't fully see who the inheritor was as the creature was dying, I could discern a few things.
'He is a human, he uses a sword, and he isn't alone.' Mused Elif with a faint smirk as he opened his eyes while retracting the tendril of his soul.
"Progress, I presume?" Asked Illumia softly as she looked at Elif, who nodded with a faint smirk while freeing the Salen Lionness, prompting it to quickly flee.
"Do you see any more corpses similar to these? I can't find any." Asked Elif as he fanned himself while looking at Illumia, who nodded before pointing directly behind him.
"It's just outside your divine sense." Said Illumia lightly as she glanced at Elif, who flashed a faint smile while shooting off through the sky, prompting her to follow him.
For the next several hours, we followed the trail that the foolish inheritor left behind; although we didn't come across another corpse with a soul, the fact that he left behind such a trail for us to follow left me more than satisfied.