Son of the Hero King

Hearing his words, Echidna’s eyes narrowed, and a sly smile formed on her face, “Ready to throw me away now that I have no more use?”

Sol shook his head in response. Truthfully speaking, Lilith and all the others already more or less knew about Echidna. After all, he had been open about the origin of the Seven Opening Chakra.

But back then, because he needed her, his girls had been willing to not argue much about the matter. Even Lilith had stayed silent and simply chose to avoid Echidna.

But things could not continue on as is. It was time to come clean.

“I am not one to repay kindness with evil.” Sol did not think of himself as a good person. But he would never betray someone who helped him. He would never even think about stabbing Echidna in the back after she had been so helpful in his rise to power.

But,

“Your well-being comes second to the one of my loved ones.” He did not mince his words. For him, Echidna was an ally. Nothing more, nothing less. She was not someone he loved or trusted more than he needed to. He knew that the sentiment went both ways. The only reason Echidna helped him was because she wished to accomplish her goal.

“The women I mentioned were all part of my parents— Mars and Blaze’s group back then. More than anyone they are the ones who have the absolute right to make the final decision.” Ultimately, Sol did not feel hatred for Echidna. He had no memories of Mars and Blaze and their death did not affect him much if not at all. That was the ugly truth.

“So, I will let them choose your punishment or whether to punish you in the first place.” He would give them the power to change what they could not do in the past. “What I can assure you is that I will not let them kill nor torture you.”

“You are very hypocritical, you know that?” She snorted at his words. She did remember the women Sol talked about. Back then, they were very problematic but Echidna never really put them in her eyes.

After all, the vast majority of them had simply been in the Duke realm. How could they even affect her? She simply toyed around with them before letting the Chimera have a go, forgetting about them altogether.

Mars and Blaze had been the dangerous ones in the group. Mars in particular reaching the level of Demigod had been out of her expectations.

“So be it.” She uttered those words and the light in her eyes dimmed. The cunning and intelligence in those orbs vanished, replaced by a more dull and naïve look that Sol had become so accustomed to.

“Hi Nuwa. How have you been?” Sol asked gently but Nuwa simply lowered her head. He immediately understood what she wanted and started patting her head.

Nuwa was cute and while she came out rarely nowadays because he needed Echidna’s help, he never forgot about her.

“I am alright. But she is angry.” Nuwa mumbled and accepted a bag of snacks Sol handed to her.

Looking at her munching on Milia’s prepared food, Sol felt like he was dealing with a young child or perhaps a small pet. Those thoughts might have been quite insulting to someone else but when he talked about what she made him think about once upon a time, Nuwa had asked him if he wanted her to become his pet.

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“Tell her I apologize but it’s necessary.”

“Okay,” Nuwa answered with one word. She did not think much of Echidna’s anger. The two of them shared emotions and currently, she felt no anger nor sadness in her heart. This was proof that Echidna was not truly angry, just feigning it.

“Well, how are things going, are you getting stronger?” Sol took Nuwa’s hand and started walking with her in his dimension. His dimension could now be partially molded as he wished and they were now walking on a long snowy trail with beautiful trees reaching the clouds.

“I think I will soon be able to find my True Name.” Nuwa shrugged and Sol laughed at her nonchalance.

Nuwa was not really interested in growing stronger, preferring to eat and sleep instead. Funny as it is, this was the very concept that allowed her to grow at a fast pace.

Her heart was pure, devoid of most distracting thoughts and so was incredibly suitable for understanding her own self.

Furthermore, as the daughter of two Demigods, the last thing she lacked was talent. Nuwa was no less talented than him or Isis. In fact, in terms of pure talent, Sol thought that she might even surpass them by an order of magnitude, maybe more.

After all, she had been perfectly engineered by Echidna to become the perfect vessel and few people could dare to say they had a better understanding of the body than Echidna.

“Good luck. Finding your name isn’t enough to become a King. But I am sure you will find a way. If you need any help, I can always try to build your legend extensively in the Mortal Realm.”

“Thank you.” Nuwa nodded blankly and went back to eating her sweets.

Sol shook his head at her behavior. How many people in the Mortal Realm or even the Astral Realm would give everything they had to become King Rank?

But here she was, more interested in a bag of sweets. He fought the urge to laugh out loud.

“Never change, Nuwa.” Her naivety and purity were healing his heart in a way only a few people like Isis and Scheherazade could do.

When dealing with them, he did not need to think too much about what he needed to say. He did not need to think about all the problems he needed to resolve.

All he needed to do was sit with them, talk, and relax. Just enjoy the time he spent with them.

“Tell me, are you happy right now?” Sol asked out of the blue, causing Nuwa to look at him with curiosity in her eyes. As if asking him what he was talking about.

“Should I be unhappy?” She was genuinely curious.

“Well, you have someone else inhabiting your body. You learned that you were not born from love but simply for an experiment and a spare body. Even now she possesses you most of the time and barely lets you out. Do you not feel it’s unfair?”

Nuwa took out another candy and gazed at it for several seconds in silence. From the way her eyes moved, Sol could tell that her brain was working full-time, trying its best to find an answer to his question.

“I am happy.” In the end, that was the answer her mind had settled on. “No matter what the reasons for my birth were, the reality is that I am alive and well. I can eat well, sleep well, and have fun when I want.”

She smiled at him, “I don’t mind her possessing me. I am not smart like you guys. All I can do is work as a shield and fight head-on. But Echidna is smart. Echidna taught you so much. So, I am happy.”

She pointed at her head, “When Echidna takes over my body, I can go to sleep or just take a peek at what she is doing. I know that, thanks to you, she cannot take over my body. So I have nothing to fear.”

Indeed, she was happy.

“I have Theresa who loved and raised me. I have you, Lilin, Milia, Kali, and all the maids in Babel who always help me out when I make a mistake or break something. I even have Echidna as a teacher. I am not that smart but I do know enough to understand just how lucky I am and how envious my situation is.” She had perhaps talked more in this one instance than she did in days. But she wanted Sol to understand that she was not lying.

“Thank you and thank Theresa, for everything I have. I believe few people can be happier than I am.”

Eat whenever you want. Sleep wherever you want. No true job, absolutely taken care of.

What else could she ask for? Her current life was nothing short of Paradise.

Nuwa jerked to a stop after speaking, blinking her eyes slowly in silence. Sometime later, she shifted her gaze toward Sol and spoke in a casual tone, “I think my True Name is fully formed now.”

Sol was completely bemused by her sudden words.

So, that was probably what it felt like to be close to a genius, huh?